Saturday, March 28, 2009

Oh Hot Damn, These Are My Jams (Vol 2: The Best Songs Ever)

I'd like to start with the disclaimer that these are NOT the best songs ever. They are MY best songs ever.

I used to make a lot of mix cds in college (yes, my first two years of college were pre-ipod). After getting sick of listening to my ska mixes volumes 1-4 I started making one called "The Best Songs Ever." It was supposed to be a mix of all the songs I'd ever called my favorite. That was too long to fit on one cd, so I narrowed it down to just the songs I'd never gotten sick of. I could only think of 4.

Now there are a few more added to the list, but I've realized that this mix can only be completed on my deathbed (then I hope someone will burn it and play it at my funeral) because any of these songs have the potential of being kicked off the list if I get sick of them in the next year, or decade, or five decades.

My challenge to you is to start your own "Best Songs Ever" list. These are the songs that you wouldn't even THINK of skipping when they come up on shuffle on your ipod/itunes/zune (do zunes even still exist?) The songs that, when you're out in public and you hear them, you grab whoever's closest to you and say "I LOVE THIS SONG," even when you're sober. If the day comes that you skip one of these songs, or don't bust out a huge smile when you hear the first chords/riff, the song's gotta go. Even as I wrote this blog, I realized I had to take a song off my list.

Songs aren't eligible to be added to your list until you've known them for atleast a year. You can't know if something's the best song ever if you've only been listening to it for a couple months. Also, no pretending to be cool in this game. No one's judging, least of all me (hell, half my list was once featured on a VH1 "worst songs ever" countdown. Seriously.)

The Best Songs Ever (as of 3/28/09)
1. The Temptations "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"
2. The Jackson 5 "I Want You Back"
3. Warren G/Nate Dogg "Regulate"
4. Mr Big "To Be With You"
5. Michael Jackson "The Way You Make Me Feel"
6. Spin Doctors "Two Princes"
7. Third Eye Blind "Semi-Charmed Life"
8. (tentative) Green Day "Welcome to Paradise"
9. (tentative) Hanson "Where's the Love"

Monday, March 23, 2009

This Week In Austin, TX!

Greetings everyone! It's been a wild week in the big ATX, and while I couldn't update daily I do want to bring you some highlights from my experiences at both SXSW and RedGorilla Music festivals.

If you haven't heard of RedGorilla, it's a renegade festival started by Brian Waymire and Chris York or Dreamscapers International. The pair is based out of Nashville and Austin, and focus on discovering and promoting the best in independent music today. While RedGorilla is in no way associated with SXSW, they do have an unmistakable large presence in Austin during the same week as the mother festival with 11 venues and over 500 bands playing up and down 6th St. This year the RedGorilla lineup was killer, and featured The Matches, The Effects, The Hollywood Kills, Luna Halo, AutoVaughn, Dizzy Balloon, and many more.

As you know, the week started off strong with The Matches playing a killer set for SXSW, and then two secret shows for RedGorilla. All three were incredible and even in the Texas heat people were dancing their little hearts out to staples like, "Papercut Skin" and "Sunburn Vs. The Rhinovirus." Complete with new bassist Dylan Rowe these Oakland rockers brought a taste of nor-cal to Austin in all the right ways.

I caught some incredible pop/rock from The Hollywood Kills Friday and Saturday night at RedGorilla. This little band from Nashville is making big waves thanks to a polished sound that has evolved from garage rock to commercially shiny, alternative pop/rock. There's an element to their live performance that instantly draws you in and, whether you like it or not, keeps you dancing to their tunes all night long. If you haven't heard of THK yet, make sure to check out CakeOrDeath Productions for a FREE DOWNLOAD of four songs off their new record Idiot's Guide To Desertion.

One of the many surprises I encountered over the week was Ace Enders' set at the Photo Finish Records Showcase for SXSW on Friday. Formerly of The Early November, Ace played some new tunes for the Audience for the Recover Reunion show and had everyone's ears on him. It was great to hear the new project and get a tast of what's to come from such a talented artist. Make sure to check out Ace Enders And A Million Different People's new record When I Hit The Ground asap. You'll love it!

Another high point of RedGorilla was Tulsa, Oklahoma rockers The Effects. Now, these guys wouldn't usually fall into a category of music I normally keep on shuffle, but after seeing them live all that has changed. These boys are 100% rock 'n roll. They've put a sparkly millenial twist on classic rock with screaming guitar solos, and beats that keep your eyes fixed on drummer Erin to see what he's going to lay down next. The one drawback to The Effects is that they don't currently have recordings that do them justice. This is a live band through and through, and to truly experience the magic of their music you have to see them live. So...make sure you check out their MySpace for a complete list of upcoming tour dates near you.

One final experience i'd like to share with everyone was a set by a somewhat unknown band called Dizzy Balloon. Hailing from Oakland, CA this five-some is everything I could have ever asked for in a new band. They've got the looks, the sound, the stage presence, and the personality to take them straight to the top. With their Beatles-inspired sound and insanely catchy tunes like, "Raise A Glass" and "Chinatown" Dizzy Balloon kicked ass this week at RedGorilla. I was most impressed by a cover they did of "I Want You (She's So Heavy" by the Beatles. At first listen you wouldn't think their poppy sound fits with the appropriately named, heavy tune, but DB pulled out all the stops on this one, mimicking the iconic song effortlessly, while still putting a signature twist on the classic riffs and turn-arounds that define it. There's a clear Beatles influence in Dizzy Balloon's sound, and this was a perfect cover to round out their phenomenal set this weekend.

Whether you were in Austin for SXSW, RedGorilla, or even Texas Rock Fest this week, all the music on 6th St. was amazing. Live music has the power to move people, bring people together, and keep them coming back for more long after their first listen, and that's what all these festivals are about. A good band is a good band, but a good band that is also good live automaticlaly becomes a great band, surpassing the hordes of wanna be's and has beens chasing fame without a prayer. Thanks to all the amazing bands for playing your hearts out at all three festivals, and making the trip to Austin to share your music with people that truly appreciate it.

Peace

Friday, March 20, 2009

Ok everyone. Im going to keep this short and sweet. The Matches secret show #1 will be today at 3:00 pm at The Chuggin' Monkey on 6th St. This is a RedGorilla Music Festival venue, NOT a sxsw venue so there is no cover or badges needed at the door. Just come on in and enjoy some tunes!
Peace
Alex

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Matches At SXSW!





Hello everyone, Alex here with your SXSW festival update for Wednesday, March 18, 2009.

Wednesday was the official start of SXSW’s music portion of the festival. With bands playing up and down 6th St. it was difficult—to say the least—to choose who and where to spend my time. With the help of my trusty program guide, however, I finally settled on a late afternoon dose of Oakland, Cali rockers, The Matches, and their MTV Rock Band set at The Troubadour Saloon.

I got to The Troub. just in time to catch the opening notes of “Their City.” Even though the venue was small, and packed with fans of all ages Shawn, John, Matt, and Dylan—with special guest, road manager, and Triangle player Ben—played an absolutely perfect set, complete with two new songs, “Wicked Walk” and “It’s My Day.” The new songs brought out the dancer in everyone, inspiring a waltz-like head banging session courtesy of the guy in the stripped shirt, front and center.

The Matches rounded out their set with the fan-favorite “Papercut Skin” which is always amazing live. Ben came out to play triangle on the bridge, as usual, and left everyone applauding after his brief cameo on stage as “the triangle guy.” If you’ve seen The Matches before you know how infectious and inspiring their live shows can be; this one, luckily, was no exception to that rule. They started my night off right, and re-energized my musical spirits after a long day of work in the Austin heat.

If you missed The Matches’ set today fear not. You can catch them several times throughout SXSW including the following:

Thursday: 3/19 4:00 pm at the Rock Band Lounge (SXSW performers and guest list only)

Friday: 3/20 11:00 pm at The Wave

There are also two other secret shows you can check out this week that I can’t announce just yet, but you can check MiscPause for further details to be released later in the week. You can also check The Matches MySpace for show times and venue listings.

As for today, it was absolutely amazing, and I thank The Matches for starting it off right. Remember, this is only the beginning so if you’re in Austin this week DO NOT miss any of the action down on 6th St.

See you tomorrow,
Alex

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

If you’re not already familiar with the music festival South By South West (SXSW), let us introduce you. For years, SXSW has been bringing the newest and hottest bands, artists, DJ’s, etc to Austin, TX for a week-long celebration of alternative music. Everything from rock to reggae to jazz and country can be heard up and down 6th St. (the Burbon St. of Austin) from March 18-22 every year. Thousands of industry professionals converge on the “weird” city for compelling panels and a heavy dose of networking, all with the goal of exploring what’s new and hot in music today. Day parties, label showcases, interactive panels and intensive networking sessions make SXSW the destination for anyone working in, or interested in music.

