In the music video, “Till the DJs Gone,” Boston native Juma – a mysterious figure oft shaded by dark sunglasses who at first acts as a pensive observer – navigates a contemporary milieu under the spell of a corporate subconscious controller. Men and women stare at ipads and cell phones, brainwashed by the messages of greed and consumerism propagated by the digital screens set before them. Juma breaks the communication by hacking into the mass system that disseminates the pervasive messages in order to send out his own message. The song and video transform into a commentary on the state of commercial music as Juma states, “We’re being force fed radio/transmitting garbage/the corporate media monsters.” He ultimately asks us, the listener, to take control and reshape the face of music. Juma creates a meta-narrative of the independent artist rallying against a commercialized cultural system through his music.

The purpose of the song is “to heighten awareness and to help people to start thinking twice and three times about why certain things are valued,” according to Juma.

He jokingly calls himself a “conspiracy theorist.” Juma is a rather upbeat and humorous person, but he holds fast to his beliefs. “The lyrics of the song are talking about mass media and using radio as a point object. What I wanted to visually get across with the video was, the core of the song, the story of awakening. So it’s really about making people aware of agenda setting, which is a communication theory that posits that news media and media systems may not be able to tell us what to think, but certainly what to think about,” says Juma, who makes sure to fleck his statements with academic language.

“We are all being bombarded with these messages that effect who we are. And the intent of these things is to trigger a particular consumer behavior. I tend to feel like there are capitalistic forces at work in the world,” he continues. “The prospect to monetize human existence – in a sense is kind of crazy – is antithetical to why we’re here. It totally devalues who we are as human beings.”

The single, “Till the DJs Gone,” is off his upcoming sophomore album, Fall of the Giants, which is set to be released on January 31st. The title track of the forthcoming album, “Giants Fall,” had a video release during the summer of 2010. But unlike his most recent video, the “Giants Fall” full-length music video has a run time just under eight minutes. The video follows a struggling alcoholic, played by Juma, who grapples with deep seeded issues of witnessing his mother being abused by his father as a child.

“Domestic violence is the backdrop to this guys present day…. He is really in dire straits psychologically,” says Juma. The character creates an imaginary psychologist to help him sort out his twisted memories as he spirals deeper into a suicidal depression. A force emanates from a bible in the house – of which the character is reaching for – which transports him into a spirit world, “where he fights his giants in the form of these demonic smoke projectiles.”

This David and Goliath theme runs not only through the two singles, but the entirety of the album. “The whole album is about winning, overcoming, its about freedom, fear, and limitation. Whether its personal fear that holds people back from being the best that they can be. Whether it be societal limitations that keep people from coming together or keep people from excelling in society,” states Juma. His strength in his music stems from his ability to take a macro-perspective. “It speaks to overcoming any and all forms of obstacles, may it be emotional, spiritual, intellectual, societal. It speaks to the celebration of those giants falling.”

“I am a man of many giants,” states Juma. His album, though having political and cultural meanings, is rooted in a personal narrative. “What inspired me to come up with an album was my own personal giants in my own life. And that change to victory made me want to share it.”

His ideas work as thematic motifs and ubiquitous narrative arcs. The political bent on the album can also be applied to the music industry, something that Juma has a strong opinion about. “In celebrating the fall of giants, it absolutely connects to the deconstruction of the old model, institutions, and the old music industry… an institution that we now realize was in need of deconstruction, and now reconstruction.” Juma is a completely independent artist who often produces his work on his own. Furthermore, Fall of the Giants – like his first album – will be released on his own record label, Inniss Entertainment.

Juma’s opinions on the music industry are steeped in experience, as he is no newcomer to the rap game. His debut album, Blast Music, features the song “Pray 4 U” with guest vocals from Grammy winner John Legend. Juma befriended Legend back in 2001 when they were both working at a Boston management consultant firm. This was a time when Legend was still relatively unknown, slowly gaining popularity. After trading mixtapes, Legend and Juma decided to collaborate, creating a song about having faith in the face of adversity.

“Music has always been a part of my life,” explains Juma. He has opened for Fat Joe, Amanda Diva, The X-ecutioners, Kirk Franklin, and many others. When asked about why he makes music, Juma jokes, “the heavens didn’t open up, and a voice didn’t come down and say ‘Juma, do an album,’” the omniscient voice stated with a deep rumble. For him, music is just a given; it is a piece of his life.

With his upcoming release, the sister single of “Till the DJs Gone, “We Don’t Really Care,” is available as a free download on his soundcloud page. And further information about Juma can be found at facebook.com/JumaMusic.

So what’s next for Juma? After watching a TV show on the apocalyptic Mayan predictions for 2012, Juma jokingly mentioned that he is “reshaping [his] plans for the year.” But it is more likely that his future parallels his opinion on the music industry; we are moving back to “where it should be, back into the hands of the curators. With the digital age and the ability to record and release music at no cost has empowered artists.” And Juma is doing just that – exactly what his own music suggests – which is to defy the corporate music giants.

There aren’t many people who can reference, with utter sincerity, “the good thing that came out of falling off a cliff.” Jane Wiedlin, the pixie-ish guitarist for New Wave chart-toppers The Go-Go’s, is one of them.

The silver lining she’s referring to is the fact that last year, a knee injury she suffered after, yes, literally falling off of a cliff while hiking forced the cancellation of what was supposed to be a farewell tour for the band.

A year later, the tour has been rescheduled — and rechristened. The farewell theme has been nixed. Instead, the “Ladies Gone Wild” tour, which kicked off May 27 in Las Vegas, is in celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Go-Go’s chart-topping debut record, “Beauty and the Beat.” To coincide with the outing, special editions of the album (which spawned the hits “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat”) were released in May, including a hot pink vinyl version. In August, the band will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“(After) taking a year off, when we re-launched the tour, we decided … we’re really not sure that it’s a farewell tour,” Wiedlin told Blast. “Having time to think about it, we decided we didn’t want to be so finite in our plans. It’s best to leave an open door when it comes to The Go-Go’s, because things come up that we want to do, and projects that we’d like to do together. So it just seemed better not to break up yet.”

Meaning that The Go-Go’s won’t become part of the club of artists who embark on a series of seemingly endless “farewell” tours?

“I really don’t want to be one of those bands,” Wiedlin says emphatically, emitting a girlish cackle. “That’s not me as a person. I try and do what I say and say what I mean, and I think that it’s a good policy for the band as well.”

When Wiedlin chatted with Blast in April from her home in Los Angeles, she and drummer Gina Schock, who are neighbors, were planning to start rehearsals the next day (“rocking out in my basement,” as she described it). Wiedlin, for one, spoke with the infectious exuberance of someone looking forward to a summer road trip with her best girlfriends. Fans can expect to hear the band’s biggest hits, as well as some cover songs and potentially even some new material, she said.

“Thirty years ago, if you had told me we would be doing (this anniversary tour) today, I would have laughed in your face,” she admitted. “It just seems incredible that we’re still together and that people still want to see us and people still love those songs. It’s very flattering and heartening to know.”

“I love the record still,” she added. “I think the songs hold up after all those years, and although the sound quality sounds kind of silly to me in retrospect, I think that the actual songwriting is still strong, and the way the songs sound live is very strong.”

Formed in Los Angeles in 1978, The GoGo’s have sold more than 7 million albums to date, and hits like “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “Vacation” are still radio staples. Though this run is sometimes mischaracterized as a “reunion” tour, in fact, the band has been “reunited” for more than 20 years, Wiedlin pointed out.

“Even though we don’t do The Go-Go’s 24/7 anymore, we still consider ourselves to have been back together since the fall of 1990,” she explained. “I think we’ve played every year since 1994 except for last year. … We just don’t play year-round.”

But to say that this tour will be a bit tamer for the ladies, all of whom are now in their 50s, than the dates in their heyday would be an understatement. The members have spoken openly about their hard-partying lifestyles back in the day.

“Unfortunately, we’re getting older and it’s harder on the body,” Wiedlin said. “But mentally, once we go over the songs a few times, most of them just come right back right to your brain, because we’ve been doing them for so many years.”

“For sure there’s gonna be a whole lot less partying going on, because three of The Go-Go’s are completely sober, and two of us are not literally sober, but a lot calmer than we were 30 years ago,” she said, laughing. “Probably slightly more dignified but not a lot, because basically we’re all a bunch of clowns at heart. So we will still be goofy. … The thing about The Go-Go’s is, of course, it is a business, but it’s also super fun and it doesn’t take drugs and alcohol and cigarettes to make it fun.”

It’s easy to cynically write off bands from decades past trotting out their classics on tour every few years as mere money-making schemes, but one gets the sense that for The Go-Go’s, it’s more than that. What’s perhaps most remarkable is that the quintet — Wiedlin, Schock, singer Belinda Carlisle, bassist Kathy Valentine and guitarist Charlotte Caffey — have all managed to stay friends through the years.

“It’s the longest relationship any of us have ever been in,” Wiedlin noted. “We definitely have our ups and downs, just like any relationship, but the bottom line is, when the five of us come together and we play music, it’s something magical that we feel, and obviously other people feel it too, because they come and see us play. That’s the only way I can explain it. It makes all the sort of bad times worth it, because it’s so great and fun when we get to play together.”

“I think as you get older, it’s natural to become more introspective,” she added. “And certainly knowing that it’s the 30-year anniversary of our groundbreaking record definitely makes all of us think about it more. There’s a lot of acknowledgement going on between the five band members as well. A lot of like, ‘I love you. I’m so happy we’re doing this.’ There’s a lot of sentiment going on. I don’t know if it’s the 30-year thing, or if it’s just that we’re getting older, but that’s the state of affairs in Go-Go land.”

The Go-Go’s, who let their instruments speak for themselves rather than relying on elaborate costumes and stage sets, stand in sharp contrast to the most notable modern female icons — i.e. hyper-sexualized artists like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. While expressing admiration for the fact that Perry and Lady Gaga both write their own material, Wiedlin said she’s surprised there aren’t more all-female rock bands around today.

“When (we found success) 30 years ago, I thought it would just bust the doors wide open and you would see just as many girl musicians as you would guys,” she reflected. “But it hasn’t really happened that way. I mean, it’s changing a little bit obviously, but I mean, I don’t really know of any, like, girl bands. Everyone gets on my case when I say that, because of course there are some. … I just think it’s weird that it hasn’t changed more.”

Aside from smashing barriers, one would be hard-pressed to find evidence that The Go-Go’s have even gotten the recognition they deserve in breaking into the boys’ club of rock ‘n’ roll, despite their place in history as the first all-female group who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to have a #1 album.

“We don’t really seem to get a lot of acknowledgement or credit for that … and it is a fact,” Wiedlin said. “I feel like a jerk even bringing it up, but I guess somebody has to.”

Case in point? The band was inexplicably left out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s recent “Women in Rock” exhibit, which opened in May.

“It’s just kind of baffling,” Wiedlin said. “Because we love the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and we would love to be in that exhibit.” (Representatives from The Rock Hall have said the organization tried to get in touch with the band and was unable to.)

“I’ll say (what) I said 30 years ago and I believe it’s still true,” she added — and there’s that cackle again. “The Go-Go’s are like Twinkies. Everyone loves them, but nobody wants to admit it.”

The guitarist, who admits she lives in “a bubble” when it comes to new music (“I’ll hear a song that came out in the early ‘90s and be like, “Oh, this is great. What’s this new artist?” Or it’ll be The Strokes or The Killers or The White Stripes or something. I’m really behind. I’m ashamed to admit it.”), nonetheless remarked about how much the industry has changed since The Go-Go’s got their start.

“The (current) music business is much harder,” she said. “It’s gotten bigger and smaller at the same time, because it’s much harder to be a successful musician, but there sure are a lot more bands and musicians out there. But I don’t see that anyone’s really making money. I mean, it seems like there’s like four people making money.”

“They seem to have to work so hard,” she went on. “I remember back in the day when we were popular, I felt like we were working every second of the day. But nowadays, people seem to do so much more. … Everything is just so much bigger now, and I don’t think I know how they do it. It looks exhausting.”

Just before we hang up, Wiedlin interrupts me for one final endearing add-on.

“Feel free to edit me if I sound like an idiot. I just don’t want to come off as, like, this bitter old lady or anything, ‘cause I’m not,” she said (which is pretty funny, because with her distinctive high-pitched voice, I don’t think Wiedlin could sound bitter, or old, if she tried). “I’m really happy and grateful for everything.”

Coming from someone who can find the bright side of falling off a cliff, it’s impossible not to believe her.

The Go-Go’s are scheduled to play the Bank of America Pavilion on June 9, with the B-52s. For complete tour dates, visit www.gogos.com.

Australian quartet The Jezabels’ inaugural gig together was in 2007 at a talent competition at Sydney University, where they were all students. They came in second place out of dozens of acts — and it’s pretty much been all uphill for the group ever since.

With a trilogy of EPs under its belt, and radio success in Australia, the band has toured with the likes of Tegan & Sara, and is gearing up for a small U.S. spring tour that includes a stop in Austin, Texas for the SXSW festival. They’re currently writing and recording new material, and plan to continue doing so through June. The goal is to have a full-length album ready for release in the fall.

The Jezabels’ songs are a perfect blend of signature building blocks — heavy on percussion (see: “Hurt Me,” “The Man is Dead”), densely layered and featuring intricate piano arrangements, all buoying singer Hayley Mary’s hummable, even hook-ish, singing. “Dark Storm” — their most recent EP and strongest to date — is the perfect culmination of the trio. The title track is nothing short of infectious; the moody, pensive “Sahara Mahala” allows Mary to show off her impressive pipes, and the jittery opening guitar notes on “A Little Piece” are shiver-inducing.

A mere glance at The Jezabels’ limited catalog will indicate that gender roles play a significant theme in their music — titles include “Old Little Girls,” “The Man is Dead” and “She’s So Hard,” and one song includes the line, “He was never meant to be a boy.” But upon closer examination, it’s apparent that everything about the band’s aesthetic has some sort of theoretical reasoning behind it, including the very concept of an EP trilogy and the decision to name each of the first two releases after a song that would be on the next one. Call it the thinking man’s (or woman’s?) indie.

It’s early evening on a Friday when Mary and I connect over Skype, meaning that it’s 10am on Saturday for her in Australia. But though The Jezabels deal with serious themes in their music, it’s clear they don’t take themselves too seriously. (For the record, Mary might be the only 23-year-old alive who can talk at length about anthropomorphizing feminism and not have it sound pretentious in the slightest.) Over the better part of an hour, the singer eloquently dishes on feminine icons from Virginia Woolf to Lady Gaga, the thematic concepts of each of the band’s releases, and how the band members manage to merge their diverse musical tastes.

(Responses have been edited for length.)

BLAST: How did you all meet and form the band?

HAYLEY MARY: I guess it starts with me and (keyboardist) Heather (Shannon). We went to primary school and high school together and we sort of played a bit of folky stuff. We grew up in Byron Bay, which is on the north coast of New South Wales, and we came to Sydney to go to uni and ended up still wanting to be in a band. So we met a couple of guys, Sam (Lockwood), the guitarist, and (drummer Nik Kaloper), at uni.

BLAST: Do you all have similar tastes in music?

HM: No, the opposite. We have very different music tastes, actually. Heather is a classical pianist. She did a degree in piano at the Sydney Conservatory. So she’s probably the least literate in pop and rock but the most literate in classical and jazz and every other type of music, and the theory of music. Nick is very into sort of technical drumming and thrash, and heavy music in a lot of ways, mainly because he likes the focus of the drums in music. And Sam has more of a pop sensibility, like I do, but he also likes a bit of country and folk, like Gillian Welch, that kind of stuff. And bluegrass. And I’m just really into pop, I suppose. I thought I was a pop purist, and I really like the ‘80s and that kind of stuff, which really went against everyone else’s taste in a lot of ways. I just like the general, you know, epicness of the ‘80s. Prince, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Queen, Kate Bush. Bruce Springsteen’s awesome.

BLAST: Is it difficult to harness those varying tastes and form a cohesive sound?

HM: Our first EP (“The Man is Dead”) sort of seemed like we didn’t know each other, and it was kind of a war of the different elements. It was very sort of inconsistent in itself, and it’s quite naïve. But the more we write together, the more we realize where us as individuals have to compromise, and where we’re strong. Like, I really find that I like to dictate melody, but sometimes I’ll have to sort of sit back and say ok, because someone else’s feelings are stronger. We just find a way of compromising. And that’s when our best songs are written, I suppose.

We come from really different areas, and the best songs are when we manage to get a balance between those. We’ve changed each other’s tastes a lot, but that was where we started out. I mean, I’m still the only one to say I like Lady Gaga. The rest of them sort of are like, whoa, about that kind of stuff. I think she’s a genius, whereas the other ones don’t quite see where I’m coming from.

BLAST: Is there an artist that you all agree on?

HM: The National might be the only band we all like. I really relate to (singer Matt Berninger). I can’t quite work him out, but you know how he’s very aware of being the American man, like the white American man? I feel like that is the kind of person that we’re talking about when we say “The Man is Dead.” I’ve always related to him on that level, because he seems really sad and self-aware of his very privileged position.

BLAST: How did you come up with the band name?

HM: That was a childhood sort of thing for me. My dad always wanted to call me Jezabel, and it didn’t work out. My dad was a bit of an eccentric and we used to go busking and call ourselves the Jezabels. (When we formed the band) it just started to stick and made sense. It was hard at first to convince people. I think it’s cool in a really dorky way, but I like that.

BLAST: Why did you decide to release three EPs instead of a full-length album?

HM: We went with the EP thing for a few reasons. It started out as, we were just too scared to do an album. Not too scared, but we didn’t really feel prepared to do an album after the first EP. Because we were independent, a lot of the kind of financial side of it affected that decision. EPs are cheaper, and they’re cheaper to buy, and they’re shorter in the time they take up (to record). So it made sense. But we also thought that the idea of a trilogy kind of suited our sort of themes, I guess. Like our melodramatic bit, sort of pseudo-epic kind of music, I suppose. It has a bit of a “Star Wars”-esque vibe to it. We thought trilogy, perfect. It’s all over the top. Why not just be really over the top, and we’ll have a kind of coherent aesthetic throughout all the EPs? It’s all a bit conceited and stuff, but it’s kind of fun.

And I think we’ve really kind of established ourselves, at least in Australia. Because now we’ve worked out how we write, what we are in people’s minds on the musical landscape, at least in this country. And we’ve kind of just really honed our … I’m going to say art, for wont of a better word … before our debut album. We’re all very strange and sometimes shaky, sort of emotional individuals. So we feel a lot more comfortable with the platform of having three EPs under our belt.

BLAST: The songs on the first EP, “The Man is Dead,” are much more upbeat than the ones on “Dark Storm.” The single “Disco Biscuit Love,” in particular, is about club culture. The song’s central character is “with the meanest boy in the hills” who “only loves (her) when he’s on pills.” Can you talk about that a bit?

HM: From my perspective personally, the first EP was more satirical of that culture, of partying culture. A lot of people took (“Disco Biscuit Love”) as, like, embracing drug and club culture, because it was about that. But if you listened at all in detail, it was very not about that. It was a critique of that, and it was kind of a romantic critique of that, I suppose. And that was sort of a coming to Sydney thing. Those were the observations I made, coming to Sydney and seeing that culture. I was very naive and new to it, but it made me sad. We never went into it trying to make a party album. It was always meant to be with an undercurrent of commentary or questioning or sadness about the whole situation.

BLAST: How would you describe the thematic evolution, if there is one, throughout the three EPs?

HM: I think it’s an evolution, but I kind of think that everything that people are seeing now was there in the first EP. I think we got better at articulating that more critical, I guess more socially aware (aspect). There’s definitely a difference, sort of like we exaggerated certain elements that were always there, but we just took them and exaggerated them, like the tragedy side of it, in “Dark Storm.” We became more self-aware by the people we worked with and what people said they got from it. And I know I personally lyrically decided to be kind of conscious and reflected on what the themes were in “The Man is Dead,” to write “She’s So Hard” and to write “Dark Storm,” to really kind of think about what I’m talking about, about females especially, and their own role in their oppression and this kind of stuff. And I started getting really theoretical about it, so I think it just kind of got a bit darker and a bit more self-aware as we went on, and that’s probably why it’s kind of boppy at the start and then it gets really kind of heavy. Because we were just delving into it.

BLAST: You generally write all the lyrics, but do the full songs come together in a collective songwriting process?

HM: We have a very slow writing process, generally. It’s very democratic. It’s a bit different for every song. It started out, the songs were (written mostly by) me and then they’d add their instruments to it. But then it quickly evolved into a kind of conversation between parts. Depending on who comes up with something first, we kind of shape it around that, whether it’s a drumbeat or a riff or something. I tend to write (the lyrics) in gibberish first with the melody. I feel like it has to have the right sounds. But then of course I’ve got to kind of meld in the sort of message that I want as well, so it’s kind of a long process. It takes me a while.

BLAST: Your lyrics are very confessional and sometimes heartbreaking, particularly on the “Dark Storm” EP. Where does your inspiration comes from?

HM: I’ve written songs with different types of people, or lots of people that I know, or attitudes I have towards people in mind. It’s kind of more fractured than just having one person in mind. I think I’ve probably only written one song with one particular person in mind. But most of the time it’s fictional, I’ve got to say. I think I manage to kind of hide a bit in kind of some fantastical world, which is a protective thing for me. Because you don’t want it to be about you, otherwise you feel too vulnerable.

BLAST: Your vocal range is one of the most striking things about The Jezabels’ overall sound. What’s your singing background?

HM: I always sang a lot. You couldn’t really shut me up. My mum actually, when I visited her recently, gave me this picture that I’d drawn that was a business card. I was about four. It was a picture of me, and it had my address and my phone number, and it said, “Singer. If you want a singer, call this number” or something. It’s really funny. I didn’t realize that I’d wanted to be a singer for that long until I saw that. My dad was always very musical, so he’d always try and make me sing on the table when we went to parties and that kind of stuff, which was a bit embarrassing at the time. But then, when I started actually singing in a band, I actually hurt my voice a bit. I started getting laryngitis a lot. I often write songs that I can’t sing or aren’t within my range, and I push it so that I can sing it. So I had to get some vocal training to prevent that from happening. And now I can safely say I can sing everything on (the records) I think, without doing too much damage. Hopefully.

BLAST: You worked with the same producer and cover designer on all three EPs. “The Man is Dead” features a figure in an mask and the image on the “Dark Storm” EP is of a woman wading into the water. Is that a reference to a suicide mission?

HM: Virginia Woolf died that way, and I was really affected by (her) imagery in her understanding of the water. She likened it to an illness. Like, she said that being ill was like being out at sea, and you’re kind of looking at the land, wanting to come back in. And eventually she just succumbed, if that’s the word, to her illness and walked out into the water and died. And I think that that’s become a really huge kind of analogy for the feminine, and giving into your illness or your “histrionic ways” and everything.

Chris Doyle is the designer of the covers. And he came up with that first image for “The Man Is Dead.” He knew there was an awareness of feminism in our band. Not necessarily pro-feminist, but just we really (explore) that kind of, is feminism a good thing? Yes and no. That debate, and all its various forms. That kind of colors the themes. And for him to come up with that image really kind of consolidated that.  These feminine flowers on an executioner’s mask across a man, who looks like the epitome of traditional masculine sort of patriarchy. We were like, wow. Yeah, that kind of image is us in a nutshell, and it kind of shaped us from there on.

