Blogging Advice and Tips from the Rock and Roll Chemist (PART 3)

Parts 1 & 2 of this series on blogging advice and tips have both been received with positive reaction from readers and followers who have contacted me, which makes me very happy! I know I'm nothing special in the world of blogging, but at the same time I've seen some real results and had some real successes over the past year doing what I've been doing. The goal of this series is to share what I've learned from my experiences in order to help out other bloggers who might benefit from some or all of what I've been through.  Part 1 dealt with creating great content and Part 2 dealt with seizing your opportunities (or going out and creating them yourself). For this third part, I'm going to touch on one of the most critical components to building up any blog into a successful one...


PART 3: Build Interest, Trust, and Eventually a Brand

Like any endeavor in life, you're not going to get anyone to pay attention to you unless you're interesting, and they're not going to keep paying attention to you unless they trust you.  In order to build interest, you first need to find your niche (or niches) and try not to stray too far from it. If you try to be all things to all people, most likely you'll spread yourself too thin and won't come across as an expert in any one field. Think of the old expression "a mile wide and an inch deep." It's better to be "a yard wide and a mile deep," instead, don't you think?  This doesn't mean you have to focus only on one topic, but make sure you're not focusing on too many. For instance, my blog is mainly focused on music, but I also write a lot of posts about books, fitness, and sports.  That breadth and number of topics seems to work for me, and there's a lot of overlap between some of them; for instance, most of the books I write about have to do with music.  In this way, I've concentrated my focus on a select number of subjects that can allow me to show that I have a high degree of mastery and expertise. (The use of the word "expert" isn't to imply that one has to be a complete and total authority on a subject, but rather that one has a deeper and more fundamental understanding of a topic beyond what the average or casual fan would have).  If you show that you have knowledge of a subject beyond the average person, it will give your readers confidence in what you've written and it will enhance your reputation as a blogger and writer. Also, combine this with the generation of a sufficient amount of quality content and you will establish yourself as an authority worthy of repeat visits; this will then lead to your readers being much more likely to refer others to your blog and to recommend it within their circle of friends which will help grow your readership base.  Once you've created a fair amount of quality content that demonstrates your knowledge (and you do it on a regular basis), the level of trust that readers have in you and your blog will grow and your readers should remain loyal, interested, and engaged for a long time to come.

To this end, what I have found over the past year (and what I hope you will find, too) is that as you build up a catalog of quality posts on your blog and gradually build up a loyal reader base, you'll in turn build regular traffic. Initially, and for the first several months or more, you'll notice (if you pay attention to your analytics and stats) that you will have some posts that will give a solid spike in traffic, while other days you will have little or no traffic. However, if you persevere, eventually your catalog of quality posts will be there for readers to keep coming back to and (re)discover.  There will then come a time when you will have a blog that is self-perpetuating in terms of popularity, viewership, and growth...those days of little to no traffic will be gone (or at least, greatly reduced). From personal experience, I used to get excited when I would break 50 visitors in a day, then 100, and so on. On the flipside, I would also get disappointed on the days where I would only have 15 visitors.  I kept at it, however, and what I eventually ended up with is a blog that routinely gets hundreds of visitors a day, with some days being better (and in some cases, MUCH better!) than others. This can depend on a few factors...sometimes, a certain post is interesting enough that it attracts a lot of attention. Other times, an older post of mine is rediscovered and results in a huge upsurge in traffic. And of course, you never know which posts will go viral, or why, but when it happens it's very exciting!  Of course, blogging isn't all about page hits, but it is a good feeling to know that what you're writing is of interest to people and is being looked at. The Rock and Roll Chemist is now at the steady state where a slow traffic day still results in at least 100 unique visitors each day, but every week brings more growth...this is what keeps me excited: knowing that people are still interested in what I'm writing and that they want more of it.  I want each and every one of you reading this to achieve this as well!  However, once you've reached this stage, it's not time to rest on your laurels; like anything, if you want to maintain something at a high level and if you want to improve upon it, you've got to continue to work at it. In the end, both you and your readers will be rewarded: you'll become a better writer and blogger, and your readers will get even better content. Everyone wins!

Once your reputation has been built up and you've given your readers a reason to trust you, you will have created a new brand: YOU!  As someone who has shown themselves to have expertise in a specific area (or a few specific areas), your readers will keep coming back for more; however, they will also expect you to maintain the same high level of quality and fairly regular schedule for new content. As such, it's important that you don't squander this trust and interest by failing to live up to it!  The minute you start blogging, you start building up your brand. Whether this means your brand is you yourself or whether it's your blog as its own entity, the choice is entirely yours. In either case, though, it's important to respect and honor the trust your readers place in you in every way. This means not only in what content you post and how good it is, but how you interact and engage with your audience and how you promote and expose your blog (both of these topics will be covered in later parts of this series). Make sure that you build your own brand and reputation in a way that you will be proud of; it also helps to think of what kind of blogs and bloggers you like to follow and interact with yourself.  Think about what you like (or dislike) about them and whether you would like your readers to think of you in the same way, and then model your brand on that.  As anyone who has ever used the Internet knows, especially in 2014, once an online brand and reputation is established, it's very hard to change people's minds after the fact. Make sure you do it the right way from the very beginning: start slowly, build from the ground up, and do it carefully and thoughtfully so that as your blog and brand grows, it's only in a positive direction.  Not only will this feel rewarding and satisfying to you, but it just might help you start to attract some of the opportunities that were discussed in Part 2, and who would complain about that?

Click HERE for PART 4!

 

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The Rock and Roll Chemist is On the Move!

To my loyal readers and newcomers alike, this is just a little announcement to let you know that it's going to take a little longer than usual for me to publish my next post here. That's because a few weeks ago, I accepted an exciting new job opportunity! I start this new position next week, but it necessitates moving a few hundred miles away from my beloved native New England. That is an entire topic for a dedicated blog post which I am currently working on and will publish at a later date.  What this means, however, is that I am in flux right now...my wife and kids have already moved to the new house so that the kids could start school, while I've been here wrapping up work at my old job and getting ready for the movers to come pack up the old house and load it into a truck before I head out to join them. Then there will be time spent waiting to get the Internet set up at the new place, unpacking, and so on.  Have no fear because I will be back blogging as soon as the dust has settled...The Rock and Roll Chemist isn't going anywhere! I just wanted to let all of you know that the whole operation will be in transit, so please just bear with me while my family and I make this big change in our lives and before you and I both know it, things will be back to normal here.  Thanks!

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BOOK REVIEW: Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors

The Doors had one of the most unique band lineups of any rock band, with only guitar, drums, keyboards, and vocals to create their sound. With this blend of instrumentation and the talented men writing and playing this music, they managed to carve out a one-of-a-kind sound and career in only five and a half short years in order to become one of the most legendary and famous American rock bands of all time. While Jim Morrison is a household name and one of the most famous icons of his era (and beyond), the other three Doors, while well known, have always taken a back seat to Morrison's persona. However, it's always valuable and interesting to get the perspective of as many people in a band as possible, and to get it from someone as talented and outspoken as Ray Manzarek is not to be missed.

Ray Manzarek formed the Doors with his UCLA Film School friend and classmate Jim Morrison in the summer of 1965 and recruited Robby Krieger and John Densmore, whom he met at a meditation lecture, solidifying the lineup that would go on to achieve massive success during the band's lifetime and beyond. A classically trained pianist with a love of jazz, blues, and R&B, Ray pulled double duty in the Doors, as he was not only the keyboard player but his left hand was their bass player.  As supremely talented as Krieger and Densmore were, it was Manzarek that gave the band their unique sound with not only his haunting organ playing, but his insistent and dexterous keyboard bass playing.  Light My Fire, published in 1998, is the late Ray's autobiography about his life in the Doors, and he's as good as his word when it comes to what's in the book.

Ray was born in 1939 and spent his entire childhood in Chicago.  As third generation Polish-American, he lived with his parents and two younger brothers in what is portrayed as a very happy and warm, comfortably working/middle-class family. Indeed, the many chapters describing his childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood in Chicago (where he graduated from DePaul University with an economic degree in 1960) sound idyllic and the warmth and affection Ray has for his family and those years really comes across to the reader. During these years, he became classically trained on the piano before being smitten by the blues and jazz, laying the groundwork for the skills that would serve him in good stead later on in his life.  Moving out to the west coast to attend UCLA Film School, Ray meets the love of his life, Dorothy, whom he married in 1967 and remained married to until his death in 2013. He also became friends with fellow film student Jim Morrison, and when their paths crossed after graduation in 1965, it seemed as though fate brought them together and they decided to form a band based around Jim's lyrics and some melodies he had in his head. Meeting Robby and John at a meditation lecture, Ray recruited them into the band and it's the story of the Doors' career that makes up the bulk of the remainder of the book. It's also where things really get interesting, as there is a lot of information that was new to me, as well as some controversial bits.  Ray discusses the initial band rehearsals and his impressions of his bandmates. It's clear throughout the book that he had, and continues to have, a lot of affection and respect for Jim, and he has nothing but kind words to say about Robby Krieger.  It's when he discusses John Densmore that sparks begin to fly.  It's been no secret over the years that the relationship between Ray and John has been strained (to put it mildly), but throughout the book Ray always seems to take a passive-aggressive swipe at Densmore when he can. He does temper this by offering a lot of praise, not only for John's drumming (calling him "the best drummer I ever played with") but highlighting how his personality fit perfectly within the band dynamic.  However, every time a band conversation is relayed in the book, Ray always includes comments John made that are labelled as being "whiny" or casting Densmore as a "worry-wart." There are also several exchanges described where John tried to make jokes or snide comments about Robby's comfortable upbringing or Jim's parents' money, which were answered with a lot of verbal abuse from the other three back.  In fact, there is one discussion with Jim that Ray shares where, in between sets at the Whiskey Au-Go-Go in the summer of 1966, Jim pulled him outside and asked if they could fire Densmore!  Densmore seems to be the recipient of a lot of criticism in this book, from Ray as well as Morrison...I'm planning on reading John's memoir and reviewing it at a later date to get his side of the story.

