Check it out show number two: “Paranatural: Mystery Lights” premiers Monday March 1st @ 9:00PM on the National Geographic Channel. Musical score by yours truly.

Read More! The dude as guest judge for Metal Insider’s “No Label Needed Contest!” - The No Label Needed Contest & Series is a collaboration between Metal Insider and Scion to give one unsigned artist an entire DIY music industry education and launch a release without the help of a label. We’ll be posting features and updates on the contest & series periodically on Metal Insider. Find out more about No Label Needed here.

Darkest Hour guitarist Mike Schleibaum is among the artists, managers, agents and writers on our judging panel. While we can’t reveal his vote until March 9, he wanted to take a minute to make sure you take a minute and vote for your favorite No Label Needed finalist.

Premiering this Tuesday February 23rd - Paranatural - Chupacabra on the National Geographic Channel - musical score by Darkest Hour guitarist Mike Schleibaum “aka The Dude.” It’s not heavy metal but hey it is TV! Airs @ 9:00 P.M. Make sure to set those Tivos!

Hey All,

I know it has been sometime since I have updated the old site here but things have been crazy in rock world. I just finished producing my good friends in Burning Empires (Misery Signals/Fall Out Boy) new EP, scoring a few TV shows, as well as continuing work on the new Darkest Hour record! Which of course leaves me little time to write. Never fear I will be back to answer your most burning rock questions but until then please check out the 30th anniversary issue of Guitar World!

Not only is Eddie Van Halen and Tony Iommi on the cover, not only is “Everybody Wants Some” tab-ed out, but yes yours truly’s rig is featured in the Vulgar Display of Power section. Yep if you ever wondered what I am running live or how I am doing it – it’s all there in full glory!

Even the new secrete of the Fender 5150 (3) is out so what is a dude to do!

Write more until then shred on!

The Dude

Dear Dude,

I recently joined a metal band.  We are pretty talented, have had good feedback from people, and serious about our music.  In a few weeks we are going to record a demo and will be starting to play shows soon.  My question is how do you create things like a band logo and album art? We have a MySpace but we do not know what to use as our logo and we want a cover so we need art.  I don’t even know where to turn too for this.  Advice?

Thank you,

The Art of Choosing Art

Dear Art of Choosing Art,

Album art, MySpace / website art, band logos, T-Shirt art, and well all things concerning the visual impression of your band can be nothing less then a pain in the ass. As musicians we are not always artists mastered in the visual form. This sucks, especially because the overall first impression of your band is tied into the way your logo and album art looks. How bands operate regarding all things visual art related can be very different from band to band. There is no “one” way to handle the band-art necessity, but to get you started here are a few things I have learned along the way.

The “In Band” Artist: Although, I personally have no real visual art skills this is not true for all band members. In fact many bands that I have toured and worked with have one or two artistically inclined members. This scenario may be best. Why? Well, it’s free. Most good designers cost money and trying to find the cash to pay someone to layout your demo, website, or MySpace, as well as fund all the other things a starting band needs can really suck. So having an “In Band” designer or artist can really save money and move things a lot faster. Not to mention it may also help your band to develop a more distinguishable look. Converge, Baroness, and Isis are just a few of the many successful bands who have one member who designs most of look of their band. Finely, having a member involved with creation, design, and implementation means that there is a much more direct (and hopefully) clearer line of communication between band and designer. This is crucial in making sure the band gets what they want out of the artist. From T - shirts to websites, album covers to computer wallpaper having an artist in the fold that has a distinct visual direction (the other members like) is almost always helpful. The few bands I have played in that have had an “In Band” artist always have a much easier and rewarding time putting together ANYTHING visual.

Ok so what about the rest of us? You know the bands that have no one with an understanding of visual art. Well just because the “In Band” artist is cheaper and easier it doesn’t mean you will always get great art or art the whole band likes. Using an outside artist does give you a chance to think outside the box, see many different ideas for the same project, try different looks for different records, and adapt or change band looks much faster. 

