For starters, cops are everywhere…

Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re the most underpaid, under appreciated lot to have to walk the earth, but as one who’s typically behind the wheel after the bars close, The Sheriff of Nottingham is out in force looking to generate some revenue. Even if you haven’t been drinking, you’d better have current tags or the man’s going to take your car right then and there and let you take the shoe-leather express home. You’d better keep your nose clean, boy…

Aside from that, when it comes to gigs, we always got paid in cash for small to medium size venues… Not so anymore my friends… Suddenly it seems now, any venue of consequence is going to want a 1099 from you… Getting paid “under the table” used to be commonplace and believe me, it was great having that walk around cash to take you through the week but now… The tax man is hammering the clubs so the clubs are hammering us…

Unfortunately, our band had to form an LLC in order to “do business” with these clubs. One potential upside is, things like strings and all music related equipment now becomes tax deductible (for now) so you can potentially realize some benefit there. The beef I have with all this? I just wanna play music, if I wanted to become a businessman, I would have got a real job

Well, it’s that time again boys and girls… Cirkus, the bad boys from Sweden are making another loop through SoCal in September and October. In case you haven’t been paying attention, they’re the guys that really helped launch the whole meetube.com thing back in ‘06. Rumor has it they’ll be shooting a real music video this time around so make sure you turn out for the shows near you… Ya just might get yer mug in the video.

If you’re not already familiar (WHAT?) Cirkus is basically Sweden’s answer to Motley Crue without the excess weight, if ya know what I mean :b These guys put on a great show and are on a mission to bring glam metal back into the spotlight. Doods, go for the music because they totally rock, Bettys, you’ll appreciate the fact that they look good doing it. Roux’d (pronounced “Rude”), their lead singer is particularly limber and eager to please ladies, so dress accordingly and make your move

On a sad note, Dee (bass) will not be returning with his brothers in arms, we wish him the best and won’t forget him. At the same time, the show must go on so we eagerly await the debut of Maston. With a name like that (pronounced mass ton) you can expect “big things”… Pardon the pun…

Cirkus y’all… Check ‘em out at http://www.myspace.com/cirkusmusic for show dates near you. This might be the last time you’ll be able to see them in a small club venue. Get out there now so that by next year when they’ve blown up, you’ll be able to say, “Man, I saw them when…”

Okay, so it’s taken awhile but here at last is a pseudo-in depth look at the Independence Jam artists appearing on the Casbah/Local 94.9 Stage. We looked at the acts on the main stage in a previous post and for my taste, they’re only batting 50% with the line up. Yea to Flogging Molly, The Ting Tings, Santogold and The Whigs - Nay to The Cold War Kids, The Hold Steady, MGMT and Nortec Collective. The way I see it, I’m at $10 per band if I plant myself in front of the main stage and don’t move. Let’s see if there’s something on the local stage to add value to my experience… Same rules apply, we’ll look at the bands and list them by MySpace stats and see what’s what…

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Transfer - Obscure Magpie Records MySpace Friends 7091 / Profile Views 142,218

Wasn’t real familiar with this band but I listened to their top two songs on MySpace, “Bring a Knife” and “You are The Wolf”. I was shocked at how much I like both songs right off the bat. I mean seriously, listening to these guys left me wondering why I’m getting stuff like Nortec Collective jammed up my ear’s ass when in this listener’s opinion, Transfer is going to sell more tickets by comparison with a little air play. I’m just listening on my iMac, but it didn’t seem like the production value was sub par for radio play, especially for an independent station. If 94.9 would have played “You Are The Wolf” as many times at they rode Nortec Collective’s “Brown Bike” it might have been a better use of marketing air time. I guess since the show is in Chula Vista, they’re trying to attract some show goers from South of the Border…

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Final word - I’ll pay money to see this band - Yea

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Kill Me Tomorrow - GSL and Silver Girl Records MySpace Friends 6794 / Profile Views 101,804

This is a tough call… I really have mixed feelings about this band. I listened to all their songs and for every song I like, there’s one I really dislike. “How Are Things” is cool, then I hit “Xerox My Hand” and it becomes hard to make a decision. This might be a band that grows on me but initial instincts indicate that if I’m having trouble deciding than I’d have to say no, I wouldn’t spend my money. Kudos for making an interesting choice in the name of diversity, but I think a narrow margin of appeal as it borders on artsy industrial noise at times.

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Final word - Just not for me so, - Nay

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The Wrong Trousers - No Label - MySpace Friends 3800 / Profile Views 141,218

This band does a fairly cool cover of “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles but other than that, they’re keeping with the trend of “just too eclectic for me” set on the Local 94.9 / Casbah Stage. I think I mentioned at some point in the review of the main stage bands that for me, live performances are about energy and I just don’t feel a lot of that based on the MySpace tunes.

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Final word - Just not for me so, - Nay

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The Silent Comedy - Singleton Records MySpace Friends 1982 / Profile Views 69,389

These guys are good at what they do but they’re a very niche’ kinda band if you ask me. I mean, they’ve totally captured the whole silent film era thing they’re doing (based on their songs and MySpace theme) and I would expect to see Charlie Chaplain as a roadie dropping stuff on stage, but I don’t know if it’s what I want to see at an outdoor festival. Like “Kill Me Tomorrow” props for diversity but I wouldn’t normally spend money on this.

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Final word - They’re fine musicians, just not for me - Nay

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The Muslims - No Label MySpace Friends 1918 / Profile Views 90,779

Ha! At first I was a little put off by the name quite frankly, but then I saw their MySpace caption read “fuck these fuckers”…

These guys are like a low-fi garage band with a pretty catchy sound. I’m on the fence about spending money on them, however. I think the real question is how they deliver live. That low-fi sound can be awesome when done right, but if you’re going for that raw feel and the sound person doesn’t have a firm grip on what they’re doing (it happens more than you think) it can turn on you and come out sounding like amateur hour. While they have only a couple fewer friends than the band that precedes them in the list, it’s worth noting they have a lot more views…

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Final word - I’ll go ahead and take a chance - Yea

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Blackout Party - No Label MySpace Friends 1613 / Profile Views 37,631

Well, I’m afraid it’s just not my cup of tea and I find it suspect that the only thing they have booked on their MySpace calendar is this event. To quote Forrest Gump, “That’s all there is I have to say about that.”

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Final word - Fine musicians, not for me - Nay

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So in looking over the totals here, I’m down for 6 of 18 bands for this years Independence Jam. Four on the main stage and two on the local… That would end up at $6.67 per band I want to see plus, they’ve added shuttle bus service from strategic locations around San Diego. I’d have to say that all in all there’s a lot worse way to spend an afternoon. I may not like a lot of the bands appearing but based on what I’ve heard online and on the radio, they’re all certainly competent musicians and a good representation of diversity in San Diego Music. I think I might have to post my own “fantasy line up” for an Independence Jam of my own over in the forum and see how my picks fair…

Well, this is it… We’re going to have another run at the live feed beta test starting tomorrow night at 7PM PST when we attempt our first live web cast from The Temecula Beer and Wine Garden. I really wish I could get up there ahead of time and test their connection speed because if they can’t crank at least 400kbps (preferably 500) we could have a problem. Either way, we’re going to let the camera run and hope for the best. If everything works out and it makes for a good web experience, I’ll go through and do another post detailing the process, what equipment we used, and basically anything else you need to know so that you can start doing this for yourself.

Keep your fingers crossed and tune in tomorrow to check it out!!!

Okay, lets try this again; a few days ago I did a post on what I thought was the 2008 Miller Lite/FM 94.9 Independence Jam and it turned out to be a preview of LAST year’s performance… Nice… This time, I did some serious homework so while you may not agree with the opinions expressed here, I tried to get the facts right. We’ll look at the bands, their labels and how much juice they have on MySpace in the form of friends and profile views, just to give you some added empirical data you can use to form your own theories and opinions as to whether or not you want to attend this event. We’ll take a look at the bands in the order they’re listed on The Independence Jam web site and give each a final yea or nay as to whether we would pay money to see them or not.

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***Flogging Molly*** - Sideonedummy Records - Indie label representing about 20 bands including the likes of Goldfinger, Gogol Bordello and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones just to name a few. MySpace friends = 273,141 / Profile Views = 5,225,404

In their own words: “We’re not a traditional band,” explains Dublin born singer/songwriter, Dave King. “We are influenced by traditional music and inspired by it, and we put our own little twist on it.”

