Journal
Thu 01-21-10
6 Degrees of Separation Campaign!!!! READ THIS!Dear lovers,
With the advent of digital downloads, musician’s today often find themselves in a quandary of whether or not to sell their music or give it away. The answer is not so clear: On one hand you have the idea that giving your music away enables you to reach more ears and thus become better known, but on the other hand, giving music away that took lots of time and money to produce, devalues, to a certain extent, your work.
We’ve thought about this question a lot over the course of our new album’s production. While most artists, settle with one strategy or the other, we’ve finally decided on a middle ground between these two ideas and come up with our Six Degrees of Separation Campaign.
Here’s how it works:
We have made our new record, titled, “To Another Place” available for listening (streaming) in it’s entirety on our website, facebook, and myspace. Here’s how it works:
Listen to the record and pick your favorite song. (You can listen here: http://www.facebook.com/ippazzi?ref=ts and here: http://www.myspace.com/ippazzi)
Email us at info@ippazzi.com with the name of your favorite song.
We send you an MP3 version of that song back for FREE.
In exchange for the free song, we ask that you simply send it to 6 of your friends.
And that’s it!
Our entire record will still be available for purchase on our website and on itunes in the next few weeks. This is available to you BEFORE anyone else can purchase the album. In the process we will still be making our music accessible to a wider audience by giving you your favorite song. Additionally, you will become a part of our team in helping us reach a wider audience in the process of making our music known.
Thanks so much for your support and consideration. We hope you enjoy our new record and join us in sharing our music.
Sincerely,
ippazzi
Greg, Elliott, Kris, Jay, Danny
IPPAZZI
Mon 12-21-09
ABOUT THE CD RELEASE PARTYDear friends,
The time has finally come. After over a year of work writing, recording, producing, arranging, mixing, mastering, and replicating... we have finally finished our new record titled "To Another Place"
This record was recorded in a small homemade studio in Brooklyn NY...
The food was scarce,
the delis were terrible at best,
the engineer was convinced that he was a pirate and im pretty sure he hated my guts by the end...
but what an experience it was!
While previous ippazzi material predominantly speaks to and about unrequited, requited... and well sort of requited love, "To Another Place" is a good representation of where ippazzi is now as a band and where the artists are themselves in a post college life transition.
Motifs in the record are about trying to pursue dreams in an economy and social environment that is less than conducive to the creative arts. The insecurity and angst brought about by the introspective dilemma of self judgment in refusing the corporate 9 to 5 raise questions about the "real world" identity.
Of course there's the occasional love tune :)
This record is rough and gritty around the edges. Its raw earthy tones and underproduced sound are an accurate representation of the energy and diversity of the group's live performance.
As always, ippazzi's eclectic mixture of singer/songwriter and rap elements are present, but this time further amplified by the inclusion of a routed R&B and blues/rock foundation.
From high energy electrically driven songs to quiet acoustic live-tracks, "To Another Place" runs the gamut of ippazzi's current musical expression.
We are very excited to release this record. This show means a lot to all of us. It would be our distinct honor if you would share the occasion with us.
All who come to the show will receive a free copy of the record.
Thank you for your support!
ippazzi
Greg, Elliott, Jay, Kris, Danny
p.s. Our tribute show to Andrew Williamson-Noble was mentioned in the New York Times, Click below for the article:
New York Times
Thu 8-27-09
CHECK OUT THE NEW SINGLE!Dear friends,
Today we officially released the single off of our new record "To Another Place."
The song is called "You Say." The record release will take place on January 2nd at 9:00pm @ The Mercury Lounge in NYC!
We added it to our playlist... we hope you like the tune!
Best,
ippazzi
Greg, Elliott, Kris, Jay, Danny
Thu 8-27-09
This Was Fun!Funk Jam Live @ the Bitter End- NYC Featuring Josh Dion on drums.
Tue 8-25-09
Girls Team Paints New York City Red, Epp: 5Watch it all or skip to 3:54 into the video and you'll see Greg and I putting it down for Sennheiser Headphones. They asked us to be part of their web campaign right after our ippazzi concert. Check the flow.
-E
Tue 8-11-09
Monkey and Van Cleaveippazzi is gearing up for the new album to be released and we are doing lots of things to get it ready, including this group photo shoot in Jersey a few weeks ago. As professional procrastinators, we are very good at wasting time, as Kris explains. And Danny is Danny.
Tue 8-11-09
Behind The Scenes PhotoshootOur new album, To Another Place, is coming this fall! We are gearing up ad getting ready.
Thu 8-6-09
New Song!Wow looks like im on a video blogging kick...
Mon 7-26-09
Caught in a Hail Storm on the way back from rehearsal todayMon 6-29-09
MUSICIANS ON CALLHey everyone Greg here, sorry I haven't written anything in a while. The guys and I have been extremely busy with finishing this record. We decided on a title and a track order and and really excited to release this thing in a couple of months.
The past few days have been a bit tough on Elliott as MJ was a huge influence on him as a performer and singer. As such we've been listening to a lot of his music and burning CDs for the road. What a production master he was. Thriller, beat it, and billy jean are some of my personal favs. Anyway, maybe I can get Elliott to write a little something about Michael for the blog...
Now back to my initial note...
A few weeks ago, participated in my first every musician's on call gig. Its a volunteer service where musicians are called to play in hospitals and treatment centers all over NYC. I went to a center specializing in pediatrics (child care). Because of the swine flu, I was only allowed to go on one of the floors in this treatment center.
Most of the kids there were youngsters...between maybe 5-15 years old...some even younger. Some kids there were abandoned by their parents, others were simply ill and waiting to recover. It was pretty intense, and i'll be honest, I wasn't fully ready for what I walked into. Each room and each group of kids projected a different emotive state... which in turn motivated me to play different tunes. I played some of my original ippazzi work, and a bunch of covers as well. Most of the songs I played were of course upbeat, but I found that the melow calming tunes really seemed to sooth some of the kids even if they couldn't speak. A few of them even sang along and made up their own words. It was a really amazing experience, filled with both joy and sadness.
When I left the hospital a couple hours later, I walked out and suddenly manhattan looked a bit different. Not physically, but just the world in general. Its amazing how much we healthy people take for granted... just being able to walk home with my guitar on my back.
I felt good.
My next gig for Musicians on Call with be in a geriatric center. I think i'll try to learn some old sinatra tunes :)
-G
Tues 5-23-09
Bruce Springsteen coverI think this is one of those songs that every musician covers at some point in his or her life.
Mon 5-08-09
A SNEAK PEEK!!!!!!! !Fans, Friends, Lovers,
We decided to post, for the duration of one week, one of the new tunes on our new record.
I know this process has taken longer than we anticipated, but we want you to know that we are still here and that the record is, in fact, coming along nicely.
The song HIGHWAY, which I just uploaded on the player is fully mixed and mastered.
We hope you enjoy it. Please stay tuned as we will soon be releasing the whole album.
Thanks for tuning in.
Greg
Sun 04-05-09
Update of sortsHey all,
I want to thank everyone who voted for us
for the mayercraft competition. Even though we didn't win it this year, we did place in the top 100 of over 1000 bands.
This Friday we will finally finish the tracking phase of our album. We have already begun mixing some of the finished tunes with our friend and colleague Chris Frank of the band "New Neighbors".
We are all really excited to have this record produced and ready for you folks to hear. Please stay tuned for more updates as they unfold.
I hope this message finds you well.
Greg
Mon 3-23-09
New WorkSo i just realized that I haven't posted any blog notes in a while... mostly because we have been super busy in the studio this past month. We just tracked mixed, and mastered the tune "Highway." In the past 2 days Jay and I must have listened to the tune about 300 times, taking notes and making adjustments to the mix with our friend and mixing engineer Chris Frank (who some of you may know from the band New Neighbors). Its been an incredible experience and really only the start. We should have the single ready soon for release in mid April.
Its funny because immediately after finishing a tune I'm super proud of, the first thing I want to do is show it to everyone but then i stop myself and realize i need to hold out just a little while longer until the record is ready :) Its not easy though. I am so freekin excited to get these tunes out there!
G
Mon 2-16-09
New StuffSo this past weekend we spent about 11 hrs in the studio. It was good but also stressful.
