Agents...who needs em?!

Hi there,

Why would you use an agent to get you gigs?

It's an agent's job to have strong relationships with venues, event bookers and even other agents. A good one will harness these contacts to get you work you might not otherwise get - and then manage the booking so that you can focus on just entertaining the masses. It's quite a luxury, well worth paying for in my book, that allows you to just be a performer and leave the business to the business people.

Now before you get the wrong idea, I'm not hear to praise all agents from the rooftops - it is an occupation up there with car sales and real estate in the trustworthy stakes, in some cases. However, one of my pet hates is entertainers constantly bitching about their agents (not suggesting I don't indulge in that sport myself occasionally). I booked a weekly singer songwriter night (PopTarts) for almost 10 years and while I wasn't strictly an 'agent', I certainly did a lot of the same work they did. And I can tell you, it's bloody hard! Dealing with publicans who measure entertainment success in terms of schooners sold and entertainers for whom the notion of promotion is a nebulous one can be frustrating and soul destroying. So before pissing on your promoter, try doing their job for yourself.

The problem is, a business hat doesn't always sit comfortably alongside an artistic hat on the same head - not everyone is cut out to balance books and belt out a ballad as well. But I do believe everyone needs to pull their head out of that creative soil just briefly to at least learn the basics.

Like many of my fellow songstresses, I've been doing this long enough that I have a pretty good idea what venues and event organisers are after. We should know how to do our own promotion and paperwork and understand the importance of being a business buff as well as polished performer. No one knows better than the act themselves, what they need, so could we just cut out that middle person - oh and save that at least 10% agent fee? Yes and No.

It's a tenuous world of work that I inhabit, where a gig can disappear on a whim. So I book about 50% of my work directly and the rest through a handful of agents I have built a rapport with - I like to share my eggs around in different people's baskets. I guess I just have to hope I get to deal more with competent cockerel types than the cocks.

See you next time!
Amanda
www.amandaeaston.com

5 Reasons you SHOULD Sing Covers

Hi there,

I know, last blog I said there were 5 Good Reasons NOT to Sing Covers...but a record does have two sides, right?!

1. Practising your Craft: Being an original artist is, ah, an art! But it is also a craft. Singers with good breath control, pitch, delivery and range can highlight their art much more effectively and regular gigs make a fertile training ground. Sure you can do regular original gigs but in the early stages of your career, there are more cover gigs around and they are likely to pay much better too. The Rolling Stones were a Blues cover bands before they gave us true satisfaction. And having to sing other people's songs, written for their style and ranges, will really stretch your technical abilities. 

2. Walking the walk: As well as the actual singing, cover gigs will perfect all the other skills that go into becoming a great live performer like stagecraft and connecting with audiences. Whether you're being a cool indie chick or channelling Madonna, the skills are part of the same showbag.

3. Making the Contacts: The music game is the music game and there are many players including agents and venue owners you will be able to cultivate while doing cover gigs.

4. Learning from the Hits: Performing other people's songs to audiences night after night gives you an insight into what songs 'work' and why. Valuable info you can feed into your own songwriting.

5. Making Money from Music: I never forget a conversation I had at a party after being introduced to a fellow independent artist. He asked me what my day job was. I told him I sang in covers bands and the look of horror on his face was unforgettable - he didn't hold back in expressing shock and contempt at my choice of income. I returned the question and he told me he was a painter. OK, so he was an all round artistic type that managed to make a living from his artistry, good for him. I wondered if it were landscapes of Picasso-esque stylistic masterpieces and so I asked him what he painted. He answered 'houses. sometimes fences, mainly walls'. Oh.

Music is a wonderful job and whether they are my masterpieces or someone else's, I can't think of a 'job' I'd rather do.

I've just joined a soul/funk/blues/motown/swing band called Red Light Orchestra. I wonder what narrow pop pathway I would still be on if I hadn't had the experience of singing covers like this. Because what you can't learn about soul from Al Green and the gang, cats, well it ain't worth knowing!

See you next time,
Cheers,
Amanda

The Name Game - Hairy!

Hi there,

What's in an album name? I mean what was Adam Ant thinking when he released 'Dirk Wears White Sox'? Oh that's right, it was 1983. A decade for great album names, like Jermaine Jackson's 'Let Me Tickle Your Fancy'. I can see how the 70s could sire REO Speedwagon's 'You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish'. But what was Paul McCartney's excuse with his 2012 offering of 'Kisses on the Bottom'?

So, I'm trying to come up with the name of my new EP. My first album was called 'Amanda Easton'. Well I'd run out of creative energy after writing all those songs! The second was 'Chanteuse' suggested by an audience member. I like that one but the pronunciation caused consternation among radio DJs everywhere who ended up calling it 'Chantoozie'.

I have been stewing on the name for the new EP for quite a while. Mentioned my dilemma to husband, as he was hanging out the washing this morning. He said, quite out of the blue, how about 'Out of the Blue'? It's the name of one of the songs on the EP and it has double meaning...

Around 10 years ago, during an annus truly horribilis, I felt that my head was on fire so I dyed my hair flaming red. Fast forward to two years ago and life delivered me another corker to send me running for the dye bottle. (At least it wasn't a tequila bottle - we all have our particular coping mechanisms!). 
'Blue Velvet' I now am and 'Out of the Blue' is the name of the new EP.

If you'd like to be involved in it, please check out my crowdfunding link: www.pozible.com/amandaeaston and check out this little vid:

Cheers,
Amanda

Time to Pop the Cherry

Hi there,

I find it pretty intimidating playing brand new songs to someone for the first time. It’s one week until my first original gig of the year – where I’ve committed to perform some brand new songs destined for Album no 3...

It was a bit easier for me in the past when I mostly co-wrote songs. Like a trouble shared is a trouble halved, so the blame for a dodgy verse structure or naff lyric is not entirely your fault when more than one person has authored a song. This time, as part of the whole ‘do something that scares you’ routine, I’ve decide to write the whole bloody album by myself. The audience at Lizotte’s next week won’t hear entirely virginal songs, however – they will have been heard first, of course, by my fabulous accompanist.

I thought I’d try to make his job easier by recording rough demos of the songs I’ve written so far. A bit of midi drums and even a bass line, to give him the vibe man.  After his first listen (while I watched my knuckles turn white in another room), he said he didn’t ‘quite get’ one of the new tunes. But that one is supposed to be my Goldfrapp-esque dancefloor hit! He said it sounded like monkeys had played the drums in the opening. Things took a turn for the even worse when he started talking about my show tune. SHOW TUNE!? Oh you mean the sultry tear-jerking blues number? Oh dear. Things thankfully did improve when the songs were stripped back to the vocals and chords and his arranging skills were added on top.  Percussion-loving simians have now been banished and Minnelli-like melodrama has melted away.

Note to self: do not under any circumstances attempt to be a music producer. Don’t give up your night job!

The Best Things In Life are Frightening

Hi there,
Now I'm not talking about extreme sports here although perhaps the reasoning is similar. If you're a performer reading this, have you ever been backstage, about to go on and felt your nerves knot, stomach churn and brow dot with sweat? Maybe you're saying to yourself, 'What if I forget the lyrics? What if nobody likes what I do? Why the hell do I put myself in this position?' I read once that Deni Hines regularly vomited before getting on stage for a particular show.

I think part of the reason why the hell we do it is Adrenaline and other natural chemicals. I've decided that a bit of fear is actually good for you, and dare I say it, feels good. I think of all the greatest happenings in my life and fear has been an important factor in all of them. Leaving home at 17 to live in at a country university where I knew noone? Exciting! Leaving a well paid corporate job to become a professional singer. Crazy? Perhaps. Scary? Definitely. Falling in love? Cue that fight or flight syndrome, quickening heartbeat and of course that lovely Dopamine.  Having a baby - surely one of the scariest but most fulfilling things a human being can do?

So sometimes I wonder if I do things in my life on purpose to get my pulse racing, without even realising. I did hear someone advise once, that you should do something every day that scares you.

My latest attempt to keep myself unnerved is booking two gigs where I've committed to play a whole swag of new tunes. That's daunting on its own for me. Trouble is, I booked the gigs - and started promoting them - without actually having written any of the aforementioned songs.

16 days to go until the first gig. Yes I am freaking out just a bit. I am a notoriously slow songwriter and 16 days would be a reasonable timeframe for me, for the first draft of one song. But I can honestly say I like living here out on a limb. The best things in life are frightening.

Terrfiy me, please.

What Do You Hate Not Doing?

What do you hate not doing?

I love this question. It seems easier to talk about what you love doing, but for me, it's the things in life you can't do without that really matter. I've had a helluva year and while things seem to be on the up now, I've never thought more about the things I would miss if I weren't around anymore! I saw this blog from Derek Sivers (founder of CDBaby and all round smart bloke). I've also just finished reading his fabulous book 'Anything You Want'. 

Things I hate not doing? Definitely in order: 1.Being with my family and friends. 2.Writing music and singing. 3.Eating. I love lots of other stuff but they're the only ones that really matter. Here's Derek's blog, below (from http://sivers.org/blog).

'We've all asked ourselves, “What do I really love?” or “What makes me happy?”

I've wrestled when the emotion-based answers conflict with expectations. (I'm a musician, but I love working alone. Does that mean I should be a producer instead of performer? I'm an entrepreneur but I hate doing business deals. Does that mean I'm more of a CTO than CEO?)

Last week I thought of it a different way, that I like better:

What do you hate NOT doing?

(What makes you feel icky, irritated, annoyed or off-track if you don't do it enough?)

I hate not programming.

Programming, to me, is the ultimate purposeful creativity. I have so many ideas in my head of websites that would make the world a better place if they existed, services that could help people. It's just a matter of taking a thousand hours to type it all out and turn ideas into reality. Any week not programming is a disappoinment to myself and maybe to others.

I hate not writing.

There are so many things I've learned that I think would help other people to know. Things I wish someone had told me sooner. Things that have made my life better, brighter, or wiser. I want to tell everyone these things before I die, in a well-explained way so they're not misunderstood, and easy to pass on to others. And more new ones are added every week. So I have to keep writing to get them all out. Any day I'm not writing, I'm falling further behind in this goal, which I makes me feel worse.

I hate not biking.

I love the adrenaline rush of riding my bike. I love knowing it's good for my health, and making my legs and cardiovascular system stronger so I can bike across India soon. I love it so much that when I don't do it for even a few days, I get annoyed. When I see other people biking, and I'm not biking, I get jealous.

I hate not talking with friends.

I'm in my own head so much, that I love hearing what my friends are thinking about instead. I love how my friends think. I care about them and feel icky when too disconnected from them for too long.

Asking the double-negative seems to be a better indicator of what I really love doing, than asking it in the positive.

Anyway - I'm probably overlooking some of my own, but now I'm more curious to hear yours.

What do you hate NOT doing?'

I'm a Which? I'm a Singer, I'm a Writer, I'm an 'Other'?

Aka 'Cover Bands Suck'


When I was a little girl I wanted to be a singer. I was persuaded pretty early on that singing should be considered as just a hobby, so it wasn't until my early 20s that I grew a backbone and did something about it. At that stage all I cared about was getting up in front of people and actually singing - and ideally having them like it. I was hugely envious of the duo at a local restaurant - they were actually getting paid to sing in front of people. I left my upwardly spiralling career in Public Relations. Microsoft Australia was my main client and they couldn't believe I'd leave them for the uncertain world of music. After a few months of said uncertainty (and Dad asking on a weekly basis 'Have you got a 'gig' yet?') I found myself in regular singing work and actually getting paid for it! Now have you ever noticed how your heart's desire, once realised, becomes simply a stepping stone to the next, even greater desire? So now the aim was to write, perform and record my own songs, be not just a singer, but a...wait for it - artist! Artiste? 


I did get to achieve my new heart's desire, still doing it, but I still 'just sing' too. I've talked about it before, but there's an amazing snobbery around singing covers, ie other people's songs. We definitely need to support new, original art whether it be music, theatre, literature etc, otherwise culture becomes stagnant. But I think there is a place for performance of all types. Even if that involves my third rendition of 'I Will Survive' this week thank you very much. 


I remember earlier on in my career being introduced to another singer-songwriter at a party. We naturally talked about our music and then he asked 'What do you do for a living?' because it is a rare person indeed who can make a decent living from their own music. I said proudly 'I'm a singer.' Suddenly I had a communicable disease going by my companion's reaction. He waxed lyrical about selling out, selling soul, selling just about everything - this is what I was charged with because I sang other people's songs? This was the first (of many) times I had come across this reaction and I wondered how he made his honourable, principled crust. 'I paint houses,' he said. Oh.


Of course, I've experienced the other side too. There have been more occasions than I'd like to count where I've been pouring my heart and soul into the performance of one of my self-penned tunes only to be interrupted by 'Do ya know 'Eye of the Tiger'?' from an enthusiastic audience member.


Anyway, I came across an interesting blog by Artist Manager (among other things) Corie Anziano on covers vs originals and there was quite a bit of heated commentary too. 


By the way, on that 'supporting original music' topic, I'm performing some brand new tunes at Lizotte's in Dee Why on Wednesday November 9 and El Rocco Jazz Cellar on Friday November 18...both fabulous Sydney venues - would sure be great to see you there!
Cheers,
Amanda