Musicadium Blog

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

Musicadium’s WITH DIGITAL LOVE Events are now an institution. A tried and true party, always with amazing acts, great vibe and lounging relaxation of the BarSoma surrounds. Why should this one be any different? Saturday May 29th sees BarSoma once again hosting the Digital Distributor’s contribution to the Brisbane live music scene, with a night of dance and rock acts, followed up with DJs to see the night through to completion – or sunrise, as it were.

Once again, the Musicadium staff has curated the lineup of the night and hand-picked (from thousands of acts on the roster). Leading the night is Gold Coast’s ELKE, amply backed up by party act The Beligerents and opening the night My+Escapade.

A new feature of the nights will be 3 DJs to see the night out, yet to be announced and shrouded in mystery, but sure to amaze, playing a variety of indie classics, disco burners and dance floor igniters! Watch this space for more details on celebrity DJs and local legends!

ELKE was designed as a response to what it’s four members wanted so badly to hear in the QLD music scene. Beginning in late 2007, the boys spent close to six months simply as a recording band before their first gig amongst the Queensland finalists of the MTV Kickstart competition. It wasn’t long before people started to take notice of ELKE’s infectious self-produced recordings and the shows began to line up around the block. Having shared the Goodvibes stage with acts such as Chromeo, The Presets, and Fatboy Slim, ELKE have also played support slots for international groups, Datarock (Norway), Ratatat (USA) as well as Australian wunderkinds, Grafton Primary, Van She, Lost Valentinos, and Art Vs Science.

The Belligerents are a new-age dance punk five piece and their fast-paced, high-energy live shows will spawn a dance frenzy of epic proportions. Their message is communicated via an avalanche of catchy pop hooks, 80’s synth fun, dance heavy bass, high tempo drumming, loud cow bell and guitars that sing. The band are now ready to launch their crusade after being schooled under the likes of Talking Heads, Joy Division, Foals, Radiohead, Cut Copy, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Does It Offend You Yeah, Midnight Juggernauts and The Rapture.

My Escapade has become best known for their haunting and uplifting live performances along with our experimentation with alluring melodies and tribal beats. Their sound is often described as soulful, alternative rock, reminiscent of early Coldplay and Jeff Buckley, with tributes to more modern sounds evocative of Muse. They have supported such acts as Dukes of Windsor and Little Red and are sure to blow minds.

Entry will be $10 and doors are at 8PM, with the first act taking the stage at 9PM. More information can be found at http://www.facebook.com/musicadium.

Musicadium Promotions and Development Manager Tim Price caught up with Brisbane singer/songwriter Joel Myles for a chat about his great CD packaging and awesome attitude towards songwriting/touring/playing.

1.    Congrats on the EP - looks great!  We hear the inside of the physical packaging is pretty nifty - tell us about that?

Thanks!  Yeah I had this idea about how I wanted people to feel about the “Kaleidoscope the keys” record.   I wanted the listener to feel like they are looking in to another place, time or dimension through the songs.  I didn’t want to just slap a picture of a psychedelic Kaleidoscope in the artwork but the idea of a scene with more dimension and story.  Straight away I thought of those old 3D Viewmaster’s.  I hunted around a few Opp-shops and collectables and found an original USA 60’s one at a Comics and Collectables store.  It came with a few slides and it looked very cool.  So I decided to have on the inside of the wallet style CD pack, a panel as the viewmaster and the actual disc a slide.  It worked out really cool.

2.    Was it an effort to give people an added incentive to purchase the physical product?

Not really.  I just wanted to make it special.  It was such a fantastic experience recording the EP, everyone who worked on it put their heart in to it.  I’m really proud of this release and I wanted to give it a great physical representation too.  Also, when I buy records I like the art involved, the personal touch.

3.    Between the Joel Myles band and your other project, RVLR (also a Musicadium-distributed artist) you have supported some of the biggest names in the business, including Wolfmother and Karnivool.  What was that like? Did you hook those support slots up or was that through a booking agent??

