311: UNITY TOUR

July 7, 2017

BY BROOKE MCCOY

Nearly 30 years together, 311 released their 12th studio album MOSAIC on June 23rd, 2017. The band has made their newest album cover extra special by using nearly 10,000 pictures sent in by fans to bind the bond of the band and the fans together. While fans waited the arrival of the album, 311 released three songs, Too Much to Think, Perfect Mistake, and Too Late, which collectively have over 600,000 views on YouTube.

Currently, 311 is touring the United States on an 8-week tour hitting all the major cities across the country. They began in Cleveland, Ohio, are stopping at the Great South Bay Festival in Long Island, NY, and ending in Virginia Beach at the American Music Festival on September 1st.

Their summer tour is very popular with their original fans, and the many few fans from the most recent albums. Steven Schenk, fan from Philadelphia, was at last year’s Philadelphia show and believed that their song Beautiful Disaster was the best way they could have started the show. He went on to say, they pumped up the crowd so “everyone was on their feet and dancing in seconds.” Talk about a stage presence.

Come out to see them at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, PA on July 21st, 2017, or check out 311.com/shows to find a date near you!

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B BOYS: INTERVIEW

June 16, 2017

BY ANDREA HOFFMAN

Britton Walker, Andrew Kerr, and Brendon Avalos came together to form B Boys in 2014 and released their first EP No Worry No Mind two years later. They’ve also been signed to the independent, Brooklyn-based record label, Captured Tracks, and are currently on their biggest tour yet across the US. Today they released their first full-length album, Dada, and they’ve taken the time to tell us all about it in front of Los Angeles music venue, The Echo.

UNCLEAR: So how’s the tour going so far? What’s it like? This is a pretty big tour you guys are on.

BRITTON: "So far so good, there’s been a lot of long drives, middle of America is a weird place, west coast is really cool, legal weed, cool people."

ANDREW: "Shoutout to legal weed."

BRITTON: "Shoutout to legal weed. Shoutout to CBD. Yeah, but we’ve been having a really good time. We did the first couple shows by ourselves—Pittsburgh, Columbus and St. Louis. Then we met up with Merchandise in Oklahoma City and we’ve been having a lot of fun with them. So far so good, I mean, I think now I’m starting to lose my mind a little bit but it’s not in a bad way or anything."

UNCLEAR: What’s different about your full-length album, Dada, from your EP, No Worry No Mind? How do you think you’ve all grown since then?

ANDREW: "I think our songwriting process has always kind of stayed the same. It’s pretty similar in the sense that we just kind of like to take the urgency of our jam sessions and then kind of work off from there. This record, we planned it out a little bit more, we demoed the songs for a little longer and took our time figuring out layers we wanted to add and different production and stuff like that."

BRITTON: "Yeah, the last one was like, 'We have eight songs.'"

ANDREW: "Yeah, 'This is what we’re gonna record because this is the time we have.'"

BRITTON: "This new one was like, 'What kind of song should come after this song?' They were all still from jamming but there was more planning from beginning to end."

UNCLEAR: Since you have put more planning into it, what kind of vibe do you want people to get from it or how do you think that planning translated into the work?

BRITTON: "I mean, I just feel like I want someone to sing to it."

[At this point of the interview, Brendon walks up from down the street and joins the rest of the band.]

BRITTON: "You missed one question. How’s tour going so far?"

BRENDON: "It’s going great, I just had some soup."

ANDREW: "We’re also talking about how we hope this record is received differently than the EP."

BRENDON: "I just hope people hear it. I want people to make a judgement on it. I’d rather them have an opinion on it than just us go into obscurity and just be like, 'Yeah I’ve never even heard of them.'"

UNCLEAR: Makes sense.

BRITTON: "Yeah, that’s a pretty honest answer."

BRENDON: "It’s kind of hard to even figure out how to get it out to people these days like there’s normal media outlets that kind of can work or not. You know you just get a write up somewhere you’re like, 'Well that was like five minutes in digital trash world.'"

UNCLEAR: Exactly, there’s just so much going on.

BRENDON: "Yeah, and there’s like a new band every five minutes. Anytime there’s an article or whatever it’s just like, 'Oh there, that lasted thirty seconds,' and then someone clicks refresh and it’s gone."

UNCLEAR: I heard you guys are also going on tour in the UK and Europe.

BRITTON: "Yeah, in September."

BRENDON: "For a couple of months too. We’re pretty excited."

UNCLEAR: Are you guys going as support for someone?

ANDREW: "No, just on our own."

UNCLEAR: Do you feel excited or nervous about that?

BRITTON: "Both, but more excited than anything."

BRENDON: "Yeah more excited, but we just have to figure out all the logistics [of the tour]. I guess that’s what I’m thinking about anyway. But it’ll be nice when we get there."

UNCLEAR: It’s definitely different driving through multiple countries instead of just driving through different states.

BRITTON: "We’ll probably have someone help us drive."

BRENDON: "Yeah, we’ll have a driver and stuff. Since none of us have ever really toured over there, I don’t know how any of the money situation works."

UNCLEAR: You might have to change currencies every day depending on where you are.

BRENDON: "Well it’s all the euro except for the UK I think."

ANDREW: "We’re playing Switzerland though and I think they're on different money too."

BRITTON: "And Eastern Europe, I think they’re on different currency too."

BRENDON: "So hopefully we get someone honest that does a good job, whoever it is."

UNCLEAR: So I was wondering, what’s the title of the album about, Dada, right?

BRENDON: "Andrew has got this one."

ANDREW: "It’s just a funny sounding word. My friend Matt, when we first started the band, said he had a dream that we had this record called Dada so we always knew we were gonna call it that. We’ve just been making connections from there to different things like the art movement, this restaurant in my parents’ neighborhood in Delray Beach, whatever you want you know? It’s just a funny sounding word and we just like the way it flows."

BRENDON: "That’s the main factor, like most of our things it has to roll off the tongue or have some kind of alliteration. Even our songwriting and our hooks, that’s where it kind of starts."

ANDREW: "We like to joke around so if it sounds funny then we usually take it to a serious place from there."

BRITTON: "And we had a title track for [the album] but it just never made it. It might go on the next record."

BRENDON: "We had the song first I think, but the song never came to be so we just trashed it."

BRITTON: "It was one tight riff and one good vocal line."

BRENDON: "And we don’t have anything else. Couldn’t crack the egg on that one."

UNCLEAR: Well you can always come back to it, right?

BRITTON: "Yeah, and we will. That’s the goal."

UNCLEAR: What are you looking forward to doing in the future with your music? What’s something that you really want to do?

BRENDON: "Spend more time in the studio! That’s like one of my favorite parts, the recording and the production process of the music. And then having an idea and by the time it comes to fruition, hearing how that actually sounds. It’s always different than what you imagine, but it’s always interesting and cool to think of the stuff that you’ve been imagining and then hearing it come to be in a slightly different way. But also you’re like, 'That idea was actually good!' versus like, 'I’m trash.'"

ANDREW: "I’m looking forward to it maybe taking us to different countries we’ve never been to before and just meeting new people. Sharing music. Keep playing and keep putting records out."

BRITTON: "With the opportunity of maybe bottle service down the line."

BRENDON: "Yeah, we’re trying to go to Ibiza. For any clubs in Ibiza we have an all linen outfit. But yeah, traveling is like one of the coolest things to do with music. We have friends that play in bands that go to Japan, Australia, all over Europe and you do it, hopefully, for free. That’s the goal. That’s one of the coolest experiences definitely."

UNCLEAR: It’s the dream for sure.

BRENDON: "Yeah, free vacation while you’re working."

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BEN HAZLEWOOD: INTERVIEW

June 12, 2017

INTRO BY MADDEN LEVIN

INTERVIEW BY CAMI LIBERTY

Recently we spoke with the wonderful and talented, Ben Hazlewood! This young man, with hits like Parachute and Wanted, just released his EP, EOS! During this exclusive interview, we spoke with him about what it felt like creating the EP and what we can expect from him in the future! To find out his interesting answers, make sure to read on and do your research on this talent; you will not be disappointed!

You just released your EP EOS. Can you tell us the process on creating it?

BEN: "Creating EOS was a two part process with Vanta being the first EP, and EOS was kind of the follow up to it. The theme for both of them were 'it’s always darkest before the dawn.' Vanta is the darkest, blackest substance created by man and EOS is the greek goddess that rose up with the sun every morning. The thought behind it is even though things are a little shit sometimes, like sometimes during your life there’s a more positive outlook. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel."

What song was the hardest to create on the EP?

BEN: "I think Sail Away. It took us ages. We recorded it a bunch of times just because we weren’t sure we had the right sound for it, so there’s three or four different versions of the same song but different productions. So I think that was the most intense one to create, and it took the longest and was by far the most frustrating."

What would you say has been your biggest milestone so far?

BEN: "My biggest milestone so far would be touring in the US and spending time over here and kind of doing my thing here."

Who are your biggest influences, musically and personally?

BEN: "A lot of my musical influences come from what I grew up listening to, like Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, and I like anyone that is in this industry at the moment that’s kind of killing it is my inspiration. People like Bishop Briggs and Dorothy and a few other people that I’m just looking at their careers kind of blowing up at the moment and it’s pretty awesome and cool to see."

What do you love most about performing?

BEN: "The whole reason I write music is so I can perform it live, so I think getting to do that and performing my own stuff is kind of the best outcome and is the reason why I do it. I think just being onstage and performing stuff that other people have heard and that you’ve spent so much time working on and creating is pretty awesome."

Is there anything we can expect from you in the near future?

