The Wonder Years are releasing their new album, titled No Closer To Heaven, on September the 4th. A new song and video, plus pre-orders will be released at 1am GMT, so keep your eyes peeled. Check out the artwork and tracklisting below:
1. Brothers &
2. Cardinals
3. A Song For Patsy Cline
4. I Don't Like Who I Was Then
5. Cigarettes & Saints
6. The Bluest Things On Earth
7. A Song For Ernest Hemingway
8. Thanks For The Ride
9. Stained Glass Ceilings (Featuring Jason Aalon Butler)
For today's up and coming post we have Coast to Coast who have just released their brand new EP, Lessons Learned. We asked the band a few questions to get to know a bit more about them...
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
The short answer is that we're from all over, ha. Myself (Chris) and Derek are both from the same small town in the state of Kentucky in the USA. Tomo and Yuichi are both from Aichi Prefecture in Japan. Matty is originally from Brazil, but has grown up in Japan most of his life. Brent was born in the USA, but grew up in Germany and Australia. We usually just say he's Australian haha.
HOW DID YOU FORM?
Coast to Coast originally came together in late 2011, and was a creation of Brent and Tomo's. There was a short hiatus in 2013 after Brent was in an accident that left him hospitalized for a while. During that time some of the original members moved on to other things. The current lineup came together in late 2013. Brent and Matty met and became friends after Brent noticed Matty wearing the shirt of a band that he liked. Tomo and Yuichi had been friends since school. I knew Tomo from my time as an exchange student in Japan years earlier. Derek is a friend of mine from home, and we'd played in bands together before, so he came over shortly after I did.
So basically Tomo and Brent got together and talked about getting CTC rolling again. Tomo enlisted Yuichi on drums; Brent brought in Matty. Tomo asked me about guitar, and I eventually brought Derek over as well and that was that!
DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN FIVE WORDS FOR SOMEONE WHO MIGHT NOT HAVE LISTENED TO YOUR MUSIC BEFORE...
‘Lessons Learned’ is the first fully produced EP for CTC. After we all got together, we set out to define our sound. We all come from different musical and cultural backgrounds, so this EP is a mix of everything we've learned along the way... about ourselves, other people, or the world in general. For this release we chose the 5 songs that best reflected an even mix of our various influences. So there's a range of heavy to poppy, lighthearted to intense throughout.
We recorded the EP ourselves here in Japan, then had Seth Henderson at ABG Studios (Knucklepuck) do mixing and mastering. The EP will be released physically here in Japan via our label, Maxtreme Records, on July 8th. For the rest of the world, it's already available online via iTunes and Bandcamp!
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG FROM LESSONS LEARNED AND WHY?
This is a tough question, because I feel like it changes every week almost haha. Overall, my favorite to listen to is probably the opening track, 'Empty'. It started out as my least favorite, but I've really come to like it. It's poppy and fun to listen to, but also I really like the lyrics--both their meaning and how Brent and Matty deliver them.
DO YOU PREFER RECORDING OR PLAYING LIVE?
Another tough one. I really love recording; the technicality and precision required, and being able to hear what you've created as a listener rather than a performer is all awesome... but, I definitely prefer playing live. There's nothing that can compare to putting all of your heart and all of your voice into playing the songs that you've created, and then having your fans do the same with you.
IF YOU COULD PLAY A SHOW WITH ANY BAND, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
I always want to play shows with bands I'm either (a) really into at the time, or (b) I've never seen live. Recently I've been really jamming Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! I love their style, and the blend of genres they pull off, and as a musician I'd love to watch their show to see how they do it, and what I might be able to pick up from them. We'll actually be playing a date with them and A Loss For Words on their upcoming Japan tour this September, so I'm pretty stoked for that!
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP FIVE FAVOURITE POP PUNK ALBUMS?
I'm going to give you six, if that's OK--one for each member.
For the next seven days, Groupees is offering a bundle of 10 awesome bands' EPs and albums at different price points to raise money for Soles4Souls. For $2, (£1.32 for us Brits) you can download Slime Time: A Punk Rock Bundle, which includes music from Mean Jeans, Iron Chic, Brutal Youth, Lay It On The Line, Biffers, Surfin' Mutants Pizza Party, Straightline, Not On Tour and Blowfuse all for a great cause. Soles4Souls provides shoes for impoverished communities all over the world and you can help out by visiting the Groupees webiste. Find out more and get your bundle here. Update: Once the bundle raises £1,400, Mean Jeans and Surfin' Mutants Pizza Party will be collaborating on a TV theme song and you can decide what they cover. The options include Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Toxic Crusader, Teen Wolf, Frankenstein Jr & The Impossibles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Biker Mice From Mars. Make sure you get your bundle and vote on a song here.
US band, Lexington Field, have just released their brand new album Greenwood. After hundreds of shows and two national tours the band are unleashing the third installment of their lively fiddle rock to the world. We spoke to vocalist, Beau Gray, to get to know a bit more about them... WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
We are from America's Finest City...San Diego, CA HOW DID YOU FORM?
