You know, I've been feeling much more attached to my music lately. Its such a nice feeling, that frankly faded quite a bit for a long time. I didn't think that much of it at the time, but looking back at it, that's really sad. Way back in the day, I used to share countless songs, and talk about music semi aimlessly on the Facebook page. Back then it was called Music= Life, then did get changed to Immortal Music, but that was still back in 2012. 

The random love of music has been sparked again. I actually went to a concert (I Prevail) where I didn't even have my phone on me. Going into it that felt foreign, and I thought I would hate that. Not being able to record or take a single picture? Its unheard of for me, but you know what? That ended up being the most therapeutic thing I think I ever could have done for myself. I forgot how absolutely incredible it is to stand on the edge of a massive mosh pit, watching from a safe distance, screaming your heart out to songs while surrounded by 2,000 strangers doing the exact same thing. All that mattered was the music, and its been almost a week, yet I still feel so much better. I honestly don't remember the last time I left a concert feeling RELAXED. 

That isn't what I wanted to talk about, I actually in a way, wanted to do a little catch up. I'd like anyone who reads this to do the same too. I used to periodically post about the bands and songs I was loving at the moment, and frankly wanted to bring that back. Partly to share, and see what others are listening to, but also to look back on. 

I was talking about this with a friend of mine the other day, and one of the things I love is that I have eight years of content to look back on through my website. And that includes how much my music tastes have changed. My favorites have evolved so much, and I've had so many small phases with various bands. Some have stuck longer than others. Some I was into heavily for a month, some have lasted ten years. 

From what I can see, the earliest I mentioned my favorites was actually before Immortal Music as its now known existed. It used to be mostly through Blogger, if you look hard enough, you can still find it. That was before I found a good balance to make it all work on one website. It appears in November 2011 my favorites were Escape The Fate, Mayday Parade, Art Of Dying, All Time Low, and sort of seems like a touch of Black Veil Brides. Though I did at one point still acknowledge that "Scars" from Papa Roach is my favorite song. Course I called it my 'theme song', which I would never say now, but it still reigns true. 

Now I would say my favorites are fairly different. While I still love all of those bands, none of them are what I would call my favorites now. Though I do still find myself playing a lot of Escape The Fate and All Time Low. All Time Low has recently come back into my rotation actually, I feel like I moved away from them for a while there. For no particular reason, though I admit I didn't care for the Last Young Renegade album that much. So that might not have helped. 

My favorites today though are I Prevail, Shinedown, Beartooth, Papa Roach, and A Day To Remember. Now I threw Beartooth in there, but it is only really their Diseased album. I am somewhat new to them and so far, I only have select songs from their earlier work I really like. THat's still subject to change, of course. 
Shinedown, Papa Roach and A Day To Remember are three bands that honestly never leave my favorites list. Even if I'm not actively playing them a lot, they will always hold a special place in my heart. As for I Prevail, they've been in my list also constantly since they released their Lifelines album in 2016. If I'm honest, without getting into it, I Prevail has helped get me through a lot of hard things life has thrown at me, and they continue to do so to this day. 

I've also been feeling a pull back to some of my old favorites, like Bullet For My Valentine and Three Days Grace. Those were two of the bands that actually lead me into getting into rock music several years ago. I'm talking like 2007. Three Days Grace has always been something I find myself going back to periodically, but Bullet not so much. "Waking the Demon" though will forever be a classic for me, and i will always love it, I swear. 

As for specific songs, where do I even start? After seeing I Prevail on August 3, I've had "Bow Down" and "Gasoline" stuck heavily in my head. They mix better than you might expect, I might add. I've also been loving, "Afterall" and "Believe" from Beartooth for months, no idea why really, they just speak to me. I've also been slightly attached to "Stronger on Your Own" and "The Light" by Disturbed, just because they're both super uplifting, and powerful. 

Oh! And I've been playing All Time Low again lately as well, but that's not for any particular reason. I just randomly chose to listen to them again one day last week, and went down a rabbit hole. I'm sure we all know how that goes. 
​
I honestly think that about covers it. Please let me know who and what you've been listening to. I'd love to hear what you all are thinking, and I will speak to you soon, hopefully. 

So I was talking to a friend of mine about concerts earlier, and he had said there's a few he remembers going to, but no details about the shows. I said I couldn't imagine that, considering I'm almost certain I can remember the dates of every show I've ever been to, and at least two of the bands I saw at almost every one. 
That gave me an idea; to make a list of every show I've ever been to. List the dates, and someone I saw at every show. Which is quite the feat for me, since I've been to 23 of them over the past fifteen years. Now given, a lot of them were festivals, and due to interviews or whatever, I never once caught every single band at any given festival. Its just not possible, especially at things like Warped tour, of which I went to three times. None the less, I thought this would be fun to try to do. 

Also quick disclaimer, I am in no way bragging by saying any of this. Almost every show I've been to have been something I had a pass for, and was there for working the event. That is the only reason I have been to so many. Well, that and we won a few off the radio several years ago. I'm not going to go into details about every show, as you will be reading for hours if I did that. If anyone wants me to go into more detail, I will be happy to do so, but for now I just added a little tidbit about each show. 

But yeah, without further ado, let's get into it. Also, feel free to do the same! I would love to hear any of your experiences as well. Or just any memory you have from a concert really, I always love hearing people's stories. 

⦁ Hilary Duff, August 4, 2004. I don't remember much of this show, as I was only 11. I have heard Teddy Geiger was her opening act, and I'm sure the was another one. However, I don't remember any of his set. Not even sure we actually saw him perform. 

⦁ Jonas Brothers, August 18, 2009. They had three opening acts, Jordin Sparks, some dancing girl's group that i don't think even sang a song, and a small pop band. I don't remember their name either oddly. The pop band was okay, whatever their name was, but clearly didn't make a lasting impression if I can't even remember their name. I looked up the two while writing this, and supporting them was Wonder Girls and Honor Society. I didn't remember that at all. 

⦁ Three Days Grace, February 26, 2010. Opening for them was Flyleaf and Breaking Benjamin. We were super impressed with Flyleaf, and were at one point concerned that the guitarist was going to head bang himself right off the stage. Benjamin from Breaking Benjamin also was very sick at the time, and it showed. He could barely get off a stool, but he sounded great. Three Days Grace blew us away, honestly. They were my favorite band at the time, but to this day I would say Adam Gontier is one of the best performers I've ever seen. 

⦁ Carnival Of Madness, June 20, 2010. This show was headlined by Shinedown, supported by 10 Years, Sevendust, and Puddle of Mudd. This is the show that hooked me on not only Shinedown live, but being close to the stage. It was my first time being on the floor, and I was so scared. I learned after that show not to be afraid and how incredible it is to be so close to everything. This was also the first time I ever met a band, which was 10 Years. I don't remember much of it, but they're super nice. 

⦁ Escape The Fate, January 30, 2011. They were supported by Drive A, Alesana and Get Scared. Only band I don't remember much was Alesana, and I think that's because I chose not to watch them. We spent a lot of time talking to Drive A, which ended up leading to my first ever interview, which came just a couple months later. Also met Max Green, who I am positive was so high he could barely see, but he was very nice. 

⦁ Avenged Sevenfold, May 10, 2011. They were supported by Three Days Grace and Bullet For My Valentine. This was an adventure of a show. My mom almost passed out in line from the heat, we met BFMV and I gave myself permanent knee damage by falling off my chair during A7X. Would have broken it actually, except my best friend and the girl behind me caught me as I fell. But we had such a kick ass time none the less. One of my favorite little concert memories comes from this actually. Just full blown screaming along to "I Hate Everything About You" with my best friend. It was something so little, but always makes me happy to look back on. 

⦁ Mayday Parade, November 18,2011. They were supported by We Are The In Crowed, There For Tomorrow and You Me at Six. This was my first time ever with a press pass, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I don't think I saw There For Tomorrow at all really, maybe a song or two. Not sure why. Only ones I really remember were We Are The In Crowd and Mayday Parade, and I don't really remember details about either of their performances. Except I remember Taylor from WATIC was in a boot from falling on her guitarist after they both hopped a fence for some reason, and Alex from Mayday Parade had a massive whole in his pants. Oh! And that Mayday Parade made me cry by playing Miserable At Best and Stay back to back. 

⦁ X-Mas Ball, November 23,2011. X-Mas ball was an annual concert held around Christmas every year by the local radio station. That was actually the last one they did, and it was headlined by Avenged Sevenfold, and supported by Black Veil Brides, Asking Alexandria, and Hollywood Undead. Honestly we had fun, but the sound system was not working in anyone's favor, and Danny Worsnop was incredibly drunk at the time. I only really watched BVB and A7X, due to the sound system being awful that night. I just wished BVB would have had a longer set. I spent most of the time in the hallway chilling with two friends. And there we met a Craig Mabbitt lookalike, who was quite flattered we thought he looked like him. 

⦁ Adelita's Way, December 1, 2011. This one was headlined by Adelita's Way and supported by Art Of Dying and Emphatic. I don't remember much of anyone's actual performance, aside from ending up on the stage for Emphatic. All I remember was actually before and after the show because this was the day I got my first in person interviews. I interviewed Rick DeJesus from Adelita's Way for two hours while following him around the bar -he told me to that. I actually need to properly tell that story. And spent most of the other time chatting with Cale Gontier of Art of Dying. It was such a unique experience and I've never had another one quite like it. 

⦁ Warped tour, July 22, 2012. That date might actually not be accurate, and it was actually a terrible experience. We were there for 3 hours, saw nobody, but might have heard some of We Are The In Crowd, if I remember correctly, and left. The venue was run like shit, all the press stuff was fucked. I was extremely disappointed and actually wrote off Warped tour for several years because of it. 

⦁ Uproar Festival 2012, September 13, 2012. I don't even know who all performed that day, and this was my first festival. Give me a second to remember who all I saw, as all of my memories pertained to interviews or something related to the journalism. I saw Mindset Evolution, Soulswitch, Godsmack, Shinedown, Adelita's Way again, Nine Lives, Within Reason, Seether, Candlelight Red, And I know I heard some of  POD, Fozzy and Staind. I didn't get to watch their sets though due to interviews. While I cannot tell you much from any of the action concert, I can solidly say this was one of the best fucking days of my life. Its another story I need to sit down and properly tell you eventually. 

⦁ All Time Low, November 11, 2012. They were supported by The Downtown Fiction, and Hit The Lights, and this was another adventure of a show. I loved it, but did have my eardrum blown out by something popping in a speaker during Hit The Lights. Also got crushed into the stage due to Jack Barakat climbing onto the speaker, and fangirl's flooding the barricade. But they did put on one hell of a performance, I sincerely loved it. Just their fans are a little intense when packed into a sold out show. 

⦁ Shinedown, March 13,2013. This time was Shinedown supported by Three Days Grace, adn POD. This was my third time seeing both Shinedown and Three Days Grace, but first with Matt Walst. Yeah.....best not to get me started on that again. I found Matt to be very disrespectful, and I kind of made it clear to him. I'm not proud of it, but I do sort of get a laugh out of my self for it. But Shinedown once again was absolutely incredible. POD didn't really give a memorable performance, and their bass was so loud it shook the floor and it kind of hurt to stand in front of the speaker. 

⦁ Fort Rock 2013, April 14, 2013. This is another one where an experience went wrong, so we didn't get to stay long. I don't even remember who all was playing, but all I got to actually see were Pop Evil, and Hell or Highwater. I don't remember either performance as I was fighting with security for most of that time. They didn't want me to have my camera despite me having a pass, with a magazine that's no longer in existence. Only positive memory I have is seeing my name in print. I was published in Spot Magazine, and it debuted at Fort Rock. 

⦁ Spring Fever tour; April 16, 2013. Headlined by Pierce The Veil and All Time Low, supported by Mayday Parade and You Me At Six. We got lost and missed You Me At Six entirely, but we saw everyone else. I honestly LOVED Pierce The Veil live. They had such an incredible energy, and it just made me appreciate them so much more. All Time Low also put on one hell of a performance, though admittedly all I really remember were the sexual comments being thrown between Jack and Alex. 

⦁ Zach Myers and Justin Moore Acoustic, April 9, 2014. For context, Zach Myers is the guitarist of Shinedown, and Justin Moore is his best friend and the singer of Ingrahm Hill. Supporting them were Elisium, and a local band Dolt. All were incredible, but the main thing I remember was Zach and Justin's performance. They did the coolest thing I've ever seen. They had no set list for this tour, and no time limit. They played whatever they wanted, for as long as they wanted. It was the coolest thing ever. They played some of their own songs, some covers, they took a couple requests, they talked. It was just two friends playing music for fun, and it was incredible. Hell at one point, Zach came and sat next to me and said to Justin he looked good from down there. It was honestly so sweet, and I cannot say enough good about that night. I also got to interview them, which was a whole other incredible experience. But sincerely, every band should do a small tour like they did, it was magical.

⦁ Uproar 2014, August 31, 2014. I was mostly there for Escape The Fate, whom I had an interview with. I didn't have any sort of a pass, only an interview with them and Sons of Reverly. Sons of Reverly did not make a good impression on me, and I don't remember if they sounded good live. Actually only people I remember watching that day are them, Escape The Fate, and Godsmack. I know I saw other bands, but for the life of me I do not remember anyone else. All I really remember is my interview with Escape The Fate, walking to the stage with Craig Mabbit, and thinking my best friend was going to get his ass beat at one point. He had been checking out some girl, and she came over to him at one point. Come to find out she was a famous WWE wrestler named Paige, and was also there to hang out with Escape The Fate. He freaked the hell out and fanboyed so hard, and that's about all I remember from that day. 

⦁ Adelita's Way, September 22, 2014. They were supported by local bands Before The Fire and Dolt, and there was a lot of technical difficulties. It had rained and some equipment got messed up, so honestly everything was off. My mom still to this day swears the speakers messed up her hearing from all the interference, and I could barely hear a word anyone said. It didn't help that Rick was sick, so mix that all together, and it just wasn't the best experience. 

⦁ Papa Roach, January 10, 2015. They were supported by Seether, Kyng and Islander, and honestly? There's a lot of great emotional memories attached to this show, but the venue was awful. All they cared about was selling alcohol, they had the lighting all messed up and the sound all wrong. They got better throughout the night, but they didn't even give the smaller bands a chance to sound good, and it was disappointing. However, one of my absolute favorite memories came from this show. One of my mom's favorite bands is Seether, and she hadn't gotten to see them. And Papa Roach is one of my favorite bands, and neither of us had seen them. It was the most incredible thing seeing her with happy tears on her face just singing along to Seether, and she said the same thing with me for Papa Roach. 

⦁ Fort Rock 2015, April 26, 2015. This was a proper festival and eventful as all hell. I had interviews with several bands set up, and there were sets on and off all day I was looking forward to. Give me a minute to remember who all I actually saw that day. Lola Black, We Are Harlot, Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach, Godsmack, and Slipknot. Oh, also listened to The Pretty Reckless, and from afar Motionless In White. They actually drowned out my Starset interview. That day was a blur, I can't even begin to explain it all. Though I did manage to get stuck on the barricade, then amuse security because he watched me struggle to get over it for five minutes. I couldn't get to the entrance of the press area, and I knew I was allowed up there so I said fuck it and was going to just climb over the barricade. However, I got my leg up on it and got stuck because of the sunburn on the back of the leg. Had to have a guy help me over and he was not comfortable with that because he thought he would get in trouble. I finally get over and a security guard asked if I was struggling. 

⦁ Warped tour 2015, July 3, 2015. This was an incredible day! This was actually the day that changed my opinion at Warped tour. I actually was there with a band! For those who don't know, I managed a band Remedy X for about six years, and all of 2014 I had been trying to get them on Warped tour. It didn't work for 2014, but the link still worked. So I reactivated it and they got on! We were literally like the first band up all day, so hardly anyone actually saw us, but it was still such a proud moment! We also then got to watch Escape The Fate, As It Is, Pierce The Veil, Black Veil Brides, Blessthefall, and heard Icon For Hire, Asking Alexandria, Knuckle Puck and Set It Off. We had such an incredible day, and I got the worst sunburn of my life but it was so worth it. 

⦁ Hollywood Undead; November 14, 2015. Only opening act they had was Evacuate The City, and this was an unexpected show. I had originallly had a pass for an opening band that I now don't remember the name of. They last minute dropped off, leaving me with no pass. I am not a Hollywood Undead fan, but my boyfriend at the time was a fan, and we were almost there anyway, so we were still going. I ended up being so impressed and not going to lie, freaked out a little because every member of Hollywood Undead ended up with an Immortal Music bracelet. That had never happened before, and it warmed my heart. We also made a new friend that night in the line, and come to find out met Hollywood Undead and nobody had a clue til they took their masks off on the stage. Apparently they don't usually do that, but they did for our show. 

⦁ Fort Rock 2016, April 30 & May 1. This was a blurry and incredible couple of days. I don't believe I had any interviews, but I still certainly tried. Let me see if I can remember who all I saw over those two days. Saint Asonia, Sevendust, Pop Evil, Five Finger Death Punch, Megadeth, A Day To Remember, Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon, Bullet For My Valentine, Sixx.AM, 3 Doors Down, Shinedown, and Disturbed. I probably forgot someone, and that's just who all I took pictures of. I more than likely watched someone else that day that I have completely forgotten about. That was a blur of two days, and was so insane I claimed I would never do a two day festival ever again. Then proceeded to do it again the following year. All I know for sure is it was actually incredible, and oh god do Bring Me The Horizon take their God damn mosh pits seriously. 

⦁ Fort Rock 2017, April 30, 2017. This was one of my more disappointing events. I wasn't that thrilled with the lineup that year, but still had a pass none the less. I also only got to cover four bands, those being In This Moment, Alter Bridge, Seether and Of Mice And Men. I know I also watched Three Days Grace and Papa Roach, and listened to Chevelle and part of Def Leppard's set. During Seether however, a security guard hosed down two crowd surfers, sprayed my camera and ruined it. My camera refused to take any more pictures after that, and I discovered this while trying to cover Papa Roach. I proceeded to spend the rest of the night running all over trying to talk to the head of security who the next morning basically told me to fuck off. He said it in better words, but still. It was easily my worst festival experience ever. We returned to the festival the next day just to watch I Prevail, and left. I must say, this festival is what helped killed my passion for the journalism. It was already disappearing at this point, but that ruined all of it. 

⦁ Warped Tour 2018, August 5, 2018. This was the absolute FINAL Warped tour, and I decided we had to go to the last one. Despite this being at the venue I had previously had massive issues with, we actually had a pretty good time. I went with my boyfriend at the time, and best friend, and we only went for a few bands. All of which we did get to see. Those bands were Mayday Parade, Motionless in White, As It Is and Simple Plan. Honestly, don't have a ton to say about this one. We had a lot of fun, met Ronnie from As It Is and Brooks from Mayday Parade, sweated a lot. I will say As It Is' performance sparked something for me I hadn't felt in a long time -the actual love and excitement for live music. You all know what I'm talking about, its a special feeling. This was the first festival I had ever been to without a pass, so it was a whole new thing for me. 

⦁ Shinedown & Papa Roach, Febuary 20,2019. So I ended up going last minute to this, as my parents had the tickets and decided not to go. I had a lot of mixed feelings about this show, and it probably didn't help that I wasn't in the best space at the time. I didn't feel good, and had a massive headache the entire time. On top of that though, we were at the far back of the floor, to the point I couldn't see anything. I felt extremely disconnected from the whole thing, and it was disappointing for me. I will say though, I was happy to see Shinedown for the fifth time, they still never disappoint. Papa Roach oddly didn't hold my attention much, partly because of the newer music. I am not that into the new album, and it was brand new at that point, so I also didn't know much of it either. So that didn't help. It was a bunch of things stacked on top of each other, and it was nobody else's fault really. Life got in the way, I guess. 

So that's every show I have ever been to! That's 26 shows since 2004, with most of them being in the last nine years. Tomorrow actually, I am going to my 27th show, which is I Prevail, supported by Justin Stone and Issues. I had no idea who Justin Stone was, aside from him being featured in I Prevail's "Rise Above This", and while he doesn't seem to be my cup of tea, I am looking forward to seeing what he can do. I also have seen Issues two times, but both times were partial. I honestly can't say I've paid much attention to them either time, and I don't even think I mentioned them? I saw them at one of the Fort Rock's, totally forget what year, and Warped tour 2018. 

But yeah, I honestly cannot wait for tomorrow's show. I haven't been this excited for a concert in so long. I plan on vlogging it the best I can so stay tuned to the YouTube channel, and who knows I might even write about it. 

I'm running out of things to say now, so please feel free to tell me all about any shows you've ever been to. Or even just shows you want to go to, or even are going to. Anything goes. I just really did this because I wanted to see if I could remember them all, and while I did cheat and check my own Facebook a few times, I did it. That being said, I didn't realize until I had them all listed like this that its 26 shows. I solidly thought it was 23, and I have no idea what shows I was forgetting to count. 

Honestly, this was nice and I hope this was interesting to anyone aside from me. If not, oh well, I guess.  It was nice to write like this again. 

The 24th, and final Vans Warped tour came to an end on Sunday, August 5 in West Palm Beach, Florida. I decided to go to it with my boyfriend and my best friend, and I've been going back and forth on writing about it ever since. I don't know, I've kind of lost my taste for writing some, and I did do a vlog. Not a very good vlog, but I did vlog none the less. So I was questioning if it was even worth it to write, but I keep getting the slight nagging feeling to do it. So clearly that means I must, even though its four days later and I am beginning to feel like its irrelevant at this point. I'm going to try to ignore that feeling, and press on. Also, if you've been here a while and have read any of my other concert ramblings, you will know they're a bit all over the place. Events and times may be told out of order, its all just as I remember them.

So, we chose to go to the West Palm Beach date, which actually is notorious for being awful. Not due to the sound or the sales, or even the crowds. But behind the scenes is awful, and from what I heard from a friend of mine who was behind the scenes with a press pass, that had not changed. However, this was my first festival ever without a pass, and my first show in several years without a pass.  It was such a foreign concept to me to not have a pass, to the point that I still started to walk to the media tent when we arrived for my tickets. That's usually where I got them, so it was basically muscle memory. 

But because our tickets were not there, we actually went to the box office and that took all of two minutes. There was no line, and it was quick and easy. Cost me $108 for two tickets, but whatever, it was worth it. Security was a breeze, which is something I'm not actually overly used to at shows. As press, I don't even go through security most of the time, but usually have at least one or two stop me to start to tell me I couldn't bring my bag in. That never lasts, as soon as they realize I'm press they leave me alone. But they were a total breeze, didn't even mind that I was actually carrying stuff for a friend that was with me so I had double the things. 

We get inside and Mayday Parade is already on stage. They were on the Journey's Left Foot stage and both of the Journeys Stages were set up in the amphitheater at our venue. My best friend and I really needed to pee, because we did have a two and a half hour drive over to the venue, so we made a beeline straight for the bathrooms while my boyfriend went and sat down in the amphitheater. I know this sounds like a completely random detail that is irrelevant but the reason I wanted to include it was because not only was it an actual bathroom, not a port-a-potty, but because I could hear the music perfectly. It was like I wasn't missing a thing, because I could hear it word for word, every instrument just fine. It was just a little muffled due to the concrete walls. 

Like for real, I was sitting there singing along to "Jersey" while doing my thing. It was just something I haven't experienced at a lot of shows. Usually if you have to go to the bathroom, you're either using a disgusting port-a-potty or are missing your entire show because you set off to find a real one. Plus, there was no line, which is extremely rare. Then again, it was only a few minutes after noon and the doors had only been open for one hour, so maybe that's why it was so empty. 

Anyway, I just wanted to quick acknowledge that because that was a venue note that I greatly appreciated. By the way, I might pin point a handful of things regarding this venue, which was the Coral Sky Amphitheater just because I actually have been to Warped tour at this venue before. My very first Warped tour in 2012 was held there and we had such a horrible experience there that frankly, I was slightly unhappy to go back. I only chose to because I really wanted to say I went to the absolute final Warped tour since it was in Florida. This ended up being a very good experience, but you're going to hear more about that as we continue this conversation. 

Now that I put that little tidbit out there, I can get back to what I was saying. So we watched Mayday Parade from afar unfortunately. The pit stayed consistently full through every performance from what I saw, which was completely to be expected. We had to sit on the upper part of the amphitheater, so frankly Mayday Parade looked a bit like specs on the stage. But they still sounded great! It was my 3rd time seeing them, second at an outdoor venue. 

I will say nothing about their performance stood out to me, except for Derek's bright pink shorts. Those stood out greatly to me, but I do think that might be because they were so far away and I'm used to being extremely close to the stage. I feel like I felt a little disconnected from the music that way, which sounds entirely stupid now that I put it out there. I don't know, maybe its not stupid. You can't feel the base, or see the facial expressions, you're not really interacted with when you're far back, ect. I still enjoyed them though, and it was nice to see them with my best friend and boyfriend. It was their first time seeing Mayday Parade and they were extremely happy to be seeing them at all. Like most Warped tour performances, it was short. They only played like five songs and I'm suddenly forgetting all of them. I know they ended on one off of their new album Sunnyland, which I haven't gotten a chance to listen to much yet. I'm sorry, everything was such a blur, this is actually why I'm supposed to vlog a lot more than I actually did. 

As soon as Mayday Parade said their good byes and started to depart the stage, we got up and started working our way to the Mutant Lightning Stage, which is where Motionless In White was playing. Now I'm actually not a fan of Motionless In White, but they're one of my best friend's favorites and my boyfriend loves them as well. Nobody else was on at that time that I really wanted to see, so I went with them just to take pictures. That being said, and I may get some hate for this, for some reason Motionless In White gives me such a headache. I really can't pin point why that is, because lyrically I like them, as people I like them. I don't dislike the sound of their music, but for some reason without fail, I get a headache from Motionless In White almost every time.

Live was no different, and by the way, this was not my first time seeing them. I saw them when they were basically brand new with Escape The Fate in January 2011. If I remember correctly, they gave me a headache back then too. I wanted to give them a second chance, so I did. I will say I enjoyed watching Chris Motionless on stage. Sadly he was the only one I really could see because of the angle we were at, I really only got glimpses here and there of anyone else. I tried to get some pictures, but that didn't quite work out. 

I was actually extremely disappointed with the lack of pictures I managed to get. I didn't account for the fact that I usually I get a ton of pictures just in the press area, and then I usually don't focus on the photography because its damn near impossible from the middle of the crowd. I was extremely worried about my camera getting crushed, or wet, plus it felt like it was overheating at one point. I don't think it really was, but its black, and it was easily 95 outside so it grew very hot to the touch. So between all that, I honestly only got pictures of Motionless In White and As It Is. And As It Is wasn't even by me, that was by my boyfriend, Jesus. He has a natural talent for photography and is 6'3 so he can actually see over the heads of everyone else. I wanted pictures during As It is, so I just handed the camera off to him, and I am so glad I did. 

Which is actually the perfect lead in to the absolute highlight of my day, which As It Is' performance. This was my second time seeing them, with the first being on Warped Tour 2015. I honestly love them, and have since they started. I actually initially found them back in the days when Patty Walters did YouTube and a lot of covers. His covers lead me to an early version of "Can't Save Myself", I believe it was, and they've come so far since then. Their third full length album comes out tomorrow, and actually just before their performance, someone was selling advanced signed copies. So we got one for $15 and I already did a review. Please click here to read it, I am so excited about it and love it so much. I'm proud of them.

Also wanted to point out that they had a signer! They had a girl on the left side of the stage signing as someone talked before hand, and during every song. And she was having a blast, you could tell! I was having fun watching her and I don't even understand ASL. That was something I thought was incredibly awesome, plus they had someone on the stage speaking about mental health. I completely forget who he was, but I think I got most of his speech on camera, so that's cool. 

There was also a moment that hit me right in the 'feels' as the internet would say. You know that feeling you get in your chest when a band you really enjoy is on stage and in that moment nothing else matters? Its been a very long time since I've felt that when a band first comes out on stage. Like I said before, this was my first show without a pass in a very long time. So usually, when a band starts their hype music and starts walking out on stage, I'm focused. I'm snapping pictures and trying not to bump into other photographers. This was different, and it feels a little silly to say this, but I found myself tearing up a little bit like as soon as they started. 

This wasn't because of them really, but it was because they gave me that feeling again that music is supposed to give you. I feel like I got a little desensitized to that from working so hard for so many years on the journalism. I didn't always enjoy music and shows the same.  I still got those moments but they weren't overwhelmingly joyful, and they were never right off the bat like that. I really appreciated that feeling and had to acknowledge it. 

I absolutely loved their performance, they were such high energy, and have grown so much since the first time I saw them. The first time was great too, but I could see not only how excited they were to be on Warped tour but how much fun they all were having.

Also got such a laugh out of Patty Walter's because when he took a moment to introduce the band, he said, "We are My Chemical Romance, welcome to the 2005 Warped tour." I honestly bust out laughing at that because my first comment upon seeing the promo shots for the Great Depression album was, "Hey MCR is back." Totally jokingly, I might add. 

He also gave a whole speech about how he doesn't enjoy the "typical front man bullshit." Of telling fans what to do, and asked if everyone was having the best day of their lives. Of course he was answered with screams, rather than actual words, but Patty had more to say anyway. He said something along the lines of, "Its okay if you're not. You can have the second best day of your life, or whatever day you feel like having." That's when he lead into the speech about the front man bullshit, and said he doesn't want to tell people what to do. "So anything I tell you to do is merely a suggestion." 

So that something different that definitely stood out. But honestly I just had a ton of fun during their set, even helped a crowd surfer up. Kind of felt bad because the only way I was able to help was pushing up on her backside when someone started to drop her, but there was nothing else  I could do. For some reason people kept picking up crowd surfers right next to me, so I did get kicked three times and was on the edge of a mosh pit at one point as well. I actually have that part on camera. 

The song that stood out the most to me was "Dial Tones" because wow, the energy on that song! Patty was highly encouraging people to get as loud as possible, and just go for it. He actually said something about us owing it to ourselves to not only be the best Florida date but the best date of the entire tour. Which of course got people going insane, but obviously that's a matter of opinion so I'm sure other bands had better crowds at different dates. There were people actually screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs, and it looked like the entire band was actually laughing with just pure excitement over the energy. It was an extremely cool thing and is one of those moments I wish I could go back to. 

I forgot to mention this too, on the way to the As It Is tent, we actually met Brooks Betts from Mayday Parade, and bought a signed copy of Sunnyland, their newest album, and got mostly escorted to their merch tent by him and their friend. I have most of that on camera, but I wanted to throw that out there because I completely forgot to mention it. A review of Sunnyland will be coming soon as well, so please stay tuned for that. 

So after As It Is was finished, as much as I wanted them to stay on, it was time for Simple Plan. They were on the Journey's Right foot, so we headed back to the amphitheater and had a hell of a time finding a spot to sit. Finally found one, even further back than we were for Mayday Parade, and I couldn't see anything. We only stayed for three songs, which were "Jump", "I'd Do Anything" and "Welcome To My Life." Which let me tell you, "Welcome To My Life" live is awesome! I couldn't see anything except people's butts, but hearing thousands of voices singing such a classic song was just incredible. I don't really have words but that too is in the vlog.

Because we couldn't see though, we decided to try to go to the As It Is signing, because why not? After some searching, we did finally find it but there was such a long line, so we kind of just said never mind. We then debated if there was anyone else we absolutely wanted to see, and there wasn't really. Everyone else were all ones that we didn't mind seeing but weren't dying to watch, and it was already going on three o'clock. So we decided to wander the merch tents and slowly work our way out from there. 

Its actually the first time I've ever left a show early and felt content. We all felt that way, and it was honestly a great experience. I don't really know what else to say there except I also got some merch, all of which has been posted on the Facebook page. 

I honestly think that covers it. So I want to ask, did you go to any of the dates on the last Warped tour? And if you did, what date did you go to and what were the highlights for you? You heard everything from me, and if you want to watch the vlog for it please do. You can watch that by clicking here, or check out my outfit ideas video which could easily work for any event by clicking here. You can also read my review of As It Is' The Great Depression by clicking here, and you can get that wherever music is sold starting tomorrow. The Sunnyland review is coming soon, and I'm now officially out of things to say.

So thanks for reading, and hopefully I will be able to get back into doing this more often sometime soon. 

Hey all! My name is Alexis and I am a new writer for Immortal Music! How about we get into a little background information on myself?

I currently am 19, although I will be 20 later this year. I am going into my third year at my hometowns local university! I am a Family & Consumer Sciences major and English minor in the Secondary Program at my university. I come from a split home and have battled with depression and anxiety, and I still do almost every day. Despite that, I still enjoy being around friends and even going out to nightclubs on occasion with my friends! One of my favorite TV shows is Supernatural, which I recently had the pleasure of attending one of their conventions earlier this month!

Since I was a kid, I’ve always been surrounded by rock music, primarily by my dad. Whenever we would go out to run an errand or something we would listen to Nirvana or Pearl Jam, some of the more classic rock bands. However, my mother is really into country music, which I am not much of a fan. But I digress.

