Category: All Interviews

Adorned with Spanish moss-draped oak trees and nestled on the shady banks of the black Suwannee River, The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park is naturally the ideal setting for a Halloween weekend extravaganza. This year, the 800-acre venue will once again transform into a festive playground for the Second Annual Suwanee Hulaween.

Last year, the lake within the venue and adjacent forest were morphed into Spirit Lake, a visual experience that fused dazzling light production, art installations, performance art, and host to the Silent Disco. With Spirit Lake quickly becoming one of the most anticipated experiences of Hulaween, we took a couple minutes to chat with the returning visionary and Art Director, Andrew Carroll, to talk about his design process, setting the record straight on comparing Spirit Lake to Sherwood Forest, and why this venue is so incredibly special.

Vinyl Mag: How did you first get involved with the creation of Spirit Lake?

Andrew Carroll: The producers had seen my work at some other events (such as Sherwood Forest at Electric Forest Festival), and reached out. We talked about the project, and it sounded amazing.

VM: What is your creative and design process for Spirit Lake?

AC: The process is an initial conversation with the producers that includes budget talks, recaps from the previous year on what worked and what didn’t, a chat about the general theme (this year being The Afterlife), etc. We lock in the larger art projects, while sifting through the proposal emails or people willing to offer an installation for a ticket trade. The trick is to bring enough art, lighting, and performance so that it feels full and impactful, but not too much stuff so that it just feels like your cramming in as much as we can. It’s a balance of trying to have it be an amazing experience for the patrons, while doing so within the allotted budget.

VM: What can attendees expect this year?

AC: We’ve gone bigger and expanded in all areas of Spirit Lake, and I think people will feel that if they are returning, and will be amazed if it is their first time.

VM: There have been comments floating around that it seems that Spirit Lake is becoming – if it isn’t already -more like Sherwood Forest at Electric Forest; in the sense that it keeps getting bigger and better each year. In your second year with the festival, is this something you and your design team are striving for as Spirit Lake comes into its own as one of the most integral parts of the festival?

AC: First off, these are two very different events in two very different settings, so I don’t feel it’s fair to compare the two. Also, this is only our second opportunity to bring Spirit Lake to life as Spirit Lake, so no one (myself included) totally knows where Spirit Lake will end up. It’s a unique place, and a unique experience, and there is no need to compare. It’s similar to when people compare the Grateful Dead to Phish… sure there are some similarities, but they are two very different animals.

VM: Without giving too much away, would you say Spirit Lake is growing in size, compared to last year, and are there any new installations we can look forward to?

AC: As far as the general size, it will be very similar.  However, we have grown the scope of art, lighting, and performance in an effort to ‘go bigger, badder, better!’

VM: How is the local art community being integrated into this year’s design?

AC: We have many folks in the local art community bringing a variety of art installations, painting, performance, etc again. It’s exciting!

VM: What do you think makes Spirit of Suwannee so special?

AC: It’s been around a long time, and hosted many amazing bands, festivals and events. There is something special about Florida in general, and the Suwannee Music Park is absolutely gorgeous. The people of Florida are incredibly passionate and creative. As far as coming to the table, they ‘really bring it…every time. Plus, there’s nothing cooler than that dripping Spanish moss in the trees!

“We’re not in a band to record records; we’re in a band to do the music we love over and over and over again.”

In music, persistence is one of the most valuable characteristics of a successful career; take a look at New Found Glory, the American “godfathers of punk rock,” and members that can certainly be counted among the most pioneering and persistent groups to emerge from the late 90’s.

After an 11-day trip rocking out across the British Isles, the band is touring again, hopping around the Northeastern US along with several other punk rock groups, including Fireworks, Candy Hearts, and We Are In the Crowd. I was lucky enough to get ahold of one of the members in between sets, even as Candy Hearts was checking sound in an adjacent room! After a quick patch through from their label, I had the pleasure of speaking to NFG drummer and overall great guy Cyrus Bolooki about tour updates, personal perspectives, and some of the developments following the release of the band’s most recent album earlier in October, Resurrection.

Vinyl Mag: New Found Glory is one of the rare punk bands that has been going strong since 1997; how has the genre changed since then?

Cyrus Bolooki: Oh man, I think it’s changed a lot. Obviously, you have tons of new bands—bands that are younger, and bands that have changed styles. They’ve gotten heavier in some ways, and poppier in a lot of ways…but I think one thing that hasn’t changed is that there’s this cool energy, and almost like a kind of camaraderie in a lot of the pop punk bands, especially live. When you go and watch a lot of pop punk bands, they just bring it on stage, and that hasn’t really changed. The music may have changed slightly—I think it happens with any style of music—there’s always a little deviation, and some of them catch, some of them don’t. Again, overall I think it’s the attitude in general. It’s pretty much the same as it’s always been, and I think that’s one of the reasons why this genre is going to stay around and has been around for so long.

VM: Did you ever expect that you’d still be doing this 17 years later?  If you weren’t in a band, what do you think you would be doing?

