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Artist Interview- Project Damage Control:
1. Tell us about Project Damage Control. What is it all about?
Well, we have long story about Project Damage Control on our new fancy Indieheaven Profile, as well as our Website. The short and sweet version is that PDC is me and Alan Sandifer. We are a songwriting, recording, performing and producing duo. Alan is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma and I reside in the Christian music mecca of the world, Olathe, Kansas.
Alan and I worked together in a band from about 1989 until the band quit in 1991. In 2003 we reconnected to rerecord some of the bands old material for posterity. Alan got everyone together, I booked a studio, and we recorded until a storm took the power out. We picked up again. Then our singer, Wayne was in a near fatal motorcycle accident. Then we kept losing members to jobs, families, etc. We kept at it, got John Schlitt and Louie Weaver (former Petra members) involved and released a CD called "Project Damage Control" in 2005. We have been hard at it since.
We work like Steely Dan. We write the music, lay down scratch tracks and then call in additional musicians to lay their tracks. All of the players really enjoy this because it is easier for them to personalize and/or improve an existing idea that to write from scratch on the fly. We allow total creative freedom. Since we hand select the players with shared preferences and influences, the results are we always something we like.
2. Brent, tell us more about your story, I love to learn how God directs someone's path.
Our Bio has details about how screwy things have been. We have had so many obstacles technically, financially, personally, etc. Some of this stuff you just can't make up, it is that wild. The lyrics of "Mechanism" reveal allot about our story on a personal level.
God directs when we get in back and quit trying to pull him around. It should be the other way around. Over the last four years, I mentally, physically and spiritually stopped working on PDC. Things were not going as we planned and they for sure were jacking my schedule. I did this about three times. I plan to quit again. I will wait until I get a clue before I begin on something else. I think we all must lay down what is important in our eyes sometimes, to make sure it is what it important to God. We got our answer because I told Alan that I would be done in 2008. Here we are with a new record in 2010.
3. You have a new CD project that was just released. Tell us about that and how it came to be.
"Mechanism" is the latest album. It is available exclusively here at Indieheaven. Listening to "Mechanism" is like listening to an iPod programmed by a rock fan with ADD. In other words, it's like listen to Alan and Brent's iPods. We do everything wrong. We break all the formatting rules that make commercial music bland and predictable. Our songs are seldom 3:20 long. We have long fades outs. We have long guitar solos. Our music does not fit into one hyper-niched genre. We do not sound like anyone on CCM radio now (on purpose). We touch on topics deserving of a Christians attention that are just not PC for CCM radio.
The process of making PDC is straight forward for us. Shortly after we released the album in 2005, I relocated to Kansas to work for a church. Alan would come up on weekends and we would lay scratch tracks in my studio before and after the weekend services. When he could not come up, he would send good ole' fashioned cassette tapes in the mail. Believe it, or not, Alan recorded three little sections that would become the 12 minute song "Mechanism", using a cassette recorder in a hotel room.
Most of the scratch vocals were recorded along side Alan's ideas. The emotion and the tone easily inspired me. I cannot say that I started out with particular topics in mind. Only one song had some preconceived theme, but no lyrics. I cannot come up with anything on my own. I have to have the music. When it comes, it comes quick. Alan helped me fine- tune some of the lyrics after having his family critique and then I would lay new scratches.
After we got an arrangement and scratch vocals ironed out, I got Louie's drum tracks and Greg's bass tracks down. That finalized the arrangement (in most cases). We then sent off those tracks to Italy, so Marco and Alex could lay their tracks. When those tracks returned, I sub-mixed and sent files to John and Greg Volz so they could do their thing.
Vocals came last at a painfully slow pace because of the drastic seasonal changes and allergy problems and once a year, in the winter, I lose my voice. Often times demos are better than the final tracks because of the emotion and the rawness of it. That was true for me. The more I sang, the harder it was for me to be happy. I opted to retain the vocals with the best vibe rather than the perfect pitch. I think we took that route for a few guitar tracks as well. We finalized the mix, did a quick master optimizing the tunes for MP3 and headphone listening, sent it in and called it done! We will be re-mastering and pressing CDs soon.
