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Biography of Patrick Rule
It is hard to put a single label on Writer Patrick Rule. Patrick has enjoyed a rich and varied career working in the music industry since his late teens. From breaking a Grammy award winning Recording Artist, to tour managing a Reggae band, to his time as a Strip Club DJ, Patrick continues his outrageous career working all the wonderful facets of the music industry.
Patrick got his start in the Music Business at the age of 19, by becoming the Manager for St. Louis based indie band, State Of Shock. "It was the early '80's, and my Dad actually invested the cash we needed for the band's first ever studio recording. I knew a little bit about marketing, but I had no idea what I was doing in the music industry. I just wanted to be a rock star. Since I couldn't play or sing, I figured that managing a rock band was the only way in!"
Enter Russ Kirkland, producer and leader of the Christian Rock Band, September. "Russ taught me a lot about the business," says Patrick. "There are a lot of scammers in the music industry, and we were lucky that Russ treated us fairly and showed us the ropes." Kirkland came to their aid and produced State Of Shock's debut EP, "Too Close".
Now that he had "product", Patrick needed a way to get his record played. He discovered a non-commercial radio station just a few miles from his house in west St. Louis County. KYMC was a 100-watt station owned and operated by the YMCA, and the first station to give State of Shock airplay. Needing volunteer DJs, Patrick was quick to take an air shift.
"It was a tremendous opportunity," says Patrick. "Not only could I get my band's music played, but I could learn about radio at the same time." At KYMC, Patrick learned about the College Music Journal, or CMJ, and discovered hundreds of college and public radio stations that played independent music and reported it to a trade paper. "It was like a whole world opened up to me. I could send all these stations State Of Shock's EP, and get them airplay all across the country."
In addition to his part time DJ gig, Patrick spent the next two years promoting State Of Shock to radio stations, music trade magazines, and record labels. While the band was very well received at College Radio, they were unable to catch the ear of the major labels. What did catch the attention of the music industry, was Patrick's tenacity in promoting "his band".
"I met Bruce Caplin over the phone," Patrick says. "He was a Commercial Radio promoter at the time, and he really picked my brain about College Radio." Bruce sent Patrick an EP from a band he was managing, The Patrol. Patrick got it played at more than 300 stations nationwide in five weeks. Patrick says, "After the campaign was over, Bruce asked me 'If I can get accounts, will you work them to College Radio for me?' Of course I said yes."
The fourth project that Patrick worked at College Radio, was the debut record from Tracy Chapman. "Bruce introduced me to Artie Kornfeld, who produced the original Woodstock concert. Artie told me 'This is a Hit Record and I want you to make it happen!' I was literally telling the Music Directors and DJs to take the record out of the sleeve, and play 'Fast Car' while I was on the phone with them, but that's what had to be done to make the record happen." Patrick says. Of the 250 stations Patrick worked to College Radio for Tracy Chapman, 227 of them charted her at #1. Artie and Patrick were awarded Platinum Records for their efforts.
Working the hit song "Don't Close Your Eyes" from hard rockers Kix the following year, Artie and Patrick were again awarded Gold Records for their efforts. Patrick charted dozens of projects at College and AAA Radio until 1991. Then, Bruce began managing a Reggae band called Big Mountain, and left radio promotion for good. Recovering from his first divorce, Patrick decided to finish his college education at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
However, after only 3 semesters of studying, Patrick was pulled back into the music business after a late night call from Bruce. "He said he needed my help," says Patrick. "He wanted me to take over Big Mountain's tour, and run the business from the road." Given a choice of dropping out of college, again, or touring all across the country with a Reggae band, Patrick chose the road. "What would you do?"
The road was a tremendous experience for Patrick. "I drove that old school bus 35,000 miles all across the country. Working with Quino and everyone in Big Mountain was great." says Patrick. "I really got to see something magical happen close up as Big Mountain gained in popularity. It was a fantastic experience, seeing a band take a big step up in their careers from an insider's perspective."
After 10 months on the road with Big Mountain, including a 4 week run on the Reggae Sunsplash tour, Patrick returned home to Columbia to start his own promotion company. Relax Productions was created in 1983 as the management company for State Of Shock. In the fall of 1993, Patrick re-opened the doors again as a Radio Promotion firm. Big Mountain was among his first clients.
"It was just me and a handful of projects in the beginning." says Patrick. "I was working out of one room in a duplex. I nearly drove my roommates crazy, making radio calls at all hours of the night." Patrick quickly built Relax Productions into a promotion powerhouse. In just a few short years, Relax Productions had office space, and a staff of 11 people. "We had people working Reggae until midnight, then people on the phones at eight the next morning working Alternative projects."
Relax Productions was on cruse control until the first major recession hit the Music Industry. "The Internet was blowing up." Patrick says, "People were spending their money on Internet access and web design. Indie labels were hard pressed to make their budgets, and indie promoters like Relax started losing business."
Facing the future, Patrick closed the promotion wing of his firm, virtually giving it to longtime friend, promoter, and drummer from The Follow, Mat Matlack. "I literally told him that if he could make a living with radio promotions, good luck to you." Space 380 Promotions picked up the mantle and carried on promoting indie bands for eight more years.
Patrick shifted from music promotion to web site design, and Relax Web Productions was born in 1998. Along with a new wife, Patrick found a comfortable life creating web sites in the brave new world of the Internet. But he still kept a toe in the industry with his Music Site, RelaxOnline.com, and collaborated with Space 380 releasing Compilation CDs to the industry. "I'd handle the Internet side of things while Mat handled Radio Promotion."
As a part of his Internet business, Patrick innovated a complete "cottage" industry online with his SantaPhone.com project. "My sister wanted me to call her step children, and pretend to be Santa Claus for them." Patrick says, "I didn't want to do it at first. But then I got to thinking there must be hundreds of people out there that would pay for a live phone call from Santa."
As a seasonal business, SantaPhone.com also began in 1998 with only a dozen calls. Since then, the site takes about 150 orders for "Santa Calls" every year. Dozens of other sites have copied Patrick's innovative idea and created their own "Santa Call" services. However, to maintain quality control Patrick makes all his calls himself, and "plays Santa" to hundreds of children across the US and Canada every Christmas Eve.
While working diligently on his client's web sites and his own in-house projects, wanderlust struck again and Patrick found himself on the road in 2000, this time with a guitar legend. "Robin Trower was one of the first projects I worked to radio after my Big Mountain Tour." says Patrick. "So when Robin's manager, Derek Sutton, called saying he needed a tour manager, I said 'I'll go!'".
Robin Trower is indeed a guitar legend, who was a member of the '60's rock band Procol Harem. Robin's solo career took off with the release of his landmark LP, Bridge of Sighs. Since the early '70's, Robin has continually toured the US nearly every year. In 2000 and 2001, it was Patrick's turn to drive.
"Robin travels by Town Car." says Patrick. "So it was nice running a first class tour from hotel rooms driving a Lincoln, rather than sleeping in a wooden bunk on an old school bus." But the 2001 tour was in serious jeopardy following the 9/11 tragedy. Trower was due to arrive in the states on the 14th of September that year, with the tour starting a week later. "Obviously, that wasn't going to happen. Robin was going to cancel the entire tour, but I told him that the show must go on, especially now that this has happened."
Robin's tour did go on, albeit on a different schedule. Originally, the tour would have been broken up into 2 legs, with several weeks of time off in between. The 2001 Robin Trower Tour, was a continuous 12 weeks, with only a 4-day break near the end. "We covered more than 17,000 miles all across the US in that time." says Patrick. "The strangest gig was our show at BB King's in New York. It was only a few weeks after 9/11 and the city, which usually bustles with activity, was eerily quiet. We played a packed house, and Robin's fans truly appreciated us being there. But it was weird being in a very subdued New York City."
However, the road took a personal toll from Patrick, separating from his second wife before the final leg of the 2000 tour. Following the 2001 tour, Patrick resumed his web business, adding advertising to his ever-expanding list of skills. Working with local clients in Columbia, Missouri, Patrick began writing and producing television commercials alongside his web development business. After a series of failed relationships with various girlfriends following his second divorce, Patrick found himself at a cross-roads and another interesting facet of the music industry.
"I was ready for a mid-life crisis." Patrick says, "I've had the unique opportunity to have the mother of all mid-life crisis's in the history of middle aged men!" Through his advertising business, Patrick met the owner of a local strip club called Club Vogue. One thing lead to another, and because of his earlier Radio DJ experience, Patrick found himself another career within his music industry career. He became a Strip Club DJ… at the age of 40!
"Millions of men spend billions of dollars in strip clubs every year." Patrick says. "So here is another opportunity to peek behind the curtain, and learn about a billion dollar industry from the inside out." Patrick's four-year experience as a Strip Club DJ is being chronicled in a trilogy of books he's been working on for the last year. "Writing a series of books about your life is difficult, and it's going to take a lot of time." says Patrick, "At the same time, the things that I have seen and done (in the strip club business) will tell a fascinating story that I know people will want to read."
As he enters his 29th year working the music industry in all its amazing facets, Patrick finds himself back at his roots. Radio Promotion. While he continues to maintain all his various web businesses under the RelaxWeb.com parent company, Patrick launched RelaxMusicGroup.com and, RMGDigital.NET.
Patrick says, "The music industry has changed so much throughout my career. I want to position our company, so that independent artists from all genres can become their own record label." Relax Music Group provides the basic services all bands need to market their own music, and break their own careers. RMGDigital.NET provides Personal Promotion Services using Digital Distribution (as well as CD servicings) to get Radio Airplay for Indie Music.
Always taking photos or shooting video with his camcorder, it is writing that's been Patrick's life-long passion. From keeping journals while on the road, to chronicling his adventures as a Strip Club DJ, to creating copy for his client's web sites, Patrick is constantly writing something new every day. His latest project, Imaginings and Images, pulls some of Patrick's poetry from his vast collection and combines some of his photography into a cohesive online E-Book.
"It is a pure art project for me." says Patrick. "I wrote these poems at a very dark point in my life, right after my first divorce. Then I have all these great photographs I have taken from the road and my club experiences. I have been so busy writing, promoting and marketing for other people's works over all these years, I wanted to create an art piece that was all my own."
Creation is something that Patrick Rule continues to do every day. Working for other clients, as well as his own projects, sees Patrick moving forward with his career as a writer, music marketer and webmaster. With projects like DontDriveOnSunday.com and BlissAwareness.com, Patrick also seeks to reach people on a deeper level.
"People need to know that there is a spiritual side to life." Patrick says, "They also need to know that one person can make a difference. We all have so much impact in the lives of everyone around us, whether we know them personally or not." Whether you know him personally, professionally, or have never heard of him at all, Patrick's various projects have impacted all of us in a unique way. From his writing and web sites, to his innovations in music marketing and the artists he has helped to break into stardom, Patrick Rule is someone that you know even if you've never met.
Get to know him even better with Patrick Rule's new Online E-Book, Imaginings and Images, available for Download Now.
Thank You for visiting PatrickRule.com
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