5FM’s Saturday afternoon show, (Live)⁵ with Catherine between 5pm and 7pm, is taking a love of live local and international music to a new level. In April 2010 5FM, in association with Jose Cuervo, are launching the first (Live)⁵ album that will feature over 40 live recorded tracks from over two years of live broadcasts from both local and international bands that have been featured on the show.

For 5FM’s Catherine Grenfell, producer and host of the station’s (Live)⁵ show, the CD is a culmination of many years of hard work and unabridged passion. “If you’re a fan of live music and South African music – who could ask for a better job, than hosting and producing a show like (Live)⁵? We have had the most unbelievable bands and experiences on the show. The intimacy of the show for the studio audience and the platform from 5fm for the bands to play to a national audience has made this show such an amazing experience for me. This CD is for the bands, the studio audience and you, the people that buy CD’s and support South African Music.”

Some of the local artists to be included on the new CD include Seether, the Parlotones, HHP, Prime Circle, Goldfish, Gang of Instrumentals, JR and Locnville. International performances who have appeared on (Live)⁵ and who will also be featured in the CD include Joss Stone, Staind, OK Go and The Ataris.

The (Live)⁵ double CD will be on shelf and available to purchase from the first week of May 2010. Watch out for (Live)⁵ album launch events in your city where you can see Catherine and other 5FM DJ’s in action as well as your favourite local music acts. You can buy copies of the very first (Live)⁵ album at the launch events as well as win free merchandise with 5FM and Jose Cuervo.

TRACK LISTING:

CD1:
1. Prime Circle – Consider Me
2. Seether – Fine Again
3. Locnville – Sun in My Pocket
4. Zebra & Giraffe – Arm Yourself
5. OK Go – Here it Goes Again
6. Joss Stone – Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin’ On Me?)
7. Loyiso ft Obita – I Want You
8. Harris Tweed – The Taxi Song
9. Evolver – Go All The Way
10. HHP – Let Me Be (Walk on By)
11. JR – Show Dem
12. Flash Republic – Emergency
13. Farryl Purkiss – A Million Grains of Sand
14. City Bowl Misers – Uh Huh
15. Taxi Violence – Untie Yourself
16. Stealing Love Jones – Out There
17. Sugardrive – Ten Feet High
18. Fire Through The Window – Just Like You Are

CD2:
1. The Parlotones – Giant Mistake
2. Staind – Everything Changes
3. Goldfish – This is How it Goes
4. Louise Carver – Home
5. The Ataris – Boys of Summer
6. Crash Car Burn – Heroes
7. Heroes Wear Red – Beautiful Way
8. Springbok Nude Girls – Wolfmen (Live at the Astoria)
9. Jozi – What’s With The Attitude
10. Gang of Instrumentals – Woza December
11. Koldproduk – You You & You
12. Bang Bang – Two Way
13. Jamali – Knowing Me Knowing You
14. Tasha Baxter – Fade to Black
15. The One Night Stands – Seconds
16. Josie Field – Every Now & Then
17. Voodoo Child – Megalomanic Attack
18. Flat Stanley – Sunset Ribbon Red
19. Jacques – Get Right

You can listen to the interview segment below.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

In November 2009 Musketeer Records licensed the Native Noise brand for the release of ‘Native Noise Collection Vol.1 – The Seether Sessions’. The first in a series of planned releases to promote South African artists features the country’s most successful rock band. The Native Noise Collection includes acoustic versions of Seether’s biggest hits as well as interviews with the band. The album artwork features a number of my Seether photographs from various South African tours.

I launched a mini-site to promote the album and give fans access to additional content, like photographs, wallpapers and a desktop screensaver. The website is a very simple WordPress system with a custom built theme based on the album artwork.

Head over to www.nativenoisecollection.com/desktop-wallpapers to download your favourites.

Tune into South Africa’s national radio station this Saturday to hear tracks off The Native Noise Collection Vol.1 – The Seether Sessions. (Live)⁵ showcases top quality live recordings and in-studio performances. Your host, Catherine, is 5fm’s biggest supporter of rock music and a true asset to the South African music industry. This Saturday (the 16th January 2010), Catherine will be playing Seether songs from the Native Noise Collection. If you haven’t got your hands on the album yet, then tune in from 5pm to 6pm and hear why it is an integral part of any Seether fan’s collection.

Go to the download page to get your copy of the Native Noise Collection Seether screensaver.
http://www.nativenoisecollection.com/screensaver/

I used Adobe Flash to create an animated swf file and then two great pieces of free software to convert the animation into screensavers.
Instant Storm Screensaver Creator for Windows
SWF Screensaver for Mac

I’m really excited that The Native Noise Collection Vol.1 – The Seether Sessions is now available from all good music stores across South Africa.

You can order the album online from the following retailers:

The album has only been released in South Africa but OneWorld.co.za and Kalahari.net usually do international deliveries.

To celebrate the release I have created a brand new website dedicated to The Native Noise Collection at http://www.nativenoisecollection.com. The website is fairly basic at the moment but keep checking back as I’ll be adding lots of cool stuff in the weeks to come.

I have also created a Native Noise Page on Facebook, become a fan and stay in the loop with all the latest news about The Seether Sessions.

During my recent holiday visiting friends and family in South Africa I had one night to go out in Jozi. Fortunately two of my favourite bands (Heroes Wear Red and New Academics) were both playing at the same venue.

Heroes Wear Red, New Academics and Broadway Screamer live at the launch of HWR’s music video for ‘Am I’.
Back 2 Basix (Johannesburg, South Africa).
27 November 2009.

Back in 2002, Paul Seele launched a radio show on the University of Cape Town’s campus station. Native Noise focused on promoting South African music with an ethos of ‘thinking globally by support locally’. During a two year run, Paul interviewed over 165 local artists, promoting the country’s top acts as well as showcasing upcoming talent. The Native Noise radio show ended on a high note with the release of The Native Noise Acoustic Collection, a free MP3 album featuring some of the best songs performed live on the show.

In November 2009 Native Noise partnered with Musketeer Records for the release of ‘Native Noise Collection Vol. 1 – The Seether Sessions’. The album features a collection of rarities by South Africa’s most successful rock band on a 2CD set available exclusively in South Africa.

Disc 1 of ‘The Seether Sessions’ kicks off with the new song, ‘No Shelter’, a b-side from the gold selling hit album ‘Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces’. The disc continues with recordings from the band’s iTunes Originals sessions, previously unavailable in South Africa. Seether discusses their career from 1999 to 2008 alongside rare acoustic versions of songs including the hits ‘Fake It’, ‘Broken’ and ‘Rise Above This’. Fans will also be treated to covers of The Beatles’ ‘Across the Universe’ and Cole Porter’s ’I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ (made famous by Frank Sinatra) performed in Seether’s unique style.

A second disc captures the band’s live acoustic performance at the Grape Street Club, as featured in the 2006 release ‘One Cold Night’. The session includes hit singles ’The Gift’, ‘Truth’ and ‘Gasoline’ as well as a cover of Pearl Jam’s ‘Immortality’, fan favourite ‘Sympathetic’ and the early Saron Gas song, ‘Tied My Hands’.

No band could be more apt for the launch of The Native Noise Collection. Seether redefined the way people perceive South African rock and thanks to local support they went on to achieve global greatness. This exclusively South African release will be a valued asset to any Seether fan’s collection.

Having successfully sold 2000 pre-order copies of her debut album, Verity was looking for a way to reward the fans that supported her in the journey. The limited edition release of ‘Journey’ included two bonus tracks as well as an interactive CD-ROM as a second disc. I developed the CD-ROM in Adobe Flash to showcase Verity‘s music and present fans with bonus videos, photographs and information about the difference the artist has made through her Live Your Dreams Foundation as well as other charities.

The CD-ROM was packaged with 2000 limited edition copies of Journey and shipped to fans across the world.

To aid the promotion of Fevertree‘s sophomore album, ‘Under a New Regime’, I developed an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) that would be sent out as an interactive CD-ROM. The Multimedia presentation was built using Adobe Flash. It proved to be an effective way to showcase the band’s music – with a selection of songs playing throughout the showcase. The EPK also includes dynamically loaded music videos and photographs.

I built the Musketeer Records website from scratch. The brief called for an easily updateable website to showcase numerous artists. I built a custom CMS back-end to allow the Musketeer staff to easily add and edit information including news, events, artist pages and releases.

The site combines a number of technologies built on an ASP.NET platform to store information in a SQL Server 2005 database. The website is enhanced by a dynamically updated Flash menu as well as Javascript and advanced frames to allow seamless transitions between pages.

