You Be the Anchor

Recently it seems that pop punk has grown more popular in mainstream music. Pop infused punk band Mayday Parade hail from Tallahassee Florida and have been taking the music industry by storm. Vocalist and keyboardist Derek Sanders, bassist Jeremy Lezno, guitarists Alex Garcia and Brooks Betts and drummer Jake Bundrick make up this unique band of great talent that formed from the merging of the bands Defining Moment and Kid Named Chicago.

They have a great romantic sound with lyrically captivating songs. Performance wise they are stunning. I've had the great privilege of attending some of their shows and I've never been disappointed. Their amazing ability to perform makes them captivating to watch. The emotions in their songs are visibly and audibly apparent and their draw you in. The tickets to most of their shows do not exceed $30, and their merchandise is rather reasonably priced, making any show WORTH IT!

A Lesson in Romantics is their full length debut album that was released on July 10, 2007 on

Fearless Records. There is hardly a song that I don't love. I know this seems to be the theme with my artist posts, but I am just unloading on you the insanity that is my music preference. I digress, A Lesson in Romantics is characteristically cliche of their genre, in that most of their songs are love ballads either praising or condemning love. Their genuine passion is evident in their epic lyrical emotional cries:

And you dropped the note and we changed key
You changed yourself and i changed me
I really didn't see us singing through this
Then you screamed the bridge
And i cried the verse
And our chorus came out unrehearsed
And you smiled the whole way through it
I guess maybe that's what's worse (from "If You Wanted A Song Written About You, All You Had To Do Was Ask")

The lyrics are pared with the bands highly harmonized vocals, dramatic instrumentals and heavy drumming. Songs to take notice to on this album are "You Be the Anchor", "If You Wanted A Song", "I'd Hate To Be You", and "Black Cat."

Currently, they are promoting their Major Label debut Anywhere But Here. The bands vocalist is quoted on their website refering to the album and touches on the recording proccess saying,

In fact the biggest challenge while making Anywhere But Here seems to have been Mayday Parade's monumental task of determining which of the

50-odd songs they'd written over the past few years would make the cut. "Some of the songs we all agreed on, but other ones were more difficult because people had different tracks that they loved and it was hard to narrow it down," Sanders elaborates, adding that the band wrote many of these tracks during last year's tour with All Time Low. "We just ended up taking a vote and I think we chose the right songs.

After being together for years who could blaim them. Each artist has their own favorite songs that can be found on their band website along with other information on each member as well as all information for their band.

The band is currently on their Take Action Tour with We the Kings, There For Tomorrow, and A Rocket To The Moon.

Let's Go FLORIDA!

A Day To Remember

I've come to you today with a personal favorite of mine. Formed in 2003, A Day To Remember, ADTR, is a 'pop mosh' band hailing from Ocala, Florida. Pop mosh is a term devised from their fans to summarise their unique sound that blends pop, hardcore and emo. After financing their first EP themselves, vocalist Jeremy McKinnon, guitarists Neil Westfall and Tom Denney, bassist Joshua Woodard, and drummer Bobby Scruggs signed with Indianola Records and released their album "And Their Name Was Treason" in 2005.

A year later they signed to Victory Records. In 2007 they dropped their label debut "For Those Who Have Heart" with new drummer Alex Shellnutt. In Octrober 2009 the band released their second album, "Homesick", with Victory Records.

Homesick is an album that I cannot go without. I think its rare to find a vocalist whose screams and harmony are both on point. With this band everything is in tune. It seems like these musicians were born to play together. They have a versatility that is rare among artists. the most common critique of A Day To Remember is that their albums all sound the same, but I feel that is due to the broad spectrum of genres they cover. Critic Sean Reid of Alter The Press! reviewed this album and said:

If it's not broken, why bother changing it. That's what A Day To Remember have done on the follow-up to their Victory Records debut 'For Those Who Have Heart'. 'Homesick' has all the good characteristics of the last album but on a bigger level.

The blend of pop and hardcore can be heard in their first song "The Downfall Of Us All;" the song blends catchy choruses, hardcore guitar riffs, and fast drumming. Throughout it are songs that fluctuate between pop and hardcore until the ballad, "If It Means That Much to You" at the end that emphesizes their loving side. The song is a duet with the lead singer of VersaEmerge. The lyrics talk of the struggle and ultimate end of their relationship due to A Day To Remembers rise to fame and touring. Other songs to pay attention to on the album include "I'm Made of Wax Larry, What Are You Made Of?", "Homesick", and "My Life For Hire."

Obviously I'm a big fan. I strongly suggest you run out or log on and purchase both "Homesick" and "For Those Who Have Heart." If you like any type of hardcore or punk give them a try. They're insanely talented!

Early this year ADTR announced their 2010 American 'Toursick' Tour with August Burns Red, Silverstein, Enter Shikari, Veara, and Go Radio.

They hit Tampa, FL 4/1/10.

LIGHTS

As I sat back and waited for the show, I couldn't help but remember that the last time I had been in this venue, I had stood exactly 15 feet underneath where I was now sitting. The St. Pete Times forum is a rather solid corporation that hosts over 150 events annually. The last time I had been inside this structure, it was for the 2009-2010 ACDC tour and I was back stage. It was one of the greatest moments of my life, for I had gotten to witness the production of a massive show; something I had always wondered about since the first time I had been there.

As I reflected upon those situations it helped me gain a better picture of what the tour staff must now be doing to prepare for The E.N.D. World Tour I was about to witness. Underneath all of the seats was a whole other world that the attendees were completely oblivous to. There are a series of exits all around this alternate world that serve as an entry and exit for specific things. Lined against the walls are tons of props and utilities that most wouldn't even remember to include in a show. And around all this a hundreds of people moving in chaos ready to begin. I was still remembering all this as the lights began to dim.

LMFAO was opening, which didn't seem unreasonable since the other acts in the lineup were much more experienced and well known. Out of the sides of the stage bounced these two humans with insanity written all over them. This brings me to their merchandise, which is worth mentioning not only because I found it to be extremely trendy, but also because everyone onstage was repping what must have been each type of merch and periodically throughout the set, a tiny energetic hispanic man kept changing his newly donned attire for something else more relative to the current song.

Author Johnothan Baker from Tixx.com was assigned to review the concert. In his recent article, Baker addresses the performance of the band LMFAO writing:

LMFAO took the stage first and immediately established the fact this was more of a party than a concert. “Where are all my alcoholics at?!” was met with a big cheer, despite the fact it wasn’t even 8 P.M. The lighthearted, groove-happy duo serenaded the crowd via auto-tune, subbed Atlanta into “I’m in Miami, Bitch,” and had back-up dancers that included kids bizarrely dressed up in Lego costumes. It was like if the Flaming Lips ran head first into the Beastie Boys of the future… at a party.

Baker immediately talks of how LMFAO's performance is aimed as more of a party and even makes reference to them calling to the alcoholics in the audience. Playing to the crowd, the group subbed in the name of the city they were performing in for their infamous "I'm in Miami, Bitch" like they did for my city.

Another great touch during their set was the use of their use of telemonitors. During the song "Shots" which features rapper Lil Jon, clips of Lil Jon from the song's music video were flashed during each one of his parts. Another more interesting point to bring up was the terrible job done by the bands autotune. I've never been a fan of auto tune, but I agree that it has some decent applications; this was not one of them. The band itself however was increadibly engaging with the crowd and used this for great transitions into their next songs. I was impressed by their humor on stage as well as their song performance and definitely have to say that I recomend this band live.

Ludacris came next with very vuluptous dancers in hand. He had an very impressive set, rapping atleast one verse from many of his singles. His dancers were expertly choreographed to shake their butt in sync to every beat drop, which helped him pump up the audience more than I've ever seen an opening act do. What I was most thrilled with was the fact that his voice was exactly the same as his C.D.s. His assistant rappers voice was less appealing for it was much higher and slightly off tune, but this only complimented Ludacris' voice that much more and made it prevail even over the slightly overwhelming bass.

The final act, The Black Eyed Peas, came out with an intro that reminded me of the Matrix with a Wizard of Oz twist. The show progressed with a fantastic visual production that only came with the downfall of the lighting being way too over done and truly visually blinding. What caught me off guard was that Will.I.Am was in the spotlight more than any other band member. However, after his first solo, I didn't feel that was a problem. A list of current text messages sent in by audience members started scrolling up a screen and Will.I.Am freestyled effortlessly using them as points. My opinion of him immediately improved. Vocally however I was not impressed with anyone other than Fergie. After he was presented last, had two solo's, flied, and had many other slightly more important parts in the show, I came to the conclusion that he must be coming out with a solo soon. I felt that alot of the show was spent compensating the rest of the group for the over appearance of Will.I.Am. and the crowd hardly stayed engaged. Many people were sitting down the entire duration of the show and the crowd hardly responded to the band.

Truthfully, I was less thrilled with The Black Eyed Peas' performance than I was with the performance by Ludacris. The overall production of the show was fantastic, but the crowd was left more engaged by the opening acts than they were by the headliner. The acts were alright, and well above par, but for a band with as much fame as BEP, I expected alot more.

E.N.D. Tour

Black Eyed Peas
It has been 15 years since the groups formation in 1995, and multi platinum recording artists The Black Eyed Peas have sold over 28 million albums world wide and 31 singles. They first scored major fame with the introduction of their first single "Where is the Love?" in 2003. They have 5 albums with the most well known being Elepunk, Monkey Business, and The E.N.D. Even though they've been around a decade and a half, this is the biggest year for the group.

I remember when I first saw the Black Eyed Peas many years ago when their first single Elephunk had just come out. That day is was vocalist Taboo's birthday and the band was increadibly energetic and engaged the crowd more than most opening acts would. It was right after their first single "Where is the Love?" came out so the crowd was excited for them to open. Since then I have always been a fan of BEP.
The new tour is set to accompany their new album and thus I took to listening to it. It still keeps with the same feel of the black eyed peas but adds a more futuristic feel. There is alot of complicated beats and auto-tune but the lyrics felt very simplistic. With that said, I love the lack of fear BEP has for writing their songs. In reference to the BEP new album,The L.A. Time Music Blog wrote, "Ever true to their defining characteristic, the Peas have no shame." Most of the album has a very playful feel as they still manage to work in multiple tracks about their never wavering commitment to the party life. The tracks constantly switch up and are never boring, so to those of you that haven't heard this album, I suggest you look up the songs on youtube. They're worth listening to, but I wouldn't suggest spending your money on the full C.D. until you've listened to the album first.

Ludacris
Ludacris is most known for his dirty southern hip hop raps, and his thuggish acting roles. With seven studio albums released with another on the way, its no wonder he's won the Screen Actors Guild, Critic's Choice, MTV, and Grammy Awards since the start of his career in 1998. Ludacris has been one of my favorite rappers for a long time since I heard his first single "What's your fantasy?" His unique voice and catchy, slightly audacios lyrics are what have kept his name in the headlines for so long.
Reviewing Ludacris' new album "Theater of Mind" was very difficult for me in that I'm such a big fan. There are many points throughout the album that Luda lays down some raps that would blow the mind of anyone. The production, however was unfortunately not up to par with his lyrical intelect. The beats were alright, the melody slightly catchy, but truthfully this album wasn't impressive enough to even continue talking about. Fellow blogger Byron Crawford agrees saying "Luda kicks some of the stronger raps I've heard from him. But the production is uniformly lackluster."

L.M.F.A.O.


LMFAO is a recently circulated band consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu, relatives of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. They released their first single "I'm in Miami Bitch" with great success and then dropped their "Party Rock" album shortly after. Their singles include "I'm in Miami Bitch," "La La La," and "Shots." I didn't actually need to review this album. I've followed LMFAO for a while now. Their geeky raps and dance beats have thrilled me since their first single "Yes." If you have never heard of this band then I think you are definitely mising out. They're a fun for any party at any time. The L.A. Times Music Blog said that the album has "thumping '80s-inspired beats, instantly catchy synth hooks, shouty catchphrases about how "what happens at the party stays at the party"."

The E.N.D. World Tour

Energy Never Fails. Realistic words for National hip-hop artist The Black Eyed Peas' new tour. The Black Eyed Peas', or BEP for short, has set off this tour to compliment their 5th studio album. Beginning in Japan on September 15, 2009, the band traveled through Australia, New Zealand, and on to North America this February. The group plans to extend their reach to South America and Parts of Asia during 2010. The band has been quoted saying that this is their most successful year yet, and why not add to that with their biggest tour production-wise.
The group added so top names to their line up such as LMFAO (Oceania & North America), Ludacris (All), Pitbull(Las Vegas), Ke$ha (Los Angeles), David Guetta (Europe), and Cheryl Cole (UK). For the sake of space I'm only going to focus on the artists I will be seeing in Tampa, FL. Rolling Stones says, "Overall, the vibe was, to quote their recent hit, “Boom Boom Pow,” “so 3008.""
To give us an idea of what that means, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the show, "was a celebration of energetic music, theatrical costumes, creative technology…"

This tour will be presented by AEG Live, the second biggest player in concert, special event, and tour promotion in the world; the first being Live Nation. An AEG press release said this on the concert, ""AEG Live has always been a company that likes to execute out-of-the-box ideas. Our newest clients, The Black Eyed Peas, have defined that concept like no other group in contemporary music and culture," says Randy Phillips, President & CEO of AEG Live. "We expect our first hundred shows together to be a roller coaster ride that will redefine the live entertainment experience as only the Peas can.""

Personally I am more a fan of AEG Live than Live Nation. This is based purely off the fact that my high school internship was with someone affiliated with them. However, I can tell you that the little time I spent with them left a very good impression that those higher up in the business really knew what they were doing. With a show this monumental I'm excited to see how it is organized. I think the inclusion of LMFAO and Ludacris is slightly interesting. I say this because I have always felt that BEP is definitely more towards hip-hop than rap on the spectrum of music genres, and consequently will draw a rather diverse group of fans. Ludacris being a very vocal rapper might not sit well with the families coming to the show, and the same can easily be said about LMFAO. Whatever the outcome may be I'm only made more excited by the addition of these artists and can only look forward to the show.