Artists

The Push Player

	THE SPIEL - The Push / Andrew Kitchen Welcome to The Push Player!! What's this new page?? What's it for??
	TAKE A CLOSER LOOK - Andrew Kitchen / Is your dream to tour professionally? So you've got some songs, what now? Read here to (hopefully) close the gap between your songs and your 'yet to be' fans.
	FRONT AND CENTER - Kate Miller-Heidke / katemillerheidke.com Kate Miller-Heidke is the definitive 'enchanting artist'... more than just a singer / songwriter... more a tour guide of mystic lands.
	SHOW US YOUR WARES 1 - Andrew Swift / andrewswift.com.au Andrew is a solid singer, a great songwriter and all about the DIY approach. He's learnt a bunch and shares a bunch in this interview.
	SHOW US YOUR WARES 2 - Andrew Schraa / audiac.com.au Audiac have been on an interesting journey... involving three countries and a few different line-ups. Read on for the full story.
	BEHIND THE CURTAIN - Jade Bonus / The Music Network The Music Network is a well-respected magazine - which those in the know read as gospel. Jade Bonus shares on the in's and out's of this mag.
	IN SHOT - Mark Lang / Skipping Girl Vinegar Mark Lang is a great songwriter, performer, graphic designer, video clip animator... the list goes on. He shares on artists visual images and all else.
	IN THE FLESH Music industry seminar on May 20 featuring none other than yours truly... and heaps of other people that know their stuff!
	FEEDBACK - Has this page been helpful? Let us know how we can best help you. Please email andrew@thepush.com.au with your suggestions.
	THE PUSHER - Especially for Victoria’s under 25s, The Pusher fills you in on all the stuff happening with all ages and under’s live music across the state. It’s for young bands, artists, punters, music fans and event organisers. Click here to see it!
	FREEBIES - Subscribe to The Push Player to receive updates by clicking here and go into the draw to win Kate Miller Heidke's album and DVD Little Eve, Andrew Swift's EP Cornered by Shadows and Audiac's album No Come down. Previous Winners
	ARTIST LISTING - Click Here to register on the Artist Listing THE PUSH PLAYER ARCHIVES - Click here to see past issues of The Push Player

The Spiel - Andrew Kitchen

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What is The Push Player?
The aim of The Push Player is to provide you with accurate, precise and read-able information that will assist you as an artist (and perhaps band member) achieve all that you can be. Here you will read articles about songwriting, touring and self-promotion as well as heavier issues like publishing, royalties and copyright law. There are plans to hold a large event in September (2008) with a particular focus on an artist-related issue. Stay tuned for more on this in the coming updates... until then, read the content and subscribe for your chance to win prizes!!!

How can The Push Player help my band?
The aim of The Push Player is to provide you a platform to equip yourselves with the knowledge that will better prepare you for the road ahead through free, accessible information provided by an organisation that’s always ready to help – The Push. If you are keen to progress your band, start a band, resolve issues within your band, find some resources etc, you can find realistic options in these monthly issues.

Who is The Push Player?
The Push Player is researched, authored and updated by Andrew Kitchen - the Artist Development Project Coordinator for The Push. Andrew is also the lead singer / songwriter for Antiskeptic (Melbourne-based rock band) and is embarrassed to be typing about himself in the third-person. Third person aside - I’ve done some hard kilometres on the road, developed a band from the ground up and had a lot of fun in the process! I thought it was about time I shared some of my experiences, but not only that – I thought I’d also do some reading, writing and interviewing for you and come back with some gems of wisdom.

What can we expect from The Push Player?
The page is going to be updated bi-monthly with new articles, interviews, photos and editorials. The regular sections are:

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK - This focuses on a particular artist related issue and explores it for you, making sense of something confusing (hopefully not vice-versa!!)

FRONT AND CENTER - This is an interview with a well-known artist about what brought about their success and the lessons they learnt along the way.

SHOW US YOUR WARES - This is a section to expose bands you may not have heard of yet, to give you an insight into the way they run their band and what they are aiming at. There are two instalments of 'SHOW US YOUR WARES' with each update of The Push Player.

BEHIND THE CURTAIN - This section is devoted to picking the brains of a professional currently working in the industry, relevant to the topic covered in the 'TAKE A CLOSER LOOK' section.

IN SHOT - This section will look at your public perception as an artist. It will include interviews with videographers, photographers (both live and studio), journalists and other relevant media.

FEEDBACK - We would like to hear from you as to whether you found the page helpful or informative and if there are any issues you would like The Push Player to explore in future editions.

