Monthly Archives: November 2014

Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy

The Poor Middlemen

Most people think that copyright is a property right however it isn’t. Copyright is a government granted monopoly. The government via legislation creates these monopolies on music, movies, photographs and books as an “incentive” for creators to create more. Then all the middlemen step in and start make money that way.

That is how the record labels made money.

That is how managers made money.

That is how sheet music sellers and music publishers made money.

That is how record stores made money.

Every time the copyright industry is faced with competition, they start mobilising the lawyers. If they cannot sue, they then start lobbying hard to get laws passed so they can sue. If they cannot get federal laws passed to suit their obsolete business models, they then organise secret treaties/pacts which force all governments to pass the laws they want.

At no point does the copyright industry ever say to itself, that they should compete. Their “solution” to legal competition is to either make the competition illegal or organise a new fee that needs to be paid for the new technology.

All the middlemen do is live off what the government grants them. They never create. They never innovate. They merely take their cut. When their cut gets too small, they blame everyone but themselves. They even go as far as to sue their own customers or demand to have them kicked off the internet. As if that would magically make them start paying the old tolls again.

There was a story doing the rounds here in Australia about how piracy is killing the film industry. In the article the film maker is supportive of the Australian government’s new proposals, that would hold the ISP’s responsible for copyright infringement.

It is the usual rhetoric, that each illegal download is a lost sale/movie ticket. Just say if the movie was available for streaming at the same time as it’s movie cinematic release? Guess that thought didn’t cross the mind of anyone. What copyright infringement highlights is a gap in the business model of the people behind the movies.

It is the usual view that if someone spent money to make something and it doesn’t make any money then the government needs to step in and protect them. What about all of the developers and inventors that tried and failed. Did the government step in and protect them with legislation?

Do you want to know why Marvel movies or other comic book/graphic novels are big ticket items today? It’s because of sharing, copyright infringement and the second hand book market. You have more and more people exposed to a product, it is highly likely that a connection will be made.

Do you want to know why Iron Maiden plays sold out shows to manic fans in Central and South America without even selling a large number of albums? Yep, piracy.

How do you think Metallica got so large in China that they got the chance to play a few sold out shows there? Surely it must have been sales of CD’s.

What the copyright industries want is the governments to pass legislation that would eliminate the motivation for rights holders to make their content available cheaply and discourage them from investing in more innovative ways to distribute movies and TV shows.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

Music Today: Hundreds Of Different Streams That All Flow Into One

Techies are the new rock groups. A lot of people have been saying it for a long time and recently even Bono got into it.

Instead of people forming bands, they are forming start-ups. The musical star has been replaced by the tech star.

At least in tech there is a pretty clear distinction as to what is paid. The recording industry still make royalty payments creatively. Taylor Swift is on schedule to earn $6 million from Spotify this year however she reckons Spotify doesn’t pay enough and her label head reckons Spotify makes a mockery of the SuperFan because the music is free on the site. In addition, her label reckons that Spotify is full of shit when it comes to the $6 million dollar amount. Those poor confused souls.

When did a payment of $6 million dollars to the rights holders = free/zero income? I must have been asleep at the wheel when that went down. Just because the user streams the music for free, it doesn’t mean that Spotify is not paying the rights holder. Accounting is the bedrock of the techies, however in music it is a different story.

Seriously how much extra did Coldplay make by windowing their “Ghost Stories” release and keeping it from Spotify. All they did was drive people to YouTube that had a mixture of ad-supported streams (which meant income) and no ad-supported streams (which meant NO income). P2P traffic also did wonders.

What the recording industry needs is transparency however what they still deal with is deceit, because in music everybody’s a street hustler who demands to get paid at every stop along the way. It’s short term thinking and it does not help the artist at all because there is still a lot of bastardry going on. The Majors are all concerned about pushing Spotify to an IPO which might be something to do with the fact that they own a piece of Spotify. And how does that relate back to the artist.

It looks like labels screwing artists is still pretty relevant today. Nothing really changes in that regard, however what has changed is that the fans of music are inundated with new album releases.

Here’s the new Slipknot. Here’s Black Veil Brides. Here’s Audrey Horne. Here’s Machine Head. Here’s Disciple. Here’s Evergrey. Here’s Nickelback. Here’s Otherwise. Here’s Sanctuary and Sixx AM. Here’s Wovenwar. Here’s a band that I haven’t heard off that I should hear.

And that has been in the last few months.

Add to that some of my favourites in the last 12 months or more from Avenged Sevenfold, Black Label Society, Five Finger Death Punch, I Am Giant, Trivium, Stryper, The Kindred and Digital Summer and you get the idea of my time being eaten up trying to catch up. And I am not alone.

That is why we want a smaller amount of music more regularly but of high quality. We all want to pay attention longer to our favourite artists and our artists are only as good as their last album. If they don’t continue to deliver then expect their career to fade away.

I remember being bored with the same damn records to play because I couldn’t afford any others. Now with so much choice I don’t know if I should try to hear something new or stick to the same damn records of yesteryear. To say that today’s world is overloaded is an understatement.

Maybe there was some madness method to Thom Yorke’s BitTorrent bundle initiative. 40 million people use BitTorrent each day and overall it has over 170 million users. If 1 percent of that user base pays for it, it is a win. Moby’s BitTorrent bundle from 2013 was downloaded 8.9m times in comparison.

That is a win that Moby would have seen in other forms of income because that is the music industry today. Hundreds of different streams that all add to the larger pool.

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Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

If Money Is Not Filtering Down To The Artist, Whose Fault Is That?

There are still a lot of misguided people/entities in the recording industry that believe that they are immune to the changing times. Our world is constantly evolving. When will the recording industry accept that the landscape has changed.

Napster showed the recording industry what the fans of music want. The recording industry responded by shutting the service down. However, CD sales didn’t pick up as the recording industry would have hoped and what did happen was that the fans of music just went elsewhere. Suddenly there was Audiogalaxy, Limewire and KaZaA. Then came BitTorrent and The Pirate Bay.

In the end the customers just wanted free music. And even though Spotify and YouTube might give the illusion to the fan that music is free on their service, it is not. Spotify and YouTube do pay a large portion of their incomes to the rights holders.

