If you're reading this chances are you are (or have once been) part a young unsigned band who has at some point been exploited by the uncompromisingly nasty pay to play (p2p) system. It's taken me this long to vent publicly about it only due to general complacency but I have a spare hour so why not use it to guide potential victims out of harms way. If you still want to accept pay to play gigs after reading this, then fair enough. But please spare a thought for those of us that wish to banish this arcane practice to the footnotes of musical history.
Pay to play exploits bands, damages the live unsigned music scene, makes it harder for bands to pull an audience (outside of their close friends and families of course who will have seen you so many times by now they know your songs as well as you do) and bails out promoters who shouldn't be in the job in the first place!
There may be confusion over what pay to play actually is, but in simple terms, it's a system wherein a venue and/or promoter expects you to pay for the privilege of playing a gig either outright or through a thinly veiled 'ticketed' system.
Here's how it works. A promoter offers you a gig and you're given a book of tickets to sell. Either you'll be asked to pay the promoter a fee upfront (the very worst), or it's explained to you that there's a minimum number of tickets you *must* sell (or else you'll be pulled from the lineup) - and give the promoter the proceeds. You're only allowed to keep any ticket revenue once you've reached a set figure (which could be anywhere from 10 to 100); if you don't make enough, you have to pay the shortfall out of your own pocket. In most cases the P2P figure is between £30 and £80 for between 20 and 50 tickets but I have found the average to be around £50.
Pay to play shouldn't be confused with a venue hire, which is when you pay a venue a hire fee and setup your own gig. With a venue hire, it's your gig. You choose the bands, promote the gig, control the whole thing. You can charge admission or let people in for free - it's entirely up to you. It's your gig.
With pay to play gigs, you don't have any of that control. The ticket price is designated by the promoter as are the other bands and the running order. But the promoter isn't taking any risks. When you hire a venue to do your own gig, if nobody turns up then you're out of pocket - a pretty good sign that perhaps you're being too ambitious. However, with a pay to play gig, if nobody turns up the promoter isn't out of pocket - so he or she has no incentive to promote the gig themselves (which is surely the main aspect of the job isn't it?).
Pay to play is a rotten practice because the promoter isn't taking any risk - but the bands are. If nobody turns up, the promoter isn't out of pocket; the bands are. And as a result, few pay to play promoters do anything to justify their job title. They won't send out press releases, tell the NME about your gig or even get the gig listed in the local papers. You won't see posters around the city, flyers in bars and at other gigs or emailed adverts to the venue's mailing list. If you're lucky, the promoter will stick a crudely photocopied A4 poster behind the bar on the night of the gig.
Bands rarely sell enough tickets to cover the pay to play fee, and as a result they dip into their own pockets to cover the money due to the venue. Rather than being paid to do the gig you end paying the venue for the privilege of playing to an empty room. Add in transport costs and your looking at a pretty steep outlay. Gigs in the past have cost us anywhere from £50 to £100 including petrol and parking costs (and the odd ticket... but lets not dwell on that).
The venue wouldn't dream of charging the bar staff for the privilege of working there. Why should you pay for the privilege of making money for the promoter? Because that's what you're doing.
It's also worth pointing out that some pay to play gigs are run in-house by the venue. They certainly shouldn't be taking money from the bands, as they can always rely on the money taken at the bar. That's why pay to play gigs are rarely on a Friday or Saturday night - instead, they're relying on you to bring punters through the door on a slow night so they can sell overpriced booze to them (one venue I recall charged me £4 for a pint of guinness). In other words, the venue is making a fortune from you, and should be paying you. Even if just the band members buy 3 or 4 drinks each (a very likely scenario) the venue is making a profit. Add in upfront ticket sales (that may or may not have been successfully sold) and the venue is looking at a killing regardless of how many punters show up to support the bands. 90% of the time barely ANY of the profit is spent of promoting the gig and as such its a cycle that endlessly repeats night after night, week after week.
Any alternative to a p2p system would be a fairer deal for the bands. A 50/50 split on door sales, a small upfront fee for the artists (which would give the promoters the incentive to PROMOTE) or even a ticketed system that doesn't require the band to pay upfront. Most unsigned bands we know (ourselves included) are sick to the gills of playing to girlfriends and family members. That is no way to build a fanbase as you are playing to people who are already aware of your existence and will support you regardless of what they think of your music. The whole point of these nights is for bands to develop fans and as such it's a viscous cycle that's almost impossible to get in on. You need a fanbase to get a gig but you need to gig in order to develop a fanbase. This leads to the usual friends and family scenario which is just a dead end.
