Kevin Dean's Blog

The calm before the storm...

2011-08-27T13:59:00.006-04:00

Blog 8/27/2011

It feels like my summer just began this past week. I didn't get much time for myself this summer but that can only lead to good things right? What's the phrase..."idle time is the devil's playground"? No rest for the wicked...

My band, Brand New Sin, began tracking our 5th full length CD in late May. It's entitled UNITED STATE; to quote Kris, "our finest work yet, until the next one". This is the first recording to include the extraordinary guitar work of our new lead guitarist, Tommy Matkowski. [Interesting side note: if you're not aware, we toured the country in February. we were lucky enough to open for the legendary Slash for two shows. Ironically and coincidentally, Guns N Roses' original artist, Billy White Jr., shared his amazing skills and imagination with us once again for this new album.] Shortly after the tour we signed a worldwide marketing and distribution deal with Goomba Music. Reminder- it's 2011; they're not just handing out label contracts at your local dive bar these days! According to our agreement, this means radio, video, international marketing and an entire staff of people pushing our music!! Very exciting times...life is good.

As with our 2009 release, DISTILLED, United State was tracked, engineered, produced, mixed and mastered at Subcat Music Studio which now resides in the building dubbed "219" in downtown Syracuse, NY.

I have a unique role in this amazing arts and entertainment complex. I teach private drum lessons full time in the drum studio on the 2nd floor. For the past 6 weeks I had the luxury and honor to be the drum teacher for Rock Camp! Yup. You read it right...ROCK CAMP! Not boring, completely inspiring, absolutely challenging and rewarding beyond words! I hope the program continues to gain momentum and cummunity support. This idea (locally) was spearheaded by local musician Bill Hider who is the chairman of the board for The Redhouse Theater and art gallery which is attached to Subcat. Thanks to all the artistic enterprises encompassed by 219 : Black Lagoon Productions, The Redhouse, Subcat Music Studio and Montage Cafe for the space and participation! Thanks to you Rock Camp ROCKED! [Much respect for our fearless leaders - Peggy and Emmett, and my fellow staff members, Leila, Seth, Rita, Parker, Jon, Dylan, Sam, Nathan, Justin, Koko; also, the Red house staff - Laura, Mike, John, Anton, Steve, and of course Scott Allyn]. These kids met eachother, formed bands, wrote and learned each others' songs, and performed a concert in 3 weeks! (We had 3 sessions in our first year). Awesome! [Useless trivia: Brand New Sin made a cameo appearance in the movie School Of Rock featuring Jack Black (Paramount Pictures)].

Between lessons, curriculum/lesson plans, tracking, practicing, delegating, co-producing, performing, lecturing, public speaking, conducting/arranging, etc. ...... I'm pooped. Whew! I should just forward my mail to 219 S. West St.

Somehow along the way I also managed to play some cool shows. Brand New Sin opened for Bobaflex at Mean Street Tattoo Studio's grand opening a couple weeks ago with When Everything Fails and Born Again Rebels. We played a rare acoustic gig at NOPL public library as intermission entertainment for battle of the bands last month. I also had the privilege to share the stage with a dozen of my closest childhood friends and fellow local musicians, including the infamous Jeff Tortora (2010 Syracuse Hall of Fame inductee and current Blue Man Group drummer) with The Whatafuocos at The Lost Horizon with Formerly Unnamed and the Born Again Savages. Jeff also was kind enough to donate his time and give an amazing performance and interview for the kids at Rock Camp last week! Unforgettable.

Subcat
http://subcat.net

Rock Camp
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Redhouse-Rock-Camp/128352840587973

Goomba Music
http://goombamusic.com

Whatafuocos blurb
http://mobile.syracuse.com/advsyra/pm_103282/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=JhUlyh4G

Brand New Sin
http://brandnewsin.com
http://reverbnation.com/brandnewsin

Anyway, I am seriously ready for this album to drop. I am MORE than ready to hit the road with Brand New Sin (no surprise there).

...on to bigger and better things....

Kevin Dean Drum Video Lesson - Clave 2:3 / 3:2

2010-11-17T14:42:00.000-05:00

So, my wife is in a band...

2010-11-14T23:40:00.011-05:00

Augustine http://augustinerocks.com

**Augustine recently changed their name to "JUST A MEMORY"**

They had a show last night. I went to bed early and woke up to a couple visitors crashing on the couch at our little flop house. I cooked some breakfast and kidnapped Leila's drummer...

I had this polyrhythm in my head and I didn't have enough hands to pull it off. It was Sunday and I promised myself I'd film a new drum video every week (every Monday). "Joe, you sticking around for a few? Wanna join me for my next video lesson?" He said, "Sure".

Here it is:

I'm no movie director, but....

2010-11-12T14:45:00.019-05:00

I got the nerve to finally take a crack at filming. Filming people, or, in this case, a person, my test subject...me. I enjoy talking about drumming and I know a lot about it. I still need to get over being slightly camera shy and overly critical of myself but, I think I would be doing a disservice to you if I didn't keep the camera rolling. Every week I'll upload a new video lesson for you. I'll show you what I've been working on, slow it down and teach you how to play it. Over the years I've learned how to help students learn, retain and memorize a new beat or style with minimal practice. No, I'm not giving anyone shortcuts on practice time. You still have to do the work and sweat. Sweat a lot. I can, however, give preventative habits so you don't WASTE time!

Breaking bad habits, making you aware of the fact that you are causing damage to yourself or wasting needless energy, playing too fast for your ability, playing too hard for the wrong technique etc......

That's my job.

Fix it. Move forward. Practice it tomorrow. Repeat. Simple. Ok, not so simple for the ADD / ADHD kids or most drummers I've ever met. Hey...is there a correlation? Maybe that's a bad generalization. This is more accurate I suppose - drummers often have a tendancy to be impatient students. That's not an insult, drum lessons can be boring, and drummers...well, they drum. 'Let's get to the good stuff. Come on. I don't want to play The Little Dummer Boy!!'

I was impatient in the beginning. A few years later I was stubborn, sensitive to critique, and slightly lazy. Those aren't very good traits for a kid with little drumming experience who was trying to get into music college. I needed some humility and I sure got it quickly. I already read music but college really sharpened my skills.

You don't have to know how to read music. You should though. It saves valuable time and valuable headroom because you don't have to memorize it. It's right there on the paper, screen, phone (insert favorite media here) etc. If you don't know how to read drum music I'll give you some confidence: it's a heck of a lot easier than reading piano music! You're only looking at a map of the drum set sounds and what order they are struck. On a small drum set there are about 10-12 characters that can be used to create thousands of cool rhythms (many more if you have a large kit or emsemble). That's not a scary way to look at it is it? Don't be afraid to ask a musician to show you how to read drum music. If you pay attention you can pick it up fast!

The next drum video: Hihat and Ride Variations.
All these variations are heard throughout rock history. They are still used in new music too. Think of this video as your rock toolbox. Memorize and coordinate each one of these and use them in as many styles as you can and you are on your way towards 4 limb independence. If you are serious and you have the patience, you can watch the examples and beats for 9 minutes, or skip to 9:10 where I put them all together at the end (with notation). It's a good challenge with timeless techniques. Hopefully this video will give you something you can use in your music for years to come.

Youtube Drum Lesson

2010-11-02T08:33:00.001-04:00

Brand New Sin EPK Video Documentary!

2009-11-20T19:57:00.000-05:00

http://brandnewsin.org

Where's the beat?

2009-11-17T18:26:00.002-05:00

Check out my new drum column in Tool & Die Magazine: http://toolanddiezine.com

http://toolanddiezine.com/uniflip/issue9/

Drum Lessons (Syracuse, NY)

2009-10-28T18:00:00.003-04:00

My style of teaching is very simple. I try my best to keep drummers drumming. It is tragic to see a musician give up. I like my students to continue to grow without getting bored. I encourage my students to have the most extensive music vocabulary they can. I also make lessons relevant to the student's style and tastes in music.

