We just posted the video for "My Prison Still Remains" into "Devoiden" and the Metallica cover "Fuel" from last Saturday's show at Fontana's. It's up on our MySpace, Facebook, ReverbNation and YouTube pages, as well as embedded below.
My Prison / Devoiden / Fuel LIVE @ Fontana's 2/21/09
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Video: Eulogy LIVE @ Fontana's 2/21/09
We just posted the video for "Eulogy" from last Saturday's show at Fontana's. It's up on our MySpace, Facebook, ReverbNation and YouTube pages, as well as embedded below.
Eulogy LIVE @ Fontana's 2/21/09
Eulogy LIVE @ Fontana's 2/21/09
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Video: Rock Bottom Again & Collapse LIVE @ Fontana's 2/21/09
We just posted the first video from the show last Saturday: Rock Bottom Again into Collapse. It's up on our MySpace, Facebook, ReverbNation and YouTube pages, as well as embedded below.
Rock Bottom Again & Collapse LIVE @ Fontana's 2/21/09
Rock Bottom Again & Collapse LIVE @ Fontana's 2/21/09
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Fontana's Pictures Posted
We just uploaded the pictures we took at the show at Fontana's last Saturday. You can find them all on our Facebook and MySpace pages. Our ReverbNation page only has a few of our favorites because there's no photo album system. If we uploaded them all it would just get really cluttered.
We're working on getting the video together now and we'll probably start posting them sometime later in the week so check back soon!
We're working on getting the video together now and we'll probably start posting them sometime later in the week so check back soon!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Press Clipping - 100 Bands in 100 Days
We got our first piece of real press yesterday when Nick Sonderup from 100 Bands in 100 Days wrote a review of our show at Fontana's Saturday. He's doing exactly what his name suggests, trying to see 100 different bands in 100 straight days. I found his site and invited him to come to see us, hoping to help his cause and his bank statement by bringing him as my +1 so he could get into the show for free. It was nice to read that he found me charismatic. I'll be working hard on developing my badass-ness for the next show.
We really were having a blast up there, and all the people we hung out with at the after party said they had a great time too.
I felt bad that we didn't have time to talk and sent him an apology after the show. Setup didn't go according to plan for a number of reasons and we didn't have any time to hang out before we needed to hit the stage. I'm glad we got to talk for the little bit we did after the show though.
It was a great night for us, the place was packed just like Nick said. The venue's count was actually over 100! Thanks again to everyone that came out to see us, we had a blast and can't wait to come back to the city for another show!
It's no secret that we're influenced by Metallica. However most of the people I've spoken to don't seem to see as strong a resemblance as Nick did. I think the fact that his first encounter with our music was that the recording of "Collapse" reminded him of "Shortest Straw" might have given him a confirmation bias so his perception of our music changed to fit his assumption that we're a Metallica knock-off. Then again I could be biased because I'm in the band and I don't want to think of us as a Metallica knock-off.
First of all my voice is a high Tenor and James from Metallica is a heavy baritone. Next I think we tend to incorporate more melody into our music, especially in the Choruses. If you look at "Collapse," which he's right starts in a similar fashion to "Shortest Straw," the chorus is more similar to something off of a Sevendust record like Seasons than anything by Metallica. "Eulogy," "My Prison Still Remains," and "Standing Over Shadows" all have choruses like that as well, where the lead guitar outlines a counter-melody to the lead vocal and it's harmonies. Metallica rarely (if ever) has a lead guitar playing a continuous counter-melody during the chorus, which all four of the aforementioned songs have.
The clean verse to "My Prison Still Remains" has continuously arpeggiated chords, which is much more like something Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge/Creed would play than something Hetfield would come up with. Also most of Metallica's breakdowns and instrumental sections are much more about the rhythm guitar part and harmonies along with it, while ours tend to resemble a larger break between the lead and rhythm guitar similar to the way Iron Maiden do a lot of their guitar parts. The intro to Devoiden on our album would fit better on Killers than on any Metallica record.
This might all sound like nit-picking, but unless you go to the details there's really not ALL that much that separates Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Judas Priest, Dream Theater, Slayer, Pantera, and the rest of the metal bands around the world. Most of the songs are written in minor keys, most commonly E, A, or D, which means the chord progressions are mostly the same (vi - IV - V - vi). This means the melodies have to fit this chord progression, so the base notes for the melodies are mostly the same as well. You also expect a lot of fast tempos, palm muting, double bass, and guitar solos -- that's just how metal music is. The only way to really separate these bands is to look at the subtle differences between them.
In the end I think we've put together a nice blend of hard rock and heavy metal that is original enough to make us stand out, without going so far that we move out of the genre entirely. After all that's what a genre is, a set of expectations listeners have for what they're going to hear. We want to be a metal band, it's the music that we all love to listen to, write, and perform, and we feel that the "genre requirements" for being a metal band are worthy goals to strive for as musicians. We're not trying to create some completely avant-garde new musical direction, we just want to be really good at putting a fresh spin on a classic lineage of music that moves forward slightly, but never breaks away from its roots.
Read the entire review of our show here.
...they were having fun, the crowd was having fun, they were good at their instruments and the songs were tight (kind of have to be, this is metal).
We really were having a blast up there, and all the people we hung out with at the after party said they had a great time too.
Brian (bass/vox) sent me an email Friday, saying that if I got to the club around 6:30p, we could hang and chat before their set...Yet, the hang and chat never happened (except for briefly after).
I felt bad that we didn't have time to talk and sent him an apology after the show. Setup didn't go according to plan for a number of reasons and we didn't have any time to hang out before we needed to hit the stage. I'm glad we got to talk for the little bit we did after the show though.
The place actually got pretty crowded for such an early show (50+ people).
It was a great night for us, the place was packed just like Nick said. The venue's count was actually over 100! Thanks again to everyone that came out to see us, we had a blast and can't wait to come back to the city for another show!
Divergence hit stage and immediately brought the metal: cranking out song after Metallica-inspired song. Yea, sorry. I can’t write this entry without repeating how blatant the Metallica inspiration is. Thing is, apart from the one song that starts like “Shortest Straw,” the rest seem inspired from post-Black Album Metallica.
It's no secret that we're influenced by Metallica. However most of the people I've spoken to don't seem to see as strong a resemblance as Nick did. I think the fact that his first encounter with our music was that the recording of "Collapse" reminded him of "Shortest Straw" might have given him a confirmation bias so his perception of our music changed to fit his assumption that we're a Metallica knock-off. Then again I could be biased because I'm in the band and I don't want to think of us as a Metallica knock-off.
First of all my voice is a high Tenor and James from Metallica is a heavy baritone. Next I think we tend to incorporate more melody into our music, especially in the Choruses. If you look at "Collapse," which he's right starts in a similar fashion to "Shortest Straw," the chorus is more similar to something off of a Sevendust record like Seasons than anything by Metallica. "Eulogy," "My Prison Still Remains," and "Standing Over Shadows" all have choruses like that as well, where the lead guitar outlines a counter-melody to the lead vocal and it's harmonies. Metallica rarely (if ever) has a lead guitar playing a continuous counter-melody during the chorus, which all four of the aforementioned songs have.
The clean verse to "My Prison Still Remains" has continuously arpeggiated chords, which is much more like something Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge/Creed would play than something Hetfield would come up with. Also most of Metallica's breakdowns and instrumental sections are much more about the rhythm guitar part and harmonies along with it, while ours tend to resemble a larger break between the lead and rhythm guitar similar to the way Iron Maiden do a lot of their guitar parts. The intro to Devoiden on our album would fit better on Killers than on any Metallica record.
This might all sound like nit-picking, but unless you go to the details there's really not ALL that much that separates Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Judas Priest, Dream Theater, Slayer, Pantera, and the rest of the metal bands around the world. Most of the songs are written in minor keys, most commonly E, A, or D, which means the chord progressions are mostly the same (vi - IV - V - vi). This means the melodies have to fit this chord progression, so the base notes for the melodies are mostly the same as well. You also expect a lot of fast tempos, palm muting, double bass, and guitar solos -- that's just how metal music is. The only way to really separate these bands is to look at the subtle differences between them.
In the end I think we've put together a nice blend of hard rock and heavy metal that is original enough to make us stand out, without going so far that we move out of the genre entirely. After all that's what a genre is, a set of expectations listeners have for what they're going to hear. We want to be a metal band, it's the music that we all love to listen to, write, and perform, and we feel that the "genre requirements" for being a metal band are worthy goals to strive for as musicians. We're not trying to create some completely avant-garde new musical direction, we just want to be really good at putting a fresh spin on a classic lineage of music that moves forward slightly, but never breaks away from its roots.
Read the entire review of our show here.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Fontana's Was Awesome - No Chubby's Today
First we want to say THANK YOU to everyone that came out and rocked with us at Fontana's last night! We could not have asked for a better crowd, you guys were amazing and we can't wait to come back to play the city and party with all of you again.
On to the bad news. Unfortunately we won't be playing today at Chubby's, we've done our best to notify everyone we thought was coming, hopefully no one shows up and finds out we're not there. If this happens to you we apologize sincerely, let us know how we can make it up to you.
Monday, February 16, 2009
After Party for New York Show 2/21
We put together an after party for Saturday 2/21 after our show at Fontana's. Hopefully you guys like to drink as much as we do, e-mail us to get your name on the guest list so you can get in on the free drinks! Here's the info:
Official Divergence After-Party
Saturday 2/21 from 9:00-10:00 PM
Down The Hatch
179 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10014
Official Divergence After-Party
OPEN BAR
Saturday 2/21 from 9:00-10:00 PM
Down The Hatch
179 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10014
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Shows 1 Week Away!
One week and counting until our back-to-back shows in NYC and NJ! Just in case your drinking makes it difficult for you to remember stuff, here's the info one more time:
Saturday 2/21 @ 6:30 PM - $8
Saturday 2/21 @ 6:30 PM - $8
Fontana's
105 Eldridge St.
(btwn. Broome & Grand)
New York, NY 10002
21+ to Enter w/ I.D.
---
Sunday 2/22 @ 6:00 PM - $10 adv. | $12 @ door
10th Annual JerseyShows Original Music Competition
Chubby's
26 W. Front St.
Red Bank, NJ 07701
18+ to Enter | 21+ to Drink w/ I.D.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Facebook's Spam Policy Is Absurd
Brian here, and I just ran into a huge problem with Facebook's spam policy that's got me really pissed off. Here's the deal:
We're now in the two weeks leading up to our shows in NJ and NYC, so I've been on Facebook messaging my friends, making sure they know we're playing and encouraging them to come. I sent messages to people with last names A-I yesterday, and I was planning to do the next 1/3rd of the alphabet today, but last night I got a message warning me that my behavior might be violating their spam policy. They said that if you're promoting an event you have to use the "Message Guests" feature instead of sending messages from the inbox. Here's what I wrote to Facebook about the issues with that:
from Brian Speronello <[e-mail redacted]>
to info@facebook.com
date Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 4:58 PM
subject Spam Problem
Hi,
There is a huge problem with how you define "spam" on your site.
I'm trying to promote my event on Facebook by sending each person that I want to come separate, personally relevant, messages and I'm getting a warning that my message privileges might be disabled. However, you DO allow users to message everyone invited to an event all at once, you just have to send them ALL the same message. What's the problem with what I'm doing? Either way the same people are getting a message from me in their inbox about the event, the only difference is that doing it your way means I have to send a message like this:
"Hey everyone! Just wanted to write everyone to remind you that we've got a show coming up at Fontana's on 2/21! Hope you can all make it!"
Instead of messages like this (actual example):
[Name Redacted]
First let me say I love your picture, hysterical. Also I dunno if [name redacted] told you but my band is playing a show on 2/21 so if you're free you should totally join her because, while I love [her], I think you know how to rock out way harder than she does. Hope you can make it!
Here's a link to the event on Facebook, the info is below too:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=58297072151&ref=ts
[show info redacted]
So please explain to me the problem here. The same group of people each receive one message from me in their inbox. The only difference is that one of these messages is targeted and personally relevant (which studies show have a MUCH greater chance for actually being read and having an impact), and the other is just a mass-message that will most likely get deleted because it looks and reads like spam instead of a message from a friend.
Either come up with a way for users who create events to send messages to specific people invited, or take the cap off of messages, because the policy you have now is fucking atrocious.
-Brian Speronello
--[end e-mail]--
If everyone else is like me, messages that start "Hey guys!," "Just a reminder," or anything else like that go straight to the trash, unless they're sent by my absolute closest friends. There's a great point in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point about e-mail that describes why this happens. Because of how easy and cheap it is to send e-mail, it became a powerful tool that was very easy to abuse, so much so that after years of being bombarded with stupid forwarded messages and spam people have become "immune" to it, and the same thing is true for Facebook I think:
The only way to break through that immunity is to write each person with a note that feels like "face-to-face communication," or a dialogue, instead of a one-sided advertisement. That's the reason Facebook's policy is awful, instead of connecting people they encourage mass-messaging and crack down on users trying to address their friends with individual and personally relevant conversation.