We formed in 2009, going from playing Celtic Rock standards in Southern California pubs to writing our own unique style of music. I have been here since the beginning on vocals and guitar. Bryan Hane (guitar) also has been here since day one. Over the last six years we have gone through some lineup changes to get us to this point - which I think is our most talented group yet. Vincent West (drums) joined the band in 2010. AJ Belluto (guitar) toured with us in 2012 and then joined full time in 2013. And, Tom Lazet (bass) and Olivia Buscemi (fiddle) joined the team in 2014. DESCRIBE LEXINGTON FIELD'S MUSIC IN 5 WORDS FOR SOMEONE WHO MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD IT BEFORE...
In two words: FIDDLE ROCK. (That is technically 5 words...nailed it.) TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW FULL-LENGTH, GREENWOOD.....
Since our last full length, No Man's War, which we released back in 2013, we have added three new members - AJ, Tom, and Olivia.This rejuvenated our sound. We started from scratch with nothing holding us back this time.The end result was Greenwood - the heaviest, most rocking album we have ever created.We joined East Grand Records last year and this will be our first release on the label.Very exciting times in the world of Lexington Field! WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG FROM GREENWOOD AND WHY?
My favourite song has to be "The Hitchhiker's Guide Out of Suburbia".It's a personal story of growing up in the suburbs and FINALLY, getting to the city and moving forward in life.With more and more people growing up in that sheltered world, I think the song can be an anthem to someone taking a leap of faith and embracing this crazy, fucked up world head on. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH ARTWORK FOR GREENWOOD?
All our album artwork in the past has been done by Jose Pimienta, who is a spectacular artist and friend of ours. But, with this new sound, new members, and I guess you can say, "new band", we wanted to do something different. I took a picture of our rehearsal space, where we wrote the album for over nine months, and added the different colors to it to represent the different influences of all the band members. We wanted something that would catch your eye. In my opinion, mission accomplished. DO YOU PREFER RECORDING OR PLAYING LIVE?
Recording is stressful. Playing live is awesome. My answer: Playing live. IF YOU COULD PLAY A SHOW WITH ANY BAND WHO WOULD IT BE?
We have a very eclectic mix of artists that we all would like to share the stage with. Here are the answers from each member: Beau - MxPx Bryan - Rise Against Vincent - Rage Against the Machine AJ - Black Sabbath Olivia - Little Tybee Tom - Rocket From The Crypt. Greenwood is out now! Check it out below:
With their new album, Joyride, released last October, Transit had some new material to unleash to fans across the pond on their recent tour across the UK and Europe. We spoke to vocalist Joe Boynton about Transit's hometown of Boston, Slam Dunk and Neil Degrasse Tyson podcasts...
HOW'S THE TOUR BEEN GOING SO FAR? The tour's been great. This is show four. Groezrock was incredible. All the other shows have been great. It's just been fun to be on the other side of the planet and playing music and hanging out with your friends
ARE YOU EXCITED FOR SLAM DUNK? I'm Unbelievably excited for slam dunk. This will be our fourth time I believe. YOU GUYS RECENTLY RELEASED JOYRIDE, WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG FROM IT AND WHY? It's hard to say because it changes every few weeks. It depends what kind of mood I'm in and if we're performing the songs a lot, I'll either stop liking the ones we're not performing as much because I'm not hearing it as many times in a row. I would say my absolute favourite song off of Joyride is probably The Only One because it's the first track off the record. We wanted to put the strongest track first and the one that we all love the most. The whole thing's about giving something for people to take away so we figured if that's our favourite song as band, it should be the first song that everyone else hears. DO YOU LIKE TOURING IN THE UK? It's awesome but America has the best food hands down. America is a funnel for every other country in the world. We have the whole world's display of food inside one city usually. There's a little gallery of food inside every restaurant and it's incredible and there's no where else like it in the world. The UK has excellent chicken and steak because it seems like it's more farm-raised and it doesn't seem like it has that many preservatives and chemicals shoved in like America does, which is unfortunate. So everything here that is good, is good because it's natural and it tastes more natural, but as far as overall restaurants and food, United States all the way. More people go out to eat in the United States, it's a normal thing there and over on this side of the world people eat at home and they spend more time around the table with their families, which is beautiful. Overall, the UK is beautiful. When you fly over everything is green, you've got these yellow vibrant fields and people are generally nice, which isn't always the case when you go around America. The thing about America is that it looks so crazy on the global stage because it's a giant mass of land with one title. However, Europe is all these tiny little countries next to each other so if something bad happens in France people look at France, if something bad happens in Germany, people look at Germany but the US is like 13 different countries in one land mass with the same name. So, to the rest of the world it looks nuts but it's really not, it's just specific areas. WHAT WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP IN BOSTON? It was tough. There's a lot of societal problems and not enough people get help. It's still a new country, it's still growing, it's still learning, it's still discovering who it is and I think in the process, families, the middle class and lower income families even the upper-class they're all affected in certain ways based on school, work, the internet. Just regular drama, like TV shows and how they influence the way you think. Everything is at play and the houses are close together in certain spots and there is certain tension and drama. From my perspective it was tough but I know a lot of people who have had it harder. Every town that I'm from is like a different country. I'm from Saugus Massachusetts which is very middle-class; carpenters, plumbers and electricians. It doesn't care for music as much as I wish, the library has been closed and opened randomly. Then you've got Lynn which is right next to Saugus which is a little bit tougher, right beside the ocean, it's got people from all over the world and a lot more diverse than my town, a lot more beat up as far as appearance when you're driving through, it's a lot more packed in and a lot more people live there. Right next to that is Salem, Massachusetts, which looks like a European version of the United States and it's where the witch trials were, filled with tourists, filled with bars, it's generally really happy and upbeat, people generally make more money than in the other towns. Next is Marbelhead which is very closed off, there's not a lot of action going on, people make a lot more money but it's not as fun as Salem and that's just how it is and it keeps going as you move East or West. Every neighboring town is different than the next. IS IT INTERESTING TO SEE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD WHEN YOU'RE TOURING? I believe there's 96 or 97 countries, I don't know the exact number but we've seen 14 or 15. So we've seen pieces of the world, we've gotten a sample. Most of the world I've seen is through documentaries. In the States my favourite place to visit is Seattle, San Franciso and North Carolina. WHO'S BEEN YOUR FAVOURITE BAND TO TOUR WITH? Some tours are better than others. Some bands are funner to hang out with than others, some shows are better than others. My favourite tour was probably with Taking Back Sunday. Adam (Lazzara) had his second kid in the middle of the tour so he left and I got to sing a song in their set for about two weeks and I grew up listening to Taking Back Sunday from when I was about 15. It was a real honour to get to play and perform with a band that you looked up to for so long. Other than that, Saves The Day because they're the reason I'm in a band and to tour with them and have lunch and dinner with them randomly and just hang out and have a few beers is something I never thought I would do. Everything since then has been a plus. DO YOU HAVE TO PINCH YOURSELF SOMETIMES? No because everyone's just a person. You can meet anyone in the whole world and no matter how famous they are, they go to sleep, they eat, they drink, they breathe the air just like everyone else and when you really believe that and feel that for what is is you're never really nervous or not worthy of someone else's presence. My mother taught me that and I believe that very dearly. DO YOU LISTEN TO SIMILAR MUSIC TO TRANSIT? Completely different. I listen to a lot of hip hop and reggae. I listen to more podcasts than music. I started off with the Joe Rogan experience podcast. From there I went to Star Talk with Neil Degrasse Tyson which is about astronomy. From there I listened to the Infinite Monkey Cage which is a BBC podcast and then I started getting into English podcasts. I started listening to a lot of podcasts about Tolkien's work because I'm really starting to get into the English language. Also, Hardcore history with Dan Carlin who's the best history teacher you will ever have. I hated history when I was in school but now I love it.
Knuckle Puck have released a video for their new song Disdain. The song comes from their upcoming album, Copacetic, which is set to be released July 31st. Check out the new song below:
At the start of May, Such Gold embarked on another run of the UK and Europe which also included performances at Groezrock and Slam Dunk. We spoke to bassist Jon Markson and also vocalist/ guitarist Ben Kotin about The New Sidewalk, touring and English food...
HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY? Jon: I'm doing good. HOW HAS THE TOUR BEEN GOING SO FAR? Jon: In the UK, we've played Kingston, Norwich and Nottingham but we started the tour at this festival called Groezrock in Belgium which was super awesome. It's not everyday that we get to play to 2,000 really excited kids and adults and it was a really good time. We're four days into the tour but we've been overseas for about a week now so we're finally getting over jetlag. ARE YOU EXCITED TO PLAY SLAM DUNK? Jon: Yeah, we've got the offer to play Slam Dunk three times but this is the first time we've been able to take the offer. We're looking forward to it. Apart from last night, I don't want to call anyone out, but we were like 'we're going to play Slam Dunk, is that cool?' and a couple of people at the back were like 'meh' but we're really excited. I love festivals, I think festivals are awesome because A) everyone's having a good time B) they treat bands really well and C) fans treat bands really well, better than at club shows generally. YOU GUYS RELEASED THE NEW SIDEWALK LAST YEAR, ARE YOU STILL LOVING IT? Jon: Yeah we love it, it's awesome. DO YOU LISTEN TO IT? Jon: Not anymore but we did for a while and we were really excited to have finished it. We were working on it for a long time so I think the honeymoon period is over. We don't really put it on in the van anymore but we're still really excited about the material. I think as far as being in a band and being able to play the songs live, they're definitely the most fun songs to play live. They test us as musicians and now, learning some of those songs from the album live, has been a really good experience for the band because we've really had be able to consistently enact what we recorded on stage and that's a fun exercise. Sometimes I listen to The New Sidewalk on bandcamp on my phone and then bandcamp tells me that I should pay for it. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SONG FROM THE NEW SIDEWALK? Jon: It changes all the time. Right now it's Frying In The Mix probably just because we don't play it live. It was Food Court Blues for a while. BEFORE A SHOW DO YOU STILL GET NERVOUS? Jon: It depends, sometimes. When I get nervous it's not for any particular reason. It's just like once in a while I'll feel a little funny. Sometimes before our set I try and get myslef a little hyped up and feel a little amped and nervous but I don't really get butterflies before playing. I really like performing so I'm always really excited to do it and not so much anxiety about messing up. When we first started to tour, maybe the first couple of time, it's like 'are we going to be able to do it, okay we did it, it's fine'. HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU STARTED TO LEARN BASS? Jon: Like 11 or 12. I started playing guitar in bands and recording music around 11. I started playing guitar, I got a little eight track so I could record myself fucking up on guitar, and then I wanted to add bass parts to it and I didn't know anyone who could play bass. I didn't start playing bass seriously in bands until Such Gold but I love the bass more than I love guitar now. A lot of people who end up playing bass in punk rock bands, sometimes they end up playing the bass like a guitar. But I just really love the bass, I love being in that register, being all the way down underneath everything and it's really cool. I think it's a really cool instrument. HOW DO YOU FIND BEING ON TOUR? Jon: I love it. PPUK: We're jealous we want to go on tour. Jon: Do merch or be a tour manager. Just as important to the band on tour are the people who are working for the bands on tour, like literally equally important. Especially for American bands in the UK or in Europe because it's like 'I am not going to drive a car on the opposite side of the road, no way, I hate it'. I hate the idea of it so if we didn't have drivers and people working for us it would be impossible. I love the UK, I love England. The cities are beautiful. I love how all the cities have really open town areas. I live in New York City and everything's really blocky. I like New York City a lot but it's cool to go abroad and see like these really old cities that have had to modernise a little bit. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ENGLISH FOOD? Jon: I like the food but it's kind of heavy. Breakfast is heavy but I kind of like it. (Ben walks in) Jon: What do you think of the food here? Ben: It's good. Jon: Do you like English breakfast? Ben: I love English breakfast. I like pretty much everything, I don't like Indian food which is big here but I can deal. There's plenty of stuff I can eat here. Jon: I like Wagamama. Ben: Wagamama is cool. I like Sunday carveries. Jon: I approve of English breakfast. We had kind of an English breakfast this morning that was served by this guy, he didn't want to give it to me though. Ben: He didn't like Jon. Jon: I asked for beans on my sandwich and he was like '(laughs) beans?' Ben: He was literally like 'you're asking a lot of me'. DO YOU FIND ENGLISH PEOPLE RUDE? Ben: Sometimes. But it's just like anywhere. Not in general though. Jon: We live in one of the rudest places in the world. People are rude to each other all the time. Ben: We're used to it. Jon: French Canada is the rudest place on the planet. Ben: That's not where we're from. Jon: I know but I'm just saying. As an example, French Canada is the rudest place. Agree or Disagree? Ben: I don't know. It's pretty fucking rude. It's like 'hey, can I borrow your lighter?' turn around and smoke crack. Jon: That actually happened one time. WHERE IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO TOUR? Ben: Anywhere warm that we can skate Jon: Japan, the UK and Germany and also the East Coast and the West Coast. Also Belgium and also Australia. So pretty much the world. We don't like touring on the moon. We did a show on the moon. Ben: A simulation moon. Sim moon 9. WHO HAS BEEN YOUR FAVOURITE BAND TO TOUR WITH? Jon: We have a great time with Transit. We are most inspired by A Wilhelm Scream, we our most educated by Strung Out. The Story So Far showed us incredible amounts of kindness. Ben: Possibly the best shows. Jon: Comeback Kid are the coolest dudes ever and they make us feel cooler than we are. That's a good five. Transit we drink a lot, A Wilhelm Scream we drink a lot and they kick our asses in music. The Story So Far are the most hospitable. HOW DO YOU BOTH KEEP YOUR VOICES INTACT ON TOUR? Jon: We haven't. Katrin (Such Gold's tour manager): That's a good joke. Jon: We fellate each other and that's how we keep our voices intact (laughs). We 69 all day. Ben: It helps clear the throat. Jon: Especially if you deep throat it. We're probably not the best people to ask.
DO YOU GUYS LISTEN TO THE TYPE OF MUSIC YOU PLAY? Jon: Definitely. I think the bands we all like together tend to be in our field. We do listen to different music a little bit but the bands that we all enjoy together are like Propagandhi and A Wilhelm Scream, technical punk bands. Ben listens to grindcore in his spare time, Nate listens to stoner metal, Matt listens to Reggae, I listen to mathrock. We all listen to shit together but the stuff we really listen to together is aggressive technical punk rock. Ben: And smooth jazz. Jon: We also love Frank Sinatra together. We actually just bought a Frank Sinatra Christmas album. Ben: On one of our tours of England someone actually asked who our influences are and I said The Rat Pack and they asked my to leave the interview. They were not pleased.
The Early November have a long history, one that started in New Jersey,1999.The band was signed to Drive Thru records, the previous home of New Found Glory, Allister, Home Grown and Midtown. After 8 years of playing shows and having released two albums and three EPs, The Early November went on hiatus in 2007. After 4 years of being inactive, the band reformed and released a new album, In Currents, in 2012. Three years later, the band have released their highly anticipated 4th album, Imbue, via Rise Records. We spoke to vocalist and guitarist Ace Enders ahead of the release at Hit the Deck to find out more about what to expect from the new album...
HOW WAS HIT THE DECK YESTERDAY? It was actually very nice, a lot better than I thought it was going to be.
