Matrix ran a link today to this Denver outfit, called Revolution State.
Right there, on the front page, frontman Ben Pebley runs his Livejournal. In which he:
(1) complains that he can’t figure out how Trent Reznor manages to give away his music for free.
Sorry, Ben, with all due respect, you’re doing this incorrectly.
I’ve never heard of you. And since the mp3 samples on your “discog” section are broken links, I still have no idea what your work sounds like. Without some reference, I’m not inclined to drop $10 on your CD. Just trumpeting your love of Einsturzende Neubauten and Coil won’t quite do the job. You still have to get people to notice you. Living in Denver won’t help either–have you toured on the East or West Coasts lately?
Perhaps the “provegan animal liberation revolution” needs some work.
(Message to Dave Lovelace: read their Livejournal and tell me what you think.)
His reference to “rare and unreleased tracks” would indicate that this project is not, in fact, a local upstart, but a global uber-glom with tons of collectible product. These people don’t sound like asswipes to me, they just sound young and inexperienced. I haven’t exactly figured out how to make a buck in the industry either, so who the fuck am I to talk. All I know about these guys is that there is a bit too much sexy synth posing going on & not enough of anything else that would work for ’em. I checked out their MySpace page… some of the music sounds all right… a bit dry, maybe… but they ought to give away half their tracks free as a lure to sell the CD, not worry about free distribution (i.e. free advertising), try iTunes out, or just give up the whole pretense of worrying about the gas money this hobby brings in, and give EVERYTHING away. Trent makes money from his concerts, you idiots. Go play out 200 nights a year. Nobody like you/us ever made money from a goddamned record deal, so just forget about that. I guess this should be as far in as I go with this line of thought, since I’m just an additional douchebag with CDs for sale on MY site. But I am at least old & beaten down enough to recognize it as nothing but the hobby that it is, and value nothing more than the scattered online friendships I’ve made along the way (Eric, et al).
We’re all musicians now.
No separation.
I have to agree with Dave, I think if these folks put half as much effort into their music as they do posting Livejournal entries, web sites, taking “artsy” photos of themselves, and flaunting their body modifications, they might have a product worth $10. Trent Reznor got to where he’s able to release free albums because, while he did quite a bit of gothy synth-posy stuff on stage, he also was a classically trained musician who could write a decent tune and put in the 90% perspiration it takes to see a good song to completion.
It’s funny how the “Ben” in question complains that he can’t afford all the gear he wants – from the page on their studio at http://www.ataphones.com/revstate/reddwarf/reddwarf.htm
they’ve got quite a bit of swish gear that would be the envy of many, but I really don’t think they’re using it to anywhere near its full potential.
Actually, he is doing it correctly.
He’s put a pic of his hot babe GF/Frontperson on their myspace page. It’s a different pic today but yesterday she was looking pretty fine w/ cutouts in her shorts/ lots of lipstick/ etc.
IMHO there is no way in hell that 95% of the people who clicked on the link would of gone there without the synth babe pic.
Who cares about his music; I hate to say it but there’s 1000’s of bands out there who do the same stuff. Very few of them have synth babes!
WTF? Why the hell is this even on this blog? Seriously… what do you care if we wish we could give our music away like Trent Reznor does, but we can’t because we have actual overhead to take care of (and a lable who wouldn’t allow it), and we had to buy everything ourselves to make our music with?
Also, we’re not from Denver. Also, we’re not self released. We’re on Vendetta Music. Also, I am the “synth babe” front person, and I’m not just a frakking front person. I compose music, and write all of the lyrics I personally sing myself. Also, we have never had professional photos taken of our band (though we probably will for our upcoming release Viridian Resonance, because we know a photographer now). We do happen to have some body mods… what the hell do you care? Have you seen the rest of the so called “industrial” scene? What made you decide to pick us out of the crowd to bash on?
Furthermore, how dare any of you presume you know how much time we spend making our music? We’ve been working on our upcoming record for 5 years. And as far as Ben making any kind of commentary on our blog… that’s exactly the point. It’s our frakking blog, and we can say what we want. So, screw you admin. I assume you must be the person who made the douche bag anonymous comment on that blog entry, because no one else in the world seemed to have a problem with it.
Oh, and one more thing: why bother mentioning we’re vegan/ animal rights? Just for something to additionally jab at?
@ Dave Lovelace: I am a huge fan of Packrat, so thanks for not bashing us too terribly. That would have bummed me our even more than finding this post.
Nobody has any business playing industrial music in Denver. It means nothing organically in a place like that. It’s just a taste you brought in from somewhere else. You really do need to get near some saltwater and outrageous real estate.