First, thank you for doing this with me.
Hey what’s up? Glad to be here.
Awesome. So you got time to answer a few questions?
Sure thing dude.
Read More “Scott Raynor (formerly) of Blink-182”Interview: Scott Raynor (formerly) of Blink-182
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Review: Autopilot Off – Make a Sound
The word, “finally,” come to mind when I think about this album. It seems like it has been a long time coming for this album to finally get out there to the public – was it worth the wait?
The album begins perfectly with the title track. The band has been most known for their fast-paced rock/punk sound, however, but you will soon find that they have so much more to offer through this album. The first thing I noticed was how lyrically different this band was than some of their peers. Via their ranging themes and basic song meanings you will find out they have so much more to offer than many give this band credit for.
Read More “Autopilot Off – Make a Sound”Review: Name Taken – Hold On
Everything you thought you knew about this band, their music, and this genre is about to get tossed into the windmill and chopped to shreads. When an album begins with the line, “we will cheat you out of everything .. we will sell you who you are” – there is very little else that is needed to grab you by your throat and push you against the wall. The music beat pulses into your chest, your head expands and contracts with each riff and you can’t help but let your head rock to the music.
Read More “Name Taken – Hold On”Interview: Dave Elkins of Mae
I heard that Mae started as a two-piece and then you guys added more members. What made you decide to add more members?
Well actually what it was the two piece was a recording project, our bass player Mark has a studio back home and we’re good friends so he offered me some free studio time at his convenience when he wasn’t working so I wrote some songs and I was playing with our drummer Jacob just as friends. At first it was just a fun recording project and then it sort of accidentally turned into this.
Read More “Dave Elkins of Mae”Interview: Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio
Interview: Taking Back Sunday
We’ll start off with the dreaded question, how’d you get the name?
John: I suppose I’ll have to answer this one. Do you want the real answer or the fun answer?
Both!
John [Fake Answer]: It was a reference to a Smith’s single that was a b-side to “How Soon Is Now?”
Eddie: Taking Back Sunday is just a name that we came up with that was a song by a friend’s band. We used to go see them all the time but they broke up.
John: Derek from The Reunion Show was in the band.
Read More “Taking Back Sunday”Review: The Starting Line – Say It Like You Mean It
Let me start out by saying that I love The Starting Line and have loved all their previous releases (even the little known about We The People Sessions that DTR keeps under lock and key for whenever they need an ‘unreleased’ track) – and no matter what I may say in the next few paragraphs, this is a great CD — if you are a pop-punk fan at all — you will love the new TSL CD, I promise.
The album starts out with a tribute to Blink-182’s “Anthem Part II” — wait, just kidding, it just reminds me of how Blink’s TOYPAJ started. With that behind us, we start out with one of the best tracks on the album, “Up and Go” — does just that, it picks up and takes the listener on a ride through the ups and downs of the song. Great opener track. The second track on the album is a really good song, with good guitar lines, killer drums … and all that; my only beef is the lyrics. I have always loved Ken’s writing, and thought it was the best part of this band, but for a debut full length I find it funny that there is a song saying thanks to the fans. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s awesome that they did it — but I mean, I could see Aerosmith doing something like that, not The Starting Line. Track 3 is the new “Leaving,” sounds good — if you liked the old one, you will like the new one. The next track is “Best Of Me” – it’s the best song on the album; hands down one of the best songs they have ever done.
Read More “The Starting Line – Say It Like You Mean It”Review: Box Car Racer – Box Car Racer
So the anticipation is building up, inside each and everyone of you — the nice fellows of blink182 have decided to open up their souls, and attempt a side project. Tom Delonge along with Travis Barker, wrote all of the material. All the lyrics were written by DeLonge, and rounding out the band with David Kennedy on rhythm guitar and Anthony Celestino on bass. The sound really is something in it’s own — some blink fans may run and hide, some blink fans may consider this something above anything they have ever heard before .. but the truth of the matter is that this album rocks — hard.
Starting out the album with a lengthy intro to the first single, “I Feel So” — the radio/video version you have heard is not how the album version starts. The length of the intro almost leaves the anticipation too much to bear … then the familiar guitar strums, and drum beats take over the speakers, and you know you are in for a treat. The first two tracks on the album, “I Feel So” and “All Systems Go” (along with the later Elevator) — are by far the two most ‘radio friendly’ song’s on the album .. and for people that have only heard these two songs, they most likely assume that this is just a different version of Blink182 … they are very, very wrong. I get the feeling while listening to the first two songs, that these were written originally as possible blink182 songs (anthem pt2 era), but then by changing some of the musically arraignments around found a much better home with the new Box Car material.
Read More “Box Car Racer – Box Car Racer”Interview: Midtown
So, is it [the new album] going to be released on MCA? That has sort of been debated by a lot of different people.
Gabe: Yes.
Are you guys excited about that?
Tyler: Yeah, oh yeah.
Gabe: Yeah, we are excited we don’t have to do another record on Drive-Thru.
Hahah. Oh, shit, you guys don’t like Drive-Thru, or what?
Gabe and Tyler: Hate Drive-Thru.
Read More “Midtown”Review: Midtown – Living Well is the Best Revenge
Now, is this really even fair? I mean – am I allowed to review one of my all time favorite band’s albums and be objective about it? As I type this I am actually wearing one of my Midtown T-shirts. Uh, wait a minute – am I ever objective to begin with? HAH! Yeah right. This is supposed to be my opinion anyways .. screw being objective. Midtown – Living Well Is The Best Revenge: Best album of the year or biggest flop of all time? Let’s take a look:
Midtown seems to have started a tradition of releasing the first track on their albums as the first singles. Could they possibly live up to the huge shoes “Just Rock and Roll” (from their first album) left them to fill? A soft beep.. drums kick in.. guitar picks softly .. volume increase – and Gabe’s voice fills the speakers, it’s not long before we again see the triple vocal styling of front men Gabe, Tyler, and Heath. I’ll make it simple to explain this song, you will be forced to jump off of your bed faking air guitar slams, sing at the top of your lungs, and bounce around your room until your parents threaten to send you back to college. (Wow, I am 19 years old and I am playing the air-guitar? I’m a nerd. Of course I run a website as well .. so, you already knew that.) This song starts the album off with a bang, and you know exactly where the CD is going to take you from there — these guys haven’t lost anything from where they left off — they got better.
Read More “Midtown – Living Well is the Best Revenge”