A few days ago I saw Deerhoof at Irving Plaza in Manhattan. Opening for them was Proton Proton and Bus Driver, Neither of which i cared much for. Although we did show up late and didn't really pay much attention to either (no disrepect, it was school night and i had to save my energy). I wasn't really familiar with Deerhoof before seeing them, I had only heard them in passing. But seeing as how they sold out Irving Plaza i figured it couldn't suck to bad. They kept my interest straight through there set, the only time i got a little bored was during the encore (but like i said, it was a school night). If i had to describe them from seeing there live show only i would call it a cross between Shonen Knife and Sonic Youth lite. Maybe I'm way off but that's what i got from the show. After hearing their Album Friend Opportunity I would still say that's descriptions not to far off. It's angular, primarily guitar driven indie rock. The vocals are pretty stereotypical of what you might expect from a small asian girl, high pitched and cute. All in All a good, fun band. Check out some mp3's from their record label, Kill Rock Star's Website:
- +81.mp3
- Gore In Rut.mp3
- Wrong Time Capsule.mp3
- Milking.mp3
- Sealed With A Kiss.mp3
- Holy Night Fever.mp3
- The Great Car Tomb.mp3
- Wrong Time Capsule Video
- Learn plenty more with Deerhoof Fact Sheet.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Friend Opportunity
Friday, January 26, 2007
Be More Punk. (part 2)
Stop Smoking.
-who do the tabacco companies own.?
-who owns the tabacco companies?
-who owns who?
-multinational corporate oligarchy.
"death of a rich man"
Be More Punk. (part 1)
The problem with music
by Steve Albini
Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what's printed on the contract. It's too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody's eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there's only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says "Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke. And he does of course.I. A & R Scouts
Every major label involved in the hunt for new bands now has on staff a high-profile point man, an "A & R" rep who can present a comfortable face to any prospective band. The initials stand for "Artist and Repertoire." because historically, the A & R staff would select artists to record music that they had also selected, out of an available pool of each. This is still the case, though not openly.
These guys are universally young [about the same age as the bands being wooed], and nowadays they always have some obvious underground rock credibility flag they can wave. Lyle Preslar, former guitarist for Minor Threat, is one of them. Terry Tolkin, former NY independent booking agent and assistant manager at Touch and Go is one of them. Al Smith, former soundman at CBGB is one of them. Mike Gitter, former editor of XXX fanzine and contributor to Rip, Kerrang and other lowbrow rags is one of them. Many of the annoying turds who used to staff college radio stations are in their ranks as well.
There are several reasons A & R scouts are always young. The explanation usually copped-to is that the scout will be "hip to the current musical "scene." A more important reason is that the bands will intuitively trust someone they think is a peer, and who speaks fondly of the same formative rock and roll experiences. The A & R person is the first person to make contact with the band, and as such is the first person to promise them the moon. Who better to promise them the moon than an idealistic young turk who expects to be calling the shots in a few years, and who has had no previous experience with a big record company. Hell, he's as naive as the band he's duping. When he tells them no one will interfere in their creative process, he probably even believes it.
When he sits down with the band for the first time, over a plate of angel hair pasta, he can tell them with all sincerity that when they sign with company X, they're really signing with him and he's on their side. Remember that great gig I saw you at in '85? Didn't we have a blast.
By now all rock bands are wise enough to be suspicious of music industry scum. There is a pervasive caricature in popular culture of a portly, middle aged ex-hipster talking a mile-a-minute, using outdated jargon and calling everybody "baby." After meeting "their" A & R guy, the band will say to themselves and everyone else, "He's not like a record company guy at all! He's like one of us." And they will be right. That's one of the reasons he was hired.
These A & R guys are not allowed to write contracts. What they do is present the band with a letter of intent, or "deal memo," which loosely states some terms, and affirms that the band will sign with the label once a contract has been agreed on.
