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Disc
Makers' Fast Forward e-Newsletter
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Martin's
Dam
by
Scott McCormick |
There's
no substitute for experience and brothers Scott and Brian Bricklin
have plenty of that. Songwriters and musicians since childhood, the
duo are the two principals of Martin's Dam, a Philadelphia-based four
piece with a new release out on Hybrid/Sire Records.
Perseverance has been a major factor in the history of the brothers
Bricklin—they've lived through the heady experience of releasing
a major label, big budget album with national tour support, the resulting
trauma when that album didn't live up to expectations, and the despair
of being released from their recording contract and left to fend for
themselves.
They continued to write, grow, and refine through the trials and tribulations
of ten more years in the music business. The reward for all that stamina
and hard work is an older, wiser and more accomplished team, who have
just released Sky Above on the Hybrid/ Sire/ WEA imprint, a recording
that attracted the talents of producer/engineer Kevin Killen (U2,
Peter Gabriel).
"When we made Bricklin in 1988, we were barely in our 20's. I can
definitely say, 'If I knew then what I know now,' because I've learned
that success is so much about relationships and baby steps, and of
course, luck. A lot of luck."
A bit of background: the Bricklins have been writing and performing
most of their lives. "Scott and I had our first band when we were
kids," recalls Brian. "We demo'd a bunch of stuff that got the attention
of an attorney who shopped it. It all came together pretty fast—he
was shopping our tape as we were finishing putting that band together,
and, by our sixth show we got signed to A&M."
The Bricklin album fell victim to a lot of the music business problems
inherent to the late 80's when high hopes, a big budget and a big
name producer didn't always translate into sales. After the record's
release there were management problems and a complete turnover in
A&M's A&R department.
"It was a very disheartening time. We'd had some success with the
first single—we sold 5,000 singles just in Philadelphia. But
there's so much that goes into having a record come out and be successful,
and we weren't knowledgeable of all those things, and the people working
with us were not either."
This time around, Hybrid is maximizing cost-effective ways to create
awareness of Martin's Dam. Scott Bricklin has been out on a solo multi-city
promotional meet and greet tour, and the brothers together have played
several acoustic concerts for radio stations, Billboard magazine,
and other key publicity outlets. "I've been on the road meeting radio
station programmers and playing for them," explains Scott. "Not on
the air, but for the staff, the people behind the scenes who are the
actual machinery of the business.
"The first time around, I was one of those people who believed that
once you get signed someone will take care of everything for you.
Now, in working with a different label and a different approach, I
see that getting signed is just the tip of the iceberg. It just gets
you in the door and your battles have just begun."
Concludes Brian, "You have to take steps to get your music out there,
but I think if you stay true to what you believe, someone will take
notice. A lot of times in the record industry it's just a matter of
finding the one person who likes what you do—you need to find
just that one person. We were lucky, we found that person at A&M
and then, ten years later, we found another one at Hybrid."
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