Monday, March 15, 2010

Ocean Size: The Search Begins...

Singing to an ocean, I can hear the ocean's roar
Play for free, play for me and play a whole lot more, more!

"The Ocean"-Led Zeppelin

It's time I tread into the wild wild sea of Craigslist. I need to find musicians in Austin Texas.

If I was a rich guy, I would hire the best available. But really bands are like any other group activity, chemistry is key. Usually a controlled volatility. No matter how much money is paid or how great the musicians are individually, they have to play and sound good together. They all gotta have the groove/philosophy of the music of the band-a collective vision. The band leader has to be able to communicate the musical and business agenda, plus manage expectations on both fronts. It's hard, a pain in the ass and when successful, better than sex.

I know some great players here in Austin, but they are busy because they are great players. I have a dream line-up of players I would love to have, but I need to keep it flexible. I want to have a couple of core people. Since I want great players, I know I will probably have some people in and out of the project. Hell, I'll hopefully be playing in more projects since I'm a music whore. The goal is to get album released by the end of the year. Since I'm the leader, I will handle the promotion and marketing, the booking, writing & arranging, incur the cost of rehearsals and try to pay the musicians in the band. I'll manage the Facebook, Myspace, Reverbnation, Bandize, Twitter, etc.. It's a lot of work. But the hardest thing might be writing the Craigslist ad. I wrote about one I liked here.

I've actually been thinking about this a long time. I wrote a lot of drafts and was not happy. I might have to rewrite this one. Here it goes:

The Quart of Blood Technique seeks a drummer & guitarist.

Aesthetic:
The Quart of Blood Technique is an instrumental band-live, experimental jazz, funk/R&B, rock, sound texture music. Original music, arrangements of music from movie soundtracks-TV Themes and riff heavy music (reworking hard rock and jazz tunes). Basically danceable out-there in the pocket stuff…

Music influences: Medeski Martin & Wood, The Meters, The Funk Brothers, James Brown, Booker T & the MGs, Herbie Mann, Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis (Late 60s/Early 70s), Headhunters, the Screaming Headless Torsos & Vernon Reid’s Masque, T.J. Kirk

I’m a professional electric bassist. I’m in my 30’s, stable and my main bass influences are Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius, Larry Graham, James Jamerson, Tony Levin, Paul McCartney, Doug Wimbish. I also sing, play guitar and alto sax.

Ideally the drummer for this project will be in the vein of Clyde Stubblefield, Bernard Purdie, Tony Williams, Zygabo Modeliste, Stewart Copeland, Billy Martin, Gene Lake. Somebody the lives in the pocket, but can explore in the world of beats.

Ideally the guitarist will be in the vein of John Scofield, Vernon Reid, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, David Fiuczynski.

Business:
I have a day gig. I will play at least $50 a gig, pay for rehearsals, handle the booking, marketing, etc. I tentatively have a weekly gig starting in April, depending on how soon I get the group together. I am looking for experienced professional, career minded musicians. I’m working on the web presence (FB fanpage, twitter, Reverbnation, Myspace..) and none of them are quite ready yet. I have demos of originals.

Thanks for reading the ad.

qobtmusic@gmail.com

Peace

Monday, March 1, 2010

It's All Too Much...

February was a BUSY month. My goal is to post everyday and I have a bunch of half-written posts. For example,

My Saturday posts: The Week That Was... would have included the following:

February 1: Don Everly Birthday
February 2: Tom Smothers, Graham Nash, Birthdays
February 3: Johnny Guitar Watson, Dave Davies, Birthdays. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper & Ritchie Valens die in a plane crash (The Day the Music Died)
February 4: Alice Cooper Birthday
February 5: Al Kooper Birthday
February 6: Fabian, Bob Marley Birthdays
February 9: Carole King Birthday. The Beatles play Ed Sullivan & make their American TV Debut
February 11: In 1963 The Beatles record all the tracks for Please Please Me in 12 hours at Abbey Road. In 1964, The Beatles play their first live gig in the America at the Washington D.C. Coliseum. Gene Vincent (Beatle contemporary) Birthday.
February 12: Ray Manzarek Birthday
February 13: Peter Tork Birthday
February 14: Tim Buckley Birthday
February 16: Sonny Bono Birthday
February 17: Gene Pitney Birthday
February 19: Smokey Robinson Birthday
February 23: Johnny Winter Birthday
February 24: David Fathead Newman Birthday
February 25: George Harrison Birthday
February 26: Fats Domino, Johnny Cash, Mitch Ryder Birthdays
February 28: Joe South, Brian Jones Birthdays

Plus, I bought a lot of music and saw a lot of shows. I was also writing music for my instrumental band The Quart of Blood Technique & my solo project (Greg & the Get Downs) looking for musicians, hanging out & drinking with my wife and friends, going to Dallas for All Star Weekend, watching the Saints win the Superbowl, working my Clark Kent job as a media analyst, recording LEOGS, getting my black ass back in shape for my boy's wedding in August, trying out for Honeybrowne....

A lot of stuff. Now it's March and it's just gonna get worse with SXSW. I will post a collective New Music (to Me) Tuesday tomorrow. Thanks for reading and being part of the conversation.

Followers