Band Management: Blog 30: What’s Not Working
The Music EconomyI am managing “Band A” of a year – and I have an idea for direct psychic intervention of underground music into the larger world. Boomboxes. I’m gonna carrying one around playing the best of Asheville, Australia, world-wide underground rock-n-roll. Kind of think it would be fun if we all got second-hand boomboxes and walked around everywhere with them.
Also, in case you didn’t know the Holy Crap Records Podcast name came about because 1) I did some street art stuff in NYC as Holy Crap (a combination of the sacred and the profane), 2) I am super interested in the legacy of all the great indie labels (Clare Duplace), and 3) We started a podcast…
We’ve had bands approach us to see if we want to put out their record – and I’ve told them we’ll know after a year of managing “Band A” if we can actually do anything to help a band. I don’t want to be bullshit – so if “Band A” gets significant publicity and playing at festivals then maybe we can actually be a label.
Which gets me back to the boombox idea. The only problem with the boombox idea is you need cassette tapes. And then this leads Holy Crap Records Podcast toward releasing a cassette with our favorite underground bands (like BURGER RECORDS and Godless America Records)… Anyway, that’s a future decision, and in the meantime I think I’m going to start making Spotify playlist each month of the bands we played that month..
A couple of updates:
1) What isn’t working: I sent out 30 packages of “Band A’s” CD to 30 publications and radio stations. Crickets. It wasn’t a genius packet like The Space Buggy – but it had a sticker and a pin in it. A couple of months ago I simply emailed 30 college radio stations about “Band A” and had three respond to me. So emailing actually seems to be working better than regular mail. Also, buying FB likes doesn’t work. I spent $5 on FB likes for “Band A” and I got three extra likes.
2) Drunk Mums w/ Tongues of Fire and Tan Universe at The Grey Eagle. We have an event where the best of the Asheville underground Tongues of Fire is playing with the best of Australian underground Drunk Mums on Aug 1 at The Grey Eagle!
3) This is the start of an epic month or so – we’re promoting Fleetwood’sand the Fleetwood’s Fest // Saturday line-up on August 10th. In case you didn’t know – Fleetwood’s has done an amazing job of curating and supporting the underground sound of Asheville and touring bands coming through. And we’re promoting the Beer City Metal-Fest that’s happening on September 12-15 at Sly Grog Lounge and 27 Club Asheville. Also The Styrofoam Turtles are headlining the The Orange Peelon August 10th…
Band Management: Blog 29: Content Creation
The Music EconomyI am managing “Band A” for one year – and during this year Band A will head into the studio at least a couple of times. They’ve been invited byKafadan Kontak Records to add a single to a Suicide (NYC band) compilation album, and then they’ll probably head back to El Rancho Morbido Studios with Edward Madill again in the fall to record some originals. It seems to work for Band A to have 5 songs, mostly worked through, and spend 2-3 days in the studio.
A band works hard to get a core 8 songs so they can play one of those 30-minute sets as part of a 3-band line-up. Then the band works on getting 24 songs, so they can play a dive bar for three hours. And then there’s the process of writing better songs and letting other songs go. Joe Strummer says you have to play live so you can hear which song is a “turkey.” Bruce Springsteen and Keith Richards talk about working on covers first, so you understand song writing, and then replacing covers when the band plays an original that is better than a cover.
So Band A finally gets enough songs – and THEN you have the question of how and when you replace old favorites with new songs. Some people are always writing (Derek Frye, Brandon Holcombe, BROTHRS, etc…), every single day, and to ask them to stop is impossible. I am always interested in this, the artist’s creative process. It is one of the most fascinating things in the world and I’ll happily sit and listen to an artist talk about process for hours. Creativity is a slippery process and meanders in its own direction.
