Probably with the exception of Ed Sheeran right now, the arena style live music event is alive and well. Think of the Dua Lipas, Olivia Rodrigos and Coldplays. Ticket sales are not only up since the pandemic, but also exorbitantly more expensive. With such a giant demand for live music,
So you've been practicing for two weeks, you've got the vocal and guitar or piano parts perfectly memorized, you got 100+ likes on a video of you playing the solo in Money For Nothing on Instagram, and your friends and family are starting to ask when
One of the worst cases of acoustic feedback I ever saw was from my friend David, who plugged a mic into his AER amp and faced it towards his acoustic guitar. While I understand that nothing sounds better than a mic'ed up acoustic guitar, it's unfortunately
A little over a year ago, I moved to Vietnam with my wife and daughter. My wife had received a good deal from an international school here, and we decided to take the plunge to live in an entirely new country. At the time, I was doing pretty well for
What if I told you that Blues isn't what you think it is? Gibson-owning dentists and lawyers would have you believe that the Blues is this cigar-lounge, slow and melodic genre of music that's best experienced while sitting silently. This is just one style
Truth be told, it's hard to find information about the live music scene in Ho Chi Minh City online. I landed in Vietnam with a couple of gigs pre-booked but had no idea what the reality of working as a musician in Saigon would be, what the
Have you ever made an intercontinental move as a musician? Let me tell you, it's a stressful affair. The gear you've accumulated for years suddenly has to go through a trial by fire that takes its weight, size and usefulness into account in a test that
Let's be real, the music business is more about appearances than musicality. If you look like you play all the time, you'll probably play all the time, so presenting as someone who does so is essential for keeping your calendar booked. Having certain documents ready to
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A little while ago, I wrote a piece about my increasing frustration with venues demanding entertainer type musicians like myself to call friends, family and fans if we had any to our booked shows. The conclusion in that article was that bringing friends and family was very different to bringing
There are a couple of content creators out there in the live music space who have made online careers out of telling musicians "you're doing it wrong", and even worse, presenting alternative solutions that are either outdated or outright wrong. To be honest, the existence of
I'm going to let you in on something: Most venue managers who book live music don't actually know much about live music. Venue managers aren't looking to critique your artistic expression (though they definitely will), they are buying an outcome: a seamless ambiance that
The Ho Chi Minh City Originals event continues to be a goldmine of extremely talented local and foreign artists. That's how I discovered NAVY, the artist behind the newly released album: Quái Vật, a pixie, dreamy sounding indie album that's equal parts ear candy and easy
1 There 2 Are 3 No 4 Valid 5 Reasons Good? Alright, with that out of the way, here 11 genuinely awesome bands and solo artists you should be supporting in the Ho Chi Minh City area, there's something here for everyone, from modern metal to soft bossa
Vietnam is the one country I've performed at where you cannot take the house system for granted. New venues that I show up to either have a pristine Electro-Voice Evolve 70, or a crapped out Nanomax karaoke machine doubling as a PA for this special occasion. Whether
If you’ve ever taken your acoustic guitar out to perform at an open mic, a local venue, or a Sunday service, you’ve probably experienced the immediate frustration of plugging directly into a venue’s house PA system. Your beautiful instrument, the one that sounds warm, rich, and full
What if I told you that modern multi-FX units aren't actually just built for electric guitars? For the life of me, I can't figure out why gear companies continue to pander almost exclusively to electric players in their marketing. Look around: 90% of the live
For over 50 years, the Shure SM58 has been the undisputed king of live music. It's the mic you'll find in every dive bar, arena, and rehearsal studio on the planet. But over the last few years, the sE Electronics V7 has emerged as the modern
A little over a year ago, I moved to Vietnam with my wife and daughter. My wife had received a good deal from an international school here, and we decided to take the plunge to live in an entirely new country. At the time, I was doing pretty well for
Vietnamese cuisine is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best in the world. I've eaten out here for a year, and I simply cannot get enough, in fact, I'm constantly shifting between favorite dishes, although the title is sitting quite firmly on Bún
Have you ever bought a product from an ad with an obviously AI-generated image? No? So why are music venues and musicians using this technology as if it's any different for them? Gig-posters and art covers are the window through which present, and potential fans get
