Saturday, May 2, 2020

DJ Interviews: The Cranberry Merchants


Hey everyone DJ Dizzy here & I had the esteemed pleasure of interviewing a band who call themselves The Cranberry Merchants who had so much to say on their musical beginnings,


How'd you get started in music?
We both started playing our instruments as teenagers, and after we met & married, we were in a short-lived band in the 90’s called Halcyon.  We got a little bit of airplay on college radio back then, but since this was before social media and internet radio, publicity resources for unsigned bands were extremely limited.  You almost had to be signed to a record label to get played on commercial radio at the time.  Life outside of music got in the way of pursuing it further for many years, but a couple of years ago, we found ourselves with the time and money to restart, so we gave it another try and found that so many doors that had been closed to us before were suddenly opening up.

Who are your inspirations or influences?
Steve grew up with a lot of 70’s classic rock music and his favorite band has always been Led Zeppelin.  But Dianne on the other hand grew up in the 80’s listening to a lot of New Wave, and her favorite band is Duran Duran.  While it seems like a strange pair of influences, one extreme to the other, our music actually seems to meet somewhere in the middle.  However, we also have several influences in common from 80’s mainstream rock, such as Heart and Foreigner.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?
Our best advice would be to make sure your music is easy to find and easy to buy.  Get yourself on as many social media platforms as possible, always include links on your posts to where people can hear your music, buy your music, and see your videos.  If someone Googles you band, see to it that they will find your website, lyrics, photos, and gigs easily.  And most importantly, show gratitude to any radio stations, promoters, and fans that help publicize you along the way.  Help your fellow indie artists by networking and trading resources.  The more you give, the more you get.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?
We think by simply being ourselves and not trying to sound like another band or follow different musical & production trends just because they’re marketable at the time.  Many DJs have told us that they can’t think of any bands we sound like, and we love to hear that.  We try not to limit ourselves within the boundaries of genre and just write music that entertains ourselves.

Any new gigs or albums in the future
Needless to say, gigs are out of the question at the moment.  After promoting our debut EP, “In the Blood” for over a year, we have since released the single, “Quiescence” in late November and have a new single coming out on April 1st, called “Disturbing the Peace.”  We intend for both of these songs to be part of our second EP, which we hope to release later this year.

Special thanks to then for doing this interview & best of luck to them in their career so until then I'll catch you on the flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!

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