I was reading some of my old Lamentations mags (Pharaoh) and decided to check out the forum. Whoo whaddya know I seem to appear to be a chode.
In terms of using the term networking I mean it in the sense that the day I turn in my resume at a label that hopefully, along with the close friends that I have that can help me, that my character and personal being is at least looked at in a positive light by artists that I may in fact end up working with if all goes well. I've seen so many people that do what Jim and I do that have an ego the size of a goddamned Cadillac. I see the way some people act like they're on a pedestal just because they're on some "guest list." Fuck that, you're not cool, I'm not cool, and neither is writing. Case in point: writing's never gotten me laid. Sometimes when I'm on a bus waiting for the guy that laughed at me because he has a local cable access show and I'm a lowly internet writer to get done I notice the way the interview subject looks. When the guy doing the interview is yelling and acting like the subject should be so happy that he was chosen for this interview the band members look pissed and bored and are probably thinking, "When's this asshat getting off this bus?" I go out of my way to not be that guy. This does not mean I pacify anyone though, publicist, label anyone else.
I eventually want to become an A&R rep. Perhaps I'm an idealist but I do believe that there is still a way to nurture a band, take care of them, and help them succeed. And I want to do this with a band that I feel is genuinely honest and creates music that is from the heart. Right now I am not an A&R rep, not even close. So when I do my interviews no, I don't hold back for fear of angering a publicist or whoever. I still make it a habit to read as many recent interviews with bands as I can so as to avoid asking the same shit over and over again. I also like to ask some sociological type questions as well as questions relating to business and industry shenanigans. For example, I didnt know that second stage bands on Ozzfest had to fork over $75 000 dollars until recently. When I interviewed Soilwork I asked them about this, "How do you pay for it? Do you go in debt to play Ozzfest or does the label help you out?" They said its a half and half deal and that their half is covered by recoupable royalties. Stuff like that is interesting to me.
My comments about spending ten minutes a day on news sites, yeah that's kind of dumb sounding saying it out loud in my apartment right now. That was made out in haste and spite because I'm fucking sick of dumb ass kids that try to act like they are music gurus and the end all be all of knowledge when they don't even have any clue at all of what is happening currently in the music world. "You mean Iron Maiden still makes cds?" "No I didnt even know that Quorthon died" (says the guy in a Bathory shirt six months after he passed away) So yea that was a poor way of phrasing things.
I hope that clears things up a bit on this over a year old thread.
