VOODOO RHYTHM FUNDRAISER in FRANKFURT March 26th 2009 Einlass 21:00 | Beginn 22:00 | Eintritt: 10 Do. 26. März 09 CLUBKELLER Textorstr. 26 60594 Frankfurt Benefizkonzert für Berner Kult-Label VOODOO RHYTHM RECORDS, das sich momentan durch absurde Forderungen der Schweizer GEMA in einer existenziell bedrohlichen Finanzlage befinde An dem Abend wird M.A.Littler (SLOWBOAT FILMS) einige seiner Filme/Musikvideos vorführen, die beiden Bands KING AUTOMATIC aus Frankreich und STINKY LOU AND THE GOON MAT aus Belgien werden live spielen und im Anschluß gibt's noch Transglobal Rock'n'Roll mit Mr. Mudd an den Turntables. Sämtliche Eintrittseinnahmen des Abends gehen an VOODOO RHYTHM RECORDS! * www.voodoorhythm.com * MySpace voodoo_rhythm_records stinky lou STINKY LOU AND THE GOON MAT BluesGarageRock'n'Roll, Belgien These distinguished gentlemen have a problem: The can never agree whether to drink their way through the liquour cabinet from right to left...or vice versa. In between drinking and eying young ladies the way only the French can, STINKY LOU, THE GOON MAT and LORD BERNARDO are the fiercest Boogie 'n' Roots natural catastrophe going on the European continent. These bois don't open a show and ease into a set, the set the g'damn house on fire the moment they hit the first chord and yell: "Do you want to boogie?" I advise each and everyone of ye to respond: "Hell yeah!" What follows are 90 minutes of adrenaline and alcohol fused primal BOOGIE mayhem. THE GOON MAT is hip to the hypnotic drone that is remiscent of a Junior Kimbrough, STINKY LOU plays the washtub base not unlike a man whose hair is on fire...and LORD BERNARDO...that boi has lost his mind and plays the most demented and groovin' harp I've heard in years. Now all the hip blues punk kids talk like they've been to a jukejoint and we all know that they haven't but I'll be damned if these Boogie fiends wouldn't have stood their ground in Chulahoma or Holy Springs alongside the allmighty R.L. Burnside and T- Model Ford and their whisky guzzlin' bloodshot-eyed chums. Now this ain't cutesy blues...this is testosterone driven, hard hitting drinkin' and dancin' music and it certainly ain't nuthin' for the underaged. I shit you not...these partisan bluesmen are out to raise Cain..and mothers beware of your daughter 'cause these bois have ideas...and they ain't pure. * Stinckylouandthegoonmat * MySpace stinkylouandthegoonmat king automatic KING AUTOMATIC One Man Modern Big Band, Frankreich Sometime in 2003, at an undisclosed location several deranged genetic engineers performed a dangerous and unholy experiment. The task at had was to merge the DNA of Howlin' Wolf, The Oblivians, and DEVO. The Frankenstein-esque result was to revolutionize the stagnant and monotonous international One-Man Band scene and deliver organ fused electro sounds to Underground Rock'n'Roll. The demented result of said experiment is KING AUTOMATIC, an amalgamation of wild fuzzed out guitar, in the red harp mayhem and an incredibly raw yet melodic 60's Farfisa organ that gets the ladies dancing. You ain't convinced yet ... hell watch the KING perform live, sitting behind his organ, guitar strapped 'round his torso, sampling and looping his wild organ and blues harp sounds live on stage. We're not talking pre-recorded gimmicks ... everything's happening live on stage ... you figure out how he does it, adding layer upon layer of farfisa and harp sounds, eventually climaxing in a complex yet primal sonic soundscape. You think you've seen it all? Check out KING AUTOMATIC and he'll prove you wrong. * www.kingautomatic.com * MySpace lekingautomatic anschl. Mr. Mudd spins transglobal Rock'n'Roll – Primitive Rock 'n' Roll, Gypsy Swing & Sinner's Blues

I have mailed those Suisa people with the question why they are trying to destroy Voodoo Rhythm. Maybe it's a good idea if everybody fills in this contact form at the Suisa website to show them our concerns. You can do that here: http://www.suisa.ch/de/kontakt/ or use this guys e-mailaddress (remove the NO_SPAM from it). Anyway, here's the answer I got: Dear JJ Thanks for your mail concenring Voodoo Rhythm Records. I understand that you are worried about the future of this unique label. However, I can assure you that there's no need to worry. What has happened? Voodoo Rhythm Records has procuded tenthousands of records without paying copyright royalties. Many of the artists produced by Voodoo Rhythm Records are members of either SUISA or another authors' society. We are obliged by law and contract to collect royalties in a fiduciary capacity on their behalf. We are also obliged to treat all labels the same way, no matter what style of music they produce and how much money they make. We are an authors' society, and compositions and lyrics belong to their authors. Whoever publishes, reproduces, performs, broadcasts or otherwise disseminates a work requires the author’s consent and has the pay a compensation for the use of those works. The people at VR are aware of the rules of trade and have promised to send all the documents necessary for a settlement of the bill. We are very positive that we will find a solution that serves all parties involved, be it Voodoo Rhythm, its artists or the authors and publishers represented by SUISA. Best regards, Martin Wüthrich Head of Communication SUISA Bellariastrasse 82 CH-8038 Zürich Tel. +41 44 485 65 03 martin.wuethrich_NO_SPAM@suisa.ch http://www.suisa.ch ------------------------------ Hello, Are you guys ok? What's this stuff about Voodoo Rhythm? You take care of the musical rights of artists by destroying one of the best record labels in the world!? It just doesn't make any sense at all. This way you are not only destroying a record label, you are also destroying the income for many musicians and you are destroying the pleasure of thousands of people who acutually listen to this music and love this music. Please explain why you want to destroy Voodoo Rhythm Records. Regards, JJ

Thanks for your continued support of Voodoo Rhythm Records, everybody! And for any of you close to Bern, Switzerland:

vive beat man!

Threw a few in the gut bucket. Best of luck on your battle to keep one of our fave labels alive.

That's a cool DVD. That's what first turned me on to King Khan.

Voodoo Rhythm Records Movie Trailer

I posted this on my music blog. http://steveterrell.blogspot.com/2009/02/voodoo-rhythm-in-trouble.html And I'll do a Voodoo Rhythm set on my radio show tonight. (Listen live, 10 to midnight US Mountain Time at http://www.ksfr.org.)

I like what Kopper said, if every one drops $15-20. That's like a case of beer. I would sure as shit give the Beat Man a case of beer.
~T

Hey, how about doing something in Vienna/Austria?!?!?!

Damn it, there would be enough clubs to do it!

How about it, ha??

An update about this situation is on the myspace blog. http://www.myspace.com/voodoo_rhythm_records Lets hope for the best!

The situation with the royalties departments just getting worse,i'm really pissed off....one of the biggest and most important labels of the European scene is in big trouble!is time for everyone of us to think about.Companies like Suisa they don't give a F***K bout Music they are not even musicians they are just accountants!!!I really doubt if the money that they get from Musicians,record labels Radio stations ,Night clubs and venue places goes to the right persons..i really doubt if those money shared fairly i can prove that with statistics and facts.I just wonderin'...Does "big" multinational record labels have this kind of treatment.....i hope that all of you know the answer!!!It's a fact that most of the top stuff of "big" multinational record labels are managing directors of those Royalties departments..and this is not an accident event!!!VOODOO RHYTHM AND EVERY INDIE RECORD LABEL HAS TO LIVE!!!!..YOU DIRTY ROBBERS!!!!
LONG LIVE VOODOO RHYTHM!!!!!

We´re organising a benefit in Eindhoven, NL - I´ll post more info asap. date will be probably 19 feb.

Paypaled. Hope it works!

Some bux comin' yer way via PayPal, Beat-Man. What a lousy fucking situation. I won't pretend to even begin to comprehend rights and royalties and all that, but this seems pretty ass-backwards to me. Damn the torpedoes, Voodoo Rhythm full speed ahead!!

I've just emptied Motor Sounds Records paypal account into the VR pot, it wasn't much but every little counts and I'll empty it every day until VR is either safe or dead

DON'T ASK WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE RECORD LABEL CAN DO FOR YOU; ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR FAVOURITE RECORD LABEL! we'd like to do vr fundraising festivals around the globe...so far it's looking good for bern, zurich, amsterdamm, berlin, munich, frankfurt and l.a. pass on the word and make it happen in your hometown! if enough crazy kids host festivals we ought to be able to get vr back on track. cheers slowboat films

Do you guys realize that if every member of the Hideout donated about $16.50 then they'd have this thing COVERED?

just paypaled...

VIEL GLUECK!

I will try to put together a benefit gig in St. Louis, although it's hard to book something like this on such short notice (most of the clubs here book up a couple months in advance), so no promises. I can't believe you need to raise so much money in such a short time! I'm posting about this on my personal blog, by the way. I hope it helps!

yes paypal is: paypal: info@voodoorhythm.com

we have some people who does benefit concert.. we are in deep troubles.. i realy have to pay that money.. and i hope i'll get all that stuff together... we are siting now on one table together with the SUISA and try to find a good solution.. my goal is to make a good deal for my bands on my label... i wanna give them alot of free records and that my bands are happy..

benefit gigs are so far:
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ISC CLUB BERN, SWITZERLAND
VOODOO RHYTHM SOLIDARITÄTS PARTY
Do. 19. Feb.
Reverend Beat-Man and the Money loosers
Zeno Tornado
Robin & Cyril Banjo-Session ( Mama Rosin )
DJ: Voodoo Rhythm DJ Colective:
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VOODOO RHYTHM BENEFIT
Friday Feb.20th
Patronaat, Haarlem
10euros compulsory donation
Featuring Live and Dead:
Sixtyniners
Anomalys/Amok (one or the other)
Psyllibilly DJ'S
More acts to be confirmed.......
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It's down towards the bottom of the posting:

paypal: info@voodoorhythm.com

Do they accept PayPal? If so, what email address should people send money to?

Oh Shit! Live on VOODOO RYTHM!

SPENDENAUFRUF Für VOODOO RHYTHM

Hi, diesmal ein etwas seltsames Mail von mir:

Ich habe über die Jahre hinweg zu sehr fairen Bedingungen produziert und den Bands die Produktionen, die sie machten, zum Selbstkostenpreis verkauft. So konnten sie auf ihren Touren ein großes Plus erzielen, denn die Gagen sind ja nicht gerade rosig. Ich habe das damals (leider nicht schriftlich) mit der SUISA so abgesprochen. Jetzt hat sich aber das Blatt gewendet, und die SUISA fordert von Voodoo Rhythm rückwirkend auf alle Produktionen 42'500.- Franken. D.h. die SUISA will von mir Geld für etwas, das schon lange abgeschlossen ist. Und sie will Geld an die Bands auszahlen, das diese eigentlich gar nicht wollen, sie wollen lieber möglichst viele Freiexemplare. Leider kommen wir so bei der SUISA nicht durch und müssen den geforderten Betrag innert 30 Tagen zahlen, ansonsten müssen wir in Erwägung ziehen, Voodoo Rhythm zu schließen – das wäre unser Entscheid, denn für uns ist es unmöglich, so einen hohen Geldbetrag zu bezahlen.

Deshalb rufen wir hiermit zu einer Spenden-Aktion auf. Doch selbst wenn wir das Geld bezahlen könnten, stößt es uns immer noch sauer auf, auch unseren Bands auf dem Label. Ich habe ihnen bereits erzählt, dass ich ihnen in Zukunft keine guten Deals mit Platten zum Selbstkostenpreis mehr machen kann, sie würden anstelle der Platten Geld von der SUISA ausbezahlt bekommen, und alle Bands waren dagegen, vor allem die Amerikaner-Bands, die sowieso kein Geld kriegen würden, da das Geld irgendwo zwischen CH und USA versickert (haben wir alles schon erlebt).



