The Musiqtone Blog

By Cristina Carrazza—Regional Head, Midwest

If there’s any band in the industry that has my full respect it’s Anarbor. This quartet from Phoenix Arizona wants to make it clear that they’re not just any other band in the scene. With brutally honest lyrics, Anarbor praises the traditional message of “being yourself;” something that does not seem so clear in the music scene these days. The pop rockers just released their debut full length “The Words You Don’t Swallow.” At the Illinois stop of the ‘Bout Damn Time Tour, I caught up with guitarist Mike Kitlas to learn what exactly makes Anarbor tick.

Cristina: The last time I talked to you about a year ago, Anarbor was wrapping up the Take Action tour. And a ton of awesome stuff has been happening since then…
Mike: Yes it has!

CC: “Free Your Mind,” your first EP wasn’t released at the time. So how did that go?
MK: The release of “Free Your Mind” went great. We used it exactly for what we needed to. We wanted to build a fan base so we could release a record. We didn’t want to just put out a full-length record from the beginning. So, we think “Free Your Mind” accomplished that.

CC: “Free Your Mind” definitely got Anarbor in the radar. “Let The Games Begin” is played on ESPN pretty often and “You and I” was featured in the Scooby Doo movie.
MK: Totally, exactly! Everything has been going great. We kept “Let The Games Begin” because we want to use it for different licensing opportunities, so there’s some cool stuff with that.

CC: Last time I talked to you, you were starting to write for “The Words You Don’t Swallow” and you mentioned you wanted to make music that didn’t conform…
MK: And that’s exactly what we tried to do. We really wanted to do a diverse set of songs. We wanted to show our audience that we don’t have just one type of sound. And that’s what we were going for with the record. There’s the faster songs, the slower songs, the jam songs, the harder songs. That’s the thing about our band. The four of us all write. You don’t see a lot of that in music today. A lot of songs sound the same and what not. Usually, that is because there’s only one person writing them. It’s kind of cool, we get a lot of diversity.

CC: Now that you guys are better known, do you feel more pressure to conform to get to that next step or do people now know what you guys are about?
MK: Not at all. It’s just the type of thing where we feel like we don’t have any boundaries. And that’s the thing with our band; there are no boundaries for us. We could put any type of song and nothing like that is going to stop us. Besides like death metal or some reggae. But people get that about us.

CC: Do most people who are just getting to learn about Anarbor might still have the misconception that you guys are just another band?
MK: Yeah, that’s honestly what we’re going through right now. We’re at that point of breaking that barrier and showing kids what we have to offer. And now with the new album, they can see that. The title is called “The Words You Don’t Swallow” and we made that title because we aren’t going to hold anything back with this record. We are going to say what we have to say, whether that may be positive or negative, to some people.

CC: I know one of my personal favorite songs from “Free Your Mind” is “Always Dirty, Never Clean” which is a very honest critique of the music industry, one of the lyrics being “music is what you hear and not what you see.” Do you get any backlash from any bands or musicians who may think you are judging them or do you feel comfortable getting your message out?
MK: We feel totally comfortable getting our message out. You should always be yourself, and stay true to yourself and be confident. If someone is not going to like you for who they are, why would you want to be around them? We are our own people. That’s what we preach on stage. That’s what we are talking about to our fans: be yourself. You don’t need to conform and fit into whatever it is. We don’t need to wear neon clothes or Glamour Kills. You can be your own person, and that’s what we want people to know. If you don’t like that, then fuck you.

CC:  You guys are currently on tour with This Providence, The Audition and The Bigger Lights.
MK: We have one day left for us. Tomorrow is the last day for us and then we are flying to the UK.
CC: This is the first time you are going overseas…
MK: Yes. We are headed to the UK for twelve days and then we go to Japan for nine days.
CC: Any expectations?
MK: I’m ready to drink legally in both countries. But, we do know kids will at least be attending and we’ve been getting some feedback online. We are going with The Swellers and The Dangerous Summer to the UK and to Japan we’re going with There For Tomorrow and Valencia. It’s going to be tons of fun.