From here, Ray gives the reader a firsthand account of the Doors' career, from topping the charts with "Light My Fire" and their debut album through the making of all of their hugely successful albums. It's interesting to get his insiders perspective on many of the recording sessions and concerts, as well as the interband dynamics between the four of them. For the most part, it seems to have been a harmonious brotherhood, at least according to Ray. This is in contrast to the picture painted by Jim's friends in the excellent new book that I recently reviewed, Friends Gathered Together, where it was stated that Jim tolerated his bandmates and that, apart from making music with them, he had no real affection for them.  It's difficult to know who to believe, but as in most cases the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.  I would certainly believe Ray's account as far as his friendship with Jim goes, since he knew Jim the longest, by far, of anyone in the band, having first met him at UCLA in the early 1960s.  Throughout the book, it's obvious he had (and still has) a real love and affection for his friend Jim Morrison. He spends the bulk of the book lamenting Jim's alcoholism and the emergence of Jim's drunken persona, whom he labels "Jimbo."  It is quite sad to read of Ray's heartbreak and despair as he tried to help save Jim from himself, attempts which as everyone now knows were ultimately unsuccessful. I did like how critical he was of Oliver Stone and his movie "The Doors," which none of the surviving members liked, and Ray's attempts to set the record straight were both enlightening and humorous.  The other major thread running throughout the book was Ray's relationship with the love of his life, Dorothy, and it was quite heartwarming to read of his adoration of her...theirs was truly one of the rare showbiz marriages that stood the test of time.

Overall, this is an enjoyable book to read, but there are times where Ray lapses into a lot of hippie-dippie spiritual and mystical speak that tends to grate after a while.  He also seems not to have lost any of the misty-eyed idealism of the 1960s, which is fine for the most part, but he does seem a bit hypocritical when he talks of his dreams for a more utopian future and then describes how excited he was by all of the money he made in the Doors. A house, cars, clothes, musical equipment, all things he spent his well-deserved and well-earned money on, but in stark contrast to his constant talk of equality and his de-emphasis on material possessions and wealth.  It does show that Ray was human like the rest of us, and he does point out that he was only ever in the Doors to make music, stating that earning a living from it was simply a fortuitous byproduct. His writing style is very engaging and there is a lot of humor in the book, both intentional and subtle, with several laugh-out-loud moments attesting to this. It's easy to see how he can (and does) rub many Doors fans the wrong way with his enthusiasm and predilection to have an opinion on just about everything, but this is also one of the qualities that made him an enjoyable interview and the world is definitely a sadder place for his absence, not only as an interesting interviewee, but also for his musicianship.  I just wish the book didn't feel so rushed, as he spends the bulk of the book discussing his life and the early part of the Doors' career and then crams the final four albums and all that happened around them, including the infamous Miami incident and Jim's death, into the last fifty pages. It definitely makes for a somewhat unsatisfying finish to the book.  I also would have liked him to have written more about the Doors' brief post-Morrison career in the early 1970s as well as what he was up to since the band ended in 1973, but I suppose he was only staying true to the subtitle of the book and just writing about his life in the Doors.  One more minor annoyance is his constant reference to video footage of the band, which is followed by a tagline as to how the reader can rent or purchase it. I realize he was probably just trying to be helpful, but after a while it started to come off as though he was shilling for sales.  However, this is a relatively minor complaint, and either way, this is a book well worth reading for any Doors fan; a memoir from a unique man about his time in one of rock music's most unique bands.

MY RATING: 7.5/10

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The Bluetones

The Bluetones

The 1990s as a decade produced some of the greatest rock music of the 20th century, and while there have been great bands in all decades from the 1950s through 2000, only the 1990s can rival the 1960s in terms of the scope, breadth, and sheer number of seminal bands which emerged on both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, the fertile and competitive scene of the 1990s is eclipsed only by the 1960s in both quality and impact, and as of 2014 it remains the last truly important scene in rock music.  In both America and the UK, there were bands emerging that reacted against the slick, AOR dominance of hair metal and synth-pop.  In the USA, it spawned grunge and alternative rock, while the UK gave rise to baggy, shoegaze, and ultimately indie rock. Both alternative and indie, which became the dominant genres of the decade, spawned some of the greatest bands and albums since the 1960s' golden age: in America, you had Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Pavement, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Pixies, and more, while in the UK you had Blur, Suede, Oasis, Pulp, The Stone Roses, Elastica, Mansun, Radiohead, and the Bluetones, amongst others.

The subject of this latest band profile are, as you've gathered from the title, the Bluetones. They were a band from Hounslow, London, England and had a career that spanned the years 1994 until 2011. In that time, they released six albums (three of them Top 10 albums in the UK), countless singles and B-sides, and carved out a career as one of the greatest and most overlooked indie bands of the decade. They were, in the photo above; top row L-R: Eds Chesters (drums), Scott Morriss (bass guitar, backing vocals), bottom row L-R: Adam Devlin (guitars), Mark Morriss (lead vocals).  The band were initially called the Bottlegarden before changing their name to the Bluetones, and they developed a rabidly loyal fanbase called "the Blue Army" that remained loyal to them until the end of the band.

Combining the sound of 1960s jangly psychedelia and 1990s Britpop, upon the success of their single "Slight Return" hitting #2 in the UK singles chart and their debut album Expecting to Fly hitting #1 in the UK album charts (both in 1996), they were lumped in with the rest of the Britpop movement that was then at the peak of its popularity in Great Britain. However, while they remained successful throughout their career, they never again equalled this initial surge of success, partly due to being labeled as "Britpop."  Indeed, when their career is looked at in its entirety, they were more a traditional indie rock band.  In this way, they suffered a similar fate to another great UK band of outsiders, Mansun, who were the antithesis of Britpop yet continued to be saddled with the label by the media and public perception.  The 'Tones' debut album is a perfect blend of heavy psychedelic rock, as in the epic opening track "Talking to Clarry" and the caustic "Carn't Be Trusted," switchy then to the folksy "Vampire," the quietly intense "The Fountainhead" which explodes into a majestic finale, the sludgy rock of "Cut Some Rug," and the jangle-pop of "Slight Return" and "Bluetonic."  Their second album, 1998's Return to the Last Chance Saloon, was a much heavier and darker affair, with an overall sound that echoed the sense of desperation and gloom that was shown in the old American west/southwest-themed album art.  While Expecting to Fly showed the band to be fantastic musicians, their instrumental chops really came to the fore on the second album, with the guitars lines even more sinewy and complicated, the bass lines more melodic and rumbling, and the drumming more thunderous, dexterous, and driving.  It's my favorite album of theirs, from the joyous "If..." to the dark humor of "Solomon Bites the Worm," the harrowing despair of "4-Day Weekend," "Ames," and "The Jub-Jub Bird," and the epically sweeping finale of "Broken Starr."   2000's follow-up album, Science and Nature, was a quieter but no less interesting affair, with a more acoustic based sound similar to how Led Zeppelin III sounded after Led Zeppelin II's bombast. Still, the unmistakably lush and beautiful songs and arrangements that were always a hallmark of the Bluetones were there: cheeky opening track "Zorrro" gives way to the intense beauty of "Tiger Lily" and "The Last of the Great Navigators." There were still some harrowing cuts, notably "The Basement Song" and "Keep the Home Fires Burning," culminating with the wistful "Slack Jaw" (about a love that got away) and the something-is-not-quite-right eeriness of "Emily's Pine." 

 

From here until the end, it was a strange ride for the band, who continued to release excellent albums and play gigs for their loyal fanbase while their chart and sales numbers declined. In a way, these years are a textbook example of the "critically acclaimed/commercially failed" trap too many talented musicians fall into. 2003's Luxembourg was a stripped down, back-to-basics affair, from the stark cream-colored album art to the songs that were a bit more jagged and angular, slashing guitars and thumping drums augmented by driving bass guitar and harsh (in a good sense) synthesizer punctuations. In a way, it is their new-wave/80s pop album, and standout cuts include "Fast Boy," "Never Going Nowhere," "Liquid Lips," and "Here it Comes Again." 2005's self-titled album was a true return-to-ground-zero album and their best performing album since the debut. It was the perfect update of their trademark lush, jangly 90s sound with a more contemporary 2000s sound, and the range of styles on the album were impressive.  The pure power pop of "My Neighbour's House," "Baby, Back Up," and "Head On a Spike" sat alongside the lilting "Surrendered," beautiful ballads like "The Last Song But One" and "Fade In/Fade Out," and sly humor like "Wasn't I Right About You?"  Their final album, 2010's A New Athens, showed the band as strong as ever, with the absolutely gorgeous "Firefly" sharing space on the record with standout tracks like "Half the Size of Nothing," "Haunted By You," "Pranchestonelle," and darker tunes like "The Notes Between the Notes Between the Notes" and "Into the Red."  However, despite strong critical reviews, the album failed to chart and rather than risk becoming a nostalgia act, the band decided to bow out gracefully with a farewell tour in 2011 that saw them playing in front of their devoted fans, who continue to lament the demise of the Bluetones to the present. Since the band split, Mark Morriss has embarked upon a successful solo career, Adam Devlin (I believe) continues to work as a musician, Scott Morriss is an illustrator and graphic designer, and Eds Chesters works as an osteopath.

