Chicago!

This past weekend we took a little Inklings trip to Chicago for the first Platform One emerging artists showcase. We hitched a ride there with our new friends Thieves & Villains-- you can expect a little video roadtrip documentation action coming soon.

The show itself was a lot of fun, all solid bands. I hadn't heard much about NeverShoutNever!, but WOW. He drew in a TON of kids who sang every single word to every song he had. To hold the crowd like he did, up there all by himself, takes a ton of personality & stage presence and I was really impressed. We also did a quick interview with him earlier in the day. In any case, check out NeverShoutNever!, because that kid is going places.

The Graduate headlined the show...they are a band that makes me feel good about the state of music. Pretty much every time we see them, Naomi turns to me and says "Fucking shit!" and that's pretty much all that needs to be said. At this show, they had these sweet lights behind them that made the whole thing look like a music video shoot, it was awesome. They also came back out after their set and played Justified, which is always a lot of fun.

It's always fun to go to shows outside NYC and see what the scene is like in other places. We went to The Starting Line's last hometown show at the Electric Factory in Philly and LOVED it (the show, the venue, the crowd & the atmosphere.) Chicago had a really cool scene as well, the show on Saturday was completely sold out and full of really enthusiastic music fans. I can see now why bands seem to like playing in Chicago so much.

By some awesome coincidence, You, Me and Everyone We Know had a headlining show just outside Chicago on Sunday night, so we stuck around and flew back to NYC first thing Monday morning. The YMAEWK show was UNREAL. Their set was so much fun, and at this point I don't really understand how they continue to get even better every time I see them. They played a new song I hadn't seen them play yet (a demo of which is up on their myspace now). We headed back to Chicago after that to get about 2.5 hours of sleep before our early morning flight.

We've got a lot coming up this fall. Still more Warped tour videos to post, Thieves & Villains/NeverShoutNever! interviews to be posted, upcoming interviews, and we're really happy to be hosting the video blog updates from the XO/Shanti/Paper Mache/Smile Smile tour happening later in the fall. Stay tuned for more info on that really soon!