After four years and two albums, Circa Survive have completed their recording contract with Equal Vision and have signed with Atlantic Records. The band has begun work on their third record in Toronto, ON with producer David Bottrill (Tool, King Crimson, Silverchair, Moneen).
As I gear up for this year’s Warped Tour, I watched the DVDs from the Fuse hit series, NOFX Backstage Passport. I watched almost every episode of the series when it aired last year. In fact, that is most television I watched all year in one sitting. I thought the concept was brilliant. I couldn’t wait to see the train wreck and debauchery set to the music of NOFX. The guys played shows South America, Asia, Israel, Russia and South Africa with nothing but hope and their instruments. After watching this series, I am even more bummed I don't get to see them live again in San Antonio this Thursday. Oh well, I have five NOFX shows under my belt to go off of for now.Saturday night was a real treat for me as one of my all time favorite artists, Everlast, played a show at Antone’s. Having been a fan of Everlast since the House of Pain era, and then a fan of his bluesy alternative rock solo projects, it is a wonder it has taken me over ten years to catch one of his concerts. If he was as good back then as he was Saturday night, I really missed out.
Opening for Everlast were Brooklyn natives and long time music scene veterans, The Lordz of Brooklyn. You may have caught them on Fuse as I did this summer, with their music documentary style show called The Brooklyn Way. The show chronicled the group from their early hip hop days of the 90s, to their struggles with the industry and coping with family life. It wasn’t but a few episodes, but the show did a good job of telling their story and conveying so much emotion that the viewer had t
o pull for these guys and all they have been through. Had it not been for the show, I can’t say I would have heard of them or have liked them as much. Good for Fuse.
The Lordz of Brooklyn were the only opener for Everlast Saturday, making it a short but sweet concert. When they took the stage, they came out ready to play with lots of confidence and the energy of a younger band. I did not know what to expect other than the theme song The Brooklyn Way, being it was the theme for their television show. Having performed that, covering a Run DMC song and the punk rock classic I Want to Die, they did what an opening band is supposed to do. The crowd enjoyed their set, the band left sweaty and tired, and everyone was enjoying themselves. My friends and I got a kick out of their cool Brooklyn accents and their names for each other, like “Tony Salami”. Check out this clip of the Lordz playing their song The Brooklyn Way.
After the Lordz of Brooklyn were done, I finally got see Everlast live. The intro he came out to was the Superman theme song. I thought that was a little much but pretty funny. He came out looking a little older than I remember, but still cool and sounding
as good as his CDs. His gritty, raspy voice is great for the blues rock genre he is in and Antone’s is the place for that sort of thing.
Early in the set he performed an acoustic song called Broken, which had good use of organ and harmonica. It was his best song of the first half of the show I thought, but Endz really got the crowd excited as well as Black Coffee. Everlast really didn’t say too much between songs, except for one instance where he said “The banks scare you and it is a land grab. I don’t give a fuck about a Democrat or Republican” right before he sang Stones In My Hand. Shortly after, he took a small break or intermission as they say.
Right after his intermission, Everlast performed his hit Black Jesus, one of my favorites. After a few more blues rock songs of his, people started to yell “What its Like”, referring to his most popular hit off his first solo album, “Whitey Ford Sings the Blues”. He responded by saying “ya’ll think you know what's coming next, but you don't”. He then started Put Your Lights On, minus Santana of course. He concluded by thanking the crowd for coming and saying it won’t be another four years before he comes back to town. He then ended with an awesome live rendition of What Its Like. If you weren’t there, check out a clip of what you missed:
Lately I have gotten more questions from friends and classmates about music groups I listen to or recommend. I don't know why that is all of a sudden, but I think its cool that people care to ask me of all people. Then I thought: I do collect records, have tons of mp3s in my laptop & Ipod, go to shows all the time here in Austin, and read a lot of music mags both local and national. So I figure it is time to start a blog of the different groups I discover or come across. Why keep all the information to myself? After all, sharing is caring. I realize I may be late on the bandwagon for some bands, but again this is my blog about when or how I discover a group or artist I like. I will tell how I came across them, if and where I saw them, and give thoughts about them. Some bands may be major, mid-major indie level, unsigned and local. The music I like and listen to comes literally from all walks of life. I listen to music in English and Spanish as I am Latino and bilingual. I welcome comments, criticism, questions, and suggestions. I primary use myspace when it comes to looking for bands, but myspace is only about half of my music discovery. I get tons of magazines in the mail and still watch Music video channels such as Fuse and M.E. TV in Austin. Although I grew up watching MTV, I do not watch anymore except for rare occasions. I am even disappointed in MTV2 and now MTV Tres. I think MTV chose to get younger while the first MTV generation got older. That's the way it goes I guess. I just wish they played more videos. I didn't forget about MUN2, although I will forget them on purpose. They are just as bad as the other joker networks I mentioned. Great concepts for channels but lacking quality content. So there you have it, my music blog is born. Postings will occur randomly but hopefully frequently. My goal with this blog is share with the world music they might like and would have never discovered without my help. Thanks for reading.
