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Friday, September 30, 2011

Experiments in Low Fidelity

    When getting a band together, singer/songwriter Edward Raney turned to old demo tapes for a fitting band name. "I have a habit of never naming songs, unless I absolutely have to. So I would simply label each tape 'experiments in low fidelity part 1' or whatever number it was." Says Raney. Experiments in Low Fidelity was born.
    After starting the band, the name took on a more literal meaning based on the definitions of the individual words. "I'm a generally a very, very honest, and loyal person. Sorta brutally honest, and stupidly loyal, even when I shouldn't be. Which tends to get me into alot of trouble. So I've been trying to be a bit more realistic, keeping more of my opinions to myself, and assessing whether loyalty to a person/thing, is really justified, or intelligent." Says Raney.
    In the spring of 2010, with constant urging from friends, Edward decided to put together a band. Putting together a band wasn't easy. Edward recruited his friend Chris on keyboard, but they had alot of trouble finding a 2nd guitarist and a drummer. "I already had alot of the Experiments in Low Fidelity songs, completely written, and finalized. So there wasn't really much wiggle room for people to inject their own style into things. I had a very distinct idea of how things should be. Which made finding a second guitarist nearly impossible." Says Raney.
    Justin Plantz contacted the guys about playing drums and they were blown away. "He'd had a week or so to listen to MP3s of the Demo's I had at that point, to familiarize himself with our stuff a bit. When we met up with him, we were both totally blown away. I mean, it wasn't perfect. But for the first time ever playing with us, he did amazingly well. So we gave him the job that day."
    Unfortunately, the honeymoon period didn't last long. Chris and Justin didn't get along for long and it escalated into a violent argument which gave the band no choice but to let Chris go. "The weeks leading up to argument, he'd missed several practices, due to going out of town to see other bands shows. An to us, if you care more about seeing another band play, than you do about practicing with the band you are actually in. Then you probably shouldn't be in that band."
    The band went through several bassists before meeting Dylan Lasley. "He came to every show, was always excited to see us play. So eventually we started getting him to help out with random stuff (load up, setup, selling merch, etc). When an opening for the position came up, we told him if he learned the songs, we'd let him play bass. He was dedicated to the band, before he was in the band. We probably should given him a chance long before we did."
    The band is influenced more by movies and television than music. "I try to think of a song, like a scene in a movie. If this song was the soundtrack, to a part of my life, what part would it be? What scene would it be? Thats how I determine what the overall feel should be. Its like trying to paint a picture with music. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Most times, it starts one place, and then takes on a life of its own while I'm writing and I just let it go where I think its pointing me."
    When it comes to lyrics, sometimes Edward will go out of his way to find inspiration. "I draw all my influence, simply from life. I'm not sure I could write about something I feel no connection to, and why would I want to do that?
I let the path of my life influence the tone of anything I create, cause thats sorta the point of making music, or creating art. At times, I've gone so far as intentionally putting myself in rather unsavory situations, or around unsavory people (which will eventually turn into an unsavory situation), simply so I have some sort of struggle, or strife, to play off of. Something that actually makes me HAVE TO write. Making music, is just about the most important thing in my life, and sort of how I define myself as a person. So I've always felt that suffering anything, is worth it, if I can get a good song out of it."
    The band strives to be different and unique. Often times, Edward has gone several months at a time without listening to music as to avoid any accidental influence. "The only way to really describe the way we sound would be to say, we're complexly simple. We're not so stripped down, as to sound like talentless a**holes. But never so complex as to sound like a big, busy, wall of sh*t either. We just do whatever the song needs, to be its best. Nothing more, nothing less."

