I’ve won a couple of Best Of issues, for Metroland several years back, and I never once made the cover. Even if the staff at Metroland still supports me to this day, they never contacted me for an interview or anything.

Here’s an idea! Instead of creating some lame campaign, publicly calling out Metroland, why don’t you contact the newspaper yourself? I’m sure they’ll welcome any discussion over the phone.

On top of that, I would welcome an interview with Metroland if they ever asked me, but if they don’t at all, I’m cool with that too! I’m not worried about getting any press for music or for blogging on the internet. I’ll just appreciate and enjoy what I do.

Check out this silly campaign, here.

Is this guy desperate or doing a good thing?

Kev

I don’t go to bars & clubs that much. Once in a blue moon, I’ll go just to see a local band that I like or sometimes play a gig of my own, but that’s about it. I don’t go to bars on a regular basis. I don’t really like bars for a few reasons. 1) I don’t really enjoy being around a crowd of drunk people 2) They are not a place, I would meet women at. 3) Most bars are really a craphole and there are better places to have fun at.

I understand why bands need to play at bars just to play gigs and make money, but if bars & clubs aren’t really your thing as well, there are ways for your band to play non-alcoholic type of venues. There are ways to make your own alcohol free gigs. Maybe play at a church, a bookstore or a cafe. Maybe even a public park. You can even set your gigs at home if you have an area where a band can play. Just be creative and use your imagination.

I wouldn’t really meet women at bars, ’cause I kind of want a woman who doesn’t drink. Maybe an occasional drinker would be okay, but I prefer a woman who doesn’t drink at all. Meeting a woman at a bar, it’s most likely that she’ll hit on any guy that she lays eyes upon, and she’ll forget who you are the second she walks away from you, anyway. I’ve tried to meet women at bars before, and got nothing but bad experiences out of them. I would like a woman who doesn’t drink or smoke (it would be nice to find one who doesn’t smoke weed), but they are hard to find. Most women I know do that stuff. Crazy. It’ll be nice to meet a clean and healthy lady.

I just don’t like the bar scene too much. People are too crazy. Not a good place to socialize, in my opinion. Most people would defend criticism on bars, but you have to realize that bars are not for everyone. Don’t get me wrong, people are cool and can be friendly, but I prefer talking with sober people. I’m not a hard partier anymore like I used to be. I grew out of that stuff.

Kev

There’s a few certain bands & musicians I know who shall be nameless, who go on and on and on, about getting signed, whether to an indie label or major. Musicians who promote themselves that way, are just asking for more attention, and all that’s really doing is just showing how much of a huge ego you really have. You see, there’s a lot of bands & musicians want to get signed, but a lot of them don’t make their dreams public. A lot of them usually keep it for themselves even though, that is what they want. Hoping to become famous rock stars, someday. Why do a lot of musicians keep their dreams for themselves? It’s because it’s a professional thing to do. The last thing you want to do is go around, thinking you’re going to get big and famous someday.

How does this make you an attention whore? It’s just their way to make their fans proud of them. They want to make themselves feel good by getting positive feedback from their fanbase.

The more you go around, acting like you’re gonna go mainstream someday, the less chances you are going to get signed. The labels don’t come after you that way. The labels will come after you, if you promote yourself well and have a very large following. That’s how it goes these days.

On top of that, why would a band or solo musician want to get famous to begin with? The way the music industry is today, it’s very difficult to get signed. Most artists in the industry are fake, and manufactured. A lot of them don’t even really perform, and even the artists get controlled by the industry. They will also control you as a songwriter and artist. If you do get signed, you’re not going to get very far commercially because, pop/rap/country is so huge. It’s very hard for rock bands to get known and become rich & famous. Today’s industry is not the same way anymore for rock musicians. Point being, it’s very hard to make it.

Phantogram hasn’t really “made it” yet. They still have a long road to go if they want to be considered commercial and mainstream, artists. They do have fame, yes, but a little bit. They are just famous in the indie market.

This is why it’s best to stay unsigned and be a DIY musician, ’cause I personally enjoy that more. The music industry is garbage today. That includes the indie label market who are very pretentious and even more controlling, than the majors. Who needs to get signed. Just enjoy and play the music. That’s it.

Kev

I really believe that certain bands & musicians take themselves way too serious with the music thing. I understand that bands that want to get heard by as much people as possible and get themselves out there, but to me, I never really cared. I never really cared about the “rock star” thing ’cause there’s no such thing when you’re just a local musician, ya know? Bands are spending thousands of dollars on albums, studio time, expensive music video production, merchandise, etc. Crazy, I tell ya. They want to make themselves look great with all that promotional material. I could do all that with my own music, sure, but being a local musician, you don’t really need to. All that rock star stuff is great, don’t get me wrong, but the point is, if you want to get yourself out there, all you need is just you and your instrument. That’s pretty much it. You can still get a decent following and get some popularity with your music even without all that stuff. Even if you don’t get popularity or the recognition, you want. Who cares, right?

