"Dude, let's start a band and record a CD and shop it to record labels. Then we'll get ourselves on MTV, get into a movie, tour with Lemmy and Zakk and go to Europe and live happily ever after!"
No one actually said that of course but that's what happened...and let me tell you - only YOU are in control of the "happily ever after" part; not your bank account.
Record labels:
As much as I fear record labels, I would love a venture capitalist to knock on my door. Money allows you time but not necessarily quality music. With a record label advance also comes a deadline. Yes it is true that many labels and or investors will boast on the highest mountain to be part of the union with your band but mostly, they want a return for their investment! They wouldn't lie. They'd tell you before you signed the 35 pages, "you'd better deliver". They would put it nicely of course and make you feel that they have every confidence in the world or they wouldn't consider the offer. However, it's a loan. Hopefully not too big of one.
Let's take the word 'day' and replace it with the word 'song' for a moment:
A Song in the Life
A Hard Song's Night
That'll Be The Song
Lucky Song
One Song at a Time
They all seem to fit this topic here. Especially the last one (without the religious connotation, although a prayer or two wouldn't hurt). 'One Song At a Time' - that is the way we are running the show right now. It's not really a plan. It's convenient. We're broke uh..eh...(excuse me while I clear my throat) I mean we are very frugal with our money and we are not on a label anymore. A band member has some excellent recording gear and we record as we write. When the song is ready we release it. "Huh?" You say? Is that against the rules? Who's rules? In the 1950's the whole industry was based on the 'single'. 45 rpm record. 1 song per side. Why make our fans wait? If a song is ready publish it! Most people will find a way to get it free anyway. That said, why go through all the trouble of finding some corporate giants who treat us like schmucks, waste time and money developing us in the wrong genre and turn around to renegotiate the next time around and/or blame US for lack of CD sales? It's our burden, our passion, our music so why shouldn't it be our decision to do with it what we please?
This is not a rant it's an epiphany:
There sure is a lot of writing on the wall these days! It seems that modern day musicians will only benefit from merchandise, live shows, publishing and subscriptions/on-demand services.
Pack for the trip - let's see, camera, phone, Ipod, laptop, PDA, camcorder, all the wall-chargers, car-chargers and cable connectors, spare batteries, battery chargers, adaptors, USB, SCSI, Mini jack, 1/4 inch, RCA, firewire.........
I need a bigger suitcase!
Much like the way the consumers have been tired of carrying around a PDA, cell phone, Ipod, Laptop, digital camera, video camera and any number of other gadgets that require grown men to harness 'bitch-bags', the cell phone companies have opted for the 'all-in-one' devices. Now the damn phones hold multiple gigs of music, web browsers, camcorders, cameras and who knows what else? Soon consumers will inevitably subscribe to ONE company for ALL their music. There's no doubt in my mind that it will be part of some conglomerate umbrella of Verizon or AT&T (whatever).
If you are subscribing to get ALL your music from one place you would expect ALL artists to be in their archives. Right? Not yet. It's getting there. Emusic boasts that it has "the world's largest catalog of independent music". OK, that's great for independent music. What about U2, Shaggy, Kid Rock(footnote 1) and Nickelback? Itunes, Rhapsody, Sony Connect? The main question I guess, relating to my theme here the best I can, do these companies accept artists if they only submit a single song? Is it absolutely necessary to have a pressed "CD" in order to stand along side the giants in the industry? I think you can see where I'm going here (if you know tell me and I'll meet you there). Much of my experience with a full recorded album [they still call them albums] is the time fillers! With the exception of a few artists (Boston's 1st record, Led Zeppelin, Stone Temple Pilots, Pantera, Soundgarden, Pink Floyd) I cannot listen to an entire album without skipping tracks. It seems that most artists, whether premeditated or unintentional, have but 1 or 2 'good' - maybe 'great' - songs and the rest are garbage or just mediocre. Why is that?
I can answer that question a few ways:
1) Maybe they didn't have enough material and slapped together a few tracks at the last minute to meet a deadline.
2) Maybe they were trying to cross over into different genres and just should have stayed with their forte
3) Maybe I'm a presumptuous asshole and I'm too picky or elitist to accept anything but the best.
4) Maybe I have a certain taste and end up biased based on particular styles of songs.
Notice my last two reasons pointed out the fact that the previous paragraph won't stand up as a valid argument to most people. The reason is basically this: Music is subjective; one man's junk is another man's treasure. You cannot expect to please all the people all the time. You can also take a bunch of cliches and make a hit song out of it (haha - it's true though). Back to the point: In my opinion, it seems most bands release a full length CD because it's the standard way of doing things. It's what you are supposed to do. I don't agree with that philosophy. If 4 songs feel good and sound good together and that seems like the best package STOP right there! It looks to me like you have yourselves an EP this time! Release it as it is!
What's my point? I don't know but it feels good to let it out. I think what my cerebrum is trying to convey (while side-tracking myself like a ADHD kid who forgot to take his Ritalin) is that the 'singles' format may very well be the vehicle for independent artists. Also, I feel that independent artist should remain that way: Indy!
1.) It's interesting that I happened to mention Kid Rock while assuming that all major artists have their music on Itunes and the like. I should do some research before running my mouth: I just read in Rolling Stone Magazine that Kid Rock REFUSED to publish his songs on Itunes. Maybe that's the reason he sold 1.3 million copies of his latest release, "Rock N Roll Jesus" (which came out last October). "All Summer Long" hit number 4 in July. According to Atlantic general manager , Livia Tortella, he's "the only artist that's not available on Itunes with a monster hit right now." At that level, maybe that is what it takes to actually sell CDs...hold out as long as you can. In his own words, "it's not very American to me when Apple tells you how they want to sell your product and tell you what it's worth." - Rolling Stone issue 1059 August 21, 2008.
-KD
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Hittin' The Road
[UTICA, FLINT & DETROIT]
To paraphrase Chuck in his upcoming magazine, 'when we're in it we miss home...when we're home we miss it. It's our bed, our living room, our solace, our garbage can, our wrestling ring... the van is our home.'
AAAHHHH! As we ventured 500 miles to Michigan I noticed the tension leaving my being after 8 months of being grounded. This is where we need to be; on the road showcasing Brand New Sin and visiting old friends. Michigan feels like home to us. Dave and Wendy once again invited us into their home to eat some home-cooked grubbin' and treat their house like it was our own (ironically, they live on Syracuse Street - coincidence?) They open their doors to us with a warm embrace just like mom would after a semester away at college. We weren't playing Detroit until tomorrow but they insisted that we swing by for a nice meal and some rest before heading north to Flint (about an hour and a half away).
We just debuted in Joe Sweet's home town the night before (Utica, NY) Kick ass! Stage sound wasn't that great - in fact it was terrible. Drums are too loud for that room plus the back wall is brick. Anyway, Joe did a terrific job of captivating the young ladies in the front and impressing our devoted fans who we're itching to see and hear the new sound. We hung out for a while, said our goodbyes and began our journey. We needed to stop back to Chuck's to drop off some gear and put a couple rows of seats back on the van before we picked up Chucky Luv - if he's available, all bands should consider taking Mr. Luv on the road. Invaluable entity that guy is.
Side note: Utica is rocking on Thursday nights!! Especially Varick Street right around the corner from The Saranac Brewery. Every Thursday they have a concert series at the brewery with a huge stage and all the streets and bars are packed!! If you live near Utica you should take a chance and check out a Thursday!
We arrived at The Machine Shop to an open buffet - all you can eat and drink! "Welcome back my friends"... even if you've never been there, it is so familiar and welcoming at The Machine Shop in Flint Michigan. The two owners (brothers Kevin and Craig Zink) and the staff that works there dress and comb their hair like The Outsiders: INSIDE AND OUT - they're greasers! James Dean and Buddy Holly would feel right at home here. The chicks are hot. The place is decked out in custom designed diamond plate metal, steel chains, motorcycle parts, hot chicks and rock & roll and metal.
We played "Know Yourself" during sound check and I noticed three or four rockers watching and grooving to us. It was DOPE! Afterword, Virus came up to our table and introduced himself. He said that he didn't even know we were playing and I explained that we got on the bill a couple weeks ago. He mentioned that he was from the Central New York area. I could tell that he didn't recognize me so I mentioned that I was in a band with a childhood friend of his and that I knew his old band members (including his brother) from the band "One" who became "Bully". That led to a cool conversation - then the singer and guitarist came up and introduced themselves to us. They didn't have to take the time to do that. Much respect to the Dope guys for that! They definitely left a great first impression on me.
This was the first time I saw Bobaflex...great band!! Really, I'm not kissing ass here - I was very impressed with their show and stage presence. I had a good long talk with the guitarist and then the drummer. Nice guys. They seem to have a great plan and good work ethic. They were very easy to talk to. Chucky befriended them on his last tour with Soil and Bobaflex. Hopefully we get to share the stage with them in the future.
Unfortunately, I did not get to see A New Revolution but I did hear them. I was outside breaking down my drums and repacking the van. They sounded great and Kenny said he thought they were an awesome band (he's very critical so I would take his word for it).
After our show we got some feedback from strangers and friends. Honest feedback. Most people absolutely love the new sound with Joe Sweet. One person asked permission to be frank and I said, "let me have it man". He just isn't used to anything other than Joe Altier. He wasn't bashing the new guy but he thinks that the old singer was a better fit and he doesn't think we should play the old tunes anymore. OK. He was honest and I thanked him. What are you going to do? Quit or find a replacement? Well, you obviously know our answer to that. Regardless of the difference of opinion, I respect him for sharing his honest opinion.
We got to spend some time with Mercedes, the drummer of Kittie. She told me that she loves the new singer! Nice. It's been a while since we've toured with Kittie. She introduced me to the two new girls in their band. I believe they are all from Canada. I have to hand it to them, her and her sister, Morgan, were just young teenagers when their first album, "Spit" came out. They have this knack for taking bands on the road who later explode! Seriously, they've given a lot of exposure to many up and coming bands who are now at the top of the industry. They are still young and do not seem jaded or sour from the music biz. Plus they still tour! Good for them.
"Alright, gentlemen, time to leave!!" - Chucky Luv. Poor guy. He's the responsible one since he doesn't drink anymore. Trying to round up a drunken Brand New Sin is like trying to catch a bunch of fruit flies with chopsticks.
Here are some photos: http://www.mintypics.com/BNS%207-25-08.html
A little over an hour later we show up at Dave and Wendy's house (who, incidentally, made sure to express their love for the new guy - which really means a lot to us). It's hard to sleep after you play your first show back on the road, especially if you're among friends who feel and treat you like members of their family! We had a blast.
What time is it? Whew! Back to sleep. My wife would have kicked my ass if I was rolling our of bed just to take a leak and crawl back in at 2 pm!! Don't get me wrong, my wife is awesome but at home I have some responsibility - my 2 year old son (yes of course I miss them but it's only been two days - they understand). She would have every right to kick me out of bed much earlier in the day.
Anyway, this was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time. It was nice to decompress.
The Token Lounge! Once again, this place feels like a home town bar. John, the owner, is also an independent film director. He specializes in drug-trafficking, gun-toting, 'violent for no apparent reason', action packed movies with plenty of explosions and corruption! Nice. I wrote a blog years ago about an incident regarding a van-breakdown turned into a van-funeral in which we ended up handing over the title to John so he could blow it up in his next movie! I can't wait to see the footage. The show: not a jam-packed show but the people there were either hard-core BNS fans or became such fans enough to stay interested. Most people stuck around for the entire show! That's a great experience when you can captivate strangers while you're playing - enough to actually meet them after the show. That was cool. We met almost everyone left in the bar at the end of the night. Everyone we met was easy to get a long with and again, I keep saying it, it feels so familiar here. Even Joe said it. You find yourself among a group of strangers getting along with them as if you'd known them for years. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Allen Beck from WRIF - a rock/metal station in Detroit. They are the first radio station to spin "Know Yourself". Here's a link to the interview:
http://brandnewsinmusic.com/wrifinterview.htm
Stay tuned for a link to another blog written by Dave (our Michigan Host), some photos and hopefully some video footage.
