Archive for November, 2008

I spoke to guitarist Ben DeWitt of the Springfield band Renae this week for the band spotlight for Weekender, because they are returning to Music @ the Mall in Keokuk.

I intended to do a quick interview and write the piece, but ended up talking for awhile about their band and music in general.

Check out more from the interview below and the article is at www.whig.com:

Ben DeWitt, guitarist
BAND: Renae
TOWN: Springfield, Ill.

"We don't want to be a part of what's happening, we want to make something happen."

GENRE: Post punk/post hardcore. "The way that I play guitar is bluesy or westerny. We're trying to do our own thing." They have some "Christian elements" in their music and are "not a screamo band, we have a heavier side like the hardcore movement."

"I've been a DIY kid since I was 16, the punk rock is in me."

LATEST RELEASE: Concept EP, "The Coward, the Storm and the Outlaw" last September.

INFLUENCES: At The Drive In, Before the March of Flames, Underoath, As Cities Burn and Fugazi

ABOUT MUSIC @ THE MALL: "They take care of you while you're there. It feels like a local show with how many kids come out."

ABOUT SPRINGFIELD: "We have a really good scene built there. We like to call our scene Posi, everybody believed in positivity. Kids started out respecting each other and everybody takes care of one another. Its an underground thing."

IDEAL SHOW LINEUP: Thrice, The Mars Volta, At The Drive In and The Chariot

WARPED TOUR: "We snuck into Warped Tour and sold over 800 CD's in a week, we got to know one of the stage managers and we got passes for the rest of the week. We met Poison the Well and their really nice guys." They got on Poison the Well's stage and thought, "this is how it would feel if we played main-stage at Warped Tour."

LOSING A FELLOW MUSICIAN AND FRIEND: Marion band James the Great's lead-singer Jacob Cato, 17, died in a car accident Nov. 8. "It really sucks, he was driving and he didn't make it.We are playing a benefit show with This Hollywood Machine from Troy, Ill. Dec. 12." Check out more benefit shows at www.myspace.com/jamesthefreakingreat.

ABOUT PLAYING MUSIC: "We had to start over and now I think we have a staying power for awhile. We're trying to make something that has staying power. It's all trickery, playing music is. I don't make music with a premiss, I like to make music for music's sake."

WEEKEND SHOWS

Renae, Transfer To Red and Siva (hardcore/rock)
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Music @ the Mall, 300 Main, Keokuk, Iowa
HOW MUCH: $5, all ages
INFO: www.myspace.com/musicatthemall

Cheeks McGee (acoustic)
WHEN: 9 p.m. today
WHERE: Jed’s Brewhouse, 18th and Chestnut
INFO: www.myspace.com/cheeksmusic

Predawn Hour (rock)
WHEN: 9 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Kerley’s Pub, Hannibal, Mo.
HOW MUCH: $5
INFO: www.myspace.com/predawnhour

Dave Weld & the Imperial Flames
WHEN: Friday
WHERE: The Club, 1023 N. 10th
INFO: www.daveweld.com

Raised On Radio (classic rock/blues)
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: The Elks Club, Quincy, Ill.
INFO: www.myspace.com/raisedonradiolive

Blue Voodoo
WHEN: Saturday
WHERE: The Club, 1023 N. 10th
INFO: Call 222-7169

Cheeks McGee (acoustic) and Nugget (Cake tribute band)
WHEN: 10 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: The Cafe, Macomb, Ill.
INFO: www.myspace.com/cheeksmusic

Burt Shackleton (acoustic)
WHEN: 9 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Brix
INFO: www.myspace.com/burtshackleton

Longshot (classic rock)
WHEN: 9 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Wildfire Saloon,
Vandalia, Mo.
INFO: www.myspace.com/longshot5

Tenth Avenue North (Christian)
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday Nov. 16
WHERE: La Harpe Junior High School, La Harpe, Ill.
HOW MUCH: $9 individual; $10 groups (10 or more), all ages
INFO: concert@unionchurch.com or call (309) 313-2513

Contact me at jmartin@whig.com.

Panos Panay is the creator and founder of Sonicbids, a site that helps bands get gigs and promoters book the right bands.

It was amazing to talk to someone who has been on the business side of music for so long.

If you are a band or promoter, then you are probably thinking, "That's awesome."

If you are neither of these, you may be wondering what I'm talking about.

Panay says Sonicbids is the "only site that's purely devoted to getting bands gigs, connect with promoters and develop a career of doing what you love the most." They believe a promoter is out there for every band, and they help them find each other.

Panay was a music agent for 6 1/2 years after he graduated from the Berklee College of Music, and he has seen firsthand how "challenging it was for artists to get attention from a talent agent."

Panay is a musician, and he began Sonicbids with his own savings out of his apartment. He can really understand and believe that the "best thing that ever happens to you in life is having no money."  He thinks that once bands make money, "their music quality declines."

Since working in the industry for awhile, he is first to admit that "the business has a bad reputation." However, everybody he meets loves music. He says "you just don't see that passion in any other industry."

Check out his thoughts on his company and the music industry below.

PANOS PANAY (check out his blog HERE)
HOMETOWN: Cyrus Island
EDUCATION: Berklee College of Music, music business major
PROFESSION: Founder of Sonicbids, sonicbids.com

THE BEGINNING
Sonicbids was founded in 2001. "In 2001, people were really skeptical of the Internet," Panay said. "People said, 'But I really like getting a CD and looking at the pictures.' As Internet adoption has increased, people have not only became accustomed to it, but demand that music be available online."

WHY SHOULD A BAND JOIN?
The online community has over 150,000 musical acts and more than 14,000 music buyers, which are the people in charge of putting together lineups for tours and venue shows. Sonicbids is 100% member-funded, which means it makes its money "from musicians, and that's who we serve," Panay said.

GIG LISTINGS
"What we bring to a band, the depth and the breadth of the network is the most valuable thing by belonging to Sonicbids," Panay said. By making tours easier to book, it "changes the way that bands are connecting with their fans." From day one, they looked outside of America's borders for music, and 20% of their gig listings are from outside of the U.S.

FESTIVALS
A lot of big music festivals, such as SXSW in Austin, Texas, and Summerfest in Milwaukee, use Sonicbids as the way for bands to apply to perform at their events.

EXPANDING
Sonicbids plans to use feedback from bands that have played, submitted and attended an event to add more description to each listing. It gives them the chance to rate the sound quality of a venue or their ability to sell your merchandise. Also, it plans to have more community-driven information, such as demographics, to help with booking gigs. Sonicbids recently entered into a partnership with MTV to allow artists to submit their songs to be played during all of MTV's reality shows.

PANAY SAYS BANDS SHOULD …

• PLAN: An artist should lay down a plan and determine "what do I want to be, what I'm trying to do and approach what you do like a mini-business. Be smart about it."

• SCHEDULE: Pay attention to the Sonicbids calendar and update it often. Understand that a promoter is going to care about a band's performance history, and if a promoter sees that they are just a local band, it could hurt them. A promoter wants to know that they are thinking about their career strategically. "It's worth expanding your reach, even if you aren't making any money."

• NOT WORRY ABOUT PAYMENT: Don't insist that there be a payment for everything you do. Maybe you're not getting payment for everything you do, but strategically, it may differentiate you from another band. Basically, if the gig gets you seen by potential fans and/or promoters, then it is worth doing it for less than normal or free.

PANAY'S THOUGHTS ON THE INDUSTRY

• INDEPENDENT MUSIC: It was once thought that you defined your independence by what you didn't do. Today, independence is more about empowerment and people are defining themselves by what they ARE doing. You don't need a major label to fund a record, find a producer, manufacture and distribute the CD. An independent artist with an Apple laptop can record, signup for CD Baby and Sonicbids and get their music sounding the same and looking the exact same way and in front of the same people. Panay sees the decline of labels and the rise of this middle class of artists doing it themselves. He'd like to see independent bands and major label artists not differentiated.

• IMAGE: Band image matters less today, because "when I download songs onto my iPod, I really don't care what you look like." He says Itunes is flattening that difference between artists that are image driven and regular artists.

• CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP: Prejudice against using a corporate sponsor is going away. Bands realize it is promoting their craft and are saying, 'I don't care ultimately where my money is coming from, I know I'm authentic.'"

• COMPETITION: People will soon no longer talking about a domestic and international market but a global market. Artists need to understand that a band from Boston is competing with a local gig with a band from Berlin.

Sonicbids is passionate about making a difference. They have set out to fundamentally change the music business and the way that it works.

If you are a band or a promoter, sign up for Sonicbids. It makes finding gigs, festivals and contests  easier and more fun. A few area bands that already use Sonicbids are Fielder, Cheeks McGee and Predawn Hour.

If you have any questions, please contact me at jmartin@whig.com or go to Sonicbids. Thanks and have a great week!