Our first pro video

Franco · May 23rd, 2009, 12:21 PM

We did this as a freebie to help a studio promote their services.
Due to our band having a fairly heavy sound i use my Fender Toronado regularly.

See what you think. Comments and feedback always appreciated!

YouTube - Temporary Asylum - Another Room

johnreardon · May 23rd, 2009, 01:02 PM

Great video Franco. Singer reminds me a bit of a young Stevie Nicks

CandyAppleHead · May 23rd, 2009, 01:36 PM

Good stuff Franco. Like the Pete Townshend circa late '60s all-white look.

Drummer's eyes freaked me out a bit!

Jimi Hendrix · May 23rd, 2009, 01:37 PM

Cool stuff Franco, keep 'em comin!

Franco · May 23rd, 2009, 02:20 PM

Thanks for the comments ;)
This was a diy video we did a few year back..

YouTube - Temporary Asylum

Our myspace is going through a facelift so i wont put that up yet. Me and the singer (my missus) had a disagreement about the content on there.

Poseidon9447 · May 23rd, 2009, 02:40 PM

Good sounding music. I would definitely listen to you if you were on the radio. Normally I dont like listening to music with women singers but your wife has a perfect voice for this music.

Strat-Talk · May 23rd, 2009, 05:11 PM

Excellent, I like 'em both. Good sound. Way to go Franco.

bowhunter · May 26th, 2009, 06:35 PM

Good job Franco!!!

hendrixfan · May 27th, 2009, 03:45 AM

excellent music franco,

Gordon Short · May 27th, 2009, 07:19 AM

I would pay to see you!

Franco · May 27th, 2009, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Short

I would pay to see you!

You are priceless in this day and age!

Boris Bubbanov · May 27th, 2009, 01:45 PM

Excellent.

I like the fact that your vocalist does not immediately call others to mind. Thank God she doesn't remind me in any way of Ms. Nicks (yecch).

The song has a kind of "Seventeen Seconds" (Cure) vibe to it. Basic. Strong. Evocative. Effective.

Weakest link? The drummer. Has "the look" but needs some skills, and less cymbals.

Donovan · May 27th, 2009, 05:12 PM

You guys have some talent! Recording is excellent quality.

The bass line of that 1st tune reminds me of "Man In A Box" by Alice In Chains.
My wife says your singer reminds her of a cross between Gwen Stefani and Courtney Love. The music and her vocals on that 2nd one definitely have a sort of No Doubt ring. I like your style.

Great job!

Franco · May 28th, 2009, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donovan

You guys have some talent! Recording is excellent quality.

The bass line of that 1st tune reminds me of "Man In A Box" by Alice In Chains.
My wife says your singer reminds her of a cross between Gwen Stefani and Courtney Love. The music and her vocals on that 2nd one definitely have a sort of No Doubt ring. I like your style.

Great job!

Oooh, my missus will be impressed! She loves all three of them artists especially Gwen.
Thankyou for the kind comments everyone!

AKnight21 · May 28th, 2009, 12:40 PM

That was cool! That's a nice guitar

Your drummer's time is a bit off though and his fills need more work ( been drumming for 15 years ) otherwise excellent!

Can we see better pics of your Guitar IT'S AWESOME!!!

Offshore Angler · May 29th, 2009, 07:53 AM

Overall I think it's good. I am going to offer some suggestions based on years in the biz.

Was that done to a playback? I though I heard some harmonies in the chorus. My impressions - I don't know your local market but the band looks a bit dated. Very late 80's early 90's. I think you need a bit more edgier look - the lead singer looks a bit too Twisted Sister. The thing that I noticed was the band's look isn't coherent. The lead singer has one look as noted, and is in contrast to the 90's all-white David Byrne look you have. I felt watching it that each band member was in a different band.

About the drummer. Generally solid but when he tries to get a bit wild he tends to get a bit loose. You need to decide whether he's going to go for a straight four-on-the-floor or do fills. The poster above made a good comment about fills.

A suggestion I've always given bands I produced is to look at the way their audience is dressed, and then take that look to an extreme level.

Another suggestion is that you and the bass player need to work on stage moves a bit. Now, I understand working on a soundstage can be a pretty sterile evironment with no audience feedback, but you need to put your face in the camera and make an audience connection. That gets even harder when doing a playback.

In a band like yours, a good mindset to use is that the guitar player should be trying to compete with the singer for the audience's attention. Bass players should be striking poses. We try to eliminate the "single point of focus" to create a more immersive enviornment for the audience. In a situation like yours above, you want video producer to have to make choices about what actions, not people, to show.

For your singer ( who is cute, BTW) I noticed she needs to work on movement. She looked to be moving from front to back of the stage, which doesn't look as dynamic as moving from stage right to left and vise-versa. But she has all the tools to be a good performer.

I liked the song, and the only criticism I would make is that it kind of died at the end. If I was arranging it I would put a stronger guitar outro on it to bring back the intro theme and as that was happening I'd have the frontman (person) fold up into a kneeling or crouching position as the song ends.

Oh, and definately put the kit on a riser next time.

