Grab Your Helmet!
Lately I have been going to plenty of my friend’s shows. When he told me that he was opening up for a major band I was excited to go see the show! He played with this band named Helmet, which I have heard of before, but never actually listened to. After the show I realized how good Helmet was, and like always went home and looked them up!
Helmet formed in 1989 in New York City by vocalist and lead guitarist Page Hamiliton. Throughout the years of Helmet there has been many band member changes; leaving Hamiliton as the only constant member. Helmet didn’t find mainstream success until 1992 with their first major label debut “Meantime” which appeared number 68 on top 200 billboard. They were at their highest point and then in a few years started winding down and finally broke up in 2004. When asked about the breakup Hamiliton replied “9 years, 1,600 shows, 5 albums, and we found it hard to look at each other anymore.”
In the year 2004, after taking time off, the band reunited. The catch being that Hamiliton was the only original member of the band, and since he had rights to the name “Helmet” he released albums with his new band under his old bands name. From 2004 to the present, members have changed, and two more albums have come out.
This band has a great sound that has surprisingly stayed relativity the same throughout all the member changes and years they have went though. With their alternative metal sound they seem to make a statement, along with the lead singer Hamiliton working in the band from 1989 till this day. They are a great band that I recommend to everyone! Give them a listen; their old and new stuff is all amazing!
Helmet
Check out their website here! –> http://www.helmetmusic.com/
Check out their recent song “Unsong” —> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBfygUiS50g
The Black Keys
Black Keys
Knowing I’m a huge fan of music my friend recommended I listened to a band by the name The Black Keys. Always looking for new bands I researched this band and found them to be quite interesting. The Black Keys was formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001 by Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drums.) These two college drop outs were signed with the small local record company Alive shortly after forming and released their first album, The Big Come Up.
After the release of their first album they caught the eye of Fat Possum Records where they recorded their next three albums. During this time they were building up their underground fan base by playing in local bars, clubs, and music festivals. This caused the band to get a record deal with the major company Nonesuch Records in the year 2006. Under this label they recorded the album Attack and Release in 2008. Soon after the release of this album in 2009 the band took a break and worked on side projects due to rising tensions.
Later that year they got back together and that was when fame really hit them. In 2010 they came out with the album Brothers which went on to win three Grammy Awards. In 2011 they followed up with the album El Camino which led them to their first huge arena concert tour!
This band has a bluesy, indie sound that is very captivating. All their songs have a different sound to them and if you listen to all their albums you can tell how much they have grown as a band. I highly recommend everyone to listen to this unique band! It is a fresh new sound that has swept the music scene.
Check Out Their Website –> http://www.theblackkeys.com/
Their Hit Single “Tighten Up” –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpaPBCBjSVc
Goo Goo Dolls
While I was searching up songs on YouTube for my recent blog post on the Foo Fighters, in the recommended videos was the song “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls. I knew of the song but couldn’t put the melody to it so I checked it out. After listening to it I realized I was very familiar with this song and used to love it back in the day. Sadly, that was the only song I knew by the Goo Goo Dolls so like I always do, I decided to listen to some more songs and of course do some research on them!
Goo Goo Dolls
The Goo Goo Dolls are an American Rock band that originated in Buffalo, New York (Where I am attending college right now!), in 1986. The band was founded by lead vocalist and guitarist John Rzeznik along with bassist Robby Takac and drummer George Tutuska. Both George and Robby were long time friends in school and they met Rzeznik when he was playing in a different band with Takac’s cousin. Rzeznik quit his other band and joined the two friends creating the Goo Goo Dolls, whose name was inspired by a toy ad for a product by the name of Goo Goo Doll.
They started in local venues in their home town, with Takac as their lead singer at first. During this time they got picked up by record company in 1987 and released their first self-titled album. With the success of the first album they got picked up by a bigger record company. They produced their next few albums with this company until they got noticed and signed by a company with an even bigger budget.
In 1994, after completing their fifth album, they kicked their drummer out and replaced them shortly after with Mike Malinin in 1995. This is when fame really settled in for them. In 1997 Rzeznik was approached to write a song for a soundtrack and the ending result was their most famous and successful song, Iris. This song landed on the Billboards top 100, becoming the bands first huge break. From that point forward the band stayed on top, even to this day they are still coming out with great new music!
Selling more than 10 million albums worldwide and just recently in October of 2012 having their song Iris ranked as #1 on Billboard’s “Top 100 Pop Songs 1992-2012”, this band is well known and extremely successful. I highly recommend listening to all their music for you can tell the progression they went through since they first started the band over 20 years ago! Give them a listen!!
