Amory Sivertson — a piano playing folksy pop singer-songwriter reminiscent of Sara Bareilles and Feist – recently released her third album titled “Human.” The song of the same name begins with the line, “sometimes I do things that could either win me a medal or land me in jail.” Amory stated that investing in making music is her favorite high stakes activity that could fit this dichotomy. “I think it is what could make me the happiest in life and support me. But it is also the thing that could lead me to invest a lot of money in a project that may not come to fruition, could bankrupt me, could lead me to the poor house. That fills that kind of binary, I suppose.”

Her goal is to become “a self-sustaining musician. That music is how I feed myself and clothe myself and buy Christmas presents for the people I love,” Sivertson said.

This goal is deeply entrenched within the songwriter. Her father is a drummer and music teacher. Playing music has always been a part of her upbringing. As a child, Amory’s father “would make little dorky songs on the spot all the time like when he was doing dishes.” Once Amory began playing piano, music theory became a form of communication between her and her father. “We could converse in that way, in a new shared language,” said Amory.

She continues to speak this language. “The end goal was always to be a professional musician,” said Amory. But after realizing that she didn’t have the Hollywood connections to make it into the Mickey Mouse Club, her path changed. She began playing open-mics, going on tour, and pushing beyond her comfort zone. She believed that “if you want to be a rock-star, you can’t go to college.”

So after entering Emerson College, her idea of attaining success changed again. Being around other creative types and becoming entrenched in a new audience, only “fueled the fire” for Amory. Her belief switched to getting discovered and dropping out. But now as a recent graduate, “I have had to redefine the road to getting there,” once again.

“How do I pay the loans and not completely bankrupt myself and still keep moving forward with music?” asked Amory.

The idea of financial priority makes its way into her music as well. On “Human,” the song, “Put It in the Bank,” is an upbeat romp reflecting on the value of money with a catchy hook featuring the staccato syllabic line, “p-p-p-put it in the bank,” as the title suggests. In regards to the song, Amory stated, “I hope that people know that the bank isn’t necessarily your own personal bank account. It’s putting your money where you think it can do the most good. And if that’s your bank account, than sure put it in your bank account… [But] we should become more conscious of where we are putting our dollar because the dollar you drop could earn you a medal or land you in jail.”

“We created money and we created the problems that go with the money. So we have to know what were doing with it,” according to Amory. Her ideas that run throughout the album are complex and meditative, yet succinct.

“I think the essence of Human that runs through the material is flaws and uncertainty. Learning the balance between… the tremendous potential we have as a species with our brain power and whatnot, and our very primal instincts… It’s the balance between the wonderful things we are capable of and the terrible things we are capable of. And the great potential we supposedly have and the very primal instincts that we have to just eat, sleep, have sex. That’s it.” She chuckled after deducing the human experience to three things.

The cover of Human features a collage of patterned textiles in the shape of an anatomical heart. When asked about the theme of humanity, Amory responded, “any album ever could be called human as that what art supposedly is… Trying to share with people a piece of what it means to be alive. Whether song, painting, poem, sculpture, autobiographical or whether its completely made up, it is all supposed to be sharing a piece of this human connection and human experience. So really any work of art can be titled human, because that is the way it is supposed to make us feel.”

“The Tour Song” represents just that. Amory stated, “the song really tells the story of Mike and I on the road. The story of two people finding happiness in what they are doing together… two people together for 40 days, 24 hours a day…enjoying each other’s company.”

The song was written before the summer tour that Mike and Amory went on together. But after closing every concert with the song, it became titled the “Tour Song.” It is loosely inspired by “Away We Go” – a film about the misadventure of a couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) travelling to different cities in search of a new home. The song expresses “the idea of settling down and being satisfied as just being two people together. And then becomes what if we can’t do what we want to do together,” said Amory.

Mike is Amory’s boyfriend. A large part of the album was recorded at the Office, a recording studio in North Andover that Mike runs. “Ever since Mike and I have been together, we have been making music together,” said Amory. Their relationship is beautifully on display from the first song, “Wrap My Arms,” to the last song on Human, “The Tour Song.”

Amory’s album can be heard and purchased here.

“I just found a piece of hair in my pizza, but I am going to pretend that it was mine because I really, REALLY love this pizza.”

You can easily notice Siobhan Magnus’s laid back personality in almost every aspect in her life, even when it comes to: pizza. Siobhan’s interview took place at a restaurant of her choice, California Pizza Kitchen. It’s not difficult to understand her love for pizza

Her best friend Brittany Whittman didn’t seem surprised at all and it was almost impossible to suppress laughter. Along with her love for pizza, Siobhan’s love for music is undying.

Words such as unique, different, or even individualistic do not come close to being able to describe the personality and style of Siobhan Magnus. From her taste in music to her choice of style, this Cape Cod finalist is quite timeless.

Trying out for American Idol was something that briefly crossed Siobhan’s mind. While at lunch when I first asked her about where the initial idea to tryout came from, best friend Whittman started laughing. “I told her not to do it,” said Whittman.

To any bystander, Whittman’s comment could be completely shocking, but looking back at our lunch date I become more shocked with the idea that Siobhan was part of American Idol in the first place. That statement isn’t meant as an insult at all. After anyone has had any interaction with Siobhan, they would have a similar reaction as well.

Quite frankly, she isn’t your typical pop star. Actually, it would be completely absurd to even put her name and pop star into the same sentence.

Pop stars adapt to new trends and do whatever is necessary to get their music out on the radio. They dress how they are told to dress, and sing what is written for them to sing. Pop stars are simply sell outs. That is why Siobhan will never fit that category.

Auto tune will never replace her soulful voice. Her music takes on the rock, blues, and soul genre. But for her, it’s a lot more. “I would describe it as storytelling music,” said Siobhan.

Musical talent is something that’s run in Siobhan’s blood. “My father is a musician. Once he found out that I was actually good at music and wanted to pursue it he sat me down and said ‘If you want this, we need to find ways to make you better,” explained Siobhan. She became involved in every musical class or group available at her high school and even performed in theater.

She spoke of eventually dipping her feet into acting. Her love for music also coincides with theater. Siobhan spoke about being exposed to theater at a young age because her older siblings were involved, and they always used her as an extra.

Siobhan was accepted at Salem State College, but eventually dropped out and starting working as an apprentice glassblower. However, one of her older brother’s knew she was meant for something much bigger. He made a deal with her.

He gave her a lock box that had a slot in it. In the box was a ticket to Nashville. “He told me that if I was able to put two hundred dollars in this box then he would give me the key to it,” said Siobhan. It didn’t take too long for her to accumulate the money.

While in Nashville is when Siobhan got the call about American Idol tryouts. “My friend and I made a deal that if they ever came to Boston we would go and try out.” The call was good timing. Her grandmother was starting to get worried about her in Nashville and constantly asked when she would be back.

“I got back the night before the audition,” said Siobhan. My initial reaction was: so wait, when did you have time to prepare?

Footage of girls explaining their preparation for their American Idol audition can be found anywhere on the internet. Some spent months taking vocal lessons others spent entire days rehearsing. It’s all very extreme.

Siobhan , let’s just say, took an entirely different approach. When I asked her about her rehearsing schedule she said, “I chose my song fifteen minutes before I was going to audition.” I think that perfectly depicts her personality.

Even though she had somewhere to be after lunch, it was never rushed. There was always something new to speak about and it was always laid back with a mixture of laughter.

She could have easily sounded annoyed when she explained her miserable car ride on her way to auditions. “More than half way there we have to turn around because I forgot everything I needed,” said Siobhan. She left all her forms of identification that she needed in order to audition.

To make matters worse, she also received a speeding ticket. While reiterating this story she laughed the entire time; not one complaint.

Her new single, Black Doll, is currently available on iTunes. “Black doll is half a homage to Edward Gorey and the other half is making that connection between myself and Gorey; talking about how everyone feels out of place sometimes, but there is nothing wrong with that. My favorite thing about the song is the allusion to things only my family will get. That line about the “purple house,” is the house I grew up in, my house is the only purple one and is kind of a landmark in my neighborhood,” said Siobhan.

Edward Gorey is one of the reasons as to why Siobhan gained more publicity. She not only shows her artistic nature through her music, but also through the tattoos that she has on her body. One night on American Idol, one of her tattoos were showing. Her tattoo is a tribute to Edward Gorey. Her manager saw this while he was in a bar and instantly tried to get in contact with her.

“His people were trying to get in touch with my people,” said Siobhan.

Since American Idol, Siobhan has been working on her debut album. She has released two singles. Siobhan has also been seen on The Ellen Degeneres Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. She was part of the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2010. She has also sang the national anthem at Fenway before a Red Sox game.

Siobhan made her solo debut at the Wilbur Theatre on Oct. 30. At her show, “Hallowe’en Dreams,” she introduced her new album, “Moon baby.”

For Leah Siegel, her musical act Firehorse and latest album, “And So They Ran Faster…” have been a long and hard-earned time coming.

As she told it, after years of working and performing in Boston and New York, she came to realize that she wasn’t being honest in her art – or with herself.

“I sort of took a step back and I thought ‘Something is wrong here. It doesn’t feel like me. I feel like I’m cutting corners so that I can fit in someone else’s kind of paradigm of belonging, of what I’m supposed to be, where I’m supposed to fit in,’” Siegel said.

Burnt out and broke, she decided to start from square one to remember what she loved about music and who, as an artist, she really wanted to be.

In this search for identity she stumbled upon a zodiac calendar, which placed her under the sign of the Horse. Researching further, she found the story of women born under a subset sign, the Fire Horse. Born just after the turn of the 20th century, they were thought to be “too gregarious, too independent, too fiery”, as Leah explains, to be suitable matches for anyone. As a result, in an era of arranged marriages, they were fated to live and die in destitution.

Feeling out of place, without real artistic identity, Leah was struck by how deeply this story of rejection and inability to express oneself resonated.

“I knew that I felt wild, and out of control, and destructive, and goal-oriented, and gregarious. And I felt all of those things, but certainly wasn’t channeling that in my music,” she said. “I listen to it now and I imagine someone holding a gun to my head.”

In taking the name Firehorse, Siegel hoped to remind herself to represent these facets of herself even if, like the Firehorse women of history, it doomed her. “The long and the short of it is that when I think about myself as a musician, (Firehorse) is what I want to be. That is who I want to inhabit.” In other words, she says, “I don’t want to make the music I think I’m supposed to make, I want to make the music that I want to make.”

It hasn’t been easy, though. Leah admits that part of adapting the Firehorse identity was embracing her own femininity, which, in the recording industry, often seemed to be an obstacle.

“It does seem that dude industry guys can take on like five boy bands, who sound exactly the same, but only take on 1 chick. Ever,” she said. “It’s like his penis compass gets so out of whack when there’s more than one woman in his life, you know what I mean? It’s just like whipping him around and he can’t get anything done … I like to think that that’s really what that’s about.”

It is little surprise that in writing “And So They Ran Faster…” Leah feels that she faced some of the darkest writing she’s ever done. It was “a battle” to complete, she said, “and I would just sit down and be like ‘I can’t take this anymore, it’s so dark. I’m gonna kill myself if I don’t do something else right now.’”

From these moments came songs “Our Hearts”, and “Machete Gang Holiday,” unquestionably the most lighthearted tracks to be found on the record.

“Those songs were sort of as I was starting to experience different feelings, ideas, and sensations in my life after many years of kind of feeling just quite bad,” she admitted.

While it’s clear she’s come a long way, even she hesitates to say what comes next. She’d love to do a tour, “because the live show is really fuckin’ awesome”, she said with a laugh.

But for a self-declared workhorse, the sky really is the limit.

“Now, as an artist,” she said, “you’ve never arrived. Because there’s always some other boundary, there’s always some other limitation you see in your artistry that you need to crash through. That’s how I feel about it, that’s always how I felt about it, that art is the only thing I can do with my life that, I don’t know, could send me down the rabbit hole…I just imagine that I’ll always be lugging boulders up the side of a rock cliff – an eternally rising rock cliff. Which sounds awesome to me.”

For now, Siegel hopes that her work resonates with listeners, but she’s willing to be candid about that, too.

“I think it’s one of those records where you either get it or you don’t,” she said, “and for the people who get it, I thank you, and I’m so honored. And for the people who don’t, I thank you too for giving it a shot. No hard feelings.”

Boston’s Mean Creek has been hard at work writing and recording their much anticipated new album.

“The songs feel more different. Dare I say more poppy and happier,” guitarist Chris Keene said. “It is not in generic way. Weare just expressing different emotions.”

For the band creating new material has been invigorating. “It’s been exciting to work on new stuff. It’s been very natural,” Keene said.

There latest single “Land of hopes and dreams” has quickly become a fan favorite. “I love the song,” Keene said. “The song expresses the feeling how it feels to live in this country to us. It’s hard to explain. The song speaks for itself.”

Keene gets equally flustered when discussing about the sound of his band. “It’s hard to describe us,” he said. “I never knew how to answer that question.”

The Improper Bostonian declared them one of the ten bands you have to hear. Paste magazine said “Mean Creek is not merely a great Boston Band; they’re a really great band period. Everyone outside the 617 should be warned Boston has birthed its next prodigious band. Be prepared.”

The beloved rock band must be doing something right. In 2009,they won Boston Music Award’s Best New Act of the Year. This year they are nominated for Artist of the Year,” “Album/EP of the Year” and Song of the Year (Sunlight)

“It’s awesome,” Keene said. “We couldn’t be happier. It feels amazing to be recognized.”

Known for being a Boston band, the band credits the New England city for shaping them as artists.

“Boston has shaped who I am as a person,” Keene said. “The city has its own attitude. It feels different than any other place.Every place has its own attitude. I think it being cold for months makes you a certain way.”

The band formed a couple of years ago. Keene knew lead vocalist Aurore Ounjjan from high school. One day, the pair decided they wanted to forma band. Time went by and they finally met bassist Erik Wormwood and drummer Mikey Holland. “It didn’t really feel like a band until we met those guys,” Keene said.

The four instantly connected. “It all just came together,” Keene said. “That’s what made Mean Creek.”

Mean Creek is revered for their vibrant live shows. “I hate watching someone who is apathetic in what they are doing,” Keene said. “I just want to watch someone who loves what they are doing. When someone loves playing music, it is obvious and contagious.”

Mean Creek will be playing Brighton Music Hall on Nov. 26.

The name NOVI comes from the Latin phrase “Homo Novus”, literally translating to “New Man”, a play on words that Carolyne Neuman, the electro-pop sensation, has crafted as a stage name for herself as she flies to the top of the music charts with her catchy new single “Blackbirds” from her EP “Now I’m Here.”

Whether fans call her Carolyne, NOVI, or the Nov, this singer and songwriter hailing from Ashland, Ore., is causing a commotion in the music industry with eight tracks that she has been working on for three years now with her best friend and producer Lee Miles. The album is due to release this fall.

As NOVI described “Blackbirds” she said, “It was totally meant to be a joke. Miles and I had been writing some heartfelt pop-rock and one night in my bedroom I was drinking some wine and screwing around on Garage Band.” She continued, “I sent it to Lee and he said he woke up singing the hook.”

The duo has also aired a music video for “Blackbirds” to supplement the single’s release.

NOVI is uncertain about releasing the EP this fall as she prefers to add more tracks and release the album as an LP.

After a few “sappy and crappy” demos, as NOVI described it, she moved to Los Angeles and made the transition from wanting to do comedy shows and acting to performing musical arts.

She said, “It was when I met Lee that I knew this was the thing I wanted to do.”

NOVI told how her surroundings in Oregon and Los Angeles seriously influence her tunes. She gets her edge from her small town upbringing and got a reality check when she realized everyone in LA has been in the industry their entire lives, making her late in the game.

“All of those things are real to me and when I sing about them they’re true,” NOVI said. “I’ll always have my hometown roots, but it’s a happy balance to have both towns in my life.”

Coming from an artist who is a big believer in music with meaning, NOVI said that each song has a different message. She described how each track represents a different moment in time and the feeling that comes along with it. “Blackbirds” ideally speaks of bringing levity into peoples’ lives while “Dominos” is an ostentatious slap in the face.

For the most part NOVI’s lyrics are all straight from her own mind, but at times she described, as she’s writing, she’ll imagine she’s someone else to discover what their perspective would be in a certain scenario.

Big names in the music industry like Imogen Heap and Adele came up in conversation as a few of NOVI’s favorite artists as of lately, but Florence + the Machine stands out as NOVI’s latest artist of choice.

Talking about the group’s music, she said, “I felt like Florence Welch just did something to me and brought me to a place. I could barely clap.”

In the future, NOVI is determined to conquer her late start in the game and stay innovative as she expands her repertoire of new music.

“It’s easy to get stuck in some sort of deal where you have to do things a certain way,” as NOVI spoke of creativity. “Don’t be afraid to make a certain song that will make people cringe.”

At this point in time she has a few things in mind for expansion including putting together live shows, creating a NOVI brand, and reviving her passion for comedy. Eventually NOVI wants to create a personal record company on her own.

Live performances remain an obstacle to overcome and a rite of passage for NOVI to reach in her career.

She said, “When it comes to singing these songs live, I get super nervous and shaky.” However, the electro-pop goddess highlighted how after she performs live she comes out feeling like the most powerful person on the planet.

“It’s just so rewarding every single day,” NOVI said. The ability to express herself creatively is one among many rewarding aspects that the singer takes away from her career in music.

Although the singer denied the idea of live performances at the moment, for more updates on NOVI and her EP “Now I’m Here”, follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or visit her homepage at iamnovi.com.

(Media credit/Deborah Lopez)

Damian Hess, better known as MC Frontalot, is making a classic “Revenge of the Nerds” shift in the music industry as he sets the date for his new “nerdcore” album Solved to release this upcoming August 23rd.

Hess’ take on this sub-genre of rap consists of tracks such as “Front The Least”, “Captains Of Industry,” and “Victorian Space Prostitute.” The Godfather of Nerdcore Rap presents traditional music collaborations with artists like MC Lars, Doctor Awkward, and ZeaLouS1 to those who are interested in something more than mainstream or underground rap.

Solved features three skits throughout the album that function as musical devices to cut the tracks into story-telling acts. Kristen Schaal, Eugene Mirman, and Wyatt Cenac, all voices that contribute to these skits, accomplish Hess’ goal of turning the album into a concept record.

“I played around with ideas that would have a story running all the way through the album,” Hess said. “It’s a theme record with the idea that all solutions are hacks and nothing is finalized.”

(Media credit/Deborah Lopez)

With a little touch of keyboard to kick start the writing process and a melody for a hook, Hess creates a ‘fantasy dimension’ that speaks to the genuine dork deep down. A lot of the themes brought up in Solved are overlooked in other segments of hip hop and lack the emphasis on popular themes used by mainstream rap artists.

Hess described the correlation between the music industry and the t-shirt business that he raps about in “Captains Of Industry”. He says the theme speaks to people who struggle with balancing art and commerce.

“In the music industry people point out that it’s the industry of little trinkets that surround the music,” he said. “The struggle is once lost because we have to spend so much energy making sure our t-shirts get sold, but it’s also won because we get to make our music.”

Hess is in the process of producing music videos for the tracks “Critical Hit” and “Stoop Sale.” He predicts that he will release at least one more album after Solved before retirement comes into the picture.

(Media credit/Deborah Lopez)

The interaction with fans makes issues like money worth the trouble at the end of the day. Hess talked about the rewarding feeling he gets every time that he has the opportunity to travel and chat with the people who are genuinely interested in his music. One fan went so far as to build a six foot tall trophy for Hess to use as a prop while he performs one of his older tracks “Braggadocio” from Nerdcore Rising.