So it starts with us getting to the studio:
JAY is pretty much the glue that holds us together... that is, he takes care of business and most often is responsible for getting us from point a to point b. This is accomplished in what i affectionately call, the band wagon. Its an awesome older blue van (we have yet to name it... but im thinking a good name for the van would be Melvin. Thoughts?). You have to see it to appreciate this thing...its really cool and has tons of character. Anyway the van's muffler decided not to stay on all the way...so we drove through probably the worst roads in Brooklyn and each time we saw a bump coming we held on and looked out the back window to see if the muffler flew off.
Of course most of us found this highly entertaining... but i think Jay wanted to kill us by the time we got to the studio.
IN THE STUDIO time is comprised of intense performance followed by hours of listening, and retrying, and critiquing, and then occasionally fighting for the most comfortable chair.
Songs we have almost completely tracked so far are Judging Me, Silly girl, you say, and Fallin... so we still have quite a bit more to do :(
I think its safe to say the release date may be extended until Summer '09. The tracks we have so far though are definitely coming along and we are all super excited to finish this record.
Oh one last thing before i close this note: We will be playing a very cool venue in NJ called the Stone Pony. This is where Springsteen and Bon Jovi, launched their careers beleive it or not..so we hear good things about the stage. If your in the south Jersey area...come hear us do what we do:)
G
Fri 2-6-09
Lady Gaga? Fun factoid.So back in the day... by that i mean of course somewhere around 4 years ago. Lady Gaga and I played a talent show together. At that time though, her name wasn't lady gaga but rather Stefanie. Well... stefanie was a talented girl. She played piano well, sang well, and even wrote some decent respectable tunes. She didnt win the talent show... neither did i:) Some friends of mine got frustrated when she changed her name, adorned the bleach blondness and took her clothes off to play shows. ... but then again shes doing well for herself...so more power to her!?
Ah the industry...
Mon 1-19-09
from last nite...Snow is cool.
After returning from Diamond Gym, having had the opportunity to practice e-brake induced 4 wheel drifts around many a snow-lined turn,I arrived home to an expecting shovel.
Living in the city for the past 6 or so years, its been quite sometime since the shovel and I have last partnered under a moody,red-orange snow-filled suburban sky.
An interesting thing happens when it snows at night in the suburbs outside of NYC... The snow reflects and scatters much of the city light and, regardless of the hour, a dim red-orange glow occurs in the sky. Amplified by the street-lamps in front of the house, the color is warm amidst the freezing temperature. The air is quite. When cars drive by, its not the usual sound of rubber on pavement but rather it sounds as I would imagine the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man would rolling down a hill.
Nights like this 6+years ago were nights I knew school would be out the next day.
Tonight felt much like those older nights not because of the snow, but because within a few minutes the sound of other shovels accompanied mine. My neighbors Bill and Joe, in the houses next door, began their circuit as well. As in the "olden days" we joined forces to clear the sidewalks with our trusty shovels and in no time the "old man chat"ensued.
As a younger guy, I always feel special when i get to participate in older man convos. I can usually count on a few things: Words are scarce. The economy is mentioned. The snow is discussed along with a detailed report of tomorrow's forecast. There is a lot of head nodding especially on my part. Ecstatic the whole time, in these moments i feel like one of the "old guys."
What amazes me most is that with all the time passed, these guys are still the same... thats something i'v come to appreciate in a personality. I think its not easy to stay the same person--be true to yourself--when time and the world changes around so much. This way of being is the inspiration behind a new tune I'm still in the process of writing. Its titled "still the same"... and for some reason its one of the hardest songs I've ever tried to write lyrically.
Sun 1-12-09
New York, NYNew Tunes up from Live gig at Rockwood Music Hall- NYC
Hey everyone!
So last Saturday, as some of you may recall, we had a fun show at the famous Rockwood Music Hall in NYC. The sound was fantastic as usual. We recorded some tracks and decided to post them up on the music player. These are some of the new tunes that we are excited to soon release on the new record! Hope you enjoy them.
-Greg
Wed 12-26-08
New York, NYA Christmas Song...
Christmas eve dinner has been different ever since my cousin and grandfather passed away. My cousin Doug was someone i looked up to. I never had older brothers so naturally my older male cousins were my example of who to be and "what cool was".