[edit] Well, that didn't take long. Here's Part 1 of Dave's recap: http://brandnewsin.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=3394
It is posted on the Brand New Sin forum - please don't complain...just make up a screen name and join us on the forum if you want to read it.
-Kevin
To paraphrase Chuck in his upcoming magazine, 'when we're in it we miss home...when we're home we miss it. It's our bed, our living room, our solace, our garbage can, our wrestling ring... the van is our home.'
AAAHHHH! As we ventured 500 miles to Michigan I noticed the tension leaving my being after 8 months of being grounded. This is where we need to be; on the road showcasing Brand New Sin and visiting old friends. Michigan feels like home to us. Dave and Wendy once again invited us into their home to eat some home-cooked grubbin' and treat their house like it was our own (ironically, they live on Syracuse Street - coincidence?) They open their doors to us with a warm embrace just like mom would after a semester away at college. We weren't playing Detroit until tomorrow but they insisted that we swing by for a nice meal and some rest before heading north to Flint (about an hour and a half away).
We just debuted in Joe Sweet's home town the night before (Utica, NY) Kick ass! Stage sound wasn't that great - in fact it was terrible. Drums are too loud for that room plus the back wall is brick. Anyway, Joe did a terrific job of captivating the young ladies in the front and impressing our devoted fans who we're itching to see and hear the new sound. We hung out for a while, said our goodbyes and began our journey. We needed to stop back to Chuck's to drop off some gear and put a couple rows of seats back on the van before we picked up Chucky Luv - if he's available, all bands should consider taking Mr. Luv on the road. Invaluable entity that guy is.
Side note: Utica is rocking on Thursday nights!! Especially Varick Street right around the corner from The Saranac Brewery. Every Thursday they have a concert series at the brewery with a huge stage and all the streets and bars are packed!! If you live near Utica you should take a chance and check out a Thursday!
We arrived at The Machine Shop to an open buffet - all you can eat and drink! "Welcome back my friends"... even if you've never been there, it is so familiar and welcoming at The Machine Shop in Flint Michigan. The two owners (brothers Kevin and Craig Zink) and the staff that works there dress and comb their hair like The Outsiders: INSIDE AND OUT - they're greasers! James Dean and Buddy Holly would feel right at home here. The chicks are hot. The place is decked out in custom designed diamond plate metal, steel chains, motorcycle parts, hot chicks and rock & roll and metal.
We played "Know Yourself" during sound check and I noticed three or four rockers watching and grooving to us. It was DOPE! Afterword, Virus came up to our table and introduced himself. He said that he didn't even know we were playing and I explained that we got on the bill a couple weeks ago. He mentioned that he was from the Central New York area. I could tell that he didn't recognize me so I mentioned that I was in a band with a childhood friend of his and that I knew his old band members (including his brother) from the band "One" who became "Bully". That led to a cool conversation - then the singer and guitarist came up and introduced themselves to us. They didn't have to take the time to do that. Much respect to the Dope guys for that! They definitely left a great first impression on me.
This was the first time I saw Bobaflex...great band!! Really, I'm not kissing ass here - I was very impressed with their show and stage presence. I had a good long talk with the guitarist and then the drummer. Nice guys. They seem to have a great plan and good work ethic. They were very easy to talk to. Chucky befriended them on his last tour with Soil and Bobaflex. Hopefully we get to share the stage with them in the future.
Unfortunately, I did not get to see A New Revolution but I did hear them. I was outside breaking down my drums and repacking the van. They sounded great and Kenny said he thought they were an awesome band (he's very critical so I would take his word for it).
After our show we got some feedback from strangers and friends. Honest feedback. Most people absolutely love the new sound with Joe Sweet. One person asked permission to be frank and I said, "let me have it man". He just isn't used to anything other than Joe Altier. He wasn't bashing the new guy but he thinks that the old singer was a better fit and he doesn't think we should play the old tunes anymore. OK. He was honest and I thanked him. What are you going to do? Quit or find a replacement? Well, you obviously know our answer to that. Regardless of the difference of opinion, I respect him for sharing his honest opinion.
