Tuesday, November 30, 2021
DJ Interviews: JC Miller
Here's my interview with singer JC Miller. Enjoy!
1. How'd you get started in music?
I grew up in the Bay Area and I got to hang out in a cool music scene and got exposed to lots of different kinds of music from a young age. I played in bands and became a session guitar player and started writing songs from there and became a composer-for-hire. I played keyboards and bass too, but guitar has always been my main focus. I eventually began working in New York and Los Angeles and ended up settling in Southern California.
2. Who are your inspirations or influences?
The older I get the more I realize I am totally under the spell of Leon Russell and Levon Helm of The Band and Stevie Ray Vaughan– I feel like I ended up in Southern-style songwriting. I love Little Feat, The Allman Brothers,
Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. Having said that, there’s also a lot of influence by songwriters like Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, and Tom Petty. As far as soundtracks and guitar playing goes, I love Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Glen Campbell and Daniel Lanois.
3. What advice would you offer aspiring performers?
Find your authentic voice. And I mean your musical voice, not just your singing voice. Once you do, never give up and always believe in yourself. Music is free to make and like anything, people are competitive and will try to bring you down, but you can’t let other people get to you. Stay true to yourself and don’t listen too much to what other people have to say. Music taste is so personal that you really don’t need to listen to other people as much as you think you would have to. Music is not competitive. Remember that you are only competing with yourself and that popularity doesn’t necessarily coincide with excellence and vice versa.
4. How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?
I always ask myself, “What am I trying to say?”
I try to keep my observations as unique and personal as possible. In other words, what is singular about my slant, my take on things?
With me it’s funny because my rock is too country for the rockers and my country can be too electrified for country music purists. I feel like I’m somewhere in between Americana, Southern Rock and Country Rock. I try to add to the narrative within this musical terrain.
I try to find a place where I can be an indie musician without too much attention to genre.
Since my search is always for authenticity– I sing the way I sing, I play the way I play, and I write the way I write—I can’t alter those too much.
Specific ways I try to set myself apart from other musicians is I make up unusual tunings on the guitar and I try to use only real instruments– I try to use MIDI as infrequently as possible. The secret is really in the combination of the tools.
5. Any new gigs or albums in the future?
Yes! I am just now finishing recording a 50-song, 5-album odyssey we refer to as the Sunbelt Sessions. This breaks down to the Notebooks from the West Trilogy (which includes Notebooks from the West, Baja Bohemian and Strawberry Canyon) and the journey ends with a two-volume set (which includes Delta Waves and ends with Southern Buckthorn). The agenda was to track my invisible family tree roots through music. I guess in the end it’s a travel log told through guitar, Americana from the end of the road, Route 66.
Special thanks to him for doing this interview & I wish him lots of luck in his music so until then I'll catch you on The Flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!
Monday, November 29, 2021
DJ Interviews: The Negatrons
Here's my interview with the band The Negatrons
How'd yo get started in music?
I first got interested in music when I saw the video for Nirvana's "Smell Like Teen Spirit" premiere on MTV. I was 11 at the time. I assume the raw, aggressive nature of the song spoke to a lot of pre-teen and teenage boys in a similar way.
For months, my older brother begged my parents to get him an electric guitar for his 13th birthday. He got a blue Yamaha RGZ11p, basically an HSS Strat-copy. I got a black version of the same guitar two months later when I turned 12.
Initially, we both took lessons from an old lady who played piano at our church. But after a few lessons (i.e., after we learned the basic chords), she couldn't teach us anything more. Then my brother convinced our parents to let us take lessons from an older kid at his high school, who wasn't mentally stable and was really into Rush. The guy was really good at guitar, but he was terrible at life, so my parents figured we'd be better off if we'd just stop taking lessons.
Anyway, my brother and I entertained ourselves by writing joke songs and recording them on a boombox. Evenetually he and his best friend decided to start a band when they were about 15. As the lead singer's younger brother, I was naturally recruited to play bass - so we begged my parents to get me one for my 14th birthday. Birthdays are great time to ask for musical instruments...
Anyway, we found a kid who was willing to learn to play drums so he could be in the band and started learning covers. Then we entered a school talent show, where we ignored the rule about performing for five-minutes and played a cover of "1979" before busting out a 9-minute version of "Rockin' In The Free World." As a result, we lost to a little kid who did a lousy Elvis impersonation.
We started playing gigs out of town (where we played our original songs) and made some 4-track recordings, before our basement demos eventually went multi-platinum and we embarked on several very successful world tours.
Joking, of course. We broke up once my brother went to college. I went back to primarily playing guitar and began writing songs on my own. I wrote all of the songs on our debut album, "Stumblebum," when I was 18.
In college, I played in a couple of different groups, but walked away from music for awhile, before getting back into it several years ago.
Who are your inspirations or influences?
I think everything one is exposed to can inspire creativity. Our debut album, "Stumblebum," is most often compared to bands like Weezer, Green Day and the Ramones. And yes, I listened to a lot of pop-punk at the time I wrote those songs. But I also listened to a lot of Nirvana, Pixies, The Replacements and other "alternative" rock bands back then.
In college, I discovered other guitar-driven rock bands, like Alkaline Trio, Against Me!, the White Stripes, Sunny Day Real Estate, and the Get Up Kids, while also getting acquainted with bands from the 60s and 70s, like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin and thr Clash.
But, like most people, I've "mellowed out," as I've gotten older and am now just as likely to listen to Elliott Smith, Wilco and Jason Isbell.
I think all those bands - and many more - have probably "inspired" me, to some degree, even if it's subconciously.
As a result, I think the songs I've written within the last few years don't really fall neatly into one genre. The one commonality is that they are all guitar-driven, whether they be electric or acoustic.
Mohawks, face tattoos and pyrotechnics.
Also, we just write songs we want to hear and try to be funny on social media.
We just released a new song, "Summer Isn't Endless," on November 22nd. Like Stumblebum, it probably falls into the pop-punk genre, but unlike our debut album, the lyrics are written from a much mature perspective - since we're not teenagers any more.
"Summer Isn't Endless" is one of about three-dozen other songs we're sifting through that will ultimately be our second album.
A lot of songs don't sound like Stumblebum, so it might throw some people who think they know the Negatrons for a loop.
The plan is to release a single every four to six weeks before we drop a second album sometime in 2022.
Sunday, November 28, 2021
Saturday, November 27, 2021
DJ Interviews: Coperhead County
Here's my interview with Copperhead County.
Special thanks to them for this interview & I wish them lots of luck in their music which you can view on the following links. So until then I;ll catch you on The Flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll! Wanna hear more from us? You can find us on - Website: https://www. - Youtube: https://www.youtube. - Facebook: https://www. - Instagram: https://www. - Twitter: https://twitter.com/ |
Friday, November 26, 2021
DJ Interviews: Black Star Jackals
Here's my interview with The Black Star Jackals
The band itself was formed by Kieran (lead singer) in late 2018. Initially he intended it to just be a 3 piece, Biffy Clyro style, and for the band to just be a vehicle for his own songs, which until that point he had been singing by himself in various open mic nights around Glasgow. After a few months he realised he needed another guitarist to flesh out the sound and take some of the workload off of him, as he was the only guitarists and he put an ad out on Facebook. Coincidentally, Steven (lead guitar), who had just left his previous band and was on the look out for a new project, saw the ad and got in touch. They exchanged demos and got talking and found out they had loads in common and very similar musical influences and tastes. Steven joined the band in late 2018 and realised that it had serious potential thanks to Kieran’s amazing voice and songwriting ability and so they set about taking the band seriously. By mid 2019 Max (bass) and Calum (drums) had joined the band and the lineup as its is today was formed.
Our most obvious influences are the bands we grew up listening to as kids. Generally speaking the alt-rock bands of the 90’s and 00’s such as Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Muse, Biffy Clyro, System of a Down, to name a few. But individually we all come from very different musical backgrounds. Steven and Max for example are both classically trained and both attended Royal Colleges of Music. Calum has a background in folk music, having played bagpipes too. People often say they can hear this or that in our music and it ranges from Incubus to Genesis to The Police to Pink Floyd to Steve Reich and so on. We’re proud that we have such a diverse sound and that we can draw on such a wide range of influences. It stops us being pigeon holed. Special thanks to them for this interview, & I wish them lots of luck in their music. So untol then I'll catch you on The Flipside! Stay awesome & rock n roll!
We don’t know if we’re really in the position to be offering advice to anyone to be honest! Hell we’re the ones needing advice! I guess we can only offer advice we have been given ourselves which we try to live by. For us the main thing is to just be authentic and genuine. The music world is filled with fake people doing stuff they don’t really believe in or acting in a way that isn’t real. You can see it seeping into the the pop punk and rock scene more and more sadly. We’ve started seeing more and more acts live singing to backing tracks, using autotune and even miming and that shit just needs to stop now. Fake people always get found out eventually, so be real from the start.
Tough for us to answer that question ourselves, as we aren’t really actively thinking about doing as such. Our music is what it is. We just write what we like and it seems that what comes out sounds like Black Star Jackals! We make an effort to get the production we can afford on our songs. We’ve noticed that a lot of artists at a similar stage to us seem to skimp out on the recording side of things and as such the quality of the tracks is a bit lacking and we think it's super important that the music sounds as good as it can to do it justice. Our image kind of sets us apart too, or at least what we wear. We don’t necessarily look like an alt-rock band at first glance and we like that. We recently did a rock festival and out of all the acts who played that day, we were literally the only ones not dressed all in black. Theres nothing wrong with that, but its just not our vibe. The world doesn’t need another mopey rock band wearing dark skinny jeans and leather jackets!
We’ll be headlining the Garage Attic in Glasgow on 10th December with some awesome support acts including Cloud House. We’ve just finished recording two new songs for next year, one of which will be part of a big collaboration album project we’ve started. Its going to be an album featuring some of the best up-and-coming indie acts in Glasgow, with each act contributing one unreleased single to the album. Its going to be amazing. |
Thursday, November 25, 2021
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
DJ Interviews: Shena
Hey there all here's my interview with singer Shena
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
DJ Interviews: The Welcoming
Hey guys here's my interview with The band The Welcoming
A childhood friend had a drum kit and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Although my dad is a musician, he was understandably not excited about the prospect of me playing drums in the house. But I badgered him until he caved in and bought one.
Then, I started trying to play along to songs I liked at the time. Over the years I've done the same with guitar and bass. I've never had formal lessons, but I always try and learn something from musicians I respect.
Who are your inspirations or influences?
I have a bunch of influences, but I think the ones that came out most for The Welcoming are Thrice, A Perfect Circle, and Cave In. It's also been compared to Tool and Porcupine Tree.
After going down a progressive metal rabbit hole for about a decade, I wanted to revisit my early 2000s roots.
What advice would you offer aspiring performers?
Play music because you love it, not to get rich.
How do you set yourselves apart from other bands?
I think a lot of current heavy bands are either trying make the most technical and/or brutal music possible, or mindless radio friendly active rock. My mindset was to not worry about any of that, and just focus on writing good songs that are fun to play and listen to.
Also, my lyrics are thoughtful and I'm not afraid to write about controversial issues. There are songs about the capitalist rat race (Orchestrators of War), forcing religion on kids (Righteous), the Trump cult (The Messiah), Black Lives Matter (Obsidian), and getting into bad faith arguments with conspiracy theorists (The Master of Debate). Heavy music is supposed to piss some people off, so if I had something to write about, I just went for it.
Then again, there are also songs where the lyrics simply tell a fun story (Mountain Heir, Final Operation). And even with my pissed off songs, I try to be respectfully pissed off.
I honestly think that if you're a fan of rock or metal, you'll find something you like.
Any new gigs or albums in the future?
No gigs yet! Decayed | Remade was written as a solo album, but I'm in the early stages of putting a band together so I can play songs from it live. And my hope is for the next batch of recordings to feature ideas and input from the people that wind up in the band.
Monday, November 22, 2021
DJ Interviews: Blyss V
Heres my interview with Blyss V
Sunday, November 21, 2021
Saturday, November 20, 2021
DJ Interviews: Ruhum
Hey there guys, here's my interview with singer Ruhum
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Monday, November 15, 2021
Sunday, November 14, 2021
Into the wild-lyrics
Saturday, November 13, 2021
Friday, November 12, 2021
DJ Intervoews: Unknown Reality
Here's my interview with Unknown Reality who shared their musical origins
Thursday, November 11, 2021
DJ Interviews: Xayvier The Second
Here's my interview with a musician who calls himself Xayvier The Second who had the pleasure of sharing his musical beginns
1: Music has always been a major part of my life but more importantly I have always considered myself a poet first. When i was 15 i decided to take my passion for poetry to the next level by releasing music on YouTube working with other producers. At that time i didn't know much on producing original beats but I knew that would be something i wanted to learn and so I got to work, teaching myself how to play the piano and guitar. Though it took some time and life threw many hurdles, I knew what my gift was and i knew i had to share it with others.
Sunday, November 7, 2021
Friday, November 5, 2021
DJ Interviews: KTB Castong
Here's my interview with KTB
Wolf, songwriter (music and lyrics), front man and acoustic guitar started around on 2011.
He worked with some arrangers starting to learn how to arrange and how to work in a recording studio.
At the same time he studied movie direction, shooting techniques, how to write subjects and film-scripts, editing and post production.
After around 3 years Wolf met The Eye who joined the band taking care about website, graphics and merchandising: The Eye of what there is behind.
After around another 2 years Wolf met The Wizard who joined the band as arranger, sound technician and keyboards: The Wizard of the Sound.
Wolf and The Wizard studied for around 1 year the sound of the band: not the arrangement of the first song but the sound that the Kill The Beast Band had to have.
The Kill The Beast Band has been launched after around 8 years of tough work: they are on the market since 2018.
Now they are a Rock Band & Record Label connecting Music and Cinema: for each song they have a cover and a video mini-movie style.
Every song is a single, they don’t make any song just to fulfill a CD.
They believe in both Music and Contents: Rock '70-'80 style (A Wall of Sound!) with lyrics speaking about true life.
On the Air in many Radios and Magazines in Italy, California (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clarita and others), UK (London, Lankaster, Manchester, Daventry, Portsmouth and others), Wyoming (Sheridan and others), Oklahoma (Norman and others), Illinois (Chicago and others), Florida (Tampa and others), Michigan (Detroit, Owosso and others), Tennessee (Nashville and others), Texas (El Paso), New Mexico (Albuquerque), Canada (Montréal in Québec, Mississauga and Barrie in Ontario, Lethbridge in Alberta and others), Brazil (Natal), Germany (Stuttgart) and Spain (Córdoba).
Kill The Beast Band Motto: Stay With Us, Share Your Soul, You Are Not Alone Anymore
Kill The Beast Band Socials:
YT: http://www.youtube.com/c/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Monday, November 1, 2021
The DJ's birthday playlist
Hey everyone tits a very special day, My birthday so lets all celebrate with some tunes!!
What I'm made of- Crush 40
What I'm Made Of by Crush 40 - Last Boss Ver. 2: Metal Overlord (from Sonic Heroes) - YouTube
Stand Out Tevin Cambell
Janet Jackson Runaway
Janet Jackson - Runaway - YouTube
Jamiroquai- Alright
Alright (Remastered) - YouTube
Skye Sweetman -Into Action
(Let's Get Movin') Into Action - Skye Sweetnam
Jamiroquai- Canned Heat
Jamiroquai - Canned Heat - YouTube
Ranicd Ruby Soho
Rancid - Ruby Soho lyrics - YouTube
Quincy Jones- Tomorrow
Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me) - YouTube
My Chemical Romance- Na Na Na
Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) - YouTube
Nirvana Smells like teen spirit
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Official Music Video) - YouTube
Joan Jett- I love rock n roll!
Vixen0 Rev it up
Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child (Wild One) - YouTube
Giant- Believer
Giant - I'm a Believer - YouTube
Steve Vai- I would love to
Steve Vai - I Would Love To - YouTube