Songs Sung Then Redone.

In the movie "Juno" Jason Bateman's character describes the song Superstar performed by Sonic Youth as "the greatest cover song ever." I do agree with the movie's author Diablo Cody that it is a wonderful song, but I am not sure about greatest ever.

Cover bands are often the subject of ridicule, but a great cover song is something to cherish. The band Marilyn Manson's two biggest hits were Sweet Dreams and Tainted Love. Both were originally performed by other artists. Marilyn Manson was little more than a cover band, and nobody seemed to notice.

When a band not normally known for doing cover songs takes the music of some one else, changes it, and makes it their own, that can be incredible. When the band Less Love took a punk song written by the band Misfits, and did an acoustic version of it, well I don't know if it is incredible, but it is good.



Technically it is two Misfits songs: the song Bullet and the song Skulls put together.

This song is from the band's second LP which was a joint effort with the band Wondernaut called Paradigms in the Design, released by Lackpro Records.

If I was to think about it, and try to name what I consider to be "The Greatest Cover Songs Of All Time" that would be a tough call. There are so many great examples. I think my final decision would either have to be Hurt by Johnny Cash



or Got The Time by Anthrax



I guess there is something to be said about an artist that does so well with a cover, that history forgets it wasn't originally theirs. Another example of that would be Because The Night by Patti Smith. Most folks don't realize it was written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen.



The same can be said about Blinded By The Light, poor Bruce.

It certainly doesn't make my top 50 list of best cover songs, but I do want to give honorable mention to the Kermit version of Hurt. Well played sir.

   

---EDIT 10/25/2014---

This is probably one of the last songs I would have ever thought anybody would cover. Kudos to The White Buffalo for taking an otherwise uninteresting song and making it fucking legit. The song is House of Pain originally performed by Faster Pussycat.

AJR video I'm Ready, mostly just insulting

In two days, October 17th, Youtube will be hosting their first ever music award show. In preparation for it, the wanna be next big boy band AJR has released what has to be the absolute worst video idea ever: AJR "I'm Ready".

The main point this video wishes to convey is that this band is going to be HOT. It might be a good idea to backup your emails now, because this band is going to blow up all the social networking sites, and most likely shut down the internet in the process.



In case fans aren't sure how to respond to this amazing band, the video even tells us what replies we should post. For example, "The Next Hanson" according to the video, would be an acceptable response. Of course I would point out that Hanson aint doing much these days. AJR might want to aim higher.

The video is a none stop flow of commercials selling us everything from cell phones to Youtube.

I question whether or not this is actually a Vevo video. It kind of seems like they just put the Vevo logo in the video, and they created a Youtube account and put VEVO on the end of the name.

***EDIT 06/05/2014.. The VEVO logo has been removed from the video, and the band's channel no longer includes the word VEVO in the title. I am going to go ahead and feel free to assume I was right and VEVO made them remove their trademarked name.***

The song is catchy, and if I were to only compare the music to Nsync or Back Street Boys, I would say it's not that bad. I have noticed that this new wave of boy bands have much better song writers than it's predecessor.

Over all I found this video insulting. Where Tipper Gore once got outraged because videos contained half naked women and she was too lazy to parent what her kids watched, I equally don't want to live in a world where music videos have become little more than mini propaganda films, or three minute infomercials.

Tipper, this one's for you:


So back on AJR "I'm Ready" pay attention to the number of views the video got on the first day.

Right now their phoney Vevo account has only two videos. One that is a month old and has 119k views, and this one that is only 21 hours old and already has half as many.

Ask yourself this question: do you have the balls to make a video in which you prophesize that the very video folks are watching will go viral? The answer is no. Nobody does, unless they have a guaranteed plan to ensure the views necessary to "appear" viral (like "appearing" to be a Vevo video). Introducing Trendsetter Marketing the company that represents AJR. Trendsetter is not a management company, they are strictly a marketing company. Their job is to get the product out there and guarantee certain results. Who knows how they did it. Maybe they legitimately bought youtube views by advertising with Google. Maybe they hired a company that utilizes more shady methods (google search: buy youtube views). What we do know for sure, is that when it comes to all them comments (google search: buy youtube comments), and all them views, well that shit just aint legit. I hope they didn't pay Trendsetter too much, because they could have done this for themselves, video and all, for about $700.

Makar: life after the Funeral

Miley showed us her young "ten-year-old boy" ass on MTV’s Video Award Show, and nobody asked the question “Why does MTV still have a video award show?”

Will her current album be remembered in 10 years? Not likely, but she got paid so what does she care. The thing that stood out to me about all of this is the unbelievable effort it has taken to make us notice her. While Wrecking Ball is not a bad song, it’s not really that good. Yet it took five of today’s top songwriters (none of them Cyrus) to pen that bitch. In addition to Dr. Luke, this team included two of today’s top piano composers. Knowing that, I feel obligated to repeat myself, it’s not bad, but it’s not really that good. So pulling all the stops in an effort to be so big it can’t be ignored, Miley behaves like a knucklehead.

In the late 1980’s people believed punk was dead because the punk performers were out of our sight, touring the world instead of constantly releasing new albums. In the early 90’s ex-Black Flag singer Henry Rollins said he remembered being in Europe doing a show, and hearing that, with grunge, punk was back. It shocked him because he didn’t realize it ever went away. Along the same lines, I remember last year being surprised when I saw footage of Miley Cyrus doing a show in Brazil. I didn’t realize she was still working in the music industry.

We are a fast food culture demanding instant entertainment, and disposable music. There are no classic-rap stations, or bands doing rap cover songs. Despite their popularity, and the fact that they won a Billboard award, and were nominated for a Grammy, nobody is listening to SWV (Sisters With Voices). We churn through pop music like a lawn mower going over grass, spitting it out the side. There was a time when the charts reflected society. Today, just because a song charts doesn’t mean it is truly culturally significant. Sixty percent or more of the music-loving world will never hear Wrecking Ball. The song is only significant to a very small group of people that happen to be the number one group (13 – 17 year old girls) that buy more music than all other group combined. The real way this song reflects our culture is in how much effort Cyrus had to go through to force us to pay attention.

I recently looked at a list of all the songs published in 1924. It consisted of 93 songs total. Comparably, today I received 76 album submissions for review consideration. If we assume there are ten songs on each submission that is 760 new songs to consider today. Tomorrow there will be a fresh batch approximately the same size. Without knowing the title of each of the 93 songs, we know that they are all culturally significant, because they represent the few songs released that year. The same can’t be said about a song released today. Today’s music is a drop that will inevitably be lost in the ocean.

So if you are a band working today, trying to get your music heard, what can you do about all of this? You can constantly put out new music, releasing an album a year, fight against the current, and not likely succeed anyway, or you can say fuck it and just make music on your own terms. The latter is the approach of the New York band Makar. Formed eleven years ago, this band has two releases to date. Their most recent album Funeral Genius was released in 2011.

Considerably more interesting than a Destiny Hope Cyrus album, Funeral Genius is a well written menagerie of influences delivered in a pop-rock-punk format.

Via email conversation, Mark Makar and I recently discussed the future, the past, and life after the Funeral.

[ME] Why so long between albums?

[Mark] We like to take our time, write the songs then rehearse them for a while, really live with them to make sure we’re happy with them. Once we are we take our time with the recording process as well until we are completely happy with what we’ve done. Our past two albums, 99 Cent Dreams (our debut) and Funeral Genius each took 3 years to record, but the first was done mostly in a studio and the latter was done almost completely at home. Once we’re done recording we take a few years to promote each album during which time we typically write songs for the next album. Unlike major label bands who have full systems go once their album is recorded, we do all the promotion ourselves. We send out CDs to colleges, independent radio, reviewers etc. and all of that takes time and money. Recently we have been greatly aided by our Publicist, Gina Sigillito, who lives in Austin Texas. She submitted Funeral Genius to the Deli Magazine and we’ve been on their top NY bands list under indie pop/guitar pop for the past 16 months with the likes of MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Fun. and Santigold. We’re definitely honing the Makar marketing machine, but it still takes a long time when you have to do everything yourself.

[ME]Do you find it difficult to maintain fans interest at the current speed / time between albums?

[Mark] Music is so accessible today and there are so many bands coming out with new music all the time. We do our thing, then the next minute someone else does their thing and so forth and so on, but everything is flying by at light speed. To retain fans at that speed let alone the molecular composition of our bodies is next to impossible. We’re pretty laid back about it, which is probably not the best way to retain fans, but the creative process comes before all else no matter how long that takes. I think each album connects with a new batch of fans and we’re very thankful for anyone who enjoys our music or might enjoy it again in the future. Bands and artists should always be on guard for oversaturation of their work. We definitely are and so spacing out the creative process allows us all to breath, live life, then come back together again in the future to celebrate a new musical creation.

[ME] What do the two main members do full time?

[Mark] By day we’re mild mannered executive assistants at a corporate lawfirm in Midtown, the last place on earth any artist should be. By night we’re indie rocking freaks with our hair on fire cooking up new musical concoctions in our kitchen rehearsal/recording studio with the help of protools! One job pays the bills, the other feeds the soul. We’re also both working on finishing our first fictional novels (which should be done this year!). Andrea’s writing a coming of age, sci-fi, murder mystery, love story with a red leather booted killer called “Pushed” set in the wilds of Oberlin and New York and I’m writing a coming of age love story called “Little Owen Way” set in the wilds of Marthas Vineyard and New York. Andrea has had many short stories and poems published so we’re hoping that writing could become our day jobs and help fund a life where we could create all the time and go on musical tours.

[ME] In addition to the next album possibly being acoustic, what else can we expect from the next project?

[Mark] Our third album is called “Fancy Hercules” and it’s going to be an eleven to twelve song album that combines every style from punk to rock to folk to pop with strange theatrical stylings on some songs. We’ve put drums and bass on our last two albums, but have been playing out just the two of us recently and really like the sound of that. However, we’re going to record everything in time so that if we want to go back and put drums and bass on we can, but also, maybe even try some sequencing and take Makar into the 21st century. Our last drummer has been asking to try it so we may let him or learn how to do it ourselves. And here you can see why albums can take a while to bake. If we need to learn how to do something lord knows how long it will take to finish the album. However, we would probably put out the acoustic album then put out the sequenced album later if we were going down that long and winding road. We wouldn’t want to push the release date back any longer than we normally do.

[ME] Will you record the next album yourself, or will you go into a studio and work with a producer?

[Mark] We’ll record Fancy Hercules completely at home. No fancy pants producer for Fancy Hercules. He’s fancy enough bare bones with no outside coat needed to clothe him. The drum and bass tracks for Funeral Genius were recorded in one day at Seaside studios in Park Slope and then the guitar, piano and vocals were all recorded at home on our protools digi 001. 99 Cent Dreams was recorded almost 100% in a studio, so this will be the first time we don’t even go into a studio.

[ME] In what ways do you think your song writing has changed over time?

[Mark] Our song writing process has been evolving along with our playing and singing. We’re much more confident as musicians and singers now than when we started and our songs sound looser and less structured. We’re trying to do more improvisational playing using scales and arpeggios, so definitely look out for Andrea to cut loose with some guitar solos on Fancy Hercules.

We used the pentatonic scale on our song “America Where Are You” on Funeral Genius, which as you know is the scale most often used in movies and country music to lend that expansive feel of the American West. We wanted that pioneer vibe added to America’s lyrics, which are about the search for America’s soul during the dark years of the Bush administration.

Mainly there’s a languidness to our writing style now. Andrea and I continue to collaborate on every song and having been in a relationship for 16 years there’s an ease to creating each song that just gets better with time. If Andrea writes something it will trigger ideas from me, which trigger more ideas from her and so forth and so on until a fully formed song has been birthed. We’ve birthed so many songs as married musicians that it may be time for us to get down to the real business of birthing tiny Makars.

[ME] Do you think you will ever do a national tour?

[Mark] We’ve thrown around the idea of touring several times, with several incarnations of Makar, but it always comes back to money and time. Now that it’s just the two of us we can travel around much more easily and wherever we go we can bring our instruments and play. So not only is it possible now to have a national tour, but even an international one could happen. And by tour it would be at most a week of dates at a time, such as this London gig we’re going to be doing next July with our friend Alistair, who’s in a great band called Battles of Winter. He’s putting on a little music festival of sorts that we’re going to take part in and are very excited about.

[ME] New York hasn't generated that many memorable rock bands. Other than Sonic Youth, The Strokes, The Ramones, and The Velvet Underground most of New York’s rock bands have disappeared in the journals of history. Sense New York is the city that never sleeps, and there is sooooo much going on there, why do you think it hasn't created more legendary rock bands?

