We're just a few days away from the release of our band's second EP. "Trial + Virtue, Volume One" is coming out on Tuesday the 25th and we've tried to get the word out as well as we can. One thing is obvious to us at this point; it's easier to promote something that is already available than it is to promote something that hasn't been released yet. Perhaps the most frustrating part is that we won't know how effective our efforts have been for another few weeks. But we are excited!
Already, the focus of our efforts has shifted. Now we need to address our merchandise. Our goal is to have new and better "GOG" swag very soon. Everybody knows about t-shirts, posters and stickers. That's the easy stuff. But we're looking at other items too. How do we set ourselves apart? Thongs? Shot glasses? We've probably considered two dozen different ideas. A few of them are really exciting, but our fingers are still crossed because we need to make sure we're selling quality. Whether its our music, performances, or merchandise, we're a group that believes in quality. Unfortunately, quality adds work and increases cost, which is why we're just so darn busy all the time.
We're also looking at the possibility of another music video. As many of our fans know, we already have a video for the song "Fight," off of our last release. After that experience, music videos have been a touchy subject. We spent a LOT of money on a video that didn't ultimately accomplish the goals we had for it. Any time that happens in our camp, it means there's gonna be serious debate going forward. We all see the value of a good music video, but we also don't want to repeat previous mistakes. We have some very talented filmmakers offering to help, which might ultimately make the decision for us. Nevertheless, we'll probably have heated debate over it for the next two days before we make a call.
Otherwise, we've had a bunch of cover gigs (which is how we all pay our bills) and have started on even more new music. We're really excited that we might have finally secured a rehearsal studio space that will be "command central" of everything we're working on. In 3 1/2 years, we haven't really had a place to really call our own. If it happens, things will only move that much faster. Of course, our "bat cave" will be a super secret location, only revealed to those who can recite pi to the 100th digit while doing jumping jacks on the back of an alligator.
So start practicing, ya'll.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
New Year, New Plans
As the four of us rang in 2011, we knew that a lot of things would have to change. A lot of our goals for this band remain unfulfilled, and we all agreed that this would be the time to make the changes we needed to make. So we set our first band meeting of the new year for Monday, January 3rd, at a Starbucks in Hollywood, FL.
On the to do list: put the finishing touches on our next 3 song EP, name it and agree on artwork, settle on a release date, discuss promotions, shows and distribution. Those collectively were item #1. So you can see how this went. Once we got a bunch of these specific items taken care of, we arrived at the most major point of the meeting. You see, the four of us are almost always the first to admit when we suck at something. On this day, like some meeting of recovering addicts, we all collectively came to the same conclusion. We totally, utterly suck at running this band. Our business has literally scraped along with such a painful limp that its amazing we are still doing this. Truly, it has only been our love of music and the support of a lot of amazing people that has moved us forward. It was our rock bottom moment. We suck.
BUT, like any successful AA meeting, or anyone doing anything right around the turn of the year, we decided to start anew. We devised a plan for not sucking in 2011. Our business needs to be taken as seriously as we take our music. The only other thing we take that seriously is hauling ass out of the van if Mark C lets one rip. That's probably the most urgent item on our "serious" list.
What we're excited about now is that we've delegated each responsibility of the band to a different person. One person is in charge of merchandise, another organizes all bookings. On and on. No sticking your nose in someone else's business unless they need help. Obviously, new music remains a group effort, but we realized that any business in the world that lasts more than a week has different departments. The best qualified people do the jobs that are relevant to their skills. Aha! It's a whole new world for us.
In fact, that meeting was the genesis for this blog. It's another great idea that should've been done a long time ago. Only now, it was given to one specific person to get off the ground right away. That's a world of difference from how we used to operate. In the few days since that meeting, it's been amazing to see the sheer number of things that have moved forward. We plan on continuing that trend for good. And we're expecting great things from this year.
A quick closing note: between now and January 25th, the release date for "Trial + Virtue, Volume One," you can go HERE to help us make this EP a success. It provides many different ways to support our new release and we came up with a whole bunch of different rewards for your help at each level. Please take a look!
On the to do list: put the finishing touches on our next 3 song EP, name it and agree on artwork, settle on a release date, discuss promotions, shows and distribution. Those collectively were item #1. So you can see how this went. Once we got a bunch of these specific items taken care of, we arrived at the most major point of the meeting. You see, the four of us are almost always the first to admit when we suck at something. On this day, like some meeting of recovering addicts, we all collectively came to the same conclusion. We totally, utterly suck at running this band. Our business has literally scraped along with such a painful limp that its amazing we are still doing this. Truly, it has only been our love of music and the support of a lot of amazing people that has moved us forward. It was our rock bottom moment. We suck.
BUT, like any successful AA meeting, or anyone doing anything right around the turn of the year, we decided to start anew. We devised a plan for not sucking in 2011. Our business needs to be taken as seriously as we take our music. The only other thing we take that seriously is hauling ass out of the van if Mark C lets one rip. That's probably the most urgent item on our "serious" list.
What we're excited about now is that we've delegated each responsibility of the band to a different person. One person is in charge of merchandise, another organizes all bookings. On and on. No sticking your nose in someone else's business unless they need help. Obviously, new music remains a group effort, but we realized that any business in the world that lasts more than a week has different departments. The best qualified people do the jobs that are relevant to their skills. Aha! It's a whole new world for us.
In fact, that meeting was the genesis for this blog. It's another great idea that should've been done a long time ago. Only now, it was given to one specific person to get off the ground right away. That's a world of difference from how we used to operate. In the few days since that meeting, it's been amazing to see the sheer number of things that have moved forward. We plan on continuing that trend for good. And we're expecting great things from this year.
A quick closing note: between now and January 25th, the release date for "Trial + Virtue, Volume One," you can go HERE to help us make this EP a success. It provides many different ways to support our new release and we came up with a whole bunch of different rewards for your help at each level. Please take a look!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)