    A lot of the band's music is negative. "Theres not a whole lot of hope, or positivity in our songs. I believe the best music/art comes from the worst times in life. Because, you only grow as a person, during the rough spots. Sure at the time its happening, you'll hate every miserable second of it. But once that time has passed, and you have a chance to look back on it. There's a reason people's memories of the bad times, are always more vivid than their memories of the good times. The bad times force you to think and reflect. The good times, just make you smile."
    "Really over all, the only "message" we have for anyone is simply "You're not alone." There might be different messages, or theme's, depending on the song. But over all, we're just trying to tell who ever is listening, "You're not alone." To me, thats really the whole point of making music in any sort of format that employs words. To give people a chance to see that someone else out there, understands how it feels."
    The band released their 052811 EP on, surprise, May 28th, 2011. "Each song is its own entity. There are moments of longing, lustful sadness, followed by spastic angry outbursts. We covered a pretty broad range of emotions. But overall, each song is its own thing. If anything, I'd say the overall sound and mood is just a bit dark, questioning, and hopeless at points. Sure, there's a glimmer of hope here and there, it'd be a bit boring if there wasn't. But overall, each song is just a moment in time. Theres no happy ending, because the end hasn't come yet." The band is currently working on their debut album. The album will include a few songs from the EP and lots of new material.
    Depending on the mood, the band can play a reserved, laid back set or they could play a chaotic, energized one. "It all depends on our moods, whats going on in life for each of us, and how energized the crowd is. But regardless, we're always in top form when performing. We put every ounce of ourselves into each performance, whether playing for 2 people, or a whole bunch of people. We have an insanely rigorous practice regime, so unless something is going terribly wrong, we always give the best performance we are capable of."
    The band is very considerate of the fans in the audience. "To us, the whole goal of performing, is to make sure that every single person in the crowd, whether they've heard us before or not, will fall in love with the band, and not simply go home, and completely forget about us. Performing isn't just about what we do on stage, its about what we do the entire time we are at a venue. Whether that be thanking the club owner for giving us the opportunity to play, making sure we stay to watch every band on the bill, or sitting and drinking a beer with some guy that just loves the band."
    Apart from the album, the band has a few things in store in the coming months. " we're currently in the process of planning a summer tour for 2012. Hoping to hit as many major cities as we are capable of doing. Expand the fan base further, sell more albums, Spread this disease as far as we can, try to get some real radio play, etc, etc, etc. All the things any serious band wants to do." Be sure to check the band out on Facebook!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Celestial Ruin

    Vancouver's large indie music scene is the home of up-and-coming symphonic metal band, Celestial Ruin. The band's drummer, Adam Todd, came up with the name to reflect the band's sound. "The name itself refers to our style of music, heavenly destruction. Hard rock with beautiful vocals and melodies, yet with a heavier, darker edge."
    There is a lot of rock music in the Vancouver indie scene, but nothing like Celestial Ruin. The band hopes to bring a predominantly European style of music into the front of the Canadian rock scene.
    The idea for the band came to be nearly 7 years ago. Adam Todd had quit the music project he was working on and searched for a vocalist. With a specific sound in mind, he auditioned several vocalists, but came out empty handed. Through a friend, Adam came across Larissa Dawn. She had been performing at a karaoke bar for five years and had performed in the local theatre, including a role in the long-running hit, Tony N' Tina's Wedding. Larissa performed "Somebody to Love" by Queen and "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga for Adam and he decided she was the sound he needed.
    The next member to be recruited was their keyboardist, Nathan Loflin, who has a BA in music and an experience with orchestration, score writing, and writing symphonies. The two remaining members, Logan Constant (guitar) and Mike "Dikk" Dagenais (bass) would be recruited via Craigslist.
    Some of the band's influences include Within Temptation, Nightwish, and Epica and are regularly compared to goth rock band, Evanescence. "We all have individual influences, but as a band and the sound we are going for is in close relation to these originators of the genre."
    "Our sound can vary from soft and haunting to heavy and destructive. When it comes to themes or messages, we love fantasy and mythology so there are various reference to many of these in our songs; such as 'The Hunted' about a girl in love with a werewolf, 'From Beneath You' is about zombies, and 'Underground' is about a girl who was buried alive, in a matter of speaking."
    The band has played all over, including The Media Club, a local hot spot for the rock scene, The Princeton Pub, The Penthouse, former performance space for the likes of Etta James and Nat King Cole. The band has an upcoming Halloween show on October 29th at The Railway Club and will be playing the large fantasy fair, Nerdfest, on November 19th at The Rickshaw.
    "Nerdfest is an incredible fantasy fair being held in downtown Vancouver. It will feature three bands, sword fighters, belly dancers, actors and even a Magic the Gathering station. The Rickshaw is where all the large symphonic metal bands play when they come to town. We are super excited! It's a huge event and there will be tons of people there, and seeing as we all have an inner nerd, it's like home sweet home, ha!"
    The band is currently working on their debut album, The Awakening which is set to be released in February 2012. "The debut album is gonna be killer! The music is something we are all very proud of. Every song tells a story and is unique in it's own way. Larissa Dawn prides herself on the fact that no two songs sound alike."
    The band is also very excited to be working with multi-platinum music producer, Kevin Hamilton, who has worked with Moist and various other Canadian musicians and television projects. "Working with Kevin has been nothing short of a pleasure. He is incredible professional, extremely experienced. He is true to our vision of the music, but has some amazing ideas and perspective on the sounds and how each part is vital to the sounds and overall effect of the music. We are a theatrical project and he understands how to bring that to life."
    The band has been lucky to have garnered so much interest. They have been published in several different publications, including up-and-coming online magazine, Get Live, and local newspapers. "Adam has always been very hard at work looking into possible publications that would be interested in our sound."
    The band has a lot planned for the near future. "We have been submitted to the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise for January 2012 and are awaiting to see if we have been selected as one of the performing bands. We'll focus on finishing the album and also plan to start local touring in late spring. Of course we always write new music, we are always creating, but in the end we are all just crazy musicians and plan to have fun every step of the way."
    Unfortunately, Logan Constant has decided to part ways with the band, but the band will reveal the new guitarist in the near future. "Celestial Ruin has since released Logan of all contractual obligations and wish him all the best in his future career in music." Be sure to like the band on Facebook!

Monday, September 26, 2011

The Last Autumn and The Fancy Pantaloons! EP

We got to catch up with Uncharted Music News alumni, Tristan Stafford of The Last Autumn! and he talked about his upcoming EP!

How are have you been doing since the last time we talked to you? How are things going?
:Things are going great! I'm finishing up The Fancy Pantaloons! EP, going back Sunday to finish up some vocal parts. Maybe throw in some bass. You know, the works!

Tell us about your success on Purevolume! How were you able to pull it all off? 
:Haha it was 10 days of 100+ straight plays. So it earned me about 1000 plays over all. But some how, I have about 2500 plays! And they also emailed me the other day saying I'd be a featured artist sometime this week.

What can you tell us about the new EP? How many tracks are on it?
:The new EP is going to be all just some super cute songs with alot of emotion tied in with it. It's definitely going to be a good one, for sure. and the main EP will be a 4 song EP and the special edition will be released around Halloween or Early November with one more track entitled TheUmbrellaSong!

Tell us a bit about the songs on the EP. How are they different than previous songs you've done? 
:Well for these new releases, it'll be studio quality and tracked and mastered and stuff. The new songs are going to be totally different! There's some stuff about those Summer romances, some stuff about hot cocoa and coffee, and even a song about a giant bee teaching me things haha. It's definitely a trip.

What's next for your project?
:I'm actually writing two new ukulele songs and going to re-do a few older ones on uke. I'm going to add some electronica/techno elements to see if I can get a totally new sound too! I'm super stoked.

Anything else you'd like to say or address?
:Well that I'm definitely thankful for everything that everyones done for me. Whether it be promoting, or just listening. It's all extremely helpful.

Oh! And that TheFancyPantaloons Drops early October on iTunes for 4.95$ and that comes with 4 songs, and if you pre-order it comes with one other song, and possibly a physical copy. Just message me on here for pre-orders and I'll be stoked to hit people up with it!

