Kobalt's EP release

It's been a while since I've been talking about my band Kobalt. We've even changed the spelling of our name in the mean time. Front page news, people!

I wish it was. In the meantime, we're paving our road to success. After having delivered that very first demo about 9 months ago, we decided to invest in a rehearsal studio where we could also set up some recording gear. Last summer has brought us a really nice place in Lille (the Campine) and we're practicing almost daily ever since. The progress you make is incredible!

Now we're on the verge of releasing our very first EP; all songs are more or less recorded and the artwork is nearly finished. Just a couple of vocals here and there and then the mixing can begin! The joy...

You can check out a little rehearsal teaser from one of our newest songs.




We've also got two very nice shows coming up:

• 17 November 2012: Café Cycloon, Turnhout (Tune in)
• 1 December 2012: JC Den Eglantier, Berchem (Radio Friendly Unit II)

The end is near

According to Thom Yorke's statement in the yet to be released school text book 'The Rax Active Citizen Toolkit', the music industry will cease to exist. His band Radiohead is of course a perfect example for how things could be in the business: release your music on a DIY label and make lots of money with it.

Imagine how it would be: a world without majors. No EMI, Sony or Universal telling bands what to play or telling people what they should listen to. There would be a shitload of independent labels, and they would always be connected to just a handful of bands. Artist would get to choose what their music should sound like, what budget they will spend on a certain release, etc. 

Just imagine the creativity when it comes to promoting your own music, without having the hassle to be struggling against incredible big opponents such as majors are these days. There would be a war of bands, and I mean that in the best possible way: now they don't only have to make the best music on earth, they also have to come up with bigger and better ideas to get the music to the fans. 

The (DIY) tools already exist in this internet based era. Apart from the most common social media, more and more platforms get to see the light of day. Fanbridge, Pinerly, Soundcloud, Mixcloud and Songkick are just a few of them. 

I think it's a brilliant motivator for a beginning band to know wether they're built for it or not. Do they have what it takes to take everything under their own control? At least, I'd like to believe so. Statements like this make me want to start to manage my own band, Kobalt, and take it to the highest possible level.