ANDREASSJENSEN
  • Gigs & News
  • videos, music, lyrics
  • Media
  • Projects
  • biography
  • blog
  • buy stuff
  • contact
  • Cover songs

Octopus sex and self promotion

4/16/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Running a band is like being an octopus.

You need to have a lot of arms and you have to be able to juggle ten things at the same time….Not the octopuses actually do that. They just lounge around in sapphire blue waters, hunt for food -and  shag... though octopuses apparently have an entirely different way of doing this than us humans.

According to http://tinyurl.com/octopusex  :"The Argonaut octopus has a lot of sex, but it never directly experience sex. This is because it reproduces via tele-sex. The male octopus produces sperm in its penis. The penis is then detached (yes, detached) from the body and swims (yes, swims) by itself to a suitable female".

That sounds very much like being a bandleader (not..), apart from that the octopus has the big advantage of automatically delegating assignments…..

And there are a lot of assignments to be dealt with when you run a band:

You obviously have to be able to play reasonably well (not always important though…), write songs, record, produce, mix and master, and fundraising definitely wont hurt either -But setting up your own band in the internet age also consists of learning how to use a million different apps and if you, like me, have a constant fear (or should we say a “cloud”)  of failure lurking in the back of your mind when it comes to learning new computer skills, it can be daunting. However. In the last three months I have achieved VERY BASIC knowledge of:  Photo editing apps, video editing, set-up-and-edit-your-own-website-apps, direct mail marketing apps, reading statistics (who watches your video…and what sites are they referred from), marketing plotting, radio plugging, pr etc
Luckily I have had help from some really pro experts in some of these tasks: good friends, chat line staff, and of course google and YouTube searches.
(I imagine this is a very different world to the classic picture of the work shy musician, traveling the world, hanging around drinking, doing drugs and picking up girls, with an hours work a night only extended with the occasional, eccentric outbursts of manic, hangover-driven creation....)
But it IS a great –though frightening -challenge to overcome these obstacles, though as much as it’s a challenge it's very time consuming and often I wish I had stuck to producing and writing for other artists and running a studio instead.

But then, sometimes a  little thought creeps into my mind: Do we ALL really have to be experts/amateurs in everything ?

I personally think life should be about using each others talents, complementing each others strengths and weaknesses, ying-yang, “you scratch mine I scratch yours” etc and it’s a shame that creatively, talented (…?) people have to spend 80% of their time in front of a computer learning about online marketing and checking Youtube hit statistics, when there are amazingly adapt business. Hasn’t anybody come up with the idea of making a music business/musician dating site ? -Or am I just not aware of one ?

Anyway. The reward for all this work is obviously when people acknowledge and appreciate your music by listening to the songs, watching the videos, commenting and liking/disliking, gigging etc

And it's a amazing to walk up on stage and see a bunch of enthusiastic listeners out there up for having a good time.

If you want to be one of them then drop in at our gig tonight at The Underbelly on Hocton Square in London. We're onstage at 10:30.

Lots of love, Andreas

0 Comments

I ADMIT IT: IT'S A GREAT WEEK -AFTER ALL

4/10/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
RESULTS from my long (tedious) internet hours have started to come up (you can see me hard at work here on the left): 

1. I've had TWO plays of two different songs by the people at BBC Introducing. Not that they have actually played any of my songs on the radio yet….. but I can see on the upload page that they have listened…twice….which is a great start.

2. I got a tweet back from Tom Robinson (2-4-6-8 Motorway!!!) the other day after having uploaded a track on his FreshOnTheNet page. RESULT !


3. My song Take My Heart And Go has been accepted for the RicherUnsigned competition so PLEASE VOTE FOR ME  on the link below…BUT BEWARE that it's a very sensitive website -that RicherUnsigned one. The lightest stroke of a mouse on the wrong amount of stars (say for instance anything between 1-5) will result in a catastrophe AND I AINT LYING !!! It really is sensitive. Don't even THINK of getting anyway NEAR any figure under say…5. Now you are warned.
YOU CAN VOTE HEAR: http://richerunsigned.com/take-my-heart-and-go/2078/

4. I have got a new song, with a video by the amazing Carl Fox, ready for release, for when I manage to get my brake-down-all-doors-promo-machine all together and lined up.

I don't want to drop it all on the floor by not having the press waiting at my doorstep and David Letterman on hold. So BE PATIENT -or send me some money so I can afford to put some music out a bit more often… ha, ha…..

5. Why don't we all just imagine that my birthday's coming up and we all are going to celebrate it NEXT WEDNESDAY AT THE UNDERBELLY, Hoxton Square !

For gods sake: DONT'T BE SQUARE, COME OUT TO PLAY !!!

Lot's O' LUUUVE and good vibes, from Andreas

0 Comments

    Archives

    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    January 2019
    September 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    RSS Feed

    Click to set custom HTML

    Categories

    All
    Absolute Radio
    Bbc Radio 6
    Carl Fox
    Edwyn Collins
    Ex Girlfriend
    Ex-girlfriend
    Frank Skinner
    Gabriel Kain And The Ables
    Joe Taylor
    Listening Post
    Nina Rubesa
    Rodney P
    Roots Manuva
    Sheppey FM
    #takemyheartandgo
    The Good Ship
    The Musical Outcast
    The Zombies
    Tom Robinson