Sheesh...

All this LOF promo is getting to me...I get sucked into the whole AOR thing and forget how much of the current AOR I just don't like...I need to cleanse the palet with some Rainbow or Soundgarden or something...haha!

LOL.

You know, Rainbow sounds like a good choice..."In Concert" will cure whatever ails you....

You know, I've never heard that album...I've heard songs from it on podcasts, etc, but never the whole album.

I broke out Tiny Music earlier and now Letters...

Plus I bought the new issue of Uncut w/ a cool John Lennon article and sampler CD...

I don't know what is wrong with me. I have something I can do well, better than a lot of other people, and I have no interest in doing it. All I want to do is sit with my bass, keyboard & drum machine and make weird songs...even if I don't sing them or sing them well or traditionally...

The whole AOR scene is fucked. "Fans" cannot be pleased. They only want what they already like or have, unless you actually give it to them...then they don't want it and bitch about it. Like other underground scenes, there are too many bands, too many labels, too many "journalists" and armchair music "critics" looking for handouts.

I think once I get done with my current Metal project, I'm swearing off "the scene" for a while...just make weird music & give it away or something...haha! Scene politics suck...

I'm thinking of quitting my band, LINE OF FIRE.

Several reasons, some shallow, some normal. I have told many people that we were never supposed to make more than one album. It was supposed to be a one-off novelty project and nothing more. But the reaction was so good on the first one (relative to the size of the scene) that we decided to do a second one. That one was extremely frustrating and took over 4 years to complete.

I'll see if I can explain some of my reasons and let you guys tell me if I'm being stupid or not (since I for the most part leave LOF at the door when I come here).

- like I said, we were only supposed to do one album. I like what we did, but I never had this burning desire to do AOR forever and ever. I like Journey and Boston and wanted to make a record that sounded like that...now I've made two...I don't have a huge deisre to do any more. But then there is Nikki (my partner) and Thomas (new guitarist) who are keen on doing more. I don't want to let them down, and I don't want to go back and forth, but I feel like if I'm forced to keep LOF going, it'll just make me sad, I think. I've "been there, done that" and want to move on now.

- the fans in this scene are really annoying. I know Metal fans can be annoying too, but people in the AOR/Melodic Rock scene are a few degrees worse. They're never happy, never satisfied, yet always want new albums from old bands. They'll clamor and cry for years for <band> to reunite and make a record, then when it happens you'd think it was the worse piece of shit ever to hear their reactions. Then new bands can't catch a break because the old bands keep putting out albums for people to bitch about. The fans would rather drop $15 on the new Journey or new Nelson and bitch about it than spend money on new bands. This one is kinda lame, I know...but it irks me and makes me want to walk away.

- music in general is not exciting me very much any more. I still love and listen to my favorites, but when I try to get into newer bands or even older albums I missed the first time around I get nothing past the initial "cool, never heard this before" thing. There are about 10 bands that I rotate through generally that keep me pretty happy. Out of those 10, there are probably only 2 or 3 that I would care about any new music from. The only way making any more music will excite me is if I am making something other than LOF music (or even Metal music) at all...

- the whole music industry thing, even at my low level, is frustrating. The whole time we were making the newest LOF album, I watched as everyone around the band was getting paid while the band (ie Nikki and I) were paid nothing. I don't make music for the money, and never really have. I understand that at this level, making an outdated form of music, there is really no money to be made in writing and playing your own music. But when I saw the engineers, the guest musicians, the artist/layout guy, the mixing studio, the mastering studio, and the pressing plant all getting paid to participate in the making of my album while I and Nikki saw nothing, it was a little bit deflating. There is no money in making your own music. I've been paid for singing on other things (2 albums with Liberty N Justice and recently I did all the lead vocals for the new Talon album...all of which paid me a little something), but the thing I put the most work into yields me nothing. If I'm going to work hard on something and not get paid for it, I'd rather it be something I have a little more passion for.

- the label spent so much on the new LOF because of old band members and delays, that he may not recoup. He's willing to get behind a 3rd LOF album but only if we can drastically slash the budget (which is already pretty small). The label is a Metal/Hardcore label and other bands float it, which is the only reason he puts any money at all into LOF. He recouped on the debut, but barely and this one is not looking good. I don't know if I want my friend putting money into something he's not going to get back...I feel bad that he may lose money on this one. We just have a handshake deal, he has no obligation to us, but he stuck with us for 4 years while all the crap happend with the second album and STILL put it out for us...I don't want to burden him any more with LOF than I already have.

- recently, as in just the last 3 months, a Journey tribite band popped up 90 minutes away from me calling itself Line Of Fire. I found out because they are booking shows in my area and my friends were texting me asking if it was me. Anyway, I emailed the guy heading it up, seeing if he would be open to maybe choosing a different name, and he shot me down. He just chose the name 3 months ago. I've had it for 7 years and made 2 albums under the name. I've worked hard for 7 years pushing the band name and the music and getting it known and here comes a cover band copping my name. Shame on me for not trademarking it, I know. To make matters worse, he said he did research first and he did see my bands websites and saw we were close by, yet he chose to use it anyway and is basically telling me "I'm playing shows and you're not, so tough luck." What a prick. Honestly, if the situation were reversed I'd change my name without hesitation. Its just the honorable thing to do, IMO. He conceded to promising me that they would always be billed as "Line Of Fire: A Tribute To Journey" and never just "Line Of Fire" to avoid confusion (and they used modified Journey artwork), but its still extremely frustrating.

- the whole social networking side of marketing is just horrible. I do most/all of the promotion for my band and having to schmooze to shallow music "fans" and online radio is humiliating. I feel like I have to, because Matt @ my label paid a lot of money to put my record out and I want him to make some of it back. So I go on Facebook and Add/Like all this crap that I really don't just to network more in hopes of selling a couple more CDs for him...I feel so fake doing that.

I'd rather sit in my house writing songs on my own and giving them away to my friends than have to keep going through the motions of making more LOF stuff. If I'm ultimately doing it for free, why not do it my way?

Sounds like your heart isn't into it anymore. And from the sounds of it, you're not walking away from a big pile of money or a chance to tour the world, so why do it? You're not into the promotion portion either, so what's stopping you from walking away from it?

You've listed a bunch of "cons". Any "pros" to compare?

Pro's would be:

- the privilege of being able to make albums (most musicians don't get to)
- having more than one album under the same band name (LOF has 2 now)

That's about it...

You have to do what is your in heart and on a personal level I am not a fan of AOR music with the exception of usual suspects in the genre such as Journey, etc, but I liked what I heard of the album and I will purchase a copy of the album after the holidays.

I do not think your reasons are shallow at all they seem to be well thought out.

Thanks Manny...

Oh, and by the way, you can get Momentum for $10.99 for the whole month of December from Tribunal's E_Store...

http://tribunalrecords.bigcartel.com/artist/line-of-fire

Pretty cheap...