Well here it is folks. you've all been eagerly awaiting the last installment in this series and i finally have some free time to write this. I'm at work right now but its a saturday and it is shit slow around here let me tell you. Its days like these i wish i was already touring and doing what i love behind my baby. Anyway lets get on with this...
When i left off, the bass player from my very first band called me and asked if i wanted to join his current project. I agreed and sat in on a couple of practices. Heavy metal, right up my alley, with a little humor, another one of my alleys. I already knew the guys he was working with and everything seemed to gel naturally. We did a couple of shows together and the music was sounding good and the show aspect was getting better. We were starting to get buzz. We made a full fledged album out of our own pocket and it was good. we had enough material for a second album that was forthcoming. We made it to a final of an international battle of the bands and got to play at Webster Hall, which i find to be our crowning achievement. People were taking notice of us, our music, our antics on and off stage, and it seemed like we had nowhere to go but up.
this was to me the long term relationship girlfriend. the one you marry. the one you have kids and get a house with.
there were a couple of things going on in the band, however, that raised some concerns, not just to me, but everyone involved. some things can be argued, some things cannot. I always thought we would be able to get through those issues and come out the other side in one piece. The fates proved me wrong.
One thing we didn't do enough of was advertisement. The fact of me writing this blog is me learning from my own mistakes as well as the band. the online community is so vast and easy to connect to, but you have to put the work in to connect with them. I didn't do enough of that on my own and im trying to fix that.
Another mistake we made was coasting with booking shows. We allowed the head of another band, whom we were real good friends with, book shows and include us with them. The only problem was that this guy didnt know how to book cohesive shows. Everything was erratic and utter chaos. We always swore we would never use him again but then he would call and we'd go "alright lets do it" and start the cycle of pain over again.
we didn't promote ourselves as much as we should have. We gave out the cds for free, which is cool, but at the same time we weren't seeing any returns on the money we put into making the album. We also had a lot of ideas for merchandise, videos, shows, comics, movies, etc, all pertaining to the band, but we never followed through with them. Its like those times your drunk with your friends and you spew out all these ideas about taking a road trip to alaska or climbing the adirondack mountains. Then the next day you totally forget what you were talking about.
In short, the music was good and tight, but the business side was lacking.
being in a band and trying to make it is not about the music. its probably 10% music actually. Most of what you do is what im doing right now, write about your band, promote, advertise, get the name out, let people know you exist. I get people complaining to me that Slam One Down posts 500 times in a single day on facebook or myspace. but look at it this way, they're noticing that my band is there and alive and kicking. The music industry has very little to do with the actual music. Look at Britney Spears, The Spice Girls, the Jonas Brothers, and Miley Cyrus for references.
So after our last show, we sort of drifted apart and didnt talk to each other for months. I wondered what was going on, but in the back of my head i knew what was coming. We started to email each other and have meetings about whats the next step for us. We had the answers, but we were wondering if it was worth it. a couple more months passed by with no correspondence and what i had originality thought happened, we were breaking up. After three years of playing non stop shows, recording, joking around and coming up with great ideas that fell to the wasteside, we broke up. It wasn't a fast and clean break either, it was slow, tedious, and painful.
The girl who i thought was the one drifted away from me and sort of broke up with me without actually saying it.
Thats the worst kind, because for years after on top of the "what if?" factor, you have this nagging feeling that you might actually get back together if those differences got patched up, but you know they never will.
While the slow breakup was happening, i went back online to look for more bands to play with. I get an anonymous email from someone in jersey who has a band and is looking for a drummer. I was interested and because of the slow breakup, i was left bandless, so i decided to reply. the guy, J.R., sent me the music and i immediately loved it. i replied and we set up an audition day.
TO BE CONTINUED?...hehe you guys guessed this was the last part, well its not. im throwing a curve ball. The Epilogue is coming. With that, i bid you guys an adieu and remember, kids, KEEP IT METAL!