[Mark} Wow, you’ve certainly thrown down the gauntlet with that one my friend. But let’s not forget some very important New York artists/bands and musical movements such as the whole Greenwich Village folk scene that produced Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, et al., the rap/rock visionaries the Beastie Boys, the punk scene that gave us Patti Smith, The New York Dolls, Talking Heads, Television, Blondie, GG Allin, the rap scene that gave us Run DMC, Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J and Jazzy Jeff, the indie rock scene that gave us the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Le Tigre, Santigold, Moby, Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Sharon Van Etten, The National, Nous Non Plus and a whole slew of other amazing acts. And then of course the early days of Jazz on 57th street with greats such as Miles, Charles Mingus, Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker. And of course the Duke himself, Duke Ellington, before all of that!!! Come on pal, New York is and always has been the epicenter of the music world. If you can make it here you can make it anywhere. There might be a Seattle scene here and there, but New York is and always will be where it’s at. Period, end of story! Not that we’re biased or anything. :)

[ME] Right on, it’s cool to be proud of where you are from. I would never deny that the town’s Hip Hop scene is booming. But rock has never been New York’s grass roots, home grown gig. Also I would point out that from Bob Dylan, to Patti Smith, to Duke Ellington most of the people you mentioned by name, are not native New Yorkers. I guess what I am really curious about is why the city doesn’t have more of a rock community that grew up together, with an endless list of amazing musicians that all used to play in each other’s bands, and that support one another: similar to Athens Georgia in the early 80’s, Los Angeles in the late 80’s, or Seattle in the early 90’s. I don’t mean it in a negative way. It’s just an observation. When it comes to rock music, New York has never had it’s own sound.

If you haven’t yet, check out Makar’s latest album Funeral Genius:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/makar3

Visit their homepage:

http://www.makarmusic.com/

And be watching for new music from them in the future.

The Ten Year Hangover by 3 Dates Later

--FROM THE BAND'S PRESS RELEASE--

“I’m pretty sure this is the first record I’ve recorded totally sober.” – Chris Seaman of 3 Dates Later

Driven with a cause, occasionally delayed by life, and growing stronger all the while the band 3 Dates Later is set to release their debut LP, The Ten Year Hangover.

This album is a collection of songs that are cynical observations with optimistic intentions: “I think you could – be a cool guy – if you just lose the act, and stop drinking”. Having survived name changes that then changed back, members that have come and gone and then came back, and a constant barrage of scams designed to prey on young bands, 3 Dates Later has worked hard to stay the course in order to bring this record to life. The end result is a high-energy demonstration of sarcastic sincerity.

Heavily influenced by the 90’s post grunge, punk resurgence, 3 Dates Later is made up of Travis Palen on bass, John Hager on guitar, Jarred Wion on drums, and front man/primary song writer Chris Seaman. After the album’s completion and prior to it’s release, founding member/guitar player Chris Gammill left the band and that’s when Hager was brought on board. As teenagers, Gammill and Palen formed 3 Dates Later in 2002. Singer Seaman was later recruited by Gammill. “When we first started, we really sucked” said Seaman. They had drummers with no rhythm and Chris initially struggled with singing in key. D.I.Y. style, they did seven self produced CDs, and played shows constantly, each one getting better than the last. Over time they slowly built their fan base opening up for bands such as New Found Glory, The Ataris, and Voodoo Glow Skulls. The band reached a point where they decided to pay to go into a studio to get a “professional” recording.

A common mistake made by studio engineers is that they often have been deluded to believe they know what is best. Despite the fact that the band voiced concerns against it, the engineer of EP #8 insisted that they plug their guitars directly into a digital modulator, and that they record using triggers on the drums instead of microphones. In the end, they had paid for 3dl400something they didn’t like, and didn’t release. The silver lining of the situation was that the band Kill The Reflection had previously experienced the same disappointment from the same engineer. KTR was able to look past the EP’s flawed sound, and recognize the potential contained within. They took the EP to the heads of their indie label, negotiations were made, and 3 Dates Later agreed to work with Lackpro Records.

The Ten Year Hangover is occasionally funny, and occasionally insulting. Like life, it has it’s mood swings.. Containing a couple of songs that date back to the band’s origins, the album teeters between adolescence and adulthood. In one song the author demonstrates a youthful insistence that he knows everything. In another he somberly accepts that he actually knows nothing. Released close to ten years after the bands formation, this album is a great representation of what they’ve gone through, and a promising look at what they have to offer in the future.

NYLO - Fool Me Once

Think Imagine Imogen Heap, but less interesting.

Following Your Heart And The Bloody Trail It Leaves

I have this buddy that is always preparing to do something. Preparing for tasks occupies the majority of his time while completion of tasks more often than not doesn't happen. If a vacation takes a week of his life, he will spend a year planning it, and if things are not "just right" he very well may cancel it at the last minute.

Having recently decided a career as a studio engineer was the path for him, he spent over $20,000 and about 8 months transforming his entire home into a recording studio. Once he was ready for business, he realized this would mean strangers coming into his home and having free access to all his belongings. "Maybe engineering is not for me." Time to cancel the proverbial vacation. "Perhaps I could try my hand at mixing?" That will require more money to be spent and additional preparation. Meanwhile his band is waiting for him to finish so he can produce their next album.

Across town, and then county lines, and then state lines, and a thousand miles away, at the same moment, in the sleepy little town of New York City, armed with only $500 worth of equipment and a computer program intended for editing videos, Teenage Daydream's founder Aidan Christopher Haughey was able to record, release, and promote Romance Memories: A starry eyed glance into an innocent's interpretation of the post-apocalyptic world that remains after true love fails.  

 

With less than perfect recording quality, and white noise often associated with an amateur's product, Romance Memories is a lo-fi masterpiece that falls somewhere between Ween and The Flaming Lips. It is raw and sincere. If God ween Satan in a priest driven ambulance, this would be in the vein of that.

A lot of people argue that the opportunities that were made available to underground oddities such as Ween and The Flaming Lips are no longer in place for the next generation. The notion of artist development is dead. In the music industries' current paradigm, record labels take zero chances on new bands. The only artists that get signed to major labels now are bands that have a proven track record (Iron & Wine), or bands created by the label (The Wild Feathers). So what hope does an up and coming band have in the modern music world? I certainly don't have that answer, but that was one of the many topics discussed in a recent conversation between myself and Teenage Daydream's Mr. Haughey.

Me: Originally being from Anchorage Alaska, what led you to NYC?

