The808SceneZine.com - Hawaii's Local Music Scene

James Mercer

The Shins have followed the rising tide of indie music alongside peers such as Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, and The Decemberists. The musical stirrings of these groups began in the early to mid-90’s when they, like the punks of the early 80’s, learned to do everything for themselves from promotions to booking tours to engineering and recording their own records. Some, like The Shins, have signed to established independent labels such as Sub Pop. Others, like The Decemberists, have moved on to major labels. Either way, these DIY bands have entered the public eye. The Shins, perhaps, have become more famous than many of their peers thanks to a few seconds of airplay in the independent film Garden State. Those few moments doubled, perhaps even tripled their fan base almost instantaneously and took off from there.

The 808 Scene Zine’s Shawn Davenport and Katie Whitman had the chance to talk with The Shins lead singer and creator, James Mercer, at Pipeline Café on July 23rd. We were surprised to learn that James has ties to Hawaii and that both he and his wife were happy to be back for The Shins first performance on the islands.

Shawn Davenport: First of all, a lot of people are wondering how you got out here to Hawaii.

James Mercer: My wife is from here. I was born here, but I can’t really claim to be from here. I was born in Tripler Hospital and I lived here until I was 4. My first memories are of the beach.

JM: Oh really? Good. My dad was career air force. I was born in the very end of 1970. That was a long time ago and we left in ’74.

SD: All locations that you are planning on hitting on this next tour, right? It’s not your first time around the globe, though.

JM: No, not really, but it keeps getting better. Especially Europe. You have to tour places to get it going and we didn’t tour, basically, for the first record. So it’s been kind of catch up. In Japan we really kind of struggled because our first record never was released there.

SD: With your world tour and everything, would you consider your band successful? Is that the word you’re use to describe it?

JM: Man, I hoped, when I first started doing The Shins – which was really the first time I tried hard, really put effort into something. I was hoping that the people that I was a fan of, the people that I really appreciated would like what I was doing. So I hoped to impress bands like Scared of Chaka, which was a local punk band in Albuquerque. And a band called The Idlers [out of] San Francisco. Bands that I knew and I really liked what they were doing and I wanted them to think that I was cool, too.

JM: Yeah. Pretty much. They were just doing it. They were signed and they were going on tours to Europe. I was in Albuquerque and had been for probably 8 years. I was working in a band, but had never really tried real hard. Afraid to commit, you know? And then I just really went for it with The Shins. I started engineering recording records.

JM: The first ones were totally me engineering and all that. The second one we got a lot of help from Phil ---. Although I did a lot of engineering on it. He helped us with the mixing and stuff.

SD: Then you started working with some of the people who work on Beck’s stuff.

JM: Yeah, Joe Chiccarelli on the third one. He was great. And we worked with Phil Lack. For the first time, I had a professional person engineering the drum recordings, which is why it has such a strong [sound].

SD: I personally love your voice - the way it’s recorded. It’s almost like it’s through a guitar amp or something, but it’s not.

JM: That’s a bunch of things. That’s Joe Chiccarelli helping purchase good mics. And it’s Joe Chiccarelli engineering some of the stuff with really high quality mics. Some of the stuff was done through the world’s best microphone. Numann… They’re like $11,000 bucks.

SD: I could probably sit and talk with you about this stuff all day, but… You really put your work effort into The Shins. What are some of the things that you either think you did or that helped you out to get where you are today?

JM: There’s probably a lot of little things that I could say helped me. Because I’m not a strong musician, technically - I’m not. I have to work real hard to get my performances right. I think where I went right was learning how to record. Taking charge of that part, the engineering part. Nowadays, that’s so easy to do. If I had had Garage Band when I was a kid, I mean shit, I would have been in heaven. We probably would have been doing this [touring, etc] 5 years ago.

SD: People seem to associate – well, first off, do you like the word “indie?”

JM: Sure. It makes sense to put that because, especially in the 90’s, there really was a scene of independent bands and it even meant something about the way they would probably sound. Less so now because the independent label scene is so big and so diverse now. It doesn’t really tell you much about what a band will sound like when you say “indie.”

SD: People sometime have trouble really promoting themselves successfully. Did you ever struggle promoting yourself through indie methods?

JM: I’m bad. I did try with The Shins. I knew that I needed to do that. I made 7 inches and I started my own little label doing Shins stuff. I would press [7 inches] and make the covers and I’d send them off to record labels. But I didn’t get anywhere. I didn’t accomplish anything through that. It was really through touring that I got out there and met people who knew people.

JM: No. Back then – that was in the mid-90’s – we would make a set and we’d have some sh*&ty recording that we had done and we would send it to a place like this [Pipeline Café], though much smaller. Hopefully there would be some kid who would be promoting the place and he would say “Yeah, you guys can open up for the Shit Mouths.” or whatever band was playing next week. So we would do that. We just did that a few times. You know, we lucked out. Actually the very first time we did that, we ended up playing this tiny, crappy little show in Chico, CA. The band that was headlining was on their very first tour. In fact, it was their first show out of their [home town]. And it was Modest Mouse. There was no one there. There was a sandwich counter. It wasn’t even a proper bar. So we played then Modest Mouse played then we hung out on the sidewalk as we were loading out. We exchanged records. Isaac [of Modest Mouse] really liked the record. That [record] was for my first band. Then when I did Shins, we would bring him and [we became buddies].

