Most Badass Philly Metal: Bitchslicer (video)

I’ve seen Bitchslicer play a couple of times – and Gary recorded our band My Version of It’s newest CD “One Way” – Man, they are tight and badass and a sight to be seen. I’ve heard their music, but seeing them live is a different experience.

I uploaded on my You Tube site (http://www.youtube.com/myversionofit) a video of BS playing at the Pale Dog in Newark DE on 12-21-07 – the audio is a little rough, the guitar is tough to hear on the recording, but check it out if you’re at all into local metal.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lW8yVPVGQw8

There’s also some video of My Version of It, Grave Mistake and another DE band Sexon Horses. When I get more other locals on the youtube site, I will be making and indie rocks! playlist. Stay tuned.

Also, I picked up a copy of the Obscenity Cult 7″ which features Bitchslicer among other bands (Wallygrinder and more) – and was much impressed with the BS song. Great recording, great energy and awesome song.

Gary is a great engineer aswell. Over at Death Star III in Philadelphia, he also taped the new Eph Tradition CD.

Tech News: RIAA says ripping illegal?

I’m always interested in tech stories. I’m a little bit of techie, I suppose. I like to read about the newest contraptions, the new trends, new improvements in technology. I don’t often do the topics about technology on the air, so, maybe I’ll post some on here… I mean you’re on our Web site, so you at least have a computer, so they may be interest to you.

The Record Industry, RIAA, is angering everybody today with the latest story about unathorized music copying. Now, I fully agree that trading, giving away, stealing people’s mp3s, bitTorrent-ing songs, copying mp3s off of other peoples computers, iPods, giving away CD-r copies of songs and e-mailing mp3s is stealing and for the most part wrong. It’s so easy these days with record stores online, amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart, half.com, iTunes, CDbaby.com, and countless other services and stores to get music, and get it cheap, that trading songs amongst your friends is wrong. CD sales are down again 20% this holiday season because kids, adults and everyone seems to be trading music. To curb this trend, the RIAA is now saying that copying/ripping a CD that you purchased into your computer is illegal.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html

So, according to the RIAA, if you goto Walmart(s) and buy the new Barry Manilow Christmas CD, take it home, put it in your PC, rip it to iTunes and jam it on your mp3 player or iPod, you are “Breaking the law” – cue Judas Priest.

I’ve never illegally downloaded a song, call me an mp3 saint. Everything that I have was purchased legitimately at a record store, online, at iTunes or actually given to me by the artist. However, I have copied CDs to my iPod, to listen to in my car, so that these rare CDs I just bought don’t get scuffed. According to the RIAA, that is “unathorized” – Even if no one besides myself ever touches my iPod or even hears it. It’s not illegal to listen to a CD in my car, but, it is illegal to listen to a copy of that CD. It’s akin to the debate in the 1980s regarding copying that Air Supply record to a tape and listening to it in your car.

A similar debate came about regarding the ownership of Roms of video games about 10 years ago. A lot of people figured out how to “rip” the rom images of old Nintendo and Atari games. Nintendo of America threatened lawsuits and shut down a myriad of Web sites offering free download of Roms of old Nintendo Games. Their legal said “it’s only legal to own a backup rom if you already own the cartridge” – that you could, in effect, own one backup copy, anything else was illegal. It was actually the same problem as the problem facing the music industry. Lots of unscrupulous people were downloading Rom images of brand new Playstation games and Nintendo 64 games, and either playing them on video game emulators on their computers or creating a CD-rom and playing them on mod-ed Playstations, or later, Gamecubes and Wiis.

It’s essentially the same problem. People want to own the content without paying for the right to own it. Whether it be DVD movies, music or video games…. The digital revolution, the lack or a hard copy, has created a generation of people who feel entitled and don’t want to dish out any cash for other people’s work. Bands just starting out feel like they have to give away their music to get any attention, established bands like Radiohead are offering their music for “whatever you want to pay for it” for publicity because their real CDs aren’t selling. The RIAA thinks that telling people that creating back-ups is illegal will help curb this behaviour. But it won’t.

It’s a losing battle, but thousand of digital theives have caused these reactionary tactics.

It’s Time For A Change! Change We Must!

Internet networking has catapulted into a multi-million dollar marketplace. MySpace was not the first but certainly has left an indelible impression on how we view our world. Sadly, many now view the world as a bunch of sex-starved freaks. But it wasn’t too long before YouTube and more recently FaceBook have come onto the social networking scene adding key features which should be utilized by Indie Bands who want to help create a change in the music industry.

The uphill battle for the Indie Scene is it’s lack of commonly identifiable icons. If I were to ask a bunch of retirees to name a Rap Artist, they can quickly come up with one and sometimes can name three or four. This kind of musical lineage helps keep rap ‘music’ alive and well. The same goes for traditional Rock Music. We can easily trace our roots to Elvis, The Beatles, The Stones, etc.

Indie Music is different. It often takes elements of all those different genres and combines them, (sometimes puree’s them), into something totally new and different. The problem is, until that new and different sound breaks onto the crossover Pop Charts, it remains unique and can only go so far. When people first combined elements of Blues and Gospel while adding lyrics that spoke to the youth of the day, it was not met with open arms and record deals. It was met with protest and a long uphill struggle. That struggle lead to the current music industry. It has become a behemoth, a self aggrandized monster which stands at the gates of international musical success like a troll. Little bands approach the beast only to be shoved aside or welcomed in if they sign their creative rights away in exchange for a moment in the sun and a little cash to pay the bills.

Back to social networking.. In 1994 Lisa Loeb proved that success can come without the help of major record deals and distribution. Her song “Stay” was the first tune by an unsigned artist to go to the top of America’s Billboard Hot 100 where it ’stayed’ for three weeks. In 1990 she formed a band, by 1992 they were playing every gig they could get while selling the cassette-only “Purple Acoustic Tape” at the shows. (Sound familiar?) Eventually the labels took notice of her but she remained unsigned when she was approached to contribute a song for an upcoming film. This was networking at it’s best.

Hard work, driving determination, a steady line-up, great songs, excellent musicianship, a cool name, awesome logo and a sparkling cool website will not guarantee success. Networking, and utilizing the ’six degrees of separation’ concept is your best opportunity to beat the monster at it’s game.

Although the term is diametrically opposed to “Independent”, it is time for Indie Rockers to UNITE! Use the social networking platform and sites like this one to combine forces, to learn from those who have taken this path and to promote yourselves and others in a united effort to change the music industry!

That is all for now.

Delaware Music History: Bessemer Process (1996)

In 1996 a band called Bessemer Process formed out of the ashes of another band called Rx139 – The band included Jared Morris (later to form My Version of It), Kevin Hardy (Joshua Fit For Battle), Chaz Redden (The Hated) and Rob Avery (Boysetsfire) – The original singer Jared Morris was replaced in early 1997 with another singer and the band went on to release a 7″ on tied down records. I may post some early demos and audio from the 7″ in the future.  I have posted the only videos of a show with their original singer.

http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8C1BE58E412109EC

This video was recorded at Girls Inc in Newark, DE about 11 years ago. I hope you enjoy this peice of Delaware Music History.

Five Things Bands Shouldn’t Do

More show news and reviews coming, also look for some video posting of some recent shows I’ve been to. I want to give you a few things I’ve noticed lately and some advice on some things I’ve seen, that bands shouldn’t do if they want to be taken seriously and things that are just generally good for networking.

1. MySpace – “No Bands as friends”
I came across this one while looking for bands to fill a bill in the Upper Darby, PA area. This band in particular will not allow other bands to add them as friends on their myspace page. Why is this a bad idea? Well, Networking for one. You never know which band is looking or has seen your band and they want to catch up on what’s going on with you or possibly offer you gigs and things like that. It comes off as a very ass move. “We’re too big to care about other bands.” – You shouldn’t treat band friend requests as spam, you’re all in the same business together, you need to support each other. I for one, would never support the band in question because it proves that they are short-sighted and in if for themselves only. It sets a bad standard. You guys are off.

2. Cursing at the crowd.
This is the second show in so many weeks where I’ve seen a performer, notably a performer booked by another band and not the venue, curse and yell at the audience for not paying attention to their band. Okay, this may seem like a cute punk thing to do, you’ve seen all your favorite bands do it! (really?) “go to hell you old bag!” – But, God it comes off played and unprofessional. Do you guys have any concept of the kind of thing the bar/club owner wants? Do you think that the bar/club owner really wants you cursing out their regular patrons just because they don’t like your band or your played routine? I’ve seen people who are eating with their families leave because of this kind of thing. You guys need to show some respect to yourselves and the people who are allowing you to play. There’s one reason you’re still playing that crummy dive, or your crashing a show with amps in tow “Let us just do a quick set”

3. No Wyld Stallions. I’ve heard people before talk about bands that couldn’t play their instruments, but, in the last few weeks, I’ve seen a couple of bands that literally can’t play their instruments, grown men who play like they’re 12 and have had two guitar lessons. Lately, I’ve been more sympathetic to club owners, especially here in Delaware. Wanna know why it’s so difficult to book a gig in our area? Because There really are bands out there that really can’t play. Now, I’ve been playing guitar for a million years, and I’m still insecure sometimes about my playing when I see a guy a like Gary from Bitchslicer shredding the hell out of that guitar, but, my god, not everybody should have a band! — If you can’t play and don’t know your songs and don’t have a full set and enough members to constitute a band — you shouldn’t be playing shows yet. Get back to work and learn what you need to do to be professional. If not, go back to your friends basements. I can’t blame certain clubs for being reticent about booking unknown bands, I’m sure they’ve been burned a million times by these types of kids.

4. Bring your friends to shows and stay til the end if you can. Do everything in your best effort to at least bring your friends and girlfriends and their friends to shows, and have them stay and watch the bands that are responsible for letting your band play. Why are you up on stage masturbating if no one is watching? If your own friends won’t even come see you play, maybe you should go back to the drawing board.. or hit myspace and make some friends.

5. Don’t be a dick. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. No childish/thug antics, no posturing, no attitude off stage, be professional for god’s sake. That kind of thing is the reason why their isn’t much going on around here.

ABC News Rates Top 50 Albums of 2007

 1. PETER BJORN & JOHN  “Writer’s Block” 2. SPOON  “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” 3. RADIOHEAD  “In Rainbows” 4. M.I.A.  “Kala” 5. SHOUT OUT LOUDS  “Our Ill Wills” 6. THE GO! TEAM  “Proof of Youth” 7. LAURA VEIRS  “Saltbreakers” 8. LILY ALLEN ? “Alright Still” 9. ELENI MANDELL  “Miracle of Five” 10. YEAH YEAH YEAHS  “Is Is” (EP) 11. P.J. HARVEY  “White Chalk” 12. MARK RONSON  “Version” 13. NINE INCH NAILS  “Year Zero” 14. COMMON  “Finding Forever” 15. K.T. TUNSTALL  “Drastic Fantastic” 16. MAXIMO PARK  “Our Earthly Pleasures” 17. RILO KILEY  “Under The Blacklight” 18. ALBERT HAMMOND JR.  “Yours to Keep” 20. A BAND OF BEES  “Octopus” 21. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE  “Traffic and Weather” 22. ELLIOTT SMITH  “New Moon” 23. IDLEWILD  “Make Another World” 24. WILCO  “Sky Blue Sky” 25. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS  “The Else” / “Cast Your Pod to the Wind” 26. SLOAN — “Never Hear The End Of It” 27. THE PERISHERS  “Victorious” 28. FEIST  “The Reminder” 29. THE HIVES  “The Black & White Album” 30. CARINA ROUND  “Slow Motion Addict” 31. UNDERWORLD  “Oblivion With Bells” 32. BLOC PARTY  “A Weekend in the City” 33. ALICIA KEYS  “As I Am” 34. THE SHINS  “Wincing The Night Away” 35. TEGAN & SARA  “The Con” 36. KATE HAVNEVIK  “Melankton” 37. BEASTIE BOYS  “The Mix Up” 38. KEREN ANN  “Keren Ann” 39. NEW PORNOGRAPHERS  “Challengers” 40. CROWDED HOUSE  “Time On Earth” 41. GORILLAZ  “D-Sides”  42. SUZANNE VEGA  “Beauty & Crime” 43. AIR  “Pocket Symphony” 44. THE WHITE STRIPES  “Icky Thump” 45. BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB  “Baby 81″ 46. KRISTIN HERSH  “Learn To Sing Like A Star” 47. CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG  “5:55″ 48. PREFUSE 73  “Preparations” 49. ROBERT PLANT & ALLISON KRAUSS  “Raising Sand” 50. KANYE WEST  “Graduation” Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures 

Show Recap/Review (12-12-07) Tragic Johnson, Grave Mistake, Northern Liberties, The Headies

Attended a house show in Newark, DEL last night and wanted to give a quick review. It was at a friend’s neighbor’s house. To quote a friend who also appeared at the show “I like basement shows, makes me feel like a teenager again.” – Agreed!

The first band was Newark’s Tragic Johnson, punk/hardcore played sloppy and loud. This band was a lot of fun. Their best song was the song about New Castle. All in all, they did one thing that a lot of bands don’t do right, they got the crowd involved and the crowd pumped. Look forward to hearing more from this quartet. I think the guys in the band put on the show aswell, and it’s great to see some guys working hard at helping out other bands. They will be appearing on Comcast 73’s Jrock show tomorrow night in Delaware.

