not sure what direction to go in

[JohnnyNutman]

Hey, my name is Johnny Nutman & I’m new to the forums. I’ve been browsing the forums for a while & enjoy reading it, so I figured I should sign up and join the community here. I love songwriting and I wish to pursue it further, possibly as a career. I’ve been looking around for opportunities for my band, but it's very difficult for me to get an opportunity to gig.

We are what I think can be best described as a "melodic hardcore" band. We’re not the most radio friendly band, but we can fill in the same sort of niche that sub-mainstream hardcore/metal bands like Metallica, Slipknot, Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, Senses Fail etc. have managed to penetrate in the past. I’ve been promoting the band myself (mostly through Myspace). It’s been hard to establish a large following (since we can’t tour), but we've gotten a surprising positive response from a lot of the people that have taken a few minutes to listen to what we are doing.

I wrote all the songs myself (singing & playing guitar). I used ezdrummer to track the drums & I don’t have a human drummer. Two of my friends added extra guitar & bass parts songs to add help widen the sonic range of the songs (my other guitarist James adds guitar melodies during some of the verses, for example). I have recorded & mixed all of our songs myself. I'm not that great of a mixer/producer, so our songs are not well polished, but I’ve managed to produce the sort of raw & energetic sound that fits the overall image of the band fairly well.

Overall we have a pretty wide open sound. Our basic songs (bitch slap & pure hate & vengeance, for example) are straight forward 3-4 minute hard rock/hardcore songs. We also have longer songs like the longer acoustic power ballad (her last words) as well as more alternative/progressive darker epics (like anxiety attack).

Right now, we have a system where we allow any new fan to download all our songs for free our website. The business plan behind this is to advertising revenue from the site's traffic.

We have managed to reach some people on Myspace (who have given us some pretty good feedback) & we've gotten a lot of plays. If you check out our bands comments (Myspace link below) you can see that there have been some people who actually have taken a pretty strong liking to us (example comment: "you guys are epic, I just got bitch slapped by the song bitch slap and it is a honor =]] love the music keep it br00tle xDDDD"). However, since I just scout for potential fans myself it is difficult to reach a large number of people who might enjoy our music.

I've thought about signing up to taxi because it may help my band find that "alternative path". However, I’m not sure if my band is good enough that any A&R rep would even consider us for an artist development deal.

I really like what I’m doing with my music, but I’m not really sure where it can go. I suffer from depression, OCD & anxiety & I find it really difficult to focus on a career path or job that doesn’t engage me completely. I don’t have a problem with putting in the time or hard work into something; if the greater goal isn’t worthwhile then I seem not to care. What should I do?

Our Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/revolutionofthedead
Our Website: http://www.revolutionofthedeadmusic.com/

P.S. Sorry for the big wall of text

[mojobone]

I'm feeling you on that 'career path that doesn't engage me completely' bit, but I wouldn't presume to give you any sort of career advice without knowing you and your music a whole lot better. Certainly the current state of musical affairs isn't encouraging for a band that can't gig. Most independent bands aren't making money selling CDs or downloads presently, (though that may depend on whom you ask) and it would appear that the surest path to mo' fans, mo' money is to put butts in seats, particularly in the melodic hard rock/metal end of the biz. On the other paw, if you can write, arrange, record, and mix your music to a high standard, there are plenty of opportunities in TV, film and videogames that can pay rather well. If that's your plan, you've come to the right place.

[JohnnyNutman]

it's not that i wouldnt want to gig, it's that its hard to get that sort of opportunity to in my local area. moving somewhere else would be difficult as well. id definitely want to gig, if i could.