On a shoestring project, quest to record pun rock band Boneyard Bastards first CD and perform first 100 concerts. On this journey we will learn the ins and outs of music business and share it with you.
Once again I am writing this while on the road. We have started our first 2012 Sliotar tour. I am in Munich at the moment, and let me just say that this is a great city. Architecture is out of this world and the city has a really nice feel to it. We have four concerts here, two in Kilians and two in Kennedys Irish pub, before we head to the Greenfarm festival. To my surprise I have found it hard to get online here, so it looks like I'll be spending lot of time in Starbucks... But hey, it's all part of the business. Sliotar is having a busy year with the new album out and all, we'll be on the road probably 10 weeks this year. It is a great feeling though, when all the hard work and preparations finally come to end and you actually get to play concerts. Let's face it, that is why most musicians do this. We all would love to just get up and play gig after gig, but there are very few who get to do that. For most of us we need to be able to do also all the bookings, travel arrangements, promotion, merchandise... But that just is the way things work these days. To be honest with you, I am grateful that I had to do it this way. I learn something new every day, and we get to control our own careers. If I could go back and do it all over again, would I change anything? For sure, knowing what I know now, I would take control much earlier instead of waiting around and hoping for those small breaks. I would definitely get in to making videos much earlier, as they have been a great tool for both Sliotar and JPKALLIO.COM . But over all, I am happy where I am now, but most importantly how I got here. I enjoy the journey and too often we forget to do that. Waiting around won't get you anywhere, getting up and doing things will. It's like learning to play. The best guitar in the world will sound crap until you learn what to do with it and only way to learn is practice.
So get up, write down one music related goal you want to achieve, whether it is playing a concert in certain venue, learn to play particular piece of music or what ever you like. Then break it down to steps. Write down what you need to do to reach this goal. And start doing it one step at a time. And remember to enjoy it as well:-)
J.P.
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.
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!
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 25th 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 25th 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 26th 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.
So last Friday we headed over to Sligo to play in the OpenTrades-Club in the Adelaide bar. As you know our first concert with
Patryk got canceled few weeks back, so we had been dying for this one
:-). It was great to see a collective of this sort doing so well. The
basement of the Adelaide bar had been out of action night club, that
the bar had given to the use of the Open Trades-Club. There was an
ongoing art exhibition and quite few events lined up as well. We
really felt like we were in a middle of a community of music lovers
and Jasper from the Poo Promotions made us feel really welcomed. The night was filled with
some excellent music!
The Excuses kicked off the proceeding and they
kicked things of with a storm! They played straight forward, honest
punk rock and they got us exited from the get go.
Next it was our turn to grace the stage. All those rehearsals
had to count for something ;-). It felt great to be playing live
after our break. And the band were in flying form. Big thank you to
Bartek for driving us to Sligo, hanging around with us and filming
the video clip below. The sound quality is not the best, but you get
the feeling:-)
After us there was Joy of Six, from Fermanagh. A six piece covers
band that knew how to get the crowd of their feet.
The night was wrapped up with Dirty Love, a punk band from
London, who had absolutely no plans to take any prisoners in Sligo.
From the get go, it was drums, bass, guitar and lots of attitude!
So now, the hunger to play live is strong again and this week we
will be playing in the Submarine bar in Crumlin on Thursday the 19th
of April and in the Slaughtered Lamb in Swords on Friday the 20th.
Next week it's Sweeneys brand new MMetaL night on 25th and the Pint on 26th
. Come along and support us in our quest to play our socks off in
the next few weeks ;-)
J.P.
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 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!
In this weeks blog I'd like to talk about when things go wrong. Last night we were supposed to have the JPKALLIO.COM's first concert of the year and our first concert as a four piece. We had been practicing a lot to get Patryk up to speed with the songs and it was all sounding great. We decided to have one more rehearsal in the afternoon before the gig and every one turned up at the rehearsal rooms. While playing the songs, I started to feel pretty confident. Our hard work had payed off, the band was playing well, all the elements joined together in to one unit. These moments are rare, but when they come by it feels great. We had rehearsed 10 songs so far, that Patryk had put his own flare to and we were ready to go out and play live. We had done all our promotional work as well. We blogged, twittered and promoted the concert on facebook. We sent text messages to all our friends and followers on our mailing list. We had told every one about the show. I was also hoping to capture some video from the show, as to document our first show as four piece.
Then the bad news came in... Two hours before the show time, tonight's concert was canceled. My heart sank... This was not supposed to be part of the plan. Not sure of the details exactly but I could hear from the promoters tone of voice that things were not going to his way and he promised to put on few weeks down the line. What followed was frantic texting and posting on social media, trying to let people know that the gig was canceled. I can tell you, it is not a nice situation to be in. You do feel like you are letting everyone down, even when it is out of your hands.
In my 15 year career as a musician, I could probably count with my fingers how many times this has happened. So what do you do when this happens? Do you go on a rant on how you will never work with this venue/ Promoter? Do you curl in a ball and cry? No, you will get on with it. Be understanding to the promoter, they obviously are not having a great day and what ever frustration you are feeling, I'm pretty sure they are feeling it ten times more. If this happens regularly with the same venue or promoter, then it is different story. I personally think it is the responsibility of every one involved to try to get the message to as many people as possible, to avoid people making the trip for nothing. But at the same time, there is only so much you can do. So you get on with things, like we did. Instead we played a longer rehearsal and after went for a pint first time as a band all four of us. Most of all, we concentrated on the next concert, which by the way is in the Adelaide bar in Sligo on the 13th of April. Any one fancy a road trip? Also we were supposed to be playing last night with the wonderful Kerouac, but now we will be playing together in the Thomas House on the 4th of May, this is going to be a great night:-)
The point is, music is very turbulent business and things will go wrong. When they do, you pick your self up and go again. What does not kill you, only makes you stronger!
Once again, our apologies for any one who did not get the news in time and made the trip for nothing. We hope to see you all soon at one of our shows soon.
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