MC Frontalot will begin his national tour August 13th and it will extend through September 10th. The nerdcore sensation will tour in England with the band Wheatus and return to the states to complete the remaining three weeks of his tour.

For more information on MC Frontalot and his tour, visit his official website at or follow his schedule on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo credit goes to Deborah Lopez.

Ontario, Canada’s hottest new singer and songwriter, Andrea Godin, has been sharing her urban-pop tunes through the radio airwaves to showcase her newly released single, “Bullet”, a song reminiscent of Beyonce’s sound, but with a personal twist.

The medium to slow tempo song is Godin’s most difficult song to sing; however, its release on iTunes has been bringing Godin into the limelight. Godin’s popularity is only going up from this point as she works on branching out from her base in Canada to planning tours overseas in Europe.

Godin initiated her interest in vocalization at the young age of 11, started playing guitar at 13, graduated to songwriting at 14, and now at 20 years old, proudly boasts her debut EP album, released in September.

In her early years, Godin was more of a rock-and-roll girl, but as she developed her sounds, the r&b style of her music grew to encompass the songs she has been writing and producing as of lately.

“People ask me how I have an urban sound in my music when I’m surrounded by rock,” Godin said. “I just try to be myself. I don’t look to other people to copy them.”

Godin looks up to a number of female musicians including Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Leona Lewis, and Christina Aguilera, but she wants to make it known that she’s not trying to imitate certain celebrities.

To differentiate herself, Godin has been working on developing her true sound.

“Finding my sound for my first album was at first pop-rock, but I was really feeling that it wasn’t me,” she said. “We had to keep experimenting and I never thought I’d find a sound that was really me.”

About 70 percent of Godin’s lyrics are based upon personal experiences and the rest are a combination of influences from friends and acquaintances. The track “Bass Goes Down” is one of Godin’s personal favorites from her repertoire.

By releasing her album Godin accomplished one of her main goals and now she fully embraces the ideology that you can never give up if you want to achieve your goals.

“I think some of my songs are pretty catchy and I think people would enjoy them,” the artist continued.

Godin’s fan-base should keep an eye out for tracks like “I’ll Never Know” and “Sunrise to Sunset” on the television screen, Godin’s next goal for promoting her music and receiving more exposure.

For more information and updates on Godin’s hot new music, visit her pages on Myspace and Twitter

NEW YORK — “Flawed Logic,” the sophomore album from Philadelphia’s American Babies, is the perfect soundtrack for a cross-country summer road trip. In fact, Tom Hamilton (the frontman and driving force behind the band, also known for his work with the electro-rock outfit Brothers Past), calls the record a “collection of mental snapshots” from his time spent observing events around the country. Fans of Brothers Past might raise an eyebrow at Hamilton’s newer material, which draws heavily from folk, country and general Americana influences, but strong songwriting is still at the heart of Hamilton’s work, regardless of genre.

The singer recently took a break from rehearsals to chat with Blast about the new record, the inspiration for his songwriting, and his decision to break away from electronic music and form American Babies in 2007.

BLAST: Who are your main musical influences, both for American Babies and for Brothers Past?

TOM HAMILTON: God, it’s a fucking lengthy list. I definitely don’t separate them. I feel like you can hear my influences in either one. The obvious ones, The Beatles, The Dead, Dylan, stuff like that. Radiohead, huge influence. Stereolab, they have a record called “Dots and Loops” that redefined my entire idea of music, like the late ‘90s. Low, they put out a record, “The Great Destroyer” in like ’05, I think. (That was) another one that was just like, I heard this record and it shuffled the papers around in my head and kind of made me redefine what was possible in music. Broken Social Scene’s first record flipped me around. A few years ago, I got really into Motown, and that’s kind of where I am now, as far as this newest Babies record. Listening to a lot of Motown and Stacks records, stuff like that. That stuff just absolutely destroys me. Old Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding. You just can’t beat it.

For me, the thing with music, it’s not what you do. It’s how you do it. And I feel like the bands that I listen to, that I really like, what they’re doing, the style of music, really has nothing to do with where my pleasure comes from. It’s the fact that there is a sincerity in every note played and sung. Like Springsteen. It’s so genuine and so sincere. These people don’t do these things because it’ll make them money and because they have to. They do it because they have to, primally. Like, it’s an animalistic thing. They need to express these things. They need to get it out and connect with people. And that’s the common thread in all those bands that I named that I like. It’s all very sincere music. That’s what I try to do, no matter if it’s electronic music or folk music or blues or whatever. It’s about being sincere and genuine and urgent.

BLAST: Would you say “Flawed Logic” has a unifying theme? What events inspired the songs?

TH: I started making this thing, and everything was fucked up and everybody I knew was fucked up. The Wall Street shit, and there’s fuckin’ 80 wars going on. My friends are unemployed. My brother is on his way to getting deployed and going to Afghanistan. I had other friends that had to go to Iraq. Until that point, everything I always wrote about was, you know, chicks and love. You know, standard things you can write songs about. But when I was getting this record together, all these things, all these unavoidable things, I just couldn’t turn a blind eye to it. And I had to talk about it. I had to say something.

It was a really awkward situation because I’d never been really topical in my songwriting, you know, that much. Because personally, I hate self-righteous pricks. I hate when you turn on CNN and Jeaneane Garafolo’s on there talking about the war. It’s like, we’re entertainers. I feel like there is a line there. For me, it was a very touchy thing. I was like, wow. I have all these feelings, and there’s a feeling of urgency to talk about it, but I have no idea how to do it without being heavy-handed, without sounding like just somebody ridiculous, like Bono talking about AIDS or something. So, it was a huge challenge, and scary for me kind of. Being that far away from my comfort zone. I could have easily just written another record about my last girlfriend, you know?

So, sitting back and finding my voice was like the whole thing. Just talking to people and observing like, you know, how my brother’s family was dealing with his thing with the military, talking with my friends who lost their jobs or lost all their friggin’ money and how they’re dealing with it, and just seeing how it all goes. My friends who are married, how is it affecting them? When I was on the road I would talk to people all over the country. Just, how are all these things affecting all these people? I just basically took mental Polaroids and each one of the songs on the record, they all came from one of those mental snapshots.

BLAST: How does your approach to songwriting differ with this band?

TH: Wow, that’s a good question. I don’t know if it actually differs. (With Brothers Past) there were two songwriters. I wrote a majority of (the songs), but the keyboard player, Tom McKee, also wrote some stuff. I guess there was more collaboration in the Brothers Past thing. But as far as just like personally, the songwriting, it was never that much different. Even with the Brothers Past stuff, it was like, I would write the song on acoustic guitar or piano or something, and then I would have to dress it up in all of this other stuff. Which I feel like sometimes can get in the way of the song.

With the Babies stuff, it’s much more of a challenge. Because with Brothers Past,, there were times where, if a song kind of wasn’t totally happening, I could just, like, throw in a cool synthesizer line or something. I could throw in ear candy to kind of make up for a lack of something in the song. If a song isn’t really happening and isn’t like, really grooving, you can just throw a 404 beat under it and people just like it because it makes them move. There’s plenty of bands out there that make not that great songs and just put a dance beat under it, and people love it because there’s a visceral reaction to it. They don’t notice that you’re not saying anything in the song or that the song isn’t that great. All they know is that their ass is shaking. And that’s kind of cheating.

In American Babies, I don’t have that option. It’s kind of like, it’s just standard rock and roll. There’s no hiding behind anything. If I don’t really like this song, there’s nothing I can do to hide that. I have to just write it better or throw it out. So it kind of keeps me more honest.

BLAST: So you think it’s easier to make electronic music, even though there are more components to the songs?

TH: With the way that these programs are today, it’s exponentially easier. If you’re a producer and you are making your tracks, you’re actually recording the drums and you’re playing all the instruments and there’s original thought in there, I think it’s awesome. But more so than not, a kid gets a MacBook Pro and a copy of the program Ableton and you can buy samples. You can download samples. It’s all other people’s work that you’re just taking and, like, putting together. It’s the difference between, like, buying a puzzle that is the Mona Lisa or getting a canvas and painting the goddamn thing yourself. One of those takes an amazing amount of skill and talent and passion, and one of those things just takes the ability to fucking connect the pieces.

BLAST: What role did music play in your life growing up?

TH: It’s just always been around. My mom plays the piano and the cello. There was always music involved in my house. So, from a pretty young age, I was captivated by it. Whether (my parents) were listening to vinyl all the time, or the fact that my dad had, like, a local band, guys his age that just liked to hang out and play music.

BLAST: What was the first album that you fell in love with?

TH: My dad was a huge Deadhead, way into the Grateful Dead, which in turn made me also way into them. My dad gave me a cassette of this Grateful Dead show. It’s from Red Rocks, Colorado in 1978. Still, to this day, it’s one of my favorite things in the world. So that was the first thing that was, like, mine. And I listened to the shit out of it. I was like, this is awesome. To this day, I can listen to it. I know every note of every solo and whatever. But an actual record would be … I was really young, probably like three or four, and I loved Eric Clapton’s “Just One Night.” It’s a live record he put out, the late ‘70s, early ‘80s. I had a toy record player but it played real records. And I can vividly remember yelling at my mom, saying I wanted the cow record. Because the record label’s logo was a cow. … That was my shit, man. I loved that. That was a great, great, great album, and I listened to it nonstop when I was very, very young.

BLAST: When did you first start playing music?

TH: I started playing drums when I was about 5. My dad was a drummer and just kind of all-around rock musician guy. He played drums and bass and guitar and stuff like that. And he got my older brother playing drums when he was about 6 or so. And then, you know, me being the little guy, whatever my older brother was doing, I wanted to do, obviously. Since I was old enough to basically hold the sticks, I was like, I want to do that, because my brother was doing that. So I started playing drums when I was 6 and I took that pretty seriously until I was, I’d say, 12 or 13. And then I started playing guitar when I was about 10 or 11.

BLAST: What prompted your change in musical styles, from electronic music with Brothers Past to more roots rock with American Babies?

TH: I grew up on the roots stuff. I grew up listening to Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard and obviously The Beatles and all that stuff. Rock and roll in general is like a mentality. … I mean, it’s a reaction to something. When I got into the electronic stuff, it was new and it was exciting and it was a different thing. And I was like, wow, this is great. And then I guess, around 2006, 2007, it became kind of abundantly clear that any dude with a laptop and a synthesizer can make this stuff. It became so over-saturated and easy to do. The innovation was out of it, the excitement. It didn’t seem genuine to me. It didn’t seem honest. It didn’t seem cutting edge. And for me, that was the whole allure, was trying to bring songwriting and electronic music together. It just seemed like it got very just watered down, kind of.

So I went back and focused more on the song. I got very lost in (electronic music with) dressing songs up in production, with bleeps and boops and drum machines and weird things. The main focus should be the song, and it was a reaction to where I was at the time. I was just, like, so engulfed in all this electronic stuff and I was like, you know what? I want to strip it down. I want it to be about the song. You can’t hide behind anything if you’re just recording songs. There’s no production that can make a song great. It’s like, oh no. If the tune’s not there, it’s not there, and that’s kind of it.

BLAST: How did your bandmates in Brothers Past react?

TH: Originally, the idea was for that band to be playing this stuff. We put out an electro pop record and people really liked it and it got great reviews and it was selling really well and we were doing really well for ourselves. And I was like, hey, man, I think it’d be funny if the next record we put out, we make it like “Led Zeppelin III.” … The first half of that record is, like, punishing rock and roll. The second half of the record is all acoustic. And I was like, let’s put out like a “Zeppelin III” type of record next, to kind of show the extremes of what we’re doing. Like, hey, yeah, we do electronic music and stuff like that, but we can also really just craft a song. I wanted to make a record that was like, Side A, the most intense electronic music possible, and Side B, the exact opposite of that, which is just like stripped-down acoustic songs. And the guys didn’t really think that was a great idea and I was basically told, hey, man, you want to play that kind of music, you should start another band. So I did.

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

TH: I started writing these tunes, these more acoustic songs, with the idea of it being a part of my other band. And when I started getting into the whole thing, I started writing this song, and it was called “American Babies.” And it took me forever to write this song. I don’t know why, but it fought me pretty hard the whole way through. I had this grandiose idea of what the song was supposed to be. And when I was planning the recording sessions and all this stuff … I wanted to get all my friends around that I knew to come in and play these songs. The idea for the song “American Babies” was, there was a middle section of it that is this big, like, cacophony of sound. And it was basically like the kitchen sink song to me. I just wanted to get everybody that played on any part of the record … which was a pretty large number of people … everybody had to play something in this section of the song. It just kind of clicked for me. I was like halfway through the record and I was like, what do I even call this band? That song, it was symbolic to me of what this project was going to be. And I was like, well, I’ll name it after the song. American Babies. That sounds good.

BLAST: Do you think you’ll ever go back to electronic stuff?

TH: Brothers Past still plays here and there, for sure. We’re mildly active. And I mean, I do enjoy that stuff, the electronic music. When I do it now, I do it less frequently than before, so it’s fun for me. I don’t get wrapped up into the whole scene and stuff and get frustrated. … My passion is songwriting, and the Babies, I feel, are the purest form of my voice that I’ve had in my career. And I’m very excited about it.

American Babies are touring throughout summer 2011. For tour dates, visit americanbabies.net.

Sarah Darling, an Iowa-native making it big in the country music scene, has been crafting an incredible reputation for herself as she makes the cut for CMT Network’s Top 20 Countdown and Top 5 on GAC. With Darling’s new music video for the soundtrack “Something To Do With Your Hands” and her double disc album Angels & Devils, released in February, the eclectic singer and songwriter is showing a very intimate side of herself.

Darling began singing when she was growing up in Des Moines, IA., and the realization of her musical talent came when she was 13-years-old and performed for the first time at a state fair. At age 20 she turned the talent into a career.

Darling’s father had introduced her to music with an Eagles album, her first CD. She then developed a taste for Shania Twain which perpetuated her into country music.

“At that point I knew that’s what I wanted to do forever,” Darling said as she reminisced on her childhood experiences with music.

With a guitar in hand, Darling wrote Angels & Devils in hopes that people will walk away with something that they didn’t have before. She described how the album serves as a turning point in the way her writing has changed.

“It’s definitely more grown up,” she said. “Every Monday morning is so different. Writing changes as you get older. You start growing up. The fact is that I’m growing up.” With these points in mind, Darling can reach out to her listeners and give them a female voice in which they can relate with.

She writes her lyrics based upon personal experiences because with country music, as she described, people are often more open with their feelings. As a result of this, the feeling of the music is different.

Darling feels that songs like “The Boy Never Stays” says something to her audience about an obstacle that everyone goes through: heartbreak.

She continued, “Everybody has a heartbreak and a first love.”

“Bad Habit”, another track from Angels & Devils, is one of Darling’s favorites because it brings her back to her small town.

“You’re young and you fall in love,” Darling said as she described the song. “I love that!”

The budding country artist can only move forward at this point. Darling hopes to continue playing out shows similar to her performance at Carnegie Hall and meeting people as she writes more songs.

“For me, my goal for music is to always do it. I’d just like to go as far as God wants me to take it,” Darling said.

The business aspect of the music industry may serve as an issue for Darling; however, the emails from fans that really love the music help her in continuing the career she has started.

“I’ve learned that it takes patience and perseverance,” Darling said. Darling will continue on with the step-by-step process towards becoming a successful country musician.

In addition to autographing steak cut fries for crazed fans, Darling will complete her tour of Nashville, TN this June and begin working on her new album. She still won’t kiss fans on the cheek, but she will have new material for listeners in the near future.

For more information visit Darling’s website or follow her on Facebook and Twitter for more updates.

NEW YORK — For Los Angeles trio Foster the People, much of 2011 has been spent in a whirlwind of hype. After the band emerged as one of the most talked-about bands at the SXSW festival in March, the buzz continued to build behind their Top 10 single “Pumped Up Kicks.” Even though the band’s debut full-length, “Torches,” was only released this week, several shows on their upcoming tour, which stretches into the summer and includes a performance at the Sasquatch Festival in Washington, are already sold out.

“Torches” is an eclectic blend of pop, funk and soul influences, with most songs defying conventional categorization. In fact, according to frontman and chief songwriter Mark Foster, it’s the complexity of the songs that led to the group’s formation in the first place. While writing material for what he intended to be a solo endeavor, the singer realized additional musicians were needed to bring the songs to their full potential. He recruited keyboardist Cubbie Fink and drummer Mark Pontius in 2009, and Foster the People was born.

Blast chatted with Foster in April before a sold-out show at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. Though the excitement surrounding the group was starting to reach a tipping point at that time, the frontman seemed to be taking it all in stride.

BLAST: You’ve said that you were on a sort of hiatus from music before forming Foster the People. What prompted you to start the band?

MARK FOSTER: Well, I’d been in bands in the past and just had a couple bad experiences. It’s so much work. It’s so hard to find the right people to play with. And you know, musicians tend to be such unhealthy people in general. It’s really hard to find people that are dedicated and healthy and just have their act together. So I guess I was just kind of burned out on it. After the last band I was in, I was just like, screw this. I’m just going to be a solo artist for the rest of my life. I just don’t want to deal with this anymore. So I did that for a few years, and really just buried myself in the studio and taught myself how to produce, and just kept writing songs. And eventually I got to a point where I was like, man, I can’t play these songs alone. There’s way too much going on. I need to put something together. But I put an emphasis on, I really want to create this band around friends. I don’t want to just go out and, like, find someone that can play. Personality was the most important thing. And we all jell really well together.

BLAST: Does that relate to your name, this sense of fostering camaraderie?

MF: Yeah, yeah. You know, our first couple gigs were for charities. We did a thing for Tom’s Shoes … and then we did a thing for Venice Beach Homeless Youth. And we were kind of just talking about, like, you know, we want to play music, sure. But we also want to help people. And my last name’s Foster. There’s that aspect of it. I think just the charity and everything that we set our sights on, it just made sense.

BLAST: Is charity still a focus for the band?

MF: Yeah. We’re just trying to figure out how to do it. You can be bleeding heart over so many different issues, but finding something that really means something to you that you kind of focus on … we’re still kind of figuring that out.

BLAST: How did you all connect and start playing music together?

MF: I met Mark (Pontius) just through a mutual friend of mine, and just really liked the way that he played. We were buddies and we just messed around. Every couple of weeks, we’d just jam. We were kind of working on this avant-electro two-man, like, weird performance art piece together. I always kind of had in the back of my mind, if I ever start a band again, I want to call this dude. (Cubbie and I) were just friends. We didn’t really play together, but we’d hang out. I didn’t even know he played bass and then (when I) saw him play, I was like, oh, that’s got a good feel. So I just kind of brought them together.

BLAST: Who are your musical influences, personally and as a band?

MF: The Beach Boys was the first band that I heard as a little kid that nobody showed me, that I gravitated towards and fell in love with. And that was a monumental moment in my musical life. Growing up, Nirvana played a big role. I started learning how to play guitar the week I heard Nirvana for the first time. And then later, New Order and The Clash. Aphex Twin early on was a pretty big influence (for Foster the People). And Motown. So just kind of pulling from a lot of different genres. That’s how I write songs.

Mark (Pontius) is just a really good pocket drummer. He understands dance music really well, but he also really understands soul and is just a very soulful drummer. And Cubbie’s background is pretty diverse too. When I met him, he was playing in, like, a country band. Pretty roots-y. But again, he’s just got a lot of soul. And he’s a multi-instrumentalist as well, so during our show he’s playing keys, and he plays bass. When we do acoustic sessions, he’ll bring his acoustic guitar and play guitar with me. It’s just nice to have a couple different tools in your toolkit.

