NEW SONGS!

[mh]

8 is fine for a festival; I'd actually thought the setlist might have veered even more towards a more traditional selection of songs as it's not necessarily their own crowd. I'd guess that's probably it for new songs now, until Oz/NZ, but we'll see.

[LyanvisAberrant]

And anyway, they're saving them for the album right? XD

[il duce]

I have been talking to a lot of bands, and what major labels demand now is 16 second Tik Tok videos and stuff that Von would never ever do anyway. So right now The Sisters are waaaay better off not being on a major label.

Everything that Von has always wanted exists only in doing it yourself now.

And yes he is still stuck in 1996 and my guess he will stay there.

Again, he doesn't want to crowdfund a Sisters record. The reason he's stated for wanting a major deal is the promotional budget and experience. He wants a label that will do things like put adverts in the press*, push any singles so they get on radio playlists, push for TV appearances, etc. The fact is though that the majors don't do any of that stuff with anyone other than the major chart stars any more.

And the fact is that artists have to do their own promotion and fan base building today. The press? What press? You mean actual paper newspapers? Or music magazines, the ones that used to exist a long time ago?

Von has the fan base, and many of them are super loyal and will buy anything he puts out — even before he does it. (Guilty as charged... ).

Promotion can be done cleverly, effectively and cheaply. He has total creative freedom, a loyal international audience, and doesn't need to share income from new records with any middle men, distributors, labels, publishers, etc.

He doesn't need a major label, and the majors will never sign him.

This is a great time for artists who play live.

The band has great new material, they're better live than they've been for 20 years, they tour regularly, the fans are energized.

He should go for it.

I have spoken.

[il duce]

And anyway, they're saving them for the album right? XD

Of course! Just like JD Salinger Sisters every year makes an album, considers it a work of utter genius and then puts it in a drawer and goes on tour.
And in 2050 Vons aging butler will take a boat to Orkney and burn all the albums and post it on you tube.

[Yggdrasil]

I have been talking to a lot of bands, and what major labels demand now is 16 second Tik Tok videos and stuff that Von would never ever do anyway. So right now The Sisters are waaaay better off not being on a major label.

Everything that Von has always wanted exists only in doing it yourself now.

My exact point... there has never been a better time for independent artists. Just look at all the band building their brands and followings on BandCamp, selling vinyl, cassettes, cool collectibles, merch, NFTs, making their money out of that, and from playing live. All direct to the fans, no middlemen, no cuts.

The Sisters is the perfect band for that approach. He has thousands of fans around the world who would buy anything he puts out, unseen and unheard. No TikTok needed. Von can be as mysterious and introverted as he likes, and just do his thing.

The only change would be actually releasing stuff instead of sitting on it, waiting for 1991 to come around again.

And yes he is still stuck in 1996 and my guess he will stay there.

We only differ in time warp estimate with five years then

[alanm]

there has never been a better time for independent artists. Just look at all the band building their brands and followings on BandCamp, selling vinyl, cassettes, cool collectibles, merch, NFTs, making their money out of that, and from playing live. All direct to the fans, no middlemen, no cuts.

That would need to be the full time job of someone who isn't Eldritch...

[euphoria]

there has never been a better time for independent artists. Just look at all the band building their brands and followings on BandCamp, selling vinyl, cassettes, cool collectibles, merch, NFTs, making their money out of that, and from playing live. All direct to the fans, no middlemen, no cuts.

That would need to be the full time job of someone who isn't Eldritch...

Hm...difficult to not think of Ben "quitting" Nathan Gray now when I read that, although I have been carried away too many times to dare hope anything.

[Bartek]

Andreas, stick to that, it's not upon you nor you have impact on that; if it happens - great, if not - no heart broken.
Bartus Aurelius.

[Bartek]

So, rather surprisingly, last night we had yet another gig with no new songs - not even repeat performance of 'She's A Monster' . Has the well of inspiration already run dry?

It escalated quickly from pretty much same setlist for years, with just new cover to please people and ruin their favourite songs, to: run dry, because after presenting few never-played songs, there was no another completely new.
I cannot confirm the rumours, but they supposedly tested new-new-new one during rehersal before one of the gig.

[FinnMacCool]

So, rather surprisingly, last night we had yet another gig with no new songs - not even repeat performance of 'She's A Monster' . Has the well of inspiration already run dry?

It escalated quickly from pretty much same setlist for years, with just new cover to please people and ruin their favourite songs, to: run dry, because after presenting few never-played songs, there was no another completely new.
I cannot confirm the rumours, but they supposedly tested new-new-new one during rehersal before one of the gig.

Ah ha! Well, when the tour resumes next month, who knows?

[FinnMacCool]

I have been talking to a lot of bands, and what major labels demand now is 16 second Tik Tok videos and stuff that Von would never ever do anyway. So right now The Sisters are waaaay better off not being on a major label.

Everything that Von has always wanted exists only in doing it yourself now.

My exact point... there has never been a better time for independent artists. Just look at all the band building their brands and followings on BandCamp, selling vinyl, cassettes, cool collectibles, merch, NFTs, making their money out of that, and from playing live. All direct to the fans, no middlemen, no cuts.

The Sisters is the perfect band for that approach. He has thousands of fans around the world who would buy anything he puts out, unseen and unheard. No TikTok needed. Von can be as mysterious and introverted as he likes, and just do his thing.

The only change would be actually releasing stuff instead of sitting on it, waiting for 1991 to come around again.

And yes he is still stuck in 1996 and my guess he will stay there.

We only differ in time warp estimate with five years then

*Round of applause*

[euphoria]

Andreas, stick to that, it's not upon you nor you have impact on that; if it happens - great, if not - no heart broken.
Bartus Aurelius.

Thanks for the soothing words, emperor

[Todashi]

I think I'm an incurable romantic, but I actually still think there's hope for an album.

I'm heartened by Ben's statement. I think the reception of the new songs has been better than Von could have hoped for. He and they obviously have a lot of confidence in them - otherwise we wouldn't have had the first 'new' shows in over 20 years. So they've toured them, and confirmed that people love them. So a major impediment to recording - not living up to the legacy - is gone. So really what is there to lose now?

Most of the major reasons not to do it are melting away. A 10 or 12 track album is completely possible, recorded cheaply and perhaps expensively mixed, with the audience pre-qualified as being interested in the songs. They don't have to worry really about critical acclaim - they can record the thing relatively cheaply, that's if it's not already mostly done. All the tracks are programmed and arranged, and most of them have been tweaked while being played on the road over the last three or four months and have evolved.

A new album probably wouldn't earn them much in streaming revenue but it would grow the audience base, and make it easier and more interesting to tour. Even Von must be bored to tears of the last 20 years up until now, playing the same old songs.It is probably a lot more fun to play the newer stuff for him, and to have the old tracks for the singalong sections and the finale. Right now, a major problem they have is that they can't grow their audience because there's only crappy Youtube clips to point new people to. I can't put YouTube on at a party, or share new music with friends who might be into it in my car etc. So streaming is a form of advertising rather than anything else.

Yes, the landscape of music sales has changed a huge amount since Vision Thing, but I also think a LOT of Sisters fans would want a physical product. (I don't even own a CD player anymore and I still bought a copy of the BBC sessions released a year or two back. I'd guess there's a lot of me out there, not to mention vinyl nuts etc)

A new album could be easily sold at the merch stall for the next four or five years, and used as the basis for a final push at touring. Von isn 't getting any younger and the end is closer than than the beginning or even the middle. It would also allow Ben and Dylan to make some money, which would be only fair given their involvement in the new songs. (Would suck a bit for Chris, but he's doing pretty well right now, so I'm sure he'll get over it, playing to audiences of 20,000 a night etc).

The big question of course is why to do it? What's changed now? I think it's because people who write songs generally want them to be heard.

But Genevieve, it's time.

[iesus]

I agree to almost all said by Todashi in the last brilliant post. I will only add that the situation is like having 10-12 brilliant children and instead send them to the world, you keep them locked in a basement

[Planet Dave]

I agree to almost all said by Todashi in the last brilliant post. I will only add that the situation is like having 10-12 brilliant children and instead send them to the world, you keep them locked in a basement

But they play them every night, that's not quite locking them in the basement. Okay so maybe Are We Going To Be Bad? and a coupla others are currently locked in the basement. They must be really naughty brilliant children.

[alanm]

my prediction: The tour continues on 2 July with the new songs gone from the set. Existing recordings of the new-new songs being performed now mysteriously feature the band covering I Wanna Be Sedated, Police Car, Gimme Gimme Gimme, and a few mildly exciting new covers. Only HL denizens remember the new material, and nobody believes us.

[markfiend]

...NFTs, ...

NFTs? Fcuk that! If Eldritch starts printing his own Monopoly money then I'm gone.

[FinnMacCool]

I think I'm an incurable romantic, but I actually still think there's hope for an album.

I'm heartened by Ben's statement. I think the reception of the new songs has been better than Von could have hoped for. He and they obviously have a lot of confidence in them - otherwise we wouldn't have had the first 'new' shows in over 20 years. So they've toured them, and confirmed that people love them. So a major impediment to recording - not living up to the legacy - is gone. So really what is there to lose now?

Most of the major reasons not to do it are melting away. A 10 or 12 track album is completely possible, recorded cheaply and perhaps expensively mixed, with the audience pre-qualified as being interested in the songs. They don't have to worry really about critical acclaim - they can record the thing relatively cheaply, that's if it's not already mostly done. All the tracks are programmed and arranged, and most of them have been tweaked while being played on the road over the last three or four months and have evolved.

A new album probably wouldn't earn them much in streaming revenue but it would grow the audience base, and make it easier and more interesting to tour. Even Von must be bored to tears of the last 20 years up until now, playing the same old songs.It is probably a lot more fun to play the newer stuff for him, and to have the old tracks for the singalong sections and the finale. Right now, a major problem they have is that they can't grow their audience because there's only crappy Youtube clips to point new people to. I can't put YouTube on at a party, or share new music with friends who might be into it in my car etc. So streaming is a form of advertising rather than anything else.

Yes, the landscape of music sales has changed a huge amount since Vision Thing, but I also think a LOT of Sisters fans would want a physical product. (I don't even own a CD player anymore and I still bought a copy of the BBC sessions released a year or two back. I'd guess there's a lot of me out there, not to mention vinyl nuts etc)

A new album could be easily sold at the merch stall for the next four or five years, and used as the basis for a final push at touring. Von isn 't getting any younger and the end is closer than than the beginning or even the middle. It would also allow Ben and Dylan to make some money, which would be only fair given their involvement in the new songs. (Would suck a bit for Chris, but he's doing pretty well right now, so I'm sure he'll get over it, playing to audiences of 20,000 a night etc).

The big question of course is why to do it? What's changed now? I think it's because people who write songs generally want them to be heard.

But Genevieve, it's time.

[FinnMacCool]

my prediction: The tour continues on 2 July with the new songs gone from the set. Existing recordings of the new-new songs being performed now mysteriously feature the band covering I Wanna Be Sedated, Police Car, Gimme Gimme Gimme, and a few mildly exciting new covers. Only HL denizens remember the new material, and nobody believes us.

[Bartek]

...NFTs, ...

NFTs? Fcuk that! If Eldritch starts printing his own Monopoly money then I'm gone.

Amen to that Bruder Mark
NFT is bigger fraud than all that 19k ecoins

[sultan2075]

...NFTs, ...

NFTs? Fcuk that! If Eldritch starts printing his own Monopoly money then I'm gone.

I really can’t see him doing that, honestly.

[markfiend]

No, I can't see it myself either, but the suggestion was raised...

[iesus]

Didnot know what NFTs is, so googled it. This sounds like a Ponzi scheme
In a few words Scum
Hope don't take this evil path

[alanm]

step 1: create some art
step 2: destroy it in a vid on YouTube
step 3: mint an NFT of said art
step 4: profit!

So about these new songs which are only available as live recorded versions on YouTube ...

[markfiend]

Not only is NFT a complete scam, it's a complete scam that destroys the environment. Blockchain is using similar amounts of electricity as entire countries now.