PARTY PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE… …please, um… leave.

….annnd we’re back.

I’ve just gotten home after slightly more than five weeks of cross-country travel.  It was an on-and-off-again tour that amounted to one week West-to-East, one week visiting my folks, one week visiting my in-laws, about a week to tour the upper east coast, and then a week back across; East-to-West.  In this economy, that’s how we do it now, I guess.

The thing that had excited me most about this jaunt before I left was that over half the shows were HOUSE CONCERTS.  I’ve been singing the praises of the house concert for a long time now, and with good reason:  I have a long history of successful house concerts behind me, and I believe with all my heart that when they’re done right, there is no better way to experience what I do as an artist-performer-yadda.

I’m not changing my tune.  I’ve got more house concerts coming up this year, and will continue to encourage you to host them if your situation permits for ever-and-ever-amen.

But I’m running into a recurring situation, and it occurred to me that I may need to be a little less subtle about some common misconceptions.  I’ve touched on this before, but the message isn’t getting all the way through.

Here’s the idea in a nutshell:

A House Concert is NOT a “House party”.

A simple statement, and one that people say they understand, but experience has shown that this requires a little more explanation.

So here’s what’s supposed to happen:

#1) You book me.  You send invitations to the people you know who love music.

MISUNDERSTANDING #1: This doesn’t mean “invite everyone you know”.  You invite everyone you know to a PARTY.  This is not a party.  This is a concert; specifically a SOLO SINGER/SONGWRITER concert.

You should not invite your family unless they are avid fans of live music.  You should not invite everyone in your email address book unless you are a professional concert promoter.

You should invite the people you know who enjoy music, and who would come to your house for the PURPOSE of coming to the concert.   Don’t invite neighbors or work acquaintances just for the sake of “having a packed room”.   Quantity is not what we’re going for; QUALITY is.

If the “room is packed”, and it’s full of people who have no interest in sitting still and listening, we are going to have a miserable time.  I promise.

On a related note, make it abundantly clear in your invitation that the show will be PG-13.  Because it is.  I’m not Barney the Dinosaur, and almost everything I say or sing about will be above the heads of most pre-teens.  It is entirely inappropriate to bring young children to a house concert unless the performer is specifically promoted as “family friendly”.

It is not “rude” to make it clear to your friends that the night has an age restriction.  It IS “rude” to expect a performer to compete with unsupervised children.  Horribly rude.  If your friends with kids are too cheap to hire a sitter, they are probably also too cheap to pay the $10 donation to the performer, so don’t fret about appeasing them.

If you feel stuck because you have maybe ten friends who fit the bill, but that’s it, consider co-hosting with one of those ten friends, who may have another ten music-loving friends to invite (even though those folks may be strangers to you).  Then host it at the house with the more ideal set-up.

#2)  You transform your living room into a comfortable listening environment.

MISUNDERSTANDING #2: While there is a little flexibility on the “living room” requirement, a house concert should really be hosted INSIDE A HOUSE.

I have never said no to outdoor arrangements before, but I am considering banning them forever.  The problems with hosting a “house concert” in your backyard are obvious, though everyone feigns shock and surprise when the same problems happen over-and-over again:

Being outside takes away almost every bit of control over the environment.  Most outdoor shows are scheduled during daylight, and so there is unlimited visual stimuli for the performer to compete with.  
There are cars and trucks driving through the neighborhood; some with loud stereos.  There are people outside; strolling, talking, mowing their lawns, walking their dogs, playing with their children.  It’s LOUD.  
Being outdoors, many hosts think to set up the grill and have a cook-out.  The next logical step is a cooler or two for drinks.  Then it’s a keg of beer.

People have a tendency to sit further away from the performance space if they’re outdoors.  They have less of an inclination to check to make sure their phones are turned off; they may actually feel okay about ANSWERING a call during the performance.
People feel less punctual about outdoor events; they may stroll in casually halfway through the show, loudly greeting friends and family in their “outside voices”.  Some people may abruptly get up and leave early.  Outdoor settings just make everything feel like a picnic, and are almost always abysmal house concert circumstances.

(This past tour, I was actually playing outdoors one afternoon and cut my set short because a group of guests actually set off FIREWORKS while I was playing.  Not firecrackers, mind you; they set up and lit a ROMAN CANDLE.)

There’s also the weather to consider.  If you’ve set up your entire backyard for an outdoor event, and suddenly it rains…  well, unless you’ve provided for that possibility in your agreement with the performer, you’re still on the hook to pay them, so you probably want to have your house ready for an indoor show regardless.

#3)  You host the evening.  I do my utmost to give you the best show ever.

MISUNDERSTANDING #3: This means that First Priority for each of us is the concert.  All night.  It means acknowledging your guests, but it also means informing your guests what they are getting (both when inviting them and when greeting them at your door), and what is expected of them.

It does NOT mean leaving repeatedly to watch the kids, man the grill, pour the drinks, go to the store, or play games in another room/area.  It does NOT mean talking (even to family) during the performance, or otherwise setting a bad example for everyone else.  Tell everyone they should simply move to another room of the house (or outside) if they need to converse.

It means reminding your guests why they are there and announcing the performer before the concert begins.  It does NOT mean sitting in a corner, or worse, disappearing just as the concert is about to start, or meekly gesturing for the performer to “just start playing”.  Take responsibility for your home and pride in your event, and show respect for the performer you have invited into your space.  This is a concert, and unless you have arranged for someone else to emcee, YOU ARE the emcee.

Be aware that if you do not take care of crowd control, I will.  From the stage.  Sometimes in the middle of a song.  And you probably won’t like my methods.
If you allow the atmosphere to decay into something that resembles a noisy bar, I will treat the patrons like hecklers, and it won’t bother me if they leave, upset about how I will single them out in front of the room…  that’s how you handle a heckler, actually;  you embarrass them so that they shut up or leave.  I probably won’t know the person affected, and it won’t bother me.  But you probably will, and you’ll have to deal with it after I’m gone.

#4)  You handle the finances and, at the end of the night, we square up accordingly.

MISUNDERSTANDING #4: This does NOT mean “whatever happens, happens, and I just don’t have any control over it”.  Some of my recent experiences have me re-evaluating the way I work my financial arrangements for house concerts.

The bottom line is that people behave better at a show they invested their money in. If you buy your $40 to $75 ticket for Ben Harper/Rob Thomas/Coldplay/Whatever, you are NOT going to just “not go” because of work, or because you feel tired that night.  In fact, you’re going to reserve tickets immediately, mark your calendar, and put in notice at your job that you ABSOLUTELY cannot work that night.  You’re probably not going to get there late, and unless the show really sucks, you are probably not going to leave early. You will have higher expectations and pay more attention.

Also, with the ticket price that high, you are not going to go to the show unless you REALLY want to be there.  At a house concert, charging at least $10 admission keeps away most people who are not interested in the music, and keeps the folks that RSVP relatively committed.

I have always agreed to be paid according to attendance, with a minimum guarantee in case of a surprisingly sparse turnout.  This is done in the good faith that the host will inform the guests of the admission fee, and then enforce it.  Increasingly, hosts seem to be too embarrassed to charge admission, and so they put out a jar in an inconspicuous place with no supervision and “hope for the best”.

What happens in this case is that at least a third of the guests pay nothing, about a third throw in a pittance (some people actually have the nerve to throw in CHANGE), and I end up making my bare minimum to play a show to a room of too many unappreciative people.

As goes that saying about bad apples spoiling the whole bunch, I am no longer doing things this way (excepting, of course, a handful of hosts I’ve worked with in the past who know the deal, and who are probably laughing heartily as they read this).

____________________________________________________________________________________

Don’t get me wrong; I realize that we are conditioned creatures…  we have “settings” we default to in certain environments.  When in a movie theatre, most people settle down pretty quickly.  In someone’s house among a throng of people, most people’s closest association is: “Party”, and unless they are reminded, they may default to that setting.

If you volunteer to host a house concert, you need to be aware that the job involves teaching people about what house concerts are, and helping them to develop a “new setting”.

Some folks think they shouldn’t bother me by asking questions about how to do this stuff, but honestly: I’m happy to help.  It’s far more of a bother to book me for a house concert and let me walk into a situation that embarrasses both of us without warning.

There are already two house concerts booked in October, with a handful more getting ready to confirm.  If you’re up to the Host 2.0 Challenge, get in touch, and let’s make some history.

Grateful for the support; and so thankful for the love I’ve been shown

Seth  :]

P.S.   Because it probably bears mention:

MISUNDERSTANDING #5: At least fifty percent of the booking inquiries I have gotten in the past year have been asking me to perform as part of a birthday, graduation, or a wedding.

These three events are all PARTIES, even if they are not labeled as such.  The music is entirely secondary, and the dynamics of these events are such that the “guest of honor” is NOT the performer; it’s the birthday boy/girl, the graduate, or the happy couple.  This defeats the entire point of a house concert, and making the performer into the Guest of Honor would defeat the entire point of the birthday, graduation, or wedding.  It just. Doesn’t. Work.  If the only way you can conceive of inviting people into your home for music is by piggy-backing it onto another event, then hosting one of these very special evenings isn’t going to work out just yet.  Give it some time.  :)

January’s Fin(n)ished.

So as many of you probably know, I spent most of January with Finnish guitar virtuoso/singer-songwriter PETTERI SARIOLA.

Instead of telling you the story of our tour together in long, tedious paragraphs, I invite you to watch and listen instead.

You see… shortly before embarking on our journey, we bought a little HD “Flip” camera, and documented a lot our our experience for posterity.

…or something.  :)

The clips are in chronological order.  Enjoy!

RENO, NEVADA

THE BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA

THE NAMM SHOW

ORANGE COUNTY MOUSE HUNT

SAN DIEGO

Hello, Bass World!

Just a quick note… I recently got a really nice review of *Clang & Chime* on the No Treble website (http://notreble.com), and while they conveyed some wonderful compliments, they included a link to this blog here as my “website”.

If you’re here now because you clicked that link, and are looking for someplace with actual MUSIC, feel to try this:

http://sethhoran.com

Thanks for listening… I’ll be posting again soon once I’m off the road! :D

Seth’s Top Picks for 2009

So here it is.  Being that I have always been:

a huge fan of music, and an obsessive-compulsive music nerd on the order of the characters from “High Fidelity”,

…it has been my habit to do a personal “years best albums” list every year. I always did this just to satisfy my own compulsions and geeky musical analysis-needs, but as more of my peers started using the new-fangled “electronic mail” and enjoying the novelty of the “CC” function, I started receiving the lists of a number of friends who did the same thing.  Back around 2002, I started sending my own list out to my fellow music-nerds and enjoying their feedback.  We all enjoyed a little back-and-forth about our choices, and I always discovered some great new music.

I think it was the following year when I posted my picks as a blog and included the link in my year-end email.  I couldn’t imagine that fans of my music would consider my opinion with much weight, but figured some would find it a novel distraction.

I got an avalanche of emails about it; almost entirely positive and awesome, and decided to do it that way every year.

Until last year.  2008, aside from being a generally stressful time in my own life, was, in my opinion, a generally dreadful year for music.  I remember trying to sort out a list, and marveling that it would be far easier to pick my ten LEAST favorite albums than anything else.  So I scrapped it.

But 2009 has been a return to form in my little corner of the music listening world, and so for whatever it’s worth to you, here’s my Year’s Best Albums List.  As has been the case many times before, many will disagree with my choices, and that’s a beautiful thing.  I can hope only that you know as you read that I listen to music very seriously; I’m that guy who gets incredibly annoyed if, in the middle of a song I like, someone starts talking to me.  Rarely, if ever, have I answered my phone while enjoying a favorite album.  If I find honesty in something, it’s very easy for me to become passionate about it, and so if you see anything that strikes you as odd on this list, ask yourself what you might be missing, and maybe give it a shot. :)

One more thing:

Of course, I myself released a record this year, but of course for the purposes of this list, I… didn’t.  That may seem obvious to many people, but it bears mention.  I remember feeling oddly flattered and exasperated all at the same time back in 2004 when I received a shocking number of messages asking me why I felt that my own album (Conduit) was “not worth including” on my list that year.  First off, I think it’d be incredibly tacky, but for those who need explanation: Simply put, I toot my own horn all the freaking time… this list is about everyone ELSE you should like.  

(If you feel that “Clang & Chime” is a contender in your music library for “best of 2009” however, I certainly won’t stop you from posting your own list! ;)

TO BEGIN: AN EXCEPTION

Here I am already with the disclaimers.  I’m starting my list this year with an Honorable Mention for the reasons that I didn’t post a list last year, and that my absolute favorite record of this year wasn’t actually from 2009.  It was from 2008, but I never heard a note of it until this April.  It is one of the most profoundly moving albums I’ve ever heard, so screw protocol; you all need to spend a few hours of your lives listening to:

ELBOW – “The Seldom Seen Kid”  — This record is epic and jaw-dropping.  It is moving on every level.  Since being turned on to it, I’ve gone and listened through much of Elbow’s back catalog, and while I’ve enjoyed a lot of that, it is glaringly apparent that life acted very strongly on the members of this band, and while they are incredibly talented, they were transformed into something much greater by their experience.

When I first listened to this album, I knew two things about it:
-The band recorded it themselves.
-Guy Garvey, the lead singer, disclosed that the experiences that influenced the songs were his falling head-over-heels in love just as he lost a lifelong friend to an overdose.

The songs take you on an emotional roller-coaster ride that pains me to believe is culled from personal experience, and the music that frames the stories is breathtaking.  Every member of Elbow plays their instrument with awesome skill, taste, and a knack for thinking outside the box, and their grasp of dynamics is just awesome.  The band goes from subtle to flat-out raucous like their lives depend on it…  and then the orchestra comes in.  Original, inspired, honest…  I still can’t listen without hanging on every note and every word.

I was alone in a car for hours when I first listened (and then listened again, and again), and I’m glad I was, because I was crying by the end of it.  When it finished, I just sort of sat there, frozen and weeping quietly.  The joyful songs will make you smile wide, and the songs of mourning will rip you open if you take in what’s being said, but ultimately, most every song on this collection is just a reminder about what it means to love.

(I’ve since discovered that the band re-recorded the whole record in 2009, live, in its entirety, at Abbey Road Studios.  Holy crap.  I’ve got to buy that CD.)

TOP TEN
(sure; there are numbers, but any album here could easily move up or down a couple notches depending on my mood)

1. U2 – “No Line On The Horizon” — I didn’t think U2’s last album (the one with the really long title from 2004) was even close to their best work.  It seemed to me like they might have finally hit a slump they couldn’t recover from… like maybe they were going to start fading out and relying on their back-catalog of greatness.  Hallelujah, that is NOT the case.

This is a radiant record, and more than that, it is a statement: it is the biggest band in the world saying that they will not rest on their laurels just because they can.  This album is a challenge.  The arm-waving stupor of old songs like “Elevation” is absent here — you need to pay ATTENTION to these songs, and they are so worth it if you do.  Though they made a career on three or four classic-yet-predictable chord changes, here they favor new and progressive songwriting that STILL SOUNDS LIKE U2.  They’re taking risks instead of recycling a formula, and it’s captivating.

From the sound of it, they have boldly eschewed the studio shortcuts available to everyone these days.  Bono hits an occasional weak note… everyone’s singing raw, gospel-style backing vocals, and there’s no auto tune.  Edge’s guitar tone is startlingly raw, and random pick noises and slides abound; Adam actually flubs a bassline during one of Edge’s guitar solos, and they kept the take…  hell, Edge is TAKING guitar solos now…  WTF??  This is not to say anything bad; it’s all wonderfully energetic and passionately performed; preserving the humanity of the performances actually magnifies the greatness of the record.  Case in point: the instrumental break before the final chorus of “I Know I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” is one of the most joyful-sounding moments in pop music history.

Thematically, Bono seems to have stepped back into a more sober valence… he’s not playful on this record; he’s back in the pulpit (literally in a few cases, but for the most part the preaching remains secular), and it suits him like nothing else.  I’m not sure, but in spots I’d swear it sounds like he’s singing these songs to his own children; there’s that much authority, and that much intimacy.  This is their most powerful offering in years; a totally worthy album that gets better and more profound with each listen.

2. Imogen Heap – “Ellipse” — She’s taken the world by storm with this album, and rightly so…  it’s completely refreshing.  I first saw her name in 1998.  I was pounding the pavement of Manhattan with an old bandmate; we were talking our way into record label offices and giving our demo to the A&R reps, and in the office of Almo Sounds there was a big picture of the cover for her first album, “iMegaphone”.  Of the two phrases on that cover (“iMegaphone” and “Imogen Heap”), I remember wondering which was the band name and which was the title.
Heap was one of many victims of the record industry bloodbath that occurred in the early half of the decade, and I didn’t hear of her again until the song “Let Go” (from her side project, Frou Frou) made it to the Garden State movie soundtrack.  Then she vanished from my radar again until this year, when the internet basically insisted that I had no business using it if I didn’t give her another listen.

“Ellipse” is a gorgeous record, and Heap is a force of nature.  Her blend of electronic and acoustic instruments is one of the most seamless around, and the journey is largely ethereal, with intermittent bouts of hypnotic looping and eruptions of jagged square wave noise to propel you along, but the centerpiece of her work is always her sensational voice (she’s got to have at least three and a half octaves of power, and she’s a genius at stacking her synth-y backing harmonies) and the way she delivers lyrics that…   that at many times just could not be poetic unless they’re rolling off her tongue… and then, magically, they’re perfect.  Such a slick backdrop for such stark honesty is something I haven’t seen much of since the Animators disbanded.

For as much as I love this record, I take exception to the whole “groundbreaking” label that many are trying to stick on it.  Heap is wonderful; she’s gifted, she’s astute, she’s utterly musical.  But she didn’t invent this.  She takes a great many pages out of the book of one P. Gabriel.  Many of her layered arrangements (down to the synth sounds) and octave-jumping vocal licks are right off of Gabriel’s “Security” album (the one with “I Have The Touch” and “Shock The Monkey”).  That said, in an age where you can’t help but sound like your influences, what a breath of fresh air to hear someone succeed who HAS these influences! 

For once, the Grammys have a chance at getting it right.

3. Petteri Sariola – “Phases” — The thing that impresses most people about Sariola is his guitar playing.  We don’t like to bestow honors like “changed the course of history” while people are still alive, much less only twenty-four, but the fact is he’s done just that.  He has mastered, expanded on, and codified a way of playing virtuosic guitar parts while beating out complex rhythms on the instrument at the same time.  Other players have done something close, a little bit on occasion, maybe as a quick parlor trick, but nobody has ever done it like he can.

It’s another thing that he employs this history-changing technique he invented to play interesting music and then SINGS over the top of it with fervor, passion, and wit.  Now you’re talking about something that will intimidate the powers-that-be… they will feel threatened by someone who can do so much, and to protect their feelings of inadequacy, they will actually seek to bury public knowledge of such a musician.  (Think that stuff doesn’t actually happen?  Consider that most people who write professionally about music are amateur or failed musicians themselves.)

But… the wildest thing… consider this: to change the way the guitar is played, to be able to sing so well while you do it, but then to release your body of work to the world; to try to make people feel what you’re feeling…  while you’re writing and singing in ANOTHER LANGUAGE… and then to do it WELL; to succeed in that endeavor?? That’s the most mind-blowing thing about this young prodigy. His lyrics belie his age and his voice is almost entirely devoid of any accent, but Petteri Sariola is from Finland, and he hasn’t even been on the planet long enough to get a decent rate on a rental car.

Where Sariola’s first album (“Silence!”) did the job of establishing him as a whirlwind wunderkind, here Sariola isn’t out to hit you over the head with the fact that he can play a lot of notes.  Every track, though deceptively intricate, hits the listener with musicality first.  These are songs anyone could listen to whether they understand the power behind them or not.  Whereas most progressive instrumentalists make records that require a musician to ‘translate’ how good it is to the common listener, “Phases” stands as a great record by anyone’s standards.  This kid is going to own all of us.

4. The Swell Season – “Strict Joy” — Who could do this?  Who could have the guts to start a romance with a musical collaborator, then restate that romance in front of the whole world via a hit movie… then as the world waits for the glorious music you’ll make together… you do the unthinkable: after a few years, you can’t take the pressure, and you break up; you divorce, really.  Unceremoniously.  And you write about it candidly and scathingly.  But then to stay together musically, singing these songs with each other, really TO EACH OTHER, every night?  I’m awed by the sheer action, to say nothing of the songs themselves.

These songs are, actually, every bit as intense and beautiful as the ones on the “Once” soundtrack that propelled Glen and Marketa to stardom, and it makes sense: many of the songs from “Once” were about their individual relationships from before they met.  Now they’re about the one they’ve just shared.  The first record had imagery galore, but it almost didn’t need it because we had a MOVIE to recall as we listened.  “Strict Joy” doesn’t need any imagery to be the saddest movie you’ve seen in a long, long time, but it’s there in spades, and it is devastating.

It starts with Glen expressing restlessness, and you’re on his side for a couple tracks until he lets on that he’s a bit of a shit.  Then Marketa has her say, and you’re sure they’ve both been shit, and you want them to reconcile.  By the time their dual wailing in the outro of “High Horses” gives way to the sarcastic annoyance of “The Verb”, it’s like being the third person in the room while your two best friends call it quits.  

Unapologetic heartbreak from start to finish, and more to the point: fantastic medicine.

5. Peter Mulvey – “Letters From A Flying Machine” — Though he’s been doing his thing far longer, I’ve only been listening to this man for about a half a decade, and I feel cheated.  I wonder… how much better a songwriter would I be if I’d been exposed to his music sooner?  He is an artist who’s always trying new and different approaches, and by that he is absolutely the most non-traditional of the ‘traditional folk’ genre that has embraced him, which is one of the reasons I enjoy him so much.

This album is basically an 8-song EP with 4 spoken-word interludes and a self-described ‘coda’ to finish things off.  Of the songs, five were co-written with friends of Mulvey’s.  This isn’t to say he needed help; his solo contributions are as fine as anything he’s done, but the collaborations definitely throw some new ingredients into the stew, and we get to hear Mulvey stretch out in directions hitherto unexplored — “What’s Keeping Erica” sounds like a Bavarian drinking song; we get a straight up blues stomp on “Dynamite Bill”, and “On a Wing and a Prayer” has sections that make me think Mulvey may have found the McCartney to his Lennon in rising star Tim Fagan.

The spoken word pieces are truly where the heart of this record is, though.  Mulvey is renown for his between-song-banter and stories, and he has immortalized a few of those stories here… in the guise of spoken letters to his nieces and nephews, which he reads over subtle instrumental backing…  and plane noise.  As a frequent flyer who has used the quiet hours in the sky to do a lot of writing, this really resonates with me, and the stories told in these interludes are every bit as great as the songs they introduce.


6. Butterfly Boucher – “Scary Fragile” — A few years back (03? 04?) this fantastic songwriter released her debut album “Flutterby”, and I shouted her praises from the rooftops.  The record was simply spectacular.  So of course her label didn’t know how to promote her, and she got dropped.  After a few years in limbo, she did the sensible thing and went completely indie, and finally got to release the follow-up.  It was absolutely worth the wait.

Where her first record was the sound of an artist using the studio as an instrument — arranging sounds without considering how to reproduce them in a live setting — “Scary Fragile” is the sound of that artist after she’s been on the road with a crackerjack band for a few years.  It’s still her unmistakable style; her flair for playful dissonance everywhere she can sneak it in, bombastic beats, wry tales of betrayal and frustration, and all delivered with her incredibly pure, powerful voice.  Oh, and two stark torch songs to tie it all together.  This one’s a winner, people.  Check her OUT.

7. Pearl Jam – “Backspacer” — Hey!  Remember PEARL JAM?  That band that had the world in the palm of it’s five five-five-against-one 20 years ago?  Yeah; THEM.  When was the last time you could listen to one of their records from start-to-finish and go “YEAH.”  …?

….?       Anyone?

Me too.  Until now.  “Backspacer” is a total return-to-form.  I couldn’t believe it.  This band rocks.  Hard.  And then they get introspective… and it’s intense and meaningful and almost… intimate.  And Eddie does NOT sound like he’s trying to rip off Neil Young anymore.  They’ve got a little bit of everything they do well here, and all eleven tracks happen in under forty minutes; it’s a quick, very gratifying trip, which makes it easy to do over and over again.  

No joke; this is up there with “Vs.” and “Ten”.  After three listens you’ll be singing all the words to at least five of the tunes; you’ll have the rest after a week.  These are anthems; glorious rock anthems.  Welcome back, gentlemen.  You rule.

8. Erin McKeown – “Hundreds Of Lions” — This woman is a fantastic dichotomy.  She  has the most beautiful, lilting voice… almost clarinet-like in its purity, and on her previous efforts she demonstrated masterful delivery of everything from Belly-style indie rock to Billie Holiday-style swing, but the modern folk world is where she cut her teeth.  She won’t be held down to any particular genre, and now that she’s on Righteous Babe records, she’s exploring sonic juxtaposition like never before.

The whole record is upbeat and generally fun, employing layers of live rock instruments, electronic loops, brass bands, chamber orchestras, and McKeown’s fantastic vocals. You just have to hear her, and if you get it, you get it.  Be prepared for delightful shocks though…  the album isn’t ninety seconds in before that pretty, lilting voice is sweetly intoning, “Was it love? Was it travel? Was it true? Was it tragic? We fucked all but in name…”, and most every song thereafter deals in some way with love, yearning, and longing, with clever wordplay reminding you every so often that this is a proud lady who loves the ladies, and who is not squeamish about the details of desire.

9. ilyAIMY – “A Gift For St. Cecilia” — Rob Hinkal and Heather Lloyd have been on the indie scene as long as I have, and whether they are performing as an acoustic duo or with their full Maryland-based ensemble, they bring incredible energy to every stage they hit.  Many artists struggle with bringing their live show energy to a tracked recording made in a studio.  ilyAIMY records almost entirely live, and they have a history of the opposite problem; in the past, I’ve wished they’d have cleaned up a few things for posterity instead of going for the whole “integrity of the moment”.

Not so here.  With this album, they have turned a corner.  Hell, they’ve lapped the block a few times.  The energy hardly ever compromises the execution of over a dozen tracks, most of which are just stellar.  Their reputation is based largely on their ability to play folk at hyperspeed whilst spitting out serious multi-syllabic slam poetry in perfect harmony.  They do that here better than they ever have (“Protest Song” and “Loosen” are just ass-kicking), but where this album stunned me is throughout the middle, where ilyAIMY isn’t trying to win over a loud bar… both Hinkal and Lloyd sing some of the most passionate and poetic ballads of the year (and considering the company they’re keeping here, that is saying something). Lloyd’s “No Blue Left” and “Ask For Me” match Hinkal’s “Trouble” and “Baliset”; each is a perfectly captured moment.  They deserve to be on this list even without those though, because the chorus in “Oklahoma Revival”, featuring a rare, contrapuntal double-lead from the two vocalists, is on par with the best work of any other act I’ve mentioned.  Watch this group.

10. Bleu – “A Watched Pot” — Yet another alternative pop master who experienced trouble with the state of the record industry, Bleu was a big favorite of mine a few years back when his major label debut, “Redhead”, rocked my world.  This follow-up was apparently supposed to be released right on the heels of that album, but he left the label, presumably in part because they may not have wanted to release a song called “I Won’t Fuck You Over This Time”.

If that’s true, it just means the label didn’t truly get the wry, sardonic, massively self-deprecating sense of humor Bleu pours into every lyric.  He’s one of my favorite pop lyricists ever, and I’d kill to have his voice…  it’s one of the best ever.  He uses that voice to its full capability all over this underdog release, because it sounds like he’s had a hell of a time, and he’s getting it allll out.  The songs, whether reminiscing, pleading, asserting, enjoying, or lamenting, all seem to deal with facets of the same theme:  Commitment, and all the issues surrounding it.  When it comes to that, we could all use a little sadisticly catchy pop-rock, and Bleu always brings it in spades.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Gabe Dixon Band – “The Gabe Dixon Band” — If I had posted anything a year ago, it definitely would have included a big, sappy gush about this record.  I’ve been a superfan of GDB for over a decade… they put their first indie disc out back in ’99…  and they just announced that they’re now on hiatus “indefinitely” as a band.  That is bad news, because they just kept getting more fantastic.  Dixon is one of the freshest voices out there, and has gotten his music into all kinds of TV shows and movies.  If you could hear him right now, you’d go, “Oh yeah!  I’ve heard that tune; good stuff — I just didn’t know who it WAS…”   He’s never been able to claim his rightful place as Generation Y’s pop-piano-hero (yes, he writes better tunes than Jamie Cullum, who I also like), because he’s been a perpetual victim of lousy major label marketing.  His music lives on though, so do yourself a favor and pick up this record.

Joel Ackerson – “The Affirmation Sessions” — Here’s what I blogged when he released this incredible album last year:
You may know my friend Joel Ackerson from the years we spent touring together. You may know him because he makes a guest appearance or two on the new DVD. You may not know him at all, but you need to change that, because Joel just released a new album that makes the hair on my arms stand straight up and makes me want to take long drives to nowhere just so I can listen to the whole thing in one sitting. Remember when people made albums that could hold your attention from beginning-to-end? My friend Joel Ackerson just put out a masterpiece, and I’m proud to have played a small part in its creation.
I belted out harmony vocals on one song, I bowed my double bass on another song, and I co-produced a third song, so if you need to know my connection with the project to accept my recommendation, there you go… but if you just want to hear a great full-length album like nobody seems to make anymore, check out “The Affirmation Sessions”.  And know my friend Joel Ackerson.

‘Nuff said. :)

Andrew Bird – “Noble Beast” — It’s inevitable that I’m going to overlook some seriously great stuff, and of course I did.  One such example is this double record by an amazing talent who I’ve actually seen live twice.  Bird released this album back in January, which is never, in my experience, a good time to release anything (I tried it twice, remember?  No; you don’t.  That’s my point.) …and this fell off my radar after only one listen at a friend’s house.  I recall loving what I heard, though, and so maybe this collection will make my “oops” list for 2010.

Amber Rubarth – “Good Mystery” — I’ve known Amber for what seems like ages now, and by all rights I SHOULD be telling you all about this record, but the truth is I’ve only heard three tracks off it so far, and so in my world, it truly lives up to its title. :)  
Amber made this album in the very same studio where I recorded most of mine; we released them within weeks of each other; heck, we even fan-sourced funding to release the albums in similar ways (I had 69 fans pay $50 each at the beginning of the process; she had 281 fans pay $20 at the end).  Right when we put them out, we were each concentrating on our own records.  By the time she came to Reno a few weeks back, I barely had time to see her at all, and alas, haven’t gotten a physical copy yet.
She’s on fire though; she’s making waves in the music world wherever she goes, and I have every confidence that her new material stands up to her catalog, so go check her out if you haven’t already!

BIGGEST SURPRISES…

“Battle Studies” – John Mayer. A great many surprised people made a great many surprised comments when this album came out a few weeks ago.  The general consensus seemed to be that Mayer has gone soft/lost his edge/blah blah.  He hasn’t.  He cast his pearls before us for years…  he gave us beautiful insight with brilliant wordplay and awesome music…  and we gave him Grammy after Grammy.  For “Daughters”.  For that frigging “Say What You Need To Say”-song.  For “Waiting On The frigging World To Change”.  For “Your Body is a frigging Wonderland”.  
We’ve been asking him for this; practically begging him for it.  He’s simply obliging by making an entire record of lame schlock and standing there smugly, waiting for us to realize it’s our fault.  No use complaining; the joke is on us — he gets paid regardless.

No Ani record! For the first time since 2000, Ani DiFranco did not keep up her
superhuman pace of releasing (at least) one album per year. Well, give her a break.  She’s a mom now, and good for her for taking some time to embrace that.  Besides, after her 2000 hiatus, she came back in 2001 with the legendary double-album “Reveling Reckoning”, which in my opinion is one of the best albums of all time, so who knows how she’ll mark the start of her third decade in ’10.

People think a “five dollar footlong” at Subway is a great deal, and gladly pay it for that crappy bit of over-sauced blandness that takes ten minutes to not enjoy and promptly forget about…  meanwhile, artists are made to feel that they are “old-fashioned” and “greedy” for selling their life’s work; very often for the same piddly amount as said footlong with chips and a drink.  

An album can give you years of enjoyment; can make your life better; can make you think; can make you FEEL.  Please don’t read this and then go download these albums for free.  There’s no risk; I’ve weeded out the crap for you.  My picks are good.  Pay for them.  They’re worth it.  Value depends on demand, which demands that you care.

Happy New Year,

Seth Horan :)

We would have such a very good time – Such a fine time; such a happy time…

It’s official:

I have played only 3 solo shows in the second half of this year.

For me, that is UNHEARD of.  My schedule hasn’t been this sparse since…  half a decade ago?  No… probably longer.  I mean, even back at the top of 2007 when I was near death and hospitalized twice, I had a more densely booked performance schedule in a shorter span of time.

This is VERY different for me.

So what’s going on?

I’ve been saying for a long while now that I’m going to play where people want to listen to me.  Pretty simple philosophy. :)

So I let it be known months ago that I was booking house concerts to support the release of *Clang & Chime*…    and I got six emails from interested parties.  Before long, I had five all-but-booked.

Two got cold feet along the way, but three confirmed, and I just got back from performing at the last of those three about a week ago.

It worked out that they were spaced out about a month apart from each other; I did one in Central New York at the end of August while I was in the area finishing the album mix at The Belfry.  The second worked out at the end of September in Castle Rock, Colorado, and the third one was here in Nevada… though at the opposite end of the state, down in Las Vegas.  With all the behind-the-scenes action that went into getting *Clang & Chime* ready for release, I wasn’t too upset about the sparse schedule…  and it worked out that I released the album on the internet as soon as I returned from Vegas.

To help get rid of the mystery surrounding house concerts, I’m doing a little round-up of my (great) experiences here…  enjoy!

AUGUST – CENTRAL NY

I won’t mention any more specific info about this location, as the hosts had asked that this be a private show.  In fact, I never even listed this on my calendar for that reason.  House concerts can be an awesome way to meet other folks in your area who like the same music… there’s a definite bond that forms between people who share an interest in independent music, and it makes for great community…   but comfort in one’s own home supersedes all else, and if the hosts want it to be “friends only”, it absolutely remains so.  :)

The couple that hosted this show have been hardcore Horanimals for years… I think they first saw me perform a college show back in 2002.  Now they’re out in the real world, married, and recently moved into their own place…  and what better way to enjoy one’s new house than by hosting one’s very first house concert?

It was a win-win…  the hosts got to share something with their friends that they’d only been able to describe in words for a long time, and I got to reach out to a whole new group of people.  The hosts also got to hear a bunch of the new record before it was even sent off to the mastering lab! :D

Overheard from wife-host to husband-host:   “We should do this all the time.”
:)

SEPTEMBER – CASTLE ROCK, CO

(taken from the nosebleed seats... look how far away I am! )

This was a different animal.  Charlene and Greg Johnson have been hosting house concerts for years now… they even have a name for their series (“Music on the Mesa”), and they get listed in local papers.  They take it very seriously, and being an ace musical duo themselves, they know how to pull off every aspect of the evening. From seating to sound to invitations to food & drinks to sectioning off a somewhat distant “KIDS ROOM”, there was nothing they hadn’t thought of.  It was brilliant.  They really transform their home into a venue for a night.

Having a track record like that isn’t just good for the performer; it’s great for the audience.  Many of the regular attendees at Mesa concerts are friends of the Johnsons… but they became friends because they showed up to so many house concerts on account of the consistently great shows.  The night I performed they had a packed house….  FIFTY people.

I met so many great people here, to say nothing of the Johnsons themselves, who are an amazing family.  They went far and above the call of duty with their hospitality.  One example out of a hundred: they heard what a coffee-snob I am, and so they went and got a coffee maker and a pound of gourmet beans…  just to make me comfortable.  That’s just the tip of the iceberg; I could go on all day, and I’m still trying hard to think of what I did to rack up enough karma points to receive this experience and these people in my life.  It was just awesome. :)

OCTOBER – LAS VEGAS, NV

(You can't see the people hiding beind the plants... :)

This show was put on by another couple trying it for the first time, but their instincts proved to be right on-the-mark.  Marla and Andy made sure everything went off without a hitch, and if I hadn’t known that it was their first time trying to host, I’d think they did this all the time.

The atmosphere was fantastic, and packed, again.   Let me clarify about what it means to be “packed”…   in a club that holds hundreds of people, twenty-five attendees won’t feel like a lot… to the performer, or to those people themselves.  The seating can be spread out into “pockets” around the room, and the energy dissipates before it can ever really build up.

 But in your LIVING ROOM, twenty-five people (clarification: twenty-five MATURE people) all giving their attention to the same thing can be positively electric.  The space gets FULL, of both people and energy, and it just creates an amazing environment for music.  Marla and Andy’s living room was packed with that many people, and we just kept passing energy back and forth to each other for a couple hours.  It was a great time.

I was beyond flattered when I saw the feedback Marla collected from her guests after the show…  I was, actually, honored:

_______________________________________________________________________

* I have to admit having never been to a house concert and not really knowing what I was in for I was under the impression we were on our way to see “Yawnie” and instead I got to see one of the most ELECTRIC performers I have gotten to see play live since I saw the very first U2 concert in Los Angeles =)

* I admit whole heartedly that I was mesmerized by the entire performance … intelligent lyrics and rock your socks off music!

* We go to community concerts and shows all the time and have never seen anything as good as this!

* You talked him up pretty good so I was a bit skeptical. Turns out I was right and you were wrong. He was better than you said he was. Great show!

* I had a really rough week and this concert was the perfect thing to make it all go away. Seth was amazing!

* I had no idea what to expect. This exceeded everything I thought it might be like. Good stuff!

* What an absolute rockin out concert and Seth Horan was funky too!

* Great concert! We had a great time!

* We had a great time. And drove home listening to Seth’s new CD that we bought after the concert and continued the groove all the way home. Thanks!

* I had never heard of Seth before. But I’m sure glad I know who he is now. He was GREAT! Thanks for the invite!!!

* It was an absolutely wonderful evening … we talked about politics, we talked about community service, we talked about upcoming events and then the music started and all we could talk about was Seth Horan.

______________________________________________________________________

Sin City, you humble me.  :)

Anyway, like I was saying: even though it may seem like I’m “not doing anything” right now, I assure you…  this is the first spare moment I’ve had to take notice!

So, the album is finally out, and I’m not out doing a fall tour…  what AM I doing now?

Why, I’m booking the SPRING tour.

At this point, I’ll nip-in-the-bud the next question that always seems to arise when I make a statement like that.

Invariably, someone always asks:  “When are you going to play in MY town?”

If that question is forming in your mind, I can answer it with another question:

When am I playing at your place? ;)

Let me know.  Thanks for reading.

Be well,
Seth

(sethhoran@yahoo.com)

The truth about “Clang & Chime”

So you might have heard by now that I’m about to release this new album…

(…well, maybe you haven’t.  I have, after all, been pretty low key about the whole thing.  ;)

The name of this big new piece of stuff I’m about to put out into the world is “Clang & Chime”.  I’ve gotten a number of different reactions to this name from a number of different people; some who are total strangers; some who are close friends and family members whose opinions I either can’t escape, totally respect, or both.

Most people respond well to it.  Of all the titles I’ve given to things I’ve made, this one has the best “score” coming out of the gate.  It seems to prompt people to ask for more information about it as soon as they hear it.  Friends in marketing tell me that’s a good thing… that it’s the equivalent of a book or magazine having a cool cover, and that more people will be inclined to listen to it because they like the name of the record.

As much as I hope they’re right, I can’t say that it has anything to do with why the record is called what it’s called.  “Clang & Chime” means a quite a few different things to ME… let’s start there before we get to anyone else’s interpretation!

There’s the completely literal sense to start with.  Over the years I’ve spent traveling and performing, I’ve played in just about every situation you can imagine, and wherever I go, I only sound as good as the sound engineer makes me.  The great thing about using an acoustic guitar is that everyone knows what it’s supposed to sound like in the hands of a solo songwriter.  But nobody, professional sound engineers with years of experience included, has a frigging CLUE what I’m up to with a bass in my hands.

Looking back on the past decade, I can count the number of sound engineers who have known innately what I’m going for on one hand.  For the rest of them, brows furrowed and faces frowning as they pushed buttons and twisted dials on their mixing consoles, I started using a descriptive phrase that seemed to help more times than not:  “When you get it right, it should clang and chime”.  This became my mantra for years, and helped define the sound that has helped to define me as an artist.

I like it: “Clang” describes a sound that is abrupt and harsh, but still resonant — “Chime” describes a resonant sound that is more pure and agreeable; and this brings up the idea of Consonance vs. Dissonance.

Lyrically, these songs deal with recognizing human fallibility — within our relationships, and within ourselves — and with how we reconcile those flaws.  Bringing the idea of resonance a step further:  Eastern spirituality deals with the idea of Chakras, or energy centers in the body that resonate along with certain frequencies, and react badly to other frequencies.  Everything we experience is in some way or another affecting the way our own energy is flowing; consequentially enhancing or disrupting our lives.   Human experience is, in fact, a constant push and pull between these states.

So while my playing may evoke the literal sense of “Clang & Chime”, the lyrics of these songs are meant to evoke the sense of that fallibility as dissonance, and of that reconciliation as consonance.

Call it whatever feels appropriate:  Tension and Release.  Cacophony and Harmony.  Yin and Yang.  Sorrow and Joy.

I call it Clang & Chime.

I hope you’ll spend some time with it as soon as it’s released. :)
______________________________________________________________________

(until the stroke of midnight that starts September 14th, you can pre-order the limited special editions of Clang & Chime by going to http://sethhoran.blogspot.com)

The Shockingly Unjust & Hideous Death of the Cafe Au Lait. =(

I had a moment of clarity the other night while doing something I rarely do anymore:  I went and hung out in a Borders store, browsed through the books, the albums, the magazines, got a cup of coffee, and sat down to take in some culture.

I noticed some jarring changes.  Most obvious was that the CD section had been reduced to a quarter of its previous size.  I mean: SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of the CD bins had been removed.  I went to take stock of the carnage.

It seemed that most of what had been removed were “catalog” titles… they’d nixed the “old” music in favor of new artists and new releases by established acts, and most of the acts I could see at a glance I would call “peripheral” or “emerging” artists.

It was a bit astonishing to realize the number of artists who had albums on display that I have had some kind of contact with.  These artists are… my peers, really.  In many cases there are completely arbitrary factors that have dictated that their albums are still available in a nationwide chain store, while mine have not been on those shelves since 2005.

I had just taken all this in when I walked over to the cafe counter and placed my coffee order.  I was present, but mildly distracted, so the counter dude’s response to my request surprised me more than it should have:

“A cafe au lait!  Wow; most people don’t know what that even IS!”

What??

This, of course, is not true.  Plenty of people know what a cafe au lait is.

Err…          …don’t they?

Well, shit.  Maybe they don’t?   I pondered this as I went to sit down.

“Cafe Au Lait” is French for “coffee with milk”.  It’s been a staple on cafe menus all over the world, regardless of language, for as long as I can remember.  At least until Starbucks came along.

Starbucks capitalized on a major idea: they convinced the public that “ESPRESSO IS MORE VALUABLE THAN COFFEE”.  The idea is nonsense, of course — espresso IS coffee.  It’s simply prepared differently.  There is no practical reason to charge twice as much for it.  Sure; it requires a different grind and a separate machine, but grinders are adjustable, and espresso machines are standard overhead in cafes.

Besides that, it has become commonplace for a 2 ounce shot of espresso to cost the same as a 12 ounce cup of drip coffee.   Um…  hello?

People were already used to paying close to 2 bucks for a cup full of drip coffee.  By convincing people that espresso is exotic and valuable and different, Starbucks made the world believe that the same sized cup with espresso in it was easily worth twice as much.  Even though most of what is in the cup is actually MILK; not espresso.

The problem for Starbucks was this:  if people equate a full cup of coffee with “two dollars”, and if you have to give people milk for free on the condiment stand, you can’t charge a whole lot more just for dumping out half the coffee and replacing it with HOT milk.  True; a Cafe Au Lait usually doesn’t cost more than 25 to 50 cents more than a standard coffee.

Well if the maximum price for a cup of half coffee and half milk is $2.50, how are you supposed to convince people to spend $4 on a cup that has only 2 ounces of coffee and is MOSTLY milk?

You take the better deal off the menu.

People will forget.  Those that don’t won’t want to speak up.

That’s what Starbucks bet on.  They were right.

There is NO “Cafe Au Lait” menu option at any Starbucks, anywhere.  If you ask for one, you’ll be told that it’s not on the menu.  They can tell you that, because they’re not lying; “Cafe Au Lait” is NOT on their menu.

Because they changed it’s name.  Starbucks calls a cup of half coffee/half milk a “Misto”.   The Misto does not appear anywhere on the menu, either, but if you ask for one, they have to make it for you, and you’ll pay…  (drumroll)   about $2.50.

But people don’t ask for it.  Because they either can’t remember it when they’re staring at the menu, or they don’t want to “be a problem” or draw unnecessary attention to themselves by asking for it.

This explanation is long, but the realization came to me in the second following the barista’s declaration:

I’m a Cafe Au Lait.

I’m a great deal, dammit.  I cost less than most of the other stuff out there, and I taste better than most of it…  or at least AS good!

I’m just not on the menu.

Whenever any listeners or fans discovered me, I was “on the menu” in their world.  I was playing on stage; my music became a common experience for everyone who heard me. After I sold CDs to these folks, they played them for their friends, and then my music was in the common cultural vocabulary they shared.

But over the years, those people grew apart, moved, met new friends who weren’t already familiar with my music.  Suddenly my songs lost their “common touchstone” status, and I was “not on the menu” anymore.  And just like the Cafe Au Lait, people forgot that I was an option, or didn’t want to be judged by suggesting something that wasn’t already in their new friends’ pool of common experience.

Once this mindset took hold, some people just erased me from their own cultural vocabulary, and even though they heard from me through email, by the time my next album came out, they couldn’t reconcile adding me back to their mental playlist.  Instead of getting excited about listening to my new music, they actually withdrew from it.

SO.  Check it out:

I am releasing my first full-length album in FIVE YEARS this fall**.  It is, by far, the best thing I’ve ever made, and no matter if you have listened to every note I’ve recorded over the past decade or if the last thing you heard from me was the last note of “Something Pretty” back in 2002, I would be honored if you would at least give it a chance.

We, the independent artists of today, don’t have media PR machines to change your minds, influence your friends, and direct your attention for you.

We have YOU, and we’re counting on you to remember us, talk about us, suggest us, explain us to those who don’t know.

We need you to put us back on the menu.

We need you to NOT take the path of least resistance.

We need you to order a Cafe Au Lait.

Thanks for listening.

-Seth
**If you’re not already on my email list, sign up HERE and I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

All I wish is to be alone… Stay away; don’t you invade my home.

Let’s talk about House Concerts.

Aha! I just lost 80% of you right there, didn’t I?

I know… But by acknowledging that, I probably just piqued the interest of some who were about to stop reading.

I have been thinking about this, on and off, for a long time now; long enough that I think I can finally put my thoughts down in a way that makes a fair amount of sense.  Here goes.

House Concerts are something I bring up every time I book a tour, which has usually been once or twice a year, every year now since 2002.  I always get a decent number of responses each time I sound the call, but I would say that only one out of every five or six of those responses actually turns into a reality.

Now why is that?

There are lots of psychological barriers to get in the way of a house concert.  Most people are naturally anxious about letting groups of people into their home, and some people are very anxious about being in unfamiliar environments; more so when the place is someone else’s private property.

These feelings are completely understandable, and they’re completely easy to get over as long as you keep one very important thing in mind:

House Concerts aren’t supposed to be for everyone.
They’re not even supposed to be big.
They’re for the People Who Care About The Music.

A life-changing article for me was written by Kevin Kelly, and it’s called “One Thousand True Fans”.  He puts forth the premise that a person who means to live by creating (artists, musicians, etc) need not kill themselves in the pursuit of “Having a Hit” — that a decent living can be achieved if you have 1,000 true fans; people who enjoy what you make enough to buy it from you every time you make it.  He clarifies this to suggest that because of the decreasing price of compact discs, that musicians in particular should consider both their albums and their CONCERTS under the heading of “what they make”.

The idea here is that a musician like me shouldn’t get caught up in the game of “How many people can I pack into the club?”, because if I concentrate my effort on that instead of on giving an incredible performance, it won’t matter how many people show up…  if I suck, they’re not going to become long-term fans; in fact, they might leave before I’m finished playing.

The idea is that the new breed of musician should have the goal to play to a “Quality Audience”; not a “quantity” audience.  Having done this enough times to gauge it, I wholeheartedly endorse this mindset.  I would much rather play an intimate show to twenty people who are feeding off my music and sending their own energy back to me than play to a noisy, moderately attentive group of 50 to 100 people, some of whom are there because they want to be, some of whom aren’t interested at all…  the energy in THAT room is a mess, and doesn’t make for a good experience for anyone.

Using the idea of a thousand true fans, it seems that those twenty quality listeners are going to be at the show anyway — it doesn’t matter if the ticket price is $5 or $15, and it doesn’t matter if there are 80 extra bodies in the room or not — so if that is true, why not improve life for everyone, raise the ticket price slightly and just play a better show to better people?

…because the Live Music BUSINESS doesn’t work that way.  A venue owner WANTS a hundred people at a singer-songwriter show.  To the venue owner, that’s a “good night”, and the quality of the music or the experience is absolutely secondary to the number of dollars made. You can’t be mad at a venue owner for wanting to do more business though; you just have to acknowledge that you’re not working towards a common goal, and consider alternate venues.

And that’s where House Concerts come in, because someone throwing a house concert isn’t trying to make money, and they don’t want a hundred half-interested people showing up, either.

Many first-time hosts have thought they should apologize to me because they “only” had a dozen to two dozen people show up.  What it takes awhile for them to realize is that it’s not embarrassing at all — and small crowds often have the best experiences.  The sound isn’t muddy or too loud, the vibe is comfortable, the audience members don’t gather in cliques; they sit in a group and get to know each other over drinks or snacks, and I get to meet and have genuine interactions with most people there during or after the show.  Even the larger house concert series I’ve played have always created great performances, great energy, and great friendships.

All it takes is the right kind of person to host a house concert:  The Person Who Cares.

This isn’t someone who says, “Oh, music would be cool, and um, whatever else and stuff… Just like, show up and I’m sure it’ll be fun!”   No; that person is not ready.

The Person Who Cares thinks, “I love this music…  but there’s no place in town that hosts this.  It would be amazing if I could just bring the show to my house and invite over other people who are into it for a night.”

This person acts like a host: they handle invitations, and sometimes even allow strangers to attend if they’re fans of the performer; they take RSVPs and hold the money for the performer, they coordinate drinks and a potluck spread if they want.  When people show up, they greet them, and when it’s time for the show, they address the audience and remind them to be respectful, and they introduce the artist.  This person doesn’t invite “everyone they know”, because they realize that not everyone they know would enjoy the music, but they invite other People Who Care, and that’s what makes for an easy-going, enjoyable evening.  These people get some of the greatest concerts they will ever see and hear right in their own living rooms, and they develop a group of friends that they know appreciates the same things they do, which is rewarding unto itself.

If any of this has sparked your curiosity and gotten you thinking past your initial anxiety about “PEOPLE IN MY HOUSE!”…  drop me a line and we can talk more about it.  I’m going to be playing wherever people will have me once this album comes out; it’s just a matter of saying you’ll have me.  :)

Thanks for reading.

Be well,

Seth

“Change… is good, because Change… is CHANGE.”

…that is from an episode of Season 3 of the show “Weeds”. Matthew Modine plays a charming real estate bigwig with a lot of charisma and questionable ethics, and he delivers that line to an enthusiastic mass of people just before his hysterical humiliation. I love that show… can’t wait for Season 4 to come out on DVD.

There is certainly change afoot in just about every area of existence these days… my life is in a particularly intense state of flux, and though there is uncertainty, I’d have to say I’m much more excited than I am stressed. I’m recording again, and I am HUGELY excited about it.

The last time I recorded a record was at the end of 2006. It was a small production, and it became the “Happenstance” EP.  Everything on the album was either my voice or my bass, so I was the only person being recorded, and the process was mostly done on a pretty small scale; Kent Miura and David Peters both actually came to my house in Reno to record me. I had been hearing from my listeners for years that they wanted me to make an album that was just like my live show, with no other musicians or slick production, and so I set out to make everyone happy.

But the vast majority of them didn’t like it as much as my records that have a band on them, and for awhile I chanted along with the musical elitists, saying, “Don’t listen to the people; they have no idea what they really want, and they’ll complain no matter what.” After I thought about it for awhile though, I realized that I wasn’t taking enough into consideration. It’s not enough to say, “People like my solo concerts, therefore they will like my records if I make them the same way”. The enjoyment of a live concert comes from all five senses, and from the general experience of the show. To take only the music from a live concert and expect to get the same reaction is not necessarily wise.  A record album is a LISTENING experience, and needs to be produced with that in mind, so this time, I decided to find out what my listeners wanted from their listening experience. But what’s the best way to do that?

Let them help produce it.

Last summer, I opened up the album production process to my entire mailing list. The model was simple: anyone who invested in the album got to hear and provide feedback on the songs as I created them, one song each week, for twenty weeks. At the end of the process, these producers voted to narrow down those twenty songs to ten for inclusion on the final album. While I was sure this process wouldn’t appease any individual 100%, I was also sure that these outside opinions would provide me with valuable objectivity, and help me create a record that would appeal to the widest cross-section of listeners.

“Fie on that”, said critics of the process… “they’ll water down your essence and stifle your artistic expression!”

Not true.  Though I occasionally needed to crack the whip and remind my producers what we were doing, I am absolutely indebted to them on a number of key matters of judgement… I definitely would have made a few bad calls without their voices in the back of my head. Sometimes what a musician feels is their ‘artistic expression’ comes across to listeners as overly indulgent, melodramatic, or both. I’d like to think I was held back from both of those pitfalls by listening to my listeners, and I appreciate their help.

So, back to the present:  I just spent five days in Upstate New York in The Belfry, a church that has been converted into a state-of-the-art recording studio, and began the process of creating the final album versions of the songs that made the cut. The Belfry was created by my friends Timothy Daniel (a stellar singer/songwriter in his own right), and the mega-songwriter engineer himself, David Peters. They have created an awesome creative space with awesome equipment for capturing awesome sounds, and I am freaking out over how awesome these songs are sounding now.

...nary a razor touched my face during my time at the Belfry...

Joining me in the studio was New York City drummer Ryan Cavan. I’ve known Ryan for seventeen years, since I was graduating 12th grade and he was graduating 8th. He was a startlingly fantastic drummer even as a young kid, and his parents will probably never forgive me for dragging him off to bars around Buffalo the summer before his freshman year of high school in two of my bands. Since those days, he’s one of the only people I know who went on to become a full time professional musician — and though we’ve talked about playing together dozens of times over the years, it’s been nearly impossible because his schedule is so packed… he very nearly couldn’t make it to the studio this time because he was on tour in Europe.

Don't let the angelic lighting fool you... Ryan is a bad, bad boy.

See?

I brought Ryan in to play on seven songs, and secretly hoped that we’d get them all done in four days instead of five so that I’d have an extra day to mess around with David’s studio toys. At the end of Day Three, Ryan had nailed all seven songs plus an eighth he had never even heard before… and I got to spend the final two days laying down massive-sounding bass parts, and even a few vocal takes, on all those tunes. Looking back on it, we worked at an incredible pace, but it didn’t feel like it while we were there. It was even… FUN. What a great time. :)

I think what I'm thinking right here is best summed up as, "unh".

Now I’ll spend the next month re-organizing — I’m doing an impromptu Midwest mini-tour (check my tour schedule for details) on my way back out west, where relocation is in my future: by May, I will most likely be a California resident again. I’ll be accepting new students once I’m there, so if you or anyone you know in Central CA might be looking for private music instruction this summer, drop me a line at sethhoran@yahoo.com ! Also, I’ve been asked an awful lot recently if I’m still working with Warwick. While I am still playing my Warwick basses, I am not employed by the company. I was not invited to this past January’s NAMM show by Warwick, but that’s okay, because the good folks at Gallien-Kruger bass amplification wanted me around. :) The most exciting development that has stemmed from this free-agent status is currently underway… very soon, I will be receiving my first custom instrument from JC BASSES, based out of Auburn, California. For those who love this sort of thing, you can see the progress of the bass as it is built over at the JC Basses Progress Blog: http://www.jcbasses.com/sethhoran5.html

There is no bad blood between Warwick and I; it was a combination of factors with the company’s distribution and the World economy that ended our relationship, and I won’t be putting tape over the “W” logo on the instruments I already play anytime soon. :]

Once I settle into California, I will be tracking down Ed Sheets to come put some of his six-string deliciousness on a few of the new songs, and will start to plan for this new album’s imminent release. I figure we should plan some CD release parties before CDs become extinct! ;]

And of course, I’ll post more updates as things continue to change…

…because change…

is CHANGE. ;)

Bully for you… Chilly for me…

I’m in a situation at present that makes me smile… or more correctly; makes me smirk:  I have been asked by a handful of aspiring singer-songwriters (separately; not as a group) for advice about how to “get famous”.  I am not making this up.  While it is flattering to be asked such a question, one must understand that it is somewhat akin to being asked by a young child:  “I wanna be tall like YOU!  How’d you get so TALL??”

The answer to each of these inquiries, more now than ever, is very similar.  I could answer each by saying, “Well just keep doing what you’re doing, and there’s a pretty good chance that when you’re my age, you’ll be about where I am.”

My point is that even if you’re below-average adult height, you still look huge to the kid.

I am **certainly** not “famous”.  Well, not any more or less “famous” than any of my peers in the nebulous soup of indie singer/songwriters out there.  We are the late-gen-x/early-gen-y-group of musicians that never “made it” because our timing sucked.  That’s not to say we’re bad at what we do…  we simply got to the point in our artistic development where we were “ready” just as the record industry we’d been preparing ourselves for began to collapse.  Those of us on the older side of the group did one of two things: 1.) give up in despair, forevermore grumbling about how “it wasn’t fair”, or 2.) detour into artist management, venue management, publishing, work for an instrument manufacturer, or go into web design.  Those of us on the younger side had seen the changes coming, and were ready to adapt… we were on Myspace on Day One, and some of us were even on Friendster before there WAS a Myspace (…wow… remember those days?…).

I was in the middle…  not only did I major in “Music Industry” during that stint I did in college, learning all about the traditional record industry models, but I had actually gotten a “ticket to the show” younger than most from the stint I did with Vertical Horizon, and had listened carefully to all the old-school experts I encountered… most of whom would lose their jobs en-masse just a few years later.  Basically, by the time the new-media revolution was kicking into high-gear, I had just started feeling ready to take on the OLD-media establishment.

There were hundreds of very talented musicians in nearly the exact same situation, many of whom are my friends and acquaintances.  Most of us had watched, learned, and adapted to the introduction of the internet only a few steps behind our younger peers and were keeping step with them in most ways, but the realization dawned slowly-but-surely:  We weren’t going to get the record deals we’d once dreamed about… not because we had ‘missed the deadline’, but because NOBODY was going to get them anymore.

Once this realization set in, those of us who weren’t too discouraged to continue had to decide how we were going to cultivate a grass-roots following, because there was no denying it — anyone who didn’t wasn’t going anywhere.  The conventional wisdom still seemed to dictate that an artist should try to become “big” in one major location, and then expand their touring out from there in a gradual manner.  Most of my indie musician peers did this. Most of them also got discouraged and burnt out doing this, and “retired” in some fashion after a couple years with a mailing list of a few hundred fans who were bummed to hear the news.

I eschewed this strategy completely, and most of my peers thought I was making a big mistake.  I have to admit, what I did was comparatively radical:  I put my personal belongings into storage and lived on the road with no physical address for nearly three and a half years.  From March 2002 until June 2005 I did not remain in one municipality for longer than 2 weeks, and in many cases I would hop from host-to-host during my longer stays in one area.  I criss-crossed the United States from East-to-West or West-to-East (sometimes diagonally) eighteen times during that period, with smaller trips in there as well.

That whole experience is a story for another time (MANY “other times”, actually…), but the point is this:  while it was happening, it didn’t look like I was making decent strides towards building a lasting grass-roots fan base in comparison to my peers who had decided to stay put.  I was adding an average of about 30 people to my email list every week (sometimes that number was a hundred… sometimes it was three), and in a number of cases, these names were added in towns I haven’t returned to in years.

Fast forward to the present:  I am now, more or less, settled in a fixed location, from which I hop to other locations for touring stints.  I like to think that in each of those places I was playing years ago, I planted some seeds (for the pervs that are taking that analogy in a sexual manner, stop it right now…), and though I haven’t been back in many-a-day, there are quite a few places where those seeds have flourished, and others where people have picked up those seeds and carried them to new cities.  College fans graduated and took jobs in new towns… they made new friends… they turned their new friends on to my music…  suddenly I had new seeds planted in places I’ve never been to before.  The popularity of social networking websites has fed this fire in a massive way, and now there are pockets of fans in places around the country (and in other countries) who may never have seen me play in-person, but who have bought the songs off iTunes and who have ordered the DVD to get the next-best-thing.  This is the same principle that allowed me to gain a big enough following in the United Kingdom to book that tour I just returned from.

But plenty of artists are on the social networking sites, and even artists who don’t have DVDs can put videos up on YouTube.  Why would this work any better for me?

Reason One:  Personal connections — it’s much easier to inspire someone to help spread the word about your new song download or YouTube video if that someone has had the experience of seeing what you do on a stage, as opposed to that someone just “hearing about you”.  By playing in as many different places as I did, I established personal connections with a much broader base of people.

Reason Two:  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  If a known performer comes to town for the first time in ten years, you can bet that the show will sell out.  But if that same performer plays every Tuesday night at the same club for months on end, you will probably see a sharp drop-off in attendance after a few weeks.  By staying on the move constantly, I was able to always leave on a high note, and I would come back every three or four months… just long enough for the thought of another show to be an exciting prospect — an EVENT.  By doing this over and over again for a number of years, I developed a kind of loyalty amongst people in a number of cities, and these are the folks who helped me “plant the seeds”.

Another factor, I’ve realized, is that my act is somewhat memorable. It really floors me just how often people remember me… the emails I still get to this day from folks who just saw me perform once, maybe only for one song at an open-mic, maybe at an outdoor gig where they just happened to be passing by…  one day they enter enough info into Google to find me (not too many solo bassist/singers out there…), and we pick up right where we left off.  I have had the good fortune to see a return on even the smallest investments of time and energy from my life on the road, and that return has been in the form of LONG-TERM LISTENERS.  From my many conversations with my peers who have generally stayed in one place, I cannot say that the same holds true for most of them on the same level.  That’s certainly not an attempt to elevate my status above anyone else’s; it just seems to be the cold, hard truth.

So I guess I’m saying that the crux of any success I’ve experienced comes from my years on the road.  However, this whole combination of factors makes for very odd self-analysis….  Accounting for the “overlap” of fans on Myspace, Facebook, and my email list, I can boast a fan-count of just over 3,000 people.  By the “industry model” for seeing if an act is ready for a record-deal, that would ideally break down to be about 300 people in each of ten different cities.

The reality is that it’s more like 30 people in each of a hundred different cities around the planet, and while that gives me a cool amount of notoriety in a microcosmically global way, that alone is not enough to book a tour anymore….  I stopped living on the road just as gas prices were escalating to their lofty heights of the past three years.  I’ve crunched a few numbers, and it’s clear: I could NOT live on the road the way I used to in Today’s economy.  Small guarantees from coffeehouses and clubs, money from CD sales, and a handful of college gigs every semester used to be enough to get by on.  But the coffeehouses have mostly gone out of business, the clubs are much more frugal, CDs have depreciated in perceived value to the consumer, and competition in the college market has increased tenfold over the past decade.  So while the price of gas coming back down is encouraging, the rest of the equation is still out of balance.

The fact is that I’m always looking for new methods for getting the music (and myself) out there, and that it’s a life of constant hustling, but above all, one must realize that if you want to make music for a living, it necessitates that you make music that other people will want in their lives…  music that they want to hear enough that they want to support YOU; the one who makes it.  

If you can’t deal with the idea of depending on some level of mass-agreement that you are worth paying money for, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make music…  but it does mean you shouldn’t attempt to make ORIGINAL music for a LIVING.  A surprising number of both aspiring and professional music-makers do not get this concept.  I am not saying those taboo words (“Sell Out”); I am saying that every time I embrace the concept I just described, I experience some degree of success.  The most recent example of this would be the project I’m currently engaged in where I am producing my next album with the assistance of my fans….  it’s been controversial, but it’s working (and I have to emphasize, it’s working WELL!)

So… what the hell do I tell someone who wants to use my career as a role-model?  On the one hand, I’m proud of the amount of forward-motion I’ve been able to keep going to keep myself in business…  I think, looking back on things, that for all the bad timing I had in trying to “make it”, I was doing the exact right thing at the exact right time when I lived on the road. 

On the other hand, I wouldn’t suggest that course of action to anyone who doesn’t feel that it’s something they HAVE to do.  If it’s something you could “take or leave”, then do yourself a favor and leave it before you do yourself any damage.

But if you take it…   if you’ll take bad living, odd hours, bad hygiene, malnutrition, car trouble, sensitivity to the middle-class means and standards of those you meet, far too much coffee, sugar, and alcohol in your diet (because it’s usually FREE), doomed relationships, and the need to perpetually book yourself 3 months ahead so that you can continue to survive… if you decide that’s for you…

…well, then I sincerely wish you all the best, kid.  You’ve been warned.  Go get ‘em.