The story of Sparky and the random band

     Sparky was a mild mannered DJ just walking down the street one day when the robots from the year 2040 came and abducted him.  He woke up locked in a basement with all sorts of strange electronic equipment and odd instruments.  The robots came in and said "Make us some beats"  There was an organ, theremin, piano, drum machine, effects pedals, didjeridoo, and more but no turntables.   
       Sparky had no idea what he was doing but he went to work making noise.  They locked him up and kept saying "Bring us more beats."  After a while they captured his wife and allowed her to help him.  This just aided his escape.  Together they used the power of BASS to bring down the walls.  So after 30 days they were free and reunited. 
      They kept copies of all their work and now make experimental films and keep making the strange things happen (everyday)

Making a big splash when you are a strangeduck

     The future is bright for independent artists on the internet.  Social media networks have enabled you to do all your own advertising and networking for zero cost, if you put some time and effort into it.  Each site comes with it's own unique way to utilize it and some have options to pay but you don't have to pay to get it set up.  Instant interaction with the fans is now so easy and will be very key to the success of artists in the future.  Now you can even use your entertainment time as marketing time.

This is our newest little flyer.  Just larger than a business card the flip side has all our internet contacts.  We dropped a bunch off while at the Bassgasm show at First Ave in MN.  That's the old way of spreading the word now Turntable.fm is the new way.  You set up your profile on turntable.fm to have all your links (Twitter, FB, Youtube and your own website)  then you hang out in different rooms playing music similar to yours all the while your links are there just like a little business card.  You instantly find people that like music similar to yours and then you can mix your own songs in and then drop a link in the chat.  Just like that you have increased your audience.  You can get live realtime feedback from strangers about your music and make new friends too.  Already I've seen big and small artists utilizing this method.  You were going to listen to music today anyway so now you can work and play at the same time.
  So set up those accounts and link it all together and interact.  You don't have to wait for the fans to find you if you go hunt them down

The weapons we use to make the strange things happen.

Someone asked me on twitter what DAW I use, after searching to find what he meant (digital audio workstation) I looked at my old Fostex multi-tracker and I had to reply nope I don't use one.  I basically use the multi-tracker as a mixing board for levels and combining the layers live.  Wait what live?  Yes, live session recordings unscripted unplanned live recordings.  It's based on free jazz and beat poetry but made with effects pedals.  We route an old Conn organ, Moog theremin, Alesis drum machine, didjeridoo, guitar, lap guitar, vox and anything else we can mic or plug a cable into through various effects pedals, hit record and start playing around.  We record live straight to cd a minimum of 30 minutes at a time.  Usually there are 2 to 3 tracks that are perfect as is the other stuff is usually layered straight together using Magix music maker 17 so I guess that is kind of a workstation but I don't use it in the traditional sense.  Obviously I am still learning about all my equipment and how to make noise and music but I am just teaching myself as I go.  The video programs I use are windows movie maker and Magix movie edit pro 17.  So we make music, make videos and then post them to the internet for the world to see, sometimes all in one day.  So even we don't know what is going to happen next time we start to make the strange.