Giving Back

[ LiB ]

Somewhere on the cover or the lyric sheet, thank everyone who helped in any way. Shout out to your homies and also to people who did anything, no matter how small, for you. One thing I always loved about old-school punk bands was they usually thanked over a hundred people in the liner notes. Fuck yeah!

Make thanks a habit in all aspects of your art. For instance, when you send out a press release with a photo, make sure that you tell them who the photographer is, and ask the publication to please make sure to credit the photographer.

Conversely, some punk bands used to follow their "thanks" section with a "no thanks" section for people they didn't like. I did this on my first record and haven't done it since. 'Cause like Momma said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all." And we all know that rock and roll is all about being nice, right? Tee hee hee.

Anyway, be totally on top of it, and don't worry about being a pest: While doing a project, I e-mailed one band and asked them the names of all the members and asked for specifics. The singer wrote back saying something like, "Why am I even doing this if you can't keep track?" I wrote her back this:

That sounds kinda rude, no?

I'm just trying to be totally on top of helping everyone get credit.

Some people don't ask all these questions that I do, and believe me, you'd probably rather I ask too many than too few.

Doing a project that involves over 300 people is a logistical nightmare.

I appreciate your help.

She and I kissed and made up and are both cool with it now.

[ LiB ]