Friday, September 23, 2011

My Own Chaos

    "Every single one of us seems to have our own glitches, our fears, our phobias, mainly our own personal chaos that get in the way of our everyday existence." Says Vancouver metal band, My Own Chaos. "Chaos is all around us. It is a way of life."
    The band came together a few years ago, back in 2008, and got their start in the divided music scene of Vancouver. "The local Vancouver music scene is quite divided compared to most cities across the country. In Victoria for instance, you see the punk guys at the metal show, the metal guys at the punk show, etc. Although diverse, Vancouver seems to be pretty divided in that respect, even according to subgenre.  It would be nice to see it meld together a bit more across genre, but its still a great scene.  Lots of musicians in this city as well. We try to get out and support as many shows as possible"
(Photo: Lisa Bayer)
    Connie Chaos, the band vocalist, and guitarist, Oleg Za worked together in the band Splatter. They decided to start a new music project so they recruited Connie's long-time friend, Eric Wolf, to play bass. Eric brought on guitarist, Alex Dubreuil from Quebec to join the project. The band then turned to show organizer, Steve-O for their drumming needs.
    Collectively, the band's influences range from metal legends like Pantera and Slayer to bands like Nightwish, Otep, and Motorhead. The band creates a heavy and aggresive sound while still keeping it melodic.
(Photo: Lisa Bayer)
    In mid-June, the band released their self-titled album and recieved positive reviews online. "We couldnt be happier with the album.  We wanted that 'big' sound. Its a good feeling to know that people enjoy and relate to what you are creating."
    The album was very personal for Connie, who wrote the album about her divorce. "It is my form of therapy. That was a difficult thing to go through, but this album helped me heal myself. Had I not gone through what I went through, this album would have never existed. There was no way I would have been able to reach deep inside myself and describe exactly what was going on inside my head. I had to take a very honest, deep look within myself which is hard to do for anyone. Everything happens for a reason and I guess this album was it. Sometimes a breakdown can actually be a breakthrough."
(Photo: Lisa Bayer)
    You can find the band playing all kinds of shows. "We tend to fit in with all kinds of acts as our sound is not one specific genre or subgenre.  We like to be all over the place. We also like touring as well. Actually, we kind of prefer being on the road. Its interesting to see how different scenes operate with different people."
    Performances are very high energy and the band very much enjoys involving the audience. "We try to bring the audience into the show and give them what they want. Its not 'our' show, its 'their' show.  We are there to entertain them. If we could live onstage, we would. Set up the cot in the back and wake us up when its go time."
    So what's next for these metalheads? "Aside from world domination? We are heading out in October on a Western Canada/Northern BC tour and currently putting together new material for our 2nd release.  We are currently shopping for a label and considering a possible management deal, but thats all I can say
about that right now." Be sure to like the band's Facebook and to follow their Twitter for tour updates and more!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Chasing Morgan

