L.A. Based Rock Powerhouse People signs with Rainmaker PR in anticipation of their new release, The Cliche.

L.A. BASED ROCK POWERHOUSE

PEOPLE SETS OUT TO ROCK THE U.S.

WITH THE CLICHÉ, WHICH

WAS PRODUCED BY THE LEGENDARY
DAVE JERDEN (JANE’S ADDICTION, ALICE IN CHAINS)

AND FEATURES THE FINAL RECORDED

PERFORMANCES BY BASSIST GIDGET GEIN

The brash and edgy sarcasm of Jimmy Young, frontman, guitarist and songwriter of rock powerhouse People, inspired him to dub the L.A. based band’s debut The Cliché—but in reality, between their blistering live performances, hard hitting, deep and melodic songwriting, futuristic space punk rock vibe and inspiring star-studded rock collaborations make them pretty damn original.

While the album’s first single and video for “The Kids” hit nationwide and build mightily on People’s intense West Coast cult following, old and young modern rock fans looking for the real deal will love the fact that Young got veteran punk/metal producer Dave Jerden (Jane’s Addiction, Alice in Chains, Mary’s Danish) to produce and Jerden’s right hand sound guy, Bryan Carlstrom (Billy Idol, The Offspring) to engineer.

Before they even get acquainted with Young’s sharp, cliché free songwriting, these discriminating fans will no doubt claim the ten song set as a piece of rock history because it’s the last recording to feature former longtime Marilyn Manson bassist Gidget Gein, who died of a heroin overdose in October 2008, five days after he played with People at The Roxy and just before the band was set to do a Northeastern tour with Semi Precious Weapons.

While the current lineup of the band—including co-founder and Chicago bred drummer Matty O. (aka “O”), keyboardist Grant Rhodes and new bassist Matt Powers—is excited about celebrating the legacy of Gein and the inspiration his musical and visual art brought to People’s first full-length recording, they’re definitely focused on the incredibly bright future. The major buzz they’ve generated from the two years the group has headlined in L.A. (at The Troubadour, El Rey and Sunset Strip landmarks like Viper Room, House of Blues) is about to reach the Midwest as People performs in New York at Sullivan Hall in June and at the indie rock festival D-Fest in Tulsa (known by many as “the next South By Southwest).

The video for “The Kids”—a track lamenting the lack of social consciousness and political motivation of those who grew up in the grunge era—will soon air on outlets like MTV2, Fuse and Much Music, and People has over 30,000 online fans between the band’s myspace page and that of Powers, a solo artist in his own right who released his debut album Neverending Aftermath in 2007. Another cut getting major traction is the blistering “Song For The People,” which addresses the hypocrisy of bands who act too good for their fans and reminds them that at the end of the day, we’re all the same, and no matter what we go through, we’re still alive and kicking. “Cheap Money” is Young’s ode to the way materialistic people in L.A. think they can use money as a way to manipulate people.

Dave Jerden says, “I’ve made my share of records, but every once in a while a project comes along that is just plain fun to do. Working with People was not only fun but a creative experience for myself.”

Press Conatct: Rhonda Brilliant/Rainmaker PR

RnmkrPR@aol.com/617-445-4383

Rainmaker PR releases Estrella Cristina’s Debut EP, This IS Life

MULTI-CULTURAL L.A. BASED SINGER/SONGWRITER

ESTRELLA CRISTINA’S BREAKTHROUGH WITH HER

DEBUT EP ‘THIS IS LIFE’

WAS TRULY WRITTEN IN THE STARS

Sometimes, the old adage is really true. The stars align a certain way and it’s up to us to use our innate talents to discover the call of destiny. Emerging now, at a time in our cultural history when her unique half Panamanian, half Trinidadian heritage can be celebrated rather than obscured, Estrella Cristina’s musical course was set the minute her mother called her the Spanish word for “star.” “Imagine,” the Los Angeles based singer/songwriter says, “sitting at your window and looking up at the stars and thinking about what you wanted to be when you grew up. For me, it was always music.”

Well on her way to making her longtime dreams come true, Estrella shares her innermost heart with the world for the first time on her four song EP This is Life. Performing with the three guitars she has named Phoenix (acoustic), Crimson (electric) and Achilles (a plug-in acoustic), the multi-talented performer engages in exciting collaborations with bassist Frank Coglitore (also her longtime guitar teacher who has played with Taylor Dayne, Beth Hart and Marie Digby), drummer Craig Macintyre (Digby, Josh Groban, etc.), guitarist Lance Konnerth (Hilary Duff, Enrique Iglesias) and singer-songwriters Lane Lenhart and Greg Haptor. Cogliotore produced the soaring, energetic pop-rocker “Brighter Than Sunshine,” while Haptor and Lenhart helmed the session for hip, edgy and grooving “Nonstop,” which Estrella penned with Lenhart.

This Is Life is already available on iTunes as a three track EP, but the hard copy CD will also feature “Brighter Than Sunshine.” “NonStop,” a hopeful song about finding Mr. Perfect (who will love you “nonstop”!), is set to be featured on FUSE TV’s “Rad Girls” in late May 2009 and Estrella’s music is currently streaming on several radio outlets besides iTunes radio: WQTQ 89.9 FM in Hartford, Connecticut and KGRL, which streams online at http://www.kgrl.fm.

A natural talent who began playing violin at age 6, trained operatically for a few years and auditioned for many musicals while growing up, the singer took a lot of fascinating and inspiring stylistic detours before choosing the singer/songwriter route. Born in Sacramento and growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico and Nebraska, she experienced a unique multi-cultural upbringing with parents who exposed her to their native music–Spanish and Latin sounds (through her mother) and the soca rhythms of Trinidad (via her father). Her palette was rounded out with the pop music her brothers loved to listen to, ranging from The Cure and O.M.D. to INXS.

After graduating from Cornell University in New York as a Textile and Apparel Design major, Estrella headed back to her home state to pursue her goals in the music industry. Acing a hard to get audition, she put her original plan to be a solo artist on hold to sign on as the fourth and final member of a Destiny’s Child-like R&B girls group (VIP) that was under consideration by J Records. When that didn’t pan out after a series of showcases, she focused on developing her own pop/rock sound, starting with learning the guitar with Cogliotore, who challenged her to start writing on her new instrument.

Her musical autobiography begins with “Brighter Than Sunshine,” a co-write with Coglitore in which she sings of coming to a city not knowing a soul, having no job or place to live, and feeling all alone. It’s about finding that special someone—or something in her case, i.e. music—that makes the journey a lot less lonely. The title track “This is Life” is about the struggle towards reaching that lofty aspiration and figuring out at some point that “the moment” when things work out isn’t a single occurrence at all, but a series of stops along the way.

Press Contact: Rhonda Brilliant/Rainmaker PR

RnmkrPR@aol.com/617-445-4383

Rainmaker PR has expanded its roster to include folk rock troubadour Ronda Matson.

Rainmaker PR has expanded its roster to include folk rock

troubadour Ronda Matson.

NEW ENGLAND BASED FOLK/ROCK

TROUBADOUR RONDA MATSON

CONNECTS WITH AN AUDIENCE HUNGRY FOR HEARTFELT

HONESTY ON HER NEW ALBUM ‘TRUTH BE TOLD’

A longtime believer in the philosophy that “sometimes you really just have to draw the line and step over it…take the chance,” performing songwriter Ronda Matson has long had a date with musical destiny. Along the road, life threw her some crazy curveballs—some wonderful (a husband and four children), some challenging (a serious medical condition)—but the good news is, she finally found the time and space to return to her first love. Truth Be Told (the name of her latest CD), it’s hard to imagine her songs having the emotional impact they do without the wisdom she gained and the trials that have shaped her over the years.

Relating her multitude of sometimes tough, often exhilarating life experiences in song, the multi-talented folk/rock troubadour has been gigging regularly these past few years throughout her home region of New England. Mixing in a few classic rock covers (Stones, Clapton, etc) with her hard hitting originals from her 2006 debut EP The First Seven and Truth Be Told, Ronda—who plays both guitar and harmonica onstage–has performed at Rossi’s Restaurant in Millis, Massachusetts (her adopted hometown), Coffee Sensations in Medway and Firefly’s in Framingham. Looking for more intimate venues—which are more conducive to the deep personal connections she creates with her fans—she is also starting to perform on the public library circuit.

Although it would be easy to tell the story of Ronda’s emergence as a sudden change of heart that brought her back to music, Truth Be Told, the classically trained performer—who studied piano as a child and guitar, violin and voice throughout her adult years, and even played her grandfather’s 1920s-era mandolin—was writing or singing privately on and off over the years. Her decision to pursue a professional career began gradually after she closed her private personal training and Spinning studio in 2003. She played for many of her clients and ultimately started performing her backlog of original material at local shows.

Ronda originally recorded The First Seven as a gift for the people she knew, but as she acquired new fans, she responded to their demand and turned it into an official EP release. While her influences range from Johnny Cash and Mark Knopfler to Chrissie Hynde and Warren Zevon, something about the mix of folk and classical she loved growing up stuck with her when she began writing and performing. Musically, her childhood was defined by a rarefied realm where Mozart and Chopin met Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel. Her father was a Lutheran minister during a time when folk services were all the rage, and Ronda honed her chops performing in these energized church settings.

However listeners “hear” the material on Truth Be Told, its 11 songs truly have the power to transform them both emotionally and spiritually. The heartfelt title track was inspired by the breakup of someone close to Ronda; while the sadness of the song hits people first, ultimately while the song is filled with regret for what is lost, there’s no good guy or bad guy, and the focus is on moving forward. Another tune that is resonating greatly with her audiences is “Bonny Call,” a lilting, Irish flavored song of encouragement to her daughters Erin and Amanda, who are both interested in pursuing careers as opera singers. She says, “The word ‘Bonny’ in Scottish means ‘excellent and beautiful’ and I made up the phrase ‘Bonny Call’ to insinuate ‘excellent or beautiful path, with the hope that all four of my kids will follow theirs!” Four of the other tracks—“Weight,” “Illusion,” “Blind” and “Run”—are thoughtful explorations of the many emotions involved in dealing with some very personal conflicts, once again affirming the raw truth we get to hear, unfiltered, from Ronda’s truest heart.

Rainmaker Public Relations signs groundbreaking artist, Kaleo Futuristo to 2009 Roster

GROUNDBREAKING L.A. BASED

HIP-HOP/POP/ROCK ARTIST AND PRODUCER

KALEO FUTURISTO MAKES A BOLD AND

OPTIMISTIC DECLARATION FITTING

IN THIS AGE OF OBAMA:

THE FUTURE IS NOW!

Now that we’re in the age of Obama and quickly moving past the color and culture boundaries that once divided us, The Future Is Now! for groundbreaking multi-cultural artists like hip-hop/pop/rock artist and producer Kaleo Futuristo, whose explosive sound and powerful presence is primed to bring to the world a new and raw flow of positive energy.

Fully embodying and expressing the optimism that the 44^th President drew upon to captivate the hopes of an anxious world, the multi-talented, Pasadena, California bred performer—whose name in the Hawaiian language means “The Voice, The Music and The Song”–includes the Obama tribute “Air Of The Night” (an adaptation of Phil Collins’ classic “In The Air Tonight”) on the UK release of The Future Is Now! through Redskin Records. He also released a popular video for the song on his myspace site, YouTube and other outlets. The album is distributed in the U.S. through Fontana/Universal Music Group.

Rainmaker Public Relations signs Cary Judd to 2009 Roster

In the six years since releasing his debut album Perfect Uncertain, Cary Judd has achieved great success as an intuitive observational and existential singer/songwriter because of his keen ability to fully embrace each person and place along the road and make the most of every experience.

Rainmaker Public Relations Signs Instrumental Duo, La Forza, to Their 2009 Roster

WASHINGTON STATE BASED INSTRUMENTAL

DUO LA FORZA DREAMS AND AWAKENS

NEW REALITIES ON THEIR GENRE TRANSCENDING

DEBUT ‘DANCE MUSIC FOR YOUR MIND (VOL. I)’

While fans of popular music always keep a laser focus on Seattle for the latest explosive trends in rock and roll, the most innovative and provocative sounds in instrumental music these days are coming from 40 miles down the road. Nestled beside a lake overlooking Mount Rainier, the beautiful small town of Yelm, Washington (pop. under 4,000) provided the perfect natural environment for Austrian born classically trained pianist and electronic music expert Divina Klein and underground hip-hop producer Douglas Mackar—whose combined musical energy is reflected in their collective name La Forza—to create Dance Music for Your Mind (Vol. I), a lushly textured landscape of party music for the motivated and focus music for the dreamers.

Rainmaker Public Relations signs German studio trio Schleusolz to their 2009 roster

GERMAN STUDIO TRIO SCHLEUSOLZ

CREATES FASCINATING SOUNDTRACKS TO AN

ALL IN YOUR MIND, RETRO CIRCUS VARIETY SHOW THAT

HAILS FROM THE OUTSKIRTS OF SPACEAGE/EXOTICA

Driven relentlessly by a trippy, whimsical, almost childlike desire to create soundscapes and themes to movies that run only in the listener’s mind, Frankfurt, Germany based studio wizards Worsel Strauss, Schani Wolf and Zodi Paulinen—collectively known as Schleusolz—create a fascinating modern “Retronica” vibe with a swirl of colorful melodies, beats and sounds that hail from the outskirts of spaceage/electronica.

Rainmaker Public Relations Signs NYC Based Singer/Songwriter Foster McGinty to Roster

Officially, New York based singer/songwriter Foster McGinty is only in his mid-20s, but birth certificates don’t reflect the musical soul, do they? DNA tests may never prove that Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton’s classic trio Cream reproduced, but the tag of ’skinny white boy reincarnated spirit of Jimi and Cream’s love child’ was pegged on the multi-talented rocker from the time he grew up in the Missouri farm community of Cape Girardeau. Settled in and thriving in NYC after playing a summer in Memphis, McGinty is finally bringing his organic, retro-meets-modern rock to the masses with the release of his full-length indie debut album Peach Red.