Cleveland, Good Times, Live Shows, Music, Personal Entry, Rock

Memories of The Veil and looking forward to the Way Of Life

1 Comment

Sometimes I absolutely hate social networking websites.

I can care less about the constant status posting of some people on Facebook.  I do not need to know how many steps it took for you to get your mail this morning or how tired you are and wish you could sleep in some more.  Truth is some of these posts are just TMI, too much information.

I also love social networking websites too.

These days it is so much easier to reconnect with friends of the past without driving all over the city to find them.  There is no awkwardness in finding old friends on social networking websites.  All you have to do it request to be their friend and suddenly you have reconnected instantly.

In the case of this post I have reconnected with a old friend, rather friends and I owe it to the social networking site Facebook.

When I was just a young punk kid I had the pleasure of hanging around a high school band foursome called Witch’s Veil.  I remember going to a certain house I am sure a lot of my high school friends remember having good times at and would watch them play in the backyard garage.

Years later after high school and a break up, the band re-grouped with a most of the original members and called themselves The Veil.  By this time I had become pretty good friends with the band and hung out with them on many occasions.

At my young naive age I wanted nothing more than to be in their band but alas there was no room for me.  Jacob, Norm, Jamie, and Bryan were all great friends to me but they had control of the direction of the band and honestly they knew I could not play an instrument had my life depended on it let alone needed an extra person to their band. I could sing some, but they already had two great singers that took control of the songs.  I knew it was not happening but I never stopped thinking of how fun it would have been to partake in band practice.

I understood and never really bugged them about my short lived dream.  Still, I was fascinated with being around them so I hung out at their practice space and watched them do their thing.  I loved the process of a jam turning into a 4 minute rock bash complete with guitar solos and drum solos.

Still I wanted to be in that damn band so badly.  I remember one night I grabbed a tambourine and started keeping with the beat.  They guys got a kick of it and before I knew it I was labeled “Tambourine Man”.  From then on I would grab a tambourine and a beer at every practice and play along to all of the songs.  I became an unofficial member of sorts…

Soon they invited me on a  world tour and I would supply the hardest tambourine solos everyone had ever seen….no…that did not happen.

Hell, I did not even play live with them it was just a practice thing for kicks and giggles.  The truth is they did not need a live tambourine man, and I knew it.  They did however need a friend and a fan to support them.  I was pretty good at doing that.

They would invite me to their shows and I as well as a good group of friends would attend as many as we could.  I hung out with them before the shows, and drank with them after.  I was almost a roadie of sorts but never helped them move their equipment but did drink their beer.

The band later broke up because of indifferences but still remained friends throughout the years.  After all the foursome knew each other since high school.  They still remained friends but just did their own thing musically with some staying in bands and others starting families.

I did my best to keep in touch with them all but sometimes you just can’t help what happens over time.

When you grow old your life changes and everyone know that.  You meet new people, move in different directions, and sadly lose touch with good friends.  I lost touch with the members of The Veil but not completely.  Once in a blue moon I would run into them and they were just as happy to see me as back in the day.  The term friend for life comes to mind when I think of them.

In 2007 the world lost an amazing person as Bryan Collyard lost his life in an accident.  I can honestly say he was one of the more friendly people I will ever have had the pleasure to have in my life.  He and hung out a lot throughout the years before, during, and after The Veil.  He was a good man and everyone who knew him would say the same thing.

I heard rumors of the rest of the band getting together after Brian’s passing and jamming out.  A couple of weeks ago Jacob messaged me on Facebook letting me know that the band regrouped and were going to be playing a show.  Someone who I have not kept in touch with for years found me online and informed me of plans with the rest of the band.

Jacob informed me that he, Norm, Jamie, and friends created Way Of Life after jamming out a bunch of times after Brian’s passing.  The remaining members of the band knew that Brian wanted them to go on and after two years of intense jam sessions they decided to start playing out live.

This Thursday Way Of Life will be playing at the Beachland Ballroom at around 8:30pm.  I will be in attendee and would not miss this for the world.  Tickets are only $5.00.

To get a small taste of their music head over to their MySpace page.

Band Bio:

Way of Life is a “Straight up Rock n’Roll” band in the vein of the Stones, G n’R, and Social D. Norm, Jacob, and Jamie originally played in the popular Cleveland 90’s band The Veil, regularly selling out venues such as the Odeon and Peabody’s and opening for national acts such as Creed and Days of the New. James Genero has also been a long time Cleveland musician.

