Ben St. Jack – lead guitarist – sent me the main riff in a text. I hit him back immediately with, ‘Oh, yeah – I can work with this.’ We got together in my basement (that’s where the magic happens) and worked out the structure. Listening to Ben play the riff, I kept coming back to a phrase that seemed to resonate with the sound: ‘I’m not your father’s son.’ Those words, repeated over and over, are about rebellion. Zacarías Manuel de la Rocha put it another way at the end of a Rage Against the Machine song (‘Killing In The Name’), ‘FU, I won’t do what you tell me.’
My lyrics include references and nods to what it is to be an outsider, loner, non-conformist – an artist, a son, a woman, a person that doesn’t accept easy categorization. There’s anger in being in that place of otherness, and self-doubt too: ‘I find myself in an indiscriminate rage over misperceived aggression and slights.’ My reference to the establishment comes from being asked to ‘follow the path of reason.’ The thing is, what’s reasonable to a person with power and resources might make exactly no sense at all to someone without. My nod to RAM is an aside in the middle of the song, ‘I heard about Cassius and fascists, and guys popping into a mic.’ I’m a fan of Rocha’s audaciousness, passion, and poetry.
Pulling it all together – the band knew what to do with this song when Ben and I brought it out in rehearsal – they just got it. Matt Jovanis (bass) and Gordon Kuba (drums) locked in on the intense percussive drive. Joel Dorow’s harmonica gave the song a melancholic lyricism, and Ben practically spoke in tongues for the guitar solo. When it works this well, I feel completely unconstrained and can be more experimental with vocals. The horn section came to me in a dream; I dreamt I was singing the horn parts, ‘pah, pah, pah, pah, pah, pah, pah, pah!’ — and then Gordon made a horn section appear for real. Horns just knock the song out of the ballpark and into some kind of Rock n’ Roll power realm.
Even though the lyrics are introspective and antagonistic – once paired with the music – it all catalyzes in a way that makes us intensely…happy.
Lily Vakili
Vakili Band have toured the states extensively over the past couple of years, and their next show will be at the Mercury Lounge in New York City on January 31st. Thanks to bands like Vakili Band, Rock n’ Roll appears to be very much alive and thriving.
]]>]]>In celebration of the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut, Third Eye Blind and Smith & Cult have collaborated on a line inspired by songs from the album. Some of our most iconic shades have been renamed Jumper, London, God of Wine, Semi-Charmed, and The Background.
A portion of the proceeds from “Jumper” will benefit True Colors United, in efforts to combat homelessness in LGBTQ youth. “Their mission goes to the core of “Jumper’s” simple message,” says Stephan Jenkins. “That no one should be stigmatized for who they are. We have more understanding to give than we sometimes show.”
The record opens with a nice guitar groove found on “Not Myself,” and one of the first things that captivated my attention was Macdonald’s crisp vocal delivery. The band really rallies around each of his heartfelt lyrics, and they never overpower the direction of the vocals. The title track follows with a more up-tempo approach, but never loses its footing with the direction of the storytelling found in Texas King’s music. This song in particular focuses on the feeling of noticing that changes need to be made in your life, even if you have to hit rock bottom before picking up the pieces to put yourself back together.
”Strange Life” features a nice beat and slow-building tempo that reminded me of the styling of The Fray mixed with the radio ready rock of O.A.R. The song really has a nice sheen and groove to it, and reminds the listener of just how bizarre the past few years have been, while looking forward to better days to could lie ahead.
My favorite track comes in the form of the new single, “You,” that features a great, pulsating bass line that allows for Macdonald to sing the verses in a lower register before gradually building up to a crescendo in the chorus, where he sings, “I did it for you / All for you, all for you / Yeah, baby!” I was able to ask Macdonald about the video shoot for the single, and he mentioned, “The making of this you music video was great. This is the first video where it was just me and a camera. I missed the boys, but it was a cool experience just fully trusting Oliver the director. Minus 30 was the temperature for those outside shots! Between trying not to slip, and Oliver trying not to slip with the camera, it was quite an adventure! All three locations were dope, and I got to see another side of Calgary that I’d never seen before. I dug deep to try and convey and set the mood of the tune in my solo ‘acting’ performance on this one, and I just hope everyone enjoys the video. Big thanks to Oliver Eli and Dave. Great crew to work with!”
Texas King shows off the depth in their well thought out songwriting on other songs like “Small Towns” and the reflective “Frontlines,” where Macdonald ponders the existential meaning behind this crazy world. The casual unfolding of the story on the latter track showcases the band exploring new sounds and the endless possibilities to their sound. While some may feel that Texas King sounds too familiar to stand out on their own, I would argue that this familiarity comes across a strength in their sound. That familiar feeling of “where have I heard this before?” only speaks to this band’s ability to bring their best foot forward and become one of the latest artists to watch as they further explore the richness to their sound.
]]>]]>Influential emo band Sunny Day Real Estate is reuniting for the first time in 12 years for shows this spring, but without original bassist Nate Mendel, SPIN has learned. According to people familiar with the situation, this incarnation of the group will include original vocalist/guitarist Jeremy Enigk, guitarist Dan Hoerner and drummer William Goldsmith playing with as-yet-unnamed additional musicians. No additional details were available and group members were unavailable for comment.
The newest signing to Epitaph Records, sophie meiers (they/them) releases new single “collar.” Highly reminiscent of the grunge and lo-fi alt-rock heyday, the track features a subtly distorted guitar backing sophie’s uniquely haunting vocals. The song was written and recorded in luca’s home studio in Los Angeles and produced by luca and sophie. The song is accompanied by an inky and dramatic video by Lindsey Nico Mann. They are working on a project to be released later this year. sophie says of the new single, “‘collar’ is a song about intoxication, indulgence, wanting, and euphoria. i wanted to embody the feeling of your heart racing, and the lulling warmth in between. it is about words hanging in the air, unspoken and magnetic, filling space with blood orange light. it's rare for me to write a song that feels so overwhelmingly happy and glowy.” Watch the music video for “collar” here: https://sophiemeiers.ffm.to/collar Hailing from a small mountain town in Colorado, sophie became obsessed with music at a young age, propelled by the myriad of resources that the internet holds. They left home at 15, paving their own way through creative ingenuity, the singer, songwriter, visual artist, and producer emerged from the SoundCloud community, creating genre-spanning songs that sound like 90's Gwen Stefani produced by Trent Reznor.]]>
Late last year, Philadelphia's Circa Survivereleased A Dream About Love, an atmospheric, electronic-leaning EP that BrooklynVegan called "one of the band's most drastic departures yet." It came as a result of a band entering their 17th year together amid global upheaval and personal renaissance, forcing its members to find new ways to challenge themselves and stay true all at the same time. Today, Circa Survive announces A Dream About Death, a second EP of all-new boundary-pushing music from the beloved alt-prog/post-hardcore giants. It'll be out everywhere on February 4, but today the band has shared its powerful opening track, "Electric Moose. It kicks off a whole new era for Circa Survive: one that's more bold, avant-garde, and honest than ever. "Electric Moose" is also one of vocalist Anthony Green's favorites on the EP. "I really love this song," Green explains. "It actually came together after we were finished the writing process. The other songs were sent off to mastering already. This one came together very organically and we loved it so much we had to include it. " The lyrics for "Electric Moose" actually started out as a poem that he wrote about domestic abuse, and someone trapped in a relationship but trying to hold onto the thought of how it was before things became violent. Its video, directed by Katherine White, follows a similar story, utilizing an intense dance performance to capture the sentiment behind the song.]]>
]]>On the first Friday of the month since March of 2020, we’ve waived our revenue share to help support the many artists who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic. Over the course of 17 days, fans paid artists and labels more than $70 million dollars, helping cover rents, mortgages, groceries, medications, and much more. If you’re among the nearly 800,000 fans who participated, thank you.
It will likely be several months before live performance revenue returns in full. So we’re going to continue doing Bandcamp Fridays in 2022, on February 4th, March 4th, April 1st, and May 6th. As always, isitbandcampfriday.com has the details.
]]>Sony Music Entertainment (SME) today announced it has fully acquired Bob Dylan’s entire back catalog of recorded music, as well as the rights to multiple future new releases, in a major expansion of SME’s six-decade relationship with the artist.
This landmark agreement, concluded in July 2021, comprises the entirety of Bob Dylan’s recorded body of work since 1962, beginning with the artist’s self-titled debut album and continuing through 2020’s highly acclaimed and successful Rough and Rowdy Ways.
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]]>The Encanto soundtrack returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second nonconsecutive week on top, as the set steps 3-1 on the list dated Jan. 29. The companion set to the Disney animated film earned 104,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 20 (up 9%), according to MRC Data. Encanto was released on Nov. 19, 2021, via Walt Disney Records and first topped the chart dated Jan. 15, 2022.