My band "RiverGard" has been invited to participate in a local area battle of the bands called "Country Wars". It's a HUGE deal for us. I thought I'd stop by and let my friends here know about it. Here's a flyer/banner-
(http://www.paulvalenti.com/PICS/CWFlyer_400x518.jpg)
Here's the details for anyone that cares to know them. There are so far 8 bands in the competition. There are 3 semi-final rounds which will produce a winner who will advance to the final/championship round. We play at the first of the 3 semi-finals and are actually the first band onstage (at 9pm) on June 2nd, 2007. The bands will be judged both by a panel of judges AND by the crowd who will be given a ballot if they wish when they enter the club the night of the show. Each band can recieve between 1-5 points total from the judges and 1-5 points total from the crowd ballots...or a grand total of 10 points possible per band. The winner of each semi-final will win $100 and will advance to the final/championship round. The winner of the final/championship round will win $1000, plus $200 at Guitar Source (a local music store specializing in guitars) and recording time at Chapman Recording Studio (the premier Kansas City recording studio).
We hope to at least win our round...but whatever happens it's great exposure and puts our name in the limelight. I have been told that they record the bands through the sound system and produce CD's of the events for sale. I believe we are supposed to get a few of them for free. We are also planning to set up multiple video cameras and take LOTS of pics. So I should have lots of stuff to post up for anyone who cares to view/hear it.
Wish me luck...actually wish US luck! :)
That sounds pretty cool Paul! Good luck!
Pete
Good luck .
Win or not will be good for the band thought.
paul u will win,good luck
Thanks guys. We've had some good luck already actually. We've got a credited Horror Movie Producer/Director shooting video of us to put together a full DVD of the band, the gigs, the people...etc...etc...etc... We plan to use it to promote the band in our Promo Pack. He's already done about 20 to 30 minutes of live perfomance footage along with interviews with some of us in the band during the breaks, etc...
If you want to become familiar with our Videographer google for Todd Sheets. He's got tons of low-budget horror flicks to his credit including a fairly successful series of Zombie movies that are all ultra-gore/intense movies.
Paul thx you for the good news,keep us update on more info
The good news seems to keep on coming for us. (no complaints on that front)
We just got the call to open for Curb/Asylum recording artists Cowboy Crush in concert at the 109th Annual Johnson County Old Settlers celebration (aka The Johnson County Fair) on September 7th at 6:30pm.
This one is a HUGE gig for us (or any band really). This means a full-size concert stage, pro sound and lighting crews and just about anything you need (musician-wise). We only play for 45 minutes...but we get paid as much as if we'd worked a whole night (or weekend). Plus the band Cowboy Crush is an all-female country group and they are HOT! Often compared to Dixie Chicks (for obvious reasons) I think these womens' music speaks for itself. It sounds great, they sing great, and they are down-to-earth and very approachable.
I went ahead and made up a flyer/poster for the event since I looked at the event website and found none and they liked it so much they decided to use it. It'll be in the local newspapers as well. I posted a copy on Cowboy Crush's myspace (www.myspace.com/cowboycrush) and the lead singer posted a comment/reply saying that she liked it. First of all...I know how much go-go-go, stress, and strain anyone in that band MUST be going through on an everyday basis. For her to take the time to answer a post on myspace with all that I'm sure she's got on her 'plate' is extremely impressive to me. Needless to say with her post she gained a life-long fan in me. I already thought that these girls had what it takes to make it big big big...now I'm even more convinced. Check them out on their myspace and see if you don't agree (www.myspace.com/cowboycrush).
Here's a copy of the flyer -
(http://www.paulvalenti.net/PICS/FridayOSDflyer600x788.jpg)
thats cool paul i have myspace
Cool dude...look me up and my band here-
www.myspace.com/pvalenti
www.myspace.com/rivergard
Gotta run...housework to do before practice tonight...last practice before tomorrow night's big gig. So we'll be hitting it hard.
(http://www.paulvalenti.net/PICS/PromoShot_600x499.png)
UPDATE - We didn't win our Semi-Final at Country Wars, but we had a great time. The pic above is from in front of the bar the night of the contest. Basically the band that brought the most people with them (to vote) won. No biggie though, the gig was fun as hell and the other bands were all a lot of fun to hang out with. It was more like a glorified jam session than anything really.
Since then however we have picked up some serious steam. We originally had only 1 gig booked for the entire month of June (not including Country Wars). Now things are quite different. We have this coming week off (practice only), but starting the 21st of June we are busy through the end of the month. We play at RG's (a kick-butt local club) on Thursday June 21st, and Highway House on Friday June 22nd. Then we are back at RG's on Thursday June 28th, then back at Highway House on Friday June 29th, and finally we play a wedding in Lathrop, Missouri on Saturday June 30th.
