NYS Music 20​13

Category: Interviews

  • Review: DEVOUR THE DAY Takes Over The Webster

    Devour the Day

    A small crowd began to form in front of the stage, all somewhat patiently waiting for Devour the Day’s arrival. The lights dimmed, hinting it was their time to rock the stage and blow the concertgoers away. As soon as Blake Allison (vocals/guitar) and Joey Walser (bass) appeared, they did not hesitate before beginning their set with “Get Out of My Way”, quickly followed by “Handshakes to Fist Fights” and the first track from their debut record, Time and Pressure, “Respect”. With every beat, Devour the Day’s energy intensified and washed over the crowd, waking them up and preparing them for the main event, Hinder. They continued their set with “Move On” and slowed it down a bit with “Reckless”. Afterwards, Devour the Day completed their set with “Blackout” and their hit single, “Good Man”. They left their now new fans with a strong hunger for more of their killer songs.

    Earlier that evening, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview Joey Walser. We discussed everything from the band’s beginning to Walser being a father.

    UM: How did you come up with your band name?

    JW: My father came up with the band name from a few different books that he was reading at a particular time but he’s always been great at naming things…he’s been my go-to guy forever. Blake and I were spending too much time making up names that were funny, like horrible band names…so yeah, my dad came up with the name and Blake and I were looking for something that felt like compelled us everyday when we woke up. We didn’t just want to be “Triggerfinger” or…whatever, some stupid name, that didn’t have any challenge to it, like Carpe Diem with some teeth, so we went with Devour the Day.

    UM: Did you use any particular inspirations on your record while working on it, if so what were they?

    JW: I think the idea, because it started mostly therapeutically, it wasn’t necessarily like an agenda to make a band or make a record, is what really separated us because we’re being honest. Because an artist, when you’re trying to fit somewhere in between being creative and being a business man, a lot of that convolutes your final product and we didn’t have much of that in the way in the other one. There wasn’t a producer with an agenda, a manager with an agenda, label with an agenda, just Blake and I wanting to write honest music about all the horrible things that we were going through in that year. Mostly therapeutically, so that’s what I think it translates.

    UM: How did you come up with the album title?

    JW: During the course of the recording process, we were watching a movie called Shawshank Redemption, which was originally a Stephen King short story, and there was the idea that, obviously if you know the story or the movie, he widdles his way out of prison, not on some grand one time get rich fast type of metaphor, he has to literally with the smallest hammer he has, just time and pressure over years of cracking away one stone at a time to get out. As they say, he climbs through a river of shit and comes out clean on the other side. Blake and I just felt like we were Andy Dufresne, like we were that character, as the metaphor goes. It just made so much more sense with the essence of what that story was, time and pressure that no matter what, if you keep pushing forward, you’ll get there, no matter how long it takes. So we, obviously, aren’t where we want to be, but we’re on our fucking way.

    UM: What’s the story behind “Good Man”?

    JW: “Good Man” is written from the perspective of the fact that I think that lyrically, I came to a point in life that everything had fallen apart, my wife had left me, the band had broken up, Egypt Central that is, and I think Blake was in the same place. I think I started to ask myself the question that if there is a God, if there is someone out there looking out for us, then what did I do, in my life, that made all of this negativity come back to me? Like if there is somebody out there looking out for me, why isn’t he helping me and at the same time, kind of airing the honesty that it’s okay to be a spiritual person and have absolutely total doubt in everything that is spiritual. I think like for wanting a rock band to conquer, a concept such as that or to even attempt it I think was really risky for us to kind of be a secular band, bridge the gap of asking the Christian question is risky and I think we did it in a tasteful way. Ultimately, there’s a story of a man on his knees crying out to whoever will listen to him, God, Allah…it’s like the opportunity that you’re so down on your luck that anyone listening is what you need, that came from a real place. That’s on us and that has a special meaning as the rest of them do but I think that was from the spiritual side.

    UM: If you had to choose a quote or a line to describe what motivates you from day to day, what would it be?

    Devour the DayJW: Oh, that’s so easy! Devour the Day! I really feel like at this point in my life being an artist, being a father, being a friend, all of those things are kind of encompassed in that idea that you never know when the last day is, so you better treat it like it’s your last. I think Blake and I both appreciate that so much because we did lose everything we’ve worked for, know that you’re not guaranteed that everything is going to continue being around, and at the same time being positive because we came from really negative, and still have somehow turned this thing around…the attitude not the circumstances. We’re happier than we’ve ever been in our entire lives, Blake and I as artists, just being the two of us, and having the ability to have all the say-so, it’s really, really great for both of us, a lot of fun!

    UM: If you were not a musician, what other career would you want to have?

    JW: I’d be a stay at home dad, without a shadow of a doubt. Being with my kids every second of everyday would be awesome. That sounds good because I travel but all the stay at home dads are like, “oh it’s so hard”, and it is, but I would do it. And I would teach myself how to cook, it’s like a 1950’s housewife, but that’s about what I’d do…and work in a movie theater maybe.

    UM: What does music mean to you?

    JW: Music, honestly, is what creates balance for me, I feel like for whatever reason for whatever circumstances, that happened to me since the day I was born till now. The impulsive and quick creative release that is music is that it happens so fast. It’s what keeps me sane, so I mean it’s like I need it, I need it like oxygen, I need it like love, or all of those things. Music is that important to me, I think it’s because of an addictive personality, this is one of the healthy addictions, I need it so I don’t get bored and fall into other bad habits. I know that about myself at points.

    Be sure to check out Devour the Day‘s tour dates on www.devourtheday.com. They put on one hell of a show and it is one you will not want to miss!

  • In This Moment’s Maria Brink Talks to Upstate Metal

    On June 28th, Upstate Metal’s very own Kate Drexel had the opportunity to do a phone interview with In This Moment’s and Albany’s Maria Brink. Their phone call involved discussing her first band, Pulse, her current band In This Moment, and their recent album, Blood.

    In This Moment's Maria Brink“Oh god, that was like a million years ago…me and Chris [Howorth] were trying to pick a name and just going through all types of things for a few weeks, and then one day we were just laying around and one of us was reading in a book that somebody said like, ‘in this moment’…and I can’t remember if it was him or me and the other one was like ‘in this moment’, then we were like ‘in this moment!’ It fucking was like…for like three days we kept saying it, then we were like, ‘you know what? That’s it!’ we kind of fell in love with it. It’s about…our band is about kind of like seizing the day and living in the moment and try to be grateful for everything that is happening now, and not living in the past and not living in the future, kind of like being in the now, so it had to do a lot with our energy,” recalled Brink animatedly when explaining the history behind the band’s name. Towards the end of their third album cycle, everything changed fairly drastically for In This Moment.

    In This Moment's Maria BrinkOne by one, band members began to leave and their management at the time dropped them. For a short amount of time, Brink and Howorth felt defeated until a light was shed upon the path they were meant to take. “We really just rallied together and said that, ‘We cannot let other people’s disbeliefs in our band and everything we’ve created, everything we’ve worked for, we’ve strived for, we’ve sacrificed for, hinder us from moving forward,’ and we said to ourselves, ‘this is our moment’…no pun intended…‘and we’re going to take everything and we’re going to take it into the next level, we’re going to take our live show, our songs, every single thing that has to do with us, we’re bringing it to the next level and we’re going to do this hard.’

    In the beginning it was the challenging, managers weren’t really wanting to give us the time of day, things weren’t really happening that great but our producer was believing in us at the same time, Kevin Churko, we were absolutely adore and love, and we wrote Blood with him. We went into the studio and we wrote the song “Blood”, and right when we heard it back, we knew that everything was going to change right when we heard that song. We felt it, we knew it and we started setting it up with managers and we started having managers fly out from everywhere and everything shifted from then. So kind of everything falling apart and then building it brand new, and all of these beautiful new things, is where all the inspirations from the album came from.”

    Drexel chuckled lightly and admitted that out of all of the In This Moment albums, Blood is her favorite one. Maria then confessed that it’s her favorite as well. “I think we’re always striving with our music and kind of always trying to find… that one thing that I felt like was me; like I could find my own identity and I could find something with that ‘this is me’. But this album, I found it. This is it, I’ve been searching, I’ve been looking around and that’s what life’s about, I think. We’re all kind of searching and striving for something we can finally find…I related to it; it really expresses me in the perfect way and kind of all those things.”

    In This Moment's Maria BrinkAs for the hot first single from the record, “Blood”, it has an entirely different meaning and it does show the band’s true dark colors, giving a whole new meaning to metal in the band’s terms. When asked about the story behind “Blood”, Maria told Kate that through the lyrics, Brink was talking to herself. “It’s about struggling with the dark side of us, the light side of us, and learning that sometimes the darkest sides of us, the dirty sides of us and the filthy sides of us that I learn to fall in love with and realize that every part of me is what I want to embrace. And if it’s dirty and I am who I am for a reason, and all of my experiences brought me to who I am for a reason. It’s about learning to kind of fall in love with all of the sides and kind of learning to balance it all out.” Drexel told her that she understood what Brink meant and was able to relate to it.

    “That’s the beauty in music and songs, like no matter what message it has to me; it’s so great because songs can be like chameleons, everybody has their own experiences of where they are in life and a lot of people can relate their own experiences in their own life to the song in a completely different way than I do, like it’s interpreted completely different to them and I love that! I think it’s beautiful and I love the fact that people can apply it to their life however they want, and I think that that’s special. That’s why sometimes I don’t even like to tell people what it means to me in general only because I don’t want to take away from how it is that they relate to it.” Kate recounted when she first heard the song and the band at the Carnival of Madness when the music video was playing on an overhead screen at the venue. She told Brink that when she first heard the song, it was really different from most metal songs she has listened to.

    “I feel like we had barriers around us before and I feel like I used to get stuck in boring about, is it too heavy or is it not heavy enough? Am I screaming enough or am I singing enough? And the music would usually get kind of stuck in that and I realized I was only hindering myself and my art with all of that because I think that when I let go of all that, and we just said to ourselves, ‘Let’s do just whatever the hell we want to do and let’s create something special and let’s not worry about anybody else’s perception of what we’re supposed to sound like.’ Or is it heavy metal enough? Or if it’s poppy enough? And I think that’s where we found the true beauty in it all.”

    When asked about a favorite venue, Maria said that out of the various places In This Moment has played over the years, Madison Square Garden is her absolute favorite. “…Probably it’s because I’m from New York and the whole family was there…it’s beautiful and it’s in the heart of New York.” Kate then mentioned to Maria that she saw In This Moment for the first time March 30th at Upstate Concert Hall, and then told her that she will see them at the Carnival of Madness show this summer.

    In This Moment's Maria BrinkBefore In This Moment, Maria was in a band called Pulse, based in Albany. “Oh god that was the first band I was ever in, that was like forever ago. I stopped being in that band after I did my first gig ever. It was like…when I listened to it and I was like…it’s hilarious to me but it was my start, it was my beginning, it was my first time on stage but I love it. I stopped being in that band because I moved to California from Upstate New York, just because…you know, in Albany at the time, I felt like no matter how good we were doing or anything, I felt like we weren’t going to get recognized or we weren’t going to get on people’s radars, so that’s why I moved to California and I kept telling myself that if we could fill out the whiskey, that managers and people would start paying attention to us and we could kind of catch the eye of the industry, so that’s what I did. I winded up finding a band eventually, it took me five years but we did wind up selling it out.” Apparently there was a little story about Pulse circulating, that their guitarist accidently erased the entire album the band had just recorded, however it was a rumor.

