SellaBand the movie: We need your help!

We are looking for your video message. Are you a Believer are you an artist, are you both? – we want in words.. on film your belief in sellaband and what it is for you – shoot with your face close to the camera indoor or outdoor. Make it somehow exciting – use your expression – tell us your dreams – let us know who you really are – in a few words – and always start the clip with the words “ I am a Believer “

You can load the video up on your profile! 

 

 

 

Here are some technical requirements on behalf of Julian, the director:


* All footage needs to be shot on PAL 720x576 settings. For America use NTSC cameras.

* film/animated footage PAL 25frames per second 720x576

* photography 1024x 768 pixels and approx 100  dpi

* Please don’t use the zoom in/out function, just move the camera towards and back from the object.

* Leave the settings on automatic,and  if you have a small acc camera lamp


We are looking forward to your contributions and will let you know in due time what has become of your footage. The final video will be available on www.sellaband.com. For inspiration, here is a bit of what Julian has in mind...

 

Weekly Update

It is exactly 26 weeks ago today, that www.sellaband.com went live. We started with five or six acts and felt so excited that we could welcome a dozen or so Believers in the first couple of hours. Cue half a year later and so much has happened. We are over 2,000 Bands. We have over 7,500 registered Believers. You all come from more than 75 different countries. We made the frontpage of the Financial Times, received praise from Billboard Magazine and made it to national television in several countries. Damn, our young friend Pim is even about to become something of a local celebrity in the Netherlands...

 


Extreme make over...

Well... not quite that extreme, but we felt that today, would be a good day to make some changes to our homepage. And so, here we are, with the same feel but a different look. The things that are really important and that (hopefully) make SellaBand stand out from other websites, are now in your face on our homepage.

 


That was then.....

 

Here’s a summary of what’s new and cookin’ on SellaBand:

The SellaBand webshop is up and running. Get those cool T-SHIRTS now!

A new CD competition is launched. Follow it live in CHART 2!

The JUKEBOX has been updated. We have made it possible for you to create your personal settings in the jukebox itself, instead of on your profile page. Now you can simply click on The Juke, personalize it and you’re ready to go. When you’re logged in the Juke will always remember your settings and play accordingly.

 

This is now!

 

And finally, All E-MAILS from Artists and Believers will be sent to your own personal inbox. We will send you email notifications when someone has sent you a personal message. You can change the frequency of the notifications to your convenience in your settings. We will place a link to these settings page in each notification so when you change your mind you can always change the frequency.

 

Links

Many artists on Sellaband make home vids or shoot studio rehearsals and put them up in the video section. Every now and then we stumble upon a video that is so different or special, that we just have to tell the world about it. Check out Second Person’s new video for Spilt Milk. If this video is not MTV-worthy, that we don’t know what would qualify...

Nemesea, who are about to enter the recording studio, have uploaded Episode 7 in their video diaries.

You can find it here.

And finally, Daniel Ward-Murphy will be performing live tonight at a club called  The Bedford in London. More importantly,  Daniel will be on stage at 9:45 PM Central European Time and a webcast of the gig can be followed live at: www.thebedford.co.uk. Break a leg Daniel, as they say...

 

 

Adam’s Apples

Adam Sieff, industry veteran, ladies’ man, record-producer, jazz professor, Indian restaurant connoisseur, excellent guitarist. Most of all, he’s the ears and eyes of SellaBand and selects the New Arrivals for you every week...

 
This week there were well over 200 new additions to the artists on Sellaband covering every musical genre you can possibly imagine and quite a few you probably couldn't. Spins worthy of note are the loose but fun “Take It Easy” by Chico Pereira, the trashy “Pechuga” by Baron Ashler,  the beautiful “Amar Como Voar” by Almaplana and the short but sweet “Don’t Wanna Try” by Brandon clocking in at only 30 seconds. I’ve also been enjoying the plank spanking of JeeWee Donkers and the fetching father/daughter whimsy of Reverbeffect.  One to keep an eye on is Ear Piercing For Babies fronted by the formidable looking Carole Denis who sound a little “Living Color lite” whose “Never Know” is the best of their three songs here. And a mention for the delicately named Portuguese bands The Clits and ForeSkinn who should seriously consider working together...

