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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