Welcome to the Sea of Echoes

Made it back this weekend from BFD, Live 105’s annual festival of alternative rock.  They had over twenty bands from local unknowns to national favorites.

My favorite of the day was Audrye Sessions, which also was the first band we saw.  The lead singer has a high melodic delivery with is very smooth and passionate at the same time.  With all the screamer bands out there that is kind of a unique quality.  Their songs are pretty good, but it was interesting that the rhythm section didn’t seem that strong and there were a couple places where things sort of fell flat for a few bars.  They didn’t have a fantastic stage show but they did give some thought to the way they were dressed - kind of like from an old western, but not in an obvious way.

Second up for me was Silversun Pickups.  I like several of their songs, which also seem to employ fairly simple rhythm section.  It was interesting that they chose to play a lot of the groove songs with a fast dance beat, which I didn’t really like, but might have been the right choice.  The drummer put on a good show and had a really unique drum setup.  All of them were having a good time and it seemed like they were amazed to be playing in front of such a big crowd.  Their stage show had some motion with the singer running around when he wasn’t on mic, but it was pretty subdued compared to Flyleaf.

On the main stage, Scissors for Lefty put on an elaborate stage show with dancers, costume changes, and singers in various stages of undress.  I wasn’t really taken in by any of the songs, but the show gave me something to watch instead of going to get a beer, and I’ll remember them because of it.

The rest of the bands started sounding all the same after a while.  It’s funny that we’ve talked so much about making our music more danceable, because it seemed like every other verse or chorus at BFD relied on the four-on-the-floor beat pattern, which is effective initially, but then begins to get a little tedious.  We’ll have to be careful with that one.

All of the bands suffered from sound issues - I cant think of a single performance that had better sound that what we typically have at a rehearsal or show, so it seems like we shouldn’t worry to much about the fact that things aren’t crystal clear.

All in all a good show.  There are some weak points in the ‘alternative’ genre that need to be addressed.

bands sounded the same

I was really excited to be able to go see Sick Puppies again at Slims on Friday night.  Their earlier show in May was one of the best I’ve seen - trio, good songs, good sound, and the band was crazy tight.  Okay - some of the lyrics need work, but hey it’s their first album.

When I checked the lineup though I was surprised to find out that they would be the opener.  When we arrived the place was totally packed with teenagers and I saw the guys from the band take the stage and start sound checking.  I could tell by the looks on their faces that there was trouble with the sound and they spent an extra ten minutes or so trying to fix things, but then they started their set.  Shim spent a lot more time trying to get the crowd going this time, which was funny because there were so many more people there.  He did the ‘when I say 1-2′ trick, and the trick of having each side of the room compete to see who is the loudest and really tried to get the crowd moving.

The sound on the first half of the set was crap - somewhere a drum mic was feeding back bass frequencies and ruining the songs.  It was worst on ‘All the Same’, which was probably the song that most people had paid to see.  Things got a little bit better after that, but the guitar sounded a little thin and the vibe was pretty bad after the feedback problems.

They were professionals though and worked through the problems.  In comparison to the last gig, the set was really short - only about seven songs:  Cancer, My World, Pitiful, Say My Name, All the Same, Howard’s Tale.  It’s good to know that even pros have sound issues and they just grit their teeth and get through the set.

 I talked very briefly to the guys in the band, but didn’t choose my moment very well.  I should have waited to talk to them when they were just chilling having a beer.  The autograph table was too crowded to really say much.

Next up was Kill Hannah, which is kind of a weird combination of Robert Smith from the Cure and the 80’s hair band Poison.  They came on stage at first with lights on their guitars, a smoke machine and lasers, which I though was pretty cool, but none of their songs hooked me and it sounded like the singer had fried his vocal chords completely.  Some of their songs were danceable, but only because they were basically dance music dressed up as emo.  I’m sure they put a lot of effort into their stage show and their look, but it didn’t really matter for me because the music wasn’t there, or maybe the image just turned me off.  They did have a fair amount of fans though, so I guess kids can relate to that kind of stuff.

Flyleaf came last, and they had the best set of the night.  The bass player didn’t do much flashy playing, but he had a 2′ tall platform on stage that he could stand on or jump off of which he did often and with great effect.  The whole act was very dramatic and had the feel of Cirque du Soleil.  The vocalist was very expressive and the songs were good.

