Hawthorne Heights
We live in a musical climate where change is unavoidable. These are tough times, and only those with talent, with the innovation to keep ahead of the pack, and the strength to work through the hard times will survive. It is a mantra HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS take to heart – as one of the biggest success stories in rock music in the last decade, they have had their share of career highlights, and crushing lows. But, sticking to the old adage “when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” lead vocalist JT Woodruff, guitarist Micah Carli, bassist Matt Ridenour and drummer Eron Bucciarelli know that taking the easy way out just isn’t the way for them.
Having formed in the unlikely musical breeding ground of Dayton, Ohio in 2001, HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS learned early on that adaptation and diligence were the keys in the development of a successful career. Playing relentlessly from the start on self-booked tours across the country and sharing the stage with bands such as The Descendants and Coheed and Cambria gave them some initial national exposure. But it wasn’t until they signed to Victory Records in late 2003 that HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS became the face of a whole new generation of music fans.
As one of the first bands to utilize social networking to gain a fan base, HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS developed a huge MySpace following that became a catalyst that would launch them from underground heroes to international superstars. As the voice of a genre, the band became regulars on MTV, their signature hit Ohio Is For Lovers the anthem for the new wave of “emo”. Their debut album The Silence In Black And White soon went Gold, and with their second album If Only You Were Lonely, the band scored Victory Records’ biggest ever debut, landing at #3 on the Billboard 200 in 2006. The band appeared on Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, and became magazine cover stars, sending sales of The Silence… to Platinum status. It was the dream many bands hope for, but few seldom achieve, and Hawthorne Heights were living it.
Sadly, as with every success story, the good times came at a cost. In October 2007, while in the midst of legal disputes, tragedy struck within the HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS family. Casey Calvert, the much loved guitarist and resident “screamer” of the band lost his life while on tour due to an accidental overdose of medications prescribed by his doctor and dentist, which proved to be lethal combination. The effects on the band were evident, both personally and musically, and the decision to carry on was the toughest they would ever have to make.
On August 5 2008, Hawthorne Heights return with Fragile Future, a brand new album. Although the sound is still distinctly Hawthorne Heights, the music, as with the band, has understandably evolved.
“After spending the last 2 years in a deep dark place, we decided to try to find the bright lights again with Fragile Future,” noted singer J.T. Woodruff. “We, as a band, noticed that everyone has tremendous ups and downs, so we wanted this record to communicate that. We chose the title Fragile Future, because it sums up the current state of our band, as well as what is going on in the outside world. We must all make good choices to create a better situation in our lives.”
“With the loss of Casey, and no plans to replace him, we’ve had to make some obvious changes to our sound on this record,” added drummer Eron Bucciarelli. “Originally there were less screams planned for this record than the second one, but sadly we never got the chance to do even that. This forced us to take a creative approach to certain songs. We’ve beefed up the guitars in parts, added gang vocals, choirs and all sorts of effects to still capture some of the energy that Casey brought.”
With their trademark strong melodies and hooks still intact, Hawthorne Heights have broadened their sound to emerge with a collection of 12 deliciously genre-free songs that will set the airwaves alight across the world. Hawthorne Heights may have already set on the path to global domination, but with the release of Fragile Future, the road in front of them will lead them to the biggest, most impressive heights of all.
All Time Low
Nobody wants to have to grow up in public. But when you’re young, talented and creating something that strikes a chord with enough people, sometimes you’ve got no choice. For the members of All Time Low, who cut two strong indie releases and inked their Hopeless Records deal before they’d even finished high school, that’s just the path they had to take. And with their new album, So Wrong, It’s Right, these 2006 graduates from the Baltimore suburbs prove they’re growing up just fine.
Produced by Matt Squire(Panic! At the Disco, Cute Is What We Aim For), with help from the band’s longtime collaborator Paul Leavitt (Over It), So Wrong, It’s Right finds All Time Low cranking out 12 infectious, impeccably played slabs of classic pop-punk that recall ATL’s early inspirations (Blink-182, New Found Glory) as much as they push the whole genre forward. “A lot of bands that start out being called ‘pop-punk’ either shy away from the term or end up trying to force their sound in a different direction,” singer/guitarist Alex Gaskarth explains. “We’re proud of who we are, and we’re trying to take pop-punk back to where it used to be: a place that’s about having fun, being positive and building a community.”
Since forming in 2003 when Gaskarth and guitarist Jack Barakat teamed up with bassist Zack Merrick and drummer Rian Dawson, All Time Low have steadily risen to the center of that community. With a four-song EP and an album, The Party Scene (both on the Maryland indie Emerald Moon), under their belts, the band kicked off their first national touring campaign in 2005, supporting like-minded headliners such as Plain White T’s, the Early November and Motion City Soundtrack. And in 2006, after one of those tourmates, Amber Pacific, brokered a meeting with their label, All Time Low signed to the label and released their Hopeless debut, the Put Up Or Shut Up EP. Though it drew on older material, Put Up Or Shut Up was a breath of fresh air for the genre, winning critical acclaim from outlets such as AbsolutePunk.net (which beamed, “Say hello to your new favorite pop-punk band”) and Aversion.com.
Between Put Up Or Shut Up’s release and their high-school graduation, All Time Low finally had the freedom to hit the road full-time, and over the next year they’d share stages with bands like Sugarcult, Cute Is What We Aim For and Hit The Lights, in addition to bringing their fun, freewheeling stage show (“We try to make every show feel like a party,” Gaskarth says) to the 2007 Bamboozle and Warped Tour festivals. “When you’re out there on the road and you’re going out on what can be pretty massive tours for the first time, it really keeps you grounded,” Gaskarth says of the band’s ascent through the touring ranks. “You’re surrounded at all times by this huge, diverse group of people with all these amazing experiences to share, and you’re always learning from them. It really gives you a chance to find yourself.”
And that they did. While it has the same loose, energetic spirit that fueled Put Up Or Shut Up, So Wrong, It’s Right reflects the tremendous musical growth All Time Low have experienced in the past few years. And as Gaskarth notes, working with Squire as their producer also forced the band to step up their game. “We went into the sessions with 15 songs, and Matt was like, ‘Okay, these three songs are great, and the rest suck,’” he remembers, laughing. “But it was the perfect outside opinion to get, because Matt has a great ear for what we want to be writing, which is really solid pop-rock songs. It forced us to go back and make the rest of the album that much stronger.”
From the fist-pumping first single “Six Feet Under The Stars” (which Gaskarth describes as “about regrettably drinking Jäger with someone you used to have a relationship with”) and the SoCal-style punk volley of “This Is How We Do,” down to the acoustic lament “Remembering Sunday,” So Wrong, It’s Right proves why magazines as far-ranging as Metal Hammer and Alternative Press (which in 2007 declared ATL one of “100 Bands You Need To Know” in its annual cover special) have cozied up alongside fans to embrace the band. And while Gaskarth’s lyrics are tongue-in-cheek clever and rich with wordplay in tracks such as the driving, multilayered “Holly (Would You Turn Me On?),” he’s also grown in some impressive new ways. “I’m not just writing about the everyday things that happen to me anymore, although there’s still some of that in these songs,” he says. “I’ve started to become more of a storyteller.”
All Time Low’s story may just be starting, but with So Wrong, It’s Right, the band have added a new chapter that feels destined to be a classic. “We’re still doing just what we set out to do, which was to have fun and celebrate this style of music that we all grew up listening to,” Gaskarth says. “But at the same time, we’re growing up as a band, and it feels like we’ve finally found ourselves with this album.”
http://www.alltimelow.com // http://www.hopelessrecords.com // http://www.myspace.com/alltimelow
For more information please contact Ian Harrison or Melissa Becerra
Hopeless/Sub City Records //
PO Box 7495 Van Nuys, CA 91409 // ph 818.997.0444 // fax 818.997.6445
Bow Wow
Just as diamonds are created from carbon through intense heat and pressure deep beneath the earth’s surface, Bow Wow—listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest solo rapper to ever hit #1—has matured from a multi-platinum teen rap star into a full-fledged musical force with his fifth studio album, The Price of Fame, a journey inside the mind of a man who’s grown up in the public eye, felt the pleasures and pitfalls of acclaim, and learned valuable lessons from the wealth of his experience.
According to Bow Wow, who turned 20 in March 2007, this last year “was emotional and stressful. I felt like I was going crazy with things bothering me, and all this comes with being famous.” Coming off of one of the busiest—the SRO Scream IV Tour and top-grossing features films including “Roll Bounce” and “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”—years of his career, Bow Wow wanted “to go in the studio and work because it’s just natural. Every song is from experience. It’s easy for me to do what I do because it is a reflection of my life.”
As a youngster growing up in show business, Bow Wow felt that he couldn’t freely express himself on a variety of issues because of his age. While his first four albums—Beware of Dog (2000), Doggy Bag (2001), Unleashed (2003), and Wanted (2005)—showed an artist progressively expanding the range of his style and the reach of his topics, The Price of Fame takes Bow Wow boldly into new areas of musical and lyrical exploration. “Now that I’m older, there are things that I can talk about. I feel free,” says Bow Wow. “Finally I’ve gotten the green light to talk about what I’ve wanted to talk about for so many years. It’s definitely a real rap album. I’ve stepped up lyrically. I want to become known as more of a lyricist, I want to prove I am more than a heart-throb.”
Bow Wow re-teamed with longtime mentor, friend, producer and current co-manager Jermaine Dupri to co-executive produce the new album. Always mindful of his fans, Bow Wow gives them heart-throb familiarity with his first single, “Shortie Like Mine,” produced by JD and features R&B heartthrob Chris Brown and longtime songwriter and singing newcomer Johnta Austin. “Give It To You” is another high energy, Bow Wow-produced track destined to light up the dance floors of club land.
For The Price of Fame ,Bow Wow delved deep into his writing while trying his hand once again at production. On the intro to the title track, “Price of Fame,” Bow is heard venting: “I’m letting people feel my pain, letting them know what I’ve been through in this year alone.” Young Jinsu, a 13-year-old, Rhode Island rapper by way of New York, is heard throughout the track pumping Bow Wow up.
Bow Wow is both wordsmith and budding entrepreneur, having signed Jinsu to his own label, The LB Dub Gang. “I’m passing the Lil Bow Wow torch to Jinsu,” Bow Wow offers. “This Bow Wow movement with teenagers, girls and kids goes back to Jermaine being a mentor, father figure and learning from him and watching him for the past seven years.”
“This is my crew,” Bow Wow announces and that includes Clee-O, an 18 year old actor/ rapper who co-starred with Bow Wow in “Roll Bounce” and The Rock in “Walking Tall.” Bow Wow’s vision for his new label reflects his growth and maturity. “Jermaine has blessed me with the ability to do what I do and he’s given me my shot into the industry,” acknowledges Bow Wow, “so now it’s my turn to give blessings back to other people that also have the opportunity to do bigger and better things. It’s only right to push your people forward.”
As Bow Wow welcomes his fans into the truth of his world, it’s apparent that The Price of Fame comes with a price tag. “People ask for this life but they don’t really understand what comes with it,” Bow Wow confesses. “People just see the outside and that looks good – big houses, cars, girls, but you never see how the person is feeling deep down inside. Me personally, being a man, I’m going to feel better displaying all of this and pouring my heart out on each record.” As the rapper/actor/entrepreneur charts his course through the next phase of his career, Bow Wow is very clear. “There’s a lot of pressure,” he says. “I’m a real guy, and trying to hold all of this in one brain can make you go crazy sometimes. So that’s really been the price of fame for me, just dealing with all the drama and the b.s.”
With a new energy and spirit Bow Wow is playing the game to win. “I let life really guide me,” he admits. “Just going through things that I’ve been through in my life has helped me to become a better person. Things have helped me grow and become who I am. Once you go through things, you’ll see things differently, and that’s basically my motto and what I’ve learned so far.”
For Bow Wow, The Price of Fame is ultimately worth the cost. “I don’t have a choice,” says the born artist. “I’m ready to take on anything and this album is a way for me to release it all. I can take all the negative energy and turn it into a positive simply by purging my soul through music. That’s how powerful music can be. When people hear this record, they will definitely know where I’m at as far as my life and me as an artist. This album is really a tell-all album.”
Chromeo
Chromeo is Pee Thug and Dave 1: best friends since their adolescence, virtuoso musicians, walking hip hop encyclopedias, and the only successful Arab/Jew partnership since the dawn of human culture. After spending the three years since the release of their debut album, She’s In Control, jet setting, globetrotting, and embarking on an overall sensual conquest of planet Earth, Chromeo headed back to their Montreal lab to put together album number deux.
The result, Fancy Footwork, is quite simply the most smoothed-out, hook-heavy, unabashed lovers’ funk since…Chromeo’s last album, actually. What makes this footwork so fancy, you ask? Step the fuck off and open your heart to the finest distillation of Minneapolis groove this side of Mazarati. Dave and Pee are back in the ‘07 to heal the fractured soul of dance music. Teenage lovers, 20 something blogpoders, 30 something burn-out ex-raver “graphic designers” and 40 something sistas can all finally party under one roof...and that roof has a name, AND that roof is on fire, and the only ones who can put out that funk-fire also happen to be the guys the roof is named after: CHROMEO.
Does analog synth wizard P-Thugg still rock nightgown-sized DipSet t-shirts, talk through a keyboard, and have the thousand-yard stare of a well-practiced gangster? You bet he fucking does. Does vocalist and guitarist Dave 1 still dress like a French Lit professor from 1965? Can he still ask you to twerk without coming off like an imposter? You better believe he can.
Chromeo is slick. Chromeo is dripping with reverb. Chromeo is Moog riffs, luxurious harmonies, macho guitar solos and real-deal songcraft. From the dancefloor-ready singles “Fancy Footwork” and “Tenderoni,” to the autobiographical Jew-boy ballad “Momma’s Boy,” to the epic sax-laden album closer “100%,” Fancy Footwork rolls you through a sleek, melodic world where all you need to worry about is whether you’ve got your sunglasses on and the right moves to keep up. Remember the debate when Chromeo first came on the scene? The endless back and forth about whether those boys were joking or not? Well, Fancy Footwork will put any vestigial haters to sleep forever. There ain’t nothing “ironical” about this music. It’s Hall & Oates riding on 22’s, busting shots in the air with Quincy Jones driving. That shit ain’t funny.
So there you have it: Chromeo, the band reborn...the sex, the beats, the dream, the suits, the gloves, the laughs, the tears, the past and the future. All rolled up into one big blunt, smoked up through Pee’s talkbox tube and exhaled into your brain. Enjoy.
Joe Cuello
VP of Creative Music Integration for MTV
Joe Cuello is Vice President of Creative Music Integration for MTV. In this role, Mr. Cuello oversees the integration of music within MTV’s long form programming, working closely with both established and independent artists expanding the connections and opportunities between music and television. Cuello is based at MTV’s Santa Monica offices and reports to Amy Doyle, SVP of MTV Music & Talent.
In his current role Cuello has launched several key music initiatives across MTV’s on-air lineup including MTV’s Guest Music Supervisor role, regularly welcoming established artists to score some of the network’s marquee shows (Dashboard Confessional, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker in “Laguna Beach” and Pete Wentz in “The Hills”). Joe Cuello has also created featured album tie-ins within specific programming (Rogue Wave for “Life of Ryan” and Santogold in the upcoming series “Exiled.”)
Prior to this role, Joe Cuello was music supervisor on numerous projects across MTV and VH1. Just some of the shows Cuello served as music supervisor include MTV’s “Pimp My Ride”, “Making the Band”, and “Newlyweds”, and VH1’s “Bands Reunited” working with both signed and unsigned artists and musicians.
In addition to his work at MTV, Cuello music supervised films including Pharmhouse Productions’ “Special Ed” and Ambulance Entertainment’s “The Last Word”. Joe Cuello began his career in music for TV and Film out of a desire to combine several of his interests which include the arts, music, design and production. Earlier in his career, Cuello was Creative Director at Initium Eyewear, Art Director for Lemonade magazine and Art Specialist at Creative Space.
Joe Cuello has a B.A. in the Fine Arts from the University of North Texas and a Masters in Education from Azusa Pacific University.
Gaurav Misra
VP of Programming for MTV and VH1
An accomplished programmer with rare expertise in the social media realm, Gaurav Misra is Vice President of Programming for MTV Networks’ MTV and VH1 brands. In this role, Misra reports directly to Brian Graden, President of Programming for MTV Networks’ Music & Logo Group.
A 4-year veteran of MTVN, Misra is responsible for architecting social media experiences that are at the core of the company’s digital strategy. The experiences—which are built around key MTV & VH1 franchises—go narrow and deep into the programming and interest areas that viewers love. These include an array of unique online ‘vertical’ destinations for such key series as MTV’s “The Real World,” “My Super Sweet 16,” and “NEXT,” as well as VH1’s “I Love New York” and “Best Week Ever”.
In addition to connecting viewers more closely with one another and with the programming they love, the sites also earn distinction for being among the first in the industry to give viewers paths to see themselves on-air.
Misra’s current role in creating new vertical experiences builds upon his expertise in linear programming. Misra is responsible for helping define the creative strategy for MTV and VH1 and he helps with day-to-day programming for the channels – two key functions that ensure both brands are taking an integrated approach to content creation and distribution across all screens.
Misra also has significant experience on the international programming stage, working closely with MTVN channel brands worldwide on the development and scheduling of key shows and channels across the globe.
Before joining MTV Networks, Misra co-founded a brand agency in London that conducted image campaign and corporate identity work for large media blue-chip clients. Gaurav earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and lives in Los Angeles.
Brian Graden
President of Entertainment, MTV Networks and President of Logo
Brian Graden is President of Entertainment, MTV Networks Music Channels and President of Logo. As President of Entertainment, Mr. Graden leads and provides programming oversight to all the MTVN music networks including MTV, VH1, MTV2 and CMT. In this capacity, all music, news, specials, production, series development and artist relations teams for the individual music channels report to him. As Logo’s President, he is responsible for all aspects of the channel created specifically for the LGBT audience. Additionally, Mr. Graden also provides programming strategy and expertise for MTV’s extensive international development efforts.
Since Mr. Graden took over programming responsibilities at MTV almost 11 years ago, the channel has been the #1 rated basic cable network for the coveted P12-24 year old demographic every year. Under his guidance, MTV has launched a slew of hits and critically acclaimed series that struck a chord in the pop culture landscape including “The Hills,” “America’s Best Dance Crew,” “Making The Band,” “Run’s House,” “Made,” “Pimp My Ride,” “Punk’d,” “My Super Sweet 16,” ” “Newlyweds,” “Jackass,” “The Osbournes” and “Total Request Live,” as well as the upcoming anticipated premieres of “From G’s To Gents,” and “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF.” Sister network MTV2, now in over 71 million homes, closed out 2007 with its highest rated year in MTV2 history among P12-34 / Males 12-24 and marked five consecutive years of P12-34 growth for MTV2.
Since Mr. Graden joined VH1 in 2002, the network has experienced a widely recognized creative rebirth with ratings increasing 95%. In fact, 2005 was VH1’s most watched year ever in its 20-year history. Fueled by the popularity of such series as “I Love The 70’s/80’s/90’s,” “Storytellers,” “Driven,” “Best Week Ever,” “Rock Docs,” “The Surreal Life,” “Flavor of Love,” “Web Junk 20,” and “Fabulous Life,” VH1 has become “…the destination for hipper-than-thou Gen X-ers eager to celebrate and affectionately denigrate pop culture of yesteryear,” according to The New York Times.
Often breaking the boundaries of what defines country music, Mr. Graden has molded CMT into an innovative music and entertainment entity targeted at America’s heartland. In early 2006, CMT successfully launched the “2006 Miss America Pageant,” delivering the network’s most-watched program in history. In addition, the “2006 CMT Music Awards” delivered wins on multiple screens, including a record-breaking one million unique visitors at CMT.com the week of the awards. CMT continues to grow its original programming slate with hit series such as “Trick My Truck,” “The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search,” and “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team;” along with music specials, including the critically-acclaimed “CMT Crossroads” and “CMT Giants.” CMT continues to grow music content on multiple platforms with an aggressive growth strategy that included the launch of CMT’s first all-music digital channel CMT Pure Country, and the network’s new broadband channel CMT Loaded.
As president of Logo, Graden helmed what stands as the largest digital channel launch in almost five years. The historic 2005 debut of Logo brought into being the first-ever, full-time ad-supported network for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) audience. Logo launched with more than one thousand hours of content and quickly grew its initial distribution of 13 million U.S. households to more than 30 million today and its federation of Web properties is leading in the LGBT online market. As part of MTV Networks’ overall mission to provide quality entertainment for underserved viewers, Logo provides LGBT audiences with a place where they can see themselves and be themselves, through a mix of original and acquired entertainment programming that is authentic, smart and inclusive. Featuring a library of more than 350 acquired films from every major studio and a constantly growing slate of original series, news and specials, Logo has fast become a viewing destination across multiple viewing platforms for LGBT audiences across the country.
Additionally, Mr. Graden has taken an extremely active role in MTV’s Emmy Award-winning “Fight For Your Rights” campaigns. Launched in 1999, the comprehensive pro-social initiatives have focused on informing, empowering and providing young people with tangible solutions to some of their top concerns including violence, discrimination and sexual health. As part of the campaigns, MTV produced such influential specials as the Peabody Award winning “Social History of HIV” and “Warning Signs,” which explored the psychological factors that contribute to young people becoming violent and how to address them. In addition, MTV premiered the original television movie, “Anatomy of a Hate Crime” which documented the story of Matthew Shepard, the college student who was brutally beaten and murdered because of his sexual orientation.
Throughout his career, Mr. Graden has helped shaped pop culture on television. Before joining MTV Networks, he tapped into the phenomenon that became “South Park,” as he commissioned Matt Stone and Trey Parker to create an animated short called “The Spirit of Christmas,” which he then sent out as a video Christmas card. The five-minute short quickly became the underground secret vice of Hollywood and was honored with the LA Film Critics’ Award for Best Animation. The rest is history as “South Park” was born and quickly became the highest-rated series on COMEDY CENTRAL and spawned the critically-acclaimed feature, “Bigger, Longer & Uncut.”
Mr. Graden joined MTV in July of 1997 as Executive Vice President, Programming. In January of 2000, he was promoted to President, Programming MTV & MTV2 and in May of 2002, he was named President of Entertainment for MTV & VH1. Prior to that, Mr. Graden ran Foxlab, Fox’s home for new and experimental projects, where he oversaw an array of programming initiatives. Mr. Graden also owned his own company, which produced several shows including the “Dating Game” for national syndication.
Mr. Graden holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is based in Santa Monica and works from MTV Networks’ New York and Santa Monica headquarters.
Lesley Roy
Ask Lesley Roy to reflect on the motivation behind her music, and it becomes clear why the 21-year-old Dublin, Ireland, native has a voice and a songwriting presence that belie her relatively short time on this planet. “I’m a pretty simple, down-to-earth person, in that I live for my music,” she begins, brogue well intact despite the fact that she’s called New York City home for much of the past year. “When I think about the musicians who’ve inspired me, they have the same philosophy: I’m talking about people who’ve been able to create something meaningful for 20-plus years – artists with real longevity.”
On her Religion Music/Jive/Zomba debut, Unbeautiful, Lesley Roy proves herself part of that rarified club. Nearly two years in the making, the album runs the gamut from hook-saturated power pop (the breakout lead single, “I’m Gone I’m Going”) to stratosphere-climbing ballads (“Slow Goodbye,” “Thinking Out Loud”), all the while reflecting Lesley’s ability to express a lifetime’s worth of emotion with a voice that’s equally powerful at both ends of the scale. And while she doesn’t discount the chance Unbeautiful afforded her to work with a host of name producers and songwriters – primarily executive-producer Max Martin (Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears), whom she credits with “pushing my writing ahead at least 10 years” – Lesley’s heart, soul and skill ring clear through each of the album’s 12 hits-in-waiting.
It should come as no surprise that songwriting and performing are quite literally in Lesley Roy’s DNA. Lesley’s mother, herself an accomplished musician who made her name performing in wedding bands, introduced her daughter to a lifelong love of music (especially classic Motown) and the stage. “I’m still very close to my mother, even though we live so far away from each other,” she says. “She gave me a great foundation—first of all, just with how to approach the music side of things, and second, just with the morals and responsibilities and hard work that come from doing things right. I come from a working-class family, and that drive, that persistence, will always be part of my nature.”
Learning the rudiments on trumpet and saxophone before ultimately falling in love with the guitar (on which she still writes most of her songs) at age 10, Lesley caught the rock bug not soon afterward. She was exposed to the same one-hit wonders afforded to any teen with radio access, but it was legendary artists like Stevie Nicks, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge who inspired Lesley to make the jump into music herself. Even as her own songwriting expanded beyond these giants’ influence, Lesley retained her respect for their career paths and their individual brilliance as lyricists – and indeed, as she proves on Unbeautiful’s title track (a huge ballad about a relationship’s dysfunctional ending) or the dark, crunching “Misfit” (an instant anthem for anyone who’s never fit in), Lesley is also addressing the proverbial Big Picture through her own lyrics.
As she explains it, “For me, it’s always been about the big questions: ‘Where are you going to be in 20 years with these songs?’ or, “What does this song you’re writing ultimately mean to people?’ When I look at some of the other singers out there, the ones who are just in it for the short term or the party aspect of this whole experience, I suppose my only response would be, ‘I’m not like those other girls.’”
It was just that sort of gut-level honesty that found Lesley’s songs catching the ear of the Irish independent label Religion Music, with whom she recorded a demo and ultimately signed a six-album recording and publishing deal. After Jive/Zomba took notice of Lesley’s extraordinary potential, the result was a worldwide licensing contract and the kickoff of the songwriting and production process to prime Unbeautiful for its international debut. Before the album was complete, Lesley already saw her profile rising via a U.S. radio tour and exposure (for “Thinking Out Loud”) on MTV’s hit reality series The Hills: “By far the most surreal experience I’ve ever had,” she says, laughing. “I watch that show all the time, and the next thing I know, I’m hearing my song on it!”
Demanding as the writing process for Unbeautiful may have been, it’s the next step in her journey – the process of touring with her band, connecting with fans, and getting to relive these songs nightly onstage – that has Lesley most excited about the future. “Writing is great, but I live for performing,” she explains. “When you’re holed up in the studio for months at a time, there’s always that sense of self-doubt – that worry that no one will hear this stuff, and you’ll fade away – but when you get back onstage, it all comes together, and you finally get the chance to see the impact you’re making.”
For more information contact:
Gina Orr
Jive Records
Tel. 310-449-2650
Daughtry
Chris Daughtry – Vocals
Josh Paul – Bass
Joey Barnes –Drums
Brian Craddock – guitar
Josh Steely – Guitar
It makes perfect sense that an anonymous online music fan has best described what rocker Chris Daughtry’s Phoenix-like ascension means to the ever-evolving rock n’ roll canon. It’s his intensity - notes the insightful blogger – a balm for an ailing industry, writing that Daughtry in a recording studio is akin ‘to putting a beat-up violin in the hands of a master.’ A ‘pure’ and ‘soulful’ balm, with even professional scribes concurring that ‘Daughtry dominates,’ according to USA Today. ‘Homeboy loves to rock’ crows Rolling Stone – but if the phenomenal impact and enduring legacy of the double-platinum-and-counting debut of Daughtry means anything – it’s how enthusiastically the wandering music listener has embraced rock’s new standard bearer.
Use any measurement you like – in an era of digitized, customized-shuffling music = wallpaper styling’s, Daughtry has almost single-handedly given the genre back its heart, resurrecting an endangered species via the bluesy swagger of “What I Want,” and the image-shredding angst of “Feels Like Tonight,”; restoring its nomadic longing for place on “Home,” its righteous indignation on “It’s Not Over.” With signature ache and poise, the North Carolina native blends each hard-won attribute into a rousing mosaic for the ages. The DAUGHTRY album is also forging unprecedented sales and chart breakthroughs – affirming there is still gold to be mined, thank God, with a rugged voice and passionate songwriting instincts.
Tom Petty once said such a primal connection between a musician on top of his game and his fans can be so strong ‘you can actually hurt yourself up there and not know it.’ But the kind of ‘hurt’ Daughtry has put on a famished music landscape is nothing short of astonishing: In just a few months of release, the celebrated disc has leaped more milestones faster and further than any rock debut in recent memory. Anointed as the quickest selling rock debut in Soundscan history, DAUGHTRY became the #1 top selling album in the country not once, but twice, after debuting at #2 in November, 2006, moving upwards of 300,000 copies in the first week alone.
Emboldened by a collection of arena-tempered anthems and hand-crafted gems, Chris formed a band around the foundry of songs that make up DAUGHTRY before any of the accolades rolled in – hitting the road almost on instinct – eager to share his hardscrabble journey - his emotional diary of sorts – with who else but his fans. Secure enough to become a passenger on such a revelatory train ride – “You walk through a lot of doors for a moment like this,” he says “I’m enjoying every minute,” - he has personified the heart and soul of this elusive rock allegory without sacrificing one combustible ion of his authenticity. A trait that has always been his calling card whether writing, singing,
performing or bonding with his newly minted band with whom he also shares his success.
Scanning well over a million individual tracks digitally since DAUGHTRY’s debut, Chris always knew the secret of his connection with his fans was widening the circle surrounding his music no matter what medium of transfer. Whether he was interpreting other artists material or his own, his razor-sharp instincts told him the right band could take such a bond to even greater heights. “I’m a tough music fan myself. I’m not swayed easily, but one of the things I’ve always loved about great bands is you feed off of each other’s confidence, build on each other’s strengths and create an opportunity for something magical to happen every time you go out there,” he notes. Daughtry is living proof of that edict, garnering rave reviews on the road, locking down what quickly became 2007’s must-see show: ‘Daughtry clearly connects with the audience and it would seem to be only the beginning…’ raved the San Francisco Chronicle.
What a beginning: The double-platinum juggernaut that is Daughtry has hovered in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 200 Albums since its release, the first album since the 2006 phenomenon High School Musical soundtrack to log more than 9 weeks among the Top 3 albums, and the first rock band to achieve such a streak in the first 15 weeks of release since Creed in 2002. Daughtry is also the first rock band release in nearly 20 years - since Bon Jovi’s 1988 classic New Jersey - to hit the top spot after debuting below #1.
Such flirtations with history are even more amazing when you consider how seamlessly Daughtry has engrained itself in the digital domain, pulling in over one million page views per week to their artist site http://www.daughtryoffical.com, with their album remaining a Top 10 staple on itunes since it’s release. The debut single “Its Not Over,” has conquered every digital, mobile, radio and video platform imaginable, parking at or near the top of every major music industry metric including #1s on the Adult Top 40 chart, on the Hot AC chart, the Billboard Top Singles chart. The video reigned at the top of VH1’s enormously popular Top 20 Countdown show for two months running, as well as garnering most played status on MTV.
“The way it all has unfolded is everything an artist could ever ask for,” says Chris. An understatement when you consider the challenges he laid down for himself before approaching the debut effort. “I knew going in that the album, the band, all of it had to start from my own vision. I’ve always known who I am and what kind of sound I wanted to get across, yet I never wanted to dictate any sort of path.”
If it sounds tricky, consider the caliber of writers and musicians he huddled with to craft the creative dimensions of the debut album. Daughtry enlisted a hand-picked cadre of unique and respected rockers who inspired his own song craft, sonic mentors - soon to become peers - who were already part of his own interior experience. Talented collaborators like Brent Smith of Shinedown, Mitch Allan of SR-71, and Hinder producer Brian Howes. Throw in the fact that Chris enjoined each of them in furtive writing sessions while on the road on a previous tour, and you have a recipe for a project that still might have gone down the rabbit hole very quickly. “Looking back now,” says Chris, “Sure, it was risky, but I never had the feeling that I was heading creatively somewhere where I shouldn’t have been going.”
Produced by Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, All-American Rejects), the album thoroughly mines Daughtry’s instinctive ability to get to the essence of a song, tapping into a sixth sense he possesses for delivering accessible music that also manages to remain uncompromising. Whether it’s the proven “It’s Not Over,” or the probing “All These Lives,” or another song that takes on a life of its own, the plaintive “Home,” (which has found its own home as the contestant elimination theme on this year’s ‘American Idol’), the Daughtry thread of extending boundaries, not shrinking from them, runs through every verse. “I’ve never believed a song has to have a rock edge, or be part of one particular genre to be viable,” he adds. For “It’s Not Over,” which he collaborated on with Greg Wattenberg (Five For Fighting), it was the subject matter that moved him. “That idea that you keep doing the same thing thinking you are going to get a different result, still you keep trying.”
It’s been Chris’ own willingness to pivot in the face of expected music industry protocol that has fueled most of his success, the same ethic powering the equally charged band Daughtry. The players: bassist Josh Paul from LA, drummer Joey Barnes from North Carolina, guitarist Brian Craddock from Virginia, and guitarist Josh Steely from San Diego all complement and calibrate the front man, embodying the kind of seasoned give-and- take not usually associated with a new band. Chris knew he had to commit to an intense audition process right from the start, determined to achieve that crucial bond between members. Daughtry zeroed in on the interpersonal chemistry and musical compatibility of the guys who would eventually eat, sleep and breathe DAUGHTRY 24/7.
“The guys have worked out beyond even what I had envisioned. We’ve even been able to do some acoustic shows together because of the stage considerations, rolling with the punches on the road like a band does, and that’s been such a revelation – and so much fun, as well.”
As always, Chris brings it back to the audience, whether talking about the live experience or the millions of supporters for DAUGHTRY around the world that have helped carve the unprecedented trail they’ve blazed as a debut rock band. “It’s such a blessing to receive all the great feedback and affection from the fans,” he says.
“The online intensity, the way they sing along at our shows, the radio and video support - I don’t think the average person understands how crucial it is for a band to know you’ve got that net underneath you. To start out as a fan with a dream, and then to go from a struggling musician with the same hopes and aspirations as so many others and to be able to fulfill some of those dreams, well, I feel like we’re all part of this incredible movement. I’m so aware of what it took to get here. I can’t help but appreciate what an honor it is to keep it rolling.”
The Jonas Brothers
For Jonas Brothers, the last year has been all whirlwind, all the time. Yet somehow, on the road to becoming a pop culture phenomenon, the trio never broke a sweat – other than on the stage, giving their all, and living their dream. If anything, Jonas Brothers have embodied the calm within the storm. And since the release of their 2007 self-titled platinum CD, Kevin, Joe and Nick have used their time wisely. As they prove on their new Hollywood Records CD, “A Little Bit Longer,” Jonas Brothers have grown exponentially as songwriters, musicians and recording artists.
“The lyrical content has gotten more in-depth,” says Nick Jonas of the new album. “It’s about who we are as people and our personal lives, things we’ve gone through in the past 12 months.” That year was about much more than simply handling a media frenzy with grace and humor. The brothers also took stock of themselves. In the new album’s 12 songs – all written by Jonas Brothers – they put their feelings on the line, while still rocking the house as only they can.
Produced by John Fields (with Jon Lind and Kevin Jonas, Sr., serving as executive producers), “A Little Bit Longer” covers much musical and emotional ground, kicking off with the joyful jam “BB Good.” Says Joe of the track, “It’s a big sing-along song, and it’s fun.” The funky and danceable debut single, “Burnin’ Up,” keeps the party going, with Big Rob, the brothers’ hefty security guard, rapping midtrack. “It’s about this girl,” adds Joe. “Maybe she’s at a party, and you feel that immediate connection. You both know it’s there.”
Though relentlessly upbeat, most songs on “A Little Bit Longer” explore star-crossed standoffs and missed romantic opportunities. Songs like “Shelf,” the hard-rocking “Pushin’ Me Away” and “One Man Show” survey love’s unequal playing field, bad break-ups and the defiant isolation that follows. “‘Shelf’ is one my favorite songs on the record,” says Nick. “Basically, it’s about a girl that has a gallery of hearts.”
Other songs take a light-hearted look at the craziness of fame and fortune. “Video Girl” paints a portrait of the shallow wannabees dotting the entertainment landscape (” Move to L.A., got no talent/Not even like you won a Miss Teen pageant"), while “Lovebug” starts out as sweet-tempered acoustic love song before ending up a crashing Queen-like rocker.
Of course, the brothers made sure the album breathes. The power ballad “Sorry” features classic JB harmonies and an eternal message of forgiveness. But the song that will have people talking is “A Little Bit Longer,” Nick’s stunning account of his struggle with diabetes. With strings underscoring a plaintive piano/vocal, he sings about his battle ("A little bit longer and I’ll be fine/Waitin’ on a cure/But none of them are sure"). Recalls Nick, “I was having one of those days where I was discouraged. So I went into this empty hotel ballroom and wrote this song.” Adds brother Kevin, “Nick sings this song every night and it brings people to tears. It’s amazing.”
Considering the impact Jonas Brothers have had on music and culture recently, maybe it’s not so amazing. In the past 12 months, Jonas Brothers made headlines and created hysteria with sold out concerts from coast to coast; the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles was the fastest sold out show in the venue’s history. Jonas Brothers also sold out 3 shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden. They rung in the New Year performing live in New York’s Times Square on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve, collected their RIAA-platinum plaques on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” sang from a White House balcony as guests of the President at the annual Easter Egg Roll, and even played on the hit shows “Dancing With the Stars” and the season finale of “American Idol.”
Their appeal is growing by leaps and bounds internationally as well. Jonas Brothers have seven platinum and gold certified records outside the US, as well as a sold out European tour, and sold out 80,000 seat stadium shows in Latin America.
Sure, they had a blast with all of it. But bottom line: The Wycoff, N.J., natives are musical soul brothers every bit as much as they are blood brothers. For them, it has always been about the music.
Their first performances came years ago, in the family basement, when the three – usually led by Nick – would mount their own impromptu concerts. Encouraged by their always-supportive parents, they started getting commercial gigs, with Nick landing roles in Broadway musicals like “Les Miserables,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “A Christmas Carol – The Musical,” and “Annie Get Your Gun.” Joe auditioned, too, and landed a part in “La Boheme.” In 2005, the trio finally signed their first label deal, but it took a second time around, signing with Hollywood Records in 2006, for all the pieces of the puzzle to fit.
With the August 2007 release of their Hollywood debut, nothing more stood in their way. Their premiere single, “S.O.S.,” quickly hit #1 on iTunes. In most cities on their “Look Me In The Eyes” headline tour, concerts sold out in minutes. They shot their own reality TV series, “Jonas Brothers – Living the Dream.” The brothers recently starred in the Disney Channel original movie, “Camp Rock,” which averaged 8.9 million viewers and was the network’s most-watched non-sequel movie ever. Jonas Brothers debuted their “Burnin’ Up” video following the debut of Camp Rock on Disney Channel (with a repeat the following night on ABC) to over 12.5 million television viewers, and over a million views on YouTube. The “Burnin’ Up” video immediately shot to # 1 on iTunes. Coming up, Jonas Brothers have their own Disney Channel comedy series this fall, titled “J.O.N.A.S.”
Up first, though, the release of “A Little Bit Longer and the brothers’ 50-date “Burnin’ Up” North American tour. “A Little Bit Longer” will be released in the CDVU+ format, which is made from 100% recyclable materials. The disc features exclusive video performances and interviews, 60 printable photos, complete album lyrics, and downloadable graphics. It may seem like a tall order to take on so much, but so far, Jonas Brothers have hit it out of the park every single at bat. Not hard to do when you’re young, talented and enjoying every minute of life. “We wake up every morning excited,” Kevin says, “because we get to do what we love.”
Maroon 5
Capturing their first of two Grammys as Best New Artist of 2005, and going on to sell more than ten million albums worldwide, Maroon 5 won plaudits with the hybrid rock/R&B sound they introduced on their debut album Songs About Jane. On May 22nd, after four years and live shows alongside the likes of The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder, the quintet is set to release their much-anticipated second album, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long (A&M/Octone Records). Listeners can expect this sophomore outing to be “sexier,” “stronger” and even “lyrically darker” than Jane, according to vocalist/guitarist Adam Levine, who affirms that “it’s rooted in what we’ve always been, which is different.”
The album, recorded in their home town of Los Angeles, was guided by producers Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Eminem), Mark “Spike” Stent (Gwen Stefani, Bjork, Keane, Marilyn Manson), Mark Endert (Madonna, Fiona Apple) and Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Nickel Creek). It also reflects the contributions of new drummer Matt Flynn, whose harder beats complement the evolved sound of Levine, guitarist James Valentine, bassist Mickey Madden and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael. “We’re all really happy with the finished product,” says Levine, crediting the label for welcoming new sounds and textures. “With Jane you could pick out our influences pretty easily, but now it sounds more like Maroon 5,” says Levine. “We’re becoming our own band, and I think this album will help change perceptions of who we really are.”
From first single, “Makes Me Wonder,” it is clear that Maroon 5 has once again captured all of the elements that create a universally popular pop rock song. The song segues from a bass heavy intro to an infectiously catchy melody that soon belies the sentiment, “Give me something to believe in because I don’t believe in you anymore.” Beneath the surface, it also incorporates what Adam Levine calls “an increasing dissatisfaction with the direction of the world” and its leaders, imparting a new layer of meaning to an otherwise upbeat breakup song. “If I Never See Your Face” offers brash honesty in the wake of a fling, its spare guitar over a steady beat tipping its hat to Quincy Jones. A burst of electronica opens “Wake Up Call,” whose hip-hop sensibility guides a dark story exploring the depths of betrayal and rage.
It Won’t Be Soon Before Long mines its share of hopefulness as well. In the hyperkinetic rock meets hip-hop of “A Little of Your Time” (which Levine calls “the most unique track on this album, with some of the best lyrics we’ve ever written”), a relationship must overcome the challenge of distrust and miscommunication to persevere, and the bass-pulsing “Won’t Go Home Without You” asks plaintively for “one more chance to make it right.”
High school mates in West L.A., Levine, Carmichael and Madden, first achieved recognition under the moniker Kara’s Flowers. Although the world seemed to open oyster-like for them – recording their first album with legendary producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls) – their debut, The Fourth World, proved a commercial disappointment. Kara’s Flowers was given a release from the label, and its members mulled their collective future. College became the intermediate answer, and while Madden stayed in Los Angeles to study at UCLA, Levine and Carmichael headed east to State University of New York.
The SUNY dorms yielded an epiphany. “The halls were blasting gospel music and people were listening to stuff we’d never actually listened to, like Biggie Smalls, Missy Elliot and Jay-Z,” recalls Levine. “The Aaliyah record had come out around then, and we were just blown away.” Until then, his songwriting influences had been The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and other artists he’d grown up with. But now his musical landscape had experienced a tectonic shift. Levine began to actively listen to Stevie Wonder and embraced a new singing style. Carmichael started playing keyboards. And the future suddenly looked bright again, in a very different light.
When the duo hooked back up with Madden in L.A., they were reinvigorated by adding an R&B, groove-based tint to their explosive rock & roll. With the new musical frame of mind came a new name, Maroon 5, and a fifth member, guitarist James Valentine. “James came along right as we were deciding on the name,” says Levine. “We clearly weren’t Kara’s Flowers anymore, with the addition of James and an entirely new approach to music.”
Fortified with a new attitude, a new sound and a new name, Maroon 5 quickly attracted attention from labels. Octone Records, then a new indie label based in New York, signed the group, and in 2001 Maroon 5 entered the studio with producer Matt Wallace (The Replacements, Faith No More). Melding their rock roots with their newfound love of R&B, the result was Songs About Jane. Released in June 2002, it featured pop rhythms and classic soul melodies co-habiting with searing guitars and a powerful rock undercurrent. On top of it all, Levine’s expressive voice belted out tale after tale of an ex-girlfriend.
The album yielded a four chart-topping singles. One of them, “This Love,” earned Maroon 5 a Best New Artist Moon Man at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards; went #1 at Top 40, VH1 and MTV simultaneously; and became the first song certified as a platinum download. The other, “She Will Be Loved,” scored a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. The other two singles from Jane, “Harder to Breathe” and “Sunday Morning,” reached the Billboard Top 20 and Top 40 respectively. The band also snagged a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, which it went on to win. Between singles, Maroon 5 held serve for ten weeks in 2004, dominating the Modern Adult Contemporary, Hot AC and Adult Top 40 charts. To date Jane, has been certified quadruple platinum in the U.S. and has reached gold or platinum status in over 35 countries.
Maroon 5 toured alongside scores of artists, from The Rolling Stones to Stevie Wonder (at the close of Live 8 in Philadelphia). They performed on virtually every TV show that features musical guests, including “Saturday Night Live,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “The Today Show” and many others.
Following up with Acoustic (2004), a collection of unplugged songs, and Live – Friday, the 13th (2005), Maroon 5 earned a second Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the 2006 live recording of their international hit single “This Love.”
Also known for their commitment to the environment, Maroon 5 was honored at the 2006 Environmental Media Awards and recently pledged their time and energy toward Global Cool, a newly launched initiative to fight global warming by motivating a billion people worldwide to reduce their personal energy use. For more information, please visit www.maroon5.com.
Lil’ Wayne
Unquestionably Cash Money/Universal Motown Records recording artist, Lil Wayne will go down in history as the best rapper of his generation. Indeed he may go down as one of the best artists in hip-hop period. One look at Lil Wayne’s impeccable track record will convince even the most ardent skeptic that the New Orleans born lyricist is a strong contender for the crown of “Greatest of All Times.”
In the span of his 13-year career, Lil Wayne has sold over six million units, including his magnum opus, The Carter II (2005) which sold over 2.5 million units. He has been featured on numerous high profile singles including Fat Joe’s Grammy nominated single “Make It Rain,” and in the past two years, Lil Wayne has recorded over 1,000 songs and freestyles. According to MTV, Lil Wayne has released more music in the last two years than the legendary Tupac Shakur.
Now with his highly anticipated sixth and arguably his best album The Carter III, Lil Wayne’s career and legacy is set to climb to even greater heights. "I made The Carter III so that whatever song is on, it will stick with you forever,” says Wayne. “That’s why I took my time with it. I wanted it to be a classic.”
A classic it will truly be. With production by Alchemist, Cool & Dre, David Banner, Kanye West, and Jim Jonsin, to name a few, and guest appearances by some of today’s premiere recording artists including T-Pain (Got Money), Bobby Valentino (Mr. Officer), Babyface (Comfortable), Juelz Santana & Fabolous (Ain’t Got Nuthin) and a special guest appearance by the legendary R&B singer Ms. Betty Wright (Play With Fire), Tha Carter III is an eclectic collection of 15 songs that range from simply brilliant to sheer genius.
The first single from the Tha Carter III, “Lollipop,” featuring Static Major is the bubbling lead single that has Wayne delivering his clever lyrics laced with racy double entendres over a funky slow burning beat. Lil Wayne’s second single, “A Milli”which was produced by Bangladesh (Ciara & Ludacris), is a booming 808 laced track augmented by a tight rhythmic snare, accented by handclaps and a sample that matches Wayne’s staccato flow perfectly. In “Mr. Carter” featuring Jay-Z, we find the two trading introspective lyrics about their lives and legacy in the rap game with Wayne at his lyrical best dropping stream of conscious gems like: “I got the flo’, I’m tryin’ to see the roof/Didn’t wear a bulletproof so I got shot, you can see the proof/Blind eyes can look at me and see the truth/Wonder if Stevie do?”
Born DeWayne Michael Carter, Jr. and raised in New Orleans infamously poor Hollygrove neighborhood, Lil Wayne was discovered by Cash Money CEO Brian “Birdman” Williams when a mutual friend introduced him to the pre-teen rapper. The Birdman immediately saw a spark in the youngster’s eyes and took him under his wing. In 1993, Lil Wayne and fellow Cash Money rapper B.G. came together as a duo called The BGs and released their debut EP True Stories. In 1997, a 15 year old Wayne joined forces with BG, Juvenile and Turk to form The Hot Boys for their debut album Get It How U Live. The record sold over 400,000 copies independently. The Hot Boys sophomore LP Guerilla Warfare (1999) went platinum and earned Wayne critical acclaim. That set the stage for his platinum selling 1999 solo debut Tha Block Is Hot. The album yielded a number one single with the title tune and was certified double platinum.
The following year Wayne released his sophomore LP Lights Out, which reached gold status and in 2002, Lil Wayne dropped his third solo LP 500 Degrees. It too went gold. Two years later Wayne released The Carter, the first album in the trilogy that would elevate Wayne to superstar status. The Carter (2004) was a commercial success selling over one million copies and reaching #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts and #2 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop chart. In 2005, Wayne released The Carter II, which sold over 1.8 million records. 2006 saw the release of Like Father, Like Son, a collaboration between Lil Wayne and Birdman which has sold over 750,000 units.
GQ Magazine named Lil Wayne as its “Man Of The Year” for 2007. Rolling Stone Magazine tagged him as “Best MC of 2008” while Blender Magazine (2008) named him the “Best Rock Star Alive.” So it should come as no surprise that his latest solo outing finds the hip-hop super star at the top of his game. With Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne proves to the world why he is indeed considered “the best rapper alive” and one of the great recording artists of his generation.
Panic at the Disco
For a second, forget everything you already know about Panic At The Disco. That means forgetting that the band’s 2005 debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out has sold over 2.2 million copies to date; that their video for “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” became a #1 hit on MTV and snagged one of the network’s video music awards for best video in 2006; and, finally, erasing from your mind all of the sold-out clubs the band have played over the past three years and the ubiquity of Panic At The Disco’s music—and mugs—on radio stations, television programs and magazine covers all over the world.
These days, a sensation like Panic At The Disco is something extremely rare and impossible to invent and for those two reasons alone, most bands in their position would stick to the same signature sound for their second disc. However, Panic At The Disco aren’t most bands. Instead, the band—guitarist Ryan Ross, drummer Spencer Smith, vocalist Brendon Urie and bassist Jon Walker—decided to make the album they wanted to make for their sophomore release. While the album is equally as catchy and infectious as their debut, Pretty. Odd. sees the band digging through their parents’ record crates to craft an expansive pop album that channels the ghosts of Brian Wilson and the Beatles as well as lesser-known pop sensations like the Zombies. However, for a while even the band weren’t sure if Pretty. Odd. would ever come to fruition.
Panic At The Disco began writing the album a year ago, but after they’d written a solid batch of concept-driven songs, they stopped to reevaluate what they were doing and ended up deciding they were over thinking the process. “Instead of really throwing anything away, we decided to just move it to the side and approach the second record the same way we did the first record,” Ross explains. “We tried to approach the songs individually and write songs that didn’t sound like anything else we’ve written,” he continues. “Now we’re finally at the point where we can sit down and listen to the finished record and I know we’re happy with it, so I think it was a really good decision—especially since we hope that we’re going to have multiple opportunities to fully realize what our first idea was in the future.”
That’s not too say Pretty. Odd. isn’t dripping with ambition—in fact, if anything, the opposite is true. From the bouncy and psychedelic first single (and accompanying video) “Nine In The Afternoon” to the spaghetti-western shuffle of the horn-driven “Pas De Cheval” and the straight-ahead pop genius of “Northern Downpour,” Pretty. Odd. sees the band stepping outside their comfort zone to prove how much they’ve grown up since their debut, which was written when the members were just seventeen years old. “It wasn’t a conscious decision to have older influences show through on this record, it just seemed like around the beginning of the sixties there were less subgenres, so it wasn’t weird for songs to have a trombone part or violin part,” Smith explains, adding that in some ways, his parents’ dusty old records helped sonically liberate the band. “I think that will probably something that will stick with us after this record.”
Another huge difference between these two albums is the fact that Pretty. Odd.’s basic instrumentation was recorded at the Palms Hotel in the band’s hometown of Las Vegas, while the strings and mixing was done at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London with the help of their producer, Grammy and Emmy Award winning arranger/composer Rob Mathes. “It was an amazing experience,” Smith says, adding that recording the strings in studio two of Abbey Road was a pretty surreal experience for a band who had to call their label’s owner John Janick to approve three hundred dollars to hire a trumpet player to play on their debut. “We’re really happy with how the orchestration turned out on this record and that’s probably the biggest change from the last album,” Spencer confirms.
In the spirit of acts like the David Bowie and Pink Floyd, Panic At The Disco plan on continuing their tradition of elaborate stage shows and performances for the subsequent touring. However this time around they’re finally confident in having their music speak for itself, which is an achievement the band have looked forward to since their inception. “I just hope that if anything people are open to the idea that Pretty. Odd. may not sound exactly like the first record,” Ross explains. “All we can ask for is that people give it a chance because there are a lot of songs that sound very different, but I think it’s more creative and more musically interesting than most of what is at the top of the charts right now.”
We couldn’t agree more—and we’re sure you’ll feel the same.
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Pussycat Dolls
Grammy-nominated pop superstars The Pussycat Dolls are giving the world fair warning…it’s time for global domination. On September 16, 2008, Nicole, Ashley, Jessica, Melody and Kimberly will release their sophomore album, Doll Domination, the follow-up to PCD, the international smash album that announced their arrival.
The Pussycat Dolls exploded on the pop music scene in the summer of 2005 with their worldwide #1 hit “Don’t Cha.” Their debut album, PCD, has sold over 7 million copies internationally on the strength of hit singles like “Buttons,” “Stickwitu” and “Beep.” They’ve toured the globe as a headline act, shared the stage with the likes of The Black Eyed Peas and Christina Aguilera, and picked up a slew of awards along the way.
Now it’s time for Chapter 2…
On Doll Domination (executive produced by Jimmy Iovine, Ron Fair, and D.J. Mormile; co-executive produced by PCD creator Robin Antin), The Pussycat Dolls collaborate with the hottest producers in music: Timbaland, Cee-Lo and Sean Garrett (among others). The album’s first single, the Rodney Jerkins-produced “When I Grow Up” is exploding across the country. The Dolls recently performed the song on “The MTV Movie Awards” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, and will do it one more time tomorrow night on FOX’s hit “So You Think You Can Dance.” The hot-as-fire video (directed by Joseph Kahn) will premiere on MTV’s “FNMTV Premieres” this Friday, June 13 and will air exclusively all weekend long on the channel.
Boys Like Girls
Martin Johnson - vocals, guitar
Paul DiGiovanni - lead guitar, vocals
Bryan Donahue - bass guitar, vocals
John Keefe - drums, percussion
“I feel like it’s been a wonderful chain of events,” says Boys Like Girls frontman Martin Johnson regarding the seemingly meteoric rise of his band. “It didn’t start feeling rapid until last spring, the first time we heard ‘The Great Escape’ on the radio. Since then it’s been a whirlwind. We base our success on the amount of kids singing the words back to us. Watching that number grow from 30 kids in basements and churches to thousands of fans in arenas is the most amazing feeling in the world.”
Life for Boys Like Girls has been an escalating series of amazing feelings and extraordinary events since the release of the Boston-based band’s eponymous debut album in August 2006.
Produced by Matt Squire (Panic! At The Disco, Northstar, Hit The Lights), the RIAA Gold-certified Boys Like Girls spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard Heatseekers Top New Artist chart and the SoundScan Alternative New Artist Sales chart, reaching #1 on both charts for three weeks running in June 2007. The album hit #55 on the Billboard Top 200 that August, remaining on that chart well into 2008.
Boys Like Girls generated two massive crossover hits: “Hero/Heroine” (which charted on Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs, Pop 100, Pop 100 Airplay, Top 40 Mainstream and Hot 100 charts) and “The Great Escape,” an RIAA Platinum-certified smash on Billboard’s Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks (#20), Hot Digital Songs (#17), Pop 100 (#9), Pop 100 Airplay (#7), Top 40 Mainstream (#8) and Hot 100 (#23) charts.
In 2007, Boys Like Girls won—with more than 68% of the votes—Spin.com’s coveted “Artist of the Year” honors and were named one of Alternative Press’s “100 Bands You Need To Know in 2007” as well as making the AOL “Breakers” cut.
The group’s spell-binding video for “The Great Escape,” lensed by director Alan Ferguson (Fall Out Boy), hit the #1 slot on MTV’s “TRL” a remarkable nine times and was retired from the countdown after 40 days on the chart.
Boys Like Girls received high profile coverage in USA Today, which accorded the band an “On The Verge” piece (July 26, 2007) while naming the Boys Like Girls single, “The Great Escape,” its “Pick Of The Week” (July 17, 2007).
After spending the summer of 2007 performing a series of highly-successful shows on the Vans Warped Tour, Boys Like Girls, a veritable touring machine minting pure fandemonium at every show, headlined the SRO “Tourzilla” concert extravaganza. Boys Like Girls spent much of January 2008 touring Japan and the UK before returning stateside for a run of shows opening for Avril Lavigne from March through May 2008.
The roots of Boys Like Girls lie back in the regional band scene of Taunton, Massachusetts when 17-year-old Martin Johnson, then lead vocalist for The Drive, a local punk band, met John Keefe, then drummer for Strutter, another local group. The groups began touring together, hitting bars, coffee shops, teen centers and VFW halls in the region. Before long, Martin and John had become best friends, forming the solid musical connection that would form the foundation of Boys Like Girls. John brought bassist Bryan Donahue to the party and the threesome--calling their fledgling rock band “Lancaster"--rented out a small practice space and living quarters in Taunton.
“Every day we would go to our day jobs,” Martin remembers. “I was waiting tables and folding clothes, Bryan was stocking shelves at CVS, and John was landscaping for his brother’s company. Every night we would practice until they kicked us out of the practice space. We were writing songs non-stop. Eventually we were evicted from the apartment (for excessive noise complaints of course) and all of us quit our jobs. This was where we really decided to take the band to the next level and pursue it full time, do or die.”
Bryan and John had met guitarist Paul DiGiovanni, then 17 and a senior in high school, while helping a friend with a demo. (Months later, John and Paul would discover that they were distant cousins.) “We rented out a new practice room and jammed with Paul for the first time,” Martin recalls. “Things immediately clicked: old songs were given a new life, new songs were budding by the second, and we were beyond inspired.”
In November 2005, Martin “thought of the name as a joke at 4:30 in the morning. We eventually fell in love with it. I think of it as social commentary on the constant chase between boys and girls. Wherever you go--from a high school hallway to a crowded bar--it’s what makes the world go round.”
The newly christened Boys Like Girls began practicing eight hours a day, playing their first gig at Club DeNiro, a now defunct venue attached to the Taunton practice space where they’d rehearsed from 2003-2005. “There were about 30 people there and they were mostly just friends and family,” Martin recalls. “We only played about six local shows before our first tour, because we pretty much locked ourselves in our practice space writing the record.”
The lovingly-crafted Boys Like Girls sound reflects each of the band member’s musical influences and interests. Primary songsmith Martin Johnson grew up surrounded by the classics--the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, the Everly Brothers, Paul Simon, the Rolling Stones, U2, the Police. “Music was always played in my house,” he remembers. “I got my first guitar when I was 7 and, rather than learning cover songs, I taught myself how to play by writing my own songs and teaching myself my own chords.
“When we arrange songs, everyone has a different set of ideas to bring to the table,” Martin continues. “I love anything with an honest lyric and a great pop melody. John draws influences from old 40s jazz records to 90s grunge rock like Pearl Jam, Tool, Nirvana, and Soundgarden with a big soft spot for a massive pop hook. Bryan’s influences come from bands like Glassjaw and the Deftones and newer bands like Minus The Bear. He always knows what’s new and hot in the underground scene. Paul grew up playing jazz and blues on guitar listening to the greats such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Allman Brothers Band and Tom Petty. In high school, he found himself falling in love with bands like Saves The Day, the Get Up Kids, Copeland, Death Cab For Cutie and fused his influences into a very unique style of guitar playing.”
Drawing inspiration from real life situations and experiences, Martin poured himself into creating the songs for the Boys Like Girls debut album. “My songs are my diary,” he says. “Rather than keeping a journal, I write music. Every song is taken from a real life experience and tells a story. Our album is basically a run-through of my life from ages 18-21, my relationships, what it was like being thrown out into the real world and leaving my hometown comfort zone, losing my mother. It’s a commentary on life and my own personality.”
They posted their first demos--an acoustic version of “Thunder” and a rough electric rendition of “The Great Escape"--online. According to Martin, “The demos got immediate attention from purevolume.com, myspace.com, and absolutepunk.net. We rose to the top of the purevolume unsigned band charts within weeks.” Before long, Boys Like Girls had inked a deal with Red Ink/Columbia Records.
“The Internet was huge for us,” Martin admits. “It’s a blessing. It lets the fans--not the industry folk--decide who gets attention! All our early promotion was entirely based on the Internet, from the millions who watched our videos on YouTube to the millions who streamed our songs on myspace. Word of mouth at cyber speed was basically the way we built our fanbase.”
The members of Boys Like Girls are humble in the face of the group’s burgeoning success. “We haven’t changed at all as people,” Martin allows. “When we go home Bryan still drives around the 15 passenger van, we all still live with our parents, we all still do the dishes and take out the trash. We love our fans so being recognized in public is a compliment to us because the people we care about the most are those who love our music. None of us are ever too busy for a picture, autograph or a quick conversation.”
Coming up on the horizon is The Soundtrack of Your Summer headline tour. After that, the lads plan on getting down to writing and recording a new album filled with the unforgettable melodies, insightful lyrics and uplifting sounds that make Boys Like Girls one of the great American bands to watch in 2008 and beyond.
http://www.boyslikegirls.com
http://www.myspace.com/boyslikegirls
http://www.columbiarecords.com
Vampire Weekend
Ezra Koenig (vocals/guitar)
Rostam Batmanglij (keyboards/vocals)
Chris Baio (bass)
Christopher Tomson (drums)
In the fall of 2005, Ezra Koenig was wondering about the origins of preppiness. What was khaki and where had it come from? He had spent the previous summer traveling through India and touring across America as a member of The Dirty Projectors. That same summer, Rostam Batmanglij interned at the Oxford English Dictionary and managed to obtain the key to the harpsichord room at Columbia University. He studied film scoring downtown and rented an apartment in Morningside Heights.
At Columbia, Ezra majored in English and Rostam majored in Music. As their time at school was coming to an end, they formed Vampire Weekend with drummer Christopher Tomson and bassist Chris Baio.
With a distinct vibe in mind, they began recording and performing around New York City. Drawing on their diverse backgrounds and interests, they began experimenting and exploring the intersections of the things they loved: African guitar music, the Western classical canon, hazy memories of summers in Cape Cod, winters in upper Manhattan, reggaeton and everything else that would become a part of Vampire Weekend.
Their forthcoming first album came together over the course of 18 months, beginning in an undersized practice room on the Columbia University campus and ending in a newly christened storage space-cum-studio called the Treefort in DUMBO, Brooklyn. During this time, the band went from playing at the literary houses of their Alma Mater to selling out shows in New York at The Bowery Ballroom and the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and opening for Animal Collective at Webster Hall.
In the spring of 2007, Chris Baio began booking the band’s first national tour as he finished a degree in Russian Regional Studies (the remaining members of the band graduated in May of 2006). Ezra Koenig was preparing his eighth graders in Bed-Stuy for the city-wide English exams. Chris Tomson was ending his nine-month stay on a windowless fourth floor of a major label archive in midtown Manhattan. Rostam Batmanglij was wrapping up what will likely be his last film score for the foreseeable future. The band went in four ways on a 2004 Honda Odyssey. When they returned from their July tour they had signed to XL Recordings and seen America from coast to coast. Their self-titled debut was released on January 29th, 2008 to worldwide critical acclaim.
Snoop Dogg
Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus is a rare exception in the turbulent world of Hip-Hop. In a genre where big names come and go just as fast as hit records, Snoop Dogg has managed to stay tremendously relevant throughout his 16-plus years in the game. From music to movies, video games to clothing lines and now his own hit TV show (E!’s reality series Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood), Snoop Dogg is an all-out pop culture icon and household name.
While his longevity can easily be credited to his musical creativity, the various personalities contained within the character we know as Snoop Dogg have also played a vital role. Ego Trippin’, the Doggfather’s ninth (9th) solo studio album, deftly takes the listener on a ride through Snoop’s many faces. The result is a sonically assorted, yet thematically cohesive offering that shuns present day notions of constructing an album and instead crafts a work that marries Snoop’s many musical influences together with his array of personas.
“The album is called Ego Trippin’ because “I wanted to make something that is true to where I’m at as a musician and not just play connect the dots. It’s a record that is free of constraints. It’s just me doing me,” says Snoop.
But Snoop Dogg didn’t set out to accomplish this alone. Instead he recruited legendary producer/recording artist Teddy Riley to enhance the process. Riley and Snoop’s participation as honorees in last year’s VH1 Hip-Hop Honors was the catalyst that sparked what at first might be seen as an unusual partnership. “We got to talking at the show and I told him how much I admired his work,” remembers Snoop about the fateful evening. “Come to find out that he was just as big of a fan of my music. I told him that we had to work together.”
The resulting sessions birthed an unimaginable amount of high quality music. Next the duo added the musical mind of renowned producer/rapper DJ Quik into the fold. “Quik always has had this incredibly trained studio ear,” says Snoop of his fellow West Coast Hip-Hop OG. “I knew with the type of music that me and Teddy was making, he would be the perfect fit.”
The trio would form what Snoop coined the “QDT Music Group” behind a very effective song making process. “I would come up with the idea for the song conceptually,” says Snoop. “Then Teddy would come in and act as the musical filter—basically taking my idea and setting it to music. Then Quik would act as the finisher. He would maybe add a few musical elements to certain songs. He also mixed every song!”
Flashing his trademark sly smile it’s obvious that Snoop knew this alliance would amount to a musical jackpot. “This album is really produced—and I mean ‘produced’ in the traditional sense,” adds Snoop who also injected the instrumental prowess of burgeoning producer Terrace Martin. “Every song is layered and sonically just right. It’s like a meeting of top notch musical minds and it allowed me to take chances.”
Already Ego Trippin’ has produced a smash. “Sensual Seduction,” the album’s first single, is proof positive of the musical leaps that Snoop is willing to take. The song’s Roger Troutman influenced hook and accompanying early 80s nostalgia inducing video impacted radio rotations, video play lists and most importantly, Snoop’s fans immediately. “My fans have been with me for so long that I can take them wherever I want to go and they are comfortable,” he assures.
The gangsta rap that Snoop initially made his name off is also at full strength. Bay Area beatsmith Rick Rock’s “Staxxx In My Jeans” and a newly debuted double time flow on “Ridin’ In My Chevy” offer the album’s most menacing moments and shows Snoop can still get down on the street level. And as always, Snoop demonstrates his allegiance to the West Coast with the hyphy driven “Life Of The Party” alongside Oakland’s Mr. Fab and Too Short.
The fun loving Dogg is here as well. Snoop’s “Johnny Cash,” produced by Everlast, brings to mind karaoke night at a cowboy bar. It’s easy to imagine the smile on Snoop’s face as he gracefully bounces of the country western inspired romp. And over the lively track of “Hollywood Nights,” Snoop gets a chance to revel in his A-List fame on a ride down the Sunset Strip.
But what has rarely been witnessed throughout Snoop’s years in the record business is his home life. But with the wildly popular Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood emerging as one of the season’s top programs, Ego Trippin’ doesn’t shy away from Snoop the family guy.
“It was important for me to give the audience another side of me,” explains Snoop. “It can’t be all gangsta, all the time.” This theme is touched on throughout the album leaving the family talk of “Been Around The World,” “Make It Good”—a song dedicated to his wife Shante, the autobiographical “Neva Have 2 Worry” and the Teddy Riley produced, orchestra and choir filled “Say Goodbye” some of the most genuine offerings in Snoop’s entire catalog.
While Ego Trippin’can easily be labeled a redefinition for Snoop Dogg, in many ways it’s more of a blossoming. It took years of grind time and dedication for Snoop to reach this point in his illustrious career. And with Ego Trippin’, Snoop is comfortable enough with his music and his audience to let all his sides shine and again show why he has become one of the top artists of his generation, a living legend indeed.
Flo Rida
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Discovering new talent is often a daunting task; however, when the formula is complete, all parts, synergetic, the sky is the limit. With a noted machine behind him, coupled with his distinct originality, Flo Rida has captured the attention of many while simultaneously making a significant impact early in the game.
Flo Rida has already garnered more accolades than most artists see in their entire career. Months before his Poe Boy/Atlantic Records debut, “MAIL ON SUNDAY,” is even released, his explosive first single, “Low,” has shot to the top of nearly every chart—Top 40 radio, Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and Hot RingMasters chart, Soundscan’s Digital Song chart, iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, MySpace, MTV’s “TRL”, BET’s “106 & Park”. And this is only the beginning!
Born the youngest boy amongst seven girls, the 28-year-old Carol City, FL native (born Tramar Dillard) learned the value of patience at a young age. Although his parents split when he was young, Flo’s father, a multi-talented musician, inspired his son to express himself through music. Several of his sisters also formed a local gospel group. But tragedy struck when one of his sisters died from complications due to bronchitis. “When my sister passed away, I woke up and realized what I had to do,” says Flo Rida. “I was the only boy of seven siblings, all sisters, and growing up without my father. I realized that I needed to make the most of my time on earth. I want to utilize all of my God-given talents and give back in a way that others can benefit. My mother is so strong and I always admired her for her strength and showing me that by sacrifice and being level-headed that anything is possible.”
When Flo was in ninth grade, he began rapping with a group called the Groundhoggz. To this day, he still considers himself part of the group. As to the group’s name, Flo Rida says, “Without being grounded, you have nothing to stand on. Nothing lasts long if you don’t start from the ground up.”
The Groundhoggz found local success in the late ’90s, selling mixtapes and opening shows for rappers including Scarface. Hoping to spread his group’s name past his hometown, Flo Rida received an offer he couldn’t turn down. Flo Rida’s brother-in-law had been the hype man for Luke Skywalker of 2 Live Crew. At age 18, Flo Rida became the hype man for Fresh Kid Ice of 2 Live Crew and quickly set out on a nationwide tour.
While gaining significant exposure across the country, Flo Rida caught the attention of DeVante Swing, formerly of the famed R&B group Jodeci. “After I got off tour [with Fresh Kid Ice], I got the chance to pass my demo to DeVante,” says Flo Rida. “He heard it and wanted to fly me out to Los Angeles that day. I ended up flying out the next day, and stayed in L.A. for three years.”
But even under DeVante’s wing, Flo Rida struggled to make his mark in Los Angeles. “I was literally on the streets, at times promoting myself by myself,” says Flo Rida. “I always had the drive to push my own music. People tend to help you more when they see that you promote yourself. They know you’re serious then.”
In early 2006, hesitant to leave Los Angeles until he had successfully landed a record deal, Flo Rida decided to return to Miami after having received calls from Poe Boy Entertainment’s CEO E-Class. Flo Rida had known E-Class for sometime, thanks to one of his sisters. E-Class had Flo Rida’s demo and had begun to create buzz in the South. Soon after his return, Flo Rida signed with Poe Boy Entertainment and just months later signed with Atlantic. “That was the greatest moment of my life,” Flo Rida recalls. “I had been working so hard for so long. I had jobs in construction, I worked in warehouses, I’m talking about some of the bummiest jobs. But those were all the sacrifices I made by putting my money towards my music, and it finally paid off.”
For the next year, Flo Rida worked diligently on his debut album, “MAIL ON SUNDAY,” which will be released on Poe Boy/Atlantic March 18, 2008. Flo Rida enlisted the production prowess of well-known hit makers like Timbaland, Will.I.Am and J.R. Rotem. He’s also recruited a who’s who of A-list collaborators like Lil’ Wayne, who appears on the street savvy “American Superstar,” Yung Joc, who is featured on the raucous party anthem Don’t Know How To Act,” where the two rappers trade verses about tearing up the club, and Timbaland, who shows up on Flo Rida’s second single, “Elevator.”
On the cut “Ms. Hangover,” Flo Rida shows a colorful side of his rap persona by crafting an alluring song describing a woman strictly using liquor-inspired adjectives. “All My Life” is another track that digs deeper into Flo Rida’s psyche as he describes the passing of his sister. “My sister was a great inspiration to my situation because I know she loved and now I don’t get a chance to see her cause she’s gone,” he says. “I felt like me not having a choice when I’m going to leave, that I have to take advantage of every day so I make sure to give 100 percent towards my music.”
With a highly successful start, Flo Rida has already had a major impact on the mainstream in 2008. “I approach music from a universal level and not just a neighborhood feel,” he explains. “I always try and come from the left field, but still stay somewhere where everyone can relate.”
The Ting Tings
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Katie White and Jules De Martino needed a name for the “unintentional band” they’d created in 2007. For the sheer fun of it, Katie (vocals, guitar and bass drum) and Jules (vocals, drums, electronics) had begun writing songs together and doing impromptu shows as a two piece. Suddenly, they were generating massive excitement at a series of house parties at Manchester’s Islington Mill, a derelict cotton mill from the Industrial Revolution converted into a thriving underground artist collective housing painters, filmmakers, writers, sculptures, musicians and more.
At the time, Katie was working in a boutique with a Chinese girl called “Ting Ting,” which is also Mandarin term for a “band stand.” “I thought it was lovely,” Katie remembers. “It can also refer to the sound of innovation or an open mind. Like the ‘ting’ you hear when you get an idea.”
Jules also loved the idea of becoming the Ting Tings. The name had two Tings “and there were two of us.” And, like the sonorous peal of a bell, the new moniker held the rhythmic perfection of onomatopoeia.
“We’re quite percussive as well,” says Jules referring to one of the elements of the electrifying Ting Tings’ sound that makes them “The most exciting new band in the country,” according to the NME, a highly respected UK music magazine.
But Katie and Jules were not always the Ting Tings. Katie grew up on a livery farm outside Manchester, where, she says, “It’s so cold and so boring that there’s nothing to do. So all you do is sit and make music. It’s just grey skies. I really did just spend my entire childhood bored. I listened to really rubbish music growing up, don’t know why. Bad music, bad pop. Whatever crap was on the local radio. I grew up as a teenager in the 1990s so girl bands and boy bands were all the rage. I had a Spice Girls pencil case.”
Jules, on the other hand, was born in London and credits his mom and dad for awakening him to the joys of music. “My parents had a great record collection,” he remembers. “The classics: Beatles, Elvis, etc. My approach to music was very strange. My mum said that I’d always listen to the B-sides, I was in love with what was going on with the B-sides. Musically, I was into production and the B-sides always had something more experimental, not necessarily driven by the hits. I was attracted to that. The flipside of a single was usually the strongest track.”
Jules picked up his first instrument, the drums, at 13 and began performing with his friends. “It wasn’t really a band,” he recalls, “but when you’re that young, you think it’s a band. I started to learn guitar, I wanted to be out in front. Eventually I met Katie. I was in London in a band and Katie was in a band passing through the city. We both weren’t happy in the bands we were in. I really loved Manchester. There’s a lot more bands, a lot more clubs.”
Katie, then 19, and Jules kept in touch via the London-Manchester band circuit. Musically in simpatico, Jules relocated to Manchester, where the pair started writing songs together. “Our writing developed,” Jules remembers, “and we were trying to make it different. She’s a great vocalist. She reminded me of Janis Joplin, Ricky Lee Jones, people like that; she had this slightly folky jazzy lazy vocal and she had this thing. We both got into Portishead and thought it would be great if we could make that kind of music together.” Hooking up with a third member, a DJ, Katie and Jules formed their first band, Dear Eskiimo, which lasted “about a year” and signed to a major label before “it all went wrong” (according to Jules) and “went completely wrong” (according to Katie).
The Dear Eskiimo experience led Katie and Jules to the Islington Mill, where they started writing the kind of songs that made them personally happy, and would eventually form the core of the Ting Tings’ repertoire. Islington Mill proved an ideal milieu, a thriving creative environment where, according to Katie, “Everybody hangs out and gets inspired by each other.”
Liberated from the pressures and strain of an uncomprehending music industry, Katie and Jules began working with a fresh set of sonic ideas and principles. “We didn’t know what sound we were looking for,” Katie points out. “We didn’t even plan on being a band because we’d had such a horrible time in the music industry with the previous group. We didn’t think anybody would be interested in what we did, so we wrote songs for ourselves to play to our friends at the Mill. Two years ago, when I came to the Mill, I started to listening to Talking Heads, the Tom Tom Club, LCD Soundsystem, all these really interesting bands I’d never heard of. Talking Heads were the biggest influence. Jules liked more songsmith experimental stuff. I converted Jules to pop music and he’s converted me to really like interesting music.”
Drawing on the percussive tendencies that come to him naturally, Jules experimented with an interface between his drum kit and a series of effects boxes, among them a pair of Boss RC-50s, customized to provide an improvisational flexibility essential to the Ting Tings’ live performances. “We’ve got two of these machines and a friend of mine, who’s really good at electronics, and I took them apart,” Jules explains. “We soldered the motherboards to give an interaction between the two machines. I wanted the systems to function in a slightly different way than when you buy them so we hardwired them. The two machines are working simultaneously giving me a lot more memory, a load more loops and more versatility on my pedals.”
Jules’ unique synthesis of percussion and electronic creates a space for the band to improvise in the present tense, setting up an intuitive chemistry between the pair. “It’s not like a backing track,” says Katie. “It gives you total live control. It’s really quite free how we can perform. We just watch each other and telepathically know where we want to take it so it’s different every time we perform. I can tell by his drumming and I think he can tell by my guitar playing.”
Jules agrees with Katie’s assessment of the Ting Tings’ intuitive process. “We can create loads of different layers of music,” he says. “We make ‘mistakes’ all the time, if I hit the wrong pedal, Katie will look at me, change the chords and we go into a jam. We change up our song order quite a lot. There’s no right order, no time code, it’s all completely live. It’s a wonderful way to work.”
As Jules was customizing his 21st century signature electronic percussion rig, Katie was performing some musical experiments of her own. “I couldn’t play an instrument,” she freely admits, “so I picked his guitar up and played a D chord for about four hours just learning rhythm and I put my finger on the wrong string and made this weird chord which eventually turned into ‘Great DJ,’ our first pop song.
Katie and Jules launched the Ting Tings’ discography with a limited edition vinyl single of a song called “That’s Not My Name” with “Great DJ” appearing on Jules’ favorite part of a single, the B-side. After pressing 500 copies of the record, “because that’s all we could afford,” the initial run of “Great DJ” sold out completely. The Ting Tings posted a quartet of their songs up on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/thetingtings) and, before long, were receiving positive responses from all over the world. MySpace members the Ting Tings have enjoyed more than 1.7 million profile views. For the band’s limited edition UK single, “Great DJ,” a Single of the Week in the NME, The Ting Tings recycled old 7” singles, inverted the covers and re-labeled the sleeves with the band’s name and song title using colored duct tape. Previous limited edition Ting Tings single campaigns have included a four city tour (Salford, Berlin, New York and London) where the band invited the audience to decorate 100 blank 7” sleeves at each show. The lot decorated at each show were sold at the following gig.
Word of mouth on the Ting Tings’ live shows was ecstatic and attendance increased exponentially with each successive gig. “At the first one,” Katie remembers, “there were 25 artists in the Mill and a couple of friends. At the second one, they told a hundred of their friends. The third one was advertised on local radio, which was really weird because it was a house gig. And, on the fourth one, the head of Sony America came and sat on the floor with all the UK music industry people. It happened really quickly and really unexpectedly.”
“What’s wonderful about the Ting Tings,” says Jules, “is every step of ladder that we climb is a new experience. We set up a phone line in the UK and asked people to phone in and leave their name. So we have all this audio, we’re going to lay everybody’s name over the track ‘That’s Not My Name’ and that will be its B-side. That’s how we can continue to interact with the audience. We love playing live and the experience is so rewarding. Doing our own recordings and our own art work and having that interaction wherever we are in the world is something that keeps us human.”
Taking a cue from the fashion-oriented Ting Tings (Katie designs and creates her own clothes), both Betsey Johnson and Dolce & Gabbana featured “That’s Not My Name” during their runway shows during New York Fashion Week.
Following a show-stopping performance at the 2007 Glastonbury Festival, the Ting Tings embarked on a UK university tour in October 2007. The group appeared in a series of shows in the coveted opening slot on the 2008 Shockwaves NME Awards Tour.
The Ting Tings were voted #3 on the BBC’s “Top 10 To Watch In 2008,” the much-watched list of emerging acts in the annual BBC 6 Music poll, Sound Of 2008, which observed: “The pair have now…become one of the most credible and critically-acclaimed groups on the indie scene.”
After signing with Columbia Records, the Ting Tings brought the duo’s cutting edge electro-indie-pop sounds to the states with two performances at this year’s South By Southwest (SxSW) music festival and a coast-to-coast mini-tour of select US art house and alternative music spaces.
In April 2008, Apple began running an iPod + iTunes commercial featuring silhouetted dancers grooving to the Ting Tings track “Shut Up and Let Me Go.” The ad may be seen on national television as well as the Apple website (http://www.apple.com/itunes/ads/gamma).
The Ting Tings recently finished work on their debut album, “We Started Nothing,” recorded by themselves at Islington Mill in Manchester.
“We didn’t expect this to happen,” says Katie. “I think that’s why it worked. Because we were so carefree we just made the music for us, not for anybody else. We just wrote songs that we loved. It’s all going really well and I don’t know what it all means. We’re just going to go blow the wind. We got this far without pre-planning or sitting down with battle plans.”
http://www.thetingtings.com
http://www.myspace.com/thetingtings
http://www.columbiarecords.com
Lucia Ballas-Traynor
SVP, Gerneral Manager - MTV Tr3s
Lucia Ballas-Traynor is Senior Vice President and General Manager of MTV Tr3́s, the most-widely distributed TV network dedicated to superserving today’s bicultural Latino youth. Prior to joining MTV Tr3́s, Lucia worked for IDT Corporation where she served as Senior Vice President of Hispanic Marketing and was responsible for formulating Hispanic marketing strategies for their Telecom division.
A Hispanic marketing veteran, Lucia started her career in Hispanic television 18 years ago at Univision where she held a succession of positions. In 1989, she embarked on a new career path, working as advertising sales executive for Univision’s Más Magazine. In 1994 she joined Galavision as ad sales director and in 1999 was appointed General Manager, assuming responsibility for all of the network’s operations.
During Lucia’s tenure, Galavision’s distribution nearly doubled and the profile of the network’s audience grew amongst the coveted 18-34 year old demographic, making it one of the most popular Hispanic networks in the United States for teens and young adults. Under her leadership, the network pioneered original, U.S.-produced hit programming for the younger Hispanic demographic, which resulted in unprecedented ratings gains among these underserved segments. Lucia’s maverick approach at Galavision has been widely credited in helping establish the Spanish television network and placing it on the cable TV landscape.
She has been named a “Media All Star” by Adweek’s Marketing y Medios, one of The Hollywood Reporter’s “Latino Power 50,” a top “Women in Music” by Billboard Magazine, one of the “25 Most Powerful Hispanic Women in the Entertainment Industry” by The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, and one of “10 Women to Watch” by Multichannel News Magazine.
Lucia was born in Chile and came to the U.S. with her parents in mid 1970s. She earned her BA from New York University. She and her husband Michael and live in New Rochelle, New York with their two children Carolina and Michael.
Lily Neumeyer
Vice President, Programming and Production - MTV Tr3s
Lily Neumeyer is an accomplished television executive with 15 years experience in creating programming for teens and young adults. As Vice President of Programming and Production for MTV Tr3s, Lily is responsible for developing music and lifestyle programming that reflects the hybrid identity of U.S. Latinos.
Prior to her role with MTV Tr3s, Lily was Director of Development for MTV, where she co-created and executive produced the series, My Super Sweet Sixteen, which debuted in January 2005 as the highest rated new series in MTV’s history. She was also creator and executive producer of the documentary series MTV Juvies. From 1998 to 2003, Lily was Senior Supervising Production for MTV News, were she oversaw the daily news operation as well as the production of dozens of shows, including the award winning series MTV News Now. Among her other MTV credits are Fake ID Club; To the Extreme; The Wrap; All Eyes On; and My Life Translated.
She first worked with MTV Networks in the early 1990s as producer of MTV Internacional, a weekly syndicated Spanish-language music video show. Later, as News Producer for MTV Networks Latin America she produced the weekly magazine show, Semana Rock, which focused on music-related stories and youth oriented issues.
Outside of MTV, Lily has worked with HBO where she led Promotions Department for HBO En Español. She has also produced Second Generation, a nationally syndicated comedy and music video show about second generation Latino teens which was nominated for the 1992 New York Emmy Award for Outstanding Programming for Young People.
Lily has been recognized with the 2004 Beacon Award for Media-Programming series, “MTV News: At War with Iraq Live;” a Joel Berger Award for outstanding HIV/AIDS programming, “Sex, School and Scandal;” and the Cable Positive POP Award for Outstanding Documentary, “Sex, School and Scandal.”
Lily attended New York University Graduate School of Film and holds a degree from University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine.
Dan Hart
General Manager for MTV Digital
MTV: Music Television has named Dan Hart as Senior Vice President and General Manager of MTV Digital, as announced by Christina Norman, President of MTV and Brian Graden, President of Entertainment for MTV Networks’ Music Group. A veteran of MTV Networks and an accomplished expert in developing online products, strategies and businesses, Hart previously served as Vice President of Online Games Strategy and Operations for MTV Networks. In his new role, Hart will be charged with building upon the strong growth that MTV.com has experienced this year; delivering integrated experiences that link programming across all screens; furthering music programming on MTV.com, and leading new product development in the digital space.
“We’re incredibly lucky to have a deep bench of digital talent that makes promoting Dan from within not only possible but smart,” Norman said. “Dan has a keen eye for building digital products and businesses that deliver exceptional user experiences.”
“MTV is taking unprecedented steps to create content that goes even beyond engaging audiences on multiple platforms and allows them to become an integral part of the music and on-air programming they are passionate about,” Hart said. “It’s a vision that I deeply believe in, and I look forward to working with the digital and programming teams at MTV to build new products that excite our users, extend the reach of the brand and drive deeper engagement.”
Since joining MTV Networks in 2004, Hart led the team that developed game play properties across multiple MTVN sites, and created games based on such popular shows as “The Real World,” “Pimp My Ride” and “Two-A-Days” on MTV.com; “Flavor of Love” and “World Series of Pop Culture” on VH1.com; “Trick My Truck” on CMT.com and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “South Park” on COMEDYCENTRAL.com. Hart has also played a central role in several key acquisitions and deals for the company. Prior to joining MTVN, Hart oversaw Yahoo! Games. Under his leadership, Yahoo! Games developed multiple new products and revenue streams, while growing to become the number one trafficked games site globally. Prior to Yahoo!, Hart worked for MTV Networks’ parent company, Viacom, where he served as the vice president of planning and development for new media, working with the company’s senior executives to define and implement Internet strategy for the company’s various media divisions, including MTV Networks, Blockbuster, Paramount, Showtime and Simon and Schuster.
Hart earned a BA and an MBA from the University of Mi