Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Get those dancing shoes on with a little DanceRawrDance.






Seems like lately, every show I've been to in Boston is a crazy venue. The Rescues played in a vegetarian restaurant and the show I saw on Tuesday, September 22nd, was in a room off of a middle eastern restaurant hence
the name of this well known venue, "Middle East" in Cambridge, MA. It consists of two levels, so be careful when looking at your tickets, either the upstairs or downstairs.

This show was one of my first concerts as "press" with the
whole experience of having a photo pass to take pictures side stage, doing interviews before the show and doing coverage and it was a great time.The show I saw was headlined by alternative favorite Family Force 5 and included Breathe Carolina, Cash Cash, Queen's Club and IRival for the tour journey. The venue itself has a great setup with a large area in the middle for the dancers and moshers, typically the 21 and under crowd and has a separate section for the 21+ plus which also serves as a safe haven for the bands and music nerds like me to take notes! The bands are free to have a beer and enjoy the other acts while also allowing the fans to be a little bit closer to them
, which you can't always do in venues. It also bordered the area where the band would prep for their turn on the stage. It must have felt great to listen to the kids cheer int he audience, including a moment in particular that I remember while Jean Paul, the front man of Cash Cash was getting his mic set up and the kids were yelling and stomping their feet in excitement for the set!

I was there to interview Breathe Carolina, Cash Cash and Queen's Club but I decided to also do a short review of the show, and there really were no negatives to the performance. The show started off with IRival, a new band from the ATL who I'll be seeing again in November when they're on tour with Warped favorite Hit The Lights at Harper's Ferry.

They started off the show with a gigantic bang, had the kids clapping and jumping along the whole time. They had the solid mix of punk/t
techno/pop that many bands work their whole lives to get. They have the requisite long hair and a great screamer in the lead singer.

Next was Queen's Club, a band who's interview I'll post here soon, and they were great. Hilarious and low key off stage, as most bands are these days. Coming all the way from Kansas City (huge Royals fans!), Missouri, from first listen as they started their set mixed with rock and actually a little bit of rap synths mixed in but they quickly shake it up and switch their tone completely. That's when their true rock beasts come out and it's not just due to the headbanging! They also have a electro element which is always needed at these shows. They have a little bit of everything in their set and definitely energized the crowd for the rest of the night! They also included my requisite of hand claps in their music, which always makes me happy. It put them in the same boat for me as We The Kings and Hellogoodbye, which is nothing but a good thing in my heart.

Now on to Cash Cash, led by the energetic and crazy Jean-Paul Marklouf coming from New Jersey. Known

best for "Party In Your Bedroom" as of late, the band was on fire right from the beginning when they came out already starting that party that continued on through out the full entirety of their set. In our interview before the show, Jean Paul suggested one of his major influences on the music he tries to put out is Michael Jackson, and that comes through during his show. A mix of what I see a
s Michael Jackson's energy and Gabriel Saporta like flirtations are seen in his stage presence from his inspired "dance pit" to his high energy cover of Sean Kingston's "Fire on
the dance floor". He was very flirty with the girls in the audience (there was a very high ratio of girls to boys at the show) and would be like "I like you, do you like me?" He definitely knows how to work a crowd. Another thing I really liked about Cash Cash is the instruments they chose. My favorite was the keytar, I'm a pretty big fan and seeing a boy play it made me even more of a fan girl.
Then Breathe Carolina came out, the last act of the night t
hat I was able to catch and it was nothing less then I expected. Prior to
Warped Tour, I knew they were a band that everyone was pretty excited about. From interviews with bands from the Millionaires to Alana Grace, they were all really supportive of Breathe Carolina, and I only had had the pleasure of watching a few of their videos and listening to a few tracks off of their brand new album so I wasn't exactly sure what I was in for. I was made comfortable pretty quickly though when they started off their set with the title track off the album, "Hello Fascination". To this writer, they seem to have the same set up in general as 30H!3, for example but in a good way. David and Kyle are the two front men of the group, and have an amazing energy together that just creates such good
vibes for a show. Everyone was dancing in the crowd non-stop and was loving it. What's great about it too, is that they have the same presence, but they are a little more appropriate for the age crowd that really listens to them, which makes them look even better.


All in all, a great show. Look for IRival hitting the road with Warped and personal favorite, Hit The Lights this fall. Look for Queen's Club new record, they just signed to Tooth and Nail Records a few days before I talked to them at the show, and Breathe Carolina and Cash Cash will be reuniting once again for Breathe Carolina's headlining tour with a few more acts in the mix!

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You can find some of all the bands' music at the respective links below:

Retweet.

mikeyway Little known fact; about 12 years ago, mat devine offered me a try-out to be in Kill Hannah. I was 17 and living at my parents house.

I hope that's a regret coming from Mr. Mikey Way. Got to meet the amazing Mat Devine last Saturday night, look for that interview soon!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Mix and Mark love's their all time low!




Blowing up the charts the past few years, All Time Low are arguably one of the biggest forces in the alternative music scene lately. Making fans out of adults and kids at the same time, Alex, Zach, Rian and Jack are making a name for themselves. The boys have been working for where they are now since high school and recently reached number four on the Billboard 100 with their latest album 'Nothing Personal' including the hit singles Weightless and Damned If I Do Ya(Damned if I Don't) and are currently touring the UK before they come back to headline the first ever Glamour Kill tour, bringing out fellow friends in We The Kings, Hey Monday and The Friday Night Boys!

They have been on tour for as long as I can remember, and seem to never stop doing what they love! A while ago, I was lucky enough to sit down with Jack Barakat, who plays guitar in the band, via the inter webs and we talked everything from how grateful they are for how far they have come, the friends they can count on and their excitement about playing the Glamour Kills tour, a line that has been so supportive of them since the beginning!

You guys just announced that you'll be headlining the first ever Glamour Kills tour along with We The Kings, Hey Monday and The Friday Night Boys. I've seen you guys play on a tour before with Hey Monday and I know you've toured with We The Kings in the past. How does it feel to be able to tour with these bands again and are you excited for the tour?
Yea we are so excited, Glamour kills has always been so supportive of our band and we love them to death....Touring is so fun no matter what and it just makes it that much more enjoyable when your able to be on the road with bands/friends you love to hang out with and watch each night. We are really excited for this lineup.

All Time Low seems pretty much always to be on tour. What’s your favorite part about touring and what’s your dream city to play that maybe you haven’t played yet?
Yea we definitely have been on the road a lot in recent years, the thought of being able to play music each night and hang out with your friends is an absolute dream come true and we couldn't be more stoked. There's no better way to connect with the fans than to play live and get to meet a lot of them. We have actually been lucky enough to recently go over to Australia and Japan which I know we all always wanted to be able to go play... We would be excited to play any new city/country that would have us!

I know, Alex does YouTube v-logs and you guys have a pretty wild Internet presence. How do you, personally, feel that the Internet has affected the success of All Time Low?
This day in age things are so different with being able to market your band....we used to have to go hand out CD's at local shows or hand out fliers at the mall whereas in recent years you can just send a link and add friends onto your myspace page. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to have more kids be exposed to our music online then we had every imagined which most certainly helped us as well as many other bands out! Being an unsigned band and then on an indie label the Internet helped level the playing field with bands that had TV and radio exposure.

You had the honor of being AP Magazine’s band of the year, and also being on the cover already three times this year alone. How does that accomplishment feel? Did you read the magazine growing up?
Yea we were always big fans of the magazine, we used to always pick it up and read it at the local book shops so it was such a weird yet amazing feeling to walk into a Barnes N Noble and see our face on the front cover. Very surreal and we're grateful for all of the support the magazine and its readers have given us.

You guys just dropped your latest album “Nothing Personal” on July 7th, where it debuted at #4 on the Billboard 100. How does it feel to reach that height at such a young age?
We are all so excited and proud with this new record, it's most certainly our favorite album we have made to date and are so stoked that kids came out and picked it up and enjoyed it too.....it's a great feeling knowing that someone goes out to purchase your music, let alone that amount that propelled us to being on the upper half of the billboard chart and we couldn't be more thankful! I know I said it earlier but it's just another very surreal thing to have happen. We keep thinking it's a joke ha ha.

Unfortunately, it is often said that bands that have a close connection to already established acts like Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 only become famous because of those connections. Cobra Starship, a past tour mate, even wrote a song about it. You guys are obviously established because of the hard work you have put into your dreams but how do you deal with the critics on this issue?
No matter what you do there will always be those who hate or doubt you.....we just love to play music and do our thing and have been blessed to have the opportunities we were given but we most certainly worked hard, hit the road and worked our way up like many other bands. All you can really do is be true to yourself and your fans. I think it's awesome when bands can help out other up and coming bands they believe in by taking them on tour. We definitely did our share of DIY type club tours and worked our way up from 10 people being there to know being fortunate enough to tour with bands such as FOB and play in front of tons of people.

You guys are playing a slew of dates right now on the Warped Tour like you have for the last few summers. Are there any bands that you are trying to catch the set of on this tour? Any bands that you were surprised by?
What’s your favorite memory thus far on this year’s tour or of the past?

Warped Tour has always been such a blast, just being around so many great friends/people each summer makes it such a great tour. This lineup like all the previous years has a lot of different options to choose from....bands like every avenue and The Maine as well as Underoath andTthe Devil Wears Prada. There is so much diversity which is the beauty of Warped Tour. This best thing has just been reuniting with old friends and becoming close with bands we haven't had a chance to tour with before like Less Than Jake, and Underoath.


What are your future plans after warped tour?
We're headlining Europe in Sept/Oct with our friends The Audition and then doing the GK tour in the fall. Some really cool things being discussed for 2010 so keep an eye out.


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I just want to say thank you to Jose Martinez from Earshot Media for setting this up and to Jack Barakat and the rest of the boys in All Time Low for being who they are and taking the time out to do this interview! You can find more of their music here on their myspace.

I'm Back!


I'm back after a week in Montreal, a vacation that was definitely needed and will be back to regular blogging!A little update of what's been going on lately: I covered the legendary Kill Hannah concert last Saturday night while on vacation, and that interview is going to be insane. Matt Devine is quite possibly one of the most well spoken rockers out there today, and it will definitely be a good read for anyone who wants a good look into what it takes to make it as a "underground" artist.
I also did the DanceRawrDance tour last Tuesday in Cambridge that featured Family Force 5, Breathe Carolina, Cash Cash, Queen's Club and IRival, with that review going up any minute!
This week, I will also be attending some shows and hope to see you there!
Look for the October schedule of Boston concerts too, and let me know if there is something I'm missing that you think I should check out!

