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DoubleView of Kyng at ROK14

6/23/2014

DoubleView of Kyng
at Rocklahoma 2014

Tony Castaneda

Rocklahoma's Hard Rock Stage welcomed the Los Angeles based Kyng to the stage to re-boost the energy after a solid six hours of music. The throwback-to-Sabbath-days trio brings memories of true metal while still being original in their sound. Guitarist Eddie Veliz and bassist Tony Castaneda sing vocals, and reach for their inner Ozzy; Pepe Clarke, a true metal drummer, adds the finishing touch to the perfectly matched group.
When I listen to Kyng, one of the first things I think is, There are only three people in this band? Their sound is so full that it is practically impossible to tell. Also, when performing, they own the stage so it doesn’t feel empty with only three people.

“When we first started, I thought, ‘Woah, this is gonna be so awkward,’ cause the stage was so big,” comments Castaneda. “But then I started owning it and stomping around.”

Eddie Veliz

On April 15th of this year, Kyng released their second album Burn the Serum. The title track, along with “Electric Halo” and “In the Land of Pigs” are excellent jams featuring classic, undoubtedly-stuck-in-your-head guitar riffs. Although I only named three songs, every song is epic and worth listening to.

The cover of the album is extremely cool and artistic. “It’s actually a sixteen by sixteen painting condensed down into the cover,” says Castaneda.

Kyng tends to cover “Hot For Teacher” by Van Halen during their sets, and has actually performed the song with Jesse Hasek of 10 Years and Rex Brown of Pantera. “It’s awesome,” Castaneda says. “You build this camaraderie…Most bands are just friends off of the stage, but we like to bring our friends onto the stage with us.
“Rex and I are friends now. He’s a huge fan of our band, he tells everyone about us. He holds the flag high,” says Castaneda proudly. “The day before the show he sends me a text. He says, ‘P.S. I know ‘Hot For Teacher.’ Hint hint,’ cause he knows we play it. I ask, ‘Do you wanna come play it with us?’ and he says, ‘yes.’ And what’s funny is that the day before [the show]…was April Fools. It was confirmed, but when I told the guys, they thought I was joking. They just said, ‘Yeah, yeah, cool, Rex Brown is gonna play ‘Hot For Teacher’ with us. Whatever.’ So the day of, for some reason or another, the guys never went up to the dressing room…Well, upstairs in the dressing room was Rex and I going over ‘Hot For Teacher’ on my bass acoustic. So when it’s time to go on stage, my drummer is on his drum riser and he asks, ‘Is Rex gonna play ‘Hot For Teacher’ with us?’ I reply, ‘Yeah, he is.’ And he says, ‘No, really.” And I say, “Yeah, he is. I was just upstairs going over it.’ He questions, ‘Are you serious?’ I answer, ‘Yes, I’m serious, dude.’ And he tells my guitar player and he asks, ‘What? Really?’ When we start playing they still aren’t sure but…Rex comes over and has his knee leaning against the stage and he’s just watching us and they’re like, ‘HOLY CRAP.’”

Kyng performing "Hot For Teacher" with Pantera's Rex Brown

Castaneda talked about how Kyng formed, from start to finish: “My father, he loved to sing. He sang at home, he had a great voice, but he never pursued it. My brother is actually in the radio industry…He sings very well, but he decided it was too hard to get to that [level], so he just went with the radio thing…I think it’s always been in the genes, but I’m the first one who’s ever pursued it.
“I didn’t pick up the bass guitar until I was twenty-one,” Castaneda continues, “Black Sabbath was a huge influence. Geezer Butler is my favourite; listening to him when I was a kid in high school, I wanted to play music but I never got into it. I picked up the bass one day and I started learning how to play all by ear, I don’t know how to read music. People started telling me, ‘Dude, how’d you learn so easily?’ And I would say, ‘I don’t know, doesn’t everyone do it like this?’ They replied, ‘No man, you got something.’ So I started playing more and more and more and I got together with Eddie…and we formed a band. Later I went on tour with my first touring band with my drummer. I got the two together and we formed Kyng. Eddie and I have a very classic rock influence…and our drummer is a very metal influenced drummer.”

