popwreckoning

Abandon Kansas‘ new video for “Close Your Eyes” is up for voting with mtvU’s The Freshmen from March 15 – March 19. Cast your votes here.

“As far as long term goals, none of us have any desire to be rich and famous. If we can keep connecting with people through music then we’ll be content. There are way too many bands out there already so we’re trying to make what
we do a little bigger than music.” – states Jeremy Spring, vocalist for Abandon Kansas.

After taking the nation by storm during Warped Tour last year, old and new fans alike have been waiting for an announcement of the next installment of Innerpartysystem’s unique brand of musical sound. After a ground-breaking EP (The Download EP) and a full length self-titled album, fans are more than ready for new material after an 18 month hiatus from the Industrial Rock/Electronica trio.

Between leaving their label, Island Records, in June 2009 and the recent loss of Jesse Cronan (backup vocals, synthesizer, lighting design), those last 18 months have been nothing but boring, according to the band’s blog. They have posted new remixes of both Cobra Starship‘s “Hot Mess” and 3Oh!3’s “Don’t Trust Me” on their MySpace, as well as remixes of old material of their own, such as “Last Night in Brooklyn” and “Obsession.” While these mixes kept fans satiated long enough for the band to get their bearings and start recording the album, the 2010 teaser was born.

Posted on February 22, the teaser, shows the band’s monetary-esque logo and the simple words “Get Hype,” along with a simple download button. Sparse, almost utilitarian, but plain and simple, and exactly what the fans want- a taste of the new Innerpartysystem sound.

Along with the teaser mix track that is making everyone’s skin crawl with anticipation, comes a video of Patrick and fellow band mates working on the new album, recording new mixes, playing around with new sounds for their live stage sets, tracking vocals, and… well… breaking things.

Although it is not a finite date for the release of their newest chapter, it will at least keep us on the edge of our seats until that information is revealed. For both old fans and new, Innerpartysystem will hold something new, exciting, different, and most of importantly, dance worthy. Check it out on the band’s YouTube page or on their blog, and well- Get Hyped. I know I sure did.

Written by Annastasia Gallaher

Lady Gaga has announced her highly anticipated return to North America on the heels of her sold-out European Tour. The 2010 North American leg of The Monster Ball Tour, presented by Virgin Mobile, hits 31 top arenas and a host of new cities in the US and Canada through the summer and fall.

In keeping with Lady Gaga’s flair for the theatrical, as well as her innovative and creative spirit, the second leg of the tour promises to push the limits of the live concert experience, bringing fans a spectacle even more eye-popping than what they experienced during the thrilling first leg of The Monster Ball.

Virgin Mobile Presents THE MONSTER BALL TOUR STARRING LADY GAGA with special guests:
June 28 – Montreal, QC / Bell Centre
July 01 -  Boston, MA / TD Garden (On sale March 22)
July 04 – Atlantic City, NJ / Boardwalk Hall
July 06 -  New York, NY / Madison Square Garden (On sale March 19)
July 11 – Toronto, ON / Air Canada Centre (On sale March 19)
July 14 – Cleveland, OH / Quicken Loans Arena
July 15 – Indianapolis, IN / Conseco Fieldhouse
July 17 – St. Louis, MO / Scottrade Center
July 20 – Oklahoma City, OK / Ford Center
July 22 – Dallas, TX / American Airlines Center
July 25 – Houston, TX / Toyota Center
July 28 – Denver, CO / Pepsi Center
July 31 – Phoenix, AZ / US Airways Center
Aug. 03 – Kansas City, MO / Sprint Center
Aug. 11 – Los Angeles, CA / Staples Center (On sale March 20)
Aug. 13 – Las Vegas, NV /  MGM Grand
Aug. 16 – San Jose, CA / HP Pavilion (On sale March 19)
Aug. 19 – Portland, OR / Rose Garden
Aug. 21 – Tacoma, WA /  Tacoma Dome
Aug. 23 – Vancouver, BC / General Motors Place (On sale March 19)
Aug. 26 – Edmonton, AB / Rexall Place
Aug. 30 – St. Paul, MN / Xcel Energy Center
Sept. 01 – Milwaukee, WI / Bradley Center
Sept. 04 – Detroit, MI / The Palace Of Auburn Hills
Sept. 05 – Pittsburgh, PA / Consol Energy Center
Sept. 07 – Washington, DC / Verizon Center
Sept. 08 – Charlottesville, VA /  John Paul Jones Arena
Sept. 14 – Philadelphia, PA / Wachovia Center
Sept. 16 – Hartford, CT /  XL Center
Sept. 18 – Charlotte, NC / Time Warner Cable Arena
Sept. 19 – Raleigh, NC / RBC Center

British punk-pop-dance-goth band New Young Pony Club deliver as complex an array of songs as that four-part adjective implies. On their sophomore album, The Optimist, the group mixes dark, driving percussion with vocals that beg singing along. They borrowed a brooding mood from The xx, threw in some Tegan and Sara-esque harmonies and intelligent lyrics and created an album to which I can’t stop listening (and dancing).

The irony of The Optimist is that it sounds anything but (kind of like the “joy” in Joy Division). NYPC opens and closes with songs about breaking up, on the (relatively) more upbeat first track “Lost a Girl” and contemplative closer “Architect of Love.” Appropriately for this three-fourths female group, “Lost a Girl” takes a ‘too bad for him’ approach to the situation, and the speedy synths and la-la-la’s in the chorus keep the song semi-cheerful.

First single “Chaos” employs the same dark/dance formula. For every heavy bass song intro on the album there’s bright, toe-tapping synthesizer to relieve the gloom. On “The Optimist,” lead vocalist Tahita Bulmer even goes so far as to sing “I’m an optimist/you’re a clean slate, maybe/…I try not to be disappointed.” “We Want To” and “Dolls” sound unabashedly pop with their bouncy electronic backgrounds and group choruses.

Despite the fact that no one track stands out on The Optimist, it’s never boring. They create a cohesive sound without being monotonous, and – maybe it’s something about the British accent and girl-power attitude – but I can’t not sing along with most tracks. Glass half-full or not, The Optimist is catchy fun.

Track Listing:
1. Lost a Girl
2. Chaos
3. The Optimist
4. Stone
5. We Want To
6. Dolls
7. Before the Light
8. Oh Cherie
9. Rapture
10. Architect of Love

Neon lights, outfits that have Karen O. jealous, and futuristic glowing instruments are just a few of the elements making up the new video of an apocalyptic club wasteland in the new video, “O.N.E.” by Yeasayer out by Secretly Jag.

Pale White Moon‘s Call of the Wolf Peach draws on Native American influences and folktales whose songs carry listeners through the seasons and a well-grounded story.

The title of the album and the accompanying cover image of a floating woman stretching out her arm to call wolves out of the forest with her sweet peach is a good reflection of the album’s contents. It’s straight-forward in its statement that this is the call of the wolf peach, but it also leaves room for interpretation with the mysteriousness of the blank eyes, the second arm holding another peach well-out of reach and the dark sky. Like this image, the musical contents are straight-forward, but they also have an element that’s just out of reach of a simple interpretation. Album opener, “Heirlooms,” is warmingly akin to “Ashokan Farewell” with it’s light plucky pattern with rich arco bowings weaving an extra layer of pattern into the tune, but then like the gray sky on the album cover, it broods into a mysterious, glassier sound–I think done by enharmonics–and it’s like a wind whispering unattainable secrets through the familiar tune.

“Heirlooms” is the start to summer and the next few songs carry listeners through the seasons. “Stars Hollow Day” brings in some light piano and is the type of tune that you’d listen to while walking through a park on a warm day. “The Seven Years Cicadas” is the type of song best suited to resting on a rocking chair on a porch during dusk as the cicadas emerge to welcome the night. And yes, I believe those are really the recordings of real cicadas used in this song.

