"This time next year, Rodney...."

So there follows a list of sites that I have been updating and linking into Pocket Rocket's network. Work still continues, but I think I've broken the back of it.

ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP Bands, Fans & Industry site: Short of our own website, which I'm working on, this is our main page, as far as I'm concerned, anyway. But then I am biased.

I've put links and banners here to all the Pocket Rocket sites. I've uploaded a couple of songs from the new EP here, and some new photos. The site has a 'What are you up to?' status bar, which must be utilised, but unfortunately is not linked to Twitter or Facebook. Not yet, anyway. I'm sure it will be before long.

ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP-RECORDS.COM: This is where you can buy our EP as a download, by individual track or as a whole. You can also buy other Pocket Rocket music from the last ten years here, and there are a few free downloads of older material. Still haven't looked into CD Baby or iTunes, but better get round to that too.

Facebook: This is a fan site. Don't know how useful it is, but I feel like we should have a presence here too. The music player is shite. You can't customise it, and you can't upload jpegs of the CD artwork. But it does have a useful fan site widget thingy, which I have added to this blog down the right hand side. Doesn't quite fit, mind. And it does have a status bar, but status updates don't automatically appear on my main Facebook page, which is a bit annoying.

Myspace: Fuck, ugly MySpace. I took all the old tracks down and posted two of the four new tracks. Dunno why? Probably, because I hate MySpace. I'm this close to shutting it down. Should I do it?

ReverbNation: Thought I better investigate this one. Just getting to grips with it. Nice interface, and carries links to our RTYD page, and updates our status from Facebook & Twitter. It also automatically creates a Bebo profile page, whatever that it is? What I like about this site is the MP3 widgets it gives you. Like the one I have put in the top right of this page. Pretty useful.

MeMetro Music: This is Metro newspaper's site for bands, venues, promoters etc. I have a RTYD presence here, so I created a page for Pocket Rocket too, and posted Give The Boy A Chance on it. You can vote for tracks you like here, and the number of people who like your tracks shows up on the site. You can also send the song link to your friends so they can 'like it' too, and this will obviously help to raise the profile of the song and the band. Three people like Give The Boy A Chance, as I write. It has a link to share the song on Facebook, as well, which is handy.

You too can 'like it', here.

London Tourdates. 14 Carat Grapefruit are on this one, and their song Minger is high in the unsigned bands' chart. So not wanting to be left out I joined this one too. Songs made available for free download only, can be voted into the Unsigned Bands chart. So there is a free download of Give The Boy A Chance here for those who would rather not pay 65pence.

And then there's Twitter, which like Facebook cannot be ignored because your tweets and status updates are linked to other sites. To tweet here is to minimise tweeting elsewhere.

I make that eight sites. Now the problem is getting people to visit these sites and to listen to, and download, the music. So far, we have sold one EP as a download from the ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP-RECORDS site - to a fan. It's a start. It's two quid off our next rehearsal, or our guitarist's bus fare to the next rehearsal.

I suppose we don't have to decide how to spend it yet.

MySpace...MyArse...My Advice.... to older bands (including my own): Make every gig count

I went to see The Great Outdoor Experience (TGOE) last night. I've booked these guys to play the next Rock-Til-You-Drop night, and I was especially keen to meet their lead singer and guitarist Phil Ram.

When I arrive Phil is busy with pre-gig arrangements so he introduces me to the band: Adam, who plays bass, and James, the drummer. We chat for a short time before they too have to attend to pre-gig duties.

We're at The Abbey Tavern in Kentish Town. The musicians at the Soundbites Club play through small amps and sing through a small PA here. There is a compere. And the gig is free to enter, so the bar is busy, largely with 20-30-somethings. The bill is a mixture of bands and duos.

I'm not drinking. I'm not in the mood, after a weekend of it. Its about 9:15 when I arrive.

After technical and tuning problems the TGOE get up to speed with Better World, and its Shadows-style lead intro. Phil's songs, as his band's name suggests are concerned with the natural world, with finding peace and beauty through nature and love, and by renouncing all things material and ephemeral. You know the message, and lifestyle.

Their set is rushed by earlier technical problems but they play the end of their set at full tilt, the penultimate song being one which Phil co-wrote whilst briefly in The Vibrators back around 1980. Tonight it's hard to imagine him playing in a punk band. Reference point - someone I can: TV Smith - who still wears drainpipes and boots and tight cap-sleeved t-shirts.

After their performance, I don't get a chance to speak to Phil as he is busy with a group of friends that have come down to see him, but I leave feeling like I do occasionally after my own band's gigs. Like it was a good gig. The band played well. But who for? A few friends and a respectful and polite but indifferent audience. What is the consequence of this gig? How does this gig move the band forward? If I wandered into The Abbey Tavern tonight and happened upon TGOE, and kinda liked them, what next?

Well, I might go home and find their MySpace page. Even if I fucking hate myspace - I would probably start here. Because the music's on the front page. MySpace looks shit. It's badly designed, the important bits are too small and hard to find, and ads are always moving and popping out at you. You can't really personalise it either - whatever you do it looks like MySpace - shit.

Anyway, so I look. There's a player. The profile is too long. It's unreadable, and out of date. The band picture is awful. Doesn't show you anything. Further down, there's a list of friends, including Arthur Brown, and endless messages. A pointless waste of (my)space.

The thing is. Where are the CDs for sale - or the link to them? The T-shirts? The Merchandise? If I'm going to follow this band, I need something to follow, something to buy. In lieu of the press, where's the blog? Where's the imagery, the identity? The lyrics? The CD artwork? The personality?

Nowhere to be seen. It is killed by the limitations MySpace.

To be fair to TGOE, they do actually have a website, but it's out of date. It's been under re-construction for a while now. This is a shame. This needs to be a priority.

Now, I'm just using TGOE as an example. They are not alone. My band don't have a website. Or new CDs to sell. Or T-Shirts. The point is, it is worth doing more around the gig itself to make the gig pay off. To make every gig count. There is more to it than just playing and going home, as two-thirds of the band did immediately their performance was over.