Why let fans name their own price for your record when you can auction off the experience of actually making the recording? Maybe Radiohead should take note: Local band the Sexy Accident will let you -- yes, you! -- be a part of the band's new record. As in, stop by the studio whenever you want; come to practices; listen to rough mixes; sing on a track. There's more stuff, too. Check it out here.
We asked Jesse Kates a few questions about the band's new recording process, starting with the most important:
The Pitch: Why?
Jesse Kates: To be not boring.
To connect with any fan that participates on a deeper level.
Because recordings are non-scarce and are therefore (next to) impossible to sell, but we still would like to raise a little money to pay for all these expensive recordings.
Who came up with the idea?
Me! It came upon a Sunday as if a bolt from the blue. But it wasn't blue out at all. It was gray and cold and filled with slush. And so I sat at yon desk in nerdly fashion and cranked out yon Web page.
What are you hoping to get from fans, as far as input?
Well, we have a variety of ways to play. And they are priced in relation to the level of input/involvement that each level yields. So at the entry levels, you get to come into the studio and sing with us on a song that my 5-year-old son wrote called "Ninja Ninja Fight Darth Vader," which is going to be a totally fun and amazing thing to do. And you get to do it with a guy who recorded Nirvana and Soundgarden and Unwound and the Wedding Present and stuff, which makes it all the more awesome.
At the upper levels, you get to hang out at the studio for varying amounts of time while we track. Since the studio is unavoidably a frenetic and focused thing, participation will probably consist of being suddenly asked an urgent/neurotic question like, How did that sound to you? Or, Which guitar tone is better, A or B? Or, Have you seen my capo? Or, Did I totally just biff that note? Or, What should we get for dinner 'cause I'm about to pass out?
If you give at the highest level, you can come to the practices leading up to the record, which are a little more leisurely but still focused. At practice, conversation might range from Camry's latest baking antics to what sort of feel/style to use for a certain song, to arrangement questions (Is the first verse too long?) to detailed deconstruction of tempo and wacky little detail ideas (sudden stops, weird pauses, tambourine attack!, steal Daniel's drum stool, etc.).
Why include lip balm in the packages?
Because the phrase "the Sexy Accident Mint Lip Balm" makes me smile to this day. Also, we got hundreds of tubes to mail out with Mantoloking when we sent that to radio stations in the hopes of getting attention. And we thought that as the winter wore on (it was a fall release), maybe the DJs would be walking around using our lip balm and think, Hmm, this mint lip balm is deliciously brisk. I should play that Sexy Accident record again! It didn't quite work out that way, but I still get the joy of minty-fresh, chapless lips.
How terrifying, on a scale of one to 10, is the Henry Rollins stare?
You will have to ask Henry Rollins. The Henry Rollins stare is the stare that made Henry flinch! Steve has not deployed it on me, thank God. I think I would pee.
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