We're a featured artist on Reverbnation this week! This means you may see us plastered all over Facebook plugins and stuff like that. Rock!
I know I've said it before, but I am really digging using Reverbnation. It has a lot of great features and integrates really well with other sites via widgets. You can actually listen to all of our music on there and we're using them for our mailing list now. They even split ad revenue with artists (50/50)!
This Friday, 11/21, The Motion Sick is taking part in the International Pop Overthrow. We'll be playing with a great set of local acts in a festival-style form: THE INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW FESTIVAL 2008 (http://www.internationalpopoverthrow.com/) 8:30 - Henning Ohlenbusch (of School For The Dead) 9:00 - Salvatore Baglio 9:30 - The Motion Sick 10:00 - John Powhida International Airport 10:30 - Fireking 11:00 - The Doom Buggies 11:30 - 1.4.5. 21+ / $10
Otherwise, you'll be letting all of us voters in The Motion Sick make all of the nation's decisions. While it's true that we should be making the nation's rock, we're not so sure about the decisions...
After you vote, vote again, but this time, vote for us to make the rock: we're in the finals of the Pick the Band competition to open for Vampire Weekend and Black Kids at The Orpheum and voting has now opened!
So we're finalists in this Pick the Band contest. It seems like a pretty great thing. Pick the Band seems like a great idea. They bill it as the first fan-run record label. I guess then it makes sense that they want "fans" to pick the winning band in the contest. So, it will be an online voting thing with music videos, almost identical to the Coldplay contest we were in a while back.
It's tough because we've been in so many of these online voting contests and I am pretty sure that they're never really about whether a band is good or has actual fans. It's just more of a question of how many of your friends you can nag into voting. This doesn't always result in the "best" or even "better" bands winning. We were actually really glad to see our buds in The Luxury win the Coldplay contest and we hope that someone equally strong wins this contest.
We're participating and we're in the running for the prize (playing a show at The Orpheum with Black Kids and Vampire Weekend), but we're really quite burnt out on online voting contests. Let's see, there's been: SPIN Band of the Year (we were finalists on merit, but then lost in the online voting), Lollapalooza (we lost), SPIN Hot Pursuit (we got into the finals without doing any fan voting as an "editor's pick" and then we dropped out of the finals because we didn't want to sign the contract), WFNX Last Band Standing (again chosen as a pick bypassing the voting and then we won the whole thing), and the list could go on for paragraphs...
Reflecting back on these contests, I am reminded that we do very well based on merit, but not so well based on online voting. Why? We're just not so good at making people go out and vote for us. We feel sort of guilty and like we're taking up too much of their time and energy. In the past, we've gotten a lot of votes, even when we didn't win. We know that is because there are a lot of you that get some joy from getting behind us and helping us to succeed. We really do appreciate that and feel like you all contribute to the spirit of this band and of our successes. So, in a few days, voting will begin. We hope that you will support us at that time and we appreciate your help. However, we won't go crazy nagging you, so chances are, we will lose the contest. This will make us sad, but we will take comfort in knowing how much support we receive from all of you and that when judgment is based on merit alone, we usually do much better!
It looks like Reverbnation might be a quick solution to getting all of our content posted in many places easily. I am not 100% sold on it yet, but it seems pretty good. I really wish I could group songs by album and allow people to navigate that way. Apart from that, here is our new Widget with a lot of links to our content. I am working on adding some more as time permits. They also do some sort of usage revenue sharing. Not exactly clear on what that amounts to, but it sounds like they are trying...
We're one of 15 finalists in the Pick the Band / WFNX contest to open for The Miracle on Tremont St. show with Vampire Weekend and Black Kids. The show will take place on December 7th at The Orpheum. More to come as we know more...
You may be friends with us on myspace, facebook, or any of 100 other sites, but we just can't directly contact any of you via any of those systems. They really are not implemented for bands contacting fans. For bands, this is one of the greatest frustrations of aggregating fans and friends on social networking sites. So, we ask very nicely for you to please join our e-mail list. It's run by Fanbridge. We don't send messages very often and we do our best to make sure there's something new and exciting for everyone. Join us at: http://themotionsick.com/themotionsick/mail.html
Our song, "Walk on Water" is the 2nd song featured in this video clip from the show Roadtrip Nation.
I also got my copy of Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3. Now I just need to find someone with an XBox 360, so I can videotape myself dancing like a fool to our song like I did with the Playstation version of the game (see that here).
Update: Here's a capture of the credits. The Motion STICK strikes again!!! (Not as bad as Morning Sick)
Unfortunately, this person must have set the background setting all the way down, so you can barely see the video, but anyway, here is the first glimpse of someone playing DDR Universe 3 and dancing to "30 Lives."
Here is a scrollthrough of the menu on the new XBox 360 game Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3. I've not see a copy myself. At time 1:51, you'll notice The Motion Sick...right next to Devo.
The Motion Sick will be opening this awesome charity show on November 6th at Church. The Cult of Point Break Society, an all-star charity band, will be performing Television's "Marquee Moon" and assorted related tunes. Matt and Travis from The Motion Sick will be performing as part of the tribute. It will all be great. Proceeds go to Coalition of the Willing (http://www.coalitionofwilling.org), a national organization formed by "Lost Boys" of Sudan now living in America, who are working with Sudanese village leaders to build schools and water wells.
Please join us on November 6th at Church 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston, 02215 Doors @ 8 P.M. Cost: $10 21 + only
More info:
The Cult of Point Break Society presents its annual benefit show Thursday, November 6th, and Friday, November 7th, 2008. The project this year will perform Television's "Marquee Moon" in its' entirety. Past projects have included Slint's "Spiderland", Big Star "#1 Record & Radio City ," Neil Young's "Tonight's the Night" and Talk Talk's "Spirit of Eden." Proceeds from this years' show benefit C.O.W., a group of Sudanese expatriates who are working to build wells, then schools in Southern Sudan.
This promises to be a unique event, so read on!
The Cult of Point Break Society presents: Television's "Marquee Moon"
Thursday, November 6th and Friday November 7th
Church 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston, 02215
Doors @ 8 P.M. Cost: $10 21 + only
w/ Varsity Drag and The Motion Sick (Nov. 6th) & Leo Blais and The Great Bandini (Nov. 7th)
They also make an interest mention in the news section that our first album Her Brilliant Fifteen has led us to be selected as band of the month in Spin Magazine. All true, but it may not be the most timely of news items...
Chicago's Catfish Haven tops a particularly strong bill of up-and-coming indie rock bands at T.T. the Bear's tonight. Haven is touring in support of its new album of homegrown soul and funk, "Devastator." Dead Confederate (of Athens, Ga.) also has a new album of darker, more sinister indie rock, "Wrecking Ball." Add a couple of great local bands - the Motion Sick, which has a song on the new "Dance Dance Revolution" game, and Mean Creek, which is working on the follow-up to its bucolic, literate debut, "Around the Bend" - and you've got a must-see show for fans who want to catch bands on the rise. 18+ 8:45 p.m. $8. T.T. the Bear's, 10 Brookline St., Cambridge. 617-492-2327. www.ttthebears.com
Friends, In case you don't want to read the whole e-mail, here's a summary: Monday. Best show in the universe. My favorite Boston Band Mean Creek and my favorite national band Dead Confederate! Come early! Don't miss it! Here's more:
We are very happy to announce that we've been added to the bill for the show this coming Monday (10/6) at TT the Bear's. This is a last minute addition to our schedule and is our last show until some time November.
We are playing with my favorite Boston band, Mean Creek and my favorite national band Dead Confederate.
Mean Creek's soaring harmonies and on/off intensity blasts will absolutely blow your mind. Go listen to them at http://www.myspace.com/meancreek and see what they're all about.
Check out Dead Confederate: http://www.myspace.com/deadconfederate
Go back and see previous posts in our blog regarding Dead Confederate: http://tinyurl.com/4maol8
I've got live video clips posted there, an interview I did with them, and links to their EP review and their live review.
Here are some bits:
"Every once in a long, long, long while, a band comes along that not only causes me to perk up my ears, but to reopen my faith and to retract my claim that there is no uncovered ground left in rock music."
"We've only got three songs left, but it's just enough time for Dead Confederate to let us know that they are an honest-to-goodness hulking, lumbering giant."
"There are a lot of bands doing heavier, down-tempo music right now and, if this small body of work portends future output, it's really exciting to have stumbled upon the one band that is going to stand out and define the genre."
"The songs were emotionally perfect as the entire band lurched through melodic constructions that boiled with tension until they exploded into precisely spastic, climactic crescendos."
"Do not miss your chance to see them before their full-length is released and every music fan on the planet is camping out to get front-row seats to their arena shows."
I seriously think this band is amazingly great and their live show is even better than their recordings.
So, please, for the love of all that is good, and so you don't miss an opportunity to see the best show this year. That's right, the best show of 2008, come on down to TT the Bear's on Monday and catch the whole bill.
Catfish Haven 11 PM Dead Confederate 10 PM Mean Creek 915 PM The Motion Sick 830 PM
TT the Bear's 10 Brookline St Cambridge, MA 02139 18+ / $8
By the way, I don't know anything about Catfish Haven. They may also be great. My omission doesn't imply the opposite.
Also, don't forget, we're in Dance Dance Revolution!!! ( see more at: http://tinyurl.com/3t58dv )
Download our new song, "Winged Bicycle" for free at http://tinyurl.com/4cvl4h
8:30 Henning Ohlenbusch
(of School For The Dead)
9:00 Salvatore Baglio
9:30 The Motion Sick
10:00 John Powhida International Airport
10:30 Fireking
11:00 The Doom Buggies
11:30 1.4.5.