4. What are your expectations and goals for your music?
We know that most males listen to the music of their youth, while females change to suit as era, relationships, etc. We know that CCM radio turned it's back on the male audience, to attract the females. We see that Christian radio hasn't learned what the other major networks have learned and that is males listen with great intensity. It is not just background noise to them. We know that the number one thing men dislike at church is the music. They want rock. They want substance. They want something more than what they get at church and on radio. This is why they listen to secular music or sports talk most of the time. We hope that the music and lyrics are a bridge for those former Christian rock fans and secular rock fans to cross back to Christian music. We hope they find PDC fulfilling.
On the numbers side of things, we have some good indicators based our sales information. We know what we sold last time, who bought it, how much they paid, how they paid, where they heard about us, etc. We have been communicating with people on the various networking sites and music forums in addition to keeping our website fresh. If we sell as many as we did last time, we will be happy. If we break even, we will consider it a success. Either way we will have joy about the project.
That said, it isn't just about the sales. The first album was distributed and licensed internationally by GoGlobal. They did a great job. We learned first hand about the Christian music black market and the lack of integrity in the Christian retail and import business. It was almost impossible to get honest and timely accounting, let alone payments. Shipments would "disappear" and we would have to pay to replace them and ship again. We decided to pick our battles and let some of that go. It is not the wisest business decision. But I would rather have good sounding and good looking product out there with our name on it, than burned CD-Rs with photocopied inserts.
Since the first album, we have received feedback from people all over the world. It is cool just to be able to hear from people who would take the time to type a short message, to let us know they appreciate the music. But these emails are short stories about how a particular song helped them. Sometimes they interpret the song to mean something completely different than intended. Some of these emails come from impoverished countries, countries at war, or countries where they had to bootleg or secure it some other way, because they are too poor. In all cases, these people love music, value it, and need it like air. Even though we may not see the money from some of these people, the emails are like money in the bank. You cannot buy that connection with another human. That feels much better than putting that $3.20 for the CD in the bank.
5. It's obvious you put a great deal of resources and effort into your music. Why did you do this?
I think we just did what came naturally, out of the love for music, our dedication to achieving a certain sound in our heads and stewardship of resources. Our families put up with allot of inconveniences. They sacrificed time and money. Less than our best would be reason to regret.
6. If you could ask God for one thing, what would that be and why?
"God, can I have one million more open ended requests?" I could have been sappy spiritual and said something else. I figure this gives me more options.
7. Any plans for a Project Damage Control world tour?
We would love to do a tour of some sort. Alex and Marco are ready to come over from Italy and rock the US. They would too. There just aren't many bands playing Christian music that have what these too monsters dish out. As of now, there are no plans aside from a couple of CBA and GMA Week one-offs.
8. What do you think about the current state of the music industry, and how does that affect you as an independent?
We all have been experiencing the end of an archaic business model since Black Tuesday in the 90's. That has not affected PDC directly, because we are not musically or lyrically voiced like the Brentwood, TN Christian music machine. It has affected the signed, major label, artists I have worked for. Of course, had things remained unchanged, I would not be where I am, doing PDC. I would be mixing on the road.
There are many stellar indie artists and bands making incredible music, selling millions of records, selling out shows in arenas, theaters and halls within 24 hours...all completely under the radar. "Dream Theater" and "Porcupine Tree" are specific examples. They demonstrate that we do not have to sell out to sell out. We are inspired by these two bands and their success as indies.
9. Where do you think the music industry will be in 5 years?
First the negative: I think the signed artist denomination will remain unchanged in form and function, with a smaller market share. It has been trending down for the past 10 years according to the RIAA, SoundScan, PollStar, etc.
Now the positive: I think the signed artist denomination will remain unchanged in form and function, with a smaller market share. The indie artist denomination will continue to grow. There are tons of open slots for really talented and authentic people. If we can deliver, we will have longevity. There has not been and probably never will be a new business model that will recreate the music business and be agreed upon by all of the industry’s components. This binds the giant monopoly and opens the doors of success to us.
The RIAA has been saying CD and record sales have been going down. But they are tracking their CDs, not the indies. CDBaby, Indieheaven and other indie sales engines have been shipping millions of indie CDs, records and tapes every year. The market continues to grow. Indie artists will continue to net more per disc/download than signed artists.
10. Any final thoughts?
Thanks for keeping Indieheaven going. It is getting better all the time. It is a good mechanism to facilitate sales and self-promotion. As the industry continues to implode on itself, I bet you will see more established artists coming over as well.
WEBSITES:
Learn more about Project Damage Control and their new project over on their Indieheaven Profile
Project Damage Control Website
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