popwreckoning

The fresh out of high-school band, Disco Curtis, talks to Casey and Melissa about being on Warped for the first time.

Our entire day at Warped Tour could be summed up quite simply: tons of circle pits and really fucking HOT.

But before we move further, we would like to send our condolences to the friends and family of the 26 year old who passed away at Warped Tour that day. We are very shocked and saddened by this heartbreaking news.

We arrived at Sandstone around 11 a.m.; for the next few hours, we were spoiled with air conditioning in the press area.

We had confirmed interviews with a few bands prior to the show but ended up talking with many more, so the majority of what you’ll hear on PodWreck is us winging it – it made things interesting to say the least.

The bands we were lucky enough to talk to: Andrew W.K., Four Year Strong, Every Time I Die, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Closure in Moscow, After Midnight Project, Disco Curtis, Vanna and Of Mice and Men.

We caught some of Closure in Moscow’s performance on the Ernie Ball Stage. Chris (vocals) promised to be dressed in costume, despite the 100 degree weather – he was not lying. With black makeup covering his eyes and a metallic gold cape, he hit the high notes while dancing around stage – and the fans loved it.

But we had to make our way over to the Teggart Stage because Dillinger was also playing during that time and we’ve heard shit gets crazy.

Some people were dancing and the band was precise, but the heat seemed to be affecting most of the crowd, not just for Dillinger but for almost every performance we watched.

Andrew W.K. was up next and since we’ve never seen him before, we were pumped and ready. He brought a lot of energy and of course, the party. He announced Cherie Lily, his wife, as a new singer in his band. When Andrew was busy pounding away on the piano, she kept the party going with fist pumps and “hey’s.” The crowd loved it and pumped their fists back to the stage.

They also gave away free “merch” – the t-shirt off of Cherie’s back, the t-shirt off of Andrew’s back, and an Andrew W.K. air freshener and lighter. One person got on a friends’ shoulders and Andrew said that’s why they deserved free gifts; soon, there were people on shoulders everywhere.

It was everything a rock show should be: energetic, over the top, crowd-moving fun.

We decided to take a rest in order to keep going – did we mention it was fucking HOT?

We waited in the shade until Set Your Goals started their set at the Altec Stage. It seemed they warmed the crowd up for Four Year Strong, who played right after them.

The crowd was huge for FYS, by far the biggest we had seen that day and probably the most active. There was an abundance of crowd surfing, dancing and circle pits, and they never slowed down.

They played a mixture of songs from their first and latest record, plus a few covers (one from their second CD, Explains It All).

Since it was their last day on tour, FYS and the crowd seemed to give it all they had.

Many of the other bands also showed their love for FYS by coming on stage to help sing the chorus to “Wasting Time (Eternal Summer).”

We really wanted to stay and watch Every Time I Die but frankly, we were tired and over it.

As we walked back toward the car, past all the merch tents, the trash covering the ground and the kids packed together under what shade they could find, we couldn’t help but feel like… well, we’re too old for this.

Don’t get us wrong – Warped Tour is great and they always have bands we enjoy; plus it gives the audience the opportunity to see bands we normally wouldn’t/don’t know of prior to the show. But Kansas City Warped Tour is also always in August, the hottest month of the year, and it seems we just don’t have the excitement or tenacity we did when we were 16 to deal with the heat.

We’re sure Warped Tour will continue to be a huge, truly wonderful event that will bring kids out and expose them to great musicians. While we had fun interviewing the bands and watching some of our favorites; we may have hit our Warped Tour peak with this one.

Photos by Todd Zimmer. Writing by Melissa Cowan.

In my lifetime, there are many things that I’ve failed to experience.  I’ve never managed to catch a Broadway play.  I also failed to catch Michael Jackson on stage before his death.  However, after seeing Lady Gaga at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, I can’t imagine either example being much of a reach.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Prior to discussing Gaga’s obsession with little monsters, we have a little bit of glam to discuss.

Semi Precious Weapons, the evening’s opener, is a dead ringer for what Hedwig (and his angry inch) would have been had he grown up on a steady diet of Van Halen instead of Ziggy Stardust.  Their self described “rock and roll you can still fucking dance to” shifts all over the spectrum of entertainment.  Shooting from CBGBs to Sapphire New York in seconds, the band’s superfluously spastic set bounces from champagne gestures to full frontal nudity.  Following a wardrobe change, live and unedited before a sold out Sprint Center, Justin Tranter, the band’s mildly abrasive yet charming frontman bluntly stated, “Don’t hate Semi Precious Weapons because my legs are better than yours. Don’t hate Semi Precious Weapons because we’re offensive. You should thank us for exposing your kids to real rock and roll.”