We're now in the two weeks leading up to our shows in NJ and NYC, so I've been on Facebook messaging my friends, making sure they know we're playing and encouraging them to come. I sent messages to people with last names A-I yesterday, and I was planning to do the next 1/3rd of the alphabet today, but last night I got a message warning me that my behavior might be violating their spam policy. They said that if you're promoting an event you have to use the "Message Guests" feature instead of sending messages from the inbox. Here's what I wrote to Facebook about the issues with that:
from Brian Speronello <[e-mail redacted]>
to info@facebook.com
date Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 4:58 PM
subject Spam Problem
Hi,
There is a huge problem with how you define "spam" on your site.
I'm trying to promote my event on Facebook by sending each person that I want to come separate, personally relevant, messages and I'm getting a warning that my message privileges might be disabled. However, you DO allow users to message everyone invited to an event all at once, you just have to send them ALL the same message. What's the problem with what I'm doing? Either way the same people are getting a message from me in their inbox about the event, the only difference is that doing it your way means I have to send a message like this:
"Hey everyone! Just wanted to write everyone to remind you that we've got a show coming up at Fontana's on 2/21! Hope you can all make it!"
Instead of messages like this (actual example):
[Name Redacted]
First let me say I love your picture, hysterical. Also I dunno if [name redacted] told you but my band is playing a show on 2/21 so if you're free you should totally join her because, while I love [her], I think you know how to rock out way harder than she does. Hope you can make it!
Here's a link to the event on Facebook, the info is below too:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=58297072151&ref=ts
[show info redacted]
So please explain to me the problem here. The same group of people each receive one message from me in their inbox. The only difference is that one of these messages is targeted and personally relevant (which studies show have a MUCH greater chance for actually being read and having an impact), and the other is just a mass-message that will most likely get deleted because it looks and reads like spam instead of a message from a friend.
Either come up with a way for users who create events to send messages to specific people invited, or take the cap off of messages, because the policy you have now is fucking atrocious.
-Brian Speronello
--[end e-mail]--
If everyone else is like me, messages that start "Hey guys!," "Just a reminder," or anything else like that go straight to the trash, unless they're sent by my absolute closest friends. There's a great point in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point about e-mail that describes why this happens. Because of how easy and cheap it is to send e-mail, it became a powerful tool that was very easy to abuse, so much so that after years of being bombarded with stupid forwarded messages and spam people have become "immune" to it, and the same thing is true for Facebook I think:
The fact that anyone can e-mail us for free, if they have our address, means that people frequently and persistently e-mail us. But that quickly creates immunity, and simply makes us value face-to-face communications - and the communications of those we already know and trust - all the more.
The only way to break through that immunity is to write each person with a note that feels like "face-to-face communication," or a dialogue, instead of a one-sided advertisement. That's the reason Facebook's policy is awful, instead of connecting people they encourage mass-messaging and crack down on users trying to address their friends with individual and personally relevant conversation.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tee Shirts - $10
Just a quick update about the T-Shirts we posted about a few weeks ago. We got the order in last week and they look sick! They're only going to cost you $10 too, so buy a few cuz that's dirt cheap. We'll be selling them at our shows, but you can e-mail band@divergencemusic.net if you want to buy yourself one in advance to rock one of our shows coming up in two weeks!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
East Coast Mini-Tour Update
So one of this week's announcements is about our short tour, the problem is it's really not the announcement we wanted to make. Instead of announcing the location of our show in VA, we have to announce that it's not going to happen. Unfortunately two other out of state bands bailed out on the show and there isn't enough time to get more bands on the bill. We're not sure how this is going to affect our show in North Carolina, but since we're not going to VA anymore and we haven't gotten any confirmation about the gig in NC we might just bag the whole southern part of the trip. We re-posted the info for the two confirmed dates we have in NJ & NYC, we'll let you know what happens with NC.
Saturday 2/21 @ 6:30 PM - $8
Saturday 2/21 @ 6:30 PM - $8
Fontana's
105 Eldridge St.
(btwn. Broome & Grand)
New York, NY 10002
21+ to Enter w/ I.D.
---
Sunday 2/22 @ 6:00 PM - $10 adv. | $12 @ door
10th Annual JerseyShows Original Music Competition
Chubby's
26 W. Front St.
Red Bank, NJ 07701
18+ to Enter | 21+ to Drink w/ I.D.
Monday, February 2, 2009
We Are The PowerHouseMix Band Of The Month
Thanks to all of your votes, we won the polling and are the PowerHouseMix "Band Of The Month" for February! If you go to their site you can see the big banner they put up for us on the left side of their site where they list the band of the month.
We're working on a few exciting announcements right now, we hope to make at least one of them this week! Stay tuned!
We're working on a few exciting announcements right now, we hope to make at least one of them this week! Stay tuned!
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