The Clits


But for the real apple turnovers this week there's no better place to start than with singer/songwriter Mandocello whose life story is as interesting as his compelling music - a boyhood growing up in the circus, working for Megadeth and Alice Cooper in his teens to becoming a luthier and building over 300 Mandocellos and Irish Bouzoukis. He’s half of Spellbox and partner in crime to future superstar Mysti Mayhem so may just reach the $50K under three (or more?) different guises. All the songs and the excellent video are worthy of your immediate attention but “Lonely” gets my vote. Mandocello is a musical force to be reckoned with and it’s good to see him take centre stage.

I have to admit that I and I have been skanking around all week (not a pretty sight) to Prince Wadada and his reggae Portuguese-stylee since first hearing him on the SellaBand jukebox. He sounds as close musically to Bahia as Jamaica and although the music may be a little too slick for some my feet don’t know that! The three tracks here are great fun and are making the cold and grey London winter more bearable. Go listen especially to “Aldeia” and feel the warm breeze. Curried goat and Red Stripe anyone?

My final big apple of the week is Cristiana  – a young Portuguese singer with a gorgeous voice that resounds with star quality. She has the potential to be as strong an artist as any of the major label divas I’ve heard recently and has some excellent chart-oriented repertoire in “Never Shoulda” and “Thought You’d Be Here” as well as a gorgeous Spanish ballad “Cuanto Mas”. A video would be very welcome but more information is needed now about this really classy addition to SellaBand.

Till next week Bands ‘n’ Believers……..Adam Out!
For comments&contact: Adam@sellaband.com

Making the Sellaband movie promo:

Q + A

Mesa Street Exit

Some artists have been with us almost from day one. Some have grown fast in budget, others are still very much under the radar and some are... well, somewhere in between, Such is the case with an Irish rockband, who signed up in August and have experienced highs and lows on SellaBand. Backed up by a loyal group of Believers, Mesa Street Exit are still determined to get there, one way or the other.

 

1. How are you doing? What has the band been up to, lately? 

Lately the mesa street exit band have been putting the finishing touches on some new material.  As always it's a mixed bag with plenty of genre hopping, but I think the diversity of our new songs will still surprise many mesa street fans. Elements of traditional Russian folk, country and western, big band and even some Mary Poppins-esque treats are all in store but these contrasting styles are unified by the approach of the Mesa Street band.  Although we’ve stated that we’re a jazz influenced- alternative rock band, in reality, we will never shun a particular style of music. We’ve also decided to post a new music video on Sellaband every month or so where possible and of course, as always, sneak previews of brand new tracks for all believers who drop us an email.  We’re also getting ready for a number of tour dates coming up soon which we’re very much looking forward to.

 

2. Is MSE what you would call 'an acquired taste'?

That's a difficult one, I would certainly hope so. We try to offer something unique in our music so, to some extent, we would have failed if our music was instantly accessible to everyone. But on another level there are definite access points for those who are new to our music. I think it is important to draw the listener in with something they can relate to, be it a song structure or a melody. Once you have their attention you can do something unexpected without losing people completely.  This beckons us to write with an eagerness directed towards keeping our listeners on their toes.  We constantly change tempo, vocal harmonies and time signatures during songs and we hope this keeps our believers continuously guessing as to what will happen next.  This is paralleled by the lyrics in our music.  While all of our lyrics do carry a specific and definite meaning, they are ambiguous enough to be open to the believer’s interpretation. This artistic choice is important to us as we feel it helps our listeners achieve an exclusive and delicate meaning from our song lyrics.  The sound we have developed over the years is admittedly quite unique, but hopefully in an interesting and accessible way.  