WHEN YOU'RE AT FESTIVALS LIKE HIT THE DECK, DO YOU GET A CHANCE TO WATCH OTHER BANDS OR IS IT TOO HECTIC? Sometimes it's a little hectic but it's not bad. YOU RECENTLY PUT OUT A STATEMENT SAYING THAT ONLY SOME MEMBERS WOULD BE COMING TO THE UK. NOW THAT YOU GUYS ARE OLDER IS IT DIFFICULT TO ORGANISE TOURS DUE TO OTHER COMMITMENTS? It's not so much commitments but lifestyle choices and how you want to live. Everybody would like to be here but sometimes you can't be. They'll be in the states and going some of those shows but you can't necessarily make it to the other side of the world sometimes. ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED WHEN EVERYONE CAN'T MAKE IT OUT? If you can't it's not the end of the world, everybody's adult enough and we know that sometimes you have to sit one out. YOUR NEW ALBUM IS OUT IN ABOUT TWO WEEKS ARE YOU EXCITED? Very much, we're very excited. DOES THE ALBUM TITLE IMBUE HAVE ANY SIGNIFICANCE? Yes, it means what the definition of the word is (to inspire with feelings and opinions) and it's all about finding that inspiration. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG FROM THE NEW ALBUM AND WHY? The first one we released, Narrow Mouth, I think because it sums up what I wanted the whole album to be in one song. I think that's my favourite. WERE YOU INVOLVED IN THE ARTWORK PROCESS AND IF SO HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON IT? We just wanted it to be a striking photo and your imagination could run with it. It turned out really cool and I'm very happy with it. I like the purple effect and my wife is in the photo. SPEAKING OF YOUR FAMILY, WHAT DO YOUR KIDS THINK OF YOUR MUSIC? ARE THEY INTO IT? Yeah, they're into it. They love the idea of it, they think it's really cool and it makes me very proud to know that I'm contributing to their development and this is a part of their life too. It's cool. DO YOU THINK YOU'LL BE ONE OF THOSE PARENTS THAT MAKES THEM PLAY AN INSTRUMENT BECAUSE OF YOUR MUSICAL BACKGROUND? I'm not going to make them do anything apart from be good people. I'll support them in what ever they desire. YOU WRITE AND PRODUCE FOR OTHER ARTISTS, IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS FOR THE EARLY NOVEMBER DIFFERENT TO YOUR OTHER PROJECTS? It's very different. With The Early November, for me, it's a very freeing thing. I write from a different place, I don't want to say a darker place but I keep myself locked in most of the time and that is where I write from. When I'm writing for another artist I write from where they're coming from. I'll find that place and what they're looking for and pull it out of someone. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO AND IS IT SIMILAR TO THE EARLY NOVEMBER? I honestly listen to a lot of Talk Radio or nothing at all. IF YOU COULD PLAY A SHOW ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD IT BE? I would have to say my home of Philly. I guess I would like to play Alaska that would be fun. WHO'S BEEN THE BEST BAND THAT YOU'VE TOURED WITH? I did a tour with a band called Steel Train once. They were real tight and real fun and we were really great friends so it was a really fun environment. I would relive that tour for sure. YOU GUYS WERE ON DRIVE-THRU BACK IN THE DAY, WHY DO YOU THINK DRIVE-THRU IS STILL SO ICONIC NOW? I think because it was a really special time. They created something really cool without knowing it. It was a very pure, awesome thing that came to an end, a very fast end and I think that's what made it live on. It didn't like trickle out and die it just ended. It was something I'm very proud to be a part of. WHAT FIVE WORDS WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE IMBUE THAT WOULD PERSUADE SOMEONE READING THIS TO GO AND LISTEN TO IT? I would say different, focused, angry, desperate and inspired. Check out Imbue below:
Vans Warped Tour is returning to the UK after taking a break in 2014. The line up for this year includes Forever Came Calling, Anti-Flag, Reel Big Fish, ROAM, Trophy Eyes, Creeper and more. Check out the full line up below:
Today for our up and coming post, we have US band, Chances Are. We spoke to the band to find out a bit more about them...
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
We are from Detroit, Michigan, United States of America!
TELL US HOW YOU FORMED...
Nick (lead guitarist) and Jami (lead vocals/guitarist) formed Chances Are after quitting their hardcore band, Bite The Curve, in 2010. After a few lineup changes, they asked Steve (drummer/back-up vocals) who was their drummer from Bite The Curve, and Adam, who is Nick's childhood friend, to join the band. [On how Jami feels about the band's dynamic] Jami explained, "I guess it's because we all liked each other's butts."
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH YOUR BAND NAME?
(Jami) I can't honestly remember where the band name came from but people always ask if we named it after the movie "Chances Are". Unfortunately, that isn't true.
DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN 5 WORDS FOR SOMEONE WHO'S NEVER LISTENED TO YOUR MUSIC BEFORE...
It's difficult to explain it properly but if we had to, our sound is described as "catchy harmonic punk space party"
WHAT IS YOUR MOST FAVOURITE SONG THAT YOU'VE RELEASED SO FAR?
Steve: "Good Luck"
Adam: "Curious Cat"
Nick: "24 Hour Friend"
Jami: "Stay Creepy! But they're all super fun to play."
WHAT IS YOUR MAIN GOAL AS A BAND?
