Metallica’s logic seems to be: “if we help to sell that, we want a cut”.
Read More Here
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Plain White T’s Dave Tirio: Former Shy Guy
When Plain White T’s guitarist Dave Tirio was a kid, he never dreamed about the rock star life. Being shy stopped that line of thought pretty quickly. An artistic person by nature, he had always pursued various forms of self expression and loved music from an early age, but that didn’t translate into dreams of stardom for a man who likes to hide from the spotlight.
“I’m really, really shy . . . if you had told me I’d be in a band performing for people years ago, I would have said you were crazy,” Tirio said. Originally the band’s drummer, he used to hide behind the drums and use them as a security blanket to protect him from his fears of performing.
“When I switched to guitar, I was shocked because I couldn’t hide behind the shield of drums, so I had to go out and look at people’s faces. It scared the crap out of me.”Tirio has worked to grow as a performer, though he’s still not completely confident in his abilities. What gets him through is his love for the music that he plays and the fun he has being part of the band.
Read More Here
“I’m really, really shy . . . if you had told me I’d be in a band performing for people years ago, I would have said you were crazy,” Tirio said. Originally the band’s drummer, he used to hide behind the drums and use them as a security blanket to protect him from his fears of performing.
“When I switched to guitar, I was shocked because I couldn’t hide behind the shield of drums, so I had to go out and look at people’s faces. It scared the crap out of me.”Tirio has worked to grow as a performer, though he’s still not completely confident in his abilities. What gets him through is his love for the music that he plays and the fun he has being part of the band.
Read More Here
Neverset earns success through tour schedule
In today’s music industry, touring is more crucial than ever. For young bands, the goal is to jump on a major tour and open for a national headliner. Dallas-based alternative hard rock band Neverset has accomplished this goal by touring with well-known acts such as Candlebox, Breaking Benjamin, Hinder and Static X.
Read More Here
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Monday, November 5, 2007
Band Review: Rustcycle
Rustcycle
Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO
Maybe I'm getting old or maybe it's just that I don't "get it". Ambient trance just sounds like something I'd hear in the background of a horror movie or a meditation class. Overall, while this isn't the type of music that I could truly appreciate, fans of instrumental and prog-rock may love it. I just kept waiting for something, but it never came.
Website: www.rustcycle.com
SonicBids: www.sonicbids.com/Rustcycle
Read more band reviews
Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO
Maybe I'm getting old or maybe it's just that I don't "get it". Ambient trance just sounds like something I'd hear in the background of a horror movie or a meditation class. Overall, while this isn't the type of music that I could truly appreciate, fans of instrumental and prog-rock may love it. I just kept waiting for something, but it never came.
Website: www.rustcycle.com
SonicBids: www.sonicbids.com/Rustcycle
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Band Review: (S)HE
(S)HE
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
I'm a sucker for well produced R&B pop music - especially when the harmonies are so dead on. The songs are well written and certainly hook-y enough to capture a mass audience. TLC, Destiny's Child and any other major selling female band would make for excellent comparisons. The music has real flavor that reinforces the harmonies.
"Da Hotness" is a sure-fire hit. It could very well be the conduit for guitarist Matt Tuttle in reaching the modest goal of selling 10,000 albums. "Club Shy Guy" is another very powerful tune. "Last Sunday" has a heavy reggae influence, but where I'd usually shy away, (S)HE makes it work quite well.
Website: www.sheurbanrock.com
SonicBids: www.sonicbids.com/SheRocks
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Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
I'm a sucker for well produced R&B pop music - especially when the harmonies are so dead on. The songs are well written and certainly hook-y enough to capture a mass audience. TLC, Destiny's Child and any other major selling female band would make for excellent comparisons. The music has real flavor that reinforces the harmonies.
"Da Hotness" is a sure-fire hit. It could very well be the conduit for guitarist Matt Tuttle in reaching the modest goal of selling 10,000 albums. "Club Shy Guy" is another very powerful tune. "Last Sunday" has a heavy reggae influence, but where I'd usually shy away, (S)HE makes it work quite well.
Website: www.sheurbanrock.com
SonicBids: www.sonicbids.com/SheRocks
Read more band reviews
Woe of Tyrants: Local band fulfills west coast dreams
A local band is overwhelmed at getting its big break in the music industry.
