The band Eastbound Jesus held their 2nd annual, “Eastbound Throwdown” festival. This time it was a two day festival with camping and all. Lots of bands on the bill and plenty of things to see and do at the festival. The festival took place at Irwin Farm in Salem, N.Y.

Yes, I went and stayed the whole weekend. It was a blast too and I had a lot of fun. The guys in EBJ did a great job putting together their own festival. I was impressed. It was all very professional. It was more than just music. You can also eat food there, play games, drink all kinds of alcohol and just hang out with people.

I got to hang out with plenty of people I already know and got to meet some new faces as well. Did I get drunk and get myself hammered? You betcha I did drink quite a bit so I admittedly did get pretty wasted. I’m not much of a drinker at all but once in a blue moon won’t hurt, ya know? I just wanted to have a blast and get a buzz on.

I got to be a part of the EBJ Throwdown staff so I got to hangout backstage and stuff. Even though I was allowed to go backstage with a pass and all, I didn’t hang out backstage all that much ’cause I was too busy watching all the talent on stage out in the audience. I’m a huge local music supporter and I like watching musicians play. When I did go backstage, I would go back there and talk to the bands after their performance to give them compliments and stuff.

While I think all talent at EBJ Throwdown were great, I was most impressed with the North & South Dakotas, Driftwood, The Mallet Brothers Band, Pitchfork Militia, the Blind Owl Band, Green (local cover band) and of course, EBJ kills it like they always do.

They did a great job with the stage, sound, lighting and the scheduling of bands. The bands appeared on stage right on schedule so it was all done perfectly and professionally. A lot of people showed up at the Festival too so it was pretty successful. They really pulled it off beautifully.

While the bands were playing I did dance a lot myself. I danced to Green,  Blind Owl Band, The Mallett Brothers and of course, EBJ. I danced like crazy to EBJ on Friday night but the second night EBJ took the stage, I was standing this time and then I watched the rest of the EBJ show on night 2 at the top of the hill ’cause I got too tired out from all that crazy dancing. Yeah, I did dance with a couple of drunk women which was fun.

What I like about EBJ shows is that their fanbase are a bunch of cool people. They just get together, act all weird and crazy and just have a blast. Getting rowdy and crazy is a small part of what their shows are about really. EBJ fans look out for each other which is cool. Just dance with random people and act all weird. EBJ shows are all about having fun. If you want to act all silly and dumb at EBJ shows, go ahead. 🙂

EBJ Throwdown was a total blast. If you want to see a lot more pics and video, check out my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/p/BK0xMQiA4hA/?taken-by=kevbrockmusic

This Throwdown was definitely way better than last year’s and definitely looking forward to next year.

Kev

I know I haven’t been talking about local music too much but here is something that I feel the need to get my thoughts on. There’s a huge debate in the musician section in the Albany craigslist that just exploded. There this band that made no. 1 for “Best Local Band” in the Times Union “Best of“. So the band that made the no. 1 spot made a post promoting one of their gigs and they wrote, “See why we’re in the best in the area”.

http://albany.craigslist.org/muc/5659181729.html

A huge debate explodes after that saying that this band shouldn’t be going around acting like they are the best in the area just because they won a best of for a dumb newspaper. Others feel that the band advertising themselves as “the Best in The Area” is a turn off and a bit egotistical. I would have to agree there.

These days it seems to be pretty common that local bands that win a “Best Of” or get a huge write up in a newspaper, they go around acting like they’re all special. They go around acting like they’re so big.

As a musician, that’s the last attitude I would want to have. Being humble and not taking yourself serious is the best way to be. In fact, I don’t go around acting like I’m great and acting like I’m better than others like a lot of musicians seem to be acting that way these days. I usually let the music speak on it’s own. Let the people tell you whether you are great or not. If people think I suck, that’s fine. If people think I’m great, that’s fine too.

When a band or solo artist goes around acting like they’re so talented, that would be the last musician I would support. No thank you.

I don’t support musicians who are egomaniacs and there are a lot out there, trust me. I like musicians that are down to earth, humble and friendly.

On top of that, I don’t like these Best Of’s anyways. The Metroland is no longer around, people will look for the TImes Union for the Best Of’s now. Some people would say I’m just mad ’cause I didn’t win anything… wrong. I don’t care about these Best Of’s. Not one single bit. Even if I did win something, I would just brush it off ’cause I don’t play music to win imaginary awards. Not what I do this for.

