Crystal Sea

Birthday!

2010-07-24T13:42:00.000-04:00

Well it's close to that time of year again when I celebrate the date I was born. I probably won't be doing anything too fantastic for my birthday again this year, most likely I will just have a few friends over and watch a movie, but should be good times all around!

I've asked for the new Drizzt book, The Ghost King, and an old psp game called Shadow of Destiny. I might also run over to HMV and pick up a Broken Social Scene album for some entertainment. I will keep you posted on any misadventures, bloggy!

Shows Aplenty

2010-07-20T12:40:00.001-04:00

Well here we are again, bloggy. I've been a little neglectful to you due to the fact I'm playing 3 shows a week, which still isn't a huge amount but it keeps my very busy. In addition to that I'm also handling the booking for the first venue I ever played at, so things are going more or less great!

But let's get onto the exciting stuff - music! So the new Underoath album is coming out, who's getting it?! They played a show in Toronto recently and it was unbelievable. These guys are such a huge inspiration to me in every way possible. I'm also really excited to pick up Brandon Boyd's new album as well. Stellar stuff by both bands for sure (no pun intended ;)). And apparently June this year was the greatest selling June for CDs in years! What exactly did I miss out on?

Iron Maiden!

2010-07-07T20:47:00.000-04:00

I'm a little late with this, but anyone who was at the Maiden show on July 3rd will probably understand why I've been in shock the last few days; The show was incredible!

I make it no secret that I'm a huge Maiden head. Even though I take a lot of my musical inspiration from quieter bands such as Tragically Hip or City and Colour, there is nothing quite like an Iron Maiden show. I've been to 5 in the last decade and they always continue to amaze me with their jaw dropping guitar skill and infinite energy. I can't believe Bruce can still run around like that and belt out such tunes at his age! Who agrees with me?

The Times They Are A-Changin

2010-06-22T21:04:00.000-04:00

When I first started this blog it was more or less a way to write down the thoughts off the top of my head so I could one day look back at how much (see: little) I knew and laugh. Now, with more people coming to listen to my music and waning to know more about me, it's time I started using this thing more in the way I should be - to connect with the people that matter (fans) :). I can't seem to properly explain into words just want I want to do so you'll have to stick around and see!

Now then, I've really started to use the tools at http://www.reverbnation.com more and more to my advantage. It really is a great site that provides pretty well everything I need out of a social networking site. The big question still remains though, why should people give a damn about me?

Well I'm assuming people like my music, which is why they keep coming back to my shows. But how do I, or anybody for that matter, get noticed over the thousands of other acts out there? Well marketing has a lot to do with it, but I'm still a firm believer in creating the best product (in this case, music) first and the attention will come to you. In my next post I'm going to talk about a different way to go about writing a song. Who knows, you may find it amusing :).

Till then!

Local bands

2010-06-22T19:39:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned before that I sometimes promote local bands on my college radio show, well I've recently decided to make local band promotion one of my full time jobs. I promise this isn't some scam or silly advertising gimmick, I just really love local talent. If you have a band in the Oshawa/Whitby/Ajax area and are interested in getting some free exposure on the airwaves, just shoot me off an email and I would love to work together with you to get your stuff out there.

As for my own stuff, I'm going to make a second post detailing some changes coming up and some ideas I've been thinking about lately. Stay tuned!

Catchy Music

2010-06-16T11:36:00.001-04:00

It's not uncommon for me to have a song stuck in my head for long periods of time, but Us Remains Impossible by Matthew Good has been playing constantly in my head for over a month now and I'm starting to get worried..

Pros and Cons

2010-06-14T15:49:00.000-04:00

An idea has been bouncing around in my head lately about how perception changes with the addition of knowledge. I vaguely remember a time when I used to enjoy simpler songs with a catchy beat, such as a Backstreet Boys song for example, now after studying music for the last few years all I can hear in songs such as those are simple chord progressions and repetitive lyrical arrangements.

I realize that while saying this I sound very high and mighty, but this is not my intent. I wouldn't purposely insult another band to justify my own beliefs, because I know the great thing about music is that there is something out there for everyone. But in the same way that a child would look outside and see the effect of wind blowing leaves off a tree, a scientist would look at the same image and see the the leaf blowing off the tree due to the effect of electrons pushing against the flow of the leafs gravity and all that sciencey stuff.. yeah I have no idea what I'm talking about in that area.

The fact is I haven't figured it all out in my head yet but perhaps having greater respect for unique and complicated songs, has in turn greatly shifted my taste in music. Is this the case for anyone else or am I just full of it?

Happenings

2010-06-08T22:54:00.001-04:00

Things are continuing to go really well for me. My contact list is growing faster than I can see and my phone has been ringing off the hook this week. Most of this can be attributed to the fact that I've taken some further steps to promote myself as a musician. I drew up a sign and printed out some flyers to put up for my upcoming shows outside the place I'll be playing at and it's drawn a lot of attention! I also got into contact with a city worker who is willing to promote me and the events we do every Friday at this great little cafe. So in short, life is pretty awesome right now!

I feel this blog doesn't have nearly enough about my personal life so that will have to change starting... now. When I'm not playing music I do computer I.T jobs such as server administration, network maintenance & repair and open source programming; yes, I'm a huge nerd. That being said, I enjoy spending the majority of my free time with friends, be it playing ice hockey, soccer, getting together for some board games or just hanging out. When I'm killing time or relaxing before bed I also have a large collection of Fantasy/Sci-Fi novels, The Abhorsen Chronicles series among them being my favorite.

So yeah, I keep myself fairly busy. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm also a radio show host at my college that promotes local bands and plays a huge collection of my favorite songs every week. It's great, I love meeting local talent and talking with them. It usually leads to new friendships as well! I also mentioned that I'm an event coordinator at the gaming website www.noobtoob.com, so it goes without saying I'm also a huge gamer. I just bought 3D Dot Game Heroes for the PS3 and I absolutely love it. I'm more of a niche gamer that stays away from the more "hardcore" stuff like Call of Duty, so I'm glad they're still making games for guys like me.

Still reading? Not bored of my random ramblings yet? Well hmm what else is there to talk about? Ah, I know! I'll talk about my gear. I'm also a huge gear geek so maybe this will be published on a gear site one day. I have a Epiphone acoustic guitar that I bought from Long & McQuade, a Peavy ValveKing 112 tube amp, and an Ibanez S420 electric guitar. I also have a variety of pedals to mention, such as the Chromatic Tuner from Boss and the Digital Delay and Grunge distortion pedal from Digitech. I'll be picking up more in the future, but I feel it's important to polish my clean sound to where I want it first before I dive too much further into modulation world.

Well that's pretty much everything right now! I'm going to a client's home tomorrow afternoon to repair his operating system, so that should be a fun little challenge. I oh so do love these puzzle solvings that computers provide me with. Maybe one day it will pay off all the tuition that I owe the school :) Well, until next time, folks!

Updates in a Nutshell

2010-05-28T20:31:00.001-04:00

Well it's been about a month since my last post and I'm happy to say I've been playing constant shows and been doing very well at that. I've developed a small local fanbase and made a lot of good friends.

I often get asked how to get prepared for a live show, so I will address how I put my own act together. First, learn a lot of cover songs. About 30 is recommended in order to play 3 sets of 10 songs, but I personally have a list of just over 60 cover songs in addition to my own originals in order to have a wide variety and to keep things fresh. Secondly, play these songs over and over again until you can play them all in your sleep. This may seem like standard advice but it is immensely easy to overlook these steps and just go rushing into a live show. I've seen many acts where the performer is more worried about which chord comes next or how he looks than putting on an actual show.

One must not forget that as a musician, we are displaying our talent in our art. If your performance is sloppy or unrehearsed, you will look pretty silly. When you are practicing at home, remember that you are practicing playing and not practicing practicing. You must give a part of yourself to your instrument every time you pick it up. And for your own sake, practice in front of a mirror. A lot. This will help you keep your eyes off the fret board and give you a chance to practice your facial expressions. Nobody wants to see Frankenstein playing a tune. Even IF you can sing like an angel.

And lastly, be friendly to everyone you meet. This goes for the audience and the bar owners. Keep in mind that these are the people who will be your customers and constant employers if they like the cut of your jib. And I'm also going to throw this last little bit in here because a friend of mine got kicked out of a band because the lead guitarist wanted full control over the band. DBAD (don't be a dick). If you're like that guy, you're not going anywhere in the music industry. So stop right now. Look at any successful band out there (Iron Maiden for example), the reason they are still around making amazing music and still having a blast after 30+ years is because they are all best friends and let each member of the band have an equal say in the creation of their songs. If even one member of the band isn't happy with a piece, they work their fingers off to make their songs enjoyable and agreeable to themselves. You can't expect your band members to put up with your selfish crap time and time again so once again, DBAD.

Now that my little rant is over I'll take a bow for this evening. I have another gig to play tonight that I'm really excited about so I'll talk to you again soon, blog readers!

Networking Musician

2010-04-28T17:48:00.001-04:00

Hey, so just a brief intro here. I'm done exams for the year and going full steam on my music career. In addition, after this posting, this blog will no longer be about "how to start a band", as there are many other other resources that cover that topic better than I could ever could. I will however be documenting my steps into the music world, in hopes a future aspiring musician could learn from my experiences. That being said, let's jump right into how to be a networking musician!

First thing's first, the big 3: Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.

Be sure and register your band on each of these sites, and post to them a few times a week. One of the most important things I can tell you is that fans love reading their favorite band's progress and daily thoughts. It keeps them involved and makes them feel like a part of what you're doing. Keep your fans up to date with concert dates and exclusive swag as well. Your dedicated fanbase loves to have collectibles and memorabilia from great nights out at your shows.

Of course, you can't expect people to like you or find you just because you've set up a few websites. So let's move on to the following step: band promotion websites.

The next big 3: ReverbNation, iLike and PureVolume.

Sure, there's piles of other sites I could have listed but as far as getting your band started and reaching the most amount of fans, these 3 are the best. Assuming you have a few songs lying around somewhere that you're proud of, upload them! These sites are a great way of keeping track of how many people like your work, and how you stack up to the rest of the competing musician world.

Remember, you're creating a product that should be unique and better than the competition. Networking is a very useful tool once you've got your foundations down, but don't neglect playing at all your local bars as well. A local following can be the most important thing to any band out there. You'll be surprised at how much a fan will contribute if you "keep your friends close" as the saying goes.

I hope some of this has been useful to my readers. I will be playing a show this Saturday (which I landed through local networking) and it should be the first of many for this busy summer. I promise I will keep you guys posted. Good luck out there!

Good News, Bad News

2010-03-23T22:00:00.001-04:00

I really dislike making posts detailing my excuses for why I haven't updated the blog lately, so much so that I usually don't bother posting at all; but I have some good news to go along with the bad news, so I'll throw it up here.

Good news: I have won a membership to the fantastic site http://www.musicpowernetwork.com. I highly recommend all serious musicians check that site out. I will also be attending a 3 day music festival with various showcases. One of which is a clinic hosting talent scouts from major record labels to talk about their experiences and to offer tips and trick to new musicians! So I will be posting my impressions and all the info I can get to this blog. More information can be found at http://reelmusicfest.tumblr.com/.

Bad news: I've been sick with a wicked cold for almost a week now and it's really taken away from the things I had scheduled to do. But fear not, I am slowly recovering and will be back to old my self shortly.

On that note, I will post another quick tip for upcoming musicians: Become friends with your local music store employees. This is VITAL, as having a place to put up promo posters and material is one of the first and foremost ways to get noticed as a musician. Also, don't forget that many other musicians and talent agents in your area will be shopping there too, and word of mouth goes a lonnngggg way.

I'll keep you posted on my next update as to how the music festival went. And be sure to look forward to my next lesson which will go into great detail for networking musicians on the internet! Please subscribe and tell your friends!

Starting Out

2010-03-09T20:43:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome to Starting A Band!

I hope this blog will be of some use to upcoming musicians, as I will be talking about starting a band from scratch, and the music business in general. I will also (hopefully) have guest musicians who can comment on their experiences in the industry.

First off, a little about myself: My name is Jon and I'm a musician from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. I've loved music all my life but have only really been playing seriously these last few years. Singing and playing guitar is my biggest passion. I play almost everyday and absolutely love listening to and talking about music. I also co-host on a rock radio show every Wednesday, and play for Open Mic many times throughout the week. I also work for a Karaoke company and I'm a moderator for a successful independent gaming podcast called NoobToob. I'm trying hard to get my music noticed in between going to college. I am going on my last year in Computer Systems Tech, and it's a lot of fun, but it's not where my heart is.

So to kick things off I'll give a very general tip, but one that is probably the most important for new bands: Let the singer lead the band. This might seem obvious to some, but I cannot tell you how many times I've seen bands fall because the guitarist or drummer wanted to be the main attraction. Unless you are Rush or Van Halen, nobody is coming to see you play a 10 minute solo, no matter how good it is. People come to shows to hear the singer. Which is why he or she should have the most say in a band. The most successful bands are the ones where the singer belts out the songs they're best at, and the rest of the band is there to accompany them. Keep this in mind when deciding who your frontman will be, and if you will enjoying playing their type of music on a regular basis.

Please feel free to agree or disagree on any points discussed in this blog, as it will be open to free speech, just as long as it doesn't result in insults :) And also please subscribe and tell your friends!

Until next time!