In addition to their albums, the Bluetones were another in a tradition of 1990s British indie rock bands who had excellent singles, many of them standalone (ie non-album tracks) and with some great B-sides. Apart from those stemming from their final two albums, these are all collected on the triple-CD compilation A Rough Outline. An excellent standalone EP, the Serenity Now EP, was also released in 2005, as was a great live album Once Upon a Time in West Twelve (recorded in 2005), and a BBC Sessions compilation (both released in 2007).  Overall, the band left a body of work of excellent quality that still sounds fresh and vital after their split.  As for how and why I became such a huge fan of this band, who are virtually unknown in America (and as far as I know, only ever played one small tour here in their entire career), I first heard the Bluetones around 2000. I had signed up for one of the first online streaming radio services, the now-defunct LaunchCast by Yahoo, where bands and songs could be rated so that the service would recommend you new music based on your preference.  Songs by the Bluetones (as well as Mansun...this is also how I fully discovered them) kept playing and the more I heard, the more I liked. This led me to explore their albums and the rest, as they say, is history.

There are several reasons why the band has resonated so deeply with me. First and foremost is that, simply put, the music is great. It's well written, catchy, interesting, melodically and harmonically lush, and encompasses the best of what I love of British rock music, which is the amalgamation of numerous influences and styles into a wholly unique sound.  In addition, they are excellent musicians. Adam Devlin is, in my opinion, one of the finest British guitarists of his generation, on the same level of other titans such as Graham Coxon, Bernard Butler, Dominic Chad, Steve Craddock, John Squire, and Johnny Marr. Scott Morriss plays melodically inventive counterpoint melodies on bass in the vein of other excellent bass guitarists of his era such as Alex James, while Eds Chesters is a rock solid and powerful drummer who always plays for the song but has the chops to stretch out when it's necessary. Mark Morriss has a very melodic and pleasant voice with a tenor range, and the contrast of the musical backdrop, whether it's a pretty ballad or a bombastic harder rock song, and his vocals is one of the unique and wonderful things about the Bluetones' sound.  For me, they hearken back to the jangly 1960s psychedelia of the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield and meld it with the best of 1960s British rock into something akin to what the Smiths started in the 1980s, fitting right in with their contemporaries in the 1990s Britpop scene. However, they rejected the Britpop label and I do, too...Britpop came to mean something derivative and commercial as pertaining to that specific scene, whereas the best bands of that era, of which the Bluetones were one, transcended that stifling label in order to survive and thrive beyond it. They may not have been the most commercially successful or critically acclaimed band of their era but they were certainly one of the best, and in the end it's the quality of the music and its impact on the listener that is most important.  A back and forth on Twitter with a follower of mine resulted in the discussion that if Blur were the Beatles of the 1990s, Oasis were the Rolling Stones, and Supergrass were the Who, then the Bluetones were the Kinks...that is to say, the band that was quirky, popular (but not as much as the others) yet equally as valuable for their contribution to the music, and a band that was and still is held near to the hearts of their ever-loyal and passionate fanbase.  I can certainly think of worse comparisons to be made, and in this case I think this one is completely accurate.

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Blogging Advice and Tips from the Rock and Roll Chemist (PART 2)

Welcome to Part 2 of this series of articles about blogging. With the huge growth of the Rock and Roll Chemist blog over the past year and the numerous opportunities it's opened up for me, I thought it would be fun and beneficial to both readers and myself to share what I've learned from the whole experience. I also thought it would be fun to engage with fellow bloggers so that we could exchange advice and knowledge with each other as we all work to make our blogs as successful as possible going forward. Part 1 dealt with the foundation of blogging, the classic (and still relevant, in my view) maxim which states that content is king. This second part is going to have the overarching theme of "DO IT" which will then be split into two subsections. Let's get going with Part 2!

PART 2: DO IT!

"Do it." It sounds simple enough, and in reality it's as easy as what those two short words command. If you want your blog to become more successful and you want to produce great content, you need to buckle down and do it. That means you need to write a lot, and whether you're good at it or not, practicing is the only way to continually get better. I touched on this as one of the major parts of my series of articles on How to Write a Book, and it also applies here. Thus, the first subsection of DO IT is to practice your writing, and then practice it some more. It's the only way to get better, and by continuing to write for your blog, you'll be killing two birds with one stone: a) you'll be getting better at writing, and b) you'll be creating content for your blog.

With luck, as you get better at writing, the content you'll be producing for your blog will also improve...it's a win-win proposition! When I started writing books and blogging in earnest in 2009, I was already a very good writer. It's something I'd always done as a hobby and was always really good at throughout school. During my graduate school and postdoctoral studies, I had to write a ridiculous number of journal articles, research proposals and papers, and my PhD degree culminated with a massive dissertation. It was a lot of writing and all of it was invaluable practice which was definitely a huge benefit.

