Keep Your Fans!

Don't Ignore Your Fans on Social Media. Respond With Enthusiasm.

When you start posting frequently, fans and others will respond with comments of their own. Respond back, acknowledge them and be positive, enthusiastic and encouraging. If folks respond to your comments and you repeatedly ignore them, some are bound to take it personally. Always engage your fans. If they comment on a song or an album of yours, thank them and let them know you appreciate it. Tell your fan their comment made your day and in doing so you'll make their day. Just think - every day you can chat with dozens of total strangers, encouraging them to share your music with their friends and family. Do you realize the power of this? If a hundred people are following you, that's a hundred people you can ask, via your status update, to spread the word about your music. With social networking, you always have a crowd at your fingertips. Work the crowd. This will put you so far ahead of the pack as 99% of unsigned acts do not do this effectively.

Before you record

One of the biggest wastes of money I come across when talking to unsigned acts is in their studio recorded demo. The amount of acts that listen back to it 1-2 months later and hate it and can spot a multitude of errors always amazes me. Why not take this a seriously as possible so you can have something to be proud of and that represents your sound!

Most artists will listen back to older demos and hear areas for improvement but not in terms or recording quality and sound. So a few top tips I wish I knew before I first went in to the studio:

1) Singers/vocalists learn your words and melodies inside out – do not adlib as this can go one of 2 ways; awesome or terrible with 99% coming in the later category. You should know every word and every accent on every word. DO NOT ADLIB on a record!

2) Leave enough time. In 2 x 8 hour days you should be able to comfortably record 3 songs well. So many artists substitute quantity for quality. Do not push for 4-5 songs just get 3 done really well to a level you are 100% happy with them. I guarantee 95% of you reading this will ignore this point.

3) Ensure your equipment is working 100% before you get to the studio. Not buzzing or rattling as locating and fixing these issues takes up valuable recording time. This also means new stings, skins and leads.

4) If using Studio equipment, such as a drum kit, ensure you are happy with the sound before you get in there.

5) Tell the engineers exactly what sound/results you are after. Talk about records you like and what you want to be seen as. Are you a finely tunes, sweet pop outfit or a thrash, rough around the edges combo. They want happy customers who will recommend them so be very specific and define your sound.

6) Make sure you have spare strings, picks, skins, sticks – hell even back up guitars borrowed from other people if possible. You are in the studio to record and mix your tracks do not waste this time by rushing out to pick up these items.

7) Vocals. It is very common for rap artists (and metal screamers) to wrap their hands around the “ball” of their mikes – this looks cool on stage but totally destroys the sound in the studio. You can look cool onstage but you need to sound cool on record

.These are just a few from the top of my head – I will jot a few more down when I have time.

This months Band of the Month is South Coast 80's tinged rockers; My Fallen Opera. Here is their interview!

Well done for winning Band Assists Act of the month! How would you describe the My Fallen Opera Sound?


GR - First off thank you for selecting us to be band of the month, we are very flattered to have been chosen. We would like to be thought of as an Electro - Goth - EBM band, a kind of English missing link between Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails.

JM – We have been influenced by many different bands and genres and believe that you can hear elements of them all in the music we produce.


"Big Mouth" is an awesome track can you let us in on the story behind it?


MFO - At its basic level it’s about having a strong desire to tell someone how you feel then feeling remorseful afterwards. We’ve all been there at some point.

You have such a pretty unique sound - was that a conscious decision? How did you come up with it?

GR- That's all down to John, he's like some music programmer mad scientist.

JM - I grew up with alternative music but would always prefer the remixes on the b sides of the singles etc. We wanted to try to create something that has these remix qualities. This is reflected in our writing process.


What is your writing process?

GR- Initially I'll come up with a chord progression on the guitar or synth and develop a melody from free forming lyrics over the top until I hit upon what I call a statement of intent for example take the chorus to Housedown with the chorus lyrics "Tonight while
you are asleep I'll creep up your stairs and burn your housedown." A clear statement of intent. From there. I'll develop the theme and structure and once I am happy I'll send the individual WAV files to John and let him work his magic.

JM – It’s a long process. Once I receive the files I will build on the elements and rework them, adding new synth parts and drums some times reworking the arrangement. Then the track is put to bed and revisited a month later to see if it needs any final tweeks and adjustments.



What do you find most difficult about being an unsigned act?

MFO - Getting people to listen. It was difficult before the internet for unsigned acts but now with the ease of the internet there is so much choice out there for the listener, a lot of great talent in all genres suffer from the overwhelming competition.


What is your top tip for other acts?

GR-To have integrity and stay true to your artistic vision, be respectful of other acts unsigned or otherwise and try not to take bad reviews to heart, sorry that was four tips.

JM – Have a good time writing music and write for yourself.

What is your fantasy band line up (Vocals, guitar, Bass and Drums)

GR- The answer to this question has been in constant evolution since I was 13, but right now...
Vocals - Trent Reznor - Nine Inch Nails.
Guitar - Matt Bellemy - Muse
Bass - Chris Wolstenholme - Muse, but if Chris was sick then Stefan Olsdal from Placebo
Drums - Dave Grohl

JM –
Drums and programming - Liam Howlett
Guitar – Josh Homme
Bass - Jeordie White
Vocal – Mark Hockings (mesh)



Tell us an amusing Band Story!

GR- It's not much of a story but it did make John laugh a lot. We got a review recently that
stated that my "Rapping"??? was not very good. I really thought I was the next Jay Z too.

JM- We met by chance at a night club when I saved Gordon from a fate worse than death!


Proudest moment so far in My Fallen Opera?

GR- I think completing our Three Stitches demo, John and I have been working on these tracks for quite a while and We are our biggest critics, so to have a finished product is great sense of achievement.

JM – Receiving positive positive comments from fans. Its great knowing that people get what we are doing!

What are your views on Band Assist?

MFO - We are in full support of Band Assist, it refreshing to come across a website that really cares about new artists and has their best intentions at heart.


What’s next for you?

MFO - With the demo finished we are in the process and submitting it to various websites and sending them the old fashioned way to a selected few labels who we feel represent us best. Then we'll just need wait and see if peopleenjoy what we do. We're trying to encourage people on our website www.myfallenopera.co.uk to let us know what they think about our music. Without interaction between the artist and the fans cyber space can be a lonely place.