Knowledge Born

So Indie Rapper KB07 and I finally hooked up after a few years of initially talking about a possible collaboration. He reached out to me via a mutual friend, Ron (props!), about doing a dub version for an upcoming project of his. I was of coursed stoked and chose to remix/dub the track "Dead Willow Blues", which can be heard in its album version in the youtube clip below. KB07 is also voicing a tune over one of my beats called, "Impact Rhythm" and I will be releasing that via my mailing list so make sure you sign up at reverbnation.com/tommydubs

Party Bus to the Belly Up - Jan 7th

PARTY BUS!!!! Jan 7th to the Belly Up in Solana Beach leaving from Ocean Beach. $30 gets you a ride to and from the show, a ticket to the show and drinks on the bus.

We are playing 2nd of three bands and could not be more stoked. Pick up your ticket and admission on the bus through the paypal link below. This bus is filling up fast so don't wait till the last minute and find yourself driving alone...

Last Music Success in nine weeks Blog Post

OK so for the last 9 weeks I have been blogging weekly about the book "Music Success In Nine Weeks" in order to hopefully win a marketing campaign by Ariel Publicity. At first my intention was to win this thing and then I quickly saw how beneficial to my career following the weekly advice was. I am going to do this blog post in 2 parts: First I want to go over what I have accomplished over the last 9 weeks and Second I will address the 9th chapter of the book which is all about creating a continuum program.

A look back at 9 weeks:

• Came up with my pitch that I am stoaked on and is on my banner above
• Branded my social media and websites for uniform design and message
• Tripled the size of my mailing list
• Established a quality Newsletter
• Started a weekly giveaway of a brand new song made exclusive only to my mailing list
• Recorded 15 songs from start to finish that will all eventually be released to my mailing list and they will vote on which ones will be on my next album
• Gave an in depth interview on musicbailout.com
• Received play on the "best of Itunes" podcast Coverville
• Wrote a song for a fellow artist which is in heavy radio rotation
• Collaborated with artists in Buenos Aires, Barcelona and Brooklyn
• Played over 20 shows and have many high profile gigs booked
• Secured a top dubstep producer to remix one of my tracks for my upcoming release
• Worked with a college to get a free video shoot for my band the WATCHLIST which is almost done
• Had 6 free professional photo shoots
• Created a picture bio which has received great feedback
• Started reading and interacting with 12 blogs that specific to what I have going on musically
• Completed 95% of the WATCHLIST record
• Was mentioned in Citybeat (local mag) and sent press kits out to all markets within a 3 hour drive of Ocean Beach for CD reviews.
• Placed a song in an upcoming Indie Flick

Looking back I am proud of what I have accomplished by hustlin' and no matter what happens with this contest, I am moving forward at this pace.

Week 9: Creating a continuum program

The Ultimate goal for any musician is to be able to support themselves by doing what they love and if you look at the statistics in regards to people who actually can do this.... it is very dismal. That is why I love this book. The idea is not to get a gold record, but rather connect with a manageable amount of people who will support you in your career. When you realize you can achieve financial success by making 1000 true fans rather than 1 Million, your attitude starts to change and become more positive.

Right now I am giving away all my music, If you come to my shows you probably have seen me dumping boxes of CD's into the audience. I would rather my music be heard for free then ignored for a price. Hopefully that person I gave a disc too will listen to it, burn it for their friends and then come out to the shows... that is the goal.

Moving forward however, I will continue to build my fan base and start making things available ranging from low to high price. The idea I am most stoaked about is custom handmade merch made to order. I have been screening shirts, jackets, hoodies and other shit in my garage for years and in the near future I am going to offer this up to everyone on my mailing list. The idea is you can pick any article of clothing, any color of design and any location of screen and I will hand make them and ship them out. I don't know anyone who is doing this and I could not be more excited about it.

We are also talking about deluxe releases with video, posters, stickers and double discs that would be limited run and available in low quantities.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog series, I know its a little different to click on a bands website and see career goals and marketing tactics discussed, but it seems like everyone has enjoyed reading.

I have really learned what can be done if you put your mind to something and wanted to let all the fans know that I will be pushing forward at this pace for as long as I can. All I ask is if you enjoy my music, please share it with others that you think might as well. If you need a CD, hit me up and I'll get you one, If you want to help me... hit me up and we can figure something out and if you want to just enjoy.... do that too.

Much Love

Its the network - Verizon wasn't kidding

Week 8 In "Music Success in Nine Weeks" is all about networking which could arguably be the most important part of DIY promotion. This chapter talks all about promotion through business cards, Social Media and face to face interactions in a way to build your fan base and mailing list. These ideas come full circle with the idea of always increasing your list/fan base, but I want to touch on another application which I have seen tremendous results from lately.

Networking with other working musicians is a sure fire way to book better gigs, increase your fan base and supporters and increase your overall exposure. Great marketers and bands with quickly rising success are champions of this philosophy. I think a lot of times we (musicians/bands) are threatened by other musicians for many reasons including intimidation, fear of "sharing" fans/loosing listeners or just jealousy, but the plain and simple fact is bands that work together, promote together.

 I have always worked with other musicians but for some reason I kept that circle of influence to a specific area like recording. Lately I have been more conscious of working with other bands that are "doing things" and building relationships based on mutually beneficial situations. Just like bloggers or fans, you can't go seek out bands with your hand out looking for an realistic result. The best situations come from bands that can benefit from each others exposure. It's a great idea to reach out to other markets and talk to bands about gig swaps for when each other is coming through town. This may seem like common sense but trust me, it gets overlooked.

Speaking of collaboration, check out this video of the song "Da Me Un Poquito" I did with Aleko from Planeta Lem who is based out of Barcelona Spain. This track is another exclusive release to my mailing list members which can be joined through the Reverbnation widget on the left side bar. Sign up and get free exclusive demo tracks every week that will eventually be voted on by the list and the songs that receive the most votes will be further produced for my upcoming album.

Much Love

The Tommy Dubs Story

Check out this project I worked on with my homeboy Chris. Nice little BIO.

Building a list and staying up!

As I look back through years of shows and mailing lists come and gone, I can’t help but be a little disappointed in my efforts to collect and maintain a large database of people that I have come across in my musical career. Since I started this competition I have been making a daily effort to increase mailing list members through exclusive giveaways and by trying to create an interactive environment.
I am on so many lists and there are ones that I will open weekly and then there are ones that I ignore completely. Here are things that turn me off:

• Errors – please take the time to check before you hit send
• Spam – I want a direct connection with the lists I am involved with. If you are committed to the philosophy of 1000 true fans, there is no reason for any of your communication to look like spam. There should be no shortage of things to discuss with your mailing list members.
• S.O.S – Same Ole Shit. We have all heard it before…. By now…. WE HAVE ALL HEARD IT BEFORE! Be original, be descriptive and be concise. Please get to the point and make sure your list flows. Follow the “intro, guts and call to action” format as outlined in “Music Success in Nine Weeks”
• No offer, just asking – Always hitting me up on your email list asking me to do something is annoying. What’s in it for me? Always reward!

I have really thought about what I like/dislike and I am taking that and applying It to my mailing list. I am committed to giving something away weekly in the form of an exclusive e download, giving everyone on my mailing list a free album and letting my mailing list vote on things like which songs should be included, T-shirt art, sticker art, etc.. I also want to try and communicate twice a month.

The biggest thing that I need to accomplish is growing my list. I have gone through my contacts on Gmail and asked their permission to add them to my band list, most said yes which increased my list instantly. I am also making sure to collect emails at every show by walking around and trading CD’s for emails. Now this next idea is something that I think is totally unique and well worth the small investment. Not only is it effective but it works in so many situations.

Go to a coffee shop with a nice looking bowl, tell the coffee shop that you want people to drop their business cards in the bowl for a chance to win a free lunch, you pay for the lunch and get to keep all the email addresses. Clearly have it stated that the email addresses will be added to your mailing list and make unsubscribe very easy to do. This can be done anywhere your demographic shops: Surfshops, Skate Shops, Music Stores, Record Stores, Art Supply Stores, Bars, etc… This technique has worked in the business world for years so it easily applies to the MUSIC BUSINESS world.

Check the video below out, It is a little highlight reel from our studio session on Friday:

People in your neighborhood

Check out this weeks Exclusive Download. These are available only to mailing list members and I'm putting them out weekly. Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far. Much Love!

Thankful for the Hustle

My Mom sent me this in the mail the other day and it is probably the first flier I ever made for my band called Jafiki. You can tell I made it cause there are spelling errors Ha! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and eats a lot of Turkey.

I am thankful that I have been able to spend my life creating music with beautiful friends and family and today I think about those we have all lost and those who are still with us.

It is easy to get caught up and today we unwind. FYI, the Doogie Howser MD theme song was playing in my head while I was typing.

A Doctors Advice - Live Life

I have been pretty sick this last week and finally decided to go to the doctor. After a short exam, he looked at me and said, "you have the flu".  Well, shit I thought I had pneumonia so whew. I told the Doc, "as I get older...." He interrupted and said, "You have earned a lecture Son." He told me about this book called "the Pump house" by Thomas Wolfe where 2 surfers contemplate life after 30 on the beaches of Encinitas. The Doctor looked at me and said, "your not old." This was a wake up call for me, I realized you have to hustle every day, even when you are sick so there is no excuse for this blog being late (Ariel :))

This week in the Music Success in Nine Weeks challenge is all about connecting with your fans through newsletters and such. Well, we have been hard at work adding names to the mailing list so when we send out content we will at least have an audience. I give away tons of Cd's at shows and after doing so, I ask for an email address and most people will be happy to trade it. If they don't, I swipe their drink off the table and chug it... ha ha.

Newsletters, like blogs, are very tricky because there are so many out there. Just like in songwriting, it is important to follow some guidelines when writing a newsletter to shape the content and keep the readers attention. The basic format is the personal introduction, the guts and then the call to action in which you ask your audience to do something like buy a CD, go to a show, write a review etc... to check my latest newsletter out, CLICK HERE.

I am a big fan of newsletters, but more often than not they are way overused. So many of them I send to my trash so it is my commitment to my mailing list that I will only send 2 a month.. Unless there is massive news that needs to be communicated otherwise. I am also offering exclusive merchandise, songs and early releases of music through my newsletter so if you have not signed up yet....What are you waiting for?

Living Life....

The State of the Industry

The music industry is in a horrible place, that is if you are a record label. I saw this week just how far out of touch the current industry is with its audience by the release of the Beatles catalog on Itunes. I understand that the Beatles are very important to music and it is some what of a big deal that their music is now digitally available, but so much of this just hit a sour note for me. First of all, the Beatles not including their music on Itunes was not a moral stance, rather it just took so long for the controlling parties to come to agreements on royalty share. Secondly, their song prices are $1.29 which is way above the industry average. This seems like an attempt to squeeze every last bit of profitability by targeting older Beatles fans who will for sure be buying the albums for years to come. This just came off looking desperate to me.

This is why the music industry is in the best shape it has ever been in. There is a connected global audience tuned in 24/7 sharing music, videos, ideas etc.. and talent is everywhere. The playing Field is level to anyone willing to work and put time in and I think now more than ever being genuine counts. The tools and resources the independent musician has at their disposal are unreal and people that can harness all of that are beginning to make livings for themselves.

We are at a time prior to some sort of musical revolution and we have to make the most of this time. Something big is going to happen soon, because the current industry can't survive and sustain at this rate. Itunes has made it so easy for musicians to track their accounting and this scares an industry that blew up on endless recoup-able fees and crafty accounting.

I think John Lennon said it best, "I don't believe in the Beatles, I just believe in me."

Blogging - Easier than hanging fliers

This is another entry in the Music Success in 9 Weeks blog challenge. This is week 5 and I only have 4 more weeks to go. This week (and corresponding chapter in Ariel Hyatt's book) is all about the blogshpere and developing a presence on strategic music blogs. This is something that takes some serious time and commitment and the most important rule is not cruising around the web hyping yourself and looking for bloggers to pay attention to you. Bloggers are in fact artists themselves and you have to stroke their ego to get any return attention. There are obviously exceptions to this, but for the vast majority... this holds  true.

I have been using multiple blog search engines to target my efforts, but wanted to discuss a specific situation.

I came across tightmixblog.com and wanted to share this with everyone. Chris is the author of this blog and their are great tips on this site as well as some great indie bands on here that Chris has come across. Chris is also the author of the EBook, "How to really get your music on the blogs" which I read and has great advice that runs parallel to this chapter in the competition. I thought a lot of Chris's ideas were in line with Ariel Publicity and it turns out he actually used to work (or intern...can't remember) for Ariel. After reading his blog, I contacted him and we are in the beginning stages of Chris taking over my social media presence. I was really impressed with his quality of writing, insight and passion for indie music. I think this is the ultimate example of what Ariel is talking about in this chapter.... I read, reached out with sincerity and then developed a mutually beneficial situation. Everyone is happy.

Also on this front, I got Musicbailout.net to write an article on my music and as I mentioned last week the podcast (audio blog) Coverville recently featured on of my songs.

The most important thing that I am taking away from this is consistency and professionalism. I have always believed that if you treat venues and booking agents with respect (Show up on time, get on and off stage quick, etc.), treat people with kindness and sincerity and just act professional you will be way ahead of 95% of the bands out there. Just by following up and taking chances this is what I have accomplished in the last few weeks:

• Free Video Shoot scheduled for next week - I asked my network of anyone that knew of production companies that did good work. It turns out someone needed a band to shoot for their school project and they chose us out of the dozens of bands because we had a vision, the material and locations all ready to go.
• I am in negotiations with a Dubstep producer who I will not name yet to remix a Tommy Dubs song for my next release.
• I have musicians in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Brooklyn and now Arizona all singing or playing parts on tracks for my upcoming album
• I secured 50% writing credit on a song that is in heavy rotation
• I have established articles, reviews and plays on blogs
• booked high profile gigs
• Increased my mailing list daily through shows and reverbnation widgets
• Contacted an established up-n-coming blogger about spearheading my social media efforts.

Check out this video from our show Friday night.... We need a better camera angle next time :)

This weeks Free Track

This is the Exclusive Track for this week. Sign up on the mailing list to get a free download at reverbnation.com/tommydubs

BAILOUT!!! and Fully Fullwood

This week Musicbailout.net posted a nice write up on me so be sure to check it out RIGHT HERE and support their site.

I have been working every day on my new record and have been releasing exclusive tracks on my Reverbnation Mailing List. Sign up for the mailing list and every week I upload a track to the music player that can only be downloaded by mailing list members. After I get about 20 or so tracks, I am going to have the mailing list vote on which songs I should bring down to Capricorn Studios and produce, so make sure to sign up.

Today we booked a show at the Belly Up on Nov 30th opening for the legendary Fully Fullwood band. Seismic Leveler and crew will be performing with me and this is going to be a great show. All you North County San Diego fans represent!

Yesterday I bought a new bass since I have been rocking the same one for the last 15 years or so. I got a used Fender Jazz Bass MIM and could not be more stoked with it. I got home, wrote a bassline and 1 hour later I had written a whole song called "Won't be coming home". It is basically a soulish Motown type song and that has to be a first for me. Jay from Seismic Leveler came over, recorded guitar and vocals and I do have to say it turn out pretty sick.

I figured the song needed some great horns so I got in touch with my old homie Justin Berry in Tucson Arizona. Justin is a great musician and we played together for the better part of 5 years in my old band Stucky. I just got done sending him the tracks and could not be more excited to hear what he writes. Again, being able to record with musicians all over the world from the comfort of my studio is a trip. I am going to release the demo version of the song through the mailing list this week, sans horns, so get on that list.

See you at 710 Beach Club Tomorrow night where we will be opening for High Roots and Mystic Roots.

Who's got time for it all?

This is week 4 of the "Music Success in 9 Weeks" blogging challenge and the corresponding chapter in Ariel's book is all about social media and Web 2.0. The Internet has become so interactive and such a great way for bands to reach out and have a 2 way experience with music fans and other musicians. There are so many great tool and resources, but keeping up with it all can be a full time job. I mean who has time for Twitter, Twacker, Tweeker and Tooter when you have to write songs, hang fliers, play shows and record albums? Well some how or another you have to make time.

The problem is, the ease of sharing songs and videos has become so easy that it seems impossible to stand out amongst the endless other artists trying to do the same thing. I have come to see consistency is king and the job of marketing through social media is never ending. Luckily some sites are making it easy to stay current with tools such as widgets. Widgets are applications that can be customized and placed all over the web and they draw their content from one source which is easily updated. Reverbnation.com has mastered this and is well on the way to being the next inclusive music site for fans and bands. I highly suggest signing up for Reverbnation.

Taking part in this blogging challenge is forcing me to stay on top of shit and I wanted to talk a little bit about what I have accomplished in the last 4 weeks. What I am most excited about is I started recording my follow up to "En Los Campos". To get fans involved with the this, I have been releasing demo versions of tracks exclusively through my mailing list. I knew that this would increase the amount of people signing up for my email list but I decided to take it one step further. My Goal is to write, record and release a new song every week until I get 15-20 songs and then let the mailing list vote on which songs I should further produce and then release on my next record. Taking it a little further I decided to give free copies of my new CD and "En Los Campos" to anyone who took part in this and voted. Pretty stoked on this.

In the last couple days I have been talking to Danny from the Cool and Deadly and Aleko from Planeta Lem about swapping tracks and collaborating. I finished a track last night that  I am sending to Brooklyn for Danny to record on and tonight I finished a song that I am sending off to Barcelona for Aleko to be on. I love being able to record with people around the world through email, there is something really special about that.

Last couple of weeks I have also been lucky on the Podcast front. Cue, from the freestyledub podcast has invited me to host a couple of the next pod casts and Coverville (best of Itunes Podcast series) included my cover of Donovans "Berts Blues" on their latest podcast. Download the whole show here

It really is amazing everything you can get done when you are keeping your goals and little successes in the front of your dome.

Sunset Session

Week 3...the Voice in my head

Continuing on with my music success in 9 weeks blog.

