Cloud Cult is excited to announce their fall headlining tour in support of their new full-length album – Light Chasers – due out September 14^th on Earthology Records.

The record is the band’s first new studio release in more than two years and critics are already weighing in favorably with Pitchfork calling the album “…epic, millennial indie rock…” and John Richards from KEXP saying that Light Chasers is “the best thing Cloud Cult has ever done, which is saying a lot as everything they’ve done so far is near perfection.”

Shane Blay is a guitarist/vocalist for the indie band, Oh, Sleeper. The Texas based group has been compared to Slipknot and Underoath. You can learn more about the band here. Follow the band on Twitter @weareohsleeper.

For the past five years my brothers in Oh, Sleeper and myself have sacrificed our lives, our time, relationships, birthdays, holidays, health (haha) to travel around and play shows for our fans. Not to say that isn’t been a fun ride!

I would just like to bring a few things to our fans attention.

I would like to show you guys an average day in finances for a “mid-level” band like us. I’m going to breakdown the average monetary ins and outs of a day on tour.

On tour, bands have two ways to make money – guarantees and merchandise.

Kina Grannis announced her upcoming fall headlining tour of the US on the heels of a sold-out headlining US tour this spring that included a Lilith Fair date on July 16^th in St. Louis, MO.

In addition to her successful spring tour, she made her National TV debut with a live performance on CBS The Early Show on June 19^th and was noted by both the New York Times and WNYC Soundcheck.

The indie artist has been making inroads in the pop music world thanks to her incredible following on YouTube where her channel has more than 189,000 subscribers and more than 43 million total views.

You hear a common line from people who download ripped music online: “maybe I don’t pay for the albums, but I go to concerts, I buy the t-shirts, I support the artists I listen to.”

The sentiment is echoed in business models being pushed by the music industry itself. The summer music festival scene is exploding. The hugest multi-day concerts, like Austin City Limits and Sasquatch, are selling out months ahead of time. Old staples, like Sarah’s McLaughlin’s Lilith Fair, are being reborn, and locally-organized independent music festivals and folk festivals are springing up and growing all over the world.

And the festival model makes sense for promoters and producers. Rather than funneling time and money into a single artist, and concerts that may draw a few hundred fans, they get to run an efficient, cost-effective music Wal-mart: huge crowds all get the same decent product, relatively low cost-per-band, short sets, cattle-style herding from beer to food to port-a-potty. It all runs like a big box store for concert-goers.

Even during a recession, kids are willing to fork over the cash (as much as $300.00 for a basic ticket to a 4-day festival) to see their favorite bands and enjoy the festival experience. And some, like Bonnaroo, are growing exponentially, pulling in $30 million last year alone through ticket sales and ad partnerships.

Which sounds great! That means all my favorite bands are out there enjoying the summer festival tour circuit and making the money they’re not getting from CD sales, right?

Before becoming one of the hottest tickets in her hometown of Chicago, Lisa McClowry began her adult career working behind the scenes in movie music.  She collaborated with Mark Mothersbaugh of the iconic group Devo and Lavant Coppock to write and perform “Through the Eyes of Child” for the motion picture “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.”

Later, she served as the singing voice & voice over artist for TRESemme Shampoos and Conditioners TV Campaign (”TRESemme, Ooh la la TRESemme!”) and Applebee’s.

Additionally, Lisa performed the theme song, “Bridge to the Stars” with Tracey Amos for the “Wild Thornberrys” soundtrack, and was selected to sing the voice of the “Princess” in “Rugrats in Paris: The Movie.”

After a busy Spring, The Action Design plan to make their presence felt this Summer opening for Social Distortion. Their heart pounding performance and catchy hook laden songs will be sure to garner them some new fans along the way.

One of Alternative Press Magazine’s “100 Bands To Watch”, The Action Design delivers edgy, yet clean and sophisticated, indie rock well suited for any dance party.

With a focus on change from each of their previous styles, the band’s debut full length is bursting with energy which is called Never Say, available now on iTunes.

Full-Length Debut Album – Suburban Nature – Out Now on Kirtland Records

Sarah Jaffe will be kicking off a US tour with Lou Barlow today in San Diego, CA!  The tour is the indie artist’s first U.S. tour since the release of her debut full-length album – Suburban Nature – which came out May 18^th on Kirtland Records and was produced by John Congleton (Shearwater, Polyphonic Spree, Explosions In the Sky).

Rubik is kicking off their U.S. tour this June with the release of a new digital EP – Data Bandits – available as a free download from the band’s web site – www.rubikband.net.

The EP includes 3 previously unreleased songs, 1 cover version of label mates Disco Ensemble’s “We Might Fall Apart,” and 2 amazing remixes (one by RAC’s André Allen Anjos – Lady Gaga, Radiohead, Bloc Party, Ra Ra Riot) of “Wasteland” the lead single off their latest album and US debut – Dada Bandits (out now on Fullsteam/Paper Tiger).

Tracklisting:

Indie-pop songstress Kina Grannis is thrilled to announce a Spring headlining tour of the US.

The incredibly talented 24-year-old from Mission Viejo, California of Japanese, English, Irish, French, Dutch, Welsh and Scottish descent is heading out in support of her debut full-length album Stairwells.

Self-released in February, the album debuted on the Billboard 200, #5 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums chart and #2 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart.

The release was accompanied by an official music video for the first single “Valentine” – which has been viewed nearly 1.5 million times on YouTube!

Shaant Hacikyan, the founding member of Cute Is What We Aim For, will be hosting a live chat on Livestream on Wed, May 12 at 6:30pm ET before his headlining show at Highline Ballroom in NYC. To chat with Shaant, click on the link here.

CIWWAF kicks off a headlining tour with The Friday Night Boys, The Bigger Lights and Down With Webster today in Boston.

The band formed in January 2005 and in less than a year they were signed to Fueled by Ramen. The band’s 2006 debut The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch, produced by Matt Squire, spent countless months on the Billboard Top 200 Charts.

Finland’s indie art-pop collective Rubik are returning to the US in June for a full tour in support of their second album and US debut – Dada Bandits.

Released stateside this past fall on Fullsteam/Paper Tiger AV, the album was met with critical praise and found the Finnish collective doing a handful of US dates including a show at CMJ Music Marathon in NYC as well as session for KEXP.

Rubik, now a staple on the European indie-music scene, started playing out live in 2003.  In 2005, the band released their debut EP People Go Missing and in 2007 they released their first studio full-length Bad Conscience Patrol on Fullsteam Records.

“The World Is…” is off of Matthew Ryan’s recent album, Dear Lover. The indie artist is currently on a U.S tour. Check out the schedule for the tour here.

The New Year brings nothing but excitement for the Dallas, Texas based pop-rock quartet Disco Curtis.

Most recently signed to MySpace/Interscope Records the band plans to write and record a host of new material. Today, the band currently performs songs off their debut EP “Play With Fire Get Burned” which is available now via itunes. Disco Curtis’ debut video for “Ashley” is set for a January 6th premiere on MySpace.com. Over the winter months, the band is prepping for their appearance on the second half of the annual Vans Warped Tour, with dates slated for July 20th through August 15th.  Having previously toured with Boys Like Girls, Forever The Sickest Kids and more, the band cannot wait to get back on the road.