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Showing posts with label Alternative music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alternative music. Show all posts
After 31 years together, 15 Studio Albums, 3 Grammy Awards, and thousands of concerts worldwide. American Rock band R.E.M has called it a day. Here is the bands Official statement:
"As lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished."
\m/ R.E.M. discography:
- Murmur (1983)
- Reckoning (1984)
- Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
- Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
- Document (1987)
- Green (1988)
- Out of Time (1991)
- Automatic for the People (1992)
- Monster (1994)
- New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
- Up (1998)
- Reveal (2001)
- Around the Sun (2004)
- Accelerate (2008)
- Collapse into Now (2011)
\m/ Facts about R.E.M.:
- Origin: Athens, Georgia, United States
- Genres: Alternative Rock, College Rock, Jangle Pop
- Years active: 1980–2011
- At the 1992 Grammy Awards, R.E.M. received seven Grammy Nominations, the most nominations of any artist that year. That same year the band won three awards for Best Alternative Music Album for 'Out Of Time', Best Short Form Music Video and for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, both for "Losing My Religion".
- R.E.M. did not tour to promote 'Out of Time'; instead the group played a series of one-off shows, including an appearance taped for an episode of MTV Unplugged.
A few weeks ago we posted a poll about which underground Heavy Music band the fans wanted to see featured on Horns Up Rocks, Weak of Wanting took the honors with a massive amount of votes from their loyal fan-base. We had the chance to interview their front lady Lisa 'Gruffalo' Brown, and it immediately became clear that this band is cutting their own path and presenting to the masses very honest music with no limitations. Here is the interview:
Horns Up Rocks: Lisa, tell us about the formation of Weak of Wanting.
Lisa: The guitarist and I have been jamming on and off since we were in school, and a year and a half ago we decided to make a go for it and form a band together. We just got ourselves a drummer and a bassist, who are still learning the songs with the intention of us all moving on as a 4 piece. Craig (Drums) and Alan (Bass) have been playing in bands together for a few years too.
Horns Up Rocks: Why do you think has helped Weak of Wanting gain a decent amount of fans in such a short period of time?
Lisa: I think that keeping up with the fan-base helps... talking to the fans and not just throwing status messages up and ignoring them when they ask questions, we see a lot of bands that do this and we hear there fans complaints about it. We stay active and have constant promotion, networking and we also helping out other musicians, promoters... all of which often involves very little sleep and what seems like very little come back, but maybe it is paying off, I hope it is.
Horns Up Rocks: How influential was the British Wave of Heavy Metal to the bands music?
Lisa: It was very influential on Craig and Alan but less so on myself and Ben the guitarist, as we are not the Metal heads in the band.
Horns Up Rocks: What's the message that Weak of Wanting wants to convey to the music world?
Lisa: We don't really have a message, we never expected to get this far, we just do what we love doing and hope others can enjoy it or find some comfort in it. We often hear that our music helped people in some way or another, mentally, emotionally or otherwise.
Horns Up Rocks: What's in the agenda for Weak of Wanting for the next year?
Lisa: The plan is to get a decent CD out to the fans as we've promised, hopefully do some more shows and festivals preferably as a 4 piece. A decent record deal would always go down nicely but otherwise I'll keep on at it myself, which doesn't look like too much of a daunting prospect considering all the very poor record labels out there that are dying on there arses 10 to the dozen anyhow.
- Artist Biography:
Weak Of Wanting are a new and quickly rising act in the Alternative Rock scene, in their first year they have already been MySpace band of the week, are the highest rated band on Vampirefreaks.com (a leading alternative culture website) and have amassed well over 10,000 fans worldwide. The band has a vibrant and active internet community surrounding them, meaning that wherever they play they will have support. Their influences are PJ Harvey, Alter Bridge and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Lisa (the vocalist) is the face and epic voice of Weak of Wanting. Though she looks sweet and innocent she is known for her powerful vocal range and haunting timbre. She spent a lot of her early singing career in punk bands and since leaving them, has spent many years training and refining her vocal style which is now unique and beautiful. Her writing style is almost sub conscious and is on a very emotional level but despite this she is a very professional musician and remains humble about her looks and rising fame, she speaks directly to her fans all the time and feels very strongly that the band should take the time to thank people for the support whenever they can.
Ben (guitarist) has spent almost as long being a sound engineer as he has playing the guitar and spends a great deal of time considering the shaping of the bands overall sound. His original idea was to try and create a lot of dynamic and ambient changes to suit Lisa’s voice and showcase his own abilities, knowing they only had two instruments he filled there mixes with a mixture of contrasting mixture heavy overdubs and minimalism to create the dynamic shifts he wanted as well as a combination of drone notes and open voiced chords to add harmonic interest.
Craig and Alan are both friends of each other and Ben, as he recorded one of Alan’s earlier Metal projects, although they are very recent additions to the band they are formidable song writers in there own right and very experienced musicians. The early practices have been excellent the band gel incredibly quickly and were able to improvise fluidly from the very first day. There addition to the band has been the stepping stone Weak Of Wanting have been waiting for to go out and do some real gigs and finally connect in person with there large fan group
After covering the Revolver Golden Gods Awards and the Big 4, we realized that Heavy Music is evolving very quickly and if any artists out there don't jump on board the crazy train of Heavy Music in full force, they will probably be left behind. We have news for every artist out there: if you are laying back waiting for your "big break" because you believe your music is the sound of the future, you might as well just go to sleep now because maybe in your dreams your "big break" might become a reality.
While the music industry is suffering because of very low record sales, the artists that are embracing the D.Y.I. (Do It Yourself) approach, are the ones that are rising above the hard tides. This method applies to any successful business and its evident that if used wisely it can help to improve anybody's career.
Here are some very useful tips for any artists that want to get their music heard and most importantly to stand out from the flood of artists that are trying to catch their "big break":
When PERFORMING:
- Be careful about booking gigs too often within the same area, last thing you want is to seem like you are desperate for gigs. Your goal should be to always draw the biggest number of fans possible at every gig, this is the only way you will keep getting booked and eventually will be asked to perform at high profile gigs. Also, make sure you are cordial both on and off stage, and make sure you stay at the event so you can greet your fans. Chances are that you need new fans, so why go hide from them?
- Regardless of how miserable you might be feeling, be very positive while on stage. The people that are there to see you, are there for you to uplift their spirits and not to hear you whine about your misery. Oh, and make sure your gear is in tune, that all your cables work well, and that you are ready to rock!
- Setup your merchandise in a visible spot within the venue, and make sure its well lit. Also, while you are not on stage it's a great idea to be at the merch table since there wont be a better person then yourself to sell your own brand.
When MARKETING:
- If you produce a music video that you hope helps to get some attention, do not cut any corners. It is really easy to identify a low budget badly produced video, so don't diminish you chances of being seen or heard by having a shitty video. Also make sure to post the video on YouTube, Vimeo, and Muzu TV.
- Social tools like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter can help any artist not only to have a close interaction with their fans, but to also keep them updated about new releases and upcoming gigs. However, the only way to stand out from the millions of artists that use these tools is to keep updating these pages constantly, otherwise you will have little to no impact.
- A solid website! Just because there are free social networking tools out there, does not meant that you don't need a well designed website. The internet is ever changing, but a solid website can be timeless and it will psychologically make your fans think that you already caught that "big break".
- Distribute your music in a Digital format via I-Tunes, CD Baby, etc. One great way to encourage people to buy your music is to give out a song for FREE on an MP3 card (that contains your logo and URL) at your gigs. This will give your fans a sense of importance since you are interacting with them face to face. While giving out a CD can also be efficient, today's digital generation might not even bother listening to the CD, but will most likely use the MP3 card to download your music to their computer. If they like your music they might buy some more songs or buy your CD at the next show.
When FREE: - Support other artists, assist networking events, and always carry a business card with you. Every opportunity you have to present your brand to someone else is golden!
We hope you are inspired by this article to get out there and rock out with the right mindset and attitude. And remember that if you want your music to be taken seriously, you need to be able to transmit the message in a professional and original way. Times are changing, so be creative and rise up! \m/
Here is a recent interview we did with one of the hardest working dudes in the music industry: Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed and Kingdom Of Sorrow. On this interview he discusses how he manages to reinvent himself constantly as an enterpreneur and how kids can market their music in order to get solid exposure.