BLAST: That’s really interesting. Can you elaborate on the role feminism plays in your music?

HM: I studied a little bit of gender studies towards the end of my arts degree, and I really got interested in the stigma of feminism, and how people are kind of like, oh, get over it, and it’s just sort of a bad word. And to be a feminist is, you know, passe and negative and naive, and all that kind of stuff. And I wanted to somehow be a femme band but be aware of that at the same time, and I think my lyrics are just a process of me trying to do that. Whether I succeed or not is questionable, because most people don’t get it. With (the song) “Mace Spray,” for example (whose chorus includes the line, “She loves me / More than anyone who wouldn’t lay a hand”), it’s kind of about feminism, the “she” in it. And her as a sort of fairly fickle master, and having trouble with her because she wants to liberate you and she means so many good things to you as a woman, or as a girl. But at the same time, she makes you really scared and she makes you have a lot of anger. And trying to sort of be a modern feminist, or a contemporary feminist, or someone who doesn’t have to hate men and all the negatives of feminism. I suppose, for me, it’s an attempt to try and put feminism in your face, whilst transcending or even satirizing that attitude that it’s a negative thing. But also, I’m torn. Like, it sometimes is a bad thing for me. It makes you angry. It’s basically my ongoing struggle with feminism.

The Jezabels play at T.T. the Bear’s on March 14. For a full list of tour dates, visit thejezabels.com.

DALLAS — Local musicians Jaret Reddick (Bowling for Soup) and Ryan Hamilton (Smile Smile) are People on Vacation.

The name of their newly-formed band rings true in more ways than one; Reddick and Hamilton are taking a break from their respective (musically disparate) bands for this new collaboration, leaving fans shocked and curious.

The unusualness of the pairing isn’t lost on Reddick and Hamilton. Bowling for Soup has had relative commercial success with hits like “1985” and “Ohio (Come Back to Texas).” Smile Smile is a less-notorious folk band comprised of Hamilton and Jencey Hirunrusme.

So naturally, fans of the bands scratched their heads when the two lead singers joined forces for People on Vacation. But their first show in Dallas last month took steps toward explaining the madness.

“People came with crossed arms at the beginning…” said Hamilton. “People seemed very confused by it. And it was nice to play some shows and kind of watch the audience have a light bulb moment.”

Reddick and Hamilton met a few years back when Reddick dropped by Smile Smile’s show at Austin’s South by Southwest. He was impressed by what he heard, but Hamilton didn’t feel the same way at first.

“I leaned over to Jensi,” Hamilton said, “and said ‘What the hell is the singer from Bowling For Soup doing at our show?’”

But a few months later, Smile Smile would be touring with Bowling for Soup, and as they say, the rest is history. Hamilton and Reddick developed an appreciation for each other as musicians, and through their collaboration, found a way for each of them to explore new musical territory. Reddick wanted to perform more serious material, and Hamilton wanted a chance to “not be so sad and awkward.”

The duo went to the recording studio, and walked out four days later having written and recorded 15 songs. “It was the accidental songwriting chemistry,” said Hamilton. “Who knew?”

Neither musician is leaving his original band. They’re not sure of People on Vacation’s trajectory, but claim that for now, they’re just booking shows and having a good time.

“I’m typically not one to buy into when the stars align…” said Hamilton. “But I feel like there’s something special with this thing the way it’s all falling into place.”

People on Vacation is currently on tour. For tour dates and more information, visit Wearepeopleonvacation.com.

Singer Aly Spaltro, who goes by the stage name Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, may hail from Portland, Maine, but it’s Boston that has adopted the 21-year-old startup musician as a hometown darling.

Spaltro, who has self-released a handful of albums but is not signed to a label, was named Folk Act of the Year at the Boston Music Awards in December. She’s since found a cheerleader in Act of the Year winner and local icon Amanda Palmer, who Tweeted after the ceremony, “chick blew me away live. look up her stuff.”

Spaltro recently wrapped up a series of dates as the opening act for Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield, and will support Faces on Film at Berklee’s Café 939 Thursday night.

Those who catch one of her live performances will be able to pick up a copy of her latest offering, “Mammoth Swoon”(most of the other recordings are available through her website) — a mish-mash of bedroom and live versions of songs in demo form. It’s country and folk influences that come through most prominently on the collection, although she tiptoes into PJ Harvey territory on the best-produced track, “Between Two Trees.” Cuts like “Crane Your Neck,” the aching “Aubergine” and the 10-minute pairing “Up in the Rafters/Bird Balloons” (“songs of longing,” she describes them) showcase Spaltro’s gift for heartwrenching, pining torch songs and her passionate, often raspy singing style. An early interest in poetry is evident in her lyrics, which refuse to rely on tired, sentimental clichés. “Absence makes the heart grow hollow/Make me into an egg without yolk,” she sings on “Aubergine.”

While the album consists primarily of rough cuts, the underlying quality of the songs themselves is undeniable, and it should be enough to sate the ravenous appetite for Spaltro’s music fans are sure to walk away with after seeing one of her captivating live performances. Because it’s on stage that Spaltro really shines. During a show earlier this month at New York City’s tiny Rockwood Music Hall, armed with only a guitar and a small amplifier, the unassuming, diminutive brunette had the audience in the palm of her hand. Her songs took on a haunting quality in such an intimate setting, even as she offered disarmingly friendly banter between songs.

Spaltro recently chatted with Blast about her early exposure to music (some might consider it a predestined career choice when members of Creedence Clearwater Revival hold jam sessions in your childhood living room), plans for 2011, and origin of her stage moniker.

BLAST: Did music play a big part in your life growing up?

ALY SPALTRO: My dad is actually a really killer musician. He’s a lead guitarist (and) used to make his own CDs. He didn’t really give them to anyone besides his friends and family, but I remember him sort of sitting there layering all the instruments that a full band would have, and making his own songs. He was randomly friends with members of CCR. … Whenever they played the place that we lived, they would come over and, like, have a jam session with my dad … which I was just really curious about as a kid. I would sit in and listen. Also, my next door neighbor when I was five was this 13-year-old named Lacey, and she got me into The Beatles when I was in kindergarten. And I just fell in love. I was obsessed with The White Album and I used to just sit there for hours and listen to The Beatles and oldies on the radio.

BLAST: Who are some of your musical influences? Did you have a defining moment when you knew music was going to play a significant role in your future?

AS: The Beatles were my first influence. I was really into Diana Ross & the Supremes, and The Mamas & the Papas, and The Isley Brothers and stuff like that. And then what really kind of re-changed my life as I got older (was), when I was 14, I went to a record store when I had just moved to Maine, and I randomly bought Neutral Milk Hotel’s first record, because I really liked the album art. … I brought it home and it just floored me. At that point in time, it was exactly what I had been searching for. And it kind of felt like I had to search no more, like it was all right there in front of me in Neutral Milk Hotel. And from then on, I started becoming really inspired by Jeff Mangum’s lyrics, which kind of prompted me into doing spoken word poetry and things like that in high school, before I started playing music. That really was, like, that moment for me. And it would be a few more years before I’d actually start playing music, but that sort of re-awakened a passion in me for listening to music.

BLAST: When did you begin writing your own songs?

AS: Poetry and spoken word was my main passion. But then, when I had just turned 18, I was really seeking more fulfillment. I wanted a challenge. I wanted to really invest myself in something big, something that would take all of me and something that I could hone in on and spend my time on and work really hard on. And I was passionate about the words I was writing, so I thought the next step would be to teach myself how to play some instruments. And I didn’t sing. I didn’t have any background in singing, besides to music I liked in the shower and in the car and things like that. But it just felt like the next thing to do. So I was going through this period where I was really miserable and wanted to get out of it, and found that singing really helped. And so I taught myself guitar and put all my words to music.

BLAST: How did you come up with the name Lady Lamb the Beekeeper?

AS: Three years ago, when I started playing, I was having trouble sleeping, because I was just so excited about what I was doing. Making the songs was so new and exciting that I couldn’t even wait to, like, get up and start working. So I was essentially recording a song a day for days and days and days, just working all day and night and finishing a track, and then starting a new one. And so, in my sleep, I was having very vivid dreams and I was also, at the same time, sort of writing lyrics in my sleep. And it was driving me a little crazy, because I kept waking myself up and really wanting to write them down. So I started keeping a notebook for lyrics so I could scribble down while I was dreaming them up or whatever, and then to also just double as a journal to just scrawl down phrases and visuals from my dreams, because they were inspiring me as well. And “Lady Lamb the Beekeeper” was written in my notebook one morning when I woke up. I have no recollection of what I was thinking of or dreaming of when I wrote it down. But sure enough, there it was. It was right around the same time when I was making recordings and wanted to put them together on a CD. And I wanted to have a moniker, so it felt like the most perfect fit.

BLAST: Congratulations on your win at the Boston Music Awards. What was that experience like?

AS: I love Boston. I feel so honored to have won that award. I had been working really hard for a year, trying to play as many shows in Boston as I could while living in Maine, and sort of building a fanbase there. And I realized that the Boston scene felt just as much like home as home did. The bands and the people that come out to shows, everyone’s so supportive and warm. I kept seeing the same faces and ended up making good friends playing in the Boston area. So I’m really excited to continue playing in Boston and play bigger shows there.

BLAST: What’s going to be your focus for 2011?

AS: This year, I really need to make my record. That’s the main thing. I think by early spring I’ll have figured that out. I’d like to do it in Maine. I just need proper equipment to be able to produce my next record so it sounds professional. I don’t have huge plans or huge hopes. It’s not my overall dream to be signed. I’m not doing what I’m doing now to get a record deal. I don’t have too much faith in that side of things right now. … I don’t know what’ll really happen (but) I think so far I’ve done pretty well on my own.

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper plays with Faces on Film at 8pm Thursday at Café 939, 939 Boylston St. Tickets are $12.

To his family and friends he is just Jordan Witzigreuter, a happy go lucky guy from Indiana with a penchant for music. However, to the world of pop music he is The Ready Set, a music act tearing up the charts with his first hit single “Love like Woe.”

The meaning behind the alias for Witzigreuter is a profound one.

“It means to be ready to set all your fears behind and to live life to the fullest,” said Witzigreuter. He made the fateful decision to go by an alias instead of his birth name because he felt his last name was too difficult to pronounce.

The decision is paying off.

His debut album “I’m Alive, I’m Dreaming” was released in the summer to rave reviews.His single “Love Like Woe” is steadily climbing the charts and MTV declared him a artist to look out for.

Witzigreuter describes his sound as “pop music mixed with everything.” His influences range from pop music to hardcore punk. “Whatever goes through my ears influences me,” he said.

When it comes to his songwriting, he is also influenced by everything life throws at him. It hit single “Love Like Woe” is based off experiences he has seen a few friends grappling with. “It’s about a situation where you want to be with someone but they are tough to deal with so you are trying to salvage the relationship,” he said.

Witzigreuter is currently on tour with Hey Monday and Cartel.

“The tour is going great,” said Witzigreuter. “With every city more people get excited to see you and it’s awesome.”

Part of the rush of performing live for Witzigreuter is seeing fans singing along to the word of his songs. There are many songs off his new album “I’m Alive, I’m Dreaming” he is proud of and can’t wait to see fans sing to. One of the tracks he is especially proud of is “Spinnin’.” “It has an early 90’s Micheal Jackson feel to it. I’m really excited about it,” he said. Another song he is excited about is “There are Days.” “It’s about enjoying what you have now.”

As for the future, Witzigreuter has already been thinking about it.

“I am always two steps ahead. I am already thinking about the next single and the next album,” he said.

The Ready Set played Showcase Live in Foxborough on Tuesday.

Upcoming dates in Blast cities:

• Marquis Theater November 12 in Denver, Avalon Theater in Salt Lake City, November 13
• Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, November 17
• Glass House in Pomona, Calif., November 18
• El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, November 19
• The Epicentre in San Diego, November 20
• The Nile in Mesa, Ariz., November 21
• The Door in Dallas, November 23
• Emos in Austin, November 24
• Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., November 27

Ask Emmanuel Ayvas how he would describe his band and suddenly the articulate front man is at a loss for words.

"I don’t know. We are not easy to categorize,” he finally says.

It might be hard to categorize Emmanuel and the Fear because they have 11 band members.

That’s right, 11.

Ranging from Ayvas, the lead singer to David Nelson the trombone player, Emmanuel and the Fear is not your grandfather’s rock band. If Sufjan Stevens and Beethoven made a love child, it might just be Emmanuel and the Fear.

The fact that you can’t quite put this New York rock band in a box is something the band enjoys and even came up with their name because of it. The band’s name came from a theme the lead singer found a lot in his writing. "It’s centered on fear and how to handle fear in our lives. Also, I liked the fact that it didn’t brand us. It leaves room for the imagination," said lead singer.

In March the band released Listen, the 19-track album that continues to receive rave reviews. The lead singer describes the sound as "dreamscape" like and says that the album is very visual.

"I think there is a very clear story being told,” Ayvas said. Many artists have a set pattern on how they create their music; either music first or lyrics. Emmanuel and the Fear are neither. "I like to write the lyrics and the music at the same time. We want to create music that provokes an emotion. The lyrics are very important."

One of the songs off the album was featured in the ABC Family series “Huge.”

"It was weird for me," he said. "I watched the show and the words of my song lined up with the story of the show. I’m flattered that they believe our song evokes what they are trying to evoke."

The band has also been featured on Fearless TV and the new ABC aired Jimmy Lloyd’s Songwriter Showcase. Also, as the band gains more recognition, they also receive more acclaim. Earlier this spring the band was named BMI’s Band of the Month.

Currently, the NYC rockers are on tour. Touring with eleven bands members may seem like a recipe for disaster but Ayvas believes the band is a perfect mesh of personalities for life on the road.

"We are lucky we are with really cool people," he said. "Touring with so many people sometimes isn’t easy after breathing each other’s air for months. So far it has been a lot of fun."

Some of the favorite places for the band to perform thus far have been Amsterdam and Germany. In Germany, the band went on for three encores. "It kind of strange,” he admitted.

"Hopefully we are still touring as much as possible," said Ayvas. Ultimately the band hopes to be "on the map throughout the world.”

As they prepare to release their ninth studio album, “Something for the Rest of Us,” it would be understandable if multi-platinum crowd-pleasers the Goo Goo Dolls were feeling a little blas© about their music career. But even after 24 years, four Grammy nominations, 13 top 10 songs and more than 10 million albums sold, that’s not the case.

From the first notes of raucous album opener "Sweetest Lie," it’s clear that the band isn’t holding back on its latest effort.

Bassist and founding member Robby Takac recently chatted with Blast about the Goo Goo Dolls’ evolution after more than two decades of recording together, their perspective on the new record and approach as they move forward in a changing industry.

News of yet another new record might leave fans wondering how "Something for the Rest of Us" differs from the group’s previous efforts.

"I’ve had to answer that question a lot of times over the past 20 years," Takac said. "And I guess the only thing I can narrow it down to is, it’s made by a band that’s been together for four more years. … It never gets easier. Whenever you sincerely want to do a better job than you did the last time, you know it’s not going to be easy, because you have to go places and you have to reach plateaus that you haven’t been to before. … Musically and topically, we’re just looking around us to see what kind of things we can bring into this to keep it interesting and to keep it moving forward."

To that end, Takac explained, the record draws heavily from the newsworthy events of recent years.

"We try to stick to things that are relevant around us, because we come from a school that pretty much wears their hearts on their sleeves," he explained. "I think the political landscape is part of it. I think the social landscape is part of it. I think the technological landscape is part of it. Technology is moving a lot faster than people … can keep up with. … It’s interesting to just watch people try to assimilate those things into their life."

As far as the title (which came courtesy of singer Johnny Rzeznick), Takac said the band was trying to tap into a perceived sense of camaraderie among the proverbial "little guys."

"As we were writing this record, I think one of the things we were looking at is sort of (being able to channel) that frustration that people are feeling," he explained. "People look for something to grab onto, to kind of let them know that they’re not the only people feeling that way. … From my point of view, (it means) there’s an awful lot of people who make the decisions for the rest of us. And I think the tables have turned. I think there’s a hell of a lot more of the rest of us than there are of those who are controlling everything. And I think that group of people really needs to have their voice heard."

Though the album wasn’t released until August 31^st (preceded by first single "Home," which began radio rotation in June), the band found itself in the difficult position of premiering new songs throughout shows over the summer, Takac said, and finding that fans already were familiar with the songs — clearly through less than legal means.

"I know those people didn’t pay for those songs, and it (bums) me out that a thing that we used to get paid for … is no longer for sale, is pretty much free now," he acknowledged. "We have to figure out, okay, how do we exist, then?"

Their record label’s solution was to intervene and have the bootlegs taken down, a tactic that Takac seems to view as less than forward-thinking.

"That is a fight that you don’t want to have," he said, laughing. "And they learned that really quickly, like within three or four days. You don’t want to have that fight, man. It’s like, this is the way it works now. And, if you’re going to dig your heels in the dirt and say, ‘You’re stealing my music, therefore I’m not going to deal with you,’ then you’re not going to have any bands anymore. It’s just the way the world is."

"You have to morph with that," he added. "You have to figure out what your place is in that music industry. It’s not about changing anything. You’re not going to change what goes on. … For a band that’s been around for as long as we have, it’s just something that you’re going to need to understand and embrace. … Some of the companies are going to figure it out and they’re going to make it work, and some of them aren’t."

For a band that started in the 1980s, Takac (the only member of the trio who keeps an active personal Twitter account) said it’s been a bumpy road adjusting to the changing responsibilities bands face in the modern age.

"It used to be, a band would make their record, and the band’s job was to, A, write great songs; B, make a great record; C, go out there and perform those (songs) for people, and your job was pretty much done at that point. There’s a whole other component now that involves technology. And if your band, and if (the) people who surround you don’t understand the importance of that technology, you’re going to get left in the dust these days. "

"We’re a lucky band," he went on. "I mean, we’ve got 13 songs that have hit the top 10 that people come to see us play. So, we can go play shows. We know we can do that. So, how do we make up the rest of it? … How do we figure out how to maintain what we do, keep our band and still make you feel that (connection)? That’s a huge process."

While it’s undeniable that songs like "Black Balloon" and the ubiquitous "Iris" have propelled the Goo Goo Dolls to the megastar status that allows them such luxuries, one gets the sense that Takac thinks of it as a double-edged sword.

"With a band like us, there’s a (divide) between things that we’d like to try, things that we’d like to work into what we do, and things that are appropriate for what we do," Takac said. "And I guess that all (factors into) how your band … moves forward. I don’t think you’re ever going to hear a Goo Goo Dolls hip-hop CD, you know? But I do know that the fact that hip-hop has made its way into our lives over the years, you know, that there’s components of it that we’ve borrowed."

Fans will be hard-pressed to find any traces of hip-hop on "Something for the Rest of Us," which sticks to the tried and true Goo Goo Dolls formula of anthemic pop/rock. Rzeznick’s lyrics, which tend to be generic, are sung in such soaring hooks that it doesn’t really matter what he’s saying. The man has perfected the art of writing an arena-ready chorus.

On the technical side, the band enlisted help from people like Butch Vig (of Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins fame) for this record. In terms of production, Takac said, the band draws much of its inspiration from U2 albums ("There’s something about the way those records sound, it’s just crazy good," he gushed), although he was reluctant to name specific artists from whom the band draws musical influence.

"People are always a little surprised, I guess, when I talk about music I like," said Takac, who runs a small record label as a side project. "I’ve been signing Japanese girl rock bands, J-rock bands. So, the majority of my time right now is spent listening to Japanese girls screaming over indie rock music."

"I’m not going to drag you into that world right now," he added with a chuckle.

So, aside from running record labels, how do the band members spend their time between records?

"It’s usually a couple very, very short vacations, a couple of extended nervous breakdowns, a bunch of rehearsals, a good chunk of not speaking to each other," he said, laughing. "You know, all of the excitement and chaos that makes for a good miniseries. And then we pull our act together and realize that all the quibbling really doesn’t matter and we need to get this record out."

As what started out as a hobby has evolved into a career, it’s clear that Takac and his bandmates are poised to adapt in order to sustain their momentum within a changing industry.

"I think our mindset’s a lot different. When our band started, there wasn’t an awful lot to do. You know, we weren’t competing with the Internet and video games and all this other stuff that’s out there. We had … cable and record players. … There’s a lot of instant gratification that happens right now. If you’re on the Internet and you’re reading something you don’t like, you know, you can just (close the window). You can change a remote. You have 200 channels. You (have) satellite radio, or you’re listening to one of the 4,000 records you have stored on your telephone. It’s like, all these options are out there for you.

"If our band were to come around right now, I don’t think we would have necessarily the patience to do what we did," he added. "We didn’t know what was out there, so we weren’t that depressed that we didn’t have it. Because, you know, we had to learn everything out of the back of a van, you know, and on the end of a pay phone. … We weren’t really looking for that success. We were just looking to be as badass as we could possibly be. And that’s what motivated us."

Though no one would probably characterize the Goo Goo Dolls as "badass" these days, Takac, for his, seems relieved that the band has a bit of success to ride on, and doesn’t envy artists who are just getting their start in this new era.

"It’s always a crapshoot," Takac said. "You’ve just got to do what you love to do and make it happen. To be able to do it for a job is amazing. But if you don’t, the ultimate reward is just having done something well."

CAMBRIDGE — Both Nona Marie Invie and Marshall LaCount have a distinctive and unassuming vocal style that’s fascinating in the context of their great music. This pair forms the core of the band Dark Dark Dark. Like many of their fans across North America and Europe, the first time I head them play, I immediately wanted, even felt I needed, more.

Jonathan Kaiser (The Blackthorns, Painted Saints), Todd Chandler (who created the movie "Flood" with Dark Dark Dark and the band Fall Harbor), Walt McClements (Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship?, Panorama Jazz Band), and Brett Bullion (Tarton) are other gifted musicians that are part of the Dark Dark Dark line up, each joining the band on the road or in the studio at various times while others veer off on different projects. This band is rooted in the surprisingly cool Minneapolis music scene, but they also have deep connections to New Orleans and New York.

They’re frequently on tour, and I caught up with them recently as they performed in Cambridge at the Lizard Lounge to promote their new six-song EP "Bright Bright Bright" (available from Supply and Demand Music). Compared to their previous release, "Snow Magic," this new collection of songs is more optimistic in its themes and more sophisticated, maybe even serious, in its melodies. Both demonstrate that Dark Dark Dark has a beautiful and original sound.

Describing their sound more specifically is difficult and feels a bit like slapping a cheap label on something precious which really has no name. Their record company has called them a "chamber-folk sextet." That’s okay, but it doesn’t wholly encapsulate them (nor is the group always six in number). Some listeners fixate on their frequent use of accordion-driven melodies and see them as a hip, alternative take on Eastern European music. As exemplified by "Snow Magic," the band could have made this particular characteristic their hallmark and rode it to success. But like many genuine artists, they are eager to try new things rather than repeat the old.

