Don’t Kill The Full-Length Album

In this age of digital downloading and music streaming services, many artists feel that the death of the full-length album is upon us. And that is 100% false!

The full-length album is still the industry standard. All major artists from Kanye to U2 are releasing them and fans are buying them. The full-length album is your resume, especially if you’re a songwriter. You are showing your fans that HEY; I can do a lot more than just write and release one song. I can put together 10-12 songs in a cohesive format with the same sound. It says a lot about where the artist is in Anybody can sit down with the awesome technology we have today and bang out a song with software on their computer. It can be uploaded to YouTube or Facebook and in just a few hours the entire process, from writing to recording to uploading, has been completed. But the full-length album says I’m serious. 

I’m here to play in the big leagues. I’m a lot more than an EP. If you plan on selling your music and doing shows, fans will balk at paying $10 for a six song EP. Give them a full-length album and don’t forget the physical product component to all of this. Sure a download  is nice, but fans want to take something home with them after your show. They want the actual CD, the tangible product in their hands. A CD with extras will allow fans to pop that into their computer and access any type of special content you want to share. Maybe it’s an interview with you, a behind-the-scenes look at your writing process. 

Whatever it is, you’re allowing your fans to step into your world, making a true connection. I don’t think enough artists are doing this.  Don’t waste your time doing an EP, especially if you’re a band. EP’s are great for bands that have a few  records out already and want to give something small to their fans while they work on something bigger.

 I know what you’re thinking. I can’t get 10 songs together that I like. And that’s OK. One option is to  create some clever remakes of already popular songs. Choose songs that work really well with your  existing style, or think outside the box and do some songs totally out of your genre putting a cool new twist on them.

The remake is important in terms of marketing. People search songs online and yours could come up which can lead them to your website and ultimately your entire album.

The full-length album is the pinnacle. It’s a major milestone for any artist and the more of these that you  put out, the better. Don’t get discouraged and feel you spent too much time and money and didn’t see a massive return. If you couldn’t sell it, if people weren’t downloading it, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t well done. There are other factors that go into the marketing of your album and we will discuss that in an Solidify your place in the business by consistently making music. The first album is the first step and it’s a major one. If you are just starting out, jump in with two feet. I believe in you!

Anthony Gomes: Electric Field Holler Review

It might be easy to sum up the latest album by Anthony Gomes with one word, “fun” but it’s so much more. While Electric Field Holler may be a record that doesn’t take itself too seriously it is by no means comedic. Electric Field Holler is a raucous celebration of blues based guitar driven rock. From the “more cowbell” intro of “Turn it up” to the joyful innuendo  of “Junk in the Trunk,”  Anthony makes no apologies. He is here to rock the house and that’s exactly what he does.

With his powerful picking attack and Hendrix on krank phrasing, Anthony’s guitar playing sounds as good as ever. He tears up lead after lead, with soulful lines peppered with bursts of shred.  He also has a great sense of melody. For instance, his solo on “Love Crazy” becomes another hook in the song (a melodic lesson in restraint). Theo Harden (bass) and Chad Cromwell (drums) keep it solid and simple and David Smith’s keyboards provide some smooth texture without ever over shadowing Anthony’s hard driving rhythm playing. Electric Field Holler also features some of the best vocal performances of Anthony’s career. He’s got all the soul of an Otis Redding on the tongue-in-cheek “The Blues Ain’t the Blue’s No More” and all the swagger of Steven Tyler on “Back Door Scratching.”

The songwriting is well crafted and to the point. His lyrics tickle your ear just as much as his guitar playing and singing. Check out the story telling in “Redhanded Blues” and “Junk in the Trunk” and the down home spiritual musings of “Listen to the Universe.”

Like many of the classic rock artists of the 1960s and 1970s Anthony joyfully blurs the distinction between the blues and rock and roll. One could  postulate that if Electric Field Holler had been released in 1975 instead of 2015 it would easily top the the rock charts and dominate FM rock radio. If you long for the days when artists like Johnny Winter and Rick Derringer packed stadiums you will adore Electric Field Holler.