And honestly, he’s right. Semi Precious Weapons burst energy from every angle. Every leg kick, fist pump, guitar nudge and jump filled the room with an energy that only flamboyance and glitter could create. Humping stage left and flashing stage right, the band won the hearts of Gaga’s little monsters, bidding farewell to their newly acquired fans with the simplest of requests; “We are Semi Precious Weapons and we hope you all get laid.”

However, if anyone in the world possessed the ability to outshine Semi Precious Weapons, it is Lady Gaga (…or Prince).

More like a Tim Burton movie than a night at a club show, the evening takes off into a cinematic supernova with a stage setup featuring a Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome worthy car and a Back to The Future II borrowed costume by Gaga, doing her best Madonna impression.   Revealing what’s hidden beneath both the car’s hood and her clothes simultaneously, Gaga somehow manages to spotlight her hind quarters and a piano in perfect harmony. While I like ass as much as the next guy, every bitch has back. A piano in a pinto however, is one of a kind. Though slightly confused sexually, you can color me impressed, Gaga.

Joined on stage by a group of transgender dancers releasing their inner-New Kids on the Block, Gaga hops into her first choreographed number. While both the number (“Just Dance”) and steps (The Roxettes make a porno) seem tight, I find myself distracted by the fact that the stage seems littered with more pleather than a Creed reunion tour or roadside porn store. Regardless, I still find myself oddly content. Despite the over the top, arena rock antics that I normally bite my thumb at, Gaga seems to be drawing me in with her clever use of stage props. Electric jungle gyms (stripper poles) and flashy lights lull me into a slight sense of comfort. Who knew, right?

Despite my initial reluctance, I find that the longer I pay attention, the more I discover. It turns out, Lady Gaga couldn’t actually be any further from the genres she often gets lumped into.  In reality, she’s actually kind of the anti-pop star, selling sex to those not blessed with a Johnson County check book or Beverly Hills boob job. Sending shock through the industry, she’s honestly more Marilyn Manson than Marilyn Monroe.

Furthermore, Gaga and her gang have chops. Sitting perched at a (flaming) baby grand for “Speechless” and the unreleased “Me and You,” I find myself impressed in the manner in which Gaga’s voice shines as it soars over the sold out crowd.  She also left me intrigued with the completely obvious fact that she is no musical hack. Gaga and her band know their way around their instruments, raising the bar for all of the Christinas and Britneys of the world. Standing on the piano in 6 inch heels, Gaga proves that while she may have borrowed her image from Cher, her energy and theatrics came from the likes of Meatloaf.

Nealy two hours, nine outfits and three encores later, I think Meatloaf would be proud. Anyone in their right mind would be.

Cali rapper P mixed Edward Sharpe into his own rap song, “Brother.” A steady beat combined with the surprise addition of Edward Sharpe’s harmonies on the chorus make this a chill summer track for hot nights cruising around town.

Check the track out below, download it here, then hear more from P on his Myspace.

. “Brother” – P feat. Edward Sharpe

Warped Tour has confirmed that a 26-year-old fan died during yesterday’s show in Bonner Springs, Kansas.

The death is still under investigation, but heat and dehydration are rumored to be the cause. Yesterday, Kansas City temperatures rose about 100, with a severe heat advisory over 110.

Warped Tour issued this comment:

“There is no confirmation this was due to dehydration, cardiac, other substances, etc. We do provide first aid to anyone who needs it. If this was due to dehydration, the tour is not responsible for water prices and we change venue rules to allow you to bring it in with you. What’s happened today is an unforeseeable tragedy that shouldn’t have happened. We are all upset and shocked and our hearts are heavy. Please remember to be responsible when you are at an event like this. At ANY possible sign of a problem, PLEASE contact a venue member.”

One of my favorite things about music is that it has this ability to sneak up on you when you lose all respect for it. Just when you think you’ve heard everything or discovered the best of the best, something creeps in from the background and punches you in the lip. I walked into the Bottleneck-Lawrence, Kansas’ version of CBGBs-at 9:20 p.m., just in time to grab the tail end of New York City’s Harper Blynn. Having never stumbled across this band (or having lost them somewhere in a monsoon of emails and awful press packs) I couldn’t really gauge what to expect. Turns out they were the perfect answer for the a hardcore case of feeling the ‘music journalism burnout.’

Though I only managed to see one-fourth of their set, the energy packed into that four songs was enough to leave me Googling, Wikipediaing and Myspacing the band before they left the stage. Watching them scream the lyrics “stand up,” ironically, as three hipster girls sat in the floor in front of the stage, brought a smile to my face. While their epic cover of ” Halo” by Beyonce highlighted their great use of blended vocals as an instrument.

Thankfully, I’d get to catch them displaying their talent as the house band for both Cary Brothers and Greg Laswell.

