Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! Today is the final day of the formal promotional campaign for the Hopes and Dreams album and to celebrate, I've uploaded a stream of the full album to Newgrounds which you can check out for the full 39+ minutes of uninterrupted heartfelt ska punk / pop punk that is Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams! I hope you enjoy it!

Purchase the “Hopes and Dreams” album on Bandcamp:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or grab the full album and complete Better Than The Book discography now when you become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

A whole lot more radio news to share this week too as “Artificial Ignorance” was featured on The Undiscovered Sound on idobi Radio! Thanks so much to Jeff for featuring the music and you can read more about The Undiscovered Sound on their site here:

https://idobi.com/show/the-undiscovered-sound/

On top of that, "Artificial Ignorance" was also featured on Channel One Radio’s The Warp Factor! Thanks so much Kirk and Craig for playing the track, and no worries at all on getting the name wrong (you're not the first)! Ironic considering the title too! You can listen to the full radio show again via the link below for many great tunes and a history of punk segment too! “Artificial Ignorance” plays in the last half hour of the show:

https://www.mixcloud.com/thewarpfactor/the-warp-factor-ultimate-punk-with-craig-cabell-6th-sept-19/

Lastly in the radio related news for this week, Button Down Radio and Tonic Ska Radio both seem to be expressing their love for Better Than The Book recently too! Thanks so much for playing the tunes and you can listen in and read more via the Facebook posts below:

https://www.facebook.com/buttondownradio5446/posts/2401291610142662

​https://www.facebook.com/tonicskaradio/photos/a.920763794801085/1091865371024259/

https://www.facebook.com/tonicskaradio/photos/a.929833417227456/1093440354200094/

With that final full-album stream released, it feels crazy to me that after almost 5 months of pre-hype and post-promo, the formal Hopes and Dreams album promotional campaign has finally come to a close, and what a heck of an adventure it has been so far! Let's take a look back at everything the album has achieved so far since the first single dropped back in May:

Before the album was even launched, Hopes and Dreams, was featured in a number web magazines with one of the singles “(The Travelling To See Eva Song)” earning Better Than The Book its Australian FM radio premier on The Ska Show with Beefy, the #2 ska music podcast in the world! Fast forward to today, and less than 2 months after the album’s release, 5 out 10 of the tracks have been featured on radio shows and podcasts worldwide including:

Idobi Radio’s Fresh Picks, Spinning Thoughts, and The Undiscovered Sound shows (California)

Bobs Ska Radio (Seattle)

Channel One Radio’s The Warp Factor (UK)

Button Down Radio (UK)

Tonic Ska Radio (UK)

The Masita Ska Show with Beefy on Southern FM (Melbourne)

Bear in mind that many of these shows have featured and played multiple tracks from the album in multiple episodes too! On top of all the radio features, Better Than The Book has been featured and/or interviewed in a number of web magazines and music blogs too including:

Broken Arrow Magazine

Pete's Rock News And Views

Happy Metal Geek

Breathing The Core

The Punk Site

World Beyond Blog

A special mention of course goes out to good old Newgrounds too where the 2nd single “Artificial Ignorance” (which seems to be a crowd favourite across the board) earned a front page feature award too! A HUGE thanks to everyone who’s shared and played the music and helped spread the word with a round of applause for the album’s PR extraordinaire Meg who especially made many of the magazine/blog features and interviews possible! Thanks Meg! Check out all these features in full, reading interviews as well as re-listening to many of the radio show/podcast features on Better Than The Book’s press page below! I hope you enjoy them:

https://betterthanthebookuk.weebly.com/press.html

And if you’ve yet to hear the Hopes and Dreams album and see what all the fuss is about, the full album is now streaming on YouTube, SoundCloud and Newgrounds as well as available in all the usual places (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc...) and of course on the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page! Enjoy:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams

(and of course you can listen via the video too!)

Onto other news if you've not yet heard, now that the Hopes and Dreams album is out, it felt like a great time to make some updates to my Patreon page, and so I’ve revised the descriptions, goals and tier rewards (now only 3 tiers to choose from) as well as added REWARD ARCHIVE posts for the convenience of new patrons so you can grab all the past rewards for your tier (including the full Better Than The Book Discography and more) in one place when you sign up! Read all about the new updates via the Patreon post below:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/28931894

With such a big BTTB related project just finished, the newer rewards which started up again this month will focus mainly around my other musical personality Jabun (electronic / cinematic) for a little while, but don’t worry, Better Than The Book is not done yet which leads me to the final piece of news for today:

Last month for the first time since its conception in 2012, 4 guys (including myself) got together to jam the tunes live as a Better Than The Book band! It was just a casual living room jam, but the results were promising enough that over the past month we’ve been hard at work arranging and learning our parts for our first full band practice at the start of October! I can’t say for sure what’ll happen next if that all goes well but there is a definite possibility that after 7 years of being solely a writing/recording project, Better Than The Book may be hitting the stage! Many logistics to figure out before then first, but it’s certainly an exciting time for the project (as if the last year wasn’t exciting enough)! Crazy!

A friendly reminder that Better Than The Book is significantly fuelled by my Patreon page, and while recording everything myself is relatively cheap and just takes a huge time investment, taking things to the stage is a bit more of a financial challenge. If you’d like to contribute (for as little as $1 a month) head over to my Patreon homepage to read more about the various rewards you can receive, the goals for the project and pick up the full Better Than The Book discography (including some Patreon exclusives and bonuses) if you decide to sign up!

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

If you’re unable to contribute at the moment, then no worries at all! Sharing the Bandcamp or Patreon link on social media is also a huge way to help spread the word and only takes a moment! Thanks for supporting Better Than The Book in any way you’re able to!

And that wraps up this post! I hope you’ve enjoyed all the amazing news this time and throughout the campaign, and I have a feeling that there’ll be more press features to come and big news to share soon (we’ll have to wait and see). If you’re itching to hear more then head over to the Better Than The Book Facebook or Twitter (@BTTB_UK) for the most immediate updates, or consider supporting my music on Patreon for a front row view of all the action! Until the next post, a huge thank you for supporting Better Than The Book and my various music projects and I hope you have a fantastic week whatever you’re up to! Take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! It's Wednesday which means I'm sharing another track from Better Than The Book's new Hopes and Dreams album on Newgrounds and this time it's the final and title track "Hopes and Dreams" which brings everything Better Than The Book has been about since 2012 to an intense climax to close the album! Prepare for some major feels, heartfelt lyrics, and references all the way back to One Small Step! Check it out via the player below and I hope you enjoy it:

Purchase the “Hopes and Dreams” album on Bandcamp:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or grab the full album and complete Better Than The Book discography now when you become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

With that final track out now, you can now listen to the entire Hopes and Dreams album on Newgrounds via the playlist below too. Enjoy:

https://www.newgrounds.com/playlists/view/4de7b9bd11545537f082fae812c1395f

Just one more thing to share next week before the formal promotional campaign for the album comes to a close, but what and incredible journey it's been over these past few months! Thanks all so much for helping spread the word about this music I've poured my heart into over the past year and supporting Better Than The Book! You folks are awesome!

In other news today, the $1 rewards have started up again on Patreon which you can read all about here (Same as the early access rewards from last week's post):

https://www.patreon.com/posts/29106009

There's also been some major updates to the Patreon page in general with revised descriptions, goals and tier rewards (now only 3 tiers to choose from) + REWARD ARCHIVE posts for the convenience of new patrons so you can grab all the past rewards for your tier (including the full Better Than The Book Discography) in one place when you sign up! Neat! You can read all about the new updates via the post below:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/28931894

Next this week, Better Than The Book will be featured tonight (Wednesday) at 6pm EST (11pm BST) on The Undiscovered Sound on idobi Radio which is very exciting! Which track will play remains a mystery to even me, so you'll just have to tune in when the time comes via the link below! Thanks so much for spinning the tunes on the show!

https://idobi.com/

And finally this week, it seems like Better Than The Book just keeps getting more and more love over on Button Down Radio, which is always nice to hear! Thanks so much for playing the tunes and check out the post below for some more ska radio fun:

https://www.facebook.com/buttondownradio5446/posts/2397008467237643?__tn__=-R#

That's it for this week, and until next time and the final Hopes and Dreams related post, have a great rest of the week and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my various projects! Take care!

EDIT: Apologies... apparently I was given the wrong time for the idobi show, but fear not, there should be a re-run on Saturday at 11am (BST). Sorry about that.

Hi everyone and hope you're having another great week so far! It's Wednesday again which means another track from Better Than The Book's new Hopes and Dreams album is now up on Newgrounds and this time it's track 09 "You've Got A Lot To Say". This track is one of the more serious ones I've written (with less ska vibes and a more alternative rock feel), all about loss and being there for loved ones in hard times. I feel like "I hope you enjoy it" isn't the right thing to say, but I hope you get something out of it at least and take the message to heart. Check it out via the player below:

Purchase the “Hopes and Dreams” album on Bandcamp:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or grab the full album and complete Better Than The Book discography now when you become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

It's onto the final track of the album next week, and what a journey it's been over these past few months. Also, with the BTTB discography all on Patreon now, the $5+ / $10+ rewards have started up again today to start sharing the back catalog of my other main music project: Jabun (electronic / cinematic), starting with my debut track from back in 2012 "Bergamot"! Check it out and read more about it in the post below and I hope you enjoy this other side of my musical personality! Don't worry if it's not your jam though as more exciting things from Better Than The Book are already in the works!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/29106006

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

You can also listen to Bergamot here on Newgrounds:

For the $10+ patrons too, I'll also be continuing with the monthly behind the scenes articles, this time taking a deep dive into the creation of track 05 from Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams album, "Brighton". I hope you enjoy it, and again feel free to check out the finished track here on Newgrounds:

Finally this week, not a whole lot more news to report, but it sounds like Better Than The Book is getting some love over on Button Down Radio, which is always nice to hear! Check out the post below for some more ska radio fun:

https://www.facebook.com/buttondownradio5446/photos/a.1712323415706155/2389026961369127/

And that's it for this post! Until the final track and the next post (where the next $1+ Patreon rewards will be released too), have a great rest of the week and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book, Jabun and my various projects! Take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're having another great week so far! It's Wednesday again which means another track from Better Than The Book's new Hopes and Dreams album is now up on Newgrounds and this time I'm sharing track 08 "GG" all about fun times playing video games! Check out the player below for a fun pop-punk anthem filled with nostalgic video games references and some chip-tune inspired extra sounds! Enjoy :D

Purchase the “Hopes and Dreams” album on Bandcamp:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or grab the full album and complete Better Than The Book discography now when you become a supporter on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

It's onto track 09 of the album next week, but I'm sure there'll be more exciting news to share before then! Speaking of which, the Hopes and Dreams album turned 1 month old earlier this week and what a month it has been! Check out all the press, radio and podcast features so far over on the Better Than The Book website! Exciting times!

https://betterthanthebookuk.weebly.com/press.html

That's it for this post, and until the next track and the next post, have a great rest of the week and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my various music projects! Take care and enjoy the music :)

Hi everyone and hope you're having another great week so far! It's Wednesday which means another track from Better Than The Book​'s new Hopes and Dreams album is now up on Newgrounds​ and this time I'm sharing track 06 "Get A Haircut" all about un-fun times and people being pricks! Check out the player below for a rage filled pop punk anthem about bullying and my first week in a town which shall remain nameless! At least I got a song out of it :D Enjoy!

Purchase the “Hopes and Dreams” album on Bandcamp​:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or grab the full album and complete Better Than The Book discography now when you become a supporter on Patreon​: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

It's also been another exciting week for radio features and more! The Ska Show with Beefy on Southern FM​ is back again for another re-run and this time track 05 "Brighton" from the Hopes and Dreams album played right after my favourite ska track of all time "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones​! Such an honour and thanks so much to Beefy for having it up on the show (playing alongside, Reel Big Fish, The Specials and Madness too)! Listen in via the Facebook link below and "Brighton" plays at -18:16 from the end followed straight on by a shout out! Amazing stuff :)

https://www.facebook.com/TheSkaShowwithBeefy/posts/2421871267901264

That makes 5/10 tracks to have been featured on the radio worldwide so far too! Crazy feeling!

But the radio news doesn't stop there! All 10 tracks from the Hopes and Dreams album are now on Seattle based internet radio station Bob's Ska Radio​'s rotation! You can even request any of the songs to be played with a dedication if you wish too: just search "Better" or "Book" and choose which track you'd like played! Check it out and listen in below! Thanks Bob's Ska Radio!

http://www.bobskaradio.com/index.php/playlist-requests

Next, some more press news to share today as the Hopes and Dreams album has been featured in Broken Arrow Magazine​! Check it out and read more in the link above, and thanks so much to Broken Arrow Magazine for featuring the new music!

http://www.brokenarrowmagazine.com/have-you-heard-better-than-the-book/

Finally this week, yesterday was a historic day for BTTB as for the first time since its conception in 2012, 4 guys (including myself) got together to jam the tunes live! Super fun and exciting times, and we'll see where it all goes from here! Who knows!

