Dave Huffman is a musician and author of The Indie Launch Pad blog where he uses the insight he gained as a full time indie to share thoughts and advice for those wanting to enjoy an indie career in music as well. Follow him on twitter:@davemhuffman

So, you’re doing a lot of things right – you’re show is tight, you’re giving out some free tunes and encouraging people to share, you’re building up your mailing list and nurturing it with content, you understand social media.

You’re building fans.

Now what?

Keep repeating what you are doing?  Yep.

But what else? 

Ever thought about taking your existing fans and then connecting them with each other?

Think of it like a spider web or an offline version of twitter.  You connect person A and his friends with person B and their friends – those two groups come together, and networks expand – but more importantly, the infrastructure of your fanbase strengthens.

How?

Because everyone starts to become more of a family.  Or pretty good friends at the very least.

Then you’re shows have one more hook to grab people.  Great music, great atmosphere, GREAT PEOPLE.  Person A may now come to the show just to see Person B and so on.

Think about the promotional benefits too.  By doing this you are actually forming a REAL street team, not just some online “Hey, do this for us and we’ll do this for you” type street team.  I’m talking about real friends of the band that are friends with each other – that will join up and spread the good word about ya.

Anyways, enough of the anecdotal stuff.  Here are some ways you can work on this:

1.    Connect the Connectors with the Connectors (insert link)

Read Gladwell’s The Tipping Point?  Connectors are people in the community who know large numbers of people and have made a habit of making introductions.  You already know a few and they’re easy to spot.  Find the “connectors” in your group and introduce them to each other. 

2.    Encourage Social Media following a’ la Follow Friday on Twitter, etc.

This is why I LOVE twitter.  It’s seriously like a 24/7 networking event.  And in real-time too – not like email where you shoot someone a message and CC the other person, etc.  Hand pick people in your fanbase that have started to become friends and introduce them to each other through Social Media.  Twitter’s Follow Friday (#FF) is a great way to do this.  Be sure to give a good reason to follow as opposed to listing a bunch of names. Quality over quantity. 

Throw a festival around your band’s name and vibe

Typical concerts and shows only last a few hours.  Give your fans more of an opportunity to create memories and meet each other by throwing a multi-day festival.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a jam band to throw a festival.  Just make sure the fest atmosphere matches the vibe of your band and you’re good.  Throwing a festival also builds an entire cultural experience around your band, which can be a completely different topic – but my main point here is it gives your fans more opportunities to meet, connect, and build memories that involve your music.

Play house parties

I wish I would have set up more house shows as we were touring.  The small number I did play really generated more for us than any opening opportunity or high paying show ever did as they give you a opportunity to really get close and meet people and then introduce person A to person B.

5.    Show up at non-music events

I can’t tell you how crucial this is.  This makes you a REAL person, not just some schlub trying to hock his music on everyone.  If you’re going to be a REAL indie, you have to be a real person.  It’s just like owning a small business.  The more friends you have, the kinder you are, the more helpful you are, the better off you’ll be.  Just show up, provide support, genuinely network.  Which means, using YOUR network to help more than you rely on others’ networks to help you.

John Doe is the founder of the seminal Los Angeles punk group X, a solo artist and actor. John answers questions from our community members in the WWJDD? blog. Photo by Autumn de Wilde.

A Question from Bev

Hi John,

I just arranged a song which I thought was a pretty good cover of a popular song.  When I applied for a mechanical license, the publisher said it was a derivative.  I've had several people, including a musicologist, listen to the song, they all felt it was a cover.  My cover is similar to the Billie Jean cover done by Chris Cornell--no lyric changes, just slower tempo.  I'd like to know if Chris received a mechanical license  or was his version also treated as a derivative.

Thanks,

Bev

What Would John Doe Do?

Hey Bev,
   This is a tough one to figure out. It's similar to guessing whether or not I might like the arrangement that you've done, OR even like the song.  Chris Cornell is still really handsome but Billie Jean is sort of predictable & not the greatest song. At the same time, MJ did have a GREAT arrangement; wonder if that arranger got a writer's credit & share?  I've never proclaimed that I was a publishing maven, simply someone who knows the basics & has been to a few county fairs.
  If yr publisher & several others have deemed this a cover, it probably is, sorry. And to be honest I don't know where that dividing line is.  I would say that arranging a song while it's first being recorded is the easiest way to get a writing credit. Or to arrange a song that is public domain, that's a given.
   This is a similar situation as a drummer who creates a great part to a song & then wants credit for writing.  That is entirely up to the songwriter or courts.  I have heard that just recently musicians have been given been given writers' shares for a "musical hook" that didn't involve the chord changes or lyrics. That's an entirely different subject and seems very subjective.
hope this helps and as always, thanks for writing.
good luck, Jd  

If you have questions for John Doe about music, the music business or life feel free to email them to wwjdd@knowthemusicbiz.com.

For more information on John Doe check out theejohndoe.com or YepRoc.com .

John Doe is the founder of the seminal Los Angeles punk group X, a solo artist and actor. John answers questions from our community members in the WWJDD? blog. Photo by Autumn de Wilde.

A Question from Ed

Hi John,

  I've been a big fan of your music since the "X" days and recently enjoyed your performance in the tribute to Gram Parsons live DVD. You’re one of the greats in versatility.

 I saw you perform many years ago at The Skeleton club in San Diego. I was out there to attend "The Bozo School of Lutherie". Flip Scipio was my roommate. Are you familiar with him? "Talking Guitars" was a really good film about his work with acoustic instruments.

 My question is where was that in the "X" timeline around April 1980? Also at that point were you also pursuing interests in acoustic/country music?

    Thanks,

      Ed Markiewicz

What Would John Doe Do?

hey Ed,
  Most musicians that I know have much greater knowledge of music than the music that they create would display. The trick to making a convincing band is to narrow those influences into something that is focused & makes a clear musical statement. All of the X members were fans of all types of music from psychedelic rock to R & B to old timey folk. You might recall Exene & I singing a version of Hank Wms. Rambling Man in "X The Unheard Music" (filmed circa 1982?) and The Knitters first record was released in 1985. Also, you may or may not know that in the '60s folk music (Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Burl Ives) was considered "kid's music", records sold to adults for their kids.  So, I guess you could say we knew & loved that kind of music from when we were young'uns.
thanks for writing,
Jd

If you have questions for John Doe about music, the music business or life feel free to email them to wwjdd@knowthemusicbiz.com.

For more information on John Doe check out theejohndoe.com or YepRoc.com .

John Doe is the founder of the seminal Los Angeles punk group X, a solo artist and actor. John answers questions from our community members in the WWJDD? blog. Photo by Autumn de Wilde.

A question from an indie artist who wishes to remain anonymous:

Dear John Doe,

Say you signed with an indie label that had major distribution. Say, that for about a year things were fine. Sure, you thought that they could have been doing more, but who doesn't think that way? Say, that after about a year and a half, suddenly you can't get them to print up albums for you to take on the road... something about not selling enough for the major distributor to reprint the album. Say, you discover that the indie has been sending promo copies of the record out on the road with you, and despite the fact that you were supposed to be able to buy promos for less than cleans, you ignored the annoyance/injustice because you desperately needed product on the road, but later discover that the promos didn't count towards the final number your album needed to hit in order to be reprinted (per some strange rule you were unaware of). 

Say that after repeated attempts to communicate with this now-almost-defunct label, no one will return your phone calls or emails, as you attempt to figure out what is going on.

Say you learned all of that, and finally said, "fuck these guys, I'm going to print this up myself. I wrote the songs, I produced it. They have digital distro, and I'll never be able to touch that, and that's where the majority of the sales are going to come from. I'm going to print up some copies on my own for the road."

So my question:

If this fantastically hypothetical situation existed, is this what John Doe would do?

(I'd rather leave my name out, since I'm clearly trying to fly under the radar on this one)

What Would John Doe Do?

Dear Hypothetical,
   Funny how things just don't seem to change & believe me I can empathize.  A "friend of mine" is experiencing the very same thing w/ a different, or maybe not, label.  I have suggested that they print their own CDs since the label is being unresponsive & generally shitty, but another member of the group thinks that it's simply wrong. Both have a point since since once ethics are breached you're no better than them. The fact that they have used very shady business practices, that has directly hurt your ability to sell records, to me, allows you to "go forth & sell". I don't think we're crossing into Wall Street territory here. If they were supplying the CDs that you requested in the first place, they would have reached the re-print number and everyone's ethics would be in tact. It's also very wrong that they are selling you promo CDs, period and worse that they're passing them off as retail copies.
   If I were you I'd print the records and deal w/ the consequences if they happen. Those consequences can't be very harsh if they're in a near state of collapse. In all likelihood they'll never know what yr selling @ gigs 'cause they never come to them & probably won't read this.
hope this helps and, as always, thanks for writing
yrs in solidarity,
Comrade Doe

If you have questions for John Doe about music, the music business or life feel free to email them to wwjdd@knowthemusicbiz.com.