Castaneda spoke a lot about his love of Sabbath and laughingly said, “There’s so many riffs that you accidently make and you’re like, ‘That’s so cool!’ and then you realize Sabbath already did that.”

It definitely stands out that Castaneda was able to pick up the guitar at twenty-one like it was nothing. “My sister actually dragged me off the couch one day,” he says about how he started. “Her friend was selling two bass guitars. She said, ‘Come on! You know you wanna play, just get up,’ and she dragged me off the couch to her friends house and she sold me the guitar for like 175 bucks. [The friend] said, ‘Take it, you can pay me in payments.’ Since that day, I literally locked myself up in my room and played every single day. I’d go to work with bags under my eyes ‘cause I’d played all night and I couldn’t wait to go home so I could plug in and play again. My parents, I remember them telling me at the time, ‘What are you doing? That’s all you do.’ I just replied, ‘You want me to be out there selling drugs or something?’” His parents decided that since he was working, it would be alright if he spent every free moment playing the bass.

"Electric Halo" the first single released from Burn the Serum

Kyng is becoming the king of new-old music. On the Hard Rock Stage, Kyng performed in front of a massive audience. Their music made the old guys missing the old days happy, and made the youngsters head bang, too. Forget electronic music, Kyng brings it with just three instruments and the power of their voices. Raw sound and pure love of music and performing impressed everyone.

Kyng will rock your mind.

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 Heaven's Basement at ROK14

6/21/2014

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DoubleView of Heaven's Basement
at Rocklahoma 2014

Aaron Buchanan

The pop punk/British punk extraordinaire, Heaven’s Basement, rocked Rocklahoma like nobody’s business. HB features Aaron Buchanan’s heart-warming and killer voice, Chris River’s phenomenal drumming, Rob “Bones” Ellershaw’s booming bass, and Sid Glover’s Golden God Nominee guitar playing. When combined into one unit, this quartet becomes something greater than just people with instruments playing good music. They become an ethereal being, like a punk god.

Punk pop has become “the next big thing” and that always comes with negative connotations. I want you all to place your prejudgments aside and take a listen; punk-style drumming and Southern-tinged guitar leads its way into catchy, pop choruses.

Heaven’s Basement does not let the confines of a certain genre define them; they defy any one classification, as they are their own entity of pure awesomeness.

Sid Glover

The members of Heaven’s Basement are seriously funny guys, and nothing extremely serious came out of this interview, but I’d read this anyways. They are hilarious.

So, I ask, How are you guys today? “Very good, thank you,” says Glover.
Ellershaw adds in, “Yeah, really good. We’re good, we’re good, we’re good. We’re a bit delirious, I think. We woke up after a heavy night and we’re in the middle of a field in Oklahoma. We’ve been doing press for a few hours, I think we’ve lost our minds.”

Aaron Buchanan

After the pleasantries, I just dove right into the real questions. Some background, first: Word has it on Wikipedia and various other sites that Ellershaw, Glover, and Rivers all hazed Buchanan when he joined the band in 2011 as a way of proving that he could handle being in the band.

Of course, I had to ask if Buchanan knew what he was getting into. “Absolutely not,” laughs Ellershaw.

Glover elaborates, saying, “He says that we hazed him hard, but we didn’t. We could have gone way harder…but there was a good amount of hazing. But we do that to everyone, including crew. Everyone. It keeps you sane.”

“Actually, it’s just fun.”

“Yeah, okay it doesn’t keep you sane. We went too hard, he went a little bit weird.”

So, you basically just made him drink a lot of alcohol and made him stay up late? I asked.

“That’s not hazing!” exclaims Glover. “That’s what we do every day. That wasn’t the hazing. He thought that was the hazing. That was just us hanging out after the hazing.”

Then what was the hazing part?

“Eh, we just made him do stupid stuff…I remember there was a night when we made him break into some fairground,” answers Glover.

“Yeah! Yeah, it was near Christmas and had a Christmasy market thing out so we made him jump the fence and run in,” recollects Ellershaw.

“It’s more about what comes to mind at the time that we make him do,” Glover admits. “But it’s not hazing, it’s just hanging out. The psychological torture was the hazing.”

