Sep 28, 2006
by Cesar Menendez at 5:19 PM

I got to interview Bitter:Sweet, one of the preloaded-artists in Zune. We talk about how they met, what they're up to right now, and I try to score free tix to their next show (I have no shame).

Check the interview:

So I hear you two met on Craig’s list. How did that happen?

Yes, it's true. Kiran and I were in a pretty
strange place when he placed that add. We had both
been a bit frusrated with our recent experiences in
the music buisiness, and as a last effort, we both
needed to break away from everyone we knew in our
respective circles and remember why we were doing this
again....to make music we just really wanted to listen
to.
Upon meeting, we realized we knew many of the same
people and had recorded one wall away from each for
over a year.
We tried writing one song together just to see how it
would feel, and that song became the first song on our
record. Our chemistry was just amazing.

Cool. And how are you involved w/ Zune?   

We were lucky enough to be chosen out of thousands
of bands to have our song pre down loaded on the
device! It's such an incredible opportunity to be
exposed to this many people at one time.

What’s it like to have your album art right there on most every Zune image on the web?

It's overwhelming. Being on an indie label, there
isn't a ton of money to get the same kind of exposure
that a band on a major label would get. It's really
nice to see a company as big as big as Microsoft
embracing emerging artists like ourselves to help get
the word out, not to mention, having our friends
calling like crazy because they are seeing us
everywhere!

For a (relatively) new group, you guys have also been in a lot of hot things: Nip/Tuck, Entourage, Grey’s Anatomy, and (of course) Zune. How did those come about, and how has the response been?

People keep telling us that our music is very
cinematic and we can only assume it is because we
touch on real feelings, real life experiences and
draw from a plethora of eras, and emotion.
  We were fortunate enough to get two of our songs
placed in the "The Devil wears Prada" and since then,
music supervisors from all of these hot shows and
upcoming films have been extremely receptive to us.
  The response has been just wonderful, and again, we
are getting the chance to introduce our music to an
audience that would otherwise never know us.

Are you touring anytime soon?

We are. We just got back from a tour of the
northwest that kicked off at the Bumbershoot festival
in Seattle. We have plans to get to the east coast
very soon and of course will continue to play the west
coast whenever possible.
Touring is really expensive for a band like us so
without sponsorship we have to take baby steps to get
ourselves out there.

How old were you when you got your first email? Do you remember it?

(Shana) To be honest, I was a bit of a late bloomer
to the whole cyber world. I still believed in calling
people or writing them up until only about 3 or 4
years ago. I think my first email came from my best
friend Krista who made me sit at my computer and
embrace technology. She walked me through the whole
process of setting up my yahoo account. Now....I
couldn't imagine life without it!

Who would you love to open for?

Wow! Portishead, Massive Attack , Bjork, Tribe
Called Quest, Beck, GoldFrapp, Gnarles Barkley,
Madonna.... hmmm.., there are so many brilliant acts
out there that we would be so honored to play with we
can't even fit them on the page!

Can you get me tickets to your next Seattle show? (sorry, I’m always trying to get free stuff)

Absolutely! The moment we go back there you will be
the first to know.

Sweet.

So there you have it. I'm no pro rock journalist, but I tried to ask them questions that'll resonate somewhat w/ this blog audience. If you want to find out about them, check their Myspace page.

14 Comments
Comments
they sound pretty cool, I am going to go listen to some of their songs.
** you need to add a edit button. OMG, I just listened to their song " The Mating Game ". This song is awesome, I seriously need to start listening to more indie-ish music. I can't describe it, it is kind of like a James Bond kinda song, but it sounds great.
I caught Bitter:Sweet live while working at the Virgin Megastore's corporate office; they were *hot*! As a result, I've added them to my VoyagerRadio's playlist. Just noticed they're also on Kriztal Entertainment's latest Plush compilation; glad to see Bitter:Sweet is getting some good exposure!
Yes, they are a great band! Feel free to give me some free tickets as well, ;) -www.Zuneboards.com
I just picked up their album. Oh wow! It's nice! (It makes me want to be a Parisian spy or something.)
One thing that's been bugging me lately is the non-unity in Microsoft's messaging. Less than 6 months ago URGE was announced and was supposed to be the place to get music. WMP now has a built-in URGE button and it gets added to your start menu in Vista. Now we're getting Zune and the Zune Marketplace. What's the relationship between Zune Marketplace and URGE? I think Microsoft needs better coordination between different product and marketing teams. Apple does a great job here and MS can and should be doing better.
@Rafi: yeah I know! that really bugs me. If MS already has something that works, why not use it?
This isn't really the place for it, but there's no other way that I can find for us to ask questions regarding the Zune (hint - do like Live's Major Nelson and set up a gmail account for it please! Us prospective owners have lots of questions!) Why has Microsoft chosen not to have Mac compatibility? If Zune is really to be positioned as a real rival to the iPod, surely it'd make more sense to make it Mac compatible as well? Oh and any opinions on the article by BBC tech commentor Bill Thompson's somewhat scathing article on the Zune-Zune DRM system? Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5371182.stm
Hey Cesar/everyone, Love the interview...I've been working on a few of my own with some of the bands featured on the Zune. I'll have those on the blog soon. But why I'm really here is to say that after watching this video http://zunelicious.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-just-found-awesome-video-of-two-guys.html I can definately say that the Zune trumps the iPod when it comes to the UI. This video may not be the first to show the UI, but it is showin in well lit conditions with some quality equiptment. I would advise everyone to go check it out. -Charlie
That's the best down-to-earth walkthrough of the Zune features and UI I've seen thus far. It definitely puts the Zune's coolness in perspective and proves that it's not just "Another Portable Media Player". And that statement's coming from a guy who has an iPod and owns a Mac. That said.... when is it coming to a Mac? :~) *b
Hey Cesar...sorry to tell you but Amazon just leaked all the Zune accessory pics... http://zunelicious.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-would-like-to-thank-our-buddies-over.html
Hi Cesar, We had a suggestion today from one of our forum members, that I think is really compelling. We've had a lot of discussion about the pre-loaded content, and the ZunePass subscription approach. The suggestion is that Microsoft provide - in addition to the preloaded content - some preloaded Marketplace credit when you buy your first Zune player. Not only would this be an incentive to buy Zune, it would drive buyers right away to Zune Marketplace - - i.e. as opposed to illegal download sites or to their own CD collections. So right away it pulls the buyer into the Marketplace experience. I suggest a $15 Marketplace credit (or that equivalent in Points), or perhaps one month's free subscription. Does this make sense to you from a marketer's perspective? Here's the thread: http://zunerama.com/forum/index.php?topic=324.0 - Harvey
Hey, i jave most of my music library, windows media player, in WAV (losless) will the zune import that into the player?
@HolyHndGrenade: your name is the greatest ever. =)
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