Melissa Cox's Harmonious Maladies 2012 Tour

Melissa's going on tour! Make sure you catch one of her nine stops in MD, DC, VA, and NC!

**FRI 8/31 WILMINGTON, NC- UNITY CHURCH OF WILMINGTON
SAT 9/1 FREDERICKSBURG, VA- COLONIAL TAVERN
SUN 9/2 ANNAPOLIS, MD- FIRST SUNDAY ARTS FEST
MON 9/3 KITTY HAWK, NC- OBX TRIO WINE BEER CHEESE
THU 9/6 NORFOLK, VA- BORJO COFFEEHOUSE
FRI 9/7 NEWPORT NEWS, VA- UU FELLOWSHIP OF THE PENINSULA
Sat 9/8 APPOMATTOX, VA- PRIVATE EVENT (RSVP TO INFO@MELISSACOXMUSIC.NET)
SUN 9/9 BLACKSTONE, VA- ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL
SUN 9/9 ALEXANDRIA, VA- MT VERNON UNITARIAN CHURCH**

GET A FREE MP3: www.MelissaCoxMusic.net
Watch Melissa's hilarious video "To Carrie Fisher, with love": http://www.youtube.com/mythicamusic

The Mock Suns Cabin Essence

Give your ears a gander at this Mock Suns cover of The Beach Boys' Cabin Essence, and read Cover Me's review here. If there's any group that could put a modern creative twist on this song it's these guys. Check out the bands latest album, Here Nor There, for more Good Vibrations (get it?).  



Links:
Cover Me review
http://www.mocksuns.com
http://mocksuns.bandcamp.com
http://open.spotify.com/album/6rhbpe9Dv62aINiJLO65Ov
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/mock-suns/id510412754
http://soundcloud.com/mock-suns/sets/here-nor-the
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007K7JEOO/ref=dm_sp_alb



Alexis Canary
Alexis@wearemonsterent.com
www.WeAreMonsterEnt.com

RADIATE: Philly Raw Artists

If you didn’t make it out to the Philly Raw Artists' show last week you missed some cats in stunna shades, 99 bananas, and a bunch of great performances! Alright not actual cats walking down the runway rockin' their sunglasses at night..that would have been awesome, i love cats. But one of the artists’ exhibit (Claudia K) was portraits of her cats and her parents cats, as well as other animal finds on instagram, all glammed out and looking pretty fly for the animal kingdom. The show was all about celebrating local artists with raw talent in so many different mediums—painting, photography, fashion, and of course, music. Other artists’ included an exhibit of 99 bananas made into anything from candy to the presidential seal (Sean Brown), a photographer's successful attempt to bring life to decaying buildings—the Eastern State Penitentary photos were eerily beautiful (Daniel J. Decker), and an awesome display of hand-made bad ass jewelry from Bullet Babe.

The real energy of the night came from the fashion/music performance combos. They would have the bands perform with fashion shows in between, clothes and music..what's better than that?

All the designers served up their urban, trendy, and fierce styles. The unique styles served up shirts with powerful messages about peace, fierce accessories, and sophisticated designs. Then, my favorite part, the music. The sounds of all the bands were totally different. The first band, Market East, definitely caught my eye with their simple set up and easy indie sound. They're definitely worth checking out. Then we got a little bit of hard rock, some glam, and an interesting fusion of what I can only describe as Prince mixed with Childish. But, my favorite set of the night came from our friends Case Closed.

They definitely had the most energetic crowd response of the night and they put on a sweet performance. They performed some of their new and old songs at the show and left everyone wanting a little more. Seriously though, go check out their new Basements EP it's really good stuff. Everyone here at Monster has that on repeat, go get it! And next time there's a RAW setup in Philly go check it out! You'll get a night full of creativity and great people.

Check out some more pics:
https://www.facebook.com/PhillyRAWartitsts

Grab Case Closed's EP:
http://caseclosed.bandcamp.com/


Lauren Resnick
Monster Entertainment LLC
lauren@wearemonsterent.com
www.wearemonsterent.com

Working on my Bane Voice

How to Talk Like Bane from Benjamin Santiago on Vimeo.

W T F

A gas mask-wearing gunman opened fire early Friday at a suburban Denver movie theater in Aurora, Colo. screening Batman; At least 12 dead, dozens more wounded... wtf?

"Welcome to the Show" Album Review

I hope you all have had the time to check out Black Wing Halo since last week’s interview! If not, I thought I’d bring you a review of their new album “Welcome to the Show” that we talked about. I’m not going to lie, I don’t normally seek out this style of music so this post definitely opened my realm of music appreciation. The album is certainly unlike anything I’ve ever heard. They weren’t lying when they said that they “threw a bunch of stuff into the Vitamix.” Every song’s sound is so distinct from the next, leaving no style untouched.

The show only lasts 8 songs but it’s definitely packed full with entertainment from the different genres they play with throughout the album. The title track introduces you with harsh distorted rhythms that have sort of a southern rock feel in them paired with a more relaxed melodic chorus line. Then when you listen to “Above my Head” you get their unique hard rock style mixed with some electronic and experimental somewhat haunting touches. You can tell that they really utilized the time they gave this album to mature. From not rushing the writing and production process of the album they got to take their expansive musical styles to a whole different level.

The different song styles are disconnected in a good way in my opinion. The distinct differences make up an album that does a great job at showcasing their self-made hybrid genre. Like I said, it’s not my usual pick for music to check out but I’m definitely appreciative to having been exposed to such a unique style of music. It’s definitely an album worth checking out if you’re interested in hearing something raw and really unique. If you like pure punk, hard rock, southern blues, or experimental electro, you’re guaranteed to find something entertaining in all the elements they throw at you. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Listen or Download:
http://blackwinghalo.bandcamp.com/


Lauren Resnick
Monster Entertainment LLC
lauren@wearemonsterent.com
www.wearemonsterent.com

Edelweiss Tour & Interview

If you’re looking to hear one of the youngest bands around with a killer indie rock sound, check out this Pennsylvania quintet. Edelweiss independently released their new EP, the Pre-Columbians, last fall, and have some fresh new tracks on the way. Give this band a listen and you’ll see why they’re quickly gaining attention.

Check out our recent interview, and don’t miss them on tour this summer!

Tell us about your upcoming tour, starting on July 5?

Niko: Well it's going to be a basic East Coast tour. We’ll be hitting up New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and then we'll be heading out to Chicago as well for two days.  Overall it's about 10 days or so.

Is this your first time hittin’ the road?

Niko: Yeah, this is the first time any of us have done anything like this so it'll be a good first experience and something to have under our belts.

Donald: Hopefully it'll show others that we're ready for more

Definitely. You’ve gotten some pretty awesome attention lately with Absolute Punk streaming your newest demo, and your 15 wins on Gashouse Radio- What can you most attribute all this success to?

Niko: I think the majority of the success can be contributed to our fans and family. If it weren't for all of the support we would not be where we are today even remotely

So you’re playing July 7 at the Fire with Case Closed. Have you performed at that venue before?

Donald: Well we've only played in Philly one other time and that was at The Fire. It’s a cool place just because it's such an intimate setting and it allows for some great energy.

Is there a certain disadvantage or challenge in being a younger band, age-wise? Or do you think it’s an advantage?

Donald: It's a problem not being able to play certain venues. At the same time it's sort of good problem to have because it gives us the opportunity to experiment and really hone our sound.

You guys have a pretty unique name, can you give us some insight on it?

Donald:  We came up with the name randomly on a car ride. There was no real rhyme or reason behind it other than it had a nice ring to it. We originally spelled it "Eidleweis" for some reason, but we eventually went to the legit German spelling.

Niko: We were once called "anal-vice" right before we went on stage. It has its drawbacks

Haha I can imagine. Have you thought about where you'd like to see yourselves in a few years?

Donald:  We all have the same desire to do what we love and make a comfortable living out of it. I think every musician wants that, but we are very sincere about our music, especially as of recently. Personally, I would never trade average, half-ass music for millions of dollars. I just want to make music I love and make a living out of it.

Niko: I also saw Office Space the other night for the first time, and it really invigorated that philosophy.

Definitely an inspiring movie! Is there anything else you want to mention?

Niko: I’d say the only other thing is just about the new music we're releasing soon. It has taken a while to create these new tracks but like it was said before, we put a lot of time and scrutiny into our work. The new songs really excite us and we hope that everybody who liked the first 5 songs will like these next few.

When can your fans expect the new music?

