Well, we're really doing it. The site is up -- albeit, in an incomplete form -- and we have sold a couple copies of the song already. I am spending most of my time right now trying to figure out how to get more people to the site. So, this week, that's what I'll be doing in all my free time, cough, cough -- gag.
I have to make some more Yinzer Diaries and, actually, I have to edit the ones that I have because they were initially just demos, not anything I expected to release on the site.
It's funny how exciting you can get about ideas and expect that everything will change for you overnight in terms of getting your idea out there. But finishing the song, the site, etc, is really just the very beginning. We have a long, long road ahead of us in terms of accomplishing what we set out to do. And, actually, I would say that what we've set out to do is being redefined daily.
Some jokers who don't like country music have already gotten to our facebook page and let everyone know the song sucks. Nice! It has me thinking more and more about doing that other version Nate and I have talked about. I have a song in my mind already and am going to make a new demo of it for Nate sometime soon. Here it goes again...
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Monday, October 19, 2009
Really Doing It.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Consulting the Magic 8-Ball
So, things are getting pretty serious now. Nate and I have decided to form a Partnership called "The Sammitch Company." TheSammitchCompany.com domain has been secured through GoDaddy. I will be filling out the articles of Incorporation for us today and we'll have to go open a bank account for the company and hook up a PayPal account to it. The Sammitch Company will have only one project for the time being. I'd be lying if I said the following thought never occurred to me: "Why not other creative collaborations in the future?" It's not as if this Steelers song is a once-in-a-while thing -- the one creative idea we happened to have this year. Nate and I are both the kind of people that can't get through the day without dreaming something up -- it's just the way our minds work. So why not future projects under The Sammitch Company name? I could definitely see it happening and now we'll have a corporate structure under which these ideas could flourish.
Here's my favorite part of our business agreement so far -- Nate's idea, I have to admit. It is suggested that in any business agreement between partners who have agreed on a 50/50 balance of power that there is a period after which a third-party arbitrator is called in to cast the deciding vote. We're actually going to write it into the agreement that after a period of time (maybe we make it 15 days instead of 30) that we call in an arbitrator -- namely, the Magic 8-Ball. It will cast the final ballot. If the answer comes up as "Maybe" then we wait another 15 days. If the answer comes up as "Maybe" again, we drop the idea we're working on entirely, accepting it as a word from God that we're not to go forward. Beautiful!
I think talk of money and business agreements makes me REALLY uncomfortable and I'm not sure why. Nate brings such levity to the whole discussion, though. A Magic 8-Ball makes the final decision? Brilliant. It really highlights how ludicrous it is to get hung up over stuff that ultimately has no bearing on my life. I lived before the Steelers song and the Sammitch Company and I'll live after it. I'll live whether the song takes off or goes on the trash heap. I'll still be happy. I'll still laugh 100 x a day regardless. Why get so hung up and Jerky over this stuff??
The website should be up in the next few days. More news to come...
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Thursday, October 8, 2009
New Developments on the Steelers "Fight Song"
Where do I start??
There's been a bunch of new developments since yesterday. I'll try to cover them all.
First, Nate sent the song file by e-mail to the director of Pittsburgh Promise, an organization that works with Pittsburgh Youth. We're interested in coming up with some way to collaborate with them on getting the song out there. 10% of the proceeds from the song would go to their organaization. The Director, Saalem, loved it I guess. He said to count them in. Nate is meeting with Saalem tomorrow afternoon over a beer on the North side. I'm going to do my best to make it there, too, although things have been rather busy lately at the Weasel household because of dealing with various illnesses and responsibilities.
Second, Nate sent out some logo options over the past couple days. Here's a couple examples:
There's been a bunch of new developments since yesterday. I'll try to cover them all.
First, Nate sent the song file by e-mail to the director of Pittsburgh Promise, an organization that works with Pittsburgh Youth. We're interested in coming up with some way to collaborate with them on getting the song out there. 10% of the proceeds from the song would go to their organaization. The Director, Saalem, loved it I guess. He said to count them in. Nate is meeting with Saalem tomorrow afternoon over a beer on the North side. I'm going to do my best to make it there, too, although things have been rather busy lately at the Weasel household because of dealing with various illnesses and responsibilities.
Second, Nate sent out some logo options over the past couple days. Here's a couple examples:
Currently, there's a disagreement. I'm sold on the yellow one, but my designer friend and Nate both disagree with me. Crap. There are a lot of other options though that are all similar to these. One of them will end up working out for us.
Third development: I have posted some samples of a video blog idea I got I'm calling The Yinzer Diaries. These files are currently unedited demos of what I imagine doing for that blog, so they're not the finished product. The one called Top 10 is the only one I fully planned out. The others I was kind of winging off the cuff. You'll get the idea, though. If this ever caught on and someone goes back in this blog's archives, you'll be able to see when the idea all started, which might be interesting to some people.
Fourth development, the song has been sent to the contact Nate has at Heinz Field. Through his wife, Nate knows a guy that is one of four people that control what's played on the video board and over the loudspeakers there at Heinz Field. If he likes the song and plays it at the game, we're in. Fingers are crossed and prayers have been said.
Fifth development, I heard the final mix of the song yesterday and I think it sounds fantastic. It's a very full blend of all instruments, voices and EQ ranges. I feel like everything is able to be heard very clearly. Walter Ino did a great job playing, recording and mixing it. A one man show!! We'll be able to post it online now. A link will be on the main page of the site sometime soon.
Sixth development, we're now ranked #2 in Google for the term "Steeler Country." We're also ranked #1 for the search term "Steeler Country Song." These are not the most sought after keywords right now, but when people start hearing the song it will be the likely terms they'll use to find us. This is an exciting development, but we've got to get going on the real site design so that we don't lose prospective customers...
I think that's it. We still need to do some work to get ranked on Google for "Steelers Fight Songs" as a search term. We're no where to be seen right now for this or anything like it: Fight Songs, Steelers Songs, etc. I'll keep trying, though.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Men Love To Cry When They're Sick...
...And I'm not different I suppose. I am the guy who will do any sort of manual labor with vigor, getting filthy and tearing up my hands, knees etc, dig ditches in the cold, put my bare hands in the muck to unclog a drain. But the second I'm sick, I want to lie in bed whining for my wife to take care of me. Rather pitiful, I admit.
