SoundSprout Blog

You know what? Rock and Roll… Rock and F-king Roll.

I’m listening to “Brad Sucks” first release (available on SoundSprout ofcourse); I’ve already listened to the 10-track album and now I’m back around on track 4 again and I’m not anywhere near tired of listening to it. The impassioned lyrics are somehow nonchalantly conveyed, but it’s definitely derived from a mind that is or was at least one time in a twisted state… we can all relate to this, right?

However, the thing that strikes me most is the professional craftsmanship of the album. One would be surprised to learn that Ben created these works somewhere outside of a formal record studio. Here’s the list of recording equipment that he uses to record his music:

Behringer Eurorack UB1204-PRO mixing board

Delta 66 sound card

Event 20/20bas monitors

Shure SM58 dynamic microphone

MXL v67 condenser microphone

Boss GT-6 guitar effects processor

PreSonus BlueTube preamp
Gibson Epiphone G310 electric guitar

Some Norman acoustic guitar

Yamaha RBX260L bass guitar
AthlonXP 2700 w/1gig RAM

Software:
Steinberg Cubase SX

Sonic Foundry Sound Forge

One striking thing to note about this list is that this stuff isn’t free and neither is the time (no doubt countless midnight-oil burning hours) it took to produce the music from scratch. But he gives the music away for free to his fans!

No doubt, Brad gets it… and he’s gotten it for a long time. He started giving his music away on the internet back in 2001. He’s not the first, but he’s definitely a pioneer who’s efforts are “starting a trend”.

So what does he get? He gets that his music is just one part of a holistic entity that is “Brad Sucks”. Aside from the music recordings Brad Sucks exists as a presence at live performances and is also a line of merchandise, and an online community. Brad gets that his music is capable of transcending space and time. It can be on Huntington Beach with a girl at noon, and in a Volkswagen cruising down the autobahn on a cool spring day, and in the evening on with a tired worker on a hammock tied between two in South African trees, or accompanying a space shuttle pilot as he’s launched into orbit.

By giving his music away for free he breaks down the traditional boundaries between himself and his fans. His fans are now free to spend time building a relationship with him whenever they want, even if he’s home at bed nursing a hangover.

I must say though, the reason I’m so excited about this album is not because of the production quality or that my ears crave more, it’s that Brad also understands that he doesn’t have to leave his success as an recording artist up to a fate chance encounter A&R rep from a major label record company who. From what I can tell, he’s using his music to advertise his product. By tangible product I mean the things his fans can buy and hold such as tickets to his live performance, merchandise, artwork, even virtual monetary contributions to his (and our) many vices. All these things allow his fans to take part in his artistic adventure.

Ben Sucks and artists like him are the reason we’re building SoundSprout.com. I’m extremely excited that he’s agreed to set up an account on the site. For the sake of the music we love, we hope other recording artist “get him” and follow his lead.