During this episode of Live Fix Radio, we explore the music of rapper, singer-songwriter and Chicago-native Katherine Flaherty (aka K.Flay). We first discovered K. Flay’s cunning blend of hip hop, pop, rock and humorous rhymes back in March at SXSW. We caught up with Flaherty before her show at Subterranean to talk about her Black Friday guilt, the emotional connection with her fans, what she’s learned since SXSW and the silly things she says while onstage.

During the show we also share how we discovered the curious backstory of Subterranean, the venue where K.Flay played. It’s a show packed with tons of great stuff like live post-show fan interviews and news about free live downloads and more as you’ll see in the show notes and links below.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Show Notes:

Music from the podcast

• K.Flay’s website, awesome YouTube Channel and downloads

News and links

• Chemical Brothers New Concert Doc “Don’t Think” Coming Soon

• Fugazi Unleashes Live Archives, MacKaye Shares Concert Memories

• Daria Musk Continues To Connect with Fans, Build Community with Google Plus

• Poi Dog Pondering Invites Fans to Kick-start Making of Live Album, DVD

• Google Music Offers Free Download: Pearl Jam Live in Toronto 9/11/11

• Listen To This: 30 Days of Dead Live Downloads

Step Up To The Mic

What do you think about K.Flay’s mad rhymes and crazy songwriting skills? Got a question about Subt’s shady history? Want to know more about something we talked about during the show?

We invite you to share your concert experiences and thoughts about this podcast in the comments below, so they can be included in a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

During this episode of Live Fix Radio we’ll tell you a story about how a well-traveled and concert-loving quarter from 1965 inspired us to continue our Concert Genealogy Experiment.

And speaking of Concert Genealogy, we’ll tell you how we discovered that a Mavis Staples throne at The Hideout Block Party, a Beatles concert in 1965 and our chat with Brooklyn-based rock quintet The Canon Logic are more connected than we realized.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Show Notes:

Music from the podcast

“Sirens” and “Rapid Empire (Am I M_I_A)” – The Canon Logic Rapid Empire – EP (iTunes)

News and links from the podcast

• Canon Logic’s tour blog about trail mix and their cross-country travels

• Mavis Staples and Her Throne at the Hideout Block Party

• What’s the Real Reason for Tour Riders?

• Looky-Loos or Active Fans: How Is Live Music Fueling the Occupy Wall Street Protests?

• Cheap Trick Lobbies Before Congress to Regulate Concert Stages

• Another Great Night for Concert Fans and Google Plus Hangouts

How Are You Connected?

Were you at the The Hideout Block Party? How about that classic 1965 Beatles show in Chicago? What’s your most treasured concert memento?

Drop a comment below and let us know how you’ve connected all the concerts in your life to the bigger picture of live music history, and we’ll share your story during a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

During this episode of Live Fix Radio, we explore the topic of teenage performers and how the live music experience impacts their creativity, inspiration and psychological development.

We’re excited to dive into this topic and share with you the music of 14 year-old singer-songwriter Kate Diaz and soul-blues-jazz-hip hop octet Kids These Days.

Ever since we first saw Kate amaze us at the Metro we knew she was well beyond her years. And we had the chance talk with her before a recent show at the Abbey Pub and ask her about her favorite live performers and how she got started as a musician.

Even though they’re all under the age of twenty, Kids These Days is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in Chicago. And it was a blast talking to them at Lollapalooza about why they embrace making mistakes during their live show and how the WWF and James Brown influence what they do on stage. You’ll here why their debut EP Hard Times is one of my favorite of 2011. Note: A couple f-bombs do get dropped during the interview, but it’s for a good cause. It’s nothing to fear. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time, okay? 

Subscribe via iTunes.

Show Notes:

Music from the podcast

DJ Mehdi – “I am Somebody”   (A musical tribute to the late French DJ who died last week and a continuation of our RIP grief experiment.)

Kate Diaz – “Kill the Question Mark”

Kids These Days – “Hard Times”

Links and info mentioned during show: 

• The Huffington Post: Musicians with Famous Parents

• A 2006 Study on Music Performance Anxiety (MPI) in Young Musicians ( PDF download)

• Are Tour Riders the Real Deal? 

• Finding Concert Relics on Storage Wars and Pawn Stars

• Top Concert Tweets of the Week

• Rolling Stone and Dr. Martens Want Your Concert Stories

• Riot Fest 2011 is Coming to Chicago

• Weezer Fans: Pinkerton or the Blue Album?

Step Up To The Mic

What do you think about teenage performers? Got a question about a topic we talked about during the show? We invite you to share your concert experiences and thoughts about this podcast in the comments below, so they can be included in a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

Editorial note: Earlier this week our friend and Live Fix contributor Moira McCormick caught up with NewVillager before their gig in New York to talk about the story behind the band’s ambitiously esoteric and wonder-filled mythological live show — and what awaits Chicago fans tonight at the Empty Bottle. 

