Musician’s Notebook

 

 

 

Stone Temple Pilots have just recently reunited for a 4-month summer tour and before all that takes place on May 17th, they will start off their first performance at the ABC-TV’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” tonight  (which is actually tomorrow early morning Friday at Midnight!).  It should be exciting to see the long await reunion take place. I don’t know about all of you but a Stone Temple Pilots reunion is something I always predicted would happen. Now before you go off to see them live in person you should take the time to see them on screen. The performance will bring great fuzzy feelings to every hardcore 90s music enthusiast . To bring back that refreshing sound of Stone Temple Pilots should be something of wonders to all our ears! 

 

 

In the side note of all this related news, I would also like to inform that they will be working on a new album and Scott Weiland actually said that there might be a DVD included with this upcoming album. Another part of this to mention is Scott Weiland’s second solo album will be coming out along with his autobiography later towards the end of the year. 

 

For those of you that haven’t kept taps on the recent news from Stone Temple Pilots, they have also announced their tour dates starting May 17th (or should we say Tonight at “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”) 

 

 

For those of you completely oblivious to the tour dates here they are! 

 

 

Columbus, OH

Rock On The Range Festival 

(May 17)

 

Camden, NJ 

Tweeter Center The Waterfront 

(May 18)

 

Cleveland, OH 

State Theatre Playhouse Square 

(May 20)

 

Chicago, IL 

Charter One Pavillion 

(May22)

 

Indianapolis, IN 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway 

(May 23)

 

Uncasville, CT 

Mohegan Sun Casino 

(May 26)

 

 

Holmdel, NJ 

PNC Bank Arts Center 

(May 31)

 

Mansfield, MA 

Tweeter Center For The Performing Arts 

(June 1)

 

Detroit, MI 

Fillmore Detroit 

(June 3)

 

St. Paul, MN 

Roy Wilkens Auditorium 

(June 6)

 

Kansas City, KS 

Rock Fest Liberty Memorial Park 

(June 7)

 

Maryland Heights, MO 

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre 

(June 8)

 

West Valley City, UT 

E Center 

(June 11)

 

Las Vegas, NV 

The Pearl

(June 12, 14)

 

Calgary V Festival 

(June 21)

 

Los Angeles, CA 

Hollywood Bowl (June 24)

 

Tucson, AZ 

Anselmo Valencia Amphitheatre 

(June 25)

 

San Antonio, TX 

AT&T Center

(June 27)

 

The Woodlands, TX 

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion 

(June 28)

 

Grand Prairie, TX 

Nokia Theatre Grand Prairie 

(June 29)

 

Morrison, CO 

Red Rocks Amphitheatre 

(July 2)

 

Milwaukee, WI 

Summerfest Marcus Amphitheatre 

(July 4)

 

Quebec City, Quebec 

Summer Festival Planes |Of Abraham 

(June 10)

 

North York, ONT 

Edge Fest Downsview Park 

(June 12)

 

Canandaigua, NY 

Constellation Performing Arts Center 

(July 15)

 

Green Bay, WI

Oneida Casino 

(July 17)

 

Mt Pleasant, MI 

Soaring Eagle Casino 

(July 18)

 

Cadott, WI 

Chippewa Valley Music Festival 

(July 19)

 

Berkeley, CA 

Greek Theatre 

(July 25)

 

Paso Robles, CA 

Mid California State Fair 

(July 26)

 

San Diego, CA 

Concerts on the Green Qualcomm Stadium 

(July 27)

 

Bethlehem, PA 

Muzikfest 

(August 8)

 

Atlantic City, NJ 

The Borgata 

(August 9)

 

Baltimore, MD 

V Festival Pimlico Race Track 

(August 10)

 

Charlotte, SC 

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre 

(August 17)

 

Orlando, FL 

UCF Arena 

(August 19)

 

Hollywood, FL 

Hard Rock Live Seminole Hard Rock Casino 

(August 20)

 

Tampa, FL 

Ford Amphitheatre 

(August 22)

 

Alpharetta, GA 

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Encore Park 

(August 23)

 

Vancouver 

GM Place 

(August 30)

 

Seattle, WA 

Bumbershoot Festival Memorial Stadium 

(August 31) 

 

 

 

Bands on major record labels are frequently on long tours; one year, eighteen months, sometimes even more, of constant globe trotting while the executives lean back in their big stuffy chairs at home and enjoy the green smell of cash, cash, cash.

It’s true that when you’re getting your band off the ground, a hard-slogging tour will get you off the ground and develop a nation-wide fan base.

It’s true that those hard-slogging tours keep established bands in business.

But isn’t there a smarter way to do it?

Here’s where the record labels have all their thinking mixed up: long tours mean more money, right? Wrong!

These horrifically long tours can (and almost always do) cause a variety of problems that mean that all parties concerned will be losing out on money in the long run.

• Health concerns and physical exhaustion
• Musical and creative burnout
• Band tension and subsequent break-ups
• Family tension and subsequent break-ups
• Self-medication as a coping mechanism; drug and alcohol addictions are just one example

When the band is suffering from the listed issues caused by excessive touring, money should be the last concern of anyone involved with the band; helping them fix their problems, their health, repair their families and bands, and kick addictions should be the first order of business.

But we know that money is always the first order of business for the record companies; they don’t really care about the wellbeing of artists.

And while we’re looking at this from the company’s point of view, shouldn’t it be obvious that excessive touring leads to loss rather than profit? Well, no, because these people barely passed business school (if at all) and don’t have the smallest bit of foresight. A sustained brand like the Rolling Stones is sure to bring in more money over time than a one-hit wonder, no matter how big that hit is.

My band’s policy documents have a very important clause in them.

When my band’s manager asked me to form some policies that I and the other band members would like to see included, the first that came to mind and I subsequently included went something like this:

We will never, ever tour so excessively that we alienate each other, our families, or ourselves, or cause serious damage to our lives in any other way.

This is a policy we make binding between ourselves and with any companies we deal with. If a person or company doesn’t like this clause, we go elsewhere.

A band can still do a hard-slog tour and form a following, but it has to be done in such a way that the band, and the band’s families, can handle it. That means frequent breaks, and not on the other side of the world, but at home.

I have a wife and a son. If I could not take them with me, the most I’d ever stay out on the road for would be a month (and even that would be excruciatingly painful). However, I do have plans in place to allow me to take them with me at minimal cost. We’ll talk about how to do this another time.

Make reasonable touring and tour breaks a matter of band policy, and never back down from band policy when dealing with external forces, especially record companies.

BloggingMuses.com has a great article on preparing for your first time performing live. Check out one of the tips:

Practice song intros out loud.
Do you like to share a little background on your songs? If so practice speaking into a microphone in front of an imaginary audience. You’ll find the stories come out sounding much more natural when you actually play in front of people.

Check out the full piece at BloggingMuses.com. I remember that when I used to play guitar and bass I could’ve played in front of millions without caring, but after switching to vocals I met for the first time, and had to learn to deal with, the good old nauseous butterflies.