00:00
DJ Beowvlf
Off the Record is a show from 88.1 WKNC in which DJs talk with artists about everything from their music to upcoming tours to former bandmates birthdays. Make sure to follow WKNC on SoundCloud and Tumblr so you never miss a beat. Enjoy.
00:15
DJ Beowvlf
Hi. Thank you. You are Adam Ostrar from Austin, Texas, United States. United States. I forgot to include that. Thank you for being here with us today. Stopping right in on the very first day of your short tour where you're going to be playing in Raleigh this evening. So as we mentioned, you're from Austin, Texas. Just came in. How was your traveling?
00:34
Adam Ostrar
It was. It was a direct flight. It was not very turbulent. I managed to get both my guitar and the amplifier that I brought in the overhead compartment.
00:45
DJ Beowvlf
Nice. I was actually going to ask like, are you playing alone or how the rest of the band get their stuff?
00:51
Adam Ostrar
Oh, no, I'm alone. Oh. Yeah, I. I normally tour alone.
00:56
DJ Beowvlf
Okay.
00:57
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. And when I. If I'm. If I'm close enough to Texas and I'll drive myself.
01:02
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah.
01:03
Adam Ostrar
Otherwise, if I'm on the east coast or West Coast, I usually will sort of fly in and then rent a car and drive and then go back to the airport and then fly home.
01:13
DJ Beowvlf
And you have a. About a line of like 10 dates on this round. Right.
01:17
Adam Ostrar
I don't get seven on this.
01:19
DJ Beowvlf
Okay.
01:19
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
01:19
DJ Beowvlf
So that's like a full week. Is it going to get lonely just being yourself out here?
01:23
Adam Ostrar
Well, I, I'm paying lots of money to bring Carl on the first three dates with me. Old friend from Charlottesville, Virginia. He's expensive. But, you know, mental health is very important.
01:35
DJ Beowvlf
Absolutely. I mean, four days of loneliness is fine, but seven too much.
01:39
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. It does get. It does get lonely sometimes. I do have. I do tour by myself frequently and these drives are pretty short. But, you know, I just did a midwestern thing and you know, so those drives are considerably longer. They feel longer because they're a lot more boring. They're very boring. It's not. Yeah, it's like gray flat roads and, you know, dilapidated gray farmhouses.
02:12
DJ Beowvlf
Wouldn't be what I would have pictured though. I was thinking more like orange, the desert.
02:15
Adam Ostrar
Oh, I'm talking about the Midwest. Yeah.
02:17
DJ Beowvlf
Oh.
02:18
Adam Ostrar
But Texas is pretty. It's more brown than. Than orange in most parts. I'd have to say.
02:25
DJ Beowvlf
North Carolina is pretty orange. We've got that. That clay.
02:28
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
02:29
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah. Red clay.
02:30
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. What's that about?
02:31
DJ Beowvlf
I don't really know. It's kind of like a thing Though, wherever you go, there's always going to be red clay. Whether it's the mountains or like sea level. It's.
02:39
Adam Ostrar
Is it extra? Do you ever try eating it? Is there some extra nutrients eating it?
02:43
DJ Beowvlf
But I swear in Asheville there's like a dime a dozen clay potters because of that.
02:47
Adam Ostrar
Of course.
02:48
DJ Beowvlf
Obviously. Since you have Carl, who lives in North Carolina, do you tour here frequently?
02:53
Adam Ostrar
Last time I played here was. Oh, boy. Do you remember that? It was not was. It may have been within the last year. Yeah. Chad. We played with my friend Jerry, David decica, who is another singer, songwriter from Texas. We did a little east coast tour and we ended up playing at Jazz's Bull City Records.
03:14
DJ Beowvlf
Nice. Do you have any North Carolina musicians that you've played with in the past that you just really enjoyed?
03:21
Adam Ostrar
Boy, I'd have to think pretty far back to when I lived in Charlottesville, which would have been in the mid to late 90s. I mean, we had like a lot of. A lot of bands come up from. From this area, you know, I mean,
03:39
DJ Beowvlf
Namely right around the corner in Durham is Merge Records and they were founded by the Super Chunk.
03:45
Adam Ostrar
Oh yeah, yeah. Definitely. Yeah. I've definitely seen a bunch of their bands. I can't remember. I think I've shared bills with everyone at that time.
03:54
DJ Beowvlf
When you're growing up together, you're small together, right?
03:56
Adam Ostrar
Right. Yeah.
03:58
DJ Beowvlf
Well, thank you for coming back. We're excited to talk about the show in School kids in Raleigh. I don't know why I'm talking plurally, but it is like we. I am so excited that you're here to talk about yourself with us more.
04:12
Adam Ostrar
More people who are excited about talking with tonight. His name's Jordan Moser. He's also from Austin.
04:18
DJ Beowvlf
Very cool. Just sheer coincidence.
04:20
Adam Ostrar
It's not a coincidence, actually. All this happened very last minute. I had a show, my first show of this tour, supposed to be in Baltimore.
04:28
DJ Beowvlf
Okay.
04:29
Adam Ostrar
And then I found out about a week and a half ago that show fell through. And so since I've. I'm going to give a big shout out to Southwest Airlines here because they let you change your ticket for a small penalty or no penalty at all. Actually, I was just able to. To. To reroute since I was gonna be in Charlotte tomorrow, I would come here and visit Carl who lives here. And Carl was very proactive and try to give me a show here at the last minute. So that's how I ended up being at School Kids and then School Kids.
05:03
DJ Beowvlf
Is a good place.
05:05
Adam Ostrar
Okay.
05:05
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah, I'M They're. They're a great line of record stores. There's one here, one in Durham. I believe there might be a third also in Chapel Hill, you know, the Triangle. But they frequently do both local and touring shows. It's a bit of a small stage because it's in the record store, but really respectful, really responsible people. It'll be cool.
05:26
Adam Ostrar
Great. Yeah. I'm very gracious that they. They agreed to do this at the.
05:30
DJ Beowvlf
Last minute, of course.
05:31
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. And then. And then this other songwriter who's. Who's playing tonight, Jordan is. He's doing a tour, I think he's driving actually across the south and was in Durham tonight without a gig and one of our mutual friends. So I was playing and thought, wouldn't hurt to ask to get.
05:54
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah, might as well.
05:55
Adam Ostrar
Jordan on the building. So that happens.
05:56
DJ Beowvlf
And then that worked out really well.
05:58
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
05:59
DJ Beowvlf
Friends in high and low places all across the Triangle. So because you're both from Austin, would you say that the two of you have a similar music style or would this be a bit of a varied bill?
06:09
Adam Ostrar
It'll be varied.
06:10
DJ Beowvlf
Okay. What do you consider yourself to be? I know I asked that question a few minutes ago and you were like, oh, I don't know.
06:19
Adam Ostrar
No, I'm. I'm pretty into various styles of music, but I try and work mostly with. With songwriting formats, you know, So I would have to say I'm a singer songwriter, but, you know, I really. I really like sort of experimental singer songwriters that still manage to kind of keep the boundaries on the songs, you know, like Robert Wyatt and just about to say any artist you can name drop, you know, a lot of stuff from the 60s and 70s that were sort of a little bit left field, you know, but whose records are. Are, you know, sort of sonically interesting. And, you know, so that's my. That's my thing.
07:07
DJ Beowvlf
Which I guess leads me perfectly into my next question. In 2019, as I'm sure you're aware, in pop music culture there's a heavy emphasis on, like, post production and like, hyping up a song and things. I would argue that the age of singer songwriters is coming to a bit of an end, especially with, like, corporate, like, ghost writers and things like that. As a singer songwriter in the year 2019, how do you make yourself either relevant or interesting to a developing audience?
07:39
Adam Ostrar
You know, I guess I'm so far off the radar, you know, in the circles that I operate in that, you know, I. I don't even. All that stuff is. Is sort of Operates on in a different world than we're.
07:54
DJ Beowvlf
It really is. Having corporate money is a whole other league.
07:58
Adam Ostrar
Right. It's gotten, you know, I. I've had to get used to, you know, streaming, the adjustment to streaming music and how distributing your music through streaming services can be a big help and hurt.
08:18
DJ Beowvlf
There's definitely a dual edged sword to that.
08:20
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. It's like a currency, though, I feel like, you know, when you. When you're trying to book shows, how.
08:26
DJ Beowvlf
Many streams do you have?
08:27
Adam Ostrar
Right, Exactly. Everything is extremely transparent. Extremely.
08:31
DJ Beowvlf
Ha ha.
08:33
Adam Ostrar
To venues and people in the business that you're, you know, that might be asking favors from, such as, you know, can I have a show here on such and such. And they're just at the, you know, at their fingertips is like numeric street cred. Yeah. Yeah. And. And having toured a lot, you know, previous to that, to this current era, it could be a thing where you reach out to a venue and the person who's in charge of booking it, you know, just happens to, like, listens to your music and likes it and goes, well, I think they would fit well on this bill. And boom, there you go.
09:05
DJ Beowvlf
You know, you say that you still have, like. I guess I would say, like, lingering effects from touring prior to the streaming age.
09:13
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. I mean, it takes me. It's taken me a while to sort of readjust.
09:18
DJ Beowvlf
Of course. Yeah.
09:19
Adam Ostrar
Things. Things are. Are different. And I. And I stopped touring for a chunk of time. You know, I had a kid and just.
09:28
DJ Beowvlf
That'll do.
09:29
Adam Ostrar
It wasn't. Yeah, I just wasn't able to do it. So it's so, you know, so getting back into it. I've been doing it for the last two or three years and sort of, you know, there's still a network of venues and good people who are not operating in that headset or that mindset where.
09:48
DJ Beowvlf
Or don't take that into account exclusively.
09:50
Adam Ostrar
Exactly. Like they're, you know, they're curating their venue. They want. They're concerned about good music.
09:55
DJ Beowvlf
You know, I do think you'll find at least a similar attitude at school. Kids.
10:00
Adam Ostrar
Great.
10:01
DJ Beowvlf
I mean, record stores, as you know, are dying out for similar reasons. So the lingering ones have to be good at what they do or they're not.
10:08
Adam Ostrar
Right. Yeah. You want to go somewhere you can trust that there's gonna. If there's music or if they're selling music that it's curated and it's gonna be something that you might be interested and take a chance on.
10:17
DJ Beowvlf
Right. And the next date that you're Playing is in Charlotte at the Milestone. That's kind of another place that I would compare to school kids. Obviously, incredibly different venues, because school kids is a store, a record stor, just in that, like, business environment. Whereas the Milestone is, as I described behind the scenes, a basement. It's a hole in the wall.
10:37
Adam Ostrar
I started at a basement.
10:38
DJ Beowvlf
Yes. It's. You'll definitely get some 90s vibes from this place.
10:44
Adam Ostrar
All right.
10:45
DJ Beowvlf
And that's going to sound really corny coming from a millennial, but you're going to walk in. The place is plastered with stickers and memorabilia going back for decades. There is no ac. It is gross and old. This bar is, like, shoved in the corner and you're like, am I going to survive? You will. The Milestone has been around forever.
11:03
Adam Ostrar
Okay.
11:04
DJ Beowvlf
It's a, it's one of the long standing.
11:06
Adam Ostrar
I, I, I, I brought a onesie. Is that appropriate to wear in a place without a basement, without air conditioning?
11:13
DJ Beowvlf
It'll be fine. It's like they prop the door open or they have, like, an electric fan.
11:16
Adam Ostrar
Okay. That's very 90sy. 90s to wear. To wear onesies. They called them ninesies back then.