CB: Yeah, that’s the million dollar question. What would we be doing? I don’t know if any of us really know the answer to that, because fortunately for us, everything got started at a young age right out of high school. I don’t know if we were at the point in our lives to know what we would have done with our lives had we not done this band. Yeah, did we think it was going to last this long and go this far? Not at all!

You know, we started this band, because we loved playing music—we loved kind of going to local shows, and obviously we set very small goals for ourselves and kept achieving them while raising the bar. We never thought, ‘oh, we have to be that band that’s on MTV!’ or, ‘we’ve got to be that band that sells hundreds of thousands of records!’ Just for us to start in South Florida and get out of that state and then get out of the country…and, you know, get on the radio, get on MTV—these are all really big things that we never thought would happen. We’re very fortunate.

VM: What advice would you give to your younger self now? What advice would you give to a young band starting now?

CB: Yeah, that’s also a tough one, too, because I feel like times have changed a lot. You know, we were talking earlier about that, how pop punk has changed. But music – the business side of it – has changed drastically. So things that we did when we started were great then, but may not be the same now.

So, like for us, it was a very DIY mentality, and we took a lot of that from pop punk and just punk in general…we didn’t worry about others promoting us.  We got out there and did it ourselves. Even if that meant going into the parking lot of a local show and having demos that we burned or taped or whatever—that we made, and we passed those out…always trying to advertise on your own. I guess nowadays that could translate into having a social media presence and trying to connect to people in as many ways as possible.

One thing I would say is that you’ve got to work hard.  Nothing in this world comes for free. Even with things like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where it’s so easy for you to reach a lot of people, you’ve got to understand that even though you might have a lot of followers, they may not really be your followers, you know? It might just be a title. You have to get out there and do the groundwork. Try to promote yourself, play shows, and write songs, and just get yourself out there.

VM: Chad said in an interview with Fuse that “Ready and Willing” off of Resurrection is one of the best New Found Glory songs ever written – do you agree?  

CB: Well, that’s definitely a bold statement for him to make. Um, I’m going to back him up because he’s my bro, and I’m going to say that it is one of the best songs we have ever written. Musically, I love it, but I think it’s also got a really good message, lyrically. In some ways, it parallels the entire story of our band. If you look at the lyrics, it really talks about somebody who does what they love and then has to question what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

The entire song is really a question to the listener: are you ready, and are you willing to take on whatever it means to follow your dreams and do what you want to do? Obviously, you know, that was a question that…whether it was conscious or not, we answered that. We did persevere and we did push through, and…specifically with this last year and everything that happened with our band, we answered that question again.

But as we were growing up or even first starting this band, we weren’t huge or anything overnight—it was a lot of hard work! So, that’s where I’m going to say it’s definitely one of the best NFG songs ever written, because of the lyrics and the message that it’s sending. It’s very universal, and can apply to anybody.

VM: What is your favorite song from the album and why?

CB: What’s my favorite song? Actually, right now we’re playing five songs off the new record on this tour, and the one song we just started playing live is the song “Resurrection.” I actually love playing that song. It’s not necessarily the most powerful NFG song ever written, or even the fastest, slowest, or any of that kind of stuff, but it’s just got a great rhythm, and it’s extremely fun to play, and the crowds react really well to it.

VM: What is your favorite song to perform live?

CB: Yeah, I mean, of course it’s tough. We play 23 songs live every night, and on this tour specifically, besides our new songs…we’re playing a lot of…well, obviously, like, ‘hits’ if you want to call them that, but you know there’s songs we’re playing on tour that we…never usually play on tour. So, I’m enjoying all of it. New song — definitely “Resurrection,” and/or maybe “Selfless” — I actually really like that song as well. As far as all the songs we play live…I’ll pick a random one—“This Disaster.” We never play that song live, and we’re actually playing it on this tour. Even though it’s kind of slow, it’s very heavy, and I think [the audience is] very surprised to hear that song live.

VM: You said in an interview that playing live is what this band does best – can you elaborate on that?  What do audiences get out of your live shows that they don’t get out of listening to the audio?  What do you get out of your live shows?

CB: I think there’s on word to sum all that up: energy. There’s definitely this energy to our music in general when you listen to it on the record and stuff like that, but there’s a completely different type of energy live, and so…I feel like with any band, you can’t really form a full opinion about them…until you see them live. Their record could sound however they want it to, but when you see them live, it’s really happening. There is this energy, like…you combine the sound and the movement of what’s going on up on stage with the other kids around you or other bands around you singing all the lyrics, and it just adds up to something you can’t put on a record.

As far as doing what we do best is playing live? Yeah, I would agree with that. You make a record once every one or two years, but you play shows every single night, and if you can’t play live, and you can’t enjoy playing the same songs over and over, why are you doing this? We’re not in a band to record records; we’re in a band to do the music we love over and over and over again.

VM: What is it like recording and playing as a quartet now?

CB: So, it was a little different. I think where we had maybe…I don’t want to say hesitation, but it was a little scary kind of going into it. Actually, before we got into the writing process, and we had this thing called Parahoy that we did, which was a cruise that we did back in March. We had that scheduled before everything happened with the membership, and we went into it not knowing if we were going to sound good as a four-piece, but we decided to go ahead and rehearse that way to see how it would be.

We played like two or three songs as a four-piece, and…there were comments that we sounded tighter and better than before, so it helped having confidence going into the writing.

As far as the writing goes, it was very easy and relaxed. Jordan, Chad, and myself – we all live close to each other in California and would all hang out with each other once a week. Chad would have a guitar, I’d have a little recording setup, we’d record him playing some guitar, I’d go home, throw some drums on top of it in my home studio, bring it back, we’d write the lyrics…it was just this very easy, relaxing kind of meet up thing for a few weeks, and the next thing we knew, we had a lot of songs written.

Before we even got in the studio, we had 12 or 11 out of the 13 songs totally written. So it was very easy for us.  Everything kind of came natural, and it was really just us, like…pouring out what we were going through, and any kind of fear or anything that we had just came through in the music. That was a way for us to get over all that. I think we did a really good job of personifying everything that we were going through and just laying it all out there, and I think kids relate to that.

VM: Your new album [Resurrection] just came out. What has it come to represent for New Found Glory? How has the response been?

CB: The response to the record I think has been great. We’ve had kids say—well, I shouldn’t be saying kids, I should say fans—say that this record is the best that we’ve done in a long time…I think one of the things people really do kind of resonate with is the fact that, as far as the music, we seem to have gone back to riff-based songs, where on Radiosurgery, our previous record, it was a lot of power chords.

For this record, it was a conscious effort to get back to those riffs, and we also embrace the fact that we’re a four piece, so we really did rely on a guitar riff to kind of carry the song and not like a rhythm lead or any of that kind of stuff.

Lyrically, things have changed slightly. You know, it’s not 13 songs about girls, where most of our songs in the past have all been about relationships. There are a couple relationship songs on this record, but there’s also a lot of songs that deal with regular life questions, and a lot of things about how you overcome struggles; how do you get past things? Are you even living your life the way you want to? What are you going to do with your life? Are you okay with trying to push through anything to get what you want?

There are a lot of really cool themes on here, and I think that’s one of the reasons the reactions are so good for this record. It’s because people are seeing…not really a new side to us, but they’re relating to us in a way that they haven’t in a while.

VM: You guys are pretty quick to release new albums. What do you do when you have free time?

CB: Oh, we just make new records! No, I’m joking. Honestly, it feels like we don’t really take too much time off, but we did take a few months off at the beginning of this year, and that’s when we did the Parahoy cruise, things like that. But yeah, we knew last year – even before anything happened with membership – we knew that we were going to do a record this year, and you’re right, we try to do a record every two years.

It’s not like clockwork, but…you release a record, you go on tour for 12 months or 18 months, and then it’s time to kind of do it all over again, because we’re constantly coming up with random ideas or trying to write songs. You know, you want to stay busy in this industry, and we have no problem doing that. That’s how you continue to compete.

VM: Do you have any other creative outlets besides music?

CB: Me personally…I’m a big music guy, and I’m very much into recording and producing. So that side, like, the studio side, that’s a creative outlet for me. Otherwise, we stay pretty busy, so it’s also nice to kind of decompress at home, and…you know, not do anything related to music for a little bit. We all have families, but everybody’s got different things to do.

Chad’s into producing himself, and loves writing with other bands. As I said, I’m into the recording side of things, and Ian is really into sports memorabilia! I’m almost surprised to say this, but there’s almost a creative way to doing that as well. He’s very meticulous with his collection.  He trades things, he actively pursues different items in his collection…yeah, he’s really into it.

VM: How is the tour going?

CB: The tour is amazing! You know, all of these bands we’ve actually been on tour with in different capacities. Candy Hearts is down sound checking right now.  We played with them a couple different times, a couple different tours. They’re a great female-fronted band, great newer band; nice, kind of poppier-punk songs; kind of a throwback to 90’s alternative.

Then you have Fireworks, who we’ve been on tour with so many times. I love their style of music, and also they’re a little more eclectic than everybody, especially with their newer record.

We Are In the Crowd as well—we did a show with them in Europe last year, and that’s where we first met them. They’re a newer band as well, but also with Hopeless records; great band, and another female-fronted band, which is really cool. But, everybody is really fun.  We hang out with each other on our days off; we all try to meet up and go to movies or dinner, or whatever we can, and everybody is having a great time.

VM: You’re going to Australia for Soundwave in 2015! Any plans besides playing music?

CB: Do I have any plans? Um…no, I mean, Australia is amazing. Soundwave for us is maybe one of the most fun festivals you can be a part of.  The lineups are always amazing, and Australia itself is just a beautiful country. We all have a great time going out there.

I like the schedule of Soundwave, because they do it on weekends. It’s on these two different weekends, but you have this, like…week in between where all the bands usually stay in the same city, and they have what they sort of call ‘sideways,’ so all these bands play headlining shows in local clubs. You just get to, like, pick between all these bands, and go see your favorite bands. We’ll probably have our own sideways show, too. It’s just a really fun and a way to get a whole bunch of styles and great bands together so everybody can hang out and have a great time.

VM: What is next for you? 

