Tag: Monday Motivaiton

Categories
News

Monday Motivation: Upon A Burning Body

image

How do you recover from a PR stumble when your brand is built on living a life where you do not give a damn what others think? This questions has been pondered by many notable artists over the last century, and there have been dozens of paths taken in response. Some worked better than others, but only one tried and true method has worked for everyone who has dared to attempt it: Continue not giving a damn.

Upon A Burning Body is a party-friendly metalcore group from deep in the heart of Texas who have built a career on living life however they choose with complete disregard for authority and anyone who tries to tell you that you need to be anyone other than yourself. It’s the kind of message that hooks young people before they’re even old enough to consume alcohol and carries into adulthood, especially if those young people end up working jobs where they feel suppressed or otherwise unable to be themselves because of those above them. Upon A Burning Body create music that is, for lack of a better word, rebellious. It follows a very particular path that has been traveled by countless musicians before them, but they travel it well with hooks that won’t quit and a bone-crushingly heavy take on metal. If you are unfamiliar with the sound I am describing, give this a spin:

A year ago, Upon A Burning Body were preparing to release an album called The World Is My Enemy Now. Ahead of the lead single the group posted a message online claiming their vocalist had gone missing in the greater San Antonio area. Blogs and legitimate news outlets alike ran the story as fact, urging fans to try and help the group find their missing member, but an investigation from Alternative Press soon proved the story to be a false alarm. The band’s label claimed to have no knowledge of the event, and future promotion for the record was kept at an absolutely minimum. It’s a shame, too, because the album was actually pretty great.

When faced with such a devastating blow to one’s promotional plans, not to mention upsetting countless fans, many artists would rush to apologize and/or promise to be smarter with all future promotions. Some may even choose to grovel. Upon A Burning Body however, chose to remain silent. They stuck to what had always worked, the music, and they shied away from the spotlight while the remaining outrage dissipated into the forgotten archives of internet forums and Twitter feeds. It was a bold play, but one that ultimately allowed the band to continue living life by their own set of rules, which only further fueled their creativity.

This week, Upon A Burning Body return with Straight From The Barrio, their fourth studio album in six years. The release leans heavily on what has worked for the group in the past (songs about fighting the man, partying as hard as you can, and generally doing whatever you feel compelled to do while thanking God for the great state of Texas) to help introduce several new ideas that find them exploring hard rock outside the world of metalcore. There is even some material that might as well be considered a ballad for a band such as them, but it’s all channeled through the same ‘we do what we want when we want’ lens, and that is what makes it work.

I think most of us spend our days living life in a way that leaves us feeling slightly restrained. Most don’t do what they wish they did for work, and even those who do often end the business day feeling as they have fallen short of their goals. Others may be in relationships where they feel they must be a specific way in order to keep their partner happy, or maybe that is the case between you and your friends. Whatever it may be that causes you to be anything other than yourself is keeping you becoming the best possible version of the person you were meant to become.

What separates people like you and me from the members of Upon A Burning Body is that we lack the gull to force the world to recognize us for the people we choose to be. We try and figure out who the world feels we should be and fit that mold, but the members of Upon A Burning Body walked away from that trap years ago and never looked back. They may trip and fall from time to time, but at the end of the day they can say they did things their way and that is something we all seek in our lives.

James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the Film Editor for Substream Magazine and a 10-year music writing veteran. You should follow him on Twitter.

Categories
News

Monday Motivation: The sacrifices of others

In the digital age, brands of all sizes try to spin holidays as an excuse to promote their products. Not us. Not today.

We usually use this space to promote a band who has been in regular rotation around the Haulix offices, but today is a little bit different. Here in the United States it’s Memorial Day, which is a time we as a nation set aside our work and hobbies to reflect on those who died fighting to protect the freedoms many of us take for granted. 

As a music tech company, it would have been difficult to think of creative ways to tie what we do to the efforts of those we lost in battle without minimizing their valiant efforts, so we’re not going to go that route at all. We fight piracy, but we are not fighters. We defend an artist’s right to make a living off their creativity, but we are not defenders, or at least not in a literal sense. We are a team of people who sit behind computers and try to create new ways for people to securely share media. That’s it. We take pride in what we do, but to think it all compares with real soldiers who fight real wars and risk everything to ensure our safety would be foolish. 

We recognize that we are only able to exist as we do today because of those brave men and women who are no longer with us. Our business, as well as the lifestyles of our team members, are possible because thousands of people we will never know died fighting for something greater than themselves. We can write blogs like this, attend parades, say prayers, and thank the veterans fortunate enough to make it home, but when all is said and done we still don’t feel like it’s enough. There is no way to express how grateful we are for the lives and careers we have been able to lead because of those who came before us, but we strive each and every day to be the best versions of ourselves possible so that their sacrifice has not been in vein. People died so that we could not only live, but thrive, and it’s on us to make the most of that opportunity. It’s also on us to remind one another to never forget the cost of our freedom or those who paid the bill. 

So today, listen to whatever it is that brings you joy, and remember those who died so you could chase dreams, attend concerts, and altogether live the life you lead today. And if anyone reading this has fought for us and made it home – THANK YOU.

Categories
News

Monday Motivation: Half Hearted Hero

If you’re anything like me, you probably started the day by recognizing that the start of a new work week had indeed arrived and then immediately began shaking your fists at the sky in anger. Monday is rarely anyone’s favorite day, and from what I have seen firsthand it feels safe to say it’s the one day of the week some people outright hate. I guess to them the arrival of the work week symbolizes the end of their quote/unquote freedom, and as a result they head into the office/factory/restaurant/store with a negative outlook already on their mind. This leads to bad attitudes, which only makes the experience of being at work worse, and for some reason it also seems to make time slow to a crawl. We’re not about that life, and we hope this post can do the same you that the song contained within it did for us.

I don’t know whether it’s harder to succeed in music by leveraging the same tempos and chord progressions every major artist has used for the last half century or by finding a sound that is unique to you and pushing it out into the world, but they both have their drawbacks. On the one hand, building on the blueprints of former greats gives you the knowledge that at least part of your creation will work with audiences, but it also means you will lead a career riddled with critical comparisons to other, possibly far bigger, names for as long as you are in music. On the other hand, creating a sound from scratch requires you to convince people whatever you have developed is worth their time, and that struggle will never end. You can write the greatest song known to mankind, but unless you can convince those in radio, licensing, and major labels to give a damn your career will plateau long before those who pursue a far more traditional and commercial path to musical success. 

As much as I wish my decade in music had already taught me the path aspiring songwriters should follow, that is not what has come to pass. I’ve seen knock-off make it big while creative originators exhausted their resources trying to be heard. I’ve also seen talent that feels undeniably unique make it big while bands that appear to have their image and commercial appeal down to a science struggle to get noticed. All this has taught me there is no approach that is better than the other, and maybe that is because your approach to making a name in music doesn’t matter nearly as much as how much heart goes into your music. If you can write catchy pop songs with a 120 tempo that run three-and-a-half minutes in length and carry a big dramatic punch then who am I to tell you that type of music is any less organic and true than that of an artist who only writes five-minute prog rock epics? If people are connecting to what you create, and what you create stems from something true deep inside of you, then who am I or anyone else to tell you that is not how ‘good music’ is made? 

Half Hearted Hero is a five-piece rock band from New Bedford, Massachusetts. The band has billed themselves as a rock act since inception, but if you’re expecting something along the lines of Disturbed, Korn, or Five Finger Death Punch you couldn’t be further off base. The music Half Hearted Hero plays is far more influenced by the world of punk, indie, and pop, but again I don’t know that I would claim any of these genres really explain the type of music the band creates. Like many New England groups, Half Hearted Hero have a clearly defined narrative running through their music that mirrors their experiences as people. With each release the band has showcased their growth both as humans and artists through the music they create, and in doing so have attracted throngs of listeners around the globe who hang on every note hoping to hear what happens next. It’s not all that unlike a great TV series or movie franchise in that each new installment is different, yet ultimately connected to everything that came before its release, as well as everything that will come after. When you hear Half Hearted Hero you’re hearing a moment in time, captured and preserved with audacious creativity, and you want to live in that moment for as long as possible.

With their new album, Isn’t Real, Half Hearted Hero are continuing the narrative found on their previous released a brash an unflinching sense of honesty that is palpable in every note played and every word sung. The material included on Isn’t Real tells of aspirations for success, uncertainty over the future, and the balancing acts between relationships and dreams that any creative mind grapples with on a near-constant basis. None of these concepts are necessarily new, but the way they’re presented on the record is undeniably unique, and that results largely from Half Hearted Hero embracing their collective perspective on existence without any sense of worry over how the world might react. This is the band at their most honest and, as a result, their absolute best. You never doubt that what is pouring through your speakers or headphones is exactly the thoughts and ideas the band hoped to convey, and you love them all the more for allowing you a little more time in their musical universe.

When I first played Isn’t Real earlier this month I was immediately overcome by the realization that Half Hearted Hero had been able to accomplish something with a single album that my past decade of writing had been unable to achieve. In under an hour, the members of Half Hearted Hero presented the world as they see it and invited me to explore it with them, complete with ups and downs, emotional car wrecks and uplifting moments of self-realization. For a short amount of time, which I then repeated dozens of times in the days that immediately followed, I was disconnected from my own reality and fully engaged in that of the members of Half Hearted Hero. I wanted to live there, and as a result of having a copy of Isn’t Real to call my own I could. I still do, from time to time, and I expect to spend many more hours there in the months and years to come. 

Does this mean I believe Half Hearted Hero is poised to be the next big thing in music? Not really. The band’s music is incredibly personal and honest, which doesn’t necessarily equate to mass appeal, but for those who appreciate such art the band might be the best thing to happen to that specific community of music fans in a very long time. Half Hearted Hero may never be the biggest band on the planet, but they will and most likely are the biggest band to thousands of people around the world. Isn’t Real works because it is not afraid to focus on the little details that make life great just as much as the emotional extremes that tend to make stories more compelling. They offer you a bit of everything all at once, and as a fan of music you’re thankful for that gift. Perhaps more importantly, their art also inspires you to be more up front with others about your own perspective on things. You find strength to be a more honest version of yourself because Half Hearted Hero is so self-assuredly themselves on this release. That kind of inspiration, which makes it possible to love yourself a little more by embracing what makes you unique, is something that too few records accomplish in 2016. Half Hearted Hero make it look easy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they inspire a whole generation of aspiring musicians with the release of this record.

James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Manager for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records. Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.

Categories
News

Monday Motivation: Rob Zombie

If you’re anything like me, you probably started the day by recognizing that the start of a new work week had indeed arrived and then immediately began shaking your fists at the sky in anger. Monday is rarely anyone’s favorite day, and from what I have seen firsthand it feels safe to say it’s the one day of the week some people outright hate. I guess to them the arrival of the work week symbolizes the end of their quote/unquote freedom, and as a result they head into the office/factory/restaurant/store with a negative outlook already on their mind. This leads to bad attitudes, which only makes the experience of being at work worse, and for some reason it also seems to make time slow to a crawl. We’re not about that life, and we hope this post can do the same you that the song contained within it did for us.

As I’ve grown older in music I have come to understand that every generation has one or two artists that parents both conservative and liberal label as being demonic, satanic, or otherwise bad for their children. These are artists that, despite whatever imagery accompanies their work, find a path to mainstream exposure that infuriates small town minds and inspires throngs of church-going citizens to plan some form of midwest protest in response. For my grandparents, this figure was Elvis and his unstoppable hips. For my parents, it was Kiss and the rise of rap in mainstream culture. For me, and probably for everyone else born just before the 1990s, it was Rob Zombie.

To be completely fair, Rob Zombie is not someone people of my generation discovered in the classic sense. Zombie, born Robert Bartleh Cummings, had already proven his rock pedigree as a member of White Zombie before he started a solo career, but none of his success with that group could prepare him or anyone else for what would come when he was untethered from the rest of the rock community. Hellbilly Deluxe, Zombie’s first solo album, was a veritable smorgasbord of rock goodness and horror movie sensibilities. Zombie created a visual component to his musical art that was, and remains, unmatched in the greater hard rock community. His videos were essentially short horror movies, and his songs were like horror audiobooks set to the kind of electric orchestration one might expect to here accompanying the arrival of satan on Earth. In one album, Zombie usurped Marilyn Manson as the king of shock, and through doing so claimed a throne in the world of music that put him in the crosshairs of every conservative music fan on the planet.

I was 11 when Hellbilly Deluxe came out. You could say I was too young to appreciate everything Zombie was trying to convey through his music and imagery, but everything I did understand won me over in no time at all. The first time I heard “Dragula” was also the first time I recognized that I was listening to something my parents would never approve of me enjoying, and I knew right away that I had to stand my ground. This, I soon found out, was far easier said than done. I had no money of my own, and I couldn’t buy anything without first making my parents aware of the the thing I wanted, so to make my goal of enjoying Rob Zombie regularly a part of my life I had to convince several friends to burn me copies of his album on blank CD-R discs that I would later label as something else entirely just in case mom and dad looked at my music collection. There was more than one occasion where my plan was uncovered, and such happenings were almost always followed by me being grounded for a week or more, but part of me didn’t care. Rob Zombie had given me an excuse to rebel, and I had fallen in love with the notion I was doing something others might find weird or wrong.

As time carried on and Zombie continued to release music, my fascination with his world of horrors only grew, and when he transitioned into the world of filmmaking I followed suit. Horror was always my favorite genre, though as a young teen I had admittedly not seen much of it, so once again I followed Zombie where he chose to lead. House Of 1000 Corpses was the kind of film the kids at my school talked about as if it were the holy grail of things we were not meant to see. Anyone with parents absent enough to let them attend such a feature did so two or three times over during the film’s short run in theaters just because it was the most violent, absurd, and altogether original thing any of us had ever seen. The notion such horrific things could not only be created, but distributed on a global scale, opened our collective minds to a world of possibilities none of us had ever really considered. It was as if we had spent our entire lives blindly assuming all mainstream art, be it film or music, was so easily available because it was intended to entertain as many people as possible. With Rob Zombie, this was not the case, not was it ever what he desired for his career to be. Zombie made things for people like him, and for many people in my generation that included us, or at least we thought it did in that moment.

Almost two decades have passed since Hellbilly Deluxe cracked open my skull to expose my curious mind to the possibilities of self-expression without restraint, and to this day Zombie continues to define himself by his own standards. The quality of his work can and will be debated for the rest of time, but at the end of the day there is no one who walks away from something Rob Zombie has created feeling as if he had to change his original vision or idea in the slightest. His new album, The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser, is proof of this being true. Zombie creates for himself, just as he always has, and through being honest about who he is he inspires others to do the same. The people who enjoy Rob Zombie’s art do so because it makes them feel something they cannot find in anything else because it’s something that can only be achieved by Zombie himself. They recognize that, be it in music or film, Zombie is constantly trying to deconstruct what makes him tick and showcase those things to the world. The kind of unflinching honest is rare, but when it is found it attracts swarms of followers that no amount of catchy songs or epic movies can match. It’s the same power possessed by Beyonce, Prince, and David Bowie, and it’s something we are forever needing more of in entertainment.

What I mean to say is, regardless of whether or not Rob Zombie creates the kind of art you typically enjoy, there is no way you can see what he makes and feel it comes from anywhere other than some place true. The authenticity of his work is never questioned because anyone who experiences his work recognizes that it could only come from his mind. That kind of work is what we should all inspire to create in our day to day lives, and in my experience there are few better ways to inspire that level of authenticity than through exposure to others whose work reflects that. We don’t need another Rob Zombie, but we do need more free spirits like him to share their unique perspectives on the world around us, and that could easily include you as long as you’re willing to work at it.

The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser hits stores this Friday, April 29.

James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Manager for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records. Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.

Categories
News

Monday Motivation: Aiden (2003-2016)

If you’re anything like me, you probably started the day by recognizing that the start of a new work week had indeed arrived and then immediately began shaking your fists at the sky in anger. Monday is rarely anyone’s favorite day, and from what I have seen firsthand it feels safe to say it’s the one day of the week some people outright hate. I guess to them the arrival of the work week symbolizes the end of their quote/unquote freedom, and as a result they head into the office/factory/restaurant/store with a negative outlook already on their mind. This leads to bad attitudes, which only makes the experience of being at work worse, and for some reason it also seems to make time slow to a crawl. We’re not about that life, and we hope this post can do the same you that the song contained within it did for us.

For more than a decade the members of Aiden have been empowering outcast youth around the globe with anthems of life, death, love, every emotion in between. Their music, forever rooted in the more aggressive side of punk, has brought many back from the ledge and given a voice to thousands, if not millions who live each and every day feeling as if no one cares they exist. In a time when it seems every band is forcing silver linings into their music the men of Aiden have chosen to embrace the fact our planet is often a cold place. That honesty, coupled with the raw emotion bursting from every note of the art they create, has provided strength to the weak in ways no other form of nutrition could hope to offer.

Last night, 4785 miles from the city they call home, the members of Aiden took their final bow on stage in front of a packed venue somewhere in London, England. It was a moment captured immediately across various social media platforms and later further celebrated through numerous additional posts made by band members and fans alike, but still it feels under-appreciated. In fact, everything the band has accomplished up to this point feels surprisingly overlooked by the music industry at large. The reasons for this are likely far too numerous to name, I’m sure, but the band’s horror-tinged imagery and hard punk sound certainly haven’t helped to make them a household name. Then again, I don’t think they care about things like that, and that is precisely why I love everything they represent.

I first discovered Aiden when their debut album, Nightmare Anatomy, was being promoted through listening stations at Hot Topic stores across the country. A sticker on the packaging for the record claimed the band was for fans of AFI and My Chemical Romance, which was everything I needed to know to give the record a chance. While I still believe that comparison was legitimate, at least for that particular record, what I discovered when I first spun the actual recording was something far more special than just another so-called ‘dark’ alternative act. The immediacy in vocalist Will Francis’ voice pulled me in from the opening notes of “Knife Blood Nightmare” and did not let go until the closer, “See You In Hell,” was over. While that first play moved from track to track I found myself becoming immersed in a world of thoughts and ideas that mirrored my own vision of the world. For the first time in my life a band was saying what I thought and felt without sugar-coating harsh realities for those unwilling to accept the truth. It was everything I didn’t know I wanted, and by the time I was three songs deep I was begging my mother to buy the CD.

As time progressed so did Aiden, and by the time their Sophomore record was ready for release the band had moved away from the in your face sound of their debut. Some were turned off by the results, but I was not among them. That record, entitled Conviction, remains my favorite in the band’s catalog. I remember reading an interview ahead of the album’s release where Francis claimed writing the record had helped him to understand the true meaning of punk. He explained that the idea of being punk and making punk music was not limited to a single sound or style. Being punk, in his opinion, was a state of mind that could be applied to anything one chooses to spend their life doing. You could be a punk pianist playing for thousands at Carnegie Hall or the guy screaming until his throat bleeds in a dingy rock club five nights a week. Neither one is better than the other, so why should Aiden or anyone else limit themselves to being just one thing? Francis understood that he and his bandmate could do anything they wanted as long as they remained true to themselves, and that same idea has been the guiding force for my own journey in life ever since.

More albums came as the years carried on, and each offered listeners a different side of Aiden without ever sacrificing the punk ethos that lie at the heart of the group’s best material. Listeners came and went depending on how each evolution took form, but the members of the band never seemed to let the size of a crowd or the number of records sold impact what came next. After all, why should they? Aiden didn’t form to please the world at large. If anything, the entire reason the band exists would appear to be to serve as opposition to the norm. Be it rock, punk, alternative, pop, country, or even EDM, Aiden refused to fall in line with whatever was popular in the moment to further focus on better expressing themselves and their beliefs. Through doing so the band taught their fans to do the same, to shake off any pre-conceived notions of what life is supposed to look like or be like and to fully embrace the person they believe themselves to be. Without Aiden I would not have grown to be the man I am today, and with their time as a band now passed I don’t know if I will ever have a proper opportunity to thank them for that. What I can do, however, is tell others how much they did for me in hopes they too might find strength in the music the band made.

This week, whether you’re a longtime fan or first-time listener, put on the music of Aiden and allow yourself to break free of whatever it is in life that is holding you back from being the person you want to become. Embracing your true self is rarely an easy task, but it is an accomplishment that is entirely worth the effort required. 

James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records. Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.

Exit mobile version