Ich hoffe, Ihr könnt uns helfen, wir wollen nicht, das Voodoo Rhythm aufhören muss und wollen unsere Arbeit weiterführen. Ich bitte Euch, dieses Mail weiterzuleiten und Spenden auf folgendes Konto zu überweisen:

Danke Reverend Beat-Man

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APPEAL FOR FUNDS


Hello, this might be a bit of a strange E-Mail. I have treated bands very fairly since I've started Voodoo Rhythm and have given them their records for cost price so that they could make a solid profit when selling their records on tour (we all know payouts are lousy nowadays). I did approach the SUISA (Copyright Company, musicians' union) and informed them of the nature of my agreement with the bands. Unfortunately I never put it in writing.
Now that is exactly the problem: The SUISA demands payback of a total of 42.500 Swiss Franks (roughly 38.000 US $). Basically they want money for productions that had long been settled. The bitter irony is that bands of course prefer free copies of their album, yet the Suisa is oblivious to this fact and demand the money within 30 days. If we cannot meet their demands we might have to shut down business, since it is completely impossible to for us to raise that kind of money. Therefore we kindly ask for your support. Even if we can pay we will not be able to offer the bands the same deal as before, in spite of the fact that they would much rather get free copies from us as opposed to Suisa money (especially American bands since they don't get any Suisa money at all).

We hope you can help us. We don't want to quit, we want to resume or work and our journey. Plea se transfer funds to the following account and forward this message.

Sincerely,

Reverend Beat-Man



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APPEL DE DONS POUR VOODOO RHYTHM



Bonjour,

Voici un mail un peut spécial de ma part...

J'ai été toute ces années très correcte avec les groupes, en effet, je leurs ai toujours vendu les disques qu'ils ont fait au prix de production, cela leurs a toujours été un grand "plus" vu le petit cachet qu'ils obtiennent lors de leurs tournée. Cela avait été convenu ainsi avec SUISA (malheureusement pas par écris ).Aujourd'hui le vent semble avoir tourné et SUISA réclame rétroactivement à Voodoo Rhythm la somme de 42'500.- pour tout ce qui a été produit jusqu'à ce jour !SUISA réclame en sorte à Voodoo Rhythm la somme que les musiciens ont pus faire en vendant leurs disques aux concerts.Malheureusement ce discours ne passe pas auprès de SUISA, et dois donc payer dans les 30 jours cette facture qui engendrera la faillite et fermeture du label.

C'est pour cela que je vous demande soutien à l'aide vos dons. Quoi qu'il en soit, même si nous parvenons à rassembler et à payer cette somme, l'arête nous restera à tous en travers de la gorge, j'en avais déjà discuté avec les artistes du label sur le fait qu'ils ne pourront à l'avenir plus obtenir les prix de production à l'achat de disques, mais qu'ils recevrons de l'argent de SUISA.

Tous étaient contre ! Surtout les artistes d'outre Atlantique, dont l'argent de la SUISA semble se noyer quelque part en chemin (c'est du vécu !).Nous espérons que vous pouvez nous aider, nous ne voulons pas que Voodoo Rhythm doive mettre la clef sous la porte, nous voulons continuer notre travail.Nous vous prions donc de passer ce mail au maximum de personnes et de nous faire un dons sur ce compte:

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Voodoo Rhythm records
Beat Zeller
Wankdorffeldstrasse 92
3014 Bern
Switzerland
Credit Suisse, Postfach 100,8070 Zürich, Switzerland,
Beat Zeller Account Nr: 149385-20-3
CH0304835014938520003
Clearing number 4835
Swift Code:CRESCHZZ30R ,
BLZ 507
PC KONTO: PC: 80-500-4
paypal: info@voodoorhythm.com

www. myspace. com/voodoo_rhythm_records
www. voodoorhythm. com