Listening to both these releases, one might notice the subtle and not-so-subtle syncopation that pops up in fun and delightful places. This characteristic connects them to jazz, but also to a wide variety of other styles, from medieval choral music to reggae and ska. Does it seem like the more I describe their music the less you’re able to imagine it? Then check out their MySpace page or brightbrightbright.com instead; both provide means to hear their music, for free, with your own ears.

Into the dark

It was a sunny afternoon in Cambridge as Dark Dark Dark did sound check for their Lizard Lounge gig that night. Nona and Marshall remembered me from a meeting at the Whitehaus artist co-op in Jamaica Plain a few years previous. I had heard them play there on a Friday night and spent Saturday trying unsuccessfully to remember their music that had so impressed me the previous evening. Sunday morning, they visited me in my dreams so that I awoke at noon with full memory of their songs in my head. It was an experience that has forever raised the bar on what I’m able to term "haunting melodies."

Seeing them again, after a couple years of listening to "Snow Magic" and a few weeks of hearing "Bright Bright Bright" before its release, I was eager to express my appreciation. Yet awkwardly, among my first words were an admission that "Bright Bright Bright" didn’t immediately sweep me off my feet the same way "Snow Magic" had. But I explained that it drew me in more deeply each time I listened. It’s melodies, like many things complex and magnificent, can’t be fully appreciated until one has time to experience them.

On first play, I liked it a lot. By my third listen, I loved it. Its dainty syncopation charmed me and even made me chuckle. After I’d described my journey into affection and some understanding of "Bright Bright Bright," Nona and Marshall, with characteristic reserve, looked at me just a little bit funny. Then they looked at each other, they smiled a bit, and Marshall said quietly, "Wow, a reviewer who actually listens to our music!"

Both Nona and Marshall have somewhat soft-spoken, introspective demeanor. To even casual questions, they tend to pause thoughtfully before responding, but that might be a lit bit of a Minnesota thing. Nona told me that she "usually makes Marshall handle the interviews," and something in her voice hinted that it’s a responsibility he doesn’t exactly relish either. Their slight trepidation about the media is surprising since music reviewers seem to adore them. Nevertheless, the press is a weird animal, and Nona and Marshall have the perception to recognize that.

With their fans they are less guarded. Their fans are enthusiastic and far-spread. At their Lizard Lounge gig in Cambridge, people came from at least as far away as Northampton, and they were delighted to do it. Other fans, having seen them at AS220 in Providence the night before, drove north the next day to catch their show again. Perhaps recognizing me as a fan of what they do rather than a mere observer, Marshall, Nona, Mark, Todd, and Walt seemed to grow more comfortable with showing me their off-stage ideas and feelings. After sound check, we went to a local taqueria and started a conversation that lasted, off and on, all night.

Getting to where they are

Starting with a report on the tour that brought them back to Greater Boston, Marshall said, "Nothing weird has happened. It’s been totally great. The worst thing that happened was three days of downpour and dangerous driving. And a leaky van. The top seam of the windshield was leaking and filling up the cup holders with water. That’s not that dramatic or calamitous."

A question about the first music they remember owning lightened everyone’s mood. Todd’s first records were J. Guiles "Freeze Frame" and Ozzy Osbourne "Diary of a Madman." Marshall put down his veggie burrito and informed us his were the soundtracks to the movies "La Bomba" and "Top Gun" on cassette. Nona peered over her thick glasses, seemed to suppress a smile, and told us her’s was "Funky Divas" by En Vogue. Walt said his first record was "Come and Feel the Lemonheads" and  Rush’s “Chronicles,” his first cassette.

Marshall recalled, "I remember my mom doing the laundry while I was listening to Dr. Dre really loud in the next room and thinking, ‘I wonder if my mom thinks this is weird.’”

Todd said he listened to that type of music, too, but added, "None of the references were anything I could actually relate to."

Nona and Marshall first became friends in Minneapolis. Then, according to him, "pretty fast we started playing something of Nona’s old songs." Not long after, "both of us were without jobs, and running out of options, and becoming closer friends, and just decided to actually travel and make gas money playing. Within two weeks of being Dark Dark Dark we were on tour."

Soon someone mentioned the accordion, and when asked about its role in the band’s image, Todd explained. "It often seems like we get placed with bands of a certain genre because they feel we fit in because we have accordions."

The accordion isn’t featured on every song, but both Nona and Walt play the instrument. Describing how she first came to play, Nona said she simply "moved in with someone who had one, and I just picked it up and started playing." It must have helped that Nona had first learned the piano. Indeed, several of the Dark Dark Dark members are multi-instrumentalists. Marshall plays piano, banjo, and clarinet. Besides accordion, Walt plays the trumpet. As part of Dark Dark Dark, Mark plays drums and Todd plays bass.

Accordions, horns, certain beats — these things tie the work of Dark Dark Dark to some types of ethnic music, but Marshall says he’s a bit tired of people focusing on the Eastern European nature of their sounds "…because it’s clearly not. It’s okay to talk about that as an influence, along with jazz and folk and tons of contemporary minimalist composers. There’s so many influences that it’s a bore to write them all down." When asked if it was fair to note that along this spectrum, "Snow Magic" was more klezmer-y than "Bright Bright Bright," Marshall agreed, saying, "Definitely. But as far as just calling it that, or calling it any other one of these music types? It’s not true about our music and it’s not respecting the tradition."

He further insists that it’s more than a matter of lumping or splitting when one talks about labeling the music of Dark Dark Dark as Eastern European or as anything else. "It’s more with us that we have so many other influences that it feels very strange to us.  And we hold in high regard so many other different kinds of artists that it doesn’t feel very true to us." He added, "Klezmer and Eastern European music was the first music we learned to play our instruments on, before we started writing ourselves. So that’s what we grew out of, but calling it Eastern European music in any way is cheating."

Previously, Marshall described some of the songs on Snow Magic as "waltzes." When asked if there were tracks on "Bright Bright Bright" that would properly be called waltzes, he thought for a moment and said, "I believe so. But the one-two-three, oom-pa-pa is not so clear any more. And I guess we no longer really think of them that way because we are doing some three against four things and they’re not so blatantly waltz-y."

Nona says people notice how "Bright Bright Bright" has moved their sound in new directions. "Someone did a review," she said, "and it was interesting.  They did still say ‘Eastern European,’ but then they said it was ‘piano driven’ and they had some other adjectives. I mean, it’s true that’s a part of my life and my experience. And when I was learning the accordion, I did listen to a lot of Eastern European music. So it’s there still." Nona described a review that said something like "moving from Eastern European to something jazzy" and added, "I think I like that."

The first, and title, track on "Bright Bright Bright" is indeed driven, slowly and exquisitely, by a piano. On the second track, "The Hand," accordions kick in with gusto, but their flavor is more gumbo than borscht. Hearing how the sound of these accordions, and a lyric about lights across the water, made me think of Louisiana bayous, Nona said, "Ah cool… that’s great. New Orleans has been a really big part of my life so my time there hopefully comes out in my music. But I actually wrote that song in New York. Half of it I wrote in upstate New York, and I think I finished it in New Orleans."

Marshall said that Walter, who is from New Orleans "is a big influence on us. He’s in the band and he’s an influence on us and his other bands. And the Dixieland and the jazz happening in New Orleans is an influence on us. And I think when Walter’s playing it’s even a little more clear than when Nona’s playing. But it’s definitely there."

"Walter plays jazz music in New Orleans," said Nona. "But I don’t know anything about jazz. I listen to New Orleans jazz and I love it. It’s part of our experimenting with writing music and not trying to write in a certain genre. Not trying to categorize ourselves in a certain way leaves us open to exploring."

Creating Bright Bright Bright

"Wild Goose Chase," the last song on "Bright Bright Bright," is a cover of an Elephant Micah song. Of the rest, Marshall explained, "Nona wrote four out of five of those." Marshall wrote "Make Time," the third song on the EP. It starts with nervous, rolling drums that are soon joined by Marshall’s voice sounding a bit creepy and British. Then, after a change, it becomes a joyous melody that both builds and floats pleasantly in one place in a way that might also be thought of as a Dark Dark Dark trademark.

Explaining their creative process, Marshall said, "Generally if Nona writes something, or if I write something, the other gets a chance to edit, or give feedback. But the primary writer is often Nona, and I get to be the editor, especially in language. And the whole band is involved with arranging the music."

Nona described, "Usually I just get an idea, somehow, and think about it for a long time. Then I sit at the piano and sort of work it out, somehow. I don’t know how it happens. It seems a little different each time." She reads and writes music and says "I write lyrics down right away or I forget them… I think usually I get ideas for lyrics first then I come up with the music. I guess I’ve done it both ways."

As for the themes of the songs on “Bright Bright Bright,” Nona says "if it is about romantic love, I tried to explore different aspects, more complicated aspects of those relationships. And some of them aren’t necessarily about romantic love either." She said "it all comes from personal experience," but I asked how specifically that applies, citing the record’s fifth song, "The Flood," that has a nice little image of someone in the park wearing their collar up. Thinking, she squinted, then explained. "Some of that song was really literal. The first half was really literal and the second half was more interpretive."

"Bright Bright Bright" was recorded at Sacred Heart Studios in a former church overlooking Lake Superior. Minneapolis producer Tom Herbers, known for his work with groups such as WHY?, engineered, produced and mixed the EP on analog equipment from start to finish. Nona says, "I think it just sounds a lot better. I think it sounds beautiful. When you record digitally, you’re trying to recreate the beautiful sounds of analog music and when its possible to do analog it just feels better." She added, "I don’t know that much about recording, and I know it can be easier to do things digitally, but for us to just play all in a room, and to have it recorded right onto the tape, like in two takes or something like that, it was amazing to me."

Still, they are a small group of people, and Marshall explained that "the choir" (actually the band itself) was done on a separate track. Nona recalled, "I think there were a couple of cello overdubs, and the clarinet was tracked separately than the rest because Marshall plays it and sings. But most of it was done at once, and it was really great to perform live together because we were able to feed off each others’ energy a lot more. It felt like it was a more holistic experience when we were all in the same room, playing at the same time, instead of wearing headphones and listening to a click track, which is how it can also be done, but it felt more warm and real this way."

Musing about her preference for analog recording, Nona said, "I don’t know if all the advances in technology are that great for listening to music. People just downloading music and listening to it on iPods is such a difference than taking a record and sitting down with it in your living room with a record player. You give it more attention than when you just plug in your iPod on the subway."

Summing up how "Bright Bright Bright" relates to their previous work, Marshall said simply and playfully, "It’s better. We got better!"

Nona said, "I feel like it explores different emotions and different experiences." I agree with both of  them. In its substance, "Bright Bright Bright" has an encouraging relationship to their previous work. It’s built on the same confident foundation, but it towers in good new directions. Their music has some very simple layers and some very complex ones. Their songs, both the slow ones and the faster ones, aren’t just interesting or well-crafted; they’re genuinely catchy.

The fans and the experience

Dark Dark Dark has some deeply devoted fans. According to Nona, "A kid asked me to marry him in Bloomington, Indiana… I said I’m not interested in marriage. That was pretty weird. I guess it was funny… maybe the funniest thing a fan has said to me."

They also have fans abroad, and have played to appreciative crowds in France and Italy. Marshall described, "They were separate trips. It was amazing. We were floating around in the Venice canals in boats that we had built, and pretty much treated like we had the key to the city."

When asked how their European audiences were different, maybe less or more reserved, Marshall said, "Actually it varies. Even the difference between last night and tonight is what you’re talking about a little bit, just because of the way things are set up, and the sound is, and so on." He said their previous night’s gig at AS220 was "louder overall. There were two hundred people there, and we were the last band." He compared that to this particular visit to Lizard Lounge, saying the latter was "more acoustic sounding… it’s a pretty dramatic difference."

Speaking with affection for the band’s followers, Marshall said, "we have a couple fans who have mailed us packages in different cities, or have sent us messages. Quite often, it turns out that some of those might be on different sides of the country. But they end up meeting on the Internet because they’re both talking to us, like say through MySpace. They’ll both comment to us, and realize that they’re both commenting, and end up being friends in the end around us. Some of those people are pretty intense. They’re all really sweet, but sometimes really intense."

Marshall laughed when asked, "What don’t you like to be asked by media?" and reiterated, "Simply saying ‘what are your influences?’ is a strange question because it makes us list bands. And then, I guess, people start putting us in a hole. Whatever that comparison is, it will get used over and over again, and we try to be real careful about that."

Nona agreed and said she’s often asked, "What don’t you want to be categorized as?" or "What bands do you sound like?" I didn’t guess that Dark Dark Dark could get a bad review, but according to Nona, "I think someone said once that they didn’t like my voice. I think people have preferences. They just don’t like accordion, so they’re not gonna like it. They just don’t like us, so they’re not going to like it." More often, Nona said, "I feel like people really get us and get what we’re trying to do."

Looking ahead

Dark Dark Dark, again working with Tom Herbers, have a new album due in the fall. Marshall says, "All the recording sessions are theoretically done, and it’s even rough mixed. But we’re taking a bit more time listening to rough mixes to decide if we’re on the right track… I think that with this album, we certainly didn’t repeat ourselves and I hope we can continue growing and developing in interesting ways and not start making the record that sells and getting into an artistic habit because it worked the previous time… We’ve found that formula, but I don’t want to find that formula and stick to it. But that’s a long-distance fear — what happens to my favorite musicians."

Looking into the future, Marshall says, "I hope we can honor all of our friends and fans without getting too inaccessible in terms of venues and prices and stuff. We try to be careful of that, but even now its a little hard to balance… We have so many fans that are close friends. I’m grateful because it’s kind of a huge number. And we also want to reach out to new audiences and not scare off the old ones."

Part of me would like to see Dark Dark Dark become rich and famous as soon as possible so that more people would be exposed to their wonderful music. But fame and fortune might bring them little happiness if it meant sacrificing artistic integrity or alienating longtime fans. Instead, it seems, their career — like their beautiful songs themselves — will continue to grow and build at its own pace, interesting twists and turns not excluded.

If Dark Dark Dark’s upcoming record reflects the same sensitivity and intelligence as "Snow Magic" and "Bright Bright Bright," they’ll be growing in the right direction indeed.

It seems as if it is nearly impossible to walk down the street and not see someone wearing either camouflage or a military inspired article of clothing lately, especially around a rock venue on any given night. This type of dress is not a new concept, but military inspired clothing has become so mainstream that it is quite possible to call it a trend. It is no longer designed strictly for our soldiers in the service, but for people to wear as a way to make a fashion statement.

There may be many reasons why military inspired clothing is becoming so popular, but one reason that stands out is the music industry. One band in particular that is contributing to the influence of military attire is the Street Dogs.

Based in Boston, the Street Dogs are a true punk band. They were originally formed in 2002 by front man Mike McColgan (ex-member of the Dropkick Murphys) and Johnny Rioux. McColgan and Rioux originally started the Street Dogs as something to have fun with and stay busy. But with the 2003 release of Savin Hill, the Street Dogs realized that what was once just for fun was taken very seriously by their fans. After the release of their debut album, the Street Dogs decided it was best to add to their lineup. With a fuller band, the Street Dogs were finally ready to take to the streets, touring the United States. The band currently consists of Mike McColgan as lead vocals, Johnny Rioux as bassist, Paul Rucker as drummer, and Tobe Bean III and Marcus Hollar as guitarists.

What makes the Street Dogs so different from other bands is their ability to incorporate ska, street punk, and Irish punk into a unique, yet distinct, sound.

The Street Dogs’ third album, Fading American Dream, dropped on October 24, 2006. It was the band’s most political album to date. Not only are the lyrics on Fading American Dream war related, their merchandise is inspired by the war and military as well.

The Street Dogs aren’t one of those bands that sing about politics to try and be punk rock. Having spent five years as a firefighter, two years in Iraq (as part of an artillery crew during the first Persian Gulf War), and six years in the reserves, McColgan actually has a justified stance behind his political viewpoints.

The main logo for Street Dogs is the insignia for a private and for a brigadier general. The Street Dogs’ logo can be found on nearly all of their merchandise, including their CDs, t-shirts, and wristbands. Other military inspired designs that can be found on Street Dogs’ apparel include the American Eagle, a hand grenade, an AK47, skulls, a coat of arms and the United States Capitol.

"We actually try to steer away from using guns," said Bean, in an interview with Blast. "When we start designing new merch we throw out a bunch of ideas based on lyrics, songs, and our message as a band. From there we try to pick the boldest and strongest designs and the ones that most represent our band and what we are trying to say."

But the band clearly has a fashion sense that’s military-issue.

"We draw from that for a number of reasons,” Bean said. “Obviously our stance on soldiers is one. I personally like the military look live because it reminds me and hopefully others that there are still kids overseas fighting in an ugly war that seems to have no point. It also gives us a more unified look as a band. Also, when you’re on the road, Army-Navy stores are a great place to rummage through and pick up some cheap clothes.”

The band decided to have the majority of their merchandise designed with military themes because "simple and bold logos just look great on shirts, so we try to use those whenever possible. A lot of our other designs are tied in with song titles and content," Bean explained.

The band didn’t think they would be influencing fashion trends by putting out an album like Fading American Dream and by selling their merchandise.

"I really would never think of us as a trend-setting band when it comes to clothes,” Bean said. “But then again the Clash, who is one of our biggest influences, had a tremendous impact on the way punks dressed back in the seventies.”

The question remains: Are the Street Dogs trying to get a point across by having military themed merchandise and if so what is the point they’re trying to make?

"We are always trying to get a point across, whether it’s workers’ rights, the lost soldier overseas that is far away from his family, or just the social injustice that is heavily present in our country today," Bean said.

In a sense, the merchandise is also a way to express the band’s thoughts and feelings towards the wars. However, Bean suggested that, "One listen to Fading American Dream and you know where we stand on the war. We do support our troops, though, and would love to see them home safe and as soon as possible."

Bean explained that Fading American Dream is "a social commentary of what is going on in our country and world today. Times are bad. We are in the middle of an ugly and undefined war and losing innocent lives every day. We are sitting under the largest U.S. deficit of all time. Jobs are disappearing daily." That’s the kind of stuff that can be found on the album.

Although the rest of the band doesn’t have a military background like McColgan, they are still very passionate when it comes to their political views.

"We are a unit,” Bean said. “A machine behind a mouthpiece that we believe in and will back up any time.”

Bean believes that the heart of the Street Dogs is "five guys who believe in what we are doing and love playing music for anyone who will listen."

Last month, the Street Dogs began recording their fifth studio album. It is the band’s follow-up to their 2008 State of Grace which was their first album with Hellcat Records. The latest album will feature Rioux as producer and Rick Barton (original guitarist for the Dropkick Murphys) as co-producer. The Street Dogs will be recording at the Blasting Room, an infamous punk rock studio built by members of All, Black Flag, and Descendents, in Fort, Collins, Colo.

The Street Dogs have been headlining tours in the US and UK. They have been performing with bands like Anti-Flag, The Offspring, Reverend Horton Heat and Alkaline Trio.

On March 10, the Street Dogs released their single, “War After the War,” exclusively on iTunes. All of the proceeds for that song will be donated to Homes for Our Troops, an organization that builds specially adapted homes for severely injured veterans at no cost to them.

If you’re looking for the latest Street Dogs merchandise, look for an El Battalion t-shirt, in which the skeleton of a soldier is dressed in full uniform, holding a flag, and a rifle. Another design is the Final Transmission t-shirt, the front bears the band’s name as well as a battlefield cross. The back of the t-shirt features some of the lyrics and the title Final Transmission (one of the single’s from Fading American Dream). The band’s logo is located on the back of the t-shirt as well as the sleeve. There is also a War After the War poster (all of the proceeds will benefit Homes for Our Troops) that features a soldier in uniform carrying his rucksack.

Though indie pop sisters Tegan and Sara Quin are known for their witty back-and-forth stage banter, it might be fair to say that during their last U.S. tour, in support of 2007′s "The Con," some of their concert humor may have been a little, well … forced.

"With ‘The Con,’ everybody knew it was a breakup record … and it was so intense to play live," according to Tegan, who recently spoke to Blast about her and Sara’s latest offering, "Sainthood." "It would dredge up all of my feelings again. … Sometimes after (the shows) I would just like, come backstage and … feel like slitting my wrists."

But this time around, as the Canadian crooners prepare to kick off their U.S. tour behind "Sainthood" with shows in Northampton on Thursday and Boston on Friday, things are looking up.

Even as they began pre-production for "Sainthood," which was released in October, both sisters were "in happier places" than they were on the previous record — Tegan finally won over the girl about whom much of "The Con" was written; the two are still dating — and that had an impact on their songwriting, she said. Even now, nearly four months after the record was released, the songs have less baggage attached, according to Tegan.

"The Con’ was such an emotional record," she said. "I thought ‘Sainthood’ was going to become more like that, and it’s not. … I feel like ‘Sainthood’ is different in that sense, and people are relating to it differently."

There are technical distinctions between the two as well. Though Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla was enlisted to produce both albums, for "The Con," Tegan and Sara recruited session musicians to flesh out the songs, including AFI’s Hunter Burgan and Weezer’s Matt Sharp splitting bass duties, and Walla’s Death Cab bandmate Jason McGerr on drums. With "Sainthood," the same core five band members played on each song — Tegan and Sara, plus Ted Gowans (guitar/keyboards), McGerr (drums) and Walla on bass.

"I think the major difference (between the two records) was just the consistency," Tegan explained. "With ‘The Con,’ it was kind of like two different bands. … I think it gave ‘Sainthood’ a really consistent sound, and it also, I think, sounds more like our band live."

Likewise, with "The Con," Sara and Tegan famously tracked drums, bass and keyboards in addition to their guitar and vocal parts before handing the demos off to Walla — resulting in near-complete versions of each song. On "Sainthood," the songwriting and recording was more of a collective process, Tegan said.

"We approached writing on ‘Sainthood’ a little differently. We didn’t do as much recording beforehand," she said. "We really tried to approach this record more like a band record, standing in a room, the five of us, playing together, seeing what came out of that. … We would (play) a song … you know, 40 times, and then took our favorite tracks."

The more straightforward approach yielded a fuller band sound (at the suggestion of Walla) and was another change of pace from "The Con," whose overdub-heavy tracks proved challenging to translate on stage.

"When (Walla) recorded ‘The Con’ with us, he’d never even seen us live," Quin explained. "(After we subsequently toured together) he was like, ‘You guys are a great live band. We should try to make a record that sounds like that.’ … Getting this record ready to play live was pretty easy because we’d already played the songs a hundred times."

Also the result of taking into account their live performances is one of the first things longtime fans may notice about "Sainthood"  — the absence of any acoustic ballads, which figure prominently in previous Tegan & Sara recordings. But, though Tegan described "Sainthood" as their "full-throttle affair," she was quick to point out that’s not indicative of a change in their approach to songwriting.

"I wrote tons of acoustic songs and ballads for this record," she said. "(But) songs like ‘On Directing’ and ‘Alligator’ and ‘Hell’ and ‘Don’t Rush’ and ‘The Cure’ … kind of stood out right away. And, as we were all gravitating towards those songs, I realized that this was going to be a much more aggressive record than our past records had been. … Our audiences are getting really big. We’re playing a lot of big theaters and big clubs, and the acoustic kind of quiet stuff isn’t as easy to do live. So we just kind of moved in that direction."

