K'Brocking Entertainment

I know it sounds exciting when you get asked to open for a bigger established act. An established band or solo artist who is more popular than you and has a bigger fan following. On the night of the gig, when you play your set, you get a small crowd that came to see your performance. When the headlining act gets on the stage, they have a much larger crowd come out. I got this quite a lot over the years. I get like a decent crowd come out to see my performance and sometimes I even get a few people or no crowd at all, but when the headlining act gets on stage, the venue is packed. I know it could be a little bothersome, and make you jealous a little bit, I hear ya.

When this happens, look at the headlining act, for some inspiration. Think to yourself, “Hmmmm, what could I do to get myself there, a bigger fanbase”.

I’m not mad at EBJ for being more successful than me, I’m actually happy for them and proud of them. I wish my music would be in the same level as they are. I would like the same recognition they are getting. I could look at them for inspiration to see how I can get there.

You need to set yourself a plan and some goals. What you want to achieve, in your mission. I would like to be a recognized songwriter more and trying the best I can. Getting success and becoming recognized doesn’t happen over night. It takes hard work. In my next batch of songs, I’m hoping they’ll get more respect ’cause I’m going to try to make my next round of songs, really good as possible. If my new songs get ignored again and don’t get much feedback, I’ll just continue to work harder.

I will definitely try to get a bunch of new songs out this summer, just taking my time.

Kev

I know musicians making friends with other musicians has always been a pretty popular thing that goes on in the unsigned music world. I understand why musicians feel the need to make friends with other musicians in their music scene. They do it so they can get more contacts. Hoping to get gigs with them or even form a band with them. Some musicians do it just for networking in the music scene and try to get known around them so they can be a part of the scene. Some do it to try to get their own music out there. Some do it for the enjoyment of hanging out ’cause they have good music discussions having the same taste in music. Lot of reasons why musicians want to be friends or just “buddies” to other musicians.

In the past, when I was out there gigging, I hung out with some musicians in the scene. I wouldn’t exactly call them “best friends”, just hung out with them in the scene. Didn’t really hang out with them at their homes or anything but what is that word, I’m trying to look for? I think the correct word that I’m looking for is, “acquaintance”, means you know them personally but not exactly your friend.

If making friends or acquaintances is what you want to do in the music scene, you must go for the people who are willing to support you in return. Be friendly with the musicians who have the same taste of music as you do. That is pretty much key to winning support from other musicians, sharing the same musical tastes and styles. Enjoying the same bands and genres. Having lots of common in music.

The last thing you want to do though is try to be friendly with all musicians out there, ’cause not all of them are going to be friendly, believe me. You will make enemies out there too. You can’t please everybody. I’ve had plenty of musicians from the past who I thought was going to be a buddy of mine or just a contact, but I learned that a lot of them can’t be trusted. Just move on from the enemies immediately, brush them off and go for the ones that will be willing to be supportive of you.

Seriously, there will be kind musicians out there that will support you, have your back, and he/she will want the best of you. You will get wonderful musicians that will support you every step of the way. You just need to believe in yourself and support the musicians who support you in return. There’s your own music scene. Sometimes, it’s worth it going through all those musicians who were enemies who tried to bring you down, ’cause you can get supporters that way. There will be musicians who won’t give you drama. Just go for the right musicians, and your music life will be great.

This is one of the reasons why I’m trying to learn music theory more, so I can understand their music theory discussions, lol…

Kev

You can promote your music all you want to. You can have over a million fans in facebook or twitter or where ever. You can put your show advertisements everywhere as much as possible. No matter how much or how hard you promote your music, people are still not going to listen to it and will not support your music if it’s not good. Believe me. If they don’t like it, they won’t support it, even if you would like them to. Sad, but that’s the way music is. People are pretty honest with music.