In the original band, Jacob played drums, Scott played bass, Jamie sang, and Bryan Collyard played guitar. After the passing of their loved long time friend and guitarist Bryan in January of 2007, the three, without really much effort at all, started getting together and ‘jamming’ some of the old tunes they use to play together. Being a group of friends that enjoy getting together by a good camp fire and breaking out the acoustic guitars and hand drums and having jam sessions, they in this case also did so, getting together at the houses, the three all playing acoustic guitars and singing the old songs. After getting together a dozen or so times, they realized it felt good and somehow was just right- they liked the positions they assumed instrumentally, thus deciding to keep those roles and seek out a drummer and bass player. They have found the perfect bass player and drummer.

After two years in the making, Way of Life is ready to come out. Way of Life stands for exactly what the Cleveland music scene is; a Way of Life…………

Download This!, Indie, Music, Music News, Music Video, Pop

My Hero: The Indie/Undie Performer Har Mar Superstar

Leave a comment

If you have never heard of Har Mar Superstar and claim to have a sense of humor as well as hold an appreciation towards those who work hard at the music they create, you are missing out.

I will say though, Har Mar is not for everyone.

Born Sean Tillman, Har Mar Superstar can be defined as a singer/songwriter with major indie(undie)-pop / R&B / dance qualities.  He is a performer like none other and has made a huge name for himself in the UK in past years.  In 2004 he released The Handler and in October he will be dropping an all new album titled Dark Touches.  Not only does he write his own music, but he also writes for others making this guy one of the harder working artists out there.

On Dark Touches, Har Mar will take his dance club pop style to a whole new level thanks to his dedicated work to his moniker and will feature a huge roster of special guests including P.O.S., The Faint‘s sick beat creators Clark Baechle and Jacob Thirle, and even is joined by John Fields who has produced many acts including Andrew WK and Rooney.

To make things even more interesting Dark Touches will include a track that Har Mar co-wrote that was originally intended for pop superstar Britney Spears.  Rejected by Britany Spears’ management for unknown reasons, Har Mar decided he keep the track “Tall Boy” and include it on his upcoming album with unchanged lyrics and his added style making for an interesting listen.

DOWNLOAD THIS! – Har Mar Superstar – “Tall Boy”

I can still remember the first time I had the pleasure of checking out Har Mar Superstar.  It was 2001 and the then unknown artist was the opening act for Tenacious D.  Har Mar came to the stage all by himself and performed to the crowd his material while slowly stripping throughout to his tighty whities.

The crowd was speechless.

I was cheering as loudly as I could. All the silent folk around me turned their heads from the stage and looked at me with the same puzzled look.  Others in the theater were cheering too but I am pretty sure that not all of the applause was sincere.  Mine was.

I cheered for a couple of reasons.

One being for his performance.  It was good.  He sang pop like songs sometimes heavy on the R&B over pre-recorded material.  He danced about the stage in his own style and proved to have better moves that many people who frequent over priced dance clubs.

I also cheered because this guy had the balls to take the stage and do his thing without hesitation.  There was a lot of heckling and plenty of booing during the show but Har Mar just blew it off like it was nothing.  He believed in himself and even if his performance included scrapping his attire, I appreciated his performance.

Since the night I made sure to check out all that he has released and I not once was disappointed.  “DUI”, a track from The Handler is a track that still remains in heavy rotation in my musical listening choices.

It’s been five years since I last heard from Har Mar and it’s true, I am excited to hear what is to come from this insanely talented performer.  Look for the new album to drop in the states on October 13th.

Here is the video for “DUI”:

Press info found on Har Mar Superstar’s website:

After a five-year proper-album break since 2004’s The Handler, Har Mar Superstar, sexy as ever, is ready to unleash Dark Touches on the masses. On Dark Touches, Sean Tillmann – the singer, songwriter, and producer behind the Har Mar moniker – delivers his most club-friendly collection of jams yet. Tillmann’s silky smooth croon and tongue-in-cheek lyrics lead a nonstop dance party that blends everything from synth-pop to R&B, with ample hooks around every corner.

Dark Touches builds a bridge between the worlds of indie and Top 40 dance music, thanks in part to an eclectic group of collaborators. The album’s many guests include John Fields (Andrew WK, The Jonas Brothers, Rooney), The Faint’s beatmakers Clark Baechle and Jacob Thiele, singer-songwriter Adam Green, P.O.S. of the Rhymesayers collective, Neon Neon’s Boom Bip, Flowers of Doom, and Samaire Armstrong. The Bird and The Bee’s Greg Kurstin, who has also produced tracks for Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, and Lily Allen, co-wrote and lent his studio wizardry to “Tall Boy.” The track was originally intended for Spears and, with the unchanged lyrics, takes on a vibrant new life in the hands of Har Mar.

Of course no Har Mar song is complete without Tillmann’s signature lyrics, which are both outrageously absurd and witty. “I Got Next,” which features The Bird and The Bee’s Inara George, details Tillmann’s practice of asking women to sign contracts that put him next in line to date if they ever leave their current boyfriend. He has also penned an anthem for the ladies with “Girls Night,” a track that was once intended for The Cheetah Girls, and like “Tall Boy,” maintains the original lyrics, written from a female perspective.

Tillmann is also getting ready to dip his toes into the world of Hollywood with the release of Whip It, a film directed by Drew Barrymore. As if he isn’t wearing enough hats already, Tillmann is actively developing his own movie scripts and sitcom pilots. Along with his golden pipes, the ability to juggle multiple creative outlets is sure to win him entry into both the hearts and undergarments of women and men everywhere.

Get ready, everyone. Dark Touches is coming!

As always, if you are on Facebook, please stop by the page, become a fan, and say hi:
HAR MAR SUPERSTAR FACEBOOK PAGE.

You can also follow Har Mar on TWITTER & listen to his music at MYSPACE.

Bad Times, Death, Hip Hop, Music, Music News, The Suck

R.I.P. DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) – 1974-2009

Leave a comment
Travis Barker & DJ AM
Travis Barker & DJ AM

I got home around 2:30am this morning when I checked Twitter before shutting my eyes on an amazing day.

Sadly I read something I wish was not true.  DJ AM was found dead in his NYC home.

Seriously?  WTF.

Having personal battles in his life, it was stated that the popular DJ who has worked with a whole slew of folk including Crazy Town, Jay Z, and most recently Travis Barker ended his life by an apparent drug addiction.

Having narrowly escaped death not even a year ago from a fatal plane crash it appears as if he simply could not deal with life anymore and made a terrible decision to pull the plug on his life.

Travis Barker tweeted the following this afternoon:

Don’t know how i am gonna play 2night but i am for AM. My brother is gone.i love u and miss u, i’ll never forget all the good times we had. I’ll never forget everything we’ve been thru and every time i play the drums i’ll think of you. U were an amazing friend/DJ/human being. Rest In Peace my brother, this really fucks me up.

It’s just sad to see such talent just end it all.  He made a powerful impact on so many other artists…

I appreciate all music out there so obviously I was familiar with some of his work but not all of it.  I do know that he was too young to leave this world the way he did.

Perhaps the most stand out DJ AM material to me is that of the DJ AM and Travis Barker (TRV$/DJ-AM) mix tapes that are available on the internet.  The TRV$/DJ-AM mixes are available for download free of charge.  If you have not heard them before you should check out what the late DJ and drumming sensation Travis Barker created.  The mixes incorporate live drumming by Travis Barker along side DJ AM spinning just about anything he could get his hands on.

RIP DJ…

DIY, Download This!, Indie, Music, Music Video, New Release, Rock, Sans Label

Sans Label: Brooklyn’s Monogold

2 Comments

I have a new feature I will periodically post here about up and coming artists and I call it simply Sans Label.  I was trying to think of a wittier name for this category but apparently I am suffering from brain-melt.  I just can not think of something clever regarding independent unsigned artists.

How often I post Sans Label entries will depend on the alignment of the sun and the moon or simply whenever I am wowed by an independent or underground act.  I will be sure to post a little something something up on this here site along with a MP3 to share with the band’s permission of course.

I am doing this out of the love for all music out there.  I receive so many emails from folk asking me to check out their work.  I feel this will be my thank you to all of the acts out there that spend day after day self-promoting their band.  These bands are unsigned acts trying to get their name out there with a D.I.Y. attitude.  I respect all genres of music so expect to see a variety of acts posted.

So without further delay here is the first Sans Label post:

A few weeks ago a Brooklyn based band named Monogold reached out to me via a simple email asking me to visit their MySpace page to check out their music.  Always looking for something new I clicking on the link in the email and checked out a song titled “Feel Animal”.  I was completely floored by how great it was.  The upbeat dramatic indie rock song was such a pleasant track to hear.

In fact just listen to it for yourself.

DOWNLOAD THIS! – Monogold – “Feel Animal”

The song alone in my opinion is proof this band is going to be going places. Of course I don’t want to jinx them but imagine my surprise of hearing such a track and instantly loving it.  I immediately asked the band for more.

The band kindly sent the rest of the EP to me titled We Animals.  Just as I had hoped the other six tracks that were self recorded, self produced, and self released  by the three members have a very likable feel to them.  The harmonous singing and catchy guitar playing is perfect for a soundtrack to a warm summer evening drive.  Trust me, I speak from personal experience.

