My band's new album. Thoughts?

[GregHENDRICK]

Honest opinions. I know it's not going to be everyone's cup o' tea.

 

But check out http://www.myspace.com/hendrickmusic

Listen to "City Lights" and "Echo and the Pass". "All I Wanted" is from the album, too, but the first 2 are our strongest of the Myspace tracks.

 

Thanks guys!

[meandthecity]

I love your voice :] wow i really like this the arrangement is awesome on city lights .

[GregHENDRICK]

Thanks! I wish it was my voice. I'm the bassist. That's Josh.

[Blackwatch]

I thought it sounded much better than most. But I have to say...the vocals sound exactly like coldplay IMO....

 

But All in all a very good effort.....I liked it.

[richardmac]

I liked "City Lights" a LOT. I did not like "A Gun and a Knife" at all. You're right, every song is not everyone's cup of tea, but I think you guys are really good.

 

I also agree with Blackwatch - the vocals are very Dave Mathews/Coldplay style. Imitation is the best form of flattery, but my preference is always for a more unique vocal sound. You ask for honest opinions here, you'll get them. This may be a selling point to some people, though, so perhaps it's just personal taste. But I think you can only go so far, sounding like someone else. Unique sounds go farther - Keane, Maroon 5, John Mayer, and so on, you hear one word and you know the singer right away.

 

Then again, I listed both Dave Mathews and Coldplay, and they're both successful. And I can't tell Nickelback from Daughtry. Who knows.

 

Regardless, you guys sound very good.

[Z-Mann]

I like this a lot. Enough to where I would probably buy a CD at a show. I can't hear the Coldplay similarity at all, but it does remind me a little of The Frays vocals. I hear the Radiohead influence clearly. That's cool that you listed Midlake as an influence. I went through a period of minor obsession with them.

 

OK, I've got admit I noticed some of the songs are on the long side. That CAN turn me off when I'm listening to a band for the first time. I think you know ya'll are a good band though. You've clearly taken time to do proper photos as make good recordings. Keep us up to date on the progress.

[rypher21]

nice piece dude, that sounds great..

[Synonym Music]

Certainly better than most. You know it's funny.. There are way better songs on the album compared to what you have on Myspace.

 

I'll try to make it to the Parish date.

[Scafeets]

Nice stuff! And I like Gun & Knife, too.

[GregHENDRICK]

Thanks guys!

 

Regarding the Coldplay similarity, I think any time you sing in a midrange tone & have piano in your music, you're gonna get compared. We had a local radio guy play us and compare us to Elbow, then just said "They're the most British sounding band from Dallas". Because, I know I'm in the band, so it's hard to hear from within, but I've never really heard a lot of similarity between our guy & Chris Martin, and our music is a little more diverse & complex than Coldplay, but I totally understood it when someone just compared it to the newer British style of music. Which is funny because at first, none of us listened to them. Our influences were Rufus Wainwright, King Crimson, Sigur Ros, Pedro the Lion, etc.

 

And Richard, Gun & a Knife is DEFINITELY a one-off track. haha. Josh had an idea for an epic song that's a story of sorts, that he originally wanted to sing with his brother. But it's not on the new album. We smartly put it on an EP that we did before the album.

 

Z-Mann, I hear you. We do love to take songs to the 5 minute mark. But its mostly because, as much pop sensibility as we try to have, we can't bring ourselves to bow to the Clear Channel gods and stay below 3:30 minutes. We figure, if Michael Jackson can have a series of 5 min. hits, along with songs like Stairway to Heaven, Freebird, etc., we'll try & bring that back! haha. We'll always have 2 or 3 that fit, like City Lights. But we feel we'd cheat ourselves if we tried to put our songs in boxes that were too small.

 

SYN, we kinda had to keep a few old ones up, because songs like "Black & White World", and "Fit to Be Lonely" are huge fan favorites here in Dallas. We'll have crowds of girls singing them back to us. And once, we took one down, and got so many nasty messages, haha. They're poppy, but we've definitely outgrown them.

 

Thank you guys! Seriously!

[richardmac]

 

Regarding the Coldplay similarity, I think any time you sing in a midrange tone & have piano in your music, you're gonna get compared.

 

 

Yes, and I think there's more to it than that. Keane gets compared to Coldplay but only because they both feature piano - Keane's singer sounds radically different. Your guy sounds almost just like Dave Mathews - If you play City Lights and then Crash Into Me, it's a very very similar vocal style.

 

I am just giving an opinion because you were asking - this is totally a matter of personal preference. That vocal sound is extremely popular and I'm sure there are tons and tons of guys out there who sing in that same style. That makes it a safe bet as a vocal style. It will also eventually become dated sounding, because of its popularity. I just like uniqueness in singers as opposed to guys who sound almost exactly like other people. But I'm probably the minority so please ignore everything I just sad. I really do like your music and I'm nit picking. I really do think you're onto something.

