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Dave S: After 7 years of performing in a wildly successful band called The Whiskey Saints we decided hampton inn chicago to go incognito and change the name to Burning Jet Black . But seriously, Dave and Jeff definitely covered this.
Dave B: Making loud, dirty noise while shaking and grooving, all the while hoping everyone else in the crowd starts hampton inn chicago shaking and grooving, too. Nothing in the world beats a high energy show with a great crowd.
Dave B: The withdrawal after a great show can be painful sometimes, you just don't want those sorts of nights to end. Having to return to the real world on occasion is never fun, 8 hours between a big show and a morning at an office job is especially brutal.
Jeff: Honestly, it's the loading in and out with our equipment. All of us can agree on this in the band, but since I'm the drummer, I have a few more pieces of equipment, and probably have more of a negative outlook on the topic.
Dave B: Expect some garage rock sounds, hampton inn chicago indie pop melodies, lyrical content sometimes resembling hampton inn chicago Americana, hampton inn chicago and a slight punk rock attitude, although I think we're somewhere between "here's some intelligent, quality songs to enjoy" and "fuck off man."
Dave B: Currently digging some newer releases by Band of Skulls , The Joy Formidable , Cloud Nothings , Jack White ...I've also recently been returning to records like Kings of Leon 's "Aha Shake Heartbreak", Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs's "Fever To Tell", and the first couple of Strokes albums, that stuff keeps getting better with age. Bands like Guided By Voices , The Who , the MC5 , always acceptable listening material on any given day.
Rob - I've been on a local band kick lately listening to Hello Echo , The Dead Ships , and The Peach Kings . I've also been listening hampton inn chicago to the new Band of Skulls hampton inn chicago record a lot, I love :Tamer Animals" by Other Lives . I always have my favorites that I return to like the first three Kings of Leon records, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club , and Louis XIV's "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept."
Dave S: Dave B listens to XMU satellite radio all the time, and I hear tons of stuff but never remember most of the names of the bands. A few tunes that have stuck out is "Bizness" by Tuneyards , "Georgia" by Yuck , "Is It Me" by The Kooks , etc. I've never been one to hop on to lots of new bands. I always have to sit with stuff for a while and let it soak in. I was listening to Ryan Adams ' newest album "Ashes and Fire" a lot when it came out. I guess some other "go-to's" are Mark Kozelek , The Avett Brothers hampton inn chicago , St. Vincent , Jets to Brazil , Rufus Wainwright , etc. I guess I'm the one who really digs the sensitive stuff. Oh, I gotta rep the local faves too: Wires in the Walls , Dutch & The Disasters , The Paul Chesne Band , Stage 11 ... just to name a few.
It seems like today there is only a select group of music that makes it to mainstream media, be that radio, MTV or even the front page of ITunes. What are the biggest challenges you experience trying to build awareness of Burning Jet Black. How do you go about building a fan base?
Dave B: I think you just have to throw yourselves to the wolves sometimes and see what happens. Tastemakers in particular, whether it's Aquarium Drunkard posting your video or Jessica Alba tweeting about your new single, have taken the place of record labels on who gets heard. The Internet generation has made it possible for any band to make their music accessible to the rest of the world, the real issue is respectfully growing above the masses.
Jeff: To elaborate a bit more on Dave B's take, as technology has evolved and bands have a wide forum to share their music these days, it has opened the doors for everybody. The challenge for most bands is how to stand out from everybody else. I think our first priority is to always make music we believe in. No matter what happens from there, you know you have something you can always stand by, even if it never does make it out to the masses. That being said, it's about constantly being creative and that has to be with all of your promotional tools, specifically online video and social media.
Dave S: I almost think you need a gimmick. It's kinda sad to say, but you need something that just grabs everyone's attention. Once you've got that though, I think that's when the audience starts to really hear the music. It's like they've been invited in. I really admire OK GO . Those guys write great tunes, and with all the crazy video concepts they come up with they get their music played. I saw them live several years ago and they closed the set by doing the choreography for "A Million Ways." To me, that was really gracious, and they took it beyond being a gimmick.
Dave B: Now that the playing field distribution-wise was been leveled, you don't need a label to make your music available to a worldwide audience or even sell it to the worldwide audience. hampton inn chicago The double-edged sword is that because there's a lot more competition to get your music heard, it's almost impossible to make money from playing music. We'd like to think it's way, way more important to just have the opportunity to share Burning Jet Black with others. If people really like it, it will catch on and eventually the bigger fish will take notice as well. I'm a little too young to feel nostalgic about the brick and mortar record store, but I see that model as allowing a few major labels to force-feed music on an audience. They maintained a trend to maximize profits and squashed anything else if it didn't fit their mold.
Rob: People really hampton inn chicago have the luxury of listening to whatever they want whenever they want because hampton inn chicago of the internet so it can be tough to find your niche. Once you do find a niche, it's important to stay in touch with your fans and let them know what's happening. We're getting better at this.
Dave S: I think it's helped to a degree. People all over the U.S. and Europe have heard our music. …I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but it's awesome that there are people all over the place that like the music, but we've never had the chance to really bring it to them in person. I think that's critical to retaining an audience.
Dave B: Besides Facebook and Twitter , the standard for any band, we've loved the features on Bandcamp for distributing music. It allows us to post new material for download or streaming hampton inn chicago as soon as it's recorded, we can price it however we want, and they take a very modest cut of all sales. They're technically a middle man, but just about the least invasive one a musician can find on the web. Here's our page .
We've also used download cards at shows. Printing hampton inn chicago CDs is unbelievably tough on the typical indie band budget, so download hampton inn chicago cards allow us to give fans at shows an opportunity to get discounts on our music or even free downloads, just as a thanks for coming out and helping make a great show.
Rob: It can be very interesting to see where your page views are coming from. Not only is it interesting to see people from different countries listening our music, but we've also seen some bizarre fetish websites post links to our videos. One of the interesting things hampton inn chicago about shooting a music video is that it is inevitably going to get into the ears of an unintended listener, hampton inn chicago which is great! Surprising, but great.
Jeff: To elaborate on what Rob mentioned, we had a video from our last album (as the Whiskey Saints) where I fell into a pool and my clothes obviously got wet. Apparently there is a fetish for men in wet t-shirts. In a weird way, I was flattered...
Dave S: We're pretty sure that the video for our single hampton inn chicago "Magazine Girl" is doing well due to people into BDSM. As far as I'm concerned, whatever pushes a listener our way is fine. Bad press is better than no press, and I think "weird" listeners are better than no listeners.
hampton inn chicago Burning Jet Black is known for putting on a great live show. What obstacles do you face in trying to translate that experience online? Do you think it will ever be possible to bring the live concert experience into a home, or will music fans always want to see bands perform live?
Dave B: I'm sure this is a huge question circulating around the labels and other camps these days. I think as long as it's attractive to leave your house and experience hampton inn chicago something 100% real with other people (assuming it's not all holograms, lights and autotuned vocals), you can count on live shows being successful. Will people hampton inn chicago ever grow tired of the physical act of sex? It's just human nature to want to be part of the concert hampton inn chicago experience, I think our existence as a species depends on this sort of desire.
Jeff: Live concerts are not going anywhere. People feel the need to be close to people. Even if you are in the nosebleeds of a huge venue, you still have the feeling like you are close to the people you enjoy listening to. It's a feeling that would be tough to replicate with technology. I think the closest you can get to something like this is maybe Twitter, where you have instant access to the people you follow. You can tweet something, and there's that chance they will respond immediately.
Dave S: I read an article today about how absorbed people are in their phones, hampton inn chicago and also how we all spend so much time staring at computer screens. Obviously enough, the bottom line is that we take away a lot more from physical/personal direct interaction than receiving hampton inn chicago information electronically. If you're not at a live show, then everything is diminished: the sound, the heat, the bodies moving around you, the smells, etc. You just can't replace that. Music is a communal thing.
hampton inn chicago You released your new EP "The Modern hampton inn chicago Egotist" as a download with an optional donation option similar to what Radiohead pioneered with "In Rainbows" in 2007 . Do you think the "pay what you can" approach will be a viable option for less we
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