E-mail Interview with Bar/None Records Owner Glenn Morrow

I’m currently working on a radio feature, book about real-life indie music promotion in the 2000s. As such, I’m asking some of my biggest influences in the music world what they feel about digital music in the year 2009. Today, in the first published (unedited) snippit, I talked with Glenn Morrow the owner of the legendary Bar-None Records about his thoughts.

Eventually, I will compile these remarks, interviews and features into a full work, consider this the prep/research section of my feature for now.

Many thanks to Glenn for the comments and all of the years of great records! For more info on Bar/None Records, visit www.bar-none.com

IR: I noticed on your web site that you no longer accept physical CDs for demo submission, what are your thoughts on online music promotion?

GM:  We may change that policy back to the way it was. We just wanted to take a break from the piles of submissions.It seemed like the green way to go. Unfortunately we tend to  pay less attention to myspace links etc. We’ve always wanted to have an open door policy and we have found many things from submissions that we have signed.

IR:  I was working on the premise that online sites, such as myspace and
sonicbids, don’t you find that the emerging technology and ease of
recording muddies the water? Aren’t there now “too many cooks in the
kitchen” if every person w/ a drum machine and a computer can produce an “album”?

GM: If the songwriting  is good I don’t care what the format is. Hot Lava is a band we signed that made their first album using a Garageband program.  Good ideas can get you very far. That said there is certainly a difference in quality when an artist takes the time and money to use decent microphones and works with seasoned pros in a real studio environment.

IR:  with so many bands and musicians out there, is it still possible for a
> band to succeed by sending out demos (be it e-mails or otherwise)?

GM: It is getting harder and harder to sift through all the noise out there.
5 million myspace bands, the long digital tail. I still think the better
stuff rises to the surface but with a few exceptions it will be selling
less.

IR:  Are you finding more brilliance out there because of the Internet, or just more lazy bands?

GM: I think more kids are better trained musically these days and they have  50 plus years of rock n roll to sift through for inspiration as well as access to so much more music to listen to. I probably only owned an orange crate worth of albums as a teenager.

IR:  How complete of a package are labels looking for these days? For example, I’ve just finished a new CD, but am waiting for the final mastering and pressing, should a band try and make the product as finished as possible before sending out demos? I just got a CD in the mail by a band hoping for airplay that was recorded on a computer, badly played and very amateur – are you able to see through all of that and hear a great song, or do those types of submissions get discarded?

GM: We are always happy to get a finished master that we like. It saves us time money and guess work and the gamble that we might not be able to achieve what we think the artist’s potential is.

IR:  What does it take for a band to get “noticed” if they don’t live in a
> major metro area these days?

GM: The blog world loving you, a lawyer willing to shop you, major press hype and the ability to get in a van and get out of town.

IR:  Have digital sales (iTunes etc) generated more profits for indie labels?  What, do you think, are the benefits of shopping for labels versus just using myspace or CDbaby or iTunes, etc..?

GM: Labels are filters for consumers, journalists, deejays, bloggers etc.
If the label has a history there’s the cache of being associated with the
other artists on that labels. There usussually cash involved to pay for
stuff like publicists and there are the years of expertise on the proper way
to set up an album in the marketplace. There are also all the connections a label has to the rest of the industry (msuic supervisors, publicists,
journalists etc.) that you can’t just get with CD baby and itunes placement.

More to come,

Jared Morris
WGMD Radio 92.7 FM
Rehoboth Beach, DE

www.jared-morris.com

Full MVOI Digital Catalog NOW AVAILABLE on iTunes

Complete MVOI Digital Catalog NOW AVAILABLE

The complete MY VERSION OF IT digitial anthology is now available online to download on iTunes (coming soon to amazon mp3) — check out all 3 releases: the 25 song anthology disc “Total Recall (The Early Years 2000-2002)” – the 2004 EP produced by Cliff Hillis “From Rubbertree to Tire” and of course 2007’s “One Way”

“One Way” – 13 Tracks, 2007 – Philadelphia, PA ($9.99)

Recorded by King Gary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania July 23-25, 2007. The very first full length MVOI CD. The debut of our Southern Delaware Rock style… tracks include “Love Bitches, Get Money” our 2002 classic re-recorded for the new era of MVOI (featuring the MVOE Love Bitches, Get Money Girls on back up vocals), “Lesson 110″ our ode to what we want to do including fighting, taking pills, rocking and watching House, “Lesson 111″ (My Woman) a throwback to the seventies with gang vocals from MVOI, “Lesson 103″ the first MVOI song to be sung by bassist Jon Grunes (Grave Mistake) and so much more.

