"Out with the Beast!" (Putting the old Bio to pasture)

As we near the homestretch of production on my 13th album (tentatively titled Water This Dark), it is time to say goodbye to all the promo from my previous, dozenth album, The Beast Is Back. This includes the tidy EPK (electronic press kit) worked up for me by Public Display PR, and the Bio therein from which I must move on.

How so, move on?

First, a word about Public Display PR and their approach. In early 2020, looking for promo help, I reached out to them with a barrage of questions. Being a fairly shrewd guy, I wondered aloud what I would be getting for what amounts to a pretty penny. (My equally shrewd colleague Beth Wood warned me when recommending them, “They don’t come cheap. Price tag tells me that we are in the wrong business.” Indeed, I couldn’t help noticing that Sierra Haager, PDR’s mastermind, was also an accomplished musician with a body of work. Likewise, Lorne Behrman, their in-house Bio-writer. Both had apparently decided to make a lateral move to the “right business” in order to make good money to stay in the Music Biz at all.)

Sierra was unfazed by my skepticism, and gave good answers, which can be summed up under the umbrella of “different things happen to artists willing to spend thousands of dollars on their PR.” Fair enough.

Sierra also emphasized the importance of “having a story.” By that, she meant some interesting angle in the Bio, from which to relate the artist’s civilian life as uniquely, if not dramatically, connected to their Art. You can’t just list off a bunch of credentials anymore — album releases, positive reviews, charted tunes, and famous acts you’ve opened for like Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Derek Trucks, and filling in for Susan Tedesci. You gotta pull ‘em in with something juicy. “Transparency is the new mystique,” she said. But “Story” came kinda difficult for me, ‘cause I grew up as ordinary as they come, in the suburbs. And my grown-up life in music is mostly just rolling up my sleeves and getting good work done with my collaborators. (And frequently committing to a day job.)

Nevertheless, Sierra persisted, delved, and helped me narrow myself down to…sigh… Alcohol Addiction & Recovery…. Yeah… Great compelling story, Shipe. Thanks, Sierra.

But whe was right. So, Lorne drew up a Bio for me, placing my prolific body of work side-by-side with Recovery & Addiction as the unifying theme underpinning my then-current state of ShipeMusic. We could call it “Dealing with The Beast.” It was honest, real and true. In other words, it was not bullshit I was fudging & faking just for attention.

And that’s what I’m moving on from. Not just in the promo, but in the work itself, and my life. The lyrics to the title cut of my new upcoming album (Water This Dark) say it all. It features my recovery turning point and everything after:

“I can’t go in a river this muddy / I won’t drown in water this dark / If I go like this they don’t find my body / Won’t know my name; I don’t make no mark…. My time is coming / I’m gonna be somebody / My time is coming / I’m gonna make my mark.”

It’s tough to make sense out promo hype. For example, they want you to list your influences, but after 30 years in the Biz, you don’t have influences anymore, just the work itself. “Influences” are now “Colleagues.” So you rattle off a few that might be provocative. Neil Young for the fans of singersongwritery stuff. Jerry Joseph for those 2nd tier Hard-Americana cats, and King Crimson as a nod to something esoteric, so they won’t dismiss you as “plain.” And Wilco, ‘cause, of course Wilco. All honest influences in my early development; but to be sure, the list is meant to manipulate would-be listeners & taste makers. It is never a thing on my mind.

Also, I don’t know how it got past me, but they said I’m based in Portland, Oregon “rather than Eugene.” Well, why not? I travel enough that it doesn’t really matter, and Portland, since the turn of the century, is solidly on the map of American Cultural Geography.

I know I sound a bit jaded when it comes to PromoHype. But I do appreciate the work and intelligence of these good folks in the PR Biz. On the one hand, it seems that most of the money in the Indie Music Biz is exchanged at the point where Artist is customer, flowing in the direction of all sorts of services we simply cannot do without. But on the good hand, these folks work hard, and they truly root for their clients. Their reputations depend on getting results. (No matter how much money you’re willing to pay them, they will politely refuse you if they don’t believe in your album… or if you don’t “have a story.”)

It’s just that, when you are seasoned, steeped, and marinaded in the endeavor — in your 5th decade! …Well, another round of re-introducing oneself to the industry, shilling for yourself to all who have ears to hear is dauntingly tedious. For this reason, I can be a difficult client. I don’t wrap my brain well around Bios, photo shoots, blurbs, etc. I can rarely think of any better way to gild and giftwrap the music than just presenting the music itself. Talking about it comes later, after it’s been listened to.

That said, I am so frickin’ excited to do it all over again with my new regular PR pro, Ohio-based Adam Dawson of Broken Jukebox Media. (He did an extra promo lap for me for The Beast at the end of the pandemic, and donated his services to my Black Lives Matter single “A Song About This.”) Adam brings a camaraderie to the enterprise that makes it fun. (He’s worked with Portland Music Hall of Famer Dean Mueller.)

But I’ve got to get him a new Bio, with an updated story. He deserves it. And so do I.