Rob "Bones" Ellershaw

A while ago, right before a European headline tour, Buchanan was put on mandatory vocal rest. The tour had to be cancelled. He’s all better now, but I wondered how the band dealt with the cancelations and the disappointments.

“We knew it had to be done,” says Ellershaw. “Nobody was like, ‘Ah, sweet!’ but it was really annoying because we were in a good flow and…doing a big headline tour. We were well excited, but we were on the stage every night and we could hear how he was kind of struggling and throughout the day, as much as it killed us to cancel shows ‘cause we really didn’t want to, it was something that had to be done for the greater good.”

Glover adds, “Like, if I could have chopped my foot off and replaced it in his voice and that worked magically, I would have done it.”

“That’s science,” remarks Ellershaw.

“Well, I can’t cut my hand off ‘cause I’m a guitarist,” Glover ‘retorts.’

At this point in the interview, I get a phone call from Heaven’s Basement’s tour manager, so Glover grabs the phone and answers it. “Dude! We’re doing the interview right now!”

Ellershaw adds, “Come on, get it together, man!”

FANS!!!

Last year at Rocklahoma, Heaven’s Basement made even the drunkest of the drunk get off their feet and groove to the beat (that rhymed, thank you very much). They seemed excited to do the same this time around.

“Since we’ve been here last, we’ve played about one hundred and fifty shows…We’re playing a little bit later on tonight, we’ve got all our gear and stuff with us now, a few more people might know the songs and stuff, and we’re excited,” says Glover.

Heaven’s Basement has an intensive tour schedule; they basically tour non-stop. I’d estimate that in their six years of existence, a lot has managed to go wrong on stage.

“I’ve had shows where everything breaks,” says Glover. “It’s not really stressful, it’s more fun. It’s stressful if you’re the kind of person who will get stressed. I’m not really the kind of person who would get stressed. You gotta just roll with the punches and have fun.”

“On the other hand, I get stressed,” says Ellershaw. “So, we did a festival in France ages ago [*immediate laughter from Glover*]. It was outside…I had a massive friction burn on my wrist, I had my haired slicked up, so I had loads of hairspray in it. It dripped down into my eyes so I couldn’t see. It was really sunny on stage so I couldn’t see my tuner. So, I played out of tune for like half of the set. It was pretty horrendous. I went back into catering and they gave me a whole bottle of wine, so I cracked it open and buried my sorrows.”

“They filmed the show, so I’ve got the DVD,” Glover says deviously. “I’m keeping that safe. That was hilarious. Rob went through a phase where every outdoor gig we played, something would go horrifically wrong for him.”
“It was a curse,” Ellershaw laughs.

“That’s the thing, I find that so funny to me that nothing can stress me out ‘cause I’m just watching him have a nightmare. And, it makes me happy. It makes me feel good about myself.”
“A lot of love in this band, a lot of love….I’ve got past that now. I’m a better man.”
“He has gone past that, to some extent But we don’t know, because this is one of the first outdoor gigs we’ve done in a while.

Sid Glover

At the end of interviews, I love to ask this one question: If there is one thing you wish I’d asked, what would it be? And then, obviously, I ask it.

Glover responds, “If I prefer ranch dressing or bleu cheese with my wild wings.”

So, of course, I ask which he prefers.

“Bleu cheese,” says Glover.

“Ranch, mine’s ranch,” Ellershaw decides. “What’s yours?”

This is when the horrible truth came out…I’ve never actually had buffalo wings before.

Stunned, Ellershaw just says, “Seriously? You’re an American and you haven’t had buffalo wings.”

May I point out this is a British person telling me that I’m not American. A British person.

“I am shocked,” Ellershaw continues. “You should try them though…I’m going to go to catering and see if there are any and bring some back for you.”

And thus, the interview ended. Glover and Ellershaw came back later claiming that the buffalo wings in catering weren’t good enough quality. So, when I came home, I went out for buffalo wings with my family and my verdict is: Wow. These are disgusting. Why do people like these?

Aaron Buchanan

Heaven’s Basement’s performance at Rocklahoma was absolutely amazing. Nothing went terribly wrong for Ellershaw and the music sounded fanastic. Buchanan contributed boundless energy and magical vocals to the amazing instrumentals. The audience was hooked from the beginning.

If you ever have the chance to see these dudes live, take it. I promise you won’t regret it.

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DoubleView of Nothing More at ROK14

6/20/2014

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DoubleView ofNothing More
at Rocklahoma 2014

Lead singer Johnny Hawkins standing on the "eccentric duo of drums"

Nothing More is a progressive/alternative rock band hailing from San Antonio, Texas. They display an explosive sound that ranges from quiet and industrial prologues to catchy choruses to drum-driven bridges that soar through controversial lyrics and combine into an organized chaos that we like to call Nothing More.

NM is different from your average rock band; they experiment in electronic enhancers while still sticking to their hardcore roots. Their musicianship is evident from the first note you hear and it is clear that the committed quartet values true musicality over simple, headbanging noise that some bands play.

When I talk about NM’s musicality, I am thinking of layers. Layers upon layers of sounds. Different rhythms and chords all interwoven. Sure there is the classic bass line with drums to complement it, lead guitar, and vocals. But there is always something else underneath: an electronic beat or an underlying accent on certain beats. Really, what I am saying is that Nothing More’s music is interesting.

Paul O'Brien

Nothing More is about to release their self-titled full length and the excitement is brewing. Lead singer Johnny Hawkins says, “I think [in] this genre of rock and metal and…heavier music there are a lot of progressive bands out there like Tool and Meshuggah and stuff like that who have a lot of layers and depth to what they do. But, I think that for the most part, most of the genre is consumed and filled by things that don’t have a lot of thought…[or] an intelligent side, something you can dig and find Easter eggs in.

“So, when we constructed this record, we really built it in layers. It’s a record that, if you’re…someone who just likes the melody and you just like the chorus of the song, you can listen to this record just like that and be perfectly happy. But, if you’re someone who likes to dig a little bit deeper and find the meaning behind the lyrics and double meanings and words that pivot off each other and form different interpretations, then this record is for you. It’s got that element, too. We try to make it fulfill both qualities.

“[But], we don’t have a goal—and I think I can speak for all of us when I say this—we don’t want them to think any one thing. We just want them to think. Think and feel. We want them to leave changed, whatever that means.”

Bassist Daniel Oliver

And that is exactly what is beautiful about NM; whether or not you pay attention to the complexities and depth, it is enjoyable.

Bassist Daniel Oliver adds in with his own view on the album, “I think another really neat thing about this record is that all four of us in the band are writers, and this records is about…very real things that happened to us over the period we wrote it. It was a very difficult couple of years for the band and for all of us as individuals…It’s cool writing because we all connect with each others’ experiences and in some way can relate; to be able to pull all that together to create this unified story is a cool experience and it’ll be a cool album at the end of the day.”

It sounds like Nothing More by Nothing More is going to be a huge hit in many different ways. However, hearing Oliver mention that all four members are writers definitely shot up a red flag in my head because even in a group of professionals, teamwork is extremely difficult.

“We have this cool dynamic…when we’re writing,” says Oliver. “It’s like no one person ever just writes a song completely. Like, it’s extremely rare that that happens.

“Someone comes up with an idea and someone else…adds to it and it’s like a perpetual motion machine where you say something…and it suddenly sparks this idea [so] we chase all these trails and refine and refine and refine till all four of us are happy with the message and with the music and with the melody.”

Hawkins adds in, “I think the biggest learning experience we’ve had through it all is that the best songs that we’ve written have usually come out of the times when we…put our egos down and we really were kind of more pure at heart in a sense that we didn’t mind if our idea got shot down because it wasn’t about our idea, it was about this thing that we were all creating together. It’s in that moment where I think everybody kind of aligns and the creative flow just starts happening faster and faster and it gets more powerful. It really is a game of trying to lay down your ego and just be open-minded.”

What shocks me now, even three weeks or so after the interview, is that NM works so well together. They are a compatible, musical enigma. A group of musicians who can actually function as a team is unusual to find, and I was curious as to how NM found each other. “It’s a long, winding road,” says Hawkins. “I met Daniel and Mark, the guitar player and the bass player, when I was in seventh grade…In high school, at some point, Daniel and Mark and I decided to join together in[to] one thing: Nothing More. I was the drummer for years and we had different singers and it wasn’t until a few years even after that, when I got out of high school and we started touring for a few years, that I started singing and we were on the hunt for a drummer. And it wasn’t even until three or four years ago that we got Paul, who is from New Orleans, and he just fit. He was kind of like the final piece to the puzzle, and once that happened, it was really clear that we found what we’d been searching for all these years.

“I hope this is encouraging to anyone out there who is listening to this who may be looking for band members for their own thing or looking for Mrs. Right or Mr. Right just in relational sense…I think all the winding roads we went down before we found the final four of us, they shaped us in these ways that prepared us and created who we are…We wouldn’t have been that without going down those roads and going through those experiences. Of course we all wish we could have found each other, found that perfect lineup much earlier, but I’m glad that we didn’t because we wouldn’t be who we are today, which we are very happy with.”

Nothing comes easily, and Nothing More sure as heck didn’t come easily. “I was the last to join the band before the drummer and this band has just been so hardcore that people will come in and adopt it, but they would fall away,” comments Oliver. “It’s been a cool ride. Like [Hawkins] said, it’s been hard and f**king amazing and it’s shaped us all…It’s an experience you can’t buy.”

I have been waiting and containing my excitement for now because I am about to talk about their live show. I already knew before Rocklahoma that Nothing More is a group of musicians; however, I did not know it is a group of entertainers and performers.

Hawkins throws his whole body and mind into the show. He sweats intensely and stamps around the stage. As he moves, you can see every muscle in his body tense up with energy and love of music. He performs barefoot, and stands and stamps on the eccentric duo of drums at the front of the stage, using it as a platform while temporarily joining the rhythm section.

At one point during their set, Oliver, Hawkins, and Vollelunga dropped their instruments/microphone and picked up drumsticks. Each departed to a separate part of the stage where a drum was set up and booming began to echo across the massive field. Energy buzzed in and whizzed through the air like electricity and shivers crawled down everyone’s spines.

Earlier in the show, a protruding platform of sorts was set up next to the microphone stand and Mark Vollelunga’s guitar was attached to it. The entire contraption including the guitar was pushed so it began to spin in circles; somehow Vollelunga continued to play the guitar despite the motion.

Charismatic and extremely fun, the crowd (and I) had a blast during NM’s set and I was sad to see them walk off the stage.

Nothing More is an AMAZING band. Be sure to buy their album as soon as it comes out!

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DoubleView of Jet West at Rocklahoma 2014

6/11/2014

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DoubleView of Jet West
at Rocklahoma 2014

Jet West…Where to even start? Reggae rock, maybe? Well, regardless of what genre they classify as, the music is unique and catchy. With roots in bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sublime, Jet West branches off into a beachy and relaxed sound that nobody can resist dancing to.

The only important thing we talked about during this interview was that Chris Warner’s (lead guitar & vocals) favourite ice cream is rocky road. Just kidding!

At Jet Wests’ concert at Rocklahoma, they were missing Jack Taylor, their trumpeter and percussionist. Although it did take away some of the reggae element, Jet West said that they were able to learn a lot from the experience. “We didn’t even play a lot of the songs he’s in,” says Deren Schneider (bass & vocals). Scott Floquet (lead vocals & guitar) adds in with, “Yeah, we busted out some stuff from the vault.” “He’s a big, integral part of our sound and if he’s hearing his…WE LOVE YOU JACK!” Derek Potter (drums) exclaims. And then, almost as if rehearsed, Schneider, Warner, Floquet, Potter, and Warner all yell in unison, “WE LOVE YOU JACK!” Sobering up the conversation (if only slightly), Floquet explains while laughing, “If anything, this inspired us to practice without him and really pull our rock vibe.” “No brass really allowed us to push the envelope on our rock side and kind of just bring it,” Warner adds. With incredible wit, Schneider remarks, “We had no brass but we still brought the class.”

After this incredibly thoughtful conversation, my brain decided to completely fail me and my exhaustion kicked in (in my defense, it was two in the morning). Coming to the rescue, Warner says, “How about that question you just asked about how we formed?” I decide to go along with the idea, and jokingly answer, “Oh, yeah, that one! How did you guys form?” Clearly thinking he was a genius, Warner responds: “A couple of us were working together and we started jamming out and one of…Scott’s friends [joined] and it kind of just formed like that… We had a party together and we just started playing music.” Potter adds in with, “We were a garage band and we played just for our own amusement, not for others.” Eventually, that must have changed because here they were.

I hope that some of you have listened to Jet West before. If you have you understand that there really is nothing quite like it. How exactly did they come up with a sound like that? Warner explains, and honestly, it only makes everything sound stranger: “So, our lead singer Scott was playing in a psychedelic, reggae-rock band…when I first met him and I was stoked on it. So he’s got this indie rock, pop, alternative background. Our bass player came from a punk background and he was in a band before called the Tiger Sharks. Combining those two alone really fuses two completely different genres. I came from a reggae, jazz kind of vibe, and the drummer just likes everything.” Once Warner finishes, Potter elaborates on his drum background, “I have a more hardcore background. I’m from Jersey and in Jersey, there’s a huge hardcore music scene.”

“Okay, it came about like this,” Schneider begins, “ We love to surf. We love to relax. I love adrenaline and I love racing dirt bikes, jet skiing. So we all like adrenaline side and we all have a sit-on-the-beach side.” Floquet augments with, “We jet ski, rock climb, free dive.” “And we attempt to be our own sound,” Potter announces. “We don’t wanna emulate anyone else. We wanna be unique.”

Warner decided that enough was said on that topic and says, “Oh, that question you asked about how we started.” Schneider seemed fine with his band mate interviewing him, and answers. “We started off not really knowing which direction we wanted to go in and I think we all agreed on slight reggae just because it got people dancing.”

“So that question you just asked us,” Warner begins. Again. “about what we classify our genre of sound. It’s a great question. So, we say that we’re rock, heavy reggae rock, and that we like to step outside of the norm for the regular beach-rock, reggae scene and try to emulate rock beats with reggae but with a little bit more energy. Maybe a little Chevelle of Deftones.” “We have influences from all over the place,” adds Floquet. “We have a lot of influence from hard rock.”

“Oh so that’s a great question to our drummer, he’s gonna answer this one,” says Warner. (Can he just let me do the interview? Apparently not.) “What is the favourite show you’ve ever played?” Potter happily answers, “my favourite show ever was the Seattle Hem Fest, that was my favourite show.” “Really?” Floquet questions. “They were all zombies out there ‘cause they were high!” “That’s a funny answer, Scott,” says Warner, angrily, “I thought this question was for Derek.” “One of our most recent shows, we played at the House of Blues in San Diego…and I think it’s one of the better House of Blues’ of the ones in the country. [There was a] huge crowd, one of the best nights of our lives as a band. I mean…it was epic.”

Warner continues interviewing, saying, “Here’s another great question. FOR DEREN. Deren, if you could open for any band next year, what band would you want to go on tour with?” “Wow. That is deep,” remarks Schneider. “I’m gonna go with Jimmy Buffet.”

Jet West rocks out in a groovy and “chillaxed” way, and is totally worth checking out. Their performance at Rocklahoma managed to get all the intoxicated, middle-aged men dancing. They played crowd-pleasers like “T.D.s” and “Mexico” while also showing off their musicianship and unique sound. Jet West rocked and reggaed Rocklahoma through the night.

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DoubleView of Siren at Rocklahoma 2014

6/3/2014

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DoubleView of Siren
at Rocklahoma 2014

**This band has now changed their name to Mycah**

Devon Mycah giving the "Evil Eye"

Siren, a small band from Santa Clarita and Huntington Beach, is comprised of seventeen year olds still completing high school. Devon Mycah (lead vocals) was energetic on stage; her intense charisma compensated--but didn't hide--her nervousness. However, she performed like she was born with a microphone in hand. Clear and upper-ranged, her voice soared over the Retrospect Stage and touched the hearts of even the drunkest audience members.

Siren performed at about one thirty in the morning and somehow still managed to wake up the crowd with their hardcore rock and incredible stage presence. Clearly a financially backed band, the youngsters had matching guitars and merchandise to sell.

Michael Gavrizescu singing backup vocals

Being around all these professionals at a festival like Rocklahoma can be a nerve-wracking experience. “It is really overwhelming dealing with people that are twice your age…because they’ve been doing this much longer than my band has.” says Mycah. “I guess it’s a lot of pressure because people expect you to act like you are twice your age when you’re playing out there.”

So how did these Los Angeles high school juniors turn up at Rocklahoma? Turns out they played hooky and drove out there during the week. For shame (even though I played hooky to come, also)!

Harley DeWinter

Their performance was phenomenal, energy filled, and just plain, good old fun. The music is extremely well written and catchy; Siren impressed me and I wanted to buy their music. Although Siren has yet to release an album, Mycah did have some excellent news to reveal. “We just finished recording our debut album and it should be coming out in the fall and we’re still talking with a couple of different record labels…which we’re super excited about.”

Siren has quite a mixed sound, experimenting with different styles and obviously still trying to settle on one that works. The album, Mycah says, “will be pretty diverse. I think that Siren has a very unique sound, like we have the ’80s thing going on; we have the post hardcore sound. It’s just a mixture of all these influences because of the band members in Siren. It gives it a nice, unique flair.”

Okay, so they are releasing a new album soon! How the heck did they have time to record an album during the school year? I mean, all I do is write a blog and I can hardly keep up (and I’m a freshman, which means school is easier)!

“Gosh, oh gosh, it’s crazy at times,” Mycah exclaims when asked about balancing school and the band. “It’s really time consuming because you just want to be in the studio all the time and it’s hard to be like, ‘Okay, we have to cut it here tonight because we have school in the morning.’ That’s really dumb! I feel like I’m being cut off, I’m being held back, because education is important, but I do feel like there’s this cut-off point there.”

Devon Mycah crowd surfing during her set

Of course, another struggle is what will happen to Siren after high school. There’s obviously the college factor, and working. Mycah states, “I think it’s different for everyone. I know our parents want us to have a really good education and they want us to have a back-up plan because being a rock star is really iffy. You just don’t know if you’re going to make it. But, I definitely want to have a degree; I wanna have a degree in music business because it’s still music related. It will help me out in the long run.”

She brought up parents, and that can definitely be a major problem in young bands. Thankfully, Mycah says, “Our parents are very supportive of what we want to do and you need that to be successful at a young age.” When a band with talent like Siren receives support from their parents, the band can go far. Siren is taking those first few steps toward stardom in the music world and their parents definitely help the talent move along.

Siren is SO talented, yet so young. How long can bands that good have been together? Usually, a band would need quite a few years to become so cohesive and solid, but these kids are seventeen, so they can’t have been together that long. “We’ve been together for about two years,” Mycah begins, “but together with this unit, maybe about six months. It’s pretty fresh…but it sounds so amazing.” Woah. SIX MONTHS?! Continuing, she says, “I think that’s why I like this group of people so much. It’s because it just came together so well and so fast. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Denise Gavrizescu

A band that starts so quickly can easily end just as quickly. However, Mycah believes in Siren’s longevity. “I think every band has friction. It’s like you and your best friend, you know? You wanna spend every waking moment together; then, you get in a fight and it’s like you come back and you’re like, ‘Oh, I love you, I miss you,’ and that’s how I feels it’s like with the band. It’s a marriage. You have to be committed to each other. Otherwise, it’s not gonna work.”

Devon Mycah and Harley DeWinter

So far, Siren is maintaining their marriage well, and they are an amazing band live. I know I keep saying they’re good for seventeen year olds, but they’re good for twenty-seven year olds or thirty-seven year olds. They’re just awesome musicians!

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DoubleView of Texas Hippie Coalition at Rocklahoma 2014

6/1/2014

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DoubleView of Texas Hippie Coalition
at Rocklahoma 2014

Richard "Big Dad Ritch" Anderson

Texas Hippie Coalition is a loud and proud Southern rock band from Texas. Richard “Big Dad Ritch” Anderson’s deep, raspy vocals fit into the “outlaw grunge” sound of the band perfectly. THC plays a style of music that they like to call “Red Dirt Metal,” which is hardcore Southern rock with its roots in ZZ Top.

After Anderson and his buddy John Exall self-released THC’s first album Pride of Texas, the band has grown into an international favourite. Their second and third albums built up their repertoire and fame so that the excitement for the soon-to-be-released fourth album, Ride On, is reaching the boiling point.

THC’s third album, Peacemaker, was a huge hit and featured songs like “Turn It Up” and “Outlaw,” which have a true groove to them. In addition, the title track “Peacemaker” told a story from the point of view of a gun. “I am peacemaker/I send you to your maker/God damn the pusher man/Pray to God he understands/We’ll all have hell to pay/When time comes for our judgment day,” sings Big Dad Ritch.

John Exall

Ride On should be released sometime this year. Working to make the album didn’t come with many struggles, “It was just working together, making sure all the songs sounded the way want ‘em to,” says Cord Pool (lead guitar). “I think it’s coming along really well. We’ve been working with Skid Mills out of Nashville and…everything he made…sounds badass because he’s a badass guy.”

The album has already been recorded and, “it sounds awesome,” says Pool. “I already got to hear it. I got to hear the finished product just a while ago in the van. It sounded really good. The solos I’m liking, and just the heaviness of it. It’s just good, hard, Southern, grooving metal. This could be the best THC album yet.”

Ride On will not be a carbon copy of the last three albums’ sounds. “I wanna say it’s more heavy,” says Pool. “It’s not so country… A little bit more of the Pantera mix in it. It’s a totally different take. It’s hard to even explain.”

There is already an agreement on a potential single from Ride On, Pool reveals. “It’s called 'Splinter.' We don’t know for definite, but it’s a maybe… Pretty heavy song, groovy and a punchy, metal song.”

Cord Pool

Big Dad Ritch is clearly the main man behind THC. He writes most of the lyrics and is a powerhouse of energy on stage. When writing an album with someone as charismatic and deeply invested in the music, it could be a potential problem. However, Pool says, “He’s easy to work with. I mean, as long as you watch out for him kicking you in the neck…He’s kind of violent, but not really. He just scares you sometimes; [he] makes you scared when you need to be. Like, ‘You need to play better.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I probably do.’ It’s the funnest band I’ve been in.”

Big Dad Ritch

It’s the “funnest” band he’s been in? Well, clearly the fans agree. THC has a fan base that loves them like Miley Cyrus loves the spotlight. All bands have different ways of connecting with their fans, and the bands that are the best at it tend to be the most popular. “Well, our following actually…kind of connect[s] with us,” laughs Pool. “When we go to stuff we usually have someone always bringing catering. Like, [they] bring some lasagna or something we’re not expecting… We have great fans and they’re always lookin’ out for us.”

Elaborating, Pool adds, “When we have a blowout on the road, we go on Facebook and say, ‘we have a blowout,” and we’ll definitely find somebody.” Usually, when this happens, somebody will just show up and fix their tire.

THC fans going wild during their set.

As previously mentioned, THC has a sound they call “Red Dirt Metal.” According to Pool, it doesn’t just define how the music sounds; it also defines how they look onstage. “Everybody has to have a patch when you go on stage. Everyone has to have a leather jacket. How serious they took it…made everybody looking in take it as seriously… Everything’s kinda got a meaning behind it.”

A young fan :)

THC puts on an amazing show and Pool says their biggest worry is the weather. “Last week at Rock on the Range, it was raining until half way through our set.” Thankfully, it didn’t rain and their set completely blew me away. The bass had a presence that gave the music this heavy, almost-grunge sound. Building up from there, the drums complemented everything, never too prominent or too shy. The guitar solos were so intricate and rhythmic yet never uptight. And don’t get me started on Ritch’s vocals. He has “oomph” behind his voice and the power of his pipes is insane. Together, they make the one and only, completely unique Texas Hippie Coalition. Their music is unlike any Southern rock you’ve ever heard. Seriously, give it a listen.

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DoubleView of Kyng at ROK14

DoubleView of Kyngat Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Heaven's Basement at ROK14

DoubleView of Heaven's Basementat Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Nothing More at ROK14

DoubleView ofNothing Moreat Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Jet West at Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Jet Westat Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Siren at Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Sirenat Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Texas Hippie Coalition at Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Texas Hippie Coalitionat Rocklahoma 2014

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