Shock Pilot Collaborative update OCT-11

A new "Smokin' Tasers" mix was posted October 10 on YouTube and ReverbNation. The mix includes new original content from Steve Morton (@srm1138) and Jonathan Jones (@LinwoodStudios). All content used is available on ReverbNation for download by artists to use in the creation of their content. The group is now considering lead female vocals by Lady Southpaw (@Lady_Southpaw) to fill out the sound and portray our electric muse, Laura Croft with tasers in a flight attendant's uniform taking care of business. Believe it.

The Target: Oct-31 release of "Smokin' Tasers". Plenty of time for artistic ideas from the Flight Crew and input from fans and listeners.

Sidebar note: Shock Pilot may become the subject of a research paper by a sociologist. More on that later. In the meantime, here is an excellent documentary about YouTube, created by the Kansas State University ethnography program, led by Michael Wesch. The documentary was a pivotal influence on the formation of the Shock Pilot collaborative.

Our connecting routes...

YouTube "lo-fi slideshow" for Smokin' Tasers (could use some creative assistance here!)

Music on ReverbNation: Shock Pilot

Twitter flavor: @ShockPilot

✈ Special thanks to the Flight Crew who have participated to date!

Artists/content contributors ♬

Fans/listeners ♥☊

♥☊ Jo Hannah Afton @TupeloSuper

♬ Steve Morton @srm1138

♥☊♬ Victoria McKibbin @Torie007

♥☊♬ Suzanne Shay @Zuzanne72

♬ Lady Southpaw @Lady_Southpaw

♥☊ Rod Lott @bookgasm

and

♥ anonymous

Open Letter - for musician new to Twitter

Hey - a very long note. I apologize, but this is the crash course that took me 4 months to complete!

The first & best thing I could do is refer some people that you may want to follow on twitter. If I send you a tweet recommendation to a person, they can have a look and be impressed. Really helps to get a few key people at first. They know Twitter and other people who are GENUINE. You can read a lot by reading their posts and understand social media and all the tricks that way. Doesn't cost a dime. Many helpful people are out there who are not trying to take your money or control your career. Obviously, there are sharks out there but they really can't bother you if you don't pay attention to them. If anyone every claims to promise you 1,000 followers in 1 week, don't listen to them because it's just a form of spam marketing that pisses real people off.

Because I'm an instrumental composer and not a performer, I need to make connections in order to make my own opportunities. It is slow since I don't live in L.A. or New York but I am finding some solid people. Just want you to know that if you spend a bit of time using Twitter, it will surprise you. You can save some time also by avoiding some of my mistakes too.

And just a word of caution about the automatic tweets that link to some other site. Don't. Just put in a simple addition before the link like "got a great show lined up on Oct-10 at the _______," and then the link. Just a little bit of personality will make them real. Being real and then providing a link is actually easy to do and makes people want to actually follow you for what you might say about your music or life or whatever.

There was a musician (won't say who) whom I had to stop following because all they had on Twitter was auto-posts from Facebook or Myspace. Lots of them too. It got really old really fast because nothing was unique or the least bit about them. It was like reading a bank account statement, boring.

And, be sure to login to twitter.com and check who is following you at least once a week. Lots of bullshit people trying to sell porn out there and you don't want them hanging around your list of followers. It actually is better to weed those out of your list so that real people won't be scared off. The goal isn't having a million followers but having some real people who actually read and get involved by buying music and/or spreading the word.

If you want to actually speak sometime, you can try a video chat with me on Tokbox.com. I use that free site to send video messages to a few fans and it helps me learn. Also, I'm using it to collaborate with musicians.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Shock Pilot - Collaborative, Experimental, Rock - Status update for "Smokin' Tasers"

Oct-03 Web Meeting
The first Flight Crew Artist & Fan web chat went very well. Thanks to everyone for taking time to understand the project and the next steps. Joining us on the chat were Torie (@Torie007), Suzanne (@Zuzanne72), and Steve (@srm1138). The other Flight Crew artists were playing gigs that day and several of the Flight Crew fans sent regrets due to out of town engagements.

Some of the crew had asked for a transcript. While I am no stenographer, the following will do for this week.

After getting to know each other and agreeing that we are all insane music lovers, the flight got underway. I explained the music for Smokin' Tasers is an unfinished work of dual nature (see video below). It can be made into anything the artists and fan listeners can imagine. Currently, rough and techno. Big growling electric guitars and heavy club drum loops. The midpoint is when the wattage gets whipped into a Southern Fried blast of heavy distortion and a hard blues edge.

The current music of "Smokin' Tasers" was recorded in 2008 in a piece called "Watching The Sky" which I never released. One day chatting with my friend JoJo @tupelosuper an idea struck from an image. Something perfect as seen through my lens. Imagine a very bad-ass image of a Laura Croft "Tomb Raider" photo shoot (try google because the images are copyright protected and I won't post them in my blog).

From that point, the idea came to re-mix "Watching The Sky" into something of a soundtrack for a very bold, very well-armed, female ass-kicker. Being that @ShockPilot has a flying motif, I now have an image that the protagonista is a very bad-ass flight attendant with two "smokin' tasers" fully charged and ready to strike with near-lethal force.

Tasers are becoming more prevalent and feature-rich. Also, they are in vogue with the police who appear to use them hastily (as it appears distorted by TV news). I recounted the story I had seen on the news about a mother who was tased by a police officer while her children sat in car seats watching the whole thing, all while the dashboard camera caught the scene and audio of the mother who said "Please don't do this in front of my kids". Who knows what she really did do that warranted tasing, but I believe Laura Croft would have shown much better discretion.

The best part of the meeting was that after spilling all the above imagery, no one decided to hit the eject button and fly out of the project! Suzanne and Torie are planning to contribute artistically with graphics, imagery and possible prose/lyrics for "Smokin' Tasers". Steve and I discussed our musical history, gear, and some ideas. We discussed the elements of sound direction in order to make "Smokin' Tasers" BIG and aggressive in style. Steve is going to try a few ideas and see what happens. All other artists can do likewise and contact me directly to discuss.

Yes... It could have a vocals if someone is lyrical and wants to sing. Yes... It could use drum samples or found sound from anywhere. Yes... you can take the parts posted on ReverbNation site and mash-up, screw with, and otherwise twist them or record your very own. You'd be amazed at what can come from the minds, pens, and instruments of engaged artists and fans. Again, if you need an image, think Laura Croft with a flight attendant's outfit brandishing tasers at some evil doer. The rest is probably really cool after that.


Next Steps
Artist and fans will contribute to the project and review the ideas on a weekly web chat. Any artists or fans who missed the web chat can contact @ShockPilot to talk further. Next web chat meeting is Oct-10. During that meeting, the ideas from the artists and fans will be reviewed to form the 1st mix release of "Smokin' Tasers". Feel free to share this blog post, video, etc. to anyone you recommend for the project.

Project Goals
Project Calendar

Sneak preview!
The current version of "Smokin' Tasers" will be transformed into a rock single by October 31, 2009. New musical content, vocals, artwork, and mash-ups are all on the table. Consider it an open invitation to experiment and collaborate.

More information at our site. ReverbNation.com/ShockPilot Follow us on Twitter: @ShockPilot




We'd love to have you fly with us.
Would you like to see where all the "magic" happens? Welcome aboard! Please contact @ShockPilot on Twitter for additional information. You can be a listener, a contributor, a pusher or poet. It's up to you.

Shock Pilot - Collaborative, Experimental, Rock

Special announcements about Shock Pilot and the October 3rd web meeting.

TokBox - Free Video Chat and Video Messaging