NY Times
__________________________________________________ _______________

March 8, 2004

The Unorthodox System: First Build a Fan Base, Then Record an Album

By CHRIS NELSON


Plenty of up-and-coming bands make names for themselves with concert
tours before they ever receive radio airplay. But few play 140 dates a
year to audiences as big as 20,000 without having even a record to
sell.

Particle, a Los Angeles band that plays disco-flavored, instrumental
jam music, has done just that, building a devoted following strictly
on live shows.

The group's unlikely accomplishment will come to an end later this
month, three and a half years after its first gig, when the four-piece
group releases its first disc, "Launchpad," on the independent Or
Music label.

Much of Particle's success, said Andrew Warren, the information
manager for a concert Web site, Jambase.com, comes from the
late-late-night scene that has grown in recent years around jam bands,
which play a brand of improvisational rock that often blends elements
of psychedelia, roots music and jazz.

When large jam bands play arenas, their shows end typically by 11 p.m.
But groups like Particle book club gigs to piggyback on those
concerts, catering to fans who want to keep dancing.

The band also attracted a "Particle People" following through the
Grateful Dead and Phish model of allowing people to tape their
concerts and share them with others over the Internet.

By December 2001, the group had garnered enough supporters to land a
show at the Knitting Factory club in New York.

"It was our first time to the state, let alone city, of New York,"
said Steve Molitz, Particle's keyboard player. "When we pulled in, and
there was a line around the block and the show was sold out for our
first time ever in town, we knew something was going on."

That Particle did not even have a demo CD to sell on tour is
particularly unusual because today's technology makes it easy to
produce a high-quality home recording on the cheap.

The band's rigorous road schedule and invitations to play festivals
like Coachella and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival kept
them out of the recording studio, Mr. Molitz said.

They canceled recording sessions three times to play concerts.

At last June's Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tenn., the band's
pulsing beats attracted 20,000 for a set that did not start until 4
a.m. and then lasted 5 hours and 15 minutes, according to Particle's
manager, Jonathan Shank.

The band plans to put out its second album more quickly than the first
- they already have studio time booked, Mr. Molitz said.

Of course, Particle fans have heard that before.
__________________________________________________ _______________

wrote in message

NY Times
__________________________________________________ _______________

March 8, 2004

The Unorthodox System: First Build a Fan Base, Then Record an Album

By CHRIS NELSON


Plenty of up-and-coming bands make names for themselves with
concert tours before they ever receive radio airplay. But few
play 140 dates a year to audiences as big as 20,000 without
having even a record to sell.

Particle, a Los Angeles band that plays disco-flavored,
instrumental jam music, has done just that, building a devoted
following strictly on live shows.

The group's unlikely accomplishment will come to an end later
this month, three and a half years after its first gig, when
the four-piece group releases its first disc, "Launchpad," on
the independent Or Music label.

Much of Particle's success, said Andrew Warren, the information
manager for a concert Web site, Jambase.com, comes from the
late-late-night scene that has grown in recent years around jam
bands, which play a brand of improvisational rock that often
blends elements of psychedelia, roots music and jazz.

Nice PR, but it doesn't seem to wash logically. Basically this article is
being presented as some kind of recipe for success in marketing recordings,
but their first freakin' recording has yet to be released. How can the
proposed release of their first recording be taken as any kind of indication
of the success for this as a means for marketing recordings? Don't you have
to actually sell something to have a marketing success?

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...

Nice PR, but it doesn't seem to wash logically. Basically this article is
being presented as some kind of recipe for success in marketing
recordings,
but their first freakin' recording has yet to be released. How can the
proposed release of their first recording be taken as any kind of
indication
of the success for this as a means for marketing recordings? Don't you
have
to actually sell something to have a marketing success?

I'd call selling 20k seats per show a success, regardless of how their
album does. And, given that they can sell out stadiums in cities they've
never played before, I'd say it's pretty likely that they can sell a couple
copies of the album while they're at it.

ryanm

"ryanm" wrote
"Arny Krueger" wrote

Nice PR, but it doesn't seem to wash logically. Basically this article
is
being presented as some kind of recipe for success in marketing
recordings,
but their first freakin' recording has yet to be released. How can the
proposed release of their first recording be taken as any kind of
indication
of the success for this as a means for marketing recordings? Don't you
have
to actually sell something to have a marketing success?

I'd call selling 20k seats per show a success, regardless of how their
album does. And, given that they can sell out stadiums in cities they've
never played before, I'd say it's pretty likely that they can sell a
couple
copies of the album while they're at it.

Except that they didn't actually sell 20k tickets... 20k people who were
already at a festival watched them play, which may or may not mean anything
depending on what else was happening to support that. And the Knitting
Factory is hardly a stadium, since the main space capacity is maybe 250.

None of which diminishes their accomplishments at all.

-jw

Is there a website?..can't find it.


John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637

www.particlepeople.com




(Blind Joni) wrote in message ...
Is there a website?..can't find it.


John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637

www.particlepeople.com




(Blind Joni) wrote in message ...
Is there a website?..can't find it.


John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637