Keep Calm and Carry On began last fall with the most humble of intentions: simply, to play the best emo music around every week. But along the way, something really, really special started to happen. All of a sudden, Craig and I stood in front of the Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia, PA, to interview A Loss for Words and Transit about the "Tour of the Year" for 2012. Seriously, no matter what happens, this was the tour of the year. Nothing's going to top it, and I'm not sure if any tour in the summer/fall/winter will even come close. What's even better, we were also able to do a sit-down with Evan Weiss, also known as Into It. Over It., just a few days before! The last two semesters have brought about great changes in Keep Calm and Carry On inside and outside of the DJ booth, and this week was intended to thank you, our beloved listeners, by playing ALL THREE interviews to recap the Glamour Kills Tour 2012. If you missed them when they aired, you can check them out below:
Interview with Evan Weiss of Into It. Over It.
Interview with Marc Dangora and Mike Adams of A Loss for Words
Interview with Tim Landers of Transit
I have to admit, the fact that any of these interviews actually happened is unbelievable, and the fact that they all came out so well is such a blessing. Look for more good stuff like this in the future, and let us know who we should interview next in the comments!
In addition to wrapping up our coverage of the Glamour Kills Tour, we had to do some sort of celebration about last night being the last show until next fall. So, what better way to send you into the summer than by previewing the biggest Summer gathering of emo kids, the Vans Warped Tour, right? To get you all set for punk-rock summer camp, we played a ton of songs from bands you need to be checking out this summer. At every Warped Tour, there seems to be a non-Main Stage band who draws enormous crowds, and catapults to the main stage the next year. Last year's culprits were metalcore stars Of Mice & Men (playing Main Stage all tour this summer), and if I had to guess who this summer's big winners of Warped will be, I'd go with the young, talented, and fearless Sleeping With Sirens. Their bland of pop-emo and metalcore will have as many kids moshing as they are trying to touch rockstar frontman Kellin Quinn, and when you combine sex appeal with the type of jams SWS are capable of, a powerhouse is born. Check out their new video for "Do It Now Remember It Later" below:
From the bottom of our collective hearts, thanks for listening, reading, following, and supporting Keep Calm and Carry On. It's been a blast, and I can't help but feel the best is yet to come. Be sure to check back here often for more album reviews, Bands/Songs of the Week, and a whole bunch more good stuff! Have a safe and happy summer, everyone.
Snooki, JWOWW, Pauly D, Ronnie, Vinny. These are the cast members of the (in)famous MTV show Jersey Shore that don't actually live in New Jersey. Yet somehow, combined with Sammi Sweetheart, The Situation, and Deena (who at least can claim some semblance of Jersey roots), these classless, shameless, and filthy rich individuals have come to define the world's image of the great state of New Jersey. But as most listeners of Keep Calm and Carry On know, there is much more to New Jersey than spray tans and trying to relive your Senior Prom Weekend at Seaside (fun fact: The Situation and Pauly D are both over the age of 30). We've been the host to the highest, fastest roller coaster in the world for a few years now (here's to you, Kingda Ka), we're one of the most culturally diverse states in the country, and above all else, we've churned out more musicians than any other state (that's more opinion than fact). From Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen to My Chemical Romance and The Gaslight Anthem, the new wave of any scene "fad" makes its break on the Jersey shore. That's what this week at Keep Calm and Carry On was all about: paying tribute to the bands who got their start or their big break in the Garden State. We'll start this sampling with a song that features a band that everyone knows, but New Jersey knew about first. Listen below as Jimmy Eat World pays its tribute to Jersey in "Big Casino":
In addition, we also played some songs from bands who were home-grown in the Garden State. Thursday, Senses Fail, My Chemical Romance, and countless others have changed the game in the scene, but before all of that, they all started in a small Jersey town. One of the more lesser-known and short-lived bands from New Jersey, but still packed a big-time punch, was Hidden in Plain View. Starting in Stanhope, NJ, the band broke out of the suburbs and onto Drive-Thru records, and while they called it quits long before they should have, they still gave us some great jams, including their tribute to their home state, "Garden Statement" (Fun fact: Donald graduated from the same high school as all of the members of HIPV!):
Making a list of bands who drew inspiration from or got their start in New Jersey can go on for days. However, Keep Calm and Carry On was lucky enough to catch up with a band who's now mentioned the state in two songs, and continues to show their unconditional support for all things Jersey: Mayday Parade. Donald was able to sit down and talk with Jeremy Lenzo, bassist/vocalist for the band, after they wrapped up a trip to the UK to tour with You Me at Six. The result was a great, interesting interview, and we can't thank Jeremy enough. Check it out below!
What'd you think of the interview? Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you next time! Be sure to listen to Keep Calm and Carry On on 91.3FM WTSR or online at www.wtsr.org every Friday night from 9-11pm!
