Born Cristina Quinones, the 16 year old from Atlanta, Georgia has had quite the career so far and that is all the while still currently unsigned by any indie or major label.  The teenage pop/rock singer-songwriter began her musical talents at 4 singing and playing the piano, wrote her first song at age 8, had her first “mock” music video at age 9 and by age 12 she landed a coveted spot on a Tavis Smiley-hosted BET event.  She will also receive the Horizon Award on Sept 11, 2010 from the Georgia Music Hall, indicating her potential as a possible superstar in the years to come. 

Music video premiere:  I Wanna Know

Links:
Official Site
Official Facebook
Official Twitter
YouTube
Myspace

The Spotlight:

The 17 year old co-star of the Nick hit series “iCarly” isn’t just another actress turned wanna-be singer.  Music has been in her blood since she was born and more specifically country music.  The then 8 year old McCurdy began writing and taping songs on a tape recorder at 8 and by 15 was writing and co-writing songs to jumpstart the career she had always dreamt of as a little growing up in a surprisingly Nashville-like vibe in Garden Grove, California.  However that career had to wait in between iCarly shoots and interested labels pulling McCurdy into pop music, which she described as “uneasy” and truly believed her perfect fit was the music she grew up listening to.

With her EP out already, the 17 year old is set to debut her full length album, “The Story of My Life” September 28 on Capitol Nashville, the label that turned Lady Antebellum and Keith Urban into country superstars.  Co-writers on the album includes Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood of the aforementioned Lady Antebellum, Jessi Alexander (Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb”) and will be produced by longtime Nashville producer Paul Worley.

Links:
Official Facebook
Official Twitter
Watch “Not That Far Away” on the Musiqtone.com homepage!

It was a Friday night in Los Angeles: people strolling down the streets, cars swerving and honking in traffic, and music bumping from every bar. Despite the unvarying weekend setting in the Hollywood social scene, a change could be found in a small building on Cahuenga Boulevard, known as the Hotel Cafe.

Upon walking into the venue, the intimate, dark, and cozy environment embraces you as you begin a musical journey for the night. The journey for this particular Friday night was lead by Canadian singer and songwriter, Lights. With Los Angeles being Lights last stop on her Lights.Acoustic tour, the excitement and anticipation struck the faces of all as they waited for the show to start.

After the opening act, Jesse Thomas finished her short set, Lights appeared in the spotlight with her guitar and smile. She first gave a quick introduction of herself and her music, and then began to play. She played audience favorites February Air, The Listening, and Quiet and switched between using the piano and guitar throughout the night. Not only did Lights play audience favorites, but she surprised her fans by performing a few new songs, including Cactus In the Valley. The performances were phenomenal but what made Lights’s show most memorable were the side notes she would add during her songs, which gave the audience a glimpse of her optimistic and fun personality.

Overall, Lights.Acoustic was an amazing show. Her raw and airy voice was the star of the show and worked well with the acoustic setup. It was fresh to hear her voice express its liberty, holding out notes unlike on her produced albums. Lights choice to ditch the keytar and galactic synth was wise, and the audience’s appreciation of her honesty and heartfelt performance was illustrious that Friday night. 

For more info on Lights, visit her Myspace or Official Site!

The video:

Who:

Why they are in The Spotlight:  This dynamic piano-driven pop/rock quintet from California is the brainchild of prolific singer-songwriter Cameron Jaymes (vocals, guitar).  According to Jaymes, the name stems from the kind of bond the five share when they come and collaborate together:  “As we made the record I really connected with the guys,” Jaymes says. “It became this family reunion of musicians, for me, and a revolving collaborative of buddies I’ve made.”

The sound is very reminiscent of another piano-driven pop/rock group, One Republic but unlike the Colorado superstars who are much more understated in their sound, Jaymes Reunion goes a little harder, taking in sounds from groups like Maroon 5, Switchfoot and Relient K, giving their sound a decidedly harder edge than Ryan Tedder and Co.  To put a more modern parallel, think SafetySuit with a piano in the middle of the stage (the band recently toured with SafetySuit!). 

