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On their way to Charlotte for a show Wednesday night, the band wanted to make a stop in New Bern to play for Bob 93.3, the local Top 40 radio station which has been very supportive of the group since their first album dropped in 2007.

Stretch opened up at noon playing a variety of originals and covers, including a combination in which he substituted his own lyrics into Rehab’s ‘Bartender Song.’ He will have an album coming out in 2010.

We the Kings arrived shortly before one o’clock ready to get started. They took a few minutes to catch up with locals they met less than a year ago when playing Bob’s Acoustic Christmas show in Decemeber 2008 at Hooligan’s of Jacksonville. Following a brief but enthusiastic introduction by Bob 93.3 personalities Gina Gray, Hollywood and Crystal Legends, Clark and Thomsen took to the stage, playing without bandmates Drew Thomsen and Dan Duncan as it was to be a short set.

Short or not, the many fans crowded the stage, singing along to every tune, especially as Clark let his own vocals fall away during the chorus of ‘Check Yes Juliet,’ the band’s first hit single from the 2007 album.

The group has a new album, Smile Kid, coming out soon on the heels of success from the latest single, ‘Heaven Can Wait,’ and a series of sold-out shows on their current tour.

Rumor has it, the group may be back to the area around the time of the album’s release.

“Yeah, I’ve heard the rumor we’re playing here again soon,” Thomsen confirmed.

Check back for more on We the Kings to come!

The show, brought to you by Top 40 radio station Bob 93.3, is an exclusive Listener Lounge, which means if you want to stop by to check it out, you better get cozy with Bob!

Details:
Stretch will open at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 21st, with We The Kings following shortly thereafter.

To get in, visit http://www.bob933.com/ and sign up there.

They rocked Hooligan’s of Jacksonville last December. Now it’s time to bring the fun to New Bern!

But today ‘new music’ applies moreso than other release days. Found, the highly-anticipated debut album from Wind-up recording artists Push Play,  dropped in stores and online today.

Some of you may remember back on July 14th when the foursome stopped by to play a small set at The Diamond Club in New Bern as a special treat for Bob 93.3 listeners.

Many people didn’t know what to expect. Push Play’s first single was all anybody knew of the band. The single, ‘Midnight Romeo,’ although incredibly catchy and instantly addicting, was coming from a record label known for acts such as Creed, Seether and Thriving Ivory and the sugary-pop track set to a dance beat didn’t seem to fit. As if to throw people off even more, the four high school friends, now ages 19 and 20, showed up looking as young as half the fans in the crowd.

But the gracious and extremely talented group proved to everybody that musically they are on par with all of the label’s elite. Jumping out of a van after a marathon day of nineteen hours of driving and playing multiple shows everywhere from D.C. to New Bern, they needed no time before settling onstage and diving into it. And that’s when it became clear. Wind-up doesn’t care what category the music occupies, as long as it’s good. And these guys were good.

As for the new album, it confounds the situation by revealing a solidly-pop group with range and depth, to bounce from the brash ‘Midnight Romeo’ to the soulful ‘Where I Belong.’

Lead singer C.J. Baran, guitarist Steve Scarola, bassist Nick Deturris and drummer Derek Ries still have some growing to do but of all the pop acts that seem to flood the scene everyday, Push Play stands out.

And they are honest enough to acknowledge they have growing to do, which is why the group chose Wind-up to be their musical home.

“Wind-up is the perfect record label,” said Baran. “We shopped around. We spent a good four months just visiting record labels, having meetings with them, getting to see how their personalities were and what they were doing with other bands. And one thing Wind-up has that every other label doesn’t is care. They really care about their bands. They only sign a select amount of them and the ones they do sign they really nurture and grow from a baby band to a big band.”

When asked where they fit on that spectrum, Push Play figure they’re right around the musical equivalent of toddlers.

“We’re slightly above baby band, but we’ve just started walking now. We’re in the midst of potty training as we speak,” Baran jokes.  

Very few bands have the luxury of shopping around, so why were Push Play special?

They used MySpace to build up a solid fanbase, broke records with sold-out live shows in New York City, and made it to the 32 spot on the iTunes pop chart with a basement recording. And they did it all as an unsigned, independent act.

