Armor for Sleep & Boys Night Out at Albany's Empire Live (concert review)

I first heard Armor for Sleep way back in 2002, as a freshman in high school. My cousin sent me the song "Wanderer's Guild" via AOL Instant Messenger's File Transfer option. I waited about two hours to finally hear the sweet sounds of Ben Jorgensen's wistful singing over the top of a style of music I hadn't really heard before. 

I never cared enough to see Armor for Sleep play live, but I kept listening to them after that fateful day in 2002. I always just relied on their recordings. In fact, from 2004 until 2009 Armor for Sleep were probably the most played band both on my stereo (in my childhood bedroom) and while I drove around my parent's car on long drives, with both buddies from high school and the strange and different women I met at parties and through LiveJournal. In fact my favorite female buddy (who will remain nameless) and I spent many hours on the road, driving aimlessly. We almost always had Armor for Sleep playing at some point during these car rides.

So I guess for nostalgic reasons I bought two tickets to see them play, about four months in advance of  the night of the show. Because I won't just take anyone to a concert, and certainly not this concert, I only asked one person. She said no in so many words, so it wasn't my lucky day. I was denied. But what better way to attend an emo show? 

Pretty much what the venue looks like, albeit darker inside

I walked into the upstairs room at Empire Live by myself, after procrastinating the drive over. When I entered I immediately felt awkward which I'm going to blame partially on the music of the first opener, "Hellogoodbye." They came off as a cross between an indie band and a jam band, the likes of which I'd never want to feel at such volumes. The sound of a similar (and more popular) group "Fun." makes my fucking skin crawl, quite honestly. It's a joke that Mark Hoppus recommended The Format album Dog Problems so heavily on his podcast back in 2006 when in fact it's utter poo-doo. Hellogoodbye sounded like Diet Fun. and I immediately felt out of place and strange as I sauntered in alone, amongst about 250 other people who were also dressed in mostly black.

The atmosphere at Empire Live was somewhat of a party type of scene. I found my way over to the bar, where it was basically empty, and stood there alone, awkwardly, for the entirety of Hellogoodbye's set. At one point I moved slightly and stood behind a more densely packed area of people, where I proceeded to act like a human spigot-- each new audience member funneled through me as I stepped aside and then back into my initial location, letting them in by moving out of the way, over and over again. Soon I returned to the bar for a drink. Some tap water. It tasted off but was still drinkable.

Back at my place at the bar, I listened to Hellogoodbye close with their "hit" song which, admittedly, I did recognize, even though I hadn't heard it in about 20 years. Someone nearby had said, "They only have one good song" about ten minutes prior to them actually playing it. The lead singer took off his shirt for the finale and his skinny torso and man-tits jiggled around as his above-the-ears black beanie and horn-rimmed glasses sweatily rocked over the crowd, who eagerly sang along. I stood by myself, cup of ice-water in hand, approximately 40 yards back, expressionless. I was more interested in looking at the people around me, in fact.

Who I saw were a lot of older people, about my age, looking beat up by life, but still good enough (upright and breathing) to make it into the venue to watch the show. 

The women took the evening as a makeshift fashion show, and each emo girl had on a different unique outfit. I hadn't seen a pair of faded cheetah-print pajama pants worn over ripped black jeans and blacked-out slip on shoes with a hoodie and two other jackets... and crazy eye makeup, in quite a while but... you love to see it. That was one of many. 

My personal favorite is the "snake bite" piercings that extend into the nose and forehead, maybe with some sort of angular bangs and a ponytail type of thing. Whatever it is, I'm down to check it out and I enjoyed this. 

One cliché I hadn't remembered until this fateful night was the preppy girl who is out of place at an event like this, yet still a fan of the music. So in a way, she's not out of place at all, really. I spotted at least one, with a puffy knock-off North Face vest over a grey hoodie and some LL Bean boots with Hollister jeans, her hair and makeup done totally conventionally.

On the flipside, the guys I saw all looked to be slightly overweight, with a beard, too-tight hoodie, hadn't slept in a while, probably with BO. Or, "I'm just here with my girlfriend" type of thing. I didn't see a ton of different looking people, per se. Everyone looked kind of tired. A lot of women. Armor for Sleep is kind of a chick band, after all, I guess.

Boys Night Out and the blinding lights above them

Once Boys Night Out starting playing, the whole night changed. Immediately I found myself looking at one of their guitarists, who stood on stage proudly wearing a white-denim Canadian tuxedo. If his outfit wasn't enough, his hairdo and mustache said even more. He looked like he knew how to pronounce several French words and would be able to order fish at a restaurant. His guitar tone squeaked out of the PA like a helium balloon letting air out, then stopped, with bizarre guitar phrases that made me smirk, then almost laugh. As Boys Night Out kept playing I felt I was listening to a version of Senses Fail, basically. It's like I had hit my head really hard against a locker in high school, perhaps, and woke up fluent in a different language, listening to a weird French-Canadian version of Senses Fail that made me laugh, but were just as heavy in a strange way, yet without much screaming.

Towards the end of Boys Night Out's set I found myself standing behind four guys that undoubtedly had met up at the show, around my age. The guy in front of me had on a leather jacket and studded belt was rocking out to the sweet sounds of their song, "Up With Me," off their 2007 album. Although these guys didn't know me we exchanged glances as I began to nod my head and slowly fist pump and shake my hips along to the music, as well. The band was cranked at loud volumes as the stage lights flashed. The vibes of the band had turned the night into a ticket worth buying. I stepped forward and stood next to these random dudes. With my newfound makeshift buddies beside me the band played their final songs. Looking back, as they closed their set, it had truly become Boys Night Out.

Very quickly afterwards, in all of ten minutes, Armor for Sleep took the stage. The sound system was then cranked to 11. As they began playing it was so loud I saw many people running from the stage like they were running away from a bomb going off. Myself included. I ran, I ran so far away... to the other side of the venue, where I stood next to who I believe must have been a merch girl. 

Armor for Sleep was absolutely cranked through the PA

Armor for Sleep played a familiar song at full volume as I looked at this merch girl. She turned and faced me not once, but twice. Then three times. Then four. Then, get this... five times. We started staring at each other, more or less. I found myself transfixed by her. I was in disbelief. She looked exactly like one of my female friends from the past, one I had taken long car rides with. I couldn't look away. But there was something slightly different about her. It just couldn't be who I thought it might be, could it? Just as I nearly started poking her in the arm and asking her what her name was, she walked away of her own volition and disappeared for the rest of the night. She was replaced by a beautiful blonde, who rocked out by herself while standing in place for every song. I did the same thing, myself. 

I did make eye contact with Ben Jorg during the show and he came off as extremely self-confident and powerful. As we locked eyes briefly I wondered why he'd choose to look at me, and looked away for a brief moment. He was dominating, in fact. I looked back and nodded to him in agreement with what he was doing on stage, before I immediately resumed my own genuine, albeit muted in-place dancing. 

Armor for Sleep was pretty good. Ben Jorgenson was relentless with his pace and energy for the duration of their performance. Their drummer whose name I believe is Nash Breen was right there with him. They had fill-in guys on bass and 2nd guitar, who did fine. They played a lot of obscure stuff, which was cool to hear. I was able to hear songs like "Very Invisible" and "Who's Gonna Lie to You," which I didn't think I'd be able to hear. They went with deep cuts and at least one or two went over my head, even as a long-time fan, which was cool and made the show more interesting. Their super loud volume only affirms any shoegaze labels they might've been brandished with over the course of their long existence.