"But," she added, "having moved in that direction now for two records, I have to say that … I don’t know if we’ll make an acoustic record again completely, but I’m definitely getting that itch."

That "itch" resulted in a recently-announced show in Brooklyn on Feb. 15, which has been dubbed "A Very Special Evening With Tegan & Sara" and promises an intimate, stripped-down performance for less than 400 fans. The setting will likely be reminiscent of some of the twins’ first shows together more than a decade ago.

As the 29-year-olds approach their 12-year anniversary of making music together professionally, they’re eager to impart lessons they’ve learned along the way, and have recently taken on behind-the-scenes supporting roles in other musicians’ careers.

In between "The Con" and "Sainthood," Tegan produced Vancouver singer CHAR2D2′s debut EP, while Sara did A&R work for Australian duo (and frequent Tegan & Sara touring partners) An Horse, and is currently overseeing production of the first solo offering from Northern State’s Hesta Prynn.

"For the last 10 years, (we’ve) been really highly involved in the business of our band," Tegan pointed out. "And that basic day-to-day stuff has really helped us when we started to work with other bands, for sure. I mean, projects like CHAR2D2 or An Horse, I’m sure that (they) would have gotten off the ground without our help, but I think having us there pushing them on the sidelines, you know, giving them feedback, helping them connect the dots … helps move (them) forward faster."

"I think both of us are really interested in helping artists, especially female artists in our business, because especially in indie rock and the alternative scene, there’s less support for women," she added. "There’s more than there was 10 years ago, but I think it’s still kind of a pet project for Sara and I."

They’ll also team up with a slew of female artists this summer, having signed on to appear on some dates of the much-hyped reincarnation of the Lilith Fair.

"We’re really excited about it," Tegan said. "As a rock band, an alternative rock band that’s been playing for 10 years, you know, 99 percent of the time when we play festivals, we are one of three female acts. And that’s sometimes with, like, 30 bands. So, to have a whole festival designed to appeal to women … I think it’s really amazing."

But while the Quins may be staunch feminists and outspoken advocates for LGBT equality, Tegan said she doesn’t feel that political subjects have a place in their music.

"My God, if we put out a political record, people would be running from us, and I know that," Tegan noted. "I don’t feel inspired to write about politics or religion or sexuality or gender. I feel inspired to talk about those things, and I feel inspired to fundraise for those things, and I feel inspired to educate myself about those things. But I’ve never felt like sitting down and writing a song about it … because I’m not sure that I’ll be reaching anyone new. I’ll just be preaching to the converted, you know?"

That (and the fact that she and Sara are Canadian) didn’t stop them from publicly supporting Barack Obama and speaking out against (ultimately successful) Proposition 8 campaign to ban gay marriage in California during their U.S. tour last fall.

"We try to infuse politics into our Web site, into our fundraising campaigns, and into our live show, in a way that’s subtle and not offensive," she said. "But I don’t know that I need to write a song about it. … Maybe that’ll come with age. I know every musician goes through that phase where they write their political record. So maybe I will. I just feel like when I’m singing, I need to sing about love."

And sing about love she does — as well as all the heartbreaks that come with it. While "Sainthood" is not as much of an emotional bulldozer as "The Con," it’s still ripe with the lovesick "torch songs" the Quins are known for.

"Sara and I both really, really got into pop music … last year," Tegan said. "You saw a lot of men in music last year, especially in hip-hop, talking about their failures. Like, it (had) less machismo. … Where songs like (Sara’s) ‘Sentimental Tune’ and ‘Alligator’ came from was the sentimental kind of vibe that was behind pop music last year."

"My songs on this record, it was really easy to pick out which ones were going to make it," she explained. "Like, I wrote ‘Someday’ and ‘The Ocean’ and ‘Northshore’ when I was feeling really depressed, and that’s why those three songs made it on the record. Pretty much every other song I wrote (that didn’t make) this record, I was really happy. And ‘Hell’ and ‘Don’t Rush’ and ‘The Cure’ I wrote during the ‘Con’ time, so I was really depressed then, too."

Sensing a pattern? You’re not alone.

"When I’m depressed, I write so much more, and my songs are better. I admit it, too," Tegan acknowledged matter-of-factly. "If I’m not feeling introspective and sad, it’s hard for me to write. … Which isn’t to say that I have to be in a bad place to write. It just means I have to be able to tap into that. And right now, I don’t feel able to tap into that at all. So, I haven’t written a song in … it’s been a long time. And I feel bad about that."

"Maybe I’ll start writing songs about how sad I feel about not being sad," she quipped.

But although she’s grateful that onstage performances no longer leave her feeling like a wreck, Tegan — who was in good spirits but perceptibly exhausted when we spoke in mid-January during the band’s Canadian tour — admitted that the physical and technical challenges of playing "Sainthood" live compensate for the lesser heartache.

"Emotionally, there’s only a few songs on the record that get me really riled up. … which is a relief, because we’re still playing nine songs off ‘The Con’ live, and I still feel sad when I play those songs," she said, laughing. "(But ‘Sainthood’) is very difficult artistically for me. Like, the parts that I wrote, and the harmonies, and the pacing and just the intensity of it, it’s challenging me as a musician. … I feel exhausted. It’s just such an extensive, intense, fast record. And I think it’s making us a really good band."

"We’re playing two hours every night and my throat is hoarse and I’m tired and my stomach feels sore every night from singing back-to-back songs," she went on. "But yeah, a few months out, I’m really happy with ‘Sainthood.’ I love how it sounds live. I love playing the songs live. … I don’t feel like slitting my wrists when I get off stage. … Instead of feeling depressed and sad, I start to feel really inspired and empowered."

Tegan & Sara U.S. Tour Dates:

Feb. 12          Northampton “Calvin Theatre*

Feb. 13          Boston “The Orpheum*

Feb. 15          Brooklyn “Music Hall of Williamsburg

Feb. 16          Upper Darby, PA          Tower Theatre*

Feb. 17          Washington, D.C.          Warner Theatre*

Feb. 18          Richmond, VA          The National*

Feb. 20          Tampa, FL          Tampa Theatre*

Feb. 21           Boca Raton, FL          Sunset Cove*

Feb. 23          Atlanta, GA          Variety Playhouse*

Feb. 24          New Orleans, LA          Tipitina’s*

Feb. 25          Dallas, TX           Palladium*

Feb. 26          Austin, TX          Bass Concert Hall*

Feb. 27          Houston, TX          The Warehouse*

March 2          Las Vegas, NV          House of Blues*

March 3          San Diego, CA          Copley Symphony Hall*

March 5          Oakland, CA          Fox Theatre*

March 24          Minneapolis, MN          The Orpheum*

March 25          Milwaukee, WI          The Riverside*

March 26          Chicago, IL          The Aragon*

March 27          Detroit, MI          Royal Oak Theater*

March 28          Cleveland, OH          Lakewood Civic*

March 30          Columbus, OH          Promo West Pavilion*

March 31           Nashville, TN            Ryman Auditorium*

April 2           St. Louis, MO          The Pageant*

April 3          Kansas City, MO          Uptown Theatre*

April 4          Denver, CO          The Ogden*

April 6          Salt Lake City, UT          In the Venue*

April 8          Portland, OR           Keller Auditorium*

* w/ Steel Train and Holly Miranda

"As long as it’s good, it’s Carlon." That’s the musical philosophy Ryan McGlynn and the rest of New Jersey band Carlon live by. A fitting motto, considering how difficult it is to classify which genre this quartet belongs in. Listening to Carlon, echoes of classic rock, folk, country, western, and even psychedelic influences infuse together to create a truly unique musical experience. Lead guitarist McGlynn shrugs off what sounds like a complex description of Carlon’s sound. "It’s just modern American music," he said. "We each have all our own preferences, psychedelic, rhythmic, folk, rock-based. It all mixes and mashes and different parts poke their heads out in our music."

Carlon’s first full length studio album, Johari Window, incorporates all the aforementioned elements. To save you the Wikipedia search, a Johari window is a psychological exercise used to measure how you see yourself versus how others see you in order to communicate more effectively. "It was appropriate for us, what we were going through together, musically and as people, it’s easier to work when you can communicate with each other and get across an idea musically" said McGlynn of the unusual album title.

The collection of songs on the album represent Carlon’s myriad of musical influences. "Where the Driveway Ends" sounds like it was left off George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, "Caution" evokes the Plastic Ono Band, and "Red Rover" pulls some inspiration from African folk music. The strongest track from the bunch is "Have a Window", which is simply a refreshing rock song.

Instead of recording Johari Window in the bland environment of a studio, the band chose a different route. Carlon utilized their 20,000 square foot warehouse rehearsal space to record the entire album. McGlynn describes the space as, "the coolest fucking place. It was a fun, happy joyland." The warehouse provided a relaxing atmosphere for the group and because of the size, allowed the guys to play waffle ball games during breaks. "Every instrument we owned was there, it was home for an entire year," said McGlynn.

The album is quite the departure from Carlon’s first EP, Suburban Heel. McGlynn said the group’s first musical effort was them trying to be the White Stripes and that the songs ended up sounding forced. "We felt we had to put some distortion in to get attention. This time we said ‘let’s just do what we do and not push too much for the sake of being heard.’"

Carlon performs Thursday, December 3rd at the Middle East in Cambridge at 9 p.m. Expect to hear tracks from Johari Window (available on iTunes) and brand new songs the band is in the process of writing and recording for the next album.

Pop-punkers The Maine have been on the road non-stop for about a year and a half. Their single “Everything I Want” blew up in early 2009 as they set out as co-headliners for the Alternative Press tour with 3OH!3. Then they spent the entire summer playing the Hurley Stage at Warped Tour. Currently they are supporting Boston natives Boys Like Girls and Cobra Starship on the Op Presents tour. Guitar and back up vocalist Kennedy Brock talked to Blast for a few minutes before The Maine headlined a show at Philadelphia’s Electric Factory on one of their days off to let us know what the band is up to and their recording plans in upcoming months

BLAST: How is it being on a tour this big? What are your favorite and least favorite things about it?

KENNEDY BROCK: It’s really comfortable being on tour with these guys. We did a tour with [Boys Like Girls] about two summers ago and they really mentored us about what to do and what not to do on tour. Being back is cool with this older brother band. There is a lack of privacy though. That’s not really a big deal at all though. There is just always someone around, somewhere. There’s nowhere that any of the bands go where they aren’t in front of people.

BLAST: You guys have announced that you are going on a break after this tour to record. Have you decided where you’re going? How much about the new record has been decided?

KB: The break is planned to do some writing in preparation for a record and if we have time to record before we head back on the road. As of right now, we haven’t been doing a lot of writing besides what usually gets done on the road. We’re not really sure [where] and it’s not set in stone when we’ll go in to record, but the sooner the better.

BLAST: Does this mean that the rumor about The Maine going on a headlining tour in the spring is true?

KB: That’s not true necessarily either. We have talked about random stuff but nothing has been set up. We’re still trying to narrow down when we’ll go and do stuff.

BLAST: How do you think The Maine has changed since the two EPs and “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop”?

KB: I feel like every time you do something you get better at it. We’ve had a good amount of songs to put under our belt now. We’ve been growing up a little bit. I think everyone is just coming into their own. We are all grown up. There’s not much that’s necessarily changed just more developed I guess. The writing should stay the same. It’s a lot of John O’s [the lead singer] brain and we all try to harness what he does well. Things should stay pretty similar.

BLAST: There’s a journal/diary that you guys did for Warped Tour. Why did you choose Warped Tour to do this?

KB: I think Warped Tour, in itself, is a crazy thing. At the same time, it’s like any normal tour we’ve done. We just wanted people to see where our heads are at during every day. Each of us did journals every day of the tour then mashed them up and added pictures of different things that were happening. I think it’s a cool way of showing everyone the kind of behind the scenes stuff.

The Op Tour featuring Boys Like Girls, Cobra Starship, The Maine, A Rocket to the Moon and Versaemerge will be in Boston November 27th and 28th at Showcase Live in Foxboro, Mass. Order links for The Maine’s Warped Tour diary, “This is Real Life” can be found on their myspace.

The Medders’ self-titled album is also their first, despite the fact that most of the band members have known each other since…well, birth. This southern rock group from Georgia comprised of the three Medders brothers and one suspected narcoleptic, has a soulful sound that’s been 20 years in the making.

Cheyenne Medders is the proverbial patriarch of this band of brothers. The eldest, doe-eyed and soft-spoken, he is also the lead singer. His younger brothers Carson and Will back him up on the guitar and percussion, respectively. The odd man out is Joshua Stauter, the classically-trained pianist who sometimes rocks out so hard that he passes out on his keyboard.

When they took the time to chat with Blast about their new album, which was released in September, they described it with words like "haunting," "dancing," "rockin’" and "quirky." Swinging melodies wrap around Cheyenne Medders’ soulful, scratchy southern voice, and make all of these descriptions true. But the passion in his voice on the record was there while he talked to us — this is a man who cares deeply about creating music…even if it’s about insects.

Blast: How would you describe your music to someone who hadn’t heard it?

Cheyenne Medders: I try to name old bands that people would know of and say we’re definitely influenced by The Band and The Beatles and Wilco, and newer people like The Arcade Fire.

It’s kind of impossible. I just wish they would hand me a guitar and I would just play you one of my songs. My taste in music is so broad. I am equally enthralled by the Beach Boys’ "Pet Sounds" and the song "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire. And their sounds don’t really have anything to do with each other, but they all inform the music that I make.

Blast: So tell me a little bit about your new album, "The Medders."

Cheyenne Medders: We all recorded it ourselves and produced it ourselves. These songs, they kind of go into some new territory. The first song is a really solid, Americana ballad about getting in trouble, being a gunslinger. And then they’ve caught you and you’re gonna get hung. It’s got this really cool piano lick that kind of keeps it drivin’. People have said it sounds like Neil Young and Tom Petty, a little bit. The whole album goes in some really cool directions, I think.

Then the next song is totally, kind of out in left field. It’s called "Win Win." I wrote that song sitting on a porch at my house, and I was just lookin’ at all the insects. I had a guitar in my hand — I’m a firm believer that the best songs come when you’re not trying to write a song, when you’re not trying to force one out. Some kind of inspiration just comes along, and if you’re lucky, or if it’s meant to be, you have a guitar in your hand or you’re sittin’ at a piano. Or you’re just walkin’, you have some sort of rhythm and you make it into a song. So I was just contemplating the insects on my porch and thinking about how they have to experience time differently than we do because their whole life span is just a matter of days. So it’s kind of a quirky, silly song, but it ends up with a pretty rockin’ outro.

The next song after that is "Bee Free Honey." It’s probably the weirdest most unexplainable title of the album. Really, it just comes from three words from the song put together in a weird way. On that song we brought in some guest musicians, Claire Indie on cello and Jordan Hamlin on French horn and trumpet. So it kind of has this orchestration…feel to it that I like a lot.

After that there’s kind of a dance beat thing. Then kind of a slow dirge kind of song. I really can honestly say that I’m proud of the songs on the album. I love them all.

Blast: I know you all can play more than one instrument and you do a lot of switching around. How do you work that out?

Cheyenne Medders: We have done a little bit of switching around. We haven’t had a permanent bass player in awhile. Ideally we have one of our friends…play bass for us. That allows me and Carson both to play guitar, which is what we love to do. When I’m singin’ I like to play guitar.

Josh, or Joshua , as he likes to be called, handles all the keyboard stuff. He’s just one of those guys that’s just incredibly musically inclined. He can just kinda hear somethin’ and he’ll come up with his own part, which is something I love. I don’t like to teach people parts, because if they come up with it themselves, then they’ll play it with more passion.

Will is on the drums. He also plays the lap steel guitar. He’s kind of developed a little knack for the slide instruments. In "Terminus," there’s a kind of haunting electric guitar sound that just goes in and out.

Blast: You’ve all been making music for years. You went solo for a while, but now you’re all together. And how did Josh come into the equation?

Cheyenne Medders: Geographically we were separated for awhile. We all went to college, but by the time my brothers got there, I was on my way out. And I wanted to hurry up and move to Nashville, because my cousin’s studio was just callin’ my name. I wanted a place where I could just record uninhibitedly. When they were done with school, they moved here. So I call it just being a "real band."

Carson Medders: I met Josh one day when he was a freshman and I was a sophomore. All the freshmen were supposed to be at orientation. I was hangin’ out in Will’s dorm room…and I started playing guitar in there. I thought the building was empty…

Cheyenne Medders: And he was shaking the walls! He was playing Jimmy Page.

Carson Medders: I was playin’ pretty loud because Josh heard me from the third floor. He was asleep and I woke him up. He came down and knocked on the door and came in and kinda startled me. And was like "Hey, mind if I hang out or whatever?" And I was like "Sure."

And he picked up a guitar and started playing along with me, but he wasn’t that great. I didn’t know how I felt about him. But then kind of as he was leavin’, he mentioned that he was classically trained on the piano. And so at that point we were just trying to put something together. I thought "If he’s really good at piano and he liked our stuff, that would be a big asset." So I invited him to a practice and it ended up working out. But I will admit at first he was his personality was pretty different than ours…

Cheyenne Medders: Well, you mentioned that he was asleep when he heard you on guitar. We thought he was narcoleptic. Because we would be just playing a song, a pretty loud song, and he’d just be hammerin’ on the organ. Then we’d just hear this dissonant organ chord just totally sustained, just *werrrr* and we looked over and Josh’s head would just be on the keys.

Carson Medders: He used to work overnight a lot. So then during the day he just couldn’t really keep it together. So we didn’t really know what was wrong with him. But turns out he’s a great guy, so…

Blast: So Cheyenne, on your Facebook profile it says that your three favorite songs all have "country boy" somewhere in the title.

Cheyenne Medders: I am kind of a country boy. I was definitely born and raised out in the country. That’s not too surprising. There’s an old guy named Jimmy Driftwood. He was a great folk singer…there’s nobody like him. He’s just a master storyteller with a voice from Heaven. He’s got a song called "The Country Boy," one of my favorite songs.

I was also thinking about "Thank God I’m A Country Boy" by John Denver, which is one of the most joyous pieces of music I’ve ever heard in my life.

Then there’s an Alison Krauss song…called "You’re Just A Country Boy." And it’s beautiful. And way different than the other country boy songs.

Blast: What effect do you think that has on your music? Would you call it country?

Cheyenne Medders: It’s really not.

Blast: Not in the traditional sense?

Cheyenne Medders: Or in a modern sense! Country gave birth to rock and roll. Country jazz and blues from up until the forties and fifties came together. That’s what rock and roll came out of.

And I am a sucker for a lot of old country, like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. And what music fan isn’t?

When we were kids we were really immersed in the country industry cause our dad was a staff writer here in Nashville for Diamond Rio and Pam Tillis. Our cousin made a huge career out of writing modern country songs. The country of the late 80s and the early 90s has a strong nostalgia with me. It’s the kind of thing where you just know all the words to every hit of that time because that’s what was on the radio wherever you went. Whether you walked into Cracker Barrel or a gas station, or your dad was dropping you off at school, all these songs like "Two Of A Kind Working On A Full House" was on the radio, and it kind of becomes part of who you are. So no matter how far away you get from it musically, a little vein of that’s still gonna run through it. Whether it’s just the cleverness of the lyrics or the catchy melodies or whatever.

Blast: What plans do The Medders’ have for the future?

Cheyenne Medders: We’re working with a few non-profit organizations (Living Water International and Mission Lazarus). Their main focus is to drill wells for communities that don’t have clean water. The water crisis — you might even say it’s the worst crisis out there. So many people die from not having clean water.

So me and some friends had this idea to pitch to college campuses, and we’re calling it "We’ll Play for Water." We’re gonna tour colleges…try to construe it to where every dollar that comes in from the public or from a college that hires us to play will go straight to build wells.

Blast: Every dollar?

Cheyenne Medders: That’s the idea. I didn’t think it was possible at first…If you can find some donors, just people with a lot of money that want to do some good with it, you could conceivably come up with all of your administration costs. Then all of the money that comes from the public could go to the cause. I think it’s gonna be good.

The Medders’ self-titled album is now available on iTunes. Check out their Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/themedders

When you listen to the song “Heartbeat” by the Rocketboys, the ethereal, ambient chords initially take you in. Then you’re further enticed by the aching falsetto of lead singer Brandon Kinder. The expansive, resonant sound of the Rocketboys is reminiscent of bands like Keane and Coldplay.

But this indie band won’t be categorized.

Springing out of Abilene, Texas and now residing in Austin, the band is promoting their new album 20,000 Ghosts by embarking on a 31-date national tour. Blast caught up with them while they were playing in Boston, and they talked about everything from what itis like to record their first full album to their biggest influence, Miley Cyrus.

In a lot of ways, The Rocketboys are just like every other indie band you’ve seen — they’re long-haired, scruffy-faced boys wearing pearl snaps and skinny jeans. But as the six of us chatted in the back of their tour van, which didn’t take very well to the cobblestone streets of Boston, it became clear that the Rocketboys are not just another indie band.

“Anyone can make an artist myspace,” said lead singer Brandon Kinder, “and get their music out to different people. But I think there’s a certain level where it’s a little bit more than just a fun thing you’re doing.”

The Rocketboys are trying to get ahead of the game by being what few indie bands are with their music — responsible.

“We’re trying to separate ourselves by pursuing music professionally without the support of a record label,” said Daniel Wheeler, guitarist. “We have an extensive tour schedule. We have a publicist. We’re trying to surround ourselves with a team that a record label would provide to a band, but weire trying to do it ourselves, because we like having control of the business of our band.”

Add professionalism to a band that sounds as good live as on a record, and itis a surprise that these guys havenit been signed yet. Their show later that evening backed up bassist Josh Campbellis assertion that sounding good live is something else that sets The Rocketboys apart.

“It’s pretty easy now to like, get garageband and lay down a song, and autotune it,” Campbell said. “We take a lot of pride in our live shows, and making (them) as good as they can be, because I think thatis where some bands are lacking.”

The expansive sound of The Rocketboys’ music is enhanced by their deeply personal lyrics, like these from Heartbeat:

“I would sell you out in a heartbeat/Cause you can defend yourself.”

But songwriting is the one thing that The Rocketboys don’t hold to an exact formula. Band members propose ideas to one another and piece together songs, aiming for catchy melodies with hooks.

“But we definitely try to take bits and pieces of bands that we like and we just put together things that we think sound good,” said keyboard player Justin Wiseman. “And inevitably it borrows a little bit from other people, but our idea is just creating beautiful music.”

According to Brandon Kinder, though, the order of production usually stays the same.

Typically, it’s always music first. Ask questions later.

Though they’ve been playing together since college, 20,000 Ghosts is The Rocketboys first full album. “It was like what we’d done in the past, but amplified, said guitarist Daniel Wheeler. They said the recording sessions, which often lasted up to 10 hours, were exhausting, but in the end, they came out with a product that they could be proud of.

“We’re just trying to create something timeless that people can enjoy,” said Kinder.

