A to Z of Making It, Music

Persistence Part 2

There is a recent Dear Guitar Hero article with Tommy Thayer in the Guitar World, May 2013 issue.  The interview was conducted by Brad Angle.

QUESTION: Is it true that you did manual labor tasks at Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley’s houses before becoming a member of Kiss? (Tony Ratoni)

ANSWER: Those are kind of urban myths.  Sure, I started working for those guys part time in the late Eighties, an my credo was that I’d do whatever needed to be done.  And a lot of times when you’re in those situations you do all kinds of things.  I think, somehow, through all the speculation on the internet, people started saying that i did all these strange jobs.  But nothing was strange.  I was just a go-getter that would do whatever task was at hand, which is normal if you wanna get somewhere in your life.  I’m proof that persistence works.  

So all you wannabe artists, are you prepared to persevere.  If you want to be rich, take up banking or get involved technology.  Hell, tech heads are the new rock stars.  They are the cool ones, the ones that people want to hang with as they are rolling in the cash.  If you want to be somebody in music, you need to persevere.  Tommy Thayer was a go-getter for Kiss.  Gene Simmons signed his band Black and Blue and produced two mediocre albums.  He even took one of the Black N Blue songs he co-wrote and called it Domino on Revenge with only himself as the writer.  Tommy Thayer then played the tribute circuit in a Kiss cover band.  This is a period now that is spanning from 84 to 2000.  In 2002 he made his debut as the new Spaceman for Kiss.  He didn’t quit.  He kept on making connections.  He kept at it.

There is a comment on the Persistence and the Meaning of making it post, where Robakers mentioned the persistence of Lars Ulrich in getting Metallica off the ground.  This is so true.  Everyone seems to forget that part of Lars.  He was once a kid, that built connections around the NWOBM music that he was interested in.  He surrounded himself with like minded people.  Eventually one of those people started a label.  Then they where doing a compilation album.  The rest is history.

These days, everyone remembers Lars as the guy that sued his own fans when Napster came on the scene.  That is because, Lars wanted to be part of the corporate elite.  Lars wanted to hang with the rich because he thought it was cool and the rich wanted to hang with Lars as they thought it was cool to hang with a rock star.  Instead of Lars being the stiff middle finger hero to his fans against the corporations, he became one of them.

Standard
A to Z of Making It, Music

Nuno Bettencourt – Guitar World, September 1989

The article was written by Andrew Hearst, and it appeared on page 17 of the September 1989, Guitar World Issue.

“Be sincere.  Whatever you do.  If its Lawrence Welk you’re into or if its Eddie Van Halen, just be honest about it and love what you’re doing.”   Words of wisdom from Nuno Bettencourt, guitarist for Extreme, a Boston – based hard rock band whose self titled debut album was recently released on A&M Records.

A guitarist speaking his mind.  How many people speak their minds these days?  Not a lot, and if they do, they are scared of the haters.  Well guess what, if you seek the limelight, there will always be haters.  Remember, not everyone will love you, but your audience will.  If you love what you are doing, the audience will be able to feel it, they will be able to relate.  Your fans are not stupid, they will know if you are faking it.  Like when Def Leppard delivered Slang, or Motley Crue delivered Generation Swine, or Bon Jovi delivered What About Now or Metallica with Load and ReLoad.  We know that these albums are about chasing some fools gold, chasing an idea implanted in the musicians head by a manager, an agent or a producer.  That is why the people didn’t respond.

Extreme’s first album was produced by the super experienced Reinhold Mack, aka Mack.  His resume is a list of who’s who of classic albums.  Some of my all time favorite albums like Scorpions – Fly to the Rainbow, Deep Purple – Stormbringer, Deep Purple – Come Taste the Band, David Coverdale – White Snake and most of the ELO and Queen albums from 1975 to the mid 80’s had Mack involved, either as sound engineer or as a producer.

Born in Portugal 22 years ago, Bettencourt moved to Boston with his family when he was four.  As a freshman in high school he heard Edward Van Halen and was inspired to pick up the instrument.  Soon he was playing covers and originals in a succession of casual local groups; he calls Extreme his “first really serious band”.

Back in the eighties, bands normally were formed, they would chop and change musicians until within a few months a stable line up was confirmed.  It was expected that once you had a stable line up, you would start to play shows, build an audience and write killer songs.  By doing that, you are creating a buzz, and with that buzz, the good old Mr Record Man Gatekeeper, would come along and make you famous.  What no one told these poor suckers, is that the good old Mr Record Man Gatekeeper will also make them sign contracts that where far from fair for the band.   To put this into context, Extreme, were formed in 1985, signed in 1987, assigned to work with a master producer in Mack so that they develop their songs and sound and their first album hit the streets in 1989.  That is what bands expected in those days.

