In this episode I talked about my current job situation and gave a short update on where I am at. I also talked about a recent interview I did for a documentary about the idea of “Success” and how you define success. I shared my thoughts on the topic.
I do want to start an online publication and I am curious who else is interested. If you have any sort of desire and are willing to commit to helping build something email me at adrianhummel@gmail.com. I am looking for anyone with web skills, graphic design, writes, photographers, people interested in helping spread the word, anyone really if you want to get involved let me know and we can build something together.
I also interviewed Matt from The Classic Crime about what they are up to. They are currently in the studio working on their first independent album since they parted ways with Tooth and Nail. We also talked about how his life has changed since he has become a father, and we also talked about the Vocal Few and what they are up to.
In this episode there is music from
Naked and Famous
MuteMath
M83
The Classic Crime
Johnny Cash
Silver Sun Pickups
I had the opportunity to sit down with Dustin Kensrue of Thrice earlier today before their show at The Prophet Bar. I have been a long time fan of Thrice and Dustin’s work so to have a chance to talk to him about their latest release Major/Minor was truly an honor. The interview runs about 20 minutes, and don’t forget to check out the acoustic performance of the song Promises (below).
In the interview we talked a lot about the meanings behind some of the songs off the new record Major/Minor, his writing style and collaborations for this record. We also talked a lot about the institution of marriage and the ideas behind the new single Promises. The band is currently on tour right now in support of their latest release and to find out more tour dates and details about the band visit Thrice.net.
I am beyond ready for some new Switchfoot. I really feel like this last record Hello Hurricane put Switchfoot back on the map. I think when they went independent, they had some time to regroup, reconfigure, and really get a fresh start. I’ve read some interviews that said the new VV record will be a lot different from anything else Switchfoot has done. Jon mentioned that the album will be a lot more bass and rhythm driven than guitar and will contain some spoken word. The label released a press statement shedding some light into the new record.
“Vice Verses is a record of tension and release. It’s an attempt to describe the polarity of the human experience. The sunlight and shadow. The highs and lows, laughter and pain, hope and fear, doubts and belief,” says lead singer/guitarist Jon Foreman. In title track he writes; ‘Every blessing comes with a set of curses. I got my vices. I got my vice verses.’ So we live in the tension – pulled and stretched thin. Vice Verses is soul music – attempting to get to the heart of the human experience: Living in the tension and turning it into song.”
Vice Verses is the work of a band that is so restless, they devote an entire song (“Restless”) to the condition. It’s that very uneasiness – an unwillingness to choose the treadmill over the triathlon – that fuels the band’s forays into new musical territory and Jon Foreman’s unflinchingly honest lyrics. You can hear the tension build along with the first chords of album opener “Afterlife,” leading into a bold statement of intent: “I’ve tasted fire I’m ready to come alive/I can’t just shut it up and fake that I’m alright/I’m ready now/I’m not waiting for the afterlife….I believe we start forever now.”
Songs like “Afterlife” and “The War Inside” take the harder-edged approach of Hello Hurricane a step further, creating what Billboard has called “powerful, anthemic rockers…like an amalgamation of U2′s ‘Achtung Baby,’ Linkin Park.” Overall, Vice Verses is a more eclectic collection than its predecessor with quiet gems like “Souvenirs” and the title track butting up against the infectious “The Original,” reminiscent of Foo Fighters, and the biting, largely spoken-word “Selling the News.” The latter is a poetry slam Beck-meets-Beastie Boys style examination of a media-mad nation: “America listens the story is told/the hard sell, all caps, all bold…begging the question mongering fears/stroking the eye and tickling ears/the truth ain’t just what it appears/we’re selling the news.”
I am working on a review of Vice Verses and that will be released next Tuesday along with my interview with Tim Foreman, but below is the track listening from VV.
1. Afterlife
2. The Original
3. The War Inside
4. Restless
5. Blinding Light
6. Selling the News
7. Thrive
8. Dark Horses
9. Souvenirs
10. Rise Above It
11. Vice Verses
12. Where I Belong
What do you think?
What are you looking forward to most with this new record?
Do you think it will be as good as Hello Hurricane?
Were you surprised by the fact that they took a new route with their sound?
What questions do you want answered from my interview with Tim?
*Update* ESPN is streaming the entire new album from Switchfoot on their site.
The other day Christian and Tomas from Blindside came into the studio to hang for a bit while they were playing in Dallas. It had been about 4 years since the band had played in Dallas and this is the first major tour back to the states since 2004. In the interview we talked about their new album With Shivering Hearts We Wait, why they were gone for so long, working with Howard Benson and the back story behind two songs.
Overall the guys were really great to chat with. It may be another 5 years before they make it back to Dallas so it was nice to visit with them while they were here. Also below is an acoustic version of the song “Our Love Saves Us”
First for those that don’t know or haven’t heard of iwrestledabearonce they are an American heavy metal band formed in 2007 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and currently based in Los Angeles, California. Their musical style is considered avant-garde metal due to their use of frequent genre changes within songs, including jazz, disco, swing, easy listening, grindcore and electronica, but primarily metalcore. Their music is generally described as a “spastic blending of genres.” This past Sunday I had a chance to catch up with Steven Bradley guitarist and programmer for the band iwrestledabearonce back stage at the All Stars Fest. We had a chance to talk about how the tour was going and the upcoming album that came out Tuesday. In the interview we talked a lot about the new record and how it was stylistically different than the previous. Steven commented on how everyone in the band hated their last album and how they felt primarily rushed to record it due to the fact they had just gotten off tour. Steven also commented on the success of their band by in part due to the airplay they received from Sirius XM’s Hard Attack channel. New details about an hour long movie the band will premier this October right around Halloween. In the hour long movie Steven described that they all get murdered and they kill a bunch of people in the process. It was filmed using an expensive “Michael Bay” camera, and the band should be announcing details about screenings, so keep on the look out for the details on that. The video started off as a music video but then they just coming up with ideas so they decided to make the video an entire hour. Catch the full video interview below and then also pick up their new album Ruining It For Everybody out in stores now. I also have a ton of other video interviews that I will be putting up soon. Hang tight for that and thanks for check this out!
Catch the song Tastes Like Kevin Bacon below. This was the track that got a ton of airplay on Sirius XM’s Hard Attack channel, and helped gain tons of news fans.
The Devil Wears Prada released a new song from the upcoming record that has no title. Yep, they released a song and they still haven’t released a title. First, who does that? This album is supposed to be more like the Outnumbered EP that was released and BETTER than the 2009 release. Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage) engineered and produced the album; and singer Mike Hranica mentioned “The new record contains the heavy aspects of the ‘Zombie EP,’ meshed with the melody of the full lengths. ‘Born to Lose’ captures some of those elements and serves as a comprehensive preview to the album. By all means, I’d call it our most emotional, well-written album to date.”
Well well then….what’s next Mikey? What do YOU think of the new track?
Side note: The dudes from TDWP are playing Warped Tour and I just confirmed an interview with the band. Anything you want to know before I do the interview let me know below, and I will make it happen.
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster is an American, Southern metalcore band formed in 2004 in Birmingham, Alabama. In 2005, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster signed to Mono Vs Stereo and released their self-titled debut album. The band name and concept are based on the legend of the criminal gang of Ma Barker and her sons, noting that evil lifestyles will be met with “divine justice”.
MATSOD released a lot of new info recently about the new record IV. The album comes out in stores on September 27th and the artwork from above is off the new record. It also looks like they decided to go with the IV album title despite mentioning they might do something else in a interview I had with the band. Maylene also just released the first song of the upcoming album on Revolver Mag’s website. Hear the new song and a description from Dallas about the new meaning here.
I recently had the opporutnity to catch up with Bryce of The Rocket Summer. He called into the show to talk about why he isn’t playing Warped Tour this year, new music, riding Vespas, and Rebecca Black.
Bio from Wikipedia: The Rocket Summer is the alternative rock solo-project of Bryce Avary who is based in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. Avary is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and producer. He writes and produces every song on his records, and plays every instrument on them.
The guys from Decyfer Down recently came to hang in the studio while they were playing in Dallas for the “Over My Head Tour” with The Letter Black, The Wedding, and Brian “Head” Welch. In the interview we talk abotu new music and life on the road with former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch.
BIO from Wikipedia: Decyfer Down is an alternative metal / hard rock Christian band formed in 1999 and based in Morehead City, North Carolina. Decyfer Down was originally formed in 1999 as Allysonhymn by guitarist Brandon mills and drummer Josh Oliver. Formerly an acoustic outfit, the group eventually switched to a more rock-oriented sound. Josh Oliver’s brother Caleb later joined the band as a bass player, followed in 2002 by guitarist Chris Clonts. His arrival gave the band “a new sound and purpose”[3] and they began to play with mainstream artists such as Puddle of Mudd, Breaking Benjamin, Crossfade and Adema. Around this time the band renamed themselves Decyfer Down.
Phil Wickham is considered one of leading artists in the CCM music genre. His music and lyrics are compared to artists like Coldplay and John Mayer. Other CCM artists have noted that his music is:
“With his influences dating back to his parents’ tenure as a part of the Jesus Movement in bands The Way and Parable and with tunes reminiscent of Coldplay, there’s a beautiful simplicity that makes Wickham’s album truly unique.” -CCM Magazine[2]
“I guess Phil Wickham from San Diego grew up listening to some of the artists I mentioned, he is also inspired by the modern singer/songwriter style where John Mayer comes in mind.” -Melodic.net
Bart Millard: “Phil Wickham combines a west coast ethic that channels the pop sensibilities of Coldplay with the emotive lyrics of singer songwriters like John Mayer.”
Phil recently called into the show to talk about his upcoming release in August his travels to the UK and how they inspired some of the music on this new record. We also talked about a show that he was gearing up to play in Plano on the 30th of April. Not only that but I slid in some topical questions about Rebecca Black and Rob Bell at the end. This new release Response should be in stores in August and will be a highlight for new releases in 2011.
From Wiki: Phil Wickham (born April 5, 1984)[4][5] is a Contemporary Christian vocalist/songwriter and guitarist from San Diego, California. Wickham has released five CDs, Give You My World in 2003, a self-titled album in 2006, Cannons in 2007, singalong in 2008, and Heaven & Earth in 2009.[3] He has also led worship at Soul Survivor.[6]
Josh was pretty soft spoken when we chatted about the new Emery record on Tuesday. Not what you would expect from a dude that consistently screams for a living, or maybe that is what you would expect. For those that are not familiar here is a little excerpt I cut and pasted about the band from good ole’ wikipedia.
“Emery is an American four-piece post-hardcore band from Rock Hill, South Carolina currently signed to both Tooth & Nail Records and Solid State Records and based in Seattle, Washington. Emery was founded in Rock Hill, South Carolina with the original lineup consisting of Toby Morrell, Devin Shelton, Matt Carter, Josh Head, Joel Green and Seth Studley. Emery moved to Seattle in order to reach a more music centered scene. While the band avoid the stigma of being labeled a “Christian band,” the members are all Christian, exploring a wide variety of lyrical themes in their music.”
The track above is from the new record which I have enjoyed listening to full blast at 3am. My neighbors on the otherhand would disagree.
This guy is interesting and by releasing a book he has managed to get a ton of attention on himself, the Christian community, and the Church. I am always skeptical with situations like this because perception is one thing and how people perceive something can have a greater cause and outcome then our original intentions. For example Rob Bell has put out a book called Love Wins and now people’s perceptions of this book is Rob’s belief in the idea that Hell does not exist. Granted in the past Rob’s views on the Christian doctrine have been pretty controversial.
Like the idea that he is a universalists. Even in the interview he shys away from a direct question. Ah, yeah you could’ve answered that one a little better Rob.
“Christian Universalists believe that the correct interpretation of Christianity and the Bible is not the exclusive fundamentalist view (“convert or burn”), but an inclusive view of salvation in which all people — even the sinful and unbelieving dead — will eventually find reconciliation with God by repenting of their sins and going through a transformation process, so that nobody will spend eternity in hell. God’s judgments work for the purpose of correction and reform; they are not the expression of vindictive rage.”
Anyways, back to perception. Perception can be a dangerous and is something that we deal with on a daily basis. I guess I am amazed just how much attention Rob is receiving about this book. My biggest thing with this is I would hate for someone to see this and think “oh, great here is another Christian nut-wack-job” and then have that perception push them further away from the beauty and love that is in God’s redemption through his son Jesus.
Is it just me or does Rob advert some of the questions and get a little squeamish about being confronted on his idea of hell?
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