Random Blog Post #6

Random Blog Post #6
This could have been another Bringing Back Boobs, Butts, and Feets post, but there’s not too much to mention on that front. Not that there’s a lot to report on anything specifically, but there are tidbits and tadbits about lots of different things. And that’s what these Random Blog Posts are for. Well, if they weren’t before, they are now, because I said so.

One cool thing is that the Tri-Rune t-shirts are arriving to everyone who ordered one. Excluding my own orders, I believe 4 were sold. I’ve been wearing my own swag for almost 10 years now, but this marks the first time anybody else has. It was a pretty short campaign; there was only an 11 day period where you could order one, and I don’t think I gave much of of a warning that they were coming. I wasn’t sure how many would sell, so the selling price turned out to be a little higher than they would have been had I known how many would have been purchased. The way Teespring works is that you have to make a certain amount of profit for them to even make the shirts. I set the price at $18, which would mean I’d have to sell at least 3 shirts for the campaign to be successful. I wasn’t even sure that many would have been bought up. If I was a more daring man, I would have set the price at, say, $17 or $16.

Anyway, I snagged one for myself and a few more just in case the opportunity arises to sell/get rid of them. Because of that, selling the shirts as a means to raise funds didn’t work at all. But even if all 8 shirts were bought by other people, I think I would have only been in the black by about $15 or something.

Speaking of money, Boobs, Butts, and Feets will definitely be the most expensive and time-consuming album I have released, and it’s not even close to being ready for release yet. I can just feel it. One reason is because…something I’ll announce later. The other reasons are simply because it will have more tracks than Punk Rebel Renegade or Heat Stroke has, and there’s also the fact that sprucing up all the tracks is so…crappy. I mean, I knew before I even started that it would be a long and tedious process, but yeah, it’s bad. But, like I think I mentioned previously, it’s kind of cool hearing some of the bad and alternate vocal and guitar takes after all these years. And I have found that doing all the necessary tasks to get the songs to sound good hurts a certain part of my brain. I’m so used to hearing them a certain way (bad), that my ears and grey matter can’t comprehend that the changes I’m making are actually for the good. Instead of everything being all crackly and blown out, you can actually hear everything, so it’s weird.

Those things are for-sure reasons why BBAF will be a big money and time sink. Other reasons may include doing a physical release of some sort and paid advertising. I’d love to do a small run of CDs, which means money upfront. And since I’m going to have to redo the album art anyway, I might as well design the rest of the jewel case art too. I ran some kind of advertisement on Facebook for Heat Stroke when it was released for a week or two. It seemed to attract one person who liked my page, but subsequently unliked it not too long afterwards. Maybe I’ll try Twitter next time.

Then there’s something I haven’t hyped to anyone (myself included) really, and that’s what would be my first live appearance. It’s in the guise of a talent show appearance, so I don’t know how long I’ll actually be able to play. Depending on how long I can do my thing for, it could be a full-blown performance. I’ve been practicing for weeks, and in preparation for it, I’ve purchased a new guitar amp, new microphones, a new microphone stand, and PA speaker stands. My biggest worry, more than potentially playing in front of more than a few people, is being outside. I don’t have stage monitors, and I’m concerned that I won’t be able to hear myself. There’s also the possibility that my small PA system won’t be loud enough, and other people won’t be able to hear me either. That’s where the speaker stands might prove their worth though. Hm.

Backing up on what I was talking about before: I’m pretty sure the release of Boobs, Butts, and Feets isn’t going to happen this year. I don’t want to rush it. I do want to get some package of songs ready to release in some manner by the end of the year though. And as far as shirts go, there will be a hooded sweatshirt made available via Teespring again in the next month or two. Summer is coming to an end, which means winter is coming to a beginning, which means it’s going to be cold, which means you need to wear heavier clothing, which means you might want to get a new sweatshirt.

And while I play Super Mario Maker some more, I’ll encourage you to visit the Rock Band Forum, specifically my Song-o-Matic thread, where you can request from me a mini-song. It’s fun.

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