Six years ago yesterday, I created the Immortal Music Facebook page. A lot has changed in the last six years, including the name of the page. It all began on a little Facebook page called Music = Life. I had originally created it just to share my love of music with people who also loved music. In the early days, that's all it was. I would post a Song Of The Day, random lyrics, pictures, and the occasional news article. I would just chat with people, and that was the extent of it. It was all just fun....that is until a friend of mine introduced me to Bryan Stars interviews. I don't remember exactly when he showed me Bryan's interviews, probably not long after the creation of the page, but it was a life changing thing. That sounds really dramatic, but it honestly has changed my life. I'm sure I've told this story before, but there's new people around now, and its been a while, so I'm going to tell the story anyways. He showed me the first interview Bryan did with Andy Biersack, who went by Andy Six at the time. So many different thoughts came to my mind, as this was also my introduction to Black Veil Brides. As I was watching, and laughing at Andy's pure sass, a thought hit me. Why am I not doing this? I love music, why not write about music. That's when I began doing just that. If you look far enough back on the page, you can see exactly where this all began. I however, did not look back because when I was writing this, it was almost 8 am, and I had work within the hour, so time wasn't exactly permitting a lot of searching. You can see where I started sharing interviews, and even writing very early posts. I don't remember all I posted on the page, but Immortal Music had many different stages. I recently was reminded that I actually dabbled a little tiny bit with this concept all the way back in 2009, so in a way, Bryan Stars was just opening the door for a wind already trying to get through. Was that a weird analogy? It probably is, but I'm moving on anyway. I actually did my first interview on that page. I'm pretty sure I posted it as a note, and I know I did it over Facebook Messenger. I would write biographies and reviews, print them out and put them in a portfolio. My goal was to go work for Alternative Press magazine, and slowly, it turned into me wanting to do my own thing. Its been an interesting road really. Its had a lot of up's and down's, and has taught me a lot. Not only about the industry, music artists, and the music itself, but also about goals. People make your dreams / dedications/ goals sound constant, but doing this for the last six years has taught me something. Nothing is constant. No matter how much you love something, you will have periods where you aren't excited to work on it. Where it feels like work, so you drag your feet a little bit to get something going, or you flat out just don't feel like doing it. Its only been recently when I came to the realization that those periods are normal and important. I can't tell you how many times I've ended up in tears because I felt guilty for not writing, or even just not wanting to write but doing it anyway. For every time I was excited to do it, and happily wrote many things in one sitting, there's at least one where I felt uninspired and writing one thing felt like a chore. You can have too much of a good thing -even when its your dream. And that doesn't mean you're giving up, or that you've lost interest. Or that its hopeless. It simply means you're human and things come in waves. Its part of life, and you know what? That's okay. I've finally accepted that, and it took me six years to realize its okay if you don't want to push yourself sometimes. Pushing yourself leads to burn outs, and trust me, I've gotten burned out several times over the last several years. And if you look back through the archives, you can probably see when those times were because there's gaps in between things were posted. Sometimes those gaps came from being completely discouraged, but other times were simply just because I felt uninspired and life got in the way. That's sort of where I'm at right now, but for once I don't have that little voice in the back of my head that progressively gets louder and pushier. Normally the voice is constantly going, "Hey, stop being lazy and write. You have to do this, no excuses." But then another part of me sees that I have a reason not to. I work basically full time at this point, and try to maintain relationships with friends. Frankly, I don't always want to come home from busting my ass at work, to do more work. And I've never had someone pointing out when I didn't post something, and I finally realized why. To everyone else this is FUN, and originally this was all for fun for me as well. Then it became so much more, and that is a beautiful thing, but you know what? So is fun. So I'm going to, at least for a while do it when I feel like it. I think its more genuinely written when I'm not forcing it, therefor more fun to read anyways, so I'm just going to do it that way. And the reason why I'm posting this is not only because I wanted to reflect, but I wanted to let you guys know what's going on. This is not me giving up, its me allowing myself to relax once in a while. Everyone should do that, because without that time, you just end up overworked, stressed out, uninspired and upset. That ruins a great thing, so things will be posted here and there, I'm still going to be covering shows, but I am going to relax a little bit. I hope everyone understands that. On that note, thank you to everyone who's been there all of these years, or to anyone who's been there at all. Your support is appreciated greatly, and I hope you stick around for a long, long time. I still plan on trying to do great things, and would love to have you along for the ride.