The spookiest thing about this harmless sounding little memo, is that it is, for all legal purposes, a binding document. That is, once the band signs it, they are under obligation to conclude a deal with the label. If the label presents them with a contract that the band don't want to sign, all the label has to do is wait. There are a hundred other bands willing to sign the exact same contract, so the label is in a position of strength.
These letters never have any terms of expiration, so the band remain bound by the deal memo until a contract is signed, no matter how long that takes. The band cannot sign to another laborer even put out its own material unless they are released from their agreement, which never happens. Make no mistake about it: once a band has signed a letter of intent, they will either eventually sign a contract that suits the label or they will be destroyed.
One of my favorite bands was held hostage for the better part of two years by a slick young "He's not like a label guy at all," A & R rep, on the basis of such a deal memo. He had failed to come through on any of his promises [something he did with similar effect to another well-known band], and so the band wanted out. Another label expressed interest, but when the A & R man was asked to release the band, he said he would need money or points, or possibly both, before he would consider it.
The new label was afraid the price would be too dear, and they said no thanks. On the cusp of making their signature album, an excellent band, humiliated, broke up from the stress and the many months of inactivity.
II. There's This Band
There's this band. They're pretty ordinary, but they're also pretty good, so they've attracted some attention. They're signed to a moderate-sized "independent" label owned by a distribution company, and they have another two albums owed to the label. They're a little ambitious. They'd like to get signed by a major label so they can have some security you know, get some good equipment, tour in a proper tour bus -- nothing fancy, just a little reward for all the hard work.
To that end, they got a manager. He knows some of the label guys, and he can shop their next project to all the right people. He takes his cut, sure, but it's only 15%, and if he can get them signed then it's money well spent. Anyways, it doesn't cost them anything if it doesn't work. 15% of nothing isn't much!
One day an A & R scout calls them, says he's 'been following them for a while now, and when their manager mentioned them to him, it just "clicked." Would they like to meet with him about the possibility of working out a deal with his label? Wow. Big Break time.
They meet the guy, and y'know what -- he's not what they expected from a label guy. He's young and dresses pretty much like the band does. He knows all their favorite bands. He's like one of them. He tells them he wants to go to bat for them, to try to get them everything they want. He says anything is possible with the right attitude. They conclude the evening by taking home a copy of a deal memo they wrote out and signed on the spot.
The A & R guy was full of great ideas, even talked about using a name producer. Butch Vig is out of the question-he wants 100 g's and three points, but they can get Don Fleming for $30,000 plus three points. Even that's a little steep, so maybe they'll go with that guy who used to be in David Letterman's band. He only wants three points. Or they can have just anybody record it (like Warton Tiers, maybe-- cost you 5 or 7 grand] and have Andy Wallace remix it for 4 grand a track plus 2 points. It was a lot to think about.
Well, they like this guy and they trust him. Besides, they already signed the deal memo. He must have been serious about wanting them to sign. They break the news to their current label, and the label manager says he wants them to succeed, so they have his blessing. He will need to be compensated, of course, for the remaining albums left on their contract, but he'll work it out with the label himself. Sub Pop made millions from selling off Nirvana, and Twin Tone hasn't done bad either: 50 grand for the Babes and 60 grand for the Poster Children-- without having to sell a single additional record. It'll be something modest. The new label doesn't mind, so long as it's recoupable out of royalties. Well, they get the final contract, and it's not quite what they expected. They figure it's better to be safe than sorry and they turn it over to a lawyer--one who says he's experienced in entertainment law and he hammers out a few bugs. They're still not sure about it, but the lawyer says he's seen a lot of contracts, and theirs is pretty good. They'll be great royalty: 13% [less a 1O% packaging deduction]. Wasn't it Buffalo Tom that were only getting 12% less 10? Whatever.
The old label only wants 50 grand, an no points. Hell, Sub Pop got 3 points when they let Nirvana go. They're signed for four years, with options on each year, for a total of over a million dollars! That's a lot of money in any man's English. The first year's advance alone is $250,000. Just think about it, a quarter million, just for being in a rock band!
