You Voted! Thee Armada: The New You, The Old Us

Thank you so much for the participation everyone! And as you selected, here it is!

For those of you who aren't aware of Thee Armada already, they are a pop/rock group hailing from Houston, Texas.
Their first EP, titled "Rock, Shock, And Load" was full of tasty hooks; it was also the debut of the original version of "Rock, Shock, And Load" (the song). In this album, they combined songs from the first EP and the second EP, "Sweat Tease," as well as add some new songs AND a revamped version of "Rock, Shock, and Load." Thee Armada's guitarists are very exceptional, though they tend to not showboat much. But you can tell from the songs they write that they have a lot of potential.

The opening song "Guess I'm Inconvenience" which was the final track of their first EP, remains unchanged from it's original version but brings a relatively high energy to the table and sets the mood for the rest of the album. The high energy pop/rock feel continues through the next 2 songs before coming to the new "Rock, Shock, and Load." I personally prefer the original version to the new one and feel that it would have been better to introduce the changes as a new song rather than a revamp. In any case the guitarists finally add more taste and fills to their songs all the while most certainly improving their overall sound. The last three songs are all new and show more of a progressive side to Thee Armada.

My only complaint about this album is that at times it seems the vocalist strained to hard to reach the higher notes, almost like they were rushed through the recording and didn't have time to polish over the vocals. Aside from that, they have great catches to their songs, sweet guitar riffs, and tasteful breaks throughout the album. I rate "The New You, The Old Us" a 3 out of 5 in their respective genre.

Here is a link for the album as always!
The New You:the Old Us

Interview with Tides of Man: 9/22/2010

Interviewer: Alex
Interviewee: Tilian


Alex: How long have you known each other and how did you meet?
Tilian: I have known Josh for about 13 years. We went to Middle School together. I knew Alan and Spencer a little bit a couple years before we started the band in December, 2007. We didn't really hang out before that. The other three members had a band 5 years ago but they broke up after a year or so of jamming.


Alex: How did you get your start as a band? Who were the founders?
Tilian: We are all the founders really. Alan and I were living in LA (not together) and we both came home (Clearwater, Fl) for Christmas in 2007. Alan wanted to do a kind of reunion show of Spencer, Josh and his old band. Adam and I were listening in on their practice and we all decided to form a new band. We played our first show after being a band for 10 days.


Alex: What caused you to pick your band name?
Tilian: Tides of Man is kind of an analogy to the rise and fall or ebb and flow of empires. It can also be taken as the "tidings" or story of a man.

Alex: Is there a relation between your band name and the lyrics you write?
Tilian: The name is pretty broad, so yeah, it has to do with our lyrics.

Alex: Who writes the music?
Tilian: We all write the music for our respective instruments for the most part. Usually Spencer or I will come up with a series of riffs and chord progressions. We then move on to the next instrument (usually drums) and work out a structure. Sometimes I will have a whole song in mind and I will teach the parts to the other guys.

Alex: Who are your biggest musical influences?
Tilian: Musically, A Perfect Circle, Radiohead, Days Away, The Dear Hunter, The Sound Of Animals Fighting, Death Cab, Circa Survive, more recently Veil Of Maya and Karnivool. I am also heavily influenced by movies and books: American History X, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, etc.

Alex: How did you come about getting signed to Rise Records?
Tilian: We did an interview with indiestar.tv. Emarosa had also done and interview with them, and Craig Ericson was checking out the website when he saw our link on the page to our myspace. He hadn't heard of us before. Within hours we were talking with Rise.
- What was the initial feeling you had when you got signed?
The initial feeling was amazing. We were done being a local band. We had people giving us advice not to sign, and to wait it out, but we were tired of waiting and didn't want to miss our window. I think we made the right choice :)

How does it feel to travel and tour with bands that have already made pretty big names for themselves?
It's rad, man and very inspiring. You get to know great musicians and form relationships of mutual respect.
- Who, if any, has been your favorite band to be on tour with so far?
My favorite band we have toured with has to be Karnivool. They are incredible.

Alex: What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
Tilian: Money. Really it's no joke. It is extremely difficult for a touring band still paying their dues to stay solvent on the road. And it gets really stressful at times.