Young people don’t purchase music the same way their parents and grandparents did. Access is more important than ownership. The car makers are being challenged at the moment as purchasing a car is no longer a rite of passage. The new housing market is being propped up by the older people, as young people are happy to rent or stay at home until their late thirties.

Spotify is a business based around access. This gives the fans greater choice whereas a purchase model takes away the choice of the fan and it makes them commit to which artist they would like to support. I remember walking into record stores, looking into my wallet to see how much cash I have and making decisions to maximise my cash with my purchases.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both. More choice means confusion and the fan just doesn’t commit to anything or they revert to trusted filters or playlists.

It is in the best interest of the recording industry and artists that streaming services gain traction. Otherwise the fans will just go elsewhere and if you take away the free tier of Spotify or YouTube, then what.

Once Napster went to a paying service, did fans start paying for music again?

Of course not.

What about Rhapsody? It has been trading for at least ten years and it has failed to get mass appeal.

The struggles that the recording industries are facing today were already quite clear in 1997 to people paying attention. The focus of sales as a success metric had to be tweaked and worked together with a smart business model. What we have here is an inability to adapt to a changing market.

Today’s world is much better for bands starting out today than in the past because they don’t need to win over the gatekeepers. They can find their own audience. They can create their own business models and make a living — unlike under the old system, where you either hit it big or you gave up and went back to your day job.

Can someone please explain how getting people to stop listening to free music magically makes them start buying music again?

What will do that, however, are smarter business models and Spotify is one link in the NEW MUSIC ECONOMY.

Shinedown just received a gold certification for their album “Amaryllis”. That means their album has moved over 500,000 units in the U.S. They moved that many units while their music was available on Spotify, YouTube, P2P and other services that offer free-tier models. They toured for over 12 months on the backs of that album. Their business model isn’t just about sales as a metric of success.

I seriously struggle to understand the long-standing debate between Spotify and artists. The debate should be between artists and the Record Labels. The debate should be between artists and the Publishers. Spotify pays the rights holders (labels and publishers) 70% of their income. From the other 30% they make, a certain percentage goes to the record labels who are shareholders of the company. The record labels had the power to negotiate a shareholding stake because of the amount of copyrights they have amassed from the artists on their rosters.

Quincy Jones posted on Facebook that “Spotify is not the enemy; piracy is the enemy”. Daniel Ek put that into dollar terms. Piracy could lead to higher concert attendances and merchandise sales, however in relation to the recording industry, piracy yields a ZERO return. Spotify at the moment has paid TWO BILLION dollars to labels, publishers and collecting societies for distribution to songwriters and recording artists.

As I have mentioned before, if that money is not flowing to the artists in a clear transparent way, then whose fault is that. The streaming services or the record labels.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Evergrey Compendium

Evergrey.

What a cool name for a band!

Tom and Dan Nojd the original bassist came up with the name after they saw their life and situation as always grey. Everything seemed to be forever grey. The logo and the artwork remind me more of a black metal band, which is the yin and the yang because musically Evergrey are melodic and progressive.

To anyone that is prepared to listen to me, Evergrey is one band that I continually try to spread the word for. Just recently I was asked to give a few people a list of the Top 10 songs from my point of view. At first I relished the challenge and then I struggled with it. Evergrey are 16 years into their career and nine albums deep. If you take the average 10 songs per album, there is a pool of 90 or so songs to pick from. Also for a band that hails from Sweden their Spotify presence is not huge so I needed to bring out the good old CD’s and YouTube.

Well after spending a week playing a John Kalodner style role with the music of Evergrey, here is the sequenced list just like they would be on that imaginary album in my head.

The Masterplan

Evergrey was started in 1995 by Tom Englund and former guitar-player Dan Bronell. By the time 2001 rolled around their career had been moving up. There was a fan base to please when they set about creating their third album.

The tone is set with the tape recorder spoken intro.

“I have decided to keep this tape recorder with me at all times, just so that I maybe one day can explain all the strange things happening to me.
The lack of sleep…the loss of time. But most of all, the sensation of never being lonely…always being watched…”

“The Masterplan” is from the 2001 concept album “In Search Of Truth”. On hand again to produce was former King Diamond guitarist Andy La Rocque. How good is that 7/8 syncopated intro? This is Evergrey in Progressive Metal territory.

We are all a part of
Forced to live within
Conspiracy for ages
The masterplan

The vocal melody and the frantic energy of the music seals the deal.

This was a new Evergrey from the previous two albums that came before “In Search Of Truth”. Founder Tom S Englund and hard-hitting drummer Patrick Carlsson welcomed a new keyboard player in Sven Karlsson and a new bass player in Michael Håkansson. Both of them came from the band Embraced. And then there was the new guitar virtuoso from Denmark, Henrik Danhage.

Changes happen in bands because it is hard to have people hat are just not putting in the same effort as to what the others put in. That is why bands make decisions at certain points in time. They all want to have people around them that have the same drive and goals as them.

Broken Wings
From “Torn” released in 2008 and this time Evergrey is dabbling in heavy rock.

For this album, gone is the huge stage presence of bassist Michael Håkansson and in his place comes Jari Kainulainen from Stratovarius.

And if you look at the 2001 version of the band, also gone is keyboardist Sven Karlssonn who was replaced in 2001 by Christian Rehn and Rehn was then replaced by Rikard Zander in 2002. Other changes that happened involved the departure of Patrick Carlsson on drums, who was replaced by Jonas Ekdahl in 2003.

I came so close that I felt the flames
I came so close that I’ll never be safe again
I’d give anything to find a way to leave the fear and evacuate

The flame inspires so many different meanings. We feel the flames when we don’t heed or listen to the advice of others. Icarus failed to heed or listen to his father and flew too close to the sun. In life and in relationships, we always want to see the good in people. We always believe that we can help people. And then we come full circle when the people that we believed we liked or helped turn on us.

King Of Errors
Evergrey released “Glorious Collision” in 2011. Awards, certifications and praise followed after the release however the band was about to be broken again with the departures of Van Dahl and Jidell after only a short time with the band. Englund wanted to call time. However a commitment to play a few festival shows led to an unexpected return and a the possibility of a new future.

