Howdy from Invisible Records,
All of you great fans out there must surely have some suggestions from our webstore. What does everyone want? Become a member on our community site! Post your own events, post and read blogs. We want to see your photos and hear your stories. Interaction is the key to satisfaction. Check it out here.

As usual, SXSW is going to be crazy as hell, but Martin's got some great tips for all you attendees at knowthemusicbiz.com. Check it out here.

Tour:Smart DIY Summit  -  Band Survival in the New Economy
Learn how to make $7,500 more in the next six months!
Saturday, November 8, 2008 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Invisible Records Offices:  3319 S. Lituanica Ave. Chicago, IL  

LEARN HOW TO MAKE $7,500 MORE IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS!
Perhaps, the greatest obstacle for artists right now is standing on their own feet, rejecting the major label and industry hysteria to look backwards and seek protection in rules and regulations.  The only protection is ideas, momentum, and looking forwards.
We'll show you one simple strategy that will help you make $7,500 more in the next six months!
If you can sustain, you can succeed.  You'll get good ideas to use or inspire you to create your own: new packaging, new partnerships, and new ideas in new markets.    As Bruce Lee said, "you must learn to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones."  
The seminar will be taught by Martin Atkins, who for the last 30 years has embodied the DIY spirit.  Most recognized for work as owner of Invisible Records, author of Tour:Smart  and for his involvement the Chinese music scene as well as his work with bands such as Public Image Limited, Pigface, The Damage Manual, Killing Joke, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails.
You Get:
•    Concrete ideas and the knowledge, information, and confidence to start this process now!
•    A t-shirt you screen printed yourself
•    Your own copy of the Tour:Smart e-Book
•    50% off mastering package From Mattress Factory Studios (That's right, only $150 to master your album!)
Agenda:
•    Current state of industry
•    What other people are doing
•    Why you have to book yourself
•    How to get attention through unique packaging
•    The Difference: a new organic, easy to understand, strategy for success (15 minute original film)
•    The new "press kit"
•    Screen printing (a short introductory workshop)

Registration
•    $50 (includes Redbull, lunch, t-shirt, and a copy of the Tour:Smart e-Book)
•    Register at: http://...com/69r3kc  (direct link to registration page) or www.myspace.com/toursmart

Scholarships:
Tour:Smart supports struggling artists anyway we can.  We offer scholarships to all of our events. (Note:  Don't apply for the scholarship if you can really afford to come, there's some serious Karma baggage that comes with those types of games).  
If you want to nominate yourself or someone else, make a blog post on your own blog and send us the link (email office@invisiblerecords.com).  Tell us why you need to come to this seminar!
Press:
We always have a few reserved seats for bloggers and press.  Drop us a note at office@invisiblerecords.com if you want a pass.
Testimonials:
•    "The first seminar was $400 - I got my money's worth in the first five minutes" – 2005 seminar attendee
•    "Martin Atkins is the best speaker on the planet" – Paul Natkin,
•    "ATTENTION ROCK BANDS:  THIS IS YOUR OWNER'S MANUAL" – Joel Selvin (Senior Pop Critic, San Francisco Chronicle)
•     "Four Stars!  The ultimate touring manual...." - MOJO
•     "If you don't buy this book you will work a lifetime playing catch-up to the bands who do." - Lee Popa
•    "The best book ever written about touring (and more) Paul Natkin
•    "The bible of touring- Goldmine Magazine
•     "Four Stars!  One of the year's essential books." - Record Collector
•     "A vital repository of hard-learned lessons and essential pointers." –Terrorizer (UK)

We're doing a special in our web store this week for our MySpace friends, if you get the recent Damage Manual album "Limited Edition", you can get the first Damage Manual EP for free!  Limited time offer only from www.invisiblerecords.com

Click here to check it out and listen to free MP3s...

"The newest Damage Manual offering is a much rawer, stripped down version than previous works. The electronic element is still present, but not as prominent. The band takes us on a journey, perhaps influenced by the darker music of the seventies, eighties and nineties.
The first track, "Revenge Fiction" has more of a punk feel reminiscent to that of early Iggy Pop. "I Am War Again" takes us back to the political ranting of Killing Joke in both lyricly and sound. Quite Life has a revolutionary, rebellious feel to it as if in homage to such bands as The Alarm and New Model Army.
The remaining tracks are stand alone masterpieces as well. No Act of Grace features driving, tribal beats, dark brooding bass and haunting guitars along with Connelly's hypnotizing vocals which explode into a melodic chorus that leaves the listener breathless."
- MK Magazine

Martin spent the last few days at SXSW, lecturing, DJing, seeing a bunch of great bands, meeting a bunch of great people- there’s a youtube video up now documenting part of his trip



http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=bt9mGOmn74A

Tour:Smart, is the new book on the business of touring by Martin Atkins. With contributions from over 120 lunatics and luminaries providing an incredible amount of insight on everything from booking and transportation, to contracts, radio, and sex on the road.Over 500 pages including chapters on: Geography and Routing, Booking, Promoters, Management, Transportation, Contracts, Riders, Settlement, Merchandising, Revenue Streams, How to be a Better Opening Band, Crew, How to Get a Better Live Sound, Touring Internationally, Good Advice from Baaad People, Stories From the Front Lines, Case Studies, and much more...

Pre-order now... the first 100 copies of the book are signed and numbered, and come with a free TOUR:SMART t-shirt.

For more info and a detailed contributors list, visit the Tour:Smart Myspace page and Martin's column at Suicide Girls.



The Religion of Marketing is a retrospective gallery show created by Martin Atkins to showcase his collection of post-punk and industrial memoribilia and his artwork for the likes of Pigface, Killing Joke, Ministry, The Damage Manual, Sheep on Drugs and so much more.

The public opening will be held on May 11th, 2007 @ 6PM in Chicago, IL at 1915 S. Halsted St. For more information, visit The Religion of Marketing.

I found this great interview at Fodderstomp. It mostly talks about Martin Atkins' time in PiL, but goes into a bunch of Damage Manual stuff towards the end. Check it out. Here is a taste.

Moving onto the Damage Manual, how did Damage Manual actually come about?

MARTIN: I always felt that Wobble and I had some unfinished business. He left PiL before we kind of got bored of each other,  if you know what I mean. So when I moved back to England, I called Wobble about doing something. I said I'll pay you to come in  and do some stuff then I'll chop it all around, bring in some loops, I've got my own studio, my own label. So he said yeah alright. Then Geordie called up and I said, I'm playing with Jah Wobble in two weeks time, come on down.

We went down to a studio in London, and based on rhythm and beats, kind of jammed. Sometimes for five minutes sometimes for eleven  minutes. I took those tapes back to my studio and started to chop
them up, create songs that I thought were more 'now' out of those long jams. So for instance, Wobble would play two different bass lines over the course of say 'Stateless' and I chose two bars. Looped it up, pasted in some bits and pieces and slowly it together.

It would have been very easy to make it sound like PiL meets Killing Joke, but I thought the worse thing I can do is to create an album from two innovative bands, who were very, very dangerous in their own time. And create this new thing that just felt like a re-hash.  So I wanted it to feel dangerous to me.

Read the rest here.