June is just around the corner also THIS

June is just around the corner also THIS amazing FREE Show! 2 live stages, drink specials and more! See you there! http://ow.ly/lfjK8

The Dance at the End of the World

Meka Nism the Orlando based female fronted musical experience that is defying any particular style in the hard rock genre. After lead singer Michelle aka Meka spent three years in Japan as part of the successful Origami Girls, she brought her influences home joining Meka Nism along with Bobby on lead guitar, Alvin on bass and Reed aka Freedom on the drums.

 Dance at the End of the World off the band’s newest EP really seems to capture the band’s flavor and overall style, rolling it into a unique rock experience. The other track’s have an interesting effect as for me they seem to lead you to ‘Dance at the End of the World’ while bringing it all together with the final song ‘rise‘. As for the the vocal’s they have a great balance of gritty rebellion and female power.  I recommend this if your a hard rock fan of Halestorm, In This Moment and The Agonist.

Keep up to date with the band new’s as well as their changing tour schedule on http://www.meka-nism.com/#!home/mainPage

How to Be Your Own Agent and Other Tough Love Advice for the Motivationally Challenged Musician.

We’ve read the stories. We’ve dreamed the dreams. And we’ve wondered, ‘how do I get to play stadiums filled with breasts that let me drink Jagermeister off of them?’ Sure, we all know it takes hard work and luck to achieve the musical unicorn that is a career of rocking stadiums well into your seventies. But we seem to retain little when it comes to understanding the excruciating hard work it takes just to be able to play in front of an audience.

We again talked to singer/songwriter John Taglieri (J.T.) to get his take on getting out there and gigging. He’s always playing somewhere – from Boston to Key West. He always has a new CD to talk about. And for some reason he is always willing to share what he’s learned with his fellow musicians (see exception below).

When we last talked to J.T. he told us to put our egos aside and do the work that needs to be done. Now he shares some tips on just how he’s been able to make a living as a performing artist.

Lazy Musicians Have No Gigs.

Once the music is written and a repertoire developed, it’s time to get gigging. Getting gigs if often easier said than done.  It’s also a topic much discussed here – Because gigging and getting gigs is a musician’s life blood.

John Taglieri tells fellow musicians, “Get on the phone.” Agents work on commission. Unless you’re making them a few grand a month, your band is just not worth their effort. Agents want their commission. They don’t necessarily have a musician’s career in mind.  There may be many non paying or low paying gigs passed over simply because there is no money in it for the agent. So you’d need a manager to fill in those gaps, and now the musician is paying 2 people for the same job!  At the level of a newly emerging artist, “there’s nothing an agent can do for you that you can’t do for yourself.”

J.T.’s steps to getting in front of an Audience.

1. Find similar artists in locations you want to play. Reverb Nation is great for this. Note the places those bands play.

2. Fan and befriend that band. Never waste a chance to build relationships.

3. Research the venues. Go to their websites. Like them on facebook. Note in that gig binder what each venue’s policy is on soliciting bookings.

4. Follow those policies to the letter.

5. Repeat.

“Stop bitching and do it. Yes. It’s a lot of work. But it’s not brain surgery. Just stop whining about how hard it is and do it.” John always has a way of putting things so others can understand him. But don’t mistake this New Jersey native’s frankness. Like most musicians, J.T. is almost always willing to help others…as long as they help themselves.  “If I see someone with no gigs listed and they’re asking me to help them, I think – They don’t deserve a gig.”

Go online, pick up a phone, and do that dirty work. Remember #2 above? When you help yourself and others see it, they’ll want to help you even more. Those other bands might help promote you to their fans, or at the very least, guarantee they’ll come out themselves.

Great Gigs Aren’t Always That Great.

If an emerging artists is playing any large stage, be it stadium or festival, chances are it was a buy on. That brings with it the pressure to gain enough fans and sell enough merchandise to cover that ‘promo fee.’ Such gigs can also mean the artist is under greater professional scrutiny.  These are the gigs that make artists either put up or shut up. Stumble on local stages. Your friends will understand. Fail on a big stage and the artist might never get a chance to set foot on such a stage again. The stress level for emerging artists at those shows is often through the sagging roof of their tour van.

When it comes to playing shows, say yes. “There is no gig I won’t say yes to.” Free Shows? Yes. Charity events? Yes. Back yard cookouts? Yes. Quinceaneras? Who cares if anyone can pronounce it, Yes. Yes to all of them. J.T. would rather play a sweet sixteen party to 20 sixteen year old girls. “Those are the fans who like to spend money. There’s no choice between playing for large groups of drunk 40 year olds in a bar or playing for a small group of people in a private home who are really excited to hear me.”

People like to share, whether it’s a news story, pictures of their lunch, or their latest musical obsession. Create chances to be their obsession by saying yes. J.T. has learned not to turn down those nontraditional shows because in the midst of sharing their latest likes, they’ll tell all their friends about the funk y bald guy who jammed the face off their living room.

There would be more tips but John had to get to a gig.

[Watch this spot got a continuing talk with John Taglieri and his tips for making the most out of being on the road.]   

TAKEOUT live @ Orlando Rock’s

Influences from Breaking Benjamin, Tool, The Band, The Cars, Metallica, Nirvana and Pink Floyd, These guy’s are proving they have the musical style and ability to keep up with some of Hard Rock’s best.

Takeout’s spark ignited in 2004 when Joseph Rivera II, Matt Sherman, and Mat Sadler met and created a unique sense of music and harmony. After much success on the local scene, Takeout’s original member’s decided to enhance their lineup with current lead guitar member, Zach Yeager. Zach’s addition to the band added a depth to Takeout’s guitar work that has enabled them to enhance their melodic rock showcase.

The guy’s have shared the stage with  Fuel, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Future Leaders of the World & Team Cybergiest and you can catch them live at House of Blues Lake Buena Vista on June 8th, ticket’s are just $5 at the door!

http://www.reverbnation.com/takeoutband

@TAKEoutband

3 Bucksworth new CD: PURE

Originating as an acoustic duo in 2005 these Central Florida natives expanded their band with the addition of Mark in 2007 and Rod in 2009 creating the rock  solid sound crowd’s can’t get enough of. Calling themselves soul-driven root rock as they follow in a great tradition of legendary musicians and songwriters, as the guy’s really want to create “music for everyone” and you can really hear all the inspiration and genre’s that come together to form the new album. PURE has flavor’s of Collective Soul, 90′s adult alternative and even Shinedown similarities are heard  in this album.

3 Bucksworth is trying to get their music to the people, Mark says, “It’s tough for any good band nowadays, but we can’t go the traditional route. We’re simply not able to go out on the road for any period of time, and we’re not ‘in the scene’; out at the clubs hanging with other bands and musicians. We have families and responsibilities. Luckily we’re still a hell of a cover band, so we can do a lot of gigs playing about half our own material and half covers and it works out well.”

This is a filling album with 11 track’s that are truly all worth listening.

http://www.3bucksworth.com

3BW FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/3-Bucksworth/54640641814?id=546B40641814&sk=info

Action Item take’s on WARPED!

Action Item is made up of New Jersey natives that have been touring in support of their EP, “The Stronger The Love” an album that has sold over 22,000 copies independently & has had successful placement on multiple television shows. Not only have these pop/rocker’s gone on a full headlining tour but also has shared a stage with Hot Chelle Rae, Andy Grammer, & Allstar Weekend and supporting Boys Like Girls. The band has had 3 singles in Radio Disney’s Top 30 Countdown including “Learn To Fly” a track produced by Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. Now the guy’s are touring the nation with one of most popular music festival’s in the country The Warped Tour! 

The Warped Tour 2013 Florida Dates include:Tampa 7/26,                                                                                                                        West Palm Beach 7/27,                                                                                         Orlando 7/28!                                                     http://www.vanswarpedtour.com/band/view/id/32/

 

Staring Blind

Staring Blind, an alternative/hard rock Central Fl band that formed nearly a year and a half ago with Matt Carver as lead vocalist, Willie Carrasco on bass, Brandon Carrasco on lead guitar, and Tim Andujar on drums. Based out of Melbourne they have been playing all over Central Florida, even featured on WJRR’s Native Noise with their song ’Black Arm’ which was written for a friend of the band who is currently commuting back & forth to Miami for filming as a contestant on the next season of Ink Masters on Spike TV. Most recently the band was selected by the Leesburg Bikefest as 2013 New Artist which the guy’s wrote and performed the original song ‘Four Stroke Heart’ exclusively for the event and was recorded at Evermore Sound in Orlando.Check out our Interview as I spoke with lead singer Matt Carver about their sound, style and definition.

Can you introduce the band to our reader’s Matt Carver – Lead Vocals, Brandon Carrasco – Guitar/Backing Vocals, Willie Carrasco – Bass, & Tim “Timmy Guns” Andujar – Drums/Backing Vocals

 How long have you been playing together?

Staring Blind was formed a year & ½ ago with the current line-up with the exception of our drummer. Originally our percussionist was Dalton Smith but about 6 months ago he moved out of the area to attend college in Gainsville FL & Timmy stepped in to fill the void.

I noticed that all of you have been involved in past musical projects/bands, how has that past experience helped in defining your rock sound in Staring Blind?

Our past projects have mainly served to refine our style and help us realize what it is that we want to create. We all come from bands that fell into basically the same genre that we enjoy working in so they can be somewhat viewed as the research and development stages of our musical growth. The more you create the more chances you’re willing to take and you begin to understand what works & what doesn’t  When you’re just starting out you may feel confident about the quality of half of what you’re writing. Fortunately, at this point we feel as though we all mesh very well and have worked out most of the kinks so it’s easy to feel proud of everything that pours out.

 In two words how would you define your musical style?

 Powerfully Evocative

Staring Blind, what exactly does that stand for?

 Brandon actually came up with the name and though it sounds like an oxymoron we like to think of it as being similar to the thousand yard stare. It’s being lost inside your mind and though your eyes are open you are actually blind to the world around you.

 Do you have one central lyricist or is it a collaborative effort?

Everyone in the band is responsible for writing their own parts in our originals so yes, Matt is our lyricist. Our process typically involves Brandon writing the rhythm and working out a general arrangement and then he will send it to Matt and together they compose the song from there. Matt will then write the lyrics and vocal melodies. Once the song is near completion the rest of the band will add their parts and flesh the song out even further until is complete. Many times the tune will evolve quite a bit from its initial version to the one we finally end up playing out and recording.

 What would you like to say to all the OrlandoBand’s reader’s?

 I think most of all we just want to thank everyone for all the support they’ve given us and for those who haven’t yet, please check us out on facebook or www.staringblind.com. We’re steadily booking more and more shows over in the Orlando area so we hope to see all the OrlandoBand’s readers soon!

Thank’s for the Interview Matt!