How my rock band changed Canadian law... sort of.

I was standing at my bus stop in front of the MTS center today and I saw a nice young lad putting up a poster on a pole. His technique was ok: he was using allot of tape and he was sure to cover the tops and bottoms of the posters (preventing edges from being exposed; edges that make ripping down posters quite easy). I remember when I was a poster rookie, and I used tape to fasten posters to poles. That was until I learned a more effective and somewhat more asinine method.

When my former rock band, the Velvet Pill, did a tour of southern Ontario, we brought along hundreds of posters. The posters were generic enough that they included a picture of the band and our website, but left a portion at the bottom completely blank so we had space to fill in specific concert information for each city/town.

We made our way east, through Dryden, Thunder Bay, North Bay, Ottawa and eventually ended up in Toronto. As soon as we got to town, we hit up Queen Street to start promoting our shows. A couple band members were in charge of bringing flyers to the two venues we were playing at later in the week, and the rest of us set off to put up posters.

We put up nearly 100 posters in the first day we there; which is an impressive feat even for experienced posterers (it’s my word, back off!).

The next day we went downtown to get a coffee and noticed that all of our posters had been taken down already. Even though we likely used a half a dozen rolls of tape, the posters were gone!

Later that day, while reapplying posters to essentially the same places we targeted the previous evening, we ran into a fellow who gave us a sound piece of advice: “You should use wallpaper compound, those damn things will never come down,” he suggested.

Still feeling pretty pissed off about having all of our posters ripped down, we drove to Mississauga immediately to find a hardware store that sold this mystifying compound. Sure enough, we found the stuff; it was a powder compound that simply needed to be mixed with water. Now we were rally excited to get postering. At this point, we didn’t even care about promoting our show; we just wanted to redeem ourselves.

So we spent the rest of that evening postering (and pub hopping, along Queen and Jarvis… cuz that’s what you do when you’re a naïve rock-star-wannabee and you’re in the T-Dot for good times). The technique worked great. Not only was it easier to apply posters to pretty much everything, but the posters were practically plastered to the poles… you’d need a steamer to get them down. We certainly felt a sense of redemption; and we had a shit load of that compound left over too.

The rest of our tour took us to London, Hamilton, Sudbury, back to Toronto (for reasons I won’t explain here) and then eventually back to Thunder Bay.

Our second stay in Thunder Bay on this tour was an extended one. You see, in order for us to be able to tour accross the country as an original rock band, we had to play covers in certain towns (usually for 3 or 4 day stints), in order to be able to eat, buy gas and shelter. On this particular tour, we were scheduled to play the Inn Towner as Pelvic Thrill (the cover band) from Thursday to Sunday (that’s not a typo, it’s a four day gig and Sunday is the big night at the Inn Towner). Our Velvet Pill show was scheduled for Tuesday night at the Apollo (God bless your hearts, the Apollo).

That meant that, aside from sitting in on classes for free at Lakehead University (which Jer and I did), or checking out Centerfolds (which Guy, Jon and Doug did), we had ample time to put up posters.

For those of you who are not familiar with Thunder Bay, Ontario, it’s not a big town. One might even say that it’s a small town.

We began postering the first day we got into town. This was the last show on the tour, so we figured that we would use up the rest of our posters. We figured that because Thunder Bay was so small, if we put up a ton of posters our band’s name would become a household one, and that eventually we would conquer T-Bay and then the world.

About a month after we returned home from said tour, we got an email from a town resident. It was an email informing us that as a result of our insane postering, a law had been passed that prohibited bands from putting up posters in public places, other than the pre-designated spots.

I’m sure they wanted to sue our asses, or at least put us in jail, but without a law in place, they had no book to throw at us (other than the T-Bay constitution; which I think only has one rule, and that is “you can’t kiss your sister on Sundays”… which they all break religiously).