Playing with bands like this is such a thrill.  Even loading in your gear is exciting.  The Wolfmother show came from nowhere.  We (Joel Myles) had a show booked as a part of the tour at Villa Noosa with our friends from the Gold Coast “Brothers”.  We found out that afternoon that Wolfmother were joining the bill as a secret show (practicing a fill-in drummer) before their ACDC support the next night.  I hadn’t played any shows on the Sunshine Coast with my solo project, I expected about 6 people to show up…. There were around 600 now!  The biggest kick is getting the chance to have a beer and chat with these guys and play in front of a strong crowd who are all really excited about being there.  The audience really got in to the Joel Myles music too.  I was stoked about that.  When RVLR played with Karnivool it was just when Themata had taken off.  The Zoo was packed and the vibe was amazing.  We got booked for that support through Karnivool’s management.  I’m pretty sure they rang up Timeoff and asked their opinion on who would suit.  Most of the time we are proactive in finding these support slots.  Other times our agency will get us on the line-up.  All of it comes down to staying active as a band and looking out for any opportunities.

4.    What do you think is the most important thing for an artist in 2010 to have in their arsenal of promotional tools?

A website.  It’s your business card.  A good site allows the punter to get connected with your music in a way that will always top any social networking site.  Don’t get me wrong they are key tools and can all be spun together on your site.  I got my www.joelmyles.com site done by Mike “unfamo.us” (www.sitefloat.com).

5.    Where do you buy all of your music??

I’m slowly starting to buy music from iTunes.  I don’t seem to have as much time to head into a CD shop anymore.  Occasionally I will head to “The Music Shop” in the Valley mall.

6.    What’s the plan for Joel Myles band? What’s next?

We are shooting a video for “Smoke and Mirrors” very soon.  We are continuing the tour to Melbourne and Sydney in support of the EP in the coming months.  I’m really looking forward to getting the songs on the road.  I have started writing more material lately which is a good sign too.

Kaleidoscope the Keys is now available on

Melbourne’s Star Assassin will this weekend bring some good old fashioned rock to Brisbane when they play the Globe on Saturday night. After captivating audiences in Melbourne, Sydney and all around this fine land of ours, the Star Assassin boys have recently released a new single ’sickness’ on iTunes, and have been met with an overwhelming response.

If you like your music with depth, you’ll love Star Assasssin.

Sarah caught up with lead singer Simon for a chat about what’s coming up for this exciting Victorian band.

1.    You’ve got an East Coast tour coming up which is exciting? How does playing on tour differ from playing in your hometown of Melbourne?

A lot of driving and the fact that we are no longer in Melbourne are the two most apparent things to me, but apart from a bit of site seeing and trying not to eat large amounts of take away road food, all the shows are great and the fans make the road a nice place to be.
2.    Your new single ‘Sickness’ was released on iTunes May 10 – congratulations! It’s got a harder edge than some of your other tracks. Describe the new sound to us, and why you went in this direction.

“Sickness” is basically a song for the band to rock out live with our core fans. After we started with our new drummer “Mike White” we basically just wanted to put some heavy rock out, which was also raw and edgy with no plans for radio etc, just print media and touring and then we planned to sit down and record all the more everything friendly stuff, but we just had to get this out of our system first before the album was recorded.
3.    You’ve had some sync deals and also some placements with Men’s magazine samplers Ralph and Zoo. How did these come about? How do you feel about sync in general – is this the way a lot of musicians will be heading?

I have strong views in relation to the direction the music industry should go especially for savvy independent artists and that’s the exact direction it’s already heading. I think already and more so in the future that people will find and hear about their music from many, many sources, of course where there is a nice harmonious market there will always be some corporation wanting to control it… I could go on forever.

4.    What’s been your favourite moment as a band so far?

Honestly, no one moment sticks out, it’s all one ride for me.

5.    What’s next for Star Assassin?

Tour, Media, Shows, Repeat.

Check them out on

This week’s featured artists are pretty damn special for a multitude of reasons.