Technologies used:
* ASP.NET
* Visual Basic
* SQL Server 2005
* Adobe Flash
* XML
* CSS
* Javascript
* Adobe Photoshop

The myspace page for South African pop-star Jessika. The layout is based on the artwork of her debut album.

Photographs of Jessika by Matt Raven.
Album artwork by Jaco van der Walt.

A myspace layout using the artwork for Sugardrive’s greatest hits album, “In a place (that takes a little getting used to)”. The page header includes an animated flash banner.

Album artwork originally by Jaco van der Walt.

The Musketeer Records myspace page is a basic layout using images of the artists on the label.

Tomorrow will be my last day in the Musketeer office. I am off to London for love, fame and fortune.

The last three years at Musketeer have been an incredible experience. I was able to work with a diverse range of artists from new acts to well established ones.

Here are a few of the highlights:

* Launching the very promising career of our pop-starlet Jessika.
* Receiving a SAMA nomination for our first jazz act; The Dan Wilson Mark Huggett Project.
* Finally signing Heroes Wear Red (even if I’m not here to promote the album).
* Making Fevertree impossible to ignore with incredible press coverage, a UK tour and massive performances at Coke Fest, Fall Out Boy and Ellis Park.
* Passing out in Seether’s dressing room while Metallica was on stage at the first Coke Fest tour in Cape Town.
* Seeing my photos appear in numerous publications (even if I wasn’t always credited for them).
* Getting Ian Henderson playlisted on every regional station without having to beg and pester music managers.
* Hearing the crowd sing along during 12th Avenue’s performance on the Seether tour.
* Working closely with Tuks FM for the awesome launch of Scarlet Box’s second album.
* Abusing my position in the music industry to start a backyard festival called JawFest with my mates.
* Working with the inspiring Verity and creating her limited edition multimedia CD.
* Releasing the greatest hits of one of my all-time favourite bands; Sugardrive.
* Replacing our monstrosity of a website with the sexy new www.musketeer.co.za
* Helping Seether earn their first local gold record, first SAMA, first MAMA and first sold-out arena tour.

It has been an incredible journey.

Thank you to all of you in the media for your support.

My duties will be taken over by David Elstins (a good friend, colleague and professional Englishman) and Gavin Wienand (the new guy that is already a legend in the SA music industry).

I’d like to extent an enormous thank you to Peter Lacey. Always more than a boss, as a mentor he gave me the encouragement and freedom to strive for greatness.

Back in 2005 he was the only man in the music industry willing to invest in the potential of a young campus radio DJ. I will always be grateful for that!

In parting I would like to leave you with a photo of my proudest accomplishment. Here I am grinning like an idiot with the award presented to me for gold certified sales of Seether’s latest album. May Musketeer Records have many more gold and platinum albums in the future.

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Paul Harold Seele
——————————-
Paul Seele
Head of Marketing – Musketeer Records
www.musketeer.co.za

Last night South African music channel MK revealed the nominees for the 2009 MK Awards.

Seether’s No.1 hit single ‘Rise Above This’, is nominated in the category “Campus Hit of the Year”

The winners of the MK Awards will be determined by public votes.

You can vote via the following means:
Website: http://beta.mnet.co.za/fanclub/voteCategoryItem.aspx?ClubID=642&catID=25&pID=41 (limited to 1 vote per day)
SMS: Send “Hit4” to 33676 (R1,50 – limited to 5 votes per day)
Mxit: Login to cast your vote (limited to 1 vote per day)
Voting closes on the 13th February 2009. Go to mktv.co.za for full voting rules

“Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces” has been Seether’s most successful album to date.
Local successes over the past year include:
* Three No.1 singles (‘Fake It’, ‘Rise Above This’ and ‘Breakdown’)
* The first Seether album to be certified Gold in South Africa
* Nominated for 3 South African Music Awards – winning Best Rock: English
* Nominated for 2 Mtv Africa Music Awards – winning Best Alternative
* Sold out arena tour (5,000 people per venue) in June 2008

Listeners will be pleased to hear all the classics including 5FM chart toppers ‘Ten Feet High’, ‘Brighter’, ‘Meteor’, ‘Michelangelo’s Holding Hands’, ‘35mil.’ and ‘Disco Lazarus’.

For the first time in seven years all four original band members are back to rock the nation. Sugardrive will be performing key shows in support of the new greatest hits collection “In a place (that takes a little getting used to)”.

Following the 5FM performance Sugardrive will move on to being the celebrity guests in the Do Band Up house. The group will be mentoring future rock-stars in the talent search competition (broadcast on www.do.co.za and MTV Base). The week in the Do Band Up house ends with Sugardrive performing at Tings ‘n Times on Friday 12th December.

The Sugardrive Stories competition will draw to a close this week. Fans have written about their favourite Sugardrive memories on www.musketeer.co.za/sugardrivestories. The five most popular stories all get a signed copy of the new album and VIP entry to the performance at Tings n Times.

South Africa’s most successful rock band, Seether, claimed the award for Best Alternative. The broad genre of the category had Seether up against Coldplay, Goldfish, The Parlotones and Buraka Som Sistema but the public vote made Seether the clear winners.

The award could only be expected with music videos for ‘Fake It’ and ‘Rise Above This’ earning Seether extensive television airplay the world over. The band’s latest single, ‘Breakdown’, was unveiled two weeks ago and is already on high rotation.

Seether was also nominated for the MTV Africa Artist of the Year award but lost to Nigerian performer D’banj. Six of the ten awards went to the host nation so Seether was proud to walk away with two nominations and one award.

Seether could not attend the ceremony due to prior US tour commitments with Staind and Papa Roach. The band pre-recorded an acceptance speech thanking all the fans at home for their support.

Bassist Dale Stewart commented; “We’ve been away from home for a very long time, we miss Africa a lot so getting this award is just great… We can’t wait to come home and play for you guys again. Hope to see you all soon.”

The award adds to Seether’s string of accolades in their home territory. The latest album, “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces”, earned the band their first gold record in Southern Africa as well as their first South African Music Award. Now with the addition of a MAMA it seems that Seether will need to expand the trophy cabinet for many more awards to come.

The MTV Africa Awards will air on MTV Base (DSTV channel 322) on Saturday 29th November 2008 at 19:30 (GMT+2).

Sugardrive is one of South Africa’s most treasured rock bands. During a journey that would span more than a decade they flew the flag for originality, self-belief and re-invention. It is no wonder that South Africans feel a personal connection to Sugardrive’s music. Each song can trigger a memory (or the déjà vu of a memory lost).

Go to http://www.musketeer.co.za/sugardrivestories to share your Sugardrive story.

It can be a comment on the band, your first gig, last gig, best gig, the first song you heard, your favourite album or even that time you woke up in a place that took a little getting used to.

Then get your friends to vote for your story.

The 5 most popular stories will each win:
* The new Sugardrive collection “In a place (that takes a little getting used to)” signed by all four original band members.
* An afternoon with Sugardrive in the Do Band Up house.
* VIP entry for you and a partner to the Sugardrive performance at The Firkin (Centurion) on Friday 12th December 2008

“In a place (that takes a little getting used to)” is in all good music stores now.

“The band blew the stage apart, all of you blew me away, and I really had the best night of my year…”

“Superglue” has hit the shelves around South Africa. The incredible radio success of ‘Over Now’ paved the way for a phenomenal launch party in Cape Town. The Newspace Theatre was the ideal venue for Ian to showcase his new album, supported by the most incredible band he could have asked for. The launch will be covered by The Showbiz Report this weekend.

Ian Henderson will spend a week in Johannesburg from the 18th November; any media interested in interviewing him should contact David Elstins at Musketeer Records (david@musketeer.co.za).

Help them win by voting online at: http://www.mama.mtvbase.com

Or vote via SMS
Best Alternative:
SMS “Alternative E” to the number below

Artist of the Year:
SMS “Year E” to the number below

South Africa
34002
R2 per SMS

Rest of the world
+45 609 910 232
Standard International SMS rates apply

Voting closes on Tuesday 18 November 2008

www.seether.com
www.myspace.com/seether

In 2006 Verity launched the Lucky Packet Project to achieve her dreams. The ambitious singer would sell her album before it had even been written, a rare feat for established artists, let alone a debut release. Verity calculated that she would have to sell 2000 albums to cover the costs of creating it and off she went to gather the funding one CD sale at a time. Purchasing an advance copy of the album made fans part of the decision making processes in creating the album. Almost three years later 2000 people have made history as future owners of “Journey”; the debut album by Verity.

While Verity’s story is fascinating, it should not distract listeners from the fact that she has produced an outstanding collection of powerful songs. “Journey” is clearly a personal album, dealing with love, loss, insecurity, power and self-actualisation.  Verity enlisted a range of musicians from across the continent to perform on the album. The result is a beautifully mature pop album with lyrical depth and distinct African musicality.

Listeners will find Verity’s very personal songs reassuringly familiar. Her knack for reflecting the human psyche is matched by her ability to inspire and encourage personal growth through songs like ‘Shine’, ‘Don’t Look Back’ and the first single ‘Angel’. “When we released it as the first single off the album,” Verity explains “it felt like ‘Angel’ was the perfect way to introduce my music, message and the journey I have been on to record this album for the world. For me personally, the song is about allowing the strength and beauty we have inside ourselves to shine beyond the fears that hold us back”.

Verity is a truly skilled song writer, presenting very personal experiences in songs that everyone can relate to. She once battled singing ‘Forever in Me’, a song about her father passing away, but the song has grown into a celebration of his memory. Verity says that the song now brings comfort to so many people, “I have been asked to sing it at a lot of memorials and once again have discovered that a song so personal for me has found a way of meaning so much to others.”

She may focus on important aspects of life but Verity has learnt not to take herself too seriously. ‘Love Is’ reflects Verity’s way of dealing with a break-up, “It allows me to have a little laugh about taking things so seriously and just get on with it and accept the way things are.” Similarly ‘Take You Back’ carries an important message in a fun, upbeat song, “This is my song for claiming back your power and walking away from things that no longer serve you.”

Verity’s positive message goes beyond her music. As an inspirational speaker and performer her unique approach to the music industry has made her an expert on the power of thinking and acting out the box.  Verity has shared the stage with top international speakers including Dr John Demaritini, Lisa Nichols, Mike Dooley, Patricia Glynn, Robin Banks and Bruce Muzik. As an ambassador for women empowerment and POWA, Verity has performed and spoken to thousands of women around South Africa, including the annual Women’s Show at CCTIC & Sandton Convention Centre, Lisa Nichols “Ladies Can We Talk” workshop and the GSB Women In Business Conference.

As a result of her work in the community, Verity was made an ambassador for education and as such has awarded 40 Intec Bursaries to deserving South Africans. She has toured with The Standard Bank Rocking Future Road Show and spoken and sang for more than 4500 Matriculants about the power of living their dreams. She has been interviewed by numerous TV shows including The Power Within, Etv Showbiz Report and more recently Morning Live and Carte Blanch. Verity has guest presented for Top Billing and has hosted and performed at the Media 24 Awards, Virgin Mobile Aids Day, The Red Cross Children’s Hospital R1mil Drive, CHOC, The Chaeli Campaign, Africa Institute for HIV/AIDS Management and The Saartjie Baartman Centre to name a few.

The Lucky Packet Project included far more than the recording of “Journey”. 10.6% of every album sold was split between two charities – POWA and the work they do to empower women and Verity’s own Live Your Dreams Foundation to uplift other South African artists. She sold over 2000 future copies in 25 countries around the world before going into studio and was able to pay for two artists to record demos, as well as furnish POWA’s shelters with linen and crockery and three fax machines for their offices. She recorded the album with top producers Paul McIver and Brian O’Shea at the end of 2007 and it released in July 2008 having already made music history.

Verity has kept all her supporters in the loop through her website (iamverity.com) and blog (iamverity.co.za). In July she posted the news that the album was ready to be released, “I feel very fortunate that the gamble I took in starting this project is paying off so amazingly. I have an incredible record label behind me now, a great web team, incredible family and friends, a super supportive boyfriend and 2000 people who are about to receive their CD’s that they helped me record!”

The 2000 future owners of “Journey” were rewarded with a limited edition version of the album. The future owner copies include two bonus tracks as well as a multimedia CD with photographs, videos, press clippings, lyrics and Verity’s comments on each song. The retail release of the album is already selling well through Musketeer Records.

Verity approached the music industry from such a unique angle that she now finds herself back at the start; promoting a brand new album. Yet Verity is starting with 2000 CDs already sold and a story like no other. “All in all as I near the end of the Lucky Packet Project I have to say that I am one very very lucky girl! Here’s to the next part of the adventure…”

It could definitely be tightened up, but I don’t really have time to spend on that.