Also - this page is unapologetically crafted for developing musicians (and let’s face it – we’re always developing) and the page won’t include CD reviews or a gig guide or a forum or anything like that - check out the rest of The Push site for those. The aim is to get ‘behind-the-scenes’ type interviews from industry professionals who want to let you in on the secrets that got them where they are. The Push Player is not a place for me to rant and rave and use sentences starting with ‘I reckon...’ if you were worried about that. I am going to attempt to keep this place as opinion-free as possible and keep it to the facts.

Is The Push Player just for beginner musicians?
No it is not. The content will be sound, well-researched, objective and professional in its music industry content. Some articles might be geared to bands establishing themselves, but hopefully all of the articles will have something for everyone’

Can I make a contribution or suggestion to The Push Player?
Yes, yes, yes. I’d love to hear from you with suggestions for subjects that I could investigate for you. Or if you feel up to it, do your reading, write a piece and submit your findings for the benefit of other readers.

Please shoot through your suggestions to: andrew@thepush.com.au

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TAKE A CLOSER LOOK - Andrew Kitchen /So you want to tour professionally...

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You’ve saved up your money for the gear you’ve wanted for ages – and you’ve finally got it. What else is it going to take to get this band off the ground?

Preface – this entry is for bands that want to make their music a profession. If you are a ‘weekend warrior’, I don’t want you to beat yourself up over what’s written here.

For many artist that have ‘made it’ there has been a cultural rift or niche that has made that possible. The classic and definitive example is The Beatles. A band of ordinary looking guys who sung pop music that made you want to sing along while dancing. Blindingly simple you say. Well yes, they were on the surface. But the formula was there for a great cultural connection for a generation with no other outlet.

We live in very different times now – where for example there are 50+ sub-genres of metal! It is a lot harder and much busier market now; it is going to be a lot of work to break through and get attention. We’ve all heard of the band Incubus right? (www.enjoyincubus.com). I clearly remember a clever headline that I read in Beat magazine about these guys a few years ago: ’15 years to become an over-night success.’ They started out doing something a little different and it took the music industry (world-wide) a long time to catch on – but it did finally happen.

I’ve often thought about the Olympic games when it comes to this topic. When I hear the announcers say “Congratulations to Donavan Bailey for being the fastest man in the world over 100 metres” - I often find myself thinking ‘He is the fastest man in THIS Olympic games over 100 metres.’ To say ‘the world,’ I believe, is a great assumption. I’m sure that if you searched the globe high and low, you could find someone who could run it faster – they just haven’t pursued the channels of competition and training to reach the level of the Olympic games.

Are Incubus where they are at because they are the best live band in the world, or because they wrote the best songs? Or is it a combination of both of these things and the fact that when thousands of other bands went home and hung up their guitars, Incubus was still out on the road taking the music to the people?

Success in the music industry isn’t always based on being cool, having the right look, even the right songs, or being the ‘best’. It is also about surviving the ultimate test: time. Incubus formed in 1991. It was in 2001, after a decade of touring America and other parts of the globe that they had their first radio single. It is 2008 now … would you be prepared to tour Australia and a few other close countries until 2018 before you ‘broke through’ and became a ‘household name’ in the Australian Music Industry?

It is a hard-slog. Don’t let anyone tell you different. In some ways I think the music industry is the most cut throat industry there is. But on the other hand it does ‘weed out’ the ones that aren’t meant to last and leaves the ones that are.

If you truly are setting your sights on becoming a professional musician and making a living/career from it – then there needs to be some things in place from the very start. I am amazed at the number of eager young musicians whose every waking thought is about their band, yet they don’t have a high resolution photo of the band for use in press! You really have to be prepared long before the pressure of a deadline is upon you. If you are an artist who is determined to be taken seriously … make sure you work through this list and check off each and every point.

1) a band name that is not already taken (harder than you think)
2) a registered business name
3) an active bank account and a nominated financial controller for the band
4) an ABN and pro-forma invoice that you can use as a pattern for the future

(see The Push Player October issue for more information on the above 4 points)

5) a professional promotional photo of your band (at least 300 dpi)
6) some sort of consistent artwork reference point (whether it be an image, logo or font) on your webpage, merchandise, cd cover etc etc
7) a well-written bio that gets to the point fast
8) a partnership agreement (covering all financial issues and departing members clauses)
9) a domain name and a MySpace page

and …

10) a written career and business plan

It has been my experience that you are not going to ‘fall into’ a full-time career in the music industry as an artist. As much as I hate it, eventually you will have to have discussions using words like ‘marketing,’ ‘business model,’ ‘brand strength’ and ‘product placement.’ Now this all sounds very corporate, but the fact is that the music industry is an industry like any other. You need to be aware of trends and new business practices, and to a point, you need to adapt (not change) your product to cater to the climate.

