Gaga Got it Right (In Defence of Cabaret)

Hi there,

I know Lady Gaga is not everyone’s cup of tea – and that’s ok because there is no accounting for art or taste. Certainly her recent tribute to David Bowie provoked mixed reactions. The key word here is ‘provoke’. I think it’s great when music moves people and brings out their passion – isn’t that one of the most important jobs of art? I’m a big fan of Gaga but I’m an even bigger fan of Bowie. Funny thing is, while Gaga’s detractors criticised her for being ‘cabaret’ and ‘crass’ in her tribute, that’s exactly what Bowie’s detractors used to say about him! I’m not implying Gaga has reached the artistic heights of the Starman, but I think if he is in fact looking down at us from the stars, he would have approved of Gaga’s Grammy performance.

I don’t think ‘cabaret’ is a dirty word.  I was born with glitter in my veins and I believe that stripping away the ‘show’ and theatricality from our business has been part of its demise. I’m not a fan of mother-in-law jokes, faked emotion or jazz hands, which is what cabaret gets criticised for – but great cabaret is moving and capable of lifting us out of the ordinary. I think we need more cabaret  in rock and roll, not less. Thank goodness for the flamboyant likes of Bowie and The Darkness.  And now Gaga, following in their glam footsteps. 

When we started sticking one man bands in corners of pubs, without stages, lighting and all the fanfare and pizzazz we used to expect from live performances, I think it was the beginning of the end.  And of course there is a place for shoe-gazing, understated singer songwriter types but the reason they don’t appeal to me is the same reason I’m not a big fan of reality TV. I can look around me and see plenty of ‘real’ thank you. When I watch the box, I want surreal, wild imaginings, fabulous sets and costumes and other fruits of fantasy. I want heightened reality, not the everyday drama I can see if I look out my kitchen window.

So, here‘s to cabaret, old chum. And in that theme, here is my new music video, hot off the presses, the camp, cabaret-tastic world of the post-modern discoteque, ‘Disco Disconnected’
https://youtu.be/xXXdaWcuAuM

See you next time,

Amanda
Oh, and tickets to the Sydney launch of the new album here.

When are you Too Old to Sing?

Hi there,

I had my 25th birthday while living in Japan, where I was singing with cover bands and writing songs. The Japanese always seemed obsessed with age to me. On meeting someone new, the questions would invariably be, in this order: "Where are you from?" and "How old are you?" When I answered '25' to the latter they would breath a sigh of relief and say: "Well that's OK then, still young". After experiencing this over and over I asked a hip Japanese friend what was going on. She explained that many Japanese people believed a woman was like a Christmas cake. Oh. Well I'm glad I asked... Luckily she elaborated, after an embrassed silence. "A Woman is like a Christmas cake because like the cake, after the 25th she is considered to be past her use-by date". Yes I can hear your gasps from here - shocking isn't it! So imagine my surprise when recently I find out that a current JPop (Top 40 Japanese Pop) Star is a girl by the name of Namie Amuro. Astonishing because guess who was a major JPop star when I lived in Japan all those years ago - the same 'girl'. So she is now 37 years old! Now don't forget we are talking Top 40 Pop! In Japan!

So are things changing? If an ageist society accepts a 37 year old as a Popstar then surely anyone can! A friend asked me recently, 'How long do you think you can keep singing?' It's not as if I haven't asked myself this question many times before. 

Putting aside all the Strolling Bones jokes, have you actually seen The Stones perform in recent times? That famous Jagger strut is still in fine shape and the whole band sounds rocking. There seems to have been a resurgence of late, of 'legendary' artists on tour and most of them are still getting rave reviews. There have also, of course, been past stars wheeled out again that have crashed and burned. I'm pretty sure I know why some heritage acts still have it and some don't. I'm no pedagog but I know that if I don't do any singing training or actual performing for more than a week, I can feel the muscles weaken. The Stones have never stopped doing what they do. Stars of the '80s who became stockbrokers or drug dealers when their starlight faded, only to jump on the Retro bandwagon more than 20 years later, can't expect to have the same skills they did in their heyday. Because they didn't keep it up. They didn't keep the muscles working.

