The Other Side Of…

In a sudden desire on our behalf to liven things up a bit in the Tribune, we invented a new weekly column, that could also have been featured in Hello! Magazine. Well, it probably ís featured in Hello! Magazine. But, because it’s (hopefully) fun to read and revealing at the same time, from now on we will be looking for ‘the other side’ of our artists. Starting this week with Lovely Lily…

  

What is your full name?

“Liliana Patricia Vasquez Diaz (hey, mom counts in Latin America..lol)”

Date & place of birth?

“February 19th and born in Barranquilla, Colombia.”

Where do you live?

“Clifon, New Jersey, USA.”

Do you have a job? 

“Yes, I'm a Marketing Manager for a line of supermarkets.”

 

Any hobbies?

“Dance, roller blade, eat, play sudoku, actually play any mind games.”

Favorite food?

“Latin food, especially Platano Maduros (sweet plantains). Hhmm…”

Holiday destination?

“Anywhere tropical..this year I'm planning to go to Dominican Republic.”

All time favourite artist?

“Oh wow, this is hard.  If I had to choose one that most people would know it would have to be Celia Cruz.”

All time favourite book?

“Cien Años de Soledad( One Hundred Years of Solitude) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.”

All time favorite movie?

“Dirty Dancing.”

Best friend?

“Yes, Desiret Carvache :D”

Love of your life?

“Oh yes, my mother! :) Oh wait, if you mean boyfriend, yes I have one :P.”

Do you have anything to declare?

“Hmm...I'm addicted to chocolate..I eat at least two a day, or I won't be able to make it through the day :)”




Don't forget to vote!

As mentioned earlier, SellaBand is nominated for the Van Speijk Prize, a new Dutch Award for innovation in the communication industry. We would love to win this award, and you can help us by voting on Sellaband. Voting ends this Saturday, March 31st. So if you haven't used your vote yet, do it know! Thanks in advance. Oh and voting is done here: www.vanspeijkprijs.nl

 

Because the site is in Dutch we've created a  'How To Vote for SellaBand' in 10 clear & simple steps.

1) Go to: www.vanspeijkprijs.nl/genomineerd.php

2) Click on 'Stem Mee' (vote)

3) Fill in your e-mailaddress in the white box

4) Click on 'Verzend' (send)

5) You'll receive an e-mail from Van Speijk Prijs (stemmen@vanspeijkprijs.nl) with subject: Stemmen voor de Van Speijk Prijs (vote for The Van Speijk Prize)

6) Click on the link or copy it into your browser 

7) Click on the checkbox for SellaBand

8) Click on Verzend (send)

9) Your done! Put the Champagne bottle in the freezer.

10) April 10 the winner will be announced: Open Champagne bottle!


 

Adam’s Apples #9

It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it……

 

Hi Bands ‘n’ Believers. Before we hand out the plaudits for this week’s bright red apples of distinction, I’d like to share with you the following letter which is typical of many I regularly receive:

“Dear Adam (A&R Guru), my classic prog-rock band “The Galactic Anus Probe Utensil” has been on Sellaband for over three months now and we have only got two believers – one is my girlfriend (only $10 - the cheap bitch!) and the other is the bass player’s deaf grandmother. We’re as good as most of the bands you write about in your Adam’s Apples column but no one seems to want to know about us. Please could you take a listen and let me know why you think that is. Love and Pieces, Ivor Dukdik”. So I went to their site and here’s what I saw – no info, no photos, no video, only one demo and a link to a myspace site. Now, with over 2600 artists on SellaBand you’ll have to do a little better than that if you want to get noticed. So imagine my dismay at many of this week’s 165 new acts who are just not providing enough information and are little more than virtual space filler. So if you’re one of the guilty artists and you’re reading this – get your act together or don’t be surprised if nothing happens. I won’t be listening to your music unless you give me a reason to do so, so why should Believers?


One band that certainly has got its act together is Leopold – in fact, almost getting close to overworking it. But don’t let that put you off, this is a British rock band with a lot of style and good songs that improve with listening. I’ve got a feeling that they’re going to be very successful here, so enjoy “Man Of Leisure 2” which is an excellent pointer to what they can do.

