Once upon a time I was on tour with my band Fishtank Ensemble through the Mid-west when I met a rapper, SBZ, who inspired me to start this project. We jammed for several hours that night and I recorded it on my phone. When I would listen to the improvised music we made that night, my blood would start racing with excitement because the music was so interesting and vital. I loved the combination of real music mixed with hip hop. He could rap over anything that I threw at him . . . Flamenco, Gypsy music, Odd-time grooves . . . and all with very intelligent and meaningful lyrics.

So that’s one of the main ideas of this project: Organic hip hop played on real instruments (mostly) inspired by gypsy music. That’s where ‘Gyp Hop’ comes from. That won’t however be the final name of the project, it’s just a working title. After playing music for the last 20 years, I have a large network of incredible musicians at my fingertips to pull this off. I started writing these songs while on tour in Europe in the summer of 2010. In December of that year, I brought SBZ out to Los Angeles for a week to record 15 songs. It was a very ambitious schedule but we managed to finish the vocals on all the songs. Now it was left up to myself and engineer/ co-producer Jason Schimmel (formerly of Estradasphere) to turn these sketches into catchy hit songs.

Don’t take my word for it. Take a listen to the first 4 songs that we completed for yourself. That way, there’s no mystery. You can hear exactly what you are supporting and how it is turning out. My goal with this project is to produce super catchy hit songs that cross genres. Is it hip hop, pop, world, gypsy music? . . . It’s all of them. I’ve been working non-stop on this music since the summer of 2010, putting thousands of dollars of my own money and countless hundreds of hours of work into this project I love so much. If you would consider helping me finish album, I would be truly and eternally grateful.

I want this CD to sound as good as possible and the money I’m trying to raise will pay for the clear and beautiful mixing and mastering of the 15 plus songs we have started. There are many talented collaborators on this album and I promise by the time I’m done, you are going to flip out when you hear this new music!! I expect to be finished with everything by the fall/winter of 2011. It would be sooner except I have a very busy summer touring schedule with Fishtank Ensemble.

I am offering a lot of great incentives with this campaign and I would be honored if you would help see this vision to completion. As an artist, it’s always very important for me to have complete artistic control. That’s why I am appealing to you, the fans, to make this possible. Without your help I could not do it. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything and am very excited for you to finally hear the album!

On behalf of SBZ and myself . . . peace and thanks for checking us out, from your DIY guitarist, composer and producer, ‘douje’.

From Fishtank Ensemble Pictures

Douglas ‘douje’ Smolens is a guitarist, writer, producer and comedian living in Los Angeles, CA.  Currently, the project that occupies most of his time and energy is performing, writing and producing with the gypsy music band, Fishtank Ensemble, of which he is a founding member.   With the release of their 3^rd album, ‘Woman in Sin’ in the summer of 2010, the band is usually on tour in the United States or in Europe.  (Check out the full Fishtank Ensemble discography here)  When not on tour, Douglas devotes much of his time to writing and performing sketch, stand-up and musical comedy with his creative partner, Joshua Murphy with the ‘Doug and Josh Explosion’.

His musical journey began when he was 14 years old with a drum lesson from a friend.  After about an hour, he managed to get a rudimentary drumbeat going.  As he recalls, “I can still remember the feeling now.  It’s like the first time you ride a bike or catch a wave.  It’s something you never forget.  I’m sure it sounded awful to the neighbors, but to me, it was pure magic.”  The inspiration to start playing the drums came when his younger brother Tim, at age 10 picked up the guitar and quickly started ‘shredding’.  Together with Tim’s middle school friend, Jason Schimmel, they would go on to make music together for the next several decades.   (Tim and Jason would become the main forces in the Metal/Gypsy/Fusion band Estradasphere) And so, like many bands before them, they started playing in their parents’ garage.

In these developing years, the young musicians were fortunate to become friends with many older, professional musicians from whom they gained much insight and experience.  For about a year, a friend of the family and musician in the all star cover band ‘Rat Salad’, Roger Summers, would come to their house on the weekends and put them through a veritable ‘School of Rock’.  Roger would show each band member how to play their part.  Then, more importantly, he would teach them how to play together as a band, and keep the groove moving, all the while making it look like fun.  These were invaluable lessons that few people get the benefit of learning from a seasoned pro.

