Hello Bloomers!!! It's been almost a month since we released In Loving Memory and the reactions have been nothing short of amazing. We would like to extend our deepest appreciation for all the feedback and support so many have shown as we've been moving forward towards becoming a full-time band. We often wonder aloud what it would be like if all we had to do was wake up each morning and only think about the band.... as our JOB!!! So far, all we've ever known is the daily grind of our 9 to 5's and then the small sliver of time every few days to cram in all the creativity and administration of Manic Bloom. It is nothing short of maddening. But, alas, it's what makes us who we are. Part of me wonders if relieving some of that pressure would be truly helpful in this artistic pursuit. Or is it the pressure and stress that makes us who we are. Guess we'll find out one of these days.
So last weekend, a couple of us drove down to Birmingham to purchase a new soundboard. We felt that with our limited budget, there were a few things we needed to do in order to improve upon our live show. Buying a board would allow us to fine-tune our practices a bit more so that when we hit the stage on the weekends (or whenever) we'd be a well-oiled machine, raring to bring wheel barrows of rock to the stage. So far, the board has been a total blessing
Perhaps the most delightful surprise that came with buying it came the other night on weekly broadcast, Manic Monday. For those of you who may not have had the joy of spending a Monday with, Manic Monday is a LIVE broadcast of the week's first practice. Sometimes we run through our set, sometimes we write new songs, other times we talk about important stuff, but EVERY time we act ridiculous and try are hardest to involve you as much as computerly possible. If you haven't been by yet, please, for the sake of all things funny, come hang out with us.
Anyways, Giga (our resident sound bro), got to messing with this new board of ours and figured out that it could be used to, not only run our monitor mixes during practice, but that it could also use mix our sound for Manic Monday. Meaning, no longer do you hear distortion when we get loud....no, now you hear flat out amazingness, especially considering that it's a LIVE feed.
I think you'll agree. Click the link below and load this past Monday's episode (8/16/10) and fast forward to 1:49:50. We jam out Never Back Down. It sounds sick!!!
www.ustream.tv/channel/manicbloom
I'm out!!
Hildee
P.S. Below is a pic of our new board....aint it a beauty? The pic below that me in the backseat on our way to Birmingham....I'm yawning b/c we were waiting for a tow truck....yeah, our trusty band vehicle broke down on the side of the road. Friggin fuel pump wigged out. No worries, we just banged on it and it started working. S'what I like to call a quick southern fix!! Thanks, Tow Truck Tony!!
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OK Bloomers, it is official, we are on the line up for BuzzFest 2010! We had an amazing interview last night at the Buzz Studios with Tony Stone and again, we are very excited to hear all of the amazing feedback from you, our fans on our new album "In Loving Memory".
We are so excited about the opportunity to play this huge festival and we hope that all of our fans that are anywhere near Nashville will come out and support us. We not only are very lucky to have this position, but we are also pumped to be sharing the stages with some of our favorite national and Nashville bands. Along side Manic Bloom will be November, Shine Down, Papa Roach, Forgotten Fable, Seether, and Drowning Pool - among many others!
Thank you Tony Stone for going to bat in a major way for Manic Bloom and the other elite Nashville bands that we are honored to share the stage with.
There are a lot of things going in Manic Bloomia! For those that don't know, our new EP In Loving Memory has been released, and you can hear the whole thing on our website. (sorry for being repetitive, but we recently discovered that our web host was only sending our emails to a small portion of our email list, so we switched to DreamHost)
I've been COMPLETELY blown away with the number of tweets/facebook posts/emails/etc that have been pointing people to our music. There is really is no way for us to express how thankful we are to have fans and friends that are so supportive of our music! We are able to continue to make music only because of you! And please feel free to send us emails and post comments telling us if our music has meant something to you. That keeps us going. Seriously.
And on topic of amazing support for us, we were sent a video from a handful of AWESOME fans in Russia, showing what they're doing to Spread the Bloom Responsibly:
When they sent this to me, I seriously teared up a little. To think that people are hearing our music on the other side of the globe is simply incredible. I will say - if you want to do something like this in the States, please use chalk instead of spray paint! We definitely don't want any Bloomers getting arrested on our behalf! (I've been informed that Russian law is different than U.S. law)
So - again - THANK YOU!! And continue to Spread the Bloom Responsibly!!
-David
MB
As a band, we are very lucky to have a singer that doubles as a talented website designer. David's newest creation is an idea we've had for awhile that we're now ready to launch. It's called www.DeathAndConversation.com. We wanted to raise the question "When you're gone, what will people remember about you?"
This is a website where you can post your own eulogy. If you had to summarize your life in a few paragraphs, what would you write? And when you post your eulogy, there are features to let you share it on Facebook or Twitter, so please make sure to help us spread the word.
Matt
-Manic Bloom
July 20th is here! That means our album, In Loving Memory, is now available on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and many other online music distribution sites. If you haven't bought it yet, please go do it now.
iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-loving-memory/id380373641
Manic Bloom website (to get the hardcopy) - http://www.manicbloom.com/store.php
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/In-Loving-Memory/dp/B003UM15L8/ref=dm_ap_alb2
Also, please help us spread the word today. We're hoping that all of you can help us make the web light up with talk of Manic Bloom today. Here are some things you can do.
1. Post to your Facebook about our new album
2. Suggest our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/manicbloom, to your friends
3. Tweet about the new album with the hashtag #inlovingmemory
4. Make the picture below your profile pic on any of your social network sites
5. Email your friends about it
We've worked on this album for a year, and now we need your help!
Matt
-Manic Bloom
I'm gonna start by saying that yesterday was one of my favorite Manic Bloom days in a long time. First, I finished editing and released our last individual interview video, for "Push Off The Ground". It's been a lot fun filming these videos, and hopefully you've enjoyed watching them as much as we've enjoyed making them. Second, we found out that we were played on the Real World yesterday. Now, being played on any reality show would be awesome to us, but the fact that The Real World was basically the original reality show made it even cooler. Third, we found some art that a fan in Russia made of us. I've been trying to describe how awesome it is, but I haven't figured out how to do it justice, so I'll just let you see for yourself.
Ok, back to the video...This video was probably the most fun to make because...well...we got to slap each other. It's fun. Also, I enjoyed seeing my guitar played with the camera attached to the headstock. We had a version of that shot that actually had me spinning really fast while playing, but it actually makes you a little dizzy to watch, so I didn't include that in the video.
This video talks about what we did during the recording process to destress, which for me is typically reading or watching tv. Post comments and let us know what do you do to destress. Give us ideas for the next time we record.
Matt
-Manic Bloom
The fourth video is here and that means one thing..... the new album is going to be released very soon! Just twelve more days. I know I've said this in previous blogs, but I CAN'T WAIT for this thing to be out. It feels like an eternity ago when we started recording. Probably because it was.... we started recording a year ago. Wow, that was weird just typing it out. We were playing a show last night in Clarksville, TN and were talking to some friends in another band, Blackwater James. They are about to start their new album. They say that their's will take two months to track, mix, and master. I can't imagine doing a Manic Bloom album that quickly. But, they're are paying for their tracking time which we didn't. I suppose that was our downfall and our saving grace. It dragged things out for us, but it allowed us to spend as much time as we needed to get things sounding the way we wanted them to.
So, my video is about the song Toynbee. Weird name, I know. The title comes from a short story entitled "The Toynbee Convector." If you read the story, you'll definitely understand the meaning of the song much better. I'd suggest checking it out. It's very interesting. All that said, I hope you enjoy the video and we can't wait to get the new album out to everybody! Thanks to you guys, we can get excited about seeing our fans react to the new music. You all help keep us going more than you know.
Brink
Hey there fellow Bloomers,
We are moving right along with our video promos, and I have to say that the release date is building up some very admirable excitement from our end. We are still pushing forward with many pre-sale orders, and you can still get yours at www.MANICBLOOM.com and if you order before the release you get yours signed by all 4 of us....ok, if you treat us right, we'll all 5 sign it....ha, ha
In other news, we were just chosen for this month's winner for Artist of the Month on www.STEREOFAME.com Go check it out and read the article that was written about us. It is very very well written and intriguing. David's brother, Michael need to be thanked by all far and wide for his effort in helping us acquire this prestigious award. He has taken full initiative to make this happen for us. It is a very cool site that allows you to listen to and interact with bands while accumulating points. If you, as a fan go and do this, you could get things like ipod or XBOX. If you go to Stereofame.com and watch the video, it can give you more info if you are interested.
I also want to say real quick that I was able to attend a show this week that featured all bass players from all walks of life. I am endorsed with Eden Bass and Eden Electronics and my good friend Lane Baldwin pulled me into the show last minute, right after we got done playing at Hard Rock Cafe and put me right in front of the crowd....when none other than Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey were taking the stage. So there I am, front row and listening/watching arguably the 2 best bass players in the world....it was .....AWESOME!!!!
ENJOY the cooler beating (thanx David), Cheerio hat wearing, Cookie Duster ending movie folks.
AndiRoo
We've posted another video about our upcoming release "In Loving Memory" - this time about the song A Thousand Angels. I'm pumped about these things - I think Matt's doing a killer job on putting them together. (If you agree, say so in the comments!)
Just between you and me, the preorders (which are all autographed, by the way) might arrive in mailboxes before July 20th. I will say that I've got a lot of sealed envelopes surrounding my computer desk right now...
We've been playing a lot of local shows lately - just finished a SESAC showcase at 12th and Porter with November and Sharif Iman - it was rockin! We were supposed to play a pool party in Murfreesboro on Saturday, but the worry of rain meant there was no sound system... But hopefully we'll be down soon to make it up for all the folks that were planning to rock out with us!
Also pretty pumped about how the USA did on their World Cup today...
Without further ado, here's a little insight into A Thousand Angels:
-David
MB
Hey Bloomers,
Matt here. Over the past year or two I've discovered another passion other than music...video. So I got myself a FLIP, and away I went. If you talk to the guys they'll tell you that if I don't have my guitar in my hand I probably have the camera.
So with that in mind, we got the idea to create videos to document the recording process of each song. We stuck each person in front of the camera and here's what you get. I just posted the first of what will be weekly promotional videos. I hope you like it.
Matt
-Manic Bloom
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