As stupid and naïve as this sounds to me now, I was actually pretty proud. It was somehow an accomplishment that we had littered the town with hideous posters, creating such an eye soar for the people who actually had to live there.

The next time we played Thunder Bay, we played the Apollo and there was roughly 5 people there, including the bartender. Our super-awesome-shitty marketing campaign was clearly a flop… but I sure have a cool story to tell!!!

CreComm Hamper Drive Begins

To borrow a quote from the Christmas Cheer Board Website: "We would like to invite you to an exciting and personal approach to Christmas giving."

If you are a Creative Communications student at Red River College (whatever year) and you want to help feed a family at Christmas, here is your chance.

This year, not unlike previous years, CreComm students are sponsoring a family through the Winnipeg Christmas Cheer Board's hamper program.

We need your help!

We've got a box setup at the CreComm office (W302 Princess Street campus) where you can drop off non-perishable food items that are needed to fill the hamper.

There will be a list of items that are required located at the item drop spot, and we have provided a list on a Facebook group (below).

Both lists will be updated regularly as the hamper fills up.

We are going to kick start the effort by pledging our commitment to taking care of all the required perishable foods for the hamper (we doubt that the instructors and administrators want to work in an office with rotting milk, eggs and turkey and chicken carcasses).

Please pass this along to all of your CreComm friends. We only have until mid December to fill up the hamper.

Here is the list:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?v=info&gid=199263257632

Whether or not to use in-line compression or EQ

I can't count the number of times I've heard from music geeks that you should never use in-line compression when you are recording. There is a good argument to back up this suggestion; specifically, you can always compress audio after the fact, but if you record the compressed tones, you're stuck with them. Here are few reasons why I still use in-line compression.

First of all, the audio interface that I use is the Focusrite Octopre Platinum (which I use in conjunction with a Digidesign DIGI003). It has 8 discrete mic preamps, and on each Pre there is a soft-knee/hard-knee compressor. One of the main reasons I chose this particular interface was because it had in-line compression and "limiting" capabilities. (The compressor can be turned off if you choose not to use it.)


When I'm recording, I do like to use the compressors on the Focusrite unit because the compression adds character to tone of the audio. I don't even have to add much, and I start to hear differences in the overall character of the tones.

Another reason I like in-line compression is for the "head room" factor. When I'm recording something very dynamic, like a rock singer, it's nice to have the compressor on just a bit, so it gives me just a bit more head room in cases where the singer is belting it. The threshold of the compressor is what adds that extra bit of head room.

And if the singer does clip the channel, the limiter kicks in on the Focusrite unit and usually prevents the audio from clipping when it's recorded in Pro Tools.

I don't think there's enough compression on the track that I risk altering it to a point where I'm limited in mix down. Yet, during mix-down, I have to be mindful that the track has been compressed once already, so it's not over compressed if I add plug-ins later.

I would also use compression, to the full extent however, if I was renting high-end gear, like an Avalon 737SP. I usually only have the gear available for the tracking process, because renting high-end gear is expensive, so I typically take advantage of the compression on the Avalon while the audio is being tracked. In this case, I use the compressor very gently, just to gain some added head room and character.

I don’t use in-line EQ when I’m tracking; I don’t see the advantages. I think that proper choice of microphone and mic placement can help you get around EQ’ing in-line.

A Christmas Hamper from CreComm Students

I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas, but it's not too early to start planning.

For a long time, Christmas made me pretty frustrated. The part of Christmas that frustrated me most was the frivolous spending on useless junk. It felt kind of like the biggest eff-you to people who are less fortunate.

Two years ago I participated in a Christmas Cheer Board hamper program. We sponsored a family that had just moved to Winnipeg. The family consisted of mom, dad, two young girls and a baby boy. They had just moved here from Syria and had no family here at all. The dad was in school full time to learn English; he worked as an engineer in Syria. The mom was taking care of the kids.

