Mumford & Sons headline this issue, in which editor Cory Lorentz contemplates what it takes to hold onto a music career for the long haul, and balancing the need to make a living with doing what you love.

View and download the full On Tour With Shure Winter 2013 Issue on shure.com.

Walking into the Metro is always a nostalgic treat, so many great rock shows took place there and it is the epitomy of the term “rock club.” I made my way up the stairs and caught the band setting up and preparing for a sound check. Jeff Neuberger, the band’s monitor engineer greeted me and walked me around the stage, pointing out all of the Shure gear responsible for Cults’ sound. On vocals, KSM9 was the favorite. Guitar cabinets were captured with SM57s. The drum kit featured Beta 52A and Beta 91A on kick and SM57 and Beta 181/C on snare. A Beta 52A was also the complement to the bass cabinet. Finally, the band took a mix from Jeff in monitor world through the PSM 900 personal monitor systems.

As the band ran through a few tunes and the lighting tech set the mood, I ran down to the legendary green room to set up for my interview with the band. In about an hour or so, the venue went quiet, letting me know that it would soon be time to sit down with Brian and Madeline and learn a little more about Cults. Looking back on it now, it was a pretty good conversation. We’ll be posting this soon, so stay tuned.

Leaving the band to their own devices, I met up with legendary photographer Paul Natkin for some dinner at Uncommon Ground, one of the sites for our National Open Mic Night. This place is always packed, but Paul knows everyone, so the 10 -15 minute wait turned into, “Please follow this gentlemen to your table.” This is a great place if you ever make it to Chicago, very organic and green-minded. The acoustic music that takes place there is pretty incredible, too. I have to make a note to show up in mid-November for the Jeff Buckley Tribute Show. I’m a big fan, but never got around to going. After listening to Paul talk about it, I’m making my plans already.

After milking our dinner time for every minute we could, we made our way back to the venue… two hours to show time and nothing to do but check out the opener and people watch.

Finally, 11 PM rolled around and Cults took the stage to a screaming crowd. It’s always interesting to see how a band is going to pull off certain elements of songs from their album, and I have to say, they pulled it off effortlessly. The sound on stage was a little more aggressive than the album, making it a little more lively for an onlooking crowd. All in all, a great show and a great band. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Cults. This evening also ended with a stop at White Castle.

-Cory

Plenty of time to prepare! Not really, but we dove in like we always do and made our way down to meet Roger in the city. So, this guys is pretty famous and all, but honestly one of the nicest and most gracious rock stars on the planet. The Who have been Shure endorsers since 1968, and after all these years Roger is still just as appreciative for his SM58 from Shure. It really was a cool rock star moment, but you’ll have to stay tuned for the interview. We’ll keep you posted…

To get things back on track, I resumed plans for my original destination and made my way down to the Riviera Theatre in Chicago. It was about 3:30 PM and there was already a line beginning to form in front of the venue. Tonight’s show with Foster the People and Cults was sold out at the neighboring Vic Theatre, so the show was moved to a larger venue and ultimately sold out again. Making my way through the stage door, I caught Foster completing sound check and making some last minute tweaks. I met the guys once they were finished up and they were very grateful for the support Shure has given them since day one. Our meeting was brief, as the guys were called into a last minute conference regarding their upcoming performance on SNL… possibly to discuss where and when Kenny G would fit into the end of “Houdini” on the broadcast?

Cults was now beginning to set up and begin their sound check, and I had the chance to speak with their production manager and monitor engineer, Jeff Neuberger, who is a big fan of Shure. We spoke about a few options for lead singer Madeline and a few key mic choices for the guitar cabs on stage. The band is already using Shure on pretty much anything that produces a sound, but I’ve got a few things for Jeff and Cults to try that will ultimately make their lives and sound that much better.

As I mentioned before, this was a sold out show, and by the time the first band, Reptar (pretty solid by the way!) hit the stage, every square inch of the place had reached capacity. Cults came on, just as the news that Steve Jobs had passed came over our respective mobile devices. For a moment there, as I stared out onto the stage at the five MacBooks that are so vital to Foster the People’s set up, I thought about what an impact Mr. Jobs has made on this music industry we all love so dearly. Thanks Steve.

Cults (Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin), along with their touring band of three additional members, delivered all of the choice cuts from their self-titled debut, and honestly, they’re all pretty choice cuts. The first two bands definitely got things warmed up, but the crowd was at a fever pitch in the moments right before Foster the People took the stage.