Well that's me covered then. I have no intention of taking off more than a week here and there - I miss it way too much. So in decades to come when someone points out the 'little old lady with the (insert bright colour here) hair, wearing the sequins', you can say: "Oh that's Amanda, she's getting ready for a gig."

Till 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

Should you Sing Sick? (When Sound Engineers Suck, Part 2)

Hi there,

I think I've got one of the best jobs in the world but I can't say the conditions and benefits are great. Basically, if I don't sing, I don't get paid. So if you're sick what do you do? Stay home sniffling and feeling sorry for yourself? I might as well be out sniffling and getting paid to feel sorry for myself! Of course it depends:

1. Will I embarrass myself? If I'm not going to sound any good then I don't want to let anyone hear me. But let's face it, singing is such an inconsistent art with hundreds of variables anyway, so as long as I can do about 75% of my best then I'll sing. Sometimes the extra work I have to put into my technique when I'm sick pays off with a better performance than a healthy but lazy one!

2. Will I piss off the band/agent if I don't sing? If advertising and promo has gone out with my name on it I'll try extra hard to drag myself from my sickbed. And if I know the gig will be difficult to cover by another singer - it's last minute, out of town or a specific part that requires rehearsal - than I'll be there.

3. Will I damage my voice in the long term? Nothing is worth that - I don't mind pushing the envelope a bit to get the job done but if it's going to hurt me down the line, I'll slip under the covers and stay there guilt free.

I was at a very big club recently to do a cabaret show with the house band. I was at the tail end of a dose of the flu but numbers 1 and 2 above were definite possibilities so there was no question of pulling out of this one. I was to sing in a huge auditorium on a massive stage where both the audience and the band were way out of spitting distance so there was no danger of infecting them. The only concern I had was the artist that followed me - they would be using the same microphone. I mentioned this to the very friendly lighting guy and he said he'd send the sound engineer backstage to have a chat to me before the show.

Those who have read my last blog may know what's coming next (see 'When Sound Engineers Suck'). Yes, who should walk into the green room but Mr Persnikety.  Now if you are a persnikety sound guy then you're having run-ins with singers on a regular basis. So you're not going to remember one little singer in particular, weeks after the fact, at a venue across town, are you? Damn my rather unusual blue hair. 

Mr Precious laid eyes on me and and smiled maniacally. I gulped and soldiered on. 

'Oh hi there...well I have the flu and I don't want the artist following me to catch it, so I was wondering if you'd be able to give us different microphones?' I said, heart beating, with a big false smile. 

His eyes widened as licks of flame started coming out of flared nostrils only inches away from my face...well Ok that didn't happen, but that's how it felt. He did however tell me there was only one microphone.(?!) He then paused for dramatic effect (the entire band and crew backstage were our audience) and said, with lashings of scorn, 
     'Well, ah, just putting it out there, but did ya ever perhaps think (another pause here to highlight by obvious inability to do just that) that perhaps you shouldn't be performing if you're sick?"  

Cruel stare, Blink, Cruel Stare, more flames out of nostrils. Hasn't he heard of 'The Show Must go On?' And excuse me, but I own a sound system worth less than $2000 and I own three microphones. I was about to sing to hundreds of people through a sound system worth in the hundreds of thousands of dollars - and there was only one microphone - really?

Don't piss off the sound guy...

xAmanda
www.amandaeaston.com

Are We a Bunch of Commitment Phobes?

Hi there,

I've seen it time and time again from other acts in the last year but now it's happened to me - a show is pulled by a venue because there are not enough pre-bookings - ouch! Is that fair? I understand the venue doesn't want to lose money, but surely there should be a certain amount of faith and trust in the act they've booked too? With the gig I was part of, stacks of people said: 'But I was just about to book tickets!' or 'I was going to buy tickets at the door!'. How many of us are organised enough to book tickets to an event more than eight days before - because in our case the venue pulled the plug a whole week and a day before?

