SOME THINGS I'VE LEARNED...

Over time, I’ve learned a few tricks with respect to music, and thought they might be worth repeating. Some are money-savers, and some are time-savers. Not in order:

CDS OF SETLISTS TO THE BAND has been a big time-saver—necessary for Deathgrass because we’re all very busy people. The setlists include the arrangements, and the CDs have recordings of the songs in the order and with the intros, endings, and lead breaks the way we’re going to play them on stage. Minimizes the need for practice. And everything’s timed, and the Rap scripted out, because I refuse to leave anything to chance.

“PATSY CLINE” STYLE STUDIO RECORDINGS. Big money-saver. Patsy and her band would walk into the studio, play the song live, and it’d be note-perfect in one take. All it takes is being thoroughly practiced beforehand—and the sound engineer being able to set levels right. The “Santa’s Fallen” album was recorded that way, and so were the Pineyfest “demo derby” cuts done with professional Nashville session musicians.

POSTERS. Something I did for the Dodson Drifters, 30 years ago: we had a stock recognizable-design poster we used for every concert—just had to fill in the when and where. These days, one does it with computers, and I can send out the posters both as Acrobat (*.pdf) files and as photos (*.jpg). The stock design is a time-saver—and it’s “cultural shorthand” that helps reach that large population with limited attention spans.

“VIDEO IS THE NEW CD.” So saith Canadian DJ Len Amsterdam, and I think he’s right. No, the band haven’t done any music videos, but we should. This may be one reason people go to concerts instead of buying records—they want the “multimedia experience.” The Southern Pigfish album—all music videos, issued on flash drive—will be an experiment to see if this is right. As usual, it’ll be done for very little money—one reason it’s taken so long.

TECHNIQUES FOR CHEAP MUSIC VIDEOS. The video of Porter Wagoner’s last song, “Committed to Parkview,” is a case in point; deliberately understated, with a lot left to the imagination. I’ve seen—and used—the technique of mixing fast-moving slide show with music and text overlays to make a video out of still photos. I’ve seen one done with simple line drawings, too.

BECOME IDENTIFIED WITH A CAUSE. In Deathgrass’ case, it’s the Food Pantry. Publicity for our benefit concerts for them is publicity for the band, and folks who attend to support the cause end up becoming fans of the band. We become “Oh, you’re the guys who…” It’s an application of the Refrigerator Rule: If you put something in, you get to take it out later.

REPUTATION BEFORE RECORDING. I think that’s what Deathgrass is doing; the Dodson Drifters did it, too—we were regionally famous before we ever recorded anything in the studio. (Actually, we’d built the studio first.) I talk about wanting the album, but we haven’t done much (too busy); we just keep performing, and getting better (and better known). By the time the album comes out, it’ll be a sellout.

UPDATE: Music at least two days next weekend, at City Hall Friday night and the Bay City Arts Center open mike Saturday night. Sunday will be the first Sunday of the month, normally the bluegrass jam at the Forestry Center—provided they haven’t shut down for the year. Winter is coming early this year…

Joe