Gotta get a record deal, gotta get a record deal!
That has been the catch phrase for young indie musicians for decades, myself included. Hordes of long haired, guitar wielding mumma’s boys religiously following the teachings and trends of ‘Rolling Stone’ or ‘NME’ all pinning their hopes on the fact that it just might be them that catches the next big break.
Those days are all but gone, big breaks are not quite as big as they used to be, record labels and deals are smaller and fewer and far between than ever before. The internet, digital media, digital audio recording and distribution have demolished those highly impenetrable walls, the game has changed. These days musicians are more often than not funding recording themselves (if not doing it themselves), possibly even funding the first run of CD production and then attempting to P&D deals and publishing deals. It seems a far cry from the Hay-day of yesteryear but it’s still a bloody great achievement when a band can manage to get through this process and get out the other side with a contract and a plan to forge ahead with. It’s an achievement, something that so many people have worked for and never managed to make.
Christchurch has produced more than it’s fair share of New Zealand’s best musicians and song writers and it’s time to pick up a pencil and etch another name into that list. The Unfaithful Ways, Christchurch’s latest young, hip band has just recently signed a publishing deal with Native Tongue and I am pretty sure that if they can keep their heads will be onto great things both nationally and worldwide.
Well done boys, I am very happy and proud to have been involved and really look forward to where you end up in the future! Keep an eye and an ear out for the next release from this group, and be sure to keep an eye out on NME magazine in a years time, I am positive these indie-country pinups will be gracing its glossy cover.