Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

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Where Do We Go From Here?

July 20, 2008

The record labels are dead. We know this and we have known this for quite a few years now. And if you don’t know this then I am telling you…The record labels are dead. Radiohead have ditched them, Trent Reznor and NIN have ditched them, and many artists are skipping them entirely, like this guy Joe Purdy. Ever since I started reading blogs such as Lefsetz Letter and Antiquiet along with countless other writers that I can’t even remember, I have moved more and more into the future of the music world.

I look at myself, and how I function as a fan of music. As a fan I ditched the labels a long time ago and just didn’t know it. I used to save up money so I could buy a CD that I could hardly afford, but I quit that a long time ago. I used to listen to the radio and watch MTV to see who was new and who I should listen to, but I quit that a long time ago. Before I knew it I was becoming the model modern true music fan. I began to use the internet to find tons and tons of music and expand my library from my roots of constantly listening to Blink-182 for six years. It was a change for the better and it was all because the fans of music helped each other out and continue to do so.

Long story short, labels started suing their customers and scared me away for a bit. Then a year ago I came back to the game to see what was up. I learned that the labels rip off the customers AND the artists. And me being a young new artist and a fan, I felt the hit twice as hard when I discovered the information. Like finding out your parents aren’t really your parents. The label hit hard with pussy shots like suing your mother or your dead grandma. They shut down one of the best music trading websites ever and labeled it as a fucking crime syndicate.

Rob at Demonbaby.com wrote a fantastic article, “When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, The Birth of Dissent, and A Brief History of Record Industry Suicide”, in October of 2007 that was inspired by the record industry’s latest move to shut down the trading site known as “Oink”. The article spread around the web like herpes on your mom (don’t ask):

If the industry tried to have some kind of compassion – if they said, “we understand that these are just music fans trying to listen to as much music as they can, but we have to protect our assets, and we’re working on an industry-wide solution to accommodate the changing needs of music fans”… Well, it’s too late for that, but it would be encouraging. Instead, they make it sound like they busted a Columbian drug cartel or something. They describe it as a highly-organized piracy ring. Like Oink users were distributing kiddie porn or some shit. The press release says: “This was not a case of friends sharing music for pleasure.” Wh – what?? That’s EXACTLY what it was!

I encourage that you read the entire article HERE.

Over the past year I have been reading and reading and reading the minds of people commentating about the record industry and all their ideas and philosophies. I have soaked up this information and I plan to use it, and soon. The internet is the new music tool, it’s the only one that is still in the fan’s control and let’s hope it stays that way.

I am starting at a new school tomorrow, New England Tech. If I get to meet some guy who is super computer savvy and can make websites with ease and has FUN doing it, and is also a HUGE fan of music, then it’s a dream come true. Because with that kid’s brain and my brain, it’s time to be one of the pioneers of the new music industry. I’m sure there are countless others out there already well on their way, but the more the better.

Where do we go from here?

As fans, keep using the internet to discover and download your favorite music and, more importantly, NEW music. Don’t waste your time listening to the radio or MTV. They don’t let you have the control. In fact, they like to think they are in control of you.

As artists, use the internet to get your music out there. There is no better tool. Free distribution, free marketing, and instant gratification to your fan base(when/if you get one). Don’t waste your time trying to get on the radio or trying to get signed to a label. These 360 Deals are pieces of shit. Use your time to create GOOD music and then INSTANTLY put it up on your website for everyone to take and listen to. Take your time, the money to eat more than once a day will come.

Where do we go from here? I’ll show you.

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Stephen Lynch at the Newport Yachting Center 6/28/08

June 29, 2008

Last night I saw Stephen Lynch in my HOMETOWN and it was fucking awesome. For the Stephen Lynch impaired, he is the funniest singing comedian ever and you should check out all his shit. The first song I heard of his was Special Olympics, and just from that title you can tell what kind of comedian he is: funny. He also had a couple special guests sing with him. David Josefsburg(i think), whom he met on broadway doing The Wedding Singer (which Stephen said sucked), did some awesome singing and it just added a lot to the show. Also, Jeff Daniels(or someone who looks like him named Rod Cone) added some great singing. (Yes I took this picture).