“What makes it exciting,” says Ross Simonini of his deliriously uncategorizable polymedia band NewVillager, “is that it’s pop music and esoteric ideas traveling together. Pop can hold esoteric ideas, and we like both – why can’t they be married?”

Simonini and musical partner/fellow visual and conceptual artist Ben Bromley, whose self-titled debut album arrived last month on the IAMSOUND label, are shortly appearing at downtown Manhattan’s snug, multicolored performance space Santos Party House, not quite a month into their North American tour – which brings them to the Empty Bottle tonight.

The Brooklyn-by-way-of-San Francisco duo, augmented live by drummer Collin Palmer and human sculpture Eric Lister, melds art (the visual and performance kind) with their rapturous pop-soul music, on scintillating display in the 10 tracks of NewVillager – easily one of the most jolt-you-out-of-your-complacency releases of this or any year.

Their press kit boasts as many features published in art publications as in music mags, and their performances are apt to take place in galleries – many of which involve actual art installations, such as the recently concluded “Temporary Culture” at Los Angeles’ Human Resources Gallery.

The 10-day exhibit centered on the band’s construction of a “shantytown” in which NewVillager lived, eating and sleeping and all; they ultimately performed in ten different constructed rooms, each room symbolizing a song from the 10-track album. The number ten figures prominently in NewVillager’s self-created mythology, a complex entity that, like Hindu, Greek, or any other cultural mythos, “can’t be summarized in two sentences,” as Simonini puts it: “Our mythology is not really a narrative. NewVillager’s mythology should be understood like art” – in that intuitive, gut-level, gestalt way that art is digested.

At the same time, Simonini acknowledges that serious art talk in the music world is often regarded as pretentious. And he notes with a laugh, “When people hear our ideas first, before our music, they think we must be a noise band, very abstract.”

Instead, NewVillager sculpts widescreen, kaleidoscopic, soul-infused pop – and if you listen to their album without knowing anything about them first, you’d swear you’re hearing a multi-vocalist, multi-instrument, multiracial ensemble. ‘We tried to make the album sound that way,” Simonini says modestly.

When you find out NewVillager is just two guys – two white guys – you’re impressed, if not incredulous. And you figure they must hire a phalanx of singers and musicians to recreate that sound in concert – or at least incorporate a whole lotta recorded tracks.

“No tracks,” says Simonini.

He does add that they’d like to tour with a populous ensemble some day, but that “financially and logistically” it’s not possible. Hiring drummer Palmer, however, made a significant difference in NewVillager’s live sound – and appearance.

“It used to be unruly,” says Simonini, “with just me and a guitar and a foot pedal, and Ben and keyboards and bass and a foot pedal.”

As for the aforementioned human sculpture, that would be one Eric Lister, a friend of Simonini’s since his San Francisco childhood, who’s previously taken part in NewVillager’s art-music happenings. In their current show, Simonini describes, “Eric’s in the center [of the audience], in his ‘Cocoon House’ state” – “Cocoon House” being the leadoff track on NewVillager, whose physical imagery is meant to suggest the gestational phase of an idea.

In fact, as NewVillager’s set begins in the Day-Glo-daubed, patchouli-scented, and cheerfully diminutive music room of Santos Party House, Lister has encased himself in a womblike fabric contraption – “a quilt made of our childhood clothing,” according to Simonini.

When the human sculpture emerges later in NewVillager’s set, those concertgoers who are in the know, but who aren’t in the cocoon’s immediate area, can only imagine the give-and-take that’s surely taking place. Before the show, Simonini said that the addition of Eric the human sculpture gave audience members a chance to interact with “the art aspects of the show;” though the interaction isn’t visible to whole swathes of people.

But if some of NewVillager’s visual-art components worked better in theory than in concert – at least in a bite-sized venue like this – the band pulled off something even more rewarding: just these two guys (plus drummer) recreated every delicious texture and nuance of their sheerly edible album. Simonini and Bromley’s vocals particularly amazed, especially the latter’s supple swoops from baritone rumble to soul-sweet falsetto, as in the stop-start strut of “Rich Doors” – and their harmonies struck a rich and satisfying vein, time and time again.

The end came too soon, literally; New Villager were a few songs short of performing their whole album, ending with an encore rendition of the exhortatory “Lighthouse” – with a genius snippet of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” tossed in.

“We’re always trying new stuff out,” Simonini had said before the show, referring in particular to their live set, and for NewVillager, that includes delving deeper into ways of bringing their audience into the experience.

He noted that concertgoers have lately been showing up at their gigs dressed as characters from NewVillager’s wildly artful videos (viewable at newvillager.com.) At their Philadelphia gig earlier this month, Simonini says they asked the costumed fans to interact with Eric – which they did, leading the human sculpture out of his cocoon.

This got Simonini and Bromley thinking that the myth-clad devotees might be willing to arrange with the band, in advance of a particular concert, to wear certain costumes and perform certain actions in the audience, perhaps cued by verbal or visual signals from the band – so that a continuous action would flow around the room. And all of this would be coordinated by a website Simonini envisions them setting up.
After all, he says, why go to a pop concert – indeed, why listen to pop music at all – “and not want to go deeper?”

