At Fates Mercy
At Fates Mercy are an Aussie band, they kindly answered my questions so read on.
https://www.facebook.com/atfatesmercy
1. Are you happy how things have gone so far?
Quite honestly it still feels as if we are only just beginning this journey. The band is in its most comfortable and productive mind frame to date, and things are all happening at once. If happy also means excited, then we are very happy.
2. Do you think it’s all about the songwriting or does timing and the right place at the right time has a key getting your music out there?
The music is certainly the foundation but we are finding it’s contact and relationships that are helping to drive our exposure. You won’t have much luck if your sound is not something that people enjoy but you might also have an amazing song in your hands that is only ever going to reach so much exposure without the right people to help you to share the sound around.
3. How important to you are music blogs in helping get your music out there?
Blogs, like any online and more importantly “free” exposure are extremely important to helping get the music out there. More and more people are turning to online mediums to find out what is a hot topic or trending in the social world outside their bedrooms. Blogs are a central point to gain insights from like minded people who share similar interests.
4. What inspired you guys in the first place to give music a shot?
The rockstar money, women and fame!!!… Haha, not quite but in all seriousness we came together with an idea to spend time doing something we all loved. We never thought the band would be taken seriously or gain any traction. The inspiration may be cliché but it comes from a deep love of music and the band is a great outlet for the music we have inside of us. To really believe in your music you have to love doing it. Unless of course your only in it for the rockstar money, women and fame.
5. Having tools like Soundcloud does it make your job easier when trying to gain new listeners to your music?
Most definitely. Any easily accessible source of online exposure, especially one that is stream based and low cost like SoundCloud, makes the job so much easier in sharing. The more mediums you have at your exposure to share your music, the more guns you have in your artillery.
6. Do you think releasing EP’s and singles is a good way of keep momentum going before releasing a full length or spending time out of the spotlight writing songs is better?
For us it certainly is. The massive cost associated with professionally recording music has meant that if we wanted to keep people interested without years between albums, singles and EPs are the only way. For us also though, the singles give us feedback on what people think of our new directions and this inspires us to continue to write songs and release and EP. Next up is the full length and we honestly cannot wait for that chapter of this story.
7. How does a song happen for you?
It can happen any number of ways. It might be a deep seeded idea that naturally comes to fruition. It might be a collective discussion or share of sounds that turns into a song. Or it may be one persons project that they eventually share with the rest of the band to add or influence the final product. Each song is different in its infancy and that’s what makes them all special to the band, even if the fan base has preference of one song to another. We find that everyone has a favourite song that is different to the last person though, so this must mean that each process resonates to people differently.
8. Are there moments where your just not in the mood for writing music and need to do something else before you jump back into song writing mode?
Haha, yes! Every second week maybe? When it’s not happening, there is no point in forcing it. We put down the microphone, guitar or sticks and focus our energy elsewhere. When it feels right, do it, but you are wasting your time if you try do it any other way. Some songs are finalized the day before the recording, some are written months before they are ever performed. You just have to do what feels natural.
9. Do you think YouTube has help save the music industry?
I don’t know if YouTube helped save the industry but it certainly helped make music more accessible. YouTube is a business and therefore needs to make money, but it also allows a larger scope of people to check out things from a central platform. Music existed before it but things were certainly done a different way before it.
\10. Do you think being serious with your music has helped you and is it still fun to you guys from when you were starting out?
100%. Taking things seriously has certainly given us the focus to push boundaries we never knew existed. By channelling our energy on making people take the band seriously, we have tapped into a potential we didn’t know existed. It is way more fun than it ever was before, because now we see reward for all our hard work. The work is starting to pay off and it’s all because we have started to believe. It’s very exciting times ahead…
