Jena Berlin
Jon Loudon
Scene Point Blank: What are your top five albums that were released in 2007?
- The National - Boxer
- Radiohead - In Rainbows
- Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine
- The Forms - The Forms
- Jesu - Conqueror
Scene Point Blank: How will you remember 2007? (In terms of music)
2007 was a pretty important year for us. I think independent music and the network that supports it right now is incredibly strong. Its been a powerful year as far as the people we've met and the bands we've played with. There was a real undercurrent of bands and people interested in playing and seeing music than there has been in recent years. We are very lucky to have been where we've been. Its encouraging to see so many strong independent venues and scenes.
Scene Point Blank: What kind of impact do you think donation-based releases like Radiohead, Saul Williams, etc? will have on the record industry?
I honestly don't see it doing too much to bands our size. I feel like small bands will continue to put out vinyl and cds with interesting packaging because that makes sense anyway. Radiohead just put out their record like they were a basement band and people liked it and they bought it. The packaging is gorgeous and they made more money than they ever had. I'm just hoping the Radiohead thing will knock the industry down a few pegs. There never was a need for music to be mass marketed like that. It would be nice to see more huge bands operate on their own. The music industry has been dead for a while. Bands need to wake up and realize that being signed to a huge label will do nothing positive for you.
Scene Point Blank: 2007 saw the decommissioning of two prominent file-sharing groups - Demonoid and Oink. What kind of impact will the increased crackdown on file-sharing have on the record industry? Did it personally have an effect on you?
File sharing has helped our band immensely. People who never would have listened to us gave the record a chance. Quo Vadimus leaked a little early and it seemed to give it a momentum that was better than what we could afford for advertising. We saw more people at our shows and as a result sold more records and merch. The main thing I think that gets left out of the file sharing argument is the trial aspect of it. You can check out endless bands you would never buy from a record store without hearing the whole thing. Its helped me find so many bands that I ended up seeing live as a result. I think generally people will support a band financially if they genuinely like them. File sharing only hurts large bands that make more money than any of us will ever see in our lifetimes anyway, so who cares?
Scene Point Blank: What can we look forward to from your band in 2008?
We're actually taking a break from full time touring for a little bit to focus on writing another record. We destroyed our second van and new songs were starting to come together. I know every band says this, but I really couldn't be more excited about our new material. We'll also be doing a European tour with Antillectual in early summer and we haven't though past that. Its going to be a really interesting year. There's some good things going on for once.
Scene Point Blank: What three records are you looking forward to most in 2008?
Paint it Black - New Lexicon, Blacklisted - Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God, and Dillinger 4 - Chinese Democracy.
Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/jenaberlin
