Tag Archives: Five Finger Death Punch

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

Band Harmony: Is There Such A Thing?

Who remembers watching interviews or reading interviews from their favourite bands about how much the band members love each other and all of that other rubbish about how great they are for the band.

The cold hard truth is this. Bands/artists want to show a solidarity, a unity.

They don’t want people and fans of the band to see weaknesses, so they try their best to make it look like everything appears fine on the surface.

However underneath it is a different story.

Every biography I have read, from “The Dirt” about Motley Crue, to “Enter Night” about Metallica, to “Lifting Shadows” about Dream Theater, to “Face The Music” about Kiss or to Dave Mustaine’s bio about his career. The same theme is prevalent throughout. The band members didn’t like each other.

No one really speaks their mind as it would cause problems in the band.

Others want to speak up and do more, however since a band member has already taken on that responsibility they step down as they don’t want to step on any toes.

Others want to have their songs included, however they keep on getting rejected or changed until the song loses it’s soul.

So they hold their tongue until it gets to a stage where they can’t anymore and all hell breaks loose.

Look at a few bands that are doing the circuit today and there is a pretty good chance that they do not have the original members in there.

Volbeat – holding on to lead guitarists proved problematic.

Five Finger Death Punch – holding on to bass players and lead guitar players proved problematic.

In This Moment – holding on to bass players, guitar players and drummers proved problematic.

Shinedown – holding on to bass players and lead guitar players proved problematic.

Dream Theater – where do you start. Singer changers after one album, three different keyboardists and a drummer change.

Trivium – changed drummers.

Evergrey – only Tom Englund is the original member.

Machine Head – only Robb Flynn is the original member.

When a record label signs an artist/band, they want to know that their newest signing/s are committed to the cause.

Want some advice.

Sacrifice everything. If you are in a band that means you are only as good as your weakest link. If the other band members don’t have the same committment, then they need to be sacrificed or you need to sacrifice yourself from the band.

If you don’t sacrifice everything then it is just a hobby.

Want to know about sacrifice. About change.

Look at Marty Friedman. Megadeth is on a high, selling platinum records (we’ll excuse the “Risk” album) and Marty Friedman leaves. As a fan of Megadeth and a fan of Marty Friedman’s solo work, I didn’t want it to happen.

Friedman reinvented himself by describing it as the best decision he has ever made, because, he was looking at the music that was making up the Top 10 in Japan and he liked it. Then he compared it to the music that was making up the Top 10 in America and as a musician he felt that Japan was the scene that he should be in.

It takes guts.

I can’t say I was a fan of the music he did while in Japan, however a musician needs to follow their muse. And that is what Marty Friedman did.

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

If You Want To Succeed In 2014

I was listening to Fuel’s new album “Puppet Strings” today.

Fuel was one of those rock bands I latched onto in the late nineties, early two thousands.

Why call it Fuel without Carl Bell?

Why did Carl Bell call it Fuel without Brett Scallions for the “Angels and Demons” album cycle?

Keeping a band together is a job in itself. No one tells you how hard it is. Read about the making of “The Wall” from Pink Floyd. Watch, “The History Of The Eagles” documentary. Read, “The Dirt” or “Face The Music” or “Lifting Shadows” or “Enter Night” and you will see countless examples of bands trying to hold it together.

Listening to the Fuel album got me thinking about the current state of the music business.

We live in an age where only blockbuster albums make serious money.

The income gap divide between the bands that release blockbuster albums and the ones that don’t is growing wider and wider.

The days of paying your dues and breaking through are over.

Now it is all about being great 24/7.

The internet noise has made it almost impossible for messages to rise above it and new releases come out one week and if they are not great, they are forgotten the next.

It’s a cold hard truth. In 2014, you have to be great.

Five Finger Death Punch. Great.

Volbeat. Great.

Avenged Sevenfold. Great.

Skillet. Great.

Gemini Syndrome. Great.

Halestorm. Great.

In This Moment. Great.

All of the bands mentioned above have had albums out for at least 10 months and more, and they are still part of the social conversation.

If you are one of those people who uses sales as a metric of success then all of the above bands are still moving units. However sales are not the only measures of success these days.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, understand how streaming royalties work.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, stop bitching about streaming royalties and re-negotiate with the record label.

Ever heard the story of Loreena McKennitt, who is a Canadian Folk/Celtic/World music artist.

She couldn’t get a record deal. She spent a long time networking and building a connection with her audience. Eventually she created a substantial fan base that started to purchase her music and she was getting 70% of it. When Warner Bros. came knocking, she showed the label what she was making and the “crap contract” that the label came with got torn up and she negotiated a new deal with the label that benefited her as well as the label.

In the end a harp playing harpist had enough bargaining chips on her side that she was able to negotiate a real deal. And then you have people like Scott Ian and other metal heads complaining about piracy and the state of the industry.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, know that it is a relationships business with the fans first and foremost.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, know that the press doesn’t matter. It might make you feel great and it might please your vanity, however it is the fans that break acts.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, you only get ONE SHOT to make a first impression.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, you need to know how to write, play and sing.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, take a note from the Dave Matthews band. They are huge because they have fostered an audience that is more or less a cultural movement.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, you need to keep creating hits. The biggest songs of a band’s career are the ones that didn’t rise up the charts. The fans made them hits in their cultural universe. Seen a recent set list of Metallica or Megadeth. None of the songs ended up as Chart Hits, but they are still hits.

If you want to succeed and make money from recorded music in 2014, know that streaming revenue is just going to keep on rising. If you are on a label and an old contract start re-negotiating right now. Otherwise you will be left behind.

