All the Right Moves on Warped Tour, David Hasselhoff, and burning pianos
Categories: CD Release
 |
| Photo by Kasey Jean Noll |
Gimme Noise speaks with lead singer Brandon Daly before the band's album release at Station 4 on Friday about the hard work that goes into running a band.
Band Members: Brandon Daly (Vocals/Piano/Guitar), Braden Ashworth (Vocals/ Guitar), Roman Wolfe (Violin), Will Ceasar (Bass/ Vocals), Dustin Phillips (Drums/ Vocals)
Gimme Noise: You guys played at Warped again this year -- amidst the heat and dirt. What are the benefits of playing that stage? What was up with the green guy?
Brandon Daly: Yes, the Ernie Ball Stage is fantastic. It's
seriously the best way for local bands to get involved with something as
large as Vans Warped Tour. We've had the honor to play a few different
years in Minneapolis and Milwaukee, and it's always been a riot. We've
all been going to Warped Tour since we were 15 years old, and it was
always the best day of the summer. So getting the opportunity to play
alongside all these great bands today is something we don't take
lightly!
It's a wonderful way to mingle with other bands,
meet your heroes, and promote your music to the masses. But with so many
bands and so many stages, sometimes you gotta get creative in order to
get people's attention and draw them in to your show. We've been known
to get a little wild.
One year in Milwaukee our violin player, Roman, decided to strip down to nothing but a youth-sized Speedo and walk around with his violin on his shoulder, a megaphone in one hand and our set time written on his chest with a Sharpie. He would yell about our band through the megaphone, play songs for people on his violin, dance around like a maniac and take pictures with people. It's a marketing tact, really. His chest was so white it literally burned our set time into everyone's eyes that looked at him. And yeah, now that you mention it, I'm not sure if it was a mirage from the heat, but I also vaguely remember a tall man in a full-body green-man suit at this year's Warped who looked a lot like our violin player, Roman. Some people saw him holding up a giant neon green sign with our set time written on it. Other people saw him crowd-surfing. Either way, I'm pretty sure he was completely naked underneath that thing.
Both. We hustle our butts off, but we've also been very lucky at the same time. One of our biggest breaks spawned from pure luck -- as well as being at the right place at the right time. When our 2010 EP, The Monster I've Become, came out, we got featured on the front page of Purevolume.com for a couple weeks, which gave us huge exposure. During that time we got an email from a company called Bunim-Murray (they produce reality shows for MTV, Oxygen and E! - such as The Real World, and Keeping Up With the Kardashians). A talent scout found our music and liked what he heard and was interested in licensing our music to their catalog. Obviously, we said yes, and we have since gotten our music placed in close to a dozen episodes of various reality T.V. shows. They must love the Minnesota music scene, because we have friends in other bands who have also gotten licensing deals through them.
How did the opportunity to have your song in the movie Piranha 3DD come about?
I went to school at McNally Smith College of Music from 2008-2010, pursuing a degree in Music Business. During that time the head of the Music Business department was a very genuine guy named Ron Sobel. He gave a lecture one day in the auditorium that really grabbed my attention. It was all about licensing deals and his experiences in the world of music publishing. I loved every second of it. After the lecture, I contacted him, and we started talking back and forth via email. We talked about his publishing company, Winogradsky/Sobel, which is stationed in LA. I told him about my band, and that I was eager to have him listen to our album for consideration. I sent him a copy of our album to listen to and he wrote back a couple weeks later telling me that he "listened to the album -- loved what he heard, and thought it would make an excellent addition to his company's catalog." I was stoked! This was the first licensing deal we'd ever gotten. So I signed the agreement forms, submitted my band's album, along with the instrumental tracks and lyrics... and then we waited!
One year in Milwaukee our violin player, Roman, decided to strip down to nothing but a youth-sized Speedo and walk around with his violin on his shoulder, a megaphone in one hand and our set time written on his chest with a Sharpie. He would yell about our band through the megaphone, play songs for people on his violin, dance around like a maniac and take pictures with people. It's a marketing tact, really. His chest was so white it literally burned our set time into everyone's eyes that looked at him. And yeah, now that you mention it, I'm not sure if it was a mirage from the heat, but I also vaguely remember a tall man in a full-body green-man suit at this year's Warped who looked a lot like our violin player, Roman. Some people saw him holding up a giant neon green sign with our set time written on it. Other people saw him crowd-surfing. Either way, I'm pretty sure he was completely naked underneath that thing.
Pop-punk is a difficult genre to break into, especially in the
Twin Cities. What drives you to keep going when a band can go years
without the recognition?
