Travis Barker Selects Winner Of Guitar Center’s Your Next
Record Unsigned Artist Competition
Twin Berlin Lands Unprecedented Opportunity to Record With Travis Barker
at Red Bull Studios Plus $10,000 in New Gear
Westlake Village, CA – July 25, 2011 - Continuing its support of aspiring artists,
Guitar Center (http://www.guitarcenter.com), the world‟s largest musical
instrument retailer, and Travis Barker today announced Twin Berlin as the winner
of Guitar Center’s Your Next Record unsigned artist competition. After an intense
8-week period of peer judging through OurStage.com, Barker personally selected
the winning band from the top 100 artists entered, sending one talented unsigned
band into Red Bull Studios in Los Angeles with the acclaimed drummer and
producer.
As winner, Twin Berlin will have the opportunity to record a 3-song EP with
Barker, have Barker appear on their single from the EP, receive worldwide digital
distribution of the album through TuneCore as well as $10,000 in new gear from
Guitar Center.
“This was definitely not an easy decision, a lot of these artists really stepped up,”
says Barker. “I can‟t wait to get into the studio with Twin Berlin. Their mix of
gritty guitars and undeniable hooks really drew me in. I think we‟ll be able to
create some incredible music together. It‟s really cool that Guitar Center has
given an unsigned band such a unique opportunity.”
A Connecticut-based trio with a growing following in the Boston-area, Twin Berlin
(http://www.ourstage.com/profile/twinberlin) draw from a recent rock lineage that
includes The Strokes, The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys. The band‟s high-
energy sound has already garnered heavy radio airplay on FNX Radio Boston
and a MTV VMA “Best Breakout Boston” award nomination. Another huge
career boost will come from the break Guitar Center has provided through the
Your Next Record competition, and the chance to work with a respected artist
like Travis Barker.
“This is an unbelievable opportunity for us,” says Twin Berlin‟s James Janocha.
“We were literally jumping around the room when we got the call. We‟re in debt
to Guitar Center now, it‟s just amazing to see a company take this kind of interest
in helping unsigned bands. We never expected anyone to fork over this kind of
opportunity. And Travis is someone we‟ve wanted to work with really bad. He‟s
got a punk touch, but he‟s also up on all kinds of music and what‟s cutting edge,
so we feel like he‟ll bring a fresh touch to what we‟re doing.”
In March 2011, Guitar Center teamed up with Barker, whose solo album Give
The Drummer Some is out now, and commissioned OurStage.com
(http://artists.ourstage.com/Welcome), the leading online music company for
unsigned bands, adopting its proprietary competition management technology to
collect and present each music artist‟s submissions, allowing music fans to rank
them using the OurStage.com fan judging software. Each competing artist was
equipped with digital tools to help encourage their fans to judge their submissions
as well as other talented unsigned artists. After the 8-week submission and
judging period, Barker personally evaluated the top 100 artists to select Twin
Berlin as the winner of Guitar Center’s Your Next Record with Travis Barker. The
prize package includes:
A 3-song ep produced by Travis Barker at Red Bull Studios in Los
Angeles
Travis Barker to appear on a the winning artists single
$10,000 in new gear from Guitar Center
Worldwide distribution of the winners music through TuneCore
Guitar Center Presents Your Next Record is just one of many Guitar Center
initiatives created to foster growth and success within the music community. In
addition to the first two editions of this competition, Your Next Record with Slash
and Your Next Record with Keith Urban, Guitar Center also provides its annual
King of the Blues, Drum-Off and On-Stage competitions to emerging musicians,
among others.
Guitar Center's King of the Blues is a nationwide amateur guitar skills competition
with the goal of finding the next great undiscovered blues guitar player.
Drum-Off, now in its 22nd year, is an annual drumming competition that has
served as a launching pad for many drummers, including Cora Coleman-Dunham
and Tony Royster, Jr., two Drum-Off winners who have gone on to become
highly acclaimed professional drummers with Prince and Jay Z, respectively.
Guitar Center On-Stage is an annual competition judged by a legendary rock
band. Each year, the winning band wins an opening slot for the judges, which
this year is alt-rock pioneers Jane‟s Addiction.
About Guitar Center
Guitar Center is the world‟s largest retailer of guitars, amplifiers, drums,
keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary
presently operates 219 Guitar Center stores across the U.S. We are also the
largest direct response retailer of musical instruments in the United States
through our wholly owned subsidiary, Musician's Friend, Inc., and its catalog and
Web site, www.musiciansfriend.com. In addition, our Music & Arts division
operates more than 100 stores specializing in band instruments for sale and
rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors and students. More
information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company's Web site at
www.guitarcenter.com.
The Guitar Center logo is a registered trademark of Guitar Center, Inc. Other
brand or product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with
which they are associated.
About Travis Barker
Travis Barker first hit the music scene as the drummer for the rock band trio,
Blink 182. Since then, he has become an icon in the drumming world, with
people from all sorts of musical genres asking him to play live or guest on their
records. Barker is currently involved in many projects, including working on the
new Transplants album, in the studio recording the new BLINK 182 album and
his most ambitious project to date, his solo album “Give The Drummer Some.”
Barker released his highly anticipated solo album, „Give the Drummer Some‟
through Interscope earlier this year. Not only did he produce the entire album, but
he plays on every track, and each song features a who‟s who in music. Guest
appearances include RZA, Tom Morello, Snoop, Lil Wayne, Tim Armstrong, The
Game, Lupe Fiasco, Rick Ross, Beanie Sigel, Bun B, Cory Taylor, Pharrell,
Swizz Beats and many more. His single “Can a Drummer get some‟ featuring
Swizz Beats, The Game, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne is currently in heavy radio
rotation and available now on iTunes. Barker is also preparing to hit the road on
tour with Blink 182.
About OurStage.com
Founded in 2007, OurStage.com ( www.ourstage.com ) is a leading destination
for music listening, discovery, and quality editorial content. With more than
175,000 artists from 40 styles of music, OurStage.com receives 4.5 million visits
each month from 170 countries. OurStage.com‟s most acclaimed feature is its
proprietary software where the site‟s listeners judge the music of emerging artists
for competitions that reward major prizes to the winners. Through these
competitions, listeners help artists to become finalists and win competitions,
receiving priceless opportunities to warm up for headlining acts and/or record
with major label performers. To date, OurStage.com has provided opportunities
for artists to open concerts for Bon Jovi, Drake, Goo Goo Dolls, HANSON, John
Legend, Lilith 2010, John Mayer, Monica, T-Pain, Trey Songz, Keith Urban,
Travis Barker, Jane‟s Addiction and many others. OurStage.com is currently
partnered with Clear Channel, Guitar Center, MTV, and Radio One on content
and marketing initiatives. For more information, visit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ourstage and http://ourstage.com.
Press Contact
Rob Krauser
Cornerstone
212.652.9278
rkrauser@cornerstoneagency.com