Tag Archive for: tongues of fire

Ep 310! With​​ music by: The Gobs, Billiam, White Denim, Chinese Telephones, Tongues of Fire, ADD/C, KVITKOVASOBAKA ft. Romaneversleep 

Ep 310! With​​ music by: The Gobs, Billiam, White Denim, Chinese Telephones, Tongues of Fire, ADD/C, KVITKOVASOBAKA ft. Romaneversleep 


Best of the underground, week of April 9, 2024: Denim vest. (All podcasts are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.)

Ep 202! With music by: Sobakka, Tongues of Fire, Lürking Class, Undercover Monsters, Yawn Mower, Duncan Moondance & the Disco Dinosaurs, Miami Gold, Andrew Massey

Ep 202! With music by: Sobakka, Tongues of Fire, Lürking Class, Undercover Monsters, Yawn Mower, Duncan Moondance & the Disco Dinosaurs, Miami Gold, Andrew Massey

Best of the underground, week of March 22, 2022: In which we really try hard to solve the Ukraine crisis, and fail to have any good ideas whatsoever. Don’t come here for political science mastery! Great songs though. (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.)

 

This week we played:

    • Наташа by Sobakka

    • Ghostriding the Arc by Yawn Mower

  • Theme for Lürking Class by Lürking Class

    • Water by Tongues of Fire
    • Camp Crystal Lake by Undercover Monsters

  • College Educated Girl by Andrew Massey

    • Matching Jackets by Duncan Moondance and the Disco Dinosaurs

    • BAM BAM by Miami Gold

Ep 164 – ‘The Worst Smell’ With music by: Tuchman March, The Beatersband, The Blowtops, Collars, Tongues of Fire, Rob Banks, Dicious Delicious

Ep 164 – ‘The Worst Smell’ With music by: Tuchman March, The Beatersband, The Blowtops, Collars, Tongues of Fire, Rob Banks, Dicious Delicious

Best of the underground, week of June 29, 2021: John finally smells the worst smell of his life. Also, George Clooney plays the maracas, and some info about spies. And great music! (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.)

This week we played:

  • Cannibal Lust by The Blowtops
  • Hey Lizzie, Lay it On Me by Collars
  • Blue Submarine by Dicious Delicious
  • Job 41 Remix by Rob Banks
  • Room by Tongues of Fire
  • She Talks to Rainbows by The Beatersband
  • The Fucking Russians by Tuchman Marsh (Prerelease)

 

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 5: Social Media Fail

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 5: Social Media Fail

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I do love one of those shows when you have to shove the pool table to one side, bring all your own equipment, have no monitors, and all the people at the bar stare at the band like they’re aliens. Of course I didn’t shove the pool table – I’m management. Here’s a plus about “Band A” – they don’t have a hard time getting shows. So generally they’re well behaved, they have songs, and they’re bring a handful of friends along. Lowell Hobbs of Tongues of Fire says that you shouldn’t book too much, that each show should be an event. I’ve heard this from @Derek Allen too. I’d subscribe to that theory if “Band A” was destroying each show. They’ll have a great loose show – and then only four of them will show up and it will be entertaining but not a religious experience. I want to book them shows until they get sulky and arrogant and obnoxious. 
That was the good part of band managing this week. I also failed on social media. How do you reach a larger audience? On Wednesday I paid social media for likes – because I believe 5,000 likes will make it easier to get them on a label, play at festivals, and get 100 people to shows. I paid $5 to social media. “Band A” has +11 likes this week. About 50 cents a like. So that didn’t work. Or maybe the ads need to be smarter?
So how do you get people to listen to this music? Bumperstickers? Music videos? People do like music videos. So a music video, of the band sitting around, or looking artsy and angsty is fine – but “Band A” is having a local show soon and I want all their friends to show up. Because if all their friends show up, they’ll act wild, and then they’ll tell all their friends they’re in a music video. Organic marketing!!! (Please someone get in a fight, or make-out on the dance floor, or at least I hope the smoke machine will be working again…) We’ll see…
Also, looking forward to this week – we will be interviewing Sean from BURGER RECORDS and Jordan from Godless America Records (and hopefully Tristen Colby) for our 4 questions in 5 minutes section.

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!!!!

Post 4: Songs We Like: Bleedin Out (New Wave) by Tongues of Fire

Post 4: Songs We Like: Bleedin Out (New Wave) by Tongues of Fire

I think I grew up with so much New Wave in my brain that I can’t distinguish New Wave from the sounds of birds singing. To me it just sounds good. John says New Wave means ‘catchy’, so clearly he has no idea either. Good job to Tongues of Fire. Find it here.

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)

Single Review: Sunburn by Tongues of Fire

Single Review: Sunburn by Tongues of Fire

Think about what you’re definitely not going to do, and then shout it along with Tongues of Fire in this cathartic singalong! `I won’t eat peas!’ `I won’t back down!’ `I won’t say no!’ `I won’t do laundry!’ – whatever ya got. Tongues of Fire is great. (Featured on our #29 podcast, How to Get the Fans to Sing.)

Podcast 29 – How to Get the Fans to Sing

Podcast 29 – How to Get the Fans to Sing

Episode 29 – How to Get the Fans to Sing. Why anonymity is the new fame, a cathartic call-and-response from Tongues of Fire, and John’s secret desire to be sung-back-to. Israeli rock and Swiss rock both have their Holy Crap debut. And, as always, all of our music is excellent: