Me and my Telecaster

  On last Saturday afternoon I got back from my well deserved holidays all charged up and hit the ground running. Four hours with Sliotar in the Porterhouse and it did feel good to be back. As much as I was looking forward to my holidays, usually after a week I start missing my guitar and miss playing. It's kind of crazy... I start missing my guitars like people, my finger get itchy and I get fidgety. If guitars were a substance, I suppose I would have a problem ;-)

  Since my return, if I wasn't gigging with Sliotar my Telecaster has not left my side. Also I suppose refreshed from my holidays, I have been messing around with a sound a bit. So I thought to write a bit about my trusty friend, my Telecaster.

  My very first electric guitar was a East German Strat copy. It was rough and cheap, but it was mine and I played it until the frets were nearly down to nothing. One thing I do remember about it is that the pickups had these massive magnets under them and the output was very hot for a Strat. Since then, I have gone through dozens of guitars and I am sure I will go through dozens more before my days are done. I know for some players guitar is just a tool, but many of us are as much in search of that perfect tone as just hoping to play. I love sound, and for me sonic qualities of a recording is almost as important as the songs them selves.
On this on going quest I learn something new all the time. It's what keeps me exited. Sometimes just a great tone can inspire you to write songs.

  I had few guitars over the years that I just had to have. But the relationship with guitar and the player takes time to develop. Some guitars felt great in my hand from the first moment I picked them up, but after a while I started missing something in the tone, or playability. In other times I picked up a guitar and it was a struggle from the get go, but over time I learned to love the instrument . There was always the three legendary guitars that most players leaned towards, Les Paul, Startocaster and Telecaster. Now there are tons of more, but these three are the ones every guitar player has at some point. Also these guitars are copied more by other manufacturers than anything else. I have very nice Gibson Les Paul, that I will never part with. It is very nice guitar to play! It sings, sustains, and drives the right amp in to very sweet and full distortion. I've had several Strats over the years, one of them was a Fernandes copy that was excellent! It was one of the only guitars that I kept stock, as it was built great, the action was great, the pickups were great, the electronics were very good quality. This Strat was a proof that going for the big names is not always the best thing to do. But when I left Finland I got rid of most of my gear. Silly me... Anyway, apart from this Fernandes most Strats were no my friends, just the sound and feel didn't sit with me. I had an obsession about Telecasters for a very long time. I'd say it goes back to me being a big Rolling stones fan since I was a kid. I've had few Squire and few Fender ones over the years. My current Tele is a 2008 Fender highway 1, that I got as a trade few years back. I have now idea what the history it was before I got my hands on it. These Highway 1 series guitars had a mat paint finish that tends to wear off pretty easily, and one of its previous owners had put a varnish on it after the paint started wearing off. The pickups are Fender Texas specials at the moment, but I'm sure there will be many pickups in this Tele through out its life with me. But yeah, part from the varnish, it is very much stock for now. It sounds like Tele, and plays like one.

  Telecasters have been part of rock and roll music from almost the beginning. It has been in production since 1950! That's 62 years and still going strong. It has been played by so many famous guitar players in pretty much every sub genre of rock music. And if anything it is more popular today than ever before among the indie rock guitar players. It is a guitar that plays nicely in most hands. But I think its flexibility is still very under estimated. This guitar has twang, it has bottom end, it has warmth and clarity. It can be a smooth jazz machine, or it can scream like a monster! Very often I see players rocking the Tele, but I feel there is so much more you can do with it. This guitar likes to be treated roughly. It is like it has hidden gears, if you dig bit deeper you can get some wild tones out of it. It is definitely not the easiest guitar to play, but I find it makes me play better when I need to work that bit harder with it. If I had to choose one guitar to do it all, my Tele would be it. At the moment I would love to get my hands on another and put a Bigsby tremolo on it, but I think this has something to do with the fact that I have bit of a Gretsch bug at the moment ;-)

  All I can say is big thank you to Leo Fender for designing such a simple, versatile and strong guitar that has shaped rock music.

  It is funny how we build these relationships with instruments, and how they define us as musicians. What is your favorite guitar and what does it mean to you?


J.P.

Back in action!

  Well hello every one once again. It has been a crazy summer so far and for me it won't be over until the second week in September, when I finally get a chance to take some holidays for few weeks:-) So far I have had very busy year. Most of it has been due to Sliotars new album and everything the new album brings with it. Also we had few busy months with JPKALLIO.COM on the spring. But just before I was about to leave on the summer stretch of Sliotars tour, Sebastian and Patryk dropped the bomb and told us that it was a time for them to leave the band... It did open a bag of emotions that I really did not expect. About a month before there was a band meeting where we tried to address the issues. I put aside my personal instincts and what I had learned over the years and for the next six months I decided to do things other peoples way. But a month in to it we got the news that the lads had decided to call it a day. I must say one thing though, the guys did pick as good time as you ever can for their departure, so fair play to them. We played our last concert with this line up on the 6^th of July 2012 in the Sweeney's basement. I am sure you will see both Sebastian and Patryk around the town playing gigs sooner or later and we'll be hooking up for pint's I'm sure:-)

  Now I did have time to think about everything for the past month and a half while on tour with Sliotar and when I got back. The longer I play music the stronger I feel the need to be true to my self. True in the sence how I write music, play music and how I conduct my business around the music. So I'll be sticking to my own instincts from now on;-)

  This week we have been back rehearsing. We decided to go back to three piece, like we did when we started all this. I am happy to say Des Gorevan, who I have been playing with for the past twelve years in Sliotar kindly stepped in for now and he will be playing with us this Saturday night in the Sweeney's bar. It really does feel quite natural have him on the drums. Maybe if we talk to him nicely he'll stick around.

  So here it is, we're back in action! And after my holidays in September you'll be hearing more from us. But for now, we hope to see you in Upstairs in the Sweeney's this Saturday the 1^st of September. We're glad to get the opportunity to play support for the legendary Patrik Fizgerald! Also the wonderful Pimps and Gimps will be playing on the night.

https://www.facebook.com/events/133751503433793/

Have a good summer and I'll be back in August

JPKALLIO.COM will be rocking the Sweeney's basement this Friday, it's a line up of some great kick ass music:

Basement Sweeneys Fri 6th July with.
ALICE CAN'T TURN LEFT 11.00.
JPKALLIO.COM 11.45.
PAGAN RIOT 12.30.


This is going to be our only show this summer. 


  After this gig we'll be scattered bit all over the place:-) Seba will be on drum duties with Seanie Vaughan Music, Patryk is playing the bass with the Pimps and Gimps Fanpage, I will be on the road around Europe with Sliotar and Qra is joining us on bass for three weeks as well. I'll be documenting some of our tour madness at Sliotars facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/sliotar.


  After the summer we'll be back in action again in full swing:-). I thought long and hard this, even though it's not that big deal. Starting from next Tuesday I will be on the road and in "Sliotar mode" and I want to concentrate on the tour, the concerts and documenting the tour with videos and blog posts on Sliotars web site www.sliotarmusic.com. Due to these commitments I have decided to take a break from writing this blog for the duration of the tour. I also do feel the need to get bit refocused with this blog and I think the break will do world of good to me:-)


  But I will post links to our tour stuff as they appear on Sliotars website, just not to loose the contact with every one here as well. So I suppose it is time to wish every one a great summer. Hope you all have a good one, I know mine will be mad one anyway;-) and I'll talk to you after the tour.
  
   J.P.

Are the days of promoting your band on the Facebook gone?

Part 95

  Why is it that every time you come across some great promotional tool, service, company etc. Eventually there comes a time at the end of the story when they ask for your credit card details? I am not saying you can buy your self a career, but you most certainly can buy your self a small bit of fame, if you wish to do so. Then we have the great promotional tools like the Facebook. But hold on, once again they changed something... If you have a band profile on Facebook, you have under every post a number that represents how many people your post has reached and a percentage of how many that is from your total fans. On average on posts that posted in the past month or so, the reach is around 19%. Once the post is up for longer time, I am happy if it reaches 40% in a month. So not so good news for the next show you are putting on. Seems like you got to go back to the good old fashioned posters... Unless people not only like your band page, but also subscribe to your news feed, most of them wont see your posts... Why is this? Well it comes down to the same thing, they are hoping to get your credit card details. Beside the reach figure there is a promote drop down menu, that promises to reach about 1500 of your fans for €5. That is if you have 1500 fans and I am still wondering what happens to your money if you don't... So yeah, here is the bad news, Facebook as it is right now, does not work as a free promotional tool. What bugs me even more is the fact that once again they decided to do this without letting us know and in the shadow of the company entering the stock market. Seven months ago it was very easy for me to reach about two to three hundred people a day with this blog, but just due to a small change in the Facebook, those days are gone. And I can only imagine how many bands put on shows, posted it on Facebook, and their fans actually never heard about it until long after the show.

  So here we go, if you are reading this blog, you have been warned! And once again we go back to the old truth, you need your website and your mailing list. No social media site is going to ever replace these tools.

     J.P.

Different paths to being a great musician

Part 94

   So here we go, I might annoy some people with this blog, but this is really important subject to me. Everybody's path to being a great musician is different. What works for me might not work for you. For me it has taken years of trial and error, and endless hours of playing and singing. I am sure some one with the proper teaching skills could have got me musically here much faster, but at the same time I wouldn't have the experience I have now. When you first start playing an instrument, it usually starts with acquiring an instrument, learning some basics by your self, or a friend showing you something. Then you have few different paths to go. You can sign up for some lessons with a teacher, or even go to a music school and get some theory lessons on the side. You can get your friends to show you bit more, play with other musicians and learn from them. My way was driven by hunger to learn more, I spent endless hours in my room winding back cassette tapes of my favorite bands and tried to learn what the guitar players were playing. Then learning the songs with my garage band at the time and playing them endless hours at our rehearsals and eventually get to play them at school gigs or local fund raisers. The thing is that human mind works in mysterious ways and every ones way of learning is different. Some people need to analyze the music so it makes sense in their minds. Some people need to visualize it in their minds and even on that I have heard of several variations. I need to feel it. I know it sounds like a cliche, but I don't visualize the music, I feel it. I feel the groove and go with it, I feel the chord progressions, I feel the fretboard under my fingers and most of the time I let the fingers guide me. This is due to endless hours of playing, jamming and muscle memory. I can read music, though I am very slow at it and definitely out of practice. This again I learned the basics with a teacher in school and then converted it to guitar and just spent time to learn more and more. But still to day if I learn a melody on written music it takes me long time to get it to my head, where as if I learn it by ear I usually pick it up much faster. Until it is in my head I can't feel it and if I don' feel it I can't play it well. I suppose this is one of the reasons I have passed on quite few opportunities in my time. Opportunities to play music I had no interest in but the pay would have been good. It's just not in me to take on a job I know I can't do well.

   But lets go back to the learning songs of those old tapes. Every musician needs ear training, you can learn the best licks, fills, solos and what have you, but you need to learn to use your ears! You need to listen to whats going on around you, what every band member is doing around you. If you zone out in your own world and just play your part, sooner or later you will find your self in a ditch... It is a musical car crash waiting to happen. Listening to other players around you while delivering your own part is one of the marks of a great musician. You need to put aside what you do as an individual musician and become a part of the over all band. You might have the coolest solo you want to play here or there, but it might clash with the rest of the band. If this is the case, back off! The song must come first! And what is the best for the song might not be the fancy fill you love to play but just a simple beat that keeps the groove going and makes people feel the music. For me listening to those tapes and trying to figure what was played was the greatest ear training any one could get. You learn to recognize your intervals, your chords, the rhythm patterns. And you know, I enjoyed every second of it! I could not wait to get to play the song through when I finally had it figured out. I also learned so much about song structures, riff construction, dynamics... And I don't want to take away from the academics of music, but some of these skills if they had been broken down and presented to me through a teacher from a book, it would not make sense to me the same way as it does today. This was the best way for me and still is today. I still learn every day, I still practice every day. Going to band practice once or twice a week won't make you a better player and it definitely won't make your band better, unless you all practice individually every day! And I don't just mean playing random stuff, but identifying your weaknesses and working on them.

    I know there are people out there who think you will not be a great musician until you study in Berkeley or some other fancy school, and there are people out there who think you are not a real musician unless you're self taught. But the fact is, neither is wrong or right. It comes down to the individual. What's your way of learning?


    J.P.

Sweeney's rocked!

Part 93

  June is here and it ain't looking pretty so far... You'd think I got used to this by now after sixteen years in the country... Anyway. Last Friday we played at the Sweeneys basement once again. We were happy that Foad musick asked us to take part in their night. There had been some changes in the basement room! To our delight the cursed pillar right on front of the stage had been removed. This opens up the stage straight away. They also had moved the bar on the opposite side it used to be and now the room is starting to look like proper venue. I also heard rumours about new equipment, and to be honest with you, this is the last thing that needs to be fixed and then Sweeneys would have pretty sweet venue in the basement as well. On the night there was four bands, Corrosive machine, JPKALLIO.COM, Jobseekers and The Freebooters. All of the bands on the night played great energetic sets, It was like every band just fueled the next one even more. It was really great to see such a high standard of punk rock bands and an enthusiastic crowd. This was one of our better gigs in a long while. Once again big thanks to Foad musick for having us.

  We will be back in the Sweeney's on the 6^th of July, but part from that we made a decision on taking it bit easier with the gigs and concentrate rehearsing a lot and working on some new material with out the pressure of getting it done for the next gig. I suppose what we want to do is jam the stuff for a while before we commit to a structure. Very often once you play song a live, it seems to be set in stone and even if you think to change something, you never get around to it. Another reason for the break is the European championships. I have made the mistake of booking gigs during big events like this in the past and lets just say I have learned my lesson:-D Anyway, I only have five weeks in Dublin before I am on the road again with Sliotar and this is bit longer tour... And the preparations for that will keep me extremely busy.

  Now in the mean time, Patryk is been busy playing bass with his old band Pimps & Gimps, he is a man of many talents;-). The Pimps & Gimps are playing with other friends of ours the Joyful Noiz in the Harbour Bar in Bray. So if you are looking for some good music this Friday, why wont you hop on the Dart and head over.

  For now, enjoy the early summer days;-)

J.P.

Feeling unmotivated?

Part 92

  I am back in Dublin after Sliotar's first tour of the year. I love touring, but as much I love coming home.

We had our first rehearsal with JPKALLIO.COM in few weeks yesterday and it was good to be playing again. The contrast between going from the Sliotar world to JPKALLIO.COM is quite big, to say the least. But that's what makes it fun for me:-). Now we are playing a concert in the Sweeneys basement this Friday, so come along.

  I was reminded of something during the week by a good friend of mine. In the past playing in all the bands that I have, I noticed that I do go through fazes of being more motivated. I think it is very natural thing that you can't keep your energy and enthusiasm at the same level all the time. Sometimes you need a break, you need to take distance to get re focused. I would say most musicians go through this from time to time. Does this mean you are weak or a bad musician? Well, as long as you get the job done, no. We all need to charge batteries from time to time. I also find that when I have quiet time like this, I very often come back with guns blazing and full of fresh ideas. I look at things that used to seem impossible and now they seem possible. I notice things where I was stuck in a routine and take a fresh approach to them. If I was only starting out, I could possibly mistakenly take these unmotivated times as a sign of failure and quit all together, but now I know better. It is just my minds way of finding time to refresh and get going again. Obviously band like Sliotar this would be harder to do as we play live every week, but you just get on with the concerts for few weeks and find the time to enjoy the world around you for a while. And sooner than you know, you'll be back up again. I do find though that these motivational dips can be effected very much by your band mates, stale gigs etc. To my delight this year I have been full of fire as Sliotars new album has kept me busy and our tour schedule for the year is busiest I can remember. And with JPKALLIO.COM the addition of Patryk in the band has given me a big lease of life and April was one of our busiest months ever. But somewhere in the future when all the dust settles, I know there will be a time I'll feel like I need a bit of a break, and when it comes, that's just what I'll do:-)

  So next time you feel your band is not going anywhere, just allow your self to take some distance. Later you will come back to it with fresh eyes and ears.

J.P.

Stick with it.

  Week two of Sliotar tour got me thinking about persistence. As I have mentioned in the past Sliotar has been on the go for past 16 years and I have been in the guitar duties for the past 12 years. Through out that time I have had good times and bad times. Played some great concerts in front of big audiences, but also played in horrible conditions with only hand full of people. When things are going great it is easy to believe in the band, but if things are going bad it is easy to loose faith. Even though mostly it has been great, there were times when I did not see any future in the band, especially my part in the band... I was contemplating something else to do, even quitting music... Now I am very glad I stuck through it.
   The biggest secret in success is sticking with it through thick and thin. No one said this was going to be easy, but if you give up, you fail. If you stick with it, there will be a time you will be rewarded. It might not be today, it might not be this year. But the time will come. There will be times you loose faith in your band and feel like giving in. These are times you just need to put the head down and struggle through. Something will come up and things will start looking much brighter. But also remember you're not in it alone, unless you are a solo artist of course. Every one in the band need to be willing to stick with it as well. If you are the only one who believes in what your band does, it might be tough. And in this situation it would be time to sit down and have a chat. In my experience, musical differences and unrealistic expectations are some of the biggest stumbling blogs of any band. Personality clashes you can work on, as long as both parties are willing to do so. I still believe you can teach person skills, but they got to have character. This is something you cant learn.
   So where am I now? I could not imagine my life without Sliotar. I do want to pursue other things, like JPKALLIO.COM, writing this blog, sound engineering... But Sliotar will be a big part of me for a long time to come:-)
J.P.

Hard facts about running your own gigs and A Joyful Slog

Part 89

   I am starting to get ready for the first of this years Sliotar tours. It is always a relief when you start the tour as all the preparations come to an end and finally you get to play live shows:-) The logistics even behind a small tour is a quite a task and it ends up being a team effort from the whole band. As I write this, Des is driving our equipment from Dublin to Munich, where we will start the tour next week. This is only going to be short two week tour, but in July we head back for nearly five week tour.

   I had an interesting conversation on Friday night after JPKALLIO.COM's show in the Thomas house. Fellow musician and a friend of mine was very surprised when they heard that when we put on a show, we actually pay for sound engineer, posters and sometimes even venue rental. I suppose there are many people out there who still are disillusioned about the way this business works. It got me thinking that I will organize an interview with some promoters to explain this side of the business in the near future. But let me just say this. When ever you see a band posting a concert on facebook, or see a poster around the town, unless it is a free concert, there is a big chance the band stands out to loose money. We take risks all the time, to be able to do what we love and if we break even we usually consider it a success... Most independent touring bands make most of their income from merchandise sold at shows. So for local bands that haven't been on the go so long yet, you might not have your CD, T-shirts etc. to sell. And before you even think of saying that what you need is good manager, let me remind you something I have been saying since the beginning of this blog, No manager will be interested in you until you can fill a venue regularly. Managers need to make money, it's a fact of life! And if you can't make money, how do you think they can make money out of you? So until you are in a position where you are gigging nearly 100 concerts a year and making money out of it, you just need to keep on taking those risks and booking the gigs you'r self.

