This is the finals of the “Get Your Band On The Radio” contest organized by Haemmerle Productions engineering wizard Mark Haemmerle, featuring guest judge Tim Pyles of FM94/9. Per Mark, the evening will look something like this:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=264558646732 APRIL 14TH
finals week with guest judge tim pyles
john fullwood - 9:00 - 9:15
scott west - 9:15 - 9:30
tiny frank - 9:30 - 9:45
schitzophonics - 9:45 - 10:15
carlos blues 1015 - 1045
dietrich 1045 - 11:15
harry the hippo - 11:15 - 11:45
Our set will begin with several original tunes before degenerating into a few well-selected covers. It’s free to get in and drinks are cheap. No RSVPs or apologies needed, just feel free to stop in if you’re so inclined.
This 4:34 clip from the Making of Sacrament feature on the Lamb of God Walk With Me In Hell 2xDVD is one of the most real representations of the creative process in an actual rock band–and the ridiculous tensions and passive-aggressive manipulations often present within–that I have ever seen.
This Wednesday, March 31st, I’ll be performing live with Nikki Lomas, Paul Szewczyk and Ryan Tully-Doyle as DIETRICH at the Skybox (http://www.myspace.com/skyboxsportsgrill, http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-skybox-bar-and-grill-san-diego). We are scheduled to go on at 11 PM and play until 11:30. Our set will begin with several original tunes before degenerating into a few well-selected covers. I believe it’s free to get in and drinks are cheap.No RSVPs or apologies needed, just feel free to stop in if you’re so inclined.
I can’t decide whether this one’s genius or awful or somehow both. It’s certainly unforgettable, but also questionable how well it conveys the Beatley-Badfingerish-10ccesque vibe of the music, even to a 1970 audience.
Evidently the bass player from Octopus, Nigel Grigg, went on to join Split Enz, so that’s…something.
Actually I could see someone doing this costume for Comicon. I guess all you’d really need would be the boots, the string thong, a load of green bodypaint. Oh, and of course the hyper-disturbing tentacle arms, but then again I’m sure there are people into that sort of thing, in fact I’m sure I know a couple.
Okay, it’s no secret I listen to a lot of music. I’ve listened to tons of stuff, across all genres, and I’ll pretty much give anything a shot. However, I have to say I’ve absolutely never seen cover art as truly heinous as this in my entire life:
I mean, clearly the budget was tight here, but OH MY GOD. D&D first edition art looks like Carvaggio in comparison.
Good, practical advice about writing music press releases is in short supply. As someone who’s both written and received many, many press releases, I can tell you Michele Wilson-Morris’ article “Seven Mistakes To Avoid When Writing A Press Release” is sound. Particularly on-target is #2: “Don’t Believe The Hype? Don’t Write the Hype”:
Your objective is not to make people laugh. You may state factual details about your event, but saying that your upcoming performance is “going to be the bomb” or using adjectives and/or phrases that actually infer how great it will be is taking it a little bit too far…Bragging is not professional, and it is actually quite a turnoff.
Hear hear! However, considering the number of delusional characters I’ve run into making music, I’d amend that to “Don’t write the hype — even if you truly, truly believe it with all your heart. Because you’re wrong.”
Also, as someone who has also written more than his fair share of search-optimized copy, I wouldn’t advise one to spend too much time on #6: “Keywords: A Press Release’s Best Friend”, as there’s little more painful to read than amateur attempts at search optimization — just make sure you state clearly what the release is for and include all relevant information, and let the search engines work it out for themselves. Alternately, I’d recommend hiring a search-optimization expert to do the work if that’s really a major concern for your project, or at the very least doing some serious reading about proper SEO tactics before awkwardly wedging “hottest rock band San Diego” into every other sentence.
Ha ha, oh man, I know craigslist is a lowest-common-denominator pile of idiocy even at the best of times but I just ran across this incredible post in the San Diego musicians’ listings and it’s, well,worth sharing.
“Hi! I’m the current Bass player of “Back Slot”. Yes..The guitarist is trying to get rid of me but as u see it says in there ad. we need someone to make the band go farther..well i attempted that and there kicking me out know. The drummer is supper cool but the guitarist is NOT. He has a major power trip and will ignore anything u suggest to help the band out. Don’t be 100% sure that your going to have that concert one day that they promised you or that really big gig that could of changed our lives. His mom controlls everything and let me say you will get know where with them. I have known the guitarist for 5 years, and trust me I know how hes like. YES DON I KNOW YOUR READING THIS RIGHT NOW, YES DON I KNOW EVENTUALLY YOUR GOING TO TELL WHAT JOE WROTE AND HES GOING TO BE HOVERING OVER YOUR SHOULDER READING. well guess what…I DONT GIVE A SHIT! I was always there by your side in case your bass player showed up, I was going to play guitar but u needed a bassist for your band, and guess what! i SOLD ALL MY GUITAR SHIT AND SACRIFICED ME PLAYING THE GUITAR CAUSE YOU NEED A BASSIST. and now your kicking me out after all these years i have helped..just cause i thought we would be a better band if we found a new singer….wow…if you kick me out…i will NEVER SPEAK OR LOOK AT YOU EVER AGAIN..dont even plan on it budy. That’s exactly why Brandon quite dude. cause u were being to fucking ignerant to even think about the slight possibly of getting a new singer or or a second guitarist. NO it wasnt because he didnt like punk rock its cause he didnt like a 3 person shit band that couldnt sound good live!…yet im saying all of this but i still have the heart to upload the songs to island records(which takes forever) so u guys can get somewhere….its bullshit Don. I cant believe you.”
For context, it appears this masterpiece of venting was prompted by this posting:
We are Back Slot, a pop punk rock band from san diego area.
We have been doing many shows in the area, we played at the epicentre, jumping turtle, Humphreys, channel 1225, and more….
And we need a bass player, that is at least 15 - 20yrs and that would be nice if you have your own equipment, we practice at Imperial Beach.
We just got our new ALBUM released “Now That You’re Gone” but we had some issues with our bass player.. now we need someone that will help the band go further!!
We have some shows booked too, so we need someone ASAP.
Without exaggeration or hyperbole, Liam Lynch’s homemade show Lynchland is one of my favorite things on the internet. Great fun, catchy songs, homebrew greenscreen, and self-rendered effects make for far more entertaining viewing than virtually any corporate-produced network show.
The downside to Lynch doing it all himself, of course, is that new episodes can be few and far between, especially when the show has to take a backseat to paying work. It’s been a long dry spell lately, but finally Lynchland Episode 23 is up at http://liamlynch.net–haven’t watched it yet, but with guest appearances by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz (both of Look Around You) you can bet it’ll be first in the queue tonight. And hey, if you haven’t seen Lynchland before, it’s all new to you: scroll down to the bottom of the podcasts page and start at the top (maybe skip the Viewer Mail episodes).
Monday night, February 8th, I’ll be performing with Paul Szewczyk and Ryan Tully-Doyle at the Ruby Room in Hillcrest (http://www.myspace.com/therubyroomsd, http://www.yelp.com/biz/ruby-room-san-diego). I’ve never been there before myself, but the yelp reviews seem particularly positive. It’s a free show; we will be the third of four bands playing (the others are The Touchies, Starcrossed, and Fractophone), and I’m told we go on around 10:30.
Below, you can listen to a track from our recent Skybox show; you can safely assume what we play at the Ruby Room will not be too dissimilar.
Also: Paul, Ryan, and I have finally managed to settle on a band name we can all live with: Dietrich. I hope we can live up to it.
So I guess we need a myspace or something now? Do people still do that?
If you happen to be free tomorrow evening (Wednesday, January 13) I’ll be performing with Paul Szewczyk and Ryan Tully-Doyle at the Skybox (http://www.myspace.com/skyboxsportsgrill, http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-skybox-bar-and-grill-san-diego). It’s open mic night from 8-10, then we will go on around 10:15 and play a variety of original compositions and cover tunes you are unlikely to recognize. I believe it’s free to get in and drinks are cheap.
No RSVPs or apologies needed, just feel free to stop in if you’re so inclined.
This Wednesday, April 14th, I’ll be performing live with Nikki Lomas, Paul Szewczyk, and Ryan Tully-Doyle as DIETRICH at the Skybox (http://www.myspace.com/skyboxsportsgrill, http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-skybox-bar-and-grill-san-diego).
This Wednesday, March 31st, I’ll be performing live with Nikki Lomas, Paul Szewczyk and Ryan Tully-Doyle as DIETRICH at the Skybox (
Good, practical advice about writing music press releases is in short supply. As someone who’s both written and received many, many press releases, I can tell you Michele Wilson-Morris’ article 
Ha ha, oh man, I know craigslist is a lowest-common-denominator pile of idiocy even at the best of times but I just ran across this incredible post in the San Diego musicians’ listings and it’s, well,worth sharing.
”
Without exaggeration or hyperbole, Liam Lynch’s homemade show Lynchland is one of my favorite things on the internet. Great fun, catchy songs, homebrew greenscreen, and self-rendered effects make for far more entertaining viewing than virtually any corporate-produced network show.