The band, who has played with now-popular bands like Grizzly Bear and Eisley, said they really look up to artists like Andrew Byrd, My Morning Jacket and Miley Cyrus?

“She’s pretty much our main influence,” said Kinder with a wry smile.

The next stop for the band after Boston was New York City’s CMJ Music Festival.

“We’re very excited,” said Kinder. “It was kind of a close call. We were kind of accepted at the last minute. We were kind of planning our tour around potentially playing it, which may or may not be the best way to plan a tour”

But like Kinder said, they got accepted and went on to play in one of the nation’s biggest cities for up-and-coming musicians. The Rocketboys’ formula seems to be working so far, and if they continue producing quality music like the stuff on 20,000 Ghosts, we’ll be hearing from them for years to come.

Visit The Rocketboys’ website at myspace.com/rocketboys, and look for their album “20,000 Ghosts” on iTunes.

After a parking mix up at the House of Blues, Evan Taubenfeld and crew have been banished to the front of The Paradise Lounge a little bit before soundcheck. Taubenfeld is to open for Secondhand Serenade that night, but when Blast finally arrives at the new locale for the big red bus, he is just finishing dinner. He is hanging out on the bus in a Baltimore Ravens jersey that seems to engulf his small frame. Still, blonde hair and bright-eyed Taubenfeld exudes a confidence that says no matter how big the pond, this fish plans on making a splash.

Taubenfeld first made a name for himself as the musical composer and lead guitarist for Avril Lavigne. He penned most of her biggest hits including, “Happy Ending” and her multi-platinum “The Best Damn Thing”, but now he is striking out on his own and beginning the tumultuous journey of making a name for himself solo.

“Right now, I am the kid from Avril’s band. By the way, I’m really cool with that. She’s one of my best friends in the world. We have a lot of fun together, and we still work together” clarified Taubenfeld. “I am starting now, by doing tours like this and putting out songs like “ËœCheater of the Year’ and “ËœBoy Meets Girl’ and making videos and constantly traveling, trying to build a new name for myself. So some of the new people that get to know me go “ËœThat’s Evan!’ not “ËœThat’s Evan from Avril’s band!’”

At only 26, Taubenfeld has done pretty well for himself. Part of the credit could be given to him always knowing what he wants, and going about it in his own way. Taubenfeld was offered entrance to the Berklee School of Music for both vocals and drums, and turned both semesters down.

“I didn’t think what I wanted to do could be taught. I wanted to become a recording artist, a famous singer/songwriter, a popstar. I didn’t see how going to school could help me do that” said Taubenfeld.

The fact that Taubenfeld was explaining his decision to us from his very own tour bus proves he’s doing all right, but he doesn’t knock music education for everyone.

“My brother, who is my lead guitarist and the music director for Demi Lovato, he went there for four years and he graduated. He’s incredible. I think it’s the perfect place for some people and the least perfect place for others. For Drew, my brother, it was perfect. He came out and he’s just a badass. For me, it probably would have been a really bad place. It’s just too structured and the way that I am as a songwriter, I don’t think the classroom would have helped me” said Taubenfeld.

Instead, Taubenfeld uses his songs to help him. Songs like “Cheater of the Year”, the first single from his album “The Blackllist Club”, paint the picture of a younger more naƒ¯ve Evan getting his heart stomped on by a first love. Taubenfeld explained that songs help him express the more romantic side of himself that he’s too afraid to show normally.

“I am a painfully hopeful romantic person but I hide it extremely well under a very heavily guarded heart because I’ve been hurt. I think I’m fifty-percent cynic who protects himself because to live in the world we live in, especially in LA and in the entertainment business, you have to be tough. The other fifty-percent is hoping to find the girl of my dreams and live happily ever after. I think that conflict is what my record is about if you listen to it” Taubenfeld said.

Taubenfeld presents his broken heart on a record filled with catchy pop guitar driven hooks. He seems like a wet-dream for anyone going for the “after the Jonas Brothers” next big thing, so it’s a little surprising to hear Taubenfeld is managed by Crush “" the same people responsible for Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Cobra Starship and others of the same vein. Despite not falling exactly into that demographic, Taubenfeld enjoys being part of the Crush family, and doesn’t let the differences keep him down.

“I think the Crush bands are incredible. I think they are very self sufficient. I am probably the least popular in terms of having my own following, and as far as having my own system that I run. They each have their own world” said Taubenfeld, “but at the same time, I also think I am the most pop leaning so I also have the most potential to sell 50 million records on their roster.”

The truth is that Taubenfeld already is the biggest popstar on the label and has sold more records than you could conceive, just written for someone else. Now he’s out to prove he can do it with his face on the cover. His hyper and interactive demeanor shows no doubts about his potential to make it huge. He’s just being patient. Taubenfeld is here to show the world what he’s about, and he won’t stop until they take a listen.

“It is just expressing where I am in my life. I am excited to be on my own I am also a little bit nervous. I like to have a lot of fun” explained Taubenfeld, “I think what I’m trying to say is – Hey what’s up? I’m Evan, I want to have a good time.”

At a recent show in London, Nic Cester, frontman for Australian power-rock quartet Jet, collapsed not once, but twice on stage as the band performed new material from its third album, “Shaka Rock.” After the first fall, his bandmates (including his brother, drummer Chris) finished the song and Cester eventually popped up and cracked a joke about having swine flu. But after the second, he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital and treated for dehydration. The band’s tour resumed on schedule two days later.

That type of resilience has become routine for the members of Jet, who have seen their share of ups and downs in the past six years.

Blast spoke with the Cester siblings earlier this year (pre-fainting) about the making of “Shaka Rock” which was released in the U.S. on August 25. Unlike other sibling bandmates, say, for instance, (the now-defunct?) Oasis, the Cesters try to keep whatever tumult exists in their relationship out of the spotlight. They come off as goofy and affable, an at times comic duo who both claim allergies to aluminum and Lady Gaga.

“Shaka Rock” is Jet’s first offering in three years. After they finished touring behind their previous record, 2006′s “Shine On” the band members took a much-needed hiatus, to regroup individually and collectively from a roller coaster ride that had begun three years earlier.

Jet found near-instant success in the wake their debut album, 2003′s “Get Born” which spawned the hit singles “Cold Hard Bitch” and “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” the latter of which was used in an Apple commercial. The Cesters admit their sudden, explosive rise to fame left them feeling dazed.

“I have no memory of 2003″ said Chris, 27. “It really was just one big show and one big canopy and one big whiskey slug. It was pretty nuts.”

While both gushed about being able to share stages with the likes of the Rolling Stones, they said the monotony of touring can be less than inspiring.

“(Musicians) are the kind of people, generally speaking “¦ that want to sort of be excited, and they generally are excitable individuals” Chris said. “On tour, that usually results in, you drink yourself to sleep every night because you’re going out of your fucking mind. So, touring can really rip you apart.”

The band’s follow-up, “Shine On” was marred by the death of Chris and Nic’s father, who inspired the title track. Chris describes the time surrounding “Shine On” as “a black hole.”

“Mentally, physically … just, we were fucked up” he said.

After taking time off and with both tragedy and triumph behind them, the band set out to make “Shaka Rock” with a healthier outlook and nothing to lose.

“I think we definitely felt a lot of pressure the last time (after the success of “ËœGet Born’), but this time we didn’t really feel as much pressure at all” Nic said. “We always put a lot of pressure on ourselves, but this time there was a noticeable lack of. We were in a happier place in our lives, and we’d been through some serious shit and got through it. And, (we’re) stronger and more equipped. So, I think it was a really good, natural sort of energy that these songs were borne from.”

The band channeled the positive vibes into a large-scale comeback concert of sorts, with an appearance at the Sound Relief benefit this past March for victims of the Australian wildfires.Jet played two televised shows in one day, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney, debuting new material in front of tens of thousands of audience members and countless other TV viewers.

“What a way to walk back onto a stage” said Chris, widening his eyes. “I think everything sort of feels sort of better, including being able to come back on stage for the right reason, having produced your own album, and doing something beneficial to everybody else and playing for such a huge crowd. It’s just like, I haven’t felt this sort of confidence and happiness about doing what we do since our first record.”

Their sense of ownership is not misplaced. The band decided to adopt a new approach on nearly every aspect of the production of “Shaka Rock.

“Sitting down to write a record can be a real fucking drag if you don’t explore different ways of going about it” Chris said matter-of-factly. “You need to find ways to keep yourself interested.”

“We just thought it was time to do something a little different than what we’d done in the past” added Nic. “We took every measure to set that up. “¦ We got away from L.A., and we changed record companies and we changed management. We shook things up and we ended up with an album that really sounds like we have.”

First up was a change in scenery. “Shaka Rock” was written and recorded in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as U.S. locales including Miami, Brooklyn, and Austin, Texas.

With the four band members spread out across the globe (in Italy, Australia, Los Angeles and London), the tracks were written, produced and rehearsed in different locales out of necessity.

“It can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but one of the positives that comes with that is that, every time we meet it’s in an interesting part of the world” Nic said. “And you really get the buzz off the energy that place has to offer for a while. It’s kind of fun, especially because we’re kind of gypsies by nature, and we’re kind of used to traveling a lot.”

The geographical new direction is reflected throughout the record “" both overtly, as on the bluesy “Goodbye Hollywood” and more subtly, on the summer-y disco track “Beat on Repeat” which was recorded in Miami.

“I think Australians are generally like that” Chris said. “Often we can’t agree on one spot, because we can’t go to London, (for instance), because then (guitarist Cam Muncey) just gets to go home every night and we have to stay in a fucking hotel room. So we tend to move around.”

Some of the new approaches that resulted in “Shaka Rock” however, were not so calculated. An accident with a kitchen knife, for instance, forced the multi-instrumentalist Chris to begin composing songs on bass rather than guitar.

“When I returned (from a post-breakup vacation in Morocco) there was literally nothing in the house” he recalled. “So, for the first time in my life I thought, well, yeah, I like to cook. So, I’ll go down and buy myself some German steel knives, like really good knives so I can cut anything. And then literally about half an hour “" ”

“They really can cut anything” Nic interjected.

“Yeah, it can cut human flesh. I can attest to that” Chris affirmed. “I actually chopped the top of my finger off. “¦ So I had to learn how to play the bass, and that had a huge influence, a really dramatic influence, on the way I write songs. It’s more about rhythm.”

One thing Jet has stuck to is the tried and true swagger rock style a la AC/DC and the Rolling Stones that propelled the band’s popularity in the first place. Though the band members began expanding their musical horizons between records, listening to more electronically-tinged acts like Daft Punk, don’t look for any bells and whistles on “Shaka Rock” aside from the occasional pre-programmed hand clap.

“I don’t really abide by the electronic background track” explained Chris. “I think it’s cheating, to be honest. So, while we’re inspired by a lot of those sort of newer things, we definitely kept it organic. It was just sort of more from an inspirational standpoint, rather than trying to capture the same sort of sonic ideas.”

Acting as co-producers on the album gave the band more control over which elements they wanted to incorporate and to what extent.

“I was a bit concerned about how that was gonna go down, because obviously we’d never done it before and basically there was five producers in the room at any one time” Nic recalled. “That immediately resulted in a different sonic sound, and a bit more of an exploratory thing, because we’re just a bunch of guys in a room, having fun, trying shit out.”

But both say the process turned out to be a relatively smooth one, likely due to the fact that they’ve been friends with guitarist Cam Muncey and bassist Mark Wilson since they were all teenagers.

“We all write and we all have completely different outlooks on life, and they often don’t agree with each other” Chris said. “(But) I think often with one guy or one girl who’s running the show, it can really sort of be monotonous. “¦ I don’t want to hear two songs about one thing. If I want that, I’ll buy a Britney Spears record.”

Of course, some of the tension in the studio inevitably comes from an innate sibling rivalry between the Cesters. But both say that they consider all their bandmates brothers, even if they are the only two who are related by blood.

“Your brother really is the first person you want in a band, and the last person you want in a band” Chris said. “It’s an interesting dichotomy.”

“Obviously, it’s a big factor” according to Nic. “It is really difficult sometimes, and sometimes it’s really fun. … The good thing is there’s always one guy in the band that we all agree is an asshole for a while, and it just keeps switching around. We all get a turn.”

Kidding aside, though, one gets the sense that it’s this family dynamic that has allowed Jet to persevere where other groups have faltered, to adapt and grow rather than giving up.

“To be honest, there’s really nothing that we haven’t had to face as a band together” Chris said. “We’ve had massive success and we’ve had disappointment. You see what it’s like to be loved and to be hated, and you just get to a point in your career and your life … where you just go, fuck “Ëœem all. Just make your music, basically.”

“The music always brings you back” he went on. “It’s like a good friend that you always have no matter what happens in your life. That’s what’s so precious about rock ‘n’ roll in particular, I think. There’s a lot of great genres and there’s a lot of things that I enjoy, but nothing really has that personal, close feeling that rock “Ëœn’ roll has. It really is just like your best friend, because it never lets you down.”

NEW YORK — When people think of Brooke Hogan, the word “musician” likely isn’t the first that comes to mind. The 21-year-old reality TV star and daughter of professional wrestling icon Hulk Hogan is known more by association with her family’s scandalous antics over the past few years than for her own talents.

But with recent release of her second album, “The Redemption” Hogan is looking to change all that. In doing so, she faces the unenviable struggle of wanting to detach herself from her personal problems and focus on her music career, despite knowing that those family struggles may be the primary reason people are interested in her songs to begin with.

“I’m working now towards just being able to hold my own and have respect from people” Hogan said in a recent interview. “It’s not that I want to be swarmed with paparazzi all the time for the attention. … I’m not just, you know, Paris Hilton trying to get out there.”

“The Redemption” is, for the most part, a standard autotune-heavy R&B/pop record whose songs would seamlessly blend into the playlist on any Top 40 station around the country. Single “Hey Yo” is catchy enough, as is “Ruff Me Up” featuring rapper Flo Rida, but the latter is also a blatant, nearly plagiaristic ripoff of Britney Spears’ “Womanizer.”

In case anyone needed a refresher, the minute-long “Intro” kicks off the album with a jarring mishmash of news clips highlighting the tumultuous past two years in Brooke Hogan’s life — from her brother’s jail time as a result of a car accident that left a family friend nearly brain dead, to her parents’ messy divorce, and more recently, public trash-talking episodes between Brooke and her mother, Linda.

“I’ve been through so much crap these past two years, and life has been really hard” she said. “I’ve kept my head up, (but) it’s been tough. I feel like now “¦ I’m surrounded by people that love me. Even though it’s a small, select group, I really have true friends and I’m really just happy. I love where I’m at in life, so I feel like God is redeeming me. This is my redemption.” (That religious theme is reinforced both on the album’s much-maligned cover art, which features Brooke as a cartoonish, muscular angel.)

The sex kitten image that Hogan projects on other songs like “BeDDable” and the sizzling, sultry kickoff track “Strip” (“I wanna see you strip for me / Take it off, off honey / Wanna see your body”) seems inconsistent with her portrayal as a slightly naƒ¯ve, girl next door type on her VH1 reality show, “Brooke Knows Best” “" a notion she immediately brushes off.

“I’m not saying that the reality show is fake or real” she hedges. “It is whatever it is. But, whatever you see on TV is like one percent of my life.”

Of “Strip” in particular, she remarks: “Everybody wants to, you know, have sex and be sexy and whatever.”

Maybe so, but the dichotomy between her TV and album personas unfortunately makes both seem less than genuine.

More PG-13 is “Falling” the formulaic collaboration between Hogan and her boyfriend, rapper Stack$. Although the pair try to keep their relationship private, Hogan said the song is one of her proudest moments on the record.

“It’s definitely a turn-on to see your boyfriend or girlfriend … when they put on their business hat” she said. “It’s fun for us. Instead of going to the movies, we go into the studio.”

In spite of her pointed distancing of herself from Paris Hilton, Hogan recognizes that there are detractors who say she, too, is trying to parlay her family name into a career in showbiz. But she swiftly and confidently dismisses her critics, quickly pointing out that she’s a professionally trained singer and pianist, who counts Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder among her musical influences.

“There’s a lot of kids that just think that they can be famous or whatever because their family’s famous” she said. “(Performing) was really just something that I loved to do. I love music. And maybe my dad’s entertainment genes are passed down through me, but look at Goldie Hawn and (her daughter) Kate Hudson. Sometimes it runs in the blood. “¦ It’s just the nature of the beast. You can’t really hate on it.”

Growing up in the Tampa suburb of Clearwater, Florida, Brooke and her younger brother Nick were generally kept out of the spotlight by their parents. In fact, “ËœHulk’ and Linda Hogan were quite the opposite of stage parents, shielding Brooke and Nick from the spotlight and resisting the urge to permanently relocate to Hollywood. (Incidentally, I attended the same Catholic elementary school as the siblings, a few grades ahead of them, back when they were known as the Bolleas, their father’s given name, so as not to attract unwanted attention.)

“My parents gave us a really normal childhood” Hogan confirmed, adding that it was her own decision to pursue a career in music. “We were literally (in a) one-mile radius between our house and school. And anything we did on the weekends was with our friends from school. It was really just very secluded. Of course we traveled and stuff like that, but they didn’t make it, like, a big deal. They didn’t ever really over-explain what red carpets were, paparazzi and stuff like that. We were just kind of clueless. We just kind of went along for the ride.’

Care Bears on Fire started creating a lot of buzz last year, startling everyone with their keen lyrical sense, perseverance, and do-it-yourself attitude “" oh, and don’t forget they were talking record deals before entering middle school. Now full-fledged teenagers, the all girl pop-punk trio is about to release a new full length album “Get Over It” to hit shelves and digital stores July 14.

CBOF are taking on teen issues this time around with a sensibility and realism that you won’t find watching Hannah Montana. “Gym Class Haze” and “Super Teen” tackle day to day school dramas and insecurities we all have experienced. The girls even take on stereotypes and contemporary issues with “Barbie Eat a Sandwich” and “Met You On Myspace” showing they can have a sense of humor and still hold down a conversation at the adults’ table.

The video for their first single, “Everybody Else” can be seen here, and CBOF can be caught this summer at Kidzapalooza in Chicago on August 8 and 9.

While the Internet has opened thousands of doors for musical promotion, many artists have been using movies and television to get their music out there. Ingrid Michaelson became a staple in most iTunes library when one of her songs was used on “Grey’s Anatomy” and Virginia natives Parachute are living up the success after an acoustic version of their song “She Is Love” was used in a Dove soap commercial. Synchronization licenses “" the rights to play a copyrighted song on the air “" are becoming one of the most sought after ways of promoting an artist.

Boston is embracing one such singer-songwriter, Emilie Mover, tonight. Mover, who will be performing in Cambridge at Toad this evening, has been gaining widespread recognition by following in Ingrid Michealson’s footsteps and being featured on “Grey’s Anatomy” twice this past season “" once in October and again in April. One of Mover’s songs will also appear in an upcoming episode of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s show “Ghost Whisperer.”

“It’s gotten the songs out there to a wider audience which is really [great]. I write two kinds of songs. One is more acoustic guitar-based and the other is more [poppy]. Those songs are the ones that get played [on the radio] obviously. Being on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ people get to hear all the types of songs that I have. The exposure obviously is the thing with those shows” said Mover in a phone interview with Blast.

As much as being featured on popular network television shows has done for Mover she confessed to Blast that she thinks it would be awesome to be featured on HBO’s polygamy drama “Big Love” or in a movie done by one of her favorite directors.

“I like the music on Big Love, but they play a lot of old music. I see a lot of movies and think, “ËœThat’s awesome’. You know the movies with the independent music, where the music is part of the scene. [I think it'd be awesome to be in a] Wes Anderson movie” she said.

Mover first started playing music in Toronto when she was 15, even though she grew up significantly influenced by her jazz musician father.

“My dad was a jazz musician and his whole life was just music. I got to hear a lot of amazing music from a really early age. At first I started singing and performing just jazz standards. I just had all these jazz standards at the core of my being” Mover said.

It wasn’t until her teen years that Mover began listening to pop music and developing her own style from that. She maintains that jazz musicians and the music she listened to while spending time with her father as a child are still huge influences on her though, even if they aren’t immediately apparent in her sound.

“It’s just funny because when you have this soft singer-songwriter type of thing going I think that there is a common misconception that their influences are just other soft singer-songwriters. I don’t think it’s necessarily that way for lots of them” Mover explained. “Influences for me are [people like] Stevie Wonder. I’d have to say for me that in terms of songwriting he’s the guy I look to most. It doesn’t even have to come across that way in my songs, it comes across completely differently. I think the bottom line is the love of the craft of songs.”

It is with that love of the craft of songs that Mover began playing her music in the bars of Toronto. While playing those shows Mover was connected with Sync Music, a synchronization company that put her music in commercials and eventually put her in touch with “Grey’s Anatomy.”

The songs featured on the show come from Mover’s first full-length record, “Good Shake, Nice Gloves”. The album for Mover became one half break-up soundtrack and the other half depicting life after heartbreak.

“The songs are really break up songs, on the first side. And then the second side is more after I’d gotten over it and was in a softer place. They’re more upbeat songs. I think it’s a good mixture because half of it is dead kind of music and the other half is waking up in the morning music. I really like that contrast” she said.

Mover’s show at Toad tonight is currently the last scheduled gig before she heads back into the studio in July to begin recording new songs.

“Crossing the Rubicon” the latest offering from Swedish synth-pop quintet The Sounds, borrows its name from a phrase meaning “to pass a point of no return.” Historically, it refers to the act of war Julius Caesar committed by crossing the Rubicon River in Northern Italy in 49 B.C.

So it would be perfectly understandable to wonder if the band is exploring new sonic territory on their latest offering, which hits shelves June 2. What’s ironic, though, given this context, is that the strongest moments on “Crossing the Rubicon” “" and there are many “" emerge when the band sticks to the winning formula it honed on 2006′s “Dying to Say This to You” “" danceable guitar riffs and synthesizers on top of upbeat rhythms.

“Crossing the Rubicon” starts on a high note, with the infectious, guitar-heavy first single “No One Sleeps When I’m Awake” and continues with a handful of equally catchy tunes, including the New Wave-y “4 Songs and a Fight” and delightfully bizarre Blondie homage “Beatbox.”

Unfortunately though, the 12-song offering loses some of its steam in‚ its final third, with the later songs failing to reach the extremely high bar set by the first ones. The title track, which sounds like gothic monks singing over an excerpt from a dramatic movie score, marks the middle point, and its placement is jarring to say the least “" especially since it’s book-ended by the accessible “Midnight Sun” and “Underground.”

The Sounds will spend much of the summer on the road, having landed the opening slot on several dates of No Doubt’s reunion tour. Like the headliner, they are anchored by a powerful frontwoman “" sassy singer Maja Ivarsson, whose vocals range from pained to empowered “" backed by male supporting musicians who tend to stay in the background.

Their position on the No Doubt tour, combined with the band’s decision to stream “Crossing the Rubicon” in its entirety nearly a week before its official release date, indicate the band is trying to expand its American fanbase. Their radio-friendly pop is likely to win over some early-arriving audience members.

