We played at Black Forest in Eugene last night. It was a cool club and we've been invited back on a weekend night, which is always a plus. I think we did well. The guys and I had a drink over at Diablo's before dinner and we met the booking agent. Eugene seems like a town that we could play over and over and do well in. And we met the Rock Director for KBVR, the OSU radio station. She wanted to have us down to do an in-studio. Quite lucky she was there.
Sometimes this booking thing seems like detective work. You get out and do some research and chase leads until something bites. Then you pursue that lead until you have a show. Hopefully each show either gains you a couple fans, a good band contact, or future gigs. Jumping off points. I'll keep you posted on developments along that line.
Our next show is at the Ash Street on October 24. It's a Saturday and the first one we've played at the Ash Street. Hopefully there is a decent turnout and we get a little notice for playing a peak night. After that it's November 22 (day after my birthday) at Kelly's Olympian. Never played there. Excited. Then it's our first Seattle show in December at Skylark Cafe and Club. I'm wanting to make a small tour out of that.
Til next time...
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Time Capsule
I just climbed out and it's September! What a shock. I heard it was hot in Portland over the last couple months. Glad I missed that.
So what's going on? Still fighting the good fight with music. Nick's interning at Big Red Studio and we've worked on a couple things there with good results. Like the best sounds we've ever been responsible for.
Over the summer we played a lot of cover gigs to raise money. It was fun at first, but with the same audience week after week expecting new material one gets a bit worn out. Forty-five or so songs is a lot of lyrics to learn. But it made us a better band and filled our band account so I can't complain too much.
There are three gigs coming up: One is here in Portland in two days. I put up some posters at all the local record shops and a couple music shops. I don't know how much that helps but I do it anyway. When I visit music stores like Everyday Music I glance at the posters to see if there are shows I hadn't heard about that I would like to see. Eventually when I see local band posters enough times I remember the names and recognize them when they're listed in the paper. Hopefully that's how it's working for us.
The next gig is in Eugene during Welcome Week at the U of O. I emailed the radio stations of both U of O and Oregon State in hopes of getting some songs played before our show. I'm going to do the poster thing as well, maybe visit and put them up personally. I think it's a good opportunity to get some college people into the band and get some CD's floating around a new town. If there is anyone reading with ideas feel free to share.
Until next time,
Tim
So what's going on? Still fighting the good fight with music. Nick's interning at Big Red Studio and we've worked on a couple things there with good results. Like the best sounds we've ever been responsible for.
Over the summer we played a lot of cover gigs to raise money. It was fun at first, but with the same audience week after week expecting new material one gets a bit worn out. Forty-five or so songs is a lot of lyrics to learn. But it made us a better band and filled our band account so I can't complain too much.
There are three gigs coming up: One is here in Portland in two days. I put up some posters at all the local record shops and a couple music shops. I don't know how much that helps but I do it anyway. When I visit music stores like Everyday Music I glance at the posters to see if there are shows I hadn't heard about that I would like to see. Eventually when I see local band posters enough times I remember the names and recognize them when they're listed in the paper. Hopefully that's how it's working for us.
The next gig is in Eugene during Welcome Week at the U of O. I emailed the radio stations of both U of O and Oregon State in hopes of getting some songs played before our show. I'm going to do the poster thing as well, maybe visit and put them up personally. I think it's a good opportunity to get some college people into the band and get some CD's floating around a new town. If there is anyone reading with ideas feel free to share.
Until next time,
Tim
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
A Great Day
We spent about three hours setting up for drums and bass and got an amazing sound. Mark and Nick laid down some scratch tracks for vocal and guitars which will be redone, but they sound great already. Christian and I finished our tracks in a bit over an hour and proceeded to get a bit drunk to celebrate. Jon played his producer role for the first bit of the session and brought back some Stubborn Keys memories, but he truly shined when he laid down piano on three tracks and organ on the fourth. Steve is engineering and guiding us and making everything sound unbelievable. Can you tell I'm excited? More today!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Studio!
Hey! We're going to spend the next 48 hours at Audible Alchemy making some magic. How fun is that? I'll post some pictures up here when I get the chance.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A long slow process
It takes forever, but I've made a little tour progress. We're most likely going to be working with xo publicity for tour press along the way. It's a very good thing. I don't expect many people to come to the shows we play in random towns in the Northwest, but we should amass a bit of regional press as we pass through. This should "establish" Sleepwalk Kid as a real band hopefully. That is, not one of many basement/bar bands in every city in every country in the world. I do believe press is that key.
It will definitely cost money though. If we were a bigger band we could schedule like three shows in three cities and raise the money. But we aren't that band. We haven't made more than $100 at Portland clubs in a night. So it may take some work. On top of that we have two studio sessions approaching. It's going to be great though. Especially at Type Foundry, which is confirmed. We have some wacky ideas that will hopefully take our sound to a new, more professional level. Take it easy!
It will definitely cost money though. If we were a bigger band we could schedule like three shows in three cities and raise the money. But we aren't that band. We haven't made more than $100 at Portland clubs in a night. So it may take some work. On top of that we have two studio sessions approaching. It's going to be great though. Especially at Type Foundry, which is confirmed. We have some wacky ideas that will hopefully take our sound to a new, more professional level. Take it easy!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Attention motel guests: Management has made a decision on the studio issue. It looks like the current Mark Shifflett production is going to be held at Audible Alchemy in mid-March. I'm not sure if that is finalized but it is quite tentative. The guys had a great idea though: why not lay down a couple Sleepwalk Kid tracks at Type Foundry for the hell of it? Of course I said yes--we have the tracks ready and it would be way too fun to pass up. So that's probably happening at the end of April. My tax gig will be up then and I will have plenty of time to rock. And I will be planning a tour and letting YOU know how it's going each step of the way. I've never done it before so it should be a dramatic and bumpy ride. Perfect entertainment.
Is anybody reading this thing? Drop me a comment or whatever bloggers do if you are. I have no idea how to operate this thing. I'd have better luck with a forklift.
Is anybody reading this thing? Drop me a comment or whatever bloggers do if you are. I have no idea how to operate this thing. I'd have better luck with a forklift.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Studio Hunt
So this is my second post. I suppose it kind of ruins the first.
Today RoughCuts, aka Mark Shifflett and the somethings or what have you, went to check out Type Foundry Studios in preparation for our next recording endeavor. What a wonderful place. A few of our local heroes have recorded there. That's always a plus. Of course we're quite fond of our former studio Audible Alchemy. TF has walls lined with keyboards and a much more woody, natural vibe. AA has a much newer, high-tech flavor to it. The sound is of course wonderful at each location. What to do? We'll see I guess. I think I speak for all of us when I say we just want to lay some tracks down again. There's no better feeling.
Today RoughCuts, aka Mark Shifflett and the somethings or what have you, went to check out Type Foundry Studios in preparation for our next recording endeavor. What a wonderful place. A few of our local heroes have recorded there. That's always a plus. Of course we're quite fond of our former studio Audible Alchemy. TF has walls lined with keyboards and a much more woody, natural vibe. AA has a much newer, high-tech flavor to it. The sound is of course wonderful at each location. What to do? We'll see I guess. I think I speak for all of us when I say we just want to lay some tracks down again. There's no better feeling.
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