Happy new year to you all!! Christmas and New Year has been and gone and the mildly depressing shadow of January is for me, etched with both hope and trepidation. Rehearsals and gigs are booked and I am ready for what I see as my 'sink-or-swim' time. The regular version of my CD is released on January 12th alongside press, online and radio promotion and I know that after years and years of trying, this is the critical and defining period.
Call To Arms
Well good luck to you Dan, but what can I do to affect the result?
Well the honest answer is plenty. I would urge you to join the e-team by going here http://www.danielwm.com/eteam.cfm and entering your e-mail address.
There will be organised activity that can really help and there is no obligation for you to take part in every initiative if you are too busy one time. It may be as simple as sending an e-mail to an address or asking people you know to vote on a link.
Outside of that, you can always leave an album review at Amazon, iTunes or any of the hundreds of places where the album is available digitally. I never like asking for help but at this crucial time it may be the difference between a lengthy career and fading into the twilight.
DWM MediaWatch
If you are interested to know where and when coverage appears I will be pointing this out in blogs as well as hosting details on my website. There have been a couple so far:
- RADIO - On December 20th I appeared with Jennifer Delaney on South FM in London for an interview and played 3 live songs. It was a fairly last minute thing so I had no time to let people know about it...
- PRESS/ONLINE - A 2/3 page article (next to Elbow and Nick Cave) appeared in the Bournemouth Echo. The onlive version can be seen here - http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/search/4010532.Thank_you_for_the_music____and_cash/
- INTERNET RADIO – Two phone interviews were conducted for Talentcast/Radio Sunshine in November.
I will let you know when there are more...!
Gigs
Live shows are an important part of promoting the album. Five shows have been booked for early 2009 so far and 3 are fully confirmed, please go to http://www.danielwm.com/gigs.cfm to see details...
Photos and Videos
New photos from recent live shows are now up at http://www.danielwm.com/pics.cfm and some very average videos are up from a small gig we did at the Cavendish Arms. They are not great but one features my brand new song The Liberation of the Female Kind and the other features an incredible dancing man about 2 min 40 in!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeZJYdk9Rw&feature=channel_page
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JXZaIWCxAZY&feature=channel
Open to Offers and Guest Appearances....
Talking a good game is something a lot of musicians do. I have auditioned a singer who cannot sing and a guitarist that made me look like Van Halen before. So I am relieved that those awkward moments seem to be behind me but I do wish I had more offers to play more music and have more musicians play with me and my band.
I would welcome the addition of a fantastic guitarist to the live line-up, or even better someone who can play both guitar and keyboard - but short of that a guest banjo, mandolin or trumpet player would be fantastic. I am lucky that my band consists of fantastic musicians but I quite like the New Orleans music-led approach where musicians will turn up, guest on a song or two and then go home again or on to the next club.
With great players money is of course a consideration, and doing paying gigs is the goal, but at the same time I would be happy to guest on live or recorded work as long as the music is good and it's enjoyable, whatever the genre. The fact it would give me a bit of extra exposure is a bonus.
The Shame in Asking Advice?
We had a great, creative environment over the summer with recording and mixing sessions where ideas were voiced and considered. Before that many decisions have to be made with the planning of rehearsals, studio bookings and studio schedules. It was great to draw on (producer) Tony Platt's experience and you could see, particularly with me and Pravin (drummer), the desire to tap into this and simply ask his advice from time to time. If he has done something several times before why not ask about the best way to do it, or just understand why certain things don't tend to work so well.
With all that in mind, I find it a bit strange that 50k artists on Sellaband haven't asked me for advice at all about the recording process - and Sellaband haven't asked me for any feedback either. I don't know whether it's the prevalent 'I know best' attitude that seems to exist in the music world, but in the business world this would be a must-do.
DWM SongPoint
These are the songs that are on my playlist at the moment:
Masterplan – My Morning Jacket
Fallen – Sarah McLachlan
Late For The Sky – Jackson Browne
Close to the Borderline – Billy Joel
Take the time to look them up online and have a listen!
So that's all for now folks – speak soon!
DWM