Garageband: Welcome to the Pete Anderson live chat event with garageband.com. Pete has created a music career for himself that will inspire any up and coming musicians to
stay true to their dreams. Besides signing on as a garageband.com Advisory Board member, Pete is a GRAMMY award winning music producer with credits including Dwight Yoakam, k.d. lang, Michelle Shocked, and the Meat Puppets. Pete is a gifted guitarist with two solo albums under his alternative country and rocking blues belt. And he is also president of Little Dog Records; a label dedicated to signing the good music that is overlooked by the major labels. Chat with Pete and learn how to create your own creative freedom.

Garageband: Pete, welcome to the chat!

Pete Anderson: Thank you! It's exciting to be here. This is the future, and it's exciting to be alive in the future! I wasn't quite sure that this would happen in my lifetime--all these things that have happened with the Internet, and garageband.com really being the stepping stone for how music will be dispersed into the future, so it is exciting to be involved.

Leeloo2: How long have you run your own label, and how did you get started?

Pete Anderson: The label started with really an 800 number, a phone, and a desk in the early 90s, pretty much before the Internet explosion that we are having now. The label
was started, I think, out of a frustration with making what I felt were really good records, and not being able to be involved after I completed the record. It was very frustrating to turn in a record and watch it either not get released, or, for whatever reason, not get marketed to its fullest extent. At the same time, the type of music that I've gravitated towards as a producer has been songwriter-oriented, and it seemed to me that a lot of those artists were being overlooked. I was never one to be an insider in the music business. I couldn't see myself working on the inside at a corporate record label, so the only alternative was for me to start my own.

Bob2: Do you produce your own albums? For an unsigned band (like mine), is that a wise thing to do?

Pete Anderson: I don't produce myself as an artist. I think it is very difficult to be an artist/producer. It's hard to be objective about yourself. Of course, if you are an unsigned band and are just starting out, you probably won't be able to afford a producer, and I would look at all the early stages of what you're doing as a learning experience. But hopefully, you will be able to find someone that you feel very comfortable with, who could be an objective listener to your band or to yourself as an artist.

Dead Dan: Does heavy producing on a record sap its creativity and newness in the minds of the artists?

Pete Anderson: I'm not sure what "heavy producing" means. I know my style, and that basically there aren't (or there shouldn't be) any rules on how to produce a record. If you
have the type of producer who does have a rigid format, and if you, as a band or artist, don't fit into that format, then obviously a lot can fall by the wayside.

Gloria Lynn: Howdy Pete, you are a very talented singer/songwriter, as well as a master guitarist. When can we expect to hear you sing again?

Pete Anderson: Singing is very traumatic for me, because it's something that I don't do all the time. I'm in the process of making my new record right now as we speak. I work on it every evening from about six till midnight at The Dog Bone, my studio, which is within the Little Dog complex deep in the heart of the Burbank delta. I'm hoping that this record will be a total instrumental album. I have a feeling that people are more interested in hearing me play guitar than hearing me sing. But thank you!

Gloria Lynn: Howdy Pete. What's your favorite part of touring? And your least favorite part?

Pete Anderson: At this stage of my career, my favorite part of touring is being able to be out with my friends i.e., the guys in the band, and basically playing the shows at night,
playing music together. Playing live is a very unique experience. My least favorite part really is the traveling. Basically, when you tour, the job is traveling. Playing music for an hour and a half or two hours at night is not very difficult. I've been in every state and every province in North America, and the first time you go to some of these places, it may be interesting, but after five, six, seven times, it's just not as exciting as it once was. I'd prefer to travel between Glendale and Burbank, even though living in Los Angeles I hate going to the west side‹it's too much of a travel commitment.

Gwen L: Have you had any more songs cut by other people? I loved "Neon Blue" and look forward to hearing more of your songs!

Pete Anderson: Actually I did half of an album with Flaco Jimenez, and I co-wrote three out of the four songs that we did for Flaco. The title of the album is "Sleepytown."
There is also a song on the new Dwight Yoakam record, "Tomorrow's Sounds Today," called "Alright, I'm Wrong," which I co-wrote with a new artist on the scene in Los Angeles named Cisco. Not the "thong" guy!

Zeny: As a musician and the head of your own record label, do you see Napster as another avenue for music fans to hear new artists, or as something that will end up hurting the industry in the long run?

Pete Anderson: Well, I think obviously Napster is a place where people can congregate and hear new music. On that level, it's good. The music industry has always had basic scares of piracy through its history, and it is something that needs to be dealt with. With digital technology so readily available, it's not that difficult to get an extremely hi-fidelity recording for free. I think with the advent of hard disc recording, like the Sony REO (which I feel is the direction that music will be catalogued and stored by the consumer), the problem of copyright infringement definitely would have to be addressed.

Juke88: Is there an advantage to producing my music through indie Internet channels rather than the traditional route through the recording industry?