   On another note, I came across this very nice documentary on the DIY scene in Ireland. This is a great inside on how the real underground music scene works. It is a Dublin Community Television production and was made by the Community Of Independents collective that works with the channel. Featuring live footage and audio of various Irish artists as well as insightful interviews with some of the people that have been involved in the growth of this scene.



   This Friday the 11th of May JPKALLIO.COM will be back in the Slaughtered Lamb for the Blitz band slam quarter final. Hope to see you there:-)
J.P.

It's good to be busy

Part 87.


  I have a very busy week behind me, and another one just started. And guess what? I am loving it :-) We had two concerts with JPKALLIO.COM. On Thursday we were over in the Submarine bar in Crumlin. This is well known Sports bar, but to my surprise it is amazing venue as well. There was a small case of unsuitability though, I'd assume most bands playing in the venue usually are either more folky or indie rock. There is a decibel meter on top of the bar facing a stage and as soon as we started it maxed out and stayed like that until the end of our set :-D. But hey, everyone seemed to enjoy it.

  On Friday we were in Swords and in the Slaughtered Lamb. This is a quite busy battle of the bands. There was eight acts on the night and we were the second last to get on the stage. The Slaughtered lamb had a nice set up, but we were starting to feel the hanging around and two late nights. In all fairness, it is a part of the job and something I am well used to with Sliotar, in the famous words of Charlie Watts on the 25^th  anniversary of the Rolling Stones he was asked what the 25 years had been like he said: “Five years of playing and 20 years of hanging around”. It never really gets easy, but I think with time you learn to deal with it better. I think the biggest thing to keep in mind in a moments like these is that you are not alone, all your band mates and the other bands on the night are in the same situation, so moaning about it does not make any ones life any easier. It can also hard on your concentration. After waiting for four hours, you get up and play, it can feel like it sneaks up on you and sooner than you think the gig is over. There is something I do and find it helpful. After setting up and just before I play. I try to just clear my mind and slow down my breath. If you do this even for like 30 seconds, it can have surprising effect on your performance. So try it out the next time;-)

  Then on Saturday and Sunday I was busy with Sliotar. The pressure is on with the summer tours starting on in mid May. There is always some car maintenance before the tours, which I am very happy Des, the drummer in Sliotar takes a good care of. Also before any tour I look through all my guitar set ups and at the moment I am going through some changes in my acoustic guitar rig. For years I disliked acoustic guitar amps, even to the point that it might have been over 10 years since I tried one. But a friend of mine gave me a lend of Marshall AS50D which I used on the Sunday gig. I must say I was very impressed! There is definitely a reaction between the guitar and an amp that I think I have been missing with the acoustic guitar. It felt like it all made sense lot more once again. So now I am looking what else there is out on the market:-). I have met people who tell me they are very happy with their instrument set up. Personally for me, I have been a professional musician for the past 15 years now and I have constant need to improve on my sound. I think the day I stop trying to improve my sound, is the day I should call it a day... But still, all the nice toys in the world won't change what your fingers do, that's where the real magic is and that's why still after 15 years I practice almost every day.

  Now this week JPKALLIO.COM will be in the basement of Sweeney's tonight (Wednesday the 25^th of April). We'll be the first on at 9.30pm. This is the first of the Music Mediums rock/Metal nights, which they are hoping to have once a month. In all fairness it was about the time Sweeney's had a dedicated night for the harder side of the music spectrum;-) There are some great bands on tonight, and If Sweeney's basement had a decibel meter, I'm sure it would stay up all night;-)

  Then Tomorrow the 26^th of April we'll be in the Pint once again. There is always an excellent sound in the Pint and we're really looking forward to this one as well. There is a

  And this weekend I'll be in the Porterthouse with Sliotar again on Saturday and Sunday. So yep, busy week;-). And you know, when you are independent musician, busy is good. It is almost always better to be playing than not. The only way to get better at what you do is do it a lot. No amount of rehearsals will never get you the experience you get from playing live. And it is the best way to spread the word of your band As well.  Hope to see you at one of the shows.
   J.P.

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/MusicShoots

   Bit over 15 years a go I was playing Bouzouki in a folk/trad band called Tre. This was my first band that actually turned in to a full time job. It was also the first time I found my self playing live at least four days a week, every week. I am sure if you take your music seriously, you practice most days of the week, but there is something completely different about playing live two hour gigs. It does put lot of stress on your hands (and legs if you're a drummer). Back in those days, I was young and eager. I didn't pay too much attention on things like how relaxed my muscles where in my hands and arms, shoulders, neck and even lower back. Thinking back now, I'd say they were pretty stiff :-D. After the bands quick success, we all went our separate ways. I joined Sliotar and swapped over to guitar. As a result I got lots of session work in the Dublin trad scene. This was great, I was playing most days of the week. But eventually I found my self playing between four and six hours a day, six days a week. At this point I had to become more aware of taking care of my body as part of my tools. Most of the sessions, musicians would sit down while playing tunes. For a guitar player this can be a bit of a problem, without most of us even noticing it. It did took me a while to realize that when ever possible I'd be better standing while playing. Sitting down playing acoustic guitar you end up hunching over the instrument, and definitely put your back in a very unnatural position. Of course playing classical guitar is completely different story, where the players are seated in a position with a foot rest that wont put as much pressure on your back and wrists, but for me standing up is still the best position. Now in the past three years, I have concentrated more playing with Sliotar and JPKALLIO.COM. Over the years I have had few times pains in my wrists and occasional shooting pain in my left hand fingers. I must say I have calluses in the fingers that by now go quite deep, and what I think causes the shooting pain is actually the underside of the callus pressing nerve, not fun... But one thing I have learned, if you have pain, take a break! Now I don't mean actual muscle pain in your fingers from practicing, this is bit like having sore muscles after a session in a gym, and is only sign of your fingers getting an exercise. But if you get any sharp pains in your fingers, joints, wrists or along your arms, take a break. Maybe even for a few days, until the pain goes a way. If it does not, or keeps coming back regularly, go to doctor! Your hands are your instruments, you need to take care of them! Never play through pain, this is a sure way to early retirement. Also you might think practicing a difficult piece some times does hurt. The fact is, if you get a sharp pains, that is your body's way of saying something is wrong. And another thing, this can really escalate, if you have a pain lets say in your wrist and you keep on playing, there are other muscles that will try to compensate for this, and they will get stiff and sore, which in turn slows down your development as a player. Playing through pain does not prove you're a man, it proves you are an idiot who does not care about their most important part of their playing, your hands! The most fanciest instrument can't make your hands play better if they are in pain, but healthy hands can make even cheap instrument sing.