CB: We’ll stay busy promoting this tour that we’re going to finish up here in a few weeks. We have Europe coming up before that, we’ve got Australia next year, and we’re already trying to make more plans for stuff in the US. I’m sure we’ll go international again. So, it’s crazy, because pretty much all of 2015 is already kind of…not necessarily fully booked, but at least locked down firm. So we will stay busy from this point in time. There’s going to be no time to really have a new record any time soon, but that’s a good thing!

Murder By Death is a genre-defying, whiskey-soaked five-piece originally from Bloomingon, Indiana.  They’ve graced us with six full-length albums and are gearing up to release a seventh (hu-freaking-zzah).

I got a little phone time with Adam Turla (vocals, guitar) recently to talk about the album, as well as their upcoming tour dates (below – Athens readers, I better see you on the 25th), their Halloween plans, and their annual show at the Stanley Hotel.

Vinyl Mag: I saw on Facebook that y’all were listening to the master recently. Where are you in that process now?

Adam: Record’s done. I actually ordered all of the vinyl yesterday. I put it all out myself. We haven’t released our record, and we haven’t announced it yet, but we do have a release. All the wheels are in motion…now we’re planning the tour for the album, and we’re planning the special edition vinyl, and we need some t-shirts. It’s especially a really fun time, because the creative work is done, and now I just look for artists I like to get involved; there’s a side of it where I get to just say, ‘I like this’ or ‘I don’t like this.’ It’s a lot easier than trying to write a song that means something.

VM: You said you’re looking for artists you like.  How do you find them?

AT: At this point, having been around for a long time, we just know a lot of artists…that’s been one of the things that I never really thought about when I started playing music is how cool it is that, even though you’re in a different field, you get to associate with people who have other creative jobs, and that’s been a real pleasure. Like some of the t-shirt designs – they’re just shirts – but some of the designs for this record release were just amazing. If you’re selling something, I want it to look good. I don’t want to just slap my name on some junk and tell people to buy it.

VM: You always package your LPs really awesome, and I know you just said you like to collaborate with artists. Are you doing sort of the same thing for the vinyl?

AT: Yeah, with the new record, we hired a friend of ours who is an art teacher and artist. We’ve never done this style of album design. We often do images or wood carve, that kind of thing. This time it’s like a mixed media centered around photography…it’s got a different feel to it…we’re doing some cool, special stuff for the new one. We’re doing mirror board; we got a lot of stuff. I’m really excited. I get a sample in a couple of weeks.

VM: Specifically for vinyl, why is it important to you to put so much design into it, especially now that a lot of people are doing Spotify and MP3’s?

AT: That’s how some people get their music; I never really did it. I like records, and the whole reason the band got into to doing vinyl was because we just happen to listen to vinyl. The label, back in the day for our first record I’d asked them, ‘Hey can we do vinyl?’ and they said, ‘Eh, we don’t really want to spend the money.’ I get that. So I thought, ‘Well, can I do it?’ So I started putting it out just because nobody else would, and it ended up becoming this thing where now the fans know we put it out, and they like that, and they know that we’re going to do a cool design. It also ends up taking away the middleman or middlemen who are all seeking a cut…I think an album represents more than just the music. I was one of those kids who sat with the record and poured over everything, reading all the details that they’d give me. It’s nice to include that; it’s nice to have the lyrics and to have the whole impression of the project.

VM: Yeah, I think that’s interesting what you said, because I do tend to think about musicians collaborating with musicians, but it’s cool that you’re collaborating with artists of different media.

AT: Yeah, I love it! For example, I have a friend that I grew up with who is a comic book artist. I wrote a song for his Kickstarter that he did last year, and he did some design work for me. It’s really cool, because I’ve known this guy forever, and we like each other’s art, but there’s not an obvious way to collaborate, but we’ve found ways to do that. Like, he just did a really cool poster design for us. It’s just nice to brainstorm ideas and come up with fun ways to work together.

VM: Can you tell me more about the concept for the upcoming record?

AT: It’s a little different than some of our other records. Sometimes I’ll do more ‘concept-y’ records where it’s a story that I’m telling with the songs. There is a link that kind of popped up as we were writing it – there are a lot of songs that are more sort of darker love songs or non-traditional love songs. I’ve always been bored out of my mind by radio love songs usually. Sometimes there’s great stuff out there. Especially modern stuff just seems really convoluted in the lyrical content, so I was trying to write songs about love that is not just unrequited love with teenage lyrics.

There are songs about the love and the fear that comes with a parent’s love; there’s a song that’s about a totally unacceptable, obsessive love. It just explores the idea of love in different layouts. I was trying to write songs that I thought were interesting but still love songs. So that was actually a really a fun experiment.  At times it was actually really difficult.

It really developed…the coolest part about it is that sonically, we were able to finally choose some stuff that we’ve been working on a long time, and it really suited the songs.  I think the thing we had to struggle with the most was playing less, basically. It’s a struggle for everybody to be playing all the time. It’s really hard to sit back and let somebody else do a bunch of work, and then when your entrance comes in, it’s even more dramatic. I think for the first record, we really felt like we nailed that idea of, ‘I’m just going to sit out for a minute, and when I come in, I’ll do something really special.’ We just kept cutting parts, and that was really satisfying, and the record sounds bigger for it.

