I’m not sure if you’ve been watching Glee. I have. I thought the first episode (originally aired back in May on Fox) was great, and that the show had a lot of potential. I still feel that way—but sometimes the show can be frustrating. Some of the characters aren’t that likeable, some of the plot lines are either too thin or too ridiculous, etc. Jane Lynch is the only person who has been consistent throughout the show so far. Every single thing she says is funny.
To the delight of many viewers, Fox has decided to start releasing the music performed by the cast of Glee in album form (instead of just the singular songs on iTunes). The songs are all covers of extremely popular music. Volume 1 was released on Tuesday and contains 17 songs from the season so far. From what I heard, Volume 2 will be released sometime next year, after the second half of the show airs. This volume features Broadway superstar Kristin Chenowith, and rumor has it that there will be more stars to take guest spots on the show/albums in the future (Adam Lambert was one rumor…Madonna was another. But who knows?).
Overall I think the album should be pretty good—and also for the price. Right now on Amazon, the whole hard-copy album is selling for $8.99, which is a really good price, in my opinion. It’s worth it for “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Take a Bow,” “Taking Chances,” “No Air,” and “Somebody to Love” alone, in my opinion. Lea Michele is absolutely amazing. I’ve never heard a voice like hers. Actually, it kind of sucks for the rest of the cast because she kind of trumps everybody. But, still, they’re good, too. Check out the album!
Carrie Underwood-Play On
The wait is finally over: Carrie Underwood has a new album out. It’s not fair how perfect she is—she’s perfect looking, has a great voice, and always sounds flawless on stage. Now her 3rd studio album, Play On, has hit stores.
Her first two albums, Some Hearts (2005) and Carnival Ride (2007) both went multi-platinum in the U.S. and reached the top spot on almost all U.S. Billboard charts (and a lot of Canada’s, too). All of her singles from those albums performed exceptionally well. If they didn’t break the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, they got close. And, nearly all of them were, at some point, #1 on the country charts.
The first single from Play On is “Cowboy Casanova” and alludes back to, in my opinion, one of her most popular songs, “Before He Cheats.” The song has a similar, sassy vibe to it. It currently holds the #11 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and continues to climb.
The rest of the album features twelve other songs and seems to follow a pretty solid country-music-album format. There are a few faster tracks, but for the most part Underwood shows off her voice with slow, smooth ballads. Really, though, I could listen to her sing anything. It’s hard for me to believe that she even had to compete on American Idol (though I really respect her for always being gracious to them and always recognizing that that is where is she got her start—some other winners and contestants seem to forget that after it’s all over).
After listening to the album, I think my favorite songs are “Cowboy Casanova,” “Look at Me,” “Unapologize,” and “What Can I Say.” But, really, her voice sounds great on the entire record. It’s in stores now!
When they’re rocking, you’ll rock and when they’re crooning, you’ll wish they were crooning at you. Silver’s Pat, Brent and John are Southern boys from Raleigh making a name for themselves with great melodies, powerful lyrics, and a “now or never” attitude. Check out our interview with the group to learn about how they get their big sound, the hardest part about this whole “rock band” gig and how the recession may have actually given them their big break!
1. How and when did you three first come together as Silver?
Pat and I (Brent) have known each other since high school and were roommates at NC State University. We chose to finish out our degrees in 2005 (Finance for Pat, Architecture for myself) and went off in our chosen professions briefly. We played music through work, but nothing serious came out of it until we met John (Enzor) and things got a little more rigid. We found ourselves focused more on writing certain songs with a certain sound, and eventually the down economy led to a quick start for us in the late summer of 2008. I lost my job at an architecture firm, Pat left his job and John was abruptly laid off, as well. So here we are, all unemployed and thinking to ourselves, “well, it is now or never.”
2. Gotta love that attitude! How has being from the Triangle area of North Carolina shaped your sound?
The sound definitely has a regional feel. It’s a great question. We are often told that we have a certain British affected sound. A lot of our influences come from over the pond, but the roots of the music are definitely seeded with a southern background. We experiment with lots of synths and guitars and crazy computer software, but lyrically I think we always have this southern subconscious that sits underneath the big guitars and the little hooks of each song. The sound is big at times, but the songs always seem to talk about everyday life, stuff we all go through, the good and the bad, which seems to be a grassroots southern type of thing.
3. Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
4. What is your favorite Triangle area venue and why?
We’ll have to give props to the Pour House Music Hall in downtown Raleigh. They treat us so well over there and have one of the best sound guys in the business, Jack Cain (maybe the East Coast – ?). He loves to mix our sound in there so it makes the entire night fun. A must visit venue for sure. Good local music, decent cover and dozens of taps. Good times always greet us when we walk in that place.
5. Some of your recorded songs, like Frictioneering, sound really big. How do the three of you reproduce your sound in a live show?
It’s tricky to be sure. In one word really: samplers. We end up making lots of loops and rehearse endlessly to them. That is where the experimentation and laptops come in handy. But the basic premise is a lot of loops running behind us while we play. I trigger a lot of that behind the drum kit. But we’ve also structured the songs in such a way that parts come in and out of the songs. For example, during the verse there may be no guitar at all. Drums and bass might drive the song until the guitar drops in and builds into a chorus. It can make a song much more dramatic. It’s a challenge because we have to do a good bit of planning, writing and looping at the beginning of the process, but the end result live is usually fantastic.
6. You seem fairly active on Twitter. Has your relationship with fans been changed by social networking sites?
Twitter has been good to us. We caught it right when it came along, and it has definitely given us more of a connection with fans locally, regionally and even nationally. People will tweet to us saying how they loved our album or bought it on iTunes. Things we’d never hear or see before.
But I think the biggest thing is that people can feel they are more invested in a band, and that in turn helps to motivate us. It’s definitely much easier to connect with a large number of people fairly quickly and it gets people involved. Fans can be with us in a rehearsal or come along with us on a tour on the road. People see that Silver is a real band run by real people and they become invested in it. It makes what we do a lot easier.
7. Do you have any new recordings in the works? And if so, do you see the Silver sound evolving in any particular direction?
Actually we have a good bit of new material we hope to put into some kind of digital form this winter. Our last album +/- was more of a concept record. Though our new stuff has a similar sound, there is definitely some experimentation with time signatures and the themes within each song lyrically. Pat has really challenged himself lyrically and the band as well. It’s paid off for sure. The sound is most certainly big and very high energy.
8. What is the songwriting process typically like within Silver?
It often starts with a small idea: a guitar riff, a hummed melody, a drum pattern. Pat seems to write a good batch of the lyrics on his own and I seem to come up with the big ideas. John holds it all together. He provides a lot of structure to these crazy ideas and concepts that come out of our heads. But once we have some concept, the three of us just get into a room and listen to the parts. Eventually (usually painfully something comes about. Every once in awhile you’ll play something together and it’s just pure harmony. Those are the wonderful, but spare moments as a band. It’s usually really hard work. We crank out dozens of ideas and edit them to bits. The great part about our generation is the technology. We can record a rough demo, hear the song and really become editors of those ideas. It helps speed up the process.
9. People often think being in a working band is all fun. What is the hardest part no one knows about?
The networking: the Myspacing, the Facebooking, the Twittering, the Flickering, the Youtubing. As a band you are constantly on those sites connecting with fans, club owners, other bands in other cities, A+R reps. You have to constantly be making connections. And we are musicians, not marketing or network reps so it’s a challenge for us. It’s another job in and of itself and it’s not always so fiscally rewarding. You spend good amount of your time and money in those areas and often don’t see much come out of it until sometime much later.
10. What advice would you give to a band just starting out and trying to get noticed in a large college town?
Don’t be afraid to talk to people and ask questions: to club owners, to your fans, to other bands in your town and around your region. It’s the best way to learn about yourself and about your growth as a band. And be relentless with it. Booking shows is hard. Connecting with fans is hard. Selling your music and even giving it away can be really hard, but if you’re passionate about it and you have a good product in your hands (your music), people will take notice of that. And that will begin to turn heads.
Some excellent parting words there! If you want to learn more about Pat, Brent and John, be sure to check out the Silver Web site and look for them on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
Cobra Starship was started by band leader—and vocalist—Gabe Saporta in 2005. Since then he has built friendships with numerous other band members from acts such as Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is…, The All-American Rejects, and others. Those relationships have given Saporta and the rest of Cobra Starship a boost into the music industry. Actually, they even poke fun at that with their song, “Pete Wentz is the Only Reason We’re Famous.”
But maybe they’ll be a band with only one major hit. But maybe not? As for me, I hope it doesn’t get to that point because I think this band has potential. Cobra Starship hit the music scene back in 2006 when they participated on the soundtrack for the [ridiculous] movie, Snakes on a Plane. They wrote and performed the single off the album, “Bring It (Snakes on a Plane).” I remember seeing that movie on the weekend of my 18th birthday. Awesome.
Since 2006, Cobra Starship has consistently released albums: While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets (2006), ¡Viva la Cobra! (2007), and their most recent record, Hot Mess (2009). They have experienced the most success with Hot Mess, as it peaked at #4 on the U.S. Billboard Top 200 list.
The reason for their recent rise to stardom is largely due to the first single off of Hot Mess, “Good Girls Go Bad” featuring Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl. The song broke the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 list, peaking at #7. Not a bad place to be. The song was produced by Kara DioGuardi and Kevin Rudolf, as well—who doesn’t DioGuardi work with these days? It seems like she is just everywhere. Their current single is “Hot Mess” and is currently #64 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Cobra Starship teeters on the line between pop, rock, and alternative genres, which really works in their favor. They can reach broader audiences and shoot even further into superstardom. Like I said, I hope they don’t disappear into the background, because I like their stuff.
It comes down to this: Rihanna is finally breaking her silence on the whole Chris Brown issue. In an interview with Diane Sawyer, Rihanna will talk about what happened between her and her former boyfriend back in February, what she has been doing since, and how she felt vulnerable, but that “it can happen to anyone.”
The interview will be shown during ABC’s Good Morning America on Thursday, and then extended to Friday on 20/20. I wish I had more information but ABC likes to keep us guessing, so I’ll have to watch with everyone else. Will you be watching??
A little over a year after the BlackBerry Storm was released, the second generation Storm has arrived. On October 28, the Storm 2 hit the stores with the promise of a lot of updated features.
The new phone will significantly improve upon the touch-screen feature that the original Storm currently has. It will now, supposedly, be much easier to click on the screen—the user will not have to press quite as hard in order to get a response from the phone.
The Storm 2 will also feature higher resolution displays, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and more memory (256 flash, 2G onboard), built-in GPS, BlackBerry OS 5, as well as other updated features—including both hardware and software. The best upgrade, in my opinion, is that the Storm 2 will have Wi-Fi capability.
As for pricing, according to PC World, the phone will be sold for “$280 when you sign a two-year service contract with Verizon Wireless. Verizon is offering a $100 mail-in rebate, which knocks the price down to $180, but that rebate comes in the form of a Visa debit card, not an actual check.”
something comes about. Every once in awhile you’ll play something together and it’s just pure harmony. Those are the wonderful, but spare moments as a band. It’s usually really hard work. We crank out dozens of ideas and edit them to bits. The great part about our generation is the technology. We can record a rough demo, hear the song and really become editors of those ideas. It helps speed up the process.