CC: Then you guys are going to be on all of Warped Tour this summer. I know you were only in it for a couple of days last couple of years?
MK: Yes. This is our first time doing the full tour. We’re super excited. I’ve been to Warped Tour my whole life growing up so this is a monumental thing for me, to be part of such a well-known and established tour. After Warped tour, we’ll continue to tour. There’s nothing solidified yet but we’ll be out.

CC: I know it was only released a couple of days ago, but how has the reception to “The Words You Don’t Swallow” been so far?
MK: So far so good. We get numbers next Wednesday so we’ll find out then. Kids are singing along and they’re singing along to it’s going well.

CC: I know you mentioned a little bit about songwriting before. I know Greg mentioned in an interview that you guys were trying to achieve an “element of space in the songs” trying to really showcase everyone’s different parts. And you mentioned that everyone in Anarbor is involved in songwriting, so can you maybe elaborate a little bit about the process behind the new record?
MK: Yeah totally. As far as songwriting goes, like I said it is the four of us. We all write. With this album we really wanted to keep in mind space. What we mean by space is within a song. A lot of bands now are filling their music with fake samples and they’re trying to do too much to make something good. We wanted to chill out and keep a good idea of space in our songs. We didn’t want it to be cluttered or covered with stuff. We’re a guitar driven band. That’s the idea behind that.

CC: I know you’ve also mention that the four of you really take your time with songwriting.
MK: A lot of bands write song after song trying to predict which one is going to be a hit or a single. We don’t do that at all. That pisses off management and our label sometimes. We don’t write a song unless we’re feeling it. Whenever we go into it, we have the intention of creating the best song possible. We finish each song the way it needs to be finished for us.

CC: As a band, I know you guys are still pretty grounded regardless of all the success you’ve been having recently. I saw this segment on your local news that shows you still practicing in the same garage….
MK: We are, and will always be a garage rock band. It’s who we are. We’re staying true to who we are as people and that’s something a lot of people in this industry aren’t doing. Everyone tries to play it off like they’re big rock stars. But what makes you different from any other person?

Who: fun
Where: New York City, NY
For fans of:  The Format, Anthallo, Panic At The Disco, Steel Train, Motion City Soundtrack, The Swellers

What happens when three musicians that formerly belonged to well known bands join forces? The result is one of my favorite bands at the moment: fun. After parting ways with The Format, singer and songwriter Nate Ruess enlisted help from Andrew Dost of Anathallo and Jack Antonoff of Steel Train to join him on a side project. After supporting Jack’s Mannequin in the fall of 2008, fun released their highly acclaimed debut album “Aim and Ignite” last summer. 2010 promises to be a good year for fun. They are currently wrapping up another tour in support of Jack’s Mannequin and have opening slots on both Motion City Soundtrack’s and Paramore’s spring tours. I chatted with Nate to learn more about this up-and-coming band.

Cristina: How would you describe fun?
Nate: I think it’s good. I think it’s a bunch of friends making music together. It’s just fun. At least for me.

CC: What are some of the influences behind fun? I know within “Aim and Ignite” showcases a variety of sounds. 
NR: Um, I think pop music definitely had an influence there. A lot of 60’s pop music – The Beatles are a big one. Sometimes we’re even inspired by Broadway musicals.

CC:  I know the three of you were previously parts of separate bands. How has that influenced the sound fun has? Were you trying to take it in a completely new direction or building on each other’s experiences?
NR: I think what I do as far as songwriting is a reflection of who I am personally. But I do think it is very different depending on the people that are in the equation. I always hope that with every record, or every song I write, I grow as a songwriter. So in fun you can definitely see both of those aspects.

CC: fun’s debut record “Aim and Ignite” was released last August. How has the reaction to it been so far?
NR: It’s awesome. We didn’t really know what to expect. We were really confident in the songs we had written and recorded. We were having a great time doing. But we had no idea how people were going to react to it. But it definitely exceeded our expectations. Just from people purchasing it. I think we were confident that people were going to like it but people actually taking the time to buy our record and come to our shows has been good.

CC: Right now, you’re on the Sing for Your Supper tour with Jack’s Mannequin. How is that going so far? I know before “Aim and Ignite” was released you guys also toured with them.
NR: Yeah, they’re friends of ours. It’s awesome that they really like our music and decided to take us out. They took us on our first tour ever. We didn’t really know if we were going to tour again at that point because we didn’t know what to expect from fun.

CC: And how has the reaction to fun been so far on the tour?
NR: It’s been amazing. It’s definitely the most fun I’ve had on tour.

CC: After this you guys are going overseas and doing some shows in London before heading out with Motion City Soundtrack and Paramore.
NR: Yep.  I’m so shocked that we have such cool tours lined up. I’m excited to go to the UK. I’ve only done it once before, and I’ve never headlined there. It’s definitely going to be an experience. I think at this point we’re all really excited, whether it goes greatly or poorly.

CC: What are your expectations for fun in the future? Is this a one album deal or do you hope to build on it?
NR: Hopefully we’ll just continue to build on what we’ve been doing so far. I love playing headlining shows so hopefully in the summer we can do something after the Paramore tour. I hope a lot of people can be exposed to us and come to that. Fun is definitely not a one-time record thing. But for now, we’ll take it from there.

Who: Mayday Parade
Where:  Tallahassee, FL
For fans of:  All Time Low, blink-182, All-American Rejects and Every Avenue

Intro: After the successful release of their first album "A Lesson In Romantics" Florida natives Mayday Parade are hoping to do it again with their second effort "Anywhere But Here," released last fall. The band is currently one of the headliners on the 2010 Take Action Tour, along with We The Kings, There For Tomorrow, A Rocket To The Moon, and Call the Cops. Before they took the stage in Cleveland, I had the chance to sit down with lead singer Derek and learn more tour life. 

Interview:
Spencer:Can you introduce yourself and what you do in the band.
Derek:Yes, my name is Derek and I sing in the band.

Spencer:How are you enjoying the tour so far?
Derek:It’s awesome! I knew I’d enjoy it, I always love touring but I’m actually having more fun than I actually thought, so I’m really stoked for the next month it’s going to be so much fun. All of the bands are great. It’s nice to do a tour for a good cause. All in all it’s just awesome.

Spencer:Going off that about the good cause, can you explain to those who don’t know, what the Take Action Tour is about?
Derek:Yeah, well the Take Action Tour, over all, always supports a charity and is about just giving something positive. This year in particular it’s for a charity called Driving For Donors, which is a charity started by a kid, I forgot his name, but he’s fourteen and when he was eleven he was diagnosed with leukemia. He was able to get a match and he survived. But he had a friend who was diagnosed with leukemia as well and he didn’t survive. So he’s started this and he’s basically going around, and there’s a bone marrow registry you can sign up for. They swab your cheek and if you get matched with someone then you can donate your bone marrow and save someone’s life. So it’s pretty huge. That’s here and a lot of the money made here goes towards the charity and people can also text ‘action’ to 85944 to donate five dollars and they get a free wrist band. So there’s a lot of ways that it helps. It’s really cool to contribute something positive like that.

Spencer:Awesome! What’s a song that you feel the crowd responds really well to every time that you play it?
Derek:We’ve just started, recently, playing some of our new stuff on the past few tours and it’s a song called “Get Up” that we’ve done since the last tour and that one always gets a great reaction. That’s really cool because when we wrote the song that was kind of the idea behind it; to write a song that we played live to get people pumped up. Other than that there’s a handful of songs, “Jamie All Over” is one that kids always seem to like a lot and get into. “Black Cat” is another one, there’s a bunch.

Spencer:Are there any funny stories from either on or off stage on the tour so far?
Derek:Nothing that I can think of in particular it’s just been all the bands hanigng out every night. It’s a really great group. We’d known We The Kings before this tour and we’d known There For Tomorrow we toured with both them previous to this tour. We hadn’t met A Rocket To The Moon or Call The Cops and those guys are awesome, really really good guys. Basically every night it’s just all of us hanging out and having a good time. Nothing in particular that I can think of.