I hope you don't get the impression I'm trying to rip you apart. I'm just trying to pass on what I've learned over the years. Overall, I think you have a good band. I'd just humbly suggest you start working on your look and overall stagecraft and with a little effort, you'll be at the next level.

Determine who your audience is, and then go after them.

Franco · May 30th, 2009, 12:38 PM

Thanks, that is the kind of criticism i have craved for a long time. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.
I can answer some of that, so here goes..

The sync will be out, we mimed to a backing track that was being played back through a small stereo. The drummers kit drowned it out every take! Bad planning on their behalf. So we'll just have to live with that.

We dont have a local market. In the UK the options are you either sit firmly within a genre or ride the wave of fashion which means constantly changing. We are neither so we are out in limbo a little.
The image was originally based on the characters of an asylum- all different, we did'nt want to look uniform like say the Ramones. We wanted to have some fun and go with the idea of the ever changing characters of the asylum. Clearly there is more effort from some members than others but we are just seeing how the image is accepted for now.
The dated thing does make me laugh a little, a friend of mine said we was very 80s yet he is very 60s so he must be more dated than me lol. To me an artist like The Killers are very 80s, Duffy is very 60s and i cant think of many artists that are the 'now'. Popular Music always seems to be getting recycled, especially guitar bands.
Our drummer was originally a 'Metal' drummer so he is in a transitional phase if you like, he tries to throw some offbeat stuff in instead of being a straight forward player. Sometimes it works sometimes he trips up.

Our local audience is mixed, Punks, Metal Heads, Indie Kids, Trendys, Townies, etc. It would be impossible to take their images to the extreme. The only real local scene is 'Screamo' which is'nt our thing.
The producer chose that song off our demo and i admit i was a bit disappointed, its the one on the live set that you cant really move about to. We dont really jump about much anyway to be honest, there is'nt room to at a lot of small venues.
I asked the producer if he wanted eye contact with the camera and said a definite "No".

Thanks again for all the tips, we are a growing band and it is all useful. I wish we could determine an audience and go after them! Like i said we dont fall into a particular genre, not one with a scene anyway.

Offshore Angler · May 31st, 2009, 09:57 AM

Well, some positve things in your reply. First, you took direction which is always hard to get players to do, but it's a key skill. As far as movement, yes, learning to be dynamic in a small space is hard to do. The sevret there is to have a few choreographed moves in your arsenal that will keep everyone from bumping into each other or the cymbals.

For example, if you ever watch the Ramones who you mentioned, and I mean really watch them - you'll discern that their show was actually quite choreographed but never looked like it. Even Hank Marvin and the Shadows used moves, and if it worked then, it will work now. These don't need to be cheesey overt moves either, just planned movements from A to B to keep the scene dynamic.

You're doing the right things - making video records of a live performance and then reviewing it is probably the best thing you can do. The main thing is always be trying to pull the audience into the prerformance. Work the crowd. The world is full of players, but pretty short on performers. Just rehearse until it hurts. The playing part of the performance should be automatic and you should not even have to think about it. That allows you to shift focus from what your playing to what your doing.

Ironically, I've been asked to fill in on big shows and I found the stage blocking a major help in keeping arraingements straight and tight. By adding the moves it was almost like another memory aide on what to play when was introduced. For example, on song number 6, when the singer moves stage left and the bass player moves into center, that was my cue to tri-tone the change.

Franco · May 31st, 2009, 11:00 AM

I totally agree that the world is short of performers- but not players.

The dressing up thing has been laughed at by the larger percentage of critics. The apathy that surrounds local music scenes is almost painfull. It seems if you are not from the US, London or signed then you are fighting an uphill battle, even if they like your music it seems like its hard for them to admit it.

I understand the importance of some choreography, although there are plenty of artists loved for their lack of movement. 'Shoegaze' instantly springs to mind.
We are getting there..

Once again, thanks for your advice.

Offshore Angler · May 31st, 2009, 11:19 AM

Screw the critics. They are usually just people that couldn't make it in the biz. Fortunately, the personality type that becomes a critic (In their minds, their opinion is what really matters and everyone wants to hear it) usually suggests a huge ego. That's easy to manipulate. Just tell them what they want to hear and they'll like you.

Franco · May 31st, 2009, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Offshore Angler

Screw the critics. They are usually just people that couldn't make it in the biz. Fortunately, the personality type that becomes a critic (In their minds, their opinion is what really matters and everyone wants to hear it) usually suggests a huge ego. That's easy to manipulate. Just tell them what they want to hear and they'll like you.

Haha. Only the NME can tell them what to like

Franco · June 1st, 2009, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKnight21

Can we see better pics of your Guitar IT'S AWESOME!!!

Sorry for the delay.

A bit about the Fender Toronado; Fender made three different models, mine is a Korean GT model with a mahogany body and Seymour Duncan designed humbuckers. They are quite rare now but they pop up on ebay now and then, its very Gibson sounding for a Fender.

My good self onstage

determined2play · June 6th, 2009, 05:46 PM

Love the Toronado. Great looking guitar. The song was pretty good too. You guys play pretty tight and the singer has a good voice.