It has been a while... But we haven't disappeared anywhere. Actually we've been busy setting up our new rehearsal space, rehearsing and planning ;-) So here is a little bit of news for all of you. We have decided that with the new lineup and new start we will also leave behind our old name the JPKALLIO.COM and start fresh... well... freshish ;-) So the new band name is... (drum roll, dim the lights)
Boneyard Bastards
With this name change we decided to move our Facebook page and website as well. So go and make friends with us on Facebook by clicking HERE, Action!
Our web site will be online shortly and we'll keep you posted on that.
Also we will be playing in the Fibbers on the Quays this Thursday the 21st of February, which we just can't wait! The night kicks off at 8pm and on the bill there are: Penrose, The Midget Monkeys and Boneyard Bastards. Plus before and after the bands there is singer songwriter night. Should be good. So start your weekend early and come along.
J.P.
Showing posts with label Rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rock. Show all posts
Monday, February 18, 2013
Friday, November 16, 2012
Fender Excelsior tone pod mod
I've been on a bit of a tone search trip lately. I always had almost as big interest on the tone of guitar as I did in the playing of it. Also in the nature of this blog and just plain simple restrictions of finances, I am always aware of how much I spend on my equipment. But even more so I am always looking for something new in tone, something you just can't buy from your local music store. You see, there are these musicians who have the best of the best equipment and all I say is good on you. But I find if our goal is to buy the Gibson Les Paul Custom and Mesa boogie triple rectifier (you can replace the guitar and the amp for any top end make here), more and more things will start to sound the same.
I know I am not alone in this search and for those of us not too impressed by the perfection of a €2000 off the shelf amp are left with few options. You can go the vintage rout, look for that magical 30 year old amp or guitar, which in many cases is over priced. I personally like the idea of actually customizing my tone.
So earlier this year I came across a new amp from Fender that got me bit exited (we've all been there). The amp in question is Fender Excelsior. Amp made in style of 1950s catalogue amps. It is a simple amp, with three inputs. Volume and tremolo controls and single dark to bright tone switch. It is full valve (tube for our american friends) design 13 watts and projects the sound from a single 15 inch speaker. The thing about this amp is that it is not trying to sound like any other amp, it has a tone of its own. But also it is designed to be a great platform for modifications.
After doing my usual research that I do before purchasing any new equipment, I got a great deal and decided to purchase the amp. On my purchase I was very impressed with the amp, but still I knew I was going to alter the amp to get a tone that is more what I had in mind. The first short fall of the amp is the dark to bright tone switch. The bright is pretty shrilly and piercing tone and the dark is lacking in clarity. It was clear from the beginning that the ideal tone from the amp would be some where between the two. So I decided change the switch in to a tone pot. I do need to say here that any one doing this will straight away cancel
out their warranty on the amp. But I had run the amp through it paces and knew it was working fine. If something was to go, it would be something that could be fixed by any good amp tech (also another beauty of the simple design of this amp). I used to have a Fender blues junior, a great little amp. But I was never impressed with this amps internal design. I had a problem with the input jack and one of the valve sockets, which were bot attached to the circuit board that was very tightly designed. To be honest with you, I actually had one look inside and decided the blues junior. But the Fender Excelsior's insides are much more modification friendly. There is loads room inside and the power and pre amp sections are housed separately. If you are more interested in the inner workings of this amp, I recommend you take a look at Billm's website and especially his page on Excelsior
Anyway, so I had a spare 500k pot in my spare parts, and decided to open the amp up. As I mentioned earlier the pre amp part is separate from the power amp part, so opening the amp was very easy. Two screws on top of the amp and I had the pre amp chassis in my hands. Few more screws and I had it opened up. Inside I could find the dark bright tone switch that has three cables attached to it. I carefully desoldered them and attached them to the pot exactly the same order as they were in the switch. It took little bit of filing to fit the pot in to the hole of the old switch. I also had an old control knob, that nicely covered the screw holes that held the switch. It's not exactly the style of the other two knobs, so I might look for some new knobs, kind of like the idea of cream colored chickenheads. When I started opening the amp, stuck the Black presidents CD on, and by the time I had it done, the album just finished, so just over half an hour it took me and the difference with the tone control is amazing! It really makes this amp very flexible for its three control design.
Just a small warning here. I would not call my self an expert in electronics, but I knew what I was doing before I opened the amp up. There can be potentially lethal charge in a valve amp. So make sure you know what you are doing! Once again Billm's website has been a wealth of information for me, so check it out at www.billmaudio.com and especially his page on discharging capacitors. This is an easy modification, but you can potentially do permanent damage to your amp, so don't tell me I didn't warn you. As mentioned above, if you do this the manufacturers warranty is gone! So if you are worried about this, either don't do it, or wait until the warranty is out. Personally for me I bought this amp as much for playing and gigging as to learn the insides of an simple valve amp, so I wasn't worried about this.
So there it is. The first mod on a journey to my own tone. I am also tinkering with the oldest and cheapest Boss distortion pedal DS-1. The results so far are great! So I'll be sharing some of these with you in the future as well. Great tone on a shoestring ;-) and best of all, my own tone.
J.P.
I know I am not alone in this search and for those of us not too impressed by the perfection of a €2000 off the shelf amp are left with few options. You can go the vintage rout, look for that magical 30 year old amp or guitar, which in many cases is over priced. I personally like the idea of actually customizing my tone.
So earlier this year I came across a new amp from Fender that got me bit exited (we've all been there). The amp in question is Fender Excelsior. Amp made in style of 1950s catalogue amps. It is a simple amp, with three inputs. Volume and tremolo controls and single dark to bright tone switch. It is full valve (tube for our american friends) design 13 watts and projects the sound from a single 15 inch speaker. The thing about this amp is that it is not trying to sound like any other amp, it has a tone of its own. But also it is designed to be a great platform for modifications.
After doing my usual research that I do before purchasing any new equipment, I got a great deal and decided to purchase the amp. On my purchase I was very impressed with the amp, but still I knew I was going to alter the amp to get a tone that is more what I had in mind. The first short fall of the amp is the dark to bright tone switch. The bright is pretty shrilly and piercing tone and the dark is lacking in clarity. It was clear from the beginning that the ideal tone from the amp would be some where between the two. So I decided change the switch in to a tone pot. I do need to say here that any one doing this will straight away cancel
out their warranty on the amp. But I had run the amp through it paces and knew it was working fine. If something was to go, it would be something that could be fixed by any good amp tech (also another beauty of the simple design of this amp). I used to have a Fender blues junior, a great little amp. But I was never impressed with this amps internal design. I had a problem with the input jack and one of the valve sockets, which were bot attached to the circuit board that was very tightly designed. To be honest with you, I actually had one look inside and decided the blues junior. But the Fender Excelsior's insides are much more modification friendly. There is loads room inside and the power and pre amp sections are housed separately. If you are more interested in the inner workings of this amp, I recommend you take a look at Billm's website and especially his page on Excelsior
Anyway, so I had a spare 500k pot in my spare parts, and decided to open the amp up. As I mentioned earlier the pre amp part is separate from the power amp part, so opening the amp was very easy. Two screws on top of the amp and I had the pre amp chassis in my hands. Few more screws and I had it opened up. Inside I could find the dark bright tone switch that has three cables attached to it. I carefully desoldered them and attached them to the pot exactly the same order as they were in the switch. It took little bit of filing to fit the pot in to the hole of the old switch. I also had an old control knob, that nicely covered the screw holes that held the switch. It's not exactly the style of the other two knobs, so I might look for some new knobs, kind of like the idea of cream colored chickenheads. When I started opening the amp, stuck the Black presidents CD on, and by the time I had it done, the album just finished, so just over half an hour it took me and the difference with the tone control is amazing! It really makes this amp very flexible for its three control design.Just a small warning here. I would not call my self an expert in electronics, but I knew what I was doing before I opened the amp up. There can be potentially lethal charge in a valve amp. So make sure you know what you are doing! Once again Billm's website has been a wealth of information for me, so check it out at www.billmaudio.com and especially his page on discharging capacitors. This is an easy modification, but you can potentially do permanent damage to your amp, so don't tell me I didn't warn you. As mentioned above, if you do this the manufacturers warranty is gone! So if you are worried about this, either don't do it, or wait until the warranty is out. Personally for me I bought this amp as much for playing and gigging as to learn the insides of an simple valve amp, so I wasn't worried about this.
So there it is. The first mod on a journey to my own tone. I am also tinkering with the oldest and cheapest Boss distortion pedal DS-1. The results so far are great! So I'll be sharing some of these with you in the future as well. Great tone on a shoestring ;-) and best of all, my own tone.
J.P.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Kerouac
We are organizing an album fundraiser for the JPKALLIO.COM's first album, so we can go back to the studio. The night will take place in the Thomas House, this Friday the 4th of May 2012. Doors 8pm and Adm €5. On the night obviously JPKALLIO.COM will do a set, but also we got few bands to help us out:-). On the bill we have our drummer Sebastians another band Down the river, who are going to kick off the night, also we have Kerouac, who have been making noise in the Irish underground lately. I sat down for a chat with Kerouac's bass player Keith O'Neill, who also takes care most of the promotion duties in the band and I realized we had more in common than we thought, when it comes to the music business.
J.P. First of all big thank you Keith for taking the time to talk to us. Could you tell me a bit about your background in music?
Keith Back ground in music... I started playing guitar when I was twelve. Guitar is my main instrument.
I wen't to Ballyfermot college studying guitar in the music course. That's where I met the lads. So went in as a guitar player and came out as a bass player! Amazing stuff. But guitar is still my main instrument. I do lot of acoustic instrumental music. So that would be me in music, between that and metal. I play bit of drums as well. One of the first bands I was in was a Nirvana covers band where I played drums when I was fifteen.
J.P. So let's talk about Kerouac a bit. I've seen the band live few times now and I was delighted that you agreed to play with us in the Thomas house this Friday. How did the band get started?
Keith No worries, we were delighted to be asked. We met up in the college in 2002. There was another bass player in the band before I started. He left the college after the first year, so they were looking for a bass player for the second year. So I said I'll play bass. I was playing guitar with lot of other people in the college, but the D C D chord thing just does not do it for me. I am delighted I came out of college with Richie ( Mason, drums) and Aaron (Gaffey, vox and guitar). When we left the college we did not do much for few years. We were occasionally jamming in Kilkenny where I am from, Richie was in Cork and Aaron in Dublin. So we rehearsed in a mate of mines house in Kilkenny. We did about six gigs in four years. That's the way it went until about two years a go when Richie moved back to Dublin and we've gone full belt at it since then.
