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Help Make My Film Production Journal Entry - December 10, 2003

Work, work, work. That's all I seem to do but at least something paid off this week. I was able to get a sponsor to help with some of the rehearsal space my band will need to create the tunes for the film. The rehearsal studio is Solid Sound Studios and I've added them to my sponsor's page.

 I've also had to make some very important decisions about how we are going  to get ourselves out in the local music scene and it hasn't been easy.

 I used to be a music agent a few years ago and worked with quite a number  of busy cover bands, very few original bands though. So when I decided  to put the group together, I kinda figured to keep everyone happy by working  (the band members) and to get us out into venues where we could start performing  our originals, I planned to have the guys learn a limited number of cover  tunes. Everyone agreed although my guitarist seemed to object a little  at the time. He said he'd do them anyway but I knew he wasn't happy doing  them. His reasoning (which I completely understand) is that as an artist  he has spent the past 20 years honing his craft to create something original  and doing covers seems counter-productive creatively. I never really wanted  to do them either because I've worked in cover bands and frankly I don't  find myself getting excited when I sing other people's songs. I've always  felt that singing other people's stuff was for people who really don't  have anything to say.

 So I've been struggling with trying to find a happy medium to keep everyone  happy creatively and financially. There are four of us in the band, we  all have day jobs so I've been asking myself do we really need the money  over the artistic freedom to create our songs? The music is ultimately  the payoff that I'm looking for so I talked to George (my guitarist) and  Mike (my bass player) about their real feelings on doing cover material.  I already knew George's answer but I was suprised to learn that Mike didn't  want to do covers either. They're both willing to do whatever I really  want but the money wasn't the primary reason for them joining the band.  And I just realized something, I've worked with so many musicians who have  lost their passion for the art of music that I forgot there were other  artists out there with my same dreams and passions.

 Now the only one left is Manny (the drummer). He has played professionally  and is a tight drummer, but I only found out at our first band meeting  that he has "never" worked in an original band before. That raises  some concerns because I don't know if he will be happy doing what we're  going to do. And actually he's the main reason why I was pushing doing  the covers because I thought steady work would appease him. So I will have  to have a talk with him about the direction we're going to take as a group.  If we have one person who doesn't share the true vision for the band, then  the foundation that we're building as a group is going to be unstable.  That's not fair to my guys and that's not fair to me either. So I have  to make sure that he's fully involved or if not I'll have to find another  drummer.

 So I've decided to take a suggestion from George and work on getting the  band gigs only in venues doing original music (which in Florida there aren't  many) and as opening acts for larger bands. I haven't had to do that before  so it should be interesting. It's going to be a few months before that  even happens because there's a lot of work that still has to be done.

 Aside from that, I've worked on more music. For the first time, I actually  tried writing songs with the guitarist. Thank god he's so patient because  I couldn't write any lyrics while he was in front of me. I loved the stuff  he was coming up with but I'm not used to writing with anyone else yet  so I couldn't hear the lyrics. We taped some of the stuff that he came  up with and after he left, I was able to write to his melodies. I think  I was just nervous because I'm not used to having someone else around when  I write. But I'll get over that. Besides, I only started writing music  a month or so ago and that was only the first time I tried it with someone  else. I just have to get used to writing with him.

 The movie is inching along just fine. I just got back to working on storyboards  since I'm satisfied with the script and noone else can seem to find any  flaws with it. The stunts are still in planning stages but trying to make  the first one happen is very frustrating.

 Gotta jet, we have our first band rehearsal tonight...

- Evann Black