BLAST: When did you actually know that you wanted to pursue music as a career, and were your parents supportive when you decided to move out to LA?

MF: Music was always very natural to me, and I always loved it and I always excelled in it. I sang for the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Choir when I was a kid, and that was a pretty big thing, and just a big indicator of like, oh wow, there’s something here. But I always had this preconceived notion that musicians were losers. As a little kid, I remember just thinking that. Every time I’d walk into a music shop, I’d see, like, some washed-up musician shredding on his guitar, all greasy. And it always freaked me out. As a little kid, that’s what I associated with pursuing music. So I never thought about it seriously. I wanted to be, like, an attorney or something.

And then I was like 17 years old and all my friends were applying for colleges. And I had a terrible GPA and didn’t want to go to college. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I was just kind of freaking out about it. I mean, I was looking at the military. I was so close to joining the Air Force. I was just looking at all my options. And I was like, man, what am I going to do?, in turmoil about it.

I had that conversation with my dad one morning. He was like, “Why don’t you move out to LA or New York and pursue music, just give it a shot? If it doesn’t work out … after a year you’ll know where you sit. You’ll know whether you’ll be able to make a career out of it. And if it’s not something that you want to do, you’ll still be young enough to do something else.” And the second he said that, it was literally like he opened my mind up to something that I’d never even considered or thought was possible. I was 18 when I moved out to LA (in 2002).

BLAST: That’s great. It’s usually the opposite, with kids trying to convince their parents it’s a good idea to move to LA.

MF: I mean, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. That was the moment in my life where I realized that this is what I’m meant for. And it was so weird that it just took, like, one word to free that thought and put that into motion. Just that little bit of encouragement showed me, this is exactly what I’ve been created to do. Whereas before, it was completely hidden from me. It was just something that I enjoyed.

BLAST: So how did you spend the time between 2002 and forming Foster the People in 2009?

MF: Just growing up. (Laughs). It’s like, you leave your parents’ house and you realize, oh, food doesn’t just appear in the fridge. Your laundry. Just all the little things. I pretty much couch-surfed for the first two years. I was a vagabond in LA. I lived in so many places, just met so many people. Brought my acoustic guitar with me everywhere I went, and would go to parties and show up and start playing. Just meeting people and having crazy experiences and just kind of growing up. And then it got to a point where it was like, all right, I need to get serious about this if I’m ever going to make something of this. I can’t just fuck around and think that it’s just going to happen on its own. And so, I started to just really, really buckle down and started writing songs, and just really working at it. I eventually got a computer and a little studio set up and started teaching myself how to produce music. I started playing piano again after not playing since I was a little kid. I kind of re-taught myself how to play piano and started making more electronic music. And that was sort of the genus of where this started.

BLAST: How are you dealing with the sort of explosive fame after SXSW? Were you prepared for that at all?

MF: I don’t know. It’s kind of a blur. What’s so funny is that it’s like we’re in a glass bubble. You know what I mean? It’s like we’re in a glass bubble and it takes shape in the form of a 15-passenger van. And so, that’s our universe. Our universe is just, we’re always together and we’re driving around playing show after show, from city to city. It’s so busy. All that stuff is happening and yeah, it’s exciting. But I don’t think when you’re inside of something like this you really have any perspective on where you actually sit or what the perception of you is.

I just watched the Blur documentary (“No Distance Left to Run.”) It was a really, really good documentary. They were talking about when they were a band, starting out and starting to blow up, that they just had no idea. And I just related to that so much, because it’s like, you don’t have any idea of really what’s going on around you. We know that our shows are selling out, and we know that people are excited. But I think at the end of it, we kind of just have our sights set right in front of us. Like, how are we going to go out there and play a great show tonight? Just keeping it simple.

BLAST: Have you seen the dog skateboarding video set to your song “Helena Beat”?

MF: Yes! I love that. It’s so great. It’s become super viral. It’s just cool when people get inspired and do something. That’s the great thing about YouTube, or just about the age that we live in. Everybody has a video camera. Everybody has an idea. And everybody in their own right is a star, whether it’s a four-year-old kid that’s dancing in the kitchen or whatever. It’s like, anything can strike that human chord, and just become viral. That video’s awesome.

BLAST: You mentioned your solo material and your avant-garde project with Mark. Are there any traces of those projects in Foster the People songs?

MF: Oh, definitely. Yeah, I definitely developed a style. Even when I was doing my folk stuff on acoustic guitar, I learned the fundamentals of songwriting. And the way that I look at songwriting for this project now, it’s like, there are electronic influences, but at its bones, it’s very classic songwriting. I’m not, like, trying to reinvent the wheel with the songwriting. You could break it down to a piano and it’ll sound like a good song, just stripped down. It’s pretty classic songwriting that’s done in a way that’s more modern.

BLAST: The songwriting may be a common thread, but the range of influences that can be heard on the record is kind of astounding.

MF: That’s kind of what we set out to do. I’ve watched people try to pigeonhole us in this or that, and I think all of those labels are going to be shattered when the record comes out. I never want to be painted into a corner. I hate boundaries. I would hate to make everything sound the same. This record’s really versatile, and it gives us the perfect opportunity to do whatever we want on the second record. And I think people that are fans of something that’s different … they don’t wake up in the morning and have their same, like, turkey bagel for the last 15 years … those people are going to just be excited and want to follow us on the journey that we’re on.

New Zealand isn’t exactly known as a breeding ground for indie bands — or, let’s face it, any bands for that matter (insert “Lord of the Rings” joke here) — but that might change if alt-electro quintet The Naked and Famous have anything to say about it.

Formed in 2008, shortly after guitarist Thom Powers and keyboardist Alisa Xayalith (who now share lead vocal and songwriting duties) met at music school, The Naked and Famous self-released a pair of EPs before being signed to Universal Records. The cheeky band name, borrowed from a Tricky lyric, hints at the confidence this group of 20-somethings has behind their music — and it’s not unjustified. After debuting at #1 in New Zealand last year, their debut full-length record, “Passive Me, Aggressive You,” was released in the U.S. in March, and it’s no exaggeration to say it is one of the best musical offerings of 2011 so far.

The album is full of deftly crafted electro-pop songs that, while dance-able, often pack quite an emotional punch upon closer listen. Shimmering keyboards and pounding drums propel along first single “Young Blood,” which has all the trappings of a radio-friendly classic. Hard-hitting songs like “All of This” and “Spank” are a nice complement to the sting of more charged anthems like “Eyes” and “Girls Like You.”

Hoping the popularity in their home country will translate overseas, The Naked and Famous are currently in the midst of their first major U.S. tour, sharing a bill with Foals and Freelance Whales. Powers recently chatted with Blast from the road, discussing the band’s influences, their handling of critical backlash from some Aukland naysayers, and the making of “Passive Me, Aggressive You.”

BLAST: Your band name is taken from a Tricky lyric. How did you decide on that?

THOM POWERS: When we were looking to play live and stuff like that was when we sort of had to name the band. We’d been together about a year. I was working in a record store at the time … processing CDs, all the secondhand stuff we traded in. And I was just kind of looking through album booklets at the lyrics. I’d always been a big fan of Tricky and I kind of like the idea of referencing other popular music. I just thought Tricky sort of had a lot to do with (us), not so much musically but the way he approached music. There’s heaps of female vocals on his tracks. It just seemed like all these kind of parallels. But the lyric itself just jumped out at me and I thought that was kind of interesting. It’s a funny name for a band.

BLAST: What role did music play in your life growing up? What was the first band you fell in love with?

TP: For pretty much all of us, we’ve just all been doing it since we were young. For me personally, I was always doing music. Since I was like 10 years old, I thought, I’m going to be in a band when I grow up. I didn’t really give myself any other options. The first band that I absolutely fell in love with and still listen to today is Tool. I got the album “Aenima” when I was a kid, and it’s just always been one of my favorite albums. With an introduction to music like that, I think that’s why we sort of have this idea of why albums are still important and each individual track is a crucial, key part of the record. (Our favorite bands) weren’t just, you know, like single bands. They were body of work bands.

BLAST: Who are your main influences?

TP: We’ve definitely got a lot of overlapping influences, but everyone has their own thing that they love more than someone else. I’d say (a band) that in the last couple of years has been a huge influence to me would be Frightened Rabbit. I’m a huge fan. It’s one of those bands that I still get, like, high school fanboy about. I walk down to the record store on the day of the release of the new album or something. Bjork is a huge influence for myself and Alisa. A lot of ’90s alternative stuff, like Portishead. That’s kind of what we grew up listening to. Most of us, we all kind of grew up with rock backgrounds. Aaron grew up being a huge Chemical Brothers fan. He sort of came from a DJ/house music background. That was his passion. (But) we do keep up quite regularly with current music. We’re always listening to new albums, and a lot of that gets fed into what we’re doing.

BLAST: Name three albums you would take to a desert island.

TP: Because I’ve listened to them for so long and I’m not sick of them, massive attack – “Mezzanine”; Tool, “Aenima”; Nine Inch Nails, “The Downward Spiral.”

BLAST: The album title “Passive Me, Aggressive You” is also a line in the song “All of This.” What does it mean and who came up with it?

TP: It was something that was a completely accidental afterthought. It kind of was a last resort, actually. I wanted to name the album something else, but then I was looking through the lyrics and just saw that, and thought that’s the perfect. In the song itself, it’s very much just about what “All of This” is kind of dealing with. But taken out of context, I think it’s obviously an interesting play on words, but it kind of sums up all the polarities that are on the album. There’s a lot of analog noises and digital noises. There’s the male and female vocals. There’s light songs, there’s dark songs. There’s just all these naturally appearing polarities and these dynamic shifts, and it just totally made sense.

BLAST: So you’re saying there’s an overall theme to the album?

TP: Definitely. When we finished writing … we had a lot of songs written, and a lot of demos. We kind of did a good old-fashioned classic sort of writing and cutting away scenario. I’d like to think that people see us as an album band. That’s very hard though these days, when there’s just so much oversaturation when it comes to music and music culture. You can get everything instantly. You don’t have to pay attention to it. You can listen to it once and move on to something else so quickly. Very much for us, the album is an album and I have real trouble picking a favorite track, because I think that, in order for people to kind of get the band and get what we’re about and understand where we’re coming from musically and emotionally and artistically, you have to listen to every song. There’s overlapping themes and emotional kind of charges. … But I feel like it’s an eclectic record, as far as our ideas of music.

BLAST: What is your songwriting process?

TP: Some songs come entirely from Alisa, and some songs come entirely from me. A lot of them, we meet in the middle somewhere. It’s quite a nice blend of sharing lyrics and songwriting and stuff. Generally, rule of thumb, myself and Alisa come up with a basic idea for a song and I’ll spend some time on the computer turning it into a demo for a band. And then I’ll pass that demo on to Aaron, and he and I will play around with it in the studio on the computers. Then, when we’ve got some solid direction and it feels like we’re excited about it, we’ll … hash it out and work out the practicalities of it in the rehearsal room.

BLAST: “Young Blood” has become a huge success and has the feel of a classic pop song. Can you offer any insight as to whether or not there’s formula to writing a hit song?

TP: It came quite naturally, but now that it’s done so well, I think I’m just going to mimic myself for a few more years. (Laughs). It was a complete accident, to be honest. It was the first song that we entered the studio with for the album. It was this big studio track we’d done and produced ourselves off the album, and it was, like, flawless and perfect. So, it was the most wonderful and exciting start for the record. We felt like it was a special song when we were writing it and we felt like, wow, this might do well on radio. This is brilliant, we’ve got a single. Because that process can always be very depressing when you’re writing an album. You sort of get to the end of it and then you go, ok, which songs are we going to write down as singles? That’s a horrible feeling sometimes, because it becomes this concern that you shouldn’t have to think about. You should just make music and if it’s a single, good. That’s wonderful.

I’m not sure about our ability to kind of churn out pop hits. I think this might be one of those instances — a lot of artists have them — where it’s just one of those magic kind of of the moment occurrences. I feel like every artist maybe gets one shot at having that huge thing, and also I think that has a lot to do with right place, right time. Sometimes a writer can just write something that is very of the now. And then it’s really difficult to do that again. Sometimes those things happen so naturally that you can’t force them, and you might just never get that moment again in your life. But saying that, we haven’t given up all hope. We’re writing for the next record as we speak.

BLAST: As you’re writing, do you feel any pressure for your sophomore album?

TP: (Our creativity) is still flowing, and we’re arrogant and don’t listen to anyone, so
no pressure for us. (Laughs). We’re completely confident. I’m just doing the thing that I did for the first album, which is a process where I’m not doing lots of intense writing. I’m just writing down each little idea and then playing around with noises and coming up with lots of basic small demos. And when we get some time to all settle down … we’ll start getting more serious on them. But there’s this kind of collection process, where the ideas just start building. Which was a big part of the (first) album as well. I was working a day job at a record store and was spending most of my time sneaking off and listening to music and writing down notes about good ideas. It’s a nice process to have, actually.

BLAST: Has your success been a bit of a blessing and a curse in New Zealand?

TP: Oh yes. That’s what (the song) “A Wolf in Geek’s Clothing” is about. You take it with a pinch of salt. I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but it’s the same thing with reviews as well. You can only take the good ones as seriously as the bad ones. Perception in general can be so influenced and altered. Back home, it’s funny, a lot of hipsters and idiots wouldn’t consider us an indie band, even though we were at the point of putting (the album) out on our own label. It’s very hard to take any of that sort of criticism seriously. The smarter your outlook on it, often the harsher the backlash. It’s just better to ignore it. Or to write good songs about them. (laughs).

The Naked and Famous play at the Paradise Monday night with Foals and Freelance Whales. For complete tour dates, visit www.thenakedandfamous.com.

Boston native singer/songwriter, Jill Goldberg, has been taking the music industry by storm as she rounds off her mini-tour celebrating her EP “Girl, Polite” at The Loft at Tommy Doyle’s in Cambridge on Thursday.

Goldberg’s timeline of work for her music spanning over a period of five years has resulted in the production of her first album “Travel On”, released in January. “Girl, Polite”, the main focus of Goldberg’s career at this point in time, brings a Cheryl Crow kind of sound to her previously established pop folk rock feel.

With the help of her producer Mark Turrigiano, Goldberg has made an immense amount of progress since her musical experiences with playing the clarinet, trumpet, piano, and arranging the repertoires for the a cappella group she participated in. At that time there was only one thing holding Goldberg back from furthering her musical career: live performance.

“I think of myself more as a music writer as opposed to a lyricist,” as Goldberg explained her hesitance to sing for an audience. The confidence gained from her work with the a cappella group has catapulted Goldberg to where she stands now in the music industry.

With just a Mac board and some artificial guitar and drum beats, Goldberg began composing music which would eventually lead up to “Girl, Polite”.

“My music is a novel instead of a short story,” Goldberg described. “It’s kind of complex. It’s poppy, yet sad music.”

“Girl, Polite” represents getting out all of your emotions, but for Goldberg it’s about wanting to say something mean to someone who has done you wrong and at the same time knowing that the virtue of politeness stands in the way of standing up for yourself.

Goldberg prefers songs from her first album such as “Travel On”, which tells about the love within her marriage as her and her husband traveled Europe together. However, Goldberg shares the same love for fan favorites like “Girl, Polite” and “I’m Always Right”.

This album differs from “Travel On” because it no longer zeros in on the emotion of love, but expands to Goldberg’s other deeper feelings. She feels that this album contains a lot of angrier tracks.

A great deal of motivation from role models like Sara Bareilles and inspiration from the songs of her fellow female singers and songwriters has helped Goldberg to continue striving towards her goals as a musician.

When talking about her aspirations, Goldberg said, “I would love for people to know me who I don’t know. That would be a dream come true.” In light of this desire, the musician acknowledges the obstacles she must overcome: money and the “Nature of the beast” that is large music companies.

“There are people who aren’t that talented and if they have a giant company behind them pumping money into them, people are going to buy their music,” Goldberg described.

Goldberg’s show at The Loft at Tommy Doyle’s, beginning at 10:30 PM and her next show at The Grape Room in Philadelphia on May 13th will only do wonders for Goldberg’s presence within the music industry.

For more information on Jill Goldberg and her new album “Girl, Polite”, fans should not only tap into the musician’s Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, but also take advantage of a free download of the track “Not Worth It” available at jillgoldberg.bandcamp.com.

It’s been a roundabout path leading up to and culminating in “Telepathic,” the latest album from indie duo L’Altra, which was released this week. Since forming the band in 1999 in Chicago, and releasing an impressive catalog of material, Lindsay Anderson and Joseph Desler Costa have gone through a breakup (from each other), dealt with numerous lineup changes, and explored solo careers, before deciding to reunite and record the moody, brooding songs that would become “Telepathic.”

The clearly irrevocable bond between Desler Costa and Anderson extends past their bio and infiltrates their music as well. The two share vocal duties, and their past anguish rears its head in songs like “When the Ship Sinks” and first single “Nothing Can Tear It Apart.” Desler Costa recently offered his thoughts on the record and the difficulties in bringing it to fruition.

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

JOSEPH DESLER COSTA: It’s the thing that is always there for me. I wake up with it, go to bed with it, ride the subway with it. I got my first electric guitar when I was 15 years old for Christmas. It’s been an obsession (ever) since.

BLAST: Who are your major musical influences?

JDC: I was hugely influenced (through) my older brother’s New Wave tastes. I was very young but fell in love with The Cure, Love and Rockets, New Order. I think that romantic New Wave feel stayed with me. Lindsay grew up in a musical family and (sang) in choirs. She also studied classical piano. I think that’s been a huge influence on her.

BLAST: How did you meet and when/how did you begin writing music together?

JDC: Lindsay and I met on the first day of college. We have been friends and close for so long. We used to talk and listen to music constantly and it was a natural progression to start playing together. It kind of just happened on its own with no real effort. The effort came later in continuing to play music together, as it’s not always easy.

BLAST: Where did the name “L’Altra” come from?

JDC: It means “the other woman” in Italian and a number of other romance languages. It just fit our concept and I like having an apostrophe in our name.

BLAST: What are the pros and cons of being in a personal and professional relationship with someone simultaneously?

JDC: The pros are that you can say anything without filter and that you know this person completely. The cons are that you can say anything without filter and that you know this person completely.

BLAST: What made you decide to continue working together and make this record after your breakup?

JDC: We were both writing songs again and after making solo records I think we missed working together. I would think of her piano parts in songs I was working on. There was a lack in the music, so we then decided to give it a try and started working on some songs together. It all came back easily and I think the time off helped us to appreciate what each other brings to the table creatively. We also learned that it is important to have some filter when you collaborate with someone. There is a critical distance that you find. Too close is too close and too far won’t work either. We found an equilibrium.

BLAST: Is songwriting a cathartic process for you? While you were making this record, did any issues surface through the lyrics that maybe you hadn’t discussed previously?

JDC: It can be for sure, but its not like we write because we need to get something off our chests or anything. It’s just this way of communicating more abstract things and feelings. I am not ever exactly sure what a song we write is about. We focus more on creating a feel or a place, and then hope the listener finds something they can relate to inside it. As far as lyrics go, we always fight over them, and try to edit each other. That’s the only issue. I’m not sure we’ll ever work that problem out. Maybe it’s our way of working.

BLAST: Overall, “Telepathic” is very atmospheric. What type of vibe were you trying to achieve in the recording process? Would you say there’s a unifying theme to the songs?

JDC: The music we make is very intimate and we tried very hard to preserve the intimacy in the recording. It’s music written in our living rooms. We wanted the vocals to sound close, like someone whispering in your ear. We also wanted to leave a naturalness in the recording, like the creak of a drum pedal or piano keys. I think making a too perfect recording takes away the intimacy we were looking towards. Our goal is to make an “album” — by that I mean an unified group of songs that sound best when listen to together. Maybe the album is a dying format, but for us it’s essential. So yeah, I think there is a thread that runs through them all.

