General Music Chat

Hello Howlin J,
I don't know Roger personally, but I first had some vague contact with him in the early 1980s when I was an ultrlight flying instructor and he started flying one; I think I answered a question about supply of parts for his ultralight (which was an American Quicksilver), but I don't remember meeting him.
In the early 90s I taught Roger's closest neighbour Richard, another farmer, to fly and was always hearing bits about Roger and his flying etc.
Then when I commented to my farmer friend Trevor that he looks just like Roger, Trev told me the story of his youth spent as a Daltry lookalike around the Sussex pubs, and going quickly out the back way when Roger came in the front.

Our family friend who trod on Vaugham Williams's foot, was actually more famous for accidentally rugby tackling the Queen Mother!

And I have just remembered: 10cc had a house in the village where I grew up, and a studio called Strawberry Studios I think, in Dorking where I worked as a postman.

And a few months ago Doctor Who (Tom Baker) said hello to me in the local Tesco supermarket.

But once I finish listing all my names, my own life isn't very exciting at all!

All is true, but I sometimes wish my life wasn't... no that's bollocks, I have a great life and I would hardly change a thing; not even that head-on collision with the truck in 1994, because the best bits of my life have all come as a result of it!
Cheers Howlin J and all my Yankee cousins across the pond,
Mark..............

Hello Howlin J,

Our family friend who trod on Vaugham Williams's foot, was actually more famous for accidentally rugby tackling the Queen Mother!

And I have just remembered: 10cc had a house in the village where I grew up, and a studio called Strawberry Studios I think, in Dorking where I worked as a postman.

I do recall you telling the story of your friends encounter with the Queen Mother.

I recently purchased a CD of a live performance of 10 cc.
They were a great band that many are unfamiliar with.(At least in this country, however they had a hit with "I'm Not In Love) Their songwriting, musicianship and vocals are up to par with the likes of Badfinger or Queen in my opinion. I espessally like "The Wall Street Shuffle".
I have a couple of their albums on vinyl as well.

Never did any kind of flying myself, but I know some fellows who piloted gliders. My neighbor buzzes around in an ultralite in the summer. Some years back, there was a hang glider platform on the summit of Big Pocono mountain near my house. It has since fell into disrepair.(probably for the best).
later...
Howlin'

Stage presence is very important. Gotta get the crowd involved one way or another. Singing along if it's a widely known song, shout a coupla words, anything. Make em feel like you're really playing for them.. cause you pretty much are.

Hi Howlin J and Andrew,
I mentioned 10cc assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that they were an American band you would all be far more familiar with than I am! Perhaps they did more here than I realised?
Yes they were superb at production and musicianship and their songs seemed to have a class that nothing else in the pop charts achieved... except as you say J, Queen.
But Queen who were artistically really a bit all the same I recon, had a superb stadium rocking sound, but never the production inventivness of 10cc from song to song.

Now this 'Frenching' question I will come back to, as it sounds like something we don't have in the UK and that needs sorting!

But thinking about Kramerguy... you were saying about trying to move around a bit more on stage, well I was someone who stood rooted to the spot frozen with fear on stage! but I do know, that the human eye reads body language very acutely, and someone who is up on stage trying to move around and look cool... looks like someone up on stage trying to move around to look cool!
For some the need to jig about is natural, but if the jigging around is a conscious thing, every nuron that you employ on jigging around is subtracted straight from the ones twanging the strings!
So jig and girate but try not to look a plonker!
And if you fall off the stage try to leap onto the crowd so it looks deliberate!
Cheers,
Mark..................

Hey Howlin, was that a pic of the house you are building I saw on here somewhere yesterday. Nice! looks like a nice peice of property too.
I had not realized how many musicians are also carpenters untill I started reading these posts, I guess thats the creative side.

Regarding the CD giveaways - We sell both of Val's CD's at the shows, but I never thought to ask about giving them away... I'm thinking maybe a nightly raffle, maybe 3 cd's a night or something? I will have to discuss with her - I really like the idea of mardi gras beads, sounds fun as hell. Maybe I get to see some boobs too (this is where Crip magically appears and responds to thread) ahaha.[/quote]

Kramer the problem with selling CDs is how many are you really going to sell. We tryed a couple of gigs and we would sell 2-3, for 20-30 dollars.

My thought was that noone is ever going to hear our music that way. I ran into a rap producer in the area that had a major deal fall thru. I cut a deal with him to duplicate 3500 cds for $1000, thats like .28 cents a unit. It was just a deal that popped up on a local craigslist. Its just a cd with our name on it and our myspace. on it. So I got all these cds and was thinking at .28 cents this is the cheapest thing we have to give anyone, and we want everyone to hear our music. I hate that I didnt have something better to put on the cd, just a few covers and one origianl is all I had of any quaility to use. So I decided to start just giving them to everyone I see, so far weve given away 1500 to 2000 of these things. They pop up every where. Ive had folks grandmothers run into me at the Supermarket and say I love Pinball Wizard, Tommy was my favorite movie. So for me thats working.

A counter thought on this is my singer and bassist were in an original project called Chemical Zoo, look them up on myspace, they are awesome and had some awesome music. They payed $2500 to get 1000 cds made up, you know the kind you find in a record store, with the foldouts, the thanklyous the liner notes. In this day and age thats a waste of money. What happens with a cd these days? I either load it in my computor and make my own mix cds to ride around and listen too or the younger folks load them in their IPods or MP3 players. My son and daughter dont sit around on the floor looking at Album Covers like I did trying to decipher inner meanings, they toss all that aside in a drawer and dont look at it again. So all that extra paper and print you pay for in my mind is wasted.

Make up the cheapest simpliest cd you can and give away 100s of them. You want the biggest group of people to hear them.

Oh yeah my guys from Chemical Zoo just recently got rid of the last cd, it took 3 years and they wound up giving away over half of them anyway. I know I was just cleaning out one of my drawers and found one.

Kramer, Mardis Gras beads are cheap things to give away and promote a party atmosphere. I smile cause I run into people all the time with them over their car mirrors and they will tell me how much fun they had.

Human Nature- If you give somebody something like a cd or beads or a huggie they are way more forgiving than if you just get up there sit on a tub and play. If you can give them something they will have warm feelings for you.

Im not trying to tell anyone what to do, cause at this point we arent making a killing but we are pulling $600 a night consistently, I wind up selling $150 worth of merch a night, and to top it off am having a very very good time. I think the key is making people feel good and have a good time, if you cna do that you will be successful.

Now Im just waiting for Triadstar Records to sign me up and make me a Rock Star, I want that tour bus full of old guitars and a bath tub I can play baseball is.........................I wish I had wrote that song!

I'll add that I dont know if my advice is good or not I just try to share on here what we are doing.

Take it all with a grain of salt, but I will add try to make your shows an event that people look forward too.