The product vs. persistence

I’m sure throughout those long and lonely years before the charts and radio picked up on Incubus that they doubted it would ever happen. There would have been younger bands who once supported them, who shot to international stardom while Incubus perpetually drove the long, hard highways that criss-cross the States. But the fact remained that Incubus had the product and they weren’t afraid of the long haul to make it work. They were doing something new that people could connect with (both melodically and lyrically) and each and every performance brought with it a new batch of followers.

I’m a big believer of freedom in artistic expression and I think anyone trying to jump onboard the ‘band wagon’ stylistically is wasting their time. People see through ‘fad bands’ and even if they don’t - the ride doesn’t last long anyway. What you want is for people to be a fan of yours – not just a fan of the ‘genre’ that you happen to be playing. I firmly believe that people are looking for a connection with a genuine artist who is expressing themselves … genuinely. At the same time, if you are struggling at every turn to generate any sort of ‘support base,’ and people are not returning to see you play again … it is time to ask yourself some very hard questions. A good idea is to video tape your performance. Watch it back and ask yourself ‘Would I want to come again and again to see this person perform?’ and ‘Would I want to tell my friends about this person and try and get others onboard?’

Tough questions I know… but well worth asking.

There is enough working against you in the industry – so it is massively important that anything you have control over is professional and an easy sell. Make it easy for people to book your band, - and decide on a fee structure early on. Make sure your recorded stuff sounds really, really good and represents you well – spend the money (in my experience, there is no way around this one). And make sure that all of your web presence represents you as a working Australian band, not a local hobby band.

In all reality, the decision to work towards going ‘professional’ (ie drawing a minimal wage from the band’s takings and quit jobs etc) is something that should influence every decision you make along the way. As a band, you should very intentionally plot out what ‘team’ that you would like
to have working for you – because it is going to need a ‘team’ mentality. Hiring personnel is a costly venture and there is a time and a place for it. A regular ‘front-of-house’ mixer will charge around $60-80 at the start and you should expect to be charged the same amount for a stage tech, guitar tech, merchandise sales person, lighting operator etc. As they progress (in skill level and equipment) the more they are going to charge. If your eyes are on the horizon and taking your ‘live product’ to the next level, the decision to bring on extra staff is an easy one. To step up, is going to cost – but try and think about it as an investment in yourselves and toward longevity.

How this affects the band on a week-in week-out level is that you will monitor the band’s finances, and as soon as you can, you pay the extra for your own front-of-house engineer, then stage tech, then lighting operator, then your own monitor engineer etc. All of these investments should better the quality of your live show and give your audience and employers a sense of your level of professionalism. This is long-term thinking - short-term thinking is scrimping and saving every cent to split between band members. I’m all about scrimping and saving – but not to the detriment of your product.

In closing, the success of your band depends on a number of factors. Your hard work, the natural ‘snowballing’ of interest from the general public, the industry figures that join your team along the way and the various music trends. Set your sights, be prepared for hard work, listen to worthwhile feedback and make every gig count towards you building your fanbase.

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FRONT AND CENTRE - Kate Miller-Heidke / Solo artist

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1) Briefly describe how your band goes about writing songs. And how do you avoid getting stuck in a rut?
Lately I've been collaborating with my songwriting partner Keir Nuttall, who also plays guitar in my band. On a good day, we really click and bring the best out in each other. I go through phases - at the moment we're writing stuff for my second album, and I've been listening to all sorts of different music. I'm fascinated by the craft of songwriting, and that elusive 'perfect' pop song. I've suffered from writer's block in the past. There's a great book about getting through it called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.

2) Did you or do you get music lessons to be able to play your instrument?
As a child I had lessons in violin, piano, guitar, singing and music theory. I always liked singing the best.

3) Favourite and least favourite part of recording:
My favourite part is the pre-production demos, when all the songs start to take shape. Least favourite is when the computer crashes (this always happens several times) and you have to wait around for hours doing nothing.

4) Are you signed? If so, who to and why did you decide to sign to them?
I'm signed to SonyBMG in Australia. I had a few offers from different labels but decided to go with SonyBMG because they are the most successful label in Australia and I liked the A & R rep. Many of my heroes are signed to them - internationally, people like Joni Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper, Tori Amos, Bob Dylan, and nationally bands like Augie March and Something for Kate. I also liked the fact that I'm very different to any of their other Australian artists.

5) In your opinion: in 10 years, is music going entirely digital downloads or will there still be a place for pressed CD release?
I'm not sure. There may still be a lot of 70 year olds buying CDs. Call me old-fashioned, but there is something special about buying a CD and looking through the artwork and lyrics while you listen. Downloads can't compete with that for me at the moment.

6) Describe a moment in your band's history where you had to pinch yourself to make sure it was really happening:
My band and I were recently supporting Cyndi Lauper and at the end of her set she asked me to come up on stage and sing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with her. It didn't feel real.

7) Top 5 tips for developing bands:
1) Do as many gigs as you can
2) Email people
3) Keep emailing people
4) Record an EP
5) Do as many gigs as you can

8) How often does your band rehearse?
We rehearse for around a week before each major tour.

9) Do you have to be a 'bastard' or play hard-ball to get where you want to go in music in Australia?
As a musician, I think it's the opposite. You're expected to charm people with small-talk, and make strangers love you. It may be a different story if you want to be an agent or a promoter.

10) How do I write a hit?
I don't know, I haven't written one yet. It's got something to do with a big chorus and a lyrical hook.

11) Who are you listening to (iPod/radio/cd/podcast)?
I'm listening to Kismet by Jesca Hoop. I also love the podcast of This American Life.

12) What do you think have been the key aspects of your success?
I don't know if I can call it 'success' (I think I still have a long way to go). To explain the success I have had up until now... I think it's mostly to do with my voice. The voice is the most personal instrument and it's what connects with people. The rest is dedication to your art, hard work, ambition, and being at the right place at the right time.

13) Did your band write and agree on a 5-year plan (or less/or more) when you got together?
No. I just take things as they come. I'm a musician - I can't do anything else. I don't have a 'fall-back'.

14) What are YOU aiming to achieve in your career in music?
I want to keep developing as a songwriter; I want to continue to express myself truthfully through music; I want a hit song; I want to be successful in another country; I want to travel the world and play at festivals; I want enough money for a proper home studio.

15) When you were starting out, how did you get your first few gigs and how did you get people to notice you?
With my first band, we would take any gig we could get. At the start they were mostly acoustic nights, chalkboard gigs and band competitions. Our first proper 'break' was at the Woodford Folk Festival where we broke the record for the most amount of chalkboard gigs in the space of 6 days, and we started to get a little fan base following us around. The organisers heard about it, and so the year after that they paid us to play and put us on a big stage.

16) Young musicians get me annoyed when they…
I can't say I've ever really thought about that. Except when we have a band supporting us who play over their allotted time slot. That is not cool.

17) How do you prepare for a gig?
I drink lots of water, pee, warm up my voice, and stare intently at the walls. I get very nervous.

18) How do you deal with minor setbacks like low record sales, bad reception at a gig etc.?
What can you do except move on? Not everybody is going to love you all the time. It's hard not to take it personally but you have to otherwise you'll go insane.

19) What are the best and worst things about doing what you do?
There are so many great things about this life. Yesterday my partner was looking for a new guitar in the Trading Post and he noticed that guitars are listed under 'recreation'. We get to recreate full-time.

It's not all fun though, and sometimes there is a lot of pressure on me from different people. Everyone has an opinion. It's hard to stay strong sometimes. I put so much of myself into the songs, so that any criticism of the music is like a criticism of me.

It sure beats working for a living though!

20) What interests you outside of music?
Reading; watching HBO series' on DVD; travel; languages; nature; baths; friends; water; fire.

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SHOW US YOUR WARES 1 - Andrew Swift / Solo artist

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1) How did the band form and when?
The band formed after I had been in the studio recording at the start of 2007. After laying down tracks for drums, bass and a couple of guitar parts, I thought I had better start looking for musicians to back me up in a live situation, the end result being a 5 piece band including myself, drums, bass, a second guitar and cello.

2) What sets you apart in the flourishing sea of bands in Melbourne?
I think the main thing that sets us apart from other bands in Melbourne is diversity. I’m essentially a solo performer, and even in a live set with the full band I like to strip it back at some point to just myself and the acoustic guitar, sometimes even cello as well.