Their manager thinks it's a great deal, especially the large advance. Besides, he knows a publishing company that will take the band on if they get signed, and even give them an advance of 20 grand, so they'll be making that money too. The manager says publishing is pretty mysterious, and nobody really knows where all the money comes from, but the lawyer can look that contract over too. Hell, it's free money.
Their booking agent is excited about the band signing to a major. He says they can maybe average $1,000 or $2,000 a night from now on. That's enough to justify a five week tour, and with tour support, they can use a proper crew, buy some good equipment and even get a tour bus! Buses are pretty expensive, but if you figure in the price of a hotel room for everybody In the band and crew, they're actually about the same cost. Some bands like Therapy? and Sloan and Stereolab) use buses on their tours even when they're getting paid only a couple hundred bucks a night, and this tour should earn at least a grand or two every night. It'll be worth it. The band will be more comfortable and will play better. The agent says a band on a major label can get a merchandising company to pay them an advance on T-shirt sales! ridiculous! There s a gold mine here! The lawyer Should look over the merchandising contract, just to be safe.
They get drunk at the signing party. Polaroids are taken and everybody looks thrilled. The label picked them up in a limo. They decided to go with the producer who used to be in Letterman's band. He had these technicians come in and tune the drums for them and tweak their amps and guitars. He had a guy bring in a slew of expensive old "vintage" microphones. Boy, were they "warm." He even had a guy come in and check the phase of all the equipment in the control room! Boy, was he professional. He used a bunch of equipment on them and by the end of it, they all agreed that it sounded very "punchy," yet "warm."
All that hard work paid off. With the help of a video, the album went like hotcakes! They sold a quarter million copies!
Here is the math that will explain just how fucked they are:
These figures are representative of amounts that appear in record contracts daily. There's no need to skew the figures to make the scenario look bad, since real-life examples more than abound. income is underlined, expenses are not.
Advance: $ 250,000
^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
Manager's cut: $ 37,500
Legal fees: $ 10,000
Recording Budget: $ 150,000
Producer s advance: $ 50,000
Studio fee: $ 52,500
Drum. Amp, Mic and Phase "Doctors": $ 3,000
Recording tape: $ 8,000
Equipment rental: $ 5,000
Cartage and Transportation: $ 5,000
Lodgings while in studio: $ 10,000
Catering: $ 3,000
Mastering: $ 10,000
Tape copies, reference CDs, shipping
tapes, misc. expenses: $ 2,000
Video budget: $ 30,000
Cameras: $ 8,000
Crew: $ 5,000
Processing and transfers: $ 3,000
Off-line: $ 2,000
On-line editing: $ 3,000
Catering: $ 1,000
Stage and construction: $ 3,000
Copies, couriers, transportation: $ 2,000
Director's fee: $ 3,000
Album Artwork: $ 5,000
Promotional photo shoot and
duplication: $ 2,000
Band fund: $ 15,000
New fancy professional drum kit: $ 5,000
New fancy professional guitars [2]: $ 3,000
New fancy professional guitar amp
rigs [2]: $ 4,000
New fancy potato-shaped bass guitar: $ 1,000
New fancy rack of lights bass amp: $ 1,000
Rehearsal space rental: $ 500
Big blowout party for their friends: $ 500
Tour expense [5 weeks]: $ 50,875
Bus: $ 25,000
Crew [3]: $ 7,500
Food and per diems: $ 7,875
Fuel: $ 3,000
Consumable supplies: $ 3,500
Wardrobe: $ 1,000
Promotion: $ 3,000
Tour gross income: $ 50,000
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Agent's cut: $ 7,500
Manager's cut: $ 7,500
Merchandising advance: $ 20,000
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Manager's cut: $ 3,000
Lawyer's fee: $ 1,000
Publishing advance: $ 20,000
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Manager's cut: $ 3,000
Lawyer's fee: $ 1,000
Record sales: 250,000 @ $12 = $3,000,000
Gross retail revenue Royalty
[13% of 90% of retail]: $ 351,000
Less advance: $ 250,000
Producer's points
[3% less $50,000 advance]: $ 40,000
Promotional budget: $ 25,000
Recoupable buyout from previous label: $ 50,000
Net royalty: $ -14,000
^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Record company income:
Record wholesale price
$6.50 x 250,000 = $1,625,000 gross income
Artist Royalties: $ 351,000
Deficit from royalties: $ 14,000
Manufacturing, packaging and
distribution @ $2.20 per record: $ 550,000
Gross profit: $ 7l0,000
The Balance Sheet: This is how much each player
got paid at the end of the game.
