FEATURE STORY - CARAVANS
ARTIST SELLS HIS SOUL
Fans
of Armen Chakmakian’s music now know just how far he will go to
give them more of the music they want to hear. After the release of Ceremonies,
an introspective album that celebrates rituals, Armen turned up the tempo
a notch to record more of a band album focused on spontaneous performance.
Because he wanted the freedom to record whenever inspiration struck, Armen
knew he needed to build a home studio to record his new project, Caravans.
He began by calling in favors from friends who had recorded with him before,
and networking to outfit his studio. Along the way to fund the project,
Armen sold first his beloved grand piano that he had taken his first music
lessons on when he was a child, and then, his car. For anyone who has
ever visited or lived in the Los Angeles area, being without a vehicle
is akin to selling one’s life blood. But, with production delays
and mounting costs, even these measures were not enough. Finally, Armen
did the unthinkable, he sold his home. With bills still left to pay, he
soon came to the conclusion that he had only one option left.
Like Robert Johnson before him, Armen stood at a crossroads and decided
to sell his soul! However, he wasn’t willing to make a deal with
the devil. Instead, he created an auction on eBay announcing to the world:
Los Angeles-Based Musician Selling His Soul. The auction went
on to explain in a very humorous fashion just how few people in the music
biz actually have a soul to begin with, so here’s an opportunity
to buy one that has been called everything from old to remarkable. (The
full text is below).
In actuality, the auction was an opportunity to advertise tiered levels
of sponsorships for investor participation. Although he received no bids
on eBay, Armen felt he was onto something. He sent a similar e-mail out
to his fans and received exactly the amount of sponsorship that he needed
to do his mastering. This also led to an offer from noted recording engineer
Steve Durkee, whose impressive resume includes a six-year stint with Prince
as well as recording and mixing music for feature films, to mix the album.
“I had hoped my eBay auction might spark interest from some of the
news media,” reflects Armen. “That didn’t happen, but
it was really amazing how exactly what I needed to finish Caravans
showed up at exactly the right time.”
Armen Chakmakian has created and produced his own Field of Dreams,
and it is called CARAVANS.
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