Tony Drake Music

ANNOUNCEMENT: TONY DRAKE AND FRIENDS, IN CONCERT.

I have been challenged on numerous occasions, by a number of friends, to put together my own show, performing my own original material.

Challenge accepted.

I have been procrastinating on this for a few years now, and I have always been doubtful that I could fill a venue as an artist in my own right, but I have decided that it's going to happen in 2024.

Well, I am going to give it a shot anyway. Probably later in the year. (Not procrastination, just careful scheduling)

The next step is to put together my band. I have no desire to exploit any of my fellow musicians, so it has to be viable for all involved. I'm going to have to cut my cloth accordingly.

That said, unless I find a sponsor or two, it may have to be a shared risk approach (shared door deal). I would also be counting on every person who has challenged me to do this, to actually show up and support the production. No comps at this stage. ;-)

I know many beautiful, gifted musicians, but it's important to me that I select the 'right' people for this specific project. At this point, I envision a small, uncomplicated, intimate setup.

Maybe one or two special guest artists.

I would prefer to work smart than work hard, and I would prefer to avoid getting too a**l and over rehearsing the show. I also want to avoid it being a wild showing off of 'chops' racket.

Simple, accessible, tasteful, intimate, chilled, classy.

Musical.

Watch this space...

Mate: "Hey there T, anytime you are playing a gig, just let me know, and I'll be there to support you!"

Me: "Thanks so much, mate! I'm doing a show next week at the Peabody Theatre! Pull in!"

Mate: "I'm afraid I can't make that one, but anytime you are playing a gig, just let me know, and I'll be there to support you!"
...

Cheezy Top.
Jamming at home. Bluesy fun.

Cheezy Top A fun blues jam, featuring my Nord Electro 5 for Clavinet, Piano and organ, with drums and bass programmed in via midi using Native Instruments, some live ta...

Rick always talks sense...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyMCRUxPnkK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Don’t allow the fear of other people’s opinions stop you from sharing your art 🙏 Source: @jayshettypodcast Speaker: @rickrubin Follow @realryanblair for more inspiration on your creator & entrepreneurial journey!

https://youtu.be/-Iay2Rw6BkI

Four Synths, Two Hands. Live Jam, unedited and unapologetic.

Four Synths, Two Hands. Live Jam, unedited and unapologetic. An impromptu improvisation, playing (from left to right) the Roland SH-01 Gaia (pad), Korg Minilogue XD (synthy lead), Roland JD800 (electric violin), and Ju...

Latest video on Roland SH-01 GAIA synth as promised

ONE SYNTH ONLY (2023) Roland SH-01 'GAIA' The little Roland Synth the trolls love to hate.It's not real a**logue. It's not proper virtual a**logue either. Wave generator is PCM sample based. Do I car...

Roland just released the GAIA2, replacing GAIA SH-01, the little synth that 'synth trolls' love to hate.

You see, for some, a**logue is everything.

How well an instrument performs in the hands of real musicians, or how it fits into a mix or workflow, are secondary to what's 'under the hood' on paper.

These folk remind me of backyard motor racing enthusiasts, who spend their Sundays revving their engines and polishing their fenders, but never actually drive anywhere.

The GAIA broke some of these folks' 'rules' not being true a**logue, and not being 'virtual a**logue' either. (The engine uses PCM waveforms as its tone generation source - Heaven forbid)

Like I care.

In light of the recent launch of GAIA2 (quite a different machine, really), I re-introduced my old version GAIA to my workflow, and I was reminded of just how cool it can sound, and how useful it is.

Video coming soon.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cylsre_RyLa/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Give the man a Bells.

Pat Metheny: Be a world-class listener. Make sound your only focus. Leave the technique to your automatic mind. Take a proactive role in music making by ‘pre-hearing’-- hear yourself play before you actually play. Have a sound concept of what you want to sound like that runs a *split-second* ahead of your actual physical playing. "See" the full picture a split-second before it happens. Do all this as if you were outside of your own body. Hear yourself as an outside listener would. Step away from your body. Listen deeply to those around you. Make the room your instrument and make yourself the spectator. Hear your ideal sound in that moment and play that. Without this sound based approach, music becomes a sport. A technical exercise.  Have you experienced this "out-of-body" type of listening and playing? The world needs to hear about it. Leave a comment!! --- Pat Metheny has been a household name in the guitar world for decades. Known for his impressive versatility, he continues to break new ground in music every year. This was part of a Society for Neuroscience talk. Highly recommended checking out the whole thing on their YouTube page. Follow them here: @societyforneuroscience Follow: @patmetheny

Gigs incoming:

4 November: 5pm "The Message Is Love" with GRJB at Southpoint Studios. Pinelands.

11 November: 1pm with The David Ricky Quartet at Beautiful Living, Fish Hoek.

12 November: 2.30pm at Barnyard Tygervalley, Rolling Stones and Tina Turner (tribute) with Duck Chowles and band.

Book early.

Some opportunities to support us local muso types. :-)

How to support us muso types:

1. Like or love what we share - BUT - only AFTER you have listened to our track or watched our video. We are not looking for affirmation or wanting to be patronised. Only like or love if you actually do like or love the content we shared. We know you love us!

2. Comment on what we share. HONESTLY. Feel free to criticise and even tell us (kindly) that you don't like what we posted, and tell us why. You will not be hurting us. You will be helping us on our creative journey.
We don't expect you to love everything we do. You are entitled to your preferences.

3. Share if you don't mind, and if you believe sharing to a specific audience will either add value to their lives, or help us get exposure to potential work, gigs, or clients. We don't expect you to spam anyone, and if sharing is not your thing, we do understand. No pressure.

4. Support our gigs, and, if you don't mind, don't ask for comps. Ticket sales are often our livelihood, and, more importantly, the livelihood of our fellow band members. Real friends do not ask for comps.

I have just been part of a really good and fruitful discussion on a keyboard players' WhatsApp group, with a number of established artists all of whom I respect as persons of integrity and with a decent work ethic.

The conversation stemmed from a discussion on the cost of keyboards in South Africa and how that relates to what we earn as professional musicians.

I can have up to R80K worth of personal gear on stage with me for certain shows (2 keyboards, stands, monitor amp, etc) This equipment needs to be maintained and upgraded from time to time.

It's often very hard to gauge what our fellow artists earn, as there is a lack of transparency, probably as a result of competition and people wanting to protect their turf.

Here are some of the outcomes and some consensus from the conversation:

The objective ideal average fee for a local gig of 2 to 4 sets should be R2500 per musician. (2-4hrs on stage)

(Bearing in mind that musicians still have to set up and soundcheck before an event, and strike down after an event, even if the performance is only a part of a larger/longer programme)

Also, if the band has a MD (musical director) who has to write arrangements and chord charts, make demo recordings etc (for the show in question), that person should be entitled to an additional fee over and about the performance fee.

Realistically and subjectively however, in our current economic climate, the benchmark is more like R1500.00 per player.

This would be for the basic hire of a band. If the musicians are required to comply with extraordinary demands, like having to set up extraordinarily early (which often happens at weddings etc), or travel long distances, or learn special song items that are not a part of their standard repertoire, then it is fair to request additional fees on a negotiated basis. If the band is required to provide their own sound system, then there should be a significant additional fee for that too. I have experienced shows where the sound hire company earned more than the band. (and got paid up front while the musicians waited weeks to get paid)

Musicians who undercut, especially charging less than say R1000 per musician, are part of the problem, and are not helping our industry. Sadly, this happens because we can't seem to unify on this, and it's often a situation of every (desperate) man for himself. I now refuse to accept gig that pays under R1000 per musician.

Ideally, we need to demand a minimum fee from events organisers and venue owners, and name and shame and boycott them if they don't step up.

Obviously, this is unlikely to ever happen. We are not united, we have no union to speak of, and our national department of arts and culture is impotent and anaemic.

Many gigs are taken by hobbyists. Well-heeled businessmen, doctors and lawyers, who don't need the money and play for free or for cheap 'for the fun of it'. These people are not really helping.

What should happen is that they should be paid a proper fee, and if they really don't need the money, they can pay it into a fund that supports musicians in need, musicians who are ill, and for upliftment and education for disadvantaged learner musicians etc.

The venue owner, who is often making money hand over fist in bar takings, should not benefit from not having to pay the entertainers. That creates a very false economy and is bad for our industry.

The exception to these rules is, that if a venue offers a band a door deal (the door takings, generated by a cover charge, are paid out to the band).

This is a shared risk/shared responsibility scenario. Band members cannot expect any more than is taken at the door. They have the opportunity to market their gig and need to do the hard yards marketing and selling the gig.

A musician can't just pitch up and expect top dollar if he or she has not bothered to sell tickets, and he/she has not helped with getting bums on seats. Especially when they want all their buddies to get comps. Real friends don't ask for comps. They put their money where their mouth is and buy tickets.

'Karaoke' style performance by so called 'professionals' should be banned as well. A singer with tracks on a laptop does not qualify as live music, and it should not be advertised as such.

There is a severe lack of education, not only among musicians, but even worse, among venue owners and punters, who can't tell the difference between a speakeasy, a pub, a music venue, and have no clue about respect for artists and concert etiquette. I played at a well-known local theatre recently, supporting international standard artists, and patrons were walking in and out while we performing to fetch drinks from the bar. I hear this happened at the recent Shakatak concert at Grand West as well.

Disrespectful and rude, in a theatre concert environment.

Uncouth.

It is unacceptable that management allow this.

So, there you have it folks. Soul bared, cards on table.

Jamming on Jupiter.

ONE SYNTH ONLY - Roland Jupiter-X Music created using my Roland Jupiter X only.Recorded as audio to Cubase, and mastered using Ozone Elements 9.No other instruments and no external effects.St...

Are you subscribed to my YouTube channels?

I have more than 1 channel on YouTube.

One is my personal channel where I share musical ideas, and review keyboards and production techniques.

Since I have signed to NEXT Music, there is a Tony Drake (topic) channel, where you can stream my original music and albums.

Subscribing to my channels does help me. It makes a difference.

Please subscribe to these channels if you haven't already done so.

I will post the links in comments below.

Thanking you in anticip............ation.

Groove Therapy!
Out on all major streaming platforms now!

Tony Drake - Groove Therapy Choose your preferred music service

1986 vs 2023

Different DX7. (and the keyboard player no longer wears white pants)
😆

GOT THE T-SHIRT.

Last year I entered a competition as part of Roland's 50th Anniversary, where we were asked to share our 'Roland' story. I bought my first Roland synth in 1980, and have owned about 10 since then.

I won a voucher for their merch store worth $100 US. I was able to select a T-shirt worth about $37 and the balance was the cost of shipping to SA.

It never arrived, thanks to SA customs and postal services. (I tracked it to SA customs warehouse at O.R. Tambo and it disappeared after that.

I mentioned this to fellow muso Alan Lloyd, who works for the Roland SA distributers, Bothners Music, and he made a few calls, and, voila!

Bothners made good where SA's postal and customs services failed.

Thank you Roland SA and Alan Lloyd!😄

It;s 'Spring Day' they say, but here in Cape Town, we know Spring is still a few weeks away.
However, here is something that may cheer you up anyway.
"SHOOTING the BREEZE" is now live on all major streaming platforms, courtesy of NEXT MUSIC.
(This album is a retrospective curation of tracks - some pieces reworked - from my 'Conversations' album from 1999, and "Breeze" album from 2005, and includes some well-worn favourites like 'Morningstar', 'Taxi To Tahiti', and 'An Afternoon with You')

Tony Drake - Shooting The Breeze Choose your preferred music service

https://orcd.co/shooting-the-breeze

So, hot on the heels of last week's release of "First Time In Forever", this Friday sees the release of my retrospective compilation album, "SHOOTING THE BREEZE", an amalgamation of the best of my two earliest album recordings, "Conversations" and "Breeze".

These tracks reflect my formative years as a composer and producer, many of the tracks recorded and produced on more primitive recording equipment, while on the learning curve.

The album features tracks like "TAXI TO TAHITI", "AN AFTERNOON WITH YOU", and "MORNINGSTAR" which have received lots of love on radio stations like CCFM and FMR.

Thanks again to NEXT MUSIC for recognising me and helping me breathe new life into my catalogue!

"SHOOTING THE BREEZE" drops on Friday 1 September 2023.

Pre-save here:

https://orcd.co/shooting-the-breeze

Tony Drake - Shooting The Breeze Choose your preferred music service

This Friday, my album "First Time In Forever" is being released on all streaming platfroms under the NEXT MUSIC label.

This album features some collaborations with a few amazing artists, including guitarist Paul Petersen (Spirits Rejoice, Joy,), vocal artists Tony Ridgway (Rocking Horse), Amina Juel, Oz Maloy, and Natalie Grever, Gordon Epstein, and saxophonist Donveno Prins.

Be sure to check it out!

https://orcd.co/first-time-in-forever