But where do we find these artists? Well before the beautiful Internet we used to do a thing called credit hunting. Much like writing a record you have to know what your influences are. So “Credit Hunting” is when you look through the jackets of all your CDs and Records (preferable the ones that have a cover or layout that you like). Get out there and look at art, explore it, and find those records with art that you love. Now you have to use a little reason, I mean if your band is just starting out your not going to be able to afford the artist who did the last Metallica cover. But Artists much like musicians need work and trust me for every one band that’s out there trying to find a cover there are 15 artists trying to sell art. One of my favorite moves is to find album, website, or T-shirt art from a band I like and find a way to communicate with the artist who designed it.

Another avenue that has worked great for me over the years is to work with an artist that is local. Many of the artists who have done Darkest Hour record covers have been local. Hidden Hands and Mark of the Judas were done by good friend Shelby Cinca (Frodus / The Mind Control Design), So Sedated by good friend Matt Michael (Majority Rule, CloakDagger, Creative Panic), and Undoing Ruin by good friend Chris Taylor (Pg. 99). So really all we did was find the “In Band” designer/artist for another band and hired them. 

There are a few websites out there that artist use to silicate their work. The ones I have used were mainly for T-shirt designs but its a good chance that an artist who does shirt designs can or will do art for record covers. A good place to start is: http://www.emptees.com/ its worth a shot, but I have never found an artist through these means.

Working with an outside Artist:

A Good Idea Will Get You Far: I am always happiest with the overall art of a record when the band presents a cohesive idea to the artist. In other words, it’s all about communication. I think the more you can tell the artist about what you want, expect, envision, etc. the more you will be happier with the overall out come.  I suggest bringing a cohesive idea to the table that the artist can expand on in his or her own way. Artists like to do their own thing 99% of the time so allowing the artist to develop your idea into their idea works great. I believe all artists work best when you allow them to find and express a little piece of themselves in the art. So a good place to start when working with an outside artists is to say, “The album is really about this etc. etc., the songs focus on this etc. etc., the overall vibe of the record is this etc. etc., and what we are going for is a sound and look a lot like this etc. etc.” Giving an artist something to go on is really helpful and always gets the ball rolling in the right direction. Remember to not have a strict idea of what you want and try to let the artist develop your idea, after all it’s why you hired one from the outside.

A great logo, website design, T-shirt design, and album cover can really help build the image, persona, and overall vibe of a band. I have seen some of the biggest arguments bands can have over album art so I know its not that easy to settle on a visual interpretation of your music. A lot of that tension comes from the reality that although it’s your music and your vision you have to hire someone else to execute it. Shit, and to top if all of you have to like it! It’s an interesting infection with the only antidote being a healthy mixture of communication and flexibility. So good hunting!

The Dude

Thats Right! The dude will be featured in Washburn’s new Online Artist forum the week of:

June 8th, 2009 - June 12th, 2009.

Mike Schleibaum of Darkest Hour will be featured in the Washburn Artist forum next week. He will be answering your questions and discussing Washburn, Randall, and Eden products as well as all things rock!

Starting at 10:00AM Monday, June 8^th  through Friday, June 12^th at 5:00PM, anyone can post questions and/or comments for Mike. The forum will then be locked for the weekend to give Mike some time to answer your questions, and his responses will be posted in a locked forum the following Tuesday at 10:00AM for all to read and enjoy. The link bellow will take you to the forum (remember it will be locked until June 8th, 2009).

So send in those questions/comments!

Washburn Forum: http://forums.washburn.com/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=21

Bellow is video taken backstage of Both Darkest Hour guitarist Mike Schleibaum and Mike “Lonestar” Carrigan hangin’ and talking Washburn at their last Baltimore, MD appearance. Enjoy and see ya in the Forum!

DARKEST HOUR POSTS TWO NEW IN-STUDIO WEBISODES

BAND TO BE INCLUDED IN UPCOMING GUITAR HERO 5

Washington DC’s own DARKEST HOUR have posted two brand-new webisodes, documenting the band’s recording process for their upcoming album, The Eternal Return. The album streets June 23 on Victory Records. The ‘Making-Of’ webisodes are available NOW on the band’s official MySpace page, www.myspace.com/darkesthour or on their YouTube page, www.youtube.com/darkesthourdudes.

DARKEST HOUR was also recently announced as part of the set list for the upcoming Guitar Hero 5 video game. Stay tuned to find out which track made the cut!

The Eternal Return, due June 23, 2009 on Victory Records, is DARKEST HOUR’s sixth full-length album. The band tapped producer Brian McTernan (Senses Fail, Thrice, From Autumn to Ashes) and recorded at his Baltimore, MD-based Salad Days Studio.

The band will be kicking off the Summer Slaughter tour with Suffocation and Necrophagist on June 5 in Baltimore, MD. The complete list of tour dates is below. Visit DARKEST HOUR’s revamped MySpace for tour updates at http://www.myspace.com/darkesthour, as well as info on the band’s ‘The Eternal Giveaway’ contest.

Dear All,

I have been held up in a recording studio for almost 5 weeks after 6 long months of hard work. As I write this letter I am sitting on a plane to Germany to start a Euro tour. Times are crazy over here but I am happy to announce that with the recording of the newest DH record out of the way I am able to get back to writing this little blog. I have tons of questions backed up and I will try to upload more as I complete them but it will be slow at first. So from European soil (or over international waters actually) I give you a long awaited Ask the Dude. If you live anywhere in the US make sure to come out to this years Summer Slaughter tour and say what’s up! 

The Dude

Dear Dude,

I have just come back from the recording studio (an expensive professional, won’t say who for anonymity) we as a band felt that by paying good money for a great demo/mini album (5 tracks) we’d be able to show record companies what our music is really like.

It went brilliantly, and even though I do say so myself, it sounds amazing, and I don’t seem to be the only one who thinks this. The producer, who after many days saying things like ‘fantastic, sounds massive, I love that bit there’ etc turned around and casually said ‘I can’t wait to pass this to XXXX, you know the main bloke at XXXX records (major label), I’m gonna ask him one question, why would you not wanna sign this band?, and I don’t think he’ll be able to, anyway, I’m gonna go and get a coffee…’

Now I know this guy was and is in a popular band from the 90’s, who have recently started touring again (Main stage at the main metal festival here in the UK) so I know he actually knows people in the right places (apparently he also mentioned a couple of other labels he is in touch with too).

Anyway, my question is, at the cusp of this exciting development in our bands career, I’m worried about how this is going to affect my life. I have a full time job, along with my boyfriend, and we have a house together, at the moment I’ve been doing recording, practice and touring by working around my job and stuff and booking time off. I want to be in a signed band and would have no problem with turning my job in to tour etc, but at this stage in our career, I really just want to know, what is the reality of being able to live off of a band that just got their first contract? I know at this stage you don’t get much money and it’s hard graft, but do you just get paid enough for you as person to live through the day or would I be able to send some rent money to my boyfriend? Where do you stay when you’re not touring? Would I maybe get paid enough (if I was frugal) to take my boyfriend with me, you know just give him enough to eat and sleep in the hotel rooms we would hopefully already get…?

Basically, while I’m excited about maybe being signed, I don’t want to get carried away, and want to know what’s it’s really like, so I can keep my feet on the ground.

Thanks,

Reality Check

Dear Reality Check?

Sounds to me like there are a few things going on that might not be the best things to facilitate a budding music carrier. I mean, shit, trying to do a band for a living is really, really hard. But trying to do a band for a living and support someone else while propelling your carrier, that’s a whole other set of problems! But lets not get too ahead of ourselves. These questions need to be broken down so we can look at the SEVERAL underlying themes.

First as I mentioned in the opening paragraph touring in a band full time is hard work and supporting someone else on a bands dime is even harder. I have been in bands with members who have as little as a phone bill a month to members who are helping to pay their half of a marriage that supports a baby. And while both are hard the latter is MUCH harder. After 14 years of a band many members of darkest hour have very little. That’s not to say we don’t have much or that “very little” is all relative but it is to say that well, no one is rich by anyone’s definition.  Some of us own homes with our wives and some of us cant keep the power on at their apartment. The same can be said for most “big” bands that we tour with. Fame is an illusion and it’s easy for people to “THINK” that an artist makes way more money then he or she actually does. So much of selling records is about building perception that its often times even hard for the actual artist to be able to tell the difference (and trust me that’s tricky business when that happens). So what’s the reality of being able to live off of a band that just got their first record contract?  That question is pretty much like asking what the probability of wining the lottery next week is. The chances of you being able to sustain ANY form of life let alone a decent quality of life are very thin. So thin in fact that with the way the music business is going your chances are getting thinner and thinner. Now that was not written in an attempt to dissuade you from trying or say that it’s not possible, it’s just well to tell you the truth - its very unlikely.

Now do I think you will be able to “get paid enough to have your boyfriend sleep in the hotel rooms and eat with you on tour?” Ah absolutely not. Lets face it if your boyfriend loves and cares about you well then he will not want to be dead weight. You would be surprised how many musicians rely on the support and hard work of their significant others. I can say for a fact that without the help of my wife I would be fucked! And the same can be said for many successful dudes and dudetts out there. You just need to take some time and look at your relationship. Does he work? Why not? Is he willing to work while you are on tour in order to supplement the income of your band? It seems like if he cares for you and your relationship with him then he will want you to be able to tour, pursue music, and facilitate that by working hard so that money wont be such an issue. You have a house together, that’s both of your responsibility. So first things first, let’s get this dude a job, because a relationship should be a 50/50 give and take. 

Second we need to manage our expectations. As artists you will always have people telling you you’re hot shit. And if its someone that is working with you in the form of a producer, manager, or agent well then you can expect even more of a sugar coating. Having a positive outlook is good but having overblown expectations is taking that to an unhealthy extreme. If I had a dollar for every time someone at a record label, management, or booking agent told me I was going to “hit it big” I would be a lot better off then I am now. So take this producers’ excitement with stride. Now this doesn’t mean don’t get excited and it doesn’t mean stop pursuing it or take it slow. It just means you have to understand all the angels. Its great that he is excited, its great that he is going to throw around the tunes and get them in the right hands (after all that’s half of getting signed right there), and its great they he likes the musical collaboration you have just completed with him. But don’t quit that day job yet, you have to stay focused on the real prize, writing and recording fulfilling music while making that home life work.

That brings me to my last point, know what your goals are. Look if you want music to take off so you can make some quick cash, screw around with your friends on tour and get paid, or just NOT have to get a real job, then your priorities are all messed up. There are much, easier, faster, simpler, ways to make money. If that’s your goal I am afraid you’ve already lost. That’s not to say if money isn’t your sole focus that you can’t obtain it. It’s just to say that based on my experience your going to end up failing because no one, even the dudes at the top, end up with all the cash. Now I know your just asking, will I be able to sustain a bit of a life? To that question I have some good news, it is possible. But it takes work, teamwork actually. Yes you can make “rent money,” you can manage money to meet monthy and daily expenses, but it takes organization, collaboration, and sacrifice. Darkest Hour makes ends meet but like I said even a band of our size still has plenty of the same problems that your facing. I think you need to get that significant other of yours to understand that he is tied to your success, that if he loves and cares for you he will help you pursue you dream, there is a way that you can both make this work but, its going to take sacrifice on both sides.

In conclusion this is what I am saying, you’re already making it work! You’re paying the bills, practicing, touring, and recording. You’re following the opportunities that arise. All you can do is continue moving forward. But It’s not the all or nothing road you think that’s ahead. Rather, this IS being in a band. The constant struggle to make financial life work while you pursue your life of art. Even the dudes in Van Halen face this on some level its just the nature of trying to build a life in the music business. Don’t let this letter talk you out of pursuing life in music because making a dollar is hard. Rather let it motivate you, its ok to work three jobs while trying to do a band. Its ok to struggle with making both lives work. To really make a band or life as a musician work you have to be ready to make it happen by any means necessary, and from the looks of it you have a really great start. So sit down with that dude of yours and talk about how you can make it work. Keep grinding it out and getting that cash from your 9 – 5 job. Keep you eye on the prize: Making music work while not neglecting your life. I believe that if you stay focused, work hard, then the right opportunity will come along that will allow you to spend more time on music. With faith in each other you and your significant other can make your bills work and your dream a reality.

The Dude

The Eternal Return Album Announcement

Hey, Out there!

New letters to post soon! Mike “Lonestar” Carrigan and myself have been held up in the underground rock bunker (AKA my basement!) mainlining Pantera solo’s and riffing on the new Darkest Hour record! Its been a lot of hard work but we couldn’t be more stoked about where this is headed! I’ll write soon but for now a dude has to riff as hard as he can!