“The Search for Helium Three” and “Sir Basil Humphrey’s House on the Hill” begin to get a heavier feel, which I feel is a transition from the summer into late fall and early winter. “Sir Basil” follows a sort of oompah pah pattern made by the use of tuba. I picture Sir Basil as one of those tubbier chaps who like to wear the black pants with red stripes and a matching bowtie. He probably is the type of guy to wear a bowtie and a monocle.

The album namesake, “The Wolf Peach,” is the heart of the album. Again there are rich pizzicato layers behind rich bowings on lower string instruments. It my favorite song on the album and much like my favorite season of Autumn, it’s beautiful, but too brief. Autumn is over once frost hits, and fittingly, “Frost Flowers” follows. The frosty element of this tune is in the airy vocals and the dramatic lyrics.

Finally the album ends with “Stars Hollow Days,” which much as the seasons run full circle, the album has circled back on itself–the third track was a singularly titled “Stars Hollow Day,” and it’s brighter sound carries listeners into spring. It has a vintage quality to it that kind of makes me think of the days of Mary Tyler Moore, which is similar to the vibe track 3 gave.

This really is a seasonal album and there are some amazing qualities going on, but my only regret is that it wasn’t a completely instrumental album. Vocals are sparse, but with a song like “Heirlooms” starting the album off, “Rabbit’s Run” comes as a bit of a shock for a follow-up when nasally vocals are paired with the full-sounding strings.

Nonetheless, this was a great release from Pale White Moon, so be sure to check them out with Call of the Wolf Peach and perhaps catch them featured on “This American Life.”

Track Listing:
1. Heirlooms
2. Rabbits Run
3. Stars Hollow Day
4. The Seven Year Cicadas
5. The Search for Helium Three
6. Sir Basil Humphrey’s House on the Hill
7. The Wolf Peach
8. Frost Flowers
9. Stars Hollow Days

Forget what the Bible says about seven deadly sins. There’s really only one deadly sin and that’s not knowing who is Brad Hoshaw. Brad Hoshaw is the front man for Omaha’s indie folk rock group Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies, a group that recent won the title of Omaha’s Artist of the Year as well as earning Album of the Year when up against fellow local act Cursive.

Brad recently spoke with PopWreckoning about his group and life in Omaha. You can read the full interview below:

Bethany, PopWreckoning: How are you?
Brad Hoshaw, Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies: I’m good. How are you?
PW: Good. Just enjoying the warm weather the Midwest is finally good.
BH: Absolutely. Are you in Kansas?
PW: Yeah. Lawrence.
BH: So you’re getting the warm weather, too.
PW: Yep. I lived in Omaha, too, for four years, so I know that it’s usually about the same.
BH: Cool. This weather has been hell. It reminds me of the winters in Minneapolis where it just lasts for way too long.
PW: Did you live there or do you just know that from touring?
BH: I lived up there for three and a half years. Yeah.

PW: Cool. I know you’ve been making music for a long time. How did you get started and decide to pursue a career in music?
BH: It was kind of an assured feeling for me when I was 18. I had been playing since I was 16 and when it came to decide where to go to college, it was just like, “Well, I need to do what I need to do in order to support my love of music.” It wasn’t really a tough decision or anything really to wrestle over. I just knew what I needed to do to pursue whatever would support that.

Photo by John Shartrand

PW: You went to college for three years or that’s when you came to Omaha?
BH: No, I went to Lincoln for a semester in music, but then I realized that wasn’t really teaching me anything that I felt was useful towards my musical direction. They focused a lot on marching and classical music. I was more interested in the composition and the songwriting and lyrical aspects of music, which they didn’t have anything to encourage me that way, so I left after a semester and started doing it on my own.

