On the Edge of a Dream or on the Eve of Destruction? Jam Band Negotiates with Major Label
Phil Simon
2003-02-24
Houston, Texas in not noted for their deeply entrenched jam scene. The town is in the grips of a media frenzy right now with Chinese import Yao Ming leading the resurgent Houston Rockets. The town is rejoicing in a renaissance since the NFL deigned the town worthy of a second shot at being a football town. And now, one of the few Houston bands not playing country or hard rock, Moses Guest is being courted by a major label. This might not be March Madness, but the drama that is playing out down in Texas is worth watching. Every band and musician on the planet has dreams of being signed by a major label. Managers, agents and publicists dream of the bands that they represent getting signed. What is the moment that a band has made it? Everyone agrees that signing a major label deal is a part of their rock star fantasy. So as not to jinx the process, the particular label won't be mentioned. This article is more concerned with the effect on the individuals to whom this event is happening. I had the opportunity to talk with Moses Guest's singer / songwriter / axe man, Graham Guest. [Editor's note: Simon serves as the group's booking agent] Tell me a little bit about the band: The band was founded in the summer of 1995 as a three-piece outfit. We were playing a mixture of grunge and jam. Over the next couple of years, I added and replaced people until we became the line-up we are today (Graham Guest, James Edwards, Rick Thompson, Jeremy Horton, and we just added utility-man, Dan Johnson, on pedal steel, lap steel, and guitar). Where does the name Moses Guest originate? Moses Guest was a real person. He was my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather. He lived from 1750 - 1833, fought in the revolutionary war, and had two wives and sixteen kids. He lived in the Carolinas, and his grave can be found off Highway 63, just out of Toccoa, GA, only several miles from the South Carolina Border. A little pack of his progeny moved to Houston, Texas in the 1950s. What is your focus as a band? We are a southern band, in a nut-shell. We focus on song-writing (with ostensible radio play in mind) for our studio releases; and we are, for all intents and purposes, a jam band live. We do not sound too much like Dave Matthews, but our strategy is the same; that is, a most insurable way to go about being a rock band is to craft one's songs tightly for studio/radio recordings, and to jam the crap out of people live so that one's got, in effect, the "one-two punch": left hook, radio; right hook, live. Your latest album has garnered some great attention, tell me your thoughts on the record: The double album captured the band at a decent performance peak. Additionally, it captures a band in transition; that is to say, a transition that was aimed at something, an identity. The band started to know who it was/is during, and especially after that album. The album is a living rendering of the group reining in jam, and crafting songs more carefully and economically. How does it feel to commercialize your music in this way? The new material, since the double CD, is even more crafted and aimed at radio accessibility. Let me add, though that there is no "sale" going on here. We're not selling out to the radio. The challenge is to try to get really good at both studio, and banging it out with an improv-style live. We have really been enjoying crafting the new songs in such a way that they ultimately have two lives: one, the three and a half minute studio pastry; and two, the opened-up, live, jam, gumbo deal. It's cool to develop a tune with "windows" that you can close to keep the draft out when inside the studio (or on the radio), and you can open up when you are outside playing(live). By windows I just mean designated sections of a song that can stay short, or be elongated into an experimental thing. Your last record is on an independent label. Tell me what they have done for you and this record: Well, the label is "Aufheben Records." I took that word from 18th and 19th century German philosophy. In essence, it means "creative maintenance" The label started as just me and the band, but it has grown to include Jeff Sporl (used to live in Houston; now lives in Durango). Jeff is a major investor and promoter, and all-purpose "make-it-happen" kind of guy. We contract out other publicity work to the likes of Ariel Publicity, One Wing Radio Promotion (Joe Sweeney), Bryan Farrish Radio Promotion, Ryf Creative, and on. So you see, it IS, indeed, a grass-roots conglomeration. Loose as it is, it has been substantial enough to carry us this far. I noticed that record was picked by bunch of people (Relix, Hotbands.com) as an album of the year. How does this recognition feel to you? Will it change the way you write music? The recognition feels excellent. I mean, we were all wondering if it would ever come. We may have begun to suspect that it might not ever come. You know, therein lies the irony with which we are all so familiar, annoying as it is: as soon as you start to take the pressure off of something (while continuing to do it, and not giving up - this is the key: letting go, but continuing and not giving up), it stops running from you. The door is open all the time. Always and already set sail. It's a real phenomenon, but when you're playing "for yourself," and simply because you're a player and you play with these particular guys, your guys, whoever they are, well then you're fucking truly playing, and EVERYONE can hear that in your music. You have been approached by a major label, how did you feel when you got that first call, how did it take place? Needless to say, it was the call I've been waiting for since I was 12 years old. I got the message on my "phone system answering assistant," and I was sitting there alone on the couch, and I listened and I heard exactly what was said, and I saved the message and hung up. Then I had to stand up and walk around in circles for 20 minutes because I felt a little weak, like a hyper-ventilated little kid. After about a half an hour I got myself back together, descended back into the real world, and called everyone and told them about the message. I decided to call the record label person back the next day. Now this type of call wouldn't have had any effect on me if it was a typical, BS, music wanking kind of call. No, this call came from Mt. Olympus. How was that initial connection made? The reason I got the call has an important genealogy. My long-lost 5th cousin lives in Los Angeles, and is a genealogist was also once a music attorney. He was looking up Moses Guest (the guy) on the internet, and in his searches, found some stuff on Moses Guest (the band). Long story, short: he contacted me and the next thing I know, he and his best friend from law school, another San Francisco-based, entertainment attorney are on their way to Houston to see us perform. The SF attorney, the kind who looks for and helps sign bands to label deals, didn't have any idea about us as a band, really. In fact, he's said since that he was skeptical about the trip and was just hoping to have some fun down here. Well he had some fun- had some Pentecostal B-B-Q, and rode some go-carts.. But he also saw an excellent Moses Guest show, in which he also performed. As it turns out he is a great guitar player, too, and got up on stage with us and played "Franklin's Tower." Can you tell me what role your entertainment attorney had in this process? So he/we had a great time and he wound up saying he'd like to help us. This was last July (2002). He instructed me that this whole thing of "working" labels is real "organic," and the main thing the band can do is keep doing what it has been doing all along. And also, a big slogan for the band should be "sit tight." So we sat tight. Jennifer (my wife) and I went out to California (per usual) in December to visit her parents in the meantime, and met up with out SF attorney at the Sweetwater in Marin, CA. We got lit, and had an awesome time seeing Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks. Yea, and then about two weeks ago the big call came. Our SF man had partied with our LA Olympian over the holidays, which precipitated the call. The LA person was impressed with the transition evident in the music of the double album, but mostly with the direction we are going with our newer stuff. We supplied him with a studio-demo of stuff created since the double album. The one-two punch is good. What happens now? How does the label proceed? The plan is for them to come down to our March 8, 2003, show at the Continental Club here in Houston. We are also heading back into the studio in March to bust out two totally new tunes, which we feel are properly crafted and ready to be assimilated. March is a big month. Now let me hasten to add that, we all (in the band) know that nothing may actually come into reality from all of this. We also know, however, that we have worked hard for 7 years, and that the call, itself, is a kind of honor. Where will your independent label fit into the process of a new album with a major label? We have no idea. I mean, I think that's the best answer I can give, having no experience this deep into things. I know the record industry is going through a lot of changes, but still, I do not know. I will say, as long as it didn't interfere with anything, we'd love to keep Aufheben a living, working entity; I just don't know if that label (Aufheben) would show up on Moses Guest's future CDs, should we get lucky enough to get a happy deal. As a band, you have never had the approach of 200 shows a year and killing yourselves on the road. Can you tell me a bit more about your philosophy? and how you think it is helping you in this process? We do try to play as much as possible, and as far as possible, but you're right, we've hit about 125 shows max, in one year. I think the philosophy behind not killing ourselves on the road is that we are trying to be longevity oriented. That said and agreed upon by each member, that every member is also free to pursue his other interests, and to maintain his family and friends while still being in the band. We have described ourselves as a "tail-end band," and that means that a lot of the leg work comes up-front, and over a longer period of time, and that, if we can endure, well then we hope to find ourselves reaping rewards at the tail-end of the experience. Also, it does make sense to simply pick a good couple of sections of the country (like the south and the Rockies), and bang them as consistently as you can. It doesn't really make sense (as every band has to find out the hard way) to cover the whole country in one year, never to return to most of those towns again (where there was no one to see you the first time anyway), either because you can't get it together financially, or you've already broken-up. The road is a romantic place, and I love it like nothing else. It's one serious fucking adventure; but he's a liar who says it isn't also a brand of hell. Picking your trips carefully and knowing your people is critical. There are a lot of horror stories about the major label process. Are you at all scared about the constrictions of working for someone else? Yes and no. Yes, because I've heard/read/seen the horror stories; and No, because our SF attorney and the LA label person have already imbued me with a sense of calm confidence. Our SF attorney looked around very carefully and diligently to find the right label for Moses Guest. Ultimately (though I have no idea what the future will bring in this regard), I think he hit the nail as square on the head as one can when shopping a band. I know that we can provide what they are looking for in a band in this situation (the one-two punch - and self-reliance), and in this place and time. I think our market-timing is pretty fair, all things considered. Your chances have been reduced from 1 in a million to probably 1 in 100 at this point. Are you ready to stop being nervous about your career? I think that this band is less nervous now than ever. If we're just wondering whether we know where we are and where we want to go, well I think we're comfortable with that, and not nervous. But, I am nervous about the possibility (and it's only a possibility) of our relatively little Moses Guest world bursting too rapidly into a relatively huge Moses Guest world. That's a Good problem to have, no? I welcome the challenge, should it come, so don't get me wrong; but a radical shift like that can be dangerous to any band, and any band member. Will being signed to a major, when it happens, change the way you feel personally about being a musician? Will that "acceptance from the industry" give you some weight with your family, or some feeling of accomplishment different from other times? If it happens, I hope to feel enfranchised into a place where I can feel free to create musically (and in other ways) all the time, as I see fit. This is a common artist's dream, I know. I also realize if we graduate to this new place, we will have left one set of troubles behind for another. I think of this situation as optimistic, not pessimistic, because in so many ways, we're always and already there, if that makes any sense. Probably not. Do you think it will effect how your parents view your career choice? It will give all of us credibility with our parents because, though they have been relatively supportive, it has been hard on them, as well. It must be hard to be a parent and watch your kid put all his eggs in the band basket because, as you say, it's one in a million. But that's no reason to be an asshole to your kids (that is, if your kids are treating you right on the other side). It'll help the parent thing, if it happens - yea. Do you think fans can expect something very different from what you have done in the past if you were to make a record with a major budget? Not really. I think we're pretty simple to grasp and record. Man, it'd be even better. I don't think we'd end up over-buttering the whole thing. I'm hoping that, because we've been around long enough, our sound postulates itself in such a way that the entire studio would have to do is provide the pallet on which to spread the material. I think we'd get huger sonically on some up-coming records, and I think we'd slim down, like go all acoustic on some up-coming records. I think we'd run the gamut, if given the chance, and take advantage of all the possibilities. Perhaps I'm overly optimistic, but it still sounds reasonable to me. Can we expect some crazy spoiled rock star stories about you in the future? I certainly hope not. For my part, I know I'm a jerk when I drink hard liquor, so rule #1 for me is, no hard liquor. I'm pretty confident I'll be pretty okay if I follow that rule. And the band, as a whole, is on the humble side. But man, I think the true answer to the question (if we are so lucky) is that we simply cannot know. Meditating in some way or another about the possibilities of the future may be a good idea. Being ready for it seems important. Your band is named after an ancestor of yours. How do you think that he would have done if he had gone through this process? Just fine. The man was a serious damn adventurer. He was a Captain in the North Carolina Militia, fighting against the Red-Coats. He had sixteen kids, two wives . . . Yea, he'd have been fine. Is he proud of you, do you think? Dude, I don't know. I'm proud of him . . . We'll try to keep track of what happens to Moses Guest and their dance with the "corporate giants." We're all keeping our fingers crossed for ‘em. Phil Simon is the owner and lead agent at Simon Says Booking. Moses Guest is from Houston Texas. The corporate giant, shall remain nameless.
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