Take away

Each of the bands had a different crowd and there was some overlap.  The age of these kids made me realize that these audiences probably don’t have a well formed sense of identity yet.  I guess I’ve overlooked one of the main things that bands provide is a way to brand ourselves and kids are especially into that.  No one listens to their parents music for long.

This raises several good questions:

Who do you want you fans to be?  17 year old kids?  Adults?

What kind of identity can you provide?  Is it the same as the ne you want to provide?

How much is the right effort to put into a stage show?  When do lasers help and when do they simply become distracting?

Right now I’m thinking that the Pebble Theory/Audrey Sessions approach is the one I like - good music without a lot of distraction.

Went to Bottom of the Hill tonight to catch Pebble Theory and was lucky to see Cast of Thousands, Company Car and Vin Rouge to boot.

All of the bands were really tight, though Pebble Theory had the cleanest sound.  The have this one number that starts with the ending lick from “Stairway to Heaven” and then goes off in a different direction totally.  It borrows just enough to make you think you’ve heard the song, but not enough to be obvious.  The girls liked their sound a lot and the guys in the band are pretty nice.  Nick said they’ve been playing together for four years - they’ve got two EPs released and they are pretty solid.

Vin Rouge had the best stage act and the most driving danceable music and people seemed to get into their stuff the most.  It sort of seemed like their trick was pretty basic tribal beats driven relentlessly.  The lights dont hurt either.  We really need to figure out what makes these songs tick.  Interestingly they replaced the click bass with a real bass player.  Most of their songs don’t have too much fancy bass stuff.  Just a straight-ahead driving beat.

Listening to the way these bands sounded and how strong their music was I’m thinking we have a *long* way to go before we get anywhere near headlining Bottom of the Hill.

Great venue.

Yesterday was probably the big event of the year.  We were able to weasel our way onto the list of bands for bay to breakers and we were given a choice spot near the starting line of the race at moscone center.  We had a lot of things planned for the show and the logistics for getting things set up were quite daunting.  John and I spent a couple hours Saturday tearing down his PA and loading into the van, and then we got up at 3:30am Sunday to drive to SF to set up.  It took about two hours to unload everything and get sound checked.

The race staff at Labrynth were great and gave us the green light to go a little ‘Kamikaze’ in our setup decisions, so we took some stairs and made them into a little stage.  Someone from the center was a little upset with us, but we were gone before they were even officially open, so I don’t think it was a big deal.

We ran through the set twice as a literal sea of people streamed by.  People were in all kinds of crazy costumes.  It was just awesome being out there in the city with all of the people and the sun.  :-)  Even though there were a fair amount of technical glitches, people were definitely in a great mood and appreciated us being there.  It was so fun playing for a crowd that size.  I totally want to do that again…

Things to do differently:

• The drummer should not double as the sound guy - John at one point almost had a meltdown and if John’s friend Chris hadn’t come along, we would have totally freaked out.
• We need to plan the stage layout ahead of time if possible and make sure that we have enough power cords and extensions for outdoor monitors.
• I spent a lot of effort on signage trying to get people directed to our web site, but it was pretty ineffective.  I think so far we’ve only had about five hits from the tens of thousands of people who passed by.  Maybe we were too far away, or maybe people just had too much going on to pay attention to our signs.
• The first three songs for me were a total fingermashfest since I didn’t bring enough warm clothes and had no circulation in my fingers.  I guess I should practice more with a pick or bring a sweater next time.
• My wireless setup didn’t really work, which was a big disappointment for me since I couldn’t wander out into the crowd at all and missed out on that interaction.   I still need to figure out what went wrong there.
• People generally wont get out of bed at 6am to check out a gig, and not many people came by.  I’m starting to think that the way to
• We need a mailing list or some way of contacting fans after the show.
• Need another instrumental number handy in case Rich needs a break from singing.
• For me I wish I had saved a couple hours the week before to run through the songs more.  Wishes Curse is still rough for me in the intro.  Man made and Kris’s song are ones I still haven’t practiced much with the band and don’t have the changes down.
• Tuning might have been an issue - hard to tell, but I think we were out of tune in some spots.  Also I think my setup was clipping when I turned the volume up since it sounded a little distorted and broken up standing in front of the amp.

