Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

So until I heard abot file-types.com, I had never heard of the file type nth. But here we go. It’s the file format for a Nokia phone theme. And while it would have been very useful to me about 3 years ago when I owned a Nokia phone, it doesn’t really do me any good at this point since I’ve since switched over to Motorola (not really my choice, the phone companys just happen to have Moto phones for the dirt cheap price of free, and it’s hard to argue with.) But seriously, this site is pretty awesome. I can find out about all the different file formats that exist for our electronic age, which is great since there’s always new ones that I haven’t heard of, and sometimes doing a search through a search engine really doesn’t even help. This blog is perfect for all the new files I’m attempting to download, and trying to see whether or not there is a point to downloading said file. I’m impressed with it’s ease of use and overall “product” knowledge I guess I should say. I can’t wait to fire this website up the next time I’m facing a new and unfamiliar file format to check out more about these ever-changing methods of data control.

I was checking up on Martin at the Sands and it sounded interesting enough. From what I’ve learned is that box sets are never something that’s a bad idea. Mainly because you can get EVERYTHING that’s probably now out of print, and I’ve always been a fan of the extra box-packaging! Out of everything listed, these are the songs that I actually recognize: ‘That’s Amore’, ‘Young And Foolish’, ‘Memories Are Made OfThis’ and ‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’.

This post courtesy of: Martin at the Sands

And as musicians, and as a band ready to get on tour, it might not actually be a bad idea for a county inmate search to happen on each member of the band, and the touring crew. The last thing anyone really needs is to find out that the tour can’t happen, because someone can’t cross the border due to a seedy past no one wants to admit. The good thing is it’s fast and easy to search for this kind of stuff these days. And that would leave plenty of time to find a “touring bassist” or a “stand-in drummer”. Downer, I know. But sometimes a necessary evil!

Me being me, I’ve come to realize that I’ve been neglectful to the world of independent music.

That sucks.

I suck!

Boo-urns to me.

Seeing as how I’ve gone through the month of May with nary a post, I will be working on new material, writing about a bunch of great shows I’ve been a part of watching, and reviewing some albums that have unfortunately been long collecting dust on my desk.

In happier news, I am writing from a shiny new LCD monitor (like you all care) which makes reviewing that much easier since everything looks prettier! I’ve also cleaned my room which makes realizing just how MANY albums I have yet to review… more organized.

If a little daunting.

So give me just a few more days and the reviews continue!

Quick post for today. Not too long ago it was announced one of my long time friends was getting into some heavier marketing tactics for his online company. As well as having sold off one of his companies to close friends of his, they basically went halfsies on a button making machine. The minute that was posted I started badgering them for… badgers. I mean badges. I made it my mission to have some funny buttons for my friends who were playing show that week, on the 16th and 19th of the month.

I ended up designing a short run of 1-1/4″ buttons for S.N.A.K., Señor Kasio and [Perversion:] just because they were all friends of mine who I thought could benefit from funny buttons that didn’t need to be run in quantities of 100+.

At the same time I thought why not design some of my own for Big Rock Finish just to give away with the ones I made for these bands. So in my one sheet of 30 buttons, I ended up with 6 for each of the bands, and 12 for Big Rock Finish.

Arriving on the 16th at the show for The City (new band I’d never met), S.N.A.K. & Señor Kasio at the Rivoli (check later for reviews on the shows), I was pretty dead tired. Around when The City started their set I finally started to wake up thanks partially in large part to an energy drink purchased for me by Steve after stealing a sip of his own. (Heh, sorry about that!) Anyways, for the rest of the night I was thinking “I should give these guys some of my Big Rock Finish buttons so they know who I am!” and spent countless minutes between sets looking for boys who resembled their appearance on stage.

Finally figured out they were likely hiding out in the back room for most of the show, as I did not see them until after all the bands had finished performing. Ran outside and interrupted them chatting at the bar to present them with some buttons & tell them about the site. They managed to get me a copy of their album, also an ingenius marketing tactic of its own right, and we exchanged pleasantries and went on our way.

I decided that I definitely need to produce more of these buttons, if anything to have something tangible when I go up to bands as a personal cold-call to introduce myself and let them know what Big Rock finish is here for. I’m excited. I’m scared. I’m finally starting to market!

For anyone who has a Steinway grand or any other sort of piano they need restored, they really should check this out. I only say this because I have had a piano since I was 5 years old, spent about nine years hating the hell out of it, about ten years ignoring it, and I’m sure by now it needs some restoration done to it if anyone would ever want to play more than “chopsticks” on it ever again. Piano restoration is a very important part to finding older, or “more experienced” pianos and getting them back into their prime. From what I’ve heard, tuning and restoring old pianos is better than buying new. Since it’s gone through all of it’s aging process the sound is supposed to be richer. I should restore mine, and write a review on that! I will definitely let you all know how it goes!

Just to step out of the reviewing sector for a moment, I wanted to mention how many websites there are that cater towards this type of industry. The music industry is big bucks. And the internet is the greatest marketing tool there is for new and upcoming musicians to get heard and find listeners. And I’ve always been a strong supporter for independent music for a good long while now, and it can’t just be because I think commercial music has totally gone down the drain.

In an effort to support music, and websites based around music, I want to mention the rap forum, a forum where hip-hop artists and rappers get together and discuss all sorts of concerns regarding the industry, and more specifically their genre of music. Since networking is so very important, I think it’s fantastic there’s a central place for these artists to get together. Whether it be to look for someone new to work with, to find some people to put a show together, to even just a bitch-fest on how you think you’re better than the 99% of the crap that is making 100 times more money than you. And I think the coolest part? From my impressions of rap, a big part is the battles that goes on, and I can’t imagine something more interesting than an online battle. Sure it’s no Eminem playing the starring role of 6 mile, but whatever!