Rfarren Band Tour #2

[rfarren]

OK. I'm a moron. You told me but.... what do you play and what kind of music? Or is it performance art? Or dance? Or stand up comedy?

It's a two piece rock band with a focus on analog vintage gear. It's picked up a bit of steam in the past 6 months or so, but still has a long way to go...

I can't really risk injuring myself

A few of us have seen you ski. Would you be taking any more risk than in the streets of NYC? Not saying you should take time off but a few turns while touring

SLC, Santa Fe, and Denver/Boulder

would not seem unreasonable.

Remember that all of those cities will be visited for just one night. Tours are hard and off days tend not to be days of leisure, but days of recuperation, often they are filled with outside obligations such as interviews(press/radio), maintenance(instruments/van), etc... The american west is widely regarded as one of the most difficult touring areas in the world as many of the markets are 6+ hours from each other. With a tight budget as it is, and long distances combined with tough touring schedules (often 9 shows for every 10 days), an off day dedicated to skiing will be a tough sell to my label, my band mate, and manager. Besides, the tour van is crowded and packed with gear and there will be absolutely no room whatsoever for boots or skis. Skiing with rental gear doesn't seem that appetizing.

As far as injury, I would imagine that skiing is a bit more dangerous than walking on NYC sidewalks. It sucks not being able to ski for the time being but I'll get my days back some point in the future.

[Marc_C]

OK. I'm a moron. You told me but.... what do you play and what kind of music? Or is it performance art? Or dance? Or stand up comedy?

It's a two piece rock band with a focus on analog vintage gear. It's picked up a bit of steam in the past 6 months or so, but still has a long way to go...

Oh. Cool. Are we talking Korg MS-20, Roland 303/808, or early Oberheim and Yamaha? Even earlier, like Moog and Mellotron ? Marshall tube heads? Please god not Frampton's talking guitar!

Remember that all of those cities will be visited for just one night. Tours are hard and off days tend not to be days of leisure, but days of recuperation, often they are filled with outside obligations such as interviews(press/radio), maintenance(instruments/van), etc... The american west is widely regarded as one of the most difficult touring areas in the world as many of the markets are 6+ hours from each other.

Even RUSH is skipping SLC this tour, a market they usually hit. We're going to Vegas in November to see them.

[jamesdeluxe]

I'd love to hear details about the fiscal end of a tour in an era in which labels allegedly can't make any money. Who pays for what, who gets the gate receipts, album sales, etc.

Full disclosure: while attending CU Boulder many moons ago, I played in a band called "Free Drinks." For four years, we did a couple gigs a week (frat houses, bars), but never went outside the Denver/Boulder region.

I think I hear Tony's footsteps, coming to split the thread.

[jasoncapecod]

Even RUSH is skipping SLC this tour, a market they usually hit. We're going to Vegas in November to see them.

I think Iron Maiden is making there first SLC appearance..

[flyover]

OK. I'm a moron. You told me but.... what do you play and what kind of music? Or is it performance art? Or dance? Or stand up comedy?

It's a two piece rock band with a focus on analog vintage gear. It's picked up a bit of steam in the past 6 months or so, but still has a long way to go...

Oh. Cool. Are we talking Korg MS-20, Roland 303/808, or early Oberheim and Yamaha? Even earlier, like Moog and Mellotron ? Marshall tube heads? Please god not Frampton's talking guitar!

This made me curious as I've enjoyed the renewed interest in analog instruments and recording over the last 15 or so years (Beasties, anything recorded at Daptone, etc.). rfarren seems reluctant to name his band in this forum and I won't totally blow his cover. However, spend 45 seconds on the Google and it becomes clear his current sound is largely centered on Rhodes piano.

Back in the 90s there was a Rhodes-centered band here in Minneapolis called "Casino Royale" that gigged both on its own or as backing for various MCs in the local underground hiphop scene. I used to love going to see them just to hear the luscious tones that piano can generate.

Two questions for rfarren: First, are you touring with a B3 also? If so, lugging that thing around has also gotta be a potential source of injury. Second, with the focus on analog, is your latest album available on wax?

Good luck!

[Marc_C]

Two questions for rfarren: First, are you touring with a B3 also? If so, lugging that thing around has also gotta be a potential source of injury.

Since we've now totally derailed the thread....
The B3 that requires 4 burly guys to carry is an interesting conundrum. If the modern digital version exactly recreates the sound of the original analog device, do you still need to lug around the analog version? Hammond now makes a totally faithful digital version of the B3, but at a fraction of the weight (since it doesn't have the motor and tone wheels, the spring reverb, the tube array vibrato and chorus, and that big honking steel chassis to hold all that stuff). There's even an ultra-portable table-top version (which kind of reminds me of an old Casio mini). An even bigger question - what about the mechanical Leslie speaker that was standard with the B3?

Second, with the focus on analog, is your latest album available on wax?

Perhaps vinyl instead, with all the charming snap, crackle, and pops, to say nothing of super compression, attenuated bass, and muted highs? I don't think there have been any wax pressings in decades.

Thread split in
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[jamesdeluxe]

what about the mechanical Leslie speaker that was standard with the B3?

One of the great memories of my late teens was Gregg Allman sitting at his B3, leaning over the microphone (couldn't see his face because of the long hair), a cloud of cigarette smoke, and the revolving Leslie speaker behind him. Good times.

[Marc_C]

For those who are wondering what the hell we're talking about...

Classic analog B3 with Leslie:


The B3 with pedal board and bench weighs about 420lb. The Leslie 122 next to it is around 150lbs.

Modern digital B3 (traveling version with integrated road case):


Digital version now designated XK3C (in classic wood):


Analog B3 with back panel removed, showing the innards:


Many band keyboard players did not/do not travel with the pedal board - that's what the bass player is for!

For the truly masochistic, there's an iOS version for the iPad:
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/tag/hammond-b3/

Video clip with the classic B3 sound (music starts at the 2 min time stamp):

[flyover]

To witness a B3/Leslie pushed hard at close range is truly an experience. I saw MMW in 1995 (circa "Friday Afternoon in the Universe") here in Minneapolis. They were still mostly considered a sort of fringe, NY jazz trio at the time. Accordingly, they played at the storied, but tiny, Uptown Bar. (After achieving some renown on the dreaded "jam band" circuit, they would return to play much larger venues.) I was about three bodies back from the narrow stage. The Hammond through the Leslie in such close quarters was truly overwhelming in Mr. Medeski's capable hands.

[Marc_C]

Another classic performance with the unmistakeable B3 signature sound:

[rfarren]

No, we don't tour with a b3, and thank god. My rig is a rhodes, that goes through 30+ year morley phaser and morley wah/volume, that then heads to 3 analog distortion pedals. From there we head to a 1976 roland 201 tape delay, which is the love of my life, and that then goes to a custom made crossover which splits trebles and basses. The trebles go to a brown board 66' Fender Twin, and the bass goes to a 68' Fender Bassman with a bagends 15. For a lot of the piano and organ work, we use triggers, as we're just two people, but the album was recorded with a true b3.

The b3(and rhodes for that matter) is far superior to any digital version of it for a multitude of reasons. Mainly, as the tone bars degrade they create a warm wonderful click that can't be controlled. Overdriving the hammond as well creates harmonic distortion which is far better than digital distortion. Most importantly, a hammond works with a leslie, and no digital reproduction can ever come close to matching that sound. You can use a digital b3 module with a leslie, but having used both extensively over the past 10 years I can say the difference is great. However, if you're going to listen to your music on laptop speakers or crappy earbuds, I suppose it doesn't make too much of a difference.

As far as pressing, we released onto cd and digitally. For the national tour I will probably have to arrange some sort of 7 inch for one of the songs from the album, but we haven't done 12 inch. Btw flyover, no worries, the band is called Isle of Rhodes. www.isleofrhodes.com/music if you all are interested...

[rfarren]

I'd love to hear details about the fiscal end of a tour in an era in which labels allegedly can't make any money. Who pays for what, who gets the gate receipts, album sales, etc.

This all depends on the size of the label, band, etc... All labels lose money during the first tour. That is why many labels won't sign bands until they've done a couple of tours on their own. Furthermore, the situation is so miserable for the labels that many don't even offer tour support. They may offer you an advance to promote it. A major will offer you tour support but they're probably taking a cut from that.

Traditionally, 100% of the money from performances and merch has gone the to artist, with 15% to manager, 10% to booker, and a certain fees to lawyers, and certain percentage going to overhead. Depending on the size of your act your guarantee can be 100k such as coldplay or $300 for a smaller indie band. When you're a smaller indie band the best way to breakthrough and get paid is to be on a package tour. This is how MGMT broke through in 07', they opened up a 20 date swing with of "Of Montreal". Their label had their catalogue bought out by Sony, and now MGMT is lucky to get paid 9 cents on the dollar of album sales. Of Montreal, which is on a larger indie will get 50 cents on the dollar.

Nowadays there are these things called 360 deals, where the label manages you, so they collect 15% on every aspect of your career, plus they get their traditional cut of album sales (50% indie, 90% major). The incentive for the artist is that the label will spend more time developing, and not cut the artist off the roster if their first album doesn't reach projected sales. The bad side is that the label is going to take a cut from your performances.

In a band the size of mine there may be minimal tour support. There is guarantee regardless from the booker, and the band keeps it, with a cut going to a manager and booker. The band keeps all merch sales (but the band paid for the production of the merch), with a cut to management. Traditionally the band buys discounted albums from the label that the band then get to keep the proceeds from. On our tour this August, I expect to break even, but not much beyond that, it also all depends on the cost of gas.

[jasoncapecod]

Rob, what your doing takes a lot of balls.
How's your wife feel about you gallivanting all over the country?

[rfarren]

Rob, what your doing takes a lot of balls.
How's your wife feel about you gallivanting all over the country?

She's extraordinarily supportive, so I'm lucky. She just started a film production company, so she's more than busy enough. Between the two of us it's amazing we ever see each other.

[Admin]

Rob, what your doing takes a lot of balls.
How's your wife feel about you gallivanting all over the country?

She's extraordinarily supportive, so I'm lucky.

She hasn't thought yet about all the sleazy keyboard groupies.