Tag: MondayMotivation

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Monday Motivation: The Rocket Summer

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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.

When I was growing up in Southwest Michigan there were never many opportunity to be exposed to a genuine artist community. There were local bands, sure, but no one knew anyone outside our region who could help artists move their career forward beyond random gigs in the greater midwest. Whenever my friends and I wanted to see, do, or experience something related to the music industry we had to take it upon ourselves to make it happen. If we wanted our favorite bands to play in our area we had to book them at a venue we could enter. If we wanted to record our demos we had to buy the equipment needed to do so because no one knew any real producers. We didn’t call it DIY at the time because it was literally the only way of life we knew, but looking back now it’s clear that is exactly what we were doing. Every step we took towards our dreams of careers in entertainment were the direct result of action being taken by us to keep a tiny, yet thriving local scene alive, and I am not sure I have ever felt more alive than I did during that time. There were no guarantees. Heck, there weren’t even how-to guides. We tripped and fell almost as often as we did something right, but in the long run those experiences made us all who we are today, and that is something I know I will always treasure.

Bryce Avary, mastermind behind The Rocket Summer, has a slightly similar origin story. Hailing from Dallas, a city known for hip-hop and country-western music, Avary realized early on that he had a taste for music that fell outside what was popular in mainstream culture. After learning to play several instruments at a young age he began playing in bands, only to later step out on his own under the TRS brand. Every release in his career has more or less been a product of his immense creativity. From music to lyrics, production, marketing, and everything in between, Avary has had his hands on essentially every part of his career since the very beginning. Not every song has been a hit and not every album has sold better than the last, but Avary has grown with each release and he continues to do so today.

I first discovered The Rocket Summer almost by chance. It was the early 2000s and my parents had sent me to a three-day youth conference for Christian teens where I was made to attend a discussion on the intersection between faith and entertainment. The speaker informed everyone in the audience that there were faith-oriented artists who were just as good as those in the secular world, and they offered a number of comparisons in hopes of converting more kids to Christian friendly talent. I was heavily into pop punk at the time, having only recently discovered Blink-182, so when the man on stage told us that fans of Blink would also enjoy Relient K and The Rocket Summer I knew I had found an opportunity for new music discovery. My father bought an album from each, and while I liked both there was something about TRS that kept me coming back again and again. Unlike any other talent whose faith found its way into the artist’s music that I knew the music of The Rocket Summer also made it a point to discuss other areas of life as well. Faith and being spiritual was never out of the picture altogether, but Avary was also discussing young love, growing up, and the struggles with figuring out who you want to be, all through music he had largely composed himself. I could sense the DIY nature of his work ethic and I was attracted to it because he was far more successful in his pursuits than I had been in my own. I wanted to learn from TRS, study TRS, and ultimately be more like TRS.

Over a decade has passed since that initial introduction, but as soon as I heard The Rocket Summer would soon be releasing a new album I felt myself pulled back to those days when every step I took felt like an experiment in whether or not the greater world of entertainment would accept me. I have changed immensely sense that time, but so has Bryce Avary. The material on his latest album, Zoetic, speaks to this fact through constant musical experimentation. The pop rock sound that made TRS a household name is still present, but Avary has found several new ways to present it, often accompanied by synth, digital base and the kind of exuberant songwriting that you might expect to find at top 40 radio. Yes, after years on the underground Avary seems better positioned than ever before to breakthrough to the mainstream in a very big way, and as far as I can tell the only explanation for this growth is his constant desire to push himself further than he previously thought possible.

Being in the position I am I have the luxury of being able to experience new music long before it arrives in store. Zoetic was first sent to me in late December, and since that time I don’t know if more than a day or two has passed without me revisiting the record. Every single song is different from the rest, but it’s all tied together through themes of life, love, and the pursuit of knowing your true self. Avary has once again delivered a collection of songs that not only speak to who he is as a person, but one that also manages to capture the human experience for most twenty-somethings in 2016. It’s an incredible record from beginning to end and I urge you to find to experience it for yourself in the weeks ahead. I know not everyone will feel the same way about the material as me, but just listening to the album should reveal to you what is possible when someone constantly challenges themselves to be better than they were the day prior. I know that is something I hope to do myself, and when I hear Avary’s progression on this release I know in time I too will improve. It’s not going to happen overnight, or at least I don’t believe it will happen that quick, but as long as The Rocket Summer exists myself and everyone else will always have a soundtrack to encourage us to fight a little harder to be the people we know we can be.

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.

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Monday Motivation: Hoodie Allen

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.

