Is it hard to get shows in your local area?
It's hard to get GOOD shows. You can always get something one rung up from open mics anywhere, anytime. This isn't a San Diego thing, it's an everywhere thing. Here I'm gonna sound like Old Man Crankypants again. Pay to play was the beginning of the end, years ago. Music is indeed competitive. But clubs have almost all uniformly gone to booking anybody who will draw. No consideration to who sounds like what at all, just who will draw. And I totally get it, they're running a business not a junior high talent show. But my opinion is that means that only bands are developing followings, not venues.
I used to have venues where I just went to see any band there because I knew it would be good. That doesn't exist anymore. As a musician, I feel bad that I missed the time where a club did something more to build an audience besides a 5-minute phone call to a band's booking agent and typing the name onto their website calendar.
Last word on getting gigs. Just be a professional and remember it's a business. You are there to sell alcohol, so don't take it personally when things don't go your way. As Marc Maron eventually discovered and said, "Show business is not your parents." Or to put it our way, "You don't get a trophy just for showing up."
What social network, works best for you when promoting your music and what one do you use the most for listening and sharing music?
Facebook is everybody's default it seems, or at least for us since we are over 22 and only are on about 3 social networks. This seems a little archaic to say, but a email list has gotten completely underrated. And despite more targeted campaigns, a really nice upcoming film placement we got only happened from a good old mailing list email like our grandparents used to send.
Subscribing to a mailing list shows more connection to a band than the Facebook like; that being said we haven't paid enough attention to Facebook.
An awful lot of good things have happened to us via Twitter. Lots of the independent/college radio we've gotten came through Twitter.
For listening, it's not a social network but Spud and I are both pretty active listeners to satellite radio and finding tons of new music & artists that way.
Pandora has its place in my life. There are lots of music discovery services out there, but if you really love music and always have a jones to find more exciting new stuff, it feels like you have to put in the time, read up on who's new, try Spotify, Pandora, Sirius to hear what's out there, write down names, seek them out. And on the local, immediate level ... be open to just going to a random bar when you hear some drums.
How supportive are your family and friends?
I'd say very, very supportive. Spud's mom loves "Trophies" and "Law Of The Jungle", my mom is over the moon about this record.
Our WAGs (wives and girlfriends) are very supportive about their men, and showing up for yet another show with watered down drinks. Same goes for good friends.
So many key people in a band's early life are also music-only friends, a nebulous zone of fellow musicians, fans you've met, friends of friends who are surprised that you're not terrible. You build on that hopefully and then graduate to complete strangers liking you.
Compliments from strangers mean more to me, personally.
Your question is a little funny to me, how much does it really take for friends & family to be supportive? We're the ones practicing, lifting gear, working at promoting, not them! That being said, we could not have even considered pulling off making the "LawnChairs" video without my girlfriend, close friend directing, other friends there for free.
So to mangle the Blanche Dubois quote, we have always been dependent on the kindness of non-strangers.
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