Bands Website —> http://www.googoodolls.com/
Check out one of their more recent songs, Slide! —- >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP4qdefD2To
Ween
Two founding members of Ween
One particularly older band that has caught my interest is Ween. The first time I heard them I was at my job that played a rock/indie Pandora music station. While working this song came on that was extremely catchy and unique, so I ran to the back of the store to look at the radio and it turned out to be the song Gabrielle by Ween. Never hearing of them and being a music fanatic, right when I got home I ran to the computer and looked them up.
Ween is a Rock band formed in New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1984. The two founding members, Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween) and Mickey Melchiondo (Dean Ween), met and created the band during their eighth grade typing class. During Ween’s early years most of their material was free-spirited and said to be inspired by different types of drugs they did. After releasing 5 cassette tapes in the late 80s, you heard me right…. cassette tapes, and gaining local recognition at bars in their home town, they finally caught the eye of a producer and were signed to Twin/Tone Records in 1989.
Under this record company they released their first record, The Oneness, which included 26 eclectic tracks. They went on to complete an astounding 11 studio albums. Within these 11 albums they changed record companies four times. Their last album was recorded in 2007 by the name of “La Cucaracha”. From 1990-2007 their songs were featured on different TV shows and movie soundtracks such as the soundtrack for the popular movie “Dude, Where’s my Car?” where the song “Freedom of 76′” was included. They also went on many tours during this time period.
In May of 2012 Freeman in an interview announced the end of Ween by saying “It’s been a long time, 25 years. It was a good run.” Other founding member Melchiondo seemed to be unaware of their breakup stating on his Facebook page: “This is news to me, all I can say for now I guess.” He went on to say that as long as both he and Freeman were on this planet Ween was not broken up, explaining the idea of breaking up as “laughable.” Later on Freeman went on to confirm the breakup once again explaining that he needed to focus on getting sober from a drug and alcohol problem, and as long as he was in Ween he couldn’t get sober.
Overall even though they are broken up they are still a great band to listen to. Their music is timeless and very unique. All their songs are very different from each other and the voice of Freeman is one of the most unique sounds I have ever heard. I defiantly recommend this band to EVERYONE!
Ween Offical Website —> http://www.ween.com/
Click the link to listen to their song Gabrielle –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFbTbSsb6f0
Foo Fighters
If you recall my last post I wrote about the band Them Crooked Vultures and how they were made up of several artists from other famous bands, one of the members being Dave Grohl. Grohl is also the founder and lead singer of the band Foo Fighters. This American alliterative band was formed in 1994 in Seattle by Dave Grohl, who was the former drummer of the well known band Nirvana. After Nirvana’s front man Kurt Cobain died causing Nirvana to break up Grohl created the Foo Fighters, formally known as the Gohm Fighters, as a one man project. Grohl got the name for the band from the UFOs spotted by Allied aircraft pilots in World War 2, Also known as “Foo Fighters.”
During Grohl’s time touring with Nirvana, he brought his guitar with him and wrote songs. He held these songs back from the band though as he explained in an interview in 1997”I was in awe of [front man Kurt Cobain‘s songs], and [I was] intimidated. I thought it was best that I kept my songs to myself.” Grohl occasionally booked studio time and recorded covers of songs he liked, even distributing a cassette of some of these songs called “Pocketwatch” in 1992. After Nirvana was no more he was offered many acts with other bands, and almost took the role of Drummer in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Instead he decided to enter the studio and record some of the songs he wrote and put it on an album called Foo Fighters. Grohl stated in an interview “I thought that I would rather do what no one expected me to do. I enjoy writing music and I enjoy trying to sing, and there’s nothing anyone can really do to discourage me.”Once this album started catching some record companies eye he hired a band to back it up.
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighter’s debut album, Foo Fighters, featured Grohl as their only official member, although he gathered a number of people to play instruments in the album; they weren’t officially in the band. After this album was released Grohl recruited band members Nate Mendel (Bassist), William Goldsmith (Drummer), and Pat Smear (Guitar.) With this band lineup they played a number of shows and started working on a second album, The Coulor and The Shape. During the recording of this album Goldsmith quit the band and not long after Smear left the band as well. They were replaced quickly with Taylor Hawkins, and Franz Stahl. Stahl did not last long and was reportedly fired before the recording of their third album, there’s Nothing Left to Lose. After the release of the third album the band continued with this Trio for quite some time until Chris Shifett joined as lead guitarist. Since then they released 4 additional albums and Pat Shmear officially rejoined the band.
The Foo Fighters have become a major band in the industry today. They have won a total of 11 Grammy awards including Best Rock Album four times! They continue to tour to this day and have continued to write music and release albums. This band has a great sound and I recommend it to everyone! Check them out!!
Bands Official Website: http://www.foofighters.com/us/home
Check out their song “All My LIfe.” —-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ04WbgI9rg
Them Crooked Vultures
Them Crooked Vultures.