We got to spend some time with Mercedes, the drummer of Kittie. She told me that she loves the new singer! Nice. It's been a while since we've toured with Kittie. She introduced me to the two new girls in their band. I believe they are all from Canada. I have to hand it to them, her and her sister, Morgan, were just young teenagers when their first album, "Spit" came out. They have this knack for taking bands on the road who later explode! Seriously, they've given a lot of exposure to many up and coming bands who are now at the top of the industry. They are still young and do not seem jaded or sour from the music biz. Plus they still tour! Good for them.
"Alright, gentlemen, time to leave!!" - Chucky Luv. Poor guy. He's the responsible one since he doesn't drink anymore. Trying to round up a drunken Brand New Sin is like trying to catch a bunch of fruit flies with chopsticks.
Here are some photos: http://www.mintypics.com/BNS%207-25-08.html
A little over an hour later we show up at Dave and Wendy's house (who, incidentally, made sure to express their love for the new guy - which really means a lot to us). It's hard to sleep after you play your first show back on the road, especially if you're among friends who feel and treat you like members of their family! We had a blast.
What time is it? Whew! Back to sleep. My wife would have kicked my ass if I was rolling our of bed just to take a leak and crawl back in at 2 pm!! Don't get me wrong, my wife is awesome but at home I have some responsibility - my 2 year old son (yes of course I miss them but it's only been two days - they understand). She would have every right to kick me out of bed much earlier in the day.
Anyway, this was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time. It was nice to decompress.
The Token Lounge! Once again, this place feels like a home town bar. John, the owner, is also an independent film director. He specializes in drug-trafficking, gun-toting, 'violent for no apparent reason', action packed movies with plenty of explosions and corruption! Nice. I wrote a blog years ago about an incident regarding a van-breakdown turned into a van-funeral in which we ended up handing over the title to John so he could blow it up in his next movie! I can't wait to see the footage. The show: not a jam-packed show but the people there were either hard-core BNS fans or became such fans enough to stay interested. Most people stuck around for the entire show! That's a great experience when you can captivate strangers while you're playing - enough to actually meet them after the show. That was cool. We met almost everyone left in the bar at the end of the night. Everyone we met was easy to get a long with and again, I keep saying it, it feels so familiar here. Even Joe said it. You find yourself among a group of strangers getting along with them as if you'd known them for years. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Allen Beck from WRIF - a rock/metal station in Detroit. They are the first radio station to spin "Know Yourself". Here's a link to the interview:
http://brandnewsinmusic.com/wrifinterview.htm
Stay tuned for a link to another blog written by Dave (our Michigan Host), some photos and hopefully some video footage.
[edit] Well, that didn't take long. Here's Part 1 of Dave's recap: http://brandnewsin.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=3394
It is posted on the Brand New Sin forum - please don't complain...just make up a screen name and join us on the forum if you want to read it.
-Kevin
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tool & Die Magazine
T&D is a print magazine which will not only cover music and bands, but will feature machines (street and dirt) and their builders, live music venues, food, humor, and many other areas that musicians and music fans of rock will enjoy. We will feature updates and info on the topics of the most recent issue, but you will have to find a copy to get it all.
Tool & Die Magzine on Myspace
Tool & Die Website
Thanks for the interest!
This is the brain-child of Chuck Kahl - bassist for Brand New Sin.
Spread the word!!!
ED'S SHINDIG
TUESDAY JULY 8, 2008 "ED'S SHINDIG"
Ed’s Shindig:
I was taking it easy Saturday. When it’s a Brand New Sin show I like to keep my wits about me because I’m a neurotic musician and I really care about my performance. This is especially true when it happens to be an exciting event like this was. Although we played an impromptu surprise gig during our open mic last Thursday, this was the real debut; a show; outside, under a tent in the middle of nowhere NY.
We showed up to see the infamous half-school bus that belongs to Joe Sweet and parked right behind it. This was going to be fun. We got out and staked our claim on the unmarked territory and set up our tent. My son was allured to the stage area and proceeded to clap his hands and dance to the jam-band that was playing. His name is Collin and he turned two in March. Hey, this is not YOUR son. If I want to subject him to a Brand New Sin showcase at an all-ages party while it’s sunny and beautiful I have the right. Don’t worry, my wife and mother were there too and he wasn’t too much of a pain in the ass. If it makes you feel better, Joe brought his infant son which is way more irresponsible. Nah!
