you gotta listen to me
Slam sampler (link expires 7/3/08): download
And for listening only, Knowles exquisite take on Hendrix’ Redhouse
This is tale of some great music and some clever marketing:
Posting last week on the absolutely fine blues/rock band, Back Door Slam, got me digging through video and generally looking at what’s on-line for these guys. I was really trying to see if tapers were on their trail yet, but I ended up also getting interested in some very nice marketing they’re doing themselves. Interested in the product itself, but also in the promotion strategy.
They’ve pulled together a handful of live recordings from their tour over the last year and released them a few days ago as an EP on iTunes. Thrown in is an excellent and clever little video: the audio is a live performance of their original “It’ll All Come Around”. The video is a mash of concert video of the band and bunch of fan video: air guitar with ironing boards and potted plants, in board rooms, libraries, ski slopes. Nothing slick, just well-chosen and tightly edited. So here’s a band that’s pulling people off the streets in Austin, into the tents at Bonnaroo, and on-line everywhere with their absolutely amazing playing, but they’ve only got one CD to sell. They could go back to their island, write for another year, and, in the meantime, leave fans hungry.
Or, they can recognize that they’ve got live product in their hands, lots of buzz, a rapidly growing fanbase that wants it now, and make the obvious connection. Supply and demand. So, four tracks of live covers not included on the LP, and a video. And to really draw people in, one of those tracks is a mind-erasing Redhouse, which you only get if you buy the whole EP. Strike while the iron is hot. Both brilliant and obvious, and it probably didn’t take much time or money. Is this what other artists are doing? If not, they should be. There’s a couple of other things they’re doing right, but enough on biz for now. About the music:
The sample platter I posted at the top has a little of (almost) everything:
- Back Door Slam, live blues/rock cover from the EP(buy it)
- Stay, original rock ballad from debut album, Roll Away(buy it)
- Gotta Leave, original blues ballad (my personal favorite of Knowles writing) from a stealth taping of an Oxford, MS gig (download whole set)
- Hoochie Goochie Man, live blues cover, also available for free at BackDoorSlam.com
The sample platter has a short shelf life for obvious reasons.
categories: biz, live, music
tags: Back Door Slam, blues, Davy Knowles, downloads, rock
posted by boolz at 12:34 am
I downloaded the sample, but don’t know how to unzip — may never get it open. So I purchased the EP, Stay, and the video. Video is very nice. Thanks for pointing out all these goodies.
Sorry, Karen! Zipped files just unzip automatically for me (via Stuffit expander). You may need to double click, or if that doesn’t work, get WinZip (for PC) or Stuffit Expander for other OS’s. Here’s a quick page on it, if you feel like getting into it:
Unzipping
I was going to go ahead an link each individually, but realized I don’t have them uploaded. If I get a chance to do that later tonight, I will. (Then I have to remember to take them down later)
Anyway, glad you’re enjoying what you found.
Nice of you to offer, Boolz, but don’t go to all that trouble just for me. I downloaded the info on unzipping. Just not sure about putting the file on my work computer, but I’ll ponder it.
I’m going to listen to a Grace Potter and the Nocturals concert with someone tonight (on mpbn.net, 8 pm), and have made a copy of my BDS downloads to play for her. Maybe I’ll make a believer on one or both fronts. I have begun to realize that I’m surrounded by one or more of the types of music snobs you described. It’s very lonely, in a way; yet in another way, it’s my own special place, and maybe I don’t want to let anyone else in.
Wow, that version of Redhouse was outstanding. Thanks for all the links to get started listening to this amazing band. I really like to hear of “viral” or new ways of marketing even in the absence of full-length albums.
On a different note, I recognized some of the lyrics from Redhouse as the same ones that Hicks tagged into his version of Texas Flood on the Open Door set. Fun to find these little nuggets here and there.
So glad your blog is back up and running. Thanks!
Glad you found something you like, Linda.
I agree about the marketing: it’s like word of mouth is still the best way for music to catch on. But current technology let’s bands respond to that in ways they really couldn’t do before. Respond to it and foster it, to some extent. But first, you’ve got to have music that people want, of course.
So glad that I made my way over here. WOW is all I have to say about this Knowles dude. Gonna make my way to I Tunes as soon as I finish here.