Blink 182 has just released this exclusive charity T-shirt in light of the recent earthquake and dire need of assistance in Haiti. At just $15, all of the proceeds (yes that is 100%) will go to the Red Cross. That’s right, you can help make a difference and for doing so Blink 182 will send you this awesome tshirt in recognition. Every little bit helps.
To buy this tshirt head on over to Blink’s merch store at
To celebrate the release of their latest album, ‘Sainthood’, Tegan and Sara announced a European tour, the oh so imaginatively named Sainthood tour. On the 14th November, the two girls along with their band and their crew, and a very strange supporting act that went by the name Astronautalis, rolled into Manchester. The line outside (I’ve heard) began at some point around midday. I hope you all remember the times where you’d queue for hours to see your favourite bands, because the girls at the front of this queue weren’t your typical 14 year olds with nothing better to do than wait for hours to see their favourite band, they battled through the atrocious rain that seemed to appear every time Tegan and Sara step foot in Manchester, and kept their place at the front of the queue (while some of us were smart enough to go find somewhere warm, for an all you can eat chinese buffet).
Now the thing I’ve noticed when it comes to Tegan and Sara’s support acts, is that you never really know what you’re going to find when the first ‘band’ hits the stage. Last year, on their spring tour, we were graced with Northern State, and on their one off London and Glasgow shows, you had An Horse. This time, a white guy, in a shirt and tie that looked nothing more than a sound check guy strolled onto the stage with his macbook in hand and began to rap, advising people to steal from their friends and to drop out of college, only to later inform them that everything he had said onstage up until that point was a lie. Though his degree in ‘lighting design’ had thus far gotten him nowhere, after all, he was stood infront of several hundred girls, and a few guys, rapping his way through his set and reminiscing about his friendship with Tupac Shakur. This guys name was ‘Astronautalis’ whom you can check out here. I can probably say that 99% of the room, those of us that weren’t at the London show the night before, were stood, jaws dropped at the sight of this guy putting his heart and soul into something so ridiculous and entertaining, and being so humbled to be on tour with Tegan and Sara.
Tegan and Sara, the two sisters who can put on more than a show, they took the stage next. And I’m pretty sure that their show is so obscenely long purely so that they can fill it with their unprepared banter and chats with the crowd. They came on to the sounds of Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, bursting straight into the Con. Two competely contrasting styles of music, but with these girls, they can get away with murder. I won’t say much about their set, considering it was made up of oldies and new songs that were a delight to everybodies ears because, the way they perform is something magic. But the real treat when you go to a Tegan and Sara show is how completely entertaining they are, and how personal they make it. With a drunk girl screaming ‘you wot you wot’ up to the stage, and Sara taking this as an opportunity to engage with the crowd and mock the girl completely harmlessly, you can’t help but love them. Little anecdotes between songs, that usually come from Tegan have the crowd laughing ridiculously, especially when we hear all about Tegan’s fear of bees and how this resulted in a broken window in one of her first apartments. Hint: girlfriend, shoe, Tegan screaming. Sara’s own attempt at giving some sort of background story behind one of their new songs meant the crowd twisted her words, embarrassing her, Tegan saying she wasn’t being embarrassed, that the hairflip was because she was being slutty, “this isn’t even about Christina, it’s about her mom!” Out of all of the times that I’ve seen these girls, I can say that in a smaller venue they shine more than ever, and I can promise you, if you go to a Tegan and Sara show, you’ll have a hard time not laughing.
See more photos from the show here, keep up with their tour goings on here, and see their upcoming shows in Europe, Canada and the states here.
…Sorry I just lost my train of thought.
Lol.
Lol. Jk. Cut That. Do you think the whole practice redefines the parameter of who can be a live performer or is it just another means?It’s just another creative means. Like I said, fuck, it’s exciting. Music wants to always be progressive and things like that so you don’t always want to use the same things. You can switch it up. Like the album we’re working on right now? There’s a little bit of autotune but not much. Just a little bit. I actually like a little bit of the hip hop vocal settings on there. That’s fun for the background.
If your music was my exboyfriend why did we break up?
I broke up by cumming on your face and telling you to go fuck yourself you can die get hit by a bus, thank you bye! I love to be obscene.
Buddy: (rambling about something) *gets something thrown at head* Whoa, what was that? *looks around, finds it, picks it up* Which one of you fucking…what? … Is this a vibrator? Dude, it’s a motherfucking vibrator. Well, I’m a little drunk right now, so that didn’t hurt as much as it should have.
