Seems like just about every day I am hearing about a new “supergroup” of sorts being put together. A group of musicians who have other main bands getting together to make an album. This is yet another by product of the shrinking record business. If you aren’t selling any real copies of your albums with your main band, maybe be in five bands at the same time and combined there might be some sales? Or maybe even have a hit with the side band (if that were to ever happen the main band would likely be abandon no doubt). I am not judging these artists for doing these things. I would never begrudge anyone doing what they can to make a living and survive in a business where 10,000 copies sold gets you top 10 on Billboard and sadly off the charts three weeks later in many cases. The truth is some artists making great new music are selling around 2-5000 copies. Some even less. So I get the multi tasking. I also have to laugh at how criticized a guy like Mike Portnoy was for taking this approach a few years ago. Guess what? Now it’s the norm and Mike having a few bands seems more than normal. Almost everyone is doing it. I miss the days when seeing your favorite band or musicians was a once a year very special thing. This all feeds in to the over touring and over exposure of some artists. Some are actually hurting their draw they play so often. Some are going less is more and actually getting paid better for playing less. Again, everyone does what they have to in order to survive, I get that. But what is frustrating about some of these “projects” is the almost total lack of real support for them. As fans we get invested in this stuff, buy the music (hopefully), and then sometimes don’t even see a live show happen. Then a month later we are hearing about another band with some of the same members to buy that release! It’s getting hard to keep up with all of this and it’s my job to do so. So I can’t even imagine how convoluted it must be to the casual rock fan to sort out. Some of these bands are good and have the right intentions. They actually all get in a room, work together, and try and make a real run with it. Others are a bunch of tracks emailed back and forth by guys that never even met or were ever in the same room, cut together with pro tools, throw it out and see what happens. These are often bad and dilute the scene and often have no chemistry or shot at success. I personally was directly involved in one of these projects that worked, The Winery Dogs. Those guys made the band a priority, all recorded and wrote together, and toured their asses off the promote it (and made an amazing album!). Now in down time they are all doing some other stuff but will reconvene in 2015 to continue. But sadly I see so many of these bands jam the pipeline and you can just tell it’s never going to happen. No real label support, no chemistry, no live shows, no great songs. Just throw some names together and see what happens. I hope we get more things like The Winery Dogs breaking through (relatively speaking as far as rock is concerned these days), but the formula I am seeing for so many of these bands does not bode well for that to happen. I’m curious to read your comments as a rock fan what you think of all these bands and are you bothered when you buy the music and it never goes beyond an album release? As always all opinions welcome.
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Eddie, I wish I had a solution. The music biz has been so turned upside down by the internet and NOWNOWNOW consumer demand. It’s sad. What other choice do these guys have? Maybe the record companies need to all agree not to sell individual songs anymore on iTunes, etc. That, right there, was an absolute killer to any musician.
This is a side effect of the insane culture we have now. When I was growing up, it was my dream to be a rock guitarist. Now, I’m glad it never worked out for me.
Seriously, get over it man! Your shtick is old and tired.
I personally do not like the term “Supergroup”. Just because some established artists get together to form a band doesn’t mean they are a Supergroup, especially before one note of music is played or heard. Bands, whether it’s made up of veteran musicians or unknown guys just out of a garage, have to earn the title of Supergroup. A Supergroup should mean something special is going on, that they have captured people’s attention and have become THE band. That term isn’t as bad as “Hair Metal” but it can be just as misleading. My solution is when I hear about one of these bands is I don’t immediately say “Hell yeah! I’m gonna buy the album!” before I do the same research I do for a new band made up of unknown musicians: I listen to a couple of songs, check out their bio and then decide if I want to buy their album or not. A lot of times just doing a little research can easily shed light on whether or not a supposed Supergroup is serious and is taking the band as such or if it’s just a bunch of guys who want to work together and it’s just a one off type of project. There’s nothing really wrong with that, but if it’s a case that they aren’t really taking it serious, then why should I? So I look at them as new “bands”, period. That’s how when Black Country Communion first started they became my favorite new “band” not my favorite new “Supergroup”. I looked at them the same way I looked at Airbourne when I first heard that band in 2008: I saw Airbourne’s video for the song “Runnin’ Wild”, loved it but since I had never heard of them I searched out more of their music and about a week later I was at a store buying their debut album and they became my favorite new band that year. So it doesn’t matter to me until I hear it with my own ears whether it’s worth my time and money and being called a Supergroup makes no real impact on my decision.
Some of the groups I like, I saw the Winery Dogs twice and they were Amazing live and the cd is also awesome.. I really think that some of these “supergroups” are just artists looking for a creative outlet while their main band is on hiatus or taking a break.. And some are I’m sure out there for a money grab. Like Eddie and many on this page I am a guy that HAS to have the physical copy of a cd… but if I’m not sure of how a band is going to be I will preview it on ITunes ….. Like everything else out there, there is good and bad…. Have a good one everyone!
KXM and T&N are good examples. Great releases but they fall off the radar with no live shows. Now Rated X, Vinnie Moore’s side project, etc. It seems like there is a new one every week. Not a complaint but if there are no shows, it’s hard to imagine any of these getting a leg up out there in the music world today.