News Archive

I’ll be up front about, and I think I can speak for hundreds of fans when I say that I really thought Sonny did a way better job than Matt ever will for From First to Last, but that’s not to say that their latest album, Throne To The Wolves, is bad, by any means. I just  get the sense that they’re trying to hard now.

FFTL started out rough and uncut with Dear Diary…, and then pretty much kept that notion going with Heroine. But then when Sonny left and Matt filled his spot, they seemed to transform in to a tidier band, with less screaming and less out-of-the-ordinary music, but instead played straight up alternative rock and roll. And now, after having plenty of time to think, with both acclaim and criticism, and a quick drummer change, they release this; a thumping, bumping collection of harsh libretto that intrigues me. It seems to me that they weren’t satisfied – or their fans weren’t — with the plain ‘ol music they produced with their self-titled release, so they decided to jack up their hard-core outfit. And I like it. It’s kind of typical, with scruffy screams for every second line of lyric, high-pitched whining, 30 second breakdowns, and bass-pedalling faster than one’s ear can handle, but that’s what continues the post-hardcore genre, and they fit the mold pretty damn good. Perhaps there’s something to be said about group chanting “Yah!”s and “OOh!”s? And, wait, what’s that? Did I just hear auto-tune? But, the question is, are they just changing for what their fans want, or are they still pumping out music they want to?

With all this to take in, it makes me start to wonder if they’re actually producing original music, or if they’re following the trend that every new 1 in 2 bands in the world is; trying to be too hardcore? In terms of comparison, Throne To The Wolves resembles Heroine the most to me, with the fairly equal combination of clean to harsh vocals and a lot of added electronic enhancers and fills, and for that I give them credit. That’s my kind of music. Truth be told, I kind of admire what Matt has brought to the band in the end.

As for a favourite song on the album, I don’t have one. All 11 tracks on the album pretty much give off the same, repetitive, monotonous feeling of making me want to mosh in my bedroom. Hell, there isn’t even a laid back, acoustic, soft track to sink in to; if anything, the electronic rhythms of “A Soft War” differentiate it from the rest of the album, but that’s just a carry-on, a filler. And that’s it.

I’m sure true From First to Last die-hards will love this new album, they’ll feed off it. You know, because IT IS FFTL. But there’s always haters; I don’t hate the album, but I’m not the biggest fan of it.

My Rating:  

Like sitting by the camp fire with a guitar, a drum, and anything else you can get your hands on, the calming harmony of opening track “Any Day Now” from Jon and Roy’s third official album leaves you in awe-state and dying to hear what’s next.

Victoria locals John Middleton and Roy Vizer, and their band, are following up to their critically acclaimed second album, “Another Noon” (2008), with a 14 track gem, “Homes”, dropping this April 13th. The combination of melodic strokes and cheerful whistling all chiming to the tune of reggae chords, African drums, and wise lyrics puts a new meaning to this genre of folk music.

Recently coming off of having their single, “Another Noon”, featured on a commercial for Volkswagen, the group seems to be putting an even greater effort in to exploring their plethora of musical variations. Perhaps it’s the recent expansion of their band, with Dougal Maclean on Violin and friend Ryan Tonelli on bass, that has helped them with the continued success and achievements, playing some of Canada’s largest music festivals, and having their music featured in movies and TV shows. Perhaps it’s the quaint and cozy atmosphere of Vancouver Island, where they spent countless hours recording the new album, that has kept them so lively in their music.

My song of choice from Homes has got to be “Giddy Up“, which seems to highlight the entire album for me, as well, reminds me so much of their previous works.

Bottom line, this album is simply wonderful if you’re in to softer, more melodic folk music, and I can see it possibly being an album anyone would like, even if the folk genre isn’t their cup of tea. Jon and Roy also make for a good live performance, and you can catch them live if you’re in the Victoria area April 1st, as they’re playing their CD release party at the McPhereson playhouse.

My Rating:  

Check out Jon and Roy

Andy Mrotek is one busy person; he’s the drummer for Illinois alternative group The Academy Is…, a part-time artist, selling his masterpieces on the Butcher Prints web store, and now, blazing his own trail, he’s got a new side project, The Animal Upstairs. Recently debuting his new sound, he’s released three demo’s on Tumblr, and we managed have a chat with him about his music and his art.