While waiting for the show to start, I was a little nervous. Because I knew Stephen Lynch hadn’t been on the road too long after doing The Wedding Singer, and I thought he might not have any new material. Well I’m an asshole, this guy had loads of new material and it was just as funny, if not funnier, than his previous material. He has a very unique comedy show that I like. Most comedians get up and tell their prepared jokes, and probably throw in a bit of improv here and there. There are obviously lots of comedians who are fucking hilarious and make a good living doing this. But aside from Stephen Lynch’s songs and intros to the songs, he just talks on the spot and makes really funny jokes. Example for the naysayers: The venue was the Newport Yachting Center(under a tent) and Lynch made plenty of comments on it such as “When I think my crowd, I think Yachts” and “It’s great to be here…in this…fucking circus tent.” Okay so NOT the funniest examples but you get the point. It is so much funnier to just see that.

The new songs were awesome. There was a series of songs that he went back to every so often. The idea was that they were diary entries written, and he turned them into songs. One was someone talking about their family and their day around the house and that they’ll write back later, Signed Anne Frank. Another was about a man riding a horse, and he wrote that it was a wild one and he would tame it the next day and then write back on the progress, Signed Christopher Reeves. It’s FUNNY right? If Stephen reads this he would say ‘STOP KILLING MY JOKES’…so I will.

One of my favorite things he did was when he responded to screaming idiot dudes. He had a song called “Waiting” about waiting for an AIDS test result. I won’t give away the ending of the song, but the line before the end says something like “what did the test say?”. He let it ring, and then some idiot yelled from the back “YOUR FUCKED!”. Stephen replied while giving the finger to the guy “Thanks dick-fuck I think I know how the song ends”. Lynch may be a slightly short man, but I wouldn’t have messed with him after that. Then some other guy kept yelling out song names obnoxiously, so Stephen replied “I’M NOT A FUCKING JUKEBOX”. But then he proceeded with making up a song on the spot about how the guy should make a cardboard cut-out and pretend it’s Stephen and have it play all the songs he wants. I don’t know if those guys counted as hecklers or not, but Lynch knows how to handle ‘em.

So here comes the awesome part…

I had to move my car because the show went on for longer than expected, which was just fine by me, but I was now going to get charged for parking. So I ran a good ten minutes away from the venue to move my car, I got super lucky and found another spot downtown. Then my friend texted me saying “DUDE!” and I KNEW that she was still in the tent and that must have meant that Lynch was coming out again. I RAN AS FAST as I could (and I have asthma) to the tent and ran inside and saw a tiny group of people outside his trailer. He was signing and taking pictures.
This is me asking Stephen Lynch to sign my 30 dollar ticket…now worth millions!


Holy Shit I got to take a picture with Stephen Lynch.

Thanks to Stephen Lynch for one of the best comedy shows ever.

You all need to go out and buy or download his stuff because he gave that permission at the show. He said he is shooting for Christmas time with a new album.

www.stephenlynch.com

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Hugely Successful Band + Huge Concerts = Tiny People on Stage

June 24, 2008

For a huge lover of music, I have not been to many concerts. I either get to busy or they are just too far away. But recently I have been trying to change that. I went to see the Raconteurs in Boston recently and that was an amazing show. The venue was even better. We had seats that were pretty much close to the back, but it wasn’t really THAT far away. The venue was a perfect size. That got me thinking about all the times I’ve tried to get tickets to see the Foo Fighters and I have gotten stuck with tickets that are in high heaven. I never ended up buying those tickets because I’d be better off watching the live DVD at home. Only about a third of the people who go to arena shows get good seats or the floor.

Being a musician I hope to go on tour one day. Now I know I won’t have to worry about arena shows for quite a while, and quite possibly I may never make it to that level of fame to where I can sell out to an arena. But if I was to put myself in the shoes of some of my favorite, more mainstream, bands like the Foo Fighters or Green Day, I would do things differently. This is mostly just an idea, I know nothing about touring and how venues work but I don’t think this is completely out of the question.

