Hit, Hits, Hits!

It's got to be the hits, man!

Ok, I get that, but in truth, hits, or hit songs, are for the vast majority of songwriters, out of reach. The basics require a lot of legwork, networking; preferably in the hometown of the genre, think Nashville or LA, and, foremost, songs that are being looked for. Music publishers, agents, and the like, are the gatekeepers between you and your targeted star and the thrill of hearing or watching said star playing your song. And no matter how brilliant, fun, hauntingly beautiful your song may be, if it's not what they're looking for, it's just another song in a sea of millions.

But take heart, there's a beavy of folks out there ready willing and able, for a small fee, to get you to the golden land. I know, I get they're emails all the time. And I don't begrudge them for taking a moment of my time, but I went through this years ago.

At some point you have to decide what you want and how far you're willing to go to get it, and, and this is a big and which a lot of people don't like to own up to, are you or do you have the esthetics, which is a fancy term for the look, to present to your target audience wha they expect to see?

That's big.

And it buries a lot of performers and bands.

But we're talking about the hits! Bands without hits go nowhere, no matter the talent level. Every town has talent, players who will take you to the cleaners; that's life, but their bands never made it or only made it to a certain level, say local versus national. Some may have been one hit wonders. I remember that back in the 80's, the guitarist playing with Jill Sobule had been the guitarist for Sugarloaf (Green Eyed Lady), Bob Webber. And that's not a knock on Bob, he's had far more success than most of us ever will, but anyone who has been in this business knows, life turns quick and you do something different.

In my case I just wanted to make my music without a lot of direction, change, and most of all, a lot of debt. I did it my way and because of that, and a lot of obstinacy, I am an unknown, but I'm ok with that. And I don't mind writing songs for people and I try to give them what they want, but what they get is a Mr Primitive tune...something not too many others have (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Looks like I went off-track

As everyone will tell you; don't try to write a hit. Write what you write and go from there.
You never know.

So, what kind of music do you make?

One of the incredibly delightful parts of getting back into the music biz is describing and defining your sound; what kind of music do you make?

Well, what is my Sound?

Not that long ago I'd of just said Rock music, and those who grew up in the age of Rock would probably understand because Rock was a fairly expansive category in popular music, and it was popular. And at the time that's what it was. Now it still is, but not like it was and it now needs further categorization. Is it soft rock, or hard rock, or heavy metal, which in this day and age; assuming you listen to metal at all, is an archaic term, or is it something else?

Hmmm, something else...

When I listen to the albums I've produced, pre-release, and go over the many sub-genres available to label these older albums, all of which were recorded in the early to mid-80's, I inevitably slam into the same wall because to me it's just Rock music. Not Southern Rock, a term that started with the Allman Brother's Band, (who, incidentally, didn't care for the label, it was, as they stated many times just rock n roll), or progressive Rock, or glam, or Rockabilly, or...you get the drift.

Perhaps Rock was the wrong term to begin with, but I don't exactly know. To me, it's simply modern music based on the popular esthetic I was brought up with. But at the time I was growing up all kinds of music was waffling through the air, Rock, Pop, Swing, Jazz, Classical, Country; mostly on their own stations, but quite often there were crossover hits and on TV, back in the three network universe, you were exposed to any number of different acts; just check out the old Ed Sullivan or Dean Martin variety shows of the 60's to see what I mean. All of these influences infused my music. As did the fact that I was in bands, mostly school bands and orchestras, for all of my formative years. I listened to and played a lot of different music.

So how does that answer the question? It doesn't, but I think it aids anyone listening to what I've produced over the years, and this is more true of the music I'm producing now. Once I got into my own little groove and my own little DIY world, the music I've made is basically popular music driven by whatever influence the song found in me, be it Rock or Jazz or Country, whatever. And the albums themselves began taking on themes through which the songs worked. The idea and focus was that the music was a journey, basically 45 minutes long-the product of the limitations of what you could legitimately put on a vinyl record-and meant to be listened to from beginning to end. The time limit has ben amended given what digital recording affords, but I've stuck to that premise whether that's how people listen to it or not.

Did I answer the question? Probably not. Here's my evasive answer; it's just music. And to be fair, I don't really label or categorize the music I listen to beyond basic genres; it's either pop, or rock, or jazz, or country or classical, and I'll stick with that even if it's a bit blurry.

If you still need a better definition, here it is: Mood music flavored with the stylings of pop-rock-country-jazz.

Works for me.

What the hell happened to Rock 'n Roll?

I've noticed a lot of teeth gnashing of late over the perceived demise of Rock 'n Roll music. You know, the stuff we listened to growing up; lots of loud overdriven and distorted guitars, bass, drums, possibly keys, and a strutting frontman with flowing locks and a high pitched wail.

Think Foghat.

Now, in truth, if you were to peruse the artists at say CD Baby or on Soundcloud (I assume some are there), or any other bands sites and looked for such artists, you'd find them along with all their mutant brothers and sisters, for R&R had morphed into a thousand different genres and a thousand different variants. Like Jazz and Classical before it, R&R has grown old, or if you prefer, mature. And if the kids are digging the scene, then as far as new stuff goes, they're on their own because Radio, land of the dinosaurs, continues the time honored custom of regurgitating the 60's, 70's, and 80's, and parts of the 90's, such as Grunge. New bands? Come on?

Is some of this is the fault of the speedsters; the fleet fingered types who arpeggiate the fretboard at blinding speeds as well as those that tune down and jackhammer metal, in all its sub-genres? Is metal even R&R? Maybe. Like BeBop before it, the very virtuosity that draws some, deters others who find it mind-numbingly pedantic. Pentatonic Blues rifters are also plying their wares, as they have for as long as the Blues has existed, but like Jazz it has it's adherents and the rest ignore it. Wannabe guitar heroes play to the stereotypes they grew up with; some costumed; some not, but as with the rest of the R&R lexicon, much of it is been there, done that.

So is Rock dead?

A bit of this teeth gnashing is by the the very lions of Rock; Gene Simmons of Kiss comes to mind, who lament their lack of recognizable offspring, yet again; what will they do that you have not already done? And if you're a binder or alchemist of sounds that have R&R elements but are not exactly R&R, then are you R&R, or are you merely an appropriator? Will it be a hip new sound or an abomination to the heart of our R&R nation? Is there a ECM/Rock amalgamation that will stir the nation, a blend of Hip-hop-rock? Again, maybe. Of course, there's always New Country if you're pining for a kind of R&R nostalgia.

The truth is times change- don't you hate hearing that! What was once new is now old, and while R&R has had a very long run, it's foolish to think it won't fade as its predecessors have. That doesn't mean that people won't be rocking away, it just means it ain't no big thang.

If, however, you're longing for the next Zeppelin....

So what exactly do you do again?

It has been impressed upon me that I've got to market myself, promote the brand, etc. It makes sense and it's the world we live in. The question then becomes how? Generally, you're young when you start down this path and your audience is young too, but the idea that I can still market myself to the young is both counter-productive and to be honest, a little creepy.

The other route is based on the idea that you should market to those who share a love of the music of known artists that you sound like or emulate. That seems reasonable except that the groups and artists I like or whose music I've drawn inspiration from, their fans are probably not that into artists they've never heard of and aren't interested in hearing something that sounds like their favorite music when they can just go back and listen to the tracks from their favorite bands catalog. Why should I listen to someone who sounds like the Beatles when I can just listen to the Beatles?

The third option is the genre route; meaning which genre do I fit into. The problem there is the music I make is basically pop-rock stuff with some country and americana thrown in when I go acoustic. And pop-rock has fractured into literally a minefield of sub-genres from the genera of pop and rock, not to mention country, folk, americana, jazz, ECM, hip-hop, rap, and bluegrass. Somehow I have to decide where I fit in in this miasma of choices.

It makes my head hurt.

But that's the nature of music today. Mostly it's just music played on guitars, keyboards, and drums. I like to throw in dream-pop, electric folk, indie rock; I play a lot of different stuff, but I do have my own sound, which is important; sometimes more important than a particular description.

Still, we march on; we figure it out; we have day jobs.

Maybe I should focus on tee shirts?

Year Two of Mr Primitive's Revival

I survived my first year back in the world of music. I suppose if the first period of my work had been more widely experienced things might be different, but in truth I had no interest in that at that time. My only interest was in creating the music. My fascination was in seeing what I could come up with and once I was satisfied with it; it was done and it was time to move on to the next song. I disappointed Brian in not including him more and I was stubborn in wanting the songs to be a certain way. And once I began feeling like I had nothing new to say; that I was repeating myself, going over the same ground, I stopped.

The question of why bring it back, of why begin again, is in the idea of the worth of the material; are the songs any good? It took me a long time to believe that they are; that there is merit in the work. It's odd to come to terms with something like that. You would think that once something is done, that once it is finished-and you did this-it's good. I don't have any unfinished music from that period. If I liked something, I finished it. If I didn't, I erased it; this was all back in the pre-digital age for me.

I haven't the slightest idea what 2017 will bring or how much more money I'll need to spend to become the legend I was meant to be. I do know that more of the Seattle period will be released, as well as the Denver period, the early stuff from 1980 to 1984. There will be new stuff, for me, for everyone else it's all new. Maybe I should have been more proactive in the 80's, but what I did in the 80's wasn't quite 80's pop or rock, oddly more in line with later pop and rock idioms, and therefore problematic when it comes to marketing etc.

It may still be problematic today in that there is much to swim through, but I'm there on Spotify and Pandora and the other streaming services and maybe some will take a chance and listen. I plan on continuing to perform and put out music and I'll do what I can to get the word out, but I'm still some sorta old dude now and that matters. But you never know. You write, you record, you preform; it works out. Someday I leave my family my catalog and they look at it and wonder:

What do we do with this?

It Was as It Ever Was

A year ago, being tugged along by mortality, I decided to get back into that music thing. I had finished the first new recordings in nearly 30 years and felt that it was now or never if I was to ever get them out into the public sphere. So I had the masters copy-written, art work commissioned, and journeyed out among the stars. I have released 2 honest to God albums, one, Apologia, from my Seattle period, 1985 to 1991, and the latest, We Three, from the present, which I refer to as the apocryphal period because it sounds fun. From those who listened I got plenty of likes, which I expected because the music is actually quite good. That may seem big headed, but I'm no rube and after more than 50 years of listening to just about everything I know good from mediocre and bad, and, as they say; if you don't believe in your work; who will.

I started performing again, mostly at open mics, to test the waters and find out if I could breath under water; all in all it was a lot of fun and I found that there a lot of my material I'd like to perform. I also realized that I'm not quite like the other performers and songwriters as far as material goes. That's not to say that their work was somehow lesser; to the contrary, I found it very interesting and enjoyable, just different. I'm not really a story teller as a songwriter. I think a better description is poet/emotionalist; a deeply pretentious way to say I sing to my own heart and and any others that wants to come along for the ride.

That then brings me to the direction of the upcoming year. I have a new group of songs I'm recording, and a whole slew of earlier recordings I desire to foist upon an unsuspecting public. The always percolating question is: where is this all going? If I were younger and had stars in my eyes, the answer might be to become famous and loved and wealthy beyond my wildest imagining, but I'm to jaundiced to buy into that. Yes, I went to Hollywood for the ASCAP conference and had a great time and hung around with all the other artistic types longing for the succor of recognition and acknowledgement, but I learned long ago that I was an uncompromising non-conventionalist in a business that has no time for that because there's no money in it.

At least not anymore. It came and went with the 60's.

I do though have a hunger to be represented in my art, whether in music or word, and without a presence that representation doesn't exist. So I have my website, mrprimitivemusic, as a repository of my work and a deep catalog which I will continue to add to because it's what I am. The problem is the catalog because it is ready to be heard, but there's a lot of stuff there, 8 completed albums, one that needs to be re-recorded, and the new songs; all waiting for me to get to it. There is also the rather daunting task of how or whether to get the word out, and not just a few folks out there would be happy to help for a small fee; results to be determined. Is the shell out worth the price? Will it make any difference? Perhaps we'll see.

The more important point is that there is a place for people to go if they so choose. At some point that's all I can ask, because i know if you go, you will dig it.

Now that I'm famous again!

It has now been about a year since I made my triumphant return to the music business and taken my rightful place among the protean giants, whatever that means. I've released 2 albums, gotten out of my comfort zone and returned to live performing, joined a number of professional associations, songwriters forums and groups, went to the ASCAP conference in Hollywood to hobnob with all the other desperate musical types trying to make good in these very interesting times, and reconnected with those publications, websites, and newsletters that keep me in tune with what I need to do to really get my music out there and make money and accept that statistically I don't stand a chance in hell of ever being anything more than an old guy pumping out very good records that no one will hear.

All very uplifting.

Minus the faux desperation, it has been a lot of fun. If you step back from the idiocy of trying to be a pop star, and, fortunately, most of the performers and songwriters I've meet aren't goo-eyed over becoming the next Taylor Swift, and are making an incredible array of interesting music. It's amazing how many people are out there making music; having fun and making the world a better place. All different styles and playing abilities, youngsters and oldsters grooving to the tunes, and proving that pulling out the earbuds and sitting back and listening to a person or persons playing live right in front of you is the best, whether it's Sting and Peter Gabriel or the kid playing his or her new song for the very first time in front of strangers.

All very uplifting.

I've added a few new items to my recording studio, electronic drums, some new effects, and a deep blue Rickenbacker 12 string. I writing and recording new songs, which is thrilling given how long I went between records, twenty some years, it nice to know that I can still write a song.

Speaking of writing songs, I've so far resisted the idea that I should do anything other than what comes naturally to me; I write what I write; I like what comes out and I know what's good, I'm not terribly concerned if it jibes with what the hit makers say because the hit makers contradict one another and say you should do something that stands out even if everything you hear them make sound depressingly the same. Which is too bad, but there is great music out there; whatever the state of pop music, the rest of music world churns right along, and if you spend a little time out there on the internet, you'll find more great music that you can ever listen to.

There's a lot of crap too, but that's life.