Knitting Factory 12/14

Don't miss the band's last performance of the year. We've got some cool things up our sleeves to shake up the party. New venue, new songs... maybe we'll buy new shirts for the show. You know, your standard craziness.

And so it is, people... the details...

The Surefire Way - last performance of 2007
Friday, December 14th, 8pm
Knitting Factory - 74 Leonard - Tribeca - NYC

The D.C. Report

Thank you to everyone who rocked out with us at the Grog and Tankard in Washington DC last weekend. We had a great time and we hope you'll have us back soon.

Dan chronicled the road trip in a post that can be read in full on the band's blog: www.thesurefireway.blogspot.com. Here is a taste:

This past weekend, The Surefire Way invaded our nation's capitol and after a bloodless coup, are now officially America's favorite rock band. It's true - we held a vote, which was inconclusive, but the other bands conceded, and the Supreme Court declared us as the winners.

Vin, and his wife Laura, picked me up in the Surefire minivan on Saturday afternoon and we began our odyssey down I-95. Being the generous drummer that I am, I picked up lunch for the Fiorillo's at Ess-a-Bagel; lox spread on an onion bagel for Laura and tuna salad on a pumpernickel bagel for Vin. Here's a recommendation for all of you out there... tuna salad is not the easiest food to eat while driving. So Vin, who is not the neatest fellow to begin with, dropped tuna salad all over himself, had it all over his face and hands while driving....

Several hours later, we made it to Scott and Natalie, and had about an hour to hang out and eat cookies before the show. That's right, chocolate chip cookies - this is some serious rock n' roll stuff here....

We were psyched to have two hours to play, so we decided to kinda wing an acoustic set in the middle of our original tunes. Thankfully, Scott knows lots o'tunes, and the rest of us can fake it. About half way through, I broke out the cajon to accompany him for the stripped down set. We also reached into the way-back machine and pulled out an old TSW favorite - There She Was, which sounded great at a slower tempo with the cajon. We just might have to try that one again...

All in all, we had a great time - Scott's new tune, "What The Hell" was solid, the sound at Grog and Tankard was excellent, we had a fantastic crowd, and a great time in our inaugural DC performance. Afterwards, we hung out with listeners who had stuck around - because if there's one thing TSW does well, it's bring the party to you. If there's another thing we do well, it's play music, but the first thing is party. We had a rockin' time, and Vin even lost a dance off with a guy who had some Michael Jackson-esque moves. There's no shame in that loss, buddy, that guy was like Kevin Bacon in Footloose.

D.C. Show Added!

The band has two shows left in 2007! Make sure you get out to catch one.

::: WASHINGTON D.C. DEBUT :::
Saturday, December 8th
7:30pm
Grog & Tankard
2408 Wisconsin Ave. NW

The band is excited to be playing D.C. for the first time. Even if you can't make it to this show, let your friends in D.C. / Maryland / N. Virginia know about it.

::: FINAL SHOW OF THE YEAR :::

Friday, December 14th
8pm
Knitting Factory
74 Leonard - NYC

The band's first ever show at the Knitting Factory will be the last of 2007. Forget the holiday parties where you have to see the unfortunate sloppy, drunk side of your boss... OR bring the holiday party to the Knitting Factory!

::: Radio Update :::

In the last 8 weeks the band's 1st CD, "Ask Me For More", was added at over 150 stations across the country and charted in the top 10 at 16 stations. We'd like to thank everyone who has helped in supporting the radio campaign including Joe Fletcher, Natalie Barakat, Rob Leuchs, Amy Kirschner, Renata Mazoco, and Gail Majcher.

Show Updates

Come see the band play live at Arlene's Grocery and the Knitting Factory!!

Friday, November 9
8pm
Arlene's Grocery
95 Stanton - Lower East Side - NYC

Friday, December 14
8pm
Knitting Factory
74 Leonard - Tribeca - NYC

Radio Success!

Well, things are starting to heat up on the air waves. Two weeks ago we sent 350 CDs to college radio stations all across the country. So far 60 stations have added our CD to their rotation!!

A quick educational piece... college radio runs on an album format where DJs usually play multiple tracks from one CD. This is different from commercial (Top 40) radio where their format is based on singles (i.e. you hear the same song over and over and over).

Based on that newfound knowledge, it will make more sense to you when we say that songs from our album, "Ask Me For More", have been played so many times at some stations that it has (as they say in the industry) charted as one of the CDs receiving the most airplay. Here are some of those stations:

#8 on the charts!! - WSOE, 89.3 FM in Elon, NC (Elon University). Call them in the studio to request our music: 336-278-9763.

#12 - WVCW, 640 AM - Richmond, VA (Virginia Commonwealth U.) :: 804-828-1058
#15 - WVYC, 99.7 FM - York, PA (York College) :: 717-815-1311
#23 - WUMM - Machias, ME (U of Maine-Machias) :: 207-255-1371
#24 - WCWP, 88.1 FM - Long Island, NY (Long Island U.) :: 516-299-2626
#24 - WSIN, 1590 AM - New Haven, CT (Southern Conn. State U.) :: 203-392-6930

We Can Use Your Help!!

1) Call 1, 2, 3!!!... radio stations and tell them that you want to hear music by The Surefire Way. Request your favorite song if you wish. It doesn't matter if you live in the city of the radio station or not. Every call will help push us up the charts and receive more exposure. So pick a few stations to call and help us move up the charts! Email us to let us know how many radio stations you have contacted, info@thesurefireway.com. We will praise you in our next newsletter or podcast!

2) Forward this email (link at the bottom) on to people who may not receive this newsletter and ask them if they would be so kind as to contact a couple of radio stations.

Here are a few more stations playing our CD. Thanks a million if you can call a few to request that they play our music.

WTBU, 89.3 FM - Boston, MA (Boston University) :: 617-353-6400
WPUB, http://www.wpub.org/ - New York, NY (Pace University) :: 212-346-1073
WUIC, http://uicradio.pages.uic.edu/listen.php, Chicago, IL (U of Illinos-Chicago) :: 312-413-2191
WXVU, 89.1 FM - Villanova, PA :: 610-519-7201
WERW, 1570 AM - Syracuse, NY :: 315-443-2021
WHFR, 89.3 FM - Dearborn, MI :: 313-845-9676
WRTC, 89.3, FM - Hartford, CT :: 860-297-2450
WXBC, 540 AM - Annondale-on-Hudson, NY :: 845-752-5300
WDWN, 89.1 FM - Auburn, NY :: 315-253-0449
WSCS, 90.9 FM - New London, NH :: 603-526-3494
KMSC, 88.3 FM - Sioux City, IA :: 712-274-5665
WTSC, 91.1 FM - Potsdam, NY :: 315-268-7657

Introducing Bass Player, Vincent Fiorillo

Replacing Jim Kelly as bass player for the band is Vincent Fiorillo, aka Vinnie. Vinnie hails from Long Island. We recently did an interview with internet radio station, NextBigHit.com, where the host who was from the mountain region of the U.S. told our new bass player, "You know, you are the first true Vinnie that I ever met in New York." To which Vinnie replied, "Yeah, well your the first guy I ever met from Montana in my life!"

Vinnie’s approach to playing bass is rooted in jazz, Motown, and blues, learning to play from the great jazz bassist Milt “The Judge” Hinton. He holds a Bachelor of Music in cello performance from the University of Miami, and a Master of Music from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. We are currently in the process of updating our web site with Vinnie's full bio and pictures of his pretty face.

Playing Arlene's Grocery - Thursday, August 30, 9pm -- This gig is our first in a couple of months. We are excited to be back on stage. This will be bass player, Jim Kelly's, last gig with the band. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Let's start Labor Day weekend a little early!!

The Surefire Way on the Radio -- We have decided to launch a national radio campaign with the support of the radio promotions firm, Planetary Group. Starting in late September program directors from around the country will be receiving our CD. We may be asking for your support to call into specific radio stations to support the band. You would be up for that, wouldn't you? Stayed tuned for updates on this exciting time for the band.

Thank You -- Thanks to everyone who has supported the band thus far, whether it was by buying our music, helping sell CDs, coming to our live shows, or just giving words of encouragement. You have made this journey all the more exciting.

Dear peeps... I'm sure you have been wondering what has been going on with the band since our big start to the year. As you know, in March 2007 we had a big party in NYC to commemorate our first, self-released, recording project. Since then we have been regrouping for another run.... writing new music.... working with publicists.... trying to break into the media. All of it high level, top notch activity.... of course.

Podcasting -- One place where we have had some success is with podcasters. Podcasting is one of those new media forms that has become extremely hot as a result of mobile digital music and the iPod. Basically, those with the proper equipment can record, well, whatever they want; content about anything. They can publish it on the internet and you can download them to your iPod. iTunes has recently developed a section specifically for podcasts.

Podcasters around the globe who produce radio-style programs have started to pick up The Surefire Way's music and include it in their podcast. We have been by played by people located in U.S. locations like Utah, Houston, Wisconsin, and Jersey, as well as international locales such as Germany, the UK, and Canada.

Luckily for all of us, the band produces a podcast from time-to-time as well. Go to www.thesurefireway.com and check out our latest podcast (#2) and hear clips of other podcasters around the world playing The Surefire Way.

The Surefire Way Live -- We are starting to book up gigs as the summer ends and autumn begins. The next NYC gig will be at our old favorite, Arlene's Grocery. We look forward to seeing you! Thursday, August 30th. 9pm. Arlene's Grocery. 95 Stanton - NYC.

Jim's last gig -- Our beloved bass player, Jim Kelly, is entering his 3rd year of law school in the fall. In order to prepare for his successful career in the legal field Jim has decided to focus his efforts on making sure he knows the law like the back of his hand. The August 30th gig at Arlene's will double as a "farewell" party and a "you-mean-you-chose-law-school-over-rock-star?" party. We are extremely sad to see him go. Please come out and see Jim rock out one more time.

CD Release party tonight! We are so super excited to be launching our new CD, "Ask Me For More." And to top it off we have this brand new spankin' web site. See our show ticker to the right for details on the CD Release party. See the "Purchase the Album" section up above to buy the CD. Bum around on our web site. Check out the "Fan Forum" in the Fan Space. We will have real podcasts up soon as well. OK... off to the party!

We are done in the studio! These sessions were grueling, some of them lasting 12, 13, and 14 hours long. We got to know the “L” train very well. we got to know the Thai and Mexican restaurants that deliver in Williamsburg very well. We are leaving the studios excited to go into the next phase of mixing down the tracks and, of course, planning for the CD release party!

After having packed joints like Arlene’s Grocery and CBGB this summer we are getting ready to go into the studio to record our first CD. The sessions start November 5th. We hope to have the CD done in January and the CD release party in early march.

Make sure we have your email address if you want to come to the CD release party. We promise it will be rockin'!