Velvet Road - Normies Beware
A podcast about a band of misfits called Velvet Road, nothing is off limits. And all are welcome at our table but Normies Beware; profanity will be provided.
Velvet Road - Normies Beware
Velvet Road - Rising Through Rejection Episode 4
But it's not all somber confessions; we find strength in resilience, and in the unwavering support of our community. We reflect on the vibrant energy of live gigs, the soul-enriching exchange with every audience, and our commitment to personalizing every performance for those who lend us their ears. The reality of venue bookings can be rough, and here's a heartfelt nod to the bookers: kindness in rejection is a balm to the artist's spirit. Before signing off with a chuckle over a math mix-up and a geography slip, we're reminded that it's the imperfections that make our journey with Velvet Road genuinely ours. So, join us – let's laugh, learn, and live the music together.
All right, everybody welcome. Yeah, it's a little help, here we go.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I've been kind of on the emotional side of things. So, you know, I kind of want to talk about rejection, right Like, I think, as musicians we all deal with it in our own specific sort of way, and I think that there's just moments when sometimes the rejection just stings a little more than the others, and so I kind of want to talk about that.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Dr Don. Yes, how do you handle rejection? Oh, like, like the rest of us turn into neurotic messes and meltdown and yeah plays the. Wozmie and turn into a diva.
Speaker 2:All it takes is watching a stupid 12-year-old on YouTube. Do things that you could never do.
Speaker 1:Well, let's not call them stupid, because they're very talented.
Speaker 2:No, okay, we won't call them stupid.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah that's not very nice. They're very talented.
Speaker 2:But it gets you in your head, you know and whatnot, and you know we all face a lot of rejection, you know. And in the music industry it's kind of the norm to be honest with you, you know, especially as a band in their first year, you know, trying to get out there, trying to get recognized, so on and so forth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it could be real tough. It is kind of tough, it's a lot of tough, and I think there's just some days where it's just tougher than most, and I think for me, today was just one of those days. And you know, it's like man being told you weren't chosen for something that not necessarily that you had your heart set into. Maybe I did have my heart set into it.
Speaker 2:I'm not really. You think you did.
Speaker 1:What I think you did. Yeah, probably, I think it was a lot of a. You know, it almost just felt like kind of like a slap in the face, like man I do, I work so hard and I think every musician feels this right Like we work so hard at our craft and we put so much soul and energy and just all of it at a time, and it's just like man again.
Speaker 1:I think in a normal situation, had it been come from an email or a text, I probably would have just said, eh, okay, we moved on. But the way this came in just stung a little harder than most. And I know I have to get tough skin and I'm usually pretty good about it. But today I had a lot of tears. I had a lot of moments where I just was like, why, why?
Speaker 2:am I doing this?
Speaker 1:Why do we put ourselves through this? But I think we've had that, though, with the band since we started, because we've had so, so many highs and lows and all the things, and it's it's just been one of those. You know, I don't know just why do we want to keep going through all of this? And I think, at the end of the day, I think it boils down to love and what we love, our craft, I think. I think it boils down to while we get told no, and sometimes it's just told very meanly. I mean, that's what it was today. Today it was just straight up mean. It was just mean and hateful.
Speaker 1:And a lot of times when that happens, it is and like you have these moments, and and then it's like you know what, but I'm still going to sing, as much as I text Dr Don and say I quit Um.
Speaker 2:She's quit a lot.
Speaker 1:Quit a lot. Um, I'm not quitting because I sing. I sing for my soul, I sing for it's my happy place. I mean, I've told Don this hundreds of times like I feel the most safest and happiest on a stage or when I'm holding a microphone. So so yeah, while the rejection is hard oh God, it's hard. Um, ille, that's the largest, it's okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's part of it. It's part of it.
Speaker 1:It's part of it and it's hard to when somebody's like no, your band isn't playing and you know.
Speaker 2:I'm like what.
Speaker 1:What do you mean? Our band is great, and you know what. We're not everyone's cup of tea, and that's cool.
Speaker 2:I don't want to be everybody's cup of tea, I just want to make good music and have a good time and you know, fill my soul, fill my cup, and the antithesis of that is the reason this band was formed is to be more of everybody's cup of tea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but we're not always going to be everyone's cup of tea.
Speaker 2:Not everybody's cup of tea.
Speaker 1:No, and that's totally okay.
Speaker 2:Because you know what Teas overrated? No, it's not a little bit of tea.
Speaker 1:So last night, like we may well, you in the band made Folsom into this like metal jam and I was like what in God's great earth? But you know what? It was actually not terrible and I thought, huh, there it is, we're making music literally for everyone.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And you definitely tried to scream that out and it was quite interesting. I think you're still paying the price on that.
Speaker 2:I'm still paying the price because I don't know what I'm doing yeah, of course not. So it wasn't quite prepared for that. Don't do that. It was a moment of spontaneity, as they call it.
Speaker 1:That's how we damage our vocal cords. Yeah, thank God, you're not the singer. Thank God, I'm not the singer. For everybody's sake.