Thanks for being awesome readers and definitely will be putting some stuff together today up here!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Meet Meese.


One of Denver's home town favorites, Meese is quickly making a name for themselves. They are on the verge of dropping their sophomore album "Broadcast" amazingly soon and have been lucky enough to share the stage with bands like Our Lady Peace, Phantom Planet, and Paramore among others including their personal friends in The Fray. The Fray being their fellow hometown comrades and even occasional ping pong opponents, "my brother and Joe King love playing ping pong against each other and it's fun to watch", says Nathaniel Meese about his brother and partner in crime, Patrick. Along with the two brothers, the band is comprised of Ben Haley and Mike Ayars.

The band is definitely a force to be reckoned with and have the musical talent and education to back up their pop rock melodic tracks that have indie hipster music nerd kids loving their music to boy band lovers. The guys are groomed for stardom, and hopefully it will be coming to them very soon and it will be very well deserved and worked hard for.

A while back, Nathan opened me up to his world of music nerdiness that matched mine. I'm the kind of girl who when giving music suggestions can go on for about ten minutes of her "all time favorites". He talked about the possibly surprising acts they would want to go on tour with to bands he thinks deserve a little more love. And all put together with some great parting words.

If you could tour with any three bands, who would they be and why?
1. The Killers
2. The Fray
3. Barack Obama

The Killers because they're an incredible live band who I think we share a similar sound with. We could learn a lot from them and also I think they've sold a couple of tickets on their last tour.

The Fray because their loyal fan base is made up of real music fans that actually listen to opening bands. I've learned that from experience and we are actually lucky enough to get to tour with them again this July. Plus my brother and Joe King love playing ping pong against each other and it's fun to watch.

And last but not least Barack Obama because a crowd and a ton of press usually gathers wherever he goes so I think it'd be pretty good exposure for our band.

Who are your major inspirations?
There are obviously a ton of bands that inspire the 4 of us and that becomes pretty apparent after listening to our new album 'broadcast'. Some songs on the new record are inspired by bands like bloc party and the Maccabees. Real angular and pumping guitar rock. Others are more ballady ala bends-era radiohead or early coldplay. Others are harder to put a finger on and I like to think that they just simply sound like 'Meese'. But ultimately the two bands that the 4 of us all agree on are radiohead and phoenix.
What was the first album you bought and the first concert you went to?
The first album I bought was 'august & everything after' by the counting crows. I still have it and listen to it regularly. What a great album. Timeless. Every time I listen to 'round here' I feel like I'm 9 years old again.

I'm lucky enough to have artistic parents who took my brother and I's musical upbringing seriously and they knew it was important to get us out to shows at an early stage- SO they took us to see my Dads favorite band The Allman Bros when I was in middle school. It was in Cleveland at the nautica stage down in the flats before the whole city gave up on itself. Regardless of where it was, it was incredible and changed my life.


How do you go about the song writing process? Is there something about it that may make you a bit different from other acts today?
My brother patrick writes 95% of everything we play. I usually swoop in at the end of the process and write a part or do all the guitar stuff or help with a lyric or 2. There were a couple of tunes for 'broadcast' that we wrote as a band and they turned out amazing and I think we'll ultimately end up doing a lot more of that for the next record, but patrick is definitely the songwriter of Meese.

What makes us a bit different than a lot of rocks bands these days as far as writing goes is actually how we demo out songs and write. All four of us use some type of electronic music program to get ideas down- like Reason or Garage Band- something like that. Then we just email ideas to each other and work off of that. It's like the Postal Service model for writing only we all live in Denver. I think that there's this sort of stigma attached to rock bands that we all get together with a case of beer and a pizza and go jam until something sounds good and the truth of the matter is that for our band it just doesn't work that way. We all have other outlets for jammy more traditional ways of writing and performing and Meese just sort of turned into an electronic project that we all play real instruments on. It's worked so far and is definitely the right system for the 4 of us.

What, in your opinion, is one of the top albums of 2009 thus far?
Definitely 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' by Phoenix. That's my
Album of the year already. That band is so incredible.

What inspired you guys to start making music together (besides the whole two of you being brothers thing)?
Patrick and I have been music fans and writers our whole lives and we've been in bands together since I was 10 years old. It finally got to a point where we realized that we could write and put together a band better than some bands that were having a lot of success. And the inspiration is just for the ride. This is the most ridiculous, crazy, scary, incredible, lonely, funny, complex, and unusual job that I could picture doing. So what better way to spend my young years!

Is there any artist of several that you know who may be deserving of a little more light and attention?
Phoenix who I mentioned before. Their last two records are just perfect. They sound like Daft Punk mixed with the strokes.

The French Kicks never get any love and have put out amazing album after amazing album since I was in high school. Go buy all their albums it's worth it.

There's a band called Kent from Norway (I think) that have put out in-freaking-credible CDs. Namely 'hagnesta hill'. The songs 'protection" and 'kevlar soul' just totally wail and deserve your immediate attention.

Margot And The Nuclear So & So's are another amazing band that I never hear people talking about. They have two heartbreaking good albums that I listen to every time it's my turn to drive the van.

Plus there's a bunch of great Denver bands that everyone should find out about now so you can have bragging rights in the future:
The Epilogues
Elin Palmer
Ian Cooke
Born in the Flood
The Wheel
Speakeasy Tiger

I could go on for days I'm a total music nerd I'll just stop there.