J.P. You've done some quite big gigs in the past and seem to be gigging a lot. Any highlights you'd like to mention?
Keith Germany obviously. That was brilliant. We entered the Emergenza battle of the bands that goes on in eighteen different countries. We entered 2004 and didn't get out of the first round and then entered again last year and ended up winning it! So they flew us out to Germany for five days to play at a three day festival. It was nice as there were only two stages, the main stage and the second stage and we were on on the second stage on Saturday. It was really good, some amazing bands, as I said it went on in eighteen countries so we got to see lot of bands. It was 35000 people at the festival. Iggy Pop was on on the first night. Some energy for his age! It was cool, we did the gig and then we could just sit in the back stage and drink free beer. Yeah, we'll remember that one for a while.
We are doing the Ballymurphy fringe festival this summer. It is kind of the only festival in Ireland we could get in to. We seem to be too heavy for lot of the festivals, but then not heavy enough for the Metal festivals. But sure, what can you do?
J.P. Yeah, it's tough. It seems so many bands put so much effort in trying to get to play at festivals, makes me wonder if they could use that energy on something else.
Keith Yeah, the usual answer you are going to get, even though there are over 200 festivals in Ireland, is thanks but no thanks. It still seems to be all Indie stuff they are looking for.
J.P. I think that is a bubble that is about to burst.
Keith Yeah, me too. Somethings got to give, it's gone stale...
J.P. Tell me about it... But as always, it takes time before the mainstream catches on to whats brewing in the underground.
Keith That's it. Some amazing bands out there around Ireland!
J.P. One of the reasons I wanted to talk to you was because I know you do most of the booking and promotional work for the band. What advice would you have for any new bands on how to get out gigging?
Keith Unfortunately I have to say that Facebook is a handy tool to have in your artillery. I do lot of bookings through Facebook. I have all the pubs we play in added up on my Facebook. So anytime a gig comes up the venue post it up and it says support to be established. So I'll email them and ask if there is any chance on getting in that. There are lot of gigs going on around Dublin and you can get in on support. Which is good. You get to meet other people, meet other bands, get to know them and maybe get to play with them later. And when you do put on your own gig, you'll actually get in couple people. I Kind of approach it like that.
J.P. What's your take on the battle of the bands?
Keith We have entered couple of them, but I kind of do it to get the name out there. When you go to play at these things, there is a mixture of lot of people there. So you have lot of people seeing you play. We did the Hard rock rising one. That was to support Bruce Springsteen. We got to the final on it. And they had some influential people in the jury. It could have taken us long time to get these guys to come see us play live. And even we did not win it, which we knew we would not as Kerouac would be just too heavy to support Bruce Springsteen, we got lot of good contacts out of it. Take it as a gig. And if you do well, you get through the first, second or even third round, that's three gigs in few months. You are going to end up meeting promoters, sound engineers, the bar staff, the people that book the gigs. I think its a great way to get the name out there.
J.P. You guys have very professional live show. While playing at many band nights you get to see many bands at all levels. Would you have any tips for young bands on how to improve their live show, or is there any mistakes you see bands do regularly?
Keith I think being very well practiced is one. For band to come across professional you need to be well rehearsed, you can't keep making mistakes. It kind of puts the audience off a bit. Your songs need to be tight and structured well. So I would say practice! If we were practicing new song, we could end up jamming the same riff for a half an hour, taking it to different places and seeing what happens. So I would say be well practiced and have fun with it. Go mad on stage! After doing lot of live shows, you do get comfortable in your spot and you start putting across a good confident live show.
J.P. We all know this is expensive business to be in, no getting away from that. If you wan't to take the music seriously, you need to invest in to it as well. What is your take on this and how would you prioritize it?
Keith Get a CD with three songs sounding very good and get a website. You need a website! We have played with lots of bands and if you would put a list of 20 bands on front of me, I'd say maybe three of them would have website. I am the administrator of our website. We got a friend in IT to set it up for us for few hundred instead of eight hundred by a professional web designer. We use Wordpress on our site. It's amazing! It took me three weeks to figure it all out, but once you have it done it looks well and come across professionally.
J.P. Hallelujah! I'm glad I am not the only one saying that :-D. It seems to be a big step for any Dublin based band to get to play outside Dublin. How important do you think this is and how do you guys go about it?
Keith Find out the venues that play your kind of music. There are some cracking venues up and down the country that are looking your kind of music. We've done Waterford, Wexford, Cork, Kilkenny, Galway. Some great venues out there. It is always good to play to new audience. And it is good idea to play with maybe two local bands. For the music we do, there is only few bars in Dublin, so it is nice to get out and play somewhere else once and a while.
J.P. It still seems to be most bands dream getting signed. Do you think up and coming band should still try to get signed, or should they work on making their own record?
Keith I'd say work on making your own record. Send it off by all means, but concentrate on building a bit of a fan base, so if the record company comes along you can show you have something to offer. But you need a good sounding recording. There is so many people out there who want to do it, so you need to stand out. It needs to be done right!
J.P. I like to put lot of emphasis on playing a live show when it comes to our band. Would you have any other promotional tips or recommendations?
Keith CD, Website, Facebook and a video. People like to see what they are listening to, even if it's a collage of pictures put together in Movie maker. Videos are great promotional tools.
J.P. So what are the future plans for Kerouac
Keith The plans are to get the E.P. finished in the next few weeks, then get it mastered. Book lot more gigs, even though we have had a busy year so far. we did about 30 gigs last year, and we have already booked 30 gigs this year and its only May! So get out and play lots of gigs and promote the E.P.
J.P. Once again, big thanks for your time and just to wrap up, what should people expect from Kerouac this Friday night?
Keith To get your ass kicked! Expect loud, heavy, smelly, riff based, energetic madness. Any time we go to do a gig, it's 110%. I'm really looking forward to it now. It's been a while we played in the Thomas House and its a good spot! So see you on Friday night!
www.kerouac.ie
www.facebook.com/kerouacmusic
Rock n' Roll road house show
JPKALLIO.COM
Kerouac
Down the river
In the basement of the Thomas house this Friday the 4th of May 2012.
Doors 8pm Adm €5
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Taking care of your most important instrument, your hands.
Part 85
Picture by www.music-shoots.com You can find him also on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/
So here are few practical tricks. Play in front of a mirror, or video your self playing. Pay attention on how you sit, how tensed your muscles are. If you play guitar, you don't need to press the strings down with crazy amount of force, that puts pressure on your fingers, hands, wrists and arms. Figure out how little it takes to get a clean note and pay attention to this while you practice. For drummers holding on to a stick is bit of a same thing, you don't need to squeeze them to death, just enough to hold on to them:-) Also gently shake your hands between songs, this will help them relax. Warming up is essential for avoiding injuries. Stretch your shoulders, back and neck. I am not going to give you a lecture on how to live your life, but some exercise does help to loosen those tensed up back muscles. Swimming is one of the best things you can do. When we are on a tour with Sliotar, we are always on a look out for a pool:-)
OK, that's that. Now back to other updates. JPKALLIO.COM have quite few concerts coming up in the next few weeks. First we are in Adelaide bar in Sligo this Friday, the 13th of April, next week we are in the Submarine bar in Crumlin on Thursday the 19th, and in the Slaughtered lamb in Swords on Friday the 20th. The following week we are in the Sweeneys on Wednesday the 25th and in the Pint on 26th. Then in May we are organizing an album fundraiser concert in the Thomas House on Friday the 4th of May, but more on that later. For now, have a great week!
J.P.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The big secret behind success in music business: Hard Work.
Part 66
I was talking to a friend of mine about all the things I have been up to in the past few years. It really has been a roller-coaster ride. It got me thinking once again about how interesting time it is to be a musician. I have learned so much. But the thing I really like and would like get it through to every one, when I started this, yeah I had some experience in music business due to the fact that I had played in bands since I was about ten, but as to music promotion and trying to break a band through I was new to it all. All I had in the beginning was hand full of songs, laptop and a bag full of enthusiasm. So I set out to learn more. And I still do every day! If I need to get something done, first I try to see can I do it my self. If I can, I try to learn how to do it really well. If there is something I can not do, I try to find some one who can and ask for help. Most of the information on band promotion I have acquired, I found through Google. Sometimes it can take time, but usually persistence is rewarded. I get a great buzz out of it when people come to tell me how well we promote JPKALLIO.COM, but at the end of the day I can tell you this: There is nothing I have done that any one with bit of enthusiasm and internet could not do. If you need something, look for it and I can bet you will find more on the way as well. There are some great blogs out there on music business, and I think you should be reading them. It is very important to keep up to date with everything in today's music business.
And here is another one of my favorite rants:-) We have all met these people in the past, the ones who said they are going to start a band and it's going to be better than anything else out there. Yeah, and that band never even leaves the pub or plays a note. I am sure you have all seen it at some stage. Now the truth is that I was once one of these people, even though I always played in a band. I still had an idea brewing at the back of my head of the "ultimate band". Did I do anything about it? First, no. But eventually I decided to take control, get the ball rolling and since then I really haven't stopped. It has been some of the most rewarding time musically in my life, and not only does it show in JPKALLIO.COM, but in everything else I do. I have pushed my self harder than ever before. The point I am trying to make here is that you can do it as well. And If you get off that bar stool, or sofa for that matter, watching X-factor and giving out you could do it do much better, if you bothered;-), I bet you will have great time doing it. You will be rewarded. I mean, yeah you need certain amount of talent, but most of it is just hard work! There you go, that is the best tip I have given you in all the blogs I have written so far, HARD WORK!
Some of you know already that JPKALLIO.COM did advance to the final of the Rocktober battle of the bands in Fibber Magees. We had two great gigs at the competition so far and got to play with some great bands and made loads of new friends. Unfortunately the final falls on a day that Qra will be in Poland to visit a doctor about his on going back problem. So we are sad to pull out of the competition, but obviously Qras health comes first. We'd just like to wish all the other bands good luck.
So that's all for this week. I shall be back for more next week:-)
J.P.