WORCESTER — When it comes to heavy, aggressive, hardcore/metal music, the Boston/Worcester area is sacred ground for the head bang, screamed lyrics, head walking crowds. Such hardcore havens as the Worcester Palladium, Fitchburg Compound, and Boston’s Church house the bands that make this cacophony and the rabid fans that enjoy it. The scene of heavy music in the area has bred everything from original 1980s hardcore legends such as SS Decontrol and Freeze to the new breed of hardcore champions including Unearthed and All That Remains.

Aside from breeding the new and old voices of hardcore, the area has provided a place for touring out-of-state hardcore bands to find a welcoming scene and a new crowd of fans. Most recently the scene saw Canadian-based Protest the Hero on their first headlining tour of the States. The band’s combination of screaming lyrics, high intensity speed and wailing tap solos was received well by the Worcester Palladium crowd on May 9 and made the band feel right at home.

Blast was able to catch up with the band’s bassist Arif Mirabdolbaghi on the last leg of the band’s tour.

“We’ve come to Worcester a few times when we were opening for other bands” said Mirabdolbaghi. “We have a lot of friends and fans in the area. You can really feel the legacy of aggressive music in the crowds and venues.”

Protest the Hero began their musical carrier in the small suburban town of Whitby, Ontario in 1999. It was there that lead singer Rody Walker, guitarists Tim Millar and Luke Hoskin, drummer Moe Carlson and Mirabdolbaghi started playing together at the age of 13.

“We where really just some bored suburban kids when we started” said Mirabdolbaghi. “We had no real intentions to tour the U.S, or anywhere else for that matter.”

The band stuck it out however through the next five years, touring Canada and recording independently. Their efforts paid off in 2006 when they were picked up by Vagrant Records, with whom they made their first full length record “Keiza.” From there they went on several supporting tours with other major names in the hardcore music scene such as All That Remains, Bullet for my Valentine and heavy metal stars Dragon Force.

“What’s good about us is that we fit into a lot of different tours in a lot of different ways” said Mirabdolbaghi. “We’ve been the heaviest band on a tour and then we’ve been the pussiest.”

Most recently the band has put out their second full length album “Fortress” which is the focus of the newest tour. They have also gained some exposure through electronic media being features in “Guitar Hero II” and the soundtrack of “NHL ’09.” Once they are finished with the current leg of their U.S tour, the band plans to head back north to their homeland in order to rest up after the stresses of the new album and tour.

“We’re at the end of the album’s cycle now” said Mirabdolbaghi. “We’re going to go home and write some new material and possibly do some recording.”

Through out all the bands touring and recording, their goal is not to break into the mainstream lexicon, but rather show people who are interested in aggressive music what they bring to the table.

“We’re living in the days of iPod shuffle culture” said Mirabdolbaghi. “People today have more access to different types of music than anyone in history of music has ever had. Yet people seem to be more closed-minded than ever before. We want to people to give us a try; even if they don’t think that they’ll like us we at least want people to give it a chance.”

For more information on Protest the Hero go to www.myspace.com/protestthehero.

LOWELL – Samuel L. Jackson might have had enough of those motherfucking snakes on that motherfucking plane, but three years later, Cobra Starship (which outfitted the title song for the 2006 summer reptilian thriller) hasn’t given up the party.

Although many people initially thought the group was a joke promotional tool for the film, the boys and gal of Cobra Starship are about to release their third full length album this summer and are currently playing main support for Fall Out Boy on the Believers Never Die Part Deux tour, also featuring All Time Low, Metro Station and Hey Monday.

Blast caught up with Cobra bassist Alex Suarez, drummer Nate Novarro, and Hidden in Plain View’s former drummer and Cobra comrade Spencer Peterson in their dressing room before the show on the 19th stop of the Believers tour at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell.

“We’ve just been really happy since Spencer came out here to join us,” said Novarro. “It’s like the Dow national average went up 7 points. Before that it was at an all time low.”

Everyone shares a laugh before Suarez elaborates, “there are just so many moments where we say, ‘That was awesome. Remember last night? That was awesome.’ There are like 20 of those a day.”

To no surprise, the Cobra attitude is a lighthearted one which could lead some to think that “believers never die” may work as some sort of mantra for the band considering the obstacles they have encountered over the last few months.

They ended a full summer run on last year’s Warped Tour to be confronted with a could-be-devastating diagnosis of lead singer Gabe Saporta’s voice. Because of lumps that formed on his vocal chords, Saporta was sentenced to vocal rest and surgery, but that would impede the upcoming headlining US tour for the New York-based quintet. While the Starship delayed recording of the new record and postponed UK dates, they went ahead with the Sassy Back Tour.

Saporta bumped up his surgery to December and spent the holidays recovering before going to work on the new album at the end of January, though there was some worry if he would be up for the Fall Out Boy tour.

“We just kind of hung out and waited for him to be ready to go,” said Suarez. “There wasn’t really anything else we could do.”

Now the band takes a humorous take on the situation by making skits about Saporta’s surgery for their new weekly webisodes on cobracam.tv.

“Our friend Jack the Camera Guy was available and we invited him out on tour. He just comes out with all these great ideas because he’s such a genius,” said Suarez.

A new webisode will premiere every Monday until the new album is released. The previous escapades have shown backstage footage of the tour and alleged album title meetings.

“Someone starts off, says ‘We should do this,’ and then everyone just throws in there and it all comes together,” Novarro said, explaining how the group drafts ideas for the skits.

The group’s latest episode depicts the after-effects of writing part of the new album in the mountains of Pennsylvania on Novarro’s psyche. The trip was an opportunity for the band to get away from it all and write some new material, but became another filming expedition when the band set up a web cam to film their songwriting process.

“There was lots of snow and red wine. White powder and red wine. Cobra cam. Sweet jams were written up there. We wrote a rap song,” said Suarez of the experience.

The mountain session and later recording in New York City did lead to the first song off the record being released to the Cobra Myspace, “Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We’re Famous.” The title hints that Cobra is up to their usual celebrity trash-talking style, but not afraid to make themselves the target as well, considering Wentz is the one who signed them to his Decaydance label and they are now opening for him during the BND tour.

“I think we make fun of ourselves more, but ourselves as celebrities,” said Suarez. “So I guess you could say we’re still making fun of celebrities.”

As well as making reference to 80′s Kung Fu supervillain Bruce Leroy, the glowing Last Dragon in the new track, Saporta also gets a little dirty in the first verse when he proclaims, “you can rise to the top/but you can’t ride on my cock.”

The cavalier line took many fans by surprise on the first listen but Suarez and Novarro didn’t seem phased when asked if more of the same bluntness would be found on the record.

“Expect a lot of dick and a lot of cock,” said Suarez.

“Metaphorically, of course,” added Novarro.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of hinting about cock,” concluded Suarez before going into a traumatic story from his childhood in which he was witness to two elephants mating but confused the male elephant parts as a second trunk.

“We went to this, like, drive-in zoo , (Lion Park Safari). I’m just looking out the window, ‘Hey ma, why does that elephant have two trunks?’ and then they started doing it. Have you ever seen two elephants doing it? Not pretty,” Suarez regaled.

While the exact formula for success hasn’t been figured out yet, millions of artists flock daily to Myspace, post their demos that were recorded in some adjacent room in their house and hope to somehow strike gold when “the right people” stumble across them.

Of course with the staggering amount of musical artists on Myspace, it could be considered impossible for anyone to really make a name for themselves amongst the masses. Apparently Adam Young “" known more widely to his followers as Owl City “" didn’t get that memo and went for it anyway. Over 20,000 digital albums and more than 200,000 tracks later, Owl City is set to embark on their first headlining tour across the US (even though his first live gigs were this past February “" both sold out).

The new tour includes stops at Bamboozle, Sasquatch and Summerfest and even a few dates with Christian rockers Relient K.

The time spent on the road is to help promote Owl City’s upcoming release “Ocean Eyes” which will hit iTunes on September 1. It kicks off on today in Boston where Owl City will be playing at Cafƒ© 939.

Young took a little time out on his way to Bamboozle this weekend to discuss internet popularity, the tour and “Ocean Eyes”.

“I honestly have no idea how I account for this kind of success. I did really poorly in the accounting class I took in high school, and none of my friends are licensed accountants so I guess I don’t really have a good answer” Young said in his e-mail reply, “Regardless, I’m excited beyond reason about this. It’s a truly wonderful feeling to fall asleep at night knowing there are a few people out there who appreciate the art I pour so much of myself into. It’s an incredible feeling to say the least.”

Owl City has charted multiple times on the iTunes top ten electronic charts alongside Daft Punk, M.I.A. and The Postal Service. His most popular single is “Hello Seattle,” even though it turns out Young had never been able to visit the Emerald City until last month.

“Seattle was enchanting. It certainly lived up to my expectations… and then some. I had never tried tartar sauce with french fries until I visited the Emerald City. [The experience] makes me want to live there and eat tartar sauce and fries like it’s my job” explained Young.

Young only began playing music a few years ago but soon got into using his computer to create a more electro-pop kind of sound which has attracted the attention of more than six million visitors to his Myspace.

“I started playing music a few years ago. It was pretty fun so I started programming music a few months ago. That was even more fun. In terms of genre, electronic music just happened to get in the way so I started tapping my toes. I’m still having fun” Young said.

All of the Owl City albums have been recorded in Young’s basement in the small town of Owatonna, Minn. Initially, Young recorded a few songs and put them online and a few devoted fans carried it from there.

“I recorded some songs, put them up online and kids spread the word. I didn’t do a thing. I really owe it all to my fans because they’ve done all the work” said Young.

Even the planned fall release of “Ocean Eyes” was done in Young’s house but, as he explains, with more of a process: “Recording this album was the same process as recording the others, but with a bit more purpose. I also know much more now — about programming/producing/engineering, than I did while recording the first two records. ‘Ocean Eyes’ was different also because I holed up in the studio for a month, put in 12 hour days and hammered everything out all in one fell swoop.”

Young also spent some time recording four extra tracks which will be used as promotional tools for the new album.

On the first Tuesday of every month leading up to the “Ocean Eyes” release, fans will be able to purchase a new Owl City song from iTunes which will also include a chance to see him live on the summer tour. The first song, “Hot Air Balloon” will be available May 5th for downloading.

“We thought it would be a sneaky idea to start building buzz for the release of the record in September. All four songs are picked out. They will not be featured on ‘Ocean Eyes,’ but rather iTunes-only releases” Young said.

You can check out the new single this Tuesday or go catch Owl City on any of the stops along the tour this summer. The dates are listed below.

May 5th — Cafƒ© 939, Boston, MA

May 6th — North Star Bar, Philadelphia, PA

May 7th — Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY

May 9th — Jammin’ Java, Vienna, VA

May 11th — Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH

May 12th — The Pike Room @ Crofoot, Pontiac, MI

May 14th — Subterranean, Chicago, IL

May 15th — Varsity Theater, Minneapolis, MN

May 23rd — Gorge Amphitheatre/Sasquatch Festival, George, WA

May 26th — Glass House, Pomona, CA*

May 27th — The Dome, Bakersfield, CA*

May 28th — The Boardwalk, Orangevale, CA*

May 29th — Indigo District, Eugene, OR*

May 30th — Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR*

May 31st — Neumo’s, Seattle, WA*

June 2nd — Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA*

June 3rd — Knitting Factory, Boise, ID*

June 4th — Murray Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT*

June 19th — Rocketown, Nashville, TN

June 20th — Vinyl, Atlanta, GA

June 22nd — The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC

June 23rd — Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh, NC

June 25th — Sonar, Baltimore, MD

June 26th — Water Street Music Hall, Rochester, NY

June 27th — The Basement, Columbus, OH

June 29th — Riverside Ballroom, Green Bay, WI

June 30th — Grandma’s Sports Garden Bar & Grill, Duluth, MN

July 1st — Cornerstone Farm, Marietta, IL

July 2nd — Granada Theatre, Lawrence, KS

July 3rd — Slowdown, Omaha, NE

July 5th — Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI

*- with Relient K

Blast got an opportunity to talk at length with Jack’s Mannequin front man Andrew McMahon about the group’s new album, working with Stephenie Meyer, the Dear Jack Foundation and the future of Something Corporate.

BLAST: Where did the content for The Glass Passenger come from?

ANDREW MCMAHON: Gosh, it was sort of this weird limbo period, to be honest. I was recording a lot of The Glass Passenger while I was touring everything in transit. Obviously it’s no secret that I had fallen ill around the time that Everything In Transit was finished and was coming out. So pretty much it took me several months to kind of recover from that and deal with all the things that went along with that. And then of course you know, I wanted to get back on the road and really make sure that people had heard Everything In Transit, so I started really working that record and touring tons of dates a year to support “Transit,” while kind of concurrently starting to write and record The Glass Passenger. So there was sort of this strange limbo period where I had my hands in a lot of things and was doing a lot and obviously still trying, while my body was bouncing back, I was still sort of dealing with some of the stress and trauma that goes along with, you know, having recovered and gone through what I had dealt with and getting sick, so, that’s where the content came from, in a lot of respects; that sort of inner-personal struggle of trying to find my place in the world after a pretty traumatic event and in a lot of ways trying to use the music to propel me forward and to get me past this.

BLAST: Are you going to continue writing more mature songs or do you prefer writing similar to your earlier, lighter songs?

AM: I was 17, 18 years old when I was in Something Corporate, you know. Obviously by the time we had put it on hiatus I was turning 21 and becoming an adult and all the things that go along with it. I guess mature is a word. I’ve always, since I was nine years old and started writing songs, have written songs about what I’m dealing with at that point in my life. When you’re 17, you’re writing songs about what it’s like to be in love at 17 and what’s really more relevant at 17 than love: getting into relationships and then breaking them off and the pain of that and all that stuff. Not to say that that stuff isn’t very relevant too, but obviously the approach, when you start getting older; now I’m 26, I’ll be 27 in the summer, it’s like … I write songs from the perspective of a 26 year old now, not a 16 year old. So yeah, I think I’ll continue to grow hopefully and continue to write songs that represent who I am, not songs that intentionally hearken back to some old sentiment, I guess.

BLAST: So what are the songs that you’re writing now about?

AM: The songs I’m writing now about … it’s kind of hard to say. I haven’t really gone in and recorded too much. I went into a recording session recently that was kind of groovy. We ran a bunch of old material we had an accumulated over the course of four or five years. Two of the songs very well may make a new record, but those are obviously older tracks. I think now a lot of these songs are sort of angled around love and about relationships, but I think from a very different perspective. I think that in a lot of ways about real love and what goes along with that and what goes along with you know really being committed to someone and something and sort of how that can be idealized, but sometimes that ideal isn’t always the reality and sort of trying to approach that and analyze it from that level which is sort of the first time I’ve really gotten to do that because obviously The Glass Passenger was about something very different.

BLAST: Are you experimenting with any new sounds?

AM: The sounds I find myself gravitating towards now more than ever are really rich, warm and natural sounds. I think the studio for me is always my second home if you consider I tour anywhere from six to 10 months a year. I’ll spend the remaining months in the studio, regardless of whether I’m recording for an album or just trying to work out some new material and stuff. I find myself sort of slowly gravitating away from the more rigid recording structure, not to say avoiding pro-tools all together or things like that, but I think pro-tools have created this safety net for a lot of bands and a lot of artists to not accomplish and not achieve the sounds on their own and I think my perspective, especially after having been on the road for so long, in these past few years playing with a really talented band, I think you’ll find me going into studio recording more live and recording with less effects and you know less processing and all of these things and really kind of focusing on nailing the sounds and nailing the take and really kind of making it about the magic of the take instead of spending months and months and months and month working on the song and working in the effects. I think I’m kind of getting away from that style.

BLAST: You must have had an interesting end to 2008 — you kind of got sucked into Twilight-mania.

AM: Yes I did sort of, didn’t I? (laughs)

BLAST: Tell me a little bit about working with Stephenie Meyer on the making of the “The Resolution” music video.

AM: It was one of these things where I had a friend of mine who had notified me, this is probably months before I got involved with Stephenie, that Stephenie was a fan of Jack’s Mannequin and that she had made reference to Jack’s either on her website or in the thank you’s in one of her books as being an inspiration for a character or whatever, we were on a play list or something like that. I heard this and at that point didn’t really know much about “Twilight” and while it was obviously a huge phenomenon throughout the country and probably the world and what-not, I don’t think it had quite broken the surface yet. As the months wore on, obviously I was sort of realizing how big a deal this whole thing was and about the same time we were searching for video treatments for “The Resolution” and frankly hadn’t really found one that we clicked with. It was sort of a frustrating process and I was trying to kind of sort it out and we started talking; myself and the label, we started talking about, “Is there anything we could do that would be different and cool and clever that might invigorate this process, and maybe it isn’t just going to video treatments, maybe we reach out to the musicians from another band we like or we reach out to film directors or actors or other people we know?,” that sort of thing. In that conversation, I was like, “Well you know, this woman who writes these books that have sold millions of copies is a purported fan of Jack’s Mannequin. Maybe we could reach out to her. She’s an author, I’m sure she could come up with something cool.” And then of course, it was sort of a pipe dream, I guess, in a sense. I mean I wasn’t really thinking of it on the grander scale of how huge she really was. Sure enough, we reached out, and she was like, “Sure, that sounds great,” and she sent in three treatments and we loved one of them and she ended up coming out and co-directing the video for us.

BLAST: How involved was Stephenie in the process of filming the video?

AM: It wasn’t like she was behind the camera, you know, she’s an author. There was this guy named Nobel Jones who is a director and she was on set the whole time, she obviously wrote the treatment, and she and Nobel collaborated quite a bit as far as the execution of her vision and how she wanted it to look. She was definitely there and approving shots and giving her opinion of certain shots as we went along, so she was definitely a part of the production and the directing of the video, sure.

CAMBRIDGE — As I walked into the Plough and Stars about a month ago I felt slightly ill at ease. The cover was $7, and the space was packed. With little room to move, I worked my way to the front to meet singer Andrea Gillis.

Gillis immediately raised my confidence in the place and in the evening. She firmly shook my hand and apologized ahead of time for her cold and (therefore) “bad performance.”

I got my gin and tonic and waited for the set. There was barely any room to stand. Suddenly, the band started with the first song “Used Up” from her recent album Want Another?

So far, so good.

Gillis’s voice had a raspier sound to it because of her cold, but it seemed to work in her favor. Despite of her bad spirits and physical illness, Gillis lead a stunning performance. She rocked. The band rocked. The little house they played at was rocked. People hollered with excitement at each song.

The songs were filled with soul and her voice with power. Gillis’ sound is a mix between soul, blues and garage rock. You wouldn’t know the singer was feeling under the weather the way her voice carried through the air. I couldn’t believe how powerful she sounded.

With bassist Michelle Paulhus, guitarists Melissa Gibbs and Charles Hansen along with drummer, Bruce Caporal, Gillis’ band introduces new popularity to the co-gendered band. The throng of fans that was previously growing restless in the crowded space was now dancing and singing. One drunken guest was even shouting with the upbeat songs and swaying his lighter until realizing he was indoors.

Everyone seemed to have fun. We were really dancing our hearts out during one of her Tina Turner covers as well as her original hard-rocking songs like “Gin and Tonic.”

Andrea Gillis has been performing for 10 years and is due to release a new record soon. She opened for J. Geils and was the first band to play at the House of Blues in Boston.

If you want to hear her tunes, check out her website or MySpace.

A ukulele, a stove, a set of spoons, the autoharp, the upright bass — these are just a few of the instruments up-and-coming artist, Rachel Goodrich, has in her repertoire.

It doesn’t seem quite so unusual when you realize this is a girl who records her music video in a ladybug costume, “just for fun.”

Born and raised in the Sunshine State — Miami to be specific — Goodrich definitely does not need to worry about Seasonal Affective Disorder. With a healthy dose of sunshine on her face most days, Rachel says the warm weather has more than slightly shaped her music. “Keeps it a bit more upbeat,” she giggled.

Goodrich’s style is not typical of the area, but really neither is any other musician’s hailing from South Beach. It’s a mix of electronic, Latin fusion, funk, and the worldly sounding artists who line Lincoln Road, where Goodrich has spent countless hours buzzing her kazoo, strumming her ukulele, and crooning about life as she knows it.

She could play music on just about anything, probably even the kitchen sink if presented the challenge. It was a literal lack of instruments that fostered this resourceful creativity.

“I had to be inventive. I used to use the stove as a snare, made the best of what I had. Then I was like ‘Wow, this sounds much better than a snare.’ I stuck with it and enjoy those sounds a lot,” she said in a recent interview with Blast. She believes her music style is “a little different.” How different? Goodrich coined her own term to describe it: “shake-a-billy.” It makes you want to move your hips and, well, shake.

As for influences, she names Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Joni Mitchell, The Dead, and Dr. Seuss among the many.

Goodrich’s father played the guitar, and her grandmother, he piano, so there are at least a couple of musical genes in the family. Her parents fueled her musical passion by passing down numerous old-school vinyls, which she continued to collect, cherish, and idolize.

“I was introduced to (music) super young. Growing up, I thought it was part of being a child, regular, like taking piano lessons. I was like yeah I really want to play music,” she said. Rachel took action and started learning the guitar as a twelve year old. From there, she formed a few bands in high school and kept moving forward in the musical direction.

“It wasn’t until I was sixteen that I got really serious about it,” she recalled.

Goodrich left Miami for a brief academic stint in Gainesville, Fla. There, she tried her hand in the formal study of music, but found that it “stunted her growth.”

“Gainesville didn’t play a necessarily negative role,” she said, in a charmingly defensive manner. “It was just the whole small town, college party scene- it wasn’t my thing.”

Rather than going out eight nights a week to keg parties full of inebriated undergrads, Goodrich retreated to her bedroom for almost two years. There, basking in the creative silence of her own space, she “became truly acquainted with my records and music and real things and stuff.”

Goodrich returned to Miami and dabbled in jazz guitar. Despite honest intentions of continuing her studies, Rachel found herself fully immersed in the South Florida music scene. Now twenty-four years of age, her favorite place to play is Churchill’s Pub, a local joint. “It’s the best place ever. Everyone just kind of ends up there at the end of the night. Sometimes it’s just one big jam session. It’s awesome,” she said.

The past several years have been spent recording tunes in friends’ bedrooms, eventually releasing her first album, Tinker Toys, which dropped on her self-made label last October. Yellow Bear Records is the label, and Goodrich hopes to develop and grow it in time.

The story behind the name Yellow Bear is only fitting. Goodrich had been living in Gainesville at the time, hanging outside between classes (one can almost picture her: long shiny black hair, white retro sunglasses, skinny black jeans and converse sneakers– strumming the banjo) when a Native American man suddenly approached her and said “Me, I am Blue Bear. But you, you, you are Yellow Bear.”

“I thought I was hallucinating. I could have been,” said said.

While usually displaying an uninhibited and optimistic tone, Goodrich breaks her own mold in “The Black Hole,” a track with undeniably dark and downbeat undertones. Most of the album, she corrects, has dark undertones.

“It was a pretty weird moment when I wrote that song; it was a bright and sunny day but I wasn’t feeling so bright and sunny. Most of my songs are very related to events in my life. Sometimes I need an escape and it’s fun to tell a story,” Goodrich said.

