Making of a New Album

I've been writing the music for my new album for a while now (this is for the jazz/funk organ trio), but it happens in spurts. First two tunes, then three more, and now I feel another rush of creativity coming on. This time, I'm going to walk through my process of composing music for my trio. I have no idea how this will work out. I could end up scrapping the idea before it's done. Either way, you'll get to see me nitpick every rhythm and note and be happy you don't live with me while I work through the creative process.

My next album is, for lack of a better term, a concept album. Life Is Loud was a reflection of my move to New York City, and while I approached each tune with the same frame of mind, I didn't fully understand what I was writing until halfway through. Also, I wrote several of those tunes for a guitar/bass/drums trio instead of guitar/organ/drums. So I wasn't using the instrumentation to it's full potential.

The new album is a reflection of my roots and influences. I grew up in St. Louis, which is a river town. Culturally, it's similar to other Midwest towns like New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and many smaller towns along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. A lot of great American music was born, developed, or flourished in this part of the country. Many influential writers and artists come from these towns. I'm also reflecting on the influences from my childhood, from the years I spent tap dancing (thank you Mom), to the books I read (thank you Parkway North English department), to the music I listened to (thank you... Metallica?).

I'm hoping this album will help me define my voice as a guitarist and composer. The actual tunes themselves, as they appear on the page, are only the beginning. They are really just outlines or guides for the band to explore. Brad Whiteley and Kenneth Salters have a pretty big role in the way things will ultimately turn out. I write for them, and take their feedback on every tune.

So here we go! Shall we see what happens?

Unknowning Fans as Unknowning Publicist

I'm going to try an experiment.

It dawned on me the other night that the press mailings I did when Life Is Loud was released were incredibly ineffective. The first mailing of about 40 CDs, sent to very specific writers who write about my kind of band/music/guitar playing produced a handful of reviews and pretty much zilch increase in sales or internet traffic. More importantly, the whole point of these mailings was to spread the word about the album, not to the writers, but to the potential fans out there. Hello? You out there?

So here's my experiment. Writers, you're fired. Not that you cared in the first place. Instead, I'm going to see if I can find a dozen or so regular people out there that would like my music, and ask if I can send them a copy for free. In exchange, I just want to know what they think.

If I'm able to look at somebody's internet presence (Facebook, MySpace, blog, Twitter, Last.fm, etc.) and determine that they would probably like my music, I'm betting that they would be more likely to spread the word on their own. I'm not asking them to blog about the music, but if they write a blog, chances are good they just might do it (what else do we blog about?).

I'm not looking for friends who blog, I'm looking for bloggers that don't know me who fit the M.O. of a Cameron Mizell fan.

I mentioned this to a couple friends, and they didn't quite get it. "Shouldn't we be doing this anyway?" Well, kind of. But I'm looking for people kind of like me. If John Scofield personally sent me his next album and wanted my opinion (ahem), I would not only tell him, but I'd share the experience with friends. Not that I'm Sco, but if somebody hadn't heard of me and all of a sudden I wanted to send them my CD, I bet they'd want to figure out who I am, and what's wrong with me.

All I have to lose is a few CDs that would otherwise end up in the abyss of journalists' desks.

Blog: A Musician's Journey

Christopher Lars Carlson is smart. I stumbled across his blog this morning and liked everything he's written. He thinks the way I try to think (not sure if that's a compliment), and his approach is kind of similar to mine.

If you've ever found anything interesting in my blog, you'll find much more at his:

A Musician's Journey

Happy reading.

To do list.

When I started this blog, I intended to write something every day to keep me focused on whatever I was actually doing to build this little business of being a musician. It's been a great exercise. I typically sit here and just think through my fingers, organize my thoughts, and then put them into action. If anyone reads it, that's an added bonus (Hi, Mom).

If I haven't had anything interesting to say recently it's because I have so MUCH interesting things to say, or at least things I think are interesting and frankly my dear don't give a damn if you do or not. Some of the articles/posts in the pipeline:

-Metadata! What's that? I'll tell you, and why I think it's important. Who am I kidding... I'll link to the Wikipedia page and then tell you why I think it's important for musicians.

-Gigs! No, not computer memory, but the things musicians do that supposedly makes them all their money while everyone downloads their music for free. Which brings me to our next topic...

-Free! Again, my thoughts about giving away music, but this time why the idea of rampant downloading frustrates the hell out of the people that actually invest their creative energy, time, and money into the music, aka artists. I'm one of them, yet I'm indifferent about the downloading and I'll tell you why.

-Music Entrepreneurship! I was asked what I thought about a Masters degree that would essentially prepare students to do more or less what I do. It's a really interesting concept. How do you make this successful? I don't know, but I'll write down my thoughts.

And a few still shaping up in my head. Many of these will be posted at the new website Dave Hahn and I started:

http://www.musicianwages.com

If you haven't checked it out, please do. There are a lot of posts there so far, and a forum for discussions amongst musicians. If you have a question, ask it in the forum. Dave, myself, or one of the other great musicians that are contributing to the site will try to answer it, or find someone that can.

Blogging is just my side gig, though. The real reason I haven't been writing much recently is because I've been BUSY. And it's great. I'm writing a lot of music, practicing a lot, and continually working on some recording or another. Outside of my trio, I've been playing two other gigs:

Collective Pursuit. An 8 piece modern jazz group playing music composed by all members, under the leadership of trumpeter KT Chauvot. Loaded with talent, the band has really started to come together after getting some gigs under our collective belt. This gig definitely keeps my reading, arranging, and jazz chops in shape. We recorded three songs for a demo, and have been recording some of the shows as well. Check the MySpace page every now and then for more music.

Lauren Zettler. I'm not really a huge fan of the term "singer/songwriter" because it's so vague, but it's a good place to start when talking about Lauren's music. She's a fantastic singer and her writing gets better with every song. It's folk/pop/rock/alt-country/grunge/alternative/klezmer/reggae at it's best. Hopefully that make you curious enough to go listen to some of her music. I've played several shows and have been recording with her, something that will be released in the next couple months. I practice the "less is more" approach to playing her music, which is something every instrumentalist needs to do. Whatever the song needs, I try to do. This sometimes means playing mandolin or even harmonica, and sometimes NOT playing (what?!?). Lucky for Lauren, I'm a fantastic dancer and bust out the Hammer whenever I have more than 8 bars of rest.

I'm also starting a band with my good friend Eric Clay, formerly of Team Tomato. Eric and I started our first band in junior high, sold it three years later for $64 million, and are doing this start up for the same reasons. Actually, that's not true, but how cool would that be? Anyway, we've been writing music and will hopefully record some of it in the next couple months. This is a straight up rock band--the kind my wife was embarrased to tell her mom about. Her end of that conversation went something like, "Oh yeah, Eric has moved up here. Yeah, he's living with his girlfriend. Him and Cam are uh, writing some music together, and uh, you know, playing guitar." Just say we're starting a band! Although, it does kind of sound like something you do in junior high. My band phase. There are a couple people still waiting for me to get out of that one.

All the while I'm also trying to find time to finish another album of cover songs with my friend and singer Matt Ketteman. Matt has recorded all his vocal tracks, and now it's up to me to make the music sound good. I find myself being such a perfectionist that I usually get fed up with my results after adding a few parts and moving onto another project. I can't pinpoint what the problem is exactly, but this would probably be easier if I wasn't trying to do it alone. Matt, take a vacation. Come hang out with me for a week so you can press record, stop, undo, record, stop, undo, etc.

As I'm working on this stuff, my cat will be taking my calls. She's more likely to answer if you call between 4:27 and 6:51 in the morning, when she's usually knocking things off my bookshelf. The rest of the time, she's catching up on her sleep or taking a lunch break.

Fan Mail Gets Dear John Letter

Yesterday I read a short news story about Ringo Starr posting a video on his website asking fans to not send any fan mail or "objects to be signed" after October 20th. It will be tossed. The 68 year old has too much to do.

I can only imagine. Even if he didn't, the guy is allowed some peace and quiet (and love), right? He's almost as old as John McCain for Pete's sake. He's almost as old as the phrase "for Pete's sake."

Of course he comes from an entirely different generation. The Beatles were like nothing we've seen before or since. The way they interacted with fans in the early days probably set the tone for modern super star bands having so many restrictions and security surrounding their shows, or any public appearance. It comes as no surprise that Ringo would still be getting loads of fan snail mail. It also doesn't surprise me that he answers it, and now that he's made the decision that he can't do it anymore, he has some feeling of guilt so he posted that video.

But bands today interact with fans differently. Blogs, websites, videos, contests (by the way, all of these things exist on ringtostarr.com), all give the fans some extras to go along with the music. It's all about the experience, but today it's all about instant experience.

I wonder what will happen 40 years from now when a band decides they don't have the time or energy to do these extras? How will the next generation interact with their favorite bands?