SD: Since you’re somewhat familiar with Hawaii, are you familiar with any of the bands here?

SD: We were wondering, since we deal with a lot of bands out here, we were wondering if you were familiar with the scene out here. Would you like a small CD sampler?

[We give him a CD with 2 tracks each by Likokalehua, Shawn Davenport, A Sedated Nation, K Luvs M, and The Malcognitas. James also asks for a zine and when he sees it says “Whoa. Looks pretty damn pro!” Thanks, James!]

JM: We toured pretty extensively for this tour with a band called Viva Voce. They’re great. Their latest record, Get Your Blood Sucked Out, it’s fucking awesome. One of my favorite things to come out in a long time – I’m always talking about it because I don’t get out there and learn about a lot of new stuff – is Cass McCombs (www.myspace.com/cassmccombs). He’s great.

JM: Yeah, yeah. No, that’s good to hear. I mean we worked really hard on it. I like it, too. I like listening to it more than I’ve ever liked listening to our stuff. Which means something. It means there’s less for me to pick on. I’m very critical.

SD: I was thinking the same thing when we just handed you the CD. [Shawn recorded himself, Likokalehua, and A Sedated Nation on the sampler CD.]

SD: I’m sure you’ve answered this question before. Your lyrics are always so [interesting]. I’ll look them up just to make sure that’s what you’re saying.

JM: Watch out, though. If you look them up on the internet and half the time they’re wrong. I publish the lyrics in the CD.

SD: That just goes to show you how quick this generation is to turn to the internet.

JM: No. Me, too. We do this Depeche Mode cover and they don’t publish their lyrics and I’m looking on the internet… I know that half the shit I’ve seen up there is wrong.

JM: It depends. There is some of the usual love/hate stuff. I think lyrically, I’ve always loved to be cryptic. Using a lot of metaphor. Metaphor is just so powerful when it’s done well that I’m trying to get it right.

SD + KW: What advice do you have for bands here in Hawaii? The people that are trying really hard and want to make it?

JM: It would be hard to leave here and really tour, wouldn’t it, because you have to get plane tickets. We just used to have to scrounge up enough gas money to get to Pheonix, because we were living in Albuquerque. I mean, I don’t know actually. I think that I really debated whether touring actually helped us get better. I really think that recording really was for us the most important thing. When I started learning how to do recording, you make it so much cheaper for yourself. [Recording] is essential. You’ve got to do it somehow. Either you can pay somebody else who knows how to do it and they will rip you off or just make it sound like shit, or you can learn how to do it yourself. Nowadays, that’s so easy. But I suppose that’s obvious.

Another important thing – I wish that I had a more gregarious personality – because I could have been the type of person who organized and promoted shit myself. Do house parties. Do something where it’s $2 bucks if you want beer, but then you have a keg out back for free. Get a scene going. There were a number of people in Albuquerque who did a good job at that and I wish I would have realized how valuable that was. It really allows you to be a working band if you’ve got an active fan base or an enthusiastic crowd who’s waiting to hear your stuff. You can create a scene. There’s a lot of people here.

One Life at a Time
A Party to Make a Difference

PERUDONATIONS.ORG was born after a 2006 trip to the Andean city of Huancayo by two windward O’ahu residents, Sherrill and Lisa Sturm. As part of their travel experience, the mother and daughter spent a week in an orphanage teaching several subjects, including English, to children aged 3 to 12.
The children lived among others like themselves, rescued from extreme poverty or abuse, and housed in adobe and wood facilities that only recently had obtained fresh water through the hard work of other volunteers, notably Andean Outreach Project. The orphans were thrilled to leave their heavy chores for the few hours the Sturms visited each day. In their eyes, education is the only way out of the bleak future that awaits them.

A boy at the Aldea el Rosario orphanage named Presli Ordaya was the original inspiration for the charity. Presli had suffered severe facial burns as a newborn. Even at age 11, he had the loss of some function of his mouth and right eyelid, as well as being left with no nostrils. Perudonations was formed to coordinate and facilitate reconstructive surgery for Presli before he leaves the orphanage, and to continue to provide for Presli for many years to come, including helping him get job skills training so that he will be able to be independent as he grows into a young man.

Realizing there is little that just two people can do, Perudonations adopted the motto: One life at a time. But, soon afterward, their friend and Peruvian associate Elizabeth Chinchilla , told them of a boy 15 years old named Merardo Alvarado. He was normal at birth but within a few short months, his fingernails and toenails fell off and his skin became extremely sensitive to any kind of pressure or touch. He was soon covered with blisters that would open and ooze. This caused his clothes, bedding and diapers, to stick to his delicate skin. His parents were afraid to hold him because a simple caress would cause his skin to blister and break continually.

He was finally diagnosed as having a severe and rare case of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa at the age of 13. He is also suffers from malnutrition, weighing only about 80 pounds, the size of a small 10 year old. His life has been one of unimaginable pain and confusion.

In Peru (as in other places), any kind of physical anomaly is considered to be a curse or a punishment. Our plan for Merardo (as for Presli) is to help provide medical assistance and basic daily needs to ease his physical and emotional pain.

The first benefit concert, “Promise for Presli,” was held in March 2007 at Anna Bannana’s. A modest amount of money was raised and sent directly to Peru. Since then, people from around the world, and particularly in Hawaii, have participated in sending assistance to the boys. So far, $600 has been forwarded, enough to support a family of four for two months.

PeruDonations.org is kicking off another fund-raising concert, entitled The Dock Sessions: One Life at a Time, on Sept 1, 2007 at Don Ho’s Island Grill at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Local bands Grand Theft Audio, Pimpbot, Max Murdoch, and Missing Dave will be joining forces to get the good giving feelings going. Attendees will be treated to door prizes and a raffle featuring gifts like gift certificates from 808 Tattoo and The 808 Scene Zine’s local music gift basket of CDs and t-shirts. Peruvian silver jewelry, directly from Peru, will be on sale. But that’s not all. There are plenty of reasons to celebrate as Pass Out Records debuts their compilation album and The 808 Scene Zine’s concert series, The Dock Sessions, has its one year anniversary! All of the proceeds of the evening will go directly to Presli and Merardo who, with our help, can be freed from a life of poverty and pain.

Lisa and Sherrill are hoping that One Life at a Time, with tickets at only $10 per person, will raise enough funds to provide transportation and medical support for Presli’s and Merardo’s immediate treatments, and to assist in their dietary needs. In August 2007, surgeons from Rotoplast International will evaluate Presli for future treatment. We are hopeful that they may begin his surgical interventions during this visit as well as decide on his long-term treatment plan.

All proceeds of PeruDonations' fundraising go directly to Peru where small amounts are multiplied due to the power of the US dollar there. Please visit the website: www.perudonations.org for more info. If you are interested in keeping up with the news, sign up for the blog via the link on our homepage.

Goodbye Wormwood

The very first show in the Wormwood concert series, held over a year ago, was my personal introduction to the Oahu underground hip hop scene. I saw Philadelphia visitor Icon the Mic King (www.myspace.com/iconthemicking) throw down his ego-centric (but well deserved) rhymes and perform his blindfolded freestyle trick where members of the audience pass him random items and he freestyles until he guesses what they are. Cali-based NoCanDo took his turn on the mic with his solid flow and battle skills. In fact, Wormwood was where I witnessed my very first freestyle battle, aside from the first few minutes of 8 Mile. Maybe I shouldn’t be admitting that, but I don’t think I’m alone. Yeah, I know you know it.

Wormwood had it all - a hip hop promoter completely imbued in the underground scene; a rock and punk promoter that just about made the current rock and punk scene. Fill in any holes with some of the best hip hop and ska-punk-rock talent Hawaii has to offer then sprinkle it with hip hop heads straight from the mainland’s underground. That is why I loved Nabahe and Josh Hancock’s crossbred baby, Wormwood, so much. I’m into eclectic. This certainly was.

Nabahe had a vision for Wormwood. Make it cheap. Make it unpretentious. Make it a place where mainland artists hang out in the crowd and mingle with Hawaii’s talent. Get the creativity flowing so that when the lights go on in the bar, people can’t help but spill out into the parking lot for spontaneous freestyle sessions.

Wormwood phased in and out over the last year and a half, but a spark of hope always lay in the potential of another show. It’s a celebration bitches! That show has come, but it is also the celebration of the very last Wormwood show. Nabahe hears the siren call of opportunity in Cali as many musicians and artists do.

The final Wormwood will take place over two nights during a weekend bender starting at Next Door (43 N. Hotel St.) on August 23rd and ending at Anna Bannana’s (2440 S. Beretania St.) on the 24th. The Next Door kickoff will focus on Wormwood’s hip hop roots. Mainlanders on the Wormwood bill are L.O.R.D. and Busdriver (pictured on cover) from L.A., The Ranch from Cali, and Ceschi and David Ramos (pictured on cover) from the NYC area. Local reps include Parlous and DJ DanniOne.

The Anna’s Wormwood edition also features Ceschi & David Ramos and Busdriver, as well as live bands The Malcognitas, Black Chair, Nabahe the Band, and more.

So shed a tear for the ending of a somewhat sporadic era then head to the shows to get a taste for some of the best of what the underground everywhere has to offer. You’d probably have to fly to L.A. to catch a show like this and it’s awfully hard to find airfare that beats a couple of bucks at the door.

Are You Ready for the Hip Hopalypse?

hIP-hOPALypse is a post apocalyptic, hip-hop theatre production being performed at oNG kING aRTS cENTeR starting Aug 24th (check www.ongking.com for complete schedule). hIP-hOPALYpse combines beats, martial arts, song and rap, with a comic book landscape of mythic proportions.

The year is 3013, the earth has been hit hard and often with flood, and drought. Cities have gone, villages, countries, entire cultures have been swept away. Only a few on the earth remain, wandering souls trying to get a bit of life from the lifeless landscape. Some are making a stand for civilization. Gathering the lost herds of people in The New Project of Oneness, but something else is on the horizon. A new kind of life is forming behind the face of humanity, the Seekers. This new collective consciousness threatens to end human individuality, but it promises to give everlasting health. Will civilization perish under the weight of environmental degradation? Is health as vital as choice? Is love as powerful as death? The quest blasts through rhymes, dance, martial arts battles, human drama, and pHat beAtS.

A female refugee enters the stage dressed in rags and covered with dirt and sand. Her movements are slow, awkward, and desperate. She looks out at the audience, her mouth is open in an endless gasp. She faces the stage.

Several more desperate, refugees enter, they seem to be on their final breath.

The Players Cart enters. It is pushed by Dune covered he is in dingy face paint and wearing a vague attempt at a fools costume, the cart is pulled by Do he wears a comic mask. Dewm is also with them, he scurried about picking up objects that continuously fall off the cart. Essu stands guard protecting these players. Essu is young stoic marital artist.

These three performers see the audience of refugees and set about to present their show.

“ask why you are here, what you want, the time to take a stand has come, the time to build the home for us all is near, join us in building oneness, join us in building future, join….”

Sawt and Seen enter. They of a collective mind, they make round moves when walking, they are covered in a grey substance. They don’t seem human.

one of the refugees becomes curious and goes to these strange beings called ‘Seekers.’ She is enraptured by them, another considers checking them out too..

Essu grabs his fighting sticks and stands between the curious refugees and the Seekers. Do, Dante and Dewm go backup to the Players Cart.

I am Essu, guardian of the New Project of Oneness, protector of its Lord and Queen. Charged to bring these few souls left on land back to the great work. WHo are you?

New friends, fellow men, friendly women. yo! Lets take you a little closer, I mean further from death. We got to go. (MC’s and refugees exit)

Battle. Seekers vs. Essu. Essu is a great fighter and beats down the Seekers. But the Seekers have a healing power that makes them get up. The Seekers trap Essu and begin to change him into one of them. Essu barley escapes.

Come to this play. It will rip open the stage, and may flip a few pages in your mind. HIP-HOpaLYPSe is written and directed by See/Cristian Ellauri. Its cast of 15 includes MC’s, INTrePID, and Harumi the HYMn, Martial Artists Justin Young and Michael Hamilton and Folk Singer Christina Nelson. See wrote and directed Jaguar Priests, a hip-hop theatre myth, for his Masters Thesis at UHM, it went on to be performed as part of the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival in Washington, DC in 2006. He also wrote and directed Chase a hip-hop theatre production starring Kealoha in 2005.

Augustine: Uniting the Metal Scene

I headed down to a metal show on July 20th to interview Augustine, a metal band from the Big Island. Augustine is a big organizer and promoter of metal shows on their home island and they have reached out to Oahu bands, inviting them to play on a Big Island billet and also making many journeys themselves to join on an Oahu billet.

On this night, they arrived at the club to find out it had been double booked. Promoters know that there is always the potential for big problems and they learn how to roll with the punches. Eventually, everyone worked together to open up some available space, even running extension cords through the ceiling and messing with the electrical box to get power to the other room. This, here, was Hawaii’s real underground. Hacked power. Termites buzzing around the lights. Bands screaming over heavy guitar riffs. People moshing or simply nodding their heads in a minimalist way to show the bands that they were, indeed, into the music. It made me smile, that despite the circumstances, these bands would find a way to play. Their desire to play music was that strong. And the audience! Those dedicated souls stuck around in that stuffy room with no bar because they wanted to hear some live metal.

KW: I do have a couple of questions. You’re from the Big Island. Augustine. That’s your last name, right?

Jeremiah Augustine: We actually have the name from our first drummer out of seven. It was our dummer who said “Why don’t we name the band Augustine?” That’s where it comes from. A lot of people say [disapprovingly], “Why did you name the band after yourself?”

KW: If you’re lucky enough to have a good name like that, you might as well use it.

JA: It’s as big as Oahu on Oahu’s great nights. There are a lot of great bands, a lot of great people, great musicians on the Big Island. We actually have another band from the Big Island coming tonight. Cellar. Tonight is the first show we’re going to do with Jonathan, our new lead guitar player. Oahu is going to be the first to see Augustine with a lead guitar player. People have been asking one for a few years. There’s been many complications with the upstairs/downstairs thing.

BA: People got angry and changed other people’s minds. Then we did some electrical things. We changed the panel and then we got power.

KW: This is the true underground, though. All these termites. Hacked electrical.

JA: Back in the day [it was always like this]. For our genre and style, we really don’t have a venue. If you play reggae, jazz, contemporary you can play everywhere. This genre we choose to play in, the venues are hard to come by. It’s hard to have 8 different metal promoters on the island all trying to book shows every weekend. People get tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. On the Big Island, we kind of try to keep our shows once a month or every other month. Make people itchy for the music, then they’ll come. If you oversell yourself, and you don’t give yourself a quality show, then you lose the market of your crowd. [People] are like, “Who’s playing? That’s the same band as last time.” We always try to introduce new bands. What we do in Hilo is we pull straws [to determine the line up]. If we have 5 bands, we have 5 straws. It’s not necessarily Augustine closing the show. Everyone is equal.

BA: What way do you want to go with this interview? Edwin [from Voice of the Island Artists] wants to write more about the music. What is your angle before we give you our entire diary?

KW: I sort of extract from everything. A lot of what I’m interested in is – I want to educate bands about other bands. Also educate bands here about the way to go about making a good scene. It sounds like you have some good experience with that. The things that you were just saying I find very interesting. The angle of the zine is to get people interested in the music scene and let them know what’s out there and let the people in the scene learn from other people how to do things better. That tends to be what I’m interested in.

Augustine Member: The only way to improve the scene is to support it, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

JA: We’re not saying we’re the best, we’re not saying we’re the worst, we’re just saying that we are hard working. We are constantly just knocking on doors that tell us no until they let us in. We prove ourselves to them. A lot of places in Hilo say “No. You cannot play metal in my bar.” Then it is a matter of getting to know the owner and say “Let’s try to do this show.” We have our shot and it works out and we keep doing it. A lot of times they’re like “First time if you screw up a show, you’re never going to do a show here again.” We opened up like 5 doors that way. By throwing the show that we do and how we run them is professional.

All the bands look up to each other. All the bands on Oahu look up to the bands on the Big Island. Big Island bands look up to all the bands on Oahu. We’re on the Big Island going “Ah, those Oahu bands are going crazy!” For them is the same way. We’ve made a lot of great friends which is Stoic, which is Trepidation, which is Green Eyes. All these great bands in this scene keeping it open for other bands to come in.

We’re spreading what we do. Just like being in the Scene Zine. When we start spreading it through, it’s a voice. You guys are dated history that we end up sending to Checkford guitars, Ibanez, Tama drum sets. Hey, these people are doing articles, record labels. They’re [on the other end] going “Wow. Hawaii is making noise. They are starting to speak now. Let’s start paying attention to bands in Hawaii.” Because we are all equals. There is no band better on the mainland than in Hawaii. It’s just because they’re nearer to all the record labels. Hawaii ain’t making noise, so we’ve been trying to unite everybody. All the bands, all the genres. Sometimes good, sometimes band. But, we keep trying and you know what? The more noise the better. We [Augustine] have already made enough noise that London hears us, Greece hears us, Canada hears us. We are heard. Again, when [Augustine] comes here, we are sharing what we do. We have a lot of people that look up to us and how we run our direction. We have a lot of people that want to get better, that want to be inspired, which is great.

JA: The first band was Blind Faith and I went on Jason Miller’s site [www.808shows.com] and looked at metal bands in Oahu. I was doing shows on the Big Island and I thought it would be cool if I brought a band from Oahu. So I was looking and I called Deep Wounded, Dagra, and another band. Two of them didn’t answer their phone, but I got Ryan’s cell. I was talking to Ryan and I was like “Hey, man. I’m Jeremiah Augustine from Made in Pain Records and we’re going to be doing a show in Hilo at Uncle Mikey’s? Do you want to come do a show with us?” They don’t know us. We don’t know them, but three days later he called me back and said “Yeah, we’re down.” They’re on a compilation record with us now.

Me and my wife basically started this up because a person in Hilo running the music said “You cannot play music here unless you have a drummer and a bass player.” We played acoustic music. We came from Oahu [where] we played 4 to 5 nights out of the week.

BA: So we said “Well. Let’s start something. Something big and different.” We went through a lot of networking with different musicians to become what we are now. It was doing all kinds of ghetto shows. We wanted to [be more professional].

JA: We got people in their bedrooms or their houses learning a skill and a craft. Saving their money to buy this $4000 guitar amp and not have a place to shine. What we try to offer is that place for people to shine.

BA: We were wishing that something would start. But instead of hoping for someone to do something, we just do it. Then we began networking with all the bands.

JA: On one hand, we are an unreal death metal band. Then on the other hand we have the unreal acoustic corny love song duo. Cyndi Powell is going to be on our acoustic compilation record. We’re going to do Borders shows. I want to do a Borders thing where Cyndi comes up and I do the Hilo Borders and the Kona Borders, and if it works out there, then we set something up for the Borders here [in Honolulu].

BA: Right now, for me, it’s the best time. We don’t have to rely on the record labels. And, you know, the internet. You can reach [people] on the internet. That’s how we got [in] Terrorizer Magazine. It’s all in your hands now. There’s really no reason why you couldn’t make it if you push hard enough. So we’re trying to do it ourselves until somebody comes to help us along.

JA: We both have day jobs. We have three beautiful boys and we have a [great] band. Just like you, we are trying to start something. Everyone’s trying to start off. We are getting venues. We have 5 on the Big Island. We got more coming in Kauai’i. More coming in Maui. Eventually it’s going to be big shows.

If we go knocking on doors, then doors will open. We could be sitting in Hilo playing our shows going “Someday, somebody is going to get us. One day somebody is going to find us.” No. Nobody is going to come find you. Don’t expect the mainland to call you up and go “Hey. I heard about your band in Hawaii. You guys rock.”

We just released our first album, but very shortly, we’re going to be in the studio for our second. We are getting support from the Hot Topic GM. The last GM from before asked who’s you guys name of your band? [We] give them our card and we got in the door. Now, a year and a half later, things happen. Everything takes months. Years. Your CD is sitting on some promoter’s desk for a year and a half before they actually listen to it. You think they gave up on you, but they never heard it yet. So you cannot stop. You cannot quit.

JA: I want Augustine to be the unstoppable monster and become bigger than the Ozzfest. You know, we’re allowed to dream. The Augustine-fest. Augfest!

JA: The promotion is all you need now. If a label wants to back us, they would have to back us knowing that Hawaii is home base. We have children. We have family. If we fly out there, we are coming back home. We will enjoy rocking out on the mainland, but home is in Hawaii and our children will always be a part of what we do. Already, we talked with Metalblade, but they were like “Well you got kids. You got babies.”

BA: They’re going to profile. They’re going to say we got kids. We’re married. We’re not going to be able to tour. But we would make it work.

[Many of the current band members were previously fans who wanted to play in Augustine for a long time. Thanks to timing. Thanks to space that needed to be filled, these members joined the Augustine “family.” They have a new lead guitarist. Their first lead guitarist from what I understand. Everybody makes practicing and band time a priority. They all have the same vision for the band. And sometime or another, everybody gets a flyer mission. Everybody. In fact, HECO just threatened Augustine for covering their light poles with posters all over the Big Island. As for the lead singer, he was a fan. At one of Augustine’s shows, he asked if they were going to play Roots Bloody Roots by Sepultura. They said no because their lead singer had quit the day before. The fan volunteered to sing it and found himself in the recording studio with Augustine a week later.]

Bringing Indie Music to the Masses

by Aaron Kirk
The question has been posed to me many times and in many different ways. “What’s wrong with indie music and why are we not making it?”, or put more bluntly, “why is my indie band not able to make money with our music?” It took me many years (I’ve been working closely with indie music since 1998) to figure out what this difference truly is.

Surprisingly, the answer is not the obvious one, which is money. Yes, bands signed to major labels are often backed by a major marketing budget, but there are things that we can do as a music community that can boost our success to rival even the fattest corporate wallet. Remember, a major label artist might sell two million albums, but they’re getting a fraction of every dollar received. Indie bands are not contractually obligated to make 500+ people rich. To make a good living at this, indie bands need only sell a reasonable amount of CD’s and merch. Focusing on these facts… these benefits that are ours and not the major label bands, is what can set us apart, and put us ahead. So what do we have that the big guys don’t?
We have independence. We have freedom. An indie band is free to be creative, to follow or not follow the popular genres of the day, to insert odd time signatures, to play something that is not radio friendly. An indie band has the freedom to write the music that they want to write, to sell merch or not sell merch, to tour or to stay home with their children. The major labels’ “signed” bands do not have this freedom. They might have money, but they do not have musical freedom, nor do they have the control of how that marketing dollar is spent.

This independence is an important thing to have. It would be a shame if independent music was to fall by the wayside in the shadow of commercially-produced, music-for-money that we are constantly exposed to in today’s media. Yet, it seems that indie music is always fighting for its place; for recognition and for the exposure that mainstream music achieves so easily.

You want indie music and indie bands to find mainstream success? It starts with each individual. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
1) What’s in your iPod?
I’ve had countless conversations with musicians who complain that it’s too hard to get their music in front of people and how the major labels have everyone brainwashed into thinking that signed bands are the only good bands. While at the same time, they have their MP3 player full of Tool and Slipknot (yeah, Slipknot is signed to Roadrunner Records, which some people consider an indie label, but wake up folks! Warner Music Group owns over 70% of Roadrunner’s shares!). Don’t get me wrong. I love the music that both Tool and Slipknot make, but how can we complain about the lack of indie music support when we’re not supporting it ourselves? What percentage of music you listen to on a weekly basis is indie? If everyone would include into their collection 10% indie music, the tides would change. Indie music would gain value and appreciation, and indie bands would start making money.

2) The indie music you DO own, did you pay for it?
Ah, a dirty little secret out there that we are all familiar with. File sharing programs gave the world the false impression that music distributed on a per-song basis should be free. Along with this, many bands that are getting started are SO desperate to get their music to the masses that they give away more CD’s/MP3’s than they sell. Not that getting your music into as many hands as possible is a bad idea, but when you are in the position to receive a band’s music, why not offer to buy it?

3) Have you supported indie music financially by buying merch, music and tickets… even if they were offered to you free?
We get invitations to see bands play live every week. Nearly all of them tell us that they’ll send us tickets or leave our names at the door. Assuming the event is reasonably priced, we tell them that we’ll pay at the door just like everyone else. Yeah, your friends put you “on the list” so you can go to their shows for free, but why not pay? Is a $5 to $15 cover at the door more than you’re willing to spend to support indie music? What if everyone felt that way? And more importantly, what if everyone felt a deep desire to support YOUR show when you were playing? The next time you hear someone say “Dude, I’m the drummer for _________ (insert cool local band name here), let me in free.” Tell him to pay the freakin’ cover… and then make him buy the band a beer. Also, buy a CD and a shirt while you’re at the show. Unlike the cover charge which often gets split with the venue, this money generally goes right to the band members. Add some indie band Tshirts to your wardrobe and support the lifestyle!

4) Are any indie bands in your top myspace friends?
I’ve seen a lot of myspace profiles with major label bands in their top friends. Do you think they need the support? Do you think that they appreciate or even see that you’re showing them love? Now an indie band can really benefit from being in your top. If 20 of your friends check them out and add them, that’s potentially new fans for them that they wouldn’t have otherwise. So if you’re a huge fan of AFI, or My Chemical Romance or Barry Manilow or some other signed band or artist, put it in your profile that you think that they totally rock! But support the indie bands in putting them in your top friends list.

5) When you’re adding friends in myspace, do you actually listen to the band’s music and read their profile?
Myspace is more than “a place for friends”, it’s a powerful marketing tool and a way for bands to get their music, their look and even their merch to an endless pool of new fans. One of my pet peeves is mass-adding on myspace (called “whoring”, although this name really does a disservice to great prostitutes everywhere). The last time I checked, being someone’s “friend”, by any definition, meant knowing something about them. Those individuals and bands that just click ADD ME and run (or worse yet jump on some annoying “whoring chain” simply to gain the bragging rights of having a friends list in the 5-digit range), suck. It’s like always taking the penny and never leaving the penny. I run the Rude Maneuvers myspace and I’ve left friend requests with quiet a few bands, but I can tell you this. I’ve read at least a portion of every single profile on our friends list, and any band that I’ve added, I’ve heard their music. I’m not saying that I’ve heard every song they have posted, and I don’t always listen to the entire song, but I get to know the “friend” before I add or accept. Why, you ask? Respect. That profile is there to get them fans and to get their music out there, and because I support indie music.

6) Is there anything in your professional life (at your job) you can do to support indie music?
What do you do for a living? Can it help indie bands? Can you get your boss to provide some flyers from the office copier, stickers, a P.A. system for a show, a sponsorship, a place to put on a show, or anything else that may benefit indie music. Not everyone works someplace that can provide something, but maybe your boss would let you hang a poster in the window, or put a stack of flyers on the counter. If we all get in the mindset of thinking about providing support at every opportunity, it will begin to spread and come together.

7) Do you go to indie shows…even if you don’t know the band?
Another complaint I hear often is “not enough venues let local bands play”, or worse yet I’ve heard, “It sucks to play _________ (local venue) because they don’t do anything to market the show and so no one shows up.” Funny thing is, I hear from club owners things like, “we don’t like to book local acts because they don’t do enough to market their shows, and no one shows up”. Clubs book bands for one and only one reason. To make money either at the door or at the bar. Clubs that have ‘Disco Night’ do so because people will pay to come and they will buy drinks. Believe me, if your band can draw 400 hard drinking, yet respectful fans every night, you will not have any evenings free. Here’s the paradox, bands want the club to provide them a place to play AND a crowd of new fans to hear their music, and club owners want bands to play that will bring in their own crowds and spend money. So how can bands get more venues to open up to the idea of hosting local music events? Pack their clubs and you won’t have to ask them if you can play… they’ll ask you. So the question is, when you go out on the weekends with your friends, instead of going to the local karaoke spot or the sushi bar, why not check out an indie band? Go see some live music and show them love even if you don’t know the band. Yeah, they might be awful, but ya know what, I’ve seen a lot of major label acts play live and I’ve winced at the mic feedback, and the singer singing off key, and the guitarist out of tune. Its live music, baby! Go for the entertainment and the atmosphere, you just might become a new fan! And if you do convince your friends to go, let your freakin’ hair down and get up front at the stage. There is nothing better to an indie band then having people get into your music in the front row… and nothing worse than having people line the back walls with their arms crossed, looking at your through a big, empty room. The word spreads about empty rooms and packed houses… to music fans and club owners.

8) Do you help spread the word when other bands are pushing to sell CD’s or marketing a show?
This is one of many instances where the “do unto others” rule applies. If your band was trying to recover the $1500 you just spent having your new CD pressed ($10 at a time), wouldn’t it be nice if everyone you knew sent out a myspace bulletin and grabbed a handful of flyers to hand out? When your band is playing a show, wouldn’t it be great if all your friends emailed everyone in their address books? This is an easy one. Send out an email to your friends, even if they’re not in the same state. Think of it like sending wedding invitations. You’ll send an invite to your rich Aunt and Uncle in Alaska even if you KNOW they can’t make it. It can be rewarding to spread a local bands’ name outside of the state. It creates a buzz, and remember, it’s all about who you know… and those that they know might know someone important. Name recognition is everything for your band. Help a band spread the word, and it’s likely that they’ll return the favor for you.

9) Do you listen to music across genres and outside of your music preference?
Being the founder of Rude Maneuvers Industries, I spend a lot of time connecting with not only bands and musicians, but athletes (skaters, BMX-ers, MotoXers) and store owners who are all entrenched in this lifestyle. I find that many of these people consider themselves “core”, which translates into “outwardly only supporting a small number of bands, styles, brands and shops that fit into the narrow genre that they and their friends choose to support this month”.

Here’s a paraphrased segment of a conversation I recently had with a kid at a skate shop:

Me: “So what do you think of ________ (local skater who just joined a popular skate team)?”
Kid: “He’s wack ‘cuz he wears _______ (clothing label gaining mainstream popularity).”
Me: “Oh, why don’t you like _________ brand? I happen to know that they support indie skaters and some indie bands.”
Kid: “I’m CORE bro. I only wear brands sponsored by pro skaters, I don’t shop at stores that sell ___________ (insert 4 or 6 mainstream clothing brands), and I only listen to CORE music.”
Me: “I’ve got a pretty solid indie music background, what do you consider CORE music?”
Kid: “well, I only support indie punk and hardcore bands.”
Me: “Who are you listening to now (I motion towards the kid’s iPod).
Kid: (stammers) “Uh, right now I’m listening to Fat Joe.”

This confirmed a valuable lesson I learned a long time ago. People like diversity, but don’t like to admit it. I’ve seen indie bands have this same mentality. They diss a band because they claim to be metal, but they have a DJ… or they diss a band because they call themselves punk, but they have a keyboard player, or they diss a band because they bill themselves as a hardcore band, but they have don’t have a double-kick. Then the amateur critic gets in his car and rocks out to some major label band that is a fusion of rock, hardcore, metal, punk, hip-hop, funk, etc.. (Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Deftones, Ministry, Incubus, Rage Against the Machine, Avenged Sevenfold, Opeth, Green Day, you name it. They all use elements of different genres to create their sound.) That same amateur critic will later brag when showing off his CD collection that he’s “really diverse”, as he parades his assortment of classical, old school rap, metal, punk, and even a few reggae disks (of course the Hall & Oates and the Steve Miller Band CD’s, those are his girlfriends). The bottom line is this, if it’s indie, it is someone’s art and needs to be respected. If we as musicians can climb down from our musical-genre pedestals and get out to see a variety of bands and styles, some strange things might happen. The indie music fan base just might grow, show attendance will get bigger, clubs will be more open to hosting indie bands, we all might make some money at the door… and you just might meet some cool new friends that rock it indie, just like you.

10) What have you done for indie music THIS WEEK?
We can’t all be Metal Sanez and devote our lives to helping indie bands, but we CAN keep the above 9 questions in mind as we’re living our lives. How important is the indie music scene to you? How far are you willing to go to help it out? Can you promote someone else while you’re promoting your own band? Any paradigm change that we can make will help. Why not buy an indie band’s CD when you’re shopping for a gift for your buddy’s birthday? Think about hosting an indie band exchange with a different city where you set up local shows in your city and let the out of state band crash at your house. In return, they’ll do the same in their city and both bands will benefit. Give thought to what you can do on a day to day basis to make this love of ours thrive.

So the original question that was posed at the beginning of this article was basically asking “what’s wrong with indie music and why are we not making it?” I pose this answer. We are what’s wrong with indie music. If we don’t support ourselves, how can we expect the rest of the population to jump on board? I would guaranty that the CEO of Green Peace drives a hybrid car (or no car at all!), and the President of Pepsi Cola drinks Pepsi products, and the Chairman of Annheiser-Busch drinks Bud. We all need to walk the walk. Indie music will gain value with the mainstream population when and only when support from its inner circle becomes universal.

* * * * * * * * * *
Reprinted with permission.
Aaron Kirk is the President and co-founder of Rude Maneuvers Industries, LLC and Rude Maneuvers Records. Aaron has actively supported indie music for nearly a decade and has practical experience as a vocalist, guitarist, producer, songwriter, band manager and entrepreneur. Aaron’s current projects include providing business support for several bands, producing an up-and-coming hip-hop group, finalizing tracks for his guest vocalist appearance on an indie band’s CD, co-judging the RMI “Battle of the Bands”and co-producing a music showcase being held in Honolulu, HI. Send inquiries to Aaron Kirk at info@rudemaneuvers.com.

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Hawaii's Underground : Local Music | Art | Tattoos | Independent Businesses
A Printed and Online Publication

Issue 18 Articles

Interview with James Mercer of The Shins

One Life at a Time
A Party to Make a Difference

Goodbye Wormwood

Are You Ready for the Hip Hopalypse?

Augustine: Uniting the Metal Scene

Bringing Indie Music to the Masses

Hawaii's Underground : Local Music | Art | Tattoos | Independent Businesses A Printed and Online Publication

Issue 18 Articles

Interview with James Mercer of The Shins

One Life at a Time A Party to Make a Difference

Goodbye Wormwood

Are You Ready for the Hip Hopalypse?

Augustine: Uniting the Metal Scene

Bringing Indie Music to the Masses

Hawaii's Underground : Local Music | Art | Tattoos | Independent Businesses
A Printed and Online Publication

One Life at a Time
A Party to Make a Difference