Our visit to Hamden, CT's The Space:
...and after the show, this is what we do...
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Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Motion Sick vs. The Space: The Videos
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Motion Sick's Last Shows For A While! Get a free copy of our 7"! We Visit CT, NY, Philly
The Motion Sick will be taking some time off from playing shows to finish up some recordings. So, most likely, you won't be hearing us perform for a few months. This is your last chance for a bit!!!! If you buy advance tickets from us here for the 2/19 show at The Middle East Upstairs (our split 7" release with Golden Bloom), you will receive a coupon for a free copy of the 7", which contains The Motion Sick's cover of Golden Bloom's "Doomsday Devices" and Golden Bloom's cover of The Motion Sick's "30 Lives"!!!!
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The Lizard Lounge - Sold Out and Bloody!
Thanks to everyone who came out to our massively sold-out rock show at The Lizard Lounge last week. Apart from an unsightly and messy injury (more info down below), we had a great time and really enjoyed the fine tunes of Paul Melancon, Brendan Boogie and the Best Intentions, and Oranjuly.
We grabbed a little video of the bands so those of you turned away at the door could get a peek at what happened inside.
Paul Melancon
Brendan Boogie and the Best Intentions
Oranjuly
As for bloody messes, some time during "Jean-Paul" (video below - but the video doesn't really expose the gore), Travis injured his hand on the drums resulting in the need for stitches and a lot of cleanup. For those of you who are really into seeing gore, Michael Spencer captured some of it on film over at (NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!!!): http://www.photoshelter.com/c/viscereview/gallery/concerts-the-motion-sick-lizard-lounge-cambridge-1-23-10/G0000Wdkbd.Pxzp8/?_bqH=eJwz8asKCAk3TbOMNzEIjYzMSSl3Ks4Ji_IOzLGwMrS0MjWwsnKP93SxdTcAgvCU7KQUvYCKqgILtQCQqJq7Z7y7o4.Pa1AkNkUAKcUcGA--&_bqO=18
The Motion Sick
Travis is recovering safely now and we expect him to be able to play once again for our upcoming tour dates.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Boston Phoenix Best Local Rock Band 2010 Nominations Open
As you may know, we had the great honor of being selected as Best Local Rock Band 2009 in the Boston Phoenix. Well, the nomination period for 2010 is open. We'd be thrilled to be selected again, so if you'd like, please do nominate us!
You can do this by going to: http://thephoenix.com/thebest/boston/vote/nominate.aspx?cat=arts#10109 and entering "The Motion Sick" in the Rock Band category. Your vote doesn't count until you finish with their two-part process. First, you must click "Submit Vote" and then after, you must click "Finished" and enter an e-mail address. They won't add you to a list if you don't check the "add me" box. If you feel uncomfortable using your real address, you can also always use any address at Mailinator.com, which can be checked (if you want to) on their web site.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Motion Sick Update 1/21/10 - Boston, NYC, CT, Philly Shows + Free Download + 30 Lives Wedding Dance + News
Support the brand that supports
The Motion Sick:  Friends! Lots of excitement! We've got shows in Boston, CT, NYC, and Philly; we need your help to earn a little money via our new song for you to download for free; "30 Lives" makes for a great first dance at your wedding. Also, a little news about a bunch of forthcoming releases including 2 EPs and a 7". Catch us now because after February, we'll be taking an extended break from playing live to do some recording. First, the shows: (as always, details at: http://themotionsick.com/
01/23/10
The Lizard Lounge Cambridge, MA Download our novelty song, "Surfin' Retiree" free - click on "Current Contenders" and scroll down to The Motion Sick - if we get into the top 7 most downloaded in our group of 50 this week, we also earn $500, which we could really use toward finishing our next batch of songs, so we appreciate the help. We're out of the running by about 25 downloads now, so please download it, repost this, forward the e-mail on to friends, etc. We appreciate any help you can provide! http://www.reverbnation.com/playlist7 It's slightly annoying that you have to become a fan of "Windows" on Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace to do this, but becoming a fan is pretty meaningless anyway, so hop to it...
The song is part of our 4 song novelty
EP that will be released digitally very soon. The EP is a remixed, remastered,
and sometimes reeverythinged collection of our Ash Wednesday residency theme songs.
The first single, "Aquaman's Lament" has a music video that has just hit 10,000
views. Definitely check it out if you haven't yet seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueeySSBI1J0.
Getting married? We now have evidence that "30 Lives" makes for a great wedding first dance. These kind Texas folks showed us how it's done: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2010/01/30-lives-makes-great-wedding-first.html You'll hear more soon, but in addition to the novelty EP mentioned earlier, we've got a couple of other upcoming releases. We're very excited to be releasing a split 7" single with the fine band Golden Bloom next month. The split will contain our cover of their hit, "Doomsday Devices" and their cover of our wedding-first-dance favorite, "30 Lives," both tweaked for optimal foot stomping. We recently picked the winning cover in our artwork contest. Check out the winner and the runners-up at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2010/01/golden-bloom-vs-motion-sick-artwork.html. Finally, and most mysteriously, after February, we will go into hiding in a soundproof bunker buried in the deepest depths of the ocean to record our most brutal, terrifying, and jovial set of songs yet. We won't be playing any shows during that time, at least not until Lady Gaga or Slayer calls and asks us to join her/them, so you had best come to one of our upcoming shows or miss us for many months... Fistbumps, nods, hugs, and/or kisses, The Motion Sick 
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Last.fmSunday, January 17, 2010
"30 Lives" makes a great wedding first dance!
This is definitely one of the most awesome and fun things that has ever happened with our music. It is quite an honor to have "30 Lives" selected to be part of someone's world in this way.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Golden Bloom vs. The Motion Sick Artwork Contest Winners!
We were thrilled with how many entries we got in the Golden Bloom vs. The Motion Sick artwork contest. There were so many great entries that once we chose the winner, we decided to choose a bunch of great runner-ups rather than just a single one. We're really excited about how the songs turned out and you'll be hearing a lot more about this soon. We'll tell you right now that the best way to get a copy will be to come to the split 7" release show on 2/19 at The Middle East Upstairs with the following ridiculously wonderful lineup:
Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women
The Motion Sick
The Fatal Flaw
Golden Bloom
Akudama
Winner: Meredith Luce
Runners Up (in alphabetical order by last name):
Eric Howard
Matthew Jatkola
Aaron Kupferberg
Emma Peel
New Year's Eve Recap!
I am a little behind on saying so, but thanks friends for coming to see us on NYE at Church. We had an awesome time and grabbed a few videos of the other great bands we played with. Thought you might enjoy them.
Some photos as well at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=362627&id=23967955009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Motion Sick rocks New Year's Eve at Church Rock Club
Royal Rocking New Years Eve!!
11 PM - The Upper Crust
10 PM - The Gentlemen
9 PM - The Motion Sick
For the third year in a row Boston Rock Royalty returns TO CHURCH!!
Tickets are $20 Advance and $25 Day Of Show! So buy now as this ALWAYS sells out!
Press:
Playground Boston
Saturday, December 26, 2009
The Motion Sick in the studios: Bopnique and The Moontower
We've been spending some of our holiday-season time visiting the studio to prepare our next recording.
First, we've been working on our cover of Golden Bloom's "Doomsday Devices" for our shared split 7" project. The artwork contest has just wrapped and we'll be announcing the winner and runners-up very soon.
Here we are doing a little "Doomsday Devices" at The Moontower in Cambridge, MA.
...and tracking for 4 songs at Bopnique with Anthony Resta, remixer extraordinaire of the "30 Lives (Up-Up-Down-Dance Mix)"
Watch Anthony J. Resta rock out for fun...
MORE PHOTOS AT: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=357387&id=23967955009&ref=mf
Monday, December 21, 2009
The Motion Sick celebrated Golden Bloom's Shawn Fogel's Birthday on 12/12!
We told you about our final show of the year - which may or may not be our final show of 2009...but more on that later...
