Guest Post: Tour Playlist From Death of Kings

This is what Amos chose.

Hey, everybody! Amos here from Death of Kings, fresh off the road from a killer east coast run supporting our new album, KNEEL BEFORE NONE.

A proper soundtrack for tour is an absolute must, and we thought it might be interesting if we kept a log of all the albums we jammed while we cruised across the country, so here it is!

The band van is my daily vehicle, so with me being the most comfortable behind the wheel I wind up doing most of the driving, and often find myself controlling the tunes, as well.

Lots of old rock, punk and heavy metal stuff this time around, often being influenced by the places we were driving through - jamming King Diamond while we drove through Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Dio/Cro-Mags/Anthrax driving across NY and GWAR into Richmond.

We were also fortunate enough to have a working tape deck, so we dedicated an entire day to jamming all the cassettes we brought and picked up on the road.

There's plenty of curve-balls in there (though not as many as I would've liked!) as well as a ton of live albums... so enjoy the tunes - we definitely did!

Guest Post: This Is Why To PR by Curtis Dewar

I’ve had several bands tell me that there really is no point in having a PR and that they can do it all themselves. While DIY is an admirable quality and definitely cheaper, there are some things to consider when choosing between hiring a PR and doing it yourself.

Keep these in mind:

-A PR already has a list of magazines, websites and journalists 

Guest Post: How To Get Noticed by Curtis Dewar

What to include in your album submission

A common error that I see bands going the “do it yourself” promotion route is a failure to include any information whatsoever about them. 

No bio, no album credits, nothing. I’ve had some bands tell me that they want “the music to speak for itself” or to “maintain a mystique” but in reality this is just a cop out for being lazy and unprofessional.

While I can understand wanting the music to speak for itself, the thing is that at least a little bit of information needs to be sent along with the album itself. While you may not feel that you have the skills to write a fancy bio yourself, you can minimally include the following info:

Genre

This is important so that the publication in question knows if your music is even suitable for them. If a metal journalist takes the time to download your album and then finds out that you’ve sent them a rap album that journalist is going to be pissed off.