BALANCE OF THE YEAR

THANK YOU!

I want to thank everyone for stopping by and reading my blog. It has been visited by hundreds weekly since I started it in early 2011 and has turned to thousands and thousands readers worldwide!

THANK YOU READERS FROM: Argentina, Chile, Spain, Portugal, Italy, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Greece, Philippines, Netherlands, Russia, Norway, Australia and more!

VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO: artists, musicians, actors, film directors, book authors and everyone I've talked to. YOUR voices are strong because the work you all do is amazing: Cara Mastrey, Angela Albee, Tawn Mastrey Foundation, Decay Of The Angel, INK, Ben De Loenen, Howard Lotsof (RIP), Cy Kobey, David Graham Scott, Johnny Strong, Throw The Fight, Derek Jordan, Pat Gesualdo, Pretty Green, Ian Halperin, Alex Lato, Ron Isbell, Will Beattie, Max Riske and many, many more! 

I also want to thank Rob Saunders of DEUCE Management in the UK for the huge list of unsigned acts he promotes all over the planet: The Fuse, Fretless, Dream Aria, All Our Yesterday, Raw Deal, Spleen Poetry, Franco and the Dreadnought, Vaudeville & Bad Omens, Stone Ticket and many, many more!

Despite some difficulties I had to face during the year when the death of a young family member happened plus the cancer fight of my mother… and although I haven’t been able to write any articles for this blog lately, the balance of the year 2011 is by far positive. Life is a learning process especially when hard times knock on your door.

For the record, the most successful stories and articles still attracting readers worldwide on this blog are: Howard Lotsof-Ibogaine, Cy Kobey, Detox or Die, Eat This! (Tawn Mastrey Foundation), Ian Halperin, Pat Gesualdo (The Art Of Drum Therapy), Johnny Strong, The Fuse, INK, Dirty Harry and Fretless.

Thank you all for the music, movies, art, stories and kind words!

Peace, Love & Respect. Happy New Year 2012 to you all!
See you soon!
Adriana Rubio

RIP GRETCHEN LOEBER

I received notification from Gretchen's Caring Bridge journal & guests book website that she passed away. Please read below...

Dianna Cates wrote: It is with great sorrow that I am now writing to inform you of Gretchen's passing. She fought a long and courageous battle, before passing peacefully this afternoon with family by her side. She is finally free from pain.

Visitation- Friday, November 11th 3pm- 9pm
Toon Funeral Home- 109 N. Cass Ave., Westmont, Il, 60559

For more information please feel free to visit Caring Bridge site:

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gretchenloeber/createorsignin

GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST

CONCERT TO FIGHT BREAST CANCER

GRETCHEN LOEBER

A 30 y/old woman with no insurance

November 6^th, 2011, 7:00 pm

Subterranean, 2100 W. North Ave in Chicago,IL

  

Paul Gracham of MOTU Artist Management along with Susan G. Komen Chicago and Housecall Entertainment present Get if Off Your Chest: Concert to Fight Breast Cancer. Spurred by the fierce return of a friend’s breast cancer mere weeks after given the “all clear” by her doctors, Paul Grachan of MOTU A.M. rallied the troops:

“Fighting for your own life against cancer is difficult enough, doing it alone and without insurance is just not acceptable. I had to make something happened and in a big way. These days, it’s all too often that artists are in this situation, so I knew when I told people what was going on, they’d do everything in their power to help.”

 
The call was immediately answered by “The Root Cause”, “The Sudden Passion”, “Colin Tyler” and “Cellar Troubadours” joining with “Vaudezilla”, Chicago’s premier Burlesque Troupe, to entertain while raising funds to continue the fight against breast cancer.

“This cause is personal and passionate one for all the artists involved as each one of our lives has been touched by cancer through watching friends and co-workers struggle, losing loved ones and even engaging in our own fights for our lives”.

Sponsors such as Rockit Ranch, All Seasons Screen Printing, FastSigns, Maddock Douglas, Vaudezilla and others will be there to help Gretchen Loeber. All proceeds will go directly to treatment costs for her in this critical moment where she is battling the return of a stage 3 breast cancer and has NO insurance. Gretchen is 30 y/old. 

For a detailed story on Gretchen Loeber and/or to know more about her current health condition, please visit the CaringBridge website at:

 https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gretchenloeber/createorsignin

For further information on “Get It Off Your Chest: Concert To Fight Breast Cancer”, please contact Paul at MOTU Artist Management: paul@motumanagement.com

LOCAL HEROES

THE ALBUM BY FRETLESS

E.L.T Records, Birmingham, UK

DEUCE Management

ARTICLE BY ADRIANA RUBIO

Hey Soldiers of Rock! Be ready for some real rockin’ tunes!

Fretless is a trio band from Sweden which started as a solo project by lead guitarist/singer Patte Carlsson some time in 2009. As a solo artist, Patte sent an uncountable number of demos to a long list of record labels. And after a waiting period Patte received that well deserved phone call from a Swedish Label for a record deal. With a contract deal in hand, the label needed Patte Carlsson to form a band from scratch. Patte pleased the label request with two musicians friends: Dennis Forsberg on bass guitar and Birger Löfman on drums.      

A vast pack of live performances were set up for Fretless. The ball was rolling and the band’s music was causing a real buzz on the local scene with positive feedback from the audience and radio shows. However, in late 2009, the band decided not to continue working with the Swedish company because they did not feel comfortable with the label anymore.

Fretless members are experienced musicians. They have been writing songs, recording and playing around separately on different projects for like 25 years. They know pretty well the music business and their ”Local Heroes” album as a band proves it.

”Local Heroes” is a 9 track hardrock album that was recorded in 2010 and mastered at Bohus Sound Studio in Gothenburg. With the bird in hand and a list of labels interested in signing a deal, Fretless decided to work things out with E.L.T Records in Birmingham, UK. ”Local Heroes” was digitally released in December 2010. A release party for the physical CD took place at Valand in Gothenburg on January 28th, 2011. 

  

Songs like ”Here We Go”, ”Freedom Fighter”, ”Rock You” and ”Local Heroes” from the same title album are played on many radio stations worldwide plus the song ”Rock You” is the soundtrack for ”The Jaukka Brothers”, a Swedish film directed by Peter Grönlund and produced by Jörgen Andersson. The film was released in 2010 by Doppelganger Film Production Company in Stockholm. 

The band’s music has been compared to well known international established acts such as Iron Maiden, Accept, Thunder, Kiss and Scorpions to mention a few. But the truth is that even though you may hear some of the 80s musical influences, they created a master piece of pure hardrock that more sooner than later most of the album songs will be on the list of ”Classics Of Rock” worldwide. If you are a true soldier of rock, you won’t be disappointed.    

Since the album release they have been voted ”The Band Of The Month” at: IReviewRock in the UK, Rapidbeat Promotion in Australia, and Power House Mix radio in the United States. Additionally ”The Band Of The Week” at: Rocksverige.se a major Rock website in Sweden.

Drummer Birger Löfman left the band in July of 2011 in good terms. Reine Dahalstron has joined the band since then.

  

For further information on these acclaimed hardrockers FRETLESS, current and upcoming tours, new recording sessions or to purchase their ”Local Heroes” album, feel free to visit the band’s official website at:

www.fretless.se

DEUCE MANAGEMENT

Rob Saunders

E.L.T RECORDS

Simon Altham

PUNK'S DEAD

The Album

By STONE TICKET

CD REVIEW

By Adriana Rubio

Swedish Rock Band Stone Ticket formed by Vince Quinn on lead guitar & vocals, Henrik Widing on guitar, Jarmo Vehmanen on bass guitar and drummer John Lilliestrand in late 2007.   In 2010 they released the band’s first full length CD “Punk’s Dead” consisting of 9 tracks.

These four rockers co-wrote all the songs and, according to the band’s leader Vince Quinn, everyone in the band is important and no one sticks out. Stone Ticket went into a small studio in Malmö first to record five tracks: “I Can't Find My Way”, “The Queen of Rock & Roll”, “Wildcat”, “Don't Try To Find Me” and “Lights R Low”. Four more tracks were then added to complete the album. 

Due to financial reasons "Punk's Dead" was recorded in two days in a small studio. All the songs were recorded in one or two takes. But despite the monetary issues and recording inconveniences, "Punk's Dead" is a true demonstration of four rockers sharing their passion and love for music as well as their honest thoughts on whatever's going on around the crazy world we all live in.

Stone Ticket's music is like a locomotive of pure energy and although it has many of the ingredients we've listened years ago from the old school of rock, the speed-powerful riffs and remarkable rhythm beats make them enchanting. On the other hand the lyrics offer material for discussion and deep thinking. These guys are like in a mission with some kind of remedy-message for the everyday living: ROCK!

ALBUM TRACKS

1 WHEN THE LIGHTS R LOW

2 THE NEWS

3 CATCH MY FALL

4 PUT OUT THE FIRE WITH GASOLINE

5 I CAN'T FIND MY WAY

6 FANTASY

7 WILD CAT

8 QUEEN OF ROCK AND ROLL

9 YOU'RE SO VAIN

Stone Ticket signed and released "Punk's Dead" digitally with www.ubetoo.com on December 26th, 2010.  The CD can now be found on all the major outlets.

STONE TICKET

BAND BIO

By Adriana Rubio

Lead guitarist, song-writer Vincent Quinn (Vince) is the founder of Swedish Rock Band Stone Ticket.  At 33 he quitted the British rock scene leaving his Birmingham based band “The Rain Men” behind to never come back. Vince needed a break, a long one which lasted for 14 long years. He sold his guitars and moved to Sweden. Vince spent most of these years working as a computer tech in a local school. 

In late 2007 Vince couldn’t refuse to accept a new music call and was back into regular jam sessions with a few Swedish bands together with progressive rock guitarist Henrik Widing. The interaction between the two guitarists was perfect and that encouraged them to record and old song, “Easy Money”, Vince had written for the Birmingham band “The Rain Men”.

“Easy Money” was recorded live on a small computer in a rehearsal room on purpose to capture the essence of what rock music is about. They kept rehearsing for several months and from time to time auditions were set up with some musicians. Although most of the jam sessions were good, the whole work for them didn’t feel right at all. But things turned out different when punk bass player Jarmo Vehmanen walked in. The jam session was so thrilling and everyone in the rehearsal room was as excited as impressed on how they were amazingly working things out since the musical likes, influences and experiences among them were different, and not to mention that they were still in need of a drummer. So, Jarmo contacted his old friend-metal drummer John Lilliestrand, and invited him to jam with them. 

Sometime between late 2009 and early 2010, Stone Ticket went into a small studio in Malmö to record five tracks: “I Can't Find My Way”, “The Queen of Rock & Roll”, “Wildcat”, “Don't Try To Find Me” and “Lights R Low”. Four more tracks were then added to complete their first full length release: “Punk’s Dead”. Soon after the album was out the band added a new member Kalle Strandberg for the lead guitar. 

But… who sings? Well, about the time Vince had started to jam for some local bands only for fun… he was working in a school in Malmö Sweden and someone from Serbia, a former radio star, approached him with a song he had written: “Let’s Make Poverty History”. The song this Serbian guy was presenting to Vince was for the School Charity Group. It was good but the singing needed adjustments. 

Vince admits that even though he had written most of the songs in the past for his old Birmingham band, he was never a singer and perhaps he hadn’t had the guts to sing to live audiences. He had always felt more comfortable playing lead guitar and writing music. But tunefully talking he had enough experience and authority to say that the singing parts didn’t fit properly. And although Vince didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, he gave his honest opinion on the matter and suggested the singer to choir instead of lead sing. In addition to this, Vince proposed himself to rewrite the entire song. Little by little he had started to feel the excitement of making music again. Vince got seriously involved with the School Charity Group project and took the lead in rewriting the song, booked a studio and got the school to pay for the recording sessions plus 1000 CDs. Vince ended up singing on the song himself and it was then played on National radio as well as on TV in Sweden.

The band Stone Ticket was first created with Vince playing lead guitar and singing in late 2007 after a long music career hiatus of 14 years. Stone Ticket has now a powerful rockin’ lineup. They co write all the songs as one unite and every band member is as important as the next member in this process and no one sticks out.  These guys are on their way to connect with fans worldwide.

For further info on the band, tour dates or to purchase their latest release “Punk’s Dead”, visit the official site at:

http://www.stoneticket.webs.com

VOYAGE

 By Vaudeville & Bad Omens
CD REVIEW

By Adriana Rubio

VOYAGE is Italian band "Vaudeville & Bad Omens" first recording studio album produced by Andrea Scardovi at Dunastudio, V&BO and engineer Ivano Giovedì.

VOYAGE is filled with ten enjoyable and well performed songs. Some of the songs come from old compositions made by lead singer Adelaide Rossi. Lead guitarist and band leader Daniele Balelli pioneered about using those songs as a musical experiment in late 2008. And after several months of working together, rehearsing, making musical adjustments and new song-writing, "Vaudeville & Bad Omens" began to sound-shine.

VOYAGE is the result of sharing a mix of musical likes. Everyone in the band has been particularly inspired by a number of well established bands and styles ranging from Aerosmith, Iron Maiden and Metallica to Velvet Revolver and Muse among many others. However, they all feel that Smashing Pumpkins and Foo-Fighters are the bands influencing their music.

VOYAGE provides entertaining pop-rock tunes with a touch of southern rock and a bit of blues-soul melodies in a couple of ballads. In a particular way and for some mysterious reason the singing style of Adelaide Rossi pays tribute to Pat Benatar giving the listener some reminiscense of the well known female singers of B-52, all at once. Adelaide sings with a commanding voice and strong-aggressive attitude. She is a gifted singer capable of changing the rock singing style completely to deep emotional soulful tunes. Her singing style is of an extraordinary good taste. Guitar riffs are combined with a moving southernrock style bass style and alternative-powerful drumming touch. There's no doubt these four musicians know what they want. "VOYAGE" proves it. 

During the recording sessionsof VOYAGE, bass player Michele and drummer Alessandro filmed a series of funny images to document the studio experience. This spontaneous shooting led to the creation of the official video-clip of one of the songs from the VOYAGE album: "Cannon Fodder", an insane parody joke entirely filmed with a mobile phone showing the two acting like sheriff and bandit with explosions and police-chase scenes.

Members of "Vaudeville & Bad Omens" are preparing for a tour to present the upcoming album VOYAGE which will be distributed by Wondermark via Itunes and Amazon. Release date: October 10th, 2011.

For further info on the band, tour dates and/or to listen a preview of the upcoming album visit the band’s MySpace site at:

www.myspace.com/vaudevilleandbadomens

VAUDEVILLE & BAD OMENS

BAND BIO

By Adriana Rubio

Italian rock band "Vaudeville & Bad Omens" started as a trial project in late 2008. It was formed by lead guitarist Daniele Balelli with musicians from "The Airheads" band Massimiliano Orofino and Michele Visciarelli, and from "The Artichokes" lead singer Adelaide Rossi. They all embarked on Balelli's idea of using some of Adelaide's old songs to go through the musical experience. It worked out pretty well, and after a few months of intense rehearsals and arrangements on Rossi's old songs, they realized that the trial project was turning into a real band full of energy and attitude.

Daniele Balelli, Adelaide Rossi, Michele Visciarelli and Massimiliano Orofino enjoyed being "Vaudeville & Bad Omens" and their musical journey for a year and a half until drummer Massimiliano left the band some time in 2010. Alessandro Gatta joined the band and from that point on "Vaudeville & Bad Omens" experienced a very significant creative period where new song-writing and musical composition took the lead to reach the band's own style which has been deposited all together in their first CD studio album "Voyage" to be released on October 10th, 2011. 

Musically, they understand each other and there is a reason for that. Adelaide was Daniele guitar student for a long period of time. And although she lead sings with a commanding voice, Adelaide also plays rhythm guitar for the band. On his part Daniele studied guitar with a professional guitar teacher for several years until 2010 and since then Daniele is attending the “Applied Music” at Conservatorio G.B Martini in Bologna where he is also learning to play piano. Bass player Michele plays saxophone from when he was a child and he then learned to play bass guitar: “self-taught”. Michele and Daniele have played together in two previous bands during their high-school years. Drummer Alessandro has played drums since forever and succeeded on a variety of drumming styles with previous bands of different musical genres. 

These four musicians won’t stop, they are continually improving on their instruments, playing live gigs and increasing their fan base worldwide.

For further info, please feel free to visit the band’s MySpace site at:

www.myspace.com/vaudevilleandbadomens

Daniele Balelli: Lead Guitar

Michele Visciarelli: Bass Guitar/Background Vocals

Adekaide Rossi: Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar

Alessandro Gatta: Drums

THE ROCK AND ROLL TIMES

MUSIC INDUSTRY BIBLE

THE BOOK BY WILL BEATTIE

Article by Adriana Rubio

For how long have you been in a rock band? How many songs have you guys put together into demos to get the attention of some record label? How many hours, days and months have you spent waiting for THAT phone call and never heard a real answer back? I bet you all are tired of being rejected by the music industry. Although some grey clouds have shadowed your dreams for a long time, there is still hope to make that record deal happen once and for all. How? “The Rock and Roll Times-Music Bible Industry” by Will Beattie answers to all of your questions and more…

Will Beattie is a prestigious music journalist, artist manager and book author from the UK. Will has spent the last fifteen years of his life working in a variety of acts and projects in the music industry. After years of being an insider, Beattie embarked on a book trip to help young musicians on their way to succeed. 

 

“I've been an artist manager and music-journalist, with my last incarnation as A&R guy over at Ruffworld Music, working with Joe Ruffalo -manager of Prince, Earth- Wind & Fire. This long road led to the release of my first book - The Rock and Roll Times - Music Industry Bible. A kick-ass guide showing young bands how they can create a career for themselves whilst chasing that never-gonna-happen-record-deal”.

“The Rock and Roll Times - Music Industry Bible” is an educational book written to inspire and give insight to new young bands and musicians who wish to build a career in the music industry. It provides accurate information on how to lead their musical careers by themselves.

“The book’s sole aim is to get bands into thinking they have more power than they realize, more opportunities to reach a wider audience and the chance to make a living from the one thing they love: Music”.

“The Rock and Roll Times - Music Industry Bible” shows new bands how powerful they are and how they can become noticeable by building their own temples. 

“I hated being an A&R guy because it killed me saying NO to a thousand kids’ dreams.  Hearing another heart break at the end of a telephone, or another dream smashed because you simply don’t think the band is going to make it commercially starts to erode your soul”. “We are looking at the creation of thousands of record labels being born.  That’s the future of the music industry.  It’s in the hands of the new bands emerging from the streets. We want to show the world who they are.  The days where bands rely on traditional record labels are gone.

For more information on Will Beattie and/or to purchase the book, please visit the book official website:

http://www.therockandrolltimes.co.uk/