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

Music Trends in Hard Rock and Heavy Metal – What’s On The Up and What’s On The Down

ON A DOWN SLOPE

DAUGHTRY

The band leader, Chris Daughtry messed up big time chasing the crowds of “Train” and “Imagine Dragons”. He was a hard rocker from day dot and that is what gave him his legion of fans. For the ill-fated and recent “Baptized” album, he committed career suicide, throwing his lot with the hit songwriters. The songs are good, however they are not Daughtry songs. It would have been better for him as an artist to have given those songs to other artists that are more electronic pop rock minded. Daughtry needs more music right away and they need it to ROCK.

RECORD LABELS

The major metal and rock labels will continue to sign the bands and artists that had success in the Eighties and Nineties and get those bands to release forgeries of their greatest hits. It’s all about locking up the songs under copyright. “He who owns a lot of copyrights, will make a lot of money in the future, when said artists are dead and buried.”

In relation to new bands, they will sing fewer bands on even more shittier deals and shift their efforts to breaking them. It doesn’t mean that we will pay attention. It will be bands from certain niche’s that will break out and we will gravitate to them.

Also no one wants to pay. Look at the APP business. The highest downloaded APPS are all free ones. And they are still making money. We are happy to provide our private data to Apple and Google, as long as we get what we want, with no strings attached. If a record label has a business model that is dependent upon people paying, re-evaluate.

KIRK HAMMETT

He is out of touch. We live in a world right now that is connected 24/7. A lot of those connections happen because of social media. So his recent, “Ivory Tower” comments about social media show just how out of touch he is. Also from seeing him play live on three occasions, he has made a career on the coat tails of James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Don’t believe me, watch the making of the Black album, especially the scene when Bob Rock tells him that the solo he just put down for “The Unforgiven” is garbage.

HYPE

We can see through the hype and we hate it. So much hype was around Dream Theater’s self titled release and it disappeared from the conversation within six weeks. Megadeth’s “Super Collider” is being outsold by the Black album. Daughtry’s “Baptized” took forever to record and it did nothing. You can’t have a song called “Long Live Rock N Roll” and not have it sounding anything like ROCK. It sounds like that one hit wonder song “I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker With A Flower In My Hair.”

RESPONSE SYSTEMS FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

NAPSTER showed the music business and the entertainment business at large, how fans of music, movies and books want to consume content. They want to download it easily, free of DRM, use it in any way they want and they want to do it for free.

For all of the talentless CEO’s that flew in private jets off the hard work by the artists, this was a big NO NO. So off they went to their lobby group arms, the RIAA and MPAA and they started to lobby hard the governments. The various sister associations around the world started to do the same thing. The best thing they could come up with is a graduated response system, financed by the ISP’s. It failed in France. It failed in New Zealand. In the U.S it is hard to tell, especially when you have a copyright troll like Rightscorp shaking down IP addresses. So if Rightscorp is sending shake down notices to ISP’s, then why does the US have a graduated response scheme?

The bottom line is this, the people who the RIAA and MPAA want to catch are years ahead of them in INNOVATION. And INNOVATION is what they should be focusing on.

THE ALBUM FORMAT

We are challenged with time and we only want the best. Since we are allowed to cherry pick, we will. Heavy Metal and Hard Rock artists need to understand they are in the hit business. It doesn’t matter if they are radio-friendly or not. Each band in each metal and rock genre, needs to create that song that hits us on the first listen.

That is why bands like Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold and Shinedown are so successful. They get the game. That is why Killswitch Engage is successful. Adam Dutkiewicz understands the power of a massive chorus. That is why Trivium is having a career. Over the course of all of their albums, they always had a song that had “hit potential” for the genre they are in.

Making money is hard. Just because a band releases an album, it doesn’t mean that we want to pay for it in its entirety, especially if it has got a couple of crap songs on it. It’s better to release 8 songs that a “certifiable smashes” instead of 12 songs that have four crap ones. However, it turns out the public still has time for Metallica’s “Black” album. It is still moving two to three thousand units a week and it is expected to pass 16 million by May.

Artists need to think about the no limits that digital offers them. We want the good stuff. Artists need to think about how they can provide us the good stuff, without resorting to the album format. Don’t base your career on dropping an album every two years. An artist needs to base their career on constant events.

GOING GOING ALMOST GONE

CLASSIC ROCK

The artists are on their last legs. Motley Crue is ceasing to tour, however stand alone shows, plus new music are still in the works. They have hit the same markets over and over again since their 2004 comeback and in between they have released 3 new songs on a “Greatest Hits” album, 13 new songs on “Saints of Los Angeles” and 1 new song in 2012. The train is slowly coming to a halt.

Aerosmith released a DUD. The train is not a rolling anymore for them. All up, Classic Rock bands have maybe have another 10 years left.

A transition is happening. The younger acts are generating touring dollars, playing smaller venues and at affordable prices. It’s happening.

ON THE UP

STORYTELLING

That is why TV shows are the most downloaded torrents of all time. Tell a good story and the world will be at your door step.

RICHIE SAMBORA

Seeing him in Australia, he is invigorated and he is having a blast. Not having to play second fiddle to Jon Bon Jovi, he is branching out again and this time, his roots are strong enough to balance his branches. The “Aftermath Of The Lowdown” is the best hard rock record from 2012 that went unnoticed because it was released so close to his Bon Jovi work.

Standard
Music

Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch at the Big Top

I wrote this post on Wednesday morning, however I didn’t post it as I was in a rush to get to work and then once work was over I had to rush over to the Richie Sambora show. Then I spent Thursday morning writing up the Richie Sambora post and after posting that, I was off to work and then after work I was off to see Mrs Browns Boys at WIN Entertainment Centre. So here I am, three days after the event, back to this post.

I attended the Five Finger Death Punch and Avenged Sevenfold Sidewave on Tuesday, 25 February at the Big Top in Luna Park. It was my first time seeing them both live so I didn’t know what to expect.