Woe of Tyrants, made up of talent from both Ross and Pike counties, was recently signed to the Metal Blade Records label in California.
"We are extremely excited about working with Metal Blade and feel that we have a lot to offer the label and the heavy metal community," said bass player Adam Kohler.
Read More Here
Woe of Tyrants, made up of talent from both Ross and Pike counties, was recently signed to the Metal Blade Records label in California.
"We are extremely excited about working with Metal Blade and feel that we have a lot to offer the label and the heavy metal community," said bass player Adam Kohler.
Read More Here
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Sheena Metal: Fan Etiquette - Are The People Who Love Your Music Ruining Your Band's Reputation?
They're generous, they're consistent, they're giving...and most of all...they love your music. They're your fans and they come to every one of your live shows, fork out money for cover charges, CDs and t-shirts, bring your band gifts, throw you house parties, and spread the word of your music on the internet and beyond. Your fans are the single most important ingredient to the success of your band. Without them, you'd be rocking out in your Aunt's basement to an audience of none...well, maybe her cat.
But there can be a dark side to the hoards of happy humans drunk on your future #1 hits. Sometimes the folks barreling in to see you play, or flooding your websites with their online presence are causing more harm than good to the reputation of your band. Rude behavior, message board flaming, compulsive sticker-ing and flyer-ing, may all seem like helping to your flock of followers but to club owners, industry and those newly interested in your music, they may seem like trouble-makers, belligerents and vandals.
Read More Here
Sheena Metal: www.sheena-metal.com
But there can be a dark side to the hoards of happy humans drunk on your future #1 hits. Sometimes the folks barreling in to see you play, or flooding your websites with their online presence are causing more harm than good to the reputation of your band. Rude behavior, message board flaming, compulsive sticker-ing and flyer-ing, may all seem like helping to your flock of followers but to club owners, industry and those newly interested in your music, they may seem like trouble-makers, belligerents and vandals.
Read More Here
Sheena Metal: www.sheena-metal.com
Music Industry Suicide
In those days, "piracy" was barely even a word in the music world. My friends and I traded MP3s in college over the local network, but they were scattered and low-quality. It felt like a novelty - like a digital version of duping a cassette tape - hardly a replacement for CDs. CDs sounded good and you could bring them with you in your DiscMan, and the only digital music you could get was as good as your friends' CD collections, anyway. It never occurred to any of us that digital files were the future. But as it turned out, lots of kids, in lots of colleges around the world, had the same idea of sharing MP3 files over their local networks, and eventually, someone paid attention to that idea and made Napster. Suddenly, it was like all those college networks were tied together, and you could find all this cool stuff online. It was easier and more efficient than record stores, it was powered by music fans, and, well, it was free. Suddenly you didn't have to pay 15 to 18 bucks for an album and hope it was good, you could download some tracks off the internet and check it out first. But you still always bought the CD if you liked it - I mean, who wants all their music to be on the computer? I sure didn't. But increasingly, more and more people did. For college kids, Napster was a Godsend, because you can all but guarantee two things about most college kids: They love music, and they're dirt poor. So it grew, and it grew, and it started to grow into the mainstream, and that's when the labels woke up and realized something important was happening. At that point they could have seen it as either a threat or an opportunity, and they, without hesitation, determined it to be a threat. It was a threat because essentially someone had come up with a better, free distribution method for the labels' product. To be fair, you can imagine how confusing this must have been for them - is there even a historical precedent for an industry's products suddenly being able to replicate and distribute on their own, without cost?
Read More Here
Article link courtesy of the Yahoo! Group Music Thoughts.
Read More Here
Article link courtesy of the Yahoo! Group Music Thoughts.
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.Read More Here
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
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
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
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
Friday, October 12, 2007
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.
Read More Here
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.
Read More Here
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.
Read More Here
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.
Read More Here
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.
Read More Here
“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.
Read More Here
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."
Read More Here
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."
Read More Here
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.
Read More Here
Read More Here
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
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.
Read More Here
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.
Read More Here
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.
Read More Here
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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.
Read More Here
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.
Read More Here
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