Michael Weybret recut his short film “An Early Autumn’s Hope” into a music video for the song that helped inspire the story. Just so happens to be “Hold Me Closer” by Froglix favourite Small City Calling. Check out the video below.
- DMitch
So far Australia Week has taken us to Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. And today our tour of Australia takes us to Melbourne. We’ve covered goodbyemotel a couple of times on here already. And they continue to impress. Check out the video for “Graham Calender”. This was the first single released off their latest EP released in September 2012 entitled People.
- DMitch
One of my favourite new bands from anywhere right now happens to come from Sydney. So of course I was going to try and include Circle (check out my original review if you are so inclined) in Australia Week if I could. And they make it so easy. It seems they are releasing a “studio demo” every other week now, teasing us with what they’re working on.
The latest creation they’ve let us have a peek in on is “Shake It Off”. It’s interesting hearing the bare bones germ of a song. And this track has me very excited to hear the final product.
- DMitch
On the first day of Australia Week we are looking back to two bands that made their appearances in our inaugural year of 2009. And unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything from either of these guys since. 
Black Knight and Highway Blonde (formerly Smart Artists) are both solidly in the rock genre. Highway Blonde is a bit more modern rock while Black Knight is a bit more on the post-punk side of things. Over the years I’ve found myself humming a tune or two from these guys. It’s always a testament to me whether a band is good or not if one of their songs can find their way into your head just out of the blue.
So, without anything new since 2009 from either, check out a couple of videos from their glorious pasts….
- DMitch
Arguably, one of the most underrated alt-rock bands of the 80′s & 90′s, The Smithereens, to this day goes down as one of my all-time favs as I quite literally have every album and know most every song, even the deep tracks, by heart. So, naturally, when they came to the Northern Virginia’s State Theatre a while back I just had to go. Some may say that the band has long since passed their prime…and they’d be right. However, these cats still rock out loud. They are not even the least bit pretentious. In fact, they are far from it. While most of the alt-rock veterans would rather play their “brand new” stuff (that nobody cares about) the Smithereens plastered the filled to capacity crowd with their most notable tracks from every album in their arsenal. It was epic.
I was fortunate enough to actually meet and hang out with the band a little bit after the show (that’s me with drummer Dennis Diken) and they were the epitome of cool. In fact, I talked with bassist Severo “The Thrilla” Jornacion about playing the bass line to “Blood and Roses” featured above. His response? “The first time I played it I thought I my fingers would bleed…it is such an honor to play that song.” With all the nit-picking in the music industry today it’s somewhat refreshing to hear someone give deference to their predecessor, in this case, former bassist Mike Mesaros.
We could have picked any number of tunes from The Smithereens catalog…“A Girl Like You” or “Only A Memory” would have been the more than obvious choices…but “Blood and Roses” was one of the tunes that was instrumental in my alt-rock conversion. Thusly, I pay homage to the song and the band today on the Friday Flashback. Enjoy my friends
Check out all the stuff by The Smithereens on 
!
- Drago
artist: The Lovegoods
album: The Lovegoods EP
genre: folk/indie pop
label: 825 Records
The Lovegoods :: North Tide
The Lovegoods :: Snowing In My Veins
Let me first tell you a little something about this outfit called 825 Records. I don’t know a ton, so if anything is wrong please correct me. 825 Records is owned and led by the talented Matty Amendola, Instagram’s 
best afro as you can see. From what I can tell, Matty is a bit of musical savant who has directed his gift into developing, mentoring and promoting the musical talent in others. He’s a master in the producer’s chair, perhaps fueled by his talent, his passion for music, but also what seems to be a genuine desire to help the artist in front of him succeed. Now, of course I don’t really know Matty…so maybe he’s actually a grade-A jerk, but c’mon, with hair like that he’s got to be a cool cat. But really I’m digressing. This was all meant just to be a lead-in for introducing one of his relatively recent projects, The Lovegoods.
I’m going to start with the sad news. The Lovegoods came to an abrupt end when one half of the duo, J.J. Gluckman, passed away late last year. Lois Burnett, the other half of the partnership, eloquently describes their music and the passing…
“A very unique and intimate friendship occurs when you begin to write songs together,” says Burnett. “You have to be so open with each other – so vulnerable to one another. We put our hearts in each other’s hands and trusted that the other would do it justice. When you do that, you put a faith into someone that can never be broken. I still feel the weight of J.J.’s heart in my hands and that weight will not be lifted until I have fulfilled his dreams – the dreams that we had intended to conquer together.”
The good news is, although it does feel shallow, the EP J.J and Lois were working on is available. From the opening lyrics of “North Tide” it becomes immediately apparent the connection between artists that Lois was talking about. The perfect blend of voice is just the first hint at the chemistry between them. But listen to the words, and we can share just a bit in their vulnerabilities as well. “Snowing In My Veins” successfully achieves one of my favorite twists found in music: upbeat music with lyrics addressing the sad or dark. Your head starts nodding, your foot finds the beat, then the words burst from your mouth to join in on the chorus “it’s snowing in my veins tonight”, and then it hits you… what is this song about?? Oh wait, this is sad. J.J.’s heartfelt plea towards the beginning of the song “how long will it take for you to see that I’m not clean?” completely passed by me on my first listen. For me, the whole song becomes a metaphor. How many of us package ourselves into a happy, up-beat facade? But if anyone was really listening they’d hear us begging for help.
- DMitch
Page optimized by WP Minify WordPress Plugin
