Image courtesy of the band
Being a diverse, multi-talented band with drive, savvy networking skills, and extreme talent sounds like the goal for most budding musicians. The Killing Floor (TKF) – a Nashville-based alternative rock band formed in 2009, after two brothers from London and two New York musicians all met at Electric Lady Studios – has figured out how to wow industry professionals, win national contests, and fuse their musical talents with the TV and film industry.
Most indie bands dream of having the success that The Killing Floor is having, but not every band puts in the work or strategy. TKF is the type of band that's put in not just effort, but smart effort to make their music shine. In this interview, the band's lead guitarist, Mark Alberici, tells us about how with a lot of hard work and a little luck, they got a Hollywood director on board for their music video, their lead singer landed a role in Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger's new HBO show, Vinyl, and what their big plans are for the upcoming year.
Through Sonicbids, you were selected to perform at Indie Week Canada this year. Congratulations! How did you prepare for the opportunity?
Prior to leaving for Toronto, we sent out a list of emails to various Canadian industry people letting them know we were coming up to perform at Indie Week, and set up a number of meetings during the festival to discuss our new record and invite them to the shows. We wanted to get as much out of the time we had there as possible and tried not to waste any opportunity.
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In terms of preparing for the performances, it was business as usual. First, we ran through the songs in Nashville and then traveled up to Toronto and booked more rehearsals prior to our first showcase. We're not the kind of band that likes to "wing it" on only two hours of rehearsal. We like to be tight, and our music kinda demands that.
I guess the main difference in preparing for Indie Week was organizing what songs to play and how our setlist would work best for this type of festival. Obviously, to some extent we do that with all of our shows, but with this, we were very aware that a number of our shows were being judged. We tried to play our strongest songs in the short time we had to perform. Some sets were only 15 minutes long, so we had to make a strong impact that showcased the band's variety of music, giving the judges the best overall feel of the band and what we're about. Sometimes that's hard to do with such short sets, but I guess we managed it pretty well.
What was most memorable about the experience?
Well, some of us might say eating poutine for the first time was pretty memorable, but I guess winning the final was the most memorable. We knew we had a good chance of winning, but you never really know how it's gonna go with judges. The competition was extremely strong with all kinds of bands, ranging from country to rap to rock. I'm glad I didn't have the task of picking a winner, especially as the artists were so varied in style, but I'm happy they picked us.
With your grand prize win, you've been invited to perform at Indie Week Europe in 2016. How do you think the experience will be different from the previous festivals you've played, like SXSW, CMJ, and CBGB? What are you most looking forward to?
Well, we've played a number of those types of industry festivals both in the States and Europe, so we kinda know what to expect to some extent. Half of us are from the UK and half of us are from America, so we've been lucky enough to work in both of those territories and have the added advantage of understanding both sides a little more than most.
Obviously, the location of a festival plays a big part in terms of the overall experiences due to the differences in the people and the culture. It's not the same playing in Austin, TX, compared with, say, Glasgow, Scotland, for instance, but to us, that's the greatest thing about playing live in a band. We've all been fortunate enough to get to travel and experience those differences. Indie Week Europe 2016 is held in Manchester, UK, so we will get to see a lot of family, friends, and fans we've not seen in a while, and we will definitely be extending our tour and getting up to Scotland, and hopefully over to Ireland again for more dates after the festival.
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When you're performing in front of so many industry giants, what's your strategy for making meaningful relationships with influencers?
Well, hopefully the music does most of the work for us, but we make sure we're ourselves. We don't particularly perform any differently in front of industry [people]. We like to think we give our all no matter who's watching our show. Hopefully after a performance like that, we like to take the opportunity to talk to the industry people, get any feedback they may have, and generally make a good impression. When building any relationship, it's best to be honest. In our experience, most business is done between people that get along. If they think you're decent and have a good professional attitude, then they're more likely to want to work with you.
How did you get Hollywood director Joel Schumacher involved in your music video for "Star Baby"?
We met Joel at a party in Brooklyn. We got chatting with him about music and all the great movies he's made like The Lost Boys, Phone Booth, Flatliners, and St. Elmo's Fire to name a few, and he just outright offered to direct a music video for us when we needed one. We were thankful that he offered, but we didn't really believe anything would come of it. However, when it was time to release our single, "Star Baby," we needed a video, and we decided to call him up and asked him if the offer still stood. True to his word, he said, "Yes, of course," and before we knew it, we were on set with Joel directing our video.
I guess it goes back to the previous question about creating good impressions and making good relationships with people. He was such a great guy to work with, and he is still a good friend and supporter of the band. We've been very lucky with being able to work with great directors and editors for our videos. Our latest video for the new single, "Corruption Capital," was produced and directed by our good friends loftworks.co.uk in the UK. They have recently worked on videos for artists including Led Zeppelin and Paul Weller.
Speaking of Hollywood, we heard your lead singer, Marco Argiro, landed a role in Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger's new HBO show, Vinyl! How did that opportunity come about?
One of the producers of Vinyl reached out and found him. They had seen his face on an album cover and thought he'd be a good fit to come in and be a part of the show. He sent in an audition tape, went in for casting, and got the part!
When you have names like Martin Scorsese involved, and Terence Winter from Boardwalk Empire, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, and Olivia Wilde, it's just such incredible talent. The show looks incredible, and we're all looking forward to seeing it.
What advice do you have for fledgling bands looking to book as many festivals and shows as you guys have?
Well, most of the larger industry festivals we've played, like SXSW, CMJ, and Indie Week have been booked through Sonicbids. I certainly recommend keeping up to date with the gig offers on the Sonicbids website, and keeping your EPK updated is crucial.
It's also essential to be a proactive band. Festivals want up-and-coming acts with exciting things going on, whether that's a new release or press reviews, tours, etc. Try to keep your social media pages interesting, and keep playing shows and promoting the music. Obviously, without a decent booking agent, getting on the larger festivals like Download or Coachella [is] tough, but with sites like Sonicbids, they offer you the chance to play these gigs without one. Sonicbids is an essential tool for new bands to get seen and heard at these types of festivals.
What plans do you have for the band in 2016?
We will be releasing our second album in 2016 with more singles and EPs to come from it, to follow up from the recent success we had with "Corruption Capital." We have a number of shows planned already at festivals and events such as SXSW in March, and as we mentioned before, we will be back in the UK for Indie Week Europe in May. We will also be touring all over the USA, UK, and Europe in support of the releases, and plan on heading back into the studio at some point to work on some new material.
We would also like the chance [to play] in some new territories that we've not been to yet next year, like Japan or South America, so we'll definitely be checking out all the opportunities that come up for us through Sonicbids. Our current single "Corruption Capital" is out on iTunes.
