Exchange Rates!

So we've just realized (we're a little slow), that after this current shitstorm of an economic crisis and the ramifications thereof, that the hugely changed exchange rates have made our webstore prices a little out of date.

It's a little too late in the day to be working now, so close to Xmas, so we will be editing them in the New Year. Hopefully this may coincide with a new store, but it's taking rather longer than expected, so it may be a bit of a quick edit of the current one.

Also, please note that the dates for Xmas post have been and, more importantly, GONE. Please do not email us asking "Where the hell is my package?! I bought it as a Christmas present... You totally ruined Christmas!! We all just sat about in our ruined shack and cried until it got so cold that our tears froze...", etc.

SD Records is closed for the holidays from tomorrow at noon until Monday 5th January. All outstanding orders will be sent out on this day. So you can expect your order to arrive from then onwards, factoring in delivery times depending on where you are in the world.

Christmas Post

UK customers - Last post date that we will be sending out and can 'guarantee' (as far as one can in this festive period) your order getting to you before Xmas is Thursday 18th.

European customers - Last post date for you is today, Tuesday 16th.

Rest of World customers - I'm afraid that from today we can no longer guarantee that you will receive your post for Christmas.

To buy: SD Shop!

Happy holidays from SD.

Email Problems & General Confusion

Hey all,

It's been brought to our attention that when trying to email us some people have been receiving a reply that amounts to something along these lines;

"Message failed to deliver and returned. Reason: recepient's inbox is full."

This is not correct. Our inbox is not full, and we are still receiving emails from about 80% of you as far as we can gather.

We have no idea why this is happening, but we are currently trying to resolve the matter. Please check your own email provider, but it does seem to be something going awry on our side. As far as we can tell this isn't limited to one provider (e.g. gmail or yahoo).

If you have been trying to email us and have received this automated response, then please message us here on myspace and we will get back to you ASAP. If you have emailed us recently and not had a reply in a long time, but without the automatic response, it has probably not got through either, so please message us here too.

Please DO NOT keep resending the same email.

Thank you to those that alerted us to this fault, and apologies to all concerned.

Calling all promoters!

Ehnahre are going to tour the UK & Europe in April 09, in support of the critically lauded The Man Closing Up, their debut album. Plane tickets have been booked, VISAs and so on are being worked out, and Sound Devastation, the band and Manus Booking are in the process of organizing dates.

The boys are planning a short UK jaunt, then a number of dates in Europe before coming back to the UK for possibly another day before returning home to Boston, USA.

Ehnahre feature ex-members of Kayo Dot, Biolich and forcefedglass. Their sound has been likened to Khanate, Kayo Dot, Asva, Neurosis, with a brutal injection of death metal and a twist of orchestration and improvisation!

Please get in touch now for a promotional copy of The Man Closing Up, information on the band, press and so on, or if you want to organize a date now.

Europe 2009

Ehnahre are making the journey to spread their ugly aural concoctions and they need your help. If you want to learn how to get flyers to inform your area and get into a free show or two, ask them how: ehnahrebooking@gmail.com

Here is where we will be playing.
*** indicates booked dates.

9th - Brighton UK

10th - Nottingham UK ***
11th - Aberdeen UK ***
12th - Edinburgh UK
13th - Sheffield UK

14th – Brussels BE
15th – Frankfurt DE
16th – Rotterdam NL
17th – Malmo SE
18th – Gothenburg SE
19th – Oslo NO
20th – Jonkoping SE

21st – Copenhagen DK
22nd – Hamburg DE

23rd – Berlin DE

24th – Prague CZ

25th – Brno CZ/Bratislava SK
26th – Budapest HU
27th – Vienna AU
28th – Ljubljana SI
29th – Munich DE/Salzburg AU
30th – Bern SW/Milan IT

1st – Milan IT/Bern SW

2nd – Lyon FR

3rd – Nantes FR

4th – Paris FR

Are you interested in booking them? Please contact:

manus.booking
c/o Jan Manus Leupert
Wolfram-von-Eschenbach-Str. 24
65187 Wiesbaden
Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 611 - 50 45 488
Fax: +49 (0) 611 - 50 48 060
Email: manus.booking@googlemail.com
Web: www.myspace.com/manusbooking

Refined Demo Policy

To all those who potentially want to send a demo to Sound Devastation in the future. We know what we say in our Biography, and we still hold to that, but on the other hand, we want those who desire to be signed and released, to note the following few points.

I've completely knicked this from Ellen @ Holy Roar Records' blog, because I totally agree with it, and both labels seem to be in a similar position of receiving a vast number of demos per month. It is very flattering to receive 2/3 per day, but there needs to be some quality control here! I've meant to write something along these lines for a while now, but seeing it so eloquently put, I decided to lift it as it mirrors SD's position exactly, and edit it just a little.

1. SEND IT TO THE RIGHT GODDAMN LABEL. If, as your bio says, you are a pop rock boyband who could appeal to McFly's fans, maybe sending it to a label which has a lot to do with noisy, heavy new music and is staunchly independent just might be a complete waste of time. Spamming people and sending your demo to everyone possible always crops up in some really naive bands' strategies to get signed. The whole 'it can't hurt, one must like us' mentality is a waste of everyone's time. Do some research into who you're sending it to, think of labels you actually like, and show you actually have a clue. For example, we get tonnes of shit pop-punk bands sending us stuff. We have and will NEVER release pop-punk. To those post-rock bands constantly sending us demos... Yes, we have released some like minded bands, but please note that they are in the minority when refering to our roster.

