One of those things I've been saying I’ll discuss here…
First, a positive assertion: For the foreseeable future, I’ve decided to only play shows in art galleries, small theatre spaces and other non-traditional music venues. There may be exceptions here and there, but mainly, I intend to stick to this plan.
Shows I’ve played in these types of venues have been extremely rewarding (on every level) for my players, the other bands I’ve invited along and me too. Audiences appear to have a parallel experience of these shows; they love them! It’s not been so straight forward in pubs and bars. Based on this series of observations, I’ve come to the decision that, from this point forward, I’ll do my best to avoid playing in circumstances where the focal point of activity is on socializing and/or selling alcohol. In basic terms, this means skipping bars and pubs.
Music is everywhere. Recorded music is almost always played in pubs and bars. That’s fine. If someone wants to put my recorded music on in the background while they chat, that’s perfectly ok with me. But, that’s not a performance context.
Some musicians choose to play in places where music is meant to be a background element of a punter’s experience. That’s OK with me, but I don’t feel this is appropriate for my performances.
Let me state clearly; I’m all for having a few drinks and socializing. I enjoy both! However, my live performances are not meant for those circumstances.
Some bands are amazing for giving a crowd what is needed to dance, celebrate and/or party. As an example, I can cite a fantastic band I’m acquainted with through Dartignton; Sheelanagig.[1] Not only are these guys top notch players, they’re also incredibly successful in writing and performing music that fosters a perfect atmosphere for dancing and partying. I really suggest seeing them sometime, because they are tremendous on every level. They’re great original music for pubs, parties, festivals (and soon, probably any venue they choose). They’ve got it all and more! However, the circumstances where a band like this thrives are not the same as the ones where my music thrives.
Every time someone offers me a pub gig, they tell me “Michael, this place is different!” Some places are worse than others, but mainly the experience has been consistent. Performing my music in bars and pubs tends toward direct competition with the primary remit of these types of venues; fostering socializing and selling alcohol. My musical performance competes with the remit. It asks something of a listener, and socializing and drinking don’t mix well with it. If the music does not somehow help to foster these primary remits of the venue, there is guaranteed tension.
There are a lot of potential solutions to such tensions:
A musician could simply accept the situation and play on; keeping their heads down and muddling through performing in the face of an indifferent segment of crowd. This is not a solution I can accept.
Another potential solution is to turn up so loud that the crowd cannot possibly conduct a conversation (unless they are yelling at the top of their lungs).[2] I don’t find this solution acceptable. I could get a Marshall Stack and blast the conversation and eardrums of a room full of people to oblivion. There are reasons to play loud, but these are not the right ones.
Here’s another solution: I’ve asked people who are talking over the top of other musicians or myself to move their conversations beyond the performance space. This is always uncomfortable for all involved (the people talking, the people trying to listen to the music, the person asking for the talkers to move or quiet down and for the performers). This is not an acceptable solution (though potentially necessary).
Occasionally, someone suggests I take a macho attitude: "If you were tough enough, you could handle it." But, I’m not concerned with being tough. When I perform my songs, I’m not lifting weights or getting in the boxing ring.
I’ve had suggestions that it’s up to a performer to woo a crowd, trying to win them over. As far as I’m concerned, my music, words and performance is all the convincing required. It’s up to me to choose a time and place to create an atmosphere where the listening can be done. This entails selecting appropriate venues.
I’ve stated my solution to these problems above. Here it is again: I’m choosing to avoid playing in pubs and bars.
I guess the affirmative version of this is something like:
I am choosing appropriate venues for my shows. At the moment, these appear to be art galleries, small theatre spaces and other non-traditional venues for musical performance.
Hope to see you out there soon! I’ve got a new record coming out!
Michael b
PS. Bring your own wine and beer! ;)
[1] In fact, John Blakely, Sheelanagig’s drummer is one of the players on Soft Verges!
[2] And, as blood/alcohol levels increase, so does the likelihood of yelling to be heard over the top of music.
... is stuck in my head for some reason. Goddammit, Leonard Cohen is a great songwriter.
LA was awesome thanks to the tag team of Michael Doret and Laura Smith, who took LB and me around Farmers Market, introduced us to the incredible Shine Gallery, and made us a lot more comfortable than we would have been otherwise. They're great artists and great folks!
The Family Dog show was cool but the gallery was selling way too hard for my delicate constitution. Every time I looked at a piece, a salesperson with a clipboard slunk up real close and told me something about it that I already knew. It was cool to see the great Moscoso in action, though, working the room.
I took photos, but they're mostly of burger joints and donut shops so who cares? Why is America's most image-conscious city so down with burgers and donuts?! We did have Flannel Cakes at Musso and Frank Grill (which took us almost two hours to drive to from the airport even though it was only about five miles away) and went to In N' Out Burger. LA does have excellent burgers, man.
Tomorrow morning I'm flying out to LA for the Family Dog art opening! I'll only be in town for one day - gotta fly home first thing Thursday and get right back to work - but hopefully that's enough time to catch up with some cool folks, grab an In N'Out burger, meet some of my design heroes, and see some gorgeous, vibrating psychedelic posters.
The Mets: great move, if this were last October. And the way they went about firing Willie was just a joke. Late and shitty. What a horrible team to love.
Like everything else in this process, signing seemed to take forever, but honestly, however shy I am of saying it about my own work, this record is going to be worth it..
There are various things about the tour and other stuff I'm wanting to cover in the blog. For a start, how about things that I learned during this last string of gigs?
Play lots of gigs, cause like, I love it.
Include rest (like a day off here and there). It is productive.
Violinists are tougher than Michael (sort of).
People like tour shirts. Who would have known?
Art Galleries are fantastic for MB gigs!
That person Lisa is pretty awesome.
That Jed person is pretty awesome.
Do not work until 8AM, get up at 10AM, run around doing all kinds of stuff (like, driving a couple of hours, then spending a few hours cleaning up a space, setting up staging and equipment), and expect to be in a good mood and perform at peak.
Making money is not the point of making music, but we may be onto a way to get that to happen too.
Michael Bennett and Francesca Bennett of the Boatstore are just fucking amazing.
Ricky Romain and Heather Fallows of White Space Gallery are just fucking amazing.
Michael needs to change the batteries on his pick-up once in a while.
Hey sound person, how about staying closer to the controls and further from the beer?
Hey sound person, this is an acoustic guitar and that happens to be a violin – how about some EQ that’s different from a death metal band?
That muddy sound… How about turning the low mids down a bit? There, that’s better. Now, turn the whole house volume down. Surprise, surprise.
Hey sound person at the Colony Café, you've completely blown us away! We didn't think it was possible! WE LOVE YOU!!! You are amazing! Will you come do all of our shows? Seriously. Please?
Wait a minute… those two Roland amps can be used to get the stereo signal coming out of Jed’s keyboard…
Turning up loud to be louder than chit-chat definitely sucks.
Playing bars and pubs is not a workable option. (This one to be discussed in detail later).
Sometimes, though it is difficult and feels tense, one has to ask audience members to move their socializing/conversations to somewhere other than the performance space.
Honesty, commitment, focus and hard work are not the same as, but are probably useful in fostering “a calm and nurturing environment, with as little stress and as much communication as possible.”
Communication requires forthright honesty.
If one is honest, it is likely that one will make an effort to do what one has agreed to do.
Some musicians will choose to continue to come to rehearsals and gigs with a hangover - no matter what you tell them, or get them to agree.
Sometimes people give their word to do one thing, and work like hell to do another.
Group hugs mean nothing if you can't work out your differences.
Sometimes there is nothing you can do to change the nature of a relationship. No matter how hard one tries, positive change only comes when both parties make an effort.
Being loyal is sometimes very painful, and can sometimes break a heart.
This is going to sound ridiculous - because it is ridiculous - but tonight I started working on the thing that comes AFTERFailing Upwards. I set three new demos aside for it.
I keep thinking that I'm gonna get around to re-recording old stuff like We're All Going To Jail! and Physics with the new band, but there's too much new material that I'm excited about. "She Loves You (NO NO NO)" bumped an older track off of Failing Upwards just last month - the second it rolled off the line. And Shoot The Piano Player (session booked July 25-27 at Electrical Audio!) is loaded with tunes you haven't heard before, including one called "We're Both Wrong But You're Also A Dick" that doesn't even have all its words yet.
Sometimes I wonder: when it finally is time to re-cut Jail! or Physics, will I replace half the songs on those albums too?
Oh, I gots it, gots it bad. I'm up at 3 again. At this hour, there's nothing to do but fart around on MySpace and hunt for decent new music. After an hour and a half of this Most Noble Pursuit, I have two questions:
1. What's with all the ukulele? Ukulele is a spice - not the entire dish. 2. Why are so many singers trying to sound like they a. have an unplaceable foreign accent, and b. are choking?
It's like everyone is trying to "do a voice". And the same voice, at that. Don't they have voices of their own?
I'm back at HQ. Obviously still on UK time as it's not even 6am yet and I've been up for two hours. Gotta go back to work today, but I should be able to power through without much jet lag.
What an incredible couple weeks. I have another week's worth of photos to upload - maybe I'll get to that by my next update. I do want to thank Mike and El for all their help and hospitality over there... they made LB and me a lot more comfortable than we would have been. One thing about England that is particularly frustrating is that they use a language that is just close enough to American English that all the subtle variations in phrasing and terminology become extra confusing. Ditto for culture and social custom - familiar but definitely not the same. I honestly don't know how we would have made it through the past couple weeks without Mike and El.
I would also like to thank our gracious hosts in Axminster, Ricky, Heather and Tom, and in Kingsand, Michael and Francesca, and Gina at Route 66 in Axminster, for taking such good care of us. And the crowd in Bristol - I can't wait to come back and see everybody again. And I will! We're already figuring out the next round, which we hope will be a triple threat bill with a certain Mr. Dewan.
While I was bopping around the UK, Anton Fig was cutting drums on two more songs for Failing Upwards: "Do You Feel All Right?" and "She Loves You (NO NO NO)" (written about a week before the tour, it proved to be the second most popular tune in the set after "Seven And The Ragged Tiger"). I was able to download Anton's "She Loves You" tracks at a wi-fi hotspot in Heathrow before flying home, and I got to enjoy them all the way back to the States. FU is a long way off but will be worth the wait.
Mike Bassett's new album, Soft Verges, hits on the Eschatone website and in select US and UK art galleries on July 1 (watch eschatone.com for details); worldwide digital release is July 8 and then MB will tour the UK again (sadly, without me). To coincide with the release, the new Eschatone online store will launch July 1. We've been working on this for a while now; the store offers music in a few ways you're not used to, but we think you will like better.
I'm gonna work on my own new stuff in the background for a while while we focus on letting the world know what an incredible achievement Michael's Soft Verges record is. But I'll be back with The Cutting-Room Floor in the fall, and maybe a little something before that. After all, there are three finished Hanslick Rebellion tracks floating around that you haven't heard yet, and we've got this awesome piece of related art from Arturo that could be an album cover or could be... something else...
It's 4am here in Totnes and I'm obviously not caught up to UK time yet. We got back from a great gig in Bristol a couple hours ago (three songs recorded at tonight's performance are now in the MySpace player).
We're on the go most of the time, so I haven't really had time to get over jet lag - I keep napping during the day. We'll finally have a day off on Tuesday so I can catch up on the whole sleeping thing. Shows are going incredibly well... the folks here are receiving us so generously, and clearly appreciating what both Michael and I do, even though our sets couldn't be more different.
I've been trying to keep things fresh after two weeks, swapping songs in and out from a master list of about 50 and even working in brand new tunes like "Duck/Cover" (in the MySpace player) and "She Loves You (NO NO NO)" (see the video below). As a result, my set is always a little messy... but energy stays high, fun stays in, and I just pound right through mistakes anyway.
My favorite part of the trip so far, besides getting to meet and talk politics with interesting folks (and yeah, I am playing "With Love From America" at most stops) is stopping for late-night gas station food. They have these crazy pre-packaged sandwiches in all kinds of flavors, like prawn and roast chicken with stuffing. This stuff should be absolutely disgusting but it is delicious. They also have chicken flavored potato chips - and I would like to take a moment to thank whoever came up with those: Thanks, you crazy bastard!
I'd write more, but I have to be up at 9am tomorrow; we've been invited for an English breakfast and I can't wait to see what that is. I hope it involves chicken crisps. In the meantime, all the photos are at the bottom of this post... and here are some videos from my performance in Kingsand, where we played in a beautiful old building on the sea:
CART