    After playing a few shows in the summer of 2010, the Bel Air pop-punk band Breaking The Silence changed their name to Chasing Morgan. "We decided on Chasing Morgan because it was original and unique and also because it has some meaning to us – a meaning that we keep a secret between the band."
    The Bel Air music scene isn't very exciting according to the band. The band puts it bluntly. "There are lots of great talented bands in the area, but not many kids come out to shows. That’s why we tend to play down in Baltimore, the scene there is a bit better. There are lots of people trying to keep the Bel Air music scene alive, but it’s still nothing compared to what it was 2005-2007. Back then there was a HUGE scene here, All Time Low, American Diary, Dropout Year, Sorry for the Silence - a bunch of larger bands came out of that scene."
    A majority of the band has been jamming together since middle school. Darin Reagan(lead guitar), Steve Cross(bass) and Kevin Ambrosich(rhythm guitar) have been playing music together since about the 7th grade. In late 2009, the band was contacted by Mark Weider via Facebook about filling in the vocalist position. The band agreed and soon afterwards, they asked their friend, Brian Lindsey, to play drums. By the summer of 2010, the band was playing shows and taking things seriously.
    The band played the Ernie Ball stage this summer at the Maryland stop of the Van's Warped Tour. "We entered an online contest to play the Ernie Ball stage. People would vote for the bands online, then all the bands with the top 100 votes for each date would get reviewed by judges and 4 out of the 100 were chosen to play. By July we had the 4th most votes in Maryland and a few weeks before the show we were chosen to play. Playing Warped Tour was such an awesome experience for all of us, we got to promote a ton, see a bunch of our favorite bands play and the show went really well. We definitely hope to play warped tour again, hopefully more than just one date next time."
    This November, the band will be opening for legendary punk band, The Misfits, at the Recher Theatre in Towson, MD. The band has played with several national acts such as Hawthorne Heights, Vains of Jenna, I Call Fives and more, but have never shared the stage with a band as influential as The Misfits. "We are super stoked for the show especially since we’re taking a small break from shows due to college and to writing new songs, so this show is the next one we have booked. It should be an awesome show!"
    The band has appeared on 98Rock, a local baltimore radio station, on two seperate occasions, both in the summer of 2010 and again in the summer of 2011. "The station has an awesome program called Noise In The Basement where every Sunday they have a few local bands come in and get interviewed and have one of their songs spun on the air. Then the next day those bands play a show at the Quarter in Baltimore."
    During the spring/summer of 2010, the band released several of their early songs in the form of their EP, The Breakfast Special EP. The band admits that the EP lacked direction and that it was mostly immature and simple, but that it was fun, light-hearted pop-punk music. "We wrote a lot of the songs while we were still in high school and before we started playing shows. We recorded it in the winter of 2010 at Orca Sound Studio and we are really happy with how the songs turned out, Our Producer Kevin Johnston did an awesome job and it was a lot of fun to record."
    The band has moved on from high school and have been playing shows for a bit now, they have grown mature so it's only natural to wonder when to expect an album. Although there is no set date, the album will be coming. "Over the past year we have all grown a lot as musicians and song writers. This album will be more mature lyrically and musically. Its going to be a bit more punk then the EP was; more intense, in-your-face punk rock. Right now we have about 4 songs completely written and another 10 or so that we are working on. We will be recording up in New Jersey starting in late November. We are really stoked for this album and we cant wait to record it and get it out there to everyone!"
    This winter, the band is going to be touring the east coast with the band, Random Holiday. "The tour will be called the 'Grandmother got ran over by our van tour' and will start right after Christmas on the 26th in PA then we'll go up north to the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts area then come back to MD to spend the new years at home. The we'll be playing in Maryland on the 1st and in Virginia on the 2nd."
    Like the band on Facebook to get updates on the tour schedule and all your other update needs!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Scars Heal In Time

(Photo: Southern Envy)
    In the heart of the Houston, the largest city in Texas, you'll find two young musicians doing what bands twice their age have yet to accomplish. The Scars Heal In Time, which had their first practice in late July, 2010, have played over a hundred shows since forming, have opened for Bad Company in front of over 10,000 people, and have released an album titled Twisted Truth. What makes all of this even more impressive? They've accomplished all of this before their 18th birthday.
    The band consists of sisters 16 year old Kayla(guitar/bass/vocals) and 13 year old Tayler(drums/screams) Smith. Their young age comes at an advantage and a disadvantage. "Being a young two piece, people don't want to take a chance on us playing at their bars and clubs. But once we get in we are always asked back. People tend to underestimate us because we're young and look cute and innocent." Says the band.
(Photo: Southern Envy)
    The girls are influenced by Nirvana and many female fronted bands. Joan Jett is a huge inspiration for them and the girls also look up to local Austin band, One-Eyed Doll. "They have helped us out a lot and are really great people."
    When asked to describe their sound, the band had trouble coming up with a straight forward answer. "That's hard... Cause we are so many different things. Something along the lines of Alternative / Rock / Punk / In Your Face."
    The local Houston scene is very metal, according to the girls. "There are a few bands around who don't fall into the category but the majority of them are metal. Strangely, the metal crowds love us. We are very involved in the local music scene. In order to gain respect and support you have to give it. We go out to other local shows whenever we can. We love our local music scene."
(Photo: Rhonda Austin Meredith)
    Recently, the band released their album, Twisted Truth, in April 2011. The band talked a bit about the album.
"If you ask ten people what our sound is you will get ten different answers. We once got "Heavy Mellow" Not quite sure what that means but we like it! We write from the stuff we see and hear about daily. Since we are so young we don't really have a lot of life experience so we put ourselves in other peoples shoes. 
The songs on Twisted Truth are mostly about relationships but not what you would expect from us. We've had grown men come up to us and tell us they can relate to our songs which is an awesome feeling.
So far we haven't taken it online. We should be doing that soon though. We have sold quite a few actually. We have received a lot of airplay on internet radio shows. One of the songs "Love Or Death" (Which is a Romeo and Juliet type story) is the fade out song on the internet TV series "Cyphers" starring Debrianna Mancini.  She is that actress that was in "Crazy Hearts" with Jeff Bridges."
(Photo: Rhonda Austin Meredith)
    Clubs, concerts, festivals and even motorcycle rallies, the girls play it all. "We've played over 100 shows with as few as 20 people and as many as 15,000.  Obviously, we enjoy the bigger shows more, but we just love playing." Their shows are loud and awesome. "Expect it to blow you away. And definitely expect the unexpected."
    The band is really itching to get back into the studio "We have some new songs we want to get recorded.  We are starting to play more dates out of town. Some not too far like Dallas, San Antonio but we are also going to Colorado and in December we will be in Nashville."
    Be sure to check out the band's Facebook!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Undesirable People

    Undesirable People, the punk rock band out of St. Clair Shores, Michigan, formed in the summer of 2010. The band name is the band's "refusal to let image or specific genre overtake our main focus, which is the tunes."
    The band came together with mutual distaste for "The man" and school. "Writing and playing music is something we're actually passionate about. We enlisted longtime friends and former band members to get UP started." Says the band. Since forming nothing too interesting has changed. "We lost a guitar player, picked up a lead singer and that's about it."
(Photo: Ethan Andrew Pollard)
    Several influences include Alkaline Trio, Bayside, The Police, Thrice, and Jimmy Eat World. These influences, along with the band's mix of blood, sweat, anger, & fear help shape the band's poppy punk rock sound.
    The band line-up consists of twin brothers, Jon(drums) and Mark(vocals/bass) Lebieki, Bobby Lesage(vocals), and Brian Fraser(guitar).
    The band shows a great distaste for genre labeling. "We feel giving ourselves a label could limit our capabilities to mature and progress as song writers and musicians. There really is no fun in making the same album over and over again. We would love to have something to offer for any listener, regardless of taste in music."
(Photo: Ethan Andrew Pollard)
    The band talked a bit about the upcoming self-titled EP, set to be released today on indie record label, South Division Records.
"Our self-titled EP will be out September 20th on South Division Records. It was recorded and produced with our good friend Mick Maslowski at Zoinga Studios last fall/winter. We released it on our own as a 4-track EP this past February. The South Division release will feature 6 songs and a reworked/acoustic version of "Resting As Ruins". It will also be released on a limited 7" vinyl.

The overall sound includes plenty of guitar licks and melodies to hopefully have your attention longer than 3 minutes. This is something we've wanted to create for so long and we're stoked to have anyone and everyone check it out."
(Photo: Ethan Andrew Pollard)
    When booking shows, the band isn't too picky about what type of bands they play with. "We've been very open to playing with any bands. Our shows have been great so far, lots of people have been feeling it and enjoying themselves, which makes it so much more fun for us." Says the group.
    When describing a typical performance, the band said it consisted of "25 minutes of emotion, sweat, energy, good vibes, bad vibes, you name it. It's all there. We like to call out our merch guy every night too."
    Check out the band's self titled EP, and like the band on Facebook!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Update: Unsigned Artist of the Week

    Hey everyone! Me again. I've got some pretty awesome news for you guys! I, joeEFFINGmayo, am now running the Unsigned Artist of the Week over at The Comedy Point website!
    Recently, Soul Joel contacted me about taking over the feature and naturally, I accepted. So I will now be selecting the radio show's Unsigned Artist of the Week which will be featured on the website in a blog post every Friday and a member of the band will be interviewed the following Tuesday live on the show!
    So that's that! Now the best bands may have an additional opportunity for exposure! I'm just that much more awesome! Follow me on twitter and run over to The Comedy Point and give my UAOTW blog post, featuring metal band, Khaos Ordinance!

-joeEFFINGmayo

Sleeze

    In December of 2009, through herbal influences, the band Sleeze joined forces to create a hard and mostly dangerous sound. This Rockford band has been around for over two years and have still managed to keep their music honest and BS free.
    The band describes their sound as disgusting, careless and violent. The band prides itself in it's performance. "There is no typical band performance with sleeze, expect the unexpected." Says the band.
    The band's upcoming Ep is different from their previous releases due to member changes as well as improved drumming and more soul. The band insists that "it's still Sleeze." "(We've) just taken the next step up, we're growing."
    Through their music, the band gives off the message to "Live your life with no limitations and to live like you're dieing, slip her the tongue." Check out the band's Facebook!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Update: The Return

    Two weeks. Two long weeks. It's been too long. Where did Joe go? Why has he left us? Don't think I didn't imagine what the underground world might have said in my absense. I'm glad to inform you that I have not left you, my dears. I am still here. We hit 10,000 views and all of a sudden I went missing. I'm sorry everyone, but I took a vacation, and then some.
    I believe I owe you guys an explanation, huh? Well, I moved back home to wrapped things up here before I leave the midwest in mid-December. Unfortunately, I left behind an important part of my blogging routine, my USB drive. I asked my family to send it to me via mail, but I have lost hope. I dug through several hundred emails searching for everything I needed. It took lots of time, but I believe I have gotten most everything sorted out.
    Things SHOULD be back to normal, starting tomorrow (Monday). I'm going to start the week off with local band, Sleeze. And some bigger bands later in the week, so follow the Twitter for your lovely update needs. I've decided to do less link whoring and more tweeting. I know how being reminded every hour can be annoying. So, glad to be back doing what I enjoy doing. I shouldn't be disappearing for a long time (at least not until 25,000 views)

-joeEFFINGmayo

P.S. over 800 views in my absence. Wow! 800 views and I wasn't even regularly updating anything, you guys are amazing! xoxo

Friday, September 2, 2011

Pushed Aside

      Hardcore band, Pushed Aside formed in 2008 and has since been playing shows in the Cincinnati area. The band's name is a representation of how the band feels seperated from the "norm" of society. "We think differently from other people. We have different ideas about things, and we hate a lot of things."
      Brother's Aaron and Dillon Arnett started the band because they just wanted to create music. The current line-up consists of Dillon Arnett (guitar), Aaron Arnett (vocals), Keanon Montgomery (bass) and Joe Oakley (drums).
      For a brief period, the band broke up. The band's former drummer stopped caring about the band and the Arnett brothers were caught up in school and work. When they started missing playing shows, they contacted Joe Oakley about playing drums and the band reformed in May 2011.
      The band is influenced by bands like No Warning and Terror. "We basically just play hard music. We mostly just talk about our personal feelings which are usually about things we don't like."
      Check out Pushed Aside and be sure to like their Facebook!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Sweet Nothings

      If you look past the blast beats and excessive breakdowns in the La Crosse, WI music scene, you'll find the fun, laid back band that calls themselves The Sweet Nothings. The band's been around for over a decade and continues playing their brand of what can only be described as "party punk."
      The band came together in 1999, as young musicians, they aimed to mimic bands like Blink 182 and Green Day. Since then, the band feels as though they have really bloomed into their own sound. "When you're young you just want to sound like your heros. As time passed, we grew. We would kick around new sounds, new ideas, and new ways of writing."
      "In the first few years of being a band we were so obsessed with being 'the next big thing' we really didn't allow ourselves to take a step back and say 'Wow! We sound like 5000 other bands, we should try to do our own thing".  Today, we're just having fun.  We sit down as a group of friends, as close as family and just start jamming.  Whatever we feel at the time that's what we write.  We don't feel we have to be held down by one particular sound.  It's one thing I love about our band now, we are just having fun and writing what we feel."
      Since the formation over ten years ago, the band has learned numerous lessons. "First and foremost, you cannot take yourself too seriously. Remember that this is supposed to be fun!  When it stops being fun and starts being a "job" quit.  Now, if it's still a "job" but you're having fun, keep on keeping on!  If you take yourself too seriously, it's not worth it, it takes the fun out of it.  Another huge lesson we learned is unity. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and help other bands. This 'out for yourself' attitude has to stop!"
      "(We) remember when bands would trade shows and it didn't matter if we were playing to 5 or 500 people, we were just happy to be playing a show.  Now it seems as though every band we contact says 'well, we can get you a show in our town (that you've never played) if you can draw 50 people.'  Seriously? We've never played your town before and you want us to bring the crowd?  You are the local band.  Isn't that the point of doing show trades?  To inject new bands into your scene?  Or sometimes you just get bands that just flat out refuse to help you get shows.  That, to us, is just sad." Says the band.
      The band has several influences such as bands like Rufio, Strung Out, Rise Against. "Really we draw influence from everywhere.  I know we all carry a big torch for Four Year Strong.  We also love Andrew W K, Set Your Goals. When we are road tripping, we listen to and pull ideas in from tons of different bands.  In one four hour drive we could go from listening to MC Lars or Weerd Science, to Pantera or Blackguard. We will listen to Bad Rabbits, Hank III, Descendents, NIL8, Against All Authority, Blacklist Royals, and The Exposed.  We played with Bobaflex and those guys killed it so I'm sure we'll be listening to them.  There are so many bands that have influenced us over the years and that continue to be a source of inspiration we could probably easily list 500 bands.  But we do have to give a shout out to our boys in GUFF please come back to La Crosse, we miss you!"
      With this whirlwind of influences, the band's sound has fused into a sort of party punk/rock and roll type genre. They include heavy guitar riffs and keyboards, with lots of gang vocals."Just funmusic you can throw on and rock out to."
      When it comes to playing shows, the band tries not to stay in one crowd. The band enjoys branching out and playing for new crowds. The band has played with bands like Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, Brand New, and ska punk favorites MU330. "We have also played shows with Four Letter Lie and some heavier local bands.  We played with Bobaflex, not really our style but it was a hell of a night!"
      "We are working on setting up a show called "La Crosse Mindf*ck"  or something to that effect. Basically, we are going to have a little bit of everything there. Orwell, an amazing metal band from La Crosse, Another Exoneration, an incredible local indie rap/hiphop crew, and ourselves and possibly more bands all want to do a show together to try to bring all of our fans and friends together. We think it will be a blast!  Another thing is we will play pretty much any venue.  A sweaty dank nasty basement can be just as awesome as packed concert hall.  We are always looking for new places to play and we always trade shows.
      When performing, the band tends to stay away from anything too tacky or scripted like synchronized moves. "We play with our hearts and whatever comes out comes out, even if that's our keyboard player running to the front trying to get people to clap or our singer pounding on his chest like a freaking ape. We definitely feed off the crowds energy.  We could be having the WORST day of our lives but if the crowd is giving it to us, we're gonna give it back times 10!  We try to get the crowd as involved as possible, it could be with singing some gang vocals, clapping or our favorite yet, good old fashioned mosh pits. Not this new breed of mosh pit, we mean the good ole 'lets move around get into it dancing together a little push and shove but if someone falls you pick them up' kind of mosh pit."
      So what's next for the band? "We're going to be writing a ton of new material, playing shows, recording a new record.  We are really trying to make a push to play some dates of next year's Warped Tour.  We really want to try to bring our music to as many new people as possible.  We don't need to be the next Rise Against or Foo Fighters, but we would love to be able to share what we do with the world.  We've met so many amazing people both bands and fans and we just want more."
      You can download 3 free songs on the band's Bandcamp! "If you want to play a show with us or want us to come to your town, we do our best to get everywhere we can, email us at sweetnothings@sweetnothingsrock.com"