By: Dr. Matt Warnock
Being an Indie band has never been easy. Even with the costs of recording and self-producing an album at all-time lows, and the advent of free PR sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, it still takes a lot of hard work, loads of talent and a little luck to make it on today’s Indie rock scene. One of those bands that is taking the Indie scene by storm, and redefining how people make records and view the music industry in general, is Albany based pop-rock band Ten Year Vamp.
Driven by the infectious vocals of lead singer Debbie Gabrione, the band latest album Don’t Act Like You Know Me draws influences from rock, pop and even techno and house music, lifting the band 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.
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 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 in return for “shares” in the albums success.
Succeeding in bringing in sixty investors, with each giving between $25 and $2000, Ten Year Vamp 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, were allowed to vote on the tracks that made the album, the producer that was used and which photos would be used for the album, including the cover photo, things that are usually decided by managers, record labels or the band itself.
With a strong band dynamic, an enigmatic front woman and a business sense usually reserved for Wall Street boardrooms, Ten Year Vamp is taking the music world by storm. With a string of catchy tunes, a great 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.
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Matt Warnock: You were sort of a late bloomer when it came to listening to rock music. Who were some of the bands and singers that drew you to the genre after you spent your early years listening to pop and ’50s music?
Debbie Gabrione: I would say that one of the bands that really left me awe struck was U2. After I got into them I ended up skipping over most of the other classic rock bands like The Eagles and Journey. Instead, I started listening to Fall Out Boy, The Used, bands like that. I did have a short period where I was really into No Doubt, but that was short lived. So other than U2 it was really the newer, more modern rock bands that influenced me early on.
Matt: After growing up listening to pop music and now performing in a rock band, do you let those two influences bleed into each other, or do you try and separate those two genres when you’re writing and performing with Ten Year Vamp?
Debbie: I definitely separate them. If you listen to the early demos I do of our songs there’s really no pop influence in there whatsoever. I think my pop influence comes out after the fact, in the production aspects of the songs, but I definitely separate those two styles when I’m writing and recording new material.
Matt: There have been countless great female singers in rock over the years, such as Joan Jett and Gwen Stefani, who you mentioned earlier. Did any particular female rock singers have an influence on your singing and writing when you were first checking out the genre?
Debbie: I don’t know that they influenced me that much. Not being into the rock thing early on I never really sat around and watched music videos thinking that’s what I wanted to do. When I got into the whole rock thing later on I started to figure out how I wanted to fit into that style, and that’s when I began to check out female fronted bands.
Some of them sit very well with me, like early No Doubt, and Joan Jett has been inspirational. Even modern groups like Evanescence and band like that have blazed a trail of sorts in the genre. I don’t think female fronted bands have been as dominant in rock as they should have; it’s definitely not a fifty-fifty split. But, the women who have fronted big bands like the ones I mentioned have had a huge impact on the industry and really helped bring attention to female singers and female fronted bands.
There are other female artists like Ani DiFranco and Tori Amos who’ve had an influence on my music. They both have this attitude of “I’m an artist, here’s my music, take it or leave it,” which is really the attitude I like to have with music.
With a lot of female fronted bands I think they’re being told what to do by labels more than they should. It sometimes seems like they’re writing and playing what they think they should to sell albums, rather than just doing what they want to do musically.
Matt: There seems to be a double standard in the press, and even with some fans, when it comes to a band having an attractive, confident woman at the front of the stage. People don’t seem to have a problem with guys singing about hooking up, partying and being confident in their sexuality, but when a woman does it there’s usually some sort of backlash from different groups of people. What have been some of your experiences with this aspect of the industry, good or bad?
Debbie: Early in my career I kind of experienced the negative side of that aspect of the business. A lot of what was said about the band was focused on my sexuality, my behavior and my lyrics in regards to what they were and what people thought they should be. As we’ve gotten better and grown as a band the focus has shifted from that sort of thing to the energy or our live shows, the quality of our music and the depth of the lyrics.
It’s been a positive shift in focus for us. It’s tempting to fall into those stereotypes when everyone’s talking about those things. When the press talks about being scantily clothed and behaving in a sexy way, I almost thought, “Well if that’s the image they’re creating for me why not go with it?” I would have lower cut shirts on and I really felt it was important to look pretty. Now that we’ve all grown as a band, I don’t even think about that stuff anymore. It’s all about the strength of the music, the quality of the lyrics and putting on a great live show.
Now I go on stage in a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers and our reviews have been better than ever. I think the press will focus on the music if that’s what the band is focusing on, if the band is focusing on a certain image than the press will follow their lead.
Matt: Taking a look at a tune of yours like “Pleasures,” people can see that fun, sexy, confident side to your songwriting. Did you pick that song to showcase that side of your personality, or did it just develop on its own as you began writing it?
Debbie: It kind of summarizes who I am, confident, sexy and sensual. It’s kind of in the line of the new wave of feminism where it’s OK to be sexy as long as women are doing it for themselves, and not for someone else. The song’s about being sexy, doing what you want and having fun with it. I think having that kind of attitude can be a form of empowerment.
Matt: There seems to be a line that’s been drawn by the media where they will recognize that sexual confidence as being empowering for women, but only to a certain extent. When people like Paris Hilton take it to the extreme there are negative consequences in the press for that kind of thing. Do you have to be aware of this boundary between being sexy and being Paris Hilton when you’re writing new material?