Record company: $ 710,000
Producer: $ 90,000
Manager: $ 51,000
Studio: $ 52,500
Previous label: $ 50,000
Agent: $ 7,500
Lawyer: $ 12,000
Band member net income each: $ 4,031.25
The band is now 1/4 of the way through its contract, has made the music industry more than 3 million dollars richer, but is in the hole $14,000 on royalties. The band members have each earned about 1/3 as much as they would working at a 7-11, but they got to ride in a tour bus for a month.
The next album will be about the same, except that the record company will insist they spend more time and money on it. Since the previous one never "recouped," the band will have no leverage, and will oblige.
The next tour will be about the same, except the merchandising advance will have already been paid, and the band, strangely enough, won't have earned any royalties from their T-shirts yet. Maybe the T-shirt guys have figured out how to count money like record company guys.
Some of your friends are probably already this fucked.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Wolfmans Got Nards
All hail the glory that be The Monster Sqaud. Like the mutant crossbreed of The Goonies and The Lost Boys, if your not familiar with this gem from '87 get ready to get pysched. It's not available on DVD but if you do some keen internet searching you can find a vhs copy. Although if your more internet savvy you can download it and burn a dvd (or put it on your ipod so i'ts always with you, like i did). But back to the film itself. The Monster Squad is about a group of young high schoolers who love monster movies and and have a club (complete with a sick treehouse) where they discuss all things monster. Then wouldn't you know it, Dracula moves to the old creepy house and calls up all his monster buddies to help open a portal and unleash heinous evil on the world. Who else is going to stop this bullshit but The Monster Sqaud (with the help of "the cool kid" from school, scary German guy and best of all Frankenstein). One of the most brilliant films of the 1980's and perhaps the only film to feature Frankenstein saying "Bogus" and Dracula calling a 5 year old girl a bitch, this is not one to be missed. Do what you must to find it, you'll most likely have the best time ever and if not fuck you. Check the radical links below...
-video (wmv) of wolfman getting kicked in the nards!
-Interview w/ director and cast at ain't it cool news.
-More info and sick animated gifs at i-mockery.
-interesting facts and more animated gifs at Crown Combo.
-unrelated tv series from the 70's, with crime fighting monsters.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
The Clash In A Box
"Audacious, angry and all-encompassing, the music of The Clash transcended categorization to represent the best of British punk. But they were much more than some simple, three chord thrash, as a new box set focusing exclusively on their 45rpm single output proves."
I just bought The Clash - The U.K. Singles Box Set. It's incredible. I bought the CD edition but it has also been released in a vinyl box set. Unfortunatly i found that out seconds after cracking open the CD one i bought. Regardless it's an incredible box set. Each CD is packaged in a sleeve with the original single artwork. They also contain songs not originally on the records. Almost every record is incredible, the only low point in listening was the last disc. It's that crazy version of The Clash with out Mick Jones and some weird dudes that we all try to forget about. But being able to oogle over each sleeve as you jam out to all the hits is incredible. The 19 CD's are packaged in a desert cover box with slip cover over that. One problem i encountered while loading them into itunes was that most of the cd's come up with different album names. Some discs say UK Singles Disc #, some say Singles Collection, some have the specific 7" name and some have nothing at all. Really not that big of a deal, but i did have to relabel 19 discs to get them in order in itunes. Besides the discs the set also includes a book. In it Different celebrity types talk about a specific disc. Generally interesting stories. It also has all the release info and chart positions for each record. A nice addition to an already sick collection. i give it 47 out 30 star. Get and relish in the splendor that is the only band that ever mattered.
Joe Strummer's my hero - watch this awesome interview with tom snyder.
check PopMatters to see more videos and read more about the clash and the new box set.
learn more about the master minds: Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
server
I'm currently learning how setup and configure a server for the office i work in. it's kind of confusing becuase i'm not really an IT person. But the new Leopard Server is pretty awesome. One cool thing i found out about while reading up was the newly added wiki server. basically and in Apples words it does this: "Leopard Server includes a Wiki Server to make it easy for teams to create and distribute information through their own shared Intranet website. For the first time, all members of a workgroup can easily create or edit content right from their browser. With a few clicks, or by dragging and dropping, they can upload files and images, track changes, assign keywords, hyper-link pages, view and contribute to shared calendars and blogs, and search for content on the group Intranet. It’s a powerful communication assistant". Besides that it's incredible easy to set up and manage. Check out the Sneak Peek.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
popularity contest
I just found this on flickr. they've graphed out the most popular camera's used on flickr. they did if for slr's, point and shoots, and camera phones. besides looking nice it's cool to see what most people are using. none of mine where on there. this is the digital i carry around with me. i generally prefer film to digital, but you can' t beat this thing for a digital point and shoot. i love it.
check it out here.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Irregular Regulars
today i went to a photo exhibit by Ryan McGinley. It was called Irregular Regulars. The subject of the photos where Morrissey concerts, however the majority of the photos were of the audience encapsulated by the man on stage. The over-all theme i would assume is idol worship. McGinley, who's a big fan of the Moz, photographed at several shows capturing the the man and the devoted followers. The photos, like all of his work, have a dreamlike, fantasy feel to them. they show the fans completely enraptured by there idol, and heroic shots of him all basking in the mulit-colored lights from the stage. plus there's pictures of Morrissey, so you can go wrong with that.
check out Team Gallery and Ryan McGinley's page.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Monsters have more fun
So the truth is sometimes music just sounds better when delivered by bodacious hell-beasts. I was reading a news post on BBC about Morrissey possibly being in the next Eurovision. At the bottome they mention last years winner "Lordi". Next to that is a picture of a demon wailing on guitar. First i said "Oh Fuck" then I googled searched Lordi. Lordi hail from Finland and are most easily compared to Gwar, however not as over the top and sexual. The songs titles that i've seen so far are pretty awesome though, such as "Would You Love a Monsterman" and "Devil is a Loser". here's an excerpt from their bio:
"Amen the unstoppable mummy, Awa the vampire countess, Ox the hellbull and Kita the alien manbeast, share the combined strengths of all the beasts known to man. Led by Lordi, this true last gang in town arm themselves with guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, voice and killer songs. And then there was sound! Once you wake up from the Monsterican Dream you`ll know at least one thing. Monsters have more fun."
pretty awesome. check out the wikipedia page for more Lordi Action. Watch they're video here.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Burn To Shine
Burn to Shine is a film series released by TRIXIEDVD and produced by Brendan Canty (of Fugazi) and filmaker Christoph Green. The series selects a city and has musicians and bands perform in a house scheduled to be burn to the ground by the fire department. Each DVD is set in a different city and has a different curator who selects the performers. Each band plays only one song.
Cities documented thus far have been Washington D.C., Chicago, and Portland. They include bands and performers such as The Evens, Ted Leo, Q and not U, Shellac, Wilco, Sleater-Kinney, The Shins, The Decemberists and plenty more. Roughly 10 bands per city. The DVD's are available in most record stores and online here.
check out Sleater-Kinney from Burn to Shine (Portland, OR):
