Blame Canada.

I was recently visiting Buffalo for work and stumbled across a Toronto radio station.  Not only was it playing surprisingly good music but I learned something new.  Did you know that The Band was 80% Canadian?

For a country with a relatively small population, our neighbors to the north have delivered the music world some notable musicians: in the 1960s, we met Neil Young and in the 1970s RUSH blazed a trail thru North America.  With both of these entities crossing geographical borders in popularity, I started to wonder why some artists/bands are popular in some markets, but not in others.  I know, I know, I can already hear my friend Jay-Ro calling me out on the Tragically Hip, but I still decided to dive into this subject.

Lack of success in markets but not in others, makes me think of the phrase “Big in Japan”.  Historically, this used to describe western based musical groups who achieve success in Japan but not necessarily in other parts of the world.  For example, the band Cheap Trick, which had been known as the "American Beatles" in Japan achieved widespread success with their multi-platinum live album ‘Cheap Trick at Budokan’.  The band had previously struggled to break in the mainstream American market with their earlier albums.   

Arcade Fire’s Reflektor Tour stopped at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, in March 2014 and was only half-full, but then the band drove north to 2 sold-out shows at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto a couple of nights later.  Yes – hailing from Montreal certainly played a role in that but there are other bands in the same boat.  Hedley is a Canadian pop-rock group originating in Abbotsford, British Columbia who have won/been nominated for Juno Awards in the double-digits but have never had any success south of the border.  But that does not mean things are not happening in Canada!

Although New York continues to be some of the most trendsetting cities in the world, Toronto is also trending.  Similar to New York and London, Twitter has even given Toronto its own “trending topics" section.  Personally, I have been trumpeting the talents of City & Colour, but unless the lead vocalist/guitarist Mr. Dallas Green is performing a duet with Pink, they are flying under the radar as well.  Or you can see for yourself this November & December when they are on tour.  Some notable dates are Wednesday, November 18 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles; Wednesday, December 2 at Stage AE in Pittsburgh; Thursday, December 10 at Terminal 5 in New York City & Friday, December 11 at Echostage in Washington DC.

With all of the musical resources that exist on the internet, you would think physical borders would be erased and more attention would be spent on listening to the music rather than inspecting passports.   But maybe it is just the opinion that Canadians are more humble?

Thanks for reading.

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts.

Other than Sooner enthusiasts and fans of the 1990s NBA, I am going to guess that most people, let alone sports fans have never heard of Stacey King.  You may be surprised to know that he was a role player who contributed to three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1991 to 1993.   Similar scenarios, although involving even lesser known individuals, have been infiltrating the music industry for decades.  For example, would there be hit singles such as “American Girl” & “Breakdown”, if there were no Heartbreakers?  The first Heartbreakers’ name that I ever learned was Benmont Tench, the organist/keyboardist of Tom Petty’s band.  The reason I came to know his name was by reading the liner notes of several 1990s albums and seeing him listed as a session musician. Green Day, The Wallflowers and Ryan Adams are the first to come mind.

Along these same lines there is Neal Casal.  This singer-songwriter had a modestly successful solo career (1995’s ‘Fade Away Diamond Time’ is a must listen), but what has had made him a career musician is the fact that he is best known as a member of Ryan Adams' backing band the Cardinals, and currently plays in the Chris Robinson (The Black Crowes) Brotherhood.  There is also Karl Denson, who had a triumphant run as a solo musician and band leader of The Grey Boy AllStars, but is now the touring saxophonist for The Rolling Stones.  Settling into the role of unheralded session player or band mate seems to be vogue these days, particularly if it allows you to become a career musician.

In fact, Fran Strine’s documentary film ‘Hired Gun’ which is targeted for a late 2015 release, tackles this very same subject matter.  It seems to me that some artists are more comfortable not being the superstar or household name and are more at ease with the idea of taking their names off the marquee.  Is there something about stepping out of the spotlight and being a part of the crowd that is more appealing?  There are numerous examples spanning  the late 1960s to the present day.   Groups like Blind Faith formed & disbanded in a whirlwind, leaving one unbelievable album in its wake.  Journey sprouted up as a side-project of musicians who had been playing with Santana and the Steve Miller Band.  The 1980s had the Traveling Wilburys and in the 1990s there was Temple of the Dog.  These days, Justin Vernon, (aka Grammy Award winning artist Bon Iver) can now be seen and heard as the lead vocalist for the band Volcano Choir. 

I believe this is the modern concept of synergy.  I once worked with a band that included a descendant of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner as well as a drummer of two different influential alternative rock bands and it was more than just a musical anthropology experiment.  The musicians worked extremely hard to blaze their own trail, and although the end result landed their one album in the discount record bin, it was a firsthand experience for me to see that music is not entirely all ego.  So next time, please keep an eye on the musicians standing in the shadows of the stage and listen closely to how they contribute. 

Thank you for reading

Just Say No.

Do you ever go to a concert only knowing one song bythe headlining act and the band actually plays that very same song first? To your surprise has it ever happened that when the band launches into song #2, the set actually gets better.  I typically do not write about one band at a time, but my brother-in-law Raimy has told me previously that he likes when I write about bands that I am listening to at the moment.  Well the two of us, along with our friend JJ decided to check out The War on Drugs and I was more than pleasantly surprised by their 15-song set.

 

It had been a journey to get to my first show of The War on Drugs.  A couple of years ago my friend Jen randomly met frontman Adam Granduciel’s father (feel free to go back & read my May post - My friend's cousin's band first), and once again, I was being encouraged to listen to a new band, unseen and unheard.   I did some digging online and what I heard I liked, but I was unable to see their Club Café show in September 2011, or their Altar Bar show in March 2014 so this past month that changed.  Along with approximately 750 other people, I was able to finally see the band live at Stage AE.

A lot of their songs scream both Dylan as well as E Street Band particularly the make-up of the band (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards & saxophone) as well as the anthem-like songs.  “Lost in a Dream” went to #3 in Belgium for a reason, right ;)?  And more importantly in light of some other recent shows that I have seen (i.e. My Morning Jacket) sonically they are doing everything right (except here & there when Granduciel literally takes my comparisons to Bob Dylan to a new level and could not fully be understood thru his vocal mic).  So in an effort to honor the 50^th anniversary of Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival and the infamous remarks made by Jon Landau ("I have seen the future of rock and roll, and its name is Bruce Springsteen.") we might finally be seeing the offspring of those thoughts and its name is The War on Drugs. 

I know that I am not breaking any new ground.  The band has now been around the block a few times, having toured extensively and received numerous positive reviews, but I believe that when we stumble across new music that deserves a larger audience, it should be shared.  The band has a few more North American dates this summer before heading back to Europe, then headlines Radio City Music Hall this fall, so if you get a chance give them a listen before tickets are extremely hard to come by.

Thanks for reading.

Cassette culture.

When my neighborhood bar played ‘The Immortal Otis Redding’ and ‘Astral Weeks’ on vinyl recently, it reminded me that all of the songs from my past still have a place in current day.   The songs reminded me that when I was younger, I would capture those songs and share them with friends.  The songs even motivated me to dig through my attic and find a box of mix tapes that have survived my multiple moves.   ‘Jams from Joppa’, ‘They Might Not Have a Hockey Team in Minneapolis, but They Have Good Music, were just a couple of titles that jumped out at me.

Rob Sheffield wrote in "Love is a Mix Tape": “The times you lived through, the people you shared those times with — nothing brings it all to life like an old mix tape. It does a better job of storing up memories than actual brain tissue can do. Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they can add up to the story of a life.”  These days, most people think of hip-hop when they hear the term mix tapes, but when I reference a mix tapes, I am not talking about 2002's "50 Cent Is the Future", but of a moment in time like hearing BRAD's "The Day Brings" on my way to work.  In fact, I believe at some point in time I will hear every song that I ever placed on a mix tape in a different setting.

But do people still make mix tapes to capture those moments?  Or has the word mix tape been replaced by playlist?  DJs in certain instances are no longer using vinyl, but I know that bands are putting time and energy into the track listings of their albums.  In fact, according an interview with Billboard, Coldplay (who has countless popular singles) views itself as an “album act”.  What was once an obsession for the LP generation, sequencing, for the iPod generation is a dying art form.  Think of all the time put into selecting a wedding song or the mix tape you made for your girlfriend in 1999?


My co-worker Sean O once told me that he no longer has time to listen to new music, let alone seek it out.  However in my life, I am still finding new music or putting myself in a place to hear it.  So if I was making a mix tape in 2015 (on a 90 minute Maxell tape of course), I believe I have my first 45 minutes:

When We Were On Fire – James Bay

All the Pretty Girls - Kaleo

We Don’t Eat - James Vincent McMorrow

Comrade - Volcano Choir

Old Pine – Ben Howard

The Wolf - Mumford & Sons

Travis County - Gary Clark Jr.

From Eden - Hozier

Houston Train - Houndmouth

Rich Girl - Lake Street Dive

Hero - Family of the Year

*AUTHOR'S NOTE from June 25, 2015* - I am excited to read that the cassette is not lost on musicians either.  Not even 3 weeks after writing this entry, I read about Martin Sexton's new album - Mixtape of the Open Road!  I highly recommend starting with the song "Pine Away".

My friend's cousin's band.

I will never forget The PlayTrains or the other bands I saw during my days booking and promoting concerts for the Radical Rock Reactionaries at Westfield (NJ) High School.   Being a music lover living outside of New York City area (and being invested in concerts starting in the early 1990s) there was always someone encouraging me to listen to a relative's band or a friend of a friend who was a musician. 

In fact, for the past 20 years I have been taking the time to listen to these bands.  Unfortunately, a lot of times this leads to disappointing conversations, since the music either does not match my personal taste or I do not believe I can “sell” others on giving the band a chance.  While I always try to at least offer some type of response, there is not much you can do to make your review sound positive. Although different than the classic “it’s not you, it’s me” cliché, I try to find a way to lessen the fallout.  For example, after telling a person that the band is not the right fit for a gig, I try to follow that up with something positive, such as complimenting the bass line or something specific I liked about the lyrics.

And although I have been disappointed in the past, other times I have been blown away at the talent that exists less than 6 degrees of separation.  The first friend I made at summer camp (Greg) introduced me to a band of his elementary school classmates that has me still wondering if Nik, Fran & Billy are making music in 2015.  And most recently my friend Jennifer introduced me to her cousin's band Clipart.  It was actually really exciting to tell her that I enjoyed what they are doing musically.

But even in the age of Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, it is not uncommon to learn about new music thru the classic medium of “word of mouth”.   In fact, Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) could still be the most important type of social media there is.  Although studies that I have read point towards Word of Mouth Marketing being most prevalent in discovering mobile games, at this year’s SxSW in Austin, TX there was a breakout session titled, “Streamed It On The Grapevine: Music Word Of Mouth” which was dedicated to artists maintaining an intimate connection with their fans and preparing for the next wave of music word of mouth where human suggestions and algorithms work together.

Who will be the next bands to keep this form of promotion alive?!  Or will we not know until your friend Jon tells you about a band that has your former next-door neighbor’s son ondrums and & vocals?  In all sincerity, it is always exciting to hear music that is new to me.  Please keep the recommendations coming.

Thanks for reading.

"If it's too loud, you're too old"

Are you still going to see the concerts of bands from the 1990s?  Do you now have to make the decision of either going to see Queensryche or Geoff Tate's group that performs Operation Mindcrime? Or is the dilemma to see Live even though Ed Kowalczyk is no longer the front man? Van Halen or Van Hagar (what do you think it would it take to get Michael Anthony to come back to play)?  There are lots of choices when it comes deciding where to spend your concert dollars (with music), but hopefully your music decisions do not get any harder than this.  

Now, as my friends and I get older, the decisions seem to be geared towards where is the show and when does it start?  Ideal circumstances are venues in walking distance or a 10-20 minute drive.  And of course checking out small intimate shows (with hundreds of people as opposed to thousands) are more preferable than driving out to an outdoor pavilion that is closer to Weirton, WV than it is Monroeville, PA, but nothing seems to draw more hesitation these days than the headlining act having a 10:00 PM set time.  I have learned that I am not alone in wondering the answers to these questions.

In a 2013 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology report, a team of psychologists at the University of Cambridge, designed a study to look at how our music-listening habits and attitudes toward music change over the course of our lives.  The Cambridge psychologists recruited over 9,000 people online and one thing that they examined was the contexts in which people might listen to music: at home alone, at home with friends, out with friends, at work, in the car, or doing housework.  Interesting to note is that the most common context was in the car, followed by home alone – and unfortunately not a live concert.  At the same time, younger respondents registered that they were more likely to listen to music in public.

The research does not show whether these differences are due to aging or generational shifts; but I would agree with the thought that listening to music on mobile devices, buying individual tracks on iTunes and walking around with headphones has undoubtedly changed the way we relate to music, which again and regrettably, ties back to the desire to go or not to go see live music.  

Thankfully, I believe the most recent and difficult musical decision that I have been faced with was whether or not to go see Lake Street Dive at Hartwood Acres or Band of Horses at Stage AE this past July 20.  And you will have to (re)read my post from December 2014 to see which concert I attended. 

Where does this leave me and my 35-45 year old friends as we seek out shows in 2015?  Well, I just booked the two bands Rake and the Braddock Brothers at Stage AE on Saturday, April 18.  Doors open at 7:00 PM ;).

Thanks for reading.

Stop & smell the roses.

Maybe you can identify with one of the following experiences:  Working as a bartender and/or waiter and making sure Heinz ketchup bottles are filled at the Independent Brewing Company; working with a band that has a Hammond organ player and needing to carry a Leslie Speaker up the stairs of the Pittsburgh Deli Company; or the hundreds of times you held the ladder for the guy who changed the letters on the marquee at the Bayou in Washington DC.  These are just some of the endless tasks that need to be done behind the scenes before opening the doors for a concert.

I understand that most fans/patrons are not there to observe the minutiae of working at a venue, but I am happy to report in my experiences, I am starting to notice that more attention is being paid to each valuable detail.  With blogs and comment sections on websites, not a lot goes under the radar these days, and fortunately, I do not seem to be the only person paying attention to details.  It is no longer the freshman or rookies carrying the bags to the gym, and even some superstars do not feel they are above the work that goes on behind the scenes.  

With Garth Brooks recently in Pittsburgh for six (6) shows in four (4) nights, leading up to the concerts it was extremely refreshing that he was 'cc'ed on operational emails, and participated in the onsale call the day tickets became available.  I also recall a concert promoter colleague of mine mentioning that BB King receives his payment in cash directly following a performance and is then escorted buy bodyguards/family to his Lincoln Town Car waiting outside each respective theater.  And one of my favorite music moments, while attending a sound check of a concert, Bruce Springsteen took the time to respectfully walk the drummer of Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers thru his song "Better Days" so that they got it just right.

I am about to embark on a project with a lot of moving parts, I am excited for all of the details that need to be ironed out before June 1 and I hope that after reading this, at the next concert you attend, you take an extra moment to absorb all that surrounds you.


Thanks for reading.