“Stratospheric” (the new video from Story of the Running Wolf)

The best thing on the internet just went live today. Hardy Howl Films presents this nostalgic gem for the LA duo Story of the Running Wolf. I’ve embedded the video below, but do yourself a favor and watch it in 720p full-size to enjoy all the glory of the especially well done film-to-video-transfer and 80’s-television-look goodness.

Story of the Running Wolf is Josh D’Elia and Jeffrey Chernick.  While other acts may be attempting a return to all things 80’s, D’Elia and Chernick do it with a precision and flair that leave all others in the dust.  Not only that, but they are not simply imitating the past with covers (like most 80’s-return bands trying to access via corny, clumsy comedy), but are instead writing their own original material that could easily and seamlessly mesh with any video line-up circa 1983 MTV.  Think Naked Eyes, Asia, A-Ha, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, New Order and you are on the path to Story of the Running Wolf.  These guys remind you what the 80’s was all about.  When you see and hear them one might first be tempted to cringe at just HOW MUCH 80’S they have conjured, but NO ONE who was alive in that decade can resist the mysterious day-glo neon and checkerboard-bad-3D-cool that some how sucks you in (because it IS cool whether you like it or not).

The video for “Stratospheric” is a mash-up of originally imagery in the style of The Never Ending Story (they made a freaking LUCK DRAGON!) and Labyrinth.  Let me just say that D’Elia as Bowie is spot on, but literally each and every visual element and piece of the story does it’s part to transport the viewer right back to a time when Aquanet was as ubiquitous as OP.

Even the motion logo at the beginning of the video got my pulse pumping with nostalgia.  The way D’Elia (who did much of the post work on the video) and Hardy Howl captured the “Sit, Ubu, Sit” and “Stephen J. Cannell Productions” feeling (remember the guy pulling the piece of paper from the type writer and flinging it into the air so it turns into the “c” of the logo?), right down to the warbly audio and cheesy-quasi-industrial video music queue, is just perfection.

Perhaps the best thing about this video, however, was how it transformed a room packed full of LA-hipster-douchebags at the Sayers Club in Hollywood last Saturday night into a screaming mob of 8-year-old little girls.  It was magical to see the mass of scarf-wearing (IT’S 90 DEGREES OUTSIDE!!!), pretentious a-holes drop their guards and literally scream with joy when the music started pulsing, the video rolled, and FREAKING FALCOR came flying across the screen.  Not even the scenester elite could deny the awesome.  The performance from Story of The Running Wolf that followed the video’s premier was nothing short of magical (and was mystically enhanced by the AMAZING and legendary sound system at the Sayers Club).

And kudos to the folks at Hardy Howl for bringing CUPCAKES to the event! The staff didn’t know what to do with themselves (the manager commented that no one had brought food to the club… ever) except abandon their reserved cool and climb aboard the life-sized Falcor that Hardy Howl brought to the club for PHOTO OPPS!!! Seriously… slutty club girls sans underpants with faces filled with a joy and innocence that would have brought tears to their daddies’ eyes.

If you EVER get a chance to see Story of the Running Wolf live, do NOT miss the opportunity. And if you can see them at the Sayers Club (this was their second performance at that venue), do anything and everything you can to hear them amplified by electronics that I can only assume involved some sort of pact with the devil.

A new album (including “Stratospheric”) is slated to drop in the near future, so for now you’ll have to sate your SOTRW hunger by downloading the single from iTunes and watching the video over and over and over again.

Alternatively, you can catch the tasty flava of Story of the Running Wolf in the remixes they’ve been doing at the behest of various bands on the LA Scene including an upcoming remix for Fitz and The Tantrums.

…

Why I’m Going to Start Drinking Freetail Beer Whenever I Can

Sometimes I drink beer because it tastes good.

I’ve never had Freetail, but even if it tasted bad, I would drink it, simply because of this AWESOME response to a Cease and Desist letter sent to them by Steelhead Brewing Company (which has now dropped a peg in my book).

source

For all you late night hep cats...

I'll be playing a late night set in Denver tonight.

