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DoubleView of Adelitas Way at Rocklahoma 2014

5/31/2014

1 Comment

 

DoubleView of Adelitas Way 
at Rocklahoma 2014

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Adelitas Way is the best discovery I made while researching Rocklahoma bands. With a Nickelback styled sound showcasing Golden God-worthy guitar work and powerhouse, sexy vocals, Adelitas Way surpassed all initial expectations. Listen to any song from one of their two fantastic albums (Adelitas Way and Home School Valedictorian) and you will get a delicious taste of skilled songwriting abilities and love/hate lyrics. In fact, as Robert Zakaryan (lead guitar) puts it, “There are a lot of love songs…it’s [just] a different kind of love.”    
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Adelitas Way will soon be coming out with a brand new album called Stuck, which is due to be released on July 29th of this year (2014). Both their previous albums, which were released in 2009 and 2011, were phenomenal and brought the rock ‘n’ roll world into shock. In fact, the hit single “Invincible” of Adelitas Way was featured on various TV Shows and video games; singles “Sick,” “Alive,” “Criticize,” and “The Collapse” off Home School Valedictorian all reached the top four on the U.S. Active Rock Chart.

After all this success in the past two albums, one can only wonder if Stuck will live up to the other albums, or even surpass them. “The quality of the music is different and better,” states Andrew Cushing (bass). “We came together as more of a band on this album and we just translated what we were feeling… It was just us kind of feeling like we had our own thing to say.”

To produce Stuck, Adelitas Way had the privilege of working with Grammy Award winner Nick Raskulinecz. “He was the man,” Zakaryan recollects, “He was super into the songs and he wanted what we wanted out of the songs…We wanted to keep it true, keep it not too overdone, stick with more of the main instruments that we play.” “[It] was more of a raw vibe,” adds Cushing.

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They definitely achieved the raw vibe they had been aiming for. The new single “Dog On A Leash” was released in early April of this year and brought a new sound that Adelitas Way hadn’t yet experimented with. The guitar throughout the song (but especially at the beginning) is tinged with a much more bluesy, Southern sound, and DeJesus’ vocals are brought to a whole new level.

It turns out that Stuck will be reflecting this new sound. “I love the blues,” Cushing explains. “That’s what it is. It’s cool that it feels like that; it’s different.” “Different and better,” Zakaryan finishes.

As listed on the oh-so-informative Wikipedia, one of Adelitas Way’s biggest influences is Guns N Roses; it is also stated that they had the privilege of touring with this big-deal idol. “It was a really cool opportunity,” Zakaryan remembers. “Incredible players; just a super cool experience.”

At Rocklahoma, Adelitas Way shared the stage with big name bands like Kid Rock and Five Finger Death Punch. “We love being part of the main tier bands,” says Zakaryan. Cushing adds with, “The crowds are always awesome. We like to pump them up for the bigger guys behind us.”
However, how exactly are they supposed to pump up a crowd of 50,000 drunken people? Turns out they have a plan. “We’re gonna give them refreshments,” declares Zakaryan, “some non-alcoholic refreshments.”

Cushing corrects him, saying, “We’re gonna f**king wake them up with our guitar amps. That’s what we’re gonna do.” “Clean guitars, heavy, mushy bass,” Zakaryan adds. 

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Life on tour is crazy for Adelitas Way. According to Cushing, crazy things don’t happen, “it’s just one big crazy. “It’s not crazy like, ‘Oh, god, I’m crazy!’ like The Hangover crazy. It’s like real deal, we’re traveling across the country and sh*t’s just going nuts all over  the place. It’s dangerous. Actually, that’s the craziest part… It’s dangerous as f**k.”

Dangerous? Well, how dangerous can it get? “On the way in here,” Zakaryan begins, “as we pulled into this place, our tire to our trailer just rolled of.” “Part of the axel broke and rolled off into the side of the creek,” adds Cushing. Zakaryan mournfully continues, “This is like our fifth tire, so that’s a little crazy.”

Zakaryan seems to think it’s all about dying, though. “Technically we’re just asking to die. That’s what’s crazy. It’s not about the tattoos and the girls and the little bracelets and the little necklaces and all their little everything. It’s about not trying to die out there.” Of course, I’m thinking, Are you sure it’s not about the music? “Well, that’s a big part of it, that’s the main thing,” says Zakaryan. “We’re not trying to die for the music.”

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On stage, the music comes to life. The energy put forth by each and every band member equates that of a room full of hyper toddlers. Zakaryan describes what he feels on stage: “I feel like it’s just a channel…you’re just channeling—,” “You’re in the moment,” interrupts Cushing. Zakaryan ignores Cushing and continues: “You’re just channeling some energy and it’s the best feeling.” “It’s better than any alcohol or drugs,” Cushing finishes.    
I loved watching Adelitas Way live. Their stage presence was a mix of two parts confidence and one part contentment. They weren’t some main stage band that made it big and then grew a large ego; they are in it because they love it and no amount of fame will change that. Cushing’s hardcore bass and Stafford’s driving drums lay the groundwork for DeJesus’ unmatchable vocal talent and Zakaryan’s expert guitar skills. AW had a six-song set time and did not waste a single second of it.

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Zoe Adler is a music journalist from Long Beach, California. Besides her website, which is her pride and joy, she works with the GRAMMY Foundation and the Long Beach Independent. Additionally, Ms. Adler is a musician, spending half of her time playing the flute, piccolo, trombone, and marching baritone. She has been with TeenView Music since the very start and hopes to make something of it in the future.
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DoubleView of Framing the Red at Rocklahoma 2014

5/30/2014

3 Comments

 

DoubleView of Framing the Red
at Rocklahoma 2014

First off, what is a DoubleView? It's an Interview and a Concert Review mashed into one. 
InterVIEW + Concert ReVIEW = DoubleView
Framing the Red is a Southern Rock band hailing from Mississippi and Louisiana playing music simply because they love it. However, the love of music does not cure everything, especially tour disasters.

On tour once, guitarist Jamie Welch broke his leg. On stage. While performing. There really should be an award for that.

“While driving,” Jordan Newman (vocalist) begins, “our bus went off a mountain and into a tree.” Making excuses, Mike Schexnayder defends himself, saying, “I had to choose between rocks and a tree, and I chose the tree.” “We were hanging off the edge, and I was just like, ‘Mike, take the foot off the gas,’” Newman recollects. “We were hanging off the edge like in a movie. We had to get a new bus.” Thankfully, none of the equipment was destroyed.

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Broussard, Schexnayder, Welch, and Newman outside the Axis Stage at Rocklahoma
Eventually, Welch and I came to talking about California gigs, which are known for paying little to nothing and bringing a bored and unenthusiastic crowd…not the ideal show. Last year, FTR did a short tour in California, stopping in Los Angeles, Anaheim, Bakersfield, and a few other cities up north.

As Welch put it, “They didn’t wanna pay us any money ‘cause they don’t know who we were...We’re [just] a bunch of red necks from Mississippi. They paid us with beer and pizza, that’s about it.” I figured that was better than nothing, but Welch disagreed. “It’s not good when you have kids at home.”

In fact, all of the band members have a root back home that they can’t stand leaving. “I have two kids, our sound guy has a kid, Jordan has a dog, Mike has his mama,” Welch explained. Leaving them, according to Welch, “is the hardest part. Turning to walk away and get[ting] on that bus is the hardest moment of the entire tour.”

I didn’t know this, but Welch says that, “the tour sucks; the tour life sucks. You wanna break down. Leaving is the hardest part.”

FTR seems to have a fairly poor way of dealing with problems on tour that arise from missing their roots. “We fight and we argue all the time,” Welch describes, “…and we play music and drink a lot of beer.” Schexnayder adds that, “you really gotta love this business to be in it. You have to love what you do, and we do. All of us…we live for this.” “We wouldn’t have it no way else,” finishes Welch.    
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Renada Broussard in action at Rocklahoma.
Renada Broussard, Jordan Newman, Jamie Welch, and Mike Schexnayder of Framing the Red are dedicated musicians. Their music is infused with emotion and true rock sound; live, they channel all of their sorrow and angst to perform the most enthusiastic and entertaining concert ever. Framing the Red welcomes you to the show.