 If you want to be a Paperback Writer, you've got to work at it!

Like anything in life, there is never a point where someone decides they're as good as they're going to get and says "I've maxed out...no more practice for me!" Whether it's an athlete, musician, writer, painter, sculptor...you name it, there isn't a single person on this planet who will ever be good enough at their craft that additional practice won't improve their skills. At the very least it will allow those skills to remain sharp and keep them from diminishing. Blogging is no different...if you're not constantly writing and writing for your blog, you'll never get better and neither will your blog.  Even if many of the pieces you write for your blog end up falling by the wayside and never get posted, that's okay! I've written countless pieces that, for one reason or another, I decided I didn't like and didn't post. Even so, I'm glad I wrote them because it not only gave me practice writing and the ability to continue honing my craft, but many of the ideas from these discarded pieces ended up making their way into subsequently published posts where I was able to finally convey them in a manner I was proud of because of the experience I'd gained earlier.  The best artists, writers, and musicians don't create their masterpieces with the first draft, and blogging is no different. PRACTICE!

As for the second subsection of DO IT, while it may seem unrelated to the first, if you'll bear with me, I think you'll see that they're intimately related. That second subsection is to take advantage of any blogging opportunities you're offered (within reason, of course). SEIZE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES! 

Here's a great (and long) song with the message of Carpe Diem (Seize the Day) 

What is meant by this is, at some point in your blogging career, you are (hopefully) going to attract the attention of someone somewhere who might be interested in having you do some blog writing for them. In this current online climate where blogging has become an important component of journalism, marketing, branding, promotion, and client/customer engagement, if you have a quality blog, an expanding audience, and broad exposure, chances are you'll get noticed for it. If that's the case and you receive some interesting offers, unless you object for some reason, why not go for it? It will only give you more practice, exposure, and experience and who knows? It just might lead to something bigger down the road.  I've been fortunate over the past year to have gotten several chances to do just this. I've had posts sponsored by other companies, I was invited to write a piece about the Beatles in celebration of the 50th anniversary of their arrival in America, I was invited to write a piece about sports and family for a social media campaign run by a major sports apparel retailer, and I have other opportunities in the pipeline. In each case, my blog was recognized and its impact and influence valued enough that I was approached, and the resulting pieces not only gave me more practice writing but also brought even greater exposure to my blog. Besides all of that, they were fun to do and they allowed me to write about subjects that I'm passionate about and which are near and dear to me.  I hope that, if and when any of you out there are presented with similar chances, you seize upon them and take advantage of the opportunity to get better as a blogger, get some more exposure for your blog, and have fun to boot! 

Even though I've been at it for several years, it's only been since I started putting real, dedicated, and focused effort into my blog that I've started to reap the rewards from it. Launching a side career as a book reviewer, getting new blogging opportunities, and engaging with brands, musicians, and others in a way I never could have dreamed of a year ago have been amazing experiences.  Who knows what the future may hold as far as opportunities? I sure don't, but I can't wait to find out! I wish this for each and every one of you, my fellow bloggers.  With that in mind, the only way to get there is to sit down and DO IT!

Click HERE for PART 3!

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Is Being Both a Music Fan and a Musician a Blessing or a Curse?

It will be obvious to anyone who regularly reads this blog, let alone my family and friends, that music is a HUGE part of my life.  It's been a running joke for as long as I can remember that, whenever I can, I have to be listening to music. Whether it's at home, in the car, or at my desk at work with earphones, I like to listen to music as often and as much as possible. Besides being a massive music fan, which entails listening to it, collecting it, going to concerts, and reading and writing about it (hence this very blog), I'm also a musician myself. It's this duality of creator and consumer of music that has shaped who I am and planted the seed in my mind for the following article.

I'd always had an interest in playing music, and when I was ten years old I began playing both guitar and trumpet. The trumpet had been my dad's from when he was in high school and I started playing in the school band and taking lessons. At the same time, I had been mucking about with an old Yamaha classical guitar my mum had and I took a handful of lessons at the local music store. However, while I learned to read music and took serious and structured lessons on the trumpet, I stopped guitar lessons after a few months and instead bought a chord book and started teaching myself how to play by listening to my favorite records, learning by playing along to them. These were great years because I was able to play trumpet from the age of ten until I was in my early twenties, playing in the school concert and jazz bands all the way to the end of high school; I also auditioned for and was accepted into the local university symphonic band, which I played in for my last two years of high school.  I played a bit more until my college studies became too time consuming for me to continue, although I still have my trumpet and pull it out of its case every now and then to play a tune.  As for guitar, I literally could not put it down once I started progressing in my playing.  I saved up money to buy a cheap electric guitar and amp, and eventually managed to buy a better guitar (Gibson SG) and legitimate amp (Marshall). By the time I finished college, I had amassed several guitars (the SG, a Fender USA Stratocaster, a Fender 1952 Reissue Telecaster, a Gibson Les Paul Standard, an Epiphone Sheraton), and a gorgeous sounding Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker tube amp. I also had a huge array of effects pedals, from my prized Vox wah-wah to an Ibanez tube screamer and various flangers, phasers, compressors, chorus, and Uni-Vibe boxes. I started to write songs and played in a few bands, my most serious one being the final line-up (with my brother Alex on bass guitar and our friend Theo on drums). We recorded a bunch of stuff in our makeshift basement studio and played a bunch of gigs until we had to stop due to lack of free time (college again!) around 2001.  Since then, I've pared down my gear due to lack of space (although I do regret parting with all that gear now!) and I've focused solely on writing and recording albums of my songs by myself, playing all of the instruments and doing all of the production myself. It's been very fun, although I haven't had a chance to make an album since 2011, but I hope to rectify that soon. Eventually, as my kids get older and some time frees up in my life, I hope to get into a band again and play with other musicians and even get back on stage as I always loved playing in front of an audience.