If you’re not getting enough support with your music that you would like to, don’t worry about it. Just keep doing your thing, and sometime in the future, you will write something really good that everyone will like. Once in a while, I do get really good feedback on a few of my originals, but it would be appreciated if people gave me positive feedback on all of my music but music doesn’t work that way, I guess. You have to let the people be your critic. There are too many musicians out there that get offended by negative feedback. Thing is, if you’re getting too much negative feedback, keep working on the music. Listen to what they have to say and try to improve the song, then the feedback could possibly turn into a more positive direction.

I actually enjoy the negative feedback, it don’t bother me. The negative critics actually help me wanting to become a better songwriter and musician. If you take your time to improve your talent, more people will give you more respect and the negative critics will go away that way. The negative critics are not gonna go away if you lash out at them and defend yourself. They’ll stop hating on you, if you become a better musician and songwriter. That’s how you get people to like you more.

Which is what I’ve been doing with my own talent. I’m trying to improve my musicianship to a higher level. Trying to learn music theory, scales & modes, improvisation, timing & rhythm, etc. I’m trying to learn all the things a musician is supposed to know. I’m also trying to improve the singing too. I’ve been practicing music everyday for a couple of hours and it’s really making a huge difference in my playing, and I am getting better.

I’ll get back into songwriting again soon, I just wanted a little break from it to focus on learning music. Even if you did improve your singing and instrument playing, people are still going to give you honest feedback. It’s all about the song. The melody. If the song is good enough, people will support it and respect it. How do you write a really good song? I’ve said it before, the song needs emotion, you need to feel it. Ever feel amazed or blown away by your favorite music? Well your music needs to feel the same way. It needs to be played with heart.

Good music is the only way that you’re going to get somewhere in your career. You can’t beg people to like you. Just let the good feedback come on it’s own and things will be fine. Never think of yourself as a great musician, you need to let others tell you that. Sometimes it takes years to be a good musician and good songwriter, just give it time and everyone will like you soon enough.

Kev

It’s really hard to tell whether other musicians support you or not. The internet today, has always been a huge thing for unsigned and indie musicians, where they go online to support each other. When you want to be part of a music scene, there’s going to be a lot of flip flopping, backstabbing and drama going around. You will also get a lot of musicians pretending to like you when, they don’t really. You’ll learn all this stuff soon enough. I’ve tried to be supportive of other musicians the best I can. I’ve been nothing but supportive of everyone, best as possible. You’ve seen it too. Sometimes you’re not going to get support from them in return ’cause a lot of musicians have this self importance attitude, that  a lot of them think they’re so talented that they believe you don’t deserve to get supported by them. I’ve tried to support musicians as best as possible but I’ve got nothing but hate, disrespect by some of them in return. I still seem to be dealing with this stuff to this day, but that’s okay. You will get musicians as haters too.

Why is it that I’m so bad on the internet? Maybe some of my blog postings have offended some musicians and struck a nerve with some of them, by my rants, but oh well. I don’t care if other musicians don’t like how I post online. I’m a guy who is a realist, who is not afraid to tell the truth about things. My rants may get a negative reaction but that’s what I want. I think it’s better being real and honest about things, instead of being a fake and a liar like so many musicians are these days.

Musicians are crazy, a lot of them can be pretty self centered people. If they’re gonna be self centered, then that’s how I’m going to be too. I think I’m done using this site to support local music. From this point on, this site will be about me, my music and my usual entertainment news blogging. That’s the way to be. You need to be tough and not let other musicians think they are better than you, out of jealousy and ego. Fuck the haters & doubters, ya know? You only concentrate on you and your music. If you want to keep going in your music, you shouldn’t care if you’re liked or hated by anyone.

I do appreciate the support by people who stuck with me though, don’t get me wrong. You’ll get true support by people, when they stick with you, no matter what happens. They’ll have your back and support you all the way through. That’s how you’ll know when you have the true supporters.

I’m going to have the Robin Gibb obit up later today for sure. I’m late on those obits ’cause they take a lot of time and research to do.

