Curse Word Band Names Challenge the Music Industry

“We got an e-mail this morning from Coachella saying they won’t book our band because of our name,” says an exasperated Brian Borcherdt, whose band, Holy Fuck, is featured on this month’s cover. Funny thing is, Holy Fuck has played Coachella before, as well as Osheaga, Glastonbury, SXSW, and recently, Toronto’s civic-minded, corporate-sponsored all-night art exhibition, Nuit Blanche. But their return engagement to Coachella has been cancelled.

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Stillborn Records Signs Florida 's CATALEPSY

From Adrenaline PR:

Stillborn Records has signed up and coming Florida 6 piece, Catalepsy. The band just completed their debut full length, "Iniquity" at Miami 's Mana Studios with producer Brian Elliot. It's slated for a February 12th 2008 release date. Stillborn Records chief Jamey Jasta had this to say "It’s great adding yet another young & hungry band to our new and improved roster. Catalepsy crushes and I'm glad to have them on board. Plus they are from Florida , that state fucking rules and has produced so many great extreme bands!" See Jamey talk more about the release here.

Catalepsy is currently on tour with The Classic Struggle. To mark both the tour and signing, Stillborn has released a 5 song EP called "Godless," that is limited to 1000 copies. It features 2
tracks from the upcoming full length and 3 demo tracks. The EP is available exclusively on the road with the band, on the label's official web store and at the Stillborn merch booth at December's Stillborn Fest dates.

Catalepsy tour dates:
10/30 Nashville , TN @ The Muse
10/31 Wheeling , WV @ Yesterday's
11/1 OFF
11/2 Hobart , IN @ Cressmore Community Club
11/3 Mertztown, PA @ Topton Fire Company
11/4 Holyoke , MA @ Water Front Tavern w/ Sever The Sky & Our Darken Ash
11/5 Rochester , NY @ Penny Arcade
11/6 TBA
11/7 Ansonia , CT @ The Falcon's Nest
11/8 Gloversville , NY @ The Upper Deck
11/9 Peekskill , NY @ Peekskill Elks Lodge 11/10 Providence , RI @
11/11 Ronkonkoma , NY @ The Fifth Ave. Arena
11/12 New York , NY @ Knitting Factory
11/13 TBA
11/14 TBA
11/15 Virginia Beach , VA @ Peppermint Beach Club
11/16 Thomasville , NC @ The Soundvent

www.myspace.com/catalepsy
www.myspace.com/stillbornrecords
www.stillbornrecords.com

SonicBids Quick Tip: Street Teams

Get your team together and hit the streets (figuratively and literally).

Here is how to use your fans to help get your name out there and gain more fans, who then can turn around and help spread the word and get even more fans until you eventually take over the world.

How do you get fans to join your stream team?
• Get the word out there that you are looking for help. Be sincere in your call for help.
• Send your fans an email of sincere gratefulness when they do something, anything, to help.
• Incentivize your team. Even the smallest token is appreciated.
• A pair of tickets to see you when you are in the area or A free CD and t-shirt for a contest winner.

Start an E-team!
• The power of the internet buzz is amazing. Just look at Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, a band that had no financial or label support, but sold tons of records with the help of their fans and press.
Use MySpace, Facebook, and blogs to post interesting facts and concert dates for your band. Don’t only do this yourself, but make sure your fans know that you would appreciate it, if they would help out. Have your fans post your banner on their social networking page. They love your music; why not help you make a living.
• Have your team post that you are coming to town on their local music blogs.

Start a street team!
• Giving your music away for free is a small cost to pay to get people out to your shows and gain fans. I am not talking about giving the farm away for free here but when one of the members of your team goes to a show, make sure that they have some demos or free downloadable dropcards to pass out.
• Print up flyers for your team to hang up around town to help promote your show. Now spread the word and get your fans to work with you.

www.sonicbids.com

Andy Browne Comments: Dewey Beach Music Conference

(the spelling is all Andy, haha. Andy you know I love ya!)

if you havent been to DBMC you should make it a priority as a workin musician , or if you are just a fan into music at all..the place and crew that run the event are top notch..you will meet plenty of contacts,bands, and who knows with people like paul reed smith wondering around u may just get that one question nagging u all u your life about guitar construction ....it was our 4th time around ,and it just gets better and better.

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Bands concert tour benefits Habitat for Humanity

Putting a label on the music of Switchfoot and Relient K somehow isn't fair.

Their current tour, which kicks off at Charleston's Municipal Auditorium Tuesday night, is highlighting the efforts of Habitat for Humanity, the worldwide organization that helps to build homes for the economically disadvantages. The bands are donating $1 from every ticket sold to Habitat.

Jon Foreman, lead singer for San Diego-based Switchfoot, said the idea to help Habitat came from his band.

"We have sold a lot of tickets and CDs and T-shirts and stickers and you leave a tour with those sorts of numbers and people say that's a successful tour.

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Taco Bell names band search finalists

Taco Bell has announced the 2007 class of Feed the Beat. The 50 bands will receive $500 in free Fourthmeals — the late night meal between dinner and breakfast.

