My 2018 Musical Resolutions

Last year, I wrote a quick thing about what my musical resolutions would be for 2017.  They were as follows:

1. Release “RESCUE" - Last year at this time the recording for RESCUE was complete, but not much else.  We subsequently launched a campaign to mix and produce RESCUE on vinyl.  The RESCUE Album Release Campaign on indiegogo.com raised more than $5700 to get the record properly mixed and printed on vinyl.  The only words I have lately have been brief, but sincere thank you’s.  What I feel in my heart however, is an overwhelming sense of gratitude for all the friends and family (because I know every single one of you!) who supported this venture.  Quite simply, this record is a home recorded album getting the vinyl treatment.  I got my friends to learn my songs and come over to record over a few afternoons in the living room of my little house in San Antonio.  From there we thought, and talked, and played a lot while thinking about how to get it funded.  We set up the RESCUE Album Release Campaign on indiegogo.com and our friends and family showed up in droves.  In total we had 72 backers give $5768 in support from a goal of $5500.  It was fun to reach out and catch up with you all supported us.  I am continually humbled by the generosity of our friends and family. Again—thank you.  I can’t wait to show you what we put together.  As of now, our backers have received a download code for a band camp download of RESCUE, so technically we can count this as a release.  RESCUE will be available on vinyl and CD at the end of this month!

Album Artwork for RESCUE, 2017.

2. Go see more live, LOCAL shows - I didn’t do this.  I didn’t do this really at all.  I have the same tired excuses as well:

    Everything starts too late.

    Getting out/parking/Ubering is too expensive and it’s a pain in the ass.

    What if it sucks?

All of these are terrible justifications.  There is plenty of local music playing at reasonable hours.  Uber/Lyft is king and the cost is worth it.  These people (for the most part) are my hard-working neighbors trying to make a little extra scratch, so why don’t we all save ourselves from a DWI and go ahead and have someone drive us?  What if it sucks?  Well—then it sucks!  The next weekend I should get a gig and do better.  There is too much opportunity and talent in this town to just sit on my couch on a Thursday through Sunday and pillage my way through a joint Netflix list.  I will do better this year and I look forward to seeing and hearing performances from local bands in San Antonio.

3. Play more live shows - We had a fun Reindeer Games season this year, but other than that we did not get a chance to play any Buck Webb or full Sleuth shows which is kind of a bummer.  We’ll do better in 2018 as we have lots of reward shows to fulfill for our Indiegogo backers!

Clint Buck and Hollis Webb, Reindeer Games Save Christmas at Schnabel's Hardware, December 23rd, 2017.

4. Make Better Music - The highlight of the year was getting to play more holiday shows as Reindeer Games.  I really felt the Christmas and holiday music improved over last year and the year before.  Everything seems to sound a little bit better every year we do it, so in that way we made better music.  It’s funny how the making of better music is directly tied to playing more live shows.  I see this (in the very few locals shows I have attended) with my friends’ bands.  Every time they get better, tighter, more focused.  It’s a cool thing to watch and inspires a sense of fandom in me.

5. Take care of my most important instrument.  I did a better job of this in 2017 than in year past.  I quit smoking and have taken steps to address an issue which has plagued me since I was a child: snoring.  I’ve planned on writing something about this as it is sound coming from me which I’m not in control, however you could say there is something music about it?  I mean, it is sound so technically it is within the purview of things to talk about in these posts.  It should be interesting to report back on what I do to get my snoring fixed.

It’s going to be an interesting year, but I feel I should add a new resolution for 2018 so we’re not only addressing the failures from last year.  For 2018, I resolve to manage my time better and look for more opportunities throughout the day, week, and weekend to practice.

What are your resolutions music or otherwise?  I love hearing what people want to work on in the coming year.  Good luck to you all and Happy New Year!

The Reindeer Games Save Christmas at the Mission Open Air Market

If you are not aware, let me aware you: among all the wars we are fighting (the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on women, Food Wars, etc.) we also have a War on Christmas.

You might be asking yourself: "Hollis, what oil or natural resources does Christmas have that is worth going to war over?"  The simple, mature answer is: Santa Clause.  There are people in this country who hate Santa Clause's freedom.  We intend to defend Christmas to the last ugly sweater and branch of poisoned mistletoe above the kitchen threshold.

The first battleground we fought to defend Christmas was at the Mission Open Air Market in South San Antonio yesterday morning.  Yes, in front of the Mission Cafe with coffee cups drawn and our wives and fiances in attendance, we sang creamy eggnog Christmas melodies and laid down some sick Reindeer hoof beats for the shoppers in attendance that morning.  Along the way, I took time to remind shoppers of the upcoming holiday.

Hollis: "Ladies and gentlemen, just to remind you: there are only 8 days until Christmas.  If you haven't finished your shopping, this needs to happen NOW.  What are you people doing?  All the Christmas presents are nearly gone!  At this rate, you'll have to just get the used circular saw blades available in booth 8 as stocking stuffers."

We had fun at the Mission Open Air Market and are looking forward to the next mission to save Christmas at the Bexar Pub on Dec. 23rd!  We also put together a little Christmas recording and it is available on Bandcamp and embedded below.  Have a great week!  Get your shopping done!

Happy Holidays! Update on Rescue

Happy Holidays!  I wanted to take a moment to write a special message, update the website, and let you know about some exciting things for this month as well as the new year.  First, I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving gorging yourself on turkey and watching your favorite NFL team lose while your drunk uncle made questionable assertions about Syrian refugees.  Thanksgiving means friends and family--certainly there is a reason those are both "F" words.

Second, the venerable Clint Buck and myself will be playing a special Christmas show on Friday, December 11th at J&O's Cantina here in San Antonio, TX.  We will be playing as our special Christmas band: The Reindeer Games.  Come out and hear our take on your favorite Christmas tunes and feel free to sing along!  Make a joyful noise!

Finally, in October we laid down drum tracks with the incredible Mark Henne for Rescue at my home studio The Bear Haus.  Danger Invites Rescue is a 3 album/EP home recording project I started in 2008. You can visit the Bandcamp link to pick up a CD or high quality digital download of Danger and Invites.  Rescue, the final recording in the series, is scheduled to be released next year.  This recording will be the most developed and full-sounding recording I have ever made.  I am getting a lot of help from my very talented musical friends to complete it and we will need your help and support to get it pressed to VINYL!  We will be looking at some crowdfunding options with very cool rewards, so please stay tuned and be saving your shekels to get something good from what we are cooking up.

As always, THANK YOU for supporting independent music.  Whenever Clint and I play out as Buck Webb or The Sleuth, we are always thrilled to see familiar faces come out to hear new songs and corny jokes.  So please, for your holiday shopping, consider picking up a CD, download, or sticker from me or your other favorite local band or musician.  It's a cool gift and you'll be supporting better art!  Thanks again and have a safe, fun Christmas and New Year!

-HW