Farewell, My Love Lives Up to Expectations

Hey guys! I recently had the privilege of going to see the Bad Blood Tour, which meant I got to see Farewell, My Love live! Here is my review of the concert!!! <# http://musicmunch.com/2013/10/farewell-love-lives-expectations/

MusicMunch!

Hey everyone! So I have recently become an intern at a music management company called MusicMunch.  Thank you so much to Harrison Welshimer for giving me this opportunity!  I recently wrote my first review after going to see a California band known as Night Riots! You can view the article here if you are interested: http://musicmunch.com/2013/09/night-riot-lives-name/. I'll continue posting links to my articles as I write them!! Make sure to check out Night Riots and I hope you enjoy the article!
PS I have two awesome interviews on the way:)

Churchill Breaks Up

It's sad to see such an amazing group of musicians/people go their separate ways.  Churchill will surely be missed.  http://www.heyreverb.com/blog/2013/07/12/churchill-disbands-cancels-upcoming-arena-tours-leno-appearance/72820/

Vetta Star

           When you think of University of Denver, the first thing that comes to mind is most likely music.  Four DU students fit that subject perfectly after merging two DU bands to form Vetta Star.  With singer and pianist Joey Genetti, guitarists Paul Edelman and Charlie Fitz, bassist Eli Acosta, and singer and drummer Brandon Meagher the band has “made more progress in Vetta Star than in any other band,” says Meagher.  In the beginning, the band may have had the right material and talent, but the one thing they lacked was a name.  After playing many gigs without a name, the band finally decided to be known as Vetta Star.  “One day I was playing with words and really liked the look of the word Vetta,” shares Meagher.  “I’m Italian, so the word Vetta fit well,” Genetti adds. 

            Vetta Star did not go into the music business unexperienced, however.  All the members of the band have been playing music since they were young.  Edelman has been playing guitar for about ten years now, Genetti started playing piano in 3^rd grade and joined a rock band in 5^th grade, and Meagher has been playing drums since 3^rd grade.  Fitz finishes by telling us that he’s “played clarinet since 5^th grade and I started playing guitar in my later years of high school.”

            Musicians tend to have a reason to write songs and must decide what they want people to think or feel when they hear their music.  The response of “butterflies and cotton candy” was instantly shouted out by Genetti in a joking voice.  After a bit of thought, however, Genetti came up with what he really wants Vetta Star’s songs to share.  “I want people to be able to relate to our music and have it take them through a world of feelings,” Genetti explains.  “All songs tell a story and I think every story has a deeper meaning.  A song can mean a couple different things to a different few people.”

            With the idea of being relatable storytellers, the band recorded their most recent EP that Genetti tells us is self-titled.  The EP is “really related to the way the band started.  We took three songs from each of the previous two bands and remixed them to fit together,” Meagher explains.  But even with a possible bias towards a member’s previous band, the musicians had trouble choosing their favorite songs from the EP.  “I personally don’t have a favorite.  I love them all,” Genetti shares.  “I get to do a lot of different things on each song.  I play drums and tambourine on “Painted in the Sky” and I play guitar on “Dreaded Thought.””  “I personally love “Breath” and “Painted in the Sky,”” Meagher follows.  “The tone, reverb, and vocals on those songs are cool.”  But what inspired some of these songs?  After much thought, Meagher decided to explain the backstory from the song “Dreaded Thought.”  “Sophomore year was tough in college.  I remember returning home during break and my dad didn’t understand why I was in school for music, so I wrote a song about how my parents didn’t understand what I was doing.”

            Every band has a favorite show and many crazy memories.  To start off, Edelman tells us that the bands favorite show was probably their CD release.  “So many people came and we weren’t playing covers anymore.  It was our own music,” Fitz explains.  One of the band’s memories actually ties into one of their most recent shows.  “We were playing a gig at a fraternity house and we were covering the song “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads.  There was nothing dividing the band from the people in the audience and a guy slammed his hand onto my keyboard and knocked it off the stage.  I just kind of kept singing like nothing happened.  It was definitely a new experience for me,” Genetti shares.  Luckily, the piano was unharmed, but this is definitely a crazy memory that sticks out in Genetti’s mind. 

            With the entire band finally out of college, can fans expect Vetta Star to continue putting out new music and scheduling performances?  “Oh ya!” Fitz answers. “It will be a bit different without school, but we will be able to focus more on the band.”  This question ultimately led to the question of what would happen if the band failed.  “Everyone has their own weird habits outside of music,” Fitz shares.  “Joey just loves Jet Skis.”  “They are so cool!” Genetti comments.  “They are like the poor man’s Ferrari.  It’s a thrill ride and you’ve got no seat belt!”  It’s also shared that Edelman would want to be a sports announcer or try for the MLA.  “I want to move to Mexico and try to start my own American football team,” Edelman adds to his previous ideas.

            Vetta Star will be playing a show at the Gothic Theater on July 20, so be sure you don’t miss out on an amazing concert.  For more information and to get a taste of their music, visit the band’s website at http://vettastar.com/.

Vetta Star Releases Music Video for "Autopilot"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9leb26pE-08

Standby Records' Free Summer Sampler

     So I don't have an interview for you guys right now (the band is still reviewing the article), but I do have some exciting music news!  Standby Records recently released a free summer sampler CD featuring many of the bands associated with the record company.  The Summer Sampler includes bands such as The Relapse Symphony, Farwell My Love, Picture Me Broken, Consider Me Dead, Set to Reflect, and more!  To download this CD, go to http://www.wearerockandroll.com/. Be sure to check out these band's on Facebook and Twitter and listen to even more of their music via Youtube, ITunes, or even buy their CDs/EPs!

My Body Sings Electric!

In 2010, My Body Sings Electric began writing music and performing as a band.  Lead singer, Brandon Whalen and Guitarists, Nick Crawford and Jeff Fedel met when Brandon’s old band, Arms Over Colorado, and Nick and Jeff’s old band, Nemonic, played together at the Gothic Theater.  “That night I didn’t think their lead singer was good, so I told them to fire him,” Whalen admits.  After a bit of time, Nemonic ended up having a fall out with their lead singer anyway, allowing Brandon to join the band.  Later, “our bassist had a kid and we had known Jason (Bower) from middle school and he jumped in,” Crawford explains.  Eventually, the band’s drummer dropped out and The Skyline Surrender’s drummer, Ben Scarboro, took over.  “Ben actually played in a band that our guitarist filled in for their guitarist for awhile, then he filled in for us for awhile and then it was just a natural transition into keeping Ben,” says Crawford.

With a fully formed band, My Body Sings Electric chose to pursue music together because “everything else was boring,” Bower states instantly.  “We are all very passionate about music and were into the same things at the same time when we started the band,” Whalen explains more.  And in being “music nerds,” this career path was the best option for the members of My Body Sings Electric.

The name My Body Sings Electric is quite unique, so how did the band come to be known by this name? “We threw 100 names into a hat and we would pull them out, vote on it and put it into a bracket”, Whalen describes. “We got to the end and hated the one that won and somehow ended up with this one.”  This seems a bit complex, so Bower simplifies it by telling us that the name is a spinoff of the Walt Whitman poem, I Sing the Body Electric.

As of now, My Body Sings Electric has released two albums: They Don’t Want Music and Changing Colors.  “We started writing Changing Colors before Ben was in the band then Ben helped us finish up the last couple of songs,” Whalen tells us. When they returned home from recording Changing Colors, the band won Hometown for the Holidays for the first time.  “We were no longer making songs for just our friends.  Other people actually liked our music, we like it and we were growing and that was the turning point. And that’s why changing colors. We changed our colors,” Bower shares.  This album includes the band’s most recent single, Oceancreast.  This was one song that, even though it formed itself both in the story and the lyrics, took the band about a year to perfect.  “Honestly we were playing a totally different version for a year and people seemed to like it, but we recorded it once and hated it.  I just thought it wasn’t quite there so when we went back to record it again, we changed the structure, added some new parts in and it finally turned out right,” Whalen explains.

Every band has their influences and for My Body Sings Electric, each member had their own ideas.  “I think if you asked all of us, we would have a lot of the same answers and a lot of different answers.  And it changes too.  If we are into a new awesome band that inspires us, we write a cool song like that and a month later we will be into something else and be real stoked about that. It always changes,” Bowers shares.  And with these influences comes the question of what the band ultimately wants their listeners to think when they hear their music.  “I don’t want them to think about us when they hear our music,” says Fedel.  “I want them to think about themselves. I want them to just listen to the music and want to dance and have fun.” 

What people thought of My Body Sings Electric’s music was not always the same, however.  Their music has changed drastically from metal and screaming to dancy and unique.  “I use to scream a lot so it was pretty heavy and we were writing really complicated time signatures. We finally got tired of nobody except musicians liking our music and decided that we were going to try to write a little more accessible music,” says Whalen.  The band does not want to be too generic, though. “We want to be on the radio, but we don’t want to be writing songs that sound just like the last One Republic single,” says Whalen.  Unique, fun, and relatable music is what the band has officially come to accept.

Recently, My Body Sings Electric has had the opportunity to play a show at The Pepsi Center.  Whalen describes how everyone is helpful and accommodating at The Pepsi Center.  Bowers follows in explaining how The Pepsi Center gave them many tickets to give to their friends and family, but “no Pepsi, ironically.”  “Most local shows we have to promote really hard or you have to get your family and friends tickets the day of the show, so you’re getting phone calls every 10 minutes and then you still have to get off work early and battle traffic to get down there on time.  It was nice having a relaxed, fun show to play,” Crawford tells us. 

Aside from The Pepsi Center, My Body Sings Electric has played many shows with other local bands.  The band has enjoyed playing with bands like Air Dubai, The Epilogues, and The Photo Atlas.  But who would they like to play with in the future?  “The Killers, Radiohead, Snow Patrol, and Jimmy Eats World,” says Scarboro. “Rise Against, I’d like to play with them,” Bowers follows with a slight laugh also adding Minus the Bear and Kings of Leon.  “Two Door Cinema Club, The Neighborhood’s awesome, Atlas genius,” Whalen adds to the list.  The band hopes to one day get to tour with one of these bands and be doing as well as Air Dubai is by this time next year. 

Another big show in the works is the annual Westward Music Showcase.  This festival is held every summer over multiple stages where both local and non-local bands play sets and hope to win the award for their genera of music.  This year, My Body Sings Electric hopes “for not so hot of a day,” says Scarboro.  “The stage was literally so hot last year that I couldn’t stand still without my feet starting to burn through my shoes. My feet were just sizzling from standing there,” says Whalen.  “Well that’s what you get for not regularly hot coaling with your bare feet like me,” Bowers retorts.  The band also hopes to have more of an audience this year and to get along better with some of the other bands.  “We didn’t really connect to any of the main stage bands last year, so I’m hoping that we can at least make a couple new friends when we’re doing the main stage.  It’s going to be fun. That event’s always great,” Whalen shares.

Now most people know how a concert works, but what they don’t know is what happens in the band’s free time.  This consists of traveling to out of town gigs and priceless memories while on the road.  While on the road, My Body Sings Electric is very food driven, tired, and sociable with music fans.  “These guys will sleep like 14 hours a day while we’re driving. Jason and Jeff will sleep all day,” Whalen teases.  “When we get to the cities we are supposed to play in, though, we always try to eat somewhere,” Crawford adds.  “We eat so much food,” Scarboro comments.  The band will also stop in cities and either hand out fliers and talk to people or even play on street corners.  “We’ve been kicked off street corners in San Francisco, though.  A cop came and watched us finish our song and was like good stuff guys, now you’ve got to shut it down,” Crawford recalls.  When asked about the craziest thing that has happened on the road, the members of the band started laughing.  “When we played in San Francisco the first time, everyone was asleep, except me. I was on my computer just diddling around.  I didn’t even notice, but Jeff had just gotten up and left the room. I don’t know what he was doing.  He doesn’t even know what he was doing.  I just went to bed and when we woke up in the morning it was like, where is Jeff?  We all thought maybe he just went to get coffee or something. Then we found out he was just outside sleeping in the hall all night in his underwear, which is great,” Whalen explains through much laughter.  Apparently there are many other stories, but some are to be left on the van, per say.  So whether the band is practicing, joking with each other, playing on street corners or at shows, or sleep walking; the talented members of My Body Sings Electric are having a blast doing what they love.