Here’s what to do…
Take a picture of yourself or your friends holding up a 60cm by 40cm sign with a short message on it that you would like the world to see. The song is about saying those things you always wanted to say but never had the guts to, so go on and let your imagination run wild with it! Got something to apologise about? Got a confession to make? You miss someone? Perhaps a proposal? Just about anything goes, so let’s see what you can come up with.

The winning photo chosen by the band will net a Machine OEM hamper that includes an autographed copy of the debut album ‘Fueled’ as well as a Fueled T-Shirt along with having your picture included in the music video!

“Where would we stand if you knew, it was always about you?” -Inside Out.

Rules:
All pictures must be at least 1mb in size. All entries to be sent to info@machineoem.com. The finals photos along with the winning photo used in the music video will be chosen by the band members and their decision is final. If you mention names in your message, please stick to first names only. Please state in your email that you give us permission to use your picture in the music video. All entries must be sent to info@machineoem.com. entries close at the end of April 2011.

The music industry is currently in a major slump, you only need to read articles like this one (LINK) to see it’s getting tougher and tougher for bands to get their music out there  With labels folding left, right and centre across the globe and CD’s tumbling at a steady rate it’s becoming more and more important for bands to take the reins and determine their own destiny. There was a time when ‘independent’ was a dirty word but more and more artists are realising that they can within a certain degree of success market themselves.

With the help of our fans we managed to achieve independent success to some degree when we were lucky enough to be amongst the very few artists to be financed though the award winning fan funded financing platform, Slicethepie.com. With the help of our fans we raised £15 000 that we utilised to record our debut album with one of the country’s leading producers, a privilege usually reserved for the most part to signed artists with label financing behind them. To date 14,000 artists have registered on Slicethepie.com and 29 have achieved finance. To us that is a fairly solid affirmation that we are doing something right so far!




So what’s the next step?

As an independent band we don’t have the financial backing or contacts at our disposal available to artists on major labels so we are left in a position where we ourselves are the graphic designers, web developers, press agents, managers and radio pluggers. Thankfully the internet is one tool that we can use to market our music and it’s thanks to the organisers of competitions like Globalmoguls that help make our job a little easier.  In brief, artists upload a track, album cover and music video to the site (LINK) and rally their fans to go rate them. The top six rated artists then compete in a live event where the fans determine the wining artist who will walk away with the loot!




The bad news….

At the end of the day Global Moguls remains a popularity contest where artists are rated from 1-5 by fans and the ‘best’ artists then rise to the top. We know all too well though from past experience how often these sort of things play out. Bands and fans rate other artists down decreasing the average score of the competition. Artists run around at their gigs signing up “fans” then use those accounts to vote for themselves. Gmail is flooded with one fake account after the other to help sway the odds in the favour of a certain artist and in general these sort of things have left a foul taste in the mouths of many a hard working musician.
We are not trying to come off as bitter here, it’s a simple fact of life that any band who has been in such a contest will attest to, that the game is often not played entierly in the best spirit. Ultimatly though what we want out of the competition is to get our music out there. At the end of the day if we win over just a handfull of new fans, for us that’s a job well done!




What we need from you…

We need the support of our fans once again. We need you guys to register on  globalmoguls.com (LINK) and rate our track, pics and video (coming soon) as high as you can (if you think we deserve it!). Rally the support of your friends, get them to check out the site and try to get them involved. You can share links from our facebook fan page to help spread the word as well. With a strong show of support we are certain that we can quickly catch the competition and make a strong showing on the site!

Please leave a comment when you do rate our material as well so we know who to thank!

Just a quick note to let you know that yes, we are still alive and well! There is so much going on behind the scenes at the moment with the album that my head is about to spin right off! I thought I’d take a moment to let you all know what we have been up to over the last few weeks since finishing up in studio.

So where to begin? Ah yes, the album. We have been furiously busy in the mixing phase over the last few weeks and are stoked at how it’s sounding, there is still a bit of work ahead but it’s looking like we will meet out deadline for the 10th of June when the tracks are due to be sent to Sterling Sound in New York for mastering.
The new website/blog is currently under development as well and will integrate fully with facebook and twitter (clever no?). We have so many friends across those platforms that we want to make it as easy as possible for you to access all that is Machine OEM and share it with your friends as well. Without the help of you guys pitching in and lending a hand with promoting this band we would be nowhere today in the first place so for that we are eternally grateful and hope for your continued support in the times ahead!

We are also very excited to be shooting our first ever music video in a few week time so stay tuned for some behind the scenes info on that! Along with that there is a photo shoot, finalising the album artwork (after you guys have given your feedback that is) and then the push towards the final release of our single.

So, all going according to plan (jeez I’ve been hammered by that statement before!) we will be announcing the release date for our first single and video by the end of June.

Exciting times for us and hopefully you guys as well!

Stay tuned Rockers,
Travers

Thursday saw us continuing to lay down lead guitar and vocals, the day was very long with so much left to do and only two days to do it in we worked late into the night and made some solid progress on the remaining tracks. We finally left the studio around 10:30 in the evening all feeling a little frayed around the edges. Red Bull is a fantastic thing though thankfully!!!

