#(in that same vein i think he likes a lot of 80s rock. totally not projecting or anything)

[deargravity]

akashi’s secret to success is waking up at 5 a.m. to the alarm: “good morning you stunning stack of fucking sunshine! rise and fucking grind! do you fucking know what today is

#knb #kuroko no basket #akashi seijuro #that tiktok audio is oddly motivating to me idk abt the rest of u #teiko training camp led by akashi and they all have to wake up to this every morning #(in that same vein i think he likes a lot of 80s rock. totally not projecting or anything)

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

AMY LEE, TAYLOR MOMSEN, MARIA BRINK & LZZY HALE DISCUSS THE STATE OF ROCK (part 2)

The four rockers share their thoughts on the cyclical nature of the genre and more.

In part one of this round-table conversation, Amy Lee, Lzzy Hale, Taylor Momsen and Maria Brink flipped the script.

“I was thinking women’s empowerment is if we didn’t talk about women’s empowerment at all and actually spent this hour talking about our music and what we do,” Lee suggested. So, they highlighted their new albums and discussed why people needed music more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic instead.

In part two, the four artists spoke about rock’s cyclical nature and why “female-fronted” will never be a genre.

I want to talk to you all about Gene Simmons’s whole “rock is dead” statement. I think this is a really strange thing to say while we’re in the middle of a pandemic, so there’s no touring, and there are fewer albums coming out. But it’s a strange thing when you see so many amazing artists like all of you who are charting these massive rock ’n’ roll albums. What do you think about “rock is dead”?

LZZY HALE: Well, rock can’t die if it never goes away. Rock never goes away. It’s a constant. This is part of why I love rock, and the genre is that we’re not chasing trends. We’re not trying to compete with Justin Bieber. There are a lot of different genres, especially things that go over the top and anything that’s a shining light right now. But that stuff burns, and then it fades away. But we’re underground, and we just keep doing what we’re doing. Rock cannot die if it never goes away.

AMY LEE: It’s just not mainstream.

TAYLOR MOMSEN: I think you have to remember, too, rock ’n’ roll can’t die for a multitude of reasons. One of them being that it’s one of the original forms of music. It’s one of the original art forms. It stems from the blues. It includes everything. Rock ’n’ roll is the blues. It’s jazz. It’s country. It’s pop. It’s hip-hop. Dare I say, it’s folk, and it’s bluegrass. It’s literally every form of music combined into one. And we get to play really loud electric guitars, which is just awesome.

So you can’t eliminate rock ’n’ roll. It can’t die. Anyone who says that it’s dead, in my opinion, they’re just incorrect because you’re looking at something from a mainstream perspective. Rock was never in the mainstream.

It’s had its moments in the sun, where it takes over and kicks everything else’s ass. But in general, it’s very cyclical. If you look at history, the ’60s and the ’70s, there was a renaissance of rock ’n’ roll where all these artists and bands came out, and they were speaking for the generation. They’re speaking for the time. And they were really being the voice and were amazing, and it overtook everything.

Then the ’80s came in, and rock started to bend a little bit more toward the pop vein of things, and pop overtook everything again. And then the ’90s and the grunge scene, that’s just so honest and so raw and so emotionally connected that I don’t even know how to process what I just heard. So it has its moments where it shines, but it’s never gone. I always just say rock is resting, and it’s just waiting for the fans.

HALE: It’s not like it’s this niche genre. Anyway, my point is, rock ’n’ roll can’t die. It’s primal, and it’s necessary, and it’s needed. And I think it’s needed more now than ever in the world.

MARIA BRINK: Yeah, I agree with you.

MOMSEN: It’s soul music. I need it the same way I need food and water and oxygen. It’s a part of who I am. And without it, I don’t feel like myself. I don’t feel complete as a person. So I don’t think that it’s something that can ever disappear.

BRINK: I think everything’s also a matter of perspective and not looking at it from the right perspective. Just because it’s not in the mainstream like you [all] are saying, it’s still existing and very strong. [Gene Simmons is] just not looking at it. He’s just not paying attention, I suppose.

And I feel like after COVID, heavy metal and rock ’n’ roll, the comeback will be harder than it’s ever been. You’ve been locked up. We all feel chained, and we want to get out so bad. I feel like we all just want to run outside and scream and run. And I feel like who wants to go to a happy, soft show after all this? I feel like people are going to want to come out, just run around and go crazy, and metal and rock ’n’ roll is where they’re going to go do that.

So I think we’re going to have a massive surge coming soon. But I think we’re also thriving, very alive and very powerful right now. So tell him to pay attention.

LEE: In that same article where he said that, he says something more offensive. He totally called being a woman in rock, like a female rock band, a “genre.” They’re making cool things, but, you know, for “the female genre.” Everything else you ever say, I’m done listening to you.

And I think that’s part of the massive problem. Eventually, the way that we fix this is that those people will no longer be involved in this community, and the young generation and trailblazers like all of yourselves will continue to support this message of: “Fuck it, don’t ‘female-front’ me.” That’s not a genre.

This interview first appeared in Alternative Press 392, the Power Issue: Women Rising, which is available here.

#amy lee #evanescence #taylor momsen #the pretty reckless #maria brink #in this moment #lzzy hale #halestorm #2021 interviews

[imacrowcawcaw]

1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20, 23, 29, 38 😘❤️ Hope you’re having a wonderful day!

Hi mimi thank you so much for all the questions!!! This is gonna be really long lol - also, sorry it took a while, Tumblr kept glitching and erasing EVERYTHING

1. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them? Oh my god SO MANY! I have roughly 50 works in progress, and so many more ideas running through my head - I just haven't had the energy or the time lately to actually work on them. One that keeps coming back to me is Sam and Danny chilling in bed on a lazy Saturday, after a sleepover, and Sam announces that if they had sex, it would be the best either of them ever experienced. They debate for a while, and of course end up getting it on... it'll happen someday.

4. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic. There's a lot of fluff and heartfeltwords; I try to keep it lighthearted too, though, and throw in what I hope is some funny stuff; smut of course, or at least some kissing; metaphors and figurative language galore. I feel like I'm still very much trying to find my voice and my style, so I think my fics differ a lot in their styles, but there are things that I generally like.

5. Share one of your strengths. Hmm, I was going to say that I know how grammar works (that feels rude but- ) actually I'm going to say that I always turn out things that I really enjoy. That may be more of a personal strength - i.e. it only matter to me - but if I post something I am satisfied (enough) with it. I like my work! I write what I want, even with requests, and I put my all into my writing because I want it to be such good quality that it would make me squeal if I came across it.

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

"Dude, that's disgusting."

Danny just smiled at Josh, showing off a rather gross mouthful of mangled food, and kept eating his pineapple pizza.

"Seriously, pineapple doesn't belong on pizza. Can't you just eat regular toppings like the rest of us?"

Danny shook his head and swallowed. "Nuh-uh, I can't. I'm not like the rest of you."

"Hmm, you know, you're right: you're not like the rest of us. It's way hotter in the Wagner corner." Josh looked at him coyly, licking BBQ sauce from his chicken wings off of his fingertips.

Danny froze and Josh laughed, using a napkin to scrub away the rest of the sauce and continuing to messily eat his 'regular' pizza. Danny shook his head, closing the lid of his box to save the rest for later.

Idk if anyone other than @satans-helper would be interested in Josh and Danny (like, together, or at least flirting) but.... I thought this was good. It was fun to write - still not anywhere near done, though - and I think it captures them pretty well. I think dialogue is good when the characters speak for themselves, literally, without having to rely completely on prose to give it meaning.

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

"The bass pumped through Sam in the same rhythm as his cannabis-speckled blood, sludgey warmth crawling in his veins as he took a second hit of the blunt being passed around. Hidden away from the eyes of management constantly trying to tighten the reins, as if they weren't rock stars in - or perhaps even before - their prime, he let the dark corner he and a few new acquaintances occupied be his cover from an eventual scolding."

Let this be a little teaser for the Collab Zara and I are doing (!!!) lol. I think it's some of my best writing; lyrical but not too long as I'm learning how to do it right, offering information with every little part, setting the scene in a concise but not info-dump way, some bit of irony and humor.

9. Which fic has been the hardest to write? Ohhh man, well there have definitely been MANY that I've gotten stuck on for months, if not over a year -- but, the finished fic that was hardest was probably "Forever", to be totally honest. I think it turned t out very well, but I revised over and over and over, and scrapped a very large portion of it. I know what I wanted, but it wasn't coming for a very long time.

10. Which fic has been the easiest to write? "Blood Brothers". It just flowed so well, I sat and types furiously in my phone for a good 3 hours without stopping, and it was born.

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across? There's quite a few pieces that I always think of: write what you want to read, adjectives and adverbs slow the pace (learned this recently and it's very handy), sometimes straight-forward is best, don't be afraid to scrap things and start over.

15. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose? Oh man, that's a hard choice. I think that "Eyes of Juniper" (metallica fic, not finished 😔) would actually be the best choice, because it's funny, I would love to see the guys in the 80s, and, while it deals with bodies/nudity/sexuality it wouldn't be a straight up porn film lol.

17. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order? A mix of both, I think it just depends on how my ideas are flowing. If I'm really on a roll and know I won't be interrupted, then I'll just write it chronologically. But, if I have a small idea, or I know how I want to end but dont know how to begin, then I'll just start writing something. I'm always afraid I'll forget what I want if I don't write it down, so I work on what I'm able to and fill in the rest later.

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions. Well, I usually end up doing the most of my writing hunched over sitting on me bed in the dark and furiously typing on my phone lmao. I would love to get a laptop and a dedicated space, but it's just not gonna happen rn. So, I'll go with dark, undisturbed, comfortable

23. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why? there are quite a few that I can look back at and be like noooo what was I doing. I think, though, one that could be really really amazing if revised would be "Black Dog", a guns n roses fic I wrote. It was good, but one of my firsts. My style has improved, and I think I could just make it a lot better, and the dialogue at the end could be a lot more clear and realistic sounding

29. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose? Oh mannnn there are so many fics that have made me want to somehow write/find more, I'll go with "Angel of Apple Valley" (pairing: Duzzy fandom: gnr, on rockfic, I cant find it rn though sorry). It was so amazing and I still think about it. I don't think I could do anywhere near justice to the original, so of course I wouldnt actually, but I just really want more

38. Talk about a review that made your day. Ohhh ok pretty much every review makes me suoer hapoy, but the lovely helena_s_renn left me a comment on Ch. 4 of "Skin on Skin, Hearts Laid Bare" and it nearly made me cry

"Girl, I think you've discovered your voice. This has an intensity beyond any of your other work that I've read thus far (not saying the previous isn't good - it is!!). I was glued to my phone by the eyes, didn't want it to end, and yet it did in what seemed like 5 seconds. Danny's acceptance of Sam's physical needs without asking anything more of him than "just sleep with me" is love. On that subject, I think you've thrown more words at the wellspring of Sanny Love from Sam's perspective than one would have thought possible, and they all ring true."

Like, holy shit thanks?!?! Lol. But really, I've been seriously trying to find my style, and to hear this from one of the writers I respect the most was huge. I felt like a favorite teacher was giving me a hug and telling me i did good!!!

#mimi🌼 #asks #asks answered #im sorry this qas really long

[tisthenightofthewitch]

How Ghost became the face of the new generation of heavy metal

Pressure. Controversy. An army of haters. It seems like nothing can throw Ghost off-course. How Ghost's mastermind Tobias Forge took on the world… and won

Paris, tell me… did that make your asses wobble?” It sure as hell isn’t “Scream for me, Hammersmith!”  but somehow, inexplicably, this flirty, moustached, makeup-splattered dandy wiggling about in a tux and leather gloves has 9,000 people in the palm of his hand like he’s Bruce Dickinson in ’86. Hammer is at hallmark gig venue Le Zenith in France’s capital city, witnessing Ghost deliver their latest sermon.

The City Of Love might be frozen solid on this chilly February evening, but the unstoppable Swedes are heating things up in style – fire, steam cannons, confetti, a dazzling light show and enough costume changes to make Lady Gaga dizzy are just some of the ingredients reaffirming their status as one of metal’s premier attractions in 2019.

It all makes a two-hour set fly by in no time, guided masterfully by that  aforementioned, ’tache-donning Daddy. Cardinal Copia, Ghost’s Master Of Ceremonies, raised a few confused eyebrows when he was unveiled this time last year, breaking an eight-year streak of Papa Emerituses who’d fronted Ghost since its inception. But he’s since become the beating heart of a band that have continued to evolve, grow and adapt beyond all expectations.

He’s also a world away from the blue-eyed, slick-black-haired, quiet and thoughtful man we spent time with two hours earlier, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, decidedly sans-moustache and doing much less wiggling.