For more information on John Doe check out theejohndoe.com or YepRoc.com .

John Doe is the founder of the seminal Los Angeles punk group X, a solo artist and actor. John answers questions from our community members in the WWJDD? blog. Photo by Autumn de Wilde.

A Question from Ed:

Hi John,

I've been a big fan of your music since the "X" days and recently enjoyed your performance in the tribute to Gram Parsons live DVD. You’re one of the greats in versatility.

I saw you perform many years ago at The Skeleton club in San Diego. I was out there to attend "The Bozo School of Lutherie". Flip Scipio was my roommate. Are you familiar with him? "Talking Guitars" was a really good film about his work with acoustic instruments..

My question is where was that in the "X" timeline around April 1980? Also at that point were you also pursuing interests in acoustic/country music?

Thanks,

Ed Markiewicz

What Would John Doe Do?

hey Ed,
  Most musicians that I know have much greater knowledge of music than the music that they create would display. The trick to making a convincing band is to narrow those influences into something that is focused & makes a clear musical statement. All of the X members were fans of all types of music from psychedelic rock to R & B to old timey folk. You might recall Exene & I singing a version of Hank Wms. Rambling Man in "X The Unheard Music" (filmed circa 1982?) and The Knitters first record was released in 1985. Also, you may or may not know that in the '60s folk music (Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Burl Ives) was considered "kid's music", records sold to adults for their kids.  So, I guess you could say we knew & loved that kind of music from when we were young'uns.
thanks for writing,
Jd

If you have questions for John Doe about music, the music business or life feel free to email them to wwjdd@knowthemusicbiz.com.

For more information on John Doe check out theejohndoe.com or YepRoc.com .

Dave Huffman is a musician and author of The Indie Launch Pad blog where he uses the insight he gained as a full time indie to share thoughts and advice for those wanting to enjoy an indie career in music as well. Follow him on twitter:  @davemhuffman

Yea, I said it.

And don’t get me wrong, the few years I did it were wonderful.  I was doing exactly what I loved, got to see the country, meet new people, hear stories of my songs helping/changing lives, and just overall fulfill one of my dreams in life.

But I also missed out on a lot.

I missed out on some pretty cool trips with my friends.  Missed out on family functions, didn’t walk at my college graduation because I had a gig, my marriage suffered a bit.  And looking back on it – I pretty much lost the relationship with my brother and another person that I kind of looked to as an older brother.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, for a few reasons.  One to try and illustrate to you that it’s about the journey of creating art and not this ultimate goal of being a full-time musician.

But what I REALLY want to get you thinking about is WHY NOT PART-TIME? 

Or even quarter-time?

What if you found a day job that you really loved by leveraging the skills you gained through music?  See this blog if you are confused as to what those might be.

Say you made $30,000 a year at this day job.  And since job satisfaction is more important than salary, let’s say that you have creative freedom, some autonomy in your job, flexible hours, etc.  So basically you almost work for yourself.

Then let’s say you only play 4 gigs a month averaging out at $200 a pop.

YOU JUST ADDED ALMOST $10,000 A YEAR TO YOUR SALARY.

That doesn’t even count merch sales and cd sales that could add another $2,000 on top of that.

From there you could mess with the numbers all you want, but at the heart of it you can make some pretty sweet side cash AND have a blast by focusing on music part-time.

In fact, since EVERYTHING isn’t riding on music being full-time, I think you will find that you have more fun with it because you don't have everything riding on it being successful. 

What I mean is, I was so busy with business, promotions, and booking that I hardly had time to write and rehearse.  And when we played shows, I was so worried about all aspects of the show that I couldn't really absorb the fun of the show.

PLUS, like I said, I missed out a ton of time with my friends and family.  And without them, YOU ARE NOTHING.  Seriously.

Outside a venue before a gig a couple years ago, I was talking with Jeff Lewis of the Lewis Brothers and he said something to me that I thought was so wise:  “We spend half the month on music and half the month with friends and family.” 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing or trying to steer you clear of pursuing music full-time.  Go ahead and give it a shot.

Just don’t lose sight of what REALLY matters.  Ok?

John Doe is the founder of the seminal Los Angeles punk group X, a solo artist and actor. John answers questions from our community members in the WWJDD? blog. Photo by Autumn de Wilde.

A question from Sophia in Los Angeles

Dear John Doe,

My name is Sophia and I am 13 and looking forward to coming to your show at McCabes on the 11th. I’m from Montana but now we live here in Los Angeles. I play guitar, sing, and write songs.  I listen to all kinds of music but I love old country like Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and John Prine. Keeping that in mind, Do you know of any other artists that you could recommend?   

P.S will you please play take #52 at your show?

Thanks so much!
-Sophia

What Would John Doe Do?

hey Sophia,
  sorry didn't get yr note about Take #52 before the show but next time I'll do it. Yr definitely on the right track to get all the c & w greats.  How about Jeannie Sealy, Wanda Jackson, Lefty Frizzel, Sammi Smith, Roger Miller, Earnest Tubb, Donna Fargo, Lynn Anderson (great songwriter as well), Delmore Brothers, Emmett Miller & Bob Wills? to name a few. If you have a chance to see Merle Haggard live, DO IT ! He's one of my favorites & probably the greatest of the greats who's still performing.
best of luck & thanks for writing,
Jd  

If you have questions for John Doe about music, the music business or life feel free to email them to wwjdd@knowthemusicbiz.com.

For more information on John Doe check out theejohndoe.com or YepRoc.com .

Channeling Fleetwood Mac’s musical stylings with a hint of late-era Beatles, Family of the Year braid catchy melodies, stellar male/female vocals and personal folk tales to create some of the happiest and saddest music you’ve ever heard.  The band’s classic musical style has been integrated with a modern fanbase that the band continues to create and release new music for.  Be sure to check them out on Twitter and Facebook!

We're back from South by Southwest. It was so much more than we expected, and seriously the most fun we've ever had as a band. Despite all the complimentary libations, we're going to do our best at recapping our experience. Because and away we go....

Like we said in our last blog, we toured up and down and all around the country before finally making it to Austin. We played shows in Cleveland, Chicago, Toronto, Columbus, Milwaukee... While in Cleveland, we made friends with the staff at The Beachland Ballroom, the venue we played at that night. We stayed after hours and danced to Brendan Benson, Blur, and Abba, thanks to David, the best bartender slash DJ ever to walk the streets of Cleveland. When we got back to our hotel, something happened where Joe and Seb got in a huge brawl. Over what? We have no idea. Joe and Seb were covered in mud and we woke up with various combinations of the following: sore muscles, sprained fingers, chunks of hair missing from our heads, and cracked ribs. Then we ate Denny's for breakfast and were on our way.

While on the road, we were simultaneously trying to work on a separate project that we had started before we left. We had a friend ship out our computer with all our pre-recorded files on it, and we posted up in a hotel room in the boonies of some really cold town to meet our deadline. The band stayed up all night while Meredith and Joe finished vocals, and Jamesy spent his birthday mixing. We sent the project via really slow wifi just as it was due, which meant overstaying our welcome at said inn and lots of calls from the front desk saying we needed to get the hell out of there. Eventually we did.

With a couple days before SXSW, we stopped at a motel just outside of Little Rock, AR, where we planned a budget birthday bash for Jamesy. Pizza and drinking games at a cheap motel! As if we hadn't learned our lesson already, many towns in the middle of the country are not like LA. There's no late night delivery, chinese food, pizza... nothing. So we skipped dinner and got sloshed. We played King's Cup, which we are now currently obsessed with. You should see how fast we can plow through a 30-pack. That night ended in a pillow fight.

3/16/10

On our last leg of driving, we were really pumped that we were finally going to be pulling into Austin. The project we were working on was done, and we couldn't wait for whatever shenanigans the next four days had in store for us.

Just as we see Austin's downtown city lights in the distance, Seb got a call from our lawyer who had Steven Tyler on the phone for Joe. We're not kidding. He had just listened to our music and was so stoked on it that he had to talk to Joe, and said we sound like "The Mamas and the Papas on acid." If that's not a good start to SX, what is?

We arrived at our destination around 9pm, quickly got ready and met up with our manager Emily White and some friends downtown. We stopped by a couple venues, saw a few bands, met our UK booking agent Rob Challice and his boss Paul for the first time and Bon Iver's young and beautiful manager. We missed our friends Classixx play but hung out with them anyway because we like them. They gave us free beer and vodka. That's what friends are for, right?

3/17/10

Seb and Emily woke up early to have breakfast with a French lady with beautiful hands and a treacherously thick accent.  The rest of us stopped by the convention center to wait in an embarrassingly long line for some purple hologram wristbands and free backpacks, then bee-lined it to the nearest BBQ stand for pulled pork burritos. Meredith and Seb went back to the convention center for a podcast interview for LikeZEBRA and free beer, while the rest of us were sloths at the hotel until we could pull it together.

We all met up at the Virgin Free House via serious wristband transferring skills, where we polished off a number of free vodka drinks and Seb fell in love with three different girls. We wished our booking agent Steve Ferguson a happy birthday, and then headed over to Stubb's to watch Spoon. Our friend Sean was denied entrance because the door guy said he looked like a terrorist, and our lawyer Heidy ripped him a new one. Once we were in, Farley made his way through the crowd to the very front, only to realize he doesn't like Spoon. We hailed some cabs, and just as we got one, Farley disappeared into a bush. Meredith and our documentarian Chris went home in the first cab, where she was hit on by the driver and acquired his number. Farley, Joe, and Christina spent the next hour trying to hail another one. Jamesy and Seb were nowhere to be found, and we later found out Steve spotted Seb stumbling down the streets of Austin alone, heading back to the place we had stayed the night before, where he and James spent the night spooning our management and attorney.

3/18/10

We started our morning very hungover by drinking beer in the van and playing a day show at Cafe Mundi with our friend Sydney Wayser. We left shortly after to stop by the SPIN Artist Loft. But remember that project I mentioned earlier? The one we had to complete on deadline? Well, turns out there were some problems with the files, so Jamesy spent his afternoon fixing the project and FedExing packages while the rest of us chowed on Wahoo's tacos, downed vodka lemonades, played ping pong and got free stuff. Jamesy, we owe you! 

We then booked it down to a wine bar to play an acoustic show that was streamed live on Viewtopia. Saw our friends The Chapin Sisters, and then hauled ass somewhere else. Probably had too much wine by that time.

Later that night we stopped by Beauty Bar where Joe and Christina fell in love with various members of Moonrats, then went to Stubb’s for Band of Horses and Broken Social Scene. Not many details because we don’t really remember them. 

3/19/10

Seb, Meredith, Farley and Chris woke up early for the BMI brunch, then watched Emily speak on a panel about building a high value fan list. We stopped by the Fader Fort where we usurped some free Levi's and Lady Gaga t-shirts. We then went Maggie Mae's to play the Sonicbids party. Still thirsty and hungover, we drank water that tasted like beer and then booked it to The Ale House for our Coda Showcase. We killed it, if we do say so ourselves. Meredith and Christina charmed the pants off the British industry (not literally, we don't think), drank many more drinks, and then ran over to various venues to catch our friends and fellow Whitesmith family members (the funny ones) Margaret Cho and Kevin Avery tickle some funny bones. At this point most of us were seeing double. We went back to the Ale House to load out and watch some friends play, where Christina kissed a married man.

The next morning we booked it back to LA with eight people in the van and no hotel breaks so we could make it in time for our show with Gomez at the El Rey Theatre. We ran out of gas and hung out at an abandoned gas station in the middle of Texas for two and a half hours, and called a sketchy number where a man with a thick Texan accent said he'd bring us five gallons for fuel for $125. Eventually we made it home, showered, and played a great show.  It was Christina's birthday and she acquired a number of shots, so she left all her birthday gifts at the venue. Real smart, Schrodes.

Channeling Fleetwood Mac’s musical stylings with a hint of late-era Beatles, Family of the Year braid catchy melodies, stellar male/female vocals and personal folk tales to create some of the happiest and saddest music you’ve ever heard.  The band’s classic musical style has been integrated with a modern fanbase that the band continues to create and release new music for.  Be sure to check out the band on Twitter and Facebook!

3/5/10

Hi, we're Christina and Sebastian and we're in Family of the Year. Seb's been a musician forever and done this whole SXSW thing before, and Christina is sans SXSW experience. We're not fortune-telling gypsies or anything, but here's what we have to say about our forthcoming SXSW experiences and expectations and what have you.

Over the last couple months, we've been touring on and off. We've driven back and forth, east and west, left and right all over this land of stars and stripes, jumping on mini-tours where ever we could. We picked up a few shows here, some over there, left our gear on the east coast, flew back west and bought some temporary gear, played a few shows with it, sneakily returned it sans restocking fee, and then jetted back to the east coast for some more shows. Aaaaand then drove back to LA.

And now we're on tour again, and so far our experience getting to SXSW this year is not so different from our last tour. We just drove 17 or so hours to Denver for a show in our brand new blue beauty, Buttercup, a 15-passenger van from 1998 who very comfortably accommodates the six of us. We pimped her out with a Super Nintendo, and you better believe Mario Kart is way more difficult when you're in a real moving vehicle. Right now we're en route to Mt. Rushmore since we have a couple days off and we're jonesing for anything that isn't a rest stop. Then we're jumping the fence to Toronto for a day, and then finally heading down to Austin for a couple days of parties and trying to impress people. What do you mean Toronto's not on the way to Austin?

Oh, and about two minutes ago when we wrote that we were going to Mt. Rushmore, it started kind of aggressively snowing, so we've officially turned around and we're not sure what we're doing right now. I guess just bee-lining it to Minneapolis for our next show. But like we said, we like to drive one way only to drive back, and then forth.

3/8/10

It is currently a different day now, and we sure didn't make it to Mt. Rushmore. We're on our way to Milwaukee for a show at a place called The Irish Pub. We're late and we haven't showered. Hopefully everyone's so dosed up on PBR and Miller High Life that we'll get away with it.

Anyway, last time we were in Austin, Seb said the next time we'd be there the streets would be crammed with tour vans and trailers and -- most importantly -- babes.

We're playing at Cafe Mundi on 3/18, a day party presented by TJO Presents and our lovely management team, Whitesmith Entertainment. After that, we're doing a live stream interview and performance for Viewtopia and Whole Foods Market. On 3/19, our manager Emily White is speaking on a panel about the importance of email lists. Trust us, she is passionate about email lists. Then we're playing the Sonicbids party as well as a showcase for our wonderful across-the-sea booking team, The Coda Agency.  And we might be doing some in-studio session things in between all this madness while we're in town.

All that already sounds like we're not going to have time for anything else, but we're pretty sure we'll make time for parties and free swag and excessive amounts of free SoCo and lime shots (which got Seb and Farley kicked out of the bar last time they were at SXSW) and juicy pulled pork and texas BBQ in general, and whatever else all those SXSW email invites said. One said haircuts and massages, both of which we could all totally use at this very moment.

THEN there's trying to see the bands we wanna see. We'd love to watch our good friends Classixx DJ at Malverde at midnight on Friday 3/20. They just finished a remix of our song Psyche or Like Scope, which was on our last album Songbook, and it is aaaawwweeeeesome. We'd also love to check out Fanfarlo who are playing the Coda showcase with us. And we want to support all our friends like The Growlers, Local Natives, Delta Spirit, Moonrats, Junius, Frank Smith, Invade Rome, Sydney Wayser, Kevin Avery (hiiilaaarious comedian friend of ours who may or may not be a gangster)... and we'd love to see Evan Dando and Thurston Moore and (do you want us to keep going?)... And then there's checking out all the new acts we haven't seen yet. What's a band to do?

One thing we are not looking forward to is parking sweet little Buttercup on those crowded babe-filled streets (at least we look at the bright side?).  So far we've had good parking luck, but we may have just jinxed that one. Great. Knock on wood?

As far as industry-type expectations go, we're not expecting our lives to change dramatically overnight.  We're just going to SXSW to have some fun, charm some pants off, make friends, play shows, shmooze a little, and get as many people as we can to hear our music. Our biggest challenge will be maintaining some sort of mental/social equilibrium/dignity between the time we wake up and the time we play a show. With six of us, it's gonna be tough with all this free booze all up in our grills, and speaking of grills, we are SO stoked for Stubb's. And a shameful morning of wearing our sunglasses inside for mimosas and brunch at The Magnolia Cafe. So good.

Hi there. My name is David and I'm in an Irish band heading to SXSW for the first time called, STRAIT LACES. I'll be blogging about our SXSW experience for KnowTheMusicBiz.com. If you’re interested in what we have to say and want a taste of what Strait Laces is all about then you can check us out at straitlaces.com. Enjoy.


So ahhh, it's Monday 8th March, and I've woke up with a
schedule of things I have to be getting on with in preparation for next week at
SXSW, everything from getting paperwork ready for our last Visa interview
tomorrow, buying batteries for my pedals, strings for my guitar and telling all
you lovely readers how it's all coming together through this blog.

We leave next Monday morning, early, and fly Belfast - London - Chicago - Austin.
This will be our first time heading to SXSW so once we land in Austin I
literally don't have a clue where the venues are, where we are staying (we do
have accommodation lined up, don't worry I’ll not be on the streets :) ) and
generally what to expect from being an artist at the festival. Having said this
I would be curled up in a ball, crying on the floor right now if it hadn't have
been for our management, Jen @ Bruised Fruit Management, she’s  been taking the bull by the horns the past couple of months with setting out plans of how we were going to make the most of this opportunity! Since finding out the good news that we were going, it didn't take me long to realise that SXSW is a festival full of opportunity. We are not going there with a smug look on our faces thinking that everything will be set
up for us, we are there to have a good time, party when we can but ultimately we
are there to work!

One thing that is set in stone for us in Austin is that we
have lined up 9 gigs during the 5 days of the festival. We have been on tour
before and have played gigs night after night but never for example, 3 in the
one day (March 20th) Being the singer I am a bit apprehensive about
this. I can’t wait to play every single show, but I guess one that will
hopefully stand out will be the “Belfast Rocks Showcase @ Latitude 30 // ONSTAGE
12.30 pm” I believe this is the first UK showcase of the festival in the
British embassy hired venue, we are the first UK band to showcase there this
year! Awesome!

We recently wrote a song based around a chain of events that
happened in War World 1. The song is in two parts and is called “Kids like John
Need A Hero (The Glorious Dead)” It’s recently been recorded but as of yet,
unreleased. On this song we got a local Irish rapper called Slaine Brown to
guest some vocals. Unfortunately Slaine will not be at SXSW so we found this
guy, Homeboy Sandman : http://www.homeboysandman.com/ Homeboy is currently
putting his own lyrics to the tune. The reason I’m explaining all this is
because at the “Belfast Rocks Showcase” we are collaborating with Homeboy
Sandman and he is going to perform the song with us (practiced or not...uhh ohh)
It will be the first song we are playing in the set so...

...now, for the shameless plug, if you want to check it out “STRAIT
LACES @ Belfast Rocks Showcase @ Latitude 30 // ONSTAGE 12.30 pm” there will
cds with the song available and a free customized “Kids like John Need A Hero”
army shirt!!!!

Our main aims at the festival this year would be, 1. Have as
many people watch us play as possible, 2. Give out as many cds as we can possibly
manage 3. To play with Homeboy Sandman and not fuck it up!  Well the last isn’t going to happen but we are going to push as hard as we can to make the first two.  We are all too aware of how difficult it is to get noticed at SXSW each year, we are not going over there with the main aim to get signed, we know what kind of people we want to meet and chat with and what would help us more with our next few releases. Let’s be honest, in an ideal world, you don’t want to be booking d.i.y tours your whole life, so if we
got a few booking agents heads to turn slightly towards Strait Laces and get
into our music, then I think that would be cool.

So that’s it for now and until I get back, I take great
pleasure in the fact that we are a band going there with nothing to lose. We
are a band that has got new songs recorded with something to say, if nothing
happens at SXSW 2010 this year then it won’t be the end of things for us, if
anything it should encourage us even more to better ourselves for the years
ahead!

Strait Laces 2010 SXSW Schedule

SXSW WARM UP PARTY @ BULL McCABES Austin, Texas

MUSIC TECH MASHUP @ RUSTY SPURS SALOON // ONSTAGE 4PM Austin, Texas

BELFAST ROCKS SHOWCASE @ LATUTIDE 30 // ONSTAGE 12.30PM Austin, Texas

MUSIC GORILLA SHOWCASE @ TREASURE ISLAND // ONSTAGE 3PM Austin, Texas

MUSIC FROM IRELAND BREAKFAST PARTY @ BD REILLYS // ONSTAGE 2.30PM Austin, Texas

OFFICIAL SXSW SHOWCASE @ WAVE // ONSTAGE 8PM Austin, Texas

SXSW PARTY @ BLU LOUNGE // ONSTAGE 12AM Austin, Texas

IRISH PARTY @ FADO // ONSTAGE 1PM Austin, Texas

PARTY @ LOVEYS LOOT // ONSTAGE 7PM Austin, Texas