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Sunday, July 5, 2009

An elision of purpose


So, the new Strange Land cd is out. Special deals are selling now, the general distro will start in a week or two. It's been a too long process to get this one out. The reasons are varied, from our own procrastination to major personal issues, to playing too much of the waiting game. Nonetheless we are pleased with the results and we thank everyone who has stuck with us. When we picked the title we didn't think we'd actually be having a cathartic experience making it.


So what happens next? Is this the end of a process, the beginning, something in the middle? It all depends on what kind of band you are and what you want out of your career. Some bands just love making new music, so the release of a cd is pretty much the end. You finish the album, get the word out that its available, and move on the the next one. The amount of promotion you do I guess depends on how much energy or money you have for it. Once you've told people it's available you get right back to making new music.

On the flip side the album release is just the beginning. You get it out there, push the promotion, set up a tour. You play as many shows as you can hoping to collect some new fans along the way. I suppose the bigger you get the more this second option is what you do. Bigger bands have the resources to mount full scale tours. For the most part bands in this mode don't even think about recording for a year or two.

I think we'll try to hit a mark somewhere in the middle. As part of growing as a band I think the balance shifts around. We can justify more advertising but not a full scale tour. Hopefully more shows but we won't be putting off writing and recording new music to make time for shows. I'm sure we'll find a balance. I know for a fact it won't take 5 years to release the next one.

2 comments :

T-Bo said...

I've always wondered about that. Some bands go for 3, 4 years between albums without writing a single note. For me, I constantly have 4 or 5 songs running through my head and I'm always stumbling upon new riffs and chord progressions to use.

One artist I really respect that does that is Buckethead. The dude has literally released or been a part of almost 200 albums over the past twenty years, and they're still unique and of great quality. Guys like that really impress me because they're constantly writing and performing music in some form, literally a "full-time musician". For me personally, if I were only allowed to write a song once every 3 years or so, I'd go crazy.

Sean Gill said...

Some bands do write in the studio and I can see the value in that. I and Strange Land write all the time. But starting a song is a lot easier than finishing one. And once it is finished there are other factors that lead to the songs not getting released for several years.