| He suggested that we should put out a DVD
of our show. Frankly, at the time I thought that a DVD project might just be beyond
my scope at the present moment. But a confluence of events, curious circumstances
and needs collided with opportunity and proved to me that this whole RSA project
is out of my control. The universe (or something or Someone) seems to want me
to have this DVD and provided the means for it to happen.
I knew we needed
something special as an aid to marketing the band, especially to clubs and function
bookers who are not always able or willing to come to a live show. So I asked
a friend of mine, Epée Senekal if maybe he could bring a small crew and
shoot some footage that I might use for an EPK. Then I remembered a lighting company,
Keystone, I'd worked with at a loft gig, got in touch with them and they were
keen as well. The final piece of the puzzle came together when Ian Osrin of Digital
Cupboard agreed to record the show with his mobile 24-track digital rig. Suddenly
I realised that this could very well turn out to be an extremely professional,
and maybe even important, documentation of the band at its current level of development.
So, I decided to pull out all the stops and promote the hell out of the show.
I mean, it wouldn't look very nice to have all that production capacity and then
shoot the movie in an empty room. Fortunately, the MC&RSA meme is spreading
and we were able to pack the Blues Room in Sandton, even on a bitterly cold Tuesday
night on the Highveldt. I was very chuffed.
Right. We set up the night before.
I had added two incredibly talented backup singers, Margaret Motsage and Nokukhanya
Dlamini to the show as well as inviting master percussionist Tlale Makhene to
join us so set up became a rehearsal that stretched into the early hours of the
morning. From the moment we all started playing together under Keystone's amazing
lighting in a specially designed stage set, it was obvious that the next night's
show was going to special.
And it was. Somewhere between two and three hundred
people pitched, including such celebs as Johnny Clegg, actor/musician Ian Roberts
and Pop/Reggae megastar Dr. Victor. Mathew Stewartson joined the band for one
song from our upcoming album and I'm told that there were numerous other personalities
and media figures present. Most importantly, the band played great, I sang in
tune (always an issue when I'm flailing away at the drum kit) and there were a
minimum of technical glitches.
A couple of days later I got to see preliminary
video edits and listen to the audio with engineer Peter Pearlson at his new BlueWav.
studio complex. The whole team: lighting; sound; venue; band; audio; video; had
done great job. The show looked wonderful and sounded great. But if I thought
that the work was over, and I confess I sort of did, I was in for a rude awakening.
Remember those 'minor technical glitches' I mentioned earlier? Well, they turned
out to be not so minor. Angus Rose's onstage keyboard computer decided to choose
this night to crash repeatedly meaning that we had to spend a day recreating the
patches and parts that the computer decided we didn't need. Then we noticed the
mic on the guitar amp had moved, so that needed repair as well. All this while
dealing with the crashes and configuration challenges that being the maiden project
of a brand new Pro Tools 5.1 surround room entails. And so on and so on and so
on.
With all repairs done and shakedown completed, it was time to move on
to the audio mix/video edit portion of the programme. You see, this project has
taken on a life of its own an after checking the rough mix and viewing preliminary
edits, we all realized that an EPK was out of the question. The material warranted
a full mix, top line edits and just had to be released as a full length DVD. Just
had to.
How could we resist? A ten minute EPK became an hour and a half movie,
quick mix became 5.1 surround and a couple of days has become several weeks. Oh
well. The results so far have blown me away! While this is not, and could never
be, the Stones' 'Bridges to Babylon' tour movie, it is a really, really interesting
and exciting record of a hot club performance. I'm very proud of it.
The next
step is to figure how to convert the expense of the project into income for all.
Because we worked collaboratively, everybody has given so everybody must gain.
We'll sell the product at gigs. That's a given. But because the band is as yet
unsigned, distribution in traditional outlets will be limited. Which leads us
to the marketing strategy.
Everybody is talking about the latest paradigm
shift as set out in a book by the American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Thomas
L. Friedman, who writes for the New York Times. This book, 'The World Is Flat'
posits, among many other wondrous concepts, that anyone anywhere can sell anything
to anybody. Viral marketing in a world where every consumer is connected is an
amazing concept. I intend to learn and use these emerging channels; blogging,
podcasting, meme transference and other culture altering marketing techniques
to spread the message as far as I can and to earn a few bucks while doing it.
Don't know if it will work, so stay tuned for further update on the hows, whys
and ifs. The DVD will be launched at a show at the Tanz Café, Bryanston
on this Saturday, 24 June. Come if you can. And as always, I love getting your
emails, so feel free to contact me at canfield@icon.co.za.
|