2. ONLY SEND A DEMO WHEN IT'S RUDDY WORTH IT. You recorded 3 songs in your mum's garage and haven't played a gig yet. Maybe wait a few months, heck even a year, before thinking someone will want to release anything by you. I blame Myspace for this whole mentality of bands who think they should be signed way before they're actually ready. Send a demo when it's good and you're good, why bother with something crappy? I'm almost tempted to change our policy on demos entirely on this point, and state that any unsolicited demos will not be listened to. But I'm not that kind of person, and SD is not that kind of label. However, please note the above. Don't send us a recording of your first practice.

3. DO NOT SEND A LENGTHY 2 PAGE 'BIO' WHICH IS ACTUALLY JUST A LIST OF WHO MET WHO WHEN AND THEN A LIST OF ALL THE GIGS YOU'VE PLAYED. We barely acknowledge bios unless it's clear from the offset it's a band we're potentially interested in. This usually comes down to picking out your influences and what you might sound like. That's why it's worth attempting some kind of description. We really can't be fucked to read 600 words which tell us nothing about you because 'you're so impossible to describe because you're so unique, man'. Get over yourself. List a couple of influences if you want, a couple of genre reference-points, and that's usually enough.

4. DO NOT USE ANY OF THESE PHRASES IN YOUR BIO/LETTER:

i) 'The band was formed with the sole intention of playing great music and having a good time' (As aside to what exactly? Yeah, I formed a band to play shit music and be unhappy...)

ii) 'We've spent the last year gigging constantly and building up a devoted fanbase' (Your definition of gigging constantly might be different to ours; and do make sure that your devoted fanbase isn't your mates and the kids that constantly turn up to the one local venue in your town).

iii) 'We don't fit into any genre/we're truly unique' (Ha! Of course we look for a certain degree of uniqueness, but as stated before, you have influences and you have consituent sounds that you must recognize as 'sounding like...')

iv) 'Now we want to take things with the band to the next level and release an album' (What next level would that be? Super stardom? I don't think so. Don't be fooled. Being signed is good, and we'll work hard for you, try and get you better gigs, your release in stores, etc, but you'll still have to work bloody hard. Good on the album though - SD will hardly be releasing any EPs unless we are TOTALLY blown away.)

v) 'Sign us' (I hate this - don't do it).

5. DO NOT PAY FOR GLOSSY BAND PHOTOS TO SEND WITH YOUR DEMO. Sending these is so unnecessary and something very few people will be interested in. In fact, sending any kind of photos is, in our case, completely pointless. Do NOT do it. Half of the ones are so fucking 'arty' we can't even see your faces anyway, so what's the point?!

6. DO NOT RECORD AND SEND COVERS. Don't even mention covers at all, let alone actually send a CD of you playing a few Nirvana songs. What's the point in that? Why would a label be interested in the fact you only started writing your own songs a month ago? It's ridiculous. DON'T DO IT, EVER.

7. DO NOT DECORATE YOUR JIFFY BAG TO MAKE IT LOOK 'EYE-CATCHING'. Actually it just looks 'annoying'. The whole 'we're going to stand out with a funky purple print-out and a pink jiffy bag' idea is worrying, shouldn't your music stand out?

8. DO NOT SEND A SCREEN GRAB OF YOUR MYSPACE PROFILE. Never had this done to us, but don't. Just don't...

9. DO NOT MAKE AN AWFUL CLIP-ART/MICROSOFT PAINT COVER FOR YOUR CD. No cover is better than that awful font you used for your logo and the hurriedly copied + pasted 'arty' photos. I've seen a couple of covers I've liked, which can work in your favour if it's genuinely good, but if you haven't got one, don't sweat. I do like to see an effort having been put into a demo though, so do have a go, but don't rush it, and if you haven't got the time, don't do it.

10. DO NOT KISS ARSE. You do want us as a label to take a risk and invest money in your band and release something, so yes, you want us to like you, but don't go overboard. Keep things simple, we are not mystical fairy creatures from the far away land of A&R. We are just normal people, so it's usually the simple CDs in plain plastic wallets with a short decent bio which wins over any extravagant attempts to grab our attention and win us over.

Next to no bands get signed from a demo submission anyway. I think we've signed one, maybe two bands from demo submission. So what's the point in all of this then? Well, send it if you want, but much more importantly is to get out there and play gigs. Record decent material at a good studio and when it's ready put it online and get people interested in you first, rather than thinking the label should do it once you're signed! Pro-activity in the real world, rather than the fact you can be bothered to post us a CD, is much MUCH more important.

We at SD try to listen to every demo sent, but due to the amount mentioned above, we simply can't give feedback to all. If you get a message saying we liked it, but can't work with you, don't be downhearted. This will probably mean that we really liked it, but just don't have the time/money to work with you. However, if you do get a message, then it's always a good idea to keep in touch now and again, and to send any future material to us. If you don't get a message at all, take a hint.

On the issue of unsolicited demos: You can of course send us your demo. Our address is on our website and on our Myspace page for all to see. However, we are MUCH more likely to take note of your demo and perhaps listen a little more intently if you message us on here or by email BEFORE you send it. IF you get messaged by us for a demo please do NOT think that it is an indication that we are going to sign you! It obviously means that whilst browsing the internet you sparked our interest or perhaps even impressed us, but it guarantees nothing. It is an indication, in some way, that you have moved to a next 'step' as it were, of consideration for a release, but this does not mean to say we will.

OK, this is all sounding rather sombre and serious. We do of course enjoy getting lots of demos and, as stated before, find it flattering that so many regard SD as somewhere they would like to call home, so thank you to all those that have. I can tell anyone waiting for some kind of response that at the present time, nothing we've been sent that we aren't ALREADY in discussions with, is or will be considered for release.

More news soon, including new releases, updates on when vinyl versions might arrive, and so on.