THE RECORDING LABEL

POP EMPIRE LIVE AT THE HISTORIC EMERY THEATRE IN CINCINNATI, OH

Captured in One Shot by Michael Wilson February 16, 2012

POP EMPIRE AT THE EMERY THEATRE

photos by Devyn Glista

This week we will be releasing the first video of our Emery Theatre Sessions.

Pop Empire and Michael Wilson have been playing with the concept of the “one shot music video.” The idea is to capture a live performance in one continuous shot so that both the performers and the person behind the camera are rolling the dice.

The hope is to capture something that is interesting to both the eye and the ear while maintaining a certain degree of honesty.

The Historic Emery Theatre located in downtown Cincinnati, OH will be the location of a short series of “one shot music videos” produced by Michael Wilson and Pop Empire.

We hope you will enjoy what we have captured. Stay tuned.

TRL

JEREMY PINNELL AND THE 55s had some morning coffee with Michael Wilson at TRL headquarters. Michael snapped these live videos in one continuous shot.

TRL

POP EMPIRE unveils some new sounds in this video shot live on December 18, 2011 in a warehouse located on the west side of their hometown Cincinnati, OH. Michael Wilson and Beth Reed both worked hard to capture this footage. The video below was done in one continuous shot by Michael Wilson.

TRL

VACATION LP

Hype often tries to make something more than it really is. Hype depends on things like money, name recognition, slick packaging and getting people to say they like something even if they really don’t. VACATION doesn’t like hype and doesn’t need hype so I am going to honor that by just letting the record speak for itself. Listen to their debut LP. If you dig the record help spread the word. Buy the vinyl. Go see them play. Make your own decision. They don’t want it any other way.

Click the album cover in the sidebar to download the record. You can choose to download the MP3 or 16 bit WAVE version.

If you would like to order the vinyl you can do that through Mandible Records or Let’s Pretend Records. You could also go to a show and get a copy from the boys directly.

Special thanks goes out to Henry Wilson for mastering the record.

Check out the video in the post below of VACATION playing on the roof in OTR Cincinnati. You can also stream their entire record in the previous post.

Here are VACATION‘s Tour dates for the fall.

9/16 Cincinnati, OH – Baba Budan’s w/ High Castle, Public Housing
9/17 Athens, OH – Browntown w/ Witches of Kelso, Snarlas, Cop Hugger, Emissions
9/18 Buffalo, NY - 359 Parkdale
9/19 Philly, PA - Hong Kong Garden
9/20 Brooklyn, NY - Lulu’s w/ Sun Puddles, Chandeliers
9/21 Boston, MA - Starlab w/ Awful Man, Wheelbite
9/22 Long Island, NY - Sports Page w/ Sister Kisser, Witches, Attention
9/23 Brooklyn, NY – Tompkins w/ Witches, Marvin Berry and the New Sound (message for addy!)
9/24 New Brunswick, NJ - Rehab w/ Brick Mower, Husky Dudes
9/25 Baltimore, MD
9/26 Richmond, VA - Strange Matter w/ Sundials, Pedals on Our Pirate Ships, Family Cat
9/27 Columbus, OH - Carabar w/ the Sidekicks
9/28 Cincinnati, OH – Baba Budan’s w/ Japanther, Unstoppable Death Machines, Tight Bros
10/14 Normal, IL – Dawson’s Creek w/ Oh Well, The Michael Seavers
10/15 Chicago, IL – Brew Not Bomb

TRL

STREAM VACATION‘S DEBUT LP NOW!

VACATION LP by THE RECORDING LABEL

We are very happy to present to you VACATION’s debut LP. We will be offering this up as a free download soon, but in the meantime please feel free to stream the record as many times as you would like. VACATION is going to be on the road with THE DOPAMINES during the month of August…they might be coming to your city.

August 9 – Columbus, OH @ 15th Haus w/ Slow Death, Delay
August 10 – Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class w/ Dear Landlord
August 11 – off (insub day one)
August 12 – Insubordination fest – dopamines play
August 13 – insub fest -
August 14 – Rochester,NY @ Monty’s Krown w/ Fake Boys
August 15 – Dover, NH w/ BIlly Raygun, Emilys Army
August 16 – Boston,MA @ Starlab w/ Awful Man, Dan Webb
August 17 – Brooklyn,NY @ lulus w/ nude beach, scarlet letter
August 18 – Philadelphia,PA @ The Fire w/ Junior Battles
August 19 – Baltimore @ Sidebar w/ tba
August 20 – Best Friends Day 10 @ hangin’

We will have info about pre ordering their debut LP on vinyl very soon. Mandible Records (Brooklyn) and Let’s Pretend Records (Bloomington) are getting the records pressed as we speak. Word on the street is that the test pressing sounds RAD.

In the meantime enjoy the stream, play it loud and keep it real.

TRL

NATI LIFE

On July 2, 2011 VACATION, SACRED SPIRITS, and POP EMPIRE climbed 5 flights of stairs to play an impromptu gathering in Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood. Jai All Day, a Cincinnati radio personality, was kind enough to host the show on her roof.

We definitely want to give special thanks to Jerry (from Vacation) and Jai who were the brains behind the show.

Thanks goes out to Michael Wilson who was rolling tape the whole time hoping to capture the evening.

Also, thanks goes out to all the bands who not only played but helped carry each others gear to the roof.

TRL

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CINCINNATI MUSIC COMMUNITY

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Often times when we sit down to write a letter we are speaking mostly to ourselves. As I sit down and put these thoughts together I suspect that these words are meant for me to hear. Still, I wish to believe that somehow you might benefit from hearing the conversation I am having in my head these days.

I am by no means a Cincinnati music veteran and certainly not a Cincinnati success story. I have simply been loyal to music for the past 15 years or so. I play the music I want to play and I am surrounded by amazing musicians and artists who work with me on a daily basis. I could not be happier with my circumstances. Still, I am not sure this gives me license to address such a large populace. Another way to look at this letter is to hope that maybe we all might be coming to similar conclusions in light of the drastic changes that are happening in the world of music. If this is the case then maybe I am not speaking as an authority but more as a colleague who feels he might be able to articulate the plight of the Midwestern musician in 2011. Certainly we are all thinking about our future and with good reason. My hope is to articulate a possible path we could take together. I appreciate your time and hope that this starts a productive conversation.

Those of you that know me might be thinking that this is where I tell you to give your music away for free on the Internet. This is not going to happen. Every time I play the guitar it costs me $5 to string it. If I drive to a gig it costs me another $10-$100. If I tip my bartender…you get the point. It costs money to play music. I do think that “digital file sharing=free” but I can save that conversation for another time. Making money off music these days requires either creativity or the willingness to be a slime ball, sometimes a little of both. I also am not trying to say how anyone should disseminate their music. I have friends that go through pressings of their band’s vinyl, tapes and CD’s on a regular basis and make good money selling digital files. There is definitely more than one way to run your personal music business.

What I hope to address is the profound weight that sits upon a musician’s shoulders these days. The market is beyond saturated. Modern musicians are not just competing with one another, they are competing with every musician that ever existed who sit and wait to be played at the click of a button. You don’t have to dig up the vinyl at your local record store or wait four weeks for the tape you ordered. You don’t have to borrow your friend’s CD. It’s all there for you to take when you want it and best of all you don’t have to spend a dime. Bloggers become irrelevant because music suggestions come from our friends via social media posts. Who cares about MTV? You can watch music videos on demand through the Internet. Music is back in the hands of the populace because the experts simply cannot keep up with what the people want.

Our initial instinct is to try and navigate these waters but my fear is that it is impossible. I suspect that the ocean wins eventually and we are left to drown. The second instinct is to blame the digital world for somehow ruining music. This is a typical response when the world starts changing too fast for us to keep up with. The history books are often pretty harsh on this type of narrow mindedness.

Lately though, I have been having a third instinct. It hits me when I am reminded of what I really enjoy about music. This realization is that people can still connect with a song in the digital world. My heart strings can still be played, the power of a great vocal performance hits me just as powerfully through an MP3 stream as it does through the needle of a turntable and I have come to respect the work of great electronic musicians just as much as I respect the work of a great guitarist or drummer. The digital age has not killed music. Rather, it has made the entire history of music more accessible to the world.

This third instinct suggests to me that we as musicians need to quit the search for fans and focus instead on the search for integrity and relevance. We need to go back to our front porches and learn to enjoy playing music and ignore the pressures put on us by certain social media companies. We need to learn to enjoy sharing our music with friends and family rather than only being consoled when a bunch of strangers show up to hear us play. We need to learn to write better songs, get better tones, communicate an authentic joy of music and somehow capture this both live and in our recordings. It is possible that this is the longer path to making Cincinnati a city that is known for her amazing music but I believe that if we follow this path we will build something sustainable and more importantly, enjoyable.

Like most musicians, I often question why I choose to sit down and compose. I never come up with a good answer that I can articulate but I could easily play you a song that would explain to you what I am trying to recreate for my audience. It might depend on the day or the mood as to who I would play you and there is no guarantee that you would enjoy my selection, but I would be reminded of why I continue to search for new melodies, words and rhythms. Then maybe through my enjoyment you might get an idea as to what I am trying to share with you.

I hope this letter finds you well. Keep your head down. Never hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Cameron Cochran

THE KICKAWAYS/AMERICA! AMERICA! LP

THE KICKAWAYS AMERICA! AMERICA! LP by THE RECORDING LABEL

AMERICA! AMERICA! was written and performed by THE KICKAWAYS

Produced by POP EMPIRE

Recorded and Mixed by POP EMPIRE

Mastered by Henry Wilson

Cover photo and layout by Devyn Glista

band photos by Michael Wilson

White boys playing rock and roll might be the longest running joke in America. The delivery is usually very poor. The punch line isn’t even funny.

One would think that the train would have crashed already and we would all have moved on to the next chapter in music history.

But the train has not crashed. These kids are still digging through the history of American music for a way to ease the pain and we are left with more musical groups than this country has ever had before.

I was approached by a 19 year old kid at a show who told me I had to hear his demo, adding that he was “bringing back rock and roll to Cincinnati.”

I wanted to tell him how many Cincinnati musicians had made this promise but I kept my mouth shut.

I gave his demo a listen one night.

“Not bad,” I thought to myself, “Kids are talented these days.”

I continued to keep tabs on what this particular band was doing. They kept talking about this rock and roll revolution in Cincinnati which continued to rub me the wrong way. They dressed in leather jackets, chain smoked, had crazy hair…a complete cliche. Yet I conitnually watched them from a distance to see what they would do next.

I kept waiting for the train wreck but it never happened. I finally decided I had to see this band play live.

This past fall I walked in to a Cincinnati rock and roll bar, ordered a beer and waited. The whole band was there next to the stage looking quietely confident, dressed in black leather jackets, tight black jeans and fancy boots. They looked the part, I will give them that. I looked around and noticed I wasn’t the only one who was curious to see what these kids were going to do. There were other Cincinnati musicians in the audience. The club was packed.

The venue had a red velvet curtain that they closed in between sets. They closed the curtain so the band could set up and then they finally opened it to reveal four white boys playing rock and roll music. It took me about one minute to realize that I was observing a turning point in Cincinnati music history. I was a believer. Viva La Revolucion!

What makes a band legit? Good songwriting is definitely important. Being able to play your instrument helps a little. Having some perspective on the history of music and being able to stay relevant is important. There are a lot of bands that have all this stuff.

What very few bands have is “swagger.” Swagger is that magical dust that sprinkles on the audience (or listener) and says, “tonight you are hanging out whith us and that makes you cooler than everyone else in the world.” All the most important popular musicians throughout the history of blues and rock and roll had “swagger.”

Swagger was dripping from these kids.

What followed was some conversations about me recording an EP. If it turned out good enough then I would consider putting it up on THE RECORDING LABEL.

We arranged a weekend in February to meet and record.

Being a sound engineer one grows cynical. I expected a very painful month of recording. I also expected to barely get away with 5 good recordings for an EP. We set up and were ready to roll at about mid afternoon on a Friday. By dinner that evening they had convinced me to record an LP. By Sunday at noon we had recorded the entire record. We listened to the playback and knew we had captured something important.

That night I sat alone in my kitchen, poured a glass a wine and raised a glass to the future of Cincinnati rock and roll.

These kids grew up loving the lord, loving their mamas, and loving America.

They know darkness.

They know the power of light.

They know all our souls are in jeopardy and that rock and roll might be our only hope.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give to you….

THE KICKAWAYS

TRL

POP EMPIRE/THE DEVIL’S PARTY LP

THE DEVIL’S PARTY LP by POP EMPIRE