Episode 8: Hamell On Trial

Since the dawn of music there have always been musicians who
challenged the norm. Bach was notorious for telling off the nobles
that supported him. Mozart was probably the original wild lifestyle
rock star. And really who can blame them? In the times of Bach you
had to be a very skilled musician to earn a living and you were
barely paid for it. Now fast forward to 1950’s. Rock and Roll was
taking off and stars were born every minute. Some became famous and
made a ton of money, and others were slaves to the "nobles" of the
time, you probably know them as Record Labels. Fast forward yet
again to today and the music world is in turmoil and the labels
blame illegal downloading. Looking at the last 400 years of music
history, and realizing that is was essentially the same business
model, I say something have to give. We live in an exciting time.
It's easier than ever to make and distribute music. Thanks to the
Internet, we now have easier access and more choices of music than
ever before. And we also have a new emerging way of helping to
raise money to put out your album, Kickstarter. Kickstarter lets
anyone with a dream or an idea raise money to get their project off
the ground. Filmakers, artists, writers, musicians, you name it,
someone has a project for it on Kickstarter. I like Kickstarter
because it is a pledge system with "rewards" for different levels
of contribution. But most of all I like it because your project is
funded (or not funded) based on the merit of the project and your
hard work to promote it and get backers. If you are a solo musician
who has been working really hard taking every gig you can and
building a fan base, chances are you will be able to use
Kickstarter to raise the money. One of my favorite artists, Hamell
On Trial, has started a Kickstarter Project to raise money to
record his next record. He set a modest goal of $7,000 dollars and
in a about two weeks he reached that goal. In fact with 15 days to
go (at the time of writing this) he has currently raised $8,023. In
Episode 8 I talk to Ed about his Kickstarter project, his next
steps and his approach to recording in the studio. If you have
never heard Hamell's music, I recommend you start with "Tough Love"
and then either "Ed's Not Dead" or "The Terrorism of Everyday
Life". And after that, go see him live. You will never anything
like a Hamell show. You will laugh,sing, shout, and probably have
the best time you have ever had at a live show. I also encourage
you to go to Hamell's Kickstarter page and make a donation to
support the next great Hamell record. I am already backing it and I
am waiting with anticipation to get my copy of the new disc. And
since we are talking about the recording studio, we also feature a
segment on Peavey's Revalver software done by Scott Thompson of the
Focus On Metal Podcast. I have been using amplitube for about 5-6
years now and other than being a resource hog, I have been happy
with it. Hearing the Peavey software and seeing how affordable it
is, will make me a convert.