2010 is already unfolding at a breakneck pace, and Icky’s Ego is feeling the pull to get our act together and get some resolutions in motion.

Our lovely Cela decided to enter Icky’s Ego in a blogging contest put on by Ariel Hyatt of Ariel’s Publicity, a PR firm for bands. The contest will follow several musician bloggers who are implementing the strategies from her book “Music Success in 9 Weeks”, which focuses on using social media and online tactics to build a fan base and to earn money as a musician.

The winner gets a free 3 month Cyber PR Campaign, and blogging about the book sounds like a good opportunity to share the tips we get with many of you guys who are also navigating this rather daunting business we call “show”.

So…stay tuned for the info, as we dive in and follow the course.
Now, by way of introduction, here’s a moment of pop-culture wisdom to set our scene:

There’s a sequence in James Cameron’s Avatar that depicts a young warrior-in-training trying to earn his status as a member of the tribe. His biggest challenge is to tame and pair up with an aggressive flying creature called a “Banshee”, that will be his bonded friend and personal mode of transportation for life.

He must use his intuition and strength to choose his beast. But the catch is, the beast must also choose him.
As he approaches a group of Banshees, he asks his mentor how he will know when his destined creature has chosen him.
“It will try to kill you”, she explains.

Well friends, we now feel certain that a life in music has chosen us. Because it’s definitely trying to kill us.

Icky’s member David pointed out how the metaphor from the movie relates to one’s chosen field. You can choose a profession of passion, a life doing something that you love—but if it’s really meant for you, you can’t expect it to yield itself up to your desires without a fight. You have to expect to be frustrated, burnt out, uninspired, to think you suck, to feel like giving up, to see your weaknesses as insurmountable. Until they’re not. And you have a success. Then, rinse and repeat.

Our band is realizing that to keep from going nuts, you have to learn to love this growth process, instead of focusing on the negative. But damn, it’s really tough right now.
We’re seeing that to really have any kind of shot at making a living as a musician in today’s oversaturated market and crumbling music business paradigm, you have to be really savvy and creative with marketing, promotion, and all kinds of non-music making things that right-brained artsy people know nothing about. You have to put in a lot of hours and energy, without letting your writing, recording and performing suffer. Right now we need about 12 more hours in a day.

Ariel talks a lot in the first chapter of the book about the mental preparation that it takes to be a musician. She advises you not to beat yourself up, to make a written list of the successes you had in your day (however small), and to celebrate your wins.

Well, we have the celebrating part down. Traditionally, Icky’s Ego celebrates our hard work with hard liquor. And while we like this very much, we will be spending less time at the corner pub and more at band work in 2010.
According to reality TV, most bands find success and then go through rehab…we just figure we’re doing it backwards, but it’ll all even out in the end.

Setting goals with due dates and a plan of attack is the key point in the first chapter of the “9 Weeks” book. Icky’s spent some quality time over New Year’s Eve brainstorming our intentions for this year…they go a little something like this:

• Have our first CD finished and pressed by April (that means recording about 8 new songs)
• Play out once a week
• Get our EPK together
• Post at least a 1-min video online weekly
• Get out 3 CD’s to radio and reviewers daily
• Practice at least 3 hours a day, and 2 rehearsals a week
• Create 4 music videos this year
• Put on our “big show” at the end of February (to be explained)
• Be touring in Europe in spring of 2011

That’s right…we made the massive, wild, inspired decision to move to Europe in spring of 2011, to tour with the band, for about a year. It’s big and unknown territory…50% of our band has never even been there. But we’ve really been feeling a pull in that direction. So it’s happening.
So let’s savor our quality time together this year you guys!

More on that to come. The idea of music success in 9 weeks, as proposed by the book, sounds really tasty, ‘cause we’re gonna have to get some serious work done before we jump over the pond.

Thanks as always for listening. And, please enjoy our second Icky webisode.

Love You Long Time.

Vreny & Icky’s Ego

It was worth the long wait: here’s my new custom built lefty Suhr Modern.
The photos don’t do the rich, deep blue colors any justice.

Best guitar ever.

