The wildest band on the Rise Records roster stops by Inside Music to discuss their chaotic new EP.
The biggest secret in hardcore is about to become public knowledge. Florida’s Bloodbather will release their Rise Records debut EP, Silence, on October 9. The album combines the chaotic energy of early-2000s bands such as The Blood Brothers and Norma Jean with the ferocity of more modern talent. It’s a unique release in an age of sonic redundancy, and we cannot recommend it enough.
To give you a taste of Silence, check out the official video for the title track:
What we love about Bloodbather is how unabashed the group is in every element of their sound. Some artists might choose to hold something back or save an idea for another track, but not this band. The members of Bloodbather treat each song like its the last one they will ever record. They genuinely leave everything on tape, and that kind of creative fearlessness is the only thing that can bring rock and roll back from the dead.
In this episode of INSIDE MUSIC, host James Shotwell chats with Bloodbather’s Kyler Millo about his band’s underground legacy. Kyler recounts signing with Rise Records, the long wait to release music from within the entertainment industry system, and how the band is coping with life in a time when touring is impossible.
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Inside Music is a podcast about the lives of professionals in the music business. Each week, host James Shotwell chats with an artist or industry tastemaker to learn how anyone can navigate the world of entertainment.
Aaron Pauley and Valentino Arteaga from Of Mice & Men discuss how their band is evolving to stay relevant in a quickly changing industry on our latest podcast.
Metalcore is a fickle genre where many acts rise and fall overnight. Of Mice & Men has endured the changing trends of the industry for more than a decade, and the group show no signs of quitting anytime soon. Their latest single, “How To Survive,” speaks to this mindset in a rather tongue-in-cheek manner. Check it out:
Name something that threatens to break bands and this group has not only faced it, but emerged on the other side of the storm stronger than before. Of Mice & Men know what it’s like to take to steps forward and one step backwards. They know how losing a member or two can threaten to undo everything that has been built. More importantly, they know how to use the lessons learned from the past to inform future decision making, and that has made all the difference in the trajectory of their career.
On this episode of Inside Music, host James Shotwell sits down with Aaron Paul and Valentino Arteaga from Of Mice & Men at 20 Monroe Live in Grand Rapids, MI to talk about all things music. Aaron and Valentino discuss their group’s recent recording efforts, the legacy of their band, and how they’re evolving to embrace changing trends in the industry at large. The pair also tell us about their new single, “How To Survive,” and how it relates to everything else the band has planned for the months ahead.
Inside Music is a podcast about the lives of professionals in the music business. Each week, host James Shotwell chats with an artist or industry tastemaker to learn how anyone can navigate the world of entertainment.
On this episode of INSIDE MUSIC, host James Shotwell chats with Lou Miceli of Palisades about his band’s forthcoming album, Erase The Pain. Palisades has been steadily building a fervent following in alternative music over the last half-decade, but the group appears poised for far more significant things in 2019 thanks in part to this upcoming release. Lou tells James about the band’s approach to songwriting, partnering with Howard Benson, and what followers can expect in the new year.
In other news, Inside Music is now available on YouTube! Click here to stream the latest episode on our official channel. You can also subscribe to the show on iTunes, as well as any other podcast streaming service.
On this episode of INSIDE MUSIC, host James Shotwell calls Crown The Empire vocalist Andy Leo to discuss his band’s new album, Retrograde (in stores July 22). Andy tells James about the concept behind the album, as well as the evolution the band has undergone through the process of creating this record. The conversation later moves from music to relationships, with Andy telling James how the constant forward momentum of life on the road can lead people to reevaluate what is most important to life. James also calls Steve Goldberg, vocalist for Michigan hard rock group Desires, to discuss the struggles of being a young band trying to reach a wide audience in 2016.
There are two songs featured in this episode of Inside Music. The first is “Crux” by Desires, and the second is “Weight Of the World” by Crown The Empire.
You may already know this, but Inside Music is available on iTunes. Click here to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
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 couldn’t tell you when I first felt like I was punk, or that I belonged to the quote/unquote “punk community,” but it was probably sometime in my early teen years. Blink-182 had converted me from a person who simply enjoyed music to someone who believed they needed music like they needed their next breath with the release of Enema Of The State, and from there my love for the alternative world grew like vines on the side of an old brick house. If there was a show nearby, I was there. If there was a new album on display at the record store that claimed to be pop punk, hard rock, or edgy in some way, I wanted to hear it. More often than not I probably bought that record as well. For me, it was impossible to have too much of a good thing, and in many ways that belief still stands true today.
It wasn’t until I reached college and the age of discovering music online arrived that I really began to consider the numerous styles of music that existed outside my audio comfort zone. Even though I was quick to find artists outside the world of rock I enjoyed, my admiration for their art was something I largely kept to myself. After all, every moment of my life in music before that time had been defined by my love for all thing alternative, and it was in that genre that I found a sense of community that I had not known in my hometown or through school. While other kids had friends in the so-called “real world,” my closest companions often lived on a CD, mp3, or (for a few years) audio cassette. Bands were my friends, and their songs were the stories we shared when no one else wanted anything to do with us. Punk, and I am admittedly using that term in the loosest sense of the word, had kept me company through thick and thin. I didn’t know if I could ever feel as close to anything as I felt to the alternative community, and as a result I feared venturing away from it for fear it may turn its back on me.
