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Aug
29thA-Sides Interview: Cool ‘Kids’ Blondfire Set to Make ‘Waves’Photo/Describe the Fawna My sister and I thought we were pretty creative as kids. We always loved to draw characters we respectively created together, and filmed satirical videos on our extremely large camcorder (it was seriously the size of Minnesota compared to today’s HDs). We’d also put on shows for our family starring our respective Cabbage Patch Kids. Yes, I had several and am not ashamed to admit — although clearly I should be. As we grew older, my sister and I went our separate ways, and each did our own thing. Most siblings tend to do that (unless you’re, for example, a Carpenter), but not the Los Angeles-based duo of Bruce and Erica Driscoll who make up Blondfire. “We’ve been fiddling around on instruments since we were born,” Bruce Driscoll said. Elaborating on the sibs’ musical exploration, he added,
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Aug
21stSlam Donahue Catches BugsSlam Donahue are a quirky Brooklyn act led by singer/guitarist David Otto and bassist Thomas Sommerville, and last week, they came to the Music Conservatory to film a session on a rather ho-hum hump day. The band, who are fittingly on Cantora Records who have killer tripsters MGMT on their roster, didn’t perform for students but did serenade a few fruit flies fittingly during their performance of ultra-catchy “Bug in the Sun” off their EP Hemlock Tea which dropped today. Watch and listen, and enjoy the chat that follows the song. Namaste. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx5sFqY-ye4&w=560&h=315] “Bug in the Sun” [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Aw3PlefSc&w=560&h=315] SD Interview The Hemlock Tea EP was released today. About A-Sides with Jon Chattman Jon Chattman’s music series features artists (established or not) from all genres performing a track, and discussing what it means to them. This informal series focuses on the artist making art in a low-threatening, extremely informal (sometimes humorous) way. No bells, no whistles — just the music performed in a random, low-key setting followed by an unrehearsed chat. In an industry where everything often gets overblown and over manufactured, I’m hoping this is refreshing. www.slamdonahue.com http://bit.ly/HemlockTea_iTunes
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Aug
21stA-Sides Presents: Westchester’s First Annual Pop Goes the CultureWestchester County, NY (August 21, 2012) – On Friday, November 2, Westchester will take a trip down memory lane with its first annual Pop Goes the Culture variety show, for which it is now seeking sponsors. Presented by A-Sides with Jon Chattman, in association with The Digital Arts Experience, Pop Goes the Culture is an evening of “pop-stalgia” filled with meaningful performances and meaningless — but well-intentioned — awards. Held at the White Plains Performing Arts Center in White Plains, the event promises to be a wildly entertaining and unforgettable night of comedy, music, and more. Emceed by popular White Plains-based comedian Carlos A. Hernandez, Pop Goes the Culture recognizes the best and brightest in 80s and 90s pop culture history as it relates to Westchester. Wrestling legend Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka, whose autobiography Superfly will be published by Triumph this December and was co-written by Chattman, will receive the Lifetime Achievement of Pop Culture Award, while 80s Icon Slim Goodbody will be honored with the Body of Work Lifetime Achievement Award. Other honorees include TV icons The Magic Garden’s Paula and Carole, as well as ‘30 Rock’ actor Grizz Chapman. A fifth honoree will be announced at Comedy: Plains and Simple at White Plains Performing Arts Center on September 7. “Alec Baldwin always gets nominated for (and wins) Emmys. Meryl Streep can have her Oscars. How many Grammy’s does Adele have? Seriously, the same heavyweights are always honored. It’s time to celebrate beloved treasures that – for years- have gotten [...]
