Sugar's Journal Summer 2003 After a couple of challenging months during which we lost our longtime bassist, Dave Oliver, the band is starting to really gel again. Percy White, our new bassist from Chicago, is really kicking it. Last night we had our first great show together -- at Out of Bounds in Richmond, VA. In fact, it looks like we'll probably be back at the club in September. The crowd was modest, but we actually drew a fair number of people that were there, which is difficult when you're playing out of town. I always know when we had a good show by the number of CDs sold at the show. There is a direct correlation between how good I felt about our performance and how many CDs we sell afterward, meaning th e audience's feeling about the show tends to be consistent with mine. For example, in Richmond, there were only about 30-40 people at the club, yet we sold six CDs, which is a really high ratio. Another good indication of a good performances is, of course, getting invited back to the club. Erin George, the unusually professional and nice manager at Out of Bounds, asked us back immediately and even increased our guarantee. The momentum right now is generally positive. We've been getting calls from clubs, asking us to play, which is another good sign. Generally bands have to solicit clubs relentlessly, so you know things are going well when a club owner contacts you. However, too often clubs call bands at the last minute to fill an empty slot. Usually, we rejected such offers, as they don't give us enough time to promote a show. But, I digress. I want to talk about upcoming, exciting news. We're working on a new CD, called Satsuma Skin. I won't tell you what it means just yet. But, the record goes back to my roots -- in Louisiana, and to a simple pop/rock style and structure. One of my goals for this record has been to keep the arrangements short and simple, which I think is happening. Another goal is to focus the arrangements on the melody and lyrics -- on the vocals, really. I know you might be thinking, "Isn't that supposed to be the case." "Yes," it is. But, in the past I've paid a lot of attention, probably too much attention, to other factors, particularly being clever with the arrangements, having long solos, and other extraneous stuff. Hence, the reason why many of my arrangements were more than five minutes. A good example is "North Star" on the my debut CD, The Push. The song has, I think, a strong melody and strong lyrics, but the arrangement is WAY too long. It makes me want to record it again, with a sane arrangement and better production and performance quality generally. Heck, that was at least eight years ago, so I won't be too hard on myself. Late this summer we will release a 4-song "sampler" of the new CD along with some great new promotional materials, all of it designed by my great friend Tim Munson, who I met in graduate school and, fortunately, have cultivated a friendship with after we graduated. Tim is responsible for this new Web site, for some of the photography on the Site, for the new "orange" logo, and for just about everything cool and graphic that you see. And, he's done all of this great work while his wife is on her maiden pregnancy, and while interviewing for jobs. Amazing. Speaking of maiden, this is the first journal entry for what I hope will be a weekly on-line journal about me and my music. So, I hope you'll come back to visit "Chez Sugar" often, and perhaps read more about the crazy adventures of one struggling, but happy indie musician. Chad |
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