- A few songs later -
Buddy: So, I haven’t been hit with anything for three or four songs, so I’m feeling pretty confident right now.
Bahah I fucking love him.
funniest
On Brand New Eyes, Paramore might have gotten around to taking off their training wheels, but they only have scraped knees to show for it.
The band’s third studio album is their most mature effort yet. However, I’m not convinced that Paramore (particularly frontwoman Hayley Williams) has the chops or drive to reach post-pubescence. Technically, the playing has improved. The guitars in particular have been refined and speak to guitarist Josh Farro’s developing skills. No, they haven’t made musical leaps and bounds, but Paramore offer up more than power chords. It’s a shame that Williams’ lyrics and voice had nothing to contribute.
Brand New Eyes, to my understanding of the hype, was intended to be the band’s most personal record to date. Williams’ voice just lacks the emotion to make me believe that. When she sings “I’d never trade it in/’Cause I’ve always wanted this” on “Looking Up,” I don’t buy it; her emotionless delivery on “The Only Exception”, a love song, makes me think she doesn’t even believe in love. Either she sings with absolutely no conviction, or the Auto-Tune just distracts heavily from it.
During the writing process, Williams admitted to “internal issues” within the band. This comes as no surprise when listening to the resulting record. It might be awkward to listen to a singer who doesn’t believe in her own lyrics, but it’s downright uncomfortable when the band behind her actually seems to care.
“Ignorance” is the one song on which the band comes together. Ironically enough, it’s also the only point on Brand New Eyes where Paramore sticks to its roots. Williams’ voice isn’t edited to sound uncharacteristically feminine, and fans and critics alike could have predicted the riffs that drive the song.
It’s alright, Paramore. I didn’t take ditch the training wheels until I was thirteen. You have a while to go but plenty of time. — L.
——
For titling an album BRAND NEW EYES there was nothing new to see about PARAMORE’s latest album. I would say ‘hear’ but that would imply actually listening and was something I wholly forgot I was doing time and time again. Normally I’d love to give a breakdown of songs that stood out as hits, misses, and had-potential-but-didn’t-quite-pull-throughs except that BRAND NEW EYES was so stagnant and unimpressive the only impression I was left with was that while the guitar playing may have neatened itself up a little bit they threw on autotune, diddled a bit with Williams’ voice (as in every second of the entire album), doodled out ‘lyrics’ with crayons, and proceeded to string together the most incomprehensible uninspired thing to ever be deemed an album. Part of me is still completely convinced that Williams managed to get through the entire album without actually singing, at least until she finally belted for a few seconds All I Wanted Was You. And like a misplaced period it simply end.s
PARAMORE was single handedly— and quite artfully, I must say— able to write, record, and release an album that not only fails to evoke, but is completely devoid, of emotion. Being able to so completely craft something I couldn’t even pretend to have feelings about one way or the other (I don’t like it, I don’t hate it, fuck I don’t even remember it) is truly impressive. So props to you PARAMORE for your less than lackluster album BRAND NEW EYES. — H.
Reading Festival opened it’s gates on Wednesday 26th evening to thousands of happy campers completely stoked on three days of pure live music and partying in fields, that for the most part of the year act as a livestock farm but for these few days they serve as camping grounds an a place to get fucked up and have an all round good time for those lucky enough to get their hands on a weekend ticket for this festival. However, I’d be here all year if I was going to attempt to write about every band that played (plus it wasn’t physically possible to watch all of the bands on the line-up) so instead, you get a review of a select few of the bands that I actually paid attention to.
Friday kicked off to the sounds of Manchester Orchestra on the Radio 1/NME stage and from the point of view of somebody who saw them play a 200 capacity venue two and a half years ago, to see them play to a few thousand people was pretty damn wonderful, especially since Andy Hull in true form with his giant beard was pouring his heart and soul into the performance, though they didn’t really play any old songs, or well, none that I recognised from I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child, the band’s debut album (though being fair, they had only played the festival two years before and possibly covered all of that back then) but you could tell they were genuinely enjoying themselves, especially the moment the broke out into I’ve Got Friends. You couldn’t possibly pick flaws from their set, especially given that they’re a band that aren’t quite so well known in the UK and their set time was 12:45pm, and really, that was probably when people were starting to roll out of their tents.
