The Apollo Project Indie-Rock from Leiden (NL)

Beachbattle: semi-finals here we come!

Last week we competed in the Beachbattle band tournament, and we made it to the semi-finals! The other bands that night were the Kreatones, Senesense and Daar, pretty tough competition. Luckily the jury decided in Apollo's favor and we get to play in the semi-finals! Date will be posted here soon.

Upcoming Album
A few weeks ago we recorded drum at The Box Studios for our upcoming album. The guitar/bass/vocals are being recorded as we speak. As soon as on of the tracks is nearing completion we will post something for you to listen here. So far we are very excited, and we hope you are too!

Upcoming Album

If you are wondering why it's slightly silent here it's because we are working very hard on a new album! It's been a while since our debut Presto Manifesto, two years to be precise. Anyway, since we have Lars on board as our new drummer we wrote a ton of stuff and it's moving in a direction we like very much. We've been listening a lot to bands like Foals and The Mars Volta so expect some time signature changes, although nothing too dramatic that will mess with the flow of the song. Anyway, we booked a studio in November to track drums, the guitars/bass/vocals will be recorded in our own studio. We plan for a release in early 2012. And yes, it will be available as a free download! We are still thinking about a name, album artwork and even a video clip. If you have any suggestions let us know!

Live Recordings @ Stork on Air FM

On June 17 we played live at Radio West/Stork on Air in The Hague (NL). It was a nice studio, a cool vibe, nice sound, nice people. We actually liked it so much that we want to share it with you! These are fresh new songs, which will definitely make it on the next album. Enjoy!

On june 25 we will play them at Q-bus in Leiden, come check us out when your in town. The whole show will be recorded (audio & video) so an awesome crowd will definitely make for some awesome youtube material!

Being a Band on the Web 2.0 pt I

When I was young I wanted to be a rockstar. Actually, being 26 now, I still do. But being mostly older but hopefully somewhat wiser, I have seen (well, read mostly) parts of the music industry and I have some idea how complicated this dream is. These posts will focus on how this used to work (pt I), how it works now (pt II), how record companies don't get it (pt III), and most importantly: how The Apollo Project is gonna do it (pt IV)!

How it used to work

Let's first reflect on how bands became rockstars back in the day, say the 80's. First of, you needed a band. Then comes gear, the bigger the amps the better. You needed a garage to practice in, a truck to transport all that gear. You needed songs, so you write them in your garage. Let's not forget, you also needed tolerant parents that could stand all that noise. And now I think of it, you also needed your parents to drive all that gear round as I played my first shows when I was 13 and a driver's licence was nowhere in sight. You would get yourself some gigs, and send demo's around to record labels. And then, out of the blue, some rep of a major record company would see your show, offer you a huge record deal with a multi-million dollar advance. As most people might not realize, this is where your real troubles would have begun.

The Multi-Million Record Deal

Read that last part again; a multi-million dollar advance. Basically, these deals put you in a huge debt. Big studios (all analog) and big name producers would demand top money. Let's not forget the big name mix and master engineers that would stamp all life out of your recordings and their name on your cd just because they worked with Guns 'n Roses before. You needed a famous director to make a video clip impressive enough to get huge rotation on MTV. You needed marketing, radio DJs needed to be convinced or bought to put your hit in heavy rotation. But of course you would get royalties, a few percent of every CD sold. Wait.... hold on. With the huge advance of course you had to pay for all of the above, but the record company will also keep your royalties until they have their advance back [video]. What little would be left of the advance, most bands would spent on new gear, cars, mansions, hotels, skanks, drugs, parties, you name it.

So how to make money?

You would go on a world tour, play sold out stadiums all over the world. This would make money you actually got to keep yourself, as record companies saw tours as a means to promote and sell millions of CDs and didn't care about measly tour revenues. By the time you would make your third successful album you made back all your advance money and could demand a new contract with top money, more artistic freedom and higher profits for the band.

Of course, most bands would never make it that far. They would collapse because of stress, drugs, record company moguls forcing them to write the fad of the month, drugs, debts, fights over royalty splits, egos, and probably drugs.

So what hapened next? The internet happened.

Live recording @ Q-Bus June 25

Don't miss this one! A full hour of Apollo, Recorded on video from every conceivable angle! We'll be rocking the Q-bus stage and we want YOU to be a part of it. Ever wanted to be in a video? Here's your chance! Come cheer us on and you will be featured on the new Apollo live album recording, and the clips on youtube. Now there's a story for the grandchildren.

Doors open at 20:00, our esteemed warm up act Koert will get you started at 21:00 and Apollo kicks off at 22:00! Tickets are only 5 Euros at the door.  Click to Attend!

Dont want to get out of the house? APOLLO IS TAKING OVER YOUR RADIO! Friday the 17th we'll be playing four new songs LIVE at Stork on Air radio, tune in to check out the songs and don't be afraid to call in and scream APOLLO!! as loud as you can! 

We will also be at the Werfpop festival on sunday july 10, though unfortunately not on stage as we didn't win the finals so this is your chance to hang with The Apollo Project, chill in a park, check out some awesome bands, and get wasted with us. We'll se you there!

Nieuwe Drummer!

The Apollo Project heeft een nieuwe drummer gevonden, genaamd Lars!