The average life expectancy of a local-indie band can be measured in months, sometimes less.
So when an Orlando band like Blue Meridian survives well past a decade it means something must have gone right. Kept alive by lead singer Donovan Lyman after his move to Los Angeles, Blue Meridian kept their alt-rock roots solidly intact thanks to the L.A. lineup of guitarist Chadwick Steinmetz, bassist George Castells, and percussionist Scott Kinworthy (who does double-duty as a Blue Man in Las Vegas). While preparing for a return tour of Central Florida with the original lineup (Dean Pichette, Kevin Kirkwood and Manny Rivera) Lyman took some time to chat with Metromix Orlando about the difference between Orlando and L.A., being indie in today’s music scene, and how to handle an earthquake.
You have said that Blue Meridian was formed “just for fun.” Could you elaborate on that?
It didn’t seem like anything unusual at the time, just to get together and make music because of how much fun it is to do that. But I realized years later, when bands were springing up like weeds left and right, they would contact me and ask if they could open for us and I would ask them some questions. And I found that so many of them had these delusions of grandeur, like “Within six months we’ll be signed,” that kind of thing. And that’s when it first occurred to me that that’s not why we got together. I remember we rehearsed every day for three months – that’s when I turned to my bass player and said “I think we’re ready for a show” and he said “You mean in front of people?”
What do you attribute to your longevity?
I guess when there’s momentum, and when you notice opportunities and cool things are happening for you, bigger and better every time, you know with each passing month or year you’re being asked to do things that you’ve never done before. When I moved to Los Angeles it was the first time I ever had something to prove, and I was anxious for the challenge of seeing how long it would take for the cream to rise to the top of a city this size.
Would say your move was a success?
The only thing I didn’t anticipate about what it would be like being an unsigned band in Los Angeles is it’s got nothing to do with the competition, it’s got nothing to do with how many bands are out here. The challenge in Los Angeles is developing a fan base, getting people to come to your shows. I had someone tell me the first few months I was here, that drawing an audience of 80 people in Los Angeles is equivalent to drawing an audience of 500 people in a place like Orlando. That’s the most disheartening part about it, all these people, you know 20 million people in the metro area, and it’s so hard to reach the same numbers that we’re reaching in Orlando.
Is there encouragement for indie bands in L.A.?
L.A. is a famous music scene because we’ve got some world-famous clubs here. But as far as it being a great place for a band to come up it’s really not. The thing is, almost every major venue here is booked by outside promoters. It’s not as hands-on as it is in Orlando. They care more about booking acts that can draw crowds so they can make money rather than putting together sensible bills. I mean, we’ve been sandwiched between a country band and a hip-hop act before.
You have four albums with the band and one solo, what are you planning on doing next?
We actually made a fifth record with the band. The longtime lineup from Orlando drifted to the wind when I went to Los Angeles, so I started up another band when I got out here. So what we’ve done for the last year is record the fifth one with the Los Angeles lineup. We tracked thirteen songs and they’re currently being mixed and we’re really excited about it. It’s going to be called “Skint and Shattered” which are a couple of terms we got from touring Britain. Skint means broke, and shattered means tired. So I guess it means after all this time we’re still broke and tired.
What does being indie mean to you?
Not long ago the term wasn’t used, you’re either signed or unsigned. And now with all these labels going out of business like Tower, and all these places have gone bankrupt, for the first time ever bands are not looking at a major label contract as the end-all. There’s certainly the possibility out there now to making a decent living being an unsigned band, keeping all the profits for yourself instead of giving 85 percent of it away. I sell a pretty respectable amount of music every week, actually, so my only wish is that we would take to the road and tour more cities.
How was that earthquake the other day?
I’ve been out here for four and a half years and that was the second one I felt. The first one was actually about three years ago. I guess I was closer to the epicenter that time. The tremor lasted for a good ten or twelve seconds and rattled everything in my apartment. But the one from the other day was minor in comparison. The first thing that occurred to me once it started to shake was “I’m on the first floor, this is a pretty old building – I need to get my ass out to the courtyard.” It actually ended before I was able to get to the front door. I was in my underwear anyway, so it, uh, wouldn’t have been a good thing if it continued and I burst into the courtyard with all these old people and children out there.
