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.

Churchill

     When you listen to music, whether it’s your favorite song or something you hear on the radio, you get a certain feeling or thought associated with the tune.  When Churchill’s singer, songwriter, Tim Bruns was asked what he ultimately wanted listeners to think when they heard his music, he answered with a slight laugh.  “I would love for them to think that they are happy. We want people to just have a good time, feel hopeful, and feel like life is good and that there is always a reason for living.  We just want to make people smile when they hear our music.”

     After writing songs ever since 7^th grade, Tim Bruns has created a band, with the assistance of Michael Morter, that has been ranked 4^th in the Denver Post’s Best Colorado Artists.  Bruns and Morter started off as a duo, but later added pianist and singer, Bethany Kelly, bassist, Tyler Rima, and drummer, Joe Richmond.  “When we started the band, we had heard Bethany sing at a church and really liked her voice…We later found out that she was an amazing piano player as well.  We had known Joe was a good producer and drummer, so we asked him to produce our record and to play drums as well.  We met Tyler at a wing place we use to always love going to and, after that, we learned he played bass” explains Bruns.

     With a fully formed band, the next step would be to find a record company.  Octone Records offered Churchill a contract, only to be shut down multiple times. However, “they just kept coming back and kept pursuing us and after some really good advice from our lawyer and some other people, we decided they were the label for us” Bruns tells us.  And with that decision the band put out their first full length album, “Happy/Sad, and started down their path to success.

     Every band has its influences and for Churchill, influences included The Fray and Switchfoot.  These bands did not only influence Churchill in their music, however.  “Switchfoot is known as some of the nicest people in the music business and we really want to learn to be like that and be kind to everyone.  We try to always be humble and be gracious for where we are and I think those guys have been very influential in us doing that” Bruns shares, also mentioning how The Fray is the same way.

     The band continued to grow with the rising popularity of their new single, “Change.”  Before Tim Bruns wrote this song, he had been listening to an artist known as Narles Barkley, who ended up having a small influence on the song.  “I was going to write song like Barkley’s song “Crazy,” but it didn’t really turn out like it at all” Bruns confesses. 

     Although the band is most known for their single, “Change,” the song is one of five on the band’s “Change EP.”  This EP has a slight difference from the band’s first album in the way it was recorded.  “We recorded Happy/Sad exactly how we play it live, while the EP has a lot of different layers.  This was the first time we had an electric guitar,” Bruns describes.  “We wanted to go for a little bit bigger sound.”  The challenge in creating the EP came not from recording the songs themselves, but from the variety in the songs. “Because the songs are all very different, I think the biggest challenge was making the production work in a way that all the songs still sounded like our band and not five songs by five different bands,” Bruns explains.

     But did the EP turn out how the band imagined? “It’s always fun to be in the studio,” Bruns answers.  “You never know what to expect, but I think we are all happy with how it turned out.”  Bruns even had a hard time picking one song as his favorite, realizing he loved playing all five of them. “I think “I Am Yours” is my favorite song,” Bruns decides.  “It is a little more personal to me.  It’s about a personal experience I went through and it always reminds me of that.  It’s close to my heart.”

     Churchill “never expected to be in LA recording a record and never expected to tour,” Bruns admits. “We all quit our jobs in December and are able to do this full time and do what we love.”  And that is exactly what the band intends to do with a full length album on the way. 

     Not much can be released about the band’s upcoming album, but what we do know is we can expect a much louder sound.  “We are going to have that kind of epic pop, rock sound,” Bruns explains thoughtfully.  “I’m really excited to see how it turns out.”

The Relapse Rebellion

The Relapse Symphony is a newly formed band from Washington D.C. that has been playing together since March of 2012.  The band consists of vocalist, Brett Von Dehl; guitarists, JC Charles and Alex Foxx; and drummer, Tyler Gloyd.  The members of the band had some connections before the band began, but they did not all meet until they decided to start The Relapse Symphony.  “Alex and I have known each other and played with each other in the past. Alex is my brother from another mother. Bret and Tyler knew each other, but I didn't know them at all until we started working together. Luckily we all clicked and now I consider them family,” notes guitarist JC Charles.  Now that the group is together, their band has become very popular in just a few months.  The band does not think of this growth in popularity as success, however.  “It has been really cool to see the fan base grow so quickly over the last few months. I guess we consider success being touring the entire world, playing to huge crowds, having our music in every record store we walk into. We definitely aren't there yet, and until then we will stay hungry and keep working hard every day” Charles says.

So far, the band has released an EP by the name of “Time’s Running Out.”  Don’t ask about their genus, however, because the Relapse Symphony does not have one. “This band doesn't care about what genre you call us, whether it be rock, pop-punk, pop, whatever- it doesn't matter. We all listen to everything and we enjoy incorporating elements of the various bands we love into all of our songs,” Charles comments.  The band’s songs do not have any specific theme, either, but all their songs are based on personal experiences.  “I had no idea what "Make Your Move" was about until after we recorded it, and then the meaning hit me,” Charles admits. But once they recorded the song, he realized that it was definitely based on personal experiences.

The Relapse Symphony intends to continue playing as a band as long as the fans want them to.  Speaking of fans, the band tries to connect with their fans.  When asked about their future goals for the band, Charles mentioned growing closer to and helping their fans: “I just want us to continue to build this amazing relationship with our fans. They remind us a lot of ourselves. The things they are going through now are things we all went through growing up, and I wish I had a band like us when I was going through rough times. I just hope the fan base continues to grow and we can keep meeting more amazing kids who like the same music we do.”

The Relapse Symphony is a band that I would recommend to any music lover! Check out their Facebook and give their songs a listen.  You won’t regret it!  A big thank you to JC Charles for taking time out of his day to let me interview him.

The Photo Atlas

     The Photo Atlas is a band that is into high energy, fast dance rock or punk.  The members of the band include singer/lead guitarist, Alan Andrews, guitarist, Bill Threlkeld III, Bassist, Mark Hawkins, and drummer, Josh Taylor.   “We started playing music together in junior high, we basically learned how to play our instruments together and have grown up together,” says Andrews.  The band began in 2004 under the name “The Atlas” but later learned that, that name was taken and changed it to “The Photo Atlas.”  “We basically did this when we went national and started touring” Andrew comments.  The band has released three CDs by the names of “Ways You Once Thought Were Shortcuts” in 2005, “No, Not Me, Never” in 2007, and “To Silently Provoke the Ghost” in 2009.  Alan Andrews also has a solo project called “Serious Moonlight” which is a kind of folk/country sort of thing.  “I’ve always loved playing music; it has been a struggle and a lot of fun and somewhat profitable.  But, I’d rather struggle to do what I love than do something that’s not creative or that is unsatisfying” Andrew tells us.  Last, the band will be releasing a new album in May and you can see them live on March 3^rd at Illegal Pete’s Downtown Denver before they go on tour.  I highly suggest this band to any concert goers or music listeners.  Thank you to Alan Andrews for letting me interview him.

The Epilogues

     The Epilogues started playing in Denver during 2004.  The members of the band include vocalist and lead guitarist, Chris Heckman, bassist, Jeff Swoboda, Keyboardist, Nathaniel Hammond, and drummer, Jason Hoke.  The band was started by Chris and Nate who had been long time friends. “Originally, they had a different drummer and bass player, but in 2006 I joined the band and in 2007 Jeff joined,” explains Hoke.  In the beginning, the band played anywhere they could get a gig.  When they finally got their current lineup and began taking things seriously, however, they were able to get many shows at the Marquis Theater in Denver.  Now they play at many theaters like Gothic, Bluebird, Ogden, and Fillmore.

     The band has put out one CD so far titled “The Beautiful, The Terrifying.”  This CD came out in 2008 and has a dancy yet dark theme that the band tried to stick to, defining who they were as a band.  “I think we’ve developed and evolved a bit since then as any artist does, but it still stands as our debut album and the framework to our band and what we are now,” says Hoke.  Some of the songs were written back in 2004, but they remained as popular singles for the band as of today.  “I think that albums ability to stand the test of time over the years came as sort of a shock to us, yet is something that we’re very proud of,” Hoke tells us.  

     The Epilogues also recorded a friendship EP with another local band called The Photo Atlas.  This CD was a split album in which each band released two new songs and also covered one of the other band’s tracks.  This CD is where The Epilogues most popular single “Hunting Season” debuted on.  “The Photo Atlas have been our brothers in the music world and we have always been finding new ways to work together and combine our efforts and this seemed like a great opportunity,” Hoke notes.  These two bands have since combined forces in order to start a group in Denver called The Inca House Collective.  This is a group of Denver based musicians, artists, businesses, ect that have been combining resources in order to create a large scale Denver movement that focuses around the rapidly growing music scene.