That'd be good cheers. I get a lot of email from bands asking for help on various things and since I have very limited net access, I never have time to help everybody or write as much as I'd like to. So it'd be handy to have info here so that folk can check that first. For the record, we book tours with an independent agent and do press with an independent pr company. The info I've posted is specifically aimed at new-ish bands who will have to fight hard to book their own tours and can't afford to use pr companies, therefore heavily relying on zines.
It's worth pointing out here that nobody at labels like DESOTO post records themselves to say, Kerrang (as far as I know). They have independent PR companies that do that for them. Desoto record sleeves usually mention who they use in the States for example. I ran into a ziner once who said we must be wannabe corporate rock whores if we use pr. Dumb fuck! If you're trying to be hardcore (we're not but follow me here) at least know how underground labels operate. If nobody knows you have a new record out it's going to be extremely difficult to cover your costs - let alone put out another one!!! So excuse me and my wannabe corporate rock ass while I sleep in a transit for weeks around the uk playing to handfuls of people trying to lose less money than we did on our last tour hoping to simply sell enough records to pay off our never ending mountain of band related debts.
*phew*
i needed that