[Synonym Music]

SYN, we kinda had to keep a few old ones up, because songs like "Black & White World", and "Fit to Be Lonely" are huge fan favorites here in Dallas. We'll have crowds of girls singing them back to us. And once, we took one down, and got so many nasty messages, haha. They're poppy, but we've definitely outgrown them.

I can certainly understand this.

 

And at least there are album cuts that I'd listen to. Very rare these days.

[GregHENDRICK]

Syn, thanks!

 

Richard, I didn't take it as an insult, haha. No worries. Better to sound like guys who've actually been successful than someone who's more niche'. Thanks!

[richardmac]

 

Syn, thanks! Richard, I didn't take it as an insult, haha. No worries. Better to sound like guys who've actually been successful than someone who's more niche'. Thanks!

 

 

I'm glad you didn't. I really think you guys are good. Really good songwriting. And a real breath of fresh air on MySpace, where I can only handle 10 seconds of most of the stuff on there. I hope you continue to post because you guys obviously have your act together and we can learn a lot from you.

[GregHENDRICK]

 

I'm glad you didn't. I really think you guys are good. Really good songwriting. And a real breath of fresh air on MySpace, where I can only handle 10 seconds of most of the stuff on there. I hope you continue to post because you guys obviously have your act together and we can learn a lot from you.

 

 

The secret is, it took us 2 and a half years to record the new album. haha.

 

Right now, we're at the point, we're getting some Dallas radio play. both of the major "entertainment" rags have noticed us and done features, etc. And we got on the tv show up here on Fox in the mornings. But we don't know what to do to get past that other level. Because, I mean, what IS that level? Used to be getting signed, but now that's not a marker for success anymore. We have a manager, but I think he might be out of his element (Donnie) on this. (sorry, every time I say "out of your element" I think Lebowski.)

 

Right now, I'm doing something VERY tedious, but I'm ok with it. I'm cataloguing every single college radio station that plays a semi-open format and still exists. It's taking me weeks. But in the end I'll have a nice spreadsheet with all the info on it. I can share that with musician friends, etc. Plus, the way I'm doing it, I'm sending them all the files via Mediafire, with a really good one-page full of links. If they like it, they're encouraged to download & play, or if they need a hard copy, to e-mail back & say so.

 

So far, I've got the 2 stations that play us, now. and a few e-mails requesting CDs.

 

What now?

[BigAl10]

i also like the vocals...good job overall

[Matximus]

Listened to that song "All I wanted to Do." It's really good. You guys have a good thing going on. Very nice song.

 

A little long for my taste, though. What was it, six minutes? You sound like your going for a commercial sound. Cut it down.

 

The singer sings a lot like Chris Martin. I Love Coldplay.Always have. Some people might find that annoying though, cause that guy has a Love em or Hate Him Thing Going On. Plus there is already one Coldplay and dozens of bands mooching their sound.

 

But overall you guys sound pretty damn great. I love this kind of rock-lite music.

[whiteop]

Fit to be Lonely is your best commercial sounding song. Reminds me of Coldplay. The creative layering and the vocals are what stood out in that song to me. I'd pick that song apart and see why it sounds so much better than the others and follow that formula IMO...

[GregHENDRICK]

 

Listened to that song "All I wanted to Do." It's really good. You guys have a good thing going on. Very nice song. A little long for my taste, though. What was it, six minutes? You sound like your going for a commercial sound. Cut it down. The singer sings a lot like Chris Martin. I Love Coldplay.Always have. Some people might find that annoying though, cause that guy has a Love em or Hate Him Thing Going On. Plus there is already one Coldplay and dozens of bands mooching their sound. But overall you guys sound pretty damn great. I love this kind of rock-lite music.

 

Thanks, man.

 

Yeah, with the long song approach, its more like this: We're kinda bucking the system. Not on purpose. We'd write long songs, regardless of how poppy they came out. We just happen to have a pop-flavor, that sound marketable. It's not something we try for. And the last thing we want to do is try shortening our songs so Clear Channel will play them. haha. We figure, if Stairway to Heaven and Thriller can be hits...

 

We'll leave City Lights short. There's another song, Licked, that's short. You can find clips of the whole thing on Last.fm or iTunes/AmazonMP3/Rhapsody by searching it. It's called "Exhale" by Hendrick.

 

Funny thing about the "rock-lite" thing, we're actually really loud. In concert, sometimes we scare people. But not like My Bloody Valentine loud. More like Sigur Ros/Mono loud. Check out the other stuff & see what you think.

 

Thanks again, guys!