These are a few of my favorite things..eating Vegan Cupcakes with Silverstein!

One of the hardest things in my opinion about the music industry is getting your break in another country from your origin. We've seen it with your typical boy bands back in the early nineties (Backstreet Boys were HUGE in the uk before we even saw a single track) and a band that has surpassed the challenge is Silverstein. With no doubt, Silverstein is one of the biggest hitters in the music industry as a whole in Canada and they are making a name for themselves elsewhere.

I recently caught them on a small two and a half week tour in the US in New Haven, CT where Shane Told, the lead singer of Silverstein, told me that they were hitting places that they hadn't been in a while, out of the way places. They started off the tour in Burlington, Vermont where they hadn't been in four years and they hadn't played New Haven in over two years. They've worked extremely hard to reach the level of success they've reached and don't have any plans of stopping. They recently finished out their contract with Victory Records, the popular Chicago based label that is host to plenty a Warped Tour artist which Silverstein played all of this past summer and are looking for a new place to go. They are celebrating ten years as a band this year and have plenty of plans in the works. Read on for a little piece of Silverstein!


Being a Canadian band, how do you find your United States shows different from Canadian audiences?
Shane: You know, they don't differ too much, really. We're about the same size in terms of popularity in the US as we are in Canada. So, generally they're about the same. People will always ask are American fans different from Canadian fans. I don't find them to be very different. I think the biggest difference is like if you're playing in a small, real small town as compared to a big city. You know, when you play like New York or Toronto, they're both like kind of the same but if you play a really small city, like we've played a show in Wyoming and that was a lot different. You know the vibe and stuff.
How'd that go?
Shane: It was great. I mean people there were just really excited because they don't get very many bands coming thru so when they see a band, they really freak out where as like when you're in New York or Toronto, big cities, people have kind of already seen everything. They're a little more laid back.

Yeah. Last time I saw you guys was at Warped Tour in Montreal. I know they are starting to name some bands. Are there any chances of you guys playing again next summer?
Shane: I don't know. We don't know yet. We really enjoyed it this year and it would be cool, but, I didn't know they were starting to name bands already. That's really early. Generally, Warped tour has always had a really good eye for predicting kind of what's going to be big next summer so they try to lock in those bands early before they get too big. So that's probably what he's doing. You know its a great tour and they do a really great job with getting good bands and have kept it going for fifteen years now so its awesome. I'd love to be a part of it again but I can't speak yet on whether we will be playing it or not.

I know this tour has only just begun, it's only your third show but how has it been going so far?
Shane: It's been great. Again, we just kind of booked this just to play a few shows that we haven't played in a couple of years, like here and we played the Sierra Keys. We haven't been there in four years and Vermont it's been two years so just playing some places, just because a lot of people have been bugging us "When are you gonna come back?" So we didn't expect it to be the biggest tour but so far, the first few shows have been crazy and awesome so we're excited. It's fun sometimes to play them again, play these kinds of markets opposed to big huge ones, you know. It's fun to play the clubs.

What's your favorite part of touring?
Shane: I think my favorite part of touring is definitely the show part. You know, the hour or so that we're on stage playing. I'm not a huge fan of the rest of it. You know, like traveling around. It's cool but it's hard on you, missing your family and friends and girlfriends and that stuff is really hard. You know, sleeping in a bunk on a bus isn't always the easiest. You know, but at the end of the day I do enjoy the company of the other guys and we have a good time, we party and stuff. That part's fun too but my favorite part's definitely the actual show part. It's amazing how you can be having just a really bad day, you can be in a bad mood or whatever and the second you step on that stage, every one's there excited, singing every word. That can just really life you and really make just all the annoying things during your day go away, kind of make it all worth it.

Who are your major musical influences, maybe personally or as a band?
Shane: Well, our band, it's interesting because we all come from a lot of musical backgrounds like our guitar player Neil was a big metal head growing up and I kind of was too and then our bass player pretty much just listened to punk rock. Our guitar player is really into like ska and reggae. So, it's kind of all over the map. There are a few bands that sort of unified us together, made us kind of want to start this band. The Get Up kids were one band that kind of made us want to play this kind of music. Also a few other bands that are long broken up now like Mineral, Promise Ring, Lifetime. Grade is a local band from our hometown that was a big influence. Those were the bands that really like inspired us to start Silverstein.

I think the Get Up Kids actually played here last night.
Shane: Yeah they did! You're totally right. We were a little bummed. We were hoping we could see them on the road some date but unfortunately it didn't work out!

How did you guys go about the songwriting process?
Shane: Well we all definitely get to put our opinion in. I write all the words to stuff, but I also sometimes play guitar too. I kind of write a whole song, show everybody, but most of our songs are written, we just get in a room, someone has a riff or a part. We just jam it out and build on it, kind of till we're happy with the stuff and, you know we argue, debate on how the song should be. You know, it doesn't take us too long to write songs and we just do it.

If you weren't in Silverstein, what do you think you would be doing?
Shane: Well, I went to school for molecular biology and genetics. Yeah, at university of Guelph in Canada. Um, I'm pretty nerdy so I think I probably would have just stayed on that path and maybe I'd be trying to get my phD or maybe I've already got it by now actually and maybe doing some kind of research or you know something on the science or medical field.

What's the craziest thing a fan has ever given you?
Shane: Given me? I guess there hasn't been anything like too weird or creepy. One time I got this grim reaper thing that was made out of pipe cleaners which was kind of weird. I didn't know if the guy made it or if he bought it or whatever. But I was just like "ok". But in Japan, everywhere you go they give you stuff. Um, we got all kinds of weird, like gross food that you'd never eat. We got like all kinds of stuff with our names in Japanese on it which is pretty cool like socks, gloves, hand warmers and stuff. Japan's a really good place for people to play. They're friendly and they want to really be there for you.
That's wicked cool.

