In the “Old News” category, but I thought I’d pass it along anyway, Jim Lindberg, lead singer of Pennywise, has left the band. The below was posted on their Myspace blog:

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August 21, 2009—
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“Medicate,” the new single from AFI, is now available on iTunes. The single is from their new album “Crash Love” which has a tentative release date of September 29th on DGC/Interscope.

Get it:

If a laptop figures into your sound, figuring out how to gig with it can be difficult. Most keyboard stands don’t quite work out of the box. Some of them have add on shelves that you can try out.

Here are a couple options you may not have considered. First is the On-Stage LPT5000 Laptop Computer Stand. If you have a laptop because you gig with a MIDI controller this stand can be bolted to an arm or shelf on your keyboard stand. If you use a laptop for some other reason (such as loops, or to make use of programs like Ableton Live) you can bolt this stand to the top of a rack with wingnuts (so it can be quickly removed) or to a table so it is accessible live. The stand is under $30 so this could be a cheap yet effective solution.

It might be a better idea for you, though, to go with a full laptop stand. This is because in some situations setting your laptop on top of a pre-existing stand or rack that is already carrying a lot of weight or that is improperly balanced can cause a horrible tipover (especially if you have an energetic live show).

Perhaps the most popular stand for this application is the Stanton Uberstand.The main reason for the Uberstand’s popularity is that it is one of the sturdiest stands around so it shouldn’t tip at all as long as it is on a level surface. Furthermore, it is constructed from aircraft quality aluminum and steel so it will actually stand up to touring. On top of all that, it folds up flat and fits into a 12″ bag, so it is quite portable.

We would be interested in hearing other ways you have solved the problem of having a laptop on stage with you. The laptop-as-musical-instrument has become increasingly popular and this will be a problem that musicians in all genres will continue to grapple with over time.

Tips is a series of blogs dealing with the little things that make a big difference.

It seems like everyone I’ve talked to has eventually run into the problem of a neck heavy bass or guitar. You know what I mean. If you take your hands off the instrument, the neck dives for the floor. A minor annoyance like this can turn into a huge annoyance over time. The Gibson SG preferred by many punk, emo, and hardcore guitarists is one famous example. I can’t count on my fingers the number of times I’ve had other guitarists approach me before or after shows and say, “Wow I really like your SG! How do you deal with the neck dive issue though? I had to change guitars because of it.”

Well here is my answer. There are actually three ways to fix this once and for all! If one doesn’t work for your particular instrument, try adding the next step.

1. Get a non-slip strap.
   A suede strap (such as this Franklin strap at zZounds) or one that is rubberized on the bottom will create friction against your shoulder and hold the guitar up.
2. Add weight to the other side of the guitar.
   You can do this either on the strap, or on or in the body. One invisible and cheap way to do this is to electrical tape some fishing weights to the inside of the electronics cavity. Make sure no metal is exposed. Another way to do this is to tape your wireless unit to your strap. Be creative because there are tons of approaches you can take.
3. Relocate your strap buttons.
   One of the reasons for neck dive is the guitar’s center of gravity is in the wrong place. You can change this by moving where your strap buttons are installed. I wouldn’t recommend this except as a last resort, since you will have to drill/screw a new hole into your guitar, but it is one solution. The way you do this is to move the button nearest the neck down toward the floor. If you have to relocate the other button, move it up toward you.

And there you have it: three ways to make life a little more easier so that you can focus on playing.

Karl has posted a blog that Weezer’s new single “(If you’re wondering if I want you to) I want you to” has been released to radio nationwide.

SideOneDummy is giving away a free sampler featuring tracks from Anti-Flag, Broadway Calls, The Casualties, and more. In addition, everyone who downloads the sampler gets entered in a contest to win free vinyl test pressings, posters, and t-shirts.

From the site:

“There is a lot of stuff bumming people out in the world right now, so let’s stoke some people.” SO in addition to getting the FREE AMAZING MUSIC everyone who downloads the sampler will get entered in a contest to win a huge lot of Side One Dummy vinyl Test pressings.

Get the sampler.

Broadway Calls’ new album, “Good Views, Bad News” is hitting shelves and iPods today. It is their second album and the first on SideOneDummy. Bill Stevenson produced the 11 tracks at the Blasting Room in Colorado.

You can hear songs from this album, see videos, or download hi-res images at SideOneDummy’s Broadway Calls web site.

Album tracks include:
1. Midnight Hour
2. Be All That You Can’t Be
3. Election Night
4. Basement Royalty
5. To the Sheets
6. Give Up the Ghost
7. Sundowners
8. Tonight is Alive
9. Best Year
10. Wake Up Call
11. At the End

Get it on:

Tunecore is offering free PDF copies of its “Music Industry Survival Manuals.”

Included are the following titles:

1. How to market, promote, and make money from your music while keeping your rights
2. Music publishing and copyright: cover songs
3. Mastering
4. Vinyl 101
5. Mixing
6. Copyright
7. Tips to sell more music online.

You can find these at the Tunecore Music Industry Survival Manual page.

Thrice has been occupying the top spot at Purevolume with the song, “All the World is Mad.” The song is from their upcoming release Beggars which has a slotted release date of October 13th.

There are many reports lately of the death of Myspace as a promotion tool for bands. Given the site rankings, it is definitely true that many potential fans are no longer on Myspace (#11) but instead on other services such as Facebook (#3), YouTube (#4) and Twitter (#14). This is not to mention the rise of myriad competing music promotion sites such as Purevolume and Reverbnation.

It has always been our stance at Rawk & Rowl that bands should be prepared and remain flexible to take advantage of all avenues of promoting their music and interacting with fans. We believe the best way for any band to achieve this is to maintain their own web site and email list, along with banners and widgets which can be provided to all of these different sites. We have always been a proponent of services like Glue and Bandize that allow you to post content from one point and see it publish to multiple sites (Facebook, Myspace, Purevolume, etc all at once). And hopefully we can do a review of these soon.

The bottom line is that your band needs to think about what your promotion strategy is and what is important, and keep alert to the tools that can help you achieve that without getting bogged down to much in the details. What is ultimately most important is writing and playing music, so the less you have to deal with promotion the better. Nevertheless, online promotion, even though it is a saturated market, is still a necessary evil for any band, and could give you an opportunity to be heard that would otherwise not be there.