Saturday's Slayer show may go down as one of the finest metal performances at Fiddler's Green since it opened it's doors back in June of 1988. For the 18,000+ in attendance that evening, it was a show for the ages that transcended time and space. It allowed fans an opportunity to rid themselves of the anxiety of every day life and focus in on the simpler things that make life worth living (if only for a few hours). Add to the mix a ridiculously talented bill (consisting of metal heavyweights Lamb of God, Anthrax, Testament, and Napalm Death), some incredible pyrotechnics, and a rabid fan base, and you have all the ingredients necessary to incinerate the Mile High City. Unfortunately for those in attendance, this would probably be the last time they would see Slayer perform in Denver, CO on the final run of their 2018 Farewell Tour. Meredith Fox, a true Slayer fanatic, summed up Saturday's show best:
"What I loved about the show last night: LOG just killed it! Randy has so much energy on stage jumping off his monitor/ramp and always sounds great! Anthrax sounded good too! The old school Anthrax is what rings true to me and them playing Evil Twin and Antisocial was awesome! On to Slayer, I thought the crowd was actually pretty tame, no mosh pit and not too many crowd surfers that I saw. But encore of Reign In Blood from 1986 is what we all wanted to hear as their last song playing in Denver. The fact that Tom Araya after the show just stood there on stage to take it all in one last time brought tears to my eyes. You can see the love of his music touching us all and he truly loves what he does. He may not really know how his music touches our lives, but one thing that all true metal heads know is that no one....... no other band will ever come close to what SLAYER represents in the Metal Genre, Reign True, Always To SLAYER!"
And with that, a final curtain call to our heroes in Slayer. Thank you ALL for twelve incredible studio albums, two Grammy's, countless world tours, and 37 years of incredible ear-splitting music. There will never be another Slayer, and you will go down in history as one the finest metal acts to ever throw up the horns. Tom Araya, Kerry King, Gary Holt, & Paul Bostaph - WE SALUTE YOU!!!
Tony Lewis has lived a charmed life. For over 30 years, he has been making his childhood dreams a reality by making incredible music that uplifts and inspires everyone around him. From early Outfield classics such as "Your Love" and "Say It Isn't So" to his latest solo release, Out of the Darkness, Tony's music is timeless and resonates with his fans in personal way that few artists ever get to experience. And after wrapping up this year's successful Retro Futura Tour (with ABC, Belinda Carlisle, Modern English, Limahl of Kajagoogoo, and Anabella of Bow Wow Wow), Tony is excited about the possibilities that await him as the next phase of his amazing career unfolds before his eyes. As an artist, he is re-energized, reinvigorated, and back living his childhood dream. If we could all be so lucky.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy Hunnypot's exclusive interview with the multi-talented Tony Lewis.
Matthew Belter: For those who don't know Tony Lewis, he is the voice behind the 80s megaband, The Outfield. Their smash hit, “Your Love”, peaked at number six on the US charts and had well over 1,000 covers and remixes since it was released in 1985. It's considered by many to be the quintessential song of that era. Welcome to Hunnypot Tony.
Tony Lewis: Thank you, what a nice introduction.
Matthew Belter: Let’s get this train rolling - Tell our listeners how you got started in music?
Tony Lewis: Well, basically I found ... Well, someone, a friend of my sister's, her brother had a guitar, an acoustic guitar, and he went to throw it in the dust bin. And he couldn't even play the guitar, and he bought an electric guitar, he and his mates’ sort of got together and played electric guitars, and I said, "Don't throw that guitar away, can I have it?" And I took it home, and I just sort of just messed around with the strings and played to an old mono Dansette record player and played along to records. I was like 14-15 at the time, and yeah, I've been doing it ever since.
Matthew Belter: It's amazing that something as simple and meaningful as that can spark an amazing career in music.
Tony Lewis: Yeah, I suppose it's just sometimes you just discover you could do something, and you practice and practice and practice, and wanna get good at it, and it could be anything. It could be from laying bricks, or kicking a football, or playing a guitar. If you practice enough, and you're focused enough, and you're dedicated, you love what you're doing, more than often you'd probably get successful or at least make a living.
Matthew Belter: What was it like performing on stage for the very first time?
Tony Lewis: On stage for the very first time, I must've been in a school band with Alan the drummer, who was the drummer from The Outfield and who is the Baseball Boys as well, and two other guys, and yeah, I was like 15. And it was nerve-cracking, but you never forget that feeling, that excitement, when you're on stage in front of people, it never leaves you.
Matthew Belter: Who are some of your early influences that help shape the singer and songwriter you are today?
Tony Lewis: I think it goes right back to The Beatles, The Kings, The Stones, The Who, just like I mean growing up and listening to 60s, 70s, the Glam rock stuff, T. Rex, Slade, Bowie, right up to some of the megabands from the 80s - Journey, The Cars, Boston, ZZ Top, and Springsteen. I mean so many ... brought up in a decade where there was so many influences and so many great melodies around that you couldn't help but capture it.
Matthew Belter: Your debut solo album, Out of the Darkness, was released on 29th with Madison Records. Congratulations on what turned out to be an incredible release. I listened to it countless times and absolutely love it.
Tony Lewis: Thank you, have you got any favorites?
Matthew Belter: I thought “Hear and Now” was phenomenal. “Into the Light” really took me back to the familiar sound of The Outfield. And then the other one that I really liked was “All Alone”. I connected with that one.
Tony Lewis: Yeah, a lot of people are picking up on that song, “All Alone”.
Matthew Belter: Yeah, it's great, and for all of us who have followed you over the years, to get new music like this is amazing. And the quality of your music makes it all the better. Your talent shines, being able to play multiple instruments, producing, things like that. But today, a lot of bands from that era have released music that maybe hasn't been as good as it should have (or could have) been. And this album is just fire in my opinion, well done.
Tony Lewis: Thank you, thank you, that’s quite a compliment.
Matthew Belter: You seemed to be on an extended hiatus for a while, what inspired you to jump back into the music scene?
Tony Lewis: Well, I lost John in July of 2014. I'd sort of lost the passion for music, I didn't like listening to music, I couldn't even pick up a guitar for about year. And I went out for a beer one night with my wife, and she said, "Why don't you just get back and do what you do best? You love recording, you like singing, you need to get back out there, you need do what you do best." And I had some backing tracks already recorded. But I was struggling lyrically to make it all work. I think the first time I put together “Going Out Tonight Looking For Fight”. And she said, "Well, people are not gonna really warm to them sort of lyrics. Do you want me to give you a hand? What do you wanna write about?" And she's very good at telling a story. And the lyrics, her lyrics seemed to fit the backing tracks, I made them fit. I brought up melodies form and structured them, how I've sort of learned to structure them and produce, learning tricks of the trade from all the producers we work with.
Matthew Belter: It seems like you wrote, recorded, and produced the entire album. You also played most of the instruments, is that true?
Tony Lewis: Yeah, I did, I just wanted to see if I could do it on my own, I worked with Alan, The Outfield drummer, we're still good friends. I'm into drums myself and I programmed drums on Outfield albums, so I knew what I wanted to do with the drum kits and stuff, and I just started riffing tracks on my own, and I've always been interested in the guitar and drums as well, and I played a bit of keyboard. And I just sort of put them together quite quickly. And once the vibe was there, adding the words to them, I don't know, it just seemed to sort of come to life, each one was easy to record, and it was no rush, and it was no pressure, and it's probably the easiest album I've ever recorded.
Matthew Belter: Help our listeners understand what it's like to have this type of creative freedom versus perhaps some of the other Outfield albums you worked on.
Tony Lewis: It's just that when you got an indie label, you got less people interfering with your art, with how you want a song to sound, and how you want it to be recorded, or where you want it to be recorded. It's all about having creative control. And if you're on a major label, chances are you're probably gonna get someone else who's gonna come in and change the melody, change the words. And that's when things start getting problematic. But I was given total creative control on this album. So I would say anyone out there who's thinking about getting a record deal on an indie label, go for it, because you've got absolutely nothing to lose. Especially with social media being so huge now, you can get your music out there, you can do it without any interference, and total creative control. There's a lot of artists, even major artists, that still rely on a producer. And I'm not opposed to using a producer in the future, I mean there are some great producers out there, but I just wanted to see if I could do it on my own.
Matthew Belter: What's your favorite track on the album?
Tony Lewis: I like “Loving You”, because that song just takes me to another place. It's a beautiful song, and it's inspired our first granddaughter, 'cause we had a first grandchild a few years ago. And that's what inspired us to write, and it was the first song we wrote together.
Matthew Belter: The Retro Futura Tour (also known as the Regeneration Tour in a past life), featured some of the most amazing artists from the 80s. This year's lineup included bands such as ABC, Belinda Carlisle from The Go-Go's, Modern English, Limahl of Kajagoogoo, and Annabella of Bow Wow, and of course the incredible Mr. Tony Lewis. What's it like being part of a tour like this?
Tony Lewis: It was good fun. I shared a dressing room with Limahl, and he was quite funny, we got along. All the bands on the tour got on very, very well, there was no conflict. There was no competition, and it was the first sort of tour that I've been on for 14 years, it was the first time I played live. So I was very apprehensive whether I could hit those high notes again live. And I also wondered how I was gonna get perceived by the fans as well. So, it was all quite a learning curve. And as I got into it, after sort of the second week, I was really enjoying it. If you don't like traveling, you don't like the tour bus, and you don't like the whole part of touring, you're wasting your time being there, because the whole part of it is just magical, it's like a circus.
Matthew Belter: What was your most memorable experience from the tour that you can recall?
Tony Lewis: Wow. There were so many. There were so many. I mean The Mountain Winery gig, that was like amazing, the amphitheater. I mean the last gig we did was on Lake Michigan, it was on an Indian burial ground, there was a lot of history there. And every venue had a story with it. But I'd say in general, I mean if there was one that really stands out is the one we played in Los Angeles, and it was an old hideout of one the gangsters. Al Capone had a hideout where the theater was. And the décor and the age of the building was just like mind-blowing, absolutely mind-blowing, I've never been in a building like that before in my life.
Matthew Belter: I covered your show in Costa Mesa a few weeks ago, and I must tell you, your performance was amazing.
Tony Lewis: Thank you.
Matthew Belter: We’re you added to the bill later in the game?
Tony Lewis: Yeah, what it was, Randy, my manager said that the Retro Futura Tour wanted to speak with me because Nick Heyward for medical reasons, pulled out of the tour. He said, “Do you wanna do it?” And it was like ... it was the third slot in five acts, and I said, "Well, yeah, I'd love to." And that’s how it all came to be.
Matthew Belter: Help me understand how you transitioned from The Baseball Boys to The Outfield?
Tony Lewis: Well, originally the reason that The Baseball Boys came about was that John had put on a demo tape (we used to drop in demo tape to all record companies). And he put on the cassette tape The Baseball Boys, 'cause he'd seen a film called The Warriors, and there was a street gang called The Baseball Boys. There was no connection to the sport, we're not mad on baseball, we don't really understand it. And that's how it came about. And when we got a record deal, someone from the record company said, "You can't use a name like The Baseball Boys, 'cause it's a national sport, how about The Outfield, 'cause it's three people in the outfield part of the baseball pitch." And we said, "Okay, we'll go with that."
Matthew Belter: Wow, and it's funny because anyone who has followed The Outfield knows there’s a solid baseball theme - albums like Play Deep, Diamond Days, Extra Innings, Replay, etc.
Tony Lewis: Yeah, that was our management team trying to be clever, trying to keep the baseball theme. And we just went with it, not really knowing that the expectation of us knowing the sport was there, we don't. But I've been to about three or four baseball games. We love the occasion and the theater of it all, but we don't understand it.
Matthew Belter: As a successful and multi-faceted musician, what would be the one piece of advice you might offer up to others looking to go down a path like yours?
Tony Lewis: I would say just be determined, be focused, keep practicing, believe in yourself, enjoy what you're doing, and let it come from the heart, what you're doing. Because if you're doing something that you feel that you should be doing, well, then ... or if you're trying to do it just to make money, chances are you're gonna be disappointed, because it takes a lot dedication, and a lot of practicing and sacrifice as well. And a lot of us musicians, if we have been totally honest, are pretty self-centered and selfish, it's all about me, that's why I fight with my wife all the time. And you just have to be one-eyed and just keep going for it, just keep following your dream.
Matthew Belter: Looking back in the rear-view mirror, is there anything that you might do differently based upon the experiences you had throughout your musical career?
Tony Lewis: I haven't regretted anything to be honest, I have had a lot of great times. I always think about ... I mean that first show at Chastain Park in Atlanta, getting up on that stage, and I'm just used to sharing the stage with John over 40 years, that was kind of hard. That was quite bitter sweet for me. I wish he was still here. But coming around this time around, I don't know. The older I’m getting, the more I’m enjoying it. And I've got no regrets, and I understand what you mean, 'cause I was able to sort of really soak it all up and then really digest it all and really enjoy. And I've had my wife with me for the first time for the whole tour, and it was great, I didn't wanna come home to be honest with you. I was really getting into the tour, I really had the tour bug.
Matthew Belter: Next up we have a few rapid-fire questions for you, ready?
Tony Lewis: Okay.
Matthew Belter: Futbol: Arsenal or West Ham United?
Tony Lewis: West Ham.
Matthew Belter: Legendary Vocalists: David Bowie or Freddie Mercury?
Tony Lewis: How could you choose between those two?
Matthew Belter: You got to choose one.
Tony Lewis: I'd say Bowie.
Matthew Belter: Outfield Songs: “Your Love” or “Since You've Been Gone”?
Tony Lewis: “Your Love”.
Matthew Belter: Bassists: John Entwistle or Chris Squire?
Tony Lewis: Oh, wow. John Entwistle.
Matthew Belter: Major American Cities: Los Angeles or New York City?
Tony Lewis: I'm gonna be in trouble for saying it, but New York City.
Matthew Belter: Influential Bands: The Beatles or T. Rex?
Tony Lewis: Oh, no, T. Rex is my favorite band, I'd like to say Beatles.
Matthew Belter: Well… That’s all the time we have today. On behalf of Hunnypot Radio and all our listeners, I wanted to thank you for taking time today to join us in Hot Tub. As always, you have a standing invite to join us on our bimonthly radio show at The Mint next time you are in Los Angeles.
Tony Lewis: Thank you Matthew, what a great interview. Yeah, when we're in town, I'd love to look you up.
Matthew Belter: Let’s make that happen Tony.
Tony Lewis: We'll do Matthew. Thanks again.
For more information on Tony Lewis and his latest release, "Out of the Darkness", click HERE
Hunnypot Live breaks so many rules, we should be surrendering to the FBI every other Tuesday. Show #398 ruled!
Hot Tub conspired to get everyone to dance and sing with his introduction set up music. Matthew Belter jumped to the other side of the lens to sit down in the tub and talk about his newish photography career and love of all music. Luke Loww went high wet with reverb-soaked melodic rock, Inspired & the Sleep powered their trio with pop/rock panache, Arisara gave us an interlude of introspection and melodic inspection, Adam Cola effervesced with pop tunes and dance moves and DJ Vron Irwin closed out the night with a dance party so large we had to use the stage as well.
Photos & Recap by J. Gray 08/20/2018
Matthew Belter started viewing life through the lens in high school and continued that practice during his more than 20 years in retail. Executive roles for a variety of companies provided him with the opportunity to travel the country. His camera gave him the means to appreciate and remember every stop on the journey.
A year after leaving the corporate world to join and expand his brother’s ice-delivery company, Matthew found himself buried in the day-to-day of a booming business, with no creative outlets to feed his soul. Out of frustration, he picked up a camera and started recording what he saw. It wasn’t long before his reawakened passion for photography became the thread that pulled his life back into balance.
Now he specializes in live concert photography, as well as portraiture, landscapes, and sports. Live music has long been a hobby, and he appreciates the challenge of representing the raw joy, focus, determination, and effort he sees on stage. He continually seeks to tell the story of the people around him and strives to capture moments and expressions of artistry and emotion.
Matthew is currently editor-at-large and current house photographer for Hunnypot Unlimited, one of the premier destinations for discovering new music in Southern California through publishing, representation, and live events. He is also a photographer for The Vinyl District, a collaboration of passionate and enthusiastic music lovers coming together to give you an inside look into some of today’s hottest and most intriguing artists.
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ARISARA, a Grammy winning songwriter, has celebrated placements like, Greyhounds (De La Soul), Better Together (Ziggy Marley) and Something Beautiful (Tori Kelly). ARISARA, aka Jeanette Steiner, hails from Orange, Texas, the deep south. Pronounced /ah-ree sah-rah/, her artistic brand is a name of Thai origin and describes one that is tenacious and unstoppable. Her unorthodox life and extensive, immersive time travelling abroad has only elevated this hippie-gypsy, soul-sister’s ability to understand and relate to all kinds of people. Her writing elicits a graceful perspective and inspires compassion for the human experience. Her lyrics express a variety of contemplations on the ever-marvelous concept of love, a portion of which she shares in her latest album release, With Love.
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Pop music is often built on personas – stage names, alternate identities, faces hidden behind hair, helmets, makeup, or masks. Sometimes, the artist’s mission is to hide his or her true self behind a haze of mystery. But that’s not the case with Adam Cola.
Across every one of his creative endeavors, the emerging pop star’s primary message is to embrace your true self – to be proud of each and every facet of who you are. It’s a message he’s championed since the very start of his music career, and one that’s partly responsible for the acclaim and accolades he’s garnered thus far. But most of the attention to come his way has been on the back of his innovative and intriguing brand of danceable electro-pop. Anchored by the artist’s unmistakably smooth singing style, the music is magnetic and inviting, commanding focus and forcing anybody it reaches into motion. “I want to inspire people to let their light shine bright,” says Cola. “I’ve gone through dark times. I’ve felt inhibited in the past, like I couldn’t be myself and didn’t have my own voice, and music has been the thing to lift me out of that. Now, that’s what I want to do for other people.”
The Montreal-born, L.A.-based singer is a natural performer, having realized his penchant for performing early on. “Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved acting and dancing and putting on shows for anyone that might come to my house,” he shares. He was drawn to music and dance and always had the full support of those close to him to pursue his passions, though it wasn’t until much later that he realized the truest of those passions was singing.
Having moved to L.A. to study acting for the stage and screen at a prestigious institution, Cola had his first foray behind the microphone in a high-end recording studio. “It just felt so natural,” he admits – and others noticed. Soon, he was collaborating with a who’s who of award-winning songwriters and producers that recognized heaps of potential in the early twenty-something.
Now, after plenty of hard work with his own dedicated team, Adam Cola is set to drop his full-length debut. The 12 tracks are ripe with infectious, dance-inducing beats that incorporate influence from decades worth of pop music but with a fresh and modern motif. “I’m drawn to tracks with that mysterious kind of groove – that intangible sexiness that you just can’t ignore,” he says, and that’s more than clear throughout the collection. At times it’s subdued, sexy, and alluring; others, exciting and exhilarating. But all of the time, it’s powerful and encouraging, thanks in large part to the artist’s uplifting lyrics.
Right from the opening track, Adam Cola promotes his mantra of being free and uninhibited, of being proud and embracing your true self. “I don’t follow any guidelines myself and am not trying to be anything other than who I am,” he unapologetically admits. “We all feel vulnerable sometimes, but we need to realize the things that make us different are the things that are most beautiful.”
That individual beauty is one of the many things to celebrate while getting lost in a dizzying, euphoric dance thanks to Adam Cola. From the stage or stereo, he’s pushing boundaries and sending bodies into sync. Music has been medicine for his own soul, and now, he’s looking to share a dose with anyone in earshot – uninhibited, uncompromising, and unapologetic.
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My name is Veronica Irwin and I am a student, writer, and arts journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am a current student at UC Berkeley, studying Media Studies and minoring in Music and Journalism.
I have been fortunate enough to write for The Quietus, Hunnypot Unlimited, and The Berkeley B-Side, some samples for which can be found on this website. I have a special interest in urban and rock music, and tend to write about artists' relationship with their communities both politically and creatively.
OK I know this crazy ass song is blowing up right now. Consider Hunnypot officially part of the herd. Doja Cat is based in LA and signed to RCA Records. Now get out my Hey.
Shout out to Schpilkas for the buttery tip.
- John Anderson
Jessica Foxx is a pop, electronic pop and dark pop artist, from a small farm town in Connecticut. She started her artist journey when she was only 3, and she attended the famous Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA.
Completely independent, Foxx has made some great connections over the years. Her debut single “Heartbreak Tastes Like Summer” was co-written with the upcoming songwriter/artist Leland who has since written for acts like Selena Gomez, Troye Sivan and Sabrina Carpenter. She co-wrote her most recent single “Cake” with BMG songwriter Jeremy Thurber (Meghan Trainor, Trisha Paytas) and was mastered by Randy Merrill (Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry) at Sterling Sound in New York City. Her self-funded music video for “ Cake ” debuted on May 3, 2018 on YouTube and racked up 3.2k views in under a month.
Check out Jessica Foxx’s music video “Cake,” feel the power of this girl! And make sure to come through The Mint on October 1st, because we will be having her performing at our Hunnypot party!
-Scott Mik
Phantastic Ferniture is a garage pop group from Sydney, Australlia. The group currently consists of Julia Jacklin, Liz Hughes and Ryan k Brennan, have release materials on Makeout Records, Polyvinyl Records and Transgressive Records.
Phantastic Ferniture’s spiritual home may be the garage but they were born in a bar, specifically the hallowed basement of Frankie’s – a beloved pinball and pizza shop in Sydney. One late night in 2014, on Jacklin’s birthday, a group hug manifested amid the pinball machines, with all ten participants vowing to form a band. In the end there are 3 of them still remember and that’s how the group was formed.
The mission is obvious: Don’t overthink it. That’s evident in the urgent garage-pop perfection on Phantastic Ferniture’s self-titled debut album, and in the unconventional path the band has taken to releasing it.
Check out Phantastic Ferniture’s music video "Fuckin ’n’ Rollin,” and enjoy the groove.
-Scott Mik
Washington-based trendsetting artist Michete cuts you deep with self-reflective lyrics regarding the foibles of relationships. For example who "wrestle(s) with delusion and pretend(s) it's real?" The video begins with a pajama party that somehow recalls the B-52s "Love Shack." The pre-video sketch is quick and to the point and nods to Madonna's Truth or Dare. Michete's new music video for the song "Stupid Girl" is flirty, fun and may even remind you of that 90's classic by the group Garbage. This comparison is not that far afield given that Michete has directed something of a love letter to that era. The video is reminiscent of the surreal music videos for bands like Whale's, "Hobo Slumpin Slobo Babe" and Sonic Youth's "Bull In The Heather."
The look of Michete's video is also reminiscent of the late '90s film Velvet Goldmine and one also can't help but wonder if this too was intentional as there is a definite glam rock vibe here. The players definitely work it as much if not more than Fifth Harmony. Visually that is where the similarities end though as Michete's actual song is more in the line of hip hop with rapped verse and sung bridges. The music video and song itself are both short, sweet and sassy which makes it absolutely ready for clubs if not radio.
-Brooke Trout
If you don’t know who City Girls are, here’s a way to recognize them, they sang the back up vocals in one of Drake’s track called “In My Feelings.”
City Girls is a rap duo formed by Yung Miami and JT. They landed a deal with one of the most commercially successful rap label - Quality Control. In August 2017, the group recorded “Fu*k Dat Ni**a.” The track targeted jealous onlookers and broke suitors, was promoted by Yung Miami on Instagram and in clubs. By the end of the year, “Fu*k Dat Ni**a” appeared on Quality Control:Control the Street, Vol.1.
JT currently has reportedly turned herself into authorities for fraudulent credit card charges; she was previously out on bond until deciding to finish out her incarceration sentence, she is slated to be released from prison on March 21, 2020.
City Girls just released their debut EP Period, check out their official music video Period and feel the aggressive groove from City Girls!
Hunnypot Live! isn't the kind to respect you in the morning. We don't exhibit reverence until at least 2pm. Show #397 wasn't gentle for first-timers either. Hot Tub Johnnie starting by paying homage to good music by broadcasting a set of semigogue songs. Rilan sat down for a quickie interview and a preview of his live set. Our guest "DJ" Stephan Pine returned to the water to share his MARVELous tales of his music career and brought a great set of music to share. The Tremolo Beer Gut bloated us with watery riff rock instrumental madness, Rilan delivered a compact stadium pop extravaganza, Miranda Glory sang sultry R&B styles, Mike Martinez Music performed emotional pop music and the night capped off with our world famous dance party. 08/06/2018
STEPHAN PINE (DISNEY/ABC TELEVISION GROUP MUSIC, GUEST INTERVIEW/DJ SET)
Guest DJ Stephan Pine moved out from Ohio a decade ago and is living the LA dream. Working within the ABC Music Dept under the mentor-ship of the great Dawn Solar, Stephan has learned the ins and outs of music supervision, clearance and licensing. And being a guitar player he loves ROCK!
Stephan is supervising several popular Netflix originals from the Marvel universe, Jessica Jones, Daredevil and The Punisher. BIG SHOWS! Come on out for the hang and congratulate Stephan on being an official newlywed!
The Tremolo Beer Gut are from Denmark/Sweden and there touring the US west coast from Seattle to San Diego. A 98% instrumental garage rock/spy surf combo. 5 LPs and a bunch of 45's on the rap sheet. Low maintenance/High performance 4 piece
Formed in a different millennium by Yebo and Sune Wagner from The Raveonettes – later joined by Per Sunding from Eggstone and The Great Nalna (when Sune moved to the states) and Jengo.
Nalna and Yebo has also played with Jon Spencer and Matt Vert - Ray’s Heavy Trash combo, Yebo also with Junior Senior, PowerSolo and Thee Attacks.
All in all a well seasoned and very spicy combo with a lot of garage rock pedigree and a guaranteed hot live show at your party/show/mother’s house.
Twenty one-year-old singer, songwriter, and dancer Rilan is a study in contradiction. The independent artist, who first appeared on the scene with his 2015 EP Chemical, is a charismatic looker who describes himself as a “freak” and a “weirdo.” Because he dressed like an emo kid and wore makeup to his preppy high school in New Orleans, his classmates assumed he was a troublemaker, when he was actually a straight-A student who never disobeyed his parents. He’s a former musical theater kid who loves ’70s glam rock and ’80s synth-pop. He’s chatty and warm in person but insists he has no social life and few friends. “I don't connect with people easily,” he says. “I like to sit back and observe, and report on how I’m feeling through my music.”
Rilan’s songs are an object lesson in not judging someone or something by its appearance. “It drives me crazy,” he says. “It’s probably why I got bullied in high school. I would get in fights with people who made fun of kids for wearing what they wanted. I don't want to be normal. Normal is boring and pointless. I find beauty in mystery and obscurity.”
In Rilan’s music, dark, sad emotions are dressed up in glossy dance-pop packages, like the house-influenced single “Blindfolds,” featuring Naz Tokio, which is about being rejected by someone you love and not being able to let go. On the surface, bouncy electro-pop tune “Not Sorry” appears to be about a one-night stand. “But if you dig deeper the song is really about me and how I deal with the world,” Rilan says. “That I’ve got nothing left to lose by pursuing music and I need to be unapologetic in how I present myself to people. It’s kind of my own personal anthem: I’m not sorry about doing this because I believe in myself. So it’s about not being afraid to be yourself.”
Rilan’s music — which he describes as “a gothic dance party, because it’s fun on the surface, but its heart is black as coal” — is indeed unapologetic. “It comes from this angry, guttural place,” he says, “I'm terrible talking about how I feel, but if you just listen to the lyrics, they’re kind of this empowering vessel that lets me show the world who I am.”
The New Orleans native has been expressing himself through performance since he was a child. Rilan got his start at age five doing theater, then took his first dance class at age 11, going on to study ballet, jazz, tap, and modern dance. “I had all this anxiety built up inside of me and I could channel it into moving my body,” he says. At 14, tired of being told he was “singing it wrong” by musical theater directors, Rilan began writing songs. “They were about running away and breaking social norms,” he says of his earliest compositions. “I wrote about a guy wearing makeup. It was me. I was like, ‘This is my commentary on your society.’ I was thinking about how these preppy kids from my school were getting drunk on the weekends but would come to school looking all country club. I looked like I was going to kill the neighbor's cat and sacrifice him to Satan, when in reality, I came home, did my homework, then went upstairs and played piano for hours. That’s how I escaped from human interaction.”
Growing up in what he describes as a “big, traditional, Italian, Catholic family,” Rilan was the black sheep. “All my older cousins played sports,” he says. “Even the girls in my family were athletic.” His parents were very protective of him, as well as indulgent. “I think because my parents were so happy they finally had a child that they just said, ‘Do whatever you want.’” Rilan says. When Rilan was 10, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and his family was displaced to Houston for six months. “You could go back to the city, but there was no infrastructure,” he says. “The power was out and it was kind of a ghost town. I had never lived anywhere else, so it was very hard. Houston felt sterile, there wasn’t enough weird, creepy stuff everywhere. New Orleans is the most haunted city in the continental U.S., which probably explains why I’m dark as fuck,” he says with a laugh.
With Rilan disconnected from his hometown, music became his closest friend. He gravitated toward gender-bending artists like Prince, Adam Ant, Boy George, Freddie Mercury, and David Bowie. “Bowie’s whole career was like an allegory for how you can see your potential if you are limitless and don’t confine yourself to a box,” Rilan says. He also fell in love with powerful, rule-breaking female artists like Lady Gaga and Madonna, whose songs he would sing while dancing on the coffee table as a kid.
At 14, Rilan began to look for producers in New Orleans to work with, to no avail, so he pursued his dance career, going to conventions and traveling to L.A. to audition. Then two years ago, he hooked up with Grammy-nominated producer/engineer Damien Lewis (Rihanna, Katy Perry, Beyoncé) and the two began writing songs together. One of their first efforts, the twisted love song “Chemical” became Rilan’s debut single. The visually sumptuous video for the title track, directed by Ethan Lader, has racked up more than 2.2 million views on YouTube. “That song set the tone for everything we did after that point,” Rilan says. Rilan moved to Los Angeles in early 2014 and has since worked with such top producers as Dallas Austin (Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lady Gaga) and Justin Warfield (She Wants Revenge, Depeche Mode). He’s also performed multiple shows around the city, and last year, was cast as a Warbler in the final season of Glee.
Despite his many talents, it’s music that remains Rilan’s focus and his vision is crystal clear. “There isn’t this kind of androgynous male artist who's doing something weird and strange but still making tangible pop music,” he says. “I want to do that. And I want it to be very visual. I’m not just going to sit on a stool and strum a guitar. I want to make pop music that is freakshow-esque but done in a tasteful way.” And how does he hope people will feel when they hear his music? “Understood,” he says. “I want to be a voice for people who feel like there’s no one to talk to. I want them to feel lifted up by my music. I want them to know that it’s okay to be weird. I'm gonna wear crazy things and I want everyone to feel comfortable wearing crazy things and expressing themselves in any way that they can.”