But as I have been lying in bed, I've come up with the concept for the three short videos that can be part of the The Yinzer Diaries series I want to put on the This Is Steeler Country site. It involves the character that I am blogging under here -- at least what's in my profile. His name is the weasel and he's long time Picksburger and big Stillers fan. I was initially going to do one idea like this as a demo for my friend Nate Smith (of wall|wall. After I came up with the three separate ideas though, I realized they're probably good enough (assuming I perform them correctly) for sticking up on the main site. As long as they're pretty funny, that's all that matters. And I think they will be.
Nate picked up the final copy of the mix from Walter Ino last night and said it sounds great. Apparently, Walter got my e-mail and made all the necessary changes. I'm hoping he's not too aggravated with everything he's had to do for this. I don't remember Walter ever being mad at me or me at him in the 20+ years I've known him, so I'd hate to start now!
I heard a report this morning that Polomalu was back to a light practice today, giving the knee a little workout to see how it felt. MAN IS THAT GOOD NEWS for the Steelers!!! If anyone doubted the effect he has on the game, it is now undeniable. Those two losses we have would almost certainly have been wins if he wasn't out. He has to be one of the most important players on any team in terms of affecting the outcome of games.
That's it. Need more rest. Go Pittsburgh Steelers.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
But as I have been lying in bed, I've come up with the concept for the three short videos that can be part of the The Yinzer Diaries series I want to put on the This Is Steeler Country site. It involves the character that I am blogging under here -- at least what's in my profile. His name is the weasel and he's long time Picksburger and big Stillers fan. I was initially going to do one idea like this as a demo for my friend Nate Smith (of wall|wall. After I came up with the three separate ideas though, I realized they're probably good enough (assuming I perform them correctly) for sticking up on the main site. As long as they're pretty funny, that's all that matters. And I think they will be.
Nate picked up the final copy of the mix from Walter Ino last night and said it sounds great. Apparently, Walter got my e-mail and made all the necessary changes. I'm hoping he's not too aggravated with everything he's had to do for this. I don't remember Walter ever being mad at me or me at him in the 20+ years I've known him, so I'd hate to start now!
I heard a report this morning that Polomalu was back to a light practice today, giving the knee a little workout to see how it felt. MAN IS THAT GOOD NEWS for the Steelers!!! If anyone doubted the effect he has on the game, it is now undeniable. Those two losses we have would almost certainly have been wins if he wasn't out. He has to be one of the most important players on any team in terms of affecting the outcome of games.
That's it. Need more rest. Go Pittsburgh Steelers.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
It Ain't Just The Song, I Think...
When the idea first arose to write a new Steelers song that would take over airplay and steal popularity from the current one, it really seemed at the time like it was all about the song. The song is what you hear and what people respond to, it seemed. And if the song was good enough, why wouldn't people love it, want to buy it, want to hear it played at the stadium, etc? That all makes sense to me, still. There is, however, a new paradigm that's been opening up to me as I have gone down this road of HOW we get our song to replace the old one. And what I've come to realize is that it can't be just about the song.
Do a simple search on the Internet for Steelers Fight Songs and check out how many different songs are out there! As I have said in earlier posts, I was totally oblivious to any other songs except the old Polka song and the one that gets played all the time now-a-days when I wrote "This is Steeler Country." I had no idea there were hundreds of songs out there.
The risk in writing a new song and especially in branding it a "fight song," which I initially did and sometimes still will for the sake of getting my site ranked higher in Google, is that it immediately puts it into the camp of all the other people out there who wrote their own fight songs. So, you may tell someone you wrote a new Steelers song and they think to themselves, "Yeah, I wrote one of them fight songs, too. Never got any airplay." The immediate assumption is that you've done something hundreds of others have done and that yours is destined for the same trash heap of old Steeler Fight Songs that everyone else's ended up on.
But I really think we've done something unique here. It's not a typical Steelers song and it should be considered as typical of some of the bad songs that are out there. So, we have to differentiate it from all the others and the way we do that is by all of the supporting content I have been trying to "imagineer" over the last few weeks.
While things like Anatomy of A Rooney don't directly relate to selling our song, they do very much in a "sneaking in the back door" sort of way. In like manner, yesterday I thought of doing a video series called "The Yinzer Diaries" -- short videos with ridiculous and/or obscure jokes and filled with non-sequiturs. Or an interview show hosted by Hal Hollywood, a character I made for a Murder Mystery Dinner I attended back in the winter. (The character went over quite well all evening and I've always wanted to do something else with him.) Short-sighted logic may be screaming "Why are you doing all this extra stuff? Concentrate on the song!" Well, the song will be totally done soon -- likely today is the final mix. Unfortunately (in some ways), this is only the very beginning.
The odds of a song, even a very good one, catching on and taking off and replacing what is currently so ubiquitous is not that good if the song is all there is. To really do what we've set out to do, massive action is required and a plan must be put into place that makes a phenomenon out of the www.ThisIsSteelerCountry.com site. If we don't, our song goes in the dust bin with the others.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Do a simple search on the Internet for Steelers Fight Songs and check out how many different songs are out there! As I have said in earlier posts, I was totally oblivious to any other songs except the old Polka song and the one that gets played all the time now-a-days when I wrote "This is Steeler Country." I had no idea there were hundreds of songs out there.
The risk in writing a new song and especially in branding it a "fight song," which I initially did and sometimes still will for the sake of getting my site ranked higher in Google, is that it immediately puts it into the camp of all the other people out there who wrote their own fight songs. So, you may tell someone you wrote a new Steelers song and they think to themselves, "Yeah, I wrote one of them fight songs, too. Never got any airplay." The immediate assumption is that you've done something hundreds of others have done and that yours is destined for the same trash heap of old Steeler Fight Songs that everyone else's ended up on.
But I really think we've done something unique here. It's not a typical Steelers song and it should be considered as typical of some of the bad songs that are out there. So, we have to differentiate it from all the others and the way we do that is by all of the supporting content I have been trying to "imagineer" over the last few weeks.
While things like Anatomy of A Rooney don't directly relate to selling our song, they do very much in a "sneaking in the back door" sort of way. In like manner, yesterday I thought of doing a video series called "The Yinzer Diaries" -- short videos with ridiculous and/or obscure jokes and filled with non-sequiturs. Or an interview show hosted by Hal Hollywood, a character I made for a Murder Mystery Dinner I attended back in the winter. (The character went over quite well all evening and I've always wanted to do something else with him.) Short-sighted logic may be screaming "Why are you doing all this extra stuff? Concentrate on the song!" Well, the song will be totally done soon -- likely today is the final mix. Unfortunately (in some ways), this is only the very beginning.