Three years ago I would commonly get booked for Christmas events and weddings at least a year before the big day. Nowadays it is no surprise to get a request for a booking two to three weeks before a function. What is going on? Is the ability to get a message out to people in seconds putting an end to pre planning? We cherry pick our tunes and don't like to commit to buying an entire album from our music artists. Even our retailers are popping up instead of instead planting roots. Are we always looking over our shoulders for the coolest way to fill every inch of our lives and refusing to pledge our time until we're sure we have the best possible date secured in our hectic event-filled lives?

Well I'm way more full of questions today than answers, but I'd love to hear what you think. Are we turning into a bunch of commitment phobes?

So, 'till next time, whenever that may be (maybe I'll text you),
Cheers,
Amanda
www.amandaeaston.com

5 Reasons NOT to Sing Covers

Hi there,

I’ve spent a lot of cyber inches defending the practice of singing ‘other people’s songs’ but today I’m going to be the Devil’s Advocate. Here's why you should not sing covers if you want to be an original music artist:

Amanda Gaga

     1. Branding Badly – The pilgrimage from disco queen territory to cool indie princess land is a long and arduous one. If you want to make a decent living from singing covers, chances are you will be singing pop and dance hits from the last three decades. Once you establish a reputation – among punters and industry – as this type of performer, it’s hard work shaking that image and establishing a new one at the other end of the spectrum of cool. 

2. Sullying your Style  – Becoming an original artist is all about finding and honing what is individual about you. On the other hand, the best cover and session singers can sing just about anything and do it convincingly. Cover singers spend so much time in Lady Gaga’s songwriting shoes that it can drag their skills and style in everybody’s direction but their own.

3. Distracting Habits – A few gigs a week, a few sets a gig adds up to lots of other people’s songs to be learnt. And if you want to stay in that game you can’t rest on your repertoire. It needs to be constantly refurbished and revised. Precious time that you could be spending writing your own masterpieces.

4. Losing the Love – sweaty, sleazy punters (show me one cover singer who’s never heard ‘Show us Yer Tits’ during a normal night’s work); a sound system from 1975 that makes it almost impossible to hear yourself sing; being on stage in front of a Spinal Tap-worshipping guitarist making it almost impossible to hear yourself sing; venues that make you sit in a broom cupboard in between sets and then ‘forget’ to pay you…you get the picture and I’m only scratching the surface of this particular image. If you were doing your own thing you might see a light through the end of the tunnel of poker machines, but sometimes singing Beyonce and Britney night after night just doesn’t make this scene worth it!

5. Showing your Bad Side – When you write for yourself, you custom the songs to suit you. You don’t have to try to sound like Ke$ha to please the punters.  Your own lyrics reflect the way only you would express yourself and you can manoeuver the melody to sit in your sweet spot. You’re presenting a brand new piece of art that is all you with no compromises and shows you at your best.

Next time: ‘Five Reasons You SHOULD Sing Covers’.

As usual, love to hear what you think,

Cheers,

Amanda

www.amandaeaston.com

The Voice will not Give you a Career!

Hi there,

Well it's the topic du jour and I'm loving watching 'The Voice' from the safety of my armchair (see 'Sticking it the Voice' from last week). I love the way all the contestants are coached to say 'everything is on the line for me'. If there is a lot at stake for them, we are more likely to be pulled into the drama. But one singer recently said to the cameras: 'Tonight is my last chance. I have obligations now. If I don't get through, this will be the end for me.' Then his fiance came on saying: 'He's got responsibilities now so if this doesn't work, it will all be over'. 

Oh so it's your last chance because you've got a fatal disease hanging over your head? No. So you're the one with tonnes of kids to provide for? Oh, no kids yet. So you're getting on and feel like time is running out? Hmm, you're in your 20s. Oh I see, you're engaged and 'real life' is calling you. Ah! Well thank goodness you didn't get through to the next round because if you can let it go so easily then frankly, you don't deserve it. Jump in with both feet. 'The Voice' is never going to hand anyone a career on a platter. It's going to enhance what they already have. 

Look at the most successful contestants so far. Darren Percival has taken his TV exposure and run with it to build on a strongly constructed base. Simon Meli had a career before 'The Voice' and its aftermath will hopefully open new doors to bigger live shows and more record sales. It's those like him who have already put in the work and shown their commitment that really win. Whether they 'win' The Voice or not, no fiance or white picket fence is going to stop them singing. They're not going to be working in music because they won a TV singing contest and winning a TV singing contest is not going to guarantee a career for them. They're going to do it because they couldn't live with doing anything else.

No doubt I'll be here next time with another 'Voice' rant. Love to hear what you think...
Cheers,
Amanda

For Singers: On Being a Bitch

Hi there,

Since it's the season of goodwill, I thought I'd talk about the importance, as a singer, of being nice. Niceness is underrated. People almost have an expectation of diva-ish bitchy behaviour from female singers, especially if there's more than one of them on the same stage. I ran 'PopTarts', a weekly female singer-songwriter night, for almost 10 years - dealing with female artistes en masse - and I completely disagree that un-niceness is the norm. I was always impressed at the warm camaraderie between the singers and not only do I think it's the right way to be, I think it's good for your career.

I do a piano bar-type gig once a week, largely attracting international tourists. It's quite common for visitors to come and get their photo taken with the piano player and I, at the end of the night. Recently, a family came up to the piano and I got my best smile ready. Instead of posing with us, the mother glared at me, snarled 'excuse me' as she pushed us to the side and deposited her 20-something daughter at the piano. Mother instructed daughter to place her hands on the piano as if playing and then directed her (also snarling) son behind his camera phone, in what became a mini photo shoot. 

 Just after they left, my boss approached us laughing. Apparently this family were his guests this particular night. He had invited them because the mother had enquired after the singing gig for her daughter. The venue hires singers every night of the week so he is always interested in new performers. When my boss sat down with them for a while, during my performance, he asked the group what they thought of me. Apparently they stuck the boot in. There were harumphs and comments like 'oh she's very average'. Perhaps this is what they really thought, but is this the way to get yourself a gig?

Well you'll be pleased to know it didn't work. When the mother asked Bossman when her daughter would be able to start, he said something to the effect of, 'you can have the gig when this singer is finished with it and that could be another 20 years, so don't hold your breath.' Didn't she realise she was not only putting me down, but also criticising the judgement of the person that had hired me, ie Bossman himself? The Maitre d' told me the group had been disparaging of me to him as well! So with all the staff talking about it, and laughing at what they considered their transparent efforts to land the gig, they had managed to absolutely guarantee that no kin of theirs would ever work at that venue.

In any industry, people want to work with nice people, right? It makes life run more smoothly. Anyway, everyone knows Santa strikes naughty people off his present list, so here's to nice!

Merry Christmas everyone,

xAmanda

Want Money to Make Music? Pah!

Hi there,

Indie goddess Amanda Palmer really put herself in it, didn't she? She raises $1.2 million for her tour through crowd funding then puts the word out that in every city on said tour, horns and strings players can perform with her...for no pay. After a massive outcry she has changed her tack but it still goes to show how common that expectation is - you play music, it's fun, so don't expect to get paid for it! Never mind the years of sweat, blood and practice that goes into getting good enough for it to look like fun.  How many jobs could you do that require massive amounts of training and proficiency to arrive at a point where you're good enough to actually sell your skills  - only to be expected to do it for free? Hey I'm in need of a kidney transplant, any surgeons out there free this Friday - there's a slab of Tooheys in it for ya?