Speaker 2:But yeah, and like I said, it's a lot of work. We've been doing this not quite a year yet, it's about eight months since we've been serious about the group. But we've had a lot of moments where crowds were really into what we were doing, and that is even if you know all the misnomers and whatnot that happen. They really appreciate the energy that comes from performance.
Speaker 1:They appreciate the energy we get from the crowd. It's huge yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, we talk about banter and that being the interaction with the crowd, and that's a two-way street, because if you feel the energy from the crowd, you know what times I like to do is. I like to point out one or two people and really address those two people.
Speaker 1:Who are really engaged and feeling it.
Speaker 2:You know, if I'm in a bar, I'll buy them a drink, so on and so forth, but you know it's a Show us the bar.
Speaker 1:I could use a drink.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. You know, part of the deal. You know you have to interact with the audience and you want to interact with the audience because that's part of the fun. But that comes from the energy that number one the band's given off and number two that the crowd is reacting to. You know, if you play in bars or in venues long enough, you're going to play for those two people that show up.
Speaker 1:I would love to play for two people.
Speaker 2:You know what I've done it.
Speaker 1:Well, right, but at the end of the day, you know what? We're providing really fun music for those two people, whether or not they're totally wasted off their ass or they're living. They're totally enjoying it and living their best life. Like you know it's. It's just that rejection that we have. You know that all of us musicians you know face throughout our career, right Like we're not always going to be chosen to be in the next Broadway show and we're not going to be picked to be in the band and we're not going to be picked for this venue or this, that and the other, and it's just so. Sometimes it's just as hard, and today it was just hard. It's stung really hard. And you know, I think for those that are listening, that maybe are the bookers or are the venue hosts or whatever. Just remember it's hard. So sometimes delivering that message just doesn't have to be mean, and that's what it was today. For me, it was just straight up.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, that was just. That was just stupidity. But on to other things.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, sorry, I could banter about this all day because I'm totally emotional, but we have a gig this weekend.
Speaker 2:This weekend Sunday in Peoria. What's the name of the park? Paloma Park, paloma, I think it's something like that. I think it's on our Facebook page, instagram and TikTok, it's by Lake Pleasant.
Speaker 1:It'll be a good time from four to six. You know we've been really working hard on this. I think this is our first show as this configuration. Version five Version five of Velvet Road. We've had. We've had a few and I think every version we've learned stuff. We've grown as musicians. I know I have as a singer, like every every you know, buddy has kind of taught me something.
Speaker 2:We've had wonderful experiences with great musicians that have filled in and kind of bridged the bridged the road, you know, allowed us to keep playing and it's been great, because every time we have that we have a different variation of what Velvet Road is. Now I think we've found our our grease and we're ready to go.
Speaker 1:Your grease.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know where that came from.
Speaker 1:I think we have found our bix and there's a special spark with it. And you know I was watching the videos that I recorded last night and we were working, we were working on set two last night and set two we've really, as a unit, we've not worked. Don and I have done set two hundreds of times with the other configuration, so him and I know them, but the other five musicians don't, and so it was really interesting watching the videos. But you know what I, at the end of the day, like, when I closed my eyes and I wasn't watching myself and I wasn't watching Don jump around hoping he wasn't going to fall, and watching Mario and, you know, adam the drummer and Ryan, and I closed my eyes and I just listened. The music was solid, man, I mean it was. It was solid, I mean it, it was something that you know we could have recorded, it really, we really could have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was.
Speaker 1:there's always good moments, we have a lot of golden nuggets, more than what we realized, yeah.
Speaker 2:Because you know, we tend, especially as you get nearer show, especially with the new band, you get a little bit of anxiety leading into it, Because you really don't know how it's going to go. You know, you, you always assume that all the equipment's going to work, that the sound guy's going to be great, and and so on.
Speaker 1:and so forth. It always doesn't happen, but those are all variables.
Speaker 2:There's all variables that you have very little control over, other than the preparation that you put into putting on a good show. Well, you know, we've done that, we've we've done the work, we're ready to go. We're really excited.
Speaker 1:Well, I, we're excited. I'm cautiously excited. I always go in cautious because I'm like you know Anna is the queen of forgetting lyrics. I mean, I know that's why I have the iPad, but I am trying to not use my iPad so much as a crutch and to get more away from it. I know things will happen, but I know, at the end of the day, what we're going to deliver is a really great sound and a great show and it's exciting. And it's exciting that our producer for our songs has also joined the band.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and she's also providing backup harmony, which is wonderful because it fills the sound. I was actually listening to it and while she she's not a big powerhouse singer, she knows her harmonies, she knows her harmonies and and it's, it's there and you don't, you know it's, it's subtle, but it's just enough. And so I was like, yes, that is wonderful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're really happy that you do.
Speaker 1:We are, we are. We have a really great crew, I mean. So it'll be exciting to be out there. I'm excited about my outfits. I got some more sequins.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got a new black t-shirt.
Speaker 1:Okay, maybe I should just tell everybody to wear a black sequins shirt to match my sequins. Would that go over well with you guys? You think I mean they all will do it.
Speaker 2:Pretty much like a farting church.
Speaker 1:My own detail. You'll get over it.
Speaker 2:They're turning the punch bowl out.
Speaker 1:It's fine, you'll still drink it.
Speaker 2:You pick your ownpick your own gross metaphor you can still wear the sequins. No, I wouldn't. I've always wore black t-shirts and jeans, so this fits in pretty well so.
Speaker 1:I'm pretty excited, though I think you know I'm already thinking about the next set we have March 30th coming up at Tempe Marketplace, so that'll be nice. I'm already thinking about adding some new songs to that set list, which I have not spoken to Dr John about yet, so we will see how he takes that. Guys, I'll probably get the hairy eye of all. I'm trying to look at adding some Paramore in.
Speaker 2:Oh, my song, the one I like.
Speaker 1:All I wanted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, that's it yeah.
Speaker 1:You do like that song a lot That'll go, that'll go. And you know, maybe some Evanescence.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think you see your bat in a thousand.
Speaker 1:I sure am, maybe Iris.
Speaker 2:All's good, all is good. Are you saying yes, yeah, and don't speak?
Speaker 1:Don't speak that song. I don't know. I don't know the rest of the words.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let me note it out I forget the lyrics.
Speaker 1:Don't tell me cause I'm hurt.
Speaker 2:That's it. Great song, great song. Let's cover one other thing, the social media aspect of Velvet Road. We're kind of getting some traction.
Speaker 1:Well, we're trying, we're. I have kind of this couple weeks have kind of shifted my focus on social media. I was really focused on the TikTok and then at the end of the day I realized you know what I don't know? Tiktok is where we should be, and so I've been really trying to put a lot of our focus on Instagram and Facebook. So, guys, please, if you are listening, please follow us, like us, do all those things, because it gives you updates for where we're at. But you can just get to see a lot of like the behind the scenes, because I post some pretty funny videos of, like, our drummer dancing while he's drumming it's pretty funny. Or Dr Don jumping up and down, or just the random banter that happens and I go, I'm lost. I don't know, I'm not in the music.
Speaker 2:That's not that random. Okay, it happens pretty quickly.
Speaker 1:Anyways, you know we're Velvet Road on Facebook and I think, on Instagram or Velvet Dot Road Musiccom. Oh Velvet.
Speaker 2:Road Musiccom.
Speaker 1:You know that's another great place for us. But you know, social media is another place that you can support artists just by a like and a follow and that doesn't take a penny and you know that's it's super, it's super good for us because it's like yes, okay, we're, we got another follow, we got another fan and it just makes us happy, yeah.
Speaker 2:Now, followership on Facebook's been doing well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's doing well. Same on Instagram. Instagram has been moving in the right direction. They both have, and that's you know. But it's taking a lot of work, it's a lot of extra time, so I kind of feel like I'm spread thin right now between music and social media, and video stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, you should see me last night when. So I brought literally this. Oh, I forgot it because I didn't charge a camera battery. My husband has this really fancy video camera and I brought it and I was like, look, I have gear, because I never have gear as a singer. I think all the singers out there understand that Sometimes it would be nice to have gear. I had gear last night and the camera died halfway through our rehearsal. So that's how that went. But looking at the video today, like I, we've got some good stuff. Oh, we're working on re restarting our YouTube channel. It's also velvet road music, so once that gets up and going, I'll make more of a post on that on Facebook and Instagram. And then something else that we're talking about doing we're talking about recording some covers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so yeah.
Speaker 1:For us. We want to start a.
Speaker 2:Spotify channel Yep, like we don't have enough to do.
Speaker 1:Oh, and one more thing Come back home, released. You talked about it last time but was it released the last time I?
Speaker 2:think you just had. I think it's, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't think it was. So come back home. A song just released and that was Last Friday. It released, wasn't it? Yep, yep, and it's going pretty good. I'm super excited about it. So come back home.
Speaker 2:Second one's getting ready.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're actually have two kind of in the pipeline coming in. We got the one that you wrote, dr Don, which is again is very emotional. It's a it's a pretty intense song. And then we have another one that I wrote that our wonderful mail is gonna be Finishing up here soon. On that one I just have a few hard-winny pieces to work out and Then we're rocking and rolling. But I think that probably concludes Today, right, yeah?
Speaker 2:I think. So I think we're gonna do one last thing. Oh, you pick the topic math, or geometry or math, I'm sorry, bath or geography, which do you want?
Speaker 1:Neither math or geography all right, all right, let's take math math, the square root of 16 shit eight.
Speaker 2:Well, that's wrong, but that's okay, it was a great. And you're the next contestant on. The price is right.
Speaker 1:What's the answer?
Speaker 2:the answer is four. Yeah, eight four times four is 16. Yeah, it's okay, and here we go. Here we go, wrapping up another episode of the Velvet Road podcast.
Speaker 1:Thanks guys, I appreciate you and see you on the other side.
Speaker 2:Bye, bye.