The odds of a song, even a very good one, catching on and taking off and replacing what is currently so ubiquitous is not that good if the song is all there is. To really do what we've set out to do, massive action is required and a plan must be put into place that makes a phenomenon out of the www.ThisIsSteelerCountry.com site. If we don't, our song goes in the dust bin with the others.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Monday, October 5, 2009
Downloading All Weekend Info Into One Ginormous Post
I spent the weekend -- in what little free time I had -- starting the Steeler Country website. I had already done a lot of work on the portion of the site that teaches readers how to make their own Rooney, a football headed character created me and two friends when they were visiting from Upstate NY. I finished the Rooney page (except for the editing which needs to be done to remove any untoward references to things like drugs and sex). I'm not exactly a "drugs and sex" kind of guy, but it kind of helps using these references when you're pretending to be a megalomanical creator of Football Headed Good Luck Charm for a Professional Football franchise... I guess. Anyway, I've been advised by the Marketing Director of this fine venture that kids might be drawn to this portion of the site, and therefore, mentioning drugs and sex would be bad. I might have to modify the tone overall. You might have to check out the Rooney page for yourself to see what I mean...
A new mix is supposed to occur sometime today-ish, if Walter Ino gets a chance at it. It hurts to have a product 95% ready and have to sit on it for over a week just because of that last 5%. But it would be a bad idea to start sending it out places when it might not make the best impression that could be made with it. I am working every day on this idea and yet I still feel like I never get enough done. It's amazing that such a small thing could take so much time to do correctly -- and this with four people involved! I could use a team of five at least and they'd all stay busy. But, they'd eat up all the profits, too... Okay, I'll do it myself.
I'm thinking that the DVD people bailed on the idea of a "This Is Steeler Country" documentary. They mentioned they were hoping to pick up some funding the weekend I met with them in Ambridge. MY guess is that their situation was more desperate than I knew and their demise was imminent and they didn't last the weekend before they decided to screw the whole thing. I've written them numerous e-mails but have gotten no response. Smells like a blow-off to me! (This is absolutely fine, but an e-mail would have been nice...)
As I walked into the Steelers game last night (btw -- whew! that was a close one) I took notice of all the tailgaters and got a *little* overwhelmed with the thought of walking into the middle of them all and bursting out in song. It's not the crowd size that would bother me. I've played in front of lots of people so many times that nervousness is not the issue anymore. The problem is that they're so involved with what they're doing. It's a hard sell to take them away from what they're focused on: beer, Italian Sausages, tossing a football around and asking for their attention on a Steeler's song they've never heard of. Maybe that's not the best way to get the song heard. What I can see doing is printing up thousands of little business cards that have the "www.ThisIsSteelerCountry.com" site with the words "Free Song Download" underneath. That would require nothing from them and would be a good way to cheaply start getting the word out.
Another thing while at the stuadium -- Man, can I hear the song being played over the main speakers there into Heinz Field. I can TOTALLY envision people chanting the "Hey, Hey, Hey, This is Steeler Country" part at the end. The guy Nate knows that works at Heinz Field is the key. If he gets it played there.... dang. We're in. I'm going to buy that guy some sort of big bribe... I mean, thank-you gift for considering the song. If we get it to him this week, maybe we could get it played there for the next home game in two weeks? We play Cleveland, but I will be out of town for a wedding. Boy would that suck if I missed the first time the song was played at the stadium!!
Dreaming anyway....
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
A new mix is supposed to occur sometime today-ish, if Walter Ino gets a chance at it. It hurts to have a product 95% ready and have to sit on it for over a week just because of that last 5%. But it would be a bad idea to start sending it out places when it might not make the best impression that could be made with it. I am working every day on this idea and yet I still feel like I never get enough done. It's amazing that such a small thing could take so much time to do correctly -- and this with four people involved! I could use a team of five at least and they'd all stay busy. But, they'd eat up all the profits, too... Okay, I'll do it myself.
I'm thinking that the DVD people bailed on the idea of a "This Is Steeler Country" documentary. They mentioned they were hoping to pick up some funding the weekend I met with them in Ambridge. MY guess is that their situation was more desperate than I knew and their demise was imminent and they didn't last the weekend before they decided to screw the whole thing. I've written them numerous e-mails but have gotten no response. Smells like a blow-off to me! (This is absolutely fine, but an e-mail would have been nice...)
As I walked into the Steelers game last night (btw -- whew! that was a close one) I took notice of all the tailgaters and got a *little* overwhelmed with the thought of walking into the middle of them all and bursting out in song. It's not the crowd size that would bother me. I've played in front of lots of people so many times that nervousness is not the issue anymore. The problem is that they're so involved with what they're doing. It's a hard sell to take them away from what they're focused on: beer, Italian Sausages, tossing a football around and asking for their attention on a Steeler's song they've never heard of. Maybe that's not the best way to get the song heard. What I can see doing is printing up thousands of little business cards that have the "www.ThisIsSteelerCountry.com" site with the words "Free Song Download" underneath. That would require nothing from them and would be a good way to cheaply start getting the word out.
Another thing while at the stuadium -- Man, can I hear the song being played over the main speakers there into Heinz Field. I can TOTALLY envision people chanting the "Hey, Hey, Hey, This is Steeler Country" part at the end. The guy Nate knows that works at Heinz Field is the key. If he gets it played there.... dang. We're in. I'm going to buy that guy some sort of big bribe... I mean, thank-you gift for considering the song. If we get it to him this week, maybe we could get it played there for the next home game in two weeks? We play Cleveland, but I will be out of town for a wedding. Boy would that suck if I missed the first time the song was played at the stadium!!
Dreaming anyway....
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Saturday, October 3, 2009
This is Almost Scary
Okay. I just did a quick search in Google.com on the words (no parentheses) "this is steeler country" and to my surprise, the website address I recently registered and have basically done nothing with is already ranked #6. I haven't optimized this at all yet. How did that happen?
If it's that high already, just think what will happen when people get a whiff of the song and start searching on that title. We are sure to get some good traffic there.
I never expected that. Nice surprise for a very late Saturday night.
On another good note, the Rooney site (www.thisissteelercountry.com/rooney.html) is nearing completion. I might be able to post it tomorrow. pretty funny stuff, if I do have to say so myself.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
If it's that high already, just think what will happen when people get a whiff of the song and start searching on that title. We are sure to get some good traffic there.