A little background knowledge for those of you who aren't familiar with WTSR, home of Keep Calm and Carry On: WTSR is the official affiliate of the Trenton Thunder. Because of this, the show will be affected from now until the end of the season in early September. Therefore, the show was hard to plan for this week. However, luckily for us, Craig Ismaili was recently involved in the Fantasy Band Draft at Absolutepunk.net. Craig's band is in the running to be named the "Best (Fake) Band," and so we decided to throw some shameless self-promotion for him this week. Add in the show's collective love for competitive fantasy sports, and the Fantasy Band Special was born.
First, let's take a look at Craig's band, and what he has to say about it (note: band members are listed in Role: Member, Band)
Band Name: Dreamatorium
Vocals: Anthony Green, Circa Survive Guitar/Backing Vocals: Jon Simmons, Balance & Composure Bass: Nikki Monninger, Silversun Pickups Guitar/Keys: Teppei Teranishi, Thrice Drums: Nicholas Pizzolato, Moving Mountains
About the fantasy band draft: The 4th annual AP fantasy band draft is a group of 47 posters on the AP forums that take turns picking five members of active bands in a snaking draft order (meaning that after it runs 1-47, the draft runs back in reverse order 47-1). The active band part caused a lot of controversy. The word "active" was defined as having done touring or recording within the past year or to have solid touring recording plans for the coming year. One person in this draft took this statement to mean that you could draft dead artists, as long as they were active within the year, and selected Amy Winehouse. Shit hit the fan. Comments started flying in and the pick was deemed illegal because an artist can't be active if they are dead. Anyway, when all the picks were made (people had to have a drummer, bassist, guitarist and singer), members were asked to sumbit a write-up describing their band. Then, each of the 47 members were asked to rank their top 15 bands in order. Each band would get points for the votes. A 1st place vote=15 points, 2nd=14, etc. The points were then tallied up and the top 10 are now going into the public poll on absolutepunk.net. My band was lucky enough to make the top 10 and the vote begins this week. Anyone can vote as long as they have an AP account. I will update this post when the site-wide poll goes live.
About the band: I'll start off this part by posting the write-up I had to submit (in mock press release form) to describe my band: "Dreamatorium began as a simple conversation between Moving Mountains’
drummer Nicholas Pizzolato and Thrice’s Teppei Terranishi on Thrice’s
headlining tour. The two began to realize they shared a love for both
the distorted, crunchy guitar tones of some of their favorite musicians
and for the NBC comedy Community. Together, they would recruit members
to work around the first premise, and decide to name their band
Dreamatorium to fulfill the second (Dreamatorium also symbolizes the
idea that this band was previously only thought possible in the mind).
Anthony Green was called in to front the band, because as Teppei said,
“He has one of the most powerful and emotive voices I have ever heard,
and the uniqueness lends itself to the band’s versatile style.” Green
commands the majority of the vocal duty on the band’s debut, and is also
the band’s primary songwriter. Next, Pizzolato called Jonathan Simmons
who agreed to aide in the lyrics and songwriting with Green, adding to
the band his personal and relatable lyrics and a unique perspective as
the band’s youngest member. The band was having a hard time finding a
bassist, until they stumbled upon Silversun Pickups’ “Panic Switch” on
the radio. Immediately, they knew the person behind that muddy bass line
had to join their band. And thus, Nikki Monninger completed the band’s
lineup on bass and backing vocals. The band’s debut full-length has
elements of the ambient post-hardcore of Moving Mountains’ Waves work
and the later Thrice material, mixed with the gritty alternative rock of
the other members bands. A super-group that works as a cohesive whole
is a rarity. But, paraphrasing Abed’s line in Community, Pizzolato said,
“Dreamatorium is more important than any of us.”"
As you can see, I had a lot of fun putting together the band and imagining a dream scenario where they would come together. I think this band would be the darkest ambient post-hardcore band out there right now. My big key in picking the band was picking guitarists with very similar tones. I can see the guitars in Balance And Composure fitting in with Teppei's crushing riffs and the distorted tones of Nikki Monniger's bass talents would be enough to seal the deal. When you add in one of the best vocal performers of our generation in Anthony green (who I stole from Don's band) and the crashing crescendoes of Nick Pizzolato behind the kit, This would be a band that could pull of some massive post-rock/ambient soundscapes. Actually, one of the coolest things about this draft was getting to talk to Nick about his "bandmates" at one of Moving Mountains' recent show. He said it would be an absolute thrill for him to be in a band with Anthony Green and Teppei, as he said they as a band look up to Circa and Thrice a lot. That's a memory I'll always have about this draft, regardless of whether I win.
One last thing of note about my band. I just wanted to highlight 2 artists that I was going to select, but didn't for certain reasons. The first is Christian McAlhaney of Anberlin. I love his work with the band, and he was still available with my final pick in the 5th round. I went back and forth between him and Jonathan Simmons, as both write at least a portion of the band's lyrics and both are capable guitarist. Though admittedly McAlhaney is a much more talented guitarist right now (Simmons isnt even the lead guitarist in his band) I felt that Simmons had so much upside and I have been in love with Separation as of late, so I went with him. The other performer I was about to pick was bassist Nick Ghanbarian, of Bayside, who brings to the table the same guitar tones I was looking for, but I figured the rhythym section of my band would suffer from two very different styles and decide to go with the mix of ambient and distorted bass riffs that Monninger can provide. I really love how my band turned out and it turned out to be the most cohesive band I could have thought of. If anyone gets a chance to participate in one of these, you definitely should.
Now, did you really think Craig got to have all the fun with this? Of course not! Donald also made his own band, in order to compare/contrast strategies with Craig on the show. Let's take a look at Donald's band, and what he thought about it:
Band Name: Retrospect Vocals: Craig Owens, Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows/Ex-Chiodos Guitar: Tom Keeley, Thursday Bass/Vocals: Brendan Brown, The Receiving End of Sirens Drums: Alex Gonzalez, Saosin Piano/Keys: Schuyler Vaughn-White, Foxy Shazam
About the band:Luckily, I didn't have nearly the same amount of restrictions Craig had in picking his band; really, my only rule was to not pick anyone from a band Craig picked. Because of this, I ended up picking a lot of dudes from bands that were in news recently. Starting off with one of my favorite frontmen of all time, Craig Owens. There's been a rumor going around now that Owens is slated to rejoin the band that broke him out to the world, Chiodos, and that's put me on a Chiodos kick all week. Thursday's new album No Devolucion has remained one of my most-played from 2011, and Tom Keeley would make the perfect addition and complement to Owens's vocal range, to give this band the potential to sound however they want. Owens's best work was when he co-wrote with Bradley Bell, who played keys while Owens was in Chiodos, but I can't pick him. Therefore, I went with another songwriter who changed the way I looked at music, bassist/vocalist Brendan Brown from The Receiving End of Sirens. TREOS announced they were reuniting for a few select shows this year, and Brown was the band's key songwriter during its short-lived career. With Brown's wordplay combining with Owens's flair for the dramatic, these two could really pen some jams. One of the more difficult positions for me to select was drums. I wanted the drummer to be formidable, but I wanted to highlight a drummer who's flown under the radar. This made Alex Rodriguez of Saosin an obvious choice. Amid the notable vocals (provided by Anthony Green or Cover Reber) or the guitars, there was little room for Rodriguez to shine in Saosin. Though this star-studded band also has a few big-marquee names on it, Rodriguez has proved he can play a variety of tempos, and can pound the kit with the best of them. With one last "wild card" position left, I thought for sure I'd use a second guitarist. However, when thinking back to how Owens sounded in Chiodos, and how intricate the pianos and strings were used in TREOS and Thursday songs, I thought a keyboardist would truly maximize the potential of this band. But I needed someone who could understand their place, and add to the chaos the band would unleash onstage. If there's anyone that can do that, it's Schulyer Vaughn-White of Foxy Shazam. Sharing the stage with the always over-the-top Eric Nally, Vaughn-White is still a highlight of any Foxy Shazam show, and can add a theatrical feel to both the band's live show and its recordings.
I thought about coming up with a pop-punk supergroup with this band, but one of the genres that I really listened to in high school that ended up shaping my musical tastes was post-hardcore. This band I've developed reflects that love (and possibly my yearning to be young again), and if it ever came to fruition, the world would never be prepared for it. As for how they'd sound, I can only hope it's something like this:
Now that we've seen what our "Fantasy Bands" would look like, what do you think about them? Whose band would you rather listen to? Who would be in your "Fantasy Band"? Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you next week!
This week's Keep Calm and Carry On was one of the more interesting to do, because it was something that had little or nothing to do with the current state of emo/pop-punk/post-hardcore. However, when a legend would have celebrated his birthday, it's kind of hard not to pay tribute. On Monday, February 20, Kurt Cobain would have turned 45. And while there's no way to tell what he would have been doing were he still around today, but there is no doubt that while he was alive, he was one of the most influential minds to ever grace rock music, and music overall.
Nirvana covers are a dime a dozen these days, so an entire show of Nirvana covers was certainly a possibility. However, to have a little fun, I wanted to use a few plays on words for a few Nirvana songs and albums, and made a playlist out of that. The main songs I used from Nirvana to make this week's playlist were "Heart-Shaped Box," "About a Girl," and of course, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." There were also a bunch of songs pulled in from the game-changing Nirvana album Nevermind, including one of the more under-appreciated Saosin songs from their self-titled full-length, "I Never Wanted To."
This week also featured a few covers of Nirvana songs, like Four Year Strong's cover of "In Bloom," from their 90s cover album Explains it All. However, one cover that I've been jamming a lot recently has been Circa Survive's cover of "Scentless Apprentice." The band featured the cover when they performed for the MySpace Transmission series, and can be heard below:
Of course, the show would not have been complete if we didn't play a song by the grunge kings themselves, and when it comes to Nirvana, there is an obvious choice to play. The one that changed it all, for so many people. The one that changed the landscape of music, possibly forever. The one they'll never stop talking about: "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Rest in Peace, Kurt Cobain, and long live Nirvana.
Keep Calm and Carry On won't be on-air for the next two weeks, but in the meantime, we'll have some great content for you over the break! Stay tuned!