VM: Possessed by Paul James covered “I Came Around” for the 20-year compilation for Bloodshot [Records]. The track list I read is really awesome, but how did that come about?

AT: You know what, I haven’t even heard it yet, but I’m going to. I’m glad you brought that up; I need to check that out. I didn’t know it was happening. I just heard about it from the label. I knew our label was doing a release where artists were covering Bloodshot songs – it’s a cool idea. It’s their 20-year celebration, and the label’s been around for a long time and put out a lot of great stuff. I think it’s a really fun way to celebrate those releases, also to bring them back to people’s minds. I didn’t realize that was happening until a couple days ago, so I need to give that a listen.

VM: So, you’re playing the Stanley Hotel again. Is that going to be an annual thing?

AT: I think it is. Basically it was intended to be a one-time thing. It started as two nights, 300 tickets a night. We thought, ‘okay, we sell out at 600 capacity in Denver. This is like an hour and half from Denver. We’ll be able to sell 600 tickets for this.’ It was really fun, and it’s really interesting.

That’s one of the main things; we try to do interesting things. If we were bigger, we would do really crazy thing, but we just do as much as we can with the amount of fans we have. We try to keep the job interesting for everybody. I had that idea a couple years ago; we actually pulled it off. It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing in this band. The shows were awesome, and everybody dressed to the nines. It was just really fun and positive. Everyone was saying, ‘you gotta do this again, you gotta do this again.’So we announced it again with an expanded capacity.

We had it a third night last year, so we ended up doing 900 tickets. We had an expanded capacity this year, so it was like 500 for three nights – sold out right away. It’s just crazy, because when we did it, it was for the idea.

It’s great for us, because if [fans] want to do this every year, we’ll come up with more ideas like this. We’re really lucky to have an audience that wants to think outside of the box. It’s more than just going to a regular club; they just want to do something fun and interesting. That’s something I’ve loved about them for a long time, and I’m just starting to realize we just need to take that idea and basically just host a bunch of parties.

VM: Yeah, it’s really cool, because a lot of people just want to passively go to a show, but this is an interactive thing that your audience is getting behind.

AT: Yeah! The show’s over at around 11:00, and I close the bar every single night at three in the morning, because usually people want to talk to the band; they want to talk to me about shows, the band, and their experience. I just want to be available to the people. It ends up being more personal, because it’s also a slumber party since you’re all staying at a haunted hotel. That’s awesome! It’s the sort of thing where I would have lost my mind as a kid if I had heard about it. If I were 18, and a band I was into was doing something like that, it would’ve been the best thing!

VM: Are y’all doing anything special for Halloween?

AT: No, actually. The band doesn’t have any plans. We’re playing a show right before that. I might just pass around candy.

VM: Do you have a costume?

AT: Yeah, I’m working on it. I think I’m gonna go with Macho Man Randy Savage. Sarah [Balliet – cello, keys] and I have been talking about it, and she’s thinking about going as the Undertaker. I have this cursory interest in wrestling. When I was a kid I thought, ‘this seems kind of cool.’ I didn’t know much about it, but I loved those guys when I was a kid. I thought they were just crazy dudes.

VM: You’re ‘working on’ your costume. Does that mean you’re making your costume?

AT: Oh yeah. I’ll make a sweet champion wrestling belt. You have to make some of it; that’s the fun part. We had a costume where Sarah and I went as the old man who’s trapped inside the whale. So we had raggedy clothes with beards, and we made an eight-foot long, cardboard whale. I just sat inside the whale at the party we were at. Definitely my favorite costume I’ve ever done.

VM: When was that?

AT: Maybe about five years ago.

VM: Y’all moved from Bloomington.  Why the move?

AT: Well, 15 years there was great, but it was just time to try something else; move to a bigger city to some extent. I love Louisville, because it feels like a big and a small city. It feels like you get both sides of it. We started realize that Bloomington had a smaller feel. Personally, I think that it’s a good thing to be from a small city, just having a quiet place to go back to when we were on the road all the time. It was really nice. You get the modest town. There’s a college there, but it doesn’t really enter people’s lives unless they’re a student or you work at a bar. I think it was just time to try something new. We have some family down here, lost of friends have moved down here, so it was kind of an obvious choice.

VM: Is this going to affect your Thanksgiving plans with Lil Bub?

AT: [Laughs] Good question. I haven’t seen her in four months. I actually need to repost that video, because we are big fans. She’s awesome.  Her owner is such a good dude. He’s got the right idea…he’s not an Internet guy; he doesn’t give a sh*t about memes [and Internet fame] and things like that. His friends convinced him to start posting photos, and it just took off and happened to him, and he went with it, and he went in the best possible way. He’s raised something like $100,000 for animal charities. It’s insane. The guy has turned down so many opportunities to make money in order to fundraise instead.

VM: Are you excited for your tour?

AT: Yeah, it’s just a short, little one. It’s just four shows. It’ll be fun, and we’ll dust off the cobwebs. We’re so focused on the record this year, so we just haven’t really done much live playing. I feel like when you do less, not a lot of shows, you’re a lot more fun at each show, because there’s kind of a danger that you might screw up.

VM: Y’all are coming to Athens, so I’ll be there for that.

AT: Awesome, yeah we’re excited. I realized that it is the first headlining show that we’ve ever done there, which is crazy. We’ve been there a million times.

VM: Yeah, I saw y’all last time you were here with Say Anything. So, it’s been a while.

AT: Yeah, we hadn’t played in Athens since 2002 before that show.

VM: I did an interview with you at SXSW 2013, and you recommended that I listen to Shovels and Rope, which I totally have.

AT: Oh cool! They’ve gotten huge since then!

VM: Yeah, I got in before, so I appreciate that. I was wondering what you were listening to lately and if you have any new recommendations.

AT: I have not been listening to that much stuff lately. I think because when I get into writing, I get so focused on the song…the thing I’ve been listening to most lately is David Bowie, because I went to the exhibit in Chicago. They had a bunch of music and costumes and all sorts of stage stuff. I’m a big Bowie fan. For the exhibit, we drove to Chicago just to see that.

VM: I saw the “Dance Magic Dance” thing on Facebook.

AT: Still going strong.

VM: Such an awesome movie, good call!

AT: Probably time for a re-watch. We’re doing scary movie days for October.

VM: So what’s today?

AT: I don’t know yet – probably something bad. That’s the fun thing about horror movies is that it’s not all good movies. We’re due for a crappy one.

VM: What’d you watch last night?

AT: We watched Wake in Fright, which is an Australian movie from the 70’s. It’s weird, because it’s not really like a horror movie in the traditional sense, but it’s really unsettling, and it has this really strange vibe to it. It’s more like an art movie than it is a horror movie.

VM: What is next for y’all?

AT: Getting the record out and letting people know it’s out there. It’s crazy, because I’ve been working on it for a year and a half, and what happens next is we wait for it to come out and get promoted for a while. By the time it’s actually out, some of the vinyls have been out for a while. Right now it’s just in a holding pen, waiting until people can hear it.

VM: What are you going to do as soon as we hang up the phone?

AT: Eat a sandwich.

Tour Dates:

Oct 22    The Concourse at The International    Knoxville, TN
Oct 23    The Jinx Nightclub    Savannah, GA
Oct 24    New Brookland Tavern    Columbia, SC
Oct 25    40 Watt Club    Athens, GA
Dec 30    The Gothic Theater w/ Lucero   Englewood, CO
Dec 31    The Gothic Theater w/ Lucero   Englewood, CO
Jan 02    Stanley Hotel Concert Hall    Estes Park, CO Sold Out
Jan 03    Stanley Hotel Concert Hall    Estes Park, CO Sold Out
Jan 04    Stanley Hotel Concert Hall    Estes Park, CO Sold Out

In a music town like Athens, GA, with an endless spread of bands accessible for your listening – and viewing – pleasure, it’s rare to find one that can distinguish itself from the pack.  What’s even rarer is doing it before the members even graduate from high school!

Monsoon has done just that.  Started by Sienna Chandler (vocalist/guitarist) and a pick-up band at an Elliot Smith tribute show, Monsoon quickly gained notice and recognition by some of the Athens bigwigs and grew into a full-fledged band, consistently playing shows and major festivals in the town.  I grabbed a few minutes with Chandler to talk about growing up in the Classic City, plans post-graduation, and their big upcoming show.

Vinyl Mag: How did you form? Can you tell us the story of how you started and got on the Wuxtry Record Store Day comp?

Sienna Chandler: I was hanging outside at the 40 Watt after a B-53’s show. Jake Franzen had just made introductions and asked if I’d like to play an Elliot Smith tribute show he was putting together. I didn’t have a band at the time but said yes anyway. Jake is where it all began. He gave me the green light to do something I’d always wanted to do but wasn’t quite sure how to go about. I called up two friends, and we played the show a week or two later. Shortly after that, we were asked to play a show at Flicker – which I played on my 17th birthday – and a house show at the Plush Palace. Unlike the Elliot Smith tribute show, the songs I played at Flicker and at the house show were all my own. Everyone was really great, especially the Plush Palace folks. They were super supportive, super responsive, and we had a really great time. It was then we decided to become an official band.

Because we were unnamed at the time, the videos that my dad shot of the Plush Palace show were loaded onto YouTube by song title (vs. band name). Wuxtry man Mike Turner saw Monsoon (the song) on Facebook, and that’s how we were introduced. He liked the song and asked if he could put it on the compilation album.

VM: So few bands ever get “discovered” anymore. The bands that get recognition these days usually all have hired a publicist to get their name out there. How did it feel to have someone seek you out before you were even fully established?

SC: It’s really nice. I can’t say that we’ll always be able to handle it without a publicist, but for now, I like the fact that we’re out there without a filter. What you see is what you get. There isn’t a go-between. If we’re liked, I love being the one that gets the call to talk about our band, because that person actually wants to hear our story or is interested in our sound. Vinyl Mag for example. Thank you for seeking us out. Nice to meet you.

VM: What are your plans for when you graduate? College? Full-time band?

SC: I’m happy to announce I’m officially a High School graduate. I took the long walk across the stage, dressed in Oconee blue back in June. I hope to start college next semester after we get the album out.

VM: Where are headed for college? Are you going to keep up the band?

SC: Staying local for school and ABSOLUTELY!

VM: You said in an interview with the Flagpole that you “feel more inspired than influenced.” Are there any non-musical inspirations that you draw from when coming up with songs?

SC: Yes. Definitely. A beautiful flower. A child taking his first steps, long walks on the beach (…record screech). Just kidding. I find I work best in chaos. A busy schedule, deadlines, and six too-many-cups of coffee usually kick start the songwriting process.

VM: What are some of your other creative outlets besides music?

SC: The only other outlet, though I wouldn’t call it creative or even an outlet for that matter, is anime. I love anime. Anything Japanese for that matter. I think the culture is beautiful as well as their traditions. Note to reader: Hello? Anyone? !! Monsoon would like to tour Japan!! Hook a sister up.

VM: What is it like to grow up in such a music-minded town like Athens? How has the town influenced your sound?

SC: I wouldn’t trade growing up in Athens, Georgia for anything in the world. On any given night, on any given day, music is always accessible. That’s not the case in most towns. I remember the first time I ever heard The Rodney Kings. I was parked on Clayton and getting ready to drive away, but I heard this crazy awesome whaling coming from the Farm. I felt like Linus in the pumpkin patch: ‘What’s that [hair on end], WHAT’S THAT?’ I raced over, jumped up in front, and danced non-stop until the set was over. It’s still one of the funnest shows I’ve ever been to. I love it here. I love the vibe and the people and the venues and my friends.  I wouldn’t change growing up here for anything in the world.

VM: Do you do all of the writing? What is your writing process?

SC: I do. Very rarely will I tell Scott, ‘hey make this part sound sexy’ or Joey, ‘do a jungle drum right here.’ I write, and Joey and Scott make the songs come full circle in ways I’d never think to route them. They’re excellent musicians. They are incredible at making my mess a fine-tuned piece of chaos.

VM: [We originally chatted about doing an interview around] Dog Daze – how was that?

SC: Great! John Harry does an excellent job putting together bands, and it always brings a fun crowd. There’s the added bonus of working with the 40 Watt to put on a great show. There’s a reason that place makes all the Top Venue lists.

VM: What else have you been up to since then?

SC:  I’ve actually been writing, A LOT. I took this semester off to get the album out and have been working with a small Montessori Daycare program. The kids are amazing. Really cool humans. If I’m working something out lyrically in my head and not able to write it down, I sing it aloud, and the kids pick it up instantly. “Head starts spinnin, head starts spinnin, head starts spinnin….” We dance, we laugh, we sing. It’s been a fun experience.

VM: What is your favorite venue in Athens? Favorite festival?

SC: That would be impossible to answer. Every venue, every festival has been absolutely incredible to us. I’m not trying to sound all PC. I can’t think of a place we’ve played that we haven’t had a great time with great sound, great people, and a great crowd.

VM: What are some other local bands you are into?

SC: I currently have a huge music crush on Cottonmouth. Jacob is such a sweetheart off-stage, but when he performs, watch out. He fires out rhyme like machine gun fire, and it really sticks to the listener. It’s great. Then there’s Strays and Sad Dads – they’re my go to bands.

VM: Do you have any advice for young bands trying to get the word out?

SC: Just play. Keep it fun. That’s what it’s all about.

VM: What is next for Monsoon?

SC: Pump out this album and get the release underway! Just between me, you, and the reader, I’m pretty excited about the album release show….It’s gonna be a banger. Date TBA.

VM: Do you have any shows coming up?

SC: We do! If you find yourself in the Atlanta area on October 25th, swing by Terminal West – we’re opening for OF MONTREAL! We confirmed last night, and you’re the first to know.

Previously known for his role as frontman of Ghostland Observatory, Aaron Behrens, makes his debut as a solo artist with his new project, Aaron Behrens and the Midnight Stroll. Behrens new project features a style but elicits the same amount of energy and passion devoted listeners craved from Ghostland Observatory. Along with a new album, Behrens has a new label and will be going on a coast-to-coast tour this fall. Be on the look out for shows in your town!

Vinyl Mag has the newest single from The Midnight Stroll, “Keep On Rising.” If you enjoy it as much as we did, you can download it FUH FREE at Applauze.com.

Check out our interview with Aaron below!

Vinyl Mag: What challenges have you faced in breaking away from your former group and starting a solo career and a record label?

Aaron Behrens: Probably just reconnecting with my fan base. I think that’s the hardest thing is trying to communicate and help them understand why I would do such a thing and to just reconnect with them in order to show them my new thing. Not even my new thing – just my other creative outlet. I feel like people think they know who you are.  They think they’ve got you figured it out, and then you switch it on them – which I love to do – so you should always expect that. It throws them, and they’re like, ‘I was so used to this way,’ but this is another dimension of me so, yeah – getting across the point that I’m a multi-dimensional character.

VM: How have you changed as an artist in this transition?

AB: I’ve just been able to learn more, just different ways of doing songs, and I’ve gotten to work with other musicians that have opened some new doors creatively for me. I think I’ve gotten better as a musician, as a singer, as a writer with this new angle. So it’s helped me refine my craft.

VM: With the release of your new Skeleton Farm Records label, what style do you hope to maintain, and what is your role with the label?  How did you get involved? What is it like to be on the producing side?

AB: I don’t care what style to maintain in this record label. To me, it just has to be good, it has to be right, it has to be what I feel like is good and right. I don’t care what kind of package that comes in. When I hear it, when I see it, when I feel it, I’ll know I wanna be involved with it. Yeah, that’d be stupid for me to freakin’ go off and be like, ‘It has to be this way, this is what’s selling, this is what’s right.’ No, it’s an artistic venture.  You know, I understand it’s a fine line between what’s artistic and what sells, but I just want to put out what I think is cool. We shall see how that works out!

VM: What is your role with the label?

AB: Well, basically my role is….it’s my label. I just want to develop a pipeline for people to check out music that I think is cool and bands that I think should be heard. I just want to develop a pipeline and a connection from the label to them.  And I can put out my own tunes and program my own channel.

VM: What is it like it to be on the producing side of music?

AB: It’s great! It’s cool. It’s what I love to do. I love to come up with the idea – the concept – and push it. And let’s figure out how to get it sounding the way we want. I’m very new to it, because in Ghostland, I wasn’t such on the production side, so with this new project, I’ve definitely put on that hat a little bit more in watching Jonas [Wilson, co-producer] do his thing, too. Kind of learning stuff and knowing my angle and knowing my shape in the room. Knowing how to fit in and work as a team. That’s the really cool thing about doing productions with other people. It’s a team effort. I enjoy doing it a lot.

VM: Obviously, you’ve been very busy with your time away from Ghostland Observatory. Do you have any other creative outlets that you may have been working on, or still are?

AB: Uh, no. Not really. I’ve put a lot of energy into The Midnight Stroll. I’ve put all my energy into it, other than what I give to my family and friends. So no, there’s no time to be dibble-dabbling in multiple things. I really am a type of person that I really have to focus on one thing and one thing alone to get it accomplished, so all my energy has been focused on this project.

VM: What advice can you give a striving, blooming artist as they begin their musical career?

AB: Be real with yourself.  Be brutally honest with yourself, and freakin’ reach for the stars!  Go big, do everything that comes into your mind creatively.  Even if it sucks, at least you have the opportunity to learn from it.  Don’t be afraid. Fuck fear!  Be brash, be bold, and project from your heart.  So, there you go, advice for the newcomers: ‘Welcome, I’ve been waiting.’

TOUR DATES

09/11 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live

09/12 – Utopia, TX @ UTOPiAfest

09/13 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada

09/14 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom

09/17 – Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room

09/18 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock

09/19 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern

09/20 – St. Louis, MO @ Firebird

09/21 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s

10/01 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace

10/02 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress

10/03 – San Diego, CA            @ The Casbah

10/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Satellite

10/05 – Pomona, CA @ Glass House

10/06 – Los Angeles, CA @ School Night at Bardot

10/08 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel

10/10 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre

10/12 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile

10/15 – Missoula, MT @ Stage 112

10/16 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux

10/17 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court

10/18 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater

10/25 – Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn

11/05 – Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree

11/06 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West

11/07 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre

11/08 – Nashville, TN @ High Watt

11/09 – Asheville, NC @ The Millroom

11/11 – Charleston, SC @ The Pour House

11/12 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre

11/13 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel

11/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy

11/15 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge

11/19 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott

11/20 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Altar Bar

11/21 – Lexington, KY @ Cosmic Charlie’s

Although summer is quickly winding down, we are still amping up for some great music festivals coming up in September. In it’s fifth year, Catskill Chill Music Festival boasts an extensive lineup including the likes of Yonder Mountain String Band, The New Deal, Lettuce, Shpongle, and many, many others.

Included in this year’s festival is Upstate New York’s own Mister F. As a project started by members of Timbre Coup and Capital Zen, Mister F is an eclectic, high-energy four-piece band that takes a no-holds-barred approach to blending genres while keeping your feet moving.

Matt Pickering (drums/vocals) took some time to chat with us about the upcoming Catskill Chill, how all the “Misters” in the band feed off of each other’s talents, and, of course, adapting a band name from the greatest show ever.

When you think “female rapper,” I’m sure you think of women along the lines of Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj. What you might not think of is a brown haired, punk rock chick with well-refined music tastes who has been performing on Vans Warped Tour for the last few months. Up and coming rap artist K. Flay left her major label last fall and released her newest album, “Life As A Dog,” independently earlier this year. I had the chance to see her incredible set at the Atlanta date of Warped Tour last week, and I am officially in love. She’s adorable, full of energy, and ready for her takeover. We spoke with her about her music and her experience on Warped Tour and trust us, you’re gonna love her.