It'll take some time...but probably by the end of the year I'll have the whole calendar year looking similar to that. If in that case the game industry job situation doesn't work out, I'll still be able to support myself off of the band, and I like it every bit as much as making games. So either way I guess I'll be happy.
UPDATE -
RiverGard schedule-
July-
5th Thursday - RG's in Independence, MO.
12th Thursday - RG's in Independence, MO.
15th Sunday - BENEFITS (2 in a row) 1st is at RG's in Independence, MO for Fat Jack's medical bills and 2nd is at Whiskey Tango in Grain Valley, MO (biggest club in Kansas City) for 22 month old Bailey Bennett who has Neuroblastoma (a form of cancer that affects children).
19th Thursday - RG's in Independence, MO.
20th Friday - RG's in Independence, MO.
21st Saturday - RG's in Independence, MO.
22nd Sunday - BENEFIT "Save Independence Bars" (from a smoking ban) at Bogarts in Independence, MO.
26th Thursday - RG's in Independence, MO.
August-
5th Sunday - BENEFIT at Whiskey Tango in Grain Valley, MO for a 12 week old infant who needs a heart transplant to live.
19th Sunday - COUNTRY WARS Semi Final round #3 at Jerry's Bait Shop in Lees Summit, MO.
25th Saturday - Private Block Party (the regular yearly RiverGard BBQ/Block Party)
September-
7th Friday - Johnson County Old Settlers celebration - opening for "Cowboy Crush" in concert at the fair.
28th Friday - Jerseys in Independence, MO.
29th Saturday - Jerseys in Independence, MO.
***At the latest round of benefits we've been attending we have been handing out many promo-packs and should be getting a lot more bookings soon. I expect to add at least 3 more venues to our calendar very soon as regular rotating gigs.
The last benefit at Whiskey Tango was AMAZING! This is the biggest bar in Kansas City and has a full-size concert stage (which is absolutely incredible to play on). The last time we played there the owner grabbed us as we came offstage and asked us to sign his wall (something that previously had only been done by signed national acts)...we signed right under Joe Diffy! We've got another benefit coming up there on August 5th...it should be a really fun time and it's for a very good cause.
That's all for now...more as it becomes available.
Just got home from Jerry's Bait Shop and the Country Wars 3rd Semi-Final.
It was a REALLY cool event tonight. Both Country Wars and Club Wars went down in the same evening. 2 bands played for both events. First up was The Jerry Dowell Band who sounded a lot more like a blues band than a country band...but they were still pretty good, I enjoyed them very much. Then my band RiverGard hit the stage and did our thing. After that the Club Wars bands started setting up and just before they started Jim Kilroy (the event promoter) got up on stage and read the results of Country Wars.
The result was....a TIE! This means that both bands (my band RiverGard and The Jerry Dowell Band) will move on to the Country Wars final, date/time/location to be announced sometime this week on www.clubwars.net. I will of course post all the info here once I know it.
Next up was the Club Wars bands and they while quite different from what the Country Wars bands were playing were still great in their own right. First up was "Short Bus Masacre" who laid down a blistering set, setting the bar high from the start. Next was "Decimus"...a group of kids all too young to drink (I don't think any of them is over 18). This band was as tight and well rehearsed as any band I've seen. Tight synchopated rythms with blistering leads and EVERY ONE of them was extremely talented. They wound up winning the night and are moving on to the Summer Club Wars final on September 7th at The Beaumont Club in Westport, Kansas City, Missouri.
Well...I just wanted to let you guys all know how it went. I'll post more details once they become available.
Next up for us is a Private Block Party on this coming Saturday, August 25th. This is a party that we throw once a year at my bass player's house. The weather looks a bit shaky for friday and saturday...so we may wind up needing to tarp the whole front yard so that we don't wind up getting lit up like Christmas Trees! Should be fun...hopefully the weather will cooperate.
Here's a video from a gig early this month at "The Pig" in Independence, MO. They have house sound and lights and they do the best job of anyone in running it flawlessly. The house sound engineer has traveled with tons of top-name acts. The recording was done on a digital camera (not a movie camera) and the sound is recorded with the built-in condenser mic...so it's not ideal...but you'll get the idea.
The song is an original song. I wrote the lyrics and basic melody and the rest of the guys put thier parts in.
It's called TELL HER EVERYTHING. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/v/BOxhJwv40Z4 (http://www.youtube.com/v/BOxhJwv40Z4)
BUMP! We are just a few days away from our big gig of the summer. This Friday September 7th we open up for curb/asylum recording artists "Cowboy Crush" in concert at the 109th Annual Johnson County Old Settlers celebration (the Johnson County Fair) at 6:30pm on the big stage. (scroll up a bit to see the poster with the fireworks)
It's not the biggest show that I've ever played...but it IS the biggest show that my band has done since we put the group together in January of this year.
Some other exciting news- We went to another local fair last weekend (Santa Caligon Days) to see Mark Chestnut play and wound up getting backstage and meeting Mark and his band and entire entourage. Mark's agent talked to us for a while and of course we mentioned that we had a band. She talked to us for a while and handed us a card and told us to send her a press kit. She said that she'd like to put us on the fair circuit and maybe have us travel with Mark to do some opening dates!
So it looks like taking a trip to studio has been pushed WAY up on the schedule now. We've only got 2 original songs to record, but I don't want to hand a professional tour agent a press kit with a CD that's made from rips off of videos our bass player's wife recorded with a digital camera (not even a video camera)! So it looks like we will be heading into the studio very soon.
I'll update when there's more to tell...possibly this weekend after the fair. We've got a video crew coming out to shoot some footage for a multimedia disc promo for the band (a disc that you can put in any cd or dvd player and at least get to hear some music ((cd player)) if not some video ((dvd player))).
The weather forecast shows a 50% chance of rain for friday currently. So hopefully that will blow over way before the show or wait until afterwards.
The weekend went GREAT! There were quite a few people there (more for the headliner of course) and everyone loved us. We got treated like Kings. I was just about to go looking for a drink and asked the organizer if she knew of a vendor close. She told me that they had 3 coolers filled with drinks for us on the other side of the stage. She also pointed out a private area they had prepared for us that was airconditioned and had tables, chairs, chips, dips, pop and we could ask for anything we wanted to eat (within reason) and they would order it delivered! We really had a great time and all of the people involved from the event people, to the sound and light crews, to the police guard (of which we had our own security detail) were a pleasure to work with. They did a great job and they made us feel like stars.
Well the videographer didn't make it to the event...so I'll have to try to put together a montage from the short bits we got with our digital camera. Once we get something put together I'll post a link here.
Anyway...here's a pic of us jamming at the fair-
(http://www.rivergard.com/rivergard/e107_plugins/autogallery/Gallery/RiverGard/OldSettlersDays/DSC08258.jpg)
Once I get some time to recover from the weekend I'll post up some more pics and hopefully a video clip or two. It'll probably take me a few days to recouperate!
http://apps.rockyou.com/rockyou.swf?instanceid=83702655&ver=102906
Here's a few links to YouTube videos we posted of the 'blessed event'! lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvvNsVckiYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwGR39eR9IU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9UFle7vWgs
and some more from the next night at Cosmo's in Independence, Missouri.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u9qSKk6BKE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q3SoV_5I_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0r-2TyTuxA
That should either keep you all going or bore the piss out of you! lol
*AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING!!!*
We hit the jackpot yet again. There are basically 3 notable FM Country stations in Kansas City and the big one KBEQ Q104.3fm has contacted us and presented us with a dream gig. They want us to headline their "Annual Wedding from Hell" at "The Edge of Hell" haunted house. Every year the radio station holds a sort of lottery where people who want to get married in a unique and scary way phone in and submit their names for consideration. The winning couple gets a wedding thrown by the radio station at the grandfather of all haunted houses in Kansas City. This year, for the first time they are stepping things up a notch and providing live music at the event which will be held in a tent at the exit to the haunted house.
The only downer is that this is not a paying gig. But it pays off in SPADES with Radio Ads, and airplay provided during all of the dozen :60 call-ins that will happen at random times during the event while the band is playing. The exposure for an event of this kind will add LOTS to our reputation and credibility in our genre in Kansas City. Every gig of this caliber also adds to our list of people who follow the band and subscribe to our mailing list.
This thing is happening on Saturday, October 6th, 2007... 2 days after my birthday! So it's almost on top of us already! To say that I'm excited wouldn't come close to describing how I feel about this gig!
So once again...wish US luck! 8)
That is pretty cool Paul! I hope it all goes well.
Pete
Here is the radio station's website. There is a page for the Wedding From Hell...but it's just got info on signing up to possibly be the winner of the wedding from hell. So far there's nothing about us on their website. But they have promised that they are going to give us exposure on their website, and in several different ad spots that will run between now and the event as well as the live 60 second call-ins during the gig.
I've just spoken to the person who's organizing the event at Q104 and she has a meeting about the event today and is going to call me back this afternoon to discuss all the details about the event.
I've also emailed the promotion people for "The Edge of Hell" to get access to their media resource library (images and logos) so that I can start designing a flyer for our promotion of the event and I'm preparing a press release to send to all the local radio and television stations as well as the local newspapers.
To quote Hannibal from The A-Team "I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER!"