Open letter from Second Person

 

1 Year on SellaBand

 

 

 

When we caught up with Second Person in London a few weeks back, to discuss some plans and hear what they have in mind for their future, not only did they insist on paying for the dinner, but also had nothing but praise for SellaBand. Well, put it in writing we said, it might we worth sharing with our community and, more importantly, and inspiration for other artists. The result is an open letter from Second Person, that will be sent to all 5,000+ other artists that have registered on SellaBand, later this week.

By Second Person

As we are currently celebrating our first birthday on SellaBand (having joined on the 30th September, 2006) we thought it would be an appropriate moment to write to you all, and share some of our thoughts on what's happened to us over the last year.

When we added our profile to SellaBand, we were drawn to it because it seemed new and different, and represented an alternative way of getting music made and heard. We liked the fact that artists and believers could share in the benefits, financial and otherwise, and achieve a goal by working together. Later, when we met Johan and Dagmar in London, we realised the strength of their commitment to this new music model, and their expectations and dreams, and felt an added incentive to try in as many ways as possible to raise support for ourselves and for the site.



Even within a few weeks of joining the site we were approached to speak on BBC Radio and as the months went by we received more and more media exposure. Although we have always worked very hard as a band to pursue every avenue open to us and make as many creative contacts as we can, the fact that we were on SellaBand, and were perceived to be making progress there, really ensured that we had media attention that we couldn't otherwise have obtained.

We will always count ourselves very lucky that our wonderful Believers ensured that we reached the $50K, allowing us to make a record that we are very proud of. We are now in the process of completing the videos for this album, playing gigs, and talking to management companies. Making this record with SellaBand has proved to be an important step for us in so many ways - not only has it raised our profile and brought us new listeners, but it has also given us confidence in ourselves, thanks to the support we've had from the SellaBand team, and the Believers.

 


If nothing else, this last year has shown that anything is possible. Each of the eight artists to have reached the $50K thus far has been unique, offering a different style of music from a different country. There is no one particular type of music that is more successful than the others - therefore, everyone has the opportunity to reach the $50K. Confidence and commitment to your music are essential.

The SellaBand team - Johan, Pim, Dagmar, Chris, Annette, Yvonne and Dolly - are so fantastically hard-working, and so passionate about their vision for the future of music, that it's up to us as artists to support them and see that as many new people as possible come to the site and believe in what we are doing. The more new people come to the site, the bigger and better SellaBand will be - and will hopefully then become a permanent fixture in the ever-changing music industry.

Wishing you all lots and lots of luck from the SP family,

Julia, Mark, and Alvaro

 

 

ARTISTS ADVENTURES

 

Nemesea have exciting news!

Once the 50K are in the pocket or an album has been released, it may seem more difficult to keep track of an artist’s whereabouts. What better place to give you personal updates from time to time than our very own Tribune. So, please make way for another new regular column, called Artists Adventures. In the first chapter, Manda Ophuis writes about some exciting new developments in the wonderful world of her band Nemesea… 

 

By Manda Ophuis

 

Busy times, stormy weather!

Maybe we don't show it all the time, but we're actually very busy at the moment. Some of you have already received our newsletter so you already know a little bit about what happened these last couple of weeks with Nemesea.

Let me tell you the story from my point of view!

I remember when HJ came to me (somewhere in February), smiling a bit incredulous. He just got of the phone with manager David Arden, who seemed to like our music very much. We all thought: "Yeah well, let's just wait and see." But during the drum recordings for 'In Control' David actually came over to Holland to meet us. We had a lovely diner at a wonderful restaurant in Groningen and discussed with him the future of Nemesea; our dreams and ambitions. We also got to hear a lot of funny stories about his wild days and his fishing adventures with his brother in law Ozzy Osbourne. It was great fun and there immediately was a click between Nemesea and David.

The next couple of weeks we kept close contact with David and an amazing and strong relationship grew out of it. David introduced us to co-manager and PR legend Adrian Williams who David worked with in the past. Again an amazing person with lots and lots of experience! We are so amazed and proud of the fact that they want to work with Nemesea What a great team!

So........

we can finally and officially announce that David Arden together with Adrian Williams is Nemesea's management team!  

David Arden - manager

Adrian Williams - co-manager/ PR

 

 

 David Arden - manager

 

Last week we went to Den Haag to visit Erwin Sjoerdsma and Floris Spaander from AT productions. We have been discussing the subject 'booking agency' for a long time with the band and we always told each other that we would love to have AT productions as our booking agency. They also work with Within Temptation, Kane, Di-rect and a lot of other big Dutch bands who all are a big inspiration to us. We already knew that AT productions was a very dedicated company, a company that believes and keeps believing in the bands they sign and work with.

When we heard that they would love to work with us, we felt extremely proud and happy!

After a long and very difficult drive to Den Haag (That city has a lot of streets, tram cars and traffic jams…pfff!) we were half an hour late for our appointment with the guys, excuse us...

When we arrived we got a tour through the building which looks quite small from the outside but is BIG on the inside. Really nice!

We got to meet one of the leading persons of this wonderful company, Edwin Jansen. He has been one of the jury members of the first editions of the Dutch version of Idols. So it was kinda nice meeting him in person.



 

 

After signing the contract, taking some pictures, eating some cake (thanks Sonny) and even drinking some champagne, we discussed the plans AT has with Nemesea. I hope we can share it with you all soon. For now you just have to wait a little bit longer.

In the meantime we have been working really hard on preparing our rehearsing room. We have found an amazing place to practice. We had to isolate it very well, otherwise we would have mad neighbors by now!

Since a couple of weeks we are rehearsing almost 5 days per week. It is much fun and we're working on a great live show! We are ready to kick some ass!

And besides all this, autumn has set in; the wind is blowing powerfully and the leaves are floating through the air. My favorite season!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Manda (Nemesea)


 

 

Maitreya's Backstage Pass


Maitreya, currently hard at work to finish recording his SellaBand album is about to launch a great new initiative: "I am launching my new Believer e-Street Team area on oneloveandlight.com called "Backstage Pass".  I'm inviting Believers to sign up (they can PM me their email address or use the 'register' form at OLL.com once the page is up and running.

Backstage Pass is the exclusive e-street team area of www.oneloveandlight.com.  I will be offering members sneak previews to my singles and album as well as free stuff like remixes, videos, ringtones & show tickets.  As a member of the official Maitreya e-street team i'll send you Electronic Press Kits so you can help to promote my singles and album worldwide!"

 


 

Q + A Dandelium

More and more artists who are still active on SellaBand have now been with us for more than one year. All have their own reasons for being here, their own expectations and ambitions. Dandelium is a fine example of hard work, creativity and dedication. The band is the brainchild of a very young Spanish wunderkind and deserve their place in the spotlight.

 

Who are Dandelium?

“I founded Dandelium about two years ago. I stared writing my music at the age of 15. About one year ago I asked some good friends to join me in my project. They were Arturo and Jani, as guitarist and drummer respectively. We are still in a songwriting process, and we haven't found a definitive bassist and a singer yet, but are selecting them among lots of Spanish musicians.”

You've been with us more than 1 full year. How would you describe your first 12 months on SellaBand?

“About two weeks I noticed it had passed a full year! It came very fast, so I've enjoyed it so far. But on the other hand, I find it a bit frustrating, not even reaching 5K in a year. But I'm optimistic and I have to always consider that I don't have a singer nor lyrics and music sometimes becomes boring without it. Another thing I have to remember is that it's Metal, a genre not-so-easy to sell (even harder without a good singer). So, I'm really optimistic about this project. Time, hard work and patience will decide all.”

Do you remember what your thoughts were when you first discovered SellaBand?

“I was one of the first people to register to SellaBand, I remember when Nemesea was about 15K and ascending really fast, so I was kinda impressed and joined SellaBand as well. I told my friends and my family about it and started working harder in my songs to get them sound good enough for publishing them here. It was really fun. I met Jon Satterfield soon after, he has been a great Believer all this time, always supporting me. Later I met BuZu, who is actually my biggest Believer so far. They (alongside many other people here) gave us a really nice start.”

Tell us about your fantastic collaboration with Tiffany Gow...

“I really loved this collaboration. Tiffany contacted me asking for some kind of permission to write lyrics and vocal lines to one of my songs and I was pleased by the offer, so we started working very hard (and very fast!). I re-recorded and arranged the song Tiffany wanted to sing on, and sent her. She wrote the lyrics and the vocal lines, and then she recorded them with Mr. Phil Tweed, that also did an awesome work with it! Everything happened in less than two weeks!. I think her voice is really beautiful and warm, it fitted my song perfectly! The song is called Stronger and you can find it on my page…”

You are our first and most successful Spanish representative. How can we get more Spanish bands and Believers on board?

“Am I? Wow!  Well, sadly, Spain is not a country that has a very good scene. Spanish people are a bit closed-minded when it comes to musical diversity. We have some great Spanish Metal bands (I say Metal because it's the scene I'm on the most.), like Ebony Ark, Skizoo, Lagrimas de Metal, Fathergolem ...Here on SellaBand we have a great Melodic Death Metal project called SINNIS , once again, still only instrumental. I think SellaBand should approach Spanish media, because here nobody knows about this great initiative.”


How much time do spend on time with SellaBand?

“I spend lots of hours writing down and recording my music. I spend about half-an-hour daily here, reading the forums, the Tribune and listening to some bands I like (Vegas Dragons, Forever Slave, Nearfield...).”

What are your ambitions?

“I'm really sure we will be successful soon, because we are selecting a singer (We are doubting between a Soprano and an opera Tenor, both excellent) and recording his/her voice really soon (just as we select him/her). Then we're going to upload the demo to SellaBand and send it to some labels and media. We really hope to become a band at the same height of Epica, After Forever or Nightwish, for example, we're not expecting less, It's all about hard work, and we have the time. We all are really young: I'm 17 years old, Jani is 18 years old and Arthur is 21 and the project itself is 2 years old. So, we have a lot of hard work and time ahead us and it's hard to predict what will happen in the future.”

Why should people Believe in Dandelium?

“Because we are so young still and new to the music scene, I would like to know how good we will be in, for example, ten years, with ten years of additional experience and skills... Also, we make a really listenable sub genre of Metal music, suitable for every ear. Not only for the rock-minded people, but everybody who likes to listen a great classical voice, orchestra or choirs, but with a modern metal groove!. I'm also doing some score-alike music to introduce as intro/outro and between tracks as interludes, so we have music for all tastes!”

 

Community Singing

A place to announce special gigs, collaborations, etcetera. For inclusion in this section, please write to: info@sellaband.com.

 

 

Dedicated entirely this week to the Swiss connection!

Lorraine Jones is no stranger to the Tribune's pages, but this time we decided to ask her a few questions about the up-coming concert she initiated in Switzerland on 20 October 2007 – 22.00 hrs – Old City Centre Bern, www.onobern.ch.
Tell us what made you decide to organise a Sellaband Gig in Switzerland?  “The short answer is really in three parts:  (1) Sellabration 07  (2) Current Believer Pressure (3)  Maitreya’s Golden rules. After returning from Amsterdam’s Sellabration Party I was so impressed not just with the outstanding performances of the Artists that performed, but also with the wonderful buzz that surrounded the whole event. I thought to myself that even if we have a little event with 50-100 people to start with – it could be the beginning of some really great entertaining evenings in Switzerland. I’m hoping the concerts we’re going to have in Bern will attract a few more investors to the site, and hopefully get some additional media coverage in some local newspapers and magazines at the same time. Maitreya’s words of advice were pretty  clear – "bring in your own believers and then get on the street and organize even more believers through local gigs".  After the initial very intense months I spent on the computer liaising with and e-mailing Believers, colleagues, friends and family  – I also made a mental decision to have some fun away from the computer before I regretted missing the Summer days.

Why did you choose Bern? “I live in Bern and it’s a lot easier for me to organize something in my home town. It also saves on the hotel bills – all honored band members from out of Switzerland get to stay with us (my husband and I) for one or two nights. Besides there’s a sort of “cultural revolution” going on in Bern – there’s a lot more night activity, art galleries, live music and theatrical entertainment going on compared to 8 years ago, when I first got here.”

Are you planning on holding some other Gigs in Switzerland “Definitely – This is just the beginning of a series of gigs I’m planning – the idea was to have a Swiss gig with some SellaBand neighbors – Swiss-Austria, Swiss-Germany, Swiss-Italian and Swiss-France but we will have some surprises thrown in as we go along.  It’s also an opportunity for the Swiss Bands on SellaBand to get together and receive some additional coverage.  We’re looking forward to an interesting mix in January with Artists such as Autour de Sophie, Equation, possibly Confused5 and Solidtube, if they can't come in November/December then definitely next year. Currently under discussion is a  January/February line-up of  possibly Radius and maybe even Francis Rodino.”

What kind of show can visitors expect? “It’s going to be a really intimate live show – in an old cellar  in Bern with fantastic acoustics . Alexia Gardner is a  jazz vocalist based in Basel, Switzerland where she lives with her husband, Markus. A smooth and sultry singer born in Birmingham, England to Jamaican parents. Her music reflects her international make up! She enjoys singing the old and beautiful jazz standards from the 1920s and 1930s era as well writing and performing her own original tunes.  Muâ'Dib  are amongst SellaBand's  finest and incredibly dedicated bands.  Regrettably they are currently under-rated compared with their talent - but that’s just a matter of time.  On the rise are Muâ'Dib and the Awakening.....oh yes!  They plan to start a fire inside a 400 year old cellar in the old city of Bern - with their funky blend of rock making the whole event a night to remember. My performance will be sandwiched in the middle of the two turning the jazz evening into a pop-rock affair, followed by Muâ’Dib’s special style of funk-rock. See you all on October 20, I hope!”

 

 

My 50K Plan: Julia Marcell

Now at 35K in budget, Julia Marcell may soon be able to hit the studio with $50,000 in tow. So, surely she already must have some clear ideas about what her SellaBand album may look and sound like. Read on…

By Julia Marcell

“The album I have in mind is something I've been dreaming about doing for a long time. I see it as a 100% acoustic set of songs, recorded live in the atmosphere of fun and love of music. Put many microphones around the band and let them play, this is how I plan to do this. My goal is to capture the joy of playing more than a perfectly polished performance, and I aim at creative approach - not only the 'real' instruments will play on this CD, but also anything we can make use of. I want the listener to feel like she/he is in the room with the band, I want this music to sound very human, close to the listener and to guide her/him through different moods and themes. It's going to be an ode to youth and creativity. The songs I have in mind are more upbeat and happy than what you hear on my 'Storm EP', but I have quite a few melancholic songs as well - I want this album to have a variety of moods on it, but in overall to be more fun than "Storm". It'll also be coherent - from the songs, through the arrangements, the recording process, to the cover and music videos - every idea will be there for a reason and each one will have it's place in the whole picture I want to paint.

The 10+ songs that are going to be on the album are already written, some of them are already arranged. I've got more tunes in my pocket to choose from, so 1 or 2 of them (if the budget will allow to record them) may make it to the limited edition as bonus tracks. At least one music video will be made that may also make it to the LE, along with the video documentary about the recording process of the CD. I want the LE CD to have as much extra content as I can make within the given budget and time frame, but the quality of recordings of songs is the top priority. Lastly I wanna go on tour to promote the album.

I've talked to some people already, producers, promotion people, and though I can't tell anything for sure yet, it appears that things have already started to roll for me. I have an opportunity to team up with some great people who like the idea behind this album, so I know it's gonna be good. All I need now it's the 50k and I'm ready to go. :)”