Some of the posts on my blog that have the most hits are for people wanting information on the musicians, artists and the fandoms I am interested in and are those that summarise the publicity promotions around the release of new albums, music, books and television shows. When I was researching the Indoor Garden Parties I came across an interview Alan Doyle did with the online music site Sound Check Entertainment about the 'So Let's Go' album and the tour in 2015.
This interview is titled 'Hangin' Out With Alan Doyle' by Cory Kelly. The date of this article was difficult to pin down but it was circulated on Facebook around 15 February, 2015. There some really interesting questions and answers about how the 'So Let's Go' album came together, the stories from making the album, Alan's collaborations with different people, making videos, the highlights of being a professional musician and the current tour. The article was supported with some absolutely gorgeous photographs of Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies at the Rose Theatre in Brampton taken by Trish Cassing.
While Alan talked about lots of interesting things about this album there are two things that stood out for me personally, the use of social media to connect with people and the fans. So I copied the questions and quotes here for those fans who may be interested. I have circulated a copy of the article on my Google + page. The full article is available at the Sound Check Entertainment webpage at www.soundcheckentertainment.ca. No copyright infingement intented.
"...Sound Check: Social Media, how do you find interacting with that side of things compared to what you did say 20 years ago?
Alan: 20 years ago every Christmas we would mail out 1000 post card and mail them out to fans and stuff. We have always just tried to keep up with whatever means possible, whatever the most current way it is to keep people in the loop about what we are doing. To give them every opportunity to get access to whatever they wanted to have access to. And to sort of reward people who came to the shows a lot and bought records a lot and joined the fan club or group or whatever you want to call it. I’ve always seen since the dawn of social media, twitter, Facebook and message boards on our sites and all that stuff. I just see it as an interesting and cool way to keep people engaged and even for a little bit to see what’s going on in my eyes and to see what it looks like from this side.
Sound Check: What would you have to say your best fan experience would be over the last 20 years of being in a band and interacting with audience?
Alan: That’s a good question, don’t think I have ever been asked that. The ones that are the most rewarding are when you meet somebody that for whatever reason explains that a night out, a record or a song kind of rescued them from something. That happens a lot being with Great Big Sea and the music being uplifting and positive. So that’s very rewarding and that has happened more than once. It’s also really rewarding to talk to people for a number of years who have had our music or my music be the soundtrack of their summer or trip. Such as we drove out East and listened to your music the whole drive out. It’s a collective thing I suppose, where it’s so cool to be not just a band but to be a part of somebody’s thing, time, summer, wedding, party, and trip. To be a soundtrack for someone’s time is really cool. It sounds like a humbling thing I suppose but you kinda wanna know it’s bigger than you right, and you kinda wanna know that it goes on without you. And it’s not a very big leap to think that it goes on after you. And that’s thrilling. That’s the deep satisfaction I think that most people get that make music for a living that it will be there long after you’re here..."
Alan: That’s a good question, don’t think I have ever been asked that. The ones that are the most rewarding are when you meet somebody that for whatever reason explains that a night out, a record or a song kind of rescued them from something. That happens a lot being with Great Big Sea and the music being uplifting and positive. So that’s very rewarding and that has happened more than once. It’s also really rewarding to talk to people for a number of years who have had our music or my music be the soundtrack of their summer or trip. Such as we drove out East and listened to your music the whole drive out. It’s a collective thing I suppose, where it’s so cool to be not just a band but to be a part of somebody’s thing, time, summer, wedding, party, and trip. To be a soundtrack for someone’s time is really cool. It sounds like a humbling thing I suppose but you kinda wanna know it’s bigger than you right, and you kinda wanna know that it goes on without you. And it’s not a very big leap to think that it goes on after you. And that’s thrilling. That’s the deep satisfaction I think that most people get that make music for a living that it will be there long after you’re here..."
