New Shows, New Tunes, New Awards

Sorry it's been a while since we've posted an article. We've been really busy with a ton of things, and I just haven't been able to get to the blog. Anyway, I'll try to update everyone now.

We've been nominated by the Worcester Magazine Turtle Boy Awards for best "Alternative / Indie Rock Band" Please click on the banner at the top of the page at WorcesterMagazine.com that says "Turtle Boy Awards". And vote for theWANDAS under "Alternative / Indie Rock Band". There are write in spots for any of the other categories as well. Anyone can vote, and it only takes a second. You can only vote once, so make it count.

We've been planning some shows in different parts of the U.S. stay tuned for some updates on that. We're going to be playing at least one show in Boston with Broken Mirrors, Patrick Krief and George Donso III from The Dears' side project. These guys rock. It looks like the show will be at Great Scott in Allston. Check the tour page for more info.

MUSIC VIDEO - A lot of you have already signed up for this. The response has been great. We're still gathering more people. So if you haven't already signed up or you can think of a few people who would be interested. Have them drop there email address on the official music video production page. The vide is going to be really cool but it takes a lot of planning. We appreciate everyone's support and patience.

We have four new songs, recorded, mixed, and mastered. Expect to be hearing these real soon.

Peace,

Ross

P.S. We'll see everyone at Tammany Hall in Worcester, MA on Friday Feb 15th

Ross to guest DJ at "Happy Endings" - Boston Dance Night

This Saturday (Dec 8th 2007) is "Happy Endings"- the monthly Boston dance night. theWANDAS are big fans of this night, and have made it a habbit of attending almost everything month over the last two years. It's a huge thrill that I will be a guest DJ this saturday. You can probably expect all of my favorite GDM; i.e. Erasure, Flesh for Lu Lu, When in Rome, and whatever else strikes me at the moment.

 

Anyway, get there early as the night usually fills up. I'll be looking forward to everyone shaking it on the dance floor. 

-Ross 

Thanksgiving Flu

After our crazy thanksgiving, criss-crossing the state, family events and over eating all brought to a climax by one raucous show at Tammany Hall in Worcester, MA, I think it was inevitable; we got the flu.

I got it first right after the weekend and Keith followed suit a day after me. Our house looked like a quarantined hospital after a biological outbreak.  Lifeless bodies sprawled out on the couch, tissues everywhere, half drank mugs of tea, a few grunts and moans can be heard over the old Seinfeld reruns  playing in the background that no one has the energy to watch.  Fast forward a week and we're pretty much back to good health.

I just met up with Chris O'Coin. He headed up the PureVolume .com video piece we filmed a couple months back. The video includes some live tracks and an 8 minute press reel. He showed me the first cut of the press reel and it looks absolutely amazing. It has some studio footage along with live performance and some interviews.  He does awesome work, and we're really happy to be teamed up with him. As soon as the piece is completed we'll be sure to get it out to WANDA NATION.

Expect more on the blog now that we're back in good health.

-Ross 

It's Mixing Time

After our hefty 2 hours of sleep we set out to go to Clement's home/studio to finishing mixing our songs. Clement lives about 45 minutes outside of Montreal. His place is  completely in the boonies which makes it a very peaceful place to visit. The scenery on the way there was pretty impressive. 

Just to give you some background on Clement. We were introduced to him through Patrick. He works with practically everyone in Montreal. He's also an accomplished vocalist and his been playing in bands, touring, recording, etc for over 20 years. He's been mixing our album with collaboration from us via phone and email. However, we haven't actually met him in person until today.

We pull up to his house and he meets us outside. "The Wandas are in the building he yells in a welcoming tone". He brings us inside, shows us his home, his studio, offers his home to us as if it was ours. A very nice guy.

He can tell we're pretty beat from last night as Brent says "yeah, we're a little hung over; we didn't sleep much". "No problem my friends, I have just the remedy for you" says Clement. He brings us into his kitchen pulls out 4 shot glasses and a bottle of 10 year old malt scotch whiskey. "You may not like the remedy at first, but I gurantee it will make you feel better". I can see Keith almost gagging from the sight and smell of the shots being poured. "Cheers!" we throw back the shots. 

Keith braces himself over the sink for support from feeling woozy and just in case the scotch didn't settle so well. I look at Brent and he has a giant smile on his face with tears coming out of his eys "I feel much better" he says. He puts is index finger pressed against his lips as if he was 'shushing' someone. His cheeks blow up like Dizzy Gillespie and he casually walks to the trash, opens the lid and pukes directly into it. Clement pulls out some gum and puts his arm around Brent and says "what a great first impression, I love this guy!"

I  must say I actually felt fine for the rest of the day. After that, we fired up "Thank You Note" (one of our new songs) and proceeded to work out some kinks in the mix. We really plowed through everything at a good clip. Some of Clement's friends came by chatted with us for a bit, listened to some of the mixes and just hung out. Clement has a great house for relaxing and working on music. They've recorded a bunch of albums in his house because it has great acoustics. 

There is a real sense of local music and strong support that follows it. Over the course of the day, about half a dozen friends came by to say hello, talk about new projects they're working on and just hang out. Martin (Bassist of The Dears) was among the people who popped in, as he's good friends with Clement. He's also been recording a side project at Clement's house  too.  We're hoping to play a couple shows with them in Boston and Montreal.

We're real happy with how everything came out. Clement did a great job and he even offered to mix one more song for us that we recorded after the initial 3 songs. Once we wrapped things up we headed back to the hotel for one more night on the town. All in all this has been a great trip. Lots of fun and lots of progress for the band.

Cheers,

Ross 

First Night

O.k. so we've seen in the past we're not big fans of moderation. Last night was no exception. After getting settled in we decided to take in some of the Montreal night life. We got to the first bar on Peel St. around 10:30pm. Obviously we can't go ten feet without bumping into a high-fiving Red Sox fan. Everyone in Red Sox nation is in good spirits. Looking for a change of scenery we decide to check out another bar around 11:30.

Not everyone was in as good of spirits here. While we were in line for the coat check, there is the standard- guy who has had too much to drink and is in limbo between leaving on his own and being kicked out.  He's standing at the top of the stairs and the bouncers are not going to let him get past the entrance way. All he wants to do is "talk to his friends" who are at the bar, but can't put two sentences together. At this point his friends come out to meet him and the bouncers are backing them down the stairs.

The three friends are standing halfway down the stairway and the leader of the pack is still standing his ground at the top of the 20-stair staircase. After about 10 minutes of this charade, the bouncers have seen enough. I whip my head around to what just sounded like someone throwing a bag of bowling balls down a stairwell. The bouncer had picked the one guy up and threw him down the stairs where he hit his three friends and they all rolled to the bottom for a perfect strike. Brent looked at me and said "this is my type of place, let's get a drink".

We stayed at this bar for another hour and then headed over to "Pistol" on St. Laurent to meet up with Patrick. George (The Dears drummer) was sitting right by door and saw us walk in. He had no idea we were in Montreal so it was quite a surprise for him to see us walking into his local bar. Soon after, Patrick showed up sporting his finest playoff beard. Andre (Bassist for Krief) Oliver (Bassist for The Stills) and a bunch of other friends were there as well. We all stayed until the place closed down around 3am.

Patrick took us to a friend's apartment where we hung out until about 6am. We took a cab back to the hotel and called it a night; a morning? I woke up to Brent's cell phone alarm blaring that he had tactfully set for 8am. Off to the studio to mix.

Rock & Roll

-Ross 

We've Arrived

We're in Montreal. We're Safe.. for now. We're staying at "Le Cantlie Suites". Sounds romantic. Nothing much else to report. We'll see what the night brings us.

Also, the exchange rate up here is absolutely horrible. The U.S dollar slipped below the Canadian dollar and places up here are giving 85 cents on the dollar for an exchange rate. I remember the days of cashing in $100 USD getting back $175 canadian,  and throwing it around like monopoly money. Time to stop borrowing money from China.

Cheers,
Ross

First Stop Lebanon

No, we're not visiting Beirut. We're on our trip to Montreal and we just gassed up at a lovely rest stop in Lebanon New Hampshire.

We got a bit of a late start due to some car troubles last night, but we're back on track and looking at an ETA of 7:30PM EST. Which gives us plenty of time to get a bite to eat and then meet up with Patrick and Clement to enjoy the Montreal night life.

It felt like spring when we left Boston, but right now we're in the middle of a snow storm in New Hampshire. I guess global warming hasn't gotten it's hands on the north yet. 

While we were at the rest stop we caught a glimpse of a sweet rack. I took a picture and you can check it out below.

 

What? Were you expecting something else? 

Cheers,
Ross

Northbound

Tomorrow morning we'll be heading up to visit our neighbors to the north. Canada here we come. We're going to Montreal Quebec to meet up with our Producer Patrick Krief and our mixer Clement Goulet. The plan is to meet up with Patrick and Clement in Montreal Friday night to catch up and have a few drinks. Both Patrick and Clement will be working on their own sessions during the day on Friday. Patrick is busy recording a new album with The Dears. It would be awesome to catch a glimpse of what they're working on, but that may be a long shot.

We'll be spending all day Saturday at the Clement Goulet Mansion, mixing the last bits of our EP. We'll pack everything in on Sunday and hopefully be heading back home to the good ole' U.S. of A. with a finished EP. We haven't committed to the final name of the EP, but we're 90% settled on an idea.

I'm going to be keeping a log of everything that happens during our trip. I plan on making at least one blog entry a day, if not more. So be on the look out for some news, updates, and hopefully some photos of our time over the border.

Cheers,
Ross

Last Song

We're in the studio right now, recording the final song of our new EP. This last track is going to be primarily acoustic with a real energetic feel. I'm listening to Brent and Keith hammer out some initial takes, and it sounds pretty good.

We're heading up to montreal next friday to get the final mixes of the other 3 songs we previously recorded. If all goes as planned, we should have the finished EP finished and packaged up by next sunday. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Ross

Radiohead to go indie? Say it Ain't so

Even though I'm evoking the emo gods by referencing Weezer lyrics, I'm not just whining here. In case you haven't  heard, after Radiohead made their triumphant in rainbows release sans-record label, they are now in negotiations to sign with an independent record label: WTF?

Yes, I understand that indie record labels are the far lesser of two evils and independent labels are the only labels making any money. However, what is the point? After you rock the music industry by announcing the ability to download your album at whatever price consumers want to pay, have great success both critically and monetarily from the decision, you are now shopping your album to labels? What What What?

I feel confused and foolish for getting caught up in the frenzy of this "new generation of independent musicians". You were so fantastically ahead of the curve. You had all of the moves played perfectly. Give your music away for the exposure, make money on touring, merch, and higher profit-margin limited availability versions of the album. Absolutely perfect. Now we find out there is a bidding war going on for the in rainbows  release of the CD. Here are 3 reasons this is a dumb idea.

1.) Repeat after me, "CD's are dead".

They are shiny coasters. Useless to the music world. Why on earth would you sign a deal with a record label when you don't need to? Yes I understand that this is a single album deal and Radiohead will maintain the rights to the recording, but you don't need a record label to get your music out to people. You've proved that a million times over.  

2.) Freedom isn't Free; enjoy it. 

For the first time in 7 albums you have no one to answer to in regards to your album sales and distribution and now you throw that all away. I'm sure you'll make a boat load of money off of the deal, and money can buy freedom, but surely you don't need money and now you're simply tied into more deals with more people you don't need.

3.) Designer is Finer

Anyone who knows the basics of marketing and luxury branding, knows that people create a psychological attachment to high-end designer merchandise. Why would anyone pay $300 for a pair of Diesel Jeans or Nike Dunks, that cost a few bucks to make? Successful branding and marketing. Radiohead just propelled themselves to the status of a luxury brand in the music industry. Not just because of their elusive behavior and Pink Floyd-esque mystique, but because their fans will shell out $80 USD for a couple vinyl copies of an album; Christ someone even paid $1,000 USD for the digital version of the album! Get out of the mini-malls, you're already exploding out of the boutiques. This is like Louis Vuitton announcing the release of a $30 wallet that looks and feels like their $500 dollar wallet. Sure it will sell, but they're cheapening their brand.

So I beg you Radiohead. Remain a real independent artist and stay away from the labels, even the independent ones. 

Ross Lucivero (bassist theWANDAS) 

Music Sucks: Who's Fault is it?

This a is a blog post which originally was a response to a colleague of mine who wrote an article about the current state of music and how technology advancements have caused shortcuts and shortcomings in the last 10 years of recorded music. You can read the original article HERE and his follow up HERE 

Here is my rebuttal: 

While I completely agree with your analysis of today's "photoshopped" music industry, I disagree with where you are placing the blame. No one can deny music these days is copied & pasted, produced up, and auto-tuned to death.. And as a result, a lesser talented pool of artists are able to make it into the lime light, with the right team of people propping them up.

Who's fault is this though? While a vocalist may burn his voice out on the last chorus and occasionally yell to the engineer "just copy and paste the 1st chorus" The majority of these technology-aided shortcuts are spearheaded by the guys paying the bills. Why pay producers, engineers, musicians, etc. to sit around and wait for a vocalist to nail the last chorus when you can just copy and paste the first? That is the record label / business mentality. Why pay artists to write music when you can pay a professional songwriter to write radio-friendly "hits" at a break-neck pace for a fraction of the price? The artists' mentality is to write, record, and perform music over and over again until it has been perfected; sometimes to a fault. You can't grow a fan base and make money if you can't get anything out the door to consumers.

The result of this music industry approach is a bunch of watered-down, zero shelf life, flavor of the week, one hit wonders. Their music is devoid of human emotion and audiences don't form attachments with these "artists". Record labels aren't as dumb as we think. They do actually realize that these artists have a higher turnover rate. So they compensate by raising the album price on artists who have loyal fan bases; like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead. Well, we all know how that turned out for them.

There is always going to be that ying and yang balance of art and business. However, right now the business guys in the mainstream music industry have taken it too far and it is biting them in the ass.

 -Ross Lucivero (Bassist theWANDAS)

Dunkin Donuts Distributes Choking Hazard : FREE DONUTS!

Apparently Dunkin Donuts was either giving away or selling glow sticks which posed a choking hazard. As a result they are recalling them.

The compensation for bringing back one of these deadly glow sticks; a free donut! I saw this notice on the counter at Dunkin Donuts yesterday. Looks like something out of The Office

Q: What do I do when a consumer returns a glow stick?

A: Take the glow stick and give the consumer a free donut. Place the glow stick in the area designated by the manager to be returned to coroporate.

Q: What if a consumer comes in asking for a free donut claiming that they discarded their glow stick?

A: Refer the consumer to the consumer Care Line at (800) 859-5339.