R.I.P Sophie Lancaster

You kind of get used to hearing news stories about people’s intolerance to others and to be honest you become desensitized to a lot of it, however I’ve kind of found this story hard to forget, if you’ve not heard the story of Sophie Lancaster before it’s important to understand the situation surrounding her death.

Sophie was killed by two idiots who kicked her in the head while trying to protect her boyfriend who was also attacked; apparently the couple had been walking through a park when a gang of 5 lads mocked them for being “Goths.” 3 of the gang attacked Sophie’s boyfriend and knocked him to the ground, Sophie was then kicked & stamped in the head repeatedly by the other two lads while cradling and protecting her boyfriend.

Sophie' Mother has Lanched this short animated film highlighting the inccident called Sophie: A Dark Angel on what would have been her 23rd birthday, people gatherd on the day and released twenty three black balloons in here honour. Anyone wishing to make a donation to the charity can visit http://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/.

People’s constant intolerance to other people astounds me; in fact some of the articles and news stories I have heard regarding the incident in a lot of ways have been a bit insensitive. This “goth” tag seems to be put on anyone who likes metal and looks slightly alternative and it really annoys me. What doesn’t help is when so called journalist play with these tags, here is what the urban dictionary defines the word Goth.

Goth -Someone who likes the darker side of things.

They usually listen to death metal and goth music, such as Dismember and Bauhaus. Marilyn Manson is NOT goth. He's just...weird. Real goths are not depressing and suicidal like the posers you see at Hot Topic. Goths are fun to be around and aren't afraid to laugh at themselves every so often. They don't worship Satan and aren't evil despite what some ignorant people might say. Goths don't all dress alike either. They like to create their own unique style. Goths are also very intelligent and creative. A lot of them are writers and artists. Goths DON'T envy the popular people. They are what they are because it makes them happy. Goths would rather stay who they are and be among the so called "freaks" than be like everyone else and be popular. They understand that there are more important things in life than popularity, and usually succeed in life while the popular ones don't become much of anything.
If someone becomes "Goth" because they couldn't get any friends or are depressed and angry all the time, they are most likely a poser.

this article reads like it was written by some blonde bimbo from the east coast of America whos probaly only ever had a conversation with people from the same background as her, hows it feel when someone stereo types you, cunt!

I'm on a full on rant now, sorry

sIMo

\m/

SA-DA-KO: CD ARTWORK

If youve been cool enough to add yourself to the our facebook page, you'll notice weve been getting a bit of feedback and input from the fans there regarding our CD artwork, this has actually been a great help to us, but also its pushed me to try and design something special.

So I thought I would share with you our designs so far. the pictures you see will be the front cover inside sleeve and back of the cd.

Ive mentioned before about the department of design who took our photos bur Ruari has helped us a lot with art direction and gave me a few ideas, if your a band or artist looking for help regarding this I would defo get in touch even if its just for a bit of direction.

Thats it for now, let us know what you think

Laters

sIMo

Sa-da-Ko: The Brutal Legend

Sa-da-kO can’t seem do anything wrong at the moment, it seems that Ormagoden himself has been smiling down from upon high has granted us the gift of metal!!!

I’m sorry, I’ve been rather involved in Brutal Legend this week and it’s kind of forced me to re-think about my metal roots and it also means that my IPod now has a few new additions from my old CD collection, but more importantly it’s made me realize that my love for metal is even more epic than I first thought!!

Back to what I was saying, it really does seem that the gods are smiling on Sa-da-kO at the moment, every gig played seems to reap its own rewards and its nice to play to unfamilar crowds and have people come up and hang with the band afterwards.

Last night Sa-da-kO appeared in the Shakespeare (Southport), and the gigs keep comin!!! heres a few photos of the last couple:

As for an update Sa-da-kO are almost finished on the album and all is well, the chaps plan to knuckle down and have a release date by the end of next week by which time we will be able to publish some upcoming live shows!!!

Sa-da-kO - Incassum - Pray for Your Sins at Manchester' Grand central

Before I start this blog I'm going to mention, I have always loved Manchester, The place has always had a good vibe about it, there's a strong metal scene here and a lot of sub-culture about and in a lot of ways it beats Liverpool hands down on having a strong underground scene.

So as you can imagine I was a little worried about playing Grand Central mainly because I had heard that there was a tough crowd here, but saying that I have to say the people of Manchester couldn't have been more welcoming.

From the offset I found that the promoter (Mark) and sound crew really wanted the bands to do well, they did their best to ensure that the night went well and the crowd were kept happy, So with that in mind I'm raising my goblet to the crew at Grand Central last night and everyone one who came and checked us out.

The bands themselves were quality and I would recommend anyone who follows homegrown metal to check these out, first up was Pay For Your Sins:

These chaps are from just down the road from us and its always nice to meet some fellow Merseyheads out and about, They love fast riffs, big choruses and heavy Breakdowns. In fact they say themselves that they're everything you would want from a metalband!! if you like killwitch engage and like your metal with a side order of rythmic chugging you will love these guys.

Were due to play with these again in December at Drakes Bar in Southport on the 18th December so come and show your support.

Incassum headlined last nights shanagans, they have recently released there album through casket records produced by Andy Giblin are a tight band, they tote their influences as Nevermore, Lamb of God, Emperor, Nightwish, Arch Enemy, Iron Maiden, Opeth, Killswitch Engage, Pantera, Black Sabbath and you can here this in there sound, if your can think of a heavyier, better and darker Eveneseance you'll be on the right track. check 'em out and make your own mind up, cool guys and a cool sound.

Marketing Metal Band 3: Viral Marketing

A question a lot of people ask me is: How can we get our fans to encourage their friends to come to our shows, or even listen to our music?

It’s pretty much a sad fact that the general public will not go and see a band they’ve never heard of before, so we need to build the hype beforehand and get our listeners involved in what our brand and USP (Unique Selling Point) is.


There is actually a hundred and one different ways to do this, some examples of this are actually in this blog on a few posts I’ve written about marketing metal bands, however our biggest ally in marketing is word of mouth. It’s cheap and it offers validation to the recipient.

For example, how many times have we seen a trailer for a film and thought it looked OK, until a friend tells you it’s the best film he’s seen all year; this is then further validated when another friend tells you the same.


Now, the term "viral marketing" is being thrown around the music industry more and more these days and for very good reason, it's one of the most effective ways of building your audience Ive taken some good ideas from varous potholes in the net to give you some ideas, check em out!


Using the Built-in Trust Factor

When friends tell friends about something that they like, a buzz begins. They usually trust each other with information about new things that each discover and music is no different from a great burger place, a great tv show, or movie. The fact that a friend says, "you should listen to this band" makes it a lot more likely that you'll want to listen to a new band rather than, "Hey! You should listen to our music!" (Coming directly from the band through their marketing, I don’t know about you but I get thousands of these via Myspace). This is often how people find out about new music.

Matter of fact, viral marketing (word-of-mouth) is one of the main ways we hear about "great things". When you think about how much advertising of poor products are directed out you daily, it's no wonder the trust-factor simply does not exist when we initially hear about something new coming from the mouth of the advertiser (in your case, you, or your band). This is why it is so important that you encourage positive word-of-mouth and do your best to stop bad word-of-mouth. Make sure that you always do things in an honest way...it's that powerful!


Guerilla Marketing for Musicians

Marketing yourself by viral, or word-of-mouth means, is inexpensive because it is usually so easy to implement. Doing the right thing (integrity) and going out of your way to make your fans' experience with you amazing, while creating great music, will ensure that your fans help spread the word about you and your band!



Make Your Music Viral

Here are some great ways to get word-of-mouth circulating about you and your music:

• Post videos of your band on YouTube playing covers & original material.
• Get your music on MySpace and other social networking sites.
• Include a "forward this to a friend" link on your site and email communications.
• Encorage fans to tag themselves on your photos at shows on pages like Facebook
• Encourage your fans to bring their friends to your next show!
• Offer two-for-one deals on ticket sales.

Simple Things You Can Do To Put You High in Your Fans Minds

• Sign autographs at all of your shows.
• Encorage drinking games and invlove fans in your gig by bringing them up on stage.
• Offer autographed headshots for free.
• Perform at benefits (non-profit events) simply for the good publicity.
• Send free mp3 music downloads to your fans on your mailing list. Encourage them to pass the file on!

SA-DA-KO LIVE: Halloween Hell Ride & the Zombie Apocalpyse in Southport

Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en)[1] is an annual festival celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints, but is today largely a secular celebration.
Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. Thats all very well but let me tell you about this Halloween:

Around 200 people came to watch us play at Drakes bar in Southport on Friday the 30th Oct, we made a lot of new friends and the people who came as zombies looked wicked. Everyone drank, made loud noises and generally had a good time.

For us it was an end of a months hard work of planning and promoting and getting our name about as well as enjoying gigging with old friends of ours RISEDEADMAN. The Liverpool based metal band have been out of action for a while , due to a department of their long time drummer Ste Davis, but it was nice to have the lads back with a new drummer and ready to bring their unique sound to local haunts.

At midnight we took the stage and the festival of Samhien was welcomed in by the sound of Sa-da-ko, the pit exploded and bodies were pretty much slain about the room. it all made for an awsome night and one we will treasure for long times to come.

I've put the pictures on the SA-DA-KO facebook page as there is far to many to put here so if you get a minute check em out, they look great.

Gotta go for now I'm afraid as I'm off work at Aku Studios at the moment and intend to get ahead with this album as much as I can.

Next stop Manchester's Grand Central with Incassum on Nov the 12th, See you there