S-Endz live with Swami at Ginger 62, Vancouver, Canada – 1st July 2010
Photographer – Jeremy Lim

OK, so I’m kind of bending the rules a little bit. Technically this picture isn’t a “Throwback” as such. It was only taken 6 weeks ago in Vancouver, Canada, on the first date of our “Sugarless Tour 2010″. You can read more about how our tour went, see videos, pics, etc, at our official band website.

But it’s a great shot – much props to Jeremy Lim who took lots of great photos of the show that night. This guy is a beast behind the lens – don’t sleep. In fact, I personally asked him to come to the show and take photos of us after seeing photos he took of the band Delhi 2 Dublin who happen to be good friends of ours.

In this day and age where everybody has a cameraphone, and we get inundated with numerous photos taken from fans, far away from the stage, where you can just about make out who’s who, it’s refreshing to see someone take their craft so seriously.

I haven’t blogged in over a month. What gives?

Well, I’ve been insanely busy. Between more recording for the new Swami album and embarking on the "Sugarless Tour 2010" with the band, my solo project and blog has been on the backburner. Make sure you check out swamimusic.com for all the latest on what we have been up to.

But, now the tour is over and I can start paying a bit more attention and not neglect my own blog. I’ve had a redesign for s-endz.com planned for a while and I’m going to start working on that too. Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@CaseyRain) can stay up to date more frequently with what I’m up to, but expect some more activity around this place soon!

Peace & Be Wild!

cross-posted from swamimusic.com

On the 25th June 2009, Swami were on tour in Toronto when the unthinkable happened. The world lost an icon. Being huge fans, Swami were able to start their performance the following day with an acoustic cover of one of MJ’s many classics – "The Way You Make Me Feel".

We’ve obtained some footage from a fan who was there. Enjoy…… RIP MICHAEL JACKSON.

I made sure we dropped a quick video blog whilst recording a session for the new album last month. Enjoy!

Here, as promised, is the scan of the article/interview with me that ran in last week’s (Nov 6th ’09) issue of Eastern Eye newspaper here in the UK. Hope you managed to grab a copy!

Click on the picture to see the full size version. Enjoy!

Peace…

S-Endz

xx

Neofunk Vlog #1: Filmed on Android G1 Phone….S-Endz talks about ‘Outer Space’ and show you a newly published interview he did with the UK’s ‘Eastern Eye’ newspaper – scan of that interview coming soon!

Hello friends, fans, groupies, lovers, family, music lovers, neofunkers,

My new EP ‘Outer Space’ is out now – click the picture to the right or here for your download.

I’m offering it for free, but if you choose to pay for it you may pay any amount you choose. To get your free download, simply enter ’0′ when asked for a price, and then choose your format (MP3, WAV, FLAC, etc)

Thanks for the support, I hope you enjoy the music…..this is the introduction to neofunk!

Peaceloveandbewild,

S-Endz

xxx

If you don’t know who Martin Atkins is, go and do your homework. From Public Image Ltd with Johnny Rotten, to Killing Joke, to Nine Inch Nails, to his industrial supergroup Pigface, to his legendary label Invisible Records to teaching music industry strategies at some of the mos prestigious universities and music industry events around the world,  to pioneering DIY music business industry models, when Martin talks, you better listen if you wanna learn something from someone who’s been there….done it….and LITERALLY wrote the book (If you’re in a band, his book TOUR:SMART is ESSENTIAL reading).

Andrew Dubber is another man to be taken seriously. A music industry expert and the man behind the website newmusicstrategies.com and the infamous "20 Things You Must Know About Music Online" e-book (also essential reading for anyone in the music industry).

And if you don’t know who I am, just hit the "About" button at the top of the page and figure it out. But suffice it to say, I’m an artist who is proactive and vocal about the nature of the new music model online, who strives to stay three steps ahead of the game. If you’re familiar with the band I am in, Swami, then chances are you’ll have noticed and been impressed by our vociferous attention to social music media.

Check the video and learn something.

Peace. S-Endz

The CD’s have been pressed, the record company has sent the stock to the distributors, and all systems are go for the UK/India physical release of ‘53431‘ on the 17th August!

Here’s the tracklist:

1. Electro Jugni
2. Sugarless
3. DesiRock
4. Mehbooba
5. Turn It Up
6. Hey Hey
7. Tonight
8. Don’t Hold Back
9. Shakedown
10. Homage
11. Ching
12. Disciples
13. Big Beat Thumbi
14. Ching (Shiva Soundsystem’s Mo-Flo Remix)
15. DesiRock (Shiva Soundsystem’s Radio Remix)

‘Sugarless‘ has blown up on radio worldwide, and we’re incredibly happy with all the love you guys have shown for the song. We’ve shot a performance video for the song and we hope to have it completed within the next few weeks. For all you club DJ’s, don’t sleep on the hard-hitting dancefloor-targeted "New Desi Generation" remix of ‘Sugarless‘ – if you’re on Facebook, you can listen to it here – get in touch with us for your copy!

If you’re in the UK or India, you’ll be able to pick up ‘53431‘ in stores from the 17th. If not, we will have some stock on our digital store  – where you can also grab your own ‘DesiRock‘ or ‘53431‘ T-Shirts which have been flying off the merch tables at Swami shows this summer! Get yours now cos stock is extremely limited!

We’re currently finalizing details for the digital release of ‘53431‘ which will be in early-to-mid September.

Are you ready for ’53431′?

Peace!!

S-Endz

So here I am, standing in Heathrow Airport waiting for the rest of Swami to check in, and I begin to think about all the humorous airport and plane experiences we’ve shared as a band, and on my own too!

I’m gonna share a couple of anecdotes with you today

The first one comes from the Swami tour of India in 2007. We were on a Kingfisher Airlines flight from Delhi to Hyderabad (the only airline in the world sponsored by a beer company?) and got to our seats when we noticed something hilarious. A little perspective first – I’m mixed race, half Indian (Punjabi), but on my mothers site, so I have an English surname. Liana from the band is English with Irish roots and our manager Luc is French. When we got to our seats, me, Liana and Luc were sat together, and there were 2 white tourists in the same row…..and the rest of the plane was Indians!! So they had put all the people with non-Indian names together! Here’s the best part – this was obviously standard practice on this airline, so when the staff/crew walked past, they saw all the white folks, and then me sat with them! (Although I’m half English, my skin tone and features are clearly not “white”). So they were all looking at me with confused expressions! It was hilarious!

The second story I’ll share today is from when I flew to LA with DJ Semtex and his producer Julie to make the 2Pac documentary for BBC 1xtra. Myself and Julie were in the queue to board the plane, when her phone beeps. She pulls out her phone and has gotten a text from Sem, and loudly exclaims, right in the middle of the airport, “Oh! Semtex is on the plane!”. After she said it she realized how that sounded to everyone else!!! (For those who might not know – Semtex is a type of plastic explosive!)

Haha….

Anyway, flights about to take off, so I’m outty!

Peace!!

S