Beware! The Leopard

Fanlist freebies

Hey everyone!

Just letting you know that everyone who signs up for our mailing list will have access to two song downloads on our Reverbnation profile HERE.  So sign up and you'll be in the loop for all B!TL freebies!

Alex

I've got the promotion blues

For the independent artist self-promotion is almost as important as the music itself.  How many times have you heard a friend talk about how they know someone who is just the most amazing drummer, guitarist, songwriter, etc. but who only plays in their basement.  A good song is essential to making it in the music business, but so to is having connections and knowledge on how to promote oneself properly.  Without the latter, you can spend the rest of your days as the most amazing garage musician to never leave their house. 

Knowing this, I've been reading and reading and reading some more on the various ways that exist to promote one's art.  There are literally a gazillion websites that exist to upload your tacks to (MOG, Sixtyone, Garageband, Reverbnation, etc.) and you hope that maybe a small percentage of their readers click, listen, and enjoy your music enough to pay for it, or at least spread the word a bit.  Then there's the blogosphere.  It seems that every university music junkie and their grandmother has started a blog about the music they currently enjoy.  The most widely read of these blogs (like Pitchfork and Stereogum) are now considered filters of what is hip and listenable in the indie community.  Smaller blogs tend to follow the lead of the big guys, by either reviewing the same albums, or putting a local slant on the bigger "indie" artists (by reviewing a show, or something similar).  In the last few months I can't count how many Basia Bulat, Efterklang, and Owen Pallett reviews I've read.  Don't get me wrong, these artists are fantastic (if you haven't heard Pallett's latest go buy it Right Now), but with the mainstream "indie" press and blogs already covering  how wonderful these artists are, wouldn't it make sense for the smaller blogs to try and source out something that nobody has heard of yet?  There are only a few blogs looking at the truly obscure, unheard of bands.  One of my favourites is Obscure Sound where Mike the editor is constantly on the lookout for good but unknown bands that he can review and thus promote on his site.  Unfortunately Beware! The Leopard is not on Mike's radar yet, hopefully one day.

It may sound like wingeing and I suppose it is kind of, but I just find it odd that in an era where everyone complains that mainstream media outlets are facsimiles of each other without adding anything new or interesting to the mix; that the indie community would continue the trend in their own way. 

So come on guys, whether it's reviewing our album or the hundreds of other small indie artists looking for any small break, there loads of room to offer something new to your readers.  I implore you to please try it.

Gigs this week!

Hey everyone!

Just a very quick note to let you know that we've got two gigs this week. 

Thursday April 22nd, we're playing at the Heart of the Hammer Cafe (937 King St. E, Hamilton).  Show starts at 8:00 and it is Pay What You Can. 

Friday April 23rd, we're playing at the Imperial Pub in Toronto.    Details are still being worked out so stay tuned!

Abandoning Your Musical Roots

As part of my vinyl ripfest that's been happening at work, I've been listening to a lot of R&B and Blues, my musical home.  I don't know when or how it became established, but whenever I listen to Blues I am instantly transported to someplace warm and cozy, with a little fire in the corner and searing guitar riffs over the mantle. 

In the last six or so years, since I started playing in alternative/indie bands, I have been moving away from the blues.  I don't listen to the Blues much anymore, I don't play them either.  It has me questioning whether abandoning your roots is really the best way to create music. 

Most artists tend to stick to their mould, or at least close to it (e.g. U2, Morrisey, Rolling Stones, Sufjan Stevens, Owen Pallett, the list goes on).  There are a few artists that have been able to move substantially away from their roots and still make it sound good (Beatles, Radiohead, can you think of more?).  So should artists try and break the mould that they were created in? or are we best if we stick to what we're best at?  Should I, and thus Beware! The Leopard move back towards bluesyness? 

What do you all think? 

The Record Store Grind

For those of you who don't keep up,  I work in a record store when he's not playing with Beware! The Leopard.  It is a vinyl only record store, which makes me jones for new vinyl each and every day.  

The owner, who has amassed a vast collection of 45s over the last 40+ years, is now realizing that he is entering the autumn of his life, and he doesn't need the actual records anymore.  He still wants the music of course, so he's given me the task of ripping them to CD so he can sell the 45s (some of which are worth thousands of dollars).  Initially the task was a bit daunting; stacks of 45s arranged into compilations either by label, artist, or sound (ie. Detroit 70s).  Most this is soul music which was a little bit outside my knowledge base, and some of it is so schlocky that a couple of hours of ripping makes the poet inside me cry, but every once in a while I get hit by a gem.  Today is one of those days.  Gloria Taylor has come like a ray of sunshine into this gloomy office/dungeon on Queen St.  Her combination of soul/funk and pop is just very raw.  Some of her lyrics can be a little bit cheesy, but overall her voice just sounds very true. I definitely say check her out. 

Also, if you haven't already, check out Travis Wammack, an awesome guitar player.  His versions of NightTrain and Louie Louie are absolutely fantastic.  I don't know how he got his guitar tone, but the tremolo-y goodness is superb.  Listening to his guitar is listening to what 1960s rock and roll was all about.

And the winner is...