50K MUSIC - independent.music.dedicated - www.50kmusic.com

It Took Off Quick!

50K MM: Where are you from? Jesse: Bulletproof Messenger is based in Long Island, New York, but our members are from Baltimore – MD, Long Island – NY, Schenectady – NY, and Erie – PA. 50K MM: How would you describe the band in three words? Jesse: HARD-ROCK/TECHNOLOGY/GOOFBALLS (not necessarily in that order, you might want to put goofballs first if you have met us in person.) 50K MM: Where are you coming from artistically, what are your influences? Jesse: Our influences are spread across the board. We love everything from Celldweller to Depeche Mode to Brand New, Pink Floyd, Sevendust, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, 311, Glassjaw, CKY, Chili Peppers... the list goes on and on. We try to pay tribute a little of each of our influences into our music. 50K MM: How would you describe your music? Jesse: Our music is a powerful concoction of electronic beats/synths, hard rock guitars, catchy melodic vocals. We pride ourselves in creating everything from ambient textures, metal-esque guitars, funk bass grooves, beautiful piano passages, and great memorable vocals – we don’t want to limit ourselves to one specific sound, and with our new album “Arm Yourself” we are really starting to be able to branch out into new sounds. 50K MM: How did you find the way to Sellaband? How has SellaBand changed your life? What were your experiences on your way to 50k? Jesse: One of my previous bands was actually on Sellaband and doing quite well when I heard of the website. I got a monthly newsletter from the band after joining Bulletproof Messenger and learned of the whole fan-investor concept. When we signed up on the website, it was a pretty big deal for us. We had no idea that things would take off like they would. Almost immediately, fans from all over the world were investing heavily in us. It took off quick! Within the first couple months we were chosen out of 3,000 acts worldwide to be flown to London, England and play a special showcase for Sellaband’s staff and some of the “Believers”. Fans/investors are called “Believers” on Sellaband. It was really cool to meet some of the new fans that were laying their own money down to support our music. We also got to meet the whole Sellaband staff who was extremely cool! Not to mention, this was our first gig in Europe – an experience we will never forget. Things continued to roll along quickly as the next few months passed. We reached the $50k budget in only 7 months, and from there we dove head first into the writing process. 50K MM: You released your album almost one year ago. What happened since then? Jesse: Since the release of our second album “Arm Yourself”, a lot has happened. One of our members, Voley Martin, is in the army and had to go to war in Iraq, so he was “M.I.A.” from the band for the first segment of 2009. We spent the majority of the year playing around the Eastern US playing with a fill in guitarist named Konstantine Sitzanis, getting a feel for the new songs and making them real tight until Voley returned. In 2009 we also saw the entry of new drummer Vince Gorski. Now that we have a solidified lineup, we are planning out our next touring season. We are still completely independent though, and searching for management, booking, and promotion help… so *hint hint* if anyone in those fields are reading this, haha! 50K MM: What are your plans for 2010 - new album, touring, ...? Jesse: 2010 is set for touring. Shows, shows shows! We are also looking for proper management like I said, but we will be taking a break from writing for a while. We are always writing individually, but we have spent so much time already putting out music that we are going to focus on the live show aspect and building up our fan base before we begin working on a new album. The internet is great for finding and reaching out to new fans, but it’s obvious to us that you cannot ignore the tried and true method of getting out there in people’s faces and touring your ass off. 50K MM: And at last one important thing about you and your music everyone should know? Jesse: We would just like to thank everyone who has been with us since the beginning. We are still a relatively new band, but we have a very loyal fan base. You are all priceless to us, and the reason that we are still going. Don’t get me wrong, we all love music and will be creating music for the rest of our lives, but having the fan support that we are lucky enough to have puts a certain bounce in our step, to say the least. It really helps us keep motivated to continue to push this project forward. We answer all of our fan letters/emails. If you want to get in touch with us, visit www.bulletproofmessenger.net ... And be sure to check out our new album “Arm Yourself” on iTunes! 50K MM: And very last question: Do you think Crowd-(Fan-)funding is a viable and sustainable way to finance an album? Would you go this way again? Jesse: I think it is absolutely viable. It worked out great for us. I think what started as an experiment for Sellaband and its artists became (in the words of Borat) a “Great Success!”. This method takes the burden of worrying about the financial aspect of creating an album off of the artist and lets the artist focus on the music. And they rejoined SellaBand to raise the budget for their upcoming tour (maybe in cities around the world?). Check out their new SellaBand profile - www.sellaband.com/bpmtour www.bulletproofmessenger.net

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