#reybee

While there's a really great advantage to only work bands that you love as a publicist, many publicists don’t get that dream job in the early part of their career.  Learning the craft is more important than loving the bands you’re working. But if you’re able to combine the two, you’re golden.

For some, like Amy Sciarretto of Atom Splitter PR, they’re able to achieve just that. "Most of my career has trafficked in hard rock and metal, as a writer and a publicist," she says. “I have ventured outside the genre somewhat, and I have worked with artists that are not metal. But I do have that specialty.  You really do get to know your base and your ham 'n' eggers and go-tos. You tend to develop awesome strong relationships and friendships with people you work so closely with. I find that the outlet and I can get really creative as to how much we work together. We’ll come up with new ways to publicize a release or a band, for maximum exposure for the artist and the outlet.”

The big advantage of working a certain genre is that writers and editors trust that you know what you’re talking about. If they’re working on a story and need a band that fits your wheelhouse, then they know who to go to.  Being a trusted name in your field is a huge accomplishment and Sciarretto, by far, is one of the most trusted people in the metal and hard rock world.  When one thinks of metal publicists, her name is at the top of that list.

In a lot of ways, it also makes it like one-stop shopping for a writer who is working on a genre-specific story to find appropriate artists.  “You usually know what to expect when you're getting a pitch from a genre-specific publicist,” says writer John B.  Moore of Blurt, New Noise, Innocent Words and others.  “But if I'm writing for pubs that aren't likely to cover that genre of music, I usually don't bother even opening the emails from those publicists.”

“Speaking for myself, I found it easier to do publicity within one genre of music,” answers Jim Smith, Sales and Promotions Manager of Metropolis Records. Once a genre-specific behemoth in the industrial/goth/electronic/avant-garde label world, Metropolis has been slowly shifting and evolving into a much broader spectrum of artists that still includes many of those bands like Frontline Assembly, Skinny Puppy and Covenent, but now includes legendary 70s punk and postpunk artists such as Gang of Four, The Rezillos, Membranes and even 80s stalwarts Alison Moyet and Ali Campbell of UB40. “When we first started out as a label that catered to a very narrow field, the shrinking media market combined with the challenges of developing new relationships in other niche music markets presented a slew of new challenges. When we were more specialized, we had a stable of press and media people that we had long-standing relationships with. Now, it's an ever present challenge to get publicity outside of what we have been pigeonholed into.”

Broadening the palette into much wider and colorful strokes instead of gothic black is how Metropolis is evolving.  For writers too, a wider view offers more colors to choose from. “For me, it’s all about the music, not the genre label,” says William Dashiell Hammett, a freelance journalist who has written about a myriad of artists across a multitude of platforms.  “It’s great to be able to work with people who can draw knowledge from across the musical spectrum and make comparisons those too focused on one specific style would never consider.”

In my personal experience, I’ve been lucky in my career to go through phases that took me through from a legendary artist-driven label, I.R.S. Records (The Go-Go’s, R.E.M., Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine), to a buzz-heavy alt-rock label in Mammoth Records (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Juliana Hatfield, Jason and the Scorchers), to a blues/rock label in Silvertone (Buddy Guy, John Mayall, Stone Roses), to a pop/urban labelJive (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, A Tribe Called Quest), to a high-powered boutique PR firm KSA PR(Sting, Duran Duran, Fiona Apple), to a major label Island Records (Hanson, Ryan Adams, Mariah Carey).

Now with my own firm, I thrive in a diverse roster of talent that covers all those genres without heavily concentrations. You’ll find English Beat, KMFDM, Dashboard Confessional, Yellowcard, The Fratellis, andBlackalicious all cohabitating my roster. For me, being able to switch gears is what keeps my job interesting. It’s a challenge to talk about the heavy alt-country of The White Buffalo in the same breath as the piano house music of Game of Thrones actor Kristian Nairn (“Hodor”).

Rounder Label Group’s Director of Publicity Regina Joskow (a sage in the publicity realm) has had a similar wide-ranging history as me, having handled widely eclectic rosters as well as a highly specialized and focused clientele. “I've worked on both sides of that fence. I think that it's probably easier for a publicist to work with a broader range of music and with more broad-based journalists, rather than work within a specific genre where you really, really need to know your stuff,” she explains.  “Metal writers and the metal community in general can be very welcoming, but in certain genres - say, jazz or classical - you really have to be educated. So if you're already really knowledgeable and passionate about the music, you're in good shape. But if you're not, you really need to get educated. Jazz writers (at least the good ones, and there are many good ones) tend to be extremely knowledgeable, and in order to get any respect from them, you need to have to know what you're talking about. You can't just fake that.”

Moore adds that it’s not about the genre a publicist specializes in, but from the publicist’s knowledge of what kind of music he covers. “Ultimately the best way to get my attention is to read what I write and learn the types of bands I cover. I have a handful of publicists that I have been working with since the late 90s and I read every single e-mail they send me and will listen if they say ‘I think you'll dig this,’ simply because they have learned my tastes. Also, never underestimate the ego of a writer. If you are even half way pretending to follow my stuff, I'll engage with you.”

H: Let's start at the beginning. When you think of your earliest interactions with music, what comes to mind?

R: I think of sitting on the stairs of the home I grew up in with my sister Joy. I’m gonna date myself here, but we were listening to a radio broadcast on an old radio/cassette player… and I remember hearing the radio DJ say that Elvis Presley has died. I know I was aware of music before then, but when I think of my most vivid memory concerning music, that comes to mind. I was still a wee lad, but for some reason, that sticks out.

H: What was your first concert experience like, and who took you to the show?

R: You know, it’s funny… I kinda don’t exactly remember my first concert. I remember going to tons of concerts before the age of ten, but was my “first concert” when I went to Disney World and saw a live cover band do disco classics? Was it when I went to see U2 in a tiny little club before they even had a full-length album out? Was it seeing Bruce Springsteen with my brothers and sister when we tailgated in the parking lot? I can’t remember. I was going to live shows even before my age hit the second digits.

H: How about the first album you purchased with your own money? (Bonus points if you remember the format)

R: The very first album I purchased… well, there were two. Sex Pistols “Never Mind the Bollocks” and Meat Loaf “Bat Out of Hell”. I bought them on vinyl for $2.77 at a local grocery store where I grew up in Parsippany, NJ (interesting trivia: Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” was also one half of my very first two CDs I ever purchased. The other was Psychedelic Furs “Mirror Moves”). I’d spend hours in that store, flipping through the six racks of vinyl. At that age (8? 9?), I didn’t know what I was looking for… I just picked up records because I liked the band names or titles. My dad gave me a great allowance the time ($20 a week!) and I spent most of it on vinyl and at the arcade. I remember seeing Sex Pistols and it screamed “buy me”. I didn’t know anything about them. But I liked the cover and it just reeked of debauchery. It had “sex” in the name, and that just made it “feel” naughty. Meat Loaf’s album… well, my older sibs liked it and I wanted a copy of my own.

H: Thinking back on your life now, are you able to pinpoint any pivotal moments or experiences that steered you toward the career you have today?

R: I used to read music magazines ALL the time… I remember reading this magazine “Song Hits” and watching videos of New Wave bands like Missing Persons, Duran Duran, Romeovoid, Devo, etc. on a local channel called U-68 (pre-MTV) and thinking that I wanted to be surrounded by music all the time. But what made me want to be on the “other” side (instead of being just a listener) was when my brother Rex brought be backstage to a Paul Young concert when he played at Boston College’s student center. I remember walking back there and meeting Paul, and seeing how much fun it was backstage, and thinking that I wanted to be backstage all the time. I had been backstage lots of time before then, but this time, I felt like I wasn’t just a fan taking up space but part of an elite group since my brother helped put on the show.

H: I know you studied creative writing in college. Are there any long lost Rey Roldan manuscripts sitting in your closet/attic that may one day see the light of day?

R: There are TONS… I have two novels written, one screenplay done, a whole slew of short stories, and my memoirs that are still being written. They’re all on 3 ¼” floppy disc though… Hmmm.

H: Was publicity the first thing you wanted to do in the music industry? If not, can you tell us what initially sparked your interest in the world of PR?

R: God no… I wanted to be a journalist. And for a while, I was. I was a staff writer for my college newspaper (as well as the weekly cartoonist about a drunken, lazy rabbit named “Chester”… Yeah, he was modeled after myself). I was writing record reviews, interviewing artists, going to concerts, hanging out backstage, etc. When I graduated from Boston College, I joined a group of five people who were starting up a brand new entertainment biweekly newspaper in Boston called The Improper Bostonian (it still exists). I zoomed up the ranks from Staff Writer to Music Editor in a few months. But I was far too impatient to write for just one media outlet, so I started writing for magazines across the US like Meanstreet (in Los Angeles), QRM (in New Orleans), Cake Magazine (Minneapolis), ROCKRGRL (Seattle), among many others. I started a bunch of magazines in Boston too, but I wasn’t making enough money to make a living, so I decided it was time for me to grow up and get a real job. Since I dealt with publicists all the time and learned the tools and tricks of the trade from my friends in the industry (I’ve always been REALLY observant and inquisitive), I set my sights on a job in the industry… I moved out of Boston and back home to Jersey, and started my trajectory as a publicist.

H: Your first role in PR came from I.R.S. Records. What do you recall about the application process, as well as the world of music PR in general at the time?

R: Getting that job at I.R.S. was the easiest thing ever. I didn’t even have to apply. The head of publicity at the time, Steve Karas, was one of my mentors. He told me about a potential job opening up there… and so I set up a visit to the office. What he didn’t tell me was that he was quitting I.R.S. and moving to A&M, and there would be a new head of publicity that I’d be meeting instead. I walked in and the new head of publicity basically asked me, “What can you start?” The new guy didn’t really know what he was doing (I think it was one of his first jobs running a press department)… so I basically taught myself how to do everything. I basically had to train myself how to set up press days, how to organize press campaigns, how to pitch. Luckily, I.R.S. had a great roster and a great history, so nearly every call I made (again, this was pre-internet, so emails didn’t exist yet) was returned. Among the first projects I spearheaded was The Go-Go’s greatest hits double disc set and a new album by late 80s legend Kirsty MacColl. It was amazing… but again, since it was pre-internet, there was a LOT of phone calls to make… I even remember having to pitch via fax machine. Each pitch had to be personal because of that… Unlike today where there are tools that can send emails in bulk, I had to make each phone call individually… It was a very hands-on experience back then… and there was a LOT of real, human interaction.

H: From this point you begin a decade-long run of publicity gigs, switching labels/companies every few years. You are now your own boss, so I do not want to dwell on the past too much, but what can you tell us about those experiences and how you eventually settled on stepping out with a company of your own?

R: I don’t mean this is any negative way, but when I worked for people, I was more interested in learning what NOT to do… My previous bosses were all good at their jobs, and while I paid attention to how they landed press, I was more interested in what made them fail. I worked for mean bosses (who would yell and scream all day), “too nice” bosses (who would let their artists and press walk all over them), pretentious bosses (who were too concerned with their own careers and not their artists’ lives), and bosses who were too scattered (and never could run a solid campaign). So, when I felt confident enough in my own abilities and learned how NOT to do publicity, I set out on my own… It was scary but it all worked out perfectly. I won’t say that I didn’t have any rough patches, but truthfully, I’ve been very lucky.

H: Before we get any further, what was the first Reybee Production (as this is 'Another')? As a follow-up, where does the name 'Reybee' come from?