For the sake of brevity, Celtic Punk is how I classify this stuff and I’ve always been of fan. Not to mention that Matt Hensley (accordion, vocals, etc.) from the band has a club in Carlsbad about 15 minutes from where I live. Hensley’s Flying Elephant is one of the venues that sadly has been affected by the bullshit legislation about noise in Carlsbad and while they have kick ass live music there, they have to wrap it up by 10PM. I’m sure the noise from the freeway Hensley’s overlooks quiets down at 10PM too… Gimme a fookin’ brreak cantcha?

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Final word - This is a band worth seeing - Yea

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***The Hold Steady*** - Vagrant Records - Indie label representing about 36 bands including the likes of Rocket From the Crypt, Alkaline Trio, Dashboard Confessional, Paul Westerberg (The Replacements), and The Lemonheads. MySpace friends = 29,281 / Profile Views - 650,027

MySpace Quote - “We might get rich. You know, we might get busted.” Okay, that was borrowed from the Steve Miller Band so check them out and glean from it what you will.

The first thing the web geek in me noticed was that their link on the Independence Jam site was not responding. Tsk, tsk… That’s a big no no and somebody needs to take a look at what’s eating that server at theholdsteady.com. Also, Vagrant would do well to actually use their artist’s NAMES in their links instead of just applying them a number. What they’re doing sure doesn’t help their SEO any. As for the music itself… Meh, it just doesn’t do anything for me. The first song on their MySpace player sounded like The Pretenders but the stream died before any vocals kicked in to let me know some dude had replaced Chrissie Hynde. I went to the next tune and started getting whiffs of Jersey wind bag Bruce Springsteen and I immediately lost interest.

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Final Word - I’m not paying to see this band - Nay

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***Cold War Kids*** - Downtown Recordings, Indie label(? They’re tied in with Atlantic Records) representing 13 bands including the likes of Gnarls Barkley, Mos Def, and fellow Independence Jam artist Santogold. MySpace Friends = 114,505 / Profile views = 2,844,113.

This is where I’m probably going to lose friends because I’m getting ready to take a giant shit on what I know is a popular band. I simply don’t get this music or it’s appeal. I can’t stand that whiny voice and that whole Hang Me Out to Dry thing is just SO FUCKING REPETITIVE I could just blow my head off. I know I’m in lonely company on this one but I find the music of Cold War Kids to be tedious and unpleasant. In a word, it SUCKS.

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Final Word - Spend money to see this band? Not on yer fucking life - Nay

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***MGMT*** - Columbia Records - Definitely not Indie. MySpace Friends = 49,353 / Profile Views = 3,232,754

As MGMT is not an independent artist I was just going to glaze over them to save myself some time and energy but unfortunately, this is more music I hate so I have to say something. The single currently being pushed Time to Pretend is just trite, adolescent garbage that’s so sickly sweet it almost put me into a diabetic coma. Just really horrible stuff. I listened to a couple more tracks on MySpace and didn’t hear anything to make me feel different.

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Final Word - I’m not spending my money on this band - Nay

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***The Whigs*** - ATO Records Indie (label formed by Dave Matthews and Michael McDonald) representing the likes of Crowded House, My Morning Jacket and, what? RADIOHEAD? MySpace Friends = 11,716 / Profile Views: 368,505

I like this band, Right Hand on My Heart is actually one of their more down tempo numbers and the rest of their stuff sounds like they could really kill it during a live performance. I want energy from a band more than anything and it sounds like these guys have it. Especially compared to some of the aforementioned…

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Final Word - I’ll take a chance - Yea

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***The Ting Tings*** - Columbia Records - Definitely not Indie. MySpace Friends = 35,540 / Profile Views = 2,305,979

Again, wasn’t going to spend a lot of time on a major label act but I LOVE these two… I was hooked the first time I heard Great DJ and then I checked out a YouTube video where they did a live performance of That’s Not My Name… I totally dug it, It’s like Bizarro World White Stripes. Chicks rock… Worth noting that they don’t even have their own Web site, just a MySpace…

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Final Word - Alone worth the price of admission if they could do that for two hours - Yea

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***Santogold*** - Downtown Recordings, Indie label(? They’re tied in with Atlantic Records) representing 13 bands including the likes of Gnarls Barkley, Mos Def, and fellow Independence Jam artist Cold War Kids. Profile Views: 2,060,237 MySpace Friends = 44,963

I dig it… Whatever it is, I dig it and would be curious to see it live. Their MySpace is vague as far as band members with the exception of Santi White and Johnny Rodeo being the core of this… creation. I don’t know that I would go out of my way to see them on their own but they look like an added treat at this kind of event.