“These bands are constantly touring and look to Fourthmeal as a dependable after-show meal when many other establishments have closed,” said David Ovens, chief marketing officer of Taco Bell Corp. “Their passion for creating great music mirrors our passion for serving great food.”

Hundreds of bands submitted applications in August and were selected over the past few weeks after a national audition. According to a news release, Taco Bell looked for up-and-coming indie rock bands with a passion for touring, a solid fan base and tour history and that are on the road this fall.

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Slash shreds rumours

Now that follow-up effort Libertad is out, Velvet Revolver continues to be dogged by rumours that once contractual obligations are honoured, the end is nigh.

Slash says otherwise.

"No, see, that's the kind of shit we were dealing with when the band first started," the legendary axeman says irritably from an Atlanta hotel room. "That's the same kind of naysayer prediction that we get from other people, but nobody on this side of the fence has ever said anything like that. At this point, I've got my guitar with me and I'm recording ideas for songs that could be prospects for the next record."

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Bandwidth: Stone Vengeance

Like any thrash-rock band worth its weight in heavy metal, Stone Vengeance has a stage presence and list of song titles that should scare the hell out of you. But a hardcore heavy metal band doesn't last 29 years without learning how to pace its distortion-driven adrenaline. So it should come as no surprise that these "lords of heavy metal soul" as they call themselves, are among the most level-headed dudes in San Francisco's music scene.

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Meat Puppets add fall dates to reunion tour

Rejuvenated alt-rockers Meat Puppets continue their return to full-time touring as the trio maps out dates for a fall tour behind July's "Rise to Your Knees."

The group will inaugurate its late-year run Oct. 5 in its adopted hometown of Austin, TX, the first of a pair of Texas shows the Puppets will play with Sonic Youth in October. The other SY/Puppets tangle comes Oct. 7 in Dallas.

After the Texas dates, the trio--which consists of brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood, along with new drummer Ted Marcus--will hit clubs and small theaters in 14 cities through the middle of November. Dates are listed below.

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No Tour for Reunited Led Zeppelin

Fans hoping the recently reunited Led Zeppelin would take the show on the road to rake in a mountain of cash are going to be disappointed.

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Radiohead’s CD: Hail to the free

On Oct. 10 fans [of Radiohead] can download “In Rainbows” and pay whatever price they deem fit. Those who fear the karma police might shell out around $10, but surely there’ll be some creep who throws down a buck or two. Which is probably the selling price in the used bins for 2003’s “Hail to the Thief” - the band’s last dance with EMI/Capitol.

Currently unsigned (and putting to bed those debates on who is the best unsigned band in the world, we suppose), Radiohead is now free to do whatever it chooses with its music - even if it means giving it away. Though other bands have done this in the past, this is the first major release - a potential million-seller - that bypasses the traditional record label middleman. Since the band already has a dedicated fan base and most profit derives from touring, Radiohead can afford to take such a landmark step.

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SonicBids: Double your Gig Revenue with the right Merchandising

This Quick Tip was adapted from an article by Tony van Veen, originally published in Disc Makers’ FastForward newsletter. Read the entire article here.

Double your gig revenue!
Merch sales are an easy way to make more money as a gigging indie artist.We independent artists have the habit of forgetting what our fans really are: our valued customers. Good customers have this wonderful habit of buying our stuff, and merchandise can be a big part of that.

Tips On Buying Merch
You’ll definitely want custom t-shirts, which represent 80% of all merch sold. But the greater the variety of merchandise you have to sell, the greater your opportunity to generate revenue.If you decide to design your merch yourself, keep it simple. Intricate designs don't usually translate well to silkscreen printing.If you are choosing multiple garment colors, make sure you take the extra time to ensure your ink colors will work well on all of the colors you choose.Beware, for every design location you add, there may be an additional cost involved.Start with one shirt color. Black is a good start, chosen by three quarters of all artists.Confirm this with your vendor, but you can usually split one order into S, M, L, or XL for any garment at no additional charge.

Tips On Selling Your Merch
When you’re on stage, mention that you have cool merch for sale.Display your merch in a high-traffic area.Keep prices reasonable and attractive.Sell a range of garments (not just t-shirts).Offer bundles (package two or more items together).Offer something for free with purchase (a poster, sticker, etc).Make sure everyone working with the band is wearing your merch.

www.sonicbids.com

HardRadio.com Reports 1.1 Million Unique Visitors in August

Officials at HardRadio.com recently reported that their HardRadio.com, HardVideo.com and HardAxe.net Web sites attracted 1.1 million unique visitors during August 2007. The number represents the amount of traffic to the Web sites, counting each visitor only once during the month-long report. Specializing in hard rock and heavy metal music, news and history, HardRadio.com pioneered Internet radio as the first dot-com, Internet-only radio station.

“For the first time in the company’s history, we’ve reached over one million passionate music fans in a single month,” said Tracy Barnes, founder and president of HardRadio.com. “Our ability to deliver the latest music, videos and bands at the click of a mouse has made us the hottest online destination in the world of heavy metal. As a result of this growing fan base, we’re currently searching for even more ways to enhance the business and increase our presence on the Internet.”