You may very well make a profit after your first p2p gig in your hometown once you get everyone you know excited about it. The problem with that is you won't make as much money next time, and you'll make less the time after that. People come to see you because they know you, and they'll eventually lose interest. Your first gig will be the biggest audience you'll ever get and the numbers get smaller with each gig.
The fact of the matter is that pay to play gigs aren't any good. Bands are often playing their very first gig and as such are very often simply not very good (80% of the bands we play with are god awful). The general public, as a rule, don't go to pay to play gigs: why pay £3, £4 to see three crap bands you've never heard of? So you never get in front of a new audience, you never get any better at what you do, your friends drift away and your band splits up. All this before you've managed to secure your first supermodel girlfriend and serious drug addiction... for shame!
Pay to play is killing the live music scene, and bands need to accept some responsibility for that. You aren't ready to play a 200 capacity venue on your first gig, no matter how much the idea appeals to your ego (and of course you have an ego.. why else would you be in a band?). You need to play small venues with fair conditions and learn how to be a band, become musically tight and develop your songs (it took us 2 years believe it or not) before there's any point in even thinking about doing ticketed gigs.
By all means do the pay to play gigs if you think you can fill the venue. But don't complain about the state of the unsigned music scene if you do. If you support pay to play venues, you're part of the problem. Let's cut this off at the source and REFUSE these gigs, give the honest to god 'promoters' a chance and hopefully carve out a brighter future for ourselves.
Take care
Ben/DLO
My Band's Website
Pay to play exploits bands, damages the live unsigned music scene, makes it harder for bands to pull an audience (outside of their close friends and families of course who will have seen you so many times by now they know your songs as well as you do) and bails out promoters who shouldn't be in the job in the first place!
There may be confusion over what pay to play actually is, but in simple terms, it's a system wherein a venue and/or promoter expects you to pay for the privilege of playing a gig either outright or through a thinly veiled 'ticketed' system.
Here's how it works. A promoter offers you a gig and you're given a book of tickets to sell. Either you'll be asked to pay the promoter a fee upfront (the very worst), or it's explained to you that there's a minimum number of tickets you *must* sell (or else you'll be pulled from the lineup) - and give the promoter the proceeds. You're only allowed to keep any ticket revenue once you've reached a set figure (which could be anywhere from 10 to 100); if you don't make enough, you have to pay the shortfall out of your own pocket. In most cases the P2P figure is between £30 and £80 for between 20 and 50 tickets but I have found the average to be around £50.
Pay to play shouldn't be confused with a venue hire, which is when you pay a venue a hire fee and setup your own gig. With a venue hire, it's your gig. You choose the bands, promote the gig, control the whole thing. You can charge admission or let people in for free - it's entirely up to you. It's your gig.
With pay to play gigs, you don't have any of that control. The ticket price is designated by the promoter as are the other bands and the running order. But the promoter isn't taking any risks. When you hire a venue to do your own gig, if nobody turns up then you're out of pocket - a pretty good sign that perhaps you're being too ambitious. However, with a pay to play gig, if nobody turns up the promoter isn't out of pocket - so he or she has no incentive to promote the gig themselves (which is surely the main aspect of the job isn't it?).
Pay to play is a rotten practice because the promoter isn't taking any risk - but the bands are. If nobody turns up, the promoter isn't out of pocket; the bands are. And as a result, few pay to play promoters do anything to justify their job title. They won't send out press releases, tell the NME about your gig or even get the gig listed in the local papers. You won't see posters around the city, flyers in bars and at other gigs or emailed adverts to the venue's mailing list. If you're lucky, the promoter will stick a crudely photocopied A4 poster behind the bar on the night of the gig.
Bands rarely sell enough tickets to cover the pay to play fee, and as a result they dip into their own pockets to cover the money due to the venue. Rather than being paid to do the gig you end paying the venue for the privilege of playing to an empty room. Add in transport costs and your looking at a pretty steep outlay. Gigs in the past have cost us anywhere from £50 to £100 including petrol and parking costs (and the odd ticket... but lets not dwell on that).
The venue wouldn't dream of charging the bar staff for the privilege of working there. Why should you pay for the privilege of making money for the promoter? Because that's what you're doing.