This year’s festival is no exception. In addition to some special guests that haven’t been announced yet, artists playing include: Fastball, DD/MM/YYYY, Auqualung, Ten Out Of Tenn, the Hymns, The Decemberists, The Avett Brothers, Peter Bjorn and John, Cold War Kids, Erin McCarley, Tori Amos, Ida Maria, Monte Negro, Brooke Waggoner, Paper Toute, The Features, Shwayze, Jim Bianco, Cary Brothers, Ben Harper, Riverboat Gamblers, The Devil Wears Prada, Forever The Sickest Kids, Lady Sovereign, Margaret Cho, Camera Obscura, Tinted Windows, Cursive, The Pink Spiders, The Shys, Shiny Toy Guns, Jason Reeves, The matches, Cage The Elephant, The Urgency, Marcy Playground, and Third Eye Blind to name a few.

(There have also been rumors of a Billy Joel and Elton John show sometime during the festival, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.)

Inklings will be keeping you updated on festival happenings throughout the week, so make sure you check back everyday to get the scoop on performances by your favorite bands, as well as a few profiles on some new talent we think you should check out.

Peace!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Butch Walker rules

Sometimes we ask bands the question "If someone is hearing your band for the first time, would you rather their first impression be listening to your album, or seeing your live show?"  Sometimes there's an obvious answer, sometimes they have to think about it.  I saw Butch Walker last night for the second time ever, and I decided that he's definitely someone you need to see live.

I can't say enough good things about Butch Walker.  Maybe I'm just trying to make up for being late to the party, since I really only started listening to him a couple months ago.  There's just something about his live show that sounds simultaneously intimate and bigger-than-life.  He played Webster Hall, and I was standing pretty much all the way in the back of the balcony, but it still just felt like we were a bunch of people in a room hanging out, and some of them were playing music.  At the same time there are songs that, when they're played live, there's not really a way to describe it except to say that they sort of fill up your heart.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that if I had to choose only one song to hear performed live for the rest of my life, I'd be satisfied to choose Butch Walker playing "The Weight of Her." (I don't know under what circumstances someone would make me choose that, but play along.  And since you asked, my runner up might be Envy on the Coast "Sugar Skulls" or The Graduate "Justified".)  Back in November when we were setting up for our interview with Butch at the Blender theater, they started sound checking The Weight of Her and I stopped what I was doing to watch sound check on the monitors downstairs because that song is too ridiculously good live.

As an encore, Butch leaped off the stage and dragged his mic to the middle of the venue and sang Hot Girls in Good Moods from the middle of Webster Hall while partying with the crowd. Unbelievable.  Such an absurdly good show.

Friday night I went with Maggie and Sarah (who shot most of our Warped Tour stuff, and now works at Newsweek.com on an awesome webseries called "The District," among other things) to see Vinnie and Mike from I Am the Avalanche play acoustic solo sets at Angels & Kings.  So good.  Check out Mike's solo stuff HERE and go HERE to find out about more shows like this.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

the constellations remind me i am home [mix 1]

Hey everybody,

So I realize I haven't properly introduced myself... I'm Maggie. Carrie & Naomi brought me on to fill the position of "Promotions Coordinator" which is essentially a fancy way of saying that I'm supposed to hustle people into coming back for more Inklings related goodness after each visit. You'll see me posting bulletins and tweets and pictures and all the stuff that the Inklings staff have been previously doing - but we're really going to be kicking it up a notch!

I could use your help, too! Posting banners or bulletins about our site and interviews is a great way to spread the word about your favorite bands we've had on the site. :) In addition, we hope to be giving back more to you as fans - our current contest is the chance to win schwag from the Pop Goes Punk 2 crew! Tomorrow is the last day to enter, so head on over to http://www.inklings.tv/features/contests/ to do so.

And finally, the crux of this blog post: the mix. A lot of times I just think or articulate via some weird soundtrack that makes sense to very few people but me. However, this time I'll share - maybe you can find a new band/song YOU like.

1. versaemerge - past praying for
2. hot water music - flight & a crash
3. four year strong - bada bing wit a pipe
4. anarborrrrr anythiiing
5. thursday - time's arrow
6. versaemerge - moments between sleep
7. this providence - chasing the wind
8. this providence - sand in your shoes
9. neko case - middle cyclone
10. the receiving end of sirens - this armistice
11. a replay in my mind of pierce the veil's michael jackson cover from taste of chaos...

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Shoot Stories: Thieves and Villains

This is the first in a series of blogs I'll be posting from time to time. Ridiculous things happen on our shoots sometimes (usually due to outside cirucumstance and/or third parties...), but all you ever get to see is the interview. Some of those stories are too good not to be told.

This isn't so much a "shoot story" as it is a "driving story," but it's mildly ridiculous nonetheless. In September, Naomi and I ended up taking a road trip to Chicago with Thieves and Villains. I forgot to tell my roommates I was even going until the day before. One of my roommates asked me how we were getting there. I said, "We're driving there with one of the bands we're shooting...we met them the other day, they seem ok." She gave me the same look that she gave me in college when I told her I'd hitchhiked to class because it was snowing and we lived really far from campus. She asked who we were staying with, and I told her "This guy...a friend of a friend. We haven't actually met him though." She blinked and said "Yeah, I'm not feeling so good about Chicago."

We left work early to head to Suffern to meet up with the guys on Thursday night. We drove for a few hours, stopped to sleep, and started driving again in the morning. After a long day of driving and multiple stops, we were an hour or two outside Chicago. It was quiet until Sergio asked us, "Were you nervous taking this trip with us?" We laughed and said no. He went on to say, "Because me and Justin were talking about it, and we definitely could've killed you guys in your sleep. " Our laughter turned into nervous laughter. I was hoping my roommate wouldn't say "I told you so" to my corpse when we were found buried behind a motel in Pennsylvania.

But wait. There's more. Stopping every few sentences to clarify that they WOULDN'T have actually done it, they revealed that they'd discussed at length exactly how they would've gotten away with it. "At first we figured we couldn't do it because we already talked to our manager and told him we'd picked you up, but then we could just call him back and say we were kidding, and you'd decided not to come," they explained. "But then we thought, 'what if they texted their roommates or something?' So we'd have found your cell phones and looked at all your sent texts, then just texted them again to say you changed your minds and headed back to New York."

I think the most ironic part of this whole story is that, as we were pulling up to our friend-of-a-friend's condo, we mentioned to them that we hadn't actually met him yet. All of a sudden our would-be killers didn't want to leave us there because they were convinced that HE was going to kill us.

Oh, and for the record, their proposed murder weapon: sock full of quarters.

I also wanted to clarify that this story is meant to be hilarious, not creepy. OK, a little creepy. But I wouldn't be posting it if we weren't all pals. Thanks, Thieves and Villains, for not murdering us EVEN THOUGH you totally could've gotten away with it!

Road trip video, in case you missed it:

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Taste of Chaos

Last Wednesday, Maggie and I spent the day hanging out and shooting interviews at Taste of Chaos. The last time we shot at Nokia Theater, we were jammed in the catering room: a lovely white abyss with a loudly humming fridge. This time we were shown to possibly the coolest room ever, full of orange couches and those folding wooden screen/room dividers.

First we talked to Josh and Jake from Four Year Strong-- between the red walls of the room, red pillows on the couchs, their red shirts, red hair and red beards, the shot was a huge wash of red except for their faces (see here). We talked about Taste of Chaos and also asked them some fan questions (which will be posted excusively on FriendsOrEnemies.com)

We also talked to Pierce the Veil and Bring Me the Horizon (two bands who we somehow missed out on during our time covering Warped Tour this summer!) as well as Liam from Cancer Bats, who is one of the most friendly, chatty and positive people I've had the pleasure of interviewing.

We returned our cameras (unfortunately missing Cancer Bats' set in the process) and headed back for the show. We got there right in time for Pierce the Veil, who put on one hell of a show. In general, any band that plays a Michael Jackson cover is probably going to be ok by me. Four Year Strong killed it as usual. Maggie shot photos of FYS, BMTH and Thursday, so keep an eye out for some of those coming soon.

Somehow I'd made it this far in my life without seeing Thursday. I didn't think that could be true, but I checked, and Taste of Chaos was my first time seeing them. Sick show. The audience batting around those huge black balloons was possible the coolest thing I've ever seen at a show.

Look forward to Taste of Chaos coverage coming soon to Inklings. In the meantime, we just posted a new interview with Breathe Carolina. Interviews with Anarbor, This Providence and The Hoodies to follow shortly. Also, enter our Punk Goes Pop 2 Trivia Contest and check out our new blog feature on Stuff Scene Kids Like

I think this week I'm going to start a series of blogs called Shoot Stories. Sometime ridiculous things happen, and some of those stories exist here already in abridged form...but some need to be retold.