Until then, here's some video from the 12/12 show celebrating a Golden Bloom birthday!
In order to celebrate our upcoming split 7", The Motion Sick was joined by Golden Bloom to perform "30 Lives" and Golden Bloom was joined by The Motion Sick to perform "Doomsday Devices"
"30 Lives"
"Doomsday Devices"
Claymation Velociraptor
Strange Rivals
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Our last show of 2009 - 12/12 in Brooklyn and Happy Holidays from Patrick!
The Motion Sick says farewell to 2009 with our final show on 12/12 at Bar Matchless in Brooklyn with Golden Bloom, Claymation Velociraptor, and more... Details at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184696857755&ref=ts
We'll have one more update in the next few weeks to tell you what we're up to for 2010 (and it's a lot!), but until then, Patrick just really wanted to wish you happy holidays!
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Aquaman's Lament
We are still working on an updated version of our Ash Wednesday's Residency 4-song collection (poster from the event on the left). One of the songs, "Aquaman's Lament" has been getting some notice lately. We even had the honor of earning a friends of Aquaman certificate (below) for our inside perspective on one of Aquaman's down days. We had the great honor of working with Leesa (of the band Naked on Roller Skates) to make the video for the song.
We've highlighted a few of the times Aquaman got into tangles with his fishy friends. For anyone interested in a very extensive list of all of Aquaman's chat's, check out: http://www.comictreadmill.com/finny.php - from this, we've learned of great moments in Aquaman's adventures where he: convinced crabs to pinch the toes of Fire Trolls to distract them, got a giant clam to chomp on and crush magic gem, made eels form into a lasso, got some flying fish to drop a seaweed net onto pirates, requested that a shark bypassed eating a delicious-looking Flash, and got a whale to wear an alien land creature costume to trick them. Ah, the joys of Aquaman.
Some press coverage of the song and video:
http://ryanssmashinglife.blogspot.com/2009/12/video-for-motion-sicks-aquamans-lament.html
http://www.interney.net/blogs/melhoresdomundo/2009/12/07/swingueira_do_aquaman/
http://www.rogdykker.com/iss-mailbag-aquamans-lament and http://www.the-iss.com/2009/10/iss_mailbag_aquamans_lament.php
Sunday, November 29, 2009
The Motion Sick on Aloud's Rock Tour of Boston Episode 1: TT the Bear's
This has been floating around for a while, but we're just catching up on telling you all about some recent things:
See full report...
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Chat with The Motion Sick on 11/22 8 PM EST
We'll be chatting with the community at Music Game Authors about the preparation of our songs for Rock Band, our upcoming recording plans, and anything else of interest on Sunday, 11/22 at 8 PM EST. The chat session is open to the public and we'd love for all of you to join us.
Sunday, there will be links and details at: http://www.musicgameauthors.com - but, to ensure that you're able to get in on the action, you should register before Sunday at: http://www.musicgameauthors.com/forums/ucp.php?mode=register as the chat session will require you to be a member of their forums. It's a pretty painless process and if you're concerned about giving up your e-mail address (they won't use it for anything else), you can always use http://www.mailinator.com/ to generate a temporary address.
The chat room link will be available once you've logged into the forums on Sunday, but this link should work as well: http://www.musicgameauthors.com/forums/chat/flashchat.php
We would love for you to stop by!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Motion Sick's 150th Show Recap (including videos)
Well friends, thanks again for helping make our 150th show an absolute blast. It was nearly sold out before show time and totally sold out by the time the 2nd band of the night was on.
We were editor's pick in the Phoenix: http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Picks/Event.aspx?id=601387&date=11-13-2009 and featured on a number of blogs including Ryan's Smashing Life: http://ryanssmashinglife.blogspot.com/2009/11/evening-with-motion-sick.html
We were editor's pick in the Phoenix: http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Picks/Event.aspx?id=601387&date=11-13-2009 and featured on a number of blogs including Ryan's Smashing Life: http://ryanssmashinglife.blogspot.com/2009/11/evening-with-motion-sick.html
Matt and Mike got interviewed by the Weekly Dig after the show to ask how 150 felt: http://www.weeklydig.com/diversions/exit-polls/200911/michael-and-matt
Monday, November 16, 2009
We're doing a split 7" with Golden Bloom! Videos and Press Release Inside!
We're recording a cover of Golden Bloom's "Doomsday Devices" and they are covering our "30 Lives" - the recordings will be released on a split 7" in early 2010. Stay tuned for a cover art contest. In the meantime, watch the videos and read the press release below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Janelle Rogers, Green Light Go
Email: jrogers at greenlightgopublicity.com
THE MOTION SICK AND GOLDEN BLOOM TAKE COVER WITH SPLIT 7 INCH
November 17, 2009 (NEW YORK)
Slated for a February release, The Motion Sick and Golden Bloom join forces to cover each other's songs on an upcoming split 7 inch. Golden Bloom will cover The Motion Sick's "30 Lives" which was featured in the video game, Dance Dance Revolution, while The Motion Sick will cover Golden Bloom's "Doomsday Devices".November 17, 2009 (NEW YORK)
Why the covers? The Motion Sick's front man, Mike Epstein, states, "'Doomsday Devices' is an obvious and unauthorized song about my life. In fact, I heard it first while constructing the hail-producing portion of my weather dominator and it made me so angry that I accidentally created a blizzard in my garage. I still haven't gotten full visibility back in there." But In all seriousness. Golden Bloom front man, Shawn Fogel says, "When I first heard The Motion Sick I immediately identified them as musical peers. Their songwriting, their musicianship, the way they are serious about their music without taking themselves too serious; these were all qualities we shared. I've always enjoyed bands and artists who covered songs and really interpreted them while molding them into something their own. I have no doubt that when you hear Golden Bloom's "30 Lives" or The Motion Sick's "Doomsday Devices" you'll think we wrote the tunes respectively!"
The Motion Sick's "30 Lives," is a ba-ba-ba filled ditty in which the protagonist utilizes a video game code to spend 30 lives with his partner. Earning "Blender Breakout" for their 30 Lives video, CMJ's Sonicbids Spotlight, and Spin's Undiscovered Band Worth A Listen, Epstein (Guitar, Vocals), Matthew Girard (Bass), Patrick Mussari (Guitar) and Travis Richter (Drums) draw parallels to Vonnegut with lyrics ringing of social commentary. Never too serious while slinging weighty subject matters and unconventional musical themes, the band remains profoundly simple in the melodic nods to their literary muses and societal inspirations.
In January 2009 SPIN Magazine designated Golden Bloom as one of "8 undiscovered bands worth a listen" while stating that "'Doomsday Devices' feels like a great b-side from the [Wilco] Summerteeth era." With the tough and cheek "Doomsday Devices" video, Golden Bloom multi-instrumentalist and front man, Shawn Fogel, tests the dichotomy between hope and fear, bright energetic melodies shadowing the questions pervading society. Produced by Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Mates of State), Roger Greenawalt (Ben Kweller), and Dylan Magierek (Mark Kozelek), the latest album, Fan the Flames explores the exploitation of peoples' fears which lead to that spark of passion to make a difference.
For more information on The Motion Sick please go to http://www.greenlightgopublicity.com/clients/?client=themotionsick and Golden Bloom, http://www.greenlightgopublicity.com/clients/?client=goldenbloom. Please contact Janelle Rogers if you'd like to schedule an interview with either band.
Janelle Rogers
GREEN LIGHT GO
812 Flowerdale St
Ferndale, MI 48220
jrogers at greenlightgopublicity.com
www.greenlightgopublicity.com
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Live Chat with The Motion Sick and "30 Lives" in Rock Band (Preview)
We've just gotten hold of an awesome preview video of "30 Lives" for Rock Band. This isn't quite the final version, but it's almost there and soon, you'll be able to buy songs by The Motion Sick in the Rock Band store.
