Happy 2011, everybody! If this year brings as much change as 2010 did for me, I'll count myself lucky to remember my own name, or to still be a mammal.
But onto the topic for the week...
So if I say 'what's the first R & B act that leaps to mind?', what do you come up with? Personally, I'd probably think of Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, maybe Earth, Wind and Fire, depending on what day you catch me. Did anyone happen to come up with the Who? If I say name a punk artist, you'd likely come up with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, maybe even Green Day...so who's first thought was Sting?
Once upon a time, the Who's slogan was 'Maximum R&B'...and the Police originally billed themselves as a punk band, although they lacked some credibility in that field - they were far too accomplished on their respective instruments, and Andy Summers (when he replaced original guitarist Henri Padavani) had far too much experience under his belt, let alone a penchant for jazzy chords. Still, these bands did their best to pass themselves off as something they knew they weren't...why?
For whatever reason, public pop music (in the broadest sense of the term - including rock, reggae, ethno-death-math-metal, etc) is married to alcohol. Where does a band look for gigs, at least in their early days? Most often in bars. How do you get bars to hire you? Prove, or at least suggest that your band will encourage drinkers to buy drinks from the bar as they listen to you. How do you get drinkers to do this? Play music they expect and like to hear - such as r & b...or punk...or funk, depending on the bar, the year, the neighbourhood, etc.
Often, when I'm getting to know someone and I tell them I'm a musician, they ask me to characterize the music I play. It's also accepted wisdom that a new band needs a slogan or bi-line that encapsulates what the band is about. This is difficult. How easily could you sum up the Killers in one catchy phrase? The Mars Volta? Kings of Leon? How about something simple, like Kiss? Even then - I don't find it easy to sum up a band that way. Do you?
The Mike Luno Band has settled on a couple of phrases to sum us up. 'Sting meets the Chili Peppers' is handy to put folks in the stylistic ballpark of what we play. 'Thought-Rock Served Hot & Funky' is our slogan. A very good friend of the band recently suggested that this sells us short - and in fact hurts our credibility with serious listeners - as the lyrical content isn't exactly 'party on, dude'. Anyone who pays attention to lyrics - and I'm heartened to hear there are a lot of you - might consider our slogan a bit lightweight in comparison. BUT - if you were to hear us in a bar, you'd hear us play our more up-tempo, catchy material, and I daresay a bar manager's first question about our band would probably not be 'do you write substantial, thoughtful lyrics?' Meanwhile, I've sometimes run across bands that claim substantial, thought-provoking songwriting and - they bore me to tears. The music and lyrics still have to be dynamic, exciting, original and succinct - at least in my book - and for better or worse, that's what we strive toward. Can that be summed up in a sentence that makes bar managers, live audiences, headphone-listeners, lyric-readers and the band itself happy? Mighty tall order. Want to try your hand at it? That's what the comment section below is for... ;)
But onto the topic for the week...
So if I say 'what's the first R & B act that leaps to mind?', what do you come up with? Personally, I'd probably think of Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, maybe Earth, Wind and Fire, depending on what day you catch me. Did anyone happen to come up with the Who? If I say name a punk artist, you'd likely come up with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, maybe even Green Day...so who's first thought was Sting?
Once upon a time, the Who's slogan was 'Maximum R&B'...and the Police originally billed themselves as a punk band, although they lacked some credibility in that field - they were far too accomplished on their respective instruments, and Andy Summers (when he replaced original guitarist Henri Padavani) had far too much experience under his belt, let alone a penchant for jazzy chords. Still, these bands did their best to pass themselves off as something they knew they weren't...why?
For whatever reason, public pop music (in the broadest sense of the term - including rock, reggae, ethno-death-math-metal, etc) is married to alcohol. Where does a band look for gigs, at least in their early days? Most often in bars. How do you get bars to hire you? Prove, or at least suggest that your band will encourage drinkers to buy drinks from the bar as they listen to you. How do you get drinkers to do this? Play music they expect and like to hear - such as r & b...or punk...or funk, depending on the bar, the year, the neighbourhood, etc.
Often, when I'm getting to know someone and I tell them I'm a musician, they ask me to characterize the music I play. It's also accepted wisdom that a new band needs a slogan or bi-line that encapsulates what the band is about. This is difficult. How easily could you sum up the Killers in one catchy phrase? The Mars Volta? Kings of Leon? How about something simple, like Kiss? Even then - I don't find it easy to sum up a band that way. Do you?
The Mike Luno Band has settled on a couple of phrases to sum us up. 'Sting meets the Chili Peppers' is handy to put folks in the stylistic ballpark of what we play. 'Thought-Rock Served Hot & Funky' is our slogan. A very good friend of the band recently suggested that this sells us short - and in fact hurts our credibility with serious listeners - as the lyrical content isn't exactly 'party on, dude'. Anyone who pays attention to lyrics - and I'm heartened to hear there are a lot of you - might consider our slogan a bit lightweight in comparison. BUT - if you were to hear us in a bar, you'd hear us play our more up-tempo, catchy material, and I daresay a bar manager's first question about our band would probably not be 'do you write substantial, thoughtful lyrics?' Meanwhile, I've sometimes run across bands that claim substantial, thought-provoking songwriting and - they bore me to tears. The music and lyrics still have to be dynamic, exciting, original and succinct - at least in my book - and for better or worse, that's what we strive toward. Can that be summed up in a sentence that makes bar managers, live audiences, headphone-listeners, lyric-readers and the band itself happy? Mighty tall order. Want to try your hand at it? That's what the comment section below is for... ;)