JessiePaege is a growing YouTuber that I recently discovered. She's a little bit younger, and uses some internet slang that makes me cringe, but something that drew my attention for her videos was that she is very much so into music. First video I saw of hers was her making DIY band decor, and I pretty much instantly subscribed. She's recently started every now and then making a video where she talks about some slightly lesser known artists that she likes, in order to just put them out there a bit more. I honestly love that concept, and while yeah I'm kind of stealing her idea, I thought it would be fun to do a list of my own. I listen to a lot of music, some you may know, and some you may not, so I thought, hey, why not share? So, here's my list of 100 songs from artists you may (or may not) have heard before. 1. This Is Home -I Am Ghost 2. We're All Sinner -Four Letter Lie 3. A Hope In Hell -Glamour Of The Kill 4. Some Day- Heart-A-Tack 5. Every Time I Call -Hedged 6. The Upswing- An Honest Year 7. Make Me Scream -iRival 8. Almost Perfect -Ingram Hill 9. The Words That We Have Chosen -Inhale Exhale 10. Champagne -Cavo 11. War In Your Bedroom -A Change Of Pace 12. My Choice Of Words -Confide 13. Mountain Man- Crash Kings 14. Promise Me -Dead By April 15. Crawl Back In -Dead By Sunrise 16. Tears of Ashes -Dear Whoever 17. Fall Apart -Deepfield 18. New Day -Deep Insight 19. Two Angels And A Dream -Depswa 20. Best Day -Downstait 21. Young Cunts -Drive A 22. Not Afraid -Earshot 23. Falling -EkoTren 24. Surface -Elisium 25. Pride -Emphatic 26. Immortal -Eve To Adam 27. Tongue Tied -Faber Drive 28. Falling In Love -Falling Up 29. More Than A Love Song -Fireflight 30. Kolton Takes First -Follow Your Hero 31. The Bottom- It's Alive 32. A Little Too Late -Jocelyn 33. You Don't Know A Damn Thing- Just Like Thieves 34. Matters At All -Kids In Glass Houses 35. On Your Own -Kisses For Kings 36. The Need, Not The Cause -Life On Repeat 37. Borracho -Lola Black 38. This Dream Called Life -Lovehatehero 39. Reality In Routine -Lower Lands 40. Friends With Superhero -Malaya 41. Let You Down -The Material 42. Sinking Song -Maycomb 43. Rise -Mindset Evolution 44. Unstoppable -Mine All Mine 45. Die My Bride -Murderdolls 46. Dinner Last Night -O.A.R 47. If You Want Me -One Less Reason 48. The Air I Breathe -Our Last Night 49. In The Middle -Papercut Massacre 50. Scream My Name -Perfect Like Me 51. Don't Run Away -Phone calls From Home 52. Live is Evil Spelled Backwards -Picture Me Broken 53. Pure Morning -Placebo 54. Stop Staring -Push Play 55. The Bittersweet Truth -Ravenface 56. The Outside -RED 57. Dark Side Of The Moon -Redlight King 58. The Moment -Safetysuit 59. Let Me Live My Life -Saint Asonia 60. Ladies And Gentlemen -Saliva 61. Risk It All -Scarley Heroes 62. Mute -Scars Of Life 63. The Bright Side Of Suffering -Scary Kids Scaring Kids 64. Fuck Up -Shane Dawson 65. Don't Hold Back -The Sleeping 66. California's Lonely -Smile Empty Soul 67. Nothing Else Matters- Smith & Myers 68. Born With A Bigga Goal -Sons Of Revelry 69. Our Song -Spill Canvas 70. Save Yourself -Stabbing Westward 71. 21 -The Starting Line 72. Give Them Hell -Sunshine & Bullets 73. Decomposing Memories -System Overload 74. Is it 2012 Yet? 75. Still Waiting -Three Years Hollow 76. Endless -Under The Flood 77. The One And Only -Upon This Dawning 78. Where's My Chippy? -Us, From Outside 79. "What Are You Doing Man?" -Valencia 80. Immortal Love -Vampires Everywhere 81. Safe To Say -Vanna 82. Darker Side Of Me -The Veer Union 83. I've Never Felt This Damn Good -We Are The Ocean 84. So Good -Remedy X 85. Allow Me To Introduce Myself -Mr. Right -The White Tie Affair 86. Here Comes The Light -Within Reason 87. All Caught Up -3pm 88. Dragon- The Browning 89. Breaking -Nine Mile Drive 90. What Does It Mean? -Love In War 91. Mama -The Glorious Sons 92. Wildfire -Dorothy 93. Cry -Marmozets 94. Walking Dead Man -Black Tide 95. Truth Or Dare -The City Calls 96. Vesuvius -Dear Death 97. Crossroads -iPrevail 98. Grammar Commander -Hawks With Rockets 99. Moth To Flame -Burning Fair Verona 100. Cities Of Fog With Nothing To Love -Keyes Please be sure to check out the 2 videos Jessie has done that are just like this! Click here to watch the first one, or here to watch the most recent one which was only uploaded yesterday. (Well, yesterday for me, who knows when it was posted in conjunction to when you're reading this.) While you're at it, why not leave some of your song suggestions too? Sharing music is fun, and by sharing someone's music, you're helping an artist out.
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Its a rainy Wednesday evening, and I'm over here watching YouTube videos and procrastinating on doing productive things. Then three YouTubers I was watching started singing, "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift. I enjoy that song, her version even, but I always turn on one cover in particular of that song because I LOVE IT. This thought left the iPrevail cover of "Blank Space" in my head for about the thousandth time since I was introduced to it earlier this year, but it also left me thinking about all the great song covers out there. Which lead me to what I'm doing now, which is writing what looks like complete nonsense on a computer screen. I'm guessing, if you're actually reading this, that you like song covers too. I hope you do, because I want to talk about song covers! Have you ever heard a cover of a song and you got where you listened to it so often that the original doesn't even sound right to you anymore? Maybe so, maybe not, but I've done that. I've even had a few songs come up where I had no idea they even were covers for a while. Like everyone knows Bowling For Soup's "1985", or at least it feels like they do. I found out last year or the year before that its actually a cover. The original artist is SR-17. Same thing with the Baha Men's "Who Let The Dogs Out?" Its actually a cover of a song originally done by a man called Anslem Douglas. Very few of us knew that though because the cover got more popular. Which happens, but then the original feels more like a cover, because you heard the cover first. The same thing happens when you hear a cover more often than the original. I feel like I'm rambling, so I'm just going to cut to the chase and shut up. I wanted to make a list of covers that I absolutely love, and would love it if you guys would let me know what some of your favorite covers are as well. Enough stalling, let's do this! 1. Blank Space -iPrevail (Since I just mentioned this, you had to know it was going to be listed) 2. Since U Been Gone -A Day To Remember (I so rarely hear Kelly Clarkson's version anymore, and its gotten to the point that her's is just weird to me now.) 3. First Time In Forever -Stellar Kart (Originally from Frozen. I love the song anyways, but Stellar Kart went and did it all pop rock-y and its just wonderful.) 