Here’s the situation: I am in a band that has just hit the big time after years of hard work and touring and album promotion (self-promotion of course). And now my band has the fanbase to fill up an arena. Since I have been touring for many years, with little breaks in between, why stop? I know there are a good share of bands and musicians out there that are hardcore year round touring bands (Dave Matthews is the only one I can think of for now), but there are also a fair share who tour for 6 months to a year and then call it quits for a while.

The Boston Pavilion that I went to see The Raconteurs at held 5,000 seats. The average arena holds probably anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000. I’ll guess that 5,000 of those seats and the floor area go from amazing to pretty decent in what kind of show you see. The rest of those people get to watch the screens and just listen, or squint to see the tiny people on stage. I’d say watching a live DVD with tons of camera angles and a great sound system is better then those far away seats. You essentially get the same live sound, better view of the band, and no obnoxious people sitting with you. If you are in one of those good to amazing 5,000 seats than you are getting the full concert experience of smelly loud kids and pot smoking teenagers and music blasting out your ears and you get to SEE the band. I think anything else just sucks.

Here’s the solution: My band, with a huge fanbase that could sell out arenas, would not play arenas. I would find venues with a seating capacity of around 5,000. Using the Pavilion as a reference again, they have a decent schedule of performers lined up. But there are gaps that go anywhere from 1 day to a full week without any performances. I would play that venue for 3 nights in a row, give 15,000 a great show, rather than 5,000 a great show and the rest an alright listening experience. Now I know that I know nothing about the touring business, but I do know that those smaller venues wouldn’t mind filling up those gaps in their week with a band guaranteed to bring in a sold out crowd for 3 nights in a row.

Now the question is: how long do I tour? Well let’s say, for averages sake, that I’m a fucking superstar and will play each venue for 3 nights in a row. Then leave 2 days in between each venue for touring and break, in one year of straight touring I can hit 73 venues. That sounds like a good amount of places to me, and not only that, but everyone got a fantastic show. And not only that, the touring company gets to set up one day and then rest for two days before taking it down. And not only that, the band get the chance to walk check out the town or even set up a meet and greet in each place without a time crunch.

It is quite possible there are already bands practicing this schedule of touring, but apparently none of the bigger bands I like are doing it. Now I just have to remember to look over this 10 years down the road, and see if I am in that position and put this plan into action.

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Rock Show: recap.

June 23, 2008

My friend, Ian, had been working on a rock opera for a school project this past year. It was more than just a school project though, it was a way for him to create music that he loved. He had been writing it for the whole year and here and there me and him would play some of the songs. The rock opera was called Eternal Child and it is a fantastic story that is told through the music and lyrics. Ian told me and our friend Alex, who is also the drummer in our little band, that we would be performing it at the end of the year. That performance was last Friday.

When all the people that were there for the show started coming in we were a little stunned. We were just hoping for a younger crowd and it turned out to be a lot of older people, with younger kids scattered about. But regardless, we had a crowd and it was of a decent size. The show started out with the opening band, some of our friends, called Ann Street Pier. They played a cool set made up of a bunch of covers.

Then it was our turn to play Eternal Child. First off, I have to say I had the most fun playing that show than I had in a long time. However, due to my own wackiness I made a few mistakes. First, I decided to use a bass amp that I knew was having problems and during the first song it shut off on me. I pointed to the kid in the audience who had played bass in the band before us and told him I needed his amp. While this was all happening Alex is in the middle of a drum solo that was supposed to be around 2-3 minutes. We made it about 6 minutes while we dragged this HUGE bass amp across the stage and hooked it up in the middle of the set.

The rest of the show went pretty decently with minor blips here and there, mostly due to everyone being so busy that we didn’t get enough practice time beforehand. Then came my NEXT problem. Here’s what I originally thought happened. I was playing the bass and jumping around and then my guitar stops making any noise from the amp. I instantly thought, since this is an old guitar, it finally crapped out and I needed to borrow the other kid’s bass. So again I motioned him up to get the bass and I made the switcheroo and finished the set. He talked to me after the set and, little did I know, my guitar was fine and all I did was step on the cable which unplugged it. He said he just plugged it back in for me and then sat down in his seat. It turned out that he was not the only one who noticed that, apparently a lot of people saw exactly what happened, except for me. There were some cool pictures taken, and I hope to get those up soon.