I realize that was a long lead-in! The whole point of it all was to set the stage for the crux of this article which follows.  As you can see, music is probably, other than my faith and my family, the biggest thing in my life, even bigger than my beloved Boston sports teams.  Taking all of this into account, I was inspired by a recent thread conversation on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums that I frequent.  I was involved in a discussion about how being a musician affects how you listen to music as a fan. Someone had posed the question "do you listen to music differently if you're also a musician?" and there were responses by both musicians and non-musicians. It stuck in my head for weeks after and got me thinking enough about it that I decided to write about it and make it the focal point of the article you're now reading; instead of telling you how I answered this question in the thread, I've expanded upon it below.

So is being a music fan and a musician both good and bad? Is it a blessing or a curse?  I think it's both, and I'll try to explain why I think so...first, why might it be blessing?  I think that any serious fan of music who listens to it and appreciates will develop a deep understanding of why they enjoy it and what makes it good, both in terms of the structure and the musicianship. This will happen regardless of whether they have the talent and ability to play a musical instrument.  And clearly just about everyone who is a musician has a deep love of music...otherwise, there would be no reason for them to dedicate long hours to the mastery of their talent!  However, it is my belief, based on personal experience as well as discussions with others who are in the same situation, that being a musician enables one to have a deeper and more fundamental understanding of the music, leading to a greater understanding and appreciation of it. It's certainly not meant to imply that one cannot have a deep understanding or appreciation if they don't play music themselves, but rather that it's more difficult to do so.  Beyond the pure enjoyment derived from listening to good music, I find that I'm able to understand and appreciate it on a more profound level because within it I can hear what went into creating it, from the songwriting and arranging, to the musicianship (including the skill and different techniques involved), the equipment used (guitars, drums, amps, effects, etc) and production.  Having many years of experience in all of these areas myself, I liken it to an painter standing in front of an artwork and mentally dissecting all of the different techniques, shades, colors, and materials that went into its painting it.  In this way, and at the risk of sounding overly pretentious or haughty, I find that I appreciate it not only on a technical level in terms of how it was created, but also the layers underneath what is actually heard upon first listen. Things like the chord changes, harmonies, interesting variations in timing and time signature, and more are all examples of things that my brain processes as I'm listening to a song (unless I have it on merely as background music). There are many things like this that are completely obvious to me, yet when I listen to and discuss music with someone who isn't a musician, even if they've listened to it as much as I have, they usually tell me that they have no idea of what I'm describing; usually, they say that until I pointed it out, they never noticed it, which shows me that the training of being a musician really does make a difference in how one listens to and processes music in the brain.

That all sounds well and good, so you may be asking why could it also be considered a curse? On balance, and this is only speaking from personal experience, I find it to be a blessing for all of the reasons I listed above. Still, there are times when music could be approached with an open mind, open ears, and nothing else. No preconceived notions, no inclination to dissect everything I listen to and strip away the parts, and no need to always focus on the production or other minutiae...basically a cessation of how much I tend to overthink it.  There are many times when I wish I could just LISTEN to music and take it just for what it is.  Before I get too carried away here, I should say that there are many times where I do simply "turn off my mind, relax, and float downstream" as a great man once sang...

...but these tend to be during times when music is either on in the background or I'm doing something else at the same time. It does depend on what I'm doing when listening to music...if I'm writing and listening (such as this very moment), my engagement with the music is still high, but if I'm exercising while listening, then it's not.  When I truly pay attention and listen to music, I find it impossible to just approach it as a tune and nothing more. The vast majority of the time, it's fine and, as stated above, it honestly makes me appreciate the ability to mentally process it from that perspective. However, there are times when it can be a hindrance; this is usually when I'm listening to or discussing music with friends or family members who aren't musically inclined. I tend to be quite snobby and judgmental anyway when it comes to music, and while I'll acknowledge that a large part of the reason why has more to do with how important it all is to me, I do also know that a lot of it is due to my background as a musician. I don't always have to listen to technically complicated or extremely sophisticated music (for instance, I'm a huge fan of Husker Du and the Pixies, noisy and lo-fi bands who still wrote catchy songs swathed in layers of noise), but I do like there to be some discernible talent and melody underneath everything.  Anything that sounds too cliched, specifically commercial, or flat-out derivative and boring will bear the brunt of my scorn. Usually, I'm fine with this, but I do have a hard time just enjoying a piece of harmless fluff for what it is (with exceptions, of course).

