Strictly Austin is a playlist (curated by Sound Dessert) that consists of 13 songs by local Austin artists. Highlights are “Solar Diary” by Love Inks and “Land of the Innocent” by FEATHERS.
Listen below!
Author: aftertheshow (Page 126 of 191)
A great new song from Tennis, “Never Work For Free,” will be on the band’s upcoming album (out in early September):
After The Show captured this video of The Head and the Heart kicking off their set at Governors Ball 2014 in NYC:
Photos:
We asked Stephen Dima, Talent Buyer and Head of Production for 4Knots, about his work preparing for NYC’s upcoming 4Knots Music Festival, happening on July 12, 2014 at the South Street Seaport.
The lineup includes bands such as Dinosaur Jr, Those Darlins, Speedy Ortiz, and Dead Stars.
After The Show: I love that 4Knots showcases emerging/indie bands and helps them increase their fan base. How involved are you in marketing the event and bringing in audiences?
Stephen Dima: I’m not in charge of marketing specifically, but I love bands and set out to program 4Knots in a way that would appeal to The Village Voice’s audience. If there is a great band on the lineup, the marketing is inherently there, and The Village Voice is amazing with marketing the festival, the bands and the programming.
Why choose Webster Hall as opposed to a venue like Bowery Ballroom as the host of the Official After-Party?
Everyone involved loves both venues, The Village Voice wanted to go bigger this year in terms of capacity.
Can you describe a typical day or week in your job? How much of your time running Dima Productions is spent on music-centric events, as opposed to producing events like the New York Comedy Festival or Children’s Day?
Every production/event requires something slightly different and unique, so there is not really a typical day at Dima Productions (unless you count drinking lots of coffee and listening to great music to stay sane). The majority of the events are music centric, though, so I guess that’s where we spend most of our time.
I came to 4Knots in July 2012 to see Hospitality play, and their set was interrupted when a big fire erupted on the pier behind them! As the promoter and producer, how do you deal with emergencies? What kinds of contingency plans do you have in place?
First and foremost work with a really good security service, one that you trust and have great communication with. Also having a good relationship with the NYPD and FDNY works. They were amazing that day honestly. We basically evacuated 10,000 people from a mall and then continued on with the festival. You don’t see that a lot.
It’s interesting how you said that you can take a lot more chances if you’re putting on free shows. Why did you initially choose to make 4Knots free, and given the large audiences that show up, why keep it free?
With my history of free summer shows in NY and The Village Voice’s own history with Siren, etc. making 4Knots free just made sense. It was a perfect marriage of people who love to bring great bands to the masses, and I hope we keep it that way. And yes, of course you can take a lot more chances with free shows but you still have to be smart about it, hopefully!
How much of your job is dealing with permits and city ordinances? Is working out the bureaucracy/logistics less enjoyable than picking and booking bands?
I try to spend way more time thinking about bands but to be perfectly honest, working with the city and the community to develop a strong and solid relationship has definitely had it’s rewards. I’ve learned a lot over the years and have met some very good people. NY loves to put on a show.
What was your favorite concert that you put on at the World Trade Center, pre-September 11th?
There were some really great ones (The Box Tops with the late Alex Chilton, NRBQ, the Latin shows that we did on Friday nights were really exciting) but hands down my favorite was Dave Davies of the Kinks playing a lunchtime show to 10,000 people on the plaza. I still meet people who say they were at that show. I remember he did “Father Christmas” as an encore, it was August. That was just a few short weeks before September 11.
As a curator of live shows, what do you think about other methods of curation, such as Spotify playlists or blogs? Why are you drawn to the live/outdoors/real life aspect of music?
I’m not too keen on the whole Spotify, Pandora thing honestly. I mean if you own a restaurant I’m sure it comes in handy but if I’m sitting at my computer it wouldn’t be my preferred way of finding new music. Blogs on the other hand have been the lifeblood of what I’ve done over the years.
I started outside with live music at the Trade Center and then the Seaport. It seems to be where I am most comfortable. There’s something a bit more magical outside – summer, tall buildings, ships, water, nighttime sky, great bands. Makes me want to be there now.
Thanks Stephen! Click here for more info on the 4Knots Music Festival.
First Aid Kit recently played “Stay Gold” (from their new record) in LA:
I checked in with Ethan Gruska of brother-sister duo The Belle Brigade about their new record, playing two shows a night on their current summer tour, and being on the Twilight soundtrack.
After The Show: Since you’re opening for Ray LaMontagne and playing in his backing band on this long summer tour, how are you keeping up your energy/stamina?
Ethan/The Belle Brigade: Warming up before shows and giving ourselves good vocal rest will be key!
You felt your first record was a little too polished and reminiscent of the past. What did you learn from working with Tony Berg on Just Because?
We cut the record at Tony’s studio in Brentwood and it was amazing to have him around for advice and guidance but we didn’t make this record with Tony… We actually co-produced this record with Shawn Everett who has done a ton of work with Tony for many years. Working with Shawn was amazing. He is such a talented and creative engineer and was totally on the same page about trying to branch out sonically. He is fearless about trying something new, has a totally open mind, and is so calm, warm and patient. So is Tony! Being in that environment was amazing.
Older songs like “Belt Of Orion” and “Where Not To Look For Freedom” are so strong lyrically. How has your songwriting process changed from your first record to this new one?
The songwriting process was actually pretty similar to the first record… We wrote the songs acoustically and then made simple demos of the them before we went into the studio. I think the main difference between these songs and the songs from the first record is how we approached them and treated them once we got into the studio to really record them. We were much more open this time to changing them and re working them. I think the biggest difference in these new songs besides production is a little bit of freedom lyrically… We tried to be a little bit more visual and less attached to a story line than a lot of the songs on the first record.
Ethan, your voice sounds similar to Barb’s and I sometimes find it hard to figure out who’s singing what. As a vocalist, how do you approach your singing in the context of the band?
Yea, sometimes it’s hard for me to tell who’s singing what when we listen back to background vocal stuff :). It’s really fun to be able to blend so much with somebody and honestly I don’t think too much about a vocal “approach” while singing with Barb because our voices naturally go together and our harmonies usually fall into place pretty quickly.
How difficult from a business perspective (like contracts, legal obligations) was it to leave Reprise/Warner Brothers and move to ATO Records?
We were really lucky with that and were treated very well by WBR when we parted ways… It took a little while but we left with a lot of mutual respect and no hard feelings.
How useful was your experience studying music at CalArts? Are you happy with the foundation in theory/analysis/ear training/arranging you got there?
Both our experiences were very different there but in both cases they were very positive! We met a lot of great people and it’s the type of place where if you seek something out there’s gonna be someone there who can impart some serious knowledge… They have a great theory and ear training department! Learned a lot in those classes.
Was being on the Twilight soundtrack as big of an exposure boost as you had hoped? That song is by far the most played of yours on Spotify, but you still played a residency at The Echo earlier this year.
Yea it was a great thing for us to get a song on there and definitely got us a little more exposure, but these days when a bunch of people stream one song or even buy one song it definitely doesn’t mean they are going to go listen to or buy the rest. We knew that going into it and didn’t expect it to be our big break at all… It was just really cool to have a song in a big movie like that 🙂
Thanks Ethan! To catch The Belle Brigade on tour this summer, head over to the band’s website.