It’s no secret that I’m quite into this Janelle Monáe lady. Back in ‘07 it was her EP Metropolis: The Chase that soundtracked iLL-Lit’s first “tour” (which consisted of like 4 dates in a row in Southern California so we were like “6 hours away for more than one night? TOUR!” And besides her music displaying a sound that was fresh and much-needed, I was quickly drawn in by the philosophy held by her and her crew, the Wondaland Arts Society. “Imagination Inspires Nations,” read the hundreds of campaign posters wildly waved around at her first shows. And like a good campaign, the word spread and two years later she returns with Metropolis: The ArchAngel, now armed with a Grammy nomination, major label support, a much richer live show, and an exponentially larger fanbase. Even still, what I admire most is her steadfast commitment to her message, in spite of the dramatic changes that have occurred around her. Shortly after she was signed to Bad Boy, her Wondaland colleague Mitchell A. Martian told me that it was only after being sure that she maintained full creative control over her work that she agreed to the record deal – Wondaland takes care of virtually everything artistic, even down to the mastering and marketing ideas. And so last week with the release of not one but two new tracks, I was pleased to be greeted by my inbox with a familiar piece from Wondaland that serves more as a call to action than a commercial:
We just got invited to be official artists in SXSW, one of the largest music conferences in the country! Okay, I know hundreds of bands get accepted every year, but being that only a handful of hip-hop acts are accepted, it’s an absolute honor to be among that…I guess going last year under the radar and walking around like a bunch of lost ducklings paid off!
For a virtually unknown group with no label backing, being invited to SXSW is a big deal. Thank you to everyone who’s ever come to a show or downloaded a song, every college organizer who’s ever booked us, and all the fam and friends we’ve met throughout the world. We’re still building from the ground up, and these small victories are definitely appreciated wholeheartedly.
SXSW’s music conference takes place March 17-21, 2010. SEE YOU IN AUSTIN!!!!!!!!!
Yo the footage for her rehearsals looks hellllllllllllllla tight! I’ve always admired Janelle for pushing the limits on everything she touches. The year she blows up all the awards shows will be a good one.
Yesterday I presented to you the concept of the EPK – a quick video meant to introduce yourself to strangers without having to accept candy and enter their black Oldsmobiles. Today I’m pleased to introduce our brand new press kit!
A press kit and an EPK serve generally the same purpose, except one is more ADHD oriented than the other, depending on whether you read very slowly or have a terrible internet connection. There are benefits and fallbacks to both – while an EPK allows for the viewer to get an informative and personal summary of your work, a press kit allows for you to go into way more detail than a several-minute video. It’s hard to predict whether people, press, and bookers prefer one or the other, so why not create both!
Press kits are PDF documents that vary in length and style, but key aspects include: (click images to enlarge or download the whole thing HERE)
To build a press kit, I recommend using a publishing program, preferably Adobe InDesign. But others that can make something equally magnificent are Quark, Microsoft Publisher, and very clever usage of Microsoft Word.
Once again, it’s a very self-involved process, and since one of the main challenges artists often have is writing their own bios, I always recommend having someone else whip one up for you (plus, the Adriels know that talking about themselves in third person makes them go crazyyyyyy). Because people sometimes don’t like to navigate through websites and wait for Myspace pages or videos to load in order to learn about you, a press kit allows for them to flip through at their own speed, and focus on the aspects that matter to them.
We’ve been using press kits primarily for bookings since the beginning, even when we were a student organization and my design skills were limited to Microsoft Word text boxes, but they’ve always been one of our most vital aspects, sometimes even more so than this here website.
Here’s something fun and somewhat embarrassing…a history of our press kits, from the very first through the current! Don’t laugh. I’ll probably never show these the light of day again.
(2003-04)
(2004-05)
(2005-06)
(2006-07)
(2007-08)
(2008-09)
(Spring 2009)
(2009-10)
THERE! Now you know our whole lives. And also how long it took me to learn Photoshop. But of course we’re not the standard, and though I’m running this series of how to do stuff we do, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we know what we’re doing. So here are some (somewhat outdated) press kits from other artists!
IT’S A GREAT WEEK FOR FUNK!! The fantastic Janelle Monáe and Wondaland Arts Society have cooked up this piece of ridiculousness that left us all with our jaws dropped in this here kitchen. Almost burnt the tofu! The TOFU, I say!!
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It’s morning time…Nico’s still sleeping (poor baby was up all night sending files to the mixer). We’re heading to Silver Fork (the only spot in Seattle where you can order grits??) and then heading to Bumbershoot. Here’s our show info:
iLL-Literacy @ Bumbershoot w/ special guests CanarySing
Sunday Sept. 6, 7:30 @ Literary Arts Stage
BE THERE!!!
Here’s who else we’re checking today and tomorrow:
Sunday:
2p: Aziz Ansari @ Comedy Stage North
2:30p: Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Mainstage
3:45p: Melvin Van Peebles @ Literary Arts Stage
5:45p: Common Market @ Fisher Green Stage
7:30p: iLL-Literacy @ Literary Arts Stage
8:15p: David Cross @ Performing Arts Stage
9:15p: Jason Mraz @ Mainstage
9:30p: Raphael Saadiq @ Fisher Green Stage
Monday:
1:30p: The Knux @ Mainstage
3p: Black Eyed Peas @ Mainstage
5:45: Janelle Monáe @ Fisher Green Stage
7:45: Youth Speaks Seattle w/ Staceyann Chin & Prometheus Brown @ Performing Arts Stage
9:15: Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang @ Fisher Green Stage
Here’s a trippy new video by Cee-Lo, Janelle Monáe, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, and Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco, that also doubles as a huge advertisement for Coca-Cola’s new product, Coke Shroom.
Note: It would bring me great joy to one day shoot an iLL-Lit video where Dahlak turns into a zebra.
Janelle Monáe and Saul Williams have definitely been some of our biggest inspirations. Saul sparked our interest to pursue spoken word back in the day, and today both have been creating music and live shows that directly speak to and influence the way we make our art. It’s beautiful to see these two forces collide!
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