Let’s start it off: who are you and what do you do? Music-related? Art-related?
I am Andy Mrotek. I play drums in the Academy Is… in which I am referred to as “the Butcher”. As far as Art goes, I’m a freelance artist/designer for SJC drums. My woodburning works have been featured in the last 2 NAMM conventions, and I’m already working on the kit for this year. Go for gold!

The Butcher? It sounds like something out of a Rob Zombie movie… how did you manage to get that nick name?
“The Butcher” comes from the simple origin of me actually being a butcher, prior to joining the Academy Is. They thought it was a funny name, and it stuck!

Now, I actually have a few of your artwork pieces, and I’m fascinated with them! What possesed you to start producing and selling your artwork? Tell us a little bit about Butcher Prints and how you got in to that kind of art.
I was painting during Warped 08, I had 6 or 7 just laying around the bus, getting stepped on. So! I decided to auction the pieces at our merch tent. It was very exciting, and the way I prefer to release art, in it’s original form. But those ran out quick, so I kept painting and auctioning throughout the next few tours. At the end of the year, i decided to get some prints made, so anyone could have a piece that wasnt being bid on for too much dough. SJC helps me distribute them, they’re my close friends.

And now, what we’re all here for: The Animal Upstairs. Who and what is TAU? Where did it come from?
The Animal Upstairs… the music that you hear, is me playing every instrument and singing. No, not actually at the same time. It’s just a recording, silly. Though, I do have a cameos, Tim William singing on Dotted Lines, Nash Breen dueling with me on drums on a few tracks, and even Nate Navarro, dueling with me on another… But the Animal Upstairs is basically just what it sounds like. The reason I dont’ sleep anymore. My creativity in it’s raw form, before it comes out my mouth or my fingers. My friend Lee Odeja coined the term for me, I asked him to try and describe the ideal and motivation I had regarding the multi-faceted project. It means all that junk.

What sort of sound would you come to describe TAU as if you were explaining it to someone who’s never heard you? Could you put it in to a specific genre of music?
Hmm. Im always bad at this, putting music in genres. I tagged it as Breast Rock, though I dont really know what that means. I’d say it’s Indie, with a little hiphop or RnB influence… I wanted to fulfill all these different grooves and themes and styles, so I ended up with a very wide spectrum of music. Actually, I was really hoping I could be one of the bands to start a NEW wave, which is coming any minute. If emo was the last wave, you could call my wave PRIMO. kidding

How has, if at all, being in The Academy Is… affected TAU, and vice-versa? Does your drumming for TAI have any affect on your music writing?
TAI has effected everything that I do. Ive learned how to better craft my own songs and message through my time in the band. This certainly has NOT effected TAI, nor am I leaving the band. As they say “s’all gooood”, but it really is. I like being a drummer to most people, and I love to be so much more to the people who choose to find that out.

What sort of musical inspiration helps you make your own music? Do you have a favourite artist that you look to?
Musical inspiration? Off the top of my head, I would say… Alicia Keys, Radiohead, Jay-Z, Arcade Fire, Cody Chestnutt, Flaming Lips, etc. I am generally more moved (instantly) by RnB or hiphop- groove based music. It’s easy to nasty-dance to, I love that. But I also love the slow building atmospheres of Radiohead and Arcade Fire. Flaming Lips is also a example of a cult band with an amazing live show, a great sense of humor, and an extremely multi talented backing band.

Is TAU a long-term thing, or is it simply something keeping you busy at the moment?
TAU is certainly keeping me busy. I could see it long term… I feel like, if you make decisions about your art, prior to developing it, you get into trouble, you end up hating anything you produce, because of it’s “plan” that it probably isnt hitting. Yes. I want it long term. But first, I want to keep producing, let fans tell ME that it’s worth it. The music is already worth everything to me… If people can realize that, and support the music as an element of nature, rather than a business- all of a sudden I’m doing something real. My long term goal is to play coachella alongside my favorite bands. I wont get there if I turn into an emo business-band. That sounds harsh, mostly because its true and everyone knows it.

Have you any other comments about The Animal Upstairs? Any secrets you want to share?
Animal Secrets…. none yet. Just give it time, I’m sure something messed up is bound to happen.

I’d personally like to give a big thank you to Andy for taking the time to do the interview!

Hear new The Animal Upstairs music!

This Is My Suitcase is a pretty crazy band. You might remember a certain video featuring Patrick Stumph saying “see you in cat heaven”. Remember that awesome song in the background with the meows? That my friends is the genius work of This Is My Suitcase.

Joe of This Is My Suitcase answered some questions for Double Dance:

How did This Is My Suitcase become a band?

The musical cyclone of This Is My Suitcase was originally conceived because, throughout my many years spent heading up punk bands, I had grown tired from constantly relying on other band members who simply did not have the same level of concern for what we were doing. I care way too much- it’s like a sickness. I wanted to have somewhere that i could musically go to be alone and freak out as I saw fit; a place to care about my weird songs by my lonesome until the cows came home- and This Is My Suitcase was birthed. By the time I had released the first This Is My Suitcase full length album, Missent to Thailand, I had already enlisted three band members to play alongside me at shows, as I missed friendship and headbanging  aspects of band life too much to remain alone. Over the next couple of years, we had solidified our lineup to what it is now: myself, Nicholas Manos (on the electric guitar and percussion), Jeremy Skeen (a true drum mastermind), Joseph O’ Riordan (the bass guitar), and Mary Lynn Gloeckle (our pianist and pitch-wonderful female vocalist). Obviously, our band has become an actual “band” and no longer a “solo project”, if i must use such dreaded terms as these to describe our situation. LONG ANSWER SHORT: This Is My Suitcase was originally the product of my madness, but, since then, This Is My Suitcase has blossomed into a full band musical explosion that I love more than ever.

For those who haven’t heard music from This Is My Suitcase, how would you describe the band’s sound?

For the millions of unfortunate souls who, for whatever reason, choose to read about how music sounds rather than listen to how music sounds: the music of This Is My Suitcase does not sound like the music from any band I’ve heard to date. The simplest answer I can give to this mind-bending question is: the wily music of This Is My Suitcase sounds like the even-wilier music I constantly hear inside my brain as I try to live out my pathetic life as a sad-yet-optimistic cat-person who dies for fast music and writing love stories through sad metaphors. To be honest, This Is My Suitcase tends to accidentally sound 1% like everything I listen to: a little bit like The Beatles, a little bit like Elliott Smith, a little bit like Ben Folds, a little bit like Mozart, a little bit like Good Luck, a little bit like Ok Go, a little bit like Dr Dog, a little bit like Death Cab for Cutie, a little bit like The Zombies, a little bit like The Flaming Lips, etc, forever and ever; HOWEVER, this begs the question: if you sound a weensy-little bit like a boatload of very-different bands, then what do you actually sound like? EXACTLY! This Is My Suitcase sounds like nothing, and This Is My Suitcase sounds like everything. Confused? Good. Now go listen to something from THE KEYS TO CAT HEAVEN (our full length album, released in 2009 through Paper + Plastick records) way too loud, and decide for yourself how we sound!!! When asked how our record sounds, I usually say something along the lines of: THE KEYS TO CAT HEAVEN sounds like the Muppets as The Flaming Lips covering (The Beach Boy’s) Pet Sounds in Hell, produced by Ben Folds.

Where did the band’s name come from?

Justin Zrenner, a brilliant poet that I am lucky to call “friend”, thought up the band name, and I thought to myself “holy shit, that band name is so good that I need to make a band for it!”

What would you say are some of the band’s influences (musical or not)?

Although I pseudo-answered the musical half of this question in a previous answer, I will try to answer this doozie of a question as best as I can! Lyrically, more-often-than-not, I am influenced by what is going on with/around me. For example, “Goodbye Sky” from The Keys To Cat Heaven (a song about my looming and fast-approaching death, with an “oh well, let’s party!” overtone to it) was written as a completely open window to how I sadly felt when the song was created. Whereas other songs, such as “Mean Fish” (a song about two beta fish who are separated and willing die of total heartbreak), are less literal but still have parallels to my real life. Typically speaking, all of our lyrics are influenced by my actual life, and all of our music influenced by me being a maniac that never leaves the house and drinks 200 cups of coffee a day.

If you were given a chance to tour with any band, dead or alive, who would you choose to tour with?

Holy Shit, why would you even tease me with this question? Obviously, you opening up the “dead or” half of the question makes answering impossible. Obvious answer: THE BEATLES; however, i would ideally tour with them post Abbey Road (to see “Oh Darling” live) and they had stopped touring by this point, so my final “dead” answer is: ELLIOTT SMITH. I could write a book on why I believe Elliott and I were destined to be friends, so a tour would be a perfect chance to work my charm and befriend this genius. As far as living bands, that is easy: WE WANT TO TOUR WITH THE FLAMING LIPS EVERYDAY FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!

Who writes the songs in the band?

I (Joseph Anthony Camerlengo) write the music and lyrics for our band. Easy answer! hehe

What is your favorite color?

I am partially-colorblind, so I truthfully am not sure how to answer. The best answer is “blue”, although sometimes I think I am looking at blue and it is really purple, then everyone laughs at me and I tear up. My answer is either “blue”, “rainbow”, or “sad” (is sad a color?)

Would you say there is something (unique maybe) that sets This Is My Suitcase apart from other bands?

Let me answer that with an equally valid question, my dearest Kaitlin: Would you say that there is anything at all that This Is My Suitcase has in common with any other bands? Being in This Is My Suitcase is like being an albino squirrel in a park, no matter who sees us and no matter what we are compared to, we are always the craziest. Oh bother!

What are some of the band’s goals for the future?

We want to be able to survive, in general and financially; right now we are failing at both, it seems. With any luck at all, one day, enough people will be stoked on whatever it is that we do that I/we will be able to pay our rent and bills with it, HOPEFULLY leaving enough money for some Harry Nilsson records after life expenses are taken care of. That’s the goal, i suppose. Survival and/or Nilsson.

I’d say that was quite an interview, wouldn’t you? Now show some love to Joe and go purchase The Keys to Cat Heaven!

You can download The Lows new album entitled “In Waves” for free here.

The album has 8 tracks and features These Green Eyes lead singer Colin Cunningham on the song “Anywhere But Here”.

The tracklisting is:

1. Glassgow Smile

2. Anywhere But Here

3. In Waves

4. Sink of Swim

5. You Only Die Once

6. The Anchor Around My Neck

7. Black Tide

8. Corpse Paint

You can follow The Lows on Twitter and head over to their YouTube to see some updates from the studio.

Happy listening!

If you’ve got one of those fancy iPhones or iPod touches, then get stoked, because the Vans Warped Tour has announced a brand new app to download for the devices, for free! Check the video below!

It can be pretty tough for a band to come up with enough money to record a new album, so the members of Blameshift are asking for your help. They have set up a pledge system so you, the fans can pledge money towards their ultimate goal of $5,000 which will be used to record their new album. If they reach their goal, 20% of the money will be donated to the Haiti Relief Fund and Music Saves Lives.

So, how do you help?

First off, click here.

On that page you will find different amounts of money that you can pledge, but you aren’t just donating money, the band is offering different things based on how much you pledge. By pledging, if the band meets their goal, you could receive anything from the new single before it’s released, to a round trip airline ticket to New York for the cd release show based on how much you pledge.

So help an awesome band and get something back!

Make sure you make a plede because if they don’t make their goal of $5,000, then nobody will get anything .

Get pledging!!!!

The Florida 5-piece power-pop screamo group Sleeping With Sirens has just released a new song entitled “The Bomb Dot Com” from their upcoming album “With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear” due out some time in March of this year. You can stream this new track from the bands MySpace page now, as well, while on the page, pre-order the new album!

The Rise Records group is set to go on the Royal Family Tour with From First to Last, Eyes Set to Kill, and Confide this March.

Paramore has announced some U.S. tour dates from the end of April and into May.

Supporting bands are Relient K and fun. Tickets go on sale February 5th and 6th to the general public so don’t forget to get your tickets!

APRIL

26 Knoxville, TN — Knoxville Civic Coliseum
28 Charlottesville, VA — John Paul Jones Arena
30 Atlantic City, NJ — Trump Taj Mahal – Mark G Etess

MAY

1 East Rutherford, NJ — Arena Meadowlands Sports Complex
3 Columbus, OH — The LC Amphitheatre
4 Grand Rapids, MI — DeltaPlex
6 Rockford, IL — Rockford MetroCentre
7 Moline, IL — i Wireless Center
8 Council Bluffs, IA — WestFair Amphitheatre
10 Salt Lake City, UT — E Center
12 Seattle, WA — WaMu Theater
15 Bakersfield, CA — Rabobank Arena
16 Las Vegas, NV — The Joint

Hey! You can now grab the Double Dance very special t-shirt for only $15!

Get one now!