In my eyes, if you’re one of those bands or artists who go around acting like you’re so great musically then you probably aren’t all that great. Winning a Best Of means nothing.

Kev

When it comes to local music, there has always been this “Covers vs. Originals” debate and I’m tired of it really. Musicians that do cover songs get so much criticism and disrespect. The argument is that you’re not a real musician if all you’re doing is cover songs. Also, many musicians believe that original bands should get more recognition than the cover bands. People in the music scene are pretty much fed up with the cover band scene and I could never understand why.

To me, I see no problem with musicians doing cover songs and I love performing cover songs as some of you know. I think it’s important for musicians to do both originals & cover songs and I’ve always done both. I think it’s important to play songs that people know well and love. I’m trying to do just that. Lately, I’ve been learning more cover songs than ever before. I’ve been trying to build my repertoire of cover songs. Trying to memorize the lyrics of well-known hits and all that stuff. I want to learn cover songs from the 50’s and on up.

I think it’s great that musicians wanna play cover songs and there’s nothing wrong with it at all. I find it unfair that cover song musicians get knocked for it. I understand that original bands wanna get more recognition but don’t blame cover bands. It’s important to play songs that people know well and love. On top of all this, cover songs will help improve your talent. Performing cover songs certainly did helped me. There’s a lot of cover songs that I didn’t think I would be able to pull off but I seem to do it well.

It seems that my cover songs get more positive feedback than my originals and that’s why I wanna keep doing cover songs ’cause people has been liking them. I would like to go back out there performing live again like perform open mics and things like that.

I’ve always thought about starting a cover band of my own, not sure. I just love playing cover songs.

I just wanna perform all the songs that I love. Songs that inspired me over the years. I love cover songs and wanna do more of them. Those that makes this claim that cover song artists have no talent is pretty ludicrous. In my opinion, if all you do is nothing but original songs then it shows that you can’t play covers at all.

I wanna perform more classic rock songs that I love. I wanna perform songs by Zeppelin, The Who, Creedence, The Beatles, Bowie, Tom Petty, etc. I also wanna do more 80’s stuff and wanna learn more stuff from the 90’s too. Doing cover songs is good for ya. You all know that I’ve always liked to do cover songs and I don’t regret it at all. Anyone that says that original bands should get more spotlight than cover bands is pretty dumb.

Keep in mind that most of your favorite bands all started off as cover bands so you better watch what you say… Led Zep, Sabbath, Metallica, etc. They all started off as cover bands. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Cover songs are fun. I love doing them. I’ll always write originals too, though.

Kev

There’s a lot of local bands & solo artists that are worried about which songs of theirs that would be good for “singles” or radio friendly. If you’re that type of musician who are more worried about making hit songs for the radio then you’re doing it wrong, in my opinion. There are too many that want their songs played on local radio stations like EQX and all that shit. All that stuff is good and cool but, ya know with my music, I never cared to write radio friendly songs. I’m not worried about that at all ’cause I just make music — pure and simple.

To me, I can never tell which of my original songs would be good for radio or as a “single” to make a music video with and all that stuff. I never really called my songs “hit songs” or singles. I just let the music speak on it’s own. If other people want to call some of my songs a “hit” single then that’s fine. It’s a good idea to let your listeners pick the “hit songs” and not you. That’s how it should be done the way I look at it.

In my opinion, a “hit song” is not how radio friendly it sounds… a “hit song” is how many listeners it has gotten. If you put a bunch of songs online, you’ll know your song is a hit when it gets a lot of “plays”.

Just staying humble with yourself is what it’s all about.

To me, I don’t care about getting my songs on the radio. I just make music for myself and others. That’s all I’m worried about pretty much. I don’t want to be a “hit maker” ’cause honestly that’s not where I want my music to go. I don’t want to be a “mainstream” artist like so many live under the delusion of. I’m even happy even if just 1 or two people listen to my songs. Have some respect for yourself as an artist.

