After Extinction is proving to be our most popular album yet, breaking streaming records for the band. Since releasing our album in September, it has been streamed 171,499 times. YouTube has been by far the most popular place to stream the album, with Spotify in a distant second and Bandcamp in third. You can see the full store breakdown below:
YouTube: 79,405
All Others: 77,173
Spotify: 7,044
Bandcamp: 4,072
Facebook: 2,941
Apple Music: 503
Amazon: 251
Deezer: 110
Total: 171,499
Streaming income: £55.02
As you can see, while the numbers of streams across all platforms are relatively high, the actual income associated with the streaming amounts to less than four CD sales. You can order the Super Jewel cased CD from here.
I think it’s important to reiterate the point that five years ago, this band was close to being dead and buried. In short, not long after our main stage appearance at Hard Rock Hell Metal 2018, and after the release of the A Crisis of Faith three of the members quit the band in quick succession and I was left for the vultures. It became a topic of hilarity online, with many mocking comments, people spreading rumours about the departures, and one person going so far as to make songs making fun of me under the very imaginative name “Kaine Are Shit”.
People were telling me to quit, that it was over, or at least to take a break. The reality was we had just released a new album that I was thousands of pounds down on, and I had to find a way to continue.
I recruited Liam Etheridge, Toby Woods, and Isaac Healy, we put the band together in two weeks and were back gigging without missing a single date. Later that year we started recording our first album together Reforge The Steel.
Over the five years, we have released more material than any previous line-up, as well as becoming the single longest continual line-up this band had ever had. Our momentum was slowed a bit during the Covid lockdowns in 2020-21. However, we used that time to write and record much of the new music we have put out in recent months, as well as The Waystone EP.
Last year, out of the blue, we were able to jump onto the Lillian Axe and Riot Act UK Tour. This was the first tour this line-up has done, and it was an amazing experience supporting two legendary acts as well as getting to new venues across the country that we as a collective hadn’t played before. The last time Kaine had toured was back in 2014, long before this version of the band had come into existence.
We didn’t expect to be touring again this year, but we were kindly offered by SD Entertainment again to jump on and support Chris Holmes on his 65 Tour. Chris Holmes is best known for being the guitarist in the classic W.A.S.P line-up appearing on all the critically acclaimed albums. We didn’t ever expect to be touring once, let alone doing back-to-back tours! If you had told me 5 years ago that when Kaine looked to be finished that we would in 5 years be stronger than ever I don’t think I would have believed you!
I reflected a lot last year that 2022 was our busiest ever, we finished a new Album, two EPs, and toured in the same year! 2023 is shaping up to be equally busy! We have a gig supporting Joel Hoekstra and Brandon Gibbs coming up at The Music Room, our 5-year celebration at Three Wise Monkeys, and the 65 Tour with Chris Holmes! We’ve already released a music video this year and are planning a further studio release for Patreon.
2022 was an amazing year for Kaine, but 2023 could be even better. The question is, what is next?
Tickets for all these events are selling fast – so book now using the buy links below to avoid missing out:
April 15th, 2023 – The Music Room, Ipswich (Buy Tickets) **
May 19th, 2023 – Three Wise Monkeys, Colchester (Buy Tickets)
June 16th, 2023 – The Patriot, Crumlin (Buy Tickets) *
June 17th, 2013 – The Tivoli Venue, Buckley (Buy Tickets) *
June 18th, 2023 – Bannermans, Edinburgh (Buy Tickets) *
June 22nd, 2023 – Trillian’s, Newcastle (Buy Tickets) *
June 23rd, 2023 – The Black Prince, Northampton (Buy Tickets) (Buy VIP) *
June 24th, 2023 – Boston Arms Music Room, London (Buy Tickets) *
June 25th, 2023 – The Waterloo, Blackpool (Buy Tickets) *
Our new music video for Green to Grey from the album After Extinction has broken over 43 thousand views since its launch on Friday. This has been achieved through a number of Google Ads (which make up 91.6% of the views) and a Facebook advert campaign, both being run simultaneously which we will be doing and adjusting on an ongoing basis. So far, while the campaign has generated a lot of views, with over 500 people checking out the Bandcamp from the video, a 159 people subscribing to the channel however this is yet to transfer to a single sale of the album.
