Band Management: Blog 38: Online Radio

I am managing “Band A” for one year, because I want to understand the current music eco-system, post implosion of the larger music industry, where we now have this mass produced corporate kick-in-the-balls awfulness (oh but I do like Taylor Swift’s Shake-It-Off) and then a post-apocalyptic landscape with all the cockroaches creating basic communities to survive. Well, us cockroaches are making the greatest music ever, greatest art explosion ever, greatest music scenes ever.
I’ve been kinda successful at getting Band A played on college and indie radio stations: if I send out 20 emails to stations then Band A will get played or put on rotation somewhere. And then I had the idea that there are tons of great online radio stations – also flopping around in the wilderness and dust and ashes. I started digging around and found Karen’s Indies and Belter Radio over in Scotland. Sure enough “Band A” got played…
In other “Band A” news – they headed back to El Rancho Morbido Studios for another morning with engineer/producer Edward Madill to finish their cover of Suicide’s “Johnny” for the Kafadan Kontak Records compilation release. Somehow “Band A” has turned the original 2-minute electronic blues drone about “Johnny” into a 4-minute blues drone about “Johnny.” Well, it doesn’t sound like musical soup and the vocals are catchy as all hell. Still working out with Ed how much we want the vocals in the foreground. But I love early REM and Nirvana when the vocal’s aren’t so clear… But maybe that is dumb because Band A is like early Blondie, that punk/new wave/garage rock, and those vocals are way in the front of the mix…
Also, “Band A” just played The Grey Eagle and the singer is real excited about being on their TV sets…

Band Management: Blog 37: King Pizza Records

I am managing “Band A” for one year as an exploration of the music industry – and if we can be successful promoting “Band A” then we’ll consider turning Holy Crap Records Podcast into an indie label. 
To be successful as a label you have to be useful, you have to make money, you have to be able to increase sales for your bands. You have to get the band heard by a larger audience. You have to be able to get press for a band, get them played on radio, get them on tour and playing festivals… 
I am also creating the weekly podcast about the 5 best underground songs of the week. So I get to follow bands and figure out which labels are putting out the best music. A bunch of the bands we’ve been playing (The Mad Doctors, LUMPS, Top Nachos… ) are all on one label – King Pizza Records, the tastiest underground label in all of NYC. So I knew I had to talk to Greg Hanson about the underground music world…

Band Management: Blog 36: The Tribute Album

I am miss-managing “Band A” for 1-year. They have been asked by their label Kafadan Kontak Records to record a Suicide song for a tribute album. 
So, taking a step back: 1) It’s fun as hell to be given a crazy creative assignment from KK Records, 2) Suicide are great – you probably know them because Springsteen covered their song “Dream Baby Dream,” and 3) this is totally like Project Runway and “Band A” has to make the best cover song on this compilation album, cause I am a competitive fucker and a Project Runway fanboy. 
The song is “Johnny” by Suicide, their first ever single. A couple of members of “Band A” sat around last week and came to agreement on the chords (E, A, 😎, and the structure, which is very close to classic blues. The original has droning electronic drums, a simple bass riff, and the repetitive snarled story of Johnny looking for love and trouble. 
“Band A” played it over and over and over on Sunday afternoon. Then on Monday morning “Band A” showed up to El Rancho Morbido Studios to work with producer/engineer Edward Madill. 
The bass player couldn’t figure out the original bass part, so a new bass part had been added – a repetitive take on the Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart” synth riff. A concluding narrative was added by the singer. So Johnny wasn’t just being a bad-ass – he was looking for her, and she was with someone else, and she was gonna make Johnny weep. The drums were stripped back to sound more Velvet Underground and less like an early electronica beat.
And this is how “Band A” recorded the track. First, they recorded a scratch track. They played the song over and over and over until the rhythm guitar player said “can we try it a little faster?” And the faster take was the scratch track. And that was about it, really. The singer tried vocals two more times – but decided the scratch vocals were the best. El Rancho Morbido studios have an organ and the singer played organ over the song – and that was pared-down to accent the chorus turn-around. A slide guitar was added and that was pared-down too. Some chanting was added to the end. And that was it.
Does it sound like a winner? You know I’m trying to be honest with this blog: it sounds interesting if you have headphones on and like musical soup if you don’t. The vocal melody is a lot more catchy. It’s definitely interesting. Don’t bore the judges. And “Band A” is heading back to the studio on Friday morning to clean it up.

Song We Like: Guilt Birds by Tucker Riggleman

Great American garage rock and a small town West Virginia howl. The voice is worth playing this song over and over – and then there’s the assessment from an honest man that – he couldn’t maintain his self-destructive days. It’s the song of everyone born in a small town and daring to leave, of everyone who dares to be bigger than themselves. This is American  rock-n-roll. Featured on our #67 podcast at www.hlycrp.com.

Band Management: Blog 35: Profanity and the FCC…

This stuff only happens when you don’t know what you’re doing. I’m managing “Band A” for one year, as an exploration of the music industry – and I don’t know what I’m doing. 
I’ve had success sending out music by “Band A” to college and independent radio stations. I won’t say overwhelming success, but if I send out a “Band A” release to 25 radio stations then a radio station will play “Band A.” 
Back in May I sent out a bunch of emails. One radio station (a pretty influential station) sent a great email back, that one of the DJs liked a song, was sharing with a couple other people at the station, and could we send a physical copy? So I printed 50 CDs of the release – and I sent them out to a bunch of radio stations. I didn’t hear anything. Crickets. I sent a couple of follow up emails to stations that had expressed interest. Crickets.
So “Band A” is not a profane band. It’s not about profanity. Maybe in the total catalogue of 10 songs there is profanity in one song. They’re garage, new wave, pop.
On Tuesday morning I received an email from the radio station: “Hi John, did you warn us that the title track has a FCC violation? I played it tonight and the F bomb was rather clear over the airwaves.”
I broke out into cold sweat – because I truly love this radio station. They chose a song that has a lot of shouting in it – like it’s purposely recorded to sound as if the band is playing at a late night dive bar. Me, the band, our engineer/producer Edward Madill all shout-along the chorus. And there are some random shouts and claps during the song. And, yeah, sure enough, in the middle of the song, in the middle of a guitar solo, I am shouting the f-bomb. Me shouting the f-bomb like an idiot.
Do you want to read my cringey/total wanker apology response:
“I am so sorry. “Band A” are not a band that uses profanity – except that word in the title track. I know I need to be more clear with an “explicit” on that track. When KPSU put us into rotation they reached out to confirm the lyrical content of “Cloak & Dagger” – but I understand I need to be more pro-active and clear with profanity. You are one of the greatest radio stations in the country – and we are so lucky to have you. I am so sorry. I will be adding “explicit” to the track listing and “Band A” will be back in the studio on Monday and I’ll get the band to create a clean version of for the radio.”
Cringey…

Band Management: Blog 34: Touring Bands…

I am managing “Band A” for the course of a year – and writing about it – as an exploration of the music industry. Playing live and touring is a big part of a band’s plan for sharing their sound, for seeing how an audience responds, for gaining fans. 
It used to be rare for an Asheville band to go out on tour (Kitty Tsunami, Tongues of Fire), and now more and more Asheville bands are sharing this underground sound (The Styrofoam Turtles, Sane Voids, Bombay Gasoline, Supervillain) with the outside world. 
I asked these bands how they put together tours – and the answer is pretty simple: get on a bill when a touring band comes through Asheville, play a good show, and be a nice person. Doesn’t mean that every touring band you play with will match up with your sound, but be a decent human and let them play first or second on the bill and share any funds from the show. 
Tucker Riggleman and the Cheap Dates came through a few months back and played with “Band A” at Fleetwood’s. They sounded like great underground/punk/indie/Americana/country – those stories of living in a small town and having big dreams, of having an old love that never fades. 
Tucker Riggleman started another tour and reached out to “Band A” – so we put together a show with them in Black Mountain. We grabbed our friends, hung some massive eyeballs around the stage, and played out in the parking lot of Seven Sisters Tap Room as the sun went down and day turned to night. The majority of “Band A” took advantage of the bar and tried to get into as much trouble as possible. But Tucker’s band was really great and we want them to play here again.
And now “Band A” can start their massive national tour in Tucker’s hometown – in Harrisonburg, VA…

Band Management: Blog 33: Getting Back on that Horse…

I am managing “Band A” for the year. Often the escapades of “Band A” read like a shaggy dog story – but I promise you everything I write is true. It’s not been so bad: “Band A” are on a label (Kafadan Kontak Records), they’ve been played on the radio (KPSU), but they’re impossible to manage over the summer – so they haven’t been together for two months. This week they played twice in three days, including a three-hour 27-song set at the The Town Pump Tavern.
Their warm-up show was Wednesday night at The Odditorium, with 8 songs, which lasted about 20 minutes. It was fine – they have that spirit when they’re all on the same track. However, apart from the singer and the drummer – visually speaking – the show was a little bland. “Band A” has been known for costumes and stage props, but they brought nothing. The opening band, the Skewed Collective, had a guitarist with no shirt, a bondage mask, and played his guitar with a violin bow. Can’t tell you about their songs – but great visuals. 
I lay awake that night thinking how everything has to be art, everything has to touch this primal creative energy, and that every show has to be massive entertainment. I guess I wasn’t the only one. On Friday night “Band A” had painted 5 extra-large Chinese lanterns to look like eyeballs and brought two screens which showed loops of 1950’s noir movies and Stanley Kubrick movies.
The show was a bit wiggy – a little madness in the air. I wore my lewd t-shirt that Hotdoggrrrl and the Sesame Buns sent me, which probably added to the chaos. The show went over really well with the packed house. $68 in the tip jar, plus another $150 from the establishment. And this part is absolutely true – some guy in the crowd proclaimed he was a music promoter and that the lead singer for “Band A” had sung with the B-52s in the late 90s when Cindy Wilson took time off – and this was her new band. 
Something was off with the band. For a group of nice civil people, something touched wildness. If you ask people to invest 100% in an artistic enterprise – and as an artist you have to be that committed – this is dangerous territory. I don’t think art is always good for mental health, with the ups and downs. An artist is challenged to be totally true and unguarded and show this to the world – to be truly vulnerable. 
Oh I am looking forward to sending “Band A” on the road this fall to Franklin, Morganton, Greenville and Johnson City. Especially Johnson City. Johnson City is pure madness…. 

Band Management: Blog 32: Kick Starting A Revolution

Joshua Edward Keyes of Bandcamp said that everything new comes from the underground. The establishment, the corporations, create no new concepts ever. 
For all the underground artists – these last few years have been both long and the blink of an eye. Five years ago you could count the Asheville bands that played punk rock, underground, indie, surf, garage rock on one hand. The Stump Muttswere a rarity. The Lords of Chicken Hill were shocking. Bands and great music rose up and crashed down like tectonic plates of the earth. Something like that. The euphoria of a stunning show and then the crash and confusion of everyday living. 
So this is the work now. To create the best body of art. Because this is what will define the movement. Punk Rock is thought to be defined by 1977, by the first 100 days at the Roxy in London, when the look and the sound were settled. But The Ramones first album was out in 1976 and those short garage rock songs were the handbook for the punk sound. The provocative nature of punk was created through the live performances of the New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, MC5, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. 
So, what comes out of this underground art movement happens now. We choose the look. We choose the sound. We choose the artwork. We chose the language. We choose the images and photographs. 
And I bought a boombox – bright red – kind of small. I hear there is a guy at Sly Grog Lounge who can help me make a cassette. I am going to put a collection of my favorite underground songs – with the bands permission – and walk up and down Haywood – playing the sounds of the underground. Holy Crap Records Podcast Radio. Now I have a radio show. One cassette. 
I was hanging out at “Band As” practice this week.Kafadan Kontak Records has asked them to cover “Johnny” by Suicide. At it’s core is a rudimentary blues chord progression and lyrics about Johnny going out and looking for trouble. A droning E chord and a grinding drum loop. Now “Band A” is messing around with adding a Joy Division bass line, more melody, and maybe a third verse… Maybe this is the sound of the underground…

Band Management: Blog 31: Bandcamp

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“Band A” is back from a summer hiatus and has four shows and some recording in the next month. That’s what a band manager should do, right? It was nice to be back with the band. For the first three months of band management there’s been a certain caution (maybe annoyance) from the members toward my management style. But that seems to have receded over the break and now they’re all ready to go again. 
In terms of the wider world, I use this blog to ask questions to anyone I want about the music industry – and I want to explore not just the underground music scene but also the underground music media scene. I suspect there are 100s of podcasts covering the underground music scene, 100s of underground zines, comics, mini-online publications that would love to talk about “Band A.” Who else is supporting the underground music scene? – this will become part of the blog in the coming months.
Still, if you want to talk about the underground music scene you have to talk about Bandcamp. The Moby Dick of the underground music scene. The great white whale. At the start of the Holy Crap Records Podcast we were listening to at least 50 bands a week on Bandcamp to find new music. All the bands we played this past week use Bandcamp as their platform. “Band A” was found on Bandcamp by Kafadan Kontak Recordsand by Divide & Conquer Music magazine.
So this week on our “4 Questions in 5 Minutes” video interview section I get to chat with Joseph Edward Keyes, the editorial director, at Bandcamp.com. (We had some challenges technically, so the sound is a little wonky and you may have to turn it up – but this series is totally lo-fi on purpose?) I always wanted to know how Bandcamp works and what I can do to help “Band A” gain a bigger audience… Also, Joseph Edward Keyes is super nice and a totally legitimate music nerd… Thank you… The combination of the collapse of the music industry, of affordability of good recordings, and Bandcamp make the underground music scene possible… 
(Really, this was recorded using FaceTime and my computer recorded it on a really low volume – so I had to turn it up and the sound is not great…)