Basically, to tell horrible jokes on stage and get people to buy our stupid shirts.
HAVE YOU GOT ANY PLANS TO RECORD ANY NEW MUSIC IN THE NEAR FUTURE?
Sure! No specific time frame yet though.
IF YOU COULD TOUR WITH ANY BAND WHO WOULD IT BE?
Nick: The Wesley Willis Fiasco
Adam: Jim Croce
Steve: Thrice
Jami: Avril Lavigne, because she's the realest thing out there!
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP FIVE FAVOURITE POP PUNK ALBUMS?
Nick: "Discount - 'Half Fiction', A Day To Remember - 'Homesick', Green Day - 'Kerplunk'".
Adam: "Screeching Weasel - 'Wiggle', Green Day - 'Kerplunk', Dayglo Abortions - 'Out Of The Womb', DC Talk - 'Jesus Freak', AVB - their entire catalogue".
Jami: "Blink 182 - 'Take Off Your Pants And Jacket', The Story So Far - 'Under Soil And Dirt', Relient K - 'Two Lefts Don't Make A Right...But Three Do', RUFiO - 'Perhaps I Suppose', Senses Fail - 'Let It Enfold You'".
Steve: "Jimmy Eat World - 'Bleed American', Relient K - 'The Anatomy Of Tongue In Cheek', Four Year Strong - 'Rise Or Die Trying', Blink 182 - 'Take Off Your Pants And Jacket', Green Day - 'Dookie'" Check out Chances Are's bandcamp below:
Though only a year young, UK pop punk newcomers Trash Boat have made little short of a flying start. The St Albans based quintet came bursting out of the blocks in July 2014 with their debut E.P, the aptly titled ‘Look Alive’. Boasting buoyant guitar licks and vocal melodies custom built for impregnation on the temporal lobe, ‘Look Alive’ saw Trash Boat quickly capturing attention. A flurry of live activity followed, the band hitting the road to share stages alongside Me Vs. Hero, Light You Up, Roam, Homebound, Six Time Champion and Knuckle Puck. ‘Look Alive’ received rave reviews, its lead track ‘Boneless’ earning the band a coveted spot on Rock Sound magazine’s covermount CD, and securing the band a worldwide deal with respected international label, Hopeless Records. Since securing a sought-after place on the label roster, alongside such well respected names as All Time Low, Neck Deep, Taking Back Sunday and New Found Glory, Trash Boat have been hard at work on the follow up to their debut and recently released their sophomore E.P ‘Brainwork’. Here vocalist Tobi describes the process and thoughts behind the creation of its artwork…. Artist: Jake Carruthers Why we picked him: We had seen a bunch of stuff he had done for other bands and were really digging his style, we were interested to see what he would do with our brief and he smashed it to be honest!
Creation Convo: Our original EP artwork featured that little ragged purple/blue guy so the brief we sent over to Jake was asking for not only the theme of reflection, but we also wanted to see someone emerging from him like he was shedding skin. What the art is attempting to represent is growth from adversity, the 'Look Alive' guy was on his knees and looking hopeless, with the Brainwork art we wanted him looking like he was picking himself up and moving forward, shedding his skin, reflecting on his issues and gaining some perspective (several puns in there I'll leave it to you to find them).The term 'Brainwork was coined as even though a lot of the lyrics to Trash Boat's song address physical issues, the biggest struggle is in our heads.
Trash Boat released ‘Brainwork’ via Hopeless Records on 18/05/15. Watch their most recent video for Eleven here:
Tigerstyle, who hail from Northampton, have just released their third EP, Where Do We Go From Here. Tigerstyle are yet another example of an up and coming UK band who prove that pop punk doesn't just belong the US. The EP consists of four fast-paced, melodious songs which add another awesome addition to Tigerstyle's repertoire. The EP opens with Barefoot. The lyrics for Barefoot are dark, cluttered with unconcealed emotion. The pace is sporadic complimented by dynamic guitar parts that are gripping from the off-set. Pages is up next which makes for a more upbeat,catchy and invigorating song. The song starts with charming intro which quickly leads into an uplifting guitar riff accompanied by sincere lyrics that denote themes of summer and being young. Signals, the third track, is a fast-paced, buoyant song.The vocal melody is unforgettable brimming with youthful angst and engrossing guitar hooks. Projections is the final track on the EP. Like Signals, Projections has a captivating chorus laden with energetic riffs and an impeccable rhythm Overall, Where Do We Go From Here is a solid effort from Tigerstyle. They've managed to create a proficient, impassioned EP that will appeal to the majority of pop punk fans. The EP consists of everything that makes for a striking pop punk sound; breakneck tempos, engaging riffs and infectious vocal melodies. Where Do We Go From Here is out now! Get it for free on Bandcamp until 19/06/15:
Knuckle Puck have announced that they will be releasing a their debut album, titled Copacetic, on July 31st. The band will also be releasing a new song from the upcoming album on June 19th as well as preorders. Check out the artwork below:
New Jersey pop punks, Man Overboard, recently visited the UK and Europe on their tour with Moose Blood, ROAM and Smile Burn. The tour was set to take place in November of last year but due to vocalist and bassist Nik Bruzzese tearing his ACL (Anterior cruciate ligament) it had to be postponed until May. We sat down with Nik and Zac Eisenstein (guitar/ vocals) to ask them about and their time in Europe, whether they actually like pop punk and their recent split with Senses Fail.
YOU'VE JUST COME BACK FROM EUROPE HOW WAS IT?
Nik: Better than we thought.
Zac: it was our most successful trip to Europe ever, I think. We had a good time and the crowd was good. The shows were really good. We’ve definitely had worse trips out there.
DID YOU THINK IT WAS GOING TO GO BADLY THEN?
Nik: it’s tough to gage how it’s going to be and to build like a pop punk fan base over there. It’s very metal driven. We’ve been going over there since ’09 and now it’s starting to pick up.
Zac: That’s the thing, we can’t really monitor it as well as at home or even in the UK for some reason. We’re just kind of going over there in the dark, so to speak. You’re kind of like ‘I hope somebody comes to the show’ and then one person turns up and you're like 'that's cool' and then more people come and then you’re like ‘this is a real show!’
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO VISIT IN EUROPE AND WHY?
Zac: I’m going to say Amsterdam.
Nik: Yeah.
PPUK: For the coffee shops?
Zac: Yeah.
Nik: We support your local coffee.
Zac: I like Vienna a lot, Italy.
Nik: I like Italy. We had fun in Milan, Switzerland.
Zac: I decided yesterday if I ever lived in England, I want to live on Old London Road in Kingston. I want to live across from the Fighting Cocks and get drunk from sun up until sun down every day.
Nik: You could probably do that after this.
Zac: I am.
Nik: We’ll just buy a house.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF EUROPEAN FOOD? IS IT BETTER THAN AMERICAN FOOD?
Zac: We’re partial to American food but over here we’re big falafel fans.
Nik: We love falafel. We treat falafel like chipotle. So we’re like ‘falafel down there was really good’ or ‘it wasn’t so good’, you know?
Zac: I think I find England and the UK more convenient to get something to eat than Europe. At least if I’m in England, I know there’s a kebab shop somewhere.
Nik: A lot of stuff in Europe closes early too. So, come five o’clock everything’s closed and you’re hungry and you’ve got to wait until the next day.
SO THIS TOUR WAS MEANT TO BE IN NOVEMBER. HOWEVER NIK, YOU TORE YOUR ACL, IS EVERYTHING GOOD NOW?
Nik: It’s all okay, yeah. I had surgery but I’m all good now.
Zac: He’s a trooper.
IF YOU COULD PLAY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD IT BE?
Zac: My elementary school. I would want to have a big show on the street I grew up on with people on the baseball fields and stuff.
Nik: That would be cool. I think I would want to go to Greenland or Iceland, I would love to go check that out. I want to go to Alaska to, that would cool.
Zac: Places I’ve never been I want to go. Brazil, we’ve never been there. I would like to go to Johannesburg.
Nik: We get asked to go to Brazil a lot. So we’re going to try and make our way over there sometime.
SO NEXT WEEKEND YOU GUYS ARE PLAYING PINKY SWEAR AND FURY FEST IN THE SAME WEEKEND, ARE YOU EXCITED?
Nik: Yeah, I like it because it takes a lot of the eyes from us because there’s a lot more bands to focus on. It’s not all about Man Overboard so it’s a lot more comfortable. I can breathe easier if there’s like ten bands. But then I found out we are playing last and I was like ‘shit’.
SO DO YOU STILL GET NERVOUS BEFORE SHOWS?
Nik: Yeah I still get nervous. Like Zac said, I get nervous and he gets confident and then if I don’t get nervous he gets nervous. But I always get nervous, every show I’m like ‘shit, shit’. That’s all I say over and over.
Zac: I go ‘what’ and he goes ‘I’m nervous, man’.
Nik: I think we said one time, we were just kids, if we were going to play a show with a bigger band, I would get nervous and I wouldn’t want to do it so I asked Zac what he would do. He said ‘I would drag you, beat your ass and throw you on stage’.
Zac: (laughs) I remember that.
IF YOU COULD PLAY WITH ANY BAND WHO WOULD IT BE?
Zac: The Cure. That would be a crazy one we would never play with. I would like to say AFI or Coheed but I like to believe those are bands we could potentially play with one day, we just haven’t yet.
Nik: I would take Rage Against the Machine. Even though we would look like idiots. Like, ‘this song’s called Love Your Friends Die Laughing, Rage Against the Machine’s up next’, it just doesn’t work.
Zac: Metallica. It would be awesome to play with Metallica. Morrissey.
Nik: The Rolling Stones.
Zac: Guns N’ Roses.
Nik: We’ve been on a book kick. We’ve been reading a lot of rock ‘n’ roll biographies.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN READING? IS THAT HOW YOU PASS THE TIME ON THE ROAD?
Nik: Yeah. Wayne’s been reading about Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin’s tour manager wrote a book and he was telling us all these stories from it.
Zac: I’ve been reading lots of books about wrestling honestly. What do you read about, Nik?
Nik: Keith Richards.
Zac: Wayne also read the Morrissey thing.
Nik: We’ve got a book club.
Zac: It’s called the clean plate club. You’ve got to finish your book to be in the club and if you’re not in the club you get treated like a second-class citizen on the bus when we drive.