    In This Moment's Maria Brink“I write from a really honest place, which is all of my experiences of my entire life,” Brink explained when asked what In This Moment’s music reflects about the band. “So it really just reflects everything that’s true in life and things that I’ve been through, things that I’ve experienced. I write all the lyrics, I write all the melodies, things like that. So literally, I just write about it all! It’s a good outlet.” As for ideas, the evolution of the song comes from the melodies that Maria, Chris or their producer will come up with while in the process of song writing. They will overlap the different instruments they use, the result; something truly amazing.

    “We really do approach it in all different ways. It’s a good way to send a different message in different ways and you never know what’s going to trigger you to write a song. If I’m by myself at home for a month, I’m really feeling like I want to write something, I’ll just write it by myself. Same thing with Chris, he’ll have something in his head and he’ll be home by himself and all of the sudden, he’ll come up with something…so it kind of just works into all of that.” Finally, Drexel asked her favorite question: what does music mean to you? “Oh my god…everything to me! Besides from my child, and my mother, it’s like my everything, music is my world, my career, love, life, it’s how I make money, how I have most memorable moments of life, so it’s everything to me. The whole nine yards.”

    If you haven’t already, be sure to check out In This Moment’s tour dates with Hell Pop to see when the craziness will hit a venue near you this Fall.

  • One Last Shot Interview with Jeremy Miller

    One Last Shot is a Punk band hailing from Syracuse is anything less than heavy hitting. With heavy hitting vocals and powerful instrumentals to go along with it these guys will leave you pumped and angst wanted more. I had a chance to talk with Jeremy (vocals) about the band and their hush hush Halloween album release.

    Me: First off how did you guys meet? Were you high school buds? Random meet up somewhere and happened to hook up?

    Jeremy: The line up changed over the years, but the current member’s were all connected by friends of friends in the music community.

    Me: How did you guys come up with your name?

    Jeremy: The original members took the old name “One More Shot, One Last Chance” and consolidated it to “One Last Shot”

    Me: Is it a reference to hockey or does it have anything to do with being the underdog coming up and giving it one last shot at your dreams?

    Jeremy: It’s about anyone giving it one last shot at dreams, or anything at life that they are trying to do which seems impossible.

    Me: Who are some of your influence in music and or in your personal lives that make you do what you do?

    Jeremy: We all musically have different influences. But what I’ve noticed is we all have a love for music in our scene made in the early 2000’s.

    Me: How does the writing process go for you guys?

    Jeremy: It can happen in many ways, whoever has a musical idea, they bring it to the table and we go off of it. Currently we’ve been locked in a room surrounded by extreme horror movies every other day writing.

    Me: Speaking of writing process, I heard there was an album coming out soon! Would you care to shed some light one that?

    Jeremy: We’ve put so much time into this. Almost over a year and a half of ideas and writing. All songs are written and in a week we go in to record it. Oh and its 12 all new songs.

    Me: Date, people your working with?

    Jeremy: The album will be out on Halloween (Naturally). We’re working with a lot of people, but I will not be able to drop that bomb yet. The one I will tell you we’re working with is Steve Sopchak at Square Studios again. I wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s the best at what he does.

    Me: Album art?

    Jeremy: Not yet.

    Me: I know your a horror movie fan Jeremy, can you tell us…..Whats your favorite scary movie haha

    Jeremy: I have too many favorites. They are a huge influence on me and my art. The other members are really into horror movies too, so it works well.

    Me: The music video for “Guilt Like a Guillotine” did you direct and produce that yourself or did you bring outside influence?

    Jeremy: We had the nice folkes at Night Force Video help with it for fun before there was a such thing as Night Force Video. They will be doing our next one as well.

    Me: What were the trials and tribulations that went into making the video?

    Jeremy: Ummm… It was a quick thing, nothing too hard or serious. We will be taking way more time and putting a lot into the next one. It’s going to be awesome.

    Me: Lets take a step away from the music and talk about the Straight Edge lifestyle?

    Jeremy: Sure. It’s a clean lifestyle away from drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex.

    Me: Ive been hearing about a diffusion in the community, would you like to talk about that a bit?

    Jeremy: I honestly don’t do it for the community or care what goes on in it. I know that may sound disrespectful, but I mean no disrespect. I don’t do it for the community or care about a few assholes in it. No matter what you do, there will always be jerks messing with it and giving it a bad name. I just do it for me and for my health, and if I’m happy with myself that’s all that matters.

    Me: Any last words or stuff you’d like to throw out there that hasn’t been said or upcoming projects?

    Jeremy: Just expect this new album to be a flash from the past but in present time.

    Look out for them in a venue near you and check them out on any one of these links below!

    Website:

    http://www.onelastshotband.com/#store

    Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/onelastshot

    PureVolume:

    http://www.purevolume.com/onelastshot315

    Myspace:

    https://myspace.com/onelastshot

    Reverbnation:

    Throw my page a like on Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/315StreetTeam

  • Doomsday Device Studio Update

    Doomsday Device, while producing their own music, has decided to step into the studio so they can record a full length album. I contacted Mike (guitarist) about seeing what maybe in store and what they’ll be looking forward to on the way in and what to bring out.

    doomsday deviceUM: So you’re going into the studio, I know you guys generally are self-produced but what kind of feelings are going through your head going into this?

    DD: So far we have done self at home recordings. Whenever we record or write we try to go someplace we have not gone before. This meaning a feeling or and idea. we usually start with a brief direction we wanna go in. example being super heavy or thashy, monodic, or evil sounding and go from there. Curtis “on guitar I try to portray my riffs as if they were emotions and what my emotions would sound like in this setting” Jim “I try to accent the ideas put in front of me by playing what I feel is the right part to go with the riffs or lyrics.” We all are trying to keep an open mind going into the studio being it will be our first time. We wanna be able to walk in and learn as a band from the producers but also from ourselves. We wanna be able to walk out being a stronger band as a whole but stringer musicians individually!

    UM: What caused you to stray away from the DIY route?

