Rocket Woman


Ellie Williams: 35K in 50 days!


We are currently witnessing the quickest ascend ever towards $50,000 on SellaBand. The artist in question is Ellie Williams, who joined on January 29 of this year and today has been with us for exactly 50 days. And has raised an incredible .... in budget. Two questions come to mind: Will Ellie break Nemesea's record and, is she ready for 50K?

 


Ellie Williams with Matt Young of Gemini FM

We have said it before, the road to 50K is not a competition, but sometimes we witness an extraordinary run to the top of the charts and just feel compelled to write about it. What Kaitee Page (LUNIC) pulled off (over 20K in her final two weeks) was incredibly exciting to watch, but now we are dealing with an artist who seems to have set exactly the right pace to make the fastest run from zero to 50K so far. This is the Top five of how many days it has taken our 17 Recording Artists to reach $50,000 in budget:


Over to Believer Lucretia, who has witnessed all 17 arrivals so far and has been very active on the 'countdown front' as well.


Lucretia

Tell us, Knife Lady, do you think Ellie Williams will break Nemesea's record?

"Yes I do. In fact it could well happen before the next Tribune and possibly as early as Easter weekend."

You witnessed Nemesea's amazing finish at the time. Does Ellie's rise to 50K remind you of this?

"Not really. When I joined on October 15th 2006 Nemesea were just over 18K in budget. With only something like 2000-3000 believers signed up on SellaBand, for them to hit 50K just over a fortnight later with a total of 528 of those is something I consider a remarkable achievement. Considering we have what 20,000? 25,000? Believers signed up to SellaBand now, Ellie would have to be moving an awful lot faster than she has been and have a lot more Believers on board already for me to consider her rise as amazing as theirs."

And what about Ellie Williams herself? Does she think she will be the 'fastest' 50K artist so far?

Ellie: "This is a tough question. For me the most important thing to remember in this is the music, and the nice message that I am getting is that people are now talking about WHEN I hit 50k and not IF. There is something very exciting about going for the record, but I will leave that to those who decide to believe in me and to whether they would like to see the record broken."


Ellie performing @ the Gemini FM studio

What's your estimated date of arrival?

"When the fates have decided that it's my time. I'd like to think I am ready for that day to come."

Are you ready for life after 50k?

"I am ready. This has all happened quicker than I had ever dared imagine. I wake up every day with butterflies and excitement for what lies ahead. I feel I have new blood pumping in my veins and am so inspired. I am ready for the fact that this is the first step and that it will not be easy. I've talked with my family and friends as to the decisions which need to be made, some very difficult, but how can you not give everything to your dream?

I am so lucky to have found the support of my family, friends and believers. You truly are all wonderful people. I'll make our album something for us all to be proud of and I'll keep promoting SellaBand to anyone who'll listen!"

 

Kaitee Page: My 50K Story...

 

Exactly two weeks ago, Kaitee Page rushed to $50,000 in budget. Still overwhelmed by the experience, she asked for a little more time to be able to put to paper about how she felt and what will be next. But here it is, in her own words: Kaitee Page

 

By Kaitee Page


"Hi everyone! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's been 13 days since we reached 50K and I'm still not recovered. My believers sent me into a state of shock I think. I heard we made the last 25K in record time - was it 3 days? I never expected to reach 50K so quickly. Yes, I was working very hard to promote the band and get the music out there, but I figured it would take at least 8 months. After just 4 1/2 months here we are.

It's funny, I've been reading some people's posts in the forum about how it feels once an artist reaches 50K and I can totally relate. While at the exact moment we hit 50K (18:54 GMT 4th March, 2008) I burst into tears of joy, I also had a gig that night with my band at Bull & Gate, London so there wasn't much time to celebrate. And that moment, as beautiful as it was, sort of symbolizes how life is in the after-50K-pre-album period: We're really happy we got there, but we're not 'there' quite yet and there's still lots of work to be done.