Framing the Red’s debut album Welcome to the Show features a fantastic title track that outdoes anything FTR has ever written before: Southern rock infused with a funk beat. Danceable riffs accompanied by gruff vocals and skilled drumming brought down the house at Rocklahoma. The hardcore FTR fans knew every line to every song and treated the band like a teenage girl would treat Nial Horan (I think that’s a member of One Direction).

Framing the Red owned the stage; not a single inch of the large platform was left unused. Their sound filled the Axis Stage grounds and pulsed in everyone’s hearts as they lost all their worries in the music. 


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Zoe Adler is a music journalist from Long Beach, California. Besides her website, which is her pride and joy, she works with the GRAMMY Foundation and the Long Beach Independent. Additionally, Ms. Adler is a musician, spending half of her time playing the flute, piccolo, trombone, and marching baritone. She has been with TeenView Music since the very start and hopes to make something of it in the future.
3 Comments

DoubleView of Scattered Hamlet at Rocklahoma 2014

5/29/2014

2 Comments

 

DoubleView of Scattered Hamlet
at Rocklahoma 2014

For those who don’t know, Scattered Hamlet boasts a Southern rock sound featuring gruff vocals and classic Southern guitar riffs. Their music can be compared to that of the infamous Texas Hippie Coalition (to all thee who are immature, get your laughs out now and get over the initials).

 All the band members of Scattered Hamlet—Adam Joad, Redd, Jake Delling La Bas, Adam Newell, and Rich Erwin—sport strange nicknames: the Old Kentucky Bastard, the Appalachian Apostle, Missouri Madman, the Chicago Bootlegger, Irish Thunder, and Bean Dip.

This crazy quintet is one part rock band and one part traveling frat party. In fact, as I was excitedly informed, the band had managed to consume two hundred and seventy-two beers, a bottle of whiskey, and some Moonshine in less than twenty-four hours.

“We are doing excellent…we are pretty tipsy but it’s good,” stated Missouri Madman in slurred speech. “Well, it’s like this,” began the Old Kentucky Bastard, “You can’t hang with us.”

At this juncture—only about 1 minute into the interview—I began to question whether these men were even functional. The Appalachian Apostle explained to me that they “probably aren’t going to live very long and might just burn out real fast,” which did nothing to reassure me that they were able to perform the rudimentary functions required to live. “We’re gonna do it as long as we can,” Bean Dip added. “At this rate, we’ll make it another thirty years,” the Missouri Madman declares proudly. The Chicago Bootlegger retorts, “You ain’t got another thirty years!” “SHUT UP!” is Missouri Madman’s only response.

Their party lifestyle is mirrored on stage. In fact, the Appalachian Apostle told an entertaining story:    

“So last night we got off the stage and the sound guy comes over and he goes, ‘that’s an interesting like shtick that you guys have.’ And I was just like, ‘What you talkin’ about?’ He was like, ‘You know, the gimmick that you guys have out there.’ [I was] like, ‘buddy it’s been eight hours [of partying], we just get forty minutes on stage and play instruments.’”    
As soon as the Apostle had finished the story, a VERY inappropriate statement was yelled and I will, for the sake of everyone, leave it out. 

Immediately after, the Missouri Madman began shouting at Texas Hippie Coalition who was in the middle of an interview across the media tent: “Wooo! Big Daddy!”

Kindly, the Appalachian Apostle intervened: “Our friend here has more questions, SHUT UP!”

However, the interference did absolutely nothing to end the intense ADD Missouri Madman and Bean Dip had acquired as a consequence of consuming unhealthily large quantities of liquor. In fact, the Old Kentucky Bastard reckoned that their blood alcohol level was at, “a one point oh. One hundred percent. There is no blood. There is only alcohol.” Bean Dip added (or attempted to add) with, “there is only the amount of blood that makes me function; other than that I don’t have any blood. It’s only alcohol."

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After all of this completely not-serious discourse, I brought up conflicts on the road. However, the Appalachian Apostle has a system to dealing with said problems: “If you’re a conflict we just leave you on the side of the road and replace you with more people.” It seems like a relatively quick and easy way to solve problems, right?

The Appalachian Apostle then mentioned that there were eight of them on stage, which was a very vexing statement to me seeing as how there were only five members of the band. So, I asked, “Why do you have eight people on stage?” Of course, his response was, “Why don’t you have eight people on stage?” Oh so helpful.

Thankfully, he elaborated, although it was still a bit confusing. “Five is the minimum. Six is where we try and go. After that, seven, eight, nine, ten.” The Old Kentucky Bastard added, “Eleven, twelve, thirteen, make it a baker’s dozen.”

I’m sure you all are wondering exactly what I was: What do all these people do on the stage? “Well, we give ‘em different jobs,” the Appalachian Apostle begins. “Sometimes their job is just to drink whiskey. Crash has an important job: our six-man. His job is to sing back-up vocals, drink whiskey, and carry a tire around. He’s passed out, he’s not here, so we’re riding his motorcycle.”

You may think, they actually have someone on stage carrying a tire? Well, after having watched two Scattered Hamlet shows, I can verify that Crash—while wandering the stage with his microphone—has the ability to carry a tire like no one else. In fact, not only does he carry the tire, he has everyone in the audience bring him every flavor of alcohol: Moonshine, beer, whiskey, vodka, wine, and whatever else people could find, and he drinks it. All of it. That definitely explains why he was passed out. I did learn that Crash has quite some practice because when he is not “performing” with Scattered Hamlet, he is running a bar back at home. 

Back to the interview…after I heard that Scattered Hamlet was riding Crash’s infamous General Lee motorcycle, I again became concerned for their safety. Appalachian Apostle reassured me somewhat, saying, “We are the only ones riding the motorcycle so we aren’t hurting anyone but ourselves.” His logic was more than somewhat flawed, but I just rolled with it (pun intended). 

Apparently, earlier in the day Bean Dip was trying to ride General Lee but after falling off twice in the process of trying to mount the vehicle, was persuaded to give up for his own personal safety’s sake (which surprised me because until that point I generally assumed that they didn’t care at all about their health).    

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Life on tour with Scattered Hamlet is an exciting experience. “It’s basically five guys in Vandemonium—that’s the diesel that we ride—[and] Crash rides in front like The Bandit [from Smoky the Bandit],” describes the Appalachian Apostle. “He [Crash] rides interference for us on the General Lee and we follow behind.”

“These boys in Texas Hippie Coalition,” the Appalachian Apostle begins, clearly deciding to tell another story, “we’ve been on tour with them before this and we couldn’t eat or anything and they always opened up, they feed us, they take really good care of us. So, that’s why you hear us yellin’ to ‘em and stuff. We got much respect…they helped us out.”

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Good news also came from Scattered Hamlet: they are planning on releasing a new album soon! “We’re about six songs in,” says the Appalachian Apostle, “and I got some ideas in my head for what it might be called. We’re playing about three of the new songs at this festival…but we have six of seven good songs. The new album will probably be out not this year but next year.” In fact, they “almost paid off the original debt from Skeleton Dixie [their first album].”

It took Scattered Hamlet a very long time to pay off the debt because they have a philosophy as to how they will acquire money. “We pay our own way,” says the Appalachian Apostle. “We don’t ask anyone for help…no kick starter campaigns, no indie-gogos, none of that bulls**t. We make the money ourselves…That’s okay if someone else wants to do that, but that’s not how we roll.” 

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The concert put on by Scattered Hamlet reflects the fun they have living this lifestyle. When a band enjoys and loves what they do, their music shows it, and listening to Scattered Hamlet’s epic album Skeleton Dixie, you can feel that it’s just a soundtrack to their life.

On stage, they party, they drink, and they have a great time. The audience cannot help but fall in love with the band’s infectious stage presence and good humor. Scattered Hamlet is fun through and through.    


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Zoe Adler is a music journalist from Long Beach, California. Besides her website, which is her pride and joy, she works with the GRAMMY Foundation and the Long Beach Independent. Additionally, Ms. Adler is a musician, spending half of her time playing the flute, piccolo, trombone, and marching baritone. She has been with TeenView Music since the very start and hopes to make something of it in the future.
2 Comments

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