Were You There?

Were you at the NewVillager show in NYC? Have you experienced the wonder and pleasure of their live show before? Let us know what you think and we’ll share your story during a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

During this episode of Live Fix Radio, we explore how the female brain, body and emotions are impacted by the live music experience. We also spoke with Egyptian hardcore band Massive Scar Era. And after seeing the female-fronted quartet perform live at Obbityfest 2011, Sherine (vocals/guitar) and Nancy (violin) told us about how the revolution in Cairo impacts their music and live show, what lead them to start the band in spite of cultural adversity, and what family struggles they had to overcome to play live and tour.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Show Notes:

Music from the podcast

“God’s Country” – Ani DiFranco live at Carnegie Hall 4.6.02 (iTunes)

“Nothing” – Massive Scar Era

“Tribute” – Massive Scar Era

Live Music News

During the live music news segment, we talked about U2 and the Blind Guitarist Fan, rap concert riot at NYC, death at Rosklide Festival, hash candy at Electric Forest Festival and more. Read more about these stories in live concert news.

Websites, Articles and Books

During the show, we explored NIDA.com, On the Issues article: Female Music Critics Transcend Fan Culture and Louann Brizendine’s book The Female Brain(Barnes & Noble).

Step Up To The Mic

What do you think about women and live music? Got a question about a topic we talked about during the show? We invite you to share your concert experiences and thoughts about this podcast in the comments below, so they can be included in a future episode of Live Fix Radio.

Say hello to Chicago-based bands Makeshift Prodigy and California Wives live from MOBfest 2011!

During this episode of Live Fix Radio, we explore the details about each band’s favorite artists and most memorable concerts experiences, what role fans play during their live show, the transcendence of live concert art, and what an emerging band can learn from SXSW 2011.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Show Notes:

Music from the podcast (in order of appearance)

“Alive” – Makeshift Prodigy

“Wakeup and Smile” – Makeshift Prodigy Live at MOBfest 2011

“Tokyo” – California Wives Live at MOBfest 2011

“Blood Red Youth” – California Wives

Music News:

• U2 360 Claw Lives On A Permanent Venue

• Making Sense of SeatGeek’s Concert Density Report

Were You There…?

We invite you to share your MOBfest 2011 Chicago concert stories so we can feature them on a future episode of Live Fix Radio. Drop ‘em in the comments below!

See more MOBfest 2011 photos by Colleen Catania

On this episode of Live Fix Radio, we explore the live music laboratory of Chicago-based experimental rock band The Earth Program as they give us an exclusive tour of their Spook House practice studio. The ambitious quartet also shares the inside scoop on ObbityFest 2011, a 21-band music and art festival going on in Chicago this weekend.

As we told you in our initial Obbityfest preview we have a lot in common with the festival’s experimental side. And musically it features DIY, punk / rock / psychedelic music and art from as far away as Egypt. And during this special bonus podcast interview, all four members of the band take us on a wild ride through the curiously awesome world of Obbityville, a parallel universe of artistic inspiration, musical community and creative resistance. Fun!

Subscribe via iTunes.

Show Notes:

Music from the podcast (all tunes by The Earth Program)

“Le Gloom” – (Live at the Spook House)

“Eat Your Makeup” – (INVADE!)

Check out the Obbityfest 2011 free mixtape sampler download.

UPDATE 7/5/11:

Lots of fun was had at Obbityfest! Here’s a video and Colleen’s Flicker set of photos capturing our favorite moments seeing The Earth Program and “a music fan’s best friend” rock the stage at the New Rock Theater.

ObbityFestival Dates and Lineup

Friday – 7/01/11
12:00 The Clams
11:00 The (Glorious) Tea Party
10:00 Swimsuit Addition
9:00 Rodeo
8:15 Bad Bad Meow
7:30 Sense-A
6:45 Brad Brubaker and The Crowd Goes Wild

Saturday – 7/02/11
12:30 Hospice
11:30 Woo-Man and The Banana
10:30 The Earth Program
9:30 Massive Scar Era (all the way from Egypt!)
8:45 The Hate Maxes
8:00 Donoma
7:15 Tell Your Friends
6:30 James Manno

Sunday – 07/03/11
12:00 Fun Club
11:00 The Maybenauts
10:00 Bill Tucker and Friends
9:00 Bushoong
8:00 She Speaks in Tongues
7:15 Moon Furies
6:30 The Lone Gun Society

Friday-Sunday

Gallery featuring Artwork by:

John Airo
Erica Farrel
Joey Alan Salamon
Christopher “ILTH” Erickson
Kyle Van Heck
Cj Hungerman

Location:

The New Rock Theatre
3931 N. Elston Ave
Chicago, IL

ALL AGES

TICKETS:
$5 – per day
or
$10 – 3 day pass
Tickets can be purchased at door day of event.