We finished the set and the last two songs ended the show on an incredibly high note. Ian kind of panicked a little and called it the end, but everyone cheered for another and we definitely had another. It was an awesome encore.

I learn from all these dumb mistakes of mine, and I make sure they don’t happen twice. I’ve had everything from being oblivious to an unplugged cable, to getting my guitar snapped in half because I loaded the van wrong. One day I’ll get things right.

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Ryan For The Future: Re-Birth

June 22, 2008
It has taken me quite some time to figure out what I want to do and where I want to go with this blog. I don’t want just a simple blog. I want people to get something from me when they come here, whether it be a laugh or some knowledge and insight. After a long break of posting anything except movie reviews, I figured it out.
I am a musician and am obsessed with music. I love to listen to it and I love to play it. The industry is at a turning point and I think the assholes who spoiled the true soul and meaning of music are going to be falling out soon. The people who truly love music have already fallen from the mainstream, it is only a matter of time before everyone else catches on.
What will I write about here? I will write about my experiences with music. I create music with my two incredibly talented friends and musicians. I am constantly on a search for something and someone new, but I do not search too hard. I believe if you search too hard you will not find what you are looking for, or it will just take longer. I do my normal routines and I stumble onto new music and ideas, or they stumble across me. There is too much shit out there to try to shuffle through, and through unexplained, small incidences I have discovered great ideas, music, and people just by believing in the same things they do.

My plan is to share my ideas and experiences, and ideas and experiences of other people I meet in this world of music and beyond.

I am on a journey that is just beginning. My eyes are opened more and more every day to new ideas, people, and my own ambitions. What better way to experience it than to share it with people over the wonders of the interweb.

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Duffy

May 18, 2008

I first heard of Duffy from the Lefsetz Letter but never actually checked her out. The very first thing I heard about her was that she was like Amy Winehouse, but better. I am not a fan of Amy Winehouse’s soul music so I did not rush to find out more about Duffy.

I just caught a performance of Duffy on Conan O’Brien and my first impressions are that I am impressed, and surprised that I liked it. For one, I think Amy Winehouse is hideous and I don’t like her singing. Also, I do not believe anything that the press and tabloids have to say about any stars, but there is no getting around the fact that Winehouse is a drug addicted toothless weirdo. When I watched Duffy on Conan I heard her single and saw her for the first time. She is way hotter than Winehouse and she sounds a lot better too.

Talking with my good friend, he told me about how he was annoyed that Duffy is being marketed as the new Winehouse. I told him that’s just the major label marketing style: in this instance trying to sell one product, Duffy, as better by comparing it with another once hit product, Winehouse. The comparison isn’t necessarily wrong, but it just puts a taint on the performer by turning away potential listeners like my friend. It also delayed my interest in finding her until I had accidentally seen her on TV.

I’m going to grab Duffy’s music and check it out. I am mostly stubborn when it comes to trying new forms of music, but as of the recent year I’ve opened up a whole lot and this is a new way to go.

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Better Than

May 5, 2008

As school is finishing up and the weather is getting warmer (and Iron Man is in theaters!), thoughts of this summer are looming. 80% of the summer will be spent working, but the other 20% is what’s important. Depending where someone lives, the summer could be the most profitable time to forget about play. Above everything people hope for, they hope this summer will be better than the last.

I can’t tell you much about how last summer went for me, but I know it could have been better. I live practically on the ocean and I hardly went to the beach all summer. That might have been because I don’t have the sexiest chest, just the sexiest nipples. I did a lot of thinking about getting slightly fit enough for the beach, but I guess it’s just not in me to care. After buying a few weights and a bench I realized that.

The thing I want to work on most is my guitar playing. I know for a fact that I am better now than I ever have been, but with more practice, just like everything else, I can be better. I was recently watching a live “White Stripes” DVD and was amazed at Jack White’s playing. It occurred to me that he can play like that probably because he spent days and nights in his garage just playing for hours.