A few weeks ago something happened that has only happened once or twice, if ever, before in the history of music. While everyone in the industry was busy debating whether or not Kanye’s new album would arrive on time, New York rapper Hoodie Allen released a new LP entitled Happy Camper that would go on to chart in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 despite being made available for free download through the emcee’s official website. Yes, you read that right. Even though Hoodie Allen made his latest album available for free through his website there were literally thousands of fans across the country willing to shell out $10 to support Hoodie’s efforts. In fact, demand was so high that at certain points during release week Happy Camper was outselling recent albums from pop contemporaries Justin Bieber, G-Eazy, and Adele, all without the aide of a label.

This is all impressive and absolutely worthy of praise, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing that happened out of the blue. Anyone familiar with Hoodie Allen’s work ethic would expect nothing less than success from the twenty-something charmer. Since graduating from the University Of Pennsylvania there has rarely been a day where Hoodie wasn’t working towards developing his own brand in the world of music. His approach to creativity has always strayed from whatever was trending at radio or on your favorite rap blog, focusing instead on finding a sound entirely his own that was just as fun and engaging as anything found in the top 40. Hoodie realized early on in his career that people want to have a good time when they listen to music, and he set his sights on offering just that with every release he shared. Now two albums in to a career that also includes three EPs, Hoodie has perfected his recipe for hits, and Happy Camper offers the best material the still young artist has created to date.

My first encounter with Hoodie Allen came as a result of his personalized marketing efforts. Unlike many emcees on the rise who have their friends, managers, or publicists handle their press outreach, Hoodie has always taken a vested interest in every bit of messaging shared on his behalf. The same email he used to contact me half a decade ago is the same account he uses today, and if you email him out of the blue he will more than likely respond in 24-72 hours. For a man currently topping the Billboard charts while also headlining a sold out nationwide tour, that kind of turnaround is downright astounding. Such constant engagement not only speaks to Hoodie’s drive to succeed, but also his desire to stay connected with those who help establish and further his brand. Hoodie wants to be everyone’s friend, and he matches that wish with actual effort that speaks volumes about the type of person he is away from music. That kind of sincerity cannot be bought (though there are services that will try and tell you otherwise).

I cannot recall whether or not I fell for Hoodie’s unique brand of music when it first hit my inbox, but by the time he released his now famous clip for “Cake Boy” in early 2013 I had purchased a lifetime pass for the Hoodie Allen bandwagon. Something about that track and the vision of carefree good times it promoted clicked with my post-grad brain and lifted me from the slums of unemployment I had found myself in up to that point. I still didn’t have a job, but that was okay because I knew who I was and what I wanted out of life. Hoodie’s success showed me that knowing where it is you want to go is half the battle, and that knowing what you will and will not do to get there is equally important. I then understood that while my struggle for work was hard it was also something that could lead me to the place I wanted to be in life, and that made everything sacrifice just a bit easier. I knew, in time, every effort made would not have been executed in vein.

Nearly three years to the day “Cake Boy” hit the net and I am still turning to Hoodie Allen for inspiration. I like to think I have reached the place I wanted to be when I first felt inspired by Hoodie’s rap, so now I am setting my sights a little bit higher. Like Hoodie, I want to see just how far I can take this wild road that I am on, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to maintain my quality of life as long as it does not require me to sacrifice who I am. That is a line I dare not cross because I know it will only lead to regret down the road. Staying true to yourself is never easy, but if Hoodie’s continued success is proof of anything it’s that people support original thinkers. Remember that fact and use that knowledge to pursue whatever it is you desire to the best of your abilities. Success probably won’t come overnight, but if you stick with it others will take notice of your hustle in time and they will begin to show support. Just be patient and believe in yourself. If you need additional help, put on Happy Camper and let your worries melt away.

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 ofAntique 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.

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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.

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Monday Motivation: Charlie Puth

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.

Over the last three or four years there has been a surge in the number of aspiring entertainers finding their way onto the national stage through digital media sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, or the like. Some have said this path to success is the new norm, but as someone who spent the first half of their life living in a world where the internet wasn’t in everyone’s pocket there are times I find that idea very hard to believe. After all, anyone can upload anything they want to the internet, so how could anyone hope to stand out?

Enter Charlie Puth. Having been born in December of 1991, Charlie is a little more than four years younger than myself, but if you were to see him or hear his music you might swear we are closer to a decade apart. Puth has the kind of croon that brings to mind the dancehall singers of yesteryear met with the ultra-clean, yet undeniably slick fashion sense of today. His music straddles the line between pop and soul more often than not, though that was not always the case. Puth actually built has brand through YouTube. He would upload performances recorded in front of his computer for the world to see, and slowly members of that ever-important young female demographic began to take notice. That attention was followed by the attention of major labels, and now Charlie is just days away from sharing his Atlantic Records debut.

But why should we care? More importantly, why should you care? I know some of the people who read this column are no doubt young music fans already familiar with Puth’s talent, but many of our subscribers are industry professionals or those attempting to become professionals, and those people tend to have an average age somewhere around 25. While Charlie Puth no doubt has the skills needed to pull in twenty-somethings they are certainly not his core audience. In fact, I would wager that very little marketing money has been spent on winning the over 18 crowd for Puth, but still I argue his name is one we all need to know, in only because he deserves to be the future of pop music.

You see, despite all the money Atlantic may be throwing at Puth’s brand and the high caliber producers enlisted to help make his debut album great, Charlie Puth’s moment in the spotlight is one he himself earned. Puth is the one who took it upon himself to initially post videos on YouTube, and it was Puth who took the time needed to refine his talents to the point that the music industry at large took notice. He may have an army of helpers around him now, but all of that is only possible because he first took it upon himself to be something special. Puth knew he needed to engage the world at large even if no one ever gave a damn and he did just that. I don’t know about you, but I could certainly use that kind of confidence in my own day-to-day endeavors.

Many people will be quick to write Charlie Puth off as another label made success story, but that could not be further from the truth. Charlie Puth is where he is at this point in his life because he took a chance. He felt a calling deep within his soul and he made a decision to see where it lead. He accepted that he could fail, just like he accepted that no one may ever give a damn, and still he pushed forward. Before anyone believed in him Charlie Puth believed in himself, and it’s because of that faith in what he was doing that Puth continues to find success today.

This week, spin Puth’s music and ask yourself what it is you feel compelled to pursue. Think about what makes you the happiest and how you could work to make that activity the thing you do each and every day. Apply yourself, believe in yourself, and never stop trying to improve until you are absolutely exhausted. You might not succeed, but you will learn more about yourself, and that is a reward that is all too rare in our crazy world.

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.

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Monday Motivation: Simmer

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.

This morning I woke to the sight of my cat, Paws Von Trier, staring out the window with a look that was slightly different than the one I’ve grown customer to greeting with each new day. He glanced at me after I rustled the sheets, then looked back out the window again. I asked if he was looking at birds, but his head did not swivel as it usually would, nor did his voice crack with the half-squeak half-meow sound that he typically omits whenever attempting to make conversation. That momentary silence told me everything I needed to know about what was happening outside. Paws wasn’t quiet and still because he was worried the birds might catch on to his voyeuristic intention, but rather because he was witnessing the first real snow to hit Boston since Winter began. I don’t know much about the longterm memory of cats, but having survived New England’s worst winter in over a decade with Paws by my side just a year ago, during what would have been his first winter ever on this planet, I’ve grown to believe that he associates any snow falling from the sky as a sign of an impending blizzard.

Of all the ways one could choose to wake up, I’d wager that opening your eyes to almost immediately recognize the fact snow has fallen since you fell asleep is rarely, if ever, someone’s first choice. Knowing the world outside is not only cold, but likely filled with small tasks requiring varying amount of physical labor (snow shoveling, scraping ice off cars, etc), makes an already stressful work day infinitely worse. It also starts your day with a negative outlook, which never bodes well for your personal goals or your interactions with the outside world. You may try to wash off the bad vibes in the shower, or perhaps attempt to drown them in two or four cups of coffee, but more often than not these efforts are futile at best. Nature’s decision to surprise you with snow has cursed your entire Monday, and as a result everyone you meet must feel your wrath.

This is where music comes in. For whatever reason, and scientists will agree, music has the ability to ease the worried mind and relax a tired heart. When all hope seems lost and you feel as if you will soon come apart at the same there is always a better than decent chance a well timed song with just the right sound or feel will save the day. Hell, it may even save your life. Music, and by that I mean the kind of song crafted by one or more people working together in a small space out of a desire to do nothing more than express themselves, is the best medicine outside of actual medicine, and it can work wonders that words fail to properly describe. I cannot tell you exactly why a song or album saved my day, but I can tell you how it made me feel when it hit my body via my ear canal. I can describe to you the way the colors of the world around me grew brighter with each note plucked from a guitar played by Koji, or how the chaos of traffic in a city setting felt somehow complimented by the crashing drums of an overlooked song from Have Heart, but my ability to convey my experience immediately falls apart when asked to explain the mechanism behind it.

I really did begin the day as described above, and I did attempt to shake the negativity from my bones with a hot shower and a gluttonous amount of coffee, but truth be told neither effort made much of a difference as far as my mood was concerned. The snow had chilled my heart, and it had lead me to believe the day would be as dull as the world now appeared to be from my office window. It wasn’t until I had sat down at my desk and began pouring through emails overlooked during the weekend that I stumbled upon a cure for my Monday morning blues. As with all the best surprises, the music that saved my day came from a group I had never known on a label I did not know existed prior to today. My guard was down and my mind was open, allowing me to be blown away by anything truly deserving of my attention, and just as I thought the day was doomed I came across a record that I now believe will soon be changing lives around the globe.