Alex: What is the ultimate direction for you as a band? Do you seek fame and fortune, or do you do this for simple love of music? (or both, I understand that totally. haha.)
Tilian: I listen to music for pleasure and enjoyment, but there are also times when I need it, even if I didn't know I needed it. At certain times I have been in a tough spot or faced with a tough decision and I have listened to a song that was so beautiful that by the end of the song I had the answer, the solution. That's what we are trying to create with our music.

Alex: And finally, are there any last words you would like to give to the readers or any advice on getting a their band up and going?
Tilian: Right now... My advice to bands is to get some chugga chugs and breakdowns and scary notes with br00tal screamz. Get some auto tune and try to find a singer who sounds like N'SYNC.




So there you have it guys, br00tal screamz, chugga chugs, breakdowns, and an N'SYNC autotuned singer. Hahaha
Thanks so much Tilian and congratulations to Tides of Man on their success so far and on their new album!

Passing the Time & Question For My Readers 2

Thanks again everyone for the support! Participation, feedback, and followings are up 20% in just a week or so! But that's still not enough, of course, I need to reach 100 followers before my video interview with The Orphan, The Poet!

In other news, I have decided to make "A Question For My Readers" a weekly posting! It seems people enjoy it when the writer of the blogs they read ask them interesting questions. So here is the next question for my readers:

If you could only listen to one band for an entire month, who would they be? (this means all of their albums are available to you)

I would have to say Coheed and Cambria, simply because they have a very diverse selection of albums, none of their albums sound like the others. The closest similar albums would be Second Stage Turbine Blade and In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, but even then, IKSSE3 had more intense songs in it and several different sounding songs including the Velourium Camper I and III.
Anyways, lets see what you all come up with!

Interview with Tides of Man

My first interview is coming up guys! It'll be text based so be looking forward to an update soon! I hope some of you guys are as interested and excited as I am! So let's get some more followers in here, I'm thinking this interview is going to spark a lot of traffic through this blog, especially with my rating on the google search constantly rising on a daily basis! Hope you guys continue to enjoy my blog and invite your friends and help spread the word!

Big News For My Readers!!

Hey everyone I've got exciting news for all of you! A new up-and-coming band has agreed to do an interview with me (probably over skype) SPECIFICALLY FOR MY BLOG!!
They are currently in the process of recording their first LP, but you can check out their EP on the link below. I am hoping to have a high participation by the time they finish recording, but I need everyones help to get more followers and spread the news! I am running out of ideas, but I am glad to see I have over 50 followers now!

Anyways, they are called "The Orphan, The Poet." They have a very cool sound and are very talented so I hope you like them as much as I do!

The Orphan, The Poet

Poll: You Decide My Next Album Review!

Hey everyone! I'm starting up a new poll! This isn't like the Band of the Week poll (recurring), this will be a one time only deal.
On the right-hand side of my page you will find the poll, I want YOU- my readers- to decide what album I review next, the reason I am choosing only one album is because none of these are new releases, they are all relatively unknown bands and/or non-mainstream bands who I believe deserve some more attention, but only one band will be chosen, the rest will be up to you to listen to or not. So here are the choices:

Closure in Moscow - First Temple

Damiera - M(US)IC

Saves The Day - Through Being Cool

Thee Armada - The New You, The Old Us

*Note that by non-mainstream I am referring to bands who you won't hear your typical wannabe music fanatic talk about :)

Tides of Man: Dreamhouse

Hello readers! For those of you who are not familiar with Tides of Man... it's perfectly understandable, they are a new band who released their first LP last year titled "Empire Theory." I stumbled across them while searching for new music via last.fm (great way to find new music btw), and I have to say I could not be more satisfied with what I heard. Well, to my delight they released their second album, once again targeting fans of the progressive/indie/rock scene.

I must admit, upon discovering that ToM released a new album so soon, I feared that they might have rushed it and made a diabolical screw-up, but they musically stuck it to me from the beginning of Dreamhouse; opening with beautiful harmonies and exploding into total epicness (for lack of a better word). The intensity doesn't stop there, however, "Statues" kicks it to any doubters still remaining. There isn't any one point of the album that stands out above any other, with intricate chord progressions, vocals that soar to extreme heights, technical drums and pulsing bass lines, Tides of Man continues to do an outstanding job of blowing me away.

I really don't have any negative comments about Dreamhouse- and believe me I tried to find some; the only comment I can make is that I highly recommend everyone to check it out. Even if you don't like this style of music, surely you can appreciate the musicianship at work in this talented band. So as per my method thus far, links provided below to purchase the album and to check out songs from both of their albums.