BEN: "I’m currently writing at the moment. I spent three weeks in LA writing. I’m looking after EOS to continue to grow as an artist and change up the style a little bit. There’s also the video coming out for Sail Away in a couple weeks and it’s pretty amazing so I’m pretty happy with that too."

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'HEADLIGHTS' / BINX: MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW + INTERVIEW

June 2, 2017

BY GRACE SERRAMBANA

Bringing some edge back, Binx is releasing her music video to the song “Headlights.” With similar video presence as Melanie Martinez, Binx is bringing out something different within the music world and it is absolutely lovely. The music video really leaves the viewer questioning what’s going on, but when the physical connection between the lyrics and video come into contact, the confusion disappears. The overall piece brings a modern vibe to the table. The background music has a very 2017 fresh feel to it which will definitely interest the listener. The “Headlights” music video is popping with color to match the song’s need to impress in order to keep [him] in [Binx’s] headlights.

When did you decide that you felt called to make music?

BINX: "I never decided, I always knew. The first song I ever sang was 'Ruby Tuesday' by The Rolling Stones and ever since then I continued singing and performing. When I was 6 I watched Britney Spears’ music video 'Hit Me Baby One More Time,' I guess that’s when you could say I knew. I wanted the life she had and no one ever questioned which career path I’d end up taking."

How does it feel to have your own song, “Radiohead,” as #1 on a South Africa radio chart?

BINX: "It’s beyond exciting! When you think of how many talented musicians there are and where and when the song was created, it feels surreal. I wrote the song in my little pink bedroom back in South Africa when I was 16. Fast forward to me living in New York and releasing 'The African Bee' EP, and to see how well people responded to it still today, makes me very happy."

You’ve had the chance to work with Kinetics (known for creating the song “Airplanes” by B.O.B. ft. Hayley Williams). How was that experience?

BINX: "Yes. It was a very new experience for me, I hadn’t really co-written with anyone besides friends and I usually prefer writing alone, but since that experience I am lot more open to learning about different ways to write a song and I am more welcoming of others ideas because we worked very well together and ended up with the best track on my EP 'The African Bee' which is, 'Headlights.'"

What inspired you to create your song, “Headlights,” along with the music video?

BINX: "'Headlights' is a song about my dad. My family and I lost him suddenly last year and he was and is my biggest supporter. The song is a metaphor and talks about whenever I start to feel derailed on my course or negative, I will keep my dad in my 'Headlights,' in my 'focus' as I continue through my life and my journey through my music career and know that he will always guide me in the right direction. The music video is based off a dream I had. I was going through a tough time last year and I was debating whether or not I wanted to continue a career in music because it reminded me too much of my dad and it was bringing me more pain than pleasure. I dreamt that I was on a beach riding a bicycle. I heard music and decided to follow it and as the music got louder, I came to this massive outdoor stadium and as I peered in to see who was performing I noticed, it was me. I took that as a sign as though my dad was telling me I was on the right path and should continue with pursuing my dreams of making music."

Do you have any projects coming up you would like to talk about?

BINX: "I just recorded my new single, 'Paradise' at the Spotify Studios in New York and I plan to release that in the summer!"

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'THE EAST LANSING SESSIONS' / HALO CIRCUS: EP REVIEW

May 17, 2017

BY SARAH KEARNS

Shortly after releasing their debut album, Bunny, in June 2016, Halo Circus is back at it again with a new collection of works. The EP, The East Lansing Sessions, features five alternative rock songs, three of which had already made an appearance in Bunny, but were resynthesized into stripped-down, acoustic versions.

The EP is commenced with Nothing at All. This was my personal favorite. Halo Circus had thrown out the previous version’s background music, an overwhelming fusion of multiple instruments, and replaced it with acoustic guitar. The track was soothing and beautifully simple.

Following is All I Have. Lead singer Allison Iraheta harmonizes with piano melodies, but the gentle combination is cut off by guitar strumming. The tone immediately changes afterwards, the singing sounding more like droning. Though not inherently bad, the song was the least impressive of the five.

Up next is Band Aid. The lyrics were intimate. “As high as I could get, I rise above me. That human far below, not who I plan to be.” It felt like Iraheta was reading from a page in her diary; personal, but relatable.

Fourth in the EP is Stand Up. This song has faster, more complex instrumentals than the others. Catchy and upbeat, it creates a balance amongst the slower tracks. Plus, it's the perfect tune to dance to.

Finally, is Needle and the Damage Done. In their cover of the Neil Young classic, Halo Circus delivers a fresh take while retaining the authentic sound of Young. Verses fluently give way to guitar solos and both fans of Halo Circus and Young are left content.

The East Lansing Sessions is an EP worth listening to. While Halo Circus didn't necessarily supply new music, their repurposed songs show substantial improvement from Bunny. Iraheta’s voice is clearer and the instrumentals are better than ever.

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