I’ve been on the Connecticut Shore for two weeks. For about six months I’ve had this image of a house in Connecticut. This house that collects all the memories a mother passing when I was in my mid-twenties, of family members and addiction, of the house witnessing the family holding together. My father owns a house on the Connecticut shore which faces a mansion on an island. So this initial idea of this resonant house was turned into the line: “there’s a house on the Connecticut shore that faces a billionaire’s island.” I’d been playing with B-minor, D, and A chords, which seemed to work with that line. Then I thought about the song being anti-billionaire and anti-capitalist, but I’ve written too many of those songs. I thought about the song being about a rich girl on the island and a poor boy on the shore – but that’s a cliche. Also, I’m shit at writing love songs – my love songs are usually opaque and hidden in 17 levels of bs. So I listened to the words and listened to the rhythm of the words and how they fit in a line and how changing a single word changes the intent – and ended with a narrative about a boy and a girl going over to the mansion in the dark and burning it down. It kind of has a punked-out Celtic feel, a slightly more folksy version of The Pogues – I blame this influence on Jim Mccarthy and Skunk Ruckus…
Anyway, here is photo of a storm descending on the Connecticut shore. We had a couple of days of 97 degrees and then this storm hit… I was in the passenger seat of a car. The flowers in the foreground are a blur but the tree is in focus.
Band Management: Blog 28: Booking Shows
The Music Economy“Band A” had it’s first show in a barn. With six songs. They had a projector, a smoke machine, and a bubble machine – just to make sure. And all the adults left the barn and their kids ran around and played with the bubble machine. One piece of grainy video (thanks Bobby McHugh) documented the event – and makes the band look way cooler than the actual experience. There were months of practice, sleepless nights, before and after. Then there was a sandwich shop that allowed the band to play the back-yard patio, once a month, through a summer – streamers, the smoke machine again, the bubble machine again, balloons, silly string, and a large papier-mache tarantula that dangled from a branch of a nearby tree. There were the The Town Pump Tavernshows, The Mothlight Mondays, and The Odditorium on Wednesday night, and a disaster at an open mic at the White Horse in Black Mountain… And here we are 5 years later…
So I’m managing “Band A” – and I have to start booking shows for this fall. August was easy. Two venues contacted me – and friends in a band from WV (Tucker Riggleman) are touring through the area and I found them a show with “Band A” opening. I have a spreadsheet of about 25 venues in the region. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the news that Band A was played on the radio, has been reviewed, and is on a label. So will the breweries book “Band A” – ?? Will my favorite underground music venues give a fuck? Can “Band A” put together it’s first tour – I’m pretty sure we can book shows in Morganton, Greenville, Moorefield WV, and Johnson City… Also, things are changing – interest in this underground sound, hard blues / garage rock / punk rock / surf rock is growing. The Styrofoam Turtles are headlining at The Orange Peel and The Grey Eagleare showcasing local heroes Tongues of Fire and Drunk Mums.
Anyway, I’ll document all of this. And you can contact me if you want an example of the email I’m sending around. At the end of the year I will compile all the blog posts, the lists of radio stations, publications, labels, all the interviews, and all the press releases and email I wrote… And probably some choice rejections…
Band Management: Blog 27: Joan Jett and Joe Strummer
The Music EconomyHow did I get into this? Into managing “Band A” for a year? Into the Holy Crap Records Podcast thing? Here’s the answer: a photo Joan Jett’s and Joe Strummer’s guitar, from an exhibit in NYC. I ask people how they got into music, when they got the hook? Well, I have an older brother who knows everything. He lives in Berlin and has one of those massive collections of vinyl. When I was a teenager he’d read the English music magazines and on my birthday he’d buy me albums which he really wanted to own. I got “London Calling” by The Clash. I got “Floodland” by Sisters of Mercy. I got “Unknown Pleasures” by Joy Division. He told me you could either like New Order or the Pet Shop Boys and you had to choose sides, and I went out and bought “Low-Life” and then “Substance” by New Order. My freshman year in college by roommate owned The Waterboys “Fisherman’s Blues” and The Pixies “Doolittle.” Doolittle was a massive album for me – because it wasn’t something my brother handed to me – it was all mine. I would say that was the moment music really got a hook in me. After college I moved to New York City and went to the final days of CBGBs. CBGBs was cheap entertainment. You could get in for $5 and drink cheap beer and watch 3-4-5 bands a night. Once I saw a young guy with all these older leathery musicians backing him. He had a wrist cast and still played guitar and jumped up on the bass drum – and everything he sang was the absolute truth. I’ve been a writer and I work in video – but, look, I only read music biographies and I only watch music documentaries. I listen to music all the time and talk about it and share new favorite songs. I can’t get enough of it. So this Saturday I went to NYC and to the MET, and there was an exhibit of rock-n-roll instruments. I walked around these darkened rooms, with all these guitars and drums and keyboards. I wasn’t so impressed with Chuck Berry’s guitar or The Beatles instruments – but then I stood in front of Joan Jett and Joes Strummer’s guitars. I was at a holy shrine. Everything seemed to disappear. The guitars glowed. These holy relics…
Band management: Blog 26: Back to Work
The Music EconomyI am managing “Band A” for the year – and therefore I can ask all the questions I want about the current music industry. For the next two weeks I will be in Connecticut on the shore. There’s no genius on the Connecticut shore – so I’m actually going to put in some serious exploration of the music industry. And I’m going to see a bunch of shows in Connecticut and in NYC. So far these are my thoughts: in this post armageddon – living in the rubble of a scorched industry – this is the best time for music. For music + art. Anything goes. There is no industry so you better live and love your scene, support your friends, and create whatever comes into your imagination. This is what I want to do: 1) manage a tour of a dozen of the best Australian garage rock/shit rock/pub rock/punk rock bands (The Chats, The Pretty Littles, Amyl and The Sniffers..) playing across the US, and 2) put out an album of our favorite bands playing Duran Duran covers, 3) put out an album of our favorite bands with songs about their experiences with the overdose/opioid crisis … Just putting it all out there…What I’m doing to be actually useful is I sent out requests to interview executives from Spotify and Bandcamp. That is something. And I’m looking at my Linkedin to see if I know anyone who is an A&R person for a major label, in NYC. I actually know a bunch of people, but they’re all friends of friends. My sister is a writer for comedy shows on CBS and I have another friend who is VP of data at 20th Century Fox, and they’re connected, but I’m nervous about calling in favors for introductions…
Band Management: Blog 25: The Tribute Album
The Music EconomyFirst, I am managing a band for a year – “Band A” – and I am blogging this exploration of the music industry. This gives me the platform to send “Band A” info everywhere, actively looking for scams and angles that bands can use to reach a larger audience.. And I am also doing the boring stuff too. So last week I sent out 30 press packets to radio stations and publications – the one sheeter, band photo, CD, sticker, and pin. (Photo below.) And if something happens – great – and it nothing happens – you’ll all laugh at my floundering… Also, this week “Band A’s” label, Kafadan Kontak Records, sent an email saying they’re putting together a Tribute Album for “Suicide” (the band). F*ck yeah. Alan Vega and Martin Rev. Punk before punk. Pre-CBGBs weird downtown NYC electronic punk. They were at the Mercer Arts Center first, which had that wall fall down, and then all those bands migrated to CBGBs. Suicide were basically the first NYC band to play with drum machines, loops, synths, and match it with a confrontational style inspired by Iggy… You”ll know them because Bruce Springsteen covered “Dream Baby Dream.” But check out the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FFIFsK1duw. Anyway, KK Records wants us to record “Johnny” by Suicide. Good for KK Records – inviting a bunch of garage bands onto a label and then putting together a compilation album. So in the same week I did the most basic vanilla of all marketing – these guys did something a hundred times more interesting. (Edward Madill – we need to book some studio time in August.)
Album Review: “WEIRD VIBES” by The Power, by Vinnie Minnie
Album Reviews, The Music EconomyVinnie Minnie:
What if after 1994 rock music got systematically catchier and more fun instead of more counterfeit than mundane? The Power come from that alternate reality and moreover I think that Asheville’s local rock music is the answer to the question. In a world of Shannons and Black Lips, sometimes present day Rock and Roll seems like a trip to the nostalgia store to get your kinky boots and murky reverb. A reach for a time and a sound found in the hidden corners of the last independently owned record store that closed down when you left for college. That’s what’s great here and obvious: love for old records and costumes hastily pulled from the dress up box. Paintings made with brushes with few hairs permanently stuck with paint from the last. At the same time it doesn’t sound like the same regurgitated garage rock meant to sound exactly like the Troggs or early Kinks. The lyrics come from an honest place and that place seems to be the feeling you get when you realize you’re over 30 but you don’t ever plan on growing up but you want to grow up because you’re tired of feeling like a failure in the eyes of your immediate family. That age where you realize what you want, who you want and the proverbial “who you are.” I feel so fortunate to hear this recording of songs by 3 multi-instrumentalists who’s abilities at playing punk blisters and pop dreams are only dwarfed by their ability to create songs that get you pogoing with their catchy hooks and fun melodies. I mean let’s face it here dear readers, THE POWER is the only band that Vinny Minnie, yours very truly, would want to spend his hard earned dubloons on seeing every weekend and I’ve seen and heard it all before my escape from cartoon land. Not since Alvin and The Chipmunks have I heard 3 punks sing together so well. The short songs are punchy and the long songs get along swimmingly. Unfortunately WEIRD VIBES is not just a clever name as THE POWER may never play together again so let’s show our gratitude by listening to their album front to back and maybe singing our favorite selections from it to them when we see them at the grocery store or post office. But what do I know I’m just a cartoon that escaped from television.
