Amped Up TV /blog

I recommend you Follow Axis of Awesome on Twitter: http://twitter.com/axisofawesome and Like them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/axisofawesome!

From a source we got from a entertainment engineering we were told:

Click to Play Video

What is the single hardest part of running your band (or anything for that matter), Promotion. How do you get your name out there?

There is the basic of setting up accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites but how do you make your self stick out?

A great example how, is what the band IS TROPICAL did with there new single called The Greeks. Having a well produce music video is one thing but by tapping into our nostalgia of our childhood gun fights and bringing it to the screen in ways we wish we could remember our youth being just separates it from the hundreds of thousands of other videos out there.

Of course, the music need to be good also.

You can check out the band at istropical.com, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also download the single for free here and pre-order the album on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/preorder/native-to/id434980771

Recently, the UK government passed The Digital Economy Act which included many, perhaps draconian, measures to combat online music piracy (including withdrawing broadband access for persistent pirates).

Much was proclaimed about how these new laws would protect musicians and artists revenue and livelihoods.

But how much money do musicians really get paid in this new digital marketplace?

Via: www.informationisbeautiful.net/

This is my first in many posts to explain why and how you can publish your own albums for near to zero cost to you and your band. This article will explain why the free model will help your band grow! In future post we will explain way to allow you to do self publish for free, which well allow you to give away or sell your music for little or no upfront costs!

Firstly, lets explain the “Give it away” model. Many newer bands or unsigned bands feel its a loss of income, which is the wrong way of thinking of it. Most people I have talk to about this (including many industry people) have a hard time getting into a band, no matter if its there style or not. I usually takes people more than a few times to really get into your music. Think about it, how many of your favourite bands new albums that come out that you originally disliked but after time became to love? This is the same thing that happens with all the top hit songs on the radio. Eventually you hear it enough that it grows on you. Not that there is anything wrong with it to begin with, but it takes time for people to really get into it.

Generally we know what we like, but its much harder to get into even a band that styles matches our preference. I haven’t yet got enough feedback yet to make a definite answer, but what it seem bands tend to sell more of there albums at live shows. Why is that? Because the people there have more and a longer chance to start to grow into your music!

So what does that have to do with giving it away for free? People are less willing to pay for an album no matter how cheap it is if they are on the fence. By giving them your music for free you are allowing them to put it in there iTunes, MP3 player and other places where all there music content is. Why this is good, is it give them a chance to get more exposure to your music and really start to get into it!

The biggest part of this show is exposing me to music I would have never had listen to previously because of my taste, but because of the repeated exposure I have gotten into many bands I would have never giving the chance before because of personal preferences I had set in my mind. And from my experience most people generally feel the same way.

So let me throw this question at you. Would you prefer $10-$20′s or a fan that is really into you music? From what I found, having a fan who is dedicated to your music and your band is worth a lot more than the cost of the CD in the long run. Fans want to support there bands, and will do so by coming to your show, promoting your band and buying future merch and CD’s because they want to support the band they fell in love with.

In short, your fan base is the thing you want to grow and will allow you to grow in the long run. I single cost of your album in, my opinion, is worth a lot less than getting a long time committed fan.

“Well I have tracks on my Myspace account (etc) that people can listen to for free!”. Well new people are likely to visit this site once, and gives less of a chance get deeply into you music. Streaming media is not the same because it takes “work” for people to listen to it. You want exposure to your music as easy as possible.

So to summarize, giving away your music may seem like a loss of money but you have to remember you are growing your fan base to a larger number than you can ever achieve by being extremely protective of your music. Fans > Small $ amounts and in the long run will be more financially successful than just charging for your tracks.

In future post I will give example of some of the best way to allow you to do with so with little to no cost to you and your band! People will appreciate you and support you, even if the first experience they get from you is for free!

One plug before I end this article, is we have a compilation CD with some of the bands we interview (for the show and the /blog) that you can download for free at music.ampedup.tv, which will give you a taste of a bunch of different style bands for free!

Keep watching out because I will be posting more informative articles about this topic in the near future! Also don’t forget to leave a comment below and tell us what you think of this post! We encourage feedback in favour of this or against it. Just tell us what you think and why and maybe you will be featured in a future post!

Everlea - Cigarettes (Video)

The first and only time I met Everlea from Ontario Canada was on a Subway lunch break. I believe they were playing a show at the Garrick. I never went to the show I just let them hold me and my friend up in line with small talk and band promoting  making us late for work. (Gotta pay the bill$).

Everlea recently put out a new video for their song Cigarettes. (click link to watch video. You know, so the following makes some sense.)
I didn`t really like this video. I like the beach shots with the sunset. But why did they go and have to break, what was it like 3 guitars? Those are expensive and you ain’t no Kurt Cobain. For a video entitled CIGARETTES I didn’t see ONE. I did however see a bunch  of sparklers. I do really like sparklers. I don’t think you can or should be smoking sparklers but I think it should have been attempted. Instead of sparklers you could have had self destructing cigarettes all over, like a mine field. Then I might be alright with you guys breaking like 3 guitars.