Kev

I’ve had someone in facebook asked me, would I ever get my music on Itunes? Make music available to buy through the Itunes store? I’ve thoughts about it for a long time but ya know, getting music on Itunes is kind of tricky. You need to make sure you own all copyrights to your music. Gotta get your music copyrighted before you sell. Also gotta follow the strict guidelines of getting your music on Itunes like making your album cover however they want it and copyrighting your album art too. Plus, you gotta find a distribution which will cost something a year so I don’t know. Seems like a lot of work and a lot of money to sell your music online like that so I don’t know if I’ll ever do it.

On top of that, I prefer to give out my music for free anyway. It’s called an “internet album” for a reason. I’ll just throw my album on bandcamp and let people download it for free or I could find a different album downloading site similar to bandcamp to give away my album. I’m sure there are many other websites similar to bandcamp. Bandcamp is easier and cheaper ’cause you don’t need a distribution.

I don’t believe in selling music ’cause I don’t make music for the money anyways. I’ll find a way to put my first real album for free online whether it’ll be bandcamp or some other site, I’ll think of something. I’ll definitely get my album copyrighted, though ’cause it’s a good idea. I really don’t want to pay for a distributor ’cause it’s a load of bull.

A lot of unsigned bands & artists have been releasing their albums for free online anyways and I’m glad more have been doing it. I wanna do the same.

You don’t need to sell your music and each time I bring that up, musicians get all upset and offended for whatever reason. It just further proves that all bands care about is money. Whatever happened to the love of music? Music doesn’t always have to revolve around money. It’s all about the passion and the love for music. You show your passion for music by not being greedy about money.

Kev

This is real true and this has always been a problem for years. People would have no problem shelling out a couple of hundred to go see a national concert of your favorite rock band or pop act but when you try to talk people into going to see a local band, they have no interest at all whatsoever.

I know. It’s real hard getting people out to local band shows knowing from my own experience. No matter how well you promote your local band gig, you can only get a few people interested in going. Yet everybody goes to those national concerts instead.

Sad how that is, isn’t it?

It’s a proven fact that people have no interest in local bands. Most people would rather sit around at home, sit around and watch TV or play with the internet or whatever. When people do want to go out for the night… they go to some bar to see a cover band to dance to. Why do you think cover bands are still dominating?

I mean, people should give local bands more respect. Why? There’s a big difference between national concerts and local concerts for sure…

National concerts: You have to shell out a couple of hundred to see your favorite band or pop act but you don’t get very good seats. If you want to meet the band members, you have to buy additional VIP packages in order to do that.

Local concerts: Would only cost them $10 to get in. You get to see the band up close. The sound is better. You don’t need to buy additional VIP packages or a backstage pass to meet band members. After their performance is over with, you can just walk up to the band members and talk to them without getting hassled by security or any of that shit.

It’s really crazy, ya know? There are plenty of local music supporters, no doubt! I just feel that there is not enough of them. It’s real sad that local bands don’t get the respect they deserve. I feel that a lot of local bands and solo artists are way more talented than the national acts anyways. I think it’s more fun watching local band shows than national shows. It’s why I love going to a lot of EBJ shows. EBJ shows are amazing ’cause they play all of their shows like they’re playing MSG.

There’s no doubt it’s definitely tough getting people to local shows for sure. People do lose their minds when you try to get them to. When you send them show invites and show flyers, that stuff usually gets ignored by a lot of people and you’ll get accused of spamming them. Really sad how that is ’cause people can be weird and dumb like that.

Kev

HMMMMMmmmmm, I never realized the Metroland newspaper stopped publishing after over 30 years of being in business. That’s okay though ’cause I lost my appreciation for that newspaper a long time ago. Probably because of their crappy Readers Polls/Best OFs and we no longer have to deal with that crap anymore. They may have supported me in the past back in 2006 when they gave me the win for all the internet stuff that I do but I didn’t want to get recognized for the internet stuff. Plus they were too liberal with their politics and they kept the attention away from local music. Their readers poll/best of stuff were pretty much the same every year and I was also disgusted when they gave the man with the plastic bag aka The Legend a nod for the Reader’s Poll/Best of when he didn’t deserve it. What were they thinking? So yeah. Good riddance that they’re done. I’m not heartbroken about this one.

http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/Albany-s-alternative-weekly-Metroland-nostalgic-6738870.php

Kev

Back in the old days when I used to go to local music shows all the time… local shows were either for FREE or you had to pay like $5 to $10 at the door to get in to enjoy the night of live music. These days in the age of technology and the internet, all the bands, clubs and venues want you to buy tickets online in order to get into the show which to me is pretty lame. I prefer the old school way of getting into shows by paying your way in at the door. I don’t really like going online to buy a ticket just to go see a band at a small place. There are still clubs & venues around here that still go by the door in order to get in but these days that’s not happening much anymore. You have to buy your admission online. If the show is not sold out, you can still pay the door but the ticket will be even more expensive on the night of the show.