BLAST: What are the three albums you would take to a desert island with you?

JDC: Radiohead, “OK Computer”; The Cure, “Disintegration”; Beach House, “Teen Dream”

L’Altra’s “Telepathic” was released Tuesday. It can be purchased on iTunes.

Not too long ago, Ben Lovett spent a number of years living what he describes as a “rambling” lifestyle. The expense of the Georgia native’s college tuition paid for him to travel as far as Greece, with some money left over to spend on recording equipment. There, he began to land occasional work composing film scores and producing records his friends were working on. This, somewhat accidental career move developed along with Lovett’s technical skill as a composer and producer. After returning to the States, the Georgian established himself within the independent film scene, creating scores for a number of well-received festival productions. As a producer, he continued to work and collect friends throughout the industry. After almost a decade of helping other artists realize their visions, Ben now prepares to unveil his own, in the form of his debut album, “Highway Collection.” The record showcases Lovett’s distinctive falsetto vocals over a number of richly produced tracks that signal a wide range of influences, from Broken Bells to The Beach Boys. When the LP is released next month, his “rambling” career will have arrived at a surprising destination. A few days ago, Lovett (he’s now dropped the “Ben”) spoke to Blast about the journey that brought has him to this point.

Speaking from Asheville, N.C., after some matter-of-fact acknowledgment of his background in production and film composition, Lovett moved on to explain how his transition from soundboard controller to songwriter came about. Still in possession of his southern drawl and polite mannerisms, the thirty-two year old explained:

“In some ways, that was always where it (my career) was heading. I didn’t come to a conscious decision to make that change. I was always doodling sketches of songs and having different ideas, and cataloging and recording them. It was just a case of being so busy with other things. But, like with anything creative, you eventually hear the knocking on the door. You have to make a conscious decision to stop and create time. I reached the point in my life that I was ready to make more time for myself, and it all naturally evolved from that.”

BLAST: Do you consider this album to be a culmination of everything you’ve been working on individually, so far?

LOVETT: “I do. I think that all of those experiences have informed the process of writing these songs. I haven’t always, necessarily, been writing songs; I’ve always been making music. A lot of the stuff I was really interested in doing, earlier on, was to deviate from any sort of song structure as much as possible. So, the idea of writing in a ‘chorus/verse/chorus’ structure: I couldn’t have been less interested that. But, eventually, I came around to it. It became an interesting challenge, after I’d explored away from it for a while.

When I started the record, every part of making it was already familiar to me, except the role of being the lyricist and the singer. I had shared those roles in collaborations, but it was a kind of new adventure to take on the role as the sole songwriter.”

BLAST: The album was recorded in a number of locations all over the country, and there are a number of collaborations. Are those things related?

LOVETT: “I went through a period of a couple of years where I didn’t really live anywhere. I just, kind of rambled around in my car, visiting people and going places to work on particular projects. I’d work on something for a while and stay with friends, and then, I’d ramble on somewhere else. During that time, I’d see friends and musicians who had studios. I started tracking people down who I wanted to collaborate with on these songs. When you’re working on music for films, it comes be, that you spend most of the time alone. I didn’t really have any intentions of making an album full of me playing twenty different parts of a song. I think the fun of recording a song is, simply, playing with other people you enjoy playing with.”

BLAST: Of those collaborations, were any particularly meaningful for you?

LOVETT: “One person who really made a significant impression on the thing was Chris Wollard. He was the singer and principle songwriter in a band called Hot Water Music. He was always a songwriting hero of mine and became a good friend over time. He plays guitar on a few songs on the record. At certain points, when I had somewhat lost my way, or when I was nearly finished with some songs and couldn’t figure out how to unlock certain things; he (Wollard) was really instrumental in just not letting me give up and finding simple ways to alter my perspective. His experiences and advice were tremendously valuable to me.”

BLAST: The album has a pretty eclectic sound in terms of styles, tempos, and sounds. Is there an overall feeling or focus that runs through the record?

LOVETT: “I don’t think so, in terms of an overall musical tone. That’s just because, I’m not a band. So, each song has a different group of people involved. Song by song, story by story, thought by thought, it was a question of how to best capture the mood of the song’s content. I think that approach comes from having worked on other peoples projects and helping them create a vehicle for their ideas, and also doing things with film that create the texture and mood of a scene. I feel, as I continue, it will always be about what choice feels best for that song. Its not really about me, I’m just trying to help get the idea across.”

BLAST: Do you have a favorite song on the record?

LOVETT: “Oh, you know, which ever one’s playing. I’ll say it like this: (the album) evolved with so many different people. A combination of friends, musicians that I admire, and on almost every song there’s a collection of random people I didn’t even know. I couldn’t get everyone’s name; we’d have sessions where we pulled people from the bar next to the studio to do some stomping and clapping. There was an atmosphere of old friends and new friends, infusing the feeling into the record. Because of that, its easier for me to enjoy it as a thing I was a part of, as opposed to a highly detailed masterpiece ship in a bottle that just I created.”

BLAST: Given your somewhat nomadic background, a tour seems appropriate. Do you have plans to go on the road?

LOVETT: “Sure, we’re going to South by Southwest to play some parties happening at the festival. I’ll probably get people playing in the park or in the street and through our own party, too.”

BLAST: What can audiences expect to see at a Lovett show, given the wide spectrum of musicians who’ve contributed in the past?

LOVETT: “Well the first show that we played was in LA and there were thirty people in the band, the next was in Atlanta and there was about eighteen people and they were all completely different. So, who knows? Its fun though.”

Lovett’s Highway Collection will be released on March 15. Ahead of the album’s release, a free download of the romping opening track “The Fear” is available at benlovett.com. The debut single from the album, “Heartattack,” was released on Valentines day.

At just 23, Lauren Pritchard has a resume that many performers twice her age would envy. While trying to get her music career off the ground as a teenager, she landed a role in the original cast of the (eventual Tony Award-winning) Broadway show “Spring Awakening.” Now, five years later, the singer/songwriter is preparing a cross-country tour in support of her debut album, “Wasted in Jackson,” which was released in the U.S. this week.

Pritchard has found a happy middle ground for her two passions, in more ways than one. In person, she has the poised demeanor of someone with a theater background, but the nonchalance and occasional irreverence of a musician. Munching on a salad and barbecue potato chips at the Universal Records office in New York City recently, Pritchard chatted with Blast about the path that brought her to this point.

The title “Wasted in Jackson” is a nod to Pritchard’s birthplace — Jackson, Tenn. (During our interview, she repeatedly mentioned growing up in the “Bible Belt.”) Raised by parents whose musical interests include Al Green, Steely Dan, The Who, Prince and Foreigner, Pritchard recalls first falling in love with music while listening to “Best of the ‘70s” compilations during family road trips.

“That’s what kind of started the singer/songwriter thing for me,” says Pritchard, who now calls London home. “I was 10, 11ish … when I found people like Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez. … I was listening to music that was really honest, people really talking about what they wanted to say.”

Though she started piano lessons at the age of seven and played in recitals starting at age nine (“which I hated,” she adds. “I was absolutely terrified. I would, like, break out in a cold sweat minutes before”), Pritchard didn’t begin writing her own songs until age 14, when she bonded with other musically-inclined teens during a weekend youth group church retreat in Nashville.

“We sat around, just playing music and shooting the shit,” she said. “I went home after the weekend and wrote a song. … That was the first moment I ever had a real kind of jam session. And it made such an impact on me. … I already knew that was what I wanted to do, and that just sort of furthered that for me.”

Her parents, especially her mother, supported her passion (“not in a cheesy way,” she insists), and even allowed Pritchard to move to Los Angeles at 16 to live with her best friend’s family and pursue a musical career.

“I had very realistic parents,” she said matter-of-factly. “If they really thought that I couldn’t succeed, they would have told me to shut up and do something else. … You know, you see a show like ‘American Idol’ and you see these parents, ‘My child is the best singer in the whole world!’ … And you’re like, oh, what is wrong with you? My mother was never like that. … I had parents that were like, this is what you can do well, and this is what you should do. But it was never in a forceful way. It was something that I wanted to do. Basically, there was reassurance and moral support.”

Though California was a bit of a culture shock for the Tennessee transplant, (“I didn’t even know what the fuck Chanel was until I moved to L.A.”), she got an agent and began auditioning for commercials and bit parts to supplement her income, while at the same time performing as a backup singer/keyboardist in a reggae band. She found a network of supporters, not the least of which was her best friend’s mother, Lisa Marie Presley.

“A lot of the reason why I kept going is because I had people around me going, ‘It’s not going to be for nothing,’” Pritchard says. “When my mom left (to return to Nashville) … Lisa filled that gap for me. She was extremely supportive. … I owe so much to this woman. I wouldn’t have anything had she not let me live with her and had she not taken care of me. … She really believed in me.”

While finding her footing in L.A., a twist of fate led to what would be a life-changing resume builder.

As Pritchard tells it, “I went on an audition for this tiny little underground show called ‘Spring Awakening.’”

Irene Nelson is a Russian singer who is bringing her talent to the United States. She has already won three Russian Grammys with the group Reflex and now hopes to find success as a solo artist.

Nelson’s debut album is forthcoming, but her single, “Sunrise,” has already been featured on Billboard’s Dance/Club Play chart. Following her success in Russia, Nelson hopes to win America over with her voice as well.

Nelson answered some of Blast’s questions via email regarding how she broke into the industry and what she has planned for her career future.

BLAST: Can you describe the songs on your new album?

IRENE NELSON: My songs are about eternal human values such as good and evil, war and peace, true freedom and love. In my first single “Sunrise” I consciously avoided the description of the physiological love. Using metaphysical images, in this case the two birds, I am (singing) about two beloveds who dissolved in their love, turned into holy souls and (were able) to rise from aches and walk on water.

My music is simple. In my songs I reflect on (questions such as): “When we want to be ahead of the game by any means necessary or win in fierce fight, don’t we follow the thought path of our own sick ego?” or “Is the winner in war really a winner … or killer?”

BLAST: Do you have a release date set yet? What is it titled?

IN: I think in the near future we will decide whether we will remain independent or to go with one of the major labels. The release date depends on it. In any case it will be in the spring.

Regarding the title of my album, we have different opinions. My music producers, Gary Miller and Vlad Tyurin, like Ahead of the Game, but my first American single, “Sunrise,” is very precious to me. This is the song with which I became known in US and entered the American Billboard chart — I would like to name it Sunrise.

BLAST: How long have you been working on the new album?

IN: It has been two years since the (creation of) the first single “Sunrise,” which I recorded in London at George Martin’s legendary AIR Studios. Sound producer Steve Orchard (U2, Coldplay, Peter Gabriel, Dido) and sound producer and hit-maker Vlad Tyurin (Reflex were working on this single. To continue to work on the rest of the songs Vlad and I went to Los Angeles. Here we met another big producer Gary Miller (David Bowie, Simply Red, Kylie Minogue etc.) and have worked with him since. The new album was born in our close collaboration. All music was created by Vlad Tyurin, Antony Tyurin and me, all lyrics written by myself.

BLAST: What was your inspiration for the album?

IN: I was inspired by my inner transformations (such as) knowing my own difficult path as a girl from a deep Siberian province who literally escaped home. Experiencing many troubles, I started thinking about the (meaning) of different occurrences; I started to look for answers in the books of philosophers and yogis. Over 10 years, I have accomplished many spiritual practices and yogi techniques on my own. I always wanted to (look) beyond the borders of a physical world.

BLAST: When did you begin singing? How did you enter the music industry?

IN: Upon completing school I wanted a musical education and had to escape from my parents to the capital of Novovsibirsk, Siberia (New Siberia). I didn’t know anyone when I arrived and didn’t have any money, so I would go door to door seeking shelter. I was accepted by one of the music colleges to study piano. I could not afford a piano so I drew a keyboard on paper and would unroll my “piano” and practice daily. After finishing my musical education I was invited to a jazz big band as a vocalist—it was my first experience as a singer. I sang the famous jazz compositions of Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Ross and Billy Holiday and spent the next few years touring, participating in festivals and wining various awards.

Later I met songwriter Vlad Tyurin — a legend among Russian’s musical elite. Vlad has made his mark as one of the most outstanding and distinguished composers and sound producers. He invited me to collaborate with him on a dance project and Reflex was born. I was not only the lead vocalist in the very famous girl band Reflex, I was also a songwriter and generated all the ideas. This project was created by Vlad Tyurin and me, so oftentimes we had to do and manage everything ourselves! (In addition) to composing music and lyrics, we were also the producers during every step, including: sound engineering, making videos, styling and setting photo sessions. It was a huge experience and as a result Reflex became a seven-year-old success story — the most outstanding dance project on the Russian pop stage that won an amazing amount of musical awards. We have received medals and orders “For professionalism and contribution to culture.”

As you know, right now I am working here, in the United States.

BLAST: Why did you decide to bring your music to the US?

IN: The United States is a country that is open to everything new. I like to take unknown paths and coming to America was literally like a jump into the unknown, almost like visiting another planet. I have been listening to American music since I was little and my skills were perfected by (having) American role models. America is a land of outstanding musicians. I have always had a sincere dream to sing a duet with American artists.

BLAST: Who would you like to work with in the future?

IN: You might think that I am crazy, but I dream of singing a duet with U2’s Bono.

BLAST: Do you hope to live in Los Angeles permanently or do you have plans to return to Russia.

IN: Over the past two years I have spent in LA, I have absolutely fallen in love with this city. I have a lot of friends here and even my own recording studio in Malibu where Gary Miller, a platinum songwriter/record producer, is my partner. LA became my second home. But when I start feeling kind of homesick, I immediately go back (to Russia).

BLAST: Do have any upcoming performances?

IN: At the end of the last year I was enthusiastically putting together a band and started rehearsals. But suddenly my father got very ill. For almost six months we were fighting his fatal disease, but unsuccessfully. For a long time I could not think about anything else. But now that my album is finished I will gather a new band, and by autumn we will be all ready to move forward.

BLAST: Is there anything else that you would like to add?

IN: I want my music to be a reason for communication between me and American people. We have a lot of things to discuss! As I said before, (I’m) a girl from Siberia who (took) a long path to end up in America to see everything with her own eyes and prove to herself that we are all the same and that we are all seeking the same thing — Love!

Most bands have reinvented themselves from time to time. Tampa-based Miggs is not new to the idea of reinvention. However, most bands reinvent themselves after they become famous. Being dubbed one of the best rock bands you’ve never heard of, Miggs has recreated themselves with more band member changes than Lady Gaga has wardrobe changes. It seems the band so close to fame never could the right internal chemistry. Until now.

Two years ago Miggs found a steady lineup of musicians. “It’s the same name but a whole different band,” said Don Miggs, the front man. “We just click. There is this intangible with us. We have chemistry.”

With stability in the band, Don feels more confident than ever as a musician. “It feels good being with the right people. Before we would have these dumb arguments and it sucked all the energy out of me. We are all in the same boat now rowing in the same direction.”

The band’s latest album, Wide Awake, was released in the spring. Their single “Girls & Boys” is a hot download.

“It’s the one album I can listen to all 12 songs and I don’t cringe. I can’t say that about the other albums.” Don says the band’s sound falls somewhere in between Elton John and Coheed and Cambria. “It’s an album to put on to feel OK and not ‘let’s have a good night and shake your ass OK’ but like ‘everything is going to be OK.’ It’s upbeat without being a party record. I am damn proud of it.”

The song writing progressed on this album as well as their sound. “I think before lyrically I would try to be cute and do things to impress other musicians. This time I let the songs happen the way they were suppose to,” Don said. Don was even inspired by literature this time around. Incredibly Close off of Wide Awake was inspired by the Jonathan Safran Foer novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close about a nine year old boy who is grappling with death of his father who dies on 9/11. “It’s about how we are all skyscrapers burning at different speeds,” he said.

While the front man is very proud of the band’s fourth album he feels fans need to see the band live to fully understand what they are about. “We are better live. The experience is better. It adds the 3D element to it,”

Miggs has been touring with Ed Kowalczyk and Thriving Ivory for the past several months. “It has been a real treat watching Ed every night,” said Don. “The tour has been a lot of fun. Every night is better than the last.”

While touring continues to shape Don and the band as better musicians, 18 months ago something had an even more profound effect on Don’s life; the birth of his son. “With the birth of my son, I figured out what’s important. I am no longer concerned about being famous. I want to be timeless. I want to make music my son will be proud of,” Don said.

In an age where anyone can be famous for anything, Don wants to be known for his talent. “You can become a sensation for anything; you just have to be a moron on a reality TV show. I want my son to look back on my career and know his father was sensational because he was good at what he did,” Don said.

With the tour and the new single out, Miggs hopes to keep making new fans in every new city they are in. “We want to keep making music and building a solid fan base. We want our fans to be in love with us as much as we love making music. We are an honest representation of American music and we not hip and cool for the sake of being hip and cool,” Don said.

Miggs plays New York’s Mercury Lounge on Thursday at 7 p.m.

NEW YORK — It is generally frowned upon to not know if you’re coming or going. But in the case of “The Big Island,” the sophomore offering from Brooklyn-based Americana-indie band Motel Motel, it’s a super power. The band has somehow mastered the ability to make listeners feel nostalgic for home and for the sense of familiarity, yet ready and yearning to embark on a great voyage of things and places unfamiliar.

Motel Motel’s songs contain strong vocals and heartfelt orchestral chords, and just about every song on “The Big Island” has a joyous and powerful energy. Classifying the quintet as a “rock band” doesn’t fully describe them, but they are also not what one thinks of when they hear the words “indie Brooklyn band.” Even though when you get off the subway to see one of their shows, one of their audience members may glare at you for being in your work suit or not having stylish bed bug bites, Motel Motel is anything but another stale hipster band. They are completely original, and any influences one may hear in their music probably comes from the band’s similar experiences or level of talent as other great musicians.

Motel Motel is a modern rock band that ties in an indie edge with the sprawling sounds of the great west. The album makes listeners feel as though they can live in this dream time of comfort when they felt “home,” even just for a few moments. Their vocal harmonies are so soul shaking that they seem to unite the listener with some higher human emotion. If nostalgia were an instrument, one of the five musicians that make up Motel Motel would be a master at playing it.

Yet the band’s western twang and sudden key changes make the listener feel as if they are exploring uncharted territory. Their songs are like some kind of untamed ocean, where the water under your boat starts out with one motion and takes sudden unknown turns. Whether the waters are quieting down, or ripples begin to turn into a tempestuous tirade, the one thing that is certain is that you don’t know what nature has in store for you and your journey. No one song on “The Big Island” ends with the same sound, tone or emotion it began with, making the music as mysterious yet natural as the aforementioned sea. And like the ocean, no matter what direction the “waves” are moving, the music seems to seamlessly flow.

This nomadic quality may have something to do with the Motel Motel’s members seemingly making up some sort of mini Rock ‘n’ Roll House of Representatives. They each hail from a different state and represent almost every time zone the country has to offer.

“I think because we’re all from all over the place, I think we all kind of speak to different experiences and have sort of a sentimental sense of the road and traveling and that kind of thing,” said Mickey Theis, one of the band’s guitarist and vocalists. “All of us I think have that. We all came to New York because we were unsatisfied I guess with where we were living and I think this band has taken us different places.”

Motel Motel’s first album “New Denver” sounds more chaotic and a bit edgier than the band’s second feat. “New Denver” sounds like the result of scooping up the island of New York City and suddenly dropping it in a big square state out west. “The Big Island” has an easier and more joyful yet longingly sound. The latest album definitely depicts different perspectives, ones that are sometimes working together and sometimes working in discordance. This element is one reason “The Big Island” is so unique.