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Independent Music Conference: Another Failure

The only thing consistent about Noel Ramos' events are the failure rate - and this years attempt in Philadelphia was no exception. With little more than a handful of musicians in attendance, Ramos has "threatened" to remove the event from where its called home since 2003. I have a feeling it won't be missed, especially by a city that didn't notice it was there to begin with.

Earlier this year Ramos took issue with the popular musician website SonicBids and their quality control. It was a battle he again lost.

View the photos from this years event here: www.imc07.com

Perpetual Groove: Band puts its energy to good use

The group is on "The Serious Business Tour," powered by Green Mountain Energy Co., and performs tonight at Crossroads. P-Groove also has partnered with Tree Sound Studios and Sustainable Waves to help fight environmental threats such as global warming.

"The band and the label both feel strongly about doing things to help the environment," keyboard player Matt McDonald said in a phone interview. "As a band, someone in our profession produces a lot of emissions. We burn a lot of gas on tour and use a lot of energy to power up our lights and instruments. We calculated it for our fall tour, and it was shocking the amount of energy we use daily for hotels and gas."

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Arcade Fire: This band might change your life

In a fascinating video on YouTube.com, the band performs the title song of its new album, "Neon Bible," while crammed into an elevator with an array of instruments. (One of those instruments includes a glossy magazine -- the sound of its pages being torn provides part of the wild percussion section.)

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Otep: New Album and Thanking Fans

KOCH Records is pleased to announce a new revenue-sharing, multi-album, worldwide partnership with OTEP. The first release under this new agreement is the band’s highly-anticipated new full-length album, The Ascension-- slated for release on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007. Additionally, KOCH Records has several releases planned for 2008 under OTEP’s new, soon to be announced imprint.

Led by riveting front-woman Otep Shamaya, Los Angeles-based OTEP has long been considered one of rock’s most extraordinary live experiences.

The Ascension is their third full-length album, and the band challenged itself to avoid clichés and classifications and find a new landscape of sound and vision. Three songs on The Ascension were co-written with Grammy-nominated guitarist Greg Tribbett (Mudvayne and HELLYEAH). “We said ‘genre limits and music fads be damned, let’s write music that is important to us and that motiva tes us,” explains Otep Shamaya, the band’s namesake and driving force. “I wanted to write songs we believe in and let nothing stop us from building the album we want to make.”

Produced by Dave Fortman (Mudvayne, Evanescence), The Ascension is a “heavy duty masterpiece” as Harder Beat calls it. Metal Edge sta tes , “The Ascension finds the band in top-form.” And Blender offers, “ Otep ’s third album mostly stays within the realm of four-horsemen drum attacks, wrist twisting riffage and dark-lit industrial eeriness.”

OTEP is currently offering fans a once in a lifetime opportunity to be thanked in the liner notes of The Ascension. The group is asking fans to go out with a flyer they have made available for download and to post it everywhere. OTEP are asking that fans record their efforts and submit videos through YouTube. The person who submits the best video of their promotional efforts will then be thanked in the liner notes of The Ascension, which hits stores October 30th. The contest is open until midnight Eastern Standard Time on September 15th. So hurry over to http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=2243285&blogID=309097091 and get all the details.

Look for the band out on tour in support of The Ascension with band members Brian Wolf, Aaron and eVil J in the fall and into 2008. The band just completed a National tour with Static-X this past summer.

OTEP is managed by the Zen Media Group (HELLYEAH, Mudvayne, Bloodsimple).

To preview music please go to: www.MySpace.com/OTEP or www.OTEP.com

Man Trying to Sneak Into Concert Venue Impaled on Fence

A man trying to climb a 12-foot, wrought-iron fence into a concert venue fell onto one of the inch-thick spikes, impaling his thigh, then held on while rescuers worked to cut part of the fence away.

The man and several friends had been headed to the Bad Boys of Rock concert featuring the bands Hinder, Papa Roach and Buckcherry, according to York Fair vice president Gene Schenck.

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The Noisettes Cancel North American Tour

A typical excuse, the band have blamed their heavy touring schedule over the past two years for the cancellation.
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ANTHRAX’S SCOTT IAN TO GUEST ON NEXT EPISODE OF “ L.A. INK” ON TLC

This Tuesday, September 18, the High Voltage Tattoo Parlor will open its doors to Scott Ian , main axe-man for the legendary thrash metal band Anthrax! The heavy metal veteran will be appearing on the next episode of TLC’s “L.A. Ink,” which airs at 10PM EST, and will no doubt rock Kat Von D and her crew harder than ever before. More info on “L.A. Ink” is available at http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/la-ink/la-ink.html.

In the ultimate heavy metal tribute, Ian will be inked up with a tattoo of another hard rock hero, AC/DC’s Angus Young.

Ian commented on his appearance on the show, saying: “Kat Von D is the best and her shop is called High Voltage, so who and where better to get a tattoo of Angus Young?!?!”

Be sure to catch Scott, Kat Von D, and the rest this Tuesday, September 18 at 10PM EST on TLC.