We do what
we love, and what makes us happy. Bottom line. We make music for
ourselves, because we love the music, and we love doing it -- we
wouldn't have it any other way. We just want people to hear our music
and appreciate it for what it is. Honestly, the biggest payoff in the
world is when a someone comes up to us after a show, or contacts us
online, and tells us that one our songs was on the soundtrack of their
summer, or that it meant the world to them at a particular crossroad in
their life. We've had people from other countries send us emails in
broken English telling us that certain songs on our CD have helped them
through a break-up, family problems, dealing with depression, etc. It's
the greatest thing in the world because it means that our music is not
only medication for ourselves, but also for others throughout the world.
I think that is the ultimate pay-off for any musician, isn't it?
The band has been successful at getting placements in films and television shows. Is this all hustle from the band, or do you work with a publishing company?
The band has been successful at getting placements in films and television shows. Is this all hustle from the band, or do you work with a publishing company?
Both. We hustle our butts off, but we've also been very lucky at the same time. One of our biggest breaks spawned from pure luck -- as well as being at the right place at the right time. When our 2010 EP, The Monster I've Become, came out, we got featured on the front page of Purevolume.com for a couple weeks, which gave us huge exposure. During that time we got an email from a company called Bunim-Murray (they produce reality shows for MTV, Oxygen and E! - such as The Real World, and Keeping Up With the Kardashians). A talent scout found our music and liked what he heard and was interested in licensing our music to their catalog. Obviously, we said yes, and we have since gotten our music placed in close to a dozen episodes of various reality T.V. shows. They must love the Minnesota music scene, because we have friends in other bands who have also gotten licensing deals through them.
How did the opportunity to have your song in the movie Piranha 3DD come about?
I went to school at McNally Smith College of Music from 2008-2010, pursuing a degree in Music Business. During that time the head of the Music Business department was a very genuine guy named Ron Sobel. He gave a lecture one day in the auditorium that really grabbed my attention. It was all about licensing deals and his experiences in the world of music publishing. I loved every second of it. After the lecture, I contacted him, and we started talking back and forth via email. We talked about his publishing company, Winogradsky/Sobel, which is stationed in LA. I told him about my band, and that I was eager to have him listen to our album for consideration. I sent him a copy of our album to listen to and he wrote back a couple weeks later telling me that he "listened to the album -- loved what he heard, and thought it would make an excellent addition to his company's catalog." I was stoked! This was the first licensing deal we'd ever gotten. So I signed the agreement forms, submitted my band's album, along with the instrumental tracks and lyrics... and then we waited!
Something like two years went by, and I got a call from
Stephen Herring at Winogradsky/Sobel telling me that New Line Cinema
was in post-production for an independent film called Piranha 3DD (the
sequel to the 2010 film, Piranha 3D), and they were interested in using
our song "The Impatient, The Imperfect, The Impossible" in a water-park
party scene for the movie's soundtrack. Needless to say, he had me the
second that he said that David Hasselhoff and Gary Busey were starring
the movie. I didn't need to hear anything else.
The band seems to do a lot of your own work. What do you feel you excel at, and what do you need to work on? Was it a lot of trial and error?
Yes, we are a 100% DIY independent band, and we are proud of it. We've just had too many bad experiences in the past with shady, money-grubbing managers, so we've decided to keep it indie for the time being. Which is the way to go if you are able to wear the many different hats -- so to speak. We hire on photographers, videographers, and website designers as needed to help us with projects, but as a general rule-of-thumb, we only hire on someone to do something we can't reproduce ourselves.
The band seems to do a lot of your own work. What do you feel you excel at, and what do you need to work on? Was it a lot of trial and error?
Yes, we are a 100% DIY independent band, and we are proud of it. We've just had too many bad experiences in the past with shady, money-grubbing managers, so we've decided to keep it indie for the time being. Which is the way to go if you are able to wear the many different hats -- so to speak. We hire on photographers, videographers, and website designers as needed to help us with projects, but as a general rule-of-thumb, we only hire on someone to do something we can't reproduce ourselves.
I find that the most productive DIY bands have a
formula as such: one person in charge all of the finances and banking,
one person who handles all of the creative media (like designing
graphics/ show flyers, website artwork, etc), one person who does all of
the promotion, marketing and advertising work, one person who does all
of the legal and contract work, and one person handles booking.
Occasionally we will hire booking agents to help us book shows --
especially in other states. A lot of times booking agents have already
established a relationship with venues that we want to play, so it makes
it much easier to set up shows. However, it's tough to find a good
agent. If you find one, hold on to them, because we've had our share of
bogus tours. One time we were touring the East Coast and drove all the
way from North Carolina to Florida. We arrived at the venue and no one
was there. So we called the venue owner and he was like, "What are you
talking about!? There's no show tonight! I'm at home eating mashed
potatoes with my wife!" Moral of the story is: no matter what someone
promises you, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
1 | 2 | Next Page >>
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
Hottest Conversations
![Bachmann: God will force Obama to sign Obamacare repeal [AUDIO]](http://blogs.citypages.com/common/assets/701008.75x75.jpg)