Adam Sieff and I are meeting with producers over the next few weeks to try and find the right producer for our band, especially considering the particular type of album we'll be making. It's a concept album that I wrote quite by accident while I was living in LA in 2005/2006. Without going into too much detail, LA is a tough city to survive in and there were some pretty dark times and after years of enduring... a lot of different things, song after song just flowed out of me. Only after they were all written did I realize that this particular group of songs just belonged together.

It will be interesting because the EP that we are recording at the moment is drastically different from what our SellaBand album will be. The SellaBand album touches on subjects like addiction, depression, sexuality, female suppression, etc. and the sound as I imagine it will be quite epic and rock and edgy. The EP on the other hand deals with subjects like family and growing up and growing old and has a more of wistful or peaceful feel. I'm eager to see how they are received.


As for right now, while we continue the search for our production team, the band and I are getting our s**t together so to speak and making a lot of internal changes in order to get ready for the big release. We're very happy to announce that after 9 months of intense deliberation we have finally come up with a band name! Our new band name is LUNIC. It's actually not a word in the English language which I think is pretty cool - sort of like a one-word poem: it means as much as what the reader believes it to mean. (If you're curious as to what it means to me, feel free to visit my Blog)

I know a lot of you will miss 'Kaitee Page' but 'tis true - 'Kaitee Page' is 'dead.' With time, I'm confident you will come to support and understand this name change and the reasons for it. Last night, after the gig we played at Ashcroft Theatre we had a lot of new fans running up to us saying things like, "You guys were great - what's your band's name?" And for the first time, with a big smile, I was able to happily reply!


So viva Lunic! RIP Kaitee Page. Either way, the music is still the same and the band and I are excited about what the future now holds. Thank you SO much to everyone at SellaBand for creating such an amazing organization that can and will help so many talented musicians get recorded and get heard. And a special thank you thank you thank you to all of our 542 believers who made this journey possible.

To celebrate these magnificent times, we will be joining forces with Blackjack in Rome, Italy the weekend of 9th May to rock out at the first ever Sellagig Italy!!!! So book your flights now for an unforgettable SellaBand weekend in Rome! It's been a crazy ride so far and judging by my believers, my band, and the other sellabanders who we've met so far, it's only gonna get crazier! Weeeeeeeee!"

 

Adam's Apples

 

The Hot Rocks

 

Nashville Tennessee is an unlikely home for this enthusiastic and somewhat retro power pop combo who mix their English skinny tie references ("Turning Japanese" anyone?) with more familiar home grown rock influences. They sound like they're singing with smiles on their faces, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Playlist: Little Red Stiletto

Laomé

 

An exceptional nu soul band from Lyons in the heart of France, fronted by singer Marion Chétien whose vocal performance is never less than stunning. She is supported by sensational backing vocals over really well conceived arrangements played with great virtuosity and panache. This is as classy as it gets.
Playlist: Look Ahead

Punch and Judy

 

Actually..it's Kyle and Jen - he plays guitar, she sings (and how!), Smart and sassy, cool and jazzy. Mostly lots of fun.
Playlist: Rock Hudson Blues


 

The Collaboration Project

 

How Artists and Believers really unite as one...

 

From the heart of SellaBand comes an exciting and ambitious music initiative. It is called The Collaboration Project and will be a shining example of how Artists and Believers can make a difference if they really work together; Community Singing in its purest form...

 

 

By MaWa

When Casper came up with the original idea of a Collaboration profile and then asked for help, I thought, "This is too good to let him get the fun and opportunity alone," so I agreed to take over the management and the communication to build a new opportunity for a much bigger group of artists. Still, the initial response in the first 72 hours was simply overwhelming. Many Believers invested a lot of money, even before there was a single song confirmed, and 59 artists and Believers signed up to be part of the team. So we decided to close the gates very quickly! We're not trying to build a 2nd SellaBand, after all ;). But we have opened the gates a crack again, for just a little bit longer, to allow for a few 'late arrivals'.
 
So, what is the goal? To get $50K and make a CD or maybe two, nothing special there. But this CD will only contain Collaborations of SellaBand artists who want to work together.
 
Now as I am writing this, the project is not even a week old and we already have a working infrastructure, a site for communication, a site for the exchange of large work files, and last, but for sure not least, Lucretia was kind enough to revive her Forum to allow discussions between team members regarding questions and suggestions. We have 10 so called "Song Projects" already registered, with some very interesting combinations, and a good number more in discussion (I count currently:17)
 
One of the goals in this for me is to give the artists a platform for exposing their music heart in what I consider a 'real' way. A lot of artists struggle to get enough attention on SellaBand or struggle in general to build a fan base to support them. For many of them, the SellaBand road will be a long and hard one. Some will give up. And doing so will mostly have nothing to do with the quality of their music or their talent. This collaboration is meant to provide them with a chance to show what they can accomplish in a new way. And of course, the project has already proven that it has the ability to generate great new music and new combinations, bringing what is a good base to a new level. I understand my own job here to be very simple: Make it happen. 
 
Here is what other members have to say about this project:
 
"I think the whole online collab scene is just starting to break open. Perhaps it's comparable with a dating site, where people find their 'match' with someone from the other side of the world. And I find that it expands my musical reach dramatically. So it makes perfect sense for me to be on this project. After all, Moorlandt evolved from a solo project to a collab project, my first SAB collab being an artist-believer collab with Josie. And I'm working hard to make Moorlandt a live performing project in the near future with an international crew. :-)" - Walt (Moorlandt)


Moorlandt


Collaboration Team members


Alex Joe Marczak

Anja

Annie Bacon

Banshee Celtic Band

Bonnie

Casper

CAVEFISH

Celine Wadier

Chapter9


Conflict in the sky

Cris Tanzi

Dave Patrick

Docnik

DVD

Ed the Cheesehead

Ellie Williams

GD Allen

Gisel de Marco

Grant Stevens

Hogdaddee.com

 


 

Q + A

Tony Richards & the Kmans Band



Regular visitors of our website will have noticed the arrival of true rock 'n roll on SellaBand.  This phenomenon is called Tony Richards and the Kman Band and although they have not even been with us for one full month, they are over $10,000 in budget and have just arrived on Page 2 of our Artist Search...



Tell us something about yourself that is not in your bio...

"Hello SAB. First off if I may, props to my phenomenal band ... Doc Adams, Bob Marston, Chris Butler, Kid Savard, Bo Ognan. Incredible performers and musicians all. Well I guess some of the things that may be interesting to people are the following: I was the replacement guitarist for Matt "guitar" Murphy in the James Cotten Blues Band when he went to join the "Blues Brothers" and toured with James and the boys for 6 months or so doing the whole U.S. Canada Mexico thing... played with lots of people in that band and shared the stage with none other than Steve Miller, Carlos Santana, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and a slew of other incredible classics... a wonderful time in my life as I was a serious follower of the blues in those days. Over the years I have been blessed with the wonderful ability to spot "THE" top local musicians and could easily see not just where they were musically but where they were gonna be. This enabled me to have the deadliest live
performances and develop the loyal following we now have .... There were bands like New York Chalk, Brother Jump and of course Tony Richards and The Kman band. Highly energetic and unpredictable. But always dedicated to the premise that the people need to get what they want. We were able to do that with original material. When Kman went on a much needed hiatus in '95, I became vocalist/guitarist/front man for "The Rascals" world famous blue eyed soul hit makers from the '60s and '70s. Good Lovin' ... Beautiful Morning ... How Can I be Sure? ... etc etc ... It turns out that Dino Dinelli and Gene Cornish were huge fans of ours and one evening at The LoneStar in NYC we looked out to the front tables and see the lineup of Paul Simon, Edie Brickell, Gene and Dino. They had heard we were gigging with The Spin Doctors and came to check us out. The Rascals approached me that very evening... a wonderful experience , having been such a huge fan of theirs. Spent 14 years touring with them..."


What took you so long to join SellaBand?

"Well to tell the truth we didn't even know about SellaBand until shortly before hooking up. The band had finally reached the point of deciding it was time to ride again and we were on a Myspace campaign to get re-acquainted with loyal fans and friends. One of them, a buddy from Brooklyn, sent me the SellaBand link. We hit it and never looked back. It's a phenomenal place with incredible people, and offers unheard of opportunity to the serious self believer and believers in the self believers so to speak. Great Concept. you guys rock man!"

Are you surprised by the warm reception you have received from our community?

"Not really. I could see in the forums that this was a place where people dug music in general so knowing that we have great songs we felt that  wow, here's a great pace to meet new people, get new feedback, build a new fan base, etc. Awesome response from everyone here thus far."

What are your ambitions?

"We want to be stars heheh. Without losing control to a bunch of cigar smoking suits. Seems like just the venue for that."

Any plans to speed up the rise to 50k even more?

"Oh yeah for sure. We recently hit the 10k mark on SellaBand and at this time, I am relocating from Georgia back to Connecticut so there has been a slight decline in our SellaBand push but that is about to change big time. And at the same time we just lost our wonderful friend and manager Joe Lennane, which set us back tremendously. He died on his last night with Maroon 5 as their tour manager. We miss his guidance and his friendship. I have tried to faithfully maintain contact with the present Believers when possible but it's been real crazy. Rehearsing the band while relocating is not an easy thing man. Back and forth, north to south, south to north, insane amounts of time on the road .... BUT!!!! ... we are about to go back to the people ... We will be gigging again starting April. At which time ... bulls eye 50K ... we got our eyes on it and we never blink. We need to show the goods at this time ....deliver on the promises we made so it is 'show time'.We will have exponential growth here on SellaBand once that has happened. There is a very serious plan in place."


How come a band with such distinguished style and sound isn't world famous yet?

"We came close many many times. Just nothing that seemed worth selling your souls into for the fame. We have always done well regionally with the huge following we developed over the years. Big crowds, great supporting spots on national tours etc. Meatloaf, Joan Jett, Taylor Dayne, Georgia Satellites, Hall and Oates. All tours we have done. I can't even remember them all. Our last album sold 40K units in New England alone. We enjoyed being at the helm. Things were always cool."

What kind of album do you intend to make with SellaBand?

"I think we want to make the best studio/live production album we can possibly make under the guidance of a world class producer and top notch engineer in a first class room. We have always been so live oriented. The Live Sweat album was produced by Thom Panunzio who of course is the other part of the Jimmy Iovine team and has produced U2, Springsteen, Petty etc. And we were literally the last band to record at The Record Plant before it closed its doors. I did the song 'One True Love' on the same piano that Lennon did 'Imagine'. What a trip man. The Plan? Who knows. That ain't here yet and we surely have the killer material. Technology is an improvisational tool in my opinion. We'll see when we get to the 50K ... we have lots of vision."


Why should people Believe in Tony Richards and the Kman Band?

"Well the best thing I can think of is from a quote of a review we got:
..."This isn't just any band" ... "This is Tony Richards and The Kman Band ...
Real stuff man. That's about it really! We got the goods ... and we deliver every time ...
R.I.P. Joe ... we miss you brother."

 

So What 50K plan


It's been a while since we featured '50K plans' from artists on their way to the full budget. This week we received the full and complete So What 50K plan and were pretty impressed by what they had come up with. We asked them to put it down in 10 clear points and here it is, the So What plan, both simple and ambitious...




By So What


  • We want to make an album in which we and our Believers can be proud. The album won't have a special theme or be part of an trilogy, it will be just an album that you want to listen over and over again.
  • We want to put 12 songs on the album, we think its a good length. At the moment we have enough songs to put on the CD, on the album there will be songs like 'Keep on running' and 'Dark Haired Treasures', but also some ballads like 'The Man. It will be diverse!
  • The lay-out of an album is very important, the better it looks the more people will buy it. We want to make our album, website, logo, myspace and everything that has to do with So What the same style. People will immediately recognize us once they have seen our album
  • We don't know which producer we want. It has to be someone who can get us to a higher and better level. He or she will have to add something really special to our music. It is a hard choice and we will take time to make the right one. We hope SAB HQ can help us with making the right choice.
  • It will take some time, but if we hit the 50k some day our promotional campaign will start immediately. There will a lot of attention in the Dutch and worldwide media, so we have to make people curious about us and our upcoming album. We will have to do interviews with newspapers, radio stations and the SellaBand Tribune of course. This is very important.



