Video: John Schlitt in Concert in Pennsylvania

[Jonathan]

Some folk are fully capable of hitting it big, but have seen and been around the lifestyle, and prefer not to hit it big.

[brent]

Hey Brent, since you seem to know so much about the Music industry, why aren't you in a hit band? or hitting it big? I got the PDC CD and it really sounds amateur, and the Lyrics are mediocre. I just feel that everytime you post something you sound so arrogant.

Just my 50 cents.

I have made my living working for artists that were big. I have mixed Grammy nominated and winning artists, CMA and Dover's as well. That has been my side of things.

PDC was different. If you bothered to read what happened, the whole thing was never meant to be what it was. We had no budget. Many things went wrong. The company that was to press the disc mastered it after it already had been, and smashed the mix apart. We reissued a remix disc overseas where is has sold about 30k units. The US didn't buy as much so we never rereleased here.

The original guys in our band were on par with Petra in their day. Infact our drummer was probably a step above Louie. When John Schlitt heard Wayne, he said "What do you need me for, this guy is GREAT." But stuff happens and it became a mess. We told people it was a mess. We named it that way.

The next two EPs are coming and they have been well received by industry people. People are pretty stoked. The lead singer for Dream Theater has a side project. We have Marco his guitar player. Great player. Louie and two other session provide drums and they smoke! Greg Bailey is on bass. John Lawry is soloing on some keys. We have other players that are on par. I wrote all of the lyrics and produced much of the music on this one. So it is bery different. It is a reflection of where we are NOW, not a blurry reflection of where we were 20 years ago.

Again, I have worked for bug boys. Big boys in ministry too. Until now, my job has been behind the console. This time, I am out front. People can make up their own mind where I should be. The buyers and distributors think that I have made the right choice this time.

[cvs2kids]

Hey Brent, since you seem to know so much about the Music industry, why aren't you in a hit band? or hitting it big? I got the PDC CD and it really sounds amateur, and the Lyrics are mediocre. I just feel that everytime you post something you sound so arrogant.

Just my 50 cents.

Although I'm sure Brent can fend for himself, that is the most childish, non-Christian, uncalled for comment I've seen here for awhile.

Personally, I enjoy his views. Their insightful. And wake up to reality, there are more professional musicians who live off of beans and wieners then those who enjoy cavier. Becoming a hit is like winning the lottery, its hit and miss.

[brent]

re: John on PDC. That is what "mastering" an already mastered album will do. It takes all of the average levels and turns them all into peaks. John said that PDC was good for him and that he would do it again. If you could hear the mixes that were to be (and some of you have) then this would not be an issue. Again, we did it our way and it sold very well (by our standards) over seas.

re: John and the band. I am not telling anyone here anything that a concert promoter doesn't know. I am not telling anyone here anything that a person like Sue doesn't know. There was no motive other than to spread some information.

In this day and age, people like John don't have dedicated bands just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. There is no young group of guys willing to hitch-hike to play for free at some festival. It is a whole different thing. I was merely trying to show what is reality. If you don't like reality, then that is your thing. Go crawl under your little fairytale rock and live there. It is a business and about money. If there is no money, there is no business. Period.

re: making it big. Like someone said, I have been helping people who are big run tours, record, shoot videos, etc. I know what it takes and I have never had a hard time finding work. It has not ever been my calling to be big. If I were big I would be a huge donkey. I am a control freak. It is hard for me to hand off jobs to others without losing sleep. So, it is not me. However, people have generally liked my ADD induced creativity, and OCD for details. Besides, I abused some of my gifts in my 20s, didn't keep some of them up, and now am not as good as somethings as I once was. Plus I am older which is another issue. So, I am heppy to not be a big shot. From everything I have seen first hand, it is a big burdern with many downsides. Nobody is hot flavor for long anymore.

I was not insulted or offended by the questions. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone should voice it while we still can.

[sue d.]

I think you stated your case and again the circumstances around PDC very well, Brent. People are put off by your brash style of writing, but in most cases you are spot on in what you're saying.