What’s fun is being the listening ear to Goodrich’s many and colorful stories. In between our questions, Rachel inserted more than several “Oh mans” and “Ya knows.” It’s hard to tell if she’s an active participant or desperately reassuring herself. Either way, her manner is genuine and heartfelt.

As for a five-year plan, well, Goodrich has never even heard the phrase. Lucky her.

“I am so not aware of that term. I do live day by day. Wow! I mean, I do think it’s good to maybe set up some goals or, you know, things to look forward to- challenges and stuff. But no, I don’t plan ahead years I don’t think. No. No. I can’t even think…” and she trails off as if the here and now is all that is relevant.

A self-proclaimed “thinker,” Goodrich really does enjoy life — sudoku and good food among her many pleasures. The highlight of her most recent gig at the Heineken Transatlantic Music Festival was the spicy Jamaican food a fellow performer dished out.

As for all of that thinking, “It’s ok, but not great always. Either I am really excited and enjoying everything, or I am totally having an anxiety attack,” she said.

This sentiment seems all too familiar in the artist’s persona. Truly gifted musicians are, more often than not, conflicted, in one way or another. For Goodrich, the tedious tasks in life bring her down — like folding creases in sweaters at an old retail job, or the mixing of each individual track on her album.

No, Rachel Goodrich does not suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. She is an upbeat, positive young woman with a disposition as sunny as the state she calls home. Only by delving deep into her person, her lyrics, and her tone can one begin to sense what may be found beneath the sunny exterior- conflict, struggle, and thought. It is a rare bunch, however, which is so blessed and able to turn such complex talent into such beautiful music.

Listen for yourself. Buy Tinker Toys, and listen to every single word on every single track. You too will become one of Rachel Goodrich’s newest fans. You may even find yourself picking up a set of spoons and trying to make your own kind of music.

So what would she be doing if music weren’t an option? Goodrich says she’d be painting or doodling. For a long time she wanted to be a cartoonist, and was encouraged by her grandmother in that pursuit. “So for now I do both. If it’s not music, it’s art,” she said.

A moment passes and she nonchalantly adds, “or maybe I’d be a tollbooth collector or something.”

What happens when you mix a saucy female fiddle player from Ohio, a bearded rocker from Massachusetts and an intense adoration for Tenacious D? You end up with folk-rock duo honeyhoney featuring Suzanne Santo on violin and lead vocals and guitarist and co-singer Ben Jaffe.

Honeyhoney recently spent a couple minutes with Blast before their Boston show at the Paradise Lounge supporting Rocco DeLuca to talk about their debut album “First Rodeo,” tour and rock siblings.

“This tour has been so much fun because we’re playing with two incredible musicians “" Mike Greene and Wendy Wang. Basically they make us sound more like our record and they give us friendship” Santo said from a booth at the top of the bar after sound check, “Playing with a full band sounds more like ‘First Rodeo.’ After this when Ben and I [tour] just the two of us it’s a little bit different of a style.”

The road has been full of bumps and bruises for the band though, including having to sit out South by Southwest because Santo became ill shortly before the Austin festival.

“That was a pretty depressing moment for me because I didn’t even get to see a show let alone play a show. I was just deathly ill” Santo said.

Jaffe added, “At least every tour I’ve been on has been like a roller coaster. It’s very cyclical. Suzanne got sick for a little while and we had to cancel a bunch of shows. It’s a good time if it only sucks 30 percent of [the tour].”

After the DeLuca tour honeyhoney will immediately be hitting the road with Gavin DeGraw. All of the work on the road is to support “First Rodeo,” the duo’s debut album that came out last November on Ironworks records. The record’s framework is a series of stories written by Santo and Jaffe together and separately before recording the LP.

“I like to try and be as creative as possible. Generally it comes from imagery, describing a setting or a specific time. Sort of cinematic view, I like to pretend I’m in a movie and just describe little vignettes” Jaffe said.

Santo picked up right where he left off: “I actually get a little insecure about having a story be too specific when I’m writing a song. It’s sometimes a little more fun, more fulfilling if I add more fantasy to the story. At the same time I don’t feel like we have a specific process when we’re writing. It changes every time.”

Stories are not the only things that inspire honeyhoney. Jaffe and Santo are also huge fans of Tenacious D, the rock duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass.

“They are like our rock soul siblings!” exclaimed Santo but Jaffe corrected, “Except they have no idea we exist. What I love about them, first of all the music on any level is amazing. It doesn’t take itself seriously. It just has a lot of things I like about music and they’re hilarious.”

The hilarity is definitely something honeyhoney tries to include in their mixture, which becomes obvious when Santo tries to open the top of her beer with a water bottle cap but fails after several attempts. Eventually a bottle opener is found and the duo start making plans to get dressed for the show. Before they leave Santo leans across the table and answers why everyone should buy in to the honeyhoney flavor as if she’s about to whisper something top secret.

With a sly smirk she says quite bluntly, “It’ll get you laid.”

Do you have a better reason not to?

It’s 4:30 p.m when Rocco DeLuca strolls into the Paradise Lounge and claims that he has just woken up. He adjusts the fedora resting precariously on his head and takes a seat across the table in the empty booth. The Boston stop is one of the many headlining shows, with folk rockers HoneyHoney as tour support, DeLuca is playing to promote his new album “Mercy” which hit stores March 10.

“(The tour has been) great. Some really great people have been coming out. It’s been exciting to share the new record with people” DeLuca said.

The new record was recorded in California with five-time-Grammy-winning producer Daniel Lanois, who met DeLuca at a folk show he played in L.A.

“He’s a beautiful musician and an exceptional, innovative mind. We decided we were having fun and naturally it became the record ‘Mercy.’ It was pretty organic” said DeLuca of how his relationship with Lanois developed, “We did the record in 18 nights. (The songs) are performance pieces, basically a collection of songs I had written on the road. They are kind of like these mini-vignettes.”

“Mercy” is DeLuca’s follow up to 2006′s “I Trust You to Kill Me,” which sold over 100,000 copies. The debut album was also turned into a behind-the-scenes documentary with the same title. The documentary shows DeLuca’s travels around the world to promote the record with the help of label owners and promoters Jude Cole and Keifer Southerland (“24″). DeLuca spent a total of three years promoting the first album, using his drive to record a second album to get him through all those months on the road.

“I kept myself sane because I imagined the opportunity to make this record, ‘Mercy.’ The thought of getting another chance to make a record the way that I wanted to make it gave me some hope” DeLuca said.

Rolling Stone and Filter magazine have both hailed DeLuca for his unique songwriting ability and instrument style. DeLuca, in a soft spoken voice, explains that he does not really have a process for writing songs “" they just happen naturally.

“I’ll record conversations that I have that I feel might be meaningful. The melodies are (my) dreams. I’ll wake up humming something or something will stick. It’ll be a reoccurring thing and I’ll think, “ËœOkay this needs to be workshedded and wittled down’” DeLuca said.

Despite having been on the road for so long promoting “I Trust You to Kill Me,” DeLuca is excited to be back on tour with the new record.

“I was just excited about the opportunity to share the record with people. Maybe make some contribution that I thought was valid. That was the intention behind this record” he said. “It’s all kind of brand new but I’m hoping its something that we can share with a lot of people.”

DeLuca claims, adjusting the fedora on his head once more, the ultimate goal is not about glory and praise but just to make his music go as far as it possibly can. “I’m going for, for this form to reach its (peak, to try) and push it to its ultimate potential. That’s it.”

We’re sitting in the dark in a trailer outside of Boston’s Paradise Rock Club. The electricity is out in the trailer and the rest of the band is talking very quietly in the front while we conduct the interview in the back. Without even looking for a bottle opener, Ida Maria grabs a water bottle and uses it to pop the cap off her Sam Adams.

She continues telling me how she got started on the path to her first record, “Fortress Round My Heart,” without pausing to acknowledge she had just opened a beer bottle in one off the most innovative ways I had ever seen: “So I had this show booked and I didn’t have a band, I just had a bunch of songs. [...] I went back to Stockholm and was like looking for musicians everywhere. So I found these guys in Stockholm, basically. [...] I told these guys it was just going to be one gig, so that’s why they said yes, but we’ve been on tour for three years.”

Ida Maria (pronounced Ee-da) made a splash on the American music scene far before she physically walked onto its shores. Her song “Keep Me Warm” was featured in the season four finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” (“Grey’s” fans out there will recognize the song from when Derek found Meredith standing outside his camper) and she recently had a big interview with Rolling Stone.

The Norwegian artist waited three years to tour in the States, but said the wait was well worth it.

“It’s like the difference between reading a book and experiencing it, because I had a very certain frame of mind of how the States were before I came here, and when I came here that all changed,” Maria said. “I’m very surprised at how open and including and positive and social Americans are. [My experience with] Americans have mostly been tourists that come into tourists shops, that are talking really loud and are acting very “American.” Everything’s big and everything’s loud and everything. But I just have a totally different view of it now. I love to be here.”

Dressed in an oversized red flannel shirt, maroon leggings and short black boots, Ida Maria took the stage at the Paradise Rock Club March 31 opening for Glasvegas, her opening joke about Italians and the Boston mob met with silence. But the second she opened up her mouth and began to sing, the audience was held in rapture by her haunting voice, especially during her song “Stella,” a song she introduced as being about “love, religion and prostitutes.”

Everything came together when Maria played her hit single, “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked.” Those unfamiliar with Maria would have missed the shared smiles between the band members when the opening chords resonated through the venue, but the second Maria screamed “I won’t mind if you take off all your clothes/Come on, take them off/’Cause I like you so much better when you’re naked,” people were dancing along and bobbing their heads; singing along as if they knew the words even though they’d never heard the song before.

“I just wrote that song because I thought somebody needed to write it. It’s like, it’s so obvious,” Maria said. “It’s fun for me to tour and sing to people every night that I would like to see them more if they were naked.”

Though no one at the Paradise took the song literally, Maria said she had experiences where so many shirts were thrown on the stage there was a “mountain” around her, and once in Dublin when a guy skipped his clothes, went straight for his shoes and threw them at her face.

“But I love it when the guys start taking off their clothes. That’s just fucking amazing. That’s the whole point of the song, you know? The point isn’t that the girls are going to get undressed, it’s that the guys are going to show their… you know,” Maria said.

On Jan. 21, it was announced that Maria had won a Norwegian Grammy for “Best Newcomer of the Year.” Maria performed “Naked” at the ceremony but had a surprise from the award presenters after her performance.

“These two most famous TV presenters came walking out totally naked on live television. Their [genitals were covered ] but I didn’t know they were going to come out naked. It was weird. Some guy sued the TV stations because of that and stuff,” Maria said. “I’m just happy someone finally took [the song] literally.”

Maria will continue to tour in the US on the West coast throughout April, though she said she has started writing music for a potential sophomore album. She said the music will cover “strange topics” very different from “Fortress Round My Heart.” “I’m not even sure if I want to make another record,” she said. “We’ll see.”

Citing influence from Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Lou Reed, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, Maria said her music is more American than British or Scandinavian.

“As a European we get a lot of culture from the States: TV, films, and music, and we’ve all grown up watching American shows and American films and listening to American artists,” she said. “But if I look at my record collections, it’s definitely more American bands than English or French.”

Maria’s signature sound is very throaty vocals with occasional pops and cracks, which ends up sounding like a toned down version of her screaming. She said the band started out rehearsing in a small venue with no mics set up so she had to scream to hear herself over the drums, bass and guitar. “When I first did shows with the full band and stuff, I just continued singing like that, so it’s a bit of a coincidence or something,” she said.

The last song of her set at the Paradise, “Oh My God,” is definitely a screamer. Even after the last strums of guitar had faded away, Maria kept yelling “Oh my god!/Oh my god!/ Oh my god!” into the microphone, but by that point in the show, the audience was completely engrossed in her performance. After she left the stage, the man sitting next to me who was there to see Glasvegas said he was in awe. He had never heard of Ida Maria before but had thought she was fantastic.

When asked what she thought set her apart from the rest of the musicians out there, Maria said, “They say I’m different. I don’t know.”

Maybe a little bit of “different” is exactly what the American music industry needs right now.

It is only the fourth month of 2009, but the boys of Wild Light have been having quite an exciting year. Their first full-length, “Adult Nights ,” came out March 3, but in that time they have wrapped up their first national tour, rocked out at SXSW and have landed the coveted position of direct openers for The Killers on a 10-day stint across the country.

“Adult Nights” has received glowing reviews from everyone from SPIN to Rolling Stone and Billboard, but Wild Light co-frontman Timothy Kyle says there are some things that people haven’t talked about when it comes to the record.

Blast caught up with Kyle in a phone interview while he was getting ready to head in to Boston for tonight’s show to talk about the album, touring and what lies ahead for Wild Light.

“There’s some metaphysics in there. We speak in a vocabulary that comes from where we’re from. [New Hampshire] is definitely present, just in the language of the record.” Kyle said and expanded on the hardships that birthed the album.

“The songs were written over [years] before pre-production of the record. It was a time of real struggle for all of the band,” Kyle said. “[The record is about] putting yourself in the position to be extremely disappointed just going through that process really, I think that everyone goes through growing up. I think the record comes out of that. It’s about that kind of struggle.”

The struggles didn’t end for Wild Light when they finished writing the record. Their national tour was full of bumps and bruises, but at least the rumors they had cholera were false.

Apparently Kyle was responding to a college radio interviewer in Oregon Trail style about the tour when he brought up the disease, but no fatal illnesses were actually caught and no one sustained any snakebites.

“A lot of terrible things happened but nothing like that. We got robbed in Dallas. Our van broke down a couple times. What else? We had three 24 hour-plus drives. There were literally three blizzards.” Kyle said.

Despite problems along the way, Kyle said that the Tapes ‘N Tapes tour really prepared the band for what is coming next – opening for Las Vegas rockers The Killers.

Wild Light scored the gig via manager Mark Kates who pulled some strings with “old friends” in The Killers camp.

“Even he didn’t think there was a shot in hell that it would happen. It’s one of the most sought after opening slots around,” Kyle commented. “When we first got it I didn’t even really believe it. I was like “oh that’s great we’ll probably be the first of three and play a 20 minute set at 7:30 when no one is there.”

Instead, Wild Light will be a direct opener for the arena tour. They have a 45-minute set each night right before The Killers take the stage. The boys don’t really have a game plan for the tour but just to take it as it comes.

“We’ll just do our set. We’re just perfectly prepared for it,” said Kyle. “What we’ll just try to do is take advantage of the opportunity to be seen by between 10 and 15 thousand people a night and just try to rock it.”

You can catch Wild Light at Great Scott in Boston w/ Faces on Film and Arletta on April 8, 2009. Check out www.myspace.com/wildlight for more information.

The Camilo Project and its members, Jason “Camilo” Margaca and siblings Mark and Patrina Foley, are trying create something completely different.

With a sound that departs from your run-of-the-mill alternative, the Boston-based band features progressive hip hop beats while maintaining an alternative rock vocal style with lots of strings. Coined informally as “conscious alternative,” the fusion of unique styles from Reggae to old school Nintendo, to Rap and Rock meshes into a sound that becomes more complex with each listen.

This complexity comes from the group members’ varied backgrounds.

Margaca grew up listening to new age and ambient music. Other influences were varied, but most notably, he looked up to Dan Kenney, his childhood piano teacher who happened to be Britney Spears’ former musical director. With Kenney’s help, Margaca started his own music career 10 years ago as a rap producer with mixed results.

“I was working with kids who had a little different lifestyle than me,” Margaca said in a recent interview with Blast. “I had always loved beat reggae and rap, but some of the kids were doing things I didn’t want to be a part of.”

He ended up taking a three-year hiatus from the business only to come back to it with a passion in 2006. After refining his sound, Margaca ended up reconnecting with an old friend, Mark Foley. Mark’s background was more rock-based. Growing up, he was constantly listening to the Carpenters. Growing older, Mark has become obsessed with Gavin Rossdale and Radiohead. “I love when music has a melody mixed with a flow that you can groove to,” he said.

Together, Mark and Jason began early freestyle recordings. They recorded their first song, “Uptight,” which fused the boys’ freestyle abilities. It was at this point that Patrina Foley began to express interest in the early workings of The Camilo Project.

Patrina’s background was different still. Coming off a five-year stint with a “rootsy rock” band, Patrina brought a new dynamic to the group. Together, the trio began to record their self-titled debut album in summer 2007.

Something naturally clicked between these totally different styles. By November 2007, the group had recorded “Midnight Lover,” which proved to be the catapult for the rest of the album.

With the music video for “Midnight Lover” now completed (and another video for “Breathing” out soon), their CD on iTunes, and their music available on programs from Lastfm to Rhapsody, The Camilo Project’s hard work is starting to pay off.

The Boston-based trio features three distinct musicians with three distinct styles.

But fame and fortune isn’t necessarily the ultimate goal for Jason, Mark, and Patrina. The Camilo Project, above anything else, is striving to maintain the integrity of the music they create. Distinguishing themselves yet again, the group prides themselves on writing songs that come from personal experience, which helps them maintain a sense of soul that can seem lacking with other artists.

“Artists use the same progressions and same beats over and over again,” Margaca said. “Nobody is trying to be different anymore.”

This band really stands out. Check out their MySpace page for more info on shows and updates from this local act. You won’t be disappointed.

Before a recent An Horse show in their hometown of Brisbane, Kate Cooper, one-half of the Australian duo, was asked if she had ever been to the particular venue before.

“I had” she said in an interview with Blast a few days later. “I used to clean the toilets there.”

An Horse’s back story is a classic indie rock fairy tale. Call it “High Fidelity” meets “Slumdog Millionaire.” The band was conceived in a now-defunct record store in downtown Brisbane, and cultivated through a series of happy accidents that allowed Cooper and her band mate, Damon Cox, to go from working minimum-wage jobs and harboring rock star fantasies to landing a record deal and touring the United States.

Their debut full-length album, “Rearrange Beds” will be released in the States on March 17 and is already available on iTunes.

The pair met in 2005, when Cooper was hired at Skinny’s, a windowless independent record store in downtown Brisbane where Cox worked. (“We didn’t deserve to be called Skinny’s” Cooper quips. “We seriously went to work every morning and ate doughnuts.”)

When business was slow, they spent time bonding over a shared love of music, blaring mutual favorites like Nirvana and Metallica over the store’s speakers. Both admit they were probably less than stellar employees.

“We’d get a coffee in the morning and talk about a music all day” said Cooper, 29. “That was basically what we did.”

With both playing in their own bands — Cooper a singer/guitarist with Iron On and Cox a drummer with Intercooler and Mary Trembles — they became fast friends and regulars at each other’s shows.

They recall days spent driving around Brisbane, pretending they were famous musicians on their way to play a show for legions of adoring fans.

“I would ask Kate what city we were in” Cox said, with an audible trace of embarrassment. “It was kind of weird.”

In late 2007, Cox asked Cooper if she would be willing to perform solo as the opening act for one of his bands’ shows.

“She said, “ËœWell, why don’t you get up and play drums on a couple songs?’” he recalled. “And we, being the perfectionists that we are, had to have a few rehearsals before we could get up and play together. And we did, and it just really clicked.”

“We always had this idea in the back of our mind that maybe one day we’d like to try and write music together” said Cox, 32. “Once it happened, it just felt really good, and it kind of went from there.”

Using Skinny’s as a rehearsal space, the duo started practicing and writing songs together regularly.

“Even though we were busy working in the record store and doing other things we still always made time for An Horse practice, even though we didn’t even have gigs” said Cooper, who borrowed the band name from a grammatically-deficient sweatshirt she was once given.

By December, they were on a roll. On a whim, they decided to record a handful of songs with a friend in Brisbane and completed a five-song EP, with no plans to ever officially release it. But Cooper slipped a copy of the unfinished demos to Tegan and Sara Quin of indie duo Tegan & Sara, who coincidentally were playing a show in Brisbane the night they finished recording. Cooper had kept in touch with the Canadian twins after meeting them months prior when they gave an in-store performance at Skinny’s.

After hearing the EP, the Quins asked Cooper and Cox to be the opening act on their upcoming tour of the United States. To say the offer took them by surprise would be an understatement. An Horse had only played one show — an in-store performance at Skinny’s a week after they finished the EP to mark the store’s closing, with Cooper’s and Cox’s other bands rounding out the lineup. But they accepted anyway.

“We were at a point where … we still only had like seven songs or something, so we had to write some more so we’d have a full set to play” Cox recalled.

During the “Out of Hibernation” tour in the spring of 2008, Cox and Cooper found themselves playing mid-size venues across the United States with Tegan & Sara. It paved the way for them to spend much of the second half of the year touring on their own in the U.S. and Australia, including an appearance at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York during which, Cooper said, she was “literally dying” with a bad case of the flu.

Tegan and Sara Quin continue to be An Horse’s biggest cheerleaders. Sara in particular offered feedback during the recording of “Rearrange Beds” last summer and was instrumental in the band signing with Mom & Pop, a fledgling indie label based in New York. She also devoted several weeks to doing A&R work for An Horse at the end of last year.

Despite the help they’ve gotten on the business end of things, though, Cooper and Cox say they’re not looking to expand their core lineup any time soon.

“I don’t think Damon and I ever really made a conscious decision we would start a two-piece” Cooper said. “It was like, oh, let’s play music together, and we did. And it just fit really well and worked. … We thought it sounded great just the two of us and we didn’t need anyone else.”

When From Autumn to Ashes front man Fran Mark and guitarist Rob Lauritsen began writing together after 2007′s “Holding a Wolf By the Ears,” they intended to write the next From Autumn to Ashes record. What came out was an even harder showcase of guitar and screaming vocals than From Autumn to Ashes had ever put out before. It soon became apparent that the material wasn’t in the same line of their previous work and the band split before putting it out.

Mark and Lauritsen took their newfound writing companionship and formed “ËœWarship’.

“Out of the five members, Rob and I were the only two people into the same things at the time. We just kind of drifted apart from the other guys. We were the only two who had a similar vision,” Mark told Blast at a recent Harper’s Ferry show in Allston, Mass.

Still signed to Vagrant records, the duo put out their first LP, “Supply and Depend,” in November 2008. The new record featured raw, gripping, metal guitar licks supporting Mark’s screaming social conscious lyrics to create a sound plunging farther into hardcore and metal than From Autumn to Ashes ever dreamed of.

“I really like a lot of heavier [stuff],” Mark said. “I love heavier music. I think Rob writes guitar parts that just lend themselves to it. When I was putting vocals to old [From Autumn to Ashes] songs I sang a lot more because the guitar parts sort of asked for it but Rob’s really into really “Ëœdoomy metal’.”

Touching on themes like suicide, war and age old societal issues, Mark explains that having a microphone in your hand means having an opportunity to make an impact.

“You have an opportunity to have people’s attention. It’s a responsibility to put out a positive message. You don’t necessarily have to be preachy but it’s important to use it as a tool,” he said.

Even the band’s name is an effort to create awareness with their fans. “ËœWarship’ is a play on the word “Ëœworship’, an attempt for Mark to make people evaluate the role of religion in their own lives and in the life of society as a whole.

