Rocking Cello Quartet Wins in Battle of Bands, an article featred in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, offers great coverage of the band, with sound clips and all. Written by classical music critic, Andrew Druckenbrod.

Cellofourte Desktops:

(1024 x 768)

(800 x 600)

What is relationship marketing?

I could be here all day coming up with different ideas on the subject. Making use of visuals and writing that personally appeal to a specific demographic; using individuals, symbols, and colors that represent a segment of a certain culture; crafting messages that reach an intended audience to encourage long term, positive relationships between brands and customers. These are just a few elements that I think should go into any marketing and/or design project. Obviously, there are many others.

Andy has demonstrated some of these very components in his work with Boston-based MacTribe Magazine, where he’s doing more than just building its layout in print; he’s building relationship marketing. His involvement has been an ongoing venture for quite some time now. From his days in Cambridge, he has maintained a relationship with the owner and writers throughout his travels. For whatever reason, these pieces really stood out to me as excellent relationship marketing pieces. They speak to a young, artistic, musically oriented group, and they make use of actual people. Really, I just wanted to share this as an example of the design work Andy has done for MacTribe, and I can assure you there will be more featured once the magazine goes live. The shots I chose show some sketches he did for promoting a feature in the magazine. As I mentioned, it uses actual musicians for the piece to depict garage and indie bands who use MySpace.com as a virtual demo for their audiences, rapidly taking place of the age old “demo tape.” The article is sure to be as interesting as the design scheme. Stay tuned for more on MacTribe.

Not to brag or anything (okay, maybe just a little), but one of our clients is officially the best indie band in Pittsburgh! That’s right, Cellofourte progressed to, AND WON, the final round of competition for the Emergenza Festival “Battle of the Bands!” Tate Olsen said of the show, “[It was] quite possibly the coolest and most unforgettable show that I have ever played with Cellofourte. We had a great sounding room, a huge crowd of fans, some brand new material, and a whole lot of energy.”

Despite his bow breaking onstage, the win was all theirs for the taking. The next step of competition will take our masterful friends to Columbus, Ohio. We wish them all the best and are so happy to be able to help them share their talent with the world!

Cellofourte will be on their way to victory next weekend. Check it out!

Hosted By: Emergenza Music Festival
When: Saturday Jun 02, 2007 at 7:00 PM
Where: Mr. Small’s Theatre
400 Lincoln Ave
Millvale, PA 15209

We just went live with Cellofourte’s new site. Head on over to check it out at www.cellofourte.net to see how awesome they are - and to check out the type of work we can do for bands.

It was great to meet this talented group, and we avidly became fans within minutes of hearing their CD, Usung. Since then, we’ve seen them live, and will for sure do so again on June 2nd. Do yourself a favor, and listen to the clips on their site - it’s some amazing stuff.

My anxiety grew with every passing minute. I was running late but I wasn’t driving so I couldn’t say much. Upon finding an opening my friend Shawn slammed his car into a parking spot and we rushed off down the street to Club Cafe.

The room was in full swing by the time we burst through the door. Melodious harmonics ripped through the air as Cellofourte literally wailed away in a symphonic storm of Metal. The only thing louder and more energizing then their rendition of Metalica’s Misery were the applause.

Needless to say, the performance was stunning. Not only were they able to enthrall the crowd with their incredible renditions of covers from Metalica, Evanescence, and U2, but they slung an arsenal of originals into the fray as well.

I can’t even begin to tell you how gratified I feel to be working on their website. Keep your eyes on this band. If you haven’t seen them yet, you will… (And you should, you’re missing out.)

While we’re working on launching their full site be sure to check out their myspace page at www.myspace.com/cellofourte.

And a big thanks to Nicole (on the left) for letting me use her camera, as mine is busted. (Those wishing to make contributions to the Dark Oak Camera Relief Fund should contact me directly at andy@darkoakstudios.com)

What a weekend! Atop hanging out in the studio with friends, Andy and I got a chance to meet up with our new clients, Tate Olsen and Nicole Myers, two of the amazingly talented celloists from Pittsburgh’s string foursome, Cellofourte. Tate gracisously gave us their latest CD, which has proven to be nothing short of electrifying. Their music blurs the line between classical music and rock, so don’t be fooled into pinning them down in any certain genre. They are, in a sense, music’s version of IMC, as they masterfully blend elements of differing muscial classifications to produce cohesively unique sounds.

Clearly, we’re excited about this. Especially after hearing the album, Unsung. Dark Oak Studios will be building their online presence, and making Unsung available for purchase online. We encourage you to treat yourself to the sounds of Cellofourte by going to an upcoming show in February (we’ll be checking them out on the 23rd at Club Cafe), or getting a sample of their unique sound. For information and sounds, visit them on MySpace at www.myspace.com/cellofourte… and don’t forget, we’re in the process of building the Cellofourte online experience, where you’ll also have access to their music for previewing and purchasing. Stay tuned for details. For now, trust in the fact that Cellofourte has the Dark Oak leaf of approval!