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Author Topic: October 2002 Madness  (Read 2258 times)

hargerst

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October 2002 Madness
« on: June 05, 2004, 03:10:01 PM »

Oct. 2002

Well, October is shaping up be one of the weirdest months ever for me.  The Pimpadelic CD that Alex Gerst produced is getting rave reviews, and he's again turning out to be one of the best producers in North Texas.  So we're starting to get a reputation nationally as the "hot studio" in North Texas. That's pretty weird to me.

As you read this column, we'll be on our way to L.A. for the AES show (The Audio Engineering Society get-together that all the major recording engineers and producers attend each year to check out the latest in gear and trends).  What's weird is that they're going to have a band playing live on the opening day.  The band is Sweetwater, MY OLD BAND (that I played guitar for in the late 60s - about 33 years ago).  Is that weird or what?  And they want me to bring my guitar!!

But one of the main reasons I'm going is to see what new stuff is coming out and talk to a few manufacturers about some new designs I developed. The other reason I'm going is to hang out with some of the heavyweights in the music industry and make new contacts.  And that's the area of interest for the focus of this column.  It can be summed up pretty simply: You can't have too many friends in the business.  And you never know when that friendship will turn out to be really helpful in some unexpected way.

There are many cases of groups getting signed simply because the record company asked one of their artists to recommend a group that the signed group thought was good. since HarderBeat now covers more than just North Texas, I'm not goimg to mention just local groups that got signed by opening for larger acts. Consider that Cheap Trick opened for Kiss, Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees, and the list of other acts that got big by opening for other acts is huge.  So what's the secret?  Just make friends with any bands that look like they have potential. You might help them; they might help you.

The secret to success in this business is the right exposure, but not overexposure.  Don't saturate the local scene by playing too many times around town.  Try to find bookings out of town so that it's an event when you do play Dallas.  Make sure you have some fresh material to show off.  Change direction for a few songs.  Always make each show a fresh new experience for your fans.

I realize that I'm still preaching the same sermon to you, but it's important for you to understand that the sermon is about how to succeed in this business.  If you just wanna keep your day job and play a few weekends gigs from time to time, that's fine.  But if you're determined to make it in this business, you better have a plan and follow it.
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Harvey "Is that the right note?" Gerst
Indian Trail Recording Studio
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