 

3. You joined Sellaband back in August. How frustrating is it to see so many other acts do so well?

Not at all.  We do not see Sellaband as a race.  Its great to see that this innovation can actually work. This wonderful site has provided a platform for artists who may not have been heard otherwise.  We adore the independent music scene as most charts relentlessly churn out the same tired music.  Sellaband has become a haven for the independent music scene and opened many eyes to some truly beautiful and innovative music throughout the world.  As for our success on Sellaband, we cherish every single word of belief from those that do believe. Obviously, we would like to be closer to the overall goal and are looking forward to recording here with Sellaband in the very near future (and have the full album already written! =)

 

4. What makes it worthwhile for you to continue on Sellaband?

Simply put, we are extremely proud to be part of such a groundbreaking site. While we have enormous interest and contacts from some major labels, we have always been drawn towards the independent scene.  Perhaps the reason we enjoy Sellaband is because our listeners are directly involved with the creation process.  We adore receiving opinions and suggestions from our believers (especially the daily twenty odd mails from logical_one!).  This is what makes the site completely unique.  This is the advantage Sellaband has over similar music sites such as Myspace.  The believer-artist connection provides inspiration for the music we write and above all, creates an unrivalled excitement for us as we strive to please our believers with each new release.

 

 

 

5. What are your plans and ambitions?

Our current plan is to continue fine-tuning the new material we are working on.  While it does carry the distinct mesa sound, we are exploring many other varieties of styles and genres.  As mentioned, our most recent works are inspired by Russian based gypsy music and the classic swing-era showband tunes of the 1930’s respectively.  We also have a new track composed entirely of vocals which is done live by using a guitar loop pedal and some DIY wiring, which probably (definitely!) isn't too safe. =)  We intend to do as many shows as humanly possible this coming year and hope to provide an exciting and intense performance for all to enjoy (if any person would like to donate guitar strings for Derek this would also be awesome… his current ambition is not to break a string during the opening few songs of our live performances… a feat yet to be accomplished… )

 

6. Ireland has a great musical tradition. What would Sellaband need to convince more Irish (Bands and Believers) to sign up?

Ireland undoubtedly has some extraordinary acts yet; most are overlooked in favour of some of the better-known groups such as U2 and the mighty Thin Lizzy.  We are enormous fans and admirers of an Irish group called the Dudley Corporation who are virtually unknown even in our country.  As for other Irish acts signing up? They wouldn’t need convincing! Unfortunately, Sellaband is not advertised in Ireland. Bren, our drummer, literally discovered the site during a random Google search.  Of course, as many acts on Sellaband will know, simple promotion at gigs and other websites does wonders! We are currently working with a number of Sellaband artists and the eminently radiant logical one on a project with the view to promoting Sellaband artists on a wider scale.

 

7. Any other Sellaband you particularly like?

The sheer abundance of talent on this site makes this a particular tricky question, which is why we’ll choose the current four artists we are listening to.  Miriam Ingram is an incredibly interesting and challenging artist, she reminds us of a beautiful chaos similar to coco rosie and Kate Bush.  Kane Sole is another wonderful artist. His new video is nothing short of stunning with its superlative vocals and images.  As for Muaw Dibe & The Awakening…the best description we can possibly give is... feel the funk blast!  Finally, the beautiful Light from Portugal. As one of her believer’s states: Light is the “Best invention since the light bulb.”… we couldn’t agree more.  

 

8. Why should people believe in Mesa Street Exit?

We endeavour to create something different, something which will gather attention and interest and above all, something which hasn’t been heard before from a four piece guitar band. We are utterly dedicated to all our believers and are persistently looking for their input and suggestions. Mesa street exit is an open book as far as are believers are concerned.  We email (mesastreetexit@gmail.com) believer’s as much as possible with updates and rough cuts of new tracks upon their request and permission for us to do so.  We will of course, work tirelessly to provide an album full of suspense and surprise, given the opportunity.  Naturally, for those that do believe, we will regard them in the highest esteem and with the greatest humility.  Finally, in no specific order, we’d like to personally thank again all our wonderful believers:  Logical_one, Onno Hoogendoorn, Campuslegend, Kevin, Jason, Doud, Funfile, Mandyliegh (also a sellaband artist!), James, Harmen, KTSgroup,Rubixcube, Whiteguy013, Xibalba, Tony Platt, Johan V, Anco Berrevoets, Rey Gamba and Neil.


www.myspace.com/mesastreetexitband