Dealing with COLD FEET

2014/02/24 09:08:06

Guitarhacker

What a dilemma.

More than one time I have been in bands where several in the band didn't want to risk their daytime jobs and income on a "pipedream" of a musical career. Excuses like, I need my income, I have a great career ahead off me there, I'm only 8 years from retirement with that company, etc, etc, etc....

Cold feet, fear of success, or a simple reality check that the other of us didn't see?

So, if I read it right, the deal has been extended. If the celebrity you refer to has a track record of doing this successfully with other similar bands in the past, I would say that is certainly a relatively safe bet to take. If you can replace 2 people in ASA and you still sound basically the same, have the same qualities that attracted the celeb's attention to you in the first place..... then make that personnel change and go for it. Too often though, the chance at the brass ring, and mix in some new personalities and things can go off the tracks really fast , or, it can be the perfect formula to take you to the top. That's the big gamble that no one knows the answer to right now.

Ideally, everyone in the current line up gets on board and goes for it together.

Be sure to keep us posted on how it all works out..... send pictures of the tour.

2014/02/24 09:10:02

Moshkiae

Karyn ...
If you're going to put years of your life into playing with bands, make sure you know what you want out of it from day 1. If you aim to "make it big" make sure there is no one in the band with a day job that currently pays their mortgage.. They WILL NOT give it up.
...

My old friend, Tom Payne, and his brother David, put together a band when we were living together. Tom was already a very good drummer (a la Carl Palmer) with a very good touch, and he also had a fairly steady voice for singing. They stuck it out for a various years, and one of the reasons why I ended up here in Portland/Vancouver was because I knew Tom and Dave were here. I've been here ever since.

Tom is the only one that never quit. He was also the one that would sit on his brother's small Yamaha piano and play things and learn songs and practice his singing at the oddest times ever, but he always stuck with it.

Well, "Smokin' Mirrors" and Tom has been in Tennessee for a few years, and they even have had their night at the House of Blues and some nicer places (we hope!). And Tom sent me 2 CD's of music just recently, and I can recognize 2 to 3 pieces that him and Dave had already started on 30plus years ago. Tom stopped drumming here in 1983 when his $3K Ludwig drum set was stolen at the club called Cousins here in Portland. He never drummed after that for anyone else. But he is a very good singer, and arranger, and has fairly good chops at the wheel.

Yes, you go as far as you want to and dedicate yourself, and you can tell that things were hard and his life was tough as he had children since then, but the person you are with has to know that is it about the music or not?

You stuck to the music. End of story. I never married, because I wanted to write and hopefully also do music, theater and film, and I did not want to be hurting children, or my lady with it all. It was bad enough that our family had 9 children, and dad got very famous and all that ... but you know what? In every house and country there is a God and the children don't mean anything, and guess where we all fit in that equation? Makes it harder to be confident in yourself and maintain a relationship that helps you with that confidence. It never happened for me, and I finally gave up on it.

I still write, like crazy as you can tell, but I am no longer living an illusion or idea that one day it will happen, or not. I don't care if it does or not anymore. I write to satisfy my vision, not anyone else's, and no one can take that away from me, ever!

So if a guy shows up in flames to shake my hand, he is likely to get a bucket of pee on him! Yeah, a bit cynical, but after such a long time of nothing, I'm not sure I would be happy with something!

2014/02/24 10:04:15

spindlebox

Lots of interesting perspectives here, and I appreciate everyone's time and sharing their experiences & opinions. Firstly, if plan B happens and we decide to move on with other members - we're talking about Drums and Guitar. Certainly, everyone has their own style, but us two main songwriters/singers/founders are in this. So that part of the band, the real "MEAT" of the band - would not change. Again, it is my desire to have all 4 of us on board - but the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and I have not spent the past 7 years of my life busting ass to lose out. My opinion is this, if we fall flat on our face - fine. At least we tried.

We, as a group are having a video Skype meeting with him on Wednesday. So from the Celebrity's standpoint, it will be VERY tough to fake that this is not who he says he is. Secondly, I verified email and skype addresses. They are posted on this persons' social media sites. The first thing you have to ask yourself is - why would this person want to tarnish their reputation by screwing anyone over?

Secondly, HE approached us and said that his nephew is a fan and was raving about us, and knew that he helped bands (and has been for years apparently from what I can discern from online.) Celebrities are people with families that aren't celebrities, and why wouldn't this person listen to somebody in their family to check us out?

What the deal is, is basically this (I am deleting names and links to keep this person anonymous):

"This is going to be fun so let's start off by getting on the same page so we can begin to answer each others questions.

1)The music biz has changed a lot in the last few years. A career's fuse used to be lit by a record industry signing. Now they are fourth on the food chain because their revenue streams have dried up. That makes managers less important as well. The chain goes in this order: Big Agent, PR, Promoters, etc.

Now in 2014 managers don't do as much because the big agents take care of most things (touring, sponsorships, soundtrack work, etc, etc.) One thing to be careful about with the less experienced managers is that they try to push agents to the point of tarnishing your reputation. Bands can be guilty of this as well. The music business has less than 400 people who control careers. If there is friction everyone hears about it. This isn't an issue with all managers. I am just putting it out there.

2) Lower level agents hurt your career. They can't get you high exposure tours.

3) Big agents are the only avenue in this era. They can put you in front of a lot of people opening for one of the known bands that they represent, or festivals etc. Once you have a big agent, the record industry will then come to you with offers. Agencies work for ten percent so they want you to have large pay dates. On another note, pay to play is a rip off. A big agent will never put you in that position.

I would appreciate it if you would also review these points:
1) You must be 20 years of age or older and out of school.
2) Will you put in the effort to make things happen?
3) No one can have work,or domestic requirements that would keep you all from going out to do shows for a couple of months at a time. If you do, this will not work.
4) You are in charge of your own funds. The tours you are sent on are designed to make you good money. You need to have a couple of hundred dollars saved. You are in charge of paying for your first tank of gas :)
5) I serve as an evaluator. The fee I charge is not funded by you. My job is to line you up with the right team. The only way to have a real career these days is to be represented by one of the top players in the industry. I receive a fee after I have assembled the team, paid by them. Real agents have a full plate. They just don't have the time to find the artists.

It's important that we are the right fit. If I goof up and propose mediocre talent, flakes or bands that are hard to get along with then the window gets closed. Let's be professionals. If we set up meetings then everyone must be on time.

I've researched and have found that your exposure and media coverage needs to be pumped up a bit to attract the bigger entertainment entities. Don't worry I used to own a PR company and I will show you how to DIY the press. I will help you do it with confidentiality. I have no interest in taking any credit for what we do together.

Again please know that you or a combination of your band members need to have a good work ethic to make this all happen.
For approximately 5-8 weeks your band will need to be sending press release emails out. Sending these emails to promote your band will require about 10 hours of time a week. If that is too much of a commitment we shouldn't go further at this point.

If you do have the time to help me push your band, then the next step is to have your entire band read this email and watch this video.

<<<OMMITTED FOR CONFIDENTIALITY>>>

Remember this video was made to show people how much you can get away with using light hearted media tricks. This doesn't mean that you have to follow the same path. There are many ways to get a relevant press pop: charities, political issues, etc.
Doing good community events can get as much publicity as controversy. Again the reason I did this video as part of a charity event was to show people that they don't have to fear the media.

The next step, after everyone in the band has watched the video and has read this proposal here, we will set up a Skype meeting with all band members present so we can see each other. Shoot me back an email with the day and time the band usually gets together so that I can compare it with my schedule and see what works for both of us. If you don't have Skype it's an easy set up and only takes about three minutes to download the app.

I believe in you and think we can make magic together to get you out on stadium, arena or big festival shows across the country.
Thanks,

So that's it right now.