Progressive Nation Tour (Valley Scene Magazine)

Progressive Nation Tour
By Rei Nishimoto

Progressive rock music is a genre that has been overlooked by the mainstream but still attracted a fan base unlike other styles of music. Since its earliest acts in the 1970s, such as Kansas and King Crimson, musicians have been keeping the spirit of progressive music alive through various forms.

Dream Theater has been one of the biggest bands to fuse progressive rock influences with heavy metal and fusion to create some of the most exciting sounds that fans have grown to love. For almost two decades, they have created music that incorporates concepts from mystery stories to various theories that is played along to occasional instrumental jam sessions.

Tonight's set was a condensed version of what Dream Theater fans expected from the band. An exciting video intro that flashed a computer animation of an ant that set the tone for the evening, giving fans the feeling of the musical journey the band was taking the fans on.

Keyboardist Jordan Rudess set the tone for the band, bringing the crowd into each song. His swiveling keyboard dome was set up to give a Sci-Fi like feeling when on stage, and somewhat like the Master of Ceremonies like persona throughout the night. But, drummer Mike Portnoy is the star of the band, with his rock n'roll personality behind his two dimensional drum kit, switching kits in between each song. His energetic style kept the crowd excited for more, and his arms waving to keep the crowd participating throughout the evening.

While frontman James LaBrie's role live was minimized, as the band incorporated more instrumental jams than songs with vocals. While his vocals are in no way a weak point within the band, Dream Theater fed off of the crowd reactions to the instrumental portions of their set.

Their overall show was very energetic and the fans loved every moment of the night. But one downfall was that they cut out long time favorites such as 'Pull Me Under' from their setlist, which was a surprise. Whether this will be a move that will continue onto future tours will be seen when they come back through.

Swedish progressive doom metallers Opeth have come a long way since their underground death metal days back in the early 1990s. Since that time, they have been through numerous lineup changes and have traded Pink Floyd-like parts in place of simple blasting drums and roaring guitars.

Frontman Mikael Akerfeldt is the sole original member of the band, and his vision of creating music that fused death metal and progressive rock has began to take on a life of its own. Much of their songs they performed still have the heavy guitar tones, rooted to their death metal influences. But they have cited influences such as Uriah Heep and worked in swinging guitar melodies to alternate with the heavier parts and keyboard parts to compliment the rest of the music.

Akerfeldt mainly belted out raw, guttural vocals throughout the set, but on occasional moments, there are some cleaner vocal parts that have drawn in new fans over the years. Songs like 'Wreath' had won over fans over the past few years, and the fans singing along with them proved that metal fans are not the only ones who have grown to appreciate Opeth's music.

Between the Buried and Me is part of the new wave of neo-progressive metal/rock, and their exciting sound incorporates thrashy guitar parts with guttural vocals, that fans of modern heavy metal and metallic hardcore have grown to love. While much of their sound is on the metallic side, they have a slowed down progressive style that are equal parts ISIS as much as Porcupine Tree. While they appealed more to the younger fans, Between the Buried and Me are definitely an exciting band to watch out for.

Show openers 3 played a brief set of traditional progressive rock music, featuring two drummers, a bassist, a guitarist and a vocalist who also doubled on guitar. They brought a modernized twist to progressive rock while bringing their own fresh approaches to their sound. Frontman Joey Eppard fused lots of energy into their sound and gave the people in the crowd a taste of a new generation of progressive rock.

Soilent Green (Blistering.com)

Soilent Green
By: Rei Nishimoto

The kind of hardships the members of Soilent Green faced is something no one would ever wish upon their worst enemies. But each member took the time to work through this and place their energy into creating their strongest release to date.

Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction is Soilent Green’s latest release and is a new beginning in many ways. Overcoming many obstacles, from personal troubles to dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Soilent Green had to work through these issues in order to refocus the band towards creating this record.

Being from the New Orleans area, they were hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, where many people in the region lost their homes and belongings due to one of the worst natural disasters in the area. They also learned that the band’s original vocalist, Glenn Rambo,

Guitarist Brian Patton spoke to Blistering.com about the making of the new album, the ups and downs of existing in Soilent Green, and what the future holds for the band.

Blistering.com: You have more of a refined sound this time around. Why did you choose to use Erik Rutan as producer?

Brian Patton: Actually,we used Erik on our last record as well (Confrontation). We met Erik when he was on tour with Morbid Angel. We had toured with those guys for a while. We got to know Erik pretty well. It’s like a friend doing your record. It’s actually really good. He’s in a brand new studio now, compared to the one that we used to record Confrontation. It was really smooth and nice. He knows our sounds. He knows our tones. He could adjust his abilities to be able to capture the organic tones that we look for, opposed to a lot of metal bands kind of go for the really over digital sound. We’re not fans of that at all. He was able to do what we needed to do. We love working with Erik.

Blistering.com: What was it about Erik that you really connected in the studio?

BP: He’s like one of us. He knows what’s going on. He’s a smart guy. He’s been in the business. He knows what sounds good. Like in the old days when all of these bands were all going to Scott Burns back in the early 90s. Every production that came out there sounded exactly the same. Erik has the ability to adjust his talent to what the band needs and what their natural sound actually is. At least that’s the experience I’ve gotten from him. I don’t listen to a lot of metal so I’m not listening to everything Erik churns out.

For us, it felt like a glove and we bonded on tour. We had a good time. We’d sit around. We’d smoke a little; drink a little; and having fun when you’re on tour. You talk about things and pretty soon you’re flushing him out. He was playing around with producing way back then. We recorded at one of his houses. When we moved to do the new record, he has this massive, incredible studio now. The room he has now is amazing. [It is] huge, [with] big wooden floors. Completely professionally done and practically the first time we’ve had that kind of situation. It could be uncomfortable at times. It’s hard to get that locked up in a jam room feel when you’re sitting in this big ass building sitting with headphones on top of your head and everything separated. He was able to pull it off for us.

Blistering.com: How’s Metal Blade treating you? You switched record labels recently.

P: They’re treating us fantastic so far. They’re really behind us. Actually a bunch of the people in the office is a fan of our bands before we went with them. It’s a nice feeling to have that. Unfortunately, our relationship with Relapse became slightly tainted towards the end because of all of the drama that had been going on in our career. They were frustrated at that moment. It’s hard to work a band that gets crippled every time they go out. I understand their frustration. It was a mutual agreement at that point to part ways. We had finished our contract and were in limbo for a little while. Metal Blade seems enthusiastic about what we could possibly do and what we have done in the past. They showed complete confidence, not even worrying about listening to our stuff. [They were] giving us freedom in the studio and having confidence in our abilities as a band.

Blistering.com:Was the album title (Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction) based on a theme?

BP: It’s where our mind was at. Like I said before, we had developed an extreme distaste for the music business and for everything in general, as far as everything outside of the practice room. We had a lot of personal issues that helped that along, as far as a lot of friends dying and a lot of obvious accidents and stuff that we’ve had in our vans. It stripped us basically and we were able to sit back and write this record with clear heads. With a slight distaste and a little bit of a feeling that at this point there was no hope that we’re not going to do anything. So let’s just write stuff for ourselves. It brought us back full circle to when we were kids. It’s our purest writing process that we have had in quite some time. I’ve had a few issues with myself.

It’s really no secret that I’ve been a drug addict for years. I’ve been cleaned up for quite some time now. It’s been at least four or five years since I’ve stopped doing drugs. It takes a while for your mind to clear out. I feel like I’m 18 again when it comes to the writing process. The way it came out, it was probably the truest Soilent Green record since Sewn Mouth Secrets.

Blistering.com:Were there any songs on this record that surprised you on how well it turned out?

BP: As far as the songs go, there are parts in all of the songs. For me, when I’m writing, what we do as a band, we do the parts, flush it and move on. For me, there are groups of parts in about every song that stand out for me. There’s times when I stand back and I’ll be like, ‘yeah! I like that.’ I’m pretty much a perfectionist and I don’t like to suck my own dick, so to say. I stand back, and if I’m proud of it, then I’m proud of it. I don’t think I’m doing anything that is extra special that anybody could do. I just like to have fun and play music and I try to write the best.

As far as picking out certain songs, like I said, it’s hard for me to do. These songs we’ve started to write now for our next record – we don’t write everything within a two month period of time before we go into the studio. It’s a process that I like to start immediately to keep us on our toes. We write our songs throughout a year or two’s period of time before we go in there to record. They’re all personal about the time of life of what I was going through at the time. There are parts of songs in parts that really stick it for me instead of entire songs in general.

Blistering.com: On Confrontation, that was the most amount of touring you’ve done within the history of Soilent Green, considering everyone in the band has multiple bands and projects, and balancing schedules. Do you feel that you got to connect with fans more than ever?

BP: To be honest, we didn’t do a whole lot on that rotation. We were leaving our label and they weren’t willing to do a whole lot for us, as far as booking stuff. We were working with a booking agent that was feeling the same way. We took it with a grain of salt. It is what it is. We were looking forward to our next release at that point.

It’s a little rough. We’ve got to realize that we love playing music to play music. We’re never going to stop. Otherwise we would have given up a long time ago. Those accidents really crippled us. Ben [Falgoust, vocals] was lucky to be walking at all. That dude should have been in a wheelchair the rest of his life. His legs were completely crushed. His entire body was. I’ve had my share of stuff over the years. We’ve a bunch of old, injured bunch of individuals! But we have to truck on. It’s all we know. If we’re able to go play live and do it for people, man it’s great. We’ve got a good rotation coming up with these tours. We’re excited to get out and play for people because we haven’t been able to do that for quite some time. We feel that we’re a live band. We come across better live than we ever have on record, as far as I’m concerned. That’s usually the trick is trying to capture our live tone when we get into the studio. We hope people get a chance to see us. The more we’re out, the better.

Blistering.com: Some of the band members were greatly affected by Hurricane Katrina. Are you all back in New Orleans now? What are your situations now?

BP: We’re all back here at home. It took us a little while. Everybody was doing their own thing, trying to survive at the time during the hurricane. Obviously you couldn’t live here for quite some time. We were separated and it definitely hurt the band. We weren’t able to do anything at that point but try to survive. We lost a couple of friends, which affected a lot of the band, more than anything. We lost our old singer [Glenn Rambo]. He went back to me when I was 16 years old. I’m 38 years old. That’s a long time. He’s a very good friend of mine. A couple of people as well, not to mention family and friends that lost their entire lives on top of it, and material possessions got washed away. Luckily, most of the band, they was slight damage and slight loss, but nothing that major. So we were personally able to bounce back on a material level pretty quick.

Emotionally, it took a little while and as a band, it took quite some time. We weren’t able to get back here and jam. Actually, a story that’s amazing and off the beaten track, but Eyehategod, which I play with as well, we played the first show ever in New Orleans since the hurricane. We were playing in this gutted out restaurant with generators. The entire city was destroyed, but the people that were there – 300 people crammed in this club, drinking and having a great time and playing. That’s what this area is about. You don’t dwell on the bad. You accept it for it is and try to rebuild and move on. We’ve pretty much recovered at this point as a band.

Blistering.com: Soilent Green has had a revolving door of members throughout the history of the band. Do you stay in touch with any of the ex-members?

BP: I keep in touch with all of them. They’re all my good friends. You’ve got to realize a lot of times when people leave bands they don’t leave because of issues within the band. They leave on personal issues that are going on outside of the band. For us, it seems to be the trend. My first guitar player…he’s a hippie. He can’t handle being on the road. He can’t handle traveling. He can’t handle the lifestyle. He wants to have a guitar in his hand and sit in the corner. He’s living in North Carolina now, in a trailer with no power and won’t even eat food that falls from a tree because he feels bad for picking food. He’s a full blown nature boy. It wasn’t his lifestyle.

Our old bass player (Scott Williams), that’s one of the tragic stories. He ended up getting shot. Our last guy that was just with us, he left basically because he got really good work opportunities. He wasn’t in the band that long. He didn’t have that much invested. When you have all that money staring at you to stay at work and do what you’ve got to do, then more power to you. You’ve got to realize that a lot of us are trying to maintain a living. We’re getting up there in age. It’s not that easy to drop everything and take off when we want to. Luckily, the four people that are in it right now are able to. So when we tour, it won’t be an issue. That’s why we’re comfortable where we’re at. We don’t want a fifth member at this point. Why have a wrench thrown in the gears? We’ve toured as a four piece before, when we toured with Morbid Angel and Deicide, and Napalm Death. We toured Japan as a four piece. We’re fully able to pull it off. Why go through the drama, not to mention the time of trying to break someone in at this moment.

Blistering.com: The members in Soilent Green are well known to be involved in multiple bands. How do you balance schedules to make it work?

BP: You have to have a love of playing music. You make the time. You make schedules. Sometimes it overlaps. Sometimes it doesn’t. When Ben’s not out with Goatwhore, he’s working with us. When I’m not doing stuff with Eyehategod, I’m doing stuff with us. When Tommy [Buckley, drums]’s not doing stuff with Crowbar and vice versa. There’s really no priority. You have communication from within each other. Then there’s no issue working this out. I was the first one to do that. I used to tour quite a bit with Eyehategod quite a bit back in the day. It wasn’t an issue. They did what they had to do while I was gone. When I got back, we set up shows locally. There was enough of a gap in between touring to be able to do what we needed to do. Jimmy [Bower]’s off in Down and everybody’s doing all this stuff. It’s hard to get it together. That’s why we put records out more sporadically, I guess, than we’d like.

Blistering.com: Back in the day, Pantera took out on tour both Soilent Green and Eyehategod. Is there anyone on a bigger level that you would want to tour with?

BP: I’m willing to tour with anybody. We’ve been around for so long, we see a couple of our friends that is doing great now, like Randy [Blythe] from Lamb of God. I’ve known him forever. The cats in Mastodon, we toured with those guys back in Today Is The Day, and listened to them when they played in Lethargy. We’ve known them for so long. Obviously if we toured with people like that, it would be touring with our bros.

When it comes to touring, it’s more of a political thing. It’s unfortunate but a lot of the bands are slaves to their management. They go out with whoever they put them on tour with. The reason why the Hate Eternal thing worked out was because we were on the same label. We have a new record coming out together. It works out great. We would go out with anybody bigger that would have us, especially on a bigger level. It would be stupid to turn down a tour. Like Isis touring with Tool. That’s an amazing thing. I’ve known Aaron [Turner] forever. I’ve worked with him on a label thing doing stuff with Hydrahead. They’re doing great now. Ipecac’s treating those guys well. To put it plainly, if I could tour with a bigger band, that were friends of mine, then I would prefer that.

www.myspace.com/soilentgreen

Candlebox @ The Roxy (Valley Scene Magazine, April 18, 2008)

Candlebox

At the Roxy

By Rei Nishimoto

Since the last time Candlebox performed live, the musical climate has taken turns very few predicted. Within all of the pop-oriented heavy metal and the emo-driven punk sounding acts, there is still a healthy demand for song oriented rock music.

For much of the 1990s, Candlebox was recognized as a rock band that rode on the coattails of Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden. They recorded three albums that drew critical acclaim from the press and fans alike. During the height of their career, they played at the Woodstock '94, as well as making numerous television appearances on Late Show with David Letterman. But they faced shaky times when they went through lineup changes begin in 1997 with the departure of drummer Scott Mercado.

Tonight marked the first LA appearance by Seattle based rockers Candlebox since their untimely split in 1999. This was part of their brief run of club dates they booked as part of a return to the roots style tour. Despite the extended time away, they did not appear to lose a step. They played a strong cross section of songs from their three full length releases, along with new songs from their forthcoming release this summer.

Frontman Kevin Martin shined on stage and showed why Candlebox had such a strong fan base. His soulful yet bluesy vocal style has a quality that grabs listeners, and differs greatly than their then-Seattle scene peers. His interaction with the crowd, whether while talking to the crowd or even stopping to sign autographs for lucky fans that caught him at the right time, made it a magical night for everyone in attendance.

Their set list covered much of their songs they were best remembered for. 'Cover Me' showed Martin's bluesy side of his voice, capturing the passion behind the song that fans once felt a while ago. Guitarist Peter Klett compliments Martin's voice with a laid back, bluesy style that works well and makes their sound become timeless.

'Change' is another hit song from their earlier years that fans still connect with, and Martin's voice plays a huge part of this. The bluesy side of Candlebox became a staple part of what made fans love their music and still stuck by them after all of these years.

Other songs like 'Don't You' brought out the driving rock edge that is often overlooked. Klett got his time in the spotlight by showing off his commanding guitar playing and got the crowd moving through the night.

Throughout their set list, they worked in a few brand new songs from their forthcoming record. 'Underneath It All' is one of their newer songs that have more of a Led Zeppelin flavor to it, and a logical evolution to where Candlebox's sound would be today. 'Surrending' is another newer song that follows the melodic side of Candlebox with catchy melodies and hooky choruses.

The best reactions from the audience came during their biggest hits being playing throughout the evening. 'Far Behind' was their biggest hit single in 1994, but the way the crowd sang along to every word of the choruses, it showed how well their music withstood time. Their other big hit single 'You' got the biggest response of the evening, with its dark, hypnotic intro that leads into a chorus that got the crowd to chant along with Martin. The feedback from the audience made that moment exciting, and fans wanting more with the proceeding second the song progressed.

The time away helped Candlebox become a stronger band and make their music mean much more than the way the band ended. Their return to the live arena gives hope to a much needed boost to rock music in general. With a new record out this summer, audiences will get a chance to reconnect with the band that many may not have experienced the first time around.

Oblige (Blistering.com)

The Riverside County area of Southern California is anyone but the hotbed of metal music. Los Angeles and Orange County have taken the spotlight on breeding some of the influential bands coming out onto the scene today. Riverside is better known for pop-punk and indie oriented music.

Oblige is one of the up and coming acts that has spawned out of the Riverside County areas that has latched onto the new wave of heavy metal movement. Cranking out bottom heavy riffage that falls somewhere between thrash and death metal, Oblige has created music that keeping the spirit of the underground movement alive.

They have released their newest disc, Expectants, through Stillborn Records, and have completed recent tour runs across the U.S. with American Head Charge and a recent run with Suicide Silence, The Faceless and Light This City.

The band sat down with Blistering.com to talk about their recent string success, persevering despite lineup changes, and living on the road.

Blistering.com: How long has Oblige been together prior to this release?

Greg Wilburn (vocals): The band formed after I was out of high school. It was late 2002. The only two original members remaining are me and Eric Correa, our other guitar player. When we started the band, it was an on side thing. It wasn’t taken very seriously. We did it for a while. We started realizing like we could do this. We want to do this. This is fun. We rounded up more members. We did a couple of demos, recorded an EP. We recorded an album. After our last tour, we had a couple more lineup changes. They decided that touring wasn’t necessarily for them. We moved on and found Andrew [Holzbaur, drums] and Cheyne [Smith, bass] at that point.

Blistering.com: From the lineup that is on the record, are they the ones that recently left?

GW: When we wrote the album, it was me, Eric Correa, Marten Carillo, and Mike Portellas. Then two of the members left on the last tour. It took a lot out of us. At the time, it didn’t take that much out of us as far as writing.

Blistering.com: The Inland Empire has a lot of metal fans but never a lot of metal bands until recently. How is the scene and how different is it compared to other areas of Southern California?

GW: Not a lot of heavy stuff has come out the Inland Empire and Riverside, California. Alien Ant Farm is from Riverside.

Cheyne Smith (bass): Riverside and Orange County are very hardcore influenced. We’re a straight up metal band. We love metal and that’s pretty rare for people like us.

GW:You’ve heard of Manntis? They were a metal band from Riverside. They did the whole TV thing.

CS: Kottonmouth Kings are from Riverside.

GW: As far as heavy metal, not a lot of bands. I’ve been into heavy metal my whole life. It was extremely hard finding musicians at first. It was me and Eric, which are the two original members that were extremely into metal. When we found our first drummer and bass player, they were members of a pop-punk band that they were doing for fun on the side. As me and Eric continued, we realized that we wanted to do this. That’s when member changes came.

Blistering.com: What bands influenced Oblige’s sound? I hear a lot more death metal than anything else.

Casin Russo (guitar): I can speak really well on this because I heard the album. The album was what made me want to join this band. I am completely rooted to death metal. For this album to pull me in is something else. To me, it’s a complete metal album. You can call it whatever you want…it’s metal. But it is death metal enough to pull someone like me, which is extremely tough to do.

GW: Honestly when me and Eric wrote this, we weren’t on this death metal kick. We’ve always been fans of heavy, devastating music. That’s all we want to play. The more heavy the more devastating, without going over the top and being chug all the time. We want some thought put into it. We want some groove. We want some feeling. I think a lot of music today is lacking that. When it comes to brutal and metal, honestly some of the most brutal bands I can ever think of were death metal. Decapitated, Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse were some of the heaviest bands I’ve ever seen in my life. We didn’t want to be over the top with the death metal vocals. I try to keep it pronounceable and do the death metal thing.

CS: It’s not straight blasting. It’s not just fast. They know how to slow it down. They know how to groove. They know when to put blast beats.

Blistering.com: You’ve working with Jamey from Hatebreed. How did he reach out to you?

GW: The Jamey incident was online. We had originally gotten in touch with him. When we had spoken to him for the first time online, he said he had his eye on the band. He knew who we were. He was interested. We told him we had an album that was done and pretty much ready to go. We sent it to him. Then he offered us the record contract. He got us on a few Hatebreed shows at that time and saw us live. That was the deal sealer – the live show.

Blistering.com: What’s the furthest you’ve played outside of LA?

GW: As far as New York. We’ve done two full U.S. tours. Our first tour ever was a different lineup. We went out with Sinai Beach, August Burns Red, and Nodes of Ranvier. That was a two week West Coast tour. It was an awesome experience. Then we got on the American Head Charge tour. That was our first full U.S. tour. And that was the one that went as far east as New York. That’s when we lost a couple of members because they decided they can’t do this. Since then we finished a tour with Five Finger Death Punch. It was the best tour by far we’ve ever done.

Blistering.com: Do you find audiences differ between American Head Charge and Five Finger Death Punch, versus Sinai Beach and even Suicide Silence?

CR: Completely different.

CS: It’s really weird that the nu-metal crowd’s been the most welcoming to us out of anybody.

CR: Those kids have never really been exposed to heavy, heavy shit. They think they like heavy music. We got out there and played. We took over every night on that tour. It’s weird how good they are to us. They’re open to music. They’re not about scene. They’re not about what’s cool to listen to or if they’re friends are going to that show. They want to hear good music.

Blistering.com: How did the name Oblige come about?

GW: I was sitting in my senior year chemistry class. Eric was in that class. We actually met in that class. I came up with the idea of the name all in one day. I think I got a D in the class because I spent the time thinking of band names instead of studying. What are you going to do? I’m here now. The idea of the name – when I said it, it was powerful. It rolled off your tongue. I’ve always liked bands that had one name that is solid. It’s not a long sentence. You see some weird, crazy names nowadays. To me, when you oblige someone, you’re being of service to someone. Oblige is being of service to its fans, the scene and everyone. We think of ourselves as a straight up heavy metal band and that’s all we’ll ever be. That’s all we want to be. We’re obliging those people that want to hear exactly what we’ve always wanted to hear our whole lives.

Blistering.com: What kept you going even though members kept changing? You show a lot of determination for a young band.

GW: We’re like football players on a Saturday after the Friday game. We watch film. We record ourselves and watch it. We critique the shit out of ourselves more than anybody else.

CR: We found five guys that straight up, no matter how hard touring is, love touring. They love being in this band. They love playing live shows. They love heavy music. I don’t think anybody will give it up any time soon. Especially after the way the last tour went.

GW: It was such a breath of fresh air. This was going to work.

CR: Andrew’s [Holzbaur, drums] been in bands for over 14 years. I’ve been doing it for 7-8 years. We’ve all given up school. We’ve given up sports…every other thing we could have been good at to do this.

CS: I went on tour instead of going to class. But I wouldn’t give it back for anything. I’ve done more as a 20-year old than most 40 year olds have even dreamed of. I get to travel and hang out with my best friends. I’ve dropped other people…weed out the weak of friends. I found four friends I don’t get over living in a van with.

Blistering.com: Are there tour plans through the next year?

GW: It’s pretty much from here on out going to be touring. We’re not exactly sure at this point what it’s going to be. No matter what it’ll be, we will be out most of 2008.

www.myspace.com/oblige

Robyn - The Rakamonie EP (Valley Scene Magazine)

Robyn: The Rakamonie EP

By Rei Nishimoto

Sweden has produced pop music for decades like it grows on trees. It is surreal how one country is able to pump out so many artists that have been successful on an international level.

It has been over a decade since Robyn was last heard from Stateside. She was part of the teen pop phenomenon in the late 1990s, with hit songs like 'Do You Know (What It Takes)' and 'Show Me Love' from her Robyn Is Here CD became pop and dance chart toppers. Her powerful yet soulful voice stood out amongst the bouncy pop songs that usually produced out of the Swedish pop factory.

The Rakamonie EP is a reintroduction to her international fan base after going MIA for over a decade. She has been releasing music within Sweden, but very little has happened beyond those borders. But now, she is making up for lost time through this EP.

Her sound has evolved over the years, steering away from the slick pop sound that she was remembered for. The songs on here have greatly matured and will surprise those who are waiting more bubble gum pop-dance music. There is music on here that fans of pop, rock, and as far out as electronica could enjoy.

This EP features three newer songs, along with a couple of covers that is anything but expected. 'Konichiwa Bitches' is a reworked version from her 2005 release, but despite the Dave Chappelle catch phrase reference, this is as far as this song has to do with his. This single has hints of hip-hop and electronica, while Robyn shows off a hint of confidence behind her vocals. While names like Gwen Stefani jumps out as a possible comparison, this song does justice towards showcasing where Robyn's sound is heading.

Another side of her sound is found on 'With Every Heartbreat,' a song she collaborated with Swedish DJ Andreas Kleerup. This song was her big hit single in the UK and it would be no real surprise if the US makes a late surge lusting after this single as well.

This version is stripped down to a piano and her vocals. This song showcases more of her powerful vocal range and the variety she is able to add into her songs. But the skeleton of this single show that Robyn has grown as a singer and a performer since her early days.

The real surprise is her collaboration with Klas Ahlund of the rising rock/electronica outfit Teddybears. She covered Teddybears' hit single 'Cobrastyle,' which is a bold move for someone who has not been known to perform many crossover tunes throughout her career. Through collaborating with his, Robyn shows a different side of her music through adding more synth-driven sounds that is popular within the European dance scene. Plus she is showing different sides of her music and has very little chances of being viewed as a one dimensional artist.

Another surprise cover on here is her cover of Prince 'Jack U Off,' and how she transformed a popular pop/funk driven tune into a strictly piano song. Robyn found a unique way to make this song into her own without becoming trapped within the constraints of what listeners would expect her music to sound like. This song sounds is a fun song, played by someone who is finding the humor within the sexual innuendo within the lyrics, and placing her interpretation into the song. This song is purely to show Robyn having fun with the songs she performs and showing an edgy side in the meantime.

The Rakamonie EP definitely shows that Robyn has grown a lot during the decade long hiatus from the international music scene. She has come a long way from her early pop-dance days and has a lot to prove. Whenever she is ready to release her first internationally released full length recording, the world should be anxiously awaiting what she has coming.

Onesidezero (Blistering.com)

Onesidezero
By: Rei Nishimoto

It takes real commitment to keeping a band afloat. It takes a solid group of people and hard work to keep the sound fresh and making sure the fan base continues to grow. Despite the struggles Onesidezero had been through, the members made sacrifices to keep the dream alive. Through various lineup shuffles and business setbacks, the band has found ways to keep playing and reaching new fans. For nearly a decade, the band has always found a way to have their music heard.

They began in Los Angeles in 1998, building a strong fan base across the Southeastern US through strong live performances and creating melodic rock songs that fans connected with. They signed with Maverick Records and released their debut CD, Is This Room Getting Smaller?, in 2001. They followed this with tours with 311, Zebrahead, Static X, Soulfly, and SOiL, plus a live appearance on HBO’s Reverb with Linkin Park.

Things appeared to be going well for them, through landing strong tours and their name was getting out into the public. But problems with Maverick Records arose and the band requested to be released from their contract.

Onesidezero played sporatic shows within the time off, with various members taking time away from the band. Frontman Jasan Radford and guitarist Levon Sultanian joined up with former Soulfly members, guitarist Mikey Doling, drummer Roy Mayorga and bassist Marcello Dias to form Abloom.

Abloom gained attention quickly through the rock press, but difference of opinions led to the band’s premature demise. But in 2004, the band reunited and began working on new material. They signed with Corporate Punishment Records in 2006 to release their long awaited second record, Onesidezero in June 2007.

Since that time, guitarist Brett Kane briefly left the band during the writing of their latest record. But he recently returned to the band replacing their other guitarist, Levon Sultanian, who recently left the band. The band spoke to Blistering.com about the new record, the struggles through their musical journey, and surviving despite the lineup changes over the years.

Blistering.com: What’s Onesidezero been up to since the debut release?

Rob Barile:We did the record. We did a lot of touring. People broke off for a little while and did side projects. We started doing that a little bit. That kind of subsided. We started writing again with the intension of doing a new record. Then Brett [Kane, guitarist] left for a little while. We did the new record [Onesidezero] after Brett took off. Brett was involved in a lot of the writing process, but Levon [Sultanian, guitarist] played on the whole record.

Blistering,com: Was there ever a point during the time off that Onesidezero would never resurrect ever again?

Jasan Radford: It’s one of those things that we talked about briefly earlier. We worked really hard to get this thing done, so you don’t want to quit before the miracle. You don’t know if there’s a miracle about it…when you get a taste of it, you want to see what’s next. We didn’t feel that we got the full what’s next. There were people that believed in what we were doing. So that’s what kept us going.

Every day, we’re like ‘are we kicking a dead horse?’ Then, all of a sudden, you start selling a few records. You get out there and tour, and then you get that show. The tour does well and then ‘maybe not.’ There are people who are still identifying with this and you come out with something fresh and people who supported the new record. Whether we do is bigger than that. We did what we had to do. We put out the second record and now we’re lucky enough to start thinking about the third record, while finishing this. To answer the question - every day [we think about it]. We’re not getting any younger. We’re watching our friends succeed and/or fall. It’s constant.

Blistering.com: Jasan, you were in Abloom for a while. What did you learn from that experience? It was a different band with different players and very different music than what you must have been used to.

JR: I think that was the best break that Onesidezero could have had, or for myself. I broke out of a mold that I was stuck in as a vocalist and as a writer. Working with people in a genre I wasn’t used to. I don’t know metal or hard rock at all. It expanded my mind. Working with Shavo [Odadjian, System of a Down bassist] and Mikey [Doling, Invitro guitarist] and these guys that are all about this – this was something Levon actually was trying to do a lot that I fought against forever. Working with other people that weren’t so close and weren’t in the family, opened my mind to a lot of stuff. I think it had me have the ability to think differently. I had a great time. I met some really cool brothers. For me, it was a bit more personal and selfish. It made think about things a little bit differently as a singer that wasn’t so caught in the box. It’s like what you said about the first record and things seemed so same. I was stuck with that. I was stuck with the way I was comfortable.

Blistering.com: The songs on Onesidezero capture a wide array of sounds, from up tempo rock songs to slower songs. There’s even a faster metal song that is unusual for Onesidezero! Was that part of you breaking out of the comfort zone?

JR: All of us in a way. When someone’s really influenced, if you’re not used to doing what you’re going to do, then you have to change. I couldn’t go up there and sing melodically and be that guy on a song that was all riff metal oriented, because it wasn’t working. With all of us, we tried to make it as close as the Onesidezero thing and feel that way. But yeah, I think that’s why it sounds different. It’s also where we’re at. We did consciously all sit down, when Bret was involved with it too. We didn’t want to have a one style thing. We said let’s just write. Let’s write whatever happens and record and let it flow.

RB: I think in another aspect where it was huge also was we were lucky enough when we were touring the big tours to get dropped into everything from mellow, cool vibe-y Incubus, to balls-to-the-wall Soulfly. We were able to pretty much pull off both. We could go out and open for either one. We would switch it up and literally sometimes go in from directly a mellow thing right into a heavy thing. For me, it’s hard to play…especially when you get to know these bands…it’s hard not to be influenced by that too. For me, playing with Soulfly every night, it’s like a fucking steamroller. I think we took little pieces of that individually too. Playing with that kind of power, it transfers into you, whether you want it to or not.

Blistering.com: You’ve had the revolving door of members, where everyone’s left at one point or another. Do you feel you have a bit more stability on that end?

JR: For touring, yes. We have a unit that we could go out and do a tour. As far as the revolving door of members, you never know. Personalities and life…life’s changing so fast and everyone’s getting older. Our bass player’s [Cristian Hernandez] not here today because he’s dealing with stuff. It changes so fast. As far as being on the road, we finally have a unit that needs to go on the road, or is willing to be on the road.

It’s a hard question because you have to give up a lot to be on the road and be willing to do this. The three people that I would say have been here all along – Rob, Cristian and I – we really got tight and it’s a friendship that the three of us have never really experienced until going through this. As far as that, we found it. The fact that Bret came back, all of the pieces that made sense, fell into place, and finding a stand in to come in and join the band. I think we finally found what it was that needed us to be able to the job that we were supposed to do all along that we weren’t able to do all along. It’s hard to say. Who knows what tomorrow holds for anybody.

I’ll put it this way…or bass player left [on tour] the day of his anniversary. That’s a big fucking thing. His first year anniversary…that shows where it holds and stands for us.

Blistering.com: By getting back on the road, you’ve been off of touring for a while. Do you find fans that are reconnecting with Onesidezero where they were fans a while ago? What kinds of reactions do you get?

RB: The funny ones you get are “whoa! I thought you guys were dead.” There were people that were really surprised and didn’t know. We just played Colorado Springs a few months ago. The day after we played there, we got a Myspace from some girl who’s like “I’m so bummed. I didn’t even know you were together, and I see you on the marquee the day after you play.” So there’s a mixture. Some people have remained true and always stuck around. There are the people we’re picking up that are brand new. I’m sure there are some that have gone away. That’s the other thing about being on an indie. We’re not gang blasted over MTV. We don’t have all sorts of press going on. Stuff like this, and being out on the road is the only way to reach out again.

Brett Kane: And keep making good music. Good music will keep people coming. It happens with a lot of bands too. They make different albums and try different kinds of things. Sometimes it’s a revolving door.

Blistering.com: Something you didn’t get to do last time around is tour Europe. What’s happening with that?

RB: We had a tour all lined up. It was being booked. Some of it was confirmed. Our headliner, who we will leave anonymous, ran into some things and we were unable to do that. But that being said, our German label, Tieff-Druck Musik, was working really hard at it, and seeming getting cool responses. So they’re working right now on another one for us to get us out there before summer.

JM: I want to play Lennon Live. It’s on the HD Channel. All of the bands that are coming through Europe…it’s like Reverb, except for London. It’s awesome. I’d love to get out there. If we get out there, we have to work that out. It’s the victim of the industry right now. It’s not anybody’s fault. The headlining band, I’m sure is just as bummed, or more bummed than we are. We’re bummed we’ve never been [to Europe]. We’ve had the opportunity once before to go to Europe and our label said no. We hope our day will come. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s the circumstances of the industry is right now. It’s hard for everybody. We happened to be the victims of it, because we’re the low man on the totem pole. But we’ll keep going. For us, we’re not going to Europe. Let’s start doing the States.

Blistering.com: Have you just toured the entire US or just the West Coast?

RB: Probably five times over.

JR: There are very few states we haven’t been, like Montana, South Dakota, and Alaska. RB: We’ve done it several times.

JR: To go back to the question you asked earlier, you asked about meeting people that either remember or forget…it definitely sets your mind. The perfect example is Burger King taking the Whopper off in the commercials they’re running about the Whopper. That would be this - out of sight, out of mind. You take it off, and they’re freaked out. But next week, if the Whopper’s gone, then it’s gone. So we never sold platinum records and shit like that. But we do have a core group of fans that keep us going and what keeps us going with hopes that maybe we’re reaching new people. Sometimes you get it. You play a show and all of a sudden, 16 year olds are hitting you up on your Myspace. They’re the ones who’re willing to go into Best Buy and hang out at the mall and buy your record. Still there’s a little bit of that. It’s back and forth. It really is. Yes, people forgot.

Blistering.com: You got more airplay on KROQ (LA radio station) this time around than the debut?

JR:We were the “Catch of the Day” a lot on the first record. We made number three for a few weeks. “New World,” the single that supposed to start the record and “Instead Laugh” was going to be the big push over. With the label not pushing it and the things that went down with Maverick, but Kat from KROQ got our back on this record 100 percent. Fell in love with the band and really pushed us. A lot of it is relationships. It’s people believing in us. We did get more airplay and we’re appreciative because it’s Kat…and Stryker. Stryker gave her the CD, because he knew it would fit for the Locals Only kind of thing. We weren’t coming straight out of the box. There was no money to be put in. There’s no push this single. There’s no major label to push it.

RB: And then we fell in love with Kat. Then she added us to KROQ LA Invasion, which was cool. We ended up headlining the second stage, which was awesome.

Blistering.com: That exposure must have helped a lot.

JR: You know what? Rebuilding is rebuilding. We got a taste of it and we’re grateful for it. So there’s no animosity. The fact that we go on tour and there are people at our shows on tour. I’m reading emails from bands that are like ‘how are you touring? Could you give me some insight?’ We’re able to do it naturally. It becomes something that’s easy for us to go on tour. There’s nothing that’s stopping us. That’s a beautiful thing.

RB: The funny thing, along with that is that our whole touring experience has been 100% backwards. We started in phat ass buses and now we’re doing vans and RVs. But the cool thing is that there are no attitudes. It’s cool. We make our van into our bus. We get along good now. Obviously, any one of us would give anybody a part to be lying down in a nice, giant bus. But we’re still out there doing it.

www.myspace.com/onesidezero

Black Tide (Mean Street - March 2008)

BLACK TIDE

By Rei Nishimoto

Sonic Youth

Still in their teens, the members of Black Tide already have bragging rights for playing Ozzfest’s main stage last summer. The Miami thrash act, however, came close to missing out on the whole tour.

“We were supposed to play the second stage and then we got kicked off,” explains guitarist Alex Nunez. “Then we got placed on the main stage. That was insane.”

Black Tide had secured an Ozzfest slot until second stage sponsor Jagermeister realized that none of the band members — who are still in their teens — were old enough to buy alcohol. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the up-and-coming metal foursome was reassigned from second stage to the coveted main stage, opening up for Lamb of God and the Ozzman himself.

“At first, we were an unknown band, but it eventually went well,” Nunez says. “We never got booed. I saw Lordi got booed a couple of nights!”

With their major label debut Light From Above scheduled for release this month, Black Tide will showcase a classic ’80s metal and rock sound far beyond their years.

The band came together in middle school, playing backyard parties until the group could get club shows. All four members are currently under the age of 20, with lead vocalist Gabriel Garcia being the youngest at 15. Light From Above’s first single, “Shockwave,” exemplifies the band’s signature Reagan-era thrash sound — think Kill ‘Em All-era Metallica — with solos galore.

“We’ve been playing [‘Shockwave’] for years,” Nunez says. “When we went into the studio, we had to rearrange [it] and go through pre-production stuff. On ‘Shockwave,’ there were two things added and that was it. It’s pretty much the same exact way we’ve been playing it.”

“That song’s getting pushed so much,” he adds. “That’s the song people could recognize the most. It’s the first song we start off with. Everyone likes it.”

Eighties-era riffing wasn’t the first style the band gravitated to during its formative years.

“We started off playing pop-punk stuff,” Nunez reveals. “One day, Gabriel’s cousin started showing him Guns N’ Roses and stuff like that. It turns out that my brother liked the same stuff. I burned his Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin records. We started getting into classic rock like Zeppelin and AC/DC…We started playing stuff that sounded like Judas Priest. Now people say we sound more like Metallica and Megadeth.”

Still, the band’s name actually comes from another love, skateboarding.

“We had Radio [their original band name] for a long time,” explains Nunez. “We wanted to change the name. Everyone kept coming up with ideas, but we could never agree on ideas for names. Somebody said Black Tide. That sounds cool…What kind of meaning would it have? We all like skateboards and that’s how we became friends. Surfers have their tide. For skateboarders, that’s our wave.”

On the web: blacktidemusic.com