I wanted to urge all independent musicians looking to take their career into their own hands to check out Ariel Publicity. In the world of the crashing record labels there have been some people making a living and a name for themselves by helping the DIY musician. One is Derek Sivers, who Esquire Magazine calls "One of the last music-business folk heroes." Derek is the owner and creator of the massively successful CDbaby.com and has made digital and physical distribution painfully simple for the independent musician. Another is Ariel Hyatt who is teaching her brand of Social Media marketing and the DIY ethos through an abundant amount of resources in her books and website. 

I am taking part in the music success in 9 weeks blog challenge, based on the book of the same name, in effort to be selected to win a free marketing campaign. Basically I read a chapter, write a blog and spread my music further while making fans in the process. I hope through these posts I can share what I have been learning and hopefully inspire to do the same and take on DIY in the new social age.

Optimize my website.... Optimization!

I followed all of Ariel's suggestion in this chapter and as usual everything is spot on. One thing I wanted to talk about a little further in detail is the use of "Intro Pages" and Flash. These 2 things are super annoying. Anytime I come across an Intro page on the web this little voice in my head says, "no shit i reached boringsite.com, that's what I typed into the address bar". Back in the day intro pages were on so many websites and I could not be happier to see them disappearing. With so much web surfing being done on Iphones these days, intro pages even make less sense. They typically do not offer any information and they slow down the loading of the site.

Flash...ugh. So annoying. GET ME THE INFORMATION!!!! We, the collective WE.... the Royal WE, have no patience. "We" should be able to view your website on the lowest common denominator P.O.S. computer, on the slowest dial up line, in the seediest Internet cafe from a third world town. I don't want to download any software to be able to get simple information on anything. Flash not only takes long to load, but it seems way outdated to me and cuts off access from anyone checking your page on an IPhone.

Other things discussed in this chapter had to do with maintaining the consistency of your brand through online and offline media and an important suggestion to make your website load within 3.5 seconds or be dammed to loose the majority of your audience. I also learned about the need to satisfy the Whats in it for me factor of the Internet.  I decided to give away a MP3 a week for awhile until i release at least 20 and make them available only to my mailing list members. After I have released enough, I will let the mailing list vote on what songs should be re-produced and then included on my follow up album. I thought this sounded like a cool idea and a way for fans to take part in the record.

Since I have started this blogging challenge I have come across a lot of Blogs that deal with DIY promotion and wanted to share some of that information as well.  Tight Mix is a great site that I found that that also offers some great advice and interesting blogs including an inspiring video of Young Guru discussing the state of the music industry.

Tommy

Benefit Show in Encinitas Friday Night

We were invited to play a benefit show tomorrow night for Daniel from Slightly Stoopid. He underwent a pretty massive surgery a few weeks back and was back on stage in 10 days playing with Stoopid. He was left with massive medical bills so a bunch of San Diego musicians are getting together for a benefit show. Members from Stoopid, Tommy Dubs, Mike Pinto, Shoreline Roots plus many others will be performing. We play at 11:00 and could not be more stoaked to help out.

For more information click here

Huge thanks to Earth Steppers, Dj Carlos Culture and the whole Club Kingston Crew for the great show last night. We had a great time, played for about 2 hours and had a wonderful turnout. 

"Oh Lord, Won't you buy me a new Genz Benz"

Just kidding, I would never buy Genz Benz....

BUT!!!!.. I saw a used Fender Japanese P-Bass short scale with a hip shot and wanted to buy it. I have had the same Bass for 10 years and thought I was due to upgrade. Anyway, I go home to sleep on it and when i decided that I should buy it, I call the guy and ask him to put it aside and he told me he was unable to sell if for 17 DAYS. Ugh.... Who knows what I will be doing in 17 days???

Bleh!

Spread the word about our show at Winston's this Wednesday and we will be posting more dates by the end of the week. Also, don't forget to sign up on the mailing list. I will be releasing another song this week called "Everyone Goes" which is brand new and old available Free through the mailing list. Thank you to everyone that has been signing up so far.

See you at a show!

Week 2 - Ariel Publicity Blogging Challenge

This week was all about creating the perfect "pitch" to describe your sound. For a musician, describing the sound of the music you create can be a challenging ordeal. I think an artists natural instinct is to want to be undefined or outside of labels. I totally understand this, but unfortunately bookers, press and labels run off of this narrow minded machine that insists on categorizing everything. After thinking about this and taking part in the exercises in Ariel's book, I started to see how essential it is to be able to hook someone with a pitch about your music.

I could have struggled on this for hours, trying to figure out the best way to sell my self and still sound "cool", but instead I figured i would get some help from my smart ass friends on Facebook. I came up with an idea, posted it on Facebook and asked for peoples ideas.

"Punky Reggae and dub influenced urban sounds. "Sounds like the Offspring of a Manu Chao, Diplo and the Clash threesome", was my first attempt and right away some errors where pointed out by my smart ass friends.

First thing is the word "sounds" appears twice and it makes the sentence to wordy, the second thing is someone could take the, "sounds like the Offspring", out of context and equate me to sounding like one of the bands I hate the most.

After some tweaking I we came up with "Punky Reggae and Dub Influenced urban sounds, the bastard son of a Diplo, Manu Chao and Clash threesome."

I am pretty happy with what I came up with and think it does a great job describing my sound.

Thank you to everyone who has been signing up on the mailing list, I hope you are enjoying the free downloads.

New Pages

Check out the new pages on the blog, the Store and the DUB page which is dedicated to Seismic Leveler and our weekly DUB show live and direct from Winstons in Ocean Beach. Videos and a link to download and subscribe to the podcast on ITUNES.

Believe (she tell me everything)

Let me know what you think of this new Demo track. I will be making it an exclusive download for my mailing list members later this week. This is from my soundcloud page where I have some other remixes and demos up as well. Sooundcloud is a great website and they have a killer IPhone app as well. I highly suggest checking it out, there are tons of remixes and full dj sets up there for fans of Dub, Dubstep, electronic and the like.

Believe (She tell me) by Tommy DUBS

DO WORK!

