ShrEdmonton Metal Festival and Conference provides info about recording & band promotion alongside gigs

Many bands out there surely often think of how to make progress. Where can I learn to record music properly? My budget is small but I want a good sounding recording. And once the stuff is done - what can I do to get the word out about our music? Questions that many may have come along on their way.

For fans in Canada's capitol Edmonton and the area around it there's a festival coming up that gives the chance to get information on some of the important topics. Besides that clinics will be offered to improve your musical abilities.
If you're not into making music don't skip this info too fast - there's a large number of gigs going on while the festival takes place so you may be pleased to check out some new bands. Here's what coming up:

SHREDMONTON Metal Festival and Conference taking place from Friday, May 6th to Sunday, May 8th.

Featuring over 20 bands over the course of 3 days at The Starlite Room and The Brixx Bar and Grill (same building), as well as a multi-room industry based conference located at the Shaw Conference Center.

The full line up consists of an ultra heavy hitting bill that includes headliners Dying Fetus, Acacia Strain, Jungle Rot, Black Crown Initiate,  Goatwhore, Finnish power metallers Thunderstone along with some of Western Canada's best including Disciples of Power, Planet Eater, Scythia, Tylor Dory Trio, Every Hour Kills among many more!

Plus clinics by Tylor Dory (Tylor Dory Trio), Tim Waterson and panels at the Shaw Conference Center on recording, photography, video production, publicity, media relations, journalism, and concert promotion / talent buying for festivals / venues with music industry professionals from across Canada (full conference schedule and list of industry reps here.)

ShrEdmonton Festival Poster 2016, (c) by ShrEdmonton Metal Festival, used with kind permission

The complete access pass for all events comes around for 120 CAD$ but there's the chance of attending single events for a small amount, see the list below for details.

Single Event Tickets:

Shredmonton Conference @ The Shaw Conference Center (Salon 4) - $30.00 (details below)

Seminars, discussions, and Q+A sessions with over 20+ industry professionals.

ShrEdmonton Conference and Line Up 2016: http://shredmonton.com/bands/

Venue: Brixx and Starlite Room (same building) (10030 102 St. NW.) 

Friday, May 6, 2016 @ The Brixx Bar and Grill - $20.00

5:30pm - Guitar Clinic (Tylor Dory)

6:30pm - Drum Clinic (Tim Waterson)

8pm - Spruce Moose

9pm - Armifera

10pm - The Dead Cold

11pm - Every Hour Kills

Friday, May 6, 2016 @ The Starlite Room - $30.00

8:15pm - Tylor Dory Trio

9:15pm - Trollband

10:15pm - With Malice

11:15pm - Quietus

12:15am - Disciples Of Power

Saturday, May 7, 2016 @ The Brixx Bar and Grill - $20.00

7pm - Juliet Ruin

8pm - Mongol

9pm - Shocker

10pm - Noire

11pm - Planet Eater

Saturday, May 7, 2016 @ The Starlite Room - $35.00

7:15pm - WMD

8:15pm - Mortillery

9:15pm - Sleeping In Traffic

10:15pm - Scythia

11:15pm - Thunderstone

12:30am - Goatwhore

-----Sunday, May 8, 2016 @ The Starlite Room - $35.00 

**TIMES APPROXIMATE** (Final times TBA)

5:00 pm - Exit Strategy

6:00 pm - Nylithia

7:00 pm - Black Crown Initiate

8:00 pm - Jungle Rot

9:00 pm - The Acacia Strain10:00 pm - Dying Fetus

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Conference Schedule: http://shredmonton.com/conference/ 

Saturday, May 7, 2016 @ Shaw Conference Center – Salon 4 (9797 Jasper Ave NW.)

Panelists and seminars will cover a wide range of skills, markets, and issues in the music industry and topics/agendas will be geared towards further educating the Canadian heavy metal scene about its inner workings. The main panel will feature an eye opening discussion on how the Alberta metal community can break down barriers, grow relationships, and become an internationally known destination where heavy metal thrives.

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10:30 AM Introduction

Tyson Travnik (President) and Robert Kreed (Vice President) of Prairie Fire Events, will be greeting you with a warm welcome to the conference and a summary of what is to be expected during the conference. You will also be introduced to the Master of Ceremonies for the conference, the one and only, Cory Bosse.

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11:00 AM  Recording and Live Production

Want to learn how to save money to record your next album? Still on that hunt for the “perfect” guitar tone? Want to get into recording or doing live sound professionally, but don't know where to start? Here's a chance to hear from professionals from around the globe, who will address these questions, and many more!