Are there any music plans fans can look forward to from you guys after this tour?
Shane: I guess we're at a bit of an interesting time for our band because we've done four records now and we've done our contract with Victory Records and we aren't sure where we're gonna go from here. We have a lot of options. One thing for sure is that we just really want to continue to make music and tour and do all kinds of things and now we're just excited. There's so much we can do now and so many paths we can take so it's a really exciting time for and I'm really excited about it. I think we're going to try doing some really special stuff in the new year, some special shows. I can't really get into it yet what we're going to do. Just some stuff we've never really done before to kind of celebrate us being a band for ten years now. We're hopefully going to release some video stuff, dvd footage that we've never done. There's just a lot of things we can do outside of the just the standard making records and touring that we really want to try.


And finally, what's your favorite treat?
Shane: Favorite tree? Bonzai! They're cute and small. My favorite treat..um, a travel treat. Do you know what that is? Look it up on urbandictionary.com. There will be a definition, check it out, it's dirty.


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You can find their music here
and I want to say thank you to Hive Management for setting this up and to Shane Told!

OP Tour Teaser Promo!

Hey there boys and girls! I have been up all night on a lot of inspiration and have edited together some shoutouts from the line for the date of the OP Tour we covered and interviewed The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon and VersaEmerge at!

We were at the first date of two in Foxboro, MA at Showcase Live and decided to get some shoutouts from the fans themselves!

Check out the video below! Thanks for all your support lately and believe me, lots of amazing stuff is coming to you very very soon, along with some special announcements (we have several confirmed warped artist exclusives for next summer along with Punk goes..announcements!):




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We just want to send a thank you to Fearless, Warner Brothers and Fueled by Ramen for setting our interviews up! xx

November 27th-Boys Like Girls at Showcase Live.

This is my first attempt at a full show review here at Mix and Mark so take it with a possible grain of salt and a whole lot of fun last night.

I was there to do interviews with a few of the bands being The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon and VersaEmerge but un like other shows I've attended in the last few weeks, this was one that I couldn't, didn't want to take pictures at. It was truly one of those shows that I was just completely into from the first band on. Who hasn't heard Boys Like Girls lately on the radio, including their current single Lovedrunk? Considering this was a hometown show too (and also for Rocket To The Moon), they decided to switch it up from the past dates on the tour and played Showcase Live.
If you don't know about this awesome venue, Showcase Live actually is right next to Gillette Stadium (Yes, where the Patriots play!) and it is an awesome little music club. With capacity being under 1,000, it was a very intimate setting and a great way, in Martin's words "to end the tour in their own hometown".
The Love Drunk tour also brought along current chart topper, Cobra Starship who are one of my personal favorite bands ever which was awesome. Along with The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon and VersaEmerge, this tour was a definite no miss. We got there pretty early for an interview that ended up being delayed but we filled the time by videotaping girls in line (there were maybe four boys in the whole club) giving a shout out to their favorite band on the tour (and sometimes person) which I'll be editing together as a promo video. These fans were amazingly hardcore considering it was pouring rain and completely freezing.
Around four pm, we sat down for our first interview with Kennedy from The Maine on their recently upgraded form of transportation, the tour bus! We talked to Pat Kirch the drummer also which really was him going to the bathroom and answering a question at the same time (It's pretty epic! Will definitely have to put up the recordings of my interviews from last night!). After the interview, we headed back inside the club to meet up with Nick Santino and Andrew Cook of a Rocket To The Moon. The venue of our interview was definitely the most interesting one I've had. We ended up doing the interview standing between two of those luggage racks you use in hotels to move your suitcases, but it just made the interview more entertaining. We talked about Andrew's secret favorite place to play a show, he wants to play a set on the Chuckie Cheese stage where all the mechanical animals sing and dance. Pat from the Maine even tweeted this later: Chuckey Cheese House band.
Last but definitely not least, we swung by the catering room to interview the up and coming band VersaEmerge. This was the most casual I'd say of all the interviews but definitely the most entertaining. During the interview random members of Boys Like Girls and Cobra Starship would come in to grab a drink, and kept on shushing each other. After this interview, we were lead into the actual seating area of the club and bumped arms with Gabe Saporta as they were doing a meet and greet.

Now on to the show!
First up was Bozo The Clown, a friend of Boys Like Girls who plays acoustic guitar, it was a cute sweet start to the show and about five minutes after he went off stage, on came VersaEmerge!VersaEmerge may seem rough and tough, an in your face type of band while on stage but offstage are like a cute little family. They have gone through some rough times in the last few months losing both co founding member and drummer Anthony Martone (farthest to the right) and as of just six days ago Jerry Pierce who was present during the interview, but on stage do not show it at all. The crowd was definitely feeling Sierra's both haunting and amazing vocal talent and rocked to their set. I ended up being second row for the entirety of the show so we made some silly eye contact during the show as the people surrounding me were not feeling any of the opening bands and clearly were there for only Boys Like Girls.

Next up was my personal favorite of the night (with the rest of the bands as a very close second): A Rocket To The Moon.

A Rocket To The Moon first came onto my radar after they were pretty much a buzz word on the lips of every Warped Tour musician I interviewed. They have quickly become a music industry favorite and on of music fans everywhere. During our interview, we talked about their aspirations to be the Chuckie Cheese house band to their current favorite song to play live (personal favorite being Annabelle) and they rocked all of my favorites. They charmed their way into the girls hearts in the audience starting out the set with their ACDC cover and smoothly transitioned with hits like Annabelle, Dakota and Mr. Right, playing also their current favorite live song 'Give A Damn'. My personal favorite live changed that night, as they warned me it might. It's now by far Dakota, but it may just be the song. I've had it on repeat for a while today, and I definitely fell in love with the lyrics. See the shaky video below I found today from last night's show:




I'll be catching these boys once again on December 19th at Jingle My Bells and I'm definitely looking forward to it. Then came the Maine, who had the same amount of affection and love from the fans before the show as the headliner.
Straight from the babe's mouth Gabe Saporta calls these boys "the boys who make me wish I was gay", The Maine was ready to rock. The lead singer of this energetic bunch, John O'Callaghan was under the weather though and unfortunately it showed as he would constantly turn his head to look at who I presume was their tour manager Max but still, they put on an amazing show. Churning out their now famous cover that started getting some set time this summer, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" only the second song in, the crowd got completely rawled up. Heading right into "Into Your Arms" then "Everything I Ask For" which was complete with a dance pit that included John, the boys were on fire and definitely in their element. They told the crowd that they were sad to leave the bands and the fans, but happy to head back to Arizona since they are writing their new record and ended off on an amazing note with "Girls Do What They Want". Obviously hurting but still enjoying the show, below see a little snippet of their Pour Some Sugar on Me cover!


Then, I was ready for my third Cobra Starship show this year. They absolutely rocked it, and put on an amazing set. I definitely had a few favorite moments.

The definitely most exciting moment for me was the introduction to "Bring It (Snakes on a plane)" when Gabe calls for the cobras. As we shot our fangs into the air, no one in front of us or in the surrounding area actually knew what it was about so as Gabe came over to our side of the stage, it may just be me but we made some eye contact as we did for several points of the show. I've met Gabe in the past and this may just be his way but it definitely seemed like it happened. If you know me, I adore this band and definitely thought it was awesome. Mr. Saporta tends to recognize people who go to shows in the same area, which is something really great about this band.
Another great moment was the part of Bring It! where normally someone gets pulled on stage to do the Travis McCoy rap. This has been recently what the band has done and they reverted back to old times last night when they actually sang hollaback boy, along with Sierra from VersaEmerge joining in.
They had songs from all three albums including "The City Is At War", "Hot Mess", obviously "Good Girls Go Bad", their mainstay "Guilty Pleasure" and my personal favorite that also made a return last night, Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We're famous. The crowd still was sulking a little bit besides when they played Good Girls which was kind of depressing but still made me happy since it seemed Gabe was trying extra hard to amp up the crowd. Can't wait till they go on a headliner tour again and the crowd is more into it. Same idea as Hellogoodbye touring with Hanson?!



Last but most definitely not least was Boys Like Girls. The crowd was completely amped for them to come on and so was I. Right from the beginning when Martin came out in the spotlight on stage singing "I Got A Feeling" and jumping seamlessly into LoveDrunk. They played both new and old, with a focus on the old playing such crowd and personal favorites as Hero/Heroine, Five Minutes to Midnight, Dance Hall Drug (complete with a circle pit!) and Thunder. My all time favorite from this band is Heels Over Head and when Martin asked what old song the crowd wanted to hear, it was an overwhelming request for the song and the performance was on fire! Their encore ended on "The Great Escape" which had to be expected, considering how huge it was for them and the ending was insane. They invited the first few rows on stage which I was included in and we all just sang in unison and danced around like fools. It was a great show and I was definitely not disappointed!




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Thanks for reading my first full show review! It may be a little all over the place but I had a great time over all! Thanks for reading and look for interviews with A Rocket To The Moon, The Maine and VersaEmerge VERY soon! Silverstein tomorrow! xo

For Twilight/Vampire Diaries/Sparks The Rescue fans out there!

We've all seen the vampire craze take over the box offices and tv screens of the world lately and Sparks The Rescue just made it happen to. Sparks The Rescue is a relatively new band just finishing of a few dates with Hit The Lights and The Manatour! and they just released their debut video or their newest record.

The song? Love like Vampires.
The concept? The typical twilight/vampire diaries mortal in love with a vampire but this one has a little twist to it.





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I'll be talking to these guys at the "Jingle My Bells" show in Hartford next month so leave me a question if you have one at mixandmarkzine@gmail.com!

Introducing: I See Stars

Recently I made the trip to New Haven to catch a band that I've only seen on YouTube. Silverstein is one of the biggest bands in Canada, quite possibly the biggest screamo one and they recently just finished about a 2 1/2 week US tour which included Madina Lake, Closure in Moscow, The Word Alive, I am Committing A Sin and finally the boys in I See Stars.

I See Stars hails from Warren, Michigan and are a self proclaimed rock group. They recently ride on with Sumerian Records and dropped their debut album '3-D' at number 176 on the billboard charts. A focal point of the fans' interest that night, girls were looking into their van constantly during their set along with the occupants of the Yale shuttle buses driving inches away from me. We talked everything from their bass player, Jeff Valentine's love for everything Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl to the strangest yet amazing thing that a fan has ever told them (it's insane!). Read on for the full interview!

So I know this tour is just beginning. I think you're three shows in, how's it been going so far?
Brent (lead guitar): For us, not really that good actually. We got into a accident driving out here and we had some other complications you know during the last couple days. But the tour itself has been great. The shows themselves have been actually surprisingly good.