Kev

It’s very rare that an unsigned band or artist in your area, will become mainstream and famous in the music industry. A lot of people (especially music fans) mistakenly believe that when an unsigned band or artist do become signed, is a great thing and glorifying for your career. Is it really? In my opinion, when a talented band or artist become signed, big & famous, I look at it as a term called, “selling out”. What does it mean when a band or artist sells out in the mainstream?

It basically means, that when a band or artist no longer cares for their original goal with their music. They now look desperate for money and fame, success in the mainstream. No longer caring for your love for music and making the actual music. They just want to be at the center of everyone’s attention. “Selling out” could also mean, that a band gets away from their original sound and they start making pop music that fits the mainstream. Anything that has something to do with making it, in the big time.

When your favorite band or artist, sells out in the mainstream and moves forward to a higher level in your career, it may be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing at the same time. I would prefer bands to stay where they are, staying unsigned, and reaching for their dreams that way. Your favorite band or artist selling out in the mainstream, maybe kind of sad and disappointing ’cause you would rather see them live in your local area, yet they are out there performing arena concerts and major festivals. Like I said before, today’s music industry is not liked it used to be in the old days, so I still don’t understand why too many musicians are desperate for fame.

I hope the band, EBJ, don’t sell out in the mainstream, if that’s what they’re going for and what they want. They’re doing fine where they are now. They’re getting success without a label. I prefer them to stay that way, but that’s just my opinion. If they do become big and famous, I’ll still support ‘em sure, but the mainstream is going to turn them into pop band, instead of what they are now. These guys aren’t supposed to be a mainstream band, and I hope they don’t head that way. No offense to fans of that band, just being real.

Kev

These days, the internet seems to be a great tool to get your music out there and be heard as a musician. The internet can be a wonderful thing and musicians seems to be obsessed with it more than anything (that includes me too). I’m just amazed at the large number of unsigned bands and artists in social networking sites that a lot of them are terrible at putting themselves out there. Not only that angry rants could destroy your music dreams, you can still destroy your career even if you’re a nice person.

When you want to put yourself out there, you must be careful with everything you do. The kind of photos you’re putting up there for the world to see. You must look at how you write to your fans. A lot of musicians have the worst writing skills I’ve ever seen. A lot of musicians like to be funny and humorous a lot with their fans. A lot of them like to write offensive and inappropriate jokes, some of them even using cuss words and swearing. You see a lot of, “Come to this show, bitches”, “We’re going to rock the fuck out”, “We’re going to get ourselves wasted, and have a blast”, etc. Okay, you get my point. A lot of bands seem to be putting that stuff up in their status’s, when they have a show coming up. In my opinion, this is just me, it’s a bad idea to write stuff like that. Why does it make you look foolish?

It’s because you’re adults. Maybe like around 30 or 40. When you have a show coming up that involves alcohol, they act like high school teenagers at a house party or something. This post isn’t aimed at any band in particular. I’m talking about, all of them. Bands really got to be careful how they put themselves out there. Every move they make. Everything they do online. Everywhere they go.  They have to be responsible and take everything seriously.

When you want to promote a project or show, you must be a professional about that too. Just focus on plugging in your project in a more appropriate manner and more people will be interested in it. You can be a nice person all you want to be, people are going to still get pissed at you about how you put yourself out there. Don’t spam people to death and don’t over do with plugging yourself way too much. That can also kill your career.

Use the internet responsible, don’t fall for scams and pay to play schemes that a lot of bands seems to be falling for. Be careful with entering for contests and be careful of accepting opportunities over the internet. All this stuff can kill your career, if you’re not careful.

Use the internet good, and you could have a good career on a positive note.

Kev

A lot of bands and musicians mistakenly believe, you need to play bar rooms all the time, to get your music out there and be heard. That’s not true. You don’t really have to play shit hole bars & clubs, if you don’t want to. It’s really all up to you to decide on what type of venues to play in. To those that know me, would know that I prefer to play small cafes and diners more, than the bar gigs. Why do I hate bars so much?