Let's call it 'Round Midnight. I've been told that it'll be a little earlier than that, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

So if you wanna catch some good singer-songwriter stuff in Denver tonight, Wednesday, November 12, come on down to the Meadowlark at 27th and Larimer. It's a great venue.

Artists take the stage at 9pm and cover is $6.

line up (in no particular order): Dan Beahm and the Invisible Three, Chris Nelson, Ryan Brackin, Erick Rudolph, Jimmers

Short Notice: DBi3 this Saturday in Denver

Just got added to an all ages show in Denver this Saturday, October 4, in Centennial at a place called LIFEspot. The show is a kick off for the tour of Jonathan Stark (Denver-pictured left) and The Jox (Kansas). Check out their music, I think you'll dig it.

Hope to see some of you out at the show!

I'm Playing a Show In Indy On My Birthday!

Well what do you know? Birdy's in Broadripple (Indianapolis) has been kind enough to host a Birthday Extravaganza Show on my birthday, October 21!

I can't wait to play for the home town crowd! Come on out and wish me a happy birthday (doors open at 8pm, but the place has food, so you can show up and grab a bite to eat with me before that).

I've put some calls out to old buddies in the area, so we'll see who joins the bill in the next few weeks.

Hope to see you there!

New Song: "A Long Way Home"

I recently took a trip waaaaaay up north into Canada with my little brothers. It's been a long, long time since we all went on holiday together.

While I was up there I thought a lot about all the trips we took as kids, loading into the old Cadillac and driving all over the mid west.

When I got back from Canada, I wrote this song, and this video is it's debut:

A Long Way Home
©Renaissance Boy Recordings and Daniel Beahm (ASCAP)

We sailed the gold seas over backroads Indiana
Aboard a shining vessel bound for near South Bend
The roads rolled out like black top carpets carving corridors
Meridians and dirt canals connecting us to friends

One day we’ll see just where the roads all lead us
Too many maps misfolded past their use
Three brothers learn topography by memory
For grand adventures that they’ll speak of after youth is long gone

It’s a long way home
A long, long way home

And what of fireflies in June we would discover
The stars had fallen and they danced upon the lawn
Yes what of the fireflies, the herald of my brother’s birth
They’ve flown to heaven but their mem’ry lingers on

And it’s a long way home
A long, long way home

Just off the starboard you can see the merchant ships awaking
The trolling farmland schooners harvesting the gold
They mark the coming of the winter of the weather
They mark the turning of the leaves and of our souls

So come the winter we would plot a course for grand Ohio
We’d turn the rudder east toward the land of giving thanks
Her shores shown like a light house calling me to come home
A lasting stronghold and the bastion of my youth

Such ecstacy and revelry
I’d know, I’d know
The sweetly singing voices called to me “come away”
Such a fool to follow them
I know, I know
But I was so naïve and thus I strayed

I was the first to sign my name upon the dotted line
I was the first to break my mother’s heart and go
I was the first to walk upon the shores of foreign lands
I was the first to bleed for something I had never known

At night I’d gaze into the sky and search for True North
The Dog Star guiding me upon wayward way
I’d think of Andrew and of Matthew and of Indiana
I’d wonder if the stars were shining for them just the same

It’s a long way home
A long, long way home

DBi3 to Play Sky High Music Festival :: Sept. 28

what's playing: "Groove Me" by Salt-N-Pepa

Sunday, September 28th at 4:45pm Dan Beahm takes the stage as part of the 2nd Annual Sky High Music Festival. Four days, 10 stages, over one hundred bands! One $10 ticket gets you into all venues, all days. What a bargain!

Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three play the Rock & Roll Grill, 1531 Champa Denver, CO 80202. The show is all ages. Doors open at 3:30pm and the venue accomodates 2 stages. Again, one ticket gets you into all the festival venues for FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT (staring Thursday).

Tickets can be purchased at any venue door, at any King Soopers, or online at www.TicketsWest.com.

Indie Music Promoting (just listen... please?)

The last post was about booking. This one is about promotion.

Both are chores that "back in the day" a label would have taken care of. Nowadays, in the age of indie, the tasks are most often taken up by the musician. Both can be more than full time jobs. So what's a bard to do?

Getting people to listen to the damn music is so much harder than writing good songs! You can have album upon album of great songs, "hits" even, but if nobody's listening it doesn't matter.

The advent of home recording has made it extremely easy to record your own music (though simply having the tools doesn't mean the product will sound good). This age of the musical everyman has its good and bad points. The great part is that people who previously couldn't afford to record albums now can. The awful part is that people who previously couldn't afford to record albums now can. Anybody who's spent any time sifting through myriad unknowns looking for an indie gem knows this is true.

It used to be, you at least had to prove yourself in some way to get to the place where someone was going to pay to cut vinyl. Now literally ANYONE can get their music listed along side Top 40 bands on iTunes. I know Top 40 doesn't mean "good," but it does mean marketed. And people are buying it. And that's what I'm talking about. People are being told to listen to your music (and they do).

How do you get your stuff into the hands of people who will love it?

I think most people think that if a song is good, it will float to the top and people will hear it, but you'd be surprised how many great songs are out there that no one knows about. You'd probably also be surprised by how long it takes some songs (or bands) to see the light of day. It astounds me that so many of the musical friends/acquantainces I've made over the years have never "made it big." see: Earwig, Arthur Yoria, Bel Auburn, The Old Ceremony, among many, many others (like ME!)

My most common complaint these days is that it's so difficult just getting people to listen. You'd think that if someone stumbled upon an old college or high school buddy, that person would at least be curious about what that persons music sounded like, maybe even buy an album or two... drop a line and say, "Hey, I heard your music!" You might be surprised at how little I get that.

I'm not looking for sunshine blown up my ass, I just want to know that some of my efforts are at least being noticed. The "lazy musician" label gets old really fast, especially when you're working sooooo freaking hard.

I'm always baffled when a good friend says, "I've never heard that song [of yours] before." I want to scream: "I SENT IT TO YOU A YEAR AGO!" But that would make me appear psycho, so I rarely do that (well, probably less rarely than I'd like to think).

I know the fact is that people are bombarded with garbage in their inbox (and tv, and radio, and etc., etc.) all the time. I understand it's easy for things to slip by.

So how do you get people to listen?

I'm convinced that somebody else has to tell them to listen to it.

So I spend hours upon hours putting together press packs to send off to radio stations, magazines, blogs, local media outlets, etc... Between writing and recording music, booking shows, playing shows, and promoting, it's a wonder I have time to breathe, let alone hold down another job to try and bring in actual money to pay the bills.

I post photos and music on Facebook, MySpace, LastFM, the "official website," and a million other places. I spend hours contacting people, making friends, asking them to listen to my songs (how humbling), trying to get them to tell other people.

You begin to wonder if anyone is listening. And then somebody does.

Somebody like Bill, who came across my YouTube page the other day looking for a cover of The Ramones, which I just happened to have... "I Wanna Be Sedated." You heard it?

Well he posted a comment, and I wrote him back, and it turned into a multiple day conversation. It was great knowing that someone out there stumbled upon the music, took the time to really listen to Amplifier, and then took the time to let me know he was enjoying it and that my efforts weren't going unnoticed.

Sometimes it's just nice to know that people are listening after all.

Now if only one of those people worked for Geffen and could sign me up.

[smile]


In closing, I don't want this post to upset those people who I know listen all the time. I soooooo appreciate you guys. You rule. Your loyalty (and tenacity) constantly make this all worth it... I just wish you would rub off on the rest of the people I know (and then, in turn, the other 6.8 billion people wandering around this planet).

Rock. And, as always, thank you for your support.

...

I Really Am Working On It

what's playing: "Each Coming Night" by Iron and Wine

Why is it so hard to make time for music?

100 degree heat doesn't help. It's so hard to motivate when you can't breathe.

Anyway... I'm trying to get my shit together to get these albums pushed out.

Here's proof (sort of):

Last Night's Lack of WiFi vs. Tonight's Abundance of Fun

So anyone who tried to tune in last night was met with an annoying blank stare. Turns out The Meadowlark's WiFi was down. Bummer. Apologies. I taped the show, so hopefully we can get some of that footage up on YouTube soon.

Tonight, there will definitely be WiFi, so we'll try it again. Drangefest starts around 5p, but I don't imagine we'll play until later... I may just let the set up run, so feel free to check in anytime between 6p and 9p. You might just get a glimpse of the Drangefest Cornhole Championships!

I'll post highlights at a later date.

Rock.

The links again are UStream.tv and the window below.

Dan Beahm streaming live at 9pm Mountain Time!

Howdy, all. We understand The Meadowlark has wi-fi, so we'll be streaming the show tonight! Tune in by either coming back to this post and clicking below, or by finding us on UStream.tv.

You will have the joy of hearing/seeing the cello stylings of Talia Dicker. We've got some new songs to play, so it should be a good show!

Hope to see you tonight, even if you live fa', fa' away!

Indie Music and Booking

Nobody said it was easy.
No one ever said it would be so hard.

--"The Scientist" by Coldplay

I'm not necessarily the biggest Coldplay fan, but the quote was apropos. And here's the really weird part: as I was typing this, Pandora started playing "The Scientist." It didn't even register at first, because I thought it was in my head for a second, and then it was like, "Oh, that's out loud. What the...?"

Weird.

It's not exactly CBGB's, but it's a livin' (and I'm making people happy. See? they're clapping and smiling!).

The past couple of days, well, weeks actually, I've been thinking about promotion (and booking) a lot. We just finished driving across the country playing in bars and coffee houses, and it was really interesting seeing how different things worked in different places.

The most frustrating thing was how difficult it was to get gigs in my home towns (namely Indianapolis and Columbus, OH). What the freak? I know: some of you will jump to the obvious joke, "It's 'cause they know you suck!" But that's not it, so bite me.

The one place it wasn't true was Champaign, IL, but then, Champaign has always been a hotbed of musical love and openness. Something about that town... people are more willing to help each other out instead of throwing elbows grasping for the brass ring. It serves the musician community. It serves the venue community. It serves the listener community. Pay attention other towns!

Anyway... back to the issue of cold shoulders in the hometowns. These are towns where I can definitely fill a room. No question. Yet the venue owners and booking agents don't seem to care --or more to the point, return calls and e-mails. It was amazing how much of my time was getting gobbled up writing and calling over and over again just trying to get a response. Ridiculous. A musician works really hard, writing, recording, gigging, etc., so when you have to bang your head against a wall in the roll of booking agent as well, it's that much more frustrating. Not to mention, you feel goofy in the first place, selling yourself (as opposed to a booking agent selling someone else), trying to convince people that you're great and that you can fill a room and deliver a great performance. You really have to put yourself out there, so when that push is met with silence or indifference, it feels like a hole in your chest.

However, in some towns (Salina, KS for instance) while the house wasn't necessarily packed, there were a good number of people there, and they were definitely there to hear the music. It was grand. So how did this come about?

Well, once the show was booked (grrr...), it was a matter of finding people and connecting. Not just blanket spamming a population, but looking for someone who you think might actually like your music, and then striking up conversations. It was surprisingly effective, and we made some great friends! (As a side note: I'll discuss this "targeted promotion" in a future post).

So my point? Though you may think that I just like to whine (which admittedly, I do), it's that I'm trying to help other indie musicians by sharing my experience. If you have the means to hire a booking agent for any sort of tour you might be planning, do it. It is well worth the time and money. And a lot of booking agents will work for a reasonable fee, often a percentage, so convincing one booking agent, opposed to many venue owners, that you are worth their time and effort, is probably a pretty good plan. Once you've got somebody you can trust (important!!!) making those phone calls for you, you can work on what's really important.

What's that you say? Writing music? Haahahahahaahhaha. I was speaking of promotion.

(...on to the next post)

Cafe Semolino in Hays, KS

So Kansas is my favorite new state to gig in. The people are friendly and attentive, and it's extremely laid back.

Thanks to Brendan of Audio Spaghetti and Tapioca Booking for help setting up the show and making sure everything sounded good and ran smoothly.

Thanks also to the two ladies behind the counter for the delicious sandwiches and for introducing us to the dressing whose name I forget that is apparently only available in Kansas. Whodathunk Kansas had it's own state dressing?

The good people of Salina, KS

After last night's show, I can only hope that all of people of Salina, KS, are as good a folk as the people who populated the audience... a fine breed indeed. I felt like I was back in Indiana -so much warmth and generosity.

When we arrived at the venue (111 Ultra Lounge), I was a little worried by the lack of sound, which is to say that there was no PA. The issue was quickly resolved with a trip to the establishment's basement. "Should we call somebody to make sure it's OK to use this stuff?" I asked the bartender. So special thanks go out to Rich for letting me use his personal PA.

Extra-special thanks to John as well, for making sure there was a full house. It would have been an entirely different show had he not brought along so many people. Thanks so much, John. Hopefully we'll get to see you again soon. (John also negotiated the work for the show flier created by Jordan --so thanks again to John and also to Jordan).

So many new friends (that felt like family); I can't wait to get back to Salina for another show!

...

I guess I am a LITTLE bit country

I thought I had posted this already, but I guess it slipped my mind.

Here's a song called "Trainwreck" that I wrote a couple of weeks ago. The video's just me playing guitar in the front yard, but check out that view. Man, I love my life.

Those of you on the mailing list will be receiving an MP3 download to the recorded version as soon as we get the Renaissance Boy blog integrated with the new mailing list system. And hopefully the album with this one on it will be done soon... along with the other two albums.

CRACK THE WHIP!!!!

Rock.

Chicks Dig Me

I like playin' the acoustic stuff and all, but I kinda miss these days...



"Chicks Dig Me" by DB3
from the ...Straight On Till Morning
cd release party
at Skully's in Columbus, OH

...

Pandora Radio has added Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three

what's palying: "Underneath the Radio," by Goldenboy

Woo-hoo!

Start seeding your Pandora stations with Renaissance Boy Recordings artists!

We were recently informed that Amplifier from Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three has been added to the music genome database (the pool from which Pandora derives her lifeblood), and DB3's ...Straight On Till Morning should be available soon as well.

It's hilarious to hear bands and artists that "sound like you." Some of them you wonder what qualities exactly garnered them similarity points, but some are spot on. It's actually kind of scary.

If you don't know what Pandora is, it's an internet radio feed that allows you to create your own custom stations. Say you're really into New Kids On the Block and Twisted Sister... you create a radio station, and "seed" it with those two bands. Pandora then scours the Music Genome database for songs with qualities similar to those artists, and plays songs that it "thinks" you will like. As you listen, you can thumb up or thumb down songs, and your radio station will continue to hone in on exactly what it is that you like about those bands and their music.

It's pretty freakin' cool. Robots know what kind of music I like, and they play it for me every day!

Not only that, but it's a great way to get turned on to new music.

Here's a link to my personal station, where you can see the music I like and listen to, and also share the stations I've created (if you don't want people seeing your stations, you can turn this option off).

So check out Pandora, and don't forget to create your Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three station!

...

We'll be streaming live on Thursday!

Thanks to the magic of the internets, even those of you who can't make it to Boulder, CO, will be able to watch the show at The Laughing Goat on Thursday, February 28th at 8pm Mountain Time.

Mark your calendars and make sure your hi-speed's working!

I'll be joined by my good friend Jeff Caylor. I'll probably open up with some acoustic stuff, then Jeff will play some of his tunes, then I plan on playing some louder stuff (perhaps even revisit some old DB3 favorites) and wrap up the whole shebang with the Amplifier "hits."

Or maybe we'll get there and just play whatever feels right. Either way, tune in and see what happens.

You can find the direct linke here:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dan-beahm-and-the-invisible-three

Or you can come back to this post and watch in this window.




Or you can head over to the good people at Ustream.tv and search for "Dan Beahm."

That's three ways to make sure you see the show, even if you're in Timbuktu! Rock.

For those of you who are actually coming to the show, we'll have the brand new copies of Amplifier available, fresh from the factory. You'll be the first to see them.

See you Thursday!

Barely Breathing...

Well, I put a copy of Amplifier into the hands of Duncan Sheik yesterday. It's always weird giving your music to another musician (especially somebody who's "made it"). You feel kind of like a 3rd grade girl.

I used to think that giving your album to somebody who's found industry success meant that they would probably give it to someone who could make something happen, their producer, or A&R rep. or something. I remember how totally stoked DB3's drummer was to give the guitarist for Dashboard Confessional a copy of our album ...Straight On Till Morning. I think he really thought that was going to take us to the next level. [smile]

Those years of naivete have passed (actually, long ago) as a result of a mix of industry knowledge/jade and a strong dose of reality. I no longer think a famous artist is going to give the music to somebody who can "make it happen." I think that artist is the person who can "make it happen." I have come to realize that establishing relationships, however tiny or seemingly insignificant (to either party), is the seed for achieving success (defined here by notoriety) in music.

There is soooooo much to be said for "right place, right time." Why would you not get your album into the hands of everybody you can --especially if they're in the industry? These days (and even "those" days), it's almost always about that one person... that one person who listens and then has someone else listen or tells somebody about the music/artists; a relationship is established, something happens and then the spark ignites a fire. Expectations are of course to be kept in check, but why not get your music to anyone and everyone who will take a listen?

Mr. Sheik was speaking to theater classes at CU Boulder. He played a show last night at The Fox Theater, and since he recently won a Tony for his work on the Broadway hit, Spring Awakening, I guess somebody put two and two together and suggested he speak to students at the school.

It was pretty cool. Very intimate. Only about 20 people in the room, so it was more like a conversation. He spoke for a bit, then we asked questions and he answered.

One of the subjects touched upon was his Top 40 hit "Barely Breathing." Did you know that in 1997 that thing was on Billboard's Hot 100 for 55 weeks?! That's crazy. Duncan was kind of nay-saying the song, as far as how it was created and then treated by the industry, what it was like in his overall music career. I pointed out that I've worn that album out twice (yes, often skipping over "Barely Breathing" because I had heard it so much on the radio), but I would likely have never even heard of Duncan Sheik had it not been for that song. And as much as the Grammy's are a joke, the song earned him a nomination, which is definitely another major attention getter. For better or worse, that song pretty much made Duncan Sheik's career and allowed him to get the rest of his music into the hands of people who now know and love the quote "real" music of Duncan Sheik.

And I will point out that that evening at the Fox Theater, in a room full of people who were obviously there for the work that Sheik has put out in the subsequent years (Humming, Phantom Moon, Daylight, and White Limousine), the years where, to my knowledge, no songs (and some great songs, by the by) have gotten anywhere near the Billboard charts... he still played "Barely Breathing."

That said, the evening was great.

David Poe (incidently, a MidWest boy like me) opened up completely solo, just him and a guitar. I'll definitely be checking out more of his songs. A lot of his chord structures were similar to some of the new "swank rock" that I'm working on. His stuff was definitely more blue light, smoke-filled room, Chet Baker type stuff, but those 60's lounge-y chords were very prevalent. Some highlights were "Hotel Song" (not sure if that's actually the title) [update... It's "Hotel Life." Thanks, anonymous commenter.] , "Love Won't Last the Afternoon," and "The Late Song."

Watching artists like David Poe perform is pretty depressing, not because they're not good, but because they're great. You realize that no matter how talented you are, timing and placement play such a painfully huge role.

Duncan and his keyboard player Holly Brook came out after David played, and performed a song before bringing out the drummer and string quartet. Good lord I love Duncan's strings (see Simon Hale). They played music from Duncan's debut album, Spring Awakenings, White Limousine, a musical about Emperor Nero that Duncan is working on, and then ended the evening with a great cover of Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees." Very cool with the strings and all.

All this the result of hearing yesterday morning from Erika that Duncan was speaking in the dance/theater building.

Pretty cool day.

...

Amplifier: second pressing is a go!

what's playing: "D Song" by Bonobo

This morning we sent the master and artwork off to the replicating plant. Woo-hoo!

So in a couple of weeks we should have the new run of Amplifier, by Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three. As mentioned in a previous post, this go includes a "semi-hidden" track at the end of the album. The pressing will also be done with a card-stock, recycled content, matte finish cover.

In addition to the new album pressing, we've got posters and t-shirts coming! Awww, yeah.

Here's a preview of the Charlie Harper (rest his soul) inspired poster; hope you dig: