Support Up and Coming Bands

Really - do.

Music these days is just way too much comercialilsed, sanitised clone-garbage. TV shows like 'Pop Idol' (or American Idol etc), X-Factor, and 'The Voice' make for amusing entertainment in the opening stages thanks to the bad singers that really can't sing, is prett bland in the middle, and by the end of it we're hoping something other than the winner's single gets to top the charts.

Thank got for the public upsurge in, I think it was 2009, when Rage Against the Machine beat Joe McElderry to the Christmas #1 spot.

Tom Morello apparently donated all the proceeds from this surprise chart topping to charity. Top bloke!

It's Ironic though - there was a mass facebook campaign here to get RATM to #1 because the media was pumping McElderry's song so much it felt forced, and the emphasis was on the RATM refrain "Fuck you! I won't do what you tell me!" which is exactly what everyone who bought the RATM record did - exactly as they were told.

Yes, I bought the record, and the irony of it wasn't lost on me then either.

Anyway, I digress, so, in support of all the people who work their asses off to make anything of themselves as a musician, I dedicate this post to the unsigned bands of the world.

It really is a gutwrenching slog to do anything as a musician. Finding a band is hard enough, sure if you want to play in pub covers bands until retirement you can get a gig almost by looking in the  yellow pages, but if you have the drive, the desire, heck the balls, to get your own music heard then you have a steep hill ahead of you.

You need the right line up, a band that you can rely on to do their job (it's a team effort), to pitch with things that aren't their job - let's face it while it's fun to watch, no one should let the drummer lug ALL of their geard from the van it weight a ton; and running around handing out flyers for a gig is no joking matter either - bands just starting out have to do everything because they can't afford hawkers or roadies.  You have to get along with with your bandmates, not just in the 'for a few hours' way that mates do, but in the 'we'll be living in each others pockets for days or weeks on end' kind of way.

Then you have to get gigs, this means trogging around pubs, clubs, holiday camps, events organisers and giving demo cds. Oh? You don't have one of those, no one's going to listen to you, so you'd best get in a studio and record one ... no cash for the studio, then you'd best have a forgiving family and neighbours because you're recording it in your back room on your computer ... Good luck.

Once you have your first gigs the key then is to connect with a crowd made up friends who've come to see you and people who don't know you from Adam and give them a great night. That means mixing covers with your own material.

Then, and only then, can you build a following, look for a showcase gig and pray that the right A&R guy hears you. Of course today it's a little easier thanks to the wonders of the internet; email, social media, youtube, are all great platforms to promote a band.

Do all that, get lucky, and be in the right place at the right time, and you could go far.

It's a slog. Don't let any TV show convince you otherwise.

These guys below have done what they have the hard way - so please, show them and other hard working bands  a courtesy, listen to them, buy their stuff, and tell your friends to do the same.

Hashtag Alice


Rooftop Farmers


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What's your ideal job?

My boss asked me this question,and I'm really glad he didn't ask it at the interview - I might not have got my job if he did.

"If money was no object, what would you do for a job?"

When he asked me the question I really had no idea how to answer, it wasn't something I'd ever considered, my life's path had gone a certain way and that led to certain jobs, which gradually led up the managament ladder to where I am now; a middle management corporate wage slave - hence the title of this blog.

The reason that I'd never considered it, is because I don't truly believe that I'll ever be in a 'money is no object' situation. I play the lottery, so every week I have a 1 in 13 million chance of this becoming a reality. Of course the odds of being struck by lightning are something like 1 in 575,000, and that hasn't happened yet either, so I'm not exactly waiting for that ridiculously slim chance to actually happen becaus eI'm pretty safe in the assumption it won't.

When I was asked, I think I replied something like, "I'd put my time in to music, maybe become a session musician or something." It wasn't necassarily what I'd do, but the first thing that I thought to say - after all, among my past hobbies does lie failed attempt at music stardom (needless to say I didn't anywhere further than the local pub circuit).

Apparently the answer to the question says a lot about the person answering.

Looking back on that question, today, I think perhaps my answer wasn't so far from the truth. Music and audio is something that has, forgive the pun, resonated with me. I've been a musician, I've written songs, I've recorded songs, I've played to crowds sometimes even fairly big crowds, and it's all a lot of fun. Let me tell you there is a buzz you get when you step up on to a stage to look outon a crowd of people there to see you perform. That buzz is unlike any other I've known, it really plays to your ego, However, money being no object doesn't dictate whether you can have a career as a musician, luck does, and plugging away as a session guy really doesn't do it for me in the way that being a part of an act would. So music is out.

Or is it?
There's more to music and the music industry than the guys up on stage; there's an army of sound guys, lighting guys, roadies, techs - all of whom do their utmost to make the band look and sound as good as possible both in the studio and live.
Then there's  the DJs the promoters, all working to get the band visibiilty.

Me? I like sound, Ilike messing with sound, I like to think that if I wasn't doing my current job and money was no object I'd be doing something somewhere related to sound.
Two 'heroes' one from a book, one from a movie, have always stuck in my mind; Jack Sorenson of the novel 'To Kill The Potemkin' and Jack Terry from the movie 'Blowout' are both experts in sound and both shine through in their field through the course of their respective stories. Neither of these guys are typical action heroes, and both of them stumble across the plot through being very good at their jobs.

Blowout

To Kill The Potemkin