Members TrickyBoy Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 So the drummer I play with also plays with a local country band called The Gillis Silo. Anyway, they, along with 12,000 other bands entered into Hard Rock Rising 2014. It's an international battle of the bands. Basically it had 3 stagesL 1. Win a multi round battle of the bands at the local Hard Rock2. The winners from each local competition then compete online (via fan voting) to determine the Top 253. The winner and runner ups are then chosen by a "panel of industry experts". Anyway, these guy won the local competition (packing the Hard Rock every time they played). Then they were by far (almost 2-1) the top vote getter for phase two.... Then.... Not chosen as the winner or one of the three runner ups. In truth, I have no idea what the final judging consisted of. We're they listening to their recordings or watching recordings of their live performances? I have no idea. But it seems a little ridiculous to me that you go through this whole process, basing your decisions on popularity and then in the end picking the winner based on completely different criteria... They made it to the top 25 out of 12,000, so it's not like they lost, but I kinda think they got jobbed a little. However.... It's turned out to be a good thing for them exposure-wise. Their last gig, the local TV station and the Monthly Baton Rouge Magazine showed up and did pieces on them. They are opening for some bigger acts in the coming months (Blake Shelton. I never heard of him, but supposedly he's a big deal) In all honesty, I hate country music, especially new country, which is definitely what they are. I tried to like them, but I can't stand it... But I hope for Karl (our drummer) that we're looking for a new drummer when we come back in October because he's moved on to bigger and better things. If you want to check them out, here you go... http://www.cmt.com/artists/the-gillis-silo/videos/490993/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 If you have never heard of Blake Shelton you need to get out more. lol. How about the Voice TV show? he has been a judge on that every season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opus Antics Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 If you have never heard of Blake Shelton you need to get out more. lol. How about the Voice TV show? he has been a judge on that every season. I think he was being sarcastic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 That's the good and bad about internet sarcasm. Hard to convey, but easy to use as an excuse after the fact. . Congrats on your drummers band though. 25 out of 10,000 is a good showing regardless. And opening for Shelton should be huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted May 14, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 Um... No sarcasm. When they mentioned his name last week it was the first time I'd ever heard it. Then again never seen The Voice. The only "new" country persons name I know is Jason Aldeen and that's just because his last name is almost Aladeen and I love the movie The Dictator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 Blake Shelton is an interesting case. I don't know much about modern country music, so I have a hard time understanding his popularity in that regard. When I see him sing on The Voice, his voice his weak and his stage presence isn't very good either. But he sells a lot of records so whadda I know. Obviously he connects with the country music fans. OTHO, he's really, really good as a judge on The Voice and is probably the biggest reason why that's the #1 show on TV these days. Super telegenic and funny. That show, much more than the other singing contest shows, is all about the celebrity judges. They are the stars. The singing contest exists largely just to be a launching pad for silly banter between Shelton and Adam Levine. But he's very good at it. However big he was before that show, he must be twice as huge now because of it. When/if his singing career fades, I have little doubt he'll have a long career on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 Well from one listen to the video, they have the chops for a top 40 country band but so do 1000 other bands. Analysis: no truck, no train, no dirt road, no beer. He did talk about her pretty dress though. Country music has been stale last few years, seems they sing about the same things over and over again. And why do they overdub overkilled fake sounding tamborine through the whole track on studio tracks? if you ask me it takes away from the song and kinda gets old listening to it. Yes I'm a drummer I'm probably the only person in the world that wonders this, but maybe there is someone else out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 Blake Shelton is an interesting case. I don't know much about modern country music, so I have a hard time understanding his popularity in that regard. When I see him sing on The Voice, his voice his weak and his stage presence isn't very good either. But he sells a lot of records so whadda I know. Obviously he connects with the country music fans. OTHO, he's really, really good as a judge on The Voice and is probably the biggest reason why that's the #1 show on TV these days. Super telegenic and funny. That show, much more than the other singing contest shows, is all about the celebrity judges. They are the stars. The singing contest exists largely just to be a launching pad for silly banter between Shelton and Adam Levine. But he's very good at it. However big he was before that show, he must be twice as huge now because of it. When/if his singing career fades, I have little doubt he'll have a long career on TV. We play a couple of Blake Shelton songs all ready and have learned 2 more recently that we will play for the first time this Saturday. One of them is his re make of footloose. We figure it to be a winner since the cougars will remember the original version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nijyo Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 Your friend probably did get jobbed, to some degree. It's not like "Battle of the Bands" tend to be particularly up-and-up affairs, and their dubious value as time sinks has been debated here many times before. It's good that something positive came out of it, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nijyo Posted May 14, 2014 Members Share Posted May 14, 2014 Well from one listen to the video, they have the chops for a top 40 country band but so do 1000 other bands. Analysis: no truck, no train, no dirt road, no beer. He did talk about her pretty dress though. Country music has been stale last few years, seems they sing about the same things over and over again. And why do they overdub overkilled fake sounding tamborine through the whole track on studio tracks? if you ask me it takes away from the song and kinda gets old listening to it. Yes I'm a drummer I'm probably the only person in the world that wonders this, but maybe there is someone else out there. Years ago when I still had cable, I watched through a couple seasons of "Family Jewels". In one episode, Simmons comes in to listen to a band that Doc McGhee has in the studio. Some country group. Anyway, he says it sounds okay but he doesn't know anything about the country music business, so he gets Tim McGraw to come in and listen. The thing I remember most about his comments was (paraphrased): "I like what I hear, but the fact of the matter is that you need to 'hick it up more' if you want to be successful in country music today. Back down on the heavy guitars, bring up the pedal steel and the fiddle, and press that drawl more." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted May 15, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 15, 2014 Well from one listen to the video, they have the chops for a top 40 country band but so do 1000 other bands. Analysis: no truck, no train, no dirt road, no beer. He did talk about her pretty dress though. Country music has been stale last few years, seems they sing about the same things over and over again. And why do they overdub overkilled fake sounding tamborine through the whole track on studio tracks? if you ask me it takes away from the song and kinda gets old listening to it. Yes I'm a drummer I'm probably the only person in the world that wonders this, but maybe there is someone else out there. Well this will make you giggle. Here's their first song they released - Listen For My Truck: http://www.cmt.com/artists/the-gillis-silo/tracks/426826/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FitchFY Posted May 15, 2014 Members Share Posted May 15, 2014 I always refer to that infamous musician quote of "if you enter a battle of the bands, you've already lost." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted May 15, 2014 Members Share Posted May 15, 2014 ^ LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted May 15, 2014 Members Share Posted May 15, 2014 Well this will make you giggle. Here's their first song they released - Listen For My Truck: http://www.cmt.com/artists/the-gillis-silo/tracks/426826/ *chuckle* Could be the next florida georgia line when the hit that magic song.... so maybe I should shutup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FormerlyBassred Posted May 19, 2014 Members Share Posted May 19, 2014 I play in a southern rock/country-rock band. We try not to do the 'bro country' thing (that's what I heard it called recently and I thought it was spot-on..) but you can't help it if you want paying gigs... The guy on the Voice, Ryan White Maloney is a local, good player/singer (he didn't go all the way on the show, but he was on Blake Shelton's team!) - I say Ryan at the Gibson tent at the CES show last year - that tent was THE place to be at Consumer Electronics Show, which is pretty amazing considering all the giant curved screen TV's that were announced this year. A local Vegas band had the exact same experience this year. Won the local, got in top 25 of overall... Didn't 'win'...I wonder if it is all a ploy to get local bands hyping the Hard Rock? Effective plan if you ask me.. Battle of the band can be fun - we won one and got to open for Matchbox 20 and Counting Crows ( and the rest of the bill was Ed Sheeran, Phillip Phillips, Tristan Prettyman, Rebecca Ferguson....) so I don't think they are all bad. It was great to see all the bands absolutely killing it - at one point I thought my buddies band was going to take it, but I guess my amazing good looks saved the day.... *cough*. *not really - it must have been the 3 part harmonies.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted May 19, 2014 Members Share Posted May 19, 2014 "it must have been the 3 part harmonies" Never fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nijyo Posted May 19, 2014 Members Share Posted May 19, 2014 "it must have been the 3 part harmonies" Never fails. The harmony thing really pays dividends. I was reminded of this when I was listening to Eddie Trunk's show about 2 weeks ago (maybe a week ago?) on SiriusXM's "Hair Nation", and we going on and on about how he missed people even doing guitar harmony lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FormerlyBassred Posted May 20, 2014 Members Share Posted May 20, 2014 We do at least choruses with 3 parts, sometimes stabs of a 2-part on particular verse lines. Is sad that it is rare, doing cover bands in the past you were expected to have the ability to do 3 or 4 parts depending on the song.. - This is a version of a harmony-centered cover (not the best) from a party we played. We had all arrived early and helped load in the PA and get it set up, we were all drinking beer all afternoon before playing... When we played it at bigger shows with proper care, it killed. Dierks Bentley apparently enjoyed it (we opened for him at Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted May 20, 2014 Members Share Posted May 20, 2014 We do at least choruses with 3 parts, sometimes stabs of a 2-part on particular verse lines. Is sad that it is rare, doing cover bands in the past you were expected to have the ability to do 3 or 4 parts depending on the song.. Don't get me started on the demise of good vocals for cover bands over the last couple of decades. Just another one of the bad things the "dad bands" bestowed upon the music scene, IMO. "Hey, we're all having fun playing and as long as I can play some killer blues riffs and croak out a couple of Petty tunes, it's all good!" Argggh! Nice job on the Eagles though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FitchFY Posted May 20, 2014 Members Share Posted May 20, 2014 The harmony thing really pays dividends. I was reminded of this when I was listening to Eddie Trunk's show about 2 weeks ago (maybe a week ago?) on SiriusXM's "Hair Nation", and we going on and on about how he missed people even doing guitar harmony lines. And Eddie's word is law! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members djrnno Posted May 24, 2014 Members Share Posted May 24, 2014 I never used to like country music , all that tear in my beer slow twang just was not my thing. I was always a rock/blues and throw some punky kind of stuff in there , I mean hell I used to play with Sylvain Sylvain from the New York Dolls and for a bit with Iggy Pop. But I seem to me in the minority that I kinda like some of the new rocking country , Aldean , Bentley . It kinda takes the place of classic rock , cause lets face it there will never be any new classic rock. Rock really for the most part is dead, unless you want hard core. Which is why i think that today's country is so popular. I think people in their late 20's on up want something to fill the void where rock left and hard core is well, just to hard for them so they have turned to new country..Jason , your drummer's band is kinda smart , If your looking for radio or record deal success , prob the easiest road to that (other than rap ) is in new country . 60% of all cd sales ( for those who still buy CDs ) is in country music. There fans are VERY loyal and BUY their music. If I was younger and looking to "so called" make it in the music buss. New country is where i be concentrating my efforts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted May 24, 2014 Members Share Posted May 24, 2014 I get that modern country is the "new classic rock" and it's cool that it exists for that purpose for the people that desire that sound. But frankly, that's one of the main reasons I DISlike it. That and the fact that it's all just so damned formulaic and fake. Which, sure, all pop music genres are to a large degree, but country is the one that sells itself on being "heartfelt" and "authentic" so the fakeness seems to sting just a bit more. But, to be fair, I'm sure there's a lot of good new country out there that I just haven't been exposed to. As with most genres, I imagine the best material isn't what is getting into the Top 10. I like most of what I've heard from Lady Antebellum, for example, just because they don't seem to really be trying to BE anything, other than just good songwriters and singers. I don't get a forced, formula vibe from them at all. And I'm sure there's a lot of other really good stuff out there I'm missing. But the last time I really liked much of anything that was even remotely considered 'country' was 20 or so years ago when there was a lot of good 'new' stuff coming mostly from outside of Nashville from people like Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett, Foster & Lloyd, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Steve Earle and k.d. lang who were throwing classic country and rock and swing and folk and whatever else into the mix and just letting fall where it may. But the last several years of country has left me pretty dry. And trying to sound like 30-40 year old classic rock bands doesn't really improve things much, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted May 24, 2014 Members Share Posted May 24, 2014 If I was younger and looking to "so called" make it in the music buss. New country is where i be concentrating my efforts Actually, if I was the same age I am now and looking to "make it', that's probably where I'd concentrate my efforts because that'd be the genre I'd likely understand the best today. If I was younger, I imagine I'd still be like I was back then and more drawn to "newer" sounds than "classic" ones. I'd probably be doing electronica or something similar. Or maybe be more of a DJ and concentrating on remixing and producing. Had the home studio stuff existed back then like it does today, I may not have gotten much into playing an instrument at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pinkfloydcramer61 Posted May 28, 2014 Members Share Posted May 28, 2014 I agree with the general gist of the comments here RE new country's generic, formulaic quality. Gillis Silo suffers somewhat from that- they're impressive but IMO need a little something extra to stand out. Not sure that just adding a fiddle or steel would be the ticket. My current group was put together a couple years ago specifically to cover new country. The only upside, for me, to playing Luke Bryan etc. is that it means that much less Bad Company/ Steve Miller (bandleader's idea of classic rock)we have to play for filler. I do like our girl singer's Miranda Lambert and Band Perry songs, though, which seem to be more authentic and fresh musically and lyrically. RE Jason Aldean, we do a few of his songs but the more MOR ballad-y ones. When I re-united with my former band last weekend, they had added Aldean's "Take a Slow Ride" and I thought it was a really good, authentic and gritty Southern rock song. I listened to some more Aldean and found some other good ones. So my perception of new country is influenced by our blandleader's penchant for cheez, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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