Whatever Happen to Solex?

[Keith]

One of my favorite bands from the Matador label. The last i thing i heard was their cover of Pavements Shandy Lane. I have two out of the three Albums but are they still going or not?

[johansen smith]

Solex released an album in late 2004 called "the Laughing Stock of Indie Rock" on Arena Rock recordings. It was her best album yet, but the reason you did not hear about it is because Arena Rock wrote it off immediately and did nothing to promote it. I am fairly certain that they did not even bother to send out promos.

[9000]

One of my favorite bands from the Matador label. The last i thing i heard was their cover of Pavements Shandy Lane. I have two out of the three Albums but are they still going or not?

just a few months back, she remixed "crunchy" by fellow matador alumnus, blues explosion. pretty cool.

[Paul]

Solex released an album in late 2004 called "the Laughing Stock of Indie Rock" on Arena Rock recordings. It was her best album yet, but the reason you did not hear about it is because Arena Rock wrote it off immediately and did nothing to promote it. I am fairly certain that they did not even bother to send out promos.Untrue! The copy I own is a promo (I bought it for $1.99 when I still lived in Nashville).

[Keith]

Does this mean i'm unlikey to get a copy anytime soon. It's good to hear she's still going anyway.

[tinobeat]

yo can still get it from the label (http://arenarockrecordingco.com/solex/biography.htm), at the very least.

[johansen smith]

CDUNiverse has it for under $9.

[bobbydj]

I taped a Solex track off Peelie, which made it onto a comp I made. Uhm. That's it.

[Keith]

She did some very cool stuff for John Peel. I remember one song from a session called My B-sides rock you.

[Gerard]

i think it's pretty unfair to say that Arena Rock did nothing to promote the Solex album. I saw a few ads for it....and as far as press and radio are concerned, people play or write about what they choose to. I can remember numerous occasions in the past when we've been accused (on this very bulletin board!) of "not promoting" so-and-so "hard enough". It isn't as though we're able to force anyone into covering a band.

and really, in this day and age, the audience are gonna have to start taking responsibility. A couple of minutes on google can help fill in the gaps about an artist you've lost track of, not to mention visiting their website (http://www.solex.net/).

[bitterfruit]

I can remember numerous occasions in the past when we've been accused (on this very bulletin board!) of "not promoting" so-and-so "hard enough". It isn't as though we're able to force anyone into covering a band.



Most of what might seem like an accusation of not promoting a release is probably the result of genuine love for a band that unintentionally comes across as poison blow darts.

[Gerard]

hey, genuine love for a band is a-ok. But if someone's gonna claim a label "isn't promoting a band", they oughta have some evidence besides whether or not a billboard was errected in front of their house. I have no idea if Arena Rock sent out 1000 promos or 2 dozen. That's their business. But I do know it is possible to send out 300 or 400 and have very little to show for your trouble besides a lot of CD's in the used bin. I'm sure there's genuine love for Solex 'round here or we'd not be discussing this. But the Arena rockers must have a bit of love, too, or they wouldn't have ponied up the loot to put the CD out in the midst of a download crazy/cd-burning market.

I'm not denying that labels might tons of mistakes (us included) and some of 'em are just plain dumb. But the whole equation of why some bands become more popular than others isn't just down to the label or promotion.