Did I mention that Asking Alexandria opened up?

Yep, they opened up and regardless of how much Revolver Mag creams their pants over them and cross promotes them in corporate sponsorship deals, the bottom line is this; They still need a lot of work. I caught the last three songs of their set and it didn’t make me want to go out and buy them. The best releases the band has done are the cover songs.

I caught up with an old school friend at the show who came one out to watch Avenged Sevenfold. I asked him if he had heard any music from Five Finger Death Punch and he told me that he hasn’t. Half way through the set, he yelled in my ear that he will be downloading their collection when he gets home tonight.

So on to the mighty Five Finger Death Punch. They started with “Under and Over It”. A great selection for an opener and a surprise one. “Burn It Down” came next and to me, the song just didn’t really work in a live setting. “Hard to See” and the show was back on the road.

“Lift Me Up” actually lifted the Big Top. It was anthemic all the way and what a great live song it is. “The Ultimate Sin” vocal melody was sung word for word and the crowd chanted chorus drowned out the band.

“Burn MF” didn’t really do much for me on the recording, however as a live song and the way Ivan Moody gets the crowd involved in the chant, it works brilliantly. This song was the biggest surprise on the night.

Another big surprise was Chris Kael. He looks like a cross between Kerry King and Zakk Wylde and what a performer he is, backing up on clean tone vocals and deep guttural vocals. Definitely a great choice for the FFDP band.

“Coming Down” actually kept the energy levels up for a mid tempo song and the band finished off with “Never Enough” and “The Bleeding”. As a live band, Five Finger Death Punch nail it. It’s no wonder that when they hit a city, sales of their albums increase the next day.

One thing about Five Finger Death Punch that a lot of people don’t understand is that they are sort of like a supergroup of independent bands. Each musician in the band has paid their dues in other bands. Some of those bands had small record deals, some of them played on large tours and some of them just played the club scene. So when you see Ivan Moody, Zoltan Bathory, Jeremy Spencer, Jason Hook and Chris Kael on stage, you are seeing a group of talented musicians who have over 50 years combined in the music business.

On a side note, it looks like Ivan Moody got into some trouble on his Qantas flight from Brisbane to Sydney due to being an intoxicated unruly passenger and assaulting a stewardess. With his past alcohol struggles well documented in his lyrics and interviews, the latest occurrence is just another chapter in this saga. As a fan of the band, let’s hope that the other band members don’t over-react to this, because Ivan Moody is the key ingredient as to why the band resonates and connects with the audience. Changing him will be the death of Five Finger Death Punch.

Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch along with Machine Head, Protest The Hero and Shinedown are currently providing the music for the soundtrack of my life. It is the familiarity of the songs and the energy that familiarity brings that provides the connection. I have this drive home playlist that is littered with A7X and FFDP songs.

So up next was Avenged Sevenfold, with their Machine Head inspired curtain logo opening up to the “Shepherd Of Fire” stage set. Some people in the audience wore Machine Head tops and they were getting heckled for it. It was all in good taste and everyone was having a laugh about it.

It is safe to say that “Shepherd Of Fire” and “Hail To The King” are great live songs. The best of the night along with “Lift Me Up” from Five Finger Death Punch. So regardless of what people call those songs or from what bands A7X and Five Finger Death Punch borrowed from in creating them. They are undeniable in a live setting. And didn’t we resonate and connect with them.

As is the norm, “Shepherd of Fire” opened up the sing along. It’s all about roots. A great song to kick off a concert with a sing along chorus.

“Critical Acclaim” from the 2007 self-titled album followed. It’s a hard song to pull off in the live setting, especially when you are playing a song that has “The Rev” on vocals via a backing tape.

“Beast and the Harlot” from the “City of Evil” album came next. The “City of Evil” album was the one that resonated with me and it was the album that got me into Avenged Sevenfold. I loved that whole Dream Theater meets “A Night At The Opera” approach.

Then it was back to the sing along with “Hail To The King”. I was actually singing “Sign Of The Cross” from Maiden throughout it as a test. “Eternal Rest” from the “Waking The Fallen” album came next and it hasn’t been played live since 2009. Personally, I would have loved to hear “Second Heartbeat” instead.

Then it came to the Nightmare vs City Of Evil part of the set. “Buried Alive” from the “Nightmare” album kicked it off, followed by “Seize the Day” from the “City of Evil” album.

Then the song “Nightmare” was played, followed by “Burn It Down” from the “City of Evil” album. It was also the first time they have played “Burn It Down” live since 2008.

The songs from the “Nightmare” album worked really good in the live setting. It gave me a new appreciation for those songs, as I saw that album as a very confused album and missing some direction.

A little Guitar Solo by Synester Gates introduced “Afterlife” from the 2007 self-titled album , that has that unbelievable shred solo that Synester made it to look completely effortless.

The main set finished off with “Almost Easy” from the 2007 self-titled album.

The Encore kicked off with “Unholy Confessions” from the “Waking the Fallen” album and finished with The Rev masterpiece “A Little Piece of Heaven” from the 2007 self-titled album.

In the same way that all the great bands had a definitive guitar player, Synester Gates is up there from the current trend. He worked that fretboard all night, sweeping up and down it, tapping it, pulling off and hammering on fast legato style leads on it and then doing some machine gun picking on it. This was a TRUE guitar hero.

And memories came back of practicing in my room, honing and refining my skills, hoping that one day, I will get a band together and have people appreciate what I do. It was never about riches. It was about the art of creating and connecting. I look at my kids and if I mention the words “Guitar Hero”, they think of the game. They fail to realise the hard work that goes into the practice.

It was entertaining and I got my money’s worth.

Compared to the Richie Sambora concert, Richie wins hands down. Sambora didn’t play it safe, taking us into improvised jams and sing alongs. Metal bands are not renowned for doing that. They are too scared in case they lose the audience.