What's your favorite part of touring?
Brent: Probably just visiting some of the-
Devin(lead vocals): Taco bell.
Brent: Taco Bell. I mean for us we like to explore some of the cities like today this was kind of a cool place. Just getting to see new places and meet new people and stuff are kind of what we really enjoy.
Jeff (bass): I enjoy this place specifically, it's really nice.

Who are your major musical influences?
Brent: We really like the first Panic At The Disco record, that's our jam. We listen to pretty much anything under the sun, I know that's kind of cliche but it's true.
Devin: We're very open minded.
Brent: We listen to anything from Sigor Ros last night to Owl City. You know, just anything, any kind of music.
Jeff: Sigor Ros and Owl City, that's great.
Brent: But I mean if you're talking about building our music by influences, coming from Michigan, obviously Chiodos was a very big influence. Just as kids when we were like 13, 14 years old watching them was kind of a cool experience for us. Um, Green Day but we really just like anything under the sun pretty much.

How do you guys go about the songwriting process? Do you do it all together or is it one person?
Brent: Um, it kind of varies you know from song to song. Some songs, I mean, most of the songs, we all come together and bring some of our own ideas and kind of piece it the way that everybody envisions it. Recently, especially writing for the new record, we've been kind of going off on our own time and writing our own little bits and pieces of music. That's kind of allowed us to do that and bring it together to kind of fit compared to the old process which was just sitting together and constructing ideas altogether.

If you weren't in I See Stars, what do you think you would be doing?
Devin: School.
Brent: It's a hard question. I mean, we've been doing this forever. I mean literally we've been together way too long. We've always been best friends, we're more like brothers now.
Andrew Oliver (drums): Um, electrical things.

What's the craziest thing a fan has ever given you?
Brent: We got a cake that was an I See Stars cake.
Andrew: Actually the craziest thing I think we've ever had to do is some kid bought a shirt from us off the Internet. I guess like he was wearing it during a car accident that he got in and there was like blood all over the t-shirt and he came up to us and he was like "I was wearing this and I got into one of my big traumatic experiences of my life," and he's like I want you to sign it. I was blown away. T-shirt covered in blood.
Brent: Legit like crusty. He didn't wash it. That was the weirdest thing I think a fan's ever brought to us.

Are there any future music plans fans can look forward to from you guys this tour?
Brent: Maybe not so much till after this tour. After this tour, we're doing our first headliner, kind of closing off the year with that so we're excited for that.
Devin: I mean 2010 we'll have a ton of stuff but it's confidential.
Brent: I mean, we're discussing a record, looking at a time frame for that. That in itself is kind of exciting for us.
Devin: And future tour plans.

I'm addicted to:
Devin: Taco Bell.
Brent: We have severe addictions to Taco Bell.
Andrew: We're also addicted to NFL Blitz.
Brent: Madden. Select video games. And then we'll buy like box sets of DVDs.
Andrew: South park now.
Brent: We just got into South park.
Andrew: Our bass players wants us to get into Gossip Girl.
Jeff: I mean it. She knows what's up.
Brent: You know what? I don't want to hear about it.
Jeff: Chuck Bass.

What's your favorite treat, not tree?
Brent: One of my favorites is Vanilla Wafers, that's my gas station snack.
Devin: I like sunflower seeds.
Jeff: Dove chocolate.
Brent: I don't want to hear about it.
Andrew: Danish. It's retarded but I'm into it.

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Thanks again to Jerry at WarmFuzzy PR for setting this up and thanks to the boys of I See Stars. You can find their music at their myspace and find them on their first ever headliner tour starting November 25th along with playing a show with huge players in the game including The Devil Wears Prada! Thanks for reading and look for more coverage soon from the most recent Silverstein tour!

"Jingle My Bells" <3

Hey there, it's been a while!
Hope you caught the last stream of interviews posted on here and also on the music website I've been working as features editor for, MusicRemedy.com!

Lately, my life has been full of shows, cd reviews and just general life living and something exciting that's happened is that I will be doing extensive coverage of the "Jingle My Bells" holiday show at Webster Theater in Hartford, Connecticut on December 19th. It features headliners like NeverShoutNever, Hit The Lights and A Rocket To The Moon, and is sure to be a great day. Starting at three, it features about fifteen acts on one stage, so it's going to be an amazing but long day.

I'll be interviewing both new and well known acts, like Hit the Lights, Weatherstar, Secret Secret Dino Club, Spark The Rescue and Ace Enders, so I was hoping to hear some question ideas from you folks!

Also, I'm working on a contest with Fearless Records right now, so look for that soon!

Meet...Hellogoodbye.

Remember that Real World episode where the cast picked three bands they wanted to interview at South by Southwest? One of the bands, instead of staying in a typical hotel (or sleeping in their van the whole time) decided to camp out, and the cast had to walk about three miles to get to their campsite do that interview. The band? Hellogoodbye.

Maybe that was the inspiration for the video for their largest mainstream single 'Here In Your Arms'. You've all heard the song and most definitely seen the video where Forrest falls in uninvited love with another camper that climaxes at the all camp dance at the end of the summer or maybe it's just another example of the goofiness, irony, and sarcasm that has come to be known as Hellogoodbye.

Recently I got the chance to interview Forrest, Joe and Travis while they were on tour with Hanson this fall on the 'Use Your Soul' tour. Giving off a different vibe from the other bands on the tour, they had a challenge sat in front of them at their shows, and they rocked them. I got their gig in Boston at the House of Blues and they had the crowd on fire from their craigslist missed connection to their Jacob from Twilight sightings. They recently dropped their new EP "When We First Met" and are taking their time playing around and recording songs.