“We’ve known each other for so long we kind of discovered a way to work with each other. Its not as beautiful as it may appear, we argue a lot, we fight a lot, just yesterday we got into some pretty intense arguments,” said Eric Engel, guitarist and lead vocalist. “It’s a lot of intense moments we have that make decisions. But when it does work out and it does come together, it’s beautiful,” Eric said.

It is hard to miss the influence of Hawaiian sounds on the album. It is not to say that “The Big Island” is going to be part of your Sublime/Jack Johnson/311 “Surfs Up!” play list next summer, but it does have elements of what most would consider a “beachy” vibe. It incorporates Hawaiian themes in a very grand way, perhaps in the way that you would describe an epic wave would crash into the shore in Hawaii vs that experience in New Jersey. This sound melts into the album seamlessly thanks to an instrument called the Pedal steel, a string instrument with a reputation for being extremely difficult to play. Many of the band members expressed how impressed they are with keyboardist Erik Gundel’s ability to effortlessly play such a complicated instrument.

“The Big Island’s” Hawaiian influences have no doubt to do with guitarist/bassist Timothy “Timo” Sullivan’s growing up in the Aloha State. The band said that on this album, the duty of creating lyrics naturally fell more so in the hands of Timothy and Eric Engel.

“My dad is a fisherman,” Sullivan said, “and he fishes at night, so my idea of Hawaii is like dark oceans and scary waves and very epic. So it wasn’t conscience at first, it became conscience, that we were trying to make an album that really swelled and was epic. Where the Hawaiian most came into play was (in the song) ‘Kaimanu,’ because that’s the name of my dads boat. … So we pictured it like (the sounds and lyrics of the song) would be him sailing into the ocean. But we never named that song ‘Kaimanu’ until the end, we always pictured it would be a song about the ocean, but it all fell together.”

The Hawaiian theme doesn’t stop there. Many of the songs have the Island’s mythology, imagery or culture entwined with its notes. Another song on the album, “Keauhou,” references a harbor, and urban legends about a Hawaiian King, King Kamehameha, who was said to carry a giant rock 40 miles just to prove he could be king. This is a story that well known to Hawaiians according to Timothy, and storytelling such as this is what this album does so well.

This is a prime example of the familial feel many of the songs have, and perhaps it is because we can sense it is familiar to someone somewhere. To those non-Hawaiians, it seems like an exciting story from a far away land, but to someone else, it’s a story from home. One constant theme on “The Big Island” is its push-pull feeling of reminiscence and the exploration of lands and emotions unknown. The album has something identifiable and familiar for everyone, and something mysterious and exciting for everyone else.

“(“Keauhou”) is about leaving from a harbor, that harbor always struck me as a really desolate sad harbor to leave. As you dock all you can see are rocks, but as you turn around and jetty the corner, the ocean just opens up,” Sullivan said, reflecting on his trips to and from the Keauhou harbor.

The one criticism that must be bestowed upon Motel Motel is that it is probably easier to spot King Kamehameha carrying that rock than it is to catch the band performing live. But the band has a number of upcoming shows in New York. Seeing the band play live is an experience that no one should miss. Motel Motel’s bodies and instruments simply explode with gleeful movements and noises respectively, and the feeling fills the entire room to the brim. No matter what the venue, Motel Motel’s live performances completely transforms any space, making the audience forget how they almost got shanked passing the scary Brooklyn truck yard by a vacant lot to get to the venue, and brings them to some sun filled, sweet and lovely beach or mountainside.

This band and this sound is exactly what New York City needs — a safe haven from the hustle and sometimes harsh atmosphere of our “Not quite as big” island. Motel Motel brings the ocean to our parched ears, and serves as an oasis in our urban desert.

Upcoming Motel Motel shows:

• October 21, 10 p.m., Bowery Hotel Arcade 44 Party (CMJ)
• October 21, 11 p.m., Spike Hill in Williamsburg (CMJ)
• November 13, 9 p.m., Bruar Falls with Tuning
• November 20, 9 p.m., Pianos-Start Magazine Presents Roadside Graves with Motel Motel and Dinosaur Feathers
• December 15, 10 p.m., Grasslands with Depreciation Guild

Marc Griffin’s voice on the phone sounds tired and sick. One would assume it would be the all late night parties and shenanigans that one equates with being a rock star to be the blame. However, that cliche stereotype couldn’t be further from the truth. Food poisoning is actually the culprit. Griffin, of 2AM Club, and the rest of his band mates got food poisoning the night before this interview and are still dealing with its aftermath.

"I wasn’t sure even if I should do this interview but it seemed like the right thing to do," Griffin said.

On September 14, the band’s debut album, What Did You Think Was Going to Happen?, was released. Their first single, "Worry about You," has been receiving heavy radio play.

The members of 2AM Club met the way a lot of bands meet: at college. Freshmen year at University of California Santa Cruz Griffin met Tyler Cordy (vocals) and decided to form a band. The pair got other friends to join (guitarist Matt Reagan, bass guitarist Matt Warshauer, drummer Ian O’Neill and Dave Dalton who is on the keys) and thus a band was formed.

Meeting at college it made perfect sense for the band to make a name for themselves and find their sound through the LA college circuit. The band performed at countless colleges in the area and soon became a favorite among LA college students. "We want our music to sound like a party and don’t want it to be super pretentious or artsy and that’s what college is all about," Griffin said.

The band got their name from a favorite dive bar they would always frequent. "My girlfriend at the time was like you spend so much time there you should just call yourselves that," Griffin said.

Griffin describes the band’s sound as "soulful intelligent pop music." 2AM Club doesn’t have a particular routine about their song writing. "We usually get around campfire style and create something around an idea. It’s different every time," he said.

Most bands have a love hate relationship with studio time and rather be performing live in front of their fans, 2AM Club is not one of those bands. "You have to have them both. In the studio we think about how it’s going to feel when we perform live and we try to capture that feeling while performing. Someone told me once recording is about capturing moments and performing is about making moments," Griffin said.

Right now, the boys from California are making moments. They are currently on tour with Mike Posner. The experience for them has been a remarkable one. "The tour is going great," said Griffin. San Francisco has been a favorite spot for the band to perform since it is so close to home for them. "Looking out into the crowd and seeing a mix of fans, family and friends is the best feeling," he said. They will be performing at the House of Blues in Boston on October 11th.

The band’s musical influences show a vast array in taste in music from Duran Duran to Fiona Apple to even Tupac. What may come as a shock to some, Griffin is a huge Tupac fan. "When I was fourteen I listened to Tupac all day," said the front man.

The band has high hopes for the future. "In five years hopefully we’re touring somewhere in South America and just making more music," Griffin said.

2AM Club plays House of Blues Boston Monday night and Fillmore in New york on Tueday.

Fountains of Wayne guitarist Jody Porter recently released his debut solo record, "Close to the Sun." Fans of his primary group will be delighted by the catchy power pop of first single "Aurora," but as a whole, Porter touches on a broader spectrum of influences with this record than he ever has with Fountains of Wayne. The guitarist-turned-frontman recently chatted with Blast about the record, the pros and cons of branching out on his own. And longtime Fountains devotees, have no fear — though he’s focusing on his solo gig this summer, Porter assured us that the band is still going strong and are even in the process of finalizing a new record.

Blast: Was a solo career something that was always in the back of your mind? What finally prompted you to get the ball rolling and put this album out?

Jody Porter: A solo career was nothing I wanted to ever do, but it just became something that I ended up doing. I’d been in bands back in England that I wrote for and sang and fronted, and that was in the ‘90s, so as far as being a writer and all that, I’ve already kind of been there and done that. I’ve always liked playing in a band, but this is turning out to be a blast, too.

What’s the status of Fountains of Wayne?

JP: We’re still working on Fountains of Wayne. We have a record that’s being mixed right now. You know, there have been periods where I’ve gone off to do my own thing. And this is just an in-between thing. We’re definitely still doing the Fountains.

Are your Fountains of Wayne bandmates supportive of you going solo?

JP: Yeah. I mean, we all do different things on the side. It’s kind of the order of business from day one with that. It does probably lend itself (to side projects) for Fountains of Wayne to take three years in between things, you know? We’re good for a record every three years basically, is our work ethic. Plenty of time to do stuff in between.

Can you discuss the pros and cons of being a solo artist as opposed to a band member? Which do you prefer?

JP: A lot of times, you kind of have to do a little bit more production stuff just to get things rolling (as a solo artist).  I’m not much of a micromanager. Being in Fountains … day to day, there’s not a whole lot of stuff to do. This project I’m doing now is a little more DIY. So we do have some managers involved, but I find myself having (to make) a lot more decisions than I’m used to. Just kind of scheduling stuff, you know, studio stuff, even down to interviews. (In a group), if we’re all sitting around or something, it’s a lot easier to have a direction for what’s going to happen with the next bunch of shows or the next recording. I think it’s probably a little less intimidating.

Are you happy to have the Fountains of Wayne recognition, and a built-in fanbase behind you? Or would your rather people just discover your solo material on its own merits?

JP: You know, it really doesn’t matter to me. I think (my involvement in Fountains of Wayne) is probably just a footnote. (The solo record) is completely independent of Fountains of Wayne and probably a little more like my first band, The Belltower, in England. It’s a little bit more rock ‘n’ roll and it’s more of a psychedelic approach than a straight ahead power pop approach. For me, coming out of Fountains of Wayne, it’s such a departure that I feel like it’s almost just like a new thing completely, rather than being a solo record.

Who are your musical influences? Are there any artists who you feel you were able to tap into more now than you did with Fountains?

JP: Yeah, I’d say so. You get 100 percent freedom (as a solo artist). It’s just one of those things, I guess, that gives you a little bit more vision and room to move with it. As far as my influences go, they’re more obscure than Fountains of Wayne’s probably would be. You know, those guys are totally influenced by a different sort of realm of music than I am. I’m more into stuff like (English blues-rockers) The Pretty Things. I guess we kind of share a common love for the British Invasion stuff, obviously The Beatles and all, but I don’t think either (Fountains of Wayne songwriters) Chris (Collingwood) or Adam (Schlesinger) are particularly big Stones fans, and that was obviously a big part of my influence.

What are some of your favorite tracks on the record, or ones you’re most proud of?

JP: As far as just a verse, chorus, pop song approach, I think that "Aurora" is a good one. "A Beautiful Life," that was in the film “The Messenger.” (The film crew) just kind of approached me as, looking for something that was a little paradoxical or slightly cynical, but uplifting at the same time. "Cars on the Motorway," more of the edgier stuff, some of the louder songs, are really fun to play live.

Do you have any favorite solo artists who have branched off from bands and done their own thing?

JP: I’m really a big Pulp fan, and I think Jarvis (Cocker) has made the transition (well). Going back to The Beatles’ stuff, I think Lennon’s records were still amazing after The Beatles.

You’ve collaborated with a number of artists, including Juliana Hatfield, Jesse Malin and The Strokes’ Albert Hammond, Jr. Is there anyone you haven’t worked with whom you’d like to?

JP: A lot of the people I’ve worked with are just kind of friends. I’ll get a call and just drop by because I’m in the neighborhood or whatever, and it just ends up being kind of spontaneous. With Juliana, that was a gas, because I went in just to do maybe one or two songs and ended up being on pretty much the whole record. And it went really quickly. That was a fun collaboration. I can just grasp at straws and say I really like Primal Scream. A lot of British bands. Maybe (Oasis’) Noel Gallagher, whatever he’s doing now.

What was the first album you were obsessed with?

JP: I had a pretty groovy father who had been a musician. He was a folkie on RCA in the late ‘60s.  The first record that he bought me was probably on my fifth birthday, and I had already scratched and worn out all his vinyl, like spinning it around with my hand when I was a wee toddler. So he had to re-buy a bunch of things, but I got for my fifth birthday "Sergeant Pepper." I was kind of basically shown the light.

So, is this going to be a one-time solo thing? Do you see yourself releasing more solo material down the road?

JP: I think I’m going to be proactive with it. I mean, so far it’s gotten really good response, and I have a fairly big backlog of songs that I didn’t put on the record and a lot of new ones that were kind of thrown together.

Jody Porter plays Boston’s Lizard Lounge on August 14.

It’s difficult to pigeonhole London-based quartet Mumford & Sons, and that in itself is the crux of their appeal. Frontman (and group namesake) Marcus Mumford’s singing style is distinctly British, both in his self-deprecating lyrics and the accent with which he pronounces them, but the words are sung over foot-stomping chord arrangements that draw heavily from more typically American styles like country and folk.

The group’s members themselves don’t have a concrete description of their music — just don’t call them a bluegrass band.

"Because we’ve got a banjo in our band, a lot of people think, right, they’re a bluegrass band," Mumford said in a recent interview with Blast. "But we definitely don’t claim to be (one), because firstly, none of us are good enough musicians to call ourselves a bluegrass band."

"Our country is immersed in Americanized culture. … The most popular films are all American made, and the same with a lot of music," he went on. "When we were growing up, those influences were very present in the sort of cultural tapestry that made up what we lived in. … "(But) I wouldn’t say (our influences are) exclusively American music. British pop, like The Kinks and The Beatles, we look up to them just as much as we look up to any of the American songwriters that we love. So we’re a real hybrid blend, I suppose, of different types of music."

The recipe appears to be working. After releasing their debut album "Sigh No More" in the UK last October and in the U.S. in February, the band (Mumford, "Country" Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane — all multi-instrumentalists) recently concluded a headlining U.S. tour and left a trail of buzz in their wake. Their single "Little Lion Man" has also made a dent in American alternative radio playlists, and they’re slated to team up with one of their idols, Ray Davies, on the Kinks’ singer’s collaboration album later this year.

Just three years ago, the future musicians of Mumford & Sons were all unknown fixtures on the London music scene whose paths crossed in the summer of 2007. By that fall, they were rehearsing together as a group, but unsure as to what kind of sound they were trying to hone.

"All four of us came from slightly different angles, musically," Mumford said. "Ben and I played in a jazz band together. At the end of school, I got really into country music. … Ted was playing a lot of blues. He’s a blues guitarist, really, by trade, but had also picked up a double bass. And Winston had been teaching himself the banjo and got really into some bluegrass music."

They decided to just mix everything together and chose the band name in order to evoke an old-timey British family business. Other acts soon began to take notice.

"How we became a band, really, was just through other bands inviting us along for the sake of fun, really, and just saying, ‘Come and play some gigs with us,’" Mumford explained. "That’s why we really take our live gigs very seriously, and we take what bands we tour with very seriously. Because a gig can be an entire experience from start to finish, not just like a focus on one band."

Supporting them on their American tour earlier this year was Australian outfit The Middle East, but the "pay it forward" approach extends beyond touring. Wanting to retain artistic control of their material, they self-produced three EPs and formed their own label to release "Sigh No More" independently. Mumford said they’re "definitely" interested in signing other acts.

"Not so much taking them under our wing so that we can have any kind of ownership, but more just, like, we were given so many steps up along the way when we first started as a band that we love the communal aspect of it, the community aspect of the music that we play. Musically speaking, a lot of the styles of the music that we love, like jazz and folk and blues, are very communal. They’re very based on relationships and that’s what inspires a lot of the music — not just kind of locking yourself away in a room and, you know, cranking out lots of different types of sounds and a song is made. The songs that we make are a result of rubbing off or being rubbed off on by lots of other people."

Relationships aside, Mumford & Sons’ evident business savvy probably won’t hurt their trajectory, either.

"No one quite knows what’s happening to the music industry. It’s kind of a changing world," Mumford said candidly. "We like the idea of being owners of (our music), and being in control of it, and having approval over everything, so that, in 10 years’ time, any mistakes we make along the way, we can say they were our mistakes. They weren’t mistakes made by people on behalf of us. That’s a distinction that is quite helpful for our mentality. I mean, it puts slightly more pressure on us … but we kind of like the idea of doing it more in that way, and then to team up with people who are really good at their jobs in other areas.

"Being in control and owning the record, at the end of the day, makes you the team captains," he added. "We have quite a large team now of people and record labels. Worldwide, we have a mix of major and independent record labels that we work with. They’re just really great people, and we got to pick them all. We got to pick our best team, which was really great. We’ve had some wonderful advice and some wonderful help. … We’re very, very lucky in that way."

It was during a self-imposed hiatus in between their sophomore album and most recent effort, "Work," that the members of Sweden’s Shout Out Louds realized how much music and their band meant to them, according to singer and chief songwriter Adam Olenius.

But it wasn’t until they started recording the songs for "Work," which was released in February, and performing live again that they truly understood how much their music meant to others, said Olenius, who chatted with Blast while the band was in New York City for a record release show earlier this year.

"We had a … seven, eight month break without playing. And now when we’re back, you sort of realize that people have been missing us," Olenius said, sounding incredulous. "It was a turning point in the band, that we realized that this is really important, and … that this is not just important for us. It’s important for people to listen to us as well. It’s hard to realize that you have an audience."

Indeed, since forming in 2001, the group has cultivated a following that’s gradually expanded from their native Stockholm to the United States, and continues to grow.

Even the album’s title, "Work," refers to the evolution of Shout Out Louds from a hobby to something more.

"It’s a strong word that we really liked, and we thought about how we realized after about three records that this is really what we want to do," Olenius said. "This is something that we see as a very positive work. Not anything about a job. It’s more the time you put into a project to make something work. And we just realized that this is what we want to do and this is our work."

After their break, Olenius said, he and his bandmates — keyboard/vocalist Bebban Stenborg, drummer Eric Edman, bassist Ted Malmros and guitarist Carl von Arbin —returned to the studio feeling refreshed and ready to adopt a more back-to-basics approach.

"I think every time you (make a record), you always want to try to do something different," he explained. "We decided to just do more of an old-school record with just focus on our instruments and have … a more traditional sound.

The album stays true to the Shout Out Louds’ traditional blend of generally exuberant indie rock, with danceable pop songs like "Fall Hard" and the anthemic, piano-anchored single "Walls.

"We worked a lot in the studio with the second album (2007′s ‘Our Ill Wills’), and then had time to sort of cut and paste and edit it and work with it," Olenius said. "This is a different sounding record. There’s less things happening. There’s more space and really more of a relaxed record. … It’s a bit different mood."

Despite all the bandmembers’ Swedish roots, all the songs are sung in more or less accent-free English, and have a distinct American indie rock/British New Wave sound. Olenius, for his part, said most of his musical influences come from abroad.

"My dad played a lot of Motown records (and) even Chicago or Queen, that sort of rock and roll music, when I was growing up," he recalled. "I do remember (knowing) I wanted to sort of do something with music when I stole a George Michael record from my sister. … But when I wanted to start a band, the way we are right now, was sort of listening to Stone Roses a lot, and even heavier things. For a few years, when I was a kid, I was a heavy metal fan."

"I don’t know if we have one band that we sort of look up to or (are) really influenced by," he added. "I don’t think there’s one band that I think everyone can agree on that we can hear in our music."

In fact, it wasn’t even music that brought the group together. They’ve all been friends since childhood in Sweden — something Olenius said can be seen as both a blessing and a curse.

"We’re all from the same school, so we know each other’s parents and all of that. It’s good. It’s easier to get over stuff," he said. "After almost eight years in the band, we realized that we have to listen more to each other and really talk about things. Sometimes, when you’re on the road … you have to be more careful with what you say. A big fight can really mess up things. Because, you know, we’re friends when we get home as well, (and) you don’t want to be alone when you get home, so you have to sort of nurture that relationship."