Christmas as a kid.. that was really cool. It felt magical...i think i may have been the oldest kid to believe in santa. I clung to that fantasy for as long as humanly possible.
Anyway Christmas today is very different. Now theres kind of a somber overtone. I still love it dont get my wrong. But now when I notice myself getting caught up in what i wish i could afford to get for myself or other people i realize how trite all that stuff is. Last night i came home from dinner and started playing some guitar...
tried some new chords
Jazzy
Mellow
Different.
At 4:30am i was done. And this is what it sounded like.
Lyrics:
Lyrics so far:
looking around me thinking about the things that i have
and take for granted
what if it all falls where do we all go from here
tomorrow
Christmases have passed attendance changed
family lost in my rainy eyes
The feeling dulls its out of range
memories fade of games we played inside
So why then is it so hard to be grateful all the time.
Oh
"
Take a peek around at what I have
silly brain it wants what's out of reach
why is that
Christmases have passed attendance changed
family lost in my rainy eyes
The feeling dulls its out of range
memories fade of games we played inside
So why then is it so hard to be grateful all the time.
When all of these wonderful things make it in my life.
Wed 12-16-08
New York, NYCause I felt like being Healthy:
(Note: For this blog post I will make use of the yellow face symbols to show my my mood at each given moment in the story
)Today instead of my usual toasted plain bagel with 2 slices of provolone cheese and tomato...i decided that i should be healthy (and cheap) so I opted for a small can of yogurt.
When I arrived at the grocery store.... i thought it would be a quick easy in-out...quite the contrary
. As I stared at the WALL of yogurt options, each one claimed to be the best, writing things like " Fat free" or "reduced fat"
. I kinda wanted a yogurt with ALL the fat, so i looked harder
. Nothing
. Every yogurt was fat free
! Does anyone know what normal yogurt (con fat) even tastes like?
All of a sudden I remembered the yogurt with the separate container for the granola...
but sadly it wasn't there.
I ended up finding a Dannon vanilla flavored one and bought it only because it was the only one i could find that didn't say "fat free"
Anyway...i just finished it and am still hungry.
Wed 12-05-08
New York, NYippazzi remixed by The Hood Internet
Hey folks, recently The Hood Internet (a group of talented underground DJs) got a hold of one of our tunes (All I need) and made a remix of it. Check it out on our fan page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php/pages/ippazzi/22327246040). Fun stuff!
-Greg
p.s. Vote for us on Playmayercraft.com! Thanks! Hope all is well.
Wed 11-19-08
New York, NYElephants...officially ippazzi’s new favorite animal
Wed 11-19-08
New York, NYA reggae tune?
It's been a little while since I've written... lots to say indeed. Remember that band IY that i mentioned during the CMJ festival? I had the opportunity to jam with their front man Chris Frank. It was a LOT of fun. Chris is an awesome writer and has an amazing ear. One thing Chris does that i find particularly cool is that he doesn't use an amp...rather he has a series of sound effects custom designed in a computer program that he someone runs his guitar signal through and then back out to speakers. Very cool stuff. Anyway, I'm excited to say that January 24th we will be playing a show with Chris and IY at the bitter end. Should be some good fun.
In other news... last night i had a few lines come into my head at about 2am. As many songwriters can attest to, some songs are created via long bouts of trial and error, lots of piecing together etc… other songs come so quickly it almost feels like they already existed in the universe and all we do is pull them out. Last night felt like the later… I turned my computer on…wrote some lines down and made this. Its my first reggae style song.
Sun 10-26-08
New York, NYCMJ and awesome music
So this week I spent a lot of time checking out CMJ and seeing a few bands in particular. It really is astounding how much good music there is out there and how many absolutely tight professional musicians are out there... folks that know there stuff so well they dont even write set lists...just show up and play without hesitation. Its truely inspiring.
A few groups that I saw:
The Low Anthem; this is a very creative folk group based out of Providence RI. I go back a ways with the bassist of this group as some of you may know. Check out their new record "Oh my God Charlie Darwin" -great stuff!
IY; these cats are tremendous! Really great sound, catchy tunes with a rhythm section that will knock your socks off. Lead guitarist and signer Chris Frank, using an Apple computer as his amplifier.... got to see it. Very cool and great sound!