11:21
DJ Beowvlf
Ninesies.
11:22
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
11:23
DJ Beowvlf
There. It's not a basement in the sense that it's underground, but you're going to walk in and be like, this is a basement.
11:29
Adam Ostrar
Right.
11:30
DJ Beowvlf
Like, that's just the feel that you're going to get.
11:32
Adam Ostrar
Okay.
11:33
DJ Beowvlf
Where else are you going on this tour?
11:34
Adam Ostrar
I'm going to Charlottesville.
11:37
DJ Beowvlf
Completely different from Charlotte.
11:39
Adam Ostrar
Different. And that's where I used to live there in the 90s. So I've got a bunch of friends there that I've kept in touch with over the years. I'm playing at a place called Low Vintage. And. And then I'm off to D.C. riazone, then Somerville, Massachusetts at Union Tavern, Kingston, New York, at the Beverly Lounge. And then I'm playing a really cool show in Queens at the Gas Footlight Bar. God, I'm gaslighting on mine.
12:22
DJ Beowvlf
You're gaslighting.
12:24
Adam Ostrar
We're all gaslighting each other these days. But no, for real, the Footlight Bar. And I'm playing with some. I'm playing with Hamish Kilgore from the Clean, his band. I'm playing with Kid Millions, Jim Saunter. Kid used to play in the bank called. No, nida. Still does. And anyway, good show to go out.
12:46
DJ Beowvlf
Definitely sounds like a good one. Sadly, it's all the way up in New York.
12:49
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, but you guys can. Can't drive.
12:51
DJ Beowvlf
I'll just Astral Project over there. I would be there if I could. Now, I believe you're on the tour cycle for your album, the Buried Coat.
12:59
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
12:59
DJ Beowvlf
When did this come out?
13:00
Adam Ostrar
It came out in April.
13:01
DJ Beowvlf
April. So it's pretty fresh. Talk to me about the album iconography. Is it your dog on the front?
13:07
Adam Ostrar
No. We recorded part of the record in Mexico City, and then the second half of the recorded in a studio that's out in the desert sort of outside of Tucson by about 45 miles.
13:22
DJ Beowvlf
So talk to me about your recording style. Why the.
13:24
Adam Ostrar
Those two locations Mexico City was.
13:30
DJ Beowvlf
And you have a song called Kansas City.
13:32
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. Unrelated to.
13:34
DJ Beowvlf
Okay.
13:35
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. Sometimes there's crossover between reality and fantasy, but Mexico City. Yeah. There's a studio there that the label wanted to send this to, which they had a. They had a connection with. And it was the first time I ever recorded in a different country. And it was great. I mean, it's a really cool part of Mexico City and great engineers, great studios. Studios are relatively cheaper than that. Studio here would have been super expensive. Yeah, they outsourced me. Oh, man, I never thought about it that way.
14:11
DJ Beowvlf
Bringers songwriters back to America.
14:13
Adam Ostrar
That's right. Right. What's going on? I didn't even think about that. That's really something. All right, I got material for the next record.
14:20
DJ Beowvlf
There you go. You're a corporate shill now.
14:23
Adam Ostrar
I know.
14:24
DJ Beowvlf
So who are you signed to? Corporate Shill.
14:26
Adam Ostrar
That record came out on Super Secret Records, which is an Austin label.
14:30
DJ Beowvlf
Very, very cool. So are you very involved in the Austin local music scene?
14:36
Adam Ostrar
Somewhat. I've only been there for five years. I was in Chicago for 15 years before that. So I'm still. I still feel kind of new to Austin, although I definitely know. Know quite a few folks in the. In the music scene there and have good feelings about living there.
14:57
DJ Beowvlf
I am in contact with a college radio station just outside of Austin. They're called KTSW. I believe they're 89.9, but don't quote me on that.
15:07
Adam Ostrar
Okay.
15:08
DJ Beowvlf
They're in San Marcos University.
15:09
Adam Ostrar
Oh, in San Marcos. Yeah, sure.
15:10
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah. So highly recommend. Apparently they have a very strong. Strong local music rotation, according to my friends who work there. So if you're interested in, like, finding out new stuff, they may be the place to go. I'm a little biased. College radio is my thing.
15:23
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, yeah.
15:24
DJ Beowvlf
But I highly recommend.
15:25
Adam Ostrar
Okay.
15:26
DJ Beowvlf
So in terms of making this record, it came out on in April. How long did it take to make the.
15:33
Adam Ostrar
The. We were in Mexico City for about five Days. And then a couple months went by and then were at the studio for about another five days. And then. So it's done in two chunks and.
15:44
DJ Beowvlf
Then.
15:47
Adam Ostrar
Came together pretty quickly. I mean, it was mixed and mastered within a pretty reasonable amount of time. So I think the whole thing probably took like three or four months from beginning to end.
15:56
DJ Beowvlf
That's not bad.
15:57
Adam Ostrar
Not bad. We worked really quickly.
15:58
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah, I can tell. And it's. Yeah, it goes really quickly. It's just a 12 song album I haven't seen in a long time. Someone do side A and side B on the CD description, right?
16:10
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
16:11
DJ Beowvlf
And then it's also songs one through six and one through six again.
16:14
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, you have to flip the CD over.
16:15
DJ Beowvlf
Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, you're an innovator. This reminds me of this Jack White interview that he did with, I believe, Stephen Colbert, I might be wrong. When he released that record Lazaretto. And he called himself such an innovator because when you flip the record, it plays from the inside side out.
16:36
Adam Ostrar
I like that.
16:36
DJ Beowvlf
That is creative, I guess. Oh, Jack White.
16:41
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
16:43
DJ Beowvlf
He does press his own records through Third Man.
16:46
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
16:46
DJ Beowvlf
And the Racontors just dropped an album. I'm insanely excited for that. I have a huge crush on Jack White, even though he's old and disgusting now.
16:55
Adam Ostrar
Hey, watch it. He's the ageist thing.
16:58
DJ Beowvlf
You know, the ages thing.
16:59
Adam Ostrar
You write, I'm probably older than Jack White.
17:02
DJ Beowvlf
I'm not so sure about that. He's probably aged quicker just because of how big he is.
17:06
Adam Ostrar
No, we'll say he's not. I like to just think that everyone's 50 so that I feel younger. You know how you can just to project my own, like, as I get older and older, I'm just like, well, that guy's probably 50 or so. What do you think?
17:16
DJ Beowvlf
My mom stopped counting her age at this point. Okay, really and truly. So you're not alone. It is a. Okay.
17:21
Adam Ostrar
You're comparing me to your mom's age?
17:23
DJ Beowvlf
Actually, she's probably older than you.
17:26
Adam Ostrar
Okay, can we change this? What's next on your question?
17:29
DJ Beowvlf
There we go. Don't worry, I got it. We're not gonna talk about my mom. I actually asked earlier whose dog this was and we got sideshows.
17:36
Adam Ostrar
Oh, right. So the studio is out on this, like artist community ranch that started in like the 70s or 80s. And so there's all these little houses around and then there's like this main hacienda that was built probably in like the 1920s or so. And that's where the studio is. And so a bunch of people live on the property and have dogs. And that dog just kept like wandering in throughout the session and just sort of became part of the scenery. And, you know, we would be tracking and he would just lay down on the floor, you know. Right. You know, in the middle of getting.
18:16
DJ Beowvlf
Me panting in the back tracks.
18:18
Adam Ostrar
There's probably a little panting in there.
18:19
DJ Beowvlf
I'm into it. As long as it's rhythmic.
18:21
Adam Ostrar
You have to listen to it on headphones, but you can hear it in there. But we all kind of crushed out on this dog. He's just the coolest guy.
18:31
DJ Beowvlf
And the front cover artwork almost looks like it's been made into a painting.
18:36
Adam Ostrar
Well, I took it. That's actually just a picture that I took on my phone.
18:39
DJ Beowvlf
Was it edited at all?
18:42
Adam Ostrar
It's got some filters on it, but it definitely looks like an oil painting.
18:45
DJ Beowvlf
It does, yeah.
18:46
Adam Ostrar
It came out really sort of as if like a still life, like oil painting.
18:50
DJ Beowvlf
The dog's fur, like, blends into itself, probably just because the. The texture, which. At this point, I encourage the audience to go look up Adam Ostrar the worried coat so that you can really follow along with what we're talking about. Otherwise you're just going to think of a dog in Mexico City. And I don't know if that's quite accurate. What about the back photo?
19:10
Adam Ostrar
Was that taken inside of this? That's inside the studio.
19:13
DJ Beowvlf
Right. The Hacienda in Mexico City.
19:15
Adam Ostrar
Actually, this is in. I'm talking about the place that's in that. That's. It's in Oracle. The second studio we recorded at is in Oracle, Arizona, which is like an hour outside of Tucson. Maybe it's out in the Sonoran Desert. Yeah. The name of the studio is a droom studio with three O's, D, R O O O M. And it's run by a friend of mine named Wally. He's in a band, a great band called Slow Moses. So check out Slow Moses.
19:48
DJ Beowvlf
And how much of the equipment did you use in this photo? There's like a huge Marshall stacks. Yeah.
19:55
Adam Ostrar
Great thing is that.
19:56
DJ Beowvlf
And then there's like some bongos in the corner.
19:58
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. If you had the LP version, you could look at the insert and there's like. I don't think it's in the. I think the insert in there is. Doesn't have all the photographs that are in the lp, but. But there's all sorts of Marshall half stacks and big old classic rock gear. But we actually brought really tiny Amplifiers.
20:20
DJ Beowvlf
Nice, nice.
20:22
Adam Ostrar
But the weird little percussion stuff ended up on there. There's a lot of sort of esoteric little shakers and rattlers and bells and stuff.
20:35
DJ Beowvlf
And who are the other two gentlemen in these photos?
20:40
Adam Ostrar
Two of my good friends that I play with are Will Hendricks. He lives in Oakland, California, and he's been making. I've been making records with him for quite a while. He was in a band of mine called Manischewitz, and he's been on my previous two solo records also. And then Stephen Patterson is the guy. I think he's playing some bells in that piece picture. He plays percussion and drums with me. He's another guy from Austin. Yeah.
21:13
DJ Beowvlf
And how did you get connected to these two? Obviously the other one lives in Austin, but the one who's from Oakland, California.
21:20
Adam Ostrar
Okay, so this takes us way back to when I lived in Chicago. I had just moved there from Charlottesville, and I put out a Manischewitz record, which was one of my early bands on Jaguar Records. And we. When I moved to Chicago, I was. Had written a bunch of new songs and was looking for someone to record them with and kind of help put a band together to make the record. And Chris Swanson from Jaguar, he's one of the label owners, put me in touch with this guy, Michael Krasner, who owned the recording studio called Truck Stop Records. And so he organized the band that ended up being on that record. Will was part of the band. Will actually still lived in California at the time, but came in to work on that one. Very cool. I should mention that, Michael.
22:16
Adam Ostrar
I still work with Michael Krasner. He's. He engineered and records all my stuff. He lives in Phoenix now, but he was with us in Mexico City and was with us in Oracle, Arizona. And so he's still part of every record.
22:32
DJ Beowvlf
I think it's really cool that you're, for lack of a better phrase, such a seasoned musician. Being that you've toured in a bunch of different acts and have done several different recording cycles for various projects and with various people. What's one thing about the music industry that you think has changed since you were in, like, some of your earlier projects? What's one thing that you wish hadn't changed? Let's do that.