PW: Eventually you switched from solo artist and you filled out with a band – the Seven Deadlies. How did you come up with the name and were there at one point seven other people in the band with you?
BH: Ha. Yeah. The name is…a lot of people have different ideas about what the name really means. It started out where I had put the band together for a one show only performance and there were nine of us total. I was thinking of something that I could buy each of the band members to commemorate the event and remember what a good time we had. I was thinking about gifts that come in eight or nine and I was doing a lot of research from that. Seven deadly sins kept popping up as some sort of a theme that I could use. I had also read an article on CNN about how the Catholic Church had cleared a new list of seven deadly sins, which was about the same time I was processing this band show. This new list of seven deadly sins was a little more specific to modern things like hurting the environment and causing poverty and things like that. It just all came together. We played our first show just as Brad Hoshaw band and then we decided to play some more. I threw out name ideas and they liked the idea of the Seven Deadly Sins, but didn’t want it to be that dark and broody, so Seven Deadlies was what we kind of settled on.

PW: Having this initial start with more people in the band, is that how you got…on a lot of your songs, I’m hearing female harmonies. Are those guest spots or was there a female in the band at some point. Yeah, there was a female at some point named Eliza Webb. She and Adam Hawkins, who is the lead singer of a band called It’s True, were my background singers. I had two people that just did background vocals live in concert. Then I had mandolin, keyboards and trumpet and a few other people that would just play on certain songs, but didn’t play every song. It was just about six, eight months ago that I scaled it down to a four-piece. The harmonies are done by the drummer and bass player. The key parts are covered by different people. It’s easier to tour that way and make everybody happy.
PW: Definitely. I know there’s another Omaha band, Midwest Dilemma, and they have so many people, it seems like anytime they go on tour they’re billed as Midwest Dilemma – in some form.
BH: Haha. Yeah. I can’t imagine trying to make everybody happy in that band. There are so many different personalities in that band. It’s an impossible feat to keep everybody together on the road.

PW: I know recently you were honored with three awards at the Omaha Entertainment Awards including Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. What was your reaction like to be picked as the best of the best in Omaha when up against artists like Cursive?
BH: Oh man. Cursive is one of my favorite bands ever. That was really cool. It was kind of a little weight off my shoulders. I did put a lot of work in that year and to be able to have somebody say, yeah, we recognize that and your work, your effort was well spent, and what you did actually maters and people noticed…that was the biggest compliment. Not necessarily that people can compare music and say that one song was better than another, that doesn’t matter to me, but that people recognize all the hard work that I put in.

PW: Great. I also read somewhere that on this last particular album, the one that won you Album of the Year, a lot of reviews said you broke out of the “Omaha sound.” Is there something you’d call the Omaha sound and is it something you’re conscious of while songwriting?
BH: It’s definitely been stated by people outside of Omaha that there’s a distinct Omaha sound, but being in the midst of it, I’d say that’s it’s hard to think that way. I know so many musicians and the diversity of the bands is pretty extreme. I can play with Midwest Dilemma and Cursive and Bright Eyes all on the same stage, but our music is all very different from each other. We’re all about the same age and all in the same city, but saying there’s an Omaha sound or that we all sound alike, it’s…I don’t know, it’s kind of ridiculous to me. There’s definitely a lot of people that think that we sound like a bunch of farm boys making indie rock music. I don’t know. At some point, I’m conscious of what other people think, but as I get older it’s just me making music, regardless of what other people think. I don’t worry too much about how I’ll be labeled.

PW: Ok, a few fun things for the last few questions. If you could put together a dream tour, living or dead, who would be on the billing with you?
BH: Oh man. My favorite parts of touring are just hearing the other people perform. I would love to be able to tour with Johnny Cash and Jeff Buckley. I think those two—aside from their performances—I think that there’d be some good conversations and good hangs before and after the shows.

PW: Great answer. Now, if somebody were visiting Omaha, aside from catching you in a hometown show, what would you recommend that they do there?
BH: Man, I think my favorite thing to do is the diners and the thrift stores. Hit those and you’ll find a lot of the character of the city.
PW: What are your favorite diners? Like Leavenworth or Dixie Quicks.
BH: My favorite right now is Leo’s Diner. It’s right in Benson where all the music venues are. That’s a good diner. Then the Radial. Lisa’s Radial Café is a good one.

PW: It is. I’ve been there. Finally, is there anything that you want people to know about your band, while you have this forum to share?
BH: I think the band is pretty transparent and if anybody thinks that we’re trying to be anything, that’s the one thing they need to know. We’re just going to write the songs that we know and perform them the way that we feel at that time and just hopefully we’ll be a relevant, genuine band for many years to come, regardless of what genres we’ve been looped into or the subject matters we’re singing about. We’ll just keep doing everything that we’re doing from our hearts and hopefully people will connect with that.
PW: Sounds great. That’s all I have. Thanks so much.
BH: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me.

Vancouver’s Hot Hot Heat known for the infectious “Bandages” and catchy “Middle of Nowhere” have announced the release of their fourth studio album, Future Breeds, due outh this summer on Dangerbird Records.

Future Breeds is described as a record that is “propulsive and volcanic, and fueled, as ever, by candy-coated melodies that hurl you through Bays’ lyrical world.”

“Hot Hot Heat arrived on our doorstep with the best album of their career,” says Jeff Castelaz, co-founder/CEO of Dangerbird Records.

Stay tuned as more information becomes available on this release.

We Were Promised Jetpacks‘ headlining tour was hitting Lawrence, Kan. the same night as the Oscars, which would have hurt the turnout at a lot of other band’s shows, but WWPJ are not your ordinary run-of-of the-mill rock group. This was the band’s first time to Lawrence and considering they’re from Scotland, fans know what a special treat it is for this band to make the trek here at all. The show was abetted that both tour mates of WWPJ, Bear Hands and the Lonely Forest, have been picking up a lot of buzz lately.

Fans of Brooklyn’s Bear Hands can rejoice that they can see the fresh act in less than a month when they return to Kansas City with Passion Pit on April 5. Don’t delay buying a ticket. That show is sure to sell out.

It’s near impossible to not fall in love with every aspect Seattle’s the Lonely Forest.

The guys tried to encourage the timid crowd closer to the stage before they began with a dedication to the fellow Seattle band, The Lonely H, whom had just played in Lawrence the night before. Since I could easily predict what followed “And the Oscar goes to…” from watching the show before coming to this concert, I expected I was going to be able to do a similar thing with the music at this show. There’s only so many ways to follow-up a C major chord after all. Yet somehow, the Lonely Forest managed to completely surprise with their unpredictable key and tempo changes—and to think that they executed these changes with seamless transitions. The only cue that they really even gave that the songs were about to take an unexpected turn was that the singer would rock back on his left heel or slightly bend his knees to spring out into a big jump despite the stage being extremely close to the ceiling.

What really hooks one on the Lonely Forest are their lyrics. The punky singer (personality-wise, not in looks, which were more akin to Rivers Cuomo), had a voice that seemed to blend that of the Mountain Goats with that of Noah and the Whale (sans accent). The lyrics he sang teetered between a sentimental, Seattle, Washington loving ballad to the quirky set closer “We Sing In Time.” Of their eight song set, I especially loved “Coyote,” which was complete with howls.

These guys live up to their hype. They just became the first signing to Chris Walla‘s record label, so expect a fantastic release from them soon.

I caught We Were Promised Jetpacks before in a cave and while they were good, it seemed like everything that could go wrong, went wrong. It was a fest, so there a strict timetable they had adhere and it seems like half their set was lost to a broken string that resulted in the singer awkwardly saying random words in his thick accent for the very, very American audience’s amusement.

Still a little bit awkward when speaking with the crowd – he was quite surprised when “sweat out a burrito got a laugh,” he definitely was more at ease with his performance this go around and their slight awkwardness and modest demeanor between songs is part of their charm.

When WWPJ actually starts playing songs, that shyness goes out the window and they are just a giant ball of energy. If it wasn’t for the accent, it’d be easy to think they were a completely different band from how they play compared to how they speak in between songs. Cymbal and guitar heavy indie rock tunes drew the crowd closer to the stage and it seemed that the music not only washed away the band’s shyness with time, but also that of the crowd.

“Roll Up Your Sleeves”

I did my best to keep track of the set list and I apologize for a few gaps in my memory:

1. Keeping Warm
2. ???
3. Roll up Your Sleeves
4. It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning
5. ???
6. This Is My House, This Is My Home
7. ???
8. Ships with Holes Will Sink
9. Short Bursts

Crash Kings are a trio that could be mistaken for a side project of Jack White mixed with a little Cold War Kids and even a surprise dash of Queen, which actually makes them a refreshingly unique sound that’s still familiar enough to give you warm fuzzies when a tune of theirs pops up on the radio. With the success of “Mountain Man” on the airwaves, a tour with JET and SXSW upcoming, bassist Mike Beliveau took some time to talk to PopWreckoning about the band’s rise, dream tours and sports.

Bethany, PopWreckoning: Hi. How are you today Mike?
Mike Beliveau, Crash Kings: I’m alright. I’m getting a little sick, but doing alright.
PW: Oh no. Maybe you’ll feel better not that you have a nice day in the Midwest – you’re in Omaha tonight.
MB: Yeah. We’re on our way over to the venue to load in right now.
PW: Ok. Let’s start at the beginning. I know the three of you were in other bands before, but you were still together. How did you go from those bands into becoming the Crash Kings?
MB: Tony (vox) and I are brothers, so we’ve been playing music together since we were teenagers in high school. We had a band in high school and then Tony went off to college in Texas, but I convinced him to move back to Boston to start up a band again in college. We had two bands together and then Tony met Jason, our drummer, while on tour with Sierra Swan. They were backing her. She’s a singer/songwriter. That’s how we met Jason. So, when we were recording the Crash Kings together, Tony suggested Jason as our drummer and it was pretty much perfect from the start and a great fit. So we went with it.
PW: Ok, I think somehow I got confused and thought Jason had been in the bands before with both you and Tony from online reading.
MB: Yeah, well Tony and Jason had been in a band before from touring backing Sierra Swan. I wasn’t in that band, no.

PW: I also read you guys used to do more jazz sort of music. How’d you go from that to what you’re doing now? Was it a natural progression?
MB: Actually, we went from rock to jazz back to rock. Crash Kings, I’ve always thought of it as a return to our roots. When we were in high school, we were very much a rock sort of band and Tony was singing. Our band in college, we decided to do a more sort of jazz/artsy/organ trio thing without vocals. We were just always experiment and pushing ourselves as much as we could with odd meters and different keyboards. Tony got into playing organ and Rhodes and different synthesizers. It was pretty much all experimentation with that band. It was called Odion. And then Tony started writing songs again that were rock songs and it seemed like a great idea to have a rock band again. That’s pretty much it. So yeah, it was natural for us to play rock again. It wasn’t out of our natural vain of writing. We grew up on it.

PW: One of the first things that I think people notice when they see you live is that you have a clavinet with a whammy bar. How did you come up with the idea for a whammy bar on this keyboard basically?
MB: It’s kind of a, well the instrument found us in a lucky moment. Tony was going to borrow a keyboard from a friend and ended up with this great keyboard because they couldn’t find the original one that they were looking for, so he brought this back to the studio and was like, “Hey, Mike. You have to come check this thing out. It’s crazy. It has a whammy bar.” It’s a pretty rare thing. So we got to the studio and were both like, “Woah.” The ideas for the instrument started forming; we can distort this thing or make it sound like guitar. Basically what it is, it’s an electric guitar in a keyboard format. It has guitar strings and the whammy bar is a classic element of a guitar, so we thought it would work great in a rock band. That’s how that instrument came to be in our band.

PW: There are only three of you in the Crash Kings, so I notice you get a lot of Muse comparisons, but it almost seems to be by default as in here’s one threesome, must be like another. I’m not sure I get that as much. What do you think of that comparison, are there other bands that you think is a more apt comparison or would cite as influences?
MB: You can compare us to Muse because we’re a power trio: a rock power trio. Those elements are there. I think the songwriting is quite different and the lyrics are quite different. We’re fans of Muse and we think they’re doing great things. They brought an element to rock and roll that wasn’t there before. It’s big and they’ve got a big sound and that’s kind of what we’re going for. I can see how people would compare us to them, but people compare us to other bands as well. I don’t know who I’d want to be compared to, but I always love hearing when people compare us to bands that I like. So when people say, “Oh, you sound like Muse,” that makes sense to me. We listen to Muse and we like Muse. If they say a band that I don’t like, then I’m like, “Oh no. We don’t listen to that. Why would we get that comparison?” Everyone makes comparisons, but you end up sounding like your own in the end.

PW: Ok. If you could do a dream tour with your favorite bands, who would you bring on that—living or dead?
MB: We’d love to open for Led Zeppelin.
PW: I could see that.
MB: Another band…Muse would be a great band to open for, kind of a dream, current band.

PW: Ok, you’re about to go out on tour with JET and you’re hitting up SXSW, do you have like a festival or tour survival kit? Like do you have essentials that you have to have with you on the road?
MB: Essentials is exactly what it is. We try to not bring too much stuff. The essentials are just what you’d think they are: clothes and toiletries. Something unique to the band…it’s hard to say. Water? Five-hour energy! That’s a good one. A lot of times, we’re driving through the night and that helps whomever is driving stay up through the night. Cough drops. Those are kind of essentials.

PW: What are some of the advantages of playing with your brother in a band and what are some of the disadvantages of playing with your brother in a band?
MB: Musically, there are no disadvantages. It’s just pretty much that Tony is my favorite person to play music with because we know each other so well. I know exactly what he’s going to do almost before he does it. We just have a strong chemistry that way. We have very close musical influences, so when it comes to writing and arranging the songs, we can do it pretty easily 99 percent of the time. Musically, it is great. A disadvantage, as anybody that has a sibling knows, there’s always sibling rivalry. We always end up getting at each other’s throats at times, but we’ve grown in that a little bit and found ways of being tolerant of each other. It can get hairy, as you can imagine, with your sibling on the road. You find little things that bother you that wouldn’t bother you in anywhere else.
PW: Haha, yeah. I have siblings. I love them, but I can’t imagine touring with them.
MB: Haha, yeah.

PW: I know that you and Tony are both really big into skiing, but I don’t think Jason is quite as much – I think I read that during the “Mountain Man” video that Jason hung out in the lodge drinking cocoa rather than ski—However, with winter drawing to a close, do you have summer sports that you’re really into?
MB: Yeah. Tony and I are both surfers, but we’re not as big surfers as we are skiers. We love going out into the water. Tony loves to mountain bike and got me into it recently, so mountain biking is sort of our summer skiing. It’s pretty similar: going down a mountain and all that. Those sports and I’ll take part in a game of soccer every once in awhile.

PW: Nice. Is there anything that you wish people knew about your band that they don’t now and you’d like to share while you have this open forum?
MB: Um. Good question. Maybe people don’t know that we don’t use any backing tracks in our band, which is becoming more and more common with bands these days. One thing we try to do with our band is keep it really raw, simple and alive. So everything you’re hearing at the live show is what’s being played on stage. Not that that’s better or worse, but I think it actually makes our band unique these days because so many bands do use backing tracks today. We try to keep an old school feel like you’re getting an old school live performance.
PW: Nice. That is good to know and it really becoming so common with the backing tracks that people are probably just assuming that bands are using them. It shows in your live show, too. I saw you a few weeks ago with OK Go and it was more raw and authentic. It was better than hearing you on the radio.
MB: Yeah. Excellent.
PW: Well, I know you’re trying to do load-in, so I’ll let you go do that.
MB: Thank-you very much.
PW: Thank-you, feel better and have a great show tonight.