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Can’t wait
-Jake
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Get stoked for this tour.
-Jake
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Notes"Do you care what bank your pizza shop borrowed money from to start that business? Probably not, right? Never occurred to you. The potential pizza shop owner found a bank he felt comfortable with, who offered him terms he could live with, and he went with them. Now you eat the product that initial loan helped finance, but the bank does not impact the taste of the pizza.
Labels are banks. For some of us, they are also friends. And for others they are part of an overall aesthetic. But at the end of the day they are a financial partner you borrow money from. A bank.
I want to make this clear because there seems to be a lot of confusion over why bands pick labels. On my band’s website, http://selfdefensemusic.com , we get questioned about every label we choose to work with. “Why do you associate yourself with LABEL XY, they put out records for INSERT DISMISSIVE COMMENT ABOUT LABEL LISTENERSHIP. Get a clue!”
In the view of some people, we’re too indie a band for our label home, Deathwish Inc. And, in the view of other people, we’re too gritty for labels we’ve partnered with on one-off releases (RFC, for example). Some people believe us to be “cool” and wonder why we would choose to work with UNCOOL LABEL YX.
Here’s the thing: Whatever adjectives the listener uses to define us, that’s his/her interpretation and not how we view ourselves. We view ourselves as musicians. And we rely on labels to fund our recording and distribution. We rely on banks.
And when the bank manager shakes my hand and tells me he believes in my pizza parlor and he wants it to succeed not just so I can pay him back, but because he thinks the world needs more pizza parlors, I DON’T FUCKING TURN HIS MONEY DOWN BECAUSE HIS BANK DOESN’T USE A COOL FONT FOR IT’S LETTERHEAD. I DON’T TELL HIM TO FUCK HIMSELF BECAUSE HIS BANK HAS AN UNCOOL NAME. AND I DON’T LET THE OPINIONS OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE DEAL POISON MY VIEW OF THE BANK.
I take that dude’s money and I make pizza.
Some people want to define themselves by the label they’re affiliated with. Maybe they believe it will help them get ass or maintain a cooler-than-thou status among their peers. I don’t exactly know their motivations. But I do know those motivations, whatever they are, have nothing to do with music.
The labels we’ve gotten on best with have been our friends. We like what they stand for (almost uniformly the thing they stand for is “doing whatever they want”). But just like all my friends, I don’t feel the need to see eye-to-eye with them on every topic. I don’t go through my friend’s iPods and choose not to interact with them based on what I find. I don’t do that with label rosters either. Come at me like a peer, show me respect, offer me the resources to make art- I’ma find a way to work with you.
To bands: Work with labels who treat you like you want to be treated. Define yourself, don’t rely on a label.
To fans: Fuck off. Smart musicians work with people who give them the ability to make music. They don’t choose partners based on the fickle preferences of listeners who need a label to complete their fragile sense of self.
To labels we’ve worked with: We appreciate the shit out of you for giving us resources to do the thing that makes us happy. May you all grow horns and put out uncool shit I would never listen to. I don’t give a shit because you’ve done right by me and that’s all I ever asked of you.
"Patrick Kindlon (Self Defense Family)
(Source: cognitivexdissonance, via wewereskeletons)
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NotesMajor League - “Some Kids Just Can’t Hang”
I love this song and I love this band. They had an accident and need a new van. So they have put up this song for download at $1 or more. Anything you can give these guys will be incredibly helpful with getting them back on the road.
Click here to get to the download page.
Love,
Jacob P. OverholtHelp them out and reblog this, please.
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Auburn - “I’m Over the Ups and Downs”
Met a few of these guys at Launch, seriously cool dudes. This video is hilarious and the music is awesome.
-Jake
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Saudade
And now a review of an Album whose name I cannot pronounce.
Anyone who has spent time with me knows that I love Youth, seriously this band is better than tits. This new EP which I pronounce Saw-Dad? Sue-Daw? It’s essentially ear viagra.
This album has hit the bullseye on my heart that few albums before it have been able to strike. It’s gonna be hard to put into words the feelings I have about this record but I will do my best.
This album exemplifies my true desires in music, raw musicianship, sincere lyricism, and above all else emotionally charged delivery. This is one of the albums that came along at exactly the right time in my life it’s mature enough that speaks to me, the young adult just hitting the wall of life. Yet it is still speaking to that high school aged kid inside me who still longs for that weekend shows, waking up at 2 in the afternoon to cruise around. The idea of “revival emo” I’m guessing is positive acknowledgment of the negative slumps in our lives while still pushing to never let those lows bring down the highs. Listening to this record on the commute to work this morning made everything seem not nearly as mundane, like today could be totally awesome I just have to strive for it. Song’s like Boy’s Chore reminds me that there is literally thousands of meaningless things happening everyday and you can’t get bogged down in this relentless wave of shit or you’ll just drown in it.
From the opening track of this record, Three Cassette’s the tone of this EP is laid out perfectly in one minute and thirty-nine seconds. It’s mellow and controlled until it all flies off the handle. Let me say personally, I cannot listen to this record without wanting to break shit. Overture does not pull it’s punches, interchanging vocal tonalities mixed with musicianship that just hits you in the gut and a breakdown so inspiring I have to grab onto to things just to keep from getting floored or absolutely losing it throwing down in public.
About this time in reviews I start pointing out things I find disinteresting in a record but I honestly think there is nothing disappointing about this EP. Everything is solid, vocals, guitars, drums, it is all exactly where it needs to be. I will say that in an attempt to get the record to flow there are a few segues that probably aren’t needed but at the same time do not detract from the overall listening experience so therefore I care not that they have been written into album.
I don’t want to say this record is perfect in the absolute sense of the word as I’m sure other people with other tastes will find this record and completely disagree with me. For me however this is definitely on my list of best 2012 records, if not my lifetime. Now go over to Youth’s bandcamp and buy the damn thing and then pick up their first EP if you don’t have it yet cause these shits are gold.
Love,
Jacob P. Overholt -
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NotesSome un-edited footage from touring with Giants at Large and No Good News that I’m not using for anything else… but should still be seen anyway, bahah.
Brian’s laughter….seriously the funniest thing
-Jake
(via giantsatlarge)
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NotesA Seamless Getaway EP teaser
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Notestheveganwholovesmusic asked: Any local shows in Lebanon soon?
We are working on getting some venues and gear together stay tuned man
