New Media, New Music
Meeting of Important People Interview
This week, when the team at New Music Transmission were not planning for this month’s Emerging Talent Competition or thinking up bad puns, they were meeting some very important people. This week’s featured band, Meeting Of Important People, seemed to go down very well with you guys on Wednesday, with plenty of you enjoying the song “I Know Every Street” and also checking out the video we posted at the weekend. Well, just for you, the guys found time from their busy Pittsburghian schedule to talk about streets, meetings and “singy-songy” stuff. Not heard the band yet? Check out them out here
NMT: You have a very sleek and fun looking video for “Brittney Lane Don’t Care”, what are the thoughts behind it?
MOIP: Thom Glunt came to us with the concept for this video, and we rounded up a team of 30 local artists and starting spending our entire lives building a cardboard city. Found ourselves a warehouse, and ended up with what we think is a fun video and a great showcase of the song and Thom’s work. He just did an RJD2 video as well that’s absolutely incredible
NMT: you could have a meeting with the world’s most important people, which 3 albums would you recommend to them at the end?
MOIP: There aren’t too many albums that we listen to the whole way through. I would recommend that they listen to three of my friend Ian’s mix cds, CUSTOM MADE with CD-ROM technology ™
NMT: What is the best gigging experience you guys have had? And the worst?
MOIP: We’ve been lucky to play many more exciting shows than total busts. The best was perhaps when we played with Sam Roberts band at an outdoor festival in our hometown of Pittsburgh last summer. The worst was maybe when we were playing The Toronto Pop festival this Fall, and were detained at the border and almost turned around. Use your imagination on that one.
NMT: Who is Brittney Lane? And why doesn’t she care?
MOIP: Brittney Lane is a friend of ours from the Old Neighborhood. But the song isn’t really about her, it’s just a nice character name that seemed to fit. The song might be a kind of Eulogy, listing the deeds of a poor young fellow and his friends.
NMT: Which is your favourite street in the world?
MOIP: I’m quite fond of Albine Drive, which is a nice suburban street that my Grandparents used to live on. They don’t live there, or anywhere, anymore.
NMT: What bands would you cite as your biggest influences, musically, lyrically, philosophically or personally?
MOIP: Don’t really have too many artists that i identify with outside of their melodies or stage personas. But anything i’ve read about Ray Davies of The Kinks really hits home quite a bit. A kinda normal guy who just makes up sing-songy stuff.
NMT: If you could hold a meeting with every unsigned band in the world, what advice would you give?
MOIP: You might get lucky and find other people who have nice connections and want to work with you. But think of them only as an extra pair of hands, as literally just an extra person to hype you to blogs, help stuff envelopes, and come up with funds to record or produce media.
Let music fill the right space in your life. Some people were made to ruin their lives to travel, record, and hold onto their dreams. Others need to live more “regular” lives and do music when they can. The sooner you figure out how your life should be, the better.
NMT: Can you recommend any inspiring new bands to our tune-junkie subscribers?
MOIP: All of our dear friends that make up the incredible Pittsburgh scene: Donora, Lohio, Landline, Boca Chica, Harlan Twins, The Wreckids, and many others.
No comments yet.
Passafire Interview
August 20, 2010 - 11:56 am
Posted in Steve's Blog | No comments
Passafire in a Forest
This week’s featured band are Passafire, a Reggae-Rock band from South Eastern USA. New Music Transmission caught up with Passafire to discuss the next album, the upcoming Vans Warped Tour, and the musical value of Nashville. Their song, Here in Front of Me, is now available from our podcast feed. Also, this weekend, Jack will be back in the studio after his short break, and we will be discussing Passafire, along with giving some brief thoughts on the upcoming Reading Festival.
NMT: How would you describe your sound to someone who had never heard you?
Passafire: I would describe Passafire’s sound as a danceable, original mash up of reggae and progressive rock. A sound that is wholly unique and at the same time catchy and groovin’. We’d like to think that what we do is pushing reggae in a new direction, without abandoning its roots and beginnings.
NMT: The Earth is ending, and Passafire are on a rocket with the elites to start humanity again elsewhere. Which 3 albums would you take?
Passafire:
Queen “Live At Wembley Stadium”
Bob Marley “Babylon By Bus”
Jay Z “Reasonable Doubt”
NMT: Which are your favourite styles and instruments to experiment with?
Passafire: We will literally try anything WITH anything! I think as a whole the band really wants to explore their southern rock and roll roots more than anything, along with some more electronica and dance music. More synths! Seriously though, nothing is off limits with this band until we try it and it really sucks and then it’s out the window haha.
NMT: The music industry is struggling a little right now. What is the situation in South-Eastern USA?
Passafire: It’s hard to say, as far as the music business is concerned, Atlanta is a major player in the industry. You see a lot of big urban artists coming out of that city, and Nashville will always be the hub for country, but for a touring band at our level it really hasn’t hurt us since our ticket prices are reasonable. I feel like the bigger artists are the ones hit hardest by the economy. We are signed to an independent label, we tour like crazy and sell albums to fans who look for this kind of music and are in the scene. I don’t know how the slow demise of the modern day music machine will affect us but it hasn’t directly yet.
NMT: If you could start again, what would you do differently?
Passafire: Start touring right away and record more music independently before putting out a full length release. We spent a lot of time playing regional shows that didn’t really benefit us except for putting money in our pockets and drinks in our hands. It was fun, I’ll admit! However, I think if we had thought ahead to now and realised that this would have been our full time jobs we would have taken it a little more seriously from the beginning.
NMT: You seem to be touring a fair bit at the moment, which dates are you most looking forward to?
Passafire: A fair bit is an understatement! We do upwards of 175 shows a year. I think we all individually have our favorite spots, but it seems like the craziest shows are always in Texas, Florida, and California. We love them all though! We still get surprised when we show up somewhere and are thinking “NO ONE WILL BE HERE!!!” and then the show goes off and it’s packed. That’s always nice! And, of course, being back in the south is always great because it means you’re getting closer to home.
NMT: What is next for Passafire?
Passafire: We have Warped Tour coming up, a live album release, and then another headline tour in the fall. We are looking to start writing / doing pre-production for a new record which should start up soon, although I wouldn’t anticipate another release until next summer at the earliest. We are just going to keep doing what we do best, rocking shows and coming up with new creative ways to market the band!
NMT: Which songs should newbie Passafire fans check out first?
Passafire: The songs that best encompass the Passafire sound would be “Submersible”, “Kilo”, and “Here In Front Of Me”. That’s a good starting point.
Thanks for the interview, we really appreciate it and hope to make it to the UK soon!
NMT: Thanks! Remember to check out Passafire’s website and myspace!
This Town Needs Guns Interview
May 6, 2010 - 9:01 am
Posted in Steve's Blog | No comments
Here in the UK, today is election day. However, the electoral commission are not the only ones who have been conducting polls, just recently in a poll of our podcast listeners we found that the band you guys like the most are This Town Needs Guns, featured way back in episode 7. Luckily for us, Tim Collis, the expert guitarist from This Town Needs Guns, found some time to talk with us. Topics covered include Japan, wellies and mathematics. Remember to check out our iTunes feed where you can find their awesome song Baboon, along with our comments in Episode 7. Likewise, you can check out the This Town Needs Guns Myspace for more.
NMT: We hear you are off to Japan, what are the band’s feelings going into the tour?
TTNG: Indeed we are! As you can probably guess, we’re all incredibly excited to be going to visit somewhere as exotic and far away as Japan. Just the prospect of being a tourist there is enough for me, but the fact that we are lucky enough to play a few shows whilst there is even more amazing. The Animals release over there on Zankyo records will happen just before we head out so we’re hoping a few people will get to hear it and come down to one of the shows. I guess we’re a tiny bit apprehensive in that we’ve never played in Japan so we’re just hoping the turn outs at the shows are good. To be honest even if they aren’t so good it won’t matter, we’ll still be in Japan 
NMT: Your music is full of complicated rhythms and melodies, a theme common in Asian pop music. Could this become a major stomping ground for the band?
TTNG: Well, it would be nice if that happened and I like the idea of it. I can see similarities between TTNG and certain Japanese bands, in particuar Toe, and for that reason I don’t think it would be impossible to have some success there and in other Asian countries with regards to the genre or the accessibility of the music. To be honest, I don’t know of too many UK bands at our level who have had an overwhelming amount of success in Asian countries, so in a way it’s hard to say. I think realistically, it will take a while to develop some sort of fanbase over there which in turn would warrant a label helping us (both logistically and financially) to keep coming back. Word of mouth is a powerful thing though, and if we make a few friends along the way too, it might allow us to do it off our own backs. I can safely say it is somewhere we’d all love to keep going.
NMT: How do you feel when people say you make music for musicians?
TTNG: Of course I would say it is for everyone and not just musicians. I see what they mean though as the music is quite technical in places with all the time changes etc. and admittedly it might not be instantly accessible to some listeners. To be honest, I think we quite like the fact that it takes a few listens and is actually a bit challenging to work out what’s going on sometimes. It’s not like we purposefully try to write a section in a particular time signature and then stick it to another completely different one just to flex our math muscles, but more like we actually enjoy irregular sounding sections (and trying to play them). It usually takes us a while to get them right and understand them but that’s most of the enjoyment and fun we get from playing music together. I can see why the math side of things could be annoying to some people who want some sort of instant ‘pop’ hit and minimum effort as a listener, but I like to think we aren’t totally math, we aren’t totally pop but somewhere in the middle perhaps. Having said all that I think people’s interpretation of the term ‘math’ can be very different to how I’ve explained it so I don’t know, I get pretty confused with all this genre-ising! Next!
NMT: Nerdy question. What guitar(s)/gear will you be taking to Japan?
TTNG: Ideally, we’d always use all our own stuff as we know it and are comfortable with it but we’re only able to take the guitars over with us for this trip. I think it is usually worst for drummers who have to get used to a new kit at each show so I think Chris is the unlucky one here. The rest of us should be ok as the amps etc have been sorted out to use at each show.
NMT: How did you get involved with Sargent House?
TTNG: We were lucky enough to be approached by Cathy at SH as I think she’d become a follower of BSM and heard a few of our songs. She then contacted us and was interested to see if we’d like to release Animals over there. With the strength of the roster and the hard work she has obviously put into building up such an amazing label, we didn’t have to think to hard about that one.
NMT: Many of our listeners picked up “Animals” straight after hearing you, and have really enjoyed it. Can they expect anything new in the near future?
TTNG: Excellent, thanks people. Yes, we’re currently working on some new stuff and have almost finished three or four songs. We seem to be fairly productive at the moment and have all really been enjoying writing the new songs, especially with Jamie writing his own parts and contributing massively to the sound of the new stuff. We really don’t want to rush if we can help it but we’re hoping to record a demo of a few tracks later in the year.
NMT: Festival season is just around the corner. Can we expect to see you in any muddy British fields this year?
TTNG: I hope so, we’ll have to see if we get asked first. I actually bought some wellies this year just in case.
BOYS interview
April 24, 2010 - 11:30 am
Posted in Steve's Blog | No comments
A few episodes ago we featured the excellent Californian pop band BOYS, and we recently had the opportunity to trade wisdom with the melodic duo. Featured in Episode 10, and with their summer anthem “It’s a Grey Day, Mikey” still available on our podcast feed, BOYS are a band well worth checking out. Emma and Taylor answered our questions on international communism, killer death rays and becoming a historian. You can check out the BOYS myspace for more info!
NMT: The outsider’s view of the Californian music scene would be that it is colourful, thriving and highly competitive. What is it like to be an upcoming musician right now in California?
BOYS: It’s great! We’re surrounded by people who are people of this creative movement who just want to create art and listen to it and support each other. It’s very inspiring!
NMT: This week New Music Transmission are featuring your song, ‘It’s a Grey Day Mikey’, which we feel has ’summer-anthem’ potential here in the UK. What is the story behind this song?
Emma: I had a cold one day and it was raining. I could barely sing when I was writing it! My friend Marcel helped me come up with the idea of writing a song about an outcast. It’s not about a crush on a boy or outer space or any of our usual themes, it’s just about a sad kid who doesn’t quite fit in.
NMT: Some of your songs and videos are riddled with film references. So, favourite film(s)?
Taylor: I like Bring It On, Clueless, Empire Records, Harold and Maude, and most—if not all—John Waters films. My film taste is embarrassingly unrefined.