On Friday afternoon Mark Haze from <a href=”http://www.12thavenueband.com/”>12th Avenue</a> joined us in studio to do some backing vocals for us on two tracks. 12th Avenue have for a long time been one of our favourite SA bands and Mark is a killer vocalist so we were stoked to have him working on the album. He laid down some insane backing on a track called Still Loving You and another one titled Erase You. By the end of the day tracking was done and spirits were high.

Theo took us out to a local restaurant to celebrate and proceeded to pretty much ordered everything on the menu including a few (welcome) stiff shooters for Lez and myself. Clint was driving so he focused is attentions on the food, something he excels at, (the boy can eat) while Lez and I killed a few worms at the bottom of tequila glasses.

So tracking is done and now we sit and wait for the first mixes to come though, the album is far from done but we are so exited about the way it sounds that we are busting at the seems to get it our there! (Patience son!)

We had a fantastic time tracking the album at Bellville studios and would like to extend a warm thanks to the Crous family for being so accommodating and making us feel like we where home away from home and especially to Michelle for making sure that the Grumpy Green Giant remained well fed at all times! Things go pear shaped if he fails to eats 14 times a day….

Over the coming weeks we will be showing you guys some concepts for the album artwork. So stay in touch to have your and have you say.

Cheers for now rockers and remember to touch your fellow man on their studio!

Trav

(Oh, one last thing: If you ever run into the chicken lady of Camps bay, run away like a girl!!)

Today we spent some time doing the vocals for “Fuelled”, “Lift Me Up” and “Theory” and Travers knocked out a killer guitar solo for “Fuelled” right after I laid down the lead-rhythm part, after which the lead riff and guitar solo for “Something To Say” was tackled and thrown in the bag. It was another long day so we decided to head to the nearest pub that the GPS could pick up for a cold one or two and ended up at a dodgy little place that looked like it was frequented by AWB types…scary shit! AND we ended up lost AGAIN on the way home thanks to road closures…fun times! We still have loads to do tomorrow and Friday, as these are our last two days, so I’m gonna hit the hay…adios, my hard rockin’ amigos!

Clint

Since our last blog we spend the rest of the week finishing up the rhythm and Bass guitars. All went off without a hitch and Steve laid down all his bass parts and surprised us all my sailing though what ever we threw at him, well done my boy!

By the end of the week all the rhythm guitars along with the bass was done and Steve, Clint and myself were looking forward to a weekend of R&R that included going large on Friday night by hitting *** ***** ** ***** *** *** ****** ******** **** ***** ****** ****** ** ** ******* **** ** ***** ******* *****!!!!! **** **** ** * ***** ****we finally got home at 3am, what a night and what an epic hangover!

The next day saw us throwing Steve onto a buss bound for East London. Clint and I spent the rest of the weekend getting over Friday night with a bit of light CD shopping at the waterfront and some killer seafood to keep us entertained. Last night we also took a few minutes off to catch our mates from 12 Avenue live at ROAR’s Noisefest, as usual the guys put on a killer show!

So here we are, day one of vocals and so far so good! Sitting here listening to Lez sing in the booth just a few meters away from me reminds me of way back when we started the band and I heard him sing for the first time. I’m as blown away now as I was back then. We have come so far since then and overcome so much just keeping this monster going that I can’t help but feel blind optimism for the future.

Anyway enough sentimental crap from me, there’s work to be done. Many vocal takes lie ahead and Clint and I have our lead guitar parts still to do!

Cheers 4 now,
Trav

(Steve we miss your coffee mate!)

First day in the studio was WAY better than the trip up and our subsequent accommodation woes; Charles, Theo’s assistant had done an awesome job editing the drum tracks which had been recorded the previous week and we were ready to get cracking with the rhythm guitar and bass tracks starting with “Fuelled”, an oldie but a goodie. We managed to find a killer guitar tone almost instantly and after trying a couple of the guitars lying around the studio, I finally settled on a ’60 Les Paul Goldtop (which I’ve been trying to convince Theo ever since to trade me for my Epiphone LP Standard, but so far no luck..haha) for the song. Most of the kinks in this song as well as the next song we put down tracks for, a relatively new one called “Erase You”, had been worked out in pre-production so we managed to breeze through both relatively quickly. A few of Steve’s bass parts were tweaked a little so that they work better with the drum tracks, other than that, the songs were left pretty much unchanged.

Today we worked on “Inside Out”, a song that we’ve reworked a bunch of times but have never really been happy with until now. Theo got us to up the tempo and write a new bridge, the idea for which Lez mailed though to us earlier this morning and which is sounding uber kickass now! Next up was “Lift Me Up”, which has changed quite a bit from the original idea; the tempo has been kicked up a few notches and most of the song was re-arranged to make it more appealing to a radio audience. Both songs are potential singles so we’re very keen to hear how they turn out. Finally we took a crack at one of Trav’s new songs, a raunchy rocker called “A Little Bit Of Something”; finished the rhythm guitars before we decided to call it a day, tomorrow El Stevo will tackle the bass before we move onto the next 2 or 3 songs.

It’s 19:20 now and I’m already keen to hit the hay, this Rock ‘n Roll stuff is hard freakin’ work!! Laters, boys and girls, our toasted sammiches are ready…

-Clint