CHINASTYLE, WTF? You've been writing that a lot recently! ;)

Well, let me start by apologising to everyone for keeping you all in the dark for so long. The reason is that not even we knew what we were doing for quite a while, so it was kind of hard to shed light on the situation. But we are back in the saddle now, we have a plan and everything is fresh as a daisy. Ont thing that has struck us hugely is just how loyal, understanding and patient our fans have been with us and for that we have just to say a massive thank you.

Here is the low-down on the past few months in our lives.

Back in April last year GETAMP3D split with their management of 4 years. It was a difficult and painful time for everyone and it left the band very much in limbo through the following summer. At first, we relished in having a break from the incessant touring and recording we had been doing. We had clocked up over 330 gigs in the space of 2 years, and our lives had been a whirlwind of dingy venues, Travelodges, long gas-ridden stints in the Wolf Shark, tour buses and the studio control room. It was great to step back, have some time to ourselves, and relax for a summer largely without music. Jason finished his second Menace album, Rick mixed Sandi Thom's second album, and Tim jetted off to LA for some intensive surfing!

But come the Autumn we all started to get itchy feet again, and were keen to get back out there. After much discussion, amongst ourselves and with our newly appointed manager, Mark @ MSA Music, the band decided to start from afresh. Ever since Jason joined the band, GETAMP3D had not sounded like the band they had started out as. Jason's style opened up whole new musical avenues for Rick and Tim, who relished in the opportunity to experiment with different genres. His writing style was also key in ushering in a new sound for the trio. This came to a head during a writing session in Jason's home studio in the Autumn of 2007. We all decided that we wanted to change our sound drastically, throwing off the pop punk shackles that had dogged the band once and for all. To make this clearer to the fans and the industry as a whole, we needed to make some wholesale changes to make this a reality. We have a new look, a new sound, new management, and possibly even a new member(?!), and of course, we have a new name...

So enter CHINASTYLE...

What's the story behind the name? Well. Jason's first gig for GETAMP3D was one their first tour to China - Zhengzhou International Festival, and we all loved it. The open-mindedness of the people in China really inspired the band; we became more outgoing, energetic, experimental and carefree on stage. Ever since that first tour, 'china style' had been a catch phrase for the band, and we would use it to psyche ourselves up for big gigs: "Come on guys, let's rip this one - do it 'china style'!" The fact that China is a country of such awesome diversity also seemed to sum up what we wanted from our sound and musical direction. And so, after a quick check to make sure that 'chinastyle' was not some kind of bukkake film on the internet, we were re-born!

What's next for the band? This weekend we shoot a video for our first single: "Trip The Light Fantastic" You've got a snippet on the page to hear. It's a groover all right, and video should be rad. It will definitely surprise some of you, in many ways. The single is due for release on i-Tunes on the 24th March, with a follow up over the summer. There'll be samples of the new tunes as they happen, video biogs, blogs, behind the scenes footage, lots of radio (hopefully) and much more to come. The website's been given an overhaul by the lovely Joolz, and should start filling up with more content over the coming months. It also has a new URL: www.chinastylemusic.com

So thank you again for your patience and support - it is very much appreciated. We hope we can give back with some sick new tracks over the next few weeks.

That's about it. Oh, hang on, our e-mail has changed: info[at}chinastylemusic.com. We love to hear from you and we've been lonely recently, so send us some love!

Rick, Tim, Jase, and ?
x ChinaStyle x