While doing their on again/off again routine, St. Louis rockers Story of the Year or SOTY recently stopped by Long Beach to pay their respects to a local charity event but before hitting the streets they decided to do what they do best and that’s playing music.
Dan, Ryan, Phillip, Adam and Josh gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, when I got word that I'd be interviewing the entire act before they were due to meet up with their fans for a quick signing session - not to mention their headlining performance for later on that same night. The band spoke to me about what they’ve currently been up too and what to expect from them come the New Year.
Rebelution released their first full-length album "Courage to Grow" in June 2007, which ultimately became a breakthrough album for the band. It went on to garner mass downloads and radio play on monster stations such as San Francisco's Live 105 where their single "Safe and Sound" was played on heavy rotation, with spins on San Diego's 91X and Los Angeles' KROQ. The album hit an all time high when it was selected as iTunes Editor's Choice for Best Reggae Album of 2007. "Courage to Grow" has been in the top 10 iTunes Reggae album sales since its release two years ago, and it remained in the Billboard Top Reggae Album Chart for 36 weeks and peaked at #4.
THE FUTURE:
Now, Rebelution is giving their fans and fans to come 12 brand new signature tracks on "Bright Side of Life," which is the first release under the band's newly founded record label 87 Music. The album is truly the soundtrack for the summer, with an overall theme of encouragement, a blend of the band's cohesive mix of reggae, rock, and hip-hop influences, and kick back, "worry free" vibes. For the rest of 2009 moving into 2010, the band will be touring nationally to promote the new album, and will also be recording an "iTunes Live Exclusive at the Palms in Las Vegas" feature later this year.
Brand New, who will release Daisy 9/22, are slowly starting to get fans amped up for their new album by releasing videos from the Daisy Studio Sessions.
With rehearsals and jam sessions being outside of the norm for Brand New the footage from the Daisy Studio Sessions becomes that much more special. "Sowing Season" has been stripped down, re-imagined and reinvented in this beautiful acoustic version.
This is not a sequel. This is what happens when the sun dips down, that swollen moon comes up, the sea water ripples and cools, and the Pacific Coast Highway still feels warm on your bare feet with a little of that leftover sunlight trapped in the blacktop. This is the last hiss of the last popped bottle cap, when the bubbling depths of a golden Corona swallow that last sliver of lime. This is where the story continues, with the top down, the wind spraying loose sand from your hair. This is what happens when you don’t go home with the sun… and you follow the moon.
“We can’t sit on the beach with an acoustic guitar forever!” proclaims Cisco Adler. “This is not a one-trick pony.”
His other half, Aaron Smith (a.k.a. Shwayze), closes his eyes and nods and offers, “We’ve already got that beach-time summer vibe, chilling during the day. Now we want some stuff for the clubs that bangs your ears out and you can dance to it. This is definitely an evolution from the first one.”
That first one, the self-titled Shwayze, ushered the unlikely duo to unlikely heights. A string of multiple hits (“Buzzin’,” “Corona and Lime”) fueled by millions of Internet plays carried them to top ten album sales, landed them a coveted slot on the Vans Warped Tour, and turned them into reality television stars on MTV. In a wound-up world, Shwayze was a life-lesson in laid back lassitude, a coast-to-coast call to make every day a lazy day. And if success always breeds a bit of contempt, Let It Beat comes out swinging.
The Dear Hunter--Casey Crescenzo (singer/pianist/guitarist/lyricist/multi-instrumentalist), Andy Wildrick (guitar), Erick Serna (guitar), Nick Crescenzo (drums), Nate Patterson (bass)—just released a video update about their upcoming headlining tours and the shows they’re doing with Thursday and Thrice, all of which kick off September 23 in Akron, OH at Musica.
The tour dates can be found on their Myspace page (www.myspace.com/thedearhunter). A sneak peek of the forthcoming video for “What It Means To Be Alone” is also included in the update.
While doing their on again/off again routine, St. Louis rockers Story of the Year or SOTY recently stopped by Long Beach to pay their respects to a local charity event but before hitting the streets they decided to do what they do best and that’s playing music.
