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.
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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. 
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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. 
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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. 
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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? 

Evey year, usually right around this time of year, I do the Immortal Music Awards. Generally, the planning for it starts in July, and then from October to the middle to end of December I ask you guys to vote on your favorites for the year.

Well, this year, things are going to be a bit different. After doing all I did for Fort Rock, changing jobs, and having a lot of life thrown at me, I completely forgot to do the planning. Which means I had nothing to back it up. I thought I could sort of quickly throw something together and get you guys to vote, but I wasn't sure if it would even work. With the luck I've had with social media in the last year or so, I wasn't sure if people would see anything. I tried to ask on Facebook if you guys wanted me to even bother, and surprisingly did get some answers.

They were pretty positive, and surprisingly on my level. That level was wanting to, but not being postive if it would work. So we came to the conclusion as a group to skip the 2016 Immortal Music Awards. However, I didn't feel right skipping them entirely. The first year I did them -in 2011!- I didn't ask for anyone's input. Just made up 'awards' based on my own thoughts. 

While getting all of your input is way more fun, like I said -I couldn't just leave it alone. So, this is what we're getting this year. Next year, I promise to do it properly again. With the planning, and the voting and then the final proper reveal. I promise I won't drop the ball next year....or at least, I promise to try to not let it fall through the cracks. I'm sorry I did this year. It was a pretty massive year, some of which I will explain when I do the 2016 recap. 

Anyways, without further adue, let's get into the best of 2016 (in my opinion, of course!) Please feel free to answer with your own awards! I would love to see who you think is the best. 

Every year, I ask a few questions, and they mostly look forward to the coming year. I wanted to get those out of the way first before I get into the categories. 

⦁    Who would you like to see release more content in 2017?
⦁    Who would you like to see tour more in 2017? 
⦁    Which album are you most excited about for 2017? 
⦁    What was your best moment from 2016? 

I would like to see more content from All Time Low, Bring Me The Horizon, Saint Asonia, and Shinedown. The only one that I really think will release an album in 2017 is Saint Asonia, and that's only because I know they've been writing new music. I just would like more content from All Time Low, BMTH and Shinedown, but I'm not really expecting too much. Though I vaguely remember something about BMTH writing new music already? That's The Spirit is only a little over a year old, and is doing fantastic, but if the creative juices are flowing, then its possible! I could be completely wrong on hearing that though. 
As for the touring, I would really like to see All Time Low tour more, as well as Art of Dying -as its been 5 years since I last saw them! They haven't come to Florida in five years -do they not realize that's too long? Also on my list is Falling In Reverse, Papa Roach, Asking Alexandria or We Are Harlot. And I wouldn't mind seeing Neck Deep come around a bit more either. I'm pretty much open to anyone touring more. 

For the albums I'm really excited about, at the top of my list is Papa Roach's new one! I'm so excited for them to release new music. I absolutely loved their F.E.A.R album, but I admit I'm not overly thrilled with the single, "Crooked Teeth." Its okay, but its definitely not their best work. None the less, I'm quite excited to see what they have in store for us. I'm also curious about As It Is' Okay album which comes out January 20. 

Then there's my best moment of 2016.... That's a tough one. I have a lot more to say that will just be put into the 2016 Recap blog, but I'll go ahead and say one thing. Which I will surely repeat in more detail in the recap. That was meeting Brent Smith of Shinedown, very briefly while covering their set. That was the funniest way I have ever met someone, and it just amuses me how 20 photographers can get into such a zone that they don't notice a singer crouched down wanting their attention. Go read the recap, I'll tell the story (and many, many more) over there. 

Enough with the questions....let's get into those categories. I tend to keep the categories fairly basic. and they don't really ever change. I'll try to keep this brief, since this is by far not a brief post. Once again I would like to state that these are just my opinions, and I would love to hear your favorites as well! 

Best Guitarist: Zach Myers of Shinedown 

There's a lot of choices, but I decided to choose Zach because I saw Shinedown for the forth time earlier this year, and they never fail to impress me. Plus, I am almost certain he remembered me from when I interviewed him in 2014. 

Runners up included; Tony Perry of Pierce The Veil, DJ Ashba from Sixx:AM, and Lee Malia from Bring Me The Horizon. 

Best Bassist: Nikki Sixx of Sixx:AM
I decided to pick him because I saw Sixx:AM at Fort Rock this year and honestly wasn't expecting much. I've never been a massive fan of their music, but their stage presence blew me away. Nikki himself is a performer, and then you add the rest of the band to it. That gives you one hell of a show. 

