Album Capsules
by Mark E. Waterbury
Crossfade - Self Titled
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Vicki Genfan - Live
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Shine - Heaven and Hell
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Zillatron - Lord of the Harvest
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Buddy Miles Express - Hell and Back
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Caterine - Cognition
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Walter Trout and the Radicals - Relentless
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Rob Waller - 7 song demo
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James Hollihan - The Funky Misfit
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Brent Adair - Pieces
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Spotlight DVD Review
Walter Trout and the Radicals - Relentless the Concert
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Crossroads: Ed Sloan of Crossfade
by Mark E. Waterbury
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Industry Profile - Filmusic Services owner Matt Safran
by Mark E. Waterbury
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Indie Band Spotlight - Vicki Genfan
by Mark E. Waterbury
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Scott Turner's Song Publisher's Perspective
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Music Biz Opportunities
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Music Industry Marketing Showcase
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Copyright 2004 by Music Morsels, a Serge Entertainment Publication.
Editor: Sandy Serge
Contributing Columnists/Writers:
Mark E. Waterbury, Scott Turner
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 TM© March 2004
Indie Band SpotlightBy Mark E. Waterbury
 ARTIST NAME: Vicki Genfan
MUSICAL GENRE: Singer/Songwriter - acoustic guitar virtuoso
BIRTHPLACE: Bronx, NY
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Fairview, NJ
YEARS IN MUSIC BIZ: 25 years
WEB SITE: http://www.vickigenfan.com
CDS SOLD: 1200
FAN BASE SIZE: approx 1000
MM: What did you do to develop your own unique style of guitar playing?
VG: With developing my own style, it was a very gradual process. Early on, I started changing the tuning of my guitar; Joni Mitchell was one of the pioneers of that. I just started making up tunings according to what I thought sounded good. I've been doing that for a very long time, and I have about twelve different tunings I use now. That opened me up to developing a percussive style, and in the last five years I feel everything has crystallized. When my first CD "Outside the Box" came out three years ago, I felt like a style that was my own had finally developed and matured. It took about twenty years to ripen.
MM: Had you been performing a lot before you recorded "Outside the Box?"
VG: I had my own band in college and collaborated with another writer as well for a couple of years. I then went to New York and worked with another musician for awhile in a duo. Then we went our own ways about fifteen years or so ago, and that is when I really began to concentrate on being a solo artist. In New York it was pretty tough for me because for one thing my music is not the type that can really be categorized. If you are a bar band or a cover band, then you have a lot more opportunities to play and get work in New York. Doing original music that is in between genres makes it really challenging to find rooms where people will listen to you, and in addition to that, even pay you.
MM: So what did you have to do to try to grow a fan base?
VG: My partner and co-producer Tay Hoyle and I ended up creating our own concert series. She is an engineer as well as a studio designer and builder, and she built this studio called the Shed. We started putting on concerts there because it was so hard to find a club that had the right atmosphere. In addition to that, I was also a side person for different musicians including Dee Carstensen whom I did a lot of touring with. I gathered a lot of names and made contacts in that way, and it was just a matter of getting out there and playing as much as I could and bringing along that mailing list. It's increasingly hard to get people to sign up for mailing lists because everyone is so inundated with mail and e-mail and such. You have to be creative and aggressive so when I can, I bring people with me to help with the mailing list. I did a tour last summer with Erika Luckett. It was my first West Coast tour, and that is another way to expand the fan base is to get out and tour with others who are also doing their own thing. I was also part of a tour in Germany and Austria with two other women. You have to be constantly out there so people can see what you can do.
MM: How did you get hooked up with Acoustic Music Records, a label based in Germany?
VG: Right now I'm out at a conference called Folk Alliance, and about three years ago, I was at the conference and I met a guitarist Ian Melrose from Germany. He heard me play and he took my CD back to Germany and gave it to a woman who was putting a tour together called Women on Stage, featuring one woman each from Germany, England and the U.S. She didn't have the U.S. woman and after hearing my CD, I became part of that tour. When I was in Germany, through Ian I met the owner of Acoustic Music Records. He took Ian's recommendation and put me in a huge opening slot in the high profile
Open Strings Guitar Festival the next April. It was just a matter of the right people handing my music over to the right people and them really appreciating what I was doing. The recording of the festival concert came out so well we decided to put out a live record of it. That's a reason why I'm at the Folk Alliance again this year; we're always trying to network and expand the number of people who know about us.
MM: You said that your first CD "Outside the Box" was a "crystallization" of your years of honing your styles. What was your immediate reaction after you listened to the finished product all the way through?
VG: I was really excited because it was the first time that we were able to get the essence of the guitar work that I am doing on tape. I thought that it was translating pretty well. It's pretty hard to get it across without having the visual, and over the past few years, I have learned that and heard that from several people. Yeah, the CD is great, but when you actually see it you realize that something is happening there. When we first finished with the CD, it came the closest so far to capturing what it was that I'm really doing with the guitar, and I felt good about that. Also to me, it represented how you feel when you're wearing the right outfit; it matches your mood and who you are, says the right things and has the right colors. ("Outside the Box") is really showing the breadth and the depth and variation of what I can do. To me, it was an important release. I felt like I was finally cooked, the casserole is ready.
MM: Do you feel that you have what it takes to be successful to your own definition of success, and what will it take to get you to that level?
VG: To me, there are a couple of levels of success that I think about attaining. One level is to be able to support myself completely through my music, which has been a struggle all of my life. I do think I can get to that level and what it will take is continuing exactly what I am doing, and that is dedicating myself to playing as many places as often as I can. Just getting out there and being willing to show what I can do, so I feel that level is attainable. Beyond that level, then we are looking at having a broader fan base. Can I increase my fan base and my amount of record sales so not only can I afford to play music full time but I am doing better than that? Some of that might be a matter of finding a distribution company, and a lot of it depends upon continuing to find people to work with us on a business level, whether it is lawyers or personal management or booking agents. That will help take it to a level where I am doing better than just surviving. To put it in a nutshell, I think I am really ready to be successful on many levels. The only way it is going to happen is if I do not retreat in any way, shape or form. That means continuing to get out in the world as much as I can, really look for entities that will support playing out more, and playing in bigger venues or supporting bigger artists. Also continuing to get help in the publicity realm with the PR firm I am working with who are getting out the word via internet. Unfortunately, I don't think it's always about how talented you are or how good your product is. That's sad, but it's true. I think the music is good and ready, and I'm ready and I have a really good live performance. If I'm willing to ask for help and if I'm willing to look for the right people and willing to get rejected along the way and willing to keep getting back up and doing what I need to do, that will ensure success more than anything else.
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