Stuck In The Web

One is often told this with great glee. No more truck with the media and no having to do very much of anything really, just set up a website and people will pay good money for the privilege of paying you good money.
Unfortunately if it was that easy I d even do it myself, but as early runners in the Young Bands Website Stakes have discovered, websites have their advantages but they also have their problems. This reality is coming home to those in the music industry who have set up websites for their bands and waited. And waited. And waited. And nothing happened.
For there s no point in having a website unless the right people know you have one. If you re a new Irish rock band who want to drum up interest for your gigs it s of little other than boasting value that bored-out-of-their-skulls Brazilians have been logging on. Website masters are discovering that they have to work on marketing their site, often through the tried and trusted conventional media, to let the real world, as well as the nebulous virtual version, know it.
I was recently quite intrigued to receive an invitation to a major Internet convention in the USA. This was going to a gathering of the tribes like never before, a privileged glimpse into the technology-dominated future of the music industry. But the invitation came via a fairly human-looking postman and was on a postcard!
Fortunately the postman also brought more practical stuff, such as the new CD demo and a lavish photo album from the rifftastic Alice Minor. It had been a quiet morning at Demo Mansions and this was just the job. Loud guitars, drums played by planks (the sticks, not the player) and some sub-Zeppelin rock vocals and thundering bass. In these parts this genre has declined into a kind of musical nihilism in recent years, but in America they still love it loud n proud. So with influences that betray an interest in the afore-mentioned Zep and Massive Attack, Alice Minor could slot in somewhere on the more traditional side of bands like Korn.
While the songs on the CD don t exactly break new ground they serve as vehicles for playing that is especially impressive as on A Good Day . Bassist Shane Egan s vocals are more effective on the more restrained parts of numbers like Consequence but he should spend a bit of time developing his own style rather than just going for the obvious. But there s not a sample, programmed loop or drum machine in sight, just real young humans doing what they do best, making lots of wonderful noise.
From picturesque Blessington in County Wicklow come Seven Days, formerly known as Blackwall, a four-piece conventional pop/rock band who ve puzzlingly garnered positive reviews in Kerrang! and Metal Hammer. I say puzzlingly not as a criticism of the tape but because the tracks here, like the opener Novocaine , are at best lite-metal, with heaps of non-hm melodies and ear-warming harmonies sitting comfortably atop a solid backing of swirling drums, some deft lead guitar and a well-constructed arrangement that shows somebody put the hours in.
Dark Days is even lighter, with some rich chiming guitar, interestingly mixed-back vocals and uplifting harmonies, while Nicki is faster in a post-punk new wave stylee. If you re looking for a Moody Blues for the noughties, Seven Days could be contenders although they may need to put in some overtime in the hook-line department.
Mark Graham looks disturbingly bemused on the cover of his demo CD of songs the Lisburnman wrote while travelling in Australia. Graham is keen to get on with his debut album, to be called Sunrise Faith, and one can only assume that the tracks here are work in progress for that opus.
The song Sunrise Faith opens in David Gray vein (are we in for an epidemic here, folks?) but when the band kicks in it takes on a life of its own, although it ll take a lot of work to make a hit of it. Loser notches up even more on the volume meter and the more orchestral and endearingly dynamic You & I builds into a true gem.
Graham has a very convincing voice even if it occasionally gets mired in phrasing and inflections that have become singer-songwriter clichis. The performances have a satisfying hard edge to them but he ll still need a couple of hit tracks on the album if he s to make it stick, and that will depend on the production as much as the material. Either way, I reckon he s well on the way.
Lesson of the fortnight: Having a website is a great idea, but it s a waste of time unless you tell the right people about it.