I have not been able to stop playing it since I got it. This guitar has EVERYTHING I ever wanted on a guitar but had never been able to get before.
The guitar is feather light, has an amazing sustain, and sounds ridiculously awesome, rich and versatile.
John’s pick ups sound unbelievable, and this guitar allows me to go from chunky funk rhythm sound, to single coil SRV and Hendrix biting blues, to screaming Randy Rhoads and Satriani, to warm fuzzy jazz.

I went to pick up my guitar in Lake Elsinore this noon.
Steve led me in the main office at Suhr Guitars to say hi and have a little chat with John Suhr, the master himself. Steve asked me if I had had a tour of the facilities before, which I had in the past, and which was unbelievably appreciated. It is an amazing feeling to meet all the people who spent so much of their energy, time, talent and dedication building your ultimate dream instrument for you.

Steve showed me my new guitar… It is indescribable what goes through you when you first lay eyes upon your new custom built guitar.
He then led me to a sound proof booth where I could play it and try out all the latest Suhr amps, pedals and gear.
While I was there, I bought the Suhr Shiba Drive (a kick ass sounding overdrive that makes me sound like SRV on fire).
They just only 2 days ago developed a new line of gig bags, which are not on the market yet. I bought one for my new guitar and Steve told me I was the VERY FIRST owner of a Suhr Guitars gig bag… yaaaayyyyy. I am special haha.

I also received a gift: 2 free Suhr Guitar T-shirts… and of course: THEY LOOK AWESOME TOO.

Again: “THANK YOU Suhr Guitars”. This is the best guitar I ever played, which means something considering I’ve been playing over 20 years.
You made a dream come true for me.

And here with my Suhr T shirt. Yaaaayyy.  :)

This is the most comfortable guitar ever

For the Suhr fans out there and the fans and guitar gear heads: here are the specs

A BIG THANK YOU to all who came to see our show. It meant the world to us to see all your lovely faces there.
I learned a very important thing on that show, and made an important decision after seeing this show.
I learned how much fun it really is to see your friends at your shows. As a result: I have decided to go see at least 1 show a week of someone I know. I already started this when I went to check out the show of my friend Cory Phillips yesterday at the Good Hurt.

The Aqualounge is an amazing lounge/club with a fabulous interior design. This is THE place to go to if you want to enjoy classic rock and hard rock siting in comfortable seats in a cozy, relaxed environment.

But while the atmosphere and vibe in the Aqualounge was very attractive and fun to be immersed into… it was THE PEOPLE there who made the vibe and who made our night.

We feel very fortunate to have such amazing friends in our lives, coming to our shows.

We, at the Icky’s Ego Castle, after numerous bottles of tequila and wine, were driven by a divine inspiration when suddenly it hit us: “We need to introduce our Ego Maniacs to each other so they all get to know each other and enjoy each other’s fun presence as much as we Icky’s do”.
So here it comes: “World… meet our Ego Maniacs (and come join their growing numbers)”.
(click on the names of each person to go visit their facebook/myspace/websites and find out more about them)

Al Marotta: I am glad I could return the favor coming to see you rock out again with Cory Phillips on Keyboards. You’re a hell of a keyboard player and I am proud to have shared the stage so often with you. Thank you for coming to our show at Taix a couple of weeks ago. I am excited about forming the instrumental jazz-rock band we talked about.

Jose Gonzalez: haha… my hiking buddy. Mount Baldy is nothing to us. Also a kick ass drummer, who I will be sharing the stage with this coming Saturday with The Swagger Sticks. Come hang out with me, Aron and Jose this Saturday. Thanks a mill Jose for coming to one of our shows at Taix.

Aron Gibson: bro… what would we do without you? Thank you for coming to ALL our shows haha. You’re our “Headmaster Ego Maniac”. I am super anxious to be on that stage with you this coming Saturday with The Swagger Sticks. Aron is one of my guitar Alumni. He’s also the rocking front man of The Swagger Sticks.

“Ego Maniacs“… Meet Leah Hanna King. Leah is my ALL TIME TOP favorite female vocalist. We’ve been knowing each other for centuries, yet this show at the Aqualounge was THE FIRST TIME she saw me perform live. All the other times she saw me, she was on stage as well cause I was her guitar player. Keep an eye of for this girl… she’s on the brink of becoming world famous.

Another dude who will walk the path to fame, is Joel Van Dijk. He’s a fellow colleague guitar teacher, and he lives a 3 minute walk from my place. Competitor? Not at all: great friend. The world is a big place: there’s work and wealth in abundance. Joel is one of THE most spiritually rich and aware people on the planet. I was glad to see him at our show, and I can’t wait to go check out HIS shows… he’s a fantastic guitar player and multi instrumentalist.

Brian Paperny... my dear good old friend. I will never forget how you gave me the MOST amazing concert experience ever, when you gave me Brian Setzer Orchestra tickets as a present 2 years ago. I was so darn happy to see you at our show at the Aqualounge. Hope your beautiful rocking orange Gretsch guitar isn’t collecting dust. Give your beautiful, lovely Brazilian girlfriend a big hug from me. Thank you guys for all the love and support.

Ben “Rasputin” Sidnikov: a kick ass drummer. Thanks a mill bro for coming to the show. I can’t wait to hang out with you in the new recording studio you work at. I am very excited about jamming together in the studio and working on projects. Your presence at our show made my day. Life is so weird and funny: if you had not had the courage to defect Russia in the Cold War days, we never would have met. So glad to have you at our show. I already know you and me will be the main back up band at the New Year’s Eve party haha.

“Ego Maniacs”, meet Brad Raderman. Brad takes guitar lessons with me, and loves EVERYTHING music. There isn’t one style we have not covered yet. Besides being a guitarist, he’s a kick ass lawyer who loves his trips to Bakersfield to figure out legal intricacies nobody dares to meddle with. He’s a sharp mind combined with a laid back fun personality. I was just really happy too see his face at the show.

Billie Anderson, lead and rhythm guitarist in Mandala, and guitar alumni of mine. Billie went from beginner, to REALLY friggin awesome guitar player in NO TIME at all. It felt good to my ego as a guitar teacher, but it really wasn’t me: he’s just THAT talented. Billie and I have been knowing each other FOR EVER. He’s not just one of my closest friends in town: Billie and his brother Joey are like brothers to me. It feels like we grew up together. Good to see you at our show bro.

Greg; house mate of Billie and Joey. Greg and I spent numerous night till early morning hours sitting on the porch of their house with a beer, discussing philosophy, existentialism, art, the mind, psychology and other enlightening subjects. And now I get to see him every week cause he decided to push his guitar playing to the next level. Thanks a mill Greg for coming to the show. Thank your friend Lee also for coming and give her a big hug from the Icky’sEgo band.

Lisa Steele. Lisa is definitely the loveliest person I have ever met. She’s learning guitar, and through learning guitar, learning about HERSELF. Like the Zen masters say: “Through one thing, know everything”. This definitely applies to Lisa, who is discovering more than she had imagined about life and herself, through the journey of guitar. Thank you for letting me be part of this journey Lisa: I will love you for ever for that. You’re one of our most devoted fans, and the Icky people love you. Thank you for your love and support.

Peter Petro: man… what would I do without you? Peter and I work on each other’s projects and are trying to make each other miljonairs. (it’s a long term project lol). Peter was my supervisor when I worked radio promotion, shortly after my move to LA. He’s my marketing and business go to guy if I need advice. He teaches radio promotion at renowned Musician’s Institute. He’s also a very special friend. When are we gonna go hiking again?

Justin Schaid: I was excited to hear about your new band project “Hear & Now”. Can’t wait to see you live. You can be darn sure the whole Icky’s Ego crew is going to be at your show when you perform. Justin is a super talented graphic artist and designer, who worked numerous amazing artistic projects. He’s one of the people I am gonna have to talk to when I need help with the book that I am writing.

Pascal Demeester and Keiko: I’ve only gotten to know you recently in past 2-3 weeks, but we’ve grown to love you guys instantly. Pascal is a BELGIAN (woohooo), unbelievably talented photographer. His partner, Keiko, is an equally talented hair design and make up artist. Icky’s Ego is super excited that you will be helping us with visual stuff and photography for the band. This is one of the best things that could happen to us.

