S.A.D: Songs of a Decade

The Future Idiots got a little fan love. Some of their more passionate listeners decided to secretly recruit some touring comrades to cover a few of their more popular songs in honor of their ten years as an active artist. It's not lost on me or the band that there was some hard earned money and well placed thought spent on the original art by Illustrations by Christian Wallin and the recording of all the new tunes. Amazing job by everyone.


Hybrid Moments

As if the promise of two new full length albums in 2016 wasn't enough, the Future Idiots decided to pull out both a trick and a treat for Halloween. They tricked everyone by unexpectedly dishing out a song (hell, I didn't even know it was coming) and they managed to treat fans of punk to a delightful Misfits cover. Enjoy!


Introducing Brock Landers

I'm stoked to announce the release of a physical and digital album by the former Scene, Vol. 5 artist, Brock Landers. Their 10 track album titled, Introducing Brock Landers is available everywhere right freakin' now.
 
I'd recommend the album for fans of Dance Gavin Dance, Hail The Sun, post-hardcore and saxophones. I'd personally say the standout songs include the title track 'Introducing Brock Landers' and 'Squintin Tarantino Part Two.' Both of which can be conveniently streamed right here:


New Future Idiots Song and Video

As the headline suggests, this is a new tune and video by the Future Idiots. It's the first in a number of new songs that will ultimately appear on their upcoming full-length album, Murphy's Law. The song's titled 'Better Than Everyone Else.' More information about the album and the song can be found at their music pledge project.  

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.