I never expected that. Nice surprise for a very late Saturday night.
On another good note, the Rooney site (www.thisissteelercountry.com/rooney.html) is nearing completion. I might be able to post it tomorrow. pretty funny stuff, if I do have to say so myself.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Thursday, October 1, 2009
I Have This Little Problem...
I can't stop thinking of idea bigger than my available resources would allow me to do. It doesn't always stop me. I have developed some strong abilities in the area of convincing people to work with me toward some creative goal, giving them motivation and incentive to do it. So yesterday at work, when I thought of a video idea that would take about 100+ people, I got over my initial thoughts about how it's ludicrous to even try something like that rather quickly. With CraigsList, getting 100+ volunteers for a music video actually is in the realm of possibility. And since it's a music video about The Pittsburgh Steelers, it's even more possible.
From a motivational standpoint, I have to consider what would make people volunteer and actually show up for something like this. People that are fans don't show up just out of the goodness of their hearts, and that's fine -- that's how a free system should work. Their time is worth something to them, so they have to feel that they're being compensated in some fashion. I just have to figure out what the compensation that's offered needs to be in order to get the most amount of people. For the average Steeler fan, this might be kind of easy. Here's some ideas:
1. Tell them this video is going to be released Nationally (YouTube, but you don't have to mention that part up front...).
2. Raffle off the Steeler Season Tickets I have for the Baltimore Ravens game on December 27th. I lose about $450 on this one. I can't make the game, but they'll be easy to sell for a healthy profit.
3. Talk to the people at Heinz Field and ask for permission to use the stadium in the video. It would be great if the crowd of people could end up there. This would incentivize a lot of people to get involved.
4. Offer Pizza and Pop for free lunch as well as a free copy of the Music CD for the song "This Is Steeler Country."
Those are some of the ideas I've come up with. The main thing we'll end up doing is recruiting family and friends to be a part of this. If the four principals Me, Walt, Nate and Kevin all were responsible for gathering 20-25 people, we'd have our crowd.
The plan right now is to shoot the October the 10th, a Saturday. I think we could knock out all footage except for the end footage on that day in about 6 hrs time. That's asking a lot, but I think it's do-able with the right incentive.
*********************
On a completely extra-cirricular note: Today is an old friend's brithday -- the former Rebecca Brennan. I wish I could track her down to at least send an e-mail that says "Happy Birthday." It's pretty impressive that I remember it all these years later and would like a **little** credit.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
From a motivational standpoint, I have to consider what would make people volunteer and actually show up for something like this. People that are fans don't show up just out of the goodness of their hearts, and that's fine -- that's how a free system should work. Their time is worth something to them, so they have to feel that they're being compensated in some fashion. I just have to figure out what the compensation that's offered needs to be in order to get the most amount of people. For the average Steeler fan, this might be kind of easy. Here's some ideas:
1. Tell them this video is going to be released Nationally (YouTube, but you don't have to mention that part up front...).
2. Raffle off the Steeler Season Tickets I have for the Baltimore Ravens game on December 27th. I lose about $450 on this one. I can't make the game, but they'll be easy to sell for a healthy profit.
3. Talk to the people at Heinz Field and ask for permission to use the stadium in the video. It would be great if the crowd of people could end up there. This would incentivize a lot of people to get involved.
4. Offer Pizza and Pop for free lunch as well as a free copy of the Music CD for the song "This Is Steeler Country."
Those are some of the ideas I've come up with. The main thing we'll end up doing is recruiting family and friends to be a part of this. If the four principals Me, Walt, Nate and Kevin all were responsible for gathering 20-25 people, we'd have our crowd.
The plan right now is to shoot the October the 10th, a Saturday. I think we could knock out all footage except for the end footage on that day in about 6 hrs time. That's asking a lot, but I think it's do-able with the right incentive.
*********************
On a completely extra-cirricular note: Today is an old friend's brithday -- the former Rebecca Brennan. I wish I could track her down to at least send an e-mail that says "Happy Birthday." It's pretty impressive that I remember it all these years later and would like a **little** credit.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
This Is Steeler Country
My Goodness am I tired.
This last week has been unlike any week in recent memory for me and my body is REALLY feeling it. I can't remember the last night that I had more than 5 hours of sleep. I work at a place that deals with Sleep Disorders. Five hours of sleep a night is REALLY bad for you. I have to get back on track soon.
We were in the studio last night until 1:30. I had no idea it was that late. Walter was a trooper -- refusing to go out to Eat 'N' Park with Nate and I so that he could finish editing the song. We brought him back a Buffalo Chicken sandwich and fries. Nice dinner at 1am. He was getting up at 8am to go to a gig out in Beaver, playing the drums. I barely stayed awake on the way home and crashed, but then woke up around 6:30, as usual. Need.... Sleep...
The good news is that "This Is Steeler Country" sound fantastic. If there are any additional tweeks needed, they are extremely minor. Kevin Morgan put in a great vocal last night, making the song even better than last week when we already liked it a lot to begin with. Addmitedly, I am a *tad* concerned about doing it live. Thankfully, that's not a concern right now. I have two websites www.ThisIsSteelerCountry.com and www.SteelerCountrySong.com to create as well as any other stuff, like the Rooney fan page. I have to have at least one of these pages ready to go by next Sunday when we go down to the Steelers game and pass out cards with the website address on it, so that people can check out the song. I'd like to be able to jump right on shooting the video, but that's not going to happen for a little while longer. We have enough to keep us busy right now.
Nate's planning on putting the song on YouTube in some format right now, just to get it up there.
Hmm.. anything else? Brain hurts. Need meds.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
This last week has been unlike any week in recent memory for me and my body is REALLY feeling it. I can't remember the last night that I had more than 5 hours of sleep. I work at a place that deals with Sleep Disorders. Five hours of sleep a night is REALLY bad for you. I have to get back on track soon.
We were in the studio last night until 1:30. I had no idea it was that late. Walter was a trooper -- refusing to go out to Eat 'N' Park with Nate and I so that he could finish editing the song. We brought him back a Buffalo Chicken sandwich and fries. Nice dinner at 1am. He was getting up at 8am to go to a gig out in Beaver, playing the drums. I barely stayed awake on the way home and crashed, but then woke up around 6:30, as usual. Need.... Sleep...
The good news is that "This Is Steeler Country" sound fantastic. If there are any additional tweeks needed, they are extremely minor. Kevin Morgan put in a great vocal last night, making the song even better than last week when we already liked it a lot to begin with. Addmitedly, I am a *tad* concerned about doing it live. Thankfully, that's not a concern right now. I have two websites www.ThisIsSteelerCountry.com and www.SteelerCountrySong.com to create as well as any other stuff, like the Rooney fan page. I have to have at least one of these pages ready to go by next Sunday when we go down to the Steelers game and pass out cards with the website address on it, so that people can check out the song. I'd like to be able to jump right on shooting the video, but that's not going to happen for a little while longer. We have enough to keep us busy right now.
Nate's planning on putting the song on YouTube in some format right now, just to get it up there.
Hmm.. anything else? Brain hurts. Need meds.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Here In The Studio
I'm here in Secret Asian Studios redoing the vocals and finishing the song off with Walter Ino, the Producer and Kevin Morgan, the singer. We had Kevin redo the vocal with a little more gusto and it really paid off. I'm excited for the final mix-down and for people to check it out with the new energy. I'm assuming at this point that I'm going to be here late into the evening, which is fine, even though I only slept 4 1/2 hours last night and have been up since 3:30 this morning.
Today, I started working on another idea to bring people into the website. It's not a finished idea yet, but it's started and some people have told me that's it's pretty funny. If you want to check it out, go to the main web site page here. The idea started this weekend when friends from NY were visiting and we took the pictures of the dressed up football. We decided we liked him as a character a lot. So I decided he deserved his own site. The whole thing is going to be a tongue-in-cheek look at the life of this character, who we decided is known as the "Official Spokes-ball of Steeler Country." Video ideas for him are in the works, as well as possible collaboration with Steeler Baby.
Here's a couple shots from the studio:
D.M. Lovic and Kevin Morgan:
D.M. Lovic and Walter Ino:
Kevin Morgan at work:
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Today, I started working on another idea to bring people into the website. It's not a finished idea yet, but it's started and some people have told me that's it's pretty funny. If you want to check it out, go to the main web site page here. The idea started this weekend when friends from NY were visiting and we took the pictures of the dressed up football. We decided we liked him as a character a lot. So I decided he deserved his own site. The whole thing is going to be a tongue-in-cheek look at the life of this character, who we decided is known as the "Official Spokes-ball of Steeler Country." Video ideas for him are in the works, as well as possible collaboration with Steeler Baby.
Here's a couple shots from the studio:
D.M. Lovic and Kevin Morgan:
D.M. Lovic and Walter Ino:
Kevin Morgan at work:
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Monday, September 28, 2009
New Developments: "This Is Steeler Country" the DVD
So over the weekend, I was surprised with some new developments. While researching the phrase "This is Steeler Country" on the web, I found the website for a production team out of NYC who are doing a documentary on the Steeler Bars throughout the U.S. Since this is the same crowd for which I wrote my song called "This is Steeler Country" I was really interested in checking them out. I wrote to one of the Producers and sent him a link to the song clip I posted on Friday. He wrote back and suggested I visit with him while he shot footage during the Steeler's game on Sunday afternoon out in Ambridge. They were shooting at Fred's Divot.
I talked with Ken and mostly Stacey, the Co-Producers of the DVD. She explained that they are looking for funding to finish the season and are hopeful that they'll get a tv production deal out of the finished result. The best part of it all is that they LOVED the song and felt it was perfect for what they're doing. Stacey said there are only a few things they're sure about with the show and one of those things is that they're going to use my song. Their website is here if you want to check it out. They have a 3-minute video posted that gives a good idea of what the show will be like.
Another development is the CD cover art. Friends from Upstate NY were here over the weekend and we went to a local football field and shot a little football character we designed for the CD cover. We decided to call him "Rooney" in honor of the longtime owners of the Pittsburgh Steeler franchise. We think the pictures turned out pretty darn well. The end result will look a little different, as my designer friend Dave is going to erase the old houses and put in a more suitable background for the cover. I'll use similar art for the website when I design it.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
I talked with Ken and mostly Stacey, the Co-Producers of the DVD. She explained that they are looking for funding to finish the season and are hopeful that they'll get a tv production deal out of the finished result. The best part of it all is that they LOVED the song and felt it was perfect for what they're doing. Stacey said there are only a few things they're sure about with the show and one of those things is that they're going to use my song. Their website is here if you want to check it out. They have a 3-minute video posted that gives a good idea of what the show will be like.
Another development is the CD cover art. Friends from Upstate NY were here over the weekend and we went to a local football field and shot a little football character we designed for the CD cover. We decided to call him "Rooney" in honor of the longtime owners of the Pittsburgh Steeler franchise. We think the pictures turned out pretty darn well. The end result will look a little different, as my designer friend Dave is going to erase the old houses and put in a more suitable background for the cover. I'll use similar art for the website when I design it.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Friday, September 25, 2009
Sneak peek of the "This Is Steeler Country" song
Okay, folks. Although absolutely no one is clambering yet to hear the country song I wrote for the Steelers called "This Is Steeler Country," you will be soon. With that in mind, I am posting a very rough mix of the chorus. This is a behind-the- scenes look at the song before it's even complete, so it's pretty gosh-darn exclusive.
Click HERE to listen and see if you can imagine this being played at Heinz Field for thousands of screaming fans!
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Click HERE to listen and see if you can imagine this being played at Heinz Field for thousands of screaming fans!
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Waiting For Next Week to Finish the Steeler's Country Song
The song is on hold for a couple days while the Producer is out of town, playing with his cover band. For the last 3 weeks, we've only had Tuesdays to dedicate to the recordings. This has made it difficult in some ways, since creativity and initiative is hard to hold back when it wants to go do something productive, but since the recording is free, I don't think I'll complain.
I have now listened to the song about 20 times and my friend Nathan (marketing) has passed it around his office at Wall to Wall studios, a design company here in Pittsburgh. It has gotten some great feedback. The general concensus is that we have a potential hit on our hands, although some people have cited a lack of enthusiasm noticed in the initial vocal. As a result, we're going to re-record some of the vocal parts next Tuesday to try to give it a little more umph. I wrote the singer about this yesterday, a little concerned what his response might be to the criticism. Thankfully, he took it all in stride, so we're on for next Tuesday.
In the meantime, we're thinking of more ways to get the song out there. One of the ideas is to get it posted on the SteelerBaby.com site -- a site owned and operated by Wall to Wall studios. Another is to get cracking on the video. I have to talk to Nate about that today. Maybe I can get the whole video idea on paper by next Tuesday so we can jump right on it as soon as the song is finished.
