The Used

Singers tend to make the band. If you're the frontman, you're the face of the band, the one people look to for inspiration, for answers. That's not to say that the rest of the group isn't important. One man bands are a mystical invention. but that sort of talent doesn't come along all that often.  But back to singers...the band I'm going to talk about today has a singer notorious for being off the wall, crazy, and just a little bit weird. It's the weird that gets noticed though! On that note, I'm going to talk about Bert McCracken and his band, The Used.

The Used was formed and signed (by Reprise) in 2001 by Quinn Allman (guitar/backup vocals), Jeph Howard (bass/backing vocals), Bert McCracken (vocals, keyboard), and Branden Steineckert (drums).  Although now, Dan Whitesides has taken over the drums and has been since 2006.  In 2002 they released their self titled album, in 2004 released their sophomore album In Love and Death, in 2007 they released Lies for the Liars, in 2008 they released Shallow Believer (EP), and in 2009 they released Artwork.  With these albums they have sold millions and have achieved gold/platinum status.  They plan on releasing their fifth studio album this year. It would probably have been sooner, but there have been some management issues.  I am looking forward to it though!

Honestly, I haven't checked up on them in a few years. From time to time I will listen to songs off of In Love and Death to reminise, but I haven't heard much about them. After looking a bit, it seems that that they're doing well, I would like to see this new album sooner than later though. I can remember seeing their video for "All That I've Got" and liking the whole storybook feel of the video. That got me hooked initially and I just became a fan. I am glad they're trying to make a comeback and let's hope they get on a tour soon! Any dates they have can be found here, enjoy!

Going for Nirvana

Once again, we will go back to my high school days of being angsty and wanting music to mirror that.  In my MCR days, I had another band to back up my musical taste when I wanted a brief break.  I went to a band with a troubled singer, which, although not the healthiest of lifestyles, makes for good music.  I mean, aren't all great artists troubled? Well, I'll leave that one up for debate for now and get to the info on Senses Fail.

In 2002, in Ridgewood, NJ, Buddy Nielson (vocals), Dan Trapp (drums), Dave Miller (guitar), Garrett Zablocki (guitar), and Mike Glita (bass) formed Senses Fail. They used the internet widely as their outlet and released From the Depths of Dreams.  They went straight on tour and built their fan base, going on to release Let it Enfold You in 2004.  In 2005 they lost Miller gained Heath Saraceno, and released Still Searching in 2006.  That album sparked a lot of interest and they went on a lot of tours because of it, like Warped and Taste of Chaos.  In 2007, Glita left and Jason Black stood in to help with the album Life is Not a Waiting Room (2008). Black stayed on and they lost Saraceno in 2009, being replaced by Zach Roach. With so much loss, they regrouped and released The Fire in 2010.

They just recently had a show here in Raleigh, on April 5, at the Brewery.  I wasn't able to go, sigh, but I did get some feeback from a few friends. First of all, the brewery is somewhat like a large garage. It can get packed in there with the small bands, like some of the NC based Tragic Hero bands, that tend to roll through. So a bigger name, with dedicated fans, like Senses Fail, is bound to get some attention. Newer fans and diehards alike attended the shendig, with SF, The Ghost Inside, Man Overboard, and Transit.  Reliable sources tell me that it was absolutely packed, with people practically spilling out of the doors when Senses Fail came on.  Buddy is a riot, I know that from when I saw them at The Norva a few years ago with From First to Last. He was a ball of energy them, jumping around the stage and into  the crowd to get some help from teh fans with the songs.  Being that its only been a few years, I'm sure he still has that fire and hasn't gone senile or anything to that effect.

Check out a few of their videos if you're interested:
"Rum Is For Drinking, Not For Burning"
"Can't Be Saved"
"The Fire"

Bamboozle!

As I've said before, summer is my favorite time of year to go to shows. Aside from being out of school, there are a ton of festivals to explore where you can hear a ton of bands on one ticket. Although I haven't experienced it yet, I'm going to give a little insight on The Bamboozle Festival.

Bamboozle is a three day music festival in New Jersey, held rain or shine and was started up in 2003 by John D. Newer bands also compete for spots on the stage. There are characters associated with both fictional and real people working on the tour to help people stay connected to the scene and all things Bamboozle.

This festival is sort of like Warped Tour, with tons of vendors and an integration of different genres of music, although it is not as hardcore, or psychedelic, as Bonnaroo.

I'm sad to say I haven't been to Bamboozle. I guess it would be due to the fact that it's usually in NewJersey and it's hard to get a group of people to go up there for three days. It would be no fun going alone! But Bamboozle is going to be in East Rutherford, New Jersey on April 29, April 30, and May 1. You don't have to go every day, single day tickets are available, but your money would probably go further and you'd have a better experience going through the whole festival. I plan on going, if exams don't inetrfere! I'm so excited to see 30 Second to Mars, Lil Wayne, Motley Crue, Blessthefall, Mayday Parade, Circa Survive, and Forever the Sickest Kids. The full lineup for all three days is available here.  Plus, Bamboozle could be a great oppurtunity to scope out some new music. We'll see how it goes!

Escape the Fate

I'm going to get opinionated today, more so than usual, in a negative way I suppose. I'm going to talk about a band called Escape the Fate. 

In 2004, Escape the Fate was formed in Las Vegas Nevada by Ronnie Radke (vocals), Max Green (bass), Robert Ortiz (drums), Bryan Money (lead guitar), Carson Allen (keyboard), and Omar Espinosa (rhythm guitar). They got their big break, so to speak, when they won a radio contest in 2005 that was judged by My Chemical Romance (yay!).  Their prize was to open for MCR, Alkaline Trio, and Reggie and the Full Effect.  In 2006, after signing with Epitaph records, they released There's No Sympathy For The Dead (EP), whereafter Allen left the band. Later that year, they released the full length album Dying Is Your Latest Fashion.  To add to their declining members, Espinosa left during the 2007 Black on Black tour for personal reasons. Then things got messy. 

Radke had been running into some trouble with the law for narcotics and was involved in a fight that left Michael Cook dead. Radke was sentenced to prison and was asked to leave Escape the Fate. Now he's in the band Falling in Reverse and was released from prison on December 12, 2010.

You obviously can't go on without a lead singer, so Craig Mabbitt started filling in for the band and was asked to stay on as the permanent lead singer. In 2008, they released The War Is Ours. Now that they didn't have the tour restrictions because of Radke's track record, they could complete a full tour and did so with bands like Attack Attack!, Atreyu, Black Tide, and on tours like Bamboozle. They even made it on Rock Band with "The Flood".  After several tours and success, they released a video for "The War Is Ours" on April 2, 2010.  

It's true that they've stepped it up. They've worked with big names on their albums like Mick Mars of Motley Crue and have toured worldwide.  They moved to Interscope Records in 2010, the label that would release their self titled album on November 2, 2010. They have a video for the song "Issues" from said album.  They just wrapped up their first headlining tour, The Dead Masquerade, with Alesana and Motionless in White. They have dozens of shows lined up for the coming months which can be found here.

My personal opinion? They've lost their magic. Without Ronnie, as crazy as he was, the band just doesn't have the same flavor to me. I don't think Craig is as good of a fit. I liked him a lot in Blessthefall, but I think they've upgraded by choosing Beau Bokan. ETF was totally rock n roll before, and they still are now, but its just...muffled? It's hard to put what I want to say into words but they just aren't as awesome. When I first heard "The Flood" I was unimpressed. But I guess nothing can compare to "Situations", at least not for me. Check out the video here, and you'll see what I mean. It just embodies the whole girls and rockstars vibe, playing off of Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher". Craig is just more metal-ly to me, and plus I think he's gone a bit overboard with the long hair and gages as of late. "Issues" is a little cheesy to me. I know that Craig opened up a lot of doors for them. They're incredibly famous and better off in the long run. But in the end, I'm just not that into it.

Blast from the past

So, let's go back to 2004. I'm fourteen years old, with the usual teen angst attitude issues. So music is a must, you know, for self expression and such. Who did I turn to? Well, it's pretty clear that I needed a band that has pizzaz, something punky and loud. It's only natural that I sought out My Chemical Romance. 

My Chemical Romance is a now four man band that was formed in 2001 in New Jersey.  The band now consists of Gerard Way (lead vocals), Ray Toro (lead guitar), Mikey Way (bass guitar), and Frank Iero (rhythm guitar). They were formerly joined by Matt Pellisier ('01-'04) and Bob Bryar ('04-'10). 

In 2002 they released their album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love after signing with Eyeball Records. They then signed with a better known label, Reprise, and released Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004, which eventually went platinum. In 2006, they released The Black Parade, one of their most critically acclaimed, and in 2010 they released Danger Days: The True Live sof the Fabulous Killjoys. 

MCR has a little bit of everything. They're punky, glam, a tad metal, and even a little goth. If you're in an screw this kind of mood, put in "I'm Not Okay", and if you're in an uplifting mood, try "The Black Parade". It doesn't matter what you're feeling, they've got a song for it. They've managed to go from the vampiric, emo days of I Brought You My Bullets, and evolve into the more rock style of Danger Days. While they remain true to their style, I will admit they have evolved. Battling with emo labels and growing from being strictly in the scene has given them challenges but the fans have remained loyal. I remember seeing the "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" video and thinking "wait, who are these guys?". But after listening to the rest of the first album I was hooked. They were different, new, and I couldn't get enough. 

Like many of my posts, this band is on my favorites list. But I have to say they're number one on my list!    I started listening to them and found out they were going to be on the 2005 warped tour, my very first one. I waited all day to see them, since they were one of the last bands to play. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one dying to see Gerard Way sing, so the entire crowd was about to go crazy waiting for them.  So I donned my newly bought MCR shirt and the show began. As soon as Frank Iero played the first chord of "Helena", everyone surged forward and I lost my friends, but hey, it comes with the territory. So I fought my way to the front, getting a bloody nose in the process, and got my pictures of the band and listened to the rest of the set. It was amazing! But once they were done, I found my crew, but it looked like I just had the crap beaten out of me. It was well worth the memories!

Out with the old...

So, when you think post-hardcore, many things come to mind. Amazing guitar, crazy screaming, and earth shattering drums. But with the newer definition, you can add a little piano too. Who does this sound like? Why, it's Chiodos of course!

Originally the Chiodos Bros, Chiodos, a 6 man group from Davison, Michigan, was created in 2001. There have been many lineup changes, so I won't go through their entire history, like I normally do. But the most notable one is the loss of Craig Owens, former lead singer, screamer, and icon of the scene.  I would say he's on the same level as Anthony Green, or at least he used to be. The current members are Bradley Bell (keyboards, piano, backup vocals, synthesizers), Brandon Bolmer (lead vocals), Matt Goddard (bass guitar), Jason Hale (lead guitar), Pat McManaman (rhythm guitar), and Tanner Wayne (drums). Together, they have put out the full length album, Illuminaudio (2010). Before that, they put out All's Well That Ends Well (2005) and Bone Pallace Ballet (2007). They have toured with some of the best, including Armor For Sleep, Linkin Park, and Silverstein. They have also been on some notable tours, like Warped tour (for several years), The Take Action Tour, and some of Alternative Press' tours. Chiodos even went the extra mile, and got banned from Fuse, for a joke that those working for Steven's Untitled Rock Show and for the network, didn't find amusing. They are currently carving their way in the world, and still reeling from the loss of Owens.

On September 24, 2009, via Myspace, the band released a statement saying that they had to let Craig Owens go. They would not state specific reasons, being professional, but rumors floated around that it had been due to some drug and control issues of Craig's.  He has since moved on, performing in acts such as Cinematic Sunrise, Isles and Glaciers, and his newest project, D.R.U.G.S. 

I'm going to go ahead and say that Chiodos is one of  my favorite bands of all time. I can play their albums from beginning to end and then press repeat. They have a little something for every mood and they're one of the first post-hardcore bands that I started listening to. Back when I was a sophomore in highschool, in 2005, I went to one of my first shows. It was at the small, grungy, dive bar of dive bars, The Brewery, in Raleigh. Armor For Sleep was the headliner, with Action Action, Boys Night Out, and Chiodos. At that point I was really there to see the headliner and hadn't heard of Chiodos. But as soon as Craig Owens stepped on the stage and started singing, in his amazingly high pitched voice, he wowed the crowd. Then he switched to heavy screaming, which only excited everyone more, eventually with the Brewery erupting into a battlefield of crowd surfers and mosh pits. But it was awesome all in all, and I've been a fan ever since. I'm still adjusting to Brandon, it's just hard with me growing up listening to Craig, who essentially made the band, in my eyes. It's still great music, the icon is just gone. But I do look forward to what the new guy can bring to the table. 

The band has a lot of upcoming tour dates, which can be found here. Enjoy!

Get Warped!

Ahh springtime again! And what comes after spring? Hopefully, you recognize summer as the next step in the process, which brings me to today's topic, one of my favorite and highly anticipated summer music festivals, Warped Tour.

Warped tour is a summer festival featuring a wonderful mixture of genres such as post-hardcore, ska, alternative, metalcore, reggae, hip hop, electronicore, and pop-rock. It was dreamed up and founded in 1994 by Kevin Lyman, SideOneDummy Records partner and producer of the Taste of Chaos
 and Mayhem Tours. Originally the tour was created as a skate punk/ska tour, but in more recent years they have been letting a multitude of genres on the tour. Other than music, the tour features some extreme sports and is and has been sponsored by, but not limited to, the skateboarding and shoe company Vans. People shorten the name to Warped Tour, but technically it is called the Vans Warped Tour (tomato, tomato, right?).  It is also flea market-esque, with all of the bands and other vendors selling anything from food to instruments.

Going to Warped Tour is something that must be prepared for. It is a gritty, sweaty, and extremely hot all day event (11am-9pm), usually featuring 100+ bands across 10 or so stages. Everyone plays at once since there are so many acts and only 10 stages, so it's always a tough choice to pick who you want to see, especially if they're playing at the same time. Trust me, getting from one stage to another can be a battle! But the beauty of it is, you can pretty much see all of your favorite bands in one day.

Like I said, Warped Tour has been one of my favorite events since I started going in 2005. My best friend and I make it a yearly tradition, although we did miss last years tour due to an unimpressive lineup, in our opinion. But this year, I am more pleased with the bands, and the lineup isn't even complete yet! I am going to make it a point to see 3OH!3, Attack Attack!, Family Force 5, Foxy Shazam, I Set My Friends on Fire, and The Devil Wears Prada. The full tour schedule can be found here. Don't be scared off by the heat and the hoards of hardcore kids, Warped Tour is a must for your summer!