Gig Etiquette Pt. 2 - Song Requests

Requests can be fun. Requests can also be jalapeño-soaked, sautéed hell on a stick.

There are a few key points to keep in mind when making requests of a performer that will ensure the likelihood of you hearing your fave song and (hopefully) avoiding said performer berating you from the stage immediately prior to burying a microphone stand in your ear canal.

I don't need to be tipped for each and every request, but it sure is nice when that happens! I really dig almost all the songs I know how to play, and am more than happy to play them when requested... though every time someone asks for "Sweet Caroline", I die a little inside.

Here are 10 tips to help make the most of your song request:

1 - Please don't make a request while I'm singing. Yes, this happens. Often. If my mouth is open, and my vocal chords are vibrating, how is it that you expect me to answer you when you keep repeatedly shouting "Do you know any BODEEEEEANS???!!". Think, darlin'.

2 - Please don't make a request if you're smashed drunk. The sloppy-slurred request for "that song that goes duhduhduh-duhduh-duh... you know?" is about as welcome as a rabid ferret in my shorts. UNLESS you're laying down an insanely huge, monstrously sizeable tip. Currency covers all manner of sins at a gig. This one is often very closely related to the next one:

3 - Know the song you're going to request. "We had it played at our wedding... umm... gee... what was that... it's my favorite Bob Dylan song of all time... or was it Pat Boone? Could have been Denver Stevens. Is that his name? It's something about a horse and time travel in Alabama I think... you know?"

4 - If I say I don't know it, I don't know it. I enjoy playing people's requests, I really do. If I say I don't know how to play "Welcome to the Jungle", I'm not lying to you. Why would I? And every time you say, "Oh come on, you know it! Uh-huh... you do too... just play it!", you're only making me contemplate how wonderful it would be to possess the ability to make others spontaneously combust. As referenced in #2, singing/humming/duh-duh-duh-ing part of the song is equally pointless.

5 - Keep it realistic. Asking for anything that's actually received radio play is your best bet. Asking for an artist's deep cuts is less likely to get a positive result... not something I'd recommended making a habit of, but you never know. And asking for that b-side from the Live in Tokyo disk that was only available as an 8-track bootleg from their tour in 1973... there's a good chance that I'm imagining your head as a fireball again.

6 - Tip accordingly. If you've asked for a ton of songs over the course of the night, and the guy (or gal) at the mic has managed to play most of them, you'd better be dropping some legal tender with someone besides Lincoln or Washington on it in their jar.

7 - Put a cap on it. Do you really want to hear a certain song, or is the act of making a request somehow thrilling in and of itself? Making a request between each song I play is bad. If you stop me from moving to my next song to just sit and go, "Hmmm... wait a minute... ummm... (turning to the person next to you) what's a good song? Let me think for a minute..." Flame on.

8. Don't give me a hard time if I don't know it. I know over 300 songs (and counting). I simply don't have time to learn everything there is. Also, everyone has artists they can't stand, myself included. My apologies if you love someone I'm not fond of, but I just can't bring myself to listen to Neil Young or learn a song by some Cat who supports religiously-motivated hits on people.

9. Keep it in style. Do I really sound like I would do Korn or Slipnot? Pink? Taylor Swift? Sit down.

10. Don't request the same song multiple times. Yeah, you might love "Layla" so much you want to hear me play it back to back until the gig ends, but that doesn't mean everyone else that's listening feels the same way. Think of others. Other people... and other songs.

I hope this helps. Feel free to print this out and take it with you the next time you're venturing out for an evening of live music. You'll be requesting like a pro before you know it.

Music 101: Pt. 1 - Your Favorite Band Sucks.

We've all said this at one point or another. Somebody mentions an artist they saw butcher a classic tune on the Grammy's, Disney releases another pop tart starlet while she's still in the womb, you see some college fratboy with an ankle tattoo of his favorite jam band, Justin Timberlake comes on the radio, and out it comes... "That musician/band/artist/charlatan/entertainer SUCKS!"

Tempting though it may be to say this, it's incorrect.

I could go into all the P.C. crap about diversity and how boring the planet would be if we were all the same, yada yada... whatever. I think I threw up a little just typing that. There's still a tinge of it in my right nostril. But I digress...

So here are the rules. You can dislike a style, song, artist, producer, or even misspelled album liner notes. You can even downright HATE all of the above, but you have to give your own (good) reasons and not just blanketly say something sucks or else you'll you sound like an imbecile who is secretly going home and listening to those Miley Cyrus albums you are openly condemning to the public. Ya dig?

For example:

BAD - ZZ Top sucks. (blasphemy, by the way)
GOOD - I hate ZZ Top because I can't stand blues-based rock songs with sexual innuendo. I also have an intense fear of facial hair.

BAD - Ashley Simpson sucks.
GOOD - Lip-syncing chicks who have no musical talent or skill and yet get on Saturday Night Live because of millions of dollars spent on over-producing their albums thanks to their dad's pandering of their eldest sister to Sony execs for that daughter's music career turn my stomach.

BAD - The Beatles suck.
GOOD - I need to find a place to hide this body of the guy who said "The Beatles suck."

You get the point.

True, I have been guilty of this more times than I care to admit (and will very likely violate this rule again in the future... probably the next time I hear Neil Young), but let's give this our best effort, ok kids?

Influential Albums: King's X - Ear Candy

If you happen to be either:

A) a Christian who digs heavy rock music, or

B) a major, major, raging, music geek

you know who this band is. For everybody else... allow me to introduce you to King's X.

A power trio from the Midwest, these guys came to prominence in the late 80's / early 90's as a quasi-hair metal group with a dash of proselytizing fervor (or so it seemed).

They eventually garnered a major label deal on Atlantic thanks to their growing cult fan base which was fueled by heavy grooves, Ty Tabor's guitar virtuoso solos, and Doug Pinnick's soulful, Hendrix-conjuring vocals.

At times bluesy, at times full-throttle rock, occasionally experimental, and often laden with Beatle-esque harmonies throughout, the group was a musician's dream, but were always seemingly just out of reach of the general public's acceptance.

After a few releases, the band was paired with über-producer Brendan O'Brien for their album Dogman. That disk was HEAVY... tuned down to D, then dropped another half-step across the board, and engineered to make the bass rattle your internal organs loose.

They played on major network late night TV shows, they toured endlessly with future Seattle grunge movement super stars, and they even had a primo spot on the bill at Woodstock '94. Yet this disk, ground-breaking as it was, kept with their previous history of being too far ahead of their time to do them any good in the present. Though without question, almost every heavy rock band thereafter followed the Dogman playbook line for line.

Then... silence. For years we all wondered what these guys were up to. Rumors circulated, conspiracy theories abounded about why they cut their hair, and most of their Christian fans gasped in horror when they heard the report that the new album had the F-word on it somewhere (even though it wasn't true).

And then out of nowhere, Ear Candy dropped. I listened to this for the first time in a back bedroom at my grandmother's house through some headphones. Upon that initial listen, I thought these guys had finally done it... there were undeniable, unquestionable radio hits on this disk. Their day had finally come.

"Lookin' for Love" would be the smash hit of the year on rock radio, "Mississippi Moon" would be their crossover chart-topper, and "A Box" would be played at high school proms across the land. "Sometimes", "The Train", and "Thinking & Wondering" were also songs I could see getting some airtime at that point in the melting pot of what was "Alternative Modern Rock Radio".

Yeah right... Atlantic Records pulled the funding for the marketing & promotion, the disk sank like a rock, and none of these tracks ever saw the light of day on mainstream radio. Then Atlantic promptly dropped them from the label. Gasp. (sarcasm)

A lot of King's X fans will tell you their best album was their 2nd disk, Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, but unless you like a monsoon of Aqua Net and spandex on your lead singer, and all that goes with it, disregard that info. This album is where it's at. Some of the best songwriting and performing that came out of the entire decade of the 1990's is found on these 13 tracks (Ok... "67" is just freaking weird, I admit, but it grows on you).

This was, in my mind, the pinnacle of King's X's career. After this it seemed like the air went out of the tires. The albums became more obviously thrown together, Doug changed his name to Dug and came out of the closet and completely recanted his faith (which turned off more than a few of the Christian rock crowd), and the high quality of songwriting and performing began to fade. But this album is still a gem among my collection.

It's got all the goods. Lyrics, melody, musicianship, intensity, sensitivity, and a song called "American Cheese". What more could you ask for?

Don't own it yet? Listen & buy it here:

   

Hello God This Is Gregory Hyde

The new album is finished.

Many people (myself sometimes included) thought this day might never come. But after nearly 3 years of working on this recording, not to mention years before that were spent in efforts just to get the project started, I can finally say this recording is completed.

Stick a fork in it. It's done.

The official release date is April 17, 2010.