Brothers, best known for his work with the Garden State Soundtrack, which featured “Blue Eyes,” started the set discussing his reputation for making his fans “sit in their house alone listening to his albums because they’re so depressing.” He then addressed how he approached the new album with a desire to write happier songs.

Playing several tracks off the new album, it would seem those goals were reached. With poppy, upbeat structures and lyrics reaching for the positives in life, the contrasts between Who You Are and Under Control were apparently obvious.

However, the most impressive aspects of Cary Brothers lay in the fact that unlike most artists, he can successfully balance both the upbeat and the depressing. This ability to keep his career out of the annoying pigeonholes that most artists fall into (i.e. Bright Eyes) seems to open a door for him to reach and influence an impressive spectrum of people. In an industry cluttered and watered down by photocopied and cookie cutter musicians, Cary Brother’s versatility is a breath of fresh air. He’s calm in the right places, allowing his beautiful stories to speak for themselves, while complimenting them flawlessly with just the right amount of musicality and hooks to keep them stuck in your head. It is almost blasphemy for him to waste his craft on a half empty room, if not only because they missed a pretty killer cover of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”

Having seen Greg Laswell a number of times following the release of his previous album, Three Flights From Alto Nido,  it was rather refreshing to catch him on tour in support of new material.  With the release of Take a Bow, comes new songs and fresh stories for Lawrence, Kansas.

Backed by Harper Blynn, Laswell sounds alive and upbeat. Even “Sing Teresa Says,” a song about his deceased grandmother, seemed to grasp a bit of happiness and power that I’ve never heard. His voice seems to reach further than usual, casting shades of the possibility of bigger venues and fuller rooms in the near future. His upcoming tour with Sara Bareilles seems to scream this fluently.

Furthermore, this night Greg seems to be leading the tightest set I’ve ever seen. Now, don’t read this wrong; I’m not trying to indicate that in previous sets that Laswell has been sloppy. Hell, I honestly think anything but that. I mean, he stole the show away from Ingrid Michaelson at The Beaumont and managed to get me to catch his set 3 or 4 times at the 2009 South by Southwest. However, this time Greg just seems completely collected. This could be nothing more than the comfort of sharing the stage with friends or as complex as penning an album of material he’s proud of. But whatever it is, it has Laswell on his game and at his best. I’ve never seen him better.

Mixing older material like “Comes and Goes (In Waves)”  and ” How The Day Sounds” with newer cuts from Take A Bow, Greg covers all his bases, pleasing his returning fans in the crowd while building on new ones. While the bar still seems half full at the evenings close, those in attendance seem pleased with the events of the evening moving their bodies and mouthing the lyrics to the songs they paid to see.

For those of you who skipped the show, you missed three singer-songwriters at their best.

Get excited! After two-and-a-half years, everyone’s favorite Florida alternative pop punk band featuring a rocking violinist is back. Perhaps you remember “Ocean Avenue” as part of your summer soundtrack a few years back?

Yellowcard has announced a new label, a new tour and a new album.

The band will release their seventh studio album with Hopeless Records.

Yellowcard is Ryan Key (vocals/guitar), Sean Mackin (violin), Longineu Parsons (drums), Ryan Mendez (guitar) and their newest addition of Sean O’Donnell (bass).

They’re entering the studio with Neal Avron and expecting to have a new album ready by Spring 2011, followed by a tour.

Icelandic dream-pop septet Seabear will be heading to the US in the fall in support of their sophomore release, We Built A Fire.

“Grey’s Anatomy” fans might recognize the band’s “Cold Summer,” which was featured on a spring episode of the show.

In addition to the tour, Seabear is running the Coverversion contest. The band handpicks the best cover submitted to the contest’s youtube page, giving the winner a +1 guest list spot, meet and greet and chance to perform the cover live at one of the band’s shows.

Full tour dates are below:

Tour Dates:
Sat 10/16 – New York, NY – Highline Ballroom
Mon 10/18 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
Tue 10/19 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
Fri 10/22 – Seattle, WA – Showbox w/ Blitzen Trapper
Sat 10/23 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
Mon 10/25 – San Francisco. CA – Independent
Tue 10/26 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
Wed 10/27 – San Diego, CA – Casbah

Burnham paid a visit to Billboard, where they performed an acoustic cover of The Killers‘ “Mr. Brightside.”

Burnham’s first single, “Catch Me If You Can,” is available now on iTunes. Their Island Def Jam debut is due out later this year.

PodWreck is back and this time Melissa and Casey caught up with the multi-talented Chris Freeman of Manchester Orchestra to talk about life, the universe and everything...Or well, everything relating to life in Manchester Orchestra.

Freeman provides keyboards, vocals and additional percussion to the popular Georgia indie rock band know for hits such as “I’ve Got Friends” and “Shake It Out.”

Check out the full podcast interview below: