Local Music

Local Music... the ups and downs of being a local musician.

As a local musician I would like to discuss some of the many things that go into playing at that run down juke joint, or up scale night club. Though the fans may see us as easy going musicians with a laid back lifestyle and a knack for pleasing the crowd, theres actually a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into performing regularly. Local musicians all face one main obstacle, balancing countless hours spent writing and practicing, with playing gigs that may hardly pay for you bar tab at the end of the night. Some bands get luckier than others and some bands work incredibly hard to become what they aspire to be. But none the less, it's not as easy as some people make it seem. We have to deal with booking agents and bar owners (some better than others), bad sound guys (its inevitable), drunken fans, bad pay, bad rehearsals, terrible work hours, and a constantly shifting schedule. And if thats not enough to break you, try pouring your heart and soul into a song, practicing it for hours and then walking up on stage and TOTALLY BOMBING IT! Every great musician has done it... most call it "paying your dues" and some pay all the dues they can afford until they eventually give up. But for those that stay with it, and hear each second of screeching feedback as an opportunity to get better, they will most likely reach their goal. Breaking big is one thing, but simply playing and performing for others, seeing those feet start a tappin' and those heads start a bobbin', when people you've never seen before are mouthing the lyrics to your songs... thats the bee's knees! It's those instances in time when the lights are shining down and the band is really grooving that get most local musicians going. And most of us just keep coming back for more. Jumping those obstacles and still putting on a good show is what it's all about, and in my opinion, artist like this need to be celebrated. SO lets check some out:

Two bands I've previously mentioned in my blog are Hazy Ray (New Orleans) and GIVERS (Lafayette)... check these bands out. THEY KNOW WHATS UP!

Two Baton Rouge based bands I've really been into lately are Minos The Saint and Levee Daze

A few more to check out...

    Alexandra McCullough is and LSU alum now based out of Shreveport.

And last but not least WILCO.... every local band has a group to look up to and I think WILCO is a good place to start... They are basically the epitome of a local band gone big! They were just a few guys playing around Chicago when eventually they got noticed, but in the midst of recording their album the record label decided to drop them, leaving them with all the rights to the album. After selling it online for a while they eventually signed again with a new label and grew ever so popular. Oddly enough that first album they recorded, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, still remains to be their most popular album; showing just how unstable and unpredictable the music industry can be!
Check it...

What to keep on your musical toolbox!

Whats a musical toolbox you might ask? Well, it can be anything your little musical heart desires. If you're a composer, listener, performer, critic, or enthusiast, it doesn't matter! It's just important that you have a screw driver at your disposal to ensemble that new home entertainment system you just bought! But no seriously.... its important to have a "bag of tricks" when dealing with music. That way you're not some Joe Schmo just gettin' by. You want a toolbox not a swiss army knife. So here are some gadgets you might enjoy, or at least be happy to be aware of. 

First off if you're going to carry on a conversation with a musician about their music or even anyones music you better be relatively educated about it. Heres a website that plenty of music majors use to sharpen their skills. http://www.musictheory.net It may seem boring to you or even bring you back to those music appreciation days where you couldn't help but think about how that socially introverted, music theory teaching assistant was allowed to be in front of people. But hey, they say its good to be edumacated in a little bit of everything right?!

Next is for composers. Be innovative and daring. Right a piece that uses some super weird sounds! Go out... observe the world... and record it! Use a phone, iPad or computer! Heck you could even write down what you hear! And if you think you aren't getting good enough quality on your samples then use this website. And if you're not a composer you should still check out these sound samples... its quite amazing what we can do with sound these days. http://www.freesound.org

Random tip: get good rhythm and pitch... They say its innate but you don't have to believe them. Practice it. Taps beats on your desk. Hum a tune while you're walking. Pluck songs out on your keyboard as you hear them. Don't think it's possible? Check out this awesome TEDtalk. 

There are oodles of things you can do to make your toobox bigger. It just might take some time and investments. But music is good for the soul! It's an outlet, a form of expression, a language! Take some time to learn the language and try and talk to someone with it! 

So far underground they could double as coal miners...

This time around I figured I'd hit you with some artists you've most likely never heard of before... I'll do my best to touch on a few different genres, but its tough to even scratch the surface of the plethora of artists that exist in the underground music scene.

We'll start off with a seriously experimental artist. This guy has found ways to incorporate acoustics with electronics in an incredibly mesmerizing fashion. He is from Iceland, and is spreading his musical aura throughout the world with the help of his amazing band and fellow experimental musicians that are constantly carving new pathways in a the musical forest. 

Lets move on to some indie/pop/grunge/experimental/rock..... its really quite impossible to explain this next girl. She's an interesting combination of child/tomboy/genius/musician. Take a listen to her this first video, and then feel free to expand further. Her music has such a wide variety of sounds, and coming from London she fits right in with ever growing underground scene they have there. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnuBD7oba_w ----- This is another great video by Micachu.... interesting right??

Last I'll go local. Here in Louisiana there are a few bands that everyone knows about (at least us crazy teenagers) and these bands deserved to get recognized for their hard work. Heres a band from Baton Rouge called Hazy Ray... they're currently residing in New Orleans and are looking to expand their music as far as it will go. 

A lot of people know of this band already but I cant help but support them. Their upbeat genre has been described as worldly, sunshined, afro-beat pop music. They are simply taking the word indie and making it their own again. Its unique, fun and interesting... if you haven't heard them, check them out. All of their songs are just as good as the last.

Song Writting

    This little gem is to get people aware of the things that happen behind the scenes these days in the music industry. Most artists now are just "performing artists" not creators. This can be a topic of interest. Does it take away from the emotion of the song? Performance of it? Some very famous people are terrible song writers but great performers. (Whitney Houston-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_by_David_Foster) Some people spend there whole lives writing music and never get credit for it. Also.... Why are people getting paid millions to write the lyrics to that Beyonce song up there??? My second grade brother improvises better songs than that while he's singing in the shower! 

   Check out this video... plenty of rap, R&B and soul music these days are very limited lyrically. Or are just plain vulgar and uninteresting, but there are still artists out there that are writing top notch, high quality songs. And what talent is must take to freely spit out such wordy lyrics at a fast pace to rhythmic music.