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The Flatliners: An Interview About Fake Leaks, National Pride, And Fitting In With Everyone
On June 22nd Man Overboard’s debut album Real Talk leaked. Leaks are part of being in a band in the new millennium, but when an album finds its way online a month before its release bands are faced with hoping fans will still want buy it after “owning” it for a month already. Man Overboard didn’t freak out, they got proactive. Within 30 minutes of the leak spreading wide Real Talk was available to purchase as a digital download, complete with a bonus track for supporting the band.
As the tug of war between musicians and listeners over downloading rages on more bands are going to have to starting thinking creatively instead of reactively when their albums leak. This connection can be from giving away free tracks on Bandcamp, putting out special limited releases, or simply letting fans know they can buy your record now instead of just downloading it.
Man Overboard’s drummer Justin Collier was kind enough to answer some questions for us regarding the leak, touring, pop, autotune, and their new label Lost Tape Collective.
Interview by John-Michael Bond
JM: For readers who don’t know what happened how did the record leak and what protections had you taken to ensure it wouldn’t?
Justin: After we finished Real Talk we gave it to about 10 people. Those people being people we work closely with (our booking agent, etc) and select reviewers. Somebody who had the record let it slip somehow and certain tracks started popping up on some blogs. We had watermarked the copies and our manager Jesse, Jeff from Run for Cover and I did some investigating as to who it was and it became obvious. We confronted the person; they admitted it and we learned a lesson. In the end we were really glad our fans got to hear it sooner and the reaction to it could not have been better.
JM: Did you have a plan in place for if the record leaked so far in advance even though you only gave the record to a handful of reviewers?
Justin: Unless you keep your master locked up then you are running the chance of it leaking, even if you only send it to a handful of people. We were well aware of that, as well as the fact that if your record starts to leak that you can’t fight it. The internet always wins. So we had this plan together before we sent it out to anyone. We also keep a seriously close eye on the internet so we could see it coming.
In addition our manager Jesse Cannon runs a site called Musformation.com where he writes about how to be a DIY Band in the music industry. He has written quite a few essays on how poorly most labels handle leaks and how much they alienate true fans of your band when some asshole can steal it now, but the fan who wants to buy it to support the band has to wait, even if they want bad.
Because of that it had been discussed a lot and it was a very easy decision to make for us. Our label is always into smart moves so we made it happen and got the record up within 30 minutes of it leaking on to one of the biggest “leak sites”.
JM: What has the fan response been to releasing the album early because of the leak? If you’re comfortable saying, how many people have picked up the record in some format (digital/vinyl/CD) since the leak caused an early release?
Justin: Run For Cover was super proactive and sent anyone who pre-ordered the album a digital copy when we put the album up for sale. That was awesome. We got a ton of great feedback from people who were seriously siked that we released it early. I’m not sure of all the numbers from Bandcamp and iTunes because iTunes does monthly reports but I know a healthy number of people have got the album. I also know the physical pre-orders have been off the chain! Thanks to all who have ordered.
JM: What were your original plans for “Again”, the bonus track you added to the early release?
Justin: We went into record Real Talk with about 19 songs in mind to record. We ended up tracking 18 of them. 12 made the album and 5 were left for bonus tracks and miscellaneous purposes (for now). “Again” was one of those songs.
Let’s face it – you do NOT have to buy music anymore if you don’t want to. We wanted to give people an incentive to pick up the digital or physical (which ever you prefer) copy so we added different bonus tracks for each format. We wanted to make it so if you were considering buying it then there would be a reason.
It also makes sense to support Bandcamp and make a few tracks exclusive there rather than giving money to iTunes. Bandcamp helps band deal directly with their fans where as iTunes takes a bigger cut and doesn’t allow you that easily communication. We really value the bond we have with our fans and talk to them on our messageboard, Twitter and Tumblr. Bandcamp allows this in a much bigger way than iTunes or Amazon so we encourage our fans to buy from Bandcamp instead.
JM: It’s been interesting to see the revival of 90s and early turn of the century pop punk in the last few years. Each band seems to bring to mind a group from that era, for example Title Fight gets a lot of comparisons to Texas is the Reason and Lifetime. The Wonder Years have a Lagwagon and New Found Glory vibe.
Man Overboard reminds me of groups like The Starting Line and Midtown who made their names with DIY tours and punk ethics, but had noticeably poppier songs than their peers. Have you noticed any kind of backlash from kids at shows, for instance when you play hardcore festivals, or people online who assume that since your music is poppy it can’t have any depth?
Justin: No matter what you do people are going to find negative things to say and to be honest I don’t care. I am a punk and I have morals. I don’t do anything if I don’t think I could explain it to my 16 year old self wearing a spiked belt and an Unseen t-shirt.
JM: Part of booking DIY tours is playing house shows, book stores, art spaces, and other unconventional venues. Do you have to work harder to win over the kinds of crowds who are attracted to shows at these kinds of venues?
Justin: The Explosion once said “if you don’t know then you weren’t meant to.” You listen to our band and like it, don’t like it at all, or like it and don’t want to admit it because you’re a pussy. I’m not in the business of trying to convert some snotty kid into liking my band so I don’t really worry about it. With that being said house shows are my favorite and we played a killer show in a book store on 13th street in Philly a few months back.
JM: What is your song writing process like? In particular your songs are distinctive in their use of bridges instead of just following verse/chorus/verse/chorus/fadeout structures. Are those elements you build through jamming songs out, or are those ideas already there when someone brings a song to the group?
Justin: Nik writes songs a lot but his songs are usually already completely formed when he brings them to us. Zac typically writes a skeleton demo – vocals/acoustic guitar and we all play it and figure out what direction to take it and build the dynamics from there. Doing the same shit over and over is lame so we try and switch it up the best of our ability.
JM: Have any Most Precious Blood fans given you guys shit for your rip off t-shirt?
Justin: Haha nah. We are Most Precious Blood fans. And I mean those Defend Brooklyn shirts have been around longer than Most Precious Blood. There have been DEFEND JERSEY and DEFEND BROOKLYN shirts too.
JM: How did each member’s personal listening habits change between the songs that make up Before We Met and Real Talk? Do you think that affected the writing and recording process of Real Talk?
Justin: Everyone’s always listening to different stuff – punk rock, hardcore, pop, pop punk, Americana, whatever. I don’t think it’s like one person listens to a lot of one type of music that changes us. I think its everyone’s eclectic musical interests that help shape our sound. To be honest some of the songs on Real Talk were written around the same time as Before We Met. We have had such a huge backlog of songs for so long that there we have only just caught up.
JM: What lead to the inclusion of the obvious Autotune on “Fantasy Girl” and a few other places on Real Talk?
Justin: Man Overboard, along with almost every other band out there, uses Autotune or some other type of pitch-correction. When you’re tracking vocals for hours upon hours in a studio there’s going to be things that need tweaking. Unless you have some huge budget and can take forever to do your vocals then it’s just something that’s a part of recording. It can also be used to taste to enhance a song. I think a lot of people over use it, to be honest. It sounds good on some people but on our music if we started signing like robots all the time like Kanye it would take away from the emotion.
JM: You recently started Lost Tape Collective. Beyond having a platform to self-release your own material and your friend’s material why did you start the label? What plans do you have for the label to set it apart from other vanity projects?
Justin: There are a lot of bands out there that I enjoy and would love to help out so we started the label to help them out and release some Man Overboard stuff. Our first release is Real Talk on cassette tape. We will also be releasing some of our friends bands and some great European bands like Basement, AYS and Smile & Burn. Oh, and me and Zac’s old hardcore band, History. Going to be much more to come so keep your eyes peeled.
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great interview. honest answers. I like that
Comment by steinmoney — 09/07/2010 #
Nice job, loved the quote about being 16 w/ the Unseen shirt. RFC is assembling an impressive stable of non-vapid bands!
Comment by Jordan — 09/07/2010 #