Archive for July, 2008
Creative Genius: Erik Mongrain
Jul 31st
Photo of the Month: Head Kicker
Jul 28th
Recently, we were set up selling our sweatbands at Warped Tour in Detriot, when this guy came up and offered to kick himself in the face for a free “Corky” Sweatband. It was truly an amazing site.
To submit your photos with your SerTop sweatband email them to contact@stbands.com !
Mark Hoppus: Advice To Bands
Jul 25th
Below is an interview with Mark Hoppus (bassist and vocals for both Blink 182 and +44). The interview is conducted by Pete Wentz, the bass player of Fall Out Boy. Pete says that Fall Out Boy got “The Magic Hand” and it was expensive.
To view this interview in it entirety visit http://www.friendsorenemies.com
Reverb Nation – A great way to give your music some reach.
Jul 22nd
Whether your in a band or a fan you need to head over to reverbnation.com. Kyle made a post the other day “What Record Labels Look For!” and this post will further teach you how to use applications like Reverb Nation and others to make you shine when you present to record labels.
The coolest thing about Reverb Nation is that it tracks all of your stats in depth. I’m not just talking about plays, i’m talking about where your banner is at and how many people are spreading the word about you actively. See the screen shot below:
As you can see it breaks your stats into 4 catagories Listeners, Fans, Street Teamers, and Promoters. If you stick with it, you’ll find out that there is nothing in this world that is more amazing than people that want to be part of your streat team and help spread the word about your band.
Once you get your music uploaded to Reverb Nation, fans who have the facebook or MySpace application can easily add your songs to there profile.
Even though this all sounds like cake, there still is a lot of work involved, and step one would be to start assigning who will be doing what within your band. Maybe one day someone will add friends on myspace and the next someone will work on Reverb Nation.
I’ve only touched on a few of the things you can do with Reverb Nation, please comment and subscribe!
Twin Souls of Sulfur – We bet you haven’t heard anything this sexy
Jul 21st
(Click Play to listen to “Sulfur” By Twin Souls of Sulfur)
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Sending ambient sound waves out of Columbus, Ohio, Twin Souls of Sulfur really will take your imagination for a trip. We’ve featured some unique bands on this blog, but when you listen to this music you may find your self saying either WTF? or maybe where has this been my whole life? Twin Souls of Sulfur consists of Allison DeWitt and Forest Christenson, a duo that really kicks some major butt. Allison Does the singing and plays Kazoo, while Forest produces the tracks, plays the violin, mandolin, drums, and synthesizers.
To find out more about them visit them on MySpace.
What Record Labels Look for!
Jul 15th
Constantly, bands ask how do I get my band signed? Labels now a days look non other than myspace itself, they want to see how many friends you have. They are checking for how many plays you get a day and how marketable your band will be. So if you want to open eyes. Treat your bands myspace like a job, everyday add people post bulletins with your music player in the bulletin to raise the plays. Tell every person in your band to add 50-100 people a day and before you know it you will have a bigger fan base. Remember nothing will be handed to you. After you get your friends and plays up start sending request to management and labels. Peace out…..
How To Get Your Music On iTunes – Market Your Music
Jul 14th
A lot of bands and musicians still do not know how to put their music on iTunes. You do not have to have a label to be on iTunes, but you do have to be serious and have a decent recording. Have these two traits? Click on the image below or click here to get started with iTunes.
We will be telling you more good ways to market your music and get your bands name out to the people that count. Stay Tuned.
Meet the Newest Member of SerTop: Kyle
Jul 9th
Introducing Kyle Mathis. Guitarist of Neverset, and now our newest writer here at the SerTop blog. We met Kyle while making Neverset some custom sweatbands for their tour with Three Days Grace, Seether, and Breaking Benjamin. He’s a good friend and knows a lot about the music business.
Kyle has made a few posts already:
Seether “Rise Above This” Secrets about the song.
Getting your band on tour with major bands…..
Getting your band on tour with major bands…..
Jul 7th
Getting noticed is extremely tough as a musician especially since their is SO MUCH music out there…. instead of calling booking agents and calling venues your head should be elsewhere! Looking for investors people that will financially support you. Today all music is politics whether you like it or not. Your band could be the best band and not be signed or the worst band and have a record deal. The best way to get noticed is doing a buy on. If you don’t know what a buy on is, it means you pay a big band for them to let you tour along side of them ….it can be anywhere from $5,000 -$90,000 depending on the band. This will ensure people being at the shows, you won’t make much money but you will definatley get your name out there! Play every show like its your last…give 100% because you never know who will be watching!
A Chat With Der Bomber(UK)
Jul 6th
A few weeks ago we featured Der Bomber on the blog. Lately, they’ve been pretty busy watching the Euro 2008 soccer games and getting deep into songwriting sessions. However, now since Euro 2008 is over and Spain won 
, they were able to answer a few of our questions.
Haven’t heard Der Bomber? Press play, sit back and enjoy the chat.
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Der Bomber, is that German?
‘der bomber’ is indeed a German name, literally meaning ‘the bomber’, it was a nickname attributed to a 70′s German footballer called gerd muller who had a phenomenal goalscoring record, the name is a nod to all of us who support lower league clubs and christen our treasured star striker with the name (eg nicky ‘der bomber’ maynard), our politics our probably summed up in that concept, pride in squalor.
Who are you rooting for in Euro 2008?
I watched euro 2008 as a complete neutral but enjoyed watching Holland the most.
Your songs have a load of energy! Have your songs always been this energetic?
‘hard and fast’ has always been the rationale, i believe we are still yet to hit our top gear. the energy and passion are derived from the fact that we mean absolutely every word we say, chord we play, we were once described as ‘viciously intelligent’, that’s the best description of der bomber i’ve heard.
My favorite is “Swimming of Sinking.” What is this song about? More >