Well, for starters, I hate the loud noise over the music. Too distracting and annoying. Plus, I don’t like being around too many drunk people. The way they talk to you being drunk is pretty nuts. I enjoy talking to people more when they are sober. As you can probably tell, I’m not the partying type anymore like I used to be.

I prefer the cafes and diners more, where people can sit and actually listen to you. It’s more quiet and calm. I prefer performances like that.

If I get a band someday though, that might be a bit of a problem. Most cafes and diners don’t like loud rock bands. I’m sure there are large venues that don’t involve alcohol that will welcome loud rock bands, those venues are hard to find. I just like quiet and intimate performances more. Most bands enjoy performing in front of a bunch of drunk people, but live performances don’t always have to be that way. This is why I mostly liked to perform at small places like the Cafe Lena, Flavour Cafe, Slow Jed’s, and places like those.

With the band thing, I don’t really want to be a bar band. I want to find places where people can sit and listen to you. We’re not going to be a party rock band where you can dance your ass off all night. I’m planning to be a rock band that plays art. Nothing wrong with bands wanting to play bars, they play where ever they want to play, but do you really want to be looked at as a bar band when you would rather be performing a bigger stage?

You can get a better reception from the fans when performing at venues that doesn’t involve alcohol.

Kev

I know that there are going to be plenty of bands & acoustic solo musicians that is not going to want to read this post, they’ll get mad at some of it, but the truth needs to be said. If you don’t want to be looked at as one of the most hated bands or artists, or if you don’t want to look like a bunch of amateurs, then you should read this post. I’ve been guilty of some of these mistakes myself, so I can speak from experience.

Here’s the list in no particular order:

• Stopping a song or starting over if you make a mistake – If you forget chords, forget lyrics, or if you keep messing up your rhythm playing, then that’s a sign that you need more practicing and rehearsing. Stopping a song or starting over is probably the worst thing a musician could ever do. It’s okay to mess up songs. It happens all the time. Everyone does it. Just don’t stop the song. Keep playing right through it by making stuff up both the music and lyrics, that way nobody would notice if you’ve made a mistake. It’s embarrassing when this happens, right? Sure is. I’ve seen musicians do this before and even I’ve done it a few times. Never again.
• Not having back up for an instrument, amplifier or P.A. system – I’ve seen bands and musicians stop gigs & cut them short ’cause their equipment goes out. This is why you should get an extra one for back up.
• Playing your instrument out of tune or singing out of tune – Playing in tune is important. It’s no joke!
• Performing while sick – The show must go on sure, but don’t be afraid to cancel or postpone the gig, if you’re not feeling well. There are too many musicians that perform while sick. You shouldn’t. If you’re ill, you could play a sloppy performance, and you don’t want to look sick on stage, right?
• Tuning on stage, in front of the crowd – Wasting time tuning is probably the worst thing ever. When you want to tune, do it early before the gig. If your instrument goes out of tune during the performance, unplug the guitar and then tune with an electronic tuner. Nobody wants to hear musicians tuning for ten minutes or more. If you have a song that is in an alternate tuning, like I said before, bringing more than one guitar will help cover up that trick, and will take lesser time in between songs.
• Responding to hecklers or confronting the audience walking away – It’s very rare that I see this but it does happen. If you’re getting, “You suck” from the crowd or walk aways, just ignore it and still play the gig. I’ve had people walk away from my performances all the time. I maybe a little disappointed, and sad when that happens, sure, but never say anything about it. Just keep playing for the people who stuck around to see you. When you respond, it’s a pretty childish thing to do.
• Being rude to the soundman during soundcheck before the gig – Yeah, doing the sound before the gig may sound annoying and frustrating, but don’t have a negative attitude if you can’t hear your instrument. There’s a very good chance, he could turn the sound off on ya and you could get kicked off the gig. Even if he can be rude or be a prick to you first, you don’t be mean to him in return. Just be a professional. Yes, there can be rude soundmen out there. I’ve seen it.
• Dressing terribly on stage – The way you dress is pretty important. Dress the way that fits your genre of music. You don’t have to dress fancy and nice at all of your gigs. Only dress fancy and nice on special occasions. If you play a gig at a fancy restaurant or night club, that’s when you want to dress all pretty. At bars, you can wear pretty much anything. At cafes and diners, keep the clothing casual.
• Not bringing in a crowd – If you’re just playing to the owner only, of course, this could be the biggest mistake a band or artist ever make. I love those bands that complain and whine that nobody showed up. Well, hell, I wonder why? It’s probably because they aren’t promoting enough and not inviting people! Don’t blame the venue or the booking person. It’s your job to bring in an audience, not theirs!
• Sucking, or playing terribly – If you’re booked a gig, and then play a bad show, then you need to stop gigging for a while, and practice more. This is pretty much the reason, I stopped gigging for a while to improve my talent.