1.  They’re amazing songwriters and musicians.

2. They put on a killer live show and pack out every venue they play.

3.  They’re supporting psychedelic wizards Tame Impala tonight at the Tivoli in Brisbane.

4. Musicadium favourite family member Ashley Roulston is their manager, and that lady knows music.

5. The lead singer of the band Jack Bratt agreed with me one night after a few beverages that Rick Price is a solid musician.

Don’t let this put you off though, (Rick Price haters!), Blonde on Blonde are pretty much one of the coolest bands you’ll see and hear in 2010.

Musicadium’s own loveable troublemaker Trent Moody caught up with them for a chat about their own troublemaking as a band, John Farnham duets and a gossip about Ash.

You were drawn together by your love of smoking, Jack Daniels and a burning desire to quit your day jobs’ how’s that working out for you?
We  still love Jack Daniels, and we still have day jobs we want to quit, so it’s keeping us together! We are also great friends and we love playing music together, so there are other reasons for us being in a band despite our substance abuse and work. We basically started the band because we were spending all of our time together anyway, eventually we had one of our “What are we doing with our lives” moments, and it made sense to do something more constructive then just drink. Being in band justifies our drinking a little bit. At least to us it does.

You gained a lot of popularity so far in Brisbane all without ever playing a gig before, why have you kept us in suspense for so long?

It has been more out of necessity than anything else. I was always very worried to show any of the music I had written on my own to anybody. When I eventually showed a few of my friends, they pushed me to pursue it further. I wanted to see if it was going to be music people would enjoy before we went out playing shows and really putting the hard yards in, so we recorded the EP and just sat back and watched. The response in the short amount of time since the release has been overwhelming.

Musicadium’s very own Ash Roulston is managing you guys at the moment, how’s she treating you?

She is a delight. We call her Mum. We are constantly yearning for her approval. She came along at the perfect time when we had really done all we could on our own. We are all such a bunch of troublemakers and she is very good at keeping us all in check and taking care of us, I really don’t envy her.

If you could play with any artist in the world, who would it be and why?

John Farhnam. We hope to one day be popular enough that we can invite him on stage with us to perform “You’re the Voice”, complete with bagpipe solo.

Your EP “Tease” featured Dave Atkins, who was the drummer for Wolfmother and also plays with Resin Dogs, what was it like working with him?

Dave is just a genius. He was really the driving force behind the EP. He has been a friend of ours for a long time, and Matt had been talking to him about the music we were writing for a long time. So one day Dave called Matt and told him he had booked time in the studio for us and gave us the dates, without even asking us first! It was panic mode after that; the songs were not even finished. So we had to buckle down and work like crazy to get everything ready. I remember being in the live room, playing guitar with him playing drums, I had the cheesiest grin on my face. He does things on drums you just don’t think are possible. And he is such an easygoing person to work with. It couldn’t have been a more pleasant experience. We would still not have our shit together if it weren’t for him.

Hopefully you’re going to tell us that you’ll be recording a new album soon? How long do we have to wait and what can we expect from it?

We are really itching to get back in the studio and make an album. The songs on the EP are getting quite old for us, so the concept of recording new material is very exciting. We are going to be able to spend a lot more time and money on the album, so it will be a lot more polished. The new songs we are writing have a lot more energy. There will be Lots of guitar riffs, and more provocative songs. We hope to have it recorded and out by the end of the year.

Check out Blonde on Blonde on

Also check out their MySpace here.

Get your music personally pitched by Musicadium to leading global industry players gathered in Hong Kong this May…without needing a rock superstar budget or an expense account to travel!

• Want to make it in new international markets but don’t know how to do it or where to start?

• Been getting some local traction but don’t know the people or places outside of your own turf that can grow your fan base, build your profile and open doors?

• Need publicity or a plugger but don’t have Major Label-size Rock Superstar budget?

Maybe you could try doing it all yourself.  Maybe you could beg, borrow and steal. ….Or you could simply use Musicadium to do the leg work and get things happening on your behalf.