I am the first one to demand that people get paid what they're worth but sometimes there are better things than money. When I started performing my own original material, most of the gigs worked like this: a local venue would let you use their stage as long as you promised to bring 30 of your friends willing to pay $10 to get in the door. The bands got paid by splitting the door money. You probably shared the gig with two other bands. The sound guy would need to be get paid, as well as the door person. If you had to pay players to accompany you, you would be lucky to finish the night with $5 in your pocket. Now this is not necessarily about the venue being stingy, it's about market demand. It's very difficult to get people in to see original music, particularly if they've never heard of you. Pubs need punters, so this is their way of trying to make everyone happy and keep their business afloat. 

The problem for the bands is, they're screeching to the converted - their audience is filled with only friends and relos. Well I got jack of doing these kinds of gigs, and my friends got jack of paying $10 to see my band over and over again. How could I play a venue where everything was provided but the door entry was free? So that new potential fans would be willing to take a risk on experiencing my music without having to part with the readies? 

I started a night called PopTarts. It was a series of weekly events that female indie artists could use to showcase new material, network with other artists and sell CDs. It was free to get in, so people off the street weren't shy to pop their heads in and the bands got to increase their exposure beyond Auntie Ethel. As a music artist I am happy because I get to air my new songs at a well organised, publicized event. The pub is happy because there are more punters drinking, which also pays for the sound guy and a bit of promo. Sure the artists don't get paid in cold hard cash but money isn't the only currency there is - opportunity is worth its weight in gold. You use gigs like this to build up a great fan base so that you can put on your own show for which you get paid handsomely. So, playing your music for money? Fabulous. Getting your music to a new audience? Priceless!

P.S. PopTarts' live shows aren't running at the moment but you can check them out in the PopTarts TV Series that ran on TVS and C31. 
The whole series is here: http://blip.tv/poptarts-tv.

Keith Armitage runs a great series of similar nights around Sydney called Songwriters Live.
Cheers,
Amanda

How to Get on the Radio Part 3

Hi there,

The last coupla blogs have been concerned with getting music onto the all-important community radio networks in Australia. Don't worry, I know you want the low-down on commercial radio in Australia - that's coming in the next blog. But I thought I'd attack the more achievable stuff first.

Internet radio is everywhere on the, uh, internet nowadays. So how do you pinpoint which stations to target in the vastness that is cyberspace?

Two of the best directories for interent radio I've found are: http://www.internet-radio.com and

http://www.radiotower.com.

They have listings by genre and indie/unsigned sections as well as the typical music genres. It's a matter of filtering down to the ones that are right for your style of music and visiting the websites individually - it may be a long process but you've got a pretty good chance of airplay if your targetting is good. 


iTunes is also useful - there is a Radio link under the Library header in your iTunes navigation menu. Click on that for a catalogue of hundreds of internet radio stations, categorised by genre. While you're there, don't forget the podcasts. 

Here are a few of the net radio stations worth singling out:


Pandora. Apparently it has more than 50 million listeners worldwide. It uses the Music Genome Project to delivers customised radio to each one. Once the Pandora system learns someone's musical preferences, it serves up a continuous stream of music the listener should actually like. Check out Pandora’s not-exactly-straightforward artist submission guidelines here: http://submitmusic.pandora.com. It's free to join.


Jango customises radio for its users too. "Jango Airplay" is a promotion service that gives emerging artists guaranteed airplay on Jango's stations, as "similar artists" alongside the popular artists of their choice. Packages start from about $10 for 250 plays. www.jango.com

Last.fm also matches new music to users' tastes. It's free for artists and labels to register but Australian listeners have to pay a subscription fee. http://www.last.fm/

Radar Music is an Aussie music site that features interviews as well as streaming music. Upload your music for free. www.radarmusic.com.au

One of great things about a lot of internet radio is their ability to link your tracks directly to iTunes or Amazon - and that's pretty hard to do from a stereo!

See you next time - I'm going to be talking about getting onto Commercial radio in Australia...

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!