I was talking to a friend of mine about all the things I have been up to in the past few years. It really has been a roller-coaster ride. It got me thinking once again about how interesting time it is to be a musician. I have learned so much. But the thing I really like and would like get it through to every one, when I started this, yeah I had some experience in music business due to the fact that I had played in bands since I was about ten, but as to music promotion and trying to break a band through I was new to it all. All I had in the beginning was hand full of songs, laptop and a bag full of enthusiasm. So I set out to learn more. And I still do every day! If I need to get something done, first I try to see can I do it my self. If I can, I try to learn how to do it really well. If there is something I can not do, I try to find some one who can and ask for help. Most of the information on band promotion I have acquired, I found through Google. Sometimes it can take time, but usually persistence is rewarded. I get a great buzz out of it when people come to tell me how well we promote JPKALLIO.COM, but at the end of the day I can tell you this: There is nothing I have done that any one with bit of enthusiasm and internet could not do. If you need something, look for it and I can bet you will find more on the way as well. There are some great blogs out there on music business, and I think you should be reading them. It is very important to keep up to date with everything in today's music business.
And here is another one of my favorite rants:-) We have all met these people in the past, the ones who said they are going to start a band and it's going to be better than anything else out there. Yeah, and that band never even leaves the pub or plays a note. I am sure you have all seen it at some stage. Now the truth is that I was once one of these people, even though I always played in a band. I still had an idea brewing at the back of my head of the "ultimate band". Did I do anything about it? First, no. But eventually I decided to take control, get the ball rolling and since then I really haven't stopped. It has been some of the most rewarding time musically in my life, and not only does it show in JPKALLIO.COM, but in everything else I do. I have pushed my self harder than ever before. The point I am trying to make here is that you can do it as well. And If you get off that bar stool, or sofa for that matter, watching X-factor and giving out you could do it do much better, if you bothered;-), I bet you will have great time doing it. You will be rewarded. I mean, yeah you need certain amount of talent, but most of it is just hard work! There you go, that is the best tip I have given you in all the blogs I have written so far, HARD WORK!
Some of you know already that JPKALLIO.COM did advance to the final of the Rocktober battle of the bands in Fibber Magees. We had two great gigs at the competition so far and got to play with some great bands and made loads of new friends. Unfortunately the final falls on a day that Qra will be in Poland to visit a doctor about his on going back problem. So we are sad to pull out of the competition, but obviously Qras health comes first. We'd just like to wish all the other bands good luck.
So that's all for this week. I shall be back for more next week:-)
J.P.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Musician in the twenty first century
Part 65
It is funny how the modern age has changed the life of a musician. I am talking here about independent musician, the working musician. We depend on things like smart phone, our laptops, internet, wifi, 3G... I got thinking about this after for one day I lost all my phone numbers, notes, pictures and music on my mobile phone. Luckily I had backed up everything on my laptop, but I could not restore any of it until the next day. That one day made me realize how dependent we are on all this modern technology, that simply was not available to us twenty years a go.
I think for me it was about 14 years a go when I set up my first Email account, and the thought of finding a concert through internet first dawned to me. Now it seems to be the first port of call for almost everything. But the potential of it all still surprises me from time to time. And I must admit I am still surprised how personal in its very sterile nature it has become. Now I am mainly talking about internet for music business here. As an example, when I first came aware of YouTube, I saw it as a great way for a band to represent a video of them selves. I assumed it should be a high quality video of professional quality. Of course if your video is of a high standard it helps, but the real potential seemed to dawn to me when I added more personal short videos of the bands every day life. This is something that I also have find hard to explain to others in the past. Sometimes it is better to do a quick video of something simple and mundane, than wait until you release your master piece that you will take you months or even years to complete. Share something simple. But keep it honest, be your self and people will see this. It is this honesty that makes you easier to relate to, more real. Of course if the part of your bands image is your stage character, you could make videos of your self in that character as well, but my opinion is that it is easier to be your self than put on an act and keep it consistent. This really is one of the many tools that make this an interesting time to be an independent musician. But don't get fooled here. It is not a mater of posting few videos on YouTube and next you become an over night success. We hear stories like these, but there are only hand full of them, and every one would like to think it is so easy. What it comes down to at the end of the day is numbers. The more videos you have, the bigger chance there is that one of them will be the one that gets picked up by the general public and shoots through the mass of videos out there. But if not, even hand full of views on loads of videos ads to a nice number. And don't for get the age old wisdom, at the end of the day, if your music is not good enough, the chances of you making it are slim.
But let me just challenge you with this. For the next ten weeks, make ten videos, post them on your YouTube channel and share them on Facebook, twitter etc. And they don't need to be the best videos in the world, even half decent camera phone will do. I bet you will be surprised of the reception you will get from these videos, and you might even be inspired to make more. For an example, check out JPKALLIO.COM's YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/jpkallio. And don't forget to have fun while you do this:-)
J.P.
It is funny how the modern age has changed the life of a musician. I am talking here about independent musician, the working musician. We depend on things like smart phone, our laptops, internet, wifi, 3G... I got thinking about this after for one day I lost all my phone numbers, notes, pictures and music on my mobile phone. Luckily I had backed up everything on my laptop, but I could not restore any of it until the next day. That one day made me realize how dependent we are on all this modern technology, that simply was not available to us twenty years a go.
I think for me it was about 14 years a go when I set up my first Email account, and the thought of finding a concert through internet first dawned to me. Now it seems to be the first port of call for almost everything. But the potential of it all still surprises me from time to time. And I must admit I am still surprised how personal in its very sterile nature it has become. Now I am mainly talking about internet for music business here. As an example, when I first came aware of YouTube, I saw it as a great way for a band to represent a video of them selves. I assumed it should be a high quality video of professional quality. Of course if your video is of a high standard it helps, but the real potential seemed to dawn to me when I added more personal short videos of the bands every day life. This is something that I also have find hard to explain to others in the past. Sometimes it is better to do a quick video of something simple and mundane, than wait until you release your master piece that you will take you months or even years to complete. Share something simple. But keep it honest, be your self and people will see this. It is this honesty that makes you easier to relate to, more real. Of course if the part of your bands image is your stage character, you could make videos of your self in that character as well, but my opinion is that it is easier to be your self than put on an act and keep it consistent. This really is one of the many tools that make this an interesting time to be an independent musician. But don't get fooled here. It is not a mater of posting few videos on YouTube and next you become an over night success. We hear stories like these, but there are only hand full of them, and every one would like to think it is so easy. What it comes down to at the end of the day is numbers. The more videos you have, the bigger chance there is that one of them will be the one that gets picked up by the general public and shoots through the mass of videos out there. But if not, even hand full of views on loads of videos ads to a nice number. And don't for get the age old wisdom, at the end of the day, if your music is not good enough, the chances of you making it are slim.
But let me just challenge you with this. For the next ten weeks, make ten videos, post them on your YouTube channel and share them on Facebook, twitter etc. And they don't need to be the best videos in the world, even half decent camera phone will do. I bet you will be surprised of the reception you will get from these videos, and you might even be inspired to make more. For an example, check out JPKALLIO.COM's YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/jpkallio. And don't forget to have fun while you do this:-)
J.P.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
JPKALLIO.COM in the studio
It is 7.45am Wednesday morning. I am walking along the river Liffey. My feet are carrying me faster than usual, I must admit I am little bit exited. I am on my way to our rehearsal room at Volt to pick up our equipment and then heading to Trackmix studio in Blanchardstown. Back in July we won the Live and Unsigned night in the Pint and as part of the price we got a free day in the Trackmix studio. We must have been one of the last ones to get to go to Trackmix, as since then the studio used for the Live and unsigned nights have changed. Me and Qra had been there before while doing the interview with Michael Richards for this blog, check it out here, so I had a good feeling. One day can be little bit short, so we decided to splash out and pay for a second day our selves. We had prepared a list of songs, that was more than what we thought we had time for, but none of us had any idea what we would accomplish in the next two days, not even Michael. The list consist six songs, when I told this to Michael, I could see the doubt in his mind, but I assured him that if it looked like we were going to run out of time, we would start cutting the list from the bottom. But we had worked very hard on rehearsing the songs to have them as tight as possible, in the past month or so. We broke down the songs several times, trying to find trouble spots. We had all worked extremely hard on our own as well to have everything ready.
After setting up and sound checking the drums, setting up guide guitar, bass and vocals that me and Qra were playing live in the control room, we were off. I did loose the track of time very early on in the day, but it must have been around mid day when we started the actual recording. It took Sebastian few takes to warm up, but after this most tracks were first or second take. Playing to klick is like second nature to him, which makes things in the studio so much easier. It is funny how human mind can play tricks, even though we knew we were well prepared, still there is that small bit of hesitation if every thing will sound ok. But when we first time heard back the first few notes of “Flying high” we knew we were on the right track. Sebastian can be very critical on drum sound, as any professional drummers should be, but when he first time heard him self through the studio speakers I could see Michael had won him over. I have worked on both sides of the controls in a several studios over the years, and I was impressed as well. He knows his way around Logig pro, but he also uses old school techniques, like EQing on the way in. But most of all I was impressed how he understood our sound.
By 4pm we had drums and guides down and lunch over and done with. It was time for the guitars. I must say I did feel bit like a kid in a candy shop :-) Michael, being a guitar player him self, has some really nice guitars and amps, that he lets his customers use. The Gibson ES137 was one I found particularly hard to put down, I'm sure if you ever were in the Trackmix studio you have seen this beauty. Doubling and layering guitars can be a real art form on its own, and again the Trackmix studio has the tools for this job. But still I did bring in my Laney GH50L, that stood proud beside the Hughes&Ketner TriAmp and Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier. I told you, like kid in the candy shop ;-) At the end of the day one, we had done all the basic rhythm parts and doubled them. So it was time for a good nights sleep.
The next morning we returned with charged batteries and full of enthusiasm, and even the fact that we got lost on the way did not dampen our spirits. I started my day with strong cup of coffee and guitar solos. I have bit of a love hate relationship with guitar solos... I love playing them, but hate the idea of them. Figure that on out... But in the six tracks there were two of them, in Misery and one in Forgive my self. Misery showcases the Gibson ES137's neck pick up beautifully and on Forgive my self my own Gibson Les Paul proved once again why it is my number one guitar. We also Beefed up some parts of the tracks with a third guitar track on the middle. The result is a guitar tone, which is the best electric guitar sound I have ever had on any of my recordings, but let me just make a few quick notes here. First of all guitar sound is very much a taste thing, so what works for me, probably would not work for every one. Also I am very heavy handed guitar player, and this does play a big part on the sound, if you attack the strings hard, the stronger signal drives the amp in a different way. All the amps went in to a Mesa Boogie cab that had Celestion V30s in it, and the signal went through a very nice Mic preamp and Michael’s magic EQ settings. So it was not any one magical piece, but a combination of things that resulted in the guitar sound that I am very happy with. I suppose what I am trying to say here is: that's what you pay for when you book your self in to a professional studio. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention the Ibanez TS 808 tube screamer :-)
We had the guitars done before 1pm on the second day. Next we recorded the Bass; this was something Qra was looking forward to as much as dreading. His past studio experiences were haunting him at the back of his mind, but he had been rehearsing his parts a lot. His trusty Epiphone Thunderbird bass was the tool for the job, it really has that growl and attack that is very much part of the JPKALLIO.COM sound. Michael had a Warwick bass head and a 4x10 cab. Qra was in bass heaven. And after all the worrying, he recorded almost all the tracks in one take. Bass done in an hour! I must admit that me and Sebastian were watching Qra’s fingers fly on the Thunderbirds neck and the hairs at the back of our necks were standing up.
But I was very relieved that the bass was done, as it left more time for the vocals. And again I had been working a lot on them at home to be ready. Singing is always a difficult one, and the most temperamental instrument of them all. It can be affected so much by things like stress and tiredness, nerves and even what you had to eat on the day. But I could really feel the confidence I got from all the hours of rehearsing kicking in and managed to relax without any problems. And again most vocals were first takes. Good headphone mix that Michael set up really made things so much easier as well, I didn't need to ask for anything :-) After the lead lines we laid down some vocal harmonies, and me and Qra did bit of shouting as well. “That's nice guys, but how about you try it with bit more melody?” After we had done backing vocals for four tracks it was starting to get late, and Michael had the sense (and experience) to decide to start mixing the tracks. Again his working method is fast and lot of the work was already done during the recording.
So about 8pm on Thursday night there were three tired but happy men standing on a bus stop outside Blanchardstown shopping centre with CD’s in their pockets. Even though the time had gone so fast, it was obvious to us that we were not holding on to a new EP, but the bones of an album and no matter what it would take, we'd be back early 2012 to record the rest.
Big thank you to Michael for all the hard work he put in and making us feel so welcomed in his studio. We can't wait for the second chapter. Oh yeah, and we could not just talk about it with out giving you a taste;-) Here is one of the tracks from our recording session. This one is called Wasted Mind. Let us know what you think :-)
Wasted mind by jpkallio.com
Also check out our studio video diary
That's all for this week, I'll be back for more next week. Feel free to share our new song on Soundcloud and the video diary:-)
J.P.
After setting up and sound checking the drums, setting up guide guitar, bass and vocals that me and Qra were playing live in the control room, we were off. I did loose the track of time very early on in the day, but it must have been around mid day when we started the actual recording. It took Sebastian few takes to warm up, but after this most tracks were first or second take. Playing to klick is like second nature to him, which makes things in the studio so much easier. It is funny how human mind can play tricks, even though we knew we were well prepared, still there is that small bit of hesitation if every thing will sound ok. But when we first time heard back the first few notes of “Flying high” we knew we were on the right track. Sebastian can be very critical on drum sound, as any professional drummers should be, but when he first time heard him self through the studio speakers I could see Michael had won him over. I have worked on both sides of the controls in a several studios over the years, and I was impressed as well. He knows his way around Logig pro, but he also uses old school techniques, like EQing on the way in. But most of all I was impressed how he understood our sound.
The next morning we returned with charged batteries and full of enthusiasm, and even the fact that we got lost on the way did not dampen our spirits. I started my day with strong cup of coffee and guitar solos. I have bit of a love hate relationship with guitar solos... I love playing them, but hate the idea of them. Figure that on out... But in the six tracks there were two of them, in Misery and one in Forgive my self. Misery showcases the Gibson ES137's neck pick up beautifully and on Forgive my self my own Gibson Les Paul proved once again why it is my number one guitar. We also Beefed up some parts of the tracks with a third guitar track on the middle. The result is a guitar tone, which is the best electric guitar sound I have ever had on any of my recordings, but let me just make a few quick notes here. First of all guitar sound is very much a taste thing, so what works for me, probably would not work for every one. Also I am very heavy handed guitar player, and this does play a big part on the sound, if you attack the strings hard, the stronger signal drives the amp in a different way. All the amps went in to a Mesa Boogie cab that had Celestion V30s in it, and the signal went through a very nice Mic preamp and Michael’s magic EQ settings. So it was not any one magical piece, but a combination of things that resulted in the guitar sound that I am very happy with. I suppose what I am trying to say here is: that's what you pay for when you book your self in to a professional studio. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention the Ibanez TS 808 tube screamer :-)
We had the guitars done before 1pm on the second day. Next we recorded the Bass; this was something Qra was looking forward to as much as dreading. His past studio experiences were haunting him at the back of his mind, but he had been rehearsing his parts a lot. His trusty Epiphone Thunderbird bass was the tool for the job, it really has that growl and attack that is very much part of the JPKALLIO.COM sound. Michael had a Warwick bass head and a 4x10 cab. Qra was in bass heaven. And after all the worrying, he recorded almost all the tracks in one take. Bass done in an hour! I must admit that me and Sebastian were watching Qra’s fingers fly on the Thunderbirds neck and the hairs at the back of our necks were standing up.
But I was very relieved that the bass was done, as it left more time for the vocals. And again I had been working a lot on them at home to be ready. Singing is always a difficult one, and the most temperamental instrument of them all. It can be affected so much by things like stress and tiredness, nerves and even what you had to eat on the day. But I could really feel the confidence I got from all the hours of rehearsing kicking in and managed to relax without any problems. And again most vocals were first takes. Good headphone mix that Michael set up really made things so much easier as well, I didn't need to ask for anything :-) After the lead lines we laid down some vocal harmonies, and me and Qra did bit of shouting as well. “That's nice guys, but how about you try it with bit more melody?” After we had done backing vocals for four tracks it was starting to get late, and Michael had the sense (and experience) to decide to start mixing the tracks. Again his working method is fast and lot of the work was already done during the recording.
So about 8pm on Thursday night there were three tired but happy men standing on a bus stop outside Blanchardstown shopping centre with CD’s in their pockets. Even though the time had gone so fast, it was obvious to us that we were not holding on to a new EP, but the bones of an album and no matter what it would take, we'd be back early 2012 to record the rest.
Big thank you to Michael for all the hard work he put in and making us feel so welcomed in his studio. We can't wait for the second chapter. Oh yeah, and we could not just talk about it with out giving you a taste;-) Here is one of the tracks from our recording session. This one is called Wasted Mind. Let us know what you think :-)
Wasted mind by jpkallio.com
Also check out our studio video diary
That's all for this week, I'll be back for more next week. Feel free to share our new song on Soundcloud and the video diary:-)
J.P.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Alan Weldon from Near FM Sessions
NearFM Sessions
This week I had the pleasure to pick the brain of a radio presenter from Near FM session Alan Weldon. Needles to say, I was dying to find out the do's and don'ts of getting radio play from some one who actually works in the radio. The Near FM sessions are having their 5 year birthday this month, so the time was right for our chat:-)
J.P. First of all a big thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Could you tell us a little bit about your background in music business and in radio and how you got in to it in the first place?
Alan I've been involved in music since I was little. I started playing drums when I was eight and I was in and out of bands from maybe the age of 13-14, recording stuff our selves, you know. I never thought of it as being something I wanted to do in the future professionally, but it's kind of turned out that way. So yeah, as I said, in and out of bands 13-16, then I went to college to study sound design.
J.P. Where did you study?
Alan I studied Communication and Media production in Colaiste Dhulaigh in Dublin, then I went to London to study broadcast and sound design. While I was in college I was working with Near FM, volunteering with them. I wanted to do radio and I liked the idea of live radio, thought there is a buzz about it. So that's how I got in to Near FM. When I started there they had a show called Near FM session, just started, maybe six months old. So I got in almost right at the start and that's where I've been since then, among other things.
J.P. It's a great show.
Alan Yeah. You see, as I didn't create the show, I wasn't there from the beginning, I can say yeah, it is a great show and not feel big headed about it. Now it has changed since then, but it is a great idea and it has a really good format.
J.P. Is radio where you want to see your self in the future?
Alan At the moment I am doing lot of radio stuff with Near FM, sound engineering stuff. And I am also doing few films, that sort of thing, short films. For future I'd love to work with radio again, I like the buzz of it and I'd also like to work in post production sound design.
J.P. Lets talk about the show. I know you mentioned that you were not there in the beginning, but you know how it all started?
Alan Yeah, as I said I came in six months in to the show. Originally it was set up by four guys, Peter, James, Dave and John. Their idea was, they all had sort of different interests in music, some liked electronic, some liked rock music, they could do a show together. Then they looked at the scene and said, who's not being represented? And the idea of unsigned element and underground element came from. That was in Summer 2006 and in autumn 2006 they started the show, and it's gone on since then from strength to strength. It's great as every week new band comes in and they bring new listeners, and in turn other bands get heard through that. Also it has always carried its own weight as lot of the time we don't have to, in fact we very rarely go look for bands as we usually have acts constantly coming to us. I guess it shows when there are people coming to us, there is a market for it.
J.P. For sure. From our experience with JPKALLIO.COM it is very hard to get radio play in Ireland. There are so called underground or unsigned shows in the bigger radio stations, but when you contact them, it's rarely they give you a chance, unless they know you.
Alan There is a lot of community radio shows that deal with underground, there is a show on Dublin city FM that is very good, there is one on Phoenix FM and Trevor Halpin does stuff on West Dublin access radio as well. These people do it for the love of the music, which is good.
J.P. It is and I think it does show.
Alan It really does because they are willing to go that extra mile. Now I am not saying the commercial radio doesn't, but I am guessing, you know there has to be a reason...
J.P. Of course, commercial radio is there to make money. How do you select the acts for your show? Is there any criteria?
Alan As I said we are luck in that lot of our promotion is through word of mouth, so if we have one band in that likes what we do they tend to either tell their friends in other bands about us, or other bands hear them advertising, so that gets them motivated and they get in contact with us. Now what we get is, they send us a CD or Email us with links to Sound cloud, YouTube etc. That we listen to. As a community radio station we are there to provide service to acts in the community, so most of the time it's not like we are looking for the best or most talented musicians out there, although we have had some very talented acts in, we are not always looking for the most talented acts. We are looking for people who show interest in the community and in music.
J.P. Actually by taking that risk you sometimes come across something really special. There might be a band that is not great yet, but are on their way to something better.
Alan There are lot of acts that came to us and since have progressed and got signed and stuff. And we support them and we're behind them, but once they get to that level they are above what we do. Once they are signed some one else will look after them and we wont be able to look after them anymore. We are there to stand for the little guys.
J.P. Yeah, I'm sure it would be great buzz for the show to have some big act in there, but they would be taking the place of a small band that need the exposure much more.
Alan Sometimes we get CD's from big acts and it's nice that they think of us, but we can't really play them as that's not what we're there to do. But yeah, it's always nice to get free CD's.
J.P. So what way would you prefer bands get in contact with you?
Alan Well the easiest way would be Emailing us. Send us a link to your music. There is four of us involved, and we will listen to it. And if it is somebody who's doing an alright decent job, we certainly give them an airplay. Because it is only an hour a week, we are little bit limited and sometimes we do get bands that are not quite ready and we'll just tell them to come back to us in few months. Also if there is something that stands out, for example you need to have certain amount of songs, or we don't really want bands that only play cover songs, that's not what we do. So yeah, really the way to get in contact is the email, or drop us a line on Facebook and we will get back to you.
J.P. We can back that, as JPKALLIO.COM got a reply from you guys. In the past five years you have seen lot of bands come and go, what would be some of the mistakes bands do when they come to your show?
Alan Well, I'm not going to name any names. But when they come to us we tend to say for radio, unless it's 2fm don't bring in your full drum kit. I've seen bands coming in with massive drum kits, big amps and just trying to out do each others and all it is is just distortion. When it's that loud we loose control over it, you know, its all live in one room. So that would be one tip, if you doing radio, think about doing it acoustic. Or think about bringing in a CD of your stuff and do few acoustic songs and then play something from the CD. That way you get to represent both. Another thing would be, I don't think acoustic basses do really do justice. I've yet to hear an acoustic bass that I really like, so I would say bring an amp for the bass. Interview wise, I've seen bands turn up late, which is across the field Spinal Tap kind of moment. I guess one mistake is, when you are young band that hasn't done much yet, they come on and have nothing to talk about and get flustered with their words. It's almost like learning to run before you walk. You have to get out there and play some gigs, put the time in before you got stuff to talk about. If you are on radio and have nothing to talk about, then people are going to hear just that. For any band starting up it's a good idea to learn few songs acoustically. There is always those house parties, and then when you go to radio, you have something ready.
J.P. In the other hand, is there any bands that stood out in their professionalism and why?
Alan Again there are few bands. Sometimes there are bands that are just 12 or 13 and I have been highly surprised how organized they have been. It's the younger bands that are socially media aware as well, but even the way they carry them selves, turn up early, they are fully tuned, well rehearsed and they know exactly what they want to play. That's actually another thing in your last question, sometimes you get bands that decide on air what to play. Dead air is not a good thing... Sometimes you get 25-30 year olds that are not half as prepared as these 12-14 year olds. It's an interesting thing to see. Most bands turn up well prepared, we are lucky in that respect. There have been some really large set ups as well, it's really funny to see the small studio full. A band called Amazing few, they go from one piece to 12 piece. They have been in few times. And a nine piece reggae band.
J.P. The Near FM session works with independent artists. We all know there is a lot of talk about regulating Irish radio to play more Irish acts. What is your take on this and do you think this is something that can be done.
Alan I think it can be done and I think it should be done. Simple as. Because if we don't do it, no one will. I mean the scene in Ireland, if you go to somewhere like New York or London there is enough people to go to the gigs and listen to the radio, sometimes I feel we have almost too much in Ireland. Over saturation, and as a result I feel people maybe get tired of it or find other things to do. But for the likes of Irish radio, there are stations that play Irish music, but it's not enough. There should be more, and there should be percentages. Obviously it can't be fifty fifty, but maybe forty or thirty percent.
J.P. But how do you regulate it? The thing is that then the big names, like U2, Westlife etc. get the bulk of it anyway.
Alan It's a funny thing as you can't regulate it in that sense. You can't tell radio station to play this band, you can't. And at the end of the day it comes down to money again. You can say play this much Irish music, but you can't say play this band, but not that band. But even if it's these well known artists, at least it's Irish music that is getting out there. But I think as people we need to get behind Irish music as well. The scene needs to grow a bit. People are in to English indie bands, where there are lots of Irish indie bands, great indie bands that because they don't get the radio play, people don't hear about them. People are less likely to go search for it these days, if its not put in front of them. But conversely as well these days with YouTube and everything it means you are able to get the music out there. You are not necessarily waiting for the DJ, you are not waiting necessarily on television or network companies to send your stuff out as you are releasing it, it's on YouTube, you sell the copies at your gigs. And suddenly you are a working musician. I think consistency is important as well, if people hear low quality songs, they are less likely to click on it again.
J.P. From seeing bands come through the radio station, do you think up and coming band should still try to get signed, or should they work on making their own Records?
Alan That is a hard one to call because there are bands who's soul purpose in life is to get signed. I mean 99% of bands you would be better not going that way. You'll have more fun, you actually get more done. It's kind of a trade off because it's going to be really hard work to try to get signed, but you are going to have to sell off lot of creativity. It's all about image if you are going to get signed. Where as if you were to do it your self, and you can do it your self. You will make some money back if you're good. And I think you just have more fun if you do it your self. But it does com down to person as well, you need to be self motivated, in both situations. I do think it comes down to luck as well, as there are bands that do get signed, and other that are great and try to get signed for years. And I do wonder if ten years from now they say “I wish we just did our own thing”
J.P. Do you think bands have unrealistic expectations what being signed actually means?
Alan Oh yeah, The idea of record company advance, I don't think many bands realize that you need to pay that back. They think record company give us money and then we sell million records. If you spend it you have o pay it. And I don't think bands realize that it is going to put lot of pressure on you as well when you are signed and suddenly you are like, how we not get dropped. I think it can cause lot of inner conflict as well. Now that's not to say getting signed is not a good thing as well. Different people have different aspirations and different working methods.
J.P. Now as you work in the radio, would you have any tips for bands who are trying to get radio play and how should they go about it?
Alan They should make contacts with DJ's, believe it or not. Email or phone call. Being clear and concise is always a good idea. So make sure your press release is clear, no more than one page and has contact details for you. Lot of bands send their MP3s and files, that has its benefits, but also its drawbacks. My advice would be send MP3s but send physical copies as well. When it comes to DJ's, they will choose stuff that is around them. Lot of bands are not pressing CD's anymore, but you got to remember when your band is one small file in a long list of files that all look very similar, or if your band is a CD in a group of CD's, you do have chance to stand out more. So I would say, where possible, do a physical CD. You could get in to the ins and outs of actual song writing. People tell you if you want to get your song on the radio it needs to be three mins long, intro 30 secs etc. It's one way of doing it, but would not be the way i would do it. From the creative point of view, I would not like it being that organized. I don't think it works for every genre either. In terms of getting radio play, make sure your music is up to quality. Don't send in any low quality recordings. Don't send stuff that you recorded at home, unless its for demo purposes, as in stuff that might be recorded on camcorder. If it is low quality, the chances are it will not get played. It's good to follow up any mailing with phone call. Just to make sure they got your CD. Don't ring them up saying “why haven't you played my CD”, ring them up “did you get our CD, did you get a chance to listen to it?” If you make it clear and concise for the DJ, there are bigger chance they will play it. If you hide you tracks in YouTube or Myspace where you can't down load them, just stream, he will not play them, because he can't. If you are clear and concise and make it easy for the DJ to find your music and play it, there is more of a chance they will play it.
J.P. Do you think bands should start small with smaller stations, instead contacting 2fm straight away?
Alan My feeling from person being in the bands I would say contact them all but don't expect to hear from them just yet. But they see the name once, second time... I think Repetition is the way to go. They might delete the email the first time, but three or four times down the line and if they have seen the name some where else as well, they will start paying a tension.
J.P. JPKALLIO.COM has had quite lot of success with internet radio. How do you see the future of radio and the Internet radios part in it?
Alan Internet radio is really good. To be honest with you even FM radio is podcasted now days. And the reason it is podcasted, is that people want to have the choice to listen to it on their own time. Internet radio is a great tool for all bands. There is no reason there shouldn't be more radio stations, there should always be choice. I guess the great thing about internet radio is that it is international. It comes down to theory of long tales, not to get too technical but with big enough stretch of people, sort of catchment area, like with internet radio, you will reach enough people with interest in your music.
J.P. Lets talk about your birthday celebrations. So whats coming up?
Alan What's coming up is that Near FM sessions will be five years old and we are having a birthday gig in the Grand Social on Friday the 18th of November. We have really talented punch of bands from a variety of genres. The Rambleers are dirt blues rock. We got eight piece reggae band Indica, they are fresh from the Picnic this year. They came in to the session and they blew me a way. We have Johnny and the Beep Beeps who are alternative rock. We have The Statics who are 60's revival band really talented band, I know I use the word talented a lot, but they are. We got singer songwriter/ folk artist Longtails. He is a strange artist because sometimes he is just Guitar and laptop, sometimes he has a full band behind him, so I don't actually know what he is going to do on the night. All great acts and they all have songs up on YouTube or Bandcamp. They all agreed to play for us. It's a fiver in, we are not looking to make money, we just want to cover the cost of the venue, as with everything we do in the Near FM Sessions. We don't get payed, we all volunteer. We're not in it for the profit, we just want to get the word out for bands. Doors 7.45pm, live bands until about midnight and then we have DJ's from Near FM taking over until about half two. It should be a good night. The Grand social is a lovely venue.
J.P. Sounds great. So any plans for the future?
Alan We are always looking at things to move forward. We are looking in to adding a visual elements to the show it self. I can't say too much about it at the minute, but we are talking about stuff for both community television and videocast. I think it would be good for the bands if there was some visual imagery.
J.P. That would change the whole show for the bands.
Alan Well yeah, and that's why we need to look at it carefully as we have nice relaxed atmosphere and we don't want to loose that. We also recently started podcasting the show and that is going really well, so we are going to make an archive section on our website of the bands that we really enjoyed having on the show. I'm giving away all our secrets now... Mainly we are focused on getting bands in and doing what we do and trying to get the music out there.
J.P. Once again big thank you for taking the time to talk to us
Check out Near FM Sessions at: http://www.facebook.com/thenearfmsessions
http://www.near.ie
That's all for this week. Let us know your thoughts. Back for more next week.
J.P.
This week I had the pleasure to pick the brain of a radio presenter from Near FM session Alan Weldon. Needles to say, I was dying to find out the do's and don'ts of getting radio play from some one who actually works in the radio. The Near FM sessions are having their 5 year birthday this month, so the time was right for our chat:-)
J.P. First of all a big thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Could you tell us a little bit about your background in music business and in radio and how you got in to it in the first place?
Alan I've been involved in music since I was little. I started playing drums when I was eight and I was in and out of bands from maybe the age of 13-14, recording stuff our selves, you know. I never thought of it as being something I wanted to do in the future professionally, but it's kind of turned out that way. So yeah, as I said, in and out of bands 13-16, then I went to college to study sound design.
J.P. Where did you study?
Alan I studied Communication and Media production in Colaiste Dhulaigh in Dublin, then I went to London to study broadcast and sound design. While I was in college I was working with Near FM, volunteering with them. I wanted to do radio and I liked the idea of live radio, thought there is a buzz about it. So that's how I got in to Near FM. When I started there they had a show called Near FM session, just started, maybe six months old. So I got in almost right at the start and that's where I've been since then, among other things.
J.P. It's a great show.
Alan Yeah. You see, as I didn't create the show, I wasn't there from the beginning, I can say yeah, it is a great show and not feel big headed about it. Now it has changed since then, but it is a great idea and it has a really good format.
J.P. Is radio where you want to see your self in the future?
Alan At the moment I am doing lot of radio stuff with Near FM, sound engineering stuff. And I am also doing few films, that sort of thing, short films. For future I'd love to work with radio again, I like the buzz of it and I'd also like to work in post production sound design.
J.P. Lets talk about the show. I know you mentioned that you were not there in the beginning, but you know how it all started?
Alan Yeah, as I said I came in six months in to the show. Originally it was set up by four guys, Peter, James, Dave and John. Their idea was, they all had sort of different interests in music, some liked electronic, some liked rock music, they could do a show together. Then they looked at the scene and said, who's not being represented? And the idea of unsigned element and underground element came from. That was in Summer 2006 and in autumn 2006 they started the show, and it's gone on since then from strength to strength. It's great as every week new band comes in and they bring new listeners, and in turn other bands get heard through that. Also it has always carried its own weight as lot of the time we don't have to, in fact we very rarely go look for bands as we usually have acts constantly coming to us. I guess it shows when there are people coming to us, there is a market for it.
J.P. For sure. From our experience with JPKALLIO.COM it is very hard to get radio play in Ireland. There are so called underground or unsigned shows in the bigger radio stations, but when you contact them, it's rarely they give you a chance, unless they know you.
Alan There is a lot of community radio shows that deal with underground, there is a show on Dublin city FM that is very good, there is one on Phoenix FM and Trevor Halpin does stuff on West Dublin access radio as well. These people do it for the love of the music, which is good.
J.P. It is and I think it does show.
Alan It really does because they are willing to go that extra mile. Now I am not saying the commercial radio doesn't, but I am guessing, you know there has to be a reason...
J.P. Of course, commercial radio is there to make money. How do you select the acts for your show? Is there any criteria?
Alan As I said we are luck in that lot of our promotion is through word of mouth, so if we have one band in that likes what we do they tend to either tell their friends in other bands about us, or other bands hear them advertising, so that gets them motivated and they get in contact with us. Now what we get is, they send us a CD or Email us with links to Sound cloud, YouTube etc. That we listen to. As a community radio station we are there to provide service to acts in the community, so most of the time it's not like we are looking for the best or most talented musicians out there, although we have had some very talented acts in, we are not always looking for the most talented acts. We are looking for people who show interest in the community and in music.
J.P. Actually by taking that risk you sometimes come across something really special. There might be a band that is not great yet, but are on their way to something better.
Alan There are lot of acts that came to us and since have progressed and got signed and stuff. And we support them and we're behind them, but once they get to that level they are above what we do. Once they are signed some one else will look after them and we wont be able to look after them anymore. We are there to stand for the little guys.
J.P. Yeah, I'm sure it would be great buzz for the show to have some big act in there, but they would be taking the place of a small band that need the exposure much more.
Alan Sometimes we get CD's from big acts and it's nice that they think of us, but we can't really play them as that's not what we're there to do. But yeah, it's always nice to get free CD's.
J.P. So what way would you prefer bands get in contact with you?
Alan Well the easiest way would be Emailing us. Send us a link to your music. There is four of us involved, and we will listen to it. And if it is somebody who's doing an alright decent job, we certainly give them an airplay. Because it is only an hour a week, we are little bit limited and sometimes we do get bands that are not quite ready and we'll just tell them to come back to us in few months. Also if there is something that stands out, for example you need to have certain amount of songs, or we don't really want bands that only play cover songs, that's not what we do. So yeah, really the way to get in contact is the email, or drop us a line on Facebook and we will get back to you.
J.P. We can back that, as JPKALLIO.COM got a reply from you guys. In the past five years you have seen lot of bands come and go, what would be some of the mistakes bands do when they come to your show?
Alan Well, I'm not going to name any names. But when they come to us we tend to say for radio, unless it's 2fm don't bring in your full drum kit. I've seen bands coming in with massive drum kits, big amps and just trying to out do each others and all it is is just distortion. When it's that loud we loose control over it, you know, its all live in one room. So that would be one tip, if you doing radio, think about doing it acoustic. Or think about bringing in a CD of your stuff and do few acoustic songs and then play something from the CD. That way you get to represent both. Another thing would be, I don't think acoustic basses do really do justice. I've yet to hear an acoustic bass that I really like, so I would say bring an amp for the bass. Interview wise, I've seen bands turn up late, which is across the field Spinal Tap kind of moment. I guess one mistake is, when you are young band that hasn't done much yet, they come on and have nothing to talk about and get flustered with their words. It's almost like learning to run before you walk. You have to get out there and play some gigs, put the time in before you got stuff to talk about. If you are on radio and have nothing to talk about, then people are going to hear just that. For any band starting up it's a good idea to learn few songs acoustically. There is always those house parties, and then when you go to radio, you have something ready.
J.P. In the other hand, is there any bands that stood out in their professionalism and why?
Alan Again there are few bands. Sometimes there are bands that are just 12 or 13 and I have been highly surprised how organized they have been. It's the younger bands that are socially media aware as well, but even the way they carry them selves, turn up early, they are fully tuned, well rehearsed and they know exactly what they want to play. That's actually another thing in your last question, sometimes you get bands that decide on air what to play. Dead air is not a good thing... Sometimes you get 25-30 year olds that are not half as prepared as these 12-14 year olds. It's an interesting thing to see. Most bands turn up well prepared, we are lucky in that respect. There have been some really large set ups as well, it's really funny to see the small studio full. A band called Amazing few, they go from one piece to 12 piece. They have been in few times. And a nine piece reggae band.
J.P. The Near FM session works with independent artists. We all know there is a lot of talk about regulating Irish radio to play more Irish acts. What is your take on this and do you think this is something that can be done.
Alan I think it can be done and I think it should be done. Simple as. Because if we don't do it, no one will. I mean the scene in Ireland, if you go to somewhere like New York or London there is enough people to go to the gigs and listen to the radio, sometimes I feel we have almost too much in Ireland. Over saturation, and as a result I feel people maybe get tired of it or find other things to do. But for the likes of Irish radio, there are stations that play Irish music, but it's not enough. There should be more, and there should be percentages. Obviously it can't be fifty fifty, but maybe forty or thirty percent.
J.P. But how do you regulate it? The thing is that then the big names, like U2, Westlife etc. get the bulk of it anyway.
Alan It's a funny thing as you can't regulate it in that sense. You can't tell radio station to play this band, you can't. And at the end of the day it comes down to money again. You can say play this much Irish music, but you can't say play this band, but not that band. But even if it's these well known artists, at least it's Irish music that is getting out there. But I think as people we need to get behind Irish music as well. The scene needs to grow a bit. People are in to English indie bands, where there are lots of Irish indie bands, great indie bands that because they don't get the radio play, people don't hear about them. People are less likely to go search for it these days, if its not put in front of them. But conversely as well these days with YouTube and everything it means you are able to get the music out there. You are not necessarily waiting for the DJ, you are not waiting necessarily on television or network companies to send your stuff out as you are releasing it, it's on YouTube, you sell the copies at your gigs. And suddenly you are a working musician. I think consistency is important as well, if people hear low quality songs, they are less likely to click on it again.
J.P. From seeing bands come through the radio station, do you think up and coming band should still try to get signed, or should they work on making their own Records?
Alan That is a hard one to call because there are bands who's soul purpose in life is to get signed. I mean 99% of bands you would be better not going that way. You'll have more fun, you actually get more done. It's kind of a trade off because it's going to be really hard work to try to get signed, but you are going to have to sell off lot of creativity. It's all about image if you are going to get signed. Where as if you were to do it your self, and you can do it your self. You will make some money back if you're good. And I think you just have more fun if you do it your self. But it does com down to person as well, you need to be self motivated, in both situations. I do think it comes down to luck as well, as there are bands that do get signed, and other that are great and try to get signed for years. And I do wonder if ten years from now they say “I wish we just did our own thing”
J.P. Do you think bands have unrealistic expectations what being signed actually means?
Alan Oh yeah, The idea of record company advance, I don't think many bands realize that you need to pay that back. They think record company give us money and then we sell million records. If you spend it you have o pay it. And I don't think bands realize that it is going to put lot of pressure on you as well when you are signed and suddenly you are like, how we not get dropped. I think it can cause lot of inner conflict as well. Now that's not to say getting signed is not a good thing as well. Different people have different aspirations and different working methods.
