Introducing… Mandyleigh
Her name sounds as strong as her voice is beautiful. Mandyleigh Storm, born in England but raised in Australia, represents an ever growing number of female artists on SellaBand. She’s had to overcome many difficulties in her life, but is now the proud mother of two children and has her music to pull her though.
Who is Mandyleigh?
“I’m a female singer-songwriter who is extremely eclectic. I was born in Southampton, UK. My family moved to Perth, Australia when I was little and I grew up there. I’ve had a massive exposure to all kinds of music growing up, from my Dad’s old-time Blues and Jazz and 50's/60's Rock, to my brothers' The Who, Kate Bush, etcetera. In my teens I started singing lessons, which continued for many years. I sang Blues/Jazz standards in many duo’s, and even a 28-piece band which toured New Zealand (such a beautiful country). I then went to the UK where I stayed with an Auntie in Southampton and struggled on about £2 a week after living expenses, working as an aged-care assistant, and performing when I could in Blues/Jazz bands for love. Whenever I could, I wrote lyrics and melodies. My Godfather (Uncle Tom) died of multiple heart attacks while I was in London, and it really hit me hard. I wrote 'It' Not You' about him, and my disbelief and denial. I became severely depressed. A lot of my songs at the time are obviously inspired by my battle with depression ('Keep The Silence', 'Same Time Tomorrow' to name a couple). My then boyfriend Gary Storm wrote 'Grey' about me. In England, I worked in some duos doing covers, but always wanted to pursue my original music. It`s hard to pursue when you are depressed and have no confidence though. After many years of hard struggle, I have beaten the depression... and without anti-depression drugs. Every so often I have a bad day, what Winston Churchill referred to as his 'Black Dog'. What helped me overcome depression has been my loving family and my sense of humour. A good sense of humour can help alot of things. Making one see the lighter side of life. Once I regained my life, I was mentally able to have two wonderful children with Gary (Damaris Aubrey Fire Storm and Zyah Violet Snow Storm), who are amazing. I want to now pursue a life for all the songs I have written and still have on paper and in my head. Depression stole years of my life. I want them back. It's time my music was heard.”
How did you find out about SellaBand?
“I found out about SellaBand through my husband Gary (who saw it mentioned on a blog). He has and has always had total belief in me. I think SellaBand is a brilliant concept, putting the music first, and getting music-lovers and music-creators together to give that music life. It`s about time that music was put back into the hands of the listeners, rather than the big record companies who are more interested in the marketing appeal than the music. SellaBand is more interested in the music, where YOU, the believer, are the A&R department. I’ve met some lovely people through SellaBand.”
What inspires you to write your songs?
“My feelings, emotions and thoughts about things I see and things that have an effect on me are what helps me to write a song or lyrics, or come up with a melody. I think and sink deeply into my writing process and MUST get every word and every melodic tone right before it becomes something that I`m happy to have as a song. I always feel that I can’t write enough, that I will never be able to write enough about how I feel. I think the closest I’ve come to feeling like I write everything I set out to write was with ‘Tonight’, the song I wrote for our first little girl, Damaris (who you can hear on the song, as she was in the bedroom when it was recorded).
I’m not a songwriter who can just write a song about seemingly nothing. It has to have essence and feeling, and hopefully tell a story. Just like my life and everything around me. I feel you get an extra truth from that. I really do try to write from the soul. A lot of my songs that have been recorded as rough demo's so far are quite mellow... just a few rock/pop songs. Over the last year though I have been writing a lot of full-on rock songs. I’d really like to professionally record the best of my earlier songs, and also the new rock-chick ones: With your help, I can.”
What are your ambitions?
“Musically, my ambitions are now to be internationally successful, and to let my girls be a little proud of me. I worked pretty hard on myself in the last few years with much love and support to get my life back on track, and live, in whatever capacity that takes. If I can become successful, I want to support animal charities such as Born Free and Animals Asia as much as possible, and also mental illness charities (like MIND in the UK), and raise awareness of depression. Most of all, of course, I want to be healthy and happy.”
How do you plan to raise the full 50k?
“First of all, the main impetus has to come from the Believers on SellaBand. It’s hard to let them know you exist though, so when I have left a message, I do it very selectively (only sent out 4 so far), to people who like the music of others in the same genres as myself. It would be great to have a better way of getting known on SellaBand though. I printed up thousands of business cards which feature SellaBand on one side (see picture), and I hand them out at gigs I do with the duo I'm in (Avalon) every week. The SellaBand banner is also featured on my website (www.mandyleigh.com). I’m also sorting out accounts on other websites that feature music, which link to my site.”
Any other SellaBand artists you particularly like?
“I’m also a Believer, so I put my money where my mouth is. Of the artists I’ve had the time to listen to on SellaBand, I like Cubworld, Daniel Ward-Murphy, Vegas Dragons and Luna Assasins. I’m sure there are loads more great artists, once I get around to listening to them.”
Why should people Believe in Mandyleigh?
“Why shouldn't they?;-) I believe I have the melodies, lyrics and voice that can make it big in the world. If they like those aspects of my songs, then they can help me get the music sorted out. I`m dedicated, professional and hard-working. Also, my best (latest) songs are yet to be recorded. With your belief and investment, we can make this happen together. I guarantee they`ll get a good return. I`m my biggest critic, and I believe in myself now.”
Pick of the Week
Every week we ask one of the music specialists in the Expert section to give us their favorite SellaBand artists. This week's Picks come from Chicago, the windy city, where Jill Katona runs her own business. After working for Elektra Records in New York for a long time, she is now an attorney and manages a number of artists. These are her rather eclectic SellaBand picks:
1. Lenaluiz (France)
Traditional latin flavor highlighted by a beautiful, evocative voice makes for a talented group. Their maturity and confidence of sound makes me excited to see Lenaluiz go farther.
2. the Q4 (Netherlands)
Innovative, provocative and quite sample-friendly, these Dutch producers have put tracks together that remind me of The Avalanches...creative to a T.
3. Mysti Mayhem (USA)
There are no words to describe this kind of voice...Mysti sings from the soul, and she sounds like whomever you're more partial to (Janis Joplin, Beth Hart, etc). This artist is exactly the reason that Sellaband is such a great idea--to support great artists like this one.
Q + A
Elleanore
The rock scene in the Netherlands has a great reputation for spawning cool Gothic bands. It must be the Dutch air, or something. So, after Within Temptation, Epica, After Forever and of course Nemesea, make way for Elleanore, who hope to be next in line to conquer the world. Except that they don’t like to be called ‘gothic’…
What or who is Elleanore?
“Elleanore is a very motivated and diligent band. We started in 2001 and through the years there were a few alterations in the line up. After a break of two years, we are back in action! Now, our ambitions are even higher than five years ago. We want to give the people the possibility to identify themselves in our songs by the messages that lies in our music. For example the song ‘The Silence Within’ is about a depression that is conquered under the guidance and of true love. We are all very honest and decent people and we want to do the best thing we can for our believers. Thanks to them we’re going to reach our goal!”
Why did you join SellaBand?
“The concept is great! People all over the world can listen to you and support you. There are no strings attached and with every Part you sell it reminds you why you do it. Every single Believer is another motivation for us.”
Has the success of Nemesea inspired you?
“Of course, Nemesea did a wonderful job with reaching their 50.000 dollar with their truly great music and we can only hope to reach this as well. But eventually it is not the success of other bands that inspires us but the people who Believe in us.”
What makes you different from other bands in the Gothic-genre?
“Actually, not that we really care but we don't consider ourselves to be a true "gothic" band but more of a symphonic metal band with female vocals. And it's because of these vocals that there are similarities with the other so-called ‘gothic’ bands (who mostly don't consider themselves as being a gothic bands either). And because people like to put this name-tag on those bands we decided to put this term in our description. Anyway we don't know if we are that different from these other ‘gothic’ bands, but if so, we think the difference lies in our positive messages. Although we have a song that has suicide as a subject, the context of it's lyrics are more aimed towards the question WHY people take suicide as a way out because there are so many good things in this live as long as you are willing to see them. Anyway we believe that the sound that we have is different enough to be able to stand out from the other bands. And we are willing to fight our way up from the flow of bands in this genre by trying to write better songs each time. Only time will tell if we'll succeed.”
What are the band's ambitions?
“Well, it remains to be seen whether there are ambitions we DON'T have! We want to make great songs, perform as much as possible, make a full album and most important, to become an acknowledged band in the way we express our musical ideas through the harmony within the band.”
How do you plan to reach the 50k?
“We leave that choice up to those who believe in us. Of course, we hope to get there by making a good promotion, perform as much as possible, keep on making good songs and of course keeping our Believers informed up to date. We are so grateful to them. We wish we could do more for them and hopefully we can give them some energy when they see us live.”
Why is it that there are so many popular gothic bands in the Netherlands?
“Well, that remains a debatable question. You can call it either coincidence or nationally determined… personally I think that once there are one or two popular bands in one genre, that originate from the same country, people all over the world tend to be more focused on that country In their surge for more talent in that same genre. And therefore beginning bands in this genre from that country get more chances than bands in the same genre from another country. We can't deny that this is a good situation for us.”
When can we expect your second full song on SellaBand?
“Before the end of the year. We are working on the mix and mastering of ‘One Forever’ of which you can listen a sample of on our profile. The full version will come soon. Our first gigs are in December so we can add some pictures, probably a video as well, and hopefully a great live recording!”
A song inspired by…
Sometimes a new song is posted on SellaBand and immediately draws our attention. Such was the case with ‘Time’ by the multi-talented Phil Tweed. The song, as it turns out, was inspired by death, and Phil has transformed this tragedy into something touchingly beautiful.
Phil Tweed:
“The recent death of a close friend prompted me to write and record a song dedicated to his life. While attending my friend’s funeral only two weeks ago, a poem called ‘Time’ was read. What makes this story remarkable is that the poem was written by my friend when he was only ten years old: David Collins was one of the most intelligent people I have ever known, who easily could have taken any career path he wished – but spent his entire life believing in and encouraging other people. He did not once seek material wealth for himself but willingly and generously gave and gave. We often spent hours discussing the universe, philosophy, religion, pretty much any subject, and he was knowledgeable about them all. The words of the poem he wrote display the profoundness of his thinking at even such an early age, and spurs us all on to think about the amount of time we have been given to live here on earth, and to make the most of it. The world has suffered a great loss with the death of David – I hope that through this song his life will continue to influence and change other people as he has changed mine.”
Ethereal atmosphere
As a busy full time producer, Phil usually spends his time producing for other clients (Vegas Dragons, Tiffany Gow, Kristy James are all SellaBand artists Phil has produced). But because he felt so strongly about this, he wrote the song ‘Time’ and recorded it all in two days - it is now on his page www.sellaband.com/philtweed. Phil’s approach with the song was quite different to ‘normal’ songwriting. There are no verses, choruses etc – he has just taken the words of the poem and set them to music, repeating a couple of lines and words. As a result, the song evolves throughout into different sections. “I didn’t want to tamper with the heart of the poem – I just wanted to set it to music. With the subject being time, I expressed that in quite few different ways, changing time signatures, and using polychords (layered chords) and unconventional harmony at times to create an ethereal atmosphere. The melody and backing vocals make frequent use of fourths and fifths to emphasize the ‘openness’ of the subject. As a result, I find it very difficult to classify it into any particular style. It’s got pieces of everything in it - I’d love people’s feedback!”
Call to arms for SellaBand artists: Do you have a song with a special meaning, dedication or message? Write to us at info@sellaband.com and we are more than happy to make room for you in our weekly SellaBand Tribune. So, it's up to YOUif there will be a next chapter of 'A Song Inspired By...'
Weekly update
Cubworld is (almost) halfway there
By the time you read this Tribune, our big American hero Cubworld may well have written a bit of history for himself and SellaBand; he is about to be at 50% in budget (25,000$), meaning that he is halfway to realising his dream. Earlier in the week, Cubworld saw a sudden drop in numbers (some of you may have noticed a discussion that went on on his profile page), but we are delighted to see that he is back on track and is attracting new Believers every day. Cubworld is currently still at home and Utah, where he is preparing his set for the Paradiso-show and we have it on good authority that his performance will contain one or two nice surprises. So, it took Jake exactly three months to get to 25k, any predictions as to when the full $50,000 will be reached? Bets are now on at info@sellaband.com;-)
Nemesea hard at work
We’ve had many requests from Nemesea-Believers for an update from their favorite band. Well actually, today (Tuesday, December 12) SellaBand’s Johan and Dagmar travelled all the way to the north of Holland (to a small village just outside of Groningen, to be preciese), to Studio Spitsbergen where Nemesea are rehearsing, writing and demoing new songs. Part 2 of their video-diary can be found on the band’s profile page and is a nice appetizer for things to come. 
Nemesea's most recent photoshoot
The band and their dedicated A&R man Adam Sieff are currently speaking to several producers and studios to record the album in the new year. “It’s great to see that a lot of top notch soundmen are eager to work with Nemesea”, commented Sieff, “Now it’s matter of meeting people and finding the right person who does not only like what Nemesea are doing, but who also gets along with the band.” Says Nemesea’s Manda Ophuis: "We are working very hard! Writing music, searching for the right people to work with, rehearsing...and making our videodiary is so much fun! We hope it gives you an impression of what we are doing right now! We're looking forward to our gig in Paradiso!"
Paradiso, January 7
Speaking of which: after announcing the line-up for our New Year’s Party, we’ve had a lot of people who reached out to us for tickets. Most of the available 250 tickets have now been allocated, but, we’ve also had a number of people who were kind enough to inform us in time that they are not going to be able to make it to Amsterdam after all. So, here is what we’ll do: if you still want a chance to be present at SellaBand’s first ever live-concert, in Amsterdam on January 7, 2007, send us an e-mail with your request to: ticket@sellaband.com. We will throw all requests in a big brown bag and pick out randomly the lucky few who will get their free ticket for the show, after all. A maximum of 2 tickets per person will apply. More news about ‘Paradiso’, next week.
Artists, bring on your Christmas song!
This week several artists have approached us with the idea to make a playlist with Christmas songs for our Jukebox. 
Well, we're always open for good suggestions, so we' ve instructed our programmers to make this possible! SellaBand artists: if you want your Christmas song to be played in the homes of all our Believers during the Holidays, record your song before noon Monday the 18th of December. Please notify us with an email (info@sellaband.com) that you want your song to be added to the playlist and load it up on your profile page as the third track. We will take care of the rest!
I’m A Believer
On SellaBand, everyone is a star. The I’m a Believer-features are just as popular as the Artist-sections and that is exactly how we like it. This week we go to the heart of the USA, where Jon Satterfield watches every move we make. He does not only put his money where his mouth is, but throws a few good suggestions in the mix as well.
Introduce yourself, please…
“Hello everyone, my name is Jon Satterfield. I'm 45 years old, divorced and have two wonderful kids and a great girlfriend. I live just outside Fayetteville, Arkansas in the good old United States. I work in Construction and dabble in real estate. But my real passion in life is
music...MY music! The kind that is personal- the kind that touches me. As we must eat good food to maintain a healthy body, it almost seems like great music is the " food " to maintain a healthy mindset and well being. My son is a teenager and is playing guitars (he has several). I don't know if he will try to pursue a career in music or not but thanks to SellaBand it’s possible. I could actually be supporting him to a recording. This is a great concept!
How did I find out about SellaBand?
“I was led to business 2.0 by BIZ-Mavericks and was reading it when I saw a article about investing in bands. I couldn't believe that it had finally happened! Arnis was being funny when he said HE thought of it but he was right as well! Because we have all thought of it but you guys made it happen!!
What attracted me to this concept?
“First off the simplicity of it- You believe or you don't! then I like the fact that your able to buy in and be a part of the actual contract the artist is striving for. I also like the fact that ANYONE can post here. It puts the music in the hands of the believers and artist where it should be!
(Arnis says this very well with attitude ! Please read his Believer-section in a previous tribune. Hey, for that matter please re-read all the ‘I’m a Believers’ everyone had brilliant ideas!)”
What does an Artist need to have to make you pull out your credit card and start believing?
“Okay first I usually want to like their music, but that's not always the case.. Now hold on Jake, but here goes: I like Cubworld and I think Jake's voice is great but that's not really my favorite music. I invested in Cubworld because look around this site man, he and Mandy are everywhere, thanking people, commenting on bands songs , encouraging other people. He (and others like Vegas Dragons, Muaw Dibe, etc ) work their ass's off and really deserve to get there contract. So you Artist need to WORK at this! May I add a few suggestions here???
1. Until we get a common message board on here , talk to the other Artist and Believers! You guys can contact my profile all you want but please don't copy and paste on me.
2. Show Believers you Believe too- buy Parts yourself!”
3. My personal favorite-----Offer free T-shirts from your band for buying a couple parts ! I think T-ka is already doing it! HEY SELLABAND ! Maybe you could work with them some how and get your SellaBand logo on the sleeve! Hey that's a great Idea! Johan I want royalties for this one, hahaha.” (Already in the works, Jon. Eh, the t-shirt part that is, not the royalties… - Editor)
Who is your absolute favorite sellaband artist?
“That's an easy one..DANDELIUM!!!! Heres a shameless plug! These guys are a trio of friends from Spain, Eric is only 17 and written like 38 songs or so. We have become friends thanks to SellaBand. I ask everyone reading this to please give them a listen. And Eric you need to get going on getting me a t- shirt haha!”
How do you think SellaBand can conquer the american market?
That's a tough question, it’s something I'm not knowledgeable in. I do know this is a great concept and I think has potential to be huge. However it’s still brand new and needs time to catch on big. I think you have around 5000 believers and 1000 artist? If that's the case we need WAY more Believers than an average of 5 for each band. Also this is really a team
effort here. Most people aren’t going to be able to buy huge amounts of Parts even if they really want to, so to get your artist to the goal it will take a lot of people liking them. We simply need more believers and they will come!”
Is there anything you would like to change/add to website?
“Yes .heres a few:
1. I would like to see a " believer" counter in the corner. Its always nice to see more actual numbers.
2. I would like to see the jukebox work on a drag and drop method where I can play just who I want.
3. And it would be nice if you had a believers " Daily Review" where we could post our opinions on who we like. I think you should have to have invested several parts first though.
4. And about the being able to take parts away.. I haven't yet and am not sure whether that's a good thing or not?”
Famous last words?
“I just want to take time here to wish each and everyone, Artist's, Believers, friends, Staff , all the people that are making this happen that I don't even know about, the very best of luck, life and health! I hope you are all getting everything out of life you want! SellaBand is not just about the contract! It’s about all the fun, the new music, the new friends and its ours!”