-Roach
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Our First Press Review
Hey everyone, we had our first press review of our demo entitled, "The Basement Demos." It was published this January 2010 in the magazine, "More Sugar." It was written by Jaymz Delisle in Chris Rush's column entitled "A little more Metal." Thanks to both of those guys!! Here it is.
Hey More Sugar readers, it's Jaymz from Left In Ruins back to give you Metalheads my first brutal review of 2010!!! So I was recently at the Metallica/Lamb of God show at MSG, in NYC, and in the midst of Lamb of God ripping my face off with their brutal Southern Fried Thrash Metally goodness, my buddy J.R., former guitarist of NY Underground Hardcore veterans 4 In The Chamber, greeted me with a hug and put a disk in my hand. He said "Check out my new band, Slam One Down!!!" I thanked him, we went our separate ways and enjoyed the rest of the show. After 2 full listens to this disk, I immediately went to my computer and went to www.myspace.com/slamonedown and to my surprise, this band also enlisted in their ranks, the vocal skills of former 4 In The Chamber front-man Bobby Brazen!!! As you could imagine, Slam One Down does pay homage to their hardcore roots much in the same way 4ITC did, but the guys in Slam One Down also bring a mighty *#@%-load of old-school Metal to the table here as well!!! Thrashy riffs, often give way to catchy choruses, killer guitar solo's and yes, even the occasional mosh-friendly breakdown. Mr. Brazen sounds as evil as ever, with a throat full of whiskey fueled fire, and all the attitude to boot! Slam One Down is, as Jimmy Bower would put it, "All About The Riff!". These guys know how to tear it up the right way, and there is absolutely no lack of groove or rhythm on Slam One Down's "The Basement Demo's". For me the ultimate surprise here, comes in at track 3. "Hell Doesn't Want Me" starts off very mellow, with clean acoustic guitars, and Bobby Brazen crooning with a voice reminiscent of Down-era Phil Anselmo and Zakk Wylde. And c'mon, how can you not love a band that not only does the "Beer Run" song, but also does an acoustic version of it which reminds one of Pantera's "Planet Caravan" cover?!?! Personal favorites of mine on this CD are "Too Far Gone" with it's thuggish Hardcore stomp, "Music,Money & Girls" with it's Pantera meets Crowbar sludginess, and "To Live Forever" with it's gallopy, Iron Maiden-esque main riff. While Slam One Down may be a relatively new band, it's members have been doing this for a long time, and I gotta say I'm looking forward to seeing these guys at a lot of shows ripping it up in the near future and hoping to get the chance to share the stage with them myself!!! These guys will be at Popeye's Pub along with CT. Black Death Metallers Theogonia and more on January 9th, so make sure to come out and catch another killer FYC Metal show!!! Also hit them up at www.myspace.com/slamonedown to keep up with the band and their other upcoming gigs.
Hey More Sugar readers, it's Jaymz from Left In Ruins back to give you Metalheads my first brutal review of 2010!!! So I was recently at the Metallica/Lamb of God show at MSG, in NYC, and in the midst of Lamb of God ripping my face off with their brutal Southern Fried Thrash Metally goodness, my buddy J.R., former guitarist of NY Underground Hardcore veterans 4 In The Chamber, greeted me with a hug and put a disk in my hand. He said "Check out my new band, Slam One Down!!!" I thanked him, we went our separate ways and enjoyed the rest of the show. After 2 full listens to this disk, I immediately went to my computer and went to www.myspace.com/slamonedown and to my surprise, this band also enlisted in their ranks, the vocal skills of former 4 In The Chamber front-man Bobby Brazen!!! As you could imagine, Slam One Down does pay homage to their hardcore roots much in the same way 4ITC did, but the guys in Slam One Down also bring a mighty *#@%-load of old-school Metal to the table here as well!!! Thrashy riffs, often give way to catchy choruses, killer guitar solo's and yes, even the occasional mosh-friendly breakdown. Mr. Brazen sounds as evil as ever, with a throat full of whiskey fueled fire, and all the attitude to boot! Slam One Down is, as Jimmy Bower would put it, "All About The Riff!". These guys know how to tear it up the right way, and there is absolutely no lack of groove or rhythm on Slam One Down's "The Basement Demo's". For me the ultimate surprise here, comes in at track 3. "Hell Doesn't Want Me" starts off very mellow, with clean acoustic guitars, and Bobby Brazen crooning with a voice reminiscent of Down-era Phil Anselmo and Zakk Wylde. And c'mon, how can you not love a band that not only does the "Beer