Why I Don’t Go See Live Music Anymore

This blog asked the question “Why don’t musicians demand more money from clubs?” He notes that the amounts being charged at the door have, if anything, decreased over time; and that the monies paid to the bands have stayed relatively flat ($50-$100).

He wonders why he can’t get paid more for doing his job. In my experience, this is not a complaint limited to the music business.

Too Much Music
I think the answer is simple – it’s a supply-and-demand issue. While most cities have a large number of music venues, there are many more bands than venues. Most bands will play anywhere on any bill at any time.

In the worst situations, the economics get so bad the clubs can actually charge the bands to perform (known as “pay-to-play”). This sort of thing comes and goes in some of the major cities (Los Angeles being most notable).

Club owners don’t have to offer most bands any (more) money, because the club owners recognize any specific band needs a night at any venue more than any specific venue needs a night with any band. Especially local bands with uneven material and no following to speak of.

The result is that musicians have no leverage when it comes to demanding more money from the clubs.

Most of it stinks
There’s just too many bands. And most of them aren’t very good. I’ve been going to shows since the late 20th century. The bands have not improved much...they’ve just gotten a lot louder.

The quantity “issue” is not addressable, nor should it be. I like that there are plenty of musicians out there. I just wish they were better at what they do. And by that, I don't mean some nebulous definition of "good music". While I am mystified by the hype surrounding bands like No Age, I'm also perfectly willing to posit that I "just dont' get it" because "I'm old."

That said, here are common mistakes club bands make:

• Boring music. This is the usual – the band’s material is derivative or underbaked, or just…bad. The best thing most bands could do is play more covers. Except for…
• • The obligatory cover. You know it’s coming. It will be the last song of the set. It will be something “clever” that shows the audience how much the band knows about music. Most of the time, it’s by far the best song in the band’s set and they’ll actually play it with more fire and fun than any of the previous tunes.
• Dull performance. The Cars could get away with standing stock-still because it was fresh and their songs were fantastic. Bands out there, take heed: You are not The Cars. Put on some different clothes. Move around. Get lights or a slideshow or videos. Make me think you actually care that you have an audience. Perform. Make me feel something or have an experience. Do not resort to cheap gimmicks – Nudity? Done. Attacking the audience? Stupid. Dumping various fluids on the crowd? Great way to keep people from coming to see you next time.
• It’s too loud. Most venues have more than enough sound reinforcement and sound guys who aren’t terrible. The rooms are usually relatively small. Yet every band thinks “sweet, now I can really turn up my amp!” As a performer, I hate the volume – looking out into the crowd and seeing people wince, jam fingers in their ears, or otherwise not enjoy themselves brings me down. And as an audience member, I resent having to enter a hazardous area, bring earplugs, and still risk hearing damage. Enough, already. Turn down. If you can’t play well quietly, you have no business being loud.
• It’s too long. If you’re playing longer than 40 minutes, you better be amazing. I guarantee that even your friends and fans are looking at their watches by then. It’s always better to leave the crowd wanting more, and the bands after you will appreciate you getting off the stage on time so they can start their set. If you’re the last band, don’t drag things out. Let people go home.

Learning from Cover Bands
A good example of what works is looking at the successful cover bands in your area. As someone who’s done time in both original and cover bands, I can tell you that cover bands (playing in and watching) are usually far more fun for the audience.

Good cover bands:

• Pick hot material – not just good songs, but good songs they can play very well. The material matches the band’s sound and capabilities.
• Put on a show. They spend money on costumes or performing clothes, wear appropriate cosmetics, and look like they mean (show) business. They will also rehearse the music enough that they can focus on actually performing – this could mean just smiling and moving around, but can also mean coordinated dance moves. Whatever is appropriate.
• Play at an appropriate volume level. They never take things personally when asked to turn down – they turn down. They know if they don’t, the dance floor will clear and they’ll never get invited back.

Thus cover bands can play almost any club in almost any city and walk out the door with hundreds (even thousands) of dollars in hand. They know their audience and know their job is to entertain.

Tribute bands are a whole other bizarre game.

Back To DC

Off to DC again tomorrow for a second attempt at testifying for the copyright board. More details after it's all done. For now, just enjoy my senior yearbook photo. 1987, baby!

Farflung's new video

My brother is one of the members of this fantastic space-rock band (he's the guitar player in the hat at the end).

This is from their new album, "A Wound In Eternity". It is awesome.

Some Recent Thoughts

1. There is always hope. [Thanks to BoingBoing for brightening my morning]

2. It's actually rather easy to be completely uncompromising (as long as you don't mind the loneliness). Working with other people, however, is always a challenge.

3. Try something. If it doesn't work, try something else. Beating your head against a wall just hurts you and annoys the wall. [Thanks to Hector]

My leg situation has leveled off for now. For a variety of reasons I won't be discussing it further here. Feel free to contact me personally if you like.

I am also starting early preparations for my next recorded music project, which I plan to be a major departure from anything I've done before. And there will probably be some new live music project, though the two are not currently related.

Decayed, Decayed and Cyborg Love Songs Books available from Blurb

The book/liner notes for both "Decayed, Decayed" and "Cyborg Love Songs" are now publicly available from Blurb.

Hardcover prices are $22.95 each. Softcover is $12.95 (plus tax and shipping). These are not marked up in any way - that's what Blurb charges. If you buy one, let me know and I'll send you some music.

Decayed, Decayed

A record of Februa...

By Anu

Book Preview

Cyborg Love Songs

RPM Challenge 2008...

By Anu

Book Preview

Cyborg Love Songs and Decayed, Decayed in Rhapsody

My two RPM Challenge solo albums are now available in Rhapsody for streaming and purchase.

Even if you're not a Rhapsody subscriber, you can go check them out for free:
Decayed, Decayed (2007 RPM Challenge)
Cyborg Love Songs (2008 RPM Challenge)

The purchases are currently DRM-protected RAX files, but will be MP3s in a week or two.

I will be adding links to the books soon.

Cyborg Love Songs now available

Cyborg Love Songs is finished and available for download.
You can also download a crude PDF proof of the book/liner notes.

RPM Challenge Update: One Minute Left! [updated]

It's been a long, busy, and challenging few days since I last posted. At that time, I had about 4 tracks near done ("Perfect", "Home is where the hum is", "Magnesium and other metals", and "Ctrl-Q").
In the two weeks since, I've had many rehearsals with one of my other bands culminating in a show at the DeYoung Museum, the usual crazy stuff at work, and a few very bad nights of sleeplessness and twitching in bed.

I also had an old friend visiting from out of town who stayed in my studio.

Regardless, I've managed to get 3 more tracks finished.

Updated: I've added Yahoo's new Goose player to provide in-line playback of tracks and updated all the links. They should all play now.

"Daemons" was the first of the 3. Drum and bass-inflected pop. My lovely wife provided some lyrical criticism which led me to substantially improve the song. And per Brian Eno, there appear to be no problems that more backing vocals can't fix. This will almost certainly be the first track on the record.
Daemons [mix 07]

"Cyborg Love Song" is the inevitable title track. This one was surprisingly easy. From just a tiny bit of lyric and a melodic fragment in my head, the rest sprang out. It's sort of unabashedly pop and (new) romantic, which is appropriate given that I wanted to make a synth-pop record. The project has gone in a little bit of a different direction, but there's something I find beautiful and disturbing about this song.

The worst part of working on it yesterday was that after having gotten close to final, some plug-in had a bad interaction with Cubase and it corrupted the session, preventing me from saving and forcing a crash followed by a reboot. Nice. I've traced it down - apparently the Sonalksis TBK Filter doesn't play nice with Cubase if you draw in automation while the track is playing back.
Cyborg Love Song [mix 04]

"Undo" was today's task. An homage/rip-off of everything on Burial's "Untrue" album. It's going to be the last track on the record. It's also got a few nods to some other songs I have written, including "Decayed, Decayed". I am not 100% happy with this one right now, even though it is probably done. We'll see how it sounds in a day or two, and how much time I have left.
Undo [mix 02]

I also demoed "Download" but this is likely going to undergo substantial changes. The good news is that it only has to be about 2 minutes long - I'm down to the last minute but I plan on mixing the heads and tails of the songs together and this will likely "eat" a minute or so.

One interesting thing is that most of these songs stretch out a bit - they have long intros and outros, something I haven't done in 10 years. Some of that is giving the songs some room to breathe instead of "don't bore us, get to the chorus". Some of it is padding to hit the 35-minute mark.

The only other thing I have to do this week is finish up the book, which I'm waaay behind on. Then again, I guess only the album/audio has to be finished and shipped by 3/1, so no sense in killing myself over it if I don't have to.

Sid at the DeYoung

My good friend Sid Luscious played the DeYoung museum on Friday night. I'm sure he'll post about it on his blog but I wanted to share some thoughts as well.

As someone who loves modern art, it was great to get to the DeYoung for any reason. And walking in there as everything was getting set up was a treat - hearing the synth solo for "Valerie N" floating through the halls on a cloud of reverb while admiring a huge Gilbert and George mural with a poop crucifix and a caption of "Shitty" was just...perfect.

It's been a long, hard road for Sid. I'm glad he finally got to show his work at a proper museum. By all accounts, the show was a success. I feel privileged to have been there. The Pants never sounded better, many friends turned out, and a great time was had by all.

Magnesium and Q [updated]

A busy last few days. During the week I started on "Magnesium and other metals" (a.k.a. "Periodic Table").

I tried using a few new instruments that I hadn't used much before. The good news is I got them to work. The bad news is that getting the sounds exactly right was tricky - some parameters weren't quite right, and it took some doing to dial them in.

The end result was a close to final version of "Magnesium". The mix was all over the place, but this morning I sat down and got it all worked out. I think it still needs some backing vocals on the chorus.
Magnesium and other metals [mix 07]

I wanted to keep moving and on schedule so I started thinking about the next song - "Q" (or "CTRL-Q"), a song about video game addiction. I also wanted to do something that was sort of swing-y and in 6/8.

I built the track up pretty quickly and went off to the gym, wondering what I would do for vocals to keep it from sounding too much like "Personal Jesus". Fortunately, I head some tracks off the IAMX album "The Alternative" and it gave me all the inspiration I needed.

I got back from the gym and threw down the vocal, which turned out much better than I thought for a first take/trial. Forgot to eat dinner but got the track done.

Then I had some dinner and listened back to the mix. Vocals are too loud and probably have too many words.
Ctrl-Q [mix 05]

But...I have 18 minutes, 30 seconds in 4 songs. I'm halfway done.

Long-lost friends stop hiding!

Ok, here's a new rule: If you're going to de-lurk and comment on something, and you're a friend of mine and you haven't gotten my e-mail address...you need to get in touch with me!

K, I'm thinking about you at this moment, but you're not the only one who's done this...I've got a whole alphabet soup I could reference.

I figure some of this is because while I'm easy to find on the internet, my e-mail address isn't. So here's the deal: my e-mail address is my first name (the 3 letter one) plus my last name as one word (a****** - huh, that looks like something else entirely...) at the GMail dot com.

And K, funny that you commented the other day. I was just thinking about you as I was marveling that the following is now available in Rhapsody:

Jet Black Factory - "3 Poisons"
Jet Black Factory - "Lamplight Shining"
Jet Black Factory - "Vinegar Works"

RPM Challenge - the first few days [updated again]

The 2008 RPM Challenge has begun! I've been busy since Friday night and have already produced 2 tracks.

