what's YOUR band up to?

eyeprod · February 04, 2015, 04:31:51 PM

thanks guys. A name is indeed so hard to choose

nyarlathotep · February 04, 2015, 04:39:50 PM

Quote from: Danny G on February 04, 2015, 12:10:14 PM
Quote from: eyeprod on February 04, 2015, 10:45:32 AM
finally named our band, Deep Dark Light. We like it

Nice!

Ocean of Stars is taking Feb off, people will be out if town and no gigs anyway.

We have Thurs March 5, and landed a SXSW party for Thursday March 19 at the Key Bar. Always an awesome bill, stoked to be on that. Adrian and the Sickness is also playing so ill be doing double duty.

In the meantime a friend of the bass player wants to record an OoS track at his studio as a bro deal to show what he can do in case we'd be interested in recording there officially.

So we may be working on that this month.

In the meantime I need to figure out how to come up with the funds to press the OoS EP and get a proper website by SXSW

Hm... what do you mean by proper website? Like, mybandname.com with press kit info?

My band hosts our presskiton Heroku for free - only thing we pay for is the domain name, which is about $10 a year. There's a few downsides to this approach - first, you'll need to figure out how to create a site in Ruby on Rails (not that hard, but may require nerdery), and second, it's a bit slow. That being said, for the number of people who need to look at our presskit overall, it works really well. The root domain redirects to el Facebook.

Beta Cloud · February 04, 2015, 06:10:49 PM

Quote from: eyeprod on February 04, 2015, 04:31:51 PM
thanks guys. A name is indeed so hard to choose

ultimate band name...

WHISKEY DICKENS AND THE SLOPPY SEXTET.

Chest Rockwell · February 05, 2015, 08:18:52 AM

Well, I left Lacertilia because they wouldn't let me cover my gas costs to a gig despite the fact that I've been driving 'em around since we started the band and we're now making some bank. the pointy end of the wedge but I'd had enough of dancing to others peoples tunes, figuratively and literally (though I had a big hand in writing innit).

being in bands is tough but when you're doing a lot of the lifting and getting fuck all to cover your costs, while endlessly bowing to differing opinions on everything, it's like... no.

so, back to my wife, and true doom riffing love, Thorun, we're hopefully recording again this summer.

RAGER · February 05, 2015, 10:08:26 AM

Gotta do what ya gotta do.

Danny G · February 05, 2015, 10:14:26 AM

Yup. Lot of compromising in being a band member. And some band members compromise more than others.

I've learned a lot about that over the years.

When ironclad was around, it was a band I formed myself around music that was more or less already written.

But in putting it together I was clear about two things: (1) while this is my brainchild, this band will be a democracy and we'll all write together once we got the initial set down, and (2) I want to tour.

This of course led to problems after our first out of state trip. And since it was a democracy the dissenting voices must be heard and considered. We didn't last long after that.

So in putting together Ocean of Stars, this is my benevolent dictatorship.

I am the band leader, music director and CEO.

The drawbacks to this are me (willingly) assuming all booking/promo responsibilities, financial costs as well as taking the hit. I pay my players when I can and cover jam room expenses when I am able.

But I also learned a lot about band leaders while being a sideman.

Positive encouragement works better than ripping players a new asshole after a gig. Also big differences in being a leader vs being a boss. Plus, communication is a necessity from my end.

That being said, even in democratic bands there are usually one or two people in charge and one or two (or more) along for the ride.

You can help the people along for the ride feel a part of it as well by finding what they are good at and assigning specified tasks if needed. That and letting them know when they are doing a good job, while being able to dish out encouraging constructive criticism on things that can be improved (if needed).

I was also very mindful about finding players with not only the required technical ability but also with the right kind of personality.

Working very well so far. They trust my leadership (tho I still don't completely know what I'm doing) and really love the project and being a part, so not being able to pay them more often than not hadn't been an issue.

///blog

RAGER · February 05, 2015, 12:31:13 PM

Great post Danny. Although I think you probably have more of an idea how to do this than you let on.

Yes, benevolent dictatorship is pretty much how I've been doing it for the last 8-10 years beings that we practice at my house, I am chief songwriter, etc... However a drummer I had a couple drummers ago was well versed in touring and such and his help in booking was much welcomed. We were a two piece and our motto was always "2 peoples bullshit is better than 3 peoples bullshit". My project now is a 2 piece.

showdown · February 09, 2015, 04:32:52 AM

Recording guitars, only some of my "solos" left.

Danny G · February 09, 2015, 10:47:29 AM

Thanks Rager.

I've been in the field long enough to know what needs to be done, as well as what we are up against.

It's the whole "being in charge" thing that is taking some adjustment haha

RAGER · February 09, 2015, 11:43:47 AM

Quote from: showdown on February 09, 2015, 04:32:52 AM
Recording guitars, only some of my "solos" left.

Never played the new Orange stuff and don't know much about the Rectumfriers but that rack has some serious shit in it.

showdown · February 09, 2015, 02:53:56 PM

Quote from: RAGER on February 09, 2015, 11:43:47 AM
Never played the new Orange stuff and don't know much about the Rectumfriers but that rack has some serious shit in it.

Yeah, this place is full of Manley and Tube-Tech and generally insanely expensive gear. The Orange sounds really good, btw. Fuzzy and crunchy at the same time.

RAGER · February 09, 2015, 03:42:31 PM

Fun stuff, hope it's going good.

khoomeizhi · February 09, 2015, 04:00:39 PM

bearing down hard on six songs to take when we record later this month (we record almost everything anyway, but this is our first studio recording in 5 1/2 years of playing together), of which probably four will make the cut for an album. associated pre-recording strategizing.

RAGER · February 09, 2015, 04:05:07 PM

So you guys aren't that one album per year type of band then. Me neither.

khoomeizhi · February 09, 2015, 04:14:10 PM

yeah, we generally aren't in it to give a fuck about that, more about rocking out and enjoying it. we plan to enjoy rocking out the process of recording too, though, and going for the depth of vibe through all the studio shit you can't do live. we've released live stuff already, should be fun to see what we can do in different format.

RAGER · February 09, 2015, 04:42:53 PM

Well dogspeed then.

Hagard · February 17, 2015, 01:31:32 PM

The band I'm in called Stone Dragon is trying to locate our drummer,
We have managed to narrow it down to all of south east Asia.

khoomeizhi · February 17, 2015, 04:49:54 PM

where was the last place you saw them?

Hagard · February 17, 2015, 05:23:20 PM

To be frank the most godless place in London...Croydon.

liquidsmoke · February 18, 2015, 02:04:08 PM

I can't stomach this recording anymore personally because of the fucked up guitar- tone, tuning/intonation, and playing but the Orogen demo cassette is finally out.

https://sarlaccproductions.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2014

Dylan Thomas · February 18, 2015, 03:22:42 PM

Going to have a little listening session for final mastering revisions, then our new album is good to go, and should be ready on 4/21 as planned. That's assuming the art guy gets it to us in time....

After our listening party, we need to get a set list for a show on Friday the 13th in March. Should be a good time, and we have our CD release party on 4/25.

TannisRoot · February 19, 2015, 09:36:41 AM

We're booking an analog studio to record two tunes to be released early summer. The place has a ton of vibe and been around since the sixties. Already met with the engineer - seems cool. On the other hand, this is our first studio outing so I'm nervous how everyone will perform under pressure. It's not cheap. Considering ironing out potential issues at a local demo studio before we head up north to do it for real.

Chest Rockwell · February 20, 2015, 07:46:01 AM

We did some scratch recordings for our new stuff so we can listen back and see what it's like...

Lumpy · February 20, 2015, 04:23:30 PM

Quote from: liquidsmoke on February 18, 2015, 02:04:08 PM
I can't stomach this recording anymore personally because of the fucked up guitar- tone, tuning/intonation, and playing but the Orogen demo cassette is finally out.

https://sarlaccproductions.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2014

Bad intonation is kult. If everything sounds pristine and perfect, things can get boring sometimes.

liquidsmoke · February 20, 2015, 07:31:41 PM

Quote from: Lumpy on February 20, 2015, 04:23:30 PM
Quote from: liquidsmoke on February 18, 2015, 02:04:08 PM
I can't stomach this recording anymore personally because of the fucked up guitar- tone, tuning/intonation, and playing but the Orogen demo cassette is finally out.

https://sarlaccproductions.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2014

Bad intonation is kult. If everything sounds pristine and perfect, things can get boring sometimes.

'kvlt'?

It's got plenty of that unintentionally.

I've noticed a lot of bands in recent years with the 'kvlt' sound live, sometimes it's to the extent that I have to go outside and come back in after they are done playing. Or maybe I'll check back after a couple songs to see if things have improved and are a bit less kvlt sounding.