Psst...  Hey There!

Do you know the difference between the Beatles and SO3?  Did you say 26 #1 hits?  I wasn't thinking of that one...but yes.  I was more thinking of how the Beatles used to do live radio broadcasts on the BBC.  Whereas SO3 does live radio broadcasts on San Diego's KPRI (102.1).  SO3, broadcast to millions in their cars, homes and streaming online, yes, yes, and yes!! 

When: Friday October 30th
Where: Live from Anthology (http://www.anthologysd.com/dining.html)
When: 10pm with SO3 on at 11pm
Notes: Just $10, no food or beverage minimum.  Tix at the door or online http://www.anthologysd.com/calendar.html

That's right, this Friday October 30th will be our first Smithsonian worthy show ever!  The Beatles also hated it when the screaming of their fans drowned out the sound of the actual performance.  Yet I am not so picky and would be delighted to only hear raucous screaming during our broadcast with faint SO3 music in the background :-)  Whether you are looking to come by yourself, with a love interest or with a friend, the guys in SO3 would love to see you while we take this leap.

And don't forget the Halloween show for all of 2009 to be jealous of:
When: Saturday October 31st
Where: Tiki House
When: 9:30pm
Notes: C0DE(http://www.myspace.com/c0demusic) and SO3 (http://myspace.com/so3music) and no cover if you come in costume!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMtcdhN6E00

Dear All,
 The entries for our first photo contest have been received and the votes have been counted.  It was a close one!  The winner was decided by no less than 1 vote.  That winner is Susan S. from San Diego, CA, for her entry entitled ....The Dishwasher.''



 For her achievement, Susan will receive a $25 gift card for use at Amazon.com.
 Thanks to all of you who participated!  Stay tuned for our next exciting contest.

--Mike

I was thinking to myself the other day...  What this world needs is one more online music distributor.  But I guess someone beat me to it.  Amazon, iTunes, Snocap etc... were not enough.  Now there is something called AmieStreet.com  The nice thing is our music is there and as a welcome gift they gave us a bunch of money to give to our fans.  You can use this cash to purchase any music you want!  So, all you have to do is sign up for one more online account and follow this link http://amiestreet.com/_l/tunecore  and a $5 credit will flow into your wallet instantly.

Enough of that.  Serge and I are keeping busy doing some preproduction and planning work for recording our song 'Streets'.  Yes, we are finally going to record that one, all of it.  It's going to be exciting and if I estimate correctly, should take close to a year to finish.  See you in 2010 :-)

It's always fascinating to put something like a song under a microscope to get it ready for recording.  Down to the last note and pause, to make it truly delicious.  It's quite a skill and we're learning.  How many intro bars should the song have?  How many bars with just the guitar?  What about the little extra hammeron in the third bar of the intro?  That's the first 5-10 seconds!  You know it's going to be good.  We'll share more and high points of studio life soon.

Something else that we spent our day doing and looks fascinating under a microscope is this little "water bear" animal.  Absolutely incredible, not related to music, but now that you are rocking out to "MIA", feel free to admire some nature here.   It's 1.5 millimeters and survived space travel, naked!  http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=first-animal-that-can-survive-in-space

--Mike

Hey Everyone! Do you have a digital camera? Then you're ready to participate in SO3's new PHOTO CONTEST!

By now you've seen the iconic photo used in our MIA single cover art, depicting Mike starting up the red lawnmower.



Now it's your turn to star in some SO3 artwork in your own unique way.

Here are the rules:

1. Capture a photo of you or a friend operating an appliance or power tool in or around your house.
2. Crop the photo to be square, with resolution 500x500 or larger.
3. To be eligible, the photo must contain the band name SO3 in it somewhere, either in the scene itself or using Photoshop, etc.
4. Email the photo to so3music@gmail.com and we'll post it in a designated myspace photo album [here].

That's when the voting begins! Whoever submits the photo that gets the most votes wins an AMAZON.COM GIFT CERTIFICATE for $25.



Anyone with a myspace account is eligible to vote. We'll count the votes after midnight of Aug. 31, 2008, and announce the winner on Sept. 1, 2008.

Any questions, let us know! Good luck, and we look forward to seeing your entries!

Insomnia Radio selected our song "MIA" for their Daily Dose!

Click on over to the IR website and look for the picture of the trusty red lawnmower!

Saturday night Mike and I attended a live music event at Ricketts House, which has a really cool outdoor courtyard setting with nice acoustics and all-around seating. As luck would have it, we wound up sitting next to the event organizer (Cliff, who also happens to be a keyboardist and singer) and a few other people in bands that were playing later in the evening. He was kind enough to offer us a chance to play a song or two if there was time at the end. We said we'd love to, but we'd need a drummer. Lo and behold, there appeared famed LA area drummer Mike Ferrara, who was happy to oblige.



After the last band (Dick for Danna) wrapped up with a blistering cover of Enter Sandman, the two Mikes and I set up our gear and unleashed a lethal dose of Voodoo Child on the premises. As Mike F. pounded the drums like a dervish in lock step timing with the pulsing bass line, Mike A. careened and strutted around the courtyard, demonstrating his other-worldly, two-hands-optional guitar playing.

In the midst of this guitar fury, we noticed Cliff -- who had already fended off 2 noise complaints -- fretting at the periphery of the courtyard. Sure enough, as Mike A. was ripping into the outro solo, a trio of grim-faced security guards filed into the courtyard with intent to shut us down, and a wave of tension passed over the audience. Just when it seemed the party was over, I watched in amazement as Mike A., not missing a beat while soloing behind his head, continued to play with only his left hand as he extended one finger of his right hand in the direction of the security guards. No, not that finger! He was simply holding up his index finger ever so politely, entreating them for just one more minute. Two of the three of them could do little to hold back a smile, and with a slight nod of the head from the supervisor, we were allowed to finish the jam in style, and the crowd went ballistic! Even the security guards (2 out of 3, in any case) were clapping. It was our first live performance in LA, and it couldn't have been better.

A big thanks to Cliff and Mike F. (and all of Ricketts Hovse) for making this awesome experience possible, and Dick for Danna for making time for us to squeeze in the closing jam!

Hi All! We’re long overdue for a blog update, but I have a bit of news that demands at least a brief post.
As many of you know, we relocated to LA yesterday with the goal of taking SO3 to the next level. Well, today we have been on a streak of beginner’s luck, and it all happened because we rented our moving van from Budget.

Here’s how it went down. Mike and I had to return the truck to the Budget rental shop in Pasadena by 10:30am. So there we were waiting in line, and we get to chatting with a friendly guy that’s also in the waiting area. Turns out he produced Nickelback’s last album! And, he was a cool guy, and was totally supportive of our music dreams. Next thing you know, he asks us what we’re up to today, and offers to give us a tour of his studio. (At this point, Mike and I must have looked like wide eyed yokels with silly dreams of making it in LA.) We of course accepted, and would have driven the moving van there if we’d needed to.


That afternoon, we turned up at his studio (actually, one of his studios) in Glendale, and we brought a demo CD in case the opportunity to play some of our songs presented itself. (In another act of wishful thinking, we also packed our guitars in Mike’s trunk.) He indeed wanted to hear our tunes, and as luck would have it, he was digging our demo for Montezuma! Next thing you know, Mike and I are in the studio laying down tracks for a new, Nickelback-producer-produced version of Montezuma! We weren’t sure at first if it was just for fun, but time flew by, and next thing you know, seemingly effortlessly, he had a fully mixed and mastered track ready for us!
Well, there’s much more to tell, but for the time being, we are happy to present to you our first LA-produced track! Montezuma 01Apr08 (mp3)

Thanks to all your support, we're now the top result on Google if you search for so3!

This means we beat out sulfite and star ocean three.

We won't let this achievement go to our heads, though. I just googled "genesis" and Genesis the band beat out the Book of Genesis. That ought to put things in perspective. My band triumphed over a chemical found in acid rain. Phil Collins & co. beat out the Lord.