What are the chances of metal bands playing it safe? Metal music is known for its rebellion and you have two of the big metal bands today, playing it safe in a live setting.

On a bad note, the $32 parking was a dead set rip off, especially when other venue parking stations charge between $12 and $16 dollars.

Standard
Music, My Stories

Old Friends

An old friend from the “single days” was having a christening for his second daughter. These days, our lifestyles are so busy and with three kids of my own and a full time job, I just don’t have the time to catch up with everyone.

Actually I made a decision about 15 years ago that I would be “unofficially” breaking connections with the old crew. This means that we just stop calling each other and we just stopped organising to meet up. At the time, I just got married, I was working full time (which involved travelling for 3 hours in total to my place of work and back) and I was trying to give my music career a shot. Basically I was walking a different path to my “single” friends.

Then throughout the years, the “single” friends started to get married and then started to have kids of their own along with me having kids. So the only time that I would meet up with them would be at these functions. As the years went by, the paths we all walked on started to became so radically different that when I was at the christening on the weekend, I really didn’t want to be there.

I had nothing to say to them and they had nothing to say to me. It was the usual “HI” and the usual “SO, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO”. My answer to that was “HI” and “THE USUAL”. And the lyrics to “Double Talkin Jive” filled my ears as this conversation was happening.

Back in town an’a all new friends
They sayin’ how ya been?
Fucked up and outta place
That’s how I felt back then

So much living has passed between the “single” days and today, that we are now polar opposites. We are like strangers seeing each other. There is no friendship bond anymore for me. In addition, a lot of “Chinese Whispers” have burned my ears in relation to words said behind my back, so I am very careful around them.

Some of the old crew have remained together, hanging out on weekends and all that, however that is due to the women they got as wives being all friends and knowing each other.

So you have one crew that I call the “Wives Crew”. These are the guys that remained together as “friends” because their wives knew each other. Pantera’s “Walk” comes to mind.

Run your mouth when I’m not around
It’s easy to achieve

Then you have the “Fake Crew”. These are the guys that are all fake. I know this because at one of the functions when they got pretty toasted, they spilled the beans about how hard it is to pretend to like the “Wives Crew”, the “Twins Crew” and the “Backstab Crew”.

Your life’s a lie, that you hide

Then you have the “Twins Crew”. This is the two twin brothers crew, who when single were inseparable and now with wives barely know each other. The older twin by 15 minutes was the one doing the christening and is the one that tries that do the right thing. It looks like the younger twin is under lock and key from his wife, which is causing the issues.

Then you have the “Backstab Crew” that involves two couples that will backstab the “Wives Crew” and “Twins Crew” to the “Fake Crew” and then backstab the ““Twins Crew” and “Fake Crew” to the “Wives Crew” and then backstab the “Wives Crew” and “Fake Crew” to the “Twins Crew”.

Hey! Oh, Mr. backstabbing son of a bitch
You’re living in a world that will soon be dying
And I know, everybody knows you try to be like me
But even at your best, as a man you couldn’t equal half of me

You! You’re another shit talking punk to me
You’re living inspiration for what I never wanna be
And I see, you’ve been blinded by what you believe
And now back up and sit down, shut up and act like you need to be

Nothing sums up the “Backstab Crew” better than “The Enemy” from Godsmack. Legend has it that Sully Erna wrote the song about Nikki Sixx.

And then you have my wife and I. “The Separate Path Crew” that don’t care about what all the other Crews do and that upsets those crews even more. We just don’t fit their mould. And with that, let’s finish the post with some Five Finger Death Punch.

YOU WON’T BREAK ME
NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY
YOU CAN’T SHAKE ME DOWN
I’M FUCKING BULLETPROOF

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

Chaos + Disruption = The Music Business

It’s a chaotic and disruptive time in the music business and with chaos comes opportunity.

On one side you have COPYRIGHT. And that can be broken down into a lot of other little chaotic categories like infringement, the length of copyright terms, copyright monopolies, the lack of works entering the public domain and so on.

The public domain is culture. Keith Richards once said, ‘you can’t copyright the blues.’

Culture is built and expanded by sharing stories and building on the works of others. Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and all of the sixties greats like Hendrix, Clapton and Beck used this concept. They built off the blues.

However copyright law and its real purpose got hijacked by corporations and everything changed. Instead of culture being built up in the works that the public creates and shares, the public is now faced with copyright corporations locking away works that should be in the public domain by now. These works that should be in the public domain do not benefit the original creators in any way, however they are beneficial for the few copyright monopoly gatekeepers.

For culture to thrive once again, it is important to respect the public domain.

Then on another side of the music business you have the RIAA who continually push lies out into the world, so that technology companies can do something to protect crap business models. Did you know that the global music industry sent it’s 100 million takedown notice to Google, to remove search links to certain sites. It looks like the RIAA doesn’t get it.

So if a person types in “free mp3” in Google Search what should Google return?

Sites that have free mp3’s or sites that the RIAA want Google to point to when that term is typed in. Maybe when that person types in free mp3, they want a free mp3 and have no interest in paying.

Then you have the ISP’s on another side that are caught up in the middle of all this as they offer the service that provides internet access to users. According to the RIAA and the record labels, the ISP’s allow “copyright infringement” to happen, therefore, they need to do something about it to help out the music industry. In Australia, this is heavily disputed, however in other parts of the world gradual response schemes are in place.

Then you have the technology companies trying to offer low cost services to fans of music. However, low cost to a fan means high costs to the RIAA and the record labels in licensing fees. This is before the new service is even allowed to trade. If the new service starts to trade without licensing in place, expect them to be litigated into submission.

Have you noticed that artists have not been mentioned anywhere as yet. That is how far the music business has come, where the actual music is only a small part of it, however it should be the major part of it. For the business to thrive, you need great music.

I was looking back to some of the releases in 2013 that I liked. Two of my favourites are “Protest The Hero” and “Coheed and Cambria”.

“Protest The Hero” and “Coheed and Cambria” are working to the “Keep your fan base close” mantra. Both of the bands moved from major labels into a DIY independent mindset, realising that their fans are king.

Exceptional fan service is the key driving force behind a bands success. I expect “Coheed and Cambria” will get a lot more fans purchasing the next super deluxe package for the new album because they did such a great job with “The Afterman” releases.

“Protest The Hero” on the other hand have fallen into the fan funded conundrum where the perks always arrive later than expected for international fans. I live in Australia and I am still waiting for the perks to arrive. The band have been clear with their information, advising that it will take 6 to 8 weeks.

It’s good old business 101, “treat your customers right and they’ll stay with you forever”.

Then you have bands like Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold, Dream Theater, Stone Sour, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Volbeat, Alter Bridge and TesserAct that have label deals.

Should those bands go independent like Protest The Hero or Coheed and Cambria. It all depends on a person’s definition of success and hard work. Going independent means that you need to build a team around you like any business start-up.

What are the benefits of going independent?

The lesson is simple. Selling your artistic freedom and independence as a “success” strategy can bring lucrative rewards. But it’s not always the best move for your career, as you are also selling off important data to the record label. The record label doesn’t want to know your fans or connect with them. They want you to do it, so that the label can make money of that relationship and then pay you a percentage of it.

Coheed and Cambria moved over 100,000 units of their deluxe “Afterman” editions. At $60 (I think it was $68, however I will use $60 for the example) an edition, that comes to $6 million in revenue. If the band was on the label model, what percentage would the band see from that $6 million.

The music market/business is filled with acts trying to make it. It is going to take a huge effort to stand out amongst the rest. Music is a lifer game. It is a slow and steady approach that builds careers.

Artists should be looking at development. With each song release, artists should never be afraid to try things out. Even try out new technologies that make it very easy for their fans to interact with them and their music. In a company, this is called research and development. Investing in your career is never a mistake.

The artists have the power to make the record labels redundant, purely to be used as a distribution arm if needed, however with the rise of streaming technologies, even this arm can be in danger of disappearing. Bands like Coheed and Cambria, Protest The Hero and Digital Summer have seen the recorded business side of things and have decided, hey we can do it better. That’s what great businesses are made of.

So in all of this chaos, who will rise and who will fall? Time will tell, however if you compare music to technology, you will see only a select few rise to the top. Smartphones and tablets is all Apple and Samsung. Amazon has online shopping cornered. Google is the king of search. Spotify will win the streaming war. Facebook rules social media. iTunes rules the mp3 and app market. Will the same fate happen in the music business?

2019 Crystal ball predictions;

Coheed and Cambria – will get bigger and bigger. Their style is unique, so expect them to keep to that style, sort of like how AC/DC releases music in the same style or Iron Maiden.

Protest The Hero – proved to themselves that they still matter. Will get bigger and more crazier. The future of progressive metal.

Machine Head – will still be bigger then what they are. Robb Flynn understands the internet and understands the change that is coming. He will make sure that Machine Head rides the wave all the way to the shoreline, while Adam Duce circles in the undercurrent, ready to litigate the band into submission.

TesseracT – will become the next Pink Floyd.

Digital Summer – are one of the hardest working rock bands around like Twisted Sister and Dream Theater. They will get bigger as they are lifers.

Avenged Sevenfold – will become the new Metallica.

Five Finger Death Punch – I have a feeling that they will break up after one more album.

Shinedown – will be bigger than what Aerosmith ever was.

Volbeat – will remain relevant in their niche genre.

Metallica – will still be relevant in the same way the Seventies act remained relevant.

Dream Theater – will still tour and do a lot of side projects, however they will be replaced by TesseracT and Protest The Hero.

Black Veil Brides – will take over the void left by Motley Crue and Guns N Roses.

Trivium – will deliver an astounding progressive technical metal album.

Killswitch Engage – will remain relevant in their niche genre.

Alter Bridge – The world needs Led Zeppelin to continue. Expect Alter Bridge to fill this void. They have one of the best vocalists of the modern era in Myles Kennedy. Marc Tremonti is a prolific writer. Call his Creed project, “The Yardbirds” and Alter Bridge as “Led Zeppelin.”

Bullet For My Valentine – will deliver their own version of “Master Of Puppets” and “The Blackening”.

Lets see how it pans out.

Standard
Music, My Stories

A Day In The Life of Sevendust, Soundwave and AJ Maddah

I purchased tickets to watch Sevendust open up for Creed as part of their Australian Tour back in March 2002. ONE week before the tour started, Sevendust pulled out due to “undisclosed unforeseen circumstances.” In their place was a band called “Crash Palace”. I was like WHO. I didn’t purchase tickets to watch Creed and Crash Palace. I purchased tickets to watch Sevendust only.

As a Sevendust fan I was disappointed. A week after they announced the “undisclosed unforeseen circumstances” press release, drummer Morgan Rose said that the reason why the band pulled out was that John Connolly’s grandmother passed away and he needed to be there. Also Clint Lowery married his long-time girlfriend and needed to spend more time with her.

In March 2004, Sevendust toured Australia as headliners with support from Sunk Loto and Full Scale. At that time I wasn’t financially viable and I didn’t end up going to the shows.

In May 2006, Sevendust cancelled a planned UK/European tour due to a “lack of tour support”.

In March, 2008, Sevendust toured Australia again.

Then Sevendust where on schedule to appear with Avenged Sevenfold. I didn’t mind Avenged Sevenfold, however I purchased tickets based on Sevendust appearing. Then in July, two weeks before the Australian tour commences, they issued the following message;

“Unfortunately we will not be making the trip to Australia this time with A7X. We will be making plans to come back soon. So sorry for any inconvenience and look forward to our next tour there.”

In 2010, Sevendust pulled the plug on their European tour earlier than scheduled for “circumstances beyond their control” .

In 2011, Sevendust made the trip to Australia, playing Soundwave and they also did a few Sidewave Shows as well.

In November 2013, Sevendust dropped off the “From Death To Destiny Tour” with Asking Alexandria, All That Remains, Emmure and For Today several dates earlier due to a “personal family matter.”

Now we have this issue of the Soundwave cancellation. The way the parties tell it is that the band asked for assistance with additional costs and if Soundwave/AJ Maddah didn’t agree to the request, Sevendust still had a Plan B to get to Australia. However, the rejection from Soundwave/AJ Maddah was a swift denial of their request for additional assistance and a cancellation of their Soundwave spot.

Okay, as a fan it is disappointing when a band you like and purchase tickets to go and watch, don’t end up showing up. Based on the above, Sevendust has built up a healthy trend of cancelling tours. The Australian tour cancellations are always hard to swallow as they happen a week or two before the shows are meant to start while some of the other tours have been cancelled mid-way.

It’s very easy to get caught up on the cancellations and forget the amount of shows that Sevendust play each year. Go to Google and type in “setlist.fm Sevendust”.

In 2013, Sevendust played 116 shows.

For comparison sake, Bon Jovi played 106 shows. Five Finger Death Punch played 78 shows. Coheed and Cambria played 97 shows. Shinedown played 103 shows. Volbeat played 131 shows. Avenged Sevenfold who had the most successful album of 2013 in the metal genre played only 49 shows.

The only band to eclipse Sevendust in the “Road Warrior” title of the year is Volbeat.

2012 was a lean concert year for Sevendust, playing only 19 shows.

In 2011, Sevendust played 120 shows.

To compare again, Bon Jovi played 65 shows. Five Finger Death Punch played 46 shows. Coheed and Cambria played 44 shows. Shinedown didn’t play any shows in 2011, however in 2010 they played 101 shows and in 2012 they played 128 shows. Volbeat played 97 shows. Avenged Sevenfold played 120 shows and shared the honours with Sevendust in the “Road Warrior” title of the year.

2010 saw Sevendust play 69 shows.

So what does the above tell you about Sevendust. They are bloody hard workers, who put in a lot of miles to perform to their audience. Of course it is disappointing that they have had to withdraw from a few Australian tours, however they are in the music business. With any business, why should anyone do something at a loss or if they can’t make any money from it. The only crime from Sevendust is not being transparent enough. We live in an information society and the fans wanted the information straight from the band.

As the war of Twitter words escalated, the story started to become clearer however that was all too late. The band has the attention of their fans via Facebook and other social media outlets. They should use that notice board to communicate with them in a proper personal way, not in the PR way of “unforeseen circumstances beyond our control”.

For any band to tour Australia it is a costly exercise. With our declining dollar, it will make it even more costly. I remember the nineties and the early two thousands. Not a lot of metal bands toured Australia when our dollar was worth 50 cents US. It wasn’t worth it.

AJ Maddah calls Sevendust pissweak for cancelling on him on three occasions. So what about the 314 shows the band has played since 2010. Three Australian tour cancellations vs 314 shows. I don’t call that pissweak.

Standard
A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Influenced, Music, My Stories

Avatar

It’s hard to believe that “Black Waltz” is Avatar’s fourth release. Of course as is the norm these days for me, they are another band from Sweden and the famous Gothenburg melodic death metal scene. It looks like my love affair with Sweden continues. Of course, no one can touch my favourite band, which is the mighty “Evergrey”.

I was interested to check this band out after the guys from Five Finger Death Punch mentioned in an interview that Avatar’s new album is doing the rounds while they are on tour and that it is influencing them in the riff department.

The best way to describe their music is like a circus freakshow. Even one of their songs is titled “Smells Like A Freakshow”. Like Blowsight, Avatar has just so many elements in their music.

Industrial rhythms (like Rammstein) – check

Old Time Rock N Roll boogie – check

Swedish melodic death metal scene (like In Flames) – check

Twisted evil persona’s (like Marilyn Manson) – check

Hyperactive metal (like System of A Down) – check

Modern Metal elements (like Disturbed) – check

Technical Metal elements (like Meshuggah, Sikth) – check

Melodic, arena sized choruses – check

And that is what I got from listening to Black Waltz. A bizarre, melodic, psychotic freakshow.

They started out as a traditional melodic death metal band back in 2001. Since then they have tweaked their sound up to something very unique. Vocalist Johannes Eckerström (the Clown), growls his way through verses and when the choruses come, he turns on the melody.

“Paint Me Red” is about a girl hurting inside and pictures suicide. “Smells Like A Freakshow” is about standing up for yourself and not letting people get you down because they think you are an oddball or a freak. Other favourites include “In Napalm”, “Let It Burn” and “Torn Apart.” Seriously that section from 3.43; it’s like Enya/Enigma with a gothic metal touch. If anyone claims that part doesn’t get their attention they are lying.

So I went on Spotify to see how the band rates there.

So all the above songs except “In Napalm” are in the Top 10 of songs streamed the most.

“Paint Me Red” has 126,338 streams.

“Let It Burn” is the champion at 630,427 streams.

“Torn Apart” has 259,870 streams.

“Smells Like A Freakshow” has 229,755 streams.

We are all looking for greatness. We all want to share what we love. The biggest strength of the album is how it is able to be experimental, yet feel perfectly designed.

That is how you triumph today. You need to be experimental and spontaneous, however it needs to feel cohesive. The Top 40 is all about committee writers and generic songs. When an artist comes from left field, the Top 40 is shocked to its core.

The world today has people paying to get their story spread. Anyone heard the recent viral sensation called “Batkid”. It turns out that viral sensation had a lot of help from some paid friends. Read the story yourself. It was manufactured.

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/11/22/Batkid-Brand-112213.aspx

There is always someone ready to take someone’s money, however what does all of it really do for an artists’ career and what does it do for an artists’ longevity. Manufactured superstars do not have a long shelf life.

Hell, even Bob Seger knew that when he wrote the words to “Old Time Rock N Roll”.

“Today’s music aint got the same soul, I love my old time rock n roll.”

Robb Flynn is doing wonders with his General Journals. It is working for him, and it is engaging his fan base. It doesn’t mean that it will work for every artist however artists need to play in order to win.

That is what Avatar encompasses for me. An eagerness to play and try out some new moves. Like all game winners, it is those moves that come from left field that end up winning the game.

So now that everybody is watching, what will Avatar do?

It comes down to the music. That is what builds careers. Today being an artist means that you need to be creating constantly, building an audience and holding it.

Standard
Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

The Best Metal and Rock Top 10 for 2013

Well the year is almost over and it is time to look back at the albums that connected and hit the mark for 2013. Anyone who has been a constant visitor to this blog will notice that I have spoken about these albums in previous posts in more detail.

1. Protest The Hero – Volition

Disclaimer; I was one of those fans that contributed to this album, so the competition for the best album of 2013 wasn’t even close. Protest The Hero wins hands down. They delivered an album for the fans. It has everything that a condensed progressive technical metal album should have. Plus it has Chris Adler on drums. In 2011, “Scurrilous” was number seven on my list.

If you want the detailed breakdown, here it is;

This album also shows how the mainstream media is out of touch. Despite all the hype around Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, Dream Theater, Korn and Black Sabbath, the biggest release of the year belongs to Protest The Hero.

And deservedly so.

They connected with their audience via Indiegogo. They have cut through all the internet noise without the need of major label. In the age of information overload, Protest The Hero relied on their audience and their music to get their message through.

2. Avenged Sevenfold – Hail To The King

Call this album what you will, however no one can take away the fact that it is a damn good listen. Having those nods to the past and building on those influences is what music is all about. In twenty years time, this album will be revered and copied, because that is how music is made.

3. Five Finger Death Punch – The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell Vol 1

Part 1 is a killer classic metal album with arena melodic rock chorus. Watch You Bleed, Lift Me Up, The Wrong Side Of Heaven, Anywhere But Here are all rock sing a longs.

4. Killswitch Engage – Disarm The Descent

Jesse Leach is back and man can he write a catchy chorus. Each song goes through so many vocal emotions, it’s one heck of a roller coaster. The Times Of Grace project brought Jesse back into the metal world. “The Hymn Of A Broken Man” was one great album and it was in my top 10 list for that year.

In 2009, I also had the self titled Killswitch Engage album at number five in my top 10 list.

5. TesserAcT – Altered State

This band is really branching out from the Djent constraints by embracing atmospheric style song writing. The math metal is still there and the vocals bring it all home. I have always said, TesseracT will be seen as the new Pink Floyd by a whole new generation. In 2011, TesseracT came in ninth position with the album “One”. I was pleasently surprised to see this one pop in Robb Flynn’s top 10 list.

6. Trivium – Vengeance Falls

Trivium have always had the balls to make decisions. Working with Dave Draiman is one of them. Seriously i cant see an issue with how the vocal melodies are phrased or delivered by Heafy. I really like this album. The music is top-notch and the songs are of high quality. In 2011, Trivium came in tenth position with the album “In Waves”.

7. Coheed and Cambria – The Afterman – Descension

Another band that is employing data to connect with fans. They have been on the road since January and released two slabs of music within 3 months. This album doesn’t have Domino The Destitute, but it has Sentry The Defiant plus others.

8. Five Finger Death Punch – The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell Vol 2

A Day In My Life. Man that chorus just hooks me in. Put to the side the cliché rhyming from Moody and just focus on the musical melodies and you will be hooked as well. It’s been played on repeat on my iPhone on my way to work and on my way home.

“American Capitalist” was fifth in my 2011 list and “War Is The Answer” was 2nd in 2009, just behind “Black Clouds and Silver Linings” from Dream Theater.

9. Volbeat – Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies

I was a fan of this band before they broke through in the U.S. It was the “Rock The Rebel/Metal The Devil” album from 2007 that made me a fan. I was really looking forward to this release and the band didn’t disappoint. It has all of their trademarks with a dash of country and hillbilly thrown into the mix.

10. Alter Bridge – Fortress

Mark Tremonti is one hell of a guitar player and most importantly a hell of a songwriter. Teaming up with Myles Kennedy has been a godsend. Alter Bridge get better with each album and they rarely fail to disappoint.

Notable Mentions

Audrey Horne – Youngblood

If you don’t know this band, you should. I swear every genre of music and time period associated with music is heard on this album. Give this band the attention they deserve. Their whole catalogue is on Spotify so there is no excuse to not check them out. Any band that is from Norway and with a black metal post deserves to be heard in a hard rock context.

Mutiny Within – Synchronicity

The only thing holding this band back is what their definition of success is and Chris Clancy. He is so hung up on fighting for the old system and how it used to be, he is failing to see opportunities in front of him.

Hearts And Hands – My Own Machine

A great pop metal or pop rock album. Hearts and Hands started off as a side project for Chelsea Grin vocalist Alex Koehler. However since he departed after their 2012 self titled EP, the band has undergone a significant transformation and their sound has shifted away from breakdowns and screams to effected guitars, acoustics and great songs.

