Welcome to the first Serious Black newsletter. This has been a long time coming, but the time is right to let you know what's happening in the world of Serious Black. While the snow in this god- forsaken hinterland of New York State refuses to melt, things have been heating up in the "Barbican".
Serious Black has been getting club-play and airplay courtesy of benevolent djs from California to the UK. It's been sporadic, but when you think about the thousands of bands out there all vying for your ears, it's significant. My thanks goes out to each and every one who have helped expose the music.
Serious Black has also been interviewed ! Noted Goth-Industrial journalist Sonya Brown conducted an email interview with me for "In Music We Trust". Find out my opinion on the many uses of duct tape among other things.You can find it here- http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/57h09.html
You will also find the first-ever picture of Serious Black on the web there as well. Lots of other great music stuff there so feel free to nose around after reading the interview.
Jacob Bogedahl puts Serious Black under the the microscope at his Gothic Paradise site- http://www.gothicparadise.com/serious_black.htm and although I didn't agree with everything Jacob said, I believe he made some right on the money observations. I didn't mind "Discipline" being called vulgar. As for tracks being "mediocre", well...just read the review. And there's another pic of the ever-elusive Serious Black.
For those who haven't read AcYD BURN's review of "Barbican" in the Dark Tranquility eZine, it's still available at this long link- http://pub75.ezboard.com/fdekonstruktionrecordsgothicindustrialweboardcommunityfrm13.
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If you can't get there from here, there's always the shorter link http://dekonrec.tripod.com/dtzine/ then scroll down and click on MORE REVIEWS .While you're there, you definitely want to check out (ie; buy) BLACKLITE ASSEMBLY V.1.0 . It's a great compilation of new Goth-Industrial artists put out by DeKonstruKtion Records. Strangely enough, there's a Serious Black track on it.
I was impressed by the diversity and quality of the music featured in .BLACKLITE ASSEMBLY V.1.0 . Whether your tastes lean towards goth, industrial, fetish, techno, industrial, dark trip-hop, you name it, BLAKLITE ASSEMBLY V.1.0's got it. A bargain at only ten bucks!
Yet another review of Barbican can be found at the RhythmUS site- http://rhythmus.net/ Just go to the music reviews page from the main menu and click on Serious Black Barbican to find out what TG Mondalf thought of the CD. It's concise, to the point, and I'd have to agree with him on most all accounts.
The one song off Barbican that's raised the most controversy has got to be "Waste 'Em With My Crossbow!".It's not goth, industrial, techno, or anything remotely connected with the genre. It's a joke, dude, A JOKE!
Inspired by a satirical fantasy-roleplaying comic book called Knights of the Dinner Table, the VP & creator of the comic, Jolly Blackburn liked it so much they put up an exclusive link on the front page of their website for Serious Black. http://www.kenzerco.com/ Scroll down a bit when you get there and you can click on a link to hear a bit of the song. No one else has this exclusive link, not even the main Serious Black website. Also, if you happen to pick up Issue#75 of Knights of the Dinner Table, you'll find a blurb & CD photo about Serious Black and the song on page 82. (Thanks Jolly, it doesn't get any better than this!) Well, then again, maybe it does. By now Dr. Demento has a copy so if you're in an area where they broadcast his show- REQUEST IT! Or go to the Dr. Demento site - http://www.drdemento.com/contactus.html and email a request.
EVEN MORE BIG NEWS!
For the rest of the month of February, you can purchase Barbican on the Serious Black website the special sale price of only $9.99 !! (If a NY resident be sure to add 8% sales tax.) Go to: www.SeriousBlack.com If for some odd reason you haven't heard Serious Black yet, there are clips on the website you can download & listen to (streaming media, you'll need Real Audio even though they say mp3s). Other outlets for the CD are CD Baby- http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/seriousblack the ever popular amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/241600/ref=m_art_dp/102-6870507-7421734 and CafeSoundz, in Montclair, NJ. (973-509-2233) one of the best Goth-Industrial CD stores I've ever had the pleasure of shopping in since Digital Underground in Philly, PA. (Whatcha doing now Brendan?)
The Wrap-Up
There's only so much one person can do in the effort to promote their own musical entity. I'm calling on your resources to help me out here. A number of you know me personally. Many more do not. Please don't hesitate to contact me with your ideas, suggestions,etc. Maybe you know of promotional outlets I haven't even considered. Maybe your third uncle is friends with the president of Cleopatra Records (aargghhh!!). Maybe you know a particular club or college DJ that would love to get a copy of the Serious Black CD to spin. Maybe you're good friends with a goth-industrial CD store owner somewhere and all I have to do to get him to stock the Serious Black CD is tell him- "Rico sent me..." Perhaps you have connections in the Euro scene you've never even mentioned. Maybe you should just buy the CD, play it for your friends and get them to buy it too. Ten bucks won't break you.
There are a lot of DJs, Reviewers, & Goth-Industrial scene people on the list for this initial Serious Black Newsletter. I hope you guys stick around. Anybody that wants off the Serious Black Newsletter just send me back an email with "Drop Me Like A Hot Potato" in the subject line, or if you have no sense of humor, use the word "REMOVE" and you won't hear from Serious Black again. (Some of you may have inadvertantly received this newsletter because your name and/or email address sounded like you belonged on it...for this I sincerely apologize if such is the case.)
Looking toward the future there will be more reviews ( Gothic Beauty Magazine/ by Jet Black), (Legends Magazine/Marcus Pan), more radio play, more club play and hopefully more sales outlets. Maybe I'll do some site reviews so you can expand your horizons. Perhaps a "What's in Serious Black's CD changer this Month" review thing. I could even do a "Best Places to Buy Strange Things" column. Once again I sincerely want to thank all the people who have done whatever they can to promote Serious Black on any level. (Bobby Melendez, you're the best... keep up the great work.) We've only just begun... I see great things in store in 2003.
Keep it Dark,
Steve Mecca
