Top 10 reasons NOT to give up

1: Everyone who ever told you that you can’t/ Wont….Don’t you DARE prove them right!

   2: You will regret it for the rest of your life and anyone involved with said quitting, you will secretly resent as well

3: Do you REALLY want to? I doubt it!

4: Because it’s like working out, or trying to date someone that isn’t necessarily sure they’re ready but you both know its right…..If you do it, with all the struggles and trials and bad things that no doubt will happen, you will look back and be so grateful for the ride.

5: THE RIDE!!!! OMG the bad and the good and everything in between is what makes this whole damn thing worth it.

6: Because, musician or not, things that you have to work this hard for are so great and test your character, morals, motivation, and even stamina. You find who you really are and when you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone, which you have to a lot whether its pleasing a different crowd, or telling a booking agent to fuck off because they’re ridiculous, its good for you to stand your ground and be who you are.

7: You will learn what drives and inspires you. If you believe in Karma and Chi you know that this sort of thing is the best for finding your center.

8: It’s different than what most other people do in their lives and someday you can inspire others with your commitment to something so different and really looked down on. People never think you’ll make it so when you can do what you love against all odds its inspiring no matter what level you’re at.

9: You learn who real friends are, who has character, who will stab you in the back for a dollar, and who will stand behind you when you act like a total douche. Some of the best actors I ever met were musicians who act like they’re you’re friends because as any of you know, we can all help each other somehow. There is a LOT of people who will use you. The reason not to quit here is that when you find your friends they’re so everlasting and important to you that you will have people you can rely on that you may have never met otherwise.

10: Because if you were really passionate about this to do it and say you want it you would NEVER give up. Everyone has a split second where they say ‘maybe I should just be done’ but it’s in you. Its part of you and you need to do this if you’re REALLY passionate about it. Do not let the pressures of society get to you. Don’t live your life wishing you had.

Booking....all up in your face!

I want to send out unwarranted advice to any musician who is interested in booking gigs.
If you are paying someone to book that doesn't give you information for your gigs it makes YOU look bad when you're late, missing equipment you needed etc so if you can get a handle on this yourself, you're golden AND you will make more $$. If you find someone who can do this for you as well as you could without getting you blacklisted from gigs, TAKE IT!

I get asked about booking....a lot. If you don't know...Ty and I play A LOT. At LEAST 1 show a week. Average 2. Sometimes 3 and on a crazy week 4 but that's VERY rare. But still..its not quantity. its quality. I could make us play every night if I wanted to but we still work full time and that's rough. Because I am able to get us booked on a consistent basis for months at a time, I somehow have started getting asked advice. At first I though it was unfair for me to give advice on something I know very little about. Then, I started talking to the people who were asking and it occurred to me...We have been doing this...this intense.... for a few years now.
I decided that perception is 99% of success. If you ask someone when their next opening is, and they say 2 months or 3 months down the line, its a little impressive. If you ask and they have no shows nor prospects, it takes away a bit of dazzle. Tell me I'm wrong here.
Some of the people who ask have yet to play out live.
I encourage this. Performing live  scary as hell, and yet empowering and suddenly your song is over, and unless your crowd is a bunch of ass holes, you get this feeling that can't be beat. It may be applause, it may be silence, we all have our own desired result. Nothing is better than playing a song you really feel with all your heart and nailing it and then that rush that comes.

So. Here is my advice. This is not the bible. This is not set in stone in any way. Something I do may NOT work for someone else. As a matter of fact...adopt that idea NOW. If someone else is doing it, try something else. Sorry...its the way of the music world.
First. Do an open mic. You'll NEED to make sure you like it. I have seen people that said 'I want to play music SOOO bad!!!! and then they hated it...not many...but a few. Rinse and repeat. You need to play a bit before you start asking people to book you at venues and even more to ask them to pay you. Why would you hire someone to babysit your kids if they have never been around kids in their life?
Next, where can you perform? Obviously, If you're under 21...there's no reason to call bars.
Lets say you're us. Why? Because I don't know what has happened to everyone else....sillies.:)
Don't DECIDE where you can perform. Unfortunately, at least in Utah, very few "venues" besides clubs pay the musicians. This means, if you want to make a living, you need to figure out how to play a bar crowd. Do you HAVE to? Remember earlier when I said this isn't the bible? Ok. :) (playing a bar crowd...there is no advice. Figure it out your way because someone else's way is not YOU and crowds sense that.)
Play anywhere that will take you if you have to for the first little bit. Some places never even listen to your music and you open for heavy metal. This is perfectly normal. And I think good for you. If you can't hang with what ever is put in front of you, you'd better get good at it. Our first gig in SLC was at Burts Tiki Lounge. Nice folks. More than that though, you're getting experience.

How do I find gigs????
Ready??????
Get a phone book, or, if you are against hard, hold in your hand books with paper, go to google.
I will continue with phonebook reference. Translate to Google where necessary.
Open it.
Go to the yellow pages.
Look up bars, clubs, coffee shops, restaurants, pubs, entertainment....anything you can think of that associates music.
Pick a place.
Call them.
When they answer ask first (if you don't already know) 'Do you have live music there?' If they say no thank them and move on. If they say yes, ask them how a band would go about booking a performance there sometime. They will direct you one way or another from there. Do what they say. email? Call? Call after a certain time? (very common) Do it. If you keep calling back doing every thing you weren't supposed to do they will hate that.
Build your list and keep it. As you go you will run into multiple repetitive listings and you don't want to call the same place 3 times asking if they have live music. Also, you're building your call list. This is imperative to booking. I literally went down a copy of the phone book bars and restaurants yellow pages with a highlighter, called them all, asked if they had live music, and highlighted the ones that did. On each call I got any info on booking or took notes if I was to call back later.
My point of this initial calling was to get my list done and ready so I could call and look to it next time.
Its something I try to do again later and then will continue to do periodically to keep my listings up to date.
Booking is hard. Its scary. More than that, its time consuming to start. Just get to the point and be polite and courteous and professional. Booking people can be assholes, dicks, and bitches. Don't let it get you down. And remember, something bad has to happen at least once or you're dreaming.
A few years (Yes more than likely years) in, you will have met many new people along the way. Sometimes a gig you play for free will lead you to a paid opportunity. (Remember also, the easier you are to work with, reasonable, and nicer you are, the more likely they are to want to have you around). We have scored SOOO many amazing gigs from free gigs. We got booked at pride because we played at a free fundraiser gig and a guy who books for Pride happened to be there. Funny thing was we finished our set and Fox13 came in to film for the news so they missed us and we were sort of sad we were missed but then booking at Pride Fest is AMAZING and it was 100% worth playing that free gig.
We did a free gig at The First Unitarian Church that has music all the time and it lead to a few people that now email and hook us up with gigs.
We played at a summer concert the other day for free that lead to the manager of the restaurant giving us his email to book paying gigs.
Do NOT think you are above a gig. Either you love playing or you don't but you are not better than anyone or anything if you're just doing what you love. Otherwise, it becomes work. I don't want to work my life away. I want to play music.
Just remember, if you love something, you will find a way to have it. You will do what ever it takes, to get that to stay in your life, and you will be glad you did. Push through the crappiness of the first year of booking and then all of a sudden it pretty much does it on its own.
Remember that feeling older musicians? :)
Here are a few tips to help you.
Try this website indieonthemove.com  You can find venues you know or don't know and even gives you contact info for many places. It also lists the styles of music that they book and sometimes tells you if they pay. You can book in town or across the country and you can contact other musicians all over the US about gig trading.
Also, if you're stumped and google isn't helping try face book. It takes a little patience to find the right place to go but there is a way to search for live music in different cities. Its cool because many places wont be in a google search but they do have a face book page.
Good luck guys :) And remember. Booking SUCKS but if you can get good at it its so easy and pretty much does it on its own.

30 Things I've Learned in 30 Years

I apologize for not writing for so long. Honestly, between work and music and also having a shitty laptop that is so slow it takes forever to register typing it's been hard. But. No more excuses.
I will start back in with something that just came to me and made me HAVE to start up again. From my phone. Because my laptop. Ya know lol.
Everyone keeps acting like turning 30 is such a big deal. Sure. It's the end of a certain time in life. Like high school graduation. Suddenly there are things I feel are less socially acceptable and growing up is a little more important. But I feel no older than 25. It's all on the inside. So here I go. MY list of what I learned and opinions I've formed in 30 years.
1: Do things sooner. We all wait too damn long to follow our dreams and then wake up and we forgot about them. If you are inspired let it be and go for it.
2: Standing up for myself is 100% ok. We all deserve to be heard and no one should make you feel nuts for feeling a certain way. It's also 100% ok to stand up for someone else even if no one will agree with you.
3: I would love to have Giselle's body BUHliEVe me! But. I'm Hott damnit and that's just fine. Being happy with yourself MAKES you attractive. I'm like a fine wine. I get better with age. I feel better. I look better. I know myself better.
4: Pay your bills first. Then have fun.
5: Have sex, make out, fool around, and.....you know. Other stuff. It's healthy and fun and good for you and no one should die without feeling one of those feelings. Just one.
6: I tell the truth because a close family member is a habitual liar. It hurt my family deeply. I won't lie to you. If you're have something hanging from your nose I'll tell you and if I think you're making a mistake I'll tell you but I also value a sensitive friendship. I may tell you you're being stupid but I'll also tell you l love and support you.
7: Being A little selfish sometimes is ok.
8: Do it if it feels right or regret not doing it when you had the chance.
9: Keep your private battles private except for a very few close friends. Too many ears cuts your battles value and clouds advice.
10: Thank people often.
11: Gay people are just fine by me and add an extra umph to any party ;) I am pro LGBT and have a very strong stance that if you are lucky enough to find somone you love, thats all you need and no one has a right to tell you other wise. On the same token, to come out or change your sex wouldn't be an easy thing socially and I respect the guts it takes to do so.
12: Politics are bull shit. It's a bunch of rich ass holes fingerpointing.
13: You can become famous for REALLY anything. Just do it over and over enough until enough people see you do it that you're mentioned in conversation. Done.
14: Dream Big It's Free!
15: Traveling is a must.
16: I am the nicest bitch you'll ever meet. Be good to me and it's returned. Wrong me in a real way and see the wrath. It's not fun.
17: Nothing turns out like you think
18: We can't do it all. We can't have it all. We can sure WANT it all.
19: Dissapointment starts and ends when you're born and when you die.
20: So does happiness
21: The best times I ever had were sober. Alcohol is fun but not everything.
22: It's ok to loose at the game 'I've Never'.....Depending on the raunch level.
23: Change is scary. Its also inevitable.
24: Sugar is bad for my teeth and everyone in my family gets diabetes but I eat sweets a LOT. Live it up while you can. This also applies to more than sweets.
25: Sacrifice is hard but necessary if you want something.
26: 30 shows no signs of wrinkles but I am tired more. Fighting that is good for you. I have to make myself do things more than I used to. Make yourself do things.
27: Work out. No weight loss? Who cares. It makes you feel good.
28: Playing games is for the young and patient. I am FAR from patient and never liked playing games. Save yourself some time and heartache. Don't play games.
29: I never broke a bone in my life but I have many scars from love. I have had more relationships, loves, and losses than most normal healthy people and I wouldn't trade any of it because sometimes we don't know what we DON'T want until we have it. AND Sometimes we don't know what we DO want until we don't have it.
30: This has become my motto. 'The only thing in life you CAN control is whether or not you have regrets.' I have some regrets and mostly its things I DIDN'T do. Keep that in mind.

These are the highlights of what I have learned. I know there are more but its hard to fit every piece of wisdom in a top 30 list. :)

Honestly, 30 years have been sad, happy, awful, and wonderful so bring it on 40!

No blog this week....

Just wanted to see if you'd read it ha ha. Any ideas for future blog subjects?:D

“Come to me my pretties”

It seems that no matter what you’re taking about, keeping with and ahead of trends can turn anything into gold. But have you ever heard the phrase ‘All that shimmers is not gold’? I sure have. So what means “Gold” to you I wonder? Now, I know Ty and I are musicians and talk more about the music biz than anything else, but I think a lot of us forget that music IS a business. Therefore, why can’t some of our blogs include everyone? Well, they can but I don’t know if they will because I have never owned a restaurant, or a law firm, or anything else for that matter. I owned a car once…. I don’t think that counts.
I digress.
Today, I hear more about the glories of Social Media than anything else. I agree that it has its power, for one who not only knows how to use it, but uses it religiously. Lives for it. Those people can do anything with it, and when I say anything, I believe ANYTHING. Ty and I do not lol. This is why I feel a sense of relief when I see articles posted by gregdowns.com like this: http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/eight-recent-social-and-technical-phenomena-that-are-making.(copy and paste url) Bruce Warila essentially says you CAN succeed without being deeply committed to social media sites if you know how to play to your audience. If you can peak an interest in your fans ….wait…..Lets start from the beginning. I have no fans. I have no product that is worthwhile. If I have a way to make a product that people will like (= LOTS OF HARD WORK), if they see/hear it at a trade show, concert, etc., I only need a few things to happen. One or two people who like it can and probably will post something on THEIR social media site. If I have something people want to see, they will tell their friends, and their friends will show up. If I have people show up, guess what… we look cooler… and cool is and always will be ‘In’. Suddenly, someone posts a video of us performing…YouTube…check. Every time someone likes that video or post that a fan put up, we gain credibility (I heard all about this last night at a conference and will touch briefly on it later) as well as coolness. Remember? Always in. Now we have a brand, a product, and guess what, we didn’t have a website, a YouTube, a twitter, a Facebook, a MySpace, a reverbnation, a Flickr, or any other of the thousands of sites out there. Do I recommend this? No! Why not? Because making a product into ‘Gold’ is a slow process WITH those things. Imagine not having them. But… *Whew…sigh of relief* Can I just say it? I HATE social media! I have felt it’s a necessary evil! And yet, here I am, writing a blog… about social media… saying I hate it…and referencing websites, Facebook’s, twitters, etc. So, CAN it be done? Yes. But I don’t recommend it. Besides, if you think about it, WE may not have a webpage or those other sites in this story, but we are still using them through other people. I mean, before Newspapers, radio, and TV, (the ORIGINAL social medias) there were NO megabands, or were there? I mean, without some sort of circulation, how would there be? I would LOVE to hear some input about this if anyone knows anything about it. I googled it but couldn’t find any info.
It seems to me that we as earth (ha ha) are breeding a new sort of artist. An artist with an ego larger than life. To have access to people in other states, countries, MAYBE planets lol, seems quite the accomplishment. No wonder so many crash and burn and become total monsters! Suddenly we have access to EVERYTHING at the snap of a finger. This brings me to the next point. http://music-promotion-blog.blogspot.com/2010/06/do-you-use-marketing-match-or.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MusicPromotionBlog+%28Bob+Baker%27s+Indie+Music+Promotion+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
We are in the flamethrower age. We are all throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks when in fact we should be nicely wrapping that shit in a box and tossing it to a few people here and there…wait lol. Read this article for realzies! I just don’t know how to better paraphrase it and it’s short.
The last thing I am going to talk about is credibility. Someone brought this up at a social media conference last night and I apologize for anything that may be misconstrued or taken as a bash. I am not going for that. See, what is ok for one person may not be ok for another. When building your credibility, you are deciding what you will put up with, what you will be known for, how reliable you are, if your fans, friends, and tweeps can trust you. (Why don’t Facebook fans have a cool name? Like, Friendbookers or Facebros/Facebitches? I like the latter.) Don’t fall prey to those companies that tweet for you, that message people for your, that take over your whole social media persona for you, and I’m sorry, but autoreplies are just as bad to me. Now, a great point was made. If you are honest and tell your fans etc. that you’re busy and keep them engaged and let them know what you’re doing that you can’t reply to everyone then you don’t have to worry about that. But ALSO, if you don’t follow someone on twitter, they can’t direct message you so DON’T follow EVERYONE on twitter. Simple.
To come full circle, we are in a mirage of a simpler time. With access to anything we need, we forget that bands played, toured, performed, and made a living BEFORE these sites. Don’t get me wrong. I know people who I believe will be very successful either at these sites or because of them, but successful none the less. But there is such a strong focus on these sites that we forget that we just need a great product. What does that say about Ty and me? We need to work harder to have a better product. We need to be more engaging, more exciting, and more fun. If you’re not a successful musician (remember? What is ‘Gold’ to you?) So do you. How? That’s only something YOU can decide. We are all in a creative right brain business. Don’t limit yourself to music. It can be done. Will it?

My first blog

Hello. And welcome anyone. This is my attempt to make a sort of journal of our road to success as musicians with details about how we get where we're going and all the spectacular events we get to be a part of as well as the amazing people we get to meet.

I wish I would have started this 2 years ago, because I think that If I had, it could have maybe helped another struggling artist in their journey to find their success no matter what level that may be.

For now, we'll do a quick back story. Im sure as time goes on I will add stories from the past.



Ty and I met about 3 years ago this March. I had just moved back from doing door to door sales in Washington State, and Ty was a flooring installer who had recently been a drummer in a band. We met because I played at an open mic and he heard about me and my friend Mara introduced us. We haven't been apart since. :)

I had been playing solo once every 2-3 months at coffee shops and pretty much woke up one morning and said "Im getting Old. Its time to quit effing around if I really want this." I knew that if I didn't get serious about being a musician then, I never would and I would regret it for the rest of my life.

I had tried out for American Idol in Washington just before moving back to Utah, and though I didn't get far, I knew I had something special and NO ONE could tell me differently.



So, Ty and I. We began jamming a little here and there and I was playing at open mics and things like that. Once Ty and I started dating and getting serious he was pretty much performing with me all the time. I remember literally telling him "I'm done messing around. If you want to be together I'd love that, but, I am really going to hit this HARD! I want to play every weekend, all three days if possible. I want to tour, I want this. So if you're in, you're IN"

He said "IM IN"

We haven't looked back lol



Our first show in SLC was at Burt's Tiki Lounge at 10 pm on a Wednesday night. It was rough because we didn't have a reputation to get us weekend shows, we didn't know anyone to open for, and we certainly didn't know where to ask to play.

I am sort of the main Booking agent, as we have rationed out the duties. Ty is the Manager/PR/Producer/Sound guy. I am the Booking agent/advertising rep/songwriter...i guess lol Thats the jist of it.
What happened next? Keep reading :D