4. Sound Of Silence -Disturbed (I don't even think I need to give details on this one, its that popular and its beautiful. Simon and Garfunkel must be proud.) 5. Royals- Youth in Revolt (I have yet to actually listen to their usual music, but I think they did a great job covering Lorde's song Royals. I never hated her version even but I think their version is great.) 6. Hot N Cold -Woe, Is Me (This cover is so old, I know, but its great. I just love how they did it, its really fun. Especially their little add ons here and there. I just love it so much.) 7. Fuck You -Sleeping With Sirens (I never got into Cee-Lo Green's version much, but I really like the Sleeping With Sirens cover. Its actually one of the few songs done by SWS I find myself turning on often. I'm more of a Pierce The Veil girl.) 8. She Looks So Perfect -Patty Walters (I actually heard his version of the song a long time before I heard 5SOS and he's actually the reason I gave them a shot. He did the song a lot of justice, as he does with a lot of songs and I just wanted to bring some light to that. Patty has a lot of great covers -and some remixes on his YouTube channel.) 9. Sugar, We're Going Down -You Me At Six (I have absolutely no idea when You Me At Six did this cover but I found it at least two years ago. I found it randomly on YouTube and really like it. They stuck pretty close to the original Fall Out Boy sound, but having Josh's voice instead of Patrick's is kinda cool. Plus I don't think a ton of people know it exists and more people should.) 10. When You Look Me In The Eyes -For The Weekend (Come to find out this band changed their name to Hey Bombshell in 2012 and it appears they've been inactive since 2013, but I found this cover probably right around the time they changed their name. It is an acoustic over of the Jonas Brothers song, and honestly, say what you will but its a beautiful song. I've always been a big Jonas Brothers fan, so for someone to do justice to one of their songs, its quite impressive.) I could go on, but for now, I think I'm just going to leave it there. Feel free to give these songs a listen and please do tell me some of your favorite covers as well! Covers are just fun, and hey, you could end up discovering a band you hadn't ever heard of before. That's actually how I discovered ADTR. I found their Since U Been Gone cover, and that lead me to the rest of their music. They're now one of my favorite bands, so you really never know. Neck Deep has somewhat recently grown to be a more common name throughout the internet. However, this Welsh pop punk band actually formed in 2012. The band's vocalist, Ben Barlow started the band with the band's now former lead guitarist, Lloyd Roberts. The two of them released a song called "What Did You Expect" under the name Neck Deep, which drew them attention. That actually lead to them finding the rest of the band. They found Matt West, who's their guitarist, Dani Washington for the drummer, and Fil Thorpe-Evans on bass. It wasn't long until they began working on music together, as they actually released their first full band EP that same year. That EP was called Rain in July, and was released on September 18, 2012 through a US label, We Are Triumphant. They described the seven track EP as "six songs about girls and one about posers" by Rock Sound magazine and given the titles, I think its in that order. I personally haven't heard the EP yet, but with titles like "Over and Over", "A Part Of Me" and "I Couldn't Wait To Leave Six Months" ago all scream angsty relationship problems. Then there's the last track "All Hype, No Heart." That's definitely about a poser. The EP was available for streaming through AbsolutePunk on the 17th of September 2012, and then released the next day through We Are Triumphant. It was later remixed and remastered and re-released as a compilation through Hopeless Records. The compilation was Rain In July/ A History Of Bad Decisions and didn't come out until June 17, 2014. We're going to get to that, but for now we're getting ahead of ourselves. Not too far ahead, but there's still more ground to cover. Like all of 2013 to do. 2013 was a big year for them, as they got to go on a UK tour supporting Hackvist, and they released A History Of Bad Decisions on their own with a very interesting pretense. They released it as a "pay what you want" sort of download, so there was no set price. The EP was just three songs, and they released it as a way to capitalize on their new found fame. Around this time, they also went on a vacation with their tour manager in Florida, and played a couple completely sold out and packed shows while they were there. They filmed some videos at those shows and posted them online, which ended up being seen by Hopeless Records. At this point, people had already taken notice to them, and were clearly loving them. Hopeless clearly liked what they saw, and worked up a contract. Neck Deep was officially signed to Hopeless Records in August of that year, and had one of their biggest dreams come true. Up until this point, Ben Barlow had said that the band was a fun part time thing, and the band did have alternative jobs prior to that. As most growing bands do, for obvious reasons. Upon signing to Hopeless Records, they said, "Fuck it, let's do this properly" and released their first full length album through Hopeless Records, Wishful Thinking. The album was released on January 14, 2014 and it did fairly well. It hit number two on the UK Record Store Chart, and Rock & Metal Chart, three on the US Billboard Heatseakers, Six on the UK independent Album Charts, fourteen on the UK Independent Album Chart, thirty-five on the US Billboard Independent Charts, and finally 108 in the UK albums chart. So over all, it did fairly well. They announced the album on October 30, 2013, just after releasing the album's first single, "Crushing Grief (No Remedy.)" To support the new release and all the great things going on in their lives right then, they set out on tour with The Wonder Years. They went all over the UK, and then to Australia. Then in December, they released the second single, "Growing Pains." It was soon followed by the album's release in January, and a headlining tour in the UK. It was right around then that they all quit their jobs, and Ben dropped out of college. This is also where things really began to pick up for them. Through out 2014, they toured around the UK with We Are The In Crowd, did a headlining tour in the US with Knuckle Puck and Light Years, and got put on the 2014 Vans Warped tour. Just before Warped tour started is when Hopeless released their two EPs as one. Rain In July/ A History Of Bad Decisions came out on June 17. And now we can keep talking about other things, since that was already mentioned. After the release of the album, they actually won a Kerrang! Award for the Best British New Comer, and beat out bands like Blitz Kids, Bury Tomorrow, and more. They went on to do headlining tours in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. That tour kicked off in January 2015, and carried into February. Then, in April of 2015, they announced a new album in a very subtle way. All they said was "Can't Kick Up The Roots. 12.05.15." Now to my American eyes, that looks like they're announcing an album that won't be out til the end of the year, but that was not the case at all. "Can't Kick Up The Roots" was the lead single off of their brand new album, Life's Not Out To Get You, and it came out on May 10 through BBC Radio 1. Fans loved it, and with the new found information about a new album, pre-orders were pouring in. They also announced that they would be playing the 2015 Vans Warped tour with bands like Knuckle Puck, Pierce The Veil, Black Veil Brides, As It Is, Pvris and many more. Life's Not Out To Get You finally came out on August 14, 2015, and it did extremely well. It hit number one on the US Billboard Vinyl, Taste Makers, and Independent charts, as well as the UK Independent charts. It was also produced by A Day To Remember's Jeremy McKinnon, who also offered vocals on one of the tracks. Surely they could not have been more thrilled, because everything was going fantastic, fans were loving the new album, and critics were comparing them to the likes of New Found Glory, and Sum 41. They were the "Pop punk you just don't hear any more", it was even put on Alternative Press' "10 Essential Records of 2015', and came in at number 3 on Rock Sounds Top Releases of 2015. It was even nominated for APMA and Kerrang! Awards! Things were going fantastic for Neck Deep, and then of course life decides to throw in a curve ball. Just after the album's release accusations of sexual misconduct came up against the band's guitarist, Lloyd Roberts. Someone was claiming he was sending inappropriate pictures to an underage girl. The band quickly responded to this and said that they were aware of the situation, and requested a moment to get to the bottom of this. The very next day, Lloyd stepped down from the band because he didn't want to hurt the band's reputation. In October, he released a statement stating that he had been cleared by police from the online allegation charges, because they found no case. He also hinted that he was not planning on rejoining the band, and then in December Sam Bowden officially took his place. This lead them to setting out on a co-headling world tour with State Champs that took them all over North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia. TO join them on this were several bands, that included Creeper, Light Years, WSTR, Knuckle Puck and Like Pacific. Which brings us to today! Neck Deep is currently relaxing, hopefully at home but in September they will be playing the High Elevation Rock Festival, Riot Fest and Texas Munity. For more information, please visit the respective festivals website. And be sure to stay up to day with Neck Deep by following them on all of their social media and checking out their official website. Seether originally formed in 1999 under the name Saron Gas. The band is based out of Pretoria, South Africa, and went by their original name until 2002, when they finally adopted the name Seether. This is also around the same time they grew into the mainstream popularity they deserved, and had their first number one hit here in the US, "Fine Again." The band has been known for their alternative metal / hard rock sound ever since, but before we get onto their hits and what all they're up to today, we have to go back to the beginning. As already established, they formed in 1999 under the name Saron Gas. It didn't take them long to release their first album, as they made their debut with Fragile in 2000. The album was only released in South Africa, though seven of the tracks were later re-recorded for 'Seether's' debut album, Disclaimer. After they released the album, their record label at the time, Wind-Up Records asked them to change their name. Because apparently, Saon Gas was a homophone for sarin gas, which was a deadly nerve agent that was used in Nazi Germany. After having that brought to their attention, the band decided on the name Seether, after a Veruca Salt song with the same name. The band has had quite a few lineup changes, mostly in the early stages though. Shaun Morgan has always been their front man and lead guitarist, Dale Stewart has always been Seether's bassist, and John Humphrey has been their drummer since 2003. We couldn't find a lot of information regarding who else was involved in the founding, or who left for what reasons. All we really could find was that they have on and off had other lead guitarists, two other drummers briefly, and a different bassist, but only under the original name. Due to the short life of Saron Gas, we couldn't find a lot of information regarding that period, but Seether made its debut in 2002 with Disclaimer. The album came out out on August 20, 2002, and peaked at 92 on the Billboard 200. It has since has been given a Gold certification here in the US. The three singles from this album have grown to be among some of Seether's greatest hits. Those songs are, "Fine Again", "Driven Under", and "Gasoline." Many compared the sound to early 1990's grunge, and actually compared Shaun's vocals to that of Kurt Cobain's. It drew in a lot of attention, and even allowed them to go on a world tour with Evanescence. This actually lead to Amy Lee and Shaun Morgan dating for a while and her being featured on what became another massive hit for Seether, "Broken."They actually had previously released it, but supposedly, the record company wished they do so. Clearly, it was a great choice because that single alone holds a Gold Certification here in the US and a Platinum certification in Australia. It also is thought to be the only Top 40 hit because it hit mainstream charts, not just rock charts. The song was featured on the band's second album, Disclaimer II, which is a twenty track album that features all of Disclaimer in it. It came out on June 15, 2004, just passing its 12th birthday. Why they didn't just release an eight track album, featuring both versions of "Broken" (With and without Amy Lee), is a mystery to me. They actually said that the main reason the album got re-worked was because of the popularity of "Broken" anyways, so that all seemed just a bit silly to me. It didn't take them too long to release third third full length album, which was all originals. The third album, Karma And Effect came out on May 24, 2005, and was originally named Catering to Cowards. But the record label demanded they change it, so it became Karma And Effect. The album debuted in the top forty in many countries, including the US, Australia, and New Zealand. The lead single "Remedy" also became a massive hit for Seether, and it stated in Mainstream Rock charts for quite a while. It has also gone gold in the US and Canada, if that tells you anything about the success. While supporting the album, Seether ended up recording an acoustic performance in Philadelphia, which became their first (and currently only) DVD. The show happened on February 22, 2006, and supposedly, that night Shaun had some sort of stomach bug and decided to do an acoustic show so there was a show still, but easier on his body. They released it as a DVD called One Cold Night on July 11, 2006. The DVD came with a CD and featured 12 acoustic tracks, and the concert performance as well. In it, they performed songs like, "Gasoline", "Driven Under", "Broken", "Remedy", "Fine Again", and more. Even a cover of Pearl Jam's "Immortality." This album also hit charts, but the only charts we could find were here in the US. It reached number 50 on the Billboard 200, and number 20 on the Rock Albums charts. You can find this, along with all of Seether's work on iTunes and Amazon. Just before the release of the DVD, their guitarist, Patrick Callahan decided to depart from the band. He didn't give a reason, but somehow it came out that he was not happy with Seether's new music. Shaun was once quoted saying he was relieved by it and Patrick had always been a bit of a negative force in regards to the writing process. So, this was a step in the right direction, as far as Shaun was concerned. Then just after the release of the DVD, in August of 2006, Shaun went into rehab to get some help with alcoholism. As far as I know, he is still clean to this day, but I could be wrong. Once he came back, it would be assumed that he felt refreshed, free, and possibly a bit inspired. I say that because then came another Seether album. This one was thought to be the most diverse album yet. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces is what I would call the true 'hit' for Seether. Obviously, they've been very successful up to this point, but this one is definitely a hit. It reached the top ten on six different charts here in the US, as well as Canada, and New Zealand. It also broke the top forty in Switzerland and the UK. This album spread much further than the rest had so far, and has Gold certifications in the US, South Africa, New Zealand and Canada. Its actually the first one for the band to go Gold in their homeland of South Africa as well. You may be seeing a pattern here with what I'm about to say here, but its just proof that Seether knows how to put out great music and definitely picks their singles well. I think I've said this about almost every album so far, but I'm just going to say it -the singles became some of the biggest hits for Seether. This album produced "Fake It", "Rise Above This", and "Breakdown." Chances are, you've heard all three songs, and may not even be aware of it. "Rise Above This" has actually inspired the name for an annual music festival, that always features Seether. It was the second single to come out, but the first is one that's a lot of fun and frankly should have been called "Fucking hypocrite." "Fake It" works just as well, but if you listen to the song, that title would have fit too. When they posted "Fake It" via MySpace (yes, that's how old this album is, believe it or not), the band included a short blurb about the album. It was almost like they were re-branding themselves, but all at once, they honestly stayed very true to their sound. The blurb said; "Here we are, about to embark on the release of our favorite Seether record to date and can guarantee that you will all feel the same. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces is a hearty serving of the usual Seether sting and grit with an added twist of lime. We have been working hard in the studio for months recording the album and there are only a few loose ends to cinch up before all is said and done. We can't wait to hit the road to share the new shit with everyone. In the meantime the remolded site should make it easier for you guys to share your undying love for us, keep up with everyone, and get all the news that will pass through here in coming weeks. The album is dedicated to Eugene "Junior" Welgemoed. Junior has always offered the band more support and love than we've ever given ourselves. He has lit an un-containable fire under us, and without him we will never be the same again. Cheers to taking the world by storm..." The album set them off on a bunch of great tours, and took them out with bands like Dark New Day, Evanescence, Sevendust, Finger Eleven, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, 3 Doors Down, Skillet, Red, Papa Roach, Flyleaf and many more. They also had songs from the album featured on TV shows, and go t to play a show for the American troops as part of the USO tour. In late May, they performed at a couple different army bases in Japan, and for the US Marines. They also made several appearances at festivals, such as the Quebec City festival, and the Big E fest in West Springfield, MA. After all the touring was completed, it became time to work on another album. They spent several months in Nashville, Tennessee writing and then went back on the road in April 2010 with the intention of going into the studio in early June. That didn't happen, but they reassured fans that they would be recording still, it just was pushed back to August instead. They said that they felt it was their best work yet, and the songs were very strong, melodic and a bit heavy here and there. They announced in September that the album had been complete and they were shooting for a release date in early 2011. The first single, "Country Song" came out on March 8 and then the album was finally released on May 17, 2011. Now "Country Song" was quite attention grabbing because while it was catchy, and very good, it was entirely different for Seether. It made fans, such myself wonder what the album was going to be like. However, our curiosities were met with some incredibly beautiful songs. The album, Holding onto Strings Much Better Left to Fray hit number one on the US Alternative, Hard Rock and Top Rock charts. It also reached number 2 on the Billboard 200, 3 in Canada, and 6 in New Zealand. This album is sort of a journey through Shaun Morgan's mind as he deals with heartbreak after his brother sadly committed suicide. This album holds a lot of emotions, done in the most beautiful way. Some songs like "Fur Cue" are a bit heavier, while others like "Here And Now" are slower and more melodic. You hear a lot of the emotions that happened during this time, and really see what its like to go through a loss that great. There's a lot of down notes, expressed in a wonderful way, but then there's some glimpses of hope. Its a beautiful album really, and set them up on the path for more creativity. Over the course of the year to come, they did quite a bit. Including releasing a Remix EP to go along with Holding Onto Strings Much Better Left To Fray, having Troy McLawhorn go back to Evanescence, and they played on Uproar 2011 alongside Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate. They also went to Europe with 3 Doors Down. Then in September 2013, they announced that they would be releasing a two disc compilation album of their greatest hits, and more. The album was just simply called Seether 2002 -2013, and was released on October 29, 2013. The two singles to come out of this album were rather interesting. One was actually a cover of the Veruca Salt song, "Seether", and the other was actually was featured on their current album as a bonus track. That song was "Weak", and I actually had viewed that one as the first true single to Isolate And Medicate because I was hearing it all over the radio not long before the release of the album. However, it actually was not a single for Isolate And Medicate. They had four different singles, "Words As Weapons", "Same Damn Life", "Nobody Praying For Me" and "Save Today." The album was announced on January 31, 2014 when they posted a video of Shaun Morgan saying that the album was way underway and would be completed within that week. Then soon after, John Humphrey said that they were shooting for a summer release and that more details would be coming soon. They then started putting up song teasers on various social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram in April, and announced the album's title. They released the first single, "Words As Weapons" on May 1, 2014 and performed it live just over two weeks later at the Orbit Room in Grand Rapids, MI in front of 1,700 fans. Then finally, Isolate And Medicate was released on July 1, 2014, so we're coming up very quickly on the album's second birthday. This was also the first album they ever released as a vinyl as well as normal CDs and digital releases. The album hit number one on three different charts here in the US, and hit number four on the Billboard 200, number six in Canada and 24 in New Zealand. This album honestly was classic Seether, but perfected. Much like the album prior to this, it had a lot of heart to it, but also was incredibly catchy and just sounded fantastic. Its still being supported and much loved today, and Seether is still going just as strong as ever. They are currently writing a new album, and they have a handful of festivals coming up. This includes the third Rise Above Festival! For further information on everything Seether has going on, please be sure to head on over to their official website! And be on the look out for more music from Seether very soon! Melanie Martinez is a dark wave, electropop artist who has somewhat recently rose to fame. Her music is incredible unique and attention grabbing, as it seems rather girly and cheerful but has a dark, almost creepy vibe to it that you cannot help but appreciate. Even if you don't like it, the style is something special, and in a world where so much is similar, you have to appreciate that something completely brand new has come up to the surface. If you're looking for a way to describe it, some people on the internet have compared her to Lana Del Ray -but with a dark side. Like her slightly twisted sister, or something. Sound quite charming, if you ask me. Melanie is a solo artist, and originally was a contestant on the third season of The Voice. She auditioned with a cover of Britney Spears' song, "Toxic" and ultimately chose Adam Levine to be her coach. She unfortunately did not end up wining, and was eliminated by the audience in week five. "I never expected to get this far and this is beyond what I've ever dreamed of. I'm just so glad I got to express who I am as an artist and really touch people's hearts because that was the ultimate goal." She was once quoted saying. She definitely did not let that phase her though. After the show ended for her, she began working on some original material on her own. In early April 2014, she announced that she had been signed to Atlantic Records and would be soon going on tour. This lead to her releasing her debut single, "Dollhouse", on April 22, 2014, and an EP with the same title on May 19, 2014. Good things started pouring in after that. One of the songs on the EP, "Carousel was featured on American Horror Story Freak Show, and the song reached number nine on the Alternative Digital Songs chart. The following year is when her debut album, Cry baby was released. This is what put Melanie really in the limelight. On June 2, 2015, she released "Pity Party", which is the lead single from the album. The song actually uses the chorus from a classic song released in 1963 by Lesley Gore. When asked about the song, Melanie was quoted saying; "This was during my second session with Kara DioGuardi. It was awesome to write that song because I love music from the 50's and 60's. When I was singing, Kara said my voice reminded her of Judy Garland and artists from that time. I really wanted to write about no one showing up to my birthday party and the song is perfect inspiration for this theme. I love samples, especially older songs because they can put a fresh new take on an old song. So we were really inspired by that and we sampled it for the first line of the chorus and that is how 'Pity Party' came about." The song drew some attention, and was followed by two other singles, "Soap", and "Sippy Cup", all before the release of the album. The album finally was released on August 14, 2015, and recieved mostly positive reviews for the conceptial themes. The album is about a character named Cry Baby, and is thought to be a fantasy verison of Melanie when she was a child, and a representation of her more vulnerable and just generally screwed up side. She was said that many of the things that happen to Cry Baby were very similar to her own life, but unlike the character, she was never kidnapped, nor did she kill someone. Each track is childhood themed, but the songs are much more adult. She actually wrote a book to go along with the album that is available with the CD on her website still to this day. The album features many different characters, such as Alphabet Boy, Cry Baby's Mom, Johnny -who is thought to be her crush and lover that later broke her heart for not showing up to her birthday party-, and The Big Bad Wolf. She clearly is a very creative soul, and has quite a bit of ideas. I think it would be very interesting to sit down and chat with her one day. It also probably would be very interesting to see a live performance of hers. You can do just that actually! She is on tour right now and will be playing many festivals all around the US now through October, and maybe over seas in the fall. For further information, please head on over to Melanie's website and be sure to check out the review of Cry Baby that was posted last week here on Immortal Music. Panic! At The Disco, I.E, one third of the 'emo trinity' as dubbed by the internet. Originally formed in 2004, Panic! At The Disco has taken the world by storm. They've faced a lot of different lineup changes over the last twelve years, but are still doing great things today! The band was formed by childhood friends, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brent Wilson and Brendon Urie. As it stands right now, Brendon Urie is the only official member, but touring members have included Dallon Weeks on bass, Kenneth Harris on lead guitar, and Dan Pawlovich on drums. What's rather impressive is that Brendon Urie is currently the lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, and drummer for the band! He also completely wrote and recorded everything for the band's newest album, Death of A Bachelor! But, we're getting ahead of ourselves. We have a lot of ground to cover before we get there. Over the years, they have released five studio albums and one EP since 2005, and have been much loved for so long. All but their recent album have been released through Decaydance Records, and now they're with Fueled By Ramen. When they formed, they began posting demos online and somehow caught the attention of Pete Wenst of Fall Out Boy. He signed them to Decaydance, and Panic! At The Disco had never performed a live show. At the time, the band were all still teenagers, and supposedly they started as a Blink 182 cover band. I had never heard this until doing research to write this biography, so can someone let me know how true that is? All I think of when I hear Blink-182 cover band was All Time Low back in the day, so I'm now curious about that. The band has many different influences, ranging from bands like The Beatles, the Beach Boys, The Zombies , and more. These influences, along with their own personal twists set them up with a style that can only really be described as one of a kind. If you had to pick a vague genre for Panic! At The Disco, you could call them pop rock, or even alternative on some tracks, but they're not easily labeled in the slightest. Not that that matters -labels are for soup cans anyway. Their first album came out on September 27, 2005 and is easily one of their most iconic albums. A Fever You Can't Sweat Out has gone double platinum here in the US, and has platinum certifications in the UK and Australia! It managed to break into the top twenty in several charts around the world, including the US, UK, Australia, and the top ten in New Zealand! Not bad for a debut album, huh? The album features some of the most iconic songs Panic! At The Disco has ever released, such as "Lying is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" and the classic, "I Write Sins Not Tragedies." The album is split into two, sound wise. The first half is electronic dance punk, and the other is more melodic with strings, piano and an accordion. Sales started off slow, and then sky rocked! By the end of March 2006, so only six months later, the album had surpassed the 500,000 sale mark and the band had announced their first headlining tour. On top of that, the music video for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" won the Video of The Year at the 2006 MTV Video Awards. In regards to the new found fame, Ryan Ross, was once quoted saying, "Some aspects of the fame are annoying, but at the end of the day it's something we're most grateful for. It's certainly opened the door to a whole new batch of opportunities." Opportunities did continue to rise, as they soon went on to support The Academy Is... on a world wide tour, and performed at the 2006 Reading Festival. They also announced there second ever headlining tour which was called the "Nothing Rhymes with Circus Tour." That's an amusing name, and is thought to be the debut of the theatrical and notable live performance Panic! At The Disco is quite known for. They were reviewed by the New York Times, and welcomed with open arms for their circus like show that included dance numbers, skits and tricks. "There’s something charming about watching a band trying to navigate sudden success, aided by a contortionist, a ribbon dancer and all the rest of it." As far as I am aware, Panic! At The Disco's live performances today are much different than they used to be. Though still wonderful as far as I hear, they're less theatrical and more classy. Maybe one day I will see for myself! After a crazy year, and brainstorming ideas, it came time for the band to write their second studio album. Pretty Odd was written in the mountains of Mount Charleston, Nevada, and after they recorded some new songs, and performed them live over the summer, they went back to Las Vegas. Supposedly, they then grew bored of the work they had already written, and scrapped the entire thing which was apparently most of the way done. They ended up writing the album done in the most raw form they could -with an acoustic guitar and someone singing, and ended up very happy with their work! And here is where the first real drama I remember that surrounded Panic! At The Disco. Does anyone remember when they dropped the exclamation point and how much of a fuss the internet had over it? Man, people sure do like their punctuation. In January 2008, the band decided to redesign their band logo, and drop the exclamation point from their name. So instead of emphasizing "Panic" it was simply, Panic At The Disco. To this day, I'm not sure why fans made such a big deal out of that, and apparently the band didn't even use it themselves back in the day. They wrote it that way once and somehow it stuck, and it wasn't a big deal to them at all. (Very obvious spoiler alert, it came back just a year later actually.) Anyhow, enough about the exclamation point! At the same time this was announced, another very notable Panic At The Disco song was released as a single for the album. "Nine In The Afternoon" was released on January 29, 2008, and was the first song written after the band scrapped the entire album the first time. The song itself grew so popular that it on its own has a Gold certification. The album finally came out on March 25, 2008 and it spent eighteen weeks in the Billboard 200. The album has never done as well as the debut album, but instead has a cult following and has sold 422,000 copies. It did however do fairly well on charts world wide, hitting as