  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 13^th of April, next week we are in the Submarine bar in Crumlin on Thursday the 19^th, and in the Slaughtered lamb in Swords on Friday the 20^th. The following week we are in the Sweeneys on Wednesday the 25^th and in the Pint on 26^th. Then in May we are organizing an album fundraiser concert in the Thomas House on Friday the 4^th of May, but more on that later. For now, have a great week!

   J.P.

Musicians health

Part 82



  Paddy's day 2012 is done! As you might know from last weeks blog I spent four days playing my heart out with Sliotar in the Porterhouse. Four hours on Thursday, four on Friday, seven on Saturday and six on Sunday. As you can imagine, I wasn't good for much on Monday and today (Tuesday) while writing this blog I still feel exhausted. It is very hard to explain to any one what it takes to do that much playing in four days. In the other hand, I am not sure myself of what it actually does to a human body. I would like to learn more and if anyone knows of any articles, or research done on the subject let me know:-) I have seen just normal calorie counts for hour of playing music, for guitar, if you are standing it works out about 210 kcal. Now this is based on playing in rock band, the only options I came across was rock band (standing) and classical (sitting). There is another factor here, I do play in a rock band, but Sliotar is mix between traditional Irish music and folk rock. My job as a guitar player is lot of very fast rhythmic work, which I do think would add to that calorie count. I do take a good care of the health of my hands. But I can tell you, that at the end of this weekend my wrists were starting to ache. My calluses in my fingers are pretty rock hard as I do play pretty much every day, doing four hour rehearsals is no problem to me, but my fingers were staring feel swollen and sore. The other thing is concentration, playing the music with Sliotar is like second nature at this point, but it still demands your constant concentration. If you loose it for a second, you can bring the whole band crashing down. And to keep that level of concentration for long time does take its toll on you. I did Email Dr Tim Jameson, an author of Reach For the Top, a book that deals with musicians health and well being over all. And according to him “there is a significant mental toll in a high level of performance particularly in musicians”.

  Ok, so my Paddy's day schedule might be bit extreme situation, but if you do play in a band and you rehearse two, three days a week, maybe play live once or twice a week and on top of this practice at home on your own time and possibly throw a day job on top of this, you really need to start to take care of your mental and physical health. I am a big fan of starting your personal health from what you put in to your body. It's easy to eat on the go when you have a busy life, believe you me I know. But all that fast food and deli counter sandwiches eventually will take their toll on you. Now imagine a five week tour. That really tests your mental and physical health. I am sure many of us dream about this, but when you are in the depth of it, you really need to make sure you are able to deliver a good show no mater what. And I can tell you being on the road and sick is no fun at all. So what can you do? First of all, drink water, lots of it. This is so important. Fizzy drinks won't do, your body needs water to recover from the strain you put on your hands and fingers, or vocal chords. Also if you have long rehearsals, pack a lunch or snack. This will keep your blood sugars up and your brain will stay sharp and the rehearsals will be more productive. The same goes for the road. Remember to eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and good quality protein, fish, chicken or low fat red meat, nuts and cheese. Sleep is important, but very personal. I can tell you this though, on tours you need to learn to sleep sitting up if you need your eight hour beauty sleep. There are lots of late nights and early mornings. And sometimes the only place to sleep is in a car on the way to next gig, or in an airplane. At home, if you reach the point of exhaustion, just take it easy for few days and get good nights sleep. I know here I should preach you about not drinking alcohol, coffee or other stimulants, but the fact is I love my coffee, like beer and drink an occasional Monster energy drink. So let me just say this, everything in moderation;-)

  This is an subject that I think is very important and I will be revisiting this more often. But for now that's all for this week.
J.P.

To get better at playing live you need to play live.

Part 81



    I am sitting home and waiting for UPC service guy, while writing this. I have had a forced break from all the promotion work for the past few days, due to loss of internet connection. As a result I managed to fix my bicycle, that has been on my to do list for a long while and instead of working all hours of the night I actually caught up on some well needed sleep:-). In a way good timing, as I have one of the busiest weeks of Sliotar's calendar ahead of me. St Patrick's day gives us all an excuse to have a party and no one does it quite like Dublin. Sliotar will be holding court in the Porterhouse in Temple bar, we call it a Sliotarpalooza. We'll be there Thursday 15^th 6-10pm, Friday 16th 6-10pm, Saturday 17^th 6.30-1am and on Sunday from 4-11pm. Of course on top of this JPKALLIO.COM is rehearsing intensively, getting ready for our first stint of concerts in 2012, photo shoots and all the other promotion. So busy to say the least:-)

    Many musician friends of mine after hearing about Sliotars schedule have said with a sigh “oh I wish I could do that”. So I thought to shed a bit of light on few so called secrets (only people who don't know this, or refuse to believe it call it a secret) and home truths, while I already feel sorry for my fingers;-). I am fully aware of how lucky I am to be playing in Sliotar and get to play live as much as I do, to travel all around Europe playing some amazing gigs and also some not so amazing... But here are the details of the so called “secret” recipe of how Sliotar got there. I would say the number one key to the bands success and longevity is our residency in the Porterhouse, this has given us an opportunity to play live every week for the past 16 years, out of which 12 I have been there. This has made three musicians in to seasoned pros when it comes to performing live. People often ask me if I get nervous before a concert With Sliotar? No I don't. Sometimes if there is lot of hanging around I get anxious, but not nervous. I have gotten on to stage in front of nearly 3000 people or played on live TV and as long as that unit is around me, I am right at home as we have done it literally thousands of times. And I am not saying this here as to boast, I am trying to explain that to get to the point where you can step on front of any audience without having to deal with nerves, you just need to do it a lot. And with Sliotar we did, we took any gig we could to get the name out and to play to new audience. We still do this on tours if we are in a new territory. And still today my best bit of advice to any band is to play live as much and as often as possible. When no one knows you, it is not a time to pretend you're a rock star and to think you are better than this or that gig. And unless you have done those 100 or so pub gigs where you got comfortable playing with each others live, you are not ready for that big festival stage. Everybody wants to skip this and just get to do those big gigs, but it is a learning curve and there is a big reason why you need to do it. Big festival stages are where the cracks show, so make sure you fix them first before you get up there. Personally I think the sign of a great musician is when you can get on a stage, have a crap sound, everything that can, will go wrong, but you still deliver a killer concert. You need to learn that your personal needs and comforts are not important to the audience. Once the show starts, you just get on with it no matter what happens. We have had everything gone wrong with Sliotar over the years and when it does it makes for a tough gig! But you get on with it. We have had problems with power in some areas of Eastern Europe where the power supply just wasn't steady enough and kept knocking out our front of the house speakers, we have had paraffin sprayed all over our instruments by the guys doing a fire shows before us (there was no one coming near us with a cigarette that day), we have had every imaginable situation go wrong with the drums, kick pedals falling to pieces, cheap rental kits hardware collapsing, Des having to wedge drums against each others and taping everything together, but still doing a kicking show, we have had broken tooth, foot, ribs, ligaments, torn muscles, squashed knuckles, blood... lots of blood, food poisoning, serious chest infections, high fever, nervous breakdowns, electrocution... And still, the show always went on. Sixteen years a go if you would have thrown one of these things at us, we probably would have freaked out and the gig would gone down the drain, but now we just get on with it. And that level of confidence in your self and in your fellow band members only comes from playing lots of live shows. So play at any given opportunity anywhere!