Preorder now!!!:
Gregory Hyde CDs

Musician Tip #1: Merch First

Yeah, I know this doesn't seem like a very deep insight. But its simplicity is the very reason many musicians overlook its importance: Set up your merch before anything else.

The moments before a show can be anything from an energetic, anticipation-filled, adrenaline ride to a neurotic, sweating, pray-your-bowels-hold, nervous breakdown. And chances are, every performing musician will experience both more than a handful of times.


So it's easy to get lost in the panic or excitement compounded by the avalanche of other distractions (loading in through the kitchen, bad sound check, no sound check, bi-polar club manager, last-minute equipment failures, wardrobe malfunctions, etc.).

But this IS important. I can't remember how many times I've had people walk up and buy a CD of mine before a show... without even having heard me. Sometimes an intriguing CD cover or display is enough to win a few people over, and there are always some people who just like taking a gamble on a new artist (I LOVE these people).

If I was more concerned with grabbing a drink before my set, chatting up the other artists on the bill, going overboard tweaking amp settings and effects, or was doing anything other than taking the time to set up my CD display, that would've been one less sale (sometimes more), and potentially one less fan, which can ultimately turn into many more fans.

Priorities: Merch first. Then the show.

Gig Etiquette Pt.1 - Freebird!!!

NEVER yell "Freebird!!!" at a live performance. Ever.

You may think you're being funny, but you're actually ruining people's lives.


Seriously. Imagine if each day you went to work, some... person told you the exact same "knock, knock" joke at some point. You don't know exactly when he's going to wander over and destroy your faith in humanity with his sad, pathetic attempt at humor, but it's gonna happen. Might drive you crazy after the 700th time, don't you think?

You're that guy.

Truth of the matter is that I hear this at almost every show I play. This gag is more tired than the "stopping a wedding to tell the bride she should be with me instead" ending of a romantic comedy movie. Notice how the only people who still chuckle at this are the inbred d-bags who yell it?

I've had people call it out who didn't even know the song once they started to hear some of it (because they cheered when I said, "OK", and started to play an obscure Waterdeep track). Someone once was so tactless they called it out before a memorial service I played. I've even had some guys at shows who were so socially retarded they called it out between every single song I played (yes, this has happened WAY more than once).

Stop it. Forever.

For a more humorous insight into this from a gentleman who is also a performing musician, I now leave you with this blog post from my buddy, Les Hodge:

There are some things that will always make me laugh no matter how many times I hear them. It's really rare for a joke to have longevity, because surprise is a keystone of comedy. Nope, it takes a great story, or a running joke that is so funny it hearkens (that's right, I said 'hearkens') you back to the first time you heard/experienced the gag to keep you laughing for an extended period of time. If you're a band you can keep playing your hit song your entire career, but if you're a comedian you have to constantly update your material or no one will pay to see you. Imagine if Letterman was still using the same jokes he used a year ago? Wait, that's a bad example. Anyway, you know what I mean.

So last night, I was playing a show at Crow Creek when it happened

I'm sorry. I had to take a break because I'm laughing just THINKING about it. Right between two songs some guy; some genius... yells out "FREEEBIRD!"

Oh.

My.

God.

Of course, the entire bar just erupted. There were people on the floor, people were high-fiving, an older gentleman reminisced about how some guy yelled out Freebird at another show he was at... We briefly took a hard look at just tearing down our P.A. and heading home. How were we gonna top that? The people came to be entertained and they got what they paid for. Alas, somehow, we pulled ourselves together and finished our set.

Later, as the Freebird guy was leaving, I gave him an appreciative nod as if to say "Thank you. I know that you weren't the first guy to yell "freebird," and you won't be the last, but every time is unforgettable. Even if we never meet again, tonight is something we will always share."

Your ways are mysterious, Freebird man. How do you make it to so many shows? Is there a meeting every night at 6 pm, where a small group of comedy sultans pour over an Urban Tulsa picking out shows to bless with your golden nugget of hilarity? My gut says no. It's something more... organic than that. Spiritual. You just tucked your dirty polo shirt into your jean shorts, fastened that braided belt, and headed out. You had no idea you'd be the Richard Pryor of Crow Creek Tavern. But sometime after your fifth High-life and your ninth GPC, it welled up inside you... like a fire. And then you let that sweet gem pass out from beneath your sans-irony mustache and into comedy immortality.

I know I speak for every musician I know when I say thank you, and keep em' comin.' We love when you 'help us out.' If laughter truly is the best medicine, you sir are the cure for what ails me.