Ramp up your profile and international connections

Access opportunities to plug your music in to Asia and the rest of the world

We’ve got a great opportunity to “take you” with us this May to Music Matters in Hong Kong, Asia’s only annual conference dedicated to the business of music.

With our partner Valleyarm as key sponsors of this event, a select handful of artists will be exclusively represented by Musicadium at this leading industry gathering, pitching you and your music to the world’s best and influential.

We know your music is good. You certainly do. So let us tell the world!

Make your music matter this month with Musicadium representatives working face to face on the ground for you.

What we’ll be doing for you…

• Your featured track on our digital sampler BandTag personally handed to industry leaders and included in over 1,800 delegates’ goodies bag

• A one on one consultation with Musicadium prior to the conference, to really define how to get the best outcomes for you at Music Matters

• Your own plugger on the ground, introducing your sounds to the markets you can’t easily reach

• Establishing new relationships and opening opportunities to expand your audience

• Profiling your music and band on our exclusive Music Matters artist’s webpage

• Providing you a full rundown on how things went - your opportunities, recommendations, actions and follow ups.

Our special deal for you…

Exclusive representation, professional pluggers, conference fees, band tags, travel etc can cost thousands! We really want you to have this exposure…it could lead to great things! It’s definitely worth thousands, but working closely with our partners we have packaged all this for $500 (ex GST).

How do you get involved? You need to act fast!!

To be a part of this exclusive opportunity, we need to hear from you as soon as possible.

All you need to do is visit http://www.musicadium.com/musicmatters, enter your details and we’ll be back in touch ASAP.

Numbers will be closed 5pm Friday 14^th May. We only have a few spots left.

Making that first connection to 1,800 of the world’s leading music industry reps can start today.

Bandtag has released new Bandtag cards available especially for DIY artists who want to promote to their fans and collect real fan data on a budget.

The new DIY Bandtag cards are great for giveaways/promo of one track or more, new music video or anything an artist wants to reward fans with for being such loyal followers.

The best part for the artist is that they collect that lovely fan data on redemption - artists can then interact with fans directly and promote
directly tour dates, new album, new merch!

Artists can also use the DIY Bandtag cards as business cards or include it with the physical product as an add on with exclusive content they cannot
get anywhere else!

For as little as .65c each, an artist can have 1000 personalised Bandtag DIY cards with your own artwork and digital download platform - collecting real data and engaging/rewarding your fans!

BandTag are doing a one month only special for DIY artists of 10% discount off first order for the month of May. Orders can be at your door in under 7 days!

Check out the link here on the DIY Artists pricing (and please note the unique redeem codes are now printed on the back for you) at the BandTag Website.

Musicadium has moved offices, back to the Fortitude Valley!

Our new details…

2/477 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006

info@musicadium.com

+61 7 3252 9962

Visiting Us

Our office is located on Brunswick St, just east of the iconic Fortitude Valley Mall, Brisbane’s vibrant Entertainment precinct.

If you are in a taxi, the closest intersection is Brunswick and McLachlan Streets.

If you are travelling by train, the closest station is Brunswick St.

View Larger Map

Check in at our new Office (if you drop in) on FourSquare!

This week, the featured artist on iTunes is one that we are especially excited to be distributing!  It is Australia’s answer to the “Supergroup,” Basement Birds.

No Doubt, you have heard of the other acts they front - Kav from Eskimo Joe, Kevin Mitchell AKA Bob Evans and Josh Pyke from…Josh Pyke.

Musicadium’s Artist Relations Manager Sarah Hamilton talks with Kevin Mitchell and Steve Parkin about music purchasing habits, cheesy/embarrassing tunes and how the boys came together to create their harmony-filled tunes.

1.     Ok, we have to ask the obvious question because we’re keen to know the answer! With 4 amazing creative minds in the band, does ego get in the way? Or is it more a case of that there is never a shortage of creative ideas?

SP: DEFINITELY THE LATTER. ONE THING WE DISCOVERED IS THAT WE ALL HAVE SURPRISINGLY SIMILAR TASTES IN SONGWRITING AND PRODUCTION, AND THERE IS DEFINITELY MORE A BAND VIBE THAT A “FOUR SONGWRITERS” VIBE.

KM: No one in the band seems to have an out of control ego which is a bit of a shame because that would probably make us a bit more interesting but at the same time reigning in ego’s can become such a tiresome affair after a while.  There are always a handful of songs being tossed about at any one time, jockeying for position to be the next one given the royal recording treatment.  I think our songs have bigger ego’s than we do!

2.    How did the concept of Basement Birds come about?

SP: KEV AND I HAD WRITTEN A SONG, AND I HAD CO-WRITTEN WITH KAV BEFORE WITH ESKIMO JOE AND ON OTHER PROJECTS. JOSH AND KAV HAD COLLABORATED ON A SONG, SO SOMEHOW THE IDEA AROSE FOR US TO ALL GET TOGETHER IN A ROOM WITH SOME BEER AND SEE WHAT HAPPENED!

KM: I believe it was probably Steve and Kav’s idea.  I don’t really know the answer to this question so I’m going to have a guess and suggest that, because Steve and Kav spent the most time together previously, they probably cooked up the idea.  Kav had just been on tour with Josh and Steve was touring with me at the time and Josh and I were already mates.  Conceptually, we thought we might like to make an album that relied almost solely on acoustic instruments and also indulged our collective love of harmonies.

3.    How does the songwriting process work? Does one of you start off and it just builds from there or do you each get assigned different parts?

SP: MOSTLY, IT’D BE A BASIC SONG STRUCTURE THAT ONE OR TWO OF US HAD COME UP WITH, THEN WE RUN THROUGH IT TOGETHER AND ADD IDEAS, MIDDLE 8′S ETC. IT VARIES. “BUS STOP”, FOR EXAMPLE, WAS PRETTY MUCH JUST A BOOZED UP KEV AND JOSH ON THE PORCH. KAV AND I RAN OUT AND YELLED “STOP! THATS A HIT! PLAY IT AGAIN!”

WE ALL WORKSHOP LYRICS AND MELODIES THOUGH, ITS ALL ABOUT WHATS BEST FOR THE SONG.

KM: We know we have a song ready to go when either Josh, Kav or Steve yell out, “It’s a hit!”.  Having never written one before I find them unrecognisable so I go along with their better judgement.  Someone always has a song they are working on and want to bring to the band so everyone throws in ideas to finish it.  We also work out amongst ourselves who will sing main harmonies, second harmonies or perhaps who might take a middle eight to sing.  The process is actually pretty fast as once we are all on a roll creatively we tend to work pretty quick.  Some songs are almost fully formed when they arrive and some songs are pretty much written entirely on Kav’s porch moments before they are recorded.

4.    We like the approach that you have taken to your release schedule - less tracks, more often.  Do you feel that this approach is the middle ground between the fall in album sales and the lack of “decent margin” on single sales? Or do you feel it is more a reflection of consumption trends?

SP: IT WAS MORE OF A CASE OF - “OH SHIT, THE ALBUM’S NOT FINISHED YET”, TO BE HONEST! IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, I LIKE THE IDEA OF MAKING SOME SONGS INSTANTLY AVAILABLE, AND ANY PHYSICAL RELEASE TO BE A BIT MORE SPECIAL. I THINK THE DAYS OF THE JEWEL CASE WITH A ONE CARD SLIP ARE OVER, TO BE HONEST. AS DYLAN SAYS, “THERE’S NO STATURE TO IT”

KM: Woah - slow down!  “Decent margin”?  “Consumption trends”?  It was our managers idea.

5.    You seem to have fairly similar tastes in music, but do you secretly love any bands/artists that you’re usually embarrassed to admit to but can unveil to us now? (If it makes it any easier mine are Roxette and Beyonce…)

SP: I’VE ALWAYS MAINTAINED THAT BRITNEY SPEARS’ “TOXIC” IS ONE OF THE FINEST SONGS WRITTEN THIS CENTURY. SHALL WE COVER IT LADS?????

