These tips apply to all local musical acts as well as myself.  Are you local?  Probably.  I am too.

1.  "Fake it til you make it."  Doesn't apply.  If you're not famous on a large scale or well-respected at least regionally for being someone who creates something special, don't be arrogant/pretentious. 

2.   If you're a booking agent or manager or someone behind the scenes, then you have NO business being arrogant/pretentious since you're not the genius or creative force (certain producers excluded).  You're in a business like any other.  You could be selling cars or pool equipment all the same. 

2.  NEVER turn down the option to work with ANYONE.  Keep the option and thought open and don't let your ego sell you short.  You never know who's going to be in the audience, how much money you can make, or who you might meet.  You just never know.  You're local and not better than any offer that comes your way.  If you fail to become the next big shit, then you'll be sorry that you've excluded all possibilities in your local scene.

3.  If you're a local, then don't hand over your career/music/etc. to a manager or exclusive agent yet.  Not unless you hope to have a low ceiling.  Do as much as you possibly can on your own.  Get off your ass and figure out how to get stuff done.  When you think you can't possibly do any more for youself on your own, do more...and then finally, find the right person to represent the beginning of your team.

4.  NEVER sign a promisory note handed to you by an A&R guy.  I don't know if that's the exact term for it, but if it's not a CONTRACT that can be negotiated by a lawyer and ready to be entered into, then don't sign it.  Actually, record company or not, don't ever sign a contract unless you have a lawyer look it over with you.

5.  You don't know a darn thing.  Period.  Think I'm wrong?!  Then you REALLY don't know a darn thing.  Figure out WHAT you don't know and then figure out how to DO it.  This especially applies to many of the "karaoke heroes" that I've run into.  Nature has blessed you with a nice sounding fundamental, overtone series, and good relative pitch.  You're one of millions honey.  Get over the fact that you think the world owes you something because of this and learn how to play an instrument, write songs in different styles, learn music theory, production, etc.  Otherwise, you'll be hopeless and will hopelessly fall into the arms of a crook or jackass. 

I have to make press kits to promote my upcoming shows to radio/print while working on my third indie album now.  And why am I still an unknown after 2 albums?  I haven't written a potentially hit song yet nor do my productions stand up to that of Daughtry and the like.  =)  That's why.  But I'm hoping that will change very soon.  At least I know all of this! 

I just realized that as a college student, I get to have a "Spring Break."  It's only 1 week out of 56 = not that much time, but just enough to play at least a few shows.  I'm planning on taking that week, and maybe 1 or 2 more, to put together a little "tour" around the East Coast of the U.S. (mainly New England).  A small tour...a "tour-ette" if you will.  I've entitled it: "STEVE GREGORY; TOURETTES LIVE 2009!"  It will take me to such points of interest like:

Decantur, Georgia - Home of SWEET TEAAAAY!  "y'ont s'mo sweet tay?! Y'ONT S'MO...Y'ONT SOME MO SWEET TAY?!!! <=O"  Georgia, I SURE DO! ;-)

South Carolina - Home of SOUTH OF THE BORDER, mascotted by "Pedro" the patron saint of fireworks and the worst smells you have ever had the pleasure of!

Middletown, CT - Home of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  <=D 

The idea is to command an exponentially larger crowd at each show.  This will quickly develop into an army.  My tourette will bring me farther north still up the east coast with my army close behind.  The culmination of which will end in world domination...at the North Pole.  I highly recommend that you attend a show on STEVE GREGORY; TOURETTES LIVE 2009.  For, anyone opposing my army by the time I reach the North Pole wilst be crushed.  And there is no doubt that the majority of the world will be on board by then.  And hey, as the saying goes:  When in Rome, eat a bunch of food, vomit, eat some more, and vomit once again.  They used to call it the "vomitorium."  I think I'll make that the subtitle of my mini-tour.  STEVE GREGORY; TOURETTES LIVE 2009...THE VOMATORIUM!

Obviously, since I just came up with this idea 2 minutes ago and it's already 2/18, the odds of me actually booking all of these gigs up the east coast is few and far between.  But I'll still try!  Time to make some press kits.  So, to all of my fans whom I loving call "greghorians," I bid you a doo doo.  (monks chanting...chanting...etc.)

I just realized how much information I have learned from John Mayer that is not even related to music...
Physics: Gravity
Chemistry: Neon
Biology: Vultures (although it was a cover, I'm still citing it)
Religion: St. Pattrick's Day
Chemistry: St. Pattrick's Day (I get wasted on mixed drinks that day = chem)
English Composition: 3x5
Relationship counseling: Come Back to Bed
Philosophy: Why Georgia
I could go on, but you get the point.  We seem to spawn fairly well-rounded musicians here in CT.  Just look at me.  I also know kung fu.  Thanks John!

I've spent a good amount of time in Philadelphia recently and I can tell you 2 things...they love Ben Franklin and Cheese Steaks.  In fact, I bet you didn't know this, but Ben Franklin actually invented Cheese Steaks. 

Ben Franklin Cheese Steak Recipe Attempt 1:  The first of his cheese steaks was made of a large metal Rod which was attached to the roofs of various government buildings and houses in order to diffuse the heavenly electricity gracefully to the ground in order to save many many lives.  However, this preliminary cheese steak recipe, although very practical, proved to be unpalatable and indigestible.  He instead named this first recipe the "Lightening Rod." 

Ben Franklin Cheese Steak Recipe Attempt 2:  Made of many glass bowl-shaped tubes attached to a centrally rotating metal rod on which each tube became equally diminished in size from its preceding tube on which water was poured over when applying one's finger to each of the tubes, produced a harmonious sequence of chromatic notes.  Again, this yielded a very unpalatable and indegestible cheese steak.  Thus, Ben Franklin decided to name this the "Harmonium" after its harmonious sounding audible characteristics and it remained his most favorite invention although it quickly lost favor with musicians of subsequent generations.  Yet, he was still in search of creating the coveted Philly Cheese Steak...

Ben Franklin Cheese Steak Recipe Attempt 3:  Ben Franklin, living in what is now the "Old City" portion of Philly, repeatedly asked for people to stop ringing the Liberty Bell so much.  Even though the first two Bells were cracked in exactly the same spot the first time each one was rung (the first one was actually "defective" and thus melted down completely, poured into a different cast yet still cracked again in the same exact spot...creepy), the people of Philly seemed to love the bell more than life itself.  They rung it non-stop.  They rung the bell when it rained, they rung it when it was sunny, they rung it because it was xmas, they rung it because it was Easter...they rung it in celebration of ringing it.  Well, Ben Franklin could not take the level of this noise pollution and made a point to "complain" and "nag" the authorities.  The authorities were not familiar with this new concept of "demanding what you want non-stop regardless of what other people may actually feel," whilst all along hoping to stumble upon what he hoped to be his final cheese steak recipe incarnation.  Thus, doing this, Ben Franklin invented the art of "Complaining" and "Nagging" which is still a very prominent practice by many to this day!  Sadly, to him it was merely another failed attempt at creating the cheese steak. 


I also enjoyed a Boyz II Men, random smooth jazz artist, and John Legend concert while I was there during those few weeks.  BUT, my absolute favorite thing in Philly...absolutely favorite thing is this lady who owns a Fruit Stand near the UPENN hospital.  She's near Locust Walk on campus.  If you can run into her stand on a weekday morning or afternoon, for a few bucks you'll get the most delicious fruit ever piled higher than Ben's Lightening Rod.  Tell her I said "hello."  She will look at you funny b/c she doesn't know me nor is she completely fluent in English, but you must do this nonetheless.  For my last note on Philly pertaining to this:  Ben Franklin also invented:
Fruit
Fruit Stands
Fruit Stands run by foreign speaking peoples
Foreign speaking peoples (German notwithstanding)
Philladelphia
Liberty Bells
the SEPTA system
University of Pennsylvania
All religions
Life itself
and finally...Dildos and other assorted adult novelty toys

Thank you Ben...thank you.

This is strange...but, some of my music is being played at various gas stations across CT.  It's not necessarily the first avenue for airplay when you think of plugging a song, but at least it's getting played.  I mean, it's not like an independant artist can get their songs played on real radio anymore.  We have to utilize local band hours on certain radio stations, online radio stations (pandora), college radio (when you can find the right dj's), and finally add to that Gas Stations.  So, the next time you're filling up at the tank feeling angyna pains setting in, you might get to relax to some of my music.  My music is the cure for gas station angyna.  M.D.'s take note.

I'm psyched!  My song "I Swear" is now being FEATURED on the Free Music Download site www.RockRidgeFree.com!  It'll be up for 2 weeks and you can download it for free. In terms of songwriting, it may be my best to date so I highly recommend that you give it a try.  Couldn't hurt...after all, it's free!  =)

So, for whatever it's worth, my song "Get Away" has won what I guess is called the "Track of the Day" award on GarageBand.com.  Pretty cool to get recognition.  Just to let you know, GarageBand.com is basically a site to post music and have your peers vote on it.  The idea is that the cream rises to the top on their charts.  Here's just a quick rundown of what they said the song has been awarded:

Track of the Day on 3Mar2008 in Pop Rock
Best Male Vocals overall, week of 3Mar2008
Best Male Vocals in Pop Rock, week of 3Mar2008
Best Guitars in Pop Rock, week of 3Mar2008
Best Bass in Pop Rock, week of 3Mar2008
Best Melody overall, week of 3Mar2008
Best Melody in Pop Rock, week of 3Mar2008
Best Mood overall, week of 3Mar2008
Best Mood in Pop Rock, week of 3Mar2008
Grooviest Rhythm overall, week of 3Mar2008
Grooviest Rhythm in Pop Rock, week of 3Mar2008

Not my favorite of my songs.  I think "I Swear" and "Her Face" are my 2 best written and performed songs.  "Just Begun" is a great hook, performance, and has a good production.  I'll see how it all pans out for "Get Away" and I'll let you know of any other good news that may arise =)

I am happy to announce that We're winners in the Digital Cafe Tour 2007!  This is a big deal.  From nearly a thousand nationwide music entries, we've placed in the top 3!  There will be a live Concert Video Taping of our performance at the Baggot Inn in NYC on Sunday February 17th at 7pm!  The show will soon after be available for download anywhere in the world at any point in time!  So for all of our foreign friends and fans, this means that you can finally see us in concert.  So Join us At the Baggot Inn in NYC and watch a great concert as we film history!

I haven't been writing songs for very long.  Just a few years.  Most of my life I've been more concerned with the mere joy of playing my axe, but since I talk too much I decided to start incorporating that into my guitar playing and thus songs are born.  It's difficult being a songwriter.  Here are a few tips that have helped me.  I hope they help you too.

1. Make sure that each song has a very musical and long intro.  In fact, the longer the better.  You basically don't even want to start thinking of lyrics before the 30 second mark.  If you sing before that you'll be robbing the song of all its artistic merrit and will  "give it all away" before the song even has a chance to blossom into the beautiful piece of groundbreaking art that you've written. You wouldn't want to give your art away would you?!  Basically, you should model every song you write after Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

4. The chorus should come in somewhere around 2 and 3 minutes.  That'll give your composition the time to really expand itself emotionally and draw the listener in.  I'd even say that a minute 40 is still ample time to really make that musical statement that your song so deserves.  You should thus try and write as many thoughts into your verses as possible.  The longer the verses the better because the more time it takes for you to get to the chorus, the more tension you've built!  DUH! 

5. Keep the lyrics as metaphorical as possible.  People don't want to relaaate.  People can relate to real life everyday in...REAL LIFE!  They want to be taken on a magical journey of lyrical bliss about topics which they must dig deep to understand only to sing your praise of brilliant whit when they find out that you've embedded the song about your dead dog into an epic saga of good and evil...with dragons preferrably.  But that's still not metaphoric.  I'll give you an example.  "When the night is bright and filled with strife the dragon sits with his owl knife...dead dog."  You see, that 1/24th of a verse uses imagery, rhyming (which is mostly unnecessary), and dragons whilst still cleverly embedding the overall theme of the "dead dog." 

10.  Don't follow the "paint by numbers" pop music formula that most people foolishly use.  We've heard verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/double chorus so many times that it has lost all effectiveness.  Try changing things up.  I recommend beginning with the bridge.  Most great movies don't give it all away at the beginning.  Take Fight Club for instance.  We have no idea that the plot twist will hit us like a steam train until at least half way through the movie!  Or even Momento (no I am not a huge Brad Pitt fan).  Give the listener something to ponder for about 4 minutes and then BAM!  Hit'em with the main purpose of the song in the outro.  They won't know what hit em!  Your songs will carry the emotional weight of a steamtrain!!!  They will all love you.

3. Music is an art and NOT a business.  Don't learn anything about copyrights or breakdown of monies b/c that'll only impinge you and your brain from making great ART.  NOBODY is going to steal ANYTHING from you.  In fact, the better the song, the more people you should send it to unregistered.  Let those people know that the song is unregistered.  It will make them feel special that you trust them enough with your song and they will probably end up giving you their songs as a musical "thank you."  Basically, let the suits stay in their offices and give no regard whatsoever to what any business person tells you is a smart move.

21. Listen to nothing I say

We (The Steve Gregory Band) just played the Dubliner inside the Mohegan Sun Casino last Friday night.  What can I say?  It was an amazing time!  The food was awesome, I suggest the Irish Sandwich, the staff was phenomenal (I ordered a Guinness at the beginning of the night.  Literally the moment I finished the last sip of my first, the waitress took it out of my hand and replaced it.  She repeated this twice as if she had some sort of sixth sense about the state of my beverage from across the room.), and the crowd was great and rowdy as all hell!  Everyone took smashingly to our original songs and choice of covers as we played, danced, drank, and ate all night long. 

Thank you to all of our friends and family who came out to support and have a good time!  Special thanks to UNLIMITED ENTERTAINMENT for hooking us up with THE DUBLINER.  We'll be back there soon with more great Steve Gregory originals and classic covers that you love!...yeah, I know, but I only talk in third person for branding purposes ;-)