Details:
*I teach at Subcat Music Studios in Downtown Syracuse (Armory Square) 219 S. West St. Syracuse, NY
*I am the drum instructor for Redhouse Rock Camp also located at 219 S. west St.
*I charge $20 per half hour lesson and $40 per hour lesson.
*I focus on: reading, technique, coordination, timing (click track), music theory
*Styles: concert/orchestral snare, rudimentary snare, drum corps, Pop, Rock, Latin, Blues, Jazz, Reggae, Hard Rock, Metal, Funk, Dance, Industrial and more
*I have an Associates Degree in Music Education and I have been teaching drums for over 10 years. I currently play drums and tour with national recording artists Brand New Sin - http://brandnewsin.org/biosheet.htm

Check out this promotional video featuring Subcat Music Studios: Subcat Promotional Video

If you are serious about drumming please contact me at:

kevinjamesdean@hotmail.com

315-454-2833

If you know someone who may be interested please pass this on. Thanks.

Kevin Dean

DIGITAL DOWNLOADS: AMAZON & NAPSTER

2009-08-14T14:15:00.004-04:00

DIGITAL DOWNLOADS

NAPSTER
AMAZON

COMING SOON: ITUNES, RHAPSODY & EMUSIC

Tune Widget

2009-07-31T12:33:00.001-04:00

purified, condensed, stronger: "Distilled"

2009-07-29T15:49:00.007-04:00

It’s been so long since we had this much news. I can’t help but to reflect on our last couple years as a five piece. We released The Tequila Record in late 2006. We had some of the most exciting shows of our careers in 2007: 3 week UK tour with Soil, Godhead and Lennon; 7 weeks on the Type O Negative tour; 4 shows with The Cult; direct support for Godsmack in our home town; KROCKATHON with Drowning Pool, Chris Cornell, & The Deftones; The New York State Fair Colliseum; BNS headlined Brooklyn Metal Fest with MOD; We headlined NASCAR weekend at Watkins Glenn; and we opened the Jager-Music tour for two shows with Stone Sour, Lacuna Coil & Shadows Fall.

Then we had nothing.

7 months went by with no Brand New Sin.

We got it rolling again with a new singer but that didn’t work. On top of that we had to say goodbye to our long time friend and guitarist for personal reasons.

It didn’t look good.

Luckily, Kris, Chuck and I were still fired up and ready. We had no record label, no manager, no booking agent, no money, no real idea how to do it, and no reason not to try.

WE DID IT!

Brand New Sin is back stronger than ever and we own everything for the first time: copyrights, master recordings, publishing, merchandise …it’s all ours. We have control for the first time in our careers and it feels great. Kris Wiechmann has out done himself with extraordinary writing and musicianship on this album. We couldn’t have asked for a better production thanks to Ron Keck, Derek Yackel at SubCat Music Studios.

This CD had so many chances to fail before it’s inception and we wouldn’t let it. It’s here and it needs to be heard.

Hats off to Brand New Sin! We’re back!

I’ll toast to that!

-Kevin Dean

BRAND NEW SIN SHOWS!

2009-03-13T13:57:00.001-04:00

Brand New Sin: New Line up!

2009-03-06T15:10:00.001-05:00

MAJOR LINE-UP CHANGE FOR BRAND NEW SIN: WILL THESE GUYS EVER GIVE UP? HELL NO!

Facing a considerably challenging decision to be made about the future of BNS, new singer Joe Sweet has decided to focus on his family and his many personal endeavors. As the co-organizer of The [annual] Utica Music and Arts Fest http://www.uticamusicfest.net and the proud father to be (for the second time in June), Joe has decided that the best move is to back out before recording vocal tracks for Brand New Sin's 4th full length album. The recording is due to hit the streets in June and Sweet will not be available to tour.

Hold on...that's not all...

After 10 plus years of sharing the stage with fellow band mates Chuck Kahl and Kris Wiechmann (in both Godbelow and Brand New Sin) Kenny Dunham has also departed to pursue other interests.