So, the takeover of the Steeler Fight Song is still underway, but as you can see, it's not a quick thing to do. Ones attention must be focused for quite some time. That's not usually my style, but I think this might all really pay off in the end. Nate told me the other day that it's his goal to have us singing the "This Is Steeler Country" song from the 50 yd line at the Ravens game at Heinz Field in December. That's a pretty high goal, but it's good to have something to chase after like that!
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
I have now listened to the song about 20 times and my friend Nathan (marketing) has passed it around his office at Wall to Wall studios, a design company here in Pittsburgh. It has gotten some great feedback. The general concensus is that we have a potential hit on our hands, although some people have cited a lack of enthusiasm noticed in the initial vocal. As a result, we're going to re-record some of the vocal parts next Tuesday to try to give it a little more umph. I wrote the singer about this yesterday, a little concerned what his response might be to the criticism. Thankfully, he took it all in stride, so we're on for next Tuesday.
In the meantime, we're thinking of more ways to get the song out there. One of the ideas is to get it posted on the SteelerBaby.com site -- a site owned and operated by Wall to Wall studios. Another is to get cracking on the video. I have to talk to Nate about that today. Maybe I can get the whole video idea on paper by next Tuesday so we can jump right on it as soon as the song is finished.
So, the takeover of the Steeler Fight Song is still underway, but as you can see, it's not a quick thing to do. Ones attention must be focused for quite some time. That's not usually my style, but I think this might all really pay off in the end. Nate told me the other day that it's his goal to have us singing the "This Is Steeler Country" song from the 50 yd line at the Ravens game at Heinz Field in December. That's a pretty high goal, but it's good to have something to chase after like that!
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Vocals are Complete
Last night we went into the studio to record the main vocal for "This Is Steeler Country." The singer I found is a local country who has a following in the area, having performed country music locally for many years. His name is Kevin Morgan. You can see some of his music and his video at http://www.myspace.com/kevinmorgancountry. The recording took a couple hours and then a group of us there in the studio added the background "gang" vocal.
When the recording was complete and we all listened back to the rough mix, we were all really happy with it. I think we have a great Steelers song that could really go somewhere with the right marketing.
Nate Smith, creative consultant and marketing guru, has some new ideas for getting the song out there that are very inventive. We also discussed the music video. Thankfully, Nate has access to an HD camera or two through his workplace www.walltowall.com. I have made numerous music videos throughout the years, so I plan on directing the music video for "This Is Steeler Country." We have the basic idea for it already. Finding the time to shoot and edit is going to be a real chore, though. I have a wife and kids at home!
By the way, the song was produced by Walter Ino, a Pittsburgh Musician and now Producer for over 20 years.
Within a couple weeks, we should have the finished song uploaded and ready to market. This is getting very exciting!
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
When the recording was complete and we all listened back to the rough mix, we were all really happy with it. I think we have a great Steelers song that could really go somewhere with the right marketing.
Nate Smith, creative consultant and marketing guru, has some new ideas for getting the song out there that are very inventive. We also discussed the music video. Thankfully, Nate has access to an HD camera or two through his workplace www.walltowall.com. I have made numerous music videos throughout the years, so I plan on directing the music video for "This Is Steeler Country." We have the basic idea for it already. Finding the time to shoot and edit is going to be a real chore, though. I have a wife and kids at home!
By the way, the song was produced by Walter Ino, a Pittsburgh Musician and now Producer for over 20 years.
Within a couple weeks, we should have the finished song uploaded and ready to market. This is getting very exciting!
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Monday, September 14, 2009
I Have My Singer for the Fight Song!!
Well I have found the singer for my Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song -- in case you forget, the song is called "This Is Steeler Country." I won't say his name yet, because the deal is not finalized. I put an ad on CraigsList.com last week and I got a response from a friend of his saying I should call him. He is a local singer that used to live in Nashville and was actually signed to a recording contract at one point. His voice is obviously very good and he has a lot of connections that can help us get the song out there and successful. In turn, I think we can help his career as well. If this thing takes off, he will gain instant notoriety and make some good money, too.
So Tuesday night is the night that we're going into the studio to finishing editing some of the lead guitar that was laid down and, hopefully, to put down the main vocal for the song, too. This is getting exciting. The song is sitting well with me still. Often times after you've written a song, it takes a while before you know if it's really good or not. This song is still sitting very well with me after a few weeks which is a great sign that it will last and will hook people in.
Another exciting development: over the weekend I spoke with my marketing friend Nate from wall to wall about an idea I have to get the song out to the fans. Not only was he totally on board with my idea, but he actually made the idea better. We would be aiming to put this idea into action for the next Pittsburgh Steelers home game at Heinz Field on October the 5th -- a Monday night. It's an idea that is almost sure to work. I'm really excited about getting the fight song out this way.
I'm waiting to hear back from the singer. I sent him an mp3 of the song with my scratch vocal and the lyric sheet this morning. I know he's at work now, so I'm expecting to hear back from him this evening. Things are progressing very well now. I have some work to do on the online marketing side today during my lunch break. My brother gave me some great ideas that I now have to execute.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
So Tuesday night is the night that we're going into the studio to finishing editing some of the lead guitar that was laid down and, hopefully, to put down the main vocal for the song, too. This is getting exciting. The song is sitting well with me still. Often times after you've written a song, it takes a while before you know if it's really good or not. This song is still sitting very well with me after a few weeks which is a great sign that it will last and will hook people in.
Another exciting development: over the weekend I spoke with my marketing friend Nate from wall to wall about an idea I have to get the song out to the fans. Not only was he totally on board with my idea, but he actually made the idea better. We would be aiming to put this idea into action for the next Pittsburgh Steelers home game at Heinz Field on October the 5th -- a Monday night. It's an idea that is almost sure to work. I'm really excited about getting the fight song out this way.
I'm waiting to hear back from the singer. I sent him an mp3 of the song with my scratch vocal and the lyric sheet this morning. I know he's at work now, so I'm expecting to hear back from him this evening. Things are progressing very well now. I have some work to do on the online marketing side today during my lunch break. My brother gave me some great ideas that I now have to execute.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Friday, September 11, 2009
Another Day Creating a Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song (Country Song)
Another day, another step in the process of creating a great country song about the Pittsburgh Steelers. I reserved the website domains "www.SteelerCountrySong.com" and "www.ThisIsSteelerCountry.com." I think these are two great domain names for getting my song out there. My goal right now in terms of marketing the song is to get this blog active enough that it gets ranked in the search engines and to get the song up on YouTube, linking back to my ordering page. The other thing we're doing is something very unique and I don't want to talk about it here for fear that I might give someone else a really good idea! Sometimes you have to be pretty slick when you're marketing a Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song!! I will say that it's an idea that will make the fight song I'm writing great for the national stage and not just for the local radio stations here in Pittsburgh, PA.