It's also worth pointing out that some pay to play gigs are run in-house by the venue. They certainly shouldn't be taking money from the bands, as they can always rely on the money taken at the bar. That's why pay to play gigs are rarely on a Friday or Saturday night - instead, they're relying on you to bring punters through the door on a slow night so they can sell overpriced booze to them (one venue I recall charged me £4 for a pint of guinness). In other words, the venue is making a fortune from you, and should be paying you. Even if just the band members buy 3 or 4 drinks each (a very likely scenario) the venue is making a profit. Add in upfront ticket sales (that may or may not have been successfully sold) and the venue is looking at a killing regardless of how many punters show up to support the bands. 90% of the time barely ANY of the profit is spent of promoting the gig and as such its a cycle that endlessly repeats night after night, week after week.
Any alternative to a p2p system would be a fairer deal for the bands. A 50/50 split on door sales, a small upfront fee for the artists (which would give the promoters the incentive to PROMOTE) or even a ticketed system that doesn't require the band to pay upfront. Most unsigned bands we know (ourselves included) are sick to the gills of playing to girlfriends and family members. That is no way to build a fanbase as you are playing to people who are already aware of your existence and will support you regardless of what they think of your music. The whole point of these nights is for bands to develop fans and as such it's a viscous cycle that's almost impossible to get in on. You need a fanbase to get a gig but you need to gig in order to develop a fanbase. This leads to the usual friends and family scenario which is just a dead end.
You may very well make a profit after your first p2p gig in your hometown once you get everyone you know excited about it. The problem with that is you won't make as much money next time, and you'll make less the time after that. People come to see you because they know you, and they'll eventually lose interest. Your first gig will be the biggest audience you'll ever get and the numbers get smaller with each gig.
The fact of the matter is that pay to play gigs aren't any good. Bands are often playing their very first gig and as such are very often simply not very good (80% of the bands we play with are god awful). The general public, as a rule, don't go to pay to play gigs: why pay £3, £4 to see three crap bands you've never heard of? So you never get in front of a new audience, you never get any better at what you do, your friends drift away and your band splits up. All this before you've managed to secure your first supermodel girlfriend and serious drug addiction... for shame!
Pay to play is killing the live music scene, and bands need to accept some responsibility for that. You aren't ready to play a 200 capacity venue on your first gig, no matter how much the idea appeals to your ego (and of course you have an ego.. why else would you be in a band?). You need to play small venues with fair conditions and learn how to be a band, become musically tight and develop your songs (it took us 2 years believe it or not) before there's any point in even thinking about doing ticketed gigs.
By all means do the pay to play gigs if you think you can fill the venue. But don't complain about the state of the unsigned music scene if you do. If you support pay to play venues, you're part of the problem. Let's cut this off at the source and REFUSE these gigs, give the honest to god 'promoters' a chance and hopefully carve out a brighter future for ourselves.
Take care
Ben/DLO
My Band's Website
BigSmoke
My band and I made our first jaunt down to the big smoke last night to play at the "legendary" dublin castle venue in camden. Upon arriving we came to realize that there was absolutely NOWHERE to park, we spent close to 3 hours searching for a 24hr car park but to no avail. We ended up parking 20 minutes away from the venue and taking the tube into town. So we got to the venue suitabley agitated only to discover that the headline band had yet to show with their dumkit and so soundcheck was delayed by nearly 2 hours..... 2 hours later we sounchecked and everything sounded dandy... however the recording equipment the venue was using to record the gig decided to die on us (which is a crying shame as we were planning on making a live EP out of it). We took to the stage at about 9PM to a crowd of barely 30 people who may as well have not even been there, it was fucking awful. The crowd were looking for jerky t'arctic monkeys style indie-pop and got feedback laden prog-pop.... and as such the reception was anything but kind.
It appears as we don't fit into the NME, nu-rave, indie pop scenester culture nobody will give us the time of day and it's horribly dispiriting to say the least. Iv'e come to understand that kids need to be TOLD what to like and what to listen to and as there is nobody out there telling people to listen to us... we're fucked. A day wasted then with nothing to show for it but a rollocking hang-over and a gig bag full to bursting with unsold CD's.
My band and I made our first jaunt down to the big smoke last night to play at the "legendary" dublin castle venue in camden. Upon arriving we came to realize that there was absolutely NOWHERE to park, we spent close to 3 hours searching for a 24hr car park but to no avail. We ended up parking 20 minutes away from the venue and taking the tube into town. So we got to the venue suitabley agitated only to discover that the headline band had yet to show with their dumkit and so soundcheck was delayed by nearly 2 hours..... 2 hours later we sounchecked and everything sounded dandy... however the recording equipment the venue was using to record the gig decided to die on us (which is a crying shame as we were planning on making a live EP out of it). We took to the stage at about 9PM to a crowd of barely 30 people who may as well have not even been there, it was fucking awful. The crowd were looking for jerky t'arctic monkeys style indie-pop and got feedback laden prog-pop.... and as such the reception was anything but kind.
It appears as we don't fit into the NME, nu-rave, indie pop scenester culture nobody will give us the time of day and it's horribly dispiriting to say the least. Iv'e come to understand that kids need to be TOLD what to like and what to listen to and as there is nobody out there telling people to listen to us... we're fucked. A day wasted then with nothing to show for it but a rollocking hang-over and a gig bag full to bursting with unsold CD's.
new choon I wrote tonight..... Look out for it in 3 or 4 months at a DLO gig near you
Shuffle
Keep us around
As part of the scenery
We don't need to speak
If we are not needed
We're kept in the back
Polishing wedding rings
Kick up the dust
Find a new haunting ground
Drink in the night
There's no-one around
So we can do what we want
Lay on the grass with our hands in our pockets and our feet in the ground
You talk about the future in the past tense
Live for the moment before it exists
Strip to your bones let the night fill your heart with love
Don't know who you are
But you know who you wanna be
You know how to tease
But there's nothing behind your eyes
The perfect disguise
Skin covers up your soul
You can't clean the dirt
But you can make it presentable
You look so cold
Your almost invisible
Dressed like a moth
Laughing out the side of your mouth trying to keep your heart from falling out
You talk about the future in the past tense
Live for the moment before it exists
Strip to your bones let the night fill your heart with love
Shuffle
Keep us around
As part of the scenery
We don't need to speak
If we are not needed
We're kept in the back
Polishing wedding rings
Kick up the dust
Find a new haunting ground
Drink in the night
There's no-one around
So we can do what we want
Lay on the grass with our hands in our pockets and our feet in the ground
You talk about the future in the past tense
Live for the moment before it exists
Strip to your bones let the night fill your heart with love
Don't know who you are
But you know who you wanna be
You know how to tease
But there's nothing behind your eyes
The perfect disguise
Skin covers up your soul
You can't clean the dirt
But you can make it presentable
You look so cold
Your almost invisible
Dressed like a moth
Laughing out the side of your mouth trying to keep your heart from falling out
You talk about the future in the past tense
Live for the moment before it exists
Strip to your bones let the night fill your heart with love
I understand that musicians venting their political views and ideologies counts as a bit of a taboo these days but I am not bono. I'm just frankly appalled by the current state of affairs in lebanon and israel and just wanted to get my feelings across to anyone who's willing to listen.
I think largely my problem with the situation boils down to people's readiness to jump to the support of Israel just because they have a western (US) backing. Not only this but the media is also very much biased towards israel. In fact one has to look to the internet to even peer into the reality of the horrible injury and pain this conflict (or any conflict) has inflicted to both sides (and nobody really uses the internet for anything other than illegally downloading music and cheap wanks). From looking at the evening news, you'd think that rockets exploding in civilian areas do two things, make loud bangs and make people cry. It's a hard pill to swallow to come home from a tough day at the office or a 'night on the piss' and see tattered limbs and blood spilling onto the streets, but it should be a nessecary one. Politicians vote in support of wars, and the citizens should see the messy results, that's the media's fault.
However to assign fault in this conflict is almost impossible. How do you blame israel for feeling so helpless against terrorist attacks that they feel without a first-strike they face total annihilation? And how do you blame the lebonese for having long-standing hatred for a nation that was created on their holy land due (mainly politically) to a European travesty that they had very little to do with? The only blame i can assign is to the religious leaders. I am not saying any other organized religion is any better than the other, each one has had their time of unfortunate militarism. But the fact is that both these religions lack key leaders speaking out against the conflict. Both sides are sticking very much to the "the other side will never listen to reason" philosophy and continute to support strikes against each other. Now historically this was how religious conflicts always went ahead and it usually it ended up with millions of innocent deaths, but the stakes are much higer this time. Weapons technology has grown with everything else to a point that the world could effectively be erased at the flick of a switch or the beat of a heart, and the price of a neverending standoff can now only be measured in billions of potential casualties. Not to mention the global effect of a possible nuclear trade-off.
The US government should send the uppermost possible religious ambassadors of both Muslim and Jewish communities, who are against this conflict, to the region. it may do nothing, but at least they will speak a language that goes directly to what this whole mess is about, instead of the lovely ms rice preaching restraint to a culture who has never seen it from the West. As for what the US (and the UK coincidentally as the 2 countries seem to go hand in hand these days) should do....... I have no idea, i'm not a politician i'm a musician. Both sides have completely lost the ability to amicably share a border. The Lebonese don't have a stable enough government to take on a somewhat-citizen-supported terrorist group, and the Israeli government sees violent response as the only message Hezbollah will understand.
Maybe a century from now this will be in some history book as one of the best examples of how organized religion is one of the poorest forms of governing a people. Dogma formed millenia ago but that was calibrated for ancient circumstances and in an age with nuclear technology in historically war-ravaged areas it can only equal death on a monumetal scale.
At the end of the day the problem is in no way black and white (global politics never is) I am not "siding" with anyone and have not forgotten that Israel is under attack daily, and has been for a long time. For years the arabs have been trying to drive israel and the jews into the sea which is why Israel needs to fight back..... just not this way. I wish Israel displayed the tact and precision they have in the past (the six days war) and it is unfortunate that now people are looking at the lebonese and saying the jews are doing this on purpose. Israel is only defending itself, however, it is not doing as great a job as one would have hoped. the world is anti-semetic enough as it is....and this is certainly not helping things.
My heart goes out to those involved in this dreadful conflict, as usual neither side is "right" and all we can do really is to stand up and let ourselves and our opinions be heard and understoood.
"They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
---Martin Niemoeller ".
I think largely my problem with the situation boils down to people's readiness to jump to the support of Israel just because they have a western (US) backing. Not only this but the media is also very much biased towards israel. In fact one has to look to the internet to even peer into the reality of the horrible injury and pain this conflict (or any conflict) has inflicted to both sides (and nobody really uses the internet for anything other than illegally downloading music and cheap wanks). From looking at the evening news, you'd think that rockets exploding in civilian areas do two things, make loud bangs and make people cry. It's a hard pill to swallow to come home from a tough day at the office or a 'night on the piss' and see tattered limbs and blood spilling onto the streets, but it should be a nessecary one. Politicians vote in support of wars, and the citizens should see the messy results, that's the media's fault.
However to assign fault in this conflict is almost impossible. How do you blame israel for feeling so helpless against terrorist attacks that they feel without a first-strike they face total annihilation? And how do you blame the lebonese for having long-standing hatred for a nation that was created on their holy land due (mainly politically) to a European travesty that they had very little to do with? The only blame i can assign is to the religious leaders. I am not saying any other organized religion is any better than the other, each one has had their time of unfortunate militarism. But the fact is that both these religions lack key leaders speaking out against the conflict. Both sides are sticking very much to the "the other side will never listen to reason" philosophy and continute to support strikes against each other. Now historically this was how religious conflicts always went ahead and it usually it ended up with millions of innocent deaths, but the stakes are much higer this time. Weapons technology has grown with everything else to a point that the world could effectively be erased at the flick of a switch or the beat of a heart, and the price of a neverending standoff can now only be measured in billions of potential casualties. Not to mention the global effect of a possible nuclear trade-off.
The US government should send the uppermost possible religious ambassadors of both Muslim and Jewish communities, who are against this conflict, to the region. it may do nothing, but at least they will speak a language that goes directly to what this whole mess is about, instead of the lovely ms rice preaching restraint to a culture who has never seen it from the West. As for what the US (and the UK coincidentally as the 2 countries seem to go hand in hand these days) should do....... I have no idea, i'm not a politician i'm a musician. Both sides have completely lost the ability to amicably share a border. The Lebonese don't have a stable enough government to take on a somewhat-citizen-supported terrorist group, and the Israeli government sees violent response as the only message Hezbollah will understand.
Maybe a century from now this will be in some history book as one of the best examples of how organized religion is one of the poorest forms of governing a people. Dogma formed millenia ago but that was calibrated for ancient circumstances and in an age with nuclear technology in historically war-ravaged areas it can only equal death on a monumetal scale.
At the end of the day the problem is in no way black and white (global politics never is) I am not "siding" with anyone and have not forgotten that Israel is under attack daily, and has been for a long time. For years the arabs have been trying to drive israel and the jews into the sea which is why Israel needs to fight back..... just not this way. I wish Israel displayed the tact and precision they have in the past (the six days war) and it is unfortunate that now people are looking at the lebonese and saying the jews are doing this on purpose. Israel is only defending itself, however, it is not doing as great a job as one would have hoped. the world is anti-semetic enough as it is....and this is certainly not helping things.
My heart goes out to those involved in this dreadful conflict, as usual neither side is "right" and all we can do really is to stand up and let ourselves and our opinions be heard and understoood.
"They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
---Martin Niemoeller ".
Today my band did a live recording of two new tracks, one a chirpy pop song and the other a godspeed style post-rock dirge. The songs should be avalible to download soon enough, along with the live session we recorded for local radio last month.
Discovered a fucking cool website last night that streams live gigs from a venue in Amsterdam. Fantastic performances from bands like Low, Arcade Fire and The Dears are already uploaded with more added every week.
Fab Channel
Discovered a fucking cool website last night that streams live gigs from a venue in Amsterdam. Fantastic performances from bands like Low, Arcade Fire and The Dears are already uploaded with more added every week.
Fab Channel
Not much to say tonight....... Took one of those ridiculous IQ test thingys earlier (apparantly I have an IQ of 150) and then spent the rest of the day finishing a track entitled "Thorny Black Trees" (If you havn't read Dantes Inferno you won't get the reference but meh). It's a throbbing gristle style abrasive industrial mashup that is threatening to destroy my speakers as I write this.
Now I plan to get pissed and watch the spongebob sqaurepants movie, hopefully to be followed by a deep alcohol induced sleep.
(I'm NOT an alcoholic, it's just i'm a terrible insomniac and drinking at night really helps my mind rest, it's like taking a mild sleeping pill but without the fucked up dreams and the cold sweats).........
Now I plan to get pissed and watch the spongebob sqaurepants movie, hopefully to be followed by a deep alcohol induced sleep.
(I'm NOT an alcoholic, it's just i'm a terrible insomniac and drinking at night really helps my mind rest, it's like taking a mild sleeping pill but without the fucked up dreams and the cold sweats).........
As this is my first journal entry, I thought i'd get the proverbial ball rolling with a brief biography that you may or may not be interested in. (chances are you won't be, but iv'e had alot to drink and i'm bored as fuck so i'll carry on regardless):-
My name is Benjamin/Ben/Benj/Benjie (whatever suits you), I am 19 years old and am currently studying music technology at kidderminster college. I am the singer/guitarist/songwriter in a band called Dead Letter Office and am also composer of left-field electronic songs under the guise of Wilt.
I spend most of my time writing and listening to music and don't go out much, so don't expect any riviting anecdotes from me any time in the near future. I am however an opinionated bastard and will gladly waffle on for hours on a subject I feel strongly enough about. (i.e the old joy division or new order debate (many hours have been wasted away on that one)).
My band has recently been signed to a small label owned by Led Zepplin frontman Robert Plant (which isnt nearly as exciting as it sounds) so things are looking up on that front. Playing a rather large gig next month.......
Hmmmmm what else to say??????.......need more beer.....
Anyway my mind is wandering and my fingers really don't want to type anymore so i'll wrap it up for tonight, however if anyone wants to talk please don't hesitate to contact me via any of the numerous methods modern technology allows.
deadletteroffice@hotmail.co.uk
My name is Benjamin/Ben/Benj/Benjie (whatever suits you), I am 19 years old and am currently studying music technology at kidderminster college. I am the singer/guitarist/songwriter in a band called Dead Letter Office and am also composer of left-field electronic songs under the guise of Wilt.
I spend most of my time writing and listening to music and don't go out much, so don't expect any riviting anecdotes from me any time in the near future. I am however an opinionated bastard and will gladly waffle on for hours on a subject I feel strongly enough about. (i.e the old joy division or new order debate (many hours have been wasted away on that one)).
My band has recently been signed to a small label owned by Led Zepplin frontman Robert Plant (which isnt nearly as exciting as it sounds) so things are looking up on that front. Playing a rather large gig next month.......
Hmmmmm what else to say??????.......need more beer.....
Anyway my mind is wandering and my fingers really don't want to type anymore so i'll wrap it up for tonight, however if anyone wants to talk please don't hesitate to contact me via any of the numerous methods modern technology allows.
deadletteroffice@hotmail.co.uk
OCTOBER 2008
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JULY 2008