Question: Sup Dig! Seasons greetings and everything you\'re probably tired of hearing about by now. It\'s been officially a year since I started asking you blog questions on industrial and how to progress as an artist. You\'re fucking awesome dude.
Quick recap: Made a demo, got big on the internet, wanted to know how transition this from bedroom hobby to a possible career. Asked your opinions on the genre, had a nice chat with Al (gave me an address to send stuff in the future), and you tracked down my myspace and said it was \"pretty decent industrial\". Now on to the current:
I\'m not going to make any progress unless I get off my ass and get out and about. I played a few shows this last summer for the first time, and they\'ve gone pretty well. My last gig was at the request of Kynt and Vyxsin (goth TV celebs, check YouTube) when they came here to visit, since Kynt was a fan from my internet success. They put me in touch with the event holders here that run the big events here in state who are dying to get me around, which brings me to my conundrum:
The event folks here love me, maybe because I\'m the only industrial act here trying (or because I only ask for burgers as payment), but they want \"my band\" to play all over state and at thier events starting January, and they\'re even dangling traveling to Seattle to play there over my head. The thing is, the \"events\" here are all electronic/techno/rave-oriented ones as are their connections in the lower 48. I\'m DYING to get out of Alaska, I can\'t take this Russia-Canada sandwich anymore. I don\'t mind the rave atmosphere now, but my fear is if I start doing this whole \"rave techno\" scene stuff for the next 6 months to a year, is that the scene I\'ll be pigeon-holed in to event holders? I\'m worried that even with this experience under my belt, if I try and get involved with rock/metal promoters, they\'ll go \"we don\'t do techno\" which is what all the venues around here said when I tried to get traditional gigs. But this is a fucking-hick state, so my perception may be scewed. Does shit even work that way, or am I over-thinking this too much?
By the time I fly the fuck out of here, I\'ll have an CD of \"great\" songs as opposed to \"pretty decent\" (the stuff on my myspace) that I plan on sending to Al. There\'s a few specific artists in your roster I hold in the highest regard I\'d kill to hear feedback from. Maybe if the material doesn\'t suck that can happen :)
Answer:Simple answer is play anywhere anytime- so many other things spin off from shows, not just the playing on stage part, but simply being visible and networking at events gets you connected to the scene faster than anything.Also blog and tweet your thoughts to the world incessantly, 24-7, and keep your myspace fans updated at least daily with the latest info. Its basic promotion activity all new bands need to undertake.
I visited the myspace again and noticed your cover of Haddaway's early 90's pop-techno hit is the big draw- thats cool, you already figured out A COVER is the simplest and tried and tested way to get heard above the noise, so I reckon you should immediately do a remix of Katy Perry I Kissed a Girl- stick it on MS & YouTube, it'd be huge and make your name. Like this attempt, which has racked up 3 Million plays.. but you'd do it waay better i expect:
To be totally bleeding edge, make sure you put a "donking" techno beat on it, like this beat from UK's Blackout Crew who represent whats mass- appealing to the UK dancefloor pop-rave hordes right now:
Those 2 LA Djs seem like great allies for you, seems a great connection to have- so keep it going..As for rave vs industrial debate..if Rave events are the ones calling, then you certainly are a rave act- you should deal with the prejudices of the industrial rock fraternity later, when you have a full band backing you up onstage.
Y'know this post really makes me wanna hear Ultraviolence track "Strangled" again- this dark, angry, metallic,hi tempo industrialised rave style song from 98 was astonishingly unique for the time, and still sounds totally 'out-there' ten years on- taken from the Killing God album, on Earache:
Oh cool, I've never heard the original version of that track. Back in high school ('02 I think) I picked up the Hellspawn compilation at a used record store, was turned on to a lot of artists through it.
ReplyDeleteKaty Perry? Argh, I couldn't escape that song during the summer. Bad enough I had to hear Puddle of Hinderback singing about girls, now we got girls singing about girls... But I'm going to do this as repayment for the advice you've handed out over this blog. Seriously, I've tried to find people to PAY for this kind of advice.
Learning about a cover song came to me in hindsight actually. I covered "What is Love" in response to Deadstar Assembly's version of "Send me an Angel" as a joke. Ironically it was the best song on the demo.
Hey Dig, rather than pester you on the blog is it ok if I shoot you an email asking some more specific stuff? I just don't wanna send you something out of the blue without you knowing beforehand.