Below is an interview that I had with the founder of H.M.A.S. Vendetta about the music industry side of the band.
What do you think are the most important things that bands must do nowadays to achieve fame and success as far as being an artist goes?
Well… Come up with a good artwork.
Get a strong understanding of the style of music and the instruments so that you can write the best songs you can possibly write.
Bands must also work hard, grab every opportunities that they get and not be picky about the opportunities that come to them.
Record a good demo, and make it available free if you’re starting new.
Be sociable and network around by going to gigs and conferences. Don’t forget that it is extremely important to be nice with people around. I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but in the music industry, bad news spread quickly and before you know it you might not know what hit you in the end.
They must understand that everything is show biz. You have to be able to sell your band or your ‘brand’ as a package. If you don’t realise about this and you don’t acknowledge this, then just quit.
Has H.M.A.S. Vendetta been executing those points?
I think we’ve achieved them well.
We need some t-shirts and we need more merchandise. Currently we only have posters and they are a bit tricky because fans find them hard carrying big roll-up posters home.
Other than that I reckon we have done fairly well on the other aspects that I mentioned earlier.
Could you explain the music industry model that you and the band as a whole have adopted in pursuing your musical success?
I think we just wanna play and ummm… We wanna make money from playing shows. We have built a strong online presence, as everything nowadays is pretty much DIY. We have to proof that people like our band. We also have to create a ‘vibe’ so that people talk about us. And we do that by playing a lot and keeping our online presence such as Facebook and Twitter active. Other things are all secondary.
What’s the one thing that the band had done in the past that eventually placed them in the position that they are in right now?
We managed to capture the fans’ imagination. It’s the one brilliant idea that I had of writing the Australiana theme. It took me 15 years to come up with the whole image and idea. Really good ideas are very rare. And I reckon the idea and concept that we have now is genius. Anyone who has been involved with the band has loved it. And once again it comes down to having good art and writing songs for years until you have a brilliant idea. It all comes down to the core- to capture the imagination of the fans.
If there is one important event that will change the course of this band heavily, what do you think that event will be and why?
The Iron maiden support slot. Earning a great support slot would be huge for us. I can imagine that there will be a massive overnight demand if we managed to open for Iron Maiden. (Click here to support H.M.A.S. Vendetta in opening for Iron Maiden)
Well thanks a lot for your time and patience Will!
No worries mate.