Music is a way of life. Playing guitar and writing songs helps me become a better person I am today. It helps me get through the good times and bad times, in life. Music makes me happier and is a good stress reliever. Music should not be about whether other people like your stuff or hate it. It’s all about you. You have to believe in yourself as a musician. I don’t need to make albums and go on lengthy tours. I don’t really need to be signed to some stupid label.

Just enjoy the love of music. That’s it. That’s the biggest reason I do this for, is because I love music whether listening to it or playing my own music. I just write songs or play gigs when ever I want to. I play gigs sometimes ’cause I love performing in front of an audience. Music should be about the passion and not being at the center of everyone’s attention. Of course, people don’t look at music that way anymore.

I could have a big music career if I wanted, but I don’t care to. If I get asked to sign for a big label, I would probably turn it down. Not really my thing, ya know? Music is a good pass timer, and helps keep me busy. I don’t really do much in my life, and pretty much the only thing I do, is play guitar. I don’t feel ashamed of it, either. Music is what keeps me alive and strong. The delusions of musicians can get pretty crazy. A lot of them want to think they’re so great and something special. I never had that kind of attitude. Just enjoy yourself.

As far as songwriting goes, I have been messing around with stuff on guitar, but haven’t started writing new lyrics yet. Gonna soon. I promise new songs will be coming. Sorry for the delay on those.
Kev

They keep getting better and better every time I see them. A lot of new material was thrown in their set last night and they are surprisingly doing covers more. Surprising covers they played last night were the Dukes of Hazad TV theme and they covered Hal Ketchum’s, “Small Town Saturday Night” (which the crowd sang along to). It was a pretty tight set. I dance throughout the whole set. They played a lot of long improvised jams which is cool. I had a blast like always.

My zombie costume got a lot of feedback, even from people I didn’t know. I was at the bar getting a drink of water (I don’t drink alcohol anymore), and there was this blond girl who was dressed as a zombie too, and as I was at the bar getting a drink, this zombie girl started walking toward me as if she was walking like a zombie. Then, when she got closer to me, she looked me right in the eyes, and started feeling my chest. So I’m thinking that she’s trying to play zombie with me and hit on me at the same time. I just smiled, put my hand up as a way to say hi, then she walked away to her other friends. I would have talked to her but she was too quick to leave. I told someone I know this funny story, and they simply said, “That’s probably because you have big guns”. I was like, “Ok, I think she just wanted to play zombie with me”.

It was a great night. Saw a bunch of Greenwich people I know, who I haven’t seen in a while. I’ll admit that I don’t socialize with the public that much, but I’m looking to change that, and be more sociable to this world. I need to get out there and make more friends in my life. I don’t socialize much ’cause I used to think people were horrible, but now I’m realizing they won’t bite. Just gotta go out and meet people which is what I’m working on as you can see. If I want to get myself a nice woman, this is what I need to do.

Fun time last night. Yes, everyone else dressed up too. Interesting costumes all over the place. Pretty much the whole town of Saratoga Springs were dressed up. On Caroline St. in Saratoga Springs is full of bars and night clubs. So there were a lot of people dressed up in various costumes in the streets too. Interesting night. It’s why Halloween is one of my favorite Holidays. I think I love it more than, Christmas, lol. EBJ is a phenomenal band, and I have a feeling they’re gonna go indie, sooner or later, so see them live as much as possible before they get there.

Kev

I’ve always known that my blog is more well known than my music, but I have a plan to change it the other way around. Not only that I need to market and promote my music, a little better, I also need to make my songwriting as best as possible. If I want to get a lot of online plays and get even more fans for my music, I need to make my songwriting skills better. I’m trying the best I can. Which is why I’m trying to improve my singing and guitar playing. Practicing guitar more, trying to get a better sense of timing and rhythm with a metronome ’cause people will take your songs more seriously if they are played in time. People would also take your songs seriously if you took your time with them and if they are perfectly crafted. I try to improve my songwriting anyway I can and am getting a little better, as you can see.

Good songs don’t always have to be catchy pop songs you can’t get out of your head, that will get the girls dancing. I never really wrote songs like that. I’m about making the art. I was never a hit radio single kind of guy like so many local musicians appear to be. I just wrote songs, simple as that. From this point on, I plan to take songwriting a little more seriously. It’s the good music that matters, no matter how much you promote yourself. As long as your music is good, people will support it.

I do have plans to promote myself to the next level though, by marketing myself as heavily as possible. I see how other musicians do it, so I can look at them for inspiration. Making professional ad flyers, promotional videos, and things like that. I’ll have a plan that I could get myself out there in a big way. I’ll make more people want more music from me somehow, just wait.