What's your favorite treat?
Kid A with headphones on

Any last words?
Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like bananas.


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You can find more of their music on their myspace and look out for the new album "Broadcast" hitting your local record store's shelves soon!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Song of the week: Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop

I was clicking through the albums that I won from an amazing music blog, You Sing I Write and one of these included the new album dropping September 29th from Landon Pigg 'The Boy Who Never' and I realized that he sings one of the songs I have always loved but just never knew who sang it.
You know when that happens, songs are in commercials but they don't say the name of the guy who is singing it and that song is "Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop". Google it, you probably know it and you just don't realize it. After listening to a few more of the tracks currently streaming on his myspace, I have definitely become a fan, and can't wait to get his new album in the mail! Thanks again You Sing I Write, you have lead me to a for sure soon to be favorite once again!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Parachute

With their hit single "She Is Love" taking over the radio charts and the song being featured in the new Nivea commercials, Parachute is a band that isn't disappearing any time soon. Will Anderson and the band have come very far, and have toured with acts like The Script, Secondhand Serenade, OAR, Duffy and Matt Nathanson, along with jumping on with Kelly Clarkson this fall.

They even played New Year's Eve where the other acts included Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift. They are unstoppable and are making new fans everywhere they go.

I recently had the chance to sit down over the phone with the lead singer of the band, Will Anderson and we talked everything from how to describe their own personal sound to his favorite treat that really makes his day. Read on for more about the band and after the bump, instead of the typical video, see a fellow interview I love about clothes they like on girls, and what they don't like. Be aware!



If you could pick any three acts to tour with, who would they be and why?
Weezer, Ben Folds and U2 are my three. That would be awesome. We're big fans of all of their music, we just really like their sound, been listening to them a long time. So those three would be a dream.

You guys just released your debut album, "Losing Sleep", a few months ago. For someone who may have never heard of you and picks it up, how would you sell it?
I would say it's more like melodic pop rock, really comes down to the songs, catchy tunes you know. We're not trying to be really cool indie rock and you know, that's just kind of what it is so for us, we're very excited that people are responding to it, having it be something people have latched on to.

Is there something about your songwriting process that may make you different from other bands?
Yeah, I think we try to with the music itself, the instruments usually evolve, kind of fit the part naturally and the songs, I think are a little different then a lot of bands out there right now. Kind of different from the stuff you hear on the radio. If it's something really successful, and they've heard it before they may hear us and think 'oh it's a little something different'.

Great! Are there any albums this year so far besides yours of course that stood out to you, as a favorite?
The new Scenic album is amazing. I think it's one of my favorites and Passion Pit's album is one of my favorites as well so those two are the ones that the band really latched on too.

You guys played in Times Square on the New Year's Eve Special. How did that feel?
It was crazy, it was amazing, it was cold! It was something we never really though we would get to do and the experience was really great so it was definitely something that was very unexpected but very very awesome. Playing with those guys(the Jonas Brothers), they're huge! They're super stars so no matter how extreme or crazy the randomness of it made it something that we'll definitely never forget.

Awesome. Do you have a favorite song to play live right now?
Lately, it's been Ghost. I think it's just like pretty much our idea of something that we want to pursue that kind of sound and it's definitely where we are. That's the last song we wrote too so it's special. It's definitely our favorite song to play. We all really enjoy the song so it's definitely our pick.

Do you have a favorite venue that you like to go back to or a dream venue for the future?
The venues we go back to, we love the clubs in Sunset LA. We love the Vice Room, the Roxy. Those are two classic clubs that we really enjoy. In the East Coast, we love going to New York for the Gramercy Theater, Highline Ballroom. Those two are the best as well.

Awesome. Are there any music plans that we can look forward to, maybe something to know about after the Kelly Clarkson tour?
I'd say, we are going to do some holiday tunes. Some of our songs turned into holiday songs and we decided to record it and release it so we're really excited about that. Think we'll probably do traditional songs too as well, going to put that out then in the new year, I think we're gonna do a headlining tour which will be fun and I think just keep grinding away on the road!

What's your favorite treat?
I love like Twizzlers. Yeah, that's totally my favorite. Kids go on my twitter, read about me eating them all the time. Those are the greatest days of my life.


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You can find more of their music on their myspace and the video I talked about below:



Thursday, September 17, 2009

Meet Val Emmich.

Val Emmich is someone who you may have heard of if you're a fan of Ugly Betty or are one of those kinds of people (hey I'm included in this!) love any good American Girl cover, the classic hit from Tom Petty and the Heart breakers but Val isn't just these things.

As talked about in our interview we did, which is coming your way next week, American Girl was something he did in his role on Ugly Betty but there is way more in his music rotation. He released the album "Little Daggers" in 2007 and is in the studio right now working on his follow up album. He has ten tracks available for streaming on his myspace and his name has been talked about all over the music industry these days. Be one of "the lucky ones" and listen to the wonder of Val Emmich before he takes over the world! Did I mention he's been acting for eight years now, including being Betty's current love interest and work on 30 rock and Cashmere Mafia in the past? He also just finished his first novel and his love of words clearly carries on to his lyrics.

Check out a studio diary he just put up today and look for my exclusive interview with Mr.Emmich next week!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Chester French trying something a little different!





Never two to be with out confidence, D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey are always up for everything and luckily they are being able to get those chances on their current tour opening with Blink 182! They pretty much have been on the tour since the beginning and are just now on a little break!

They've been doing a bit of collaboration with Travis Barker while on tour among others and played it up yesterday. D.A. sported his normal uniform of matching sneaks with a sweater and tracky bottoms and Max mixed it up a little sporting boots that we normally see on go go dancers with a little baby doll peaking over his shoulder. Lucky for us the boys posted some great pictures from the show!

A little bit of a preview!

If you were at Warped Tour, you may have been able to see a great band that is quickly blowing up the alternative music charts (including MTV!). That band is All Time Low, and later this week I'll be putting up an exclusive interview with Jack Barakat, one of the four guys! He is hilarious as are the rest of the foursome including Zach, Rian and Alex, which can be seen in the brand new video they just released for their next single "Damned if I Do Ya (Damned if I don't)". Check it out!:

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

the last of Warped, couldn't end on anyone but Underoath!

Well, here goes the end of my Warped Tour footage and definetly couldn't end on anything but Underoath. They've been on the tour for six years now and definetly a band that is known as one of Warped's best. Everything from Spencer Chamberlain being part of a epic spread of every year of Warped Tour featured by AP Magazine to being able to count on friends like Fat Mike from NOFX. My favorite part of their Warped Tour upbringing? The fact that they'll brave the elements to do press and do it in fashion. I wish I had a picture of the great garbage ponchos that the boys fashioned, seemingly coming out of nowhere into the press tent in Montreal. The four of us who had set up interviews all grabbed one of the boys which is when I grabbed Grant!

I know you guys are pretty much veterans of this tour, you've been on it a long time-
Six times. Not in a row though.
And you guys are playing the whole tour.
Yep.
Awesome.

Do you have any advice you would give to new bands on the tour that maybe you didn't have?
Uh, bring a parka, a rain jacket, that would be a great idea. Especially right now. Um,
A few garbage bags?
Yeah exactly (laughs). Just get out there and try to meet fans. The best thing to do is signing something at your tent, stuff like that. It's a great time to go out and meet fans face to face, that helps out a lot.
Warped Tour so far, there must be some great memories. I know this day won't be a very fond one but what's been your favorite memory so far. Besides today of course, any fun memories on the tour?
Uh yeah no it's been awesome. Just sucks today but by the end of the day, this will be awesome. Yeah, the tour's really good. Nothing crazy really stands out yet, we're only two weeks in but I'm sure it will all happen.

Are there any new bands you've been checking out on this tour?
I went to check out Jeffree Star the other day but I missed his show. I wanted to check that out. Checked out Millionaires yesterday, that was..interesting.
I talked to them earlier.
Yeah? How was that? Good?
It was good! I liked them!
Uh, Gallows were cool. I watched them all the time. Very good. InnerPartySytem, P.O.S., actually, I saw for the first time Dear and The Headlights. They were so good, I had never seen them before, they were really good.

How have the shows been going so far?
Really good. Every show's different. There are some days like just go off really awesome. We've been psyched on every day but uh, Dallas was really cool. Southern california is always good.

I don't know if you guys come to Canada that often, but when you do go to other countries, does the crowd or scene ever seem that different, different responses to your show?
In Canada?
Everywhere.
I mean yeah. We went to South America last year and it was the first time we had been there. The kids have been waiting there for a while so we appreciated it more because we don't get to go there as often so they definetly were more amped.

You've been on the Warped Tour for a few years! Were there any bands that you were looking forward to?
There were a lot that have been on the tour. Growing up, Less Than Jake was one of my favorite bands and I will watch them play every day. When Thursday was on it, they were like one of my favorite bands. Everytime I die, a lot of those bands that we really like, it was great to be able to go on tour with them.

If someone's never seen your set, how would you describe your music?
I would say...that you're going to be rocked. Keeps it kind of just simple. Rock.

Awesome. Can we expect any new music, tours, etcetera after this summer?
We're going to do a fall/winter headliner and a couple of guys are having babies so we're taking time off.
Oh that's good.
Not me, so new record probably next year maybe.


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You can find more of their music here

Monday, September 14, 2009

And we lose another great one in Patrick Swayze.

The classic and loved actor Patrick Swayze passed away today after his long and excruciating battle with cancer. Being the optimist I try to be, I was in belief that he was doing better but unfortunately this is not true as we see.

He was most known for a few of his films, in particular Roadhouse, Ghost and my personal favorite, Dirty Dancing. What does this have to do with music you ask? Well, it's a classic semi-musical in my words and definetly a favorite scene of it is the one I've posted below. Oh Sweet Baby, you were the one! Rip Mr. Swayze

I literally hunted for an hour to find a bit that wasn't disabled. but here is Johnny's Mambo in memory! We miss you bud!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

MTV Video Music Awards..starting now!

Being the music fanatic that I am, I can resign myself to live blogging the pre show but I will be way too into the actual award show once it begins to be able to focus on it, but for now here is the pre show live blogging. you can go here if you want the live show: http://newageamazon.buzznet.com/user/journal/4543981/join-sunday-buzznet-vma-liveblog/
Enjoy!

starting comment because I don't have the time stamp but a pretty skivvy quote from Katy Perry with Sway: "Don't touch my tittay!"

7:41 pm Watching the VMA America's Best Dance Crew presentation before, not even close to the performance they are emulating.

7:47 pm 1) Pete Wentz being the typical show off that we have grown to love.
2) The beautiful commercial montage with Russel brand, Cobra Starship, Taylor Swift,
Katy Perry and Pharell Williams among others. :)

7:59 pm Just saw a shot of Kanye West with his girlfriend. She could have at least worn a dress, not a body suit.

8:00 pm Lady's Gaga outfit is insane but definetly something we expected. LOVE HER.

Yeah sorry done with time stamps. Just read it as goes, it will be funnier that way.

Idols on the VMA red carpet now doing a little interview...Green Day! Great guys, and ones that are definetly not going any time soon as we have already seen in the past years!

Love the call out to the Michael Jackson "performance" Kissing Lisa Marie on stage?

Amanda Bynes looks adorable, definetly madea good choice in the little black dress.

Nice companion in Kermit the frog, Gaga knows how to never disappoint.

Shakira's dress looks really pretty, the whole outfit, very sparkly.

Nice entrance Pink!! that dress looks gorgeous but really familiar to Shakira's?! AND CAREY

I love how Kermit is just hanging around with his "girlfriend" and gave her back her credentials. She NEVER disappoints. She's a grand dame! "Miss Piggy has been sending me some pretty funny text messages. She was wondering if it was going to be another late night."

Hello boys! 30H!3 is backstage access, love them. "You cuddle nicely."

Amazing presenter to do the breakthrough award :)

Amazing arrival by Taylor Swift. Love Tim's intro and definetly fitting exactly to who she is. In her little horse ridden carriage. And such a pretty dress.

Who is this Justin Bieber kid? I'm guessing it's pretty nice that he's fifteen and he's on the carpet and stuff but yeah for Diddy. Definitly pretty nice.

Normally, I wouldn't be a fan of the dress Alicia Keys is sporting but shre really works it. And definitly fits the sparkly requirement, very classy earrings too even though normally they don't fit that bill.

Perfect note to finish my live blogging on. The Cobras make their depature at the red carpet and get this asked "Who would you take on your tour bus from the VMAs? Taylor Swift because she's too good and we need to make her go bad!" Look at mister smarty pants on my feet Gabriel Saporta..hoping they pull out a win tonight!

JLo is looking gorgeous with Marc Anthony..or maybe it's just him?

Yeah right Jermaine doesn't know what's happening during the Jackson tribute. He's just being his sly, normal self.

Just saw the 'this is it' documentary twenty second trailer and can't WAIT for it.

Yeah for Ijustine, keeping up on the twitterverse. Definetly a same dress snafu but what are you gonna do?

Yeah JLo is releasing a new album! her dress, not the same feeling but still glam as we would always think of her.



thanks for reading guys, including viewers from Spain, Argentina and Egypt! ENJOY.




...so things like what Kanye West just did are the reasons why I will keep this up on live blogging for the night. Not on everything though. For all that missed it, taylor swift won best female video of the year and instead of letting her do her award speech, her acceptance speech, Kanye West jumped up on stage, grabbed the microphone and said "Sorry Taylor, but Beyone had one of the best videos ever," while Taylor just stood there shocked. Props to her violinst Caitlyn standing up for her in the audience when Kanye got off the stage. stuff like that just makes him hated more.

That's what you get when you do a show live and they have to cut to ads.











Ending the ska coverage with Westbound Train!

Quite possibly the largest ska band on the scene today, Westbound Train consists of seven guys who I was lucky enough to have the chance to sit down with all of them in their bus at Warped Tour. It may seem overwhelming to some people and in a sense it was, as you will see in the interview below sprinkled with punctation but all in all an hilarious interview and one of my favorites from Warped Tour.

Westbound Train is a ska band local for this blogger from Boston and just one of the great ska bands I was lucky enough to get the chance to sit down with at Warped Tour along with Longway and Big D and The Kids Table (who WT actually toured with before Warped Tour along with other great ska legends like Catch 22, Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto). They aren't exactly rookies on the scene either with four albums in their discography along with their most recent album dropping in 2009 "Come and Get It". They were also featured on Kevin Lyman's famous Warped Tour 2009 playlist where he described them as one of the bands that really represents what Warped Tour is all about.

So I know this is your guys first warped tour experience. From what I was hearing everybody talk about, it's your day five and you'll be finishing out the tour. Do you have a favorite memory so far even though it just started?
Ooh, the barbecue from like three nights ago. What barbecue was that where there was a band?Where we are?
Longway?
Pittsburgh. Ivy League was the band. Ivy League was playing and we were sitting around. It was one of those barbecues when they have a band actually playing. It was a good time!
I hung out with some Big D guys, had a little acoustic jam session, other bands came and hung out.

So, are you guys even starting now to create some bonds with some of the other bands on the tour. I mean, you're constantly together from what I see, traveling together, the barbecues together even though it's so early in the tour, are you creating friendships with other bands?
We've definetly made some new friends. Yeah, in bands that like, you know I never thought I would ever like us or we would have the opportunity to hang with. That's kind of a Warped Tour thing.
Are there any bands, coming on to the Warped Tour that you really wanted to see?
Shooter Jennings!
I haven't seen him yet, I don't know when he's jumping on.
I thought he was here today.
Is he?
He's not on the schedule but that's what I hear.
I haven't got a chance to but I really want to check out Flogging Molly's set. I think it's awesome, I've been meaning to see it too.
I was really excited to see Big D were on the tour because we've toured with those guys before. They're our bros, just fun to be on tour with them again and Less Than Jake also so.

Do you guys identify your music with Big D, Less Than Jake, the ska element?
Nah, I think we all have very different tastes like Eric's big favorite band on the tour is Dear and The Headlights.
Love Dear and The Headlights.
Represent but I like bands like Bayside like that. I think we get a long with those bands because there ska bands, we already know them. We're pretty open to everything.

That's cool. Are there any bands the really surprised you that you didn't think you would especially take to. I know there are some acts like The Millionaires, I've heard from other bands that they're having a little trouble attracting some fans,taking them seriously. Can you understand where they're coming from?
Well, Morgan's definetly into the Millionaires. He's been singing them all day. He has favorite songs and everything. Sing a song, Morgan.

Morgan: I'll pass.
with a collective aw.
It's interesting this year. There are alot of bands that are electro and screaming so it's been sort of an education about what a lot of the kids are in to now which is kind of cool.

That's really cool. I mean I was actually singing one of their songs waiting in the press line up today, so I totally understand where you're coming from. Just catchy.
-I've been trying to figure them out, i've watched them a couple times now just kind of with the goal. I'm waiting for something to click. It's not that I don't like or dislike, I just don't have it figured out at all.

-I don't really try to figure it out. I mean, they definetly have fans and that's cool and there's something for everyone at Warped Tour which is awesome about it, you know. It used to be back in the day like more of one style but Kevin Lyman's really tried to create the diversity of it and that's awesome, you know.

-I mean to answer your question, the bands that are suprising me personally are..what is that band? Rocket to the Moon and, um also the band Hit The Lights. Those guys like, you know, they work really hard and like their songs are just catchy. They're just good pop, like punk almost driven and so those are the two bands that stand out to me, those are two that surprised me.

-I got to say what most suprised me were the Flatliners because, we haven't played with those guys in years, and they're doing great. Yesterday, they sounded so good. It's been a couple years, they just blew me away, so nice to see those guys doing as well as they are, and killing it like they are.

I've been talking to Paul (of Flatliners) lately. I'm supposed to go see them today but they are awesome guys.
Great guys, especially Paul. We crashed at his house one time. We went to a Boston Red Sox game when we had a day off in Toronto.

-Blue Jays and they beat us, those bastards. BJays came in, and just tore them up.

So, how does it feel to be on the Warped Tour again with these bands again that you may have already been friends with and then you get this opportunity to come on the tour and be with them for the whole summer?
It's awesome. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the cool thing about the Warped Tour experience that every great aspect , all the great things that you would want on tour, you know. Like take away the fact that you may not get to shower every day, but like you know you have great food, great people, like great equipment. You know its', even though its day five for us, it seems familiar, to me, it seems like a familiar thing. So, they do a really great job of building a comraderie in and of itselve.

How would you describe your set? Do you change it up? How would you try to describe it to someone who's seeing if they want to check you out?
It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, takes you through the range of all emotions.

-Yeah, that's a phat answer.

-You fall in love, you laugh, you cry..all in about five minutes.

-We got a lot of soul, ska, reggae, lot of just different stuff with in the kind of styles we like. It's a pretty good cross section.
-I'd say it's kind of more old school then a lot of the other kinds of modern ska bands right now. We try to incorporate more sixties reggae ska, a lot of soul stuff.

Sounds like a really awesome sound. Now, are you guys coming out with any more projects that we can look forward to in the future, like after Warped Tour? Do you have any plans right now or is it still in the air?
Well, we plan to play in Canada in the beginning of October at Montreal Ska Fest. That's happening I guess October 10th and I think October 9th, we'll be in Toronto with the Slaggers at Bee's Palace. So, with this new record we're focusing on that we just put out trying to promote it, get it out to as many people as possible. Vinnie from Less Than Jake actually put out a vinyl 7 inch , two tracks from this new record on Paper and Plastic Records and that's reallyc ool because in our genre, a lot of people have been asking for vinyl for quite some time. It's cool to be able to give it to them.

And if you didn't know, the record is called "Come and Get It"

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Retweet of the day.

GabrielSaportaaint no secret. @ComeTogetherprettystoked/nervous for the vmas tomorrow. we all know @gabrielsaporta is secretly shitting his pantalones

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Just a little something that made me smile!

For anyone who is a fan of Augustana, the little indie rock group who could, someone has posted some great pictures from their Traveling Circus tour with the Counting Crows. The tour just came to a finale in Central Park and luckily for those who couldn't make the trip (or couldn't afford the quite insane ticket prices in some locations), a fan who had some great seats during this particular show just posted some great pictures here .

The pictures show some great smiles on some boys who have gone through some huge hard times as a band and allows their fans to really believe that the boys are getting stronger as a band. They are releasing a new album at the end of this year , were the favorite of most of the reviews of the traveling circus tour, and are playing a show at The Roxy tomorrow. I've been a fan for a while and this band tops my list of favorites, as they have been for the last few years so I am definitely excited for what is to come.

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You can find their music here on their myspace.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Congrats!

It's sappy, it's ridiculous and totally out of this blog's nature as of late but she's definetly a favorite, a like many girls (and boys!)

Normally, I'm not at all into country but today Taylor Swift got nominated for four CMA's, the top in country music awards, including entertainer of the year.

My 'street cred' may be unfortunate now but a definite congrats goes out to the nineteen year old!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Sit down with Black Tide

Imagine having to be moved from a stage because it was sponsored by Jaegermeister and all of your band was underage. At the ozzfest, where they opened for acts like Ozzy Osbourne himself and Slipknot, Gabriel Garcia, Austin Diaz, Zachary Sandler and Steven Spence, caused a little controversy yet hype because all four members had reached this level of success while all under 21 with two members even still in high school.

Black Tide was originally formed in 2004, starting out in Miami, Florida. They are signed with Interscope Records and released their debut album with the label in 2008 "Light From Above" and even won the Kerrang! Award for Best Newcomer.

Recently, I got the chance to sit down at Warped Tour with Zachary Sandler who plays the bass and helps out on the vocals in the band. We talked everything from how they have done a Kevin Lyman tour in the past but never thought that they would be playing Warped Tour to the bands he was excited about seeing on the tour.

I believe it's your first year of Warped Tour. Am I wrong?
Well, it's our second Kevin Lyman tour we've done. We did the Mayhem Fest last year which is just a metal fest. It was fun.

So, you've known Kevin for a while.
I don't like, 'know' him, but I've known of him. Oh yeah, I've known about Kevin Lyman since I was like eight. I was like, 'Warped Tour?'

So, is it kind of like a dream then?
You know, it's like one of those tours where, at least I never saw myself being on it. So to be on it, it's kind of cool, it's just. I've always associated our music with, you know, Ozzfest, more of that kind of stuff like Mayhem fest, more of the hard rock tours so to be on Warped Tour, I was like 'Really? That one?' But it's working out so far. The audiences are kind of there?
Kind of?
Yeah, we kind of expected that. We're one of those bands that are different. We're just working through it one day at a time. You know, like today, I was surprised that there were all these kids there who had like never been here in our audience was unbelievable.

Like I've been talking about before with other bands, I really think Warped Tour is becoming something that's just one genre. It's something that brings all types of music together.
For sure. Personally, I'd like to see Warped Tour become something more like Lollapoolaza. You could have like Red Hot Chili Peppers play with someone like Metallica. I'd love to see it become a little broader.

Good idea. Is there any advice that you would have liked to hear coming on to this tour that maybe you didn't have?
Well, we got a little bit of advice. Like, for actually, words of wisdom. For most it was like "oh man? you're playing warped? That sucks.' They were like 'You're going to hate it. Dragging your equipment across these fields, it's going to be raining half the time, you're going to have to wait an hour to get food. They were right.

And it's only two weeks into the tour, there's still a while to the end.
It already feels like the end.

Another band that's on tour with you was just saying the same thing, Westbound Train. How they are only on day five and already feel like it's been weeks.
Oh, after the first day, I was just like 'I don't know if I can do this anymore'.

But you're still here and that's the important part. Are there any bands this year that you're actually kind of excited to see play?
Sort of like I'm excited to see Bad Religion, they're really cool. Just for the sake of being able to watch Bad Religion. A lot of the other bands we know and have toured with before like Escape The Fate, Attack Attack, like it's cool to be able to kind of steal from their crowds. Especially to steal from Attack Attack. They were a small band that is really blowing up.

If no one has been to see you guys play before, how would you describe your set to them to try and get them out in the crowd?
If you're coming to warped tour?
Yeah.
They're not gonna like us but still come out and see us because we're not your average warped tour band. I think that's what makes us somewhat special (laughs) a little more than others.

Do you have any music plans we should look out for after Warped Tour?
Our plan right now is to go into finish writing a new record, hopefully record it with our label, then might put it out early 2010 and start touring as soon as possible. I hate being home. There's nothing worse then sitting at home with nothing to do.
I think that's how most bands are feeling these days.
Yeah, like NOFX can do tour for six months then take a year off and nothing will change but that's not for everyone.

Did you have any major music inspirations growing up?
Um, yeah. I guess in our genre, it's the average ones in Van Halen and Guns &Roses, but also just growing and being on tour, I just started taking influence from every day life and just living. I mean, you really start to learn more about the person you are and who you want to be, going around the world, being alone, touring where you can't speak the language, have questions.
Do you know any french?
Not at all, so walking around, kids come up to me talking and I'm like-
Woah buddy, slow down.
'You got to slow down'
Do you know how to say hi?
No.
Bonjour?
No. Yeah, sure. It's too confusing for me, in all honesty. But, you know, that's half the fun, half the challenge.
*As a huge clap of thunder happens during our interview*
Sorry, way too many distractions.Too much lightning.
That's ok. It's funny, actually last summer Underoath was on the Vans festival during our signing and lightning struck their stage, so we were just like-
That's horrible.
Well, no one got hurt, it hit the top of the stage but we were all, 'Aren't they a christian band? (laughs)We were like 'Hmmm'.

Haha, that's bad. How do you see the Canada scene versus the US on the Warped Tour? The fans that come out?
Uh, kids here are a little more open. I noticed everywhere outside the US, kids are more open to it. Like in Toronto, we had this great crowd, we were on pretty late in the day. We were like, oh man, nobody is gonna watch us. A ton of kids came out, we were all digging it, buying merch, just wanted to hang out-just awesome. Same thing today. Like, we've really seen just a ton of kids come out for just us.

That's awesome.
So excited.

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You can find more of their music here on their myspace.