22:59
Adam Ostrar
You know, I'm not. I'm not. I don't want to. It's hard because I don't want to sound like a bitter old musician.
23:06
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah.
23:07
Adam Ostrar
So I want to try and embrace the things that are different and just learn how to adapt.
23:16
DJ Beowvlf
I mean, you seem to have rolled with it. With our previous discussion regarding streaming and things. So preferring the past doesn't mean that you hate the current place.
23:24
Adam Ostrar
That's true. And who knows? And who knows how long the current thing is going to be current for?
23:31
DJ Beowvlf
It's exciting and daunting at the same time. Things move so quickly.
23:35
Adam Ostrar
Yeah. It's weird to think that not too long ago, people were downloading music from itunes and that was the death of physical records. And now even itunes sort of discourages you from.
23:48
DJ Beowvlf
You don't want to pay 129 anymore.
23:50
Adam Ostrar
Right, right. You just need to. They just want you to stream off of.
23:54
DJ Beowvlf
You want it instantly.
23:56
Adam Ostrar
Right? Exactly. Yeah, yeah. So that time when you downloaded music already seems like part of history. Short period of history when it seemed like it was going to be the future.
24:05
DJ Beowvlf
Exactly.
24:05
Adam Ostrar
So I don't know, I guess what do I miss? You know, I guess I'd have to go back and just say that it's that I feel like musicians used to have more direct relationships with venues.
24:26
DJ Beowvlf
And.
24:28
Adam Ostrar
There seems to be more middle men involved these days, like promoters and stuff like that, you know, like if you contact venues directly, you know, often they'll just say, well, this promoter is handling the show, so we have to talk to the promoter or the promoter. Or you can get in touch with the promoter or something like that, you know, And I used to feel like when. When I would tour and we would book, it was just sort of one of these things where like, the venues had much more of. More control over the curating the shows themselves.
25:04
DJ Beowvlf
Now you see, like, pay to play shows, like.
25:06
Adam Ostrar
Oh, sure, yeah.
25:07
DJ Beowvlf
Oh, yeah. Like, it's. I don't know if that's been a thing for a while, but it's the scourge of the local scene down here, I'd say.
25:12
Adam Ostrar
Is it really?
25:13
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah, it is. I also personally have a small vendetta against a couple pay to play like, promotional companies that I will not name at this time. But yeah, I just don't see that as inclusive and enjoyable for the entire time.
25:28
Adam Ostrar
Right, right.
25:30
DJ Beowvlf
It's also kind of putting the musicians out on a whim of, like, having to like, go door to door begging their friends and being like, hey, I don't get to play this show unless you buy tickets beforehand.
25:42
Adam Ostrar
Really? That happens?
25:43
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah. That's what like, pay to play is. Like, the promotional company will like, put all of the money down to rent a larger venue and they're like, we're going to promote it anywhere you are. Like, people will be There. But then they're like, but because we're doing you so much of a favor putting this together, you need to secure $100 worth of tickets that we know, like, you have a fan base that you're bringing in. And so it's like you have to pay first or like, you don't play or they don't book with you in the past. And it's like if you don't reach that max, selling to other people, oftentimes the bands will have to cover it. And so it's like, all right, if you make 50 bucks off this gig, but you put down 100 in the first place, like.
26:20
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, that's like LA. In the. In the. In the 90s, like the metal. The hair metal scene. Yeah, you know, there was a lot of that going on.
26:28
DJ Beowvlf
It's crazy. Yeah.
26:30
Adam Ostrar
I mean, I can't tell you and my friend Carl, who's sitting in the room with us here in a test too, is how many empty room shows you would see, you know, that were life changing, you know, or just that, you know, showing up at a place and being. And being and seeing somebody for, you know, in a room full of 10 people, you know, that would have like, a very influential effect on you. And then, you know, maybe the next time they came through, you know, they're. They had. Were playing in front of a bunch more people, but you had that intimate experience with them or you saw that happen and, you know, so if. If, you know, venues aren't going to take risks on. On bands before they already have some sort of buzz about them, then seems.
