I once read an article about Alternative Press Magazine and their featured Unsigned Artists section. If you didn’t know, AP is one of the most circulated alternative music magazines in the nation and one of their most anticipated sections of each issue is the Unsigned Artists.

The article I read (tried to find it again) was about the guy who actually picks the artists to feature in each issue and basically said something along the lines of this… He can organize all the entries into 3 groups.

1. Bands that sound like New Found Glory
2. Bands that sound like UnderOath
3. Everybody else

Now, he goes on to mention that he does pick bands from groups 1 & 2, but more than often, he finds himself choosing from group 3. And why shouldn’t he? He’s become very inept at classifying  bands that are truly original and others that are simply “cookie-cutter“. These are bands that exist for no other reason except to sound exactly like someone else.

And look how they’re being treated. Most of the time, they’re not catching any attention.

When I write music, I’ve been tempted to copy the writing style of a single group, but then I look at this idea in retrospect and conclude that it’s just an illusion that won’t create lasting credibility. So, I sort of came up with this system of how I cultivate a new sound from scratch by borrowing characteristics from others while staying completely true to my very own sound.

Why You Don’t  Want to Be a “Cookie-Cutter” Band

First of all, I’d like to point out that I’ve actually been in a band, Wake the Lion, that was lucky enough to be featured in the Alternative Press Unsigned Artists section. Check out the magazine clipping below. I’m the guy on the fold with the camo t-shirt. I would like to think that we came from group 3, but you have ears. You tell me.

But I guess the question is, “Why wouldn’t a band want to do something just like their favorite accomplished group? If you do something like the pros, you’ll get famous like the pros, right?“.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work like that. I had this mindset years ago when I was in my first rock/punk band and I had a very rude awakening because of it.

The group and I were performing at this yearly 4th of July carnival that takes place in my hometown of Newton Falls, OH. Back in the day, it used to be a very competitive battle of the bands, but now it’s just a friendly show of some of the more popular local groups. Well, my dad happened to be close friends with one of the judges on the panel and they had a talk at the very end of the entire line-up.  The conversation when something like this:

“So, those were some pretty impressive acts tonight weren’t they?”

“Why yes they were. This was a really good year for this.”

“What did you happen to think of my son’s band?”

“Which band was his?”

And my dad couldn’t actually describe to him what made my band stand out from the others. He couldn’t describe us in a way that would actually specify who we were since a lot of the bands were very similar! It feels great to finally achieve a sound for your band, but what if a lot of other people are going for the same sound?

In this case, my decision to write songs that sounded like my favorite band at the time just happened to be the same decision that most of the other acts made. As a result, we did not win or even place in that competition.

Draw Inspiration from Many Different Artists

The problem with bands these days is that they latch on to one single band or musician and decide that they want to do everything just like them. Hey, I did the same before so no sweat, but there’s an even better solution. I decided to grab inspiration from a number of my favorite artists and let them swirl around in my head to create some sort of crazy hybrid sound.

For example, do you know what artists I would consider to be major inspirations that shape my music? Well, let me tell you the top 5…

1. Rise Against
2. +44
3. Four Year Strong
4. Saosin
5. Life in Your Way

Now these groups might all fall into similar genres like alternative, punk, rock, and hardcore, but in my head, I pull some very different aspects of each to shape my sound.

[Check out this interview with Saosin talking about how they mixed their personal genres to arrive at their resulting sound.]

Understand Why a Person or Group is your Favorite

I have that list of bands, but you’ll notice, they don’t share all the same characteristics. Rise Against is more punk and +44 is more poppy. And Life in Your Way is hardcore/metal. So what is the reason that these are my favorites and what characteristics can I draw from them to shape my very own sound?

This is an extremely important step in my personal genre discovery process. I’ve actually sat down, thought about each of my favorite artists and pinpointed what traits I wanted to adapt from each. Let me give you an example…

Rise Against – I feel this punk/standard rock sound is the meat behind my own music. Of course, not everything I do is like them. I steer away from the political subject matter and you wouldn’t necessarily say that my music screams punk at its roots.

+44 – This is the group started by Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 during their short hiatus. It’s a standard rock group with great hooks, strong vocal melodies, and even some electronic influence. Plus, every song on their debut album When Your Heart Stops Beating has its own identity traits.

Four Year Strong – This is another great alternative rock band that I try to emulate their power and aggression. However, I don’t always agree with their choice of major chord structures so don’t really follow that aspect at all.

Saosin – Sadly, they’re not together anymore, but these guys were great at writing emo-styled rock music, but paved the way with surprising riffs and long majestic vocal melodies. Now, I love the way the vocal melodies felt so haunting and powerful, but I don’t even try to hit the same ungodly pitches that their vocalist could.

Life in Your Way – If you haven’t heard these guys before, they’re a hardcore/metal band that has great vocals and never follow a standard song-writing pattern ever. You’ll never find a verse/chorus/verse/chorus song written by them and that’s a characteristic that I love. Plus, they’re very talented at making a strong emotional connection with their fans and I’ve tried to learn from them.

Understand the Favorite Artists…of your Favorite Artist

It’s really not enough to just know what your favorite groups sound like, but it’s just as important to know why. Why do they write the way they do? Why do they present themselves as such on stage?

These questions can be answered by inspecting the groups… that your favorite groups… listened to. And by doing this, you’ll gain some really deep perspective on how you can better accentuate your own sound. Well, at least that’s what I did.

And it’s not too difficult to find out what your favorite band’s favorite bands are (*chuckle*). Just check out their website or see what t-shirts they wear at their shows.

Life Ruiner's vocalist sporting a Joy Division t-shirt

For example, did you know that Mark Hoppus of Blink 182/+44 was inspired by The Beatles? It makes a little more sense as to why he puts so much emphasis on writing very catchy tunes with hooks that you almost have to try to forget.

Did you know that Rise Against took inspiration from The Dixie Chicks for a lot of the subject matter and surprise factor of their album Endgame? They said they just love how the girl group’s portrayal of George W. Bush really ruffled feathers and caused people to think.

Learn to Play Songs Written by your Target Artists

So you have all your bands picked out that you want to borrow characteristics from and you’ve even went as far as to research each of their inspirations and gained some great perspective on their sound.

It’s time to start writing music right? Well, at this point, I didn’t.

Even after I did all of this cultivation of my favorite groups and such, I still didn’t quite know how they write or play their music… so I decided to clear that up.

I took a couple songs from each group and dedicated time just learning how to play them. Now, most musicians will contest that this isn’t any sort of breakthrough discovery that you should learn to play cover songs before you write your own. Duh right?

Well, it’s not obvious to everyone. How often have you heard a band learn one Green Day song and then decide that they’re going to begin writing their own material? That probably happens once every 12 seconds.

What I decided to do was learn all the ins and outs of all my favorite artists’ material before I even began putting together my own compositions. I wanted all of those conflicting components of each group to be flowing through my fingers before I attempted something of my own.

And after I had learned songs like Baby, Come On by +44, Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against, and Come Close by Saosin, I has so much more perspective on chord structures, riffs, and melodies that would compliment my sound.

Does This Thought Process Work?

I like to think so. The idea is to sound like artists that your fans will immediately appreciate, while creating a truly original sound. And guess what? Even if you pick the same artists as someone else, the resulting songs will never sound the same. Why?

Because they are not you.

That’s the last piece of the puzzle. You can combine as many characteristics of established bands that you want, but no one will ever be able to replicate your personality, musical predictions, and inventiveness.

That’s at least how I think about all of this. Writing music for me isn’t quick. I do get great ideas while driving home from work, but that idea has to go through a whole lot of filters and deliberation before I’ll ever begin using it.

If you’re a musician, who are your influences and how did they sculpt your original sound?

I’ve been playing shows in the northeast Ohio area for the last 9 years and I’ve had a great time doing it. However, other regular bank junkies like myself will agree that it’s far from purely “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll”. There are songs to write, gear to buy and maintain, merchandise to design and print, and of course… get booked on awesome shows!

Similarly, another prevalent local musician whom I’ve known for probably the last 7 years, Brian Markle, underwent the same struggles with forming bands and hunting for gigs. And while musicians like him and I were constantly at the mercy of the greedy promoters of the area, Brian created his very own production company, BeardCore Productions, and made it his first and only priority to serve the performing musicians. Since his company’s inception, BeardCore has already began ruling the area with average show turnouts in the hundreds even with it’s largest show, BeardStock, still yet to come.

Brian was kind enough to agree to an interview so I thought I would pick his brain on the ins and outs of running a successful production company along with a few great tips on how bands can improve their show experience, catch the eyes of a promoter, and what it takes to sell more tickets.

How did BeardCore Productions begin? What drove you to start your very own production company?

There were no places for my band to play, honestly. The one place that we had to play at the time was a skating rink, which had overpriced tickets, stupid rules, and mediocre bands at best. Plus, who wants to pay to get into a skating rink if you’re over 16 years old? Nobody. So, I took it into my own hands. I had a buddy of mine that puts on shows in the Kent area, and I just shadowed him. I watched him like a hawk while he prepared for shows and ran them. I took everything in and absorbed it like a sponge. Then, I figured it was time to start giving bands (and fans) a good place to play that actually cares about making bands and fans happy, and doesn’t break the bank when you purchase a ticket.

You’ve been in so many different bands in the northeast Ohio area before the start of BeardCore. Do you think this gives you a particular edge or advantage over other promoters in the area?

I really have. Too many to count anymore. I think it gives me a great edge. I’ve dealt with bad promoters that don’t care, and I knew that I didn’t want to do that. I’ve also dealt with shows with rules where you need to watch what you wear, what you say, etc. I know that’s a complete bummer to bands. It’s a concert… you’re supposed to be having fun, you know? Plus, from when I was in a band, I made all these great connections to people that are in other bands, yourself included. That gave me a great edge because I’ve never really had to search for bands to book. They’ve all been my friends.

So far what’s been one of the biggest challenges with running your own production company?

I’d have to say that staying relevant is the hardest thing. You can’t do the same show every month. People get bored. You have to switch things up all the time. I do themes for my shows, different bands, raffles, giveaways, etc. One of the biggest things I’ve learned as well is you have to make it as much of an event as you can. I’m just as involved in the shows as the bands are. I’m up there during intermissions communicating, pushing my other shows, making people laugh, etc. Basically, what I’m saying, is the hardest part is actually having to use your brain.

What do you enjoy most (if anything) about putting on a show?

Honestly, if you talk to me before a show, I’ll tell you that I hate my life. Putting on concerts is a very stressful job, and it really affects me. Right now as I’m writing this, I just had a band cancel a show for this weekend… one of my top drawers. I also have another show to worry about thats happening in two weeks. And, on top of all that, I have BeardStock… which is a 90 band, three day, three stage festival. But when I’m actually at the show, I’m having the time of my life. Just looking around, seeing hundreds of people having the time of their lives, as well as bands up there giving it all for the fans… you just kind of say to yourself “wow… I did this?” It’s a great feeling.

Do you have some sort of “fantasy show” that you wish you could create? I guess if you could book any bands at any venue, what would be the details?

My biggest dream with BeardCore and putting on shows is bringing a national act in. And if I do that, I want it to be as local as possible. My bigger shows are at the Newton Falls Community Center so I suppose that’s the best place to do it. Just the idea of bringing in a national act that everybody knows to a place that isnt Akron or Cleveland or Youngstown.. and showing the entire scene that as long as you work and push, it can be done… that’d be a great feeling. I plan to accomplish this with BeardStock next year.

What are your plans for the future? How high will BeardCore go and what do you hope to eventually accomplish?

As far as future plans, I have a lot. Another one of my little secrets is I’m always thinking ahead. I hired a few more promoters, and I am going to start doing shows in different cities. By 2013 we will have shows running in Warren, Middlefield, Kent, Youngstown, and possibly Cleveland and Columbus. Hitting all the major markets. We’re also going to be doing monthly Warren shows… finally. That’s home for us so it only seems right to do the most shows there. That’s the scene that I have worked on the hardest… I’m not ready to leave it behind yet. The biggest thing I want to accomplish is to get the local music scene to work together. Everyone thinks that it’s about competition. It’s not. You’ll get way more recognition if everyone works together instead of against each other. Ask any of my bands how much I preach that to them. Right now, I’m content. My shows are turning out great, my bands are working hard, my fans are dedicated, and everyone’s working together to make the shows the best they can be. As far of how far we’ll go, I’m not sure. Every show gets harder for me to put on because I have to out-do myself every time… but I dont plan on stopping for a long, long time.

What advice could you give to starting bands trying to get more shows or catch the attention of a promoter such as yourself?

As far as getting my attention, I don’t really know. I can definitely tell you what NOT to do though. I do most of my networking through facebook. If I add you as a friend… I know you’re in a band. You don’t need to spam my personal facebook page with tags of your band on every status I put up. That’s stuff that won’t get you booked. I try to give every band at least a chance, but I have to wait for the right show to bring them on. Thats another reason that BeardStock was made… so I can finally get all these bands that have been waiting a good show. So step two I guess would be be patient, I’ll get to you and I havent forgotton about you. I have a website now at BeardCoreProductions.com. That’s a great way to get ahold of me. Soon, once the website is complete, I’lll be doing all of my booking on there. There’s a contact button on there that goes straight to my email, which I check daily. That’s the best way. I take a more proactive approach to checking out bands though… I get up and go see them. So the best way to get yourself noticed in my eyes is to play a show near me so I can go check you out. Mainly, what I’m trying to say is don’t be annoying. If i see you pushing your band on your status updates on facebook, I’ll know you’re serious about your band and I’ll try my best to come to you about a show.

How about selling tickets? What can bands do to increase their ticket sales?

Ticket sales are hard, especially when you get out of high school. All of my shows run by ticket sales so I run into this question quite a bit. I know that when I was selling tickets for bands, I went to the mall way more than I ever should have in my life. Go to public places in hopes of running into people. Go to the high school parking lot. Catch people leaving school. Go to football games. Utilize every source you have. Mass text messages, facebook, family, etc. In my opinion, a band should never sell less than 10 tickets. That’s family and girlfriends. As much as I’d like to say ticket sales dont matter with me, it does. Why am I going to book a band that draws 2 people over a band that draws 20 people? I have a business to run, costs to manage, etc. It shows me your band is lazy and doesn’t try. But yeah, to answer your question, just try to hang out in public places as much as you can. Be open. I remember I played a show for your old band, Let All Prevail. My band sold over 100 tickets for you. We did that by going to places such as the Trumbull County Fair daily and just going up to random people and handing them flyers. We played acoustic sets on a curb to get attention. We worked. And it payed off.

What are the top 3 things a band can do to improve their stage presence and get a better reaction from the crowd?

Number 1 is don’t just sit there. No matter what, you have to at least move around. There’s one band I book where the bassist literally stands behind the drummer. Not making fun of them or anything… they’re a great band. But that gets boring to watch after so long. Number 2 is communicate with the crowd. Your singer is the most important part of the band. Get them up there and get them talking to the crowd. Make it intimate. Get them involved with the songs. Making them sing lyrics, making them clap, etc. The final one… practice it. Play every band practice as you would play a show. Get transitions that go into your next songs. Know what you’re going to do, when you’re going to do it. Steven Tyler from Aerosmith used to practice in front of a mirror. It sounds weird, and “gay” to some but it really works. It makes your band tighter, and you’re not up there going “uh.. what do we play next or do next?”

Thank you very much for the interview, this was fun! Make sure to check out BeardCoreProductions.com, as well as BeardCore Productions on facebook. I’ll see you at BeardStock!

– End of Interview –

I’ll see if I can get Brian to answer any questions left in the comments section. That being said..

Is there anything you’d like to ask Brian? Leave as a comment below :]

There are a lot of really awesome bands out there, however, the reason we know that they’re awesome is because there are so many terrible ones too. Now I’m not going to attest that I’ve never been in a crappy band before because I have. I’ve been in some really lousy groups that would have made you give up listening to music for a couple years. Actually there were points in my life when I did just that to cope. Performing AC/DC covers for months takes a toll on your self-esteem.

But what would the world be like without terrible self-centered bands that think they’re god’s gift to humanity?

Happier? Better turnouts at live shows? A couple thousand less Guitar Center locations? Probably, but until then, you can use this checklist to determine if one of your friend’s bands (or your own band) should do us all a favor and go on a hiatus…indefinitely.

1. After 1 minute into your first song, the majority of the crowd decides to go outside for a smoke.

You just can’t understand it. Your vocalist is just screaming his ever-living guts out with tons of passion and aggression, your bass player is adding his signature out-of-tune back-up vocals, and you’re shredding as fast as you possibly can on the limited edition Schecter guitar your parents bought you. Sure, you can’t really hear if you’re in time with the drums, but that’s not what the fans want. They want speed! They want power! They want break-downs! And they want to go outside and tell all their friends how awesome we are…right now apparently!

Oh, there have been some local shows where the bands that performed were just so completely…misinformed as to how good they were. I’ve walked out and left even when there were bands that I actually wanted to see! And trust me, people take a smoke break between every single band at a local show if you’ll let ‘em. If they’re going outside during your set, they’d rather sprint towards lung cancer…or McDonald’s. I guess Dane Cook had it right when he said

2. You spend a strange amount of time demanding that the crowd “makes some noise”.

You know how sometimes bands will say at the beginning of their set or after the first song “Are you having a good time?!”, “How you doing tonight?”, or “Make some noise maggots!”… then the crowd usually yells or screams. Then sometimes, the band will repeat the exact same phrase claiming “I can’t hear you!” and the crowd does it again…

Well I’m setting my foot down right here right now. It is only acceptable to shout your hype phrase a total of 2 times. Anything past that and you’re risking a crowd response of only two specific words.

I once saw a band do this 4 times. This was about 5 years ago… and I still hate them.

3. Someone hums one of your songs and 5 different people identify it as 5 different songs.

I know there are bands that have tunes that all have a similar sound to them. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about groups that take a riff or breakdown and set it to different chords or practically use the same parts over and over again. Guess what? That’s not song-writing. I don’t know what it’s called but here’s a list of words and phrases to describe it:

• Lazy
• Moronic
• Lack-of-talent
• Slutty
• Insanity (Repeating the same actions expecting different results)
• Pathetic
• Charlie Sheen

Long ago, if your band could only muster up one lousy song then you were called a “one hit wonder”. Nowadays, you can just take your 1 amateur song, apply a little copy/paste action, and you’ve got 3-4 albums! Too bad you’re still a million records shy of going platinum. Bummer.

4. The titles of your songs are as long as the lyrics.

OK, I’m not gonna lie and say that I’ve never been in a band that’s done this before. However… this band had an average turnout of a couple hundred people per show so we must have been doing something else right.

But if the only thing that’s keeping you and your band-mates afloat are your oh-so-witty Fight Club quote titles, then you guys most-likely suck. That’s probably why people have been following the first 2 rules of your band very closely.

RULE #1 – People do not talk about your band.

RULE #2 – People do NOT talk about your band.

5. The only thing viewers remember about your band is your multi-colored hair and the fact that your girl jeans are so small and tight they show off your awesome Walmart boxer/briefs.

You remember back in the 80s when there were all these awesome glam-metal bands like Poison, Van Halen, and Queen? They wore all sorts of girly, frilly stuff to make a statement and completely changed fashion in the name of music. Yea, they were major pioneers of their time. But, they had something that your band doesn’t. Talent. If you can’t carry a melody… or even write one, then you’re not ready to move on to the next optional phase – dressing like a woman.

6. During your set, the power goes out, and nobody seems to care.

This has happened on more than one occasion in bands that I’ve been in. We were jamming strong, people were having a good time (important note), and then the power just died. We heard a huge collective groan from the crowd, so we knew they liked what they heard so far. Luckily, in both those events, the power came back, we finished our set, and brought piece to the kingdom once again.

Now, flashing to a completely different show where I went to see a friend’s band out of pure respect for him, the power went out halfway through their first song. Not only did the crowd not show any signs of disgust or loss, but they actually cheered in glorious victory at fate’s domination of this musical train wreck we had all been forced to listen to.

Of course, I was very supportive of my friend as he walked off stage, saying things like “Man, I was just starting to get into it. Shit, dude.” But on the inside, I was thanking the lord that my brain hadn’t finally imploded upon itself.

7. You take constructive criticism of your band as a reason to start a fight.

I’ve been in some really crappy bands and if you’re a musician, then chances are, you’ve been in some bad ones too. While I was in those bands, we received some major criticism. I’m not talking about “Hey, you might want to work on your vocals.” sort of criticism. I’m talking about “Go end yourselves.” criticism.

Now, if you’re a good and mature musician, then what should you do with criticism? Use it. Make yourself better. The day that you decide that you’re as good as you need to be is the day that you should give up music.

When I was told to “end myself” while in this previous band, I did something about it. I actually dissolved the group and told the guys that we should just cut our losses, because that was actually the best decision for us as a group.

But if another reputable musician in the area comments, “Really nice melodies, but sometimes it sounds like your vocalist has trouble hitting all the pitches”, that isn’t your queue to trash that person’s equipment on stage and then claim the only reason you’re running away is because your dad might ground you for being out too late (as true as that may be).

8. Your band grovels at the feet of record label executives.

I’m actually quite surprised that so many bands still have this mentality that they need record labels to “make it”. Thanks to the internet and social media, this isn’t true any more. And the last thing that record labels are looking for are groups that are pathetically struggling to keep their heads above water with their lame 3-chord banger chorus riffs trying to sound like Green Day.

What record labels want is money. They want to sign/hire bands that are already making money. After they see a group making money, they say to themselves “Hey! I want some of that sh*t!” So, they ask the group if they would like to join their label.

And the terms of the signing usually go something like this…

The label offers to do everything that the band is already doing for them on a larger scale.

The band offers to give the label some of their money.

If the only thing your band is making at each show is an angry mob, I’ll bet the line of labels interested in you is pretty short.

9. Finger-less gloves.

If you’re not playing drums and it isn’t below 40 degrees outside, put your Nightmare Before Christmas apparel back on the shelf.

10. Your band is best known for showing up late and ruining the entire schedule of the gig.

There are few things in life that I love more than a perfectly executed show. That being said, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one.

Talk to any production company and club promoter and they’ll attest that at least one thing at every single show they’ve put on has gone wrong. Maybe the food didn’t show up, a band’s van broke down, or some jerk decided to pull the fire alarm in the building.

But I’ll never understand how a band can be so self-centered and pompous as to show up to a gig an hour late keeping the whole production at a standstill until their majesty decides to grace us lowly serps with their presence.

Honestly, what are these bands thinking?

Are there any signs that I’ve missed that you’d like to add to this list? Leave a comment below :]

Everything Saturday morning I hope for this… unless of course it’s Christmas morning. That’s the only day that it’s allowed to be cold and snow.

But today was different, I was meeting my friend and former band-mate, Seth over at his house for my much-needed HonestKyle photo shoot.

I say much-needed only because I just suck at taking pictures of myself. Like suck. I don’t know how other people do it. They line up their webcam things and make some sort of half-smile and push their cleavage together and then hold their hand up to their lips or drape their hair in front of their face. And then the camera snaps… and the shot is flawless. Jesus. When I take a photo of myself I look like I’m 20 pounds overweight, I didn’t get any sleep in the past week, and that I took the picture with an old Game Boy Pocket that had the futuristic camera attachment on it. Flawless.

There was a previous time when I sort-of got pictures for my HonestKyle project.

My sister and I needed a gift for my mom for Christmas and it was one of those years when neither of us had any money. No Kindles. No cookbooks. No DVD musicals. We were broke as a joke. In those situations you’re forced to come up with a gift that has to be about 90% meaningful and 10% worth money. Luckily for us, my sister’s close friend Julie was finishing up a photography degree at Kent and said that she could take pictures of us that we could frame and hand off to our mom. It was a perfect plan. What made it even more awesome was the fact that we wore matching Blood Brother’s t-shirts from concerts we went to years ago.

One of the infamous Blood Brother shirt photos

So we put both put on blue jeans and our matching shirts and met Julie out at the studio. She snapped away while we made some serious poses as well as others that were quite ridiculous in nature and when it was all done, I took a stab in the dark…

“Hey, would you mind taking some pictures of just me for this solo music project I got going on?” I asked.

She said “sure.” And so I got a couple pictures of just me. Standing. Sitting. Being an early college bad-ass. At least I thought I was with my shoulder-length hair and beard stubble.  My fiancee Danielle has informed me that this was my “scariest” phase of how I looked (even though this is when we started dating…). So in a way, I had stolen professional photos with my stunning sense of charm. AHA!

Old school HonestKyle

My mom really loved those pictures that my sis and I had and I think she still has them in her house, now that it’s been awhile since either of us lived with her. Good stuff.

But I was psyched for the photo session with Seth because I’ve always enjoyed his work whatever it was that he did. Houses, married couples, motorcyles, vomit stains, they were always a treat to see if Seth took them.

So it finally came time for me to head over to his place. I dressed to impress and headed out the door. When I arrived at his house, he welcomed me with a smile and an enthusiastic “How’s it going man?!” which put me even more at ease. I’m not sure he could tell that I was nervous. I don’t think most people can since I spent years being a front man in different bands… being forced to learn to speak in front of huge crowds. I’ve always felt that showing your nervousness wasn’t an option.

But he grabbed his camera, forgot his jacket, and we drove over to Millcreek Park in Youngstown, OH.

It’s so interesting when you actually get to witness someone doing something they love and how their mind processes the environment around them. For me, when we began, all I could think about was “I hope there’s something cool-looking behind me.” or “I wish I had practiced my ‘casual smile’ a little more in the mirror.” Seth however, was taking into account the different hues of the background that might create cool textures or things in the photos. He was analyzing how much light the sun was giving off in order to prevent glare. And he already had a few places in his mind that were great for hard-ass mofos like me to get profiles done.

One thing that I was very happy he cleared up was that cloudy days are actually the best days  to get photos. Whew! What was funny was that since it was not completely cloudy, we would often wait for the clouds to pass in front of the sun for 15-30 seconds, snap some photos, and then have the rays come down once again and interrupt our progress.

Most of the photos were taken in front of various foliage and stone walls in Millcreek and I’m really impressed with how they turned out. It was funny how Seth described some of the places we went saying how cool they were because there was a particular area that had eroding rock or peeling paint. One of his prospective locations was ruined however because the owners decided to actually repaint. Damn.

If you haven’t been to Youngstown before, one of the things that this city was known for was industry.

It used to be one of the leaders in steel manufacturing and all that sort of manly stuff. Now, there’s actually a huge string of these factories just completely abandoned. Giant corporations, men’s dreams just shattered and left to erode over time. It’s actually jaw-dropping to see.

Seth pointed me to these factories for our last shots and I was pretty excited. And not necessarily for the photos that would result from this trip, and most don’t know this… but I have a huge interest in owning my own company.

Let me clarify. Seeing massive factories and buildings either in production or diminished really puts into perspective how epic a company can become. When I see those abandoned factories in Y-Town, I don’t see just a cool place to get some photos. I see empires. I see colossal visions brought to life by only one or two men (or women). They’re just ordinary people and then they’re rulers of their own independent society. I’ve longed for that sort of power for the past few years, but I haven’t managed to bring it to fruition. I actually have quite a few failed attempts at it and I’m not sure I’m ready to reveal them just yet because I’d still like a little pride to stay with me.

And when a company fails, I can only imagine the dismay of the owners who have to witness their dream just die. And it probably isn’t the hardest for them to see the employees leave. It probably isn’t too difficult to watch as all of the furniture and machinery is moved away. And it probably doesn’t kill them to close up those doors for the last time. But when they come back and see how their beloved building that was so well-respected at one time is now a symbol of the vile underground of Youngstown, I bet it hurts.

I’m not saying that Youngstown is vile, but I am saying that many places aren’t so pretty.

All of this went through my head as Seth and I visited those factories. But it made me realize that through his skill and art, he allows those dreams, those buildings, to rise again, if only for a moment.

These photos are the result of that day and if you enjoy Seth’s work, please head over to his Facebook page and tell him what an awesome job that he did. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.

This leads me to the question…

Have you ever witnessed the skill or art of someone that caused to you completely reevaluate the environment around you?

Please leave your answer as a comment below. I’d love to hear about it.

If you’re friends with me on Facebook then you probably saw my statuses asking for musicians send me videos and sound clips of them doing their thing and I watched and listened to them all. Most of them were quite good and it was difficult to narrow down my prospects, but I’ve done it and I want to announce the members here and now.

Me...Kyle

Lead Vocals – Me… No surprise there. But the only thing that I was considering doing differently was I thought that I might play rhythm guitar in the group. However, I’ve decided to just dedicate my time strictly to vocals only to make sure I deliver a good performance every single time.

Matt Westhead - Guitar 1

Guitar 1/Screams – Matt Westhead. His previous bands include Aldous, Via Transit, Harlequin’s Voice, and Purple Are Forward. He likes to play loud and heavy tunes.

John Porterfield - Guitar 2

Guitar 2/Back-up Clean Vocals – John Porterfield. He is currently in Arm the Machine and is a great lead guitarist with years of experience under his belt.

Clayton Jones - Bass

Bass – Clayton Jones. This is my cousin and one of the finest bass guitarists I know with a great ability to adapt to all sorts of different genres. He is also in Arm the Machine.

Seth Basista - Drums

Drums – Seth Basista. Seth was the last piece of the puzzle since it was difficult to find a reliable drummer that I was sure could handle the parts. I had already confirmed someone else, but he informed me that he could no longer take the position. I’m very happy that Seth was able to step in and re-fill the position. His previous bands include Andy Sunglass and Purple Are Forward.

If you’ll notice on the Tour page, I’ve added the Beardstock show with its details so you know exactly what’s going on. I’m super stoked for it!

I’m also in the process of getting some photos and album artwork done for my merch. Here’s a little taste of the photo work being done by Seth (yes the drummer… he’s a very talented guy).

Photo by Seth Basista for Album Art

Plus!… I have finally uploaded a couple new fully-mixed and mastered songs for you to enjoy! I’ll actually be giving away 4-5 of them for free very soon, but I would appreciate if you could share this information/music with your friends to at least get them a little interested.

Things are starting to snowball now!

HK

Now, from the beginning of this music’s conception, I imagined putting on my very own massive album release show to kick off the band and establish myself as a major contender in the area, but late at night this past week, while browsing Facebook, I saw an opportunity that I decided I couldn’t turn away.

A good musical friend of mine named Brian has made it his goal to continually raise the bar as far as the representation and performances of the northeast Ohio local music scene and he does a hell of a job. He’s a cofounder of an independent music production company called Beardcore Productions that hosts a number of high-production shows in my area.

When you attend one of his shows, you can expect at least a dozen bands, possibly on multiple stages, and a turnout of at least a couple hundred people. These shows are pretty great to say the least.

But late one night last week, I was browsing Facebook and noticed that Brian had decided to put on a massive show planned for July spanning 3 days with multiple stages, featured touring acts, and a bill containing almost every reputable band in the northeast Ohio area. And all this is happening right in my hometown of Newton Falls, OH.

Now, my first response was to simply view the event, give my continued support, and then go to bed… but… when I laid in bed, my mind was racing at a hundred miles an hour. The next day at work I was practically a zombie with how much sleep I had lost the night before.

And I began to weigh my very own plans for HonestKyle’s debut.

Would I be able to put on a show with the same turnout? Would I be able replicate a similar intesified atmosphere for my very own album release?

I finally realized that even though I do have great confidence in my own skills to put on a show with a large turnout, I knew that this event being hosted by Brian is just too much to pass up.

So I threw my hat into the ring and I’m super excited! I’m planning to go all out for this show to provide a performance that people will be talking about for a long time.

To prepare, I’ve been working even harder to finish my album in the next couple months so that I can focus primarily on my backing band. So keep an eye out for more music updates to appear!

A joke, yes. I’m drawing ever closer to finishing this debut album and things are started to really heat up. Down below, you’ll notice that I have a teaser clip of my most recent composition. I believe that I have a title for this creation as well… “Walking Blind Through A Blizzard”.

Well… almost. The very last bit of tracking that I’m doing is for a very short melody track that I believe will start off the album. It’s catchy, simple, and shouldn’t take very long to get done. Plus, I think it’ll sound awesome done live.

Recently, I’ve had a few friends asking “When will this get done?” I’ve thrown out answers like “in a month? a couple months?”

Honestly, I’m not sure. It’ll get done when it gets done. I’m just not ready to toss out something to the public that I’m not happy with.

And when it comes time to start putting a band together to perform these things, I hope that I find some good vocalists to help me out on stage.

To those that are patiently waiting, my advice is to sit tight. Everything will be done in due time.

Thank you all for caring

It may not have been the best show to end on seeing as how all of us were dead tired after working/going to school all day only to come out and be as rockin’ as we possibly could, taking the stage at 11:00 pm. Even with the odds against us, we brought it. Oh did we bring it.

The crowd wasn’t massive, but it was still great to see all our regulars bobbin’ their heads and enjoying the show. Even if it’s only a handful of people we know, we always expect to have a good time.

The video below was taken again by our friend Nick Serra. Be sure to give him some good comments on YouTube where these videos are posted please. I’m sure he would appreciate it.

You’ll also notice that I have a few pictures of me and my fiancee Zombified! We attended the yearly Youngstown, OH Zombie Crawl. We’re first-timers so we had to have our friends Matt and Angi help us with our makeup. Did they do a good job or what?!

Danielle all ghouled up

Danielle And I

Me... Dead

Mind you the picture of me standing in the dark with my hood up is after only getting 4 hours of sleep from playing the PAF show the night before.

So what’s happening with HonestKyle…

Well, I’ll tell you what I worked on this past weekend and it wasn’t music. It wasn’t even fun.

Since I’m a big boy now with a big boy job, sometimes you have to meet deadlines with your projects and get those TPS reports out before someone comes and bothers you and this was one of those times. I’m a software developer and I had to have a new feature in the company’s test system by the end of the day Monday and it wasn’t ready so I actually had to put in a 6 hour work day on Saturday and another 8 hours on Sunday. I at least got to work from my laptop at home, but it was still disheartening knowing my guitar was so close by and that I couldn’t touch it!

I’m happy to say that I got the project in on time. And hopefully, I don’t have anything that urgent to do for awhile so I can buckle down and feed you guys some more sneaky peaks of what’s happening in the HK music world as I get more time to crank out this final tune for the album.

One thing that I wanted to accomplish with this album is to give every single song its own identity. I want you to be able to identify each tune on the album as having its own personality as it were.

Have you ever listened to an album where every tune, one after the other, started to blend together and it wasn’t until a couple listens that you finally began hearing the colorful differences between each track? That really bothers me.

I picked up an album like that recently. It’s a metal band that kind of switches back and forth from prerecorded beat tracks and metal riffs. You know the type. Well, I’ve eventually come to really like this album, but it wasn’t until listening to it maybe 3-4 times that this happened. Yikes.

Here’s a question that I’d like to ask you…

Do you feel like in the late 90s and early 2000s that music was simpler? I’m talking about in the early days of Blink 182, Sum 41, Something Corporate, and Story of the Year.

I’ve been so hooked on Does This Look Infected because of the intoxicating singing melodies and the simplicity of composition. I’ll always be amazed at how powerful a few simple well-placed 4-chord guitar riffs can create a tune that you’re not likely to forget.

This sets the mood for Song 9. Powerful, simple, and hopefully unforgettable.

Since I’ve been in such an ambitious mood for the last few weeks since finishing song 7 of  9 (Watch Me Go) for my full-length album, I cranked out the music to song 8 in almost no time.

What I love about this song is that I tried a bunch of new ideas and attemped to incorporate a multitude of styles. There were times I would listen to my riffs and think, geez, I really wished that this sounded more like so-and-so instead of what it really is.

However, I’ve come to be proud of some of the subtle tweaks that I put to the typical post-hardcore/rock/metal/punk/whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-stick-in-there genre because that’s what it’s all about right? Make something appealing that traditional listeners of the genre can identify with, but twist it into your own personal creation.

I’ve written out all the lyrics to this piece as well and I’ve decided that the topic is sort of “Life Commiseration“. Heck, that sounds like a pretty sweet song title too.

But the message of the song is this:

Everybody struggles with major problems and simple day-to-day obstacles, but there should be comfort in knowing that this applies to everyone. And if one person can survive, then we all can.

Now, if whether or not I can actually convey that message in this song successfully… well that’s another story.

Go ahead and leave a comment to tell me what you think of either my song concept or music clip. And keep checking back because I hope to continue providing more consistent updates and sneak peeks at my music as things unfold.