What the Opera House Taught Me

Hi there,

I recently co-produced and performed in a show 'Ladies Sing the Blues: a Tribute to 100 Years of Billie Holiday' at The Sydney Opera House, and, well, it was a sold out event! Forgive me for being boastful - but it's a big deal to me. And I really want to remember the important things I learnt from being part of this experience, so I'm writing it down:

1. Get the Best out of being in a Theatre: A theatre is a very different beast to your standard rock venue. About 50% of ticket sales are made through a theatre's own channels so their marketing is vital. However, access to their marketing channels isn't automatic. You need to be on their e-marketing mailouts, 'what's on' brochures as well as have printed and digital posters in their foyers and car parks. Asking for these opportunities once will probably not be enough. Keep asking, politely. Don't forget you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

2. It's a Theatre so be Theatrical: Consider multimedia. We used rare audio bites of interviews with Billie Holiday between each live set, creating atmosphere and visibly moving our audience. 

Co-Producers Amanda Easton & Lady Cool

3. Maximise the Space: Most rock venues (in Australia anyway) offer you a fairly set template for your show eg, two x one hour sets starting at 8:30pm, with a 20 minute interval. As producers in a hired theatrical space, you can make up these guidelines yourself, within reason. Next time I would consider adding a Matinee alongside a night time show to get value out of the venue and crew costs.

4. Understand the Box Office: One of a producer's first jobs is 'building the Box Office'. Know what you can charge for tickets ie how many seats do you need to sell to break even and what kind of ticket prices will the market sustain/expect? Consider all your direct ticketing expenses including taxes, ticket printing charges, 'Inside Charges' (the theatre's cut) credit card costs and third party agency (eg Ticketek) fees. Consider how student and pensioner discounts, media and promotional comps will affect your bottom line. Insist on daily Sales Reports so you can see what marketing is working. We were almost at capacity a week before out event so we knew, for example, that a newspaper ad then would be a waste of money.

5. Have a great professional business team: Ours included co-producers, a patron/executive producer, commercial printer, a photographer and a publicist with great contacts in Metropolitan Media. TV and Radio give vital exposure as well as add legitimacy and prestige to an event. Social media marketing is important but not enough. You need good Marketing Collaterals, including a promo video, cast photo, press release, media backgrounder and eye-catching graphic art and strap lines.

6. Don't forget you're an Artist too: It is very easy to get caught up in the all-consuming business of putting on a show and forgetting that you are part of the show as a performer too. Having a Stage Manager helps separate your responsibilities as producer and performer on the night.

7. Don't be Scared to be Scared: The feeling (akin to dread or perhaps indigestion) I get in the pit of my stomach when I feel like I'm taking on more than I can chew - that's a good sign. They don't call them 'growing pains' for nothing.

xAmanda
www.amandaeaston.com

Facebook is not for (Music) Business

Hi there,

Of course I'm being contentious in my title so that you read on :). Facebook is fabulous for spreading the word about gigs and new releases, inviting people to events and much more. What I don't think it is good for, is business communication. 

I've heard two musicians I respect say in this last little while that they wouldn't take seriously any approaches for gigs that they received through Facebook. I personally have a policy of 'say yes until you have to pay money or sign something' when it comes to just about any offer because some of my best experiences have come out of the most unlikely places, BUT I do tend to agree that professional business approaches should be made the old-skool way, either on the telephone or via email. 

Even the humble txt message seems somehow more solid than Facebook. Maybe it's because these 'unsolicited' Facebook messages end up sitting alongside the ones from widowed men from the American Armed Forces who 'wish to has a nice and loveliness relationship with a woman who has a good sweetness and understanding' or strangers with names like Richardo Gustavo offering to build muscles in areas you didn't know existed.

Good old fashioned email is searchable, fileable, a lot more flexible when it comes to attaching large files and is less likely to be blocked by someone's workplace than Facebook. And if I'm knee deep in my work I won't even be logged in to FB - those funny cat videos are way too distracting. I also feel that Facebook is a bit like a rock tour: what happens on Facebook stays on Facebook. That seems to mean that what people say doesn't have to have the same element of truth that it does in other mediums. Yes yes they'll go to all those events you're inviting them too - but they don't actually mean it!

So, if you want to meet me at The Red Sea so we can swim with the dugongs on a trip that will ensure we 'get to know each other better', go ahead and ping me on my FB instant messaging, but Gmail for gigs please.

See you next time,
Amanda

Jazz ain't jazz!

Hi there,

I can't count how many times my brief at a gig has been 'jazz' but I've ended up doing everything but. Even wikipedia admits 'Jazz' is a slippery beast to define. I'm talking Ella, Louis and Duke when I say Jazz. My mum says Jazz and means 'lively'. I've heard many a muso make a booboo and call that 'jazz'. I think a lot of venue managers like the 'cool' that the word jazz conjures but don't actually want the blue notes. After all 'Jazz on the Deck' sounds much better than 'a bit of pop music outside there past the pokies'. 

So when I've been booked for a 'jazz' gig and ended up doing anything but, it's not because I'm being a rebel - after all I know where my bread is buttered and I always aim to please the client. But sometimes, well, we entertainers actually know what we're doing! We are being booked because we are professional and know our craft, right?

I remember being booked for a wedding where the bride gave us a list of all her favourite (non-Jazz!) songs us to play at the reception. They included songs from Garbage, Portishead, Blondie, Morcheeba and the like - a woman after my own heart when it comes to taste in music. But not for a wedding. As soon as we cracked out her requested rocker: 'I'm Only Happy When it Rains' you could see the tumbleweed rolling across the barren dancefloor. 

So we played 'Moondance' and 'Love is in the Air', like we always do at a wedding and suddenly all was right in the world. The bride was happy because everyone else was - and cavorting bodies on the dancefloor is the best yardstick for a wedding band's success. 

So I soon learnt that when dealing with less-than-experienced clients, my job was to nod my head, smile and say 'sure' and then turn around and play what actually works rather than what was asked for. What is the point of hiring a professional and then telling them their job? When you hire a chef you may choose the dishes and of course it will be to suit your tastes, but you don't tell them exactly what ingredients to use and how to combine them. Jazz, rock, polka - whatever works is what is best. In the end, as Mr Ellington himself says, 'it's all music'.

See you next time,
Cheers,
Amanda
www.amandaeston.com

Sinead I love ya, but...

Hi there,

I saw Sinead O'Connor at The Opera House this week and her voice was in fine form, her band was firing and she was adorable in her shyness. I've been a long term Sinead fan and her breakthrough album 'The Lion and the Cobra' remains in my personal top 10 Albums of All Time. I know from overheard pre-show conversations that some of the audience this night were there purely because of her worldwide smash hit 'Nothing Compares 2U'. Rolling Stone rated that tune in one of their lists of the 500 Best Songs of All Time. 

Now I love hearing an artist's new material and of course a concert is always going to promote a current album, but I'm sorry, it is not your work post-1991 that allowed you to sell out this concert hall. And yes you are an artist and must do what inspires you in the now, but don't you think you have an obligation to play at least some of the songs that brought you here and now? I loved your gentle monk's chant and the never-heard-before acapella performances you gave us. I understand why you are sick of singing the Prince cover that made you really famous, but where was 'Jerusalem', 'Mandinka' or 'Jackie' - nothing from that magical first album?! We did get 'The Emperor's New Clothes' but with a concert clocked at just over an hour, and devoid of almost any of the truly famous, popular songs, the show was actually a case of emperor's new clothes with so much promised but little delivered. 

I saw Neneh Cherry on the same stage a week before (she played for two hours). Her album 'Man' sits right next to Sinead's on that list of mine. Neneh started this show playing a lot of tunes from her new album. She then reached down, picked up a piece of fabric, tied it around her head like she used to do in her early career and said something like 'I want to live in the now but let's go old skool for a while'. She proceeded to pepper hits like 'Woman', 'Man Child' and of course the big one, 'Buffalo Stance' throughout the remainder of the set, taking the turban on and off as she went back and forth in time. Now that's more like it! The versions she did of these hits weren't exactly the same as when they were released - she managed to stay in 'the now' while incorporating her history and pleasing her fans at the same time. And when I say 'pleasing', the crowd leaving the Opera House at the end of Neneh's show rode a cloud of exhiliration and inspiration whereas that leaving Sinead's was definitely underwhelmed. Can you imagine an Eagles show without 'Hotel California'? Led Zeppelin without 'Stairway to Heaven'? Fleetwood Mac without 'Go Your Own Way'? Is crowd pleasing so bad? I think it's part of your job... our job as performers and artists.
Till next time,
Amanda

And since she didn't play it, I will: Jackie

Should you Produce yourself?

Hi there,

I am the person who, in between hairdresser visits, hacks at and colours their own hair. I got down on my hands and knees and sanded and stained the damaged floorboards in the kitchen rather than call a professional and I decided I could produce, direct and edit my latest music video all by myself. So I'm no stranger to do-it-yourself.

One area I don't go near, however, is my own music production. I have lots of ideas and I put all those ideas in a multi track demo that I give to a producer. He sees through my suspect sounds and mootable mixing, sprinkles some fairy dust and suddenly what I hear in my own head comes to life. I've heard a lot of self-produced artists recently and each time I've come away thinking: great singer, great songs, but there is something missing. I'm not suggesting that there are no great artists who are also great producers - Michael Carpenter at Love Hz Studios is one of those and Floyd Vincent did a great job on his recent live album. But I think that a lot of artists aren't equally good producers and, while hair does grow back, no-one really looks at the kitchen floor and I might get away with a DIY film clip for one of my songs, I know my home baked production would be half baked. Just like I think singers need singing lessons, I think artists need producers. If nothing else, it's a second brain and pair of ears to prod you out of your comfort zone... or perhaps reign in the wilder reaches of creativity and lend some consistency to a group of tunes that will end up as an album or EP. 

Songwriter's songs are like their babies and we don't take kindly to criticism of our offspring - but let's face it, often it is required. And you might think the little tacker would look terrible in a stripey onesie but it could just be that the pattern brings out the absolute best in their complexion. It takes a lot of years to become a good singer. It takes just as long to become a good producer. So if you have been spending most of your time working on your singing and songwriting, why not leave the knob twiddling and audio magic to the guys and girls that have been spending so many of their waking hours on that craft?

By the way, you can judge for yourself, my DIY filmclip (this is the remix version).

http://youtu.be/dhI5nL0jsuY

'Till next time,
Amanda

Shameful Tributes!

Hi there!

And happy 6th Day of Christmas.

In a newsletter I sent out a couple of weeks ago, I was promoting a show I produce and perform in, called 'The Princesses of Pop'. It is a fully costumed all-ages show paying tribute to Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry. A friend of mine, who is a keen music fan and supporter, often passes on my newsletter to his mailing lists to give me extra promo. This time he gets a caustic reply from one of his muso mailees. Along the lines of... (Ok, I'm copying and pasting here, so this is EXACTLY what he said with name deleted to protect the innocent):

'Supporting and promoting a cover band of US mass marketed talentless artistes. I didn't think you would sink to such subterranean depths - SHAME, xx, SHAME'

Really? I know tribute shows aren't necessarily considered cool, but personally I think 'cool' is terribly overrated and I've always known I've had no cool to lose! To be honest, since first putting this show together, I've been waiting for some kind of backlash. As a friend of mine said recently, the trouble with the music business is often the musicians - they're just too cool for their own good. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to play only the music you love and deem to be 'cool' but if you want to be in the 'music', or even, gasp, 'entertainment' business, then sometimes you have to look outside yourself. 

Anyway, the 'talentless artiste' I am 'mimicking' in this show is Lady Gaga. The more of her concerts I watch and the more songs I listen to, the more respect I have for her. She's brought outrageousness back to Pop where it belongs and has many beautifully crafted, irresistibly catchy pop songs that she sings with a strong, rich, properly-trained voice - and anyway, 'pop' stands for 'popular' right? Maybe more cool muso types would like her if she were playing at the Sando...

Have a Shameless new year everyone!

xAmanda

Rehearsal - not for professionals?

Hi there,

When I first left my 'real' job to become a singer, I spent a lot more time rehearsing than I did performing in public. In my very first band, we would rehearse at least twice every week, for gigs that were few and far between. Now, warning bells peal if I get a call to work with a band that 'rehearses regularly'.

Now don't get me wrong, thank goodness I spent all those hours holed up in musty studios all those years ago - it's invaluable time that helps hone the craft. But when you turn professional you rarely have that luxury. Getting a group of pro musicians in the one room at the one time is difficult unless you're prepared to pay them. I probably prepare and practise more for gigs now than I ever did in those early days, but now those neural pathways are mostly forged on my own time. The rehearsal studio is the venue where all the hopefully well-practised pieces of songs come together - it's all about the polishing and the buffing.

I made the mistake once of agreeing to join a band who rehearsed every Tuesday night. I loved the concept of the band, so I jumped in. The band leader sent me a list of songs and the date and venue of the first rehearsal, so I spent some hours getting the repertoire down. I try to aim for about 80% of the final product for a rehearsal - I want to be really familiar with the melody and have the lyrics and form charted out but leave a bit of room to move for changes that invariably happen during the first run-throughs. The band leader called the first song on this first Tuesday and the guitarist asked how many bars were in the intro. Then the bass player asked if it was a single or double chorus. The piano player asked me to sing the melody of the verse so he could work it out. The drummer said 'I haven't really listened to this but I think I've heard it on the radio.' I should have listened to those bells. 

Learning is vital, preparation is critical, but they shouldn't be done when you're in the room with everyone else. Rehearsals are not for learning, not even really for practising. So what's the bottom line? Rehearsals are not for rehearsing...and always listen to bells ringing in your head.

See you next time,
Amanda
www.amandaeaston.com