To be uncharacteristically concise, Alpha Female is Julianne Andersen. Having been drawn to the compelling, unique output and the reckless, chaotic environment of Seattle's music Scene in her ill-spent youth, JA took it upon herself to make a place in the "Music Business". Having long since decided upon a writing career, and having inherited the excellent sales genes from her D.A.R. Mother, and the ferocious warrior genes from her Marine Corps Father, it all made perfect sense to take this "Winning" combination to Blake Wright's start up indie record label, empty Records, towards creating a Press and Publicity Dept. for his small and respected label. Blake Wright quickly came to the conclusion that the best method for promoting his releases was to dispatch the bands on tour, and by collective consent, it was decided that Julianne would book them. "How Hard Could it Be" style. Armed with a telephone and a list of Record Stores across America, Julianne commenced to find places that let bands play, then book the bands in there. It was quickly established that there was basically so few people offering a similar service, AKA the Independent Booking Agency, that the booking projects took on a life of their own.

As a result of a rapidly growing interest in the Booking component of eMpTy Records and the strain on Blake's very few resources (and limited patience, and square footage), it was quickly established that the booking had to move out and on. Thus, MT Booking was born. The start up agency roster featured "Gas Huffer", "The Meices", and "The Supersuckers". A good time was had by all! Over the course of the years, the roster expanded, Julianne learned the tricks of the trade, and the Music Industry itself split wide open for Punk Bands to establish themselves as a viable commodity and legitimate musical entity. Touring was determined to be an invaluable part of the process, and reputable Independent Agents quickly became indispensable and highly sought after.

After 5 years of honing the craft and establishing it's own Identity, Julianne felt it way past time to actually take a name for the company that reflected it's independence. Plus Blake Wright (eMpTy Records) had come under attack by a former associate and was being sued for his company name. It was decided that the smartest course of action for everyone to distance themselves from any company name associated with the original label.

As touring had absolutely become an intrinsic part of an Artist building a career, and as the internet spread like wildfire, the stakes were again heightened as touring became quite simply anybody's game. As the clubs and the system became everyone's domain, touring became both highly competitive and extremely saturated. Over the years, Alpha Female had already become known more as a "Full Service" agency, having extended itself to handling press and radio requests in conjunction with tour dates in the absence of competent publicity contacts or, ANY publicity contact for that matter. Julianne's experience with under resourced publicity situations served her roster well, and it was decided she needed to formalize the process. As a combination of the evolving nature of touring, the motivation to improve the quality and garner greater results from touring endeavours, The Tempest Project Experiment was born with the addition of Hayley Tapp, a Music Retail veteran that brought the mechanics and knowledge of retail into the mix. "Integrated Tour Marketing" was the name, "Touring Smarter" was the game.

Hell's Belles became the jewel in the Alpha Female crown right about this year. Ferocious women with an unqualified love of Ac/Dc, we are all proud and pleased to represent these 5 warrior princess through all the twists and turns and chaos that is an ever increasingly successful live band. Hell's Belles and AlphaFemale share the same commitment to community, and we all manage to engage in other ambitious projects alongside working and rocking full time courtesy of the legions of dedicated Hell's Belles people. Alphafemale handles the scheduling, booking, media, travel and PR for the Belles, as well as taking on the managing their very successful merchandising concession. www.hellsbelles.info

Developing enterprises towards reinventing touring having always been one of the primary objectives of Alpha Female, 05 was the year Julianne and the full force of Alpha Female catalyzed an effort to better harness the internet's potential for start up bands and their D.I.Y. touring efforts. www.righteouspursuit.com was initiated as the all-in place for bands to get the information, guidance and experience particular to their efforts in booking and promoting their formative tours. The Righteous Pursuit was born of AlphaFemale's inspiration and resources, and the technical web genius of Chris Johnsen. Alongside the early stage database development skills of Jared Clifton, and the long term commitment of Brian Cook, the Righteous Pursuit launched in May 07 and featured a comprehensive set of systems, tools, data, advice, and support for any band to wisely and successfully book their own tours. Financed entirely by AlphaFemale and subscriptions, the Righteous Pursuit prided itself on sophisticated routing systems, in depth information, and constantly updated data, resources, and news. Oct. 07 featured the launch of Righteous Pursuit V2, complete with a simpler, more intuitive design and additional features. Although sustained by subscriptions, indications of limited financial growth and increasing work loads of what was largely a non-profit effort, it was determined the Righteous Pursuit was in fact too high maintenance to continue, and the site went off line in July 07. Also lost to reality was the comedy and tragedy of the wit and the wisdom, as the Righteous Pursuit was home to the independent webzine, Warriors, dedicated solely to touring and the folks that do it. The Warriors webzine was available to the public regardless of subscriber status, and wildly successful. Containing columns like 10 Words or Less (The snarky review section), We are the Road Crew (Q & A with touring's hardest working members), Vanity Unfair (Touring Beauty Tips), and with the monthly profile feature, The Chosen One (Long form interviews with touring's most relentless musicians, including Shonna from Drive By Truckers and Coady from Big Business). Warriors also featured the brilliant design of none other than Jeff Gilbert, one entirely Righteous dude. R.I.P., Righteous Pursuit. We believe the touring world is sadder and harder without you.

Having been a long time friend and supporter of Radio Hero Damon Stewart, Julianne and Damon's natural repoire lent itself to entertaining live radio. His Tuesday Night Local Music Show, "Garage Monkey", being a natural haven for anyone invested in the Seattle/PacNW music community, these two personalities manage to pull off more interesting and provocative radio shows than most. Having invented and pursued the title of "Producer", the esteemed Mr. Stewart lets Julianne contribute her insight and obscure CD's on a regular basis. {And, I watch my mouth, too}. Tuesday night, 104.9 Garage monkey or streaming at www.themonkey1049.com

All along the Alphafemale way of counseling rock bands, Julianne's never been shy about talking merch, the financial backbone of the touring industry. As touring revenue streams shift and twist, the one constant is merch. And, an interesting opportunity arose back in July when Damon Baldwin's Seattle Porkchop location (He opened the Austin location in Jan. this year and has been living and working there full time) lost it's foreman via unexpected medical emergency. As a long time friend and client of the "Screen Prince of Darkness" (That's JA's funny nick name for Damon, get it?), JA stepped in and is interim running the Seattle Porkchop show. It's been a great learning experience and she can now say she knows EVERYTHING about merch. {Ok, that's a lie, but I do know hella more.} www.porkchopscreenprinting.com