March: Madness, Wisconsin & Lovehammers

March is usually the signal of spring; a time of rebirth, sunshine, and a signal that the warm fun of summer is on the way.  For some March means baseball beginning with spring training, SXSW, hockey playoffs and March Madness.  For others spring just means more time by the lake, eating out, and enjoying their fine cities.  This will be our first March as Vintage Blue and we are looking forward to an amazing first spring as a band.

First off, at the end of February we had the opportunity to have our first band webcast!  It was such a cool experience and over 35,000 people viewed our live broadcast on Stickam.com.  We will be making this a REGULAR appearance every first and third Tuesday or each month, starting on March 20th!

Secondly, March will represent the first time we get to play a couple of new venues, and our first time in MILWAUKEE!!!  On March 23rd we will have our first show at the Tonic Room in Chicago, where will we be welcoming in New York City's own Deadbeat Darling as they make their way down to SXSW.  On March 24th we will be invading our neighbors to the north when we play Fire On Water in Milwaukee.

Thirdly, We are so excited to play this Saturday with Marty Casey and the Lovehammers at House of Blues Chicago.  This will be our fourth show at the most prestiguous music venue in Chicago in the last six months and we are more excited than ever.  It will be an epic evening and has already SOLD OUT!!  Hope to see you all there!

Lastly, March is the time of year when booking for summer festivals gets going.  We need your support!  Please share our music, website and info with all your friends.  We thank you in advance!!!

-Vintage Blue

Strike The Mics: Released

Over one year of creative energy, serious commitment, love, frustration, countless sleepless nights, listening and relistening, tweaking, tracking, practicing, recording, mixing, re-mixing, travelling and mastering finally consummated in the release of our first LP Strike The Mics.  We could not be happier with the result.

Many thanks go out to all the fine people who helped make the album what it is today.  First and foremost to our producer and good friend Jamie Candiloro.  Thank you so much for everything you taught us.  About becoming professionals, about listening, about focus and about becoming true writers and builders.  Thank you for your commitment to us and everything we wanted our music to be.  We cannot ever thank you enough for the work you did on this record and we look forward to working on the next one with you.

To Krista, Jason, and everyone at Rock Ridge Music, our marketing gurus: thank you for your commitment to pushing our record to every corner of the country; getting us press coverage in SOCO Magazine, on Windows Media Guide and into webzines and  blogs from Los Angeles, Nashville and New York.  Thank you also for your continuing efforts to push our music to Billboard.com and to Chicago outlets as well.

Thanks also to all of you that supported us during the making of this album.  Because of you, we have a very real shot of showing up in the Billboard Charts which would be a truly amazing next step for this band.  Not only that, but our e-mail, fanpages and mailing list has nearly doubled in size and we are so excited to continue bringing you our music on bigger and better stages here in Chicago.  We hope that you will continue to tell everyone you know about the band, about the record and about whatever songs move you.  THANKS!!!

BONUS:  On the release date we were on Fearless Radio here in Chicago.  We performed two songs live and acoustic in studio.  You can download the podcast here in case you missed it!  http://www.fearlessradio.com/index.php/component/k2/item/2502-vintage-blue.html

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving.  This is our opportunity to look back at the past year and give thanks for everything and everyone that has positively impacted our life.  2011 has been a whirlwind for our band as we played our first summer festivals, completed our first full-length professionally produced album, and played the House of Blues.

None of it would have been possible with out the contribution of some very key people.  First and foremost we need to thank our producer Jamie Candiloro.  Jamie aided us in producing our album due out on Valentine's Day 2012.  In the process of recording this album, we learned a ton as musicians, grew as people and gained a true friend.

Next we should thank Paul Farahvar of Shoeshine Boy Productions.  While he is ornery and difficult (because he is an attorney) Paul has been an essential piece to the growth of our band.  Most recently Paul enabled us to play the House of Blues and next Metro Chicago.

We also need to thank our current publicity machine that is aiding in the press surrounding our album release.  Krista Mettler of Skye Media LLC has been not only a great publicist, but has been both engaging, funny and helpful in explaining the current state of the music business.  Also we thank the folks at Ariel Publicity who are helping us streamline our online presence and expand our network of online media contacts.

Lastly we can't thank all of you enough!  All of you who follow, tweet, like, comment, and read all of our material.  All of you who come out to our shows, listen to our music and support us both as fans and friends ... THANK YOU!!!

2012 is going to be absolutely amazing ... stay tuned.

-Vintage Blue

All Worth It

This band, in one form or another, has existed for about 3 years.  The things that we have learned as a group about social media, marketing and publicity are pretty insane.  When we had our first show we played Silvie's in North Chicago and didn't even have a Facebook page or Facebook invite.  We printed little flyers and handed them out at the door ... yes, at the door.

Today if we want to book a show, we go through our promoter Paul Farahvar from Shoeshine Boy Productions, we create a Facebook invite, update Reverbnation, update Myspace, tweet, re-tweet, find the other bands on the bill and follow them, like them, etc.

As we move towards February 14, 2012 ... our band finds itself taking yet another enormous leap forward in our marketing efforts.  In order to prepare for our first full-length record release we have employed Krista Mettler of Skye Media and Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity.  These two agencies have us lean, mean and focused on building our brand in an effective, fun and meaningful way.

The reason we do all of this work?  Because when we step up on stage, or close the door to the recording booth, we think about YOU GUYS!!!  When the curtains open and we see all of you yelling, pointing and getting excited we realize that all of our efforts to practice, market and promote our music culminates in getting to play for you ... and that time on stage is all worth it.

The Tale of An Independent Chicago Band

Welcome:

We are Vintage Blue, a Chicago band rock band that is currently gearing up to finish our most successful year as a band (2011) and launch what will be a 2012 to never forget.  We want to use this blog as a way for fans, old friends, and L.A. Reid to keep track of our band.

The Short:


We are a five-piece band that officially started in 2008 as the band Tanglewood.  We started as a cover band banging out classic tunes at Wise Fools Pub, Lilly's and Silvie's in Chicago.  Fast forward to 2011 and we have completed work on our second album, due out in 2012 ("Strike The Mics") that will soon be followed by a regional tour and national press.

What to Look For:


This blog will be about telling the story of an independent rock band and the behind-the-scenes work that it takes to book, promote, market, manage and phsychotherapize a band of dudes.