Hotrod Cadets' second album Something in the Engine is now available.
Listen to it or buy it here.
Hotrod Cadets are a goth pop band from Scotland: Monday morning music for your Friday night heartache.
Dry your tears and let Hotrod Cadets make you smile: listen to our new album Something in the Engine now!
Dry your tears and let Hotrod Cadets make you smile: listen to our new album Something in the Engine now!
The first CDs are on their way!
Just a quick note to say that copies of "Something in the Engine" are winging their way to the first batch of music lovers as we speak!
Brian was the first person to order on the website, and Jane was the first person to buy one in person. Thanks guys!
Hotrod Cadets will be doing the rounds in Glasgow this weekend arranging some gigs. Details will be on the website as soon as possible.
This time round we also hope to visit Edinburgh, Dundee, and anywhere else that will have us.
Cheers!
Alastair
Brian was the first person to order on the website, and Jane was the first person to buy one in person. Thanks guys!
Hotrod Cadets will be doing the rounds in Glasgow this weekend arranging some gigs. Details will be on the website as soon as possible.
This time round we also hope to visit Edinburgh, Dundee, and anywhere else that will have us.
Cheers!
Alastair
Does selling mean selling out?
A lot of the people I know who make music don't feel comfortable selling the music they make. Glasgow, Edinburgh and many other parts of Scotland have great live scenes, and there are loads of great Scottish bands around. But many of them feel that it's somehow mercenary or pushy or just plain rude to ask people to part with their cash. Or they feel that their pure artistic vision is tainted by bringing money into the picture. They feel that selling is selling out.
Our new album Something in the Engine is complete. But that means the hard work is just beginning. To make enough money to cover costs of this album, and pay for the next album, we need to sell CDs and downloads and T-shirts, on line and at gigs.
For any band, the most important thing is to connect with people on an emotional level. For bands with labels behind them this means radio and TV, national advertising and "hard sell" marketing.
Hotrod Cadets are a DIY band – we do everything ourselves with help from our friends. We still need to market and promote and sell, but it's on a smaller scale. Every person who comes along to a gig, every fan who takes the time to send us an email, is important to us.
Our first album Breaking Up connected with people in Canada and America and Brazil and England and Scotland. It's a strange and wonderful feeling to know that the CD we put together Blue Peter-fashion in Scotland is spinning round in someone's CD player on the other side of the planet.
Derek Sivers (sivers.org) of CD Baby fame has just written a brilliant guide to DIY indie music marketing: How to Call Attention to Your Music. I met Derek a couple of years ago when he visited Glasgow, and he's a really cool person. He's also incredibly enthusiastic, and scarily good at getting indie musicians to push their music out into the world, so that it gets heard.
There's a lot of useful common sense ideas in his guide, but the most important thing Derek does is show that DIY indie bands shouldn't be afraid to be professional about selling their music. Selling doesn't mean selling out.
We still need to market and promote and sell, but we do it at a smaller scale than the major labels. We reach fans one by one, face to face. The people who take the time to listen to our music, to buy it, to come to gigs and to tell your friends – you are the people who make it possible for us to keep making music. And you are the people we make music for.
Our new album Something in the Engine is complete. But that means the hard work is just beginning. To make enough money to cover costs of this album, and pay for the next album, we need to sell CDs and downloads and T-shirts, on line and at gigs.
For any band, the most important thing is to connect with people on an emotional level. For bands with labels behind them this means radio and TV, national advertising and "hard sell" marketing.
Hotrod Cadets are a DIY band – we do everything ourselves with help from our friends. We still need to market and promote and sell, but it's on a smaller scale. Every person who comes along to a gig, every fan who takes the time to send us an email, is important to us.
Our first album Breaking Up connected with people in Canada and America and Brazil and England and Scotland. It's a strange and wonderful feeling to know that the CD we put together Blue Peter-fashion in Scotland is spinning round in someone's CD player on the other side of the planet.
Derek Sivers (sivers.org) of CD Baby fame has just written a brilliant guide to DIY indie music marketing: How to Call Attention to Your Music. I met Derek a couple of years ago when he visited Glasgow, and he's a really cool person. He's also incredibly enthusiastic, and scarily good at getting indie musicians to push their music out into the world, so that it gets heard.
There's a lot of useful common sense ideas in his guide, but the most important thing Derek does is show that DIY indie bands shouldn't be afraid to be professional about selling their music. Selling doesn't mean selling out.
We still need to market and promote and sell, but we do it at a smaller scale than the major labels. We reach fans one by one, face to face. The people who take the time to listen to our music, to buy it, to come to gigs and to tell your friends – you are the people who make it possible for us to keep making music. And you are the people we make music for.
Do-it-yourself indie music – why DIY?
Hotrod Cadets are a DIY band. We recorded our new album "Something in the Engine" ourselves, with Andy @ HeadHunter. We write our own music, mix it ourselves, sort out manufacturing, book gigs and do everything else we can to get our music heard by as many people as possible. Our friends help us with photography and artwork and design. And you lovely people listen to our music, and tell us that you like it, and come to gigs, and tell your friends.
Why DIY? Because what we want most is for our music to be heard. We love playing live, seeing and feeling how people respond to our music face to face, in the flesh. And it's always a thrill when someone from half way around the world, or half way down the street, takes the time to contact us and tell us that one of our songs connected with them.
A record deal is just an interest-free loan in return for handing over control of your music and your career. The good side? Money up front to let you record and promote your music, and a team of professionals to help you do it. The bad side? Most bands never sell enough to pay back the loan, so effectively never make any money at all. And in the mean time, someone else makes the decisions about how, when, even if the music is released to the world.
We love music and we want other people to hear our music. We want to spread our songs as far as possible, and that means gigs and albums and downloads and podcasts. But this stuff is no longer expensive. You can now record music at home that is good enough for people to listen to and buy. If you sign with a major record label you need to sell hundreds of thousands of albums to start making money. We need to sell a thousand albums to cover costs and pay for the next one.
But that's still a thousand albums! We still need to market and promote and sell, just like a major label band would do. "Something in the Engine" is finished, but the hard work is just about to start. We'll be using every opportunity to get our music out there and heard – on line, on CD and on stage.
See you there!
Why DIY? Because what we want most is for our music to be heard. We love playing live, seeing and feeling how people respond to our music face to face, in the flesh. And it's always a thrill when someone from half way around the world, or half way down the street, takes the time to contact us and tell us that one of our songs connected with them.
A record deal is just an interest-free loan in return for handing over control of your music and your career. The good side? Money up front to let you record and promote your music, and a team of professionals to help you do it. The bad side? Most bands never sell enough to pay back the loan, so effectively never make any money at all. And in the mean time, someone else makes the decisions about how, when, even if the music is released to the world.
We love music and we want other people to hear our music. We want to spread our songs as far as possible, and that means gigs and albums and downloads and podcasts. But this stuff is no longer expensive. You can now record music at home that is good enough for people to listen to and buy. If you sign with a major record label you need to sell hundreds of thousands of albums to start making money. We need to sell a thousand albums to cover costs and pay for the next one.
But that's still a thousand albums! We still need to market and promote and sell, just like a major label band would do. "Something in the Engine" is finished, but the hard work is just about to start. We'll be using every opportunity to get our music out there and heard – on line, on CD and on stage.
See you there!
Magik engine for Hotrod Cadets
After trying out lots of different ideas, our artist Amanda came up with a brilliant design for the cover of the new album. The starting point for the design was a great image of an engine, by photographer Don Cook.
Don describes himself as "an artist who is interested in helping other artists", and he makes many of his excellent images available on the Internet for others to use.
You can see more of Don's work at his website lensmagik. You can even order Don's images printed on canvas, or on gifts and merchandise.
Currently, Don is busy building "Don's Digital Café": a digital darkroom, digital A/V studio, and digital art and web design studio. It's scheduled to launch in August 2008.
Don describes himself as "an artist who is interested in helping other artists", and he makes many of his excellent images available on the Internet for others to use.
You can see more of Don's work at his website lensmagik. You can even order Don's images printed on canvas, or on gifts and merchandise.
Currently, Don is busy building "Don's Digital Café": a digital darkroom, digital A/V studio, and digital art and web design studio. It's scheduled to launch in August 2008.