Just like that, Mark Pontius, Cubbie Fink and the other two members of their touring band hit the stage and ripped into “Houdini” with its Billy Squier-esque drum beat… the place erupted. I think the roof blew off the place when Mark Foster hit the stage and delivered the driving piano melody and first lyrics of the song. Aside from drummer Pontius, the band used up every bit of the stage to wander from station to station adding key elements of sound to every song from their smash hit Torches. By the fourth song, I was tired for them, these guys definitely gave it everything they had and somehow kept going. Their rapid pace and fierce delivery accompanied by one of the most dizzying light shows I’ve ever seen, made for one hell of a Wednesday evening at the Riviera.

For an encore, Mark Foster performed a song entitled “Ruby” as a piano solo, but was ultimately joined by the rest of the band to finish up the track and deliver their closer for the evening, their infectious hit, “Pumped Up Kicks.” As the song neared completion, Foster was joined by opening band Reptar, armed with cow bells and shakers to turn the song into an extended remix reminiscent of a warehouse rave.

To my friends that couldn’t make it, but wanted the highlights… it was hard to tell them about this show without having a big smile on my face. Maybe next time…

Cory

Nashville, TN

Soundland Nashville has taken over the town with great new upcoming bands.  I hope you got a chance to go out and hear some new music.

I started out my day on Thursday by visiting a panel discussion at the Belcourt Theatre on the success of the band The Civil Wars.  If you are not familiar with the group yet, please click on the link.  They are on tour in Europe with Adele, who was quoted saying this is her favorite group live. The speakers included people from their record label, distribution, marketing, and their producer.  It was very interesting to listen to the details of how this group came together, by chance, at a writing seminar and immediately hit it off.  So many great opportunities have come their way and their team has done a great job of handling them.  Their success at iTunes was amazing and now they are opening for one of the best selling artists. Go pick up their record, Barton Hallow, …. immediately after you finish reading this blog of course.

Following this panel was another regarding Grooveshark, the music streaming service. So many people are starting to enjoy having access to thousands of songs at their fingertips.

After that, I went over to Soundland’s temporary headquarters to catch an interview and performance with new Endorser Justin Townes Earle.  American Songwriter did the interview and Shure captured it all.  We supplied a couple of KSM42′s, a KSM353 ribbon mic, some Beta 27′s, and a few SM57′s to capture these moments, which will later be put up online.  The engineer’s were enjoying it all through a couple sets of SRH940 headphones.  The mixes sounded great!  (see pics below).  There will be many other artists interview up as well so visit Soundland’s website often to see them up there soon.

I then walked over to the 12th avenue concert are and waited for the evening’s show to begin.  Tonight featured a group that’s starting to take off – Cults.  Closing the show were endorsers Foster The People.  I watched Cults perform for a little bit and noticed that they were using a non-Shure vocal mic up front.  However, halfway through the set, I saw the monitor engineer change out to an SM58. Sounded like it may have helped a bit.  Festival situations are always difficult to walk in to as you may not get the soundcheck you are used to.

Foster took the stage and proceeded to rock the crowd. An energetic set and a great light show was just what the crowd needed.  While I was hanging out watching their set, I was back by one of the food trucks.  This was a BBQ food truck !  The owner called me over to take a look at what he had on the smoker.  Upon opening the lid, he revealed about 10 pulled pork roasts, completely caramelized over and smelling way too good.  He asks one of his assistants for a serving dish and proceeds to pull apart the meat to give me a sample.  Heavenly….is the word that comes to mind.  Then, if it couldn’t get any better, he offers me some of that caramelized bark!  DONE!  I’m falling deeper and deeper into BBQ bliss…”and I can’t get up.”

After a great set by Foster The People, I met with their sound engineer who proceeded to tell about how much they love the UR wireless mics and the PSM900′s.  Then I’m escorted to the buses where I’m introduced to both Mark Foster and Mark Pontius who thanked Shure for our support.  Foster is loving the freedom of his wireless UR2/KSM9 vocal mic, saying “it’s made me a new frontman.”

The next day (Friday, Sept 23), I went over to the Cannery Ballroom to grab a video interview with Justin Townes Earle. Justin has a rich, deep knowledge and appreciation of traditional country artists.  He loves to talk about them.  They have influenced the way he chooses to perform and connect with his audience.  Justin also loves his new Beta 57A vocal mic as well as his PSM900 ear system. I don’t want to spoil the surprise when you see the interview on our website so I will stop at saying that this was a great interview to be a part of and I have meet another wonderful, approachable artist in this exciting world that is our music industry.

Please take a gander at some of the photos and if you attended Soundland, please (pretty please) write back and let us know of your experiences.  We’d love to hear from you!

A special THANKS to the folks at American Songwriter magazine for inviting Shure to be a part of this event.

Ryan