Longing for the day ...

Giving the music away?

Bob Lefsetz is big on how the major labels in the music industry are killing themselves by trying to stick with the old business models. Lately he's been ranting repeatedly on the virtues of giving recorded music away and building a live crowd and merchandise sales out of the people who like it.

This is more or less how I intended to approach the issue: giving away most of the music ... especially the drafts. But I think that giving all of the recordings away is throwing out the baby with the bathwater (so to speak). Even the Barenaked Ladies and MC Lars don't give it ALL away ... they sell plenty and they're leading the world in this business model.

If you happen to be in a large enough market for this to be viable (like, say LA or New York) then this makes perfect sense, but if you're stuck in a tiny, vast place like Australia, there's just not enough people to make a living like this - sales revenue is important. That said, I intend to give a lot of copies away - and not just to radio stations.

Speaking of which, the album is progressing well and I have set the goal of completing it by the end of April. Some cuts are nearly there now ... I'll post them soon.

Haaapyyy birth-day to meeeee ...

I was hoping that if I ignored this day it would be cancelled but apparently that's not gonna happen.

My lovely family gave me an Aretha Franklin 3-CD set (yaaaay!), a pair of Homer Simpson PJ pants ("You'll have to speak up. I'm wearing a towel") and a G-string that says "Horny" (what the?!??!?).

Think I'll perform in these sort of pants ... bright, comfortable ... but the G-string I can live without.

How good is synchronised swimming?

Surprise packet of my weekend: Synchronised swimming rocks!!

I was watching the Friday night NRL at the Club and had to finish my beer before going home at the end of the game, so I tuned in to the World Swimming Championships coverage, which was mostly Synchronised swimming. Now,I'd always had a fairly ... laconic ... view of SS and derided it at parties and so on, but those girls (it was a pairs event) were awesome! They did stuff that I didn't think was physically possible .. and they did it in (almost) perfect unison.

To be honest, I couldn't tell the difference between the teams. I watched the Canadians first, who ended up coming 6th (I think) and thought they were pretty good, but then along came the Chinese, who were better, and the Yanks, and the Russians, and the Spainairds, and the Japanese ... and I was just amazed. Talk about "got nothing" ...

Getting closer

OK, the album is slowly getting closer. I'm really happy with the way So far Away is coming up, though I'm perplexed about the chorus - it needs something to lift it a bit. Perhaps some backing vocals, or another guitar ... apart from that, all that's left on that one is the final vocals.

Started work on Dirty yesterday ... well, actually, resumed is a better word. The riffery is awesome (thanks, Tristan) and the rest is very straightforward. This one is gonna have a more poppy feel - perhaps a synth bass and lots of keys. Kind of like the production on the Bodyrockers' I like the way you move. I was struck by that idea listening to the radio the other day ...

This Sunday afternoon I'll record some guitar leads for Heart's With You, 12 Good Bars and True and Mighty Fine Day with Matt Mikkelsen. That should finish them off apart from the final vocals and then I'll have four done ... five if you include Lullabye, which only needs Cath's vocals ... and maybe a new, cleaner, guitar part ...

I still haven't put much effort into Simplicity and Maniac but they're much older songs and I will have less development to do on them. They're basically arranged and just need to be taped ... but that will take time ... I need to get into Astral Traveller soon, though I did lots of work finishing that one when I was rehearsing the accoustic set.

Long for the Day is pretty much done apart from the sax and bass parts, which I want to rehearse separately and together with Pete and Willy respectively. I had a great bash with Pete last Sunday and worked out a lot of what will happen. Actually, I've re-done the guitars on that one but I'm not entirely happy the recording. I did it all by myself and it's a little ... sloppy ... so I might re-do it with the help of an engineer so I can concentrate on the performance.

That only leaves Raindrops, which I've fleshed out but can't do much with until I record the final vocals (which I wanna do in a single period with help from Adam); Cry to Heaven, which I need to revisit but it's pretty much arranged - I just need to redo the parts in a different key; and Dancing with the Stones, which is pretty much done except that I need to decide whether to go with real brass or synth brass or a combination ... I'm not sure I have a horn section handy ... and redo the vocals.

So there we have it: Progressing OK. Wish it was happening faster but, well, it isn't and I'm learning all the way ...

Gonna try again

OK, after a few weeks of resting my foot (sort of), I'm going to try playing footy again tonight - very gently. I'll probably have a short run and not try to do anything very enthusiastic.

Of course, it will be a test just to see if I can restrain myself ...

Life returns to normal

Great to see the NRl back on TV. I've missed it over summer. I was disappointed that the Broncos and Titans lost but they both went well, showed glimses of what they're capable of and have plenty of improvment in them as the season progresses. They'll be better for the development.

The most disappointing thing about both games was the single penalty (in each game) for not playing the ball correctly. This was ridiculous in both cases because in both games, both teams infringed on this rule constantly yet only one penalty was blown. In both games the penalty came at a crucial point and clearly affected the mental state of the offending team. in fact, in the Titans-Dragons game I had just seen Jason Ryles from the Dragons play the ball incorrectly and thought to myself how good it was that no-one had been penalised for that ridiculous thing -- three plays later, Chris Walker was penalised for it.

What's needed here is consistency; either penalise every instance or let them all go. Don't blow just one penalty, in the second half, against the attacking team, for an offence that makes no difference to the flow of the game!

But it's great to have the footy back on TV!!

Producing the Genre Benders

Getting ever closer slowly. I now have drum parts down for 6 tracks (two don't need drums) and keyboards for two, thanks to Kathy Hirche. The guitars are getting closer to final parts and the vocals are still guides. I've played Bass on three tracks and Willy on one (awesome job) - I'm hoping he'll play on at least one other.

Lullabye will be finished as soon as I get Cath Mundy over to sing the female part. Raindrops will be finished as soon as I get time to finish it ...

After these are down, there's just the four up-tempo numbers to knock over ...

No Van Halen at their own show??

Distubing news at the pinnacle of the industry: Van Halen will not be performing at their own induction into the Hall of Fame. Not with DLR, not with Sammy, not at all. That's ridiculous!!

Apparently, it's not uncommon for R& R Hall of Fame inductees to not perform at the ceremony, but instead to have others play a tribute to them. Fine; if members are dead or incapacitated I get that. But when you've got a band who made their name on their live show, and who should be available (apart from Ed) they should not be inducted if they can't, IMHO. Part of the quality of their contribution has to be that they can still do their thing, right???

There's also a few egos involved, which is no surprise to anyone. DLR reckons he won't do it if he can't perform, which I think is about right, and the HOFsters say he's not taking the opportunities he's been offered. That's no surprise.

But there are a couple of telling comments in there abut the state of the industry. One from Roth, who says "It's just not an option for me to go and watch some other band — who are only performing because they have some new record coming out — do our music" (my emphasis). He's hit on the point of the whole gig here. I hate this kind of crap - it's what prompted the farce of Pete Murray performing "Seen better days" at the NRL Grand Final some years ago. What a joke - top-ten hit or not, there has to be a better sense of occasion for the game than that! Talk about missing the point ...

My sympathies and best wishes to Ed and his family, btw.