24-11-08: We were interviewed by 3voor12/Groningen. Of course SellaBand is mentioned ;-) You can find the interview here (in Dutch).

21-10-08: Tarball is Sellaband of the week on Spinner.com! Check our bulletin for the great review.

“This EP is simply too short to fully satisfy”

Hi everybody!

We are Tarball, and we want to go places! We've just finished our three song EP 'Bite The Bullet' with the help of 'major league' producer Guido Aalbers. He has worked with bands like Muse, Queens of the Stone Age and Coldplay and he wanted to help us make a decent record. Working with him has been inspirational and the CD turned out great. Now the first reviews are in and they are beyond anything we hoped for. Listen for yourself!

Next step is a full-length album of the same quality as ‘Bite The Bullet’. We have been watching Sellaband for about a year now and we have decided that SAB is the way for us to go. We think the album has to follow within a year of BTB. If it takes any longer we'll lose all the good press we've received so far, so we want to reach 50k by June 2009 to get the album out by the end of the year. We know it's ambitious but we feel that we can do this with a little help.

So listen to our music and tell us what you think. We hope that we can convince the Sellaband community that Tarball is worth believing in but we can’t do it alone. We need you.

Thanx,

Tarball

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What will we do with 50k?

We know that buying parts for many bands is a costly affair. We don’t expect anyone to buy our parts just because we ask them to. So, like other bands on SAB, we have worked out our 50k plan. We want this so much that we’ve been planning for ages ;-) so we can tell you what you will get by believing in Tarball by answering four simple questions:

Q: What will I get when I believe in Tarball?

A: Our ‘regular’ album will contain 12 songs, about 50 minutes of music. All songs are already written. We’ve been playing live for almost four years now so we know which songs work best. The three songs on ‘Bite The Bullet’ will be on the album of course. Maybe in a slightly different version but they deserve to be on there. The limited edition version will contain 15 songs and video footage of the recording process and live shows.

Q: Where will you record the album?

A: We have already chosen a studio and a producer. We want to work with Guido again. There’s a great chemistry between us and he forced us to play the best we ever have. We rehearsed for months before he was satisfied and agreed to start recording. We are a much better band now because of him. We know that he will push us to our limits and make the best album possible.

Q: How will you spend the money?

A: We will take care of designing the artwork ourselves with the help of some talented friends. This way we can spend most of the money on recording and mixing. Video shooting and editing will also be done by us. We want this album to blow you away when you play it so we will focus on the sound most of all.

Q: Are there any perks for ‘big’ believers?

A: Yes there are! We will probably think of more cool stuff in the near future but we have some ideas already. Apart from thanking every believer in the booklet of the CD we will thank believers with 10+ parts in a personal way on the CD. Believers who own more parts then our own ‘mister SAB’ Siger will be thanked in even more elaborate ways.

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Check out these exerpts from reviews. You can read them all on our website in full and in their original languages (Dutch, English and German):

“The three very strong songs leave the listener wanting more!” (Review ‘Bite the Bullet’, MusicFromNL, July 2008)

“If this is an indication of what is to come, Holland will get a top record” (Review ‘Bite the Bullet’, OOR, August 2008)

"Rage Against The Machine, A Perfect Circle, Tool (...); not the least of names, and a healthy ambition can not be denied. A high standard to live up up to, but the first steps in the right direction are taken" (Review ‘Bite the Bullet’, Aardschok, September 2008)

“Without being able to put on much resistance, you will find yourself in the universe of Tarball drenched with merciless sounds, where a melancholic kind of darkness dominates” (Review ‘Bite the Bullet’, Fret, October 2008)

“The Tool inspired rock (among others) is very solid and the diversity of the songs doesn’t stand in the way of the impact as a whole.” (Review ‘Bite the Bullet’, MusicFromNL, July 2008)

“With the third and last track ‘Judge Me’ as the absolute high point Tarball’s EP ‘Bite the Bullet’ makes good on the promises made by their first demo ‘Mine to Take’.” (Review ‘Bite the Bullet’, 3voor12, June 2008)

“Bite the Bullet is an EP that will definitely impress booking agents and music journalists. The songs are composed well and the overall sound is good.” (Review ‘Bite the Bullet’, The Bullet Reviews, June 2008)

“Tight riffs, larger-than-life-vocals, prominent drums. Probably influenced by Tool and System of a Down but fortunately Tarball is not just a copy of those bands. The inspiration sources are clearly visible but Tarball mixes in enough different stuff to create their own sound.” (Demo review ‘Mine to Take’, 3voor12, 2006)

“Good compositions with beautiful intros, surprising and original transitions, splendid use of sound effects, lots of diversity in dynamics and intonation”. (Jury Red Ears Festival, qualifying round, January 2005)

“The singer’s voice must be the revelation of this festival. We will be hearing more of these guys for sure.” (Jury Red Ears Festival, finals, February 2005)

Musicians:                                                        Online:

Daan Romein:              vocals/guitars                www.tarball.nl

Siger Riddersma:         guitars                          www.myspace.com/tarball

Patrick Linthorst:          bass guitars                  http://tarball.hyves.nl

Thomas van Noorden:  drums                         

Discography

- 2008: Bite the Bullet (3 song EP).

- 2006: Mine to Take (4 song self-produced demo).

- 2005: The song ‘Method of Mind’ appears on a compilation CD ‘Take it or Leave it, part 2’ on the Teenangel Radical Recordings label.

12-12-2008, Vera, Groningen / NL (support act for Nebula)

26-12-2008, A Very Heavy X-Mosh, MFC Coevorden / NL

14-02-2009, Punt 1, Leek / NL

19-02-2009, Simplon, Groningen / NL