27:19
DJ Beowvlf
That's gone, you know, it seems counterintuitive though, right? Like, how are bands supposed to garner that buzz?
27:24
Adam Ostrar
Right.
27:25
DJ Beowvlf
If they can't, like, break in somewhere.
27:27
Adam Ostrar
I don't know. And it creates a lot of artificial.
27:29
DJ Beowvlf
Absolutely. Sort of, you know, it discourages growth and community.
27:34
Adam Ostrar
Right.
27:35
DJ Beowvlf
Because bands can't grow if they're not.
27:36
Adam Ostrar
Integrity.
27:38
DJ Beowvlf
Exactly. Integrity too. That's a whole thing to unpack in its own.
27:43
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, it really is.
27:44
DJ Beowvlf
Well, what's one thing that you do like about these days?
27:48
Adam Ostrar
Yes.
27:49
DJ Beowvlf
Not trying to, like, put you in a box of curmudgeony.
27:58
Adam Ostrar
I think it's a democratic time for music, you know, at least being able to not. I think, you know, it used to be like, more stressful to record. The idea of coming up with money to go into a recording studio used to be what would be intimidating about making a record. You know, it used to seem like the big leap, you know, if you were a Band and you wanted to make an album was like, okay, how are we going to, you know, get into a studio and pay for a studio and everything? And you know, and now it's just so cheap to record. And you know, I'm not saying that.
28:48
DJ Beowvlf
Sounds good, but it takes like no money to put something up on Bandcamp and then.
28:51
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, and then you have. And you can distribute it. You know, you don't need to burn.
28:55
DJ Beowvlf
CDs and pass amount anymore.
28:56
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, yeah, so I know so. I like that. I like that. You know, I think that's really. That's really cool.
29:04
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah, it to a degree makes up for the venues and promoters and things that don't want to take a chance on smaller acts.
29:11
Adam Ostrar
Right.
29:11
DJ Beowvlf
Streams, as much as you mentioned earlier, are kind of like a digital currency.
29:16
Adam Ostrar
Yeah.
29:17
DJ Beowvlf
They can also be inclusive in the sense where anyone can go out and put their stuff on social media and be like, check it out and if it's good, it'll take off.
29:25
Adam Ostrar
Sure.
29:25
DJ Beowvlf
And sure. That's how it's supposed to work.
29:28
Adam Ostrar
That's true.
29:29
DJ Beowvlf
Yes. It doesn't always work like that. But yeah. Thank you so much for talking to me today. Your show at school Kids, obviously this won't. This interview won't go up until after the show's already happened. But just for interest sake, what time is it? Where is it? Who's playing? One more time.
29:46
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, so it's. It starts at 7 at School Kids Records here in Raleigh. And my Austin singer, songwriter buddy, Jordan Moser is also playing. I'm not sure. We haven't. This came together so quickly that we haven't figured out the order of who's playing first or who's playing last. But you'll.
30:07
DJ Beowvlf
A two band bill. Is there really a headliner?
30:10
Adam Ostrar
It's a good question.
30:11
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah.
30:11
Adam Ostrar
Yeah, right. Who's headlining? Especially when they're both from out of town.
30:14
DJ Beowvlf
Exactly.
30:18
Adam Ostrar
And there's always the chance that we'll both play simultaneously.
30:23
DJ Beowvlf
There you go. You can just switch off one song after another.
30:25
Adam Ostrar
No, no, I mean simultaneously. Sick. Yeah.
30:29
DJ Beowvlf
Little freestyle collab.
30:30
Adam Ostrar
That's something that I'm trying out these days. It's not easy. I mean, you really have to tune the other person out.
30:37
DJ Beowvlf
Yeah. Well, like I said, thank you for talking to me today. I hope you have a great show tonight.
30:42
Adam Ostrar
All right. Thanks a lot.
30:43
DJ Beowvlf
Absolutely.