Battle of the Bands contests have been going on for decades. Hundreds take place every year. But who wins, and who loses? The bands, the fans, or the brands who sponsor them? In this latest episode of Live Fix Radio we continue our exploration of this ever evolving culture of artist competition, brand promotion and fan discovery.

To get the band perspective, we talked with Don Mitchell (guitar, vocals) from string-rock quintet Darlingside, one of the finalists in the Sennheiser Hear. I Am and picktheband.com contest. We asked Don why the band entered the contest, how they mobilized fans with social media during the voting stage, and what they learned after they won the trip to play the SXSW 2011 showcase.

And going beyond the contest, Don shares a fun, yet bizarre, personal concert story that involves an unexpected connection between Spinal Tap live and A Mighty Wind.

During the show we mentioned that we didn’t have the chance to talk to a fan at the time we recorded the show. Well, we’ve got some great news! We did hear back from Scott Warren, one of the concert fans who won a trip to the SXSW during the Sennheiser contest showcase. Our email chat with Scott follows the show notes below.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Show notes:

• Ongoing Live Fix explorations and interviews with BOTB bands and brands:  JanSport, Shure and others.

• The Darkside of BOTB: Supernova.com and NeverPaytoPlay.com

• History of Battle of the Bands via Google and via Wikipedia.

• “Battle of the Band” Movies: Bandslam, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Freaky Friday…

• Facebook Battle of the Bands App

Music from the episode:

• “Battle of the Bands” — The Turtles

• “Blow Down the House (Live)” – Darlingside

• “Big Bottom” – Spinal Tap

• “Old Joes Place” – The Folksmen

• “Good Man” – Darlingside

• “The Catbird Seat” – Darlingside

Interview with winning fan Scott

LF: What did you enjoy the most about the Sennheiser contest? Do you think Sennheiser did a good job of creating a contest that showcased new music and celebrated the concert fan experience? What could they have done better for the fans?

Scott: Obviously, I enjoyed winning the most! In all seriousness, I appreciated how the contest promoted indie artists to new fans. By offering such an exciting prize to both fan and band, Sennheiser created the perfect incentive to participate, promote and discover. I’m friends with two of the bands (The Robotanists and Ryan Hill), but I enjoyed checking out the other bands in the contest as well.

What was your most memorable moment at SXSW 2011? Have you been there before?

I swear they didn’t pay me to say this, but I loved the moment when we finally arrived to the Sennheiser showcase. Their representatives bought us drinks, we were taking pictures with everyone. The treatment was so nice, I felt like we were the headlining act. Then I turned around and realized The Antlers (an indie artist I’d recently come to love) were performing. It was all working really well. I’d been to SXSW before, but this was the first time I had a chance to bring people along with me. Having my brothers on board made the trip pretty special.

Scott: "being hugged during the show with sunglasses"

What are your 5 most memorable live music experiences? And how have those experiences changed your life?
- Jackson 5 at Dodger Stadium (1984).
- Page and Plant at the Hollywood Bowl (1998)
- Bob Dylan and Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl (1999)
- Roger Waters at Hollywood Bowl (2007)
- Rage Against the Machine at the Hollywood Palladium (2010)

Honorable mentions: Paul McCartney at Coachella (2008), Brian Wilson at Disney Concert Hall (2009), Radiohead at Hollywood Bowl (2008), Nine Inch Nails/Queens of the Stoneage at the Hollywood Bowl (2005)

Jackson 5 was my first concert ever. If that didn’t change my life, I don’t know what would.

If you could make the Sennheiser contest more fan-centric, how would you do so?
Perhaps the contests can involve more “social” interaction – something along the lines of a better executed Ping. However, I like how the contest is about the bands. Our job as fans is to support the artists creating the music we love.

Any tips for other fans thinking of entering a future contest?
I don’t know why a fan wouldn’t want want to enter a future contest. You’re being asking to discover new music in return for a chance to win an unforgettable experience. That sounds worth it to me.

Thanks again for listening to the Live Fix Podcast! Subscribe via iTunes.

We want to hear from you — post your questions, thoughts and feedback about this podcast in the comments below.

Continuing our Battle of the Bands exploration, here’s two exclusive interviews with the folks at JanSport and The Seedy Seeds, the winning band of the JanSport/Sonicbids 2011 Battle of the Bands competition.

As you know, we’ve been following both the Shure and JanSport  Battle of the Band’s competition for the last several months. And as part of our exploration to see how BOTB competitions impact the relationship between fans, bands and brands, we asked both JanSport and The Seedy Seeds a few questions about their experience during the competition and the finale at SXSW 2011.

As you’ll see in the interviews below, the JanSport BOTB contest has had a positive impact on The Seedy Seeds so far. Of course, we don’t know the long term impact because we don’t know how their career will evolve. But, judging by their responses, it looks like all the hard work the band put in these last few months to win the competition was worth it.

What About The Fans?

I have no doubt that JanSport  takes pride in introducing emerging music to their community of fans on their UnZipped blog.

But it still remains to be seen how exactly the fans are impacted beyond the music and marketing.

