Less than 26 hours left to go till my solo album Kickstarter campaign wraps up! I couldn’t just leave things hanging with the last video, so here’s a post storm wrap up. It’s been a long, stressful month, but I am super pleased with the outcome!!! If you haven’t already, please get your pre-orders in now, if possible, it may be a while before normal sales begin… however, I may continue pre-orders on my web site ( billberends.com )for another week or so. Check there in a few days to see if that comes together. For now, please go check the kickstarter page here… http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/billberends/1920478859/

Again, many MANY THANKS (!) and a garland of martian fire flowers to everyone who kicked in to help bring this album to life!! You guys ROCK!!!

-Bill

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

Greetings folks! Some updates from the Berends/Mastermind camp…

First off, a reminder The Berends Bros Band is playing at The Country Lakes Pub (NJ) Sat. July 31, we hope to see some locals there. This is a 3 set gig so we’re playing a wide variety of material. At the last Berends Bros gig we played some old Mastermind trio material, but quite honestly, it tends to clear room of average folk… so if enough Mastermind enthusiasts show up we could whip some out. Otherwise lots of vintage rock with plenty of new material added to the set list.

Sat. July 31, 2010 – Country Lakes Pub – Browns Mills, NJ
558 Lakehurst Road, Browns Mills, NJ – 9pm to 1am, 3 sets, 21+, no cover
For map link visit – http://tinyurl.com/bbgigs

There are some new BB/MM interviews posted talking about music, Mastermind & more. These may give you some insight into what is going on and what is coming in the future. For links visit http://billberends.blogspot.com/

In MASTERMIND news, the INSOMNIA album has been fairly well received with lots of nice reviews (and a few clunkers-can’t please everyone). We hope you have purchased your copy! Visit http://mastermindband.com/store to order. Also available on iTunes, Amazon.com, and CDBaby.com

We have reached out to some of our prog rock contacts to inquire about possible Mastermind live shows, but the responses have been slow in coming. If you would like to see future Mastermind shows, reach out to some of these festivals and promoters and let them know you would like to see Mastermind live!

A technical update: our website “mastermindband.com” will be changing hosts in the coming weeks, so if the site goes missing or domain mail bounces, never fear, it will reappear. In the interim use “mastermindband@yahoo.com” to get in touch and bookmark http://billberends.com for news, links & updates. Thanks.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and we hope to see you soon!

Bill c/o Berends Bros & Mastermind

ps: more new music is on the way.

09/09/09! Wow, time sure flies… I haven’t blogged here in months. Probably because nothing concrete has been going on in the world of Mastermind the band, but lots of little things have happened over the last few months, so here are some quick updates…

We’ve got a new download page at bandcamp.com which is very user friendly. There you can listen (free) and download Mastermind in a variety of formats [mp3, VBR, ACC, Ogg, Flac, Apple Lossless] for just one low price. The URL is easy to recall: mastermind.bandcamp.com and 100% of your purchase price goes directly into our artist Paypal account which is nice.

There is also an option to pay whatever you’d like above the suggested price if you’d care to help fund future endeavors. We hope some of you choose that option! There are web widgets under the “Share” link so you can stream Mastermind tunes anywhere on the web. Very cool.

The complete Mastermind catalog is still at Mindawn and we’re pleased with them, but we want to reach more people – so check out mastermind.bandcamp.com – you’ll like it. We’ll have more titles online soon. The Broken EP is also now available as mp3 from Nimbit too, another site with a widget. Check that out on our digital download page.

Since we are without a record label a the moment, getting this online thing going is really our best shot at carrying on… so we do hope you choose to make a purchase! That’s the best way to show your support and improve the odds of us getting back on our feet again. Thanks.

Next up, I’ve started billberends.com in order to keep other music and personal rants out of the Mastermind legacy so to speak. Not much there now, but there will be. I have completed an instrumental guitar solo album as mentioned previously which I hope to release within my lifetime. If anyone would care to kick in a little funding to get things rolling, do get in touch!

I’ve also set up a blog to talk about guitars (and whatever) at billberends.blogspot.com and a new youtube channel for anything else comes that to mind at youtube.com/billberends so go have a peek. The first thing I did was a little shred video… I have some video ideas for the guitar album coming. It’s a youtube world.

There’s a new Mastermind Facebook page too. Facebook is the new Myspace it seems, so stop by and add yourself. Write something nice on our Wall there. Let us know you care!

Most significantly tho’ today – and I find this hard to believe myself – it’s been ten years to the day since we finished mixing Angels of the Apocalypse our last full studio release. I never expected that to be the last hurrah and still don’t feel like it was… we did finish another album, but never managed to get it released for a variety of reasons. The good news is someone has expressed an interest so there is hope it may eventually see the light of day. That would be great. Plus, we have begun recording new material as well.

Anyway… after all this time I am still amazed by the people that come out of the woodwork to express their appreciation for the music we’ve made over the years. Some are long time fans, others just discovering us, but it has been a steady flow. So I will never say never. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another ten years! Regardless of what the future holds, I thank you for your interest in Mastermind. Till next time…

-Bb

ps: a couple Berends Brothers Band gigs this month too. Hope to see you there!

[UPDATE: Mindawn went out of business without a word. Everything still works I think. -Bb]

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

facebook.com/Mastermindband

We hope all you Facebookers will join us there!

Bill Berends here. Since I am doing some solo guitar material I thought I should have a place to shoot my mouth off about it, so I started a new blog at blogspot. Also started a Twitter account for whatever reason lol… but feel free to follow if you’re interested. Oh right, I’m on Facebook as well, look me up. I am totally connected! To what I’m not sure, but I am. Anyway I invite you to check it out….

billberends.blogspot.com
facebook.com/billberends
twitter.com/billberends

Recording update and new music coming VERY soon!! I’ve been very busy!

[UPDATE: All non-Mastermind and personal stuff is now on billberends.com -Bill]

Our interview segment on The Gagliarchives progressive rock radio show May 24, 2008 is now being Podcast. Since it was a Saturday night on Memorial day weekend it *is* possible some of you weren’t at home listening to the radio or computer! Listen to (or download) the entire hour long interview segment at gagliarchives.podbean.com or just click here….

In this program brand new music is debuted as well as selections from our recent offerings on Mindawn.com. Bill & Rich Berends discuss the past present & future of Mastermind. Special thanks to our host and long time friend of Mastermind – Tom Gagliardi – who has been serving the prog-rock community on the air for over fifteen years. Enjoy!!

Check out our Music & Media page for streaming audio from our catalog. We’ve put together a collection of tracks you can listen to anywhere, anytime! Over 90 min’s of music. You can also embed [update: bandcamp and youtube] players on your own site. We’ve also put up a few tracks from the new archive series on the Mastermind and Mastermind Live pages on Myspace to enjoy.

[UPDATE: deleted ancient dead links. Most links on the sounds page should work. -Bb]

We are pleased to announce the entire Mastermind catalog is now available digitally for the first time. We have chosen mindawn.com as our host service for its superior audio quality and progressive music origins. The links have been active for a few days but now it is official – Mastermind has joined the digital revolution! In addition to our release catalog we will be offering digital-only titles from our archives. The first is MASTERMIND LIVE 1995 online now.

Webmasters, bloggers, & media are encouraged to quote from this press release.

[Mindawn is currently the ONLY site officially authorized to sell Mastermind digital music. Anywhere else selling our music is probably a legacy venture (i/e former labels) for which we no longer see a penny, or a pirate site. Please do not use them! We would appreciate you bringing any of these places to our attention so we may investigate. Thanks.]