Their goofiness, friendship for each other and just love for what they do was very present in the interview we did, with memorable moments being their dream tour line up and what they are addicted to! Meet Hellogoodbye.

How's the tour been so far?
Forrest: The bands are great. We're great friends with Steel Train so it's awesome to tour with them again.

What's your favorite part of touring?
Forrest: Exploring new places.
Joe: Indulging in the local culture.
Travis: Being able to truly live our dreams out every day.

Who would be your three dream acts to go on tour with?
Forrest: You want me to say Hanson, Sherwood and Steel Train, don't you?
Joe: Realistically or dream?
Forrest: Realistically, Steel Train, Limbeck and The Beach Boys.
Travis: Well, the old beach boys.
Joe: Dream? Jesus, Oprah and Santa.
Forrest: The old Jesus too?

My personal favorite by you guys is "All of Your Love". What's your favorite song to play live?
Forrest: Personally mine is 'When We First Met' off the new EP.

What would be your dream venue to play?
Joe: Anywhere in Greece.
Forrest: It would be pretty sweet to play a world tour. We've never played anywhere really exotic. I mean we've played the more standard international places like Japan and Australia. I've always thought that would be sweet.
Andy: But really though, there aren't that many venues in Greece...
Joe: Duh, the coliseum.
Travis: Alright. Well besides that.

What are you personally listening to these days?
Forrest: Phoenix has a great new album.
Joe: I've been looking at my top ten lately. It's shaping up to be a good year.
Forrest: I'm heading back to the classics like The Descendents.
Travis: So..classic rock radio?

What would you be doing if you weren't in Hellogoodbye?
Forrest: Wow. That's a good question. I have no idea. Before the band, I was heading towards graphic design but I probably wouldn't have made it.
Joe: Yeah. I've seen his 1998 portfolio.
Travis: Yeah, if the internet crashed and rebooted again, maybe it would come full circle.

Your videos always have a really original storyline be it Forrest running for president to love at a summer camp. If you had to make up a music video storyline on the spot, what would the concept be?
Forrest: Well, we actually just made our new video for "When We First Met". I don't know if you've seen it but it's about me and my girlfriend's hair growing back in like seconds after we cut it over and over again.

I'm addicted to:

Joe: Burt's Bee's lip gloss.
Forrest: You really need to call it quits. I'd say...candy.
Travis: I'm addicted to....
Joe: The night!
Travis: Ok, the night.

My favorite treat is:
Forrest: Best question ever.
Andy: Sweet treats, marzipan, flying saucers.
Forrest: Peanut butter and chocolate together. Every combination!


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Thank you to Jose Martinez from Big Shot Media for setting this up, and check out hellogoodbye's sweet sweet melodies and general fun on their myspace.


His costar in the video was in the dressing room during our interview and was just laughing through Forrest's description of the video. Check it out below and see Joe's dazzling choice of wigs!:

It's been a few days...

but beware! I have plenty coming your way in particular today :)

..Last night I caught the EZ Bronz tour that Breathe Carolina is headlining currently. I have interviewed both of the boys on seperate occasions, with David Schmitt last night and Kyle Even during their last tour with Family Force 5. Their show last night was electric and even brought Kyle to tears at the end of the show when everyone shouted one last song and everyone was singing every word. They OWNED that stage. Cash Cash also put on a superb show like they always do :) I've seen both bands play twice now, within the last two months and hopefully I can catch them again soon.
In a exclusive interview with David (follow him @davidlovesit), he told me that they have another headlining tour and they are doing a little thing called Warped this year. The official announcement will be made in december on the Warped website. He told me the exact dates which he just found out that morning and I promise you'll all get a chance to see them there ;)

I also met some great other bands who will be included in my show write up coming up later today!

...and the NEW GALLOWS VIDEO CAME OUT TODAY. If you know me, Gallows is by far one of my favorite bands which may surprise some people but here it is: 'Misery'. Their latest effort comes out on the 30th so watch out for it!
It is an extremely intense video and once I instantly fell in love with. Starts out extremely slow and picks up like that with some grand shots of the lovely Frank Carter. Hopefully we see these gents on Warped Tour once again this summer as bands are begining to confirm already for this summer's festival. Enjoy :)

CHARTJACKERS.

Well hello there readers. So today I decided to be productive and put together my Queens Club interview and IT WILL BE UP TOMORROW. It has been very long in the waiting and it will be up in full tomorrow.

On other news, Chartjackers is a project out of the UK that I have been keeping my eye on, and it consists of four popular english "youtubers" that have gone through the process of producing a single and video for charity. The single "I've Got Nothing" has been released on UK itunes and as of a minute ago is available on the US itunes as well. Pick it up, and fall in love with it as ridiculously cheesy pop as it is.

The biggest Royals fans I know!

A perfect fit into the DanceRawrDance tour, Queen's Club is the hottest thing I know to come out of good old Kansas City, Missouri. It may seem like the strangest place there is for a band to come out of, but lucky for us they did! Jake Ryan, Daniel Eaton, Andrew Nichols and Tyler Bottles bring the latest bout of electro but with something a little bit extra.
I know I'm not the only one missing the grunge of the early nineties and Queen's Club is bringing it back. The tour was electro all the way with the other acts being Family Force 5, Breathe Carolina, Cash Cash and IRival, and they brought something a little different.

Find below the interview I did with the band in full (and their friend Sarah for emotional support!) after only their fourth show on the tour in Cambridge, MA!

