Jagged Spiral Presents – Days From Evil CD Release

Posted on July 1, 2008October 30, 2010 by Zero

CDs are on order, and three years of hard work are about to pay off. We are excited to announce that Jagged Spiral’s debut masterwork, “Days From Evil” will be available in CD form on 11 July 2008!

“Days From Evil” is a concept album which tells the story of a hero confronting monsters only he can see. The music covers a wide range of genres, including Gothic Hard Rock, Acoustic Ballads, and Majestic Epic Metal. Much of the music on “Days From Evil” was also used by Jagged Spiral in the movie score for the local vampire movie “Pray For Daylight” from Stone Soup Films.

Ha, and my guidance councilor said I’d never accomplish anything! Now he owes me five bucks! Not surprisingly, that’s the same price as admission to the upcoming Days From Evil CD Release Party! For the price of 1.25 gallons of gas, (which won’t even get you halfway up to the lake for the 4th of July,) you can experience an entire evening of devastating music, as Jagged Spiral takes the stage at Club Underground on Friday, July 11th, to celebrate the release of our new CD.

Our live show will contain some stripped-down selections from “Days From Evil”, (Sorry, no acoustic guitars and no string orchestras!) and plenty of new material, all of it dark metallic rock fueled by adrenaline and Jag-Bombs. Bring earplugs.

Details:
Friday, 11 July 2008 – Doors at 9PM, – Music at 9:30
Club Underground – 355 Monroe St, Mpls MN
21+ (Bring ID!) – Cover $5

The Days From Evil CD will be available for purchase at the show for $8. All proceeds from the sale of the CD will go towards the following:

Josh’s Red Bull addiction
Fines from the City of Minneapolis for ‘disturbing the peace’
The massive debt we ran up during the three years it took us to get this project finished

Also, we have some very special guests joining us for the event: S.B.I., Sick Machine and Something To Fear (who just got done kicking tail at the Flight of the Valkyries festival!) so come out and celebrate with us!

-Jagged Spiral

PS: If you know anyone who likes loud guitars, please pass the message along! Share the Spiral!

Days From Evil Press Release has been… Released

Posted on June 18, 2008October 30, 2010 by Zero

We’ve been working on Days From Evil for years now, but I won’t feel a sense of completion until

I hold the physical, shrinkwrapped CD in my hand
We celebrate the CD with an Release Party.

Thankfully, those things are coming to fruition. Very soon, the order will be placed for CD copies of ‘Days From Evil’. Almost three years of effort are drawing to their long-overdue conclusion.

Promotional copies of the disk are finished, (sans the insert booklet). Just seeing the physical CD with printing on it has made me quite happy. Now, I’m just working on the insert artwork, which should be done this weekend, and the order can be placed next week.

As I mentioned previously, the “Days From Evil” CD Release party has been booked at Club Underground for 11 July 2008. Three other bands will be there to help us celebrate: S.B.I., Sick Machine, and Something To Fear. Jagged Spiral has gone through a significant upgrade in gear since our last live set, and we’re focusing on pulling together a nice, tight, and loud show. Bring earplugs.

I’ve completed the press release about the event which you can check out here: https://jaggedspiral.com/forms/dfe1.pdf and I’ve distributed it (with a copy of the CD) to all the usual suspects. With any luck we can expect some honest and objective reviews of “Days From Evil”.

Even if we don’t move a single copy of the CD, even if the critics slaughter it, even if no one comes to the release party, we will finally have payback for three years of hard work, and I’ll have a sense of completion that will let me (mentally at least) move on to other things… like the next album!

Yours Darkly,

Conrad Zero

Jag Bomb – The Official Drink of Jagged Spiral

Posted on June 9, 2008October 30, 2010 by Zero

Jagged Spiral doesn’t generally do product endorsements, but sometimes something comes along that surprises us with its simplicity and moxie. Things like that warrant public approval, especially when all three of us are in agreement.

At the Apocalyptica concert last April, Jagged Spiral discovered the Jag-bomb. (Pronounced Yag-Bom) At least, I only remember having two.

Jag Bombs have been around for a while now. For those not in college, a Jag-Bomb is a combination of Jagermeister and Red Bull.

I know what half of you are about to say. “Are you Insane? Mixing something that makes people Fight with something that gives people Energy?” The other half were going to say, “Are you Insane? Mixing something that tastes like Cough Syrup with something that tastes like Radioactive Camel Urine?”

Agreed on both counts, however, there is some strange co-mingling of effects and flavors with the two ingredients, and the end result is less undesirable than you would expect.

The drink is an interesting dichotomy of emotional directions, much like Jagged Spiral’s music. Therefore, we are announcing that the Official Drink of Jagged Spiral is the Jag-Bomb. If you ever come see us live, [Editors Note: Like at the July 11th CD Release party for example…] try one out, it will definitely put a unique spin on your perception of our live sound…

Yours Darkly,

Conrad Zero

Jagged Spiral CD Release Party – Club Underground 11 July 2008

Posted on June 5, 2008October 30, 2010 by Sugar

Minneapolis ‘Northern Rock’ band Jagged Spiral celebrate the release of their debut album, “Days From Evil” (Miku Darkly Productions).

The “Days From Evil” CD Release Party will be held at Club Underground on Friday, July 11th, 2008. Doors at 9PM, the show is 21+ only, cover is $5.

Joining them will be local bands S.B.I., Sick Machine, and Something to Fear.

More details as we get them…

Sugar

Results of the “Rock the Dash” Contest

Posted on May 13, 2008October 30, 2010 by Zero

While we didn’t get into the ‘winning circle’ of the top 15 bands, we got awfully close. Jagged Spiral peaked around 18th place, and ended up in 28th place out of the 458 bands that participated. We’re actually pretty excited about making it to the top 6 percent! Thanks to everyone who helped us out and voted for Jagged Spiral through what is possibly the most clumsy music-user-interface known to man (right next to the 8-track tape) We certainly couldn’t have made it that far without your help, and we appreciate it.

If you hear of other music contests, make sure to let us know…

Yours Darkly,

Conrad Zero

The Reunion Tour (or Lack Thereof)

Posted on May 7, 2008October 30, 2010 by Zero

The Jagged Spiral Marketing and Promotional Headquarters has been overwhelmed with requests to verify rumors of a Jagged Spiral Reunion Tour. We can neither confirm nor deny these allegations [Authors Note: Actually, Sugar told us that we’re best not to even talk about it. But she didn’t say not to blog about it.]

I can say that a Reunion Tour for Jagged Spiral would be difficult, if not impossible, for the simple fact that we haven’t broken up. At least, if we *had* broken up, I’m sure the guys would have told me about it. Pretty sure.

For further details about the rumored tour, I’ve been told to defer all questions to our new Public Relations Manager; Tom Waits, who held a press conference to clarify and/or obfuscate all the details of the Very Likely Only A Rumor And Not An Official Jagged Spiral Reunion Tour, which has been code-named “Operation: Glitter and Doom”, (which is not to be confused with the Tom Waits album of the same name):

Yours Darkly,

Conrad Zero

No, I Never Slept With Diablo Cody – Live!

Posted on April 8, 2008October 30, 2010 by Zero

Before you check out our first live performance of this new song, I have to get a couple disclaimers out of the way:

First, I have to apologize for the poor quality audio/video even for youtube, this is pretty rough. The video camera we brought to the show got left ON, and the battery was completely drained. Fortunately, we also brought a digital camera that can shoot video, but as you will see, that isn’t its primary function.

Secondly, this will not be the final version of the song. The lyrics (which were derived from this blog post) will change, and the subject of Diablo Cody will most likely be changed as well. The song has become cursed, and all kinds of bad things happen in the studio when her name gets mentioned. Bad mojo, baby. So we’ll smudge the studio, and change the song.

Thirdly, we truly do love Diablo Cody, and we truly did not sleep with her, and we hope she enjoys the song. No offense intended.

Yours Darkly,

Conrad Zero

Update on Alpine’s Rock the Dash Contest

Posted on March 28, 2008October 29, 2010 by Zero

Instead of getting ready to release the list of winners from Alpine’s Rock the Dash contest, they sent out an e-mail saying the contest has been suspended due to voting system tampering, and all votes will be reset to nil. Voting will start over on April 1, 2008 and continue until 30 April.

This was not unexpected.

I certainly wasn’t going to tell you, but I know some of you must have figured out how to ‘cheat’ the system, and vote more than once per day. It’s as simple as clearing your browser cache (more specifically, your cookies) and you could vote as many times as you liked. It became obvious when bands were shooting to the top of the list in no time at all.

My hope was that *those* votes would simply be removed from the contest once Alpine figured out WTF, and Jagged Spiral would rocket to the top (becuse of the honesty and integrety of our fans). Unfortunately, Alpine decided to implement a “more secure” online voting system, and start over.

So we’re going to need your help again.

Yes, the interface blows. Yes, it sucks to scroll down to the “J”s to get to Jagged Spiral. No, you can’t go to the “Albums” list, because there isn’t one! I’m starting to think Colin is better off using the portable CD player in his car.

But, thanks to all your help, both Jagged Spiral songs “Let It Out” and “Not Enough Bullets” crawled up the charts, past hundreds of other songs, to end up in 60th and 61st place after three weeks!