Links:
Official Myspace

Video:  Fine “Official” music video:

Name: "Ashlyne Huff"
Label: Liquid Digital Media
Release Date: May 11th, 2010
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Written by: Stephanie Mora, Staff Writer, Pacific/Southwest Region

Have you heard of Ashlyne Huff? If your answer to that question right now is "no," that is all about to change. Fresh off of opening for successful pop/rock act Honor Society on their Here Comes Trouble Tour, this up and coming singer/songwriter just released her debut self-titled album on May 11th, 2010. If you attended any of the Here Comes Trouble shows, you know that Ashlyne was absolutely ecstatic about her album release, and she had every reason to be. Her album entitled, Ashlyne Huff showcases her strong vocal talent and veteran song-writing abilities, and with only 6 tracks on the album, it will leave you wanting to hear more.

The album begins with Huff’s most popular song and single, "Heart of Gold." This track is featured on the Now That’s What I Call Music: 33 compilation album and you can  find the music video right here on Musiqtone.com. At first listen, "Heart of Gold" is an instantly catchy song that is bound to get stuck in your head. With unique guitar rhythms and a clap driven drum beat, you will want to clap your hands, tap your foot, nod your head, and dance around your room all at the same time. The track is just as strong lyrically as it is musically. With lyrics like, "Who am I to tell you what to do, you’re not the type to do what you’re told, let me tell you you’re gonna miss this heart of gold," girls everywhere will want this to be their anthem they scream at the top of their lungs.

While track 2 offers the same upbeat, catchy tempo as track 1, Trippin It Up offers a completely different sound and shows a different side of Huff. Trippin It Up was featured on the soundtrack to Secrets Of The Mountain. This song is versatile in the way that the lyrics will make you want to think and reflect, but the beat will make you want to blast it from your car speakers with the windows down. With the guitar and drums working together heavily in this song, it offers a more rockish sounding beat, and the lyrics provide insight into the issue of commitment in relationships, that can be seen from a female or male perspective.

The only true ballad on the album is track 3, Sweet Nothing. With very light and soft guitar rhythms and drum beats, Huff’s voice really shines on this power ballad. While Sweet Nothing offers something different, you can’t help but want to hear more upbeat, powerful songs like the previous 2 tracks. Fortunately track 4, provides just that. Heartbeat is the strongest track on the album and a personal favorite of mine. This song provides the best of both worlds in terms of melody and the lyrics are easy to relate to. In the song Heartbeat, Huff belts out lyrics like, "don’t let it bring you down, don’t let it beat you up, if you haven’t found your one and only," and these words are something that everyone feels at one point or another. We’re all searching for that one person, and with this track Huff provides hope for those who haven’t found that person yet. The melody of Heartbeat starts off slow and ballad like with the actual sound of a heart beating in the background, but it then shifts to an upbeat, more rockish melody, as if to drive home that you indeed will be OK if you have not yet found your "one and only." With the shifts in melody during this track, it really helps showcase Huff’s vocal range.

The fifth track on the album, Make It Rain, is another favorite of mine and another strong, relatable track. The song is about a girl wanting her boyfriend to wash away all her problems. She doesn’t want him to see her cry, she just wants him told hold her and to have him make it all go away. Whether you are female or male, we have all had those days when we just want someone to make our problems go away. The use of guitar, bass and drums in Make It Rain gives the melody high and low points, and this fits with actual up and down tone of the song. Comeback, the last and final track, is a very fun way to end the album. Comeback is about two people getting back together and defying everyone’s expectations. Lyrically, the song is not as strong as the others on the album, but it provides an undeniably infectious beat. When Huff performs this one live, there is a dance that she teaches the audience to do along with the chorus, and if you know the dance you will find yourself doing it whenever the song comes on. Even if you don’t know the dance, the song will make you want to dance and sing along.

With only 6 tracks, Ashlyne Huff’s album is short in length but it doesn’t lack the quality of a good album. The saying goes quality over quantity and with her self-titled album, Huff has achieved just that. She came out with 6 quality tracks that showcase her talent as a singer and as a songwriter. Each one of her songs tells a story that will strike an emotional chord in anyone, female or male. Her album proves that she has what it takes to be a staying power in the music industry. If you don’t already know who Ashlyne Huff is, believe me, you will.

Links:
Official Site
Official Myspace
Official Facebook
Her official twitter
Vote for “Heart of Gold” on The Countdown!

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:

The Irish pop/rockers made it big in their native Ireland and in the UK and beyond…but they have also struck immediate gold in the US!  Check them out raw, unplugged, stripped-down and best of all, acoustic on the VH1 stage!

Video:

Who:

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:

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