    As to JPKALLIO.COM, we are still quite new band. But surely my and the other guys past experience should make it a breeze to get to the same level of confidence? No! We still need to get used to playing live together as a unit, we need to get used to covering each others backs when everything goes down south, we need to get past our individual needs and start thinking as a unit, that's what bands are made of. This is why we set our selves the 100 concert challenge in the first place:-)

   So there you go, sorry for once again running away with my rant, but hey... Now for a few bits of quick updates. Well as I mentioned in the beginning of this post, Sliotar will be celebrating 2012 Paddy's day in the Porterhouse here in Dublin from 15^th to the 18^th of March. Also this week good friends of ours and a brilliant band Mike Got Spiked are playing an album launch show in the Industry (downstairs in the Mezz) on the 15^th of March. These guys are brilliant! Check out their new video





    JPKALLIO.COM has a busy April planned as well:-) here is the gig list so far: 4^th April Sweeney's, 13^th April Adelaid bar, Sligo, 19^th April Submarine Bar, Crumlin, 20^th April Slaughtered Lamb in Swords. More on the way;-)

    So that's a lot to digest for this week, hope to see you over the weekend and back here next week. Happy St Patrick's day every one!

   J.P.

Dreaming to play festivals?

  Spring is in the air, even though it can't really decide weather to rain or shine. But that's Ireland for you. When the summer gets closer, musicians start to dream about summer festivals. For many musicians playing live is the goal and to get to play a festival in front of hundreds, if not even thousands of people is the ultimate dream. This is also why so many festival organizers get swamped with emails, demos, press packs, EPK's etc. We all get so exited about the idea that we just push our stuff down their throats. Do we ever think what the powers that be, the artistic directors of the festivals actually want? Sure there are some festivals that have very specific application process and if they do, great. Follow this to every little detail. The best way to get them to ignore you is to send in a half filled application. Now here's the thing, I have actually played lot of festivals in the folk scene over the years with Sliotar and other bands I have been involved in. I have got to know some of these festival organizers. And I know how they work. Now this would not go for every festival, obviously. But some of the basics are the same. I won't be sharing the details of these festivals, as I would upset lot of people who have been very good to me over the years:-), but all of the festivals can be easily searched on google.

  But lets just say, one particular festival, who's promoter has booked some of the biggest international acts in the past and in his later years came back to his roots by starting a folk festival. I had a chat with him after Sliotars set on this particular festival, and I was asking how they select their bands. And here is the bad news for all of us sending hundreds emails every year... This particular festival only books bands through recommendations from people who they trust. Even if you send them the fanciest press pack in the world, it makes no difference, and believe you me, they get truck full of press packs every year. How did we get in to the festival? A DJ who works at the festival was touring with us six months earlier. He watched us concert after concert, and only at the very end of the tour did he mention the festival and said he would would recommend us. His word was all it took. Now we have played at the festival twice, and last time we had two concerts on both days of the festival, which is very rare at this festival:-)

  Another festival that Sliotar has worked with for years, the promoter does try to listen to every demo he gets. If he happens to like particular act, he will check out videos on YouTube and he would expect to find several. Or if he happen to hear a band live, which was the case with Sliotar. Even then, you work with their conditions. If you start the negotiations by demanding sky and the moon, he will just laugh out loud. You see these are festivals that offer you a guaranteed crowd, and a big one! So there are lot's of bands competing for the places.

  Also there are one of the biggest folk festivals in Europe, who have three people working full time for them, traveling and scouting out new bands... Now that would be a nice job:-)

  The music conferences are also a big place to get discovered, but they take lot of work to get in to. Usually you need to fill in an application forms which include, among other things your gig list for the following year... How many of us work a year ahead in our bookings? And music conferences are not payed gigs, you cover your own costs, flights, accommodation etc. But you need to think this as an investment for the future.
I am not trying to discourage you from trying to get to play festivals, but for the love of god don't make it your number one priority. I think if you contact all the festivals you'd like to get to play, and ask for their submission policy. Many of them wont get back to you, but some will. And when they do, provide them what they ask. And then move on. Concentrate on doing smaller shows and lots of them, this is what most of those bands on the festival bill have done for years before got where they are now. At the end of the day, festivals book bands that will bring in the audience, can your band do that?

  J.P.

