tag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:/blogs/saturation-acres-blog?p=5Saturation Acres Blog2018-07-07T07:16:45-04:00BRET ALEXANDERfalsetag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/44193612016-10-14T12:48:01-04:002022-04-12T05:10:33-04:00THE REAL GIG (10/14/2016)<p><span class="font_large"><strong>OF DRAGONS AND HONEYBEES </strong></span><br> <br>What a week, right? With all eyes on the election and current events, I feel strange sitting down to write about music. I won’t get into any of the trending topics out there. Today, I am going to pull things in close and talk about something that matters very much to me: Songwriting. <br> <br>Looking back at this blog, I am not sure if it makes any sense. It's kind of a word salad. Basically I am talking about the price of compromising....... and not compromising. Here goes:<br> <br>On a bulletin board in our kitchen, my wife and I have little scraps of paper tacked up with various sayings and facts. Two in particular struck me this morning as I was looking for something to write about. The first one (author unknown) says “An average worker bee makes ½ of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.” The second one is from Friedrich Nietzsche: “The man who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself.” <br> <br>For now, I am just going to tack those two quotes at the top of the page. We will come back to them, I promise. <br> <br>One of my favorite interview questions I have ever been asked is this: “What has been your favorite part about being in the music business?” Playing to thousands of people? Seeing the world? Hearing your songs on the radio? Meeting your idols? <br> <br>None of the above is my favorite. My favorite, hands down, is the feeling you get right after you have finished writing a good song. I’d say “great song” but I think that is up to other people to decide. So I’ll stick with “good” song. <br> <br>Why is that my favorite? Because that is the closest to <em>your</em> truth you will ever get. You sit down and noodle around. You develop ideas and discard others. Then all of a sudden it comes to you. And you have the whole thing mapped out in 20 minutes. That is the way it works. When you finally find it, it seems so obvious. Until then, it is maddening. <br> <br>I always feel like I am at my best when I am writing about my family. For others, it may be social issues, love, partying or whatever. It doesn’t matter as long as it comes from the right place. <br> <br>After the song is written comes everything else. Rehearsals, recording, mixing, mastering, artwork, etc. After that, you start fighting dragons. Playing gigs, dealing with clubs, managers, lawyers, fights within the band, marketing, radio promotion……. The list goes on. <br> <br>These are battles you may win or lose. But even if you win, it pales in comparison to that moment when the song is born. The biggest thrill isn’t winning. It is the moment you know you have something worth fighting for. <br> <br>A man who loses for something he believes in will be back next year to fight again. The man who wins for something he doesn’t believe in will be gone with the first cold breeze. <br> <br>To quote Friedrich Nietzsche again: “He who has a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any how.” <br> <br>You might be like that honey bee I mentioned above, maybe only a few people will ever hear your work. It doesn’t really matter much. It will still hold up for you 20 years later if you told the truth. Conversely, if you create something dishonestly and it succeeds, you won’t get any lasting peace from the victory. That is just the way it is. <br> <br>Well, that is the way it is for me anyway. <br> <br> I can see the dragon fighters rolling their eyes at me right now. “Winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing.” “The end justifies the means.” And on and on….. <br>This attitude may have merit in sports, business, or the practice of law, but I think it should stay out of the arts. <br> <br>If our artists can’t be trusted, then who can? That is where we go to be inspired, to gain perspective, and feel better. Sure, you have to live in the real world, but you can't just build your music around a marketing strategy can you? I mean, did John Lennon really mean the words to “Imagine” or was he just trying to sell records? <br> <br>I think he believed it. Naïve as that may be, I believed him. I trust his art. <br> <br>Sometimes, to keep someone’s trust, you have to be willing to lose. And losing is a shitty marketing strategy.<br> <br>Any musician that does this gig for a long time reaches a point where they lose sight of why they wanted to do it in the first place. That is why I love to talk about music with non-musicians. They can love it for all the right reasons without having to fight dragons every day. <br> <br>Because that wears at you over time until one day you realize that the kid who just loved music is now an angry old man spitting fire to stay alive. Compromising at every turn, he runs down the rabbit hole chasing after something even he can’t remember. <br> <br>I got close to that point a few times. But I could never bring myself to not care...... To discard what moved me about rock and roll in the first place. So I walked away. <br> <br>I always wanted to trust the artists I loved. So I figured that the least I could do, in some small way, would be to try and live up to the standards I had set for them.<br> <br>Lots of times I have found myself in various situations asking myself, “What would Neil Young do?” or “What would Tom Waits do?” <br> <br>Sometimes the answer to that question is to tell someone to fuck off. Then move on. Music, at its best, is indeed a powerful thing. <br> <br>Usually that leads me back into my cave to write some new songs. That is where the truth lives. Always has. <br> <br>So that remains….. my favorite part. <br> <br>The dragons will still be there tomorrow. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/43978732016-09-30T12:40:07-04:002022-03-22T06:16:03-04:00THE REAL GIG (9/30/2016) <p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/4b49edfef61803ce074579d7b09ca7185964761b/original/conductor.png?1475253538" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>LIFE’S CONDUCTORS </strong><br><br>This week I finally got around to watching the <em>Steve Jobs</em> movie. He was a complicated man for sure. It wasn’t the most feel good film I have ever watched. But I must say there were several scenes that apply to many of the things I try and discuss in this music blog. I was surprised how much Steve Jobs referenced musicians when talking about his quest to democratize the computer. It was pretty cool. <br><br>My favorite example of this was when he was standing in an orchestra pit talking to Steve Wozniak. Jobs was recalling a conversation he had had with a prominent conductor. He asked the maestro what a conductor actually does. The conductor replied, “Musicians play their instruments. I play the orchestra.” <br><br>Later, an angry Wozniak said, “What do <em>you</em> do? You're not an engineer. You're not a designer. You can't put a hammer to a nail. I built the circuit board! The graphical interface was stolen! So how come ten times in a day I read Steve Jobs is a genius? What do you do? <br><br>Jobs replied: “I play the orchestra.” <br><br>And this, my friends, is a fact that every musician should remind himself of every day. Wozniak was a great musician. Jobs played the orchestra. <br><br>You all play your instruments. Other people play you. <br><br>Now, getting “played” is automatically perceived as a bad thing. Not so. Every great musician needs a great conductor. Actually, at some point, a great musician needs several conductors in his life if he is going to successfully navigate this business. <br><br>Sure, you can do it all by yourself. I’m a DIY guy. But if things go well at some point you are going to need several conductors to keep you from leaving bunches of opportunities rotting on the vine. <br><br>Examples of “conductors”: Producers, engineers, managers, road managers, lawyers, A&R people, and booking agents. There are more for sure. <br><br>Yea, you can do all these jobs yourself. Many musicians take great pride in doing all these things alone. I am one of them. But at some point in your journey (if you work hard and you are lucky) you are going to need some help. Well, you won’t need it, but your level of success will most likely be more modest than it could be. <br><br>But which help to get? A bad conductor is worse than no conductor at all. So, as you assemble the conductors that will the direct the symphony that is your career, you need to ask yourself a shit ton of questions: Does this guy care about me? Does this guy share my vision? Does this guy know more than me? Does this guy explain why he wants me to do what he wants me to do or does he just try and trick me into doing it? Is he swallowing the whole pill of what I am offering or is he just trying to make a buck? Am I on his back burner? What are his previous successes and do I fit into the philosophy that made them?<br><br>In the Steve Jobs movie, it was the classic cast of characters: Jobs the artist/visionary, Wozniak the master musician, and John Sculley the wise CEO who had the resources, wisdom, and connections to bring it to the masses.<br><br>Just like a great rock band really. <br><br>Lennon/McCartney and Brian Epstein. Page/Plant and Peter Grant. The list goes on. <br><br>Somewhat serendipitously, this week I got into an interesting conversation with a person at one of my gigs. Great guy. A business man who is on the board at several companies in the area. I met him that night through an artist friend of mine. The two of them were in a discussion. The artist side of “if it is meant to be it will happen.” And the business side of “you have to methodically make things happen.” <br><br>He turned to me and asked, “If you could change one thing about the way your career has gone, what would it be?” <br><br>I said without hesitation, “When the world turned around I wish I had more people in my corner that had been there before.” <br><br>I wished for wiser conductors. <br><br>Now, I would never diss the conductors I had. As far as music production was concerned, I was one of the conductors I wish was better at the time. All our people were great at what they did. But all the people in our corner were first timers. Everyone did a great job, but there was no wise old John Sculley to say “In the long run this is the wrong move fellows……. And here is why.” So we just went with our best guess. <br><br>So I wish John Sculley was there to help me. I wish he was there to convince me I didn’t know my ass from a hole in the ground. I wish I could have thrown my artist chocolate into his business peanut butter and fought our way to something great that everyone wanted. <br><br>In my musical journey, everything turned out quite well. I am a survivor at heart. But I only partially buy the notion that “if it is supposed to happen it will.” <br><br>I think destiny is like the fingers on your hand. The conductors you want are over at the thumb and index finger, holding the baton and ready to put you to work. But too often we go running to the ring finger because it has something shiny on it……. Only to find that it is a dead end. Or the pinky, because it is smaller and less intimidating. Or the middle finger, because really all we want to do it tell our detractors to stick it where the sun don't shine.<br><br>Learning from experience is very effective. But it hurts alot less when you learn from someone else's experience instead of your own. You waste less time, too.<br><br>Some of the conductors of our lives we don’t get to choose. Like our parents. Andy Warhol once said that being born was like being kidnapped and sold into slavery. That’s funny, but true in a way. So much of your world view, religion, work ethic, political views, and humanity will be instilled into you at a young age by people you didn’t have a damn thing to do with choosing. <br><br>If you get good ones this can be a great thing. If not, oh well, there is always therapy. <br><br>But fortunately, with our careers, we can seek these people out. <br><br>I often hear the phrase, “Oh they must have known somebody” when musicians talk about the success of one of their peers. Well, no shit right? That is the way things always happen. While you were playing your instrument, your friend was playing the orchestra. The results are not hard to predict. <br><br>Without great music, nothing else matters. But those things being equal, the guy playing the orchestra will outrun the guy playing the instrument every time.<br><br>You don’t need a conductor to be a great musician. You can never leave your home and accomplish that goal. However, you do need a conductor to play a symphony. So if that is what you want, go find the guy holding the baton. He is easy to recognize once you find him. He is the one looking at you with his back to the crowd. <br><br>I’ll leave you the way I started, with one more music related scene from <em>Steve Jobs</em>: <br><br>Wozniak: “I’m tired of being Ringo when I know I was John.” <br><br>Jobs: “You think John became John by winning a raffle, Woz? You think he tricked somebody or hit George Harrison over the head? He was John because he was John.” <br><br>Food for thought……. Play on my friends. <br> <br> </p>
<p> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/43875172016-09-23T13:37:22-04:002022-01-10T04:24:15-05:00THE REAL GIG (9/23/2016)<p><strong>THE STRANGE LANGUAGE OF INTUITION </strong><br> <br>Some days I sit down and write these blogs and I have a really solid idea. Like last week. Sometimes I have no ideas. Like the week before. Well, this week I sat down and realized I had about seven ideas…. all at once. <br><br>Before I knew it I have written about 1000 words about the habits of white tailed deer, opening a diner, Buddhists, elephants, the philosophy behind tree farms, and how all that applied to a musician’s career. But, as it has happened to me many times before, there came a time when I had to just admit that what I was doing wasn’t making any damn sense. <br><br>And that, for any writer, is a sad walk of shame to the top of the page. <br><br>Ctrl A …… Delete. <br><br>Creative ideas come to you in a flash and you sort them out with intuition. Unfortunately, what intuition tells you to do with your piles of ideas can be confusing as hell. <br><br>Intuition is a bitch. I can feel it in my chest when something I am working on isn’t right. I ignore it for a while but it comes back. In my experience, when you find yourself talking yourself into the notion that something is right….. it is probably wrong. Add that with the aforementioned feeling in the chest and you are an idiot if you keep going down the same road. <br><br>As Quincy Jones once said, “If it don’t feel right. It ain’t right.” <br><br>The problem is that intuition sometimes tells you to do something that completely defies conventional wisdom. Sometimes that involves starting over. And if you have had any sort of success in life at anything, that can be very risky, unwelcome advice. <br><br>We all want to hang onto what worked in the past. Especially if we have invested a lot of time and money into something. And it pisses us off when what used to work doesn’t work anymore. <br><br>I believe it is called a cliché. Nobody likes those. <br><br>To quote Tom Robbins in <em>Still Life With Woodpecker: </em><br><br><em>“Have you risked disapproval? Have you ever risked economic security? Have you ever risked a belief? I see nothing particularly courageous about risking one's life. So you lose it, you go to your hero's heaven and everything is milk and honey 'til the end of time. Right? You get your reward and suffer no earthly consequences. That's not courage. Real courage is risking something that might force you to rethink your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness. Real courage is risking one's clichés.” </em><br><br>Bravo, Tom. Ok, maybe I can salvage something from my 1000 words this morning. Here’s the restaurant analogy I had that is similar to how the music business works: <br><br>There is this guy, Joe, who makes great burgers. I mean these things are awesome. Friends flock to his parties just to get a taste of one. Eventually, his friends say, “Joe, dude, you should open a diner. You have a gold mine here. People would come from miles around for your food. I would fill your place with my friends alone!”<br> <br>Joe says, ”You know what? You are right. I have always wanted to own a restaurant. I am going to go for it.” So Joe hooks up with a couple buddies and finds a spot to put his diner. He opens the door and sure enough, people are waiting outside. For the first time the general public gets to taste his amazing burgers. <br><br> It takes a while, but word spreads. Joe’s Diner is busy. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Joe is in a lot of debt but he’s making a few bucks now. He’s overworked but things are moving in the right direction. He has systems in place that are working so he sticks with them. <br><br>Then one day, while a table of his regulars are sitting around at lunchtime, one of them says, “You know Joe seems a little burned out, don’t you think? Not as friendly as he was. And the burger I got yesterday was a little overcooked. Not like it used to be. Plus, we have been coming here for years. You guys want to try somewhere else tomorrow?” <br><br>Another guys says, “My wife and I are having a baby in a few months so my days of hanging out with you assholes are numbered anyway. I’m up for a change.” <br><br>Then a third guy says, “I’d be up for a place that is a little quieter so we can talk. The noise here is starting to get on my nerves.” <br><br>So everyone agrees to leave. Good reasons all around, but that doesn’t help our boy Joe. You can almost hear him singing the Joe Walsh line, “Everybody’s so different, I haven’t changed.” <br><br>Slowly, several of the other tables of regular patrons follow suit. The ones that remain are not enough for Joe to keep the things going. He downsizes at first but slowly things fall into disrepair. The neon sign out front reads “E A oe’s”. Eventually, he closes the diner. <br><br>That should be the end of the story right? Well, no it isn’t. Joe’s friends all disperse and eat lunch somewhere else….. for years. Then sooner or later they start reminiscing. They say, “Joe’s Diner was a great place. Man, I wish that spot was still around!” <br><br>A bunch of people start hounding Joe on social media. They tell him he should start cooking again. Joe sees the demand and rents a spot at the county fair. So once a year, all the old friends get together and eat burgers and talk about the old days. <br><br>So that, my friends, is a pretty accurate analogy of many a musician’s career. <br><br>Not a particularly sad tale right? Not at all. Joe made a lot of people happy. Good guy, Joe. <br><br>But……He became a slave to his own patterns. He became a cliché. He rode the same merry go round every day. Eventually people got off. Which is normal. He needed to change it up, expand what he was doing into other avenues. Catering, private events, or whatever. But he got so busy doing what he had always done that he didn’t have the time. He burned out running in the same circle and resisting change. So that was it. <br><br>Get the comparison? <br><br>Ok. I am dangerously close to diving back in to the conversation about deer and elephants. But I will resist. I don’t speak intuition very well. I need to take more classes. <br><br>So the moral of the story is: Trust your gut. But if your gut is talking to you like it just downed a bottle of Crown Royal, then come back tomorrow after he has slept it off. <br><br>So screw this. Time for a sandwich. <br><br>See you all next week. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/43760152016-09-16T15:54:29-04:002022-03-06T06:07:42-05:00THE REAL GIG (9/16/2016)<p><strong>Some Shit Went Down </strong><br><br>Last night I went to The Steamtown Music Awards in Scranton, PA. It was a great night of catching up with friends and fellow NEPA players, writers, and producers. <br><br>As I got up this morning, I found myself thinking about an event that happened to me 20 years ago. I was at a charity auction in Austin,TX. To be honest, I can’t remember the cause. But I do remember being there. At one point I was standing back stage with a whole group of presenters. There was Jimmy Vaughn, Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton (of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Double Trouble), Charlie Sexton, Eric Johnson, and several others. <br><br>I remember thinking what a great musical legacy Austin has. There are so many others you could name, Willie Nelson being one of them. There is a statue of Stevie Ray in town. The last time I was in town Jimmy Vaughn’s picture was on the cover of the travel brochure. <br><br>That place loves its musicians. <br><br>Then I thought back to last night. Standing in the corner by the pool table were a bunch of friends of mine: Aaron Fink, Nick Coyle, Jon Nova, Tom Flannery, Tony Halchak, Ed Randazzo, Dustin Drevitch, and Eddie Appnel. I am forgetting several, I know. There were hundreds there. But I thought about how this group of guys has about 6 record deals between them, who knows how many national tours, a few gold and platinum albums, a few plays, soundtracks, movie scores, Independent Music Awards, and a shitton of albums. They have been on MTV,VH1, several of the late night shows, and played to arenas full of people all across the land. <br><br>Also, there was a Lifetime Achievement award presented to the late, great George Wesley, who entertained anyone who crossed his path for FIVE DECADES!<br><br>I’m not saying that our crew was on the level with that group in Austin, but…..pretty impressive for a bunch of drinking buddies, right? <br><br>Yea, but what will they be doing tonight? Many of them will drive off in all directions to a variety of clubs, set up in front of a bunch of jerseys hung in homage to local heroes that played in the NFL and MLB for a few years and play a gig. <br><br>And it makes me wonder, why is that jersey on the wall yet no one seems to think these guys are something this area should be proud of? <br><br>Well, I do. <br><br>I was an athlete too, I put myself through school being one. So I am not dissing the accomplishments of our successful athletes from the area. But I believe the musicians deserve a place at that round table as well. <br><br>And, if you are a person in charge of such things, I think a thriving local music community is good business. <br><br>So thanks to Joe Caviston and Ken Norton and everyone else involved with the Steamtown Music Awards. Northeastern Pennsylvania is quite a ways from the status of Austin,Texas, but last night was a step in the right direction. <br><br>When I was starting out over two decades ago, I didn’t know anyone locally that had ever made a record, let alone had a record deal (or any other of my friends’ accomplishments). Now I can stand in a NEPA bar with my pals and hear stories about these things for days. <br><br>When our band, The Badlees, were signed to A&M Records in the mid 90’s, we had a band house in the town of Selinsgrove,PA. Most of the guys in Breaking Benjamin also hailed from there. Ben used to tell me that he walked by our place after school a lot while we were practicing. The guitarist Aaron knew how to play my songs better than me(still does). The drummer Jeremy had a band that played with us a few times. One of the earlier formations of the group opened for us at a local high school. <br><br>Now, you can read all sorts of stories on the internet about guys that come from nowhere and do great things with their music. But it all seems a lot more possible when they live on the street where you ride your bike. <br><br>I think that sort of thing is cool. Don’t you? It feeds on itself, in a good way. <br><br>So it was nice to see people getting recognized……. <br><br>When I went out this morning I heard Panacea’s “We the Broken” blasting from a car that drove by. That record was done in my basement. <br><br>When my girls were small I bought them this princess castle clock radio. It was their first alarm clock. I dialed in a radio station and I set it up for them to get up for school. The first time it went off it was playing a song of mine. One of my tunes, blasting away out of that little pink castle. I smiled as they whacked the snooze button. I love that memory. <br><br>Once again, I think these kind of things are cool. We should be proud of our music community. They are a big part of the fabric of this place and should be treated as such. There are a lot great people in the area doing great things with musical events. I hope this trends continues to grow.<br><br>When Paul Smith and I opened our recording studio years ago, we used to say: “We don’t care about the money, but when this is all done we want one of those blue signs along the road.” <br><br>You know, the ones that say “Sullivan’s March” or “Battle Of Wyoming” . You see those signs and your brain automatically says, “At some point in time, some shit went down right here.” <br><br>That’s all I want for my musical life and career. Some shit went down and I was there. <br><br>Thanks for the great night, fellas. <br><br>Keep the faith. <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/43642912016-09-09T10:03:59-04:002022-03-20T06:22:54-04:00THE REAL GIG (9/9/2016)<p><strong>GUMPTION TRAPS </strong></p>
<p>I have a session and two gigs today, so I need to write fast for this one. I’m giving myself one hour starting……….. now. </p>
<p>Over the past few months, I have been slow with my writing. Blogging and songwriting. I’ve been in the studio nonstop and playing more than I ever have in my life. So, much to my chagrin, new output from me has been down to a trickle. At least by my usual pace. </p>
<p>So today I want to talk about one of the ways that I get out of a rut. Specifically, I impose restrictions on myself. </p>
<p>I give myself an hour and demand that I walk out with a new song(or blog). I open up a book and write a song about whatever page I turn to. Or I’ll write something on an instrument I don’t know how to play. I have a bunch of these practices. </p>
<p>Basically you are taking away your mind’s options. Your brain can get moving so fast that it inspires you to inaction. So reduce the playing field down to the size of a stamp. Then you will have to get creative with limited resources. You will be surprised by how good the results are. </p>
<p>It’s like the Bear Grylls school of songwriting. Drop yourself in a hostile environment and fight your way out with the tools at hand. </p>
<p>Now, I’m all about putting the time into things and sweating the details. Pink Floyd didn’t make <em>The Wall</em> in an evening. But sometimes you have to give your brain a kick in the can. </p>
<p>When I was in my twenties I read a book several times called <em>Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance</em> by Robert Pirsig. It’s hard to describe what it is about really. It’s about quality, The Buddah, fixing things, creativity, etc. Lots of ramblings by a guy riding across the country on a motorcycle. </p>
<p>The one thing he talked a lot about was “gumption traps.” Basically anything that can stop you from completing a project. Here’s a quote: </p>
<p>“Gumption is the psychic gasoline that keeps the whole thing going. If you haven’t got it there’s no way the motorcycle can possibly be fixed. But if you have got it and know how to keep it there’s absolutely no way in the whole world that motorcycle can keep from getting fixed. It’s bound to happen. Therefore the thing that must be monitored at all times and preserved before anything else is the gumption. “ </p>
<p>Or to put it another way, the man is talking about faith. Believe in yourself. </p>
<p>Seems easy enough, right? </p>
<p>Yea, it should be. </p>
<p>Pirsig breaks gumption traps down into two categories: external circumstances, or “setbacks”. And internal one, or “hangups.” Setbacks could be lack of money, poor tools, or difficult co-workers. Examples of hangups would be ego, anxiety, or boredom. </p>
<p>Setbacks are overcome with discipline and extra work. </p>
<p>Hangups are more tricky. Ego: you are so confident in your abilities that you aren’t open to new ideas. Anxiety: you are so sure you can’t do it that you don’t. Or Boredom: you have lost your “beginners mind”. </p>
<p>Meditation is a way to combat hangups. Take your brain out of the equation by giving it something else to focus on. Then you can see things more clearly. </p>
<p>One of my favorite albums I ever did was The Cellarbirds' <em>Perfect Smile.</em> I wrote the songs in my car on the drive to the studio each day. What I didn’t finish I completed while we set up the drums (to record the song that wasn’t written). </p>
<p>Bob Dylan wrote “Blonde On Blonde” in the studio while the musicians waited in the next room to record it. The engineers said that they would take a second take of a tune and the lyrics were all different. That record is one of his early masterpieces. </p>
<p>Charlie Parker used to write songs with the same changes as standards so when the band showed up in the studio they would already know the song. He did this to save money and time in the studio. In the process he created classic recordings(with a little research I have leaned this was called a "contrafact"...a little trivia).</p>
<p>So, in many cases, all these wonderful things are not as they seem. Much more ordinary in their genesis. Just a few guys with an open mind, a job to do, a deadline, and the gumption to not take no for an answer. </p>
<p>To paraphrase C.S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters, “Humans have a nasty habit of becoming what they believe themselves to be.” </p>
<p>So believe something good….. and get to work. </p>
<p>Time’s up.</p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/43544562016-09-02T13:22:31-04:002022-04-12T13:21:19-04:00THE REAL GIG (9/2/2016)<p><strong>WHEN TO SHUT UP AND WHAT THAT CAN DO FOR YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS </strong><br><br>Have you all seen the Snickers commercials where there is this toxic person ranting and raving until someone gives him a Snickers and he turns back into his happy go lucky self? Well, a friend of mine recently pointed out a meme to me that says “I ate a Snickers and I’m still an asshole.” <br><br>I’m going to use that as an intro to today’s topic: When to shut up and what that can do for your hopes and dreams. <br><br>There is this scene in <em>Christmas Vacation</em> where these two hillbillies are riding Clark’s ass on his way to get a Christmas tree. His wife says to let them pass. Clark decides to teach them a lesson. He ends up wrecking the car. The hillbillies drive off….. dumb as ever. <br><br>Applying these stories to musicians is easy. Musicians tend to be independent, free thinking folk with lots of opinions about what they do. They speak their minds about everything. They fight every battle. And, sometimes, they promptly throw the baby out with the bathwater. <br><br>I’ve done it lots of times. <br><br>I’ve had several bands I have worked with in the studio this year break up over easily fixable issues. A full schedule and a promising future ripped to shreds over obtuse “principles.” It’s a shame, but all too common. <br><br>As Tom Hanks said in <em>That Thing You Do</em>, “It’s a familiar tale.” <br><br>But let’s take a little detour here. If we take a second and zoom out, I want to talk about the division in our country as a whole right now. I’ll bring it back around to music in a bit. It’s a related conversation. <br><br>If I were asked to place one word at the center of the argument between the two sides, I would choose the word “Obey.” <br><br>On one side you have “Obey our country”, “Obey our customs”, “Obey our laws”, “Obey our religion”, and on and on. Some from this side might use the word “Respect.” In my opinion, respect and obedience are two very different things. Anyway…….On the other side, well, over there you have disobedience. A lot of this stuff isn’t working for them so they are getting in the face of it all. For better or for worse. <br><br>I’m not here today to take a side in this argument. But no matter where you sit, one thing is for certain: the status quo ain’t going down without a fight. It never does. <br><br>Which brings us back to the music….. <br><br>Many years ago my band was fighting over an issue (I can’t even remember what it was) and our booking agent at the time gave me a quote that has always stuck with me. He said, “The poor blacks hate the poor whites but at the end of the day they are both fucking poor.” <br><br>There wasn’t a stitch of racism in his comment, so please don’t take it as such. But he made a great point: You are trying to accomplish something, whether it be a new song, a record deal, a full schedule, or whatever. The status quo isn’t just going to let you in. You are going to have to fight and earn your way in. You are going to have to take it on the chin a shitload of times. You are going to have to say nothing when you feel like screaming. Your internal squabbles are doing nothing but keeping you “poor.” <br><br>And meanwhile, other lesser talented people are passing you by. <br><br>Now this is completely contrary to my Appalachian, working class upbringing. You are taught that the guy who speaks his mind is a badass. The guy who “tells it like it is” is a force to be reckoned with. And, chances are you are gonna get screwed anyway but it is honorable to go down swinging no matter what the issue. Honor at all costs. (Side note: There is a book out now called “Hillbilly Elegy” that explores this in more detail. I haven’t read it, but I have heard good things) <br><br>Anyway………<br> <br>But, as I got out there I learned something a little different. In the real world, Rambo dies first. In the real world, the second mouse gets the cheese. In the real world, John Wayne more often than not rides off into the sunset alone and is forgotten. <br><br>In the real world, as Daymond John from <em>Shark Tank</em> says, “First you have to make it, then you have to master it, then you can matter.” <br><br>Start a band, make it awesome, rule the world, THEN tell everyone to kiss your ass. <br><br>Or to put it another way, with success comes freedom. It is far easier to tell an obnoxious gatekeeper of the music business (record label, club owner, booking agent, etc.) to pound sand when you are helping pay his salary. It is far better to combat stupidity from a position of strength than from a position of honorable helplessness. And, somewhat ironically, you get there by sometimes keeping your mouth shut for a while. Even when you are 100% right. <br><br>Now, please don’t misunderstand this. If you are in a dead end situation, don’t be a wallflower. Get out now. And don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. The person who is well liked but never takes a stand on anything is just an agreeable pussy. Harmless at best.<br><br>But keep your eye on the prize and give it some serious thought before you do these things. <br><br>You are defined just as much by the battles you avoid as the ones you fight and win. I feel like a wuss even saying that. Old habits die hard. But experience has taught me that this is true. <br><br>The music you save may be your own.<br><br>I’ll leave you with a story Robert Duvall told in <em>Colors</em>: <br><br>Check it out: <a contents="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHcoMMaW2ZU" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHcoMMaW2ZU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHcoMMaW2ZU</a> <br><br>Patience my friends. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41995342016-05-27T10:38:14-04:002021-06-24T06:15:43-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(05/27/2016)<p><strong>BROKEN THINGS </strong><br> <br>My father had many sayings. Little quotes he would go to at certain times. One was “Bret, if you don’t straighten up we are both going to the hospital. To get my foot out of your ass.” That was one of his favorites….. and one of his most feared. <br><br>My mother had a few too. Sometimes when I wanted something I wasn’t going to get she would say, “Well, you know what they say in Canada?” <br><br>“No mom, what do they say in Canada?” <br><br>“Tough shit.” <br><br>As a young kid I could only surmise that that phrase was used in many other countries as well. But my pre-teen mind couldn’t deny that yes, people from the Great White North probably said such a thing quite often. So I accepted it as true. <br><br>But my father had another saying that was also commonly used. It was, “Don’t do as I do, do as I say.” <br><br>Dads are great at giving out good advice. But they aren’t always the best at following it themselves. <br><br>I am no exception. <br><br>And I’m going to use that as a qualifying introduction to today’s tale….. <br><br>I have a black bag I carry to gigs. In it I have microphones, guitar cables, stomp boxes, adapters, duct tape, etc. Pretty much anything I need to do a gig at any moment. I keep it in my car at all times next to the jumper cables. <br><br>Way down in the bottom of that bag is a microphone cable. There are other cables closer to the top that I use every gig but down in there is one extra special emergency cable. I don’t use it that much, but every once in a while I have to. <br><br>The problem with this cable is that it is an older style cable with connectors that you don’t see that often anymore. And this cable is missing a set screw. It works, but it’s not too trustworthy. I am always taping it up. I could have probably bought 3 mic cables for the money I have spent on duct tape to hold that cable together over the years. And sometimes a harp player jumps up at my microphone and grabs it and it stops working. It’s a pain in the ass. It has happened several times. I should just get rid of that damn cable. But for some reason, I keep hanging onto it. In my mind, it’s still worth something. <br><br>A few days ago I decided I was going to find a set screw for that cable. So, I dug through all the other gear I should have gotten rid of long ago and eventually I found one. Cable fixed. Total time expended: 15 minutes. <br><br>Now, over time that cable cost me time, headaches, and money. Mild annoyances but still… and it all took about 15 minutes to fix. It would have taken even less time to get rid of it and put another in its place. <br><br>Now, I look back at my last two months of blogs and I talk a lot of picking, choosing, creating space, and prioritizing what you need and don’t need to be spending your time on. But I won’t get rid of that damn cable. <br><br>I am indeed my father’s son. <br><br>So my column this week is about broken things. Things you put off fixing or just won’t let go of for whatever reason. There are examples, like my mic cable, where just a little tlc can bring about positive change. But whether it be gear, songs, or people, I’m here to tell you that some things just don’t want to be fixed. <br><br>And these are the things that will nickel and dime your life away. <br><br>As far as gear, I love old stuff. My 40+year old Fender Twin is a beast. I’ll play it for as long as it makes a sound. But some things just have to go. I had a Rickenbacker 12 string that I loved, but it wouldn’t stay in tune. After every take in the studio I had to tune it. It took weeks off of my life. Eventually I sold it. My life is better for it. A little less jangly, but better. <br><br>I have recorded songs for people that they just wouldn’t finish. They kept reworking and adding things and spending money on an average track. They would have been better off writing 1 or 2 new tunes. Or 10. <br><br>As the slightly disgusting saying goes, “You cannot polish a turd.” But this is nothing to fret over. To quote a famous children’s book “Everybody Poops.” <br>Finish the song and move on. <br><br>Broken people are the trickiest. And the most deadly. <br><br>To quote the late great Tupac Shakur: “I gotta stop treating people like I owe them something.” <br><br>Sage advice, for sure. <br><br>I have worked with many bands that are one guy short of complete awesomeness. Oftentimes, the band hangs on to the guy just out of loyalty. The dude might not give a rat’s ass about the gig, but still they stay loyal and it weighs everyone down. It’s a tragedy, really. <br><br>Now, I believe in second and third chances. But some talented people are just not worth the problems they create. And 90% of the time the second and third chances turn out like the first. Give these people some time if you wish, but don’t give them forever. <br><br>There are others out there. Go find them. Loyalty is admirable but not if it destroys you over nothing. <br><br>Ironically, sometimes the key to victory is surrender. <br><br>So take some inventory of your surroundings and get rid of the broken things. Give up on them. The time has come to move on and make room for the new. <br>I will if you will. I promise. <br><br>I’ll leave you with a link to an old Ikea commercial: <br><br><a contents="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBqhIVyfsRg " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBqhIVyfsRg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBqhIVyfsRg </a><br> <br>Here’s to the future ladies and gents. <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41897182016-05-20T12:28:23-04:002021-06-24T05:53:19-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(05/20/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/7312b92b9fcad13128ba89c9b1c32c7a055a0405/original/rofo-march2016-50.jpg?1463761590" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>WHAT’S YOUR STORY? </strong><br> <br>You see, I remember reading a story. But I don’t remember where it came from. It was about an old Native American woman who found herself and her family living on a reservation, destitute and hungry. She noticed that white people did not take care of each other out of the goodness of their hearts. They demanded something (usually money) in exchange. <br><br>She figured she could play that game. So she went home and weaved a bunch of baskets and started going door to door trying to sell them. No one bought one. Finally, she got frustrated and yelled, “What is this…. are you people trying to starve us?” <br><br>Obviously our Native American sister did not understand the nature of capitalism: You can’t just make something nice to win at this game. Someone has to actually want what you are selling. <br><br>Thus begins today’s subject. <br><br>I have always said that the best way to break up a band is to make a record. I’ve seen it a hundred times. A bunch of guys have a rock and roll dream. The band gets all excited and starts diligently writing songs. They save up some money (or increasingly, they ask someone else to give it to them via Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Indiegogo, etc.) . Then, they do the recording. Then, they put together the artwork. Then, they plan the release party. Then……. About two weeks or so after the release party the phone calls start coming in. The band is depressed. <br><br>At this point they ask the question that whole empires have risen and fallen on: <br><br><em>Now what? </em><br><br>I’m going to start the conversation by answering that question. Starting at the beginning, the key to good old fashioned “guerilla warfare” style band building is this: <br><br>Start with people who know your story (i.e. your friends). Build from there. Go no further until you are ready. <br><br>If you don’t have any friends, get some. And, as we used to say in the bakery business: If you run out, make more. <br><br>I don’t mean just calling your friends to come to your shows. Maybe you have a friend that is already in a band who will give you a slot on one of his shows at 1am when everyone is leaving. Take it. Maybe you have a pal with a DJ for a dad that runs a homegrown show. Get to know him. Maybe you know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy…….it doesn’t matter. <br><br>Because starting with your friends follows a really simple rule. You start with people who already know your story. Then you build from there. For now, your story might be that you are “Jack’s friend” that has a band. That’s ok. If it gets you on the bill and in front of people, that is good enough. You can build more stories about yourself as you go. And tell your story to more people. Eventually your story will precede you and it gets easier. <br><br>Most of your favorite artists started this way. All these successful people are just a multitude of stories stacked on top of each other. That’s why people care about them. <br><br>This is not just a good philosophy to keep in mind when you are building your band. It’s a good thing to keep in mind while you are living your life. <br><br>So, rather than spending a shit ton of money going to Nashville to make a record so you can impress everyone by calling yourself a “Nashville recording artist”, spend more time making friends. “Nashville recording artist” wears off real quick. Friendships last much, much longer. It’s better for your career…….. and hell, it’s nice to have friends. In high and low places. <br><br>No matter what the product or who the person is, chances are good that someone loves it or them because of the story they attach to it…..or them. <br>People will drive a Jeep their entire lives because at one point they had one that they loved and it has all these memories attached to it. They have a story for the Jeep brand and they will spend the rest of their lives buying that company’s product just because of that story. <br><br>That level of trust is Jeep’s to lose. Remember that. That’s a good analogy for your music career. <br><br> “They are the band that I listened to in college.” ”They are the band with that catchy love song on the radio.” “They are that band with the great female singer who sounds like Amy Winehouse.” “They are the band that stands up for animal rights.” There are a million of them. <br><br>It doesn’t matter what you are, but you can’t just be a band that sounds good and has a cool internet presence and looks professional. Persistence is futile in that case.<br><br>‘Cuz no one gives a shit about that. There are 50 billion of those. <br><br>I may get lynched for this, but I believe if an alien came down from outer space and wanted to hear a few tunes from the 1990’s, I don’t believe they would hear a huge difference between Creed and Pearl Jam. <br><br> Now, multitudes of rock music aficionados love Pearl Jam and hate Creed. I’m one of them. It’s largely an authenticity thing. But I know their respective stories. Strip away the story and what is coming out of the speakers is basically pretty similar. At least to the uninitiated. <br><br>Hopefully that little comparison makes it clear why I started this column talking about a Native American woman who couldn’t sell baskets. There was nothing wrong with what she made. It was just that there was no story attached to her baskets to convince anyone that they had to have one. <br><br>No one knew why they should care. So, no one did. <br><br>There is a great Steven Spielberg movie called <em>Amistad</em>. Basically it’s about a group of African slaves on trial who are trying to get home. Anthony Hopkins plays the lawyer John Quincy Adams in the film. In one scene, Theodore Joadson (played by Morgan Freeman) is asking him for advice on how to win the case. John Quincy Adams says “Whoever tells the best story, wins……..you know <em>what</em> they are, they are Africans. What you haven’t bothered in the least to discover is <em>who</em> they are, right?” <br><br>You can check out the clip here: <br><br><a contents="http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/amistad/whats-their-story " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/amistad/whats-their-story">http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/amistad/whats-their-story </a><br> <br>To quote the great Pete Townsend, “Who are you?” <br><br>Several years ago, I was promoting an independent record we had made. The radio promoter said something that stuck with me. She said, “The only thing standing in the way of the success of this record is the changing of one person’s attitude.” <br><br>Whether that person is a label rep, a booking agent, or PD at a big radio station, chances are good they don’t know who you are right now. If they do they are most likely indifferent. <br><br>Maybe somehow you might be able to get a meeting with one of them. So there you are there. The clock is ticking bud, time to tell your story. Time to answer the question that every gatekeeper in the music business will ask you: <br><br>“Why should I care?” <br><br>It’s a good idea to answer that question before you go after that meeting. If you don’t have a compelling answer, that’s ok. Better to go back to being “Jack’s friend” and “That band with the great female singer who sounds like Amy Winehouse” for a while. Get a few more arrows in your quiver. <br><br>If you are good, eventually you will have more stories to stand on. <br><br>And great stories change hearts. <br><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41795232016-05-13T11:30:32-04:002022-03-19T06:31:40-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(05/13/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/b1b20f5acaa31cf50f54334e15a5a553b436e25a/original/ear.jpg?1463153391" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br>THE TYRANNY OF THE PRIMAL EAR </strong><br> <br>Here’s a Catch-22. Old people love to give advice. I am not sure why. For the most part, young people do not dig receiving it. This is unfortunate from both sides. Grandpa likes to believe he has figured everything out after all those trips around the sun. In other words, he is set in his ways. From the other perspective, Junior thinks Grandpa is full of it and all of his old school wisdom does not apply in the brave new world. In other words, Junior is an idiot. <br><br>I try my best to not just give advice here. There is so much of that out there. I try and give a few unique perspectives of being a musician that perhaps you haven’t thought of yet. Timeless stuff that doesn’t change. Hopefully, I am getting that right form time to time. <br><br>Over the past few months, I have written several entries about diversification in the music business. You have to be able to do it all to keep your calendar full. Write, play, record, teach, etc, etc…… it takes a wide array of skills to fill your calendar these days. <br><br>But here is the rub: Once the calendar is full, that’s when the real soul searching begins. Ironically, the real gold is in being a samurai at something. That’s how you get to the next level. A master of one, not a master of none. <br><br>Most people who are fans of your work can explain your appeal in one sentence. If they can’t, you have work to do. Of course, we are all incredibly complicated people. It would take dozens of adjectives to fully describe us. But the core of our appeal can be summed up in just a few words. Try it with some of the artists you love. It works. <br><br>No one wants to hear that. Because what most musicians <em>want</em> most likely does not line up with what they <em>are</em>. Or at least, what a person truly excels at does not encompass everything that person wants to be or do. To put it another way, sooner or later you have to get over your own bullshit and use the right hand God gave you. Put away all the fancy stuff Mr. Renaissance Man and focus on what you are good at. <br><br>You can do it all, for sure. But eventually you run out of the most valuable commodity of all: <br><br>Time. <br><br>So, at that point you have to decide what to do. Sure, you can find a YouTube video and figure out how to fix your own car. But is it worth the time it takes? Or, do you take it to your samurai mechanic and pay him to do it? Thus, in some small way, allowing him to continue with his samurai mechanic ways? <br><br>Because eventually, if you stubbornly cling to the notion that you can do it all, you will be so overwhelmed with the details that you won’t have the time to put into the thing you are truly gifted at. Your ego will kill you. Or at least you will find yourself spending less and less time on your best abilities. And somewhere out there is a guy with the same talent as you(maybe less) that is going to pass you by simply because he had the good sense to lighten his load and leave a few things behind. <br><br>It’s kind of like a DIY version of The Peter Principle. You do such a good job doing everything that you are <em>ok</em> at that there is no time left to do what you are <em>great</em> at. You have risen to your greatest level of do-it -yourself inefficiency. <br><br>At that point son, you are caught. You have to put a few things down if you want to go forward. To paraphrase Tim Burton in Big Fish, “The biggest fish in the river gets that way by not being caught.” Eventually you have to pick and choose which morsels to go after. Or you will end up with the rank and file of the mediocre and overextended……. In full control of every aspect of your career but overwhelmed with the details of a million little projects. You will be suffering anonymously with the rest of the burned out musicians who tried to do it all and ran out of time. <br><br>You spent so much time building a deck on the house and fixing the pipes and laying tile and working on the furnace etc, etc that you failed to realize that you could have built skyscrapers.<br><br>I know this because I have done it. But I’m getting better…… <br><br>But all of this begs the question: “What do I focus on then?” <br><br>Read on, comrades. <br><br>My wife and I often sit up late at night and listen to music. We mix in the classics, current stuff, and also tracks I have written or produced. A concept we talk about often is the notion of “The Primal Ear”. In other words, music you connect with on a primal level without really understanding why. Music is one of the rare art forms that can move you to tears without any logical reason. You can listen to Verdi’s “Requiem” and cry like a baby without knowing anything about orchestral music or understanding one word of the language. It’s powerful stuff. <br><br>The Primal Ear is difficult to understand. It is unforgiving. It doesn’t care about your opinions, needs, or wants. It loves what it loves. It gives the thumbs up to Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist Of Fate” but throws up when it hears a classically trained singer who graduated from Julliard. It heard 2000 country singers over the years, all very similar on the surface, but it decided Johnny Cash (a man who could barely sing) is its favorite by far.<br><br>Why? I can’t say I know. But if you want to know where to put the lion’s share of your energies? Go ask The Primal Ear. <br><br>No one truly knows The Primal Ear. It cannot be bought. It wants what it wants. But at some point you need to listen to it. Where is your strength? Is it as a writer? Or a guitar player? Or a singer? Or a producer? You can talk to 10 of your colleagues and probably get a good idea of where your true ability lies. Chances are, you already know. You just don’t want to admit it. <br><br>Sometimes the talent you possess that connects with everyone is not even the thing you work hardest at. The author of “Jaws” Peter Benchley once said, “It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous..” <br><br>Whatever talent you possess that excites The Primal Ear is your ticket to bigger and better things. The more time you can focus on that specific talent, the more progress you will make on a bigger scale. Unfortunately, musicians do not listen. I have seen so many bands with one really good writer in the group but everyone demanded democracy so they ended up with bunches of lowest common denominator music. There are so many musicians that try to make their own records at home by themselves and screw it all up. The end result is average at best. There are many, many examples of these transgressions. <br><br>The Primal Ear does not care about the average Joe crying for democracy or poor sap complaining that he wanted to do things right but he didn’t because of his circumstances. <br><br>The Primal Ear is a tyrant. Ignore him at your own peril. He hates excuses. And you can’t draw a bullseye around the arrow and convince him you are brilliant. He will not feel sorry for you. Ever. <br><br>He knows better. <br><br>However, when he gives you a stamp of approval please take it to heart. In the movie “Creed”, Rocky put Adonis Creed in front of a mirror and said “There is the toughest opponent you will ever fight.” I believe that to be true as well. <br><br>As a musician, if you can master yourself and your own bullshit you can reach your full potential. Being a Jack Of All Trades is a necessity for survival. No doubt. But specialization and focus is the key to excellence. And that quest never ends. <br><br>So go to the mountain and ask The Primal Ear for some advice. Chances are he will tell you what you already know. What you do with that information is up to you.<br><br>But that will make all the difference.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41689702016-05-06T14:47:03-04:002020-08-20T07:31:28-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(05/6/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/9e99776c841799c1622005242fe464abddfd0ef4/original/number.jpg?1462560403" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br>NUMBERS </strong><br> <br>Last week, I was talking about personal philosophies and dreams. This week I want to flip that coin. Today, we talk about numbers. <br><br>Numbers are not all that fun to hang out with. In fact, they can be pretty damn boring and a royal pain in the ass. If you are going out for a night on the town, it’s no fun to take numbers with you. They are always reminding you that what you are doing doesn’t make any sense. They are always pointing out much more profitable ways you should be spending your time and money. <br><br>I tell my numbers to piss off all the time. <br><br>Numbers love tax season. They sincerely enjoy balancing a checking account. When the unexpected happens, numbers are the first to look at you and say “I told you so.” Numbers are assholes……. Largely because they are never wrong. <br><br>Your heart can’t speak number language. It doesn’t even like to try. Number people roll their eyes at heart people. The problem is, they both need each other. <br>Heart people make stupid decisions, a lot. But, every once in a while they deliver brilliance. Number people are incredibly consistent. But they are often bland as hell. <br><br>But the good thing about numbers, as the saying goes, is that they don’t lie. They keep you on task when you are frustrated and feel like quitting. They dangle a carrot just out of reach and they don’t give a damn how much you ask for a bite. They push you to new heights. <br><br>Hearts make great artists and philosophers. Numbers are better sergeants. <br><br>So where am I going with this? As an independent musician (or any other artist), you need to be both a heart and number person. There are many, many other occupations where this is not the case. In many occupations, if you show up on time and do your job consistently you will be fine. Not so for the musician. You need to be both. If you are all heart, your emotions will blow you all over the place. If you are all numbers, your work will bore the bejesus out of everyone you play for. <br><br>If you read about any author’s process, there will be a number element to it. Ernest Hemingway wrote 500 words a day, in the morning.... standing up. Prince and Stevie Wonder wrote a song a day. Beethoven would get up, count out exactly 60 coffee beans for his morning coffee, and compose for 9 hours. <br><br>They weren’t always brilliant, but they were always there. As the author Tom Robbins put it, “My muse doesn’t visit me every day but she knows where to find me.” <br><br>Here are a few ideas for you: <br><br>Whenever you find your gig schedule getting lighter than you want, try getting in the habit of calling, emailing, or texting 20 people a day. It doesn’t matter if a few of the 20 people are your grandmother and sister. It doesn’t matter if you are just texting someone you haven’t talked to in a while to say hello. After a few days, opportunities are going to start to come from it. It happens every time. The number 20 will push you forward and make you get creative as you run out of people to contact. <br><br>I reference the book <em>Outliers</em> often. The author Malcolm Gladwell believes that it takes 10,000 hours to master something. That’s about 20 hours a week for 10 years. Or about 40 hours a week for 5 years. When you look at the careers of athletes, musicians, or whoever, this number makes sense. 10,000 hours to become a samurai. You just break it down into months, weeks, and days and let the numbers keep you disciplined. <br><br>In the book <em>The Medici Effect</em>, author Franz Johansson talks about think tanks. He was speaking about using the technique of coming up with 20 solutions to a problem. Don’t worry how plausible they are, just come up with 20 ideas. The first 5 or 6 will be pretty conventional. Then, as you run out of ideas, you get creative. And that is where the gold is. <br><br>He spoke of one particular think tank where they were trying to find a way to keep ice off of power lines in a remote region. The first several solutions were conventional. Find a way to heat the lines, insulate the lines, etc. Then things got weird. One of the later ideas was to put honey pots on top of the telephone poles so bears would shake the poles and dislodge the ice. This led them to the idea of using vibrations. They hadn’t thought of that. And that led them to the idea of using helicopters to fly over the wires and vibrate the ice off. Which was ultimately the solution they wanted. <br><br>Take a problem and find 20 solutions, no matter how insane. Solution 16 is going to be something you never thought of before, guaranteed. <br><br>Another one I like to use is number sequences in songwriting. For example, say your birthday is June 7th, 1994. Write a part that has a measure of 6, a measure of 7, and 1,9,9,4. You will wow your friends with the incredibly complex piece you just wrote. But in reality you are just playing your birthday. This works while soloing as well. <br><br>The band Rush allegedly based the opening sequence of their classic “YYZ” on Morse Code for the radio call letters of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. <br><br>Finally, take a song you like and write down the number of lines and rhythm of it. Then write a new song with those parameters. Songwriters tend to go to their happy place when they write and do a lot of the same things. They write songs with the same number of lines in the verses and chorus with the rhyme schemes in the same places. If you strip another tune down to the studs and use those dimensions (say a 6 line verse with rhymes on line 3 and 6 and a 5 line chorus with the rhymes on line 2 and 4) you will be forced to write out of your comfort zone. <br><br>Ain’t nobody gonna know. <br><br>Bob Dylan wrote “Subterranean Homesick Blues” based on Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business.” No one would ever guess they were related unless it was pointed out to you. <br><br>Well anyway, all this number talk is making me tired. I’m going back to letting my mind wander like it usually likes to do. <br><br>As artists, we like to read about those lightning bolt moments that inspired all of our favorite stuff. But, in reality, those moments can be few and far between.<br><br>Hopefully I have given you a few examples of how the simple act of counting on your fingers and toes can help you get a little more water out of the well too. <br>It’s as easy as 1-2-3…. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41593212016-04-29T13:15:30-04:002020-12-30T05:53:18-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(04/29/2016)<p><br><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/a9a68ad29fa647fa2fb4504e0a8899aafa5d7258/original/rofo-march2016-55.jpg?1461949133" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER ANGRY YOUNG MAN </strong><br> <br>I’m going out on a limb today. This column is going to sound like I’m a self-help coach or motivational speaker. I’ve started to write this story a few times in the past and realized I was rolling my eyes at myself…..so I stopped. But it keeps coming to mind. So I’m going to exercise this demon once and for all at the risk of sounding like a douchebag. <br><br>Less music than usual in today’s entry. But if you are a musician, it certainly relates. <br><br>I grew up in Canton, Pennsylvania. A small town of about 2000 people in the North Central part of the state. My dad was a factory worker and my mom was a teacher’s aide. A basic working class family. Canton was a great place to grow up, but predictably there wasn’t much going on. It has one red light and it’s about an hour to the nearest McDonald’s or movie theater. In fact, a trip to McDonald’s and a movie was a pretty big deal to us as kids. <br><br>I was a somewhat unique because I got into music in my teens, but I was also into sports. So I mixed pretty well with the musicians and the jocks. That came completely natural to me. Springsteen’s sax player Clarence Clemens was also a musician/athlete. So I figured, why not? <br><br>When it came time to graduate from high school I had to decide where to go next. No one in my family had ever gone to college. And, there were no musicians in my immediate family either. I was deep into jazz at the time and I was studying with a guy who was a Berklee College Of Music graduate. He helped me through the process and I did an audition for the school. I got accepted. I wanted to go. <em>Bad. </em><br><br>But at the same time I was doing well in sports too, mainly football. I started getting scholarship offers from various schools. Brown, University Of Pennsylvania, Bucknell University, etc, etc. Lots of Division 1AA and Ivy League schools. <br><br>After much consideration (and a handful of threats from my father…… something like “if you don’t do this I’m calling the Army recruiter”) I took a scholarship offer to play defensive end at Bucknell University. For the next four years, that is pretty much what I did. I still played music in the summers and on the weekends, but rock and roll dreams were on the back burner for the time being. Sports paid for my education, so that was the drill. Sports, school, sports, school. To be honest, sometimes it felt like 100 years to me. <br><br>Every person has a few “crucible” moments in their life that they keep going back to in their mind. I gave you all this back story so I could properly set up one of mine.<br>So here goes: <br><br>Me and a bunch of my football friends were in an early fall semester Economics class of our freshman year. We were a sorry sight, sitting in the back, bruised and tired from camp and daily practices. We were all working class kids whose parents probably couldn’t have afforded the meal plan at a school like this, let alone tuition. But somehow we were there. <br><br>The subject of the day was “Social Darwinism”. Basically, “economic survival of the fittest.” The poor are poor because they are supposed to be poor. They didn’t apply themselves so don’t help them. The rich are rich because they are further up the economic evolutionary scale. My friends and I sat there thinking, “what a crock of shit.” The professor wasn't agreeing with the concept or disagreeing. He was just explaining the philosophy.<br><br>But up in the front of the class a young girl raised her hand. She said, ”You know, that is really true. If these poor people would just apply themselves they wouldn’t be in the condition they are in.” <br><br>Now, to say that to a bunch of working class kids who get pummeled every day to pay for their schooling, that’s something. That the <em>only</em> reason their other friends were left behind was because they are lazy? That the reason you were at a great school and they were not was because of economic natural selection? No Susie Sorority with the Hilton Head tan, that is not the case. And furthermore, do you have any idea how lucky you are? <br><br>My one buddy leaned over to me and said, “That is why I hate this place.” <br><br> It was official, I was a card carrying angry young man. There were many other instances. It took me decades to really put it all in perspective. <br><br>But eventually, I did get it together. When I did make peace with the situation, what did I conclude? I concluded that your circumstances are a gift. They are an opportunity for you to learn something. They are a part of you. Failure and struggle are a helluva lot better teachers than success and contentment. Nothing is ever easy. If you want something, go get it. Period. If along the way it’s not what you want anymore, stop and make changes. To use the old Thomas Edison philosophy, you now know something else that doesn’t work for you. Go after something new with the same passion. <br><br>For me, I started my music career as an engineer. Then I got pushed out of that. Then I got in a band and we got a record deal. Then we lost that. Then we got another one. Then we lost that too. Then we started a recording studio. That went well for a while, then I downsized that business when times got tough. Then I started back up again in a new location. Then I became a singer (in my mid 30’s) and started performing solo. Along the way I’ve formed a few bands and produced hundreds of recordings. I’ve gotten screwed more times than I remember. There have been many, many situations I thought were going to be a big break and they fizzled into nothing at all. It continues to this day. <br><br>That’s a lot of hassle just to live a life of a middle class vocational musician right? <br><br>You can call that character or mental toughness or whatever you want. Or just plain stupidity. I don’t know but I can say that my life has always been happier fighting for an impossible dream instead of accepting a practical one. And sitting around angry doesn’t get you anywhere. <br><br>Circumstances are a gift, they really are. What you do with them is who you become. No one ever erected a statue of a guy who learned to live with his disappointments. The guy who had everything handed to him doesn't get alot of monuments dedicated to him either.<br><br>When our band was making our second major label album, we were starting to hear rumblings that our label was being sold. We were in the studio one day and I said to our producer Joe, “Wouldn’t it suck if we did all this work and this record never came out?” (p.s. It didn’t….not til much later and on a different label) <br><br>He barely looked up from the console. <br><br>“I have a closet full of them,” he said and kept working. <br><br>Now I have a closet full of my own recordings like that. And my daughter just entered music school. The music business is one of the shittiest businesses on the planet. Am I going to tell her not to do it? Hell no. Passion, balls, and drive make life happen. Not an easy path with favorable conditions. <br><br>If you want something, it can be done. The right <em>why</em> can always find a <em>how. </em><br><br>As I look out there at what’s going on in the social and political landscape right now, I always think of that classroom. The “haves” in the front and the “have nots who are trying to be haves” in the back. And I think that it’s not your circumstances that matter, it’s what you do with them. If you are in the back do you spend your life sitting still…. angry because that’s where you are? Blaming someone else and making sure everyone knows whose fault it is? Or do you get out there and fight for something better? If you are in the front, do you look down on the people behind you? Or do you realize all your good fortune, reach back, and pull the others up? <br><br>This is the true test of adulthood, no matter what your vocation. No matter where you are in that classroom. <br><br>I like to think I made it up to the middle. Far enough to understand both sides at least a little. I’m still pissed off, but hopeful. <br><br>And I’m thankful for the journey so far. <br><br>Best wishes on yours, my friends…..</p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41490352016-04-22T11:47:05-04:002017-01-15T19:19:04-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(04/22/2016)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/1725ecc8627bee16984d1bf21f4bde72a2d2d4d2/original/rofo-sa-aug22-61.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>WORK FAST AND OFTEN</strong><br> <p>Usually I have an idea in mind when I sit down to write this column. But yesterday, I got thrown off of my game. <br><br>Prince was found dead at Paisley Park. <br><br>I think there are enough tributes floating around right now. I really don’t want to get into recalling when I first heard his music or what it meant to me growing up. I know the answers to all of that. <br><br>But I do want to work the man into what I write today. So that is what I’m going to try and do here. <br><br>I never met Prince. I am ashamed to say I never even saw him play live. The closest I ever got was talking to one of his engineers. And what she described has always stuck with me. There were many stories, but the punchline of them all was this: Prince worked<em> fast. </em><br><br>This might not seem like much of a revelation to some. But to me, that was surprising. I would expect that from someone like Bob Dylan or The Ramones, but Prince? All that innovative work was just blown out? I would think he would have been a crazy micromanaging taskmaster in the studio that took forever to do the smallest parts. But no. <br><br>I don’t know exactly why he worked so fast, but I’m gonna take a guess. I think when he got in the studio first and foremost he went for a certain vibe. If it didn’t happen quickly, he moved on. If it did, he had the skill set to pull off world class performances in record time. <br><br>In other words, the homework was done. He already had skills. He already had a massive musical vocabulary. All he had to do was execute when the red light went on. <br><br>Here’s a quote from long time Prince collaborator David Z: <br><br><em>"We'd have these stations set up, with drums out in the room, the bass plugged in, the keyboard plugged in, the guitar plugged in, and he'd jump around between stations while expecting everyone to work as super-fast as he did. If someone didn't, there'd be hell to pay; I've seen him be really hard on some second engineers. So we had to be aware of what he was doing and when he wanted it done. He'd jump to the guitar, you'd hit 'record' and bam, it was done. <br>"There was no rehearsing. I think he just rehearsed in his head, 24/7. He'd start a song, do all of the parts, and then we'd mix it and take it off the board before starting another one. We often did two songs a day, and it was usually a constant process of starting a song and totally finishing the song within about four hours without any coming back to overdub or remix.” <br> </em><br>I think musicians that have grown up making music with software have a propensity to want to belabor everything. There are many reasons for this: 1. Because you can. 2. Because you feel like you have to. 3. Because you are intimidated by the importance of what you are doing. <br><br>I used to do all of these. I still slip up sometimes. Let’s deal with each one of these items separately. <br><br>First, people get too crazy with details because it’s possible to get crazy with details. When The Beatles recorded “Love Me Do” there wasn’t much flexibility. Play the song, edit it, and master it. That’s about it. Today recording a song of the same complexity as “Love Me Do” might take a week. You record the drums, edit the drums, record the guitars over and over, sing the vocals 30 times, comp all those together and then tune the shit out of everything. Then mix it 10 times…… and master it 3 times. <br><br>Secondly, musicians feel if they aren’t working hard and sweating details ad nauseum then someone is going to notice and say it sucks. Labels do the same thing. They work things to death and suck all the charm out of the music. It’s all in the name of doing their job. I think some people like to be Doubting Thomas’s just to appear like they are experts.<br> <br>Remember folks, the most endearing trait of the Liberty Bell is that it has a crack in it. <br><br>Lastly, people believe if the process isn’t painful then the work must not be good. Tortured artists…… <br> <br>Okay, back to Prince. Now his way was the right way. He already had his skills together. He had the vocabulary down. If he wanted a Hendrix style solo (“Let’s Go Crazy), he already knew how to do that. If he wanted a James Brown groove (“Kiss”) he could play it in his sleep. If he wanted a Beatlesque production (“Raspberry Beret”) he already knew the elements of that. All he had to do was blow it out. <br><br>The famous running back Jim Brown once said that when he got into a game he was never surprised by what happened because he had already ran every possible scenario in his head 100 times. All he had to do was react to the actual situation in front of him. <br><br>I think the recording studio is the same way. Jamming is no different. The work is done. You are just reacting. <br><br>Strangely enough, I once attended a barbecue with Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickenson. He said something that stuck with me. He said, “90 percent of everything, including your own stuff, is shit.” I believe this to be true. <br><br>In other words, no matter how hard you work you are only going to connect 1 in 10 times. So, in my opinion, the way to get it right more is to fail more. And you can’t get to another winner when you are too busy shining the other 9 pieces of crap from the last batch. <br><br>But still, you don’t want your work to be sloppy. If you have your act together going in, it doesn’t have to be. Whatever the song calls for, you have already executed it 100 times. Thank you, Jim Brown. <br><br>If you go to a dinner party you might talk about politics, sports, music, relationships, or whatever. It’s not difficult. You don’t have to start the conversations over 20 times. You’ve talked about all this stuff before and your opinions are formed. You know how to speak and be polite and get along with people in many situations. Making music is the same concept. If you do it enough, it is as easy as speaking. <br><br>As you gain experience with anything, you are able to do it faster. You can anticipate problems before they happen. A seemingly offhand suggestion can take a project in a better direction that will save days of work down the line. And when you least expect it, you hit paydirt. Or as Levon Helm once said, “Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while.” <br><br>The gods who decide the significance of art are a fickle bunch. You never know what will be exalted. <br><br>Remember, to us the painting “The Starry Night” is a timeless masterpiece. To Vincent Van Gogh, it was a Tuesday. <br><br>Work fast and often.</p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41379682016-04-15T12:09:26-04:002021-11-03T08:30:36-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(04/15/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/f5c5e9c09a3390957bda6715521aaaffd551f747/original/badlees-8378.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br>SOMEWHERE, SOMEONE KNOWS THE ANSWER TO THAT </strong><br> <br> <br>I am sure some of you have been watching the show “Vinyl” on HBO. I have been checking it out quite a bit. Some of the characters I am not sure about, but predictably, one of them I love. It’s the R & B singer turned band manager Lester Grimes. <br> <br>Here is a sample of Lester’s vibe. He’s talking to a young band, The Nasty Bits, who are about to sign their first major label deal: <br> <br>Lester Grimes: <em>“You get an idea, you can't shake it. Hum along with it when you're on the train. You like it for a minute, but then you hate it. It ain't good enough, but you write it down anyway just to get it out of your head. <br>Then you pull out your guitar, see if it might stand up. <br>Your mouth, your thought, your hand. <br>Put a microphone in your face, somebody hits record. <br>Hmm. <br>Now you sign a deal with a label, paid you a big chunk of change to cut an album, so you're feeling like the man, but they gonna hit that pile of cash, pull out a stack to pay for the studio, the guy pushing the button and the cover art and the poster and the launch party. <br>That's called recoupment. <br>Cut the record, it sells in stores, shop gets half. Take out a buck for the manufacturing. Buck and a half for the distribution. A buck for marketing. <br>Not a whole lot left for you. <br>But even if there is, you don't get to see a dime of it till they pay off your production costs. Probably need to sell 100,000 records to do that. 100,000 is more people than you'll ever meet in your life. <br> You know the difference between mechanical royalties, performance royalties, artist royalties, songwriting royalties? <br>All that shit's gonna show up on a stack of paper, your name at the bottom under a dotted line like it's already done. <br>And Richie Finestra's gonna hand you a drink and a pen. <br>He knows that every single one of those things is negotiable down to a hundredth of a percent. <br>I know. <br>Only ones that don't know is you. And you're the ones holding the pen.” </em><br> <br>……And with this little soliloquy, this week’s blog begins. <br> <br>I am talking from the vantage point of a vocational musician, but really this applies to anyone. Here goes: <br> <br>When you have been doing anything for decades, inevitably some asshole is going to come up to you at some point and ask “If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently?” <br> <br>A lot of people would say they would “pick more daisies” or “follow their dreams.” For me, I picked enough flowers to be satisfied with the numbers. And I followed my dreams since I was 15 years old. So, that doesn’t really work as an answer in my case. <br> <br>My answer would be this: I would ask more questions. <br> <br>AND, most importantly of all, I would surround myself with more people that knew the answers. And I would start getting to know those people long before it was time for me to ask them anything. Basically, I guess I am talking about mentors. And the more good ones you have, the better. <br> <br>To be honest, this is easier than it sounds. Hang out and get to know people in your field. Become pals with folks who have already done what you want to do. Most experienced people enjoy talking about what they do and what they have learned doing it. Their passion is your gain. <br> <br>All you gotta do is ask and they’ll talk your ear off. It won’t cost you a penny. <br> <br>One of these days you are going to need some real advice. Quickly. And your name will already be in their phone when you make that call. <br> <br>That is not the point when you start looking for friends. Believe me. <br> <br>Many young people who have never lived in a world without a computer have a strange attitude. They feel there is this huge cultural gap between them and Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers that renders the old people’s wisdom irrelevant. Certainly things have changed. But much is the same old same old. People want to make money, they want to be loved, they want to feel important, they don’t like to be wrong, they’ll screw you over if it benefits them, they’ll leave you behind if you’re expendable, and on and on. <br> <br>Now you can google 5 million stories in an instant that pertain to any situation. And, chances are, you will find some good advice in there. But the thing about Google is, it doesn’t argue with you. It doesn’t know the important details of your personality and what you value. <br> <br>It doesn’t know <em>you. </em><br> <br>It is true that failure is a better teacher than success. It is also true that a lesson is repeated until it is learned. But honestly, Lady Luck isn’t going to let you keep taking her big ole SAT test of life over and over until you pass it. Eventually, she’s gonna say “this guy’s an idiot” and move on. <br> <br>That is where mentors come in. <br> <br>Here’s an observation I have had: In rock and roll, a good portion of the best stuff is made by working class kids. I was one of them. And it is a common attitude among working class people that “rich kids” are successful because their parents have “connections” and all the money in the world to make their kids uber-successful like them. This is not entirely false. <br> <br>But I have also noticed that you can give many of these poor kids the same connections and money and they will still fuck it up. Why? Many books have been written on the subject. Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers” touches on it. Basically the working class kids did not grow up around success. Money wasn’t the deciding factor. Knowledge and understanding was. There were no mentors around grooming them for their time at bat. So when it came they freaked out and made the wrong choices. There was no one to call. No one they trusted to put things in perspective. <br> <br>And Lady Luck shrugged her shoulders and moved on. <br> <br> In 1995 our band The Badlees made an independent record called “River Songs”. We released it in the Mid-Atlantic region and it took off quickly. Within about 3 months we had sold about 12,000 of them regionally and we were all over the radio. We had been at it for 6 years, but after this record started gaining traction things took off quickly. Within one week in late spring we received three major label offers from Polydor/A&M, Lava/Atlantic, and Columbia. We had to make a call fairly fast. The Columbia guys came and saw us at a club in New Jersey. They were very complimentary and cool. I mean, we could be on the same label as Dylan and Springsteen? How cool is that? The Lava/Atlantic folks came out to a gig in Harrisburg, PA. They were a new imprint but were starting to get some exciting things going. And finally, Polydor/A&M came to a show in Scranton, PA. And they were a great crew too. <br> <br>It was a tough choice, but ultimately we chose Polydor/A&M. We just got a great vibe from them. A radio promo friend of ours spoke highly of them and we agreed. It was the toughest choice we ever had to make as a band and it went down fast. <br> <br>In our case, from the crew to the band to the management, everyone had done an amazing job getting us to where we were at. However, not one of us had ever been there before. This was new territory. So we went with our gut and made our choice. It was a difficult choice, but unanimous. <br> <br>In retrospect, we were treated amazingly well by Polydor/A&M. They never wavered in their support while we were there. And they put lots of resources behind us. Things went very well, all told. We owe them a lot. <br> <br>However, had we had someone in our corner that had done deals like that before I believe we would have considered the other suitors even more than we did. We received a letter post deal from the head of A & R at Columbia telling us how he felt that we had made the wrong choice. All his points were good. And all stuff we hadn’t considered. He didn't have to write that letter. We had already went elsewhere. I can only surmise he felt very strongly about the band. We just didn't realize how much.<br> <br>The A & R guy at Lava/Atlantic had called our manager just before we made our choice. He was super excited that “River Songs” was going to be a huge record. And we were going to be his first signing. We really, really liked him but ultimately we decided to take another offer. Most of the bands on his label were fairly unknown to us. Some of the new bands just starting out that we had never heard of were: Edwin Mc Cain, Matchbox 20, The Corrs, and Sugar Ray. Our young A & R guy also went on to sign Kid Rock, Simple Plan, and Porcupine Tree among others. <br> <br>Within three years of our signing, the parent company (Polygram) of our chosen label was sold to Seagram’s. A merger that destroyed piles of labels and crippled the careers of hundreds of artists. In a way, we were one of them. We begged for 18 months to be released from a deal we fought 6 years to get. <br> <br>Now I’m not here to cry over spilled milk. We had a great run in major label land. A lifetime of memories. And everyone did a great job for us. Polydor/A&M supported us like we were their kids. Our crew kicked ass. Our manager was a tireless advocate for the band. The guy never stopped. And the band was hitting on all cylinders at the time. <br> <br>The point here is that we didn’t have anyone in our corner who had been there before when our time came. We were all newbies. Were there points in the Columbia deal that were negotiable? Did everybody know that Lava/Atlantic was poised for huge success? Was Seagram’s already in the beginning stages of buying our label when we signed? With a successful independent record, a regional touring base already built, a fair amount of good will already at radio, and 3 offers on the table........ what was our negotiating position? <br> <br>Somewhere, someone knew the answer to that. <br> <br>We just didn’t know him. <br> <br>Years later, a manager friend of mine said, “For once, I want someone to tell me I was right when it matters whether I am right or wrong.” A day late and a dollar short as the saying goes. <br> <br>Experience is a great teacher, but fate is a fickle thing. Get yourself a mentor folks. Or 2…or 12. Before you need him. <br> <br>I am sure a lot of musician’s are reading this and thinking, “we need a manager” or “we need an attorney” or “we need a booking agent.” You may or may not need those things at this point in your career. But one thing is for sure: <br> <br>You do need a friend. <br> <br>And preferably a friend who has already done what you want to do. A guy who knows the terrain and has your best interests in mind. A guy who can fluently speak, read, and write the language of your dream. <br> <br>Remember, the same 5 letters that spell “Santa” also spell “Satan.” The order of things matters a great deal. <br> <br>There are people out there willing to share what they have learned. And all you have to do is look them in the eye and listen.<br><br>That's what friends do.......</p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41276022016-04-08T17:23:22-04:002022-03-06T06:09:22-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(04/08/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/0186b8006937fa4cf3cd6881b321b697066d801b/original/964820-orig.jpg?1380728016" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br><br>THE ANCIENT ART OF NOT GIVING A SHIT </strong><br> <br>Last week I wrote some liner notes about a record I just finished. In those notes, I talked about the finer points of not giving a shit. So for today’s blog, I’m going to head further down that road. I’m gonna repeat myself a bit here, so if you already read those liner notes I apologize. <br><br>There is a difference between not giving a shit and not caring. People who don’t care anymore have gotten so tired of fighting that they have given up. Those who don’t give a shit……. Well, they have already won. <br><br>As musicians, it is generally an accepted fact that it is a good idea to learn the rules before you start breaking them. I am a proponent of that philosophy. You don’t need to know all the rules, but it is a good idea to get a basic grasp of the rules of music. If you want, you can blow into a milk jug and call yourself a visionary who has created a new musical form. But thankfully there is a pecking order to things. Typically you need to pay your dues. <br><br>It is a good thing to know your history, too. It is somehow comforting if, as you set out to get to where you are going, you know where you came from. I think this is a problem with a lot of younger artists today who have a buffet style mentality of putting together their musical “vibe.” A little bit of this and a little bit of that with no understanding of where “this” and “that” came from….. or why they happened. The result is a musical salad that confuses the ears. <br><br>But I’m not here to complain about kids these days who don’t know what they are doing. I’m here to talk about the wonderful state of enlightenment that can be reached after you do. The blissful state of not giving one, two, or any number of shits. <br><br>Bob Dylan doesn’t give a shit. Neil Young doesn’t give a shit. Frank Zappa didn’t give a shit. Again, I didn’t say they didn’t care. They cared deeply about their work. But they learned the rules to the point where they could break them. And that is where the gold is. <br><br>Neil Young has changed directions so many times that he was sued by his record label for making records that didn’t sound like Neil Young. Do you think Neil’s label was putting pressure on him to make <em>Harvest</em> over and over? You bet your ass they were. To quote Neil himself, “ <em>‘Heart Of Gold’</em> put me in the middle of the road. So I headed for the ditch.” If Neil had done what he was expected to do, I would bet money that none of us would be talking about him today. <br><br>Bob Dylan has changed directions so many times it confuses even his biggest fans. How can a guy write a record like <em>“Oh Mercy”</em> then a few years later release another record with a cover of “Froggy Went A Courtin’” on it? I don’t know but I find it delightful. Bob truly does not give even a fraction of a shit. <br><br>Frank Zappa once signed a record deal for a number of records. I don’t know the exact number. Let’s say 6. After a short time he showed up at the label’s office with a huge stack of tapes. 6 albums worth. Then he asked to be released from his deal. Because of Frank, all record contracts now have a clause that states that the delivery of albums must be X number of months apart. Thanks Frank! <br><br>Every city and town in America is full of adequate professionals who know and follow the rules. And to a great extent, when push comes to shove no one cares. <br>The rooster is an adequate professional. Every morning he gets up and crows at the same time. Faithfully he does that. He’s good at it. Still, eventually chances are good he will end up in a panini. <br><br>It’s better to be a hawk. A hawk might be sitting in a tree along Route 80 or he might set up shop on the roof of an apartment building. Hell, he might swoop down and eat your chihuahua. You never know with a hawk. But the hawk has coffee table books about him at Barnes and Noble. Not so much for chickens. <br>Everybody wants to tell stories about the exploits of the hawk. The rooster is taken for granted, diligent as he may be. <br><br>There was an interview with George Martin that I had for years on a VHS tape. He spoke of how the Beatles weren’t very good songwriters when he met them but he liked them because they were irreverent people. He spoke of early concerns he had of producing them. He was worried that he shouldn’t be working with a group like that because he was a classical music producer. <br><br>The pairing of The Beatles and George Martin is a classic example of the arc I am talking about today. Under George Martin’s tutelage, The Beatles blossomed into the greatest songwriting and recording artist in history. They learned the rules. With The Beatles irreverence, George Martin produced the most groundbreaking popular music ever. With them, he started breaking the rules. <br><br>The Beatles used symphony orchestras like a child’s toy. They did things in the recording studio that were considered blasphemy at the time. Now there are devices and products galore that replicate the sounds they invented while they were doing everything wrong. <br><br>The conforming majority was created by a bunch of non-conformists. The never ending cycle of rock and roll. <br><br>And ironically, today The Beatles’ music is performed by symphonies all the time. I guess George was producing classical music after all. <br><br>I used to have a folder in my studio that I would get out from time to time when a band was worried about something they shouldn’t be. I would say “Let me check my file of things I give a shit about.” I would open the folder and it would be empty. “Nope. Not in here. Let’s move on.” <br><br>Learn to the point of forgetting. Master the rules so you can break them. Care to the point of not giving a shit. Music is quite the paradox. But that’s the way it is. <br><br>Best of luck, my friends. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/41052162016-03-25T12:59:16-04:002020-09-12T02:33:41-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(03/25/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/d4e95e69ecb93d5e6f470e08e26b11851db7bec4/original/rofo-march2016-51.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br><br>Space And Limitations </strong><br> <br>Here’s something I have noticed: Age is more about throwing things away than acquiring more. As you get older, you start getting rid of stuff. I have been doing it more these days. And music is no exception. As you get older you worry less about playing a dozen guitars and you look for the one that fits you the best. You put away the 40 piece drum set with the 16 toms and 2 gongs and pare it down to a 5 piece kit. You start carrying a smaller amp. You choose your notes more carefully.<br><br>Not everyone does this, of course. There are musician hoarders for sure. And wankers. But when the player’s life is in balance that is generally what happens. It happens with all my favorite players anyway. As a rule, time makes you want more space. <br><br>I think this is a form of wisdom. The next time you find yourself in a conversation with a bunch of people, take stock of who is the wisest person in the room. Probably, he is the one saying the least. It’s like the old Native American adage, “Listen or your tongue will make you deaf.” You can’t learn anything new while you are yakkin’ away about what you think you already know. <br><br>I have a few Facebook friends I wish would heed that. <br><br>My pal Mike posted a list yesterday. It was written by Chick Corea. It was basically a laundry list of how to be in a band. Over half of the entries were about NOT playing. Creating space. <br><br>In business, it has been said that you gain a reputation by saying “yes” and you keep it by saying “no”. This sounds simple enough, but it’s very tricky. I have noticed that as you get older, your success is more about your choices than your skills. It’s about your ability to make a good choice that helps the project succeed. It’s about long term thinking, all things considered. Not about your ability to be impressive in this instant. <br><br>I have told this story before, but it fits the discussion: A few years ago I did a live recording with John Fogerty’s keyboard player, Bob Malone. This guy is an amazing jazz/blues piano player, great singer, and an excellent performer. He had the audience in the palm of his hand for the whole performance. Afterwards, a fan came up to him and commented how bored he must be playing Creedence songs. Bob stopped him immediately, “Playing with John doesn’t require amazing chops, but it does require impeccable taste. That is why I was hired.” He got the gig for his choices, not just his skills. <br><br>I have produced many artists over time and made a pile of recordings of my own songs. I find deciding what not to do to be much more difficult than deciding what to do. I’ve gotten it wrong lots of times. It’s easy to get tripped up. <br><br>Have you ever had a friend that, no matter what, can always get the conversation back to the same subject? For example, say your friend likes to talk about The Grateful Dead. You could be talking about your car leaking transmission fluid and he will immediately start talking about the time Jerry broke down in Topanga Canyon and wrote one of his favorite songs. Really, you are just worried about your transmission……. and wish he would shut the hell up. <br><br>My point is, this person isn’t listening or trying to understand anything. He just want to get the conversation back into his court. Some musicians are like that. They can’t wait for there to be another space in the song so they can fill it with more of their shitty notes. They may be very skilled, but you just want them to shut up. You are craving space, but they are not paying attention to what is happening around them. And they are ruining it for everyone. <br><br>Space is important. The most useful part of a glass is the area where there is nothing. Music is no different. <br><br>Or to put it less cosmically, here’s Patton Oswalt addressing a heckler: "I love the guy who's terrified at any kind of silence, like, 'He'd better say pussy soon, or aaagh!' ... I'd hate to see you at a funeral or a wedding or something…..You stupid douchenozzle. You truly don't fucking get it, do you? You poor motherfucker. You're gonna miss everything cool and die angry." <br><br>A musician buddy of mine once told me that he couldn’t stand to play below his ability. I find that really, really selfish. And ineffective. He’s a way better player than me, but I never hired him for a session. <br><br>Limitations and space, whether self- imposed or otherwise, define music (and life in general) as much as abilities and options. <br><br>On the series Sonic Highways, Foo Fighters invited Joe Walsh into the studio to play on the song “Outside.” They gave him a huge hole in the middle of the song to lay down a badass solo. 56 bars. That’s a lot of time for a solo in a rock song. He could do anything he wanted. For the first 8 bars, Joe played nothing. Not a note. Just let the groove perk. For the rest of the solo he just punctuated here and there, picking his spots and lifting the song up while the groove drove the whole thing. It was brilliant. Taylor Hawkins, with his James Gang hat on, lost his mind watching it go down. One of the coolest moments of the whole series. <br><br>Peter Gabriel’s Melt album has no cymbals. As a result of that self-imposed limitation, the producers on that record developed the “gated drum” sound to fill space. One of the drummers on that record was Phil Collins. Later on, Phil used the same technique on his song “In The Air Tonight”, which has one of the most iconic drum fills (and drum sounds) in history. <br><br>Innovation was created by taking something away. <br><br>In the late 90’s our band was doing pre-production for our second major label release. We had a song called “Running Up That Hill” that was giving us fits. We must have arranged that song 5 times to no avail. Any songwriter will tell you that there is nothing more frustrating than knowing a song is good but having it not translate when the band plays it. It happens all the time. <br><br>In the case of this tune, we were approaching it like a mid-tempo rock song. Two guitars, bass, and big drums. The end result was something like the end of “Stairway To Heaven”. A Minor, G, F, and back. Except slower, and, uh, much more boring. <br><br>The lyrics (one of Mike Naydock’s finest) and melody were great. But the tune wasn’t working. We were close to scrapping it. Then, a limitation presented itself: There was a storm outside and the power went off. <br><br>Sitting there in the semi darkness I started messing around with a mandolin, absentmindedly playing the chords fingerstyle, which is uncommon for that instrument. Our drummer Ron turned the snares off on his snare drum, put a towel over it so he could hear the mandolin, and started playing a cadence part. Then we added an acoustic guitar, an accordion, a fretless bass, and a few nice harmonies in the chorus. Basically anything you could hear without electricity. <br>We had the song in no time. It was minutes away from being scrapped and it ended up being one of the best tunes on the record. Mother Nature took away electricity and the way was made clear. <br><br>Music is a microcosm of life. There are notes and spaces between them. The spaces are as important as the notes themselves. <br><br>The human heart is like a sponge. It can only take so much before it’s saturated. Then it has to wring itself out in the form of creativity, conversation, and action.<br><br>Don’t be the douchenozzle that never turns off the hose. <br><br>Give the people some space. You are loved as much for the notes you don’t play as for the ones you do. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40946222016-03-18T13:26:58-04:002020-07-28T01:42:39-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(03/18/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/b44392cc2d27d721f0009336a7bf4ff5cd3538d4/original/keef.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br>EVERYBODY HAS A SOUNDTRACK </strong><br><br>Last weekend, my good pal Tom Flannery sent me a photograph of Keith Richards and a small child (pictured above). I sent him a text to tell him how much I loved that picture. Tom and I are finishing up his latest record as we speak, so we talk back and forth often these days. <br><br>Tom and I are both bloggers, so he made the suggestion that we both write about this Keith shot as our next entry. Now, Tom is a playwright, a badass songwriter, and he can write dialog like no one I know. A real pro. But I agreed to put my words next to his on the same subject. I told him I could write 10,000 words on that photo. I’m not going to do that, but hopefully I can at least keep up here. <br><br>When you get a minute, check out his entry: <a contents="Tom Flannery" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://kikomusic.wordpress.com/2016/03/17/every-picture-tells-a-story-dont-it/">Tom Flannery</a><br><br>Anyway, here goes: <br><br>Silly as it sounds, the first thing that came to mind when I looked at that photograph was a card I got from my wife and kids several years ago for Father’s Day. On the card was a father walking with his son who had a blanket wrapped around his neck. The inside read, “Not all heroes wear capes.” <br><br>I love that card. <br><br>I look at that picture and wonder what’s going through that kid’s head. I mean, that’s like talking to a living statue, a superhero. It’s like staring down a guy who fought in the Civil War. I later found out that the boy is Mick Jagger’s grandson. So that just adds to it. He’s probably thinking, “Grandpa has some scary ass friends.” <br><br>In 2005, my wife Kelly and I bought an old 1940’s storefront with the intention of putting a bakery in it. Which we did. A full sized home was attached to the back of the building, so we lived there. Still do. What we didn’t plan on came later: Eventually, I got the bright idea of moving my studio operations into the basement. <br>This actually worked out really well logistically. Except for the fact that the entire NEPA music scene gained about 1500 pounds collectively from all the baked goods I brought down into the studio. <br><br>And, oh yeah, the noise. <br><br>My wife still points out the dents in the pots and pans that we rattled off the walls (guitar players, you know who you are). My kids always said that their life had a soundtrack. A dull persistent growl going on below their feet while they did their homework, ate dinner, and watched TV. <br><br>I remember reading an interview with Jakob Dylan once where he talked about growing up as Bob Dylan’s son. Jakob said, “I didn’t know who any of these people were, but I knew if dad was playing with them they must be good.” In a much more humble sense, I hope my kids realize how good the musicians I work with are. <br><br>My kids know a lot of the people who wrote and played parts of their soundtrack. My musician friends know my girls’ names and the names of their pets too. They come to parties at the house and drop by on the holidays and stop in to say hello after sessions are done. <br><br>Not everyone gets to meet the people who wrote the songs of their lives. But every person has a soundtrack. That is for damn sure. <br><br>And that is where Keith Richards enters my story today. <br><br>You can put me in a car and drive across America and I won’t think twice about how an automobile works. Play me one rock and roll song and I want to know the genealogy of every lick. To me, Keith Richards was the connector who put that all together for me. He (and John Lennon) connected me to the blues, R&B, country music, and the rest of the British Invasion bands. That was where it started for me. And it’s been that way literally since the day I was born. <br><br>I’m 50 years old. I was born in 1965. Helluva year 1965. Malcolm X was murdered. The march on Selma happened. My father was off fighting in Vietnam and the Dominican Republic. Vince Lombardi was the coach of the great Green Bay Packers. <br><br>I was born on the same day that “Satisfaction” was released as a single in the U.S. I like to think that somewhere in that hospital someone had a radio on……and the most famous rock riff in history was the first musical sound I heard. I’m gonna go with that. <br><br>Some of my earliest musical memories I have are of going to square dances in my hometown. I grew up in North Central Pennsylvania, but it might as well have been Northern Kentucky. They taught us how to square dance in <em>gym class</em>. I bet I could still do it. <br><br>Anyway, there was a band that would play in town during these dances, the Mc Nett Brothers, Bob and Dean. They would be up there in checked shirts, bolo ties, and cowboy hats. I can still hear them playing that hardcore twang. But that was my parents music. <br><br>Keith taught me that country music was cool. “Country Honk”, “Dead Flowers”, “Far Away Eyes”, and “You Got The Silver.” I started listening more closely. And once I started digging, I realized that Bob McNett, the dude that was playing the square dance in front of the Rexall, was an original member of Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys. Now, how cool was that? <br><br> I used to listen to Johnny Cash records with my grandmother. She was a huge fan from the beginning. All her friends told her he couldn’t sing, but she didn’t care. He reminded her of her brother Doyle who had been murdered before I was born. I have his picture on my steps. I see it. <br><br>Afternoons of green KoolAid , grilled cheese, Fig Newtons, and Johnny Cash. “I Guess Things Happen That Way”, “Ballad Of A Teenage Queen”, and “Cocaine Blues.” <br><br>“Grandma, what is cocaine?” <br><br>“Never mind, eat your sandwich.” <br><br>I still have her piles of newsletters from the Johnny Cash fanclub. <br><br>When Keith Richards sang “Love In Vain” I noticed the name Robert Johnson on the album. Not long after that I had a song playing in my bedroom with a guy wailing away about having a hellhound on his trail. Then came Johnny Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, and, of course, BB King. <br><br>My father and I used to go see B.B. play whenever he was in the area. My dad wasn’t a musician and he didn’t know much about the blues, but he related to B.B. King. B.B. sang,<em> “I bought you a brand new Ford/You said I want a Cadillac/I bought you a $10 dinner/You said thanks for the snack/ I let you come live in my penthouse/You said it was just a shack/ I gave you 7 children/Now you want to give them back. “</em> My father would laugh like he was watching Al Bundy on “Married With Children.” “That poor son a bitch”, he would say while laughing his ass off. <br><br>One time we went to see B.B. and we got into a meet and greet on his tour bus. I was pretty nervous. I mean, what do you say to a guy who helped you find your life’s passion? We sat down, me on one side of B.B. and my dad on the other. Before I could say a word, my father said, “B.B. I love that commercial where you prick your finger.” I sat there silent, listening to the King Of The Blues and my father talk about their diabetes. I hardly said a word. He signed my dad’s hat and we left. B.B. and my dad are gone now. I still have the hat. <br><br>Keith gave me the blues and the blues gave me that memory. <br><br>Sometimes on an off night, Kelly and I sit down and listen to music for hours. We’ve been doing it for years. The “Sticky Fingers” album is in the rotation. So is some old country, blues, and soul……. and dozens of artists that were influenced by those styles. A lot of the music I personally recorded gets mixed in too. The soundtrack from under our feet mixes nicely with all the household names. Like a late night snack of Coca Cola and homemade pumpkin pie. <br><br>I could go on for another 8523 words. But everybody has stories like these. I think you get the point. <br><br>Everybody has a soundtrack. And a real person writes it, records it, and introduces it to the world. What an honor it is to be a musician.<br><br>I have never met Keith Richards. If I did, I would thank him for introducing me to mine.</p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40837592016-03-11T14:31:32-05:002020-07-25T02:45:28-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(03/11/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/1ca5687e6885f6ecfc952506ca185b0e5e24e4be/original/ni-music.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>A MUSICAL POTLATCH </strong><br> <br>In many Native American cultures there was a custom called a “potlatch” ceremony. A potlatch was an event where a chief would give away all his possessions and wealth to members of the tribe. Sometimes, certain valuable items were even destroyed. The purpose of this was twofold. One, by accepting the gifts, the members of the tribe granted the chief his power. And the chief rose in social standing each time he held a potlatch. Basically, “Yea, man, we accept your gift and we approve of your position. Keep doing what you are doing. We’re all good here. Can’t wait til the next party.” Secondly, by giving away all his stuff, the chief proved that his power did not come from his possessions…… it came from <em>him</em> (his wisdom, his influence, and his leadership). AND, it came from the people who continued to support him. <br><br>Now, the dude was penniless (or “stuffless”, chiefs didn’t use pennies). But he would walk away from the shindig more powerful and respected than ever. Then he immediately started building up a new stockpile of stuff. Only to give it away again. Yea, these chiefs were pretty badass. <br><br>Cut to America 2016, where we have prospective chiefs arguing about the size of their willies and the billions of dollars they have(and you don’t have, btw). Can you imagine the potlatch custom in this environment? <br><br>Don’t worry, the white people outlawed potlatches as “UnChristian” and “UnAmerican” long ago. We are safe now…. <br><br>In a musical sense, we now have a rapper who blows millions of dollars and then asks the tribe for more money so he can fill their world with more beautiful sounds. Generous guy, this new music chief. <br><br>There is a point to all my babble here. The point is that in the long run, respect, love, and admiration are <em>granted</em> not demanded or purchased. And they are granted by giving something away. By giving away something of yours to make someone else’s life a little richer. <br><br>Now, musicians don’t like to hear the word “free.” Free means money and time spent making a recording that someone just listens to on Youtube for nothing. Free means doing a gig for “exposure.” The E word. Surpassed only by the O word: “opportunity.” Free sucks. Free puts people out of business.<br> <br>All this is true, but read on…. <br><br>I’m going to use myself as an example. Around the year 2000, my compadres Paul Smith and Ron Simasek got together and started recording. No expectations really. The band was called The Cellarbirds and the resulting album was “Perfect Smile.” We were crazy proud of the record (still are) and when it was done we decided to put some money behind it. We found national distribution, hired a radio promoter, and got started. <br><br>Within months we had airplay scattered all over the country. We were doing some gigs too. A few clubs and a few cool opening slots around the Northeast. But we were also spending money...... and that was running out. <br><br>Then we got a lucky break. A big station in Indianapolis wanted to add our tune. Also, they wanted us to fly out and do a show. The hope was that we could use this station as a selling point for other big market stations who were close to adding the record. And, yea, we wanted to sell some records. <br><br>We went out there and did a great gig. The station was pounding the single 24 times a week. Our distributor put us in kiosks with price and positioning through all the big chains in Indy. We did interviews and a ton of press. <br><br>The radio station took us out to dinner and was asking us how our new label was treating us. We said, “Oh, they are small but hungry.” Our label was hungry all right. We were all sitting at the table. <br><br>Then we flew back home and waited for the next week’s Soundscan numbers to come out. <br><br>Then they came. There was a little bump, but basically a small change in sales. I was disappointed, to say the least. <br><br>I called the radio promoter. “We were all over the radio and our sales barely budged.” <br><br>He said, “Radio play doesn’t automatically sell records.” <br><br>“We played to a couple thousand people.” <br><br> He mumbled, “One gig isn’t going to send your sales through the roof.” <br><br>“We were all over the big chain stores.” <br><br>He was getting more annoyed now. He replied, “Price and positioning doesn’t guarantee sales.” <br><br>Finally I said, “If being all over the record stores, playing to thousands, and getting played on the radio every 20 minutes for a week doesn’t sell records in a town…… what does?” <br><br>Then I got one of the best pieces of advice of my music career. Our promoter Jon said, “Look, this record is a gem. But if you are spending your last dollar on this, I’d say don’t waste your money. But…….if you are looking to build the brand of The Cellarbirds, this is how it’s done.” <br><br>Checkmate. <br><br>I stopped promoting the record within a few weeks. We had the resources to play to the 50 yard line, but not the end zone. Time to punt. <br><br>The error in our ways was not in the music. It was in our estimation of what it took to excite people about the music. We were visible, but faceless. What we should have done was concentrate on a much smaller circle (the Northeast for example…. Instead of the whole country) and connect with people on a deeper level. In whatever way possible…… and over a longer span of time. <br><br>And, doing that doesn’t necessarily cost a lot of money. But it does require giving something away. <br><br>Whether it be playing free gigs or giving away the music itself, let the people have some stuff. If you are lucky they will grant you the position of being the architect of “their jam.” And, ultimately, that’s really good for business too. <br><br>A musical potlatch. <br><br>Things have changed a lot since we did that record. The sales we did get on “Perfect Smile” would be a raving success by today’s standards. But many of the same philosophies still hold. At the end of the day, that project was not ill-fated. The jangly sound we created on that record caught the ear of a large ad agency. We did a cover of “Keep On The Sunny Side” with K8 that ran as the worldwide campaign ad for Days Inn…. For 6 years. If we are keeping score, that was worth way more financially than the record itself. Also, a solo artist John Blair hired The Cellarbirds for a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Sunday Morning” for a compilation. The resulting recording was endorsed by Lou Reed himself. John has even told me that Lou was doing a live version that sounded like our arrangement. Also, the title track “Perfect Smile” was recently included in the independent film, “All In Time.” It’s been 15 years, but I have a feeling that record isn’t done yet. <br><br>Yea, we lost the forest in the trees. But, the moral is that the real value that we created with that record was the music itself. That was what connected. And that costed next to nothing comparatively. We did what we loved and gave it to the world. And that is what drew the right people to it. <br><br>There are bigger success stories for sure. But the concept is the same. Build something great, give it away, and the people will gather. Then repeat. <br><br>Whether it be a great live show, recording, or whatever. If you have fans you have a career. If you have a tribe to give something away to, you are a successful chief. <br>And, if it’s money you are worried about, capitalism loves someone who can attract a crowd. <br><br>I’m not suggesting that all music should be free or that it is wrong to get paid. Not by a long shot. I just think it’s a tenuous way to keep score these days. Especially in the early stages of a project. It’s kinda backwards. Instead of worrying so much about making the cash register sing, just worry about making great art. Then run that up the flagpole and see who salutes. If enough people salute, the cash register(and the guy who owns it) will too….eventually. <br><br>I hear musicians complain about not getting paid for their work. They say, “When a guy buys a beer, he tips the server a dollar for pouring it. But when I ask the same guy to pay a dollar for a download of a song that took me two weeks to make, he complains about it.” <br><br>This sucks, no doubt. But the difference is that your boy forgets about the bartender’s pouring skills the minute he gets the beer. He might listen to your tune for the rest of his life. And see you live a dozen times. And play your song at his wedding. And tell dozens of friends about you. A free download is a small price to pay for all that. <br><br>The bartender is out of luck until the guy needs another drink. <br><br>It’s a long road, but try and keep that in mind. <br><br>I’m going to leave you with a quote from Seth Godin’s book “Tribes":<br><br>“If your organization requires success before commitment, it will never have either. Part of leadership (a big part of it, actually) is the ability to stick with the dream for a long time. Long enough that even the critics realize that you're going to get there one way or another...so they follow.” <br><br>Bravo. <br><br>By the way, you can download The Cellarbirds’ record here: <a contents="http://bretalexanderonline.com/music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://bretalexanderonline.com/music">http://bretalexanderonline.com/music</a> . For free, of course. :)<br><br>So whether you are an Indian or a chief, keep the wisdom of the potlatch in mind. You’ll be glad you did. <br><br> And remember, Karma doesn’t always have to be a bitch. Give her what she wants and she’s quite generous, actually.</p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40728722016-03-04T12:25:40-05:002022-02-25T13:22:34-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(03/04/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/a17951a6387937a4a3b6c50a51bd27d4634522f3/original/959969-orig.jpg?1380728012" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br>THE ROAD TO JOY </strong><br><br>Many years ago I remember standing on the side of the stage talking with a crew member of The Marshall Tucker Band. We were playing a radio sponsored show with them at an outdoor venue. We were in the middle of our first tour as a major label act and I was chatting with him about our experiences on the road. The guy listened to my tales of the ups and downs of trying to break as a “baby band” in this business (Note: It took us 7 years to reach “baby band” status). After a while, the roadie pointed up at the sound check that was taking place onstage and in his thick Southern accent he said, “<em>These</em> guys are just happy to still be playing.” <br><br>When we got up there to do our check I wandered around their setup. The thing that struck me was a Hammond organ with pictures of the keyboardists’ children taped on the lid. I was moved by that for some reason. Things had certainly changed for these guys over the years, but they were still at it. Why? Because that was all they knew how to do? Partly, I was sure. But I had to believe they still enjoyed themselves. Later that night they played an amazing set full of great songs and ripping guitar tones. I was impressed. A night full of joy…. <br><br>Which brings me to this week’s topic: “Joy.” I was watching Chris Matthews on <em>Hardball</em> the other night and he brought it up. He was speaking of how some of the political candidates were connecting more with their audiences because of what he called “the Old Testament concept of joy.” Issues aside, some candidates are just throwing better parties than the others. And everybody loves a good party. Yes, even being pissed off is fun if you do it with enough people. Mosh pit, anyone? <br><br>Anyway, back to the music. <br><br>As a band, it is easy to get too deep into what you are doing and forget this simple concept: If you are having a great time, chances are good everyone else will. And they will want to come again. And if they keep coming…..you get to keep having more fun. For a long, long time. <br><br>I realize this falls under “no shit” to some people. But as any songwriter will tell you, a great “simple” song is the hardest to write. The simplest concepts are the toughest to implement. Anyone can wank away and write a complex track with so many sections that it would leave Frank Zappa confused. Anyone can stare at their shoes and complain when the audience walks out. Then claim that the public just “didn’t get it” because they were stupid or shallow or whatever. <br><br>Any good baker will tell you that simple is the hardest thing to do correctly. And, if it’s not done with love, you ruin it. When Willy Wonka wasn’t happy anymore, his candy didn’t taste good either. And nobody wanted it. You cannot give away what you do not have. <br><br>Band’s usually start out in a similar fashion. They get together and jam a little. They learn some songs and maybe write a few. They book a few shows and, if they are good, they start to get a response. Everyone is having a blast. And that is what brings the people out to see you. But eventually the honeymoon is over. The singer is a prima donna, the drummer is a drunk, one guitarist is lazy, and the other is paranoid. Or whatever the mix. You all know the drill. <br><br>Still, there are shows to do and money to be made. But you can’t help but feeling your audience wondering what the hell happened. The joy of playing is just gone. And it shows at the gig. <br><br>I once read an interview with Bono where he said “Hate is not the enemy of love. Apathy is.” I believe that to be true. Hate burns hot and can be turned into something positive. Brothers get into fistfights then go back to being brothers. But once you stroll too far down Don’t Give A Shit Avenue, chances are good you will never be back. <br><br>Hanging on to the simple joy of what you are doing is a tall order. Simple as it sounds. <br><br>Years ago, Paul Smith and I were co-producing an artist(let’s call him Bob) at our studio. Bob was an older guy who always wanted to make a record. At the end of our 6th session, he got out his checkbook and paid us for the day. Then he wrote us another check. He said, “I see you guys are working here all the time. Here’s the fee for an extra day of studio time. Take the day off with your families. AND, no matter what, never let anything come between you. Because what you have going on here is special.” <br><br>Wise man, Bob. <br><br>Joy. I have worked with so many bands that had it then lost it. It happens so much it doesn’t even make me sad anymore. It’s happened to me. And with few exceptions, the better the band the more problems there seem to be. To quote Bono again, “One love we get to share it. Leaves you baby if you don’t care for it.”<br> <br>A producer friend of mine once told me, “The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% of the project takes the other 90%.” The closer you get to “great” the harder the going is. The decisions get tougher and the disagreements get louder. It is easy to get along with someone when there is nothing at stake between you. It takes a special group of people to get through this. Whether you win, lose, or sorta win. <br><br>But at the end of the day you have get back to that state of mind you had when you fell in love with music. A great lyric that changed your way of thinking. A killer groove that made you want to kick someone’s ass. Or a catchy melody that made you want to sing. <br><br>As far as how to get there, I don’t have much of a remedy other than time. <br><br>The road to joy does not necessarily end back where you started. But it does lead an old man back to a young man’s dreams. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40619132016-02-26T13:03:43-05:002022-03-11T00:30:43-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(02/26/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/89769a21ebc6101e277aedb862ab3d720aa8ca14/original/recording.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>THE WISDOM OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK </strong><br><br>I have an old friend named Gene. He’s in his 80s now, and I haven’t seen him in quite a while. Gene was an ad agency guy that I became friends with at my first studio job. He was crazy creative…… and on some days just plain crazy. I loved hanging with him. <br><br>When we got together, we would talk about music, advertising, the human brain, Native American philosophies, and just life in general. I always considered him my guru of sorts. He gave me advice that literally changed my life. Several times. I could write a book about the things we have talked about and what I learned from him. <br><br>But today, I want to throw out one of his ideas specifically. <br><br>During one of our pow wows, Gene gave me this idea: When you are faced with a problem you just can’t solve, go get one of your favorite books off the shelf. Focus on the problem, then open the book randomly. Point to a sentence without looking. There is your solution. <br><br>I never did it for years. Then one day I found myself in a house I had just bought with a wife and new baby…… and in record company limbo. Our band had just finished our second major label record. But, in the process of recording it our label was purchased by another company. Every single person that had worked our first album had been fired. We were men without a country. We had just came off a successful tour and made a fine 2nd album. We had momentum. A lot of us had bought houses and started families. We figured that we were finally going to start really seeing the fruits of what we had worked so hard for…for almost a decade. <br><br>Then, nothing. <br><br>We still had a deal but no champion at the label anymore. We had trouble getting anyone on the phone. When we did, we kept hearing “in a couple weeks we will get a release date” etc. But the end never came. <br><br>We tried everything. Even begging to be released from the label didn’t work. The limbo lasted 18 months. <br><br>But, one day I decided “what the hell, I’ll try Gene’s idea.” So I went and picked up Tom Robbins’<em> "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas” </em>off the shelf. I opened it and pointed. </p>
<p>Here’s what it said: “You should never hesitate to trade your cow for a handful of magic beans.” </p>
<p>Fucking brilliant. <br><br>For months and months while we were in limbo, our bass player Paul and I had been doing new recordings in our basement. We had both started our careers as studio engineer/producers. We fell back in love with that studio routine. <br><br>So after doing Gene’s experiment, I came to the conclusion that the band’s takeover of the world just wasn’t going to go the way we had hoped. So Paul and I decided to open a studio, with no idea whatsoever on how to run such a thing. It was a great success and we are still producing today. <br><br>We traded our cow for some magic beans. <br><br>The moral of Gene’s technique is that sometimes you need a random perspective to solve problems. To get your mind out of logically going around in circles. Analysis paralysis. <br><br>Easier said than done, I know. <br><br>I have often used the old cliché that “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Another old cliché I like is “Advice is what you ask for when you know the answer but wished you didn’t.” <br><br>More often than not, life does not go according to plan. If you are a musician, multiply that times 100. There are few shakier foundations to build your life upon. But, still, we love it. <br><br>Cynical musicians are not usually untalented, most of them are just unwilling to make changes. I used to be more cynical myself, but it feels lamer and lamer to me as the years progress. Tom Robbins again: “Just because you're naked doesn't mean you're sexy. Just because you're cynical doesn't mean you're cool.” <br><br>Most situations are neither inherently good nor bad. They just are….it’s up to you to change them or work around them. <br><br> The music business moves on and grows year after year. Some things get better, some don’t. Some people share your commitment and some don’t. Sometimes your life goes in a direction that makes the old rules obsolete. <br><br>You can keep going in the same circles and get more and more frustrated OR you can heed the wisdom of Jack and the Beanstalk. <br><br>The club that pays you $75 for a Saturday isn’t going to start paying you $500 just because you explain to them your feelings. If $500 is what you want you need a new club. The bassist that only wants to play once a month because his wife gives him shit for it probably isn’t all of a sudden going to hop in a van and tour the country. If you want to tour, you need a new bass player. Or a new band. You can’t play a sports bar full of rednecks and leave pissed because they aren’t responding to the Damien Rice-esque originals you are playing. <br><br>A lot of people have life situations that make music and art a very, very low priority. But I always believe in using my head to find a way to give my heart and soul what it wants…. in some way. But it requires a change in perspective. <br><br>To quote John Kenneth Galbraith, “Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, most people get busy on the proof.”<br> <br>The former takes a lot less time than the latter. <br><br>Derailed plans are part of the gig. To quote Willie Nelson, “Ninety-nine percent of the world's lovers are not with their first choice. That's what makes the jukebox play.” <br><br>Look for solutions. Trade in your cow. Whatever works. <br><br>The answers are waiting for you between the pages. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40499242016-02-19T11:51:43-05:002021-04-30T03:49:42-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(02/19/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/25b56244e6fd5ab203dac322cdb59a5bcb76ce75/original/bret-in-jt.jpg?1447432486" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>CALENDAR WORSHIP AND THE JACK OF ALL TRADES </strong><br><br>Pretty much for all of the 1990s, I played with one band. One band. That was it. When the band wasn’t playing(and we played a lot) we were rehearsing. When we weren’t doing either of those, we were making a new record. We made a new one approximately every 18 months. Between albums we released a whole bunch of small releases. Live things, acoustic EPs, etc. Just to keep the interest up in what we were doing. <br><br>Once an album cycle was over, we started the next one. We did this independently without a record deal….. for years. And, to the best of our ability, we tried to keep that ethic going once we did have a deal. (Side note: that proved to be pretty damn challenging post deal) <br><br>Ours was a pretty typical scenario for a band around that time. The object of worship was the CD. Or even a few cassettes and vinyl. Those little circles of information were your lifeblood….. and your salvation. Your chip on the table. <br><br>Cut to 2016. Things have definitely changed. Quite a bit. CDs barely sell on an independent level. Vinyl has some appeal, but I would think on the ground floor it would be a break even proposition at best. There are download sales, but as we all know if you want the music for free it ain’t too hard to find. <br><br>Most, I’d dare say almost all, of my musician friends don’t play with one band anymore. They play with several. That includes me. Off of the top of my head here I just thought of 13 formats that I play in (various bands, duo formations, solo, etc). ’Tis the way of things now. <br><br>Musicians no longer worship that little round piece of plastic. Their new object of worship is square. And much bigger. It’s called a calendar. <br><br>It’s no longer the music business. It’s the <em>musician business</em>. We have shifted from a retail based business to a service one. And the more services you can offer, the better. <br><br>If you depend on the income from any portion of your musical exploits, you are a vocational musician. And vocational musicians are like sharks…… they keep swimming or they die. <br><br>Yea, these guys spend a lot of time praying at the altar of their calendars. Just hoping for a bountiful harvest this year. It’s bad mojo to turn down a gig. Unless you are playing somewhere else. <br><br>It’s an army of mercenaries all struggling to fill those little numbered squares on the page. There isn’t much “we” vs. “they”. Only “us”. <br><br>(**Generally speaking, I find the camaraderie between musicians to be WAY better than it was 20 years ago.**) <br><br>In today’s ecosystem, adaptability is more important than size. As a rule, the guy who can adapt to many styles and situations is going to work more than the dude with the big PA and light show and one good band. Speed and stealth over size. <br><br>If you can’t adapt and change, you’ll spend a lot of time at home. But the good news is, it’s never too late to teach an old dog a few new tricks. <br><br>Let me use myself as a personal example. Like I said, in the 1990s I played in one band. As a songwriter/guitarist. When that died down I opened a studio and started producing again. That keeps me busy to this day. Also, I didn’t do a single gig where I was the lead singer until I was in my mid 30s…..in the 2000s. Now that scenario is 95% of the shows I play. <br><br>I took a sampling off of my calendar from 3 years ago. In a 3 week span I played 2 arena shows(8,000 folks + a night opening for Bob Seger), an American Legion, a seafood restaurant, an open jam at a Hibachi restaurant, a microbrewery, and a high end club show. In a 3 week span. <br><br>In the studio over the same time, I worked with a jam band, an indie folk artist, a contemporary Christian artist, and a full on rock band. <br><br>Cut to the next 3 weeks of this year and I have a show in NYC, an opera house, an arts center, a blues festival, and a WHOLE BUNCH of pizza places. On the studio side, a blues band, an indie rock solo artist, and a handful of solo artists spread across the country that I work with via email. <br><br>In the 2 samplings 3 years apart, NONE of the gigs are with the same people. Stage or studio. In the 1990s, at least for me, they all would have been the same. <br>Things have changed. And I don’t think it’s just me. <br><br>So here comes the opinion portion of our blog: Is this good or bad? I’d say both. Players develop more varied skills out of necessity. You learn the vernacular of a more varied group of players….because you have to. What a modern country guy likes is not what an indie folk artist likes. You learn the value systems of both. And all of that seeps back into your own playing and writing. <br><br>Innovation is found at the crossroads. At the spot where the chocolate falls in the peanut butter. Necessity is the mother of invention. Good stuff. <br><br>On the bad side, there is nothing like a group of guys that live with each other every day and can read each others minds. It’s tougher to make that scenario work for a long period of time. Of course, there are success stories. There are some great bands out there who have been at it for a decade or more. It’s more challenging than ever to keep that afloat though. More often than not, a “band” is now a group of mercenaries coming together for a specified number of shows until they go back to their respective calendars. Not that there’s anything wrong with that……. it's just more common now than it used to be.<br><br>I’m pretty ok with this landscape as it stands. However the road between surviving and thriving is miles long. As it is with all of America, most people can find a way to survive. Somehow. But thriving is another matter entirely. <br><br>In the book, <em>The Long Tail</em>, the author Chris Anderson talks a lot about the music business. His mantra is the future is about selling “less of more.” More products with less sales of each. For an individual, that means more skills spread out over the landscape instead of one specialization. <br><br>The company man is dying. Or so it seems. Enter the era of the Jack Of All Trades. And people are adjusting well enough to that. In the music business, and in just about everything else. But is all this “more” in the form of ingenuity and diversification going to lead to an overall “better”? <br><br>An infinite supply of suck still equals suck. But it is true that 100 pennies still equals a dollar.<br><br>To quote Woody Allen "The food was terrible. And such small portions!" Ironic.<br><br>The future remains to be seen. Stay tuned.</p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40388592016-02-12T15:16:04-05:002017-01-15T19:19:04-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(02/12/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/727c77e39f5251043eb4ad786963279d51edf029/original/rofo-sa-aug22-23.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF AN IDEAL</strong> <br><br>I’m going to make a confession. Pretty much every morning I sit down and read the news. But in the last year, for the first time, I have ventured my way further down the page. Yea, I started reading the comments. And since I started that, with every passing day I realize just how many Americans are bat shit crazy. <br><br>Sports, music, politics, you name it……. For every person out there trying to do something great, there are thousands who believe they don’t deserve the air they breathe let alone any praise for their accomplishments. <br><br>It’s a miracle that ANY talent and ideals are able to survive at all. <br><br>I write this music blog and in it I give quite a few of my opinions on the state of things. But I try and keep it to musical concerns. I feel that I have been living this life long enough to be an expert witness on the subject. I have seen quite a few sides of the music life over the years. I wouldn’t claim to have all the answers, just a perspective. <br><br>With social media these days, ANYONE who is out there trying to do something great is going to come under fire. No matter what the medium. No matter what your crusade, there is a hater out there somewhere waiting for you. <br><br>But you know what, having enemies is ok. Or as Winston Churchill once said, “ You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” <br><br>From a musical perspective, if you are putting your music and ideas out there and standing behind them despite all the failures and abuse…. you are a friend of mine. <br><br>If you are “hiding in the choir” and letting someone else take the hits for what goes right and wrong with your music, you are less of a friend of mine. <br><br>If you are sitting home with a box of wine and a 12” Subway sub posting away online about how much of a fraud someone else is…….despite your utter lack of understanding, you are not my friend. <br> <br>In summary, if you are on a quest for awesomeness no matter what, I’m on your side. If it is your life’s mission to debunk awesome, I’m against you. <br><br>Look at the arc of a many a famous musician. He starts small. Something about his (or her) music connects with people. Something about HIM connects with people. He rises in popularity because of that connection. “I like that guy, I relate to that guy. That guy is just like me. That guys cares about us.” Then he becomes what Paul Westerberg calls “boring enormous”. Too big. Unrelatable. A sell out. <br><br>Guys like Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen have this “normal guy” appeal. But, truth be told these are very, very ambitious men. You don’t become these people by accident. If you did, you wouldn’t last for long. <br><br>People who are truly down to earth are invariably ground into it. These guys aren’t that….. and for us that’s a good thing. <br><br>Bruce even wrote a song where he said “It’s a sad and funny ending when you find yourself pretending/ A rich man in a poor man’s shirt.” I surmise he has thought a bit about the irony of the situation. <br><br>I believe in the old adage “Trust the art. Not the artist.” The guy who wrote “All You Need Is Love” could be a cold son of a bitch when he needed to be. <br><br>I don’t feel the need to itemize an artist’s shortcomings as a human being as fodder to defraud their art. The ideas are out there in the wind. Either they make sense or they don’t. Our hero snagged them out of the air and brought them to us. That’s good enough for me. He might be a complete douchebag. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. <br><br>Character is very, very important. Being a role model is very important. But I would rather listen to the music of a brilliant dickhead than the lukewarm pap of the boy next door. And if you exalt the boy next door, you are just going to hate him later anyway. That’s the way it works. <br><br>Last week, I quoted “You Can’t Go Home Again” by Thomas Wolfe. Today I’m going to do that again. After this, I will stop…… I swear. But if you are a creative, passionate person that ever put anything out into the public for review, this will ring true. <br><br>On selling out: <br><br><em>“You’ll find out, as you go on, that most of the things they say, most of the dangers that they warn you of, do not exist. They’ll talk to you, for instance, about prostituting your talent. They’ll warn you not to write for money. Not to do a dozen other things that have nothing whatever to do with you or with your life. You won’t prostitute yourself. A man’s talent doesn’t get prostituted just because someone waves a fat check in his face. If your talent is prostituted, it is because you are a prostitute by nature. You can’t prostitute a great writer, because a great writer will inevitably be himself“ <br>“The only danger (for a writer) is of freezing up. Usually, because he loses his nerve. He has been a natural slugger to begin with, with a one-ton punch. Now he begins to shadow-box. He listens to everything they tell him. How to jab and how to hook. How to counter with his right. How to keep out of the way. He learns to skip the rope, but forgets to use that paralyzing punch that he was born with. But no amount of instruction can ever take the place of the wallop in the old right hand. If you lose that, you may learn all the proper ways that other men have used to do the job, but you’ll have forgotten your own way. Make your mistakes, take your chances, look silly, but keep on going. Don’t freeze up.” </em><br><br>Great stuff. <br><br>On critics: <br><br><em>“(The critic) Having no belief or bottom in himself, he found no belief or bottom in the lives he wrote about. Everything was bunk, every great man who ever lived had been built up into the image of greatness by a legend of concocted bunk: truth, therefore, lay in the debunking process, since all else was bunk, and even truth itself was bunk. He was one of those men who, by the nature of their characters and their own defeat, could believe only the worst of others. If he had written about George Washington, he would have devoted his chief attention to Washington’s false teeth, and would have become so deeply involved with them that he would have forgotten all about George Washington. If he had written about Abraham Lincoln, he would have seen him as a deified Uriah Heep, the grotesque product of backwoods legendary, a country lawyer come to town, his very fame a thing of chance, the result of a fortuitous victory and a timely martyrdom. He could never have believed that Lincoln really said the things that Lincoln said, or that he really wrote what he is known to have written. Why? Because the things said and written were too much like Lincoln. They were too good to be true. Therefore they were myths. They had not been said at all. Or, if they had been said, then somebody else had said them. <br>And how did he (the critic) rationalize to himself <strong>his own</strong> defeat and failure? In the easy, obvious, and inevitable way. He had been rash enough to expose some of the cherished figures of public worship and, with his cold, relentless probing for the truth. Naturally, his reward had been anathema and abuse……” </em><br><br>Or in modern terms “h8ers gonna h8”….. or #from my desk in East Bumblefuck I have figured out what’s actually going on here, but nobody wants to listen so screw you all. <br><br>Like I said earlier, with all these things in the way, it’s a miracle that any ideals survive. That a song as powerful as “Imagine” ever even makes it to the public’s ears. There is idealistic stuff in that tune. Sung by a complicated guy who was very changed by the journey his music took him on. <br><br>“A great man cannot be a good man.” Machiavelli said. I think that is mostly true. The big bad wolf is out there, and he wants to blow your house of ideals down to rubble. You are going to have to understand him to defeat him. You might even have to steal a few plays from his playbook to win. It’s easy to get lost. <br><br>To paraphrase The Boss once more “The true challenge of adulthood is to maintain your ideals after you have lost your innocence.” <br><br>Tough stuff. <br><br>In the end, I don’t expect the music I love to be made by nice guys who always make good choices. I don’t expect the way to be pretty. <br>And I don’t expect them to be just like me at the end of the journey. <br><br>I only ask that they remember when they were….. and keep that in mind while they fight the good fight against evil, mediocre minds. <br><br>Because there are those who still believe in them. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40268432016-02-05T13:08:50-05:002021-07-17T05:17:10-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(02/05/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/1725ecc8627bee16984d1bf21f4bde72a2d2d4d2/original/rofo-sa-aug22-61.jpg?0" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br>THE MILES BETWEEN THE MOMENTS </strong><br> <br>I met with a band a few years back about doing a record. They were asking me for advice about getting out there. How to “make it” and all that. I suggested they get out and play live, maybe go to a few open mics, meet some people, make a recording, then another recording, etc. A “build it one fan at a time” philosophy. <br><br>Grass roots shit. Boots on the ground. <br><br>They put their heads down and said, “Yea, we want to skip all that.” Needless to say, I never did their record. <br><br>I guess that makes me too old school. Oh well. <br><br>So, that story brings me to this week’s topic: <br><br>I love rock and roll stories. One of my favorites was told to me by an old friend. We are both lifelong fans of the Canadian band, The Tragically Hip. So this story is about them. <br><br>The Tragically Hip are HUGE in Canada. Like Coldplay huge. But in the U.S. they are lesser known. So instead of arenas, they play a lot of clubs here. <br><br>Several years back, my buddy went to one of their shows in southern PA. Not surprisingly, the club had a decent number of Canadians in the audience. One of the fans held up a sign that read “We drove 15 hours to get here.” <br><br>The singer Gordie looked at the sign and stepped up to the microphone….. <br><br>He said simply, “We drove 15 years to get here.” <br><br>If anyone ever deems my career interesting enough to let me give a speech about it, I’m gonna steal that quote. Except I’ll add another decade or two. <br><br>But, in all fairness, I’m far from unique. So many of my friends have logged a million miles in the quest to master their instruments. Or their songwriting. Or their performing skills. <br><br>Finding your “voice” takes years…… and a lot of highway. But for most, it is a labor of love. <br><br>It takes time, practice, and wisdom. You can see it. Some guys are just real. And you can’t fool guys like that with bravado….. or a trust fund. <br><br>I read a story about a chief of a Native American tribe who traveled several days to meet with another chief about a treaty. Upon arrival the two chiefs looked at each other and didn’t say a word. Then they left. End of meeting. No need for words. One look and they knew the other could be trusted. <br><br>With pretty good accuracy, I can tell if I am going to like a drummer’s playing just by watching him set up. Many of the musicians I play with would agree with that, I know. <br><br>Our lives are defined by moments. Careers are defined by moments. Everybody wants to get right to the moments. I think therefore I am….. Act as if. Dress for success. <br><br>I say bullshit. <br><br>Moments are important, but it is the miles between the moments that make the man. <br><br>You have to believe in yourself and in what you are doing. Without that, you are sunk. But if you are in a hurry, I say stay home. The Police of Cause And Effect will find you and kick your ass eventually. I promise. <br><br>A well known singer/ songwriter friend of mine once told me, “ I didn’t become Bob Dylan or James Taylor, but I’m in the club.” <br><br>The older I get, the wiser that sounds. I can deal with success, failure, obscurity, praise, and ridicule along the way. Those things are just changes in the weather. They come and go. <br><br>But damn, I want to be in that club. <br><br>I’m going to quote my favorite book <em>“You Can’t Go Home Again” </em>(Thomas Wolfe) on this one: <br><br><em>“For he had learned some of the things that every man must find out for himself, and he had found out about them as one has to find out- through error and through trial, through fantasy and illusion, through falsehood and his own damn foolishness, through being mistaken and wrong and an idiot and egotistical and aspiring and hopeful and believing and confused….. Each thing he learned was so simple and obvious, once he grasped it, that he wondered why he had not always known it. All together, they wove into a kind of leading thread, trailing backward through his past and out into the future. And he thought that now, perhaps, he could begin to shape his life to mastery, for he felt a new sense of direction deep within him.” </em><br><br>So get out there, fill the calendar, and log the miles. I’ll see you out there. Let the moments fall where they may. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40145882016-01-29T11:57:43-05:002022-03-08T03:02:44-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(01/29/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/1694c3df90551ba3b0d0a1a0da6bca5fc384e566/original/rofo-sa-aug22-40.jpg?1454086323" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>ART AND ARCHITECTURE (aka "THE DOOR")</strong><br> <br>As any musician or artist will tell you, you go through stages in your creative life. Usually they aren’t preconceived. They just happen over time. To use the hugest of examples, listen to The Beatles 1962 vs. The Beatles 1967. Even George Martin himself said he had no inclination that those boys could even write well, let alone become the trailblazers they became. <br><br>Robert Plant has said that Led Zeppelin’s albums were really just a snapshot of where they were at any particular time. <br><br>It seems like some of these albums came from outer space. But really they were just a reflection of the artist’s headspace and environment at any given time period. Be that good or exceeding awful. <br><br>If you knew the situation, you would understand the music….. <br><br>It happens on all levels. It happens to me. I go through periods of wanting to do really layered and thick recordings with lots of overdubs and edits, to the other extreme of “Screw it……. Let’s record live”. <br><br>These days I’m leaning towards the latter. That will probably change at some point. <br><br>In modern music production, the quest for perfection is rampant. Why do people do that? Because they can. Put everything on a grid and edit, clip, and tune every instrument until it lines up perfectly in all respects. I know from experience that once you go down that rabbit hole it’s hard to get out. The smallest anomaly bugs the living shit out of you. It has to be fixed. You don’t want to be the guy who was too lazy or untalented to see that the background vocal in the bridge is +1 cent sharp!! What would your colleagues say? If you don’t fix it, you are compromising the project. <br><br>But are you? Really? That’s like making a movie with the continuity and fact checker dweebs in the front of your mind. It will drive you bat shit crazy. You lose the plot.<br> <br>I think it is a simple argument between art and architecture. Architecture needs a high level of exactitude or the building won’t stand. There are blueprints and plans and time tested designs that have been honed and perfected over the years. You are bending nature and the physical world to your will. And your will is following a grid. <br><br>Art is a little different. There are genres, styles, scales, forms, etc. But the details are up to you. You make them up as you go along. Acting and reacting in sequence. No grid. There are happy accidents and imperfections. That is a part of its charm. The beginning sound of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" was actually the end of another piece that was accidentally erased. Michelangelo's David was carved out of a supposedly ruined piece of marble.<br><br>I’m not going to say which way is best. I don’t know. But I think at the end of the day what you are looking to do is make a connection with someone. There has to be a humanity to things. You can build an apartment building, measuring every step of the way within a 16th of an inch. But eventually someone is going to have to move in. And chances are they are not going to decorate the place with a micrometer. If they do, they most certainly need medication. <br><br>Art and Architecture. <br><br>Conversely, if the building falls down, who gives a shit about the crown moulding? <br><br>The problem is, one bad review rings 500 times louder in a musician’s ears than 10,000 good ones. So you obsess. But making music to silence critics is one of the worst ideas ever. Welcome to the rabbit hole. <br><br>The author Saul Bellow once said “Works of art are never finished, they are abandoned.” So how do you learn when to say when? How much is enough? <br><br>There is a land beyond the notes. A land beyond music theory and software. A land beyond critics and hipsters. A door behind the edit screen and the club stage.<br>You can’t force your way in. Every once in a while the door just opens and you walk through. Queen got in working on “Bohemian Rhaopsody” for months and months. The Ramones got in in an afternoon. It’s a primal place and it likes who it likes. You just never know. <br><br>I see these snobby musicians online posting that Adele can’t sing. For the record, I think Adele can sing. But whether you agree or not, you can’t deny that she got through that door. She connected. And that’s hard as hell to do. <br><br>Every city is full of people who know the rules and can execute them. But not everyone can connect. If you are playing the averages, almost no one can. Pretty much all of us could make a sandwich better than a Big Mac. But none of us could create a brand like McDonalds. <br><br>It’s called the X Factor. And the pros were calling it that long before the TV show. That intangible something that makes everyone turn around. If record companies and concert promoters knew how to manufacture the X Factor, Axl Rose would be selling shoes by now. <br><br>It’s not just about the money or the quality. You can make someone aware of something with money…… but it won’t last long with that alone. You can impress someone with your knowledge, abilities, and the technical prowess of what you do. But you will not reach their heart. <br><br>Bruce Springsteen spent two weeks of studio time testing drum heads on the Born To Run sessions. Not recording, testing different drum heads! Now, in recent albums, his band records live. Both techniques have yielded magical results. <br><br>But either way, Bruce always has something inspiring to say. And his boys always make a righteous noise. <br><br>And the door likes that. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/40020602016-01-22T10:40:40-05:002017-01-15T19:19:03-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(1/22/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/2c91dfb5d4872ea38cfcd991318d722f2d8118d0/original/wave.jpg?1453477223" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br>WHITE NOISE (THE DEATH OF A CRAFTSMAN) </strong><br> <br>Last week’s blog certainly got a debate started, which I welcome. So this week I want to go a little further down the same road. <br><br>I talked about casinos and tribute bands and the death of clubs in the new environment. The big record deals don’t happen anymore, for the most part. And the ones that do are often bad for the artists. <br><br>So all of this begs the question: <br><br>Why the hell is there still so much great music being made? <br><br>Older musicians talk about the good old days and how music sucks now. I would agree that the live scene has changed dramatically in my neck of the woods. Not for the better, in my opinion. But, if you think there is no good music being made…… buddy, you ain’t looking in the right places. <br><br>When I started, it was just at the beginning of CD sales. The transition from vinyl to CD was only a few years old. If you had a CD, that was a bit of a big deal. Now, everyone has recordings of their stuff. In some cases, before they even play a gig. A video too…. <br><br>And you know what? Some of them are pretty damn impressive. <br><br>From my side of the fishbowl, the “quality” of the average band’s first record today has grown exponentially. I attribute this largely to the democratizing of the tools of production. Anyone can get some software and learn how to record their own music. And they do. Even if they go to a studio or work with a producer, they come to the table with at least a working knowledge of how it all happens. <br><br>And knowledge is power. <br><br>So, then, why does it seem so much stuff doesn’t last? <br><br>Supply and demand. We have a glut of supply. It’s easier to achieve good results. So there is more stuff. The cost of recording is no longer a filter. The record company is no longer a filter. You don’t need much money or a label to put out a record. Just buy some software and post the results. How cool is that? <br><br>Problem is, it’s all white noise now. <br><br>When you get a vaccination, they feed you a little bit of the disease and you grow an immunity. Same with music these days. There’s so much of it you don’t even notice it. Like an air conditioner running in the background. You cease to notice, regardless of the quality. And if you do notice, in most cases you move on rather quickly. In many cases, we have become immune to art. <br><br>It’s like beautiful wallpaper. A largely ignored backdrop of awesome. <br><br>As a label executive once told me “Bands are like trains. There’s a new one coming every 10 minutes.” Smug, but true. <br><br>Oftentimes, true craftsmanship falls in with the white noise. And that’s the really sad part. A lot of great guys get pushed out of business. <br><br>Look at it from a different angle: A badass craftsman makes a beautiful chair. A masterpiece. It takes him five days to make. He asks $300 for it. But…. there’s a chair that sort of looks like it at Walmart for $30. Furthermore, at Home Depot, there’s a kit you can buy with all the pieces to a similar chair already made. That’s $20. You just glue it together, stain it, and decorate it. Voila! Same thing. You’re a craftsman! <br><br>Now, you look at the real craftsman’s chair and you say “This is beautiful. Stunning. Obviously, a superior quality chair.” But then you think, “Screw it, if my Walmart chair breaks I will buy 10 more for the price of one of his. Or, if I’m feeling crafty, I’ll buy the Home Depot kit. Hell, I might even start selling these things myself!” <br>Meanwhile, the master goes out of business because no one gives a shit. He drowns in the white noise your thrifty, ADHD ass helped create. <br><br>Get the analogy? <br><br>Cheap and free. Your grandma’s fridge lasted 30 years and yours only lasted 5. But who cares? Get another one. They are readily available, dude. <br><br>If I poke around, I can find just about anything cheaper than it was when I was a kid. <br><br>The tyranny of free. Say goodbye to the master… <br><br>So, our virtuoso, our master craftsman rides off into the sunset still doing what he loves for less and less to make ends meet. Unless, for some reason, something he built gets endorsed by someone or something that is above the white noise. A tastemaker…… Oprah anyone?<br><br>Then people buy his chairs in piles so they can show them off to their other asshole friends at parties. The chair is the same as it ever was. It’s just in a different frame. <br><br>This is nothing new at all. But what a screwed up world we live in. <br><br>So, what’s the moral to this ramble? <br><br>If you want to be great (even really good) at this music thing, do it for the love of it first. Let your own standards push you forward. . Because in the long haul “what it all means” at the end of the day is largely not up to you. A lot of old rites of passage are gone. Everybody’s doing it. Everybody gets a trophy these days.<br><br>White noise.<br><br>Trust in your craft, work like hell to be heard, and hope for the best. It will take way longer than you think. <br><br>And, paradoxically, when you decide you no longer want the recognition you have been seeking….. That’s when you get it. I have found this to be almost axiomatic. <br><br>Or…………If you just want to look like you know what you are doing: Buy a kit. Hell, they are easy to find.<br><br>And there’s a new one coming every 10 minutes. <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39904002016-01-15T11:25:53-05:002017-01-15T19:19:03-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(1/15/2016)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/1cf74d3890ae75b53847fe076069610fe88b7da1/original/954045-orig.jpg?1380728008" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>AFTER THE DELUGE </strong><br> <br>Happy New Year everyone…….. <br><br>After a long winter’s nap I have returned to the blogosphere. So time to get right on it. <br><br>A few weeks ago, my pal Joe handed me a newspaper clipping. Just to get my opinion on it. It wasn’t a political editorial or anything like that. Nothing scandalous. <br>It was a weekly live entertainment listing for our area. <br><br>If you look at a Northeast Pennsylvania live entertainment listing from 2015 as opposed to one from, say 1995, you will notice one thing immediately: <br><br>Musicians have become much more interested in paying tribute to things. <br><br>U2 Tribute, Pink Floyd Tribute, John Mellencamp Tribute, Bon Jovi Tribute, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles, Journey, Journey, Journey, AC/DC, Grateful Dead, etc, etc….. <br><br>Even the clubs in the area that were known for showcasing up and coming bands have gotten in on it. But, because they are hip and cool, they do tributes to O.A.R. or maybe Rage Against The Machine. <br><br>Because they are edgy like that. <br><br>Normally this would be the point where I would go on and on about how much this new development blows. But I’m not going to do that. My take on all this is that it is just a sign of the times around here. <br><br>A music scene once full of big rock clubs is a shadow of its former self. The big places are almost all gone. And smack dab in the middle of the deluge is the new boss: a casino. <br><br>And a casino, dear readers, caters to a much different demographic than a grimy rock club. <br><br>And, that’s ok. Nothing wrong with that. But when that is the place that is making a lot of the decisions on what entertainment gets seen, you are going to get a lot of lowest common denominator music. And what better lowest common denominator noise than the almighty “Tribute Band”. <br><br>I mean, you already like the music. You know what to expect. And if the band sucks you can still make fun of the middle aged guy in the Bon Jovi circa 1986 wig. <br><br>Good times. <br><br>However, here’s the rub. There’s nothing as exciting as seeing a young band with a fresh set of awesome songs that is ready to take on the world. At least I think so. <br><br>But put that in the back of your mind for a bit. And let me take a left turn: <br><br>Consider a young band driving down a road that contains all the various types of music fans. If you start on the left, it is a dirt road. These motorists are the early adopters. The tastemakers. The people who heard Nirvana in a club when there were only 12 people there. Serious listeners looking for new things. These are the people who will anoint and lift up tomorrow’s mainstream. <br><br>Gradually the road widens and becomes an 8 lane super highway. This is the largest stretch of the road where most of the people are. The casino crowd is in here. The “middle of the road” so to speak. <br><br>Lastly, on the right, the road narrows again and the late bloomers are putt putting along. These are the people who just heard of Coldplay because they are playing at the Super Bowl.<br><br>From a business perspective, it makes sense to head straight for the superhighway. That’s where everybody is, right? And if you are a tribute band, you just hop in your Bon Jovi Monsters Of Rock Jet and land right smack dab in the middle of the Autobahn. No need to deal with all those snotty early adopters. Besides, that road is too dusty anyway. <br><br>The late bloomers will like you too. If they have heard of the group you are paying tribute to. Which is 50/50. <br><br>Big money… can’t blame these bands for doing it. <br><br>However, if you want to stick to your guns and make a go of it with your own music, it’s harder than ever. The road is in disrepair. There are fewer gas stations(venues) than there used to be. Not enough people traveling this way. They are all on the superhighway. The bypassing of America. <br><br>A lot of young groups die on the vine. Not enough support or encouragement to keep going. Then a slot opens for a guitarist on the Bon Jovi jet…….. and the band breaks up. <br><br>It’s sad, because someone has to nurture these things before they can get to everyone else. And with popular music, that’s becoming harder to do. <br><br>If you want to be a professional athlete, you need to excel in high school… then excel in college and then get drafted. Then you have to excel in the pro arena. <br><br>Unless you are independently wealthy, you can’t go to college without a scholarship. You need to be invested in and nurtured to make it. And you can’t play in the pros for free, either. <br><br>With popular music, you have to form your own team and finance your own education if you want to go the route of doing your own music. And at the end of the road there isn’t a million dollars anymore. <br><br>So no wonder people go where the money is. <br><br>I get it. <br><br>I told this story before, but it applies: <br><br>Many years ago, I tried my hand a beer making. Paul Smith and I made a dark, Guiness-esque beer. We loved it. Proudly, I took it over to my neighbor’s house and gave him a bottle. He took a big swig and spit it out. Symbolically, on a dirt road. My neighbor looked at me and said, “ If you can make me a beer that tastes like a Coors Lite, I’ll drink it.” Then he went back to grilling. <br><br>I thought, “Why the hell would anyone want a beer that tastes like a Coors Lite when there is already Coors Lite?” <br><br>As I look again at the entertainment schedule that my buddy Joe gave me, I realize how wrong my logic was…… <br><br>Yes, I get it now. <br><br>But when I am running sound somewhere and I have an overweight old guy with a wig on telling me what he wants in his monitors, it still makes me sad. <br><br>Because I know somewhere out there in the wasteland is a young genius playing to 8 people while they watch TV. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39657062015-12-18T11:12:29-05:002020-08-16T07:28:27-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(12/18/2015)<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/f692295a90be5351c3ade1d5354a218da94e860e/original/952369-orig.jpg?1380728000" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>DO THE DEMOGRAPHIC</strong><br><br><br>Unless you are living under a rock, you have most certainly heard a lot of the political discourse that has been going on in America. Unbelievable stuff. Lots of differences in opinion to say the least. <br><br>With what I write here, I try and steer clear of that. I write a music blog for fun. But I must say, music and politics do have their similarities…….A candidate’s relationship with his(or her) supporters has a lot in common with a rock star’s relationship with his fans. Furthermore, there are many similarities in how people make decisions and voice their opinions on what they like and dislike. It’s human nature folks! <br><br>Here are a few similarities I have noticed:</p>
<p><br>1) To a certain demographic, singing lovingly about Jesus and guns in the same sentence makes perfect sense. <br>2) You don’t have to look far to find someone that thinks everything should be free. <br>3) It’s Obama’s fault music sucks. Thanks Obama! <br>4) If you don’t know what you are doing, play LOUDER. <br>5) If you play something stupid, play it again and call it jazz. In fact, keep playing it. Eventually someone is going to call you a genius. <br>6) A very large number of us already know what kind of music we like. Look at you all high and mighty. Mr. wise guy….. Don’t confuse us with your talent. <br>7) The more rich uncles you have, the better your chances of becoming a rock star. If your uncle is in the music business. So much the better. <br>8) A dumb, shitty drummer only listens to himself. <br>9) Radio DJs don’t play what they like, they play what they’re told. <br>10) When faced with bad reviews, compare yourself to Ronald Reagan. I mean, The Beatles. </p>
<p> <br> </p>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39604482015-12-11T11:08:27-05:002017-01-15T19:19:03-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(12/11/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/ccaee816646fc344fc14fe1499cfc6873e026a3f/original/b3.jpg?1449850330" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>HORSES</strong><br><br>When asked what touring the country in a van was like, I used to say, “Every six weeks something happens to you that you will be talking about for the rest of your life. The rest of the time, it’s a whole lot of nothing.”<br><br>Driving, sleeping, reading, sound checks, and waiting. Years ago, Charlie Watts said, “ In my 30 year career I played for 5 years and waited around for 25.”<br><br>Certainly, touring in a rock band is a nice microcosm of life. We wait for moments- birthdays, holidays, weddings, graduations. The rest is just taking care of business.<br><br>Individuals are defined by these crucible moments. Who you marry, where you graduated from, the business you started, etc.<br><br>In the case of musicians, it’s the most successful band you were in. Or the most successful songs you had on the radio. Or the time you opened up for Godsmack, or Keith Urban, or whoever.<br><br>These events may have happened over a decade and 1000 gigs ago. But these are the stories people tell when they are talking about you. That’s the way it is.<br><br>But truth be told, the daily grind is more who you are than any of these defining events.<br><br>So, that being said, I think it is important for every musician to take a good, long look at themselves and decide how they want to spend those long stretches of time between “moments.”<br><br>Why? Because everyone’s priorities are different. And everyone’s tolerance to pain is different. And something that is just not worth it to one guy is a no brainer to the next.<br><br>Know thyself brothers and sisters.<br><br>There is an old saying that goes, “90% of success is showing up.”<br><br>That’s true.<br><br>But there is another old saying that says, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”<br><br>Also true.<br><br>Yea, you gotta show up. As gamblers say, you can’t win if you don’t play. But a losing horse is a losing horse no matter how long you continue to believe in it.<br><br>Sadly, most of us learn this the hard way.<br><br>As musicians, we all have to find our own way. As players, professionals, and individuals. It takes a long, long time. Some guys get it right at a young age and stick with it for a lifetime. Some guys have to change course.<br><br>As a third old saying goes, “I took the road less traveled. Now I don’t know where the fuck I am.”<br><br>Or something like that.<br><br>Enough on old sayings.<br><br>Speaking of horses, I would group musicians into two basic categories: Racehorses and Plowhorses.<br><br>A plowhorse is a plowhorse for it’s whole life. It’s a steady gig. Not too exciting, but it’s a steady gig. It pays the bills. Plowhorses show up on time. They seldomly screw up. They are nice guys. Everybody likes them. They play in cover and tribute bands. And wedding bands. They teach. It’s a time honored tradition with a solid set of rules. The songs change, but the work ethic is the same.<br><br>A racehorse – well, everybody wants to be a racehorse. A racehorse wants to be a champion. Only for a little while, but damn it’s exciting. The racehorse has his eye on the prize. He’ll fire you or leave you if you don’t. He’s going for all the marbles.<br><br>Musical racehorses are in bands with record deals. They are songwriters trying to get their stuff heard on a national/international scale. They are producers inventing new sounds. <br><br>Some crash and burn. Almost all of them eventually go out to pasture. Or become plowhorses. That’s the way it goes. But for a while…..<br><br>Plowhorses want the calendar to be full. Racehorses want to rule the world.<br><br>The world needs both.<br><br>The problem is most people don’t know what it takes to be a racehorse. Almost always, they underestimate the price. Some spend a while figuring it out and realize they are really plowhorses. Then they settle into life on the proverbial farm.<br><br>Others never quite admit that they are no longer (or never were) racehorses. And that is the stuff of bankruptcy, overdoses, and Spinal Tap moments.<br><br>At the end of the day, everything has a price. You can mortgage your passion for security or you can go all in and bet your safety on your dreams. Either way, you bought something. It might be worthless or it might be the best investment you ever make.<br><br>Your mother will probably tell you to play it safe and get a good job. Enjoy playing on the weekends. Or someone like author Tom Robbins would say, “Never be afraid to trade in your cow for a handful of magic beans.”<br><br>Up to you. It’s a long road no matter which way you go. Find your path and stick with it. But don't be too proud to quit if you are on the wrong one.<br><br>Keep your ear to the ground for changes. Know your history. Look for loopholes.<br><br>As your music career goes through its seasons, a few things will remain constant if you are lucky. Your passion. Your music. Your family. A few good friends……<br>Take care of those and make changes so those things continue to thrive. Do that and it will all work out.<br><br>Whether you are a racehorse or a plowhorse, inevitably you are going to win a few along the way. And you can talk about those for the rest of your days.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39494002015-12-04T09:58:24-05:002017-01-15T19:19:03-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(12/4/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/a17951a6387937a4a3b6c50a51bd27d4634522f3/original/959969-orig.jpg?1380728012" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>LOVE ALL....TRUST A FEW</strong><br><br><br>Once, not that long ago, my musical heart was filled with rage. Then along came a man preaching his message of peace and acceptance.<br><br>His name was<a contents=" Patton Oswalt." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://pattonoswalt.com/"> Patton Oswalt.</a> He helped me find peace in a world overrun with some shitty ass music. If I can do that, anything is possible.<br><br>There are greater enemies than each other.<br><br>Come Together people…….<br><br>The sermon is here:<br><br> <a contents="Nickelback and Creed" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cc.com/video-clips/3t8mwu/patton-oswalt--tragedy-plus-comedy-equals-time-signs-you-re-getting-older">Nickelback and Creed</a><br> <br>You might have to wait through a Fabreze commercial :)<br><br>Love all…trust a few,<br> <br>Bret<br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39376672015-11-27T11:40:09-05:002017-01-15T19:19:03-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(11/27/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/b272272f2d8e424a24725c626523f9a25960668b/original/badlees-8375.jpg?1448643280" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>UNDER THE MUD</strong><br><br>Every house I have lived in since I left home has been within a few miles of the Susquehanna River. Different towns a couple hours apart, but always close to the river. I never planned this, it’s just the way it happened. If you live in Northeastern or Central Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna is kind of hard to avoid.<br><br>Towns and villages were built around it, dating back to who knows when. We are just the latest tenants. We are standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak.<br><br>One of the houses I lived in was near a town called Wapwallopen (an Indian name, obviously). I drove parallel to the Susquehanna every day on my way to our studio in Danville.<br><br>I used to write songs on the morning drive. For some reason, it was a good time to write. I wrote most of The Cellarbirds’ “Perfect Smile” record that way. One day I ass dialed my wife on the ride. She sat there at home listening to me singing.<br><br>On that drive, it was common to see a bunch of old guys wandering through the plowed cornfields staring at the ground. At first I didn’t know what they were doing. Were they lost? Furthermore, it seemed like they were out in even greater numbers after a good storm.<br><br>After a while, I came to realize what they were up to. They were looking for arrowheads.<br><br>I also realized that, in a way, we were both doing the same thing.<br><br>Songwriting is just like hunting for arrowheads.<br><br>The author Tom Robbins once said, “My muse doesn’t visit me every day, but she knows where to find me.” That is one of my favorite sayings about the creative process. In other words, he gets up every day and writes...... probably around the same time. Some days he comes up with something great. Some days not. But he’s there, always.<br><br>It’s just like that famous Lottery battle cry: “You can’t win if you don’t play.”<br><br>There are a few ways to find arrowheads. One, you go digging and scratching along the ground with a watchful eye. Two, you wait until there is a big storm (or the farmer plows his field) to move some of the dirt around. Then you go look. Some of the work has been done for you.<br><br>Or Three, you wait til you trip over one by accident.<br><br>Most songwriters use door #3. They wait til the song just hits them. That does happen, no doubt. And, I do believe that these songs are some of the best. But you never know when that will be…… and it doesn’t happen that often.<br><br>Other guys use door #2. They wait til there is some catastrophic event that turns their lives upside down. This works pretty well. A good crisis can strip away the dirt of your mind and get you down to the “real stuff” quickly. Some songwriters have even gone so far as to screw up their lives just so they had something to write about.<br><br>Others use door #1. They show up and write every day amassing a large catalog. They dig on a daily basis.<br><br>In my mind, you need a mixture of all three. You set a routine and go digging. Every once in a while it’s gonna rain like hell. And every once in a while you are going to trip over something. The end result is the same. An arrowhead is an arrowhead.<br><br>Either way, the stuff you want is just under the surface. You can either dig it out or wait for a flood to wash the sediment away. But that’s where the artifacts are.<br><br>The A list is under the B list.<br><br>I like to write in the morning. As soon as I get up. Before I’m even totally awake. The mud of my day builds up as the hours pass and I’m worthless. Too much other stuff going on up there.<br><br>But everyone is different. Some people clear out late at night. Whatever works.<br><br>As a side note, a big hazard of arrowhead hunting is that after a while everything starts looking like an arrowhead. Diligent songwriters have the same problem. You start writing piles of songs about nothing. Everything becomes a song.<br><br>I can’t tell you how many songs I have written that have fallen flat when performed. I thought they were badass at the time. But they didn’t connect. They meant something to me, but that was about it.<br><br>A friend of mine told me a cool story. He worked as an assistant to a publisher in Nashville. One day he was sitting in a meeting where a songwriter was pitching a tune. The publisher listened to the song politely, then said “John, you love your children. I don’t.”<br><br>I thought this was a brilliant response. I guess the songwriter had written a deeply personal song about his kids. But it connected only to him. The rest of the world wouldn’t care. And the publisher told him as much.<br><br>Years ago, I was at a neighborhood party. Most of us there were parents with young children. But there was this one woman sitting on the couch monopolizing the conversation. She was telling story after story about HER child’s escapades. She’s busting a gut laughing at her stories and as soon as one was done she launched into another…. for about a half an hour. Everyone smiled politely, but inside we were all thinking “Lady, will you please just shut the f**k up?”<br><br>She loved her kid. We didn’t.<br><br>So, as a writer, you are going to have to wade through this. There is no manual or scale to help you sort out the universal from the mundanely personal. Trial and error is the only way. I am always surprised what people connect to.<br><br>But the lion’s share of success is all about showing up.<br><br>Believe it or not, I once was at a barbecue with Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickenson. At Sound City, no less!! He said something that day that has stuck with me. He said, “90% of everything, including your own stuff, is shit.”<br><br>Genius.<br><br>So, knowing that 9 times out of 10 you are going to fail…… you best get busy failing if you want to do great stuff.<br><br>Those arrowheads aren’t gonna show themselves to you every day. But they will know where to find you.<br><br>And the harder you work, the luckier you get.<br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39262932015-11-20T12:19:59-05:002021-07-07T05:53:53-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(11/20/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/433d89c7159654b94edc6b6166b44c6e7c5d753a/original/952381-orig.jpg?1380728004" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>SAMURAI SESSIONS</strong><br><br>I had a grand plan that I was going to put into effect this morning. I spent a little time this week putting a blog together that I thought would be a really good one. I was excited to flesh it out this morning. But today turned out to be one of those days that “the plan” just didn’t work out. Files needed to be uploaded, I needed to prep for a show in Philly tonight, and the usual parade of family concerns all took away my usual window dedicated to morning writing.<br><br>But hey, that’s nothing new. So in honor of this cluster of a morning, I’m gonna use the time I have left to talk about the impressive talent of winging it…….. and why that’s important.<br><br>I know a lot of musicians who will not play onstage unless there are a bunch of rehearsals prior to the gig. No doubt, discipline is important. But every once in a while it’s not possible. For whatever reason.<br><br>So you have to be prepared to be unprepared.<br><br>I talked about this in an earlier blog. At some point, you learn how to do something to the point of forgetting. There is no longer any conscious thought involved. When a great musician improvises, he isn’t thinking about the notes. The notes and the chops are already in him. He is just reacting to the flow of what his ears are hearing.<br><br>When a samurai jumps out of the way, he doesn’t think about jumping.<br><br>No mind.<br><br>When you go to a dinner party, chances are you aren’t going to rehearse the conversations you are going to have that night. You will go and say your hellos and see where the conversations lead. Something might happen across the room, a person with a strange laugh for instance, that will affect the tone of the conversations throughout the whole place. You can’t plan that stuff, but you know how to handle it with grace.<br><br>Unless you have grown up in a cave, you know how to handle these things. You know how to deflect an argument or make a person feel at ease. You know how to be charming. Most everyone has at least the basic skills to do this. But some people are virtuosos at it.<br><br>Playing a song is the same process. It’s an instinctive reaction developed over a lifetime of doing the same thing over and over. To the point where your mind barely enters the equation.<br><br>I once saw then Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell give a commencement speech without looking down at a piece of paper once. In an arena full of people.<br>I was in awe. He was MAKING IT UP! And the stories he told were full of heart and passion. The speech opened strong and came to an inspiring conclusion without this guy looking down at a piece of paper one time. In front of thousands of people.<br><br>Ed was a master of public speaking. He didn’t need no stinking speech.<br><br>Similarly, a great musician oftentimes doesn’t need to know a song to play it. He can react, instinctively. He can follow the vocal line, hear where the changes are going, and with pretty good success play the tune without having ever heard it.<br><br>He has years of experience with this. There is no need to be rehearsed. Some of the people I play with are amazing at it.<br><br>I once had a mother of a young musician call me about a recording project. She wanted an overview of how I would do her son’s record…… if she gave me the gig. She gave me her budget (It was small, of course). Anyway, I explained how I would hire the players we needed and they would come in and put together the arrangements and we’d do the record right there. Easy.<br><br>She said to me “Oh, so I’m paying your guys to practice? I’m paying them to LEARN my son’s songs?” I said, “No, they have already <em>learned how to learn songs</em>. You are paying them for that expertise.” I didn’t get the gig. I suspect she went and found a bunch of novices with loads of time on their hands to learn her son’s tunes. Then they practiced 20 times and made a record. 50 times the work for 20% of the results . She should have just hired my samurais.<br><br>Some musicians learn through repetition. That’s ok. But that’s just cramming for a test, really…. And sometimes, shit goes wrong. What you studied isn’t the reality of the moment.<br><br>But if you understand the order underneath the facts, you’ll be fine if the next gig is a pop quiz.<br><br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39246542015-11-13T11:33:05-05:002022-03-09T01:36:30-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(11/13/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/422bf1ec67dfb8066ddb696c633a75e689f01506/original/rofo-sa-aug22-60.jpg?1447432786" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>CAPTAIN COMMA</strong><br> <br>I think it would be cool if there were a superhero for musicians. A man to call on in our darkest hour. A man who could save us when the label drops our band or the club decides to cancel our gig last minute. A man to help pay the bills when business gets slow.<br><br>So, ok, let’s say this guy exists. Answer this question: What would be the symbol on his chest? Would it be a Treble Clef? Or maybe a bitchin’ Stratocaster? Or maybe a big Zildjian gong?<br><br>I know what I’d put on his chest. If it were up to me, it would be a comma (,).<br><br>The comma implies the word “and”. The comma means diversification. The comma is the worshiped symbol of the Jack Of All Trades. The comma is the symbol of the Renaissance man. A melting pot is full of commas. The comma can be a wing, an oar, or a sword ……. Depending on the day. It doesn’t matter if you are falling, drowning, or under attack. The comma will be the thing that saves your ass.<br><br>The comma means versatility and adaptability.<br><br>The more commas next to your name, the harder it is for the forces of evil to take you down.<br><br>Back in the day it was more about specialization. Singers sang the songs that other songwriters wrote and record label guys peddled these recordings to radio stations who in turn exposed consumers to it. Then the consumers went to a store and bought it from a guy who specialized in selling music. There were exceptions, but by and large the singer didn’t know much about the food chain after the singing was done.<br><br>Basically the same model as the entire Industrial Revolution. Break a task down in to small steps with each person completing his task over and over. In a lot of cases, Thing 1 didn’t have a clue what Thing 2 was doing in the next room. He didn’t care either.<br><br>But there was a difference between the music business and other industries using this model. In music, Thing 1 and Thing 2 got pretty damn famous. But they weren’t getting paid accordingly.<br><br>And they are still making movies about those stories.<br><br>Cut to Music Business 2015….. That model just doesn’t fly anymore. If all you can do is play, you are going to be spending a lot of time at home. As Captain Comma would tell you, it’s not about doing one thing now. The music business now is more like “The Musician Business”. The focus has gone from being a retail business to being a service business. In other words, it’s not just about selling a piece of plastic. It’s about using your talents. In as many ways as you can think of.<br><br>The ability to think of new ways to use your talent is a talent too.<br><br>And you need to write up the blueprints yourself. Yea, artist development needs to be another comma next to your name.<br><br>You need to be able to play, write, record, produce, perform, promote, design, teach, etc, etc……. The more commas, the better.<br>So as the need for one of your talents ebbs, the other will flow. You’ve diversified the portfolio of your skills. You will always be busy.<br><br>Over the summer I went to a farm auction. I sat there and watched the auctioneers go through this old farmer’s stuff, one piece at a time. This guy had tractors, tools, spinning wheels, honey spinners, lawn mowers, musical instruments, art, lathes, guns…….. you name it. This old guy could do it all. You know that when a tractor broke down, this guy didn’t call anyone. He fixed it. When he was hungry he didn’t call Dominoes. He went down in the cellar and pulled out a few jars of whatever that he had canned from his garden. A real Renaissance man.<br><br>If he were a working musician, I suspect this dude would have done just fine if he were out there trying to get gigs.<br><br>So, I think the power of the comma is pretty apparent by now. Versatility and diversification is the key.<br><br>But wait, there’s more…………<br><br>It isn’t just about itemizing your many talents. One talent doesn’t end where the other begins. They blend together and add a richness to what you do.<br><br>For example, if you are a guitarist try and put some time into learning how to properly play the bass. Not only will you work more, but you will learn a thing or two to bring back to your guitar playing. You’ll be playing on the other side of the beat. And that will require an adjustment in thinking. Those adjustments will affect how you play your main instrument in unexpected ways.<br><br>I have heard that the bassist Stanley Clarke spent a lot of time learning orchestral bassoon parts to push his playing in new ways. When someone asked Carlos Santana for his influences, he listed almost no guitar players. Almost all horn players.<br><br>Also, and perhaps most importantly, the comma also creeps into your art from non-musical sources. How many times have you read or watched a biography on someone, learned how they came up with whatever they were famous for, and found yourself saying “Of course, why didn’t I think of that?”<br><br>Probably you loved that’s person’s work without having any idea where it actually came from. Like loving the lyrics to a tune only to find that what you thought it was about was way off. Then once you know, it’s obvious. It’s right there in front of your face. This guy had a comma you didn’t know about.<br><br>Late in his life the painter Claude Monet developed cataracts. The paintings done while the cataracts affected his vision have a general reddish tone, which is characteristic of the vision of cataract victims. Perhaps the general public thought the red hue was an artistic statement. Really he was just painting what he saw.<br><br>The actor Anthony Hopkins is known to give his characters a trait that never appears in the film he is working on. For example, maybe his character is an Army vet that has PTSD. But it’s never formally covered in the film. But that trait will “inform” his performance in unexpected ways. Thus adding depth to the character.<br><br>In a musical context, say a drummer is playing on a session for a singer songwriter. But this drummer came from the South and cut his teeth playing drums in the church and in local soul groups. So when he does the session, there’s going to be a hint of Southern gospel and soul music in there. Although there wasn’t a trace of that when the songwriter sang the tune by himself.<br><br>This will be picked up subconsciously by the listener. The drummer was a good player. But he was also a Southerner, a Christian, and a lover of soul music. Those are his commas. It’s not just about the notes. These intangibles can be the difference between “like” and “love.”<br><br>A good producer can recognize these things and take full advantage of them.<br><br>The producer <a contents="Daniel Lanois" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lanois">Daniel Lanois</a> produced Bob Dylan’s “<a contents="Time Out Of Mind" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Out_of_Mind">Time Out Of Mind</a>” record. He started the recordings by getting together with a drummer and jamming to a bunch of old records that Bob had recommended. Daniel and the drummer would put on a record and play along……grooving along to the songs, adding their own bits, etc. All the while recording the whole thing. Then they would take away the original recording, leaving only the jamming. THEN they would cut up the best pieces of the jams into loops.<br><br>But the loops weren’t typically used in the songs. They were used as the “click tracks.” i.e. The band would listen to these loops as a tempo and groove reference while they played the actual songs.<br><br>So, the old song informed the jam that informed the loops that informed the playing that appeared on the actual recording. But neither the original song nor the jam was heard in the final product. Probably a lot of the players on the session had never even heard of the original songs they were jamming to. But the influence was felt.<br><br>A musical family tree.<br><br>Years ago when I was on tour in Washington D.C. my mother gave me a phone number to a relative of mine that lived in the area. She was my great aunt. To tell the truth, I didn’t even remember meeting her when I was small….. if I ever did. Anyway, this was my grandmother’s sister so I called her up and started talking. Within seconds I realized we had the same speech patterns and tone to our voices. We even had the same sense of humor. It was the first time I had ever talked to her. Something way back in time had informed us both. The family resemblance was obvious even over the phone.<br><br>Look at it this way. Your heritage is more than just genetics. Probably you have more in common with your ancestors than you think……… if you could only stand in the same room with them and realize it.<br><br>As far as how this applies to music, an “Irish, Polish, Native American, guitarist, mandolinist, singer, songwriter, producer, athlete, husband, father” sounds a lot more interesting than “guitar player.”<br><br>Don’t be afraid to use all of these things in your music.<br><br>Where you come from might be very different than where you end up. But the beginning is a big part of the end. That holds true for every step along the way, too.<br><br>So whether it be a personal trait or a musical skill, gather as many commas around you as you can. And don’t lose them.<br><br>You never know when you might have to pull a few of them out of a drawer to save the world.<br><br><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/6674772015-11-06T11:44:46-05:002017-01-15T19:19:02-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(11/6/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/c0e85065b0ade5fc817c31671167b719c45a5542/original/bret1.jpg?1446992221" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>THE STORYTELLER IS THE STORY </strong><br><br>Everyone has heard the saying “Don’t shoot the messenger.” I.e. Don’t get pissed at me for delivering bad news, I’m just telling the story.<br><br>Today I want to talk about stories. As simple as it is to see, I don’t think most people appreciate the awesome power of a compelling story. Everything has a story. The storyteller himself…..yea, he has a story too.<br><br>As creative people I believe more often than not we find ourselves so engrossed with the details of creating that we forget whether or not our work has a good story to it. Is this something someone is going to relate to? Has it been said a million times before? Is this a sound that has been heard a million times before? If it has been said and heard before what am I bringing to the table that would make someone want to listen again?<br><br>If you can’t answer any of those questions, you still have work to do.<br><br>I think the most important story of all is the storyteller himself. If you don’t trust the messenger, the story will be shot down before you even hear it. For example, Johnny Depp has a story. If you trust him and he’s in a movie, chances are good you will watch the film. You may have no interest at all in gangsters or pirates or Willy Wonka. But you trust him. So you’ll check it out. If the same movie had, say, Keanu Reeves in it……. Well, if you don’t trust him it doesn’t matter how great the tale is. You are going to be predisposed not to like it.<br><br>I hear musicians talk all the time about other bands. This guy sucks and blah, blah, blah. Truth is, there are a lot of perfectly capable musicians out there. There are thousands of perfectly good songs too. There are many, many guys with great equipment who know how to use it. Thousands and thousands of guys who look great, can rip a badass solo, and hold down a gig.<br><br>I hate to say it, but in popular music (rock, pop, country, hip hop, etc) there is such a thing as “good enough.” Good and capable are boring. There’s lots of that working in every cubicle across America. You may be 4 times as talented as the dude you hear on the radio every morning. But the difference is this: That guy has a story and you don’t.<br><br>It’s not just about money either. Awareness is like the wind. You can make the wind blow your way with money. Lots of people will float by as a result. But if the story you are telling doesn’t connect, they will be gone with the next breeze. They won’t be back.<br><br>There have been times I have hopped on the computer to check my email and 3 hours later found myself watching a video about baby elephants being born. The internet breeze just blew me around for a while. But I don’t get up and go to the same place the next day.<br><br>The next day I get up and go to the places and people I trust.<br><br>If you ever watch that show “Shark Tank” you always hear those guys saying “What is proprietary about this?” In other words, what is there about this idea that I can’t steal, make cheaper, and put you out of business tomorrow? Perhaps to some that sounds harsh. I don’t think it is. If you are going to put yourself out there, it’s the first question you should ask.<br><br>Because your best ideas cannot be stolen. They require you to tell the story.<br><br>There is a scene in <em>Walk The Line </em>where the producer Sam Phillips is auditioning a young Johnny Cash. Here’s the dialog:<br><br><em>“If you was hit by a truck and you was lying out there in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing one song. Huh? One song that people would remember before you're dirt. One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up. You tellin' me that's the song you'd sing? That same Jimmy Davis tune we hear on the radio all day, about your peace within, and how it's real, and how you're gonna shout it? Or... would you sing somethin' different. Somethin' real. Somethin' you felt. Cause I'm telling you right now, that's the kind of song people want to hear. That's the kind of song that truly saves people. It ain't got nothin to do with believin' in God, Mr. Cash. It has to do with believin' in yourself.”</em><br><br>Pretty much sums it up right there.<br><br>Everybody has a story worth telling. It’s not the lack of a tale to tell. It’s the lack recognizing that the story is even there.<br><br>As an artist friend of mine once told me, “ I don’t teach people how to draw. I teach them how to see.”<br><br>Many years ago I spent an afternoon with a Native American herbalist. I guess you would call him a medicine man. He took us for a walk down a nondescript country lane. Every 4 feet or so he would stop, point out a plant, and go on for 15 minutes about its history and it’s medicinal and nutritional uses. He made the landscape come alive for me that day. The woods have never looked the same since.<br><br>But we walk on the same paths every day. Looking down at our phones bored out of our skulls.<br><br>Every city and town has its notable people and their stories. That is what gives that place its character. At some point one guy made up his mind to do something. And it grew from there.<br><br>"<em>All</em> <em>institutions</em> <em>are a</em> <em>walking embodiment of one man.</em>" Henry David Thoreau<br><br>Individuals create the stories and stories change the world. The stories of a place are its true currency. A city may fall into complete decline only to be revived by a new story being told. The story was always there waiting for the right person to tell it. The right person delivers the message and it spreads all on its own.<br><br>The city didn’t change, the messenger did.<br><br>So always look at yourself and your music as a story that is being told over and over. Intelligence, wealth, ability……. All these have the power to impress. But only a great story holds the power to inspire.<br><br>And the more you can inspire, the more difference you can make.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39062482015-10-30T12:11:12-04:002017-01-15T19:19:03-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(10/30/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/8e0b03227026ba242721b84502202ec66b99ea09/original/952376-orig.jpg?1380728002" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>ZEALOTS, PRESERVATIONISTS, AND FUTURISTS</strong><br><br>Lately I’ve been getting sucked into a show called “Barnwood Builders”. These guys find old, run down barns and cabins and take them apart. They then catalog the raw materials and use them to build new homes. It’s a cool show to watch. These guys are crazy passionate about what they do.<br><br>Basically, they are preserving history by destroying it. Or disassembling it. Or reassembling it. Depends on your outlook.<br><br>As I see it, the people who own these old barns have a few choices. Either: 1) Leave the barn as it is and lament a time passed. It will eventually decay and fall down with few people caring or 2) Restore the barn where it stands. Basically preserving history in place. This has merit but you are limited by how many people might be interested in checking out that history exactly how and where it happened. Or 3) Tear the barn down and create something new that can be enjoyed for many generations to come.<br><br>But this is a music blog…… why are we talking about old barns?<br><br> Read on.<br><br>I co-host an open jam every Wednesday at a place called Tony’s Wine Cellar. My co-host Eddie Appnel and I came up through the Northeast PA music scene together in the 1990’s. We have a lot of mutual respect for each other as songwriters and our respective bands have played many shows together over the years. But this open jam is our first foray into gigging in the same “group.”<br><br>The thing that is great about open jams is the cross section of people you meet. Professional musicians mix with the semi-pro and amateurs every week. It’s real loose. Pro guys can try out new material. Someone who has never sang before in public can get up and do a tune without judgement.<br><br>Everybody gets a shot…. Well, everyone we can fit in in 3 hours.<br><br>It’s very organic, but what I hope is happening is that some of the younger crowd is getting a little taste of how the older guys do their thing. …. AND some of the older players are being introduced to a few fresh approaches, styles, and songs that they wouldn’t normally be exposed to.<br><br>It’s been a really fun and successful experiment.<br><br>But, all the chaos aside, I have noticed that the musicians fall into basically 3 categories:<br><br>Zealots, Preservationists, and Futurists.<br><br>First off, the zealots. Thankfully, this is the smallest group. They would probably call themselves “purists”. But I like zealot. To the zealot, music is a religion. Their religion might be The Beatles or 80s hair metal or old school country. Whatever it is, the zealot sees the rules as having already been written long ago. Righteous music is a static thing that has already been chiseled into stone tablets by (<strong><em>insert favorite rock god here</em></strong>). From that vantage point they decide whether or not what you are doing has the right to exist…….or not.<br><br>For example, an 80’s hair metal zealot may demand that you have a front man with a hairy chest, leather pants, and bunch of chains. He needs to hit crazy high notes, drink Jack Daniels and swear a lot. Then…….. verily, verily, thou art badass.<br><br>Now I think that Robert Smith of The Cure and Elvis Costello are both badass. But I doubt either stuffs a sock down their pants. The hair zealot and I may have words if I push the issue.<br><br>Secondly, the preservationists. This group is related to the zealots, but they are a lot less opinionated and typically have a much more positive attitude. Preservationists’ favorite saying is “That’s not how it goes”. Preservationists are the guys in hard working cover and tribute bands that will go home and learn other people’s songs note for note. They will sit at home for hours trying to duplicate the mistake that Jerry Garcia made in the first solo of “Truckin’” that is on some bootleg from 1981.<br><br>They are museums that sing and play.<br><br>Certainly I admire the diligence of this group. And the market for this ascetic is huge. Their first commandment is “Thou Shalt Not Mess With Greatness.” There is no separation between the song and the original recording. Reworking a classic song makes them twitch. Music is to be duplicated, not interpreted.<br><br>Lastly, the futurists. The futurists are the most open. They rework the classics. They jam and invent. They draw from the old and create the new. They evolve. There are no sacred cows. They are defined only by taste and a desire to invent with whatever crosses their path.<br><br>I may have painted these groups to be more adversarial than they really are. Everyone usually mixes pretty well in a social setting. But underneath it all, these philosophies loom large.<br><br>Get the barn analogy now?<br><br>What I like to see is the intermingle. A jamming futurist can benefit from listening to why the zealot is so damn hard core about his thing. A person that only writes his own material can learn a thing or two from the attention to detail of the preservationist. The preservationist can take a step back and realize that the people who made the music he is preserving were/are probably futurists.<br><br>It all works.<br><br>Some old bakeries use starter dough from the previous batch dating back 100 years or more. One batch starts the next year after year. You always start with what came before you. The gene pool lives on this way. Such is the way with music too.<br><br>You can buy heirloom seeds dating back to colonial times.<br><br>Related but not the same.<br><br>In some ways, I’m a little bit of all three categories. I’m old school but not very nostalgic. I like coffee flavored coffee and straight up bourbon. No need for apples or cinnamon or pumpkin spice in there. Leave it as is.<br><br>But when it comes to creating, I try and be a futurist. There is lots of tradition in what I do but I try and use it in new ways. When I sit down to create something it’s open season. I might use Keith Richards, a book on economics, and even a TV show about tearing down old barns all at the same time. It’s all been done before and it’s all being done again. Everybody’s talking about the same thing anyway. Just in a different language and from a different perspective.<br><br>Game on. I'll cast my lot with the futurists.<br><br>The house I live in has a long history and I don’t even know all of it. I wasn’t here first. I just decorate the rooms and fill them with love.<br> <br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39041242015-10-23T12:39:42-04:002021-03-04T03:41:53-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(10/23/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/3970f6445055c75a3abda9bbac9e6bf0acbabca1/original/rofo-sa-aug22-38.jpg?1447125741" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>THE OBVIOUS THIEF</strong><br> <br>Last Saturday I went to see Chris Cornell at The Kirby Center in Wilkes Barre,PA. He is touring on his latest solo release “Higher Truth”. Mr. Cornell treated a sold out crowd to a master class in singing, songwriting, and performance. But an offhand story he told in the middle of the show is the inspiration of today’s blog.<br><br>About halfway through the gig he told a story about Johnny Cash. At one point Chris had written a song for Johnny that everyone (producers, labels, etc.) was excited about. There was only one problem: Johnny didn’t want to do the song.<br><br>His reason? Johnny said he didn’t want to record any song that everyone couldn’t sing.<br><br>Now Chris Cornell has written piles of great, memorable songs. But I guess his vocal prowess on this particular tune was too much for JC.<br><br><em>He didn’t want to record a song that everyone couldn’t sing</em>. In all my years of playing, recording, and writing songs I have NEVER heard anyone say that. Let alone someone of the stature of Johnny Cash. <br><br>And you know what? The man in black had a point.<br><br>Now, I love to hear a singer or musician with crazy good chops. You’ll never hear me put that down. But there is a time and a place for virtuosity to take center stage and there is a time to just sit back, serve the song, and do the obvious, tried and true thing……. Why? Because it works.<br><br>When I was interning at my first studio gig I was sitting in the control room with one of the engineer/producers. He was working with a band that was laying down overdub after overdub onto a basic pop track. The engineer looked at me, rolled his eyes in disgust and said “They think they are inventing something.”<br><br>That was my first lesson in the old adage of KISS: “Keep It Simple Stupid.”<br><br>I wish I had a dollar for every time I asked an artist to describe their music and they said “Oh, it’s indescribable.” I’m not sure I want to listen to a band that plays music that doesn’t even make sense to them.<br><br>As musicians, I think one of the hardest things to do is embrace the obvious. As I see it, there are three main reasons for this:<ol> <li>You don’t trust a simple idea. It can’t be that easy.</li> <li>You want to impress your musician friends with your awesomeness.</li> <li>You think the idea sounds like something someone else has done.</li>
</ol>The first of these is simple to explain. Some poor souls just don’t trust anything that isn’t painful to create. I’m all about working hard at your craft, but I believe it is bad mojo to mess with a freebie. Every once in a while the universe throws you one underhand. This is no time to try batting left handed. Hit it out of the park and say thank you very much.<br><br>Paul McCartney dreamed “Yesterday”. Willie Nelson wrote “On The Road Again” in like 20 minutes. A first year guitar student could play both those songs no problem. But Sir Paul and Willie didn’t turn those songs into prog rock opuses because it was “just too easy.” The ideas were floating around out there, they grabbed them and wrote them down. Song finished. And the rest is history.<br><br>There are many, many examples of this.<br><br>The second reason is kind of a corollary of the first. The simple idea is just too, um, simple. A guitarist I’ve known for years once told me he couldn’t stand to play below his ability. Needless to say, this guy didn’t finish too many projects. And the ones he did confused the hell out of me.<br><br>Musicians can be pretty snobby in this regard. A lot of “indie” musicians especially. There are many great indie bands out there, but some of those guys have more rules on what is and is not “indie” than any other musical genre. Isn’t that the antithesis of independence?<br><br>I personally think it takes courage to leave a song as it is. To just put it out there the way it was when you connected with it. Neil Young does this consistently, I have read. I always loved the fact that The Replacements would release these real pretty ballads from time to time. I mean that was a punk band right? A good tune is a good tune and Paul Westerberg had the balls to be a sap every once in a while. Tom Waits is the same way. A super talented, innovative writer…….all over the map stylistically. But nobody writes a simple love song quite like Tom. Thankfully he has the courage to share those tunes with us.<br><br>I think it’s important to ask yourself sometimes why you are changing a perfectly good idea. I think your heart should know the difference between an average idea that needs work and a great idea that is so simple you have trouble believing in it. Sometimes a gift is a gift. Trust it as is.<br><br>The last reason is the most controversial: You change a song because it sounds like something else. For this I am going to quote the old chestnut “Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.”<br><br>I’m not advocating plagiarism. But I do believe that many ideas just have the same DNA. And when you are out there fishing, ultimately it is highly likely you are going to catch something that is from the same family as something that has been caught before.<br><br>There’s nothing wrong with that, but here’s what happens: You write a tune and play it for your band. The guitarist notices that it is the same chords as some other tune and he immediately starts playing the other tune and joking about what you just ripped off. Then you either trashcan the idea or you camouflage it so it no longer sounds like whatever. In the process, the original charm of the idea is gone. Now you have an intellectual exercise that makes your guitarist scratch his chin with glee. But the dude on his way to work in the morning promptly skips that track every time it comes on. The connectivity of the idea is gone.<br><br>The Beatles stole. Led Zeppelin stole. Charlie Parker stole. Johnny Cash stole.<br><br>For example, check out the first verse to “Crescent City Blues”:<br><br>“I hear the train a-comin, it's rolling 'round the bend<br>And I ain't been kissed lord since I don't know when”<br><br>Sound familiar?<br><br>Other documented cases of thievery:<br><br>The Police riff in “Message In A Bottle” was based on the riff in “Don’t Fear The Reaper”<br><br>Nirvana riff in “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is very much like the intro of Boston’s “More Than A Feeling”. Cobain himself noticed that.<br><br>Bruce Springsteen’s hook in “Badlands” is the same hook as the riff in The Animals “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”…..just changed from minor to major and sped up.<br><br>Obvious thieves.<br><br>I look at it this way. Popular old recipes become popular old recipes for a reason. Because they are delicious. They connect. Cliches become clichés because there is a grain of truth in them. Songs and riffs become iconic because they touch a primal nerve. If it’s based on something someone else has done, whether inadvertent or otherwise, so be it. The guy you got it from probably lifted it from someone too. You are just adding your two cents and driving the idea farther down the road. Musical chain mail.<br><br>It’s always impressive to see someone break new ground and do something that hasn’t been done before. But in most cases even a genius is just combining a few known elements together that no one ever thought to combine. People understand new ideas by way of analogy. “It’s sort of like this meets this.” If they can’t make an analogy, most people think your ideas are just weird or you are clinically insane.<br><br>So be careful when editing the simple. There is a fine line between clever and stupid. As a wise man once said.<br><br>Be brave enough to trust the obvious. Flashier and more is not always better. The local auto dealer might put a Corvette in the window. That might get people in the store, but once they are in the majority will buy a sedan, minivan, pickup truck, or SUV.<br><br>Once again: Why?<br><br>Because it works for their lives.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/39002742015-10-16T11:22:24-04:002021-12-19T23:52:20-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(10/16/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/0186b8006937fa4cf3cd6881b321b697066d801b/original/964820-orig.jpg?1380728016" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>THE LANGUAGE OF THE NATIVES</strong><br><br>I called my blog “The Real Gig” in honor of an interview I read in Mix Magazine. It was an interview with legendary engineer/producer/equipment designer George Massenburg. I almost stood up and applauded after I read it.<br><br>A lot of you probably have never heard of him but in the recording community no one doubts George knows his shit.<br><br>He was criticizing recording schools and music programs in general. At one point he said (paraphrasing here) “We have to let kids know what the real gig is.” In other words, all these classes can teach you the technical aspects of being a musician/engineer/producer etc. But this is not a job where you come home at 6PM and forget about it. There is much more to it than that.<br><br>It is a culture, a social skill, and a lifestyle. And we are standing on the shoulders of giants here. You have to know the history of those who came before you. You have to have respect for that. And you have to develop yourself professionally AND personally so you can fit in and contribute to the various subcultures the music business has to offer.<br><br>You have to speak the language of the natives.<br><br>There are rules and rites of passage. Many other jobs are like this, of course.<br><br>To quote George: “Couple of things would help. Get a real education. Learn accounting—how to read a profit-and-loss statement and a balance sheet. Get a real career—work in a hospital emergency room between sessions. Learn graphic arts, shooting and editing video. Oh yeah, would you please learn how to write? And, at all costs, avoid thinking about getting rich. When the time is right, be ready to tell a REAL story, not just some regressive, simplistic, emo drivel about the bad hand that’s been dealt you at the hands of the powers of the universe.<br><br>Then learn to listen. It’s almost a lost art. And I mean critical listening to real musicians in a real space. But I also mean listen for subtlety, for nuance. Listen to how producers interact with musicians, how musicians interact with each other, how engineers can make a big difference capturing real performances. Maybe also learning how with a subtle placement of a microphone you won’t have to use a plug-in. Then, listen for the story in the song. That’s why we’re here.”<br><br>Bravo.<br><br>A lawyer friend of mine once said that the reason so few young musicians have any real success is quite simple: In order to succeed they have to become the very thing they are trying to avoid.<br><br>Accountable, hard working, disciplined, etc. It’s easy to predict.<br><br>When I was a kid, I wanted to be in a band so I could stick it to The Man. My father worked a job he hated and I wanted to break that circle at all costs.<br><br>What I didn’t know was The Man owns the music business too. That changed things for me.<br><br>So anyway, I want to talk a bit about the various cultures within this job and the intangibles you need to navigate it all. No matter what kind of music you play or what your focus is, you are going to have to mix with a melting pot of personalities. All with their own likes, dislikes, and codes of honor. Navigating all of this has nothing to do with ripping a great guitar solo or getting a nice snare sound.<br><br>All of these intangibles are part of “the real gig”.<br><br>For example, if you are working in a studio with a heavy modern rock band chances are good that this is going to happen: You are probably gonna record some drums, put them on a grid in Pro Tools, combine several takes then edit the shit out of them so they are perfectly in time. Then you’ll strap drum samples over all of that. You’ll record each guitar part over and over……. and over, get multiple stacks of guitars then edit the shit out of those. Then the singer will do a bunch of takes, you’ll comp the best parts together, then tune the shit out of that composite. Then you’ll send the whole mess to a remix engineer who will repeat the whole process again.<br><br>The band has grown up listening to groups that do this kind of thing. So they will demand the same process.<br><br>However, if you do that same process to an Americana band, you will make them all throw up in their mouths. You’ll be fired before you can replace your first rack tom. They will want an earthy, natural approach.<br><br>Likewise, the au naturale approach of the Americana group is going to make the hip hop group coming in that afternoon throw up in their collective mouths.<br><br>So you are going to have to be multilingual. You have to speak the language of the people you are working with…….. whether live or in the studio.<br><br>How many bluegrass musicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? 5. One to screw it in and 4 to bitch about it being electric.<br><br>Keep that in mind next time you want to bring your BC Rich Warlock to a bluegrass audition.<br><br>There are a million examples of this. But you can only learn this stuff by hanging out with real players. You learn what gear they use and why. You learn what they like to hear in their monitors when they are playing and what effect that has on the music. You see how they interact with the crew and their fellow players. You learn which guys are respected and why. Which guys are considered pompous pains in the ass. Which guys know their stuff and which guys are just there.<br><br>A singer songwriter judges a good song in terms of a great lyric and a great melody. A metal guy judges things in terms of energy, volume, and oftentimes technical prowess. A punk guy listens for attitude and doesn’t give a damn about the technical. And all points in between. Everybody is different.<br><br>You can pick a lot of this up on the internet. But there is no substitute for being there.<br><br>In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes 10,000 hours to master something. Reading about it doesn’t count. Hands on.<br><br>I had four years of French in high school. I learned more about the French language after one week in Paris than I learned in all four of those years at school. It’s a whole different ball game when you are trying to order breakfast instead of just memorizing something for a test.<br><br>Any music scene is like a small town. Everybody knows everybody else. But everybody is not the same. The more people you can mix easily with the busier you will be.<br><br>This also crosses over into personal issues. There are codes of honor just like in any other business. If someone gives you a gig, return the favor every once in a while. If a buddy’s car breaks down, go get him for the show and don’t bitch. All these things add up and make you feel good too. It pays off many times over.<br><br>Now, I’m not saying be a yes man running around doing good deeds for everybody. There’s nothing more annoying than someone who is always nice. It’s needy behavior really. There is a difference.<br><br>Guys like Johnny Cash, Keith Richards, Frank Zappa, and Neil Young all have broad appeal across genres and cultures. Besides their great musical contributions, they are known for being uncompromising. They stick(stuck) to their views. They were their own men. In the process they have been admired by many musicians that probably wouldn’t have listened to their genre otherwise. The man sold the music to the non-believers.<br><br>Lastly, one more point on social skills in the music business. There are fewer sayings I hate to hear a musician say more than “It’s business. Not personal.” Now, there are lots of difficult decisions to be made in a music career but I think that saying is a complete cop out. That saying never made anyone feel better who landed on the short end of the stick.<br><br>So, as another skill that will help you have a long and lasting career with your music…..try and find a better way to make difficult decisions than saying that. Your fellow players will appreciate it, even if they don’t agree with your decision.<br><br>To quote Mark H. McCormack, author of “What They Didn’t Teach You In Harvard Business School”:<br>“The truth is, everything is personal. All things being equal in business, people won’t shaft you if they personally like you. In fact, they’ll go out of their way to help a friend even when all things are less than equal. Likewise, they won’t hesitate to decide against you if there is no personal connection.<br>This phrase is not a lie so much as a contradiction. If it’s “business” it only means that there was nothing significantly personal between you in the first place.”<br><br>Good words to keep in mind.<br><br>Well, I hope some of these ramblings have made sense. I jump around a lot! To sum up, there is no substitute for being there. Being there is the difference between knowing and understanding. And if you understand something you can find your place within it and prosper.<br><br>You can become part of the collective wisdom that keeps all this wonderfully diverse music playing and growing.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/38902682015-10-09T10:32:42-04:002021-06-26T01:58:01-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(10/9/2015)<strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/49003/f52e9ad2244be43eb998dd51100fdc06fffbc723/original/hondo.jpg?1420733308" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>THE OTHER VOICE</strong><br> <br>Don’t call it a comeback…I’m finally getting back to restarting this blog. Been a while, so let’s get on it.<br><br>First off, a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Steamtown Music Awards and The Electric City Music Conference. It was a great night of reconnecting with old friends. Thanks so much to all involved.<br><br>During the week leading up to the awards, I sat down a few times and tried to write up a speech of sorts. In typical fashion, once I got up there I just mumbled a handful of thank yous and left. I was having too much fun and so was everyone else. Not the best venue to pontificate.<br>That being said, I figured for my first blog back I would lay out some of the thoughts I had written down. I’m a better writer than orator, so it’s probably for the best anyway….<br><br>So, back in the saddle again. Here goes:<br><br>I’ve been a vocational musician for almost 30 years. I’ve played in bar bands, had record deals, worked at and ran recording studios, wrote hundreds of songs, produced a ton of my own projects, and engineered and produced the projects of countless others.<br>This is an incredibly difficult business to make any sort of sustainable living at for that long, so inevitably people ask me what advice I would have for anyone who wants to do the same.<br><br>Opinions are certainly like assholes, but I’ll give you my take on that. Do with it what you will.<br><br>I’ll start by laying out one of my favorite quotes ever made by a musician.<br><br>BB King: “ Being in the music business is like being in a horse race. Every once in while, someone notices you are running. But you’ve been running the whole time.”<br>Now B.B. did his first gig before almost all of us were born. He did his last gig at the age of 89. I believe that makes him an expert witness on the subject. I’ve used that quote several times before, but it always bears repeating.<br><br>To rephrase B.B.’s quote another way, I’d say “No matter what, keep working. Because some things are just out of your control.”<br><br>I remember being 24 years old and thinking that if I didn’t have a record deal by the time I was 28…..well then I was going to have to quit playing. That’s laughable to me now, but it was a very real concern at the time.<br><br>Truth is…. if you suck, you’re lazy, and you’re delusional, then most likely you are not going to see the success you want. If you are talented, disciplined, and intelligent…. You might STILL never see the success you envision. If you DO get to your goal, I guarantee you it is going to take a lot longer than you want it to…. And that place is going to look nothing like what you had in your head.<br><br>American Idol, America’s Got Talent, etc, etc, . They are selling you a unicorn. It just doesn’t happen that way otherwise. I’m more interested in what the loser unicorns do when they go home to their respective pastures and look at their empty calendars. Now that is a show I would find inspiring.<br><br>Personally, I would rather watch Cinderella Man than The Kardashians.<br><br>Anyway, so what do you do? While you are running, you are just going to have to find your peace in some other way.<br><br>You can’t control IF someone is going to like what you do. You can’t control WHY they like it….. if they do. You can’t control if your fellow musicians and bandmates will share your vision for the music you are making . (*Unless you have a shit ton of money, then it’s pretty easy to get musicians to miraculously agree with anything. Yea, they are a courageous bunch at times.)<br><br>You can buy your way up a radio chart and put yourself in the public eye. But still, this is no guarantee of success (I learned this one from watching major labels operate).<br><br>So where does this leave the hero of this story? I think his only recourse is to spend all his(or her) energies “finding his voice”. You always hear great artists talk about that. I’m not talking about singing. By “finding his voice” I mean his point of view, his signature, his way of playing that will be recognizable in 10 seconds to the guy surfing around a radio dial. His special way of saying things that make someone turn to his music when they need to feel better. His vibe that will make his fans argue vehemently that he is more badass that the drivel that everyone else listens to.<br><br>His verse in his key in the big ole song of life.<br><br>Stevie Wonder knew what the hell he was talking about.<br><br>Masters of branding say that if you can’t describe your product in a sentence or two, you are screwed. I believe music is the same way. I’m not talking about making millions of dollars….. I’m talking about making a connection with someone. It’s got to be focused to connect. Some musicians just want to cram too much shit together in the name of being creative. Or in the name of democracy.<br><br>The best artists make good records and bad records. That’s inevitable. They push forward and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But their voice remains the same.<br><br>My wife and I have a saying in our house, “Shitty Metallica is better than no Metallica”. Basically, a lesser version of something awesome is better than not having it at all.<br><br>Suck is preferable to starvation.<br><br>If your “voice” is honest and righteous, your fans will give you that leeway.<br> <br>You’ve heard the saying “Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves”. I’d rephrase that to “Take care of the little things because the big things aren’t up to you”.<br><br>I don’t mean that to sound pessimistic. I believe in cause and effect first….. and luck second.<br><br>But truth is sometimes all you can do is work as hard as you can and hang on.<br><br>Take care of the little things. Groove, timing, tuning, emotion, arrangement. Question your good songs and finish your bad ones anyway. Play shitty gigs as well as the fun ones. Play to people who care and to people who don’t.<br><br>Test things out. Eventually you will hit on something that works for you. Your batting average will go up. You will be able to throw less punches with more impact. This is a subtlety that is lost on most people. But eventually you will start to hone in on “your voice”. Then everything you create will come from that center.<br><br>At that point, it won’t matter whether you are playing a sports bar or a stadium. The philosophy will be the same. It will be automatic. You have learned to the point of forgetting.<br><br>Like driving down a highway 100 miles and never noticing the lines on the road. You never acknowledge them consciously, but they are always there keeping you on track.<br><br>Your brain has learned to the point of forgetting.<br><br>It’s not an easy trip, but finding that voice is your Holy Grail. You are going to lose sleep. You are going to go broke. You are going to be called a fraud. You are going to leave friends behind. But it’s worth it. It’s your membership card. It doesn’t matter what level of success you are at. Any decent artist worth his salt will recognize you are in the club.<br><br>How many people ever read a book because of the author's amazing command of the English language? Not many. It's not about technical prowess. They want to feel something. When I am feeling down, I listen to Van Morrison or maybe Death Cab For Cutie. When will people turn to your work? If you aren't feeling it they won't either. If you aren't willing to give it up they won't take it.<br><br>People say, “Play from the heart” or “write from the heart”. Well, the heart has some shitty social skills. It has a tough time explaining itself. Your voice is the translator. It will make the connection with the people out there that can’t explain themselves either. And they will love your music for it.<br><br>Your voice will reward you in ways you can’t imagine.<br><br>And every once in a while, someone will notice as you run by.<br> <br>Till next time…<br>Bret<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/10354322013-06-28T08:22:42-04:002021-06-26T08:03:59-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(6/28/13)<b><br>
The Wisdom Of Nonsense</b><br><br>
Gonna be another short blog today. I have a song to finish tracking this morning, a session this afternoon, and a gig tonight. It’s an action packed day for sure. <br><br>
I sat down here a few minutes ago without an idea. For some reason, one of my grandmother’s favorite sayings (at least to me) came to mind. <br>
She always said: “Do SOMETHING, even if it is wrong.” <br><br>
I wrote about this mindset a few weeks ago as well. It’s sort of a corollary to the old adage, “ The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Wise advice. Whether it be business decisions or the songs that you write, every musician needs to keep this little piece of wisdom in mind.<br><br>
In the movie Midnight Express the main character is sent to a prison ward for the insane. There he engages in the daily activity of walking catatonically around a pillar with the other prisoners. One day, he starts to regain his senses and starts walking in the other direction, pushing his way through the other prisoners just to wake up and “get out”. <br><br>
As a musician, sometimes you have to do the opposite of what you would normally do to go forward. As a technique for growing as an artist, that is certainly not limited to music making. I’ve written songs where I opened a book randomly and pointed at phrases. Then you just string them together in your own words. You would be surprised what you come up with. Collaborating with someone else is also a good way to get out of your usual groove. Write a song in a style you hate. <br><br>
You always hear the phrases, “Go with your gut”, “Follow your heart”, and “Trust your instincts”. These are all good pieces of advice to use when creating something. But it is also true that it is a moth’s instinct to fly into a flame. That never works out well for him. Sometimes apparent nonsense is its own form of wisdom.<br><br>
There is an episode of Seinfeld where George decides that every instinct he ever had was wrong. So whenever he is faced with a decision he does the exact opposite of what he would normally do. And everything starts going right. It’s very funny. Highly recommended.<br><br>
So I guess the moral of this blog is not to be afraid of nonsense. Don’t discount the wisdom of the fool. Your creations (whether they be songs, paintings, or whatever) will be better for it. Your subconscious is already ahead of you right now. Throwing it a curve ball is a good way to get it to turn around. You’ll be surprised what you will learn.<br><br>
If I’ve confused the hell out of you today maybe that is a good thing. As the great David Byrne once said, “Stop Making Sense.” <br><br>
At least for a little while.<br><br>
Then you can go back to walking in the “right” direction.<br><br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/9901562013-06-21T09:54:29-04:002013-06-28T12:06:19-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(6/21/13)<b><br>
Musings From The Tail</b><br><br>
There is a book called “The Long Tail” that I would recommend every musician should read. It’s not about music specifically, but many of the stories included in the book are about the music business. Basically, it’s a book about economics. The premise is that the future of selling is “selling less of more”. Applied to the music business, this means that it is better and more realistic to sell 100 people 10 records than to sell 1000 people 1 record. <br><br>
To clarify further, it is better to feed 100 diehard fans with multiple releases over the next 3 years than it is to try and get 1000 people to buy the 1 release that you took 3 years to make. Either way, you sold 1000 records. But with option A, you now have 10 collections of music and some happy diehard fans. <br><br>
The book puts out the premise that with the democratizing of the production and distribution of music there is infinitely more choice, both in actual music you can consume and in the ways to get it. So with all this choice people are buying less of more. Music doesn’t sell in the numbers it once did, but a bigger variety is being consumed. There is so much more to choose from. Everyone is splintering into thousands of little niches. So your best course of action as a creator is to nurture and take care of the core people who are really passionate about what you do.<br><br>
To paraphrase Russell Simmons, “I am interested in the person who buys my records the day they come out. That is the guy I want to keep happy. Everyone else is just buying a pet rock.”<br><br>
Many of you may remember years ago when Pearl Jam was releasing live CDs of all the dates on their tour. It was a controversial, almost laughable idea at the time. The wisdom was, “Who in the hell wants 12 live versions of ‘Evenflow’?” Of course, the answer was “A shitload of people do.” Pearl Jam understood their fans. Now it is commonplace to be able to find such records of your favorite bands on tour. No one is laughing now.<br><br>
Basically, the book is called The Long Tail because if you look at a graph of what people buy, there is a “head” and a “tail”. At the head are the Justin Bieber’s and Rihanna’s of the world who sold X million downloads, CDs, whatever. In the tail is X million local bands that sold 10 records each. The head is a small group of big sellers. The tail goes on forever. In the grand economic sense, each group sold about the same. So the tail is worth something.<br><br>
Most of us are somewhere in the tail. The far right is the hobbyists and people who just play for fun. The middle is where the vocational, day to day musicians live. That’s where I am.<br><br>
The personal computer and the internet have totally changed the ballgame for the music biz and just about every other business on the face of the planet. It’s very tricky to be in the middle of the tail and survive. For example, I have been producing records for over 20 years. When I started there was a console and an analog tape deck and you had to know how to make good sounds come out of that. Now every Tom, Dick, and Harry has some sort of recording setup with built in sounds that sound pretty darn good. It’s laid out logically. A 10 year old can figure it out. The tools of production have been democratized.<br><br>
It used to be that you had to get a record deal to get into stores so the masses could find your music. That has been democratized too. <br><br>
So you don’t need to buy time at a million dollar studio or sign your life away to a major label to get your music heard. That’s good news, right? Yes, it is. <br><br>
But……………………..with democracy also comes more garbage. Anyone can make a record, so “anyone” does. Many of them suck to the high heavens. Recording tools are cheap so everyone and their brother has a “studio”. Hell, a lot of them make records for free, man. Once again, many suck beyond words. But shitty as they are, they take a toll on the pros who spent their lives learning how to produce, engineer, play and write on a real level.<br><br>
But still, I’m going to say this is a good thing. There is more garbage, but looking at the numbers there is more good stuff out there by opening up the playing field than if you had to go through the same rock and roll boot camp of the 70s, 80s, and 90s.<br><br>
But…………………….I emphasize the word “good”, not “great”. I don’t think all these new tools have created any more “greatness” than 40 years ago. Not by a long shot.<br>
A friend of mine (who worked at a major label) once compared the new music business to the wild, wild, west. Everyone is just homesteading wherever and trying to make a life for themselves. You have to chop down the trees, build your own house, gather your own firewood, and catch your own food. Homesteading.<br>
You have to do everything yourself. And that means booking, teaching lessons, playing shitty gigs for cash, producing, making your own records, working in a music store, etc. etc. You can’t specialize anymore. There are no company men in the world of vocational musicians. No one is going to take care of you just because you show up every day. <br><br>
So that makes me ask the out there question: “How many amazing records would Led Zeppelin have made if they had to spend all day catching fish?” Probably not many.<br><br>
So, in that way, the democratizing of the music biz may be good for the geek down the street who wants to put his new music video about farting on YouTube. But it is going to make for a much tougher road for the next Jimmy Page. Unless he has a rich uncle.<br><br>
So there you have some musings from the tail. So I guess the conclusion would be that all this democratizing is good overall for music and fans of music. There’s more music available to everyone. But it makes it much rougher for guy or girl with real talent and no means who wants to rise above it all.<br><br>
Still, musicians always find a way to survive. It will always be this way. Perhaps we will come up with a better way of doing things. Maybe today’s homestead will be tomorrow’s castle. And the spoiled brats who are our musical grandchildren will inherit the whole mess. Isn’t that the American Way?<br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/9409832013-06-14T07:12:09-04:002013-06-14T12:28:16-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(6/14/13)<b><br>
Are We There Yet?</b><br><br>
I have spent this whole week mixing. It’s the last step in making a record. At least it’s the last step that the band is directly involved in. It can be a pretty draining process. There are lots of opinions to wade through. Lots of doubts and second guessing that goes on. So this week I will talk about “taste”, how to know when something is done, and how to not go too far. It’s tougher than it sounds.<br><br>
The writer Saul Bellow is quoted as saying, “Works of art are never finished, they are abandoned.” This is true. So the real question is when do you walk out the door? And if you are in a group, how do you get everyone going in the same direction so you can finish? The truth is, it’s nasty business. I’d say money and artistic direction are the two most notorious band killers out there. I have always said that there is no better way to break up a band than to have them make a record. The recording process will pull your band’s shortcomings into sharp focus incredibly quickly. <br><br>
If you don’t deal with them you will be disappointed at best. It will keep coming back to haunt you as the years progress. Do deal with them and you may kill each other. Or, at least someone might quit, get fired, or plot revenge against you. It takes a lot of balls to keep caring. Maturity too.<br><br>
Now let’s talk about taste. Everyone has their own taste in music, art, movies, clothes, food, etc. And one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Many, many people love Nickelback. Many, many people love Brad Paisley. Countless others hate them both with a burning passion of a thousand suns. Such is the tyranny of taste.<br><br>
I used to watch those extreme home makeover shows every once in a while. One episode the designer was painting a room with a color he called “mustard”. He was raving about it with every brush stroke. The homeowner walked in for the reveal and started crying because he had painted her walls the color of “baby poop”. There is no accounting for taste. And everyone thinks they are right.<br><br>
Sometimes the artist doesn’t even know if he likes his own work. When Bruce Springsteen heard the test pressing of “Born To Run”, he smashed the record into tiny pieces. Couldn’t stand to listen to it. He thought it was the worst piece of shit he had ever heard. It’s a classic now, of course.<br><br>
So, how do you wade through all of that? If you are a music creator, how do you know when it’s done? Or when it’s good? I use one simple rule. This works in other areas of your life as well. The rule is: “If I have to talk myself into liking it, it’s not finished.” If I have to talk myself into liking where I am, I’m on the wrong road……. Or, at least I’m not at my destination.<br><br>
Carlos Casteneda calls this “The Path With A Heart”. The path that is extremely difficult and hard to master, but a labor of love. The “easy way” is smooth traveling with no worries, but it will drain you energies with time. Physically, spiritually, and emotionally. The path with a heart is a bastard. It will keep you up at night. It will tell you to keep working when you are absolutely certain you are done. Some days you go to bed hating it. But it will keep your energy at a high level at all times. You are on the right road….even if you don’t like where it turns on a given day.<br><br>
And when you get to where you are going it will give you a rest. Until the next path appears.<br><br>
If all this wasn’t hard enough, there is another point to consider. You’ve worked through everyone’s taste and you are on the right road. But for me the biggest problem with music making isn’t the fear of making mistakes or the fear of giving up. It’s the fear of going too far. It’s hard to know when to stop. You can ruin things this way.<br><br>
A relative of mine was a construction worker who built high rises. I once asked him if he ever was afraid he might slip and fall. He said no, but he WAS afraid he might jump. Just be working away, lose his perspective and….. jump.<br><br>
In the Nathaniel Hawthorne story “The Birthmark” a scientist has a woman who is perfect in every way except for one thing, a birthmark. He becomes obsessed with removing it. He concocts a potion to make it fade away. It works, but it kills her in the process. Such can also be the way with songs.<br><br>
So that gives you a little roadmap to the artistic mind. What creative people think about while they try and finish the song on your car stereo or the movie on your flat screen or the painting on your wall. There are many other concerns. Business realities, personal issues, family problems all play a role. It’s a wonder anything ever gets finished. But it does. <br><br>
It’s like the battle cry of every kid on his way to vacation. “Are we there yet?” “No honey, but soon. We are making good time.”<br><br>
When we listen to music we make snap judgments whether we like it or not. Whether it’s brilliant or baby poop. But hopefully this little entry gave you a bit of insight into just how special the people who get it right time and time again really are.<br><br>
Ok, gotta run. Back to my speakers. Time to listen again.<br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/8972282013-06-07T08:23:46-04:002013-06-21T12:27:16-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(6/7/13)<b><br>
The Muse’s Guestbook (The 15 Minute Blog)</b><br><br>
This week’s blog is going to be a short one. I’ve already done a session today. Computer is acting up. Gig tonight. Plus the usual line of duties. Phone is ringing. Emails piling in. Not a lot of time here today. Still I wanted to put something out there. <br><br>
So it seems today would be a good day to talk about small victories. You ever watch a movie about how some dude has it all, loses it, then rises from the ashes and ultimately defeats the bad guy to win the ultimate prize? Everybody loves those kinds of stories. Boxing movies are great for that. “Cinderella Man”, “The Fighter”, and some of the “Rocky” movies all have that theme. <br><br>
Usually somewhere in the middle of the movie there’s a slow motion montage of the guy fighting less glorious battles, dealing with injuries, self doubt, poverty, etc. etc. Usually you can’t wait for that part of the movie to be over so you can get to the big showdown at the end. <br><br>
But ironically, in that boring slow motion montage is where the battle really gets won. The big moment at the end is really an afterthought. The culmination of a million small victories. <br><br>
This is a blog about music and musicians, but that fact is universal. I think too many musicians spend too much time with their head in the clouds instead of their eyes on the ground. I wanted a record deal my whole adult life. But when I got one I can’t remember there being an enormous celebration. The band had already won the battle long ago. Good gig, bad gig, waste of time gig, shitty song, shitty song, decent song, good song….for 6 years. Every single day. The laws of cause and effect just finally caught up.<br><br>
So if you are a creative person, get up every day and create something. Doesn’t matter if it’s a painting, song, blog, or whatever. I didn’t say “something brilliant”. I said “SOMETHING”. If you only have 15 minutes, write a 15 minute shitty song. Play your instrument for a few minutes. Put something out there into the air. The universe notices these kinds of things.<br><br>
Sure, you gotta keep your eye on the prize. But if you are waiting for a perfect time to create you are going to be waiting a while. Then a day becomes a week and a week becomes a year and a year becomes a decade. There is an old saying, “If you want something done, give the job to a busy man.” That’s because the busy man knows it’s all about the small victories.<br><br>
I apologize if this sounds like “self-help for musicians”. But it always happens. <br><br>
Your muse isn’t going to be home every time you knock on her door. That’s cool, you don’t have to be brilliant today. But stop in and sign the guest book. Hang out for a couple minutes. You will be surprised what all those signatures will buy you in the end.<br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/8545982013-05-31T10:45:00-04:002013-06-06T18:03:13-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE(5/31/13)<br><b>The Medici Effect (“The Next Thing You Create That Works”)</b><br><br>
I ended last week’s entry by talking about courage. In music, as it is with everything, you have to have the courage to put yourself out there if you want to accomplish anything. <br><br>
Obviously, this is very difficult for some to do. If you are of a business mindset, the first thing you will do when creating something is to look at what is out there now that is successful. That’s fine, but if you ONLY copy the style of something else your work will not connect. Conversely, if you get too weird and personal no one will know what the hell you are talking about.<br><br>
So this week I want to talk about style, substance, and how to deal with the intersection of the two.<br><br>
To be honest, style can be a pain in the ass. If you have fans of what you do, probably they don’t want your style to change. Even though you may have changed a lot . Also, because of style, there are some people you will just never reach. I still deal with this when I’m writing and recording my own stuff. Sometimes if I’m working on a sweet little folk song, it creeps into my mind that my friends (or enemies) who are into punk, hardcore, and/or metal are going to have a field day with this. Or at the very least I will give them a good chuckle when they are hanging out without me. <br><br>
But I don’t think it is good policy to try to be all things to all people. If I feel like the tune is coming from the right place I will continue. If the feeling is solid, I take the attitude of “It’s a love song, asshole. Piss off.” I do that because style and substance are two different things. Style is about appearances……. and that is important. But as we know, appearances can be deceiving. Some of the loudest, brashest, cockiest people I know are also the weakest. Style is not strength.<br><br>
I’ve used this quote many times before but it bears repeating. It’s from the author Tom Robbins: “Style is the conduit through which substance must flow.”<br>
In musical terms, the style of the music is what attracts people to it. Ultimately, the style is what gets the message to the people. We are all affected by style more than we realize. So yea, style is important. I totally agree with that. But ultimately, you drink the water not the pipe.<br><br>
Which bring me back to courage. If you are an artist you can’t simply copy the style of something and expect it to work. You gotta put some of your own water in the pipe if you want everyone to keep coming back to the well. Your upbringing, your beliefs, your anger, etc. etc. Whatever it takes. Music is as much about selling you as a person as it is about selling instruments playing notes and someone singing. And putting “you” in there takes some balls.<br><br>
So, the real question is how do you make all this work together? How can you draw on your influences without completely copying them? Or how do you say something important without boring the shit out of everyone? Where is the line? Why does one song sound fresh and exciting while another seemingly similar tune falls flat? <br>
This is what separates the great from the “ok” in the world of music, art, cinema, or whatever. The question can’t really be answered. By definition, the answer is always changing. But looking at it in a wide angle lens, the “next thing you create that works” is usually about taking a familiar thing and combining it with another familiar thing that no one ever thought to combine it with. This can be a very subtle change. But it’s enough to give the new thing its own footing. This can happen out of necessity, by accident, or by design.<br><br>
A couple examples of necessity : In an industrial accident at the age of 17 , Tony Iommi lost the tips of the middle and ring finger of his right hand. He couldn’t grip the guitar right. So he tuned it down, used lighter strings, and used thimbles to make the strings easier to press down. That lower and darker tone became the signature sound of Black Sabbath….. which helped start a whole new genre of rock music. He combined an affliction with an established form of music to create something new.<br><br>
Claude Monet developed cataracts later in life. It affected his perception of color. So his painting from that period had this soft, haloed, blurry look to them. He painted as he saw. It's well-known that such artists as Monet, Degas, Rembrandt, Mary Cassatt and Georgia O'Keefe all reached their heights of artistic vision while facing a decline in their eyesight. How is that possible? Once again, a liability pushes things forward.<br><br>
By accident: When working on a new track for The Who, Roger Daltrey accidentally stuttered trying to get the lyrics right. He prepared to take it again. The producer chimed in to start again…. But keep the stuttering. That song was “My Generation”. The BBC initially refused to play "My Generation" because it did not want to offend people who stutter, but it reversed its decision after the song became more popular. The stuttering technique has been used in dozens of tunes since then (Examples: “My Sharona”, “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”).<br><br>
A personal example of a happy accident: In the late ’90s, our band was doing preproduction for our 2nd major label album. We were working on a track called “Running Up That Hill”. It wasn’t going well. We knew the track was solid, but the arrangement wasn’t working. While we were plowing away, the power went off in the house. While waiting around for the lights to come back on, I put down the electric guitar and started noodling around on the mandolin. That’s where we found the whole vibe of the song as it stands today. It’s one of my favorite tracks we have ever done. Conceived totally by accident.<br><br>
By design: The actor Anthony Hopkins has said that when he does a role he always gives his character a trait that no one knows about and never appears in the movie. For example, perhaps his character secretly had a child that died. It never appears in the story line. But it will inform everything he does with the role. It adds depth to the performance. Which imitates life, of course. Everyone you know has some force pushing them forward or holding them back that you don’t know about. That’s life. It’s a great technique for doing something fresh and new.<br><br>
A personal example of that for me would be a technique I use sometimes when playing solos on the electric guitar. Instead of running scales or playing some solo like Eric Clapton would play, imagine your worst enemy in the audience. Then walk out there and punch him in the face. But translate it through the guitar. Use your instrument as a punching bag. I guarantee you will stop playing scales. It works for all emotions. It takes you to different places.<br><br>
So that’s it. A few ideas about the inner workings of the creative process. A feeble attempt at explaining the unexplainable. By the way, I got the idea for this blog from a book called “The Medici Effect” by Frans Johansson. A book about the creative process. I just combined the theories in that book with my experience in the music biz. Sound familiar? That’s the way it works.<br><br>
No matter what you do, there is always someone out there that wants to put you into little square boxes. Preferably of their creation. That’s not paranoia, that’s just the way it is. People want order. No matter who we are, we have to deal with those boxes every day to get by. But remember, the world is round. Don’t be content with squares. The things you create should occupy a place unique to you. And the most boring, ordinary, overlooked thing in your day to day can make all the difference.<br><br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/8122562013-05-24T08:05:00-04:002022-01-17T05:51:27-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE (5/24/2013)<br><b><br>
Man Vs. Music Business</b><br><br>
Everybody loves a survivor. No one wants to watch a movie about the dude who gave up. Unless, of course, you enjoy eating two bags of salt and vinegar potato chips and crying for a whole afternoon. If that‘s the case, you’ll have to visit a different blog to get help with that.<br><br>
Anyway, I used to like to watch Bear Grylls on “Man vs. Wild.” If you never saw the show, they used to drop this dude in some extreme situation (desert island, Antarctica, etc.) and he’d figure out how to survive. Bear’s mantra was this: The key to survival is adapting to your surroundings, having a plan, and keeping your spirits up. <br><br>
So, as that applies to music, is this week’s story.<br><br>
Now, I could write for two days on that subject. Too many musicians go through their careers without any sort of plan whatsoever. The winds of gig opportunities blow them around to and fro until they get caught in the branches of, say , some shitty local cover band. Here they will hang until they give up. Which takes a while. <br><br>
Or they join a band, write a bunch of tunes, and play them live a few times and give up out of frustration because no one wants to hear their stuff.<br><br>
I’d like to suggest something different. Adapt to your surroundings and have a plan. Decide what you want. Build a friggin’ windmill and make the elements bend to your will. That’s the only way you are going to be happy in the long run.<br><br>
A very successful radio promoter once gave me a great piece of advice: “If you sell records, you get to keep making them.” That sounds kind of Forest Gumpian, but’s true of just about anything. If people consume what you make, you get to keep making more….. and hopefully you make a decent living in the process. <br><br>
One of the main reasons I wanted to start writing a blog was because I thought that my glorious path to the middle of the music biz was somewhat interesting and underrepresented. There are many of us out there who all made something out of nothing. When I started out in the music business, I didn’t know one friend who had ever had a record deal. Our band didn’t have a rich uncle to bankroll our rock and roll dreams. We weren’t from a city that was anxiously looking for the next big thing. And no one had a family member that worked for Columbia Records. We were about as anonymous as you can get. However, we did have one thing: We had a plan.<br><br>
From day one, we set out to figure out a way to be an original band and have our own voice. In an area where that just didn’t happen. Even when we had 4 original songs to our name and had to go play a 3 hour show, we were an original band who played covers to fill the night, not a cover band who had 4 original songs….. If only in our own minds.<br><br>
As we wrote more tunes, more went into the set. And we’d do anything to get people to listen to them. We’d do one of our songs then break into some cover in the middle of it. If someone didn’t want to hear our unknown tune, at least they would wait around for the middle when the other song kicked in. They knew it was coming. We did a medley where we would play like 15 seconds of every stupid song we ever got requests for. Get ‘em all out of the way at once. At the time I hadn’t heard anyone do that. It was corny as hell, but it was a big seller. Then we went back to playing our own shit.<br><br>
Conversely, if we got an opening slot for a national act, we did an all original show. Because we were an original artist, not a cover band that landed a good gig. Eventually we got rid of all the extra stuff and did our own stuff all night. To the same crowd who before had no interest in such things. If we played someone else’s tune, we rearranged it to sound like us. <br><br>
But we didn’t do it by complaining that our audience “just didn’t get it” or that our town sucked. We met them on their own ground and won them over. We built a windmill. We adapted to our surroundings. It took a while, but it worked.<br><br>
To this day I still believe that the fact that we went into any club that would have us and won them over on their terms has more to do with why we are still playing than any arena we ever played in. <br><br>
But rock and roll survival is an ongoing process. Adaptation doesn’t stop with your local music scene. Not if you want to keep going for a long time. It’s an ongoing process that never really ends. Once you get a record deal, there are new masters to serve. If you are a band whose music gets radio play, you have to think about that. “I don’t hear a single” is one of the most dreaded phrases in music business folklore. If you are touring, you are playing on a national or perhaps international scale. And people are different everywhere. What works in a roadhouse in McAllen, Texas is not what is going to work in a hipster club in NYC. And you will have to play both of them.<br><br>
Also you must consider that you are now looked at in a different light. For example, if I went to a Soundgarden show and Chris Cornell raised his glass every 3 songs and yelled “social”……well, I’d be bummed to say the least. But I would fully expect that from a band playing at the casino down the road. <br><br>
Which still bums me out but to each his own. Anyway.<br><br>
Basically I am talking about adapting and growing as an artist as your surroundings change. Many fall along the way who are just not wired for the next level. Rock and Roll Darwinism if you will.<br><br>
There is an old story (perhaps Hindu?) where a group of people are all blindfolded and asked to touch a different part of an elephant. They are asked to describe what it was they touched. Of course, all their answers are wildly different. That elephant is a metaphor for “truth”. The way you see it depends on your perspective at the moment. But no matter where you touch, it’s all elephant….<br><br>
I believe that the best artists have that same quality to them. They have layers that get revealed over time. There is always something new to keep their audience riding along through all the various stages of their lives. And that is the ultimate survival skill. The ultimate way that an artist can adapt and thrive for many years. <br><br>
Use Neil Young as an example. There is folky, acoustic Neil Young, country Neil Young, noisy and rockin’ Neil Young And Crazy Horse, C,S,N and Y Neil Young, electronic “Trans” Neil Young, Neil Young and Pearl Jam, Buffalo Springfield Neil Young, and political Neil Young. There are more. But all of these variations fit with that “Neil” plan when you look at the big picture. He just revealed it to us in pieces….. one part of the elephant at a time.<br><br>
I am sure he didn’t have it all planned out from the start, but there was a lot there from the beginning. Which is what makes his catalog and career so impressive and rare. He didn’t always give us what we expected, but it was always honest and always interesting. And we rode along every step of the way. Not always agreeing with where he went, but always wanting to see where he was going next. He’s still at it today.<br><br>
So there you have it, my short synopsis of rock and roll survival from novice to icon and some points in between. I left a lot out of course. That discussion could be a book in of itself.<br><br>
It takes a lot of courage to be an artist, musician, songwriter, etc. You gotta put yourself out there. You gotta keep chipping away at that big ball of truth in your belly and laying it out there piece by piece for all to see. And over the years, you’ll have to translate that truth into many languages. The language of the bar owner, the language of the drunk, the language of the radio listener, the language of the critic, and the language of the guy listening at home who just wants to feel a little better today. You’ll get it wrong most of the time. But you keep adapting and refining. Putting that picture together a little bit at a time until it becomes clear.<br><br>
But remember, don’t waste your time lamenting bad situations from the past or dreaming of a future that may never be. The only thing that matters is the guy is staring you in the face today. If you get up every day and try and make him understand, you will never want for a room of people to play to.<br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/7657962013-05-17T07:53:49-04:002022-03-11T03:40:03-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<br><b>Song Power</b><br><br>
Believe it or not, I just found all the “classic albums” series on Netflix. Some of them I have seen before, but many are new to me. I laugh out loud watching these things. It’s all too familiar territory. There is something I have noticed across the board with these shows. It doesn’t matter whether you are talking about Metallica, Def Leppard, The Band, or Tom Petty. The mantra of every single producer of every single one of these albums is the same: “The band had amazing songs and I just needed to enhance that.” Jimmy Iovine said of Tom Petty: “If you come to me with songs as good as his, you are instantly my friend. Jimmy knows how rare great songs are. <br><br>
The Eagles used to have a sign hanging in the studio that said “Song Power”. They knew the deal. If you ain’t got great songs, everything else is pointless. Pro Tools won’t save you. 300 virtuosos in your band won’t save you. 80,000 overdubs and the best studio money can buy won’t cover it up.<br><br>
It may sound simplistic, but if I could wave a wand and make all my musician friends do one thing, I would make them all mercilessly worship at the altar of the almighty song. It is and will always be the alpha and omega of popular music.<br><br>
If you are just a music fan and not a player, this sounds almost nonsensical. Of course songs are important. You like a band because you like their songs. Everybody has their favorite songs. It sounds like overstating the obvious. But when you get inside the business of music making, the lines get blurry fast. If worshipping the song above all else was an easy task, a lot of shitty records would never get made.<br><br>
Let me explain this from a different angle. There is a difference between a scientist and a healer. Scientists may invent the drug that the healer uses to do his magic, but they do not do the healing themselves. To heal a patient, the healer may use a million dollar machine or a plant on the side of the road. It doesn’t matter. Whatever does the job best is what he will choose. <br><br>
The healer has a completely different headspace and intuition than a scientist.<br><br>
Similarly, there is a difference between a great musician and a great songwriter. The virtuoso musician takes on the role of the scientist while the songwriter heals. The musician should always serve the song. Not the other way around.<br><br>
There are guys who are both scientists and healers. Billy Joel is one. He plays his ass off AND writes like no other. There are several examples I could name. But never do you see Billy’s technical abilities overshadow his songwriting. He intuitively knows not to do that. <br><br>
When I ask someone about a movie they just saw and they start talking about how beautifully it was filmed and how good a particular actor’s performance was I usually assume that the movie blows. If the story was great that wouldn’t be their first comment. Likewise, when I play someone a song I am working on and they immediately start talking about the snare sound or the guitar tone in the second verse, I realize that the tune sucks. “Great tune, play it again” is the response I am after.<br><br>
One of the biggest problems bands have is that most musicians think they can write when they can’t. A great song is oftentimes very easy to play. A lot of great players have an almost elitist attitude about simple songs. It’s a weird aura to have in the studio. I hate it. But I can tell you (cover band musicians take heed), it is a helluva lot harder to write John Fogarty’s “Down On The Corner” than it is to play it. Rest assured.<br><br>
One of my favorite albums of all time is Van Morrison’s “Moondance”. I think like 3 of the albums' hit singles all have basically the same chord progression. A child could play along. But I never noticed. It’s a magical record. It has something.<br><br>
I believe if you are in a band with a guy who can write great tunes, every effort should be made to help him take his vision as far as he can. That sounds pretentious, but it’s true. The problem is no one likes being 2nd in command. And everyone thinks their individual ideas and songs are awesome. So this begins the process of compromising to keep everyone happy. Everyone’s viewpoint is considered not for its merit, but for who’s idea it is….. and for fairness sake. In the end, you have a lot of lowest common denominator decisions. You end up with garbage. A work of art created by a committee instead of an artist. You’ve diluted the original idea so much it no longer connects.<br><br>
So if you are in a band you must determine whether you are a player or a writer. Or maybe a bit of each. But if you have no talent for songwriting, I believe you would be better served putting you energies into something else musically rather than trying to learn to be just ok. The world has enough “ok”. In many ways, I think songwriters are born not taught. You can get better of course, but no amount of practice will get you that frame of mind. Some dudes just have it.<br><br>
Bands could save themselves so much suffering if they would just admit that they need better songs than they can write. Maybe they need a new member. Or they need to focus on the work of one guy in the group instead of pushing for a lukewarm democratic process. This is true in many areas of life, of course.<br><br>
I think it was Henry David Thoreau said “All institutions are a walking embodiment of one man.” Same concept.<br><br>
To repeat myself, the world has enough “ok.” Coming to terms with where your music stands and where it needs to go can be an incredibly painful process. In watching these stories about all these classic records, it was said over and over how no one would settle for second best. Lars Ulrich said he wouldn’t speak to his producer Bob Rock for over a year after finishing The Black Album. It’s a painful process getting over your own shit. But if you want “great” you have to do it. Lars would soon enough have several million reasons not to hate Bob Rock anymore.<br><br>
Great songs are a mystery. Whether it be Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” or The Ramones “I Want To Be Sedated”. The more you study them, the harder it is to crack the code. But the greatest things in life are intangible. No matter where they come from, people respond to them when they show up. <br>
Music is the language of the heart, but your head will make you insane with its 1000 wrong translations. Too many musicians stop with half of the answer. The rest gets too hard to face. But if you have the courage to see your music through to the bitter end, you are instantly a friend of mine.<br><br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/7168542013-05-10T07:34:51-04:002021-10-09T08:06:44-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<br><b><br>
Sing A Simple Song</b><br><br>
Since it is Mother’s Day weekend, I want to tell a quick story about my parents’ role in my musical development.<br><br>
It was the 1970’s, I don’t remember how old I was but I know I was under 10. While my parents were off shopping for whatever in Kmart one night, a cousin of mine and me wandered through the entertainment section. And that is where I saw it. The first record I ever asked for. I had never heard this band’s music, but damn did they look cool. After we got home that night I told my folks what I wanted for my birthday. It was a record by a band whose name was a letter and a bunch of numbers. The band was called “K – one – seven – seven”. My folks had never heard of them, but they agreed to get me the record. And off to bed I went ready to begin a life of rocking as soon as possible.<br><br>
My folk went back to Kmart. The clerks there had never heard of that band. They went to Nichols Department Store. They went to Ames Department Store. They went to a few mom and pop record stores. They went to the Arnot Mall in Elmira, NY. No dice. No one had ever heard of “K- one- seven-seven”. It must have been some obscure punk band.<br>
So, much to my disappointment, I never got that record. To this day I have never bought it.<br><br>
But not long after that, my mother opened a record store. I don’t know if not being able to find my record was the impetus of that decision, but it probably was. In this store is where I actually did get my first records. There were 3: The Beatles “Live At The Hollywood Bowl”, The Beatles “Live From The Cavern Club, Hamburg, Germany 1962” and Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”. I still have them. I am sure you all remember your first records.<br>
In the back room of that place is also where I started learning to play the guitar. My family had won me a guitar in a contest at the Rexall Drug Store down the street and a woman taught lessons at the store. It’s also where I learned to play poker and euchre. My grandma was a badass card player. Pretty much everything I needed to learn about living as a musician got started in that place. Well, almost everything.<br><br>
Some time later I would come to realize that the album I was looking for was called “Dressed To Kill” and the band was not “K177”……. It was “KISS”. My poor parents. That logo confused the hell out of me. But it was a sign for me too. A sign that I better learn a thing or two about how to play music because I really didn’t have much of an eye for graphic design.<br><br>
Anyway, cut to the present. A few days ago I was poking around online throwing around ideas for the artwork of our band’s new double album. And that old ghost of K177 reared its head again. Yes, there is a reason I am still not in charge of graphic design. I was lost again. Too many options to deal with. I had no clue how to narrow it down.<br>
So that got me to thinking of why I am so lost in that world but I find the audio side of things so intuitive. They are both creative processes. And the more I thought about it, the more I remembered how my long musical journey has led to a place where all the options and noise got melted away into “me” and my particular style of doing things. I would never say my way is brilliant or the best way. There are many roads to take and they never really end. It's always a work in progress. I’d just say I am happy with the way I went. But no matter which road you take, they all lead to the same conclusion. A different “KISS”. “K.I.S.S”…….. or aka “Keep It Simple Stupid”. <br><br>
And that is this week’s story.<br><br>
You hear people say it all the time. Stick to the basics, things will get complicated on their own. Keep it simple, stupid. This is good advice in making music and for life in general. But I want to add a corollary to that adage. K.I.S.S. does stand for “Keep It Simple Stupid”…..BUT….. it does not stand for “Keep It Stupid, Stupid”. There is a difference. And that line is what makes “simple” so very hard to pull off.<br><br>
Being married to a baker, I used to like watching the Food Network. I remember one time when a master chef took a bite of some plain white cheesecake that a contestant had made for a competition. The master tasted it and started talking. He expounded for minutes about the history of the dish, what was typically in a good cheesecake, and what the aspiring chef had done to add a twist to the classic dish. All that from an 8 inch plain cheesecake. Nothing outwardly unique about it. But the judge understood what the young chef was trying to do. How he took the basics to the next level without destroying the greatness of the classic thing. Very difficult to do.<br>
Conversely, I have seen master chefs get literally insulted when a novice took things too far or didn’t respect the basic premise of whatever they were making. Like I said, doing something simple but new is a formidable task. <br><br>
To quote Spinal Tap, “There is a fine line between clever and stupid.”<br><br>
Songwriting and music in general is the same way. There is form, structure, and history there. But there should also be some sort of context that plants the tune firmly in the present and pushes things forward. It should sound fresh in some way but not confusing. Anyone can do something indiscernible and call it “art”. As Keith Richards said, “In rock and roll, art is short for ‘Arthur’.” When asked what he wanted on his tombstone, Keef said, "He passed it on." Not "He was a genius." Simply, "He passed it on." He knew who his ancestors were and he took it to the next level. <br><br>
I think writing a decent, simple song that connects is kind of like staring at Medusa’s head. If you look at its reflection and dance around the fringes you might have a chance of showing the familiar in a new light. But if you look at it directly in the eye you turn into Nickelback.<br><br>
It’s tricky business.<br><br>
People do not care as much about how eloquently you say something as they do about how whatever you say makes them feel. They are more interested in the content of your words than your command of the English language. They are more interested in how dinner tastes than how difficult it was to prepare. Books do not become best sellers and classic literature because of the fancy words the author uses.<br><br>
I always found John Lennon to be the master at writing a simple tune in a unique way. “Imagine” is one of those songs that I think will be around in 200 years. Just a simple, brilliant idea brought to life with a beautiful melody and plain language. But some of the ideas in that song, well, let’s just say we are still not ready for them. It’s deceptively complex. A 6 year old could sing along or it could be a subject of a college level course. Or take Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”, for example. Check out this verse : “They keep you doped with religion, sex, and TV/ And you think you’re so clever, classless, and free/ But you’re all f***ing peasants as far as I can see/ A working class hero is something to be.” That’s a full length documentary or movie in 4 lines over a 2 chord song. Even if you don’t play guitar, I could teach you how to play that song RIGHT NOW. But it’s brilliant stuff.<br><br>
We have all know someone that was so smart they lacked common sense. In the world of music and songwriting, the same paradox exists. Some musicians (not all) are too damn good to write decent songs and play effective parts. In my opinion, it smells of a large ego and a lack of self confidence. They can’t set aside their technical abilities to tap into the fundamental stuff that everyone connects to. They will add element upon element to their first draft so their snooty muso buddies won’t scoff at how “obvious” they are being. It’s kind of selfish really. The best compliment I could ever pay another musician would be to say that he “serves the song”. In other words, he plays what the song call for, no more, no less. This is what a great session player does. I’m lucky enough to have several at my disposal. <br>
When Steve Ferrone plays “boom, crack, boom, boom, crack” for several minutes on Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels” most people do not realize that he was the drummer in Average White Band. That dude can play ANYTHING. But on that song he chose to play the simplest of drum grooves. He served the song.<br><br>
So then, how do you do it? How do you do simple but not stupid? There is nothing more important than knowing what to keep and what to throw away. And you get that knowledge by picking lots of things up and leaving lots of things behind. And over time you and your work become “distilled”. And with that, you can hit harder. Peter Buck once said, “With age, I write fewer songs. But my batting average has gone way up.” You get a sense of what is good and what is just noise. Eventually you can say more with less.<br><br>
In the Wizard Of Oz, all the characters eventually found out that what they were looking for they already possessed. But the two things that none of them had were confidence and wisdom. Those things you can only get from the Yellow Brick Road itself……..and from time. You get it by trial and error, by studying those who came before you, and by stripping away the unnecessary. Then eventually you might write something like “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”. And you can rest easy knowing that the whole world, young and old, educated and uneducated, red, and yellow, black and white have probably been there. And they know what you mean.<br><br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/6180652013-04-26T13:30:00-04:002019-09-26T05:23:07-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<br><b><br>
The Last Great Classless Occupation</b><br><br><br>
Interesting week this was for me. I went to two shows in 3 days, which at this point in my highly responsible and scheduled existence is a rarity. <br><br>
The first show was a club show at The Electric Factory in Philly. I took my daughter and her boyfriend down to see the bands All Time Low and Pierce The Veil. The other show I was working at: The first of several opening dates my band is playing with Bob Seger.<br><br>
You always hear stories about how bad the music business is hurting because of illegal downloading, the Ipod, Spotify, Pandora, the shitty club scene, etc., etc. Apparently no one told the audiences at these shows that the music biz is on its death bed. Because what I saw was probably about 18,000 people ranging from 8 to 80 years old having the time of their lives.<br><br>
So this week I want to talk a little bit about what makes this thing called popular music (and the people that play it) so damn hard to kill. This blog is a little random, so my apologies from the management. Hopefully everyone can follow. Here goes…..<br><br>
As a teenager, all my heroes were musicians. Mostly, that is still true. I don’t think I ever understood exactly why, but I am piecing it together over time. Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Keith Richards, and Johnny Cash…….These were the guys I looked to for answers as a kid. <br><br>
Looking back now, I have come to realize that being a musician is one of the last great classless occupations. When I say “classless” I don’t mean that in the context of someone having “no class”. I mean it in the sense that the working class was on equal footing with the wealthy in the music world. All the money on the Vegas strip could not buy you the ability to rock. Either you were cool or you sucked. <br><br>
Most of these guys I looked up to came from nothing and out of nowhere. ANYONE could do it. And if you were a guy who came from absolutely nothing and fought your way to becoming John Lennon, well, then you were a guy I wanted to follow.<br><br>
An old manager of mine used to say that being in a band was one of the last holdouts of the American Dream. One of the last places that an average Joe could go from being a complete shmuck to on top of the world in 6 months.<br><br>
Later, as I would learn, the duality of such a person is extremely rare. It’s a guy connected to the street who also has access to the old boys club. There are not many of those types around.<br><br>
For example, I believe Willie Nelson would be just as comfortable talking to a junkie lying in the gutter as he would be playing golf with the President of The United States. He's a little bit of both those people. Not the same, but he could relate in both cases. How many people could you say that about? Do you think you could say the same about our elected officials in Congress? The guys who decide what happens to that junkie in the gutter? Probably not.<br><br>
That kind of thing just doesn’t happen in other occupations. To be a successful musician, you don’t have to go to private school and you don’t have to go to medical school. Hell, you don’t have to go to school at all. If you can connect with an audience, you are in. <br><br>
It doesn’t matter if you went to Berklee College of Music like John Mayer or if you were a high school dropout like Dave Grohl. All that matters is when your boots hit the boards of that stage, people sing along. Or when the needle hits the vinyl people listen. <br><br>
When I am doing a studio project, I don’t care what your father does for a living or what kind of car you drove here. I don’t care how eloquently you can talk about what you do. I don't care where you went to college. I don't care about what fancy gear you brought with you. What I care about is what happens when you step up to a microphone. And what I feel when I hear that. I believe that is the best way to approach making music because that is what the average person does when they listen. In the music business, at the end of the day the rich and poor alike are held to that standard. It is the great equalizer. And, conversely, it brings some unlikely people together.<br><br>
I don’t need to look any farther than my own band to see this in action. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. I was a factory worker’s kid who bought his first guitar with the money I saved from putting in hay at my uncle’s farm. I never knew anyone who had ever had a record deal. I didn’t know anyone who made their living being a musician. Hell, I barely knew anyone who had ever made a record, period. I just knew that was what I wanted to do. Our singer Pete was from an Italian family who grew up in the suburbs of northern New Jersey. Totally different background, but that is what he wanted to do too. Over 20 years and who knows how many records later we are still at it with no intentions of stopping. <br><br>
I guess you could say all this is a bit of a romantic notion. That in the end the music we get to hear is determined by “who you know” and what gets “bought” by the powers that be.<br><br>
That happens, yes. But from what I have seen over the years, you can buy your way up a top 40 chart (to a point) and you can buy a few moments of someone’s attention…. But you cannot buy their love. And love is why the greatest records of all time are still spinning.<br><br>
You cannot buy love. Sound familiar?<br><br>
If you could buy such things, all those viral videos on YouTube would be brought to you via Walmart, Best Buy, and The U.S. Government. <br><br>
So, when I am sitting in an arena watching Bob Seger crank out hit after hit and I look to my right and see two people with 40 years age difference between them singing every word, I have to be impressed with what old Bob has done with his life. You can’t buy that shit. And when the lead singer of Pierce The Veil yells into the microphone “How many people out there can say that music saved your life?” and I watch the doctors’ kids, the construction workers’ kids, the stock brokers’ kids, and the orphans all simultaneously erupt into applause, I have to say that the thing that meant so much to me as a kid is alive and well. <br>
And new heroes are on the way.<br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/5661962013-04-19T06:45:00-04:002021-11-08T00:26:54-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<br><b>Rock And Roll Never Forgets</b><br><br><br>
Yesterday, my band The Badlees put an announcement out there that we would be doing a few arena shows in the coming weeks with Bob Seger. We did a little research and realized that it was 17 years ago to the day that we were on stage with Bob at the LA Forum…… the last time we toured with him.<br><br>
Typically with these Friday blogs I just let the subject come to me during the week. The above story is a good illustration of what I want to discuss today. <br><br>
I doubt you will read about what I want to put out there in a music business book. I suspect you won’t read too many stories about it in music magazines either. As it applies to the music business, I want to discuss the power of doing the right thing and treating people right. The power of taking your victories and defeats with grace and humility. Because the music biz works in mysterious ways and, for a decent sized part of it, you have little control over what happens. And that is really, really hard to accept at times.<br><br>
There is a Native American philosophy that says all the good you do will come back to you 3 times. Sounds like karma, right? I’d love to say that I totally believed that. Sprinkle a healthy dose of chaos on top of that notion and you probably have a pill I can swallow. But anyway.<br><br>
As Chuck Berry once said, “C’est la vie said the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.”<br><br>
The truth is, as a musician, you never know where anything is going to land. Sure, you run your business but there is a healthy dose of chaos in there. The guy you are having a beer with in a corner bar today may be a smashing success in 10 years. The song you wrote last Tuesday you may be playing for the rest of your life (**Jimmy Buffett said that “Margaritaville” was just track 7 on his record when he put it out. That song became the cornerstone of his whole empire). The guy you toured with almost 20 years ago may come your way again. You never know.<br><br>
Here are a few examples of how this has worked for me over time:<br>
1) In the late 80’s, I was interning at a studio while still in college. It was a cool place put together by a world class studio designer. There was a decent amount of cool gear and some excellent engineers and producers to learn from. The owner also designed studios himself. I ate it up. Little did I know that one of the kids interning with me had an uncle who was Whitney Houston’s accountant. One thing led to another and next thing I know I’m 21 years old and in Whitney’s basement helping to build her home studio…. And I’m a chief engineer back at the studio I once interned at. <br>
That was also when I learned that I am a shitty carpenter. But that is another story.<br>
Anyway, that is how I landed my first music business job. Not from a big industry mogul, but from an intern. I never turned back.<br><br>
2) I played football in college for 4 years. Defensive line. One of the linebackers behind me for 2 years, Greg Schiano, is now the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We used to hang and play cards from time to time.<br><br>
3) The keyboard player in my college band, Brockett Parsons, is now the keyboard player for Lady Gaga.<br><br>
4) The singer/songwriter girl that used to ride to shows with The Badlees on our first national tour went on to be a Grammy award winning songwriter and Mrs. Robert Plant. Patty Griffin. At the time she couldn't afford a band..... or a van.<br><br>
5) In 2001, a band came into my studio to record a song to submit to a radio contest. They lost in the first round to a local cover band called the Poptart Monkeys. That band was Breaking Benjamin. BB went on to make a series of records for Hollywood Records. They sold millions. Last year the recording they lost the radio “Battle of The Bands” with was included on their greatest hits package. <br><br>
Like I said, you never know. I am sure you all have stories like these.<br><br>
I am not getting around to the notion of “be nice to everyone because you don’t know what they might do for you.” I think that is kinda lame, actually. Some people deserve to be your enemy. And if you don’t have any enemies it probably just means you never stood up for anything. I am simply suggesting to have an open mind and a long fuse….. And be a pro. Do your job the best you can and keep doing it no matter what. It will come back to you in surprising ways. <br><br>
To paraphrase BB King: “Being a musician is like being in a horse race. Every once in a while someone notices you’re running. But you’ve been running the whole time.”<br><br>
5 years ago I had no intention of playing with my band again. We had gone in opposite directions. It just didn’t make sense. Now we are working with our old manager (who I also said I wouldn’t work with again), our new record will be mixed by the guy who mixed our major label stuff years ago, and we have reconnected with some of our original crew guys who are working out shows again.<br><br>
So this week, as luck would have it, a Live Nation guy remember our band, a radio person still talks about and plays our band’s music, and Bob Seger’s manager remembers our band. An opening comes up in the schedule, they go to our website and see we are still in business. Next thing you know we are back on stage with Bob 17 years later. Totally unexpected.<br><br>
It’s only a couple gigs. But I think this week’s turn of events is a good omen of things to come. And it’s a good testament to what we did right all those years ago. The music biz is small and it has an excellent memory. The smallest things make the difference.<br><br>
Good things do not come to those who wait. Good things come to those who get on with it. Keep putting your chip on the table and the music will take care of you. I promise.<br><br><i>“Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid</i>” Basil King<br><br>
And never say never.<br><br>
Later and greater folks. See you next week.<br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/5163072013-04-12T03:25:00-04:002013-06-12T13:18:39-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<span style="font-size: larger;"><b><br><br>
T</b></span><b><span style="font-size: larger;">he Rock And Roll Field Guide (A Study In Species)</span><br></b><br>
When navigating the long and winding road to rock and roll success, you will encounter many, varied species. Some friendly, some not. I always thought it would be helpful to have a field guide, a survival guide if you will, to assist the weary rocker on his own personal highway to hell. <br><br>
So, in this week’s entry, I decided to write about a few of the most common species I have encountered out there. Like bird watching, a lifetime of rocking takes patience and stealth. And the more information you have going in, the more pleasant your journey will be.<br><br>
So, here are the players:<br><br><b>The Mockinghole</b><br>
Mockingholes are curious creatures most commonly seen hanging out at a club while the band is setting up. Yes, the mockinghole shows up at the club early. <br>
By the time the band arrives, he is already quite shitfaced. He gets his name from his annoying habit of mocking the band while they try to sound check. His most common call sounds like “chick one tooo!! chick one tooo!!”. The mockinghole fancies himself to be quite clever and amusing. An opinion that is not shared by the world’s musicians. <br><br>
The mockinghole is, I assume, a protected species. If he were not, musicians would have murdered them into extinction by now.<br><br><b>The Great White Scowler</b><br>
Also known as ‘80s metal guy. First discovered by Professor Floyd Rose in the early ‘80s, Scowlers are typically solitary creatures. Head plumage is usually in the form of a “new millennium” mullet or simple long bushy hair with lots of split ends. Other identifying markings include Chuck Taylors, ripped jeans, and a black concert T shirt with the sleeves cut off and a “V” cut in the neck. The T shirt will typically depict Motley Crue, but on rare occasions Marilyn Manson may be seen if the Scowler is trying to be down with the kids.<br><br>
A Scowler is typically seen early in the evening near the lip of the stage. Arms crossed and scowling, he paces back and forth as he checks out your gear. Shaking his head in disapproval, he scans your lame taste in amps and guitars. Later he retires to his perch just to the left of the soundboard. Here the Scowler will remain for as long as he can stand to listen to you. Which may not be long. He scowls at you while thinking of how his band would blow you off the stage if they were there. Ironically, his band has the night off.<br><br>
Much like the opossum, The Great White Scowler is mostly deaf and blind. He is deaf from too many years of standing in front of unnecessarily large Marshall amplifiers. There is no proof he is blind, but in 2013 that is the only plausible explanation for that hairstyle.<br><b><br>
The 2am Crier</b><br>
Much like the Mockinghole, The 2am Crier is a protected species. No doubt we musicians would have hunted down every last one of them and made a bunch of Crier sandwiches if that were not the case.<br><br>
The 2am Crier is the dude that sits with his back to you the whole night. He puts “Crazy Bitch” on the jukebox in the middle of your set. Basically, he ignores you.<br>
But as you play your last tune and prepare to pack up, The 2am Crier comes to life. You are tired and want to go home, but The Crier won’t have it. He points wildly at the clock and let’s everyone know that there are 3 minutes and 15 seconds left until the bar closes. Time for ONE MORE SONG. If you refuse The Crier, he will spare no expense in making you appear pompous and uncaring to the people who have ignored you all night.<br><b><br>
The Female Closet Warbler</b><br>
Closet Warblers are usually very shy creatures. But give them a couple wine coolers…. and look out.<br><br>
The Closet Warbler is the girl at the club who, for some reason, believes she can sing. Even stranger yet, her friends encourage her to overcome her shyness and “get up on that damn stage.” A Female Closet Warbler’s song sounds vaguely like “Me and Bobby McGee” or “What’s Going On?” by 4 Non Blondes…..But sang about a half step sharp from the rest of the band and with great passion.<br><br><b>The Moneygrub</b><br>
The Moneygrub is your basic North American club owner/promoter. The main thing to be aware of with the Moneygrub is the curious language he speaks.<br><br>
Here are a few key phrases you will hear along with the Moneygrub to plain English translations:<br><br>
Moneygrub: “You guys are awesome. I want to have you back.” Translation: “I’m not paying you.”<br><br>
Moneygrub: “The place is dead. Why don’t you fellows knock off early?” Translation: “I’m not paying you.”<br><br>
Moneygrub: “Help yourself to the menu and the beer.” Translation: “I’m running a tab.”<br><br>
Moneygrub: “I’ll give you guys 100% of the door.” Translation: “I’ll give you 100% of the door minus the 30% service fee I charge to carry the dough from the door to you.” (**note: Moneygrubs can’t count for shit)<br><br>
Moneygrub: “I need you guys to work with me here.” Translation: “ I’m not paying you.”<br><br>
The Moneygrub will usually refer to you as “big guy”, “dude”, or in rarer cases “brah”. This is to cover up the fact that, although your band has made him tens of thousands of dollars over time, he still doesn’t know your name.<br><br><b>The Fat Bellied Requestor</b><br>
As his name implies, The Fat Bellied Requestor likes to shout requests. Usually in your ear in the middle of a song while you are singing. <br><br>
Its call sounds very much like “play something we knooooow” followed by a series of short song titles.<br><br>
The first thing you must determine is whether The Requestor is mature or a juvenile. If he is a mature Requestor (say, over 35), you should play: 1. “Folsom Prison Blues” 2. “Sweet Home Alabama”, or 3. “Brown Eyed Girl”. For the juvenile play: 1. “Wonderwall” or 2. “Santeria” by Sublime. “Jessie’s Girl” works for both juvenile and mature Requestors. <br><br>
The Fat Bellied Requestor is a bit slow and his musical vocabulary is extremely limited. I would not recommend straying from this list. In rare cases a Requestor may turn to violence if you refuse to play his jam. Especially if you play one of your own songs instead.<br><br><b>The Watermelon People</b><br>
The Watermelon People are a fairly common tribe seen in the clubs of North America. When seen, they are almost always in pairs. Usually two males. They situate themselves directly in front of the lead singer, where they will stay for the whole evening.<br><br>
The identifying thing about The Watermelon People is their curious dance ritual. They will stand in front of the lead singer with their chins jutting into the air. They point and fist pump wildly while mouthing the words to every song. This is exciting until you realize that the song you just played was written last night. So, there ain’t no way in hell they know the words to that tune. Upon closer inspection you realize that they are just saying “watermelon, watermelon, watermelon” over and over again. <br><br>
Hence, the name.<br><b><br>
Knuckledraggers</b><br>
I will admit to having a fondness for Knuckledraggers. They get their name from the wild, chimpanzee like dance they do when exposed to Nu Metal. In the early 2000’s, it would be extremely common to see 10,000 + Knuckledraggers rolling in the mud, smashing into each other, and generally having the time of their lives.<br><br>
Herd numbers have dwindled in recent years largely due to Oxycontin use, rising child support payments, and the lameification of their favorite bands. But Knuckledraggers are a highly communal species and many still remain.<br><br>
Despite their gruff appearance, Knuckledraggers are extremely amicable creatures. Much like the American Billy Goat, if you can deal with the cloved hooves, the ring in their noses, and the occasional head butt, they make excellent pets.<br><br><b>The Tipsy Hippy </b><br>
Last but not least….No rock and roll field guide would be complete without mentioning The Tipsy Hippy. The <i>Hippidipitus Lottacannibus</i> is ever present on the road. Like the Knuckledragger, Tipsy Hippies are communal animals. But they will break out on their own depending on how wasted they are.<br><br>
The first thing you notice about a Tipsy Hippy is its quirky mating dance. I would describe it as a cross between the dance of one of the Peanuts characters and that of a f***ed up mime.<br><br>
The second thing you will notice is the pungent odor which is equal parts BO, Patchouli, and weed.<br><br>
In nature, there is a species of bird called a Killdeer. A Killdeer is known for its practice of dragging its wing on the ground, feigning injury, to lure predators away from its nest and eggs. Like the Killdeer, The Tipsy Hippy will dress like a peasant to distract you from the bangin’ trust fund she has at home…. AND her mom’s Visa Gold Card and iPhone that she keeps in her homemade hemp bag.<br><br>
When assessing a Tipsy Hippy, I use the following formula: Appearance=1/$. In other words, the amount of cash the Hippy holds is inversely proportional to the quality of his or her appearance. So if you see a Tipsy Hippie outside a show looking homeless and holding up a sign that says something about needing a miracle, don’t fret. He will be just fine.<br><br>
On occasion, you may want to entertain The Tipsy Hippy at a show. It can be very entertaining for you. If so, I would recommend playing:<br>