The Review: 8.5/10

Can’t Miss Tracks

– Turn it Up
– Junk in the Trunk
– The Blues Ain’t the Blues No More
– Back Door Scratching

The Big Hit

– Turn it Up

Review by  Lou Lombardi

My Own Holiday: Reason to Bleed Review

It might be easy to lump My Own Holiday in with other Guitar and Drum ensembles, like The Black Keys or The White Stripes but on their latest album, Reason to Bleed, My Own Holiday carve out a niche all their own. Their traditional meets modern approach is blues for the next generation.

Joey Chrisman’s post Nirvana voice could very well redefine what the traditional blues singer sounds like. He’s vulnerable in all the right places and just when you think he’s about to falter he flexes his muscles like Popeye after downing a can of spinach and puts a whooping on your ass that you’ll feel for days. Nick Bartolo’s drumming is solid and holds the low end together so well that you don’t really miss the bass guitar.  The stripped down sound serves the material very well. There is no overplaying or long jams. My Own Holiday seems to have adopted the Tom Petty philosophy of “don’t bore us; take us to the chorus.”

The album opens with a groovy little rocker, “Hold On Me” and progresses from there. “Whiskey in the Well” is a David Rawlings-esque acoustic ballad, and “On the Floor Blues” is an example of how these guys can play down and dirty blues with the best of the them.  They reinvent boogie rock with the track “Smile” and create one of the most interesting moments on the record.

While there is definitely a lot of rock and roll on Reason to Bleed, don’t be fooled. Chrisman and Bartolo are blues men at heart. Reason to Bleed is spattered with all the blood and guts that made Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Water’s such powerful artists in their day.With Reason to Bleed,  My Own Holiday joins the  fraternity of blues based acts like Gary Clark Jr. and others who are redefining the genre.

The Review: 9/10

Can’t Miss Tracks

– Hold On Me
– Smile
– Reason To Bleed
– On The Floor Blues

The Big Hit

– Hold On Me

U2 is setting a bad precedent

I have been a U2 fan since the 80’s. In many ways they were “my band”. There was no real indie scene at the time….no YouTube, no internet. The Sony Walkman was the cutting edge music technology. You had to find bands like U2, The Alarm, The Dead Kennedys etc… on your own. You would talk to friends or read underground mags and then go to a record store and take a chance with your $7 or $8 on the record. This was how U2 started. They were in the trenches busting ass, and making great music. Only a hand full of us really knew who they were and even fewer owned their records.  They grew their success slowly over the course of several albums. With each new release they honed their craft and expanded their sound.  They were never known for anything that would be considered pandering.  They didn't try to second guess their audience. They made the music that they loved and as it turned out many of US loved it too. I was happy with their success in the late 80’s, 90’s and beyond.  I was never one of these people who wanted a band to stay small. I was happy for the Police’s success as well as REM’s and Metallica’s success.  Today they  are arguably the biggest band in the world. So …what the hell is this business with the iPhone? Dammit guys…. what the hell are you doing???  You are still the biggest band in the world. This stunt with the new iPhone… and that’s EXACTLY what it is. It’s a stunt… makes you look like amateurs.  There is no reason to force every iPhone user to own your record, and as a band that has and continues to have such major success you send dangerous message to the music business that even the biggest band in the world needs to give away their music for free.  The real kicker is that this isn't even a sound marketing strategy. All good marketers know that to have a successful product you must narrow your approach to tightly focus on your niche. The idea that all iphone users are potential U2 fans, just waiting to discover their music is HIGHLY DUBIOUS at best.   This isn't going to garner them one more fan, album sale or ticket sale.   This is something that we might expect from Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus, NOT from one of the most influential and successful bands of all time.  I suspect that a publicist or or some other marketing “expert” sold this to the boys.  The sad thing is that they are still a great band and this sullies their reputation. They might want to look at the band Rush.  Rush as not only endured for 40 years they have grown and thrived.  There is really no “trick” to it. The formula is pretty simple Stick to making great music. Give the audience your heart and soul and  make every record and every tour awesome.

On the other hand…. 

What if U2 is getting a percentage of the new iPhone sales. I haven’t heard that yet, but if they are, then U2 is selling the iPhone and not the other way around?  If that is the case, and I do not know that it is… then U2 may not only be the biggest band in the world but they may be some of the best business people as well. But this is pure speculation. I would think that they MUST be getting something out of this. U2 is one of the biggest (most expensive) tours out there. Is Apple paying for their tour?  This seems to make more sense… but more info is needed.

