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The Hollows Interview

Tue, 29 May 2012 12:47:00 -0400

1. If you had to describe your music to somebody who had never heard it before, how would you do so? (sort of like a descriptive sales pitch of your band)

DAN: People ask me that all the time and I have the hardest time describing it.

ROB: We often refer to our music as “junkyard rock”… our sound is a down-home gumbo of American musical flavors. Folk, bluegrass, country, garage rock, blues, moody alternative rock, gospel, gypsy, you name it. We don’t believe in having just one lead singer, and we swap instruments as often as we swap vocals. (I also find that “folk-rock” works.)

DAVE: Greil Marcus used the term “Old, Weird America” when referring to the sound of Dylan & The Band’s “Basement Tapes” — I used to think of the sound we aim for as “New, Weird America,” but then I found out that classification had already been applied to, like… Devendra and Grizzly Bear and Akron/Family and that whole scene, which is awesome, but probably doesn’t quite have room for us either. Um… “six guys, who all sing, and play about a baker’s dozen of instruments between ‘em.” Yeah. Really rolls off the tongue.

DAN: I guess folk-rock played in a garage, next to a junkyard, next to a field of wildflowers. Wildflower junkyard garage-Americana? I don’t know.

JEFF: Led Zeppelin meets CSNY, and they go camping, in the mountains, with a case of whiskey.

2. You have an EP coming out soon, what was the writing process like for that?

DAN: The songs themselves were written pretty quickly and then over the course of about 2 months… we just continued to play with them until we had something that we could all agree was right and ready to lay down.

DAVE: We really had no plans to record so soon after our first album, but The Deli Magazine was kind enough to nominate us for their “Artist of the Month” campaign, and our fans really came out of the woodwork and voted us the winner— the prize was recording time. So with the LP it was a very long and involved process: “We have all these songs, which ones are better for recording, how are we going to arrange them, how is the studio version going to differ from the live version,” et cetera. For the EP, it was more: “Hey, we have a few hours of studio time. Cool. What are our best three new songs? Cool.” I’m not even sure if we had played them all live yet before recording them.

ROB: Yeah, the writing process for the EP was more streamlined than it was for the album. I think that happens naturally when a group of musicians moves into the next phase of their development; things just come together more easily. And because the EP songs were still relatively young when they were recorded, that kept a freshness to everyone’s playing….less over-thinking.

3. Since you guys have so many members, does it become difficult to allow everybody to have their artistic say in the bands music?

DAVE: Haha— given the extent to which we hash things out in committee, I’d wager that everybody gets their say, and then some. We try to honor the value of working together as collaboratively as possible. Once the key points have been articulated, we’ll eventually come to a unanimous agreement— at worst, we’ll put it to a vote and go with the majority. Once in a blue moon, there’s an even split. That’s when the really epic discussions happen.

DAN: Some days are easier than others in terms of being heard, but the flip side of that is how well you are communicating your ideas to five other people. You have good days and bad days. I think as a group we get better every week about creating a platform where everyone’s voices are heard. Like most things, there’s a learning curve, and everything is cyclical, so your turn to be heard always comes back around.

ROB: The Hollows do our best to operate with a sense of “give and take”. It’s certainly a challenge for everyone to feel artistically gratified at all times, but I think it’s important as an artist to keep your frame of reference large… “it’s not always about me, or my ‘style’ of song.” And really, the medley of influences and approaches to songcraft in our band is part of what makes our sound so unique… ensemble is the soul of the band.

4. You guys are from all over the country, how did you guys decide to base the band out of NY, especially with a style of music that doesn’t seem very “NY-esque”

JEFF: We all decided on our own to come to New York to live. I’m sure the aura of being in the epicenter of the performing arts was the deciding factor. We are all performers first and foremost. It’s a happy coincidence that we all play music and are all great friends.

ROB: It never really occurred to me that our music isn’t very “NY-esque”… it’s the melting pot, after all!

DAN: I agree with Rob on this one. One of the joys of living here is that there is a venue for just about every type of music you could want. Forming a band in NYC (or any other place, for that matter) wasn’t a conscious decision. We were all close friends who played music, and eventually we just started playing and writing together.

JEFF: As far as our “style” of music goes… well, we play what we like.

5. So your guys music video is very different from anything I’ve seen bands do these days, what was the inspiration behind that?

DAN: The inspiration came from a fascination of getting older and how you carry loss with you. One day there was just this vision of an old man walking through a storm of sawdust. What made the inspiration that much more real was knowing that within the group we have a shared knowledge of technical theater that allowed us to be self-sufficient. Also, Doug the puppeteer (who also built the puppet) is a dear friend and an incredible artist and I knew he would be game, and my brother Patrick shot and edited the video. When you have incredible friends and family who are also wonderful artists it’s much easier to get something like this off the ground.

6. What got you into playing music?

ROB: I’ve always written songs…my first one was about the virtues of buttermilk pancakes (age 8). Songwriting became a more serious form of expression for me in college, when I became obsessed with The Band, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Dylan. Aside from busking in subways, I’d never really considered playing a show or making music in a group until I met these guys.
DAN: My mother. All of my siblings learned to either sing or play multiple instruments or both, and I actually got my start singing with my mother at Sunday mass.

JEFF: My mom got me into piano lessons around first or second grade. My sisters played piano as well so it was a natural progression. Then I switched over to upright bass in the 5^th grade orchestra at my elementary school. I stayed in the orchestra through high school. I left my bass at home when I left for college to pursue a professional career in dance and theater. It wasn’t until years later in NYC when all my friends were reunited that I picked up a bass again. It came back to me like I had never stopped. Thanks mom!
DAVE: Somewhere in my parents’ attic there’s a handful of old cassette tapes I made as a toddler, singing along to Shel Silverstein or whatever. I sang in church a bunch growing up, too. My folks signed me up for piano lessons when I was six years old, but I got thrown out by the time I was seven or eight— just never practiced; wasn’t into it. I picked up the trumpet shortly thereafter and played that in the school band until I was about sixteen or so, until I ditched that too and taught myself how to play piano again. I picked up a little guitar in college, and anything else has just been practice and dumb luck.

7. What made you guys decide to be kind of a blue grass experimental rock kind of band?

DAN: There was no decision about what kind of band we were or weren’t going to be, and for the most part that’s still true. It was more a case of, “Okay, you play this, and you play this, and we also have this. What can we do with it?”

ROB: ”Hey, we’ve got all these amazing bands and musicians that inspire us in a major way. How can we fit them all in?” Our sound really is a quilt of all kinds of Americana patches. We wanted to swoon and weep, rock and roll, reel and boogie, so we ended up doing all of it!
DAN: We’ve settled into something that sometimes resembles bluegrass or country or folk-rock, but we’re also developing new material and I don’t even know where to place some of it yet. We’re simply letting the music take us where it wants to and not worrying about what to call it.

8. Where do you see the band being a year from now?

JEFF: We’ve got a lot of momentum going now with the EP release and a new music video being shot in a few weeks. Best way to keep that going is shoot for the moon and see what happens.

DAN: I would love to see us touring or coming back from a tour, be it on a small or large scale.

ROB: There’s a huge batch of really exciting songs in the works. I think our sound is expanding all the time, but also getting more specific, more terse in a way. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if another Hollows record comes out a year from now. We’re in an exciting place right now, a lot of inspiring work is happening.

9. If you could bring in any new and different instrument into a track, which instrument would it be and why?

DAN: I think a fiddle would be sweet. I’m supposedly getting one from my cousin. We’ll see. I’ve never played one so I would be interested to see how I interpret it.
ROB: If I could, I would add an octave mandolin to my arsenal. Octave mandolins function like normal mandolins, but they’re tuned one octave lower, and are about the size of a small guitar. I’m in love with the super rich, dark sound they create, it makes me shiver just to think about it. That sound would fit in great for a song like “Burgundy” from Belong to the Land…but once you add another instrument to your studio sound, the expectation is that you’ll have it there for a live setting too…and as it is, I usually have plenty of instruments to lug to our shows (something all my bandmates have in common).
JEFF: Yeah, I doubt any member would be able to juggle another instrument in addition to what we got goin’ on. I would like to see if we could incorporate a three or four person horn section. It could really work on “Jepson Creek” as well as a few of the bigger sounding tracks. I’d also like to see Dave or Erik sitting behind a four-to-six keyboard rig. It’s been great seeing them develop their chops on the piano/organ stack.

DAVE: Right, because realistically, there’s no way we can bring much more gear to a show until we have a bus and a road crew. If we’re being unrealistic, though… I’d love a Mellotron. And I’d get Justin some tablas. (Actually, that last one might still be doable.)

10. Anything else you’d like to add?

DAN: We’re about to shoot our next music video for the song “August” off the new self-titled EP and I think it’s really going to be great. We’re busy building masks, collecting mason jars, and making bones.

ROB: All I can say is, three years ago, I had no idea that I would be in any kind of band, folk-rock or otherwise. This is a really magnetic group of individuals, and when we’re together we create music that has heart and authenticity…it doesn’t belong in our times.

DAVE: June 26th. Brooklyn Bowl. Give us a kiss.

Check out our interview with Early Morning Rebel. Find out how...

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:01:00 -0400

Check out our interview with Early Morning Rebel. Find out how they felt when their song got chosen to be featured on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. What it was like performing at London’s Fashion week, how they feel about touring internationally and much much more!

Catalpa Festival NYC

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:53:13 -0400

Catalpa Festival NYC:

Catalpa Festival is a new NYC music festival that is going to be taking place on July 28th & 29th this summer at Randall’s Island. The concert starts at 1PM and goes to 11PM on both days and is just a shuttle/ferry ride away from NYC!

This year the festival’s headliners are The Black Keys and Snoop Dog! Other acts that will be at this festival include: TV On The Radio, Girl Talk, Matt and Kim, City and Colour, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, The Big Pink and many many more! Check out the above link to find out who else is playing!

And while you can get the early bird special tickets which are a good $40 less than the normal weekend pass tickets!!!

Stay posted to L.I.F.E. Press for more updates about NYC’s Catalpa Festival!

Check out Dada’s music video for “The Epic...

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:05:29 -0400

Check out Dada’s music video for “The Epic Motherf**ker” and if you like what you hear, enter the awesome contest below!!

Dada Life Contest (Start on April 30th End on May 21st)
The Kick out The Epic Motherf**ker Weekend Contest (click here for the contest)
Get the new Single “Kick out The Epic Motherf**ker” available on iTunes http://smarturl.it/exKOTEMF

First place winner (Only 1 Winner)

Flights for 2 within continental US to Las Vegas for Electric Daisy Carnival (June 8-10)
2 VIP passes to Electric Daisy Carnival with Artist Meet and Greet
2 Banana suits to go BNNS on Stage with Dada Life
2 signed Dada Life Vinyl records

Second Place winner (2 Winners)

General admission tickets to Dada Life’s next show in your home town.
1 singed Dada Life Vinyl record

Third Place Winner (5 runner up)

1 singed Dada Life Vinyl record

We are very excited to introduce to y’all our newest...

Sun, 13 May 2012 13:15:48 -0400

We are very excited to introduce to y’all our newest Spotlight Artist, Lost in Kostko! We will be working with Lost in Kostko, which is a Southern Californian band made up of, Tyler Posey (Vox/Guitar), Alex Gertsch (Drums), Freddy Ramirez (Vox/Guitar) and Jeremy Bauer (bass).

The band was founded by Alex and Tyler in the summer of 2009. When Alex and Tyler realized they wanted to make this band a real thing, they brought in Jeremy and Freddy (who they knew from school and previous bands they were in) to round out the band. All the members of Lost in Kostko have their own playing styles, but they brought their personal tastes together and decided to play Aggressive Pop-Punk music. The band has one EP under their belts entitled “You’re Going To Need a Towel” which you can pick up on iTunes by clicking HERE!

You can stream their music on their facebook page HERE and if you like what you hear stay posted to here because this is just the beginning of a wonderful friendship between L.I.F.E. Press and Lost in Kostko!

Re-blog this post to spread the word about the band! And if you like what you’ve read/heard then follow this blog and the boys on their personal twitters!
Tyler: @tylergposey Alex: @alexgertsch Freddy: @fredededay Jeremy: @jeremyfbauer

The Hollows, a NYC based band from every corner of the USA, are...

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:23:32 -0400

The Hollows, a NYC based band from every corner of the USA, are going to be playing a FREE show in NYC this Monday, May 14th!

The show is at Rockwood Music Hall (stage 2), making it a 21+ show, so those of you who are legal should definitely make it out to Rockwood to check out The Hollows. They’re old timey rock music, some of their songs even go as far as to feature banjos, mandolins and even the occasional accordion playing! It’s something you’ll have to see to believe!

So head on out to Rockwood Music Hall this Monday! And The Hollows will be making 50 unique mix CDs to be given out to the first 50 people that stop by the merch table! So be sure to get there early, and by early we mean 10PM as the band doesn’t play until 11:30, so come make a night of it!

British singer song writer, Ed Sheeran, released his music video...

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:22:12 -0400

British singer song writer, Ed Sheeran, released his music video for “Small Bump” today.

While the video is very minimalistic, it’s perfect for the message of the song. The consistency of people appearing and disappearing from the hospital helps show how delicate a life really is, and “Small Bump” is really about that.

Watch the video, decide what you think and spread the word about Ed and this video release!

Mother Colors - House Wonder House Wonder is a band comprised of...

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:25:00 -0400

Mother Colors - House Wonder

House Wonder is a band comprised of three high school seniors from Boston, MA who share a love for music. Recently founded, they have a passion for experimental indie rock. By layering vocal tracks with eerie instrumentals, they are able to achieve a calm original sound. My favorite track off their Monster EP is Mother Colors. Check out the rest of their EP on their bandcamp by clicking HERE. And if you like what you hear, donate some money to the cause, and if you want some time to think about, you can even download it for free! A band that is willing to give away their music for free are definitely the kind of group you should get yourself interested in.

If you’re into being the hippest kid in your group of friends, definitely download the Monster EP and bring this to your next chill sesh with your friends.

-Hana Selly.

callmewilliam: Check out J-14 Magazine’s “5 Reasons you should...

Mon, 07 May 2012 23:21:50 -0400

callmewilliam:

Check out J-14 Magazine’s “5 Reasons you should know Call Me Anything” by clicking the link below:

http://tiny.cc/swpydw

www.callmeanything.com

www.facebook.com/callmeanythingband

www.whoswilltenney.com

The Wombats Interview

Mon, 07 May 2012 01:53:00 -0400

It was a dreary day in NYC when I set out to interview the UK rock band, The Wombats. As I headed up three flights of stairs at Webster Hall in NYC with one of their label execs, I could hear the band sound-checking, and for some reason I began to get nervous. Once we reached the balcony of the venue I was introduced to their tour manager, and told to take a seat, as they would be ready in five minutes. The Wombats were sound-checking and I watched a prepared myself for the upcoming show. As five minutes turned into fifteen minutes my nerves began to ease. The band wrapped up sound-check and I was escorted into their green room, where Tord and Dan, the bassist/keyboardist and drummer of the band greeted me with very eager smiles.

The Wombats were formed at University in Liverpool. Murph and Dan had been friends for a year before Tord made his way from Norway to Liverpool to study. Tord was introduced to Murph by a mutual friend who was a student from Orange County (who ended up being a member of the band for around seven months) on a night out drinking, “we some how decided it’d be a good idea for us to make some music together that night, and the next morning we all showed up really hung over to play music and the band was born” Tord tells us. When the unnamed member from Orange County left the band, instead of replacing him they decided to add in the three part harmonies that the band has become known for. The band has two albums under their belt and they have started the long process of making their third, “there’s no major rush or stress at the minute” says Dan. The Wombats have been touring off “This Modern Glitch” for a year and a half now, and seem to be looking forward to getting some down time and then focusing in on their third full length release. While a lot of bands get their best writing done on the road, The Wombats rarely do writing whilst on tour. Dan fills us in on why, “we don’t really write in sound-checks, because you don’t really get the time and the worst thing is if you start like at a sound-check and you really get into something, and then all of a sudden it’s like ‘alright next band’s gotta sound-check’, then you have all these worries about forgetting the idea and it just gets frustrating, so we’d rather when we’re on tour we tour, and then concentrate on writing when we’re home.” While some riffs did come up on tour, it’s ideal for them to write during designated “writing time.” The Wombats clearly have their own way to do everything, but their way works. For example when they first started out they would play very unconventional shows in pizza shops, subways, museums, elevators, and even yachts. Some of the shows were planned, like they played in a museum for a radio station that was trying to make museums cool for the younger generation. Tord said, “we [they] once played on a rooftop in Berlin and there was this drop to our deaths behind us, but it’s things like this that we remember and are with us forever.” The Wombats really have a crazy story behind their band’s livelihood, and here at L.I.F.E. Press we always want to cover all the bases.

When bands from across the pond play in America they always tell us how excited they are to be here. The Wombats one-upped them all by writing a song by the name of “Moving To New York,” and when I asked them if when they played here it made them want to move here more or less, Dan so bluntly put it “more like just being in New York makes me want to move here.” While the guys of The Wombats may want to move to America, they do love being back home in the UK. Touring around the UK is much easier for them as cities are at most five hours apart, while in America, you can end up having to drive 14 hours a day to get from show to show. The guys favorite part of touring in the US though is the fact that the venues are “smaller” and it’s more focused on the three of them playing instead of them “putting on a show” so to speak. When I asked them if it was difficult to transition between tour life and not tour life I was kind of surprised by how much they were affected by “the transition period”. It sounded sort of like a really bad case of one-way jetlag. “It takes like two weeks to a month to get used to being home,” says Tord “it really depends on how long we’ve been touring for though and what the tour was like” he continued to explain. But what I found most interesting was when Dan told us, “Once we’re on the road you just kind of get used to it, it becomes a normality and you just kind of accept that you don’t sleep as much and you don’t see friends and family y’know and etc. etc. and you don’t have to worry about food or bills or anything like that.” Tord concluded that, “Touring is somewhat carefree when you think about it.” When tour life got brought up, it brought up the topic of what they wish people from the outside looking in knew about the touring lifestyle. Dan told us that, “it’s great when family and friends come and see us on the road so they see what a day’s like for us and they can understand more that when we’re away and we get back and we’re like the living dead they can understand why and see that you aren’t sleeping enough and are drinking too much and partying all the time with new people you meet every night because we’ve really got to make the most of this.” Tord and I agreed that a lot of people have the completely wrong idea of what the touring life is like, fans only see a band for the time they’re on stage and then the time the band gives them to have a conversation (or if they’re lucky enough to go out with the band). But what fans don’t realize is a lot of bands spend most of their time on tour trying to catch up on sleep, or keeping in touch with friends and family, or even reading. Dan broke it down for us “on the bus, it’s not like loads of women and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll stuff, it really is us like talking about hummus and relaxing as much as we can.” What’s so great about The Wombat’s though is although they play for around 5,000 people every tour date in the UK and play for around 800 in the USA they don’t see that as a bad thing. “Playing here [Webster Hall] is kind of a pinch yourself moment.” Dan tells us, while Tord says, “having the privilege to play all the places we play really is humbling.” The fact they can still be humbled by things like playing a sold out show, or playing in a city they only dreamed of visiting, it really is a breath of fresh air.

I was never a big fan of Neon Trees after having...

Thu, 03 May 2012 16:53:00 -0400

I was never a big fan of Neon Trees after having to hear their song “Animal” constantly being played on the radio. I admit, not looking past their first single was really immature of me because their new record “Picture Show” really impressed me.

Most similar to their hit single “Animal” is their new song “Everybody Talks”. It has catchy drumbeats, well-planned background vocals and a distinct style of note holding that Neon Trees is known for. It’s currently #56 on the iTunes charts, proving that many people like me love this song.

When I saw that their song “Lessons in Love (All Day, All Night)” featured famous DJ Kaskade, I was expecting it to overpower the pop-rock sound that Neon Trees had maintained throughout the album. But instead, I was pleasantly surprised (once again) at how the techno style bass was mellow and very similar in style to Neon Trees’ other songs.

Neon Trees seems to be a band with happy beats and groovy songs. I hope more people see past their one big hit and help them get other recognition for their talent.

-Hana Selly

Check out our interview with Capelle. Find out all about the...

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:21:25 -0400

Check out our interview with Capelle. Find out all about the band who’s members come from every corner of the planet. Find out what it’s like to have an ever changing line-up and the transition from touring in the UK and the US, and much much more!

How does one dream of becoming a pop-star? Are the Spice Girls...

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:10:30 -0400

How does one dream of becoming a pop-star? Are the Spice Girls becoming relevant again? What does the UK have? Find out the answers in our interview as we sit down with Adam Tyler.

Don’t forget to check out his debut album ‘Shattered Ice’ out now, ft. ‘Like a Drug’

http://www.adamtylerofficial.com

https://twitter.com/adamtylerx

Today is a big day for The Wanted fans worldwide. The Wanted...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:18:42 -0400

Today is a big day for The Wanted fans worldwide. The Wanted released an EP in North America, “The Wanted (Special Edition)”, which includes two brand new songs, “Chasing The Sun” and “Satellite”. You can purchase the EP by clicking HERE! The guys of The Wanted also released their much anticipated video for “Chasing The Sun”. Check out the video and buy the EP and let us know what you think! We here at L.I.F.E. Press are certainly going to have the EP on repeat, once we finish watching the video for the 100th time!