Love and Death – Between Here and The Lost

A hundred times better than the new Korn album. They even sound like Korn on some of the songs. Brian Head Welch is a star and this album proves it.

Sound Of Contact – Dimensionaut

Progressive Rock and a voice that sounds very similar to Phil Collins. Plus any album that has a concept attached to it, always gets my attention. Its plot follows an alienated, unnamed human who is tired of humanity and embraces his fate as a traveler of dimensions, time and galaxies. Throughout the story, the dimensionaut constructs his escape from reality, realizing new experiences and encountering love in the process.

Faith Circus – Turn Up The Band

If this band had the same attention as Avenged Sevenfold, critics would come out and comment how each song sounds like a rip off from every successful glam rock and blues rock album made in the Eighties. Music is derivative and Faith Circus deliver. It is a great listen from start to finish. Another band from Norway that deserves your attention.

Final Notable Mentions

Due to my kids overdosing on the music I placed on their iPods certain classic rock albums have come back into my life.

Twisted Sister – You Cant Stop Rock N Roll
Twisted Sister – Stay Hungry
Kiss – Lick It Up
Kiss – Asylum
Kiss – Destroyer
Deep Purple – Machine Head
Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet
Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger
Europe – The Final Countdown

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

Does a band have customers or fans? Read on metal heads and find out.

A customer is a person who purchases goods or services from another. A fan is an ardent admirer of a pop star, film actor, football team, etc.

So how can a band turn fans into satisfied customers that keep on coming back, again and again?

You ask any artist what kind of fan/customer they want and I guarantee you they will say statements like the following;
Fans who are loyal
Fans who spread the word
Fans who spend money on record music, concerts and merchandise
Fans who spend money on concert tickets
Fans who spend money on merchandise
Fans who interact with the band

So if artists want fans then the artists need to do more than just satisfying them. They need to bring the WOW factor to everything they do.

A lot of artists and their representatives come up with loads of dazzling ideas and packages however they are still rooted in the old record label business models.

For example;

Dream Theater has been pushing the same Super Deluxe packages since “Black Clouds and Silver Linings”. The packages have more or less been in the same format, same items and for the same price.

Avenged Sevenfold did a similar package for the “Hail To The King” album.

Five Finger Death Punch didn’t.

Trivium had album and merchandise specials happening.

Coheed and Cambria focused on the Deluxe packages.

Protest The Hero focused on their Indiegogo campaigners and the perks involved with that campaign.

What would have happened if the bands “under promised and over delivered”?

Imagine the service Roadrunner and Dream Theater would have done by giving the fans that purchased the Super Deluxe packages, a site to download the mp3’s when they found out the album leaked on the internet.

Protest The Hero did exactly that. As soon as the band found out about the leak on torrent sites, they went into action. I guess it helps to know who your fans are and to have that data handy.

Customer satisfaction is artists delivering on promises, like releasing a product when they say they are going to release it. Cough Cough, Live at Luna Park DVD.

Artists are doing exactly as they said they would and fans/customers are satisfied.

Imagine if the customers get something more than they expect, like more options, early delivery, a special download site when the album leaks, additional perks attached to the orders, access to demo’s or ideas that didn’t get developed further – I would expect the artist to end up with a very loyal and more than satisfied customer base, that can propel them into the next level of success.

It’s a simply idea. When we get a service that we don’t expect, rather than a service that we do expect the payoff can be enormous.

However under promising is not just about throwing in extras and doing things faster.

If the album is being released on Thursday 13 December, make the mp3 download available a week earlier to the fans that purchased the Super Deluxe package. “Great news, we wanted you to have the music as soon as possible. Click on the below link to download an mp3 rip of the album. No extra charge.”

It’s simple, all bands need to do is change their promise and watch satisfied customers become devoted customers. What do you think Lady Gaga and Kate Perry where doing with their “leaks” and then bringing the album release date forward. They were employing the under promise over deliver business model.

Every artist needs to be looking at making their fans become customers.

“Our audience are fans first and customers second. We really try not to annoy them.”
The above quote is from Stefan Mennerich, Bayern Munich Director of New Media, Media Rights & IT.

A soccer/football club is no different to a band or an artist. The devotion is there.

“You have to think about what the consumers want and tailor the experience to their unique interests. And the experience is also very different depending on the platform the consumer is using.”
The above quote is from Ken Fuchs, Head of Entertainment, Sports and Games at Yahoo!

This is how the record labels tailor the experience.

PRODUCT A is coming out on DATE XXXX.
IT COSTS $$$$.
PRE-ORDER it now at iTunes, Best Buy, Amazon.

Wow, what an experience for the fan.

Imagine if the above experience was tweaked.

BAND A is releasing a PRODUCT A in three weeks’ time.
GO to YOUTUBE now and watch a recording of BAND A performing the songs live in the studio. That same recording is available to be downloaded as an AVI file and an MP3 rip via BitTorrent.

BAND A is releasing a PRODUCT A in two weeks’ time.
Go to YOUTUBE now and watch the latest video clip.

MP3 downloads are available for the Super Deluxe Package orders RIGHT NOW. That’s right, this is 2 weeks before the actual release date.

BAND A is releasing a PRODUCT A in two weeks’ time.
We have a special MP3 deal from our website. For $5 you get an mp3 rip of the album, regardless of your geographical location. This is a two week sale before the official release date.

One week before the release date, the album is available for STREAMING at YouTube, Spotify, iTunes Radio and Pandora.

The sad thing is no band with major label backing would do the above because for some insane reason they still believe that the charts matter.

DREAM THEATER LIVE AT LUNA PARK DVD IS #1. THE NEW DVD FROM THE GRAMMY-NOMINATED BAND IS CURRENTLY ATOP THE SOUNDSCAN DVD CHART.

See what I mean.

Standard