Stormcellar Band Home Page

Howdy Folks.

With a few weeks off we've been working on various other things, and for me, it's time to once again do a refresh and update on the site.

That makes 8 years of maintaining this site, so 3 cheers for Open Source software & Joomla - they have enabled us to do our stuff online for years, with only the occasional disaster.

I'm going to be tweaking the site for the next few days and may break things a bit. Stand by!

MJEB

Howdy Folks.

This is truly the age of the DIY musician, Also, having your own Tech department helps (hi there). Fortunately since Mr Wizard went Mobile app I am off the hook as I don't Do Android. heh. But yeah. this is a band meeting, complete with enough processing power to microwave a bag of popcorn.

It's an internal band joke that getting to do the music is the reward for all the other stuff that goes into it.

Fundamentally, the system has changed to the point that it no longer supports the Support, so get on with it. there are envelopes to lick.

Mind you we don't do much mail stuff I just like to lick envelopes. 

I'm glad we had this talk.

Where was I? Oh. Right here. Ok. So.

We havent said too much about the next stuff that we're up to, other than that we've been getting ready to record Yet Another Bloody Album (YABA!! YABA!!) Ok. No more Irish Breakfast Tea for this one.

Yes. If you've been to a gig recently, you'd have heard us working on the new stuff. Like "julie', which hasn't lyrically settled. That means 'oh this will work' and finding 'oh no that won't' but best of all, doing it LIVE! Yay!

That's when you start to wonder.

Actually, as I stop to look outside of my window into Sydney Winter Sunshine, whilst listening to guide tracks for new work, I am reminded to be cool about it all. We havent said much about the recent spate of Great Artist Departures. They have already formed part of our collective musical DNA. Even the invisible are influential. Im talking to you Gravity.

So maybe the best way we can celebrate their work is to continue in the direction we've been propelled. Forward.

The work continues. that's the best way.

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.