By: Dr Matt Warnock
Don’t Act Like You Know Me is not only a powerfully entertaining pop-rock album by Albany, NY based band Ten Year Vamp, it is an evolutionary, and revolutionary, leap that could very well change the way bands record and market their music. Filled with catchy riffs and heavy grooves, the album easily proves that it can stand next to any top-40 album on the charts today. But, these six upstate-rockers are more than just talented musicians, they are industry visionaries who may have inadvertently sent ripples through the music business world that could be felt for years, and decades, to come.
Driven by the infectious vocals of lead singer Debbie Gabrione, the album draws influences from rock, pop and even techno and house music, helping the band push beyond the typical “power-pop” label usually given to groups with a similar vibe. The album is also incredibly well produced, and not in a bad way. Background vocals are mixed with a careful ear to the clarity of the melody, the instruments sound as they should, with natural sounding effects, and the low-end is present enough to get listeners tapping their feet, without getting in the way of the other instruments. The engineers should be applauded alongside the band members in producing an excellently written, and sounding, album.
Gabrione, who grew up listening to 50s era pop and who admitted that the heaviest music she heard before college was Rod Stewart and Neil Diamond, uses her pop background to her advantage. Her vocal lines are consistently musical, with a sense of forward motion and catchiness that can only come from someone who’s spent years listening to the great pop singers of decades gone by. When mixed with her newfound love of modern rock music, Gabrione’s vocals reach out and grab the listener by the lapels, pulling them into the lyrics of each track.
Aside from writing and recording a chart-worthy pop-rock album, the band, in an effort to pay for their new record, may have changed the course of music business history in the process. Instead of signing with a record label, or paying for the album themselves with earned or borrowed money, the band became a musical mutual fund of sorts. They solicited investments from fans, and the general public, in return for “shares” in the albums success.
Succeeding in bringing in sixty investors, with each giving between $25 and $2000, the band will pay dividends to these investors based on album sales and the amount of each individual investment. These owners, as the band refers to them, also chose which photos would be used for the album, including the cover photo, something that is usually decided by managers, record labels or the band itself.
The band also let the fans choose which songs were included in the final pressing of the album. After setting up their investor program, the band posted eighty tracks on their website and let fans vote on which songs would make it to the final album, which resulted in the twelve tracks that are heard on Don’t Act Like You Know Me.
With a strong band dynamic, and enigmatic front woman and a business sense usually reserved for Wall Street boardrooms, Ten Year Vamp is taking the musical, and business, world by storm. With a string of catchy tunes, a good production team and a strong vision for their future, it’s only a matter of time before the band, which has opened for Lifehouse, Simple Plan and the Spin Doctors, jumps to the top of the marquee of concert halls across the country.
Links
Ten Year Vamp Free Mp3 Download
Don’t Act Like You Know Me on Amazon