We are pleased to launch our brand new music video for Green to Grey! The video contains a new single version of the track which was given a remix and release to help promote the new video. The video was recorded, directed and produced by Talon Payne of Gallow Wood media. The new version of the track is available on all streaming sites and on Bandcamp.
Directed and recorded by Talon Payne Rage Sadler: Vocals, Rhythm, and Lead Guitars Liam Etheridge: Drums and Backing Vocals Toby Woods: Lead and Rhythm Guitars, and Backing Vocals Isaac Healy: Bass and Backing Vocals Heidi Crowell: Keys and Harmony Vocals
You can watch the video by clicking the play icon above or by clicking here.
We are planning a big 5-year show in May to celebrate the coming together of the band’s current line-up of Rage Sadler (guitars and vocals), Liam Etheridge (drums), Toby Woods (lead guitars) and Isaac Healy (bass) in 2018.
Since forming, we have released two albums, Reforge The Steel (2019) and After Extinction (2022), two live albums, Kaine X (2019) and Reforge The Steel Live 2019 (2020), the Kaine live EP (2021), The Waystone EP (2020), Falling Through Freedom EP (2022) and the Extinction After EP (2023). This line-up is the only version of the band to appear on back-to-back albums and studio releases and has been the longest running consistent line-up the band has had since originally forming in 2009. The line-up has also toured for the very first time alongside Lillian Axe and Riot Act ( ex Riot) in 2022.
The 5-year event will be held in Colchester at a to be announced venue, the event will be filmed and the set recorded for a live album/video release. This will be a ticketed event.
I thought I would do a write-up on the year with the band given it’s been our busiest ever. In the early part of the year, we played a run of gigs put on by One Eye Toad Records which really helped us get back on the road again after the Covid-era restrictions were finally lifted in most cases. Most of these gigs were with Neverworld and Planet Fatale, two bands we have played with on a number of occasions over the years and with who we enjoy playing alongside. It’s worth mentioning that John Morter who organised these gigs and helped us get back to a regular gigging schedule sadly passed away last month. For all of his hard work and dedication to the scene, he will be greatly missed.
Coda – 9/3/2022
During that run of gigs, we had a one-night-only reunion with Anthony Murch on lead guitar. Ant was in the band from 2012-2015 and played on our first two albums. Anthony again played songs from both his time in the band and later albums since his departure. He’s currently playing alongside our former drummer Chris MacKinnon (who likewise joined in 2012, but after our debut album before leaving in 2018) in a band called It’s Not A Phase Mum, covering the 2000’s era classics which can be found here.
We made our return to two of our favourite venues this year too, both the Melbourn Rock Club and the Rock Den in Hatfield, both of which were fun nights.
A large portion of the year has been taken up with recording, editing, mixing, mastering, and so on. We worked extremely hard to get our new album After Extinction finished this year, as well as recording a further 10 tracks for two EPs, one of which has been released digitally and the other is currently being worked on. I have said previously that I cannot remember a time the band has been busier and 2022 certainly was a challenging year, but I feel a great relief to know everything on our end is now completed and there is very little remaining to do going into 2023.
It is worth mentioning that there will be a new Falling Through Freedom t-shirt and patch coming to all our Patreon’s soon, with two EPs (which include a multi-disc set) on CD heading out to everyone paying £3 or more ASAP. We have been slightly delayed in getting these out due to the Extinction After EP still being finalised! These will be with you soon, depending on Royal Mail strikes!
In August of course we joined the Lillian Axe/Riot Act (ex-Riot) tour as a replacement for Kim Melville. This is the first tour this line-up has done, and we had an amazing time on the road, and we are very thankful for the opportunity to play with two exceptional bands here in the U.K.
We aptly finished the year with two hometown shows in Colchester both at the Brewhouse on the 25th of November and Coda, on the 14th.
We also introduced a new Patreon tier, a band backer tier which was to help the band fund an opportunity we were recently offered. Without giving too much away at this stage, an official offer/contract has come through and we used some of the new Patreon funds to have the offer independently accessed by an expert, as well as general guidance on the best route forward for the band in 2023, with more the be revealed at a later date.
