Hi folks!! My solo album on Kickstarter as mentioned below has reached its target goal, so this CD will be happening and I couldn’t be more pleased!! You guys are awesome!!! THANKS to ALL of you who helped me reach my goal!!

Now solidly in the funded zone there is still a week to go on Kickstarter and I am cautiously optimistic about hitting a stretch goal of $3,000, in fact, it’s more than halfway there now. So while I am sitting here waiting for hurricane Sandy to come kick my ass (yikes!) I made a new video for your amusement with hopes that a few more folks and Mastermind fans will kick in with pledges and pre-orders before November 5th. Hoping all my east coast friends get thru the storm unscathed and happy Halloween to you all!

To make a pledge or pre-order a CD on kickstarter just go here… thank you!!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/billberends/1920478859/

Thanks to those who have kicked in already!! Be safe in the storm and wish me luck!

-Bb

Hi folks, Bill Berends here. I’d like to tell you that I have finally finished my solo album of guitar instrumentals!! I’ve been hinting around at it for awhile now, well… now it is done! But rather than go the traditional route of trying to find a record label, I want to bring the music directly to you and I am asking for your help. I am now taking pre-orders on Kickstarter to raise the funds to get the CD pressed and I am hoping you will participate.

The album is called In My Dreams I Can Fly and features 12 brand new original instrumental works for electric guitar. Sort of in the vein of Joe Satriani or Eric Johnson perhaps, but with my own style and substance. I’ve put a lot of work into it and think it turned out nicely.

There are two videos on Kickstarter that feature sound clips from the album and a bit of a presentation by yours truly. The one down at the bottom seems to be getting the most interest, so please, stop by and have a listen. And, if you could, help me get the word out by sharing anywhere you can… forums, music blogs, facebook, myspace, anyplace. Thanks. The funding drive ends at Midnight, November 5th, 2012 so there isn’t a whole lot of time!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/billberends/1920478859/

This is an all-or-nothing proposition with Kickstarter, so your money is not at risk. I either reach my goal and the CD gets pressed, or I don’t – in which case you won’t be charged. I really hope you can help me bring it to fruition by placing a pre-order now. I think it’s a great album that Mastermind fans can enjoy, but it’s good for classic rockers as well, and certainly for guitar enthusiasts! For prog fans I am pleased mention I have Jason Gianni of the Neal Morse band helping me out on drums for this record and Jason kicks ass!

I really hope I can get the CD out to you THIS year because this is a very important record for me. After this album gets released there will be a new Mastermind album coming, possibly next year, but a lot depends on if I can get this new album funded, so I am asking for your help. Thanks for reading and go check it out!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/billberends/1920478859/

Thanks!!
Bill

We’ve finally gotten ’round to getting a page up on Facebook.

facebook.com/Mastermindband

We hope all you Facebookers will join us there!

It seems Firefox has issues with the BooMP3 Flash players, so now there’s a different one with playlist options on the music page. Works great with Firefox! But IE7 doesn’t like that one. Damn. Rather than fool around with this stupid crap forever (instead of making *music*) the half-assed solution is two different pages. The Playlist player and the BooMP3 players. Choose whichever one works best for you. Or you can just visit Mindawn.com and listen to everything. Computers suck. Enjoy the music!

Check out our Music & Media page for new streaming audio from our catalog. Utilizing the file hosting site BooMP3.com and their cool little Flash player widgets, we’ve put together a collection of tracks you can listen to anywhere, anytime! Over 90 min’s of music. Click on the “open player in new window” link found there for a popup window to play Mastermind music while you surf the web. A broadband connection is most likely required.

You can also embed these players on your own site. Get the code by clicking the little blue squares or the song title on our music page. We’ve also put up a few other tracks from the new archive series on the Mastermind and Mastermind Live pages on Myspace to enjoy.

ps: sometimes it takes a moment for the track to start playing, sometimes it doesn’t. It also seems to work a little more quickly in IE7 than Firefox. Go figure. But it does work! Cool.

The NEW & IMPROVED Mastermind / Berends Bros list mail server is now up & running so please go add yourself. It’s very user friendly, you can subscribe & unsubscribe yourself, set preferences, and outgoing mail isn’t uploaded in bulk from our local machine. Very cool. We will import the current list and you’ll receive a welcome message allowing you to confirm your subscription and a link to update your list preferences. Please be sure to enter your location so we may fine tune announcements. Click here and sign up today!

Bill Berends here, the mastermind of Mastermind so to speak. This is my first blog after learning how to install WordPress and setup a MySQL database on the mastermindband.com server. Apparently I must have something to say… or perhaps will, to go thru all that (more than I wanted to know!). So check back often to see what it may be… at least somewhere near the end of the this month (March).

I really don’t know much about the etiquette of the blogosphere, but I figured I should have my own, so here it is! It may get more interesting, or I may not have time for it. Dunno yet. Anywho, like I said, at least stop back in a couple weeks & see what’s up.

Thanks for reading!