As part of our entry into the Rock Band world, we're holding a live chat on 11/22 8PM EST over at http://www.MusicGameAuthors.com - You'll be able to talk to us (The Motion Sick, that is) as well as Kyle "MarsPhoenix" Zimmermann (the gent preparing songs from our catalog for Rock Band) and some of the other folks from Music Game Authors.
video: http://bit.ly/30LivesRockBand
Friday, November 6, 2009
How does one get a SXSW Showcase?
So many of us have asked that question so many times. Well, I was lucky enough to sit down with SXSW Creative Director Brent Grulke and Sonicbids CEO and Founder Panos Panay to try and find out the answer:
http://www.bostonbandcrush.com/2009/11/festival-crush-conversation-with-sxsw.html
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
10/24 at The Middle East Downstairs Video Recap
Things have been a bit light on The Motion Sick blog here because there are so many exciting things going on. Soon, we'll get a bunch of news up for you all. Until then, here's a video recap of the show we played last Saturday at The Middle East Downstairs with Wheat, Jukebox the Ghost, and The Needy Visions.
Wheat
Jukebox The Ghost
The Motion Sick
The Needy Visions
Monday, September 14, 2009
What's Your Major? Rock Show on Friday (and Saturday) - The Motion Sick's Michael Epstein (along with Brendan Boogie) breaks world record for college busking!
In an effort to promote our What's Your Major show this weekend, I teamed up with show promoter Brendan Boogie to pull off a practically unthinkable feat...busk at over 50 colleges in a single day. Here's how it went down:
Boston Band Crush University Presents: What's Your Major?
http://www.bostonbandcrush.com
Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124863361323&ref=ts
Friday Sept 18
12:10-12:45 The Great Bandini
12-12:10 Ken Reid
11:20-11:55 The Motion Sick
11:10-11:20 Sean Sullivan
10:40-11:05 One Happy Island
10:30-10:40 Maria Ciampa
9:50-10:25 The Future Everybody
9:40-9:50 Tim McIntire
9-9:35 Sarianna & The Swell
Saturday Sept 19
12:10-12:45 Aloud
12-12:10 Nate Johnson
11:20-11:55 Brendan Boogie & The Best Intentions
11:10-11:20 Tim McIntire
10:40-11:05 Blizzard of '78
10:30-10:40 Ken Reid
9:50-10:25 VulGarrity
9:40-9:50 Maria Ciampa
9-9.35 The Grownup Noise
- 2-day pass (advance online ONLY - savge $5): http://bit.ly/WhatsYourMajor
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Bad Music PR 1 #PRFail AKA I'd be thrilled if RHCP would eat Phish, but only if they got a debilitating stomach ache
I am always studying how the wise and successful bands carry out their PR campaigns, particularly who they hire and what their angles and strategies are. I hope to write more extensively about this and other music business topics right here on The Motion Sick blog. I got a lot of really good feedback about the list of essential services that I posted a while back, so I'll keep serving my snarky music tips right here. I thought about creating yet another blog for this topic, but I think it's fair to tell you all that this is a big part of the music business and a big part of shaping a successful band.
For those of you who are unaware, I also am one of the founders/editors/writers for Boston Band Crush. Working on BBC has been a great experience because it affords me an opportunity to promote great and deserving Boston music that I love. It is also wonderful for getting insight into good and bad approaches to PR.
I thought I'd tell you a couple of recent PR funnies. Stay tuned here for more in the future...
1. You have no idea who you are pitching to
The first and perhaps most common scenario: you've never actually looked at BBC, but you are constructing an e-mail to us asserting that you read it regularly and love our coverage. I am having trouble finding my favorite particular e-mail, but let me paraphrase for you with my notes in parentheses:
"Hello Amy (Amy writes a particular column on BBC, but is not one of the editors and does not receive these e-mails),
I love Boston Band Crush and read it all the time. You are doing a great job. I noticed that you cover a lot of great bands (vague statements like this are red flags indicating that you have no idea who we cover) and that you write about a lot of smaller bands. I am writing to you about this awesome band, The Toodly Doodlies from Amsterdam. They rock. You will love them."
So, I write back every time because I am a swell fellow, thanking them for telling us about The Toodly Doodlies. I gently point out that we only cover Boston music. The blog is called Boston Band Crush. Every single post is about Boston music. So, if you "love" our blog and "read" it...or you just read the name of the blog, you might realize that we are not interested in Amsterdam's finest act, The Toodly Doodlies.
2. You have an absurdly incorrect sense of the kind of music we might like
We got an e-mail today touting a band, "Think of them as if The Red Hot Chili Peppers ate Phish!"
I don't want to think about any band that is mentioned in the same sentence as Phish or The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I actually probably don't want to think about a band mentioned during the same week. You're writing to music bloggers. Music bloggers are a snobby, indie-leaning bunch. They are serious about finding and sharing obscure music and take pride in being the ones to break new sounds. Any blogger that bites on the offer of a band that has anything to do with Phish or The Red Hot Chili Peppers deserves to have their keyboard confiscated. I am not saying you can't/shouldn't listen to those bands (though that is how I feel), I am simply saying that pitching a new band to blogs that way is far off the mark. You probably just hit the neighbor's house with your arrow. The band in this particular case also has nothing to do with Boston, but you can see item 1 for that complaint.
My friendly reply: "I'd be thrilled if the Red Hot Chili Peppers would eat Phish...but only if they got a debilitating stomach ache from it. "
3. You don't use technology properly
I get 10 e-mails a week from a particular firm that look like this: http://twitpic.com/f4dr3 - those are the good ones! Some are just "text" and don't even look that good.
4. You send a million e-mails about a terrible band (e.g., you want me to write about Owl City)
I realize that I am actually doing this band a great service by saying how terrible I think they are because you are more likely to listen to them than if I said they were great. I've only heard that one song, but it pretty much rings the death knell for indie rock. What an amazingly stinky pile of poo. They aren't the worst band I have ever heard, but they are the worst band that I receive daily updates about. Oooh, I can't wait to find out what Owl City is having for breakfast tomorrow!!! The actual worst band in the history of music is so bad that they have earned inclusion in this post (again, I know I am "helping" them except that I am certain that no human being with ears could like this music). Here's their music video:
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The secret to success is possibly the combination of tabloid classifieds and Stevie Wonder's privates...
We here at The Motion Sick are ever searching for the secret(s) to success. We consult with music industry folks, listeners, and psychics on a regular basis to find the optimal route to world domination and control. So far, we haven't gotten any good answers, so we just stick to playing some rock songs instead. However, we love reading about routes to success that others have taken. I probably wouldn't call John Trubee & the Ugly Janitors of America a massive world-wide sensation, but their story of success is a pretty amazing one. We are also about to unleash a special fixed-up version of our Ash Wednesday novelty songs from last year, so novelty songs are on the mind...
This particular story involves answering an ad in the back of a tabloid and Stevie Wonder's genitals. After reading, I highly recommend downloading the song (or listening via the Youtube embed below) and reading the lyrics while you listen:
http://mcdrunk.blogspot.com/2008/12/john-trubee-blind-mans-penis.html
Thanks to Ken's Last Ever Radio Extravaganza for passing this along to me.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Motion Sick at Game Unicon Featuring Sockey, the sock puppet with lint for brains (brief cameo by my Commodore 64 disk puncher)
We are all very excited to be part of Game Unicon - http://www.gameunicon.com at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Convention Center in Marlborough, MA on Friday August 21st - Sunday August 23rd. We'll be performing at the concert on Saturday along with some ridiculously awesome other bands including Boston's most angelic choir of voices, Bang Camaro. The Saturday show also features alien rock invaders Planetoid and is rounded out with Jesus Candy and PowerGlove. On Friday, there is another concert headlined by Freezepop! In addition to amazing music, Game Unicon is packed completely full of video game tournaments, vendors, and appearances by lovely wrestling ladies: Sunny and Velvet Sky. We'll be around for most of the day Saturday hanging out and making our own special brand of trouble, so please come say hi! We love being part of the gaming community and we'd love to see you there!!!!
As with all things that result in us (just Mike really) getting out of hand, we've got a special promo video for the event starring Mike's head and Sockey, the sock puppet with lint for brains. Warning: viewing will result in fear, horror, and/or disgust. Don't say we didn't warn you!
In the next few days, we'll also have an interview with SpawnKill.com posted in which we reveal our gaming history!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
8/8/9 Birthday Show a Sold-Out, Smashing, Chaotic Success! Thanks to everyone who made it out!
Thanks to all you kind folks who made it out to Dave Duncan Virr's Birthday show! We had an absolute blast playing, broke everything in sight, and were thrilled to be on a bill with such great bands: Hymns, The Shills, and The Everyday Visuals!
Some media for you:
Patrick falls over the drums in a metaphorical representation of our entire set
Some video of our brand new song, "The Violinist"
Also on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1184558808993&ref=mf
Photos by Kelly Davidson
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellydavidson/sets/72157621991455644/
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=290597&id=23967955009
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=290608&id=23967955009
Photos by Jessie Rogers (Boston TeaParty)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teapartypics/sets/72157621865171205/
Photos by Julie Bowker
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29323&id=1078938996&ref=mf
Photos by Abby Driscoll
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136030&id=588658326&ref=mf
Thanks again everyone!!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Boston GreenFest 2009 Lineup Announced - The Motion Sick w/THE CLICK 5, MR. LIF, TEM BLESSED, and SAMBA TREMETERRA
Boston GreenFest 2009
Thurs Aug 20-Sat Aug 22
City Hall Plaza, Boston
THURSDAY AUGUST 20 (5PM – 10PM Curfew)
MAIN STAGE
5:00 - 5:30PM THE MOTION SICK
6:00 - 6:45PM THE CLICK 5
7:15 - 8:00PM SAMBA TREMETERRA
8:15 - 8:45PM TEM BLESSED
9:00 – 10:00PM MR. LIF
FRIDAY AUGUST 21 (10AM – 10PM Curfew)
MAIN STAGE
10:00 – 10:30AM GANDIVA LORCAN
11:00 – 11:45AM LUKE ELLIOT
12:00 - 12:45PM INCUS
1:00 - 1:45PM HUDOST
2:00 - 2:45PM DELTA GENERATORS
3:00 - 3:45PM JENNY DEE & the DEELINQUENTS
4:00 - 4:45PM THE LIGHTS OUT
5:00 - 5:45PM THE GENTLEMEN
6:15 - 7:00PM THE NEIGHBORHOODS
7:30 - 8:30PM SOULSHOT
9:00 - 10:00PM MAMADOU
SECOND STAGE
10:00 – 10:30AM CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN
10:45 – 11:15AM RED PERALTA – REBEL RED
11:30 – 12:15PM ELAN TROTMAN
12:30 - 1:15PM ONEAL ARSTRONG
1:30 - 2:15PM THE PRIMATE FIASCO
2:45 - 3:30PM OH FORTUNA
3:45 - 4:30PM CORIN ASHLEY
4:45 - 5:30PM MIKE VERGE
KID’S STAGE
10:30 - 11:00AM PHINEAS the DOG PUPPET SHOW
11:45 - 12:15PM THE LORAX PLAY by GREEN SCHOOLS
1:00 - 1:20PM PHINEAS the DOG PUPPET SHOW
2:00 - 2:30PM DARREN YONG MAGICIAN
3:15 - 3:45PM TBA
4:30 - 5:00PM TBA
SATURDAY AUGUST 22 (10AM – 10PM Curfew)
MAIN STAGE
10:00 – 10:30AM JAH-FREE-I
10:45 – 11:15AM YANG’S MARTIAL ARTS
11:30 – 12:00PM JAZ
12:15 - 1:00PM NEMISIS
1:15 - 2:00PM MICHAEL & MARISA
2:15 - 3:00PM THE ALCHEMYSTICS
3:15 - 4:00PM MIGHTY MYSTIC & the STRINGS of THUNDER
4:15 - 4:45PM BACCHUS KING
5:00 - 5:45PM THE DIRTY TRUCKERS
6:00 - 6:45PM MIDATLANTIC
7:00 - 7:45PM JOHN POWHIDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
8:00 - 8:45PM *AM STEREO
9:00 - 10:00PM LUCERO – Presented by Narragansett Beer
SECOND STAGE
10:00 – 10:30AM GABRILLA BOLLARD
10:45 – 11:15AM BUCK T. EDWARDS
11:30 – 11:45PM NATHAN HALE CHOIR
12:00 - 12:45PM COOLIE POOL
1:00 - 1:45PM KEITH JAMES & the POTENTIALS
2:00 - 2:45PM KIERAN RIDGE BAND
3:00 - 3:45PM TODD THIBAUD
4:00 - 4:45PM WATTS
4:45 - 5:30PM CASSAVETTES
KID’S STAGE
10:30 - 11:00AM PHINEAS the DOG PUPPET SHOW
11:00 - 11:30PM BIG JOE STORYTELLER
11:30 - 12:00PM YO-TO SHOW
1:00 - 1:20PM PHINEAS the DOG PUPPET SHOW
2:00 - 2:20PM GOLDEN MUSLIM KIDS for TOMORROW’S PEOPLE
3:00 - 3:30PM ZUMBA DANCE FITNESS CLASS
4:30 - 5:00PM LOCO KIDS
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Mailing List Update: 8/8 at The Middle East (a few tickets still available), Michel Gondry and The Motion Sick, TMS @ Unicon
Hello Friends and Fiends,
-Great Rock Show at The Middle East
-Michel Gondry draws The Motion Sick!
-The Motion Sick soon to be in Rock Band and rocking out with Bang Camaro, Freezepop, and others at Unicon
We've got a GREAT show coming up at The Middle East Upstairs on August 8th. The show is already close to selling out, so we've grabbed a few extra tickets to make sure that you all get a chance to get your hands on them. You can order these directly from us via Paypal (credit card accepted as well) (with no service or shipping charges) at: http://themotionsick.com/themotionsick/tickets.html. This show is an incredible lineup including:
1st - Hymns
2nd - The Motion Sick
3rd - The New Collisions
4th - The Shills
5th - The Everyday Visuals
Through fate, luck, determination, and bribery, famed director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep, and a million great music videos) recreated a photo of Mike and Travis rocking out at the WBCN Rock N Roll Rumble earlier this year (another sold out show at The Middle East) - check out the drawing and learn more about that at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/07/michel-gondry-draws-12-of-motion-sick.html
As you all probably know by now, we've been very fortunate to get a chance to have our music included in the Dance Dance Revolution video game series including the brand new Dance Dance Revolution X in Arcades in North America - http://www.the-motion-sick.com/search/label/dance%20dance%20revolution
. Now, we've just announced that things are in the works to have several of our songs available in the new Rock Band indie store that will be unveiled some time in the next few months. Soon, you'll be able to drum, sing, and strum along to The Motion Sick! More on that as details emerge...
...and because we love video games and video games seem to love us, The Motion Sick will be rocking out at Game Unicon - http://gameunicon.com/. You all already love Unicorns and if you're a male in our age bracket, you MAY even love Unicron more than Megan Fox (the jury is still out for this one). Now, you've got a chance to attend Game Unicon, a crazy-awesome 3-day gaming event with the tagline: "Game all day. Rock all night." They've got video game tournaments, celebrity guests, huge LAN parties, and "booth babes everywhere!" ...and that's not all! They've now got The Motion Sick! We'll be playing their Saturday concert headlined by Boston gang-metalists Bang Camaro! This is a rare all-ages event for us as well. Check out http://gameunicon.com/ for pricing and more info. Tell them we sent you!