Maybe I’d have more practice time if I got off the internet for a bit…

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Open Mic Adventures 04/23/08

April 24, 2008

I was sitting at the beach around 4pm. It was one of the nicest days in a long time so I figured where else should I be. I also was aware of the open mic happening at Empire that night. The dilemma was do I play at all? and if I do play should I write something new only 3 hours prior to the event? Or should I play the same old shit.

I picked up the guitar and started messing with different riffs. I was sitting on the wall at the top of the beach so I had some involuntary audience members. I thought I would just play some covers. I dropped the 6th E string to a D and began playing “Everlong” by Foo Fighters and then “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World. A mother and her child were walking by when the child pointed at me. I had an official, voluntary audience member.

After finishing the song, and after the only real fan I had that day left, I came up with a catchy tune. I looked around for some paper in my car to write on. There was tons of paper, and then there was no pen. I decided that I could just write the words in my head, and at the same time that would insure better remembrance of the words. I just thought of something that I was going through and started singing words. I came up with a rather simple, but, to me, catchy song. The lyrics have a very serious, but at the same time lighthearted meaning. I even threw in a joke or two because I guess that’s just part of me, I have to always try to make people laugh. There was a lot of repetitiveness in the lyrics, but that was probably due to the method I was using to write them.

I ran to my friend’s house and sang the song to him to get his opinion/good graces/blessing. He said it was catchy and had a “HOOK”! I’d never heard any of my songs described with that word, and I thought it was nice of him to throw that word in there.

There was some difficulties getting to the Open Mic destination, but I made it. I got there in the second half of it all. There was two guys playing songs before me who were awesome. That’s what I got for showing up late: following two of the best acts the people would see that night. As I was waiting for my turn to go up I was thinking of stupid jokes I could say. There was also an instrumental going on so I jumped up there and started dancing, and it was possibly a sexual dance which I, subconsciously, always end up doing. I get up there and totally lose my mind for some reason, and the only kid that heard my “joke” was the kid who I was using as the subject. It was the performer who went up before me, Max Prussner. I said something about how he looked like Tom Cruise and tried to get him to do a Tom Cruise laugh, but I overlooked the fact that I wasn’t using the microphone so it was more of a private, awkward conversation. He probably thinks I either like Tom Cruise or guys. I decided that I would no longer plan jokes, and hopefully just say what comes to mind when I get up to the stage.

The next mistake I made was thinking: since I had no electric acoustic, I shouldn’t use the microphone. I ended up having to scream at the top of my lungs when one of my friends(INGRID) had begun to make some sort of blow job action, which I guess meant microphone. Then my strap popped off in the middle of my second song so I had my leg propped way up high on a speaker. Then Strapping Max fixed my strap from behind my back(oh snap oh snap that’s like a rap). I’m pretty sure he touched my butt.

The night proved to be mostly successful. I played decently, but more importantly I think I sang better than before. If you were there, then I thank you for your moral support and guidance and hope you enjoyed all the musicians. If you weren’t there, then you missed a live sex performance. Oh yes, it was hot.

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My Goal is for Music to Make Me Hallucinate

April 14, 2008

I recently watched Coheed and Cambria’s live concert DVD “The Last Supper”. I wasn’t always a huge fan of them, but I hadn’t really listened to them in a long time. They are one of those bands whose albums are meant to be listened to all the way through, which is an almost lost activity.

Being in the age of the iPod, people will just hit shuffle and listen to two thousand+ songs at complete random. I’ve decided that I’m going to bring this activity back into my life. Since Coheed and Cambria sparked this idea in my head, I got their first album “The Second Stage Turbine Blade”. I put it on my iPod and before going to sleep, I shut off the lights and layed down in bed with my headphones on and listened to the album all the way through. The album, sounding as it is, can inspire some crazy images in my head in normal life, but shutting off the lights and closing my eyes left my mind completely open to the music.

