View the full one here: www.plikm.com/hugh-gilmartin-daddario/

I’m in a band and I want a deal. You deal with a ton of artists.
What are you looking for these days so it’s worthwhile to all parties? Everyone wants and thinks they deserve free strings. How does one earn them?

We ‘re fortunate to have the best products & brands on the market. That said, we receive over 100 endorsement inquiries per week. At the risk of sounding overly business-like, the bottom line is, will you act as an ambassador for our products & influence other musicians to buy our products?

We seek relationship with artists that are mutually beneficial. Signing an artist is a bit like a marriage. The wedding happens, a big party takes place & everyone is happy. However, the real work/relationship building takes place in the years following the wedding. That’s where things truly blossom for both parties involved.

Grizz is out with Dropkick Murphys at the moment as the band’s state manager. He’s toured and teched with Hatebreed, Unearth, and Coheed and Cambria to name a few.

http://www.plikm.com/grizz-middleton-interview/

Read the interview with Alex:

An Orange is something a kid (or adult) will have to save up for.  What is it about Orange that makes it a worthy investment?   Are there any entry level products that you can talk about for the budget minded shopper that’s craving an Orange? Maybe a hat?
One of our big goals is to make Orange accessible to everyone. We have our Crush PiX line of solid state amps that have digital FX but great tone. Moving up in price we have the Tiny Terror range of bass and guitar amps. They’re small, moderately priced, but still totally giggable. And of course for the professional guitarist or bassist there are our UK range of amps. The fact of the matter is that our amps are still made with quality components and built to last. Not everyone is doing that these days. You really do pay for what you get.

Read it all here: http://www.plikm.com/alex-auxier-orange-amps-interview/

Site’s been down for a bit, so I’ve been repopulating everything. More good interviews to come. If you like to talk about instruments and specifically endorsements, you might be interested. If you want to see anyone up there, let me know!

www.plikm.com

Jan’s a youngster that interned and is now a full on badass at Outerloop Management (Darkest Hour, Periphery, We Came As Romans, Emery) as an assistant to the CEO and head of endorsements.  Read how he got his start and how he handles endorsements with their stable of bands. 

For the full article:http://plikm.com/2011/10/jan-hoeglund-outerloop/

What are some of the difficulties you find when trying to get your artists endorsement deals?
There are various challenges along the way, but at the very core I would say the difficulties are two-fold: 1. Making sure the artists understand what ”endorsement” means and 2. Making the companies believe in your artists.
1. Artist: A lot of artists have inaccurate ideas of how endorsements work. Some feel that they are entitled to endorsements because they are on tour, finally have that label deal, have some buzz online, etc. It would be nice if it was that easy and we would certainly live in a perfect world. So very often I have to step in and explain that, from a business stand point, what do you (as the band) have to offer to the company? There are a million bands out there with a label deal, but what is it that makes you stand out? How can you influence consumers so that they buy what you use on stage/in the studio, for example?

New interview with Fujigen Guitar company AR/Marketing Guru Kazuma Tanabe.  Check out their site here: http://www.fgnguitars.com/

For the full interview, go to http://plikm.com

What would make a guitarist select a Fujigen? Is it your charm and svelte style or are the guitars great?

We actually focus on making the relationships with the young guitar/bass players from new generation bands like Asking Alexandria, Dance Gavin Dance, Bless The Fall, SAOSIN and Emarosa and more. As you know, lots of old age guys love to play with old-vintage stuffs like Fender and Gibson because those brands have tons of guitar heroes like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Slash etc. before. But the present young people including me don’t care about the brand name and guitar history. They prefer their favorite guitars which has good qualities, wonderful playabilities, nice design and beautiful sounds! I suppose we have some free rooms to make them happy with our FGN Guitars all over the world. Also we created several kinds of FGN original models named FLAME(FL), ODESSEY(OS), and ELAN(EL). Actually we don’t care about the music style for FGN guitars. Please check the artist lists of FGN official website, there has many kinds of professional guitar players including Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers. haha. Personally speaking, I have a strong confidence that everybody can feel great playabilities and create beautiful and powerful sounds with FGN Guitars.

New Interview with MN based LiveWires COO Marc Musselman. They make sick in ear monitors at a very nice price.  Check out the company here: http://mylivewires.com/

Check out the full interview here: http://plikm.com/2011/07/livewires-marc-musselman/

Who can benefit from in-ears?  What sort of things does a band need to know when making the plunge?

Anyone who wants to raise their level of performance, save their hearing or is sick of lugging around wedges can benefit from in-ears.  Besides, many venues are requiring the use of in-ears. When making the plunge into in-ears you need to make sure you get the sound you need , that the things fit and are comfortable and that they are reliable.  And, you need to make sure you are working with a company that can support you.  If your in-ears go down (stuff happens), you need a company that recognizes you need these for your next gig and does what is necessary to take care of you.

Be sure to read the latest interviews from Darren Sanders, guitar tech with Mastodon and David Elitch, pro drummer who’s latest work was with The Mars Volta.

http://plikm.com

Snippet from Darren’s interview:

You’ve teched for some bands that are very particular about their shit. What are some things you really focus on before, during, and after the set to ensure a job well done and a pat on the ass instead of a punch in the face at the end of the night? Have you ever been in fights over how you did you job?

Honestly, at the end of the day my job is to make everything right when my dude walks on stage. I just focus on making sure that is exactly what happens. Trust me, pats on the ass are way better than punches to the face. Its funny because I’ll get yelled at about something that’s out of my control, i.e. monitors not correct, feedback from FOH, other guitar player is out of tune, etc. The fact is, the only reason my dude is yelling at me is because its fucking loud onstage!! I just like to double-check every little thing so that there are absolutely no issues during the show. There’s always an instance where something goes wrong – we’re all human and we’re dealing with finicky electronics. Shit happens. It’s all about knowing how to fix it in an emergency. Always have a backup plan!!

Read it all here: http://plikm.com/2011/06/darren-sanders-mastodon/  Good guy, Darren. 

What are some mistakes young techs make these days? What are some things a young tech needs to know when they want to make a successful career out of teching vs. making it a short lived party?

Don’t become too attached to someone. That’s when either you start taking advantage of the artist or vice-versa. You become too good of pals and without realizing, you forget who works for who. My brother and I watched this happen from the sidelines and learned from it. When he’s on stage, I’m not his kid brother he used to hold down and fart on, I’m his employee. As soon as the truck is packed, we’re arm in arm telling stories of our first French kiss with the same girl in high school. I actually just made that last bit up but we do share some stupid stories together. I think the only ‘advice’ would be to just take shit seriously. Your job is to make sure that everything is A-OK when your guy walks up onstage. There’s nothing like standing in front of a sold out crowd and your guitar doesn’t work because your tech was too busy chattin’ up some girl. Young dudes coming into it may think it’s a kickass vacation – which it is! BUT, before you know it, you’re in your mid-late 30′s, 40’s and this is all you know and are stuck in this career, which is not a bad thing at all but you never want the reputation of ‘that dipshit who was kissing that chick behind the monitor desk while Scott Ian’s guitar rig took a shit at Donnington. Good luck finding a gig.

Posting an interview soon with Darren Sanders, long time tech for the band.  I’ll post it sometime next week.  http://plikm.com

Don’t forget the latest interviews with drummer David Elitch and AR/Marketing guru at Seymour Duncan, Evan Skopp.