Please visit www.rockthedash.com every day that you can (from every computer you can) throughout the month of April, and help push Jagged Spiral to the top 10! If Jagged Spiral wins one of the prizes, we promise to sell it on craigslist, and use the $$$ to buy Colin a nice car stereo system!

Thanks for your support, and keep voting!

Yours Darkly,

Conrad Zero

Nine Inch Nails follows Jagged Spiral into Creative Common Ground

Posted on March 3, 2008September 2, 2015 by Zero

[For Immediate Release]

It seems that Jagged Spiral’s marketing strategy is gaining traction among the band’s more famous peers.

Not just another Heavy Rock/Metal band from Minneapolis, Jagged Spiral (https://jaggedspiral.com/) smoldered in obscurity until their debut release in 2007 – Days From Evil. The album was every bit as avant-garde and eclectic as its method of its distribution. Released by label Miku Darkly under Creative Commons licensing, Days From Evil is free to download from their website, free to copy, and free to distribute. A Donation link on their website allows fans to contribute any price they see fit for the music. (They call it a “Virtual Tip Jar”).

Other groups, notibly Radiohead and Atmosphere made their albums available for free download, although the Radiohead downloads were removed from the band’s website once the CD was released. [Editor’s Note: Atmosphere’s album Strictly Leakage is still available here]

Now, Audioholics.com has announced that Trent Reznor, primary songwriter and frontman for Nine Inch Nails and historically a Trend Setter in marketing, has decided to follow a similar formula with the new release of “Ghosts I-IV”. The first nine tracks from the album are available for free, thanks to Creative Commons licensing. The entire album spans an impressive 36 tracks of instrumental-only work. The remaining tracks of the album are available for purchase in a variety of formats, including progressively more expensive options, including a $300 Ultra-Deluxe Limited Package, of which only 2500 were made…and have already sold out.

While Jagged Spiral could not be reached for comment, the band’s manager, Sugar, was more than happy to expand on the decision to release music for free:

“It just seemed like the obvious choice for an independent artist starting out in today’s market. When a band like Jagged Spiral is just starting out, they have a limited fan base. If they released their recordings in the traditional model, they would have the traditional results – they would sell a couple copies, and they wouldn’t likely make enough to cover the cost of production. Trent Reznor has a large enough fan base that he can give away a teaser, and still make profit on the upsell.

There’s always a compromise between monetary gain and distribution. Higher cost equals limited distribution, lower cost equals larger distribution, No Cost equals unlimited distribution. When you’re starting out, it makes more sense to choose fame over fortune. Now, people around the world are sharing the songs off Days From Evil through bittorrent, limewire, e-mail and blog postings. And instead of feeling like criminals, they can feel that they are helping the band out. That’s not a ‘Street Team’ that’s a ‘World Team’ working for them 24×7.

The money can come later, once you’ve proven yourself. Crack dealers use the same method, and it works if the product is addictive. Trent Reznor is doing it right now. The first nine tracks off Ghosts are free, and if you like what you hear, and you want more, you’ll pay for it.”

While giving art away for free is not a new idea, and neither is Creative Commons licensing, Jagged Spiral’s idea of allowing the audience to pay them via donations through their website is. Sugar explains:

“Having a method for fans to donate money directly to the artist makes them feel involved in the process; it creates a loop between the artist and fans. The fans provide the resources for the artist to continue, the artist converts the resources into art for the fans. Marillion has this business model mastered. They funded their entire last album production costs off fan pre-orders ,and they’re doing it again this year. They’re working directly for the fans. It’s the internet version of the musician on the street corner with their guitar case open.”

Bands like Jagged Spiral and Nine Inch Nails giving music away for free not only fueled the buzz surrounding their releases, but also fueled the fire between the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the entire independent artist movement.

“We gave them years to come up with something, and you can’t possibly feel sorry for them. The RIAA hung themselves every day that they resisted the internet. They pulled the same bullshit when Dolby “C” and HX-Pro noise reduction got built into tape decks. It’s too late for them now, but they struggle to keep afloat with DRM infected songs on I-Tunes. Bands like Jagged Spiral and Nine Inch Nails are showing the rest of the world how the new system works. The record industry has just been outsourced by the internet.”

metal sucks

Posted on February 29, 2008February 27, 2018 by Josh

There’s nothing wrong with modern metal that a little dose of raw wouldn’t fix. Modern metal/hardcore/metalcore/whatever is some of the most homogenized and sanitized music ever created. Digital recording techniques have literally sucked the life right out of hard rock music and, frankly, I’d rather listen to Garth Brooks than anything released in the last 5 years.

www.myspace.com/atthegatess

(in case anyone forgot what real music sounds like, and where all the bands YOU like got their sound…)

Josh