I am currently searching for someone to sing my Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song. (I have been wondering if I should really call it a "fight song" at all, because that's really NOT what it is. It's actually just a good country song that happens to be about The Pittsburgh Steelers football team and the great fans here in Steelers Country.) Anyway, I'm looking for a Country Singer (since it is a country song). I have an ad on CraigsList here in Pittsburgh and I hope I find a total PRO to do it. Please let me know if you know someone who is a total PRO. I want someone who sounds like Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry, Big and Rich, or some other artists that sing upbeat country songs (just like Hank Williams Jr. sang the NFL theme song for Monday Night Football a while back).
I hope I get a singer soon. It's one of the last pieces of the puzzle before "This Is Steeler Country" is finished and ready to put on YouTube and other sites (sites like www.SteelerCountrySong.com and www.ThisIsSteelersCountry.com).
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Thursday, September 10, 2009
What's Different About This Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song?
Today I want to tackle the question, "What's Different About This Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song?" first off, let me say that nothing I say is meant to demean the writers of other Pittsburgh Steeler Fight Songs. We all write, ultimately, because we are Pittsburgh Steeler fanatics and that's what's most important. I do have some differences of opinion on the execution of fight songs and in particular with a Steeler Fight Song.
I have been writing songs for over 20 years now and have done my best to study what works and what doesn't. My Pittsburgh Steeler's Fight song is all original, meaning I hadn't heard anybody else's before I wrote it. After I wrote it and began recording, I looked out on the web here in Pittsburgh and elsewhere to find out what other Steeler Fight Songs might sound like. I was amazed at some of the similarities with words used -- particularly one song out there which is called "You're In Steeler Country." And I also found that there have been a lot of talented producers and musicians that have put together songs.
What I didn't find was many songs, if any, that I thought did a really good job of being singable, smart and radio-friendly. There was a lot of loud rocker songs, songs with bad lyrics, songs with poor production, singers and execution and some listenable songs that just would never work as a Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song for one reason or other. I hope I have avoided all these traps. My song was written with the fans in mind, with the audio that's used at Heinz Field in mind and can be played for years and years with no modification.
Wish me luck. I have some more work to do on the song -- finishing up the production end of the main vocal and the lead guitar, then it's marketing plans and making the cd covers/website.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
I have been writing songs for over 20 years now and have done my best to study what works and what doesn't. My Pittsburgh Steeler's Fight song is all original, meaning I hadn't heard anybody else's before I wrote it. After I wrote it and began recording, I looked out on the web here in Pittsburgh and elsewhere to find out what other Steeler Fight Songs might sound like. I was amazed at some of the similarities with words used -- particularly one song out there which is called "You're In Steeler Country." And I also found that there have been a lot of talented producers and musicians that have put together songs.
What I didn't find was many songs, if any, that I thought did a really good job of being singable, smart and radio-friendly. There was a lot of loud rocker songs, songs with bad lyrics, songs with poor production, singers and execution and some listenable songs that just would never work as a Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song for one reason or other. I hope I have avoided all these traps. My song was written with the fans in mind, with the audio that's used at Heinz Field in mind and can be played for years and years with no modification.
Wish me luck. I have some more work to do on the song -- finishing up the production end of the main vocal and the lead guitar, then it's marketing plans and making the cd covers/website.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Writing the Steeler Country Song
In the last post, I described the origins of the song called "This is Steeler Country." Now, I'd like to talk about how the rest of the song was written.
The song was built around that one line that I mentioned in my last post, "Hold your head up high, you're in Steeler Country now." That line came to me all on its own, as is often the case when you're writing a song. There's no explaining where these things come from to people who are not song writers -- for people who are songwriters, you know exactly what I'm talking about. So, once I knew that I want ed to build a song around the idea of Steeler Country (makes sense, since this is going to be a country song...) I had to figure out what I wanted to say with the verses. The typical Pittsburgh Steelers fight song will mention a bunch of the players on the team and then the song writer will have to update that song every year for it to still make sense. This happened with the last Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song that I wrote and I didn't want to deal with it this time. So, for the first verses, I took the approach of mentioning only some of the old names -- the guys that really made Pittsburgh "Steeler Country" back in the 1970's. Of course, because of the melody I had chosen, I had to find names that fit the syllables I was looking for... the names "Franco, Bradshaw, Swann and Mean Joe Greene" just kind of fell off my lips, so I sued those guys. Three players from the Offense and one from the Defense. I really wanted to use Jack Lambert in there, but didn't want to leave out terry Bradshaw who was the only 2-syllable name I could replace if I used Jack Lambert. So I kept it as is.
Then I decided a couple things... One, I should talk about how those players (and our current players) are all in our Hall of Fame as far as Pittsburgh Steeler fans are concerned. That's the reason for the next line "There's a building up in Canton that they call the Hall of Fame -- but we got our own, Steeler Country is its name."
Then some good-natured ribbing of all the Superbowls we've won was in order. hence the line... "This is Steeler Country and if you ain't aware what it's like to hold a trophy, we've a few to spare." What really makes the Pittsburgh Steelers special in my book, is its fan base. So the next line "If you want to know our secret, well we bring it to every game -- it's called 'The 12th Man' -- Steeler Country is its name!"
Back to the chorus "It's a football nation and we're the heart and soul/That's why we fill more seats than you, even on the road" which is almost true, but not quite. Pittsburgh Steeler fans are known for buying A LOT of the tickets even at the stadiums of opposing teams. It's amazing how many Terrible Towels you see all over the U.S. The the chorus says, "So if you're coming to Pittsburgh/go buy a terrible towel/ And hold your head up high, You're in Steeler Country now!"
Coming out of this chorus is a bridge and it's a shout-out to all the wonderful Steeler Bars throughout the nation that support the Pittsburgh Steelers. It says, "If you can't be at the game -- OK/ Find a little place in your town/ Where beer is sold and Black 'n' Gold hang from roof to ground/ And buy them friends a round!"
Back to the chorus with a little red meat for the fans, "The only town in the whole damn world with six (6) Superbowls!"
