Addicted to Octane
Archive for March, 2009
Guest Blog – Jack Kilborn, Joe Konrath and the Importance of Playlists
Mar 24th
I have the privilege of welcoming series author J.A. Konrath, author of the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels cop novels, to join us and entertain the masses. Today’s topic: Joe’s alter ego, Jack Kilborn, whose first novel, “Afraid” comes out at the end of this month, gives the perspective on how music influences writing.
Check out Joe and Jack’s mutual musical interests below….
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My name is Joe Konrath. I write funny thrillers under the name JA Konrath, and horror novels under the name Jack Kilborn.
The new Konrath book, Cherry Bomb, comes out July 7. The new Kilborn book, Afraid, comes out March 31. You can read about both of my personas at www.JAKonrath.com, where you can also get a bunch of free stuff.
I grew up in the 70s and 80s, listening to cassettes. The mix tape reigned supreme for almost two decades.
Then CDs took over, and the mix CD never really caught on. Probably because it was so easy to just copy the whole album. Why fool around with changing fifteen CDs just to make a mix?
So those of my generation, with the gift to make mix tapes, became somewhat obsolete, like VHS players, and the Republican Party.
Then iTunes arrived on the scene.
Lots of celebrities began to post their mix tapes on iTunes, except they called them “playlists” and charged you 99 cents a song if you want to listen to the same music as, say, TV chef Alton Brown.
Hell yeah you do. Alton Brown rocks.
These playlists can often tell you a lot about an artist, and a person, because music is intensely personal. So if you want to know what inspired JA Konrath when he was trying to get published, or want to hear what classic metal tunes Jack Kilborn has queued up on his iPod when he’s writing some horrible murder scene, here are their selections:
The “Struggling to Become a Writer” Playlist of JA Konrath
No Rain – Blind Melon
Beautiful World – Devo
Long Gone Long – Rainmakers
You May Be Right – Billy Joel
Boys of Summer- Don Henley
Solsbury Hill – Peter Gabriel
I’ll Stand By You – The Pretenders
Paperback Writer – The Beatles
This Frog – Kermit the Frog
But I Was Cool – Oscar Brown Jr.
American Music – Violent Femmes
One Thing – Finger Eleven
Rockstar – Nickleback
Hell Yeah – Neil Diamond
The “Evil Thoughts and Evil Deeds Classic Metal” Playlist of Jack Kilborn
Brutal Planet – Alice Cooper
Angel of Death – Slayer
Whiplash – Metallica
Thunderstruck – AC/DC
Dragula – Rob Zombie
Freewheel Burning – Judas Priest
Hell Patrol – Raven
Captain Howdy – Twisted Sister
Run Like Hell – Tank
Twist of Cain – Danzig
Free For All – Ted Nugent
Burning – Accept
Overkill – Motorhead
Division – Hunt
The Torture Never Stops – WASP
So there you have it. Two playlists that represent two sides of me. While I can’t guarantee listening to these playlists will make you a successful thriller writer, they worked out pretty well for me.
Now it’s your turn. Share your fourteen song playlist. What songs best exemplify you, or a specific mood you’re in, or state of mind you occupy? What playlist would you give to that special someone? What playlist do you put on when your depressed, or angry, or thrilled to be alive?
And remember–the order counts just as much as the songs. Any good mix taper knows that…
Joe
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The ‘Singles’ Scene
Mar 23rd
Division band meeting last night which meant a lot of administrative stuff, some jockeying for action items, reviewing schedules, etc. The interesting part was the philosophy discussion on marketing a band’s release schedule in the modern, digital age. There are two conflicting views. Let me explain both.
First, the traditional album (or CD or cassette) model; go into the studio, record 10-12 songs and release them as an entire album with flow, potential an underlying theme and maybe even a story that weaves all the songs together.
Second, release songs as they’re completed, one at a time or in smaller groups, so that they become more easily accessible and the band stays on the charts or in the minds of fans more consistently.
The problem with the first model is that fans who want to buy the song that they love must buy the disc. The proponents of digital distribution call this the “two good songs cost you $17 at Best Buy” model. The issue with the latter model is that the band becomes a singles band. The album flow is gone (and Noodles argued that it has been dying since CD’s were released and people could skip songs without effort). The band may release three songs at a time, but (as Mike pointed out), going back and listening, the band repeatedly writes the same three or very similar songs.
There is a happy medium between the two models and that’s where Division is at the moment. We’ll be researching and experimenting with different distribution models until we have our happy hybrid approach. We’ll also be playing live @ JAXX Nightclub with Evergrey on May 27th. That’s going to be a lot of fun.
So, from all that discussion, here’s today’s question. Did you ever buy an album or a cassette and listen to it for a specific song? I’m guessing you have. If you listened to a few songs to get up to the one you were hoping to hear, did any of those other songs become your favorite later on?
If the answer is yes, I’d love to hear specifics (and so would the proponents of the album model). Stay tuned this week for a guest you won’t want to miss.
One love,
nK