Debbie: I think I’m aware of it subconsciously, but haven’t really grappled with it consciously. The only type of censorship I really put on my writing is because I want our music to appeal to people of all ages. I want young girls, and boys, to be able to listen to our records without having the parental advisory sticker on the front cover.
As far as that’s concerned I want my little cousins to be able to sing along with it and have their parents be cool with it. If I did write a song that crossed that line I’d have to think about how I would deal with those issues, but up to this point it hasn’t really been an issue with me or the band.
Matt: As the band gets bigger and gets more attention young girls will start to look up to you as a guitar-playing lead singer in a rock band. How do you deal with the idea of being a role model for the next generation of female rockers?
Debbie: I’m flattered by it and I’m very comfortable accepting that upon myself. I had a great upbringing and came from a great family, so I have good values and morals from my family. A lot of my songs are about strength, independence and confidence. I won’t write or sing about degrading myself or being negative about myself.
Outside of the band I also strongly believe in education. I have a Masters degree and am a certified rehab counselor. I’m also working on a licensure in mental health counseling. So I’m comfortable with accepting the responsibility of being a role model for young girls. I think my upbringing has prepared me for that kind of situation and I welcome the challenge.
Matt: With a day gig as a counselor and the band taking off, how do you balance those two careers without ignoring one or the other from time to time?
Debbie: Well, my goal is to be a full time musician, but with the climate of the music industry and the questions that people have about the future of the industry, I’m not really ready to give up my counseling career so I can be in the van full time, making twenty bucks a night playing for ten people. I wouldn’t want to spend all this time on music and then if things don’t turn out well have nothing to fall back on and end up flipping burgers for the rest of my life.
So, plan A is to be a rock star, but plan B is to get a good education and develop my counseling career so I can fall back on it if I have to. Music is definitely my passion and I’m willing to sacrifice a lot to make it as a musician, but having a steady paycheck is definitely a bonus at the end of the month.
Matt: Having a day job is great because it affords you a nice standard of living and allows you to focus on your music a lot of the time. What have been some of the pros and cons of juggling those two careers?
Debbie: I think back in the days when bands were the coolest thing in the world and labels were signing bands to big contracts, having a day job would have been an Achilles heel. But, in this economic climate having a day job has really helped our musical pursuits.
This weekend we’re driving to Boston for a gig, so we’ll be able to afford gas money and a hotel room so we don’t have to sleep in the van, which would be tough if we were living off of the revenue from our gigs and album sales. Self-producing an album, merchandise, hiring producers, duplication, all of this stuff costs money and unfortunately if bands don’t have that financial backing it’s very hard to make it these days.
If a band doesn’t have the money to get a CD out, drive to shows, produce merchandise or build a website, then it’s really hard to get anywhere in the music industry in the twenty-first century.
Matt: One of the unique things you’ve done as a band, and you may be the first band in history to do this, is you sold shares in your latest album, like a company would sell stock to people. This allowed you to raise money for the album, but also people are getting dividends from their investment with the band. How did you come up with this very cool idea?
Debbie: It was actually in a car ride, which is where we do our best and worst brainstorming. Laughs. Mark came up with the idea, and I wasn’t sold on it at first, but after we thought about it for a bit, and got back together to talk about it, we all realized that it was a pretty brilliant idea and so we decided to do it.
I think it really tests the faith that our fans have in us. Buying a CD is one thing, buying stock is another thing all together. When the money started coming in and we were reaching five, then ten, then twenty thousand dollars we realized it was working. It’s probably the best idea we’ve ever had and it’s afforded us the luxury of being able to do what we wanted with the album.
It’s afforded us major label quality production, mastering, recording and merchandise without having to deal with a major label and all the headaches that can come from doing so.
Matt: What has been the reaction so far from other bands, the fans and the general public to this project?
Debbie: We’ve gotten only a positive reaction so far. Forbes, AOL Finance and a bunch of esteemed magazines have done stories on us. It’s only gotten a positive response so far. The only reason I couldn’t see this working for other bands is that we had to tour our asses off and pay our dues for three years before we had enough of a fan base to try and pull this off.
People aren’t going to be able to do a few twenty minute sets one month and then expect people to hand them money because they believe in them, they have to really work hard to get to the point where people are willing to support an artist in this way.
Matt: Now that you’ve been successful with this approach to funding your albums, do you have plans to continue to sell shares in your future projects?
Debbie: Absolutely, I wouldn’t hesitate or think twice about it. In a lot of the articles written about us people compare what we’re doing to things like the Sell-A-Band website, but I don’t think we’re comparable to something like that. Even if we had private investors come forward and offer to fund our albums I probably wouldn’t want to do it because they would be in control over the music and the marketing of the project.
We really love having control over our music and how we present it to the public. By selling shares people are buying into our band without taking too much control away from us, which for our band is the ideal situation. We gave our investors voting rights as far as which tunes made the album, the art that was used and which producer we ended up going with, so they did have some control over things, but in a very democratic way.
There was no executive at a major label telling us to change our music or our image, our fans and the people who love our music helped us make those decisions.
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Links
Ten Year Vamp Free Mp3 Download
Don’t Act Like You Know Me Album Review
Don’t Act Like You Know Me on Amazon
