Sound-Is-Noise___ YOUR SOUND.YOUR NOISE.YOUR MUSIC.YOUR BANDS._

By Shibby

Warped is officially over and I managed to catch the last show of the tour. This was my first Warped experience so I couldn’t compare it to any previous Warped shows, but it definitely restored my faith in the current music scene! I had so much fun and there was always a band playing somewhere on the many stages. If I wasn’t checking out a big band, I was discovering bands that were lesser known or were just starting out. There was never a boring moment.

Because of the huge turnout, I missed bands who played earlier like The Academy Is... But the band that first caught my attention were the Street Dogs. I was going to walk around to check out the whole area, but their performance immediately drew me toward their stage. Their songs were upbeat, energetic, and definitely had a punk sound. One of their songs reminded me of Pennywise while another reminded me of The Bouncing Souls. They got the crowd moshing and even got them to form a circle pit around the "white Warped tent." Being the first band I saw, they definitely pumped me up for the rest of the day.

Cobra Starship were the band following Street Dogs. I have to admit that I didn’t stay for their whole set not because they were bad, but because of their dedicated fanbase. Everyone around me was dancing, jumping, and trying to move closer and closer to the stage. Honestly, they were probably the most enthusiastic crowd I saw all day. The Cobra songs were very danceable and they commanded the crowd like experts. The fans were so energetic that I was literally suffocating from the lack of space. On my journey out, the crowd stretched on for what seemed like miles! Cobra Starship definitely attracted one of the biggest audiences.

Upon recovering from the Cobra crowd, I wandered around and ended up watching Authority Zero. They had a ska sound and were playing a song about his "Rock and roll baby." They attracted a small crowd who were bopping their heads to the catchy beats. I think they were one of the most unique acts there. They were the only band I caught that had a ska sound and I really enjoyed their set.

I also managed to make it to the last couple of songs Beat Union were performing. Their music was a lot of fun! Upbeat and catchy; I wish I would’ve been there for their whole set. They had a relatively large audience and deserved it! I danced to the songs and sang along when they encouraged. I could tell from the lead singer’s accent that they were not American. Actually, they are from Birmingham, England and I am so glad they decided to come to America for Warped because they really worked the crowd almost effortlessly.

I wanted to check out the band, Ludo, because I have their latest album so I waited near the barricades of the Hurley.com stage where they were scheduled to perform in 45 minutes and their stage was right next to the Smartpunk stage where A Day to Remember was still playing. I didn’t get a good look at them, but (as stated in my last article) music is more about hearing rather than seeing. I was definitely dancing to their songs even though I couldn’t see them play. They were really good and had a much heavier sound than what I’ve heard all day. Heavy, but not too heavy, let’s call it alternative. They did a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s "Since U Been Gone" and everyone, including the crowd waiting for Ludo, sang along and danced.

Ludo was the first whole set I saw. They were incredible! I only knew the words to two songs, but they put on a show! Even though they probably only had the set for 30 minutes, they played as if they were headlining their own tour. Lead singer, Andrew Volpe, entertained the crowd like a professional. The crowd was the best. They gave space, danced, and sang with all their heart. "Go-Getter Greg," the "song about stalking" was definitely my favorite song they played. Ludo’s witty lyrics and cleverly crafted guitar riffs won my heart and I would totally go to their own shows, any day! "Love Me Dead" had everyone screaming and dancing to the awesome and catchy single. Volpe even got a marriage proposal from a fan in the audience. Haha...way to steal a heart! They ended their set with a cover of "Epic" by Faith No More. Volpe stood in front of the crowd and had them screaming along with him until he did a full-on stage dive! He announced that after their set, he was going to lead an "idiot parade" in which anyone who was "an idiot or an asshole" can march along with him to their "weird, orange" merch tent where they can buy the latest album, "You’re Awful, I Love You" for just five bucks. Proudly wearing a marching band hat, he led those fans like an already established rockstar! Ludo is one of my top three favorite bands I saw.

After allowing myself to miss a few bands for the Say Anything signing, I wanted to see Protest The Hero. I have a few of their songs on my iPod and I was curious as to how they would sound live. Well, they had the music and vocals on point! Their set had people in the audience headbanging and moshing. Someone even had their left hand up imitating the guitar riffs. Protest had a heavy sound with positive lyrics. Frontman, Rody Walker, joked, "A lot of dudes don’t like us ‘cause we’re not heavy enough!" Maybe, for some, they weren’t heavy enough but they were energetic enough to own that crowd.

Finally, the moment I was waiting for arrived: to see Say Anything play for the first time! Max Bemis sounds just as amazing live as he does on his albums. He alternated from singing to screaming with perfection. They opened with "Alive with the Glory of Love" and the guitars really shone through that song. The crowd cheered like crazy when they played "Wow, I Can Get Sexual, Too." The only bad part was when they ended their set. They left me wanting more songs and I will definitely be on the look out for their headlining shows in the near future. They finished off their set with "Belt" and had their friends from backstage come out to sing the last few lines of the songs together as Bemis stood in front of the audience and encouraged them to sing along. It was, undoubtedly, a flawless performance.

I had seen Angels & Airwaves before on their very first tour with Taking Back Sunday so I thought I knew what to expect seeing them this second time around. I was so wrong. They were breathtaking. Tom DeLonge has definitely matured as a performer and proved to be an excellent frontman. The audience was huge and everyone was into it whether they knew the songs or not. If there ever was a literal example of "mindblowing," this was it. Everyone raised their arms up to clap to "Everything’s Magic." Yet, DeLonge did not leave behind his punk rock roots as he played the fast-paced and obscenely written Boxcar Racer song, "My First Punk Song." My heart just about exploded with admiration for him and his new band. They exceeded all my expectations and were the best band I saw. After the set, the crowd chanted, "ONE MORE SONG!" but to no avail. I have a feeling that the tickets to next few Angels & Airwaves shows will definitely sell out.

After Angels & Airwaves set the bar, I knew no one else would top them. I stayed a bit for the Gym Class Heroes set catching their new song that had everyone, "put the peace sign up, put [their] index down!" Their clever lyric had me chuckling and dancing along. If I wasn’t so exhausted, I would’ve stayed for their whole set. I would like to see Gym Class again, though, when I’m fully rested. Their songs pretty much promise you a good time. All in all, Warped Tour was a blast and I would go again next year and the year after that. Sure, it’s tiring to be out in the sun for nine hours or more, but it was all for the music. I loved how I got to check out my favorite bands and discover new favorites as well. Walking around in the scorching heat is worth it when you get to the front of that stage. I once thought that the music scene of today was failing and crashing and burning fast, but Warped proved me wrong. There are dozens of bands out there playing their hearts out and putting on amazing shows. I loved the line-up and I love the sets that I saw. I can’t wait to see who will be playing next year!

Check out the bands I mentioned at:

Street Dogs: myspace.com/streetdogs
Cobra Starship: cobrastarship.com
Authority Zero: myspace.com/authorityzero
Beat Union: myspae.com/beatunion
Ludo: ludorock.com
A Day to Remember: adtrrock.com
Protest the Hero: protestthehero.com
Say Anything: sayanythingmusic.com
Angels & Airwaves: angels-and-airwaves.com
Gym Class Heroes: gymclassheroes.com

Well, Warped Tour is now over and it seems like I should have many awesome stories to tell and memories I'll forever have. But the more I think about my latest Warped experience, the more I seem to loathe and regret it. For me, it's always been a place where me and my best friends count down the days (like we have for the past few years) and have the time of our lives seeing the bands we love together. Well, take away your friends. Take away the bands you love. And what you'll have is the polar opposite of the time of your life.

This year's Tour was so fucking watered down, I felt like I should get in a relationship and break it off immediately just so I could feel all the 'heartache' these whiny bands keep crying about. Alas, there were many different genres, but Kevin Lyman couldn't have gathered a more generic line up.

And the crowds didn't make it any better. While watching Norma Jean, instead of being thrashed around with some gnarly 25 year old dudes with greasy hair, I was being elbowed in the back by 14 year old chicks sporting too much hairspray and dramatic eyeliner. (Yes, I will be referring to hair a lot due do the fact that I'm also a hairstylist.) But what pissed me off the most is that they weren't doing it to mosh, but to try and get past people and make it to the front to see their 'dreamboat' up close and personal. The more and more I witness this, the more I wish they would stick an age limit on the tickets to help me refrain from bringing a loaded gun the next time around.

But enough about those morons, let's get to the show reviews. As I said prior, Norma Jean was the first band I saw. Besides the awful crowd experience, they were amazing. Even though I only caught 10 minutes of their set due to my irritable reaction to the pre-teens, I was enticed by their stage presence and actual ability to play live. The day before, I was chatting it up with their drummer about Warped Tour and that right there made me want to get more into them. He said something to me about how disappointed he was with the lineup, but he's thankful for actually being able to play. We are too kid. Oh, their album 'The Anti Mother' just released this week, and it's one of the most anticipated albums of the year so check it out.

My, oh my. Oli Sykes.
Bring me the Horizon was one of the last bands i caught. Even though it was only for a few minutes because I had other bands to photograph, they were one of the best bands I've seen on the tour. However, I think it should be a law that bands should pick up some sort of American accent when playing live in the states. It was hard to determine what the hell he was saying and I think the only thing I caught was, "Aww you awl rea-ee faw some meh-ul!?" Actually, it was pretty entertaining, so nevermind. Although some might say that Bring Me the Horizon is a typical hardcore/metal band whose fanbase consists of MySpace whores, give these British dudes a chance. I wasn't a follower of the band before I met them (but was relatively entertaining when we got on the subject of abortions and leap frog) but I definitely am starving for more of this band. Check them out on their MySpace and watch a couple of their videos on YouTube.

Like I said earlier, I didn't really check out all the corporate bastards hogging up the Route 66 and Ernie Ball stages, I was really captivated by smaller bands this year; which has never happened before. Let me start off with a band that I have the feeling will only get bigger as their music expands. One word. Tat.

This British trio has come to the states on a full fledged tour with Warped and are currently on the road with none other than the legendary Alice Cooper. Afterwards, they'll be hitting the road with MXPX. I just so happened to catch a conversation with Tatiana (lead VOX) and Nick (Bass). Let me tell you, she is the most ballsy and foul-mouthed motherfucker I've ever met. Between the time of her rubbing on my nipples and me grabbing her ass, I slightly remember much of her actually talking about the band. But I did give their album a chance on my ride home from the show. And HOLY SHIT. Tat is something special. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to it now. 'Pessimist' is a song telling of getting messed up and giving a fuck less about her man. With this lyric, 'I'll sit on your face and tell you I love you and leave you the next day for someone who owes you' you can obviously get the gest of what the rest of the record sounds like. You can check them out at MySpace.com/Tat. Their album comes out this fall. I highly recommend them to anybody who is a fan of The Distillers.

For all you Chicago people who aren't already aware of this next band, get off your ass and pick up their album. The Frantic is the freshest punk-influenced spawn coming straight out of the area. With thousands of friends on MySpace, it's no wonder why their crowd was singing their lyrics loudly with fists raised up in the air. It's funny to think that even though Against Me! were playing on the bigger stage right beside them, a quarter of the crowd swayed over to them right after they got off and actually stayed for the entire set.

There were a lot of good times and bad times for those two shows. I do have a lot to say on the matter, but I feel like my mouth should stay shut if I don't want all you scene kids to send me a box of your tears in the mail. In conclusion to this experience, if Kevin Lyman wants their regulars to come back next year (which I deeply fear won't happen), he'll stay away from just selling tickets and actually try to put on a good lineup or I fear that Warped Tour won't last much longer. Another note to Kevin, don't ask people famous from MySpace to join the tour. That's a big no-no.

The House of Blues in Anaheim California isn't exactly a gigantic venue but, when the house lights went down and the first sound Army of Me's song “Thinking it Over” rang out through the venue it felt as if I had just stepped into an arena holding thousands of people. Every voice in the crowd began to scream with excitement. The lights on the stage stayed low, the shadow of each member of the band could be seen from where I was standing. Slowly the colored lights had started to flicker and shine
brightly, matching perfectly with the rising tempo of the music, as the vocals kick in the crowd starts to sway with the music.

Army Of Me's live show is so powerfully energetic you cant help but dance or bob your head along to the bass lines and kicking tempo of the drums. As the second song “Going Through Changes” starts up, Vince Scheuerman (vocals, guitar) begins making eye contact with the crowd and interacting with as many people as he can see in the low house lights.

As the show progresses through songs such as “Still Believe in You” and even a new song, we get closer and closer to the last song entitled “Perfect.” During this song there is an instrumental break where guitarist Brad Tursi improvises an amazing guitar solo while Vince takes the time to set his guitar down and “worship” Brad and his abilities. Dancing around and motioning to Brad as if to pass power through his being, Vince prepares himself for a stage dive and jumps straight to where I'm standing. The surrounding crowd helps out and gradually carries the singer back to the stage where he picks his guitar back up and travels to the microphone just in time to finish the song. 'Flawless' is the only word I can use to describe this act I have just witnessed.

“I don't like talking about my influences for the songs,” Vince Scheuerman (vocals, guitar) says, “I prefer it when people can take my words and interpret them to mean something personal.” Vince and I are currently standing in the lobby of the Soma Theater in San Diego after another 'flawless' performance from the band. As we are talking people are walking up and congratulating him on a good show, he is offering autographs on shirts and their newly released CD “Citizen.” The very polite singer hops up onto the counter and continues, “You remember the tsunami a few years back? I heard about these kids who had lost everything to the waves. They had drawn three pictures, the first one was of their house before the waves had come, the second was of the waves as it was destroying their house and the third was of their new house they had imagined. It was bigger and better than the house they had lived in before. Thats where the lines from the song 'Rise' come from. 'I'm rebuilding this house, that was taken by the waves, this time I'll make a mansion this time I'm not afraid.' These kids had so much hope for the future.”

The bands inspirational lyrics are just one reason to check out their music. Another reason is the caring nature and amazing hugs these guys give. After the show at soma, when Vince and I were talking, I had mentioned that my favorite song was 'Skin and Bones' a song from their first album, and that I would love to start hearing it live again. Vince had simply said “I'll be right back,” and walked briskly away only to turn up a few minutes later with a yellow guitar case. He proceeded to tell me that I was probably never going to hear that song live again, pulled out the guitar and began to play it. He did warn that he hasn't played the song for two years and he forgot a lot of the words, but its still the thought that counts.

You can find video of Vince's spontaneous performance here and a video of 'Perfect” here

Check out Army Of Me on MySpace and on Army Of Me Online

June 13, 2008.

It was 3:30 AM and my less-than-awake conrads were heading home for the few hours of sleep they could retain before we left for the big city at 11:00 AM. I, the mastermind of ideas without the will-power or motivation to follow through on them, hopped on the internet to gather any other information I could about The Birthday Massacre; the band that was featured on VampireFreaks.Com more than big names like My Chemical Romance or MSI. The band I assumed to be another industrial band with an infatuation with love and suicide, but still with the best of intentions. This was the band with horror-themed makeup, dark clothing, and devious grimaces through the lense. I was scheduled to interview their guitarist, Rainbow. Quite a queer name, I thought at first. And by first glance when he was standing in the doorway, my preceptions were presumed to be correct. I thought I knew how this would go. We'd chat about how society is fucked, why the world will somebody end, and how they'll never turn their back on their fans.

But I was wrong, entirely.

After being walked through the back of the Congress Theatre by their tour manager Jack, we walked across the stage and met up with him on the opposite side. After climbing, what seemed to be, at least five flights of stairs... wondering which room was theirs and passing at least 5 different dressing rooms, we finally towered to the top of the building and sat down, opposite each other, on a couch against a wall in a very vacant room. I think it was velvet. Maybe not. I can't really remember, I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, we immediately started talking about his band. Of course, he was dressed in a contrast of black/white and he had the typical haircut of a goth kid. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, my perceptions of him immediately drifted away. He was genuinely intruiging. We shared laughs and muttered opinions, but all in all, it was a good time. This proves that you honestly should talk to a person before you generalize their beliefs. You can read the entire interview in the appropriate section.

