Stormcellar Band Home Page

Howdy Folks. We finally have a stretch of downtime. Thank heavens. More time to build my post apocalyptic settlements in F4. 

It seems we've been flat out for yonks (parse that one my US mates I dare ya, you'll need a local dialectician) and I have a list of housekeeping-y fixes for the site, let alone the preproduction work for SC9 (don't ask about SC8, we aren't talking about that right now) and of course, I want some more vids up.

So.

Once again, if it's quiet on the screen that's because we're busy working relentlessly behind the scenes...ranking up in some video game somewhere.

Howdy Folks.

I was having a chat with a Muso mate last weekend and he put forward a premise that I hear a lot at the moment, namely : "People don't go out to see live music anymore".

Hmmm.

Now regular 'cellar dwellers know that we are into Epistemology, Information Management and Meta-cognition in this band.

We like Thought Experiments and Physics and fractal crap and all sorts of Speccy Nerd Git stuff. Ok that's just me but what the hey.

NNT - My Informational Processing Hero

Ahem.

Right, so here's the Thought Experiment that I used to reply to my Muso colleague as to why people do or don't go to your gig/show/event/wedding shower.

Ready?

I'm going to ask a series of questions and I want you to answer as fast as you can without thinking too hard about it.

There's no prize other than maybe understanding the concept as I am trying to put it.

QUESTIONS

Q1: I want you to meet me on the steps of the Town Hall, in the city that you live in, on Friday Night at 8:30. I will pay you to be there for 10 minutes. How much will you charge me?

A: NAME YOUR FIGURE

Q2: Same question, but now I'm going to change the circumstance. It's the same night as the night you had planned to empty the garage out and clean up a back room /do some annoying household chore. How much do you charge me to change your plans and to meet me on the steps of the Town Hall, in the city that you live in, on Friday Night at 8:30?

A2: NAME YOUR FIGURE

Q3. Same again, except this time, it's your Spouses Birthday/Child's Birthday/Significant Family Event that you will have to cancel. How much do you charge me to to meet me on the steps of the Town Hall, in the city that you live in, on Friday Night at 8:30

A3: NAME YOUR FIGURE

Analysis and Conjecture:

OK Ready?

When I ask people this question directly, many of them look at me and say, 'Hey Michael, for you I'd do it because you asked'. Now that's nice and I'm glad you like me but this doesn't help my experiment, other than maybe showing how important Social Dynamics are.

So assuming this isn't a request from a mate, but a straight up job, the following are responses from my Test Subjects, in Australian Money, at (at .7 to the USD for our mates in the states)

A: if I'm not busy

RANGE: free-$100

A2: If I have something not too hard to move on

RANGE: $50-$200

A3: If I have to move something at significant Social Cost

RANGE: $300 - NO

 So what does this mean?

It means that to a busy person, with an active life, they have to perceive that the benefit they get from going to your show is the psychological equivalent of getting $300.

That's right, your fans feel like spending time with you and your music is the equivalent of getting the same happiness as a bunch of cash. Now add that to the cost of going out for the night and you will see that your fans ****ing LOVE you, that's why they come out.

 When you talk to Muso's about why people don't come out, I hear talk about 'Punters' (the great unwashed) and how 'they' think, and I hear these conjectures:

- We're busy

- We can't drink and drive

- We can't stay up too late/work/kids/family/commitments

- there are so many other things to do, gaming, Facebook, TV, Sports, etc.

- its not the same as it used to be (true)

- music isn't good any more (HA!)

Yogi Bera once said 'if people don't wan't to go to the ball park, no one's going to stop them'

No not that Yogi Bera  

   This one: 

 All this may be true, I'd chuck in 'they can't form a relationship with you if they don't hear your music', but that's a whole other discussion....

But I put to you, Dear Reader, that people Do What They Want To Do, and if they don't come out, it's for a myriad reasons, but if they do come out, it's because they love you.

Love them back!

MJEB

Howdy Folks. Back underground this weekend. Shady Pines. Sun 17 Apr 6pm.

Update - we have some awesome local south coast guests coming out.

Friday Tab and Andy join us, then on Sat, Tab, Andy AND Wombat join us! WOOT!

That's right, it's going to be mayhem. Mayhem!!

Come on out!

Howdy Folks we're headed back to the South this weekend. I love this run of shows. It's just staggeringly beautiful down that way.

I'm hoping we'll have some more local folks joining us and I'll update as soon as I know!

Friday Bega at the Commercial

Saturday at the Fishos in Eden and Sunday at Candelo but I dont know where yet. Stay tuned!

Wow, big night. This was the lineup before the second set. in the only moment of Cool during last week, I got to bypass the security and go back inside! Woot! Ok so I was working there but that's not the point. There have got to be some perks to being in this outfit.

We risked the new songs, my error rate was acceptable, Mr Wizard was voted as Extra-Ordinarily Loud by his ship mates and subject to the rigorous ear wigging we are so well known for.

Watch out for our hasty and easily repented emails. No hang on, that's not me, that's someone else.

Both of our support acts were 'unavoidably detained' which means either : the rapture is upons us (hallelujah),

OR

the Zombie Apocalypse is here (great, I have a cricket bat and pads, I'm set)

or something far more explainable, such as email failure. Or we smell funny. Take your pick.

Our regards though, in all seriousness, to B from Hairpin Culvert and sorry Sam, hope you took Telstra up on that free data day.

So, going back to new songs. 'Julie' went pretty well, but 'let me go down easy' kind of left people uncertain of how to react. It's a little like 'sun shines on' so it's not exactly a cheerful song but it is powerful. I rate it but maybe it needs to be in set 2. 

Hmm.

There was one moment though, that does bear a little recounting.

We've been playing the townie for a while now, and they've left our posters up there. They're built up, over written, stapled over, peeping out from behind other posters, framed by triangles and hard edges of the laminated bulwark of promo.

I recognise each of the ones I've made, and seeing them up there, still there, I feel a sudden sense of history and place, and even a strange pride that's as simple as a dog marking his territory, or maybe it's a touch of the self awareness of history.

Within the band we call it 'describing the wave to the water', the conundrum of at once being within something and at the same time, having a sense of its place relative to the world that gives rise to it.

So perhaps it's better to say that I caught sight of our posters, layered deep into history, of nights we've tried and tested songs, and that some small echo of what we have done remains.

Until they renovate.

:-)