Aidan: When I was considering my post high-school options either Los Angeles or New York seemed like the right choices, and I don't like the heat. After graduation I went to NYC and studied film at School of Visual Arts for 3 years. Right now I am back in Anchorage, but my intention is to go back to New York.

Me: What is the Anchorage music scene like?

Aidan: It's really pretty discouraging. There is a lot of over the top, hard core, death metal, and classic rock, or just really lame shit. Occasionally there is a decent band that people will like cuz there is nothing else here, or a super mediocre dj will pop up. Its really hard to get shows in Anchorage. When I am here all I ever do is practice with my friend in his garage. He and I have similar taste in music. We just jam and write shit and complain about how we're not famous though we should be, classic stuff.

Me: Your album, Romance Memories, how much of it did you do yourself?

Aidan: As far as engineering, mixing, and mastering, I did all of that. I played all of the instruments except for the drums on 3 of the tracks: Pink Petals, Fuck You, and Missing You. The song Missing You is actually two drum tracks rearranged.

I recorded a lot of the instruments, and mixed everything, on my Sony Viao laptop. I actually used Vegas, which is a video editing program and only allowed 10 audio tracks so I had to bounce tracks to leave room for other things. It's made by the same people that make the DAW I use, ACID, so the audio portion of Vegas is virtually the same as acid, and all the tracks have a compressor and eq already put on it, which is nice. I didn't have my version of acid on that laptop. I don't really steal programs or music off the internet and I was really poor, so I just used Vegas. I also used a Tascam digital 8 track for drums and vocals and some amp micing and a few other things, although I did a fair amount of direct in recording. I also used a little one track tape machine for a few things.

For mics I mainly used an AKG C 1000S. For the drums, I would book drum practice sessions at The Sweat Shop, a super cheap practice place in Brooklyn. I would use the PA system with some complimentary mics and a shotgun mic I have for video stuff. The sound was never full but it got the job done with some helpful mixing.

Me: It cost you $500 to make the album. What was your total cost including distribution and promotion?

Aidan: The AKG was about $200, but it was a birthday gift. It is a nice mic but you don't really need that nice of a mic. The program is super cheap like $50. The Tascam new is about $250. Sweat Shop studio costs probably reached like $100 total, I bought a small Orange amp for about $130. There was the cost of Tunecore to distribute it and musicSUBMIT to promote it. I would say my out of pocket cost was around $800.

Me: That is pretty impressive for a complete album budget including promotion. How long did the project take you from beginning to end?

Aidan: The time frame from the first song to mastering was 7 months, Sept. 2012 to Feb. 2013. Lots of bad stuff happened that delayed it. I was going through an intense depression, there was a two month period where I thought my roommate had broke my laptop and the album was lost. I got the computer fixed and finished the album and the laptop died directly after the CD was done. I mastered the album as soon as mixing was completed. It was my first mastering job ever, so I completed it and then like two days later I re-mastered it, liked it and released it.

Me: I am always curious why one-man-bands release music under a band name. For example Nine Inch Nails is really just Trent Reznor. He may pay musicians to play shows with him, but its still just Trent Reznor. What made you decide to go with a band name? Why not "The Aidan Christopher Haughey Mind Fuck?"

Aidan: Teenage Daydreams is the whole of the project. It's not a product name for easy association. It's a celebration of something wonderful. Every adult has experienced Teenage Daydreams. There is magic there. There is an aesthetic, and something I'm trying to express. It's hard to explain, and Romance Memories doesn't do it enough justice, but it shows it somewhat. I could make totally different music, I write totally different stuff all the time, stuff with no distortion either or just, completely different, but Teenage Daydreams is something specific. It's not going last forever. I only want to do like 3 albums and some EPs. I don't want it to be me, it's something else. Everyone who listens to my music tells me something different. It's about the experience and what the listener puts into it which I like a lot. The name carries certain things with it for me, so that's why I use it. I definitely don't want to be 30 and putting out a new Teenage Daydream album though, I think there is something important about being young. Being just out of my teens and still very young, I try to express that in this band, I want it to be honest and real.

Me: You abbreviate your band name as TADD. Just to be an ass I have to point out the actual abbreviation would just be TD. Have you ever heard the band TAD?

Aidan Yeah, I never actually considered it. My friend just abbreviated it to TADD, so that's what I used, TD is correct. It's not really something I really ever think about. To me, it's always just Teenage Daydreams. I am not familiar with TAD, There are so many bands. I Googled them, TAD, they seem cool.

Me: In 1989 it was believed that TAD was going to be the next big band. When their record label (Sub Pop Records) sent them to tour Europe, the executives at the label made the decision to send one of their unheard of / pee-on bands to be the opening act. That shitty band was called Nirvana. Today TAD's singer Tad Doyle runs a small recording studio and makes a modest living. His band released 6 albums on 3 major labels, and earned absolutely no revenue from the experience. Kurt Cobain has been dead for 19 years. In your mind, what will it take to make you feel like a success?

Aidan: A year ago I probably would have said I just want to blow up and become famous and lead a kick ass life then peace out. At this point, I would just like to be able to make a living off my music and not have to live in squalor. I hold my music to my own standards and don't worry much about what anybody else thinks about it. I just want to live in a big house with my babe, probably in a rural area and I want to support that with my art, that's my idea of success.

Me: So in an effort to reach success I have to ask, you rarely play live, you don't have a band, and you don't have a team of experienced professionals backing you. What is your game plan?

Aidan: Plan? I kind of just do it as it comes along. I have plans, dreams, things. I know lots of people. I already have a live show mapped out, it's cool, and interesting and beautiful. I don't know. I'm too exhausted to really think about this. I kind of do have a plan, a lot of stuff involving films and production and writing, music is not exactly where I plan to make my money, but I'd love to blow up, I'd love to show the world something who knows, I've learned all you can really do is follow your heart and what will happen will happen and what wont won't, so that's life, I'm going to try cause that's what I do.

Me: Final observation: You studied film for 3 years in NYC. Why no mind blowing videos for this album?

Aidan: Yeah... I know. I feel bad, I need to make great stuff, I was just going through so much during recording, emotionally and otherwise. It was just really hard to get anything done, and my laptop was out of commission for a long time. I was just too exhausted. At this point I am focusing on the next album. I'm making cool stuff. I do feel bad for not putting out something mind blowing yet though, I'm just waiting for the right idea.

Me: Well Romance Memories is a great album. I would have been interested in seeing your visual interpretations of the sounds you created.