“I had a religious upbringing, but then in my teens the whole thing started to feel a little off,” Mark explained in a recent press release. “I feel like religion should be a personal thing, and a tool to bring people together, and have people take care of each other, and respect each other, but it’s not. It becomes a tool of segregation, a political tool, and people use it to gain power over one another, and that’s off the mark.”

While Warship wants to avoid being directly political, they do have Ralph Nader listed in their Top 8 on Myspace and admit to being skeptical about the new administration.

“We’ll see. I think this stimulus plan is never going to work. I think they have some good ideas but we’ll see how it pans out,” Mark said.

Currently, Warship is spreading social consciousness on tour. The band missed the first couple dates of their current tour with Goblin Cock due to their van breaking down in West Virginia on Super Bowl Sunday. Since re-connecting with the tour, Mark says that he enjoys being on the road again and exploring the harder sound.

Jd Webb has been on the music scene since childhood, developing talents for piano, guitar and drums, as well as signing and songwriting. He has steadily risen to stardom as a solo artist, and also with his former band Raze. His award-winning music has attracted other artists, such as Michael McDonald, and the attention of the hit soap opera, “Days of Our Lives,” for which he writes music. Now, Webb is signed with Infinite Music group and is set to release his first solo album, aptly named “The Introduction,” this spring. In the midst of a busy NBA All-Star Weekend performance schedule, he took the time to talk with Blast and look back on his career so far.

BLAST: You’re on the brink of releasing your first solo album, which must provoke a lot of reflection on your career up until now. What’s the journey been like?

JD WEBB: Well the journey – it’s like the saying “the best of times, the worst of times” – it’s been amazing playing the shows that I’ve played throughout my career. So there’s been a lot of highs just from the fan reception and doing the whole live show experience. There’s been some scandal associated with my former band, so those were definitely been some low points. It’s been amazing so far, but I’m so excited now, because now I’m in control of my own music destiny and it’s all the songs that I’ve written and produced and arranged. I’m really excited about it. It’s definitely the most authentic of anything people have heard to date.

BLAST: It seems like all musicians know they want a life in music from very early on, was that the case with you?

WEBB: Yeah, in fact, I come from a very musical family. Everybody in my family sings and plays instruments, so I did my first concert when I was three years old. My mom and sisters had a group, so everyone summer we would leave Hawaii and get on a bus and my mom and my sisters would go from church to church. At 10 years old I was their drummer and would be their opening act. So I guess it’s been the only option, it’s in our blood, I can’t imagine anything else.

BLAST: As far as I’m aware, you play piano, guitar and drums. Do you have a favorite?

WEBB: Piano is my first love, so I always find myself going back to piano. But I mean, playing drums and growing up taking drum lessons – that helped me in production – but there’s nothing like sitting somewhere, just me and the piano. That to me is the high.

BLAST: Do you have any other musical talents? A hidden passion for the clarinet maybe?

WEBB: (Laughing) No, no, I would say that’s it. There are other instruments that I would love to play. I’d love to be at the place where I’m like, ‘I’d love to go and do some tuba on this song,’ and I’m able to go and pick it up. I’d love to just take another instrument and see if I can tackle that one next. Not necessarily the tuba, but just another instrument.

BLAST: Songwriting isn’t a talent every performer can claim, do you think that sets your music apart?

WEBB: Absolutely. Some people say that they’re a singer first or a songwriter first, but I think for me it really goes hand-in-hand. I’ve written music for other artists, I’ve written music for television and film, and I love the artistry and the poetry in songwriting. I think there’s an honestness that really comes through and is conveyed when as an artist you perform your own original material. Nobody can experience what I’ve experienced, so I feel like all-in-all, there’s a lot of stories that only I can tell. It gives it authenticity.

BLAST: This is a little cliche, but do you find that certain experiences give you more the write about?

WEBB: You know, it’s funny, I feel like I’m just like a sponge – I’m always people watching, I’m always kind of looking at the picture on the outside looking in. In LA I like going to the 3rd street promenade and the walk on Venice Beach because there’s so much character and so much personality. I love just getting inside people’s heads and being like, ‘Wow, I wonder what that couple’s story is’ or ‘I wonder what that girl’s story is,’ and then going and expounding on that. Also, there’s a lot of true life experiences – things that have happened to me or things that have happened to my friends that will draw inspiration. I just feel like inspiration is everywhere. I write constantly.

BLAST: Your music spans a few different genres, which isn’t something you see often, where does that come from? Do you have any particular influences, or is it just a passion for all music?

WEBB: Well, I grew up listening to gospel music and Motown and R&B, so that’s probably my first inspiration. But I had friends who were totally into the rock scene, I had friends who were totally into the Smiths and the Cure, so I think I was able to draw on all of those different things. Still, out of all of it, soul and R&B is just what I breathe.

BLAST: Do your experiences with Raze have a big impact on what you do now?

WEBB: You know, I’m sure they do, probably even more subconsciously. I think I’m really careful to watch people and look at what’s going on. Especially on the road, people can get crazy and things can get crazy as I’ve experienced from what happened in my band. I think I’m a lot more attentive.

BLAST: You’ve performed with a lot of other bands and solo artists, do any of them stand out to you?

WEBB: Of course, Michael McDonald. I’ve always been such a fan of his music. Seeing him play, and just the honesty behind his music and the fact that he plays with a full band or it could just be him at the keyboard, whatever he’s doing is amazing. And to see that he’s just as cool of a guy behind the scenes – I think that really stood out to me.

BLAST: What’s it like working as the songwriter for “Days of our Lives”?

WEBB: This week alone there were two songs on the show: one that I wrote and performed and the other that I wrote and one of the characters performed on the show. It’s great, it’s like a whole other world of writing because for me as an artist, I draw from whatever I’m feeling and go from there. This is kind of working backwards, where I’ll get a topic and it’s like, ‘OK the song needs to be about this.’ I think it’s even stretched me more as a writer because to still bring artistry into that and to keep it from being mundane. It’s been really exciting.

BLAST: You give your fans a lot of opportunities for free downloads of your music. In an industry that’s fighting a losing battle against illegal downloading, that definitely sends a message to your fans. What’s your thinking behind this?

WEBB: I feel like the fact that my fans spend time…to tell others about me and to spread the word and get involved, and even coming to shows and listening to the music, and just the excitement – I want to give back and just let them know how much I appreciate it. As they give of themselves, I want to give back. I feel like there’s a ton of music to listen to and the fact that they’ve gravitated to my music and there’s a message their that’s touched them – that in tun touches me, and I just want to let them know that I’ve got mad love for them too.

It was a half an hour before they were set to take the stage at Boston’s Harper’s Ferry, but the band members of A Cursive Memory weren’t wasting time stressing over their upcoming performance. After all, there were zombies to be killed and no time to waste.

“Since Colin (Vocalist and guitar player Colin Baylen) got the PS3, we have done nothing but play ‘Nazi Zombies’ from ‘Call of Duty: World at War’,” confessed Shaun Profeta, 19, who plays guitar and sings alongside Baylen, who’s also 19. “Like literally. I wake up and I’m thinking about killing zombies. I go to sleep, and I’m thinking about killing zombies. And while I’m sleeping, I’m dreaming about killing zombies. I’m playing a show on stage, and I’m thinking about killing zombies.”

They were required to take a respite from the murder and mayhem Wednesday night as they took the stage in Allston. They tried to make a shout out to the game during their performance, but the audience dominated by girls who looked at Baylen with blank stares as he asked who had ever heard of “Nazi Zombies.”

“We’re the band where (people ask), ‘Hey, do you want to go to this chick’s house,” Baylen said, “and we’ll be like, ‘Umm, yeah, we’re actually going to this different chick’s house.”

“And we’re actually playing ‘Nazi Zombies,” Profeta confessed.

“Bands hate us,” added Mark Borst-Smith, 20, who is the bassist and keyboardist for the group.

Profeta, Baylen, Borst-Smith and drummer Brian Bolen formed A Cursive Memory when they were in seventh grade. Back then their band was called Sincerely Me and not The Vagrants, contrary to information on Wikipedia.

Baylen said the band wrote and recorded most of the songs they perform now when the band first got together six years ago.

“By the time we were seniors we had a record done, and by the time we left high school we had a record contract and we were signed to Vagrant (Records) and on tour the summer after high school,” he said.

Drummer Dillan Wheeler, 20, eventually replaced Bolen. Profeta, played drums in between Bolen’s departure and Wheeler’s arrival.

A Cursive Memory was the first band to be signed by M-Music, the music management provision of Bunim/Murray Productions — the company behind shows like “The Real World” and “The Simple Life.”

The band’s managers incorporate their singles into the various television shows produced by Bunim/Murray and then allow viewers to go to websites like MTV Overdrive to find out what the songs were. Profeta said it was a good opportunity for the band to gain recognition.

“We’ve been their first project,” Profeta said. “They put some of our music at the end of some of the TV shows and it’s like, kids will watch their favorite show and hear a song and [...] if they liked it then they will check [the band] out.”

Profeta is the younger brother of ex-Hellogoodbye drummer Chris Profeta. He said Chris’ experience with Hellogoodbye allowed A Cursive Memory to understand what type of people they should and should not gravitate towards.

A Cursive Memory’s first tour was opening for bands like Hellogoodbye, Boys Like Girls and The Rocket Summer in 2007.

“For a first tour for such a young band, that was something cool that my brother and his band helped us actually get and do and that was really cool,” said Profeta.

A Cursive Memory’s performance on Feb. 18 was their third time returning to Boston. They said though they weren’t fans of Boston sports, they enjoyed their time in Boston Wednesday. It was an abnormally warm day for this cold Boston winter, so it was almost as though the Los Angeles-based band brought a bit of California to the east coast with them.

“Respek,” A Cursive Memory’s first EP, was released in 2007. The album derives its title from an episode of “Da Ali G Show” that the band quotes as an inside joke.

Baylen said the idea for the title came when the band was trying to come up with a name for the album, and someone said, “Respek! What should we call it?” The name stuck after that.

“You’re the first person that’s ever asked or ever brought up the (reference), so that’s kind of cool,” said Profeta of the album. “Not a lot of people know that EP, either.”

Their full-length album, “Changes,” was released almost a year ago on Feb. 19, 2008.

The band said they have big plans ready following the conclusion of the tour.

“I think once we wrap up this tour, we’re going to build a spaceship,” Baylen said.

“There’s a really great recording studio on the moon,” said Profeta.

“Yeah, drums sound amazing there,” agreed Wheeler.

All joking aside, Baylen said they would definitely begin working on a new album when they conclude the tour.

“I feel like we’re all so much more focused,” said Profeta. “Before we didn’t really know what we were, what A Cursive Memory was. We’ve found sort of our niche and our sound for the next record. We’re definitely excited.”

As for the influence of the song, some of their enthusiastic gaming might find a way to leak itself onto the new record.

“(A song) about a Nazi zombie?” asked Profeta. “I’m pretty sure there’s already three of them written. There’s nothing subtle about it.”

Boston band Vivian Darkbloom looks like most other rock groups, but if you look closely, something might catch your eye: the Nintendo Wii controller attached to the guitar.

Guitarist Rob Morris, with the help of a laptop, some software, and a bit of Velcro, can move, shake, or tilt his souped-up guitar to change its sound on the fly.

Here’s basically how it’s done (read the Globe story for full details):

Notice anything different? Photo ‚© 2009 The Boston Globe

1. Attach the remote to the guitar: Duct tape works. Velcro is a little fancier. Don’t let it fall off on stage.

2. Make the Wiimote and computer talk: Morris runs “Bluetooth Setup Assistant” on his Mac.

3. Software: The Max/MSP multimedia suite to translate the controller’s motions into any guitar effect he wants. Besides pitch and echo, he likes the “granular synthesis” effect, which can create blips and beeps that sound like old video games.

4. Convert to audio: Plug the guitar and laptop into a PreSonus Firebox, and connect the Firebox into an…

5. Amp: Turn it on and rock out!

Vivian Darkbloom plays tonight at 7:30 as part of the Boston Music Spotlight Live series at Olivers Nightclub at the Cask ‘n Flagon. 21+. $10 at the door.

Click here to read John’s story in the Boston Globe.

It was 1999 in the Chicago suburb of Champaign, Il, when Steve Holmes, Steve Lamos, and Mike Kinsella, collectively known as American Football, set out to record their debut album with Polyvinyl Records.

It would be the only full-length album the trio made together, but the self-titled LP with songs like “Never Meant” would become staples in the underground Chicago scene. Out of the American Football ashes Kinsella created a solo project – Owen — that has forged its own place in the windy city’s indie hall of fame.

Some have gone so far as to credit Owen as being “The Inventor of the Chicago Indie Scene”, but when Kinsella talked to Blast he said the accolade was far from the truth. In fact, he suggested “The Passenger of Chicago Public Transportation” or “The Consumer of Chicago Style Pizza” are more appropriate titles.

“There was already a thriving indie scene in Chicago, and it’s surrounding suburbs, way before I knew what ‘indie’ or ‘math rock’ was. I spent my youth going to see all these bands and trying to learn their songs.” Kinsella said, and countered that the Chicago scene made a huge impression on him rather than the other way around.

“It had a huge influence on me: musically, socially, morally, in my formative years and I definitely felt connected to it then,” he said.

After American Football disbanded, Kinsella went solo. Owen became less about musical experimentation but more about an artist finding and creating his own sound.

Still signed to Polyvinyl Records, Kinsella took the money designated to record his first album to create a home studio. Kinsella recorded all the instrumentation in the comfort of his living room and the outcome was “Owen” (2001).

While it created some buzz, it was the second album, “No Good For No One,” released the following year that secured Owen a spot in the souls of the broken hearted everywhere. Once again, Kinsella took the money arranged from his label and used it to expand his home studio and recorded the entire album there.

Lines like “You’ve got everything you came for/Warm arms, a warm bed to fall into/when you can’t get what you did out of your head” (“Nobody’s Nothing”) are propelled by Kinsella’s heartfelt voice over intricate acoustic guitar melodies. From the first album to the second, Kinsella expounded upon his lyrical technique, using each track to tell a story.

“The lyrics usually come out one slow line at a time, and after I have a few strung together that I like I figure out what the song is about. It can be as vague as ‘a night out at a bar with friends’ or as specific as ‘feeling guilty about not wanting to shake the homeless man’s hand because he smelled.’ Once the idea is formed, then I fill in the rest of the lines, trying to keep them as concise as possible while still saying what I want to say,” Kinsella explained.

Kinsella said he doesn’t start making a record with a specific theme in mind, but his albums tend to have a similar tone dependant on what he is doing or where he is in his life when he is working on the album.

Assisting with Kinsella’s own lyrical potency is his tendency to draw on literary figures. “No Good For No One Now” is decorated with references to everyone from Raymond Carver to Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway.

“Usually I’m attracted to a specific line in a story and create my own context for it. Sometimes then the actual line works its way into the song and sometimes the song exists as a reference to the sentence or book. I find myself returning to Gabriel Garcia Marquez [author of "Love in the Time of Cholera"] for inspiration. I’m a sucker for love stories and everything he writes seems to gravitate around the concept of Love,” Kinsella said.

Lyrically, Kinsella has progressively moved away from the tales of heartbreak. From “No Good for No One Now” to “I Do Perceive” (2004) to “At Home With Owen” (2006) the content becomes less about the one that got away and more of the stories of someone slowly finding their way into their own skin. Songs like “Use Your Words” and “Windows and Doorways” breathe more like messages of moving on rather than being entrenched in heartbreak.

“It’s a result of me being more comfortable with myself than I was however many years ago ‘No Good’ came out. At that time I had recently figured out how to make myself happy but I was still feeling really guilty about it, so I was always sort of conflicted. Nowadays I think I communicate better, which makes my happiness less qualified,” said Kinsella about the change.

“At Home With Owen” also became the first album where Kinsella left his mother’s house to record anything. He split the recording of the album in half, opting to do part of it still in his living room and the other in a professional studio, which allowed him more options. In the end, “At Home” has a much more filled out sound than the previous Owen records. The use of more guitar and bass gives the album more of a full band feeling, but Kinsella says he’s happy with the final outcome.

“I’m definitely more comfortable recording at home for a number of reasons – I can do as many takes as I want without feeling like I’m wasting someone else’s time. I’m generally uncomfortable singing in front of anyone else. I can not put pants on that day if I don’t want to. I can take breaks if I get frustrated without feeling like I’m wasting money. That said, the final product that comes out of a studio makes me happier than the one that comes out of my house.” Kinsella said.

Two years since his last release, the world does not have much longer to wait to see where Kinsella ends up with the next Owen LP. Recording is slated to be complete by March with a tentative summer or early fall release date, Kinsella said. While fans can be sure to expect the same signature Owen lyrical honest intensity, some new influences in Kinsella’s life may provide view to yet another new Owen dimension.

“My wife and I are having a baby in late March and while I’m sure the birth of my daughter will inspire me in countless ways,” Kinsella said. “I can’t say for sure that’ll it’ll inspire me to continue to be a ‘starving artist’.”

You dread when you hear it on the radio because you know it is going to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Yet when the first riffs mixed with syncopated drum beats hit your speakers and you start asking yourself, “Am I more than you bargained for yet?” rather than changing the dial, you know you’re stuck already and every few minutes until you sleep that night will be a chorus of Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar, We’re Going Down.”

Despite how you might feel about Fall Out Boy, there is no denying they have a tendency to be infectious. Now their fourth album, “Folie A Deux,” is out in stores and the first just-as-catchy single “I Don’t Care” has already hit the airwaves. Whether this latest record will go down in history as the biggest sell out of the generation or punk-emo martyrs for the masses has yet to be determined, but try and find someone who doesn’t know the words to one of their songs. Just try.

When the Chicago foursome first got together in 2001, they had no idea they’d turn out to be a tour de force of the emerging music scene. The group started when guitarist Joe Trohman and bassist Pete Wentz decided to leave their previous hardcore bands to pursue more melodic musical initiatives.

Trohman passed Wentz along to young, extreme side-burned future vocalist Patrick Stump, but the band didn’t finalize their line up with drummer Andy Hurley until they went into the studio to record their debut full length “Take This To Your Grave”.

The album was the bleeding heart soundtrack for “emo” kids everywhere, starting with a large cult-like following in small clubs in Chicago and gradually spreading outwards. The sound was rough and unpolished, but catchy. It was really the heartbreaking honesty of songwriter and band spokesperson Wentz’s lyrics that captured the attention of every teenager out there that was dissatisfied with the tragic life of suburbia and needed a more potent therapy than the Good Charlotte and Simple Plan themes blasting from the airwaves at the time.

Songs like “Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy)” and “Dead On Arrival” with words like, “I’m willing to take my chances on the hope I forget you hate him more than you notice I wrote this for you” and “I know I’m not your favorite record but the songs you grow to like never stick at first so I’m writing you a chorus” began finding themselves on mix CDs, scribbled on notebooks, and being screamed out by kids packed like sardines into small clubs across the country.

It was only a matter of time before the Wilmette, Illinois quartet was a household (or rather chat room) name for every young person daring to call him- or herself “scene”.

Fall Out Boy spent two years touring behind “Take This To Your Grave” before returning to the studio to make its follow-up: “From Under The Cork Tree” (the title borrowed from “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf, one of Wentz’s favorite childhood books).

Having grown up a bit from playing the local venues of downtown Chicago, “From Under the Cork Tree” came out with a much more mature sound. The guitars are tighter and overall musicianship was stepped up a notch as Stump seemed to be growing comfortably into his roll as arranger for the band.

The sophomore album was a display of growth for the boys, a snapshot of the past two years of their lives featuring appearances from hometown buddy and The Academy Is… lead singer William Beckett and a fresh out of high school Panic(!) at the Disco front man Brendon Urie. “From Under the Cork Tree” also debuted FOB’s first attempt at a slow song (“I’ve Got A Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (summer song)”) and Wentz once again delivered with lyrics that went straight to the soul of every angsty kid who had ever felt not good enough, “I took a shot and didn’t even come close at love and hope. And the poets are just the kids who didn’t make it, who never had it at all.”

Blast reporter‚ Christine Cassis gives her top 10 list of music that is going to hit it big in 2009.

1. Ida Maria

Ida Maria Borli Sivertsen is a Norwegian rocker whose smash hits “OhMyGod” and “Stella” have propelled her to sold out shows, a performance at the Glastonbury Festival, and a nomination for Best Rock/Indie Artists at the BT Digital Music Awards in 2008. Her catchy punk and alternative rock tunes will cross the pond with her January tour. Stops include U.S. appearances in L.A., Hollywood, and New York. The self-proclaimed Queen of the World’s latest single, “Better When You’re Naked” has nearly 730,000 plays on MySpace.

2. VV Brown

2009 just might be the year for foreign artists crossing over into the States’ music scene, which would explain the popularity London-based VV Brown has had with her hit single “Crying Blood.” The British artist, who was born to Caribbean parents, chose to follow her passion for music instead of attending top-notch universities such as Oxford, saying she refuses to be a “puppet of institutionalized intelligence.” The established song-writer had written top ten hits under the alias name Geeki for artists like The Pussy Cat Dolls and British pop sensation The Sugababes. VV Brown’s debut album “Traveling Like The Light” is scheduled for a May 2009 release after “Crying Blood” has left fans thirsting for more. VV Brown was nominated for the BBC’s Sound of 2009 award alongside acts like Lady Gaga and Kid Cudi. Adele was the recipient of the award in 2008.

3. Meiko

This Georgia-native singer/songwriter climbed her way to a number 35 spot on iTunes Top 100 Albums chart in 2007 without the help of a record label. In 2008, Meiko signed a deal with MySpace Records/DGC to release an album in partnership with her own indie label, Lucky Ear. She’s performed at Sundance Film Festival where Paste Magazine editor Josh Jackson declared her a “big success story” waiting to happen. Since then, her music has rocked L.A. radio stations’ playlists and the tunes have been a regular on primetime television hit series like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “One Tree Hill.” Meiko has toured with prominent female artists of her genre such as Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles, and her success has gained herself a spot at SXSW. In 2009 she will tour with Joshua Radin performing her number one iTunes folk song “Boys with Girlfriends.” Soon, you won’t be able to get her out of your head.

4. Britney Spears

As the reigning princess of pop celebrates her ten-year anniversary on the scene, it will be hard to escape her in 2009. With the highly anticipated “come back tour” and her newly released album, “The Circus Starring Britney Spears,” taking the country by storm this March, Spears’ is sure to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Whether she is successful or fails at her comeback world tour, this pop tart is sure to have you hooked with her always-catchy-choruses and feel-good dance beats.

5.‚  Kevin Rudolph

It seems anything Lil’ Wayne touches turns to gold, and Kevin Rudolf is no exception to that. The American singer/song-writer and record producer’s debut single “Let It Rock” reached the number five spot on the Billboard Hot 100 late in 2008 with the help of his rapper friend, Lil’ Wayne. Not much is known about Rudolf, other than a laundry list of artists he’s work with as either a producer, writer, or guitarist (Timbaland, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake, The Neptunes, to name a few), including what he looks like; he is barely visible in the music video for his first single and his MySpace hosts only photos of a Rudolf sporting oversized shades. But, the mystery seems to work in his favor; Rudolf is continuing to rock his way into 2009, and with the network of big-name hit makers this guy’s got up his sleeve, longevity should be a piece of cake.