The family was super appreciative, and the whole experience was totally uplifting.
I participated again last year and had a very different experience; but it was still totally worthwhile.

I didn't want to miss the opportunity to take part in the program this year, so I'm hoping to get the support of CreComm students so we can fill a hamper.
We're going to create a Facebook group that will allow people to check which items still need to be purchased, as the hamper fills up. Students will be able to drop off donations to a designated spot in the lobby of the CreComm office. The hamper will be setup some time in early November.

I don't think I will ever get use to the dumb spending on useless junk that inevitably comes with Christmas, but I can at least take solace in knowing that one more family will be able to enjoy the holiday.

In order to tie this post in to the music geek theme, I've come up with a metaphor...
If I was a rock star, I would put on a cheesy turtle neck sweater, and ask my other rock star friends to put on some cheesy turtle neck sweaters, and get them record a cheesy Christmas song with me. We would then give the royalties from the song to charity.

Getting Inside the Head of a Local Music Industry Giant

I recently sat down with Glen Willows to chat about his life; here is what I took away from our interesting conversation...

Working 12 hour days, six days a week isn’t for everybody; but Glen Willows, owner of artist management company Burning Circus Management, does it because he loves his job. “I take every Sunday off; it’s not a religious holiday, it’s just that day I tell bands that I’m not gonna phone you and I’m not going to do anything to do with music and I don’t always succeed, but I try to take that one full day off.”

Willows has been immersed in the music industry as a musician, talent developer and talent manager for over 30 years. Leaning back in his chair with his hands crossed behind his head, with hair long enough to touch his shoulders, a half-smile materializes on his face as he muses over the days he played guitar for iconic Canadian rock outfit, Harlequin. “In the instance of that band, we gave our publishing away to the record label, which we shouldn’t have… a lot of what I do as a manager is correct the mistakes I made myself, over the course of my own career.”

Chatting with me over coffee at Carnegie's diner, Willows speaks modestly of his experiences playing with Harlequin. His tone becomes more animated when the conversation shifts to a band on his roster. As a co-writer of songs for his former band, he is proudest of the substantial radio air-play they receive; but the satisfaction is bittersweet. “As a musician turned manager I wear two hats, so when I’m wearing my manager hat, I wish they would stop playing this old music, it’ll give more space for my bands.”

Doug Darling, bass player with the hard rock band The Civil Disobedients, has noticed the influence that Willows wields. “I think he’s putting Winnipeg (music scene) on the map. He has kind of a Midas touch, as we’ve all seen with Inward Eye and getting them national recognition,” says Darling. “If he can do that for that band, then people think he can do it for them too.”

Bands that aspire to become successful aren’t the only ones that have noticed Willows’ influence. “Glen is a respected guy in terms of discovering talent and he has a lot of connections with the really big labels and management companies,” says Grant Paley, agent with Paquin Entertainment Group, one of Canada’s premiere entertainment agencies. “Just look at The Waking Eyes, Ash Koley, or Inward Eye, just look at his success rate, I’d say it’s like 60/40, which in this business is amazing,” Paley says, “and that makes him a lot of money.”

It is an unusually warm fall day in Winnipeg, and the staff at Carnegie’s are struggling to maintain a comfortable room temperature for their patrons. Willows unzips his beige hoodie, shifts in his chair, and leans closer to respond to a question about the financial side of his business. “If I can help somebody achieve some success, then obviously as a business, it’s going to help me, and that’s why it’s certainly not social work, because I obviously want to make a living at it. Having said that, it’s not lucrative.”

Willows puts his forearms on the table, fully engaged. “I know that some people look at managers and go, this guy just wants me to be on the cover of Rolling Stone so he can be rich…my definition of success is like, I want to try to help the artist become as successful as they want to be, on their terms, without losing their soul.” With a slight chuckle, he confesses, “I consider it my manager habit, cause you know, it takes up all your time and it’s a lot of work, and you have to love doing it, just like anything else.”