Simmer is a three-piece rock band that brings to mind the glory days of early punk and channels its ethos through a slow and expressive indie-tinged sound that is both ambient and experimental in ways that are endlessly enthralling. Their upcoming debut release for Dog Knights Productions, Paper Prisms, boasts the instrumentation of an angsty Explosions In The Sky combined with lyrical themes of growth, loss, love, and evolving world perspective. As the album plays you get the sense that the members of Simmer are soaking in life and the way it has changed with the passing of time, but they have yet to fully accept that we can never go back. This is a sentiment I am sure most you reading this now can relate to, though you might hate to admit it. There are people, places, and times in our life we spend weeks, months, and even years hoping to return to, even though we know such feats are never possible. Those memories, frozen in time forever, exist to remind us not of what we have lost, but of all the magic that can be found in our everyday lives. We as humans tend to forget that fact, choosing instead to believe those moments point to a time better than the one we have now, but as time carries on we grow to see things for what they really are in our own ways.

Take for instance, “Charles,” the first song from Paper Prisms to be made available to the public. The song sounds like a mix of shoegaze and punk influenced emo conveyed through a wall of sound approach that engulfs the listening from the opening moments and never lets up. You’re carried away in the band’s overall sonic expression before the vocal hit, and when they do their presence only adds to an already rushing wave of sound that you have no hope of escaping unhooked. Like all the best songs, “Charles” sucks you in and refuses to let you go. If you’re willing, “Charles” will allow you to get lost in a world of music far, far away from the inconveniences of daily life. You see, there is no pain in the world of “Charles,” just a journey through Simmer’s art that is both endless interesting and repeatedly jaw-dropping, just like Paper Prisms as a whole.

Whether you’re a post-rock kingpin in need of something new or an aging emo kid turned progressive punk loving adult hoping to find the next band that will change you life I assure you Simmer is a band you need to know. Paper Prisms is the first great indie rock album of 2016 that defies simple classification, and with the right marketing the record could very easily establish Simmer as one of the bands to beat in this still very new year. Even if that doesn’t happen, the record will still be great, and you would be a fool to not make room for it in your personal music library. This is the kind of album that can save you even on the worst days, and really, what more could you hope to find in any work of art?

Paper Prisms will be released on March 6, 2016 by Dog Knights Productions. Click here for pre-order information.

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.

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News

Monday Motivation: David Bowie

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.

This morning, January 9, most of the world woke to learn that rock and roll icon David Bowie had lost his 18-month battle with cancer. It’s news no one wanted to read, but at the same time it’s something many knew had been a long time coming, even if we wanted to believe that were not the truth. He was 69.

Writing on Facebook about his friend and creative collaborator, producer Tony Visconti posted a short note regarding Bowie’s death, and it began with a few lines that I feel perfectly summarizes what David Bowie meant to the world:

“He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift.”

David Bowie found us, not the other way around. When we were each stumbling through the doorway between childhood and teendom he was the first to greet us, with big hair and piercing eyes that made you feel infinitely inferior wherever you happened to be when those baby blues caught you in their gaze. He was an alien, a father, a musician, an actor, a husband, and in many respects a genius, but more than anything else he was an adventurer. To journey through Bowie’s catalog is to explore the vast and diverse possibilities of musical expression, not to mention the art of crafting poetic verse that was simultaneously avant-garde and deeply personal. Bowie could weave you a web of song and verse far more complex than anything that had been released in the time before he burst onto the world’s stage, and he continued to set the bar for creative expression right up until his final days.

There will no doubt be hundreds, if not thousands of essays, editorials, and think pieces published in the coming weeks about David Bowie and his rock legacy, but if you are one of many who have never taken the time to learn of Bowie’s work then now is the time to get familiar. As Caitlin Moran wrote in ’10 Things Every Girl Should Know,’ there is no bad time to discover David Bowie. As Moran wrote, “When in doubt, listen to David Bowie.” He was everything mainstream culture shunned when he first appeared, but within four years time everyone on Earth wanted to be like him. The kicker is, Bowie never changed. Bowie was himself from beginning to end, evolving in whichever way he desired, and for that he never apologized. In fact, I’m not sure he ever apologized to anyone in the entirety of his career. Then again, he didn’t need to. Bowie always knew what he was doing, and he knew in time the world would come to see his art for what he already knew it was, and somehow he was okay with the fact it may take months, or even years, for everyone else to come around.

Whether you’re new to Bowie or you’ve dedicated your life to following his every move, this week should unquestionably belong to his music and art. Take the next several days and allow yourself to become fully submerged in the awe-inspiring creativity of one of the most innovative humans to walk this planet in the last 150 years. There are not artists whose names and creations outlast the culture they were created within, but Bowie is a rare exception. To know his music is to understand that anything is possible as long as you give it your all. If you allow yourself to fully commit to a vision or idea then it doesn’t matter in the slightest if the outside world grasps your creation the first time its unveiled. Heck, it doesn’t matter if they get it the tenth time, either. As long as you believe in what you’re doing then you can rest assured that in time others will as well. Just be yourself to the best of your abilities and everything else will fall in line. Don’t trust us. Trust Bowie.

