Lander

I liked Lander since the night I overheard Lord Steamroller playing You Don't Know. So much so that I asked the good Lord if I could be the one to review them. Perceptibly, I was granted my request.

As I listened to some of Lander's other songs, a slight feeling of familiarity began to get on my nerves. Not because I didn't like the music, but because I just couldn't put my finger on who they reminded me of. I'm sure most of you can relate to the feeling of having the name of some band, movie, actor, etc on the tip of your tongue but you just cannot, for the life of you, remember? Yeah, well, for fear of not being able to sleep, I decided to do some research.

I sifted through blog posts on Lander's Myspace page, I came across a review from Manchestermusic.co.uk, in which they likened this band to Muse. This scratched my itch, and with a giant "aha!" I was taken back to Muse's earlier days, the days of Showbiz and the song, Muscle Museum. A very good thing.

Lander, soon to be Pretty Victim, has a great sound. Poppy and edgy, tunes that get stuck in your head for days. I particularly like the song All We Got Is You, I found the background vocals by the keyboardist, Jess, quite pleasing to the ear. Which is odd, as I've never been a huge fan of female vocalists, with the exception of the likes of Kim Gordon and Cat Power.

So, huge compliments to this band. Go check 'em out now before you lose your chance to brag about having "listened to them before they were big" when their success snowballs.

- Courtney

Dead or alive? part 1

Well for the purpose of this post....dead. I often find myself at work day dreaming about some of my rock hero's, and how their tragic deaths changed both me and music. I try to put together rock super groups consisting of only dead rock stars. Sometimes at lunch time some of my co-workers and I will kick it around and come up with some pretty interesting band combinations. Now, I always play the realistic one in the group, and try to put a band together based on musicians that I think would work together, but i suppose there really isn't a wrong way to do it. So I am going to list my modern day dead rock star super group. Musical genre? I don't know. Band chemistry? Who knows, but what the hell, like I have said before, it's my blog and I make the rules up as I go along. So here it goes.

drums: Randy Castillo (ozzy, crue, and others)
bass: Jason Thirsk (pennywise)
guitar: Steve Clark (def leppard)
guitar & vocal: Bradly Nowell (sublime)
vocal: Shannon Hoon (blind melon)

yeah yeah, I know. What about kurt, what about layne.....well if you think you can do better, let me know.

december six, two thousand and six

Easy Roads,Easy Skies is due to arrive home in Vancouver on December 6th. We have our fingers crossed that there won't be any delays, and we will have copies for sale at the Earlstown Winter show on the 7th at The Main. If you haven't reserved your copy yet, do so now here, and we'll see you at the show.

Domain v.s. Myspace

Is it worth while for a band to have a website anymore? With all these networking sites like myspace, friendster, garageband, purevolume, blogger, youtube and so on, what's the need for a band to own their own domain name? These sites allow mp3 hosting, image hosting, video hosting, and many of them are fully customizable to suit every users needs. Why pay a designer thousands of dollars to design you a professional looking site when you can design your own myspace page for free in an hour or so with the help of a template. I have both. I have 2 websites and many myspace pages, and they all serve their purpose. I find it convenient for networking with other bands, musicians, or organizations on myspace, but I always want to direct them to my website for the "real" information. To me, myspace seems like a "club" and you have "network" a certain way to fit in. Or you can cheat and use these friend adders. I see bands on there that have over 30,000 friends and 2 plays a day. What's the point? It looks cool I guess, or makes you feel good as a band i guess. I would rather have 1000 + hits a day on my bands website, where they can see how professional we conduct ourselves, and they can find all the information, videos, images, mp3's easily and quickly. But how do I get traffic to my site? Myspace and blogger and garageband will bring me traffic without having to do anything. It's not hard, but it is time consuming. Not being an expert on the subject, I only know what my web optimizer tells me, and take her advice. I spend on average probably about 10-15 hours a week working on my websites, and am just starting to generate some traffic. With myspace, all I have to do is add 100 random users and I will get at least 50 of them looking at my profile. It depends on how seriously you take your band. I would always recommend that a band purchase their domain name and have a pro website designed. Everyone and their dog has a myspace page and/or a profile elsewhere. I believe that in this industry you have to stand out, and a pro looking website is a must. This is an expensive, competitive racket we're in, but if you're creative and innovative, you can find lots of ways to save money, and maintain quality and professionalism.

Worn Records - Indie Bands
Support Independent Music

Sisterlovers

Something weird happened when I heard this band, I actually liked them. I'm not usually keen on acid pop rock but they have potential and you can actually put their album on if you're in the right mind frame. They've got a sound that might bring you out of a mood... or put you in one. They are still a little weak on rock and are more heavy on the pop; They need to plug in the guitar and turn it up a bit if they want to keep my attention for a long period of time and I think that would go for the masses. An identity crisis might be in the mix here though. Theres a hint of early Stones with a mix of flower power kabosh mixed in. Woodstock's over and there's a limited audience for this sound.

Their band name might just say it all about this quartet or it may turn into a clever name if they can break free of thier love affair with the 60's. They have the potential to be more than a recycled fad from an age far, far away. Having said all that, I liked them. Their music is theirs and it ain't bad. I think they might enjoy what they write and you can hear it in the music. If they can put all that into an album and make it work, then it may be something to check out. If not then a hanging ceiling decoration they'll be at best.

Bildo