My friend introduced me to the band, Dry the River, just a few...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:02:00 -0400

My friend introduced me to the band, Dry the River, just a few days before their first record, Shallow Bed was released. I was immediately captured by the unique vocals in their song, “New Ceremony”. The lead singer’s hauntingly beautiful voice mixes well with the string instruments (includes a violin!) and serene percussions.

My favorite songs are “Shield Your Eyes” and “The Chamber & The Valves” because they tend to be more upbeat than the other songs. All of their songs have a very peaceful quality but tend to sound similar, partially because it’s difficult to understand the lyrics. However, this helps make their sound unique and calm music can always be appreciated. I’d recommend them to listeners of Bon Iver and Sigur Ros.

Playing at huge festivals like Lollapalooza and Isle of Wright this summer, it should be exciting to see the exposure that this band will receive in the near future!

-Hana Selly

Check out our interview with Mike Acerbo, at his CD Release...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:22:55 -0400

Check out our interview with Mike Acerbo, at his CD Release party at DROM, NYC. Find out about how Mike Acerbo started out writing, why it took so long for the recording process, his influences, the pros and cons of being an unsigned artist, and many more!

Check Out his album: “The Sounds” available now

http://www.mikeacerbo.com/

https://www.facebook.com/mikeacerbofanpage

When we hung out with Capelle on Tuesday they whipped out their...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:20:16 -0400

When we hung out with Capelle on Tuesday they whipped out their instruments and played us an acoustic version of their song “All My Life.” Check it out and if you like what you hear re-blog this video and go and like them on facebook by clicking HERE!

had a fun day with Capelle today thanks to Big Machine Agency....

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:38:31 -0400

had a fun day with Capelle today thanks to Big Machine Agency. Keep your eyes peeled to L.I.F.E. Press for an acoustic performance, interview, and Behind The Seen segment that will all be posted soon!

Mike Acerbo CD Release Show Review April 6th 2012

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:45:00 -0400

Mike Acerbo has been working on his first album, The Search, for over ten years. Finally, on April 6th at DROM in NYC, he had the opportunity to perform his CD for a crowd that was amazed by his talent. Serenading the audience with his inspirational lyrics, and a full band (including a violin, and a horn), was something you had to experience for yourself. Starting off by writing poetry as a teen, a friend introduced Acerbo to song writing during camp and ever since then his passion was to tell stories to whomever would listen.

When listening to “The Search” from start to finish, there is this mystical vibe. One needs to replay the album over and over again to get a feel, not only for the lyrics but also the imagery that happens to appear when you infuse yourself with the album. The song that starts the album, “Robbie”, is such an inspiring song. The vocals range and the soft piano in the background gives you chills once the song is over. Drawing his influences from Fleetwood Mac and Joni Mitchell, Acerbo’s talent is like none other. Having his guitar by his side, he lets go and performs amazing numbers with his band.

“The Search” has this powerful, mystical, yet dark fairytale like sound that draws your attention. The artwork for this album is also stunning, the depicted picture and colors, gives you a sense of fairytale where you don’t really want to leave. (in my case) There is so much thought, love, and heart put into this album that you just cannot miss hearing. With a decade of writing and misfortunes, Mike Acerbo has definitely captured his story for all to listen in such a spiritual way, that soon you will never want to leave the dark forest.

-Lisa Lok

All American Rejects’ newest cd “Kids in the Street” came out...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:46:00 -0400

All American Rejects’ newest cd “Kids in the Street” came out this past Tuesday. It’s their fourth full-length album and experiments with a nearly new sound.

I started liking this band when I heard their first single, “Swing, Swing” on the pilot episode of The O.C. Even as their music progressed from their original album, they’ve always maintained a quality of angst in their music that was relatable. I’ve enjoyed the majority of songs on their past three albums so this record was a little disappointing for me. The songs were catchy but most of them weren’t exactly memorable. After listening through the album for the first time, there were only a few memorable songs, including their single “Beekeeper’s Daughter”. Another song I liked was “Kids in the Street”. It sounded like Sims music to me at first, which made me laugh, but as the song went on it improved to become an anthem.

I do admit that the strings in “Affection” were a nice change from their normal rock sound. Also, the buildup towards the end reminded me of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. But overall this album did not seem to grow much lyrically from their original album. I’ve grown up over the past 8 years listening to this band but it disappoints me to hear less and less growth between their albums.

-Hana Selly