The first track is tentatively called "Perfect". It's built around a whole-tone scale (made obvious by running up the scale early in the song). I'll say this - it's hard to write melodies in whole-tone when you're not used to it. It really sounds weird. But that's OK by me - I'm looking for something a little outside what I'd normally do here. I need to finish the words and I'm not thrilled with the vocal performance yet, but the rest of the track seems promising. I spent Friday night and most of Saturday working on this one.
Perfect (rough mix 05)

Saturday night I started in on a new piece. I was thinking about how easy it's been for me to fall asleep on airplanes (and how difficult to sleep anywhere else lately). I wanted something that would convey the dream state and flying. I built this song out of noise and drones, and did a very low vocal reminiscent of a track I recorded 10 years ago called "LEM". An appropriate homage. Working title for this song is "Home is where the hum is". More or less finished after a second mix pass - lots of low-end energy made for an overly muddy mix the first time around.
Home is where the hum is (rough mix 04a)

Between these 2 songs I already have nearly 8 minutes done. Seems almost too easy so far!
Today I was researching some of the physical problems I've been having - apparently magnesium deficiencies can produce some of the symptoms I've been having. After doing some poking around on the Internet, I realized that the quest for completely balancing one's body chemistry is good grist for a song. Maybe I'll call it "Magnesium and other metals" or something to do with the periodic table.

Updated: Apparently the Chill server cares about capitalization of filenames. Sorry the links weren't working. Fixed now, and as a consolation prize I put up a newer, more complete mix of "Perfect".

Would love to hear what people think of the tracks.

Updated again: Goose player installed, links updated, mixes updated.

Wabi-Sabi and Product Design

There are many examples far worse than this.

I find it funny that people will spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy piece of elegantly designed consumer electronics like the iPod or iPhone and then stick them into a cheap and hideous case designed to "protect" it.

It reminds me of those living rooms some of my friends' families had with nice furniture trapped under plastic shrouds.

What's the point? They love the object's beauty so much they'd rather hide it or obliterate it completely lest it get a single scratch? These things aren't supposed to stay perfect, flawless, beautiful forever (just like you and me). The expected consumer lifetime for most PDAs, mobile phones and MP3 players is 18 months. You really can't live with a scratch that long?

I believe Apple puts those shiny chrome backs on the things to force people to fetishize them, constantly trying to rub off their own fingerprints. Sisyphean in a way. All that attention - it's like washing your car every day.

Zune has done a nice job of giving their players surfaces that still feel and look nice but don't require you to carry a bottle of Brasso everywhere you go.

There's a Japanese concept known as wabi-sabi. There aren't direct analogues in English, but the general idea is there is a dignity and beauty in things that are aged and worn, and that impermanence and transience are good and right.

Would you rather have a shiny brand new guitar or a vintage Strat from the 50s? Most people, not just guitar junkies, prefer older, worn instruments. Wabi-sabi.

Fender and other manufacturers have realized there's big money to be made in delivering new guitars that look (and to a lesser degree, feel) like they're old.


As a guitar player and appreciator of wabi-sabi myself, I cannot deny that I think older guitars look and play better than new ones. I even think the faux-old ones look better than new. But I could never buy an ersatz old guitar. That's cheating, and even cheesy. Part of the wabi-sabi aesthetic is the implication of the wear - this thing has been around, it's been used, it has a history.

The Steampunk movement is operating in this space coincidentally, if not explicitly. And one of the reasons people liked the design in Star Wars so much was how everything in the world felt used and old, as opposed to the typical "out of the packaging" look of most other science fiction.

I wish more designers would take advantage of wabi-sabi. What would a car that came "relic"ed look like? Why don't they? (answer: because the car companies have a lot invested in you wanting brand new shiny cars instead of old ones - and there are way more old cars than new available. The reverse is true for guitars).

Consumer electronics would be great like this. I would love an MP3 player that was slowly rusting, with big chunky knobs. Or a PDA with a leather back that wore and aged like a Filofax or notebook. A home stereo with dents.

What about a PC application that "aged", wore, and picked up dings and marks? What would that be like?