It doesn’t happen like this anymore.  Labels in the old sense do not exist.  They do not spend money on artist development anymore.  Why? Wall Street.  Labels need to answer to a board of directors and shareholders.  Their memo is to make money, not waste money on artist and development.  Remember Warner Music is going into business with Kickstarter.

“The biggest lack in eighties’ guitar playing is rhythm,” he says.  “There’s a whole other three minutes of a song to be enjoyed.  I love playing solos, but there’s a time and place for that.  There’s a whole other world out there to play with and people are missing it.”

Such balls.  Here is a new up and comer hot-shot guitarist and he is blasting 80’s guitar playing.  To be honest, he is not wrong.  I cannot list the amount of albums i purchased where the songs are lame as, however the guitar solo spot is a song within a song.  Keel is one band that comes to mind.  Yeah they had a few good songs on each album, however the rest of the songs where shite with good solo spots.  MacAlpine is another.  This was Tony’s attempt at having a vocal oriented band around his guitar playing.  The only problem is, you need to have the songs to make it work, not just the guitar solos.  He did it well with Project Driver (the supergroup featuring Rob Rock, Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo), however that was with more accomplished musicians.   Not a lot of people show balls these days.  We all want to be loved, even by the people who only like to hate.

Extreme headlined a scheduled 15 city club tour in April and May.  The group now hopes to land the opening spot on an arena tour.  “We just want a fair shake,” says Bettencourt.

That is what every band wanted back in the day.  Their careers where in the hands of the people who controlled them behind the scenes.  The label, the manager, the booking agent and so on.  They had to rely on all of the above to get a fair shake.  Seriously how fair was that shake to begin with.  All of the above mentioned people, take a generous cut from what the band makes.

These days, the fair shake is up to you.  You determine how high or how low your career goes.  You determine your definition of success.  Adam Duce got fired from Machine Head, because his heart wasn’t in it anymore.  His definition of success was different to what Robb Flynn’s was.  He felt like he toiled for over 25 years and still hadn’t made.  He wanted to be like Metallica.  But there is only one Metallica.  And since he wasn’t as famous as them, he didn’t see the point in continuing.

Standard
Music

Dream Theater

Article at Loudwire

I will be up front here and say that Dream Theater is one of my favourite bands.  I thought i was pretty good guitarist and then i heard Erotomania from the Awake album.  I was dumbfounded.  Here in Australia, we were saturated with the grunge movement.  As a guitarist that meant no solos.  In all of this, you had Dream Theater.   Awake was my first introduction to them, and i quickly went back to Utopia Record Store at Clarence St and purchased Images and Words and When Dream and Day Unite.  That is how we did it back then.  You had to catch a bus, then a train, then walk a little bit, just to purchase music.

250,000 people voted.  This poll/vote contest could seem to be a silly exercise, however it is far from that.  Dream Theater found out that they where in the final, and they put it out there to their fans.  The fans responded.  They took time to go and vote.  That is the key.  Connections.  The DT fans felt enough of a connection with the band, to respond to their call to arms.  They beat Metallica, who makes them look like small fish when it comes to selling concert tickets.  

Dream Theater are in the midst of recording their next album.  They have an online presence.  They all use Twitter and Facebook.  They offer video updates, video interviews and whatever else they can offer.  They even hired Michael Brandvold to be their Internet marketer.  They do Guitar Clinics, Keyboard Clinics and Drum Clinics.  That is a face to face connection.

If the fans respond to the album the same way they responded to DT’s call to arms to vote, expect big things.

Standard
A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Persistence and the meaning of Making It

I just came back from a shopping experience with the wife and the kids.  You leave in the morning, happy, all together and as a family.  You come home, angry with each other, yelling at each other and wondering where did it all go wrong.

Does the above sound familiar to any bands out there?  How many rock stars have called the band they are in FAMILY?  Let me tell you.  That is complete B.S.  Bands are not families and never will be.

90% of the bands have one or two people working hard to get the band running.  In most cases, the songwriting is even done by the same one to two people.  All the organising comes from the same people.  For a while, this is cool, however it then comes to a point where it all explodes or implode’s (depending on which side of the line you are on).  Bands are dysfunctional.  Anyone that tells you differently is a liar.

The difference between a band/artist making it or not making it is persistence.  It could be the love of the music that keeps them going or it could be something else.

Now making it, to me has a different meaning to what others have it.  Making it is being able to live off your music/art.  It doesn’t mean that you are rich.  It doesn’t mean that you sell out arena’s.  It doesn’t mean that you are the mainstreams darling.  It means that you have found a niche, and that niche has found you, and you are in this ride together supporting each other.  You deliver music that the niche desires and the niche rewards you with the support that they desire.  You can make payments on loans and keep the lights on.

So if you are in a band (which to me, is a ridiculous idea if you are the main songwriter) and you expect to be famous like Bon Jovi.  Guess what, it aint going to happen.  The entry-level into music these days is zero.  The gatekeeper model of the past has lost its war with the internet.  Distribution was controlled by the Record Labels.  Not anymore.  Marketing before, was to over saturate the mainstream media outlets like radio, TV, magazines and newspapers with the hope that people will buy blind.  The majors still do this.  The Justin Timberlake 20/20 promotion is living proof, where I even saw his posters in a heavy metal section of a record shop.  Yeah, his album moved a million units in its first four weeks, however, will it have longevity, like Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Adele’s 21.

So what does this mean for you.  How do you get from Point A – starting out to Point Z – making it.

Persistence.  You can never reach Point Z if you quit.  You need to be on this road forever.  Once you are clear on that, you can start the journey.  The first part of the journey is building connections.  These connections are not built by promoting a song you have just released, or telling people you are writing this great song and you can’t wait for them to hear it.

Connections are built by life experiences.  Talk about a concert you went too and how did it make you feel.  Others that went to that concert could latch on.   Talk about your life experiences and pretty soon, hundreds of others will connect that have similar experiences.  That is the start.  Build on it.  Leave the music/art promoting out of it to begin with.

Standard
A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

To be great means you need to be great 24/7

My kids played football today. They went done by five goals. Was the other team that better? It was only 2-1 at half time, I tell myself. All I can say is that the other team turned up to play.

It doesn’t matter how much talent a team has, if they don’t turn up to play on game day they will be made to look second grade.

So what do kids do when they start losing.

They become individual’s, team play goes out the window, and the bad day at the office degenerates into the worst day. Kids want to cry but they suck it in. They are embarrassed.

What does this have to do with music?

Everything. If you are not at your best, if you are not creating content that is great, if you don’t turn up to play everyday, you will be left behind.

You could have released two great songs and people are talking about you, there is interest and then you choke. You fail to deliver. In music second chances and comebacks can happen but the task becomes harder.

Big bands rely on their legacy. Smaller bands rely on their connections with the fans and pushing out great content. Once that stops, people might give you another chance, but don’t expect another one after that if you fail.

In the case of the soccer/football team, imagine if their recent run of form got scouts(aka. gatekeepers) interested. Would the team have been picked up? No chance, opportunity missed for them.

You need to be excellent everyday, all the time.

Standard
Music

The Album

In my view the idea of the album is gone. It doesn’t fit in today’s world. Hell, it didn’t even fit in the old world either. Yes I know some albums are that good, that every song from start to finish had to be heard, however 95% of albums released have two to four, maybe five good songs on them. That is why we purchased them. To listen to those good songs. These days, we just purchase the songs we want, we don’t need the album. However, it remains, as that is how the record labels make money, that is how they trick artists into signing everything away. Artists are signed to album deals. Fans are smarter these days, then the music industry. Fans want to spend their money on artists, however the artists haven’t figured out how to monetize it.

Yes you have artists like Protest The Hero that went to Indiegogo to fan fund their next album. Yes I contributed. Not because they were offering some wam bam fan experience. I contributed because I am a fan, and I wanted their new album. I would have preferred if they had a better fan experience. I would have preferred if they had released a new song by now. I would have preferred if they had a listening party for the fans that contributed of rough demos and sketches or lyrics in progress. Instead I have to wait for the album, and it could be a turd. Or it could be great. Or it could be so, so.

Regardless, people still buy albums. As long as people buy albums, the labels will still order their artists to create and release them. This is where they make most of their money. Kid Rock has moved almost 475,000 physical units of Rebel Soul and is still shifting on average 7000 units a week. It has been out since November 2012.

Shinedown still move on average 3000 units a week for Amaryllis and this album is over a year old being released in March 2012. The band is also approaching the 300,000 sales mark. They are out in tour, working hard, promoting the album. POD and Three Days Grace are also on the same tour, however fans are not buying their offerings. Why. Its crap. I heard the POD album and its garbage. Three Days Grace – Transit of Venus was that bad, even the singer left.

Both Shinedown and Kid Rock are on Atlantic. That is almost 8 million in sales revenue these two bands have come up with, plus they are still bringing in 100,000 each week. Not a bad deal for the label.

Volbeat still move on average 2500 units a week of Beyond Hell/Above Heaven. This album has been out since September 2010. All up they have sold over 220,000 units in the US for this album and their new album Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies was just released this week and it is a good album, however it does have quite a few filler songs as well. Not a lot of bands have two albums three years apart still charting and selling. The fans are spreading the word for this band. The bands mix of metal, punk, rockabilly, country and reggae has found a market. They have worked hard, they are platinum heroes in Europe and have been since 2005, and they have broken into the US market in the last year or so. It’s been a long time coming.

However in all of this I don’t believe the bands are maximising the fan experience. I am including Bon Jovi in this as well. It’s still the old way of doing things. That is they spend months and months recording 15 to 20 songs for an album, and then spending dollars on marketing the album to people that don’t care, hoping that people will buy and releasing a video or two to keep interest up. Once interest starts to dissolve, it’s time to go on tour, with the thought that the album will start selling again because of the tour. There is a lot of hope in the above as the bands don’t know their fan bases. They need to change their way of thinking.

Warner Music is even going via the fan funding route with Kickstarter. They will offer every act that raises $100,000 on Kickstarter a contract. There is a good chance that most acts will turn down the offer, as why would you need a label if you have raised over $100,000 however people do love to have a safety net and an ego to satisfy. There also another way, where if a band gets 1000 people to donate, they will get offered the deal as well. Warners has effectively moved the cost of recording and developing artists onto the fans. If the artists fail, there is no loss to Warner. If they blow up and become sensations, there is a win to Warner. Either way, Warner doesn’t suffer.

And the reason why I am mentioning this. Warner Music is the parent company to Atlantic Records. The music business is about to change again.

Standard
Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music

Polution – Forever And A Day – Classic Song Waiting To Be Discovered

Polution. I came across this band by pure accident. I knew nothing about them. Even Googling the name Polution brings up everything to do with pollution but nothing to do with them. Still I delved deeper into Google. I finally came across some information. You can say their web presence is terrible.

Founded in 1997 and they come from Switzerland. In 2009 they released their debut album called Overheated. Twelve years from when they began. The album I heard was their second album called Beyond Control and it was released in May 2012. I heard it today. Almost a year since it came out. I am not sure why bands these days keep taking a lot of time to record an album. Release frequently and release your best. Four songs at a time, even three. Quality is what matters. No one listens to a whole Foo Fighters album. We just listen to their best songs. Even David Grohl said the same, in the movie they released for their last album.

Live Until You Die. It’s got that sleazy, head banging AC/DC meets ZZ Top La Grange riff. You can even call the riff a rip off. It doesn’t matter, as all musicians are influenced. Music is never created in a vacuum, even though someone like Prince tells you so. The riff is heavy and it makes you pay attention. The drums keep the toe tap feel of the intro riff going. Why couldn’t Bon Jovi release a song like this on the new album? Imagine that, Bon Jovi going back to his Classic Rock roots, taking influence from ZZ Top, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Toto and Styx. Instead Bon Jovi is trying to compete with Justin When Is My Voice Going To Break Beiber and One Direction.

Forever and A Day is by far the best song on the album. It came out of nowhere. After Live Until You Die, I wasn’t expecting a melodic song. Pure class. This is nothing like the previous song. It has got that melodic arena rock style of 80’s. Europe and Scorpions are two bands that come to mind. I even hear a Michael Schenker / UFO vibe merged with Classic Aerosmith. I even hear current Nickelback merged with Hinder. I even hear Adam’s Song from Blink 182. There are so many elements that wash over me sonically. That is what music should be. If you are a music fan, you need to check out this song. It deserves to be heard. It can stand on its own. It doesn’t need a Gangnam style video clip to keep it going. It makes you want to hear the next song. Did anyone care that PSY released a follow up single? Of course not. It was all about the clip and the dance. The song couldn’t stand on its own without the video.

Check it out here on You Tube.

Polution got me interested and I want to tell others about it. They are not banging my head over with the marketing sledgehammer or spamming me to do so. They just released an album, that I came across today, and had a great song on it that I wanted to talk about. It’s not perfect, it’s not original, but it’s human. Their life experiences shine through on the tracks, their influences shine through.

If listeners can listen to any of the above songs, then I have succeeded in getting this band heard above all the other amateur noise that clogs up the Internet. It’s great how the playing field has levelled, because if it wasn’t, I probably wouldn’t have come across Polution. They would have been lost in the regional restrictions of the old ways and available as an expensive import in Australia.