3) Within the band, do you have delegated duties, other than performing?
My current band situation is slightly different, because I have a backing band, all everyone else has to do is rock up and play. Which has both its pros and cons, for me, I like being in control of what’s going on, but at the same time need to take on the full work load that comes with it. However, at shows everyone is happy to help out with the extra jobs like merch and drinking the ryder.

4) Do you write your songs individually, or together in a jam?
The way our song writing works, is I’ll write the song, and do some home demos with a couple of guitar parts and harmonies, and let the rest of the band listen to it a few days before practice so they can start thinking of ideas for their parts. Then we come together at rehearsal and see what we’ve got and work from there.

5) Tell The Push Player about a particular song and how it was written, arranged, crafted and produced.
I think I’ll tell you about Eleanor. It was originally written as a personal song that I wasn’t really going to play live. It was written about a close friend of mine and some experiences they had been through. After playing the song to a couple of family members and close friends, I thought I’d record a demo at a friends place where we put down a couple of guitar tracks and played around with some drum and bass ideas. From there I showed it to Sam Panetta (Melodic Music), catching his attention, he wanted to record it all properly. Being able to spend some time in the studio in it, we were able to try a few things with harmonies, creating the choir-like effect you hear in the song.

6) Do you have a 5-year plan or an on-going vision statement or are you just ‘rolling with the punches’?
I guess I have a bit of both, I pretty much roll with the punches, but I do have a bit of plan in my head. My short-term goals are to get the current EP to radio, hopefully with some airplay, and also to tour and play as much as I can to promote the current EP. My long-term goals for the next 5 years would be to have a second EP in the next 18 months or so and followed by an album a bit further down the track.

7) Have you performed interstate? How did that come about?
I have been lucky enough to get to Hobart, Brisbane, Adelaide and Newcastle in the last 12 months. Each time I have gone interstate, it has been through organizing shows with bands local to that area. Either through friends or networking on MySpace.

8) If you have performed interstate, how did you make sure your band gained as much out of the trip as possible? Before and during?
The most recent trip was to Hobart on Anzac Day. With this trip in particular I wanted to make sure we made the most of the trip, we were only down there for one day, we were fortunate enough to get on an all ages show in the afternoon and an overage show at night. I managed to organize an article in Buzz magazine and the Mercury newspaper, as well as getting support from the uni based radio staion, Edge Radio, who featured my CD for two weeks leading up to event, and organized an interview before the all ages show.

On top of that I printed up a heap of posters here and sent them down to friends in Hobart who plastered the town with them.

9) What are you looking for in bands to support you?
Bands supporting us? Ahh that’d be lovely. I guess I’d be looking for a band that would compliment my style, it doesn’t need to be the exact same style, also a band that works hard and plays because they love it, not because they are trying to fit a scene or impress the opposite sex.

10) Describe a typical band practice.
A typical band practice usually starts with the bass player complaining about the guitarist being late or vice versa, then we run through a set, maybe jam out a new song before we take a break, then work on the new song some more before doing the set again. If we feel we need to run through a song in particular again then we go back and make sure we get it right, there’s always plenty of catching up, planning of shows and what’s coming up while we eat lollies!

11) Do you have ‘artist representation’? And if so, how did that come about?
No, I don’t have any official artist representation, although I work closely with Melodic Music, mainly for advice and direction. But that came about from building friendships through shows, e-mails and phone calls, just keeping them up to date with what I was doing and keeping an eye on what was happening in the industry.

12) Complete the sentence: When starting out (or when you start to take your band seriously) it is really important to …
Commit to what you are doing, make sure you do it properly and make sure you pay attention to the people who have been in your position before.

13) What is the most effective online presence that your band invests time or money in? (Myspace / your own web page / Virb / Pure Volume / MP3.com.au)
I find I spread out my online time between my own website, MySpace and Facebook, however Facebook still seems to get the best response for bands online.

14) What recordings have you done and where were they done?
I’ve done numerous demos in friends home studios, but my debut EP Cornered By Shadows was recorded at Melodic Music. I also recorded a low budget acoustic EP there this year. When I was playing guitar with Race The Fray we recorded drums at Sing Sing studios in Melbourne, but did guitars and vocals at a small studio, Abercorn Studios, in Harkaway.

15) If we were to start this band again, the things I would do differently are …
This is pretty much my second go at starting a band, and I’m very much happy with the way things are going so far, so at this point I wouldn’t change a thing.

16) Describe your best gig to date and why?
Now this is a hard question. There are different best gigs for different reasons. My best acoustic gig would have been with Dragon at the Bennetts Lane Jazz club last year, because it was such an intimate venue where everyone was dead silent through the performance while they listened, but applauded like a rock concert. The best full band gig would probably have been in Hobart on Anzac Day with good friends Ballpoint. It was much more of a rock and roll show with a sold out crowd ready to party. I’m not sure how well we played but we had so much fun!

17) Do you employ regular sound / lighting engineers?
I do employ a regular sound engineer when I can, especially for the bigger shows, simply becausethat way we get a more consistent sound and we know what we are going to get from our sound man.

18) Typically, how much promo do you put into your shows and what methods do you think work the best?
Usually there are poster runs, promo on MySpaceand Facebook, SMS updates as well as general word of mouth, making sure we update friends and family on when the next shows are. The SMS updates are handy, that way all the details of the gig stay with the person. Also poster runs are a good way to even just get your name out there to people who wouldn’t usually be in your general circle of fans, friends or family.

19) How do you go about setting up a tour and how much attention do you take to when other ‘similar’ bands are touring?
Unfortunately I haven’t organized a tour since going solo and putting together a backing band. But with the tours I’ve helped organize it’s basically been organizing to support bands interstate, but we always kept an eye on who was touring around the same time, and tried to avoid any collisions of shows in the same cities.

20) Do you have much merchandise available? And if so, what has been the product that has sold the best for you?
I have a little bit of merch, I've got girls and guys t-shirts, badges, as well as the Cornered By Shadows EP and the acoustic EP ( I put the two CDs into a pack). The badges and CDs definitely sell the best, everyone wants to buy your music if they like your set, and badges are nice and cheap.

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SHOW US YOUR WARES 2 - Andrew Schraa / Audiac

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1) How did the band form and when?
There have been many versions of the band Audiac and the first incarnation was formed in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1995. We released a vinyl only LP and played on the University circuit. The name Audiac was retired for several years and was reignited in 2007 in Melbourne.

2) What sets you apart in the flourishing sea of bands in Melbourne?
Songs, most of the bands in Melbourne are great players, but I genuinely believe that we are all about having good songs.

3) Within the band, do you have delegated duties, other than performing?
Nic and I (Andrew) deal with the business side of the band and Malcolm helps with graphics. I also run a record label.

4) Do you write your songs individually, or together in a jam?
Both, sometimes someone brings a long a fully crafted song, but on the whole people might bring bits and pieces which are crafted into songs.

5) Tell The Push Player about a particular song and how it was written, arranged, crafted and produced.
A song called Beautiful Punk had a riff and title worked out in a practice room. I went away with a demo of that song and wrote some lyrics that suited the title. It was recorded four times by different line-ups and even covered by some friends of ours called Spa before the version you hear today was released. Now it sounds closer to the original version in 1995 than ever.

6) Do you have a 5-year plan or an on-going vision statement or are you just ‘rolling with the punches’?
Nowadays, I don’t think having a plan in music works, as the changes the industry is going through are so huge. Our only plan is to make a new record as quickly as possible.

7) Have you performed interstate? How did that come about?
Not yet, but we will be playing in Sydney in June. Basically, we emailed all the booking agents and follow that up with a call referring them to the MySpace page. Sometimes they’ll let you play.

8) What are you looking for in bands to support you?
Originality and a fan base. Turning up is also a plus.

9) Describe a typical band practice.
We always start but going through our current set and the end of that we go through any problems. We then take a break and discuss anything going on with the band. We then go back and jam. We may record the jam if we like it to try and take some ideas out for future songs.

10) Complete the sentence: When starting out (or when you start to take your band seriously) it is really important to...
...make sure everyone in the band is on the same level and wants to go the same place. If you want to tour and someone in the band isn’t interested it’s probably best to find someone else there and then.

11) What is the most effective online presence that your band invests time or money in? (Myspace / your own web page / Virb / Pure Volume / MP3.com.au)
MySpace is great, but only as a place for people to come and check you out and get a quick guide of what the band is about. Don’t put money into any websites, you can do it all yourself.

12) What recordings have you done and where were they done?
Our album No Come Down was recorded in a terraced house in London that has been converted into a studio. It took two days to lay down the basic tracks. Further guitars and percussion were done in my home studio and finally the album was taken into Hothouse Studios in St Kilda. Because everything was recorded on Pro Tools you can transfer it easily from Studio to Studio. I wanted to mix at Hothouse because Franz Ferdinand and Oasis had recorded there.

13) If we were to start this band again, the things I would do differently are:
Nothing really. Sometimes it takes a long time to get things right but they are worth it in the end.

