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vostoklakeThe central question is: Should I concentrate on live work or recording for the next time period? This is a question of not only what I do but what kind of equipment I buy.
ARGUMENTS FOR LIVE WORK:
- Most people who have become my fans have done so because they saw me in action, rather than listened to the CDs or the MySpace.
- It really is only performing live that you figure out whether the material works to an audience not entirely composed of your mates. (For example, I've written a brand new third verse to "Crowley" because no-one was getting the jokes apart from hard-core goths or wiccans.)
- My visual presence is - I'm told - a vital part of my appeal.
- At least one Go-Go girl has volunteered to work with me in future.
- It's a truckload of fun, except for the disasters, and they're at least educational.
ARGUMENTS FOR RECORDING:
- some of the newer songs are just begging to be put out in a more permanent form.
- I've been promising Small Group Psychosis for virtually ever. (All the songs for it apart from the title track have been written and tested live now.) I have no urge to be the next Axl Rose.
- my hard-core following back in Wellington miss me and it's doubtful I can play a gig there in the next while.
- it's hard to find sensitive and available venues, unless I play as a support act, and I don't know any compatible bands (with the possible exception of Bachelorette, who doesn't gig too often and in any case I'm not sure she likes what I do)
Money-wise, both options will require a couple of hundred dollars further investment - unless I decide that I can't rely on sympathetic venue sound systems, in which case I should invest in my own PA (and even a laptop to do live sequencing... but that really is "reach for the stars" territory). Actually, when you put the above together, then the logic step is that the next release should be a live DVD, but that would require me to find someone who gets what I do and at the same time has cinematographic skills.
Your responses in these comments, please. (Note that any suggestions that I retire altogether will be treated with the contempt they deserve, and possible paper bags full of dog crap on your front doorstep.)
ARGUMENTS FOR LIVE WORK:
- Most people who have become my fans have done so because they saw me in action, rather than listened to the CDs or the MySpace.
- It really is only performing live that you figure out whether the material works to an audience not entirely composed of your mates. (For example, I've written a brand new third verse to "Crowley" because no-one was getting the jokes apart from hard-core goths or wiccans.)
- My visual presence is - I'm told - a vital part of my appeal.
- At least one Go-Go girl has volunteered to work with me in future.
- It's a truckload of fun, except for the disasters, and they're at least educational.
ARGUMENTS FOR RECORDING:
- some of the newer songs are just begging to be put out in a more permanent form.
- I've been promising Small Group Psychosis for virtually ever. (All the songs for it apart from the title track have been written and tested live now.) I have no urge to be the next Axl Rose.
- my hard-core following back in Wellington miss me and it's doubtful I can play a gig there in the next while.
- it's hard to find sensitive and available venues, unless I play as a support act, and I don't know any compatible bands (with the possible exception of Bachelorette, who doesn't gig too often and in any case I'm not sure she likes what I do)
Money-wise, both options will require a couple of hundred dollars further investment - unless I decide that I can't rely on sympathetic venue sound systems, in which case I should invest in my own PA (and even a laptop to do live sequencing... but that really is "reach for the stars" territory). Actually, when you put the above together, then the logic step is that the next release should be a live DVD, but that would require me to find someone who gets what I do and at the same time has cinematographic skills.
Your responses in these comments, please. (Note that any suggestions that I retire altogether will be treated with the contempt they deserve, and possible paper bags full of dog crap on your front doorstep.)
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Date: 2007-09-11 11:44 pm (UTC)tl;dr
Date: 2007-09-12 12:23 am (UTC)For live work, a hardware vocal effects unit is the short term priority - my natural vocal cords aren't bad-ass enough to really get the message across live. In the medium term, I would want a laptop running Ubuntu Studio so I can trigger MIDI sequences and audio samples live rather than just a backing track, which feels a bit too much like karaoke. An external 5.1 soundcard could plug into this, and in the long term form the basis of a surround-sound PA, which is what I dream of. I am fed up of having to rely on venue PAs which, when adequate or even in stereo, are operated by subcompetent individuals.
Also both Raewyn and Mitzi (Raewyn more urgently) need a trip to the keyboard doctor - although I think for reasons of space and efficiency I will try using Lilian as my only live keyboard for a while.
At the moment I'm doing the comedy open mikes a couple of times a month - it's doing wonders for my stage confidence, and also encouraging me to take greater care over my lyrics. In fact, a brand new song is being debuted tonight - I'll post the lyrics tomorrow once I know whether they work. ;-)