That may sound silly to you, but the above is entirely true, and I think it may be true for many others as well. When you find yourself associating who you are as a person with the thing, scene, or group that first made you feel free to express yourself it can be incredibly hard to consider even the smallest change because you worry that thing, whatever or whomever it may be, won’t love you anymore. What’s even worse is that you also begin to fear that no one or no thing will want you either, which is preposterous, but as a young person still finding confidence in yourself it seems as likely as anything. So you stay stagnant, preventing yourself from having a chance at being or trying something new, and in my experience that complacency will eventually lead you to feel less and less interested about the world of music, as well as art in general.
Hands Like Houses are an Australian rock band that formed in 2008 and quickly found international acclaim thanks to alternative sound that played well with what was popular in the genre at the moment. The group found a home in Rise Records, a label known for setting trends in the alternative world, and in 2012 the group released their debut LP, Ground Dweller, to critical and fan acclaim. The band then toured extensively, touching down on several continents, and then in 2013 another record (Unimagine) hit shelves. More positive reviews were received, more tours were planned, and the group once again found themselves in a global whirlwind of press and publicity that would find them being face-to-face with throngs of followers from every corner of the planet.
By the time Hands Like Houses found themselves celebrating the dawn 2014 they had already accomplished more than most bands ever hope to achieve. They had risen through the Australian music underground, caught the attention of one of the biggest alternative labels in the globe, and managed to build a dedicated international following that continuously showered the group with praise. No one could have blamed the group if they chose to write and release another album that sounded similar to the two they had already released. Heck, the band probably could have toured with the same group of bands they had always toured with as well. Hands Like Houses had enough going for them at that point that such decisions would have felt obvious, albeit safe, but as you can probably guess based on the rest of this post that is not what happened.
Starting with 2014’s Reimagine EP, Hands Like Houses began a sonic pivot that found their sound trending more towards mainstream rock than ever before while still retaining the alternative edge that had always been a cornerstone of the group’s music. Reimagine was little more than reinterpretations of material from the group’s previous LP, but it offered the group a chance to showcase a side of themselves audiences hadn’t really heard before, and fans of the bands were quick to express their pleasure in the change. Some were admittedly turned away as well, but that was bound to happen regardless of what the band chose to release. Some people simply hate change, and there is no way you can, well, change them.
Fast-forward another two years and Hands Like Houses are preparing to release their third full-length album, Dissonants, on February 26. The arrival of the record marks an end to the longest period that Hands Like Houses have gone without releasing new music, and it’s clear from the opening track “I Am” that the time away was very much needed. This album, more than any other release in the Hands Like Houses catalog, feels like the most authentic representation of who the band is and what they hope to convey through their music. That is not to say the group was ever dishonest in either respect, but listening to Dissonants makes it clear that some of the group’s earlier material had far more influence from the genre and culture it was produced in than what the band may have intended. This record, front to back and back to front, feels like a wholly authentic release created without any desire to cater to a specific scene, sound, or genre. Whether it’s the bouncy riff of “Perspectives” or the radio ready sounds of “Stillwater,” this album is a pitch perfect representation of what the men of Hands Like Houses have become over the better part of the last decade. It’s diverse collection of ideas and emotions presented without restraint, and it’s without a doubt the best material the group has ever released.
When I hear Dissonants I am reminded of that period in my life when I feared what might happen if I admitted to myself and everyone else that I had interests outside of punk. Like so many artists and music professionals, I thought my value to the world was equal to my standing amongst my alt/punk peers, and it wasn’t until I shook this thought from my head that I found true happiness and purpose in my life. I am punk, just like Hand Like Houses, but neither me or the men of that band are punk and nothing more. We are all humans, and as such we are influenced and inspired by a wide array of art, experiences, and conversations that all mesh together to make us the people we have become. My hope, like the hope of Hands Like Houses, is that I can show my true self to the world and be accepted just as I was when I thought being punk was all I would ever be. Life has taught me that such acceptance is possible, and Hands Like Houses new album has reminded me of that fact once again. The hardest part is taking it upon yourself to make a change. Once you do that, everything else will being to fall into place. Life might not be what you thought it would, but it won’t be as bad as you feared either. Just be you. No matter what, just be you.
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.
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’m being entirely honest with you when I say the last year of my life has not gone anything like I had planned. It’s hard to pinpoint when my life went off the rails and my descent into pessimism began, but if I had to pick a single event it would no doubt be the passing of my best friend, Justin, last November. He was just 25 at the time of his death, and though he had long battled the disease that ultimately took him from us, I had convinced myself he would somehow pull through. He had survived longer than any doctor predicted he would, and I guess I found a way to believe that would always be the case. I was wrong, and for the better part of year now I have struggled to come to terms with the fact he is no longer a phone call away.
As a result of this loss, I’ve found it increasingly hard to put the some amount of passion and faith into my various projects, friends, and hobbies as I once did. Maybe I fear they too will die and leave me with an inescapable sense of loneliness, or maybe I’m simply not ready to put my trust into something I know will eventually fade away. Whatever the case, the weight of Justin’s passing has weighed me down in more ways than I can begin to explain, and it was only within the last few weeks that I realized it was because of his death that I felt this way. I knew there was an anger within in my soul. There was turmoil tearing at my heartstrings, and it had become such dominant force in my everyday life that it was beginning to impact the way I interacted with the world around me.
I was actually sitting at dinner with my parents for the first time since Christmas when the walls I built to hold my emotions in finally broke. We were waiting on pizza, talking about the people we knew and where life had taken them, when I realized it was the absence of Justin that had derailed my entire existence. Not having his constant presence in my life, albeit often thousands of miles from my geographical location, had lead me to almost completely close myself off from the outside world. I had lost my passion for music writing, education, film, and for basically anything else you would say I had even a fleeting interest in six months prior. My life revolved around sleep and/or whatever would give me an escape from the reality I faced without Justin. I was a hermit, for lack of a better word, and it was beginning to kill me.
There is an old saying among people battling addictions of any kind that the first step to finding a better way of life is admitting you have a problem in the first place. For the better part of the last year I have been addicted to avoiding the fact my best friend in the world has died and there is nothing I can do to bring him back. He’s gone, and even if people want to try and force the belief upon me that those who die live on in our hearts I know his earthly body has been turned to ash and scattered in various locations across the country. There is no place to go where I can sit with him and talk about life. There is no car ride I can take to find his eternal resting place. He is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and I need to find a way to live my life once again.
Miss May I is not a band I would typically claim to be a fan of, but over the last couple weeks I have found a strong connection to their music that has aided me in my fight to reclaim my life. Their new album Deathless, which arrives in stores this week, addresses the last two years of the band’s existence and the various struggles they faced in trying to keep their dream of rock and roll glory alive. Like you or me, the guys in this band are people, and on this recording they find a way to channel the stress, ferocity, and unpredictability of everyday existence into hard-hitting rock music that is just as infectious as it is heavy. I have no doubt some will hear the record and feel it’s little more than mosh pit inducing fodder for Warped Tour crowds and those who shop at Hot Topic, but to me it’s the sound of five guys trying their best to make sense out of the randomness of existence, and in they do a damn fine job of conveying that experience to the listener in a way that is incredibly moving.
I’m not better yet. There are still days I have to fight myself to get out of bed because a part of me believes I will spend the rest of my days walking the Earth in search of someone who is half as loving, fun, or kind as my dead best friend. I hope there will come a time when that is no longer the case, but for now I’d be happy if they only occurred once in a great while. Through it all however, music has helped me in ways no conversation with friends or family could match, and Miss May I has played a large role in giving me the confidence to greet each new day with an open mind. Give Deathless a chance. You won’t regret it.
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.
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.
Pop-punk has been the dominating force in alternative music and youth culture for the better part of half a decade at this point, and it doesn’t take close inspection to realize signs of aging are starting to show. The generation that ushered this sound to forefront has begun to mature, as have their interests, and the time has come for the bands who want to make music their longterm career to evolve right along with them. Not everyone is up to the challenge, or at least the seems to be the case given the material released by the scene in 2015, but every so often a band comes along that isn’t afraid to embrace the constant evolution of life and depict in the music. In 2015, there may be no better example of this than Chicago’s own pop-punk heroes, Knuckle Puck.
This week, Knuckle Puck will release their new full-length album through Rise Records. The record speaks of growing up, seeing the world, and spending a little too much time in one’s own head. It’s not about hating yourself and learning to make change, or even apologizing for the times you’ve been wrong. Instead, ‘Copacetic’ deals with accepting the fact that growth is a constant work in progress, and it’s defined by small steps rather than giant leaps. It’s about learning to be patient without losing your drive to do whatever you are able to create the life you want, and it’s a message the entire alternative scene needs at this moment.
I could pick any song on this record and find a reason for the entire album to be chosen for today’s Monday Motivation post, but for me it’s “Evergreen” that seals this record as one everyone should hear. This particular segment has been bowling me over for weeks:
“As I exhale this breath of fresh air, I feel the distance tear the space between us. Cause we’re always climbing toward the sun, but the cabin pressure gets to me. And there’s so much more than we think there is to see.”
There is something about working in music that makes everyone who partakes blind to the world around them. Phone calls home become more infrequent, friends whose careers reside in more common fields become increasingly distant, and try as you might to learn how to settle down with age your thirst for adventure, or simply to always be seeking something new, only continues to grow in time. While there are certainly perks to seeing the world from this perspective it always has drawbacks, including the loneliness the freedom of expression can create. Freedom, like life, is only ideal when it can be enjoyed with others you care for, and throughout Copacetic there is a fervent belief there is more to life than shows, chords, and tours. That is something everyone in music needs to remember, as well as the fact it’s not wrong to take time to enjoy that side of life. We all need a release. Copacetic finds Knuckle Puck seeking their escape while still wanting nothing more than to be the source of comfort their fans love, and through sharing their struggle we too realize our need for a bit of peace amidst the chaos of existence.
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.