I tried to come up with a witty title for this post, but with a band name like “Them Crooked Vultures” it is hard to do! Anyways, I first heard about this band from a friend of mine. We were in his car and the song “No One Loves Me, and Neither Do I” came up on his iPod. I really enjoyed the sound of this band so I decided once again to conduct some research. To my surprise I actually found out that this band was a super group, taking artist from other famous bands and just mushing them together and hoping it sounds good, which it defiantly did! The members of this band include drummer Dave Grohl (Former member of Nirvana, and current lead singer of the Foo Fighters), Singer and guitar player Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), bass player John Paul Jones (Former Led Zeppelin member), and Alain Johannes (Who only performs during live performances). Interesting group if I say so myself!
This rock band was formed in Los Angeles in 2009. Right after forming it didn’t take them to long to perform their first show on August 9th, 2009 in Chicago. At this concert they played a set for over an hour playing all original material, introducing many of their songs. In the beginning of September they announced they would play two 2009 shows in the UK and North America. Once tickets went on sale in the UK, they sold out in less than 12 minutes! Not only was that one of the fastest UK sell outs, the band haven’t released their first album yet! Not long after they did released their first and self titled album, Them Crooked Vultures, on November 17th 2009.
In 2010 they performed in many music festivals and released a digital 45 onto iTunes featuring two songs not on the previous album, and an interview with the band. Since then Grohl as well as Jones stated in an interview that they are working on a second album that will be “more powerful then the first one.” They expected the album to be finished in 2011, but with all the band members having other bands, it was hard for all of them to get together and create the album.
In November of 2011, touring member Alain Johannes stated that there are “defiantly” plans to record a second album. In an interview Johannes stated that “The way that the cycles happen, you know, Dave jumped right into Foos, and then Josh toured more than a solid year with Queens for the self-titled album. So I expect at some point after the Queens cycle that there will be [another album].”
Although this band has only come out with one album so far, they have a unique and interesting sound. With three members who are/were part of a major band it is interesting to see what they will come up with next! Even with two of the three members being in popular bands that are currently touring and making music, making it hard to spend time with Them Crooked Vultures, they plan on continuing this “side project”. I recommend this band, even if you’re not into rock music so much. Hopefully they will come out with a new album in the near future!
Official Website : http://www.themcrookedvultures.com/us/home
Check out their hit single “No One Loves Me, and Neither Do I” —-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YvXJFh5IuE
All American Rejects
Ever since I can remember I have been a huge fan of the band All American Rejects. My brother introduced them to me back in the day and I have been a fan ever since! Most people know about this highly popular band, but I figured I’d let you in on a little of their history.
The All American Rejects was formed in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 1999. Members of this alternative rock band consist of Tyson Ritter (lead vocalist, bass player, and pianist), Nick Wheeler (lead guitar), Mike Kennerty (rhythm guitar), and Chris Gaylor (Drums). Ritter and Wheeler were still in high school when they met and created the band. For the first few years of their existence just the two of them accompanied with another member, who left the band early on. In 2001 they came out with their first self titled album All American Rejects, which had the hit song “Swing Swing” on it. After its release they added members Keennerty and Gaylor. Signed by DreamWorks records, this album got them main stream success.
All American Rejects
In 2005 they released their album Move Along, which had major success. Many of the songs on the album, including Move Along, Dirty Little Secret, and It Ends Tonight, were being played on radio stations across the nation. From then on it seemed everything that the All American Rejects released became a huge success!
Since they started their career, the band has sold over 10 million albums worldwide and has released four studio albums. They have been nominated and even won some awards including Best Group Video for the song Move Along at the MTV music video awards. I have seen them live two times at Warped Tour and they were absolutely amazing! I recommend this band to everybody. The All American Rejects are still going at it today just releasing a record a few months ago! Please check them out if you haven’t, and if you have, listen to them more!
Bands Website —> http://www.allamericanrejects.com/heartbeatslowingdown/
Check Out Their Song “Dirty Little Secret” –> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPDcwjJ8pLg
Its Everclear To Me!
Art Alexakis, lead singer of Everclear, playing the role of a music teacher on the show Neds Declassified School Survival Guide.
I was recently flipping through channels on TV and I came across a show that I used to love, Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide. Just for laughs I kept it on for a little when I realized that there was a guest star on it, playing a music teacher, who looked really familiar. After the episode ended I looked through the credits and realized the guest star was Art Alexakis, the lead singer of a band called Everclear. I have known a few of their songs and after the episode I looked them up some more and now I’m totally in love!