We could go on and on here… but Sharon Osbourne makes some good points here.  So we will close today’s post with and insiders point of view...

You’re playing that wrong!

Alright…. there are a hand full of tracks out there that guitarists have disagreed about how to play for YEARS!  I remember when Guitar Player magazine started printing transcriptions of guitar solos in the 1980’s. Invariably, people would would write in disagreeing with the transcription. Usually this was over a fast passage and was often confined to a line or two. But there were guitarists who would get down right nasty about the transcription being “wrong”… as if they were some how ripped of by the magazine or something.  To keep the peace Guitar Player would print these corrections or “alternate versions” and order and peace were once again restored in the world of guitar playing.

Guitarists can be down right anal about fingering, chord positions, and even a  tiny variation of a riff will almost always provoke a “That’s Wrong!” from some one with entirely too much time on their hands. Guitarists are also very anal about their tone and claim to hear minute differences in eq curves, over drive character and reverb depth that no one else can. They throw around terms like, “chime” and “glass” and  talk about emphasizing “even order harmonics” .  I’ve been playing for 30 years or so and I have known many guitarists and I assure you that these terms are so arbitrary as to render them completely meaningless.

Will all of these anal retentive guitar players roaming the planet , you can imagine the extreme relief when the mystery of the opening chord for Hard Days Night was FINALLY solved.  This one chord has provoked more arguments, caused more band brake-ups and sent more fists flying at more rehearsals than any other guitar riff or solo in the history of the instrument.  Thanks to Randy Bachman of Bachman Turner Overdrive fame (yes… they put one of those meaningless guitar terms in their name.) who was granted access to the Beatles master tracks, we call all sleep a little better tonight.  The chord is actually two separate chords played on two different guitars by two different guitarists and one of those guitars is a twelve string. These guitars in combination with the bass note…played on a bass guitar create the magic that is the “chord heard round world.”   The six string guitar (played by John Lennon) is playing a D chord with a G note added on the first string. The twelve string guitar (Played by George Harrison) is playing a form of an F chord with and added G  on the sixth string and a G on the first string.  The bass guitar (played by Paul McCartney) is playing a D note.  Put it all together and you have music magic!

Here Randy Bachman tells the complete story of how he got to hear the master tracks and demonstrates what he learned.

So… why AREN’T you a Rock Star?

What is standing between you and your Dreams?

You’ve got that dream, that desire. You want to record that album. You want to become a great slide guitar player. You want to be able to sing just like Robert Plant. You want to learn every riff and every lick that Van Halen ever played. You want to be a great songwriter like James Taylor, Stephen Stills, or Neil Young.

So, what’s holding you back? Why aren’t you doing it? Why haven’t you done it? What do you say to yourself about these dreams? Do you tell yourself they are silly, just childhood fantasies, that they could never really come true?

I have the answer as to why you are telling yourself these things. There’s ONE big thing holding you back. It holds me back, people on my team back, the guys in my band back, everyone I work with back…it’s called resistance.

It’s within every single one of us. What we perceive as that little voice in our heads. The “Oh, you should start that tomorrow,” voice. The “It’s too late to record anything now,” voice. It gives us excuse upon excuse… you’re too tired, too busy, too old, too young. It reminds me of that joke by comedian Jim Gaffigan. He talks about being “too fat to go  work out.”

This is the kind of logic that resistance will use on you. It tells you anything and everything to keep you from going after your dreams. And it comes in different forms, uses a lot of tactics. I want to break some of these down for you.

• Rationalization or “rational lies”

We tell ourselves these lies. Sure, you probably do need to get up early for work, but is that really keeping you from reaching a goal? The real reason you didn’t get something done? Our dreams, passions are the reasons we are here on this planet, so why so often do we feel pulled away from our “life’s work?”

This little demon resistance is around to keep us in check, from going too crazy, or getting into trouble. It wants to keep our life copacetic. It likes routine, not risk. It doesn’t want to deal with the shenanigans of fulfilling our heart’s desire. It doesn’t like danger and it will make sure we know it. “You’re gonna spend how much??”

• Physical or Mental Form

You come home from work, you grab a quick bite to eat, and go into the studio to start writing a song. All of a sudden you feel tired, or you feel like you have a headache. So you tell yourself you’ll watch TV for a bit, until you feel better. Until your “symptoms” go away. It’s just resistance. Are you really tired? Do you really have a headache?