Run" song, but also does an acoustic version of it which reminds one of Pantera's "Planet Caravan" cover?!?! Personal favorites of mine on this CD are "Too Far Gone" with it's thuggish Hardcore stomp, "Music,Money & Girls" with it's Pantera meets Crowbar sludginess, and "To Live Forever" with it's gallopy, Iron Maiden-esque main riff. While Slam One Down may be a relatively new band, it's members have been doing this for a long time, and I gotta say I'm looking forward to seeing these guys at a lot of shows ripping it up in the near future and hoping to get the chance to share the stage with them myself!!! These guys will be at Popeye's Pub along with CT. Black Death Metallers Theogonia and more on January 9th, so make sure to come out and catch another killer FYC Metal show!!! Also hit them up at www.myspace.com/slamonedown to keep up with the band and their other upcoming gigs.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
this week in shows, Trash Bar, Connoly's, Popeyes
Hey this is Roach again from Slam One Down. I posted something the other day about our show at the Trash Bar and how sick that show was, but its Sunday now and after two more shows this week i wanted to give the full week in review.
Now when I first heard we were booked for three shows in one week, i 'll admit i wasn't sure if all three of those shows were going to be great. The problem with a band with no national notoriety that's just starting out is that you always get your friends to come to your shows. Most bookers and agents all agree that doing more than two shows a month is not a good strategy because all you end up doing is annoy your audience (basically your friends) by forcing them to come to the same show over and over. You also run the risk of getting stale really quickly because your playing the same songs in front of the same people. This is within a month, mind you, let alone a week.
Well if you read the last blog you know how the Trash Bar went. It was a sick show and we met new bands and people. Connoly's I wasn't too sure about because it was a late show (we went on at midnight) and it was Times Square, a place where metal fans don't tend to frequent anymore. My fears were crushed, however, when i saw the crowd that was there. We met a couple of them beforehand and just like true metal fans, they stayed till the very end of our set. The most surprising thing i saw at that show was that more girls were moshing it up than the guys. Now I'm not going to point any of you out, but fellas, the girls were showin you up at this show. If i wasn't behind a drum set at the time, i would've jumped into that. You guys have no excuse. You better make it up to us on the next one.
The last show we did was last night at Popeyes Pub in Cortlandt manor, ny. Before we even get to the show disaster almost struck. We took two cars, Bobby J.R. and Scotty took the S1D-mobile with the hitch up and Me and the misses took my car with my drum gear from the city. We both get stopped by the cops. Now my comrades were stopped because they had a trailer on a parkway, something you're not supposed to do apparently. They were let go, however, but given a warning. I, on the other hand, was stopped because i was speeding in a small westchester town. The cops comes back and tells me my license has been suspended since November. The city, in it's infinite wisdom, failed to notify me.
They actually arrested me and took me to the precinct. The cops, however, were really nice and after i told them about the show and everything, were very accomodating and fast tracked the paper work that needed to be done. After about an hour waiting in a jail cell, the paper work was done and i was back on the road (needless to say, my wife drove the rest of the way)
we get to the venue and lemme tell you, it is TINY. We barely had room enough to get our gear into the back where the stage was. after a drink and a laugh about our excursions with law enforcement, it was our turn to play. we set up our gear and went on with the show. We threw all the bullshit and drama to the side and rocked the fucking joint. Everyone was banging their heads and moshing. just like the last two shows this week, this was starting out to be a great show.
then something happened. During one of our songs, I'm looking down, concentrating on the certain part i had to play. I look up and EVERYONE is on stage, moshing, head banging, yelling and screaming. The place went absolutely nuts. Scotty got drenched in beer, people were air guitaring with J.R. and Bobby joined in the moshing. After 8 years of playing live shows, i thought i'd seen it all. This was probably one of the sickest things i'd ever seen. The crowd was fuckin hot and we gave them what they wanted.