We had a good day. Of course I had to follow the kid around while he crashed everybody’s party flirting with the girls and getting tons of handouts. Collin was scoring big time. He walked out of one campsite with a bowl of chips, a bottled-water and a lollipop. Nice work. Sooner or later I tapped my tag-team partner (the better half) and relaxed at the campsite while she too had the pleasure of being guided around the land to meet everyone. I mean everyone.
The second band played for a couple hours. These were some very skilled musicians. They played really low volume which is something that I haven’t been accustomed to since college and my jazz/fusion days. The drummer was very articulate and played an impressive solo that reminded me of Jon Fishman (Phish) mixed in with Stanton Moore (Galactic / C.O.C.).
Fireworks – very impressive for a party, hell it was impressive for a typical 2 hour wait to get in, then paying for parking and a 4 hour wait in traffic to go home at the usual ‘annual fireworks displays’ around central New York. Collin was about done for the day so we put him to bed.
Choke Slam hit the stage in their diapers. No joke. Well, it was all a joke. These guys take comedy very seriously. It was getting really cold out too- 40 degrees maybe. They stayed the long haul and jammed almost naked for an hour and a half. Much respect for that accomplishment. Hopefully they were ready to drink so at least they could trick their minds into thinking it was warm out. Man, I hope they didn’t wake up sick.
Chucky Luv – stage manager extraordinaire. He couldn’t really do his normal job of bitching at the opening bands to get off stage and demanding beer and towels for BNS like he has been known to do in the past. He’s not an asshole he just looks out for our best interests. This was a party with friends and we were more like guests than stars. So relax man. It’s cool. We hit the stage about an hour after we were supposed to. Much of Choke Slam’s crowd hung out by the bon-fire while we played but hey – it was freekin’ cold! The people that stuck around under the tent were rowdy! It was awesome to play a full show with Joe Sweet. That guy is something else.
I can never accurately describe what we sound like. I can only give you my experience of the moment. I was adrenalized – that helped reduce the cold-factor almost immediately. About 30 seconds into Did You I felt warmed up and relaxed. For old guys in the rock scene we still have a lot of energy and BNS shows are the best way to get it out of us. I hope that’s enough of an explanation for you to realize that even if we sucked – we mean business when we play. It’s our passion. When I was done I felt completely content with life- I know this is what I was meant to do and I’m doing it.
These people at Ed’s 4th Annual Shindig were mostly Joe’s friends and peers and they were proud of him. So was I. Hopefully we just created a new legion of Brand New Sin fans in Utica. This was a great way to lay the foundation for The Electric Company show on July 24th!
Set List (not exactly sure of the order – sorry):
Did You
Dead Man Walking
Brown Street Betty
Know Yourself
Wyoming
Black and Blue
Reaper Man
Broken Soul
Freight Train
Arrived
Motormeth
Question?
SECRET SHOW!
Photo courtesy of RayRaysWorld.com!
Click here for more pictures
Friday, July 4, 2008 "SECRET SHOW!":
Brand New Sin has a side project called The Undesirables. We host open mic night here in Syracuse every Thursday night at Mac’s Bad Art Bar. We’ve been doing our open mic since July of 2006 (originally at Station 58) whenever we are home from tour.
Week to week there are new faces, new bands, guest karaoke singers, young, old, male, female, bikers, yuppies, metal-heads, punk-rockers, radio junkies, rich, poor: a cross-demographic of the Syracuse test-market. What better way to showcase your new songs than to sign up for the open mic night and get on stage and jam? We have some regulars that sit in every week. Every now and then an unknown band surprises us. We also get some unknown out of state musicians just passing through or visiting relatives. It’s exciting and different every week.
Can you keep a secret?
That’s tough sometimes. Especially this secret: Brand New Sin is slated to debut Joe Sweet to the world tomorrow at a party in the Utica area…but it's too late for a debut…WE PLAYED A SURPRISE SHOW LAST NIGHT AT OPEN MIC! Sorry if you missed it. Don’t be mad. That was the hardest part of keeping this one a secret – we wanted everyone to be there to see it but we did NOT want the hype. I love the way it went down. No one knew. There wasn’t an army of haters standing with their arms crossed thinking, “impress me”, with their presumptuous attitude of, “I’m not going to like this new guy”.
There was no introduction or planning. The Undies played their usual first set to warm up the crowd and proceeded to let the next band play (which happened to be Schmied; Grant, the lead singer of The Undesirables, is the drummer). Once they were done, I got on stage and prepared my drums while Kenny, Chuck and Kris were tuning. Joe Sweet has been in the local news recently and our fans know what he looks like. After witnessing him in the bar all night I’m sure some people figured it out. Most of the crowd assumed that The Undesirables would jam again until Joe walked on stage. Suddenly, the pit in front of the stage started to fill up with anxious and curious fans…
Did You ever wonder…
Deep breath…here we go - 1, 2, 3, 4…………well, all I can say is that there is nothing more refreshing than playing your own tunes after a 6 month hiatus. Two seconds into “Did You” we had the crowd. I know they were still skeptical but the energy was growing into a fireball. By the time we got to the chorus Joe Sweet was a unanimous hit to the unsuspecting crowd that didn’t know what hit them. Kenny let his hair down (holy shit he has hair). In public, I don’t recall seeing his actual hair length since he had a Mohawk. Who knew that it was as long as mine? He thrashed out hard! Hell yeah! Joe Sweet didn’t say much. I think it was 4 songs in and he said, “Thank you. You’re too kind” to the excited and appreciative fans who seemed more than happy to welcome Mr. Sweet into the family.
He’s in. “you’d better hold on to this guy!” – BNS fan.
I heard that the strongest song we played last night was “Know Yourself”. That’s a given since Joe wrote the lyrics and cadences to that song and he’s pretty much singing covers for the old Brand New Sin stuff. Give it time, they will become his own. We’re just scratching the surface here with Joe Sweet. Wait until we write and tour for a couple of years. I can’t imagine the music we are about to create.
It was really intense watching the first few rows of people singing all the words. I guess being dormant skews your perception of the band you’re in. I almost forgot what we had done in the past as if I watched it on TV as a documentary of some ‘has-been’, “where are they now” band that used to be. I almost didn’t remember that there are people who grew to love our band and couldn’t wait until we were back in action. It was also overwhelming to witness the high energy coming from my band members. I hadn’t felt or seen it since the last tour we did with The Cult. We just recharged the batteries!
So, if you missed it I’m sorry. No offense.
Stay tuned…
The Impossible Deadline
WEDNESDAY JULY 2, 3008 "The impossible deadline:"
Friday - “Let’s record this song Sunday and do our press release Friday. Ok”
Sunday May 4th 2008...5 days and counting…
We setup shop in Joe’s basement where he has a control room with studio glass peering into the drum room and a vocal booth within the control room. He invited his friend Grahm Espe who brought his recording gear and microphones. Graham does sound at The Electric Company in Utica and runs his own recording studio http://mixedjam.com .
We started getting drum sounds and about a half hour later ran through “Know Yourself” so I could lay down the drum tracks. It was alright but I knew I could get the vibe better. We kept the second take. Kenny and Kris were next (guitars). I went upstairs for a beer and a smoke. It seemed like only a few minutes went by when they called Chuck in to lay down the bass parts.
Now here it was about 3 hours after we got there and we were ready for Joe Sweet. In Brand New Sin’s experience, the majority of the first day of each recording session is wasted on getting drum sounds. This is probably due to anal retentive producers/engineers who either A.) want to experiment B.) know that the band is charged by the hour and can’t resist the urge to stretch each valuable minute for their financial gain C.) don’t know how to get the sound they want or D.) I don’t know how to tune my drums. It must be D.
Joe is a one take guy (for the most part). When Joe was done with the vocals Graham went through each instrument with us asking our input on the tones. Then Kenny and Kris sang their harmonies. We got a rough mix and went home.
Now we needed to mix it, get it ready for streaming and downloading, setup the new website, schedule a photo-shoot, announce the new singer, new website, and new song through the media channels and get the song uploaded to our retailers (snocap.com, altsounds.com and apollotunes.com) by Friday.
Why the rush?
Hindsight:
We landed a show back in December that was slated for June 14th “Operation Metal Siege” in Coney Island with 40 bands. I got in touch with Ed from Bullistic (who set us up with the show) and let him know that our singer left the band so we wouldn’t be able to play the June show. He said we should wait because we just might find a new singer by then. I said “OK”. Tentatively, BNS was still on the bill. Ed was right!! We found Joe Sweet. As we got closer, the organizers of the festival were getting excited and asked when they could run a press release. I asked the guys if they still wanted to do the show and it was unanimous. We decided to announce the press release [about OMS as our debut with Joe Sweet] on May 9th– great idea. I asked the OMS people to keep quiet until we announced it. We don’t spam our fans with needless floods of email messages so when we have news it’s usually BIG NEWS (the world had assumed that Brand New Sin was history.).
Monday – photo shoot with D The Shadowman (Uticaphotography.com)
We drove out to Joe’s house and got in his mini-school bus. That is one kick-ass ride. Kenny brought his boom box so we could jam out to the new song and get a handle on the mix-down. Graham hung out with us. We met D at an abandoned warehouse with holes in the floor, broken glass, ripped walls, stairways with missing steps: dark, dreary, scary…right up our alley. D has an amazing eye. Check out some of his work http://uticaphotography.com
Next step – the website.
Joe’s girlfriend, Chip Ramos, owns www.digitaldesignportal.com. She does fantastic work. She had the same time frame as we did. While we were proofing photographs, listening to remixes, and setting up the foundation of the re-issue of Brand New Sin, she was busy designing our bad-ass splash page segue into the first glimpse and sound of the new singer of Brand New Sin.
In the interim Graham was sending us MP3s of new mixes through email. We would listen and email back our notes and comments and he would change the mix and send it back. It's a real efficient way to collaborate with someone who lives 50 miles away. Imagine what Lennon and McCartney could have done with this technology. They never would have left their homes.
This is exciting shit. It’s nerve-racking shit. I’m an optimist for the most part but even I was skeptical. In order for this to happen, 9 people had to have their shit together in synchronicity throughout the week.
Here it is, Thursday night. I typed in http://brandnewsin.com...Uh oh.
Damn, I gave Chip the server information with the username and password. Did she get it wrong? Did she give up on us? She’s probably not ready. Shit.
It was 11:30 pm and I started changing some of the layout just in case. I’m not a very good web-designer but I pride my self in functionality and user-friendliness. I was just about to save the last file and upload it to the server but for some reason, at about 12:30 am, the server was busy. I got some strange error message about the hosting company not allowing me to upload the new home page. Great, now what? For the hell of it, I hit the refresh button on my browser and saw this: http://brandnewsin.com AWESOME!!!! Chip and I were working on it at the same time.
Friday morning (cross your fingers)
“BRAND NEW SIN MAKES SWEET CHOICE FOR NEW LEAD”
The next morning we were on the front page of the Local section of the Syracuse Post Standard thanks to Mark Bialczak (music editor) who conducted interviews with both Joe and I Wednesday. He kept our secret and did as he promised. It was all over the news wire and the rest is history. I need to credit Mark for his knack for staying true to the message we try to convey in our press releases. He doesn’t get carried away with putting the ‘journalist spin’ on a story.
BRAND NEW SIN would like to sincerely, whole-heartedly thank Chip Ramos, D “The Shadowman”, Graham Espe, Mark Bialczak, Joe Sweet and everyone at Apollotunes.com for making our impossible deadline become a reality!
Sad news: Unfortunately, Operation Metal Siege in Coney Island never happened. The co-organizer, Shannon “Hacksaw” Maginn, passed away in a car accident a month before the scheduled event. Our sincere condolences go to her family and all that were close to her.
Here are some brief video clips. You'll need Quicktime.
(sorry about the audio quality)
http://brandnewsin.com/joetracking.MOV
http://brandnewsin.com/kennytracking.MOV
http://brandnewsin.com/kennybellytrack.MOV
http://brandnewsin.com/tracking-grahamworking.MOV
http://brandnewsin.com/joesbus.MOV
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