Vinny Minnie – Thank you my dear QPOG
2019
Experiment: Band Management: Blog 24: Press Packet
The Music EconomyI’m going to do this once – a mass mailing of Band A’s CD to radio stations and publications. It seems that some radio stations want CDs (WNCW, KDRW, WFMU) – so I’m sending out a PRESS PACKET to 30 stations and publications.
Which takes me back to my 20s in NYC and trying to break into the literary world. Ahhh, the music world v. the literary world. This is what is wrong with the literary world: 1) poetry readings are lame, 2) everypoet/writer really wants to be a rock star, 3) the whole industry is hiding behind the walls of their shining city praying the barbarians don’t invade, and 4) the PRESS PACKET is nothing like sending off a BOOK PACKET to agents and editors. I made BOOK PACKETS which sucked the life out of me, 30 pages of cover letters, bio, chapter summary, marketing plan, first chapter – and it had to be in a certain font, with certain spacing, headers, footers – and if it had one grammatical error…
So this is what I am actually sending out as my PRESS PACKET: Band A’s CD, a one-sheeter (Ill get to this), a band photo (thanks Scott Sturdy), and, inspired by The Space Buggy, some fun stuff like stickers and pins. The Space Buggy sent us such a great packet – a work of art in itself – that the Holy Crap Records Podcast really wanted to like them before we even listened to their CD. And no moldy egg sandwiches or anything else weird/funny/disturbing…
I have taken a photo of the one-sheeter I wrote for “Band A.”
(And here is a link to Tunecore’s recommendations on a one-sheeter: https://www.tunecore.com/…/building-a-one-sheet-use-this-ch…)
Basically, how do you make “Band A” sound so cool that the radio station or publication will listen to “Band A” with an open mind. I’ve published over 900 articles – so I know what a writer/platform wants in a pitch: 1) “Band A” and the writer are in this together, 2) this band is getting a bunch of crazy momentum, and 3) name-drop that “Band A” is being played on this radio station, reviewed here, re-released through this label, cool-reference, cool reference, cool reference… bullshit, bullshit, bullshit… Get on the “Band A” bandwagon now!!!
Experiment: Band Management: Blog 22: On the cusp..
The Music EconomyI am managing “Band A” for a year – I like them and I have free reign to use them in my exploration of the music industry. But I want to be very clear – I am not making claims that “Band A” is better than other bands we play on the podcast or other bands I know from the Asheville scene. Quite the opposite – I am making the argument that if “Band A” is getting any traction in the music industry, any radio airplay, any music publications coverage, any interest from labels – then f******ck, your band (you know who I’m talking to here – ahem – ahem) should get even more attention.
So “Band A” was invited to release an EP with Kafadan Kontak Records out of Istanbul, Turkey. For the sake of transparency these are the questions I asked KK Records:
1) Where/how are you releasing these EPs?
2) Do you get coverage in the music media for your bands? What regions and markets do you have connections?
3) Do you work to the the music played on radio, online radio, on Spotify playlists?
4) How else do you promote the music?
5) What is the label/artist split on the EP sales?
Also, for the sake of transparency, when people heard that “Band A” was going to release an EP on KK Records there were various suggestions about album covers, shown below. If you hadn’t guessed the band by now – these images will make it very clear. Obviously “Band A” is extremely sexy…. really sexy… sooooo sexy…. (thank you Scott Sturdy…)