Hand Fetish Records

The genre, name, not set in stone, but I want to make really good music, with interesting texture and intense feeling. I want to please the listener, but also make the listener a little uncomfortable. I want to make songs about human psychology, the world, the universe, sex and, occasionally, politics (political music gets real dated real quick sometimes…)

–Musicians I’m looking for–
Guitar/Bass, Synth/Keyboard (I’ve got loads of synths and a strap-on midi controller!), Sax/clarinet/bassoon is nice, hand percussion, noisesmith (mega-bonus points if you make your own noise-making instruments), sound tweaker/scratcher, etc.
multi-instrumentalists get bonus points! Anyone with real analog synths get bonus points

–Extremely abridged list of top influences–
Christian Death, Coil, Boyd Rice, Bjork, Throbbing Gristle, Aphex Twin, Kraftwerk, Bauhaus, The Cramps, Polysics, DEVO, The Cure, Funkadelic, Sun Ra, Merzbow, Mayhem, Dimmu Bogir, Current 93, Death in June, Oingo Boingo, Skinny Puppy, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Einstruzende Neubauten, Basement Jaxx, Gary Numan, The Fixx, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Joy Division, New Order, Laibach…

Creativity is more important than musical talent, but you must know how to play your instrument and being really good at it is a huge plus. I want to find at least one virtuoso. However, if you are really good at coming up with new ideas that translate to something that will be fresh and interesting (interesting in a good way, not in a bad way like some noise out there, hehe), then that makes up for being merely okay at your instrument. We are going to be practicing for a long time before performing, so there will be time to get better.

I am looking for musicians who can commit to at least a whole year of practicing once a week (sometimes recording) before playing live or releasing anything. I am not trying to “make it big” but I do want to make really, really good music, record it (and release it) and perform it. So, someone else who can see this as a semi-serious hobby would be a good fit. I have a busy schedule but can fit once a week practicing (and hopefully more often down the road). If you, too, have a busy schedule, then you know I’ll be a little more understanding and we can work our practices around everyone’s schedules.

Here’s some perks in working with me:
-Though I’m not filthy rich, I do have some pretty nice equipment. We will have no issue recording what’s in our heads. I’ve got a MOTU traveler, MacBook Pro, guitar preamp, headphone amp, etc., etc. I also have a reel-to-reel if we want to get some warm analogue sound from some 1/4″ tape. We’ll also have what we need to do a headphone mix while practicing.
-I’m a drummer, but for practicing I have no problem using my SPD-S only or my drum machine while practicing. No busting your ears or not being able to hear vox, guitars, etc. Since this band’ll be very electric, maybe I won’t need to use my real drums live either? nah, real drums sound too nice and I like to play with the hi-hats.
-I work for a company that does disc replication. We can get really, really good prices on discs when we have them done (I’d like to release to vinyl as well as CD, perhaps doing our first single exclusively as 7″). I’m also a programmer, so if we need something, a lot of times, I can make it. In any event, I also have access to tools we can use to easily sell our music digitally online as well. I also made my own software synthesizer that can do craaaaazy things.
-I have a friend who’s a recording engineer and a really good guitarist. He perhaps can produce our first album when the time comes.
-I already have a business and have the ability to be our manager and run our own small label (I already have “Hand Fetish Records, Ltd.” set up as a legal alias to my software company’s LLC.. I can spin it off as a separate entity once income warrants doing so). When we settle on a name, I will buy the trademark to protect our turf as well!

My previous band was called The Happy Buttons. We can keep that name or we can create something new. The name refers to when you connect electrodes to the happy center of one’s brain, a power source and a button. Once the button is made available to said person, it becomes a happy button and gets pushed repeatedly (this experiment has been performed on rats, and also on humans, sans the dangerous made available to subject part… so far) Imagine a dark future where we’re all addicted to these happy buttons?

Any questions? Call me or e-mail me! 760-912-1856. Thanks for reading up to this point or at least skimming up to it