With business-savvy purpose, the group continues to tailor their efforts to reach the maximum number of people.

For example, although most of the songs revolve around love and related themes, the musicality of the tracks vary, covering a range of genres, which was done accidentally on purpose.

“We have a bunch of different genres and whatever radio is doing at the time, we’ll have a single to match it,” said Baran.

“We joke around that this is our greatest hits CD even though it’s our first album,” said Scarola.

“We like to write songs that aren’t targeted to only one market,” Deturris said. ”Songs that whether you’re 8 or 60 you’ll enjoy them.”

“And relate to them,” adds Baran.

 Formerly known as Neon Knights, a name they desperately wanted to change, the band came up with the new-and-improved name, Push Play, accidentally.

“So it was about three years ago,” said Ries. ”We were driving in my car trying to come up with a really cool name. We’re throwing around a couple ideas. So we’re driving and we put a CD in and the CD jammed. We all started screaming ‘push play, push play.’ And we were like, ‘That’s it.’

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To find out more or give them a listen, check out their myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/pushplayrox

Push Play’s Found can be ‘found’ in stores and is also available on iTunes.

Monday night in Cary at Booth Amphitheatre, three amazing acts will take the stage, and I can attest to this from personal experience. Carolina Liar will kick things off followed by OneRepublic and Rob Thomas.

Carolina Liar, fronted by vocalist Chad Wolf, who spent some time growing up in Morehead City, paid a visit to New Bern last May to play at Bob 93.3’s studio for a handful of fans. In a short acoustic set, I was hooked.

Since then, I and everyone else who listens to the radio or watches television has heard this band. Their first single, ‘Show me what I’m looking for,’ has been heard everywhere including Overstock.com commercials, on over a half dozen tv shows and sports broadcasts, and in the movie trailer for The Time Traveler’s Wife. In fact, tracks from the band’s debut album, Coming to Terms, have made appearances in almost every hit show on The CW Network, home of Gossip Girl and 90210.

OneRepublic is the group behind the 2007 smash hit ‘Apologize,’ which was reproduced by Timbaland and included on his last album Timbaland Presents Shock Value. OneRepublic’s debut album, Dreaming Out Loud, also featured the group’s follow-up hit ‘Stop and Stare.’ Last year, OneRepublic opened for John Mayer at Raleigh’s Walnut Creek Pavilion, a show I attended. I wasn’t the only one in the audience who walked out afterward thinking that OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder stole the show. At one point, Tedder was flawlessly playing two keyboards simultaneously as his voice rang out in an array of flying lights. I assure you, OneRepublic puts on one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen.

Finally, we have the headliner, Rob Thomas. Granted, I have only seen him in concert as front man of Matchbox Twenty but that show was a vivid display of showmanship as he commanded an audience of thousands in a Chicago arena. As a solo artist, he has two albums to his name. The latest, Cradlesong, features the current hit single ‘Her Diamonds.’

But don’t take my word for it. Recently, I checked in with Chad Wolf, who couldn’t be more excited about this show and being back in the Carolinas.

“The whole band show is so rowdy, especially now,” said Wolf. “This tour we got a lot more, like bigger amplifiers and everything really. This is the biggest tour we’ve done yet so it’s really, really going to be fun.

“The whole show is going to be really good. OneRepublic do some really incredibly lighting in the whole show. It’s one of those things where if you can get out early enough to see everybody play, everybody does a full performance. It’s not just a show with one band. Everybody is playing into a whole evening together. It’s going to be one of those shows that rarely happens where you actually get what you pay for. It’s a real value for the money.”

Over these past summer months since their visit to New Bern and Bob 93.3, Carolina Liar has been around the world and back again in a whirlwind of shows and accumulating success.

“We’ve been traveling out of control. It’s hard to conceptualize everything that’s happened. We went to Ireland to play a festival and we figured no one would know who we were. But 5,000 kids showed up. All of a sudden, it went from 200 to 5,000 kids underneath the tent. It was really one of those moments where we went, ‘Is this really happening right now?’”

What’s really happening is an incredible show tomorrow night, Monday Sept. 28th, in Cary. These are three amazing acts coming together to do what has become rather unusual these days - a real collaboration for the fans. Don’t miss it!

You’ve been warned!

