Alternative Press Show Off 2010 Warped Tour Covers

Hey Everyone!
So, Alternative Press have unveiled their Warped Tour edition covers and they look great! This year's photos include members of We The Kings, Bring Me The Horizon, Alkaline Trio, The Rocket Summer, Versaemerge and more! This year's tour may not be the most exciting lineup (in my books anyways) but it still has some rocking bands and the experience is still unlike anything else in North America. I'm stoked, and these covers just intensify that adrenaline. Warped Tour- here I come! Year seven is going to be killer. I'll be adding this issue to my collection soon, will you?

Who's checking out Warped 2010? Who are you excited to see?
Tell Me! We'll compare notes :)
Rock On,
-Girl At The Rock Show

Alternative Press Anniversary Covers

Hey Everyone!
Alternative Press Magazine have released the new covers for their upcoming 25th Anniversary edition... and its a cool concept for sure! The magazine has chosen to take some of today's popular bands and replicate some of their classic covers with the new generation. 30h3, Escape The Fate and The Maine have stepped in to "cover" (if you will) some old photo shoots by Kid Rock(Aug 1999), Afghan Whigs(Feb 1994), and Brand New(Dec 2003).

Definitely a call for congrats, Alternative Press. Celebrate the fact that you have achieved your 25th anniversary amidst this age of economic uncertainty. With magazines and newspapers being forced to shut their doors, getting to the 25th year is impressive. GOOD JOB!

So, go HERE to check out the covers, they're pretty cool
Rock On,
- Girl At The Rock Show

Alternative Press Most Anticipated 2010 Issue Hits Shelves

Hey Everyone!

So I just got back from the store today with a fresh copy of Alt Press' annual "Most Anticipated" issue. Every year, they dedicate a block of pages to the upcoming year's most exciting prospected releases. This is one of my favorite issues because it gets me all hyped up for 12 months of new music from a lot of my favorite bands. It keeps you on track with who's writing, interviews about the albums writing/recording process from bands and producers, and allows you to start formulating ideas for possible tours of the new year. 

This year the big title of MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE was given to New Jersey boys, My Chemical Romance. After the 2007 release of Black Parade and constant touring, the band took a little break to have somewhat of a personal life. Getting married, having families, all that stuff. I think its about time they made a return, and from the sounds of it, a great one. They're reporting its a back to basics rock n roll album... no more theatrics, no more makeup, no more nonsense. Just pure, classic, rock. The inspiration behind tracks on the album are said to be Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, MC5, The Stooges, Judas Priest and Bon Jovi. Not bad. A little punk influence with classic rock style... so far it sounds pretty wicked. Combine this with song titles like "Black Dragon Fighting Society" and "Trans Am", its definitely a new direction for the guys. I'm interested to hear the final project, which is slated for a spring release date.

Other bands noted in the article include pop punk duo 3oH!3, poetic rockers The Academy Is, British hardcore group Bring Me The Horizon, breakthrough band Gaslight Anthem, techno nerds Hellogoodbye, young indie sensation NeverShoutNever and former Panic At The Disco boys new project Young Veins.

What albums are you looking forward to in 2010? Anything not listed here? Tell me!

Rock On,

- Girl At The Rock Show

Song of the Day: Our Lady of Sorrows by My Chemical Romance... forever my favorite MCR song. The first album I ever bought by them was I Brought You My Bullets. This is track five off that absolutely amazing record. A heavy melody, dark lyrics... its beautifully miserable. "We could be perfect one last night, and die like star crossed lovers when we fight... this riddle of revenge, please understand it has to be this way... We spark and fade they die by threes... Oh how wrong we were to think that immortality meant never dying" That last line is one of my all time favorite quotes. Can we say "to be inked" in the near future? haha.

The AP Fall Ball Tour 2009

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all had a good weekend. I know I did, I went to Toronto friday morning to check out the AP Fall Ball Tour 2009. I have to say, overall I was very impressed and had a good time despite being one of the oldest audience members haha. I've gotten used to this... even Green Day and Blink shows make me feel old when I look around at all the kids. Now, if you're unfamiliar with the tour, let me give you a few details. It was put together with the help of reader polls in Alternative Press magazine. The goal of the tour was to hype some new or upcoming acts that people might be interested in because, as it was repeated throughout the night, "you cant listen to the same stuff over and over again". So heres a brief overview of the acts from the tour, a couple examples of their sound and my thoughts on their performances!

The first band to take the stage was a UK group by the name of You Me At Six. They played a fairly solid half hour set of catchy pop punk songs that kept the audience's attention. The big hit of the night was probably their performance of Lady Gaga's Poker Face. All in all, it was a good set but nothing phenomenal. If you're a fan of groups like Forever The Sickest Kids or Boys Like Girls, you might like these guys. They have some potential, and I'm sure that after this tour they will experience a higher level of success here over seas.

Next up, the techno/pop punk brainchild of Luis Dubuc: The Secret Handshake. An interesting performance for sure. An auto-tune equipped mic, a Mac computer, and a couple instruments is all it takes to get a crowd of teenagers moving. Again, as for the point of this tour really, very few people seemed familiar with the act and it was perhaps only memorable due to yet another cover. This time it was the Cascada classic "Everytime We Touch". Not bad, but I cant say I was enthralled by the stage performance. If you like A Rocket To The Moon or Playradioplay, you might like this band.

The third band on the opening round of performances you may know... they go by the name Set Your Goals. This diverse six piece group hails from the San Francisco Bay area. I say "diverse" because although they also play that brand of radio friendly pop punk, they dabble in the hardcore genre as well. It makes for an interesting album. Anyways, I think they played a great set, but were not a prefect fit for the tour itself. The audience appeared more than a little confused for their 35 minute set. 

Up next was the co-headliner, Mayday Parade. Following theme, they are a pop punk rock from Florida. The power pop five piece released their debut album "Tales Told By Dead Friends" back in 2006 and recieved some fair reviews. They have played slots on the Vans Warped Tour as well as a few small tours. They have had an interesting time lately with the departure of their former vocalist/lyricist/guitarist Jason Lancaster. However, they never let that slow them down, having Derek Sanders take over full vocalist duties in the lineup (he used to share the job with Lancaster). He's a great vocalist. All in all, I was impressed by their ability to connect with their audience. It sounds cheesy, but it really is an important art form that is often lost. If you like The Maine or Every Avenue, give them a listen.

Finally, the other co-headlining act and the reason for my attendance- The Academy Is. Stunning performance as always. Personally, I was really happy with the set as it was a lot of material from their album Almost Here, which is what drew me to them in the first place. They also played Sputter off their recent release, the Lost In Pacific Time EP. This song plays live beautifully. William Beckett's voice was flawless as always, accompanied by the trained musicianship of the band. No one was left sitting through this set. It was well worth the wait. I have recommended this band time and time again, so I wont bore you with the details... just give them a chance because you might love them as much as I do. If you want to know more about them, check out my earlier blog: The Academy Is...?

So props to Alternative Press for coming out with this tour to help these up and coming bands to find some fans. This was a good set of bands to take out, a lot of potential in the group for sure. I'll leave you with a couple pictures from the show.

All of these live (6) photos above taken by me....

top row=Mayday Parade

2nd row Mayday Parade and Set Your Goals

3rd row=Academy Is

Rock on!

- Girl At The Rock Show

Song of the Day: Ocean and Atlantic by Mayday Parade... I like this song (maybe because it involves my name? :P) Its also guaranteed to get stuck in your head.

Bands Supporting Other Bands... How Influential Is It?

Hey Everyone!

So the other day I was flipping through some of my old magazines when I came across this issue of Alternative Press. The feature article in this issue (beyond the blatantly obvious Blink-182 reunion) is a piece called "The Band Who Changed My Life". In this multipage work, different members of popular bands take turns discussing bands or artists they admired. William Beckett (The Academy Is) cites the artistic and bold Robert Smith of The Cure as a major influence, while acts like the young All Time Low chose the 90s pop punk kings, Blink-182. The bands vary across the board... different genres, different generations, but the one thing they all have in common is an influence. 

Images Belong to Alternative Press Magazine

This got me wondering, to what level does this influence extend? If you think about it, a lot of the bands featured are inspiring the up and coming generation of musicians. I know that when I read about Green Day being fans of bands like Operation Ivy, I immediately pull up google and yahoo radio to check them out. I don't always like the bands (Operation Ivy, however, I love) but I am always curious to know what first made these people think "hey, maybe I could do that". So if I know that Green Day grew up listening to Operation Ivy, and I like them, I might wonder who had an impact on their career and so on, and so fourth.... taking artists of all kinds of genres and styles and intertwining them into one single web. 

Personally, I love this idea. It lets us all celebrate and appreciate music past and present. It brings me to bands I would have maybe never thought to dig up on my own. Its a way of bringing it to my attention. In reality, its not much different from the way a band will select an opening act for a tour. Sometimes this is done for them, but when they hand pick, there's usually a reason. Some people don't show up at a concert until just before the main acts, but if you ask me, that usually means you're missing out. As much as I love knowing who influenced them at first, its also cool to find out who they think has potential to carry the torch for a new generation.

 Its all about giving us new bands to listen to and love.  So what do you think? Does this have much influence on you? Do you care who made your favorite acts decide to pick up an instrument? Do you care who is asked to tour with your favorite acts? Does this make you approach listening to that group any differently? Let me know!

Rock On!

- Girl At The Rock Show

Song Of The Day: Knowledge by Operation Ivy... one of the first OI songs I heard- because Green Day released a cover of it on their album 1039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours.