Who says you can’t make $ in the Music Biz?
May 1, 2010 Know the Band
As indie artists we are always looking for opportunities to make a living anyway that we can. But who knew that the tactics for domain squatting that worked so well on the net would work so well for band names?
Exit Through The Gift Shop – the name of a band and also the name of famous UK Graffti Artist Banksy’s new film project.
(was Banksy recently tagging in the San Francisco Mission? Read this post from Mission Mission)
The band agreed to rename themselves “Brace Yourselves” and in return received via van a Banksy original appraised at $300K!
Check out the full story on Hypebot.
Anyone working on a film entitled “The Whitehalls” should contact us immediately!!
Karmacoda show
Feb 27, 2010 Know the Band
Drew and I went to see our producer B play with his electronica band Karmacoda last night at Harlot in San Francisco. It was a terrific show – great crowd, great venue, great visuals and great music.
I don’t really have any ground-breaking comment to make except that you should check them out: www.karmacoda.com
More vox
Jan 29, 2010 Know the Band
I was out at the studio on Tuesday night to do more work on the backing vocals, now that Drew has finished lead vocals. B and I were able to get through five songs, to add to the two I’ve already done. Four to go, then we’ll all take a listen to what we have so far, decide what else needs to be recorded and push to get it all done.
One thing that was really interesting was to listen to the work that B had done on Drew’s vocals. It is no secret that everyone corrects pitch on pro recordings these days, and we’re no different. Usually you can’t hear the results, but what I heard on Tuesday sounded a bit… odd. After talking it through for a while, it turned out that the cause of the unusual nature of the edited vocals was in fact some extra heavy compression. Things sounded fine with either the compression or the pitch correction, but both together made for an unnatural effect. They are after all doing the same thing, smoothing out the track. Compression smooths the dynamics (volume) whilst auto-tune smooths the pitch. When it sounds too smooth, it sounds unnatural. The solution was to dial back the compression, and now it sounded terrific.
It was really enjoyable to work with B on the problem-solving process – I always learn such a huge amount whenever I’m working with him, and we’re incredibly lucky to have him at the helm of this project.
Listen (or download) songs from The Whitehalls debut CD!
Jan 29, 2010 Know the Band
Here’s few songs from our debut CD, “Say It Like You Mean It”
(we’re in the studio recording the follow up CD right now!)
Click the big arrow on the left to play the song – click the download button on the tracks if you like them!
Drew gets a new toy
Jan 16, 2010 Know the Band
Drew and I spent an afternoon last week playing with his new Christmas present, a Line6 audio interface. After years of recording his song ideas on a Walkman with a built-in mic, it was time to move into the 21st century, and the Line6 allows him to connect a mic, guitar or other electronic music device to his shiny new HP laptop.
I’d bought one last month and found it to be awesome, so I knew Drew would benefit from it. He’ll now be able to develop his songs much more than just having a rough vocal and acoustic guitar part recorded on a crappy Walkman.
Here’s a pic of how my dining room table looked whilst he was getting his training on digital audio recording. My wife was momentarily stunned to see four laptops there at one point…
The Whitehalls & SVR Rocks raise over $27K for Music in Schools Today!
Dec 31, 2009 Know the Band, Shows
Earlier this month The Whitehalls were asked to participate in a benefit at GAMH doing a little to give back to Music and Music Education.
I’m pleased to report that the Silicon Valley Rocks Benefit raised more than $27,000 for Music In Schools Today!
We had a great time playing this show and it’s fantastic to see that the effort of all the bands, sponsors, and people involved in pulling this off had a nice result.
Drew in his Dylan pose...
More pictures from that night are available here
- Drew, Neil, PJ, Bill
The Whitehalls tell all!
Dec 3, 2009 Know the Band, Pics, Shows
Well ok – we’re maybe not quite telling all…
But if you want to know about what makes The Whitehalls tick read this interview posted on the Silicon Valley Rocks blog in preparation for our upcoming show at the Great American Music Hall on Dec 9th!
It’s for a great cause, at a great venue, with great bands!
Hope to see you there!
- Drew, Neil, Bill, PJ
Meet the Whitehalls!
Sep 7, 2009 Know the Band
Well it finally happened – the band you know and love as Heathrow had to make a change.
As much as we loved the name Heathrow it was starting to be more than just a nuisance and had moved into becoming an obstacle.
I’m sure many of our friends and fans have searched iTunes & CD Baby for us and been surprised when they listened to the Heathrow tracks that they found – “that doesn’t sounds anything like Drew!”
Or maybe you search for photos on Flickr and found yourself wondering when Drew started wearing cowboy hats and leather (nope – that’s The Heathrow Band from AZ).
So with a bit of a heavy heart, but with more excitement over making it easier for us to reach our fans, I’d like to introduce you to the band formerly known as Heathrow:
say hello to:
The Whitehalls!
- Drew, Neil, Paul, Bill