  • Once our album is finished we have to do something special to gain attention. We will start another promotional campaign to get our album in the spotlight as much as possible. We have a crazy idea of starting a tour in Asia (Japan or China), this will not only gain a lot of attention in our home country but there are also a lot of people over there who will like us! We don't know if this is possible, but it sure will gain some attention.
  • We want to give our believers something special, but we are not sure yet what to put on the LE. But we are sure it wont disappoint you!
  • We will record our album in Holland. Flying the four of us all the way to England will cost a lot of money; money that can be spent on better things like the music!
  • Also we won't have to hire any musicians for our album, we can play the instruments ourselves and for our style of music, most of the time you don't need huge orchestra´s. This will spare a lot money, which can be spent on other things, like our music and promotion!


But most important of all plans: we are just gonna make a very good and fun album! Promise.

Read the full plan at our profile!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collaboration Project continued...

 

"The Christmas song competition was one of the main reasons I joined this project. That produced quality music from within the Sellaband membership outside of the $50k achievers. When I saw that some of the Christmas contributors were in for this project that stirred my interest. Also I am currently working closely with Gisel de Marco on a number of projects and Gisel and myself have 'collaborated' and drawn up a short list of possibilities, one of which is an all South American tie up with Bonnie.  Discussions have taken place over the past couple of days and it looks like 'green for go'. I would also point to a recent collaboration between Gisel de Marco & Casper which also influenced me. Together they have only this past week produced an excellent Spanish version of 'Dont Cry For Me Argentina'." - Sommersby"

 

I´m involved in the project because it excites me to work with new people, especially here because everybody has this incredible hunger to get things moving - believers and artists alike." - Grant Stevens


Grant Stevens

"This project is a great way to show that SellaBand is not simply a website that allows connections between artists and music lovers. It's more than that. 'Collaboration' is an ancestral way of making music that is renewed thanks to the Internet and special websites like SellaBand, which create a noble meaning for the word 'Community'" - Marc (Chapter 9)

"I think this project is a great idea. It's a chance for me to collaborate with artists I wouldn't normally work with and produce something special. I am contributing music and the track I have chosen for this project has been specially written. Provisionally entitled 'Reason' the track is available for any SellaBand artists to see if they can fit lyrics and melody deserving of the song's mood and timbre. I am really excited to see what may come out of the other end and I invite one and all to have a go." -Dave Patrick



"For us, the magic of the collaboration project is similar to the magic of SellaBand, but more concentrated. We love that SAB has doubled our productivity, and we're sure the collab will enhance that effect for everyone involved (believers + artists). I don't know how it is for the other artists, but we've been looking for good musicians for as long as we've been playing, and it is so hard and it wastes so much energy. Suddenly we feel like we have 20 drummers, 40 singers, etc... The whole project feels like being in a really big band. In the same regard, it's unfortunate other artists had to be left out because they were too late to join. We guess this deadline was determined out of fear of creating a SAB within SAB, causing this site to implode or something like that. Okay, we get that, but we think SAB could use the extra dynamics. 6,500 inactive bands ... that's a goldmine being left untouched." - Naf (Laudanum)

"I am taking part in the SellaBand Collaboration Project because I love the idea of an album created by dozens of people with two common goals: 1) To get their music heard by as many people as possible, and 2) To make as many friends in the industry as possible in the process. This project uses the ideals of innovation and community to create something that simply couldn't happen anywhere else." - Alex/Joe


Alex Joe Marczak

 


Isca

Jennifer Berdetta

Kostek Andreev MR.KK

Kristen

Laixa

Laudanum

logical-one

Lori Greco

Luckyhorse

Lucretia

Luna Assasins

M. Harris

Magnus Bernhardsen

Marc Supsic

Mark Adelsberger

MaWa

Moorlandt

Mr. Brown