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Final Word - I’ll take a chance - Yea

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Nortec Collective - Nacional Records - Indie label representing 9 bands you never heard of. MySpace Friends 16,162 Profile Views: 335,055

I’ll have to pass. Modern alternative mariachi is not my thing.

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Final Word - I’m not spending my money on this band - Nay

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According to the above stats, I’m looking at 4 bands (that I care anything about) for $40… So far I’d say that’s not too shabby considering we haven’t even gone over the six local bands appearing on the Casbah stage…

We’ll look at them next time…

Okay, so now I feel like a complete tool… Because I’m so web-centric in everything I do I just assume (STUPID) that when I’m reading information on a “commercial” web site, it’s reasonably current. (Annoying buzzer), thanks for playing… I should totally know better by now… Anyway, I was working directly off the FM94.9 Web site yesterday when looking at the bands for Independence Jam and the information WAS from last year. I should have fucking known better because I remember thinking it was strange that it appeared to be EXACTLY the same line up as the previous year… Anyway, I heard them pimping the show on air today and I was like wait a minute, this is a completely different line up than what I saw online just yesterday… I sent them a WTF e-mail and they simply responded by suggesting I discontinue any and all drug use. Sound advice as that may be, I know what I saw yesterday… Shame on me for not being more careful, shame on them for not keeping their site up… Anyway, I’m not going to take the previous post down but rather let it stand as a monument to my stupidity and a place to possibly glean a little info from last years event. In the meantime, I’m working on something for THIS years event, thank you very much…

As a local San Diego Independent music source, naturally we had to look into the FM 94.9/Miller Light Independence Jam coming up on Sunday June 10th to be held on the Devore Stadium Field at Southwestern College. This is an annual event so we figured the best thing to do is start with last years experience since so many of the same bands will be appearing. Her are some reviews from last years Independence jam found on Yelp.com.

Lee F. says:

“My take on the day - I loved the venue (having a choice of sitting on the grass, heading up into the bleachers, going up to mosh, back to the 21 and over area, or up to the local stage is good), loved being able to bring in a backpack with a sweatshirt and blanket and whatnot (desert air gets cold quick!), and loved the people watching (hipsters, emos, pretty people, etc. … i love you all).

But the bands were all exceedingly mediocre. It wasn’t like The White Stripes, who blew me away at Street Scene two years back, or like Death Cab, one of my favorite bands who sucked big time at SS last year. Just a whole bunch of performances that left me saying “eh”. ”

Tiffany S. says:

“Hey Lee, I’m still wearing my Miller Light wristband, exhausted at work. I got there a little late, around 4:45-5 and was bummed that I missed the Aggrolites. Oh well. I agree, Spoon was incrediby disappointing. Kings of Leon left me yawning, and Interpol cut their set 20 minutes early!

The highlight was definitely locals Grand Ole Party. If any of you get the chance to see this band (and seeing as they’re local, there will be plenty of chances) GO!!! The singer/drummer burns on the drums and sounds like a combo of Karen O. from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Shirley Bassey. I liked Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects too, although the sound really sucked.

I think the local stage was the highlight of the event fer sherr, and you don’t need to pay $40 to see locals. Boo on not being able to bring food in, yay on the people watching (I kinda wished I had dressed up a little bit more), boo on climbing stairs, yay on the grass, yay for bringing back an old school venue, boo on expensive beer (although that is a given).”

