Dolmere Talamasca - Second Life "resident"

Dolmere: How did you choose your Second Life name?
Melvin Took: The name was a rather random choice. I was just curious about SL and wanted to try it out. I needed a name and "Took" was in the list. "Melvin" seemed funny with it, so there you have it.
Dolmere: You usually mention at your live shows that your real name is Peter Greenstone. Do you regret the avatar name at all at this point? At this point would you choose a different name?
Melvin Took: If I were choosing now I don't think I'd go the same route. I don't really want to be know as "Melvin Took" when it comes to my music. I finally made a group so I could have my real name above me.
Dolmere: I can see that now - and the pics I've been taking to put alongside the intreview will reflect that :)
Melvin Took: As a game player the name is fine, but the music is part of my RL

Dolmere: You have a CD available at Simig media (http://www.simig.com/records/artists/peter/peter.htm). The CD is factory pressed and the insert is a beautiful multi-page layout with great artwork and full lyrics. Why did you press a complete package instead of selling CD-Rs on-demand?
Melvin Took: At first I planned to burn the CD's myself and do my own printing, but after some thinking and talking with other musicians I decided that if I was going to do it I should do it right. CD-R's don't have anything close to the durability and reliability of pressed CD's, and the printing, well, getting the CD's pressed really commited me to the whole package.
Dolmere: The initial investment is much higher, correct? You have to have confidence that you'll sell off a certain amount to recoup the investment when you do that kind of pressing.
Melvin Took: I now have boxes of CD's that I may never sell, but they will still be in good shape when some archeologist digs them up.

Dolmere: Your CD is very eclectic in style. You jump from one genre to another and mix your instrumentation quite a bit. Is there any story behind that?
Melvin Took: Well, I was really discovering myself musically during the process of writing and recording the songs. I'd never really done anything like it before. It was me learning and also going through the emotional swings I normally experience in my life.
Dolmere: Do you think that the lack of a focus on a given genre is a pro or a con as it relates to CD sales for you? Does it make it more difficult to find a target audience to sell to?
Melvin Took: Well, I do have a hard time giving a simple answer when someone asks me what kind of music I play. But I find that I can put it together in a way that seems like an evolution, like a story.
Dolmere: Well, regarding that evolution - Second Life live shows are at the "current" place in that history. When you play live in Second Life you pretty much just use an acoustic guitar with no accompanying tracks to round out the sound like you have on your CD. Which do you prefer?
Melvin Took: Well, I prefer to play all live when I play live. If I had a band to back me up and fill it out that would be nice. I feel like I can go with my gut and change things up on the fly, let things flow so long as I'm not tied to a preset backing.

Dolmere: Backing up a moment... Given your wide range of styles you've recorded (Acoustic rock, Acoustic folk, Rock, Blues, Alternative, Rockabilly, Industrial, spoken word, comedy, more) how would you describe your music to a new listener? How would you describe the CD differently than a live show in Second Life?
Melvin Took: The CD is an artistic expression, taking the ideas in my head and sculpting them out in a scale larger than myself. The live performance is more of an emotional expression for the moment, me throwing myself out there; more dirrect.
Melvin Took: Also, the live shows take more into account entertaining the audience.

Dolmere Talamasca wonders if there is chat lag or if you're rewriting each answer 10 times :) Do I intimidate you?
Melvin Took: I'm just a bad typist
Dolmere: :)
Dolmere: You have some web pages set up at
Dolmere: http://www.macjams.com/artist/Peter+Greenstone and http://www.macidol.com/jamroom/bands/1575/music.php and http://www.myspace.com/pgreenstone. Can you tell me about them? What do you use them for and why would one visit one over another?
Melvin Took: Well, MacJams.com is the first place I ever posted my music on the web, the first place anyone heard me. I found MacIdol some time later that year and I find that site actually works better for me when I want to present my recorded music to people; it just has some better functionality for me. The MySpace page is just, well, everyone has one. I figured I should too. But honestly, that website is one of the poorest-running sites I've ever been to; take many tries to get pages to load.

Dolmere: Linked from the first two, Macjams and Macidol, are several collaborations. Can you describe them in more detail for us? Who are the people you collaborated with, how did these songs come about? For instance collabs with Sil-VER, Katchoolik, Alimar, MacJammerUnited, atwood1956 and TEXASFEEL - who are these people? How did you collaborate?
Melvin Took: MacJams.com was a great place to meet other home musicians and to get feedback and share ideas. One of the best things about it was how people were willing to collaborate and mix very different styles and backgrounds.
Melvin Took: It gave me the chance to try so many different things I would otherwise not have tried or been able to do by myself.
Dolmere: So they're just other users on the MacJams.com site?
Melvin Took: Yes, I met them all there.

Dolmere: Did you share Garageband raw files or something like that?
Melvin Took: We usually send aiff files back and forth.
Dolmere: ah, interesting twist there
Melvin Took: depends on the nature of the collaboration.
Dolmere: I would have assumed Garageband files of course
Melvin Took: Well, sending a whole GB file would be a lot more than is needed in many cases where, say, a person is just adding vocals ar a guitar part and the other is handling the rest.
Dolmere: makes sense
Melvin Took: GB projects can sometimes be over a gig of stuff
Dolmere: so you just send a click track to play along to or something more like that?
Melvin Took: Someone might send me a temporary mixdown and tell me the tempo and I'll bring it into GB abd add my part and sent them an aif of just my tracks and also a temp mix so they can get the idea of it togetehr real quick.
Dolmere: cool, thanks

Dolmere: Have you seen any particular efforts in Second Life which result in higher CD sales, then?
Melvin Took: By other artists?
Dolmere: Anything that you do that sells your CDs more than other things.
Dolmere: Do you see sales spikes after live shows? Particular live shows?
Dolmere: Was there one you played that had a big impact? Any guesses as to why?
Melvin Took: I think just making it so that there is something on the stage that they can click on to taake them to the website helps a lot. Then obviously mentioning it now and then during a set gets them to look.
Melvin Took: No particular gig stands out as one where I sold a lot.
Dolmere: Fair enough, my friend. I look forward to seeing you perform this Thursday and I know our Shelter in Exile regulars will be pleased.
Dolmere: How have sales of your CD been? Are you anywhere near recouping your investment?
Melvin Took: Sales are slow. I don't have a real marketing machine. Playing in SL has resulted in more sales than anything else combined.
Dolmere: I see you have to run off to another gig now. Thanks for the time, we'll continue this interview the next time you play at the Shelter in Exile.
Melvin Took: my pleasure