Part Three of this interview will appear in next month issue of Steel Notes Magazine
Steel Notes Magazine | 45
A : what do you think about the state of the music industry right now today , compared to when you first got your start ?
V : well I ’ ts changed quite a bit because when we first got our start , if you had good management and you were a good sounding band and you were tight you got some people behind you and they pushed you . You had a chance to make noise ! Today it ’ s all dollars and cents , it ’ s all business people running it , and now lawyers and people aren ’ t looking for the talent , but they are looking for who is paying . I ’ m sure anything and everything could be going on , so it ’ s much harder , and it ’ s very very difficult If you try to make it the way we did now . You are at the advantage of the computer age , and Facebook and internet , and all that stuff you can get your music to be heard by the public . That ’ s the way that you have to go , you do have to be tight , you should do a video because it ’ s a visual world with VH1 , and it ’ s not really about the radio now , it ’ s more about if you can get yourself all over the media .
A : The internet has changed the whole ball game !
V : You gotta make it work for you , it ’ s different than the old days , not that it can ’ t be done , it can happen if you have good management , and people that believe in you . You have to be seen , but you should take advantage of all the modern help that we didn ’ t have in the old days . The other thing is , we didn ’ t do hardly any over dubs when we recorded . Our first PA system was a Bogen was a 75-70 watt power head with no reverb in it just bass treble and volume , we didn ’ t have speakers we had 2 horns so it was such a dry system , compared to all the enhancements that you have today that make you sound good . We had to perfect our harmonies and everything was a live raw dry mix , and if you can do that by learning to play guitar , start off on an acoustic where it ’ s harder , it ’ s not easy , but hope for the proper technique . It ’ s like playing a piano first , then going to an organ and then a synthesizer , that ’ s a great way to start out , and the older bands had to do that . That ’ s why now when we perform , we get a little echo and a little reverb over the system , and it sounds beautiful ! When we first started out it was much harder because we didn ’ t have any of that , we didn ’ t even have tuners for guitar , we had to tune by ear . If you wanted to get fuzz tones you had to have an amp that was broken or distorted , now it ’ s a whole other animal , but it ’ s all great its music it ’ s creative its artistic , and it ’ s beautiful ! ♫
Part Three of this interview will appear in next month issue of Steel Notes Magazine
Steel Notes Magazine | 45