-----------------------------

They were the opening act for MSI; a band loved for their catchy lyrics, sarcastic humor, and overall amazing beats. After waiting at Will Call for the Guest List for nearly a few hours, we finally received our passes and joined the rest of the crowd inside the old-furnished building. I immediately headed towards the stage. The lights went out, the music began, and I was still in shock at what I was about to see. They were, in fact, an AMAZING live performance. The energy they presented and the connection they held between eachother and their fans totally made the 6 hour wait worth it all.

Then I look at Rainbow. His makeup made him easily similar to Marilyn Manson. His stance, presence, and energy came off as a dark, psychopathic, and resentful creature with a hybrid influence to the people surrounding him. This was the same guy who talked about how he loved high school, had many friends, and how his father used to read to him when he was a kid. Then, before I knew it, they were saying their goodbyes and the stage was silent.

After another 45 minute wait for Mindless Self Indulgence, they finally took the stage and completely captured the crowd within seconds. And let me say this, Jimmy Urine is the most sarcastic, sheisty motherfucker you'll ever see. It was my 3rd time seeing them and I think it was the 8th time seeing him take his clothes off. He talks to his fans like they were meat and they really don't seem to mind it. "You're all a bunch of worthless losers!" he chants, "You have to be if you're here to see us!" I recall from last year's PR tour, he snarked a girl for wearing slutty clothing, "Look at you, all whored up like you're going to blow your way backstage. Hoping to meet the musician of your dreams who will fall in love with you and sweep you off your feet." And who can leave an MSI show without hearing the classic Bette Middler show-tune at the end of their set? My friends, MSI is a fucking revolution. I highly recommend this band to anybody who's in dire need of a little substance. You can check them out at their myspace or visit their website.

Well, kids... take off those snow pants and long-sleeve sweaters, this summer is going to be HOT! (And I'm not just talking about the weather, either.) With bands hibernating through the winter awaiting their epic return to your city and Warped Tour just around the corner, I think it's time to get the low-down of all the music that's popping off in the coming months. First of all, The Spill Canvas is already on tour with Ludo, Steel Train, & Sing It Loud. The Almost are out there with Emery and a couple of awesome bands opening up. Bullet for my Valentine are also prepping up for a nice summer tour around the states. And if THAT ain't enough to make you go broke...

-Kittie, Dope, A New Revolution, Dirge, & Panic Cell.
-Cute is What We Aim For
-Boys Like Girls
-MSI
-Less Than Jake
-Secondhand Serenade
-Kill Hannah
-MXPX

...are all on tour.
Anyway, now that Warped Tour is starting up (and I know how anxious you all must be.) you might as well get the low-down on all of the music you should get on iTunes. First off, there's a band I met a few weeks ago called Set Your Goals. They're amazing, so please visit their myspace and check em out. A couple more you should check out are Forever the Sickest Kids and From First to Last. Oh, and how the fuck could I forget Cobra Starship?! If you're just curious about the bigger bands that are going to be there, Paramore, Story of the Year, As I Lay Dying, Against Me!, The All-American Rejects, All Time Low, Motion City Soundtrack, Norma Jean, Pennywise, The Pink Spiders, and Angels And Airwaves.

Now, the bands you should try to avoid - Madina Lake (total garage band), Jeffree Star. I know, I know, I KNOW! You guys think this dude is hot shit... but realistically, he's a joke. I don't know why all these people off MySpace have a thing for getting record deals, but I'd avoid this moron with the best of your abilities. And last, but not least, Bouncing Souls. Fuck them. Fuck them to hell. Anyway, that's the latest update. I'll listen to the other bands and will give you an update. Trust me, don't waste yourselves and your body temperature on a shitty band that's going to make you hate them and regret staying there for their 30-45 minute sets. Do yourself a favor and just take my word for it. Anyway, that's all for now! Hope you got some juicy 411 and remember to check back frequently for newer blogs from me and the other staff members. Kudos!