Shameless venting, it does follow...

Self-promotion was once a tedious task for the struggling artist (or business, depending on how you look at it). Then the mega-Internet came to the rescue and made it a billion times easier for us all to hawk our wares in whatever shape or form.
Self-promotion is now a mouse-click away. But with the luxury of this technology comes a price. It seems we've lost some definition of what the boundaries are.

As an example of this, and call me old-fashioned, it struck me as just a bit "counter-indie" for bands on Myspace and other similar sites to continually spam you about their upcoming gigs/releases/orgy events on your own page. That would be like me going to a band's gig, grabbing a bunch of flyers for my own show, ripping them up and scrunching them into tiny balls, pushing them into a pen and spit-balling them at every musician on the stage. An impact to be had, sure. But is the message actually getting through?

Friend requests are a different proposition. I'm not sure why a Scandinavian death metal band thinks I might like their music (or they liking mine) but lately, I seem to have more Scandinavian death metal bands as "friends" than I envisaged.

By the same token, I don't like denying requests, partly because I'm worried they will get all Satan-on-my-skinny-ass but also in a way, a denial seems "counter-indie", no matter how superficial the request was.

Yes, everyone these days is in a band and everyone knows someone who is in a band and everyone has a band to promote.
But without sounding preachy (too late), I think we should be spending less time trying to "promote" our own stuff through cheap means and more time listening to and giving other music a go. There's a lot of diamonds in the rough out there, if you look hard enough. In my next blog I'll attempt to show you a few gems.

-AMCS

Random trivia...

According to the UK Hit Singles book (don't ask me why I don't have the Australian version), approximately 40 years ago today (March 27) Marvin Gaye's version of 'I Heard it Through the Grapevine' was topping the charts. It would become Motown's biggest ever single.

Ten years later in March 1979, Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' was reigning supreme, ensuring years of bad Karaoke versions.

A decade on in March 1989, Madonna's 'Like A Prayer' dominated the airwaves, with the "controversial" video clip to boot.

It was ten years ago today when, in 1999 Britney Spears had a little ditty out called 'Baby One More Time.' A rock critic once referred to her as "Madonna next door." Spooky.
I don't know about you, but I distinctly remember not being able to escape that song where I lived at that point, much like The Offspring's 'Pretty Fly (For A White Guy). I was 15 and, subsequently, was traumatised and didn't emerge from my bedroom for three years.

Good times...
-AMCS

untitled 9

It is always the mystery that attracts.

That first enticing, ringing chord.

A voice that sounds otherworldly.

Words that evoke a place

That only the wildest of dreams can conjure.

That first listen.

A crackly car radio on a sweltering summer day.

A band in shadows luring you in from a distant stage

Amidst the sweat and stale, spilt drinks

A sleepy melody drifting from a neighbourhood window.

You want to catch it again, like a rare insect

But every attempt only dims the experience.

No. 1(blog) with a mullet....

Apparently I have two minutes to write this blog before this wonky old laptop officially runs out of battery power, so I'd better think of something interesting.

...Seeing as I can't guarantee words that will interest you, I can guarantee that once this blog is up and running I will be having a bit more of a laugh on here than I do on myspace (cough, splutter), filling it with ruminations on the pitfalls and "prat" falls of humanity (much like 100 million other bloggers in the universe are doing.)

However, what I hope makes this blog a little bit different is to introduce you all to some music which I have stumbled upon in my time, some you may have heard of, some you may not have. I will also endeavour to introduce a new-ish band every week that I have found out there in Internet-land whilst also musing on ones from the past. In short, it's an excuse for me to put my hours of music listening to good use.

And with that, I will read my laptop its last rites.
"See the hibernation light..walk into the light.."

-AMCS