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12:00 PM  -  Photography and Videography

What makes a promo shoot, a GOOD promo shoot? What do you need to look for when shopping around for a photographer or cinematographer? What is the importance of the music video in today's industry, and what does it REALLY entail? Recognizable Alberta based professionals are here to help you find out.

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1:00 PM – Publicity/Media/Journalism  

What does it take to get “big and famous”? How do you grow your fan base? Is it really worth it to spend money on good publicity? These are key points (and more) which will be covered in this seminar.

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2:00 PM -  – Promotion/Talent Buying/Festivals/Venues

The “big granddaddy” of seminars that you won't want to miss. Addressing the current state of the western Canadian metal scene, and brainstorming what needs to be done as a community to improve it. Anything you've ever wanted to know about promoting events, metal festivals, promoters, or venues will be talked about. This segment will prove to be a huge eye opener for many, and will prove to inspire!

Instrumental Clinics

Brixx Bar and Grill (Included with Conference ticket and Shredpass)

5:30 PM – Guitar Clinic with Tylor Dory and Guests

Learn some of the wizardry behind some of Alberta's most iconic metal guitarists, and how to incorporate it into your own playing. Entertainment and education guaranteed!

6:30 PM – Drum Clinic with Tim Waterson

As one of the fastest double bass drum players in the world, watching Tim Waterson play is something that cannot be described, but has to be witnessed to be appreciated. Noting key points from his instructional DVD “Techniques, Motions and Applications for Bass Drum Playing", Tim will demonstrate how to improve a skill that has proven to be a notable backbone of heavy metal music.

For more detailed info on this event visit www.ShrEdmonton.com 
or add the Facebook page to your watch list to keep track for further updates.

Arcade Messiah show Split Screen video of recording sessions

These days artists are going to start working on new records much faster than in older times. I can remember that you had to wait for new albums much longer back in the 80's/90's. The internet wasn't around like it is in present days so there was no way you could pick up a first glimpse into the record.

Sometimes print megazines made a visit at the recording studios of the bands if they were able to and could listen to a few snippets every here and there. You could read about their journey to those studios and what they thought about the new material in the next issue. Now these days bands often reach out early to the audience and let them have a look into the new record already in a preview stadium.

One of these previews that just came out is of the instrumental metal project Arcade Messiah. The latest record II came out by the end of November 2015, you can check out a detailed review of the album here at a blog post of mine. These days John Bassett has already begun working on album three.

This video shows how he experiments with "(...) a slightly fuzzier sound on the guitars, and a different chain of effects. " as he explains in the description underneath the video. The cool thing is that he presents the stuff step by step. Each segment has been added separately merged together in a  split screen video.

Don't miss out the further creation process of the new album and start following Arcade Messiah today through Facebook or take a look at the homepage from time to time.

Interview with A Light Within

Short introduction

With this interview a new section on metalunderdogs is opened up. Here we'd like to talk to new, young and upcoming bands about their current or past releases and take a little look behind the scenes.

Today we had the pleasure to speak with Jeff from the band A Light Within. Recently we did a review of their first EP called "Preface" and now it was time to take a closer look upon this band. Hope you all enjoy this new section of the site. Please let us know in the comments below or drop a E-Mail with your suggestions. If you're interested in setting up a interview I'd appreciate a E-Mail as well. Thanks!

Band introduction / player

(c) A Light Within, used with kind permission

A Light Within, are a Post/Progressive Alt Rock band from Kansas City, MO USA. The band started as did so many other bands before, from the demise of the band members previous bands. With no planned direction, a bond was formed and a voice/sound began to develop and be defined. The first EP “Preface “ was recorded by the band in 2012 and was mixed by Kyle Brandt and released in 2013.

The EP is a concept based upon a reflection of one’s life as the end draws near. “Aged eyes gaze upon the vast ocean through the window in the living room. Attempts to recollect life start with what little is known of birth. As these memories strive to keep the lungs breathing, and the heart beating, they slowly trickle from the mind one by one; releasing the will of existence. As questions of life arise, so do questions of death; for the first has been experienced and the latter may be welcome.”. (These notebook pages contain substance of a persons mind, body, and soul while their time was spent on earth.)



The Interview

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Can you tell our readers something about the equipment you use? Is there something special in instruments you use to create the sounds that can be heard on "Preface"?

Thanks for wanting to know more about us. We appreciate the support. Our equipment is nothing out of the ordinary. Guitars, bass, vocals and drums. Our setups are somewhat different. For starters, we have too many pedals (don’t think that can ever be said). Each guitarist has a multitude of pedals, the bass has a good amount and Kyle, singer, uses a couple of pedals for his voice as well as a microphone made from a old school payphone. It’s these different sounds/elements that helped to create our sound.


