Hello all, I had yet again another unexpected hiatus. I am trying to move this blog over to our main website (which you maybe reading this from for all I know) and after the unexpected low number of reader for my last entry I was a bot taken aback. It may have been the fact that some people are not a fan of the late David Crosby or the genre of music he created. I assure you that whatever your muscial taste, it is something that you will benefit from by reading it. Yes it was about an artist that was prominent in another time period, but much of what he said is extremely relevant today. Especially with everything that is working so hard to divide us againsst on another.
I must admit I am NOT a fan of these cold months and I literally found myself of dreaming of being back in California. The irony goes beyond that fact that there is a song about it, but also that I have only spent a few days of my life there so far (go figure). I can’t imagine many people liking cold weather (but some people do), the warm weather just brings forth so much more possibilities and energy. But for musicians, it is the best time to stay in and work on our craft in order to perform in better weather(which we are btw). I apologize that we were unable to continue with our livestreams on you tube. The people who were watching did enjoy them, but the lack of avaliability and time constraints were doing more harm than good, well to me anyway. As you may have gathered by now, I enjoy spending as much time as I can either performing or writing music or doing something that benefits the band. Whether it’s conducting sales of our merch online, mailing stuff out, making calls or interacting with people on social media. And the sad reminder that I can’t do that as much as I would like to is something I would like to avoid as much as possible. But unfortunately, most of us are the unlucky ones who don’t get to do that all the time. As opposed to thos household names that I am refffering to as the lucky ones. Yes, they worked hard in most cases but I learned early on that being successful is music is not based on merit or your ability to perform better than someone else. To sum it up it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. So don’t get hard on yourself that you have to wake up every morning like some schlump doing something you hate to have a roof over your head (that you barely spend any time in). You may have made bad choices (I know I have) but don’t be hard on yourself and be glad you are still here and didn’t let life circumstances or you destroy your drive, if you still have and didn’t let a nice job, a realtionship, drugs or many of life’s other distractions get in your way.
What I am about to tell you is about one of those times I was in the right place at the right time (sorta) and it’s a lesson to all of you trying to push your band to the next level. Both in what to do and what not to do. As I already explained part of what I enjoying doing as part of being a musician is the promotional aspects. I know that not everyone does, but their is a finesse to it. Which between the extremes of just showing up to rehearse and not tellign a soul about your music and the obnoxious people who shove fliers in your face and do nothing but talk about their band (shut up, this for those that think I do that lol). There are actually books on how to do this persistently but not in an off putting manner. But I think it goes beyond the textbook lessons on topics such as learning a club’s protocol on how and when they accept material from new bands for example. It takes people skills that most musicians should have. I mean, you knew you were going to be dealing with lots of people when you got into this (and for some that’s why they did, enough said). I mean, it’s like wanting to help run a store and not wanting to or knowing how to deal with customers or people brining you supplies. You could have the best products and prices but if you don’t interact with people on any level effectively or try to find out what their needs are, you wont go as far as you would if you did. I’ve seen people in bands act like real jerks to people who were coming to the shows, being rude and dismissive or outright making it clear that they feel your only reason for exisitng are they are concerned is to support their project. Save your crappy buttons and promo stuff, you act like that it’s going right in the garbage.
So let me get back to what happened, (by now I assumed you are used to me going off on a tangent) I was down at the Jersey Shore with a friend of mine as we planned on having a day of surfing. It didn’t really turn out that way for me, but it was still a good day away from the city and other crap that was going on. I did get to surf a bit at the first spot,Mansaquan (where I was able to stand up on the board for the first time,catching my first true ride) but unfortunatley my enormous appeptite got the best of me after the long drive. I ate a bit too much to be effective in the water and the tides weren’t that good that first spot we went to. So we proceeded to head over to Belmar.As we approached the beach, we had a good 10 blocks to go and I found myself at a red light, looking at a building with a large antenna attahced to it and the logo for a local radio station WRAT. I had passed by here before and knew about this station for years as they are known for playing metal and hard rock. Actually, I think the first time I heard of them was from a guy that won tickets from them to goto the first Ozzfest. This particular day, someone was walking into the station as I was waiting at the light. We made eye contact and I gave him the signature metal 🤘, he went inside and immediately came out and asked if I was just saying hello or was trying to tell him something. I told him I was just saying hello but as I put the hazards on in my truck I expalined that I am in a band and run our record label and he most likely received our last album from our radio promoter. I proceeded to give him a cd and a business, along with 1 vinyl copy of our album that I had in the truck. I further ceased this oppurtunity by opening the back hatch and asking what his shirt size was and rummaged through the box of shirts I had from our shows merch table, amass the honking horns that I waved on passed us and my friend who was waiting for me as he noticed I was no longer directly behind him.
I foolishly did not follow up with this man or the station until recently, to avail btw. And I suspect that the results may not have been much different if I called the following week. But still it would have been best if I did and it is usually what I would have done. However, someone at that station listened to the music and was aware of the band now. Even more so since I gave them shirts, think about how many people you walk passed in your average day. That’s how many people saw our album cover times 2. Had I not gave him the horn’s up or knew what to do and say none of that would have happened. a few hundres less people (if not a thousand or more) would not know about the band. Any small thing you can do to promote, any sticker that is put up, button passed out, social media post is a way of making people familiar with your project. Even if they don’t take notice right away, the next time they hear about your band most people are like “I’ve heard of them, I just don’t remember where” and sometimes they eventually do. That’s why it’s best to be persistent and keep going. It’s like being on a train. Keep posting, promoting, handing out stuff, interacting with people and supporting what others do. Some people will not appreciate what you’re doing, but even if one person does that’s enough. I remember one time I utilitize a feature in some Facebook groups I run where everyone in the group gets notified. Beeing that large groups of people (especially this group that is more melodramatic than most, that’s what happens when a facebook post is your biggest concern. Besides having to go out suring the day of course) like to have a herd mentality and express the horrific experience of being notified that someone posted in a facebook group. Dont worry they survived. Despite the whiners trying to cut down me and my hard work a few people enjoyed what I had to offer and had become supporters ever since.
So you see? don’t let anyone or anythomg slow you down, stay focued on your mission and fond ways around your obstacles and the right people will take notice. At the end of the day, you can goto sleep knowing you did as much as you could to better yourself without anyone’s help. That in itself should be rewarding enough. Thanks again for reading everything, Be well and stay safe,
Nate,xoxo
This was the only song I know about Traffic lights. Yes I know it’s corny I skip when it comes on my playlist but it still fits
This song is more aligned with the message I was trying to put forth about never stopping
After what I said, how could I not include this one