Interview with Alex Marshall and Alex DeLeon

Check out my interview with Marshall and Singer of The Cab!

http://www.rockedition.com/interviews/artist-interviews/interview-with-the-cab/

Interview With Leighton Antelman of Lydia

Check out my latest interview with Leighton Antelman, lead singer of Lydia!!!

http://www.rockedition.com/interviews/artist-interviews/interview-with-leighton-antelman-of-lydia/

Interview with Pat Kirch and Kennedy Brock from The Maine

Hey guys!
Here's my interview with Pat and Kennedy of The Maine before the opening show of their tour!


http://www.rockedition.com/interviews/artist-interviews/interview-with-the-maine/

Interview with SPEAK

Hey guys!
Check out my interview for Rock Edition with Bands That Need Love Too alums, SPEAK!

http://www.rockedition.com/interviews/artist-interviews/interview-with-speak/

Interview with BLACK TAXI

Hey guys, I've been failing to share my interviews, but I think this band will be making an appearance as a BTNLT so I figured I'd make a point to share!

Check it out HERE

Candy Hearts Acoustic Session & Interview

Yep you guys, I have another interview for ya!

This one is on video and is accompanied by some acoustic performances!

Check it out on Rock Edition!

Interview with Marcel Gadacz

I had the chance to interview Marcel Gadacz of Dream On, Dreamer on Valentine's day!
So here's a link!

You guys should check it out :)

http://www.rockedition.com/interviews/artist-interviews/interview-with-marcel-gadacz-of-dream-on-dreamer/

Attack Attack! Interview

Hey guys!

This isn't really a band promotion as much as it is me spreading my interview with Andrew Wetzel of Attack Attack!

Check it out HERE!!!

Moonlighting the Social Scene

Clouds rolled across the sky, obscuring the moon and what little stars could be seen through the light pollution of Austin. Music floated through the cool night, drawing in spectators like a siren’s song to the western side of the Art Institute of Austin. Harmonies filled the air as guitar and drums accented them. It may not have been the normal scene for live music in the city, but the band that was playing is far from out of place. They have been hard at work and that work is paying off. All within the same year of its creation, the band’s achievements include a SXSW showcase, a win in a competition held by The Austin Chronicle and a chance to record with a member of Blue October. With this being their final show before heading into the studio in January, the musicians gave an intimate performance with their hearts on their sleeves. This is Moonlight Social.

Jeremy Burchard played tenor drums and Jennica Scott played trumpet in the Longhorn Band, but that isn’t what brought them together. Longhorn Band boasts about 400 members, making the leap between different sections is not an easy feat.

“I don’t think I would have met her without her reaching me,” Burchard said.

“I heard a cover that he did online and reached out to him to tell him I liked it. We met that way and then started hanging out,” Scott said. “The music came naturally because we were both such musical people.”

Both had been interested in music since they were children. Scott came from a musical family, with both of her parents being singers and her extended family on either side playing instruments or singing. “It’s a family thing, what can I say?”
Burchard grew up fascinated by music. “When I was little, I used to have a little black notepad with neon pens that I would write my songs in,” he laughed. He is also knowledgeable in many instruments, having started with the viola before moving on to trumpet, percussion and self-taught guitar.

After pushing to get Scott in front of a microphone, the duo recorded their first cover, Reckless Kelly’s “Wicked Twisted Road.” And then another, which led to yet another. These jam sessions led to them doing a couple performances together, which in turn led to their friends asking about their band.

“We were like, ‘Are we a band?’” Burchard recalled fondly.

Once they realized they were, in fact, a band, the duo needed a name. “The idea was the total, complete honesty of conversations that people have late at night,” he explained. They try to create music that rings with honesty, and the name Moonlight Social captures that sentiment, lending itself to a moment that we all experience, whether it be with friends or a lover.

They started writing songs to convey their ideals captured in their name. “There are some songs that one of us wrote and we’ll work together to make it ours,” Scott said about their writing process. “Most songs are a collaborative effort in some way.”

Things took off for the newly formed alt-country duo as they were selected to take part in a Grammy sponsored showcase at SXSW in March, self-released an EP in May and took on about 100 bands in the Sound Wars hosted by The Austin Chronicle to win a chance to play at the annual Hot Sauce Festival in August. They also started playing shows around Austin, becoming regulars of the club Momo’s. Creating a loyal fan base of friends, family and local music lovers, Moonlight Social was already further ahead than many bands get within their first year. Then, they got some great news.

A contact Burchard had made as a member of the group Grammy U had been passing their music around, and passed it along to Matt Noveskey, bassist of the band Blue October.

“He said it really ‘jived’,” Burchard said. “And he wasn’t pushy. It’s cool to have someone who has been on the other side as well, ya know?” They were offered the chance to go into the studio with Noveskey in January to record their debut album. The band jumped at the chance and took to the internet to employ the help of their fan base by creating a Kickstarter project. In order to get to the studio, the band would need to raise $15,000 in donations by Dec. 16. Less than five days later, the band had met its goal.

“That’s incredible,” they wrote on their Kickstarter page. Now, they are working harder than ever preparing to create their album.

“The songs on the EP were a good start but they aren’t how we imagined they’d end up,” Burchard said. “We have 20 or so songs to choose from.” One song that will be “retooled” for the album is “Neither Are You,” the song they would use to showcase their band. It also recently won Grammy U’s “Show Us Your Hits” competition.

“It really expresses our sound and melodies as well as our harmonies. It encompasses all of the things that we hold most important in our music,” Scott explained.

As their two hour set came to a close, the moon had cut through the clouds, shining down on the band that used it as a namesake. Scott and Burchard, along with their live performance members Gabe Durand-Hollis (Drums), Rannon Ching (Guitar/Mandolin) and Donald Williams (Bass), thanked the crowd for coming out and handed out free EPs. It may have been their last show of the year, but it is certainly far from this band’s last show.

For music and information about donating money toward Moonlight Social’s debut album, visit http://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/

Interview with Patrick Stump 8/28/11

Words to live by with Patrick Stump: Relax

There are many things that can be said about Patrick Stump. He’s a talented musician, a wonderful performer and one of the most genuine people one could ever hope to meet. In being an avid fan for years thanks to Fall Out Boy, I’ve kept my eye on Mr. Stump, very well aware of the aforementioned talents and hoping that in the midst of this hiatus we wouldn’t be starved of them. Luckily, he seems to have the same mindset as he is currently touring the US, promoting his upcoming solo album Soul Punk. His latest stop here in Austin brought a high energy, pulse pounding performance that got the small indoors venue of Stubb’s dancing and just having a good time. Afterwards, most milled out to the back to meet with the band and thank them for the performance they had just given.

As it grew late, or later rather, the crowd thinned out, and I was able to talk with Patrick Stump himself. Standing out by a water cooler, I feel like he almost looked out of place in his dapper attire. With a button up shirt, tie and suit jacket he looked more ready to see a theatre show than speak with a 19 year old. I couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t the same Patrick Stump I had seen with Fall Out Boy, as he seems to have come into his own. When asked about the differences in being a solo artist and being a part of a group, he answered easily that while he is on his own, it still feels very much like he’s a part of a group. “I was actually kind of disappointed, I was getting off stage just now and the band was still playing, you know, like I get off stage and the band still plays for a couple seconds after I’m done or whatever, and there were all these people outside waiting for me and I was like ‘But the show!’ It should be about the show more importantly than meeting somebody or all that other stuff. The show is the thing, I mean, it should be exciting.” He states, rocking from side to side and using his hands to convey his point. “That’s kind of weird to me to be the center of attention that way, on the stage I’m totally comfortable with being the center of attention, that’s something I’ve been doing for such a long time. But like, being a solo artist casts you as a personality more in the focus, and that’s weird.”
It is hard to focus on much else when Patrick is on stage, as he commands attention, whether he is singing, playing his pocket trumpet or even taking a turn at the drums, which was actually what he had started on. “I was not really intending to be a singer. I thought I was going to be a drummer in a band, I really didn’t expect to be the center of attention. I just wanted to write songs, I really wanted an outlet for song writing. That was the thing for me, and that led to me being a solo artist.”

As a solo artist, he has taken his music to a completely different area than most had expected of him which caused some old Fall Out Boy fans to state their opinions, something that had actually caused him to take to twitter and call them out on it. “There are two things that I firmly believe,” he starts, “First off, there’s no reason to do a solo project if it’s going to sound like your band, that just means you should probably work out what problems you have with your band or whatever it is that causes you to do that. And secondly a band is a compromise, and not in a bad way. I don’t know why compromise in America, you say that word and people think it’s a negative thing.” Politics, I interjected. I blame politics. “No, it is! It really is! It’s a very political issue, this idea of compromising. ‘No we will not compromise!’ Uncompromising, you say that and it sounds like ‘Great, uncompromising’ and it’s like no, compromise is important and that’s how society works. And a band is a very small society and everything is a compromise. And so I find it fascinating when people assume. I remember having a conversation with Aaron from Underoath about The Yellow Jackets, who are a fusion jazz group, and there’s this expectation that Aaron plays in Underoath so he’s only ever listening to hardcore and metal and Christian music. And we were talking jazz. And I was in Fall Out Boy so everyone is like ‘So Blink 182…’ I didn’t listen to Blink 182 until we toured with Blink 182. There are a lot of those expectations and they’re so silly to me. That’s how I feel about the solo thing. It will be different because it’s me and there’s no compromise.” He stops for a moment and thinks before continuing, “Now that I think of it, I’m still kind of compromising because I want to stay out of Fall Out Boy’s way. Not that I steer it too far, but I do think to myself, especially lyrically, if there is anything I feel like Pete [Wentz] could say better, I just avoid it.” He smiles and plays with his tie, urging me to continue. By now most of the equipment has been cleared away and the crew is disappearing off to various places.

Wanting to lead the conversation from the past, I look on towards the release of his album, due out October 18th. “If there is one song off the album you could pick to introduce to someone who has never heard you, what would it be and why?” I ask. Patrick pauses for a moment, deep in thought. “Everybody Wants Somebody. It isn’t quite the big single so whatever, but I feel it’s the most me in the most ways. I mean everything’s very me,” he chuckles, “but I think that song is almost a mission statement. I think what it says lyrically, is a little bit of a message, but there’s also a lot of word play and things like that.” He stops abruptly to ask how long they have left at the venue, shedding light on how late it seems to be. Offering to leave him alone to let him eat the famous Stubb’s Barbeque, he waves me off claiming that it’s in the fridge anyway. “I just feel like it says what I want it to say.” Stump finishes seamlessly, almost like he hadn’t stopped at all.

Seeming as he really knows what he’s doing with the direction he’s heading, it only seems right to ask my last question in the vein of advice he might have for other’s looking into a profession such as his. “So I’ve been saying this a lot. It isn’t advice but it’s something that I thought of. So I’ve been trying to traverse the whole chasm of all the ideas I have. I have all these visual ideas and character ideas and these things that I want to do on stage. They’re almost theatrical or whatever but I don’t want to not be me. I don’t want to lie and be a character. I am just me at the end of the day and so it’s been kind of a learning curve because a lot of people resort to controversy and sexuality, you know whatever, you go somewhere with an angle for people to pay attention to your stuff and it’s very honestly a part of me to wear the cape and the weird stuff and play my mini trumpet. That’s very much part of me. It’s as much a part of me as me talking to you right now, so I wanted to make the conscious decision to be honest, and getting to the advice thing, it’s not really advice. It’s almost anti-advice. I read a quote by David Lee Roth where he said ‘Once you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made.’ And that’s probably true, but it’s a lot more fun when you don’t have to fake it. I wouldn’t recommend getting into this business if you aren’t patient. If you don’t like people, entertaining is not a great job for you.” Patrick starts to get excited in what he’s saying as he starts trying to find the right way to word what he is trying to say, “It’s like punk rock. I grew up in punk rock and I’m expected as a punk rocker to be a shit head all the time, you know, to be rude to people and stuff and I’m like, that’s not what punk rock means to me. Fugazi wasn’t rude. The clash weren’t rude all the time, it wasn’t about that. They were statements they were making. That’s what attracted me, so it’s really about identity and just being yourself. But if you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made. But don’t fake it.” He concludes with a smile. After such a long night, I’m actually surprised the man can still stand around with such a genuine smile, giving advice on being yourself. Whether you like the direction he is taking or not, you can’t deny that he is most certainly doing it as his own person and it is most certainly going to pay off. You’ll soon be hearing more of his name, that I can almost guarantee, and he will definitely be blowing up speakers for years to come now.