KM: Oh I’m never embarrassed about music that I like.  That’s why I have absolutely zero musical guilty pleasures.  I love Billy Joel’s “She’s Always A Woman”.  Infact I love everything Billy Joel did up until 1985.  Beyonce’s “Halo” and “Single Ladies” are also phenomonal.

6.    How do each of you purchase music? A combination or is one of you a vigilant vinyl collector?

SP: I STILL BUY CD’S. I WORK IN A RECORD STORE (MILLS RECORDS IN FREMANTLE) AND MY BOSS WOULD BE A BIT DARK IF I DIDN’T! I LOVE VINYL, I STILL THINK IT’S THE BEST WAY TO LISTEN TO MUSIC, RATHER THAN JUST HAVE A SHUFFLE OF UNNAMED MP3′S PLAYING ON AN IPOD IN THE BACKGROUND. THE ARTWORK, THE SMELL OF NEW VINYL, EVERYTHING ABOUT IT! I AM REALLY HOPING WE GET TO RELEASE THE BASEMENT BIRDS ON VINYL.

KM: I used to collect vinyl but I must admit it has been slowly beaten out of me.  I haven’t bought vinyl in about 7 years and my collection rarely gets played these days as my record player isn’t even plugged in anymore!  Although I love the romance of vinyl.  That will never die.  I don’t even buy many cd’s anymore.  The majority of my albums/songs are bought from iTunes these days and listened to on an iPod.  I love the immediacy of it.  If I’m wasted at 2am and suddenly realise that Donna Summer disco is the best music in the world to dance to, I can be shakin’ my hips to her greatest hits collection within minutes!

7.    Finally, if you could add a fifth member to the Birds (living or dead) who would it be?

SP: LIVING OR DEAD?? LIVING, I’D HAVE TO SAY PAUL KELLY. THEN WE WOULDN’T HAVE TO WRITE ANY SONGS, THEY’D ALL BE THERE ALREADY AND BRILLIANT! WE’D JUST HAVE TO SING THEM! DEAD? I’D ADD ROY ORBISON. THEN WE COULD COVER THE TRAVELLING WILBURYS WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS…

KM: Anyone as long as it was a woman.  There are times when I think what the four of us is doing is absurd.  We’re four grown men and sometimes it just feels ridiculous.  A woman in the group would add an extra depth I think.  But what kind of sadistic lady would want to join?
You can download the iTunes Single of the Week - Basement Birds - Waiting for You at

It is back again for 2010 - from today until the end of May 2010, Studios 301 mastering rates are 25% off! This applies to all Studio 301 engineer’s rates, and are listed below.

(per track rates are unattended / per hour rates are attended sessions)

Leon Zervos: $140 p.track / $260 p.hr
Steve Smart: $1200 p.12 tracks / $150 p.hr
Oscar Gaona: $125 p.track / $165 p.hr
Andrew Edgson: $90 p.track / $105 p.hr

And a small selection of work from our mastering engineers in the last month or so:

• Leon Zervos: Brian McFadden - Cloud Control - Renee Cessar - David Campbell - Georgia Fair - Stephanie Brownlee - Polar Opposites
• Steve Smart: Neil Murray - Brian McFadden - Lisa Mitchell - Washington - Pivot - Toe to Toe - Against
• Oscar Gaona: Rogue Traders - Cassette Kids - Matt Corby - Angus & Julia Stone - The Beautiful Girls - Radio National - The McClymonts
• Andrew Edgson: Chaingang - Serenik - Foz - Coptic Soldier & Miriam Waks - Sleeping on Trains - Aural Window

For more info, or to book, please contact Anita via the details below.

Studios 301 Australia

Ph +61 (0)2 9698 5888
Email anita@studios301.com
Web http://www.studios301.com
MS http://www.myspace.com/studios301
Syd 18 Mitchell Rd Alexandria, NSW 2015 Australia
Byron 373 Ewingsdale Rd Byron Bay NSW 2481 Australia