Whew!

That said, Brand New Sin has a new CD on the horizon! Kris Wiechmann, guitarist, principal songwriter and lyricist, has bravely decided to step center stage to become lead vocalist of Brand New Sin. Kris will be honing his vocal skills every Monday at Mac's Bad Art Bar in Mattydale, NY with the "Home Town Zeros" [Brand New Sin 'unplugged']. Brand New Sin also would like to officially welcome Ed Carpenter to the family on guitar and vocals! Ed is well known in Central New York for his guitar work in Titanium Black [who recently performed in Germany and Sweden].

Catch Brand New Sin at Mac's Bad Art Bar in Syracuse, NY Friday, March 13, 2009 for Kris Wiechmann's debut on lead vocals!

Studio

2009-01-21T15:23:00.004-05:00

Yes, it has been a while. Although I am very talkative I had nothing to say. It's not that there was nothing going on...rather the opposite is true. I think I have been overwhelmed with plans and events unfolding before me that I needed to step back for a while and see where it would lead.

We are currently recording our 4th full length CD! I can't wait for you to hear it! We actually committed to the studio in November. That gave us 6-8 weeks to polish these songs in pre-production and get them ready for the studio. We started tracking last Wednesday at 8:00pm and I left at 1:30am Thursday morning with all the drum tracks completed. I've never done that before but it just goes to show what can happen when you believe in something and pour your heart and soul into it.

At this time the drum and bass tracks are done and half of the rhythm guitar tracks are done.

Stay tuned...

2008-11-15T18:17:00.011-05:00

Raleigh 10-25-08

2008-11-05T19:24:00.002-05:00

RALEIGH, NC 10-25-08
PHOTOS BY
BARRY KNAIN

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhotos&albumI
D=2794254&MyToken=757440ca-8423-4838-95cc-61286b5677e7

2008-11-05T11:45:00.003-05:00

2008-11-04T08:43:00.002-05:00

Review of The Palace Show:

2008-10-06T13:50:00.001-04:00

http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/stories/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-2/122 319707270650.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

Review
Sunday, October 05, 2008
By Mark Bialczak
Staff writer
Joe Sweet knew he was stepping onto some special turf Saturday night at the Palace Theatre.
The singer from Utica was fronting his first show in his new band's hometown. For the first time since Sweet replaced front man Joe Altier in January, Brand New Sin took the stage in Syracuse.
"You've heard of us," Sweet told the wildly enthusiastic crowd of about 250 pushing toward the stage in the Eastwood theater. "You've heard of them. Brand New Sin. I'm very thankful that they allow me to play with them, with such a level of professionalism."

Sweet-for-Altier worked just fine, thank you.
At first it was a bit jarring to see guitarists Kenny Dunham and Kris Weichmann, bassist Chuck Kahl and drummer Kevin Dean playing behind a skinny guy wearing glasses instead of a burly guy wearing a bandana.
But as soon as Sweet got into the first song, "Freight Train," it was obvious that the transformation worked. He's got the voice and the attitude to keep the sizzle in Brand New Sin's hard rock.
Sweet's deep history in Utica's rock scene - Dunham and Dean invited him to take over the front-man role because they remembered his work with Utica band Nine Ball - carried through in a big way. He worked the crowd with energy and style, trading stares, gestures and lyrics back and forth with the most enthusiastic fans in the front.
Dunham and Weichmann, meanwhile, carried on with their sizzling guitar ways, and the rhythm section of Kahl and Dean pummeled the ears with power and thrash.
The crowd responded to the chemistry by chanting "Brand New Sin, Brand New Sin, Brand New Sin" until Sweet stepped forward to thank them.
They dug their favorite songs from the last half-decade, including "Arrived," "Brown Street Betty," "Old" and "Repo Man." They let Sweet dip into his past for a wild and fun ride on his song, "Question."
And they unveiled a ripping new Brand New Sin song, which sounded like it was introduced by Sweet with the title of "Fly." It showed a bright future of songs written with Sweet, too. That's good, because an Eastern tour is here right now, with October stops for Brand New Sin in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia and North Carolina as well as downstate, in Yonkers.
The Brand New Sin guys tried to make it a night of fun at the Palace.

For openers, they enlisted Madame Trixie and Her Dolls Burlesque. The four dancers teased with vaudevillelike bumps and grinds. Their speech said they were out of the 1920s, but some of the soundtrack they danced to and many of their moves were from the here-and-now. The finale, to Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher," let them all display their wiliest ways.
Then came Ithaca band Bone Jar, for a pleasing set of metal that certainly warmed up those that chose to stay in the theater instead of preparing for Brand New Sin's set by drinking and socializing in the lobby.
Mark Bialczak can be reached at 470-2175 or mbialczak@syracuse.com. His Listen Up blog is at
blog.syracuse.com/listenup

I have a new job with Tool & Die Magazine!

2008-09-07T21:05:00.008-04:00

The staff at Tool & Die Magazine has invited me onto their team as a sales representative! In addition to my contribution as a writer, I will be generating leads for advertising in the magazine.

If you are interested in expanding your business by marketing to the Tool & Die readers, both locally and nationally, please contact me at kevin@toolanddiezine.com I will be more than happy to deliver copies for your business partners and customers in an effort to expand our distribution.

HELP US KEEP THIS MAGAZINE FREE!

A friendly reminder that this magazine is the concept of my bassist, Chuck Kahl and is now available thanks Cindy and Bob Hopper! The next issue will be available September 25th at the following locations in the Syracuse area:
Liquor Town (Brewerton, NY)
The Movie Gallery (Brewerton, NY)
The Checkpoint Tavern (Cleveland, NY)
The Lost Horizon (DeWitt, NY)
Fat Jamies (N. Syr., NY)
Evil Needle (N. Syr., NY)
Speakerworks(N. Syr., NY)
County Line Choppers (Phoenix, NY)
Biker Alley (Central Square, NY)
The Music Center (East Syracuse, NY)
The SoundGarden
C & G Music (Baldwinsville, NY)
The Half Penney (Syracuse, NY)
Dinosaur BBQ (Syracuse& Rochester, NY)
A Harley shop & Tatoo shop in Rochester, NY(Names submitted soon)
Various places in Utica, NY (Names submitted soon)
Various places in New Jersey (Names submitted soon)
Issues are being shipped to Pittsburgh, PA, Florida, California, Colorado and Illinois

http://toolanddiezine.com
http://www.myspace.com/tooldiezine

Thanks to the owners:

Chuck "Gulch" Kahl
Chuck@toolanddiezine.com

Cynthia "Syn" Hopper
315.254.5266
Cyn@toolanddiezine.com

Robert "Hop" Hopper
Bob@toolanddiezine.com

BRAND NEW SIN RETURNS TO SYRACUSE!!

2008-08-28T17:52:00.003-04:00

EVIL NEEDLE TATTOO PRESENTS:

BRAND NEW SIN

SATURDAY OCTOBER 4TH

AT THE PALACE THEATER

TOOL & DIE MAGAZINE!

2008-08-20T17:25:00.010-04:00

Tool & Die Magazine is available at The Half Penny Pub, Dinosaur BBQ, The Lost Horizon, Checkpoint Tavern, The Music Center, The Soundgarden, C & G Music and Evil Needle Tattoo! (SYRACUSE, NY)

It's a FREE publication so go out and get one! Help us promote it so we can review your band, restaurant or favorite motorsports shop and keep this scene rolling! At this time the magazine is bi-monthly and regional. Eventually our goal is to make it monthly and national!

If you know any businesses that want placement in this magazine direct them to http://www.toolanddiezine.com
The deadline is September 6th for the next issue. I don't know of any publication like this in our region.Let's keep it alive!

Chuck@ToolandDieZine.com

Cin@ToolandDieZine.com

Bob@ToolandDieZine.com

Thanks for the support and spread the word!

