Ok, when Jerry asked me to write a column for nashvillerock.net I thought;' Hey, no problem', and then I started thinking about what the hell to write. I don't have much interest in reviewing CDs. All Ican ever really say about them is yeah I like it or no it's not what I like to hear. Live shows are pretty much the same. I think every creative description has been used and applied to bands to the point where reviews are almost like a big rubber stamp of other reviews.
I have seen so many live shows that the gimmicks of biting off farm animals body parts, breathing fire or spewing blood just doesn't help me enjoy it any more than closing my eyes and having a good old fashioned listen. So, I am thinking that my column will more than likely become a sort of "this one time at band camp" type of stories thing. I never signed up for band camp to learn to play music or learn the business anyway. I mainly signed on to help that girl out with the flute.
I have lived in Nashville for close to 20 years and have played in my band for almost that same amount of time.
There are a few things about Nashville that you can almost count on as far as the music scene here goes. Number one: bands are not making much money. Two: few are going to be that impressed with it. Three: you will seldom see or hear anything that hasn't come down the pike before.
I haven't taken much college. I did take music business and history of rock music. (Oh, and weight training so I could use the pool.) I have learned that much of even traditional rock is a rehash of older material. I remember playing some old half-inch thick records on this player that was my grandmother's. You cranked the thing up and dropped the needle or morelike the nail on to the disc. Well, some of the records it played had some pretty rocked up tunes that I am going to guess were from the 20s and 30s. One, in particular, that I remember was called, Bring It Home Daddy. It was some chick wailing out the lyrics while a bass did the walking. It sounded like Led Zeppelin. You might think those chords in Rock-n-Roll are Jimmy Page originals but take a listen to Hank Williams Sr's, Fool About You, and God only knows where he ripped it off. So, the point of it all is that I can't compare any thing I hear to new music. I tend to hear very old tunes in things. Listen to Bowling For Soup's 1985, my drift is before that even.
I generally have a more simple music rating method similar to the old Hustler magazine porno movie rating; it's either a full erection, half hard, quarter erect or limp. So, if you want to risk having me call your music half hard and then compare it to, at the very most modern, Foghat or Blue Cheer then send it on.
Consider the feeling I had the first time the stadium lights went down low and I heard the opening chords to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. You know that prickly feeling on the back of your neck? That's Black Sabbath in the 70s. Will your tunage do that for me? Ok, that's why I don't do many reviews. I don't care much for music that leaves me feeling like I've been run over by a school bus or bludgeoned with a club like a baby seal, but gang raped by super models is OK. Make me dance; make me hum this tune as I'm driving my car months later.
Now, music biz is an entirely different thing from the music being made, that I can judge. I can look at a band and see right off how well they are doing with marketing their music.
This brings me to the true Nashville music scene. You are in the land of dime a dozen kick ass studios when you are here. I think every band should make a band marketing to do list and start checking it off. I am not here really to spend the endless amounts of time required doling out advice on business procedures for aspiring bands. The strong study the successful then use what they have learned to form a plan and stick to their guns. That said, I am back to this one time at band camp Jerry asked me to write for Nashvillerock.net and this is the introduction to that column of rambling that certainly will be following.
- Dave
dave@nashvillerock.net