“King of Errors” is from the new one, “Hymns For The Broken” released this year. The band now is normal mainstay Tom Englund on vocals and guitar. Rikard Zander is still on keys along with Johan Niemann who joined in 2010 on bass, while Henrik Danhage and Jonas Ekdahl rejoined the band again.

“They call us kings
Then watch us fall down broken”

For some reason, we are all attracted to a story of someone high-profile crashing and burning. For some it is seen as a bittersweet “sucked in” story while others see it as a tragedy. In our personal lives, the kings could be our parents, our partners, a certain friend or a work colleague. And normally when “our kings” crash and burn, we just watch.

I watched my cousin, a person who I looked up to immensely and who also introduced me to metal and rock music “crash and burn” as he struggled with bi-polar and schizophrenia. I just didn’t know how to deal with it and decided it was best to just watch him fall down broken.

Soaked

Also from “Torn” released in 2008.

My chest is open
My heart’s on the ground
My bare feet soaked in my blood
As I leave you without a sound

The vocals are straight up.

What a way to start the song?

“Soaked” is a pure metal gem that a lot more people need to hear and digest.

Haven’t you had that feeling in a relationship?

You feel like you have given the relationship everything that you have and it just wasn’t enough. All that is left is to walk away however you never really walk away, as a little piece of you still remains rooted there, like your heart or your blood.

Frozen
The frantic opening kicks off this beauty from the “Glorious Collision” album released in 2011. Another album, another new band dynamic, however due to the monolith that is known as Tom Englund, it is still EVERGREY.

This time around the band consists of Tom Englund on vocals and guitars, Rikard Zander on keys, Johan Niemann on bass along with new additions Marcus Jidell on guitar and Hannes Van Dahl on drums, who came on board to replace Danhage and Ekdahl who left to focus on DeathDestruction.

If we took time to contemplate
The years have passed and now it’s late
Much too late to compensate
The loss that made me frozen

Knowing what we know about the departure of Ekdahl and Danhage, you cant help but feel that the lyrics are about Englund’s emotional state after the departure. Even though they posted that it had to happen to preserve the friendships, there is still a sense of loss and with time, the loss can grow deeper or it can be forgotten.

A Touch Of Blessing
From “The Inner Circle” album released in 2004. You can interchange “The Masterplan” chorus with this one.

Climbing walls of an endless circle
Walking paths you never heard of
Struggling in an endless battle
Searching far for a higher purpose
Drowning in betrayal’s river
The freezing cold will make you shiver
Join the world of greater learning
Crown me king and be my servants

That whole verse vocal melody just reminds me of Maynard from Tool.  Even though the song is part of a concept story about religious cults, that verse just sums up so many different aspects of normal everyday life.

Fear
Another metal classic from the “Torn” album released in 2008. It was like they started fresh again after “Monday Morning Apocalypse”. The “Torn” album to me has three bona-fide metal classics in “Broken Wings”, “Soaked” and “Fear”.

If I could I’d crown myself each day
If I could I’d let myself know I’m okay
If I could I’d throw myself into the flames

I don’t know about you, but I keep my inner fears close to me. So when you see another soul, talk about the same feelings, a connection is made instantly. In 2008, I was going through this fear.

You
“You” is a head banger type of song, purely built for the live show. It is also from the excellent “Glorious Collision” released in 2011.

I wear these marks of shame
Not with pride my head’s held low

History tells me that the people who wore the marks of shame are the persecuted ones and I don’t want to persecute myself mentally anymore. Life is all about mistakes and learning from them, however to others life is about mistakes and then making those people wear those mistakes like marks of shame.

And if weakness is a virtue
And an act of strength a pride
Then I am king and misery’s my empire

So many feelings and emotions.

Archaic Rage

Also from the current album, “Hymns For The Broken”.

‘Cause who I am to you does not reflect the truth

A brilliant lyric. I always keep a little bit of who I am to myself. I call it flexing my style to suit my surroundings. The only problem with that is when I explode, it is never pretty.

Dark Waters

Englund read a book called “Communion” by Whitley Strieber and the book affected him very deeply that he decided to base the concept story on the basic feelings and fears of the character in the book .

This song is a guilty pleasure for me. It is also from the 2001 concept album “In Search Of Truth”. It’s got so many different emotions and movements, that it still stands up as a great song, years later. From about 3.30 the song kicks into gear. It is heavy, then it comes down to a ballad like instrumental movement and it starts to build up again. It just keeps on rolling and rocking.

Deprived of all pride
I’ve been stripped of all value

Welcome to the Evergrey world.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Arc

All of our favourite acts have an arc, their popularity comes and goes, no matter how talented they might be. Sometimes it’s got nothing to do with the quality of their music, rather the scene just changes. The fans will let them come back once. Our devotion and the pull of nostalgia are the reasons. After that, they need to stand or fall based on the quality of their work.

Machine Head had a brilliant debut with “Burn My Eyes”, then stumbled a bit with “The More Things Change”, “The Burning Eyes” and “Supercharger” only to return bigger and better than ever with “Through The Ashes Of Empires”. After that they have stood tall based on their quality of their work. Just look at the releases that came after in “The Blackening”, “Unto The Locust” and “Bloodstone And Diamonds”. For me, being a fan since day dot, those stumbles that other people see are all part of a bands evolution.

A favourite band of mine from the Eighties was Ratt. I really liked the DeMartini/Crosby guitar team. So they came onto the scene running out of the blocks with “Out Of The Cellar”. They kept the momentum going with “Invasion Of Your Privacy”, “Dancing Undercover” and “Reach For The Sky”. They then started working with Desmond Child on the “Detonator” album and even though it moved units, it was seen as a stumble. Then the band imploded and they never really came back as a recording force. A 1999, self-titled album came out that did nothing and “Infestation” came out in 2010 which to be honest, based on the calibre of players involved, it was a dead set let down. It looks like “King” Crosby (RIP) was the X-Factor behind Ratt’s success.

