Tag Archive for: music

Ep 51: Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, The Royal They, Suburban Living, RMBLR, The Ferdy Mayne

Ep 51: Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, The Royal They, Suburban Living, RMBLR, The Ferdy Mayne

Cinnamon raps again. John is JayZ. Avengers. Plus lots of great music! (Follow us on Facebook! Instagram! Twitter! And lots of stuff about these and other bands, including artist interviews, is at www.hlycrp.com.)

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 3: The start!

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 3: The start!

I am managing a band this year. As experiment and story for the Holy Crap Records podcast/magazine, and because this intersects with two of my favorite subjects: 1) underground music and 2) the economics of being an artist. Cinnamon Kennedy pointed out that my blog is actually about “how to be famous” and none of my stated aims are about making money. So we’re gonna run dueling blogs – I’m figuring out fame and she’s figuring out money.

So how do you start? You hear about these starts, right? The Rolling Stones had three shows booked at the same London venue. First night they played. Second night they sold out. Third night there was a line down the block. The B52s played a show in NYC, and then came back a month later to play the same venue and there was a line down the block. That’s how you start!

I am doing an interview each week with bands, radio stations, publicists, booking agents, labels – this week I talked to Lowell Hobbs of Tongues of Fire. TOF are on Godless America Records, have played at SXSW twice, and tour across the south. How did TOF start?

“Our first show was at Tiger Mountain, when they didn’t have DJ nights,” Lowell Hobbs of Tongues of Fire shares. “There were probably 30 people there. It was a nice first show.” How did they get the crowd? “We actually walked the streets of Asheville and just talked to people and brought them in.”

The local music venue, that first venue who gives you your first show, not the The Orange Peel or Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, but the local dive bar – they are the heroes of the entire underground scene. In our area thanks to: The OdditoriumThe MothlightFleetwood’sThe Burger BarSly Grog LoungeThe Town Pump Tavern… (For bands looking to book their first show – The Odditorium will sometimes book new bands on Wednesday night and The Mothlight will sometimes book new bands on a Monday night.) Venues like these are the heroes to all local scenes, but they care about two things: 1) the quality of the music and 2) the bottom-line, the size of the crowd.

Also, be nice. To the venue and to your crowd. Tongues of Fire show up to any venue – and the venue knows that a crowd of 20-30 kids will show up too. The kids will push up to the stage, the band will interact with the crowd, and Lowell will dive on top of them. The venues in town want to book TOF again and again.

Having that first packed performance and continuing to bring people to venues has great benefits – for touring and for getting on a label. Venues will book your band when traveling bands come through, and…

How did Lowell put together TOF’s first tour?

“I think we got somebody from Gainesville a show,” Lowell explains, “and since you gave us a show we’ll give you a show in Gainsville. It’s kind of how all our tours work for the most part. Almost all of the bands we’ve played with in different towns is someone we’ve helped out in Asheville.”

Tongues of Fire has that sense of danger, that anything can happen when they have a show. They play local basement and house parties – even getting two house parties shut down on the same night.

So I’m managing another band in the local scene – “Band A” – how do I create that buzz? That sense of danger? That consistent crowd? Band A is playing this weekend. They are playing at a brewery, mid afternoon, outside, and the weather is 58 degrees and blustery. Four of the five members can make the show. What am I doing? I put up one poster. I shared on social media. There was a change in event times – and now I’m literally texting friends to show up…. Also I bought some streamers to hang at the event…. Streamers!!!!

Ep 49: TOP Nachos, Thelma and the Sleaze, Daddy’s Beemer, Earleine, The Medium

Ep 49: TOP Nachos, Thelma and the Sleaze, Daddy’s Beemer, Earleine, The Medium

Cinnamon=Sergio Dean. Introducing the houses of GOT. Rappin’. Bill Murray. Plus lots of great music! (Follow us on Facebook! Instagram! Twitter!)

Podcast 45: Robo Lantern, Spud Cannon, The Disposables, Polly Panic, Dolly Spartans

Podcast 45: Robo Lantern, Spud Cannon, The Disposables, Polly Panic, Dolly Spartans

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Holy Crap Records may be changing our name! Find out why! And to what!!! Also, how to hear dead people, how to be attractive, Cinnamon’s #1 and #2 local drummers, and many thoughts about implied profanity. (Lots of stuff about these and other bands, including artist interviews, is at www.hlycrp.com.)

 

 

Podcast 44: Creature and the Woods, Tongues of Fire, The Tenders, Years at Sea, Winnie Richards

Podcast 44: Creature and the Woods, Tongues of Fire, The Tenders, Years at Sea, Winnie Richards

So Bigtime: The Southby Band Migration. The cantaloop-calf biking men of Austin. Ugly-head Kennedy’s poncho fetish. Also, importantly, why Mark Zuckerberg has you by the balls, and what to do about that. (Please take a second to like Holy Crap Records on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram)

Hlycrp 43: Holiday Music Motel, Direct Hit!, Roy Arbuckle, Fantomex, Dressy Bessy

Hlycrp 43: Holiday Music Motel, Direct Hit!, Roy Arbuckle, Fantomex, Dressy Bessy

On the road, fakely: John shows off his improvisational skills as we pretend to drive to SXSW. We also feature TWO songs from Wisconsin, math rock, a cowboy song from Northern Ireland, and we break down what your band’s Facebook goals should be. (Please take a second to like Holy Crap Records on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, and our website, with lots of stuff on it about these and other bands, including artist interviews, is at www.hlycrp.com.)

Your links are here!: Holiday Music Motel, Direct Hit!, Roy Arbuckle, Fantomex, Dressy Bessy

Podcast 42: Unembarrassed

Podcast 42: Unembarrassed

We do a lot of work this week in figuring out the modern music economy, including offering an extremely helpful Star Wars metaphor, and John makes up a song about Audiotree, and we figure out what Sofar is, sort of. Also this week – really incredible bands from Japan, Australia and Costa Rica (and Nashville. And New York):

Thank you to Foot Gun for providing our theme song. (Please take a second to like Holy Crap Records on Facebook and friend us or whatever on Twitter.)

Episode 41: The Revolütion Will Be Puppetized

Episode 41: The Revolütion Will Be Puppetized

Yacht party with Duran Duran. We plan our local tv access show, as well as our upcoming fake trip to SXSW. John analyzes various Finnish dialects. We add unnecessary umlats to metal bands of our acquaintance, and Bad Banker grows increasingly nervous about our upcoming performance. And of course the music is excellent:

Thank you to Foot Gun for providing our theme song. (Please take a second to like Holy Crap Records on Facebook and friend us or whatever on Twitter.)