We’ve been hitting gigs locally and regionally pretty steadily lately. Racked in 4 performances in June and have 3 left in July. We released some live bits from one of our more rowdy shows, and one of those songs can be found here on ourstage in “my stuff”.

We thank everyone for their continued to support us here in the competitions and hope you all branch out and see what we’re really doing in the music scene. Ourstage is just a very very small facet of our endeavours.

I do have a question for judges and/or voters:

Why do you insist on comparing artists on here to mainstream acts? Why is it half the artists on here cater to that notion in the first place? Oh, and last but not least, there’s got to be a reason this is indie chart music right? I mean, if you WERE selling out you’d be sold out already. If you’re looking for your ‘big break’, ourstage is definitely NOT the place to find it.

You know what it is, that magical remedy for becoming a full time musician? There isn’t one, it’s all about how sexy you are. It’s not your music that catches peoples’ ears…er, eyes in this instance.

Actually, there is a remedy to a degree. I like to call it “gigging”. I think that most ‘artists’ don’t actually do enough work for their living. Want to be heard? Get out there. I haven’t heard of a single artist who made it without displaying some level of talent. Of course there’s those exceptions whom aren’t really in the realm of artistic talent (aka, britney spears, a ton of rappers, etc.).

In the end, get off the net and get out and play. I’ve found that people in real life like our music better than on recording anyway. And besides, it’s our business to entertain people. So at least try and do that much. Don’t try to become the next Elton John or Axl Rose. Be yourself, your music. Don’t mimick vocal motifs from another artist. I’m not judging on here to hear the same shite I hear on American Idol.

I want substance, I want originality. I think that there’s less of that now more than ever. Will we look back on the last 9 years of this decade so far and see musical obscurity or will there be something to be happy about?

We’re not mainstreamers. We need pride in that fact. If you’re not happy you’re totally independent of the soul sucking hurricane of the music business than you’re an arse. Open your eyes and see the reality for what it is. You’ll make it as far as money goes, but you’ll lose your very soul to the thing you so desperately wanted. Don’t trade you for something cliche like the All-American Rejects or the Chris Daughtry/Carrie Underwood AI Alumni.

I want to come out of May’s competition seeing the top artists in their genre offering something I don’t hear everyday. It’s nearly impossible since those voting will most likely vote based on what they hear on the radio, but it’s an idyllic dream.

And dreams can come true.

Yeah, April is done and we sucked it up on the charts here on Ourstage. Sadly enough I feel there’s a lack of celtic music appreciation here, of course most of that is a result of there not being a channel for it specifically. I think that overall the folk, world, and acoustic channels are the closest to our style, but in the end the folk channel is mostly singer/songwriters, and they have their own channels (2 as a matter of fact). Acoustic music tends towards bands of the same sound as the singer/songwriter/folk songs. There’s a lack of overall ingenuity when it comes to writing folk music. Voices are the same, guitar parts are the same, etc. It’s as if the folk scene has lost it’s upbeat and happy demeanor once typical of its ancestor in the late 1700s.

What I want to see but probably never will is the ultimate transformation of the channels that are TOO specific (psychobilly?) and inclusion of the genre styles that are not specific enough (celtic).

Is that far too much to ask? I mean, how do you expect a folk band to succeed in folk music when 90% of the music in the channel isn’t folk to begin with?

The debut of Bote’s album “Work and Worry” will be in May of 2009. Prior to its release there will be a demo available with 4 tracks from the album. So far we’ve uploaded 3 of those tracks here on ourstage.