J.P. Now as you work in the radio, would you have any tips for bands who are trying to get radio play and how should they go about it?
Alan They should make contacts with DJ's, believe it or not. Email or phone call. Being clear and concise is always a good idea. So make sure your press release is clear, no more than one page and has contact details for you. Lot of bands send their MP3s and files, that has its benefits, but also its drawbacks. My advice would be send MP3s but send physical copies as well. When it comes to DJ's, they will choose stuff that is around them. Lot of bands are not pressing CD's anymore, but you got to remember when your band is one small file in a long list of files that all look very similar, or if your band is a CD in a group of CD's, you do have chance to stand out more. So I would say, where possible, do a physical CD. You could get in to the ins and outs of actual song writing. People tell you if you want to get your song on the radio it needs to be three mins long, intro 30 secs etc. It's one way of doing it, but would not be the way i would do it. From the creative point of view, I would not like it being that organized. I don't think it works for every genre either. In terms of getting radio play, make sure your music is up to quality. Don't send in any low quality recordings. Don't send stuff that you recorded at home, unless its for demo purposes, as in stuff that might be recorded on camcorder. If it is low quality, the chances are it will not get played. It's good to follow up any mailing with phone call. Just to make sure they got your CD. Don't ring them up saying “why haven't you played my CD”, ring them up “did you get our CD, did you get a chance to listen to it?” If you make it clear and concise for the DJ, there are bigger chance they will play it. If you hide you tracks in YouTube or Myspace where you can't down load them, just stream, he will not play them, because he can't. If you are clear and concise and make it easy for the DJ to find your music and play it, there is more of a chance they will play it.
J.P. Do you think bands should start small with smaller stations, instead contacting 2fm straight away?
Alan My feeling from person being in the bands I would say contact them all but don't expect to hear from them just yet. But they see the name once, second time... I think Repetition is the way to go. They might delete the email the first time, but three or four times down the line and if they have seen the name some where else as well, they will start paying a tension.
J.P. JPKALLIO.COM has had quite lot of success with internet radio. How do you see the future of radio and the Internet radios part in it?
Alan Internet radio is really good. To be honest with you even FM radio is podcasted now days. And the reason it is podcasted, is that people want to have the choice to listen to it on their own time. Internet radio is a great tool for all bands. There is no reason there shouldn't be more radio stations, there should always be choice. I guess the great thing about internet radio is that it is international. It comes down to theory of long tales, not to get too technical but with big enough stretch of people, sort of catchment area, like with internet radio, you will reach enough people with interest in your music.
J.P. Lets talk about your birthday celebrations. So whats coming up?
Alan What's coming up is that Near FM sessions will be five years old and we are having a birthday gig in the Grand Social on Friday the 18th of November. We have really talented punch of bands from a variety of genres. The Rambleers are dirt blues rock. We got eight piece reggae band Indica, they are fresh from the Picnic this year. They came in to the session and they blew me a way. We have Johnny and the Beep Beeps who are alternative rock. We have The Statics who are 60's revival band really talented band, I know I use the word talented a lot, but they are. We got singer songwriter/ folk artist Longtails. He is a strange artist because sometimes he is just Guitar and laptop, sometimes he has a full band behind him, so I don't actually know what he is going to do on the night. All great acts and they all have songs up on YouTube or Bandcamp. They all agreed to play for us. It's a fiver in, we are not looking to make money, we just want to cover the cost of the venue, as with everything we do in the Near FM Sessions. We don't get payed, we all volunteer. We're not in it for the profit, we just want to get the word out for bands. Doors 7.45pm, live bands until about midnight and then we have DJ's from Near FM taking over until about half two. It should be a good night. The Grand social is a lovely venue.
J.P. Sounds great. So any plans for the future?
Alan We are always looking at things to move forward. We are looking in to adding a visual elements to the show it self. I can't say too much about it at the minute, but we are talking about stuff for both community television and videocast. I think it would be good for the bands if there was some visual imagery.
J.P. That would change the whole show for the bands.
Alan Well yeah, and that's why we need to look at it carefully as we have nice relaxed atmosphere and we don't want to loose that. We also recently started podcasting the show and that is going really well, so we are going to make an archive section on our website of the bands that we really enjoyed having on the show. I'm giving away all our secrets now... Mainly we are focused on getting bands in and doing what we do and trying to get the music out there.
J.P. Once again big thank you for taking the time to talk to us
Check out Near FM Sessions at: http://www.facebook.com/thenearfmsessions
http://www.near.ie
That's all for this week. Let us know your thoughts. Back for more next week.
J.P.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
How to make sure you won't get booked again
So here we go, I'll get the rant out of the way first. In the past seven months we have done 15 concerts. In these 15 concerts we have done anything from battle of the bands to show case nights to organizing our own concerts. And as lot of you know through my experience with Sliotar and other bands I have played in over the years, I have done well over thousand concerts. So I have seen a lot and I know how hard it is to get band of the ground. Here is one thing that has been bugging me lately: when a band takes a part in any kind of show case/band night, I would expect them to stick around and listen to the other bands. And believe you me I know some of the music would not be up to every ones taste, I don't have much tolerance for out of tune guitars (get a tuner and get your guitar intonated!) and bad timing (Practice with a click), but suck it up, they are in same situation you are or were. Ok, you might have to get up the next morning early to work, but first of all you can talk with your band mates and some of you could stay, if some of you must go. Second, and do I have news here for you, if you seriously want to make it some day, I mean make your living out of music, you will need to learn to get by with very little sleep. Let's repeat that one just to make sure you got it: Being a full time musician, you need to learn to get by with very little sleep! Six hours is a good night sleep for me. Now in all fairness, about once a week I do pass out for nearly twelve hours... But You get my point. There is always some excuses and sometimes they are more valid than others. So just stop and think about it the other way around. Think what you would want the other bands to do while you play? Musician’s talk that's how the word goes around and to be honest with you, what I've seen in the past year, this is what separates the frustrated amateurs from the pros.
Let's look at this from a different perspective. As I mentioned there above, we have organized some of our own gig nights, and helped other organizers to book bands as well. This is something I have big plans for, and will be doing more and more. From a gig organizers perspective, unless the band has a genuine reason, I mean if you have a important festival gig the next day and a long drive, that's fair enough. But if I just see the band come in, play their set and run off, because it's well past their bed time, you can be sure I won't be booking them any time soon. And if you think I am the only one who thinks this way, I've talked to few organizers and it is one of those things that register at the back of their mind. They will remember the band that stayed till the end and checked out every act. You might think here, what does that have to do with music? Everything! You expect other people to support your band if you don't support others? Anyway, enough of that ;-)
Thanks to Will Bury for the photo.
So we had a busy week :-) JPKALLIO.COM played twice in Sweeney's. Wednesday was the Music Medium Live night in the basement. As the regular readers of this blog know we've been there few times before. They are a small group of people working hard trying to do something for the music scene in Dublin and slowly but surely they are building momentum, once again proving that hard work and persistence does pay off in music business. They run a Singer songwriter night in the Sweeney's on Tuesday nights, Juke box slot showcase on Wednesday nights, FissionFriday once a month upstairs in Sweeney's and they are just starting another night in the Mezz on Sundays. So if you are looking for a gig for your band or solo act, get in touch with them, they are really nice people as well :-)
On Saturday night we were back in the Sweeney's, upstairs this time. Weekend nights in Sweeney's are busy, so we had a hopping gig. This was number 15 in our 100 concert challenge, slowly but surely getting there ;-) Also on both gigs it was great to see so many familiar faces, we are making friends on the way.
The next concert at the moment is the Rocktober semi-final in the Fibbers on Saturday the 19th of November. The standard of this competition has been very high, so it will be a great night of music. I think we need to pull out few extra stops for this one ;-)
In the mean time, we have decided to go and record few tracks in the Trackmix studios, so in few weeks time we'll lock our selves in there for few days and we'll see what comes out of it. We will be bringing camera with us and try to document some of the stuff while we're there. So before that we'll be rehearsing our backsides off. Oh yeah, and we need to agree on the songs we want to record...
So that's enough for this week. Hope you managed to get through the autumn with out a cold; I'm trying to shake mine. Have a good week and I'll be back for more next week.
Oh nearly forgot to mention:-) The Halloween is on its way. I am taking few days off and going to Warsaw for the long weekend, but there are some great concerts around during the Halloween weekend that deserves a mention. Our friends the Pimps and Gimps are playing in the Harbour bar in Bray on Sunday the 30th of October, so head over there for some quality punk rock. Also the EHT promotions are running a fancy dress metal night in the Pint and our friends 9thlife will be on the bill along with loads of other great bands. Hmm... how do I get a feeling you might find Qra at the Harbour bar and Sebastian at the Pint;-)
J.P.
Let's look at this from a different perspective. As I mentioned there above, we have organized some of our own gig nights, and helped other organizers to book bands as well. This is something I have big plans for, and will be doing more and more. From a gig organizers perspective, unless the band has a genuine reason, I mean if you have a important festival gig the next day and a long drive, that's fair enough. But if I just see the band come in, play their set and run off, because it's well past their bed time, you can be sure I won't be booking them any time soon. And if you think I am the only one who thinks this way, I've talked to few organizers and it is one of those things that register at the back of their mind. They will remember the band that stayed till the end and checked out every act. You might think here, what does that have to do with music? Everything! You expect other people to support your band if you don't support others? Anyway, enough of that ;-)
So we had a busy week :-) JPKALLIO.COM played twice in Sweeney's. Wednesday was the Music Medium Live night in the basement. As the regular readers of this blog know we've been there few times before. They are a small group of people working hard trying to do something for the music scene in Dublin and slowly but surely they are building momentum, once again proving that hard work and persistence does pay off in music business. They run a Singer songwriter night in the Sweeney's on Tuesday nights, Juke box slot showcase on Wednesday nights, FissionFriday once a month upstairs in Sweeney's and they are just starting another night in the Mezz on Sundays. So if you are looking for a gig for your band or solo act, get in touch with them, they are really nice people as well :-)
On Saturday night we were back in the Sweeney's, upstairs this time. Weekend nights in Sweeney's are busy, so we had a hopping gig. This was number 15 in our 100 concert challenge, slowly but surely getting there ;-) Also on both gigs it was great to see so many familiar faces, we are making friends on the way.
