With so many bands and artists making music these days, it’s getting harder and harder for groups to be noticed. Rising above the pack today is a difficult proposition.
Hoping for strength in numbers, 18 diverse groups have joined together to release “Staring at the Sun V. 5,” a free compilation album showcasing the diversity of San Diego’s music community. Ocean Beach resident Chuck Schiele of The Grams had his hand in the project, producing the album and designing its sunny California-centric graphics
“The purpose and motivation is simple, to further the San Diego music scene while letting the rest of the world take a listen,” Schiele said. “The point of the album is to get everyone else as excited about our scene as we musicians are.”
The Casbah will be the site of a free CD release party for the album Sunday, Feb. 25, sponsored by FM94.9 and DJ Tim Pyles. On hand will be Vinyl Radio, The Buzzkill Romantics, The Shambles and Anna Troy, all four included on the disc. There will also be a live broadcast of Pyles’ radio show, The Local Pyle, from the Atari Lounge, a.k.a. the back bar. In addition to receiving a free CD, early attendees will be treated to free food. The show will start promptly at 7:30 p.m., with the last band offstage before 11 p.m., making it possible for someone working the next morning’s shift to take in some great music.
From the album, rock fans will be thrilled by Vinyl Radio’s explosive opener, “Come On And Dance,” or Heathen Kings of Olde’s “Reverend of Sin.” Singer-songwriters will find a plethora of great options, including new music from Berkley Hart, Barbara Nesbitt and Podunk Nowhere. Powerpop aficionados will thrill at tracks from Christopher Dale and his group Superdoo, Mark DeCerbo & Four Eyes or The Spring Collection. In the meantime, country music is well represented by The Coyote Problem and The Grams. There are also piano ballads from Marie Haddad and blues from Anna Troy, all just scratching the surface.
According to Schiele, one album, however diverse its line-up, isn’t enough to represent San Diego’s music scene as a whole.
“We’ll be making another one as soon as possible,” he said. “It’s a big city with a lot of music in a growing scene. It will take more than one CD to represent local music.”
And though technology promises to soon make the CD a thing of the past, Schiele maintains that, at least for the moment, it’s still the perfect tool to promote music.
“Giving someone a free download at a show, usually by handing them a piece of paper with a Web site to download from, doesn’t mean as much as actually handing them a physical disc,” he said. “The fact that it’s free and has such well-known local artists hopefully makes it desirable to all sorts of music fans.”
Troy, who will open the show, also has high hopes for the album.
“The fact that it’s a free album means it will get to more people than a regular album and hopefully will expose a lot of people to music they might not otherwise have heard. That might not seem like a huge deal, but for artists like myself who are playing music that isn’t the typical sort of thing heard on the radio, it’s invaluable.”
Pyles agreed. He said he sees compilations as an alternative to the days when singles ruled the music scene. With one track per artist, it gives listeners a chance to sample from many different genres.
“It’s great to offer up so many choices in music,” he said. “In a way, it’s like having a mini radio station. Hopefully somebody listening to one act can be introduced to the music of somebody less familiar.”
For more information, visit www.casbahmusic.com.