Sideshow Valley – One night only!
OCTOBER 10, 2011 | UNCATEGORIZED
SIDESHOW VALLEY PRESS RELEASE

This summer, it’s not safe to leave the garage. Music Industry College brings you a story of love, despair, rock’n’roll rebellion and (plenty of chest hair)- Sideshow Valley. A world where fantasy and reality mix and dreams can come true – just make sure they’re your own. For after the money is spent, the circus leaves town and the music and make-up fades, all you have is your friends and your guitar.

Sideshow Valley follows the talented indie-rock band Trash Massacre as they dream to leave the depressing suburbs for the glamorous rock’n’roll life offered to them by the representatives at Fony Records. But how much will they be willing to pay to have their name up in lights and what price will they put on their souls?

The musical, written by staff and students at MIC, was a collaborative effort and puts a new spin on the tired and traditional school musical.

Date: 11/11/11

Time: 6pm, 8pm and 9:30pm

Venue: Metro Arts Theatre

Cost: $10

Tickets available from the MIC office 3852 3074 or info@mic.org.au

Brisbane Sounds & Music Industry College Present

Brisbane Sounds #5 A Celebration of Brisbane Music

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

BRISBANE musicians unite to celebrate and promote the sounds of Brisbane.

On Sunday, October 30 the diversity of the Brisbane music scene will be showcased through an all ages afternoon gig at the gorgeous surroundings of the heritage listed Old Museum in Bowen Hills as part of a showcase for the Brisbane Sounds #5 compilation album.

Brisbane Sounds is a non-profit, community led advocacy organisation that has been developed to nurture Brisbane’s musical heritage as well as educate, inspire and promote to the world the outstanding diversity and quality of music in the Brisbane music scene.

In 2011, Brisbane Sounds has partnered with Music Industry College to provide the young students of the school an opportunity to develop their publicity, venue, artist and project management skills through working on this project.

To help launch Brisbane Sounds #5, a diverse selection of local acts will present a showcase of Brisbane music with the first announcement of artists featuring Blonde on Blonde, Fushia, Daisie May, Le Cheile and Our Ithaca Creek with more artists to be announced shortly.

Along with live music, Brisbane Sounds #5 will also feature a youth workshop, barbeque and discussion panels. Classic Brisbane music and music videos will be featured over the course of the day to further add to the community vibe of the event.

Brisbane Sounds is also using funding platform Indiegogo.com to raise funds to take their music industry workshops into schools and further engage young people with Brisbane music. Proceeds from these special pledge packs will be going to youth organisations, Youngcare and Brisbane Youth Service who Brisbane Sounds will be working alongside with on future projects. To find out more head to www.indiegogo.com/brisbanesounds1 to pick up a pledge pack!

Doors open at 12pm, tickets cost $7 plus booking fees and are available through Oztix (Oztix.com.au) or on the door on the day for $10 subject to availability. For more information visit www.brisbanesounds.com

Artwork coming soon too.

Here’s our final photo association comp for Brisbane artists appearing at BNE.

First correct response gets a Brisbane Sounds merch pack. Enter via our Facebook site.

Hope you’ve had fun.

1. Young band with a lot of good things happening. Sold out the Zoo a week ago.

.

2. New album soon. Toured Japan and the US. Classic rock. Fans of BigStar.

3. Singer-songwriter destined for huge things. Has a youth skin kind of vibe.

4. Songs about china shops and boats.

5. More energy than The Wiggles.

6. One of the talk of the town bands.

7. Rock and Roll Brisbane Style.

8. Infectious melodies/heavy riffs from this Brisbane artist.

9. One of our favourite artists. Dirty rock and roll.

10. YOUNG band impressing with alot of buzz!

Tickets for BigSound are available here: http://tickets.oztix.com.au/Default.aspx?event=21799

Think you know them all, have a crack and we’ll give the first correct response a merch pack AND a pass to BIGSOUND Live!

1. This artist used to be in a band that sang about the getting their hashbrowns on the tally at Fat Rics. Now sings about Queensland!

2. A singer songwriter set for even bigger things. Plays in a thousand bands. One has Gin, one has Giants, one has Liberals, one has Pickers.

3. Youthful band with a big following. Recent music clip has amassed close to 500K views.

4. Another talented young group. Had a great song about ‘Whales’. Moving onto bigger and better adventures soon.

5. Possibly the hardest one of these to do. Massive in West End. Sang about bubblegum.

6. A band who need a Tarago to travel. Sang about traitors and played Laneway this year.

7. Classic pop and disco beats.

8. Beat 16 other bands to win Rolling Stone’s “Choose The Cover” competition to be featured on the August 18, 2011 cover of Rolling Stone magazine, the first unsigned act to do so.

There you go. Have fun. I hope you like that last one!

Here’s the deets:

Free live music showcase on the 7th and 8th of September! Featuring: Blonde on Blonde, Fushia, Steve Grady and many more!

On the 7th and 8th of September, the Fortitude Valley entertainment precinct will play host to a free live music event: ‘Break and Enter’ a showcase of unsigned acts from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and New Zealand

Taking place at the same time as the Big Sound Conference, Break and Enter encompasses all genres with acts from pop, folk, rock, hardcore and hip hop.
This event gives artists without the full backing of labels, booking agents & management, an opportunity to showcase their wares to an international and national audience, while also enhancing this fantastic period of live music for punters and music fans alike.

Barsoma, X&Y Bar and the Valley’s newest addition, Oh Hello! will be hosting the proceedings both nights. The Fortitude Valley is an amazingly dynamic and evolving hub, so come along and celebrate Brisbane’s vibrant music scene, with some of Australia and New Zealand’s fantastic musical acts.

Full Line Up:
Bell Weather Dept,
Blonde on Blonde,
Buckley Ward,
Chloe Turner,
Dana Gehrman,
Earlybirds,
Fushia,
Grand Atlantic,
Hailer,
Hey Geronimo,
Joe Kings,
Madame Wu,
Montpelier,
Oceanics,
The Owl,
Rockets,
Steve Grady,
Tales in Space,
TIGER BEAMS and
Tiny Migrants.
Keep on Dancin’s,
The Chokes,
Tramp Fiesta,
Epithets,
Take Us To Vegas,
Alibrandi
Finders Keepers

Tickets for BigSound are available here: http://tickets.oztix.com.au/Default.aspx?event=21799

Think you know them all, have a crack and we’ll give the first correct response a merch pack.

1. 13 Letters. Outstanding young live band with a front man destined for big things. Often see them getting people to dance at gigs

2. 12 Letters. Melodic heavy sounds. Enjoy shampooing Yak’s.

3. 11 Letters. Sweet harmonies from this Brisbane 4 piece.

4. 12 Letters. Catchy songs, epic live show. Not to be missed.

5. 5 Letters. Psychedelic tunes perfect for the beach. Have been “Castaways” until recently.

6. 11 Letters. Making big waves internationally with press in NME and Q. For a 2 piece the live show is something to behold. Your face will melt.

7. 9 Letters. One of a kind band. Played festivals across Europe and have a strong following, especially in West End. Live show is like nothing else!

8. 10 Letters. Making a huge impact not only in Australia but also through Europe. Wrote a song about a Jungle that will no doubt feature in ‘best tracks of 2011′ lists.

9. 12 Letters. Almost as many members. Party atmosphere, 60′s beats.

10. 9 Letters. Probably the most energetic Australian live band. Well written songs. Huge youth fan base. Moved south in recent years.

11. 11 Letters. Sang about the goodness of a girl back in 2002 or 3 and have been quiet of late. New line up but a hotly anticipated act.

12. 11 Letters (What is it with 11 letters for band names???) One of the bands to watch. From the Dew Process stable so they must be good!

13. 15 Letters. Fun indie pop stuff from these young kids. Burst on the scene in 2011 and had all the managers in town fighting to get their hands on them. Make sure you see them at Big Sound to see why!

14. 8 Letters. Played Splendour after a stellar start to the year. We’re big FANS of theirs. Girls love them too.

15. 14 Letters. Recently did a collaboration with legend Archie Roach. Boomtown hip hop at it’s finest. Socially conscious lyrics. One not to be missed!

There’s the first 15! More to come.

Good luck!

Brisbane 2009.

We have a few events and activities that we are working on and we are keen to continue to help young people enter the music industry and learn some life skills.

Please register your interest via info@brisbanesounds.com before Sunday AM.

I’m always happy to help as I have had many people who have helped me develop in the music industry.

Here are some of my tips from questions I have been asked by artists.

If you’re a new band or artist entering the music industry I hope they help you.

These are not in any order but should be able to help developing artists, particularly in Brisbane.

1. Always look for what everyone else is NOT doing. Find your niche, don’t follow the leader. Pay attention to what is happening in other areas of business and try to find ways to involve unique ideas into your band or the music industry. I’m always taking ideas from my role in the education sector to place in the music industry.

2. Make sure you ask for some form of editorial when placing ads in street press. You might not always get it but plenty of bands fail to even ask. Work out a plan of what you want and how much you are going to spend. Perhaps a $1000 campaign which might get you a live review, some editorial and a review of your release. Remember that everything is at the editors discretion. Give away tickets and CD’s as well as comps. We have some brilliant people working in Brisbane street press who go above and beyond for Brissy bands, they are here to help you as well.

3. Make sure you BCC your emails. No one likes getting an email with a hundred other people’s contacts, unless they copy and use them in which case some people will be mighty pissed with you.

4. Get a great photo. Spend around $500 and that will usually get you two high res, high quality photos during a shoot around town. Follow the links in the photo section to see who we use and suggest.

5. Have your music professionally packaged or try something different. Don’t just print it yourself on your home computer or use blank CD’s. Spend the coin and make it look the real deal. I recently used an idea from Martin Atkins of PIL who had a great idea to wrap the CD’s of the band I manage in the poster from the tour, therefore punters were able to get the CD in a plastic sleeve with a professional gloss finish combined with the tour poster. We did a run of 100 CD’s for both the February and April tours and they sold out both times (with people paying whatever they wanted too. Some paid $1-2, others paid $20!) with that money then being able to be put towards the professionally packaged second EP. In fact, just buy Martin Atkins Tour Smart book (pictured)

6. Think long about branding and style. Have a logo or a font style. Don’t get up on stage in footy shorts and volleys. Are you at The Step Inn or the Greenbank RSL??? I’ve seen that when I used to work at The Zoo and it’s a bad look. You want your audience to want a piece of you, not what they can get from Target. Need some design contacts? hit us up and we’ll put you in touch or take yourself out and meet a fashion designer. Look through magazines that your band all like, choose fonts that stand out and which you could replicate.

7. Find a graphic designer who can add to the styling/branding. Graphic designers have been one of the most frustrating parts of working in this industry for me. It is very difficult to get across your ideas into their head and then have them replicate what you want. Realistically it is a frustrating situation because you’ve got two people who have their own ideas. It’s a process of countless emails backwards and forwards before you finally both sign off on a project. If you have someone in your band who does GD, then you will end up saving yourself thousands over the lifetime of your band. You’ll find links to some of Brisbane’s best in our links section. This whole page was designed by Tim Steward, Moonshine Madness did our logo and countless posters and both would be our first choice to contact for work.

8. Get an ABN, it’s too easy. You’ll get asked for it sooner rather than later by venues, promoters etc.

9. Find a good accountant and keep every receipt for every bill, invoice etc in it’s right place in one of those briefcase folders.

10. Set up a band bank account. Call your bank and see how much they’ll charge you. Get quotes from everywhere. Talk about changing banks and see if they’ll do it for no monthly account fees or roll it over into your day to day account therefore only paying one monthly fee. No one asks but this works.

11. Film! Make videos of your band at practice, at gigs, in their day to day lives etc. Make sure the sound quality is 100%, none of that shit sound recording quality. People will tune out right away regardless of what the footage is like. Post these to social media sites. Even Iphones work well at recording some parts, just not any of the live show.

12. Social Media. Post every day, even if it is a music clip of a band you want your followers to hear. One Brisbane hip hop band does a brilliant job of this and reached 3000 followers last October through this simple yet effective social marketing practice. Look at social marketing sites to see what you can use, find your points of difference and sell that!

13. Backline- If you can, share backline and negotiate with the other bands on your bill as it will save time and the hassle of setting up cymbals three times. Venues in Australia should try to do what Japanese venues do and have a backline already set up when you arrive at the venue that’s good to go.

14. Booking shows- Either call and set up a time to see a venue manager (if they have the time, most are justifiably very busy) or send them either in the mail or by email a one page bio/ CD or link to soundcloud, myspace, bandcamp with your contact details and what you are after. If you have never played a gig before, don’t expect a Saturday night gig. Be realistic and always try to bring at least 10 people per band member to a show. Every band should just put EP, LP, Digital, merch etc etc launch in front of their gig because the amount of times bands did that over just playing a gig we would get 100′s more people through the doors at my previous venue.

15. Emails: Follow up after a week if your email has not been answered. It is not about hassling, but about being proactive. If that falls on dead ears (keypad?) then PICK UP THE PHONE!!!!!!! What is it with us these days? We all have phones but we are online more often then actually talking to people.

16. Merch: Think of something other than t-shirts, but if you are going to do T-shirts then enlist a graphic designer or try to find someone who knows what a great shirt should look like. Great art is what people will buy, not a Times New Roman font of your band name on a black shirt! Take the time to come up with a cool design and down the track do what the hardcore bands do and make 5 shirt designs for every show. If you have some serious fans then they will buy every different shirt. One of my students showed me their 10 Parkway Drive shirts last week!

17. Tag your posts in your website as google loves it. Look at talking with some SEO experts (we can reccomend some) who will help you get your name out there. We did’nt get to the front page of Google over night when searching for ‘Brisbane Music’ but through tagging the hell out of everything! Look underneath this post to see how we tagged it. IT WORKS!

More to come, but this is a start for bands.