Spencer:What’s your favorite part of touring?
Derek:I think it’s just actually playing the shows every night. It’s always so much fun and then it’s also really rewarding seeing a bunch of kids singing a long. It’s a real cool experience. Getting to play the shows every night. There’s hardly anything that I don’t like about it. I love touring, but that’s the best part, playing the shows.
Spencer:So then you don’t have a least favorite part?
Derek:I guess just the fact that you don’t have a normal life. You know, it’s hard with friends and family at home. It’s weird because you kind of lose touch with your friends and your family and you come back and you haven’t been there for months. It’s just different, so coming home from tour is always kind of weird. So that’s the only thing that I guess it kinda bad about it, but other than that it’s great.

Spencer:So your new album just came out, right?
Derek:Mhm! Yeah!
Spencer:How’s that doing?
Derek:Good! It’s doing well. None of us really knew what to expect with it. But I’m definitely really happy with everything and with it so far. It keeps doing well.

Spencer:What makes your concerts different from the generic pop/punk shows?
Derek:Really we just try to be as energetic as possible. We try to make the show as entertaining as we can, we never want to have a boring moment on stage. I don’t really know if that’s any different than anybody else but that’s just what we try to do.

Spencer:Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans at Musiqtone.com?
Derek:Thank you! I don’t know it’s pretty awesome that anyone even cares to, you know, hear what I have to say about these things so it’s cool. Thank you for doing the interview and thanks to anyone who’s supporting us, we appreciate it.

Links:
Official Myspace
Official website

Who:  Ruby Summer
Where:  Carlsbad, CA
For fans of:  Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift

Mini concert review: 

Ruby and Summer Spiro, two sisters from Carlsbad, California, make up the musical act Ruby Summer. They’re small town girls that have big dreams, and this will definitely not be the last time you hear about Ruby Summer. Singing songs they’ve written themselves that are a mixture of country and pop, the two girls have had a taste of success, and its still rising. On November 10th, 2009, they released their EP Conspiracy of Divine Events on Itunes featuring the hit song, I Can Do What I Want. Ruby Summer has also opened for popular acts such as Honor Society and Mitchel Musso. We were able to catch up with Ruby and Summer, and watch them perform a free show on Thursday, January 7th, 2010.

It was a rather chilly evening in San Diego, California but the vibes were warm at the Beachgrass Cafe. The feelings inside the Beachgrass Cafe were comfortable and cozy which comes as no surprise. Ruby and Summer played in front of a hometown crowd of friends and family, and fans that drove out to see the sisters were able to see them sing in a more intimate setting. Even though the cafe was rather small, Ruby Summer performed with high energy from 6 to 9pm. The sisters sang songs from their EP Conspiracy of Divine Events, other original songs they wrote, and covered hits from the pop sensation, Lady Gaga. The two sisters have true talent and real stage presence. Their voices are smooth and soothing, and their songs are not only catchy but they’re inspirational as well. When Ruby and Summer sing, they sing about their own life experiences and you can feel the emotion behind the songs. Even when covering songs by Lady Gaga (they could give Gaga a run for her money), the two put so much heart into their performances, and anyone can tell that this is what they were meant to do.

Audio interview w/ Valerie Roder & Stephanie Mora

It has been one whale of a year for Dutch singer-songwriter Esmee Denters.  What began as a YouTube account on a whim, singing her favorite songs for the world to see and hear has turned into a signing on Justin Timberlake’s label, opening for him on the European leg of the FutureSex/LoveSounds Tour and then finally an opening slot on Honor Society’s “Fashionably Late” Tour which gave Esmee a full taste on the American audience.  As she brings her edgy R&B/Pop sound from coast to coast, there’s no doubt the young singer-songwriter will find herself a place here in the US.  Fresh off a stirring and emotional duet with Honor Society’s frontman Michael Bruno, the chief head and chief editor at Musiqtone.com, Alan Ho puts the 21 year old budding star into The Audio Booth!

The Audio Booth: