SellaBand & Escrow...

 Where do we keep your money?

 

Today, Tuesday January 15, 2008, SellaBand is precisely 17 months old. Some $1,500,000 has been invested in unsigned music talent so far and we can assure you that your money is safe with us.

But wait a minute... We can assure you of whatever we like, but isn't it reasonable to ask for some proof? That the escrow account actually exists and that SellaBand Managers are not driving around in Maserati's funded by your loyal dollars...?


Mr. Dieter Roesing, notary of law in Bocholt, Germany, the city where SellaBand is registered as a company, controls the account. And he has just issued the following statement:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

"I hereby confirm that following bank accounts and the relating balances are escrow accounts in favour of SellaBand GMBH & Co. KG in Bocholt, Germany."

Signed: Dieter Roesing, Rechtsanwälte und Notare, Bocholt.

And below you find the latest statements, connected to the account. We're printing here the main accounts held at Stadtsparkasse in Bocholt. There is an account in Euro, one in Dollars, etc.

For those of you who don't know how it works: An escrow account is controlled by a third party, in our case a notary of law in Germany. SellaBand can not touch the money, only for refunds and (equally important), when an artist reaches 50K. The money is then transfered to another account, so we can start the recording process. As a result, you see there is over $800,000 on escrow by the start of 2008. 12 x $50,000 had been moved to a regular account.  

One final thing: A similar statement, will be added to the website permanently, so Artists and Believers will have no longer any trouble to convince doubting Thomasses about whether your money is safe with SellaBand or not... 

 

 

The amounts on the various accounts

 

 

 The seal of the contract with the notary

 

 

Rockin' All Over The World

Live Events are spreading like a wild fire! 

The first two months of 2008 will see at least a handful of SellaBand inspired, live initiatives around the Globe. On top of our own Nemesea Tour and Orchard Live Event, there are a number of events to choose from. We've already highlighted Vienna Calling, Sell-A-Jam Boston and the Rio Grande Festival, but this week we feature ONO Bern II and SellaGig UK...

SellaBand Swiss


Friday January 25th

Bern, Switzerland

By Sommersby

The SellaBand focus falls on the ONO theatre in Bern, Switzerland on January 25th with Radius, Autour de Sophie and Equation supporting organiser/songstress Lorraine Jones.

Lorraine, who is ever closer to a much coveted top 10 spot and SellaBand and continues to impress with her soft rock tones, returns to the ONO following a successful first promotion last November when Mua'Did And The Awkening along with Alexia Gardner were guests. The success of this concert prompted Lorraine to get busy again and there is a nice mix of Rock, Pop R&B and Jazz due at the ONO on 25th Jan.

With support from Switzerland, France and the Netherlands Jan 25th is a true European evening. The Swiss challenge is backed up from Autour de Sophie a band who have only been with SellaBand for 9 months but who's progress has been steady.

Vocalist Sophie Kummer promotes the band at every opportunity and won many friends while in the Netherlands recently by setting up a lunch date for anybody who could make it. Lots did.

The band advertises their music as a fusion of jazzy backgrounds, pop influences with a funky twist. So remember look out for Sophie Kummer (vocals), Raoul Baumann (keys), Sylvain Grimm (Drums), Alex Allflatt (Bass) and Nicolas Heiniger (Flute).


From Paris, France will come Equation. Having been very successful at Zwoel the band come hotfoot to Berne full of confidence. What can you expect from Equation. Well according to Sellaband "Q's music is clearly a resonance of the soul alternatives whose terms (jazz, hip-hop, blues) recall the African-American roots. Yet this echo is different because it springs from French natives who, during their own musical journey, have somehow become imaginary migrants of the New World".

Who are Equation? Thats the easy bit Emilienne Chouadossi (Vocals), Mathieu Crouzet (Bass),Vincent Turbe "Moogy"(Keyboards), Jean Barluet (Drums), Marc Debrosse "ma-de"(Guitars).  

Completing the line up comes one of the finest SellaBand bands - Radius. Heading towards 20% of budget and having just celebrated 12 months on SellaBand all reports suggest that Radius have what it takes to take the SellaBand challenge to the next level.

 

Radius comprises of Johan, Danny and Henko and are famed for their live performances and if your going to Bern be ready to rock. You must have been out of this galaxy if you've missed the pre christmas collaboration between Radius and Believer Steff. This resultant collaboration must be on lots of playlists and represents a musical breakthrough for SellaBand - The word on many lips is will Steff be singing with Radius at Bern? Well to find that out you may have to buy a ticket and pop along to the ONO theatre    

 

Sellagig UK

 

Friday February 1st

London 

By Dreb/Sheet Metal

"If you cast your mind back a little while, you'll remember that one of the first artist organised Sellaband gigs was  London Rising, put together by the now 50k superstar  Francis Rodino . Now it's the turn of UK Rockers Sheet Metal to put on a "bit of a do" at London's prestigious Storm Nightclub. Joining  Dreb and the boys will be acoustic pioneers  Luckyhorse , the lovely  Rebecka Haak  from Sweden, the gorgeous  Kaitee Page  from London and finally Uncle Ben from Ireland with his  Mua'dib and the Awakening  taking the top billing on the evening. A more diverse and exciting line-up one could hardly wish for!

Other Sellaband artists are also invited to bring along any CDs, flyers or other promotional material they would like to circulate amongst the throngs. Francis has confirmed that he will be coming along to lend his support to his Sellaband colleagues and meet up with everyone. Perhaps if Nik comes too we'll get a live demonstration of target pong?

Tickets for the event are available securely online from  http://sheetmetal.express.ts.com , priced at a very reasonable £7 and you can print them yourself at home. With all these Sellaband artists under one roof you'd be crazy to miss it! So, the place to be: Friday Feb. 1, Storm,   28a Leicester Square London WC2"

In related news: Drebs 30 Days of Art Submission. " A couple of months back, Dreb of  Sheet Metal  posted a challenge to his Sellacolleagues to come up with an original piece of music based around a simple set of lyrics that were posted in the forum. The submissions were then voted on by a panel of judges who selected  Cris Tanzi  in first place,  Angie Arsenault as second place and  CAYA picked up the third prize. Some of these wonderful new pieces of music are currently available in the club as a playlist . Dreb is now running  a new contest, so please check the forum for details of how you can contribute."

 

SellaGig Sunday

 

Sunday February 3rd

London

And while you are in London, you might as well stay the weekend. Because on Sunday February 3, Dave Patrick, also known as the guitar player in Rox Clayton-Sctott's band, has put together an event that -apologies Clem- sounds like the first ever Ladies Night!

A different venue this time, but also in the heart of London (Soho) and the line-up includes Julia Marcell, who will come fresh from recording her SellaBand album, and might feature some of her upcoming CD songs live. There are only 200 tickets available for this night, so you'd better hurry up, because this line up is surely not to be missed:

In order of performance:

CLEM - 7.15pm (20 mins performance)

CRIS TANZI - 7.45pm (20 mins performance)

REBECKA HAAK - 8.20pm (25 mins performance)

ROX CLAYTON-SCOTT - 9pm (30 mins performance)

KAITEE PAGE - 9.45pm (30 mins performance)

JULIA MARCELL - 10.30pm (30 mins performance)

Venue Address: 229 The Venue, Great Portland Street, London, W1W 5PN  http://www.229thevenue.co.uk/

Tickets: £6 available from TicketWeb

Timings: 7pm - 11pm ( Bar open until midnight)

In next week's Tribune we will bring you the latest on other upcoming events that we have written out before, such as:

Sell-a-Jam Boston, January 25.

Nemesea Tour (commencing February 6)

SellaBand All Access, February 7 (launching 3 albums on 1 night!)

Vienna Calling, February 8 in Vienna

SellaBand Rio Grande Festival, February 22/23, New Mexico

The Orchard Live, February 28 in London.


Do you have SellaBand related event to promote? Write to us at: info@sellaband.com

 

Q + A

Skitzo Calypso


We have seen it before on SellaBand: New kids in town bring a few Big Believers and rise to the first 10 pages of the search engine. But the arrival of US Rockers Skitzo Calypso is unprecendented. Over $5,000 in their first week, the seal of approval of many 'seasoned' Believers, and not to forget at least a 100 Forum posts... We're dying to find out more and hope you are too...

Tell us something about the band, please...
"Skitzo Calypso has crossed all genres of music.  It started my [Brad Cox's] solo project in 1996 and has blossomed into a regional East Coast success story!  The band has shared touring slots with dozens of national acts and plans to shoot a music video for 'The Sickness of Dreams', this Summer.  The band has already started work on its follow-up to 2007's 'Between the Lines & Beyond the Static'.  We are hoping to release this record through SellaBand."How did you find out about SellaBand and what made you join?
"We were on a television show doing a bit [interview/performance] and Micky [of Private Nation], who was friends with one of the people involved with the show, called me up and asked if I'd join Sellaband.   I decided to meet up with him; he told me about the site.  With an extremely cynical approach, I created the account and went to band practice.  When I arrived, I realized we had 10 believers and $150.00 – I was stunned.   By the end of the first day, we were nearly at $1,000.  The adrenaline pumped and we began promoting it."

 5K in one week; what happened?
"Honestly, I believe the music talks.   Skitzo Calypso isn't your atypical American band.  We don't try and rewrite the 70's, 80's or 90's, and we don't subscribe to the commercial likes of: Hinder, 3 Doors Down, or Nickleback; – our music is very punk in the fact that we do it 'our way.'   It's not a 3-chord knockout, like The Ramones or the Pistols [which are great fun].  It's a mentality and we all share it; that's not to say we rest on our laurels with pretension and judgement.   The world needs artists and they need entertainers.  My daughter needs Hanna Montana as much as I need Zeppelin.  The smart ones have figured out how to blend the two. The reality is, making it in the industry [at this point], with piracy, illegal downloads, leaks and other file sharing techniques, has to be about making the best possible  original music; you have to give people something they can't download – you have to connect with their soul/pysche.  With the internet, artists have become extremely vulnerable and accessible.  The mystique is lost, the hero-myth, as postulated by Stephen Hawking, is just that – a myth; the marketing of music has become very candy-coated and obvious.   If you're making great music with a message [that isn't painfully obvious], then you give your listener more to digest – you make their heart thirsty.  You have to romance your listener and give them your soul."

How do you plan to multiply that number by 10 and reach 50K?
"I don't know; it's going to require the help of our fans, friends and family.   We are lucky to be at 5k [under the circumstances] because we've yet to really tap into our fans, friends and family.  Aside from my wife and our manager, we've been invested-in by a lot of true Believers.  We'll reach 50k."

 The record is 82 days, do you think you can break that?
"I don't think it's really a race.  We'll do the best we can.  Rome wasn't built in a day and I'm not interested in deadlines.  I'm an ad representative for a local newspaper, by day – I'm sick of deadlines!   I literally feel like Superman.  I walk into work [with a suit and tie] and I bust out, put my piercing(s) back in, get in my comfy rock n' roll clothes/jacket and live."

 What are your ambitions?
"I want to make rock n' roll history and destroy the word genre.   You've only heard one side of Skitzo Calypso.  What makes Skitzo Calypso so cool is its inability to be described, once the listener starts understanding the whole story and premise.    We have industrial songs that sound like something off of a Rammstein/Skinny Puppy/NIN record, funk songs that could be b-sides at camp Peppers, jazz songs, metal songs, hardcore songs, rock n' roll songs, 3-chord [stereotypical] punk songs, alternative songs, etc.  Skitzo Calypso is about allowing creativity to flow.  No one person has one dimension, which is the number one problem with today's marketing.  It's not about skulls, fire, naked girls, popular fonts, symbols or drugs – it's about letting yourself be crucified for being you. But, the difficulty in creating this ideology [genreless, classless music] is how long it takes to create a catalog that reflects your intention.   I've recorded 8 albums under the name Skitzo Calypso, and every one of them is completely different from the last.  The first 6 I consider demo records because of the recording quality I had access to and the money I had to record them.   Each album is like a diary of what was going on in my mind [my interests, desires, influences - you name it]. Probably the most diverse and live demo album was Premeditated Acts of Stupidity [1998].   It's very raw, imperfect and unbalanced.  It was the first record where I really experimented.  Each song could be from another artist.  As a band, we've come together to create a totally new sound and it's exciting to see this kind of a response."

What makes Skitzo Calypso different from other US rock bands?
"(See question #3)  Our gimmick is similar to the premise of Seinfeld – we don't have a gimmick. We've been very successful in the states, but the resistance and frustration it's invoked in the cookie-cutters and scenesters is borderline hilarious; we're accepted genre wide and that's not a very US concept."

 Why should people believe in Skitzo Calypso?
"People need to re-evaluate their ideals.  We've done that.  We believe in ourselves and we are all stable enough to understand the importance of connecting with other people.   I'm not interested in selling my soul - I'm interested in touching yours.  I've got a lot of life experiences to write about and I've been granted the luxury of never having to carbon copy my formula.   Skitzo Calypso is very Beatlesque it its approach and purity [not its sound].  We're artists and we thrive on existentialism – you've been warned."

 

Adam's Apples

 

Crunch Alias


This is very good indeed.....London based geeks by day but an excellent and thoughtful rock band the rest of the time. There are already some excellent production ideas as well as well developed songwriting - they're not afraid to show their influences but are by no means in their shadow.

Playlist: Raven White.

Esther Canata

 

NYC downtempo electonica loungette Esther exudes bucketloads of cool and is sure to set pulses racing with her steamy performance on film maker Michael Costner's excellent video for "Drugged". Not sure how exactly far she's going on SellaBand but "Holding Onto Me" is another promising song that's crying out for a producer.

Playlist: Drugged.

Otto Vector

 

Devo lives! Well not exactly, but on first listening "Never Forget" took me back to the days of "Whip It". Smart 80's culture influenced rock from the US Midwest featuring excellent vocals from Renee. They're a gigging band and the video of "Wiley" proves they can certainly cut it onstage.

Playlist: Never Forget

Grant Stevens

 

Aussie veteran of UK and German bands, a jingle and musical writer with a distinguished CV, Grant's "Longhair Music" has to be one of the best things I've heard on SellaBand in ages. With a Bo Diddley groove that's a mile deep and a chorus that takes off into overdrive this deserves to be a hit of epic proportions. He looks like a real character too.

Playlist: Longhair Music


Feedback as always: adam@sellaband.com