14) Describe your best gig to date and why?
Our best gig was Espy last Sunday night. It’s a good room, there were enough people there and we’d played with a lot of energy.

15) Do you employ regular sound / lighting engineers?
We employ a sound engineer who knows our material, and is an easygoing guy – which is important as things go wrong all the time.

16) Typically, how much promo do you put into your shows and what methods do you think work the best?
Postering, contacting the street press and radio play are the important ingredients. Plus, bring your ‘rent a crowd’ – they are your only crowd in the early days.

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BEHIND THE CURTAIN - Jade Bonus / The Music Network

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1) What is the TMN and what is its primary purpose?
The Music Network is a one-stop shop trade magazine specific to the Australian market. Its equivalents overseas are Billboard, Music Week, Radio & Records etc. We aim to bring the different aspects of the music industry together, illustrating the bigger picture and allowing the sectors to connect with each other. We provide a weekly snapshot of what is happening at radio with our charts, at retail with our coverage, at record companies with our new releases and news as well as detailing what jobs are available in the industry. We also look behind the music with in-depth interviews with key industry figures as well as reports on innovation within the music industry.

2) What is your title and role?
I am the Sub Editor – basically it is my job to ensure that the pieces of the magazine come together to deadline. We have an incredibly dedicated and informed team here at The Music Network, which makes my job a lot easier! I also do a bit of the writing here and there, primarily collating news stories and touring information – and then comes the editing process, which sees me work through at least one grey lead pencil a week. To be fair though, they mostly get destroyed by chewing rather than marking corrections.

3) From where is all the information for the charts collected?
We collate our charts based on need as related to us from the music industry as a whole. For example, we collate airplay charts with information sourced directly from radio stations, genre specific charts, digital charts, dvd charts etc.

4) Primarily, who is your target market or readership?
Anyone seeking to interact with members of the Australasian music and entertainment industries is a potential TMN reader and really SHOULD be a TMN reader!

5) Do independent bands take out advertising in TMN?
Absolutely! We have featured numerous independent bands in my time here (only two months!) We aim to speak to and work for all aspects of the music industry – big or small. If bands are interested in advertising, all they need do is give us a call or hit our website.

6) Do you know of any great success stories that TMN may have played a part in?
When bands break, we believe these are the best ‘success stories’ that can happen. The magazine is dedicated to fostering, promoting and breaking new artists, as well as supporting events, conferences, associations and industry sectors that make up the music business.

7) What does a subscription to TMN cost and are there any discounts for students or groups etc?
$330 per annum or $165 for 6 months. Discounts on multiple copies to the same address can be arranged. We also offer a student pdf version which is supplied via the learning institution and would be very interested to hear from individuals or groups who may like to get an electronic version at a substantially reduced rate for students only.

8) What does TMN offer developing artists, and why is important to be reading it?
TMN is an invaluable resource for those wanting to learn more about who the players in the music industry are, what the different marketing and promotional avenues are and to understand how the industry interacts with each other and by extension the consumer – all key elements towards developing an artist's potential within both the cultural and economic spheres.

9) If I am to release a CD independently, how do I go about getting a word in TMN?
We review albums four weeks before their retail release to allow for retailers to order and receive stock. To be considered for review, drop us a line and a copy of the album before this time frame and we will always see what we can do. As there is always a plethora of new titles entering the market, it is impossible for us to review everything, however, if an album excites us, we can't help but share the excitement with our readers!

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IN SHOT - Mark Lang / Skipping Girl Vinegar

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Finding a visual identity for your music is an extremely important step that many bands or solo artists skip and put very little thought into. I believe strongly in a holistic approach to the creation and release of music. From song writing, arrangements, recording, artwork, posters, merch etc. Music artists should be just that - artists in all aspects of their work. They should put as much creative energy and thought into every area of the realisation and release of a musical work.

Not all bands are lucky enough to have a visual artist or graphic designer in their band, but should try and surround themselves with people that might be able to compliment any weakness that they might have in this area in their collective. This goes for everything in the creation of a piece of work like help with production or recording. Some bands have those production and recording elements covered within their own band but need help with visuals, whilst others might need help with recording etc. Become aware of your weaker areas and find great people to help cover them. The visual identity process may take a little more effort if this is not your natural strength but I believe strongly that bands that take this process seriously and step through it correctly will always make their work easier for themselves in the long term and will have a stronger sense of their music’s visual identity.

A great place to start for anyone is to create a visual diary. Buy yourself a blank exercise book or art journal and collect any images you like or identify with from magazines, books, postcards, street press ads etc. Once your book is filling up you will have collected a number of images and will begin to be able to see the common links of what you like and what it is about these images that reflect your music. If you are not going to do the design yourself, this provides you with a great tool to help you articulate what you like visually to a designer or artist, thus helping the designer to work with you in creating something that is truly reflective of how you would like your music to be reflected visually. As a side note to this, it’s great to play your music whilst looking at images to see if you feel that the music as its being played relates and reflects the visuals in front of you. This can be helpful when narrowing down your favourite pages of your journal.

The next step I believe is to look at the creation of a logo for your band or artist’s name. In the same way you will need to look through your visual journal and see what text fonts you like, how they may be altered, their textures etc. A great logo should be able to be printed in black and white, looking as good as it does in colour, and be easy to read. It should reflect your music in the same way as the images you have collected in your visual diary. Your new logo should also compliment the visuals that you are putting with it. If you are able to do this process yourself then that is great! If not, and it’s possible to employ an artist or designer, or do a trade with a friend to get this process done correctly, it will be worth it in the long run. A great logo can be stamped over anything from t-shirts to posters to street press ads etc.

Once you have a strong logo and visual idea of how you want the band to be represented, the first created piece of visual marketing would be the creation of a strong gig poster for the band. A poster can say a great deal about a band - how much they care about it, the sound of the band etc. You need to think about how you are going to print these. Are they going to be in black and white or colour? Adjust your design to work best with your choice. If you can afford colour you might be able to add more character or personality to the design by picking a colour pallet that highlights your sound, however I have seen a great number of sensational black and white posters.

If you don’t have much money you can design great black and white posters that can be photocopied. (Note: If you are photocopying on black and white try and use a laser photocopier. It costs a little more but if you have a photo on your design it will look significantly better.) A good style for photocopy posters is line artwork or strong line sections. If you have done the first step with your logo correctly another great but simple poster is to just have a large logo with details in text.

Once you have a great logo and poster design, and you feel that these both reflect the band’s image, I would suggest that you take these two elements of your visual branding and bring them into your MySpace page or website. These will then help you to tie all of your visual elements together and create a consistency across your public visual representation. (This visual consistency is VERY IMPORTANT!)

Going through this process will naturally help to refine and develop your poster designs. By the time you get to the creation of your album artwork you will have a clearer idea of what works.

This process works across every stage - from film clips, to street press ads etc. Start small and find you’re own way.

Some basic tips are:
1. Start a visual diary

2. Take your time - anything worthwhile normally does. Things may fall into place quickly visually but more often then not there is a lot of thought and work that goes into the creation of a strong image.

3. Try to use only a maximum of two fonts on the page.
(For example: Your logo would be one, and the details another.)

4. Bring a real sense of the band’s character to the artwork or personal element. A great example of this is the band Something For Kate. Paul Dempsey the lead singer uses his handwriting for the band’s name and tour posters etc. Over the years he has made his own font that is veryrecognizable, unique and has a real original feel to it.

5. Your visuals should reflect your music and the culture that listen toit, so that when people see your artwork it reflects and makes sense to your sound.

6. Surround yourself with good people that you can communicate with and that compliment any weaknesses you may have in the creation of your visual branding.

7. Take responsibility and guide the direction of you visual representation. Another great example of this is the band the Grates whose original hand drawn posters have a similar feel to the charter of their later posters that would have been done by the record label graphic artist. They have taken the quirky character of the band’s hand drawn qualities and created a very strong visual image.

8. Enjoy the process and put some heart into it as it will always show in the end result!

FREEBIES

The Freebies for MAY / JUNE are:

Kate Miller Heidke / Little Eve (album)
Andrew Swift / Cornered by Shadows (EP)
Audiac / No Come Down (album)

Congratulations to these past winners:

MARCH / APRIL

Amy Sutherland: Cog / Sharing Space (album)
Raj Close: Responder / Complete Radio Silence (EP)
Katt Beames: Capeside / tshirt

JANUARY / FEBRUARY

Liam Reid: Dallas Crane / Factory Girl (album)
Joel Peterson: The Cameo / Time (EP)
Felipe Natoli: Forgiven Rival / This is a War (album)

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

Luke Martin: Lover - Lover EP (EP)
Jayden Roy: Drugs in Vegas - I know that there's will in your heart (single)
Rohan Laing: San Salvador - How to hear (ep)

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