The beginning of the album was like the “calm before the storm”. I was picturing myself walking around my town and just seeing things at random. Seeing people I know and strangers, and then I kind of took control a bit and started to form my own comic book-like movie to go along with the rest of the music.

I don’t think all the albums that come out these days have to be heard in their entirety. I also think some artists know this about their own style of music. I can think of bands that I used to listen to a lot like Blink-182 and Green Day whose music can just be thrown into a shuffle and it doesn’t matter which way you listen to their songs. However, they both have put out one album each that are great for listening all the way through: Blink-182’s self titled album and Green Day’s “American Idiot”. Green Day’s “American Idiot” was most likely written for the purpose of hearing all the way through. Blink-182’s self titled album was an awesome turn for them in their career. It was their best album, musically, to date and you could tell that something was changing. With the break-up of Blink and the creation of Angels and Airwaves it was clear it was Tom Delonge (Blink-182 guitarist) who was changing. He has put out two albums, “We Don’t Need to Whisper” and “I-Empire”, through that band that have really inspired some awesome ideas and feelings in me when listened all the way through.

My two good friends, Alex and Ian, and I are working on a rock opera that Ian pretty much wrote. If we get this recorded, it will DEFINITELY be one to listen to all the way through. I am utterly amazed at how all this music is coming out in the practices. The songs go through such different feelings and emotions, the whole album and story is full of emotion and huge feelings. It is turning out to be some of the best stuff I’ve been a part of.

Here’s what I think everyone should do: Find a great album, one that you think is just amazing all the way through. If you haven’t already, wait until it’s later at night and dark out. Lie in bed or sit in the dark and put on a good pair of headphones and close your eyes and let the music take you. The shuffle function on your iPod is great for short drives or walks as background to your life, but it is good to give the music the driver seat once in a while (please don’t take that too literally). If you are a morning jogging type of person, that sounds to me like another good time to let the music take you. Just as the sun is rising, or maybe the sun has been out for a half hour or so but hasn’t quite shed its light on everything yet.

Let the music take you away from everything.

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Pennywise and MySpace: No Reason To Believe

April 3, 2008

If you haven’t heard, Pennywise released their album on MySpace for free download. I never listened to Pennywise before, but I am aware that they are from way back in the heyday of 90’s punk rock. I am also aware that they have been not so popular since then. Now they are trying to get with the times by offering their album free, following in the Radiohead/Trent Reznor footprints.

I decided I’d give them a shot, since there was a reported 400,000 people getting the album. Not even free can save this album. I am not familiar with a lot of their older work but I’m sure it was good for what it was. This album just sucks. I have no idea what they were trying to go for; I don’t even think they were trying.

MySpace is in the shitter anyway. I think it hit its peak a while ago. It’s full of a crazy array of stupid ads(my favorite being the ones where the girl is “live” on her webcam waiting for you to reply….what ad agency thought that would trick anyone longer than a day?). I don’t know if there was a point when Facebook was crappier than MySpace, but Facebook has far surpassed MySpace on every level. I find it to be a lot more fun and easy to use. It seems a lot smarter than MySpace too. I give MySpace two years, after that you’ll start hearing people say, “Is MySpace still around?”.

MySpace Music

They made deals with three of the big four: Universal, Sony BMG, and Warner Music. I suppose that’s good? Those labels are going down, but I suppose they will be stuck around for long enough that MySpace can benefit from it. It’s another attempt for the labels to dip their greedy hands into the internet pool that they so recently rejected.

The new MySpace Music Portal includes ad-supported streaming. Really? I’m pretty confident that everyone is way past ad-supported streaming; and also streaming music period. I do use Pandora once in a while when I’m not at home since my iTunes library is in my external.

I have been on the edge of deleting my MySpace account for a little while now. The fact is there are still a lot of people using it, I can still reach people that way so I will continue to do so. Like I said, its a fad and a passing one at this point. MySpace Music will not help the industry any more than the 360 deals.

360 deal: That’s a whole other topic to be discussed.

-Ryan

p.s. This is probably my first shot at writing about current happenings in music and the industry. That’s what I planned on doing when I started this site. I should get on this a little more.

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