Ballentine

Female Fronted Ballentine Scheduled to Bring Unique Blend of Music to Worldwide Tattoo Tour



April 17, 2006 – Hollywood, CA – Its official, Ballentine will be appearing at the annual gathering of the worlds’ best tattoo artists, The Inkslingers Ball Worldwide Tattoo Tour, being held at Angel Stadium from April 21 -23, 2006. This one of kind event brings together the best works of body art on the planet, while blending music, piercing, fashion, and an unforgettable experience.

Ballentine, based in Los Angeles will make its debut at this year’s event. Ballentine, just recently returning from a large-scale USO tour for the troops, have been touring and playing non-stop for close to 6 months straight. They will perform on Saturday, April 22nd at 2pm and are certain to blow the crowd away!
“We are so excited to play this show”, said Heather Ballentine – lead singer, “it’s exactly who we want to hear our music and just shove it down their throats.” Ballentine brings a mix of old school rock, traditional punk, and pop to all their songs and the stage show is truly unforgettable. If Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop and Deborah Harry had a child….it would be Heather Ballentine.

The band is: Heather Ballentine, Lead Vocals. Frank Primorac, Bass/Vocals. Ben Morris, Guitar/Vocals. Jeremy Weinglass, Keyboards. Vassil Ananiev, Drums.

For more information on Ballentine – please visit: www.ballentineband.com
For more information on Inkslingers – please visit: www.wwtattootour.com


- INK Magazine

Rock in a Hard Place
With the USO short on big-name acts and the military trying to entertain troops in remote bases, unknown bands are braving battle zones to build their fan base.
The 21st-century answer to Bob Hope.
By JOHN JURGENSEN
March 24, 2007

As the war in Iraq enters its fifth year, the USO is having some trouble recruiting A-list stars. Increasingly, the military's old, Bob Hope-style approach to entertainment is being partly supplanted by a different model. The new approach relies on sending little-known bands to the Middle East in an effort to provide more concerts at more remote bases in combat zones.

This reflects the way troops are now being deployed. Many soldiers are posted in remote bases in active battle zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, accessible mainly by helicopter. Troops are facing the longest armed conflict since Vietnam and, in many cases, multiple tours of duty.

It also mirrors an entertainment world increasingly defined by MySpace and "American Idol." The divide between fringe and mainstream acts has gotten smaller as unknowns become stars on the Internet and TV practically overnight. That has created a receptive environment for up-and-coming bands hoping to raise their profiles by touring with the military. But it's raising difficult decisions for young musicians now wrestling with their own political views and fears of danger as they weigh tours to battle zones.

The group responsible for recruiting these bands is a little-known division of the Pentagon called Armed Forces Entertainment. Last year, AFE sent more than 100 small acts to camps around the world -- compared with the nonprofit, civilian-run USO, which last year sent 37 tours abroad, mainly to big hubs like Kuwait City and Baghdad. Recently, AFE has been on the rise, organizing a record number of concerts and ramping up its band recruitment efforts.

Last year, AFE organized 118 tours overseas and a total of 1,433 performances -- a record for the group, which was founded in 1951. With a budget of $7 million for fiscal 2007, AFE is still much smaller than the USO, which is funded almost entirely by donations and which relies on the AFE to coordinate tours with the military. In 2005, the last year for which tax records are available, the USO brought in about $60 million in donations and spent almost $47 million on services ranging from tours to canteens. But while the USO typically only marshals stars for one-week tours to a limited number of bases, AFE recruits acts for stints of up to a month that reach many more outposts.

Recently, in an effort to attract more high-quality bands, AFE has been working to boost its profile. It's hired a marketing agency, which helped design a slick Web site and new logo for the group. It's also taking part in more industry events, making contacts with labels and sending more recruiters to clubs and music festivals.

Touring with the military can translate to a boost in album sales for some bands. Pop-punk group Ballentine played for an audience of 3,000 soldiers at Guantanamo Bay -- compared to the crowds of a few hundred it usually gets at home in L.A.

Bands aren't paid for the tours, but receive free lodging and a stipend of $75 per person for each day they're away. In remote areas, performers usually eat alongside soldiers in chow halls and stay in the same cramped quarters.

Bands are banned from selling their CDs and other merchandise on the bases to prevent competition with the military exchange stores. Instead, AFE gives bands up to $1,500 to pay for promotional items such as T-shirts, CDs and fliers, which they give away to the troops. Some acts bring laptops and burn their music onto blank CDs.

Some in the music industry say AFE is emerging as a force in helping bands get noticed. "It's filling a void. They're actually helping to break artists," says Tamara Conniff, executive editor and associate publisher of Billboard, which plans to sponsor an AFE tour of R&B bands.

All this has turned a Marine captain named Jesse Davidson and several of his AFE colleagues into unlikely arbiters of indie bands. Capt. Davidson, 30, served three tours of duty in Iraq from 2003 to 2005 as a logistics officer in the infantry battalion that helped pull down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. In 2005, he was given a new assignment: sending rock bands to the war zone he had just left.

Capt. Davidson mans a cubicle on the fourth floor of a building complex near the Pentagon. Dressed in a service uniform of a khaki shirt and green pants, his brown hair cut in the "jarhead" Marine style, he spends most of the day on the phone, coordinating gigs.

Once every two weeks, he and his colleagues file down the hall to a conference room for a ritual they've dubbed "AFE Idol." They gather before a flat-screen TV connected to a DVD player and stereo system. This is where they screen submissions. Partly as a result of its recruiting efforts, AFE receives dozens of applications from musicians, magicians and comedians each month. Only a third are accepted.

Each band is graded on a scale of 1 to 5 in 20 different areas, a system that AFE recently introduced to make the process more objective. Categories range from the fairly standard (stage presence, audience engagement) to some particular to the military (appearance, sobriety). Profanity and religious references are considered red flags.

Last week, AFE went on one of its biggest recruiting missions yet. Fifty AFE staff members and affiliates descended on the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, a major industry event. Last year, its first time at the festival, AFE sent five representatives, who manned a table in uniform. This time, they opted for civilian clothes to blend in. Also part of the strategy: never using the word "recruit" with bands.

During the four-day event, the group approached hundreds of bands and handed out metal dog tags that doubled as business cards. In the evenings, they moved quickly from one bar to another to check out acts.

While an Iraq tour has clear publicity benefits for a little-known act, selling stars on the idea can be more difficult. The USO has scored some new celebrities, such as singer Jessica Simpson and rapper 50 Cent, for Iraq tours, but it's relied heavily on its old guard of regulars like Al Franken, Robin Williams and Wayne Newton. Some entertainers affiliated with the USO say the group has had trouble bringing on new A-list performers.

Singer and cable-TV host Henry Rollins, who has been on seven USO tours, says he hasn't been able to recruit other stars to tour. Neither has Drowning Pool, a rock band that the USO calls one of its key ambassadors, particularly to young musicians.

John Hanson, a spokesman for the USO says that in cases when top celebrities haven't signed on, they haven't cited politics or danger as a reason, but that scheduling is often an issue.

Another challenge for the group, Mr. Rollins says, is bringing on the kinds of acts that soldiers in their late teens and early 20s care about.

He says this could be a point of strength for AFE: "The days of Wayne Newton are kind of over." - The Wall Street Journal

Heather Ballentine fronts a band, go figure, called Ballentine. It is a pop punk band that has been getting all kinds of attention the last couple of years. One of the band's songs, On Top of the World, was used in the Hillary and Haylie Duff movie, Material Girls. And Heather and her boyfriend, Frank Primorac, who is also the bass player for the band, was a featured couple on the ABC reality show Ultimate Love Test. Heather and Frank actually won on the show.

Heather has been compared to Debbie Harry and Pat Benetar for both looks and energy. But she and the band aren't to be taken lightly. Their sound is somewhat on the line of The Cars or perhaps a tiny touch of Ramones. The band has a liveliness that is often tried but never too successful. And a success they are.

Ballentine has recently recorded and released a new EP. This EP has five delicious songs. Although they only last about three minutes apiece, the songs are pure power pop entertainment.

In the band, Heather does the lead vocals. Like I mentioned before, Frank is the bass player for the band. He also helps out on vocals. Ben Morris is on the guitar and provides backing vocals. Jeremy Weinglass is on keys and Vassil Ananiev is the drummer.

The EP was produced by Geza X. He has produced bands like the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag. The EP was recorded at Geza X's studio, Satellite Park Recording.

The first song on the EP is Kiss, Kiss, Kiss. This is a fun, head boppin', shoulder shakin', hip swayin' cool song.

Next up is I Don't Know Why. The pace slows down, with Heather bringing forth aching, melodic vocals.

Things pick back up with Motormouth. It is a pop punk in-your-face tune about people talking trash when they shouldn't.

The band does a cover of the Josie Cotton song, Johnny Are You Queer. The song is definitely not PC, but it sure is fun. I'm not surprised that the song is on the EP. Josie and Geza X were together for a number of years. Josie also co-owns Satellite Park Recording with Geza X.

The EP ends with a cover of a classic naughty The Knack tune. This one is Good Girls Don't, a song that a lot of guys have said they could really relate to. For those of you who don't know the song, the lyrics deal with girls who you'd wish would say “good girls don't …but I do.” And there are a few other implied and explicit lyrics that make it a fun and saucy tune for a band with a hot female lead vocalist to do.

Ballentine has been getting a lot of exposure, from the reality show to being on a USO tour. And along with the placement of a song on the Duff sister's film, Ballentine is also on the San Diego stop for the Vans Warped Tour this year.

With cool pop punk songs and a hot lead vocalist in Heather, Ballentine is set to be the next breakout pop band.

You can hear songs from the EP on the official Ballentine web site. You can also hear their songs on their MySpace site. The official site is at www.ballentineband.com . The MySpace site is www.myspace.com/ballentineband . - BVS Reviews by Bruce Von Stiers

Female fronted, Ballentine proves old school rock is still in, as it embarks on it's fourth Armed Forces Entertainment tour. The in-your-face, rock, pop, punk group is determined to put on an unforgettable performance March 15-24th at Thule Air Base in Greenland.
"We've had a blast performing for the troops", said lead singer Heather Ballentine. "Doing these tours gives us a chance to make some great friends. There are soldiers who saw us perform in 2002 that still keep in touch. It just makes you realize how much it really means to them".
With moves like Mick Jagger and a look that resembles Pat Benatar, Ms. Ballentine is sure to captivate the troops.
"They are hungry for performers like Ballentine," said Captain Luke Hardaway, U.S. Air Force circuit manager for the European region. "A high energy how like theirs gets the crowd going and will no doubt be a hit".
Opening for acts such as Blondie and appearing on VH1's "Life of the Party", Ballentine is packing houses across the country. The group's music can be heard in more than 20,000 theaters across the United States and it's debut album "4U" is available in stores nationwide. Based in Los Angeles, California, Ballentine can be found playing in local bars, festivals, and colleges along the West Coast.
Armed Forces Entertainment is the lead Department of Defense Agency for providing entertainment to U.S. military personnel serving overseas, with priority given to those in contingency operations and at remote and isolated locations. The Department of the Air Force is the executive agent of Armed Forces Entertainment.
Founded in 1951, Armed Forces Entertainment brings a touch of home to more than 500,000 troops annually, embracing the best of Americana that stretcheds across all genres of entertainment.
- Armed Forces Entertainment