Doug went into college as a biology major thinking he would follow in the footsteps of his father and become doctor.   However, fate had different plans.  It was at this time that he had the revelation that music was what he was truly passionate about and what he wanted to do with his life.  And so almost every weekend he would travel home from UCLA to play music with Tim and Jason.  It was during these years, heavily influenced by Mr. Bungle and all the great music they could get their ears on, that they started the project that would culminate in the band ‘Don Salsa’ with the album ‘Kool-aide Mustache in Jonestown’.  The idea behind this album was to make the most extreme musical statement possible.  The young trailblazers knew they had to the rest of their lives to make more accessible music, but for this first album, they wanted it to be unprecedented.  And by all accounts they succeeded.  The first song is 33 minutes long and never repeats.

Following the completion of this album, Doug and the boys moved up to Santa Cruz CA where they would live for the next 10 years in a kind of musical incubation period.  Santa Cruz is a fertile artistic environment and this is where Doug really went to work teaching himself to play Flamenco and Gypsy Jazz Guitar and was ultimately re-christened with the Flamenco name, ‘douje’.

Having come from California, worlds away from the flamenco homeland of Andalucia, it was only natural that el douje’s interpretation of this music would have a decidedly different feel. Early experiments in combining flamenco guitar with more modern electronic music elements such as drum and bass and techno proved quite successful and would lay the ground for what would later culminate in the album, ‘Worlds Collide’. Though the album was written, produced and performed by el douje as a solo artist, it contains a wealth of collaborations with artists such as Dave Weckl, bassist Tom Kennedy and members of Fishtank Ensemble as well as the gypsy/metal fusion band, Estradasphere.

In early 2004, as the album was coming to a close, a chance meeting at the Oakland California performance warehouse, The Fishtank, would spawn the creation of gypsy/folk/flamenco super-group, Fishtank Ensemble. After only three weeks together as a band, they recorded their debut album, ‘Super Raoul’. Fishtank Ensemble is made of gypsy fiddler extraordinaire Fabrice Martinez, sublime singer and musical saw player Ursula Knudson, the worlds best slap bass player Djordje Stijepovic and of course the one and only ‘el douje’. The band combines the strengths of the individual members to forge a unique and innovative approach to the folk music of the gypsies or Romani people. The second album from Fishtank Ensemble, ‘Samurai Over Serbia’ came out in early 2008, and the band is currently touring extensively to support their newest album, ‘Woman in Sin’.

Stay in the game for the long haul

Unless you’re an overnight sensation, (you won’t be) you need to think about a strategy for being able to meet your financial obligations over the long term, while still playing as much music as you can.  I’ve known a lot of fantastic musicians who gave it their all in the 20s only to succumb to various societal pressures in their 30s and trade their dreams of being a professional musician for the promise of financial security.

So I suggest developing a complimentary career to your musical one.  For 4 years I worked as an apple computer repair technician.  This gave me a great wealth of knowledge for all things computer related.  Being that I’m a music producer as well, this knowledge has been and continues to be very useful.  If I could go back in time though, I would probably learn the skills it takes to be a graphic designer.  This is something that you will always need as a musician, great artwork and design.  You will need this for your website, album artwork, t-shirts, stickers, posters, promotional material, basically everything you do should be imbued with an artful and unique sense of design.  My friend Scott McCormick of the great band Boulder Acoustic Society is on the road most of the year touring, but he also has a busy design service that he can do on the road from his computer in the car.  He can make a living while driving then play shows at night for a double income.  How cool is that?  For another great idea at a complimentary career, look no further than the ukulele and banjo player from Boulder Acoustic Society Aaron Keim.  In addition to playing music with his band, he is a thriving luthier who makes and repairs uke’s and banjo’s from his shop in Denver.  This is a smart band.

Another great example of a complimentary career comes right from the band I’m in, Fishtank Ensemble.  Ursula Knudson is not only our singer and multi-instrumentalist, she is also our booking agent.  She works for the Charisma Artist Agency as a booking agent but she mostly only books for our band.  But because she is a booking agent with the power of the agency behind her, she has people soliciting her constantly to be their agent.  If she wanted to, she could easily do this full time, but because her efforts are directed toward making our band succeed, she limits the amount of work she does for other people.   So not only does she make an extra income, she is taking responsibility for her own success.  Personally, I have started a publishing company, Foxy World Music, to exploit our own catalog and that of the great artists I know, to gain licensing deals for movies, tv, commercials, etc.  It’s a little tricky to break into this world, but once you do make some deals, get some exposure and a reputation, things get easier.

A few other ideas for a complimentary career are web designer, soundman, music producer, engineer, music teacher and publicist.  If you put your mind to it I’m sure you can come up with many more as well.

Learn to do it Yourself

This advice compliments the last section, and that’s learn to do it yourself.  There are so many facets to being an independent artist.  Things like song writing, recording, marketing and publicity, graphic design, web design, etc.  You can’t do it all by yourself but you can select a few areas and do those well.  Personally, I focus on songwriting, music production, music publishing and web design myself.   Which brings us the to next tip . . .

Division of labor

Ideally, everyone in the band should be sharing the load of work relatively equally.  To be honest I’ve never seen a situation where everything is shared completely equally, but it’s something to be strived for.   What is a band if not a group of like-minded people with similar goals and talents.  So sit down with your band and assess everybody’s talents and interests.  Figure out a way to divide the many responsibilities of running a band relatively equally among the members.  You don’t have to be an expert in a particular aspect of the music business, you just have to be interested in it, or at least in your bands future as a successful business.  Because like it or not, assuming the music is good of course, your band is a business.   And no professional able to take you to the next level will have an interest in you until you can show you’re taking this business seriously yourself.

Being in a band = Being married to everyone in the band

Understanding the personal dynamics of being in a band is absolutely essential to it’s survival and it’s not something that anyone will tell you about (besides me of course).  Being in a band is roughly equivalent to being married to everybody in the band.  Artists are sensitive folk and peoples delicate egos come into play in unforeseen ways.  It usually takes some time for this dynamic to eventually become a problem.  For the first few years of a band, everybody is generally very excited about everything and has lots of energy to put into it.  But as days go on, you spend a lot of time together and get to know each another very well.  This can either be a good thing or a bad thing.

I can’t coach you in a few sentences on how to relate to your band-mates.  This would probably take a whole book.  But if you are aware of this dynamic, you can be better prepared to handling the trying situations that inevitably arise.

Living the Dream

Some musicians focus on arriving but forget it’s also about the journey along the way.  It’s easy to forget when you’re in the trenches of trying to make a living out of your art that this is something you’ve worked for and dreamed about for a long time, maybe your whole life.  In some ways, it’s the job of the artists in the world to live the life that others only dream about.  It takes a lot of courage and sacrifice to be an artist, maybe not at first, when you’re young.  But as you get older, and societal and financial pressures mount, being a successful struggling artist takes on ever deeper meaning and challenges.  So don’t lose sight of the reasons that you started down this road in the first place.  That’s provided that they were the good reasons in the first place . . . not just money, fame and chicks.

So there you have it.  Some of the more esoteric aspects of what it takes to be a successful struggling musician.  I hope this helps you in your journey.  I wish someone would have sat me down and told me these things long ago.  But I guess that’s where wisdom comes in.  Wisdom is knowledge mixed with experience and it’s something that doesn’t come easy.  I share my knowledge and experience with you freely so that you might profit from it and make this world a little better place.  In part 3 of this series, I will be exploring some of the many useful tools available to us musicians today to help produce, distribute and promote this music that we work so hard on.

Douglas Smolens

www.douje.com

Over the 20 years that I’ve been a working musician, I have gleemed many an insight into what it takes to be able to do this for the long haul.  With my current band, Fishtank Ensemble, we just released our 3^rd album, ‘Woman in Sin’ and are currently touring about half of the year.  We are an almost completely do-it-yourself band.

So what does it mean to be a successful struggling musician?  It means that you are pursuing your passion, music, while still able to pay to your bills and live a reasonably good life (and hopefully save a little).  There are so many trade-offs in choosing to pursue your dreams.  Non-artistic people think it’s an easy decision to ‘not get a real job’.  And that might be true when you’re young.  But the older you get the harder it gets.  These following tips are knowledge that I’ve learned from my experience that will help you down your path becoming a successful struggling musician, and eventually, just a successful musician.

In part 1 of this 3 part series, I will be outlining the more practical aspects of what this entails.  These are very tangible ideas and suggestions that may even be obvious, but they are things that every musician should know and can be implemented everyday.   In part 2, I will focus on the more philosophical and less tangible aspects of being a successful struggling musician but arguably the more important skills and wisdom that you need to know (after mastering your art that is).  These will be suggestions and ideas that will keep you in the game for the long haul, because that is what it will take to be a successful struggling musician.  Part 3 will be all about utilizing the various tools available to us.  So, here we go . . .

Practice – This one is obvious and already thoroughly covered in other articles here and here so I’ll just make a brief point:  The progress you make is measured over years.   So be consistent and diligent and over time you’ll be amazed at how far you come.

Learn to play drums and piano – No matter what instrument you play, every musician should really learn to play both drums and piano in addition to their chosen instrument/s.   Why is this?  For any instrument you play, you’re going to have to play rhythm. It’s an inherent part of music you can’t escape.  I started my career as a drummer but later switched to guitar.  But my time spent learning to play the drums has served me immensely well.  And why should you learn to play piano?  Because it’s the most logically laid out instrument.  Unlike guitar for example, every octave is in the same place and it’s easy to visualize everything because it’s perfectly laid out in front of you.   I’m convinced that the 3^rd between the G and B strings is what keeps the millions of people out there who dabble on guitar from really learning the instrument and becoming great.  Another reason you should learn piano is that it’s the easiest instrument to write and orchestrate with on the computer.  If you write songs, you probably want to demo and/or record them on the computer, and if you can play piano, you can produce any sound that’s ever existed right there from the synthesizer on you DAW.  I can get by OK on piano though I’m not good at all.  But I can figure out a part, practice it, then record it right into my DAW with any sound I want, simply by being able to play the piano.

Learn to play as many songs as you can – Learning cover songs is a great way to understand what it takes to make a great song.  It’s also a great way to start playing gigs.  There’s a million of bars out there that need music all the time.  It’s not the end-all-be-all, but it’s a great way to start gigging, gain valuable experience and hopefully even earn a little money.

If you haven’t already, start writing songs now – There are tens of thousands of great cover bands out there, but what sets apart a band that people take seriously versus a great bar or wedding band is original songs.  Do you think we would have ever heard of the Beatles if they remained a Rock n’ Roll cover band in Germany? I don’t think so.  You should realize that unless you’re extremely gifted, you’ll probably write really bad songs for years.  If I could play you the songs I wrote for my first 5-10 years, we would both have a good laugh.  But the important thing is that I was writing songs, and over time they got better and better.  It’s also important to write about what moves you and what you know.  The best songs are ones where you can feel that the person who wrote it actually experienced what they are singing about.

Play as much as possible – It’s pretty daunting and difficult to set out on a national or regional tour, especially if you haven’t done it before.  So start out locally.  Find the bars, clubs, events, farmers markets, art centers, etc. in your local area and start playing there.  Once you’re comfortable in your small, local pond, start spreading out in your region more.  If you live in a big city, there wont be any shortage of places you can play.  And don’t limit yourself to just the traditional places like bars and clubs.  There is a whole huge world out there and guess what, it needs music, especially live music.  City centers, Farmers Markets and street fairs are great places to busk, provided they allow that.  One band I know, ‘The Blasting Company’ starts playing on the street in front of the hottest clubs in Hollywood starting at about 1am, just as people are drunk and starting to leave.  This has been a very successful strategy for them, because they impress the intoxicated patrons, make tips, but more importantly make connections and get hired to play parties and other events.   Continue to think outside the box and you will discover there are still more creative places to bring you music.  Places like museums, wineries, parades, art opening, schools, camps, etc.  Doing this, you will gain invaluable experience both on stage and off.  Which brings us to the last tip of part 1 of being a successful struggling musician.

Embrace the business aspects of your music career – Unless you’re born into a famous musical family or get very lucky, there’s only one person who will nurture your musical career through it’s developing years, you.  The irony is, it’s not until you are making enough money to be successful until managers, booking agents, publishing and record companies will be interested in you.  But where were they through the hard years of figuring everything out and eating cup of noodles everyday?  The time to really start thinking about and acting on this is when you are ready to start playing live in front of an audience.  From that point on, it is imperative that you take this aspect of career as seriously as you take the music.  Hopefully, one day you will be successful enough that you won’t have to produce, manage, book and promote yourself.  But having a good grasp on this will continue to help you even then.  I will touch much more on this in part 2, but for now understand that no one will take your music career seriously until you do.

The 3rd CD from Fishtank Ensemble

This album turned out particularly well, I think, because we we’re on the road for 3 months non-stop immediately before recording it.   Almost every album that ever gets recorded, happens before the band has a chance to play the songs for a long time . . to try out lots of different parts and arrangements.   As a record producer, this was a luxury I had dreamed for a long time, but this was the first time in all my experience that i’ve gotten a chance to make a record this way.

But, after making about 7 or 8 records myself, I have discovered a hidden law of recording:  Make your best guess for how long you think it will take to record, mix and master everything . . . . . .  then multiply by 3.  That’s a much closer approximation to how long it will actually take to complete.

Here’s a video of us playing on KOCT in Oceanside:

Here’s a video of Fishtank Ensemble playing at Sebastopol right after Tribal Fest.

The 3rd CD from Fishtank Ensemble

There is a major controversy brewing in the world of Male Companions, the ground breaking sketch comedy show by the folks who brought such timeless classics as “Unicorns and Rainbows” and “Here Comes the Night“.  We recently released episode 7 (and 6 for that matter) to great controversy.

Our legions of fans (as evidenced by the 26,877 views that episode 6 has as of 12:38 am on tuesday, May 11, 2010) have been almost unanimous in their disdain for episode 7 “Shannan and the Flying Turd“.  With a name like that, I can’t understand how they couldn’t like it.   Suffice it to say that we will be addressing everyones comments and concerns in a new directors cut/commentary edition of Episode 7 coming to youtube and theater near you soon.    But for now you can judge for yourselves. . .

Tour dates for the May Fishtank Ensemble tour of CA:

May 12 – Berkeley, CA – Freight and Salvage

May 13 – Arcata CA – Arcata Playhouse

May 14 – Nevada City – North Columbia Schoolhouse

May 15 – Point Arena, CA – Arena Theatre

May 16 – Sebastopol, CA – Hopmonk Tavern

May 18 – Sacramento, CA – Firehouse 5

May 19 – Santa Cruz, CA – Moes Alley

May 21 – Briceland – Octagon at Beginnings

May 23 – San Louis Obispo – Cal Poly Performing Arts Center

May 29 – Claremont, CA – Folk Music Center

May 30 – Irvine, CA – Lightning in a Bottle Festival

Male Companions – Episode 3 – “Gangster Sprite“

Male Companions – Episode 4 – “Shannan’s (Sophies) Choice”

Male Companions – Episode 5 – “Michael McDonald Hold Music”

Fishtank Ensemble is putting the touches on our 3rd CD which should be available sometime in march with lots touring through the rest of the year to support it.  I’m getting ready to do a long weekend of shows with the lovely and talented Jessica Fichot.  We’ll be playing in Reno and several spots around Tahoe and Truckee from Feb 4-7.  We’ve become regulars at Northstar at Tahoe playing the ice skating rink and two great restaurants Moody’s and Baxters.  Maybe it’s the free lift tickets that keeps us coming back?

Remember that show we played at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for the LA County Holiday Celebration . . . that Djordje flew back from Serbia for to play for 5 minutes . . . we’ll here’s the video . . . complete with million dollar camera angles and introduction by Tia Carrere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SW2OCUJrKg&feature=player_embedded

The Doug and Josh Comedy Explosion at the Downtown Comedy Club on Jan 1 & 2 was a great success.  Thanks so much to everyone who came out.  I think it’s safe to say that those shows launched our stand up comedy career.  We’ll have more shows coming up in Feb so stay tuned.  (you can subscribe to the RSS feed or copy and paste the URL into a ‘reader’ like google reader).  By the way, the Downtown Comedy Club is a great club both for comedians and the audience.  They are very supportive and nurturing to comedians, and there’s no B.S. drink minimum so you should really check it out.  They have shows every weekend.

Last, but definitely not least, check out this awesome video I made of my niece Prisca.  Whenever the music starts playing (which is often), she starts dancing.  It’s too cute.

Anyway, Fishtank Ensemble has one more show for 2009!  It’s a 5 minute spot in the ‘Holiday Celebration‘ at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Christmas Eve.  Djordje is even flying back from Serbia just for this show, then going right back for 2 more weeks.  The show will be live on PBS and streaming on the web on KCET.

In even bigger news, January 1 & 2 the ‘Doug and Josh Comedy Explosion‘ will be headlining a weekend of comedy shows at the illustrious Downtown Comedy Club.  We are extremely excited about this and are preparing a show that you will never forget. These shows will essentially launch our stand up comedy career.  If you’re an old friend and have been telling me for years that you have to come out to see a show, and you never have (almost everybody i know), now is the time.

And finally, here is the 2nd installment of our sketch comedy series ‘Male Companions‘.