Matt Crocco… yes the brother of Icky member Dave. Matt is a multi instrumentalist in a league of his own, playing drums and keyboards. He’s also super funny, and one of the co-inventors and developers of the sock puppets shows on MTV with his buddy Liam Lynch. We love Sify&Olly

Last but not least, a special shout out to Brian Hardin Brian is our driving force at the castle in the hills where Icky’s Ego resides. He’s a world class, world renowned top producer whose album credits are STAGGERING. He’s also the easiest person one can imagine to work with and super funny. Here’s his site: Brian David Hardin (on his site: click on the link “credits” and be amazed).

Icky’s Ego THANKS YOU for supporting us at our shows and in our musical journey.
It means the world to us.

As you can see: our “Ego Maniacs” are a very talented, diverse group of people… you all deserve to be called amazing “Maniacs” in your fields and endeavors.
We are very proud and honored to have you all in our lives and we are always thrilled to feel your presence and energy in the room when we are rocking out on stage.

Much love from Icky’s Ego.
Cela, Dave, Vreny and Philo

This is going to be an incredibly FUN, entertaining show.
Come join me for energetic, British influenced, rocking music, drinks and lots of laughs.

Playing bass with The Swagger Sticks.

Past Saturday, Nov 14th, The Swagger Sticks played a show at the infamous Bootleg Theater in Silverlake. I was there, and I’ve got to tell you: I am happy I did not miss this.

Seeing this band truly is an experience. The front man, Aron Gibson, is a charismatic entertainer whose hilariously funny demeanor on stage makes his shows THE MUST see in town.

I had a talk with the band’s bassist after the show, who told me he is a stand up comedian. No kidding!! I think EVERYONE in the band is. Aron had the audience in stitches when he, with a serious look on his face, accepted the Heineken someone handed him on stage and declared: ” I just finished my bottle of Jack Daniels back stage but THIS (pointing at his Heineken) is just for show”.

The crowd totally went berserk when minutes later he announced with a sad look on his face right before starting their first song: “Sorry we forgot to bring our extended light show and the hologram projections”.

Besides being very entertaining and funny, The Sticks (as their fans endearingly call the band) were really tight, energetic, powerful and punchy in their performance of the songs. They played the whole album, and concluded with a smoking version of the Kiss classic “Detroit Rock City”.

The Swagger Sticks seem to be building a strong following in LA really fast, cause they had an amazing turnout on this show. After all: this was really only their 3rd or 4th performance since they released their debut album.

Stick it!, the debut from The Swagger Sticks, was released in August 2009 and draws on class of ‘77 punk and a wide range of power pop and indie rock influences from bands like The White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Killers, Green Day and Material Issue.

I was glad to see Jeff join The Sticks on trumpet to perform “Worldwide Pop Star” with the band on this show. It was one of the many highlights of the show.

You HAVE to check this band out, and you won’t have to wait too long to do so cause I’ve got FAN-TASSS-TIC news for you:

The Sticks are playing a show Saturday the 28th Nov in The TRip in Santa Monica AND… I will be taking over bass duties with The Swagger Sticks for THAT show ONLY. (The Sticks bassist will be performing stand up comedy shows in Vegas that weekend).

YES… you read that correctly:

Icky’s Ego bassist performing LIVE with the Sticks.  BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.

Saturday Nov 28th at 10pm

THE TRIP

2101 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405

This is going to be an amazingly fun show.

Come join me, Aron and The Sticks for what is going to be a great musical experience by a solid band that knows how to have fun and rock your socks off.

I had heard this deep story before.. but I never get tired of it.

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
And had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively

filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things – family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions ˆ
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.
The sand is everything else –The small stuff.
‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ He continued,
‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So…
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
‘Take care of the golf balls first –
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled.
‘I’m glad you asked’.
It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’
Please share this with other “Golf Balls” and friends

Very often times, I get asked where I get my energy from.

There really is no secret behind it: it’s a combination of…

• doing what I love doing the most as my means of income
• Serving/helping people
• FOCUS: building self-confidence and self-esteem through focus on the things I want to achieve, and through focus on being the person I wanna be and that I know other people like being with.
• Thankfulness for the amazing people I have in my life, and for the great things that are happening in my life.

There’s more, but these 4 things specifically I think are the main reasons why I am always bursting with energy.

I think following sums it up:

DO WHAT YOU LOVE… LOVE WHAT YOU DO.

WE are in control of our own happiness. Happiness TOTALLY IS a decision you make.

Speaking of “FOCUS”: your happiness is dependent upon your DECISION what you wanna focus on!

Do you want to focus on all the reasons why something can NOT work, or do you want to focus on finding and creating solutions?

Do you want to focus on the reasons why a relationship did not work out, or do you want to focus on the lessons you learned from it?

Do you want to focus on the mistakes you made… or on the lessons you learned?

Do you want to focus on shit that happened in the past, or on things you could do RIGHT NOW?

Do you want to focus on something someone says that you take personal, or on the humor there is in you taking yourself too serious?

Now you all know why I don’t need all that much sleep, and why I am constantly bursting with energy: I choose to not focus on things that take my POWER away from me or that could possibly drain my energy.

Life is too short… and so is yours.

FOCUS on the right things… nothing else matters.  :)

Meanwhile… also focus on what kind a friends you attract in life: if you wanna know WHO you really are… look at the people in your life.

After all… my favorite band said it  best: “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together”.

Speaking of friends… I thought in conclusion, in line with the words in this post, that following video my friend Brian Hardin is producing, serves as the perfect icing on the cake. Brian’s message: “LIGHTEN UP”.

Jeeeez…. Hard to believe this year just barely started, and we’re the 2nd of October today. I guess: the busier one is, the faster time flies.

I’ve pretty much been working non-stop in past 4 weeks.
Learned all the songs for Icky’s Ego and became the bassist with the band. In past couple of days I’ve been starting up a Youtube page for the band. Check us out here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/IckysEgo

There are currently no videos there with me on bass yet, but we are working on it.

While setting up the Icky’s Ego Youtube Channel, I came across some fun videos from good friends you have to know about.

The Swagger Sticks.

Following video is from my good friend Aron Gibson, whose album I played on. His band, The Swagger Sticks’ draw on class of ‘77 punk and a wide range of power pop and indie rock influences from bands like The White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Killers, Green Day and Material Issue.

Will Greenberg

I also came across this funny video from my guitar alumni and good friend Will Greenberg, who is even more talented than I already knew he was, as shown here. This had me in stitches.

Teri Hitt, Cela Scott and Dave Crocco.

I also loved this next video, cause all the people in it are close friends.
Teri Hitt is an awesome singer-songwriter. I am the guitar player in her band. The other 2 musicians in the video, are my band mateys in Icky’s Ego. I LOOOOVVVEEE these lovely, beautiful people. Only 1 person missing in this video to make the group complete, Brian Hardin… but I’ll cover that dude later on… so read on.

Matt Crocco.

I’m in a good place, with amazing, creative people in my life. The guitar player in the above video, is one my best buddies, Dave Crocco. The video underneath shows Dave’s brother Matt Crocco. One of the many things Matt is known for, is that he is one of the main guys who with Liam Lynch, created, directed, recorded and wrote the Sock Puppets, which was a HUGE hit on MTV.
They talk about one of the Sifl and Olly episodes in following video.

Brian David Hardin.

I spent a lot of time lately with Brian Hardin. I LOVE Brian. He is ridiculously awesome, and one of the best friends one could ever imagine. He is mixing songs I produced, and I am recording with Brian and Teri in their studio.

Brian is a kick ass unbelievable record producer and engineer, whose amazing credits range from Marilyn Manson, to Jerry Lee Lewis, to India Arie to Whitney Houston. The list is endless… and so is his talent and greatness.

He’s much more than a music producer: he’s a crazy MEDIA buff. Brian is currently working on a film: “BIRTH of the NOW”, a special project that is very dear to him and that we all can’t wait to see released. Here’s the trailer:

I am off to a recording session with Teri Hitt now.
I’ll also be in the studio with Leah King, recording for her album.
Lot of exciting stuff happening.

Rock ON.
Vreny.