Stuff cut from the book for length to appease my publisher's corporate bean counters.

 

Recommended Reading and Michael Dean discography

Ron Yocum interview

Storm Large interview

Warren Huart interview

Steve Albini's article "The Problem With Music"

 

LONDON MAY’S 10-POINT PLAN FOR MUSICAL

AND ARTISTIC LONGEVITY

 

  1. Diversify (learn other instruments, recording techniques, basic accounting, etc.)
  2. Surround yourself with funny people (NOT necessarily other musicians)
  3. Avoid exposure to the music media (MTV, commercial radio, big glossy rock magazines, little grainy local fanzines, and even those pesky message boards don’t entertain or educate, they just inspire competitiveness and foster low self-esteem. They cannot measure artistic success.)
  4. Keep (or get) a day job (it’s easier to keep your musical and personal integrity if you’re not desperate to pay the rent through your art.)
  5. Take what you do seriously but don’t take yourself seriously. (Who care’s what you’ve done if you’re boring.)
  6. Remember that you are only as good as your last set (so make even your rehearsals rock just as hard as you shows.)
  7. Don’t be afraid to ask (nicely) for what you are owed. Then don’t be afraid to demand (legally) for what you are owed. (It’s not punk to get ripped off.)
  8. If you are not having fun or making a fortune with you current gig, ask yourself, “What the fuck am I doing?” (Move the hell on. There’s another, and probably better opportunity waiting out there for you, right now.)
  9. Give back what you got. Help out a young group. Let a band crash at your house for a change.

 

  1. Ultimately, be loyal to yourself and not to somebody’s band (that is if you want a musical career that lasts longer than the three years an average group stays together.)