Colleen C. says:

“I loved the venue, it was so nice to get there early and lay around in the sun listening to good music! The Aggrolites were fun but their show didn’t really “flow” very well. Parking was a breeze, toilet lines sucked, beer was reasonably priced and the margaritas were fantastical. As for the music…Spoon could have been better, K of L were pretty awesome, and Interpol was a good set even though it was short. I personally loved the Soft Lightes on the Casbah stage, I thought they were awesome!”

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There are a couple more reviews on Yelp that kind of echo a lot of the same sentiments. All in all, it sounds to me like the locals out did the major labels but as for the event itself, it sounds like the good time is what you make of it. You can take a look at the top acts listed and linked below to decide for yourself how things are shaping up. As a confessed Web geek, I couldn’t help but throw in some observations regarding their Web sites (seein’ how I was there anyway). Have a look…

[Interpol] - Personally, I like their music… But they’re riding under the flag of Capitol Records so clearly they’re not an indie band. Of course they’re there to help expose the truly independent artists also performing, but if they cut their set short… That leaves me scratching my head. Their website is interesting but the video was very glitchy and there were no player controls.

[Kings of Leon] - Another band I dig but again, not an indie artist as they’re flying RCA colors. Also getting mixed reviews on last year’s performance, you almost have to wonder if the signed artists aren’t giving their all at these shows. They have one of the most user friendly web sites… Not real fancy but glitch free and easily navigated.

[Spoon] - These guys are one of my favorites and are “sorta” indie compared to the first two bands being on Merge Records (a label that also handles the likes of The Buzzcocks, Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr. and Arcade Fire) but again, apparently fans weren’t all that impressed by the live performance last year. Merge is kinda borderline indie if you ask me because they represent more than 75 bands. Not Capitol or RCA, but still pretty big in this idiot’s opinion…

[Living Things] - I’ve always heard that these guys rip live and they have more of an edge to their music than a lot of these other bands (which I’m totally down with). Living Things are on Zomba, another label that just looks too big to be called indie… Cool web site with some interesting Flash that still leaves for easy navigation.

[The Aggrolites] - Not really my cup of tea, they’re on Hellcat along with bands like Rancid, The Transplants, HorrorPops, and Dropkick Murphys just to name a few. Their Web site is pretty much an online calendar of tour dates so you might be more interested in the MySpace.

[Test Your Reflex] - Another RCA band, I don’t honestly know too much about them other than they don’t have any tour dates posted on their Web site. That leads to another interesting point I forgot to mention… Many of these artists make no mention of The Miller Lite Independence Jam coming up on their Web sites. There’s probably something to that that is commonly understood amongst industry insiders but I sure don’t get it… Why not be pimpin’?

That covers the main stage for this year, at least for now. Next post we’ll go through and take a look at the locals appearing on the FM94.9/Casbah stage.

That’s right homey, if you already have some kind of web cam and a high speed connection, get your mates together and perform live on your MySpace profile (or anywhere else you can embed a video player on The Internet) tonight without spending one thin dime… Mogulus, baby… It’s the only thing I’ve seen that could give YouTube a serious run for their money as far as video hosting sites go. If you have any idea how to work a web cam, this should be a piece of cake… The Mogulus MeeTube Channel was up and running in about 10 minutes…

So what makes Mogulus different? Easy… Tons of stuff, starting with live feed capability. The people at Mogulus (who knows who they are, it’s still in Beta and there’s very little background info on the site) have in essence taken a full functioning broadcast studio and condensed it down into a Web application that you launch from your browser. Instead of just posting your videos in a list form like YouTube, MySpace and every other Internet video platform you can think of, Mogulus lets you take it to the next level actually program your channel just like on a regular network. The Mogulus UI allows you to upload videos like you would on any other video sharing community, rip videos directly from YouTube or any another web server, and schedule a “playlist” just like you would in your iPod. To top it all off, you can cut into your pre-programmed content at any time with a live feed from a web cam. It really is the sickest thing I’ve seen to date as far as Web media platforms go and yes, it’s completely free. As someone who’s old enough to remember a time with 4 clear TV channels and no remote control (gulp), I would say this is some truly revolutionary technology.

Another truly sick feature (and trust me, there are just too many to list here) Mogulus supports multiple logins to your studio. This means multiple live feeds are available simultaneously and you can switch between cameras just like a real studio.

