Irons in the fire

These Four Walls. Photo / Supplied

Who: These Four Walls
What: Hard rock band doing it for themselves
Debut album: Down Falls An Empire, out now
Where & when: London Shed, Pakuranga, tonight; Sterling Tavern, Waihi, Sept 25
Those photos: The blazing house on the cover came about because singer Steve Gibb's father is a volunteer firefighter and this controlled exercise at an old house in Greenhithe made for a perfect band photo opportunity.

Gray Vickers has every right to be a little smug. His band, These Four Walls, have just released their debut album, Down Falls An Empire, and he's sitting across the cafe table with a smirk on his face. The band is doing very nicely, thank you very much, and they've done it all by themselves.

You see, the music industry is a different place from 10 years ago. Gone is the influence of the major record labels, and these days it's possible for bands to make a big splash under their own steam while still retaining control of their music, and hopefully, the profits.

In New Zealand, These Four Walls, a hard rock band from the North Shore, are just one of many young local bands establishing a fanbase, and building a career on their own unique terms.

These guys have done it through hard work, business nous, and - showing some things never change - a dedication to the rock'n'roll cause.

"There is a smugness about it aye? 'Yep, we did it ourselves. Sweet'." smiles Vickers, who's the straight-talking yet funny bugger of the band which is also made up of his brother Brad on drums, singer Steve Gibb, and bass player Chris Treeby.

But Vickers is quick to point out the distinction between music's traditional DIY ethic - that of home recordings and flyer drops - and the philosophy These Four Walls follow.

"I wouldn't say the term DIY always fits because that kind of implies bedroom recordings. It's more just a fierce independence on our behalf," he says.

"We do everything ourselves," adds Gibb. "Like right down to the press kit, we literally sit in the practise space with a paper knife, some double-sided tape and put together every single press kit we have."

"We like to have control over what we do and why pay someone else to do it?" says Brad. "But a lot of it is just copying. Seeing how international bands are doing and copying it. It's not rocket science," he admits.

These Four Walls realise their independent approach is typical of many bands and musicians working today. However, what is more unique is that it's actually paying off. The band is making money, although for the time being at least they still work full-time at their day jobs.

"We have always had an unspoken policy where we didn't want to pour all our [personal] money into the band. So we treat it as a business, and we do put in a bit each week to pay rent on our practise space, but we generate returns through CD and merchandise sales, and gigging hard. The band does make money but we've yet to take a single cent out. We just keep channelling our money back in, growing it, and that's how we managed to get to this stage we're at now."

These Four Walls formed in 2005 when Gray and Gibb started jamming together and writing songs in a tiny basement in Glenfield. Since then, with Vickers' brother Brad on drums and bass player Chris Treeby, they released their debut self-titled EP in 2007; they sold more than 800 copies at gigs and through Real Groovy; self-funded two videos before NZ On Air chipped in with a $5000 video grant for a third and played hundreds of shows.

Following the success of third single Fly Home in late 2008 they scored a $50,000 album grant - also from NZ On Air. This week the album Down Falls An Empire debuted at No. 22 on the top 40 and pre-orders for the album set a new record at New Zealand music website Amplifier.

Stephen O'Hoy from Amplifier wouldn't say how many copies were pre-ordered, but it is believed to be more than 250. That might not sound like many, but it beat the previous record set earlier this year by Fat Freddys Drop's Dr Boondigga and the Big BW and gives Down Falls An Empire a good head start in overall sales.

The pre-orders were driven by the band. Leading up to the album release they set up Downfallsanempire.com, updated the website every two days with a new song to entice people back, and encouraged people to pre-order.

They also had a laptop at their gigs so fans could order the album directly.

"I thought that was a bit of a masterstroke myself," says O'Hoy. "It's about having a bit of nous and looking at alternative ways - other than doing a poster run and ads - as to how you can sell your music.

"But regardless of the tools they've used, they are a band who have been able to communicate directly with their fanbase, really work that, and make their fans feel good that they were going to be getting it first thing on the Monday morning."

Which is what it's all about these days. And in old-school fan club style the band has a mailing list, which they send out updates to - and being on Facebook, Myspace and Bebo also means they are in constant contact with fans.

"There are so many different avenues for the fans to be absolutely involved," says Gibb. "If they want to be that fan then they can, and we love those fans because they are the ones who still go out and buy the album, and the ones who come to the gigs and make us think what we're doing is for a reason."

Which is why Gibb reckons the band's live show is the best marketing tool they have at their disposal.

"The real thing for us is getting out there and playing live and doing the shows - getting out in people's faces. We've always been a band who play with the same intensity to two people as we do to 20,000," says Gibb.

"I broke my guitar in front of an empty room once," jokes Gray.

Musically, they refer to themselves as a rock band, yet there are elements of classic rock, with plenty of wailing guitars and vocal crescendoes, as well as extreme metal and progressive rock subtleties on songs like album centre-piece, We Are the End.

At six-minutes long it starts off with pummelling beats and grunty riffs, and Gibb's melodic and heavy vocals, but then morphs into an epic ballad and ends acoustically with a choir.

The choral singers are an inspired touch and the band managed to rope in some of the members of the Westlake Boys and Girls High Schools' combined choir with bribes of pizza during the recording session.

"From a metalhead's perspective, that's what I wanted to do with that song, take a really heavy song and finish it acoustically and we put it into a more mainstream song," says Gray.

The 12 tracks on the album - based loosely around themes of rebuilding and growth - are linked together like a live show.

"We've just tried to make it one big art piece, as opposed to a collection of songs," says Gibb.

But it's not some over-the-top concept album. Singles like Walk Away, Fly Home, and most recently Sweet December, are heavy and melodic mainstream-friendly rock songs of a style not heard since Blindspott were in the charts in the early 2000s.

"We're bringing back guitar-driven rock which is what we live for pretty much because guitar rock has been watered down by synthesisers and keyboards and things," says Gibb.

"I reckon it's been dumbed down more than anything," adds Gray in cocky defiance.

"We're bringing back riffs, man, because you don't get enough of them. People love rock'n'roll."

Three other local acts doing it for themselves

DIESEL PHOENIX
Who: Auckland five-piece rock band whose sound ranges from dark pop rock, to noisy power punk, so it's big with the teens.
Strategy: Gave away their first album, White Lies & Black Hearts, clocking up more than 1500 downloads, to promote their live show which is how they make money. About to tour high schools in support of anti-bullying campaign and release new album on October 31.

BANG! BANG! ECHE!
Who: Christchurch quartet who play unhinged, ballistic and obnoxious dance punk.
Strategy: Simple. Play live and get in people's faces both here and overseas. These guys have wreaked sonic terror around the world in the past 18 months, from causing a stir at the SXSW music conference in Austin, Texas, earlier this year to endless shows in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

DEAR TIME'S WASTE
Who: Primarily the handiwork of singer/songwriter Claire Duncan. Think PJ Harvey and Bat For Lashes, with the whimsical and beautifully dreamy haze of bands like My Bloody Valentine.
Strategy: Fierce independence. Self-released debut EP, Room For Rent, in April, followed it up with two NZ tours. She's signed to Australian indie label Speak N Spell, playing shows across the ditch, and then heads to Britain.