There you go, I could probably come up with even more, but those ten are the most common.

Kev

With my previous topic on “Speaking in between songs”, this topic is about, how much time should you spend in between songs? Often, I’ll see a lot of bands and acoustic solo artists waste so much time in between songs. Taking so long to play the next tune. What do they do in between songs that’s taking them so long to play the next one? Either chatting it up with their band mates, wasting a lot of time tuning the instrument, some would even go have a smoke break outside or have a quick drink, telling a long story to the crowd through the mic, etc. Crazy things like that.

Spending  way too much time in between a song. The most appropriate time you should take a break in between a song is about 10-20 seconds or little more. I understand that gigs can sometimes be tough, you need your singing voice a little rest and your hands a little rest in between songs, but don’t take too long.

If you have a song that is in a different alternate tuning, this is why you should have more than one guitar at a gig. Tune the other guitar that the song needed to be in a certain tuning, that way you can quickly switch guitars without wasting so much time tuning. Bands would spend too much time tuning between a song, it’s crazy. The fact is, that spending way too much time in between a song, is pretty unprofessional. It’ll bore the audience, it could put them to sleep and some could walk away from your set. If you need a smoke break or a quick beer, wait until after the gig and not during.

In my gigs, I try not to spend so much time in between songs if you’ve seen me. Most of my original songs are in standard tuning anyway. Sometimes, I’ll use the drop D in a few of my songs, but I don’t mess with alternate tunings that much. In between a song, I’ll talk for a little bit and then I’m off playing the next song right away. You don’t ever want to keep the audience waiting for the next song. They are there to hear music, not silence.

Kev

I am amazed, that there are too many guitarists and bass players who don’t bother to cut their strings after changing them. You know, the type of guitarists that will just leave their guitar strings hanging way out of the tuning pegs. They walk around on stage with their guitars, the end of the strings that hang out will bounce around as you move around, not good. I understand why some of them don’t cut strings, because at a gig, if they trim the end of the string to make it shorter, it ruins the tuning, and it takes them even longer to tune if they trim the string.

Why is it a bad idea to leave your strings hanging out at the headstock of your guitar?

1) It looks silly as hell with the strings moving around, and bouncing back & forth 2) It’s very dangerous, the end of your strings can be pretty sharp, as they can easily poke someone in the eye or cut someone, or you could hurt yourself.

They don’t trim the strings ’cause they’re too lazy to tune. It is also evidence that they are not good at tuning their guitars if they don’t trim.  That’s why you should bring a pair of wire cutters to your gigs. It only takes a few minutes to cut the end of your strings off so they won’t be hanging out. This is also the reason why you need to get good at tuning your guitars, so that you don’t waste so much time tuning.

I always trim the strings. It’s a good thing to do.

Tuning the guitar is not so hard and it can be quick to do with a lot of practice. These days, I’ve been learning to tune the guitar standard tuning by ear, without an electronic tuner. It’s a good thing to do to train your ear.

Kev