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So, I want to talk about something most of you probably will not give two shits about, you know what? It was something very important in my life, and I want to have a nostalgia moment. Thanks to MTV using a very clickbait-y title that was partly false, it was brought to my attention that the Jonas Brothers' debut album came out 10 years ago today.Now I'm sure most of you are going, "Why are you talking about this? You talk about rock music, and that's about it. Nobody likes the Jonas Brothers." Well....I guess its time I came clean about this, though I've talked about it before somewhat. Deep breath in here, now....I was once a hardcore Jonas Brothers fangirl. I know, I know, I pride myself on not fangirling, but hey, I was a young teenager once too, and I think getting so obsessed with them and their work is kind of what lead me to where I am today. It all started when their debut album, Its About Time was fairly new still. I wanna say it probably was less than three months old, but I could be dead wrong about that. I was thirteen years old, hanging out at my friend's house, and she wouldn't stop playing this insanely high pitched little boy. IT WAS DRIVING ME NUTS. I actually remember looking at the CD and going, "I like the way they look, but this sucks. Turn it off." After asking my friend repeatedly to turn it off, she finally did turn it off. We then went into the kitchen to start making cookies. As I'm getting stuff out of cupboards to begin baking, she turns on the TV so we had something to watch while we baked. I all the sudden hear "Year 3000" start. I had already heard the song at least three other times, among other songs on the album so I remember groaning and going, "REALLY? Dude, turn it off. I don't want to keep listening to them." I didn't win that fight, instead that one video was played on repeat for the next hour or however long we were in the kitchen. By the time she finally turned that off, it was stuck in my head, and I had to get it out. So I gave in and decided to turn it on for myself. I couldn't work her CD player, and had to ask her to turn it back on. This set me up on a very interesting road. The fangirl life. Now most people are familiar with the fangirl life, and I had the whole nine yards. Trying and failing to get tickets every chance I got, buying all the merch I could, subscribing to magazines just so I could get posters, defending them to no end, learning every fact I could, ect. I'm not embarrassed of it, I will still defend them, and I do this day still have two Jonas Brothers posters up in my room. One is from when I saw finally saw them in 2009, and the other is their Rolling Stone cover from like 2007. Or whatever year they were on it, I've forgotten. I still genuinely enjoy their music, and probably always will. They did a lot of good for me, which is actually why I'm talking about this. Not only did they play a big factor in how my best friend and I stayed close after she moved out of state, but they made me have an interest in the people behind the music. Did I take it too far for a while? Most definitely. But you know what? It was fun! I see no problem in fans being a little too obsessed, as long as they're not hurting anyone. Yes, it can go too far, and then it gets dangerous for the person that's being obsessed over, but it sometimes is all harmless fun. It also can teach you something. Its hours upon hours of smiling, and singing along to songs, or doing research because you got curious about something regarding whoever it is. In a way, at least for me, it brought some life to the people behind the music. Before that period in my life, I don't remember ever really thinking, "Hmm...I wonder what inspired that song?" or an artist's interests. Before I got really into the Jonas Brothers, music was just....there. The people who made it didn't really cross my mind much, and I can't tell you why not. I also can't tell you why I wanted to learn more about them as people -I just did. Researching 'facts' about them, that may or may not have actually even been real lead me to wondering similar things about other bands. Suddenly musicians were real people to me, not just something that made a song exist. It became normal to me to want to know something about a band when I discovered them. And I think wanting to know more about the people behind the music is partly what lead me to music journalism. So for that, and many other things, I will forever appreciate the Jonas Brothers and just wanted to reflect on this old ass album. It was never my favorite one by them, I honestly would say the second one is my favorite, but I appreciate it. I have good memories connecting to it, and all the work that followed it. The fangirl life is a lot of fun, and