Next up the legendary Grave Mistake - This was their first show with returning drummer Dave Grind and their new back-up guitarist… Me… They/We fell into the set midway through and all-in-all it worked out well, the sound was great and the crowd was awesome. Thank you guys for all the support. At the end of the Grave Mistake set we ripped into to My Version of It tunes, the aptly titled Sex Spree (dedicated to MVOE Comic Brian “Sexual” Clymer) and “Love Bitches, Get Money” – It felt awesome to play these tunes. Apparently Sexual lost his camcorder, or segments of the show would be broadcast on indierocks.org

 Next Up, Philly’s Northern Liberties - Badass and much improved from their 2001 demo that I own that only sported drum and bass. I only got to stay for a portion of their set, but they are big time. Check them out. Here’s to future shows with these guys.

Lastly, Delaware’s Headies – I didn’t get to see the set, but, from what I’ve heard, they were great.. followed by a review set by Tragic.

A great night, and great for the local band community.

D.U.I from Rehoboth Speaks on Delaware Music

I recieved this via e-mail, check out the band DUI from Rehoboth Beach, DEL 

Jared, read the “News Journal” article; totally agree.   There are other DE punk bands, but no venue to play.  I’m in a band “Drunk, ugly, insane” (DUI) in Rehoboth,  we  pretty much just play punk, about one third originals, the rest covers (obscure ones) that we put our own twist on (we offer $100 to anyone who can name all the bands we cover) stuff like “Day-Glo abortions” and GG allin,  and a country version of “Crass” “Do they owe us a living”  We have done shows with “Rant N Riot” from Newark, “Stiff Middle Finger” from Lewes, “Speed Queen” Rehoboth also.  I put on five punk shows last summer at the bar I own (they were fairly well attended for being on Sunday afternoon)  but  it’s a gay bar, and since we don’t usually have live music, lots of regular patrons were pissed off, so that won’t work. We are looking to play out much more, but don’t want to misrepresent ourselves (sure you can play anyplace ONCE,  “yeah we do an acoustic Bob Dylan thing”  I’ve been in punk bands for twenty years and know full well most normal people hate punk. Surprising them with it doesn’t work either.  Thanx  JJ Meng   

People Upset Over News Journal Article – My Point!

Some of my friends have mentioned to me that there have been some people upset over some of the things my band, My Version of It, said in the News Journal article that was done on us over the week.

http://delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/ENTERTAINMENT/712140313/1118

Though usually my policy to ignore negative comments, I wanted to address them on this blog as advice to other bands and musicians and kind of a warning call. I’m no stranger to ticking people off, my job as a radio talk show host has seen everything, in fact, I’m do in court Monday in Dover over something I talked about on the air. I’ve recieved death threats, my family has recieved death threats, people have showed up at broadcasts wanting to hit me in the face. It’s sad really. What I learned from all of that was not to engange these people.

However, a few people seem to be upset that we mentioned a lack of original music in Delaware. Actually, in lower Delaware, where you can only get into a venue if you know someone or are a cover band. Even great bands I’ve seen in Sussex have had to play covers to get a gig. Becoming angry with me over that is counterproductive. I did not make it this way. I’m sorry that it is this way, but it is the way it is. How many original Delaware bands (not solo acoustic musicians) have scored major gigs downstate besides the Dewey Festivals?

That’s the kind of thing I’d like to see improve, but in-fighting amongst bands and having no sense of brotherhood… That’s a main part of the problem. No support to other musicians. I often promote and even have on the radio local musicians, why? because it helps them and it helps build a support structure. If there were ever a hope of building an actual scene in Delaware, the in-fighting and the rivalries have to stop. Who are you Biggie Smalls vs. Tupac? Gimme a break.

What bands have survived in Delaware and continue to play paying gigs to packed houses in Delaware? They are all cover bands. Why can’t you get a gig at a club besides MoJo 13? Because you’re not a cover band.

Music and promotion and networking must be taken seriously. I’ve talked to a lot of industry insiders on the radio and they all tell me the same thing, the reason there are a million bands that fail, they just don’t really want to succeed and that can be seen in their actions. If you want to get together with your friends and hang out and play songs to 14 people, than that’s great. If you want something more and want to actually succeed in music, in radio or in life, you have to learn how to market your music and build honest relationships. Some people will never be able to acheive that no matter how many times they log on to their computer.

Washington DC band needed for 01/31/08

Any Washington DC area bands looking for shows? My band, My Version of It, has a show booked at Washington DC’s Grog and Tankard 01/31/07 9.00pm and we’re looking for another band from DC to fill the bill. e-mail me info@myversionofit.com for details.