This is much more than normal! Great spike. Guessing that something has been published about the band that we don't know about yet. Anyone spots it - please let us know!
Cheers,
Stretch
New WAKE of the DASTARDS solo track - called WINDOW SEAT. Let us know what you think!!!
Kerrang played 'THE SYMPATHY MARCH' again on Sunday. Fantastic.
I'm always impressed by those people who 'get it'.
So many music listeners spend time trying to pin down who a track 'sounds like' instead of just appreciating what they are hearing. When I listen - I just listen. I make no judgements on 'who' has done it, what the 'angle' is. The Gallagher brothers must be 2 of the most unpleasant people in music - but the music they make is excellent!
So - well done Kerrang Radio. Well done all those DASTARDS fans. Well done everyone who buys a DASTARDS track. Well done everyone who positively reviews DASTARDS music. You all 'get it'. The rest of you ... sorry - you are missing out!
Stretch
On Saturday Wake & I met Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics at the O2 Undiscovered Workshop.
(Incidentally isn't 'undiscovered' a much better description than 'unsigned')
Dave took a copy of the DASTARDS 6 track ep which includes Staying Out, Flashlights, The Sympathy March, Life on the Edge, Lonely Inbetween and Succumb.
Also there was our friend Loz from Kerrang. Interesting day and all credit to O2 for organising it.
On Sunday Wake & George performed an acoustic gig at Atticus in Birmingham. There's a nice relaxed atmosphere there - but it often means the audience just chats through the artists performances which is a bit of a pisser when you are up there singing your heart out ...
Stretch
Yes Stoo joined DASTARDS last week.Stoo approached us and came for a jam. He fitted right in. He's moved down here from Scotland after being in a band for 6 years up there. Nice guy. Good drummer. Now we can move forward.
The music marketing company we approached reckon we are being too ambitious - but most of what they offered we can do (and have done) ourselves. We need help to break into the next level (like supporting a better-known band or radio play on a national station etc.).
So we've got a few plans up our sleeve. We might try and get more of these pictures (that's the Red Hot Chili Peppers holding up our CD's) by approaching celebs who have good taste in music.
Also - we are approaching some music mags to get coverage. We've been getting airplay on Kerrang Radio - but not much press coverage yet. It's a long hard struggle - with very little help - but luckily the music is great - so it will happen as long as the band keep going!
Stretch
So where are we now? Here's a quick potted history:
DASTARDS started in 2005. (Then it was Wake, Chris and Kirk - no bassist).
The band played a few gigs and Wake wrote a few songs. I listened - and decided they had the potential to be bigger than U2. And I still believe that to be true - even more so now! So DASTARDS joined STRETCH RECORDS as the only artist on the label. We also act as management for the band.
The band recorded 'Shami Chakrabarti' in 2006 (recorded & engineered by Steve Levine in London). This song (which wasn't written by WAKE got some national publicity because it is about a political figure in the UK). The film 'Taking Liberties' also wanted to feature the track - but the publishers couldn't agree a deal. The 'Shami'; track led to the BBC commissioning WAKE to write 'Don't Slam Islam' for a one-off drama they were producing. The programme got edited to death and the song wasn't used. A one-minute version of the song has been used on an album of 'One Minute Wonders' and some Bournemouth film students used the track for a video they made which is still getting lots of heated debate on YouTube.
Several line up changes then took place as the band gigged up and down the UK. Several tracks were being played on various internet and local BBC radio stations. In the end WAKE had no band members left - so carried on solo for 12 months and was interviewed / played live on local radio. After appearing solo at the Robin in Jan 2007, WAKE decided to put a new band together. A few months later GEORGE GUITAR joined on lead guitar, then after a few false starts JAKE joined on bass.
All the time WAKE has been writing and recording new songs. In October 2007 KERRANG RADIO picked up on FLASHLIGHTS and started playing it every week. Since then KERRANG has played 3 other tracks and had the band in for a live session and interview. Kerrang have played a DASTARDS track every week from October 2007 to May 2008!
DASTARDS has constantly received great critical acclaim anfd fantastic reviews so, recently we decided to move up a gear to bring the band to a wider audience. This will involve getting help - which will cost money. So we are looking at ways of raising finance to take on a music marketing & pr company.
New Track 'The Sympathy March'
New Track - here it is. Called 'The Sympathy March'.
Currently organising a 'South West Tour' for the last 2 weeks in June.
Getting a bit frustrated now that we aren't making progress quickly enough. On the second album's worth of material and although receiving critical acclaim & praise, not getting enough airplay and acknowledgement. We need to move into a higher gear. Exactly how we do that - not sure yet. Working on it.
Stretch
Recent Comments
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Indieboy said:
Your submission was listened to by indieboy @ 07/05/2008 15:30:45 read more
on Dastards--The_Sympathy_March_Small -
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DASTARDS! said:
[this is good]Little lonely here .. so I commented myself. I like this track. So there! Stretch read more
on Brand New DASTARDS track - 'The Sympathy March' -
that actually looks really cool read more
on A post about DASTARDS - Widget