When Hammer last spoke to Tobias Forge, he’d recently (some may say forcefully) been outed as Ghost’s resident mastermind – its very own Wizard Of Oz, working behind the scenes and behind the mask to help orchestrate one of the most unlikely success stories of recent times.

We are creating a dynasty.

Soon after our last conversation, Ghost dropped their latest album, Prequelle – an instant classic stacked with playful menace and 80s-tinged pop-rock bangers – and have pretty much been on the road ever since.

“Hey, if you wanna rock, you gotta rock,” shrugs Tobias of his relentless schedule. “It takes a lot of effort, a lot of cogwheels spinning and turning, to make all this work.” He’s not kidding.

A weary roadie will later inform us that it takes almost four hours to pack up Ghost’s monstrous set each night – a towering, multi-platformed, chapel-esque set-up that recalls the kind of backdrops Maiden have made home for decades. “But, once you’ve got that whole machine rolling, you don’t wanna stop,” Tobias adds. “At some point, we will have to wind down a bit, but we’re not there yet.

If you wanna be comparative, look at all the big bands; even though they made it in a different time, statistically it takes five records, about 10 years, to go from nothing to something to something great.”

And that, right there, sums up Tobias Forge. The reason Ghost have been such a triumph isn’t because of great songs, a good live show and a savvy gimmick – metal history is littered with bands that never made it despite boasting all those things.

The difference is that Tobias is the man with the plan. He may not be the tortured artiste or swaggering hellraiser that rock’n’roll loves to stick on a pedestal, but he’s a leader: a brand ambassador with a calculating mind and a shrewd business acumen who knows exactly what needs to be done to immortalise Ghost’s legacy.

He’s playing the game, and he’s winning. And if you look hard enough, the seeds for it all were being sown right at the very start.

“You can find all the details in my record collection,” he says with a knowing smirk – and he’s not wrong. Before Cardinal Copia, there were Papa Emeritus I, II and III – a line of frontmen that not only enabled Ghost to set up a deep-running narrative, but change up the formula and the image for every album cycle. Sound familiar? It should – it’s what rock’n’roll superstars have been doing for decades.

"I’ve always been a big fan of Kiss,” he continues. “Most Kiss fans can tell the era [of the band] by the photo, what they’re wearing. You can say, ‘That is ’75, that is ’76, it’s in the spring, it’s in the fall, it’s Rock And Roll Over, it’s Destroyer.’ So I figured that in order for this band to age, we need to create dynasties.

"And that way, there’ll also be nostalgia. Because I come from a heavy metal background, I know how important nostalgia is, and the attention span nowadays is so short, so you need to create it quickly. You need people to be able to say, ‘I was there when this part happened.’ That’s why it was always Papa Emeritus I, right from the start.”

It’s a meticulous level of forward-thinking that has come up trumps, but amazingly, you’d have been hard-pushed to find anyone who’d have backed Tobias to carve such a path 10 years ago.

Before 2010, it was with respected Swedish death metallers Repugnant that the Linköping native had had his most ‘success’, his love of rock’s theatrical side flirted with via a splash of corpsepaint and a drop of fake blood here and there.

A spate of EPs and splits and one well-received album, 2006’s Epitome Of Darkness, ensured a small part in heavy metal folklore was guaranteed, but it was what happened next that changed everything.

Channelling his love of catchy NWOBHM mainstays like Angel Witch and Demon, Tobias wrote what would become Stand By Him – an irrepressible schlock-rock anthem a world away from the guttural noise of Epitome…

He called up former Repugnant bandmate Gustaf Lindström to help record it, and more songs quickly followed in the same, earwormy vein – “I’ve always liked the NWOBHM bands that had melody and pop sensibility,” he says today.

But there was still something missing. The songs Tobias was now writing were following a formula that had been laid down since the 70s. It needed something different. Something fun. Something… metal.

Deciding that this new project should carry an image that’d bring it a world away from its influences – a band that, in Tobias’s words, should “sound like Angel Witch but look like Death SS,” he began doodling some ideas. One scribble stuck – the image of a Pope-like character, plastered in ghoulish corpsepaint. Papa Emeritus was born.

I was 29 years old. I wasn't going to get another chance at this.

“And as soon as it was confirmed that he’s gonna be a Pope… well, when a Pope dies, you have a new one!” adds Tobias with a laugh. Soon after Papa I came the idea for the Nameless Ghouls – masked, anonymous backing musicians that’d add to the band’s hokey mystique.

By 2009, the project had an image, some songs and a name: Ghost. But it’d be a little while before things started to move forwards, and Tobias’s grand plan would take shape.

Between 2008 and 2009, there were maybe 20 people who knew about Ghost,” says Tobias, who ended up fronting the band through default after unsuccessfully offering the gig to a variety of names from around the metal scene.

“The guys in In Solitude, the guys in Tribulation, the guys in Watain… they were the only people who knew about it! But I knew at that point that it was gonna have the ability to turn heads, because it made everyone [excited].

"Repugnant were popular, but nothing I had ever done had had such an immediate impact on people. They were all like, ‘Ghost! I wanna hear more!’ I knew that there was gonna be some sort of buzz.”

A “buzz” is an understatement. When Ghost’s first songs were finally made public – on MySpace, no less – things began to move very, very quickly. Metal messageboards were set ablaze with excitement and offers came flooding in.

“I was quickly in touch with Will from Rise Above,” notes Tobias now, and he would eventually accept a deal with Lee Dorrian’s much-respected label. An album, Opus Eponymous, was recorded, and the metal underground waited with baited breath for its new favourite band to deliver on the hype. And yet, even at this stage, Tobias wasn’t totally certain just how far things would go.

“Originally, I thought that Ghost was gonna become more like a theatre/installation sort of band, like Sunn O))),” he reveals. “We would play Roadburn, arthouse concerts, five dates at the London Scala, that sort of thing.”

So a kind of ‘event’ band. You’d show up to play special shows and residencies.

“Exactly,” he confirms. “I never thought we would be the band that would play metal festivals, play in daylight, play with other bands.”

But then more offers started steaming in. Suddenly Ghost – with not so much as a gig to their name – were being asked to go on tours, play festivals and do interviews. For Tobias, there was a straight decision to be made: keep this project as a ‘cult attraction’, stay within the underground and become everyone’s favourite ‘Oh, you wouldn’t have heard of them’ reference point, or take a leap into the unknown and reach for greatness.

For a man that had spent years keeping a lid on his grand ambitions, now was the time to sink or swim. And, really, there was only ever going to be one option.

“I wasn’t gonna get another chance,” he states flatly. “I was already 29 years old at the time, so it was like, ‘This is the train and it’s leaving now.’ You can choose to stay, and sit there and fucking wonder all your life, or you can get on.”

Tobias got on the train, and it hasn’t stopped rolling. Opus Eponymous was released on October 18, 2010, and within three years intimate club shows became packed-out academy shows in front of 5,000 people, and soon after that the band could be seen supporting everyone from Metallica to Foo Fighters to Iron Maiden.

They won a Grammy for Cirice (and have been nominated for two more); they’ve been championed by everyone from James Hetfield to Phil Anselmo; their merch has become obscenely big business, t-shirts selling out in no time at gigs (including the show Hammer attends tonight) and the Ghost IP being plastered across everything from baubles to butt plugs to custom plague masks.

Tobias has manoeuvred that quick sketch of a spooky lad in a Pope hat into a machine Gene Simmons would be proud of, all underpinned by a storyline that has fans salivating as they wait for the next chapter to be revealed.

And if there was any doubt that this is still very much Tobias’s baby, you need only look at the casualty list littered with names that have crossed him. There are the disgruntled ex-bandmates who attempted to bring a lawsuit against Tobias in 2017 after claiming they were denied their rightful share of the Ghost pot.

The lawsuit was thrown out in October last year, his former colleagues ordered to pay Tobias’s legal costs (around $145,000, if you’re counting). There was also the Sister Imperator incident, where the elderly Ghost matriarch and star of their ongoing vignette series had to be swiftly recast after a mysterious falling out.

“All of a sudden, you’ve an actress who decides to start making fucking trouble and makes herself unemployable,” Tobias says. “Well, then you have to do what they do in any soap opera… a car accident.” That’s not allegorical, by the way.

Tobias literally had a new vignette made revealing that the Sister was in a car wreck and needed reconstructive surgery. The new actress was brought in so smoothly that many Ghost fans assumed it was the same person with a different haircut. How’s that for efficient?

“That’s how you solve things,” the frontman shrugs. “But that was not planned at first, because we’d been working with the same actress for three years, and then all of a sudden, things fell apart. But, you have to roll with the punch, you have to bite your finger, and come up with another plan… car accident. Boom.”

That Tobias won’t be moved on what actually happened between he and the original actress is understandable – after all, this is a man that spent years holding his cards close to his chest.

That this all managed to play out under the noses of one of modern metal’s most fanatical fanbases, however, is pretty damn impressive. Basically: don’t cross the boss.

While Tobias’s masterplan may seem iron-clad, he will at least admit that there is room for fine-tweaking along the way. He recently revealed that Cardinal Copia’s character could stick around for another five years and multiple albums – a first for Ghost, who have thus far changed up their protagonist for every record.

“That’s just because of the potential of him being a ‘Pope’ or a Papa Emeritus IV,” he explains, before adding: “If he becomes a Papa Emeritus.”

So there could be multiple endings planned for Cardi C?

“Absolutely. All of this is an organic movement, and that is one of the biggest paradoxes for me, as a control freak. To be part of this living world, I can’t control everything. I can control a lot, and I can influence a lot, but I can’t control it [all]. And coming to terms with those things and accepting that is a big struggle for me.”

He’ll also admit that being the mastermind behind a machine as big and ever-evolving as Ghost has had a serious impact on his personal life. Being a part of a successful band is one thing, but having that success rest almost entirely on your shoulders is something altogether different.

“It’s very hard to do this without any casualties,” he muses. “It takes a toll on your surroundings, your crew, your parents, your children… I have two kids, 10 years old. They were toddlers when this whole thing started. My family’s had to endure a lot for this to happen.”

He’s also had to face up to the reality that being in a big rock band means you’re going to attract the attention of

a fair few haters – and Ghost have an army of them. Check out Hammer’s Facebook page to see the dizzying levels of vitriol that a post about Ghost will attract. Recurring issues seem to be accusations of selling out, anger at Tobias’s treatment of his former bandmates and, most commonly, whether Ghost belong in our world at all (and to be fair, you’d be hard-pushed to describe Prequelle as a true heavy metal record by any standards).

“I’ve noticed it,” says Tobias. “I noticed it in the beginning. I think that it’s the same old discussion. ‘Is Ghost a metal band?’ ‘Are we a clone of Mercyful Fate?’ It’s the same old thing. But now these people are saying the new record is not as good because it’s not as much of a clone of Mercyful Fate! OK…”

Why do you think Ghost wind people up so much?

“Because we are ever-present, all the time. We are being shoved into people’s faces, and we’re rubbing it in. They wouldn’t talk about us had we not been successful. Does it worry me? Not really. If they’re talking shit about me, that’s one thing,  especially if it’s someone that I know. That can hurt me deeply. When you’re at the beginning of your career, especially nowadays, you spend a lot of time surveying what’s going on, because you need to feed off anything that’s happening to the band. So I noticed there was a lot of ‘controversy’, a lot of mixed opinions. It’s surprising they don’t understand that the more they talk about us, the more traffic there is about our band. More than we would have had had they not spoken!”

Once again, it’s there: the unnerving feeling that Tobias is metal’s modern-day puppet master, pulling the strings above a performance that we all continue to play our parts in. Whether it’s the media, his fans, his critics or the few who have attempted to foil him, everything only ever seems to play into his hands, and the Ghost train rolls on.

“A few months ago, based on metadata alone, a website made a list

of the biggest bands in metal,” Tobias reveals as a PR informs us our time together is up. “We were number four! Right up there. And that’s thanks to these people that keep on fucking hating. So I have nothing but great feelings for them.”

He makes to leave before adding: “That’s how all these bands made their careers. You think Lars would shy away every time people would talk shit about Metallica? Fuck. That.”

Hated, adored but never ignored. This summer, Ghost will play in front of stadium crowds with Metallica once again – something Tobias calls a “PR exercise” – before more global dates and, eventually, a new album that’ll reveal the next chapter of his grand plan. You can imagine that people will have plenty to say about it. And you can imagine that Tobias Forge is going to relish every second.

ALL RIGHTS OWNED BY METAL HAMMER

#The Band Ghost #Ghost Band #Cardinal Copia #Nameless Ghouls #Tobias Forge

[hillsofuhhtennessee]

Spicy KISS opinions

-I’m not a fan of Deuce, sue me. I enjoy most of the classics but it just doesn’t do it for me. Shock Me falls in the same boat even though I usually love Ace’s songs.

-I fucking loved disco KISS and man do I wish dance-rock in the vein of IWMFLY and the faster versions of God of Thunder caught on.

-I don’t really have a clear favorite of the albums. Usually I like a couple of songs from each for wildly different reasons so it’s hard to pick one. Though if we count the ‘78 solos, then Ace’s blows everything out of the water since it’s so consistantly good.

-While I definitely would have preferred Eric S and Tommy to have their own characters, Eric works really well as a cat in a totally different way than Peter and it’s hard to picture him as something else. Though I feel Tommy would have been a great robot or something, it fits the sci-fi theme and he has a super angular face.

-I prefer Alive II to I. I enjoy some of the earlier songs but most of my favorites are 76-77 era. Plus it has Rocket Ride

-Gene sounded like a dork trying to sing lower/rougher when he was younger. imo his voice has gotten a lot better with age

-Lick It Up is lame, especially with how the rest of the album is pretty awesome. The video’s good for laughs but I’m really disappointed that the worst song of that album is the one that always represents it. I feel similarly about Love it Loud but it’s more generic than anything.

-Some people call Paul’s makeup generic or not that thought out vs the others. I won’t disagree with that but I think the assymetrical design is enough of a statement on its own and BOY does it work on an even deeper level when you consider the unintentional Phantom of the Opera mask resemblance!

-Gene was actually pretty cute in the 70s-80s. His big, droopy eyes and lips and soft cheeks are really sweet. Actually, pretty much all of the original makeup members sans Paul (who’s gorgeous lol) are visually endearing even though they aren’t conventionally attractive

-I feel like one of the few fans who isn’t big on collecting? Though that goes for a lot of fanbases I’m in.

-I actually really dig how inconsistant and ever-evolving Gene’s makeup is. I even like the taller narrower points he uses presently that a lot of people don’t, it gives him a craggy older look that suits him (though he needs to extend the cheek points more to balance them out)

-RARAN is overplayed on the radio and I used to find it obnoxious and hate it, but actually listening to it over headphones it’s grown on me. I really like the rhythm of 70s KISS. DRC is kind of the same, wasn’t impressed at first but it grew to be a favorite.

[briangroth27]

Bumblebee Review

Bumblebee is a genuinely fun, kind-hearted family film and it’s very likely the best of the Transformers franchise. I still enjoy the first Transformers, didn’t like the second or third, and never bothered seeing the fourth or fifth, so I can’t be a true judge, but based on what I’ve read about the latter two I’m not planning on catching up. I also wasn’t expecting much from this film given how the franchise has gone, but I came away pleasantly surprised! Bumblebee tells a refreshingly focused and simple story about the friendship forged between the titular Autobot and Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld).

Full Spoilers…

The movie starts off with a bombastic and frantic escape staged by the Autobot rebellion back on Cybertron, and while the action here (and throughout the movie) is cleanly and clearly shot—as I’ve seen noted elsewhere online, a nice change of pace from the other films in the franchise—I can’t say that I’m invested in the Autobot/Decepticon war at all. I’m all for a good ol’ “overthrow the fascist, freedom-oppressing evil empire” story, but this particular conflict just doesn’t hit the right notes for me for some reason. I don’t really know how the movies can fix that at this point (maybe more focus on showing, not telling?). Likewise, the movies haven’t made me a fan of any of the Transformer characters besides Bumblebee (Dylan O’Brien). Maybe that’s because of a lack of nostalgic recognition on my part—I’ve seen a handful of the original series episodes and the animated movie—but my main (and favorite) Transformers point of reference is the Beast Wars CGI cartoon from the 90s (Transformers Prime was also good, but didn’t stick with me in the way Beast Wars has). I think my lack of connection with most of the Transformers is also definitely due to the fact that Bee is the one who gets to bond with the humans most in the films, so I’m much more attached to him than Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) or the others. I know a lot of fans have argued that the humans take up too much focus in these films, but Charlie and Bee (and Sam and Bee in the first one) bonding goes a long way towards humanizing and endearing these aliens. Besides, even in the vast majority of the cartoons, humans played a role.

In Bumblebee, I wish Bee got a chance to show more personality before he lost his voice. B-127 is certainly noble and heroic, but that seemed to be all there was to him at first. The more sheepish, injured version of Bee displays many more volumes of character (maybe because that’s when he gets to interact with Charlie?). I don’t believe for a second that trauma or tragedy makes characters inherently deeper or more interesting/engaging than happy/heroic ones , but because of what little we see of Bee before his voice box is (horrifically) ripped out, the temporary removal of his heroic veneer does a lot to expose other aspects of his character. In any case, Bee’s arc back to his ability to communicate and to reclaim his heroic mantle is solid and his recovery story was very well-told (pairing nicely with Charlie’s own recovery from loss). I also like that this film franchise, if nothing else, has never fallen for the idea that the most popular character (Bumblebee) needs to also be the leader of the Transformers. Not only is that a unique position, but in a way it puts him on the level of the kids he most closely bonds with. They aren’t the “leaders” in their lives either (that would be their parents/authority figures).

Charlie Watson was very likable and Steinfeld did a great job carrying the human side of the movie, perfectly balancing Charlie’s urge to get out and live her life vs. her resistance to change in her family and the dark cloud hanging over her. Her being a mechanic played well with a robot alien and also formed a strong connection to her dad (Tim Martin Gleason), whose loss is the source of her turmoil. That gave her and Bee a stronger bond than Bee playing wingman to Sam in the first film. I also liked that Charlie becoming Bee’s protector, healer, and disciplinarian made for a cool twist on losing her father, instead of Bee becoming her new father figure. While there’s a certain cliché connotation to making a girl into a mother figure in media (especially when there’s only one girl), while I think their relationship forces Charlie to grow up and accept more responsibility I don’t think it goes as far as saying that being a mother is her only destiny. Knowing Bee also gets Charlie to take more chances and move forward with her life, which had come to a stop in terms of fixing her dad’s car and getting back into diving, and I thought that worked pretty well. The car metaphor (Charlie needs to literally work on and repair her feelings about her dad’s heart attack via the Corvette they were working on together) is perfect, but the diving stuff is introduced a little awkwardly. It seemed like the school bully/popular jock Tripp (Ricardo Hoyos) existed almost solely to goad Charlie into jumping off a rock at a beach day hangout. That’s fine—he was barely a presence in the movie, so he truly does solely exist to challenge/further Charlie’s journey—but that scene also being the first big instance of her reluctance to take up diving again made things feel a little off or sudden/slightly random in some way. Still, the loss of her ability to dive is a neat connection to Bee’s loss of his voice; I just wish what it meant to her was a little more fleshed-out. Tripp’s girlfriend Tina (Grace Dzienny) being a mean girl made Charlie an outsider among her peers, which was a pretty good connection to Bumblebee among the humans. I’m glad that Charlie and her neighbor Memo (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) didn’t end up together (even if she said “not yet”). The chemistry between Charlie and Bee was much stronger than between her and Memo (even though both relationships were platonic), and she never seemed to have a glimmer of romantic interest in him. And that’s totally fine! Healthy, platonic friendships between girls and guys are something we should see more of in movies and TV. Along these same lines, it was refreshing that they didn’t film Charlie with a male gaze. Charlie’s problems with her family (Pamela Adlon, Jason Drucker) moving on with her mom’s new boyfriend (Stephen Schneider) were well-developed and fit with her inability to move on from her dad’s death, but I wish that they’d been given a bigger moment where that family coalesced into a new family unit. The moment where it happens (in the middle of a car chase) is certainly dramatic, but it also felt too quick.

The villains, both human and Decepticon, were used well. Burns (John Cena) made for a good soldier stuck in a bad situation with orders he disagreed with (he’s the only one to point out their name is a big red flag), even if he still mostly follows his orders until the end. I was very happy that the “comedy” of Section 7 from the original Transformers films was largely dropped here, as that was always one of the weaker parts of those films to me. The Decepticons (Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, David Sobolov) were suitably evil and imposing, if one-dimensional. I don’t need all villains to have a relatable motivation (sometimes evil is just evil), but the fascistic element of the Decepticons could’ve been played up in their dialogue and interactions with Bumblebee.

The effects were well done and I liked the use of the 80s here. The Decepticons gifting the humans the internet (to use it for their own nefarious purposes) was a nice tie back to the first movie’s comment that so much of our technology was reverse-engineered from studying the All Spark and Megatron. The songs they chose were still popular and recognizable, but not necessarily the songs that almost always accompany a trip to the 80s, which was nice. There’s one cliché and overdone bashing of “Never Gonna Give You Up,” but otherwise this was a refreshing change of pace music-wise.

I really wish we could get more adventures with Charlie and Bumblebee teaming up, but they go their separate ways at the end. It feels a little like the filmmakers felt they had to wrap everything up here instead of hoping they’d get a sequel (which is not at all a bad thing!), but closed the loop to the first film a little too tightly. Maybe there’s still a way for Bee and Charlie to meet up again in the future. Either way, this was a very enjoyable flick in the “80s kids meet an alien” vein and I definitely recommend it!

 Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

#bumblebee #transformers #charlie watson #autobots #decepticons #haliee steinfeld

[nonodino]

TWC: Detective Personality + Quirks and Interests + Dectective’s History and Relationships

!!( I went sooooo overboard )!!

Basics:

Name: Caroline Urizar

Age: 24

Height: 5′5

Ethnicity: Mexican American or Chicana

Personality: 

♥ Tries her hardest to make the best out of every situation. (Keyword:Tries) 

♥ On rare occasions,she gets super frustrated and overwhelmed (Because she bottles everything up) that she lashes out, even though she immediately regrets it.

♥ ^ Apologizes ASAP after she sorts her thoughts out, ususally out of an immense sense of guilt and wants to be held accountable for what she does. 

♥ A mother hen to her friends and mother. She wants the best for them.

♥ She’s pretty loyal to people she’s close too. Even more so if they have the same morals as her.

♥ Besides the occasional lashing out part, she’s kind of got a dog like personality. (Faithful, Selfless, family oriented, and protective). 

♥ Crybaby™ Her first response in hard situations is to cry. Also cries at the silliest of things out of joy or just because something is just so adorable. An example of this, is that she once cried at a ladybug falling off of a leaf onto the sidewalk and helped it back up. Tina probably laughed. 

♥ Try hard optimist, but sometimes reality slaps her in the face. She usually responds by isolating herself for a bit and cries it out. Then comes back with renewed hope. (It’s a pretty weird cycle)

♥ Since she’s seen as the ‘mom friend’, she doesn’t like to bother others with her problems. She prefers to work them out herself, if she can’t, she’ll pretend that she’s stronger than she is and continues forward. Ususally trying to bury it deep in her mind. Not very healthy, but that’s her.

♥ Most of her issues are with her own image. The biggest being her self esteem. She’s pretty self destructive, but if it comes to someone else, she’ll put all her effort into reassuring them and helping them however she can. 

♥ She’s not the brightest. She tries really hard to be her best self, but dear god sometimes she’s really dense. Border line slow. But she eventually catches on! (I’m sure some of the department questions how she was made detective and it came as a surprise to her too). 

♥ She blows her own mind which is a hoot to watch. She was amazed at the thought of how your heart has to beat constantly to run blood through your veins. It might be really stupid to others, but from this she comes to appriciate things more.

♥ Compassionate. Often makes the mistake of trusting or believing the wrong people. 

♥ She’s worked very hard on refining her People skills (a trait inherited from her mother) and tends to be very talkative. 

♥ She tends to be cautious as a detective. (Double checking areas, facts, or work. Preparing for the worst while hoping for the best when in delicate/dangerous situations.) But, let’s her guard down a bit in her personal time. 

♥ Likes to avoid confrontation and would much rather find a middle ground. Which often let’s others walk all over her until she eventually has no choice but to speak up for herself. 

♥ Patient to an extent. The extent varies with different types/ages people. 

♥ A hopeless romantic, but scared of picking the wrong guy. She’s also scared that she’ll put too much pressure on him by her ideals of love and run them off. She’s sort of clingy and would feel awful if her partner felt suffocated. 

                                 So basically, she’s trying her best!

Some Quirks + Facts:

☀️ Twirls her hair around her finger without knowing it at times

☀️ Can’t go to sleep if she thinks her feet are dirty and washes them if she feels they are. Don’t ask. 

☀️ Daydreams about cute relationship scenarios often. She also thinks of them to help her fall asleep

☀️ Has a bad habit of biting her nails

☀️ Plays late 80′s and 90′s pop aloud in her office on Pandora if she’s doing paperwork

☀️ Doodles all over sticky notes and has a stack of them on her desk near her monitor. She does this whenever she catches herself almost drawing on her paperwork. 

☀️ Chews Trident gum a lot and keeps a few packs of them in her desk. Her favorite flavors are Tropical Twist, Watermelon Twist, and Trident Layers Strawberry + Citrus

☀️ Also keeps a Burt’s Bees lip balm on her at all times in the tint Rose

☀️ Replys to Tina’s messages with reaction pictures 60% of the time

☀️ Her photo gallery is mostly screenshots of outfits, memes, and things she wants to draw later

☀️ Spends a little too much time on Instagram at home

☀️ Talks to herself (sometimes even argues with herself) 

☀️ Even though she’s half Mexican, she doesn’t know the language that well due to Rebecca’s and her father’s absence

☀️ Loses small pieces of jewelry all the time

☀️ Refuses to leave the house without concealer, mascara, and her eyebrows done

☀️ Straightens her hair almost everyday and when she doesn’t it’s in a side bun. (She has wavy hair)

☀️ Loves the winter and likes partly cloudy days the most

☀️ Uses the word ‘like’ a little too much to express herself + lots of hand gestures

☀️ Still has her childhood stuffed animals on her bed and can’t sleep without her suffed dolphin named Alfred Willy

☀️ She likes to wear a simple necklace everyday and her trademark piece of jewelry would have to be hoop earrings (Sliver or gold)

☀️ Doesn’t like to binge watch TV shows or movies unless they really catch her attention. Otherwise she only watches one or two episodes at a time. 

☀️ There’s a chance she has some of her K-pop posters in a shoe box under her bed and most definitely has some albums on her bookshelf

☀️ Actually did very well in school and graduated from high school with a 4.2 GPA 

☀️ Runs her fingers through her hair a lot, mostly when she’s got a strawberry face from receiving compliments or when someone flirts with her 

Interests:

🌸 Likes to draw, though she doesn’t get to do it as much as she’d like to

🌸 Her music taste is mostly 2010-2014 or 80′s and 90′s American pop, K-Pop, and some dashes of older Reggaeton or alternative songs. 

🌸 She likes to travel and watches blogs of people who go to countries she’d like to go one day

🌸 She makes doilies (usually when she watches TV) and gifts them to her friends and her mom

🌸 She likes to plant and has a window box garden outside her windows in her living room

🌸 Recycles and attends events to pick up litter and help sort out recyclables

🌸 Collects shells, sand dollars, and rocks that look pretty

🌸 ^ Crystals as well

🌸 Dances around her apartment often, like hairbrush microphone dancing. Far from professional. 

🌸 Shopping and trying on outfits is one of her favorite things to do. She prefers simple outfits and owns a variety of coats and jewelry. 

🌸 Does calligraphy and takes classes for it online

🌸 ^ She’d like to try pottery one day

🌸 Her favorite food joint is McDonalds 

🌸 ^ Chinese food is at the top of her favorites too

🌸 Whenever Rebecca was around, she’d cook meals for her. She’s been trying to recreate them since those times, but something always tastes off. 

🌸 She loves cats, but doesn’t have the time to take care of one

Personal/Detective’s History + Motives:

🌟 She joined the force in hopes of following in her father’s footsteps and to help protect the people of WayHaven

🌟 She loves Rebecca with all her heart and cherishes the time she spends with her

🌟 ^ Looks up to Rebecca and has always seen her as a role model. She wants to make her proud

🌟 She has a scar on her right knuckle from where she was washing dishes and accidentally broke a cup upon hearing that Rebecca wouldn’t make it to one of her birthdays.

🌟 Accepted Unit Bravo and the supernatural pretty quickly, although the thought still blows her mind

🌟 Wants to protect humans and supernatural from danger

🌟 She misses her father and often tries to recover whatever memories she can of him

🌟 As she was growing up, her bestfriend was a female grey and white cat named Michi. She died when Caroline was 19. She kept her collar and stored it away in a special place. (A wooden chest full of heartfelt memories, old sketchbooks, photo albums, and other trinkets). This loss triggered memories from her father’s funeral.

🌟 Unit Bravo might have an easier time identifying her due to an innocent heart murmur she was diagnosed with when she was 17 

🌟 Has terrible seasonal allergies

🌟 Bobby was her second boyfriend and her most serious relationship. Which ended messily due to his lack of interest in their bond. 

🌟 Tina is her best friend. She’d wouldn’t know what to do without her. 

🌟 She quickly became friends with Verda when he first arrived and shares a close companionship with him as well. 

🌟 Maintains a polite and respectful relationship with the Police Captian Sung

🌟 Tries to avoid Mayor Friedman at all costs. But when she can’t, she’s very polite. Avoids him due to the fact that he’s got an odd interest in her mother which makes her uncomfortable and a bit awkward. 

🌟 Douglas has an odd crush on her from the night she saved him outside the bar. She’s flattered, but it makes her uncomfortable as well. At least it gets him motivated for work. 

Unit Bravo Romantic Relationships:

When pursuing Adam:

💖 Totally doesn’t think he looks like a 90′s Vanilla Ice 

💖 Shy and discreet flirtation (almost like she’s scared of rejection or how he’ll react)

💖 Highly respects him as a team mate

💖 Attracted to his independance and authority

💖 Feels most safe around him

💖 Flushes involuntarily when he’s around

💖 Keeps the conversation friendly and light

💖 Tries to see his side of the argument when they disagree (which isn’t so often surprisingly)

💖 She’s very worried she’ll say something stupid around him and have to deal with the embarrassment

💖 Sweaty palms

💖 Sometimes she’ll catch herself daydreaming about him and she’ll shake her head and furiously resume work before anyone notices the blush forming. 

💖 Calm and sweet on the outside but a nervous wreck on the inside

💖 She still recalls the scent and warmth of his coat and lowkey wishes she could wear it all the time

💖 Soft thoughts 24/7 (Hugging, kissing, holding his big hand, etc.) Even her thoughts make her want to hide her face. 

💖 Sometimes doubts his interest in her because of their different personalities

When pursuing Nate:

💕 Loves his honesty and kindness

💕 Appreciates that he’s open about his interest in her and smiles at the ground often when talking to him.

💕 Still shy and stutters a lot when she flirts

💕 Nate has a big, sweet presence that she wants to wrap herself in. He probably gives the best hugs. 

💕 He’s like a Disney prince and she can’t help but imagine him as one. + 1000 other soft thoughts too 

💕 He’s a welcomed change from Bobby, who didn’t give her the attention she wanted. So she’s beyond excited that he’s into her. 

💕 Her hearts beating a mile a minute 

💕 Relates to him due to their common traits

💕 She secretly likes having to look up at him

💕 She hopes he can teach her more Spanish 

💕 Attracted to his intelligence and strong morals 

💕 Could talk to him for hours 

💕 She feels that she could learn a lot from him

💕 She gets giddy from remembering all the sweet things he’s said to her 

💕 But, she feels like someone as amazing as him shouldn’t be with someone so dense and silly 

#character profile #thewayhavenchronicles detective this is super long I'm sorry I got excited

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 9/11/20 – I AM WOMAN, BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY, RENT-A-PAL, UNPREGNANT AND MORE!

Thankfully, we’re getting a slower week this week after the past few weeks of absolute insanity with so many new releases. This week, we also get a nice string of movies about women that are mostly made by women directors, so hopefully these won’t get lost in the shuffle of theaters reopening.

To be perfectly honest, I went into Unjoo Moon’s I AM WOMAN (Quiver Distribution) – this week’s “Featured Flick” -- thinking it was a doc about ‘70s pop sensation Helen Reddy. Imagine my surprise to discover that it actually was a narrative film with Tilda Cobham-Hervey playing the Australian singer who moved to New York in 1966 after winning a contest, expecting a record deal but only winding up with disappointment.  Once there, she’d meet journalist Lilian Roxon (Danielle Macdonald, being able to use her real Australian accent for once) and Jeff Weld (Evan Peters), the man who would become her manager and then husband. Once the couple move to L.A. with Helen’s daughter Traci (from her previous marriage), things began to pick up at the same time as Reddy starts dealing with issues in her marriage and friendship with Roxon.

Listen, I get it. To some (or maybe all) younger people, including film critics, Helen Reddy represents the cheesier side of ‘70s music. I only know her music, since I was a young kid who listened to AM Top 40 radio for much of the ‘70s, but by the end of the decade, I had already switched to metal, punk and noisier rock. As you can tell from watching I Am Woman, Reddy is a particularly interesting music personality, particularly once you realize how hard she struggled to get into the business with a husband who only feigned to support her after dragging her to L.A. for “her career.”

There were many takeaways from watching Moon’s film, but one of the bigger ones is how amazing Cobham-Hervey is at portraying a woman that few of us may have actually seen perform even on television. I’m not sure if Cobham-Hervey did any of her own singing or is lip-syncing the whole time, but it doesn’t matter because she instills so much joy into the performances, especially the two times she sings the highly-inspirational title song live.

Although there isn’t a ton of major drama in Reddy’s life, most that does exist revolves around her relationship with Wald, who is depicted by Peters as an out-of-control coke-sniffing monster. Those in Hollywood may have dealt with Wald as a movie producer or during his stint as Sylvester Stallone’s manager, and only they will know how exaggerated this performance is. Far more interesting is Helen’s friendship with Macdonald’s Roxon which would inspire her to perform the song “You and Me Against the World.”  (Seriously, if you want a good cry, throw that song on after watching I Am Woman.)

Moon does a great job with the material, whether it’s recreating New York in the ‘60s – often using music to set the tone of the period -- or by framing Reddy’s story with Phyllis Schlaffly’s fight against the ERA, as depicted in FX’s mini-series Mrs. America.  Still, it never loses track of Reddy’s journey and her role as a mother to Traci and slightly less to Wald’s son, Jordan. The movie ends with a wonderful and tearful epilogue, and I will not lie that I was tearing up more than once while watching this movie.

I Am Woman may be relatively uncomplicated, but it’s still a compelling relaying of Reddy's amazing story bolstered by an incredible knock-em-dead performance by Tilda Cobham-Hervey. It’s also one of the most female-empowering film I’ve seen since the Ruth Bader Ginsburg movie On the Basis of Sex, starring Felicity Jones.

This week’s primary theatrical release is Natalie Krinsky’s THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY (Stage 6/Sony), starring Geraldine Viswanathan as Lucy, a young woman who works at a gallery who is still obsessed with her ex-coworker/boyfriend Max. On the night of her  disastrous break-up, Lucy meets-cute Nick (Dacre Montgomery from Stranger Things), who later inspires her to rid of her hoarding issues by creating the “Broken Hearts Gallery.” This is a place where people who have broken up can bring the remnants of said relationship by donating the mementos they’ve maintained from their partners as sentimental value.

I’m a big fan of Viswanathan from her appearance in Blockers and TBS’ “Miracle Workers” series, as she’s clearly very talented as a comic actress, but I couldn’t help but go into this with more than a little cynicism, because it does follow a very well-worn rom-com formula that can be traced right back to When Harry Met Sally. Yup, another one.  Much of this movie comes across like a bigger budget version of a movie that might play Tribeca Film Festival, and I wish I could say that was a compliment because I’ve seen a lot of good movies at Tribeca. But also just as many bad ones.

The problem is that The Broken Hearts Gallery isn’t very original, and its roots are especially obvious when it starts interspersing the recently-heartbroken giving testimonials. It’s also a little pretentious, because rather than the real New York City that would be recognizable to anyone who lives there, it’s more of a Millennial woke fantasy where everyone is a 20-something LGBTQ+ of color.  Even so, the main trio of Lucy, Nick and Nick’s business partner Marcos (Arturo Castro from Broad City) do keep things fun even when things are getting predictable.

To be honest, I’ll be perfectly happy to see Viswanathan become the next Meg Ryan, because part of the reason why I warmed up to the movie is because I thought she was quite great in it. (I hate to say it but she’ll definitely need a simple name to remember to make that happen. I’d like to suggest G-Vis… as in G-Vis, she’s awesome!) There’s no question she’s the best part of the movie, but it also thrives from some of the other women cast around her, including Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo and (surprise, surprise!) Bernadette Peters. (At times, I was worried Lucy’s friends would get particularly annoying, but you’ll warm up to them as well.)

Krinsky’s movie is cute, and while it certainly gets a little overly sentimental at times, there are also moments that are quite heartfelt, so basically, it’s a tolerable addition to the rom-com genre. The fact that the characters are so likeable kept me from outright hating the movie, especially once it gets to its corny and somewhat predictable ending. Another thing I like about Broken Hearts Gallery is that at least it’s making an effort to have some sort of theatrical presence, including drive-in theaters.

Next up is Jon Stevenson’s RENT-A-PAL (IFC Midnight), a rather strange and very dark horror-comedy. It stars Brian Landis Folkins as David, a lonely 40-year-old living with his elderly mother suffering from dementia, who has been using the services of a dating service called Video Rendezvous. This is the ‘80s after all, so it involves getting VHS testimonials from various women. One day, David finds a tape labelled “Rent a Pal” and he decides to check it out. It turns out to be a video of a guy named Andy (Wil Wheaton aka Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation) who David begins having conversations with, but once David gets his chance to have a real relationship with a nice woman named Lisa (Amy Rutledge), he’s been dragged too far down the rabbit hole with Andy’s evil urgings.

This was recommended to me by my own personal rent-a-pal, Erick Weber of Awards Ace, who saw it weeks ago. I totally could understand why he would have liked it, because it’s pretty good in terms of coming up with an original idea using elements that at least us older guys can relate to (especially the living with your Mom part which I had to do a few years ago).  I wasn’t sure but I generally thought I knew where it was going, because David’s trajectory always seemed to be heading towards My Friend Dahmer or Maniac territory. What I liked about Folkins’ performance is that you generally feel for him right up until he gets to that point. I also really liked his innocent relationship with Lisa and was hoping things that wouldn’t get as dark as where they eventually end up. I also have to draw attention to Wheaton’s performance, because as one might expect if you only know him from the “Star Trek” show he did as a kid, this is a very different role for him similar to Seann Michael Scott in last year’s Bloodline.

Either way, Stevenson is a decent writer and director who really pushes the boundaries with where Andy takes his new friend, and it’s especially great for its synth-heavy soundtrack that reminds me of some of John Carpenter’s best scores, as we watch David’s inevitable descent into madness. You’ll frequently wonder where it’s going, but for me, it just got too dark, so I only really could enjoy it up to a point.

A little cheerier is UNPREGNANT (HBO Max), the new film from Rachel Lee Goldberg, who directed the recent Valley Girl remake, although this time she’s adapting a book written by Jenni Hendricks. It stars Haley Lu Richardson (from Split and Support the Girls) as 17-year-old Veronica who discovers that her dopey boyfriend Kevin has gotten her pregnant. Since women under 18 can’t get an abortion in Missouri without a parents’ consent, she goes on a road trip with her estranged childhood friend Bailey (Barbie Ferreira) to New Mexico to get the job done.

It’s more than  little weird seeing this movie come out in the same year as a much more serious version of the same movie in Elyza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometime Always. That aside, Goldberg and her cast do their best to make this something more in the vein of last year’s Book Smart, although that’s also a fairly high watermark for any movie.

Because this is a road trip comedy, it tends to follow a fairly similar path as other movies where they meet a lot of strange characters along the way, as they try to get a ride after being busted cause Bailey stole her mother’s boyfriend’s car for the trip. For instance, they meet a friendly couple who tend to be pro-lifers who want to change Veronica’s mind, and the best side character is Giancarlo Esposito as a conspiracy theorist named Bob.

I guess my biggest problem with the movie is that it just isn’t that funny and feels fairly standard, but at least it has a decent ending to make up for the predictability of the rest of the movie.

Now streaming on Netflix is Maimouna Doucouré’s French coming-of-age film Mignonnes aka CUTIES, a film that premiered at Sundance and then stirred up quite a bit of controversy last month due to its marketing campaign, but is actually not the pervy male gaze movie which it may have been sold as. It’s about an 11-year-old Sengalese girl named Amy Diop (Fathia Youssouf) who wants to join the school’s “cool girl” dance group, known as the “Cuties,” even though it goes against her family’s Muslim beliefs.  Amy learns to dance so she can be part of the dance team and take part in a dance competition, but you know that this decision will led to trouble.s

Cuties got a lot of backlash from for the trailer and Netflix’s decision to release Doucouré’s movie, which is about a young girl discovering her sexuality, although it isn’t really something lurid or gross but actually a very strong coming-of-age film. I haven’t seen the trailer, but I can only imagine what scene it focused on that got people so riled up, since there are dance scenes that felt a little creepy to me. Other than that aspect of the film, Cuties is as innocent as a Judy Blume book. I mean, how else do you expect kids to learn about real life than movies like this? (Unfortunately, the movie is TV-MA so young teens won’t be able to watch it.)

The big problem with the Cuties is that they’re actually kind of bratty and bullies, almost like a younger “Mean Girls” girl gang, so it’s very hard to like any of them. They’re also trying to act way older than they really are, and you can only imagine what dark places that might led, as you worry about Amy getting dragged down with them, just because she wants to have friends and feel popular.

Despite my issues with Cuties, Maimouna Doucouré is a fantastic filmmaker, and this is a pretty amazing debut, especially notable for how she’s able to work with the young cast but also make a movie that looks amazing. That said, Cuties is a decent coming-of-age film, although I feel like I’ve seen better versions of this movie in films like Mustang and The Fits.

Also from France comes Justine Triet’s SYBIL (Music Box Films), starring Virgine Efira (who appeared in Triet’s earlier film, In Bed with Victoria) as the title character, a jaded psychotherapist who decides to return to her passion of writing, getting her inspiration from an actress patient named Margot (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who she becomes obsessed with. I don’t have a lot to say about this movie other than it wasn’t really for me. As far as French films go, a movie really has to stand out from the usual talkie drama filled with exposition, and though I thought the performances by the two women were great, I didn’t really care for the script or the pacing on this one. After playing at last year’s Cannes, Toronto and the New York Film Festival, Sybil will be available via Virtual Cinema through Film at Lincoln Center and the Laemmle in L.A. as well as other cities. You can watch the trailer and find out how to watch it through your local arthouse at the official site.

Now seems like as good a time as any to get into some docs…

 Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés’ doc ALL-IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY (Amazon) follows Stacey Abrams through her run for Atlanta Governor in 2018, but it also deals with the laws that had been put in place to try to keep black voters from taking part in their right as Americans to be able to vote. I’m not sure what’s going on with me right now, but I generally just don’t have much interest in political docs right now, maybe because there’s so much politics on TV and in the news. I also have very little interest in Abrams or even having the racist history of the American South drilled into my head by another movie. I was born in 1965, my family didn’t even live in this country until 1960, and I’ve spent my life trying to treat everyone equally, so watching a movie like this and being preached to about how awful African-Americans have been treated in parts of the South for hundreds of years, I’m just not really sure what I’m supposed to do about it here in New York. I guess my biggest problem with All-In, which is a perfectly fine and well-made doc – as would be expected from Garbus – is that it lacks focus, and it seems to be all over the place in terms of what it’s trying to say… and I’m not even sure what it is trying to say, nor did I have the patience to find out. I thought Slay the Dragon handled the issues with gerrymandering far better, and I think I would have preferred a movie that ONLY focused on Abrams and her life and political career than trying to make a bigger statement. All-In will open at a few drive-ins (tonight!) and then will be on Amazon Prime on September 18.

I was similarly mixed on Jeff Orlwosky’s doc, THE SOCIAL DILEMMA, which debuted on Netflix this week. This one looks at the addiction people have for social media apps like Facebook and Twitter, and how the information of what people watch and click on is collected into a database that’s sold to the highest bidder. Basically, it’s your worst fears about social media come to life, but my issue with this one is that the filmmaker decided to hire actors to dramatize parts of the movie, showing one family dealing with social media and phone addiction, which seemed like an odd but probably necessary decision other than the fact that the topic is so nerdy and so over my head that maybe it was necessary to illustrate what’s being explained by programmers. Again, not a terrible doc, just not something I had very little interest in even if it is an important subject (and I’m probably spending too much on social media and essentially more of the problem than the solution).

I saw S. Leo Chiang and Yang Sun’s doc OUR TIME MACHINE at Tribeca last year, and I quite liked it. It follows influential Chinese artist Ma Liang (Maleonn) who collaborates with his Peking Opera director father Ma Ke, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, on an elaborate and ambitious project called “Papa’s Time Machine” using life-sized mechanical puppets. I don’t have a ton to say about the movie but it’s a nice look into the Chinese culture and traditions and how the country and art itself has changed between two generations.

One doc I missed last week but will be available digitally this week is Michael Paszt’s Nail in the Coffin: The Fall and Rise of Vampiro about semi-retired professional wrestler Ian Hodgkinson aka Vampiro, who is a Lucha Libre legend.

There’s a lot of other stuff on Netflix this week, including THE BABYSITTER: KILLER QUEEN, the sequel to the Samara Weaving-starring horror-thriller, again co-written and directed by McG (Charlies Angels: Full Throttle). This one stars Bella Thorne, Leslie Bibb and Ken Marino, as it follows Judah Lewis’ Cole after surviving the satanic blood cult from the first movie.

I don’t know nearly as much about the British comedy series The Duchess, other than it stars comedian Katherine Ryan as a single mother juggling a bunch of things. Julie and the Phantoms is Netflix’s latest attempt to be the Disney channel with a movie about a young girl named Julie (Madison Reyes) who decides to start a band with a group of ghosts (hence the title). It’s even from Kenny Laguna, who is best known for the Disney Channel’s biggest hits High School Musical and The Descendants.

Other stuff to look out for this week include Kevin Del Principe’s thriller Up on the Glass (Gravitas Ventures), which is now available On Demand, digital and Blu-Ray; the Russian dogs doc Space Dogs (Icarus Films) – available via Alamo on Demand; Phil Wall’s doc The Standard  (Gravitas Ventures), and Andrei Bowden-Schwartz, Gina O’Brien’s tennis comedy All-In (on Amazon Prime and VOD/Digital) and Sam B. Jones’ Red White and Wasted (Dark Star Pictures).

Next week, more movies not in theaters!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

#TheWeekendWarrior #Movies #Reviews #TheBrokenHeartsGallery #IAMWoman #Unpregnant #AllIn #Cuties #rentapal #Netflix #VOD #streaming

[thisaintascenereviews]

Album Review by Bradley Christensen Foreigner – 4 Record Label: Atlantic Release Date: July 2 1981

Foreigner, the British-American hard-rock band, was popular in the 70s and 80s, but they’re one of those bands that you don’t hear too much anymore, even though they have some very popular, successful, and timeless songs. I used to be really into this band years ago, back when I first got into “classic rock,” but I’ve never heard a full album from them. I totally forgot that I came across a copy of their fourth album, 1981’s aptly titled 4, at Barnes And Noble awhile ago, and now that I’m getting into that stuff, I thought it would be worth a listen. I needed to see the tracklisting again, too, and this LP features a handful of my favorite songs from them, so I was very excited to give it a listen. I’ve been spending some time with this LP over the last week, especially off and on, but I can safely say that I really like it. Foreigner isn’t one of my favorite bands, or anything like that, and I’ll talk about why in a minute, but 4 is a great album. If anything, though, it’s great for what it is. This is one of those albums that’s great for the kind of album that it is, and in this album’s case, it’s an 80s hard-rock album. Most people have an idea of what to expect when it comes to this style of music, but this band isn’t quite in the same vein as Van Halen, Guns N’ Roses, or AC/DC, because they have a more accessible and “cleaner” sound to them. They aren’t as gritty, raucous, or loud, but they have that hard-rock sound and instrumentation. The guitars are the focus of their sound, and they have a rather straightforward sound, nonetheless. The band actually had to bring some session musicians onto this LP, because a couple of original members that also played other instruments left, so they were left as a more bare bones group.

This LP is a really good one, though, and the thing is, you’d probably like it more if you’re into this kind of music. If you’re a hard-rock fan, or a classic rock fan, I think you’d like it.I’m not going to say that this album is amazing, though, because it’s not. It’s great for what it is, and that’s sometimes all you need. This band is really solid, though, because they have a great balance between being harder-edged and accessible. Vocalist Lou Gramm has an incredible voice, and one of the best things about this LP is within its hooks. “Juke Box Hero,” “Night Life,” “Urgent,” and “Woman In Black” just a name a few have some slick hooks, as well as the slower songs, such as “Waiting For A Girl Like You” are really catchy, too. The vocals alone, as well as the hooks, definitely make for a good listen, but the instrumentation is solid, too. There are a lot of interesting guitar lines, and some well-done solos here and there, but it’s nothing too interesting, unique, or insane. That’s why Foreigner’s never been one of my favorite bands, because their sound is awfully generic. They have a great vocalist, and that definitely elevates them up in the ranks of hard-rock bands in the 80s, but at the same time, their sound isn’t that revolutionary. It’s done well, but that’s about it, so that’s why this LP isn’t quite one that I’ve been coming back to a whole lot. I really enjoy it, though, and I’d even go as far as to say that I love it, but it’s great for what it is. I love it for what the album is trying to be, a hard-rock album. Nothing on this thing is really amazing, although I don’t mind any element here. The lyrics are pretty good, too, especially for what they’re trying to do, but the only thing that stands out are the vocals.

If you want some awesome hard-rock vocals, definitely check out this LP, or even this band. A couple of my favorite songs from the band are here, as well as a couple of their biggest singles, so there’s another reason to check this out, but if you’re not a hard-rock fan, I can’t say that you’re missing a whole lot, honestly. That’s not a slight against the album, because it’s a great hard-rock record, but there were more interesting bands and albums that came out during the same time. I can’t say that you’re not going to enjoy this, too, because it’s a fun, quick, and energetic album (even the slower tracks are good, though, which is rare for me, since I don’t enjoy slow burners all that much), only around 43 minutes. It’s a pretty standard length for an album, especially one like this, and for what it is, it’s a solid LP. Hard-rock is not my favorite genre, but I’ll admit that I do enjoy a lot more 70s and 80s hard-rock, because of how energetic, interesting, and more well-done it was, versus being clichéd, boring, and forgettable, but Foreigner, like I said, is armed with a great vocalist. Seriously, folks, Gramm has a fantastic voice and I forgot how much I enjoy it. His voice is really nice, and it does add an accessible and mainstream-friendly flair that other bands didn’t quite have. I mean, other bands had great vocalists, but he’s got a very clean, accessible, and easy to get into voice, especially when they’re on a ballad, or slower track, so they aren’t as abrasive or loud. I wouldn’t say that 4 (kind of wish they would have titled it “Foureigner,” though, but that would have been a pretty bad pun for the 1980s) is a masterpiece of an album that all music fans should listen to, but if you’re into classic rock or hard-rock, I’d give it a listen, because you might a song or two that you really like.

#foreigner #juke box hero #night life #urgent #hot-blooded #cold as ice #hard-rock #soft-rock #mick jones #rock #4 #1981

[jordan102791]

Pixie Love Note

Piper stood in line at the back stage door, readying herself to meet the brilliant musicians of The Pixie Fighters. They were really climbing the charts now, but she'd been following the music a lot longer than that. They were pretty local to where she grew up just a few towns over. She remembered sneaking into college parties with Shauna just to watch them play. She wasn't starstruck by any means to see them, just impressed with how much their music could always make her feel, even when she shut everything else out. She just wanted to be able to connect the notes and lyrics to the souls that pulled them straight from her heart to birth them on a page of sheet music.

*****

Wulf ran his hand harshly through his hair preparing for yet another stupid meet and greet. He understood why his manager insisted on them and he loved the fans who enjoyed their music, but he was getting tired of the groupies who only wanted to be in his orbit because of his fame. When they got started he never thought he'd say it, but he was tired of all these women hanging all over him. They all wanted the same thing a commitment and the money they expected would go with it.

His hair was getting a bit long and knew if he let it go much longer his little sister would be on his case to get a hair cut, picking up where his mother had left off. He loved Amanda to pieces, but when she set her mind to something there was nothing that could stop that little firecracker. He wound his blonde, coppery hair into a small bun, telling himself he'd have to wear it up next time he saw her if he didn't get it cut first. Maybe it could hide it just a bit longer. He knew she'd offer to cut it for him, but he'd only make that mistake once. Never again would he let her near him with a pair of kitchen scissors.

He sighed, rubbing his clammy hands across his faded jeans. He wish he'd worn a pair that didn't hug him quite so well. They were nice for on stage, but some women got a bit too handsy backstage. But it was too late to change now. The hour was upon them. He looked across at the hungry looks in the eyes of most of his bandmates. They were still well in the thicket of lust coursing through their veins. The only one who didn't seem thrilled was of course Charlie, but being married to the love of your life would do that he supposed. "All right. Open the flood gates."

A cluster of girls in their early 20s rushed in first, swarming them all. He gave the expected hugs and dodged the odd kiss while disentangling their arms from around his neck. He sent up a silent prayer that they settle down soon and he could creep away leaving them to all flock around Gage, Tyler and Pete. He didn't worry about Charlie because he knew Maggie would reel him out of the crowd like a life preserver soon enough, but Wulf was on his own. As the groping started to slow down he began hedging towards the outer rim of the crowd in hopes of slipping away. The last girl in his way slipped to the side, trying to get a better handhold on Gage.

When he was free, he slowly backed away towards the dingy orange couch that he was certain had seen better days in the 80s. He plopped down exhaling a heavy breath and tried to ease the tension in his shoulders. "Rough night, huh," said a dusky voice beside him that made all his muscles tense back up. His head swiveled slowly around to see what he'd just trapped himself beside and scrambling for a way off this couch.

His eyes came to rest on a woman with dark umber hair that was totally at odds with the bright cool turquoise of her eyes, but something about the set matched up just right. Her skin glowed with the summer tan fading around the edges. She searched his face, a crease forming between her eyebrows to tell him to tell him she was closer to his own age than that of the girls bombarding the rest of the room. Concern washed over her expression as she just watched him, not reaching out to try and touch him.

"Yea," he said with a nervous laugh.

"Relax, I'm not going to jump you. Think you probably got your fill of groping over there or you wouldn't have tried to escape," she said giving him half a smirk.

He winced at her words. "Am I that obvious?"

His question earned a smile from her. In his mind he had to admit it was a very nice smile. "I won't tell," she said in a stage whisper. He chuckled a bit, but still held on to that last bit of tension. "So, Jason Wulfson I presume?"

"That's me, although perhaps somedays I wish it wasn't," his eyes widened at the confession he'd blurted out to this complete stranger. A fan at that. He looked at her sympathetic smile as he mumbled, "why did I just tell you that?"

"It's all right. It can just be another one of our secrets," the smirk back on her lips. "Anyways, I'm Piper." She held out a hand to shake. He looked down at her small hand like some strange creature that might pounce at any moment. Her hand began to fall, going limp into her lap. "I'm sorry, you're probably touched out aren't you?"

"Yea, a little bit, but no it's fine. I'm sorry, it's been a while since a fan just offered to hand to shake." She raised her eyebrows at his statement. "Sorry," he started and picked up her hand to shake. "It's nice to meet you Piper, was it? I'm Wulf." She nodded her head slightly, giving him a gentl smile. He had to admit, there was something about the smile he found comforting and he liked that. "So, what brings you back stage?"

"Well, I wanted to meet you all. I've been a fan since pretty much you guys got started," it was his turn for his eyebrows to inch their way up his forehead. "And the music has always gotten me through whatever life has thrown my way, and I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated that little fact. I wanted to meet the guys who put together that's stunning melodies and the lyrics that feel like my soul speaking to the world."

"Wow, I don't think anyone's ever put it so nicely. Are you a musician?"

"No, not for a long time. Family full of them, but I guess I'm the black sheep in that respect," she gave a small laugh.

They sat chatting away for hours until the last few stragglers left, except those the other guys would be taking home. He looked at the girls with his bandmates' arms slung around them before looking at the woman seated beside him on a couch that should have been put out of its misery over a decade ago. She definitely wasn't anything like those girls. Yea she showed a bit of cleavage, the round tops of her breast peeking over her shirt and from what he could tell her jeans hugged all the right parts of her, not that he could see any wrong parts to her, but an air of class floated around her like she knew exactly what she was worth and would accept no less. He liked that she wasn't trying so hard, like she thought of him as just another guy, not the world famous rock star he was.

He stood, taking her left hand with him. "Do you want to come back to my hotel room? We can finish this talk their."

She gave him a knowing smile. "Well I wouldn't want to leave the conversation unfinished, would I?"

He smiled, not the first real smile since the show finished, thanks to her. "No, we wouldn't." He looked down at her hand catching a glimpse of a thin black line tattooed around her ring finger. His heart stilled. "Wait, are you married?"

"What?" Confusion clouding her eyes before realizing what he say. "Oh. No. Not married," she said matter of factly.

"Oh, all right. Good. I would never take a married woman back to a hotel."

She nodded her head, lips tight. There was a small silence between them before she spoke. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing I'm not then."

[thejustinmarshall]

Jean Luc Ponty Revisits “The Atlantic Years”

Interview by Danny Coleman

“Well, I don’t want to announce it as such because I’ve seen other artists do that and tour again after that; so you never know but it could be. So far I’m still in good physical shape to play an instrument that is tough to play but so far so good. So as long as I can still do that and as long as there’s a demand, because the last thing that I want to do is just impose myself on stage like people who never want to go away even when there is no audience anymore for them. So if it gets to that I’ll be happy to retire; I’m ready for that now. One thing for sure, there are not going  be many more tours; maybe another one after that at most,” uttered legendary violinist Jean Luc Ponty as he discussed what may very well be one of if not his final tour prior to his August 23 show in Newton, NJ at the Skyland PAC.

On the road with, “The Atlantic Years Tour,” Ponty definitely embraces his past even though he may not always admit to looking back at it and had it not been at the urging of some friends and industry insiders; this may never have come to be.

“What it is,” he started with deliberation, “Is that I’m not the kind of guy that is into nostalgia and looking to the past and being sad that it’s over; not at all. I’m the opposite, I’m always looking forward and happy to do new musical experiences but they are rooted in the past though; I’m talking about me developing in the mid 70’s and still keep doing it until now. Then there was a ditty man from France and concert organizations who wanted to revisit the music of my early career and the first albums which I produced on Atlantic that made the audiences aware that there was this crazyFrenchman playing electric violin. I gave a listen to the old albums but I am also the kind of musician who rarely listened to his own recordings; moving on all the time. So I really sat down and listened after so many years and discovered that some of the music I really do was great and it was worth re-visiting and what I mean by re-visiting is not to rehash the past, it’s not to try to recreate exactly what it was because the albums are there. They have that sound color of the time and that energy but what we can do now so many years later is that me and the musicians have had so many other musical experiences that we have a different kind of maturity and coming back to this music we can bring some new improvisations to it. Also, the sound technology has improved and some instruments themselves are so much better today so it’s like feeling lucky to still be alive and being able to make this music live again. Also there is a jazz element; meaning that there are sections in most pieces where we can improvise solos, that means that the music comes alive in different ways every night.” 

The musicians on this tour are no strangers to Jean Luc or his music and he speaks glowingly of having them reunited with him on stage once again.

“All of them have either toured and recorded with me or both. Jamie Glaser is the longest collaborator with me, he started in 1977 fresh out of The Berklee School ofMusic. He has been on several albums and then he went to do his own thing and he came back again in the late 80’s and 90’s. Then Wally Minko on keyboards joined in the late 80’s, he recorded three albums with me and did many tours worldwide. Rayford Griffin on drums joined my band in 1982, was on all of the albums between 1982 and 1986 and even more in the 90’s. There was one tour that he couldn’t do because he was with Michael Jackson then; I remember that because in the 90’s I wanted to do a reunion,” he said with a laugh. “Keith Jones toured with my band in the 80’s as well; on top of which, this is the band that I put together when I collaborated with Jon Andersonfrom Yes. These are exactly the same band; musicians that I’ve worked with since the 80’s, it adds another emotional dimension. Being back on stage makes us really happy, there’s a joy and a different feeling; it’s a pleasure to be back together. It is like old friends that you’ve not seen in a long time and you get together, that’s the kind of feeling we have.”

Easily the most recognizable violinist in rock and jazz music, Ponty admits to feeling some of the pressures of success yet he also gained a wealth of experience which affords him to relax as he looks back at his long and illustrious career; a career which has seen him nominated for or achieving just about every major award in the music industry.

“It was very natural at first for many years. I had a very strong inspirational force in me that had to come out,” he chuckled. “I was lucky to sign this contract with AtlanticRecords in ’75 that gave me total artistic freedom and gave me a chance to explore, put a band together and play this music. I wanted to create my own way of making one see phases of different musical limits. I had the experience, I came from classical music, I was professional in the symphony orchestra when I was 20 years old and then seven years of straight jazz and then the collaboration with Zappa’s band, Mahavishnu, McLaughlin and others less well known before that in Europe but who were also into rock and progressive rock. I wanted to connect in a way that wasn’t evident and it wasn’t easy at first but little by little it changed; so that was my goal and I didn’t know if I’d be successful or not. The albums got a lot of success, even beyond my hopes; I mean it was unbelievable in those days. We got a chance to be picked up by progressive rock radio, jazz radio, different formats and a lot of college and university radio, it was amazing and thanks to that we got a chance to keep going and doing it. It is true though that I reached a point in the late 80’s and early 90’s where yeah, you feel the pressure because when you are presented on stage at big festivals with other bands and they announce you as one of the top or the top violinist in the world, you think oh my God, I better behave and play good (laughs). I’m joking now but there was some type of pressure at some time where I was wondering while recording my next album if it would be at least as good as the previous ones but not anymore. I’ve reached a point now where I”m totally relaxed because it’s not what I had in mind. It’s not having to be the best or whatever, music for me is an expression of my sub-conscious, I feel it’s very metaphysical. It’s almost like I feel it’s not me anymore physically on stage. I don’t know where it comes from, like as if I was channeling waves from around the universe. I don’t know but emotions and feeling is all that counts, that’s the priority and not thinking; am I the best? Am I good? Am I not good? You have to reach a point where you let go and let go completely. I was very happy to learn that a great jazz innovator like Charlie Parker said the same thing. He was practicing chord changes up to the point where he didn’t have to think about it, it became sub-conscious and that’s why you let go completely. Then it becomes totally spiritual or like another vein of communicating with other beings.”

So how does anyone achieve a level of greatness such as his? According to Ponty, you either have it or you don’t and even if you come from a musical family such as his own; there are no guarantees.

“My parents were music teachers, so I grew up in a musical environment environment. This doesn’t automatically mean that children have the vocation to be musicians as well but in my case I did. I developed a love for music immediately from the age of three or four years old. My father was teaching violin as a main instrument and my mother piano so they started me on both instruments when I was five years old. Then when I was 11 they asked me to choose one of the two so that I would become good at one instead of mediocre at both (laughs). I chose the violin, probably because I felt, from what I remember that it was the most expressive and it’s an instrument that you hold against your body like a physical extension of you. Then maybe it was because my father was a violinist, I’ve never spoken to a psychiatrist about it,” he joked, “but I think it was really because I found it more expressive. So I found myself  focusing and spending more time and hours on it every day but piano was very helpful and although I stopped practicing technique it helped me write music. Having access to a piano and later on to other types of keyboards and sounds was how I could write all of this music.” 

One of the things that, “The Atlantic Years Tour” has done is gently prod him to look back in retrospect at how far the world has come; a world which he feels would be markedly better if the power of music was allowed to rule.

“In the 80’s I toured mostly in the United States, South America and Western Europe until the Berlin Wall fell down and then the communist world was not so communist anymore and I went all the way to play in Siberia a few years ago. I didn’t know what to expect but in fact there’s quite an elite of people; scientists who live there, a lot of artistic activity, they have opera and two symphony orchestras. Just to say that I’ve played for people there and there was an old woman who came to me with tears in her eyes with a vinyl album, one of these Atlantic albums and she said, “You know, when I got that album I could’ve gone to jail.” “What I’m saying is that music is such an incredible way to connect with people anywhere in the world; music would be a lot better than politics to unite people around the world.” 

After the August 23 show in Newton, the tour has stops in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and then wraps up on August 30 at Sony Hall in New York City. So what can one expect when attending a Jean Luc Ponty performance?

“A program with pieces from the Atlantic albums starting with, “The Imaginary Voyage”from 1975/76 through, “Fables” which was the last one in 1985. We play some of the pieces that turned out to be classics like, “Mirage,” pieces from the, “Enigmatic Ocean,”the two long suites that we play are “Enigmatic Ocean,” “The Struggle of the Turtle to the Sea” and these are really great springboards for improvisation for the band and it sounds really good with this band. Pieces like “Mirage,” it surprises me that there are young musicians today from electronic jazz, hip-hop, dance music who are sampling pieces like, “Mirage.” I would not have expected that but that proves that there’s a link between generations and that makes me very happy that they see something in my music that appeals to them and that they are using it and producing it in their own way. We won’t play it in a hip-hop style (laughs), we stick to the style of the original recording.” 

Sampling? Hip-hop? Ponty takes it all in stride whether he approves or not.

“I don’t always agree and if I don’t agree I refuse unless they steal it and I don’t know about it but some are honest and ask permission and some are creative and just take bits and pieces and make a puzzle out of it; they don’t take my creative piece as I recorded it and some are not creative at all. The way they use certain samples and sound effects of my music makes me say, ah that’s original but it surprises me that they hear that music from the 70’s that is old for them and it’s something that inspires them; that’s cool.” 

To discover more about the eloquent virtuoso that is Jean Luc Ponty or purchase tickets please visit www.ponty.com.

Danny Coleman (Danny Coleman is a veteran musician and writer from central New Jersey. He hosts a weekly radio program entitled “Rock On Radio” airing Sunday evenings at 10 p.m. EST on multiple internet radio outlets where he features indie/original bands and solo artists.)

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[darkartandcraft]

XABRACADABRA The Magical Art of Stephen Kasner Part I/III

Tonight, Dark Art & Craft will be featuring the first of a three-part interview with the dark visual artist, musician and, photographer Stephen Kasner. This in-depth interview with Thomas Haywood and Dott von Schneider takes a look into the inspiration and foundations of Kasner's dark creative work.

Read interview part I/III below:

by Thomas Haywood and Dott von Schneider

What is your definition of creativity?

Anything that attempts to be or become something greater than the sum of its parts. Creativity is an elevated result from the use of tools, visible or invisible. 

What would you say was your initial inspiration to start creating art? When did you discover you had this natural ability?

Just like most children, I always draw pictures. Drawing; concentrating on drawings, are among my earliest memories. I do recall my first vivid emotional connection to art which occurred at age 3. This was a completely random thing that evoked real emotion, actual fear, within me. This whole concept escaped me completely. I couldn’t possibly begin to wrap my mind around the reasons why I felt this fear, or how or why I could or would create something, seemingly unconsciously and from within myself that would produce these feelings. What use could I have for that at such a young age. It does prove, however, that fear, terror, uncertainty, are all feelings we naturally possess as human beings. They did come from somewhere. No one taught me that. Surely dark and terrifying emotions are instilled in all of us right from the moment of birth, perhaps even conception, but that’s an entirely different and more abstract concept.

Early on I would spend hours on end drawing in total solitude. Luckily for me, my parents didn’t think this strange and force me outside with other kids. That pursuit led me on all sorts of independent paths. Whenever I had an inspirational opportunity, I would draw from the television. I would watch old westerns and classic horror films and draw to them. More precisely, the movies would be on as a sort of soundtrack, and I would draw my own images to whatever scenarios I would hear occurring in the films. Later in life this was either an extension of, or perhaps simply a continuation of a natural method, when I began to really focus energy on translating musical artists works to imagery.

You’ve always been rather tied into the music scene, beginning locally. What is your personal history there?

Among my childhood friends, I was always surprised to discover that I felt I was the most serious admirer of music, just from sheer appreciation, enthusiasm and emotional connection. I recall asking one of my friends in the 5th or 6th grade what his favorite music and musicians were, and he was completely perplexed. Confounded, even. He looked rather puzzled and asked, “You mean, like, radio?” I didn’t know how to respond to that, but having cited a few examples, the next bedazzling reply came, “I guess I like The Police. On the radio”. I had a lot of strange run-ins like that. But see, I thought everyone was like me. I just assumed it at the time. It was all I could do to join the orchestra to not go out of my mind. I did have the good fortune of having befriended an amazing drummer then who turned me onto foundation bands like The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, very early on. This was a blessing because I personally had a limited access to records then, and he would let me borrow his. I would take the records home, and they would be like treasures to me. I would play them incessantly and draw from the album covers. It was heaven. Jeff is the first person I ever experienced a live, loud (drumming) session with, and he still plays, by the way. But this happening in front of me at that young age, in the same room where I can actually feel the pressure of the experience was mind-blowing.

So these experiences opened my mind to possibilities earlier on, and I began seeking the more extreme options, music and art, whatever I could access and digging into deeper sources. Within just a couple years, I was regularly locked in my room endlessly testing my mother’s seemingly limitless patience with Charged G.B.H., Dead Kennedys, Exploited, The Accused, Black Flag, MDC, Alien Sex Fiend, at maximum volumes at all hours. This absorption of punk music as well as the timing, then being 16 years old and now able to drive to any show I wanted to see, led me to a world where I was now in the same room with many of these amazing people, seeing them perform, changing lives on the spot. Small shows within my own neighborhood were bands like Domestic Crisis, Grimace, Starvation Army, Death of Samantha, and Spike In Vein, who were all massive influences on me. Once all these emotional floodgates were opened fully and for good, that was it for me. No turning back.  

Your initial success in the industry came from working with bands and musicians.  How did this come to be? Did you approach bands to work with them, or did they stumble upon you?  

A bit of both occurred. Naturally, early on I pursued musicians and bands I had access to locally. I was still in high school when I produced my first work for any band, which was  probably The Spudmonsters, a still-legendary band connected to the punk/post-punk/metal scene of the ‘80s-90s. Leading up to my initiation with Spudmonsters, I was seriously drawing and painting by then, though I didn’t have anything resembling a formed vision. Only fragments. So my first work with musicians came almost strictly under the heading of illustration, although most of the actual ideas were my own. Their ‘Kill Your Idols’ record is a good example of this. I continued to dabble and connect with bands that needed assistance with imagery, producing everything from cassette covers, t-shirt graphics, hand painted backdrops. I was recently reminded that I did a backdrop for Spudmonsters. I’ll have to trust that lead. It’s probably right.

Chris Andrews was a founding member and guitarist for the band, and he owned the locally famous ‘Chris’ Warped Records’ store at the time. All the while I did any work for his band, money was usually never exchanged. I did album and t-shirt artworks in trade for records. I feel like I still do this type of literal trade-work a lot these days. Far too much, probably. 

Things connected with music collaboration took a major turn during my college graduation exhibition when I was approached by Rockie Brockway of CRAW. In that show I exhibited Dreamscape I & II simultaneously for the first time as these two works had only just been completed days before. Rockie was adamant about the fact that these were the pieces for the first CRAW album which was soon to be released. Being a major fan of the band and having seen them perform dozens of times by then, I knew them well, and agreed with the concepts. Of course I was more than pleased to contribute. Proud, really, and still am today. Those Dreamscape pieces were a major life shift for me and my work, and so was my connection with CRAW. That album was released in 1993. The next major Cleveland collaboration connection came a few years later when I met Dwid of Integrity. My work with Dwid became long-term and extensive, and grew to include actually recording and performing live together with Psywarfare. Most recently we collaborated again, also with Jacob Bannon of Converge, as Irons. So full circle, the collaboration system doesn’t break down or separate at just the imagery. I record and perform music with friends as well, and have for years.

In reference to your earlier statement, I would like to explore the concept of “translating musical artists work to imagery”. Can you expand on those experiences and how they transpire?

These two elements have always been conjoined. I was always interested in drawing and painting, and became instantly wide-eyed realizing serious artist’s work in the world as a youth. Omni and Heavy Metal magazines in the late 70’s and into the 80’s, for example, initiated me into the world of Fantastic and Visionary artists such as Ernst Fuchs, Beksinski, H.R. Giger, Robert Venosa, and many others, and I would absorb these images while listening to records. This was my hobby, really, outside of actually drawing myself. I was equally, deeply connected to music of that era; Psychedelic and hard rock, 70’s metal, and I began to study guitar from age 8 with instructors as a by-product of this insatiable passion. Ironically, I wasn’t learning what I wanted to play, you know, Led Zeppelin riffs, but was being taught classical and Spanish music. I thought this was a drag at such an early age, and my mind couldn’t connect to the magical road I was being led on then. I couldn’t realize I was being given the keys to the gate. But I continued studying formally for 7 years or so, at which point the drawing and painting medium eclipsed everything completely. I still have the musical passion today to create and produce my own sounds, but now it’s very stream of consciousness, improvisational, transient. There’s little structure, but for reasons.

I always knew innately that art and music were one entity, and so this marriage of sound and image was always a deeply connected essence within, so I subconsciously fused the two, always. Once I realized, perhaps closer to my teen years, that real artists in the world did precisely this type of work, on some of my favorite record album covers for example, that was it for me. This was the silver lining; that I could find some way to connect these mediums seriously, as a lifelong pursuit, and I’ve never flinched from these methods and modes of thinking. It’s a spiritual existence, if you are one who can take it that way. It is religious for many people I know.

You work is so ethereal and so unique, it is hard to find a parallel with any other artist outside of the late, great H.R. Giger. Do you find a parallel or influence with and from his work?

I would think it difficult not to. I recognize his immense popularity now, but this wasn’t always the case, and to me, that’s part of what makes his work so much more magical. What I mean is, growing up in the 70s, being a child and inadvertently stumbling onto paintings by Giger through OMNI or on album covers like ELP’s Brain Salad Surgery, for example, this work burns into your brain, particularly if you’re a type of person predisposed to his kind of majestic, psychedelic expressionism. If you have even half a spirit, Giger’s work remains with you for a lifetime, and I spent my early years searching it out. It became utterly, thoroughly surreal later meeting and spending time with him in his home and studio in Switzerland. Oddly, even as a young teen, he was one of only two living people who I ever dreamed of meeting. Never obviously expecting either of these events to become a reality, I’m proud to say I’ve met and bonded with both my deepest heroes. These were major, life-altering events, naturally, which have affected the way I see and think, thank goodness.

There is a strong representation of heavy writers, artists, and musicians narrating your book, Stephen Kasner, WORKS: 1993-2006. How did you connect with these folks? How did the book first come about?

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have met so many amazing, magical artists and people worldwide. In traveling and exhibiting my work in other environments, it becomes rather natural to gravitate to other artists you admire and gain access to, and for them to gravitate to you. These are all people who share a similar energy, focus, and outlook on things, so the will to work together is also natural. I think the sheer curiosity of what may come of joining with another person or people is utterly compelling. It’s like love. We all want to give and receive as much love as we possibly can in all its available forms. At least we all should want that.

What’s the best thing about Halloween?

Dreaming the dream that somewhere in the world exists a most intrepid and ever-potent witch. But then every day is Halloween, isn’t it?

(End)

Please follow Dark Art & Craft for part two: XABRACADABRA The Magical Art of Stephen Kasner Part II/III

View some of Stephen Kasner limited edition print work on Dark Art & Craft, available this Halloween night Tuesday, October 31, 2017.

#stephen kasner

[thisaintascenereviews]

Album Review by Bradley Christensen Sainte – Smile And Wave Record Label: Good Problems Release Date: June 30 2017

80s-influenced synthpop is a trend that I’m rather sick of, honestly. I’ve talked about that before, but at the same time, I like a lot of acts from that era. I’ve been on an 80s new wave / synthpop kick at the moment, listening to groups like Soft Cell, The Outfield, Duran Duran, a-ha, and things like that, but these bands are interesting, unique, and actual 80s new wave groups. Not saying that these modern groups aren’t “real” new wave, or anything like that, but I’ve heard all of this stuff done a million times already, and if you’re going to try to have a retro sound, you need to bring something to the table. A lot of these newer bands don’t, unfortunately. I’ve tried to get into bands like CHVRCHES, Misterwives, and other stuff, but it doesn’t do a lot for me. Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2015 LP, Emotion, is the only album in this vein that’s really struck a chord with me. It was one of my favorite albums of that year, but since then, I haven’t found an album that hits me in that same way, let alone closely, but I think I’ve found one. Surprisingly, though, it’s not the new Paramore album. I talked about that album, called After Laughter, when it came out, and I was mainly positive on it. It’s not an album that I love a whole lot, but it’s got a lot of good stuff in it. It only had one great thing in it, however, and that was vocalist Hayley Williams. The overall sound was good, sure, but there wasn’t any substance to it. Aside from the glitz and glamour of the sound, there wasn’t anything there to really get into. It was more style over substance, unfortunately, but the style was good, at least for the most part, anyway. There were a few tracks that broke the momentum of the album, mainly the slower and more experimental tracks, but when the album hit, it hit hard.

Actually, the album that I wanted to talk about that’s giving Carly Rae Jepsen a run for her money is Sainte’s debut EP, Smile And Wave. If Sainte isn’t a familiar name to you, that’s okay, because I wouldn’t have known about her, either, if it wasn’t for my best friend Jake. Sainte is mainly composed of We Are In The Crowd vocalist, Tay Jardine, and I’ll admit that I never liked them that much. I thought they were fine, but they weren’t a pop-rock / power-pop band from the mid-00s that I really liked a lot, so I never got into them. He liked them, though, and he was excited about this project. I wasn’t too excited about the synthpop aspect, because this sound has been done to death, and the singles didn’t do much for me, but I wanted to check it out. He actually sent me a digital copy of the album, so I’ve been finally able to check it out. I’ve given this record a handful of listens over the last few days, since I figured I’d spend some time with it over the weekend. While I do really like this record, it’s still got its issues. I can’t say it’s perfect, but at the same time, I enjoy it a lot. I’m not super surprised by this thing, but its execution is what surprised me. This record has a couple of key things by its side – it’s short as hell, and it knows what it is. At 23 minutes, this record is a short one, and it doesn’t feel like it’s longer than it really is, which is because of how it knows exactly what it is. It’s energetic, quick, punchy, and catchy as hell, with the exception of one slower track, but that’s also a good song. It’s got that 80s R&B feel to it, and I really like that sound, so I’m totally fine with that song. On the one hand, yeah, the EP is very repetitive, samey, and consistent to the point where it all sounds the same, but at the same time, there is more to the music than the standard glitz and glamour that the genre typically offers.

For instance, there is a lot of nuance, catchiness, and well-executed songwriting here, but at the same time, I do have some issues here. Well, there’s just one, and I wanted to get it out of the way. See, my favorite thing about After Laughter were the vocals, because Hayley Williams is one hell of a singer, but I can’t say I really like Tay Jardine a whole lot. That’s not to say that she can’t sing, because she can, and she does a good job on this record. It’s not like she’s bad in the slightest, but I don’t know. I’ve always felt like, even back with We Are The In Crowd, that she was always doing her best Williams impression. That’s how I felt about The Gospel Youth’s vocalist, too, as he was doing his best Patrick Stump impression, but with that said, if you like After Laughter, I can’t imagine not liking this, either. It’s got that same kind of sound, and Jardine does her best to fit in with it, ultimately coming off as the poor man’s Hayley Williams, but even then, she sounds really good. She doesn’t quite pull off the hooks as well as Williams does, but that’s the thing – almost no one compares to Hayley Williams, so that’s not Jardine’s fault at all. The vocals are the only weak part of the album, though, as I do enjoy the lyrics and overall sound a lot, too. The lyrics are nothing super well-written, or insanely clever, but they have some good ideas behind them. The overall sound is the same way, but there is more substance to this sound than other albums or acts that I’ve heard in this style. It’s nothing too obvious, because it’s not like this record experiments at all, but it’s enough that it does keep your interest. At the same time, though, this record is very samey, despite being 23 minutes. I mentioned that earlier, and it’s still a good thing about it, but I’m not a huge fan of these modern synth-pop acts.

I know that sounds weird, because I enjoy a lot of the older acts, for sure, but these new ones don’t do anything for me. I don’t know what it is, but maybe it’s just that these acts are trying too hard to copy the past. Instead of paying homage to it, they’re just riding a trend, and I can’t pretend that I don’t feel that way with Sainte, but at the same time, if you can do it well, that’s okay, too. This record is done well, and if you’re into this modern synth-pop / new wave sort of sound, you’ll enjoy this, but it’s a 50/50 if you’ll love it. I’m pretty impartial to a lot of this stuff, and I can’t say I’m absolutely in love with this thing, but I think that’s kind of because I’ve been listening to, well, the real thing, too, and this doesn’t compare to any of those albums or bands. That kind of goes without saying, although that’s rather harsh to say, because it’s not like I’m discrediting this record. If you’re looking for a good pop fix, this record should work for you, but I can’t say whether or not you’ll be over the moon. A good indication depends on how you feel about Paramore’s new album, or how you feel about 80s-influenced synthpop in the first place. It’s funny, because I found the strongest thing on After Laughter to be the vocals, but that’s the weakest thing on this record, so between the two albums, there’s a great record somewhere in there. This record is good, though, and I’m happy I listened to it, although it took me awhile, but it worked out perfectly, because I’ve been in the mood for this style of music, so I’ve been in the mood to listen to. I can see myself spinning this if I need a good pop fix, though, because it’s got some catchy hooks, solid instrumentation, and some interesting lyrics, even if the record doesn’t necessarily blow me away. It’s done well for what it is, and I can see why people would love it, so if you love it, don’t let anyone take that away from you.

#sainte #smile and wave #synth-pop #new wave #carly rae jepsen #paramore #after laughter #chvrches #misterwives #tay jardine #we are the in crowd

[thisaintascenereviews]

Rewind Review, Vol 39

William Beckett – Genuine & Counterfeit Record Label: Equal Vision Release Date: August 20 2013

Throughout the last couple of years, I've written a lot of "re-reviews," which are just albums that I've already heard and reviewed, but it was a couple or more ago. Feelings can just a lot in a year, and even just in a month or two, so I decided to try something a little different with albums that I've covered before (whether it was a year ago, or just a few months ago). Not a re-review, per se, but a Rewind Review, in which I'll be briefly talking about the album and whether my feelings are still the same. I didn’t plan on doing this a lot, but I wanted to do this whenever I felt like revisiting an album from the year that I really loved or hated, and see how I feel about it now. Opinions and tastes can really change, even if it's in a brief time, so I thought it would be interesting to see if my feelings still ring true for albums that I've covered in the last couple of months, let alone within the last couple of years.

I spent some time listening to a lot of punk albums, and then I just reviewed some metal albums, as well as some 90s albums, but I wanted to get a bit more nostalgic. I wanted to review some albums from the time that I got into music. That would be ten years ago, as I got into music in 2007. I wanted to get into some albums from around that time, give or take a few years in either direction. One band I wanted to focus on was The Academy Is, a Chicago pop-punk / pop-rock band that was oddly underrated but popular at the same time. I don’t know how to describe it, because I feel like they were popular in the scene, at least back when I was listening to them, but now that about eight years has gone by since their last EP (I recently picked that up, by the way, so that’s why I wanted to listen to this stuff), I feel as though they’ve become more underrated. Maybe it’s because younger fans of this type of music didn’t necessarily grow up with them, or even remember them. My Chemical Romance, Panic! At The Disco, and Fall Out Boy are the “big three” of the whole “emo” scene at the moment, even though the latter two bands aren’t necessarily “emo” (their earlier stuff, maybe, but not their newer material). The mid-00s was a flurry for pop-rock in the same vein as those bands, because they got so huge, and I can understand why many bands got left behind, especially when they broke up just as the scene was getting bigger.

With that said, I’m torn to say whether or not The Academy Is deserved “better,” because they were very popular in the scene, back in the day, but that’s the key. They’re not as popular now, or at least well-remembered, even if they were huge in their scene during the mid-00s. I remember albums like 2005’s Almost Here, 2007’s Santi, and even 2008’s Fast Times At Barrington High (which is an album I can’t wait to talk about, for the record, even though I can’t wait to talk about all of their stuff) were very well-talked about in the alternative scene, but nowadays, they aren’t talked about. I mean, yeah, it’s because they broke up, but even so, you’d think they’d be more popular. Either way, I want to bring some light to this band. They released some classics in the scene, even if they’re a tad underrated now. Their vocalist, William Beckett, is still active, but the last thing he put out was a solo LP in 2013, entitled Genuine & Counterfeit. I picked this up when it came out, and I remember really liking it. I picked up Jenny Lewis’ last solo album, 2014’s The Voyager, which came out a couple of years after her band, Rilo Kiley, broke up, and I thought I’d revisit this album, too, just to see if they held up.

After listening to it again for the first time since it came out, I don’t know if I love it as much I did back when it first came out. I like it a lot, don’t get me wrong, but after looking over my review of the album (which really took me back, by the way, because I wrote in such a different way back then), the issues that I had with the album definitely bug me more now than they did back then. I talked about how the album is very inconsistent, as well as not flowing very well, and I would definitely agree with that still, because this LP doesn’t really know what it wants to be. I kind of understand that, though, because The Academy Is was kind of like that, too. Their sound was very diverse, unique, and interesting, but they combined everything into a flowing package. This LP feels like a few different styles of alternative music put together. You have your piano ballads that sound like they’d fit onto a Jacks Mannequin album, some more indie-pop / synth-pop tracks, as well as some more straightforward pop-rock tracks that you’d find on an Academy Is record. This LP is only 39 minutes, so it’s not a long listen, but it’s a very disjointed one. That doesn’t help that this LP isn’t all that unique, let alone amazing, because it’s a very generic pop-rock album. I mean, it’s not bad at all, and it’s a ton of fun for what it is, but there’s nothing that makes this album go above and beyond than TAI’s albums. I will say, however, that this LP is a good continuation of what the band was doing with Fast Times At Barrington High, as they went into a more pop-focused direction.

Even then, that album had some better lyrics, despite being more about relationships this time around (the album was essentially a homage to 80s coming of age films, especially with its title). This LP, however, isn’t that interesting within its lyricism, but the only really great thing about is that Beckett’s voice sounds great. He sounds better and better with each album, and this one is no exception at all. The sound isn’t all that interesting, either, because it’s more or less generic pop-rock, just not quite as catchy or well-done as Fast Times, or even their earlier records, but it gets the job done. In terms of a pop-rock album, it’s good for what it is, but you won’t be getting anything that you haven’t heard before. Beckett’s voice is very good, and if you love his voice, you’ll definitely love it here. The things that he’s saying aren’t that interesting, unfortunately, but there’s nothing bad about these lyrics. There are some well-written tunes, especially the closing track “One Million People,” where he talks about how the woman he loves is how there’s no one in the world like her. It’s not a new idea, or anything, but it’s done pretty well. There are some other tracks that I like, too, such as “Benny & Joon,” “Cracks In The Ceiling,” and “By Your Side.” Like I said, nothing on this album is as amazing as their past material, but it’s totally fine for what it is. I’m happy that I revisited this, and it’s a worthwhile continuation of Beckett’s sound, but it’s not as good as anything they did with The Academy Is.

#william beckett #the academy is #genuine & counterfeit #almost here #santi #fast times at barrington high #pop #rock #indie #indie rock #alt-rock #alternative