Did you record the whole album for yourselves? Did you also create the package on your own? The recording has a fine quality!

Both Kyle and I (Jeff, guitar) have home studio setups and since we’re using ProTools, we can easily pass files back and forth. The drums and vocals were done in his studio and the guitars and bass were recorded in mine. Kyle spent many hours mixing, so it’s always good to hear that people like quality of the recording. We’ve both learned a lot since then and can’t wait to get to recording the new EP. I’m a graphic designer and enjoy having the chance to create an interesting package for our music.

(c) A Light Within, used with kind permission

Where do you get your inspirations from?

It’s really difficult to pinpoint where an exact inspiration comes from, I know this may be cliche, but inspiration is all around you, whether it be a sound, a smell or something you see. We’re are inspired by the music we listen to, the people in our lives, our heroes we look up to or just the way your dog looks at you. In practice someone may be fiddling around with an idea and 20 minutes later a song is born. Sorry to be so abstract.

Was there a discussion in the band before recording the EP about the lyrics or how did it come together? Who works on the lyrics anyway?

(c) A Light Within, used with kind permission

The music was mostly written before Kyle was officially in the band, well 2 partially written songs. We’d send him the ideas and he started doing vocal demos and had this concept idea that we all really liked and went with it. Kyle writes all the lyrics.

How is the songwriting going on? Is there one band member that comes around with a idea for a song or is it more done as a collaboration between all the band members? Do you often jam around to find new sounds?

We are pretty organic when it comes to songwriting. Someone may have an idea that they start playing and we jam on it and see where it takes us. We all work on ideas outside of practice, but there’s not one main songwriter, it’s a full on collaboration. We have a few complete song ideas for the next EP and have 2 more that partial thoughts that we’ll finish up to complete it. We started recording drums and we’re really excited to get this EP completed.

The numbers of the songs refer to pages. Why aren't they set in line on the EP, or is it just that the songs fit better this way on the record?

The songs are sequenced how they are because of the way they flow together. There wasn’t a plan on how to place them on the EP, it just felt right.

Is the artwork also somehow involved in the lyrical concept? The backside image of the inlay has some relation to them with the clock and the lyrics in them.

I had the main idea of the artwork completed in my head way before the songs were recorded. I added the clock as a design element to tie into the lyrical concept a bit more. And I thought adding the lyrics was just another layer/texture to add to the visual aspect of our package to coincide with the layering/textural aspect of our music.

What are your plans for the future? Can you already give a little sneak peek on how the lyrical concept of the EP will be continued on the next record?

Right now we are writing and recording our next EP, writing new ideas with our new(ish) bassist and just trying to build our audience and get as much exposure as we can. We are extending the concept of the 1st EP into this one as 2 of the songs were written around the same time as the songs on the 1st EP.

Are there plans to visualise the concept with animations or something else in upcoming shows of the band?

(c) A Light Within, used with kind permission

We did a small visual teaser before the 1st EP was done and we plan on doing another one once we get a song or 2 recorded for the 2nd one. Maybe even do a full lyric video or full concept video, that would be nice. We’ve also talked about projecting some sort of animations on top of us while we’re playing live. We like the whole idea of stimulating all of the senses.

Where does the band play next? I am sure many people would like to experience the songs in a live concert.

We’ve had a few shows in the last couple of months out of town and we play next at Californo’s in KC in June. Then we play in St. Joseph, MO in July at Cafe Acoustic and back in KC in Aug at the recordBar.

Can people out there book the band if they have a event/Open Air where they would like to see the band playing?

We’re definitely open to play anything. I really think our music would sit well in the festival setting, just something about the expanse of playing outside really fits well with our sound. We missed a chance to play the Euroblast festival last year by the skin of our teeth in an online voting competition. (Now that would have been something amazing to have been a part of) Thanks… visit us online at facebook.com/ALWaudio or alightwithin.bandcamp.com

Mob Rules liveconcert to be streamed for free

A quick but very important info: these years Mob Rules show @ Stadtfest Oldenburg live recording will be streamed and broadcasted on the following dates via Oldenburg Eins (local TV station here in northern germany but you can also watch it via the webstream, link at the end of this article)

11/10/2011. 20:45h and 0:45h
and

11/13/2011 16:30h

(All info is in german time except for the datestamp for which I use the american format)

Watch it here:

http://www.oeins.de/lokalsender/webtv.html