Things I liked:

• The generator worked great even though it wasn’t the super quiet model.
• Pretty much every decision to spend money was worth it.  I’m still thinking that an extra $100 on a sound guy might have been a good idea.
• The van was expensive, but definitely a good value.  It was just the right size for all of the gear and it’s a lot cheaper than what I’d be paying if I had bought an SUV.
• I’m getting more comfortable with crowd interaction and finding my stage voice.  The high point of the show in terms of crowd participation generally was when we would say things like ‘Hello San Francisco’ and talk the audience up.  It’s also good to be out in front and away from my fx pedals and mics so I can move more.

I really like playing outside for people who are just cruising by.  We should try to figure out some other opportunities for this.

This weekend we had two daytime shows back to back and it was totally awesome playing outside in the sun.

The first show was Saturday afternoon for the Organization of Special Needs families.  They had set up a family festival in a park near the Cupertino Civic Center with lots of bouncy houses, food and vendor booths.  There was a pretty big crowd there consisting mostly of families with small children.

The show started with the Number Fox who played a nice set.  They had a mellow, but cool weezer like sound.  Although the sound system was pretty simple (a couple of drum mics, miked amps, two 400-watt PAs), the sound was surpisingly balanced and clear.  Even though our sound guy didn’t do this for a living, it turns out he did a really good job.

Our set wen’t fairly well and the crowd was fairly supportive.  There seems to be a critical mass in terms of applause - less than 50 people and there isn’t much applause at all, but once 10-20 people start clapping other people pretty much join in.  Stand out songs in our set included Fall, and surprisingly Rich’s new song Guilt got a lot of applause even though it’s still not very tight. 

Things to keep in mind in the future: it’s hard to read digital displays in sunlight, so there were some problems getting tuned.  Rich’s vocal fx unit is still causing feedback problems which people are complaining about.  Sound check and setup took us 30 minutes, and we need to get that time down to 15min.  Also I forgot to push record on the video player and to ask someone to take pictures with my camera.

The sound quality was so much better than JohnnyV’s and the show had a much better vibe and I really liked the fact that we weren’t playing in a place where we needed to draw a quota of people who were going to spend XX on drinks.  It’s great playing outside during the daytime - we definitely should try to get more gigs like this. 

:-) Gigs like this are a lot of fun :-) 

Last friday we had another opener at Rooster’s Roadhouse in Alameda.  It was kind of a last minute gig and since I don’t know anyone up that way I didn’t bother to promote the show at all.  Rich was optimistic that he’d get 10 people or so there, but there were three other bands playing so it looked like it would a chance to play in front of some other folks.

When we got there I was blow away by the place - big stage, generous dance floor right by the bar.  The only problem was that the only folks there for the opener were the guys in the other bands and a handful of regulars.  I could tell that the bartender was annoyed at the low turnout.  Shortly before we got on stage a couple of Rich’s friends showed up, including Jules with a new haircut.

The sound system was great and the sound guy, Bob, was a real pro.  He helped us load our gear up and sound checked us carefully.  I think I annoyed him a little when I wasn’t eating my mic during the vocal check.  One thing I need to keep in mind is to have a little mini song prepped so I can have something more interesting to sing than check 1-2-3.  Maybe that Kathie Ryan tune.

Once again sound check went too long (we basically played All That Matters all the way through) and there was some division between the band about how loud guitars should be.  Vocal FX units were causing some feedback.

The set got off to an ok start with I’ll take you, but when we hit Wishes Curse I was confused from rehearsal about how we were starting the song and missed the beginning.  The break on Sunset also wasn’t well rehearsed enough so I fat fingered a note there.  Basically it was a night full of frustrating stupid mistakes.  We stumbed our way through Stay, and then got the 8 minute warning.  Rich wanted to do Guilt, which would have made a pretty bad closer at 6 minutes.  We finally decided to do The Scar and Drunk as the closer.

The band after us was “The melting point” from berkley, a bunch of college guys, but in comparison they were pros.  They were playing awesomely with no sound check within seconds of walking on stage, and their set rocked.  Special props go out to their bass player and vocalist who really shined and basically showed us what we should have been doing.   I definitely will see them again if I get the chance.

Things that worked: awesome sound guys, great venue, great moral support from the other bands.

Things that need to be fixed: turnout, vocal fx feedback, crappy harmony vocals from me, missing parts because of not practicing the set as we plan to perform it, taking too long between songs.

A rough night indeed, but a learning experience.  Now we’re all older and wiser.

Last week we promoted pretty well and got about 20 people to show up at Johnny V’s in San Jose for Cuatro de Mayo.  I think I personally drew about 10 people, John had a couple more and Kris had five or so.  Things looked pretty good going into the show except that the streets were lined with cops getting ready for violence on Cinco de Mayo.  I guess I never realized how racially charged things were around here, maybe it’s getting worse over time.

The show was awkward from the beginning because Rich was having trouble with a cold and wanted to modify some songs before we started our set.  The planned meeting before the set never took place and instead turned into a prolonged sound check which distracted our audience.  Once things got rolling, I had a really hard time looking out into the room because almost no one was smiling or having a good time.  The applause between songs was mild at best and we had long pauses between songs that sort of killed our momentum.

A couple things worked out:  the sound guy, Eagle, was very supportive of our needs and despite the small space the place was comfortable and the drums weren’t overly loud.  People liked Kris’s new song even though we did it unrehearsed and without vocals.

Some things stand out that need to be improved.  As a band we need to move quickly from one song to the next.  Negative comments about the performance need to be squelched and in fact everyone needs to do a better job of engaging the audience.  Early on Friday nights people are still fried from being at work all day and they need to be given a reason to have a good time.  Next time I need to work harder to give people a reason to feel good about our music and our performance instead of waiting to feel the positive vibe from them.  It’s tricky to summon that vibe, since I don’t have big stores of it, but I think that’s really what was missing the most on friday.

A lot of these things boil down to stagecraft and will get better over time…

I’ve been looking at myspace the last couple of days to look for bands to play shows with and I’ve discovered that the number of local acts is staggering.  For example, doing a search for ‘alternative’ bands in a 50-mile radius of my home gives about 10,000 search results.  It’s interesting to look at these in terms of how influential bands are.  One measure of this is the number of times a song has been played on myspace.  Let’s have a look at some of these bands:

#1555: Simsalabim - 1.4k plays, 1k views, 61 fans, ~100 days.

This means we generated less than 1 fan per day, much less since many of our ‘fans’ are simply other bands.  We’ve had about 10 visits to the site each day.  Also only about 40% of the visits to the site result in multiple plays.

#600: The number fox 5k plays, 4k views, 161 fans

We’re playing the OSF festival with these guys in a couple of weeks.  Mostly in the high-school/jc scene.  Seems like their fans are fairly real, but most visitors didn’t listen to many songs.

#55: Picture Atlantic: 71k plays, 38k views, 4k fans, on for 500 days. 

High school band with high-school friends and a bunch of random myspace tramps.  They need to be getting about 80 hits per day, but they are playing 3 shows a week and their EP has been out for almost a year, so sounds like it could be real.

#11 Strata - 600k plays, 400k views, 43k fans, 3.5 years online.

Nationally touring act with radio play on live 105.  They are also getting about 1.5 plays per view, and about 10 views per fan over the lifetime of their site.

#1 Counting Crows -5M plays, 2.3M views, 64k fans. 

Nationally known artists, with a higher number of plays per visit to the site.  Their site has only been up a little while and their number of fans isn’t that large - they are supposedly getting 100 plays per fan!  I wondering if they are hacking the myspace stats…

Even more importantly, I need to ask where on this continuum I want to be.  Being a nationally touring act is out for me, and even the number of shows that Picture Atlantic is playing seems like kind of a drag.  Maybe if we got to be in the top 100 most influential alternative bands in the bay area that would be enough to give us steady gigs.  We’d probably need about 500-1000 die hard fans to get us enough of a following to gig steadily in any given area.  If we get 10 people to like us at each show, we’d need to play 50-100 shows to create this kind of a base.

Here are a couple band names:

 kissthemissile

 maskmadeofme

 janekillsagain 

Just writing these down to see if I can get google to hit them.

 j