DO YOU FIND IT BORING ON THE ROAD OR IS IT QUITE FUN?
Zac: We’re all pretty funny. We all think that we’re funny so we entertain each other pretty well.
Nik: Night time is the funny time. We all get in our sleeping bags and then someone says something funny and it just rollsat like four in the morning or something, going at it.
DO YOU GUYS ACTUALLY LISTEN TO A LOT OF POP PUNK?
Nik: No, not really (laughs).
Zac: No. We’re not dissing it, it’s just that we’re a few years older in general than most of our our fans. When most of our fans are our age I think that they will move on to a different sound too. It’s all good. You play the type of music you feel you can play best or expresses you the most. Sometimes it’s like a thing of if there’s a restaurant I love and I go get a job there it’s probably not going to be my favourite restaurant anymore. I’ll still like the food and think it’s great but it might not be where I go eat in my free time. Just go with the flow, just keep stimulating yourself. It's normal if you’re an intensely musical person the same sounds aren’t always going to do it for you forever and you’ve got to keep it going. You can’t like the same stuff forever or you’ll fall into a rut where you remember when you used to like music.
HOW DO YOU GUYS PICK A SETLIST FOR YOUR SHOWS? YOU HAVE A GOOD MIX OF OLD AND NEW SONGS.
Zac: He’s (Nik) setlist guy.
Nik: I just wing it. Actually I don’t, I just write it twenty times over and rip it up and then I start another one. I look at Spotify (laughs) to see what the most popular songs are and then it’s just trial and error really. We play songs live and if they don’t go down well we just cut it and out and add another one in there. We play How To Hide Your Feelings every night and there’s one part of the song where we look at each other. It’s the bridge and we all look at each other like ‘is this cool?’.
Zac: And Justin plays the lead there too, so we roll our eyes a bit. I’m just kidding, actually no I’m not.
Nik: You’ll see us do it. If kids are bored then we’ll cut the songs.
Zac: There might be a song that they’re bored by tonight and if we were in San Francisco, for example, it would be popular. We have to just try it out. We're like 'this one doesn’t do as well here as at home and stuff but this one does and no one cares at home'.
HOW DID THE SPLIT WITH SENSES FAIL COME ABOUT?
Nik: We’ve been friends with them for a long time.
Zac: They were the first band that we listened to and I really looked up to Senses Fail in high school and they were like the first band that paid attention to us, that ever contacted us.
Nik: We played here with Senses Fail, they headlined. It was our first or second time here.
Zac: I think our second time here, it was like 2010. I’ve had two birthdays on tour with Senses Fail. We were a pretty new band and Buddy emailed us and was like ‘you’re cool and you're from New Jersey’ and whatever and that was the best thing ever. That was a long time ago. So flash-forward, we were on tour with Bayside and Senses Fail and we were like ‘why not do a split and cover Senses Fail and whatever’ and we thought it would be fun. We had nothing else to do.
HOW DID YOU DECIDE WHAT SONGS YOU WERE BOTH GOING TO COVER?
Zac: We just picked one and they picked one.
Nik: Well Justin said it was a seven inch and there’s only a certain amount of time on a seven inch so I basically had to look down the list and pick like any song that was two minutes and something. Any song that was over two minutes we couldn’t do because there wasn’t enough time. So that’s how we picked the song. We did it (the song) exactly how they did it.
WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THEIR COVER OF REAL TALK?
Zac: We loved it. It’s awesome.
Nik: We freaked out when we heard it.
Zac: To hear Buddy sing our song is insane, so insane. Thinking about it, it’s Chris Hornbrook from Poison the Well playing our song and that was awesome. We’re tickled to hear them play our song. It’s crazy to us.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE ARTWORK IDEA?
Zac: I think that was my idea.
Nik: Was it? I thought it was my idea.
Zac: I think it was meant to be like the Brady Bunch originally. But then Justin said ‘well they’re just going to be looking up and we’ll just be looking down’ and I was like ‘okay, whatever, not really the Brady bunch’ but then when I saw the record it looked liked the Brady Bunch so it was kind of the Brady Bunch.
Nik: I think I’m going to start a band called the Brady Bunch.
Zac: We were going to make it like some emo-ass thing of a boy and girl holding hands on a bridge and I was like ‘no let’s just have fun with it and be smiling on the cover’. That was cool.
Nik: The bridge thing was my idea.
HAVE YOU GUYS GOT ANY PLANS TO RECORD/ RELEASE NEW MUSIC IN THE NEAR FUTURE?
Zac: We don’t stop. He’s (Nik) got his own recording studio and we frequent it.
Nik: Yeah we always write songs. Life keeps on rolling and we keep on writing about it so that’s just the way it is for me and him.
SO HAS A LOT OF THE STUFF YOU'VE RELEASED BEEN RECORDED IN NIK'S STUDIO?
Nik: Yeah a lot of it. This Passing Ends EP was recorded there.
Zac: We have things but we can’t quite say what. We have things. Nik: We have a lot of things. Sixty Things.
That thing turned out to be Man Overboard's new album which they have since announced will be released on June 30th. Check out the newest single from Heavy Love, Cliffhanger, below:
