WHEELS 2.0 IS IN A SATURDAY MOOD

First off, a big congratulations to our 2009 pick Chloe Leighton, who's just inked a deal with Beluga Heights/Warner Bros. This week, Wheels features an interview with Saturday, developer of the Warped Tour’s Kevin Says stage and creator/co-booker of earnityourself.com. Keep feedin’ the inbox: [email protected]

ON DECK
Struan Shields (www.myspace.com/struanshields): This precocious, great-looking 18-year-old, who’s about to graduate high school from Arlington, VA, has an EP coming out June 15. Titled Say It Soft, Say It Sweet, it’s currently #10 on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart as a pre-order. On top of that, he’s featured on the front age of Purevolume, which has an exclusive stream of all six tracks. On June 18, Struan will perform in front of a sellout crowd to celebrate the EP release at Arlington’s Jammin Java. He's now working with producer Chris Keup (Amy Correia, Jason Mraz, Johnathan Rice).

EMAIL Q&A WITH SARAH SATURDAY
Sarah, I know that you work with Warped Tour, and you have an Earnityourself.com (EIY) program. The philosophy behind EIY "Earn It Yourself" is the idea that one must earn one's successes in life the right way, without compromising one’s integrity, ignoring one’s instincts or turning a blind eye to one's values. Talk a little about this, because I think it’s an important message for all the bands out there.
I am a firm believer that there are two points of view in any situation: my subjective perspective, and the objective reality of the situation. So when I talk about what is the "right" or "wrong" way to build your career or go about achieving your goals, I'm talking about considering your motives, your actions and your desires from both your own perspective and the point of view of reality, like an outsider looking in on yourself. We all subconsciously know when we are doing something right or wrong; we have that little voice that tells our conscience when something doesn't feel right. People tend to ignore this voice from early on in their lives, because their desire for attention, money, fame and reassurance that they are special tend to drown out that voice. They think that the guilt of ignoring their instincts for the sake of that immediate gratification will eventually disappear—but it doesn't. Each time you go against what you know is right, in order to get something that your greed tells you you deserve, your conscience racks up a little bit of guilt. Eventually, slowly, over time, the guilt gets bigger and bigger. It affects your self esteem and your self worth, it makes you paranoid, it makes you doubt yourself and it makes you feel unsure about the future.

By learning to recognize the voice of your conscience, and by thinking about why you want the things you want in life, you start to figure out what your values are. Knowing what you believe, what you stand for and what you think is right—not just from your point of view, but from the point of view of reality and the truth of the matter—makes you more sure of yourself, not only in your band or your job, but in your daily life. Knowing why you think what you think and want what you want makes you confident, makes you brave to take on new challenges and make up your mind about how to approach a new project. It makes you creative in your problem solving and makes you think more clearly about how to go after the things you want in life. When you know who you are and what you love to do, and you know why you are who you are and why you love what you do, then everything else seems to fall in line behind that.

I think that learning to be truthful and honest about who you are and what you stand for is how you can be great in whatever you do—whether it's music, art, business or something else entirely. The EIY philosophy encourages people to stop and think, to doubt yourself and question your beliefs about your motives and your approach, in the hopes that once you become a more complete person, you will be able to make valuable contributions to the world around you through every single thing you do in your life.

A less stream-of-consciousness explanation of the EIY philosophy can be found at http://earnityourself.com/about.php

I understand you have an EIY summer workshop. What will that entail?
The EIY Workshop & Scene Meet-Up is something that Kevin Lyman and I came up with, after I approached him about coming out on the road this summer to perform and promote the website. He suggested that I run a daily workshop for bands on the tour that want to learn more about the music industry, with a panel of guest speakers who can chat with the bands face-to-face. We expanded the invitation to include anyone who might be interested in getting more involved in their local music scene, or learn about the music industry in general. The workshops will take place in a tent at the show, although I'm not sure exactly how it will work yet. So I'm asking anyone who is interested in attending to email [email protected] so I can contact them when I have the details more ironed out.

Kevin has been super-supportive of the EIY website since before I even launched the first website, back when I worked full time for him, and handled the booking of the entire Kevin Says Stage on Warped. He's always given me space to promote the EIY ideals to bands and kids on the tour, and he's donated a lot of time and energy to the website. He's always supported underground bands and has given so many kids the chance to work his events and learn about the industry first-hand. He's always given tiny companies the chance to promote themselves on his tours, and he has lost more money than he's gained in helping people try to get their ideas off the ground. I think by offering a free educational workshop on the tour that is not about making money or promoting anything, but honestly about reaching out to the new generations of kids and bands with help and advice, Kevin is showing that he is still as passionate about the underground scene as he was when he first got his start in music.

A lot of bands want to be on the Warped Tour; what advice would you give to up and coming bands on how to approach getting a placement on it?
You have to be not only the biggest but also the most valuable fish in the pond, if you want anybody to go after you. Figure out how to make yourself an asset to the tour and the tour will hunt you down. There are entry points like the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands, the EIY Spot on the Kevin Says Stage and a couple of other contests or opportunities each year for unsigned bands to get picked to play, but in the big picture it's all about making yourself valuable enough, with a big enough buzz around you, that it is stupid of the tour NOT to have you play when it comes through your town.

Turn us on to some new bands that you’re digging these days, signed or unsigned.
I get obsessed with albums for like a year at a time, and I go through extreme phases with genres. I also get into a lot of stuff years after it's considered popular. In the last 6-8 months I've been rotating Minus The Bear, MUTEMATH, Good Old War, Radiohead (always), The Avett Brothers, The Fashion, Foals, Manchester Orchestra, The Working Title and more recently Two Door Cinema Club.

I guess you could say you have your hands in a lot of different areas of the music business, I know you are also in a band; care to talk a little about what it is like to be on that side of the business?
I started playing music when I was three, and being a musician has always been part of my identity. I wrote my first song when I was 12, joined my first band when I was 16 and have always been writing and/or performing either in a band or by myself, either in my house or on the road. I took a long hiatus from performing when my most serious band, Saving Face, broke up in 2004 and I moved to L.A. to work for Kevin Lyman. It was a very introspective time in my life, and it was hard for me to play or even listen to music for a long time. I had gone from only being a musician to only being an entrepreneur, and I was really depressed about essentially failing myself after putting in so many years in bands, trying to "make it." Fortunately, right before that hiatus, I had recorded some goofy little song ideas with my friend Beau. During the hiatus (in 2006), I found enough battery power to record four really honest songs with Beau, for no reason other than to have nice-sounding recordings of them because I liked them. I put those songs online as free downloads, under the name Gardening, Not Architecture, for fun and to share with my friends. Somehow over the next couple years, a bunch of people discovered the songs and started contacting me asking about touring and a full-length album, and somehow the project took on a life of its own. I played my first shows in five years at the end of 2008. Next thing I knew, I was booking myself a West Coast tour just like the old days, in early 2009. By the end of 2009, I had recorded a full-length album with Beau and put together a 70+ day tour. By the beginning of 2010, I decided to commit full time to playing music and promoting EIY, and I got rid of almost everything I owned, moved the rest of my stuff into storage, and became technically homeless on March 1, 2010. Of all the sides of the industry, I know for sure that I am best at being on the creative side. But having the industry-side experience has done wonders for helping me discover the truth about reality's perspective on being a musician and making a career out of my art.

Final Question: what beverage best describes your personality?
My favorite adult beverage (which friends and fans have dubbed "The Saturday," although it's a real drink called a Kalimotxo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalimotxo) is cheap Cabernet Sauvignon mixed with Pepsi One, on ice. It's totally weird and nobody has ever heard of it before. People are always skeptical at first and don't want to taste it, but when they do they are surprised by how refreshing it is. Soon enough, they are asking for their own glass, and then months later they are writing to tell me about how it has become their favorite drink, too. Not sure if that sums up my personality but I think there's a funny metaphor in there somewhere. ;)