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Looper's Delight
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This has always been a huge problem for all types of 'fringe' artists. How do you promote yourself to people who identify what you are by something they may have heard? Not just to a potential audience but to someone who may book you? People who book coffeehouses usually deal with singer-songwriter types. Making up a word doesn't seem to work. It is hard to say to them 'I call my music SPAMBIENT', because the next question is 'What is that?'. Looping is used in all types of music, and it is easy to draw similarities between how individuals use their looping devices. I am afraid defining the music as 'looping' doesn't tell the average MTV/ClearChannel listener anything about what they are about to hear. I have to realize that where I am (Florida, US), there are certain buzzwords that will automatically close the ears of most people. If I tell one of my metal-headed students to come to my show, and I say 'classical', 'jazz', 'ambient', etc- well, anything except the word 'metal', the door has already been closed. I think this isn't unique- it is common for the average music consumer. Defining what *you* do is the hard part. For me, I usually tailor my response to the venue. If it is a jam band festival, hey, I'll call my band a jam band. If it is an art festival, I might call what I do 'contemporary classical'...as a solo guitarist that loops, its not a big stretch to call it that, even if it is improvised. I am careful, however, of making the right choices- I am not going to try to get a gig at a bluegrass festival, or at a jazz festival, even though much of what I do is improvised. Hell, my band got accepted to play at a prog festival in another state, because the organizers heard my music and decided it was 'prog enough'...cool, although I thought it was a long shot. I hate feeling like I am pushing my music on unwilling people sometimes. As far as setting your gear up in a festival atmosphere, it just comes from doing it. Playing a lot locally and dragging your gear out really is a test to see if you need to bring all the speakers out so you can be in 10.1 surround sound. This goes for any gear. Get to know it so if (and when) something goes wrong, you can fix it within a minute with a smile on your face. Dave Eichenberger http://www.hazardfactor.com > > 1. Someone needs to come up with a definition of the > aesthetics and experience from an audience perspective. >