AXIUM ON SURVIVAL

Bay Area band Axium has been promoting, plugging-in and playing all over the US. In an effort to help you with your efforts I stopped them to ask how they do it.

Does your band get together and plan? (Plan)

ISM: It’s always a challenge to meet and discuss ideas and ‘business’ planning, so technology (Email/Texting) can be helpful. Setting achievable goals that everyone can agree on is key, but I think it all comes down to being on the same page. Some things are bigger decisions than others, and require a more in-person pow-wow. Knowing the difference is a huge deal, and probably something that develops with experience … putting effort into figuring this out is probably the most important thing I can offer as advice to another indie band.

Kimo: Basically, all of us are constantly planning on our own and we all get together and bring what we have to the detail. So, yeah, it’s constant.

What advice do you have for bands about creating a personification? Is it important? (Personify)

ISM: With Axium, I tend to focus a lot of my attention on ‘branding‘ who we are and putting thought into how we are being perceived. I try to always ask myself what I would think or feel if I were in the listeners position – Would I enjoy this music? This show? If I were in High School and saw this band, do they do something special that would make me rush out and get tickets to see them, or plaster posters of them all over my room? Still, as Mezz will be quick to point out, getting too wrapped up in this can kill creativity – worse, if you exaggerate the truth too much you could end up looking like a joke.

Mezz: It is the most crucially important thing about being a band in the “music industry”! Just take a look at Kings of Leon, Green Day, or Muse and what they looked liked when they first started playing compared to what they look like now and correlate that to their “success” … This is tricky, especially in today’s musical climate … There are a million ways to skin a cat & fry a fish … My personal advice just based upon my own experience is this … Imitate to innovate … That is if your in a band in the first place there must have been something about music that compelled you to go through the bullshit of even starting a band that has any degree of promise or ambition, I mean rarely do you just place an ad & find “the right” blend of personalities & musical abilities that coalesce in a way that makes each individual performer greater & ultimately irreplaceable, best example I can think of is Led Zeppelin but there are countless others. Basically imitate your definition of greatness, the thing that really gets you fired up, imitate it until you get bored with it & have mastered it, what’s left is your persona … To be an artist is to be an alchemist.

Kimo: Stick with what’s real. I would suggest first finding out who you are, then how much you want to exaggerate that to the fans.

What is the hardest thing about promoting? (Promote)

ISM: We’ve tried everthing from traditional flyers to MySpace and Facebook ads, to buying air time on commercial radio like KITS Live 105.3FM, for instance. If you’re lucky enough to get your music in somewhere where it will be repeatedly played for listeners (video game, etc) you can generate fans. The thing is, no one Is going to go see a band they’ve never heard of. In the end, there’s no better way to self-promote than for people to hear and see your music.

Mezz: Promoting is an approach thing … the promoting isn’t hard it’s a labor of love … The difficult part is having a product (which in essence is yourself) that you believe in enough to ask another individual to pay attention to for any length of time. The greatest artists don’t promote themselves. Might sound paradoxical but it’s true. They aren’t seeking fame, fortune, status, these are all bi-products of figuring out “that thing” that makes you unique as an artist that people can’t get anywhere else. Once you’ve got this figured out everything comes to you effortlessly … So to answer the question directly the hardest thing would just be having faith in yourself, sometimes it feels like you just can’t f#@kin’ win or “catch a break”. In times like these you either give up or get better. My advice would be never allow this area of the “music business” to crossover into your creative supernatural zone. Just exhaust every ounce of your creative ability, present yourself in venues that are conducive to the “type” or “style” of music you play, then allow the fans to promote you … If your any good they will, & if you suck they won’t or they will but … You have to be willing to fail miserably in order to truly succeed as an artist or musician especially in today’s musical climate.

Kimo: I really don’t know, Chris (ISM) does most of the promoting. Although I do know spending time and effort wisely I think would have to be the hardest thing. Play, promote, play, promote, play, promote would be the only advice I could give.

How do you connect with bands, fans and industry professionals? (Plug-in)

ISM: Indie blogs and social networking sites, google searching and researching more successful bands (and their studios, links, etc) play a huge role professionals. When we set out to record our next release, “Graveyard Shift” (August 3, 2010), I noticed all the bands I saw at a Live 105 show were associated with PopSmear Records & Studios. Here we found a producer with a track record of indie records with high praise. Working with Scott was, aside from a genuine appreciation of his music, a strategic decision to get us in a studio with someone who did great things with Indie bands.

Mezz: Well, the popular thing nowadays is the internet … But the question was how do you connect. The only real connection that happens between human beings is face to face, in the moment, everything else is an imitation of this … That’s just my own personal “jaded musician” point of view … So the internet, iphone’s, cell phone’s, email, these are are useful but easily manipulated into things they weren’t intended to be used for. Technology has the power to cultivate global awareness, but at the same time there is the flip side of that coin … Case in point, if I were being asked these questions directly face to face I would obviously answer them a lot differently that I am answering them now with the luxury of getting to sit down and craft them in this email!

Kimo: Internet and just playing and talking and putting it out there. Showing enthusiasm for your band, pretty much people pick up on the way you feel about the band if you put yourself out there.

What is the hardest thing about touring? How have you overcome that? (Play)

ISM: As a relatively new band on a limited budget, touring can be difficult. We’ve all got families and financial obligations. Building up the cash to promote and do shows can be hard, but the one crystal clear thing every professional we’ve talked to seem to agree on is this: They all want a band who’s touring and “doing it themselves”. Most publicists we’ve talked to won’t even work with a band that isn’t touring. Labels and Scouts aren’t in the “band development” business. I don’t think betting on being ‘discovered’ is realistic anymore – I think any band that hopes to someday sell out stadiums or be a household name, has to demonstrate an ability to do a bit of that on their own before anyone is going to sink time, money and effort into them.

Kimo: I feel like touring and being on stage is where I’m comfortable. But, butterflies and jitters and stage fright as scary as that can be, goes away when your in the moment. So, my suggestion to anybody suffering from stage fear is to just keep going, it will disappear.

Mezz: It’s good to push yourself to the limit sometimes to find out where that limit is … Just like the previous question about promoting, touring isn’t hard it’s your approach to it that makes it either easy and enjoyable or grueling and difficult. Music is a life force, it’s a state of being, it’s an attitude, it’s the way you communicate not just on stage but with other human beings everyday … So to sum it up it’s the five P’s, Proper Preparation, Prevents, Poor, Performance. If your a musician or artist reading this don’t be in such a hurry to “figure out” anything, Everything will come to you in due time & when you least expect it to. One of the most profound teachings I ever received from another musician was from Nina Simone on the intro to “I Shall Be Released”. Your gonna have to go listen to the record if you want to know what it is!”

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