The fade out gives the fans a chance to sing along. I imagine the crowd of 60,000 people at Heinz Field all singing my Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song some day... I'll be in my usual seats as I listen to everyone chanting, "Hey, Hey, Hey! This is Steeler Country!" When I hear that someday, it's going to be VERY fulfilling. I hope this comes to pass. It would be a nice validation for all the time, effort, hard work, late nights and tears I've put into becoming a better song writer!!!
Go Steelers! This is Steeler Country!
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
The song was built around that one line that I mentioned in my last post, "Hold your head up high, you're in Steeler Country now." That line came to me all on its own, as is often the case when you're writing a song. There's no explaining where these things come from to people who are not song writers -- for people who are songwriters, you know exactly what I'm talking about. So, once I knew that I want ed to build a song around the idea of Steeler Country (makes sense, since this is going to be a country song...) I had to figure out what I wanted to say with the verses. The typical Pittsburgh Steelers fight song will mention a bunch of the players on the team and then the song writer will have to update that song every year for it to still make sense. This happened with the last Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song that I wrote and I didn't want to deal with it this time. So, for the first verses, I took the approach of mentioning only some of the old names -- the guys that really made Pittsburgh "Steeler Country" back in the 1970's. Of course, because of the melody I had chosen, I had to find names that fit the syllables I was looking for... the names "Franco, Bradshaw, Swann and Mean Joe Greene" just kind of fell off my lips, so I sued those guys. Three players from the Offense and one from the Defense. I really wanted to use Jack Lambert in there, but didn't want to leave out terry Bradshaw who was the only 2-syllable name I could replace if I used Jack Lambert. So I kept it as is.
Then I decided a couple things... One, I should talk about how those players (and our current players) are all in our Hall of Fame as far as Pittsburgh Steeler fans are concerned. That's the reason for the next line "There's a building up in Canton that they call the Hall of Fame -- but we got our own, Steeler Country is its name."
Then some good-natured ribbing of all the Superbowls we've won was in order. hence the line... "This is Steeler Country and if you ain't aware what it's like to hold a trophy, we've a few to spare." What really makes the Pittsburgh Steelers special in my book, is its fan base. So the next line "If you want to know our secret, well we bring it to every game -- it's called 'The 12th Man' -- Steeler Country is its name!"
Back to the chorus "It's a football nation and we're the heart and soul/That's why we fill more seats than you, even on the road" which is almost true, but not quite. Pittsburgh Steeler fans are known for buying A LOT of the tickets even at the stadiums of opposing teams. It's amazing how many Terrible Towels you see all over the U.S. The the chorus says, "So if you're coming to Pittsburgh/go buy a terrible towel/ And hold your head up high, You're in Steeler Country now!"
Coming out of this chorus is a bridge and it's a shout-out to all the wonderful Steeler Bars throughout the nation that support the Pittsburgh Steelers. It says, "If you can't be at the game -- OK/ Find a little place in your town/ Where beer is sold and Black 'n' Gold hang from roof to ground/ And buy them friends a round!"
Back to the chorus with a little red meat for the fans, "The only town in the whole damn world with six (6) Superbowls!"
The fade out gives the fans a chance to sing along. I imagine the crowd of 60,000 people at Heinz Field all singing my Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song some day... I'll be in my usual seats as I listen to everyone chanting, "Hey, Hey, Hey! This is Steeler Country!" When I hear that someday, it's going to be VERY fulfilling. I hope this comes to pass. It would be a nice validation for all the time, effort, hard work, late nights and tears I've put into becoming a better song writer!!!
Go Steelers! This is Steeler Country!
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
The Making of a new Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Song
How does one go about conceiving, writing, producing and making popular a new Steelers fight song? This is the story of how I am attempting to do just that.
This is the first year I have had Steelers season tickets. I've been on the waiting list for some time, but this year, a relative of mine who got sick last year decided she can't go to the games and she offered me her season tickets. It took me about one half of one second to say "YES!" So I invited an old friend of mine to the Buffalo Bills game. We parked in a secure, underground garage where he works and went up and had a couple beers in his office before walking over to Heinz Field for the Steelers game.
During the pre-game coversation, we started talking about the current Steelers fight song which has been around a long time. My friend is in Marketing (he works at wall to wall in Pittsburgh) and he knows a couple stats about the Pittsburgh demographics in general and Pittsburgh Steeler fans in particular. As I have been writing songs for years, he said to me, "You know, you should really write a new fight song." I told him that I already have one -- something I wrote years ago called "Go 'n' at, Pittsburgh Stellers." It's filled with Pittsburgheese and is sung by a character I call The Weasel, who is sort of a tribute to Myron Cope. We talked a little about updating this song and re-recording it and then my friend said, "If you really want a song to get popular, you should write a country song. %60 of Pittsburgh Steeler fans like Country Music." I thought, "Wow -- what a great idea!" I listen to country music and am very familiar with writing country music songs. That night on the way home from his house, I started singing a little phrase to myself that said, "Hold your head up high, you're in Steeler Country now." That was the beginning of the song.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
This is the first year I have had Steelers season tickets. I've been on the waiting list for some time, but this year, a relative of mine who got sick last year decided she can't go to the games and she offered me her season tickets. It took me about one half of one second to say "YES!" So I invited an old friend of mine to the Buffalo Bills game. We parked in a secure, underground garage where he works and went up and had a couple beers in his office before walking over to Heinz Field for the Steelers game.
During the pre-game coversation, we started talking about the current Steelers fight song which has been around a long time. My friend is in Marketing (he works at wall to wall in Pittsburgh) and he knows a couple stats about the Pittsburgh demographics in general and Pittsburgh Steeler fans in particular. As I have been writing songs for years, he said to me, "You know, you should really write a new fight song." I told him that I already have one -- something I wrote years ago called "Go 'n' at, Pittsburgh Stellers." It's filled with Pittsburgheese and is sung by a character I call The Weasel, who is sort of a tribute to Myron Cope. We talked a little about updating this song and re-recording it and then my friend said, "If you really want a song to get popular, you should write a country song. %60 of Pittsburgh Steeler fans like Country Music." I thought, "Wow -- what a great idea!" I listen to country music and am very familiar with writing country music songs. That night on the way home from his house, I started singing a little phrase to myself that said, "Hold your head up high, you're in Steeler Country now." That was the beginning of the song.
GET THE SONG HERE:
www.SteelerCountrySong.com
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