One of the incredible things about listening to independent bands is the diverse range of styles and influences. Not having been tainted by the labels’ desire to make all bands sound the same, indie musicians can generate an entirely unique sound without fear of getting dumped. The Energy Trio don’t create one unique sound, they manage to cross every genre and invent several of their own along the way.

The very first thing you’ll probably think when you hear them is “My God, they can actually play” and you’d be right. Hardly a surprise when you look at the staggering range of musical influences that range from Pantera to Art Blakey, Gene Harris, and Pat Martino that it is so difficult to pigeon hole them in any single style.

There is always a concern with bands offering this diverse a range of influences that the result is going to be headache inducing garbage, but that is quite possibly the only genre that the Energy Trio has yet to conquer.

Incredible rock guitar riffs, Jazz drum lines and 1960s keyboard just shouldn’t combine this well but in “Softly” they manage it perfectly and even throw in some Jazz Funk effects for good measure. This is surely 1960’s heavy metal jazz-fusion bebop at its very finest.

All the band members hail from an incredible musical background. Bob “Animal” Powers on guitar can play his way through heavy metal riffs and back out in any other musical style. Shea “LCD” Marshall is an organ player like no other. He currently lists his projects as including a Ballet School, resident pianist for a contemporary church, and is soon to take over the role as organist for a Jewish Congregation. Adam “AC Biggs” Clark is responsible for some of the most varied and accomplished rhythms of any band and boasts playing many styles of music in all styles of bands.

As far as eclectic combinations of music genres go, Gretchen has the alternative scene virtually wrapped up. The viciously heavy guitar riffs and drumbeats are easily comparable with any number of heavy metal bands. The often-surreal vocals stretch from the obvious Gothic influence to more serene and even traditional female vocalist sounds. The combination is a hugely powerful and unique sound that is well deserved of the numerous accolades that Gretchen has already received.

As well as wowing readers of the Heaven Metal Magazine and featuring as the soundtrack for a recent Ford Ranger promotion, Gretchen has also amassed radio airtime in an impressive 70 cities throughout 25 different states.

It’s truly refreshing to hear a rock band willing to try and change the mould of modern music. Being a girl fronted rock band immediately means the music media and potential fans alike listen for similarities to Evanescence and No Doubt, and while occasional similarities do undoubtedly exist Mia Richards has invented an entirely new style of her own. If the world had an ounce of justice then soon enough, girl fronted rock bands would be compared to Gretchen and, if they were, they would all fall short in terms of originality.

The latest album entitled “In The Mean Time” incorporates everything that is great about Gretchen and throws in Travis Wyrick as producer and Brad Noah of Disciple making a guest appearance on guitar. In a world where most bands are afraid to try anything new, Gretchen brings a breath of fresh air to the music scene. Whether you’re a secular or a regular rock fan you will find plenty to love about this band.

There are actually several points neatly rolled into one post here but they’re all essentially based around the initial signing of that elusive first contract and even slightly before that.When a label A&R guy turns up to a gig and likes what he hears he generally brings the equivalent of a pre-contract agreement with him. He tells the band that this agreement enables him to speak to the label about them and vice versa. All is not at it seems, even at this early stage. Most unsigned bands, though, would jump through hoops at this point and understandably sign the agreement. This pre-contract agreement in actual fact ties the band or musician to that particular label. It prevents them from contacting any other label or signing any agreements with another label. Essentially, unless the band agrees to the deal offered by the music label, they are left with no deal and no possibility of signing another deal. Eventually, the band will sign whatever the label has to offer. Usually this is a long contract requiring the band to commit to at least 5 albums and numerous videos. Obviously, if the first album is successful they’re still stuck with the same deal despite being a much more marketable prospect. What makes this worse is that while the band have essentially no way of getting out of the contract without being sued by the label, the reverse is not true. The label essentially have the right to cancel the agreement whenever they choose. Slow album sales or poor progress on an album will often see the label cancel their agreement. Bearing in mind how soon this occurs in the relationship between label and musician the early signs are not good.

 

First, let me explain why this is titled version 1. The logic is simple. There will undoubtedly be a lot of these posts because there are an almost insurmountable number of reasons why major labels suck. I’ll try my best not to simply state that they con artists out of money, although in many cases they do, and give a more rounded opinion. So, in volume 1 we’re going to briefly discuss how major labels con artists out of money when they offer digital downloads to consumers. Weird Al Yankovic pointed out that he makes considerably less (although, still considerably more than most I would imagine) money when his singles or albums sell as digital downloads. He points out that while it costs the labels and producers considerably less money to offer a song for download than to produce it on CD the artist sees less money. This despite, in the case of iTunes, an album only costing the consumer a couple of dollars less. Thedigitalmusicweblog rather conveniently did some math to save every one else the effort so thanks for that. I’ll cut a somewhat long mathematical story short here. Not only does the post point out that Weird Al (like so many other artists) only receives 4% of the sales from his digital music but also that he would be earning, on average, $45 for every thousand songs sold. That’s 4.5 cents per song; when you consider that albums from Weird Al sell on iTunes for around $12 each that’s ludicrous. In contrast, a $15 CD would line Weird Al’s pockets with about 31 cents per song. Obviously, the morale of this story to most of us is not that we should buy the CD to make artists more money but something else. Artists on the books of major record labels get shafted whether their music sells digitally or on CD. Keep your eyes peeled for volume 2, which is sure to be with you sooner than you think.

In all honesty, unless you stumbled upon this blog by mistake then there is a very real chance you will know all of this. At the very least, you will have had a vague idea that these things certainly do occur. However, one of my routine searches for any information pertaining to independent music threw up an AskMen article titled 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Record Deals. While the information may be generally accepted as gospel to the proponents of independent music, as well as those currently being shafted by their labels, it is good to see that the word is being spread a little bit more. The article covers the fact that:

• Signing a record deal is like selling your soul
• How record labels use hidden costs to take more money off artists
• Cash advances need to be returned
• Deals can leave you with no recording opportunity
• A deal also takes all of the copyrights to your masterpieces.

It might not be breaking news to some of us, but I’m equally sure that many readers will want a further run down on a lot of the points mentioned. So, expect five more posts to follow looking at each point in more detail in the coming weeks. If you already know it, then read anyway and get your blood boiling and your anger rising at the hideous way that the major labels treat artists.