The next concert at the moment is the Rocktober semi-final in the Fibbers on Saturday the 19th of November. The standard of this competition has been very high, so it will be a great night of music. I think we need to pull out few extra stops for this one ;-)
In the mean time, we have decided to go and record few tracks in the Trackmix studios, so in few weeks time we'll lock our selves in there for few days and we'll see what comes out of it. We will be bringing camera with us and try to document some of the stuff while we're there. So before that we'll be rehearsing our backsides off. Oh yeah, and we need to agree on the songs we want to record...
So that's enough for this week. Hope you managed to get through the autumn with out a cold; I'm trying to shake mine. Have a good week and I'll be back for more next week.
Oh nearly forgot to mention:-) The Halloween is on its way. I am taking few days off and going to Warsaw for the long weekend, but there are some great concerts around during the Halloween weekend that deserves a mention. Our friends the Pimps and Gimps are playing in the Harbour bar in Bray on Sunday the 30th of October, so head over there for some quality punk rock. Also the EHT promotions are running a fancy dress metal night in the Pint and our friends 9thlife will be on the bill along with loads of other great bands. Hmm... how do I get a feeling you might find Qra at the Harbour bar and Sebastian at the Pint;-)
J.P.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
New review and other stuff
Part 60
It's freezing cold October night outside. I am listening Thousand Watt Stares debut album, and it is a killer! If you have not checked them out yet, you should. Whether I'm writing this blog early in the morning or late in the night, it always feels like it's happening in the dark :-)
We had a busy week rehearsing new songs; they seem to be falling out of me at the moment. But that is a great complain to have. I talked about this bit before, but it's been on our minds this week. One of our main goals at the moment is to record an album, but there are little obstacle on the way called money:-D. This is a problem we share with most bands. The valuable information we gained from the interviews on this blog with into the void records and Trackmix studios has given us a very clear idea what it would take to record the album on our own. At the same time we are still contemplating weather we'll do it our selves, or try to go after the all so magical record deal with some underground label. As Darragh O'Laoghaire pointed out in his interview two weeks ago, if we do record and release the album on our own, we would pretty much limit our sales to live concerts. So yeah lot to think about. At the same time we have new songs coming out all the time and the band sound is evolving the more we play. Our debut E.P that came out in March, and still available for a free download from our website, is now about seven months old, and we would very much like to bring out some new material. So at the moment we are playing with the idea of either recording a single or another E.P. Both of these would be possible for us to do pretty fast. It has been a while since we brought any new music and we'd hate to keep you guys waiting ;-) So we'll keep you posted on this.
We got a very nice review at the open-mic blog at: http://the-open-mic.com/blog/2011/10/weekly-feature-jp-kallio/ I'll include the review here, but do check out the blog and we'd love to see some comments there as well :-)
“Weekly Feature: JPKALLIO.COM 17 October The feature this week on the-open-mic is JPKALLIO.COM with every body dies on the homepage. Play it Loud! The first words you see when you pick up JPKALLIO.COM’s first EP. Sentiments that compliments exactly what the boys from Poland and Finland are about straightforward Punk. First things first: the song. Everybody dies is a clear example of what three guys with a love of punk can do. With a lull just as the intro begins it really sets up the songs strong rift which continues throughout the entire song. This pause between rifts also helps to create a build up effect throughout each break in verse, which always builds to the strong drumming we see in all the bands music. The Bass seems mellow and then very deep at times, which always brings with it the strength and deepness presented in the songs lyrics. All of which is again brought home by the bands impressive guitar playing. The crisp and clear lyrics really show just how well polished an act JPKALLIO.COM really is. With a slightly dark undertone in both the lyrics along with the music one can instantly find themselves listening to the lyrics and connecting with the band. They really demonstrate the no nonsense punk that has stood the test of time from the Sex Pistols to the Offspring and now to JPKALLIO.COM. If you haven’t already checked out JPKALLIO.COM do it now and be sure to watch there video for everybody dies. -Dave Murphy” The Open Mic
I think it has something to do with the fact that I write blog, but when we get featured in other blogs, it always gets me bit exited. I mean most of the music press is run by money, but the blogs are where the real new music can be found :-)
Don't forget that JPKALLIO.COM will be tonight, 19th of October in the Sweeney's on Dame Street as part of the Juke box slot, organized by our friends Music Medium Live. The night is packed with great music, and Sweeney's is always a good night. Hope to see you there tonight.
And just before we finish, some more news just of the press. JPKALLIO.COM will be doing a late night gig in the Sweeney's again this Saturday the 22nd of October as well. We'll be taking to the stage just past midnight and rocking a full one hour set!
So that's all for now, come back for more next week.
J.P.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
On a shoestring project part 38
I am really exited about the King Kong Club semi-final :-) For those of you who don't know what I am talking about check out last weeks blog. Tomorrow night, the 19th of May, upstairs in the Village on Wexford Street. Come along!
We go some nice news this week as well. During the week I bought the Hot Press (An Irish music magazine), there was an article that I wanted to read, but never got around to it due to a busy week. On Saturday morning I had a chance to chill out and as usual, started my morning with Coffee and Emails. In my mail box I had an Email from Jackie Hayden, a journalist who writes for the Hot Press, among other publications. He informed me that our E.P. “Play it loud!” was reviewed at his column “The First cuts”. Well I was up like a flash looking for the magazine, and after about fifteen minutes I found it between my lyric sheets and other papers :-) And there it was, the first acknowledgment of jpkallio.com on a printed press. The review was very nice and as our first one I am chuffed.
"Lumps of punk and punchy hard rock" "Some impressive guitar work from super Kallio himself. One suspects they are possibly best in a live setting"
Jackie Hayden - Hot Press
Now once again I find my self telling you, this is something you can do as well if you are in a band. Once you have a recording, there are music magazines around that will review it. But start small, don't just expect your first recording to appear at the top of new releases. Hot press has the First cuts column that does review new bands, and You can find more magazines with similar columns. Just do your research, all music magazines have websites and most of them have review submission information on their website and if not, the information should be only Email away. Here again I believe very much in a personal contact. So if the magazine does not have specific submission information, I usually email them with a link to our music or video. I ask if our music would be some thing they could include in their publication, and if so I ask for mailing address. Also check what they want, some just want MP3s hosted on your website, and some magazines need two copies of the CD, one they send to a reviewer and one they keep for the design team in the office. Also include a A4 bio, and sometimes a letter to go with it. Unless they specifically ask for it, I would not send press clippings from other reviews, reviewers like to make their own mind about your music and no amount of fancy reviews by other reviewers is going to change this. Going after some publicity works just like everything else in the music business, small steps at a time. And when you do get a review, it is only good manners to thanks the reviewer and let them know you appreciate the work they do. If the review is not so good, do the same thing. No one wants to read just sugar coated reviews. Besides, it is still just review by one person. For example, Foo Fighters new album got really bad review in Irish times, but Metal Hammer magazine called it their best album yet. You win some and loose some.
So the past week we have been busy rehearsing for the King Kong Club. The set is going to be rocking! Next Wednesday the 25th of May we are playing a concert in the Juke box slot, in the Basement of Sweeney’s on Dame Street. The night is organised but the Music Medium Live, and should be a good night. This looks like it is going to be our last gig in Dublin for the next few weeks, but we'll be back for more in mid June :-) We have hand full of new songs on the way again, and just wan to work on them for a few weeks.
Big thank you to all of you who checked out our new video last week :-) It is getting some nice views. We still would like to hear what you think of it, so keep those comments coming. Also if you have any ideas for future videos, we'd love to hear them as well.
So that’s all for now, I'll talk to you more next week.
J.P.
We go some nice news this week as well. During the week I bought the Hot Press (An Irish music magazine), there was an article that I wanted to read, but never got around to it due to a busy week. On Saturday morning I had a chance to chill out and as usual, started my morning with Coffee and Emails. In my mail box I had an Email from Jackie Hayden, a journalist who writes for the Hot Press, among other publications. He informed me that our E.P. “Play it loud!” was reviewed at his column “The First cuts”. Well I was up like a flash looking for the magazine, and after about fifteen minutes I found it between my lyric sheets and other papers :-) And there it was, the first acknowledgment of jpkallio.com on a printed press. The review was very nice and as our first one I am chuffed.
"Lumps of punk and punchy hard rock" "Some impressive guitar work from super Kallio himself. One suspects they are possibly best in a live setting"
Jackie Hayden - Hot Press
Now once again I find my self telling you, this is something you can do as well if you are in a band. Once you have a recording, there are music magazines around that will review it. But start small, don't just expect your first recording to appear at the top of new releases. Hot press has the First cuts column that does review new bands, and You can find more magazines with similar columns. Just do your research, all music magazines have websites and most of them have review submission information on their website and if not, the information should be only Email away. Here again I believe very much in a personal contact. So if the magazine does not have specific submission information, I usually email them with a link to our music or video. I ask if our music would be some thing they could include in their publication, and if so I ask for mailing address. Also check what they want, some just want MP3s hosted on your website, and some magazines need two copies of the CD, one they send to a reviewer and one they keep for the design team in the office. Also include a A4 bio, and sometimes a letter to go with it. Unless they specifically ask for it, I would not send press clippings from other reviews, reviewers like to make their own mind about your music and no amount of fancy reviews by other reviewers is going to change this. Going after some publicity works just like everything else in the music business, small steps at a time. And when you do get a review, it is only good manners to thanks the reviewer and let them know you appreciate the work they do. If the review is not so good, do the same thing. No one wants to read just sugar coated reviews. Besides, it is still just review by one person. For example, Foo Fighters new album got really bad review in Irish times, but Metal Hammer magazine called it their best album yet. You win some and loose some.
So the past week we have been busy rehearsing for the King Kong Club. The set is going to be rocking! Next Wednesday the 25th of May we are playing a concert in the Juke box slot, in the Basement of Sweeney’s on Dame Street. The night is organised but the Music Medium Live, and should be a good night. This looks like it is going to be our last gig in Dublin for the next few weeks, but we'll be back for more in mid June :-) We have hand full of new songs on the way again, and just wan to work on them for a few weeks.
Big thank you to all of you who checked out our new video last week :-) It is getting some nice views. We still would like to hear what you think of it, so keep those comments coming. Also if you have any ideas for future videos, we'd love to hear them as well.
So that’s all for now, I'll talk to you more next week.
J.P.
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