Toolin’ Up

Crazy bass dudeI’m getting set up to do remote bass session work. Pretty excited about that! It’s so cool to be able to work with friends all over creation, thanks to technology. I would be thrilled if you kept me in mind for your projects.

As I’m continuing to get set up and settled into the remote groove, I’d love to hear from you: what sort of things are you looking for in a session player? What would you look for in a remote collaboration situation to make the experience as valuable as possible? Do you have any sort of preferences around equipment or technology? etc., etc. Comment or email back — I’d love to talk.

More info on remote sessions can be found here.

Please pass this on! Being in the biz, we all know the importance of personal connections. Any referrals are hugely appreciated.

Rock on!

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Mike, June 24th 2010 | Posted in Session Work

Connecting the Dots

I love the process of connecting musical dots. As you know, I’ve been following with great interest the evolution of Daniel Lanois‘ band project, Black Dub. In following the project, I’ve come to really enjoy the vocal performance of Dub’s singer, Trixie Whitley. It’s amazing to hear such a full, sonorous, emotional vocal performance come from someone who is seems outwardly delicate. See if you agree:

My understanding is that she is quite the songwriter and solo performer. I look forward to exploring more of Trixie’s work.

So from Black Dub, I followed the dots to Trixie Whitley. And from Trixie, I have started to connect the dots to her late father, Chris Whitley. It’s still early days in my exploration of Chris’ work, but I was immediately struck upon hearing his collaboration with DJ Logic on the album Rocket House. To hear the alt.blues stylings of Whitley on his National Reso-Phonic, combined with Logic’s beats is truly inspiring. Whitley’s work is equally gritty, sexy, spiritual, pleading and surreal. His songs are challenging and unconventional. I’ve had time to preview and handful of Whitley tunes, and look forward to digging in much deeper.

See/hear for yourself here: (sorry for the goofy VJ at the beginning)

So, thank you Daniel Lanois, for helping me connect some big musical dots.

2 Comments

Mike, February 12th 2010 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Commentary, Influences

Being More Creative

Blog post: How To Be More Creative by Simon Sinek

I’m amazed by the timing of Simon Sinek’s blog post and corresponding Tweet, which I picked up and read. I’ve been in need of new inspiration lately, and his blog and attached video really helped.

Maybe it’s time to finally tackle that urge to sample the sound/rhythm of my windshield wipers and write something to it.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

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Mike, October 8th 2009 | Tags:
Posted in Commentary, Songwriting

What’s Your Vision?

From Hypebot.com: Nobody Cares About You, So Raise Your Baton
(http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/10/nobody-cares-about-you.html)

Another illustration on why it’s so important for us to treat our musical endeavors as a small business. And like “normal” business people, why it’s so important to be able to articulate your goals and vision.

“The fact that people don’t care about you as much as you care about you doesn’t mean that you have to do everything.  But it does mean having your own clear vision and communicating it.  It also means knowing what success looks like and enough about what has to be done to get there so that you can tell if your team is on the right path.”

Communicating your vision can sometimes be a very hard thing. After all, we’re artists and we communicate with our work, right? I know I have a hard time with it. At a music conference I recently attended, I jotted some basic talking points written on a note card that I kept in my pocket, and I would read it form time to time just to keep it top-of-mind. Not a “sales pitch” mind you, but more along the lines of what sort of things I’d like to accomplish in the short term with my career, and what I’m hoping to gain relative to those goals by attending the conference.

Would love to hear your thoughts on art-as-small-business and team building.

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Mike, October 7th 2009 | Tags:
Posted in Business, Commentary

The “War” on Piracy

Read the article: Billy Bragg On Piracy: “A war that no one can win.”

I agree with Bragg. It’s destructive to try to shut down people who are trading music amongst themselves. Trading is how people get turned on to new music, and has helped spawn lucrative careers for many artists. The “enemy”, or the “competition” if you will, are the file sharing sites. It’s just good business to offer a better experience than the competition. That goes for any industry out there. And now especially the music industry.

His last paragraph sums things up beautifully:

However, we will not be able to marginalise the pirates until we can offer accessible, easy to use, fairly priced alternative business models that people will actually want to buy their music from. While we may never be able to sink The Pirate Bay, the challenge we face is to make it look boring, shoddy and unreliable.

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Mike, September 30th 2009 | Tags: ,
Posted in Business, Commentary

New Lanois

Thanks to director Adam Vollick for turning me on to yet another classy Daniel Lanois project.

1 Comment

Mike, September 29th 2009 | Tags: ,
Posted in Influences

What’s the plan, Stan?

Music Think Tank: “Keeping with a plan and when it is the right time to change plans” (link to article)

A good article for anyone in the biz, especially those who are in a self-management role–managing your band or your own career. It’s way too easy to loose track of the big picture. There’s some good advice in here to keep you focussed on the big picture.

What are some of the challenges you face in keeping your plan on-track? What sorts of things do you find helpful?

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Mike, September 9th 2009 | Tags:
Posted in Business, Commentary

Adam Clayton


Interesting profile from The Guardian. No huge revelations here (well, at least to somebody that’s followed the man’s entire career). But, I wanted to share nonetheless. I especially like the the bit that starts with “I feel there is a lot more to achieve.”

I really think Adams Clayton is one of rock’s finest bass players, and I have tried hard to learn from him. Adam is proof that there is power in restraint, and that less really is more.

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Mike, August 3rd 2009 | Tags: ,
Posted in Influences

Where’s the Hook?

Adam Schlesinger rockin the Firebird

Adam Schlesinger rockin' the Thunderbird

I was just flipping through a recent issue of Playback (ASCAP’s member magazine), and I was taken by the answer given by Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, Tinted Windows) to the question “is there a formula for writing a great hook?”

I don’t really know how to define a great hook, but you know it when you hear it. I do think that repetition is the key to hookiness and almost anything can become a hook if you repeat it enough times. When I’m working on a song, sometimes I think, “What part of this song would someone sing to someone else if they were asking them if they knew it?” That part is the hook.

I really like the last part of that quote. “The part that someone would sing to someone else…”. That’s a nice way of thinking about it, and gives the songwriter something slightly more tangible on the journey to “hookiness”. I’m going to remember that one.

How would you describe what makes a great hook?

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Mike, July 28th 2009 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Commentary, Songwriting

Fiction Family

Just ran across this video. It’s by a new group called Fiction Family, which is a collaboration between Nickel Creek’s Sean Watkins and Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman–two bands that I really dig for various reasons. When I heard about the project, I kinda scratched my head (especially considering Switchfoot’s post-”The Beautiful Letdown” letdowns), but after listening to this cut, with its chamber-pop/Beatle-esque cues, I’m thinking I’ll need to dive in a little deeper. Check it out.

For more post-Nickel Creek goodness, check out Sean’s sister Sarah Watkins.

1 Comment

Mike, May 17th 2009 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Commentary
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