At 11 we met back at our silver 12 passenger van and made the four hour drive to Memphis and the Folk Alliance 2010 conference. This is a complete shift from APCA. FA is a who’s who of artist, festival bookers, labels, promoters, manufactures. It takes place over a week long period in a large hotel/conference center. Last year we we’re literally playing in the elevator trying to be discovered. We had no idea what to expect. There are hundreds of artist from all over the world that will do anything to be noticed. This year we were given an official showcase spot. The twenty minute spot was also recorded for broadcast on XM and some big live music website. In the same night we had two other showcases….One was off of Beale Street and the other in a hotel room late in the evening. The top three floors of the hotel are reserved for room showcases. An artist can pay for a twenty minute spot in a room, and hope that some passer by is the key to a gig/business opportunity. The hallways are completely flooded and one room could have some person you’ve never heard of…the next room could be a Grammy winner…Also you could be sitting next to some mega famous person and have no idea who they are until glancing down at their name tag. (I was feeling the car lag of the day, and after our third showcase (after midnight) some lady was hurriedly asking questions about the band asking for records, and how we got together. I totally was being stupid and making jokes up for answers….I afterwards learned she is one of the wealthiest people in America and builds large amphitheaters across the county…She then goes around the U.S. and looks for good (not famous) music to put in her venues….GET YOUR HEAD BACK ON BUDDY!) As a side note….The Sacred Steel players are a group of African American pedal steel players from around the country. They are part of a denomitation of churches were the pedal steel run through distortion and played like Hendrix has the importance of the piano in a Baptist Church. Robert Randolph came out of this denomination. I’ve been following these guys for over ten years. This year many of the most prominent players accepted an invitation from FA and came to the conference. As soon as we got off the van, I walked into the hotel and three of my favorite players, the Campbell brothers, and Aubrey Ghent were standing right there. I about freaked……Later that evening Calvin Cooke, one of the greats was on the elevator. I invited him to our showcase, and he came!…It meant the world to me…We stayed up super late mingling, then got up at seven Sat. morning to drive back to B’ham for a wedding….I thought the craziness was about to return to normal, when the first person to sit in the pew across from where we were playing was the Governor…..

This afternoon, I drove to get the van, and then off to A.’s house for rehearsal. We worked out another new tune today. It’s super cool. Then, it was off to play a wedding. The people were crazy! They had the best time dancing and having fun. Many of the guest were from the arts community. T. got his prius stuck in the mud on the way out, which delayed out leaving about an hour. We finally hooked up a tow rope to the van and got it free. The band gets to pay for my dry cleaning.

Video of the day…This guy was at the wedding today..

In other news, the string endorsement we got put us on their website. I’m pretty honored….www.daddario.com/DaddarioArtistDetails.Page?ActiveID=2049&ArtistId=40409……..

No video of the day…

1. AOC is unlike anything I’ve heard. But if two current artists mated to make-up AOC and its music, who would you say they were?

Thanks. That’s tough to narrow down. We are all from different musical backgrounds. When we came together for the “Declaration” album, Nickel Creek and Vertical Horizon we’re probably rolling around in the back of our minds. The great thing about being a fully independent artist, is that we can delve into any genre we wish. Right now, we’re into a lot of John Mayer and Coldplay type stuff. For the next album, I anticipate more groove orientation in our tunes.

2. When I listen your music, the first thing to jump out is the instrumentation. What has motivated or inspired you to become such masters of your instruments?

Trust me, we’re not masters of anything. There are people out there that are ridiculously talented. (my old jazz teacher used to say “stupid talented”) For Adam and I, these are not primary instruments or our primary style of music. Adam plays the piano first, then guitar, then mando….I’m a big electric guitar geek at heart. For this group of people, this instrumentation just seems to fit. We put a lot of thought into the compositional aspects of writing, and we are all perfectionist which helps. We all teach private lessons in B’ham M-W, when the band is not playing. I actually think students push us a lot to continually progress as well.

3. What do you think is the most important characteristic in a band that hopes to make it big? Determination? Heart?

Not to get spiritual, but building your band on a firm relational foundation is the most important thing. Every band we have ever been involved in failed, because friendship plays second fiddle to the desire for success. We are constantly working on our relationship with one another. On another thought, I don’t know what making it big is anymore. I just finished watching the documentary “Before The Music Dies” on Hulu.com. I strongly recommend it for anyone wanting to get in the music business right now. One thing we do preach to each other, is being consistent on a daily basis. When this band started two years ago, we didn’t have any gigs or any pressing business. It was just write a record and see what happens. Now it’s a daily job of making sure we stay on task regarding the business end of things. This means anything from approving t-shirt designs, negotiating with potential gigs, setting up rehearsals/writing sessions, updating content sites, it’s a never ending thing. The main point we came away from that documentary with was that in the current music world…You are you label, distribution, marketing, product,etc….You are the final say in whether you succeed or fail.

4. Your tour schedule has been pretty bananas this year, how have you grown as a band through all of these performances?

In the past year we have done a variety of settings including:radio spots, television morning shows, coffee houses, house shows, big festivals opening for headliners, small festivals where we were the headliner, college campuses, label showcases, listening rooms, bars, out door amphitheaters, a ballet, SXSW, rally’s, churches, weddings, private parties, performing arts centers, and in the next few months we’re playing at Disney, doing a collaboration with a symphony, and a guy called last week and wants to send us to military bases. It’s comical when I think about it! I think through all of this, AOC is growing in realizing who we are musically and what our outside the box career potential is. It’s way cool.

5. Bethany (love the name by the way), speaking of touring, tell us, what’s it like traveling around with 3 guys all the time!

6. John Mayer and Toby Keith seem pretty polar-opposite, yet you’ve opened for both, how have you varied your set from one crowd (mellow Mayor lovers) to another (rambunctious and crazy Keith fans)?

We really don’t do anything different. We are a unique group, and people typically respond well to us. I think we are growing comfortable with who we are as a band.

7. It’s been awhile since we’ve heard any new stuff. When can we expect to see Declaration’s follow-up?

It’s just now been a year since we released “Declaration.” We finished a 3 song cover e.p. about 8 months ago. It’s been crazy trying to get the proper licensing to release it. Our attorney has about wrapped up that end of it, and we hope for a digital release in the next month or so. We’ve also done some interesting one off stuff. We have a instumental tune on the new Maylene and the Sons of Disaster III album, the documentary for the show Arrested Development asked us to write a theme song for them, and we realeased an i-Tunes version of Carol Of The Bells early this year. As far as a new record, we went through a tough period about three months ago. When writing for “Declaration” we didn’t have any other duty’s except to write. We are a fully independant band, so all the booking,press, etc. duties fall on us. This is a tough thing to balance, and we we’re struggling to get in a writing groove. We’re happy to say that in the last month or so, we have found our groove. Adam and I meet three times a week via Skype and start writing ideas. We try to get a skeleton song written in an hour or so. So far we have about 13. I think the goal is 20, and then we will present these to the band. The band will pick twelve, and the process will begin of running them through our compositional filter. Because we don’t want to waste our producer Jason Elgin’s time, we try to be ready for first or second takes in the studio. It’s a long but economicly effeciant process. We think we’re 12 or so months out from a new album.

Video of the day:A documentary trailer..found on Hulu.com…Warning Kiddos…Some Adult language..and Content.

Today our ace graphic design guy sent some new ideas….In addition to the new t-shirt design, and poster he did last week, he sent a new business card that rocks….Love this guy….

My dad called and said we we’re on this month’s cover of a local bluegrass magazine…I’ve never heard of the publication…but I’m glad they thought they could use our image when and however they felt like it..hmm….Ourstage.com also called for an interview today….They are a neat website that holds artist competitions each month…You should check it out…

A. and I had a writing session today…I think we have 12 or so skeleton song ideas….He said he wanted to take a break from new ideas and focus on writing lyrics for a few weeks….

We recently got a endorsement from my favorite company…I think the band went a little overboard though….We’re getting 75% off, and the bill was almost a thousand bucks!….Stuff is showing up at my house in huge boxes….Our producer wanted a bunch off stuff, so in addition to strings, there are drum heads, cables, and all kinds of fun stuff….

Video of the day….Cody is my favorite flatpicker…..