Maybe the physical form is an actual person. You set aside time to get work done, and the phone rings. It’s an old friend that wants to go golfing, catch a show, whatever. Resistance is calling you away from your dreams. That sneaky bitch.

Even when you’re in a good mood, you can experience resistance. If you feel like you got a lot done in a day, you might take it easy that night. Or on the other hand, a bad mood can bring it on. If you haven’t started that project yet, why start now. Start next week. You’re just letting yourself down. You’re never going to do the work.

So, what do you DO about resistance? How do you combat it?

• Expect it.

You’ll never have a day without it. The most successful people in the world have it: Donald Trump, Prince, Lady Gaga, no one is safe.

You have to know it’s going to happen, watch for it. If you’re feeling a certain way, ask yourself if those feeling are taking you closer or farther from your dream, your life’s work. When it comes down to procrastination, physical feelings, rationalization, here’s a good tool to use: make yourself a bargain.

I call it the “Ten Minute Bargain.” Let’s go back to that headache you had earlier. Just try to work through it for 10 minutes and see what happens. I guarantee that 90% of the time, that headache will become a lot more manageable, or even disappear. And that work session will go from 10 minutes to maybe hours. You can beat resistance. The hardest thing about ANYTHING is the beginning of it.

• Meditation.

I’m not talking about some ultra-spiritual thing, moving into other dimensions and communing with the beings of the ether. But I am talking about sitting and becoming quiet. If your mind starts to wander, bring yourself back to breath, stare at a candle, a metronome, draw a spot on the wall, focus on something. Try to do this for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening. You’ll train yourself to deal with resistance. Focusing on the breathing or the spot on the wall, it helps you defeat resistance in that moment.

• Finish your work.

If it doesn’t get you in the beginning, it will get you at the end. People will tell you that you are afraid of failure, but actually you are afraid of success. We hear stories all the time…the musician that blew the audition because he was out partying the night before…the friend that finally got the interview of his dreams, but failed the drug test. All forms of resistance. Remind yourself that you deserve success and that you can handle success. Then you’ll really start to grow.

Use the tools: Preparation, meditation, completion. And I’ll add one more…accountability. Talk to other people about your dreams, and about their dreams, your combined issues with resistance. It will help keep it top of mind.

You don’t want the live you’re living and your unlived life. Kick resistance in the ass today!

Is The democratization of the music business a complete failure?

I grew up in the 1980’s. That was the era of the big labels, big tours, and big hair! Lot’s of $$$ was made. Bands from the 60’s and early 70’s would talk about how they had been screwed but that these 80’s bands were raking it in.  Go back and watch Billy Joel’s or John Fogarty’s  episodes of “Behind the Music”.  Bands were getting screwed over left and right from everyone including promoters, managers, and record labels.   The attitude among the ruling elite of the music business was, “These are hippies. Keep ‘em doped up and make sure they have a lot of groupies and they’ll be happy.  They don’t know how to handle money. So, we’ll just take care of that for them.”  This is why many artists from the late 60’s and early 70’s ended up penniless once the ringing in everyone’s ears had faded.

Thankfully, by the end of the 1970’s things were changing and in the 1980’s with the advent of MTV, smarter artists and a legacy of horror stories from a decade before the music artist ruled the planet.  The artists of that area were some of the most influential people in the world and some of the most financially successful.  Some of the 70’s and 60’s artist also enjoyed major come backs and financial success  during that period. The image of the music artistThe exact opposite of today.

So what the hell happened?

Gene Simmons and many others would like to blame the current state of affairs on grunge.  In the early 1990’s rock music under went an over haul. From an artistic stand point, it appears to have been necessary.  Grunge was sort of a reset button and while some artists of that movement were very understated in there performances band’s like Rage Against the Machine had crowds gathered in mosh pits.  It wasn’t all dark stages, depression, and shoe gazing.  Keep in mind that any time there has been a major change in the world there are always several galvanizing factors.  For instance,  the Vietnam war, the Kennedy assasination, experimentation with psychodelic drugs  and Watergate all went in to the pot that created hippy movement.  It wasn’t just one factor.  With that in mind  let get back to the “glory days” of the late 1970’s and 1980’s.

In the 80’s   it was very expensive to record an album, master it, do a video and promote it.  Record labels would spend thousands before the song or album was even released and without ever knowing  what kind of  return on investment they could expect.  Why was it so expensive?  It actually takes a village to get a band recorded, video recorded, and promoted.  Many of you reading this now have learned this the hard way. We will get back to that in a minute. Albums like Purple Rain, and Born in the USA had scores of people making sure that everything got done and the it was done well.  This was still no guarantee of financial success but records were really well made. The artist concentrated on writing great music. The band concentrated on playing that music perfectly live and in the studio. The video director and his team gave the video their complete attention and the people at the label worked hard to get the record and the video played and supported (paid for) the tour.   It was a good model. Rather expensive but it worked, and it gave a lot of artists of that era a lot of financial and social capital .  Then some one had a “better” idea…

Winy whiners whining….

So we have this well oiled machine, but still some people weren’t happy. Many artists felt that major labels controlled the business.  The big evil corporations were squelching the true artists.  Many cried “No fair!”  That was their right to do so . The war raged for about 10 to 15 years and when the smoke cleared.  The label system was dead. The indie artists had won.  The music business was now completely “democratic”.   We wanted a “fair” system… and guess what? We got our wish. The business is completely democratic.  You can record a great sounding record in your house.  There are mastering services that will master your record very well for very low price or you can even do that your self. Technology also makes creating a video very inexpensive and quick and there are literally HUNDREDS of marketing services aimed at the indie musician’s price point. The internet allows your to promote yourself all day and night practically for free .  Now everyone can be a rock star!

Where are all of these Rock Stars??? 

With all of this technology and free promotion why isn’t EVERYONE a rock star?  If you are a musician reading this, you have probably noticed that while all of this democracy sounds good…I mean democracy HAS to be good right? Why don’t have I have the success that I feel I should or even feel that I deserve?  About 20 years ago something disturbing started happening. You would buy a CD from your favorite artist only to realize that the only good song was the one that you heard on the radio.  This is REALLY what happened to the music business.  The push to do more, spend less, and get that return on investment quicker lead to albums being cranked out with maybe one good song, instead of an album’s worth a great material.  Fans began to become skeptical.  I’m not making this up. This became a huge topic in the music press at the end of the 90’s and early 2000’s.  Bands like Hootie and the Blowfish would put out an album full of great material. They sold millions and in an effort to duplicate that success they rushed to do another record. The second album tanked.  This happened with many artists of that  era. You cannot pull a bait and switch on your customers.  You will loose EVERY TIME!

Album sales were declining. Internet downloading was increasing.  People thought… “Hey his last record was pretty weak. Why should I spend $14.99 on his CD only to be disappointed when I can get it for free on the web?”  I’ll digress here for minute. Did you find $14.99 price for a CD rather high in the last sentence? That was actually a bargain price for a CD at the time. Many CD’s were selling for $17.99 and some as high as $19.99. It’s hard to image people these days spending that kind of money on a CD, if they would even buy one at all.  This is how bad things really are. The combination of weaker material, customer disillusionment, internet down loading, the money drying up, and more options for people to spend their entertainment dollar on non music related things  is what got us to where we are today.

Democracy in Action! 

So…fast forward and it’s 2014. The business is heavily segmented. Most of the music that makes it on the radio does not translate well live unless you are the original artist.  So even cover bands are struggling.  Hip-hop and Country have surpassed the success of rock many times over.  Now that it’s all democratic, artist has too much on her plate. She needs to write, record, produce, mix and master her own record. book her own shows, do her own promotion,  film her own video and carry her own equipment.  Most record labels are just that “labels”. They are just the business structure that the artist herself must set up.  There is a lot of freedom these days but with freedom come responsibility.  This is why everyone isn’t an indie sensation.  Very few can maintain this work ethic. It’s a bitch doing it all yourself. Remember you STILL need to keep the lights on and feed yourself. A lot of people get all excited when they see how wide open the business really is. It is wide open. There is a lot of really unique, interesting, fun, catchy, and downright great music out there.  Many artists who could not find a platform even 5 years ago are on tour and making  a living at it. But they busted their asses to get there.  They joint ventured with other aritists and businesses. They learned how to out source a lot of their promotion costs. They barter. They find a way.  They have learned that it really does take a village.