Listen here:
Empire Theory (old recording but still decent)

Dreamhouse

Purchase here:
Dreamhouse

Empire Theory

A Question For My Readers

Hey everyone, I do appreciate the support I have gotten thus far, and I would like to thank everyone who has told their friends about my blog. But all that aside, I would like to know more about my readers.

So this time around, tell me what YOUR favorite bands are and/or what your favorite album from that band was!
Also, tell me what your favorite movie is or what your favorite genres of movies/music are! So get at it readers! Let's hear what you are interested in!

Low Participation :(

Hey everyone, obviously my Band of the Week poll isn't working out very well. I guess not as many of you participate as much as I had thought. Hopefully this will change in the future, but until then I am just going to cancel the Band of the Week poll for a while. I might move it to once a month later. But for now I'll just cancel it.

Emarosa Self Titled Album (2010)

I am a huge fan of Emarosa. From when they released their first EP in 2007, I was hooked; and before I get a bunch of "hurp-a-derp u leik terrible music" comments, I will admit that the introduction of Jonny Craig into the band has been an incredible improvement. Although none of the original members are in the band, they have continuously written some of the most complex and intense music in the genre. In their latest self-titled full length album (their second with Jonny Craig, former vocalist for Dance Gavin Dance), however, it would seem that they are steering away from the fundamentals that put them in the forefront of musical elites.

"A Toast To Future Kids!" debuts the vocal capability of Jonny Craig for any would-be first time listeners of this post-hardcore band. That being said, let me set something in stone right off the bat: if you were a huge fan of the complex instrumentation of Relativity, then you are in for a bit of a change with this album as Craig's vocals definitely take precedence over the music- which, unfortunately, has been pushed to the back this album. One major downfall of the album is the introduction of solid chorus' and more steady song structures, which can get a bit repetitive at times; this is why I preferred Relativity more.

Now you are gonna have to let me rant for a moment as I reach the point that I consider the biggest let-down of the album. For any musicians out there like me, when you hear great music, you don't want that to be covered up by vocals (even good ones). That was my big complaint about the last album, it was and continues to be apparent that Craig loves the sound of his voice; and even though he has an outstanding voice, I would much rather prefer to hear the music. The only redeeming factor in his vocals for Relativity was that his lyrics were superb. The same can not be said about this album however. "Live It. Love It. Lust It" is the perfect example to prove my point. His lyrics were whiny, it was sickening to be honest. I was also disappointed in the amount of cursing he used. I'm sorry, but he may as well have just said that he can't think of anything to put there and moved on, that's just lack of creativity when you can't get the point of a song across without dropping the f-bomb half-a-dozen times.

When it comes down to it, I personally think Emarosa took a step down from Relativity in what appears to be an attempt to attract a larger fan-base. This is a typical cycle in music nowadays it seems though (sound like Damiera much?). A band will come out with an absolutely incredible album, then, after getting a lot of attention, turn around and conform in an attempt to gather more fans. I'm hoping they don't continue in this trend though, I would hate to see a band with as much potential as they have cease to release good LP's. I give Emarosa's self-titled album a 3.5 out of 5. Please leave feedback in the comments if you have listened to the album already.

Here is a link to hear one of their better songs from this album:
Emarosa

If you would like to hear a song from Relativity, check out this link:
Relativity

And if you are interested in their first album, here is a link for that:
This Is Your Way Out



Here are the links to purchase each of their albums:

This Is Your Way Out

Relativity

Emarosa

Band of the Week #1: Iron Maiden!

Let me start by saying sorry it took me so long to get around to this. My computer crashed Thursday and i had to send it up to Houston to get it fixed.

Now that we got that part out of the way, I can continue.

Congrats to Iron Maiden for winning the first Band of the Week poll! Thank you to those of you who participated, I hope you are satisfied with the results, and if you aren't... well that sucks, get more of your friends to vote next time. :D

I'm pretty sure everyone knows who Iron Maiden is (if you don't then something is wrong with you or you're deprived). I know I said I would post links to purchase all the albums of the winner, but Maiden has way too many albums to post links for so I'm not going to bother, that and if you like them you should already have their albums to begin with.. I mean c'mon... it's Iron Maiden.

The next Band of the Week poll will be delayed for a bit, I'm trying to find a good program to rip the files off my iPod since I lost my music library on my last OS. Stay up to date and I'll get back up to speed ASAP!