For about 2 weeks, I had been looking forward to the Suburban Legends show at the Old Brickhouse in Phoenix, Arizona. I have just recently become an SL fan, so seeing them for the very first time was something I was extremely was looking forward too. And I of course wanted an interview, so I sent out a few e-mails, but never got a response. A friend of mine, Kelly, said he had received an e-mail from the bands PR, and offered to forward it to me. I made the e-mail to the PR, got the interview set up, and was a very happy camper. In the e-mail, we were told to arrive before the show at 6pm, and the band would be available for an interview. We got there early, and ended up waiting for almost 2 hours, but never able to catch someone in time for the interview. So I made my way towards the front of the stage so that I had a good view for pictures, and decided to wait until after their set to get my interview, and I’m extremely glad I did. I found Tim Maurer sitting at the SL merch booth, and I decided to show him a picture I took of him, which in my opinion, was a very good picture, and asked him when he or the band was available for an interview. He immediately knew who I was, called his brother over to the merch booth, and lead me, my brother and our good friend Blake outside for the interview. We haven’t had the chance to do an interview for SPS in a while, so this interview was something me and my brother have been looking forward to for a good while, and thankfully, we were not let down. This interview was unlike any interview I’ve ever done, and once you start to read on, you’ll understand why.

Savanna: Can you tell us who you are and what you do in the band?

Tim Maurer: My name is Tim, and I sing in the band. Continue reading →

The Orange County, California-based group Cellphish began with humble beginnings as a trio (Jesse Padilla on bass and vocals, Brian Majeska on guitar, with drummer “Coddie” Soto), playing their hearts out in the Southwest. Through their vibrant performances and generosity in passing out demo CDs, they’ve gained themselves a strong fanbase throughout California and Arizona. Yet, while their style have always been upbeat and easily accessible to their listeners, the band has recently gone through an evolution which will no doubt lift them from status as local heroes with a modest following to full-blowng rock stars: the addition of a horn section. Continue reading →

Nice story from David Berlind from ZDNet blogs:

99 cent song (purchased at the iTunes Music Store) couldn’t be played back on my $20,000 whole-home entertainment system (a shining example of the problem with DRM technology), a bunch of people suggested that I could legally buy music that would work from a Russian-based source of unprotected MP3 files called AllofMP3.com. It seemed too good to be true. Then, after I did a little homework, I found my instincts to be right. A lot of people outside of Russia were trying to get AllofMP3.com shut down. That was more than a year ago, and, to this day, AllofMP3.com is still up and running and probably getting more business than ever now that it’s in the crosshairs of the US government. That’s right. A music pirate in Russia is causing such a stir in the international copyright community that America’s top trade official is saying that Russia shouldn’t be allowed as member of the all-exclusive WTO club unless it shuts the site down.

Next.

According to Reuters:

Russia should shut down a pirate music Web site that is robbing U.S. recording companies of sales if it wants to become a member of the World Trade Organization, the top U.S. trade official said on Wednesday.

“I have a hard time imagining Russia becoming a member of the WTO and having a Web site like that up and running that is so clearly a violation of everyone’s intellectual property rights,” U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters after a speech to a services industry organization.

I never did end up buying music from AllofMP3.com. I respect copyrights and have lived in suffrage. Even though I’d gladly drop a few hundred bucks for music a year, I don’t buy songs online since I can’t get them to work where I need them to without breaking the law. So, I just don’t bother buying music at all (not a good net result if you’re in the music business).

I also never got an answer to the question I asked in my last posting about AllofMP3.com:

But here’s a question: Let’s say I get a hold of a DRM-free version of some song from a site like AllofMP3.com that’s still up and running (the fact that it’s not shut down yet leads me to believe that the Russian authorities are not yet convinced of the site’s illegality). If I wanted to make sure the copyright holders got whatever royalties were due to them, how would I do that? In other words, where do I send the check?

The record business doesn’t want to answer that question and I’m sure you can figure out why. But what about the artists?

Recently, I had the chance to check out the “Punk The Clock” Tour featuring My American Heart, Bleed The Dream, The Q, Greeley Estates and Mourning Maxwell. My friends Tim Harmon, and Mike Stoklasa picked me up for the show and we were on our way. We arrived at the Complex with just enough time to catch Mourning Maxwell. They were amazing, as per usual. Then I sat through My American Heart, who were pretty good and Bleed The Dream. Bleed the Dream’s vocalist threw a temper tantrum about the sound and he totally turned me off to ever wanting to see that band again. Then it was time for the band I came to see: Greeley Estates. Ryan Zimmerman (vox) was feeling sickly, so he demanded crowd participation. That, of course was fine with the crowd. Their show was awesome because their energy on stage is crazy. Bleed The Dream’s vocalist jumped on stage and tackled Zimmerman, which led to some laughs. He then finished singing “Through Waiting” with Greeley. After the show had ended and people began to fan out, I had a chance to sit down with Ryan Zimmerman (vox), Brian Champ (drums), Josh Applebach (bass), Dallas Smith (guitar), and Brandon Hackenson (guitar), otherwise known as, Greeley Estates.

Laura: How does it feel to be on tour with My American Heart and Bleed The Dream?

Ryan: Amazing! You forgot “The Q,” one of our favorite bands. I am so excited to be out with these bands. Continue reading →

A few years ago there used to be a download site called Napster, which allowed something called ‘File Sharing’. In effect, this allowed someone who had music stored on their computer (in .mp3 format) to share it with anyone else who belonged to Napster. It was like a community with millions of people from all aver the globe sharing their music for free. You just chose a folder on your computer where you kept your music files and allowed other members to browse your folder to see if there was anything they’d like a copy of replica watch. Provided you were both online at the same time, members could look at your music files and download the ones they wanted. You could even send instant messages to each other if you wanted to. I remember seeing a name pop up as someone downloaded a Radio London jingle from me. It turned out to be a long lost DJ friend of mine! Continue reading →

Let’s face it: you don’t want to read an intro to this interview. You’d much rather cut straight to the interview with Tim McIlrath of Rise Against – one of the most charged and prolific bands of recent times. So, I’ll cut right to the chase. Suffice it to say, however, that Tim is quite articulate, intelligent, focused, and as both a fan and admirer, conducing an interview with him was one of the most pleasing experiences I’ve had thus far, while working on SPS.

DT: You guys have an album out this year. Can you give us the inside scoop, as to what it’s all about?

Tim: Sure. It’s called Siren Song of the Counter Culture. We did the whole record up in Vancouver with Garth Richardson. The central theme of the record is sort of… about the time in any person’s life when their identity is kinda starting
to take root – they’re starting to become their own person. That time in your life where you decide whether you’re going to join the volleyball team or you’re gonna start skateboarding. The time in your life where you’re gonna listen to this
music or this music – you know what I mean? Like what you do with your time, and what you want to do with your life – you know what I mean? I think everybody, and especially Rise Against fans, have been at that crossroads in their life, where it’s gonna be either go one way or another. That’s what The Siren Song of the Counter Culture is all about, as being part of Punk rock or part of a counter culture, or part of a culture that goes against mainstream culture. So, that’s something I went through, something the guys in the band went through, something I think a lot of our fans went through, so it’s kind of the essential theme of the record. Continue reading →