The fact that this band is only a three piece amazes me.  Honestly when you hear their sound in the rest of the EP you would like it would take more than a trio to perform such tunes. I thought so highly of this band I decided that I wanted to take their music a step further to help them get their music heard.

Recently I was appointed by my good friends over at Sexy Photo Trip (SPT) as their music director.  I decided that I wanted to use one of Monogold’s songs for an episode of SPT.  Monogold was thrilled I asked them to use their song in the video and honestly so was I.  It fit perfectly.

You can see that episode by clicking HERE (warning all SPT material is NSFW so view at your own 18+ risk).

Look for Monogold to release the amazing We Animals EP next month.  I am hoping they are able to tour as well in support of this sure to be a hit release.

Here’s a video from an earlier track titled “Leaves”:

One a side note, I plan on continuing this trend of using unsigned bands  here in the Sans Label posts as well as in future episodes of SPT so if you know of anyone out there that is unsigned or independent and listenworthy, send them my way.  I would love to hear them and maybe even get one of their hard worked songs into a fun episode on SPT.

Cleveland, Live Shows, Music, Music News, Punk

Bouncing Souls Continue Their Celebration…

Leave a comment

The Bouncing Souls have announced another US tour but this time with Bayside and Broadway Calls.  Still taking advantage of 2009 the punk rockers continue with their celebration as a punk rock band for 20 years.

Do these guys ever slow down?

The answer is no.

Bouncing Souls bassist, Bryan Kienlen, had this to say of the upcoming dates:

Bayside has been on our radar for a while now, we’d heard a lot of good things about them and liked their music so we asked them to join our fall tour. Since then we’ve spent 3 straight weeks of hanging out together the Warped Tour, and have since become great friends and fans of the band. This is gonna be a great tour!

The upcoming US tour dates follow the Souls’ Canadian tour w/ Youth Brigade and Off With Their Heads and takes the band down the West Coast, and through the Midwest, hitting the likes of Vegas, Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Detroit, Chicago and two-shows each in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The Cleveland based magazine Alternative Press is presenting the tour.

Tour Dates:

Europe
Aug 27 2009 Uergrou Cologne
Aug 28 2009 Reading Festival Reading
Aug 29 2009 Academy Dublin
Aug 30 2009 Leeds Festival Leeds
Sep 1 2009 Cafe La Peche Paris
Sep 2 2009 Entrepot Brugges
Sep 3 2009 Backage Munich
Sep 4 2009 2 Days a Week Festival Wiesen
Sep 6 2009 Rock Planet Pinarella
Sep 8 2009 Music Box Lisboa
Sep 9 2009 Sala Live Madrid
Sep 10 2009 Sala KGB Barcelona

Canadian Tour
w/ Youth Brigade, Off With Their Heads and more!
Sep 23 2009 – Montreal, QC – Foufounes Electrique
Sep 24 2009 – Ottawa, ON – Ritual
Sep 25 2009 – Guelph, ON – Vinyl
Sep 26 2009 – London, ON – Call The Office
Sep 27 2009 – Toronto, ON – Opera House
Sep 30 2009 – Winnipeg, MB – The Pyramid Cabaret
Oct 1 2009 – Regina, SK – Riddell Centre
Oct 2 2009 – Edmonton, AB – Starlite
Oct 3 2009 – Calgary, AB – MacEwan Ballroom
Oct 4 2009 – Banff, AB – Wild Bills
Oct 6 2009 – Victoria, BC – Sugar Nightclub
Oct 7 2009 – Vancouver, BC – The Rickshaw Theater

US Tour
w/ Bayside and Broadway Calls!
Oct 21 2009 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
Oct 22 2009 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
Oct 23 2009 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
Oct 24 2009 – San Francisco, CA – Sim’s
Oct 25 2009 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Downtown Brew
Oct 27 2009 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
Oct 28 2009 – Pomona, CA – The Glass House
Oct 29 2009 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
Oct 30 2009 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
Oct 31 2009 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
Nov 03 2009 – Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre
Nov 04 2009 – Kansas City, MO – Beaumont Club
Nov 05 2009 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
Nov 06 2009 – Chicago, IL – Metro
Nov 07 2009 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre

+ More dates coming soon!

And now a personal note from me to the Souls:

Hey guys I have a great idea.  You should play another show in Cleveland!!! You are going to be so close on 11/07… you might as well!!!  Remember the good times at the Grog Shop earlier this year?  I mean after all you did play two back to back shows…and I was there for one of them.  Come on guys you know you want to.