RethinkPopMusic CMJ Showcase

On Thursday, October 22nd RethinkPopMusic hosted an unofficial CMJ Showcase at Crash Mansion with the assistance of Absolut, Spaten Beer, Red Roof Inns, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, U-Haul and Yak Pak.

Once again we had 350+ through the door but I think that has much more to do with great performances by Ambassadors, The Vanguard, The Aviation Orange, The Glorious Veins and our late night guests Lindsay Luv and Mikealis.

Thanks to everyone who came out including all our friends from MTV, S1Songs, The Postelles and ALL!

London Day 1

With half of the crew flying in Friday night and the other today we were able to avoid any pesky customs inquiries… in regards to work visas. However, getting piss drunk on the flight because Virgin Atlantic offers free booze throughout the ENTIRE flight is another beast all together. Just to get an idea of what I mean, myself, Noah and Kravetz drank every drop of beer and whiskey Virgin Atlantic had on board and at one point probably around 5:00am we were taking shots in the back galley while some of the female crew members watched in disgust/admiration? It was hard to tell…

I have to admit that the Virgin Atlantic staff was exceptionally accommodating and we certainly pushed them to the limit.

We arrived at Heathrow early Saturday morning which mildly confused and severely disappointed Aaron because he thought we were going to Disney World.

Shockingly customs was a breeze and thanks to Virgin Atlantic all of our gear came out in great shape. Because we are all staying in different parts of London (No Red Roof Inns) Casey, Noah and Adam of Ambassadors along with Kravetz jumped in a cab and headed east. Myself along with Aaron and Luke from The Vanguard elected to try The Tube.

According to Jeremy Lloyd (Laissez Faire Club) in his cute accent: “It’s quite obvious that you are Americans because they are the only riders who carry-on in conversation on The Tube.” I think the fact that we giggled like school children at every stop because a lady’s voice came over the loudspeaker announcing: “Last stop… Cockfosters.” Hahahahahahaha!

Anyways, I arrived at Jeremy’s flat in Chelsea as The Vanguard headed to King’s Cross. I spent the afternoon purchasing a cell phone and grabbing some food. That evening we hung at the local pub, until it closed at 11:00pm?! So Jeremy and I met up with the boys in Kingsize and went to some super sketchy basement disco party. After getting our fill on 8 pound drinks we began discussing a full European tour over the ridiculous rave rendition of Billy Jean. Around 3am I started feeling the effects of the jet lag/insomnia so we grabbed a couple Kebabs, a bottle of Jim Beam and headed back to the flat.

Observations from night 1:

Virgin Atlantic are enablers of drunk musicians
RethinkPopMusic will only fly Virgin Atlantic
Cockfosters is still hilarious
Chelsea is very much like the Upper East Side… chochbag finance guys included
I am going to spend waaaaaaay too much money on this trip

Today, I am going to meet with Jeremy’s contact at Virgin Records then we are going to Brighton for Ambassadors’ Communion show at Audio. Immediately after the set we are going to haul ass back to London and hopefully catch the end of The Vanguard’s Communion set at Knotting Hills Arts Club. Lots to do!

Midpoint Music Festival

Tuesday, September 22nd:

With the help of U-Haul and Red Roof Inns, RethinkPopMusic, The Vanguard, Ambassadors, The Aviation Orange, Eastkoast and Hank & Cupcakes left NYC and headed to the heart of the Midwest in 3 U-Hauls, 2 band Vans and a truck to play the Midpoint Music Festival.

Wednesday, September 23rd:

Our first stop was Columbus where we set up shop on The Ohio State University campus for some street performances to promote our show that night at The Summit.

After passing out 1250 fliers and 5 hours in the sun we packed it up and headed to The Summit for the first gig of the tour. (Video Content Coming Soon)

Thursday, September 24th:

Early in the morning we headed south to Miami University. At 70 miles an hour and using the factory stereo as a monitor we recorded a live track in the back of the van featuring The Vanguard’s Luciano Rovner on Keys, Ben Foxx on Protools, The Aviation Orange’s Alex Beninato on electric guitar and Eastkoast on the mic. While the track is far from a hit, we got a great cut and plenty of video footage of the process. (coming soon) Ben was so excited that he started mixing the track when we stopped for lunch.

Unfortunately, the weather prevented us from any street performances so we took to the basement of an abandoned frat house for some old fashion fun.

Luckily we had Ben to corral the troops and record an acoustic track because a certain CEO was a bit “sleepy”.

After our basement recording session we headed to The Balcony to do what we do best… perform. Despite butting heads with the venue’s “audio engineer” who was a cross between Santa Clause and a ZZ Top roadie we played to a packed house and took FULL advantage of college priced drinks (2 bucks for a 32 ounce beer).

Once again feeling quite “sleepy” we skipped staying overnight at the abandoned frat house and went to Red Roof to rest up for the big Midpoint Music Festival performance.

Friday, September 25th:

We finally make it to Cincinnati for Midpoint Music Festival’s RethinkPopMusic Showcase. To be completely honest, we were all shocked by the turnout. With well over 200 people through the door we could hardly believe our eyes. The crowd was amazing, the bands all played the best sets I have ever heard and the genius that is Ben Foxx made them all sound incredible.

I want to genuinely thank everyone who made this tour possible. The love between all the artists was insane and RethinkPopMusic is no longer a company, but a family. You guys are great and things are only going to get better! We will be sure to let you know when the video content is ready!

RethinkPopMusic Launch Party

09/17/09 was the most successful night in RethinkPopMusic history and although we formed merely nine months ago your support has been overwhelming. Therefore, innumerable thanks are in order:

Foremost, RethinkPopMusic would like to thank Crash Mansion for their incredible staff, patience and faith in us… we are forever grateful.

Our partners: U-Haul, Yak Pak, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Red Roof Inns, Spaten Beer, Absolut and Red Bull are all owed a great deal of gratitude for providing product and special discounts for independent artists. RethinkPopMusic will be traveling the world educating consumers utilizing our interactive questionnaire at our events and word of mouth at standard gigs.

Needless to say, none of this would be possible without RethinkPopMusic’s Affiliated Artists The Vanguard, The Aviation Orange, Ambassadors and Eastkoast and our adopted family members Hank and Cupcakes for keeping the crowd roaring all night!

Last but certainly not least, thanks to Jeremy Lloyd of Laissez Faire Club for making the trip all the way from London to DJ the event. Oh, and for the bottle of Veuve, you certainly are quite the gentleman.

With the help of Jeremy from MyDailyThread, Seva from MyOpenBar and Adam from Thrillist the 850+ RSVPs we received were so staggering that we had to shut down www.RPM-RSVP.com over 24hrs before the party. Fortunately, Crash Mansion was miraculously able to accommodate every attendee!

The night began with the premiere of The Vanguard’s, The Aviation Orange’s and Ambassadors’ debut music videos before the MTV music and Thrillist staffs:

Thanks to MTV for accepting all three music videos… we look forward to informing our readers on when to expect them to air.

Below are the rest of the pictures of the night… see if you can spot members of The Postelles, BM Linx, Chainsaw Trio, The Hotcakes, The Glorious Veins, Man on Earth and others who were in attendance. Huge thanks to Luiggi Tapuch for taken such great pics!

[svgallery name="RPMLaunch"]

Due to the overwhelming response RSVP closing soon

Well, the day has finally come… RethinkPopMusic is officially launching on September 17th at Crash Mansion. Despite the fact that at merely 8 months since our inception we have been provided with unprecedented opportunities: 11 SXSW showcases last March, an official stage and partnership with Midpoint Music Festival later this month, 8 upcoming London tour dates with Laissez Faire Club, a CMJ showcase this October and now we are finalists for an official panel at SXSW 2010 based on our business model… we still haven’t thrown YOU a party!

For the first time EVER RethinkPopMusic’s three premiere Affiliated Artists: The Vanguard, Ambassadors and The Aviation Orange will share a stage and give sneak peeks at all three of their debut music videos. Did we mention that Jeremy Lloyd of Laissez Faire Club is coming across the pond to DJ the entire party while Absolut and Spaten beer provides the open bar from 7pm – 9pm? Remember this a party for the 20 million independent artists who, with our help, are reclaiming this industry and reestablishing integrity in music.

Expect plenty of surprises and some incredible announcements regarding our corporate partners providing special discounts to touring independent artists nationwide!

Complimentary admission is exclusively obtained at www.RPM-RSVP.com and you must arrive by 9:00pm, but feel free to forward this email on to any independent artists looking to make a living making music.

Entry is not guaranteed so please RSVP soon!