-Kevin Dean

Rock dads

2008-08-07T20:53:00.009-04:00

My singer, Joe Sweet was recently interviewed by the Utica Newspaper - http://www.uticaod.com/homepage/x903585837/Local-musicians-find-balance-between-performing-fatherhood

It is an article about rocker dads. Joe's son Angelo is only a 5 or 6 months old and their first time away from each other for any significant length of time was recently when we went to Michigan for a couple days.

I remember the fear. Driving home from the hospital I thought I was going to have a panic attack watching my infant son's newborn head bobble back and forth after every bump in the road. "We don't have enough experience! How are we going to do this?" I thought. I can remember waking up in the middle of the night trembling, worried about all the dark media stories like SIDS and walking into Collin's bedroom just to check and see if he was breathing.

Man, what a nervous wuss I was. Eventually, the child grew and continues to grow and shape all of our lives. We adapt just as he does only it's much different as a child. You just don't understand the rules; especially WHY there are even rules at all. Patience is something I thought was one of my fortes. I'm still learning it. I have an awesome son, yet I sometimes find myself walking out of the room to avoid a blowout. Smart. Then sometimes I snap and yell at him. Dumb. I'm learning. So is he. He's going to be alright. He's very smart and I'm sure he gets frustrated when he can't fully communicate what he needs or wants so he'll lash out in the form of throwing things, screaming, maybe even hitting. I don't understand the hitting part but I'm told it's normal and it will pass. Don't get me wrong here, he's not violent. He'll just kind of slap you like you'd slap someone on the back ('hey what's up buddy') yet he'll end up scraping your eyelid scaring the shit out of you!

Anyway, reading the article made me think about my role or multiple roles in this life. I, like many men, have some great responsibility! I need to continue the path I'm on and see all these great things through to fruition. All these things include my marriage, my parenthood, my musicianship and my band.

A musician's day can be spent on the phone and computer corresponding with media and/or fans, booking shows, planning tours, paying bills, preparing budgets, designing websites and graphics, editing recordings and videos, designing posters and flyers and any number of multi-tasking skills that many people with "real jobs" wouldn't be expected to do. All this while juggling the spazz-attack child(ren) bouncing off the walls and demanding your attention while ruining the nice clean floor you just mopped 3 times in one day. It is definitely convenient to be a musician in a rock band. Our work days are at night allowing us to be there during the day. In the fall we are planning weekend runs so it will be a little tougher - 3 or 4 days gone and 3 or 4 days home. It will be a new adjustment for us but it's a fantastic plan. Now, remember my kid isn't quite an infant anymore - he has some independence and he demands it! It's hard to balance it all out. I realize that sometimes I have to stop working and get on the floor and get nuts with him a little...get outside...let him be a kid and be around other kids.

It's not always about partying your face off living the dream in a tour bus and being the center of attention and ending up in rehab (sounds fun though huh?). Touring is a nice break and it really is what we all desire. The drawback is missing your family when your gone. Then again, we miss the road when we're home - Catch 22 (I'll have to read that book someday).

Kenny and Kris have been at this longer than I have and they both have two kids.

But you all know that we really joined a band to get chicks right?

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

2008-07-30T17:27:00.017-04:00

"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

Hittin' The Road

2008-07-28T12:19:00.018-04:00

[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

WRIF DETROIT INTERVIEW

2008-07-28T11:40:00.003-04:00

http://brandnewsinmusic.com/wrifinterview.htm

Tool & Die Magazine

2008-07-09T13:45:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-09T12:02:00.000-04:00

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 4^th 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 24^th!

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!

2008-07-09T12:01:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-09T12:00:00.000-04:00

WEDNESDAY JULY 2, 3008 "The impossible deadline:"

Friday - “Let’s record this song Sunday and do our press release Friday. Ok”

Sunday May 4^th 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 14^th “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

http://brandnewsin.com/joesbusoutside.MOV

http://brandnewsin.com/photoshootintroductions.MOV