At the end of the show, after the crowd dissipated, I found myself amongst five other people, at the barrier in front of the stage. When you listen to a band for 23 years and have nothing else going on, you tend to hang around after the show. The bassist came out and handed out guitar picks. The drummer chatted up some girls. I walked around a little, then drove home, my ears totally blown out by the bass-heavy live mix at the show. Overall, it was worth checking out. Until next time. - Mike

18 inspirations for my upcoming album and why

I finally finished up a new album recently after spending 336 days on it. That's a total of 11 months and two days from day one until it was completed. Over the course of writing and recording I finished 35 songs and the album will feature 16 of those.

Here's a list of eighteen influences for this upcoming set of songs and a brief explanation as to why I consider the band/person an inspiration. Check it out!

1. Nirvana

Starting with the most obvious. Heck, my entire last album was an admitted attempt at emulating the compositional approach of Kurt Cobain. I followed that same rubric for more than half of the songs of my upcoming album. For me, it's not only the music of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, it's the on-stag swag of just standing there (for the most part) and playing the songs seemingly unbothered by all the chaos around you, the choice in equipment, and the fact the compositions are simple yet sophisticated in their own way. Some piano covers of Nirvana can further demonstrate this idea.

2. KISS

Ace Frehely was one of the main reasons why I started playing guitar in the first place. Over the past six or seven years I've started to listen to more KISS, mainly because of hearing the Melvins' cover of "Goin' Blind" back in 2014. Recently I've listened to "Hotter than Hell" and "Dressed to Kill" quite a bit. I enjoy how their success is majorly attributed to their blatant gimmick, and was interested in discovering if the music beneath was at all worth a deeper listen. Turns out most of what KISS puts out isn't that great, but there are some cool compositional approaches in songs and some great songs on "Destroyer," like "King of the Night-time World" and "Detroit Rock City." I like how stripped down the sound of "Dressed to Kill" is too. You can hear every instrument easily.

3. Niil

I found this band like millions of other unsuspecting Nirvana fans, by clicking on their YouTube video that's titled "Lost Nirvana song" or something like that. It's actually a Niil song called, "Insomnia" but it's a similar idea to what I've been doing, which is trying to write music similar to Nirvana (by way of nuts-and-bolts composition). While my stuff is more "influenced by," certain Niil songs sound like they almost could actually be Nirvana. I went on a week or two Niil scavenger hunt and found a couple of their songs worthwhile, but moreso I enjoy their approach. The instruments aren't played totally cleanly on the tracks, and there's some variety in what they do. Other good songs are  "I don't play with guns" and the first couple tracks off their more "mature" sounding album called Labryinth.

4. Tim Kasher 

Tim Kasher and Cursive were a major interest of mine back in the 2008-2011 era. He's another guy who goes on stage with a guitar and stands there and plays straightforward rock music, except he's developed his own niche of lyric-based music that forces the listener to contemplate more interpersonal-politics sort of issues. While an art-rock concept album about some ancient Greek tragedy seems literally impossible to pull off, Tim Kasher can actually do it. I listened to Domestica twice while tracking my own stuff and also listened to some tracks off of "Get Fixed" and Vitriola for some inspiration.

5. Jet Lag Gemini

This band was from the 2004-05 New Jersey music scene, except they had a totally different sound than what was primarily popular at the time. They were also immediately popular once they came out, which always makes you wonder why, and how? They played sort of pop-punk mixed with hard rock and it was all based on catchy riffs and choruses. They signed to Doghouse Records, which was the only record label's office I've ever been to in person, before it went out of business. This was about 2008 before the financial crisis and smartphones ruined life and the music business as we knew it. Their guitarist was particularly into the Van Halen stuff like lowering the ohmage or whatever Van Halen did to his amp, and "shredding" too, obviously. But I still enjoy Jet Lag Gemini and one of my frat brothers was even friends with their drummer. There's something about their music and their look. Every couple of weeks I'd watch their music video where there's a giant fire... I think it's called "Geared for Action."

6. Velvet Revolver

Back in April of this year, when I first sat down and decided I wanted to put out another album after "Can't Be Anyone but Myself" I had driven home from a place called "Mike's Diner" in Guilderland. The sun was out, it was a beautiful day. I sat down with my guitar and felt inspired by a certain sound that I couldn't quite articulate, but Velvet Revolver and their track "Fall to Pieces" definitely falls in line with what I was trying to do. The music video for that song is great, too. It provides a nice contrast between the rock star of old and the new, totally sterilized and manufactured, and dare I say, sissified stars of today.  Although I abandoned my idea of going for this type of sound after a couple months of failed attempts at it, I still hear something in the best Velvet Revolver tracks that keeps me interested.

7. Dave Grohl / Foo Fighters

When I was eleven years old, I got the "Nothing Left to Lose" CD for Christmas, or my birthday, and used to listen to it all the time. I've actually bought the thing at least twice, because I always lose it. Obviously Dave Grohl is a drum-spiration, but his vocals are overlooked too. I think a lot of the Foo Fighters stuff is a bit too "radio rock" for what I was trying to do (in fact I recently heard "My Hero" on the radio on the drive to work, and the underlying music doesn't really pull you in, though it's composed nicely), but I do occasionally refer back to Dave Grohl's self-recorded first Foo Fighters album to hear how he pieces together songs. I do enjoy their song "Low" and the music video and put on that music video every now and then. One of the songs off my upcoming album would benefit from Dave Grohl's throaty and reckless-with-abandon vocal yelling during the chorus, but unfortunately I cannot come anywhere remotely close to doing something like that.

8. The Cramps

For a brief period I thought I might be able to replicate or put my own spin on the music of the Cramps, but boy was I wrong. It's impossible to record stuff like this unless you can do the Lux Interior vocals, which I can't. Not to mention, the guitar playing from Poison Ivy Rorshach isn't that easy, either. She has a specific guitar, specific pedals, and uses her own vocabulary of chords and riffs intermixed. I think their live show from Norway is a cool example of a band that sounds good, plays relatively simple music and that's exactly what I tried to do for my upcoming album (within my own limitations). I particularly like their cover of "Rock on the Moon" from that show in Oslo, Norway. If I could pull off music like this, I might have to give up "alternative rock" all together!

9. Richie Ramone

Richie Ramone was a big inspiration for me to keep writing and recording music being that I'm officially old and over 30, believe it or not. He's even older (in his 60's?) but still has a music video that's somewhat current, and his live performance from MegaRock 2019 at the least says that an old guy can not only still play drums and perform his original songs he can also wear a leather jacket. I spent a couple weeks trying to cover a live-on-MTV version of the Ramones' "Somebody put something in my drink" and spent a couple of days on it before I gave up trying to figure out the exact measure counts.

 

 

10. Armor for Sleep

I've written about Ben Jorgenson in a previous post, and still think Armor for Sleep  were onto something when they put out "Smile for You" about 10 or 11 years before the major wave of the YouTube star even hit. The final era of the band before they broke up is still interesting to me, including their trip to LA, soundtrack inclusion for "Transformers" and then subsequent implosion and being dropped by whatever major signed them, I think SONY (Edit: It was actually Sire). There's plenty times I'm writing a song and thinking about the catchy chorus and distinctly different guitar parts type of approach you hear in a lot of Armor for Sleep songs, like the grunge guitar in "Stars in your Eyes" off Smile for Them.

11. Oasis

I was listening to tracks off of "The Masterplan" by Oasis while I was writing songs for this album. I particularly like the song where Noel Gallagher talks about how he wants to buy a Jaguar (automobile). I probably demoed somewhere around like 70 songs for this album, and a lot of the unused cuts end up turning into reverb-soaked 32-measure guitar solos as if I'm in Oasis. It's funny, because objectively some of those guitar solos actually sound good, but usually the next day I listen back and say to myself,  "Yeah.. no." But yes, I'm an Oasis fan and when in doubt I will listen to or play along to one of their songs for fun, sort of like I'm recharging my batteries.

12. Breeders

I'm almost embarrassed to admit I'm such a big fan of this band, because their singer and main songwriter is a girl. In an interesting aside, I banned myself from listening to The Breeders for the entire time I tracked "Can't be Anyone but Myself" because I didn't want my own stuff to end up sounding soft and girly by way of subconscious influence. For this upcoming album, I lifted that restriction and discovered I can actually gather some inspiration from listening to The Breeders after all, for my own stuff. Big fan of the guitar playing from all their guitarists (including the heavy, mixed-to-the-back riffs from Tanya on 'Pod') and two of their drummers: Britt Walford and Jim MacPherson." To write/lead a group for more than one album that's good like Kim Deal has done with Pod and Last Splash is impressive.

13. Marine Girls

I found this band directly through Kurt Cobain's list of 50 albums. The best thing about this group is the fact they write some pretty good songs using like two or three chords, so I was able to use that approach in coming up with my own vocal melodies. You can hear how the pivoting bass lines and simple and repetitive open-chord changes really do open up a lot of space for a vocal melody, and you don't need to over-complicate songwriting that much. Obviously Kurt Cobain appreciated this approach and used it when he covered the Vaselines and in some of his own songwriting. Not a CD I go back to often, but interesting for sure.

 

14. Steve Albini

When in doubt, I rely on many principles I've learned listening to Steve Albini talk about recording. Writing music can vary between difficult and "not working" to... "so easy it's like you're not even trying." Aside from that whole exercise, I still have to 1. engineer all of my own recordings 2. view myself as a performer and an engineer simultaneously, and act accordingly. It's something I've been doing for over ten years (relying on myself to record, myself) and I wouldn't have been able to excel in this process without learning from Albini's methodologies.

15. My Bloody Valentine

I listened to some of Kevin Shields' and My Bloody Valentine's music towards the end of recording the songs for this upcoming album. I like how he's passionate about Jazzmasters and playing guitar and recording himself, and his music is pretty cool, and also very varied. From "Ecastasy and Wine" which sounds like a sped-up version of the Jesus and Mary Chain, all the way to "Loveless" and "mbv" is a major progression. I also like reading about the fact his band kind of fell apart and then he started just doing everything himself. Also love a good story about a musician blowing a huge budget for an album and coming up with nothing. Shields allegedly bankrupted his former label trying to make Loveless. I can't really copy the style he does (without investing thousands into different guitars and equipment), but generally, he plays drums and guitars into recording equipment to create alternative rock, so... It's somewhat similar to what I do.

16. Dinosaur Jr.

One of my buddies likes this band and sent me a link to their first full-length album over the past year. At first I didn't like the sound at all. It kind of sounded like I was having a sideways hangover of crunchy guitars and unorganized songwriting. But, as I kept discovering more music from Dinosaur Jr. I noticed different cool stuff and found some more straight-forward music that I actually liked. At the end of the day, their music is mostly simple (i.e. 4/4) drum beats pushed to the back and up front you'll have distortion-laden guitars and songs that are primarily driven by a rhythm-guitar approach. Pretty similar to what I try to do, except I'm missing all the solos and riffs, oh and the lazy vocals are pushed up front heavily too. I was listening to Dino Jr. towards the end of the recording timeline and enjoying it. One of my upcoming songs has a part in it that I refer to as a "Dinosaur Jr." part.

17. Pentagram

Pentagram (also known as Death Row) was a hard rock band from the 70's through the 80's and 90's. I bought and listened to their CD "Relentless," while I was tracking my own stuff. I was definitely inspired by the guitarist in the band, Victor Griffin, after hearing his playing, and listening to an interview he did on a podcast where he talked about his music career. The interview is fairly long and I listened to it while driving many miles away to a 7-11 late at night. Weeks later I was experimenting with mic setup and trying to replicate the guitar sound from "Relentless." Eventually through this exercise I stumbled across a new sound that eventually led to some lyrical ideas and the writing and recording of two of the tracks off of my upcoming album/E.P..

18. Autolux

I heard this group playing on someone else's bluetooth speaker a while back, about ten years ago. I guess they're referred to as "Shoegaze" but it's kind of like a combination of Elliott Smith with some other sort of sound. When I was playing a ton of guitar back in 2015-2016 I stumbled across many new chord shapes I had never played before. During these chord revelations I definitely figured out a specific set of chords you hear a lot of in Autolux's music that goes very smoothly with a certain vocal style I can also do. I used it for a bridge of one song off my upcoming album. So while not a huge inspiration, I do still like aspects of their music and even used a similar approach for about 8 measures of my own music.

It's been a long 11-month journey. Album will be out soon! - Mike

UPDATE: The album is finally done, check it out here:

Mac Demarco, Kurt Vile, Alex G, Ben Jorgensen... Why not me?

I've started to look around and wonder, what's so great about this guy? Not only that... but... "If this guy is a millionaire off his music, I'm fucking up."

Once you reach a certain level of proficiency as a musician, you can create pop music more or less at whim. Of course, there are limitations. 

Speaking for myself...I can't guarantee the creation of a new sub-genre, though I can confidently emulate musical styles. At some point I've started to wonder, "Where's my major label deal? What am I doing wrong? What about an indie label? Anyone want to pay me for distribution rights? If this guy is making 50k a year doing this, I can too."

For this post I'm going to inspect some singer-songwriters. Do I want what they have? Maybe not. The music industry often harbors "be careful what you wish for" and "More than meets the eye" scenarios.

Let' see if we can figure anything out. I'm going to scan Wikipedia pages and include relevant information.

Up first we have Kurt Vile. 

 

 

I first heard of this guy from his song, "Pretty Bitchin'" or whatever it's called. Let me look it up. O-k, it's "Pretty Pimpin." I was close.

Looks like Kurt Vile mailed a bunch of self-printed vinyl records to labels and got signed in 2009 to an indie label called Mexican Summer who have also released albums from people like Ariel Pink and Black Moth Super Rainbow (the only two names on their roster list I recognize), at age 29. 

From there his exposure ramped up significantly, and he rode the wave (with inherent talent) to get to where he is today. He was able to continue to record several albums and dropped "thousands" of dollars on one album (which he claims is his masterpiece) that was eventually put out on Matador Records. 

At the moment he's a bigger name in indie rock. He's 41 and married with two daughters. I'd imagine his record contract and royalties have made him close to a millionaire. But I could be wrong.

The verdict: Kurt Vile is good, but he's not impossibly talented. A decent musician could emulate his songwriting with a few years practice. Say, within 5-10 years.

Second in line: Mac Demarco.

Mac Demarco is a stranger study case. From what I know, his rise to stardom involved a local show where he performed a lewd act at the end of his set. Does this one anecdote explain where he is today? Let's find out on his Wikipedia page.

Okay... He signed to an indie label that put out a Dum Dum Girls vinyl (a band I've heard of), in 2012. He was 22 years old. His E.P. sold out so he was then asked to put out an L.P. on the same label. Pitchfork rated it highly and boom.

The verdict: He's good at guitar. Not blown away by him, but  he's converted me from a hater. I've heard his songs and wondered, "Hey this is cool, who is this?" And it was him. He gets my nod of approval, I guess.

For a third study case I've considered both Alex G and Ben Jorgenson. I don't think either of them are quite at the level of Kurt Vile and Mac Demarco in terms of popularity. Why strive for something lower? Who cares? Let's keep going...

Alex G.

Alex G is an indie singer-songwriter, who is relatively popular. He became acclaimed after releasing several E.P.s consecutively on the Bandcamp platform, where he was heavily promoted.

From there, two indie labels bought distribution rights to his album "D.S.U." -- one for U.S. rights and one for U.K. rights.

After he was already well-known amongst the indie crowd, he inked a deal with Domino Recording Company, who boasts artists like Buzzcocks, My Bloody Valentine, and Franz Ferdinand as current roster acts. He performs at festivals like Primavera Sound. He writes and records all his stuff himself, with help from a cast of other local musicians on various instruments for accompaniment. 

The verdict: He has the unique ability to play folk music with some cool chord coloration. His music could've been lost in the fray without the Bandcamp promotion. The quality of his songwriting is rather inconsistent. I find his live performance ability to be poor. His vocal style goes way up into higher registers, and he was once punched in the face at a live concert by a fan.

And lastly, Ben Jorgensen.

This guy fronted a popular emo band during the height of the emo music wave. In 2001, after his first year at college, he recorded all the instruments for a demo tape which was widely downloaded on P2P applications like LimeWire and Napster. These demos led to the creation of and signing of his band, "Armor for Sleep" to well-known punk and post-punk label Equal Vision Records, where the songs were re-recorded during a two-album deal.

From there, Jorgensen's band signed to Warner Brothers and released one album, six years later in 2007. They played on a final big tour called "Projekt Revolution" where they supported Linkin Park. One of his band's songs made the soundtrack for a major motion picture, "Transformers."

His band is still around doing reunion shows every four or five years. They are doing a U.S. tour for an anniversary of their 2005 album. Jorgensen also put out a solo album which briefly charted on the iTunes "Adult Contemporary Acoustic" charts at #1.

The verdict: Ben Jorgenson is a multi-intrumentalist who created a style of music that was perfectly matched to a breaking musical style/scene. This helped him form a band, put out three albums across indie and major labels and tour across the country. After it all fell apart, I'm not sure where it left him. I find his music and performance ability to be pretty good, for what it is.

...All of this leads me to question, Why not me? Am I as good as these guys? Sure, why not? If I'm not as good, I'm certainly close.

How do I fit in?

I won't get too carried away. There are plenty of musicians and songwriters I am not as good as. Here's two examples: 

Tim Kasher of Cursive. I couldn't pull off what he has done, even if I tried as hard as possible. I've seen him perform a couple times and I've been blown away by the commitment. He has a certain level of vocal and lyrical proficiency that's just not in me. He's almost like a Broadway actor turned art-rock guitarist. 

Another example is Dave Mustaine of Megadeth. I could probably write similar material to his, but the shredding on guitar and perfectly executed live performances whilst totally relaxed and in control might take a while.

Where does this leave me?

Because I work alone I'm somewhat limited. I have to do literally everything myself (aside from mixing and mastering which I've learned to pass off to someone more skilled than me).

I have to pursue a certain stylistic approach that I can actually be 100% proficient at, instead of spending an extraordinary amount of time on stylistic choices that may ultimately fall flat. I have to work within my limitations. This is why I've started to write and record melody based rock music. I know it's working for me, so I'm going to stick with it.

In other words, I've reached a place where I'm no longer trying to invent a new musical style or struggling to emulate a style I know I'm not that great at. I'm doing what works.

What kind of record deal would I want? 

I've done the math, and if I sold 200,000 copies of a ten dollar album on Bandcamp without any label support... I'd be an after-taxes millionaire. It's unlikely, but still possible.

I've never even seen a record deal, let alone been asked to sign one. This leaves me wondering what I'd even want. I'd say a fair compromise would be two albums over 8 years. *With thirty (30) minutes of music per album. 

I'd like a guaranteed contract of $500,000 over the eight years. That's a salary of 62,500 per year, guaranteed for eight years. I'd be willing to perform a live rock concert no more than 50 times a year, and would require a stipend for each live performance that would cover travel and lodging at a Holiday Inn Express (or similar).

I wonder if any of the above guys have a deal like that? Kurt Vile and Mac Demarco probably have a better deal than that I'd imagine. Alex G may receive significant compensation from Domino Recording Company so long as he keeps churning out music. As for Ben Jorgensen, I'd imagine he works as an independent contractor at this point, and probably tries to net 10-20k per each U.S. reunion tour. However, at the height of his career during 2006 he may have demanded higher wages.

One aspect of this hypothetical record deal you might disagree with is performance. Someone might argue 50 shows a year is not enough to promote yourself. But I've played 30 rock shows in a year and that seemed excessive. In fact, after 30 shows and filming two music videos I ended up in the hospital with a case of fatigue. But I was also monetarily limited at the time i.e. starving artist. With plenty of cash (and ten more years of life experience) I'd be more responsible the second time around. I'd hope. I can't imagine doing 100 shows and also being able to write any compelling material. There has to be a balance.  

What should I do from here?

I think a major aspect of promoting oneself is image. Right now I currently have four albums up on the streaming platforms, but three of them are just instrumental wankery I've uploaded to test out CD Baby as a distribution service and see if I might earn some streaming revenue or downloads. I should remove those instrumental albums and focus on presenting myself as a singer-songwriter. But I'll need to release one more E.P. before I can clean up my streaming platform downloads up for sale.

From there, I need to upload more photos of myself and potentially create more YouTube content. A music video is one of the most powerful tools for promotion and I should likely film one in the coming future, though spending a proper amount of money on it to ensure it is of decent quality.

This online clean up is a major part of self-promotion. With two eight-song E.P.s I would have a proper thirty minutes of material, which is enough for both an L.P. and a full live set. Along with a music video you can't ask for much more of a starting point. Although...

If there's any trend I've noticed from the three case studies, it's cold-calling indie labels.

It seems like Mac Demarco and Kurt Vile both contacted indie labels with their music, and this garnered interest. I've personally contacted radio stations and acquired a couple of fans and some sales, and spins on some stations, both from my latest set of songs and from an album I released years ago. One station has put me in rotation for two months now, with some of my album cuts playing once or twice every week. 

If I found the right indie-label owner I could find myself in a similar situation to Mac Demarco. An E.P. on an indie label led to an L.P. on the same label, and a Pitchfork review has put him in the position he is in now. I don't believe he has to work at 9-5 job at the moment, and is living comfortably. All he has to do is write, record and perform music for a living. And 'aint that the dream? - Mike

A visit to a local used CD store

A couple of months back I drove across the USA by myself, specifically from New York to Nashville to see a live wrestling event. I saw Ring of Honor: Bound by Honor at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, and was satisfied with how the event panned out. I sat in the second row.

A week later I found myself in Baton Rouge, Louisiana looking for something to do. One of my favorite hobbies is to peruse book stores and CD stores. I don't really listen to vinyl. I own about 10-12 vinyl records, and at a time I did listen to them, but I prefer CDs. There are some vinyl records I've recently become interested in, but I don't have a record player right now so those'll have to wait.

 

Anyway, in two visits, this is what I bought:

The Ramones - Loco Live
Bauhaus - 1979-1983 Volume One
BeeGees - Number Ones
The Breeders - Last Splash
Mountain - On Top
Morrissey - World of Morrissey

Other stuff: I almost bought Daft Punk - Random Access Memories, but skipped out on it, and when I returned it was gone. I noticed one album that caught my eye which was one of Jack Endino's band's albums, I think they're called, "Skin Yard." I bought a copy of the Armor for Sleep CD "Smile for Them" during this time also. I asked the owner if he had any Sly Stone CD's, he had some compilations (inside of a locked glass case) but I was looking for a particular one he didn't have. I also asked about Deep Purple's "Machinehead" which wasn't there.

The store was called, "The Exchange" and I recommend visiting, they have a lot of stuff you don't normally see, including B-sides, CD singles, rare albums and more. The owner was also friendly and interested in helping you find whatever it is you might be looking for.