Moving on to the guy in the mask…from the bottom of the ocean? First of all where the hell did he come from? He was pretty lucky there was a couch waiting for him, all that swimming fully clothed with a head that big must be exhausting. Then a little girl skips out of no where with beautiful red balloons. For some reason she gives them to the masked man and he sucks and lets them fly away. I was waiting for her to beat him up, throw a kidney punch or something. For some reason because he lost her super fun balloons the world escaped black and white and became just wonderful! Where did they find a trampoline? I thought they were on a beach. But that’s besides the point. Would you let your daughter play with a grown man wearing a giant paper macher mask? WHERE ARE HER PARENTS? I was really hoping that last guitar was going to stick straight upside down in the sand, and then it failed me, like the rest of the video. The video was well, kinda how I had explained it, weird and stupid. Makes me want to start chain smoking.

Written by: Jocelyne Le Léannec

Deejay LSDave

I don’t know anything about Deejays, so I took it upon myself to jump in and try to learn a little. I decided to try something new. I’m currently at home listening to Deejay LSDave, (David Estabrook) mix live from his home studio in Winnipeg Manitoba. Right now he’s doing a techno version of U2′s With or Without You. Which is surprisingly not bad. He broadcasts live every Monday on www.mixhard.ca. I checked the site over with one of my friends and he showed me around. There’s a bunch of info on upcoming major shows, forums filled with Deejays who post mix’s, share links and there’s a wide variety of different recorded electronic styles of music you can tap into. Aside from his own website and home broadcasting he has been heard on University Radio in Winnipeg Manitoba, and most recently on 95.9FM CKUW.

LSDave finds comfort in working with  MP3s from his laptop through a mixer. I was glad to hear that on his own time he does bust out the old vinyl on turntables. (That’s my favorite. Scratching old hip hop records. Makes me dance like I’m sure you’ve never seen before).He does a small amount of scratching and juggling, but hasn’t been serious with it. He goes on to say “I’m constantly trying to expand my horizons as a Deejay. And I see that as a very interesting area to explore.”

I asked him what his preferred Electronic effect was. I guess he found this exciting, he responded like this: “Filters!!!!! I don’t know what I would do without filters on a mixer. I’ve Deejay’d for a very long time where mixers were very plain and simple, and in the last 4-5 years the technology on Deejay mixers has just become so advanced.” He goes on to say that he uses the delay in all of his sets, finds it very effective.

His biggest influence at the moment is James Talk. Though he says “My influences constantly change as music evolves”. I think it’s safe to say that goes for most of us. Although I do know one childhood friend who listens and has always listened to strictly classic rock.  I don’t know how she does it. Finding new music is like…(insert cheesy song lyrics here).

I was surprised to hear that when collaborating with Emcees, it’s the Emcee who backs up the Deejay. I would have thought it’d be the other way around. Now that I think of it it’d be hard to match the beats with the rappers lyrics and rhythm. I guess its just the vibe I get while watching a show, the Emcee up front and the Deejay in the back..

What does 2010 bring for LSDave? Deejaying is primarily a hobby for LSDave but he plans on creating his own tracks to incorporate into his sets.

LSDave is a pretty busy dude. He’s been keeping brisk with new demo’s and gigs EVERY WEEKEND. Weekend shows vary from  smaller parties to large raves. One coming up show he told me about is Mr.Sofalumpkins and Dr. Funkinchunkin at the Academy Winnipeg, Manitoba on November 14th 25$ at the door. ” I’d pay 40$ to see these guys, they’re really good.” He says. More commonly LSDave can be found working his magic at Pure Nightclub 423 McMillan Ave Winnipeg or The Academy on Stradbrook in Winnipeg Manitoba. Check ‘em out if you’re in the area!

For more info on LSDave (David Estabrook)  visit www.mixhard.ca, www.lsdave.com or find him on Facebook.

Written by: Jocelyne Le Léannec

Joshua Bell

Once upon a time there was a Prince. One day the Prince decided to do an experiment. The Prince dressed up like a villager and went into the village to see if anyone would notice who he was. Even though he was a noble famous prince he went unnoticed….

I got a forwarded e-mail today. I usually never read them. But because this one was thrown after birthday wishes from an Aunt, I had no choice. It was really a magical story. An experiment put together by the Washington Post. No one knew about it.  A Metro Station in Washington DC is where a little over one thousand people passed one of the most famous musicians in the world playing Bach on his violin. No one noticed it was him and barely anyone took any interest, stopping to  listen for no more then a moment. I just can’t believe how many people would just pass that by so quickly. In the article it states that children showed most interest in the man playing classical music. Unfortunately they were quickly hustled along by their stressed out rushing parents.

Clearly parents and office bound people like you and me have to slow down. Yes we live in a fast paced, hard working ever changing world but I think this story just goes to show that we’re missing out. Outstanding beautiful moments are being replaced with subway rides and leather taxi cab interiors. It really sucks when something like a free person on person Joshua Bell show is something that is shuffled away and should have been penciled in.

