E-Mail This Article to a Friend FREEBIE-PALOOZA All the world’s your stage BY MIKE MILIARD

Attention, aspiring rock stars: tired of schlepping around the grimy dives of the local scene? Now, you too can tour the world — all expenses paid. The Planetary Group, a Boston-based promotion and publicity company, has been living up to its name for a few years now, organizing tours to out-of-the-way, out-of-the-ordinary locales like China and Scandinavia for bands such as Damone and the Sheila Divine. But those bands were clients and/or friends. In a partnership with online press-kit platform Sonicbids, Planetary has put out an open call to bands far and wide. If your group is picked, you’ll be packed off to Denmark, Sweden, and Finland in April. They’ll take care of all the pain-in-the-ass stuff like airfare, visas, equipment rental, and housing. All you have to do is rock.

About 300 bands from here and abroad have applied for the Scandinavia tour so far — a number that’s expected to double — and each applicant’s $25 fee will go directly toward underwriting the winner’s tour. The winning band — who might play any genre — will be picked based on the quality of their music, their image, and their ability to appeal to a foreign audience. "I think it’s a great opportunity," says founder Adam Lewis, who’s overseen 10 tours of China and two of Scandinavia. "They’re gonna have a chance to go to a part of the world they probably never thought they’d go to in their lives, let alone get to play there. We’re gonna take care of all their expenses and all their logistics, and they’re gonna have a great time."

Last month, Lewis squired Boston soul/R&B sextet Superhoney (who beat out almost 700 bands in a precursor to this contest) to China. It was a blast, he says. But also, "I think playing in foreign markets makes a band stronger. It’s not easy. You’re dealing with language barriers and cultural differences, but the good bands rise to the occasion and pull it off. The crowds want to like you. There’s definitely an allure to seeing a Western band. For many people in China, they’ve never seen a Western band before, ever. So, to be part of someone’s first rock-show experience is pretty cool."

Lewis says Chinese audiences have offered some interesting cultural lessons. "In Shanghai, the crowds are very reserved. You almost have to tell the audience to clap. They’ll mimic what the singer does: if the singer starts jumping up and down and clapping and waving their hands in the air, then the crowd will do it. Beijing has an underground rock scene there, so audiences are used to seeing rock. They totally know what to do. When Damone played there, we had a mosh pit up front, and [lead singer] Noelle climbed up on a speaker and dove into the crowd. Which, of course, scared me to death. Having to take her to a Beijing hospital was not part of my plans," he laughs. "Luckily, she was fine."

In fact, Lewis himself is lucky to be fine. On the Planetary Group’s Web site, you’ll notice a link to make donations to Unicef’s tsunami-relief services. It’s there because shortly after Superhoney’s China tour wrapped up, Lewis and the band headed south to Phuket, Thailand, for a little R&R — and flew home less than a week before the big wave hit. "I’m just extremely grateful," Lewis says, "very fortunate that I left town six days prior. I don’t like my odds, otherwise, as a Western tourist on the beach."

Learn more about the Planetary/Sonicbids Scandinavia tour at www.planetarygroup.com. Deadline is February 28.