My Hero: The Indie/Undie Performer Har Mar Superstar

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.

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

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…

Sans Label: Brooklyn’s Monogold

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.

Bouncing Souls Continue Their Celebration…

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.

Gin & Tonic Tour (Agitate The Gin & Light On The Tonic Please Edition) – Cain Park – Cleveland Hts., OH – 08/21/2009 – Concert Review

I knew I was going to relive some of my high school memories last Friday when Matt tossed me a ticket to the cleverly titled Gin & Tonic tour featuring 90’s grunge rock sensations Tonic and the Gin Blossoms.  The outdoor show was held at the Evans Amphitheater at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, a venue I had never been to before.  The weather was perfect for a night outside and I was just down right excited to see these two 90’s alt/rock bands take the stage.

Opening act One Lone Car from St. Louis took the stage with a nice little pop guitar rock / piano act and warmed up the crowd.  I could not help myself but wonder why they went on so late.  I was under the impression the show started at 8:00pm but they did not take stage until 9:00pm.

After they finished there was a surprise announcement over the PA that the second act, Tonic, was going to be late to the show due to problems at the airport.  It was then announced that the Gin Blossoms would take the stage next and play.  Everyone seemed ok with the announcement, at least everyone who was not a lead singer of a certain band that just had it’s slot bumped.

Robin Wilson taking it to the crowd.  Moments later he just sulked away.
Robin Wilson taking it to the crowd just before going into sulk mode.

Gin Blossoms took the stage and proceeded to rock out as the crowd went nuts.  Fans in the venue started moving from their assigned seats to get a better look at the rock act and the mom and pop security did not care one bit.  Lead singer Robin Wilson seemed to be happy to see the crowd and even tossed a tambourine to one lucky fan who failed to keep a beat along with the band.  Two songs later the tambourine was tossed back at the stage almost knocking over Robin Wilson’s Red Bull & vodka drink.  I still have no idea why she threw it back, I myself would have kept it for an ultimate souvenir of the evening…I also would have been able to keep a beat.

Early into the set I saw someone on the side of the stage wave the lead signer over to them to hand over a piece of paper with a secret note.  Robin Wilson read it and dropped it to the ground as he continued to sing.  I am pretty sure the note read: “Now is the time to act like a giant douche” and I say that because in mid-song Robin Wilson turned from enjoying himself to just plain annoyed for reasons unknown.  He sulked about and left the stage in between songs through the set leaving the guitarist to introduce the band and try to keep some positive vibe to all the folk who dropped over $40 a ticket.

There was no encore when the band finished.  They thanked the crowd all so non-convincing and left the stage.  Granted the Gin Blossoms were supposed to headline there was no reason for Robin Wilson to act they way he did and in fact he ruined the show for me.  It was the first time I had ever seen the Gin Blossoms live and it will also be my last.  First impressions last on me regardless if you are a person trying to be my friend or a band that I came to see.  I did not go to the show to see someone baby it up on stage because the other act was late or because the turnout was low.

There was a strange silence for a few moments while the stagehands disassembled the Gin Blossoms’ gear.  PA’s started being disconnected and I was just waiting for the announcer of the evening to announce that the show would be ending because Tonic was unable to show up.

Thankfully the stage hands started setting up for Tonic so I knew the night was not going to be a complete bust.  For whatever reason though a good chuck of the crowd left as if they only came there for the Gin Blossoms.  Matt and I took advantage of this and moved to the front center of the seating area and claimed our spot for Tonic.

Tonic showed up and took the stage around 11:00pm and was able to make up for the poor performance by the Gin Blossoms.  Tonic seemed to be down a man and they performed as a three piece although I am not even sure these days how many people are in the band since their reunion.  The fans who stuck around did not let the lack of a Tonic member bother them though.  Heavy and loud cheering filled the area with tons of folk including myself singing along.  Good times were had.  I love that band.

Lead singer Emerson Hart mentioned that they were late because of a plane crash and proceeded to let everyone know how much is sucks to have a plane lose pressure and not have the oxygen masks fall into you laps.  They were not too happy with a certain airline that flys out of the Hopkins International Airport but did not seem to let that bother them at all.  They sounded great but since they were supposed to be a middle act they only played for less than an hour with no encore either.  Matt and I agreed that there was no encore because of curfew as well as Tonic probably did not want to upset a certain lead vocalist for the Gin Blossoms.

When Tonic finished there was that eerie silence again.  I am used to music becing played once concerts are over but this time it was a dead silence with fans discussing the strange events of the evening.  As happy as I was seeing Tonic live finally I just felt the night could and should have been better with no thanks to Robin Wilson of course.

Then again I should thank Robin Wilson seeing how he has inspired me to create a new catergory… The Suck.