Yes, I know Colleen and I, and the other fans, had fun taking photos and rocking out to the live music during the SXSW party at Maggie Mae’s.

But, as we’ve shown before, I think there can be a lot more done to enhance the live music experience besides concert fan photo booths and free brand swag. And I know the goal of any brand is to NOT end up in the lyrics of a  Concert Fan Complaint Choir. So we’ll certainly share with you many more creative opportunities for brands to raise the bar on the concert fan experience as our exploration continues.

And if you do have something to say about JanSport’s SXSW 2011 experience, you’ll have a chance to chime in below.

Now, let’s get to our chat with the JanSport team. And then we’ll see what The Seedy Seeds had to say.

LF: How have yours and your team’s live music experiences influenced and inspired the JanSport Sonicbids contest?

JS: Self expression has always been at the core of the JanSport Brand, and this competition truly allows us to embrace that attribute via music. Last year’s Battle of the Bands was a huge success for JanSport and an incredible experience for us as we became exposed to so many talented musicians around the country.

There are many things a brand can do to make a concert experience and a Battle of the Bands contest unique, so in what ways did JanSport innovative the live music experience at SXSW?

Live music is a form of self expression very near and dear to the heart and history of the Brand that was born in 1967 during the summer of love. Helping give an up-and-coming band the opportunity to play at SXSW is unique to our heritage and we were in awe of all of the talented artists that surrounded us at the Sonicbids showcase.

JanSport does many special fan-centric events via the Unzipped blog, so during the contest and at SXSW, what did you do to make the relationship between the fans, bands and JanSport personal and memorable? What separates yours from other BOTB contests?

JanSport was sure to promote the contest via our music blog, Unzipped, as well as our other communities on facebook.com/jansport and JanSportGear on Twitter, throughout the entirety of the contest. Unique to other contests, JanSport’s Battle of the Bands allows our community of music fans to select their favorite bands out of the thousands we had enter the competition. The fans determined the top 10 finalists and we were thrilled that The Seedy Seeds, with such talent and unique sound, won!

As a brand/sponsor, what do you think is most important when developing, promoting and executing a BOTB contest? What did you do to make JanSport’s contest strategically unique from other BOTB contests?

Again, it is important to have our community of music fans cast their vote for the bands that they want to hear and see when they come to SXSW. To that end, our Battle of the Bands contest provides a unique platform for music fans to engage with one another via our www.jansport.com/battleofthebands site and vote for their favorite, all the while creating a space to learn about new artists from around the country.

What did JanSport and Sonicbids team learn the most during contest and what would you do differently for the next contest?
JanSport has a large presence in Canada and having had the opportunity to meet so many new talented musicians from there at SXSW has inspired us to want to open the contest, next year, to the Canada market. More details on that to be announced soon.

The Seedy Seeds

Now, here’s what The Seedy Seeds had to say when we asked the Ohio-based trio about their BOTB and SXSW 2011 experience.

LF: What was your experience like throughout the Battle of the Bands contest? Take us inside the band’s heart and mind during your performance at SXSW.

SS: We were recording an album at the time the contest was going on, and everything was really hectic. We had to stay on top of band business while basically pulling 20-22 hour days between the studio and our various other jobs.

So while one of us was recording a part, the rest of us were trying to work our social networks and try to get people to vote every day. It was a pretty exhausting time, mentally and physically, because the album recording process was so grueling and we weren’t sleeping much. When we finally finished recording the album, we had a couple of days before we had to shift gears entirely to get ready to actually release it. It was during one of those couple of days, I think–where the album was done but we didn’t really take any time to catch our breath yet– that we got the phone call saying we had won the Battle of the Bands.

It was a really great moment where we were basically forced to take a step back and appreciate what we’d just been through and celebrate what we’d accomplished.

South by Southwest was indescribably awesome. When we got to the Sonicbids/JanSport showcase it was first thing in the morning, and we knew that we had family and friends who had come into town just to see us at this show, and it was a mix of sunburn, exhaustion, elation, pride, and excitement; then we actually had to remember how to play our songs!

How did the BOTB contest influence the band’s chemistry, dynamics, and your performance at SXSW? What would you tell other bands who are thinking of entering a BOTB contest?

Honestly, winning the contest really helped our ability to network during SXSW, which is what I believe is best part and the thing that is most helpful for most bands during the festival.

I think the rock and roll dream–where Mr. Big happens to see your set, walks up to you afterwards with a record contract and all your troubles are over–is never going to happen these days, especially with the way the industry has changed.

SXSW is an industry buffet, where people from the industry actually have a chance to sample things that they would never otherwise try. So going to all the label showcases, handing out flyers or business cards or just straight-up talking to people, is the best thing you can do.

By winning the BOTB contest, you get to play the official showcase which puts you in front of even more industry folk (you still have to introduce yourself but at least they had a chance to see what you had to offer!) and new fans.

You’re also put up in an awesome hotel that is right in the middle of all the action. Sleeping in the van is great and all, but it generally leads to band members that look and smell just a little bit funky, and the ability to shower or take a nap just a few blocks away definitely does wonders for a first impression. “Nice band, but boy did they stink…”

As it turns out, the people that we met from JanSport and Sonicbids not only gave us a chance to give our career another push towards the edge, but they also happened to be totally sweet people and we have gained some really good friends along the way!

How do you think JanSport, Sonicbids and other brands can improve the BOTB experience?

If you could pay off my student loans that would be pretty amazing.

What are your top 5 most memorable concert experiences as a band? And your top 5 just as a fan?

In no particular order;

1. Playing a video release show on a paddlewheel riverboat, floating down the Ohio River

2. Opening for Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band

3. SXSW 2011 (in its entirety)

4. Getting our band van through Canadian customs on our way to play a festival in Toronto (memorable, if not entirely enjoyable)

5. Our very first show, in an art gallery that was the size of a living room

Personally:

1. Guided by Voices, 2011
2. The Dismemberment Plan, every single show
3. Metallica, 2010
4. Junior Brown, 2006
5. The Flaming Lips, 2007

What artists have inspired your live music performance?

I think the thing that inspires us most is when a band, no matter who they are, what they are, or the kind of music they play- can really make me understand that they believe in their music. When I can watch a death metal band or a folk band or a jam band or whatever, and I can look onstage and see that each member honestly believes in their music, and that there is nowhere else on earth they’d rather be than playing in this city, at this dirty bar in front of these ten people, and they play like they’re playing to The Buddukan in 1977, It makes me really connect with them and it makes me want to do my absolute best every moment I’m in a band.

When I saw Metallica, for instance, no matter what you think of them or their style of music or them personally, I watched them play to an arena full of fans, playing songs they’d played thousands and thousands of times, and every single one of them had a genuine smile on their face, like they can’t believe how awesome it is that they’re in Metallica and they get to play their songs every night.

Compare that to when I see bands presenting their music, all in their own space on stage, not connected, just standing there and playing the part. Or worse is when I see a band that’s been around for a while, standing on stage and playing “the hits” like “gosh I’m soooo tired of playing this song, why can’t we play our new stuff, guuuhh.”

If the band is excited about what they’re doing and they believe in it, the audience will feel it coming off of the stage and they can’t help but be excited. One of the best complements I ever got as a musician was when someone came up to me after a show and said “hey man, I’m here with my friends and this is totally not the kind of music I would ever listen to, but you guys were completely awesome!”

Thanks again to JanSport and The Seedy Seeds for sharing their BOTB and SXSW 2011 experiences. You can check out the new Seedy Seeds album “Verb Noun” (official video below) on their Bandcamp site and also listen to a streaming compilation full of groovy cover songs performed by their friends.

If you saw the Seedy Seeds, or were at the JanSport/Sonicbids SXSW 2011 party, drop us a comment and let us know what you enjoyed the most. We’d love to share your story with other concert fans too!

In our SXSW preview, we told you about an intriguing fan-made movie called 100 Bands in 100 Days. I saw the film while we were in Austin during its world debut and it made me laugh, nearly moved me to tears and inspired me to look at live music in a new way.

And as we share more of our coverage of SXSW 2011, I’m excited to share with you an interview with director and the fan who created the film Nick Sonderup who went on an amazing live music adventure.

As I mentioned in our SXSW preview, it’s certainly a film that reminds me of the fans who challenged themselves to see 50 bands in 31 days back in October.

And when I first read Nick’s 100 Bands in 100 Days blog and the snippet below from the film’s synopsis, I was even more psyched to watch the film:

“Nick Sonderup used to see a lot of live music. Then he wasn’t seeing as much anymore. He used to write about music. Then he wasn’t doing that much anymore, either. His band had just fallen apart. His girlfriend was living in London. Perhaps he was a bit lost. Perhaps he was a bit bored. He was most certainly a bit crazy when Nick embarked on a journey to see 100 consecutive days of live music, between January 23rd and May 2nd, 2009…and somehow managed to keep his day job.”

So a few days after SXSW, I caught up with Nick and asked him to tell us more about 100 Bands in 100 Days. And here’s my email chat with Nick as he takes us deeper in to his thoughts, feelings and inspirations for his epic live music adventure.

LF: In your final “What I Learned” post, you mentioned the importance of community in live music. Many times at concerts, fans don’t have the chance to talk or truly swap stories at the show. In your experience what did you learn about the power of live music as a not only a place of escape but also a place of refuge and self-discovery among and with other live music fans. Any specific stories you can share about connections you made with fellow fans?

NS: Initially I saw the “community” as the bands and musicians I was seeing. I felt a little closer and more in tune with them then with others at the show because I was out there every night, much like they were.

Then, on a personal level, I felt like those who were interested in the 100 bands project helped create a community, too. A community of people who were either attending shows with me, cheering me on, encouraging me via email, or generally into what I was doing.

I would often receive random emails from strangers who liked the project, and wanted to tell me how important music was to them. I think they felt a kinship with me and in what I was doing. I remember one email from a telling me how music is basically the one thing keeping him alive. That’s pretty powerful. I mean, how do you react to that? I was just trying to pursue a passion project, and people pouring their hearts out to me.

That reassured me that what I was doing was a good idea, and that it mattered in some way. As the project got bigger, I wasn’t just doing it for me anymore, but also for the community that had developed.

During the movie, I was really moved by the part about your Grandma, because last year, for me live music helped me to cope with my dad’s death in August. In what ways did live music help you deal with the grief and other emotions you were dealing with during your 100 days adventure? What would you say to other fans who might not realize how powerful a place of refuge, community and self-discovery live music can be?

I think it probably helped because I had to keep going and had a purpose – to finish the project. I remember texting with my sister pretty much non-stop that night, while at a show (Great Lake Swimmers at Bowery). So, the music was helpful, but to be honest, on that night that she passed away, I wasn’t totally “there” – even if I was.

I think when you’re doing something like 100 bands, or another personal passion project you’re throwing yourself into, the momentum and purpose becomes the reason and the refuge. It’s something that keeps you going and keeps you focused, but also allows you to retract at anytime and think, “This is mine” and insulate yourself, if you need to.

Were there other concert fan challenges that inspired you to make the film? Other concert documentaries that influenced the storytelling and direction?

When I told people what I was doing, some people would try to compare it to Super Size Me and ask if I was trying to be the next Morgan Spurluck, but of music. I would laugh, but understood the comparison. But he was trying to prove a larger point about society and health. I was just trying to prove a point to myself. Even if I didn’t realize what that point was at the time.

I didn’t think I would make a film during the 100 days, so there wasn’t any real inspiration in that respect. Unlike some other documentaries, we were making this after the fact, so we knew what the story was. But it was still a challenge to put it all together and hit the right length that told the story, and didn’t drag.

I wrote up a loose outline of how I saw it all playing out, and then our editor Dave Madden did a really great job taking that, with the footage, and telling a compelling story.

I really enjoyed the movie and I wished it was a bit longer. If could expound on certain points or specific moments, which ones would you choose and why? Will you be making a second film or embarking on a new challenge?

We really feel like the film is just the perfect length to tell the story. First, there simply wasn’t a ton more footage to use, and we didn’t want to get into the world of recreating. We used what I filmed during the 100 days, and the talking head footage we filmed after.

And we feel like it tells the story really well. I think if I had started the project with the intention of making a documentary film about it, we might’ve been able to it longer, possibly even a feature. But as it stood, we felt good about the length and its ability to tell the story.

When we first started talking about the idea of doing a film, I pulled out a few key milestones from the 100 days, those that seemed most poignant in telling the story, and we built the arc based on those. These became the plot points in the film.

As far as new projects go, I’m in the beginning stages of a new music-based documentary at the moment. We have a band that’s interested, an idea of what we want to do and say, and will hopefully get going very soon. It’s nothing I can talk about at the moment, except to say it’s not 200 bands in 200 days. Thankfully.

You mentioned you were having a “pre-midlife crisis” that led you to embark on the challenge. In what ways were you most surprised about the physical, emotional and relational impact of the adventure on your life? What did you learn the most about yourself that you didn’t know before the challenge?

I think the thing that surprised me the most about the project in general was the attention. I say that because I never started the project with the goal of garnering any attention, or self-promotion, or with some bigger goal like that. I really just wanted to do this for me, to reconnect with music, and I think that’s what brought the attention in the end.

When people saw that it was a pure idea, a personal passion project, that’s what people recognized and liked about it. That and the fact that there was a determined amount of time (100 days), so you knew there would be an end, and it was exciting to watch and see how it all unfolded.

The biggest thing I learned is that if you do something for yourself that you want to do because you’re passionate about it, and you throw yourself into it, people will recognize and respect that, and support you in any way they can. That’s ultimately what drew anyone who wanted to be a part of it.

Whether that was my friends who went to shows with me, people who donated money, or the strangers who did what they could to get me into shows, on guest lists, send me contacts, and so on. Not to mention why my partners in the film got involved – Francis (from Shout it out loud music) and Al (ARMM). I think the purity (and insanity) of the project is what got all of these people excited about it.

I also learned that too much pizza and beer is bad for your health.

I’ve seen other fans put themselves to the test with similar concert challenges. You had very specific rules as to what a show was and how long you had to stay at a show for it to count. Why did you make those rules and how did those rules help make the adventure more focused, meaningful and unique?

I made the rules because I wanted it to feel legit and impressive in some way – and it gave me a structure. As a creative person, I still need rules to work within to provide context and help make it a good idea. That way, I couldn’t ever be accused of trying to get away with something. And since the rules were very simple, clear, and posted for everyone to see, everyone knew what I had to do (including myself).

You also played in a band before the challenge. How did the challenge enlighten your perspective on artist touring? What was it like being on stage as the “5th Wren?”