None of this takes any of the joy out of music for me, and on the contrary it's one of the reasons why I feel that I have a pretty eclectic aural palette of tastes. I enjoy old school blues and jazz (mainly big band and bebop jazz, but also some more modern jazz).  Of course, I'm a massive rock music fan, with tastes from the Beatles, Who, Hendrix, etc to Frank Zappa, R.E.M., the Smiths, Blur, and everything in between. I enjoy classical music, some bits of rap and hip-hop (mainly from the 1980s and early 1990s), and there are many guilty pleasure one-hit wonder singles (that I'm embarrassed to admit I like!) from every decade.  While I'm not as heavily into folk, country, the massively popular country-pop music of today, or electronic/trance music, I can appreciate elements of them all, and it's quite enjoyable to listen to all of these different types of music, hear the commonalities between them all, and pick out elements of each when they're woven into something new and different by the countless artists that I enjoy listening to. On balance, being a musician and having a deep understanding of music, being able to read, write, and play music, has enhanced my appreciation and enjoyment of this incredible art form.  While there may be some minor drawbacks to it, overall I wouldn't change any of it.  So, in answering the question "is being both a music fan and a musician a blessing or a curse?" my answer is that, overwhelmingly, it's a blessing!

I know there are many more hardcore music fans who are also musicians...what do you think? What are the positives and negatives of it in your own appreciation and enjoyment of music?   

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ANNOUNCEMENT: My Upcoming Book on Mansun

After a long gestation period and a bit of a delay (assuming you can consider three and a half years only a "bit" of a delay), I'm happy to announce that my next writing project will be a new book on one of my favorite bands of all time, Mansun. After I had published the first edition of my book on Blur's live history, Black Book,  in 2009, I began working on a similar book about Mansun. However, from late 2010 to the present I hadn't done any work on it. The few people I'd mentioned it to on the now defunct Mansun and Paul Draper message boards at the time didn't forget and I continued to be asked about its status the last few years. Fast forward to 2014 and there is a resurgence of interest in the band, a coalescence of those of us who have kept our passion for the band for many, many years and new fans who are only just discovering the brilliance of their music. There was a hugely sucessful fan convention in Chester, England only a couple of days ago where fans gathered, with band memorabilia on display, Mansun tribute bands, a souvenir programme, and the premiere of a new Paul Draper solo track, "Feeling My Heart Run Slow," for his (hopefully) forthcoming first solo album. The song was excellent and you can listen to it below.

The new book, provisionally titled "Rock and Roll Losers: Mansun 1995-2003" will be similar in format to my two Blur books (Black Book volumes 1 & 2) in that they were detail the live concert history of the band via available live recordings. Each concert will have an entry with the set list, sound quality, length, and description of the performances. In addition, there will be photographs from concerts as well as any live memorabilia I can get a hold of (ticket stubs, gig flyers, concert posters, etc). Finally, I have the backing of not only the organizers of the Mansun Convention, but of Paul Draper himself, who has offered his input and assistance and to whom I am most grateful.  I intend, if possible, to include a section at the beginning of the book with a biography of the band and more insight into their career as well as their concerts, hopefully using Paul and Andie Rathbone's own recollections. I'm tentatively scheduling the release date for Christmas 2014, although I do ask that you consider this date a bit fluid given that life can be unpredictable and no one knows what delays may pop up between now and then.

This is where you, my fellow Mansunites, come in and can get involved...similar to my Blur books, I am planning on including photos of Mansun ticket stubs as well as tour posters, gig flyers, and any other live memorabilia I can find visuals for.  In order to do this, I'm going to need your help. If you're willing, I'd love to have your scans of Mansun ticket stubs, flyers, posters, and anything relating to the experience of seeing them live in concert that you may have laying around. I'd also be grateful for any live recordings of Mansun you may be willing to send me a copy of that I don't already have. Not only will your contributions help improve the book, but it's a chance for you to be a part of the Mansun story, since anyone who contributes materials will be listed in an Honor Roll at the back of the book as a means of thanks from me to you.

So there you have it...I'm busily working on this in addition to everything else I've got on my plate, and I think/hope it will be well worth the wait. I am beyond excited to (hopefully!) have the input of Paul and Andie, the convention organizers, and to finally be able to share this work with the rest of the passionate and faithful Mansun fans all over the world.

Take it Easy!

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