383 Stroker. Where do I begin? They are one of the best acts I have heard in a long time. They have that unexplainable factor that is missing from so many bands that are so close, but not quite there.
Sometimes I see bands/singer-songwriters I have interviewed for a zine on television, I point and shout 'Woo! I interviewed them!', and that will no doubt happen with 383 Stroker. Doc answered some questions for us in late January about recording You Keep Yours, the album that is getting these four guys much deserved acclaim, promo plans, the Urban Noise Vol. 1 - Traffic Compilation, Apple iTunes, songwriting, and a little of this and that.
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And now, a history lesson… 383 Stroker made their first recording after being together for just a few months, the track was featured on a compilation called Kill the Rock Star. Naturally, it was the most talked about song on the comp. Kelvinator was their second go at recording, a full length made on a ˝" 8-track in a friend's basement. Doc describes it as 'probably one of the best experiences of my life'. 'Fun, no pressure and just a group of friends fucking around and trying to make a really cool record. I think we succeeded. It was raw, real and really captured everything that band was about back then. I think that's why it got all the accolades it did and why it got us national distribution.' Jersey Whore was the follow up to 'Kelvinator', and the educational experience that lead them to later create their current release, You Keep Yours. 'Recording You Keep Yours was sort of a roller coaster. When you're an indie band you have to beg borrow and steal to get a record made', he says. Even with all the positive reviews of their first recording on the comp, and of Kelvinator, they felt it could have been better still. 'Even though they got great reviews, and one was licensed for national distribution, going into making the new record we were still feeling that we never made the album we thought we were capable of.' 'We started out looking for a studio that could give us the balance we were looking for', he notes, and the hunt begins. 'basically, give us professional equipment to work with and a |
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The promo for You Keep Yours is being helped along by an independent promo company. Doc's thoughts on hiring them, 'we've hired an independent promotions company to work the record to national commercial specialty radio. It's almost impossible to get good radio play nationally without someone who has a relationship with the stations constantly calling and pushing your record.'
'We're hoping to get some charting positions to build a little more "buzz". We've also sent a mailing to national and regional magazine's and fanzines to get reviews. We've been getting some great reviews including The Big Takeover which is one of our favorite magazines', he adds.
In addition to promoting You Keep Yours, 383 Stroker are also on a new comp, Urban Noise - Vol. 1 - Traffic. He describes, 'it's a compilation of some of the best up-and-coming bands in the New York City scene and it's doing really well right now at college radio. It was the #2 most added cd to college stations around the country its first week out and is #154 on the CMJ top 200 and climbing. We're doing a show at CBGB this month to promote it and it's attracting a lot of industry attention.' On comps in general, 'comps are a great way to promote for indie bands if you can get yourself on a good one. It allows all the bands to pull their resources and split promotion costs and really work to help each other.'
On how they got on the comp, Doc explains, 'well, we hooked up with a band named Stellar Tuesday from NYC. Great guys and we were swapping shows....you get us on one of your shows, well get you on one of ours kind of thing. They had a friend who was putting together this comp and was so excited about it. You know, seven bands split the cost of everything and everyone works together to promote everyone. He really put together some great bands...not just musically, but just great guys. No egos, everyone really doing what they can to promote everyone.'
It seems Doc almost forgets to tell me about their upcoming video, 'oh, and we're also in the process of making a video. One of the great things about building a buzz around a release is you get contacted by people like this guy who contacted us saying he's starting a production company and wants to produce a video for us...*free*!! He's done work for ESPN and MTV as an editor and now wants to get into directing and producing videos. So we help him out by building up his portfolio, and we get a free pro quality video to shop to indie video shows and hopefully MTV2. Like I said...beg, borrow and steal!'
But you (points) don't have to steal, you can get 383 Stroker tracks at *all * those new 'legal online download' sites. All set up by CD baby, something Doc obviously appreciates, 'that guy is really just one of the best things to happen to indie artists. He created his CD baby site which we've sold our cds through since the first one, and now he worked a deal with *all* the legal online download sites to distribute the independent artists. So we had to pay a small fee to CD baby for doing the leg-work and in return we get our album on iTunes, Napster, MusicMatch and whoever else out there is offering legal downloads. It's really a great service.'
Songwriting in 383 Stroker is something that just sort of falls into place. Not something made out of an we're-going-to-write-a-song-now mode, but a spark from an idea that catches and grows into a new song. Doc explains, 'much of the time dennis, our singer, will come to rehearsal with a rough outline of something he was working on and we'll take his initial concept and build a song around his idea. Other times it will just happen in the course of jamming and it just ends up snowballing and before you know it you have a new song, and you don't even know how you got to where you got. We never set out to write a song for anything specific or any specific style. It's usually, whatever happens to come out that day comes out. I think that's one of the reasons people like the band. Every song doesn't sound the same and our influences are really all over the place.'
On the other creative front, I asked Doc about the priority given to artwork and other images used in promoting the band. He says, 'we think how you put yourself forward says a lot about the level your band is at and how ready you are to get to the next level. how does it go?..."you never get a second chance to make a first impression." That's pretty much our philosophy with everything we do. We write songs to please ourselves, but we understand that if we want to make a career out of making music, people have to enjoy it and we have to sell it.'
Being independent has it's upsides, but sometimes to get what you're after, a little help can be a great thing. When asked about whether one could remain independent and achieve success, Doc remarks, 'I think it's possible, but it's *a lot* of work. It's been done and is being done. You have to really work hard. The thing is, it takes money to make money in anything. And buying ads in magazines and getting the money together to get on the road and hiring promotions companies that can get your music on the radio nationwide...college or commercial...it's tough. Especially when major labels spend so much on promotion, it's really hard for an indie to compete...unless your last name is trump or something. The best advice is it to write great songs, don't give up and promote...promote....promote!'
383 Stroker are looking for label support, but they're being smart about it. Notes Doc, '…through experience, we know...usually bands don't get signed by sending a package to some A&R guy and he listens to the cd and says, "I want to sign you to a million dollar record deal!". It just doesn't happen in the rock world. You have to get out there. Build a following. Promote yourself. Write better songs. Hook yourself up with other bands in a scene. Get some radio play...b*build a buzz*!! Once there's a buzz and people are online talking about the band, there's reviews of the cd all over the place, you've got gigs lined up that you're promoting relentlessly...people will want to know more info and come out to see you. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.'
They're looking for a label that really feels 383 Stroker is going to achieve it's goals…the whole label, he explains, 'you can have the greatest a&r rep in the world...and if the promotions department hates you...you're dead.'
So now, they've achieved one major goal, of creating a great record they were all happy with, and going after another, being able to eat off the band. 'With this record we weren't thinking about anything except proving to ourselves that we could make a record that we were 100% proud of. In the past we'd finish a cd, give it to someone and be like..."hey just skip the second song because the mix got fucked up"...I can definitely say that we are 100% happy with every song on you keep yours and we accomplished our goal. Now we're just trying to build a buzz and draw some attention to ourselves. We obviously want what, I think, all indie musicians want....the ability to make a living playing our own music. Don't need to be on the next episode of "cribs". Just to be able to make a decent living would be perfect!'
I honestly believe they'll be eating off 383 Stroker before long. Just listen to a sample of some songs on their site and you'll be craving more.