Well, my band never toured. Actually, we never even left our rehearsal room for two years, so in some way, this project was probably a reaction to that falling apart. At the time, it was upsetting that the band just fizzled out, but in the end it was bound to happen.

Looking back, it was no coincidence that the 100 bands journey was beginning right as that project was ending. It gave me perspective on touring for sure, because in some way, I felt like I was on tour during it – even when I was just in New York. But especially because I wound up seeing music in NYC, New Jersey, Hartford, Minneapolis, Portland, London and Paris.

The “5th Wren” experience was unlike anything I’d ever imagined could happen, during the 100 days or in life. It’s the dream of anyone in a band (or a fan) – to be on stage, in front of a sold out crowd on a Friday night in New York.

And to have that chance with a band like the Wrens, local heroes who are still doing it after all these years, that was like nothing I will ever experience again. I remember thinking after I jumped down off stage afterwards, how I wanted to get immediately back up there. It was truly exhilarating.

Was there ever a point where you felt sick of the challenge and began to despise live music because of the physical and psychological exhaustion? How did you deal with the moments when you “hit the wall” in your live music marathon?

I had a few of these moments when I was tired of going out every day. It was usually on a Sunday or Monday when I just wanted to stay home and watch TV. Which is why I hit up a jazz show over brunch a couple times, or afternoon acoustic show, but those were few and far between. I didn’t want to make that a habit.

When I hit the wall, I just remembered that people knew I was doing this, and I couldn’t stop. I also kept reminding myself why I was doing it, and what was special about it, and that was usually enough to keep me going. I also tried to talk to as many of the bands/musicians as I could. Telling them what I was doing was further motivation, and fuel to keep me going.

One of your reasons for doing the challenge was to reignite your love for writing about live music. How did the adventure give you a better perspective on chronicling, questioning, examining and celebrating your concert experiences with the written word?

I started the project thinking it could be a way to get back into writing about music, but didn’t really end up that way, which is fine. I certainly have strong opinions when it comes to music, and I’m never afraid to share.

But as the project progressed, it became less about the music and more about the feat of going out and seeing music every day. That was just more interesting, not only for me, but for anyone reading. More people seemed to want to know what it was like to do the project, not necessarily a detailed account of this band or that band.

How does this challenge rank in relation to your other most memorable live music experiences?

Before the 100 days, even if I did see a lot of shows, I never felt as connected to the music, and the live performance of it as I did during this project. I have a lot of fond memories going to great rock shows, but after the 100 days, those now felt more like “concerts.” The distinction being that I felt more like an observer, and the performer felt like this untouchable thing up on stage.

But 100 bands definitely broke down that wall and humanized the live music experience a lot. I felt like I was more in tune with the musician and what they were doing, because I was out there every night, too.

So, it’s impossible for any other single music experience to top the 100 bands experience as a whole. While there were certain nights that rank up there within my all time best shows (Public Enemy, The Wrens), the experience as a whole is unmatched, and probably always will be.

Are there plans to make the film available for other fans to watch and buy the film?
Unfortunately that’s still TBD at the moment. We have some things we still need to figure out before releasing it publicly. But we continue to submit, and get invited to submit, to film festivals, and may even have an option for some TV exposure.

However it gets out there, we’re excited that more people will be able to see it and that we’ll be able to continue to give the film and project life.

If you could do the challenge again what would you do differently? What would you tell other live music fans who are considering the same challenge?

Looking back, if I were to do it again, I would be more thorough and plan more of the project out in advance. As it happened, I was figuring it out as I went along, hence the “daily picture” starting on day 28. I also would’ve filmed myself the entire time, and tried to create the film about the project from the beginning, rather than afterwards.

But hey, it still worked out. I would’ve also probably treated myself better and not drank as often or as much, even though that did add to insanity of it. That would be my biggest piece of advice for anyone who might be considering a music marathon: Eat well. Drink less. That and wear earplugs, every show.

People often ask me if I am going to do it again, or whether I would recommend anyone else do something like this. The answer is usually “hell no” – for dramatic and comic timing. But the truth is, while I’m not suggesting anyone go out and do this exact thing.

I do encourage people to go out and do something just for themselves – to pursue something they’re passionate about, and as long as it’s true and pure, and it will be worth it. It doesn’t matter if it gains attention or not. An idea doesn’t need to gain attention to be validated as good. It just needs to be true, and usually when it is, it will then get the attention it deserves.

My hope is that the film motivates people to go out and do that thing they have been meaning to do, but haven’t followed through with. Because odds are if you do, you will not regret it, no matter what the outcome.

Thanks again to Nick for sharing the story of his 100 Bands in 100 Days experience. If you have a question for him or want to share your own concert challenge story, please post it in the comments below.

This exploration is yet another fantastic chapter in our ongoing series of Live Fix experiments. You can check out more Live Fix concert fan stories here.

And stay tuned as we continue to explore more concert adventures like Nick’s “100 Bands” Challenge, and more of the emotions, psychology and sociology of the live music experience!