Week 131:Building A Mailing List. NEW VIDEO. Free Download. House-Parties.

Hi Guys

I'd like to thank you for showing interest and despite the rain, coming to my 1st official gig at Pipiolo bar! It was wonderful to have a full house in such an intimate atmosphere. I hope that those that couldn't make it will get to the next gig.

I have a local mailing list which I'm building to inform music lovers of gigs, local venues, local bands I'm collaborating with. Please sign up on www.redeyezack.com. Or JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
Our monthly Newsletter also has the latest news of Gigs, videos, new songs, competitions, free downloads.

I'd very much like your support & look forward to performing new songs for you.

I'm looking to do Non-Traditional gigs & Houseparties. Drop me a line if you know any unconventional venues or you'd like to help me organise a gig for your friends. Email me at: redeyezack@gmail.com

My first free gig was at Teteria Salterio. At the end of the gig I collected a dozen email addresses. It's important to build a local following as the internet attempts to make us all global right from day one. I still need time to develop the craft of songwriting and performing live in front of a local audience. That's why I've chosen to play at small locations, house parties. 

By playing these, I'll be able to get real feedback on the songs and interact with the audience. Afterwards it may be possible to organise a gig in bigger venues, but they usually want you to rent the venue & bring people. 

As an artist starting out, this is too much to expect. I'd rather play a free gig in a place where the venue have their regular clients and bring people so I can expose my music to them, rather than paying to rent a venue and wondering if I'm not going to be able to bring enough people (thereby losing money).

One way to build a fanbase is to offer a free exclusive download in return for an email address. I've just added this to my homepage (see link above). 

This summer I'll be keeping you in touch with my travels, as I look for festivals and start recording my 1st EP.

Let me know if you have plans to visit Barcelona! :)

PLJ

Zack aka RedEyeZack

Week 115: Seeking Small Venues to Perform In

Hi Music Lovers! On Tuesday Jan 8th, I went to check out a bar in Gracia called 'Alfa‎ Bar'.

C/ Gran De Gràcia, 36. 08012 Barcelona. Tel: 934 15 18 24

The Band Out of Water formed by guitarist Gustavo Aguado (from the BAMM meetup group last week) had a gig and I decided to go and support him while checking out the venue. It was a curious mix of influences with a strong vocal performance coming from their female Jazz style vocalist (reminded me a bit of Alanis Morisett). Los pianistas Ariana Carreras y Toni del Amo y la cantante Itziar Sánchez.

The band members had their own influences with Piano and keyboard players. The venue was a good size to play for 50-80 people. The stage is lifted, so there is a distance between the audience and the performers onstage. I loved the lighting and decor, looks like a really cool place to take pics!

 As you can see, the entrance there is a bar for those who want to chat and the stage is further into the bar. There was a medium to large size mixing desk and engineer on hand.

 It was quite a dazzling looking set, maybe an idea to take live video promotion in future for one of my tracks.Love the old records on the ceiling!

Its been a busy week and I've been to 4 venues. I'm checking out the local music scene and looking for places to play. I'm in the process of also meeting the local music talent and getting to know some great bands.

Gracia seems to be the place that has a lot of small places I could play an intimate set. Informal and laid back. On Friday I decided to get fit again but avoid the gym, so I went dancing! Salsa. In fact there was a Cuban live band "Habana con Kola" Meetup event. It was nice to be able to have a social evening, let off steam and get into the latin rhythm, great fitness solution:))

On Saturday evening I ventured into a bar called L'Astrolabi in Gracia (Carrer Martinez de la Rosa 14, Bcn, Spain). It was a curious place, with a small room at the back for Unplugged performances.

Lidia Uve played unplugged in Gracia. When I say unplugged, I mean really unplugged, no speakers, no microphone, a tiny room with people sitting on the floor at the feet of the artists in the corner of the room. Standing room near the entrance from the bar and seating against the wall. I hadn't seen this since the last home party with my flatmate Moez in Brighton.

Have a great week!

PLJ

Zack a.k.a. RedEyeZack 

TOP 5 PREVIEWS:

Choose your Top 5 from my list of song demos: Previews on Artist website