If you wanna know another reason why the local music scene sucks, this is it. I don’t like how bands and venues are handling the admission to get in their shows these days. Forcing your fans to buy tickets online is not the good way to go, in my opinion ’cause think of it this way. If the shows are sold out, you’re gonna disappoint a lot more fans that wanna see you. Keep in mind, not all of your fans use the internet and some are not gonna be good with technology so people should still be allowed to pay at the door like the old days.

Why is local music quickly changing to online ticket admission instead of door admission? I know a lot of bands around here wanna feel like a rock star and you wanna show off how you wanna be a “sold out” band but having fans to buy tickets is pretty unfair, in my opinion. Leave your rock star ego at the door and leave the ticket admission to ticketmaster. This isn’t the national industry… this is local music.

I prefer the old way where you just travel to the venue, take your wallet out and hand over the door guy your money. That’s easier, in my opinion. Ah well, the local music scene changes and evolves, I guess. There’s nothing you can do about it. No matter what anyone thinks about this, I prefer the old way. Bands & venues always looking for quicker ways to make money and that’s what it is.

Kev

From craigslist in Albany:

http://albany.craigslist.org/muc/5446804022.html

“I gotta get this off my chest. WTF is a “tribute” band? Especially if no one in the original band isnt dead,or the original band isnt even broken up. This fucking things way out of hand. Why dont you call yourselves “a bunch of talentless jerkoffs dressing up,trying to act, and STEALING the music from a ORIGINAL band”? MUCH more misleading. Its the fucking stupidest,lamest,fucking shortcut from fucking thinking idea Ive ever seen. For gods SAKE,theres even a “vanilla ice” tribute act. Years ago I met some real shitty local tribute to Aerosmith band-toys in the attic or some shit-these fucking clowns thought they were ROCK GODS,and they couldnt even play fucking Aerosmith right! The fucking shit ass lead singer,who sounded like the guy from Molly Hatchet-IF you could hear him as he sung so quietly over the guitars who thought they were in Metallica,actually THOUGHT he WAS Steven Tyler. Bunch of fucking talentless queers playing dress up. DO YOUR OWN SHIT,ASSHOLES.”

Sometimes I like to read the craigslist Albany musicians section just for laughs and see what they’re debating about. This original post here wanted to rant about “tribute bands” in Albany and it sparked a debate on craigslist. Whoever made this post, got all kinds of other musicians trying their best to defend “tribute bands”.

I never was a fan of “tribute bands” either as a matter of fact. I too found “tribute bands” to be pointless and they’re just a bunch of posers. Tribute bands is becoming quite a problem in the Capital District area as there has been way too many of them lately.

Whenever someone speaks the truth about “local music”, they get written off as a bad person or a troll. There’s nothing wrong with being realistic on local bands so I say, keep speaking the truth! If you’re pissing ’em off, you’re saying the right things.

I don’t like tribute bands either. I may love playing cover songs and all but I would never start a tribute band or join one. Tribute bands, in my opinion are pretty silly. Bravo to whoever wrote that post above!

Kev

I’ve been supporting this local original band called, Candy Ambulance ever since they started appearing online. This band is pretty new. I believe they’ve been around for about a year and already, they’ve started a huge buzz around the music scene. Their music is already going places and they’ve been gigging a lot. They’re from Saratoga Springs.

I’ve been listening to their album, “The Mudwife” a lot non-stop as it is a pretty addicting album. They’re about to release their second album soon which I can’t wait to hear.

I predict this band is gonna get really big. They could become as big as EBJ (Eastbound Jesus). I’d like to see these two bands share a bill together ’cause it would be a cool show.

Candy Ambulance (which is a cool band name, btw) is a killer band and I have a feeling they won’t be local for long ’cause they could go indie or national anytime. So as long as they are around, be sure to see them live as much as possible. I want my chance to see them live myself which I haven’t yet. They write great songs.

Kev