New Site, New Blog

Good news my friends. The launch of our new Green Light Go Music Publicity site has occurred, which means our time with blogger has come to an end. Join us at our conveniently tiny url: www.glgpub.com/blog to read (and listen to) all the latest and greatest music industry news on indie rock and Americana artists. Click Here to Read More..

Absolute Punk Interviews David Gergen

Photo by: Michelle Fontaine

With influences like Wilco, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones, David Gergen talks about his music and answers random questions with AbsolutePunk.

Why should people listen to your band?

They should listen if they want music that has a lot going on underneath the surface. Lyrically and musically, I try and create original pieces of work that force the listener to pay attention. I don't view my music as easily digestible pop candy, it's deeper and more thought provoking. So, for people that like that, I welcome you into my world.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

I think as far as a good fit for touring together I would pick someone similar to my vibe, probably Wilco, maybe Arcade Fire. I would love to play with Johnny Cash but that won't happen until we meet in the afterlife.

What is something that most fans don't know about you?

That I am into cooking. I love to cook... Thai, Italian, French. I am fascinated by food the same way as I am music. It's never ending and there are certain basic rules that you need to understand before you can break down the door and go in a new direction, so I love that it requires a lot of practice and can't be faked.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Cook, hike, travel, take a long drive somewhere random....hang with animals. I do love movies too.

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GLG Fresh Mp3 Friday

Hear it here first at GLG: Lawrence & Leigh and The Handsome Family.

We promise you, these are three tracks you do not want to miss out on!

Lawrence & Leigh are two artists on a mission: to create work that’s beautiful and bold, with refreshing originality and an infectious sense of style.

The Handsome Family, “Brett and Rennie Sparks continue to put a brilliantly surreal twist on everyday subjects, using nature imagery to evoke the weird intensity of all-consuming passions.” --Jon Young, Spin

Lawrence & Leigh from Hills and Masts
Release Date: March 7, 2011
“Chelsea Nights”
Genre: Folk/Experimental/Indie Rock
For fans of: Joanna Newsom, Dirty Projectors, Fleet Foxes
Bio/hi-res photos

Lawrence&Leigh Chelsea Nights by greenlightgo


The Handsome Family from Honey Money
“Just Like Tom Thumb Blues" (Bob Dylan Cover)
"Drinking Beer on the Roof" (bonus track)
Genre: Folk/Americana
For fans of: You should already be their fan!
Bio/hi-res photos

The Handsome Family Drinking Beer On The Roof by greenlightgo

The Handsome Family Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues by greenlightgo

Listen and download more MP3s here:
GLG Clients by greenlightgo

To our fans, please feel free to post any of the approved songs on your blog or tweet to your friends. Check out our list of clients and available mp3s here: greenlightgopublicity.com. If you're not on our email list to receive these directly and want to be, please send an email over to info@glgpub.com.

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Music Monday - The Mad Mackerel Talks Wordpress, Joe Strummer and Black Angels

John Grain's music blog The Mad Mackerel is relatively new, sprouting up in England in February of last year. Working out of the U.K., (Charlbury, Oxon, if you want to know exactly where), Grain and his staff use Wordpress to its best advantages. We forgive his British spelling (as in colour), because Grain's blog comes from one thing: his love of music and sharing it with other music fanatics. Mad Mackerel's number one goal is to introduce readers to underground music, (often the first bit of press a band has received) with smart writing and legal MP3s to download. Oh and Grain loves a good murder ballad. Don't we all?

Music Monday Q&A

1. How long has The Mad Mackerel been operating?
Mad Mackerel first came into being in February 2009, just before we went to SXSW for the first (and so far only) time. We were hosted on Google Blogspot, but suffered at their Draconian hands with their ridiculous crackdown that arbitrarily punished those of us who were posting authorized tracks as well as those who weren't. So we got wiped out after 13 months, but overcame our depression to relaunch the next day on Wordpress where we have been much happier.

2. What makes Mad Mackerel different from other websites?
We'd like to say our writing. So many music blogs just post the song with no more than a line or two, so you can't be sure on what you're getting. We try and add some depth and some colour to our posts and figure that someone who has taken the time, trouble and effort to craft a song (which is far more difficult than writing about one) deserves a bit of time, trouble and effort from us to describe it and how it makes us feel. And no one writes on a Friday like Mrs. Mackerel!

3. Do you think Mad Mackerel has a specific musical niche?
We have a wide specific niche if that's possible. We like folk, country, Americana, garage, rock 'n' roll, indie, punk, and psychedelia. We love songs that tell a story, break your heart or dwell on the fringes of society. We love the swamp, the desert, the barroom and the seedy side of town in songs. And we adore a good murder ballad! We don't go much for electronica, disco, house, soul, R&B, hip-hop or rap as good though it undoubtedly is, it just isn't our music of choice. We're not much one for remixes either so it is rare for us to post those.

4. What contemporary albums are you looking forward to coming out?
There are lots and lots. If I had to pick three I would say the planned new ones from Black Angels, Wooden Wand, and Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan have got us most excited.

5. How does the Mad Mackerel support independent music and what is important about doing so?
Obviously the music industry is changing massively and unpredictably. Business models are different and new challenges are there to be overcome. We can't offer a solution to that so our approach is simple, we love music and it is our passion. Mad Mackerel is a way for us to share, with the artist's blessing, songs and videos that we like and hope others will too. We always give links when we can, options to purchase and try to ensure we only post authorized material. We also try and listen to everything that we get sent, though that is becoming increasingly challenging as the volume increases almost daily.

6. Do you think online publications are taking precedence over print? What kind of effect do you think that has on bands?
I think that there will be a place for both. We subscribe to five music magazines in print and love getting them and reading them. We have 30 - 40 blogs we like and visit regularly. We listen to 6 Music (BBC Radio) all day long. All are relevant and important, and all have a place and a role to play. Print magazines face the hardest job I suppose, as they are there to make a profit and need advertising and subscriber revenues whereas 99% of music blogs are labours of love so we can't be influenced as easily in the sense that we don't do it for profit so we can be truly independent.

7. What blogs/publications do you read other than your own?
We read Uncut, MOJO, Q, The Word, and Spin by subscription. We buy NME and Clash Magazine sometimes and The Big Takeover when we can get it. We read lots of blogs, but especially like Song By Toad, Raven Sings The Blues, The Finest Kiss, Sonic Masala, Slowcoustic, Hear Ya, Ninebullets.net and Get Off The Coast.

8. What has been your most definitive moment since you started Mad Mackerel?
There have been a few - the first post obviously (four reads in total), getting on Hype Machine... increased traffic enormously, getting 20,000 site hits in a month. Best of all have been the friends we've made all over the world, and particularly the musicians we've really admired who almost with exception have been lovely, gracious and humble.

9. If there is any musician/band you could interview (dead or alive) who would it be?
Joe Strummer without a doubt. Our youngest is named after him and he is my number one all time, put on a pedestal, complete icon and hero.

10. If you could be in any band (of all time), who would you rock with?
I can't imagine anything better than playing in The Clash in their heyday. I am sure my love for America comes from their love for America and playing a part in their New York residency would have been beyond compare.

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Green Light GOals: What Makes a Music PR Firm Tick

We're big on GOals at Green Light Go. GOals, get it? Yeah, I may be stretching the cleverness on that one.

We also like working with smart bands with a clear vision of their future goals, which is why that's often one of the first questions we ask when a potential band approaches us. It's also why the tables get turned and they ask a few questions of their own.

Justin Jahnke of Flame Shark asked me some questions last week which have proven to be some of all my time favorites. So much so, that I'm sharing not only the questions, but the responses with you.

What past and current bands (beyond your client list) do you really enjoy listening to?

Currently I'm listening to Fanfarlo, Frightened Rabbits, Broken Bells, Local Natives, She & Him, Yeasayer, Okkervil River. Some of my all time favorites are Wilco (especially Summer Teeth), Kings of Leon, Tegan & Sara, Ray LaMontagne!, Rachael Yamagata, Old 97's, Metric, Liam Finn, Josh Rouse, Joe Pernice, Iron & Wine, The Frames, Fionn Regan, Elliott Smith, The Dears, David Gray, Catherine Wheel, Brandi Carlile, Bon Iver, Beth Orton, Ben Kweller, Belle Sebastian, The White Stripes, Elbow, Doves, Travis

What are some mistakes bands make after a publicity strategy has been put into play?

Asking me if I've heard from Pitchfork. :-) Just kidding. The biggest mistake is not planning a tour to coincide with the release or having other activity occurring while we are going after reviews. Basically what happens in that case, is the band becomes solely reliant on the reaction of media which can be a fickle beast at best. Also contacting media directly without having an existing relationship or telling me they are doing so. I'm a big believer in acting as a team, so if the band has an existing relationship with the media contact, by all means I'm on board with them contacting directly, because at the end of the day it is about getting results. There are other smaller mistakes that occur-hyped bios etc, but I take the approach of guiding along the way so those don't really make a difference.

What can we do, with our limited resources and time restraints, to maximize your efforts/gains once we agree on the strategy that is best for us?

Be active. Always have something going on with the band, whether it be a tour or some other newsworthy activity. Some examples include videos, covering another band's song (extremely effective for getting press), or other just creative out of the box ideas. Also, bring your ideas to us--whether it's seeing an article that you think would be a good pitch for Flame Shark. For instance, a former band, Canadian Invasion, saw Magnet was covering Philly bands and asked us to pitch. Not only did Magnet bite, they interviewed them and at the end of the year and named the album one of their top of 2009.

How can we follow your work and progress to know our investment is money well spent? 

I write bi-weekly reports that I send to you that shows a log of exactly what is going on. I believe in transparency, so the report shows who we've pitched and how, responses, and coverage. In your case, I'd actually recommend setting up a weekly call where we can go over ideas and make sure you know where everything stands. I also try to stay in contact at least 2-3 times per week via email and send new responses/coverage as they come in.

Can you tell me a bit about your staff, their backgrounds and who would be working with us?

I head the national campaigns, so I would be the one working with you. I run my campaigns a bit differently than other agencies I think, because I also rely on my two other staff members to assist me in what would be their strengths. I do all the pitching and am the main contact for media, Shannon writes all the bios, press releases and most of the blog posts (I write some as well), Kelly assists in coordinating interviews, setting up the media pages, blog posts, fan profiles and basic administrative duties.

My background-I've worked in the industry for 17 years. I have a degree in Music Video and Business from the Art Institute of Seattle and a Bachelors in Journalism from the University of Texas. I started out working at SXSW (5 years) and then worked for BMG Distribution (which became SonyBMG). There I was the Alternative Artist Development Rep for the eastern Mid-west region, so I was responsible for building marketing campaigns for up-and-coming bands that weren't yet on the radar--some of these included David Gray, Ray LaMontagne and Kings of Leon--these are the ones I’m most proud of because nobody knew who they were when we started. I did that for 10 years and then left three years ago to go full time with Green Light Go (I'm the owner). GLG has actually been in business since 2002, but that was when I made the leap without the safety net of BMG.

Shannon has been a journalist since 1999 and has written for major publications like Under the Radar, Venus Magazine and Devil in the Woods. She also worked as a publicist for a small Detroit record company called Gangplank.

Kelly's background is a little different. She is a big music gal and very tied into the Detroit scene. Her background is in the academic world with universities and libraries. Her organization and downright smarts are bar none which is why I brought her on. Plus she loves your sound.

Will you and your team come and rock out at our show if we play Detroit? :) 

 

Absolutely! I also feel like 1) we won't take on a band if we don’t actually want to see them play 2) it's respect, if you are willing to take a chance on my firm, the least I can do is make time for your show.  The only way it wouldn't happen for any of us is if there's already a scheduling conflict.

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The Handsome Family Makes The Cut With Uncut

It's safe to say that Albuquerque's Brett and Rennie Sparks, aka The Handsome Family, have never really embraced the love song. Death, disease, madness? Sure. But the idea of country's darkest duo falling into the tender trap seems way outside their remit. Yet that's exactly what they've now done, partly to mark their 20th anniversary and partly due to a particular luminous epiphany that Rennie had while listening to The Platters on a mountain range in New Zealand. That said, there may be no corpses or fathomless wells on Honey Moon, but this is hardly, lyrically at least, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton... Click Here to Read More..