New Future Idiots Album

The Future Idiots have started a Pledge Music campaign for their next album. Both the band and I are going to be investing heavily in this project despite the fact that we're all broke because the music industry is awful, so if you're a fan and you want to essentially preorder some primo stuff, toss a little love their way and make this project a GD success. Seriously, we're going whole-hog with this; vinyl, CD's, bonus songs, etc. 

Scholar & the Alzheimer's Association

In honor of Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month I'm going to be selling the album Choose Adventure by the pop punk band Scholar. It's an older release, but it's under-appreciated just like the human brain. Seriously, we're essentially the culmination of the meat in our head, and In my humble opinion, we need to make sure that that meat is fully understood, completely researched and well funded so our friends and families can have it running as smooth as possible for as long as possible. That's why 100% of any sales that roll on in for this album will go straight to the Alzheimer's Association. For more information on the Alzheimer's Association just visit alz.org.
 
Now that I've got the serious business out of the way, I want to thank Scholar for participating on this project. I wanted to work with them in some capacity ever since I released their song 'I Wish I Knew How to Quit You' on The Scene, Vol. 4. And honestly, I can't think of a better way to work together than to collaborate for something worthwhile. 

For those that might be unfamiliar with the band, I'd say that they have a classic pop punk sound that has a technical and grand side to it. Another way to describe the album would be to say that it would be like if Blink 182, Four Year Strong and Icarus The Owl had a child, and that child had ADD and a penchant for including kickass guitar riffs.  

Song Stream: Luciano Ferrara

Luciano Ferrara made his way onto The Scene, Vol. 5 because his sound brought me back to the classic days of Promise of Redemption. Clapping, raw emotion, a feeling of quality without obviously being overproduced; they all strike me as traits of early Shane Henderson material. I'm not accusing Luciano Ferrara of plagiarism or anything, I'm just saying that it's nice to finally get more of a throwback pop/punk singer songwriter style. It's not all that common of a genre and it's difficult to do well. 

A Tribute to Taking Back Sunday and The Scene, Vol. 5, Available Now

I have some severely mixed feelings today. I have 'A Tribute to Taking Back Sunday' and 'The Scene, Vol. 5' dropping today. Both of which have taken me the better part of a year to put out. I'm definitely proud of the double disc project as a whole. The albums have even been getting a decent amount of press at well respected places like Alternative Press, Absolutepunk, Under The Gun, Dying Scene, Already Heard and more. Then I got sick. For about two weeks now I've been unable to work on a project that I've worked so hard to put together for so long. It's finally here, though, and I guess that's all that really matters. 

I really can't thank all the bands enough for their contributions. From Everyone Dies In Utah's opening track to Jenna Mason-Brase's closer 35 tracks later, I couldn't be happier. It turned out almost exactly how I wanted it to with the exception of the last two weeks where everything stalled out.

My only wish is that the artists enjoyed the end product too, because there's definitely no denying that there's an immense amount of talent on these compilations. That being said, here's to hoping that all the artists that participated go on to do bigger and better things (and occasionally come back and slum it with me on another comp).

Both albums can be fully streamed for free and purchased anywhere. 

Song Stream: Face Value - Members Only

In my opinion there's just nothing better than straight, no frills pop punk. If the material is well performed and has enough of a lyrical hook, the genre just sort of has an energy about it that can't be matched. That's why I'm excited to have landed a pure pop punk group in Face Value. They are the epitome of what The Scene series is supposed to be, so a huge thanks goes out to those guys for their participation. 

Song Stream: The Apprehended's 'Scene, Vol. 5' Contribution, 'Can We Just Speak?'

There's no better way to celebrate Easter than with a little post-hardcore.

Hopefully The Apprehended will enjoy the company they'll be sharing on A Tribute to Taking Back Sunday/The Scene, Vol. 5 enough to where they'll want to bring their talents to the next tribucomp. I think with their quality vocals and crisp sound, and with my ability to not really do anything besides look good, it could be a partnering that could lead to a hell of a cover on any future project. 

'One-Eighty By Summer' Stream

I always have a band or two that comes out of nowhere and ends up providing one of the better songs on these compilations. This time around that band is Shapes & Colors. I was completely unfamiliar with them as an artist and received a random email from their booking agent about how the guys would like to participate on 'A Tribute to Taking Back Sunday.' I listened to their fairly limited catalog, liked what I heard and thought that I'd give them a chance. Turns out, it was one of the best decisions I could have made. They knocked out an absolutely  glorious version of Taking Back Sunday's song, 'One-Eighty By Summer.' If only every email I got from an up-start band wound up being as extraordinarily pleasant as this. It only gets better, though. Shapes & Colors was also kind enough to send me some new material that they've been working on. It blew me away. You would think that I would be prepared for some top-notch tunes considering the work they did for me, but honestly, I think the TBS cover was just the start of what could very possibly be a long lasting and lucrative career in the industry.  

Already Heard Streams cover of 'Call Me In The Morning'

A Tribute to Taking Back Sunday just got a little bit more lovin'. The UK e-zine Already Heard is streaming Paper States' cover of Taking Back Sunday's song, "Call Me In The Morning." Out of all of the tracks on the album, this is probably the one that got me to hit repeat more often than any other. I just can't get enough of Ryan Stack's vocals. They have a raw emotion mixed with an expertise and a talent that, in my opinion, few others have. It's probably a good thing I dig them too, you know, since they did sort of record two tracks for the album.

UTG Streams Count to Four's Cover of 'This Photograph is Proof (I Know You Know)'

Under The Gun Review is currently streaming Count To Four's cover of 'This Photograph is Proof (I Know You Know)!' I have to say that their song was probably the one that caught me most off guard. I hadn't heard a Count to Four cover song before so I was sort of going into the process blind, but when I finally got that final mix it allayed all my fears. Now I can only hope that they sincerely enjoyed themselves enough to where they'll be down for future iterations of the series. 

 

New Noise Magazine Streams Pyro, Ohio's Cover of Cute Without The 'E'

New Noise Magazine gave Pyro, Ohio some love by streaming their cover of "Cute Without The 'E' (Cut From The Team)." I like their rendition of what is probably my favorite TBS track, but once the track hits 2:40 that like becomes love. Seriously, this just confirms Pyro, Ohio's place in my top three favorite Post-Hardcore bands. They're right there along side Dance Gavin Dance and Everyone Dies In Utah. Some sweet company to keep if you ask me.

A Tribute to Taking Back Sunday is available for preorder.  

The Scene, Vol. 5 - Art

A Tribute to Taking Back Sunday is a bit of a different project in that it will include an additional 21 track disc with up-and-coming indie artists and some of their original material. In a perfect world all 21 artists would be contributing Taking Back Sunday covers. Unfortunately, that kind of endeavor would bankrupt me. Royalties and studio time are just too costly for that kind of Herculean effort. Still, I want to do Taking Back Sunday proud and let them know the exact number and scope of the bands that they’ve influenced. The additional material may not be a slew of cover tracks, but they are songs comprised by close to a hundred different individuals who have all grown up with Taking Back Sunday and who have had their style influenced in one way or another by TBS’s material. I think in a way, the original material is even more of a compliment than the covers are. It shows originality that stems from another band’s legacy. I’d say that’s the ultimate form of tribute. Anyway, here's what the second half of the project will look like in all of its glorious double disc delightfulness.


The Scene, Vol. 5 - Tracks & Talent

I just got the 21st/final Scene track. It's absolutely amazing how slowly projects progress until one day, bam, everything just comes flooding in. It's more than worth the stress, though, especially when the project turns out to be strong front to back. It's truly insane to think that there's so much talent out there. There's just thousands of artists that deserve so much more face time. I'm not necessarily saying fame, but every last one of these bands definitely deserves more respect in their particular genre. I mean, when you look around at some of the bands that larger labels sign, you wonder why they get selected from among a crop of what seem like far more gifted musicians. That's sort of the problem with the music industry, though. It's just not the meritocracy that it should be. Talent doesn't win out, and sadly, a band can run their course without ever garnering even a sniff of success. In almost every other business, the cream rises to the top. In this case, the cream could be curdled and the bigwigs in the business would still ladle it out and force feed it to you in your daily latte of life. It's a tragedy. I certainly can't change that flawed aspect of our culture/business world, but I sure as hell can try and show it with my actions.

This is my long winded way of saying that this iteration of The Scene is bad ass.