Plumerai/Hip Hop/Aarktica/Dreams

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

So I spent most of Saturday hanging out with Martin & James from Plumerai who are in NC visiting family.  Always good to see them as I was in burMonter with them for about six years or something & a lot of my ideas about music are influenced by that time period.  Funniest thing was Martin said he said that he had a new song that sounded like me playing guitar, one chord with occasional bends.

I also somehow ended up at a hip hop dance club at the end of Saturday night & realized that I’m totally wasting my time playing guitar.  I just need to focus on writing some beats that sound really lo-fi if I want to make money & say the same phrase a million times.  Which is pretty much what drone music is about, so the transition should be easy.

Mastered the six bonus tracks of the Aarktica remixes that will only be available to people who order it directly from www.silbermedia.com

I read a pretty “funny” Solomon Kane story about a blind baron killing his wife because he found out she was lying when she said she was hot & that she was actually fat.  Gag stories about a Puritan sociopath, now there’s a hit comic book….

Lots of weird dreams lately:
A cat the size of a mouse scurrying in my house.
Getting my car stolen while on tour.
Losing my left hand (as if it was a robot part that had popped off).
Thank you speech for an award at a convention (during which I thanked the tv show Sliders).
Tied up in a straight jacket pulling a heavy weight tied behind me.
My chest collapsing in on itself.

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Shirts & the state of the industry

Posted on January 9, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

A lot of paper work done today.  I sent out the invoices to all the distributors.  Always makes me feel weird to see how much is theoretically owed to Silber.  So hopefully some of that money will come in over the next couple of weeks.

I also sent out another batch of follow-up emails on Aarktica & Vlor since there have been a few reviews the past week.  I still need to send out the ones about the mini-comics.

Speaking of the mini-comics there are now a ton of mini-comic oriented shirts available through Cafe Press.  So I hope some of you that dig them can buy some.  It’s not organized as good as it could be, but just keep scrolling down to see more images.  It would make sense if Cafe Press let you select an image & then select a shirt, but it doesn’t work that way unfortunately.  Anybody know some place that does?

Talked to Shane Sauers (Miss Massive Snowflake/Starbage Hands/Northpole Records) about doing a tour in the south together this summer.  Should be fun.  Also talked about the state of the industry & he’s talking about a shift in business model where he handles distribution & promotion, but the artists pay for all of the manufacturing costs.  It seems like I’m hearing about a lot of folks going this route & I’m not sure how I feel about it.  I mean on a lot of releases I do a promo service at a level that would probably cost $2500 & do a couple hundred worth of graphic design & a few hundred dollar mastering job if  they were outsourced.  So at a certain point it feels like a label does a lot of work.  I guess if there were more money in music right now all of these ideas would not even be up in the air.

Green lit the artwork for Sarah June’s album.  So it should be here in about a month.  Release date will be early March.

Talked to Mary Hallinan (Bellwether Manufacturing) about the state of the industry & she told me that though the quantites manufactured are down, they are dealing with about the same amount of jobs as two years ago.  I find that interesting.  It reminds me of how Nic Slaton complains about how CD manufacturers are the only people making the same amount of money because artists still want a product in their hands even if no one wants to buy them.

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Trading Cards

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

Got a lot of paperwork done today.  Almost all of the Silber paperwork for the end of the year (except the data entry for the tax forms) & maybe I’ll finish it tomorrow & be able to get out my artist royalty checks for Monday along with invoices to distros & all that good stuff.

So I’ve talked to several people about my artist trading card project & it seems like it is going to be a go.  To be part of the first wave I need your 10 ATCs by March 15 (Attn ATC / Silber Records / PO Box 18062 / Raleigh, NC 27619 / USA) & $1 ($2 international) to cover sending you back a pack of cards.  Here’s some of the requirements:
Physical size: 2.375″ x 3.5″ on a very heavy stock (such as posterboard, chipboard, or a white washed baseball card)
Not overly 3 dimensional as these will be going through the mail.
Please spray fixative/varnish over your work if necessary.
Put work in water proof bag befor mailing (ziploc).
Put separaters between cards to prevent damage in transit.
Nothing printed out on a printer (block prints are fine).
It is acceptable (& suggested) that original pieces are as a series or similar to each other (e.g. the same subject drawn on ten different cards).
Send as many cards as you want, you’ll get a pack back for every ten (& monies for shipping).
Please put your contact information on the back of each individual card as a goal is for these to promote your work.

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Tales from Silberia

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

Spent several hours today doing searches for new music bloggers to contact for the upcoming stuff.  I’m starting to realize that though nothing has really come to fruition from it yet, the Silber promotional machine is getting to be pretty bad ass.  Maybe not Mad Max’s road warrior rig, but at least a doom buggy.

I’ve been thinking about doing a spoken word thing of various Silber people telling stories, just a monologue you might tell a friend.  Maybe called Silber Stories or Tales from Silberia, maybe I should file it away under things to do in 2012….

I’m also thinking about starting to do things where I make packs of artist trading cards (original artwork the size of a baseball card).  People would send me ten cards & $1 & get eight cards back plus theirs distributed.  $4 a pack for non-contributors.  I’d make the packs using wax paper stapled together.

Got an email from Melissa Gardner that she’s currently working on XO#6.  So hopefully that will be done soon.

I got the final draft of Lost Kisses #12 done & laid out.  I sent it to Dave Sim, so we’ll see if it ends up Ultimate Lost Kisses or regular Lost Kisses.

I don’t really talk about it on hear much, but I take care of my grandmother 12-14 hours most days (hence days where I have trouble getting much done).  She had an incredibly lucid day today for the first time in probably a year or so & it was nice, but a little scary because they say that’s what happens at the end for people with Alzheimers before their brain forgets how to tell their body how to process food & water.

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A lot of little things.

Posted on January 6, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

I just spent some time trying to recreate some of my audio problems (as some of you may recall I found a bad cable, but then still had audio problems at my last show) & found that when I had re-assembled my gear a couple weeks ago after checking things there were two cables reversed killing half my rig’s signal.  So now maybe it will work right.  I left it turned on for a couple hours to simulate how it’s left turned on before a show.  So I don’t really think there’s going to be anything wrong at the next show.

Got out the orders & the Sarah June for manufacturing this morning.

I blew up a pyrex dish while cooking shooting boiling water & glass on my stomach.  While I can definitely still feel it, I think it’ll be fine.  I don’t really understand how I can put a pyrex dish from a freezer into an oven, but not boil water in it.

Did some discussions with Will Dodson the other day about shooting our basketball short.  Not sure if we’ll shoot it in Greensboro or not as of yet.  Got to discuss things with Tony for Stwrongtone to figure it all out.

Been in some discussions with Super 31 (interviewed in the very first issue of QRD) about re-issuing some of their stuff.  More info when I have it.

Did all the paperwork for fourth quarter digital sales.  So I feel like that’s a dent in that side of things.

Did some searching on ebay for a costume for a potential film I’ll collaborate with Bob Freville on.  Speaking of Bob, he said he got the initial footage for the “Collapse” video shot & is working it up to see if he needs to do a second shoot.

Wrote second draft of Lost Kisses #12.  Should get it out tomorrow.

Gotten a few reviews over the past couple of days.  So I guess I should send out some follow-up emails since the holiday crunch is done.

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Downloads/Sarah June/Lost Kisses

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

I went through my web stats for the past few months (I didn’t even realize I hadn’t had a chance to look at them).  The most interesting thing to me is that basically half of the attempted downloads for the promo folks of the new releases were abandoned/interrupted.  It makes me kinda concerned about the idea of doing digital downloads especially when the ones for sale are going to be even higher quality & take longer to download (100 megs an album for 256 bit encoding).  It also makes me think about adding streaming digital versions for reviewers.  I really need to look around at what other labels are doing about these things, but it seems like most of the folks I know are a step behind me on this front instead of a step ahead.

I completed the first keeper draft of Lost Kisses #12.  I found an easy & less contrived ending than the first two drafts, which is always nice.  It’s a continuation (in a way) to issue #11 & will be called “Her: Age 16.”

Tomorrow the Sarah June album will go out for manufacturing.  I’ve tried to spend a lot of time on this one & am hoping it’ll be a record that people really appreciate.

Also tomorrow will be the first batch of orders for 2010 shipped, which just amplifies needing to do do the paperwork for 2009.

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Figures/Remora/Intern Update

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

So the latest episode of Cerebus TV had Dave Sim reading from his guide to self-publishing including the passage that made me start this blog.  He talks about making something to hold yourself accountable for the work you do to maintain momentum.  He uses a calendar, I use this blog.  But it’s inspiring to hear him talk about things like the idea that everyone has 2000 bad songs/stories/etc.  I like to think I’ve gotten to a point where I am creating a similar amount of good material per year as in the late 1990s when I worked on my art every day (there was a lot more bad material back then).

Worked on trying to make some Sculpey clay figure stuff with my niece & nephew & I was unable to make anything with molds that would work.  I know there was something in the mid 1990s where people were somehow bootlegging weapons associated with Star Wars action figures (because a guy I knew wanted me to go up in my attic to get some stuff to clone) & I wish I could figure out how they were doing it.  I never actually saw the things myself so I can’t even be sure if they were Sculpey or resin.

Got a half draft of Lost Kisses #12 done that I am really pleased with.  Hopefully it will be finished tomorrow.

I have this idea for an EP by Remora where I’ll take a bunch of the various remixes I’ve done over the years (many of which are unreleased/unheard) & just subtract all of the original song only leaving my additions.  So I’m going to be planning to do some more remixes if anyone is interested in me working on something from them.

Talked to Silber intern Ben Collins (who put together the White Silber compilation) & he & his wife have both successfully moved to Taos, New Mexico.  It’s funny to hear when people move to a new city how near or far they need to go to find things to do.  I’ve stayed in places where driving three hours for a show & other places where people won’t drive more than fifteen minutes to do something.  I’m not sure what I prefer.

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Better Mood

Posted on January 3, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

On Topspin they have this interesting tool for estimating label earnings.  I’m pretty happy that Silber makes almost three times more than they estimate.  (But only a fourth of what they claim I’d make using them, but whatever – if I believed the numbers people say they can make me when I give them money I’d be out of business long ago.  In general people who run magazines or promotional companies or whatever want to make money for themselves, not their advertisers & clients.  Same thing goes for real estate agents, accountants, lawyers, doctors, & pretty much anyone else in the world.)  So it makes me feel pretty good, especially as lately I’ve felt like a financial failure.

There should be a ton of Lost Kisses t-shirts & such available via Cafe Press in the next day or two.  They are a bit pricey, but I am only making a dollar per shirt.  If anyone knows a place that does print on demand shirts with drop shipping at a better rate, please let me know.

I read some of one of Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane stories & it made me feel more in the mood to write.  Nothing like a bad ass killing 20 dudes in the first four pages.  So yeah, I can feel it making me want to work.  Wanting to take the ideas in my head & figure out the best way to communicate them to others whether it’s through music, painting, comics, fiction, or food.

I got permission from Dave Sim to do a derivative collaboration where I scan in his artwork & put in my own words.  Of course it will probably take me longer than I’d ever anticipate & people will call me a hack for it.  But I don’t really think of being a hack as such a negative thing.  All the greats are hacks.

I’m going to be doing some experiments with clay today to make some random knick knacks.  You know, free action figures with orders over $50 or something.

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writing/apparel/downloads

Posted on January 2, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

I wrote a first draft of a comic script today.  It’s the second one I’ve written in a month that I feel like abandoning.  I think it’s because I haven’t been reading Robert E. Howard lately & it lowers my minds ability to use words properly.

Did a bunch of work going through Lost Kisses for potential shirts.  Should finish up that task tomorrow.

I got what I feel was an interesting email conversation with a blogger who posted Aarktica’s In Sea on her top ten & had of course gotten it off a torrent site.  Which is fine since as a reviewer I’d have given it to her free anyway; but when I mentioned the discouragement over that the album got a ton of illegal downloads but no one wants to download the free album, she said that most people she knows get music through just searching bit torrent sites & that she’d never find the free stuff on my site.  So it’s interesting.  Do I try to get more people to hear the free EPs in hopes they might eventually come to the website?  I like the idea of using the free materials to drive traffic to the website, but I’m not sure about posting stuff to some third party like that for free.  But if any of you that read this are interested in seeding any of the free material onto any popular torrent sites that you use, I have no problems with that & would actually appreciate it.

I feel I’m forgetting something….

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Happy New Year

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Brian John Mitchell

So it’s 2010.  2009 is done except for the paperwork (frowny face).  On a casual glance at my paperwork I’m going to be pretty close on the cusp of breaking even for the year.  I guess I’ll know when I finally sit down for the eight hours of grinding through all the numbers & everything.

A bunch of reviews came in today.  So I’m starting to feel pretty gung ho about some stuff.

Happy New Year.

Plans for 2010 still include:
A bunch of new music including the expansion of the Silber brand into the digital only arena.
A bunch more comics (hopefully by the end of 2010 we’ll have a total of ten series going).
A more serious attempt at bringing QRD to its ancient glory (meaning several issues installments as opposed to the two from this year).
Mini-comic based t-shirt series.
Weird Silber artsy videos.
Short films & feature films we’re involved with.
Three new Remora studio albums.
Moving the blog from MySpace to Silbermedia.
Opening the Silber digital store.

Hope to take the world over & make it a better place for you this year.

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