Sometimes Jingle Punks gets in the press for one reason or another. In this case we were interviewed for Velvet Rope.com which is a web site dedicated to the behind the scenes action of the music industry. For one reason or another they seemed to know a lot about my shady past playing in rock bands and being featured in really strange music videos. This interview is a must read if you really want to learn more about the Yin and Yang of Jingle Punks founders…myself and Jingle Dan. Read on and enjoy!
So this week has already started with a bang. First off. Jingle Punks has finally moved into our new office. We are so excited to now have a space where we can meet clients, compose music and hang out with all our Jingle bands when they swing through town. We also just put the finishing touches on our first ever compilation of Jingle Punks key tracks for the month of July. If you are on our mailing list you will be getting a link to this shortly.
As well, Jingle Punks has been busy working on some really cool new projects. MTV recently asked us to do some pitches for a new show and to make these songs extra awesome we brought in some hired guns. Check out the below video and enjoy.
That’s all for now. Stay tuned as our next Jingle Blog is going to feature some behind the scenes shenanigans from our epic move.
Well, for some time now our friends and even some of our clients, Mom’s and Dad’s have been asking Dan and I to document some of our day to day activities so they could get a sense of what it is we actually do here at Jingle Punks all day.
These first videos will not make anything clear except for the fact that everyday is completely different for us.
Some days we are recording with street musicians in Brooklyn…
Other days we are in LA taking rapid fire meetings to get our roster of artists placed in shows…
It started off with news that a promo we did for History Channel had gone to air, featuring Ryan Star of Warner Music.
Next up, was music for the MTV Movie Awards which airs this weekend. We are psyched to be part of this because rumor has it that this year its going to be a really good one with some much needed comedy infused antics from Andy Samberg.
By the time I was ready for lunch I had already squeezed so much music into my day that was spent. Before I could get my lunch down I noticed in my ical I had 20 minutes to be in Brooklyn to record at Shabby Road studios for an HBO project. This project turned out to be the highlight of my day, if not the year thus far. I was asked to make some authentic Mexican music for a show open and was struggling to get that authentic sound. Then, last week, as I was about to give up, I found a Mexican folk band busking on the street and got their info. They agreed to come do an impromptu session of traditional folk songs for this and I would in turn produce a CD of music for them to keep. The deal was pretty sweet for all involved and I am very happy with the music we recorded and the overall vibe of the day.
Here are some pics and various recordings we made.
Every now and then Jingle Punks gets to work on some really amazing and funny projects. Here is something called The Potty Project for Huggies. Its pretty self explanatory. If you are a parent in the midst of potty training this is something that may interest you. If you are not a parent potty training your little one, you should check this out anyways for the sweet jams!
Aside from the potty training music we sometimes also are called upon to make some good old fashioned rock n roll. In this case Jingle Punks was asked to do music for this sweet series of car ads in Canada. In this spot we feature a band some of you may know called Generals & Majors. Enjoy!
Last year I was asked by my friend Rich Rugierro to adapt Wagner music from a 19 hour opera cycle and turn it into a 20 minute score for his directorial debut. This was a huge challenege at took many hours, revisions and discussions to get it to where it is today.
This weekend Rich sent around a link to a trailer for this film. Here it is. 1 of 2 festival films I was lucky enought to be part of.
Here are a few selections from the session which took place at Legacy Studios this past week. I got to conduct an 8 piece orchestra with players from the NYC Philharmonic and a harp player from the Metropolitan Opera. I was lucky enough to receive entrance into the emerging ASCAP composers workshop at Columbia’s Graduate film program. The final pieces will be heard at the Columbia film fest April 30th. Go here to buy tickets…if you decide to come, let me know and we can all go as a group and see some cool films by a great batch of new film makers.
As a side note
You’ll hear the masterwork of Rich Ruggiero on the cue called Journey to the Stars. I also wanted to send a HUGE thank you to Lon Kaiser for helping me arrange my compositions for the session. I literally would have be shred to pieces if you had not stepped in. Cheers!
Yes. Its true, we have landed our first big fish…YOUTUBE is using the Jingle Player as we speak to set the stage for their Youtube LIVE event which starts in less than 5 hours.
This is the first of its kind event and is a live sampling of the best and most viral clips Youtube has on its site…In order to keep things Kosher on the copyright side of things…Youtube needed to actually license music that was cleared for worldwide usage and needed a wide selection to boot. In the past, people treated the web like the wild west, where they would just use what they wanted for music and then wait to have labels make them take it down. Well those days are over or at least now being regulated…so I guess Jingle Punks is a right time and right place sort of scenario. Now that entertainment on the web has “hit the big time” , they are going to need a soundtrack…and we have the framework in place to do just that.
I hope you’ll all take a moment to check in on this video feed today.
So the past couple weeks for me have been nothing less than insane…As many of you know, Jingle Punks launched an online search database for use in TV shows, commercials and films. We have spent countless hours taking meetings with MTV, FUSE, FOX, SPIKE ect and have spent even more hours working out the kinks of the player.
Fortunately, its not always all work and no play for us…For example, during CMJ my friend D.A. from Chester French found time to swing by Jingle Punks to do an in house shoot for their video blog (see below). We also found time to have one last Group Sounds show. We sold out The Cake shop on NYC’s Lower East side (see pics here) and had a crazy ass pre-halloween bash. Last but not least, I even found time to record a cover of the Kenny Loggins classic “Danger Zone” with my friend Phil (who happens to be one of the funniest and most talented metal singers of all time).
