2018 was a busy year for the Decibels recording new material.
We created two full-length long play albums. The first was "Big Hits! (plus twelve more!)" which was originally intended to be a just a test of our new recording studio, Lucky Shot Sound. Or maybe we called it Lucky Shot Records? Either way, we had amassed enough equipment to open our own recording studio in the Sacramento area, giving us the sandbox to finally start recording again. It also gave us more control over the finished project.
Our album of all originals, "Scene, Not Herd" was released later the same year. Time will only tell if releasing two LPs in one year was a wise move. There are moments we wonder if releasing the tracks off of Big Hits hurt the sales and exposure of Scene, Not Herd. What's done is done. All we can do is try to get the word out there that The Decibels are back in full force, and hope someone cares.
See, there's always a couple things that has made this journey an uphill battle for the Decibels. First, we always blew the audience away in our live shows, and the records never reflected that raw energy. The second issue - lack of distribution. We owe a huge debt to the small labels that promoted us, especially to the Screaming Apple label in Germany who have been with us every step of the way as a huge supporter. But it's tough for a band from Sacramento, CA to be on a German label, because while our European market experienced growth because of the album, it made gaining any traction here in the states a difficult task. Again, I'm grateful to anyone listening, and every label that's helped us out. But the market just is what it is. And an American band on an over-seas label confuses people. Heck, even Google Play only groups us with Japanese pop bands because one of our albums was released on a Japanese label.
Having easy access to a recording studio, we thought about filling 2019 up with another session of recordings. But with there not being as much interest in Scene, Not Herd as we had hoped, we decided to focus on playing more shows and promoting the album.
As of today, here's what we've got scheduled:
March 22 - Sacramento, CA - Cafe Colonial w/ The Reverberations
May 24 - Seattle, WA - The Parliament Tavern w/The Knights of Trash
May 25 - Portland, OR - The Twilight w/The Sellwoods
May 31 - San Francisco, CA - The Make Out Room w/ The Bushrods
July 5 - Burger Boogaloo After Party - Octopus Literary Salon
We're still looking to add more shows this year, but at least for sure these are confirmed.
Hopefully, if these shows result in better album sales, we'll be able to record a couple more albums. Believe it or not, The Decibels actually have a back catalog reaching back into the 1990's of original powerpop songs that could easily fill quite a few more albums. And we're still writing new songs every day. But if no one's listening, it's hard to keep pushing forward, because recording a good solid album requires soul-draining passion and plenty of hard work. So at this point, our goals for 2019 are to get the word out, to play new shows, and then see if anyone is still listening.
We created two full-length long play albums. The first was "Big Hits! (plus twelve more!)" which was originally intended to be a just a test of our new recording studio, Lucky Shot Sound. Or maybe we called it Lucky Shot Records? Either way, we had amassed enough equipment to open our own recording studio in the Sacramento area, giving us the sandbox to finally start recording again. It also gave us more control over the finished project.
Our album of all originals, "Scene, Not Herd" was released later the same year. Time will only tell if releasing two LPs in one year was a wise move. There are moments we wonder if releasing the tracks off of Big Hits hurt the sales and exposure of Scene, Not Herd. What's done is done. All we can do is try to get the word out there that The Decibels are back in full force, and hope someone cares.
See, there's always a couple things that has made this journey an uphill battle for the Decibels. First, we always blew the audience away in our live shows, and the records never reflected that raw energy. The second issue - lack of distribution. We owe a huge debt to the small labels that promoted us, especially to the Screaming Apple label in Germany who have been with us every step of the way as a huge supporter. But it's tough for a band from Sacramento, CA to be on a German label, because while our European market experienced growth because of the album, it made gaining any traction here in the states a difficult task. Again, I'm grateful to anyone listening, and every label that's helped us out. But the market just is what it is. And an American band on an over-seas label confuses people. Heck, even Google Play only groups us with Japanese pop bands because one of our albums was released on a Japanese label.
Having easy access to a recording studio, we thought about filling 2019 up with another session of recordings. But with there not being as much interest in Scene, Not Herd as we had hoped, we decided to focus on playing more shows and promoting the album.
As of today, here's what we've got scheduled:
March 22 - Sacramento, CA - Cafe Colonial w/ The Reverberations
May 24 - Seattle, WA - The Parliament Tavern w/The Knights of Trash
May 25 - Portland, OR - The Twilight w/The Sellwoods
May 31 - San Francisco, CA - The Make Out Room w/ The Bushrods
July 5 - Burger Boogaloo After Party - Octopus Literary Salon
We're still looking to add more shows this year, but at least for sure these are confirmed.
Hopefully, if these shows result in better album sales, we'll be able to record a couple more albums. Believe it or not, The Decibels actually have a back catalog reaching back into the 1990's of original powerpop songs that could easily fill quite a few more albums. And we're still writing new songs every day. But if no one's listening, it's hard to keep pushing forward, because recording a good solid album requires soul-draining passion and plenty of hard work. So at this point, our goals for 2019 are to get the word out, to play new shows, and then see if anyone is still listening.
No comments:
Post a Comment