Underground Bands and Indie Music Reviews

Imagine Dragons is a local band from Las Vegas comprised of:  Dan Reynolds (lead singer), Wayne Sermon (guitar), Ben McKeen (bass), Andrew Tolman (drums), and Brittany Tolman (keys). This line-up, however, is relatively new. Their most recent addition, Ben, has been in the band for only 3 months. Though they haven’t been in the music scene for very long, they have been practicing, writing, and playing as much as the can and have already been able to see results.

I met with them before their show at Velour, in Provo, UT, on Firday (08-28-09). They were fun and easy to talk to and were very excited about their future (which happens to look very bright). Check it out:

Why did you choose the name ‘Imagine Dragons‘ for your band?

Dan: Oh we get that a lot. It’s an anagram  for something that we feel really passionate about. (An anagram is where you take all the letters and rearrange them to form a phrase, or a word, or a couple of words).

Ben: And it’s top secret!

Wayne: I haven’t even told my mother.

Dan: Yeah, our families don’t even know.

Can I ask if it’s one word or two?

Ben: Oh you can ask, but we won’t tell you. (as he laughs..)

What are your practices like?

Ben: We practice 6 hours a day, everyday, from 12-6.

Wow, so you guys are pretty serious about this?

Ben:Yeah, we’ve been hitting it as hard as we can. We’re definitely not treating this as a hobby. At our practices we set achievable goals, and when we meet them, we set new goals. It’s not like we mess around.

Dan: We’re never satisfied, we’re always asking how we can improve. And that’s how are shows and songs have gotten better. We definitely don’t think we’re the bee’s knees at all, we have a lot of growth left.

Ben: But we’re working on being the bee’s knees. Right now we’re the bee’s ankles. We’re slowing working out way up!

What are you guys working on right now?

Ben: We’re really hitting all fronts as hard as we can, you know we try to do as much songwriting as we can, and we try to get out there and play as much as we can to promote our material. We write a new song and want to perform it, and then we get new gigs and want to perform new songs, we write new songs for the new gigs, then we get new gigs and new songs. You know, it’s crazy.

Dan: But we do have a new E.P. now that we’re releasing tonight, and by the end of the year we’ll have a full album. We’re actually back in the studio September 5.

How do you all write your music?

Brittany: We all collaborate, everybody is really open to each others suggestions.

Ben: Usually somebody will bring in a fairly well-developed idea with melody and form attached to it, and then as a band we’ll sit and listen to it and learn it and decide different ways to tweak it. We’ll collectively critique it…we really do everything as collaboratively as you can possibly make it work.

Andrew: We’re practicing a lot together and so a lot of the ideas we have we’ll be able to show to each other often. But at the same time we have time to go home at night and work individually…We’re just very open with communication. We’re finding that the best songs, that we’re the most proud of, are the songs where everybody has pitched in.

How do you handle criticism in composing these songs?

Dan: We’re all best friends so criticism and egos are left at the door, and I feel like that’s been the best thing for songwriting. And we all know we can approve and we’re all open to criticism from each other and that it’s not meant in a rude way.

Andrew: We come up with our best stuff and play for our manager or our friends and family and ask them what they think. A lot of times we get feedback and then try to incorporate that because we’re performing for others to uplift them…we find as we uplift others first, it makes [the music] a lot better.

Dan: For instance the newest song we’ve been working on, we were playing it at my house and my mom came in and was like, “just want to tell you guys, that song was very mediocre.” But we kept working on it and now it’s her favorite song.

Ben: She was right…and it’s much better now. Sometimes it just takes somebody else to give you a new perspective on it. It’s hard to look at your own work when you’re completely immersed in it all the time.

Now I know you guys won two battle of the bands and opened for Kelly Clarkson, how was that?

Andrew: There were like 12,000 people there, the UVU stadium was all filled. It was just a really good experience.

Dan: I think it was everything we imagined it to be, and more.

Have you guys gotten more exposure from that experience?

Ben: It seems like every time we play our fan base is growing and more people are coming out to see us. It’s great, it feels like this momentum has not begun to slow down at all. It feels like we just keep going up.

Why did you guys move to Las Vegas?

Dan: The main reason is because people in the music industry, when they hear Utah, generalize. It’s sad, but a lot of people don’t break out of Utah.

Brittney: Part of it is because there’s not a ton of smaller venues to play at. I mean you have Velour and a few others, but in Vegas there are a ton. There are just a lot more places to play and more opportunities to make a buzz down there. We love Utah, but Vegas just presents more opportunities.

Dan: Utah is just not big in the entertainment industry. But we love Utah and we’re probably more excited to play this show tonight than any show we have in Vegas.

What do you feel are your strengths?

Dan: We move through stuff quick just because these four musicians are very professional, collegiate musicians. Where you say “this is the song we’re playing, in this chord progression, and we want a bridge” and they’re like “okay”

Whereas opposed to other bands i’ve been in where they’re like “what’s this note?’, “Okay, that sounds good” “That note sounds good, where are your fingers”

We take it as serious as we can. I think fans expect something that seems surreal, or like a show, because they’re investing their money. So we try to dress up and give them an experience. We feel like our live show is probably our biggest strength. We try to put all of out heart into it and as much passion as we can and we write about things that we are very passionate about.

Gorgeous, right?

Joe Brooks grew up in Southampton, England and is currently on tour around the UK. His voice is pure and insightful. His songs aren’t on itunes yet, but check out the song, “Superman.”

Kurt Cobain, lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the grunge band Nirvana, is making a big comeback in a video game. He is appearing in the game as a playable character in the new and upcoming Guitar Hero 5, scheduled to be released in September.

Gamers will be able to play along as the musician to Nevermind (the album version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” as well as a never-before-released live version of the hit single “Lithium.” This is big news. Even though Rock Band and Guitar Hero have featured some of Nirvana’s music, Guitar Hero has only recently managed to secure the license to “Teen Spirit.”

The game producing firm, Activisim, had to receive consent from Cobain’s widow: Courtney Love, as well as his bandmates, before they could add him into their project.

“Kurt Cobain is one of the most recognizable frontmen in rock ‘n’ roll history and it’s an honor to have two of Nirvana’s masterpieces included in Guitar Hero 5,” says Tim Riley, Vice President of Music Affairs for Activision. “This is the first time the original recording of ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ has ever been licensed in an entertainment property and we’re thrilled to offer Guitar Hero fans exclusive access to the unreleased live version of ‘Lithium.”

This renowned musician will be joining Johnny Cash, Carlos Santana, Shirley Manson, and Matt Bellamy as exclusive in-game artists for the new Guitar Hero 5.

Parachute is an indie band from Charlottesville, Virginia, and has recently gained recognition with their latest album, “Losing Sleep.”

The 5 members of the band recently graduated college and are now touring and promoting their music full-time.

And it’s no wonder that this band has been gaining a strong group of followers. With a sound that could be compared to a younger, more energetic Marroon 5, you can’t go wrong. Their album is solid. The first song, “All that I am” sets the bar high for the rest of the 11 songs that follow it. And the songs that follow don’t disappoint. “She (for Liz)” is a personal favorite, with a pop-rock, yet original feel, it’s easy to find yourself nodding your head and tapping your feet to the beat.

The album slows down in the middle with some more serious, slow-piano ballads, including “She is Love” (their more popular song). However, their album picks back up the hype with “Words Meet Heartbeats” and “New Year” to wrap it up. Overall, the order and selection of songs proved to enhance the dynamics of the album.

Overall, their sound is enjoyable to listen to. And even though their music isn’t experimental (per se), they’ve got talent and are easy to like.

“The Rocket Summer” is a band that is comprised of one person, Bryce Avery, from Dallas, Texas. Avery records his music by playing all of the instruments (piano, guitar, drum, bass and vocals) individually and then combining them to make a song.  Now that’s real talent. However, when he goes on tour, he has a traveling band comprised of his old high-school friends.

His second album “Hello Good Friend” is nothing special. There are two noteworthy songs, however: Brat Pack, and Around the Clock. Other than that, skip right to his latest album “Do You Feel”.  His music is very upbeat and packed with energy. Though he has fun and bubbly melodies, his lyrics are powerful and touch on his Christian faith, problems in our society, and general everyday life.

His shows are electrifying. When he comes on stage, the crowd goes wild. His stage presence and performance energizes the audience. In the middle of songs he will switch places with one of his fellow band-mates to play a different instrument, clearly to showcase his talent. Not only is this entertaining, but his natural musical ability is apparent. Every one of his songs keeps the audience moshing and singing along; there never is a dull moment. Though a tour date hasn’t been set hasn’t been released for his new album “Of Men and Angels” (coming out later this year), I have a feeling one will be announced soon, so I’ll keep you guys posted.

Though he has talent, his style isn’t for everyone. It has a very emo, pop, ‘give-everyone-a-hug” sort of vibe. You have to be in the right mood for it, or else it can get annoying. But for short periods of time, it’s fun to listen to.

However, if you feel like listening to something that will put you in a good, carefree mood, cruisin’ in your car with the windows down and the music up, The Rocket Summer is for you.  So go on, Rock It Some More!

Air Traffic is an alternative rock band out of Britain. Formed in 2005, their music is piano-led and refreshing.

In July 2006, their first single, a double-a side of “Just Abuse Me” and “Charlotte” was released by Label Fandango. In 2007 their first album, “Fractured Life,” came out which was  followed by a nomination for the 2007 Xfm New Music Award.

Air Traffic’s first album is a mixture of pop-rock and softer ballad songs. Unfortunately, there are more soft-rock songs than I would prefer. When their pace slackens, you find yourself bored and listening to cliché after cliché.  However, when they do perform their harder pop-rock stuff, they are fun to listen to.

The band is currently working on their latest album, as of earlier this year. Hopefully this album will be more exciting then their last. You can find a glimpse of their new material with their Internet-only released song, “Ambulate.”