    DD: We are staying away from the “diy” because we wanna have a better product in the end! We love recording and having the time to do it but it never comes out as most of the studio stuff these days and we wanna have the high quality sound. We are not looking at having a super produced product being we wanna still have the raw sound of the music. WE WILL NOT be using digital drums! EVER! JIMI LEE will be laying down his own tracks with his own drums. As good as digital production drums sound they are not real and we wanna be able to look back and remember playing each note that is recorded!

    UM: Where will you be recording at?

    DD: We are recording at WAAV studios in Syracuse, they have worked with many bands like Ghostxship, Jonestown, Circle the Suffering, Ripped Apart, How to Disappear Completely and more and look forward to working with these talented guys!

    UM: Anyone special who you’re looking forward to working with?

    DD: The guys at WaaV studios Jay, Devon and Ian! We can’t wait to work with these guys! They really are some of the coolest dudes in the area and we are honored to have them in our corner here. We also have a couple secret guest that wanna have come in and be part of our process. We are also going to have some guest vocals on the album but cant tell that info either!

    UM: Is there anything new you’ll be trying with this album that you haven’t done before?

    DD: As far as new stuff, we are always trying to progress forward. We are going into the recording studio for the first time to record a full length. So there will be recordings of songs that we have played live before plus more new ones that have never been heard. We do have some things up our sleeves that we are working on that if anyone has known us as musicians for the past 4 years might hear some things that have been done by us before but like it was said a progression forward so a little twist. we have a few things that we wont disclose yet cause you’ll have to wait but there are few things that we are putting on this album that you wouldn’t expect from us or maybe you would but hoping to have people like every song beginning to end and not get sick of it in days. That’s why we wanna do a full length. So you dont listen through it within 15 min and then thats the CD! we wanna be able to have an hour of music for everyone to listen and jam to.

    UM: Will the infamous decapitated yeti be on the album cover?

    DD: Yes! We have a couple artist in mind to do our art for the CD but have not decided on the one yet but we are thinking a very special person with a great eye and good ideas will be our pick.

    UM: Is there any pre-recording rituals you guys do?

    DD: Just the usual rockstar stuff but on a serious note we try to make sure that things are what we want. Each song that we record has been thought out and gone through a usual 2-3 tweaking processes. Being this will be our first time working we people that have a bias opinion so we are keeping an open mind to ideas and change.

    UM: Any last words?

    DD: What a rush! Can’t wait for everyone to see and hear what we have been doing on our break from shows!

    I’m looking forward to the end product! And so should you. Keep track on updates on facebook since even though they’re secretive about what they show but they can’t hold it all in.

    Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/DD315

    Youtube:

    http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC21iRqLW-DIqJWad_ybWyLQ

    Reverbnation:

    http://www.reverbnation.com/doomsdaydevice315

  • Review: SICK PUPPIES’ Connecting Performance

    sick_puppies5The lights dimmed and a blue hue lit up the stage as a roar of cheers erupted from the crowd. Fog rolled along the black stage, some of its mist licking the skins of some of the bouncers and fans. Then one by one, Sick Puppies made their appearance, Mark Goodwin (drums), Emma Anzai (bass), and Shim Moore (vocals/guitar). They began their set with the first song from their latest record, Connect, “Die to Save You” followed by “Cancer”, and the album’s leading single, “There’s No Going Back”. The crowd sang along whole heartedly, waving their horns in the air, all so excited to see their favorite Australian trio. Then, Emma dedicated the next song to all the ones who felt that they were different from the rest of the crowd, “Odd One”. Next was “Riptide”, “Maybe”, and “My World”.

    sick_puppies13Sick Puppies did not end their connection with the fans there; they continued with “Connect” then sped up the set with the heavier tunes, “War”, “Gunfight”, and “Pitiful”. After “Nothing Really Matters”, the band slowed the set briefly with “All the Same”, then picked up the haste with “Walking Away” from their new record, finishing the set with their hit single, “You’re Going Down”, to which a sea of bodies began to bounce along to the beat of the song.

    All in all, it was a great set filled with classic songs as well as new catchy ones. Sick Puppies was, indeed, very connecting with their ever-adoring fans. If you haven’t already, check out their latest record, Connect, available for digital download and to purchase at your nearest music store. Prior to the show, Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel had the opportunity to interview Shim Moore, which can be seen below.

  • XFACTOR1 Blows Bearfest Away

    The eager concert junkies let out the occasional yelps of excitement as the outdoor music melted into silence. It was time for Xfactor1 to rock the stage and blow everyone away with what they had in store for us. One by one, each band member appeared: Zack (drums), Jerry D (bass), CLok (guitar), Cody (guitar), and QBall Wolf (vocals). They were more than ready to get Bearfest started the right way with “Bring It On.” What they unleashed was something different. Something refreshing and new. In a way, very erratic, if you will. “An xfactor is an unpredictable intangible,” explained Wolf to Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel. “Our name simply means we want to be the number one xfactor in all things and all situations.”

    Xfactor1 continued their set with “It’s My Life” and a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” followed by “Break You.”

    “Xfactor1 song writing is a group effort,” Wolf said. “Usually I will come up with a melody theme, and the guys will run with it until we add our influences. I think that influences are more than just ‘how do you sound?’ It’s attitude, passion, and ideals about life and music. Because of that, Metallica, Pantera, Korn, and other ass kickers come to mind.” These influences can definitely be heard in QBall’s unique voice as they proceeded with “You Suck.” Fans began to wave their horns in the air to the beat of the song followed by head banging.

    “I’m a huge Deftones fan so that would be awesome,” said Wolf when asked if he had the opportunity to collaborate with another artist. “Five Finger Death Punch would be great as well.”

    Before finishing the set, QBall had the fans gather in closer so the band could take a picture with the crowd in the background making an X with their arms in the air, a very similar moment the band shared at this year’s Rock on the Range. “We absolutely love playing the Rock on the Range festival (twice, ’09 and ’13), because it’s held in our hometown of Columbus, OH at Crew Stadium, and it’s like a huge family reunion.” Xfactor1 finished their set with “Never” and “Live Another Day,” leaving the crowd feeling warmed up, yet they wanted more from this killer band. Xfactor1 left the stage to presumably “film porn, party, play Texas Hold ‘Em poker,” according to QBall when asked what they do during their downtime.

    All in all, this band was beyond words. Just an absolutely mind blowing performance filled with catchy songs, and they definitely set the mood right for the night. Be sure to check out the band on Facebook. Their record, Famous.Last.Words was release in June 2012.

    Xfactor1 can put on one hell of a show. One you will not want to miss.

  • Candlebox: 20th Anniversary Tour in the Syracuse on Sunday

    The Seattle music scene in the autumn of 1990 was still the Pacific-Northwest’s best-kept secret. At the time, it was better known for Starbucks than for music, and it would be another year before Nirvana’s “Nevermind” thrust the rainy town into the national spotlight. But in November of 1990, Candlebox was formed, ground their chops on the Seattle club scene, and within three years had a quadruple-platinum album, and launched the music career of Kevin Martin and company for years to come.  Following that success were two more releases, “Lucy” and “Happy Pills” that both sold well.  But the relationship with the record company went sour in 2000 and the band took a six-year hiatus. Syracuse
    In 2006 Rhino released a greatest hits album that led to a short tour that included all the original members of the band.  The tour led to a 2008 release, “Into the Sun” that peaked at #4 on the Independent charts. Candlebox also released a live CD+DVD the same year, “Alive in Seattle”.Their fifth album, Love Stories and Other Musings hit the stores in the spring of 2012 under Union Entertainment Group’s label Audionest.   Through some success and recent touring, Candlebox’s popularity has continued to rise back up enough to have the band scheduled for the ultimate rock cruise, “Ship-rocked” setting sail January of next year.  On the boat alongside Candlebox will be 5FDP, Papa Roach, Three Days Grace and Sevendust.

    This Sunday’s show at the new Oswego County Event Center will be Candlebox’s first time back in the Syracuse area since May 10, 2012, when they performed at the Westcott Theater. Prior to that they played the Lost Horizon in December of 2008 and have played other parts of Upstate New York every year since getting back together.

    Upstate Metal Editor, Jim Gilbert, asked Candlebox front man, Kevin Martin, about the fans in Upstate New York and why the band seems to make New York a regular stop. “First and foremost, we sold one and a half million records in New York alone.  It has been our biggest market since day one.  New York fans have always been very supportive and purchased CDs, tickets and t-shirts.  The main reason we play New York so often is the fans and to keep the market alive.”

    Next year might be the first time in quite some time that we won’t be seeing Candlebox in New York, so fans’ chance to see them on the 20th Anniversary tour is this week.  Kevin added that “next year we are going to take a break and work on being family members. We will be recording new materials and when we do release a new album we will go back on tour and New York State will be one of those places.  New York State is where we have our best shows. But it probably won’t be until 2015.”

    A lot has changed in the 20 years since Candlebox released their quadruple platinum self-titled debut album.  The fans have gotten older and social media and the Internet have taken over the industry.  “Fortunately for us, the fans that started with us in 1994 had children. While their fathers and mothers listened to our music their children came to know every word and that is great for us.  Now we see the parents and their kids at our shows.  A lot of touring and large festivals [like Rockapalooza and Shiprocked] make it easier to reach those new fans.  Also, with Instagram we can immediately share pictures of guitars, our music, and what is happening on tour.  It’s been beneficial, yet a frustrating experience at times. People have opinions, people feel validation and an instant connection. In this day and age, it is also important to answer emails, Tweets and Instagram messages.  We do our best to let fans know you are listening to them.  Occasionally we cannot get back to everyone though.  You do get fans that don’t understand that we get between 150-200 emails a day. We try our best.”
    The Internet has also helped Candlebox reach other new markets, namely Europe.  While the band only toured there three times, with social media and other ways of reaching out to fans the European fan-base continues to grow.  A Candlebox tour in Europe can be seen somewhere down the road.This Sunday at the Oswego County Event Center ( https://www.facebook.com/OswegoCountyEventCenter)  is a great chance for old and new fans alike to catch incredible musicians doing what they do best.  Some interesting discoveries that Upstate Metal also found when talking to Kevin Martin was that every song starts out acoustic.  Raw, unplugged, and from the ground up.  Kevin added that “shows like Unplugged was one of the best things for music. It showed what the music really sounded like, who had talent.  A lot of concert goers get used to hearing backing tracks, and live sets that are half ‘Pro Cuts’.”  With Candlebox you will get the real thing every time.  “Playing all live music is something special.”  We agree.

  • Halestorm’s Arejay Hale Talks to Upstate Metal

    Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel had the lucky opportunity to do a phone interview with Grammy-winning band, Halestorm’s drummer, Arejay Hale. They talked about everything from the start of the band to discussing his crazy use of one of his favorite iPhone apps, Vine. But first, let’s go back to the birth of Halestorm.

    “Lzzy and I were on our way to our very first show,” Hale said. “We were playing the talent show contest in 1997, about 16 years ago this year, and we were driving to the venue in our parents’ car, and we were looking at each other like ‘you know, we can’t just go out there and say, ‘Hey, this is Lzzy and Arejay Hale’, you know? We actually have to have a band name that sounds bad-ass.

    “I recall being kind of teased in school, you know? You walk into class and it was like ‘Oh, here comes the Halestorm, and so on our way to our very first show, I was like ‘why don’t we just call each other Halestorm? What if we called ourselves Halestorm?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, that’ll work for now’, and sure enough, 16 years later, it’s still Halestorm!” explained Arejay in a very animated manner. “I guess we’re just influenced by Hanson maybe, I don’t know …It was like, ‘Hey! Their band name is their last name! Let’s do that too! We’ll add a twist to it; we’ll make fun of ourselves and call ourselves Halestorm!’ We don’t really take ourselves seriously.”