Work hard and smart in the music business

Part 75

  On a trip back home to Finland over the holidays I was reading n in flight magazine of certain Finish airline who I shall not mention here (until they sponsor me with bag full of free flights). There was an article on Finnish working mentality. Finns are known for being hard workers, but this does not mean we work every waking hour... well... not in general anyway. We use term work hard, work smart. The term stayed with me and has been playing around my head since then. It is very often you can get overwhelmed on all this promotional stuff in your music career and I think implementing this way of thinking can be pretty crucial to your success. Sometimes music business can feel like looking for a needle in a hay stack. You need to turn over every rock, look around every corner even for a small bit of success. Personally I find when you spend as much time on this as I do, the tools you use become very important, this is where that Finish work hard, work smart comes in play. So lets start from a few simple task management things. I hear you say how hard it is to find time to do everything and especially if you have full time job as well. It is very important you get organized. Arrange your schedules for the week. See when you have the band rehearsals, see when other parts of everyday life take over and what amount of time you are willing to commit to the promoting of the band. Now let me be honest here, it does take lots of time, and there are tasks along the way, that will require longer than hour here or there. But still you can be smart about your time. So lets say you have only one our at a time, maybe three to four times a week. For these precious hours to make difference you need to work smart. I have learned to work on the move, so give me a corner of an airport with WiFi and I am good, but it took me time to get to that point. To get organized I started in my small office (probably bit smaller than your average box room), desk, computer and a note pad. Decide what it is you want to do today, find a new concert for your band, create a video, locate a good studio for your next recording, work on your website or social media sites etc. Now decide how much of your time you want to dedicate for this task. Set out to do this task and only this task! Turn of your Facebook chat, only answer urgent phone calls and get the task done. Trust me on this one, you'll be surprised how much more productive you can get this way.

   Now as to tools. One simple bit of advice I can give you that probably has saved me minutes every day, and probably hours every week: for the love of all the good things... stop using Internet explorer and swap over to Google chrome. Now this is very specifically advice for PC, on mac I believe Safari is still the way to go. But there is nothing more frustrating than spending time waiting for your browser opening the simplest pages... Firefox is good, but in my experience Chrome is still faster, especially when you start running multiple tabs. So do your self a favor and try it out.

   Another simple tool that you should never under estimate is the simple note pad. And here I don't mean the one in windows, but the one you should have beside your computer and you write with pen;-). Write down all your ideas as they pop up. This can be lot more effective than you think.

   What are your tools you for making you work smarter?

   Talk to you more next week.

      J.P.

What does it take to be a musician?

  What does it take to be a musician today? I think fifteen years a go if you asked me that question, you would got completely different answer than today. Back then of course in my young naivety I thought I knew everything... No I know heck of a lot more, but still I would openly admit that I have so much more to learn. Back in the day it was all about the music, nothing else than the music mattered, and of course i knew how to best play it... Now I know that the music matters, and I need to practice every day more, but that is not enough at all. I have had to learn how to manage my own career. I have had to learn how to run an cottage industry. I have had to learn how to record albums, as the studio time was out of our budgets. I have had to learn how to design CD covers and how to prep them for printers, as graphic designers were well out of our budget. We had to learn how to organize tours, budgets, travel arrangements, advertising, design websites, social media, video editing, Poster design. We had to learn how to get by with only few hours sleep, several hours drive in a crammed car and at the end of it set up a sound system and do a show with a big smile on your face. And this is only scratching the surface. You need to have an attitude, where nothing is impossible, just sometimes something that no one has done before. I have also learned the hard way, that if you want something done your way, learn to do it your self. And always build a good team. What I have got to do with Sliotar in the past six years is not far from a miracle, but a miracle that took us lot of hard work. And by this hard work I mean the kind of hard work where you spend every waking minute on something for weeks. Something that every one told you could not be done, but you just kept going. I know there are those old stereo types of sex, drugs and rock and roll, where musicians all just party all the time. But maybe next time you see something like this, you might consider the possibility that the musician might just had weeks worth of work culminate in to one night, and I think it would be only fare to let them blow off some steam. There was a time in my young days, when I wanted to concentrate only on music...Ahh those were the days... Little did I know about the learning curve I had a head of me:-D. So as you can see, if you just want to play music, I would recommend you do it as a hobby, but if you are willing to spend most of your waking hours thinking about every little detail and aspect of your career and you are not shy to work extremely hard year after year, being an independent musician can be one of the most rewarding jobs out there:-)
 So today Sliotars hard work once gain is bearing fruit in form of Sliotars fifth album Fine Friends:-) Here is a sneak preview for you: Tinkering on the bridge by Sliotar
 For more info go check out www.sliotarmusic.com
It is miles apart from what I do with JPKALLIO.COM, but that's what makes both bands so interesting for me.
   Talk to you next week:-) J.P.

Have you signed up for RoadRunners SMT yet?

Part 73

   If you were to do one thing in 2012 for your band, I would sign up for RoadRunners Sign Me To web site: http://signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com/. Now that is assuming your band is rock, punk, metal or otherwise on the harder side of things. This really is a great promotional tool if your band is ready take things to the next level. And if not, you might learn more than you bargained for. This is not just another social media site where you post stuff and start spamming every one else, but quite cleverly it is a music web site, where you get what you give:-) What I do like about it is that from time to time I see bands trying to use the site like the other social media sites, but the community on the site sets them straight very fast. The way it works is you first need to sign up as a scout. As a scout you write reviews and and rate other bands music. Then you get to open your artist page, where you can upload up to three songs, upload handful of photos and bio. You can also embed few videos.

    To me the best part here is that sure you can get your friends to sign up and review you, but that wont get you far. RoadRunner have developed a very clever point system, where all your actions on the site, combined with other peoples reviews and ratings count for charts. You have daily, weekly and over all. There are three categories, Metal, rock and alternative. You can find out more info on how the charts work and other info here: http://signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com/help
So for you to get reviewed, you need to do the same. For me this has been a great experience as I got to hear some great bands:-) The musical talent on the site is unreal! Also many bands have made contacts for gig swapping and so on. I suppose the ultimate idea is that RoadRunner would sign you, but also other record companies have come to this site to look for acts:-). But I think if you want an A&R scout from RoadRunner to hear your demo, this site is by far the best bet. But it does take some work. And in the process a lot of people will get to hear your tracks and your bands name will get around. It is all about networking in this business and this is a great place to do it on line. So if you were to sign up for one website this year, let it be this one. You'll thank me later;-)

Check out JPKALLIO.COM at SMT: http://signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/jpkalliocom
Also you can find our good friends SKETCH! in there at: http://signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/sketch

    Now on a quick side note, as some of you know, what I jokingly call my “day job” band Sliotar has a new album coming out next week. Sliotar, even though it is a folk music band, really embraces the DIY music business to extreme. We Do all our own promotion, websites, record and release albums, book tours and most of all, tour a lot. We have an album launch in the Porterhouse in Dublin, on Wednesday the 25th of January and you are all welcome:-). Now hope you have great week, and I will talk to you more next week.

    J.P.

Another year done and what a year it was!

Part 70

   Once again we have come to the end of a year and it is a time to reflect on the past year and plan for the new one. JPKALLIO.COM had a great year:-) We played our first concert, and followed it with another 16 concerts! We released our first EP that got phenomenal response in the Punk rock internet radios around the world. We also brought out two videos from the EP. Qra lovingly filmed and edited the black and white concept for our first video Right out of here, that was viewed over 700 times in the first week and has now gone well over the 2000 mark. Check the video here: We followed this with another video for Everybody dies, we wanted to add bit more of our tongue in cheek attitude on this one and this one has also done extremely well. Check it out here There was some high points in the year where we did pretty well on several battle of bands, and organized few of our own gig nights. But also some low points when Qra injured his back... but it is all on the way up now. Fueled by the success of our first EP and the response we got at our concerts, we started work on our Album by spending two very productive days in the track mix studio. We were all very surprised with what we came out with. Six songs, that still need a bit of tweaking but most of it is there. We loaded some of these track up on the Roadrunners Sign me to site and for the past three weeks we have been in the top ten on their rock charts:-). So you can say we accomplished a lot, but we did put lot of work in to it as well. In the new year we are planning to continue at least at the same speed, if not even go up a gear.

   As to the blog, well we went from having about humble 20 readers a week to literally hundreds a week! We had some great interviews form Trackmix studios, Invictus productions/ In To The Void records and the Sessions from Near FM. In the new year I have big plans (as always) for the blog. I have already scheduled another record label interview and more on the way, I'll also try to get my hands on some promoters along the way and any other people industry who could have some helpful information to share. I must say I have been blown away how helpful and open with advice every one has been so far. I am also thinking to add some interviews of other bands who are doing the same thing we are and share notes with them, and it would be nice to get some more music on the blog as well:-)

   Through out the year I also got to see some great concerts! There are so much great music happening in Ireland at the moment. I got to see Time is a thief from Cork, The sketch! The Casement Ghosts, 24 Broken amps, 9thlife, 20 Bulls each, The Kerouac, Normal bar the Swords, Pimps and Gimps, Theories Divide, The Objex from Las Vegas played a stormer in the Pint in February... I have been thinking about this as well, I think one of my new years resolutions will be to go to see more live concerts and this could be something we might report on this blog as well:-).

   I also had one of the best summer tours with Sliotar, and fueled by the experience we started work on Sliotars fifth album, that will be out on 25th of January.

   So all and all, it has been a good year, yeah there was some hick ups, but I can say the good over weighed the bad and I am really looking forward to 2012. Big thank you once again for Qra and Sebastian for sharing the journey with me and big thanks to you guys for reading our blog week after week:-)

   So I hope you all have great end to the 2011 and start the new year in style. Happy new year to one and all and I will talk to you more next week.

 J.P.

A&R and Festivals, oh yeah and Merry Christmas

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2365

   Last week I went on bit about how music business is more about hard work than luck. I thought I'd look little bit more in to this as there are lot of us out there dreaming about the big break. First let’s look at the record company "thing" and how it has evolved in the past, let’s say ten years. I still get blown away how bands and musicians still believe everything works the same it did twenty years ago. So let’s look in to few major changes in the business that so many people seem to be in denial about.

   I mentioned the word A&R quite few times last week. A&R stands for Artist and Repertoir. It is a department in a record label. Depending on a size of the label, it could be just one person, even the only guy in the label, or it could be a team of people working for a major label. They are responsible of finding new acts and back in the day helping the artist to grow in to something that the record label would be interested in signing. There has been times when these people have changed music, but most of the time and I'd say 99% of the time, they have played it safe and in return actually made record companies loose money in the long run. Good example is the end of the Disco era. Every record company was signing as many disco acts as possible and throwing out albums. As a result the general public got tired and the retail stores send back millions of records. Well, we all know any of these commercial booms in music don't really have any longevity. Some of them came from underground, and have returned there and have their own loyal following. For example metal, punk, ska, rockabilly etc. They never went a way; they just dropped out of the limelight. But then there are those manufactured genres, teen pop, boy bands and what have you, that didn't have enough substance to start with, that hey will just fade away. All you might get from them is reminiscent revivals that just smell like money making machines, but then again, that’s what they were to start of with.

   The big twist here is that now that we have the internet, Facebook, twitter, YouTube and all the hundreds of other sites, hard working artist can build a name for them selves. It's not easy, but then again it never was. As a result record companies are luckier than ever before, even though they'd like to say other wise, they can pick acts that have already build following, sometimes international, they have worked on their music and played it live extensively. This is good news for the artist and the record company, but not for the A&R guys, as their job has become, well... unnecessary... This leads me to the point I am trying to make here once again: if you expect a record company to pick you up, guide you by the hand and pay for the ride, it is not going to happen!

   The other point that I have come across are the festivals. It is like that magical idea of a concert that you get to do in front of a big crowd and it will go down in history... OK I'll give you this: I have played with Sliotar somewhere near enough of 100 festival concerts all around Europe in the past 10 years or so. Some of my best musical moments have been on those festival stages. But it took us lot of work and shitty pub gigs to get to play those festivals. And I have talked to a promoter I know through Sliotar, who works with big acts and we were talking about festivals. We all would love to go and play festivals abroad, wouldn't we? Well here is the thing. Between flights, hiring a driver, putting the band up even in cheap accommodation, food, equipment rental etc, and your band is going to cost the festival about €2000. Is your bands name on the festival program going to sell €2000 worth tickets? Heck, if you could do that in your home town I'd be impressed. But isn’t the festival organisers supposed to take risks and introduce the audience some up and coming bands? Well here is some news for you, most festivals in 2012 are trying their hardest not to loose money! The overhead of running a festival are huge. In Ireland it is actually probably even harder due to massive public liability insurances.

   So what are we left with in this modern music business? Well I'll tell you, an opportunity like never before. If you know your music is good enough, get it recorded, bring out EP, full album or what ever you prefer and make videos for them, be inventive, and show some of your personal creativity, play gigs, lots of them. I still believe the best thing any band can have is an addictive live show that news about it will spread like wild fire. If for one year you pack up clubs full of people who can't get enough of you, I'd be pretty sure you will have a festival organisers looking to talk to you :-). Just don't forget, the word "Business" is there for a reason, you might be playing music for a bit of fun, but most people in the business take it very seriously.

   Now, it is that time again, holidays are upon us. I'd like to wish you all on behalf of JPKALLIO.COM happy holidays. I'll be back next week, so the wishes for New Year can still wait :-) Have good one every one, hope you get some time to rest and stuff your self with some good food.

   J.P.