Likeness

The other day a Disc Makers newsletter found its way to my inbox. We used Disc Makers to get our album into CD form when it was ready for release, and now the company sends helpful tips on how to sell those CDs, presumably in the hopes that we'll be wildly successful and pay them to print more.

Anyway, this issue of the newsletter contained advice I'd heard many times before: list your "like bands":

Listing your “like” bands (the bands that you sound most [like]) will further help to define your musical category and sound. This will enable you to attract new fans via print media and the Internet, prepare you to respond to requests from "music users," and open you up to a variety of marketing strategies based on the successes of other artists and bands

In other words, "Our band sounds like They Might Be Giants and Elvis Costello." Or, more creatively, "If Britney Spears ate Metallica, she'd sound like us."^*

It's solid advice. The problem is that we're too close to our own sound to figure out who we're like, or who's like us. When asked, we fall back on comparisons other people have made throughout the years. According to spontaneous feedback from the fans, we are reminiscent of:

Carole King
Tori Amos
Janis Joplin
Early Billy Joel

None of these people sound anything like each other, but whatevs.

Does Cinder Bridge remind YOU of anyone else? Leave us your comments.

* I have no idea how Britney Spears would sound if she ate Metallica. If you're a musician and you think this describes your sound, feel free to steal it.