Everclear is a Rock band that was formed in Portland, Oregon in 1992, before I was even born! For most of the existence of Everclear members of this band included Art Alexakis (Lead Singer, Guitar), Craig Montoya (bass guitar), and Greg Eklund (Drums). This lineup lasted till 2003, when Motoya and Eklung left the band. They were replaced with 4 other members until 2009 when everyone left the band besides Art Alexakis. Members were replaced, yes that’s right for a fourth time, and now the members of this band consist of Art Alexakis, Dave French, Freddy Herrera, Josh Crawley and Sean Winchester.
Alexakis had a rough childhood before he started the band. His father walked out on him when he was young and due to financial problems he and his family were forced to move into the slums of Los Angeles. In Los Angeles Alexakis became a heavy drug user for quite some time. After having a near-fatal death cocaine overdose, he finally cleaned up, and found recovery in music.
Currently Everclear
He started off in many bands, and moved to from Los Angeles to San Francisco and then found out his girlfriend was pregnant. He moved to her hometown of Portland, Oregon during the pregnancy, and while there he placed an ad in a local music weekly and came up with two responses, who later became the bass player and drummer of Everclear. They got their name from the grain alcohol which Alexakis, a recover alcoholic, described as “pure, white evil.” From 1992 to present times they changed their band members several times, and released 10 different albums. Their most popular album was So Much For The Afterglow, released in 1996. This album contained the song “Father of Mine”, written about Alexakis’s father leaving him when he was younger, which was their biggest hit. Currently they are still continuing to tour! I highly recommend this band, for it has been successful throughout its existence of 20 years!
Click the Youtube link below to see the music video for Everclear’s song “Father of Mine.” This music video does a good job at showing what alexakis’s life was like as a child when his dad walked out on him, got me a little emotional !
–——->> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkcbxjWG9Mc
Everybody Talks…
I’m always on the look out for new music or bands that I would enjoy. Neon Trees is a band that made my list. The way I found out about them is quite interesting. My brother manages a band out in Brooklyn. His band was an opening act for Neon Trees. My brother got me tickets to one of their shows in New York City and once Neon Tree’s came on the stage I was blown away by how good they were. About a month or two later i heard something that sounded familiar on a radio station and realized it was the same band my brother’s band opened for, Neon Trees.
This Alternative Rock band was formed in Provo, Utah by neighbors Tyler Glenn(vocals, keyboard) and Chris Allen (guitar,vocals). Eventually added to the band were members Branden Campbell(bass) and Elaine Bradley(Drums). Later into my research on this band i found out the origin of their band name. They started playing under the band name Neon Trees in 2005. This name came from the lighted trees on the In-N-Out Burger signs. What I found interesting was later it was discovered that Steve Campbell, the father of Branden Campbell, installed the lights that inspired the name of the band while Steve was working for a sign company out in Las Vegas. What are the odds?
Back to the music, they released their first EP by the name of Becoming Different People in 2006. Neon trees started getting noticed in 2008 as they were opening for the popular band The Killers. The drummer for the Killers, Ronnie Vannucci, attended one of their shows and noticed them, asking them to be the opening act for their tour. Vannucci later on helped Neon Trees sign with the major label company Mercury Records in late 2008. Since then Neon Trees released two albums by the names of Habits and Picture Show. On Habits they created the single Animals which climbed to number 13 on the Billboards hot 100. This year they released the album Picture Show which has the hit single Everybody Talks, which also was featured on the Billboards hot 100. They have opened and starred in many tours since and are on Tour at this moment till the end of October. Their fun filled sound caught my ear, and hopefully it will catch yours too! I highly recommend this wonderful band! Check them out!!
Fun For All!
One band that has caught my eye, or should I say caught my ear, is Fun. About three months ago I was listening to the radio and suddenly on the hit music station in my area a song came on that I really enjoyed. Right away I took out my Android and used an app that recognized the song. It was called “We Are Young” by the band Fun. After hearing that song on the radio for a while I decided I wanted to hear more of this band and downloaded their second album “Some Nights” which included the hit song We Are Young. After I downloaded this album I could not stop listening to it on repeat! Something about the sound of this band was very soothing to my ears.
If you never heard of them before they are an Indie Rock based band that was formed in New York City in the year 2009. The founder was lead singer Nate Ruess, who before forming fun, was part of the band The Format. Other members in the band include Andrew Dost (Piano player) and Jack Antonoff who plays Guitar and Drums.
They released their first album “Aim and ignite” in 2009, and didn’t release their next album “Some Nights” till February of this year! Most bands I enjoy aren’t recognized enough so I’m glad that this band actually got some fame, with the hit “We Are Young” being number one on the top 100 Billboards, and also their song “Some Nights” making a spot on the same countdown. Although you might know those two songs I highly recommend everyone to check out more of their music and download the album “Some Nights.”
The Band Fun.
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