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Miranda Glory is an LA based singer/songwriter. A graduate of the Professional Performing Arts School in NYC, whose halls have been graced by the likes Alicia Keys and Britney Spears, Miranda Glory headed to Boston after high school to the prestigious Berklee College of Music, where she earned her degree in early 2016. She scored her first major solo success when she was selected to record a vinyl LP in Valencia, Spain, under Berklee’s label. Miranda continued to write and record, and began to release her music independently online. In late 2016, she was discovered and selected to the exclusive Neverland Songwriting Retreat in Costa Rica, which heralded her arrival as a songwriter. After that, she went bicoastal, ferrying back and forth from New York to Los Angeles to write with established songwriters and producers, including Autumn Rowe (Fifth Harmony, Cher Lloyd), Sheppard Solomon (Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears), Zac Poor (Tori Kelly, MNEK), David Brook (Eminem, Charlie Puth), The Fliptones (Jason Derulo, Flo Rida), and others.
Last year, Miranda released her debut singles “Blue Eyes feat. Matty Owens” & “Take” on iconic NYC-based label Tommy Boy Entertainment, gaining attention from prominent streaming playlists and blogs. Of the vibey Alt Pop/R&B “Take,” the music blog Gems and Secrets wrote that its “a slow jam that’s perfect for getting yourself in the mood.”
In late 2017, Miranda signed a worldwide deal with Selected/Sony Music Germany & Ultra Music US for her single “Instant Gratification” released on December 15th, while simultaneously co-writing and featuring on RYNX’s single “Want You”, which has amassed over 10 million streams across platforms.
2018 was off to a great start, as Miranda collaborated with established European Artist & DJ Tujamo on the single “Body Language (feat. Miranda Glory & Haris)” released on Spinnin’ Records in March, which can be heard all over clubs worldwide. Next came a collaboration with one of the world’s top DJ’s, R3HAB, & Noah Neiman for the single “We Do (feat. Miranda Glory)” which debuted on 25 of Spotify’s New Music Fridays worldwide, released in April. Most recently, Miranda released her single "Stain" with Colin Chase & Gill Chang on KnightVision Records.
Miranda continues to write & record in the studio and is currently gearing up to release her next single “Hypochondriac” July 20th, as well as an EP set to release later this year.
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The BellRays are an American group originally from Riverside, California starting in 1990. The group currently consists of mainstay lead vocalist Lisa Kekaula, guitarist Bob Vennum. Newest members include bass player Justin Andres and drummer Stefan Litrownik. The band have the mixture of sound in their music, from garage rock to punk rock, mixed with soul vocal style. Really wide ranged, it’s like a bottle of boba shake, you can not only receive the sweetness of the fruit juice also fill up your stomach with chewy boba balls. They have huge following in Europe and America.
The band describe themselves as: "High Octane Rock and Roll! Biography schmiography! Who cares about where they came from or what they did before or how many records they put out. Stats are not what music or this band is about. If you have an open mind and want something challenging in your life then this is where you want to stop and listen. Just take it in and make up your own mind. You want somebody to tell you what it is go to Kelly Clarkson's website instead. You tell us what we're about and then tell your friends whether you like it or not.” Really artistic but aggressive at the same time.
The BellRays released their first cassette album In the Light of the Sun in 1993, the album was reissue 2002. Let it Blast in 1998, Punk Rock and Soul in 1999, Grand Fury in 2000, The Red, White and Black in 2004, Have A Little Faith in 2006, Hard Sweet and Sticky in 2008 and Black Lightning in 2010. The band released their 4 songs EP Punk Funk Rock Soul Vol,1 in Dec.2017. The band just released a new album Punk Funk Rock Soul Vo l2 on 02 Feb 2018, having vinyls available at the moment and they just got back from Europe tour, the music from the album will be available soon on digital platforms, so stay tuned!
The band had been with several different record companies: You and Media (US), Heart of Gold (ES), Vicious Circle (FR), Shock (AU) and Alternative Tentacles (US). The BellRays are currently releasing DIY style with Hunnypot representing all licensing.
The BellRays also have several achievements during their music career. "Zero PM" was featured in the video game Driv3r and "Revolution Get Down" in a commercial for the Nissan Xterra."Revolution Get Down" was also used as a fade-to-commercial song during the 2006 NCAA Tournament in the George -Florida semifinal on CBS Sports.
Here’s a live video from a fan of The BellRays covering "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin and "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" by The Ramones at Petit Bain in Paris in 2017. If you are a fan of Led Zeppelin and The Ramones, this is the one for you, it is like a whole different experience but still Rock’n’Roll!
-Scott Mik
Check out The BellRays new Punk Funk Rock Soul album in it’s entirety here