Having spent much of 2010 on the road already, the quintet has had plenty of time to practice their interpersonal skills. Though it may have only recently dawned on them that people besides themselves actually, you know, want to hear their music, Shout Out Louds seem more than happy to oblige.

"We’re lucky that we can sort of go everywhere," Olenius said. "Even though we’re not a big band or anything like that, we can still play for a few hundred here and there. And we try not to just focus on just playing (in America) and in Sweden. We do small shows in Italy for about 250 people and that sort of thing."

"We try to be everywhere and we like that."

When the members of San Antonio trio Girl in a Coma were discussing which songs to include on their new series of cover song EPs, they knew they wanted to focus on music that had a significant influence on their tastes. But the Smiths tune that is their namesake was never an option — it would have been too "cheesy," bassist Jenn Alva told Blast in a recent interview.

"I think we talked about (recording a version of ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’) years ago," said Alva, 29. "We were joking about it. In the process room, I started doing the bass line. Then we were like, no, no."

Songs by Elvis and Jeff Buckley were also tossed around, but ultimately the girls — Alva, and sisters Nina and Phanie Diaz, who handle lead vocal and drum duties respectively — decided on seven tracks from artists they grew up listening to, including hits from The Beatles ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps"), Patsy Cline ("Walkin’ After Midnight") and Joy Division ("Transmission").

"We have so many influences," Alva explained. "What we chose is kind of a collection of all of our influences, and just a wide spectrum of time periods (and) different types of music. And plus, the big thing too was, what can we take and then make it ours too? So, a lot of questions came into what we were choosing and, you know, how are we going to execute it? And we were left with these, which we’re happy about."

The songs appear on three EPs, collectively titled "Adventures in Coverland," whose release dates are staggered throughout the month of April. Together, the three 7" records comprise a board game — a concept Alva designed as the group was trying to think of ways to combat illegal file-sharing of their music. (The songs will also be available digitally.)

"It was just like, how the hell are we going to get people to buy a goddamn record, like without downloading it? What’s going to make them want to have something in their hands?," she said. "It’s really cool. It’s not, like, the funnest board game. It’s not like Monopoly. But it’s a good idea."

Girl in a Coma officially formed on Thanksgiving Day in 2000, borne out of a friendship between Alva and Phanie Diaz, who bonded over a shared love of Nirvana records and The Smiths’ "Louder Than Bombs" in junior high. They eventually recruited Phanie’s sister Nina, seven years their junior, to join as lead vocalist. But there was never any of the annoyance that one might expect from having a little sister tagging along, according to Alva.

"Phanie and I are still very much immature," she admitted. "Sometimes Nina’s a lot more mature than we are. The only time we thought about it is when we would go on tour and it’d be like, ‘She can’t come in until she sings.’ You know, she couldn’t go into the bars and stuff. That’s the only time we’d be like, fuck."

Alva, who lives with the Diaz’s parents and Nina, says sibling rivalry hardly ever comes into play and that the vibe in the group is more like all three are related.

"We’ve known each other so long," she said. "You know, we’re all sisters. So we all fight and we make up in like 10 minutes. Like, ‘Well, sorry. Ok. Move on.’ I think that’s one of the great benefits of us being so close is, you know, we fight but we get over it real quick."

With a diverse range of influences including Bjork, Smashing Pumpkins, Selena and ‘90s riot grrl acts like Bikini Kill to Selena, the band has cultivated a post-punk sound over the past decade. And even though they stop short of recording cover versions of his songs, they have shared the stage with their hero, Morrissey, who invited them to be his opening act for tour dates in the U.S. and Europe in 2007.

"That was great," gushed Alva, who characterized the tour as a learning experience. "It was just perfect, because we needed to do a big tour like that and to work with somebody that, you know, has influenced us, but to treat it more like, this is a business. We (were) representing our music. We’re going to come in and see how many of his fans can like us. I mean, that’s what you do as an opening act. It was just a great experience. … Being the opening act is fun. You know, it’s good to do the big one and get the big one out of the way, so that anything else that comes, it’s like, ‘Cool. We got it. We’ll do it.’"

They’ve also shared stages with Tegan & Sara, The Pogues and Social Distortion.

Currently, the members of Girl in a Coma are in the midst of two back-to-back tours — first with British indie rockers The Wedding Present and then with Australian singer Sia starting next week — that will take them across the country and back again. After being approached by both artists, they agreed to compromise and do half of each tour, Alva said.

"We were going to do the whole tour with (The Wedding Present), and then Sia came around," Alva explained. "We met her at the Michigan Womyn’s Fest. We actually woke her up. We had a really early sound check. It’s outdoors and everybody’s camping and stuff. It’s really cool. And they wanted us to come, like, at 8 and do our sound check. So we got there … and we did our sound check and then we got offstage. And (Sia) and a friend came up to us and they’re like, ‘Wow, that was really good. You woke us up, but we’re not really mad about it.’ … So, we kept in touch and she invited us to do her tour, so basically we asked both groups, would it be OK if (we did them both)."

Signed to Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records label, Girl in a Coma embodies the same girl power mentality of their mentor.

"I want to invite as many girls out there to start a group. I think the more we have, the better," Alva said. "I feel like a lot are popping up. … We’re meeting all-girl groups. It’s really cool. It would really be awesome if there just was this explosion. You know, you might as well."

Girl in a Coma tour dates:

4/20            Vancouver, BC                         The Biltmore Cabaret*

4/21            Seattle, WA                        The Crocodile Caf©*

4/22            Portland, OR                        Doug Fir*

4/25            Chicago, IL                        Vic Theatre**

4/26            Detroit, MI                        St. Andrews Hall**

4/30            Montreal, QC                        Club Soda**

5/1            Boston House of Blues**

5/2            Philadelphia, PA                        Theatre of the Living Arts**

5/4            Washington, DC                        9:30 Club**

5/5            Northampton            Pearl Street Ballroom**

5/6            New York, NY                        Terminal 5**

5/7            Richmond, VA                        The National**

5/15            Houston, TX                        Fitzgeralds

5/22            Austin, TX                        Pachanga Fest — Fiesta Gardens

5/28            San Antonio, TX                        Josabi’s Helotes

*w/ The Wedding Present

** w/ Sia

After a collective breakdown brought them to the brink of breakup in late 2007, Canadian quintet You Say Party! We Say Die! are staging a triumphant return with their third album, "XXXX," which was released in the United States in February. Already, 2010 has included two quasi-hometown performances at the Vancouver Olympics, an appearance at Austin’s SXSW festival, and their first U.S. shows with a full lineup since 2006, when O’Shea was banned from the country due to visa problems the band encountered at the border.

Shortly after the group kicked off a brief U.S. tour on the West Coast earlier this month, Blast spoke with frontwoman Becky Ninkovic, who said she and her bandmates were able to channel any negative energy that remained into the songs that comprise "XXXX."

"I think when you go through difficult times with people, it can really bring you closer together, and just establish a lot more trust and faith in each other. It definitely did that for us," she said emphatically.

The group formed in 2003 when most of the members were in their early 20s, according to Ninkovic. Drummer Devon Clifford and guitarist Derek Adam are childhood best friends and attended the same high school as Ninkovic and keyboardist Krista Loewen, but the true connection came from the band members all being fixtures on the local music scene in Abbotsford, a suburb of Vancouver. Their (oft-abbreviated as YSP! WSD!) name is taken from the title of one of their first songs, which would frequently turn into a back-and-forth chant with audience members in the group’s early days, when they were still nameless and most of their gigs consisted of casual performances at friends’ apartments.

"We really liked the idea of just getting to participate with the crowd … (to) create a feeling of us all being in it together instead of just being performers separate from the audience," she explained. "We just wanted it to be like a fun party. We were just playing in our hometown, little house parties and stuff, so it was more about just creating a fun atmosphere than anything."

Though Ninkovic maintains YSP! WSD! never had aspirations to play beyond those hometown shows, the success of their first two albums — 2005′s "Hit the Floor" and 2007′s "Lose All Time" — has led them down a different path.

It was during a grueling 16-week fall/winter 2007 tour of Canada and Europe that the tension that was building within the group came to a head. Afterwards, the band took some much-needed time off to re-evaluate, Ninkovic said.

"I think some of us definitely felt like that was gonna be the end," she admitted. "I know for me, I was definitely at the bottom, and unable to see how we could continue. But, fortunately, some of us were able to see how it could work. … And then, eventually, I began to see a lot more light and hope and future."

"There was a lot of recovery time needed after that tour, and through that process, I think we really discovered a new love for ourselves, each other, and the music, and just what we were in together," she added. "That was really what pulled us together. When we started writing, it just naturally began to come out in the songwriting process. So, we could all feel it, and we just kind of loved the magic that was happening, and just really wanted to capture that. (Producer) Howard (Redekopp) was amazing at being able to really tap into that energy."

The songs on "XXXX" contain elements of everything from blues to disco, but Ninkovic says the band, more so than on its previous records, was honing in on a sound that echoed 1980s New Wave and punk and early ‘90s dance in particular. She credits Redekopp, whose previous producing credits include fellow Canucks The New Pornographers and Tegan & Sara, for bringing their sonic vision to fruition.

"(Redekopp) really understood that aesthetic that we all love so much," she gushed. "We had so much more time to really focus on this album. We really had a lot of time to connect with Howard and just communicate all of our hopes and dreams for how we wanted it to sound, and really take the time to really give each song what it needed. In that way, it just became more of an accomplishment for us."

The album’s leadoff track in particular, "There is Xxxx (Within My Heart)," bears a striking resemblance to the 1993 dance hit "Show Me Love" by Robin S. Ninkovic readily acknowledged the similarity, but says it was entirely unintentional. She laughingly recalled her jaw dropping when Adam played her the Robin S. track in comparison to her own.

"My hope for that song was that it would kind of play on, like, dance mix ‘90s," she said, laughing. "I kind of had that era in the back of my mind, writing that song. I really wanted it to kind of have that feel to it. And when he found the song later, like after we’d already recorded it and everything, I was like, oh my God, amazing. It’s finally happened. I knew one of these days there’d be some subconscious leaking coming out."

As for the "X" motif in the title of the album itself and several songs, it was Ninkovic herself who came up with it, when she was creating artwork for the group’s first EP in 2004.

"I cut out these four paper Xs that I glued onto the artwork," she recalled. "At that time, I remember thinking L-O-V-E, X-X-X-X. And … when this album was coming together, there was this very obvious energy of love coming through. We were really wanting to honor that, but in a way that wasn’t going to be too blatantly obvious or clich©, as many sentiments to do with love often come across sounding. We were talking about it, and I remembered about the four Xs and how it was like my little secret code for love. And everybody really felt a connection with that."

YSP! WSD!’s renewed harmony and mutual respect also came through in the writing process, according to Ninkovic.

"We each write our own individual parts, but … we’ve been learning in the last year or so to try to kind of honor each other’s ideas and vision, and to be more flexible with each other," she said. "It’s always a learning process. And I think we definitely found that for this album. I think we just had a lot more openness towards each other, just in our own personal relationships, just in our hearts towards each other. So, coming into the writing room with that attitude just made the creative process so much more liberating."

Call it a comeback; call it a fresh start. Whatever the terminology, it’s clear that You Say Party! We Say Die! are embracing a new philosophy of dwelling on the future rather than the past.

"It feels really good to be back, and we worked so hard to get here," she said. "We’re very happy."

YSP! WSD! tour dates:

March 23                        Charlotte, NC                        Snug Harbour

March 24                        Baltimore, MD            Ottobar

March 26                        New York, NY            Knitting Factory

March 27                        Boston, MA                        TT the Bears

March 29                        New York, NY            Piano’s

March 30                        Detroit, MI                        Pike Room

March 31                        Chicago, IL                        Empty Bottle

New Politics has a motto: "Fuck It."

It’s crass, and to Americans, it sounds apathetic. But for the Copenhagen-based band it doesn’t mean giving up. It means taking chances — something they do with reckless abandon. For instance, when the band was on the verge of signing with RCA in November, they realized they needed some kind of US presence. So the three musicians packed up their instruments and recording gear, said "fuck it" and moved into a loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

David Boyd and S¸ren Hansen had been writing songs together for over three years (for respective solo albums that have yet to see the light of day) when they realized that they had unintentionally started a band. The pair had experimented with every imaginable style of music (every imaginable style) and suddenly recognized that the combination of their musical sensibilities, as witnessed on the 300 songs they’d penned together, created something new and interesting. Plus, the rambunctious, beat-driven nature of the songs offered Hansen a chance to "freak out and go crazy" onstage while Boyd showcased his break-dancing moves.

So the guys uttered their ubiquitous motto and haphazardly sent two songs— "Stress" and "Make Money" into the Danish National Radio P3′s cleverly-titled Karriere Kanonen ("Career Cannon") competition early last year. Out of the 973 bands that entered, New Politics were one of 42 selected to perform. Except, they weren’t even really a band yet.

"They called and said ‘Congratulations, you’re going to playing in three weeks at this club, are you ready?’" Boyd said. "And we had never played live. We had three songs. We had no drummer. We didn’t know if we wanted a bassist. We had no idea."

Do they went out and got a drummer, Poul Amaliel, and now they’re a band.

The trio became one of four bands to "win" the competition, landing them a spot playing a major music festival in Denmark last May, where they played a wild show, they said.

New Politics signed with RCA in November, did a quick UK tour, and now they’re loose in the States for a nationwide tour. We caught up with Boyd before a recent show.

BLAST: Brooklyn-based/Denmark born eh? What’s that transition like?

DAVID BOYD: Mother’s Swedish, Dad’s American and I was born in Denmark. I’ve visited the US a few times, so for me, it’s not that much of a shock. I think I’m learned and have been able to take the best of both europe and america.

BLAST: How did the UK tour go? What’s the biggest difference between British fans and Americans?

DB: It was out of this world, we loved it. The UK was amazing and we hope to be back soon. Unfortunately, we haven’t play enough US shows to judge an American crowd… Yet! Looking forward to it though.

BLAST: How/when did you guys form up? Who are your inspirations?

DB: Soren and I have been writing and producing for about four years and we all (three of us) formed the band exactly a year ago. We’re inspired by all the typical bands of our time, but more so by reading and experiencing things in our everyday. History, documentaries, movies etc. … Everything.

BLAST: What does “New Politics” mean? Trying to make a statement?

DB: You can interpret it as you see fit. All I know is that I see and feel it everywhere in some funny way. Our statements are in the music, whatever one makes of it.

BLAST: Are you geared up for SXSW and the debut album? How long did it take to put the album together?

DB: Hell yeah! We all are, can’t wait! We’ve been working on the album this past year, we should be releasing our first album for summer.

BLAST: What’s your favorite place to perform? Any of you ever been to Boston?

DB: Any fucking stage or crowd! We haven’t been to Boston …. hope they’re ready for us!

New Politics plays Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge on May 18. Meet them on Facebook.

The dynamic of Los Angeles sextet Family of the Year seems ripe for a reality show — the six members, all in their 20s, share a house in the Happy Valley section of L.A. and are gearing up for the release of their debut LP, "Songbook," next Tuesday. The group is anchored by brothers Joseph (vocals/guitar) and Sebastian Keefe (drums/guitar).

But their lifestyle, as described by Sebastian in a recent interview with Blast, is less "Jersey Shore" and more typical family — hence the name. Originally called Bogie Ogreton, they decided to change the name at the suggestion of their friends, family and manager.

"(Family of the Year) was nice-sounding, and we kind of evolved into a family, the six of us," Keefe explained. "We all live together in the same house and we all travel together … so it was kind of fitting.

"It might have some kind of irony in it," he went on. "Often what seems to be a perfect family on the outside ends up being really bad on the inside. … We’re all very honest. We certainly aren’t ashamed of showing our feelings and … that we have problems."

Some of the internal conflict stems from sibling bickering courtesy of the Keefes, Sebastian admitted.

"We are both very opinionated people, so a lot of good comes out of that but there is a lot of disagreement," he acknowledged. "(But) we’re brothers, so we can disagree without as much consequences as other people. … We heat up quickly, but we also cool down quickly."

For "Songbook," Family of the Year is following the Radiohead "In Rainbows" model, making it available through their website for an optional donation, in addition to traditional outlets like iTunes and Amazon.

"We basically want people to have our music, is the number one priority," Keefe said. "It doesn’t matter how much money they give us."

Though Keefe cites among their primary influences The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Bob Dylan — all of which have a clear presence throughout "Songbook" — the members’ personal tastes are more varied.

"We listen to everything from Jay-Z to Fleetwood Mac," he said.

The co-ed vocals courtesy of Joseph Keefe and Vanessa Jeanne Long are evocative of 1970s harmonizers like CSNY and Fleetwood Mac, but the songs incorporate modern indie rock elements and structures as well. Their music has already attracted the attention of Keith Lockhart and Ben Folds, who arranged an opportunity for Family of the Year to play with the Boston Pops last October.

At their house, most nights are spent recording in their basement studio, according to Keefe, a routine that he said has sped up the songwriting process.

"Living together and having this camaraderie … plays a huge role," he said. "We’ve gotten quite good at just writing songs as a group. … We’ve been doing it so long that we can kind of churn them out."

Hailing from a musical Martha’s Vineyard family (their father is also a songwriter), Sebastian said it was inevitable that he and Joseph would begin writing music together.

"We’ve been playing music together for forever, basically," he said. "We grew up learning guitar together and playing in different bands in the same local scene. We kind of just naturally evolved into playing music together in a band."

NEW YORK — Though the Toronto quintet Still Life Still have been playing together in one form or another for 10 years, they just released their debut LP this past August. And even that came about practically by accident.

"We just hit the studio to demo," drummer Aaron Romaniuk told Blast in an interview during last month’s CMJ Music Marathon. "We weren’t even using our own gear."

The one or two songs they were slated to record eventually expanded into their first full-length: "Girls Come Too."

Still Life Still’s sound is louder and catchier than that of most of their labelmates on Canadian powerhouse label Arts & Crafts. With influences that include Animal Collective and Pavement, they blend a shoegazer sensibility with plenty of pop hooks.

Growing up together in East York, Ontario, the four founding members were just 13 when they decided to start the band on a whim.

"We just bought instruments and decided we were a band," said guitarist/vocalist Eric Young. "We didn’t even know how to play them."

They appointed Brendon Saarinen lead singer, since he had some minor guitar experience and had already written a few songs.

"He read me one of his songs at lunchtime at school," Romaniuk recalled. "I was like, ‘We’re gonna be rich! This is fantastic!’"

Although fame and fortune didn’t find them immediately, the group (Romaniuk, Young, Saarinen and bassist Derek Paulin) began playing local bars — as soon as they were old enough — and eventually began recording demos, none of which they bothered releasing.

Saarinen is a prolific writer who’s penned thousands of songs, some of which he uses in a separate solo project, his bandmates say.

"If he didn’t write, he would go crazy," according to Aaron Romaniuk.

Romaniuk convinced his brother Josh to join the group about five years ago, rounding out the current lineup.

"I was just always around," explained Josh, who handles keyboards and percussion.

"We let him in on the tambourine and he worked his way up," his brother quipped.

Feeling like they’ve "conquered Toronto," Still Life Still plans to play more shows in the States in 2010.

Innovator and musician Les Paul once said about playing guitar, "It’s not technique — it’s what you have to say".

Judging from her music, guitarist and singer Anna Rose has a lot to say. From everything to music technology, gender gaps in the industry, musical theater and sight reading-she hits the nail on the head.

The daughter of a ballet dancer and composer Alan Menken, Anna Rose grew up in an artistic and musical environment. First introduced to the guitar at age 5, she is now wowing audiences with her solid voice and musical skill. Her upcoming debut, ‘Nomad’, was co-produced with William (Billy) Sullivan, and includes five songs from her current EP.

