SuperNormal Records is moving! 

Coupled with the success of the most recent Public Transit Tour, Tyler and ‘the project’ is moving on up to the east side.  Well, more east-side that is. 

I’ll be moving the offices of SuperNormal Records into a larger space.  Trying to track drums the current space is a little challenging, so in order to move to the next level of the studio sessions we are currently involved in, we need more room…  I’m still staying in Scottsdale. Yes, we will still be based out of AZ, but were just moving a little further east.

- SuperNormal Tyler

 

 

The move comes on the heels of planning another Public Transit Tour, and still working the local scene in Arizona.

All rise to a great place is by a winding stair - Francis Bacon 

• Listen to some Supernormal Tyler music. (link will open in a new window)
• Learn more about the ‘Public Transit Tour’.
• Watch all our videos right here!
• Read the life story of your’s truly
  

You have a dream.  You have talent.  You have a message you want to communicate to the world.  You have dreamed of success in the music business, that is your supreme dream, how very Supernormal of you.

So, dear dreamer, I ask you; Who in this world will serve your dream better than you?  Who will push your dream to have your music heard by those venerated masses and get you where you wish to be?  The answer has presented itself in this post nine times already, and you haven’t seen it.  The answer is: YOU. 

This is the most opportune time for the Indie Musician - I capitalize for a reason.  Being Indie and managing your own career top-to-bottom is key in this evolving industry.  Here is a little known industry secret, the big-labels, the A&R rep’s, those who you wish to please, are lost.  They see an industry being taken out from under them.  They see the dissolution of revenue streams.  They see Indie-Musician’s finally getting it.  They fear the truth of where we are as a community of artists.  They murmur, “Uh-oh, they figured it out.”  And this has all been driven by the listeners - the masses who were the ultimate goal.  Skip the middle.  Serve the servants.  Ask yourself, “why is net neutrality even in issue?”  Because it threatens power structures.  Power structures who never had your (our) best intrest in mind.  You want proof?  Look at history.

Histrionics:

Since the old-timey days of Woody Guthrie, to the recent past of artists like Gram Parsons, to modern who-are-they’s like David Ryan Adams, to me, yes me.  I/You have a better opportunity of “Making it” than any artist in history.  It just requires a dream-shift.  It is easier for you to sell as many records as the Beatles than it was for the Beatles.  You might not have that kind of ‘goods’ and it takes a special connection to move that many units, but, (to a certain extent) it all can be managed by one person, you.  And the best part is, you control the process creatively, in regards to marketing, and any other regards you wish to fathom.  You have the power to vertically integrate yourself and be your own record label.  Trust me, I know, I am.  I am Supernormal Records, it’s me and someone who believes in me, my brother - drawk.  I’d fain trust anyone else, I’ve tried that before - it didn’t work.

Everything I have ever wanted is at my fingertips now - literally.  I am doing it right now - you are reading the fruits of my labor.  I can record records in the echo-laden bathroom of my one bedroom apartment, I can press disks through third-party vendors like, Disc2Day, OasisCD, or Discmakers, I can upload tracks to mp3 hosting sites like: last.fm, iTunes, I can sell them at my very own merch table at shows along with T-shirts I have designed myself from third-party vendors like Acme Prints, Cafepress, Customink, and the like.  I can order stickers, and you can google that on your own.  Basically, I can do what a major label can do with the exception of pay-to-play on a clear channel station - I don’t capitalize for a reason.  Who wants to be among a community of soulless hacks?  If you like the band Nickelback, you can go ahead and f-off.  If you are in the band Nickelback, PLAY FROM YOUR F#@ING HEART!!! If you don’t understand me, click here .  Technology has paved the path for you so why not walk that path with me?

But Don’t Listen to the Liars?:

I never have ‘been’ before in my music career before January of this year (2008).  I have let others usurp my ambition and let them share in the decision process and compromised the notion of where I’d like to be.  I compromised.  I compromised in a world where I never had to.  I gave in, and I was weak, because I was ignorant.  I took the canned answers from Billboard Magazine, Music-Industry related books, and other industry outlets, and so-called sources.  I gave up on myself succeding in an industry that never wanted me to succeed.  In the end/beginning, I wised up, and I woke up to the fact that if I were on the radio (in it’s present form) I would be a soul-less jukebox selling my soul to fit into a little box for which I was intended.  Sit here shut up, play your songs and then pay your label.  I would have been a pan-flash.  I would be cold and old in a matter of minutes, when all I want from this industry is longevity.  

More succinctly, if you like Nickelback you’ve been duped.  You don’t like Nickelback, you just hear it incessantly so you think everyone else likes it; they don’t.  Radio listenership is in the toilet.  Why?  Because program directors are out of sync with their listeners.  Dear dreamer, they don’t give a damn what you want to hear.  They’ve got oiltankers full of liquid sh^t like Nickelback and it foghorns into the port everyday and spills out onto the airwaves and slowly makes us all stupidur. 

I am INDIE - I am FREE -Give Me LONGEVITY  

Hacks lack longevity.  Longevity is acheived through a slow rise.  There are no over-night successes, only bottle rockets, and they burst and cease to be.  If you are an over-night success you are a phony, and your done shortly after you have begun.  If you require proof (read: Britney Spears) popular culture is a misnomer.  It lacks anything resembling culture and it is only popular because someone shoves it down your throat everyday.

Through out history, there were Southern Baptist Negro Bluesmen/women who called Elvis Presley a sell-out, just another foolish man usurping the truth for profit.  His legs were “All Shook Up” when he was young.  And by forty he was “All Washed Up.”  Elvis - A lazy, fat, farting, pill-popper, giving up the dreams of this mortal world for a chance to sing songs by number from a teleprompter - Please don’t forget he died six inches above a turd - there is a divine reason for that.  I have stood in his home, I have seen the lie.  Elvis-Frickin-Nickelback. 

There is a great game being played and we are witness to it every time we turn off our car radios out of frustration.  Please understand, Dear Dreamer, that you possess the secret to seeing all of your dreams through to their fruition.  You are the sovereign master of your own ambitions.  You need nothing but love.  Play from your heart!  You’ll live through your’ own dreams and, in turn, we all will come along.  It isn’t easy work and more often than not it seems like no one is listening.  But such is the great game.  This is your penance, your Indie-penance, your indepen-dance, your dance, your chance.  Won’t you join me?  Be Free.  Be Indie.        �

Tonight you have a unique opportunity to participate in a global movement.  The best part, it is nearly effortless. 

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, (TODAY) Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour - from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, PHOENIX and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

Be a part of a global movement at the flick of a switch! 

If we care enough, This can truly be “One World”.

• Do Something Supernormal

• www.supernormalrecords.com

THIS IS MY IMPRESSION OF YOU ON THE INTERNET

Currently, I am editing some new video projects.  “The Things I’m Gonna Miss”, and “Jingo” are being filmed and edited and will be posted soon.  In the meantime.  You can hear “The Things I’m gonna Miss” here. 

I just painted and added a green screen to Studio 38. I’ll start posting more complex video and audio with the studio finally built out. For now, here is a little clip of the ‘green screen test’. BEHOLD, “6 edicts”.

On July 1st, 2005 Tyler Christensen was standing at the Tempe Bus Station waiting for a Greyhound. He had a ticket in his pocket that said this bus would take him all the way to New York City. He had another ticket in his pocket for a flight that left JFK Airport in New York City for Prague, Czech Republic.  On July 4th, 2005 a British Airways flight would wisk him away from his mother country on Independence day.  Or as Tyler calls it “Indie-penance Day”.

The journey was to be an exercise in survival by the fruits his raw talent.  Busking down by the Narodni Divaldo in front of the Velvet Revolution Memorial, and playing downstairs at Sir Toby’s the hostel where he stayed in Prague.

Above the Velvet Revolution Memorial, there is a grand covered walkway that lends itself to reverberating echo and passers-by must walk through amid large white pedestals directly past the memorial. Playing covers like Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen and Imagine, by John Lennon while mixing in his own originals Tyler would net about 300Kc/day ($17 US).

In Prague the police don’t let you busk everywhere, I had to do a lot of hiding. Prague 1, as they call it, has the most major tourist attractions, coincidentally the most tourists, and the most people who don’t understand the exchange rate. Americans would plop a 20Kc coin into my case, thinking it’s some kind of Czech Quarter. 20Kc is like a buck in the states, that’s a beer in Prague man!”

“But, the money is a little tenuous. The police fine you, I think they said, something like 400Kc if they catch you. That’s like twenty bucks US. So, I would either find spots just outside Prague 1, or ninja-duck into walkways and alleys if the police started zooming around.” He laughs. “You’ve never seen a bigger production than a Czech cop screeching through the streets leaving plumes of blue grey tire smoke, and sliding to a halt by a tramstop, flying out of the car to write a ticket for someone that jumped on a bus without paying the fare.” Laughing heartily. “It’s insane, you’d think they were responding to a crime or something. No free rides in Prague, baby.”

In Mid July, Tyler played a surprise show at the Marquis De Sade on Templova 8 in Prague 1. Where he was once relegated to playing in the outskirts of ‘Golden Prague’, on the streets, he now had a night solo at the most popular ex-pat bar in the city. It was all by chance that the show even occured. As Tyler was stopping by for a Pivo at the Marquis de Sade, there was another American drinking in the bar.

I think his name was Mike he had bellied up to the bar to listen to some Woody Guthrie CD’s he had just bought. He was having the bartender play them on the house system. He saw my guitar and we were chattin’ Guthrie, and drinking. I talked about busking and wanting to play a bar. I went to the restroom and was getting ready to leave when I heard the bartender Matt and someone else talking about the music act that just cancelled. Mike chimed in and said, ‘That guy was just here with his guitar.’

I walked out of the bathroom and Mike said, ‘there he is!’ Matt and the manager said, ‘well, let’s see what you got.’ There were a few quiet day-drinkers hunched over their tables immersed in conversation. I turned back to Matt and the Manager and said, ‘well if we’re gonna do this let’s do it right. I announced the situation, something like, if you like me they let me play here tonight, or something like that. I played “Sign”, and the day-drinkers forgot about their conversations. I played from nine until about one a.m. Matt and the manager gave me some of their tips that night, generous guys. That was a huge night for me, not regarding the money.”

 

Tyler’s time in Eastern Europe and Sweden molded an already rich knowledge base of performance and production. He returned to The States and incorporated lessons learned into his guitar work. His playing became more percussive and pronounced from having to compete with trams sparking by, and playing without amplification in The Marquis de Sade. He began playing without a pick and using his bare hand instead on more subtle tunes. Many techniques Tyler employs in his playing today were learned on the streets and bar seats of Prague, Czech Republic.

Tyler returned to the states determined and prepared to make a bonafide go at music. He had been watching the music market evolve. Recording software had caught up to professional studio technology. He began focusing on producing his own records and finding his own way through the music business. Long since an admirer of Ani Difranco and inspired by her label Righteous Babe Records, Tyler Christensen founded Supernormal Records in January of 2008.

I am deep into the process of learning how to use my video editing software; Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. Currently, I am working on a video for the song “Prague”.

I’m doing things a little backwards. Usually a videographer will develop a concept then draft a storyboard of the project, and then, and only then, begin shooting. I, however, am retro-actively pulling from my huge cache of back-logged videos, still-images, and music files. It will be much easier, I hope, when I am able to do some pre-planning and getting all of the images and video I need prior to the editing process.

I have storyboarded out a few cover tunes as well, and will get those going after I finish learning which way is up regarding Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. If you are interested in making your own videos for your songs, then here is a list of the equipment I currently use. Of course, there are a million options for equipment choices, but, this is just what I have decided to collect throughout my wanderings.

EQUIPMENT LIST:

Short-list for audio recording

• Steinberg Cubasis VST
• Rode NT1A anniverary edition large diaphragm concenser microphone
• Mackie 1402VLZ mixer
• TC Electronics M300 effects processor
• Self assembled PC

Then, once my recorded tracks are all mixed and pretty, I import the Final Mixdown (in mp3 format) into:

• Adobe Premiere Pro CS3

That is where I am at now, and if you take a good look at this program (past the cost) you will see the depth and scope of the thing. A lot can be done with this program, in fact almost everything relating to good video production can be done with Premiere Pro. Which pre-supposes that there is a lot to learn. Trust me, if you want to do it right, you gotta wrap your head around this thing. I am knee-deep in it man. I must get back to ‘class’. So,until next time, I hope to have some sample videos up by the time I have to head back into the studio (Feb 17th). I will post a teaser here when they are complete and uploaded to our You Tube Channel

comment posted on 1/24/2008 in response to SCREED#1:

Hey, Read your mesage about the library and wanted to let you know that we care about you!!! Don’t know why you could not connect better, but there is a service number on that handy flyer you talked about. It is 877-282-2519. That’s a free call. They can help you through the process- it may actually be your connection. Come back to any of the Scottsdale Libraries and let me know how it worked.

Who knew? A cathartic purge of frustration would lead to a solution so soon. Trouble with a Wi-fi connection brought about someone reaching out and offering help to a complete stranger… me. I am about to go to the DMV, I doubt that anyone will be this helpful in that upcoming endeavour. “Now serving B…4…5…1 at window number Fourteen.”

I wonder what the DMV is like in China, “Now serving symbol…symbol…symbol, at window number 5.”

If it weren’t for my day job, I’d be so rock and roll.  I have spent two days on the phone trying to get a representative from a wine distributor to go on the radio with Beth and Bill.  This particular company (who shall remain nameless - not for fear of retaliation, but, to insure that I don’t accidentaly send them some business) is so compartmentalized and segmented that there seems to be a new contact person and ten digit number to do anything at all.

It’s weird, when a company gets too big and too ‘corporate’ they seem to not want to make money anymore.   Dial ‘1′ for english, Dial ‘2′ for spanish, Dial ‘3′ to hear a baby cry, Dial ‘4′ to waste more of your time; Dial ‘5′ to be transferred to someone else who will give you the number of someone else; Dial ‘6′ to make a sound like boop; Dial ‘7′ if you wanna; Dial ‘8′ if your still there.

Supernormal Records does not have an 800 #.  In fact, we don’t even have a phone!!!!!!  How indie is that???