Available for purchase here:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=269531906&s=143441

“From Rubber Tree To Tire” – 6 Track EP – Elkton, MD ($5.94)

The second simultaneous release the From Rubbertree To Tire EP (The Cliff Hillis Sessions 2004) will include 5 of the seven original My Version of It songs recorded at Target Studios in Elkton, MD (produced by Cliff Hillis) and one unreleased song “Lesson 96 (Athena)” recorded during the 2007 One Way Sessions in Philadelphia, PA The Hillis Sessions were recorded in 2004 following a second hiatus and is the last studio collection to feature bass by former MVOI member Joe Dugan. A drastic shift for MVOI, the album is heavily influenced by XTC and 1960’s late period Beatles based pop, with darker George Harrison themes and traditional lyrical influence. The EP also includes the most diverse instrumentation on any MVOI release, including backing vocals by Cliff Hillis and, in addition to the traditional drums, bass, electric guitar, the recordings feature MVOI taking up banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitars, accordion, slide guitar and hammond organ.

Available for purchase here: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=290115732&s=143441

“Total Recall (The Early Years 2000-2002)” – 25 Track Compilation – DE, MD and WV ($9.99)

Total Recall (The Complete Studio Sessions 2000-2002) –pictured above– will include the complete Joel Grind Sessions previously issued as the Unknown Members CD-R and the mp3.com CD Unknown Members aswell as the complete 2001 Say-Ten Records MVOI 7″ (also entitled Unknown Members). The 24 song collection will include 10 of the songs originally slated for the Unknown Members LP recorded by Toxic Holocaust’s Joel Grind in 2001 in Middletown, DE and Elkton, MD (included the Noisy V voiced MVOI Hip-Hop Classic Lesson 19) and the 5 song The Plan-D Sessions limited edition EP recorded in Washington, WV with Chris Day as well as a few early demos, 2007 One Way session outtakes of a few classic MVOI songs and a few rare live recordings. The Digital Release will not include the covers recorded for the Unknown Members CD or the original version of “Love Bitches, Get Money” – This will be the first time many of these songs will be available and the first time the complete original MVOI catalog will be available in one release.

The Total Recall Compilation spans and archives the early years of My Version of It featuring Jared Morris (guitar/vocals) Dave Grind (drums/voice) Josh Reiss (bass 2000-2001) and Joe Dugan (bass 2001-2002).

Available for purchase here: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=289930193&s=143441

First Ever MY VERSION OF IT unplugged show!! TONIGHT!! Newark, DE!

First Ever MY VERSION OF IT unplugged show!! TONIGHT!! Newark, DE!

Come out tonight to see the first ever and completely unrehearsed My Version of It (unplugged) show In Newark, DE — here’s the show info:

Mocha, Music & More

Live entertainment from 7-9 p.m. at Brew Ha Ha on Main Street sponsored by the Friends Of Newark. This month’s event features Singer/ Guitarist, Jeff Smith; Poet, Fran McMillian & original music by My Version of It.

Free Admission.

Dollyrots live in Philly

 

Above: The Dollyrots (Because I’m Awesome)

On July 30th, My Version of It (from Delaware)
played a show with The Dollyrots and The Lopez and
Dear Althea at The Millcreek Tavern In Philadelphia, PA

This video was filmed via the flip video by Jared Morris and Holly White.
The sound has been re-eq’d using Adobe Audition 2.0

Complete Video Collection.

1. Dear Althea (snippet)
2. The Dollyrots (Because I’m Awesome)
3. The Dollyrots (unedited 10 mins)
4. My Version of It (Come All Night)
5. My Version of It (Sex Spree/Still Going Down)
6. Grave Mistake (Rush Hour 2)
7. My Version of It (Untouchable)
8. My Version of It (Lesson #106)
9. My Version of It (Guitar Gods)
10. My Version of It (The Last Lost and Found)
11. My Version of It (Love B**ches, Get Money)
12. My Version of It (Delaware-ification)
13. My Version of It (Motown Philly)

Unfortunately, My camera batteries died before we could get any footage of The Lopez,
but, man, are they great..