That’s it for the news this week (so far)! Next week we'll be onto track 08 of the album (another pop punk one), but I'm sure there'll be many more pieces of news to share before then! Until the next one, have a great rest of the week and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my projects! Take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're having another great week so far! It's Wednesday which means another track from Better Than The Book's new Hopes and Dreams album is now up on Newgrounds! This time it's track 05 "Brighton" all about my favourite city by the sea! Check out the link below for nostalgic and summery vibes about fond memories growing up on England's south coast! Enjoy!

Purchase the “Hopes and Dreams” album on Bandcamp:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or grab the full album and complete Better Than The Book discography now when you become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

On top of that, it’s been another crazy week for radio features! Better Than The Book made its debut on Button Down Radio on Sunday, and there’s still a few more chances to catch “Artificial Ignorance” in the Featured This Week segment before they refresh the playlist this Sunday. Check out the Facebook post below for more details:

https://www.facebook.com/BetterThanTheBookUK/posts/2293233827459546?__tn__=-R

Additionally, the opening track from the Hopes and Dreams album "The Hardest Part" has been added to Fresh Picks on idobi Radio too! Tune in and read more in the Facebook post below:

https://www.facebook.com/…/a.87174076627…/2295408820575380/…

That makes 4 out of 10 tracks from Hopes and Dreams to have been featured on the radio so far! Amazing times, and a huge thanks to all the shows and stations who have been playing them! I’m so happy you’re enjoying the new music!

Finally this week some major updates on my Patreon page: "Announcing REWARD ARCHIVE posts for 4/10/2018 -> 7/8/2019 including the full Better Than The Book Discography & more!"

Today I announce the first set of "Reward Archive" posts for the convenience of Patreon supporters and new patrons!

You can now use the tag "REWARD ARCHIVE" to access posts which summarize and collect all the rewards for your tier from October 4th 2018 to August 7th 2019, instead of having to search through posts manually to find the past rewards for your tier when you sign up!

These months' rewards cover the full discography for my ska punk / pop punk project Better Than The Book (as of August 2019), and the posts are there for your convenience so you can pick up all these rewards (Mp3s, WAVs, artwork and more depending in your tier) in one place!

Become a monthly patron for as little as $1 to access all the music so far (including a few Patreon exclusive downloads) as well as all the music to come in the future while you remain a patron!

Check out the full post on Patreon for all the details and thanks so much for supporting Better Than The Book, Jabun and my various music projects on Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/28928832

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

That’s it for the news this week (so far)! Next week we'll be onto track 06 of the album and the beginning of Hopes and Dreams side B, but before then, I'm sure there'll be many more pieces of news to share! Until the next one, have a great rest of the week and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my projects! Take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! It's Wednesday which means I'm sharing another track from Better Than The Book's new Hopes and Dreams album and this time it's track 03: "And I Fear"! Check out the player below for an honest and no holding back ska punk anthem about the fear of not being able to live up to other people's expectations! I hope you enjoy it!

Purchase the “Hopes and Dreams” album on Bandcamp:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or grab the full album and complete Better Than The Book discography now when you become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

On top of that, this week's been crazy in terms of news and press features for the new album! Better Than The Book made its debut on the UK internet radio station Tonic Ska Radio on Saturday, and made its Californian Radio debut on idobi Radio's Spinning Thoughts show (pop punk), as well as being featured again in Australia on The Ska Show with Beefy! You can check out the podcast reruns of those show via the links below:

Spinning Thoughts Episode 182 Podcast (I'm the first of the full tracks to play)

The Masita Ska Show with Beefy July 23rd (-9:09 from the end following with a shout out)

BTTB is also set to make its debut on another UK ska station Button Down Radio this Sunday at 11:30 BST, with a twice daily repeat of the segment for the following week! More details to come for that so head over to the BTTB Facebook page for more updates closer to the time if you're interested! Exciting times!

That's it for this post! Next week we'll be onto track 05 of the album and the end of the first side, and I'm sure there'll be many more pieces of news to share too! Until the next one, have a great rest of the week and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my projects! Take care!

Hello again fellow Newgrounds peeps and hope you're having a great week so far!

As you may already know, my 2nd album as Better Than The Book "Hopes and Dreams" was released last Friday, and today I'm uploading the first of the non-single tracks to YouTube, SoundCloud and Newgrounds! There'll be a new track coming out each Wednesday until mid September and the first of the bunch is the opening track of the album "The Hardest Part"! Get ready for a motivational ska punk anthem to get you pumped for the rest of the new music, and hope you enjoy it:

Purchase the “Hopes and Dreams” album on Bandcamp:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or grab the full album and complete Better Than The Book discography now when you become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

"Hopes and Dreams" is now also available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google, and all the other places you'd expect to find digital music in this day and age! Hope you enjoy it!

That's it for this post, and next week, I'll be moving onto and uploading track 03 of the album "And I Fear"! Until then, enjoy the new music, hope you have a great week, and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my various projects! Take care :)

Hello fellow ska-punks, rockers and headbangers!

The time has finally come and I cannot tell you how excited I am today to announce that Better Than The Book's 2nd full-length album "Hopes and Dreams" has finally been released! You can check out the teaser / launch video (featuring track 01 "The Hardest Part") as well as listen to the full Hopes and Dreams album, pick up a copy, and see the full album credits and special thanks on Bandcamp via the links below! I hope you enjoy it all!

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g3oKzyrmkw

Or get even more from Better Than The Book when you become a patron for as little as $1 a month today, and boy is there a lot to share this time! With such a big event as this album launch, all patrons will be receiving:

1)     A full download of the brand new Better Than The Book - Hopes and Dreams album in mp3 and WAV format as well as high resolution album art ($1 Patrons will only receive the mp3s and artwork, not the WAVs)

2)     A selection of high resolution photos from the press shoot for the album, including photos used for the album's press releases and marketing campaign

3)     High resolution lyric sheets for the album

4)     A behind the scenes studio photo and story from the Hopes and Dreams album production

Not only that, but I'm once again hosting a Patreon exclusive Ask Me Anything / Q & A session to celebrate the album's launch! Hope to hear some interesting questions from you all!

And remember that on top of all that when you sign up, you'll gain access to the entire history of rewards for your tier including the complete Better Than The Book discography (including the One Small Step EP and Two Years On albums) + many Patreon exclusive bonus tracks and more! If you're a $10+ patron too, then you'll have access to the entire series of monthly behind the scenes and demo posts too! There's never been a better time to sign up to Patreon than today! 

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

And that wraps things up for this post which was the final post for the Hopes and Dreams album launch period! I hope you've enjoyed this journey over the past few months and with the Hopes and Dreams album finally out, I think it's time for a well earned break! What’s next for BTTB? Who can say for sure but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of stuff to share over the next few months, and I’ll be sharing new tracks from the album weekly here on Newgrounds until mid September too! Until the next post I hope you enjoy all the new music and extra rewards and I want to express my biggest thanks to all the patrons and readers for supporting Better Than The Book and the Hopes and Dreams album, and my various other music projects! Hope to see you over on the Patreon Q & A post, and until next time, take care :)

All the best and keep those horns blaring,

Nick

Better Than The Book / Jabun

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Hello fellow Newgrounds people!

Some amazing news to share today as not only is my 2nd album as Better Than The Book, "Hopes and Dreams" coming out tomorrow, but the latest single "(The Travelling To See Eva Song)" also made it onto Australian FM Radio!!!

The podcast re-run for the radio show which featured Better Than The Book on it last week is up now too! Thanks so much to Beefy for giving "(The Travelling To See Eva Song)" its Australian FM radio premier as well as for the amazing shout out for the "Hopes and Dreams" album which comes out TOMORROW! Check out the Ska Show's podcast re-run via the link below for ska covers, new and old tunes, and a tonne of skankin' fun! Great show!

(BTTB's on -20:37 before the end with the shout out at -15:33)

The Masita Ska Show with Beefy, July 9th 2019 (2nd Hour)

And head over to Bandcamp to hear the other singles!

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams

Big day tomorrow! Exciting times and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my various projects here on Newgrounds!