We were lucky to catch up with John McCabe recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi John , thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Over the last ten years or so, I have written, recorded, produced and released original music; either 3-6 song EP’s or Singles. One of the most challenging elements, following the physical release across all of the various digital platforms is achieving some level of exposure – and enticing magazines, blogs, music / art review sites and radio stations to listen, comment and promote the music. The process can be very discouraging and difficult to break through – or ‘move the needle’.
If an outlet latches on to one of the songs – or EPs, says positive things and provides some level of ‘press’, I tend to go back to the same contacts time after time, One of my ‘go-to’ contacts was Subjangle Sounds. Over the years they have included short reviews and play list exposure for a number of my releases. Their editors and reviewers were always very generous.
In November 2022, I released a 6-song EP called ‘Trading Cards’. It was a follow up to previous 3 Song project that I had released in July; by the time I finished ‘Trading Cards’, I had run out of energy to do any promotion. It was going to just sit, languish and die on Apple Music & Spotify. The timing also felt too close to the summer release – and I didn’t want to wear out my welcome with the reviewers.
At the time, my band had also just started a recording project at a studio in Anaheim, so the ‘Trading Cards’ EP fell by the wayside and I focused on the band efforts. In December, I was contacted by Subjangle Records, the label division of the Subjangle Sounds blog. After years of intermittent reviews of my releases, they asked me if I would be interested teaming up to release a retrospective ‘Compilation’ 2-CD project under their label.
It was a great opportunity to re-release my previous 4 EPs – a handful of Singles and include the forgotten ‘Trading Cards’ as part of of package. It was a great honor to be considered and I was delighted with the chance to have a label behind the effort.
We did a limited-edition production run of the 2-CD package and were able to sell out the initial run. While CDs have sold out, the Compilation is available on BandCamp (https://johnmccabe.bandcamp.
John , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I always ‘blame’ an old work colleague for ‘selling’ me on the idea of buying an iMac. That was my downfall. From the first session of poking around on the music production software, Apple Logic, I was hooked.
At the time (2005-2006), I was working with a close friend and producer on a recording project at a studio in North Hollywood. While we were making reasonable progress on the album, the timing, scheduling, and travel time from Orange County up to the studio were starting to wear me out. And the cost was becoming prohibitive (I was covering the cost of studio time). Also, none of the songs that were slated for the record were mine. I was happy to play, but I started to develop a short stack of tunes that I wanted to work on as a potential EP.
So, over the next few years, I cobbled together a recording ‘studio’ in one of the spare bedrooms of the house and through literally thousands of hours of YouTube videos, I taught myself how to record properly. Or what I thought was ‘properly’. The early recordings at the time sounded passable. I had no real idea how to use EQ and Compression tools (and may still not fully understand it), but the engineering has improved to the point where, when I hear something that I have produced on Apple Music, BandCamp or Spotify, my toes don’t curl too badly. I still remember the first tune that I put up on SoundCloud; I posted it and was waiting for an onslaught of ‘likes’ and comments. . . and I think I garnered 2 or three. I managed to put together a 5 or 6 song EP called ‘This, That and the Other’.
I continued to write and produce music. For my first full EP, that was recorded outside the bedroom, in a small studio with a producer, I started to integrate making paintings and artwork to go along with the releases. Since my 2017 EP, ‘Flower Circle’ I have make the accompanying artwork for the music. I normally will do 1 12’x12’ panel for each song, so that when the music is pushed out to the digital platforms, each tune will have a unique piece associated with it. For the early EPs and singles, I would also publish a digital booklet, including liner notes, lyrics and production credits.
So, the artwork is now always integrated with the music. While the music is available on all digital platforms, the artwork is also available on UGallery (https://www.ugallery.com/
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
The short answer is, I don’t get it. There is a marketing / business consultant (guru) on linkedIn who, for a period of about a year, would post incessently about ‘getting in on the NFT market. I was going to be the greatest thing since the advent of the wheel – and if you missed it, too bad. On and on. I believe he even created a subsidiary of his Marketing firm devoted to just NFTs – and he would draw these simple, single line cartoon characters and post them for purchase.
So one afternoon, I must have spent three or four hours trying to get my head around how to approach it and figure out whether or not my artwork would be applicable. I think I even signed up for one of the platforms. At the end of it – it still didn’t make sense and I decided it wasn’t for me. I was going to – or have missed the great NFT market for my art. People will just have to buy the acrylic / canvas paintings, if they are interested.
Come to find out, “Mr. NFT” on LinkedIn never so much as mentions them – or the company that he founded in the heat of the hoopla. Is it still a thing?
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Seeing the end result. Either a song or an EP – or a painting or a drawing. Starting with a blank sheet of paper or a blank canvas, with a very rough idea of the direction. Not knowing what tracks or instruments will be added through the production process – or what colors and shapes will suit the final piece.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.johnmccabemusic.com
- Instagram: @mccabejh65
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.mccabe.7921/
- Twitter: @mccabejh65
- Other: UGallery: https://admin.ugallery.com/Artist/Profile Band: www.goodatrockets.com