for more info on these bands check out:

The Dollyrots: http://www.myspace.com/thedollyrots
The Lopez: http://www.myspace.com/thelopeztheband
Dear Althea: http://www.myspace.com/dearalthea
My Version of It: http://www.myspace.com/mvoi2013
Grave Mistake: http://www.myspace.com/gravemistakes

Dear Althea (above)

 

Above: My Version of It

Above: Grave Mistake

For the complete video collection from the night, including 2 more Dollyrots videos visit this youtube playlist from youtube.com/myversionofit – - – http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=716DC41356CA58D6

Delaware Local Shows (weekend 06-21-08) – vids

Grave Mistake, Sunday Night, Mojo 13, Claymont DE

Seventh Hour, Saturday Night, Marina’s, Blades DE

Guerilla Party, Sunday Night, Mojo 13, Claymont DE

My Version of It (kind of), Sunday Night, Mojo 13, Claymont DE

Coldplay Fiasco

I posted this cheesy video from the radio program on my radio youtube site — and so far it has about 10,000 views.. I’ve learned one thing from this and one thing from Chili Petty — music fans are by far big douchebags.. I’m so sick of all the damn asses in the world.. it drives me to anti-psychotics.. i swear to you.. live and let die you damn bastards… JMX

FYI — the band in questions, these Creaky Boards fellows are claiming this is some kind of hoax now.. I put it on youtube just as an expirement in viral marketing.. make a video, link it to a big news story and watch your hit count go up.. the only real problem is.. I’m not sure how you can really use this to market your stuff.. I mean, look at Alexandria Dupre — everyone heard her song, but, I don’t know if anyone bought it.. or if Creaky Boards will now get world wide fame over this whole thing.. I think the key is to have something people like for what it is, not just piggybacking on someone else’s success or fame.. I don’t know.. more later.

 

The Flip Video (written for talkofdelmarva.com)

A couple of months ago the radio station purchased a Flip Video Camera (http://www.theflip.com/products.shtml)– I thought the concept was pretty cool — a handheld digital video camera that plugs right into the USB port on your computer, on-click video, good audio quality, easy storage, no tapes or mini-DVDs, it records up to an hour and only requires two double A batteries.. Now, I’ve read some pretty bad reviews of the Flip, Apparently around Christmas a bad shipment of Flips went out to Bestbuy.com and to Walmart — in fact, the first one that the station purchased was defective…

Yesterday, I decided that the benefits outweigh the bad reviews.. every review on BestBuy.com was either 5 stars or 1 star… an odd combination.. and I threw caution to the wind and bought my own. They cost around $120 dollars and they are indeed easy to use, compact and just amazing (I say this now, but, we’ll see if it lasts down the line.) I often need a video camera to tape live performances, radio clips and just things of general interest… One of my hobbies outside of work is editing video.. I worked for 8 months on a video project converting old VHS and 8mm cam tapes to digital files and finally to iPod ready videos (which was actually a few step process.. 1. copy the vids to DVD 2. rip the DVD into computer (need DVD ripping software) 3. edit the digital videos to more compact cleaner versions (needs video editing software and Audio mixing/Mastering software). 4. Finally convert videos to iPod ready M4P format videos… (needs another special program to convert) — A difficult and time consuming process, especially when you’re using a PC with clunky software.. The Flip Video allows you to edit the videos you shoot and saves them right to iPod ready videos.. It’s quite simple.. Now the video I’ll post below was actually filmed live in the studio with The Flip, but the audio was superimposed over the clip from a direct line out of our radio console.. So the audio here will be slightly better than what you’d acheive with The Flips built in mic, but, I did it this way to show you the great quality video and audio you can possibly acheive with a few very simple steps. i only used the camera and Windows Movie Maker combined with Adobe Audition to record the actual audio line out. Then a quick upload to youtube and you’re ready to go. The actual quality of the saved videos are much better than the youtube version, but if you are a frequent youtube user, than you’ll notice the familiar youtube wash over the video.

Check it, this is Ron Ferrell of Ferrell Cooling and Heating from today’s WGMD broadcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iedWRP3YJ4I

Bruce Springsteen vs. Tommy Tutone (Fun With Music Theory)

(From the guy that brought you Chili/Petty) — Is it possibly true that Bruce Springsteen’s “Radio Nowhere” off his new record “Magic” Is just a recreation of Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny”? Well… Here’s what went down today on the radio..  We were doing a topic about how many across Delaware recieved mysterious phone calls from 302-867-5309 on Sunday, including yours truly. Our very own Mari Lou isolated the audio of the Tutone Wonder.. Coming in from the next break I played Springsteen’s number as bumper music.. ML interjects “hey, that’s the same song…” this is the discussion that followed…

 http://www.wgmd.com/SOUNDS/9AM/031108-springs.mp3

from the Jared Morris Radio Show 9-12 on WGMD 92.7 FM available at www.wgmd.com

Certainly not a new new discovery, Here’s what other’s have written:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Nowhere

 Anyway, according to sheet music plus (dot com) – the chord progression is very similar, only it’s a half step below in the springsteen version..

Jenny: Gm Eb/G Bb C
Radio: F#m D(9) A E/G#

Of course the final chord in the progression is different as well.. Where as it does have a familiar feel, it’s “just different enough” — wikipedia writes: The opening guitar riff and chord progression are so reminiscent of Tommy Tutone’s 1982 hit “867-5309/Jenny” that Tommy Tutone lead singer Tommy Heath was quoted as saying: “Everybody’s calling me about it,”^[1] and that, “I think it’s close enough that if I wanted to [take legal action], I could work with it.”

Someone then called in the radio program and claimed that another bumper selection I use “Splendid Isolation” is the same song as well.. Splendid follows this progression:

Splendid: Em C G D/F#
Jenny: Gm Eb/G Bb C
Radio: F#m D(9) A E/G#

With is a full step and a half below the Tutone song, and a whole step below Bruce’s.. To put it in numeric terms, this is the progression each song follows, which is what you’d use to determine similarities in songs –

Splendid: (Key Em) 1, 6, 3, 7
Jenny: (Key Gm) 1, 6, 3, 4
Radio: (Key F#m) 1, 6, 3, 7

So, the springsteen version is actually much closer to the Zevon song than the Tutone song.. Although, the melody is closer in the Tutone song.. Any way.. Fun with music theory.

Philly/DE/Jersey Bands — Need a show?

My Version of It will be playing a free show at Marty Magees in Prospect Park, PA on Thursday March 27th at 8:00 pm… Any local bands looking for a show drop us a line…

The last time we played there we had a great show with a couple of other great bands, It’s a great venue with really friendly people and great sound.. To read more about Marty Magees check out this link: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=30128438&blogID=361292830

Thanks, Jared.

Reply via myspace or e-mail info@myversionofit.com for more information

“Dover” (by ML)

Here’s a post written by ML over at 92.7FM regarding a local folksinger:

Heard this morning on the WGMD morning show – “Dover” by John Flynn of Hockessin

Hear it again – John Flynn – MySpace

John Flynn website

Here are the lyrics -

Dover                                    By John Flynn

 Elijah was a sergeant, 42 years old
from Mesa Arizona, Elijah won’t grow old
Patrick was with C Troop, Second Armored Cav
His buddies all remember how Patrick loved to laugh
Seth was from East Brunswick, just a newly wed
Somewhere in New Jersey a young widow bows her head
Daniel was from Boston shipped out from Fort Bragg
His mother got back Daniel with a folded flag  

Chorus:
Oh big airplane bring’em down easy
Out of the Delaware skies
Oh big airplane Dover is waiting
to welcome the  heroes you fly… home

William was in Anbar, combat engineer
1^st Marine Division, William isn’t here
Alan rebuilt bridges for Battalion B
Next to cause of death they wrote the letters I E D
Gussie was a scrub nurse hailing from Fort Bliss
Gussie had a spirit this world’s gonna miss
Jeremiah’s son cries on his mamma’s knee
There was no armor plating on his dad’s humvee

Chorus 

Scrubbed wooden pallets with white straps cinched over
Long boxes of flag draped aluminum
The C-5 is crowded when it lands in Dover
The honor guard boards and makes room again Making straight for Nineveh, just like Jonah’s whale
Holy truth you swallow, overseas you sail
Precious is the cargo sacred was the gift
offered in the sandstorm from which your wings lift
Those who would pay homage can’t watch you set down
Behind barbed wire sentries miles from their town
No one breathes to question this silent parade
Except for the anguished loved ones left to say

© 2005 Flying Stone Music