All they need to do is increase their web presence. They still have a MySpace account. Enough said.

Standard
Music

Bon Jovi – What could they have done differently

What could have Bon Jovi done differently with the release of What About Now.

They need to know their audience. The audience are the ones that will spread the word. It is the audience that will spread the word via text, Facebook and tweets. Instead Bon Jovi focused on advertising spending stupid amounts to hit people that don’t really care about the band. Bon Jovi experienced his daughter OD’ing and his family lived through the Jersey wild weather, all before the release of the album. They still could have released the album, but how cool would it have been if Jovi released a song for free about how the storms destroyed his beloved Jersey. How real and true would it have been if he released a song, showing his pain at his daughters subsequent overdose. The songs didn’t have to be released as part of an album, they can be released as stand songs. They don’t need to chart (however I am sure that is what Jovi judges success on). Be real, be true to yourself. Don’t be a fake.

Once upon a time, Bon Jovi had an edge. Through all the years of success he has lost the edge, smoothing up all the surfaces like he is a big window skyscraper. To me that looks pretty damn uninteresting.

The fans know when their favourite musician is telling the truth. So why don’t they do that. The whole Richie Sambora leaving the tour is about smokescreens and dishonesty. Who are the band worried about alienating. The fans care, they want to know what is going one, so be honest with them.

Don’t Act Above Your Fans – Bon Jovi is the CEO of the band, he is part owner of this, has a stake in that, blah, blah, blah… Once upon a time Bon Jovi was just one of the people, one of the kids from the street who was a rebel and had rock n roll dreams. He achieved those dreams, and now he act’s above the people. All this does is inspire people to take swipes at him. If you have success, it means that you will always have haters. Accept it, don’t try to control it. Don’t try to be someone you are not.

Break all the rules, create a great 10 minute song, get a scriptwriter in and make a music video motion picture of another great song, create a concept album, have the movie to go with it, do a small club tour, paying homage to earlier releases like the first two Bon Jovi albums in their entirety. Stop thinking about the $$$$ at the end and start thinking about increasing the fan experience which in turn will bring more $$$$ than ever.

Standard
Music

Bon Jovi’s What About Now drops from #34 to #50

Well its week 4.  As predicted, the worst ever Bon Jovi album has proven to be just that.  It’s moved 2,383 units for the week but the tour is selling out.  That alone should tell Bon Jovi that the music they put out, is completely garbage.  The fans coming to the shows have totally ignored it.  In most cases, i can see fans running to the toilet or to buy a drink when any new song appears in the set.

This album debuted at Number 1 four weeks ago.  It went to number 7.  It went to number 34.  Now it is at 50.

There are fans that are angry at the absence of Richie Sambora due to drinking and partying.  If i was Richie, i would be drinking as well, especially when in the lead up to the album release he was saying that it is the best thing Bon Jovi has ever created.  With a statement like that, i will be hitting the booze as well, as all street cred goes out the window.

Trust is more important these days than sales.  Bon Jovi is moderating its own forums so that they paint a rosy picture.  What are they trying to say to their fans?  We don’t care about your views?  We don’t want to connect with you?  We just want you to give us all of your money, like the one way street of old.  It’s different these days Jon.  It’s a two way street.  If you want to be relevant, you need to write great songs again and again and again.    You need to release them more frequently or just stop releasing new crap music and live of the legacy you created sort of like the Eagles.

Standard
Music

Andy Johns – Rest In Peace and Thanks For the Music

Does anyone remember the band Cinderella?  Tom Keifer had the best blues rock voice ever.  Andy Johns, produced and engineered their first two albums, Night Songs and Long Cold Winter.  Both albums where hits.  That was my first introduction to Andy Johns.  He nailed the glam hard rock sound for Night Songs and then he got he got the blues rock (Bad Company/Aerosmith) inspired sound that the band was going for on Long Cold Winter.

Then came For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge by Van Halen.  Ted Templeman was on board to record Sammy Hagar, as Andy Johns was too demanding for Sammy.  Eddie returning to his hard rock roots and Andy Johns on board to capture it.  It spawned the hit Right Know.

Majority of music lovers will remember the artists and the songs attached to them.  Key players in the history of recorded music are the producers, engineers and the mixers.  They are the ones tasked with getting the ideas of the artist recorded.  They need to please the artists and the record label at the same time.  They do not get the credit they deserve. Alan Parsons deserves more credit for his engineering role, especially on Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd.  Martin Birch should be credited as the god father of heavy metal and hard rock.  Andy Johns alongside him.

Rest in Peace Andy Johns and thanks for contributing to my soundtrack

Standard