I did not think of any runners up for this category. 

Best Singer: Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon. 

I chose Oli because seeing BMTH at Fort Rock this year was one of the biggest highlights of my year. I find him to be quite talented, and a lot of fun to watch. My only complaint really is how much he encourages mosh pits and crowd surfing. It was fun to watch from the safety of the VIP section, but I had never witnessed so many people come out of a crowd unconcious before. Its simply dangerous. 

Runners up; Adam Gontier of Saint Asonia, Brent Smith of Shinedown, James Michael of Sixx:AM, and Dennis Stoff formerly of Asking Alexandria. 

Best Screamer: Austin Carlile from Of Mice And Men
Austin has had an incredibly hard year, and he pushed on for a very long time. He's now finally taking some time to recover, which is much needed. He's one of the strongest people I know of, and I for one have all the respect in the world for him. He's recently spoken out about Marfan Syndrome, and stated he will never get better. I can only imagine the battle he's dealing with, not only pyschically but mentally. He deserves a lot more credit than he's given, just for his strength alone. His talents are simply a bonus. The world needs more people as grateful and humble as Austin Carlile and I felt it was worth expressing, despite the announcement of his departure yesterday. 

Runner ups; Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch. I went back and forth on if he was a singer or screamer, but regardless felt he needed mentioning. Much like Austin, he's been dealing with his own battles. His this year have come in the forms of addiction, and mental health issues. He's showing a lot of strength by helping himself out, and too many fans are not supporting him in this. I for one, commorate such strength. I also wanted to mention David Draiman because won last year, and while I wouldn't exactly call him a screamer, he does put on one hell of performance. Much like Sixx:AM, I did not know what to expect when I saw them live, but what completely blown away. 

Best Drummer: Barry Kerch of Shinedown
I don't have a full reason for this, except for the fact that I enjoy Shinedown as a hole. I only attended two shows this year, which was Fort Rock and Lacey Sturm in a bar in Winter Park, FL. At Fort Rock, I couldn't really see any of the drummers very well, but I did manage to get a picture of a few of them. Barry being one of them. As said earlier, this was my forth time seeing Shinedown live, and I can't say as though I've ever shed light on him, so now I am doing so! 

Runners Up: Dustin Steinke -touring drummer for Sixx:AM, Rian Dawson of All Time Low, Mike Wengren of Disturbed, and Jeremy Spencer of Five Finger Death Punch

Favorite Band: I Prevail 
I had enjoyed I Prevail's cover of "Blank Space" for all of 2015, and all of this year, but for some reason didn't actually sit down and listen to their original music until later in the year. Where have they been all my life? They're so good, lyrically and musically. I've been missing out on their music, and am very glad I got around to listening to them. 

Runners Up: Bring Me The Horizon, Shinedown, Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch. 

Best Music video: Follow You -Bring Me The Horizon 
Off the top of my head, I couldn't think of too many music videos I've even watched this year. Which makes absolutely no sense because I know there's been tons of them. But then this one came to my mind and its totally different from my usual taste. I don't tend to do the zombie thing, but yet it completely worked for Follow You. 

Best Song: Stuck In Your Head -I Prevail 
I have been absolutely loving this song. I was extremely late on listening to I Prevail, as I said a few categories above. Their debut album, Lifelines came out in October of this year, and I honestly only listened to it a couple weeks ago. BUT Stuck In Your Head has been stuck in my head (how ironic) ever since. So I decided to pick this one as the best song. 

Runner Up: Heathens by Twenty One Pilots;
Why is it the second you get asked a question you draw a blank on every new song? I suddenly started questioning if anything I listen to all the time came out this year or if it was last year or later. Perhaps its because I was working on this at 5 o'clock in the morning, but Heathens was all that would come to my mind. Funny thing is, I work at a movie theater and since it plays at the end of Suicide Squad, you'd think we would all be sick of it at the theater. Somehow that's not the case, we all happily would listen to it 5 times a day while cleaning the theater, and still to this day talk about it. Just the other day I had to tell one of my managers who it was by again. This was my original answer before remembering Stuck In Your Head which also came out this year and is something I've been loving. 

Best Album of 2016: Bad Vibrations from A Day To Remember 

Much like with the best song...I completely drew a blank for a moment on every new album! Then a quick look through my iTunes reminded me of Bad Vibrations. This album had to grow on me because at first, I didn't really know if I liked more than a couple of songs. After listening to it a few times, I realized the album feels quite personal to Jeremy McKinnon which makes it very special. 

Hottest Female in Music: Melanie Martinez 
I know that sounds completely out of character for Immortal Music, but honestly she's the first solo artist I've liked in I'm not sure how long. I very rarely like solo artists to begin with, let alone ones that are basically pop. There's something about her that's very attention grabbing, and different. I chose her mostly because of her unique sound and surprisingly dark lyrics, but she's also very pretty.

Runners Up: Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, Hayley Williams of Paramore, Lindsay Gunn of Pvris, Jenna McDougal of Tonight Alive. 

Hottest Male in Music: James Michael of Sixx:AM. 
I was tempted to give this to any of the boys in Bring Me The Horizon, just because of how much I've been listening to them this year, but I decided to go with James Michael instead because he really impressed me when I saw them live. This is not based on looks at all, though I will say one of my favorite pictures from the year is of him. You'll see it again, I'll probably include it in the year's recap. 

Runners Up: All of Bring Me The Horizon, Jack Barakat of All Time Low (who was the winner for two years in a row), Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach, Brent Smith of Shinedown (who is just classy), Zach Myers of Shinedown, and Dennis Stoff formerly of Asking Alexandria. 

I think that about covers it....I hppe you guys enjoyed reading my thoughts on some of the music world talents. I honestly couldn't just leave the Awards alone, but didn't have time to get you guys to vote on everything as throughly and fairly as I have in past years. So, going back to the 2011 roots of the awards felt like the only way to go. 

I really want to hear your thoughts on each category as well! Who would you have chosen for each? Let me know! 

Thank you very much for reading, and sticking by me all year. Its highly appreciated, more than words can really express. Stay tuned because I am hoping to be more active in 2017. The fun actually begins January 7, as we will begin posting an album review every single day! All of this is for the 2017 Fort Rock festival, and we're hoping to keep the fun going long after the festival. 

We shall see what happens! Thank you for all your love and support, and here's hoping 2017 is way better to the world than 2016 was. 

Look back the Immortal Music Awards! 2011 - 2012 -2013 -2014 -2015 

Hello, readers, friends, family, fans -whoever you happen to be! I really hope you've had a great holiday, and are looking forward to 2017. I'm hopeful that its going to bring bigger, better and greater things to the entire world, and am doing my best to start off the new year with a bunch of content.

Which actually brings me to something I wanted to address with all of you. As you may have been aware, a few weeks ago we announced the 2017 Fort Rock Project, which was going to contain news, reviews, biographies and the occasional blog post here and there. All of which was going to be for Fort Rock artists. This is the second annual Fort Rock Project here on Immortal Music, and I am still going to do this with the help of Coby Andrews, who joined us earlier this year. 

The project is going to still be in effect, however, I am going to make a slight change. Originally the plan was to post a review basically every single day, news as often as possible and a biography every week. We still are going to do the reviews, and of course the news is a must, but I've been doing a lot of thinking about the biographies.

I think I am going to opt out of them this year, for the most part. There's a few reasons for this, and hppefully they make sense to anyone besides me. The main reason is the fact that hardly anyone seems to read them, which makes sense. A quick Google search will tell you the band's back history, and since its all right there on the internet anyways, it felt sort of redundant to transcribe them all into my own words. Especially given the fact that stats have shown that they are often over looked, despite all forms of promotion.

The other reasons go hand in hand with that. They take forever to transcribe, depending on how long the band's history is. I easily can spend an entire week working on one, because I can't dedicate a very long amount of time to write it all in one setting. With my day job, the holidays, or just other content that needs worked on, all the biographies get worked on in segments. Plus, I find them boring to write. As I said before, all the information is easily found online, so it began to feel like a waste of time. Its not that the bands are not interesting, because they most definitely are, it just felt like an improper use of time.

I'm not saying there won't be any biographies -you're still more than likely going to get one here and there. Just do not expect to see them every week. However, I strongly urge you to come back to Immortal Music every single day because beginning January 7, there will be a review posted every single day!

Also in just a few more days -on New Years Eve-, I will be posting the 2016 Immortal Music Awards, and there may be a 2016 Recap blog. So definitely stick around, because you don't want to miss a thing.
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