Emma: The Secret of Roan Inish, This is England, Elephant, Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion, and this movie called The Room that is so horrifically bad that it’s unbelievably good.
NMT: BOYS are the youngest performers that have been featured on New Music Transmission. Is music an important part of your future career plans, or do you have other ambitions?
Taylor: It would be cool to play music in the future, but in no way am I chasing some dream. I’m currently studying writing, and I’m also incredibly interested in religious studies. I don’t envision myself doing anything in particular. Just seeing where my endeavors take me.
Emma: I think I’d like to be a historian, but as much as I tell myself I don’t want to be a musician (unreliable, stressful, tiring) I think it’s kind of inevitable. I love it too much.
NMT:The world has entered a state of international communism, and BOYS have been made Ministers of Music. Which 3 albums would you ensure every comrade must own, and why?
Emma: American Beauty by the Grateful Dead, Pinkerton by Weezer, Wowee Zowee by Pavement, honorable mention Emotionalism by The Avett Brothers, Greatest Hits by The Mamas and The Papas, Portrait of a Legend by Sam Cooke.
Taylor: Andrew WK’s “I Get Wet” because it never fails to perk people up, the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” because every song is a masterpiece, and Blink-182’s “Enema of the State” because that album defines my childhood and I live for nostalgia (and because I’m Minster of Music/a dictator, everyone else should too). David Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust” too. I know that’s four, but that album is stunning and makes me want to spin around in a pile of purple sparkles. Oh God, can Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ready to Die” make it onto this list, too?
NMT: In the event that BOYS find themselves in possession of Musical-Destruction ray, which artist’s work would most enjoying destroying?
T: While I’d realistically feel way too guilty destroying anyone’s work, I could do without hearing Conor Oberst’s voice ever again. Sure, he’s got soul, but I find his voice SO unappealingly whiny.
E: Lady Gaga. I’m all for maintstream pop if it’s fun and catchy but I actually can’t stand the sound of her mannish voice. I don’t get her whole gimmick. She reminds me of a crappy Boy George impersonator. If you take away the fake eyelashes, latex bodysuits, and vocoder, she’s just a boring, irritating waste of the airwaves.
NMT: From my understanding, BOYS are yet to record a full length album. Is this a possibility for the near future?
E+T: We recently recorded an EP but it sort of got lost in the ether… maybe we’ll get it finished someday.
NMT: And finally, the stereotypical interview question. What are your best and worst gigging experiences?
E+T: We agree that our worst was our first show. We were nervous as hell and the sound wasn’t working very well.
E: My favorite was at our friend Dylan’s house over the summer. The room was really small and everyone crammed in so it felt like a much larger crowd and everyone was clapping a lot and singing along. It was the first time I felt comfortable in front of an audience. I usually get pretty nervous. I have trouble remembering my own lyrics. It’s a problem.
Taylor: Our best show was the one we played that was in the New York Times.
Episode 15 – Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition Special Out Now
April 3, 2010 - 4:01 pm
Posted in News | No comments
This week we report live from Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition. We bring you interviews with a selection of the bands, including the winners, Ellen and the Escapades, as well as festival organiser, Michael Eavis’s take on the event.
Karn8 Quick Fire Questions
January 14, 2010 - 1:24 pm
Posted in Steve's Blog | No comments
This week, after a rather long break, the New Music Transmission podcast makes a return with the loud-and-lively Karn8. As is becoming the norm, New Music Transmission asked Karn8 a set of quick fire questions, discussing issues ranging from exploding amplifiers and Alice In Chains to email mailing lists. Be sure to download their song ‘As If You Could’, released on Wednesday, from the usual places. Also look out for this Saturday’s podcast, where Steve and a novelty guest-host will be covering their opinions of Karn8 and all the latest new music news.
NMT: What is the bands proudest single achievement?
Karn8: So far recording our first album all by ourselves
NMT: Karn8 have a presence on Myspace, youtube, itunes, facebook, and an official website. What advice would you give to a young new band who want to make the most out of the internet?
Karn8: Just keep putting up new stuff on as many of these sites as possible so people will keep coming back for more and be sure to have a mailing list at gigs to get as many email addresses as possible. Web presence is so important these days the more you do the better!
NMT: If Karn8 could tour with any 3 bands, from past or present, who would you choose?