This is it, sonny Jim… To ALL the bands out there who thought that all they needed was a break to make it big, your break is here. Watch out YouTube, Mogulus has arrived and thanks to them, you really can be performing live for your fans on MySpace and anywhere else, TONIGHT. In fact, I wouldn’t surprised if at some point YouTube either adopts, or buys this technology outright. It’s gonna be HUGE.

MeeTube will still continue to tape live shows and make videos the “old fashioned way” because our videos are made in post production. However; we’ve already added a Mogulus Channel to our site because live feeds will be a nice addition to the taped live performance videos. In fact, we’ll be testing the MeeTube Live Feed on and off over the coming weeks by letting a web cam run behind the scenes here at MeeTube (my living room) so you can see what goes on. Boring, yet at the same time, fascinating. Check out our live feed page… If you look right now, you just might find me there hammering away at my computer…

Go forth and do likewise my children…

Just a reminder that it’s that time of year again and The Del Mar Fair is rapidly approaching. With it comes The Battle of The Bands and it’s not too late to get your bid in… If you’re a local SD artist (CA residents only) you can find all the details and sign up information right here but ya probably should act fast. The deadline for submitting entries is May 23rd. The “Battle” begins on June 20th, round two is on June 27th and, the winner will be crowned on The 4th of July.

Joel (AMP) and I filmed some bands last year for our own personal edification but I can’t for the life of me remember who they were. That might be a shameful thing to admit but I think it’s a tribute to the mediocrity we were fed (at least while I was there) last time. We shot some video of a couple performances which Joel has up on his YouTube Channel. I think some of the acts were chosen as “novelty acts” because #1) I had never heard of quite a few of them… Granted, I don’t know EVERY band in San Diego but I’ve been gigging around here for the last 7 years… I should at least have heard your name before if you’re playing out… #2) Many of these same bands looked good but didn’t really execute very well. I realize that The Del Mar Fair can be a big deal but a show is a show… You need to get your nerves under control if you’re going to play for crowds. I’ll bet a lot of these bands had killer demos and press kits that they put a lot of time in on but lacked experience and couldn’t deliver the goods when the time came. Just speculation mind you…

There is one band that I do remember from last year but unfortunately I didn’t get to see them perform. That would be our boys from Soundescape. I think I even have an interview with the band where they talk about last year’s battle. Come to think of it, I’m going to have to dig that up and see if it’s worth posting… It seems to me that while they were very much being gentleman about the whole thing, I think they were a little disgruntled at the outcome. Now, I have absolutely no inside knowledge of the goings on with The Del Mar Battle of the Bands and it’s sponsors. What I do know is that as a general rule, it’s a good idea not to underestimate the power of relationships when it comes to these kinds of media sponsored events. It’s just one of those situations where the “best man” might not always win. Either way, take your shot. Go, do, get dirty… Sign up for The Del Mar Battle of the Bands… Eventually the cream always rises. If you’re it, we’ll know it…

Well now, in case you missed it a couple of posts back, I was giving props to Radiohead for their “rebirth” as an indie artist. In Rainbows, their latest release was available as a free digital download before you could even buy it in the store. I also mentioned that if I wasn’t mistaken, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails weren’t far behind… I love it when my powers of clairvoyance actually work… You can get a free download of the single Discipline if ya click on this little link here. Don’t say we never gave ya nothin’…

I was in the car the other day and one of the local DJ’s was talking about the change in the record industry and wondering aloud how it was the record companies were going to be able to continue making money. With the likes of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails bringing product directly to our computers, I’m sure there are board rooms all over the country wondering the same thing. If they have any brains at all, they’ll realize they somehow have to harness the Internet in a fashion that just isn’t affordable to the average Joe. Let’s face it, The Internet is becoming privatized right under our very noses. Record labels, if they’re smart, will become miniature film companies and instead of releasing a new CD, the new music will be released on a DVD with videos for every track, live performance clips and maybe some behind the scenes shenanigans. Release a few singles as free digital downloads, leak a few videos onto YouTube, and then just buy up exposure online like they would with any other media outlet.

No matter what happens, we the consumer have more choices than ever on where to find our music. If record labels want to hold our attention, and more importantly our money, they’re going to have to step up and offer us more.