Motley Crue had notched up a lot of wins and then in 1992 they dropped a bombshell and Vince was out. They dug in deep and delivered a stellar album in 1994, with John Corabi on vocals, however the market didn’t reciprocate. Blame the times, blame the change of vocalist, blame the lack of record label support. Then Vince was back in and “Generation Swine” followed that further alienated the majority of the fan base with its industrial leanings. Then Tommy was out and “New Tattoo” followed which led to a club tour and talks that the band was washed up.

No one saw the comeback that would come on the backs of “The Dirt”. The “Carnival of Souls” tour with the original band captured that new-found fame and a whole new generation of fans along with the old generation came out to see the Crue. This was followed up by the excellent “Saints Of Los Angeles” album in 2008 and their arc was complete. And now instead of standing or falling based on their new musical output, Motley Crue decided to not participate in making an albums worth of music. We got a single in 2012 and maybe another single will follow next year.

And in 2014, new music is a common theme of contention with artists. Musicians are digging down deep and delivering what they believe is their best work and without the usual old sales metrics not truly capturing the impact of the new music, they believe that the reaction to their new music is…nothing.

In some cases that might be the truth. And in this confusion and fragmented music industry they find it hard to keep soldiering on. But the truth is if they are good, they will have fans that will believe in them. It may not be the platinum armies that the MTV generation grew up with, but just because a musician doesn’t break through to the masses that does not mean they should change direction. A lot of the times it takes a while for the marketplace to catch up with what a musician is doing.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Bloodstone And Diamonds vs The Journals

So I listened to “Bloodstone and Diamonds” quite a bit over the last few days. It’s a solid album.

“Now We Die” is a great way to kick off the album and a relentless tour de’force. I like the connection that it makes to “Halo” during the solo section and the slow ballad like aftermath that builds up again to an epic conclusion.

“Killers & Kings” is like an oldie but goodie by now. It has been doing the rounds for a while now. A demo version with a cover of the Ignite classic “Our Darkest Days / Bleeding” was made available for Record Store Day. I picked up all 4 Tarot Cards releases.

“Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones” will be seen as a metal CLASSIC. It’s got an Iron Maiden “Paschendale” style intro. Then it goes into a Pantera/Black Sabbath style groove. Verses are sung like the Deftones however it still has the classic “Paschendale” guitar line. It’s working title was “DokVanSchenkerSnake”. I am assuming the names mean Dokken + Van Halen + Michael Schenker + Whitesnake. I think that sums up why I like it.

“Night Of The Long Knives” makes it a one to four knockout punch combo. Can’t say I’m a fan of the Manson lyrical content, however the melodies and the music are just pure speed.

“Sail Into The Black” is another “Descend The Shades of Night”. The knockout punches keep on rolling. Especially when the distortion kicks in. The lead break is also a song within a song composition.

“Eyes Of The Dead” kicks off with a sinister “Black Sabbath” style opening. Then it kicks it up. “I am no longer alive” screams Robb. This is the track that was titled “Ojos De La Muerte”, which actually means Eyes Of The Death.

“Beneath The Silt” is down tuned and heavy as lead. I really dig this song. It’s got a sick groove and the vocals are very dreamy atmospheric like in the verses with the typical Robb Flynn aggression in the chorus.

In his Journals, Robb stated that “Beneath The Silt” reminds him of “Elegy” from “Through The Ashes Of Empires”. The song is tuned way down to F# and it has all of those Machine Head trademarks, ala- the beginning of “Ten Ton Hammer”. Then there was the whole “Beneath The Silt” journal post, which was pretty depressing and dark. However with every black cloud there is always a silver lining.

“In Comes The Flood”, Rob’s ode to “America”.

“Damage Inside” was mentioned by Robb via his General Journals. The guitar is all Dave McClain from an MP3 he recorded years ago. The band tried to re-work it a few times, but somehow it was never as cool as the very first pass that McClain did on his laptop. So in the end what we hear is that lo-res MP3, with keys and vocals added. This is the way Flynn described the vocal take in his journals;

“I woke up it was raining on the patina copper rooftops outside my window. It was a pleasant sound. A church was down the street, and on the hour the bell would toll. It’s a beautiful city and looking out every morning with a gloriously mild hangover, looking at the patina and gold rooftops, listening to the rain, it was inspiring. I needed to write the lyrics and sing on one last song on the record, a really mellow piece that Dave had written and played guitar on, and that Jordan Fish and I had worked out a keyboard arrangement on. I named this track “Damage Inside.” Our friend Biffen had booked us time the next day at a studio called Top Floor studios, and that morning I woke up, wrote the lyrics on my iPhone notes, a lot of which were what I was experiencing in Gothenburg, the first lines I wrote were:

“The bell tolls on as the rain comes down
On my face the drops they sound
I slowly melt into grey abyss
Depression and her endless kiss”…

I walked over to the studio cross the street from the hotel, and sang the vocals. I free-styled the rest of the lyrics, making it up in the booth. And somehow, after 2 nights of quality raging in Gothenburg, my voice had this perfect vodka and cigarette “rasp”, I don’t know if I could have gotten it otherwise. It was exactly how I’d envisioned it, even though I had no idea how was going to end up.”

Love the narrative more than the actual song at this moment. It just felt that it needed that extra five minutes to it, to make it complete.

“Game Over”
That intro man brings memories of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I felt like throwing my work table outside the window the first time I heard it. Then the Chorus kicks in and it’s like a punk song. Brilliant.

From reading the journals, I wonder if this is the song that was formerly known as “Blazing Saddles” that just wasn’t working and on the 2nd to last day of rehearsals McClain and Flynn deconstructed “Blazing Saddles” into a far simpler structure. As Robb noted, “Less of a Slayer/Slipknot vibe, and more of a “Screaming For Vengeance”-era Judas Priest feel to it. Appropriately, it has now been given the working title: “Simmering Saddles”.

Or is it “Sharkbite Days Revisited”.

“Imaginal Cells” is the “Real Eyes Realise” song that Robb Flynn has been talking about. It’s a cool song musically however I would have loved to hear some vocals on this. The audio collage is of spoken word snippets by Dr. Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman, taken from their audiobook “Spontaneous Evolution”.

“Take Me Through The Fire” ends the album but it doesn’t have the same effect as the previous closers, in “Descend The Shades Of Night”, “A Farewell To Arms” and “Who We Are”.

I am still keen to find out which titles “Sharkbite Days Revisited”, Falsetto Sunrise” and “Riffnado” ended up being.

Also the final track listing should have been as follows;

Now We Die
Killers & Kings
Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones
Night Of The Long Knives
Beneath The Silt
In Comes The Flood
Game Over
Sail Into The Black

It’s a killer package.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Digital Summer Compendium

Digital Summer

Who?

It’s criminal that a lot more people don’t know of them however there is a certain part of the U.S that does. And that seems to be growing a little bit at a time. The original three from 2006 are Kyle Winterstein on vocals, Ian Winterstein on guitar and Anthony Hernandez on bass.

It actually all starts with Kyle Winterstein. One of his bands “Shaded Grey” fell apart due to pregnancies, coke addictions and alcoholism which led to Kyle getting a real job with the fire department as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). But, he never stopped writing. And then fate would have it that his brother’s band “ADL” would also fall apart, which offered Kyle a guitarist and a bassist and with the addition of Kyle’s old guitar player, Digital Summer was born.

Forget You

Start here. It’s the opening track from the fan funded “Breaking Point” album released in 2012. The “Kickstarter” goal was $25,000 and the band ended up raising over $50,000.

The track features Clint Lowery from Sevendust. From a rock perspective, the song is heavy, angry, to the point and very catchy. The intro is like a car crash and it is the perfect energy for the live arena.

“Shut your mouth
I’m done listening to you”
It’s over, it’s over
I’ve had enough were through
I’m taking back
The person that I used to be
Before these scars
Before your lies
“So fuck you, forget you, goodbye”

The last line seals the deal. It is simple and it makes the point pretty clear. The end result is that “Forget You” is burned into my DNA. I have played it over and over and over again.

Counting The Hours
It is the title track from their 2010, album. This song is more rooted in the alternative metal sound. While “Forget You” is more frantic, “Counting The Hours” is slower and groovier. You can hear the Sevendust influence.

“There’s nothing like an apocalypse to open your eyes”

What a great protest lyric!

Just Run
Another up-tempo, frantic and angry track. Even though it is from the “Counting The Hours” album released in 2010, it’s lyrical theme is very similar to “Forget You” from the 2012 “Breaking Point” album.

Keep on talking we’ll find out
What you’re made of

Did you know that angry music can actually make you feel better? It brings out the emotions necessary to cope with a negative situation. And when you hear someone else tearing into a person that wronged them, you know that you are not alone in the world. You know that others feel the same pain that you feel.

Wanted To Love You
The foot is off the accelerator. It is a ballad from the 2012, “Breaking Point” album and in my opinion it is one of their best ballads. It’s about the feel, the plaintive vocal that showcases Kyle’s voice, the sampled music echoes and the digital delayed guitar lines in the chorus.

These city streets reflect my thoughts and moments that should have been with you

You feel consoled when you hear it. It’s a haunting song that made an undeniable impression upon me.

I’ve wanted to love you for so long
I just need to
It’s the only thing left
That this empty heart can do

Suffocate
It is from their 2007 debut album, “Cause And Effect”.

Another day, another sunrise
Calls to me
Saying get out of this place

The place can be a relationship, the town, your occupation or just a real shitty situation. With each new day, there is a new hope. Carpe Diem, I say.

Disconnect
The opening track from “Cause And Effect”. Everyone can relate. We’d experienced love and the disconnection therefrom

Disconnect me
From this awful dream
This world is not designed for me
I reject this reality

We are constantly connected today in our lives. That is where the world is at right now. That is why this song connects. We have all wanted to disconnect for a while when things go to shit.

Breaking Point
The title track from their 2012 album because the breaking point is where everyone was at. They either had to band together  or it was just going to fall apart.

I’m on a downward spiral
Past the breaking point

We’ve all been there at some point in life. I feel the lyric, the message. In my case, the breaking point led to the band falling apart. The drummer had two kids from a previous relationship. His current partner had one kid from a previous relationship. Then his ex had two kids with her current partner and the drummers current partner wanted to have a kid with him. He was bringing his shit into my life and I didn’t like it.

To top it off, the bass player just had a baby with his current girlfriend. He also has a kid from a previous relationship. The bass players current girlfriend also has three kids with two different dudes and due to her drug addiction, had those kids taken by the Department Of Community Services.

To top it off even more the vocalist was torn by what his parents wanted, which was a degree and a well-paying job versus his desire to be a musician. So his focus shifted from the music to “why aren’t we making millions”. I was at the breaking point alright.

So Beautiful, So Evil
Another track from the “Counting The Hours” album.

She’s so beautiful, so evil

It is lost deep within the 16 song album however it is a great track with excellent dynamics. Love that guitar melody line in the Chorus.

Use Me
Another track from the “Counting The Hours” album. Morgan Rose from Sevendust makes an appearance on drums.

Put our problems behind us and just for this moment pretend everything is alright
Let me use you…. And I’ll let you use me
Let me use you…. To forget these memories

We all have this incredible urge to connect with a soul mate because no one wants to be lonely. Life is about the yin and the yang. You can’t be happy without being sad.

Sick Inside
It is from their 2007 debut album, “Cause And Effect”.

I can see right through,
Your distorted views
I know whats underneath
Its nothing real

Relationships that go bad are like a locust swarm on green fields. The person that leaves the relationship, leaves you stripped of resources both financially and mentally. We always take a while to see through the masquerade because we don’t want to be lonely.

Love And Tragedy

It is also from their 2007 debut album, “Cause And Effect”. It’s got movements and breaks. It’s atmospheric and it’s progressive. It’s catchy and groovy and listen to that guitar sound!

The waves crash down all around me
And consume all the air I breathe
The sirens sing to me in my sleep
A familiar song of love and tragedy
But the sun wont shine were the shadow grows
Yet my heart beats still, so tell me is this real
Tell me is it real

It’s all about the flood, washing away our sins. As I mentioned before, the yin and the yang. How can you know what love is if you haven’t experienced loss and tragedy.

While The City Sleeps
Another track from the “Counting The Hours” album. The song is a modern-day take on a clichéd theme from the Eighties. Bruce Springsteen said it in “Born To Run”, The Animals said it first with “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” while Journey told everyone to “Don’t Stop Believin”. The song is honest, sincere and inspiring.

While the city sleeps
We’ll make our way thru the night
Taking nothing to remind us
While the city sleeps
We’ll leave this world behind
Hoping they never find us.

No one has to know
We’ll just get up and go
Only guided by the night the stars and the road
With the destination nowhere
We don’t care
As long as it’s
Anywhere but here

They went out and set up their own label in Victim Entertainment which gives them a power to control their destiny. It’s a more difficult road. From a business perspective they would make more money as independent artists than they would on a major for a band of their size and stature. They turned down every record deal because they didn’t like the terms offered. They didn’t have the luxury to buy themselves onto a tour, which is known as a “buy on”.

But they had a work ethic and a business plan.

For Digital Summer another breakthrough came via Sevendust when Kyle became friends with Morgan Rose. The tour they did with Sevendust after that was a turning point. A management deal with “In De Goot” followed. SiriusXM Octane was willing to take a chance on an unsigned band.

The music industry is a brutal industry and the odds are stacked against the artist. Even if you’re the greatest musician, it doesn’t mean that people will hear you or care. And at the moment there is no shortage of bands trying to make it, with zero business minds.

This is not the ’80s. The industry has changed so much, it’s a different game right now.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Music Is All About Change

The new music industry is all about change.

Do you think that if you pull your music from Spotify that it is not available on YouTube with ad support (which means income) and with no ad support (which means no income).

The new music industry is about exploring different business models and seeing which one works for you.

Black Veil Brides had a Pre-Order pledge campaign for their new album and the perks on offer just kept on getting sold out. First week U.S sales are anaemic at 29,925 however does that mean that the album is not popular or that it is not a success. Go on YouTube. The BVBArmyVEVO account shows 2,206,786 views for the “Heart Of Fire” video, 1,208,958 for the “Faithless” audio and recently a clip went up for the ballad “Goodbye Agony” and that has already accumulated 464,059 views. Compared to their big song “In The End” with 36,560,728 views, you can see that the fan base is experiencing the band in many different ways. In this case, the band and their team (record labels, managers, accountants, lawyers and publishers) are making money from the Pledge Campaign, YouTube views, streams on other services, physical sales, mp3 sales and radio plays.

Coheed and Cambria had a vinyl remastered re-issue of “In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth” which sold out its first pressing and then they went on a sold out commemoration tour of the album. They are remaining relevant even though their last album came out in February 2013. For them, 2014 was all about touring, vinyl sales, special edition live box sets and merchandise.

Basically new business models from bands are reshaping the way music is marketed and distributed. There are countless new artists emerging and there are countless new ways for fans to listen to those artists.

The music industry of the past consisted of great control. Distribution in those days consisted of record stores. Technology has made way for new opportunities, thus creating new models. The internet has eliminated a lot of past costs within the music industry; this goes for the way music is recorded, the format of music, the marketing, and especially the distribution outlets. New models have taken away the control aspect.

Digital Summer recently asked a Facebook question to their followers about how does everyone find new music. They wanted to know how their fans had heard of them and where they usually hear new music they like? I went through the comments and grouped them into categories.

Radio like Sirius XM Octane, local terrestrial stations, Pandora, Slacker Radio, iHeart, etc got 137 votes for 26%. At this point in time radio is still the best way to get your music out there. However it is the Live show that seals the deal for the band.

Live Shows especially comments around the opening slot that they had on the current Volbeat tour got 121 votes for 23%. It looks like the band really delivers on stage. Also the comments kept on saying that the band members took time out to meet newly converted fans and showed them where they can get free downloads of the band’s music. It’s all about connecting with fans folks.

Word of mouth from fans or band members got 63 votes for 12%. With the internet connecting everyone, I expect this to be more relevant.

YouTube via the algorithm suggestions got 57 votes for 11%. The tech industry is fragmented. When you combine the platforms like YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, MySpace, Online publications, other online platforms and Amazon, you get a 37% reach from the Techies.

Spotify via the similar artists feature got 30 votes for 6%

Twitter via the band members following someone and that someone goes on to check the band out got 25 votes for 5%.

iTunes via the Genius or suggestions based on previous purchases got 25 votes for 5%.

Promotions like having cool looking merchandise, flyers, giving away free demo CD’s, having their stickers plastered all over town, endorsement companies, music stores got 16 votes for 3%.

Other Online Platforms like Reverbnation, Soundcloud, Google Play, XBOX Music, Last.fm, Gaming Music Videos got a combined 13 votes which also equates to 2%.

Instagram via the band members liking photos posted by users or following users got 10 votes for 2%. This was a surprise, however the work that the band members have done on this site is astounding. One fan commented that they are a Gemini Syndrome fan and when they posted a photo of Gemini Syndrome on Instagram, one of the Winterstein brothers liked the photo. The soon to be fan, clicked on his account, saw they had a band, checked out the band and then became a fan.

Facebook and MySpace got 10 votes each for 2%. Goes to show that while Facebook is a good tool for connecting with fans once you have them, it is not a good tool for finding new fans.

Online publications like Stereogum, Loudwire, Jango, Revolver, Ultimate-Guitar got 6 votes for 1%. This is another fragmented industry. The online publications offer no substance, no personal opinion. It’s just all thumbs up, pat my back and I will pat yours style of reporting.

The Pirate Bay/Torrents got 4 votes for 1%. Looks like copyright infringement is not such a big issue.

Amazon got 3 votes for 1%. This is how I found out about the band. Their “Counting The Hours” album came up with bands I might like based on my purchases.

So what does tell any new artist trying to build a career in music.

Be ready to change on the whim and be ready to try different ways of promoting, connecting and marketing your music.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Vivian Campbell Compendium

In June 2013, Vivian Campbell announced that he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In November 2013, Campbell said he was in remission from the disease. Then the cancer was back and Campbell is undergoing stem-cell treatments for it. In the meantime, Trixter’s Steve Brown will be filling in for at least four shows while Campbell undergoes treatment.