1.Anything by The Grateful Dead or Phish. 2. Anything by any band that has a member who was once in The Grateful Dead or Phish. 3. Anything by The Beatles, The Band, Bob Dylan, or Merle Haggard. Provided, of course, that whatever song you choose was once covered by The Grateful Dead or Phish.<br><br>
So there you have it, folks. I sincerely hope this helps you on your journey. Safe travels my friends. And remember, it’s a jungle out there.<br><br>
Until next time....<br><br><br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/4755172013-04-05T10:13:31-04:002013-10-02T11:32:22-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<b>MARRIAGE</b><br><br><br>
Last weekend, I took the wife out on a date. Fittingly, we went to see a band (poor girl). Specifically, we went to see the band “Kix” at a club about 1.5 hours away.<br><br>
Kix is from Hagerstown, Maryland. I’d estimate that they have been a band for over 35 years. A real basic two guitars, bass, and drums group that specializes in straight up, barroom rock and roll. To my ear it’s sort of a combination of AC/DC meets Cheap Trick. The place was packed with fans singing every word. Hell, they even knew the monologues between the songs. It was a sight to behold.<br><br>
I’ve met a few of those guys before and I’ve seen them play before too. But last weekend I took something different away from that show.<br><br>
And that is the subject of this week’s blog: Marriage.<br><br>
It has been said many times before that being in a band is like a marriage. You live together, you play together, and you raise your kids (your songs) to be all they can be.<br><br>
It starts off fast and furious and you’re convinced that a more perfect situation has never existed. It becomes the thing you most identify yourself with…. and the thing others see you as being. You are inseparable. And, with time, your life starts to expand around this thing you have created. <br><br>
But inevitably one day the honeymoon is over. You get down to the business at hand. And that is when you get lost.<br><br>
It just happens. New people enter your life. Some with good intentions, some not. Probably, you start listening to a few voices you shouldn’t listen to. And before you know it, the original intention is gone. The joy is now a responsibility. And it’s everyone’s fault but yours.<br><br>
This is the beginning of the end for most bands…. and marriages. What happens next is anybody’s ball game. <br><br>
About 50% of all marriages end in divorce. There is another statistic that around 80% of all bands break up within 18 months of getting a record deal. Why is that? Within 18 months of achieving your dream, it is over. You don’t want to do it anymore.<br><br>
There are lots of reasons, I suppose. But that is for another day. Today, I want to talk about what is on the other side if you make it through.<br><br>
Willie Nelson once said, “If when I was 21 years old I had written down exactly how I would have liked my life to play out, it would have paled in comparison to what actually happened.” <br><br>
I can relate to that.<br><br>
I think a lot of young musicians find it almost laughable to watch an older band play. They see it as corny or irrelevant. Like the old geezers should just get off the stage and wander back to the nursing home. <br><br>
What I personally see onstage is like a picture in the newspaper of a couple on their silver anniversary. And in that picture you can see that, through all the disappointment and heartaches, they still like each other. And, they have created something greater than themselves.<br><br>
AND, when summoned, they can lay it down with the best of them.<br><br>
I am in my 3rd decade with my band and my best girl. There have been lots of ups and downs. But I can tell you, the last thing I am worried about is being relevant to anyone else. I am where I am because I want to be. Nothing more, nothing less. And as of late I have been falling in love with the whole thing all over again.<br><br>
I had the good fortune to tour with Gregg Allman in the late ‘90s. Upon meeting us, he asked us about our current tour. He asked, “How long have you guys been out here?” “About 6 weeks,” we answered. Gregg sighed and said, “I’ve been out here since I was 16.” That was 17 years ago and ole Gregg is still at it. Friggin’ awesome.<br><br>
A friend of mine went to see the band The Tragically Hip several years back. An audience member held up a sign that read, “We drove 15 hours to get here.” The lead singer Gordie looked at the sign and spoke into the microphone, “We drove 15 years to get here.”<br><br>
I am a songwriter and my songs tell my story. Like petroglyphs or tattoos. I have tattooed my songs all over my world.<br><br>
I’ve had people tell me they named their kids after songs of ours. They’ve told me my tunes were played at their weddings and that they met at our shows. Or a certain song helped them deal with the death of their father…. or their son. And I feel blessed to have been able to do that just by doing what I love to do. I did it to tell my own story, but in the process I told a little bit of theirs too.<br><br>
So to come full circle, I left that Kix show with a renewed sense of what two guitars, bass, and drums can do over the course of a lifetime. I can’t think of another band of 25 year olds I would have let follow them that night. <br><br>
Like any great marriage, you get to see what happens when you stick with something for decades. No matter what. Like I said earlier, it is a sight to behold.<br><br>
It’s a Christmas tree with 25 years of ornaments hanging on it. It’s a Thanksgiving dinner with so many people there you can’t find enough chairs…… And it’s a body of work from a rock band that even they don’t realize how far those songs reach out into the world.<br><br>
So if you can, take a few hours this weekend with your significant other and play a few songs from your beginnings. Remind yourself of what it was that made each of you an “us”.<br><br>
And realize that somewhere tonight that band is still playing your song.<br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/4365482013-03-29T08:12:39-04:002022-03-04T02:58:25-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<b>Two Wolves</b><br><br>
I am part Native American, so I have always been very interested in Native American culture and philosophies. That being said, I am going to start this week’s blog with one of my favorite Cherokee stories. Fittingly, I learned of this one from perhaps the most famous living man of Cherokee descent, Willie Nelson.<br><br>
“The Cherokee believed that within each person was a battle between two wolves. Sitting with his grandson, a grandfather explained that one wolf was evil and driven by anger, envy, regret, ego and the worship of war.<br>
The other wolf was good, and was driven by love, hope, compassion, and the promise of peace.<br>
Thinking about the wolves already growing within him the boy asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?” <br>
And the old man replied, “The one you feed.”<br><br>
I love that story. LOVE it. But, strangely enough, I think it addresses a great paradox that all good songwriters and musicians have to face.<br>
Most great musicians and songwriters do what they do out of some sort of need. You hear story after story about famous musicians with difficult childhoods, not fitting in, or the like. There was some void that music filled in their lives. In his SXSW keynote speech, Dave Grohl called it “finding your voice.”<br><br>
There is another Native American philosophy that speaks of taking the thing you hated most about your childhood and therein you will find your life’s purpose. For example, a lot of Bruce Springsteen’s most compelling work centers around his difficult relationship with his father and his desire to escape his working class roots. He didn’t just make that shit up. Another example: At one point in the 1970’s, Keith Richards was living in Switzerland. To dry out I presume. Surrounded by members of the Swiss rich and elite, they asked him how they could become rock stars like him. He replied, “ Uh, I don’t know. Why don’t you try STARVING ?!?” Case in point. Nice Keef.<br><br>
Anyway, that material comes from the first wolf. You have to allow yourself to feel anger, regret, sadness…….whatever the emotion is. Wherever it came from. You have to spend some time with it to bring it into tangible form. i.e. A song.<br><br>
Songwriters are moody people. They have to be to be good. They have to sit around and obsess over things that others would just let go. Happy go lucky, “whistle while you work” types don’t make good songwriters.<br><br>
Great songwriters have egos. They get pissed off. They are sometimes petty and non-communicative. They can be opinionated assholes when they need to be. They say the things others are thinking but are too scared or complacent to say. <br><br>
All these things are the first wolf’s specialty. A necessary evil. I think you can understand why songwriters need that first wolf to do what they do. However, I think you could also see where those traits would make for a very unsuccessful businessperson and human being.<br><br>
Musicians read too many stories and watch too many documentaries about how this and that rock star was a complete screw up and someone “discovered” their amazing talent and the rest is history. That’s a fairy tale. It happens, yes. But for every Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose there are 50,000 “what’s his name’s” crying in their beer somewhere about how much the music business blows. When in reality they blew it for themselves based on some romantic notion. <br><br>
That’s where the second wolf comes in. <br><br>
I think it is safe to say that no one ever built a monument to honor a pessimist. You may be able to make some great art by wallowing in gloom, but no one wants to be in business with such a person. <br><br>
So if you are one of the aforementioned songwriters or musicians, you are going to have to be able to snap out of it to succeed. You’ll have to show up on time, compromise, and boost the morale of your bandmates from time to time. Put on a happy face. Sometimes you’ll have to (horror of horrors) keep your mouth shut. Or, believe it or not, you’re gonna have to trust someone. In my experience, these types of things derail more musicians' careers than lack of talent or opportunity ever does.<br><br>
In a round about way, you’re going to have to become “the man”. Which might mean contradicting the very reason you got in the music biz in the first place. But this is the paradox of making music your livelihood. To a point you will have to dance with the establishment you criticize.<br><br>
There is an old saying (no Native Americans this time):<br><br>
“There are 3 stages of a man’s life: 1. He believes in Santa Clause 2. He doesn’t believe in Santa Claus and 3. He is Santa Claus.<br><br>
Truer words were never spoken.<br><br>
So maybe what we need now is more of a new type of rock star. A new type of hero. A guy that can take both wolves for a walk on a leash made for two. A guy that can scream in anger at the top of his lungs AND read a profit and loss statement. A guy that can have a beer with the drunk in the front row AND make an intelligent pitch to a room full of investors. A guy that can rail against “the man” while realizing that some of “the man” lies within him.<br><br>
A guy that can burn without burning out….. and still not fade away.<br><br>
Leave the fairy tales to the dreamers. To quote The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride, “We are men of action, lies do not become us.”<br>
So you are going to have to feed both those wolves from time to time…… if you want them to keep pulling your cart down the road.<br><br>
Just make sure the second one is in front.<br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/3946612013-03-22T08:20:00-04:002013-03-22T08:20:00-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<br><b>The Curse Of The Roy Orbison Fan</b><br><br>
When I sit down to write these blogs, I usually have somewhat of a solid plan. I put a basic outline together in my head then I make some time Friday morning and write it out.<br><br>
This week I realized that I have about 6 topics brewing at once. So, as it is with any good jam session, I am just going to wander and see where I land……..<br><br>
It was the early 2000’s and, just like any other day, my business partner Paul Smith and I were doing a session at our studio, Saturation Acres. This day was a bit unique though because we had an outside producer, Tom “Bone” Edmonds. Bone is an industry veteran that has worked with The Rolling Stones, The Band, The Allman Bros., The Cult, and Lenny Kravitz. To name a few. He has the best stories ever. And I have learned so much about making records from him.<br><br>
Anyway, on this day we were simply engineering and playing guitars on one of his projects. <br><br>
But that is not the story.<br><br>
On this particular day, Bone had brought a guest to the studio. A man, mid 50’s-ish, in a flannel shirt who by my estimation had had one too many before he got to the studio that day. I don’t know if he was a friend or a relative. But he was polite enough. He sat quietly and watched the session unfold. Little did I know that this man would say something that would haunt me to this day.<br><br>
We went about our business doing guitar and vocal overdubs. The usual process. “One more time on the chorus”. “Check your tuning”. “That was good, but a little pitchy”. “That sucked, do it again. Do it again. DO IT AGAIN”.<br><br>
And with each pass our house guest got more and more agitated. I thought maybe he had to pee. I gave him directions to the bathroom. He didn’t move. After about another half hour of this process, he couldn’t take it anymore. He reached in his front pocket.<br><br>
Oh shit.<br><br>
Much to our relief, he did not have a weapon. It was a Roy Orbison cassette.<br><br>
He waved it in our faces and said “I don’t know why you guys are going to all this trouble when you can just go down to Walmart and get this for $3.00.<br><br>
Damn.<br><br>
To this guy, we were making a record because we didn’t have anything else to listen to. In his eyes we were making our own ketchup. And that didn’t make any damn sense. Especially with Walmart just down the road with racks of the stuff for cheap.<br><br>
Bone looked sideways at me and smiled, “You know, he has a point.”<br><br>
We stopped the session right there and went to the bar.<br><br>
I have spent over a decade trying to answer that man’s question. It was like a curse he put on me. I didn’t even catch the guy’s name. I didn’t even get to thank him.<br>
Regardless, wherever he is I bet he is still listening to that Roy Orbison tape.<br><br>
Rephrased in my mind, his question was, “Why waste your time making and listening to this independent music when all the most popular stuff is so cheap and readily available? Everybody’s doing it. It’s easy, dude.” <br><br>
I’ll try and answer that, but first another tale. I told you I was wandering……..<br><br>
One day, the aforementioned Paul and I came up with the idea that we were going to try our hand at beer making. We bought some buckets and various ingredients. A simple kit. We decided we were going to make a Guinness-esque dark beer. It was fun and it went well. We bottled up our creation and put it under the steps to ferment. Six weeks later we got together and cracked a few brews.<br><br>
Hmm, NOT BAD.<br><br>
We gave each other a head nod (the cool people of the 90’s equivalent to the high five) and split up our winnings.<br>
I was psyched. The next day I grabbed a six pack and headed over to my neighbor’s house. He was grilling by his garage. I handed him a six pack and told him about how I had made it and this was for him. He said thanks and cracked one open. A strange look came over his face as he took a swig. I could tell he wanted to spit it out, no doubt. He forced it down and handed me the beers back. “Sorry man, this just isn’t my thing. But (he shook the bottle in my face)………..If you can make a beer that tastes like a Coors Light, you bet your ass I will drink it.”<br><br>
WTF?<br><br>
Ok, clarity… Time to stop wandering.<br><br>
So, why bother with this stuff?<br><br>
How am I going to convince a guy that likes Coors Light to like my homemade stuff? How am I going to sell a guy on the virtues of the new Graces Downfall record I just produced when his idea of a good jam is Miley Cyrus?<br><br>
Answer: I’m not. Or at the very best it won’t be easy.<br><br>
But……making independent music is still friggin’ cool. And it’s needed now more than ever. Because to quote Sesame Street, “The musician is a person in your neighborhood.” And your neighborhood needs to realize how important he is.<br><br>
My wife always tells me that we were destined to be “the indian at the party”. We are not invited to a soiree because we own a bunch of construction companies, hold a public office, or have a building named after us. We are invited because we are interesting people who live interesting lives. i.e. “the indian at the party”.<br>
“ Hello Johnny Potatoes……I’m Billy Potatoes. I’d like you to meet my friend, Jimmy Carl Black. The indian at the party.” <br>
“Ooh, nice to meet you. Can I touch your feathers?”<br><br>
I probably could have been a decent muckety muck, but I have never regretted choosing to be the indian at the party.<br>
Ok, I guess I wandered a little again. <br><br>
To repeat myself, the musician is a person in your neighborhood. A city (or state’s) music community is a big part of what makes that place unique. And that should be celebrated right beside the exalting of its sports figures.<br><br>
I live in Pennsylvania, so everything here is Penn State, The Steelers, The Eagles, The Phillies, etc, etc. I can walk out my door and by this afternoon I could find a dozen bars with various Pennsylvania sports team’s memorabilia plastered on the walls.<br>
Conversely, I bet I couldn’t find one photo honoring one member of Pennsylvania’s rich musical history. And there’s lots of it. Why is that? I for one would rather see a picture of Questlove hanging in the bar than Michael Vick. <br><br>
Hell, people are jamming to tunes on the jukebox by artists that started right in their home state or town. And they don’t even know it, or care. Stephen Foster, called “the father of American music” was educated in Towanda, PA. About 15 miles from Towanda is the town of Camptown, rumored to be the inspiration for “Camptown Races”. Anybody heard that song? Sure you did. But you probably were unaware of his connection to PA. <br><br>
Why does this happen? Well, let’s crack open a Coors Light and discuss it.<br><br>
Upon returning to her hometown, the author Gertrude Stein once lamented, “There is no ‘there” there.” In most American cities, this has been happening for many years.<br>
The landscape becomes more and more “the same” as you move from place to place.<br><br>
There is no “there” there.<br><br>
Every town has a Lowes, Walmart, Target, Perkins, Bed, Bath, And Beyond, Starbucks, Home Depot, etc, etc. Every one of them pretty much the same as all the others.<br>
There is no “there” there.<br><br>
Radio stations playlists are overwhelmingly being dictated by consultants in some far away place. People with no direct connection to the community they are spinning tunes for.<br><br>
See where I am going here? We are being homogenized and too few are awake enough to see it or care.<br><br>
If someone comes to your town to visit for the weekend and wants to soak up the local culture, what would you do?? You’d take them to the diner with the old cook who yells at all his customers. Or you’d take them to the restaurant with the most unique deep dish pizza you have ever had. Or you’d take them to the backwoods bar with the best bluegrass jam in the area. <br><br>
I hope to god you wouldn’t go buy a couple Whopper meals, pull into the parking lot of a Walmart, and listen to Kesha on the radio. And, oh yea, top the night off with a 12 pack of Coors Light and Netflix TV shows.<br><br>
Sadly, option #2 would probably be a more accurate picture of what usually happens.<br><br>
Ok, I’m lost again. How do I bring this full circle?<br><br>
Hey, if people want Kesha they want Kesha. If they want Coors Light, they want Coors Light. <br>
I’m usually the type that likes to appeal to people’s self interest instead of their sympathy. I’m not a “you should support the arts” kind of person. People don’t have a lot of free time and I don’t want anyone to do something out of a sense of obligation. But still I feel something is being lost here. <br><br>
Like my old radio promotion guy used to say, “Wake up people, your back yard is on fire.”<br><br>
Does Hollywood have to make a movie about your hometown for you to realize how cool it is??<br><br>
When I’m listening to tunes at home, the independent, regional stuff I work on flows effortlessly in and out of the playlists that contain all the classics. I love it. <br>
Just like grandma’s meatloaf sits on the table next to the Kraft macaroni and cheese.<br><br>
But still , I have trouble convincing people to pay attention to this stuff. Everybody’s kind of sleepy. <br><br>
I once played a charity auction in Austin, TX. Why we were there I don’t know, but I am glad we were. I stood backstage surrounded by a sea of the Austin music scene elite. Jimmy Vaughn, Charlie Sexton, Eric Johnson, Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton (of Double Trouble….. Stevie Ray’s band). The vibe was incredible. Those guys (and music in general) are an important part of the identity of that city. And I stood there enviously wanting just a little bit of that vibe for my town.<br><br>
Others have found ways to convince the public to watch TV shows about celebrities ballroom dancing and diving into pools.<br><br>
And still I babble. Still I wander.<br><br>
Damn you, Roy Orbison man. You win again.<br><br>
For now....<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/3731452013-03-15T06:38:16-04:002022-02-04T04:27:38-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<br><br><b>My Favorite Advice, Part 1<br></b><br>
This week I thought I would compile a few of my favorite pieces of advice. Some of these I read and some I was told directly. But I think of them all regularly. As some point down the line, I may do a part 2 as more come to mind. I use these as they relate to music, of course. But most of them apply to any situation.<br><br>
1<i>.“People are neither good nor bad, just smart or stupid.” Russell Simmons<br></i><br>
From the cofounder of Def Jam. Good one. We’ve all been on both sides of this. A manager friend of mine once said, “I wish for once someone would tell me I was right when it mattered whether I was right or wrong.”…..i.e. Not years later when the band is opening for a puppet show at some county fair.<br><br>
“Youth is wasted on the young”, “Hindsight is 20/20”, “Don’t cast pearls at the feet of swine”. There are lots of corollaries to this rule.<br><br>
Now, I don’t profess to know everything about the music business OR being a musician. Not by a long shot. But I’ll admit whenever I get frustrated with a “know it all” artist I’m working with I just picture them 4 years down the road singing the chorus of “Brown Eyed Girl” with a bunch of puppets on a flatbed.<br><br>
And I feel much better.<br><br>
2<i>.”The poor blacks hate the poor whites. But at the end of the day they are both f***ing poor” – Anonymous<br></i><br>
I heard this one from an old booking agent. I’ll keep his identity secret due to the sensitive nature of the comment. It goes without saying, but this is in no way meant to be a racist comment or an insult to the unfortunate.<br><br>
The point is to look at the big picture.<br><br>
Musicians and bands are a feudin’ bunch of idiots who can never get along. But sometimes, while the guitarist and singer are arguing whether it’s the pick slide/dive bomb or that bitchin’ cookie monster scream that deserves the most writer credit on their new original song, they need to be reminded that they have been playing the same bowling alley for 3 years.<br><br>
And that dude that freaks out when the singer puts his foot on the monitor during the chorus of “Dr. Feelgood” probably isn’t a record executive.<br><br>
There are greater enemies out there than each other.<br><br>
3.<i> “If you don’t straighten up, they are going to take us both to the hospital. To get my foot out of your ass” My Father<br><br></i>My dad said this to me, like, every day until I was about 32. A simple, powerful lesson in accountability. Fear can be a great motivator to do the right thing.<br>
Growing up, I never actually saw Fonzie hit anyone. And I never tested my dad on his threat. Some mysteries are best left unsolved.<br><br>
4. <i>“Never trust the opinion of anyone who gets their music for free” Larry Mazer<br></i><br>
Larry co-managed our band for several years. He also managed KISS, Cinderella, Cheap Trick, Breaking Benjamin, and Pat Benatar to name a few. So I think he knew a thing or two about the music biz. He had several other nuggets that I can’t repeat here. But I like this one.<br><br>
I first heard this in the late ‘90s. Today everyone gets their music for free. So I think this one needs to be rephrased for modern times. I would update it as “Never trust the opinion of anyone who listens to your music because they have to”…….i.e. critics, reviewers, etc.<br><br>
It is best to pay attention to the opinions of people who can’t wait for your new record to come out instead of some hipster reviewer who is too cool to even breathe the same air as you.<br><br>
David Lee Roth was once asked how he felt about the lousy reviews that Van Halen always received. He said, “These idiots only like Elvis Costello because they all look like Elvis Costello.” I like Elvis Costello AND Van Halen. But Diamond Dave could sure be a funny guy.<br><br>
5.<i> “99% of everything is shit” Bruce Dickinson<br></i><br>
Our band once had the good fortune to have a BBQ lunch with the Iron Maiden frontman. At Sound City, no less. How cool is that?<br><br>
Smart guy.<br><br>
I loved this advice he gave that day. 99% of everything out there, including your own stuff, is garbage. That’s just the way it is. It takes the pressure off really. <br><br>
You probably only hit it out of the park 1% of the time. So, the best way to write a great song is to get busy writing shitty ones. The A list material lies under the B list. The key to succeeding more at songwriting(or anything) is to increase your rate of failure. Ask Thomas Edison.<br><br>
6.<i> “If it don’t feel right, it ain’t right” Quincy Jones<br></i><br>
I think about this one all the time when I’m recording. If I have to talk myself into liking something I’m working on, it probably just sucks. It is best to stop right there and try something else. That gut feeling is almost always right.<br><br>
There is another saying: “Advice is what you ask for when you know the answer but wished you didn’t”.<br><br>
Same principle.<br><br>
Very simple idea, but it always tests you.<br><br>
7.<i> “ A writer doesn’t sell out because someone gives him a big check. The only way to sell out is to shadowbox.” Thomas Wolfe<br><br></i>I’m paraphrasing this one. This is a quote from one of my favorite novels, “You Can’t Go Home Again” by Thomas Wolfe. Among musicians it is a popular belief that if something is incredibly successful it must be garbage. Or if it is direct then it must be contrived. I disagree. I think it takes a certain amount of courage to write a good, simple pop song. Or a pretty ballad. <br><br>
You have to get over yourself. The key is doing something that connects. And that is harder than it looks….or sounds.<br><br>
Paul Westerberg was in The Replacements AND he writes great ballads. Tom Waits is a brilliant sap when he wants to be. Bob Dylan wrote “Desolation Row” AND “To Make You Feel My Love”.<br><br>
Here’s a couple of examples of how to REALLY sell out:<br><br>
1. Make a weird 2nd record to silence your critics. This is the very definition of “sophomore slump”. Looking out instead of in.<br>
2. Take you pretty McCartney-esque ballad and fill it up with weird electronic noises, banjos, and trombones so your “indy” friends won’t think it trite.<br>
3. Be incomprehensible……because it’s art, man.<br><br>
So, that’s all for now folks. <br><br>
So how do you sum this all up?<br><br>
I’d say: “To thine ownself be true. But remember 99% of the time we all suck”.<br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/3535022013-03-08T09:58:18-05:002021-11-25T11:42:54-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<b>The Musician Business<br></b><br>
Last week, I was reminded of a story that, ironically, fits nicely into this week’s topic. I’ve told this one before, but since I’m getting older I figure I should start telling the same stories over and over again. Who am I to change the rules?<br><br>
It was the mid 90’s and our band The Badlees were playing a radio station event. The gig went well, but that is of no consequence to the tale. What matters is what happened after the gig. <br><br>
As any musician will tell you, the long periods of boredom on the road make you quite adept at finding ways to entertain yourself. Charlie Watts once said, “ In my 45 years as a Rolling Stone, I played for 5 years and waited around for 40.” Most of the time there ain’t nothin’ going on. <br><br>
Anyway, on this particular night our self entertaining spidey sense noticed that attached to the club was a bowling alley. And, lucky us, the door was open.<br>
So we went in and it didn’t take long until our singer came up with the bright idea of running down one of the lanes and flying Pete Rose style into the pins.<br><br>
That was a great idea except for one small miscalculation: Them lanes is slippery.<br><br>
He took off ok, but when he got in position for the final dive he slipped….. and landed squarely on his chin about 20 feet from the pins.<br><br>
Gutter ball. Blood everywhere.<br><br>
Now that is funny but still not the story. Pete went to the hospital. Smelling of cheap beer, cigarettes, and regret, he held a bloody bar rag to his face. And he answered the nurse’s questions: Address? Emergency contact? Insurance? Allergies? Etc. etc. <br><br>
Occupation?<br><br>
“Musician”<br><br>
The nurse looked up suspiciously. She glared down at the chart and muttered, “Unemployed”.<br><br>
Then she left our boy to his thoughts.<br><br>
So……. That’s this week’s story folks. And here is my take on that oh so popular stereotype:<br><br>
I have worked with hundreds of musicians of all styles, shapes, and sizes. And way in the back of all their minds is this little voice that was put there not long after they started playing. That voice keeps saying, over and over, “What are you going to do when you grow up?” <br><br>
Here’s the kicker kids: If you love playing music now, you’re not going to outgrow it. You ain’t never gonna grow up.<br><br>
Get used to it. It’s ok. And here’s why….<br><br>
I always say that, as a whole, the music business should now be called the musician business. Meaning, the biz has gone from being a retail focused business (i.e. selling CDs) to a service focused business (i.e. selling musicians).<br><br>
So it’s more of a matter of “how can we use this guy’s talents” instead of “how can we sell this guy’s record.”<br><br>
Now, people still sell CDs, downloads, vinyl, etc. Shit tons of them. But not too many people that call themselves vocational musicians make their living that way.<br>
Think of the music business as becoming like the book business. You will always have the Stephen Kings of the world who sell millions of units. But by and large most people who write books don’t make their living doing JUST that. They are professors, housewives, coaches, fitness instructors, and the like. Some sort of expert at something……who also writes books.<br><br>
When I started producing records, almost every band I worked with talked incessantly about getting a record deal and “making it”. Now I almost never hear that discussion. And that, for me, is a welcome development.<br><br>
The discussion has stopped because that paradigm is not what it once was. Not even close. Deals are so much fewer and farther between than they once were. And many of the bigger deals suck worse than ever from the artist’s vantage point. <br><br>
Getting a big record deal is not a business plan. At least it is not a mission statement. It’s like buying scratch off lottery tickets as your retirement plan. It doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to hear people talk about it. <br><br>
So without the fairy tale ending, musicians can get down to the business of doing what they should be doing: Using their talents.<br><br>
And now, that’s an accepted course of action. Basically, it’s the only course of action you can control.<br><br>
Most of the heroes of our youth aren’t lying on a beach somewhere because they “made it”. They are teaching, playing shows, building instruments, producing, and engineering. AND……they still are making their own records.<br><br>
They are working.<br><br>
Because that is what those kind of people do. They make music happen. I see that as an honorable thing. <br><br>
There are more predictably lucrative career paths. As my wife says, “The term ‘starving lawyer’ does not exist”. But I don’t care what the crusty old nurse puts on the charts. “Musician” is an occupation. <br><br>
And ok, you might have to grow up a little. But tell that little voice in your head to zip it….. once and for all.<br><br>
To quote Van Morrison, “It’s too late to stop now.” <br><br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/3354352013-03-01T03:15:25-05:002020-10-23T04:01:06-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<b><br>
A Sense Of Humor<br></b><br>
You wanna hear a couple jokes? I do.<br><br>
Q: What do you call a musician without a girlfriend?<br>
A: Homeless<br><br>
Q: What is the difference between a drummer and a pizza?<br>
A: A pizza can feed a family of 4.<br><br>
Today, I want to talk about one of the most important survival skill a musician (or anyone for that matter) can have: a sense of humor.<br><br>
I love hanging with great musicians. The great ones are the most irreverent, self effacing, and hilarious people I know. And there is a reason for that.<br><br>
Because it doesn’t matter if you are Willie Nelson or Willie and The Moonlighters. If you have been doing this for any period of time, chances are you have had the living rock star beaten out of you….. More than once.<br><br>
Ozzy Osbourne said that when he watched Spinal Tap he didn’t laugh once. He had lived every scene. I’ve lived quite a few myself.<br><br>
Here’s one of my favorite stories from my “career”:<br>
My band, The Badlees, had been playing pretty much nonstop for a few years. Then one day we landed a great gig……an opening slot for Cheap Trick at a local university. We were all fans, so this was a big deal.<br><br>
The gig went great. We rocked.<br><br>
Afterwards, things changed. People were recognizing us at the mall. I signed a CD for the lady at the bank. Finally we were feeling like we were getting the respect we deserved. <br><br>
The next weekend we went to our Saturday gig at an area club we played frequently.<br><br>
We showed up in our van all full of piss and vinegar. Hell, we might have even gotten roadies by then. We were bad asses now.<br><br>
On the way in we noticed our name was spelled wrong on the marquis. It said, “ Sat: The Badees”. <br><br>
No “L”. WTF??<br><br>
So we accosted the club owner: “Hey Brian, you spelled our name wrong. No ‘L’. What’s up with that?”<br>
Brian looked up from the plate of wings he was making. “Sorry fellas, I needed the ‘L’ for ‘cole slaw’.” And he went back to work.<br><br>
Damn.<br><br>
As Mark Knofler once said, “Sometimes you’re the windshield/Sometimes you’re the bug”.<br><br>
If you are going to go out and play for a living, you are going to have to keep things in perspective.<br><br>
The music business is one of those rare industries where you can go from being perceived as a no talent shmuck to a boy genius overnight by doing exactly the same thing.<br><br>
You have to rise above that. And if you can’t laugh at it all, you won’t survive.<br><br>
Levon Helm was in Bob Dylan’s band when Dylan “went electric”. Dylan had made his reputation as an acoustic troubadour and the band got booed nightly. In his book, “Wheels On Fire” Levon spoke of going backstage after the gig and listening to the recordings of the show. They sounded fantastic. The next night they would go out again, sound great, and get booed again.<br><br>
Levon spoke of how the more the audience booed, the more Dylan smiled.<br><br>
Today that stage of Dylan’s career is considered one of the most influential periods in rock and roll history. <br><br>
So you gotta go out there and play hard and often. Take it seriously and have thick skin but realize it’s only rock and roll…… or jazz, or country, or hip hop or whatever.<br>
And remember to laugh, my friends.<br><br>
I saw an interview with Bruce Springsteen where he said, “I tell my kids to be thankful for the time we were born in. Because if we were born a few hundred years earlier, you guys would be riding in a cart and I’d be wearing a jester’s hat.”<br><br>
I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that if that were the case Bruce would already be on his way to the gig.<br><br>
…til next time.<br><br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/3233962013-02-22T04:15:00-05:002022-04-03T03:55:55-04:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<br><b>Context and The Art of Sound Ownership<br></b><br>
To start, I finally got around to watching Dave Grohl’s “Sound City” movie. If you want to hear a bunch of famous musicians expound on the subject of last week’s blog……well, check that movie out. I had the opportunity to work at Sound City for a few weeks in the late ‘90s. It was a special place, for sure.<br><br>
On to the topic at hand: Context. In music and just about everything else in life, everything hinges on context. The author Tom Robbins said, “Style is the conduit through which substance must flow.” In other words, if you have an important message for someone you have to get their attention first. No one is going to take the time to listen to your wonderful message to the world unless they are first drawn to you. Or to the way you are presenting it.<br><br>
And rightfully so.<br><br>
You can call that marketing, charisma, image, advertising, or whatever. I like “context”. But I think musicians lose sight of this point all the time. <br>
There was a story I read a while ago where a virtuoso violinist played a show to a sold out crowd one evening. The next day he put on a baseball cap and played on the street of the same city. Day one he played to a few thousand. Day two he made about $50 in change and people walked right by him.<br><br>
Context.<br><br>
Marketing people talk about “owning a word in the consumer’s mind”. For example, take a brand like Kleenex. Chances are you thought of tissues. Many people call other brands of tissues ”Kleenex’s”. Kleenex is a company…. and for the most part they own the word “tissues”.<br><br>
If you are a musician, you need to “own a sound”. The Rolling Stones have dabbled in country, blues, rock, disco, R &b, etc, etc. But I can always tell a Stones song when it comes on the radio. Even before Mick sings.<br><br>
They own a sound.<br><br>
Keith Richards was a guy who loved the blues. He took that Telecaster and poured his attitude, personality, and balls out into the air. It became a living, breathing thing. The people connected and he is still doing it to this day.<br><br>
Now, there are 5 million other legendary tales and twists and turns to The Stones’s story. But that is where it started. It doesn’t matter who you are or how far you go. That is always the beginning of things that last.<br><br>
People become good at something by spending years honing their craft. They become successful by taking that skill and offering something of value to the world. Something the world can understand and use.<br><br>
Many musicians take the attitude that they are unsuccessful because the public “doesn’t get it”. It has nothing to do with them. <br>
To me that means you have an unused skill. There are not that many poets making a living sitting in a tower anymore. You have to enter the world and be part of things. I don’t think there is anything noble about being tragic.<br><br>
Put yourself in the right context.<br><br>
Now, I think this is a pretty academic discussion of something that comes intuitively to most great musicians. I doubt Stevie Ray Vaughn thought about any of this shit.<br>
But still, when most of his fans think about him they don’t think about the specific notes he played or musical notation. They think about the guy from Texas with the hat and the white boots who played blues guitar like no other. They remember where they were when they first heard his music.<br><br>
And in their minds they hear the sound……<br><br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/585122013-02-15T04:17:18-05:002022-01-12T09:09:50-05:00THE REAL GIG: A MUSICIAN’S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE<b>Music, Cooking, and The Source<br></b><br>
I have been threatening to start this blog for months. No time like the present, I say…………Every Friday.<br><br>
Since my wife is a baker (and a damn good chef too), inevitably there are many late night discussions in our house about the similarities between music and baking(or cooking).<br><br>
This brings up the essential truth about both disciplines: If something ain’t right, go back to the source. Either the ingredients are bad(i.e. the instrument), the chef doesn’t know what he is doing(the musician), or the recipe sucks(the song or part). Fix things at the source and you will have good results.<br><br>
Now, nothing makes me angrier than when I am recording a musician who knows more about his computer than his instrument. Well, maybe when the person sends a text message between every take….that makes me pretty violent. But, anyway.<br><br>
Too many musicians rush through the recording process because of the mindset that what they are hearing can be edited later. The culinary equivalent would be saying, “Hell, I’m not worried that this tastes like shit now because I am going to just melt cheese over it later”. <br><br>
That makes no sense to me.<br><br>
Now, you can go up to the Walmarts, buy yourself a box of Little Debbie Snack Cakes and bring them home, put them on a fancy plate, and call yourself a pastry chef. You can do that, but it’s not the same thing as getting it from a master.<br>
(side note** Of course, if the bakery business worked like the music business, Walmart would deliver the snack cakes to your house and give them to you for free. But that ‘s another story for another day)<br><br>
I will spend hours reworking a song with a band before I will spend 10 minutes editing it after the fact. That’s just the way I like to do it. I think the results are better. It’s a time honored tradition that I respect.<br><br>
That’s not to put down the Dr. Dre’s or Skrillex’s of the world. What they do is fabulous. All I am saying is that if you are a musician in the traditional sense, put away the damn electronica and sweat the details at the source.<br><br>
I can’t tell you how many projects I have witnessed where the artist or engineer is spending days and days editing a project when he should have manned up and fired the damn drummer. The first process takes days. The second about 10 minutes.<br><br>
That may be harsh, but to quote Tom Hanks in “A League Of Their Own”: “It’s supposed to be hard. The hard is what makes it great.”<br><br>
Not everyone is qualified for the gig.<br><br>
We live in a world of instant gratification. Just about anything can be made to look like something it isn’t. At least on the surface.<br>
But I believe there is still room in the world for THE MASTER. The master chef, the master musician, the master producer, carpenter, etc, etc. <br><br>
And you don’t become a master by leaning on the same things everyone else is leaning on.<br><br>
So turn down the noise and take a good hard look at the source of things. It won’t make you rich quick, but you will be part of a long line of bad asses.<br><br>
And the world sure needs more of those.<br>BRET ALEXANDERtag:bretalexanderonline.com,2005:Post/1619222012-04-27T22:15:00-04:002022-03-22T07:51:38-04:00The Badlees - See Me As A Picture: The Best So FarI've recently finished a series of blog posts for The Badlees new greatest hits collection including insights to the songs on the album. You can check it out by heading here. <br><a href="http://www.badlees.com/blog.php">http://www.badlees.com/blog.php</a><br><br>
Stay tuned to my blog for more posts soon.BRET ALEXANDER