On this episode of INSIDE MUSIC, host James Shotwell calls Bryan Garris of Knocked Loose to discuss his band’s upcoming Pure Noise Records debut, Laugh Tracks. James and Bryan discuss Knocked Loose’s recent van troubles, the work they did with Will Putney to make the album something special, and the band’s hopes for what people take away from their latest release. James also gushes about his love for Bryan’s writing, and the two end their chat with a few anecdotes about the struggles all artists face when attempting to make it past border patrol.
The song you hear in this episode of Inside Music is “Counting Worms” off Knocked Loose’s new album, Laugh Tracks.
You may already know this, but Inside Music is available on iTunes. Click here to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
If you’re anything like me, you probably started the day by recognizing that the start of a new work week had indeed arrived and then immediately began shaking your fists at the sky in anger. Monday is rarely anyone’s favorite day, and from what I have seen firsthand it feels safe to say it’s the one day of the week some people outright hate. I guess to them the arrival of the work week symbolizes the end of their quote/unquote freedom, and as a result they head into the office/factory/restaurant/store with a negative outlook already on their mind. This leads to bad attitudes, which only makes the experience of being at work worse, and for some reason it also seems to make time slow to a crawl. We’re not about that life, and we hope this post can do the same you that the song contained within it did for us.
There is a quote from H.L. Mencken that I have kept on the wall in my office for the better part of the last half decade. It reads:
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
I could spend several minutes and paragraphs exploring the history of the black flag and its use in counter-culture proclamations against perceived acts of tyranny throughout time, but suffice to say it’s a symbol intended to send a message that a person, group, or community are no longer willing to sit idly by while corruption and wrongdoing continue to thrive. If there is anything we in the alternative music community have learned in 2015 it’s that no one has the right to say they have no place in the battle for a safe, welcoming scene. Between the rampant accusations of sexual misconduct, the low payout artists receive from streaming services, the rise of crimes against bands on the road, and the ever-present, albeit rarely discussed division that exists between various sub-groups of kids who claim to belong in this scene, there has never been a more urgent time for people to speak up, be active, and in other words fight for the community they claim to love.
This isn’t just a message to you, the reader, but also one to myself. I think it’s entirely possible for anyone to get caught in a routine of subpar living because we think we lack the power to drive substantial change,and it often isn’t until an outside forces tells us otherwise that we begin to believe in ourselves. If you feel the same, don’t worry. It’s normal. Too normal, in fact, and that is why it’s important to remain aware of your surroundings at all times. It doesn’t take long to find some corner of alternative music where controversy or problems exist, but it’s almost impossible to find anyone taking it upon themselves to inspire meaning change. It seems everyone wants to be the person who yells “Fire,” but no one wants to grab an extinguisher, and if that trend continues it won’t be long before we no longer have a scene at all.
Stray From The Path have long been a band who wore their opinions and hearts on their sleeve(s). They may have started out as any other unknown hardcore band from Long Island does, clawing and fighting for any piece of publicity they received, but over their last two releases it has become increasingly clear this band has undergone a change that made them something akin to a modern day Rage Against The Machine. I’m not saying they have the same sound or technical prowess of that group, but the reason for their existence, as well as the reason they continue to grow from release to release, seems to revolve almost entirely around the fact they say what others are afraid to even acknowledge. In a time where it seems most artists would rather write about the same three or four topics that have always been a selling point for alternative music than risk being seen as controversial, Stray From The Path are breaking down walls and shoving a fat middle finger in the face of anyone who says they are out of line. Their music is about awareness over sales, and it’s because of their diehard dedication to seeing improvement from the community, as well as the individuals who populate it, that I knew they had to be featured in one of our Motivation Monday posts.
The new Stray From The Path Album, Subliminal Criminals, finds the band being outspoken as ever as they tackle everything from the rise of sexual assault within music, to the misguided complaints of those experiencing ‘first world problems.’ It’s a chaotic and heart-pounding listening experience that can and will inspire you to fight for change in your own life. It’s the kind of record that could provide the soundtrack to the day you finally take a gamble on the lifelong dream you’ve kept a secret from your friends and family, or it could be the score to the day you kick the ass of the bully who has been making fun of you or people you know due to sexual preference. Whatever the case, it will motivate you to make a positive change in the world around you, and in my opinion there could be no better sign of a great record. If you agree, click here and pre-order a copy of Subliminal Criminals today!
James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records. Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.
Hello, everyone! Thank you for joining us on the second to last day of 2014. We have been planning to release this interview for a few weeks, but due to a few technical setbacks it is just now seeing the light of day. The good news is, none of the material discussed is outdated. Hooray!
This site exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
There comes a point in the career of every great artist where they learn to love where they are at and stop waking every morning feeling like they must do everything in their power to gain a bit more popularity. It’s impossible to pinpoint when exactly this moment occurs, as I believe it is different for every individual, but in the case of The Banner I think that time might have come during the several years that passed between their two full length albums. Their latest, which just arrived a few weeks back, showcases a band completely comfortable with themselves and their audience. They still push things forward, and in doing so continually challenge their fan base, but you get the sense when you’re listening that the music being created was first made because it is what the members wanted to do. It’s not about breaking out or crossing over. It’s about making something you want to hear, and doing everything in your power to get it right.
Recently, Banner founder and frontman JSS hoped on a Skype call with editor James Shotwell to discuss the new album, as well as the many lessons he has learned working in music over the last decade. You can read highlights from their conversation below.
The Banner’s new album, Greying, is available now through Good Fight Music.
H: Hello Joey, how are you?
J: Just got home from work, actually. I’ve got a handsome young gentleman helping me with chores right now (laughs).
H: That’s great to hear man. It’s also great to know that The Banner have a new album out now.
J: Yea, that is great to hear. Kind of hard to believe it myself.
H: I’ve been listening to the record for the last few weeks, and I’ve been thinking about the fact I was still in college the last time a full length came out. That’s kind of crazy, but it’s so good.
J: It has definitely been a minute.
H: I want to start with the record, especially since that is why we are chatting right now. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a concept album, but the way the album fades in and out with static leads me to believe some might see it as a single piece of music instead of a collection of songs. Was that your intention, or am I simply reading way too into things?
J: If you play the album on vinyl, the beginning of the first song and the end of the last song play perfectly into one another. It creates a loop, which is both kind of cool and really gimmicky, but it serves a purpose for us.
H: Right before the album begins, in the midst of the first song, there are some audio clips that sound like narration from a movie. Can you shed some light on that?
J: I don’t know specifically what you’re hearing right there, but we did mix in sound clips from a documentary about the Betty Ford Clinic, as well as another mental health hospital, and a few segments from the final interview Johnny Cash gave before he died. We had that song, “The Dying Of the Light,” and I found this interview between Kurt Loder and Cash, which was filmed a few weeks before he died. Everything he said, especially when you consider the fact he died so soon after, fit perfectly with the message I was trying to get across. The hospital bits, and for the life of me I cannot remember the name of the second institution, came from documentaries I would watch for lyrical inspiration. I watched these documentaries over and over again, but nothing was flowing, but after seeing that Cash clip things began to click. I decided to throw as many clips, sounds, and general noise as possible into the track. I’ve always been into making complex and challenging music, which is both a good and bad thing I guess, but I like to put as much material into each track as possible. I like my music ugly. As ugly as possible, in fact. I love flat notes. I love long keys. I love weird chords. Things that make it sound like you might have messed up, I love. That’s where the sound clips and random chaotic shit comes into play.
H: I like that. It does make things together, but it also weaves the album together through the constant sense of chaos. It’s really unique in that way.
J: Thank you.
H: The first track on the album is big and long, so you never really know what to expect. The next few tracks are short and angry, but then you get to “Hold Me Down” and things slow to the point it almost feels like a chant. Is there anything special about that track for you?
J: A song like that is a good example of the kind of music I listen to on my own. When I am home I listen to groups like Have a Nice Life. I love drone music. I love Godflesh, and really any band with long and sad stuff.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a hardcore kid for life. That is what I came up listening to, and to this day I can give almost any hardcore band a bit of my time, but if I am home and can choose what to play there is a lot of other stuff in the mix. I like ignorantly violent and heavy hardcore stuff, as well as industrial stuff. I don’t mean dance music industry, but crazy shit, like someone dragging a chainsaw against a sheet of metal industrial. Dark shit.
So I have all this stuff on rotation and I start to wonder how I can make music like that. How I can make some ‘Joey’ music, if you will. That is what you hear on tracks like that. I’m making what I want, and I give no fucks about what other people may want to hear. I’m going to make sad drone and industrial stuff. That’s what I want to do.
H: We touched on this earlier, but it has been a number of years since the last full length album. Are you someone who writes all the time, or do you wait until you have a record to create?
J: I can’t stop writing. I love writing music. Every time I have to do it, I follow through, and once it’s complete I want to do more. It’s like a sickness. I wake up late at night with lyrics in my head, usually plugging them into my phone or writing them down in a notebook. I hope no one ever finds my notebooks or they will think I am some kind of insane person. I make lots of notes, including the kind of instrumentals that would accompany the lyrics. It’s a little crazy.
H: The new album came out on Good Fight Music, which is a label I don’t know a lot about. What is your relationship with the like? I know the old records came out on Ferret, which is no longer a label.
J: Oh, Ferret and Good Fight Music are the same people. Ferret exploded because the guys behind it got kind of screwed. That’s their story to tell. The guys behind Good Fight Music believe in us. We could have put out music elsewhere, but they trust us and we trust them. Also, they get me. When we talk we understand one another. What am I going to do? Put out a record with someone who is 20? I’m an older guy now, and I want to put out music with other grumpy old men.
H: That’s an interesting comment about not wanting to work with someone who is in their early 20s. Do you create music for anyone in particular, or are you creating to keep yourself sane?
J: I think it’s a bit of both. I know the kids who like The Banner, and in most cases they are a little older because they have grown up listening to us. They know what I like because I am always on social networks talking about the things I enjoy. And just to be clear, we don’t have a horde of fans. There is a tight group of people who enjoy The Banner, and many of them have supported us for a while. We’ve gotten to know each other as a result, and when I write I do think about how they will feel about whatever new thing I am working on something new. So I guess I would say I write music for people who already like The Banner. I’m not concerned with creating a breakout track or crossing over to another genre. I want to entertain our fans, our weirdos. Every year we gain a few more, and that’s good enough for me.
H: I like that outlook. A lot of labels and press people will try and make each record out to be the next great album, which leads a lot of artists to think about reaching new heights of popularity, but you’re happy with the people you already have following you. It’s not about constantly growing your fan base, but rather creating stuff your current fan base wants to hear, and I really respect that.
J: To be honest, everything else is relatively easy. The majority of hardcore is three or four huge bands, followed by twenty mid-level bands who are doing the same thing. There is nothing wrong with that, it all sounds the same because that sound is really fucking good. I could do that too, but for better or worse I am a quote/unquote ‘artist’ who wants to make something interesting. I know what they have heard before, so now I will try something new just to be a dick, and I think people who like our band get that I am being a dick just because I can. They know I like to challenge them, and they welcome the challenge. I would rather have these weirdos with Banner tattoos than be popular. Don’t get me wrong, if I wake up tomorrow famous I won’t complain, but I am happy where I am at.
H: I don’t have many more questions, but I am curious about your tour plans in 2015. I saw a date in February, but what else do you have in the books?
J: We’re playing a show with Beatdown Concrete, which might be the last show we play because I fully intend to murder someone at that show. They’re one of my favorite bands of all time and I am not afraid to say it. We’re also playing a show with Suburban Scum, which again will be nuts. Anytime we play in Jersey with Suburban Scum it’s violent madness. Just chaos. Thank god there are places like Starland Ballroom who welcome ridiculous shows like that.
Don’t get me wrong, we have other tour plans as well. We have a few dates with All Out War, which again feels like we’re looking for trouble. We are also going down south and to the west coast. We can’t really do long tours anymore, and we don’t necessarily want to. We don’t like to push our luck.
H: You’re not a baby band anymore. You don’t need to play 300 shows a year.
J: Yea, I’m not going no month-long tour. Fuck that. I’m over six feet tall. Sleeping in a van is hell for me. I know people want to see us, but they have the internet. They can enjoy our music online. We book enough shows that people willing to travel to a nearby city can see us. If not, oh well. That may make me sound like an old asshole or something, but it’s the truth. I don’t want to play shows in front of a bunch of kids who have never heard of us. What am I supposed to do? Push myself even further to try and win over some young punks I don’t care about? Nah, I’m okay.
H: That’s all I have for you. Do you have any final comments or thoughts that you would like to share with our readers?
J: Thanks for buying our music and supporting us. Not for nothing, this is a little weird because we talk to our fans all the time. We are constantly engaged. They don’t have to wait for random opportunities like this, but I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me. Thank you.
Hello and welcome to the fifth installment of Eric Morgan’s How To Kill Your Band. This column offers advice to up and coming artists from the perspective of a professional musician who has thrived with and without label support over the last decade. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
An Introduction:
I’ve been in the music industry as an artist for nearly 10 years now. In that decade I’ve achieved nearly all of my childhood music dreams, but I’ve also made just as many mistakes that run over my mind before I fall asleep each night. A wonderment of how a few different decisions, rerunning in hindsight, would work out in some alternate universe. This ever creeping determinism is a fallacy I’m quite aware of but one that I will never completely shake, though it’s these experiences I’ve learned the most valuable lessons. These are the things I’d like to share in a series of mini-blogs I call How To Kill Your Band.
Part 5 – DIY Touring
So you’ve made it through last week’s post and countered the bluntness of why anyone would even consider booking your band – well then you must have something special or you’ve got Apple level marketing genius. Either way, it works. The next step in the heroic quest to get your music on the road is to figure out how to book your own tours. Like I mentioned last week, learning to book tours independently is one of the few skills learned during bandlife that can eventually turn itself into a legitimate job so it’s worth diving into if you want to stay in the industry postmortem. Luckily for you, five years ago I took my just-graduated-college naivety and dove headfirst into booking AHAF’s first tour making just about every mistake you could possibly make. We’ll gloss over the embarrassing stuff and get right into a few tips and resources I’ve discovered that can help get you started.
Indie On The Move
Back in 2009, an “agent” had booked us our first tour that we’d been promoting for months along with our record label. Three weeks before it was to start, the agent vanished and we came to find out only half the dates were actually booked. We should of just canceled the tour, but being young and dumb I decided to finish it myself. After several tedious days of Googling/MySpacing venues in different cities I ended up coming across IndieOnTheMove.com. At the time, it was an oasis of venue information conveniently sorted by location and provided just enough hope to keep me going. To this day it continues to be a valuable resource for diy touring bands and has a great community providing not just venue information but it’s own tips for new bands on the road. However, I learned fairly quickly that having venue information is only valuable if they have in-house talent buyers specific to your genre. In most cases, promoters separate from the venue are responsible for putting on shows and this needs to be under consideration when contacting venues directly. Nevertheless, it’s a superb starting point when searching possible venues to go after on your initial routing.
Local Metal
One feature of MySpace that I still miss to this day is the ability to search for bands by location. Sure you can use ReverbNation* or Bandcamp but it’s not nearly as comprehensive as the service Tom built. Further, finding bands only lets you creep their show flyers in hopes of finding a mention of the promoter. Fortunately, the Local Metal Facebook network has become a directory of venues, promoters, and even current local bands in each state. As you’ll see in the main page’s info, each state has it’s own separate FB page and that page contains the directory of local contacts. Even more than being categorized by state, each state’s page has gone another step and conveniently listed contacts by city. This is by far my favorite diy find for collecting promoter contacts and has been invaluable on tours I’ve booked in new territories and contrary to the name, it provides worthy contacts across multiple genres.
*Quick note on Reverbnation, don’t use it. Or at least don’t show it to people. I live just a couple blocks away from the RN headquarters so it pains me to advise against a local startup but recently an A/R for a large record label mentioned to me that part of his daily email triage is to automatically delete anyone who sends a Reverbnation link with their submission. Seems harsh right? But it’s similar to applying for a job with an aol.com email address – it projects that you’re somewhat out of touch with the modern trends and realities within the industry.
Learn how to write an email
Now that you have a list of names to contact it’s time to, well, contact them. Here’s where you need to explain why someone should book your band and do so in a way that provides the breadth of necessary information in an organized, easy to read message. The importance of brevity here cannot be understated. Writing a 10 line deep first paragraph describing the virtues of your band’s dietary decisions is the quickest way to get passed over. Understand the volume of emails a promoter receives and try to not make their life any harder. The subject line should contain the bands on the package along with the specific date requested while the body needs only to list the bands’ most pertinent marketable information and links to Facebook and notable YouTube videos. Think of what a promoter might use to promote your band and give them the tools to do so right off the bat.
Above all else, the best advice I can give is to stay organized. Carefully maintain your contact and routing spreadsheets, respond to every email, and learn to love Google Docs. Booking, like anything, takes practice and you’ll make a fair share of dumb moves but it rewards those that are obsessive in their determination. Treat everything you book as if it’s going on your resume because as I’ve mentioned, it’s a skill that can turn itself into a job in an industry where experience is valued over degrees.
