How to get HUGE

[Charles]

So I stumbled upon this interview of Grace on CMT's website wherein she responds:

Kenny's career took awhile to get going. He's been around about 15 years now.

I know, he was talking about his tour bus and having 12 or 13 people all sleeping on the bus at the same time. For eight years he did that. We're in the middle of that right now. I'm not presuming that it's ever going to grow to the point that Kenny's gotten to, but I do hope it will. I think it's a goal for any musician, but you have to enjoy those moments in the bus with 13 people and everybody's living on top of each other and Cat's [bass player Catherine Popper] and my suitcases are exploding with ladies underwear. It's really great to be in that summer camp mode of your career.

OK- now this means to me, that Grace aspires to be HUGE - in the Kenny context that means routinely selling out 17,000 seat arenas (or more) at a minimum, being top billed at Festivals, being Dave Matthews huge, Phish huge, dare we say U2 and Madonna international huge?

Frankly it seems like everyone on this forum anticipates it should happen, it ought to happen and it deserves to happen. So....is it possible to have a discussion on what is still needed for GPN to be HUGE? Just keep up what they are doing and eventually widespread fame will come, or ...... what else?

I have a jumble of views on this but will yield the floor for now. I know there are some opinions on this.

[Xaphan]

I really hope GPN issues a new dvd of their live performances. I feel that this might motivate the new fans out there to attend a live show where they can see GPN do its thing. It would also make it easy to share the band with those not "in the know".

[Vincew]

Some occasional overseas tours wouldn't go astray, starting small and building from there.
The talents is there alright, the music is world class, and their only young once.
Perhaps then we might see even see GPN music in our music stores here in Australia.
I have to ask, but does GPN get enough support from their record label?
It appears to me this band works harder than most just with the amount of shows they do each year, but I think they need to get on a plane and go to other places than the US or Canada.

[Xaphan]

I agree, Vincew. I have some friends in Oz that I have told about the band and sent cds to. They like the cds, but have never seen a live concert except thru online videos. My friends in the UK are wound up about the band as well. This ranges from a retired MD who is a geezer like me to a couple of teenagers majoring in music at school that I know thru him.

The Scissors Sisters are way more popular in Europe than they are here, just for instance.

[BMoore]

IMHO ... They just need to keep doing what they are doing. GPN will become big by playing there music live, and energizing people at live performances. That is the core of their existence.

Madonna, although talent, sold her soul to become big. U2 struck a rebellious chord with a unique sound. I don't see GPN going this route.

Noc on ... and these great musicians will rise to the top!

[Karen_J]

Nobody ever knows in advance what the public is going to love. If you ever figure it out, you can start your own record label and become an instant billionaire.

In 2007, more than a few people who claim to know a lot about music were saying that Lady Gaga's career was never going to go anywhere, but Amy MacDonald was going to be HUGE. Amy's first CD ("This Is The Life") is one of my all-time favorites and sold 3 million copies in Europe, but it did so poorly in the US that her second album was not even released here, and she has no plans to ever go on tour in the US. I don't have to tell you what kind of year Gaga had in 2008 or any year since then, unless you have been living in a cave.

Keep polishing that crystal ball. And enjoy GPN as it is, right now, because life is very uncertain.