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.

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Monday Motivation: It Lies Within

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.

There are few genres I hesitate to discuss in public forums more than heavy metal. In the last fifteen years the world of metal music has been sliced and diced into countless subgenres for no other reason than the increased ease of new music discovery, but one unfortunate side effect of those efforts has been the battle lines it such subjugation has drawn between metal fans. For some, there is only one true form of metal, and everything else is just heavy noise that wishes it were up to par with the very rarified air that particular fan’s favorite bands inhabit. For others, all metal is mediocre unless it is born from the mind of an artist with decades of experience ticket under their belt. Both schools of thought are wrong, as we believe the subjective nature of music is part of what makes it so endearing, but we learned long ago not to question the tastes and interests of metal fans unless we were prepared to fight.

This realization sucks. It sucks that people who enjoy one area of metal music feel they are either inferior or superior to another area of the same genre simply because some assholes on the Internet decided rock’s numerous subgenres needed to be ranked. As far as we are concerned every genre of music is just as good and horrible as the next, the only determining factor as far as your personal tastes are concerned should be you. This doesn’t mean critics are full of crap, but it does mean that you cannot let the opinions of others dictate everything you do. Critics, at best, are curators to a world of music that has long passed its saturation point. Critics do not know everything, and if you find one who claims to then you should immediately write them off. It is impossible to know everything the vast world of music has to offer, but that should not stop you from taking time to explore as much of it as possible during your short time on this Earth.

With that in mind, my choice for Monday Motivation this week is none other than Michigan metal outfit It Lies Within. Some of you may recall the band and their name from the short time they spent on Victory Records a few years back, but there is much more to this forward-thinking product of America’s murder capitol than an association with a once great indie label. It Lies Within are a band born out of a desire to make metal interesting again, and they have spent the better part of the last half decade fighting for every bit of critical and fan acclaim they have been able to gain. Their continued success is a testament to what can be achieved through hard work and a fierce dedication to engaging with fans on a regular basis. Those who enjoy It Lies Within not only feel close to the music, but the members themselves, as the band constantly works to share their lives and personalities through those that support their music.

Paramount, the upcoming release from It Lies Within that is slated to hit stores this Friday, January 8, is the first great heavy album of 2016. As with every other record in the band’s catalog, Paramount serves as a bold declaration of It Lies Within’s continuing efforts to push the envelope of modern metal with unique riffs, thought-provoking vocals, and an overall quality of songwriting that far exceeds that of their genre peers. It’s not an album everyone will love, but both the band and their fans have already accepted this fact. There is never going to be a record capable of capturing the imagination of every metal fan, but it’s hard to believe anyone with even a passing interest in the world of heavy music finding themselves unable to find something worth applauding on this record. You can use the songs of Paramount to prepare for battle against your greatest foe or to serve as the soundtrack to your next sweat session at your local gym. Whatever the case, know that when times get tough It Lies Within has a song or twelve ready to help boost your belief in the fact you can do anything you set your mind to.

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.

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Monday Motivation: ROAM

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 spent the last week traveling from the coast of New England to the heart of the midwest and back again, all while packed in a tiny rental car with my fiancé and our two overweight cats. It was the kind of travel situation you might expect to find in a holiday road trip comedy, with people and animals fighting to be comfortable around a growing pile of luggage, snacks, phone chargers, and empty bags of greasy fast-food. We have made a similar trip every year for the last four years, but for whatever reason the 14-hour drive (each way) has only grown more frustrating in time. I initially thought this was due to the fact that upstate New York is a rather boring place to look at, which is inarguably true, but on our return journey this past weekend I realized that my inability to deal with the length of the journey might also have something to do with my age.

28 is a lot closer to 30 than anyone who is 28 would like to believe, and it comes with a new world view that challenges things you have accepted as absolute truths up to this point in life. In the time since my last birthday I have had several panic attacks over my role in life, both from a professional and personal standpoint, as well as a near constant state of anxiety over what the future may hold. I have had to come to terms with the fact I am moving further and further away from the target market of the genre(s) and bands that first got me interested in music, as well as how that evolution has impacted the things I do within my role as a music professional. I can remember a time when Warped Tour was what my summer revolved around, but now I groan at the idea of spending another 100+ degree day standing in an overcrowded amphitheater parking lot to watch bands perform what typically amounts to a 25-minute greatest hits set. I also used to go to basement shows, but anytime I see them advertised now I (somewhat ridiculously) believe the audience such events draw would probably look at me as if I were a chauffeur for someone younger. These thoughts are frustrating for someone who has dedicated their life to alternative music, but they are thoughts anyone in this scene will face as the grow older.

While I have yet to fully understand where I am destined to go from this point in life, I have learned to cherish the alternative scene in a way I never could before, especially when it comes to discovering new talent. What brings me peace in these often hectic times is knowing there are young artists and professionals who are breaking their backs to ensure the fun and communal aspects of alternative music continue to exist. If there is one thing I want for my children, as well as any future music fan, it’s the ability to know and experience the carefree state of mind that comes with connecting to alternative music. Be it through headphones or a crowded venue, there is a spirit found within alternative music that makes it easier for people to reveal their true selves to the world around them, and sometimes I worry that as my generation begins to age that aspect of the scene will be lost.

ROAM, a pop punk band hailing from the UK, are one of the driving forces behind my faith in the future of alternative music. Their sound is born from a deep love of mid-2000s punk, as well as a desire to leave their own mark on a world of music they themselves would be lost without. They understand that music is bigger than themselves, and while they write from their perspective there is an inviting aspect to their material that welcomes all walks of life in need of motivation to face another day. When ROAM plays, you feel their desire to succeed with every strum of a guitar and every line sung (or in some cases, screamed). You become lost in their sound, remembering the way you felt the first time you heard punk music, and you’re overcome with the desire to somehow make that sensation last forever.

In January, ROAM will release their debut full-length LP for Hopeless Records. We at Haulix were fortunate enough to receive an advance stream of the record, which is titled Backbone (out 1/22), near the beginning of December. I cannot tell you how many times the album has played on repeat since it first hit our inbox, but suffice to say it is easily the most streamed release of the last four weeks by a wide margin. Our company is comprised of people on the verge of 30 and 40, but when Backbone plays we are collectively pulled back to those awkward teen years spent doing everything we could to discover who we were meant to become. The album speaks to the desire to be the best version of yourself, as well as the struggles one faces when trying to break away from the person others have always thought them to be. ROAM appreciate how hard bettering yourself can be, and they have created a soundtrack to promote self-realization that carries a punk edge so infectious that I personally believe no one will be able to resist its charm.

I may still be months or even years away from fully understanding my role in alternative music as an older person, but as long as bands like ROAM exist I can live knowing the type of music that made me dedicate my life to this business is still being created. More importantly, it’s being made in such a way that it draws in an untold number of new music fans, each of whom will contribute to the diversity and community found within alternative music in ways that cannot even begin to predict. As far as I am concerned, ROAM is the sound of the future, and the future sounds great. Knowing this, I am able to stop worrying so much about the state of alternative music and focus instead on helping others navigate this crazy business. That is what I am here to do, and thanks to ROAM I have a soundtrack to motivate me day in and day out. They can be a soundtrack for you as well, if you give them a chance.

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.

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MONDAY MOTIVATION: Spoken

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.

Every great story, no matter how much work goes into it, begins with a stroke of luck or tragedy that propels the protagonist down a path in life they otherwise might not have experienced. For me, this twist of fate came around the time I was 16, and it involved an abandoned all ages music venue that sat on the edge of my small midwestern farming town I called home. The club was known as The Apocalypse, and for several years it had provided the area with a number of live performances from local artists and nationally touring alternative christian bands, but at some point years prior to the start of my story the club had gone under. The owners retained the lease to the property, and all the sound equipment remained inside, but for one reason or another they were unable to keep the doors open long enough for me and my fellow high school aged friends to enjoy their facility.

At that point in my life, music was already my favorite activity, but I had no idea how anyone could create a career in entertainment without being the person standing on stage each night. I was inspired by some friends from a nearby town to try hosting a show of my own, so on a whim I emailed the owners of The Apocalypse to see what it would take to reopen their doors, even if just for one night only. They gave me a rate, I applied for a grant from the city, and within a few weeks I had the budget needed (<$500) to host my own show. I booked the bands my friends were in, as well as the bands their friends were in, and together we brought over 250 kids to a venue that was nestled on the outskirts of a town with a population well below 3,000. It was the biggest single night event in our area by a considerable margin, and I knew almost immediately that I wanted to continue hosting shows there for as long as possible.

Weeks passed before the next event, but the owners of The Apocalypse slowly came around to having shows on a semi-regular basis once I guaranteed to take on the responsibility of ensuring that enough people and money came in to cover all our bills. This was never a huge problem for me, as the amount of money needed was often below $500 for a single night, but it did provide me with a lot of learning opportunities through marketing, promotion, and the negotiation of performance contracts. We couldn’t provide bands with whatever amount they needed guaranteed each night, so we would have to sell them on agreeing to a door split where they kept 50% of every ticket sold or 75% of everything sold after we broke even for the night. This was not acceptable to some, especially as I tried to win over more and more nationally recognized talent, but thankfully there were many who were willing to accept what we could offer.

Of the dozens of bands that came through our doors during that time, only three or four acts remain today. I am sure in time I will tell stories of each, but the one I come back to most often is a little known hard rock outfit called Spoken. Fronted by founder Matthew Baird, Spoken perform an edgy take on alternative christian rock that isn’t afraid to channel elements of metal, hardcore, and punk into their often radio-ready sound. The band formed in 1997, which is around the time I was just turning 10, and by the time we would meet six years later they had already established themselves as a rising band with the ability to pull in reasonably sized audiences from coast to coast. More importantly, at least at the time, they were willing to play for a door split and a free meal, which matched perfectly with what we at The Apocalypse could offer.

The first time I booked Spoken I expected to snap a photo, meet the band, put on the show, and likely never speak to the group again unless they needed a gig. What I didn’t expect to happen, and what continues to this day, is to form a friendship and kinship with the band. Spoken would go on to play the Apocalypse at nearly half a dozen times in the three years I ran the venue, and each time we would grow a bit closer. Their passion for their craft was clear from the moment we met, and I like to think they saw something special in me as well. We learned one another’s names, spoke like old friends whenever arranging booking, and genuinely became as close as two industry professionals (at any level) could hope to be while still getting all their work done. I didn’t think much of it at the time, aside from how cool it was to be recognized by men I considered rock stars, but looking back now I realize it was their friendship that initially made me feel as if there could be a place for me in the world of music.

Twelve years have passed since that time, and as I mentioned earlier in this post the vast majority of bands I knew, loved, and worked with during my time at The Apocalypse have since broken up. I can’t be mad at those artists, as establishing a lasting place in the music business is practically impossible for anyone to achieve, but I did feel a bit of heartache each time someone I knew to be great decided it was time to depart. I guess in the back of my mind I always had this vision of the people I came up with making it, and then I hoped they would all help me make it as well. The truth however, is that almost no one made it, and those that continued were only able to do so thanks to hard work, dedicated fans, and a relentless drive to progress beyond whatever had come before.

Spoken, despite changing labels and members, have never stopped. In all the years since I left that town and started my journey through the ranks of the industry as a professional the members of Spoken have been clawing their way through the ranks of alternative rock. Each release has found them taking one bold step after another, and each has been followed by lengthy touring efforts that have taken the group around the world and back again. You probably cannot name a single hard rock band touring today who has not shared the stage with Spoken on at least one opportunity, and most would tell you they walked away from their show(s) with the band feeling inspired.

This week, Spoken will release their first album as part of still very much new deal with Artery Recordings. The record is titled ‘Breathe Again,’ and as the titles suggests it breathes a breath of fresh life into the Spoken brand. There are anthems made for arenas, power ballads into to console those who feel sad, and a series of mosh pit inducing rock juggernauts that will no doubt keep live crowds sweaty and singing along for many years to come. Whether you’re experiencing the record as a longtime follower of the band or someone who just discovered them through a post like this, there is something everyone can enjoy. Spoken have always been a band with wide appeal, but this album takes their entire sound to a whole new level of accessibility that I honestly believe will help them gain more notoriety than any other release they’ve produced in the last half decade.

The reason I chose ‘Breathe Again’ for this week’s post is admittedly due in part to my familiarity with the band, but also they way the album makes me feel. Spoken was around before I even considered a career in music, and here they are nearly two decades later still making records and signing deals. There has not been a year this millennium when Spoken were not poised to be one of the next big things in rock, and with the release of ‘Breathe Again’ there time in the sun seems closer than ever before. Listening to this record inspires me to continue chasing my own dreams, and it also reminds me to not let the passing of time break my will. It could have been very easy for Spoken to walk away when they weren’t national headliners after 10 years on the road, but the band kept on, and they will continue keeping on for as long as they have the ability to travel. That kind of passion is rare in any industry, and I can only hope I possess a similar drive in my own efforts.

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.

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Monday Motivation: Handguns

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.

One surefire way to know you’re beginning to grow older is when you realize you no longer relate to the vast majority of pop punk music the way you once did. If you were never that devoted to the genre I guess it’s entirely possible that such moments never have nor will happen to you, but I am confident there is some genre you connect with youth that you will struggle to feel close to at some point in the future. The point is, with age comes change, and when you are old enough to grasp the fact the themes of the genre(s) you love rarely evolve it can take some time to find a place within that scene that you still feel welcomed.

(This is/was the last anthem of my young love affair with pop punk)

For me, the breaking point came immediately after college. The Wonder Years had just released The Upsides during my final semester, and that record had quickly become the soundtrack to my journey out of adolescence. The real world was just around the corner, and when I found myself wondering what kind of future there may be for a college grad with a degree in Music Business who lived in West Michigan I felt a shiver of terror flow through my body. Graduation came and went, followed by months of applications being sent all over the industry, and by the fall I was taking a job at my local Hot Topic thanks almost entirely to the fact I knew a manager at another nearby store (his band needed coverage online and I, as it just so happens, had a music blog). It was literally as close to the ‘music business’ as I could get, and I quickly began to panic over whether or not I had steered my life in an very wrong direction.

Music had been my safe place up to that point, and to be more specific it was within the pop punk scene that I felt the most comfortable. There is a sense of community in pop punk that has existed since day one, and it’s in celebrating the things we can accomplish through our bonds with one another that has lead to many timeless songs being created. The aesthetic of the genre, to me, has always been something like a battle cry for making life whatever you want it to be. There is definitely talk of smaller details, like relationships, high school, and pizza, but at the end of the day the biggest pop punk artists tend to be those who talk about grabbing life by the proverbial horns and taking control.

The problem is, most those life lessons end right around the time the storytellers (aka songwriters) reach or outgrow the average age of a college student. We can debate the reasons for this, as the possibilities are as numerous as the number of bands with members in this age range, but more often than not it seems to be that it’s in that window between the late teen years and early twenties that most musicians start to become less connected to the lives their listeners lead. There will always be bands working day jobs just so they can keep their music dreams alive, but the biggest artists of the genre tend to become full time bands whose day to day struggles and experiences are very different than those who must face life as a college graduate with little to no clear paths to a career in their desired field. To cope with this, most artists turn their focus to life events, such as relationships and dealing with death, and the results are often quite good. However, they are not the same as the artist’s earlier material.

I’m not saying artists who pivot their lyrical focus are bad or in any way making a wrong turn. All I’m saying is at that point in my life, when I was scraping pennies together to pay rent for an apartment I didn’t care for in a city I wanted to leave, I could not find a band or record that spoke to me the way so many artists had just a year prior while I was still knee-deep in my studies. There were no anthems for the educated and unemployed, or at least none being created by the artists who had guided me up to that point, and I began to drift away from the genre I had spent the better part of the previous decade promoting at every opportunity.

As time passed I found new artists to love and I realized that my relationship with pop punk wasn’t over, but rather that it had simply begun to evolve. All my punk heroes raised me to believe it was on me to create a future for myself, so in time I was able to seek out artists that spoke to me in a way that I felt related to my post-college life experiences and I embraced them with open arms. Some of the music came from musicians in a similar position who were never able to make full time band life work, but most of it came from artists who chose to avoid college altogether. These artists didn’t celebrate their lack of higher education, but rather let fans know that just because college is where most aspire to be after high school it is not the only option available. They saw life as a veritable smorgasbord of opportunity, and they encouraged people to follow their hearts, but not without warning them that heartache may ensure.

I still struggle to find more than three or four pop punk releases a year that speak to me and the way I see the world today, but recently I came across one album that immediately soared into my favorite releases of the year. It comes from Handguns, a band with a history of telling life as it is, and the titled is Disenchanted. The record and band perfectly fit the description I gave in the preceding paragraph about artists who chose to avoid college altogether and face the struggles of adulthood head-on. This album focuses on the challenges those choices present, as well as the things in this world that are weighing on the band members. It’s a record made out of frustration, but also one made out of the understanding that few things in this life are actually within our control. The best you can hope to do is be yourself to the fullest extent possible.

This is not Handguns’ first album. They actually have two previous full length releases, as well as a few EPs chock full of basement show ready punk anthems. Each record the band has made has explored where the members were at in their lives when they entered the studio, and as a result fans of the band have been able to follow the group’s evolution both in music and in life since their inception. Disenchanted is the first of these releases to speak about life after you’ve begun to settle into your twenties, and it’s written with a near perfect balance of wit and angst that keeps you coming back again and again. You know the band has things they want to address, but they don’t allow making a good point about the way most people lead their lives get in the way of delivering infectious pop punk with massive genre appeal. Handguns, like all good adults, understand that perhaps the best way to incite meaningful change is by engaging people in a way that is assertive without being aggressive. You want to inspire change, not force it, and on Disenchanted Handguns find a way to do just that.

I wish I could tell you exactly why it was Disenchanted of all the pop punk albums released this year to grab me by the collar from track one, but the closest I have come to forming an explanation is realizing that I myself have struggled with my own frustrations about life and the world around me as of late. It can be incredibly hard to believe you can inspire change in the world, especially as just one person on a planet of billions. but when you listen to Disenchanted you realize you are never really alone. You may be on your own course in life, filled with twists and turns known only to you, but the desire to create something better for yourself and those you love is something felt by everyone at one point or another. When you listen to Disenchanted you are inspired to seek out like-minded individuals, perhaps even at a Handguns concert, and do something to create the world you want to see. It may be something big or it may be something that only impacts a select number of people, but size isn’t really what matters in these situations. What really matters is that you try, as often as possible, to make the world a better place.

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.

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