I primarily listen to a majority of the rock/alternative genre, but I do listen to some pop and even the occasional rap genre. Some of my favorite bands are Nothing More and Set It Off, and lately have been really into As It Is.

However, when I’m really pissed off, I have been known to blast Suicide Silence, or if I want to tone it down a notch I’ll play Of Mice & Men or Motionless In White. I have been to multiple concerts, including Black Veil Brides, Nothing More, Panic! At The Disco, and later this month I’ll be seeing Set It Off and Fall out Boy in October.

So that’s me! Hopefully I’ll be around for a while to get to know some of you guys, but until then I give you my best wishes! 

-Alexis Martin! 

Note from Ariel: Please be sure to give her a very warm welcome, and stay tuned because we are both getting to work on a bunch of great content for all of your out there! Also, if you're reading this and feel as though you're interested and want more information on possibly coming to write for Immortal Music, please click here. Submissions are still completely welcomed, though we are not onboarding anyone else at this time. 

Two days ago, I posted that we were looking for three to four writers for Immortal Music with honestly very little hope that anyone would even see it. I was very pleased to see that I was incorrect with that, as I woke up yesterday morning to two responses. 

Its not a ground breaking amount of answers, but it was still a response and I was extremely excited about it! I did decide to bring one of them on, her name is Alexis and she will be introducing herself to all of you later today or tomorrow. She seems great, and seems to have a fantastic attitude along with a writing style that I enjoyed. 

Now, here's the reason I'm actually writing this. Its not only to make Alexis feel welcomed, though she definitely is and hope she feels it. Its also to address a previous post, and by that I mean, the one where I first acknowledged that I was looking for writers at all. 

I still am accepting submissions, however, I think it would be best to build a team slowly rather than all at once. I have had very little experience having writers under me, and I would like to do things right. So I feel like while we learn a rhythm and methods to make everything run smoothly, it probably would be best to work on one one for now. So, you can still feel free to submit your work with some information, but I will be holding off for now on bringing anyone else in. 

Also as I bring in more people, I will be looking for more specific things. Currently I don't know what those things are, but your music preferences will play a big factor. I want to create diversity so I don't want too many lines to cross. Alexis and one of my other submissions that is on hold for the time being both have similar interests to myself, but also different ones so we can cover more ground. 

The number one thing I know I want in the future though is someone that enjoys multiple genres, so they can cover a ton of bases. Namely rap, hip hop or anything country. I'm sure there's readers out there that would love to see that stuff as well, but since I am not into those genres even slightly, they've never been reached. 

So don't feel discouraged if you want to possibly help with Immortal Music! I will be bringing in more, I just want to do a trial run first and work slowly. We are still building, it just takes time! So if you want to submit anything, please go here to see what all your need to send over and then feel free to email me! 

Meanwhile, please stay tuned because Alexis and myself will be trying to bring Immortal Music back to life! We're hoping to get a bunch of content coming soon, so please stay tuned and be sure to give Alexis a very warm welcome! 

​I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I miss Immortal Music. I don't know if anyone else does, or if anyone would even see this, but its true. I miss the entire life that came with music journalism. The planning, writing, promoting, the interacting with fellow music lovers and professionals alike, the shows. I miss it all. It made me feel productive and important and I feel that is something I lack without Immortal Music.
​
However, all of that being said, I have found it incredibly difficult to find the motivation to write. I can't explain why that is, considering I think about it still on the daily. I think its just because I know I won't get back to where I used to be, and I tend to be quite busy. That's not an excuse, but I think that's why I keep getting discouraged from trying again. I had an idea though, and I wanted to see if anyone else would be on board with it. 

I was thinking Immortal Music could expand, and I could bring in other writers. I've tried this a little bit in the past, and didn't end up having the most positive experience, but I'm hoping maybe I can do things better. Someone suggested to me a while back that I cover more genres and because of who it came from, I kinda ignored that suggestion. I didn't want any of his advice, and it always seemed to come from a place of negativity anyway. 

The thought has recently cropped back up though and I've been thinking about it a lot. If we could cover more genres, therefor more ground, maybe a bigger audience could be reached. I could still do whatever I wanted, but then also have branches, if you will. Other people to research news, review albums, tell stories, even cover shows for different genres. For example, I don't care for rap or country, but maybe someone else does and has a passion for writing or photography. 

So I was thinking of coming up with an application, and interviewing some potential writers. I just have to keep up my end and make sure to edit and post all the content sent to me. Of course there will be some ground rules, though we will get into those soon. First here's the application information. 

If you are interested, please email me at immortalmusic527@yahoo.com with all of the following information. 

• First and last name
• Preferred name (if you would rather use an alias or just have a preference)
• Location
• Favorite bands or artists
• How long you've been writing or why you're interested in starting
• Age
• Three random facts about yourself

1. An example of your writing style. This could be you writing a blog post, explaining why you think you'd be good for Immortal Music, telling some sort of story from a concert or why a song touches your heart, or a review of one of your favorite albums. Get creative with it, that's all yours! Just please try to keep it between 300 and 800 words.

I would like to bring in three or four more writers. I primarily listen to rock, pop punk, metal and on occasion heavy metal. If you're into those as well, that's not a problem. I would like to find one more person that likes those genres, especially heavy metal due to the fact that I do not tend to gravitate toward that genre. I also would like to find someone who likes rap/ hip hop, country, and pop. If you like all of that, absolutely apply!

As long as you're motivated and interested, I would love to hear from you. No promises that you will be brought on, and I will say this does NOT PAY. I would love to be able to pay my writers but unfortunately, I have never even been paid for this so its a bit out of the question. Maybe one day that will be possible, but until that day comes, the only payment is exposure and experience. I apologize for that, I know that is the last thing any writer ever wants to hear, but we all start somewhere. 

There will be some ground rules, but we will get into that privately once you've been accepted. No sense in boring everyone with the details. They're important, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. 

I will say journalism is a lot of fun, a lot of work and can get a little bit stressful at times. We will work together through those times and grow a lot of experience together. 

So if you're interested in joining the team, and are serious about writing and music, please email me all the information above at immortalmusic527@yahoo.com. You can also private message the Facebook page, but I would much rather the email. Facebook doesn't always show me notifications as quickly as it should, where as I do see the emails. 

Thank you for your interest, and I look forward to hearing from you! Together maybe we can grow and do something great. 

Greetings! Its once again been a very long time since my last post. I do apologize for that, that was by far not my intention. If this is the first article you're seeing at all in close to a year and you're thinking, "Ariel, what on Earth are you talking about?" Please click here. 

If this is the first time you're coming across Immortal Music at all, then hello! Welcome to Immortal Music, a website made by a music fan, for other music fans! There's a lot of things I have done with this website, and a lot more I would like to do. Back in November, I posted about wanting to start sharing stories regarding music. Stories of concerts, memories that are connected to songs, ect. Those stories were going to come from myself, and anyone else that was interested.

However, not a single person expressed interest. I have actually shared a handful of stories, and many more photos over on Instagram, Just after posting that as well, despite all my intentions being there, life changed completely. In that article, I stated that I got a lot of personal gains during my seven month hiatus from Immortal Music, including a place to call my own. Well, just a few short days after that was posted, everything changed.

I ended up getting very sick from an allergic reaction, leaving me unable to breathe properly for close to a month. I also ended up moving, and very briefly had three jobs. All that changed, I went down to one job that actually allowed a lot of free time. But, not being able to breathe properly left me highly unmotivated. I also found myself greatly missing my social life, as it went from being abundant and pleasant, to virtually non existent. So rather than focusing on work, I found myself focusing on friendship and art. 

I've taken my camera out with my a few times now, though I have yet to take it to any kind of show. Local or other wise, though it is a goal. I've found such joy and relaxation almost from taking pictures of anything I could see. Some of my favorite pictures are actually from Epcot's Flower And Garden Festival, and of other people. Don't worry -those other people are not strangers! They're of friends, and my friend's daughter. Looking at the new pictures I've taken has had me reflecting on how much I've grown as a photographer. I've been sharing pictures I've taken between 2011 and now over on Instagram, and most of them are from shows I've covered. Not all, but most. 

Its made me miss covering shows again. Actually, a lot of things have made me miss shows. Part of it is probably because I was so active in the music world for so many years that I don't know much different. Most everything professional to me, gets related back to the music world because that's just what I know and am used to. Part of it is because I have found my love of music again, and for years my love of music always came with the journalism and wanting to share it with the world. 

I also still want to try to get people involved, and hear other people's stories, but I can't make people interact, you know? I think honestly I've just started missing everything again. I'm currently working two jobs and honestly don't really have a ton of time, but I sincerely really want to make things work. My issue is I have random bursts of being very ambitious.

In my head, I'm the kind of person that can handle two jobs, get a lead on a third, and transition into two full time jobs. I can do both of those, where I'm working probably around 50+ hours a week, manage an up and coming band from another country, cover shows all over the state, write, edit, post and promote it all, and film and edit videos as well. All while somehow finding time to have a social life, and learn to drive as well. 

Realistically, I know that's not possible at all. I don't say that to be negative, I say that because as I write this I am sick from working a lot and adjusting to such a busy life style again. And I know others are busier than me, and I am by far not complaining. That's actually where my optimism comes from, because I know there are people out there that manage to do 'it all.' Somewhere in my head, I do imagine it will all be possible, it just takes time.

I also didn't mean to go on a ramble here, if I'm being completely honest. I had a purpose for writing today and then it turned into whatever this is. The whole reason I started writing was because I do want to get the website active again. I want it to all look very nice, and I want to start posting everything again. Whether or not that really will happen, or how active it will be, who knows.

All I know is I do want to make an effort to post random blogs, stories, news, even reviews again. I have requests out to cover two shows, those are Sum 41's Does This Look Infected? 15th Anniversary with Seaway and SuperWhatevr, and the final Vans Warped tour. I'm really looking forward to both, and hope to be able to bring you guys along for either. The Warped tour date I've requested is the absolute last one ever on August 8, in West Palm Beach, and I am just hoping to hear back about it soon. 

Its been so long since I've even been to a show, and I miss the energy of the crowd. I miss the vibes and the fun, even the chaos that comes with covering a show. I miss it all. 

Hopefully the motivation stays put and everything works out as planned. Hopefully you guys are here for it as well. I look forward to speaking to everyone soon and trying to get active again. Here's hoping I can do it all and we will talk very soon. Stay tuned.

Hi there!  Its been quite a while since the last time I posted on here, and I suppose I owe you guys an explanation on that. Maybe I don't, maybe nobody really cares, but honestly that doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is I feel like you guys deserve an explanation on this past year honestly. 
​
If anyone out there is still an active, or even somewhat active reader of Immortal Music, chances are they noticed the decline and sudden stop of content here on the site. It didn't start getting really spotty until the beginning of this year, but it was a bit slower toward the end of 2016. There's a lot of reasons for that, some of which I will not go into details about. I wrote a little bit about it last August, I discovered after looking back while revamping the website. I started hitting a burn out probably around mid 2016. At that point, I had been actively doing Immortal Music for five years, and had the Facebook page that's connected to the site for six. I had made it a goal to do everything and anything I could think of regarding this whole brand many years ago. 

But there's one slight issue that comes with such a goal. I made that goal before I had what I'm going to call 'A Day Job." When I fully started Immortal Music, I was 18. And while I had been actively applying for jobs left and right since I was about fifteen, nothing had stuck. No job stuck at all until I was 21, to be quite honest. So I went from being able to dedicate 8+ hours to planning, writing, editing, and promoting to making time. And despite what anyone says, this has been a job. I don't make money from it so many have said its just a hobby, but no. Its a lot of hard work, and it does get stressful sometimes. Especially when people start noticing.

I started pushing myself even harder just at the risk of never getting anywhere with it. I would see progress and worry that the press people that email me news updates regularly would just stop if I wasn't actively posting. 'Fans' would no longer interact with me. All my hard work would simply go to waste. So I started doing anything and everything I could. Reviewing albums I didn't like, and twisting my own thoughts so they didn't sound like I was hating on them. When honestly, I cannot tell you how many albums I listened to two or three songs from, used those as the songs I wanted to 'highlight' and posted it without giving it a second thought. This happened way too many times because I would hear just the style alone and completely hate it, but feel bad saying so because someone worked very hard on it. 

I started thinking the more content, the better. If I did an overhaul, people would notice. They would see my determination and realize I was serious and help me do the things I wanted to do. This sparked because of a festival in 2015 called Rock Allegiance. It was pretty much my dream lineup, and I wanted to go more than anything. Only problem was it was all the way in Pennsylvania, and I live in Florida. A friend of mine, whom I met through the Facebook page actually, and had been offering to help me for a long time, came up with the idea that we could work together to promote really well and maybe they would give me a pass for it. A pass, would also come with two tickets. One for me, one for her, and we would meet in person for the first time. This was a great plan to me, and I can't ever seem to do anything half-assed. 

So I proceeded to make a list of every single album or EP that every band on the lineup had. I don't remember how many there were now, so I'm going to guess around 20. I decided that we were going to make it a goal to review all of their albums, and EPs, post biographies and post any news that revolved around any of the artists, or the festival itself. Even with all that effort in mind, just due to the fact that I'm based out of a state fairly far away from where the festival is held, I figured I wouldn't get it. However, we did manage to get all of that content up, and I emailed the press woman for the festival about once a week with updates. 

We got it. We got the passes for the festival, but sadly didn't get to go due to some complications life likes to throw at you. I was disappointed for a little bit, but then a similar lineup was announced for Fort Rock. Which, if you've been around for a while, you're aware that I've now actually covered 3 Fort Rock festivals,and have been to all but one. I decided we had to do it all over again, just for this festival. 

I managed to write 120 album reviews, 22 biographies, and God knows how many news articles, and archived them all, all while working a retail job at holiday time. And this was in the time span of maybe a month and a half, I may add. All so I could cover a two day festival with a lineup I loved. I got it, and because of all that actually got that same festival this year with very little effort. 

The effort was fully planned, and started but the burn out was hitting very hard. Over 300 reviews are on this website, and admittedly most of them were written in that time. In the time, I was enjoying it for the most part, but for the wrong reasons. I liked feeling productive, and having that much content was definitely actually getting interaction that I had missed having. But I was no longer doing it for fun, or the love of music. I wasn't writing what I liked, I was doing what I felt needed to be written and in a timely manner. I made it a job, I suppose.

After so long of doing that, and a lot of things changing in my personal life, I stopped caring. I stopped wanting to do that. So I allowed myself a break and you know what I discovered? My fear of being dropped was proven to be dead wrong, This is the first time in 7 months I have posted on this website and I still get multiple press emails a day. That put my mind at ease, and allowed me to rest. I was able to focus a lot on personal gains, such as in that time I managed to purchase a brand new computer, my first DSLR, finally move out into my own space, and find my love of music again. 

That's something I definitely found myself getting detached from. I got to the point that I wouldn't listen to a new album until I had time (and drive) to review it. I can't even remember when that started, but I know it took me forever to get around listening to Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco or anything by I Prevail past their cover of "Blank Space" because I wanted to have time to do reviews. I did eventually get around to doing I Prevail's entire discography, but I can't tell you if I ever did one for Death of A Bachelor. All of the albums involved though ended up being things I love and play on a near daily basis. 

So because of wanting to do so many reviews, and not really having the time or motivation, I was missing out on great music. I was pushing myself away from something that made me insanely happy because I turned it into work. That's not okay, and I think everyone can agree with that.

After taking my break, and seeing that no harm was coming from it whatsoever, it got me thinking. Back in the early days of Immortal Music, when it was mostly just fun interactions through Facebook, I didn't know what 'professionalism' was. I talked about what I loved, what other people loved, held discussions, shared lyrics, ect. I fully just celebrated music with other music fans. I didn't worry about thinking someone wouldn't take me seriously, or I would sound like a 'fangirl', if I went on too long about certain bands. I was just having fun.  To be quite frank, I think that's why people interacted back then. It was just fun for all, and for the love of music.

I can't even tell you when or why I started making it a business and watching what I said online. I just did, and my personality was no longer shining through. Immortal Music has always been a touch of me, but I think over time, you couldn't see who I am through it at all.

So, if anyone out there would like to support me in this, I would like to fully celebrate music. You may be asking what exactly that means, but hang on, I'll properly explain. I still probably will do a review here and there, and I probably still will post news on occasion. But its going to be things I'm actively interested in, or someone out there really expressed interest in hearing my real thoughts on. That's going to be the kicker too, I have to make it a point to be fully honest. If I hear an album and I really don't care for it, its entirely okay to say its not my taste. I've always hated disappointing people, so I would always put a positive spin on things. That's really not okay, because technically its lying. 

What I'm primarily going to do though, is share pictures and stories from now on. I discovered, through this site no less, that I absolutely love photography. I have literally thousands of pictures saved on an external hard drive, and a ton of them have stories to them. Some you may have heard, some you may not have. So I thought it would be fun to focus more on the photography, and stories. I also used to always make fun lists of songs that I loved, some with categories, some without, I would talk about how I got into certain bands and what they mean with me. Anything music related I talked about, and I know others do it too. That's where I really need your help. 

I know everyone out there has some story related to music in one way or another. Whether its a picture you took from a concert, along with some memory of that night, how you met a musician you adore, or simply what a song means to you. Anything music related, I would love to hear and share. I'm going to create a new page (it may already be up, check the menu, and if its not there yet, please stay tuned) just for you guys and your stories. 

If you feel like sharing your photos, stories, favorite songs, anything you want that's music related, please do! I haven't quite figured out how I want to do the posting system. If I'm going to do it once a day or how ever much I feel, but we'll work that out as time goes by. Before that though, you obviously need to know how to submit your stories, right? 

Email us at; immortalmusic527@yahoo.com with all of the following; 
Your name / Alias 
Age 
General location 
Your photo (if applicable) 
Your story/ content
Your favorite social media w/ link if possible (OPTIONAL) 
                                                 (Example: Ariel /24/ FL Instagram: @Immortalmusic ) 

Please make sure you only use the content that is yours. Do not go getting an image off of Google and claim it is yours. Please always give credit where credit is due, and get permission whenever possible when using someone else's work. Do NOT give your full name, or address. For your safety, we do not want any of that. We only ask for your name or an Alias so we can give you the credit for your work. I will try to get your stories up as quickly as possible, but bare with me. Nobody will be forgotten, and I will try to email everyone back with a link to their posted article. 

You are highly encouraged to share with your friends, family, co-workers, pets, aliens -whoever you want! The whole point is to share the love of music with others, so have fun with it. Your content will be shared in a timely manner, and in your words, though I may edit it a bit. I will make sure it is still your work, but some grammatical or spelling errors may be fixed. 

Hopefully you guys are excited for this revamped Immortal Music as I am, and I hope to hear your stories very soon. Please keep checking the Facebook page and of course the website for future content from me. I have a few stories already planned to share, one of which probably wasn't really ever talked about in the past.

I apologize for the long winded post after such a long break and I look forward to speaking with you all soon. 

Thank you very much for all your support, you are the best and I love you all. 

April 29th, marked day one of the fifth annual Fort Rock festival here in Fort Myers, FL. It also marked day one of Welcome To Rockville, and together these two massive festivals kicked off what I like to call, festival season. Several others are set to occur in the coming weeks and months such as Carolina Rebellion, the iconic Rock On The Range, Rocklahoma, Rock USA, Northern Invasion, and so many others. 
​
I'm hopeful that all of those go very well for those who attend, and by far exceed my experience at Fort Rock 2017. As some of you may be aware, this was my third year in a row covering Fort Rock. I've only missed one year at all, and that was Fort Rock 2014. Every single year something has gone wrong on my end of things, and usually it's just interviews getting jumbled or the press company having some disorganization and misplacing my passes. Something like that. Something that in the end is easy to get past, but in the moment completely ruins my mood and causes a great deal of stress. 

This year however, apparently things were going a little too well. We got to the venue during Motionless In White's set, and got in the line to get my tickets and passes for the weekend. There was a nice breeze, and the guy up at the media tent actually remembered me from last year, which made getting my pass easier than any other year. Aside from the fact that it sounded like whoever was running the soundboard was sleeping on the job, things were looking very promising. 

We get inside, and I was just a little too late to cover Nothing More, so we decided to explore for a little bit. We first took a look at the merch, and was sadly disappointed. For the first time ever, I was not impressed with the merch at all. I actually only bought one thing out of the entire weekend, and that was an I Prevail shirt on day two. I posted a picture of it over on the Facebook page, if anyone is interested in seeing it or any other merch I have for that matter.

After that we headed over to the FYE tent, because FYE sponsors the event and sells records and CDs. They also have artists, both big and small, come do signings, which was our main reason for looking. Now, ironically, something had been telling me we needed to go to the festival earlier than we did, but due to the heat and not actively knowing why this feeling was there, we did not go. Come to find out, that was because Papa Roach did a signing that had just finished about twenty minutes before we got inside. They were probably still signing things when we were getting my pass. 

So as a big fan of Papa Roach, that was disappointing, but there will always be another chance in the future. By the time we got done in there, it was just about time to go cover the first band of the day: In This Moment.

I had a couple discoveries with them, and I was quite happy with them. For starters, they were extremely smart with the way they had the media enter this year. They set up the barricades in such a way that gave us our very own walk way. This sounds extremely minor, but it actually was extremely helpful. In past years, we were either given nothing and had to fight our way through the crowd, to get all the way up to the barricade or go through the VIP section. Both tended to have similar results -an argument with someone who didn't want to move or didn't think you belonged. 

So realizing that they actually thought ahead and gave us our own way in was fantastic! Then there was the experience of covering In This Moment. They are honestly a photographer's dream! If you've seen In This Moment, in person or even just in photos, you've seen that they all have a certain aesthetic to them that's very unique, and at times appeared to be inspired by the movie Silent Hill. Not only is that awesome, in person and on camera, but I also discovered very quickly that none of the members of the band,  aside from the drummer move very much. I don't know how those watching the performance felt about that, but as a photographer that is constantly trying to capture a moving target, I much appreciated it.

I've never had an easier time getting glamorous shots in my life, and I had an absolute ball doing so. It set a great tone for the day -I was sure things were just going to go fantastic. 
I also had a slightly alarming moment, before realizing what I was looking at. As you can see in the pictures below, they had back up, what I'm going to call 'dancers' on the stage. While I loved their outfits, and over all look, at a glance, it looked like they were completely nude  under the outfits. I had a brief moment of questioning if I was looking up at someone's private parts, but quickly realized they, and Maria alike, all had on skin colored leotards underneath. That gave me a good laugh, because I was shocked for a second.

After In This Moment was Of Mice And Men, who I actually have wanted and tried to cover for several years now. Surely by now most of you are aware that Austin Carlile, the band's frontman and screamer, departed from the band mostly for health reasons a few months ago, so all the songs were done by Aaron Pauley instead. I've never been a massive fan of Of Mice And Men, I will admit. They've had a handful of songs I've liked over the years, but unfortunately, I must say I was not overly impressed with their performance.

There's no particular reason for that, they just....didn't stand out to me. Only things I really want to say is I enjoyed hearing my favorite song from them, "Would You Still Be There" and their brand new song, "Unbreakable." But other than that, nothing stood out to me, which sadly says a lot as those were two of the three songs I photographed. 

Alter Bridge followed them, and it was basically the same thing to me. I had fun taking pictures, but aside from a song or two that was played while I was photographing, I wasn't overly interested in their performance. 

Just after Alter Bridge came Three Days Grace. I don't have a ton to say about them, except I actually was more impressed with them then I expected. I've talked about how I feel about modern Three Days Grace in previous posts through out the website, and let's just say the last time I saw Three Days Grace as they are now did not go over nicely. So I actually opted out of covering their performance, but I did pay a great deal of attention to them. I covered most of what I have to say about them in the vlog, so please click here to watch it. I did not actually take pictures of their performance, but got plenty of footage during their set. 

Unfortunately, here is where things started to drastically go down hill for me. Just as the bands that fully had my attention got on stage too -just my luck, right? Seether came on, and this was actually my third time seeing them, and second time covering them. I must say, I was highly impressed with not only their performance, but the pictures I got. The last time I saw them was at the Hard Rock in Orlando, FL in January 2015 and the venue was working against all of the photographers with the lighting so most of pictures from their performance were not fantastic.

This time however, I did get many good pictures, and greatly enjoyed that they played, "Nobody Praying For Me." They did that as their second song, and I was very happy about that because I do greatly enjoy the song, and they did not play it before. However, this is exactly when things fell apart. 

Two crowd surfers got over the barricade and stopped walking right next to me. They asked the security guard with the hose if he could spray them real quick, I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eye, and then all the sudden was sprayed with water. It got all over me, my camera and the camera of the guy next to me. I quickly borrowed a towel of another photographer to dry it off, and went back to taking pictures. I assumed there was no harm done. 

Then I went and sat down, just to watch the rest of Seether and was messing with my camera, just to check on it. I then realized it was freezing when I zoomed out, or tried to take a picture. The on / off button was doing nothing, and none of the other buttons were responding. So I popped the battery thing open, and the camera restarted itself. I did this a few times, and the problem appeared to go away. So while this was a new problem I had never experienced before, I tried to brush it off. 

It was soon time for my favorite act of the night, Papa Roach. I go up there to cover their set, and my camera refuses to cooporate. I would take one picture, and it would freeze, and I would have to pop the battery chamber open in order to take another picture. This whole process wasted a good ten seconds each time, I would say. Which when you only have three songs to get as many pictures as you possibly can -that's a lot of wasted time. I had to give up about half way "To Be Loved" which was the first song, and I fully admit, I was heart broken.

Not only was I greatly looking forward to covering Papa Roach, but now my camera was also broken. My camera has been one of my prized posessions, and something I worked hard to get. Not to mention, cameras are extremely expensive, especially when you work at a minimum wage job. Plus not being able to cover the band I was most excited for, when I had every right to, was also very upsetting. 

I recorded a lot during their set, but my mind the entire time was running a mile a minute, all regarding my camera. I texted my mother, who I am very close with, to tell her what happened, and to confirm that she was going to come get us after Papa Roach was done as originally planned. Rightfully so, she was also infuriated about my camera, and decided to come down to the venue anyways. 

Now, take this as you will, but somehow, after hearing about what was going on, the security at the front gate allowed my mother into the venue so she could help me find the head of security. She had absolutely no ticket, or pass of any kind, and told them that. She also had her purse, which they did not look in at all. Since she is a good person, this is fine, but for safety reasons, it actually would have made perfect sense for them to not allow her in or if nothing else, at least check her bag. 

The security guard we talked to though ended up being absolutely incredible, and told us a lot of information while trying her best to help us out. I wish I would have gotten her name, because I greatly appreciated her attitude and assistance. She was guarding the entrance for the VIP section, and my mother went straight to her, I found her soon after. She asked for every detail of what happened, and was furious for me. I even showed her what it was doing, and after that, she asked her supervisor if she could walk away from her post to help us find the head of security, Darnyll and JR. 

They tried calling JR's cell phone several times, he never answered, and he was no where to be found. We ran all over the place, including up in front of the barricade to talk to other security guards, and toward the behind the scenes area. Nobody could find who we were looking for, and he still wasn't answering. Word was now spreading among the security, and most were upset for me, and almost all were saying they were sorry and it would probably come out of the guy's paycheck. 

After searching for a good while, the security lady said we were welcome to sit down in the VIP section, and hang out while they waited for some information. By now Chevelle was on stage, and I was trying to focus on their set, not everything that was going through my head. It didn't work, and I sadly was not very impressed with the way Chevelle sounded, though I did recognize more songs than I expected to. 

We unfortunately had no luck and were asked to come back to talk to JR and Daryll at 8:30 the next morning. I've worked with this company before, which is DAK but thanks ot this experience, I learned a lot about how the company is run.

Almost all of the guards themselves were very nice, helpful, and took their jobs very seriously. Which is impressive, fantastic, and highly appreciated. Almost everyone I spoke to had the right attitude regarding everyone's safety, and happiness. The girl that was helping us though also told us how they are treated, and frankly, if all security companies treat their guards like this, all of them need way more respect. 

As we were waiting with her, she told us that they were from Miami, FL, which is about three hours from here, and were expected to stand in the same spot for sixteen hours without food, smoke breaks, or even a chance to sit down. They even had to be descreet about their water bottles, all for $100 a day. That breaks down to being less than minimum wage here in Florida, and they were expected to do it two days straight. I don't remember what time she told me they got there, but they had to be up and ready to be at the venue by 8:30 on day one, and would stay both days til 11:45pm. They were even told specific rules for while they were at their hotel, like they weren't allowed to smoke at all on the premise.

So honestly, next time you see a security guard being unfair, or just coming across as judgemental or moody, cut them some slack. They're dealing with a lot, and are probably more exhausted than most of the people they're trying to protect. 

The staff was fantastic, as I already said, despite everything they're dealing with. However, at least in my experience, their boss was the exact opposite. 

We did go meet with them at 8:30 the next morning, and they were both rude, and disrespectful. Neither of them daned to introduce themselves, though we knew who it was thanks to the description we were given. He barely even looked at me, and he was rather condescending. He told me that it was my problem, not theirs, and when he heard how long I've been doing this he just clicked his tongue and says, "Well that's not a very long time, I've been doing this for 30 years."

I instantly responded with, "Well I'm only 24, so yes it is a long time." 

He also tried to tell me that it was in the wavers I signed when I got my passes that they weren't responsible for me or my equipment. I looked, he was dead wrong. Everything I signed, was actually stating that Monster Energy and the PR company had rights to my images, and I was not allowed to sell anything. None of it stated anything about bodily or equipment harm. 

He barely even apologized, and this was after he basically just shut me down. It was very clearly a back thought that was rather empty. "I'm sorry that happened to you, but what would you rather us do? Save people's lives or your camera?" 

I told him both because I do agree that spraying people with a hose is a good idea. It keeps people cool, and had I been out in the crowd and this happened, I probably wouldn't have been having that conversation with him. But they're not supposed to spray people in front of the barricade, they're supposed to spray the crowd. I would have even understood this had they pulled someone unconscious or just barely conscious out and had them laying on the ground and sprayed them. But these two girls were fine! They were smiling and laughing, they just wanted a quick cool down. 

He should have thought about it before he did it, because not only was he extremely close to my camera, but another photographer's and several speakers. There was thousands upon thousands of dollars of equipment that close to us, and if it had been a speaker or something, that could be highly dangerous. 

All in all, I was very disappointed with this year. The security was great, but they're working for a terrible company, and have a very rude boss. The lineup, aside from a handful of bands, in my opinion was a let down, and the fact that I now have to replace my camera due to someone else's lack of thought, completely ruined the experience.

I'll tell you one thing though, for the first time ever I went to a show without my camera. Given, it was under terrible circumstances, but on some level, it was very refreshing. We came back to Fort Rock later that day to watch I Prevail, who as you may know, I've been greatly enjoying lately. Some videos I found on YouTube had me questioning if they were going to live up to their records live, but they exceeded my expectations. They made up for the day before, and I honestly really enjoyed their set. They played two of my favorites by them, "Scars" and "Rise", both of which I got on video and they were definitely entertaining to watch. Their frontman, Bryan was all over the stage and seemed to be having a ball just goofing around as he sang. I look forward to seeing I Prevail again, hopefully when I'm in a much better mood.

Fort Rock 2017, you disappointed me greatly. Something goes wrong every year, I expected that, but this took the cake. Hopefully 2018 will go over much better, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it a year from now. 

If you are interested in seeing any of the content from this year, please head on over to the page to see all of the pictures, and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Over there you will see the vlog, which is already up and several songs, which will be slowly uploaded over the next week. 

If you went -how did it go for you? I would love to hear anyone's stories and see any pictures or videos you may have. Feel free to share with me in the comments here, or over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

Yesterday Seether announced their seventh studio album, Poison The Parish and released a new song to go with it! The song is called "Let You Down", and if you would like information on the album, please click here. I already wrote about it and gave you all the information, including the track listing, pre-order information, and the album cover.
 
Due to work, I was actually unable to sit down and watch the new music video, but I heard it was rather creepy, and definitely dark. Which is not abnormal for Seether, as most know. The last couple albums have been a little more lighthearted for them, but they've never lost their meanings. Hearing about the subject matter of the song, and the content of the video from a very reliable source, it made me curious. And I decided I didn't want to watch it without giving you guys my feedback.

So, before I continue, I'm going to give the very obvious spoiler alert. If you're reading this, and have not heard, "Let You Down" yet, please do not read further until you listen to it. I don't want to ruin it for you, so I have put the video below -as you can very clearly see. 

They definitely were having fun with the dark elements here....a small man in a bunny suit, with blacked out eyes, coffins in an abandoned area, the black and white. They embraced their inner dark side clearly. 

I'm liking the sound, its Seether with a refreshed feeling, and its definitely a very deep song. I can't help but wonder what inspired the song directly. Its very clearly about assisted suicide, which is said during the song. Its spoken in favor of assisted suicide, which is actually rather surprising, due to the fact that his brother committed suicide several years back. 

I also wonder what it was like on the set of the music video, with all the people in costumes to make them look dead. Surely it was way less disturbing in person than it is in the black and white video. 
​
This definitely leaves me curious for what all the album is going to feature, and honestly wonder if they may be about to release some of their best work yet. We all will just have to see, won't we?