-------------------------------------

Follow Teenage Daydreams and hear their album in full on Bandcamp at:

http://teenagedaydreams.bandcamp.com/

You can also visit their web page:

http://www.teenagedaydreams.com/

but without offering hyperlinks it basically just says go to their Bandcamp.

New Look. New Drummer. New Album?

Gloom and doom, mood rockers Kill The Reflection recently made an appearance on KSBI-TV to promote their participation in the 2013 Norman Music Festival. For those of us that are unable to see the band perform live, this gave us our first glimpse at new member Starr Raven on drums.

Kill The Reflection is the vision quest of front man Morgan Routt. In 2010 he released their debut album Fleeting Melodies, Vol.1. Following in the foot steps of such great one man bands as Nine Inch Nails, Routt recorded the album himself, playing all the instruments. Although the album has a clear home recording quality about it, this does not detract from it’s beauty. Routt released the album and promoted it via the usual social network hubs. Fleeting Melodies was well received and Kill The Reflection was solidified as a band to watch.

In

2011 the band became a band when Chris Stevens joined on drums and Mark Martinez on bass. As a three piece the band’s sound changed. Where the first album was heavily synth influenced, the new band had no synth player. The songs didn’t change, but now they were a guitar driven rendition of what they had previously been. The same year KTR released their sophomore effort Togetther…Apart… The second album didn’t gross the same kudos from critics as the debut had, but the fans took to it immediately.

2013, Kill The Reflection is tentatively scheduled to go into the studio this summer to begin recording their next album which will be released on the label Lackpro Records.  In the two years since their last album, the band has evolved.  They have been playing nonstop, opening for such acts as Mr. Gnome, and Neon Trees.  Undergoing a changing of the guard, Stevens left and Raven joined.  They have gone from a single songwriter to a group effort, and with that they have opened a door of boundless possibilities. This band has put in the effort and never failed to please. It is safe to assume that they will continue as they have in the past, making it impossible to anticipate what is next. I personally am looking forward to the results of their endeavor.

Occupying Time While Losing Your Mind

You ever stay awake for 36 hours straight playing video games, then go outside amongst the living, and have trouble differentiating between the virtual reality in which you just lived for a day and a half, and the physical world around your? Yeah, me too. Sleep depravation is amazing, and will do some messed up things to your mind. When you hear about meth-heads (speed freaks) doing crazy stuff, it’s not exactly because of the drugs. It’s because of the lack of sleep. Speed will make them jittery, and make them stay up for days, but after staying up for days, it’s the sleep depravation that makes them start seeing things. It makes them do awesome things like take their TV apart and wash the inside of it with a garden hose, because after day three of being awake, they realized “it must be filthy in there because I never clean it.” I have never done speed and do not recommend it, but many of times I have stayed awake for a day or two.

If you want a cheap vacation, take a week off from work and stay up for a couple of days playing Skyrim, the Dungeons and Dragons style video game. Get into it, enjoy it, and then grab the new CD by the band Cello Fury and walk around in public with it playing in your headphones. It will be the soundtrack to your own, action, adventure, game that is life. I did this and it was trippie. I began to taste colors. The only problem was, sense I am colorblind, they all tasted the same.

Cello Fury is a band from Pittsburgh that consists of three cellists, and a drummer. They do instrumental music in the vein of Heavy Metal similar to the band Break of Reality. They have played large arenas to sixty thousand fans, and they have played small rock clubs. Diverse and quick to adjust, they are the palm tree that bends with the wind. Now on the heels of their critically acclaimed debut album, Cello Fury is set to release their follow up effort Symphony of Shadows.

With fifteen tracks and a total play time that is almost exactly an hour long, Symphony of Shadows is an emotionally powerful CD. Even if string arrangements are not normally your thing, I recommend that you give these guys a chance. Their high-energy performance, and rock oriented writing style will surprise you.

Electronic and acoustic music is currently "hot" to the point that I could stand to go a long time without hearing either one. Technically Cello Fury is an acoustic band, but in no way can they be compared to the mind numbing, tedious folksy trend that has been going on for too long. It does my antagonist heart good to see somebody moving in a different direction, and going against the grain. This music gets the blood pumping. Listening to it makes me want to go out and punch a bear, or slay a dragon. If you are feeling brave, you can find more information on the band at their web page:

www.cellofury.com

or their facebook: www.facebook.com/cellofury

The Catholic Girls Exposed

Instant gratification, if we can’t have it now, then it must not be worth having. You know that famous painting of Jesus and his compadres eating at a Luby's? It’s called The Last Super. It took the artist, Leonardo da Vinci, three years to paint. Despite the fact that it was painted over 500 years ago, a week doesn't go by that I don't see a version of it somewhere. Clearly the time and effort put into it has paid off. I am sure you know some artists. You should ask them if they ever spent 3 years working on a painting. Shit, ask them if they ever took a year to work on a painting. Ninety-five percent of the time the answer is no, because they want to be gratified instantly.

So let’s pretend you are in a band. In this hypothetical situation we are going to assume you are the average musician. That will mean that you think your work is genius, even though it is actually sub-par. You believe that you have a better grasp of song writing than all the other crappy bands out there doing the exact same thing you are doing, and just like all the others you fill your BIO with hyperbole such as “truly an original sound” and “when these musician’s met it was magic.” Then, because you believe so much in the beauty of the art you create, you put all your eggs in one basket. You spend more than you should on studio time, and put absolutely no money into promotion. You release your “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and nobody buys it. You spend $70 to post it on CDBaby, and earn about $40 (if you are lucky) in sales. You are now in debt or at the very least broke, and you give up on this band because Sony Music didn’t knock on your door and offer you a limo ride to Xanadu.

Ok I am going to go ahead and admit I was kind of reaching there at the end. Xanadu was the best I could come up with. I don’t really know where Sony Music would be taking you in a limo. I am sure Xanadu is nice this time of year.

The pop music format that exists now has been around for a very long time. The Bible says there is nothing new under the sun. That is certainly true for modern music. The same group of musicians went fromm being Alt-Country to New Folk to Americana in less than 10 years without changing anything about their style. My point is, what you are doing is not original. You are not bringing anything new to the table. If somebody says they have never heard music like yours before, that is because they have limited exposure to music. Major labels are not going to offer you a million dollars. You will never play arenas in front of 30,000 screaming fans. You do not deserve these things, and you will never accomplish them. So what are you going to do, give up? Is this really going to be an all or nothing scenario? I thought you loved music. I thought music was your life. Quit being a bitch. You don’t need other people to tell you that you are pretty. If you like the music you make, then keep making it.

On your journey to the grave, if you ever feel despair and need inspiration, pull out a copy of The Catholic Girls Exposed, the new CD by the band The Catholic Girls. Not only is the album super up beat, fast paced, guitar driven, feel good music guaranteed to cheer you up, but The Catholic Girls themselves are tenacity incarnate. Their focus, and determination, not to mention talent, is inspiring. Having released their first single almost 25 years ago, and still not receiving accolades from the mass majority of the music buying world, they have proven, that with or without you, this is what they intend to keep doing.

Originally called The Double Cross Schoolgirls the band was formed by front woman Gail Peterson back in the 80’s. Over time they have released multiple singles, EP’s, and LP’s, played endless gigs, and their song Make Me Believe has charted on Billboard. Still, celebrity status continues to elude them, although not for lack of skill. The Catholic Girls Exposed is a great album from front to back. Gail’s singing style is beautiful and distinctive. At times it predates her 80’s origins, often reminding me of the more innocent female vocalists of the 50’s. At other times her roots show and influences of Belinda Carlisle shine through.

This band is no over night success. Like Leo from Vinci, they are putting in the time and crafting their art. Energetic and amazing, this is really a fun album. If you like 80’s style pop rock, then you should listen to The Catholic Girls Exposed.

____________

You can get more details and sample music on their web page at:

http://www.thecatholicgirls.net/

and visit their Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/TheCatholicGirls

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Abducted From Wolves: The Story of Skinny Bitches

 What makes one band good and another band suck? Everything is subjective. Some people might try to convince you that it is black and white, that there is a formula for good music. If that were the case the major labels would churn out superstar after superstar. Other than Justin Beiber and briefly Adel, we have no superstars any more because despite the fact that the major labels try to convince us that the bands they are pushing are "good", people aren't falling for it.

Not to say this is the way to determine what is good, but it is simply the method I use: If you hear it once and can’t get it out of your head, then it’s good. If you have to listen to it multiple times to warm up to it, then it is less than good.

Unknown and unheard by most, the new EP titled Debut by the band Skinny Bitches is a breath of fresh air in the otherwise overwhelming stench of today’s up and comers. They are polished, and flawed and quietly strepitous. Their songs have hooks, and their lyrics have meaning. They are, without a doubt, good. In a sea of mediocrity, from north of the border in the town of Toronto the beacon of Skinny Bitches shines through.

The band is a two piece with Robyn Craig on lead vocals and drums, and Ricardo Temporao on lead vocals and guitar. The pair’s vocals play off one another in a Buckingham / Nicks fashion that fits. The music is high energy guitar driven dance-rock, and the lyrics are sharp and insightful. In the break up song Is You Suffering, Ricardo sings "I don't like it when you're hurt, but I kind of hope you're wounded" and Robyn sings "nothing validates love like the aching eyes that watch it move on."

In a recent email exchange, Ricardo and I were able to discuss the band’s origins, it’s influences, and it’s possible future.

ME: Tell me about the formation of Skinny Bitches.

Ricardo: Robyn and I were old friends who had lost touch for a year before we ran into each other in early 2011. She had been playing drums for nearly 2 years. I was about a year removed from swearing off bands forever and was hosting the occasional open mic night for beer money and tepid applause. We discussed hanging out jamming just for fun (though I secretly wanted to be in a band again). I emailed her a couple of demos I recorded at home and a couple of weeks later we met at the jam space she shared with her bandmates in a group called "Ravaged by Wolves". As soon as Robyn opened her mouth to sing along with me, I knew I had to steal her from the wolves.

I suggested the name "Skinny Bitches". It was inspired by listening to one of my female co-workers talk with sweet derision about some girls down the hall. Within 6 months we played our first show for friends, but I was having a hard time sort out how to get the right sound live. We played a bunch of small shows in Toronto and Montreal and things began to progress.

Still, I had to figure out how to make a 2 piece more loud and less shitty, so I went around to guitar shops asking pedal wizards and guitar techs for advice on a simple yet effective setup. It took a lot of experimenting and renting gear but I sorted out what worked for me. I followed that by listening almost exclusively to Death From Above and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" for about 6 months. We kept playing shows and I started figuring out how to write for a male/female vocal combo.

In February of 2012 we spent a weekend in Hamilton recording with a soundguy who said he like us and wanted to release our stuff on his label but for whatever reason, the mixes never got done and the whole thing fizzled. It was disheartening, but we decided to move forward and try recording on our own. We went to a small studio to record drums and I did the rest of the parts on my old mac. I have a bunch of samples I've created over the years ranging from a screaming tea-kettle to me abusing my ikea furniture that seemed to fit. I used a variety of synths and samples which require me to play the live shows using a foot-pedal sampler while playing guitar. It mostly works out until it doesn't - but it still beats hanging out with a keyboard player.

ME: You were previously a member of the band The General Staff. I am interested to know more about them. Other than Justin Timberlake’s flawed Myspace presentation of the band, I can’t find much on them. How long was that band together? What happened with that?

Ricardo: That band was together for a couple of years and was my attempt to get a “big” sounding bands with several backup singers for live shows. I kind of forgot that we still have a myspace page. It was great and I had some wonderful friends in there but when one of our key members left, I felt it was time to go back to the drawing board and move on to something new … though I wasn’t sure what.

 
ME: Have you logged into Myspace lately? J.T. has it now so that everything is scrolled left and right instead of up and down. It’s as if they are trying to create the illusion of a smart phone screen scrolling from one side to the other. It’s pretty silly. What advice would you give Justin Timberlake in an attempt to revitalize Myspace?

Ricardo: Justin Timberlake is revitalizing myspace? Are you fucking with me?! That’s just crazy. Ok, I’m googling this stuff and about to learn… will have to get back to this question. Oh shit, I’m watching some news lady on youtube. This is nuts. The irony of a guy who portrayed the facebook guy now becoming the myspace guy in real life. I have to do more research and check this shit out.

ME: Have you heard the new Justin Timberlake album? What advice would you offer J.T. to revitalize his music career? Personally, I would recommend that he do an all acoustic dance album, something similar to Paul Simon’s Graceland, but dancier.

Ricardo: As for his music career – I don’t think he’ll have any problems as long as he keeps surrounding himself with the right people. He's very talented. Good producers, guest rappers, musicians. I’ve heard the suit and tie thing. I liked it. It doesn’t have the club feel of his earlier stuff but I think that by using the more organic instrumentation, it’ll be a slow-burn album that takes longer to catch on but will last longer. Btw, Graceland is a goddamn musical masterpiece. (Because of this question I wrote an essay about the somewhat negative response to his album so far... then I realized it would reveal too much of my own OCD to send it)

ME: I have only ever drove through Toronto. What is Toronto's music scene like?

Ricardo: The scene here is pretty great. There’s an endless amount of music and lots of venues. Also, there are good musicians willing to make the trek from surrounding cities so there’s lots of new stuff happening all the time. It’s great, cause any night of the week you can see just about any kind of music you feel like.

ME: You produced and engineered this album yourself. You also shot, directed, and edited your videos. Did you have training in these fields, or are these self-taught skills?

Ricardo: Well the video stuff is something I took in college. I’ve directed some small projects and am looking to make that a bigger part of my creative development. I recently directed a short horror movie with some friends at a cottage called “DEAD WAKE”. It’s goofy and pretty lo-budget but was a ton of fun to make. As for the music stuff – that was self-taught. I got some music software and have been trying to learn for years now. It’s a slow progression for me, but despite the fact that my limitations keep it lo-fi, I’m glad that at least our songs get out into the world a little.
ME: There is big money in exploiting the hopes and dreams of musicians. Services like Sonic Bids and even SXSW make tons of money off of selling bands the hope that they might get discovered. Truth is, there are zero examples of any band that ever got discovered through any of those services. Why do you think bands keep falling for it and paying the fees? .... It reminds me of when I was 18.  I didn’t want to work, but I needed money. I would look in the paper for help wanted, and instead of putting in an application for the ditch digging job, I would send $5 to the person that offered to teach me how to work from home and earn $10K a week.

Ricardo: Yeah, it’s a frustrating thing and the “opportunities” that arise from paying to play don’t seem to have a payoff if they even come to fruition at all. I understand that some festivals have so many people applying that the processing becomes a time consuming and people need to get paid – but it’s just a shitty thing to profit from the earnest desperation of struggling, young and mostly broke. [Especially] when all you have offer is a bad slot in an empty bar where the sound guy and everyone involved is stretched so thin that their patience is eroded and their work suffers. I think that bands should focus on throwing their own parties and events and just serve their friends and fan base. Our best shows (like our CD release) are always things we put together ourselves. If you can give your audience something more than just a show… an event… an incredible party – they’ll come back and bring more people. Paying money for a shitty slot can be demoralizing and more hurtful to a band’s psyche than people realize.

ME: Amen

Ricardo: That being said I've applied for a couple of Toronto festivals cause having those wristbands makes me feel good.

ME: Assuming you are starving musicians, what field of the labor force do the two of you do full time to pay the bills?
Ricardo: I work in tv, editing show promos and movie trailers and Robyn works for a hotel.

ME: For the last 10 years when somebody talks about the next big thing, that band never become a big thing. Right now Alabama Shakes is the next big thing. I am going to go ahead and predict they wont hold the public’s attention for the amount of time it takes to complete a tour. Why do you think the music buying world is so eager to embrace the mundane?

Ricardo: Embrace the mundane… oh, that’s a loaded question. I’ll just say that people will embrace the comfortable. What they feel they already know on some level. They can give it a name and put it in a safe place - that makes it easy to buy and easy to sell. Put a label on a piece of music and consumers can immediately decide whether they want to do dishes to it, drive to it or fuck to it. It's a factor that's far enough out of my hands that I try not to think much about. I make the music that I’d want to listen to and worrying about what I think other people may want from me would give me too many reasons to not experiment and be honest. If people like what I do, that's fucking wonderful... but if I don't enjoy it, what's the point?

ME: When can we expect a Skinny Bitches LP?

Ricardo: Hopefully in September. I'm writing and recording at night and in every moment I can spare.

ME: What are your top favorite bands of all time?

Ricardo: That's tough. i'll skip the obvious ones (like Radiohead, Beatles). The band I listen to most is probably the Strokes. They're not the all time amazing-est, but their songs are impossible for me to get sick of. The best singer ever was probably Otis Redding. People forget that he was only about 26 when he died... he had so much great music left in him that we'll never hear. I'm fascinated by Fleetwood Mac. The cumulative talent is staggering and the stories are bananas. Watch the VH1 making of Rumours if you doubt me.

ME: Not to say that it sounds like it is from that period, but your music has an early fifties feel to it., kind of pre-Elvis rock. Do you draw any influences from that time in music?

Ricardo: Yeah, definitely. Part of that is trying to write for a boy/girl combo. This is the first time I've written vocal parts for someone else on a regular basis and my templates often tied into old duets. Also, bands like Raveonettes do the mix of vintage harmonies with modern sounds really well and I thought it would be a good place to draw inspiration from. Remember, this first EP is a snapshot of us figuring out who and what Skinny Bitches is. The new material will be an extension of that and will have much better focus.

ME: I remember when Ace of Base came out. In a news teaser on MTV Kurt Loder said “Ace of Base: The next ABBA or just another Roxette?” I like to imagine Roxette in their dirty hotel room watching MTV with a single tear running down their cheek like the Indian in the liter commercial. My question: Skinny Bitches, the next White Stripes or just another Sleigh Bells?

Ricardo: Haha! To be honest, neither. The trouble with being a one-hit wonder is that first – you have to write a hit. From where I sit that’s real fucking hard. How hard? I don’t even know cause I’ve never written one. Maybe I accidentally came close and forgot to hit record – but I wouldn’t know it if I did. There are some great career bands and incredibly accomplished artists who have never had consistent singles chart success. Look at the Grateful Dead or Patti Smith. I read somewhere that Patti Smith’s only top 40 song was written by Bruce Springsteen (though I could be wrong). I think that our value as Skinny Bitches will only be judged after we have a few albums and hopefully along the way we do enough interesting things to warrant conversation. ME: Will Skinny Bitches survive and continue to release albums even if commercial success eludes you?

Ricardo: One of my favourite quotes, which I believe, can be attributed to a member of Queens of the Stone Age: "There is no making it. Just doing it." So yeah.

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Acquire the new Skinny Bitches EP at Bandcamp

Follow them on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skinny-Bitches

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Abby Cubey's Cleavage

Advice for songwriters:  don't rhyme fire with desire.  Don't rhyme kiss with miss.  Don't rhyme heaven above, with the word love.  Don't rhyme baby with baby and don't follow it up with you're driving me crazy.  Those tired clichés make love seem lame.

Abby Cubey is a singer, but mostly leaves little to no lasting impression.  I only mention it so you know a little bit about the background of ABBY CUBEY'S CLEAVAGE.

Abby Cubey's Cleavage is the star of the hot new video Feel My Fire.


Feel My Fire is a soft core porn about the struggles of a single mom trapped in Tucson Arizona.  She joins an orgy oriented, lesbian only book club in an attempt to regain her youth and maintain some type of human connection.

Conflict occurs when the ladies give Abby Cubey’s Cleavage the assignment of reading and providing a report over the book Bridges of Madison County and Abby Cubey’s Cleavage is forced to admit that it never learned to read.

Shunned by the academic world, Abby Cubey’s Cleavage goes into the desert to trip shrooms and experience spiritual enlightenment.

After a scene where Abby Cubey shakes her cleavage (not breasts but cleavage) at the camera,

The cleavage realizes there was no magic in those psychedelic mushrooms and the true power to read was inside the cleavage all along.

Returning to the book club, a little wiser, Abby Cubey’s Cleavage delivers a stellar book report.  Realizing that it was their tough love that forced the cleavage to overcome her limitations, the ladies of the book club gleefully welcome Abby Cubey’s Cleavage back and reward her with butterfly kisses and tickle fights.

If you enjoy things that are way too easy to make fun of, I recommend watching this video.

CD Review: Secret City by Gypsy Bed

There was a day and a time when existed people that never heard music.  It is an impossible concept to many of us. Today we live in a world of overwhelming exposure to music whether it’s our ring tones, or the radio, or the bass thumping car driving past our house. But there were some farm kids in Oklahoma in 1908, who only went to town once a month and who died before they were 14, that never heard music.  There once lived mountain men that spent all their time trapping furs. They probably heard music, but rarely.  Point is, there were people that lived an entire life never being flooded by constant exposure to music.  To them, if you sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star they would think it was genius.

What about those on the opposite end, people that work in music that do nothing all day long every day except for listen to music?  After years of picking apart, dissecting, and analyzing what it is that equals “good music”, to them Twinkle Twinkle probably goes virtually unnoticed.  Without giving it thought, they may not even consider it a song any more, just something children say.

Godfrey Nelson is a musical composer / producer / engineer / singer / performer / front-man for the band Gypsy Bed.  Day in and day out he is expected to provide what the masses consider to be “good music” for different types of projects.  Godfrey’s career path has put him in a position that requires constant scrutiny, and analysis of music.  Some people will say that they listen to all styles of music, and maybe some do, but few do it daily as a job. When somebody in this position decides to take on their own personal project, the canvas of creativity is limitless. Will they do country?  Will they do Hip-Hop?  Will they do Country-Hop? Based on their latest release, “Secret City”, the band Gypsy Bed believes direct and less complex is the best.

Gypsy Bed is a dreamy eyed stare down a beatnik path. The band delivers a spoken word landscape with a pop splash of Shawn Mullins familiarity packaged in an impressive musical menagerie of jazzy rock rhythms.  If Swedish scientist genetically spliced together Violent Femmes and Leon Redbone and instructed their creation to write songs for Tom Waits, that beautiful beast would manifest sounds similar to Gypsy Bed.  I invite you to step outside the box. If you truly want to hear somebody doing something not many others are doing right now, I recommend listening to Gypsy Bed.

Through the magic of electronic messaging, I recently was able to do a Q/A with Gypsy Bed’s brain child, Godfrey Nelson.

THCOFM:     Is Gypsy Bed a studio project, or do you get out and tour?

Nelson:     Because of my schedule as a producer/engineer we have not done many live performances. I am hoping that we will perform more in the future.

THCOFM:     When did you originally form?

Nelson:     I have worked with all the members of my band for the past 20 years on many projects other than Gypsy Bed.  Bill Schimmel (accordion) and Lorraine Nelson Wolf (Piano) have worked with Gypsy Bed since the early 90's.

THCOFM:     How did the members all meet?

Nelson:     Bill Schimmel was my composition teacher when I was in school and also played in my band Manikin in NYC. I met the others through my production work in the studio. I met Lorraine Nelson Wolf, my wife, when my rhythm section from Manikin was doing a Broadway show.

THCOFM:     This album is not similar to anything currently receiving radio airplay.  Is the project intended for commercial success?

Nelson:     We have no commercial intentions. I am always writing and this particular album has been in my head for quite some time, along with the next one, which I will hopefully pull together this year.

THCOFM:     Who are some of your influences?

Nelson:     I have been influenced by many people, The Beatles, John Cage, David Bowie, Zeppelin, Steve Reich, Tom Waits, Stan Getz, Lou Reed, Miles Davis and the list goes on. I love music.

THCOFM:     What do you think it takes for an up and coming band to get the attention required to achieve success?  Some believe it requires a great recording, but Kimya Dawson did it without that.  Some believe it requires touring, but XTC and Pet Shop Boys did it without ever playing a show (The Pet Shop Boys eventually did start playing shows at the end of their career to try and increase dwindling sales).  A publicist once told me that there is no example of any band that received attention solely based on their talent.  He said anybody that you ever heard of, received that attention because of:
A.     Nepotism,  (usually knowing the right person) or
B.     They hired a winning team (like Adele hired Rick Rubin and Dan Wilson)
Do you think it is possible for a band to accomplish success from outside an already established paradigm: earn attention for their talent?

Nelson:     To make it in the main stream I believe you have to play by the
rules of the major labels. Of course there are the exceptions, but they are
very few. I have worked in the business of music for many years and have
been very fortunate to make a living. Things have changed and music has
been devalued so much that it has become harder and harder BUT, never have
there been so many avenues for indie people and that’s great. I have always
believed that if an artist is true to one's self, that is what sets them apart.
We are all individuals and have something unique to say, we just need to
have the perseverance to find our audience.

THCOFM:     Modern music seems to focus too much on sales appeal, and less on creative content.  When I hear a love song, or a screaming angry song, it comes across like it was written to complete an assignment, and not so much like it was written because the author was in love or angry.  Do you ever complete a song based solely on the need to meet deadlines despite the fact that you may not feel inspired at the time?

Nelson:     Nowadays I write songs to fill my creative needs. I do still write music to meet deadlines and record and produce under deadlines.

THCOFM:     Are you a John Zorn fan?

Nelson:     I admire his work.

THCOFM:     Are you a Shawn Mullins fan?

Nelson:     I’m not that familiar with his work.
For more information on the band and to hear tracks from the latest release visit http://www.gypsybed.com/