high as number one in Australia. The sound has been described as "more organic and mellower" than their previous album, and was compared to music the Beatles released. It was said to be an accident, but of course that's quite the compliment. In support for this album, they went on the 2008 Honda Civic tour as the headliner, with support from Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sound and Phantom Planet. Then later in the year, they went our with Dashboard Confessional and The Cab in promo for not only their album but Rock Band 2. Their stage presence changed very drastically, to match their sound change. Instead of the circus vibes, they now covered their stage with lights and flowers, and each member of the band wore vests to dress up nicely. When asked about the switch from the circus theme, Brendon once said, ""We did it and it was a lot of fun when we did it, but this time around I think we wanted to get back to a more intimate, personal setting, and scale it down a little bit." Due to the floral aspects, it was defined as an effort to remain environmentally conscious event. During the tour, they also worked with Reverb and Global Inheritance, which promote environmentally friendly touring and inspire eco-activism. They also released a live DVD in early December of the same year, which obviously featured this new performance style. It also features all of the music videos from the album, behind the scenes footage of the videos, and tour. It also featured a short film about the band, along with a documentary. Around Spring of 2009, the band began working on their third studio album, which ended up becoming Vices & Virtues. However, some things were postponed, because Ryan Ross and Jon Walker announced that they both were going to be leaving the band that summer. Everything was fine, they just had some creative differences and chose to go their own ways. It took them quite so,e time to get back to recording after that, though they did release one song that was recorded without Ryan or Jon. "New Perspective" was released on the soundtrack for Jennifer's Body. "New Perspective" was released on July 28, 2009, and was shortly followed up by a tour in August with Blink-182. They had Dallon Weekes and Ian Crawford from The Cab and The Brobecks to fill in for the lost members on the tour. They finally went back to the studio in early 2010, and then proceeded to spend most of the year recording. They also in this time announced that Dallon would be officially joining the band, making them a three piece for the time being. However, he was not featured on the upcoming album, he did help come up with the concept for the album, and is on the album cover in a mask. The album was finally announced on January 18, 2011, and would be released on March 22, 2011. The first single, "The Ballad Of Mona Lisa" was released digitally on February 1, and was followed by the music video one week later. I remember when this one came out, because it caused quite a stir. Most people loved it, but it was vastly different, which made some people to become displeased. Which is funny really, because Panic! At The Disco has always been a very diverse band, and no two albums from them are even remotely similar. A lot of people weren't impressed with the lyrics, for some reason, and thought of it as a generic sort of album. But on the flip side of that, many people did like it, and called it "Emo retro pop." That sounds a bit odd, but quotes have floated around the internet proving that the critics meant that in the best way possible. The album debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200, and sold 56,000 copies in its first week alone. It made it all the way to number 2 on two different US charts, and one in the UK. It also broke the top 100 in Sweden, Scotland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Austria and Australia. In support for the album, they announced many tours, one of which was "An Intimate Evening With Panic! At The Disco." It was a North American tour that went from late January 2011, through April 4, so the album was released in the middle of that tour. After that, they also went over to Europe, and returned to the US for a summer tour. They decided to go back to their roots for this one, and performed at smaller venues that they plated at while promoting the first album. During this tour, they were joined by their label mates, Foxy Shazam, and Funeral Party. This tour was apparently over the top theatrical, and apparently happened because Brendon just missed the costumes and makeup, and had been doing a lot of reading about Tesla coils and wanted to figure out how to get one to sit on the stage and spray sparks out without hurting anyone. This is the only album from Panic! At The Disco to not receive any sort of certification thus far. Even Pretty Odd has gone gold, thanks to its cult following. While touring, they announced that they were writing their fourth album, which would become Too Weird To Live, Too Rare to Die. The album was announced on July 15, 2013, and then came out on October 8 of the same year. They announced the album with the first single and its music video, "Miss Jackson." Then they went on tour with Fall Out Boy on their Save Rock And Roll Arena tour. Right around this time, due to a prescription medication and alcohol addiction, departed from the band, and they welcomed Dan Pawlovich as support on the tour. They finally released Too Weird To Live, To Rare To Die on October 8, 2013 and it featured another new sound. This one was dance music, electronica with a hint of hip hop. The album debuted at number 2 here in the US on the Billboard 200. It also hit number one on the Top Alternative and Rock charts here in the US, and broke the top fifty in the UK, Scotland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Finland. The album also sold over 84,000 copes in the first week alone and as of January of this year, it had sold over 407k copies. It has also received a silver certification in the UK only, thus far. So the album did fairly well, and introduced the world to some more massive hit songs from Panic! At The Disco. Those songs came in the form of singles, and included, "Miss Jackson", "This Is Gospel" and "Girls/ Girls/ Boys." "Girls/ Girls/ Boys" caused quite the uproar, mostly of excitement because it was very clearly regarding the bisexual community. Whether or not Brendon Urie is bi, I have never heard, but either way, everyone appreciated that he approached subject. The video for "This is Gospel" also drew a lot of attention, because we see Brendon dying in the video, and it later connects to another music video, which was released in promotion for their current album. We are now up to the band's most popular album to date, and their newest release. This album is Death Of A Bachelor, and was written and recorded entirely by Brendon Urie. He is now a solo artist, aside from some touring members, and according to charts is doing rather successful. Death of A Bachelor has been said to be inspired by the time alone Brendon spent alone as a child, creating music. When asked about it, Brendon said all of the following. "When I was a little kid and I heard a song I liked on TV, I would jump up and run to the piano to try and figure it out by ear. When I was 10 or 11, I built myself a drum kit in the garage made out of empty laundry detergent buckets, old lawn chairs, paint cans, and old trash cans. Around that time, my parents got me my first guitar. A baby acoustic. I jumped between all of these instruments constantly to satisfy the ideas I heard in my head. At this young age, I realized that music would play a huge part in my life. I had no idea. 'Death of a Bachelor' is in honor of those times I spent alone as a kid. Allowing music to consume me. Playing everything myself just to get the idea right and out of my head. It's a beginning to a new era. And an homage to how it all began. This album is me. Running to the piano. Building a drum kit. Strumming a guitar. Some things never change." So just knowing that alone, you expect something interesting, and due to the fact that we did a review and went in depth about the album's content there, we're not going to do too much of it here. Please go check out the review by clicking here, and get excited because other reviews for Panic! At The Disco and more are coming very soon. The first single for the album, "Hallelujah" was released on April 20, 2015, with a lyric video. The official video didn't come until July 7 of the same year. They actually released about half of the album before the release of the album, which wasn't until January 15, 2016. The singles though were "Hallelujah", "Victorious" and "Emperor's New Clothes." Remember "This Is Gospel" and how its video connected to another that came out later? That video is "Emperor's New Clothes" and is easily one of the coolest music videos I've ever seen. We see the death of Brendon Urie, and then see him turn into what one can assume is Satan. Just seeing that video alone is what caught my, and surely many others attention. The song is vastly different than any other track on the album, and the video picks up right where "This Is Gospel" left off. Speaking of things being vastly different, this album follows suit with previous Panic! At The Disco by being completely different than all the rest. It heavily features influences from the late Frank Sinatra, and while his blues-y sound doesn't sound like it would go with pop punk at all -it somehow works very well. The album is the band's most popular album to date, and debuted at number one on three different US charts. It also broke the top ten in Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, UK, and Australia. I can completely see why, because its something completely different than anything I've ever heard before. As I said, I did a review of it, so I don't wish to talk about it too much here, but I highly recommend you check it out. Panic! At The Disco is up to some great things right now and the fun is only beginning. They've come a long way, and have a ton of history, as you can clearly see. Their legacy continues on, and you can catch them on tour this summer with Weezer, Andrew McMahon and The Wilderness. The tour starts in Texas on the 10th of this month and will end on August 6 in Irvine CA. They then get a short break before heading over to Asia to perform at festivals in South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines and Japan! For further information, please check out Panic! At The Disco's official website! And stay tuned for many more biographies just like this for other bands, along with reviews from Panic! At The Disco and more. Today, (June 2, for anyone who is reading this at a later date, or just wanted to be reminded of the date), Shinedown released their video for "Asking For It." They wanted to do something a bit different with this one , so instead of it being a normal music video, they did a little skit. The video is just under eight minutes long and given the one clip I saw in the past where it looked like Brent was channeling Elton John, I can't wait to see what they did. So, I'm going to get right into it after I give out this quick disclaimer. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO CLICK HERE AND WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST. Unless you would rather read some light details before you see the video, in which case, you can feel free to read on. But, if you haven't seen the video yet, and don't want to know what's going on in it, please stop reading right now, and click here to watch the video. Now I assume everyone has gone and watched the video, or just simply doesn't mind and is ready to continue on and talk about this very interesting thing Shinedown has created. "Be careful the toes you step on in life, because they may be attached to the ass you have to kiss later on." -Brent Smith, about Asking For It. The whole video is poking fun at not only themselves but the whole industry. We see Zach playing the stereotypical Hollywood manager, who's constantly on the phone and is dressed like he's hot shit. We see Brent, who's clearly being the snobby director, and Eric who was manning the camera. They clearly had a lot of fun playing up the diva side that can be seen in this industry, and I absolutely love that they had children playing them. I don't know why, I just thought that was adorable. Especially when Zach took them in to do interviews, and little Brent said, "We make music for the people." And someone said something about "Feel the Bern." (As in Bernie Sanders.) They said that the video was a complete departure from the meaning of the song, but I beg to differ a bit. They could have easily expanded upon it, and made it fit perfectly. Had we watched the kids grow into Shinedown, or even just rebel as children even, it would have perfectly fit the meaning of the song. Because then all the adults screaming at the kids, telling them what to do, would have gotten their just desserts. It would have gone full circle and then they would have been asking for it. I think its a very humorous and great music video/ short. Whatever you would like to call it, I would recommend you go check it out. This happens to be one of my favorite songs off of Threat To Survival and they are very creative people. There's no band quite like Shinedown, and this video just adds to the list of things that make them unique. Kudos to Shinedown for making a fun, light hearted video and just enjoying themselves! |
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