Tag: Musicians

Jack Antonoff suggested by fellow musicians | Leisure Information

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Jack Antonoff was advised on his new album by Bruce Springsteen, Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift and Lord.

The singer and producer is not trying to make an “Anyone in the World” record and is grateful to have many other artists on him, so a few before release. Just sharing his music with people. Your feedback on the upcoming LP “Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night” has been very helpful.

He told Rolling Stone magazine, “The best records are made up of a few people who really believe in something. My group is like my manager, my A&R guy who doesn’t even work on my label anymore. Someone very close to me and my family and some artists like Lana [Del Ray]..I always play something for Ella [Lorde].. Of course, Taylor.

“Blues [Springsteen] I am deep in the group. I recently played him all the records. We took a ride and heard it. If I want to make an album that everyone in the world will love, I ask everyone in the world, but I try to make an album for my people. So I play it for my people. “

Jack got “endless” feedback from the singer and took up her advice, but not only the opinions of fellow musicians are important to him.

When asked what feedback they would give him, he said, “Endless. I wasn’t exactly sure if the ’91’ would open the album. Bruce said, “No, it’s a move.”

“Taylor was a big part of what made me come up with ‘I Wanna Get Better’. I sent her song for the first Bleachers album. Maybe ‘roller coaster’ I thought it should come first. It’s too safe.

“’I Wanna Get Better’ is a 3 minute life story from a ******, and I heard it because I really respect it.

“But everyone in the world is a kind of equality. My mother’s entry is just as valid. “

Jack Antonoff advised by other musicians | Entertainment news

Source link Jack Antonoff advised by other musicians | Entertainment news

After COVID compelled them on-line, musicians return to the limelight | Leisure

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In a normal year, the members of the band Scythian would play around 90 shows, which means they were out and about between 160 and 200 days.

That stopped when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in March 2020.

All of the band’s shows were canceled on March 14th, but Dan Fedoryka, who founded Scythian with his brother Alexander, had an idea: they should stream live on St. Patrick’s Day.

“I ordered the equipment and luckily I got some before it was all sold out,” said Fedoryka.

At the same time, the band was also crowdfunding their album and had to raise $ 7,000 in three days to achieve their goal. The results have been encouraging. The band’s stream garnered more than 50,000 views and their fans provided a total of $ 14,000.

Scythian decided to run “Quaranstreams” every two weeks to connect directly with their fans and offer some comfort to people during the outbreak. They also asked festivals and music events across the country to post their shows on their social media platforms.

The members of Scythian are among a wide variety of musicians in the United States who turned to alternative channels to connect with audiences and survive the pandemic.

The band will play a show at Down Home on Saturday July 10th as part of the release of their new CD Roots & Stones. The show has limited capacity and if it sells out a second show will be added.

Scythian has performed frequently at Bristol’s Rhythm & Roots and has played twice at the Blue Plum Festival.

In the first three months of their Quaranstreams, the band averaged about 40,000 views per stream, and in more than 30 streams, Scythian garnered more than 600,000 views. During this time it survived from Venmo tips and merchandise orders.

“We would take apart my living room, clear everything out of my living room and do a seven-camera shoot with lights, fog, smoke machine and full sound,” said Fedoryka.

The band also made their own satirical commercials and turned the streams into a variety show.

“We basically produced a show every two weeks,” he said.

Like many other industries, COVID-19 has devastated the music world. Venues were permanently closed and bands hung up their instruments.

Tyrique Shahmir, a hip-hop artist from Johnson City, was preparing for a tour ahead of the pandemic and said he was about to sign with a record label.

“Due to COVID and the lack of tours and travel, I deviated from it and decided to continue on the independent path,” said Shahmir.

Shahmir said he does an average of 25 to 30 shows a year, but COVID-19 has slowed that down.

Shahmir also turned to livestreams during the pandemic.

He ran three streams to keep in touch with his fan base and used social media platforms like Facebook, Twitch, YouTube and Instagram.

“It definitely opened my eyes to the fact that there are so many different ways and opportunities to introduce your music to people,” he said.

During the pandemic, Shahmir also worked on an album called “Eastside Misfit,” which will be released on August 20th. On July 20th he will release an EP “In Between a Gray Area”.

Fedoryka added that it is not yet known whether many music events will survive the pandemic. After so many months of isolation and quarantine, he hopes people will want to find an outlet.

“The margin of error is not very high with these independent music venues and independent musicians,” he said.

The Down Home, he said, is taking lingering fears of COVID-19 seriously and is hosting Scythian’s show at half capacity.

The community that emerged from the band’s quaran streams, Fedoryka said, has endured. Now when the band does CD release shows, people already know the words to the songs. The participants know each other from the live streams and see each other personally for the first time.

“It’s really something that has never been there,” said Fedoryka.

Musicians around the globe increase cash for SF’s most well-known Irish bar, Plough and the Stars

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When Irish bar The Plow and the Stars had to close in the first few days of San Francisco’s shelter-in-place order in March 2020, no one could have predicted that the closure would last a year.

Owner Séan Heaney certainly didn’t.

Heaney shows me around the bar on a Monday afternoon, just days before St. Patrick’s Day. Chairs and stools are stacked on the dark wooden tables and bar. The elevated stage, where countless musicians have played, is lit and empty, a far cry from the Irish violinists and bluegrass bands that have been the focus of attention over the decades, filling the bar with their music.

“I thought it was only going to be two or three weeks, probably at a very early stage, so I wasn’t really concerned,” Heaney said. “And then, as it went on, it became very obvious [COVID-19 is] not something that would go away – it would be a long way. “

What helped the bar survive was the music scene that the Plow has nurtured over the years. Although the live music stopped, the music continued online: The Bar’s Facebook site has become a who’s who of musicians who have played the bar for the past four decades. Many of them have contributed a short five minute video each of which explains why they love the plow and plays a song to raise money. Heaney proudly shows me the videos and shows musicians from all over the world, from Ireland to Japan, who fondly remember their bar.

When longtime customer and friend Gloria Gregg found the bar was hurting, she helped organize a GoFundMe fundraiser to give the bar some cash flow while the taps stay off. Gregg had been in the bar since 1978 before Heaney took over in 1981 and is one of the many musicians to have played there in the past. She got poetic about nights when the music commanded silence over the bar and remembered playing the dulcimer herself for the crowd.

“When it became clear that COVID would keep the place closed for a long time, [for] Myself and some of my musician friends, it was clear that we had to do something, ”said Gregg. “There was no question about it, because it’s a San Francisco landmark, among other things, but it’s also a place [for] Musicians who don’t make a lot of money but still love to play … Everyone firmly believed the place had to survive and people are ready to do whatever it takes to make sure that happens. “

The GoFundMe has raised about $ 33,000 to date, and the group is hoping to raise a bit more to help raise the bar.

The Plow and the Stars stage has hosted many musicians over the years, many of whom are trying to save the bar.

Patricia Chang / Special on SFGATE

Although many bars in San Francisco decided to open parklets to cater to the outdoor crowds, as per city and state COVID-19 guidelines, the plow and the stars took a different route. Assuming they could safely accommodate a maximum of 20 people outdoors, the bar went into hibernation last year and shut down services like cables and trash to save money until they could reopen.

And while the prospect of an Irish bar closing for two consecutive St. Patrick’s Day celebrations is a terrible prospect, St. Patrick’s Day is by far the “biggest day of the year,” Heaney said, saying what he and his family were saying its closure was discovered by the larger community advocating reopening. They were luckier than most bars in their situation.

Malone understands the excitement. He’s been working at the bar since he was 21 in 2011, the next generation of the family to run The Plow and the Stars. Even though the bar is closed, Malone has still taken t-shirt and sweatshirt orders and often receives emails about how much the bar means to former customers. A sale was recently made to a couple in Boston, Malone recalled, who said they had told their 13-year-old son stories about their time in San Francisco, which included the plow.

Malone shared stories of patrons who met at the bar and are now married, and of those who have become good friends of the family over the years – he’s even become best friends of people who, over the years, have become through theirs Doors have come. Malone has been hosting a weekly online quiz night every Monday since April, much like the bar every week, and when he was forced to skip two weeks he realized what that social interaction means for all of their customers.

“The plow is almost like a living room,” said Malone. “People gather there, there has always been great music, my father has had great Irish music over the years [and] Musicians came back and wanted to play there … I think it just got really friendly where everyone is made to feel welcome. “

The Plow and Stars sit empty and quiet as it stayed closed for a full year after San Francisco bars closed during the shelter-in-place order in March 2020.

Patricia Chang / Special on SFGATE

The bar gained its legacy status in San Francisco two years ago, but it also has a soft spot for its Clement Street neighbors. The close-knit neighborhood along this stretch of Richmond has all offered to help in one way or another. Heaney said when they considered building a parklet outside, nearby neighbors offered to work with them to get some food, including the popular Burma superstar nearby.

However, the plow’s long-standing place in the neighborhood has touched more than just the bar guests. Heaney got a rental break thanks to a forgiving landlord who has known him for 40 years. “We saw her children grow up and she saw our children grow up,” he said.

Despite some loans and grants they received during the year, Heaney had to take on some debt during the COVID-19 crisis, he said.

Although the bar will be closed for St. Patrick’s Day, Heaney and Malone are finally seeing a way to reopen. With lovely spring weather on the way and San Francisco hopefully reaching the orange level soon – and eventually the yellow level where bars can reopen indoor capacity to 25% – they are trying again to build an outdoor parklet. with the promise to welcome their friends and customers back.

Heaney knows it will be a while before they can see music back at the Plow, but he’s planning a comeback in the coming month or so if things continue to move in a positive direction.

“I myself feel right now that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Heaney as we stood in the empty bar. “I feel like the more people are vaccinated, the greater the chances we have.”