Donald: One of the songs is currently playing on absolutepunk.net, and the others will be released over the next few weeks.

Links:

http://edelweissofficial.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/EdelweissOfficial

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=2786972

http://twitter.com/#!/Edelweisspa

http://edelweissofficial.bigcartel.com/

Alexis Canary

alexiscanary@wearemonsterent.com

Black Wing Halo

What's up Philly! It's been quite a while since I posted but I was waiting to bring you an awesome interview with our friends from New York, Black Wing Halo. Fresh off an album release of "Welcome to the Show and currently killing shows up and down the North East, Black Wing Halo was nice enough to take some time out of their busy schedule to answer a few questions about the new album, their time on the road, and their future plans (they're wild!). Make sure you check out their new album and catch them on tour!

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions guys! I guess we should start with the name, how’d that come about?
It's from a Tom Waits lyric in "Potter's Field". We're big Waits fans. Until recently, we were known as "decibel." until DJs started emailing us asking how to play our techno festival.

So you just released your new album at the end of May, congrats! If you were to describe the sound to a new fan that hasn’t gotten ahold of it yet, what would you say?
Thanks! We're stoked about it. It sounds like Mike Patton and Tom Waits in a fist fight.

How was the recording and writing process like for “Welcome to the Show”?
A lot of the songs were written a while ago, they just needed to mature. Some had even been recorded in a couple of different stages of life. But they had all taken shape once we headed to Harrisburg to record.

How was working in the studio with Jason Rubal?
It was pretty awesome. Jason so blatantly loves what he is doing, and he does a great job of getting the most out of a song. He's no joke.

The band’s sound is definitely unique and blends a lot of different styles/instrumentation, how did you guys bring everything together?
We throw a bunch of stuff into the Vitamix. Seriously, feels like that. We'll write a riff ripping off Melvins, a chorus ripping off Clutch, and throw in a bridge ripping off Portishead.

What artists or bands have influenced you guys as you’ve grown?
Patton; in every incarnation, Waits, Nina Simone, Public Enemy, Jeff Buckley, Dead Kennedys, METZ, Fugazi, Shudder to Think, Subpar Brakers, Against Me, Cloud Nothings, Foo Fighters, Eminem, and of course, Super Bob.

You’ve been hitting the road hard for the new album! You just played NXNE, how was that?
Toronto was amazing, and there was such an amazing array of music to see, it would be hard not to get influenced and motivated there.

How do live performances go with all the different instruments and styles you have in your sound?
Pretty easily. The loops are sometimes tough to stay on top of once all the sounds are added to the pot, but mostly our live show is under control. Mostly.

Did you manage to catch any other awesome performances there that stood out to you?
At NXNE? Yeah! METZ, Flaming Lips, The Bright Light Social Hour, Neon Windbreaker, A Place to Bury Strangers, Death Set, Oberhofer.

Are there any new artists that you’ve recently come across that you really admire what they’re doing?
METZ are pretty killer. We're stealing their light set up. And being in New York, we're privileged to catch new stuff every day. Pretty awesome to just go to any club and catch 4-5 bands that you've never heard of before. And we can learn from everybody and anybody. With so many bands, everyone has something new to teach us.

Where’s your favorite place to perform at?
Arlene's Grocery and Mercury Lounge in New York. Grog Shop in Cleveland. The Lost in Syracuse.

Do you guys have a favorite venue to play when you’re in Philly?
We do now! Connie's Ric Rac were so great to us! Let us stick around for Jameson and BIg Buckhunter. Also like Northstar and Kung Fu Necktie.

Any other plans in store for Black Wing Halo in 2012?
Yes! Keep doing little run outs for the weekend, that will eventually turn into week long mini tours, and then two week tours. We've also got some plans for home with a show at Mercury on 7/17 and some festivals coming up. And a split 7" with some friends. And a show with strippers. That's coming up too.


Grab a copy of their album and give them a listen then hop on a train and catch their next show on July 17th at the Mercury Lounge in New York, NY!

Check them out:
http://www.reverbnation.com/blackwinghalo
http://blackwinghalo.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/blackwinghalomusic
https://twitter.com/#!/blackwinghalo


Lauren Resnick
Monster Entertainment LLC
lauren@wearemonsterent.com
www.wearemonsterent.com