Bloodstock M2tM 2012 Update - Preston

Well we've not long returned from our heat of semi-finals of Metal2themasses and we've only gone and made it to the Grand Final in Preston on the 14th June!!!.

 This means we face 3 other Preston bands to win a spot at the legendary Bloodstock festival and a chance to win a spot at Wacken Festival next year.

 To say we are pleased is a bit of an understatement especially when you consider that the calibre for this year has been amazing, so if you've joined us along the way and shown your support, or if you've been to any of these Metal 2 the masses comps up & down the country, I doth the cap to you, because its at these events that we see the next gen of emerging metal talent and help the scene grow larger \m/.

Well thats it or now folks, got a shit load of work to do getting ready for the Revoker gig at the Krazyhouse on Saturday, working on the album and rehearsing so we don't look a gang of bellends at the Finial. gotta run Simo \m/

Sa-da-ko at Bloodstock?

The Ship inn & Rock on Preston’s Battle of the Bands tournament concentrated on 16 bands handpicked via MySpace pages of shit loads of bands and took battle over 6 weeks at the ship inn in Preston. The final was a conclusion to a lot of hard work from the media, promoters, and bands and of course the venue itself. And I feel it was this that helped the make the final one of the best gigs we’ve played so far.

The atmosphere was tense and ram packed with, what must have been close to 350 people at one point ,all this and I we got to play with 3 of the most well respected bands in the Preston area, I have to say at this point every band made us feel welcome and offered something completely different to the night.

All three bands need checking out but here’s a bit about them:

In first place was Byanymeans, female fronted metal shanagans with hints of early White Zombie, Alice in Chains and a dash of early Lacuna Coil for good measure, these guys offer a mixed bag of chuggy riffs, catchy melodies and a show that 100% entertains.

3rd Place was taken by Population Four, who are one of the tightest bands I’ve seen in a while and quite annoyingly, they have a habit of writing really catchy songs, as I write this I’m actually humming one of the tracks (Damn you P4!!!)

4th Place was taken by The Dragstip Junkies, heavily influenced by the L.A Punk rock scene, the Junkies put on mean show and have a strong following. I have to say I’m not a major punk fan but I enjoyed their set and found the lead singer to be one of the nicest people I have ever met.

Just before we went on stage Vicky was there from http://www.angelofmetal.com/ interviewing the bands about the night have a listen to the Sa-da-kO Interview, see if you can tell if were nervous or not.

On Tuesday we venture back into Manchester’s Grand Central to enter another battle, but for a totally different prize. Can we win a place on this year’s Bloodstock & Wacken festivals?

Make sure you keep checking the http://www.angelofmetal.com/ for updates on all the bands in the competition during the Battle for Bloodstcock.


Wish us luck!
\m/

Ideas on Marketing a Metal Band!

This is another one of those “how to promote your band” articles I do every couple of months; I generally stumble across a lot of info like this on the web. Mainly because I’m obsessed with the whole marketing thang but more importantly it helps us, as a band, put together a strategy for really pushing us hear and letting people find what we do.

As a band we work and meet with a lot at other bands and artists in search of getting that lucrative deal because let’s face it everyone wants to be able to tell their boss to fuck off and go on tour with the likes of Slayer, Machine Head and Def Leppard, don’t they?

Ok maybe the last one is just me, but doesn’t it all break down into marketing anyway, and how we allow other people and industry moguls/ Mongols to find our music.

How many times have we heard a band in an empty pub/club playing to 1 person and his mate?You could be the best band in the world but if you don’t tell anyone how will anyone know? Don’t rely on your promoter 9/10 he/she doesn’t give a shit!

“Many companies invest 35% to 65% or more of their profits back into
marketing and advertisements every year. Becoming and remaining number one
requires a lot of work. Advancing to more and more new customers not only
requires more and more marketing but keeping the old ones happy! “

This is a great quote, I found it at.

http://www.articlecity.com/articles/music_and_movies/article_641.shtml

But it makes sense, ok as unsigned musicians, we don’t have a lot of cash to throw about, but it does show were our priorities as a band (or company) should lie.

Promoting a band these days consists of either a myspace page or Twitter, get a CD and sell T-shirts, right?

Wrong!

Promotion of a company uses email, giveaways, Competitions, mini DVD discs promo’s, cold calling, internet marketing etc. You must do at least 3 forms of promoting to get a response out of your audience. The newsiest one for bands is musicmp3 ringtones and Video Games. So why don’t we adopt this strategy when developing our B(r)and.

Here’s a few alternative ways to promote I stole from another site:

• Great item that I have seen so far are mini DVD discs called pocket reels. GOTO www.pocketreels.com for more info on how to pick them up. These mini DVDs can go a far way just think what people would do if you handed them a mini DVD. They go crazy and they are super impressed! Place a nice video of your band on it and see how many new customers you receive at your next show!



• Having a photograph (Like Kuroii) or a videographer at your shows (Like Tim Johnson) to help promote your band is a good thing. They can take pictures and or videos and upload the images or videos to your website which can boost mailing lists and a fan club! And then they may be compelled to come to your next show and bring more friends or soak in the opportunities for fame and the live music experience itself.



• That brings us to a mailing list, each visitor to your website you should be collecting their email address so you can send them useful information like when your next show is going to be.



• Promoting your band is not easy so do yourself a favor and get a good publicist to promote your band. A good one can get you in 3 to 4 magazines and newspapers in one month for free, of course you have to pay the publicist but it will be well worth it. It can range from £400 to £2000. Note you can do this part yourself if you know how to negotiate with editors. 5. Promote your band by creating a really cool website! You’ve found ours but look into ways of finding a page to call home and use all the Social Networking sites to direct traffic to it.



• NB make sure you can edit content on your site without a third party, this is a common mistake a lot of businesses & bands make, you’ll need your update your special offers, gigs, and shows of course.



• Make a professional music video for your band or gig. This will help with promoting your band. High quality Video can be found at many locations for a crew with experience. for people who want an affordable video in the Southport & Northwest area please contact Tim 7. Saving the best for last.



• Another great way to promote your band is by making a mp3 ringtone, or polyphonic ringtone for example you can download a nickelback ringtone and wow free advertising everytime someone calls that person and bam there is a song on your phone. You need help making your own mp3 or polyphonic ringtone please go to A-FREE-RINGTONE.COM By making a ringtone like nickelback you can have your song ringing all over the world!

Your goal is to continue to reach more and more locals. Develop more ways to attract people’s attention. Always have something on you to promote yourself with.

Hope this helps

Till next time!!!
\m/