If you are just coming across the Tommy Dubs Website for the first time, you may find it odd to see me posting about my career goals in plain site for everyone to see. Well to be Honest it is a little weird, but I am taking part in a 9 week program intended to drastically increase the success I obtain in the music industry. Ariel Publicity is an excellent resource for musicians and she is hosting a blogging challenge that will end up awarding a custom marketing campaign to the winning musician. After re-reading music success in 9 weeks by Ariel, I noticed that I did not include my goals. in the next year My goals are:

Expand my live performances into every market within a 3 hour drive
Sellout of all of my remaining Gadfly Stock. I have boxes of Gadfly records in my garage that are Taking up valuable instrument space.
Get regional radio play
Book 1 high profile Producer gig
Sell 100 downloads a month continually
Place 1 song on TV or film
Have a mailing list totaling 1000 readers
Consistently pull 250 people to shows

According to Ariel's book only 3% of people write down their goals and actually taking the time to complete this step drastically improves your chances of attaining your goals. This, however is not the only step to be taken. It is obvious to me that consistent reminders of my goals and small steps to be taken daily are going to be the key to reaching them. Another great point that I took away is celebrate daily success's and stop beating yourself up. The book suggests writing down daily success's and then reading over them. Doing this a few times so far has really been eye opening and motivating. Well I hope you take something from these blog posts and I am really excited to look back over the next 9 weeks to see what I have accomplished.

If you feel so inclined to help, buy a CD, tweet this, subscribe to the blog, contact me via email or show up to a show.... Or show up with a million dollars and that can be a shortcut!

This video that I am posting is something I recorded today. It is an version of the song "True love will find you in the end" by Daniel Johnston and just like the last one, it includes audio from a different crazy neighbor. I live in the Warzone... OB.. Where the Ghetto Meets the Sea.. and I LOVE IT!

We Will Walk

Last week the Seismic Leveler Crew and I got together to record some acoustic versions of a few tunes at the old Beach Pad. Well Ocean Beach is a loud place with airplanes, trucks, motorcycles, drunks and other loud noises popping off all the time. We got together and jammed for 2 hours until the crazy Russian lady that lives across the street started threatening us. It was comical. Well here is one take from that session complete with us getting yelled at. Enjoy :)

Ariel Publicity Blogging Challenge

As a lifetime musician I have always searched for ways to improve my career, or better yet, someone to do it for me. I am sure many musicians out there can relate to getting smoke blown up there ass by some hopped up promoter wannabe and their promises of fame. I have always taken the same approach to these people... I would rather they show me versus tell me. Where am I going with this? Well I guess it goes back to the old adage, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself". I first became aware of Ariel Publicity over 5 years ago when I was searching for Internet marketing for my band at the time Gadfly. Well for one reason or another I did not hire Ariel, but I kept following her progression via social media and now she has turned into somewhat of a marketing guru and is highly respected in the indie community. She still offers great marketing campaigns for indie bands at a pretty good price.

A few months ago I bought her book, "Music Success in 9 weeks", which basically empowers us musicians to take our careers into our own hands. There are many principles in this book that I have not thought of and it breaks down a daily process to successful marketing. I thought the book was a good read but have not since put the principles into practice. The other day I also read her "indie Maximum Exposure Guide" which is an Epic read. This last week I have been about putting these ideas into practice.

Today, I was poking around on her site and saw the Blogging Challenge and decided I wanted to take part. The challenge is to blog about her book and my progress in implementing it's suggestions and if I win the challenge I get a free marketing campaign. I figured this was a great opportunity to further my career by following the steps in her book as well as possibly being rewarded by winning the challenge.

Over the next 9 weeks I will post weekly entries about the steps in the book, my weekly goals and what ever else i decide to include along the way.

Step 1. Get my book back from Touch of CAS....

Exclusive Free Downloads

Put your email into the widget below to join our mailing list and receive some exclusive downloads from Tommy Dubs. These songs are only available to our mailing list members and we included the new single "Bring Fire on You". We also included our version on "Crazy Fool" by Mano Negra. Sign up, listen and enjoy. Also, we would appreciate any help getting your friends to sign up on the mailing list as we will be making free music available all the time. Thanks :)

Winstons OCT 27 Ad

BRING FIRE ON YOU

So I made the switch! I have changed and maybe I have grown up a little. I have joined the ranks of millions of fixie riders, thousands of bad electro rock lovers, hundreds of Miami vice t-shirt wearing fashionistas, dozens of artists and a handful of normal people. I have left the side of pirates, champions of free information, hackers and cheap-asses and joined the legions of legitimized “owners” of software and reliable computers. I have bought a MAC. My PC sits in the corner ashamed and distant as my fingers caress the keys of a much newer, sleeker and exciting IMAC. I double click programs… they open… I run plugins, record audio and mix on the fly and not one hiccup! Will I ever see the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) again? Will I ever have the feeling inside of me of rage burning in my belly with my actions stopping just shy of throwing my mouse at my monitor?
Drama aside, I have been recording on PC for 12 years now which means I have never paid for software and have never had a reliable setup. This is not to say that my PC system with a good working version of Protools did not do me good, but moving to Protools is a game changer. I do not like to make things hard for the sake of it and this jump to Protools and Mac has been an eye opener. I am writing/recording/mixing much quicker and I think the quality has taken leaps forward.
Here is a song I recorded last week called “Bring Fire on You”. This is either going to be on an EP or my next full length. This is a demo Version!
Bring Fire on you (Bigga Rhythm) by Tommy DUBS

Una Vida Sin Fronteras

Back around 2005 or 2006 I was part of a project called Sin Fronteras where 3 bands got together in Argentina and locked themselves in a studio in the center of Buenos Aires and recorded for 3 days. Some of those songs made it on to my solo release "En Los Campos" and some did not. This record sold out in Argentina, but we never released it in the US.

GO LEM System was one of the bands that took part in the project:


The other band was Aztecas Tupro from Argentina who are like brothers to me. They showed my band all over Argentina while we toured there and also performed Gadfly and Stucky songs as my backing band while I lived there:

She got Bad Luck

Waiting

"why did I just say that, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean to lead you on." - Soulcracker

I have been thinking a lot about traveling bands lately and realized how much I miss life on the road. Now let's not get confused, a tour is not a week... Or even a weekend out of town. A tour is months on the road, playing 6-7 times a week and usually waking up in a strange place without knowing how you got there. I am lucky enough to have done this right out of college, but have not since then. I don't even know if I could handle it at this age :)

Much respect to all of those who have the balls to hop in the van and support themselves through music. Imagine having to book tours without cellphones, Internet and actually having to mail cd's to get booked... Those were the days.

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Cue vs. Seismic Leveler - 08-04-10 - 04

Sick song from our last Dub show. Davey rips an insane guitar solo at the end and Ivan kills the vocals

Piedra (Sin Fronteras Project. feat GoLem System, Tommy Dubs, Aztecas Tupro)

Here is a track I did with the Sin Fronteras Project with Musicians from Argentina, Spain and the States. This track is a different mix that whats on the critically acclaimed Argentina only release from Sin Fronteras Project. We are working on a second album. Let me know what you think of this. Enjoy!

Piedra by Tommy DUBS

Pepper Remix

A little while ago Pepper put this track up to have random producers download and remix. Well, since I am pretty random, I whipped up this Dancehall Banger. A lot of bands are starting to do this and it is a great way to reach out and collaborate with a massive group of people.. Reach out and touch someone! Respect to Pepper. Let me know what you think and any bands out there that want me to work a remix, HIT ME UP HERE

1502 Freeze - Pepper (Tommy Dubs Remix) by Tommy DUBS

Bust it! Bust it! Bust it!

When I was around 16 I discovered a band from Chicago that blew me away. I was at some Summer concert series put on by the local radio station Q101 and freaked out when I saw this insane band on the side stage. I don't remember the name of the group but it turned out it was a collaboration of some of Chicago's best hip hop and rock musicians. Some of the guys were from Liquid Soul (a sick Chicago Jazz/Jam band) and when the guitarist handed me a cassette, yes a cassette, i saw that other members were from a local Hip Hop rock act called the BOOGIE SHOES.

The band that was playing that day was the dirtiest/funkiest band that I had ever seen. They were on stage blowing my mind effortlessly and I was particularly entranced by the guitarist/singer named Double A that would sing all of the notes he ripped on the guitar and was a great MC.

When we left the concert we blasted the tapes they gave us, one called the Boogie Shoes "Greatest Hits Volume 1" and the other was Double A's side project called "Trunk" which i lost and have searched hi and low to find again with no luck. These albums changed my life and I don't think I would be the same if I had not had the luck of being at the right place at the right time.

I would seriously recommend picking one of their records up to hear some totally original hip hop rock from the Chicago indie scene in the 90's. They put out 2 solid albums full of great songs and personality.

You can preview their record here.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/boogieshoes

I would suggest picking up "Vol 1 Greatest Hits" if you can find it, otherwise "Bust it, Bust it, Bust it!" is dope too

AUG 26th GALLAGHERS

The last Tommy Dubs show was a pretty legendary event for me and the Seismic Leveler Crew. The whole show was packed and the dancefloor was slamming. The last song featured random MC's, who were in attendance, being brought up on stage to freestyle with the band hitting hard behind them.Reggae Thursdays at Gallagher's has really turned into a banging event so make sure you check it!

Thursday August 26th is our next time there and we will be playing 2 sets with the first starting at 9:30 and we ususally wrap up around 12:30.

We will be debuting a bunch of new songs and have the usual cast of Musicians, MC's and Lurkers stopping by.

Downfall Rhythm - 2004

More Fire - Warsaw Poland Bros. Vs Stucky 2004 (Tommy Dubs) by Tommy DUBS

A Little Help?

If you have been to one of my concerts you have probably witnessed either someone from Seismic Leveler, one of our guest MC's or myself throwing thousands of dollars worth of CD's into the crowd for free and most likely you had gotten into that show for free. I would rather spread the music around that we make than try to hustle a dollar to sell it. We live in an age where a critical mass makes the difference between being silent and being heard and more interesting is how often we have the chance to be a part of that critical mass.

We live in a fluid and ever changing society where we have come to expect everything and become suprised by nothing. The internet gives us instant information and entertainment and has opened the world up to even the most basic bedroom producer. If this is the case, why are some more successful than others? How many times have you come across someones webpage and been like "Damn... these guys are sick... how come their not huge??". It happens to me daily and its mostly because musicians like to create and not promote... but successful ones do both and empower others to help.

What I am getting at is if you have received one of my CD's at a show, or if you have streamed my entire album on this page for free, or if you just simply feel inclined to help, I ask that you pay me the honor of sharing my music with your friends. Burn copies of the CD, rip MP3's or whatever. The easiest and best way to help is to spread word of mouth on social media or going to my album "En Los Campos" on itunes and write a review. It would mean the world.

Tommy Dubs

Humpty and Hennessy - Snake and the Apple

"En Los Campos", my solo release, is full of suprise guests but none that has momre noteraity than Shock-G (Humpty Hump) from Digital Underground. I debuted the song years ago on garageband.com and most people thought the Shock-G and Humpty tracks were samples that I jacked from somewhere. I can assure you those vocals are 100% legit.

Years ago I played in a band called Stucky with Matt Brein who now plays with Mike Pinto. While we were on tour we had a cancellation in Sacramento and Matt somehow got us on the bill with Spearhead up in Chico. We drove to Chico, played the show and the promoter was totally stoked. From this performance he got us on a show at Ceasers in Tahoe with Digital Underground the next week.

The Ceasers show was kind of a bust, but Shock-G took a liking to the band and we forged somewhat of a friendship back then. Months later we ran into Shock in Tucson while he was animating his website holed up at the Hotel Congress. We had some drinks and decided to go to my studio and record a track. We hung out all night, wrote all the lyrics down and then Shock just flowed for about 2 hours. I never produced the song until recently and I love what came out. I sat on that thing for years.

Mike Pinto - Ballyhoo and Tommy Dubs

Thank you to everyone who came out to this show I was really suprised how packed Winstons was by the time we began to play. It really made for an awesome set and a good start to the night. I really enjoyed both Ballyhoo and Pinto and had a fun time sitting in with Mike and the boys even though my clumbsy ass unplugged the bass amp and spilled 2 beers while on stage. Thats what you get for inviting me up after I have been drinking :

The next show we have is Aug 26th at Gallaghers in Ocean Beach for a Reggae Thursday event. Those of you that were at our last show at Gallaghers got to witness a packed house and a whole shitload of special guests. Basically at the end of the night we turned the mic over to just about anyone who wanted to rhyme and honestly it turned out pretty cool. Don't miss this show as I am sure more craziness will go down.

See you at a show!

My Latest Remix

Alozade, Vegas & Hollow Point - "Under Mi Sensi" TOMMY DUBS remix by Tommy DUBS

It's been awhile

Accidently saw about 4 minutes of a Creed live concert on Tv, the singer looked like he was on steroids and someone just got done rubbing him down with baby oil. His facial expressions and stage presence were also quite disturbing. What the masses enjoy scares me sometimes.

On another note our show opening for the Aggrolites was a great time and we want to thank everyone who came and say what's up to all out new friends. D-Bo threw a ton of Cds out to the crowd and we had a hell of a lot of fun. Make sure to hit Tommydubs.com for all of our show dates.

In WATCHLIST news we are finishing up our debut record which we are thinking of calling "Sweet Rock This Old Train". We are happy so far with the recording and think it is going to be a great album. We have been working with Bryan Stratmam at Capricorn Studios who has worked with everyone in San Diegos music scene. Not sure when it's going to ve done but stay tuned for updates...

See you at a show


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Live at the Belly Up!

We have the pleasure of performing at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach March 12th opening for One Drop and Mike Pinto. I love the vibe at the Belly Up and think that it probably the best place to see live music in San Diego. The people are great, the stage is spacious and the sound is top notch.

For those people that want to make the journey from Ocean Beach or Pacific Beach, we have arranged for buses to take people up and back. email me at gadflymusic@gmail.com to reserve your spot on the bus.

The band has been practicing a lot and we will be playing some new songs as well as some new arrangements of some old ones. Be there early for this one as we play the first step and you dont want to miss what we have prepared.

Really Really looking forward to this one :)

Laying on the top of the Earth

You are so talented.

I sit here and watch you in your element.

You are beautiful, you are an artist.




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It was a dark and stormy night.....

Rain, hail, high winds and 4 musicians barreling down the highway towards the Boars Crossing in San Diego with no time to spare. Thud...thud...knock...thud, "you guys here that?" I ask as the a fore mentioned noise grows increasingly louder and annoying. "yeah I hear it", Doug says from the passenger seat. "I'm pulling over at a gas station"... I say as i take the mighty van off of the next off ramp.

We pull in to the Mobile station and begin to do some tests like the expert mechanics we all are. We check the oil, look under the hood, rev the engine and determine we can make it to the gig safely so we load back in and take off. As we pull out on to the street something is amiss.... NO BRAAAAAAAAAAKKKESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

I just got the Van out of the shop that day for an unrelated unfixed issue and now this. We make it to the gig via pickup trucks and ditch the Van in Carlsbad... I go back 2 days later and get it towed... So Annoying.


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Thats not Reggae.....!!??!!??!!

OK for a long time now I have been so frustrated by the type of music spawning all over the country that people are calling Reggae. I have gotten frustrated to the point that when interviewed by the Reader I proclaimed "White Boy Reggae is Dead!"... So I had a few drinks during the interview and low and behold to my surprise Ken Leighton put the comment on the cover of the magazine. Let us say this was during angrier times and I have since come to terms :)

I did however want to address this topic as I think it is good food for thought or at least a good conversation starter.

Sublime... God bless them, God love them, but for fucks sake are we not over it yet? I can't even listen to one of the bands, if not the only band that shaped my life. I was lucky enough to see them at the Fox theater in Boulder Colorado by accident and it changed my life. Sublime was genius, they were magnetic and they were totally drunk. This powerful 3 piece followed no rules and created an entire sub culture of music. If you live in So Cal, it is not just a sub-culture but it is the culture. How could such an innovative band spawn off a nation of imitators?

Sublime dug deep, they listened to the roots of music and drew from it. Hence all of the standard rhythms that they used to create their own songs. This is part of Reggae culture and it is rooted in the necessity of poverty. The basic idea here is create one rhythm have 20 singers sing on it and the producer controls the copyright (if any copyright at all)... It is about recycling, getting the most out of everything and I guess you could consider it "green music". What I am trying to get at here is that Sublime knew and understood the culture of Reggae music and that is why they were able to stitch in and out of the genre without ever being considered a Reggae band. Where they the first to do this? no, not even close, but they are arguably one of the most successful.

This is where my annoyance comes in. The nation of followers produced hundreds of bands calling themselves and combination of the descriptors... nation, irie, dub, 'ion, massive...etc. here is an example... band name: "dub massive"... "irie nation" ..."irie dub massive"... "massive dub nation"... get the point? (disclaimer... i am not talking about any band specifically but just illustrating a point as for sure there is a band out there called "dub massive":)) The funny thing here is the lack of creativity. How could such a innovative no holds barred band spawn so many imitators. I was happy to hear Miguel from Skunk in an interview call this out and basically say that he gets tons of demos from bands wanting to be on Skunk but they are all just imitators.

So what was my turning point in attitude? Well I had this whole argument crafted about how this phenomenon of imitators is actually Babylon working. My argument circled around the fact that this is a classic example of Babylon taking culture and turning it into fashion and having the privileged profit. I mean come on... you can get lion of Judah bracelets at the mall.. and by the way... Red Gold and Green does not stand for Bob Marley. I took this argument to my boy Boomstyler and he basically shut me down and told me that this has been going on since the beginning of music and is nothing new. He cited Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis as obvious examples and basically told me to focus on something positive.

"that's the way it is" he said.. and all the sudden it was so simple.

Really? Really? Living with Trolls an Observation and Rant

I love Ocean Beach, I have been here ten years and I must say that I really do love Ocean Beach. I love the fact that I am footsteps from the ocean, enjoy incredible weather, live in a community of musicians and non-conformists and I love the people I have met here. In all of this wonder that makes up this wonderland, you would have to expect that there are some negative sides as well. You are right, there are some negative sides and those sides unfortunately are growing or maybe I'm just noticing them more...could be I'm growing up.

Enter the Lurker Trolls.... ughhhh, how i hate the fact that taking a simple journey down to Rite Aid can turn into this obstacle course of street kids that I avoid in fear of confrontation, disease or just annoyance. I don't care how clever you are at begging for change. "family killed by ninjas need money for Kung Fu lessons" heard it... "Why lie? I need a drink" saw that one too... "Im on the road and...." blah blah blah blah. I am not giving you money!

It would not be so bad if these people were truly just down on their luck and looking for some help to get back on track...., but this is far from reality. What we have here in Ocean Beach is travelers that come and come but almost always outwear their unwelcome, welcome. They bring crime and trouble. Hiding behind garbage cans, living under my house, digging through the trash and just sucking it up in general. Again to clarify, I am not talking about your average homeless family here... I am talking about the kids walking down the alley begging for change and staring at everyone with entitlement. The punks who stumble around drooling with glazed over eyes, filthy bare feet and a stench comparable to what I imagine a bag of dog poop left in a sauna for days smells like.

I imagine what families raising kids here think about this huge minority of the Ocean Beach population. I mean, god forbid you want to take your kids down to the seawall at anytime close to sunset... I mean this would be a good idea of you wanted to be surrounded by heroin addicts and tweakers. It really is a sad thing.
.
Again, I am not against homeless and i have admiration for the lives of travelers, but I hate Trolls. Trolls drink 40's under the pier, start fights and cause trouble in my lovely town. They are negative and spread negative energy in our otherwise positive lives. They make it seemingly unsafe.....

The WATCHLIST

Recording the Drums for the song Mississippi in the studio right now working on the WATCHLIST album. I like the process we are taking in this recording, although there are plenty of moments of second guessing our direction. It's all about laying down the foundation and putting gravy on top of it.

Brings up the age old question of do we try to record exactly like we play live or to we explore his record as it's own seperate art form? I believe the latter... Recording a record can be an emotional process and it is crucial to keep the vibes positive even when recording sad or negative songs.

Excited!

Making a difference one person at a time. Want to help?

So i wanted to write something about what truly makes a difference when talking about fan support.

With the falling of the major record labels due to their own negligence and ignoring the the basic economic principle of supply and demand, the power of promotion and marketing has once again been brought down to the grass roots level (although i recognize the irony that technology has allowed us to become even more grassroots). So many artist have made a successful living due to aggressive street teams and clever online marketing campaigns that consisted of nothing more than people that believed in the music and had a little drive to share it with their friends.

The end goal for every musician i know is to survive off their trade, but many musicians do not want to get involved with the working end of the business. I understand that artists want to be artists and not hustlers and I am sad to say that I do not have that luxury although I embrace the hustle. So whats my hustle?

I wanted to put a resource together that includes some easy tips that make all the difference in the world and hopefully you will feel inclined to share one of my projects with your friends. These little things when done consistently can seriously make a huge difference and they really take no more than a few minutes.

I know there are a lot of people out there that want to be involved with the music industry but don't play an instrument and have no idea how to get involved with a band. My advice is pick one you like and contact them. The only thing to be aware of though is bands do from time to time get people blowing smoke up their ass and may be hesitant to get involved with new people, but i swear to you if you are a person of your word and live with integrity they will listen.

Here are some relatively passive approaches:

1. Facebook has taken over social media for now and it can be so effective. If you just simply share the profile of your favorite band with your Facebook friends it can instantly increase that bands audience. Take it a step further and suggest to your friends that they also share that same profile. You can imagine how quickly this could spread.

2. Bring performances home with you and share. Nothing is more flattering than to log on to Youtube and see people uploading footage of your shows. Youtube is such a powerful tool because it allows people to really check bands out and decide if going to a show is worth it. Take pictures at shows of the crowd, the band, the merch girl, the bar tender, the sound guy, the venue, the bathroom (be careful :)) and anything else that shows the "vibe". Post and tag these suckers.

3. Blog about shows and talk on chat boards about your favorite bands.

If you are a little more aggressive here are some other ideas.

1. First of all if you want to be as effective as possible contact the band and let them know you want to help. Any band worth supporting would jump at the chance to arm you with promo and outfit you with free merch.

2. Bands always need help putting up fliers, calling radio stations and booking shows.

Staying Inspired - Staying Positive

With the amount of performing and rehearsing I have been doing with my projects it is very difficult to stay inspired and "in" the moment. I think the best thing to do is when you know you are just going through the motions, take time to step back or just stop what you are doing all together. At rehearsal tonight the WATCHLIST felt this collectively and we called it a short night. We know the songs, they are tight.... we will kill it at our show on Saturday so there was no need to "power through" the rest of rehearsal. I think sometimes that what makes a  band a band is going through ups and downs and coming out stronger. What is cool about the WATCHLIST is that we can talk about these things and there is no weird vibes in the air... makes a huge difference.

I have been thinking a lot about my career as a musician and the legacy I have left behind and I have more importantly decided what my future will be in this industry. Full steam ahead! Not to toot my own horn, but I have accomplished so much in  the recent years and sometimes i forget to sit back and live in the moment of accomplishment. Everyone should celebrate success in all levels! I finished reading the book "Music Success In Nine Weeks" and it talks about writing down the little success you have day to day as a way of forming your positive attitude. This idea is not exclusive to this book, but for some reason this book made it resonate with me. Write down what you accomplish daily even if it is something as small as "went to the grocery store" and you will begin to construct your life of positive attraction.

I think a lot of time Artists beat themselves up.... Time to Feed! 

Recording right now

For some reason we are dragging in the studio.... I'm getting impatient and want to start singing... DK is laying down some drums, jay is about to crunch some guitars and then I get to sing....

We are in little Italy at Strat's pre-production studio taking a different approach than normal to recording a record and I am excited and curios to see the outcome... Maybe nervous as well.

I would say our approach tonight was to come in with a skeleton of a song and write and record the same night.

Look at the pod vocal booth which looks like a trailor.

Rest - Goodness - Music

Here I am at the begining of another recording and I feel like I am being flooded with inspiration. Sometimes I would rather not be a cliche of life, but I am amazed at the turning points of life and the predictability of growth which is a common thread that holds this diverse population together.

With that being said I feel a change of energy that surrounds me from negative to positive. I am a true believer in the law of attraction and 2010 is going to be a year of action for me and I will manifest my dreams into reality. I welcome this positive change and will forever embrace it.

Here is to a year of growth and consistant firsts.


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Coffee

Test

Test


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