Mix and Mark: So what's with the name?
Daniel: I had just come back from a trip to Taco Bell, and drove back to my house. We decided that I just liked the word Club and Jake liked Queen's-
Jake: That's it! I liked the word Queens and he liked the word club.

Awesome. I know the tour is just beginning, but how has it been so far?
Daniel: It's been really awesome. I mean I didn't really know what to expect but it's been even better then I expected. Like the crowds have been really cool, that's great for us. I only have good things to say and the other bands are really cool.

Have you guys gone on a national tour before?
Daniel: Not a full run like this one. This is our first like hitting every spot tour.

If you could tour with any three bands, who would they be and why?
Jake: I'd tour with Selena Gomez.
Andrew: Or Taylor Swift.
Daniel: Jonas Brothers would be a great tour.

What have been some of your favorite albums this year so far?
Daniel: Dirty Projectors is really good.
Andrew: Did that Phoenix record come out this year?
Tyler: Yeah it did!
Jake: I like that Mike Snow record.

What have been some of your major influences?
Daniel: Probably-
Jake: Britney Spears and Metallica probably.
Andrew: Aye.
Tyler: That's pretty solid.
Daniel: Kansas City Royals.
That's not a joke?
Jake and Andrew: No. Kansas City Royals.

What's the first show you went to?
Andrew: I saw Pedro the Lion. That was my first show.
Tyler: That was your first show?
Daniel: It was super rad.
Jake: I can't exactly remember my first show, but my parents have been taking me for a very long time. Well, I don't remember, I mean, seen so many but I can remember this show that definitely made me want to try and play music was, this is really cheesy, but this band called Johnny Q Public? I don't know if anybody has any clue. It's kind of like Six Flags, but it's really Yankee style like, it's called World of Fun and they're playing in a amphitheater and the guitar player's name was Bourne. He just jumped off his full staff and I was like 'WHATTT?'

How did the group come together?
Daniel: Jake and I were playing with another band, The Chariot and we played a show in Berlin. The show was fun, the after party more fun, they were playing dance music and we really enjoyed it. I don't know, I guess that experience, just being like this is really fun. We were thinking, 'Oh we can make this music that people like to dance to'.
Jake: Yeah, I think from that point I met Andy through Tyler and I was like 'man this guy is really talented' and we wanted to try just doing something, anything with him and then Tyler remembered how we had to gone to that after party or whatever and it was really fun. We thought we should try and do something together, kind of just as a side project. We kind of left that band and we really tried to do this thing. Tyler hooked up with us when we started making it for real and I think it's fun. I don't know..I like it.
Tyler: It's a pretty fun time.
Jake: It's pretty cool because these guys are my best friends and usually, I don't know how it really works out that way but it is that way for me.

I'm addicted to? :
Jake: I'm probably pretty addicted to pepsi in real life.
Daniel: I can't stop eating.
Andy: I'll say Kansas City sports teams.
Tyler: Wait! I'm last? Should I just say drugs?
Jake: Nooooooooooooooo!
Tyler: Coffee products. French press coffee.From other countries. I'm a coffee conniseur. Coffee and sand. You can just put those together.


If I had a million dollars I would:
Daniel: Probably try to get a bunch of gear for a studio and I'd probably go back to school.
Jake: I'd probably get married, I'd just need to find someone who'd want to marry me.
Daniel: We probably wouldn't be driving in a van.
Jake: With no trailer.
Daniel: We probably could afford it. We did it by choice. For this tour, we just didn't want to mess with it cause we just get better mileage and we can swing it right now because we only have five guys.


My favorite treat is:
Daniel: Sour patch kids.
Andy: Snickers candy bars.
Jake: I'm going to branch off and say whatever the snickers eggs are because they have like nutcracker shaped ones and they're always way better. They have pumpkin ones during this time of year.
Tyler: I like anything Reese's or cereal? Does that count? Cereal's good, with milk. I don't like it just plain.
Daniel: There are a lot of weird treats going on.


Do we have anything to look forward to after this tour?
Jake: Nope!
Daniel: This is it!
Andy: Nope, when we get a million dollars we're getting married.
Jake: I would build a baseball field with a million dollars too. We wanted to work together on a farm and then build a field of dreams and then some other sports stuff, like have some four wheelers, get our kids riding around.
Daniel: And be married.
Jake: I don't know about that! That was Dan's dream last night!
How about maybe a new album?
Dan: We don't have a official release date yet but it's coming early--
Andy: 2012.
Dan: early 2012 probably.
Tyler: We just signed with Tooth and Nail, so they just put out an EP with a few of our tracks.
Jake: They say they are going to ship us extra copies to sell here so that's out right now. Full length should be out soon.

--
You can find their music here on their myspace
and hopefully will be back on tour very soon!
xo

All The Pretty Girls on a Saturday Night!

Yeah! It's been a long time in the making, as were a lot of music videos I was particularly excited for this fall (A Skylit Drive, new 30H!3 remix..) and now Fun's "All The Pretty Girls" from their debut album as a band 'Aim and Ignite'.

All three boys in the band have splintered off from previous projects besides Jack Antonoff (the lead singer of Steel Train), Nate Reuss (former member of The Format) and Andrew Dost (ex member of Anathollo). This adorable trio have been melting hearts all over the country with their lovable lyrics and fun (pun alert!) live shows. Lucky us, they just released their debut music video for "All The Pretty Girls" and are jumping on the road again starting today in Tucson till the 15th on a headliner. Right afterwards, they are jumping on the road with Jack's Mannequin for a few more dates! Actually, the one (unfortunately) and first time I saw the band play was literally just a few days after they had formed and were out on tour with barely any instruments and were still working out the kinks and it was with Jack's Mannequin!

