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.
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?
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.
It's true. It's starting to get a little sketchy. Ever since the order for our July 10th show was selected using dice, I have been on the edge of losing it. All I can do is make Dungeons and Dragons references. My bandmates are scared. My family is scared. They think I might become obsessed with the occult and the differences between my character and my reality will become blurred. I will run around with a dagger of light + 1 looking for goblins. I'll probably end up killing some weird, grey-skinned person because I think they're actually a kobold. Tom Hanks and I will forever be insane because of the game! (See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084314/ if you have no idea what I am talking about.)
1. Download all of our music for free and we still get paid!
2. We're opening for Pansy Division tomorrow
3. We've got a song on a workout DVD
4. The Motion Sick coming to U.S. Arcades soon
5. We've begun super-secret work on a new recording
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We've talked in the past about exploring new models for distributing music and still making ends meet. Well, we've got something new that we're testing out. Download our music free here and we still get paid (guilt-free for you!!!):
The site requires a quick and painless signup and we only get paid for downloads (that is the arrow next to the song), not for streams. Check it out and download away until you've got it all!
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Tomorrow, we have the wonderful opportunity to open for absolutely legendary and groundbreaking gay punk rockers Pansy Divsion. They've been rocking for a long while and have done tours with the biggest of punk bands including Green Day. They've just released a new CD and DVD, so check them out and be sure to come early and stay late!
06/17/09 TT the Bear's Place Cambridge, MA The Motion Sick - 9 PM
For those of you trying to shake yourselves into tip-top physical shape, you can now do that with a bit of accompaniment from The Motion Sick. We are included on a new exercise DVD called Cardio For Indie Rockers. You can see a bit of video including our music and read some more at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/search/label/cardio%20for%20indie%20rockers
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The North American Arcade version of Dance Dance Revolution featuring The Motion Sick's "30 Lives (Up-Up-Down-Dance Mix)" song and video is coming very soon! Until then, you can see some of the kind of Freestyle Arcade dancing to the song that goes on in Japan, where the game is already out in the arcade. Check out one awesome dancer at: http://bit.ly/oBnCD. You can also go check out some past posts about our inclusion in the 500,000+ selling home console versions of DDR (XBox and Playstation) including an interview with the fellow who programmed the dance steps for the song. Read more at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/search/label/ddr
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The band has been holding top-secret meetings in a secret, undisclosed lair inside a volcano to work out the details of our forthcoming album. We plan to post some demos and some peeks into the songs along the way so that you can be part of the whole process. Be sure to keep an eye on our blog at http://www.the-motion-sick.com for those updates. We also highly recommend using the RSS feed to subscribe using your favorite RSS reader: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheMotionSick
I don't really know much about this or if we even want a deal with Myspace Records, but here we are. Feel free to pretend you are playing our song on a cassette (if you're old enough to know what a cassette is). Hit "grab this" to share this widget.
Will K (under the name Secret Goldfish), a Lexington High School student and a member of the band High Off You recorded this really neat, dare I say Dashboard Confessional-ish, version of "30 Lives."
We thought you all might dig it as much as we do, so here it is:
Tomorrow is a day of great excitement for us. We're opening for Richard Lloyd. As you may or may not know, Matt and Travis participated in The Cult of Point Break Society's Tribute to Television last year (The Motion Sick opened one show). As such, it should be evident that we've all got a great deal of respect for Richard Lloyd and Billy Ficca (who was also in The Waitresses, famous for the songs "I Know What Boys Like" and "Christmas Wrapping"). So please, come join us for this fine evening of music. We've also got locals Fox Pass, one of the original '70s post-rock bands - they probably would have taken over the world if they had lived in NYC instead of Boston- and former local Brett Rosenberg, making a rare Boston appearance. We go on early, 8:30 sharp!!!! So don't be late.
The web page http://konamicodesites.com/ gives a list of all of the sites that do something neat when you enter the Konami Code. What is the Konami Code?
The Motion Sick has been declared "Best Local Rock Band 2009" in the Boston Phoenix: http://thephoenix.com/theBest/Boston/Arts/Localrockband/. This is a great honor to us and we thank everyone who put in a good word at the polls.
---- Our pals in the NYC band Semi-Precious Weapons were supposed to be visiting Boston, but some sort of eyeliner accident has resulted in them cancelling the show and begging The Motion Sick, their choice for second most gorgeous band in the world, to take their place. As we would never want to let them down, we have joined this smashtacular night of killer rock:
Hypernova 10:00 PM This band is an amazing rock band from Iran who violated the law to play in the underground and very illegal music scene. Listen to this unbelievable piece on NPR about them: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11182793. They recently wrapped up a tour with Sisters of Mercy.
18+/$10 ---- Just because we love you and we like to try new things, we're experimenting with a pay-what-you-can model with our music. You can now download all of our music free (no strings attached) at: http://themotionsick.com/themotionsick/freemusic.html. We ask that if you find yourself enjoying what you hear, please consider paying an amount that you think is appropriate for it on that page. You can pay before you listen, you can pay after you listen, you can pay next month. Most of all, we'd like you to listen, let us know what you think, and support us in any way you can manage.
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Some of you may be aware that General Motors has decided to cut its Pontiac line. Pontiac muscle cars had a big impact on my youth, particularly the famed Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), the super-rad Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Knight Rider. My affinity for these cars added to the great excitement of having an opportunity to use an amazing 74 Pontiac Ventura in our music video shoot for our song "30 Lives." The Boston Globe made a video interviewing Pontiac owners, including Dan Poole, owner of that awesome Venture. They even included a little bit of the "30 Lives" video in the piece. Check it all out at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/04/fall-of-pontiac-30-lives-video-included.html
The Boston Globe has an article about the demise of Pontiac with an accompanying video. In the video, they interview a couple of Pontiac muscle-car enthusiasts including Dan Poole, owner of the 74 Pontiac Ventura muscle car seen in the "30 Lives" video. He was kind enough to mention the video and they throw a clip into their piece on Pontiac:
Well friends, we did not win our night of the Rumble competition, but we had an incredible time. The show, at The Middle East, was so sold out by the time we went on, that multiple people who had stepped out for a moment were not allowed back in. Many people who came out to see us were turned away (sorry for that if you couldn't get in). The room was completely packed. We had friends and fans holding up awesome signs, using noisemarkers, throwing bras at us. It was ridiculous fun. We particularly owe our good friends in The New Collisions some serious thanks for surprising us by organizing a fan army for the night.
We played as hard as we could. I am sore, bruised, and literally, had worn my fingers down so badly that two of them were bleeding the next day as I sat on the subway on the way to work. It got me some dirty looks and butts wiggling away from me down the row of seats. All worth it. All great. We owe you all a lot for the support we received. We were happy with what we presented.
The judges called it for The Dirty Truckers. I think they may have been the right call given the categories, which emphasize slickness and technical prowess over other things. I have never been a great musician or singer and the band has never been about being super polished, so I am sure we lost some points somewhere in those areas. One of the judges came over after the show and apologized to me saying that it was very close. I am not quite sure what he meant, but it sounds like we did okay overall. Regardless, I think everyone there in the audience had a great time and we had an awesome time, so who cares about the competition aspect? There's still the possibility of a wild card slot for us. I am fairly certain that a slot will go to the 2nd-highest scoring band on our night, which may or may not be us. The Fatal Flaw and Have Nots also tore up the night, so it's not an easy call. Hats off to the Truckers and to the previous nights' winners, The Luxury and Gravehaven. Anyway, it was a tremendous honor to be selected to compete in The Rumble and everyone at WBCN and The Middle East, particularly Anngelle and Shawn, have done an amazing job making this whole thing happen. If you haven't been out yet, you've got three more nights of prelims to attend, then two semis and the finals. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Barring illness or natural disaster, I will be there every night.
Lots of excitement here in the land of The Motion Sick. First of all, this Tuesday, we've got a big, exciting show at The Middle East. We're competing in the 31st annual WBCN Rock 'N' Roll Rumble. This is the same event that has included some of Boston's past greatest like Mission of Burma, The Lemonheads, Morphine, 'Til Tuesday, The Dresden Dolls, The Sheila Divine, etc. We're really honored to have been chosen to participate and we're even more excited about all of the press that the event has been receiving. We've got a round-up posted over at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/2009/04/wbcn-31st-annual-rock-n-roll-rumble.html.
04/07/09 @ The Middle East - Cambridge, MA 9:00-9:30 – The Fatal Flaw 9:45-10:15 – The Dirty Truckers 10:30-11:00 – The Motion Sick 11:15-11:45 – Have Nots (Note: Set Times Are Pretty Much Exact)
2009 Tour and SXSW
For those of you who have done your very best to ignore what we've been up to for the past few months, you may not have noticed that we recently returned from a brief tour centered around SXSW. You can read all about it, see videos of us acting silly (including Patrick's Patented State Anthems), and check out some touching moments captured in photos by visiting us at: http://www.the-motion-sick.com/search/label/tour2009
Best of???
Keep your eyes on the papers this week, particularly the Boston Phoenix. There are rumors circulating that The Motion Sick has been selected as a "Best of" award recipient. We suspect it's either for "Best Falafel" or "Best Manicure" (or maybe even "Best Piece of Public Art"), but we're waiting on the final results to roll in...
Bonus MP3s
We're experimenting with a new web site called Gimme Sound as a way for us to provide you some bonus rare recordings. Right now, we've got our live set and interview from WAAF's Bay State Rock and some other goodies up over at: http://www.gimmesound.com/TheMotionSick/index.cfm - it does require a relatively painless sign-up to download the tracks. Let us know what you think.
Are we cooler than Passion Pit, Family Force 5, and DeVotchKa?
We may not be cooler, but this fab blog BeatCrave wrote a lovely little piece about us and they are considering featuring us at the end of the month. The catch is, we need you to tell them that you like us better than Passion Pit, Family Force 5, and DeVotchKa (all pretty awesome bands). It's just a quick second to let them know that we're your choice over at: http://beatcrave.com/2009-04-03/beatcrave-fav-poll-devotchka-family-force-5-passion-pit-the-motion-sick/
Socialization
As always, we would love to have you come join us and talk to us on one of the many social networking sites that we frequent. Check out the list of hotspots at http://www.themotionsick.com/social/ and come say hi.
As they promised, they wrap the week with a poll to select the most craved beats (or something). We're matched with some serious bands: Passion Pit, Family Force 5, and DeVotchKa. I'm not sure if we're actually better than any of these bands, but heck, I enjoyed what they said about us on the blog and I'd be honored if they did a feature. So, if you've got one second, hop over to:
We're experimenting with a new service called Gimme Sound. The idea of it is that fans can download music for free and the company splits its ad revenue based on the number of downloads you receive. So, as an extra incentive, we're starting out by posting some bonus materials. Right now, we've got some studio recordings, some live stuff, and a great interview up there. This might be a fun way for us to release some rarities and special stuff that we've been holding onto for a while, so check it out and let us know what you think. It requires a free sign-up to download songs, but you don't need to fill out very much info to get access.
http://www.thenoise-boston.com/content/blogcategory/11/41/ - If my recall has not failed me, I don't think we got anywhere near this when the album came out over a year ago, but here we are riding a local wave of support - we're in the Rumble, we may or may not have a Best Band nod coming, and now we're the #3 most played local band on the Noise radio charts, compiled from the playlists of a plethora of stations, commercial and otherwise. Thanks Noise chart!
(They didn't quite get the album title right, but you can't win them all...heck, I don't even try.)
The very cool kids over at BeatCrave wrote up a story on us that is one of those pieces that makes me feel very pleased. In addition to being super nice and saying all encouraging words, they have captured the essence of some of what I consider to be important elements of what we're all about. That makes me happy because it makes me feel like someone is seeing the picture we're trying to paint. I worry about that; I definitely sometimes feel like Jackson Pollack in a hyper-realism study group...or something like that. Also, I really like spinach! Thanks Lindsey Darden, wherever you are! You make us blush.
The Motion Sick can’t seem to pinpoint what genre they are, and to be honest, that’s perfectly fine with us. They’re very stealthy and intentional about it, though, kind of like a parent slipping spinach into their kids’ food in an attempt to get them to try it...Their lyrics are pretty out there, also, ranging from directions on how to use video game controllers to UFOs - oddly enough with such prose and poetic quality that they’re as good a read in black-and-white. They are consistent in their delivery, charming, and an easy catch...
Perhaps the highlight is the videos of the newly commissioned state songs: ...or if you'd rather watch the individual state songs: AR,CT,KY,MD,NY,NJ,OH,PA,RI,TN,TX,TX (Reprise),VA,W.VA
We were originally scheduled to be on the bill for this awesome show, but unpredictable weather patterns, the peanut crisis, and hypoallergenic flowers have forced us to change our plans...but holy awesome music, this is a good show. We will be there in person to sign autographs, pose for photos, and share tales of woe and tales of joy, but we won't be performing. Seriously though, this is freakin' good stuff...and seriously, we will be attending as fans, not foes.
St. Helena CD Release Party Saturday, March 28, 2009 The Cantab Lounge 738 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA 02139
ATE somehow kept coming up during our journeys this year. We had a couple of video experiences to document these thematic appearances. First, you probably have already seen our initial performance of ATE's "Sometime Around Midnight" in car. You know, this one:
Now, we've got a second performance from WBWC studios in Cleveland, OH
The final day. We left Philly on the late side after a slow start. We arrived in NYC, parked near the venue (Arlene's) and scooted over to the East Village, where I dragged everyone for a couple of quick vegan eats (though the place also had non-vegan food). It was probably the biggest quanity of food I had eaten in a few days, which made me a little sluggish feeling.
My sister Rachel arranged a meeting with her friend Darren, a fellow who has some knowledge and connections in music business areas that we could greatly benefit from. Both Rachel and Darren rushed downtown from work to meet with us in the limited window we had before we played an early set at 7 PM, which was very awesome of them both. It was a very helpful discussion, which we are thankful for. It's really nice to get that kind of help from people and makes us feel very good.
After, we zoomed over to Arlene's and loaded on stage. I always use my amp on stage as my monitor for the acoustic guitar. The sound guy forcefully convinced me that I could put it off to the side and I would be able to hear without a problem. I knew this wouldn't be true, but I went for it anyway, which resulted in me not being able to hear what I was doing very well. I don't blame the sound guy really, because it's almost impossible to get the monitor situation to be okay for the acoustic, which is why I use the amp as my monitor. This is particularly hard with a quick line check. Anyway, I felt off the whole set and couldn't really get settled into singing in tune because I just couldn't pick up any of my guitar and the room is boxy enough that the bass just sounded like a toneless rumble to me. I do wish I were better at singing in tune without cue; like having absolute pitch or something. Anyway, I am lucky at this point that I can ever sing a note in tune, so I guess I have to work with what I've got. I had fun playing, though I felt off the whole time. People generally responded all right. We intended to leave soon after our set, but ended up staying a while to talk to all of our friends that had come, many of whom we had not seen in some time. It was nice to stick around and relax to end the journey. We busted out close to midnight and drove back to Boston, weary and worn, but we had a fun time.
I always get a bit of a booster shot for working on band things after we go on tour, even when it's a mix of successed and failures. Something about being immersed in the experience reminds me how much of it is cool and fun and takes me away from the constant business, Internet, and bookkeeping side I spend too much time in normally.
We're looking forward to working hard competing in the Phoenix poll and the WBCN Rumble, writing and recording new songs, and touring again. Thanks to everyone on the road and at home for the support and for making this band possible. Sometimes it feels like quite a vain, self-indulgent project, and you all help to make us feel a little more like there is a real side to it besides fulfilling our little-boy dreams of being rock stars. Rock on and see you all soon!