Ian Axel: Awesome songwriting. Lyrical genius. He has a really uplifting sound that no matter what seems to leave you feeling somehow better than you did before listening. Nice guy too! Great sound.
Honey LaRochell (sorry if im misspelling the last name): She is an incredible R&B funk and soul singer who tonight even threw in some reggae. Her vocal talent and flexibility is astounding to say the very least... her drummer was equally impressive. Made for a really nice show.
Dan Torres: Just got back from this show. This group was astounding. Dan has one of those voices that makes you wonder "how the hell he can do that"? And the band...incredible. This is another project that our new drummer Ryan Vaughn is a part of and his work in this group is very creative to say the least. This tunes are both haunting and powerful. Check em out.
There was another group which was very cool...lead by some cat named Jeff ... I can't remember his last name off the top of my head but he was also incredible and when i find out his info ill post it.
Anyway hope you all enjoy these artists as much as I did!
G
Sun 10-19-08
New York, NYJust cause
So I haven't written in a while... please allow me this moment to be ...introspective? sappy? pensive perhaps... whatever.
Today I was feeling a bit down. The future, as you may empathize, can sometimes feel very vague and uncertain. And so I was worrying about this uncertainty when I stepped into the shower; the hot water seemed to drain my tension. I thought about making some chamomile tea. Its funny how simply things like a hot shower on a cold day or a warm cup of tea can be so relaxing. I realized in that moment how lucky I am to simply have hot running water...and a tea pot. These simple things that make life nicer often go unnoticed because they become commonplace. You know its really astonishing how many people in the world dont have these "simple things"... realizing this, my worries about "my uncertain future" seemed much less emphatic. Whatever course my future takes, I can at least rest reasonably assured that I'll be able to drink some tea and take a hot shower.
Mon 10-3-08
New York, NYBeginnings of a new song.
So today I started playing an old riff I wrote a while back and tried freestyle over it. Turned on my comp and recorded it with photobooth. Hope you dig.
Mon 9-29-08
New York, NYCan't stop watching this!
The video quality is not so great but listen to this guy Robben Ford. Hes a genius. Great tone and feel.
Wed 9-24-08
New York, NYWhat's next...
So the battle of the bandss show was fun. Unfortunately we did not take home the prize but we did meest some really great people in the process.
We are excited for the next show because the setup of the group will be different. Without John or Akil,it will just be Elliott and I as the lead vocals. We've been rehearsing a bunch and we also plan on debuting a new tune...which we actuallystill have yet to name...It's got a jazzy mellow feel and is pretty different from our usual sound. Kris has offically declared it one of his favorite tunes... So hopefully it will go over well at the Bitter End. If the recording of the show is good enough, maybe i'll post it on the myspace.
In other news...heres something that somehow never gets old to me:
Tue 9-16-08
New York, NYBattle of the Bands??
So It's 1;30am...I could be sleeping but instead I'm thinking about this "battle of the bands" comp we entered.
So to be honest, I've never been in a battle of the bands competition. ..actually thats not fully true. There was this ont time I entered a contest called UVL with my friend frank, in which we played Justin Timberlake's Cry Me A River on acoustic guitars in front of 1000 people wearing avaitor sunglasses and facial hair resembling wolverine...but thats neither here nor there.
I'm a little apprehensive about these things...why?
So we have 10 minutes to play...and in the 10 minutes we have to convince the judges as best we can that we deserve to go to CMJ the most. I think it must be hard to be a judge in one of these things...because really (musicianship aside) how does one quantify creativity? Assuming these are all original compositions... sometimes taste is just that...taste. I think that's why i've never enterer something of the sorts before (again barring j-Tims)... I think its because im iffy about the process. Nonetheless,when I step back and realize that nothing in life shoulb be taken to seriously...I realize that this is an opportunity to play songs, meet new talent and have fun in the process.
Fri 9-12-08
New York, NYWhat Hair stylists don't want you to know...
Cutting your own hair is totally possible! All you need are two mirrors and some patience.
Fri 9-05-08
New York, NyHome turf
So on September 1st we played a show at NYU's welcome week and met a ton of cool folks. It was a lot of fun...especially as many of the band members are NYU grads...myself included. Special props to lucas our sound tech for turning the viroverb up from 4 to 7.5 mid set (its definitely never been that high).
I think we were all a bit shocked when John and Elliott ran out during the last tune and started dancing with a couple of girls. Little did everyone know...I had Lucas's trusty wireless system on but I didn't quite feel like i should brave a walking solo... maybe I should have walked around Gould Plaza while soloing!? On secound though, can you imageine how funny/terrible it would have been if I tripped and fell!
Anyway it was a fun day. Lots of great preformers. Now back to our home base at The Bitter End. I think our next show will be the 25th at 10:30pm...but I haven't locked it up yet so stayed tuned.
Wed 8-06-08
New York, NYThe ironic circumstance of being a professional musician
Perhaps this has just been my experience... but I realized something today while working for countless hours on a press kit...
Its odd, but i notice that the more professional I try to be as a musician, the more potential there is for loosing that bit of humanity that music represents to me in the first place.
What do I mean exactly? As I draft a letter to a new club I'm trying to book, I'm forced to research every past show i've had in the area and the number of people that attend each show. You see, to book a "good club," shows almost cease to be a "show," but rather turn into a competition of who can get more people out to a venue.
I've tried very hard to never seem like on of "those musicians" whose just friendly because they want to increase the number of people that come to a show. Trust me, I know how it feels to be on the recieving end...and I'm sure some fo you do too. It sucks. It makes you wonder whether the persons is authentically friendly or just trying to cover their ass. You see I don't blame those folks though... Here's what you non musician folks may not know about clubs; In order to book a good one, you need to pull at least 35 people out. But more than numbers....If any musicians in your band are hired cats they need to be paid. Industry standard for a pro ranges between 80-150 a gig. Ok here's where it gets interesting: Most venues in NYC give you 70% of the Cover charge after the first 10 people. So lets say a band draws 35 people at a 7 dolar cover. 35-10= 25x7= 175... Yikes Right!
So maybe this is no big suprise; the life of a professional musician trying to "make it: with his or her onw original material not the most fiscally stable!
But there are more ways in which I noticed this irony unfolding... the more I try to market myself as a musician and make the group and myself look attractive in an effort to gain fans, the more im at risk of seeming fake and/or being social for the sole purpose of gaining fans. The things that I've been writing on my status updates on facebook for instance...cheak out this new song... yada yada. It is genuinely because im excited about what im doing...what the group is doing. But is that all I have to offer? I wonder if it just seems to other people like I only want their attention so long as it has to do with looking at my music. And there we have the unique irony of a musician... In an effort to establish him or herself one may come to alienate themself from their friends by potentially seeming fake or one dimensional.
Its hard to maintain a balance between (not a tag for my album...you see what i mean!!!) being just a regular person, the same old friend you used to be and a person working hard to market himself...a person working to book a better venue...a tour date opening for a big act...working to become that act so that one day...he doesn't have to do all the bullshit... all he has to do is play. And thats really what it was all about to start with. In high school getting together with friends to play MUSIC! No way....that was the coolest thing ever! When it becomes a professional assignment...things change. I think thats why a lot of musicians just want to be famous. So they can just go back to playing music....and thats it.... or so thats the dream.
Ironic?
Music is supposed to a medium to connect me to people... ironically many of the things that go into getting on stage, can potentially push me away.
Wed 8-06-08
New York, NY"Judging me" and Other News
If you get a chance, check out our new track "Judging Me". It's a rough recording at a recent rehearsal. Feel free to write us and tell us what you think. We're very interested in our audience's input.
In other news. Ippazzi lead vocalist and guitarist, Greg Petronzi has been added to Two-Rock's Artists page. Check it out at:
http://www.two-rock.com/artists/petronzi.html
Sun 7-20-08
New York, NYYou Say
This recording was the first time Elliott and I got together to try something out....i had this idea rolling in my head for a few months. Working with Elliott was a lot of fun. Because he is such a talented lyricist and singer, i was really pushed to sound as good as possible. Its a lot of fun to work with artists who push you to perform better. Its the best way to get the most out yourself. I'd love your feedback as this is still just a work in progress!