Ume (pronounced ooo-may) is a My Bloody Valentine/Sonic Youth-influenced rockin’ three-piece from Austin, Texas that is one of the more exciting bands I have heard in a while. Critics from all over are drooling over the beautifully brutal songs delivered by easy-on-the-eyes frontwoman Lauren Larson. Check it out:
This just in! Submit for your chance to play The “Kia Kevin Says” Stage on the 2009 Vans Warped Tour. This is an opportunity for a Tampa band to get noticed and maybe even sell a few CDs.
Sonicbids has partnered with Warped Tour to bring bands this opportunity. The Kia Kevin Says Stage is a stage on the Warped Tour that features hand-picked local, regional, and independent bands in every market. There is one performance slot in each market reserved for a Sonicbids artist.
Confirmed bands for the 2009 Warped Tour include: Thrice, 3OH!3, The Ataris, Chiodos, The Devil Wears Prada, Bad Religion, Flogging Molly, Less Than Jake, NOFX, Anti-Flag, Bouncing Souls, Silverstein, Underoath and many more.
Deadline is April 1. To register, go to www.sonicbids.com/warpedtour
Click here to download podcast version of this press release ››
Soulfound’s newest release, “Live at Zen Recording,” drops February 17 on all major online music retailers Worldwide. CDs will be handed out as promo by each of the participating bands and the Mohawk Bomb Records Street Team.
This five-song EP is the latest release from Florida’s Soulfound on Mohawk Bomb Records. The EP was recorded live at Zen Recording Studios in Pinellas Park, Florida in November 2008. The five tracks are from Soulfound’s last studio album, 2008’s “Is a Rock Band”. The tracklist is as follows:
1. You Only Get One
2. Occupation
3. King of the Sandbox
4. My Kind of Thing
5. Looking for Me
This is a raw snapshot of Soulfound doing what they do. No trickery, tracks or gimmicks here, just pure, unrefined rock music.
Soulfound has been touring the Florida circuit since 1999. Originally formed in Gainesville, Florida, this Clearwater four-piece prides themselves in their sing-along songs and strong live performances.
Over the last decade, there has been much talk and figures to support the fact that the heyday of the music industry has passed, or at least shrunk.
For example, the Top 10 selling albums of 2008 totaled 19 million units, including digital sales. In 1988, the 5 top-selling album alone sold over 26 million units (George Michael’s Faith, Dirty Dancing Soundtrack, Def Leppard’s Hysteria, INXS’ Kick and Michael Jackson’s Bad).
Did music lose its appeal? Does Lil Weezy not hold a candle to the King of Pop? Do bands today suck more than those of the 80s? What gives? I am sure there has been some kind of “lack of quality” perception from some old timers and music critics, but for the most part I think its about greed and lack of following supply and demand.
Mohawk Bomb Records, the award-winning, Clearwater-based independent record label, announces its release schedule for spring 2009.
Soulfound “Live at Zen Recording”: features 5 songs performed live at Zen Recording from their “Is a Rock Band” album, released in September 2008. There are 5 video companions to the songs available on Soulfound’s YouTube channel. The EP will be available as a digital release on February 17, 2009.
No Lip Vol. 2 Compilation: This 14-song eclectic mixed bag of Rock music anthems is the second release in Mohawk Bomb’s No Lip series. Although leaning towards Punk and Pop Rock, No Lip pulls samples from the Florida, California, Texas, Ontario (Canada), UK and Australian music scenes as a survey course of the caliber of independent music. Profiles on each of the contributing bands will be posted on the label’s Website at www.mohawkbomb.com over the next month. The compilation will be available for sale online after February 24, 2009. Physical CDs will be passed out as free giveaways and sent to music press around the USA.
Mohawk Bomb Records is a new kind of record label, focused on sharing all music with the World using social networking and Web 2.0 technologies.
Recording can be very expensive for inexperienced musicians on tight budgets. Unless you have spent dozens of hours in a recording studio, it can be tough to envision how long things can take and how different recording to regular-old practicing in the garage. After spending 8-12 hours in a dimly-lit recording studio, you can easily lose perspective and damage your songs in the process.
One thing bands can do on their own time is work out their songs during “pre-production” before going into the studio. Pre-production entails recording rough demos of the songs you will be recording to make sure all the parts are where they are supposed to be. Doing this will in turn yield shorter recording sessions and will keep more money in your pocket for either more studio time or for promotions.
After getting your band together, coming up with a name and writing a few songs, the first thing you need to do is make sure everyone is on the same page by defining your goals as a band. There are two main types of goals: Overall Band Goals and Tactical Goals.
New World Brewery on a Saturday night boasts a healthy built in-crowd of conversationalists and music lovers. Even with the threatening cold snap on the horizon and very little local media coverage, quite a few people made it out to support the local post-punk rock band Dumbwaiters and show promoter New Granada Presents.
With the audience drinking cold beer while huddling, humping or gyrating near conveniently located space heaters on the New World patio, I wondered how many people got drawn away from this local show to see the moldy blues rock of Johnny “I played at Woodstock” Winter at Jannus Landing or Guns N’ Roses’ heroes Nazareth crust rocking at the Largo Cultural Center. Probably none, but our continued cultural emphasis on these old bohemoths roaming the lands and garnering top dollar for performances of contrived, dated music marketed for the sake of nostalgia gets under my skin…
Artists are always looking for “what people think” about their music. This really translates to “tell me something positive so I don’t freak out”. If this is the intended purpose, why ask in the first place? I had a band send in a demo and ask me to tell them what I thought of it. After listening to it 2 or 3 times, I crafted a long email pointing out what I thought were the strengths and points to work on, plus asked for some clarification on certain things, as I was interested but not sold. I never heard back from them.
The Bombardier Manifesto is a blog for bands, clubs and related industries about music, marketing and technology. Learn how to use these tools to develop a healthy and profitable music scene.
Hello World! Welcome to the first entry of the Bombardier Manifesto. Having spent the last 10 years trying to build my music cred and professional arsenal, I realized that my attempts have not failed, but have been victims of bad timing, lack of knowledge and downright stupidity. I had to figure things out the hard way and that takes a toll after a while. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes.
That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to be able to share with you some of the very useful tools available to bands and businesses everywhere who want to increase the visibility of and awareness for their wares… Read the rest of this entry »