    As far as influences go, they range from John Bonham of Led Zeppelin and Keith Moon of The Who to jazz percussionists Buddy Rich and Chief Bey. However, for Halestorm’s latest record, Hale mentioned that he repeatedly listened to Black Stone Cherry’s album, and as a side note, revealed that the band did a studio session before Halestorm. “When we went into the studio to make the new record, we pretty much came right off tour. We really didn’t have a chance to take a break. We didn’t stop, and we just went into the studio. We finished up our last tour, and the next day we flew out to Los Angeles to start writing and recording the new record at the same time.

    “They wanted us to finish the record in two months, which ended up dragging out six months because we wanted to wait ‘til we were absolutely ready. But the first two months of recording were highly influenced by our fans, and the people we’ve met on tour, and the places we went to on tour. Songs like ‘Rock Show’ and ‘Freak Like Me’, those are all kind of just like anthems to the fans. Songs like ‘Love Bites’ and ‘I Miss the Misery’, and all the heavy stuff was really written in the very first two weeks of writing and recording the record. Just because we were still amped up from being on the road, we were still feeling the energy from playing live. When we went into the studio, we put a lot of live energy into the recording, so that was a big influence for us, the very first half.”

    And, of course, the band ran into a bit of an obstacle; they were asked to take a break before they could finish the record, something this very determined band was not willing to do. “Our producer went on vacation and we were like, ‘well, what are we gonna do?’ and they were like ‘go home’, and we were like ‘no, we don’t wanna go home, we wanna finish the record!’ So while everyone was on vacation, we went to our apartment on the beach and that’s when Lzzy started, you know, sitting and writing more of the intimate stuff, like songs like ‘Hate It When You See Me Cry’—It’s on our B Side of our new record—She was also writing stuff like ‘In Your Room’, the more softer side of the record.

    “So when we went back into recording after everyone took a break, Lzzy was kind of starting to get in touch with the softer side, I guess you can say. So, therefore, after listening to Lzzy kind of coming up with these more intimate lyrics and stuff like that, I started thinking more trimming down the music and chipping down everything, and I just wanted to write these more softer, intimate songs. So after that we came up with ‘Beautiful With You’, ‘Break In’, ‘Here’s to Us’, like these kind of like more intimate and about us, than just purely about us. So we went back into recording after that. We had all of these soft songs and we were like, ‘now we have all of these heavy songs and all of these soft songs, so how do we put these together?’ then we came up with the song called ‘Mz. Hyde’, and we were like ‘okay, I get it! We put it together!’ So another influence of the record was the story of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and that was a really cool concept for the album, and we thought, ‘okay, what if we just show the world both sides of Halestorm? The heavy side and the really intimate side, and we’ll do it on purpose and call it The Strange Case of Halestorm, which was inspired by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde’.”

    Drexel then revealed that The Strange Case of Halestorm is her favorite record by them and truly loves the song ‘Mz. Hyde’. She also told Hale that she saw them at Carnival of Madness in Baltimore last summer with Evanescence and Chevelle, one of her favorite concerts, aside from seeing them kick ass at Rock on the Range.

    Soon enough, Drexel realized they were both deviating a bit from the interview, and then she proceeded to ask what Hale does on his downtime besides making hysterical Vines. A moment of silence took place before Arejay let out a hearty roar of laughter. “I am so glad my madness has an audience! I was introduced to that app while we were in Europe,” Hale said. “One of my bandmates showed me and started playing with it, and I started using it, and it is the most fun app I’ve ever used because it’s just the perfect amount of time to do something hilarious. Six seconds, then, when it’s done, you can edit it as much as you want, then it loops. It’s constantly on loop and repeat, and that just makes it hilarious. You watch something and you’re like ‘what?!’ then it plays again, and you’re like ‘oh my god!’ and then you play it again and you’re like ‘oh my god! That’s fucking hilarious!’”

    High recommendation from Drexel herself: if you have the Vine app on your smartphone, go follow Arejay. Vine name: Arejay Hale. “Besides that, I try to continue to write on the road,” Hale said. “It’s not easy ‘cause you’re constantly running around doing press, doing meet and greets, you know, try to get some catering whenever you can. My days are long on tour. Definitely on days off, if I do get downtime, I try to write; actually my favorite app in the world is Garage Band on the iPad. It’s great. It’s awesome ‘cause it’s got just the right amount of sound to be creative, but it’s still limited enough for when I’m sitting down and trying to write, I don’t concentrate on all the sounds when it comes to getting the musical idea out. So I like writing on my Garage Band app on my iPad. It’s really easy, it’s really convenient, and I just bought one of those Blue Snowballs, you know. I’ll just plug it in and lay down some vocals and try to put together some demos.

    “My problem is if I have downtime, I hate sitting around, I have to be doing something, and I have to be busy. Same thing when we’re off tour. I go home to L.A. and as soon as I get home, I can’t stand sitting around. I used to be on the go all the time, you know, on tour and constantly having to do something. So when I’m home, I do a lot of writing. I got a studio in my bedroom, my girlfriend, she works in the same studio, she’s got her own band, she does writing and recording and stuff like that, so the two of us will write together when I’m at home. It’s really great. Pretty much anywhere I go, I’m surrounded by talented writers and musicians, and I get to be creative whenever I can. So anytime I’m doing downtime, it involves something with music or something there.”

    Unfortunately, it was time to wrap up the interview with Drexel’s last question, what does music mean to you? “I don’t know any other way of life,” Hale said. “It’s been a part of my life since I was probably, like, five years old. [I] started jamming with my sister in the living room, and now it’s just become the only way of life right now. So for me, music is like air, it’s like just every element that I require to be alive and to be myself is what I think about music.

    “I think that without music, I don’t know where I would be or what I’d be doing. I’m just so lucky I caught the bug early and I was able to pursue my dream and my career at a young age to get me to this point at my age. I’m very, very lucky, so I think music just means everything to me. It’s my life, and I don’t know what else my life would be like without it. I just feel really lucky.”

