NYC based The Upwelling are one of the rare bands that create art for art’s sake. Making them even more rare is how they successfully avoid the trappings of self-indulgence and are instead inventive, inspired and most importantly- listenable. Early comparisons have been made to Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Secret Machines, Spiritualized and more. They won Spin.com’s “Artist of the Year” in the “Unsigned Band” category, toured the UK with All-American Rejects, in addition to the current Third Eye Blind dates. The band recently acquired the tour with Third Eye Blind after frontman Stephan Jenkins got a copy of the album from a friend and reached out to the band, inviting them on the road. They were also the first unsigned band on Virgin Megastore’s national retail campaign “Virgin Recommends” and won Karma Productions Band of the Year Sonic Bids Ireland Tour.

“The band mixes the stoned-out moods of Dark Side of the Moon with the more grandiose orchestral manuevers of latter-day space rockers Spiritualized and Secret Machines, and Ari’s powerful falsetto would put Chris Martin to shame . . . “ says Spin.

For more information, contact Robin Hinnant, Milestone Artist Representation, 704-778-3040, or Frank Nieto, 230 Publicity, 206-323-4639.

Check out the tracks The Evil Impulse, Steps, Bridge Above The Valley

Upcoming dates:
4/25 — Poughkeepsie, NY — The Chance
4/27 — Sayreville, NJ — Starland Ballroom
4/29 — Baltimore, MD — Ram’s Head Live
5/1 — Washington, DC — 9:30 Club
5/3 — Hampton, NH — Hampton Beach Casino
5/4 — Providence, RI — Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
5/6 — Hanover, NH — Dartmouth College
5/8 — Wantagh, NY — Mulcahy’s

Russel Simmons who recently called a meeting on the future of Hip Hop went on record saying 3 Epithets should be bannded. Expressing concern about the “growing public outrage” over the use of such words in rap lyrics, Simmons said the words “bitch,””ho” and “ni***” should be considered “extreme curse words.”

According to sources Steve Jobs is working hard to force the major labels to follow EMI’s lead and go DRM free. In reality, no one knows the outcome of releasing music DRM FREE. It could be the DEATH SPIRAL.

Unsigned One Less Reason and Aaron Lewis frontman of Staind brought in 5,000 people at the recent Jackson show. Looks like 93 X in Memphis will add the New One Less Reason track “If You Want Me”. One Less Reason will be peforming in Memphis in May on May 5th, labels will be attending. Frontman of OLR Chris says “If you don’t like us, your girlfriend will”

Unsigned alternative act I Hate Kate is on tour with Social Distortion. Social frontman Mike Ness is a fan and asked specifically for the band. Contact Info.

Unsigned Morgan Clamp track “Days Away” is now top 10 at FMQB with 1013 spins on 50 stations this week. Contact info.

Faced with a growing trend of a new generation NOT listening to commercial radio and fierce competition from IPODS and Satellite Radio, Clear Channel is testing a commercial free station in TEXAS.

As of today, KZPS in Dallas — on the dial at 92.5 FM or online at lonestar925.com — will no longer run traditional 30- or 60-second advertisements. Instead, advertisers sponsor an hour of programming, during which a D.J. will promote its product conversationally in what the company calls integration.

The station has four initial sponsors — Southwest Airlines, AT&T, Coors Brewing and Guitar Center — and will not sell advertising space to other airlines, phone companies, breweries or musical instrument stores.

It looks like we will have a loss of Music Space at Walmart….

According to industry insiders Walmart has designated 480 stores (covering both Anderson/Handleman) to lose 20 FEET of music and will be replaced by IPOD accessories. Walmart is expected to execute the new floor space plan by May 3rd.

Back to the RIAA again………

Another round of threatening letters is on its way to suspected music stealers at the University of Nebraska, with 19 more students accused of illegally downloading music.

Speaking about Illegal downloading………Â

Perry Farrell Former Jane’s Addiction frontman has spoken out at people
who download music online illegally – insisting they’re killing the music industry.
Farrell believes making internet file sharing legitimate is necessary to reverse the tide in lessening music sales.

He says:

“If you don’t care what happens to music, keep downloading. Look at music and look at the polar caps – they’re melting at the same rate. “If you hear garbage music on your radio station, you have only yourself to blame. If you don’t support the arts, that’s what you’re going to get. You’re going to get American Idol. It’s fine if you want to hear that, but I don’t. “

Lastly………..

North Carolina pop punk act Farewell signs to Epitaph.

There are many parallels between the music industry and politics. Politicians have discovered that in a nation completely disinterested in politics, the only way to rally the people is by scaring the hell out of them. How scared can they make you of a possibility before you’ll sign all your rights away? How afraid can you be of a word before you’ll pass laws banning it from public speech? How afraid can you be of a statistically unlikely scenario involving a gun before you’ll demand all weapons (other than the nuclear kind) be done away with in America? Overblown examples of worst case scenarios meant to shock people into a desired behavior. It’s been effective, thus far, for political agendas. So why isn’t it having the same kind of success in music?

The RIAA was established to protect the interests of the recording industry, specifically the major labels. It’s debatable whether they are serving major labels as their muscle or their scapegoat, perhaps both. The RIAA are the ones responsible for not only determining the precious metal status of the records they’re affiliated with, but also for suing the pants off of old ladies, dead people and children. They led the way against Napster and other file-sharing programs, a clearly effective campaign. They are now targeting the websites who post the music made available to them through the promotional efforts of the labels themselves, surely in an attempt to deter free downloading of any kind, or perhaps to scare the blogs and sites who do not have permission. Who knows…and who really cares? Maybe some people wet themselves over a cease and desist from the RIAA, but more and more cases are coming into question as people realize you actually need evidence to sue someone. Oh, and 99 cent downloads are not worth more than 99 cents.

According to the RIAA website, they claim “RIAA members create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States.” I guess that means the majority of music released is not “legitimate” because there is no way that even comes close to accurate. Speaking of accuracy, why is the RIAA having such a hard time coming up with evidence to support their claims against these completely random people they file suit against? And who is doing their math? $750+ per song on a computer can add up fast, even if you don’t include legally acquired songs (which the RIAA includes). Sure, we look the other way when it comes to measuring albums shipped instead of those actually sold, but charging more than a thousand times the actual value for possibly stolen material is questionable.

Truth is, the RIAA only represents a small fraction of this industry, and its the fraction with all the trouble. These meaningless lawsuits and scare tactics are completely trivial and ineffective because they aren’t operating in the reality where everyone else lives. Artists need to be protected, not labels. But even with the RIAA to look out for major labels, they are stifling the efforts made by these labels to move into new media. Suing the websites that promote your artists? Are you crazy? They are attempting to legally keep change from happening, but it has already happened. The RIAA is supposed to support the interests of the recording industry, but we seem to have moved on without them, including major labels.

AJ, KOAR