Trego & McMenamy - free album preview

[ChadT]

Greetings fellow keyboardists! I’ve just released my second album “Garden Fortress” with longtime guitar buddy Jamie McMenamy (Trego & McMenamy) and would be very interested in hearing feedback on our efforts from other keyboard players.

Although we believe that we have a rather unique sound, we’ve billed ourselves as being Psychedelic Rock, but you be the judge. I’d be interested to learn of any artists that you feel may be similar, though any comments are welcome, good, bad or otherwise.

We’ve made our full album available for free streaming on SoundCloud for a limited time just for you keyboardists! Feel free to comment on each track’s timeline if you’d like! If you dig the tunes, be sure to spread the word & please do not hesitate to purchase them or ding my FB page. Obviously, as independent artists, we would really appreciate your support!

Because several of the tracks are over 10 minutes in length, most retailers default those mp3 tracks to an “album only” purchase, though we would prefer they did not. But, you can buy both the full mp3s and the CD through CDBaby with no problem.

I sincerely thank you for your time & look forward to your posts! Enjoy the tunes!!

Warmest Regards,
Chad Trego
www.chadtrego.com

 

[happyrat1]

I'm currently giving the entire album a listen and I like what I hear. One technical question about the tracks. Is that an acoustical flute on some of the tracks or is it a keyboard? If it's keys I gotta know what kind of rig produces such realistic breath sounds and trills.

Anyway, consider me a definite potential buyer but I have a couple of questions about the packaging if you don't mind my "kicking the tires" before I buy.

First off, I NEVER buy digital download media so CD is the only way I'll go. Since I've never bought from CDBaby before I have a couple of questions.

1) Are the CD's burned CDs or factory pressings? (not a deal breaker either way)

2) Are they Jewel Box with Booklet or Cardboard Sleeve? Any cover art or liner notes? (Important stuff for serious music collectors)

3) Is there any DRM on the disc? Definite dealbreaker for me since I refuse to support any artists who use DRM ever since the Sony Rootkit Fiasco?

Anyway, it 's a lovely set and well worth the price barring the conditions I mentioned above.

Looking forward to seeing you guys headlining some day

Gary

 

[RonE]

Absolutely LOVE it lad. I wouldn't call it 'rock' of any kind. More like progressive fusion jazz (IMHO, of course). 'Bird Fossill' is my favorite track; but they're all good.

Now you've inspired me to put together another 'Suite'.

 

[ChadT]

Many thanks to both Gary & Ron for your kind words & support! We’re very glad and excited to hear that you both enjoyed it so much. To answer your questions Gary;

1. They are CDR-Pro, meaning they were professionally “duplicated” by CDBaby. You should expect that they WILL play on most any system.
2. They are professionally poly wrapped in a jewel case with groovy artwork on the cover, inside, CD and tray. Track titles/times, recording details, etc are listed as well.
3. No DRM, but please, no bootlegs until we sell at least a million or two copies...

As for the flute, I used a Yamaha Motif XS6. The flute parts were manually played in real time, so yes, that instrument is very responsive and a lot of fun.

As for the genre Ron, latching onto one in particular has always been a daunting task for me as there are so many to choose from and I believe that I may pull from many of them. I definitely dig your interpretation! Maybe call it PFJ? Happy Suite creating!

Thank you both again so much for the positive feedback and possible purchase(s)! It really means a lot to us!

All of you other keyboardists, please have a listen too! It’s free and it’s fun! Enjoy.

Warmest Regards,
Chad Trego
www.chadtrego.com

 

[happyrat1]

Hi Chad.

It is with heavy heart that I sit here and inform you that I did not go ahead with the purchase. Everything was copascetic up to and including, adding the CD to my cart, opening and creating the account, entering my shipping address, BUT, then they hit me with a ridiculous shipping charge to Canada of $7.57.

I love the album, but I manage to order major label CDs from the US thru Amazon.ca all the time with the reasonable shipping charge of $3.49 which includes taxes and postage.

It's a great set of songs, but I balk at paying nearly double the price simply because some ignorant vendors cannot distinguish between the actual costs of shipping to Canada as opposed to Abu Dhabi.