    Halestorm continues to unleash their inner freak this Fall. Be sure to catch them while you can. They are one band you will not want to miss.

  • Candlebox 20th Anniversary Tour Stops in Oswego this Sunday

    The Seattle music scene in the autumn of 1990 was still the Pacific-Northwest’s best-kept secret. At the time, it was better known for Starbucks than for music and it would be another year before Nirvana’s Nevermind thrust the rainy town into the national spotlight. But in November of 1990, Candlebox was formed, ground their chops on the Seattle club scene and within three years had a quadruple-platinum self-titled album that launched the music career of Kevin Martin and company for years to come.  Following that success were two more releases, Lucy and Happy Pills, which both sold well.  But the relationship with the record company went sour in 2000 and the band took a six-year hiatus.

    In 2006 Rhino Records released a greatest hits album that led to a short tour that included all the original members of the band.  The tour led to a 2008 release, Into the Sun, that peaked at #4 on the Independent charts. Candlebox also released a live CD & DVD the same year, Alive in Seattle.

    Their fifth album, Love Stories and Other Musings, hit the stores in the spring of 2012 under Union Entertainment Group’s label Audionest.  Through some success and recent touring, Candlebox’s popularity has continued to rise back up enough to have the band scheduled for the ultimate rock cruise, “Ship-rocked” setting sail January of next year.  On the boat alongside Candlebox will be 5FDP, Papa Roach, Three Days Grace and Sevendust.

    This Sunday’s show at the new Oswego County Event Center will be Candlebox’s first time back in the Syracuse area since May 10, 2012 when they performed at the Westcott Theater. Prior to that they played the Lost Horizon in December of 2008 and have played other parts of Upstate New York every year since getting back together.

    We asked Candlebox front man, Kevin Martin, about the fans in Upstate New York and why the band seems to make New York a regular stop. “First and foremost, we sold one and a half million records in New York alone.  It has been our biggest market since day one.  New York fans have always been very supportive and purchased CDs, tickets and t-shirts.  The main reason we play New York so often is the fans and to keep the market alive.”

    Next year might be the first time in quite some time that we won’t be seeing Candlebox in New York, so the best chance for fans to see them on the 20th Anniversary tour is this week.  Kevin added that “next year we are going to take a break and work on being family members. We will be recording new material and when we do release a new album we will go back on tour and New York State will be one of those places.  New York State is where we have our best shows. But it probably won’t be until 2015.”

    A lot has changed in the 20 years since Candlebox released their quadruple platinum self-titled debut album.  The fans have gotten older and social media and the Internet have taken over the industry.  “Fortunately for us, the fans that started with us in 1994 had children. While their fathers and mothers listened to our music their children came to know every word and that is great for us.  Now we see the parents and their kids at our shows.  A lot of touring and large festivals [like Rockapalooza and Shiprocked] make it easier to reach those new fans.  Also, with Instagram we can immediately share pictures of guitars, our music, and what is happening on tour.  It’s been beneficial, yet a frustrating experience at times. People have opinions, people feel validation and an instant connection. In this day and age, it is also important to answer emails, Tweets and Instagram messages.  We do our best to let fans know you are listening to them.  Occasionally we cannot get back to everyone though.  You do get fans that don’t understand that we get between 150-200 emails a day. We try our best.”

    The Internet has also helped Candlebox reach other new markets, namely Europe.  While the band has only toured there three times, with social media and other ways of reaching out to fans, the European fan-base continues to grow and a Candlebox tour in Europe can be seen somewhere down the road.

    This Sunday at the Oswego County Event Center is a great chance for old and new fans alike to catch incredible musicians doing what they do best.  Some interesting discoveries that Upstate Metal also found when talking to Kevin Martin was that every song starts out acoustic.  Raw, unplugged, and from the ground up.  Kevin added that “shows like Unplugged was one of the best things for music. It showed what the music really sounded like, who had talent.  A lot of concert goers get used to hearing backing tracks, and live sets that are half ‘Pro Cuts’.”  With Candlebox you will get the real thing every time.  “Playing all live music is something special.”  We agree.

    Buy tickets by phone: (315) 668-1248 or Buy tickets online

    Visit Candlebox online and on Facebook

    Candlebox is Kevin Martin(vocals), Peter Klett (lead guitar), Scott Mercado (drums), Adam Kury (bass) and Sean “Memphis” Hennesy (guitar).

  • INTERVIEW: Before I Had Wings

    My first introduction to this beast of a band came in late February of this year at the second-annual Upstate Black ‘N’ Blue Cabin Fever Party at Bogies.  A four-piece based out of Western Massachusetts, Before I Had Wings follows in the tradition of Hatebreed, Death Before Dishonor, and Shattered Realm with a brand of brutal hardcore that simply destroys. Forming in 2009, BIHW has unleashed their aural assault on unsuspecting towns all over the Northeast, and have become somewhat of a permanent fixture here in Albany.  One listen to their debut Burn the Impure will show you why – as it perfectly captures every nuance of their intense live performance; it will leave you reeling and wanting more.MAD-7775 MAD-7810

    I caught up with three-quarters of Before I Had Wings (vocalist Chris, drummer Nate and bassist Kane) after their set at the Black Phil Memorial Show on Sunday, July 28th. Phil Brewer, guitarist for Albany’s At Arms, lost his battle with cancer recently, and his friends in the scene organized this show to celebrate his life and to raise funds for his family. All three of them were very down to earth and forthcoming with information regarding the history of the band, its future, and – for Kane – a cheerful anecdote about his first time meeting Phil.

    UM: So you guys are from Western Massachusetts; what part of Western Mass do you call home?

    Chris: We’re all from different areas: I’m from Berkshire County; they’re (Kane and D.J. – their guitarist, who was handling merchandise at the time) from Pioneer and Nate’s actually from the Albany Area.

    UM: That’s right, I remember hearing that. So, how long have you guys been doing this now?

    Chris: Before Nate was in the band…all together, like three years. He joined about a year or so ago…Maybe 2009? I think me and the guitarist D.J., we were writing stuff in 2009 but we didn’t start playing shows until 2010.

    UM: So you’ve gone through a few line-up changes since the beginning?

    Chris: Basically, the only line-up change has been the drummer. We had a drummer for a long time, but he decided to quit and Nate took over.

    UM: You guys are lucky! It’s so hard to replace a drummer.

    Chris: I know, especially around our area.

    Kane: Nate’s the best!

    Nate: Thank you!

    Chris: Nate’s got it on lockdown.

    UM: Nice! So anyways, I remember mentioning in one of my reviews of your previous shows that your sound is comparable to bands like Hatebreed and Death Before Dishonor. Other than these two, can you tell me what other bands have influenced you?

    Chris: It’s all different; it depends on who you ask. For me personally, its bands like Shattered Realm and Let it Die, you know? Like ’04-’05 core mixed with beat-down; I like Nasty, I like World of Pain, I like all that shit.

    Nate: Same here, basically. Actually, I like death metal, too, but beat-down mostly – Shattered Realm, World of Pain, Nasty.

    Kane: I’m into New York Hardcore. We don’t sound like that, but I’m influenced by bands like Citizen’s Arrest…

    Chris: We’re not afraid to admit that we’re also influenced by Numetal – bands like Coal Chamber and Machine Head.

    UM: Oh, Coal Chamber and Machine Head are awesome! You can’t argue with that!

    Chris: Yeah, we have Numetal riffs and we’re not afraid to admit it. People call us Numetal, we don’t give a fuck what you call us!

    UM: Absolutely, you guys are fucking awesome and I don’t give a shit what anybody says. I’ll put that in print, too!  Anyways, you guys are straight edge?

    Chris: We’re a straight edge band, we just don’t sing about it. In the past, we’ve tried out non-edge members and nothing ever worked out, and not necessarily because they weren’t straight edge, but because they didn’t make the dedication towards the band. But then recently, we decided that we’re just going to stay a straight edge band, we’ll have straight edge members; it’s not a big deal. We’re not going to sing about it, were not going to put “X”s in our name, but we’re all straight edge and that’s what matters the most. I was in straight edge bands [that sang about it] before, and you basically end up cutting your fan base in half because people don’t want to hear about it.

    UM: That’s cool. So I have your first full-length, Burn the Impure, which is a great album, really heavy and well-done. Do you have anything else in the works?

    Chris: We’re working on something right now, but that’s probably going to take a year, maybe two [to complete]; were not rushing it. We have a title already picked out, but we don’t want to give it away. We’ve got a lot of shit going on next year, so if we start recording? Awesome, if not, you know? We’re just gonna take it slow. We’ve got the eight track Burn the Impure full-length/EP, whatever you want to call it, and then the two-song demo we released earlier this year.

    UM: That’s right! I remember seeing that somewhere online…that’s two new songs?

    Chris: If you go to Stereokiller you can download it for free; it’s “Unworthy” and “Bitter Man”, just look it up…

    UM: Nice.

    Chris: We have older stuff, but we don’t talk about it because we don’t sound like that anymore. We don’t like to bring it up, but if people are really interested, just hit us up. We’ll give you a cd.

    UM: I’d actually like to hear that myself.

    Chris: We were not influenced by the same stuff we are now. Our guitarist will straight-up tell you he was influenced by like Emure back then.

    Kane: Times have changed.

    Chris: Times have definitely changed since then.

    UM: Ok, well we got a good amount of ground covered in five minutes or so. On a final note, say something about Phil. I didn’t know him personally, did you guys?

    Chris: I’m from Western Massachusetts, man. I think Kane…

    Kane: I hung out with him one time, and it was sick! We were at a party at Vinnie [Life Sentence]’s house, and everyone was listening to Trapped Under Ice and like moshing in the living room. Then some girl changed it and put on rap – which was awesome, I thought it was sick – but Phil got all pissed.  He kept trying to run around this girl to change the music, and he had just broken his hand, so he was doing all this weird shit to try and change the music, but he couldn’t really, so that was sick…he was a good dude, though.

    UM: That’s good to know, and it’s good to see that there are so many people out here tonight to support him, even those who didn’t know him…

    Chris: I’ve been going to shows for probably about ten or eleven years. I probably ran into him, I just didn’t know him by name. I probably shook his hand; but it seems like a lot of people cared about him and that’s what matters. That’s what the scene is all about.

    UM: Absolutely, and it seems like hardcore more than any other genre will pull together for a crisis moment or a benefit or memorial. I think that’s great…

    Chris: This is probably the fifth or sixth benefit I’ve been to, if not played…

    UM: Yeah, the Stigmata benefit was pretty wild…

    Kane: I was crushed, literally, like on the floor.

    UM: Ha! Yeah, I caught an elbow to the face for that one. I always say that if you catch a head injury at any point, it’s a good show.

    Chris: We actually get frowned upon for encouraging violent dancing. We’re really into it – we think people, like, frown upon us for it though.

    UM: Yeah, but Scott Vogel and Jamey Jasta do it all the time.

    Chris: It is what it is.

    UM: Right on. So I see you guys have been getting around a lot lately – you’ve been in Connecticut and New Jersey recently. I know you just finished up, but do you see yourself playing Albany again soon?

    Chris: We’ll be back whenever Mike [Valente] or Dan [Asylum] will have us. We’re gonna take a little time off to write, but we’ll be back.

    UM: Well it’s always a pleasure to see you guys; you guys are one of my favorite bands. I listen to Burn the Impure as much as possible. It’s hard though, I’ve got kids in the house and my youngest is just starting to get into music. At four and a half, his two favorite bands are The Ramones and Agnostic Front.

    Kane: That’s real stuff!

    Chris: Yeah that’s good stuff.

    UM: Well it was a pleasure talking with you guys and I’ll see you inside.