Next up were Funeral For a Friend gracing the mainstage and though their set was plagued with problems, they made the very most of it. Basically, a few songs into their set and the rain wasn’t letting up (not that it was severe, but apparently
Britain can’t deal with a few drops) and the power cut out. So much to the bands despair they hung around the stage for a little while trying to figure out what the fuck was going, and walked off leaving the drummer to keep the crowd entertained with some drumfills while they sorted out whatever problems had arisen. And though they had to cut their set a few songs short, it was almost godlike when the sun began to shine again for the band and the equipment all finally began to work. Though to be honest, Matt’s hick mustache and mullet hair is starting to worry me.
Taking the mainstage right after Funeral For a Friend were Fall Out Boy and if I’m completely honest, I was peaking drunk point at this moment in time, but I enjoyed it all the same. Even though they had to deal with all of the problems regarding Patrick Stump’s arrest and what have you, the proceeded to make a joke out of it, not even skirting around the subject when Patrick Stump piped up with “I went to jail!” and Pete refering to Stump’s experience as his “dream come true.” They had the crowd laughing, even those that were waiting for the next band on stage, and even those that were ripping into people that were waiting to watch Fall Out Boy. Overall, they were impressive, and honestly, after seeing their performance I can’t really dislike Wentz much anymore, even if he acts more like a chimp in person than on screen.
After this it was a trundle over to the Lock Up stage where you could catch Anti Flag doing their bit. And honestly, this was one of the highlights of the weekend for me, but that might have just been because I’d been waiting years to see them after having vivid memories of being a preteen and playing playstation to the sounds of this band. And even if on my way into the tent I heard shouts of “let Billy Talent on already” it just started to amuse me of the fact that people can’t appreciate a good punk band every now and then. But it was nice to see a band so humbled to be on a stage following bands like Leftover Crack and The Bouncing Souls who were there from the beginning, dispelling all of the “sexism, racism, and homophobic bullshit”. Still they joked around with the crowd, making jokes out of people on the front row with their hat turned to the side by saying things as “I’m sorry sir but I feel that if you can’t put your hat on the right way I don’t feel like you can count to four. So we gotta practice it.” Knowing full well that he’d be wrong and offering him a “kiss on the mouth” for an apology.
Friday was meant to be wrapped up watching Kings of Leon, but apparently, Reading Festival and Kings of Leon were something that was not going to get along well. A band that are known for their volatile relationship and a lead singer that likes a good drink every now and then but stops himself on stage to avoid from puking went back on their word. Caleb was out of his tree and drinking on stage and the band were completely cold and rude towards the audience. One big problem I’ve gained over the past few days is the way in which Kings of Leon behaved, it’s easy to expect that if you release two absolutely huge songs that people are going to want to hear them (especially when all you could hear in the campsites on the build up to their sets was people singing Sex on Fire), and you can’t exactly fill your set with album tracks when you’re a headlining act to a crowd of potentially tens of thousands of people and Followill lashed out to the crowd shouting things like “We know you’re sick of Kings of Leon. We’re fucking sick of Kings of Leon too. But we get up here every night and I thank God for everything I’ve had. So for all those who don’t give a fuck about us, I understand. But we’ve worked hard to be here. We’re the goddamn Kings of Leon, so fuck you.” And come on, you’re the last band on the bill, every single person in your crowd was there to see nobody but you. And leaving the stage after smashing your guitars and flipping the bird to all of those that actually bothered to stay after you blazed them, you can expect that to be damage that won’t be repaired. And really when you saw market stalls with signs on them with ‘without the uk public you’d be fucking cows in deserts’ following their set, you can tell just how annoyed people were with them.
So ‘Fuck the Kings of Leon’ was one of the chants that could be heard from the Lock Up stage whilst Billy Talent had taken the stage, and though they were shaky at the beginning of the set (though its unsurprising when a vocalist can sound so much like a screaming girl on disc) it took a while for them to warm up, and one thing I learned during this set was Rusted From The Rain is a much more intense track live than it is on the album, but the highlight of this set for me was the moment Anti Flag’s Justin Sane joined the stage for Turn Your Back. Even Kowalewicz pointed out the difference between the States and Britain when it comes to live music, and how much more the British public enjoy it. Really this night set the tone for the weekend, every single band on the bill enjoyed their time on stage (except for Kings of Leon but obviously, that’s a whole other story).
Saturday had to be my favourite day of them all, three of my favourite bands, who by the way, are all British, graced the stages, though it seemed to be a very British orientated day on the mainstage, with the only real exception being Mariachi El Bronx (also known as The Bronx, for those of you who didn’t know). Plus, that mustache on the stage while Mariachi El Bronx were playing, was pretty astounding.
For a band that had so much trouble cracking the UK public to actually pay attention to them, Fightstar proved themselves. No longer being showered with bottles because ‘that’s one of the dudes from Busted’ (that obnoxious boppy teen popband that the Jonas Brothers seem to adore so much) and no longer joked about, they had their slot on the mainstage at 12:45 and made the most of it. Getting one of the biggest pits of the whole weekend, even if you weren’t near the circle pit you knew it was going on, with the way people were kicking up dust and how completely mental people were going, it was awesome, especially how they ended on Deathcar (one of those songs that you don’t want to be anywhere near the pit for in case of actually sustaining a serious injury). Though I will say, if you want to go to a Fightstar show, make sure it’s in a smaller venue, that way you get the full effect and every single person is involved.
Enter Shikari had to be the highlight of the weekend. Honestly, if you have the
chance to see this band, it isn’t something you miss out on. Those that were lucky enough to have charge in their phone and look at twitter that morning were those that were lucky enough to know about the “intimate” secret acoustic show they were doing at 2:00pm on the BBC introducing stage. With an acoustic performance of Juggernauts and No Sleep Tonight, it was interesting to see how such a loud and rowdy band can strip their songs down to be played to a small audience in an acoustic way. And the highlight of this set, especially for me, was how the band finished on Adieu, the song that brings Take To The Skies back down to earth. Their mainstage performance was however, slightly less tame, and I’m pretty sure they were as loud as humanly fucking possible. With pits breaking out left right and centre and the arena jam packed, you’d never see a band quite so happy to be right where they were, playing classic crowd pleasers like No Sssweat and the not so tame versions of No Sleep Tonight and finishing on Juggernauts, which was complete mayhem, especially when Chris piped up asking the crowd to “break the record for the most number of people crowdsurfing over the barriers”. And I’m pretty sure that the stewards had not worked that hard in all of their life, with half of the people with their feet in the air and half of the crowd throwing them
towards the barriers, you can just see how ridiculous it was if you search for the video on youtube. They are, completely and truly, a band that you do not miss live.
The Blackout are one of my favourite bands to see live, mainly because they don’t care who they offend, with Sean Smith telling everybody to “get inside the tent you big gays” and dedicating a song “to everybody in the tent with a vagina”, if you can’t take a joke and you’re easily offended by shit like that, then they’re probably not the band for you, but for a band that came out of a tiny little village in Wales that once upon a time nobody had ever heard of, Methyr Tydfil, they’re loud and they’re obnoxious but that is honest to God why we love them. Especially with the way they’d mock their friends bands referring to Lostprophets as old men and claiming that their backs were starting to go, and shouting and raving about how Josh Franchesci of You Me at Six thought he was just too good to go and join them on stage for one song and grace that little crowd jammed in the Festival Republic tent. Sean Smith and Gavin Butler make a pretty astounding duo when they take to that stage, taking it in turns to mock the crowd and get the crowd to do stupid shit like crouch onto the floor as low as
possible and jump after the building up to a chorus, which is slightly easier in a venue setting I will admit. But they ended the night on “I’m a Riot, You’re a Fucking Riot.” Which was true facts, everybody in that tent was a fucking riot.
Sunday was started off to Kids in Glass Houses, who had only recently finished a stint of recording their new album in Texas, though really they’re not a massive band, at least not massive enough to play the mainstage, especially when their brethren are playing smaller stages than they, they still loved it. And the crowd (well the crowd that they had at 12:45 in the morning) loved it. Playing all their singles, though that was probably a move only made so those that were there just through pure interest could feel slightly included.
I’d heard mixed opinions about Brand New’s set on the Sunday, some saying that Jesse Lacey had just taken to making animal noises down his microphone and guitar pick ups. But even if I wasn’t completely optimitic about their set I will honestly say that Brand New impressed me, though the moment they started pulling out the new songs I walked away to the bar, but continued to watch from the back on a big screen. His stage presence still isn’t
up there, and Jesse Lacey ending the set by slamming his guitar down and simply saying down the microphone “thank you, we’re Brand New” is honestly, well, getting a little old. But ending on You Won’t Know will probably never ever get old. Especially when Vin Accardi hasn’t gone completely nuts being in the presence of Jesse Lacey, and can still put on a good show even if he keeps his mouth shut. Musically, they were perfect, stage presence, not so much.
It was a toss up between Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and The Gaslight Anthem and as much as I would have liked to watch Karen O dance around on stage, watching the Gaslight Anthem just seemed much more promising for a good time. And it was, with Brian Fallon running about all over the place and into the crowd to get giant foam hands and just generally making the most of playing the second biggest stage at this festival it was awesome. They started with a big track and kept the crowd engaged the entire way through the festival, even to stop to make a joke of Brand New, claiming they were nice enough guys bring them “home made cakes all the way from New York….not true but you’ll laugh anyway.” Though I’m half sure that Brian Fallon was pretty drunk through this set, not that it put a dampen on their performance, they were as lively and entertaining as ever.
Lightspeed Champion are one of those bands that are a lot more entertaining live than on CD, especially given that Dev Hynes recorded this album with Conor Oberst, but really it’s without the drugs and the drunkness that used to make Bright Eyes’ shows more appealing. However, Dev Hynes, the guitarist that was once upon a time in the oh so wonderful band Test Icicles was
, also, I made my way over to the Festival Republic tent missing the tail end of Bloc Party’s set (their vocalist was pretty wasted even though their performance was astounding). But it was completely worth it, with him asking the crowd to sing along to new songs with lines such as “kill me baby, won’t you kill me” makes me more and more excited for Lightspeed Champions new album, especially when the last album included songs about being wasted and puking in your girlfriends mouth accompanied by videos of ridiculous puppets which made me incredibly uncomfortable along with Dev Hynes’ hair. But he continued to play all the songs that people would know (had they heard of Lightspeed Champion), and they were one of the highlights of my weekend.
Lostprophets were a wonderful way to wrap up the weekend. Anybody with half a braincell would have to agree. The NME tent was rammed full, side to side front to back and was spilling out in every direction from the fact that not everybody could fit in. Though after this weekend I wasn’t feeling too well I watched part from the screen outside, and you still had every ounce of the atmosphere as you did from inside the tent. Ian Watkins is a man that knows how to tame a crowd, and knows exactly what the crowd want to see, even from members of The Blackout joining them for the last couple of songs (though it seemed that Sean Smith kind of got pushed out there and stumbled right into the thick of it) not that he took that as a problem, gracing the stage with his ridiculous thick welsh accent and a “helloooooo”. They didn’t disappoint fans from any generation, from those that followed them from the off, to those that had only jumped on the wagon at Liberation Transmission, you heard songs from Liberation Transmission to Can’t Catch Tomorrow, and there was no possible way this band could go wrong by finishing the weekend to the sounds of Burn Burn, complete with members of their good friends, The Blackout.
So this post only took forever to write out, especially after Firefox got pissed that I badmouthed Kings of Leon and crashed and ate half of my hardwork, but if you want to experience a real music festival, Reading is your best bet. And out of all of the bands I saw this weekend, my top five have to be Enter Shikari, Lostprophets, the Gaslight Anthem, the Blackout and Funeral for a Friend. And I’ll even admit that Fall Out Boy were up there until they got knocked right back down again by three of the bands on that list.
Malaysia’s state-run news agency is urging its readers to avoid homosexual sex and masturbation if they want to remain free of swine flu. An article published Sunday by Bernama, the Malaysian government news agency, singles out homosexual sex as an activity that can cause people to contract swine flu, while also emphasizing that “normal sexual union between members of the opposite sex was absolutely safe.” Quoting a Dr. V. M. Palaniappan, the article states that homosexual sex “caused the body to develop friction heat which in turn, produced acid and made the body hyperacidised.”
Okay so I love music and I love art and I love photography. And we are not going to turn this into some kind of super fantastic overly analytical political whatever blog but considering this is apparently “factual” in some part of the world I feel it kind of necessary to call bullshit. I understand values and all of that are different in different parts of the world but honestly some “doctor” is trying to go on about how scientifically swine-flu can be contracted if you go having homosexual sex? Wait okay so does that exclude lesbian sex? Maybe not scissoring but some of it I’m not really sure fits the bill for making the body “hyperacidised.”
Hell, who knows. Maybe somehow this music blog will become super political and activist but in the mean time I just have to shake my head and find some good tunes to play to remind myself that often times after birth aborting though not legal should exist. Sometimes. In extreme cases.
Now we’ve gone over what a freaking hectic bit the whole of Warped Tour in Mansfield, Massachusetts was time and again. The pouring rain. The mud. The grounds that caused kids to herd like cattle to get from one bit to another with little sense of cohesion. Trying to see your favorite band and missing out isn’t the only kind of crap luck that can happen. Press and the likes was equally busy and bogged down, and the weather didn’t help any as we all tried to get one place to another, back on time, get some photos, and interviews, and whatever else while still enjoying ourselves, too! Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to conduct this interview in person due to some mix ups but LIGHTS was kind enough to answer our questions via e-mail. Not only is she sweet as your favorite sugary treat, but she has a gorgeous voice and magnificent presence. Be sure to check out LIGHTS— she’s going to be the next big thing when her album drops.
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What does LIGHTS mean to you?
Lights is my first name.How did LIGHTS get started?
I wrote my first song when I was 11, and at 13 bought a little 8 track recording unit and started producing the songs I was writing. I got to a point where I would write and record around 13 songs every month. It was something I enjoyed doing so much, I would stay in and record in my attic like a crazy little scientist when everyone else was out and about. If you do something enough, over and over again, you’re bound to become decent at it! After years of practice, in 2005, when I was finally the most proud of my music and felt like it was finally ready, I started to put my stuff online for the world to see.If your music had a physical manifestation what would it be?
A truffle cake thing. There are so many different layers and it looks kinda like it could be messy at first but its actually really neat and tasty, and is best chilled.Has recording your debut full length differed from your ep? If so, how?
The process of making my full length was exactly the same as the ep. Just a non-rushed, non-stressful, super organic experience. Any time I had off I would go visit Tawgs or Dwave (the two I made the record with) and concoct some new songs. Or if I had a spare minute at home I’d sit down with my guitar and come up with ideas, lay them down in my two-bit home studio. After we had enough songs, we narrowed it down to the best of the best, and that was what determined when the record was done.Your full length comes out this September, what is the title and how did you arrive at it?
The album is called The Listening, which is a track off the record. Also, you can learn a lot about yourself just creating, writing and listening to music. Pretty much everything I know about myself comes from having to analyze my emotional situation, resolve it, and turn it into a song. I wanted to give people something to listen to.What song sums up LIGHTS? Favorite songs on the album?
While I wouldn’t necessarily say that it sums me up, my favourite song on the album is called “Quiet” and it’s the second last one.What is your theme song?
Probably that 8-bit Nintendo melody in Super Mario.Do you feel Warped Tour has helped you as an artist? If so, how?
Definitely! At Warped Tour you’re given 25 minutes to captivate, introduce, sum-up, and win-over an essentially entirely new crowd, in broad daylight without a soundcheck! I feel like I managed to do that with at least a few people over the course of the tour!What are the best and worst things about Warped tour? Most overrated and underrated bands on the tour?
The worst thing is the humid heat in some of the cities, I almost lost my lunch after a show in Florida. The best thing is EVERYTHING ELSE. I had a total blast on Warped. Probably though, meeting everybody after the set, all your new and old fans. That’s amazing. Most underrated band was Shad, a rapper from Canada. As for overrated, I think everybody has done at least something to deserve to be where they are. There are always bands people are calling overrated, but put yourself in their shoes, they’ve probably put in the same effort as a lot of bands out there.Advice to female (aspiring) musicians?
Never feel like you can cut corners or slack just because you’re a girl. Get good at your craft and aim to blow everyone away. And when you’re in a touring situation, make sure you make it all about the music, maintain your respect as a musician. It’s easy to be treated as a groupie but don’t let that happen.What was your real name before LIGHTS? Why was it changed?
Diana Prince. I changed it so that people wouldn’t discover I was Wonder Woman. That would surely overshadow my musical career.What are your tattoos of and what do they mean to you?
To name a few, my back piece depicts Wonder Woman fighting Giganta (a 300-foot woman). It says to me that small people can take on big things! On my lower stomach there is a life-sized lazer gun in the colours of my full-length record, purple and yellow. It’s the same lazer gun that the character I created with Tomm Coker of Marvel comics (short ‘Capt. Lights’ episodes coming soon!) always bears.Favorite gaming console? Favorite games? How old were you when you started playing World of Warcraft?
As much as I love xbox (I play Deadspace and Mortal Kombat vs. Dc Universe) I would have to say my favourite console is the DS, simply because it’s the greatest companion on van tours (aka. almost all my tours). I play Final Fantasy: Ring of Fates and obviously all the Mario games I an get my hands on. I started playing WoW two years ago. I now have two level 80s.How/when did you learn to use a rubix cube? What is your personal record?
I remember riding on the subway and seeing this young boy OWNING a rubik’s cube with one hand. It blew my mind. After that moment I promised myself I would learn how to do it. My boyfriend and I spent a weekend, about a month before Warped, on YouTube learning how to solve it. We challenge ourselves all the time to do it faster, and we race. My record at this point is 1 minute 20 seconds.If you could be a super hero, what would your name be and what powers would you have?
As I previously mentioned a few questions up, I’ve been working with Tomm Coker (Marvel Digital Comics) on actually manifesting myself into a superhero-esque character. Her name is Captain Lights, and she is more of a rogue than anything. Somewhat like Han Solo, she scavenges through space looking for unique and bizarre sounds to collect. Along the way she always ends up in different battles, facing up to some pretty aggressive villains. Her power lies mainly in being super cool, but she is also very strong and well versed in martial arts, as well as has an epic lazer gun.You’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with a lot of different artists— what has been your favorite? Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
One of my favourite collaborations so far was with Silverstein. I would love to collaborate with Justice or M83 someday.If you can accomplish one thing via your music, what would it be?
To take you away from reality to a non-worry, non-stress atmosphere for 3.5 minutes.What is something you feel really passionately about? Why?
It’s very important to me that every detail in a song is the way it needs to be. I will spend hours perfecting a snare sample because it effects the turn out of a song that much for me. If all the right textures are in place, the song is that much more powerful.If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing, what would it be and why?
“You’re going to be alright, kid.” Then I’d steal the sweet rainforest wild-life shirt I was wearing and take it back to the future with me.As an artist, what do you feel is the biggest issue in the music industry today? What are your feelings / stance on it?
I honestly have nothing to complain about. I’m doing what I love and that’s all that matters to me. I’m sure a lot of people could complain about how they’re not selling the same amount of records as before, and people are downloading, but I’m not in this for money. I feel blessed that I can even live off of my music. If people find something they appreciate enough, they will support it.
The tiny hallway hidden away behind catering is packed. Maneuvering through the tiny room filled with chairs, massive amounts of food, and crammed full with musicians and others on tour was hard enough. Trying not to get crushed in the small hallway while waiting for interviews? Equally impossible. Dripping from the rain that had yet to let up outside (by that point, everyone had determined that it simply wouldn’t), a handful of us were ushered once more in to tiny press rooms. We were fortunate. Others are huddled in hallways conducting interviews with miscellaneous band members trying to get the best sound quality while people push on by holding conversations of their own. Warped Tour was a zoo by that point, but we had the luxury of a place to sit and dry off. A few minutes later, Buddy enters wearing a raincoat and after some initial joking gets straight down to business. Fortunately for us, we were able to uncover a little bit about his side-project BAYONET, as well as what’s up next for SENSES FAIL, and flounder our way through who the most overrated band on Warped Tour was.
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Life is not A Waiting Room has been out for almost a year now, do you feel that the way you relate to the songs has changed?
Buddy Nielsen: Yeah. I don’t relate to them anymore, not after we release the record. It’s not really my song anymore.
Do you find it hard to relive the emotions or situations from the song?
BN: Yeah, definitely.
Does that make it harder to get in to?
BN: No, not at all. I’d rather not relive it every time I play the song. I do it when we write and record and once it’s over it’s, I don’t know, not what it was when it was written.
So you pretty much put everything in to it and just expel it?
BN: Pretty much and then it’s just a song.
Since the release, you’ve been touring more or less nonstop. Are you getting a break any time soon?
BN: Uh, we have a month off but then we go back on tour in the fall.
Can we expect anything new soon?
BN: Probably. Next August, some time next summer. Somewhere around then.
We’ve heard some rumors about your having a side project.
BN: It’s called BAYONET. One of the dudes who was in Paint It Black and a drummer is playing with us who used to be in The Banner. And some other people. It’s not solid yet but we’ve recorded our demos but we’re not going to put it out. I don’t want to put out a demo. But we’re hopefully going to record in February with McTernen. It sounds like American Nightmare mixed with Tragedy and sort of Kid Dynamite.
How are you going to differentiate the lyrics for BAYONET versus SENSES FAIL?
BN: I don’t think I am. I don’t think I’ll differentiate. It’s way heavier and way angrier so it might be more pissed off but I don’t think it’ll be that much different lyrically. But definitely the music is different.
What have been the best and worst moments of Warped Tour so far?
BN: I heard Attack Attack today that was fucking one of the worst moments. [room bursts in to laughter] It’s just… really terrible. The best are the shows. The shows have been awesome. Really really really good. A lot better than I expected. Every day is pretty much awesome, except for some shows that haven’t been great. But that happens. For the most part all the shows have been great. The worst part is walking around and you see a bunch of douche bags.
Who do you think are the most underrated and overrated bands on the tour?
BN: The most overrated is Gallows. The most underrated is a band called West Bound Train—oh and this band called Deer in the Headlights, they’re really good. But definitely the most overrated… I mean, I like Gallows. I think they’re really good but I think people on this tour are like “oh my god they’re like a hardcore band, a punk band oh lookit.” I like Gallows, I think they’re really good. I don’t think they’re overrated, I think they’re overrated on this tour by people on the tour. People on the tour just wanna, I don’t know, suck their dicks because they’re a real band. Same thing, I think we’re overrated on this tour as well. People are way too nice to me. We’re overrated, Gallows is overrated, alexisonfire is overrated, Bayside is overrated. Every band that is good is overrated.
So basically any band everyone should want to see is overrated.
BN: I don’t even really mean that they’re overrated. I don’t care. I don’t care. The most overrated band on the tour in all honesty is not Gallows. We’re going to redo that. Retract that. The most overrated band is 3oh3. They’re the biggest band and it’s really not that awesome of a band. It’s not terrible but it’s not…whatever.
Are you shocked at the rumors that some of these bands on tour have been supposedly outted as lip-syncing?
BN: Only one of them has. Only two of them do it. Just Jeffree Star, but he kind of sings, too. He just sings to a track. Millionaires, too.
One of the bands on tour has even accused Brokencyde…
BN: No. I’ve been on tour with them a long time. They don’t lip sync.
No lip-syncing, so they’re just bad.
BN: Yeah. But they don’t lip sync. That’s really him.
What are your feelings on backing tracks?
BN: We have fucking samples. We do samples because we don’t have a piano player and I don’t want to pay for a piano player. We don’t need a piano player. It’s just no point to it. There are parts of our songs that have underlying effects or whatever so we use backing tracks. I don’t know. It sucks, whatever. If you read the New York Times review—the New York Times review of Attack Attack was good. It was one of those things they’d never seen a band who does anything like that in the last ten years.
Is it more surprising people were surprised a band like Millionaires lip-syncs.
BN: No. I mean, well yes. I don’t know. People just like to pick on them. Me included.
What do you feel is the biggest issue in the music industry right now?
BN: The reason why people are in bands. Why they started a band in the first place and what it means to them. I think that’s the biggest problem because there are people who really want to be in bands just because they love music, not for any other reason. I don’t think a lot of these bands are doing it for the music. It’s a fun sort of ‘thing’ but you can get a lot out of it. If a lot of these bands broke up today a lot of them could just easily go “eh, I’ll do something different.”
Bands that everyone hasn’t heard yet but you think should know about?
BN: New bands? This band called Defeater, they’re really good. Dead Swans. More people should listen to Paint It Black and the new Hope Conspiracy 7inch is really good.
Last book you read?
BN: I read Rant by Chuck Palahniuk.
How was it?
BN: It was alright. It wasn’t that great.
What is your biggest pet peeve on the road?
BN: My biggest pet peeve of Warped Tour is when it fucking rains. That’s the world’s most annoying thing. But on tour I’d say not having any alone time.
Last question—what’s something you feel really passionately about?
BN: Musical integrity and morals and not being an idiot in what you say on stage. Even though I have been an idiot in the past. I say a lot of stupid shit mostly when I was younger. I still say dumb stuff but it’s a joke. I joke and I make it apparent that for every dumb stupid joke I say I try to make a point about something positive or whatever, explain something. I do both sides, because I don’t want to be overly serious and preach but I also don’t want to make a joke out of shit. So I like to do both and I like to have a good time because I’m having fun but then I also like to say something positive.—
Positive is not necessarily a word that people generally tend to asso
ciate with SENSES FAIL but they took to the stage that night and true to his word, he mixed his sarcasm and humor only to follow it with something more positive. Though he skirted over the issue of Millionaires, they were not free form his playful venting that night. Apparently one of their boyfriends (hey, who knew Dani dumped that one guy from that one band she was dating before tour to hook up with some bro from Sing It Loud?) being a macho guy with his swooshy blonde hair had approached Buddy to tell him to cut the shit and stop making fun of his girlfriend’s band. Good job, guy. Apparently it worked out really well for all of them. The crowd for SENSES FAIL was among the most chaotic I witnessed that day but sure enough, through all the passion he pours in to his performances, Buddy did highlight the positive; “You have your family and your friends and that’s all that fucking matters in this world.” And during the performance, everyone in the audience was a family.