I’ll never stop the blogging though ’cause I always felt it was important that a musician needs to express himself, other than the music, which is why I enjoy talking about other things like movies, fitness, the entertainment industry, etc. It shows the world that you can be real, and human.

Kev

I’ve dealt with it all and I’ve seen it all. So I know these things with my past experiences of trying to get gigs. So you’re a band or a solo acoustic artist, trying to get gigs at venues around the scene and having a hard time trying to get gigs? There are several reasons why this could be.

1) You don’t have a large enough fanbase – (if you don’t have enough draw, you don’t get a gig. The only thing venues care about these days are pulling people in ’cause all they care about is making money. They don’t care whether you’re good or bad at playing music, they won’t book you unless you have a big following)

2) Their egos and bad attitudes can get in the way – (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dealt with this, when asking for a gig. I’ve gotten really rude responses back by some of them, sometimes tempers even flare in a back and forth e-mail chat, when all you wanted was a gig, and they seem to enjoy giving bands a hard time ’cause a booking agent at a venue wants to think they are better than us)

3) They are amateurs about booking bands and don’t have much experience or knowledge dealing with them – (Bands & musicians are more professional acting than anybody, but the way some of these guys book bands at the venues are absolutely horrible. Disorganized, unprofessional and half of them don’t even know what they’re doing)

4) A lot of them focus on the popularity of a band/artist, rather than the talent – (As explained in No. 1, this one is a little different. The talent of a musician or band is usually ignored. There are so many unpopular talented bands & artists around here who struggle to get gigs. Just because a band isn’t popular doesn’t mean they suck. Remember that. There are venues that are appreciative of music and will book bands & artists ’cause they are talented, but we need more of that around here)

5) They are usually terrible at giving information on things (If you want to know stuff about payment, whether they provide P.A. System or not, how long your set is, directions to the venue, etc. They usually get too confusing about this stuff. If you’re going to be in charge of the booking at a venue, and you don’t know this stuff, then you’re not qualified to be in charge of booking, SORRY!)

6) They are getting strict on handling booking online or by phone these days (Since the internet is getting so huge and wide today, the venues try to do whatever it takes to avoid a flood of booking requests. I’m sure they get overwhelmed by the large number of phone calls or e-mails they get. They only answer phones at a certain time and most of the e-mails, don’t get answered)

I can keep going but those several is what I can come up with. I’ve had a hard time booking gigs over the years, as I’ve been turned down by plenty of venues. The way I always get gigs, is that either I would ask for a band to get on a show, or they would ask me to play on one. That’s how I usually continue to play the same venue that way.

There are a few venues that actually accepted my request to book a show with them, though, like Slow Jed’s, Lena’s and maybe a few others, but most gigs I either asked to be on or I was asked to be a part of it.

The booking around here is bullshit, for sure. Can’t deny that. Although, I have a feeling that when I start getting back out there playing live, I’ll start experiencing these things again.

Kev

Here’s that video I was talking about, it’s online. The Joe Nacco band, short sci fi/comedy film about aliens. Enjoy!

Kev

The Joe Nacco Band first did a video about zombies, and now they’re doing something about aliens. I’ve seen the new video the Joe Nacco Band did with a new song called, “Stereo”. The new video is a short film with sci fi mixed in with a little comedy. It’s a pretty cool video and funny stuff. I’ve known Joe Nacco around the music scene for a while now, and he’s a cool dude, and a good songwriter. The video to “Stereo”, will be online soon. I’ll post it when it’s up.

Support the Joe Nacco Band by liking their facebook page and check them out at their gigs too.

Kev

Often, I would get criticized for not being part of the scene. Why I haven’t been gigging and why I haven’t been supporting other band shows much, other than EBJ? Well, there are a few reasons why I lost interest in local music and don’t really care anymore.

1. There are no venues anymore – There maybe a few venues around still, but you’re just going to be stuck playing the same venues all the time. No wonder a lot of bands are starting to tour the United States more, ’cause there ain’t shit for venues around Albany. On top of that, the booking is so strict now a days. I’ll get into detail about that in another topic.
2. The majority of talent around here is not good – I know good talent around, when I see it. Good talent come and go. There maybe a few good bands around still like EBJ, Wild Adriatic, the Erotics, and maybe a few other bands/artists, but other than that, I haven’t been liking today’s talent of local music. Sorry to say, just being real.
3. The drama & negativity is a bit of a turn off for me – Kind of one of the big reasons, that I slowed down on the scene. Too many unprofessional people around here even though they think they are.

So what’s the point of going back ya know? I still make music and play guitar, ’cause that’s what I do. I will still gig, when the time is right and when the opportunity comes up, but I’m going to be more careful with myself next time around.

Kev