can be very helpful, so if you or someone you know is hardcore obsessed with something, let them have it. It could lead them to great things, and even if it doesn't, so what? We need fun things in our lives, without them life would fucking suck. I'm done reminiscing for now, so thank you for reading, and please feel free to join in. Talk about something you look back on fondly that you once were into or this album as well! I know there's plenty of JB fans out there, so come on out of that wood work. I'm a Jonas Brothers fan, and I am proud. I am what I am, I can't help myself, and if you don't like it, better get with someone else. I'll never change, its not a phase -this is who I am and this is how its gonna stay. Yes, that was a JB reference. Embrace it, and I will be back soon with another random post like this, a biography, review, something! Also, how ironic is it that I wrote this while wearing a Bring Me The Horizon shirt and We Came As Romans paused in the background? I don't know why I felt like mentioning that, I just did. Its funny how much things can change over time, but yet it all started really back then. This week we are going to be talking about a pop punk band that I only recently got into, Real Friends. Real Friends is a pop punk band from Tinley Park, IL that formed in 2010. It was formed after Kyle Fasel decided he wasn't happy with the music he was making on his own, and decided to start over. He got together with what is now the band's guitarist, Dave Knox, and soon they began talking about their musical goals. Supposedly, Kyle didn't really expect it to go anywhere, but soon they started forming a project that is still growing today. Dave Knox called a friend of his, Dan Lambton who soon became the vocalist for the band, and not long after that came their drummer, Aaron Schluck. Together, these four recorded their debut EP, This Is Honesty and released it on April 2011. Just after releasing the EP, they began playing shows all around the Midwest, but soon realized it didn't feel right playing the songs they had. They said it sort of felt like they were forcing themselves into a sound. So, they all got together and decided to start over, and they in the process made some changes. During this time, both Dave Knox and Kyle Fasel were playing in a band called The Fastest Kid Alive, and they also brought in a new drummer, Brian Blake. Oddly, they didn't actually have a second guitarist, but called on friends to come fill in. This is where Eric Haines soon joined the band as an additional guitarist. They pretty soon got themselves in a groove that they liked and began working on another EP, which got them quite a bit more attention. This EP was the Everyone That Dragged You Here EP, and it was soon followed by another one called, Put Yourself Back Together. That one actually got reviewed by Rock Sound magazine, and they said that they wouldn't be surprised if they were 'mixing it with the big boys in a year's time." Rock Sound certainly called that because then in December 2013, the band was signed to Fearless Records. Apparently, at first they were a little hesitant to join any label but Fearless helped and made it feel like a family. They were hesitant because they still wanted full control, and we all know labels do sometimes take that away somewhat. However, fearless really just was there to help with the distribution and marketing aspects, which is something they really liked. This lead them to the studio in February, which is where they began recording their debut album. They finally were able to make their debut on July 22, 2014, and titled it Maybe This Place Is The Same And We're Just Changing. It actually did really well on US charts, reaching number three on the Billboard top Vinyl Albums and Independent Albums charts, five on the Alternative charts, six on the Top Rock Albums and 24 on the Billboard 200. It also sold over 10,000 copies, which isn't a ton but it definitely was a fantastic start. The album had three singles, all of which were released prior to the album. It started with "Loose Ends", which came out on May 20, 2014, and then was followed by "Sixteen" and "I Don't Love You Anymore" on June 10, and July 1 consecutively. The album was said to include more 'emo' aspects, and crossed a few different patterns. Sometimes it was more aggressive, sometimes it was slower, and it was just over all different. Kyle said he was more nervous to hear reactions from fans over this, but clearly it went very well. After the release of the album, they got to go perform on the 2014 Vans Warped tour, and the album got nominated for the Album of The Year at the Alternative Press Music Awards. They followed the album by releasing an EP of Acoustic Songs called More Acoustic Songs EP and released it for Record Store Day in April 2015. One of the tracks actually was an acoustic version of "Late Nights In My Car' and features This Wild Life's Kevin Jordan. This brings us to the most recent Real Friends activity. The band made hints on and off all year of a possible new album On December 22, 2015, Fearless Records announced that Real Friends would have a new record out in 2016. They actually released the album on May 27, 2016 and it was called The Home Inside My Head. By the time the album was announced, they