All Kinds Of SBS

As most of you know – I love to talk about music. I continue not to sleep and answer e-mails or talk to bands or fans directly – which I LOVE – and it gets me to here! It is 7:38am – here’s the update I promised all you wonderful people sometime yesterday night….

First of all, these talks and e-mails with some of friends from past SBS Live episodes has seen the vision of what we do expand to much bigger things. With the recent success in the Thrice contest, and other tangibles like how well we’ve done at the cfox page or You Tube….we had to start to recognize that maybe we’re a part of something much bigger at play….

The podcast with The Pit went incredibly. A great first episode and we’re looking forward to many more. I think I managed to at least START to communicate the overall message of WHY we do what we do through SBS. More importantly – we got to play The Pit’s “I Wanna Plant Bombs Everywhere!”

You can hear the whole thing here at this link and get all kinds of observations on life and music from Jeff Jeffries here: http://www.facebook.com/jeff.jeffries.7140

And let me state it for public record – Jeff Jeffries new podcast The Great Canadian Hitlist…..what else CAN be said? I’m telling you all, sitting across from him, host to host – this guy LIT IT UP on that show – all the way through – NOT just the parts with SBS on it. We’ll keep this going and have ourselves another radio talk. And yes you have it – he’s still going to let us play some more of YOUR music! So if you’re feeling like YOU should be in on that – e-mail me up at jeremy@sleepingbagstudios.ca at all hours of the day like you have been doing and give me another excuse to stay awake longer to talk about the music with you all.

What else this week? Madness of the Night is on SBS Live via video interview. We’re extremely proud of both the idea and the format – as this style of interview was introduced to allow for a better inclusion of your ART to be presented alongside your music. The basic concept includes us filming our segments here, questions etc and sending them links wherever they exist to be able to download them. We then allow YOU to take as MUCH TIME as you need while working with us to take your time and represent yourself the best you can by creating something that not necessarily promotes the music but the personalities that make it.

Now….because this style of interview DOES add that ability – these interviews can take on a whole new existence…. That LINK between ART & MUSIC has been nearly non-existent for years and we’re stoked that this style of interview allows for a real chance to BRING THAT BACK. Is it going to happen everytime? NOPE! Though we’re hoping that this format is maximized to its full capacity – the likely scenario is that some bands will be INSANELY creative with this – giving YOU a new insight into what they’re capable of creating on their own, without any studio magic of ours. Other bands will maybe not be so creative as that might not BE the priority of the band or the way they choose to represent themselves. So from what I’ve seen – it’s a MIXED bag. Maybe even remixed. As it has always been – it’s not for us to judge – we just bring you the music…

In the case of the new upcoming interview with Madness of the Night, I’ve been in contact with Sweden for the last month – which has been an interesting experience to say the very least. So I’ll say more…

I encountered some typically negative criticism from the press on their reverb nation page from a regular schlock journalist with the usual industry standard observations that don’t provide any depth or insight into the band. I am ALWAYS interested in why a band would choose to leave bad press reviews on their own pages….I think that’s an indication of something deeper at work. My first e-mail encounter was a completely different entity – I stayed up late many nights talking with their manager Fredrik in Sweden over e-mail – some extremely good chats, and to be completely honest – some tough calls and frank conversations were had. You’ll see from the show this week, that this might not be a typically “easy” band to manage….so things weren’t running so smoothly for the whole time with Madness of the Night – just being honest….but the goals have always been the same between us all – we just want what’s best for the music.

So from there – Fredrik and I continued to discuss the best way to help our viewers understand Madness of the Night….and this is perhaps where I might have made a brutal rookie mistake – one that I’ll certainly be sure will never happen again….but this one is on me, and like I said – I’m being honest…..always.

The mistake I’ve made is – that aside from filming my questions here and having them answered from their side – I have only dealt with the management side of MOTN – and that is from my experience unfair to the artists making the work themselves. As I write this now, I still have no idea how Abir and Daniel from Sweden feel THEMSELVES about the material they’ve sent in. And also in truth, a little embarrassed that I could have overlooked such a major and important detail. So their opinion on the footage shot – good or bad, happy or sad – I just don’t know. But as you know, we always try to represent YOUR music in a way that YOU can be proud of – showing the honest representation of the amazing personalities that make all of this fantastic material. Incredible and inspiring e-mails have been sent back and forth between myself and a ton of bands daily, all encouraging each other to CONTINUE THE WORK and make what we’re all going after reflect the best representation of ourselves in showcasing our talents to the global audience that receives it.

So again, remember – if this is the interview format you’ve arranged with us – you have a LOT of control – a lot of ability to be comfortable without my beard in your face and really make something that puts the personalities behind the music on display in an entirely new creative way. Like much of what we do – we continue to find ways to bond that relationship between a band, the fans and the strength between them in the power of the internet – we want to see you use that time to really SHOW us who you are and really showcase the talents you all have SO MANY OF.

At the moment – I’m feeling proud enough to say that we’ve really built something through this thing we’ve started here at SBS. Like I said – I wake up and continue conversations I’ve been having with you all only hours before….something I’ve been enjoying so thoroughly that sleep has become the enemy. There is no better time that I can spend than through our connections and bonds formed right here at SBS HQ between you and I – I appreciate the e-mails you send like you’d never know. I will, as always, remain completely accessible to you all and I look forward to hearing from you again or for the first time soon! Join the conversation – why not? Any e-mail you’d get from me is likely to be just as long and detailed as this post!

We’re contacting people in all kinds of great ways and there’s so much in store for this year with SBS it sometimes makes our heads spin. But they never inflate – we promise you that. Your comments keep us humble and focused on WHY we do what we do. Never forget that you’ve been supporting us every bit as much as we’ve been supporting you and your music – that we’re all in this together…..and that we’ll get there.

Some content info for ya – interviews in print, video and on SBS Live are all being filled and thickening nicely. LOTS of space that I can still make room for more music conversation tho – so shoot me an e-mail. Up soon we have another couple reach outs from across the globe – one in print with some BLUES MUSIC from PHILIP FOXLEY and one via video interview with artist and producer PERCEPTION THE AUTHOR of PTA BEATS. Both of these acts are from our ties in the UK and in the same format that we are bringing you Madness of the Night (This week!) and also later this year when we get a glimpse into the world of CINGED – a band we check in on regularily and stand behind their music, instrument and vocal sound variety – but most of all – that ability to combine music with ART to make something I can only assure you will be unique in every way from things we’ve done on SBS Live in the past. Get a head start on checking them out now – they offer a FREE download of one of their latest tracks – “A Beautiful Silence” for all of you to hear. Here’s the link: http://www.reverbnation.com/c./poni/166699353

That’s it for me for now – check back often – lots to tell you about the upcoming acts on SBS Live and all other kinds of inside info from the happenings and goings-on here at SBS HQ.

We’ll see you at the upcoming show with THE PIT and NEVERANOTHER at the SHACK in ABBOTSFORD this Saturday on the 19th. Take a look at the raw footage from The Pit’s last show at the media club from one of our camera angles…..it’s pretty good stuff!

The Pit: “Closer (You Never Go Full Babyface!)” from an upcoming DVD promo created in a partnership between an awesome band and a studio full of people that need music like oxygen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzHhiZstjEg

Bring on the week! Good luck out there.