If you are anything like me, you need some rebel music to inject some enthusiasm into your freedom-fighting days . Usually that means playing some rage against the machine or looking up some old ‘The Clash’ or ‘Sex Pistols’ anthems on spotify, but isn’t there any new stuff? Some new rebel juice just jumped into my sound-cloud drop box courtesy of The Class War Kids and Rebel Time Records.

Have a listen to one of their tracks ‘One last Struggle’.

TheClassWarKids-OneLastStruggle by rebel time records

This is all that I expect from anarchist punk-rock. Manic, bonkers, politically-charged energy (the likes of which I always expect from bands like green day but never quite feels enough).

This reminded me that I have been trying to put together a public Spotify Play-list of Rebel Anthems, which I will link to from here. I have a few on the list, but I need your help for the rest… Please leave your suggestions in the comments…

Oh, and what do you think about The Class War Kids?

One last Struggle for Rebel Music [The Class War Kids] is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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Who doesn’t like a bit of classic American Rock?

I have to say, easy-listening rock is not really my thing, but I can see myself chilling to The Telephones with a beer this summer more than once.

The Telephones are a four man indie-rock band from New York. They started out with just Jesse Adelman (guitar + vocals) and Bradley Albert (keyboards), who in 2002 released their first EP entitled “Music for Babies”, following it up in 2005 with the full-length album “Fight Night at Rodeo Dodo” before Anton Kreisl (bass) and Mike Reed (drums) joined the band.

Their latest work, Volume 1 (EP), 2009, includes the tracks: ‘Libertine’, which is the EP’s leading track, and ‘Life is Great’. The Latter of which I just cannot stop listening to

Here they are…

“Life Is Great” -The Telephones Vol. 1 by Vintage Hustle Inc.

“Libertine” – The Telephones Vol. 1 by Vintage Hustle Inc.

Some of their tracks are a bit of a throwback to old American Rock, particularly “Libertine”, which has a very bluesy, almost southern-style sound.

That might not be absolutely every-one’s cup-of-tea, but what no one can deny is the quality of Jesse’s song writing and, for an unsigned band, the quality of the production of their tracks.

If that isn’t enough reason to look them out, take a look at one of their live performances, which are obviously very well practiced. A very accomplished live sound…

Definitely one of those bands that are worth going to see live. Even if easy-listening American Rock isn’t really your thing.

What do you think?

Rocking on the Telephone to NYC. is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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1. Greek Gods of Psychedelic Rock – Sleepin Pillow (band).
2. One last Struggle for Rebel Music [The Class War Kids]

How the mighty fall. MySpace was not so long ago the go to place for social networkers. But that was an age past in web trend years. Facebook, with it’s simple and unclutered design and intuitive features is now the place to be.

But MySpace was never really invented with Social Networking for the masses in mind, so should they be disappointed to have lost the Social Networking crown to Facebook?

Sometimes you have to remember where you came from and return to your roots. And for MySpace, that is Music.

Since their new CEO,  Owen Van Natta, took over last year, it has been clear that is exactly what MySpace are doing. Their new focus… to be the undisputed online platform for Entertainment.

They have definitely been making some very clever decisions, like bringing Gaming into the Mix and implementing Facebook Connect. The latter is further proof that they have given up on competing with Facebook in the personal profile space and instead opted to focus on music, films and gaming and leverage Facebook traffic to bring consumers into MySpace.

But they are missing a massive trick….

What is the single best feature on display in a MySpace page? The thing that we all go straight for when we click through to a bands profile… The Music Player.

That MySpace Music Player is to music, what the Youtube Player is to video. With one massive difference. You can take the Youtube Player with you into Blogs, Websites, Facebook, MySpace… everywhere, but the MySpace Music Player is not embeddable!

MySpace, are you mad?

I’ve been getting asked to write quite a few band reviews recently, and the place I generally go to to get a feel for their music is MySpace. Yet when it comes to giving my readers a sample within the post, it is services like Sound Cloud that provide me  with the ability to embed tracks onto my page.

Why would you not want to make your best feature available outside of your site, MySpace? Don’t you want traffic from blogs?

The best thing about MySpace, which doesn’t exist. is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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The question of whether it is possible for recording artists to make decent money from the web is one that is not answered as easily as crunching the numbers on potential sales and fan reach.

I think just about everyone accepts that, with virtually unlimited supply, there was never going to be as much money in it. That is, not enough for Rock Stars to live the “Rock Star” lifestyle that so many dream about.

But could it be enough for those who have genuine passion for music to make a living from it?

This info-graphic by the guys at informationisbeautiful.net is quite interesting, but while it shows how difficult it is for bands to make money online (from the perspective of a traditional business model), it does not represent the opportunities and hopes of the many artists who, in my opinion, will make a living from music online.

The graphic represents how much artists are making from soft sales compared to physical media

This is the image that the big record labels and traditional media corporation are trying to sell to the content creators and consumers, through initiatives like their campaign to have the Digital Economy Act (#DEACT) passed through parliament.

But it is not as simple as this. The business model that the big record labels had always operated under is one where there was very little competition, replication could only be done by professionals (without losing too much sound quality) and that because of that they could make massive amounts of money from the few artists they decided to back.

Fast-forward to 2010 and competition is (or should be) endless, as bands can very easily record decent material from their bedrooms. Replication is quality-perfect and songs and playlists can be shared with all your friends through social media – in seconds.

So what the old-guard are trying to do is say: ‘Hold-on, technology and innovation are not good for our business, therefore development and the openness of the web must be reigned back’.

But shouldn’t the message be that the music industry, as we know it, is dead, and we need to invent a new music industry… one that is aided and not hindered by technology and the spitit of a free and open web?

Can music artists make a living from online downloads and streaming royalties? #DEACT is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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3. The Digital Economy. How our leaders Stitched us up #DEBill

When I think about Greek Gods, I imagine them observing their meager human followers from fluffy white clouds, throwing down the occasional thunder storm..

Handling angelic rebellions and wars…

Throwing wild parties and orgies…

All to a soundtrack of Psychedelic Rock!

That’s the way I would have done it if I was Zeus

‘Sleepin Pillow’ are a Greek alternative Rock band whose atmospheric sound would fit the part.  And I am sure that Apollo, the God of Music, would approve.

They are certainly worth a listen, especially if you like instrumental music.

Their songs do include English lyrics – softly sung by Nomik in a Greek accent – but these  merely add another kaleidoscopic layer to the sound. Think Tool meets Enigma.

The band has been quite successful in Greece, where their album “Apples on an Orange Tree” (Published by Shift Records) was included in the Top Five Greek Albums release in 2008, while the video for ‘Amplifier in my heart’ received significant airtime in local tv stations.

And their live shows sound pretty special…

“Supported by a light show and visual projection crew, Sleepin Pillow’s live performance is a unique experience as the 6 members appear on stage under a disguise that gives a flavour of drama to each concert.”

I would certainly go to see them if they came to the UK. I have asked their PR company to let me know of any planned shows in the UK or elsewhere in Europe and will update this post with their response.

In the meantime you can listen to some of their tracks here…

10 – Sleepin Pillow – Masterpiece by Sleepin Pillow

04 – Sleepin Pillow – An Idiot’s Point Of View by Sleepin Pillow

02 – Sleepin Pillow – Silicone by Sleepin Pillow

What do you think? Will you be adding a bit of Greek Goth to your parties?

Greek Gods of Psychedelic Rock – Sleepin Pillow (band). is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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1. Rocking on the Telephone to NYC.
2. One last Struggle for Rebel Music [The Class War Kids]
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This is what Capitalism does to you.

The other night I watched Michael Moore’s ‘Capitalism: A love story and I was amazed at how ignorant I was to the extent that Ronald Reagan and the Bushes were just puppets to the people that really called the shots in the US.

Wall Street.

Have a look at this clip….

Then my thoughts turned to the Conservative Government that we have just “elected” in this country.

The vast majority of us in the UK are working-class. Are we as retarded as the American Republicans who elected George W Bush to be their president not once, but twice?!

Our friends across the pond saw sense and elected in Obama, a president who would represent the interests of the people, not that of the corporations. But I guess we were hit by the clever-dumb balance this time.

Oh well, at least we already have a national health system. (The Tories did try to block that when Labour introduced it by the way)

What do you think?

Capitalism: Are working class conservatives retarded? is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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Let me address this straight up. Politics is not usually a topic that us Internet Geeks, or Music Geeks care about all that much, but if you follow my twitter stream or short posts (hopefully you are still following after my 6 week long rant), you will have noticed how engrossed I have been with political topics of late.

Campaigning against a Tory government, shortly after campaigning against the Digital Economy Bill (#DEBILL), which was rushed through parliament during a wash up before the general election.

There was a lot of talk before the election about whether this would be an “Internet election”. Whether it would follow the precedent set by last year’s American presidential election which was fought and won online, thanks to a colossal Social Media Strategy.

It was clear very early on, however,  that TV and printed media are still the election deciders here in the UK  - and Rupert Murdoch’s media properties fought hard for a conservative government.

Not an “Internet election” in that sense then, but it was to me in another way.  The Digital Economy Bill got everyone online hooked on politics.

The controversy surrounding draconian measures that could see ISP’s, at the request of copyright owners, disconnect you from the web if your network was found to have been used to download copyrighted material illegally – even if it wasn’t you who did it….

The revelations that, the prince of darkness, Lord Mandelson, the man putting all his political might behind the campaign to get this legislation passed had been wined and dined in a yacht in Corfu by music industry execs, and that the Tory shadow chancellor, George Osbourne, was there too….

The fact that the first draft was so one sided, that it might as well have been written by the Music and Movie industries….

To us internet geeks, this was more compelling than an American conspiracy-action-drama. And all of us that care for internet freedoms, pushed along by great campaigners like 38 degrees, got involved by making sure that as many people as possible knew what was going down and lobbied their MP’s to oppose this bill.

But, on this first round at least, we were fighting a losing battle. The DEBill was voted through and became DEAct (Digital Economy Act) after a second reading.

How could this happen?

Too many of the MP’s who are elected by us to represent us in parliament, simply do not understand the digital world. Some of those who understand a bit more felt pressured by their party leadership to vote for the passage of the bill during the second reading.  And those who are knowledgeable about the online world and the need for it too be freed of creative restrictions, were simply too few and struggled to make their voice heard.

One MP who does know about digital matters, and fought to make it a fairer act for the people was Tom Watson, former Minister for Digital Inclusion. This is what he had to say after the passage of the bill….

With the DEAct, and the grossest lack of democracy witnessed by most of us out of the way, the election campaign was next.

The vast majority in the UK won’t have followed or been concerned by the DEBill and instead gathered their views from publications like the Sun and broadcasters like Sky News, not from blogs or twitter.. which is possibly the biggest reason that we now have a Conservative lead government.

But online, the Liberal Democrats got their biggest gain. Partly because of Nick Clegg’s performance on the televised debates, but mostly because of their opposing of the second reading of the DEBill (even though they initially backed it and caved in to public pressure later) and their stance on the matter during the campaign.

This is what Nick Clegg said about it…

Had the election had been up to the web. We might have had a Progressive alliance. Here is the outcome that Dave’s poll had predicted

So where are we now with the Digital Economy Act?

The fight is not over. Many politicians are hoping that we will forget about this. But people are campaigning hard to have this Act repealed.

The Lib-Dems have apparently voted almost unanimously within their party to push to have the DEAct repealed, but the Tories and most of Labour won’t want this. That is why it is important for everyone to put pressure on their MP to push for repeal. You can lobby your MP through the Open Rights Group site here. It only takes two minutes.

Here are some of the reasons why I think the Digital Economy Act is Bad…

1. The DEACT serves only to protect the status quo and old business models. It is a block to creative development and creative business models of the future. For example, I have a vision of the music industry becoming a much more open marketplace, in which fans have a much greater choice and many more artists are able to make a living.

2. Future business models will involve free content and monetization through merchandising, touring, sponsorships.

3. There is absolutely no point to the TV and Radio digital switch-over (especially not Radio which is 4 years away). Focus on building the infrastructure to deliver super-fast Internet to every home in the country, and IP will become the standard for TV and Radio.

4. If, with all the bureaucracy and legal advice, the political parties can get caught up in copyright infringement when replicating images in a creative way, then what chance have the rest of us got?

Do you have any thought about it? Are you for or against? Please leave your views in the comments….

UPDATE:

New culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who lead to Tory efforts to pass the bill, has today said that the coalition government will not be repealing the DEAct. That means that it is now even more important that as many people as possible put preasure on their MP’s to push for this to happen.

Remember, they are elected by us to serve us!

Follow this link to the Open Rights Group site to send an email to your MP and ask him/her to join a cross party group set up by Eric Joyce, Falkirk MP. Details here.

The Digital Economy. How our leaders Stitched us up #DEBill is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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Dave’s election Poll. What way will you vote?

Because I trust the Sun’s YouGov (MurdochGov, more like) as much as I trust Philippa Stroud to deliver tolerant policies on gay issues.

Please take 5 seconds to say who you are supporting.

‘Cameron is measuring for curtains for no10′ #ukelection #philippastroud

Nick Clegg on David Cameron’s arrogance.

The REAL History of the Conservative Party

This is what the Tories are planning on sending the UK back to…

Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to ‘cure’ gay people | Politics | The Observer

This is the big story. The one the main stream media are not covering… Be it because of their affiliation to the Conservatives, or because  quite possibly Tory Lawyer’s gagging orders are preventing it. Please share this story with as many people as you can… especially those who will be voting for the conservatives! It’s up to us to spread this one.

David Cameron exposed

Funny video taking the piss out of David Cameron

Recent posts you should check out before the General Election #ukelection is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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2. Left the movies to find this note on my car :p

This site is quite interesting (if a bit strange).

So, basically at MyBandStock.com you register for a virtual share of your favourite band, participate in site activity by submitting music, videos and photos and the most active users are rewarded with virtual band equity and a bigger chance of getting to win prices and interact with the bands through online chat sessions, back-stage meets, etc.

At least that’s what I make of it – a lot of it is still quite vague.

(Come on MyBandStock… give us a more comprehensive view.)

Not sure how successful this will be. If you need 1000 fans to register for a single band, then the site has alot of work to do before contacting their first artist (the one with the most has 50 shareholders).

Of course, 1000 is not a lot, but unless mybandstock has the funds to advertise this through mainstream media, then they are going to rely on fans crowd-sourcing their promotional efforts.

For me, interacting online with Pearl Jam (or a number of other of my favourite bands) would be awesome, winning back-stage passes would be out of this world. So here’s my contribution.

I’m only the third PJ share holder so far

As much as I like the idea, I do believe that this kind of effort to bring the fans closer to the artist has to be adopted more by the artists themselves…

It’s a tough market, anyone can make music very easily now and competition will be what makes the music business a lot more personal again.

This has reminded me of last years Josh Freese’s (formerly of Nine Inch Nails) album promotion, for which he offered the following packages…

$7

* Digital download of Since 1972, including 3 videos

$15

* CD/DVD double-disc set
* Digital download

$50

* CD/DVD double-disc set
* T-shirt
* “Thank you” phone call from Josh for buying Since 1972. You can tell him what you like about the record that you purchased, or what you thought sucked. Ask whatever you want, like “Is Maynard really THAT weird?” or “Which one of Sting’s mansions has the comfiest beds?” or “Are Devo really suburban robots that monitor reality or just a bunch of dads from Ohio?” or “Why don’t the Vandals play more stuff off the first record?” It’s your 5 minutes to yack it up. Talk about whatever you want.

$250 (limited edition of 25)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed drum head and drumsticks
* Go on a lunch date with Josh to PF Changs or The Cheesecake Factory (whatever you’re into)

$500 (limited edition of 15)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed cymbal and sticks
* Meet Josh in Venice, Calif., and go floating together in a sensory-deprivation tank (to be filmed and posted on YouTube)
* Dinner at Sizzler (get your $8.99 steak and “all you can eat” shrimp on)

$1,000 (limited edition of 10)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed cymbal, drum head and drumsticks
* Josh washes your car OR does your laundry … or you can wash his car
* Have dinner with Josh aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif.
* Get drunk and cut each other’s hair in the parking lot of the Long Beach courthouse (filmed and posted on YouTube, of course)

$2,500 (limited edition of 5)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* Get a private drum lesson with Josh, or for all you non-drummers, have him give you a back and foot massage (couples welcome)
* Pick any 1 member of the Vandals or Devo (subject to availability) to accompany you and Josh to either the Hollywood Wax Museum or the lunch buffet at the Spearmint Rhino
* Signed DW snare drum
* Take 3 items of your choice out of his closet (first come, first serve)
* Change diapers and make bottles with him for an afternoon (after hitting the strip club)

$5,000 (limited edition of 3)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Josh writes a song about you and makes it available on iTunes
* Co-direct a video with him for the song about you and throw it up on the YouTubes
* Josh gives you and a friend a private tour of Disneyland
* Get drunk together. If you don’t drink, we can go to my dad’s place and hang out under the “Tuba tree”
* Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam will send you a letter telling you about his favorite song on Since 1972

$10,000 (limited edition of 1)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed DW snare drum from A Perfect Circle’s 2003 tour
* Josh gives you a private drum lesson OR his and hers foot/back massage (couples welcome, discreet parking)
* Twiggy from Marilyn Manson’s band and Josh take you and a guest to Roscoe’s Chicken ‘n’ Waffles in Long Beach for dinner
* Josh takes you and a guest to Club 33 (the super-duper exclusive and private restaurant at Disneyland located above Pirates of the Caribbean) and then hit a couple rides afterward (preferably the Tiki Room, the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror)
* At the end of the day at Disneyland, drive away in Josh’s Volvo station wagon. It’s all yours … take it. Just drop him off on your way home, though, please.

$20,000 (limited edition of 1)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* A signed drum from the 2008 Nine Inch Nails tour
* Maynard James Keenan, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo and Josh take you miniature golfing and then drop you off on the side of the freeway (all filmed and posted on YouTube)
* Josh gives you a tour of Long Beach. See his first apartment, the coffee shop on 2nd Street where his buddy paid Dave Grohl $40 to rip up tile just weeks before joining Nirvana. See the old Vandals rehearsal spot, the liquor store he got busted at using a Fake ID when he was 17 (it was Dave from the Vandals’ old ID). Go check out Snoop Dogg’s high school. For an extra 50 bucks see where Tom and Adrian from No Doubt live. For another $25 he’ll show ya where Eric from NOFX and Brooks from Bad Religion get their hair cut.
* Spend the night aboard the Queen Mary and take the “Ghosts and Legends” tour. (Separate rooms … no spooning.)
* Josh writes 2 songs about you and both are made available on iTunes and appear on his next record (you can sing back up on ‘em, clap, play the drums, triangle, whatever)
* Drum lesson OR foot and back massage (once again … couples welcome and discreet parking available)
* Pick any 3 items out of Josh’s closet

$75,000 (limited edition of 1)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Go on tour with Josh for a few days
* Have Josh write, record and release a 5-song EP about you and your life story
* Take home any of his drum sets (only one, but you can choose which one)
* Take shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Danny from Tool’s Lamborghini OR play quarters and then hop on the Ouija board for a while
* Josh will join your band for a month … play shows, record, party with groupies, etc.
* If you don’t have a band he’ll be your personal assistant for a month (4-day work weeks, 10 am to 4 pm)
* Take a limo down to Tijuana and he’ll show you how it’s done (what that means exactly we can’t legally get into here)
* If you don’t live in Southern California (but are a U.S. resident) he’ll come to you and be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks
* Take a flying trapeze lesson with Josh and Robin from NIN, go back to Robins place afterwards and his wife will make you raw lasagna

(via mashable.com)

Now that’s what I call revolutionary

Have a piece of your favourite band is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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Here are some videos I took of the Acoustic Session by Gez ‘n’ Jay at the Tolbooth in Stirling on Friday night.

It was a great set. I love that soft, moody grunge sound, and these two guys are so good at it. Nothing against the Screaming Metal stuff that I know you’re also quite good at Johnny, but this IMHO is the style for you two.

Very impressed with the ambiance and sound at Tolbooth too. If you have a chance to go to one of their live Acoustic Sessions, don’t pass it.

Acoustic Session at the Tolbooth, Stirling. Gez ‘n’ Jay: Cold Morning.

Live Acoustic Session at the Tolbooth, Stirling. Gez ‘n’ Jay: A Million Miles.

I Have more Videos to upload when I get a chance… You can see them on >> my Youtube Channel

Acoustic Session by Gez ‘n’ Jay at the Tolbooth 12/02/10 is a post from: evenflowdave.com

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