Unfortunately, I think the key to Bfast success does not lie with killer musicianship, or else we\'d all be selling veggie burritos and goo balls as we follow them around the country, and I, for one, would be pushing hard for a Schumacher sit-in at Vegoose.
I think its is awesome, Matt, that not only are you giving this band a musical renaissance but a fresh boost that can be harnessed by the management, booking agent, fans and band that can finally propell y\'all onto the scene.
I think the charity idea is brilliant. The first guy I gigged with put all of the profit from his album into charity. My friend Zac Brown (who is about to get a MAJOR deal and has nearly 1,000,000 plays on his myspace) called his new album "The Foundation" and set up a charity (The Foundation!) to donate proceeds to. Not only has he gotten tons of press about it and sold a ton of discs, he\'s doing a ton of good. I think y\'all should setup your own charity that can grow hand in hand with the Bfast and open the doors to press and buzz when heading outside of New Haven County.
Speaking of...how come nobody in Hartford has ever heard of you guys? There are a lot of headie kids there and some good places to play. New Haven is kind of a dead end. Other than Michael Bolton, who has come out of New Haven? Focus outside of the hometown - if Utica packs out, bring it to them even if the room itself blows.
As far as what I can do for you guys...come to Atlanta. I\'ll hook it up.
I, for one, think covers reallly help rope in the Newbs. If they have only heard a few Bfast songs b4 the show and they get some sick, sick covers, they will feel more comfortable getting down. I do think that the choice of covers could be better...Choose ones that compliment the originals and the playing style. Don\'t do tunes that nobody can sing great. I almost shit myself when I got a sampler with a BeeGees tune on it. It sucked.
It might be a good idea to get everyone involved in some sort of vocal training. As much as the vox have improved...unfortunatley, it still is the weak link in an otherwise monstrous sound.
Also, it might be a good idea to consider working with some management that knows what they are doing. This concept might be a little far out for the band, but untill the behind the scenes stuff starts working (at all) nothing is going to happen. I think if they got involved with the right management it would open the right doors for cross-networking and sit-ins and festies and everything else. Tim and the guys are great at making music and suck at business. Stick to playing and get somebody who knows anything about the industry to take the reigns.
Matt, thanks for joining up with the band. You are needed and appreciated.