Music from the Ghidrah (11/26) - The IRA, Ugly, Steriogram

The Rock Ridge Music GHIDRAH – the music is FIRE!

This week's GHIDRAH features tracks available for free mp3 download on Rock Ridge Free! http://www.rockridgefree.com/

Here are this week’s GHIDRAH songs:

SONG 1: Ike Reilly Assassination - "When Irish Eyes Are Burning"
SONG 2: Ugly - "Sex, Drugs, and Rock N Roll"
SONG 3: Steriogram - "Just Like You"

And, for your convenience, here are the GHIDRAH links:

SONG 1: http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/rockridge_1.wma
SONG 2: http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/rockridge_2.wma
SONG 3: http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/rockridge_3.wma

The GHIDRAH is a song-of-the-week program. Each week the songs change, but the links don’t change – it is self-refreshing content. To get more information about putting the GHIDRAH on your site, please reply to this email and visit http://www.rockridgemusic.com/top-music.htm.

Thank you for your support of this free music program.

"Devin Hester, You Are Ridiculous!"

So yesterday I went to the most fun Chicago Bears game I have ever been to. The game was at Soldier Field, where the Bears hosted the Denver Broncos… where Shanahan thought it would be a good idea to kick to Devin Hester. Devin Hester returned the kick for a td… twice. He has now scored 3 less tds in 10% of the games of the all time leader! In one of the returns, he leaped right over Bronco's punter Todd Sauerbrun like a fallen hurdle. All this after he had fumbled one a stupid play to allow Denver their first three points of the game.


The Bears defense looked soft but behind Hester, a blocked punt by Peanut Tillman and a drive by Rex Grossman with phenomenal catch by Berrian. Though they looked soft, down the stretch, they seemed to start getting the stops they needed.
The Bears got the ball first in the overtime and wasted no time moving down the field and winning thanks to a big catch by Desmond Clark and then a Robbie Gould field goal.
Some people seem to be saying, "the Bears are back!" I still think its a little early for that. The division is lost, and they are back in the Wild Card hunt, but this is one game. They have some big games coming up with the Giants, Washington and Minnesota. All are virtually must wins if they want a crack at the post season.
The Bears lost running back Cedric Benson to an ankle injury but Adrian Peterson stepped up to the plate and made a couple big plays for the Bears. And though he is the weakest player on the team and is responsible for a couple huge Broncos plays… this will get Adam Archuleta a get out of jail free card. I saw Jennifer Walcott at the game yesterday wearing his jersey. If you don’t know who she is, please see below.

Music Review: The Marble Index - Watch Your Candles, Watch Your Knives

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/11/20/072355.php

Here is an article from Nathalie Vanderheyden on The Marble Index- Watch Your Candles, Watch Your Knives for BlogCritics Magazine.

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I have to begin with yet another admission which makes me think that I should start calling my reviews 'true confessions'; but that's another story. In any case, I must confess to a certain bias when reviewing bands from Hamilton Ontario. I feel a swell of pride in my Hammertown guys and gals that may color my perception. I'm confident however that when it comes to The Marble Index, my hometown pride is well placed.

Their second release Watch Your Candles, Watch Your Knives is a slick recording showcasing a more mature band with the experience of a successful first launch and allot of touring under their belts.

The tracks on this CD are very danceable and alternative-radio friendly songs that still manage to retain a slight garage band feel. I guess you could say the Marble Index's sound has moved into a three car heated garage with a kick ass sound system, a lounge space and a mini bar fully stocked for an endless block party. It's guitar driven dance music minus the techno pop.

One of the best tunes in my humble opinion is "All That I Know". This is the second track on the CD, though it really should have been the first. It has a great hook that gets your head bopping to the beat from the first pluck of the guitar.

Track 5 "Let Me Be The One" is another tune that finds me hitting the replay button. This catchy song has the slightest hint of reggae and demonstrates vocalist Brad Germain's knack for delivering lyrics like "If I can't be yours tonight, let me be the one that could hold you for the rest of your life" in a style that sticks to my brain and gets me singing the harmonies in a fantasy duet. (Then again maybe I just always wanted to be a cool back up singer complete with tambourine and cow bell - "more cow bell!")

I've seen track 8 "I Don't Want To Try To Change Your Life" performed live at a local gig, so I know for a fact this song gets the crowd jumping on the dance floor and sets the girls screaming. The Marble Index, I can honestly tell you, put on a fabulous live show.

In this age when any tone deaf, teeny bopper nymphette with the right sound engineer can be a pop diva, the ability to sing and play your instuments well is becoming an endangered skill. These guys however, sound as good live as they do on their CD.

They're also great fun to watch. The Marble Index, comprising of guitarist and vocalist Brad Germain, Bassist Ryan Tweedle, and Drummer Adam Knickle look like they're having the time of their lives on stage; and lead man Germain really knows how to connect to the crowd and get a serious party vibe streaming through his audience.

The group has demonstrated a good deal of growth on this sophomore release, though I think there is still room for improvement in developing their music. This is really good but somewhat familiar guitar driven dance music. I can hear the potential for a unique distinct sound but I don't think they've quite reached it yet.

That said, if they are already this good then they can only go up from here. If they keep refining and honing their songwriting skills with each new album then I have no doubt that The Marble Index will still be around cranking out awesome tunes long after the latest flash in the pan party band has fizzled into oblivion.Watch Your Candles, Watch Your Knives is released on Rock Ridge

Music and tracks include:
1. Everyone Else
2. All That I Know
3. Couldn't Do Without
4. Same Schools
5. Let Me Be The One
6. We Always Complain
7. What We Need
8. I Don't Want To Try To Change Your Life
9. Anytime
10. Not Impressed
11. Same Old Lie
12. Never Ends

Changes for Lollapalooza? (ill logik)

So I am back at home in Chicago for Thanksgiving this week. I came back because Sister Hazel. They played the Chicago Lighting Festival (along with KT Tunstal and Corbin Bleu... whoever that is). So I am staying th week.

So it was in the Chicago Tribune, that the plan maybe to have second concert in Philly that would include the same idea as Lollapalooza Chicago, however, it won't have all the bands that were in Chicago. It turns out it actually hit a snag in its plan this week. C3 Presents has already announced Loallapalooza will be in Chicago for the next 4 years but that doesn't mean they don't want to expand. They are looking at Belmont Plateau in Philly for 2 or 3 weeks after the Grant Park show.

They are saying that it wouldn't be called Lollapalooza but it would follow the same model. While C3 wants to bring it to Philly... Electric Factory (Live Nation) has other plans. They want to be the one to do it.

All this is fine with me. I am not one of those people who thinks that my toes are being stepped on by having more than one show. I could care less if they do 10 shows... all I know is I will see it in Chicago... and thats fine!

The only part that actually pissed me off were some comments by Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell. The Jane's Addiction front man said, "the scariest predicament we face in the music is that commercialezation has killed off the underground scene. It used to be at Lollapalooza that the audience was full of 20,000 freaks and miscreants and outcasts. But now people look like they walked out of the Gap."

Well Mr. Farrell... what the fuck do you expect when the tickets for 3 days are approaching $200, you have every single sponsor you can think (Adidas, iTunes, AT&T, MySpace, Citi, Play Station, Bud Light, etc.) and you yourself did a song with Fergie! If the show is commercial, the fans will be commercial too. But that doesn't even matter. Since when is a music festival for some people but not others. Isn't that whats beautiful about music? Isn't music the universal art? I coulda sworn it was.

Celebrity Access

Here is a interview i did with Celebrity Access:

http://encore.celebrityaccess.com/index.php?encoreId=103&articleId=23870

Ben Miller is A&R manager for Rock Ridge Music and has signed TrashlightVision, a hard hitting mix of dirty rock, metal and punk from Brooklyn, NY and Marble Index, a straight forward indie rock band which loves chord changes from Hamilton, Ontario.

Ben's first industry experience was as an intern from Syracuse University at DAS Ventures, David Sonneberg's management company in year 2002 where he helped run the John Lennon Songwriting Contest (JLSC) and the promotion of the JLSC Bus at the 2002 Warped Tour. "For the contest itself, I was in charge of getting in touch with people who had incomplete applications and letting them know what was missing," he reminisces. "The bus was a mobile recording studio that would work with local kids from the Boys & Girls club to document a day at Warped Tour. My job was to get different bands to help the kids either to hang out or just sign off that the kids can record them."

After graduating from Syracuse, Ben worked at Special Ops Media in 2003 where he got his first taste of online marketing and some basic new media, working on Cypress Hill SmokeOut, Freaks and Geeks and assisted with projects such as Santana, Three Days Grace, Robbers on High Street and Jane’s Addiction.

He then joined Jason Spiewak at Studio E in 2004, where he got to use some of his learned tools from Special Ops to help with some viral marketing for Local H. He also did some of his own online work on the side with his own company, Ill Orange Marketing, and got hired to do some online work for TVT Records (Pitbull, Ying Tang Twins).

"Shortly after, I joined Tom Derr at Rock Ridge Music in 2004," he says. "I started as the street team coordinator and did some online work as well. Once Jason Spiewak joined the team, my online job became more viral so I was able to focus more on my street teams. Some of the teams I ran include, Ike Reilly Assassination, Domeshots, Love.45, Sinch, Legbone, Accident Experiment, and helped with the Five.Bolt.Main team. I also worked with online teams for Zack Wylde’s Black Label Society on Artemis, Danko Jones on Razor & Tie and Fall As Well on Imprint Records."

"Street teams are exactly what they sound like," he opines. "It's the fans of a band that promote on the streets, at shows, at record stores and lifestyle shops-- i.e. skate shops or tattoo parlors. They usually go in with some posters, stickers or flyers and let the people know about the band be it for a release or a show. Street teams are usually made up of a band’s most passionate fans."

After running the street teams for two years, Ben was promoted to A&R manager, "which was a personal goal that I'd always wanted to achieve," he reflects. "Since becoming A&R manager, I have signed Trashlight Vision and Marble Index and have helped out with a couple other signings that were not my deals."

Experience & Advice

The two biggest mistakes, which I don’t feel the need to get specific about, have both had to do with paying close attention to detail. Now I try and pay close attention to detail.

As an A&R manager what type of artists are you looking to sign?

We're looking for just about anything. Currently on the roster we've everything from guys who perform alone with acoustic guitars all the way to metal bands who sing about beer and everything in between. If the music's good, the band has a fan base we can work with, and they're willing to work as hard as we are, we are down for anything.

How effective are street teams?

Its hard to tell directly from sales but if done correctly, it could help with getting a bands name out there. It also has to do with the tools themselves. If you're giving a way a flyer people will look at it and read the information… cool, so Band X has a new record coming out. However, it's better to have a call to action on the flyer… go to Band X’s website to hear the new tracks from the upcoming album and download a song for free. That makes it’s a little more appealing to the perspective music fan. Again, the key to street teaming is getting the demographic that you want. It’s a lot easier to shoot fish in a barrel. Street teaming done right can be very effective.

How important is marketing to an emerging artist?

It’s pretty important in developing a band's name through branding. For example, if you're working with a hard rock/metal band, and Slipknot is in town--that would be a good place to send some street teamers to hand some things out. Clearly you don't want to send the same street teamers to a Fergie show. The key is hitting up the right musical demographic for your promotions. Even if the kids never check out the music, they may see that name again in the future and say, “wait, I’ve heard of that band.”

How effective are YouTube and MySpace sales?

I'm not totally sure how that connects directly for sales. People use them incorrectly if you want to know the truth. If you're just a band asking random kids to be your friends, they may not care to even check you out. However, MySpace can be killer for your existing fans. It's a good place to provide music, blogs and some connection between the band and their fans in a central location.

How do you feel about free downloads off the Internet?

It’s great. I personally don't do any of that downloading, not because I'm overly moral, but because I like supporting bands and don't want to mess up my computer. Rock Ridge Music is pretty positive about downloading. We have a website called RockRidgeFree.com where we give away songs. It's like and online sampler disc. What's a better way to promote your music than by letting people hear your music.

First concert attended

Jonathan Brandmeier had a show with different bands in 1990 at the World Music Theater in Tinley Park, IL.

First industry job

Answering phones and customer service for the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2002.

Career highlights

The first time I saw a Rock Ridge Music label on a CD in a store and receiving my first signed record deal in the mail.

Career disappointment

Luckily so far they've been light a few and far between: when I really dig a band and for one reason or another the deal falls through.

Greatest challenge

Introducing myself to the world. I became an A&R guy at 24. I didn’t know too many people so I'd to create my own network. Also making bands realize that they don’t need to shop their record and wait for a check to show up.

Best business decision

Hands down: becoming a member of Rock Ridge Music. It has given me a great opportunity to see the birth and maturation of a record company from the ground up. I was the first day to day employee so I learned a ton really quick.

Memorable industry experiences

The first RRM release date comes to mind. Of course, going to an after party in August, 2006 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City after the VH1 Decades Live show with Incubus, Kings Of Leon, Iggy Pop and the Pretenders walking around wasn’t so bad either.

What friends would be surprised to learn about you?

I enjoy my train ride to Newark; I don’t watch scary movies because I get scared; I've seen Barry Manilow live more times--twice-- than I've seen Social Distortion--once-- unfortunately sad.

Industry pet peeve

People who don’t talk about ideas, problems, solutions or anything that has to do with the music business but drop name after name.

If I wasn’t doing this I'd be......

second baseman for the Chicago Cubs or selling peanuts at Wrigley Field-- one of the two -- either way I would be at Wrigley.

Favorite teams

Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls and Syracuse basketball.

Industry mentors

Jason Spiewak and Tom Derr.

Ben can be reached at (973) 596-0444x26 and by email at ben@rockridgemusic.com