Karn8: From our main collective influences probably The Doors, Alice in Chains and The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
NMT: What motivates you to make music?
Karn8: We always want to better what we did before, that keeps it exciting for us.
NMT: What was your worst gigging experience, and why?
Karn8: We have had a few but one venue springs to mind: it was in the middle of nowhere so we only played to the other bands the P.A wasn’t really a proper P.A and nobody really seemed to be in charge of running the event. To top it off Bones blew his amp and the set just fell apart. We just got nothing out of it and drove a long way for the displeasure.
NMT: This week on the New Music Transmission podcast, we will be talking about the best albums of the last decade. Which three albums would you choose, and why?
Karn8: I don’t think we could choose three as a band because we actually all listen to different stuff but the one recent one we all love is the new Alice In Chains album Black Gives Way to Blue, we often crank it up on the way to gigs.
NMT: What do you think the next decade has in store for the music world?
Karn8: The music business is very unstable at the moment but record companies are starting to fight back so we may have a musical Armageddon on our hands!
NMT: Karn8 seem to play a large number of gigs, and must have seen many good unsigned bands. Do you have any recommendations for our readers and listeners?
Karn8: Yep we have played with some awesome bands, most recently To The Bones, Nicole Fermie and Fight The Empire who are starting to make waves.
For more on Karn8, check out their website here
Callous – Quick Fire Questions
December 11, 2009 - 11:53 am
Posted in Steve's Blog | No comments
This week, you heard Callous, with their metal anthem Suffer The Sea. When New Music Transmission caught up with Callous, a great deal of deep metaphysical wisdom and detailed powerful knowledge was shared. Here are their Quick Fire Questions. Enjoy.
NMT: What are the bands inspirations (both musical and non-musical)?
Cal: Despite all growing up as part of the ‘Hybrid Theory’ generation, musically we all have quite different tastes.
Ed is influenced mainly by scandinavian melodic death metal bands like Soilwork and Stam1na.
Jon is musically influenced by his roots in classic rock and metal like ACDC, Metallica, Megadeth and contempory metal bands like As I Lay Dying and Machinehead.
Mike is influenced by more progressive bands like Dream Theatre and Opeth as well as all the usual metal suspects.
Luke takes influence from modern post hardcore bands like Alexisonfire, Bring me the Horizon and Underoath.
Jon writes all of the lyrics for the Callous songs and is influenced by alot of classic literature and life exeperiences.
NMT: Why the name Callous?
Cal: When it came time to name the band we drew up the usual list of a million and one names every other band does, we settled on Callous as it was a no-nonsense name and felt that listeners would understand the general feel of how our music might sound without completely pigeon holing us into a genre. We included the dictionary meaning of our name on the back of our album booklet – ‘Cold Hearted, Indurate to public opinion’
NMT: I see you have a busy start to next year in terms of touring. Is there any advice you would give to a band who want to tour?
Cal: Make sure you know a little bit about the venues you are playing at and if there are any special requirements such as a metal bands worst friend…the noise limiter. Apart from that keep all Vodka related sick outside the tour van!!
NMT: What is the worst gig you ever played, and why?
Cal: We once played a gig in Sheffield and when we arrived the other bands had pulled out and we were left with a 90 minute slot to fill, with no drum kit and our name spelt incorrectly on all the posters, we spend the next hour running blindly around leeds trying to borrow a drum kit from another venue…good times.
NMT: Metallica or Megadeth?
Cal: That is a tough call both are massive influences on metal today but…
Ed – Megadeth
Mike – Megadeth
Jon – Refuses to decide between the two!
NMT: Describe Callous in exactly 5 words
Cal: Energetic, Melodic, Brutal, Raw, SEXY
NMT: You come across a bearded hermit in the woods. He has never heard any music, but is interested to learn. What 3 albums would you recommend to him?
Cal: (Ed) haha well if he has never listened to music before I would tell him to buy ‘Obzen’ by Messugah and let his first musical experience be listening to ‘Bleed’….just to completely blow his mind haha. I’m sure Jon would put a good case forward to worship the old school with ‘Back In Black’ By ACDC or ‘Rust in Peace’ By Megadeth… failing that I would make him write me an I.O.U for around £10 for our full length album being recorded next year!