had already begun playing what became the album's only single to date, which is "Colder Quicker." The album title was finally announced on April 1 of this year and then when it was finally released, it didn't reach a ton of charts, or anything like that. However, it did still reach 53 on the Billboard 200, and its still fairly new so who knows what all it could reach later! Maybe not charts, but it could go platinum or something at some point! Now a days, you can catch Real Friends on the Vans Warped tour, which ends on August 13 and then they get a little bit of down time. Maybe more dates will be announced, but as it stands right now, they're clear until December 1 when they set out on tour with Knuckle Puck and With Confidence! The tour goes through December 17, and you can find full tour dates on their official website! We may have missed out on writing last week's biography, but we're back this week! And this week, we're talking about one of the leading female fronted bands in pop rock-Paramore! Paramore originally formed in 2004, and are based off out of Franklin, Tennessee. As it sands right now, the band is only a two piece, consisting of Hayley Williams, and Taylor York. However, it didn't start off that way. We'll get there, just get comfy and keep reading. At just thirteen years old, Hayley williams moved from Meridian, Mississippi to Franklin, Tennessee. When she moved there, she met two brothers, Josh and Zac Farro. Soon after moving there, Hayley started doing vocal lessons with Brett Manning. Just before actually forming Paramore, Hayley formed a funk cover band called The Factory with Josh and Zach, and that slowly turned into Paramore. Hayley once was quoted saying, "They were the first people I met who were as passionate about music as I was." Which is not surprising, and can be a massive bonding thing between anyone, but let alone young teenagers. The band was originally formed by Josh Farro, on lead guitar, Zac Farro on drums, Jeremy Davis on bass, and of course, Hayley Williams on vocals, in 2004. When Jeremy formed, he was shocked to realize that Zac was only twelve years old. He apparently once admitted that he didn't have much faith in everyone because of their age, and really thought it wouldn't work out because of that. Then the first day of practice came up, and he knew they were onto something. The name Paramore, come to find out was the maiden name of very early bassist, that was not mentioned. They soon realized that "paramour" was a homophone for 'secret lover', and decided to adopt that as their name, but stuck to the prior spelling they already knew. Just before the band actually formed in 2003, Hayley on her own was signed to Atlantic Records as a solo artist. The original plan for the label was to have Hayley become basically the next Hilary Duff or something, by being a pop singer, but Hayley insisted she wanted to play alternative rock with a band. She apparently got her way, because look at them today. Paramore actually was originally supposed to release music through Atlantic Records, but the marketing department decided it would be better for the image of the band to not be attached to a major label. So, they instead released their music through Fueled By Ramen, which is just a branch off of Atlantic Records and has housed bands like The Academy Is.., A Rocket To The Moon, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, Less Than Jake, and more in the past! So, this was a big deal. They were officially signed in April 2005 after seeing the band perform in a small ,private show in a warehouse. The band's first song ever written was called "Conspiracy" and was later put on their debut album. It was sadly not long after they signed that Jeremy Davis decided to leave the band, due to personal reasons. This may have been a minor set back, but it didn't stop them. The other four members kept on writing their debut album, and actually wrote a song about his departure. That one is "All We Know", and it actually lead to the concept of the debut album. The debut album was called All We Know Is Falling, and it actually just last week passed its eleven year anniversary. It was released on July 26, 2005, the album actually reached number 8 on the UK Rock Charts. In the US, it actually reached number 30 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, though did not reach the Billboard 200. None the less, having your debut album chart at all, is highly awesome. It took a while, but nearly nine years later, it received a Gold Certification here in the US, and it did get more attention after the release of their second album, Riot! Now Riot! Is the one that really put them on the map. If I'm honest, Until fairly recently, I thought this was their first album, and I feel it may be possible that others thought that as well. This is because of the success, of the album. They began recording the album in early 2007, and then released it on June 12, 2007. The album is thought to explore a diverse range of styles and was compared to Avril Lavigne or Kelly Clarkson by some critics. Unlike the first album, this one reached many charts all over the world, and even broke into the top ten in the US on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative albums, as well as the UK rock albums. It also broke the top fifty in New Zealand, Mexico, Finland, and Australia. As It stands right now, the album is double platinum here in the US, platinum in the UK, and Gold in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This is the album that put them really on the map, and holds some of the most iconic Paramore songs out there. Those songs include, "Misery Business", which was the first single to be released for the album, "Crushcrushcrush" and "That's What You Get." Both of the latter two songs have gone platinum on their own here in US. The origin of "Misery Business" is fairly interesting. Way back when, Hayley posted on the band's LiveJournal account, asking fans to share things they were ashamed of. She said that she quickly found that people were really reaching out for someone to spill their guts to. So, she did the same thing, lyrically. She said its more honest than anything she's ever written. Apparently people responded well to that because not only is it a massive song now, but it spent 22 weeks at #3 on the Alternative Songs chart, and got included in video games like Saints Row 2, NHL 08, Rock Band 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour. The last single for the album, I dare say may be the absolute biggest Paramore song out there. That song is "That's What You Get", and the song actually was released just after they canceled a European tour to work on personal issues. This did cause the media to stir up rumors of a break up, but Hayley spoke up and said they were just in a very fragile state and felt it was best for them to be around friends and family for a while. Some down time was clearly very needed. Apparently seeing friends was good though, because they actually used that to their advantage and filmed the video for the song. When asked about it, Hayley said, "We had tons of friends there, and it really just felt like a hangout session. And Marcos [Siega, the director] was so cool about it. He said, 'Bring your friends.' We shot it in some of our friends' houses, and it just felt so real... and I think it's the first time in a video you're gonna get to see who we really are." This album is truly what made a real name for Paramore. After the release of that album, they had a lot of great opportunities come up. Such as Hayley got to provide guest vocals for "The Church Channel", and "Plea" for Say Anything's concept album, In Defense of the Genre, did an acoustic show in Boston for FNX Radio, and got to perform on MTV's New Years Eve, ringing in 2008. Then they got featured on the cover for Alternative Press' February issue for 2008, and was voted the Best Band of 2007 by AP Readers. They then got nominated for the Best New Artist for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Sadly, they lost to Amy Winehouse, but still Grammy nominations are a massive deal. In April and May of 2008, they got to tour with Jimmy Eat World, and headlined the Get It A Name Festival in the UK on May 10 and 11th. They also got to perform for a few days on Warped tour in July of that year. From July 25 to September 1 of that year, Paramore embarked on "The Final Riot" tour, and released a collaboration hoodie through Hurley Clothing. The hoodie was based off of the Riot artwork, and all the proceeds went to the Love146 Foundation. The Love146 Foundation, for those who don't know is a foundation that helps fight against child trafficking. They then on November 25, released a live album/ DVD of the The Final Riot tour. The DVD was filmed on August 12, 2008, at the Congress Theater in Chicago, IL. There's 15 songs on the CD, and the DVD also features a documentary called 40 Days of Riot! The documentary showed them on tour and you could see even more if you got the limited deluxe edition. The deluxe edition came with a 36 page booklet of the tour, and had another documentary called 40 MORE Days of Riot! By April 9 of 2009, the DVD/ CD had gone gold in the US. Rewind a few months, to January 2009, when Josh Farro spoke up about the band's next album. He said they were going to try to record it in Nashville. They had hope that they would be inspired by being there, and stated that it would be a lot easier because they could go home to their own beds at night, rather than sleep in hotels. This album became the band's third studio album, Brand New Eyes. The album was released on September 29, 2009, and did extremely well on charts all over the world. Not only did critics rave about the song writing, but to topped charts all over the world. It hit number one in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, two different charts in the UK, as well as the US. It also broke the top ten in Mexico, Germany, Finland, Canada, and Austria. Then to add to the sucess, the album has gone platinum here in the US, as well as the UK, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. Then Gold in New Zealand, Brazil, and Argentina. It even stayed in the top 100 by the end of the year for the US, UK, Australia, through then ext year! They released the first single, "Ignorance" on July 7, 2009, and after the release, four more singles came. They released "Brick By Boring Brick", "The Only Exception", "Careful" and Playing God", in that order from November 23, 2009, through November 15 of 2010. To date, this is the