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Aug
20thA Master Class with Anchor & BrailleAnberlin front man Stephen Christian realizes the term “side project” can have some negative connotations to it. Is he just messing around with some other musicians? Is he going to leave Anberlin? Those questions, which I made up but perhaps you were thinking, are the reason he’s dubbed his “other” band Anchor & Braille as a “passion project.” During an A-Sides taping filmed in front of students of the Music Conservatory of Westchester’s Rock & Jazz Summer Program, the rocker explained that A&B allows him to return to his roots as a musician: days when he’d play piano or strum his guitar to music he’d just written. In other words, Anberlin can continue to sell-out arenas with large-and-in-charge tracks like “Feel Good Drag” while A&B can play more intimate venues with stripped down slow burners. That’s exactly what’s happening. This summer, Christian played a bunch of intimate dates with Anchor & Braille, who just released their second album “The Quiet Life,” while he finished up the new Anberlin album (due this fall) in the studio. A&B, by the way, originally started as a solo project for Christian in 2008. Following the release of “Felt” in 2009, he was looking to step it up a notch for A&B’s sophomore effort so he added friend, producer, and fellow musician Micah Tawlks to the band, and they recorded the album together in Nashville with Civil Twilight keyboardist Kevin Dailey serving as co-producer and engineer. Christian and Tawlks performed three tracks on A-Sides, spoke [...]
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Aug
13thA-Sides Live To Honor Jimmy Snuka[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iu2yqFLyG4&w=560&h=315] Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka is among the honorees at the first ever Westchester County Pop Goes the Culture Variety and Awards Show – Nov. 2, 2012 at the White Plains Performing Arts Center (wppac.com). Presented by A-Sides with Jon Chattman and the Digital Arts Experience (asidesmusic.com, thedae.com).
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Aug
7thGo West with PK & Head East with The Ugly Club“The Lost Boys” is one of my favorite movies ever. The 1987 vampire flick blows “Twilight” out of the water on every level and comes equipped with the best soundtrack ever. Don’t agree? I suggest you listen to the sax solo in Tim Cappello’s “I Still Believe.” Man, that song gets me. Anyway, I’m not here to try and convince you to enjoy that Haim/Feldman teen angst horror classic or its brilliant soundtrack. Today, I’m talking about a different “Lost Boys” and while it has absolutely nothing to do with the opening lines of this post, it is stellar in a very non-Frogg Brothers way. The California-based indie rock act PK just released their new EP called “The Lost Boys Session,” and it’s a wonderful cross between vintage Killers and The Gaslight Anthem. Check that – frontman Travis Hawley has his own style, and attention ladies – is a Superman doppleganger. Joined by Matt DePauw (Guitar), Mikel Van Kranenburg (Bass), and Nick Fotinakes (Guitar), it wouldn’t surprise me if this post serves as a tipping point for the well-received band. Rolling Stone magazine has already singled them out as one of its top 16 Unsigned Artists in the US based off their debut album “The Roaring.” Three of the five members stopped in for an A-Sides late last month, and performed two tracks and took part in an interview. Watch the footage filmed at the Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains, NY below, and love me for it later. [...]
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Jul
30thGet “Head” From Electric Guest, Ride the Moon Taxi, and Welcome Back Shiny Toy Guys’ Carah FayeI don’t care what anyone says. The song of the summer isn’t Carley Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” or Maroon Five’s dated “Payphone” and it’s certainly not Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake.” For my money, and mind you I make very little of it, it’s Electric Guest’s “This Head I Hold.” Already a hit on alt-radio, this song by the duo of Asa Taccone and Matthew Compton has captured the 1960s and 1970s groovy feel like no other band in recent memory. Seriously I can picture Dick Nixon socking it to me every time I hear it on the radio — whatever that means. Sure it doesn’t have the legs Jepsen’s song has had, but Guest have climbed the charts since its release, and already performed the track on Late Show with David Letterman. It’s appeared on countless television spots. But, the L.A. tag-team of Taccone and Compton are far from two-trick ponies. Their debut album “Mondo” has been well received, and provides a nice soundtrack to anyone willing to give themselves a self-high five. The MTV “buzzworthy” band are currently on tour, and stopped by Primary Wave Music’s Listening Room earlier this month for an A-Sides. There, they performed two songs including “Head” and sat down for a chat. Watch. Listen. Love. Oh, and watch their version of “Troubleman” exclusively on asidesmusic.com.
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Jul
27thA-Sides With Jon Chattman: Everclear’s Art Alexakis Opens Up, Wild Adriatic Take Off, and Abby Bernstein Talks ‘in Tongues’You wore flannel, and it was widely acceptable. You grew your hair out, but shaved it on the sides to create an awkwardly overgrown mushroom look. You moshed at any club who’d have you no matter which band was playing. Yep, you were so much cooler back in the 1990s. We all were. Well, not all of us. If you were in New York City last week — specifically the legendary Roseland Ballroom — you saw firsthand that alt-rockers Everclear are as cool now as they were back when you were grunging things up as a punk kid. The band brought its Summerland Tour to the Big Apple last week along with co-headliners and fellow 1990s icons Sugar Ray, and killed it. The tour, which also features Pog decade staples The Gin Blossoms, Lit, and Marcy Playground, comes on the heels of Everclear’s first album in six years entitled Invisible Stars. Hours before he took the stage and led a good old-fashioned mosh pit, Everclear frontman Art Alexakis sat down backstage for an honest and deeply-felt interview. It’s good to have the band — responsible for one of the ’90s best songs (“Santa Monica”) as well as its most underrated ones (“Amphetamine”) — back together again. Watch the interview below, and we’ll forgo the live performance A-Sides in favor of the band’s new music video for “Be Careful What You Wish For.” Watch. Listen. Love. Just Under Seven Minutes With Art Alexakis: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWgT4KzL9mY&w=560&h=315] Everclear: “Be Careful What You Ask [...]
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Jul
27thEverest Climbing and Danny Chait RisingBeing released from their record deal felt so freeing for the band Everest that their latest album in many ways felt like the very first time. No need to cue Foreigner. That’s just what the band conveyed to me during an A-Sides session filmed at the Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains, NY earlier this month. Their new album fittingly called Ownerless, the LA-based band, which was formed by Russell Pollard, Joel Graves and Jason Soda back in 2007, told me during an A-Sides session earlier this month that leaving Warner Bros. allowed them to make the kind of music they always wanted to, and perhaps strayed from. Watch below, and enjoy their performance of the title track. Oh, and catch them on the road alongside Alberta Cross and this fall with Neil Young with Crazy Horse. Yeah, I said Neil Young. Bad to the ass. Anyway … Watch. Listen. Love. Everest – “Ownerless” [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCJ4Pd1fs5U&w=560&h=315] We move from a band opening up for a legend to a newcomer starting to open some eyes. How’s that for a segue? Westchester native and current Brooklynite Danny Chait has been getting some notices with his old-school “songwritery” rock EP “The Back Room.” Chait, who played South by Southwest (SXSW) and CMJ Music Marathon, stopped by the Conservatory to film an A-Sides session and perform his track “On.” Watch below you will. Yes? “On” and interview [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L383hMGZ4k4&w=560&h=315] About A-Sides with Jon Chattman Jon Chattman’s music series features artists (established or not) [...]
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Jul
17thThe ‘Wait’ is Over For Missy HigginsMissy Higgins is already orca-big in her native Australia, and it’s pretty safe to say she’s on the way of being that super-sized in the states. The singer/songwriter, whose album “The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle” was released in the U.S. today, is spending her summer and fall in grand style by headlining shows of her own as well as joining fellow Aussie Gotye on the road for a series of shows. Higgins has already gained notices from Yankee audiences for taking on the Kimbra vocals when Gotye performs his International smash “Somebody I Used to Know” in concert. Last week, Higgins filmed an A-Sides session at the Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains and discussed how intimidating it was to take on Kimbra’s big voice. More importantly, she discussed her new album – the first in five years – and the evolution of her songwriting process. She also discussed the delightful contrast of being certified gold in Australia and being a rookie here in the states. She also performed two songs on piano, and killed it. Watch “Everyone’s Waiting” below followed by an “intimate” interview. Oh, and watch her live version of new single “Hello Hello” exclusively on asidesmusic.com now. “Everyone’s Waiting” [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI7U-o52J98&w=560&h=315] “Hello Hello” [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KiJUkOTQKc&w=560&h=315] Interview: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiU3p_OobAg&w=560&h=315] About A-Sides with Jon Chattman Jon Chattman’s music series features artists (established or not) from all genres performing a track, and discussing what it means to them. This informal series focuses on the artist making art in a low-threatening, [...]
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A-Sides Live! Events
10.26 Alice Ripley at White Plains Performing Arts Center (WPPAC) wppac.com
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