The state of the Art 2007

Looking back on the music scene over 2007, I don't think there was anything particularly exciting about it, but it was interesting for the direction it started to take. The most significant thing to happen was Radiohead dumping their record company & selling their new record online for what ever price you choose to pay. Whilst there was always going to be people downloading it for free, it still gets the music out there to be heard & they're already cutting out the middle man (recod company) so any money that is made goes directly into their pockets. Not to mention the boutique box set available from their website which included a CD, Vinyl & artwork. All available for ₤40. Again, straight into their pocket. The rules are changing & it's time for Artists to change too or get left behind. The business is becoming a lot more DIY, the punters are going to be able to download specific songs rather than buy an entire record, so the art of putting together 12 tracks won't be so important anymore. Ash have already stated they won't be selling anymore LP's, they're only going to make singles. As for how this effects Pisces, I want us to be known as a boutique band, our music will be available for download as well but for those willing to buy the CD or LP, the artwork & presentation has to quality, as well as what's on the actual album. Real music lovers have to know if they spend their money, they're going to get a quality product.

Elsewhere it seemed to be more of the same, Justin Timberlake seems to be the reigning king of the industry - he tends to cross boundaries & appeals to all types of listeners & generations. R & B continues to be popular & the stars younger & younger, Rhianna & Chris Brown are still in their teens but both are huge. As for Rock, EMO continued on it's merry way, particularly Fall Out Boy who seemed to come out to lead the pack although My Chemical Romance was a close second. Got to admit, I don't mind FOB, I like that they don't mind taking the piss out of themselves & their video's are usually funny. Unfortunately, there was no real danger anywhere, no band really stood up & poked it's head above the crowd which was a shame, but the next revolution is always only just around the corner..

Personally, my favourite album last year was Killing Jokes 'The Death & Ressurection Show'. Released in 2002, it has Dave Grohl on drums & totally kicks ass. It's everything a heavy album should be in my opinion, crunching guitar's, monster riffs, killer vocals & fucking evil in parts.. but also with a soft side. Loved it. Other standouts for me were:

'How do you sleep?' This single of John Lennon's 'Imagine' album is just an amazing track. The production is amazing & the way Lennon tracked his vocals is just so Lennon. Noone else could've made this track, totally blew me away.

Dizzy Rascal - 'Maths & English'. Rasket was back with a dope record, my favourite MC by a long shot. Apparantly tore it up at BDO.

'Impossible Germany' - Wilco - Although I thought the overall record 'Sky blue Sky' was a disappointment, this particular track was outstanding. First heard it waiting for the Brunettes to come on stage at San Fran & it even blew me away then..

Speaking of which - my favourite live show, single, & outstanding Kiwi record was easily the Brunettes 'Structure & Cosmetics' with the single 'Her Hairagami Set' - unique, produced really well, great songs, looked good (& different) - just an outstanding year for them. Deserved more recognition than they got.

Lastly of course a huge year for my boys Silverchair, Dan came through again & wrote a great record of avant garde, intelligent, up beat rock music - blew away crowds all over the world and just continued to produce excellence. Never fails to put me in a good mood this record.

Biggest disappointment was the dull Wilco record & the depressing Bloc Party.

Anyway, they were my favs & just some observations, hope 2008 is just as interesting for both the industry & the mighty Pisces.

Hi ho, it's off to work we go

Played San Fran last night. About 35 people showed up, was an appreciative crowd, at one point during the quieter moments of 'Hope' the whole room was silent. Was quite a thing, I can usually hear chatter chitter but we seemed to have won them over last night.

Opened with a new track - Over you - which we had only rehearsed once on Monday, it worked ok. It was a track I was hoping Carly could sing but it's in too low of a key so we'll be working on that to get it closer to what she's comfortable with.

Set list was:

Over you

City Streets

I'll wait for you

Lover

Jimmy Jones

Hope

Secret Garden

Broken Pieces

Only a fool

We probably could've (& should've) squeezed in another track, but I was too slow on the uptake..

Funnily it was the quieter tracks - Hope, I'll wait for you, Jimmy - which seemed to go across the best. The rockier ones seemed a bit souless to me. Then again, it's hard to gauge what the audience is enjoying, sometimes you think you've duffed a track & someone will comment how much they like it. As was the case last night with Broken Pieces which I thought was an average rendition of, but Kate said it was her favourite.. go figure. It's hard for me to be objective about things sometimes, even while we're playing I'm critiqueing everything, audience response, my playing, my singing, the other's performances. I might hear a duff note, which most people will completely miss..

Overall was happy with the gig, really nice to see Mum's brother & his family come along as well as Graeme's brother & Fam, I think we play music that can appeal to most ages, as you need to if you're going to play big gigs & sell a lot of records.. but yeah, happy with the show, no other gigs lined up so back to door knocking. Might try the Adelaide.

Till next time..

Blend 05/12/07 - Radio with pictures

Here's some photo's from last Wed show. The middle is the Hohiria street crew. Good bunch.

It years 20 years ago today..

Sargent pepper and the band played last Wed night at Blend.

The setlist was:

Fall again
Control
City Streets
Secret Garden
I'll wait for you
Lover
Fallen
Hope
Broken pieces
Masquerade
Only a fool

The show went well, we soundchecked with 'Turning away' after which the bar manager told me to turn it down - even though I thought it was already barely audable, so down it went again.
Not many people showed, that's not necessarily important - as long as we're consistantly good people will come, but as far as getting more gigs there the bar manager has to justify the cost of paying us. I might have to promote us playing a bit better. We're probably one or two songs short of really putting on a great show too, we have good songs but I feel we need a couple that really hit hard & take us up again. Will work on that, unfortunately there's not a song tap you can just turn somewhere, you're a slave to the music, it comes in it's own sweet time. I think it's best to trust it & let it lead you rather than try to force it out.

Back to the gig, we started slowly, my harmonica crapped out on me again, I can't get clean notes out of it anymore it's too jammed with gunk. I'll need a new one soon. After that though, Control, City Streets & Secret Garden all went well. The guys are learning the songs now so they're more confident playing them. It was the first public outing of 'I'll wait for you' which is a love song sung by a guy who's just died singing to his wife, I think it's a great song & it sounded good live. Rest of the show went alright, Dave took a video of 'Lover' which I'll get put on dvd, finished with a rockin version of 'Only a fool', I always felt the chorus was a bit bare, it had potential but the chords left too much space, I changed the Em to an octave higher & it fills the gap nicely so the song sounds a lot fuller, very happy with it now.

Anyway, that's it for Pisces for 2007. Looking forward to getting straight into 2008 & having Carly's lovely vocals back.

Business time

First of all a big 'Congrat's' to my homeboy Ragin who's now a proud Daddy to little Rajan jr. - as yet unnamed I believe. Much love to you & the lovely Lexis. make us proud.. :)

Two shows coming up:

Wed 5 Dec Pisces at Blend.

Lover
Control
City Streets
Secret Garden
I'll wait for you
Hope
Oh my
Fall again
In the meantime
Masquerade
Only a fool

We have practice this Sunday, couple of things about the show: I'm going to get Mike to open the gig with a bit of a drum intro, perhaps keeping a regular time on his hi-hat while doing a few combo's before Graeme & I come in with the main riff. Should be good.
I'm also going to perform Oh my solo. Which may or may not go down well in the pub. Not really suitable for a solo acoustic track, but the set needs it so..

The other gig is also at Blend on Saturday the 15th. It's for our work Social club function. Myself and two workmates are playing rock'n'roll covers as 'The Merrymen'

Who do you love? - The Doors
Money - The Beatles
Maybelline - Chuck Berry
Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
A hard days night - The Beatles
That's alright Mama - Elvis
What you want me to do? - Elvis
School days - AC DC
Great balls of Fire - Jerry Lee
Hound Dog - Jerry Lee
Rocker - AC DC
Roll over Beethoven - The Beatles
Kick out the Jams - MC5

Out of all those songs I'm most excited about playing Kick out the jams, a legendary rock track by the Motor City 5. I think Pisces will start covering it too.
The bars open to anyone, some come on down if you want to hear some kick-ass Rock'n'roll!

Christmas gigs

Well, where to start? Unfortunately our Nov gig at Blend fell through due to clashing with bookings so I'm at him now to sort one early for us in Dec. It's such a freakin pride swallowing, soul destroying process trying to get a bar to take a chance on you. To them you're just another band that doesn't even play music people are gonna know, why the hell should he bother? You try to give them a sense of what you're trying to achieve & get them believing a little that it can actually be a successful venture but until they see it with their own eyes you're basically pushing shit uphill. That's why every show we play is so important, we proving ourselves everytime we play & for every listener we win over with a good show, 10 others will be put off by a bad one. But that's what it makes it so much fun right? These are the days that I'll look back on fondly, struggling for gigs, sweaty shaking hands before we play - this only happens once in a bands career so might as well enjoy it. The birth of the band.
Have also been offered a gig at the Wellington Musicians club Christmas function on Sat Dec 8. It's a six song set with five other bands, if it works out it'll be the first time our name has been on a flyer being distributed around town. That's pretty cool. It would also be pretty sweet playing to a bunch of musicians, like minded people that'll be listening to the band with a discerning ear.
Myself & two other Asteron staff are also forming a band to play at our social club Christmas function. I got to choose the setlist so I indulged a little & chose old rock'n'roll tracks by Elvis & the Beatles & Chuck Berry, that sort of thing. It's been a fantasy of mine to play this type of set for a while so I totally get to indulge myself.
Anyway, will post later when & if the gigs get the greenlight.

The day after the day after.

Gig went well, better than I was hoping. We ended up using another bands PA so hired it off them for $125 which was a lot better than the $350 Vidcom was charging us. One of the guys in the band we hired it off 'Noodles' came & set it up for us so that was one headache averted. Almost forgot to cancel the already booked PA & only remembered on the bus home which resulted in a mad 018 call from the bus & missing my stop, thus walking home from the basin making me even more stressed than I already was.
Actually can't remember ever being that nervous. At the beginning of the show when we kicked off with Secret Garden I put my hand up in a rock star pose & realised it was shaking - definately not rock n roll - I put it back down pretty quickly.
Set list was

Secret Garden
Control
City Streets
Lover
Portrait
In the meantime
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade

Over all it was good, started strongly with the first three tracks, lost a bit of momentum, then finished strongly with the last three. Masquerade was the best we've played it, it was a strong way to finish the show. Overall I give it a 8/10. Not perfect but effective in showing what we are & do.

Spoke to Jono the bar manager afterwards, he was happy with the way things went & the crowd we pulled. He offered to get us back but he wants every sixth song to be a cover. That's a compromise I think I can live with, I've been thinking Helter Skelter & Kick out the jams, but we'll wait & see.