second most popular album, but we will get to the most successful very soon. To promote the album, they went on the Brand New Eyes World Tour which took them all around North America, Asia and Europe, and took them to many festivals everywhere. They even got to support Green Day on some dates around Europe around this time. This was also the turning point for Paramore, because after this one, Zac and Josh Farro left the band. On December 18, Hayley, Jeremy and Taylor posted a message on their website stating that Josh and Zac were leaving the band and it started quite the debacle. Josh posted a statement on Blogger, claiming that the band was a "manufactured product of a major-label", and accused Hayley of being manipulated by the management. He also made it sound like Hayley was some kind of diva, saying she treated the rest of the group like it was her solo project, and that everyone was "riding on the coattails of her dream." It seems like the band more or less brushed off this statement, and kept going. In January 2011, in an interview with MTV Hayley said that even though the band lost two of its founding members, they were going to release more new music in 2011. She did also add that the style was more than likely going to change because of the new lineup. The entered the studio fairly quick after completing a South American tour that was already set to happen when Josh and Zac departed. One of the songs they recorded, "In The Mourning" was released originally through Hayley's Tumblr, and they later confirmed that they were working on a brand new record. They also released a single called "Monster" on June 3, 2011, and it was part of the Transformers: Dark Of the Moon Soundtrack. This was the very first song to actually not featured the Farro brothers. They also announced that they had begun writing their fourth studio album, and said that they hoped to have it read to be released in early 2012. She then confirmed there would be some sort of other release by putting out another song, "Renegade", which was recorded at the same time as "Monster." Then in October 2011, Paramore announced that they would release a new song for each of the remaining months for the year. They set up the Singles Club on their website, which gave fans the chance to buy the singles when they were released. They were all exclusive through the Singles Club and were therefor not sold anywhere else. The day of this announcement, they premiered, "Renegade", then it was followed by "Hello Cold World" on November 7, and then lastly "In The Mourning" on December 5. On April 18, 2012, Hayley announced that they would be working with former Lostphrophets, and current drummer for Angels & Airwaves and Nine Inch Nails drummer, Iian Rubin. He would be doing the session drumming while they recorded, and then fast forward a year to when they released their fourth album, which happened to be self titled. Paramore was released on April 5, 2013, and its the final one to feature the bassist, Jeremy Davis, who left the band in 2015. This album though received a lot of commercial success, and had a couple of songs hit main stream charts. You still can hear "Still Into You" everywhere, as well as "Ain't It Fun", and "Ain't It Fun" has won a Grammy. The album hit number one in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, the UK and the US. It also has broken the top twenty in Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Finland, and Austria. It also has Gold certifications in the UK, New Zealand, Brazil, and Australia. Its platinum here in the US, too! In promotion for the album, they went on the Self Titled Tour, which took them around Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America, and the Oceania regions. They also got to co-headline the Monumentour with Fall Out Boy in 2014. They also in 2014 released a deluxe edition of the album, which featured a remake of "Hate To See Your Heart Break", which was already on the album. This verison however featured Joy Williams, who is a very successful solo artist. After the release of the deluxe edition, they decided to embark on the In December 2015, Jeremy Davis left the band, and sadly it was not an easy break. In March of 2016 he embroiled in a legal battle with Paramore, and claimed to be eligible to enjoy the benefits of a business partnership with Hayley Williams as co-owner of the band. As far as I'm aware, not much has been settled regarding this yet, but it doesn't compleetley sound like he was getting very very with it. As of right now, this is the most recent Paramore album, but earlier this year, they announced that they were in the process of writing the fifth album. It also appears as though Zach Farro is back again with them for recording. He has clarified that he is only recording for the album, but has not rejoined the band as a full member. That may still come up, but as of right now, it has not. So now we're all caught up! If you want to see what Paramore is doing right now or in the upcoming future, please be sure to check out their official website, and follow them on all social media. Their website does not currently show a lot of activity on the road, but as already stated, they are working on a new album, so stay tuned! |
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