I really do think people of the new world have been desensitized by classical music. People are just generally uninterested. Children perk up to it. I really hope that the fate of classical music doesn’t end with Baby Bach, it should just start there.

So, what’s blocking us from noticing and appreciating talent? Is it because we are used to noticing and praising talent on a stage? Are buskers not as appealing because instead of the comfort of a theater they have raw movement, beat and weather in the rushing city heart. Is it too hard to relax and concentrate on something unframed? If beauty and brilliance pop up in your busy schedule, would you make time for it or would you throw it some change and pass on by?

Written by: Jocelyne Le Léannec

I came across Giant Hands, the first album of Kirk Ramsay from Ottawa, Canada. He started playing shows just 2 months after picking up his first guitar. That set me back. Most people don’t have the guts to leave the garage that early. It’s hard to believe he’s only been playing since early 2008. Already Kirk has played with a handful of Canadian bands such as: Immaculate Machine , Born Ruffians, Handsome Furs, Human Highway, Bruce Peninsula, and Timber Timbre . Now that’s a really good start to a career in music. There’s been a lot of buzz about this Giant Hands across Canada lately. He has been mentioned in blog I(Heart)Music, Apt.613 , and Exclaim! Magazine. And I quote: “Giant Hand’s songs pierced the audience with innocence, clarity and a vulnerability that lesser artists often fake.” (Concert review) by Exclaim! Magazine.

Just reading that review made me feel lighter, I would greatly enjoy a chance to see this young rising Indie star live and experience that feeling myself. I was happy but not at all shocked to hear that his awakening came from “pilgrim of indie music” Daniel Johnston . Listening to Giant Hands I noticed there’s definitely some inkling of Daniel. Simple guitar, simple beats made by tambourines and wooden sticks. A shaky unique voice, that is slightly off key and of course references to Satan. My personal favorite song off the album is “No Son of Mine”. When I listen to this song images fly through my head like a comic book.

Some of my favorite songs are written like a story and Kirk is very good at telling stories. I really love how he speaks about Canada in the song”Starting as People” He mentions “Planes in Alberta”, “CN tower in Toronto”, “Trees in British Colombia” and I think because of him talking about this Country his Canadian fans are going to grow and grow. I can’t wait to hear more. Giant Hands is “coming down from the mountains” to get his name heard, I don’t think we will be forgetting him anytime soon.

Check him out if you’re in the area, Giant Hands from Ottawa, Canada or you could find him on gianthand.ca, myspace.com/gianthand, youtube.com/gianthand and on Facebook!

written by Jocelyne Le Léannec

Sample songs:

Sun and the Moon:

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Coming Down from the Mountains:

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On a Tuesday night here in downtown Transcona in Winnipeg,  I met up with a certain low key superstar, Matt Ward, age 21. We bumped into each other on the patio of the Royal George Hotel. I gave him a stern index finger and we went out back in the parking lot so we could hear ourselves think. We stopped at his car, a ballin’ Hyundai Accent. He began telling me he is comfortable picking up and playing a variety of instruments ranging from bass, didgeridoo to percussion. His main focus to be on guitar and song writing. His band combines the talents of Gary Gach on drums, Andrew Vailencourt on lead guitar and the newest addition to the band, Paul Maclean on bass. Paul and Gary also sing backup vocals.

However for the recording of his first EP entitled Thrift Shopping, he was accompanied by the vocals of Cara Luft of the Wailin’ Jennys. Matt and Cara had met earlier at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. From then on they met for coffee a couple times and decided they would put her folky, bluesy vocals on track. Matt seemed to really respect and admire Cara. Referring to her as “Winnipeg legend, Cara Luft.” She added a really nice sound to the album.  Matt say’s about his new EP,  ” I really like to focus on lyrics, I really do like playing the stuff and telling stories.  Making people think and laugh and that stuff. “The EP came out with a folky, country, pop vibe to it, a little more rocky then he had planned. It was self described as “Lyrical Folk Rock.” And the crowd definitely seems to be liking it.

Matt’s been heard on CBC Radio One and can now be heard on Winnipeg’s Hot 103. So pick up your phones and start requesting!!The inspiration to write Thrift Shopping didn’t come from somewhere close by. It came all the way from Asia. Matt took off on a 7 and a half month backpacking trip and came back with a handful of written materiel and the determination to record . Which came out as a great success. Matt has played many venues including his C.D release show at The Park Theater, The Academy and The Gas Station Theater. He’s also played a variety of smaller venues in and around Winnipeg like Sam’s place and Monalisa’s. Right now Matt is working on getting a grant through Manitoba’s Film and Sound to record his first full length album, estimated to be completed in about a year or two. Their newest song The Rabbit and The Crow is said to have a more rocky bluesy feel with “a little walkin’ bass line”. However that song cannot be heard anywhere just yet. Keep on your toes for that release.

You can check out Matt and his band at www.Mattward.ca and his up coming show at The Dragon Boat Festival taking place in The Forks in Winnipeg on September 13th at 12:30. This will be a fun gig! See you there!

written by Jocelyne Le Léannec

Sample songs:

Thrift Shopping:

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Jet Plane:

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