Show Review: Trit95 & Shanghai Beach @ Rubycon Records

Show Review

Trit95 & Shanghai Beach

@ Rubycon Records

Los Angeles, CA.

  I wanted to see Trit95 (from San Diego) last night because I'm hoping to put out their record.  Negotiations have been slow.  Despite interest on both sides, Trit95 have done pretty well distributing their own music digitally-  47k monthly listeners- which is pretty incredible for a fully self-distributed act, and not bad for a fully established indie artists with national and international tours as well as several albums under their belt.  As I've told Mario, my partner, many times, maybe Trit95 don't want or need a record label.   I run into those sort of folks all the time in my job as a criminal defense attorney.  People will call about hiring me for a case and ask me whether I will promise to get the case dropped or whether I can guarantee a win after a jury trial.  Frequently people will ask me, a criminal defense attorney, whether it is "worth it" to hire a criminal defense attorney. 

  Something I've noticed about artists and bands is that they ALWAYS know better than the labels etc they are talking to.  Not just unsigned artists, all artists, all bands, all musicians.  I have observed that essentially all artists/bands/performers believe that they are entitled to be succesful, so any help in that direction is simply taken as something that is due them, and any potential impediments are the fault of others.    How can a label/manager/booking agent respond?  Three ways:  First, you buy compliance.  This is the major label route.  Second, you lie.  This is the traditional route for indie labels, who seek to obscure their lack of resources by offering fulsome promises.  Third, you offer a partnership with transparency- this is the typical "DIY" approach- which obviously works better in theory than in practice.   The essential problem is that 90% of records that get released by record labels lose money, and the 10% that do make money invariably subsidize the 90% that do not, and the 90% also do not make any money.  That is not a recipe for a happy business relationship and it never will be.

     Last night I didn't get to Rubycon till 10 PM, missing the opening act- also a touring artist- sorry.  I saw Shanghai Beach- from Brooklyn.  It was one guy with a sequencer/keyboard/drum machine type set up.  The vocals were strong, he reminded me of John Maus but the backing music was more upbeat. It was crowded but not sold out and people were definitely into it.

    The crowd thinned a bit for headliner Trit95.  They were playing as a three piece with live guitar and bass (I think?) and a drum machine.   The mix was off- I'm pretty sure the Rubycon sound system has trouble with live instruments.  About four songs in an announcement was made that the wife had broken and the show was over.   I didn't stick around to see what happened after that.  Trit95 was good- the first real "band" I've seen since The Serfs show last fall.  I'm surprised that they haven't already been snapped up by a record label, but everyone has been pretty dormant for the past couple years, so I probably shouldn't be surprised by anything as it relates to bands getting signed to record labels.

   

  It would be great to see these acts at more established venues in town- clearly they meet all the criterion for opening for larger, touring acts in that they are good and have their own local fans who might buy tickets.  I'm talking about Trit95 and Secret Attraction here.