Since the release of our album back in September, we have been keeping a close eye on where our album is being streamed. We still don’t have all the data from all the stored but so far the results are:
YouTube: 32,139
Spotify: 3,836
Bandcamp Streams: 3,084
Facebook: 2,751
Apple: 267
CD Sales (Bandcamp): 121
Downloads (Bandcamp): 82
Itunes Sales: 0
Amazon Sales: 0
Total Streams: 42,067
Total Sales (digital and physical): 203
YouTube continues to be the place where the album is most streamed, with Spotify in second, but some distance behind. Free streams on Bandcamp are just over 3k now, converting into 82 purchases.
The growing trend still shows the audience moving away from physical media and paid-for downloads and towards streaming services which is in line with industry reports on music sales. However, to have had over 42k streams since the album release so far is an impressive number for a band our size and we can only hope this continues going forward.
I thought I would do a write-up on the closing period of what has been one of the busiest periods in the band’s history.
As many will know, we started work on After Extinction back in 2019, the plan was to put it together and record it in 2020 however Covid happened, and everything was delayed. Trying to finish this album while trying to work on our Patreon projects has been a challenge! We only just finished recording the After Extinction album this year, before editing, mixing, and mastering it enabling us to finally release it digitally in September. We’ve been set back a year and playing catchup.
The After Extinction album has been one of our most successful records on launch, despite an initially slow start the pre-orders were over a 100, with additional downloads and our streaming numbers for the new album have reached record numbers due to the success on YouTube. It obviously feels good to have that sort of response. What’s interesting is that in terms of reviews and press coverage, this album has received the least amount of media attention. We have had two reviews in so far, one being good and one average. Obviously with finances tight we don’t have the finances to pay for a press agent, manager, PR team, or whatever else, so we really rely on word of mouth and our own social media. So far, the best promotion for the new album has come from the NWOTHM Full Albums channel.
The album was a departure from much of the sound and imagery we were known for, so it was a gamble, there’s a lot less NWOBHM influence on the new record compared to previous. It’s a darker, heavier album than any of our previous releases and deals with much more complex subjects lyrically. I am glad most of the feedback has been positive.
On top of finishing the new album, we are still catching up with the backlog of work to be done with our EPs. We had the 21’ Patreon EP which has been delayed due to the need to focus on getting the album done. I will have finished recording the vocals on the 25th of November (I hope!) and we can begin the mixing stage after that. On the Falling Through Freedom EP, I will have hopefully finished recording that on Sunday. I am also getting the artwork completed with the new artist, you can see a sneak peek of the 21’ EPs art here.
We have never had a year where we worked on three different studio releases simultaneously, it has been a massive workload to juggle but I am feeling a great sense of relief now were almost there with both EPs and I can only apologise for the delay in getting these out to you!
The 21’ EP, which will be named soon when the artwork is released, is a heavier release than even our new album! 5 brand new songs, again continuing a darker tone to previous Kaine material. The 22’ EP is five songs to celebrate ten years of our debut album, which includes re-recordings of 3 songs from the original album and two that didn’t make the original release.
On top of the studio work, and our regular gigs and rehearsals we also jumped on a tour with Lillian Axe and Riot Act in August which was a great experience. So, this year we have worked on three releases and toured! As I said I can’t recall a time when we were as busy as we have been this year! We will have played 22 shows by the years end too, having played everywhere from Hastings to Edinburgh, to Swansea and back to Colchester!
So, what’s the plan? After we have released both of the new EPs, we will be announcing our 2023 Patreon pack! Next year there will be yet another new EP, shirt, and patch and we will have details of those soon.
You can order the new album here, and grab both new EPs here.
Our CD has finally broken 100 pre-orders on Bandcamp. This means the album has covered the cost of the printing for thew new CD. the CD will be printed to the highest industry standards and limited to just 500 copies. The CD comes in a super jewel case and contains a full colour lyric booklet. You can still pre-order the album for a lower price here.
The After Extinction CDs will arrive on Friday, will be signed (where requested) over the weekend and will begin shipping from Monday next week. The price from Monday will go up to £15 per CD, but we’ll continue to honour the pre-order price for the remainder of this week. You can grab the CD at the reduced price here.
CD sales represent a large part of the band’s income, we thankful to everyone who pre-ordered the CD and helped us fund the cost of printing the release.