I guess I'll have to wait until the major labels pick you guys up and you're carried on the Amazon catalogue.

Until then, I still love the music, but I guess I'll have to commit the songs to memory once they disappear from Soundcloud.

No hard feelings

Gary

 

[RonE]

On the other hand, a download of all six individual MP3's was only $5.94.

 

[happyrat1]

Sorry mon. I'm a purist. I refuse to spend good money for a collection of bytes on my machine without anything physical to show for it.

Then again, I'm still on the fence about breaking down and buying the album with all the bells and whistles and the jewel case and the cover art criminal postage and all.

They also offer a discount option of only the disc without any jewel case or cover art, but again that offends the collector in me.

In the end I'll probably go ahead and make the purchase, but not tonight. It's late and Morpheus beckons me with his promises of other universes in my dreams

Gary

 

[RonE]

I do understand Gary, I have a collection of roughly 1000 CD's and nearly as many vinyl disks. They never come out, since everything has been 'translated' into bytes and resides on my 3TB NAS drive accessible anywhere and whenever I want to listen.

And Chad, it's really some good work. Thanks!

 

[ChadT]

Thanks again for your kind words Ron and for your purchase! After the distributor's cut & splitting the remainder with my partner, that $2.00 will likely go into a picture frame to be hung in my studio as the first proceeds from this album.

I checked the USPS shipping calculator a while back Gary. If I correctly remember their fee in relation to what CDBaby quoted you, it appears that they may be overcharging a shipment to Canada by about $2.50. I'm sure they would justify it by citing the need to complete a Customs Label.
I respect your principles Gary, but corporate overcharging is a business model that I doubt will ever change. Nevertheless, it could be perceived as a nominal amount either way. If you believe in the tunes and supporting independent artists, it's going to be an unavoidable evil. If you do buy the physical album, I will make $4.52. If I could give you my $2.00 proceed from Ron's purchase to cover the shipping overage, I would. Then I would have $2.50, and so would CDBaby.

With over 100 views to date on this post, I'm surprised to see very few plays on our SoundCloud stats. If at all possible, please spread the word!! I'll keep the free preview up a while longer.
Many thanks again to all!

Warmest Regards,
Chad Trego
www.chadtrego.com

 

[happyrat1]

Hi Chad,

I will probably end up buying the CD in a week or two. I've just been procrastinating because I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate these days including a couple of visitors from Europe and all the cleanup and yard work associated with Spring.

As far as promoting the album goes, I did post a link up over at DSL Reports which is a very very very high traffic forum website.

As for the counter not displaying many plays, you do have to realize that Soundcloud only counts complete plays from unique IP addresses so not everyone has the time or patience to sit thru a one hour set in a session.

Even so, the best promotion you could possibly do is to leave the set up on soundcloud, actively promote both the soundcloud, and the CDbaby site as well as your personal site in your signature, and actively participate in twitter and facebook and any major website forums you can think of.

Be brazen and shameless about it. I promote my own tunes on soundcloud and since I joined about 6 months ago I've racked up over 700 plays of my tunes and almost a dozen followers pretty much just by being a regular poster here, on casiomusicforums and harmony central.

And my stuff isn't even as good as yours.

You just have to be patient and persistent these days. Keep your presence on the web above the waterline and promote, promote, PROMOTE!!!

I've also recently discovered a site called http://kickstarter.com which exists solely for the purpose of promoting new projects and products. You might want to look into promoting there as well.

Also it never hurts to have a youtube account and if you know anyone in film school create videos for your best tunes. Last year a Canadian band named Walk off the Earth went viral with their cover of Gotye's "Somebody that I used to Know" and scored something like 50 million hits. I started following them on Youtube and since then they've released over two dozen videos, both music videos of their own material and also self promotional stuff with insider info about the band, and since then they've gone on international tour and they've only now just released their first CD.

It takes persistence and HARD WORK as well as a bit of luck to break in, but mainly you have to be ready to follow up once you do get a break or else opportunity slips away.

I wish you all the best of luck man, but don't expect to post a link in one thread and suddenly have millions rolling in. It just don't work that way

All the best,
Gary...