Love and Rockets,
The Motion Sick
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Rock Band (The Game) Network - Get Ready to Rock with The Motion Sick
Our buddies at Harmonix have announced the basics of a new system to expedite the process for bands to get their music available for play in the Rock Band series of games. They've got scant details currently available at: http://creators.rockband.com/. Because people have been asking us (for years now) if we plan to work on getting our music into the game, I figured I best let you know that the answer has been yes all along, but the process was VERY slow up until now. We're already working out the details with a fellow who will likely do the charting for us. If you recall, we did a little interview with the man responsible for the fine dance moves associated with "30 Lives" in Dance Dance Revolution at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/01/interview-with-dance-dance-revolution.html.
If all goes well, we hope to include several songs from across our catalog in this initiative and you will then be able to rock out like we do...or maybe even better. Let us know what songs you'd like to be able to play - I imagine that "30 Lives" (non-dance) and "Jean-Paul" may be the first of our ditties to go through this process.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Two Interviews: TeaParty and Mango Nebula Interview The Motion Sick
Certainly one of the most fun and nonsensically insane interviews we've ever done, TeaParty did an amazing job managing to take garbled, ranting nonsense from all of us all talking at the same time and turn it into an insightful expose of our dreams and fears. Also, our favorite Muppets and our affinity for Cranium:
http://www.teapartyboston.com/2009/07/the-motion-sick/
Mango Nebula also just posted a new article based around an interview we did before The truth will catch you, just wait... was released. It also contains a video interview and live performance from December 2007.
http://mangonebula.blogspot.com/2009/05/feature-motion-sick-november-7th-2007.html
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
WBCN no more...Bastille Day...since 1789 - Jean-Paul since 2008
WBCN is officially shutting down: http://www.bostonbandcrush.com/2009/07/uncrush-rumors-swirling-about-wbcn.html. You might recall what an awesome time we had playing the Rock N Roll Rumble this year and we are very sad that the event is now in limbo along with one of our very favorite shows, Boston Emissions and its top-notch hosts Anngelle Wood and Shawn Clayton. This is a huge hit for local music and just makes me really sad. We've had Anngelle and Shawn get involved in supporting local rock in a way that made us all feel like this city was finally paying attention to itself. Now, we are reminded once again that all anyone cares about in Boston is sports. I really hope a day comes when the Red Sox get their season cancelled because a bunch of awesome concerts are coming to town. What an amazingly sad day.
As with all sweeping change, we hope something new and amazing will rise to replace all that Boston Emissions did for Boston music. Speaking of sweeping change, today is also Bastille Day, a major moment in the French Revolution.
The French Revolution, of course, reminds us of The Motion Sick's song "Jean-Paul" each year. Here's how I answered a question during an interview some time back about the origins of the song:
"The song, which was actually written by my wife, Sophia Cacciola, of the band Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, is inspired by the events surrounding Marat's death, specifically the Jacques-Louis David painting The Death of Marat. The song's narrative is somewhat inspired by the many points of view in the Dylan song "Tangled Up in Blue."
The story itself has really been remapped from Revolution-era France onto what one might think of as the modern-day "sexy spy" genre. There is certainly a dramatic romanticism added with a particular slant toward the sexualization of violence. I always envision a lipstick gun in a garter belt. The Charlotte Corday character's motives are in question. There is a new character who may or may not have been duped and used by Corday. There is a section where the dupe is being interrogated and makes claims that may or may not be covering something up.
I was initially drawn to the song because of the number of narrators present. By my
interpretation, we have: Corday, an omniscient viewer, the duped accomplice, the interrogator, and Marat. The meaning morphs depending on the attribution of the statements and descriptions. It also raises questions about whether the statements are facts, opinions, or outright lies. I have considered posting an annotated version of the song, but I think it's nice to leave it open to interpretation. I am not actually sure that my interpretation matches Sophia's intention completely anyway."
Listen to and download "Jean-Paul" on our music page: http://themotionsick.com/themotionsick/music.html. The song was frequently played on Boston Emissions and that makes this an even sadder and more revolutionary day.
At some point, I was playing around with learning some video software and I put together this "unofficial" video for the song in about 8 hours from public-domain footage. It's nothing too fancy and it is far from perfect, but I find it kind of fun:
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Michel Gondry draws 1/2 of The Motion Sick @mideastclub at #Rumble @bostonemissions @fender
Readers of this blog know that I am a big fan of Michel Gondry. I wrote a little entry a bit back about his director series DVD at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/01/work-of-director-michel-gondry.html.
So, when I found out that he decided to do a whole series of portraits, I decided that I would kill (or at least maim) anyone in my way of getting him to do a drawing of me. Well, my aggressive determination (and just luck) paid off! Michel Gondry has drawn me as part of his portraits series. He is posting them at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michelgondry/sets/72157618412299993/show/. Mine is not yet included there, though I imagine it will be someday.
Until then, you can see it right here:
I submitted this photo taken at the WBCN Rock 'N' Roll Rumble at The Middle East by Kelly Davidson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellydavidson/3426718501/in/set-72157616557566396/ as the inspiration.
In addition to the drawing being really cool anyway, there are two interesting and/or wonderful things about the drawing:
1. Lots of product placement: we've got Fender, WBCN, and The Middle East all receiving some ink time.
2. Travis has awesome hair and an awesome beard. I think he should grow his hair and beard to match this rendition.
Monday, July 6, 2009
The Motion Sick E-mail Update 07-06-09 -Help Amnesty International, Find us a manager/label, Read history, Dance w/us at Arcades, 30k for "30 Lives"
First of all, we've got a great show this Friday! As with all great things, the band order for this show was decided randomly using Dungeons and Dragons dice. So, if you aren't afraid of a few tiny kobolds and you've got chainmail armor or better, check out this treasure map
| Church | 69 Kilmarnock Street Boston, MA 02215 | 12:00 Jesus and the Argonauts 11:10 Muy Cansado 10:20 The Motion Sick 9:30 St.Helena 8:40 Kingsley Flood | 21+ Event |
...and, as usual, we've got a pile of excitement for you!
1. Help Amnesty International
2. Find us a manager/label
3. Read our history
4. Dance with us at the Arcades
5. Help "30 Lives" get 30,000 views
6. Tips for bands!
Help Amnesty International - You can read more about it at http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/06/download-motion-sicks-songs-free-to.html, but we are now working with Gimmesound so that every time you download our music for FREE(!!!), some money from advertising on the page is donated to Amnesty International.
All you have to do is go to the following links to download our music
Both albums: http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick-1/
Rarities: http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick/
Her Brilliant Fifteen Demos and Scratch Tracks (As discussed in A Brief History of The Motion Sick Pt. 1): http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick-HerBrilliantFifteenDemosandScratchTracks/
Find us a manager/label - we have begun the process of searching for a manager and a label. Read more about it on our blog at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/06/motion-sick-is-officially-looking-for.html. Feel free to contact us if you have any thoughts or leads!
Read our history - The first in a series of posts about the history of The Motion Sick is now available at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/06/brief-history-of-motion-sick-part-1.html. It covers the early days and the recording of Her Brilliant Fifteen.
Dance with us at the Arcades! Dance Dance Revolution X has just been released in North American arcades! Once we find a place that has it, you'll see some video of us dancing along. Until then, here are some fine folks from Asia (where the game has been out longer) doing just that: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/06/hang-out-with-motion-sick-at-your-local.html
30k for "30 Lives" - Help "30 Lives" get 30,000 views on Youtube - at first, we thought, let's go for 25,000, but now we've decided to round it up to a nice even campaign of 30k for 30 Lives! We're hoping to get our Youtube video for "30 Lives" viewed 30,000 times and we need your help!
So, please help us pass this link around to reach goal of 30k views of "30 Lives"
vid: http://bit.ly/wJ2MO download MP3: http://bit.ly/gJHKO
What can you do? E-mail your friends! Send out tweets on twitter! Change your status on Facebook! Every little bit helps us reach our goal of 30k for "30 Lives" and we can't do it without you.
Tips for bands! We care about you too and want to give a little back. So, if you're in a band and you wonder how we do it all, we're going to start providing a series of articles revealing things that we've found useful in our attempts to conquer the world. The first article, 11 Sites and Services that are Essential to Bands is now available at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/06/11-sites-and-services-that-are.html
Love and flowers,
-The Motion Sick
http://www.reverbnation.com/themotionsick
Friday, July 3, 2009
July 10th! The Motion Sick with Jesus and the Argonauts, Muy Cansado, St. Helena, and Kingsley Flood
Here is Matt G.'s fine flyer for this dice-based ordered event:
Full Size Flyer at:
http://www.themotionsick.com/themotionsick/flyers/2009-07-10-ChurchFlyer.jpg
| Church | 69 Kilmarnock Street Boston, MA 02215 | 12:00 Jesus and the Argonauts 11:10 Muy Cansado 10:20 The Motion Sick 9:30 St.Helena 8:40 Kingsley Flood | 21+ Event |
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Motion Sick is officially looking for a manager and a label
I know this stuff is supposed to happen behind the scenes. No business here. We are just regular guys who suddenly magically emerge as rock stars due to the demands of the screaming fans. Well, it's just not how it works. We've gone at this pretty hard on our own now for a few years (3 1/2 to be exact) and now we're ready to take the next step up. We've already had dozens of offers from managers and labels, but thus far, nothing in either realm has met our goals and needs. So, here we stand and here's what we're looking for. I wouldn't expect that declaring this here will lead to results, but consider this our public-search declaration.
Manager - The primary thing we need here is connections. We're looking for someone who has at least one act significantly bigger than us on their roster (or strong connections with bigger acts), and even more specifically, can help us get opening slots on shows and tours with bigger acts. We would also like someone with significant label-shopping experience (including a track record of success)!
Label - I would love for us to work out something with an indie label that I am personally a fan of. We're not looking for massive advances, A&R guys buying us champagne, or low-rider limousines (I'd definitely take a low-rider limo though). We're looking for a way to make making music sustainable. That sounds easy, but it really is not. Some of my favorite small-to-moderate labels: Team Love, Saddle Creek, Merge, Hardly Art, SpinArt, Darla, Jade Tree, Secretly Canadian, etc.
I just wanted to throw that out there. We're in the pre-production phase of a new album now and we're hoping to have this all sorted out before it's complete. We're happy to hear your thoughts. I know there is a myth about how great the music world is for truly DIY, independent acts and how you don't need anyone to do this stuff for you, but it is indeed, in my opinion, a myth. I'd really like to see us be able to continue doing what we're doing, but it's becoming harder and harder to maintain forward momentum given the limits of what we can easily do ourselves.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Hang out with The Motion Sick at your local arcade (if you have one anymore) - DDR X comes to North American Arcades
The arcade version of Dance Dance Revolution X, which we believe features The Motion Sick's "30 Lives (Up-Up-Down-Dance Mix), is now out! We hope that it will start appearing in arcades around the country any second now. As soon as we locate one nearby, there will be a band field trip to film ourselves playing the game. Anyone know where they are sprouting up? Anyone have $10,000 so I can buy one to keep at home?
For sale at: http://www.betson.com/cms/cmsProdShowcase2.php?tab=1&code=KONM-024290N
Until then, I will just have to enjoy these great videos of people in Asia playing our song in the arcades there:
Most of all, I am looking forward to it so that I don't have to just play skee ball and that feats of strength game to win tickets to get a spider ring...now I can dance too!
Just in case you don't remember my dancing skills, here's a video of me playing along to the song at home. I hope to get some videos of these other guys playing too soon.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Download The Motion Sick's songs FREE to Help Amnesty International - and help us get some of Microsoft's money
Amnesty International fights to protect basic human rights around the world. They work to ensure that a uniform set of rights exist across the world's wide range of cultures and political systems. They base their activities on a document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights developed by The United Nations. From their web site, some of the things they work to do are: Stop violence against women, Defend the rights and dignity of those trapped in poverty, Abolish the death penalty, oppose torture and combat terror with justice, Free prisoners of conscience, Protect the rights of refugees and migrants, and Regulate the global arms trade.
Sounds pretty good, right? Well, now you can download The Motion Sick's music for free (yes, FREE!) while simultaneously earning revenue for Amnesty International.
All you have to do is go to the following links to download our music
Both albums: http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick-1/
Rarities: http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick/
Her Brilliant Fifteen Demos and Scratch Tracks (As discussed in A Brief History of The Motion Sick Pt. 1): http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick-HerBrilliantFifteenDemosandScratchTracks/
When you go download these (not just stream them, you actually have to press that down arrow to download), the ad revenue is divided bewteen Gimmesound, The Motion Sick, and Amnesty International. A good deal for everyone!
--
On another note, we've been asked to participate in a special promotion with Reverbnation and Microsoft. Basically, we were asked for an exclusive track that they could post in conjunction with a branded web site. So, head on over and download an exclusive version of "Winged Bicycle" (Live on WMBR) at http://bit.ly/YfupF
This isn't our first handshake with the computer giants. You might also remember that they aksed us way back in the day if they could work with us on ad that featured in SPIN Magazine and on a special web site: http://themotionsick.com/themotionsick/talk-win.html
Hypebot has a writeup on this interesting campaign at: http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/06/reverbnation-teams-with-microsoft-windows-for-massive-song-giveaway.html
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
11 Sites and Services That are Essential to Bands
As we rock out here in the land of The Motion Sick, we come across a lot of different services and websites that help us in our quest to take over the world. In an attempt to share the wealth, here is a quick bit on 10 sites and services (plus one extra tip rounding it to a nice, uneven 11) that you should be using if you are in a serious band.
1. Copyright
Before you do anything else, you need to file PA (performing arts) and SR (sound recording) copyrights with the Library of Congress at http://copyright.gov/
The PA filing protects the rights to the words and music and the SR filing protects the rights to the actual sound recording. So, if you write all of the songs on a CD, you can submit the CD and simultaneously file both PA and SR rights. If you include a cover, you should file for SR rights on the cover, but not PA rights.
Incidentally, getting permission to cover a song is generally now a really easy and quick process, both for physical pressing and digital sales. Just head on over to The Harry Fox Agency web site and take a look at their Songfile system (http://www.harryfox.com/index.jsp).
2. Join a Performance Rights Organization (PRO)
Now that your copyrights are registered, it's time to join a PRO. PROs handle royalty collection for copyright holders whose works are used publicly. That includes radio, TV, live performances, and any of a plethora of other such uses. The PROs exist to eliminate the need for radio stations, music venues, and other such organizations from having to individually negotiate rights to play music with artists. The PRO determines the rate that say, a radio station, pays annually. The radio station airplay is them polled using a magical, mystical system (that isn't completely transparent), and artists are paid quarterly based on the airplay that they receive. This doesn't quite always work as desired, but that's the idea behind it.
The primary PROs in the U.S. are ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. I am registered with BMI. I have generally been unhappy with my interactions with them. I have considered switching to SESAC, but I am not certain that any one of the three is better or worse. I think, if starting anew, I would join SESAC, but this is not any kind of offical endorsement or advice. Check them all out and see which fits your needs best.
!!!!!VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!! I learned somewhat recently, and too late for my own good, that the PROs do much of their tracking through third-party services including Nielsen (http://www.bdsonline.com/). It's very important that you register your music with these services (select the services used by your PRO) if you want to see royalties.
I hear that for PRO tracking, it is also important for your CD master to include ISRCs embedded in the disc information. Read about ISRCs here and make sure to talk to your mastering engineer about including these.
Similiar to the PROs, there are also sometimes royalties for SRCOs (Sound Recording Copyright Owners). Soundexchange is one organization that helps to collect these royalties. Right now, these are primarily related to online streaming of songs via services like Last.FM and Pandora (we'll get to those later).
3. CDBaby Digital Distribution
Although you don't HAVE to use CDBaby as your digital distributor, they have a really simple process with pretty clear and fair cuts and reporting. I recommend using them for simplicity. Other people prefer alternative services and I am sure many of those could be fine as well. If you submit your album to CDBaby, they will distribute it to iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, and a bunch of other digital sales services. Letting them do this makes life easy for you and it gets your music onto these services in a manner that is quick and easy, neither of which would describe the experience you would have if you tried to do it on your own. They also directly sell physical copies of your CD and digital downloads. They pay out once a week and generally have pretty good customer service in my experience.
Here's The Motion Sick's CDBaby Page
4. CDDB/FreeDB
CDDB (now Gracenote) and FreeDB are two database services that help people to identify your CD when it's in their computer. This may not sound like such a big deal (they know your CD is in their computer, right?), but it makes life 1000 times easier for people making digital copies of your album for their own use. Find yourself some software that allows you to submit to both of these services and make life easier for your fans!
5. Gimmesound
Gimmesound is a newcomer, so whatever I write here may be inaccurate in a week or two (Today is June 24, 2009). They are using a revenue-sharing system that results in artists getting paid for downloads even though the downloads are totally free to consumers! How much did I get paid last month? 71 cents a download! There is no way the payouts will continue to be so high as more artists sign up, but get in there while the getting is good!
Download all of our music for free at Gimmesound!!!
6. Last.FM / Pandora / Grooveshark
Last.FM, Pandora, and Grooveshark aren't quite all the same thing, but they share certain aspects. They all provide Internet radio services that allow users to select music to hear and then provide additional music that is calculated to be of potential interest given the likes and dislikes of the user. Last.FM and Grooveshark allow artists to submit their music directly without limitation. Pandora maintains a curated collection of songs. You can submit two songs per album for consideration. Thus far, every single indie artist I know (including The Motion Sick) has been rejected by Pandora.
The Motion Sick's Last.FM Profile
7. Social Networking - Facebook / Twitter / Myspace
First things first. I have to warn you that only a fool believes that social networking has evened the playing field between indie artists and corporate artists. That same fool also believes that collecting friends on these services has any relation to collecting useful fans. These systems are wonderful because they allow artists to foster and maintain actual relationships with fans. They allow one-to-one and one-to-many interactions that were previously difficult to develop. Myspace, as far as I am concerned, is 100% dead. Sure, you should make a profile there and put music on it (with extensive links to your real web site) just in case some kid searches for you there, but you will not gain anything by adding lots of friends or sending out bulletins. No one cares. The entire failure of Myspace is rooted in the fact that they did not allow bands to have any direct method for communicating with fans. The Motion Sick has almost 14,000 Myspace friends and exactly 0 ways to contact any of them. The bulletin system is ignored, the invitation system is ignored, the status system is ignored, and mass direct messaging is not allowed. All of that equals one big fat useless service. Your best bet if you have a ton of Myspace friends is to try your very best to contact them one at a time and by bulletin or event to get them to join your actual e-mail mailing list. An actual e-mail mailing list is the only real way to identify and keep fans. Anything done on social networks is meaningless. I repeat that: an actual e-mail mailing list is the only real way to identify and keep fans. Anything done on social networks is meaningless.
That said, I go back to my original point. The social networking systems allow for more direct interaction between artists and their audience. Facebook is almost as much of a failure for bands as Myspace. They've restricted bands to using the Page system rather than the Profile system. Guess what? It doesn't allow you to send messages or event invitations to your fans. Useless. So, my solution is two-fold. I've made a questionably disallowed profile for The Motion Sick and I also extensively use my own personal profile to interact with fans of the band. I make friends with the fans. I personally send them event invitations and post band updates. So far, this has worked pretty well. I am hoping that Facebook stops their foolishness and essentially transforms the page system into something actually valuable.
Twitter is essentially a glorified method for updating my Facebook status, but I figure, it's another network of people who might read what you're saying. I also use Twitterfeed to automatically tweet a link and teaser for any blog entries that I've posted on the band blog or any of the other blogs that I write for. This helps reduce my workload and helps to promote all of the work I am doing.
Find Us on Social Networks: |
Before Artistdata came along, I complained every single day that I had to update my show information in too many different places. Well, they came up with a solution that is about 3/4ths of the way there. Ultimately, I believe their goal is take all of the bits of information about your band and allow you to edit those in one place while automatically dispersing it to all of the social networking sites, music profile sites, and download sites you use. You edit once, everyone is happy. I look forward to their forward movement on this task.
9. Reverbnation
Reverbnation is the absolute leader in music profile sites (and there are many, many, many) because of its relatively sophisticated widget system. If you look on the sidebar of this blog and at much of our web site at http://www.themotionsick.com, you will see many instances of Reverbnation widgets in action. For us, it's primarily the mailing list and the music player.
Speaking of the mailing list (!!), we use Reverbnation's Fanreach system for sending out band e-mails. It's easy, relatively advanced, and flexible. It's great for both maintaining the list and composing messages. I highly recommend it!The Motion Sick on Reverbnation.
10. Music Licensing Sites: (e.g., Taxi, Broadjam, Youlicense, Sonicbids)
Getting your music heard is hard work. You need to be willing to put in the time (and money) to make it happen. There are a number of music-licensing services that can help you find placements that will provide you with exposure (and money) for your music. Rather than rewriting the whole summary here, I point you to a past entry I did on music licensing resources at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2008/10/quick-guide-to-indie-music-licensing.html
I also want to point out that I am starting my own Boston-focused music publishing/licensing company. You can read more about that at: http://launchover.com/
11. Your Own Web Site and Your Own Blog!
Maybe I am an old-fashioned guy, but absolutely nothing says unprofessional to me more clearly than someone giving a Myspace page (or even a Reverbnation page) as their official web site. Don't do it. Make a useful, simple, and rich web page for yourself. Fill it with information and content that doesn't fit on Myspace. What it comes down to is, if you want me to take you seriously, you had better have your own page. If you want to keep fans up to date in an organized, fun way, make a blog that includes both band updates and other posts with general entertainment value (like a post about 11 sites and services that are essential to bands)!
The Motion Sick Web Site
The Motion Sick Blog
Now get back to rocking out!
Monday, June 22, 2009
A Brief History of The Motion Sick Part 1: The Origins of The Motion Sick and Her Brilliant Fifteen
Prior to The Motion Sick, I had played in a number of bands in college including Simian Aides, Shiver U.K., and Binary Test Record. After graduating and moving to Boston for graduate school, I decided I wanted to either continue in the goth rock direction of Binary Test Record or form a silly, twee band modeled after some of my favorites at the time: The Magnetic Fields, Holiday, and Tullycraft. This was the origin of my first Boston project, Boys Suck. It was intended to be sort of catchy, mopey songs that were played loosely, but made up for lack of precision with humor and lyrical twists. I worked with a number of other collaborators while simultaneously playing a lot of solo gigs as well. We self recorded three limited-edition EPs (Short, Pale, and Ugly, Fool's Gold Lining, and God Blesse America) and a bunch of tracks for a variety of homemade collections of music. 
We had a fun time, even making 100 unique covers for our second EP. These are long out of print, but several of the songs from this era were rewritten into current songs by The Motion Sick. Short, Pale, and Ugly's "Communication Breakdown" became "Satellite," Fool's Gold Lining's "APD" was reworked into "Walk on Water," and god blesse america's "My Country" remained largely the same in its recording on The Motion Sick's first album, Her Brilliant Fifteen. The band pretty much completely dissolved around 2002. At that point, I began recording demos intended for eventually turning into a full-band project.
Around this time, Terry Rice of Dead Puppy Records, an Internet label asked Sophia Cacciola to help him put together a tribute album of bands covering songs by Boys Suck called Out of Tune. This has been kept available at: http://boyssuck.com/boyssuck2/tribute.shtml. In an attempt to be funny, I also recorded a song for this tribute album that was a cover of Sophia Cacciola's "Jean-Paul Approximately," which later became The Motion Sick's "Jean-Paul."
Three versions of demos exist from this post-band era, known as The Pink Demos, Beta, and simply Demo Sampler. The recordings contained on these three demos (which contained much overlap) would be the demos used to select songs for Her Brilliant Fifteen.
Sometime in 2004, I decided that essentially, I was going to stop playing music mostly, but I wanted to make a sort of vanity album of band performances of the songs I had been working on from about '99 to '04. I enlisted Jordan Tishler of Digital Bear Entertainment to take on this project. I brought him 20 songs and told him I wanted to pare it down to 10 and do a full recording.
The 20 tracks I submitted to Jordan are now available for streaming and download at: http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick-HerBrilliantFifteenDemosandScratchTracks/. They are labeled as "original demos" here. Jordan selected 10 songs. Of the songs on Her Brilliant Fifteen, this original selection did not include "Grace Kelly" or "God Hates Kansas" and did include "The Cyclical Nature of the Ferris Wheel." I insisted on inclusion of those two songs, so that left us at 12 initially. Jordan suggested significant rewrites on many of the songs. "Grace Kelly Falling" was almost completely rewritten to become "Grace Kelly" - most others are relatively similar, but include lyrical rewrites, key changes, removal of parts, and general restructuring. Jordan and I didn't find a way to easily revise "The Cyclical Nature of the Ferris Wheel" so that we were both satisfied with it, so it was scrapped relatively early in preproduction. This left us with the 11 tracks included on Her Brilliant Fifteen.
After lengthy practice and revision time, I got together with David Little, who played drums in Blitzkriegbliss, another band I was in at the time and singer-songwriter extraordinaire Joe Kowan. We rehearsed for about 3 days before the album was to be tracked. We took some of the songs in strange, unforeseen directions, but it was a lot of fun, and I think a lot of great ideas came out of those sessions. Once we began tracking, Jordan expressed concern about Joe's limited experience playing bass (as he was primarily a guitarist - and a great songwriter). So, he ended up being replaced during the tracking sessions by the album's engineer Matthew Girard (The Motion Sick's bassist).
For those of you unfamiliar with recording techniques, we used the common strategy of recording scratch tracks of my guitar and vocals first so that all of the other instruments could be layered on top of those and they could be used as a general song guide. After the other tracking was completed, the vocals and guitar were replaced by real vocal and guitar tracks. The process of recording scratch tracks was doing roughly a single take on each song while playing along to a click. The performances are very uninspired (and poor) and are not really intended for future listening. Still, for your amusement, I have posted the scratch tracks from this session at: http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick-HerBrilliantFifteenDemosandScratchTracks/. They are labeled here as "scratch guide track demos."
Many musicians were brought into the studio to complete the layers of tracking present on the album. Most everything that was tracked was kept on the album. The only thing I remember totally removing was a spacey guitar on "Pre-Existing Condition" that didn't work for me. Someday, I might dig up those original session mixes so you can hear the original idea.
After some final tweaks and a mastering visit with the great Jeff Lipton of Peerless Mastering, the album was complete!
You can download or stream the whole thing at: http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick-1/. It is the last 11 songs there, starting with "Satellite."
While the recording was happening, I had spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the heck to do for artwork. I had explored a number of ideas until finally becoming satisfied with extracting a bunch of images from an old medical book from the 1940s. My father agreed to put in a copyright request so that I could obtain the rights to use the images on the artwork. The album was designed and layout was completed - all by the multi-talented Joe Kowan. Then, some bad news arrived. The publisher refused to grant usage rights. I suspect it was because they were not even sure if they owned the rights to the images. So, I was in trouble and had no idea what to do.
Here was the original picture used on the cover:
Then, one day, it hit me. I went on eBay, bought a couple of old nurse outfits, a bunch of old medical supplies, some old medicine bottles, a gas mask, and all of the other items shown in the set of images from the medical book. I built the weird respirator machine out of an old sine-wave generator and a vacuum cleaner tube. I enlisted my (girlfriend at the time, now wife) Sophia Cacciola to play the part of the nurse and Bethany Blodgett to take the photos in our living room in Somerville, MA. We worked really hard to recreate the images reasonably well and to generate a final image that felt old, but not tied to a specific era. I posted on The Noise Board telling everyone that I found the photograph and was considering using it for album artwork, but I was trying to figure out when it was taken. I asked the board users to tell me what they thought. They gave a variety of answers: '40s, '50s, '80s trying to recreate '50s, etc. Everyone was fooled. Here is what we chose as the cover:
You can see several original cover candidate photos at: http://themotionsick.com/themotionsick/covers/index.html
The original bio photo also came from this session. While we were playing around with composition and shooting with a digital camera before we switched to the film B&W shots, Bethany took a spontaneous shot of Sophia kissing me. Everyone who saw it loved this image so much that it became the bio image for the early days, despite the fact that Sophia was not ever in the band. It even made it into SPIN Magazine! Some of the reviewers at the Taxi music publishing service told me that it was their favorite bio photo that they had ever seen. I think this photo actually may have contributed significantly to the early success of the band.
After the album was complete, I did a large-scale mailing to press and radio on my own. I expected to be done with music at this point, but figured, I may as well send off my work to see how people react to it before I wave goodbye. The response surprised me quite a lot! Lots of college radio stations started putting it into heavy rotation. It even hit number 1 a few places! Most overwhelming was that SPIN decided to feature the "band" on their website (and eventually in the magazine). So, it quickly became clear that this wasn't quite yet my last musical breath...
Part 2: The Formation of the Band and the recording of The truth will catch you, just wait... coming soon.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Motion Sick in Foreign Languages
You may remember a classic translation of a Japanese blog using Babelfish: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2008/04/same-straw-raincoat-japanese-blog-about.html
"With, the same straw raincoat command is made with the game of 繧ｳ繝翫Α. To tell the truth, when Family Computer edition "soul 譁�ﾂ�#133;" 繧ｳ繝翫Α繧ｳ繝槭Φ繝�"on left and right left and right BA under upper rising and falling" is input, there is a reverse side skill that, the remaining machine becomes 30, it is the case, these "30 Lives" that it is made that in motif."
Now, we have another fine entry in the Babelfish goes wacky translation:
"Midnight music | The Motion Sick
I say to them that I enlisted bad with this group, and I was already made fan. It enchants the sound, the acute letters, guitars and the voices to me. Ideal for that long trasnoches of work or design.
They are happy and releases life to the indie rock"
Original: http://desdealgunlugardebuenosaires.blogspot.com/2009/06/midnight-music-motion-sick.html
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Pandora doesn't like us.
They refuse to include us in their system. Bummer. It's sort of tricky to decide how to feel about this. I don't really understand how they make the decision here. I assume it's a single person's aesthetic choice. I wonder what percentage of music they accept.
I submitted "Jean-Paul" and "30 Lives" this time. I couldn't submit our first album because for some reason, there is a problem with Amazon identifying the UPC despite the fact that Amazon lists it in their catalog. I didn't feel like chasing down the problem, particularly after this rejection, so eh...
---
Dear The Motion Sick,
Thank you for your music and your interest in Pandora. There's no easy way to say this, so we'll just be direct: we have decided not to include your submission.
We handle a very, very large number of submissions, and do our best to make our decisions based upon the quality of the music, and whether it fits into our collection - it's a task we undertake with the utmost care. We understand that you probably disagree with our decision and think we've made a mistake. All of us who make these decisions at Pandora are working musicians as well and we know that reasonable people can and do disagree all the time about the evaluation of creative work.
We wish you the best of luck in your musical career. Most importantly, we hope that this small disappointment won't discourage you from continuing to develop your art and sending us more material in the future. One of Pandora's principle goals is to support working musicians at all stages of their careers.
Thank you again for sending us your music.
Respectfully,
The Pandora Staff
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