Pete Anderson: I think that you're looking at the future of the way almost ALL music is going to be produced. The sooner you learn about it, the better off you are going to be. Major record companies, I predict, will end up being shrunken down and dropped out of major corporations, and will get back to owner-operated. That's going to take a while. But until that happens, I think it will be more and more difficult to get a record deal and have a chance at a successful career with a major record company, unless you neatly fit into a corporate non-musical, prefabricated, head-phoned, microphoned, dance routined, adolescent type of band. Also, you should have no talent! Your chances for success will be better if you have no talent.

Zeny: Which of your guitars would you say has the most sentimental value to you?

Pete Anderson: Probably my 1959 Sunburst Custom Tele. It's the one I played all through my years in bars, and clubs, and Moose Lodges, and it was probably the first really excellent instrument I ever had.

Augustine: Do you prefer playing music or producing it?

Pete Anderson: If I could make a living as a guitar player, that's all I would do. But if I have to be objective about what I do best, I would say producing records has come easiest to me. Learning to play the guitar was very difficult, and I spent a lot of time at it. But I love the sound of it, and the creative freedom that I have when I play.

Marcia: I've written a song and I need to get it orchestrated. I've been told that I'm good enough to sing blues/jazz in Nashville. Who could I get to hear me and promote me?

Pete Anderson: If you're singing blues or jazz, the last place you'd want to go would be Nashville. If you're planning to move there, don't. If you are serious about this, Austin,
Texas is a much better town. They would be more sympathetic to your type of music. To be heard and promoted, obviously you need to be performing. You would need to be able to play clubs, and garner some interest on a local music scene, not unlike the one in Austin, where you would be better received with that type of music. And the scene has a very high profile.

Detroit lady: While touring, playing the same songs night in and night out, what do you do to keep it 'fresh' and exciting for yourself?

Pete Anderson: Well, it is a challenge, and there are times where I feel like I'm in the roadshow for "Cats." But there are areas in the show where spontaneity is allowed, like in my guitar solos on some of the songs. I work very hard to be able to make a living at what I do, and never thought that playing in front of a lot of people on a Thursday night in Thunder Bay, Canada, would be something I wouldn't looking forward to. There have been times in the dressing room before the show when you would rather go back to your room and go to sleep, but there is an intangible thing that happens when you go on stage and people are there to hear you play. Somehow, that transferal of energy always works. One song into the show, you forget about everything that happened earlier in the day that made you feel like you didn't want to be there. That seems to work every time.

Freddy Stribe: How does your label go about taking submissions? Through other producers?

Pete Anderson: We have a web page, www.littledogrecords.com. The P.O. Box is 2219 West Olive Avenue, Number 150, Burbank, California, 91506. We listen to everything that gets sent to us, and if we like it, we'll call you. We don't have an A&R department large enough to respond to everything that is sent to us. Good luck!

Freddy Stribe: What determines nowadays if a song is Country, or say even Folk? It seems very 'crossed over' in both categories.

Pete Anderson: The genres to me are fairly clear. Unfortunately, the people with the most money to market product have really clouded the issue. What is being called "country music" has nothing to do with the real art form. I would suggest that you would listen to earlier records from the late 50s, 60s, and maybe early 70s--Merle Haggard, Buck
Owens, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, etc. That would give you a really good idea of what country music is. As far as folk, I think the singer/songwriter era sort of blurred the issue, but there still is a great resource for that type of music. I think the more corporate the music business becomes, the more opportunities there will be for songwriters and folk singers. It's not unlike what we see in the movies, where blockbuster studio films don't do as well as independent films that actually have a story. Songs win.

Freddy Stribe: Do you think the Internet will end up, say, 'bypassing' the major record labels as far as control over the industry goes?

Pete Anderson: I think the Internet will be the number one source for marketing music in the future. You will have a large storage area, somewhere in your home or apartment, to store your record collection and video or movie collection. And you'll be able to drag over onto your computer whatever you want to listen to or see, and download it into a hand held device for portable purposes. I'm not sure how long this will take, but it will probably be faster than I think.

Hoopie : What's new at Little Dog?

Pete Anderson: The latest record we have is the Scott Joss record called "A New Reason To Care," and I am working on my third record, which will be called "Daredevil." We are redoing our webpage, and preparing to finish the soundtrack album for Dwight's movie "South Of Heaven, West Of Hell." There are a couple of other things in the works, project-wise, that I can't speak about now. I'm trying to stay as busy as I can in my time off of the road, doing as much recording in the studio as I can. We are also planning to do a syndicated singer/songwriter radio show. I'm not sure what we are going to call it yet, but it will include live interviews and live performances.

Euphonix: Do you think major labels will survive in the mid future?

Pete Anderson: Not as we know them. Corporations bought entertainment in the late 60s up through the present day. In doing so, they generally eroded the brain trusts of these labels. Consequently, people of no musical skills ended up running these labels. I think Philips Corporation was the first to flinch when they sold PGD, which was the Polygram labels, to Seagram's for ten million dollars a few years ago. At that time, Philips, which is a huge conglomerate of corporations, had a stock price in the forties. Upon selling PGD, which was their entertainment acquisition of some years prior, the stock rose to 150 dollars per share. I think that this is a sign of the future, where the competition for the entertainment dollar is much greater than it was when the Baby Boomers came of age in the middle to late 60s. I would think anyone with common sense would be able to see that because there were more of these people, i.e. Baby Boomers, they would spend more money. Now, a young teenager with disposable income has so many more choices about where to spend his money. And at the same time, their generation is not as large as the Baby Boomers were; consequently, sales will go down. With bottom lines shrinking, all corporations owning entertainment divisions will cast them aside. Without the guarantee of all the overspending and salaries that were there in the past, the people that were hired to run these music divisions will be let go. The only ones left will be the people with some skills in the music business--writers, producers, and musicians‹and they will end up being independently owned. That will be a good thing.

Hoopie : How much influence do you have on the actual recordings from Dwight or Scott Joss?

Pete Anderson: Every project is different. Dwight and I have a long working relationship, which makes it very unique. In most cases, an artist will bring me finished songs that he or she wants to do. We would then work on them with a couple of guitars, and get the arrangements together. In the case of Dwight, a lot of times when he's starting to work on stuff, in the very, very early stages--I mean maybe only having a chorus, or a melody to a verse--we usually get on the telephone, each with a guitar in our hand, and brainstorm ideas. He will then take those ideas, write the remainder of the song, and then call me again and play it over the phone. We will discuss rhythmic and arranging concepts in the very early stages. This will sometimes help him in the direction he wants to go in completing the song. But this is not the normal way I would work with an artist.

Gloria Lynn: Howdy Pete. What is your favorite leisure activity?

Pete Anderson: I enjoy basketball‹playing it, and watching it on television. And also, playing the guitar in my TV room, late at night.

Gwen L: I saw the Sara Evans "Three Chords and the Truth" video on CMT today. Her first album was so good--should I buy the latest one?

Pete Anderson: Well, I didn't produce the latest one, although I did produce "Three Chords and the Truth." I think Sara is very talented, and if you like more modern sound, you would probably like her new record. If you're looking for the same type of music that was on "Three Chords," I doubt that you will find it there.

Kelli: Do you find it difficult to be a country artist in what seems like such a pop market right now?

Pete Anderson: Well, I don't think of myself as a country artist. I think it's very difficult to be what I would consider a real country artist, to exist, and to get maximum yield from my talents in the climate that we have in radio now.

Mogeter: Can you recommend a moderately priced acoustic guitar for the beginner?

Pete Anderson: I've been sponsored by Larrivée. They make excellent instruments at all price levels. You can see them at www.larrivee.com. Tell them I sent you!

Joe n Sam: Okay, here's my question--from the songwriting vantage, I often receive feedback to watch out for overused, trite phrasing, yet I hear stuff like "I'm head over heels for you" on the radio all the time. What gives?

Pete Anderson: LOL! Obviously, you're listening to modern country radio, or perhaps even pop. It's difficult to explain why the lyrics are so bad. Count yourself as one of the lucky ones to recognize it. To discover more intelligent music is a bit of a difficult chore at this time. I would surf the 'net and listen to alternative country and folk at various sites. There are still some great songwriters making music.

Loon: As dance artists from Denmark, with currently a No. 3, No. 6, and No. 9 'hit' in GB's dance chart, we find it odd that we do not receive the same feedback in Denmark. Would it be wise for us to seek a label in the U.S.A., or is there a point in keeping it in your own country?

Pete Anderson: I think there's no sense in keeping it in your own country if you are not well received. And if that's the case, then you should explore the American market, absolutely. Or Great Britain--they are probably closer!

Roy on Rye: Hi Pete! I play in a band, The Borderguards, from Canada. We recorded our first CD all on digital. Do you yourself like digital, or tape?

Pete Anderson: I've been working in ProTools since '93, which is a hard disk recording computer program. But I must admit that everything I do eventually hits tape. Being as old school as I am, I still prefer the sound of analog, but I definitely enjoy the ease of working in the digital domain.

Detroit lady: What do you see in the future for independent record labels such as Little Dog Records? Will more independent labels start up, and can they make it financially?

Pete Anderson: What I see in the future for Little Dog is a much easier way to market the product, because of the Internet. Also, I'll be able to save money in manufacturing because I believe the future will be digital downloads. Although the profit margins will come down, the cost of making and distributing the product will become a lot less expensive for a label my size. The biggest cost, or problem, is having money tied up in inventory. With the new way of transferring music, my inventory will only exist within the computer. I think it is likely that you will see more small labels, not unlike mine, in the future.

Garageband: Pete, thanks for being here and chatting with us today! What final thoughts would you leave with the audience?

Pete Anderson: I'd like to thank everyone for showing up. This is the first time I've ever done this, and it's exciting to be able to communicate this way. I hope everyone has a good holiday, and continues to link up and communicate via the Internet. I'll see you on the Web! Your pal, Pete Anderson.

Garageband: Thanks for spending some time with garageband.com Advisory Board member Pete Anderson. Come check out the other pro producers and engineers who use garageband.com as the best place to check out the world's best new unsigned bands at www.garageband.com/htdb/advisoryboard/index.html

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