On to a band that has already got off to an incredible start - US rockers Bulletproof Messenger have racked up over $2000 in their first week. And deservedly so as they’re strong in all departments with well written songs, great vocals and excellent chops. The only thing that’s missing is some personality on their page – it all feels a little distant and too well managed when compared to the vibe of the Wetwerks page for example. Being on Sellaband is also about artists building a special relationship with their Believers – it’s always been more than just the music. As Bruce said – “share a little of that human touch”.

Asthenia are young and full of energy and although there’s plenty of info on their page it’s all in French. However, as I understand French perfectly I can translate and tell you that they come from the east-west of France and live in aquariums with legs and are mainly influenced by Frankie Valli and Doctor Who. On second thoughts maybe an English version would be useful! Doctor Dagmar likes them too so go listen to “Silence” which is anything but.

Applesauce and Baby food of the week award to Spik Bebis and the Minipixels. I can’t even begin to explain what this sounds like, I just know I don’t want to hear it again in a hurry! And many thanks again to the good Doctor D for pointing out that contrary to popular belief Britpop is alive and well and living in Argentina thanks to Landscape. They probably also support Manchester City and like The Beatles too.

 

“Blast Off” by Doctor Scalpel and the Incisions takes me back to the guitar instrumental days of The Spotnicks and The Shadows but with the added thrill of a turbocharger rammed up their ass. Love that trashy surf party sound Daddy-O! On a completely different guitar vibe the excellent Lorenzo Venza is looking for musicians to jam and record with him. Seems like a great idea to me but you’d better be good as Lorenzo is a hell of a guitar player and a serious shredder as “Secret Plot” proves all too well. And finally, I’ve also been enjoying the soul of the Mike Andersen Band, Pasionaria’s trippy “Supermercado” and the superbly named “Raymond’s Leg” by The Affectionate Punch. And here’s one I missed recently - Maaike and Casper deserve a big mention for some beautiful guitar playing and vocals reminiscent of the wonderful Tuck and Patti.

It’s always good to hear from you at Adam@sellaband.com, so until next week Bands ‘n’ Believers…..Adam Out!


 

 

Q + A

The Black Jack

When they first arrived on our platform, they were met with skepticism and downright criticism. Not for their music, but for their very active ‘messaging’ (carefully trying to avoid the word SPAM here...). Slowly but gradually they have won over our community. How can you not be impressed by their unbridled enthusiasm, inventiveness, and last but not least, their irresistible charm. High time we invited The Black Jack for a Q + A…

 

Tell us a bit about Black Jack, please.

“The Black Jack are four guys from Rome; we have met twelve years ago when we responded to an announcement published by our singer Francesco in a local newspaper. Since then we started an enduring musical collaboration that soon became a very close friendship. We started out as a cover band, specialized in re-arranging international successes in to rocking medleys. After some time, the great harmony in the band and the positive feedback from our audience inspired us to write our first songs. For many years we have performed in the coolest clubs in Rome, both with cover material and original songs, receiving good feedback from our audience and some professional praise in industry circles. Until a few years ago we were very much a part of the musical life in the city of Rome, with many shows every month and some performances and interviews transmitted by local Radio and TV. In 2003, for some bad life‘s joke, the band decided to stop all activities for a while, to have a deep reflection about what each of us really wanted from music. What about those thoughts???....The Black Jack are back!”


Why did you join SellaBand?

“We found SellaBand in a similar incidental way, by reading an Italian blog specialized on new technologies. In the beginning we were just curious to see what would happen, and in the first month we were not so active; but soon we have noticed what a great community SellaBand is and we have been involved in many powerful emotions. We have received such a good feedback about our music by some important SellaBand’s personalities, for example Lucretia has been our first Believer with a great review.  In addition we have met not only her support, but also the touch of great persons like Josie, our special supporter and friend, Jon  Satterfield, Bob Stevens, Walter M, Rey Gamba and many others. These reasons have given us the right motivation to join this community and to continue to be active and (hopefully) respected members.”

 

First there was the restaurant, now the games, what will be next? And, are you all successful marketeers by profession?