BLAST: I appreciated that in your bio you mention that your musical process includes “full takes, no Auto-Tune, and maybe one synthesizer”. What do you think of the use of technology in music and recording these days?

Anna Rose: You know, I think the use of technology is wonderful, but personally I don’t think I have the experience to put it to its full use. My experience lies in playing guitar and singing and doing things live. The best way to capture what I do is capturing things in full takes…I don’t think there is anything wrong with Auto-tune (but) I choose not to use it in my work…it’s dishonest for me.

BLAST: I also like your quote about wearing dresses. It really struck me because as a drummer…wearing a dress is not much of an option, which people sometimes forget. Do you feel like there is an assumption of how a female musician should look on stage?

AR: Absolutely. I think that there is still that stigma of female musicians kinda just being the figurehead of a great operation…the puppet. I don’t think that’s the case with every musician…I think every great female artist has fought against it…I fight against it all the time. Keith Richards can get up in a T-shirt and jeans…if a girl does that it’s like she didn’t get dressed up for the occasion.

BLAST: That being said, do you feel there is a divide between men and women in the field of rock and music? Or does bringing it up create that divide?

AR: You know, I work really well with male musicians, my band is all guys. Personally, I’ve found I end up working with male musicians. That being said I know of some brilliant female musicians I would love to work with. Good music is good music. The important thing is to let your music be the most important part of it…and that’s what bridges the gap. It’s important for music to just be music, and not just an industry of people trying to be cool.

BLAST: So you started on piano. Do you read music or do you feel you learn and write more by ear?

AR: I don’t read music, I read tablature for guitar, but I really do everything by ear primarily. I don’t want to advocate people not learning music, it’s important for certain paths….my particular path as a writer doesn’t necessarily require that.

BLAST: A lot of guitarists strive on soloing. (The solo on Picture is awesome—reminds me of Voodoo Child Slight Return there) What do you think about that? Do you think there is too much of a focus on soloing in the guitar world?

AR: Well, first, that solo isn’t me…that solo is my lead guitarist, Adam Stoler, he’s my musical director for my band. My whole band is comprised of some (great) musicians…but I’m a rhythm player through and through. I think soloing is important …it’s a different animal than playing rhythm guitar. You’re kind of born to be a solo player or a rhythm player…its just never been my thing. But I envision for sure.

BLAST: Ok, random question. Are there any guitar riffs you’d rather not hear again?

AR: I can’t think of any off the top of my head! That’s an awesome question! I hate guitar riffs with a lot of chorus on them or chamber…anything ‘chorusy’ or ethereal…unless it’s meant for a certain sound effect. Oh! The theme from the original Beverly Hills 90210…but I also obsessively watch it. Maybe that’s my own fault.

BLAST: I noticed in another interview you stated that though you idolize a lot of artists from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ’70s that you listen to, and recording one of their songs would be blasphemous in a way. What do you think of all the remakes of Beatles songs and the all the things like Rockband and even the film Across the Universe, which take from these artists?

AR: Across the Universe was really really well done…with unique takes (on those songs). Covering someone else’s song, when it’s your own take on it….is an homage to that artist. When you’re redoing a song that was made famous by Johnny Cash or something…you need to have your own unique stance on it. Personally I think I’m too young and early in my career to have the right to do that. I need to explore my own creativity and have a couple of pieces of my own work out there before I can say I am good enough to cover someone’s song. I have too much respect of that work to even go near it, though I do cover things live but I won’t record them

BLAST: Your father has written many pieces for film and musical theater. If you could cover a musical theater piece, which show would you work from?

AR: I grew up with so much musical theater, there’s a song that my dad wrote for the live musical for Beauty and the Beast, called "The Change in Me" that is a really beautiful song. In terms of shows that are really kickass, Little Shop of Horrors. I think musicals come and go in popularity but…I think they are really wonderful expressions of our culture.

BLAST: Another random question for you-do you look at the fretboard in terms of notes or shapes?

AR: I look at it in terms of shapes, absolutely. Despite the fact that I consider myself as a guitarist, I don’t consider myself an incredible guitarist…I wouldn’t presume myself as an incredible guitarist, and I definitely look more toward shapes.

BLAST: Anything else?

Next thing coming up is my first music video, filming on Nov 14 on Connie Island (look on Youtube or her website and Myspace page: http://www.annarosemusic.com and www.myspace.com/annarosemusic) and I’m really excited! I’m doing a show on December 7 at Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. My EP is five songs that are taken from my full length album that will come out in February called Nomad. And hopefully a tour in the spring!

BLAST: Come to Boston!

Definitely!

Anna Rose’s band is comprised of Adam “The Splendor” Stoler, Tyler McDiarmid, Jamie Bishop and
Jordan Perlson. To check out music and more, go to www.annarosemusic.com.

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.

Orianthi has wavy blond hair, a warm smile and a cute Aussie accent. But whatever you do, don’t underestimate her. She’s only 24, but she can already shred on a guitar better than rock stars twice her age. She’s so good, in fact, by the time she was 18, she had already opened for Steve Vai and jammed with Carlos Santana. And as if that weren’t cool enough, Michael Jackson selected her to be his lead guitarist for his “This Is It” tour. Dreams really do come true.

Sadly, Orianthi’s time with Jackson was cut short after his tragic death, but she always sticks to her mantra: Don’t let negativity hold you down.

She reflects on the three months she spent with Jackson positively, albeit a little wistfully. “He was encouraging and wanted all of us to do our best, project our energy and just put on an amazing show,” she says. Jackson helped build her confidence, and made her believe in herself. “It was an amazing and really, really surreal experience.”

Despite the cancelled Jackson tour, Orianthi is keeping busy. Her debut album, “Believe,” hit shelves October 27, just one day before “This Is It,” the Jackson documentary opened in theaters. Orianthi is featured extensively throughout the film.

“Believe” is an energetic, invigorating mix of pop and rock that could easily fit between Kelly Clarkson and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz on Top 40 radio, or after The Donnas on a rock station. There’s also a heavy 80s influence, and of course, a shrieking and wailing guitar solo in every song. But unlike some of her contemporary female singer-songwriters who only throw on a guitar to strum a few chords for a music video, Orianthi really knows how to rock. Avril Lavigne only wishes she could make an album like this.

Growing up in Adelaide, Australia, Orianthi was surrounded by music from a very young age. At age 6, she picked up one of her dad’s guitars and hasn’t put it down since. She recalls sitting for hours, just playing song after song on her acoustic guitar.

“I think in life, you should go with what you get and what you’re passionate for,” she says. “I didn’t really get math, and I didn’t really get science or anything in school but I felt music was my calling.”

It was Carlos Santana’s soulful live performance that really inspired her at age 11. “After watching him perform, I didn’t want to play classical anymore because it was kind-of boring,” she says with a small laugh. She quickly switched to electric guitar.

Three years ago, Orianthi was offered a record deal by Geffen and moved to L.A. to write and record. “Believe”has been a long time in the making, but her hard work really shines through in the finished project.

When she first got a Myspace message from Jackson’s music director inviting her to audition for the band, she didn’t think it was real. But soon enough, she was playing in front of Jackson himself. She had never been so nervous in her entire life.

After Jackson hired her, Orianthi worked hard to learn all the songs and make sure all the music sounded just right. “Every time he’d come in the room, I’d get nervous because I wanted to make him happy,” she says.

His death hit everyone in the band hard. Seeing “This Is It”once it was released to the public was tough but as usual, Orianthi tries to stay upbeat. “It was very emotional but fun looking back on some amazing memories working with the ultimate entertainer,” she says.

Just like Jackson, Vai, and Santana influenced Orianthi, she hopes to be an inspiration to kids around the world. “I really hope to inspire more young girls to pick up the guitar and keep at it,” she says.”It wasn’t easy being a female guitar player growing up and lining up at the auditions with the guys at school. It was pretty difficult but if I can inspire more females to get started, that would be amazing.”

Next up for Orianthi: a tour. She’s excited to go out on the road and start playing some of her new songs. No matter what happens, she knows everything will work out. “If I can play guitar every day, I’ll be happy,” she says.

Orianthi’s “Believe” is available in major music retailers everywhere, including iTunes and Amazon.

When it comes up that the principal members of New York City’s The Kin are brothers, one will probably expect there to be a Oasis-esque dynamic at work. One of sibling rivalry, debauchery and bitter fighting that, as the brothers Gallagher have recently proven, leads to one brother quitting the band.

This could not be further from the truth for Issac and Thorry Koren, Australian transplants who have been doing everything they possibly can to make people hear their heavily emotional pop/rock since the band’s inception in 2003. Their relationship seems based more on wonder- a sort of “Hey, look what I just figured out how to do!” excitement that permeates each of their songs and marks each of the brothers’ frequent blog posts.

In a small, cramped back office at Berklee’s Cafe 939, Issac Koren sat down with Blast to talk about the touring life, New York scene politics, and The Kin’s new album TheUPside. He even provided water bottles. What a gentleman.

Blast: First off, how are you doing?

Issac Koren: I’m doing good. Rolled out of bed in New York today and for the first time there was no traffic coming into Boston. We’re really happy, this venue is really awesome and they treat you well.

Blast: You recently got off tour with Rod Stewart. How was that?

IK: We were spoiled. We played arenas and we ate his catering and our gear was delivered on stage every night. It was incredible, what can I say? Such a great experience. His audience was very appreciative. He doesn’t usually take an opener, and his audience was all there by the time we played.

Blast: Were you and your brother fans of Rod Stewart beforehand, when you were growing up?

IK: Our parents listened to him, and I definitely liked his earlier stuff the most. When he went into disco, he kind of lost us a bit.

Blast: That tends to happen whenever disco is introduced.

IK: He seemed to gain the most fans then, I guess he found his pop audience. I think when he was a working class hero writing for The Faces, I think he was a very cutting edge artist. He had a lot to say. “Handbags and Glad Rags” is a great working class ditty that you can apply to today with the girls walking around with their Prada bags that their grandfathers swept to buy. He’s an amazing artist and the fact that he’s still doing it at 65 is very inspiring.

Blast: Definitely.

IK: We also just finished up touring with Rusted Root, and musically that really inspired us to open up our sound and jam in sections a bit more, because that’s kind of where we started and over time we made our songs a bit shorter and structured. Recently we were like, let’s open them up.

Blast: You and your brother came from different musical backgrounds from what you’re doing now anyway.

IK: (Thorry) came from jazz, solos every song. I was doing this Mahavishnu Orchestra style experimental rock type band- both very different to what we’re doing now. For some reason what come out between us is different from what comes out of us separately.

Blast: You came up the same way a lot of American bands do. You moved to New York, and you started touring in a van non-stop. Why did you make a conscious decision to start the band in New York instead of Australia?

IK: We moved here to finish school. Thorry finished high school in New York, and I finished college here in Boston. I did my last six months at Northeastern. When we got together in New York, a family friend was like “I have a friend that records bands, if you guys can write some songs, I’ll pay for the demo, but you only have three weeks.” We wrote four songs in three weeks, did a demo with a bass player, and it came out pretty good. We then did over 100 gigs locally in New York over two years. Now we’ve been touring nationally since 2007, and we haven’t gone home.

Blast: Well how do you feel about that, are there any times you want to go home?

IK: There are times where I’m homesick for New York, but funnily enough, we don’t get homesick for Australia until about December, when it’s really cold and we want to be like “Surf’s up, everyone is on the beach, it’s time to go home.” So we go home and play the festivals for a month, do a tour, sit on the beach, see family. Touring has been great, I’ve managed to see every state except Alaska at least three times now, and we’ve played in 36 or 37 of them. A lot of bands make a regional footprint and get a little more traction going, but we’ve spread ourselves out around the country.

Blast: It’s good if you’re coming out of New York though, because as a very music intensive city, it’s sort of a super-accelerated scene. You could base most of your early career out of NY and then be able to make the jump to the national stage pretty seamlessly. Coming from somewhere like the Midwest, it’d be a lot harder.

IK: Yeah, but there’s no competition there, as opposed to New York, where it’s nothing but competition. I guess the old saying is true, that “If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.” If you make some noise in Ohio, you might be one of the only bands to make it out of there. There are a lot of bands that come out of cities like Portland, who have actual scenes. New York is so big that the scene has been lost a bit, or there are little pockets.

Blast: Let’s talk about the new album a bit. How did the recording process compare to Rise and Fall?

IK: It was great, we had an old 70′s recording room, got in there with Jack Douglas, who did a ton of records in the 70s. For two weeks straight we brought in songs, and fleshed out about 22 of them. We wanted to jam them out, not be over-rehearsed. In the morning we would come in, do about two songs per day and just jam them out until we couldn’t figure out what to do with them anymore, at which point Jack would stop us and say, “OK, I’m going to hit record.” We would get three to four versions of each song. We took it San Francisco and opened everything up even more, grabbing the experimental instruments. We had a base to work with with this one, as opposed to the last album, which was nothing but chaos. We tried to make chaos come around to our vision, whereas with this one we started with experimentation, but we got it so there was a groove, then we took the groove and experimented over that. Then the vocals were put on and experimented with as well. We had more of a vision of where we were going, and the help of a producer.

Blast: You say you cull most of your lyrics from conversations that you have rather than from personal experiences. Now that you’ve been blogging so much, have you found yourself taking lyrics from your blog?

IK: Interestingly enough, the process of blogging, and the process of conversations with our fans has helped us out a bunch. Our songs are collages of things they say to us and conversations we have and things that happened. For example, our grandmother once was telling us about Mark Twain, and how he got his name. She was telling us he would go down to the docks and hear all the workers yelling “Mark time! Mark time!” when the ships were coming in, which means “Look out, watch your step,” because there’s moving ropes, equipment, danger. You have to stay alert. We used that as the basis of our song “Waterbreaks.” One day I was having a conversation with Thorry, and I was telling him about my dreams, since I’ve been having these recurring tidal wave dreams. That got thrown in as well. It’s all a collage, the story our grandmother told us and the things I talked about with Thorry. It wasn’t conscious, more of just what was in our minds, it just came out. Sometimes it’s nonsensical, like the song “Photograph,”

Blast: That song has no real words to it at all, right?

IK: Yeah, it’s completely gibberish, inspired by Sigur Ros maybe, I don’t know!

Photo Credit: Rebecca Ney

Sara Lov describes her budding solo career as “a happy accident.” The female half of dream pop duo Devics, whose debut album, “Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming” was released in August, decided to explore writing songs on her own when her Devics bandmate Dustin O’Halloran became occupied composing film scores.

“If I don’t make music,‚ I’m not happy” she explained. “I thought it would be a great time for me to try to do a solo thing.”

Lov, who performs at the Paradise Tuesday night, said she fell in love with music at an early age, as a coping mechanism to deal with a harrowing childhood that included being kidnapped at age four by her father, who fled with her to Israel. It was 10 years before a relative was able to intervene and have Lov repatriated to Los Angeles, but her sister stayed behind.

Seeking a mode of escape, Lov turned to records and harbored fantasies of being a rock star.

“I was a huge music fan” she said. “That was, like, all I cared about.”

A rattled-off list of her favorite artists includes PJ Harvey, Billie Holliday, Tom Waits, The Pixies, Nick Cave and The Smiths (“The first band that I completely fall in love with” she added. “I would just wallow‚ in their albums.”)

“I always wanted to do music, but I just never knew how I would make that happen” Lov recalled. “I didn’t know how I was going to be in music, but I really wanted to be a singer and have a band.”

For her current tour supporting Sea Wolf and Port O’Brien, Lov remastered “Seasoned Eyes” and uses a record player on stage, in lieu of a live band, to provide the backing tracks for her songs.

“I feel like when I play guitar and sing, it’s not enough on stage” she explained. “I feel like it doesn’t quite get there. “¦ (And) a record player’s cooler than an iPod.”

She and O’Halloran formed Devics after meeting in a drawing class when they were both students at Santa Monica College in the mid-”Ëœ90s. In Devics, the pair split songwriting duties, and Lov acknowledged that the autonomy she now has as a singer/songwriter does not always make for smooth sailing.

“It’s hard sometimes because I don’t have that other part … to sort of lean on and figure things out with” she admitted. “It’s all kind of up to me, so it sometimes can be a little more challenging.”

A cinemaphile who also cites old French noir and David Lynch among her inspirations, Lov certainly has enough personal hardship to draw from, but she downplays her background.

“I think everybody’s view of the world is affected by how they were raised and how their childhood was” she said. “I don’t think it’s just me.”

Maybe so, but few people’s formative years played out like the plot of a Lifetime movie.

“I might have had some more traumas” she conceded.

Sara Lov plays the Paradise with Sea Wolf and Port O’Brien Tuesday night.

It’s a voice that’s almost more sound than music at times, but there’s no denying that it is music.

This is the kind of band we don’t often get to hear in the US. They’re loud, instrumental and at times bizarre, but there’s something oddly familiar about Chƒ¢teau Laut, that elicits memories of action movies and video games. The band shows that musical talent goes well beyond the pop culture we’re used to.

Chƒ¢teau Laut was founded by Stefan Fƒ¤hler and Andrew Maler in 2004 in Berlin. Creating heavy loud soundscapes out of a theremin, feedbacks and a sampler, they were soon urged to relocate from the apartment Maler lives in to a serviceable rehearsal space to work on songs.

Joined by Steno Glenolak and completed by Max Stolzenberg two years ago, they began playing clubs around Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig. A support slot with Koblenz-based band Nicoffeine led to the passing on of demos to bluNoise label head Guido Lucas, one of the people responsible responsible for the success of the indie group Blackmail.

The record BluNoise/Al!ve was released on June 26. The band’s album and music videos are self financed. The band is already working on new material and will be heading back to Guido Lucas’ studio to record the follow up to their debut. They’re also releasing a split vinyl (yes, vinyl) with fellow Berlin band Jeanie Bueller.

Member bios from the band

Stefan Fƒ¤hler (guitar)

Fƒ¤hler started out playing classical guitar at age 11. At 15 he founded a garage punk band “Burning Playground” that soon broke up when Fƒ¤hler discovered the beauty of noise. Living close to Cologne he became accustomed to the vital club scene there and started DJing mostly at indie clubs. In the coming years he would DJ parties in Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin, culminating in a residency at Black Girls Coalition, a legendary queer underground club run by black drag queen Paisley Dalton from the U.S., serving them mostly trash and indie rock. Since that club is history, he puts all his energy into Chƒ¢teau Laut.

Andrew Maler (guitar)

Since getting infected by experimental indie rock bands in the early 90s, Andrew Maler has been one to hardly ever put down the guitar. Growing up close to Berlin, his first attempt to form a band, “Acid Rain” in the mid-90s in the end only produced hours of guitar feedback and a cover version of “Happy Birthday”. Since then he has gained notoriety with his “Acid FloƒÅ¸”, inviting other artists for sessions in his living room. His experimental approach has also made him a mainstay in various loose collectives of musicians. Maler and Fƒ¤hler are the founding members of Chƒ¢teau Laut.

Steno Glenolak (bass)

Playing the cello since the age of six, Glenolak grew up in a small town next to Cologne. It was there she met Fƒ¤hler, both being teenagers sharing a general interest in similar music. She got in touch with the indie/hardcore scene around that area and was involved in putting up gigs. After moving to Berlin, Glenolak was invited by metal collective “The Ocean” to play cello on tour to promote their album “Fluxion”. For Chƒ¢teau Laut, Glenolak has taken up playing bass.

Max Stolzenberg (drums)

Stolzenberg actually forgot the name of the first band he played with, a punk outfit from mini town Sƒ¶rgenloch (which loosely tranlates to “hole of sorrow”). What he can remember is their local hit “Zieh deinen Slip aus und werf ihn zu mir runter” (“Take off your panties and throw them down to me”) which was his first drumming assignment. Ultimately freaking out his fellow musicians with his quirky style, he went on to play in different jazz formations and the crossover band “2 Fat Twins” in Berlin. After that band’s breakup, Fƒ¤hler, Maler and Glenolak asked him to complete their line-up.

Check out the band’s MySpace

Meet PantyRaid. The new producer-dance-hit-maker duo is comprised of New York transplant from South Africa Martin Folb (known more popularly by his fans as Marty Party) and Los Angeles DJ Josh Mayer from The Glitch Mob. The two have been friends for years but in 2005 the two decided to get serious about making music together and thus became PantyRaid. Their much-anticipated first full-length album “The Sauce” dropped last Tuesday.

The album is strikingly different from most dance-genre LPs hitting the market. Instead of a mash up of your already favorite club hits, PantyRaid experiments with an electronic and classical fusion (though the voice of pop princess Britney Spears does make an appearance on “Too Fine To Do Time”). “The Sauce” is a blend of masterfully orchestrated electronic sounds and audio tricks to create grimy beats and extrinsic melodies.

Folb and Mayer created a lot of “The Sauce” by trading tracks back and forth via e-mail (considering they make their home bases 3,000 miles away from each other). Folb told Blast the process was still simple since he and Mayer both share the same vision for PantyRaid.

“Sometimes it [started] with a song I wrote, sometimes it started with a song he wrote. We’ll just find something that sounds like PantyRaid “" we both know what that is “" and we just trade it back and forth. We both have the same taste, so it’s easy” Folb explained from Brooklyn.

When asked about the seemingly darker overtones of “The Sauce,” Folb defends that it was never intentional for the album to be dark, but to evoke an emotional reaction.

“It’s emo for sure. Everything we do is emo. We’re very emotional. I didn’t intentionally sit down to write a dark record though. We are very cheerful people, just deep and emotional, I guess” said Folb with a laugh.

“The Sauce” was released on Adam Freeland’s Marine Parade Records. Freeland fell in love with the sound immediately after hearing some of the tracks Folb and Mayer had put together. PantyRaid also appears on Freeland’s remix of his June release “Cope” which Folb said was very exciting for PantyRaid.

With “The Sauce” being touted as “the future of electronic music” by magazines like Clash and IDJ, it seems many more exciting things shall be coming up for PantyRaid. The first single “Beba” has also been creating a lot of buzz and is one of Folb’s favorite songs on the record (and Blast’s too).

“I like “ËœBeba’ because it was the first song I wrote that I knew was PantyRaid. [I thought], “Oh shit, this is a hit.”

As far as leading the electronic world into the future, PantyRaid doesn’t really believe in trying to fit in a genre.
“You can decide on a genre or whatever to put us in, but it’s not going to work out” said Folb confidently, “It’s just our music, a culmination of what we’ve lived and learned together.”

You can learn more about PantyRaid at their myspace (www.myspace.com/pantyraidmusic) or pick up “The Sauce” at any major music retailer.

NEW YORK — The members of Brooklyn trio The Jaguar Club claim to have been in some of the most unfortunately-monikered bands in the history of music, including Finer Things and The Huxtable Residence.

They came up with “The Jaguar Club” after drummer Jeremiah Joyce came across the intricate logos of organizations of car devotees one day while doing a Google Image search.

“It’s never been a strong point” according to Joyce. “We were terrible at coming up with band names.”

Blast chatted with The Jaguar Club at their record release party at Brooklyn’s Union Hall last month. Since forming in 2006, the band has released two EPs. Their first full-length album, “And We Wake Up Slowly” was released September 1.

Joyce and bassist Yoichiro Fujita met while both were students at Vassar College and eventually moved to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn together.

“In the fall of 2005, we were really getting the itch to start a band” Joyce said.

Meanwhile, singer Will Popadic, a former Emerson College student who had recently relocated to New York from Los Angeles, posted an ad on Craigslist saying he was looking to meet like-minded musicians.

“It was just so nice and warm and friendly” Joyce recalled thinking upon coming across Popadic’s ad. “He was like, “ËœI just moved to New York…”Ëœ”

And the rest, as they say, is history. The newly-formed group began writing songs in the spring of 2006, released an EP that fall, and toured extensively up and down the East Coast in 2007.

“Basically, we hit the ground running” Joyce said.

“And We Wake Up Slowly” was recorded earlier this year in an 300-year-old barn in New Paltz, in upstate New York “" a stark contrast to the Brooklyn basements in which most of the songs were written. The band members say the experience was a bit like camping, with musical instruments scattered around the converted studio, which had no running water.

“It definitely took us out of our element” Popadic said. “A lot of the sound and texture is a product of being there.”

“You just feel so liberated from everything back in the city” Joyce said. “It feels like home, for me.”

In fact, much of the record deals with typical quarter-life crisis themes, one of which is “being a country mouse in the city” as Popadic puts it.

“I don”Ëœt love cities, but I have to be in them to do this” said Popadic, who is from rural Massachusetts.

The members cite Oasis, Band of Horses, The National, Idlewild, and Radiohead among their influences. Their sound, at times, resembles what The Smiths might have sounded like if they’d been an arena rock band. Popadic’s vocals bear more than a passing resemblance to David Byrne’s, with occasional theatrical warblings like those of Rush’s Geddy Lee.

Still, feeling that their sound was a bit lacking, the trio recently added a second guitarist for live shows, Gavin Dunaway, who had been living in D.C. and had seen the band perform several times.

“We were always looking for ways to make (our sound) bigger” Joyce said. “He’s like a new pair of socks. They’re so instantly comfortable, and yet they’re new.”

Dunaway’s proposal for a new band name? “Gavin and the Jerks.”

But for now, perhaps out of necessity, it seems “The Jaguar Club” will stick.

“We had a small window of opportunity (to change the name)” Fujita said, as his bandmates considered their newly-minted LP. “And now it’s too late.”

They may be a duo on paper, but Cincinnati buzz band Bad Veins have an unofficial third member “" and her name is Irene.

“Irene sits center stage” according to vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Ben Davis. “We definitely do not hide her.”

He refers, by the way, to a 1973 reel-to-reel tape machine that provides backing tracks during Bad Veins’ live shows, a gift from Davis’s father as he was preparing to downsize years ago.

“Technically (drummer Sebastian Schultz) was the third member” explained Davis, who originally conceived Bad Veins as a solo project. “He was well aware that Irene was part of the band upon entrance.”

Although Davis admits he initially accepted the player reluctantly and shoved it in his basement, Irene is now an essential part of their live shows, providing backing tracks that allow the more ambitious Bad Veins songs to expand beyond two-man instrumentation.

Blast spoke with Davis and Schultz as they attempted to steer their tour van through a “complicated mess of highways” outside Albany, with Schultz driving and Davis navigating and doing phone interviews from the passenger seat. They were en route from Toronto to Danbury, Conn., in the midst of a string of tour dates that followed the release of their self-titled debut album on July 21.

The soaring chorus on first single “Gold and Warm” is a major selling point on its own, but other standout tracks include the catchy “Dryout” and sentimental, contemplative album closer “Go Home.”

The pair, who live a block away from each other in their hometown, became friends as participants in the limited local music scene. Between them, they cite influences ranging from Sigur Ros and the Flaming Lips to Bad Religion and Sunny Day Real Estate.

Since Davis and Schultz formed Bad Veins in 2006, bloggers and other members of the indie rock hype machine have been salivating over the band. In 2007, they were named a breakout act at the annual CMJ music festival in New York and were recently featured on ABC News NOW’s weekly series “Amplified.”

Although the buzz came as a surprise, they didn’t feel it was undeserved, Davis said. But along with the publicity has come some unwanted pressure.

“A band can’t control the expectations people have of them” Davis pointed out. “I almost feel like it has nothing to do with us. People look at us through this filter of blog hype and it’s kind of unfair. Sometimes you feel like people are “¦ judging you based on what other people are saying and not what you’re doing.”

“We’re just two kids from Cincinnati” he added. “We’re not saying we’re hot shit. You are.”

It’s probably easy for Davis and Schultz to forget the hype for now, while they’re still booking their own shows and selling their own merchandise “" not to mention finding themselves lost in greater New York as they drive themselves to gigs.

But two tollbooths and one request for directions later, it sounded like Schultz had gotten them back on track.

“I don’t have a clue where we are or where we’re going, but i think he’s got it under control” Davis said.

And with that, we said our goodbyes and Bad Veins proceeded on “" presumably towards the Connecticut state line.

Bad Veins tour dates:

August 28 – Austin, Texas @ Emo’s Jr.
August 29 – Dallas, Texas @ The Cavern
August 31 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Modified Arts
September 1 – San Diego, Calif. @ Casbah*
September 2 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Spaceland*
September 3 – Costa Mesa, Calif. @ Detroit Bar*
September 4 РSan Francisco, Calif. @ Cafĩ Du Nord*
September 5 – San Jose, Calif. @ Nickel City*
September 6 – Reno, Nev. @ Se7en on West St.*
September 8 – Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge*
September 9 – Seattle, Wash. @ Sunset Lounge*
September 10 – Missoula, Mont. @ Palace Billiards*
September 12 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Kilby Court*
September 13 – Morrison, Colo. @ Monolith Festival
September 14 – Lawrence, Kan. @ Replay Lounge*
September 15 – Chicago, Ill. @ Subterranean*
September 16 – Columbus, Ohio @ Skully’s Music Diner*
September 17 – Washington, D.C. @ DC 9*
September 18 – Allston, Mass. @ O’Brien’s Pub*
September 19 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ The Bell House*
September 20 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ North Star Bar*
September 22 – Atlanta, Ga. @ 529*
September 24 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ The Vogue Theater

The MTV Video Music Awards will be returning to their home at Radio City Music Hall this September. Russell Brand will be hosting for the second year in a row, introducing nominees like Britney Spears (who won Video of the Year last year), Kanye West, and Kings of Leon. Amongst the new faces this year will be rising starlet Anjulie who has been nominated for Breakthrough Video for her debut single “Boom”. Anjulie talked about the nomination, getting on MTV and how randy Russell Brand is in a recent phone interview with Blast.

“I was doing a morning television show in Toronto, when the Adria [Petty] the director called me and said we were nominated” Anjulie recalled about finding out she was nominated, “I told my manager and he said, “ËœThere’s no way’. So we checked online and there it was.”

“Boom”, which hit #1 on the Billboard dance chart, is the first single from Anjulie’s full length album, “Anjulie”, which hit stores August 4. Anjulie says the concept for the video developed naturally between her and Petty.

“We met together and just brought in our collective ideas. We picked the same magazines, the same art styles. We are very similar creatively I guess” said Anjulie.

The video begins with Anjulie walking a tight-rope before it snaps, sending Anjulie crawling through a Salvador Dali meets Alice in Wonderland type universe. Each shot captures a vibrant and animated display, from the little vs huge room Anjulie tumbles into from the tight rope to the “rolling ocean” from which she sends a message in a bottle. “Boom” showcases Petty and Anjulie’s technique for artistic flare. Petty also directed Anjulie’s second video that will premiere soon.

Anjulie’s relationship with MTV started long before the nomination was announced. The Hills producer John Carr discovered Anjulie before she had finished recording the album. He put one of her songs on the hit reality show and soon thousands were asking how to get a hold of Anjulie songs.

“(Carr) put it on the show and we started getting tons of requests online and on MTV.com. People messaged me on my Myspace asking me how they could hear the songs and get them. Then they put me on the Freshman Five and started playing the video. It just went from there” Anjulie said.

The song also appeared in an episode of The City and the video has been put into regular rotation on both MTV and VH1. Anjulie is sharing real-estate in the Breakthrough Video category with indie heavyweights Death Cab for Cutie and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. When asked if she would be preparing an acceptance speech just in case of a win, Anjulie said she isn’t expecting anything.

“I don’t think anyone knows about me, as far as the voting public is concerned. I am probably the lowest profile artist on there. So I am really not expecting to win – I won’t be writing an acceptance speech” she said.

Anjulie will definitely be attending the ceremony in early September though and is hoping for a chance to meet no-holds-barred host and comedian Russell Brand.

“You know who I’m excited to meet? Russell Brand. I think he’s really hot” Anjulie confessed. “I have seen all his stand-up. I am like a Youtube stalker of him – he’s hilarious.”

The awards will air on Sunday, September 13 at 9 p.m. on MTV. Be sure to check them out and look for the new Breakthrough Artist, Anjulie.

DALLAS — The Mitch Hansen band began as one of the “Twilight” saga’s first fan-made bands just after the release of Eclipse in 2007, and has grown steadily in popularity among Twilighters ever since, and Blast recently caught up with Hansen after his appearance with the band at TwiCon in Dallas, Texas earlier this July.

Blast: How do you think playing conventions has changed things for the band, do the people attending already know who you are?

MH: I think definitely the size of the convention will have some sort of bearing to that end. TwiTour is a little smaller and they do smaller conventions, and so not many people there had heard of us but I think we gained quite a few new fans, whereas TwiCon was pretty huge and we had quite a few people there who already knew who we were. I think we gained a handful of new fans there, too, though.

Blast: How did your songwriting change after Breaking Dawn came out and there wasn’t that mystery left anymore?

MH: When I read the first three, I didn’t have this notion of writing songs. But it’s funny, as I was reading Breaking Dawn, every scene or every chapter I would read I’d think “oh, that’d be a cool song, “ so yea, it was a lot different reading Breaking Dawn. The mystery was kind of gone, but she tied it up pretty nicely I guess in the end so it was fun to read.

Blast: So you have two CDs at this point: Twilight Hour and Endless Day?

MH: Yea. Twilight Hour is just me and an acoustic guitar and I actually recorded it myself in my walk-in closet in my bedroom. So yea, it’s pretty raw and rough and unpolished, but it turned out to be pretty good for what it really is. And then we got a record deal about a year after I recorded that one, and we polished up a lot of the songs from Twilight Hour and added a new song as well.

Blast: Was it after the record deal that you gained Brent and the rest of the band?

MH: Brent is my friend and guitar player in the band. He actually joined back in 2008, pretty early on. People started approaching me about playing shows and I kind of needed a little extra something to play live shows, and it turned out that Brent was really good at guitar and we got together and just kind of did the acoustic, coffee house, you know small club type thing for about 8 or 9 months. It was just he and I for a long time, actually.

Blast: Are you still playing coffee houses, or mostly “Twilight” related gigs?

MH: Oh yea, we still play a lot of local gigs around here in Atlanta. We do acoustic shows but now it’s more with the full band. So we do both, we do full band shows at clubs with the electric guitars and drums but we still do the acoustic stuff, too.

Blast: And are you still writing now?

MH: I’ve been writing songs since long before Twilight came out; it’s kind of hard to turn that off. Melodies are always popping into my head and whenever I sit down with my guitar, inspiration starts hitting, so yea, we’re always writing.

Blast: Do you have anything public planned with the release of “New Moon” in November, since everyone isn’t quite at the convention level yet?

MH: Sure, yea, there are a lot of casual Twilight fans out there, and we’re trying to reach them as well. We are playing a huge film release party in Salt Lake City for the twilight moms, actually. They’ve invited us to come up and play that and they’re expecting to have you know, three or four thousand people there. It’s kind of a more casual event than something like TwiCon. So yea, we’re definitely trying to reach out to those casual fans too. Our music is a little bit like that in itself. We’re not like, really overtly Twilight with our references “" well, except for one song we have called “Jacob Black” that’s pretty blatant. We try to keep the references to : “Twilight” pretty subtle and we did that on purpose because we didn’t want to alienate casual Twilight fans or casual music listeners even.

Blast: Do you think as a band you’ll eventually move beyond from “Twilight” inspired music to just Mitch inspired music?

MH: Yea. You don’t want to pigeon-hole yourself as an artist for you know, a fad “" a passing fad. As it stands right now, it’s really fun to do and people are into it, but yea for longetivy’s sake, we’d love to do some more mainstream type music. You know, inspiration comes from all over when you’re a song writer, not just one specific thing, but I think “Twilight” has a lot of cool themes and stories and I think there are a lot more songs to be written to that end.

Blast: Speaking of the stories in “Twilight” what point was the easiest to write songs for?

MH: Definitely the end of Eclipse has been the most written about as far as my songs go. That’s kind of when Jake takes off and Edward and Bella decide they’re going to get married. There’s also the big fight scene with Victoria and the newborns. So a lot of the story lines kind of came to a head at the end of “Eclipse” and so there’s like five or six songs that came from that specific time in the stories.

Blast: As “New Moon” is approaches, and even “Eclipse” are you trying at all to get onto the soundtracks?

MH: Yea, we’ve done a little light. . . I don’t know, we’ve shopped it around lightly to a few people and as it turns out, once “Twilight” was such a booming success, it’s just like everyone in the entire world is trying to get on the soundtrack for “New Moon.” So you know, it’s not as easy as it would have been if we had really tried last year to do it for the first film. But you know either way, if we get on a soundtrack or if we don’t, we’re just happy to do what we do. But yea, we’d love to be involved with one of the films somehow.

Be sure to check out Blast’s Mitch Hansen Band giveaway on YouTube to win free stuff from the band!

NEW YORK — Music fans who miss the glory days of post-punk and “Ëœ80s alternative need look no further than “Midnight of the Century” the debut album from New York quartet Blacklist, which offers a quick fix.

Blast recently spoke with three-quarters of the band (minus guitarist James Minor) as they prepared for the July 28 release of their record.

The Blacklist seed was planted in 2004, when singer Josh Strawn and guitarist Ryan Rayhill, both New York transplants, met each other and shortly thereafter formed a band whose sound emulated the likes of Iron Maiden and Motorhead. The eventually addition of drummer Glenn Maryansky prompted their music to evolve to a “more melodic, atmospheric post-punk” aesthetic, according to Strawn.

Strawn’s soaring, Peter Murphy-esque vocals don’t seem to fit with his softspoken, contemplative offstage persona. A high-minded, politically passionate frontman who says that, if music were not an option, he’d be studying Farsi in pursuit of a journalism career in Iran, Strawn’s resume includes a past stint as a community organizer for ACORN. His list of lyrical inspirations includes figures like George Orwell and astronomer Carl Sagan.

The name Blacklist, originally proposed by Rayhill, is an apt reflection of this mindset.

“It was kind of serendipitous” said Strawn, pointing to the fact that he often draws on the memoirs of political dissidents to flesh out his songs (sample lyric: “We‚ come together‚ in the street like soldiers … we’re gonna burn their flags”). The album title itself is a throwback to Russian revolutionary Victor Serge, whose novel “Midnight In the Century” offered a detailed account of life in the Gulag.

Sonically, “Midnight of the Century” is crafted from accessible metal that occasionally strays into pop territory and, at times, even borders on danceable. From the moment it gets underway with the thumping opener “Still Changes” “Midnight” immediately calls to mind “Ëœ80s alternative powerhouses like Joy Division, The Cult and The Church. But the band members identify more obscure bands like The Sound, The Lucy Show and Asylum Party “" “a lot of stuff that flew under the radar in the “Ëœ80s that should have made it big” according to Maryansky “" as being more influential.

The fact that Blacklist’s sound doesn’t fit easily into one single category (“A lot of people like to put us in the goth hole” Rayhill laments), but instead blurs the divisions between New Wave, metal, pop and glam rock, sits well with the members.

“There’s always been an effort to walk interesting lines between what’s a macho sound and what’s a feminine, makeup-wearing sound” Strawn said. “We’re into all of it. “¦ it’s more about a sonic space than it is about trying to fit into it.”