This was also the first crowd that got Beer Run right. We like to turn the mics around and let the fans sing this one, but the last couple of shows nobody's been willing to participate. Well Popeye's destroyed that. We had the entire place singing B-DOUBLE E-DOUBLE R-U-N BEER RUN! BEER RUN! it was such an amazing experience and i hope Popeye's has shown the rest of you how it's done.
So with all our fears and apprehension of playing three shows in one week, we rose to the occasion and crushed all three. each show was better than the last with Popeye's being the culmination of all this. We're learning our lesson from this experience, though, and we're going to stick with a two show a month formula. Of course if someone throws us a free show here and there we won't turn them down, but we're gonna focus more on picking and choosing our shows, working on more original music as well as covers, and getting merchandise for you crazy fuckheads.
be sure to check out our sites myspace.com/slamonedown reverbnation.com/slamonedown. and also on facebook search for Slam One Down. Also on Facebook search for our mascot Brew Ski. I'm getting a lot of people asking who Brew Ski is, thats the mascot for the band. So if you get a friend request from a ripped metalhead with a chump in a headlock forcing a tap into his mouth, accept it and check out the music. Until next time, keep it metal!
-Roach
Now when I first heard we were booked for three shows in one week, i 'll admit i wasn't sure if all three of those shows were going to be great. The problem with a band with no national notoriety that's just starting out is that you always get your friends to come to your shows. Most bookers and agents all agree that doing more than two shows a month is not a good strategy because all you end up doing is annoy your audience (basically your friends) by forcing them to come to the same show over and over. You also run the risk of getting stale really quickly because your playing the same songs in front of the same people. This is within a month, mind you, let alone a week.
Well if you read the last blog you know how the Trash Bar went. It was a sick show and we met new bands and people. Connoly's I wasn't too sure about because it was a late show (we went on at midnight) and it was Times Square, a place where metal fans don't tend to frequent anymore. My fears were crushed, however, when i saw the crowd that was there. We met a couple of them beforehand and just like true metal fans, they stayed till the very end of our set. The most surprising thing i saw at that show was that more girls were moshing it up than the guys. Now I'm not going to point any of you out, but fellas, the girls were showin you up at this show. If i wasn't behind a drum set at the time, i would've jumped into that. You guys have no excuse. You better make it up to us on the next one.
The last show we did was last night at Popeyes Pub in Cortlandt manor, ny. Before we even get to the show disaster almost struck. We took two cars, Bobby J.R. and Scotty took the S1D-mobile with the hitch up and Me and the misses took my car with my drum gear from the city. We both get stopped by the cops. Now my comrades were stopped because they had a trailer on a parkway, something you're not supposed to do apparently. They were let go, however, but given a warning. I, on the other hand, was stopped because i was speeding in a small westchester town. The cops comes back and tells me my license has been suspended since November. The city, in it's infinite wisdom, failed to notify me.
They actually arrested me and took me to the precinct. The cops, however, were really nice and after i told them about the show and everything, were very accomodating and fast tracked the paper work that needed to be done. After about an hour waiting in a jail cell, the paper work was done and i was back on the road (needless to say, my wife drove the rest of the way)
we get to the venue and lemme tell you, it is TINY. We barely had room enough to get our gear into the back where the stage was. after a drink and a laugh about our excursions with law enforcement, it was our turn to play. we set up our gear and went on with the show. We threw all the bullshit and drama to the side and rocked the fucking joint. Everyone was banging their heads and moshing. just like the last two shows this week, this was starting out to be a great show.
then something happened. During one of our songs, I'm looking down, concentrating on the certain part i had to play. I look up and EVERYONE is on stage, moshing, head banging, yelling and screaming. The place went absolutely nuts. Scotty got drenched in beer, people were air guitaring with J.R. and Bobby joined in the moshing. After 8 years of playing live shows, i thought i'd seen it all. This was probably one of the sickest things i'd ever seen. The crowd was fuckin hot and we gave them what they wanted.
This was also the first crowd that got Beer Run right. We like to turn the mics around and let the fans sing this one, but the last couple of shows nobody's been willing to participate. Well Popeye's destroyed that. We had the entire place singing B-DOUBLE E-DOUBLE R-U-N BEER RUN! BEER RUN! it was such an amazing experience and i hope Popeye's has shown the rest of you how it's done.
So with all our fears and apprehension of playing three shows in one week, we rose to the occasion and crushed all three. each show was better than the last with Popeye's being the culmination of all this. We're learning our lesson from this experience, though, and we're going to stick with a two show a month formula. Of course if someone throws us a free show here and there we won't turn them down, but we're gonna focus more on picking and choosing our shows, working on more original music as well as covers, and getting merchandise for you crazy fuckheads.
be sure to check out our sites myspace.com/slamonedown reverbnation.com/slamonedown. and also on facebook search for Slam One Down. Also on Facebook search for our mascot Brew Ski. I'm getting a lot of people asking who Brew Ski is, thats the mascot for the band. So if you get a friend request from a ripped metalhead with a chump in a headlock forcing a tap into his mouth, accept it and check out the music. Until next time, keep it metal!
-Roach
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Trashin it up at the Trash Bar
hey this is roach from Slam One Down. Just wanted to reflect on last nights show. It was an awesome time as usual. a few of the regulars showed up and rocked the house, but since we were playing in brooklyn, i had a couple of my own close personal friends show up to check us out. it made the night even better. I walked into the show after a day that i was up since 8am running errands and a weekend where i got 4 hours sleep combined. i was dead tired when i got there and i didnt feel like participating in anything until the show started. two Jaeger shots later, my friends showed up and just like popeye i reenergized and went into the fray.
We met a band called savior from long island and these guys were awesome. They shot a promo video and included us. we were our roudy selves as usual. they took the stage and rocked brooklyn to its core. old school metal at its finest. the bassist broke his strap and the guitarist broke a string on the same song. Thats fucking brutal. I jumped, i yelled, i moshed, i was feeling good. One of those natural highs you get when you're doing something you love.
we took the stage and the crowd was already warmed up. We slayed the stage and everyone in that place and left only a few survivors. Technical issues aside, the band was tight, the songs were brutal, J.R. shredded, Scotty head banged, Bobby turned into the American Psycho we all know and love, and I damn near broke a hole in each of my drums. I saw people moshing, people jumping up on stage to sing along, and although i missed the boob shot (yes there was a boob shot), i can always imagine and imagination is the greatest gift of all.
All in all it was a great night. I personally love the Trash bar. I've played there several times with several other bands and its always a guaranteed good time. Last night was no different. Till next time, Cheers.
-R
We met a band called savior from long island and these guys were awesome. They shot a promo video and included us. we were our roudy selves as usual. they took the stage and rocked brooklyn to its core. old school metal at its finest. the bassist broke his strap and the guitarist broke a string on the same song. Thats fucking brutal. I jumped, i yelled, i moshed, i was feeling good. One of those natural highs you get when you're doing something you love.
we took the stage and the crowd was already warmed up. We slayed the stage and everyone in that place and left only a few survivors. Technical issues aside, the band was tight, the songs were brutal, J.R. shredded, Scotty head banged, Bobby turned into the American Psycho we all know and love, and I damn near broke a hole in each of my drums. I saw people moshing, people jumping up on stage to sing along, and although i missed the boob shot (yes there was a boob shot), i can always imagine and imagination is the greatest gift of all.
All in all it was a great night. I personally love the Trash bar. I've played there several times with several other bands and its always a guaranteed good time. Last night was no different. Till next time, Cheers.
-R
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