“To answer your second question first….marketeers by profession? Well, our bassist Giuliano is a marketing specialist , his job is to help new projects to start up, building the business plans and the marketing strategies. Fabrizio, the guitarist, is an ICT professional with a natural attitude to create projects and new ideas. We think that together we make a good team. Next project? The first one we have enjoyed really a lot. The Black Jack’s restaurant has been a successful idea, also because Italy is famous in the world also for food, furthermore we are all fond of lasagne, fettuccine, pizza and Italian wine. Of course the Restaurant is still open, as our first great Believer, and we also use it to celebrate special occasions on SellaBand. The games have been very funny. We were looking for a new way to keep our space alive and to offer some occasion to spend good time together. We’re having a lot of fun organizing our games, especially  the Black Jack’s treasure hunt, making photos of our mascot Poldo, and asking  the contribution of ‘the guardian of the treasure’, our friend Adam Sieff A&R Expert. A lot of people had fun with us and we are really happy for that. Right now we are receiving a lot of positive feedback for ‘The Week Of Love’ another satisfactory initiative for us and for many of our Believers and friends. Additionally, we also have The Black Jack’s chat  available on our page, created to be in contact in real time with our supporters and to offer a meeting place where everybody can chat freely. For the near future our brains are always at work, we are preparing new initiatives and surprises, but to know them you have to wait a little bit more and keep in touch with us. Only an example? We are looking to find a way to turn a Believer into an artist  and sing  a song with us. Do you like the idea?”


$50,000 means there is still a long way to go for you. Will you keep staying as active as you are now?

“SellaBand is a way of life for us and we’ll continue to be so active as long as this great community keeps giving us such powerful emotions and good perspectives for professional growth. That means we might continue our activity long after we have reached the 50K, adding our contribution for the development of SellaBand in our country.”

What are the band's ambitions?

“At the moment we think about SellaBand as a kind of collective dream where we live our personal ambitions of friendship and success. Sometimes we are still surprised of the amazing feedback we receive from people through SellaBand. Having an international audience, for an Italian Band, is such a great opportunity. Our mission is to keep on writing and recording good new songs and to invent new original ways to promote our band. We think that actively working our way to 50K is not a Mission Impossible. Each morning we wake up and we ask ourselves: ‘Would you leave all your assurances to become a full time musician?’ The answer is always the same…”

You are among the most active bands on SellaBand. How much time do you spend online?

“The Black Jack managers for SellaBand are Giuliano & Fabrizio while the other members, Francesco & Alessandro spend more time in the Studio pre-producing and building a contact for the Italian market. It is  difficult to estimate the total time per day, because we spend every free minute of our days improving our profile page and furthering our relationship with the Believers and we do that 7 days per week. Approximately we are talking about 5/6 hours per day. We think that If we will continue to spend on SellaBand so much time we risk to lose our main jobs and in that case we could ask a new job as SellaBand-addicts!”

Is it the music or your Italian charm that wins over new Believers?

“We know that music is always the main thing for a band and a song is always the starting point for any of our activities. Right now we are writing and recording many new songs; the first one has been written with an English lyric, to allow a bigger number of people to understand better the sense of  what we feel. We always look closely at every aspect of our new projects: Music and lyrics come straight from the heart. We arrange them, we record only with our equipment and we mix every single song ourselves.  Music is the most important thing for us, our best way to express our emotions and to share them with many different people, who make their own trip with our music. The Italian charm? Well, by now we are the first Italian band in the highest positions and for that we are proud to represent our country on SellaBand. It is an honour to be a symbol of the Italian style here and we hope that many other Italian bands will soon join SellaBand and share this privilege  with us. Do you prefer we talk about our Italian way to communicate rather than our innate Italian charm? We always try to be warm towards the persons we meet, we really see our Believers as true friends and we act accordingly. Sometimes we ask ourselves if our messages and new initiatives are a bit too much, but we are Italians….be patient and enjoy our warm touch.”

Are there any other SellaBands you particularly like?

“On SellaBand we have the opportunity to hear good music and to stay in contact with many great artists. We can’t name them all, but some good examples are Vegas Dragons for the hard work, good music and strong friendship, Wetwerks because they rock, Trail because their style is so cool, Lily because she is a beautiful woman with a great talent, Nearfield for the creativity and the Latin approach and many, many others.”

Why should people Believe in Black Jack?

“We feel that something amazing is going to happen soon. Maybe it is the right moment for a new  Italian band to grow in an international market. We believe in SellaBand’s business model and we really look forward to give back a great return on investment to all the people who will believe in us. People should believe in The Black Jack because we are ready to take chances and we are sure to have the right mix of strength, passion and maturity to keep this project alive until we have become successful.”