Here's the new video. I've had it on replay for the last hour, no big deal or anything. Come back to Boston!



Check out their myspace for more and their upcoming dates :)

Retweet:

Trohman: new @falloutboy song teaser off the limited edition Believers Never Die-Greatest Hits! http://bit.ly/3g7peZ .

I don't know about you folks out there, but I'll definitely be picking up the physical copy of this album which comes out November 16th in the states and November 17th worldwide. I have become a huge physical album kind of girl so now I just have to pick what package I want. I'm kind of leaning towards infinity. Hello a copy of thew Believers Never Die yearbook?

follow me on twitter @mixandmark
follow Joe @trohman

xo

Video of the week!

I'm like a proud mother when it comes to bands I've been listening to for a long time reaching a great height. This morning, Parachute played 'She Is Love' on Good Morning America:

This week at Mix and Mark!

...a brand new interview with the great Queen's Club who you may have seen rocking out on the DanceRawrDance tour with some past Mix and Mark favorites in Breathe Carolina and Cash Cash. Last time I saw them was in Cambridge during the tour and they had just gotten signed with Tooth and Nail literally days before. Watch out for the latest and greatest thing out of Kansas City lately here on their myspace and here in the next week!

...the latest artist of the week which just happens to be Mayday Parade! Currently one of the co headliners on the epic AP Ball tour, I recently did an interview with this band to see where they were with everything be it their latest tour plans or the likelihood of being on Warped this upcoming summer...my album review of Twin Atlantic's "Vivarium". It's the debut US release from the scottish based band and is AMAZING. I like to compare them to the UK version of Blink 182 and that's not a bad thing at all! Coincidentally, Twin Atlantic recently got a chance to watch an Angels and Airwaves rehearsal and had the chance to talk to Tom Delonge after (center in the picture)!

also coming up tomorrow I'm meeting Justin Nozuka at his show and interviewing a bit at the show and going to the Forgetful Jones release party this friday in Boston! Have a good week readers and looking forward to what this week brings us in music and life! xo

New Cobra? What's that? <3

It's just one of those days where everyone is being awesome, and thus this girl, yeah me!, is blogging about five times. Stop being awesome people!

One of my easily favorite bands in the biz, the beautiful people in Cobra Starship, are currently finding themselves all over this place and hopefully even more if our interview plans go like they are! They've been featured as one of my biggest guilty pleasures, have had their videos on here and even a review of their recent Boys Like Girls date in Los Angeles that I caught over the good old ustream. They just dropped a little commercial like video to let everyone know that they are dropping some new cobra cam episodes very soon and even included some of their favorite friends, Mr. Pete Wentz and Jack!

Watch out cobras!


New CobraCam.TV Episodes Coming Soon!

Cobra Starship (646-462-4449) | MySpace Video

Song of the day. Pa-Pa-Power!

"No we will not destroy you," along with hand claps and the Silverlake Conservatory with it? No one can deny the greatness of the debut album from Dead Man's Bones and my personal favorite from the album being Pa Pa Power, I decided that it was time to implement the on occasion song of the day to the blog. Yes, lately I've started a million new days/themes/but it's definitely pushing me to update more often which is a good thing!

Pa Pa Power, along with some personal favorites like "In The Room Where You Sleep" and "Young and Tragic" are quickly becoming on constant repeat in my head and I was lucky enough to catch their set about two weeks ago at The Middle East. They just finished a select amount of dates on a headlining tour and hopefully they decide to hit the road again soon!

ANOTHER Kevin Lyman Tour?

The man is literally on fire. Kevin Lyman has just announced the initial lineup for the first annual Country Throwdown tour which will be happening May 13th to June 20th. It is the fourth tour assuming annual tour that Kevin has organized, including Rockstar Taste of Chaos, Rockstar Mayhem and most well known and the first one, Warped Tour.

Billboard.com has just announced that the headliners will include country music favorites like Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town and Montgomery Gentry while also featuring acts like Eric Church, Lost Trailers and The Eli Young band. It's still early in the planning stages but already it sounds like an awesome idea. There will be one main stage, two side stages, and a music in the round set up with nine different singer/songwriters.

Already, I thought Kevin Lyman was a complete genius and now even more. I guess Billboard thought the same thing as he will be accepting an award on Thursday for his philanthropic and environmental efforts.

For more on the tour check out: http://tinyurl.com/yajn366

Getting down with A Skylight Drive!

"I want to hear you call my name for the first or the last time" is just a bit of the musical genius I have heard from six of the most personable, hilarious and just plain awesome boys in the alternative music scene. A Skylit Drive, other wise known as Jag, Nick, Corey, Joey, Kyle and Brian are quickly becoming one of the heaviest hitters in the screamo music game today, especially with their latest release "Adelphia" and are still some of the most humble people I know and I was lucky enough to have the chance to sit down with them recently on the tour they just finished out with Senses Fail, Closure in Moscow and FACT.

I last saw them on Warped Tour in Montreal, and definitely enjoyed their live set. Just coming off the release of their latest album, Adelphia, the band was on fire and put on a great show. They come from Lodi, California and have several albums under their belts. Currently they can be found on the road in Europe with past touring buddies Dance Gavin Dance and are playing some California shows to round out the year.

Everything was on the table in this interview including how they believe their latest album effort is doing, how awesome their tour manager is and their favorite acts to hit the road with. The requirements? You have to like partying and don't take Jag's corn dogs. Read on for more!

So last time I talked to you guys, we were at Warped Tour. Have you already gone to Europe, or is that after this?
Joey: No, it's after this.
Nick: Are we on right now?
Yes.
Nick: So this is the real deal. We're going after this tour. Hopefully.

Do you guys know who you're going with on this tour?
Brian: We're going with Dance, Gavin, Da-a-a-a-nce.
Joey: We don't really like them though.
Brian: They're terrible musicians.
That's really really sweet of you.
Brian: I'm just joking!
Jag: Yeah, they fart on our pillows.

I know the tour is just starting but how has it been so far?
Brian: Fantabulous.
Corey: Dooing
Brian: Corey says its been dooing.

You guys released Adelphia in June. How has it been going so far?

Nick: I think more and more time goes on, like more people are starting to get down with it. I think at first not everybody was on the Adelphia train.
Joey: It's like Christian Bale movies. The first time you watch it, you kind of think it sucks but you just keep watching it over and over again. Oh this might rule, or it might not.
Nick: Not that everyone didn't like it right away, I'm not really sure. Just maybe we're progressing, the tours were going on have been awesome, more and more kids are coming out. It's really sweet!
Brian: Totally sweet bro.
Joey: Bill Murray sweet.
Brian: You can quote Joey on that one.


Who are you some of your influences?
Corey: Oprah Winfrey.
Joey: He watches Oprah a lot. I'm really into Maury because I think he has a real talk show. Yeah I used to watch Ricki Lake every night at like two in the morning.
Brian: Montell Williams.
Joey: Brian likes more of the african influences.

Who would be your top three acts to tour with?
Brian: Closure in Moscow
Who you're already on tour with.
Brian: Who we're already on tour with.
Joey: Breathe Carolina.
Nick: Yeah we've toured with them. We can check both off them off the list.
Corey: I think we're down to tour with anybody, anyone that's cool and fun. Or who likes to party.
Joey: I really like fact actually too because they don't speak english.
Not at all?
Nick: That's not the only reason we like them.
Joey: Yeah. They're really funny though, all they say is the same two sentences.
Jag: We can't really like repeat what they do know. We haven't been the best influence on their English. We'll start teaching them nicer things through out the tour.
Joey: We're starting them out small.
Jag: How to rowl up the crowd, have to say curse words and everything.
Where are they from?
Nick: Japan.
Joey: They're all in their thirties but they look like there twelve years old.
Jag: They're seriously all thirty and they look like they're sixteen. It's all that rice.

What's your favorite part of touring?
Jag: Just playing.
Brian: Kids coming out, the reaction from the crowd.
Joey: Nick hurts himself usually every night on stage.
Brian: Yeah, he has a black eye right now. He did that all on his own.
What did you do?
Nick: I tried to make up a cool story of what had happened but I couldn't think of anything so i'll tell it to you straight because I like you, you're cool, we could be friends and stuff. I was throwing my guitar around, trying to look cool, went to take it off and I ended up just smacking myself right in the face and the whole crowd went "oh!" at the same time.
You should really make something up!

Jag: Then there was almost the time he died on Warped Tour. He almost tripped over a box. We're up like nine feet, he tries to jump over a box, almost falls over.
Joey: There were probably a thousand kids there and they all just went "wooo!"
Nick: And then on this tour, the first night, I fell really heard, I wiped out.
First night.
Jag: He made it look cool though.
Nick: I did.
Joey: By hitting a security guard in the face.
Nick: Well see that wasn't the cool part. I made it look like I was trying to jump into the crowd.

What's the craziest thing a fan has ever given you?
Jag: Someone gave me-
Nick: What kind of fan are you thinking of? There have been some weird things...
Brian: One time, these girls gave us clay dolls of each and everyone of us at Warped Tour.
Nick: They were like real action figures.
Brian: Yeah, we like have a skylight action figure.
Jag: It was the highlight of my life.
Brian: I totally played with mine for like a long time.
Joey: We couldn't figure out which ones were Nick and Joey though.

What are you addicted to?
Joey: I'm addicted to having fun.
Joey and Brian: Yeah, we're addicted to partying.
Brian: That's for the record.
Joey: Dancing also.
Corey: Herbs like Paprika and oregano.
Brian: We actually don't do drugs. We try to stay away from all the hard shit just you know cause cause it just messes up your body and your mind.
Joey: We just know a lot of people that have gone down that path..and they're all in this band.
Nick: I'm too good looking for that.

If you had a million dollars, what would you buy?
Brian: House, party house or a yacht, a party yacht. That could be a house. I would buy like a bunch of movies, dvds, video games, that kind of stuff.
Nick: I would buy world peace.
Brian: What if you could really buy that? That would be awesome.

What's your favorite treat?
Joey: Just being with my friends on the road.
Brian: Yeah, hey that's a good answer. That's a good treat. Just being around friends.
Nick: Joey thinks we're friends.
Brian: And our driver Chad.
Jag: Chad's awesome.Look how good looking he is?
So you guys don't have to drive the rv at all, you can just sleep.
Brian: Yeah he's pretty good looking. He's awesome.
Jag: Nobody lights up your life like Chad.
Corey: He's a good babysitter.
Chad (the bus driver): I'll tickle you before I tuck you in or I'll just tickle you or make you one of Jag's corn dogs when he's not around.
Jag: Yeah I heard about that. I was going to talk to you about that later. Not just one but two!

--

You can catch the boys on tour in two days around Europe with Dance Gavin Dance, and at a few home state shows in California to round out the year. Also, You can find "Adelphia" along with their other albums all on itunes and check out their tunes on their myspace.