For details and to book tickets:

http://www.boothamphitheatre.com/concerts.htm#rob

One of those musicians was a new face to the Twin Rivers music scene, because he was actually from the LA music scene.

Visiting his father, a New Bern resident, 24-year-old Freddy Scott couldn’t go a day without playing and thus found his way to Mickey Milligan’s usual Tuesday Open Mic Nite with Wick. As Scott played and mingled with the local musicians, who can sometimes be found playing musical chairs as they form and reform bands, they offered him a seat.

“I got here Tuesday night and I went to Milligan’s and they were playing so I jammed with them,” Scott said.

Playing since he was a kid, first the sax and then guitar, Scott went on to get his degree in recording engineering and jazz. Then, he took his dreams to LA, where he’s now a music professional, whether working as a mixing engineer for EMI or freelancing as a songwriter and producer.

“As a songwriter, I will take a concept the artist will give me or I’ll just present one to them and they’ll take that and use it. As a producer, I’ll take concepts that are already made and beef them up. Production is really just the art of making something better, more radio-friendly.”

But when it comes down to it, Scott’s heart is and always will be in playing.

“It’s fun to walk into a club in LA or whatever and hear something you’ve written or produced. It’s a cool feeling and I like being behind the scenes. But like any musician, the only thing you really, really, really love is to play music in front of people, whether that be sitting in a little cafe playing jazz with my friends or playing big shows like Warped Tour. When you have your gear and have your guitar on or whatever and you’re all set up and people are waiting for you to play, that’s the best feeling!”

Although he often works too as a floating guitarist, filling in at shows for various acts, Scott now has a group of his own with which to play.

“I also have my own group. It’s not me, but it’s one of the strongest projects that I run. It’s called City Archaic and we just did an album in the studio last year with some friends. Andy Hurley, the drummer for Fall Out Boy, did our drums for us, and Jon Weisberg is a guitar player that used to be in a band called From First to Last back in the day. All the guys are so good and we finished this album.

“So this is the band that I’m in, in in. The other ones I just sit in more as a freelance player.”

When he talks about City Archaic, Scott lights up. There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he played the band’s tracks in between jam sessions at Mesh, sitting in a corner to scope out reactions to the music.

“I look to see who is bobbing their head or tapping their foot, the subconscious tells that let me know they like it,” he explains later.

That night at Mesh, as City Archaic was preparing for their now-passed album release party back in LA (Scott flew back just in time for the big event), plenty of people were giving away the subconscious tells as the heavy melodic rock music, never heard before by a single patron, fit in perfectly with the mood, highlighting a very real craving for a carpe diem life with a beat that moved the masses.

The album, Live for Today, delivers the suggested theme with song titles such as ‘Survival,’ ‘Press On’ and ‘Forget Tomorrow’ with features including a full sound with tight play, meaningful lyrics, and affected vocals. Lead vocalist Ace Alexander possesses a chameleon-like voice that can be at once familiar and brand new.

With the successful album release party on Sept. 11th, City Archaic, with their album now available on iTunes, is meeting with record labels currently and enjoying their moment on the precipice of vast potential.

For Scott, it is what moving to LA was all about.

“There’s a big fantasy associated with doing things creatively with your life or being an artist. In LA, it’s not a fantasy anymore. It’s a reality. It hit me like, ‘Wow, it’s not just a fantasy town.’ If you work your ass off, you can make it real.

“I’m lucky. It’s definitely my life. It’s not a job. It’s more like a pain in my side. When I wake up every morning, I have to be productive in some way. It’s like I’m here, on vacation, just hanging out and I have to play music.”

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You can check out City Archaic here:
http://www.myspace.com/cityarchaic

Or you can purchase the album Live for Today on iTunes.

Hitting a stride, the band’s latest effort is solid, albeit no Vena Sera, their fourth album which is widely believed to be their best.

Don’t let the title of the album and certain songs, such as ‘Roswell’s Spell,’ fool you. Although science fiction is a running theme, it is mainly used in an allegorical sense.

Meanwhile, the first single off the album, ‘Jars,’ has reached the six spot on the Billboard rock chart, making it’s biggest gains in radio play this week.

Bottom line: If you are a rock fan, and a Chevelle fan, you owe it to yourself to give this album a listen.

The artist is Mandi Perkins and the album, Alice in No Man’s Land, has become one of my go-tos when I feel in need of a shot of perspective.

It’s a surprising blend of rock and soul that ranges in mood from confusion to bitterness to unabashed vulnerablility and back again while always maintaining pure honesty and a ‘This too shall pass’ tone of confidence.

With every track, just as she seems to be held down or broken by the world, or certain people within the world, Perkins manages always to push back, coming out at the end with a lesson learned and a strengthened sense of admirable self-awareness.

This balance of feeling, understanding and the beautiful way the words wind into captivating lyrics is instantly explained by Perkins’ unusual background, unusual for the music industry anyway.

“I started writing and singing when I was super young and I always knew in the back of my head that I wanted to go into songwriting and being a singer,” said Perkins, during a recent interview. “I didn’t know exactly what genre or how I would get there but I knew I wanted to get to California. But I also have several other interests. I love school, I love academia.”

Choosing to have the best of both worlds, Perkins attended UC Berkeley for undergraduate studies in English Literature, gaining proximity to the music industry while graduating with honors.

Following college, Perkins moved to Los Angeles where she attended law school and simultaneously began pursuing a career in music. In case you’re curious, she passed the State Bar of California but has absolutely no interest in practicing law.

“I went to Berkeley where you learn how to be subjective, like what does that tree mean and why is it a big deal. And then a week after you graduate you go to law school and you learn how to be objective, like that is a tree. And you learn how to think back and you kind of incorporate that into your songwriting. School only helps you. I’ve always known that I was going to go to school. I love being a singer but you can do it. You can do both things.”

Proving that education is a tool for improving in any chosen field, Perkins explains that both her degree in English Literature and law school studies have made her a better singer-songwriter.

“The subjective and the objective totally helped me be a little more of a well-rounded writer. You’re not just stating all your emotions that are very specific to you. You take a specific situation and generalize it so the most people possible can get something out of it. I write for myself initially but the ultimate goal is to hopefully be a catharsis for other people and help other people through the work.”

“I’m a songwriter that wants people to take whatever they want out of a song that applies to their own life. The thing about school is it helped me to be able to find a way to communicate more effectively for the most part.”

Many singer-songwriters have yet to make this crucial realization that opening up the material to bring more people into the fold makes the work invaluably more relevant and purposeful, something for which Perkins strives and achieves on this album.

Continuing with the well-rounded theme, Perkins couples her words with a stunning melodic rock sound that rises and falls with the drama of the moment.

“It’s a really good combination of what’s traditonally been known as singer-songwriter with more of a 2009-2010 pop rock sensibility, which I would say makes it melodic rock,” Perkins explains.

Taking advantage of every resource, seemingly living and breathing her music, Perkins has worked with a number of the music industry’s best and brightest, from management, including Jeff Rosen, a longtime associate of Bob Dylan, to fellow musicians, such as Ryan Tedder, the embodiment of One Republic, who brought us the hits ‘Apologize’ and ‘Stop and Stare’ and with whom she collaborated for this album.

Whether alone or collaborating, often Perkins writes the lyrics and music in tandem, which is presumably why the emotion flows so coherently throughout the songs on the album.

“For the writing process, I write almost everyday,” said Perkins. “And I usually write when I’m angry or upset about something. So I have lyrics. And then sometimes I’ll pull out my guitar and write a melody over it. Other times I’ll just take the words to somebody that is really good at music, like a Ryan Tedder, and I’ll tell them about the situation. I’ll explain to them what the lyrics mean. They’ll bust out some chords and I’ll write songs over it. So it’s usually a pretty fast process for the most part. Ryan is a great example - he’s amazing to work with, super talented.”

“So for ‘Why Pretend,’ I was like, ‘You know Ryan, one of my best friends cheats on one of my other best friends. Everybody knows about it, including the girl he cheats on but she wants to marry him anyway for some reason. And I’m a bad friend to her because I haven’t mentioned it and said what are you doing dude. I’m a bad friend to him because I’m not pulling him aside and saying what are you doing dude.’ So I said, ‘I’m having this issue and I really feel bad about it.’ He started busting out these chords on piano and we worked on it for like five minutes. It went from piano to guitar in the studio and that’s it.”

“For the most part, I’ve found that the songs that are the catchiest and that resonate the most with people are usually written in about ten minutes.”

Despite the swift writing process, the professional road has been bumpy for Perkins. And yet, with life imitating art, or vice versa if you want to be technical about it, Perkins has managed to find a silver lining with every detour and spin every harsh critique into gold.

Implying she is simply a derivitive, some critics have called her ’just another Alanis Morissette’ but Perkins takes it as a compliment.

“If people think I’m another Alanis, then that’s amazing,” Perkins said. ”Because she sold like 25 million records. She broke ground for so many girls out there. She entered into a guys world where obviously it’s harder for a woman to get into. And she’s dope! She said what people wanted to say but couldn’t say, or what people didn’t even know they wanted to say. So when people say that about me, it’s a massive compliment.”

Hitting the point home, she did an inspired cover of Morissette’s ‘Hands Clean.’ To see a rehearsal video of this, check out the link: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=15507377

Beyond the critics, Perkins had the unfortunate timing to sign onto a Sony BMG sub label just in time for it to collapse quite nearly concurrent with the release of Alice in No Man’s Land. This meant very little promotion and thus the record never had much of a chance to shine in the vast music market. Always with the upside, Perkins could be heard on a few MTV shows, was named a Yahoo Music ‘Who’s Next’ artist, and walked away from the label with the rights to the masters from the album and two music videos that had been shot.

“I haven’t fully gotten that record out, which is a little frustrating sometimes but you hit the road, you try to reach as many people as possible, you spread it as big as you can on the internet, and you just go out and do the best you can.”

Currently Perkins is on the ‘It’s All Happening Tour,’ a national summer tour hitting both coasts and named for a quote from her favorite movie, Almost Famous. Also, she is working on material for a new album she plans to begin recording in October, realizing it is time to move on as the first anniversary of the release of Alice comes this month. 

“I’ve written so many songs since then. I’m fired up about the new music! So I’m just going to take Alice, spend the rest of the summer on it, give it some time in the sun and a tan, and then move on.”

As she continues to trudge along, it’s clear that Perkins has much more to say and is ready to be heard.

And one day, everybody will know Mandi Perkins is not ‘just another’ anybody.

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I may be reached anytime by leaving a comment on this post. To listen to Mandi Perkins for yourself or to find a tour date near you, visit her myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/mandiperkins

kill-mercy-video

As for my personal faith, most Christians would consider me a non-believer. I do not go to church nor do I subscribe to the Bible as fact or in any way a guiding light in my life.

Having grown up in the Bible Belt, I have been turned off by religion, although I find that I identify with the principles of Buddhism in many ways.

So here I was at one of the largest Christian events in eastern North Carolina surrounded by… music lovers?

Sure, there was talk of faith and Jesus, but the music stood on it’s own. And while interviewing one of my sources for the story, I was reminded yet again why I love music so much.

Music brings people together. Now, I don’t mean to get hokie here but music is quite simply the greatest way to reach across all barriers and boundaries to shine a light on the commonalities within humanity. When you listen to music, you are connecting with the artist or their ideas in an experience that can be shared throughout the world.

Here I was, bobbing my head and tapping my toe with hundreds of people, some of whom were a lot like me with respect to religion. They just liked the music.

In this society, engaging strangers can often be regarded as inappropriate. But at concerts, people dance with strangers, talk to strangers, sing with strangers. I go to concerts and often look around me to see the many different ages, styles and colors of people that surround me. It is a little reminder that despite our differences, we have similarities too.

There was a great deal of talk on this same issue upon news of Michael Jackson’s death. Many pointed out that he used music and dance to break through the cultural barrier of race. This is just one of many examples of music crossing cultural lines to bring people together.

So turn on the radio, and maybe flip to a station you haven’t listened to before. Go buy a CD or download music online, legally.

The music industry, like many others, is facing a downturn that threatens the integrity of musical talent yet to be heard.

Supporting music, whether it be local music or national acts, and artist development will ensure that our greatest tool for uniting stays strong for the future. Who knows, maybe if U2 infiltrated North Korea and Iran, we could knock those two worries off our list!