Killing Time
The first time I heard “Killing Time” was when I purchased the single for “The Unforgiven” from Metallica. So I went looking for the original band’s version which back in 1992 proved impossible. Sweet Savage was Vivian’s first band at the age of 16. The guitar styling’s included a heavy dose of Thin Lizzy with blues inspired leanings courtesy of Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck and Gary Moore with a quickened punk-escue tempo. Add to that mix the Northern Ireland upbringing of the members. Two members were Catholic and the other two were Protestants. That was Sweet Savage and with time they became seen as one of the true unsung pioneers of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.

As bands from the NWOBHM started to break out and make it, Sweet Savage were still knocking on every door and exhausting all their possibilities. By 1982, Campbell knew Sweet Savage was not going to make it. Determined to make a living playing guitar, Campbell actively looked for another gig. Sweet Savage never made it big but in a way they did, they just changed their name to Metallica.

All of our heroes need to start somewhere and it was through Sweet Savage that Jimmy Bain heard Vivian play.

Rainbow In The Dark
He co-wrote “Rainbow In The Dark. 1983 was a big year for the rise of heavy metal and hard rock as a commercial force. While “Holy Diver” and “Stand Up And Shout” (which Vivian didn’t co-write) warmed up the fan base it was “Rainbow In The Dark” that mobilised them and sealed the deal. After the “Holy Diver” album went gold in the U.S., Campbell gave his father the framed gold album, which he hung proudly in his office. In relation to money, the road crew was making more than what the band was making.

The Last In Line
One year later and you are hearing another masterpiece. That guitar intro, the vocal, it’s like we were all children stepping out in the big world and never knowing if we will come home, but the magic we feel at that moment is worth a lifetime. The power of rock and roll. Once upon a time, music was the anti to the establishment. Forget the Top Forty charts, they were nearly meaningless for metal and rock bands until MTV took a stranglehold. The bands had hit songs but those hit songs lived in our hearts and minds as well as on the concert stage.

Egypt (The Chains Are On)
And the final track on album has an undeniable guitar riff. It is slow and all about the groove. And then there is Dio’s dreamy vocal. Now that is a rock star.

King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll
Another year later takes us to 1985 and this is my anthem…

Sacred Heart
The title cut off the third album, a satisfying cut that is made special by its nod to classic rock. But this was ’85, and bands like Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth started making an impact. And unfortunately, the band at this time couldn’t replicate the quality of the first two records. Was it the money equity issues or something else? And when you talk about the band Dio, you talk about the classic line-up, one of the best in rock and roll.

Stars
This would burn up Spotify if released today as the whole pop market is built around telling teenagers that they are stars. It’s written by Dio, Campbell and Bain however Campbell and Bain where the initial drivers. Stupid record label politics delayed the release of the song until 1986 which diminished its impact.

Campbell has stated in numerous interviews that his departure in 1986 stemmed mostly from Ronnie’s unfulfilled promises of equity ownership in the band after the third album. It was the difference between being a salaried musician and dividing up a pool of performance revenues and royalties in the millions.

There is a YouTube clip where Ronnie James Dio says “I hope he f***** dies, he is an asshole.” Dio further goes on to tell the eager autograph hunters if they have heard some of the things that Vivian has said about him. And then Dio answers his own question, by saying that Campbell called him the most despicable human being and from listening to it, Dio believes that Campbell should be grateful because Dio believes that it was him that made Campbell a star. Basically, money is the root of all evil.

Vivian then hooked up with Whitesnake in 1987, and played on the bands most successful world tour ever. However he didn’t stay with the band because when it came time to submit music for the follow-up album to the mega successful 1987 album, Campbell saw that he was not needed. During this time the past came knocking again. Wendy Dio called to see if he was interested in joining forces with Ronnie again. However the bitter split over money still lingered and nothing eventuated. So by 1989, Campbell was out of another band. A production gig came up with Riverdogs and a Lou Gramm appearance on his solo album. The production gig led to Vivian becoming a permanent member in Riverdogs, who released an album to critical acclaim but had lacklustre support from their record label. The Lou Gramm appearance led to “Shadow King” Lou Gramm’s new band, which had limited success, and Gramm eventually returned to Foreigner.

Water From The Moon
It’s from the Riverdogs debut. It is track two on side 2 of the LP version or track number 7 on the CD. It was also the B-side to the “Toy Solider” single. You had to go deep into the album to hear it. The song is written by Vivian Campbell and Rob Lamothe. Rob Lamothe on vocals sounds like a cross between John Mellencamp, David Coverdale and Paul Rodgers.

I picked up the “Riverdogs” album along with the “Shadow King” album at a second-hand store for $4. It’s totally forgotten today. The classic line up was Rob Lamothe on vocals/guitars, Vivian Campbell on guitars and Nick Brophy on bass. It came out on EPIC Records and it fizzled out due to lack of label support. It was a big step away from the 80’s metal/glam genre and more of a nod to the gritty rock albums of the 70’s. However, the label marketed it as another hair metal album and then a week after its release they shelved it.

And of course there’s outstanding guitar playing from Vivian Campbell. Not only is the guitar playing phenomenal, it is full of emotion and feel. Also credit deserves to go to bassist Nick Brophy who stepped aside as the lead guitarist to make room for Vivian Campbell.

The only way I knew about Riverdogs in Australia was via interviews in the Guitar Magazines with Vivian Campbell. Otherwise they didn’t get on radio or any store promo whatsoever. So if people don’t know about it, how can they invest their time in it.

Shadow King came next. The members included Foreigner lead singer Lou Gramm, guitarist Vivian Campbell, Lou Gramm’s former Black Sheep and then future Foreigner bandmate bass player Bruce Turgon, and drummer Kevin Valentine. Bruce Turgon, was the secret ingredient, being a long-time friend of Lou and co-writer of the majority of the songs. Vivian actually co-wrote a couple of songs however the majority Lou Gramm and Bruce Turgon wrote the majority of the album. While other “supergroups” like Bad English and Damn Yankees were tearing up the charts, Shadow King got ignored. It’s a forgotten release by one of rock’s greatest vocalists.

They released a self-titled album in 1991 on Atlantic Records. Keith Olsen was on hand to produce. My other favourite tracks like “What Would it Take”, “Once Upon a Time”, “Anytime, Anywhere”, “Don’t Even Know I’m Alive”, “I Want You”, “This Heart of Stone” and “Danger in the Dance of Love” are written by Bruce Turgon and Lou Gramm.

Russia
Great acoustic playing and vocal melody – what is the lyrical message… It comes in at track 10 and it’s written by Vivian Campbell and Lou Gramm. It’s actually the only song that has a Campbell co-write.

One Dream
From 1991, a classic AOR gem. From the delayed guitar intro, to the Bad Company style verses, to the Def Leppard style choruses, the song is brilliant throughout. Add to that mix the brilliant voice of Lou Gramm and you have a classic rock song. Vivian Campbell delivers a stellar lead break as well. It’s a shame it got lost in a crap movie soundtrack. For the uninitiated it was on the “Highlander II: The Quickening” soundtrack.

Shortly afterward, Vivian Campbell announced he was leaving Shadow King to join Def Leppard. Although replacements were considered, the band members eventually went their separate ways, with Gramm and Turgon joining the reunited Foreigner in 1993.

That first year, Campbell was a salaried player. Then by the “Slang” album he became a full-fledged partner in the band.

Work It Out
“Work It Out,” is one of the more quality songs on “Slang” which came out in 1996. It’s got that cool tremolo guitar line happening throughout the start and a very heavy leaning towards a certain Scottish band called “GUN” and their song “Better Days”.

It was bittersweet. “Slang” was the first Def Leppard album that did not achieve platinum success in the U.S. It was too much in left field. Radio stations wouldn’t play Def Leppard because the songs from the new album did not sound like Def Leppard. They also wouldn’t play the old songs because they represented the ’80s.

Truth
It’s also a Vivian Campbell composition. The album version has nothing on the demo version. That is where it was at. It rocked and it rolled. Great guitar intro, but that overall industrial drum sound just doesn’t sit right with me. Then the whole Eastern Arabic lead break and breakdown reminds of “The Tea Party” which is a cool connection.

The “Slang” album was quickly forgotten. The ’90s was a tough time for all the Eighties rock bands. Some broke up and some just gave up music all together.

To Be Alive
The band’s next record, “Euphoria,” went gold in the U.S. It featured Campbell’s song, “To Be Alive,” from his solo band, “Clock” and their album “Through Time”, and a return to their signature sound. It’s got beautiful guitar playing and that classic major key feel from songs like “Two Steps Behind” and “Hysteria”. Great ballad and great lyrics. The songwriters are listed as Vivian Campbell and P.J. Smith.

Paper Sun
It’s 1999 and the recording business is in the throes of Limp Bizkit, Britney Spears and every other act that didn’t have roots in the Eighties. This is a song that just screams “HEAR ME”. It is a forgotten Def Leppard classic. From start to finish it is a masterpiece. It’s written by Vivian Campbell, Phil Collen, Joe Elliott, Rick Savage and producer Pete Woodroffe.

Guilty
Up tempo derivative version of “Hysteria” merged with “Animal”. It is written by Phil Collen, Rick Savage, Joe Elliott, Vivian Campbell and Pete Woodroffe

Day After Day
Another forgotten Def Leppard gem. How good is that break down riff before the solo and then that solo is a nice little song within a song composition. This one is written by Phil Collen, Joe Elliott and Vivian Campbell.

Then came “X” and outside hit makers were brought in, but unfortunately the vocal melodies just didn’t do justice to the excellent music. When I picked up X with the black background cover and the white X, I had in my head that it would sound something like Bad Company’s self-titled debut, as I was really hoping that Joe Elliot would try to push his voice in more of a Paul Rodgers/John Mellencamp direction. It wasn’t to be.

“Songs from the Sparkle Lounge” was done rather quickly compared to Def Leppard standards and it stands as a favourite of Viv’s. However it is another forgettable album. The Vivian Campbell cut “Gotta Let It Go” has a cool and very heavy “Have A Nice Day” chorus.

Vivian Campbell still has more to say, so here’s to a speedy recovery.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Unsung Heroes

Music Lives Because Of Sharing and Copying

We all want to first and foremost SHARE something. If you go to Facebook, people are sharing their day and their lives. Go to any internet page and you will see people sharing photos, writings, music, opinions, stories, etc. And all the things that we share are all free. We do it for free.

However, the recording industry will say that artists cannot survive without being paid. What the recording industry is saying is that the recording industry cannot survive if they are not getting paid. Artists NEED to create. And there are artists who WANT to make money from those creations. And a few of them actually CAN make money from their creations.

As always, there are lots of bands created every day. Only a few survive. Only a few of them make enough money to live. And only a very little few of them make a lot of money. That has always been the same. We know of Motley Crue, but how many bands were there in L.A at the time? How many of them have we never heard of? We know of Metallica, but how many bands were there in San Francisco at the time? How many of them have we never heard of? We know of Accept and Bonfire from Germany, but how many bands were there in Germany at the time? How many of them have we never heard of? Get my point.

The difference now is that musicians can reach many more people and they don’t need a whole industry for that, and the industry is frightened about it.

Music will always exist along with people’s need to share it. The fact that we have music alive today is because it was shared and copied from day dot.

Music is about beauty and beauty has no real set price. For super fans, that beauty could be worth thousands of dollars in music, merch and concert purchases. For others, the beauty could be worth a few dollars and for others that beauty could be worth just the enjoyment.

If we listen to a song and we like it, we will listen to more songs. We could purchase a CD, we could download an album, we could purchase a ticket to a show or a T-shirt. Hell, we could even fan fund the next recording. That is how the fans build social communities around their favourite acts. They chat about them to another person. Then they share the music that they love. And once upon a time, there was no law forbidding this. Information was exchanged freely. However when the entertainment industry kept on growing, and when they kept on getting the governments to pass laws to give the industry a monopoly, that is when the repression began.

I bet no one has heard about Paulo Coelho. He is one of the best-selling authors and a few years back he decided to create “The Pirate Coelho”, an non-official fan page that allows people to download the full texts of his books in different languages. And guess what happened. He started selling more books now than ever. Guess you need to balls to try something that is unknown.

In bands, this is a difficult card to play because band members very rarely see eye to eye, so as soon as something goes astray there will be one band member that will start throwing the blame at another band member.

 

 

 

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