Music

What Makes A Successful Garage Band

Garth Beyer

(If you don’t want to read, click the last hyperlink in this post.)

There’s no lack of talent when it comes to vocals or who can play a guitar or win over an audience with a ridiculously fast paced bass solo. It’s no longer about who can play an instrument and how well, but how many instruments they can play, how they can incorporate the multiple instruments into a show, and how they can show the audience their passion.

Times have changed but very few garage bands are falling behind. They’re excited to try new instruments, mish mash sounds, and – generally speaking – have fun. Something that is hard to say for those entering the professional world of freelance.

Last night I had the honor to see a handful of bands play at a Launchpad event. Launchpad is a statewide, alternative music competition for Wisconsin high school students who are in bands formed outside of the traditional music classroom ensembles. (view some of the bands here.) These high schoolers were incredible performers, showmakers, and artists.

But the truly exceptional ones brought out different instruments: extra drums, key board, violin. Now it’s now more common to have an extra instrument in a band, but the way these students incorporated them into their songs, well, that was real talent. (One band actually switched their trumpeter with the vocalist, vocalist with the drummer, drummer with the keyboard, and keyboard with the trumpeter. Impressive!)

The status quo is being kicked and bruised by those living the garage band or what I like to call, garage project workstyle/artstyle/lifestyle. There are no longer boundaries. You can no longer bring your one “instrument” and perform. You have to bring everything (all of your “instruments”) and perform some instrumental alchemy.

The worlds changing. Best to be a leader of it.

 

Stay Positive & Rubber Bands Are Still Accepted

Garth E. Beyer

 

Learning From The Music Industries Failures And Recent Flailings To Stay Alive

Garth Beyer

I’m guilty.

Being a millennial, I have to accept a sliver of the blame for the continuous downfall of the music industry. However, going into the world of journalism, print media, and digital PR, I hope to apply what I learned from the downfall of the music industry so that other media industries can adapt and overcome.

I am not applying what I have learned to specifically save any piece of a media industry. No. I am aiming to create a new business model for them to adapt and prosper with. I’ve understood a few factors that I think other media industries can learn from the music industry to help them progress through the 21st century.

The first is that there is a lack of great music which often gets confused with “commercial.” You can find great music all day every day, there is evidently a surplus. That’s because so many musicians try to be great in the commercial sense. When really, when a musician releases music that is remarkable, worth talking about and passing to a friend, then you have great music. Other media industries need to realize what it is that gets talked about. Is it the products they create for the mass, the commercial, the revenue?  Or is it the products they create for the passionate individual, the human inquirer, and the loud mouth?

A second factor involves looking at how musicians are making their money, not how the music industry is making money. Most musicians make little to nothing from selling CD’s, selling their work on iTunes, or any other form of technological distribution. They make their money from playing at venues, going on tour, collaborating with other musicians to play at a huge festival, and asking for direct donations from fans (most recently utilizing Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sources which I call devotedfanfunding). They don’t sell music anymore, they sell an experience. Once other media industries realize that producing content isn’t what will get them to survive, we may see them pick up and push forward, refusing to meet the same demise of the music industry.

The last variable is built from the previous experience concept. Other media industries must focus either on an individual or small group of like-minded individuals, tribes. You can no longer market to the mass; it’s proven ineffective, especially in the music industry. Think about all the music that is out there, presented to billions of people, yet the music industry is still crumbling. The factions of the music industry that are prospering are those groups which have faithful fans. People come together to connect with other fans, synchronously sing the lyrics, and exchange what next event of the musicians they will be going to. It’s the tribes that are keeping the music industry alive, shifting, and possibly raising it back on its feet.

Other media industries need to realize these paramount shifts, these core variables if they wish to keep their industry going.

Unlocking Potential: Interview #1

Garth Beyer

I get a lot of people telling me that I inspire them, that they like the way I think and the status-quo-breaking ideas I come up with and test. I admire that. It’s important to note that the motivation I get to inspire other people comes from being inspired myself, from seeing extraordinary potential in people who lose themselves in creativity and from the challenge I give myself to help these artists as much as possible.

With this now in mind, I will be showcasing a small handful of interviews over the next few weeks. These people are artists that I have kept very little touch with, in fact, I may not have talked to them in years until I messaged them recently inquiring if they would participate in an interview. These are noteworthy people, people whom I noticed there to be potential that I would hope to be cracked open all the way. So with that, I am handing you the hammer, the ability to connect, learn from, enjoy, and inspire these people.

Interview: Rose Kendall

The first person who’s interview I will be sharing is Rose Kendall. I met Rose in a Poetry 101 class over two years ago, never really talked in class other than when there were class discussions, and I still remember the passion she poured into her poetry. It’s easy to standout in class by dressing uniquely, being pretty and always participating. It’s not however, easy to standout in poetry. Rose does this and I hope you enjoy the following interview. Feel free to leave a note in the comments section or add Rose on Facebook.

Q: Now, I know your passion is writing. What type of writing do you love most and why?

My favorite type of writing is poetry. I love all types of writing, but poetry speaks the most to me because on one level it is trying to compact so many different emotions and thoughts into one small space, but on another level it can bring so many different ideas and concepts to the table in the subtle meanings of line breaks and punctuation. While I do believe that fiction also has a tendency to be descriptive, poetry is tantalizing because to me personally it propels the imagination like a movie, with the possibility of going in so many different directions.

Q: What gets you through the hard times of writing (depleted inspiration, writers block, time, emotion, etc)?

Listening to good music (I usually pick Sia, Damien Rice, Stateless, Florence + the Machine, and David Gray), closing my eyes, and thinking about what exactly the message is that I want to give off. Then I can usually come up with images that accompany that message. Most times it’s a good start.

Q: If you had to make your own writing prompt, what would it be?

It would be to take a piece of paper, fold it in half, and write on one side a list of nouns that are very common (like clouds, or sun) and on the other side list five adjectives you would never think to use to describe the noun. You will be challenged in so many ways you never thought were possible

Q: What do you want your legacy to be?

I want to be able to share with the world the sadness and anger I feel at the horrifying things that are occurring on a daily basis all over the world. As a society, I feel there are so many topics we are afraid to talk about for various reasons, so we sweep them under the rug (whether conscientiously or not) and choose to avoid them. Yes, they are hard topics, but if we are not made aware of them we will not be able to appropriate the change needed to stop these crimes from happening.

Therefore, I hope to shock my audience enough that they can’t decide if they want to get out of their chair and leave when I’m reading to them, or if they want to stay and consider what is really happening in the world. I would love to be able to travel around the globe and present to large audience my heart and my passion. I also want to continue to become published, and maybe one day be able to publish a whole book of poems.

Q: What determines a successful writing day?

A successful writing day usually is accompanied by a thought or an idea taking form into a poem, but very successful if a whole poem (or more than one) is written.

Q: Take me through a though process of a poem. Do you plan it out? Relate it to your life? Free write?

When I’m writing a poem I generally pick a topic I feel strongly about and concentrate on how I feel as well as why I feel that way. Once I come up with that, generally I will “see” what I want to write in my head. It’s like a movie, and at the risk of sounding like a schizophrenic, I have seen several of my characters chatting with me at the edge of the bed. Maybe less chatting and more just standing there and telepathically telling me their story. Either way once their story is being told it kind of just flows out. Some stories are harder than others, but most times I listen to a lot of calming or inspiring music to try to urge them to tell me. Sometimes when that doesn’t work, lines of poems come to me when I’m trying my hardest to sleep.

Q: What is the most helpful advice you have been given?

Keep a journal of all of the compliments and accomplishments I have made in writing. When I feel like I’m not a good enough writer, or I’m having a dry spell, I read them to remind myself how much I have accomplished. Also, keeping old poetry no matter how bad it is shows to me how far I have come.

Q: What advice would you give to other writers?

Do not worry about what one person thinks about your poetry. There will always be that one person (or a group of people) who are offended by what you write or think it’s no good. Keep working on your goals, and you can accomplish anything. Do not be afraid to have other people give you constructive criticism, it can make you grow in ways you never imagined.

Q: Would you care to share a poem?

After tonight
she’ll never ever again
have to wonder
what it feels like
to try to jump over a barbed wire fence,
catch her foot,
and slam her throat
into the wire
–it’s like climbing to the top
tippy top
of a tree,
* snap *
that first breath
you suck in after collapsing
back first, lungs turning black—
only his weapons are his words
and last night he decided
to see how many it took
before they wrapped around her neck
like his thumbs
squeezing
tightening
thrusting
until she’s one breath away
from dying.

and then he lets go.

She sees herself in the reflection
of the spit he sprays across
her face
the growl that echoes deep in the caves
of his lungs
and she remembers
how beautiful she once was
before the cancer
of the vacuum of his world
started eating away at her face
formed valleys and canyons
that were never there in her youth
even though she’s only 29.

when i first met her
she was perched on
the windowsill of my breaking heart
trying to kick her way
into the bullet-proof glass
surrounding my hope
and complicated things
like how I felt seeing
her teeth sprawled
across the living room floor
after last night’s fight
came too close
to leaving too much proof
so she lies
tells her friends that the dog
pulled her up the stairs and she tripped
(which dog she does not clarify).

but i can feel her,
see her floating nightgown
near the ocean on the edge of my bed
tangerine sunrises
screaming “helpme”
because even though
he’s a vacuum
trying to rid her of herself
of the filth she carries around
in the form of personality
she’s stronger than the marble
statue he wants to turn her into
and her beauty
is a cool breeze in the desert

he does not know how
to appreciate her love.

they always taught him
“be stronger than your fist”
but his fists are like concrete
and his words are like
espestice
eating away
at her lungs
liquid drowning her
under the tide he confuses
with affection.

so i pull her into my bed
twist her hair around my fingers
and show her
what a field of roses
feels like when it’s growing
just beneath your breastbone
and she’s blooming

i know i imagine
what her love would look like
as a photo on my mantle
–my prized wife
because she’s too beautiful
to be a trophy
she deserves to shine
like the sun.

so after tonight
i’m going to take her hand
twist out the fear
gently
and carry her
to the palace
she deserves.

and if he shows up
at my door
looking for her
i’ll blow his fucking head off.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Stay Positive & Poetic In Your Own Way

Garth E. Beyer