If Wes Craven was a genre of music, it would be New Years Day. For the most part, Ash Costello and gang have depended on a recipe of heartbreak mixed in with edgy guitars and a punk rock attitude. On their fourth release Unbreakable (Another Century) they break free from their comfort zone with a more confident, electro-fused, uplifting follow-up.Continue reading
Reading and Leeds annual rock and pop music festivals have announced their shared bill for 2019! Headlined by Foo Fighters, Post Malone, Twenty One Pilots, Bowling For Soup, PVRIS and more, tickets go on sale this Friday, 23rd November at 9 AM local time at the links below. Continue reading
When Slam Dunk formed in 2006 it had a bill of 7 bands at a sole location in Leeds with a small capacity of a few thousand, skip to 12 years on and oh my has it grown! Whether you’re reliving your mid-2000’s singing along to the likes of Taking Back Sunday or throwing yourself into the heart of California in the 90’s with the likes of Reel Big Fish, this festival has really developed into a three-location monster of a day out. What better way to start off the day than with getting your rear end torn open by Brutality Will Prevail on the ever hardcore Impericon Stage.Continue reading
Over three consecutive dates in May the 2018 Slam Dunk Festival will bring the best in punk bands and killer concert experiences to the UK. The festival will bring the same core of bands to three separate locations this spring as bands like Good Charlotte, Jimmy Eat World, State Champs, PVRIS, The Devil Wears Prada, Astroid Boys, Brutality Will Prevail, Loathe, Every Time I Die, Northlane, Comeback Kid, Crown The Empire, Counterparts and many more for the bill. In addition, The Breakout Stage features the best in up and coming talent such as Palaye Royale, Sleep On It, Stand Atlantic, Milestones, Chapel, Dream State, The FAIM, Grayscale and Holding Absence. There is also the Acoustic stage featuring Four Year Strong and The Fireball Stage and more! The 2018 fest takes place across Leeds, Hatfield and Birmingham and tickets are on sale at the links below. Continue reading
PVRIS
07-22-2017
At Jones Beach Theater, Port Jefferson, NY
All Photos By Julia Sariy PhotographyContinue reading
This past year was a huge one for music with so many bands releasing new material it was hard to keep up, even for us here at Ghost Cult. So many legacy bands, modern classic acts, and up and comers dropped new music this year, some may wish they had waited until 2017 to drop it like it’s hot. Without further ado, here are our picks for the new tunes you need in your life in 2017. Continue reading
Electro pop punk sensations PVRIS has released a new clip for their single ‘Eyelds’. The track comes off of their album White Noise (Rise) which came out in 2014. You can watch the video at this link or below:
The band is about to embark on an tour opening for Fall Out Boy, and AWOLNATION, as well as headline tours sof the UK and the rest of Europe. The band is expected to begin working on the follow-up to White Noise later this year.
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For a brand new band on the music scene like Bad Seed Rising, they are getting a crash course on the music business and how things work. Despite their young ages (14 to 18 years of age), one area they have been building up experience is in the live arena, where they have landed shows and tours along the way.
Frontwoman Francheska Pastor shared her experiences so far:
“I think we’ve done five solid tours now. We went out on a bunch of the Halestorm and Daughtry dates, and then we did a school tour where we went to a bunch of high schools to play there. Most of these are up and down the East Coast. The next one that we did was at this Camplify Tour at this camp. Then we went on tour with Saliva and Pop Evil. Then most recently we were on tour with RED and Adelita’s Way, and we won over the hearts of Adelita’s Way so they brought us on tour with them just a few weeks ago. Adelita’s Way are the greatest dudes ever. They’re awesome to chill with and they’re awesome.”
Pastor talked about how one of their tour runs came from a band discovered them off of their song on the Spy movie. Apparently Bad Seed Rising is drawing attention in multiple ways and the movie has become one of the newest ways they have attracted new fans.
Photo Credit: Caithlyn Willard (via Facebook)
“We have a show with Issues and Pvris. Pvris is like up and coming and they’re crazy good. We got onto that bill. They’re doing a hometown show in Atlanta, GA and we’re excited to play that. Tyler Carter found out about us through the movie called Spy. He saw the end credits of the movie and found out who we were and he added us to all of his social media and was like ‘oh my god…I love you guys!’ “
“He eventually Facetimed me at 4 am in the morning and convinced me to have the band drive to the East Coast Music Conference Awards and he didn’t have to do a lot of convincing. He just had to tell me if it was possible or not to have the band drive to go there. It was also along the way on our tour with Adelita’s Way. It was awesome. All of the people that I listen to and we listen to in one setting and it’s very overwhelming. There’s so many idols in one area.”
Photo Credit: Caitlin Willard (via Facebook)
One event Pastor and her band have set their eyes on is the annual Vans Warped Tour, which is an event many touring artists have received their starts over the years. Despite some of the negative press indirectly received over the past year, she was hoping Bad Seed Rising could take part in 2016.
“Oh definitely. It’s been a dream of ours to play Warped Tour. We’re terrified because Kevin Lyman…we saw the statement how he wants to an age limit on the people who are playing on the tour. I don’t think it’s going to happen but I just pray to god it’s not going to.”
She had also shared her thoughts on the briefly debated (but since squashed) issue about an age limit on the participants on the Warped Tour. Being the members being under 21, she shared her thoughts on the matter.
“I think if he were to do that, he’s eliminating the wrong people. Honestly they’re so innocent. We wouldn’t cause trouble like all of these older bands have caused in the past. Warped Tour (2015) was just a complete drama fest and it’s funny because it’s not even the younger people that are initiating these problems.”
Within the lineup of each year’s Vans Warped Tour, there is often a hidden gem amongst the crowd of names who perform amongst their multiple stages. On the Full Sail University Acoustic Basement tent each day, Canadian artist Braden Barrie’s one man act SayWeCanFly is getting heard each day in front of curious fans. He is enjoying his time playing for new fans and has had this moment as a goal of his since his teenage years.
“Literally Warped Tour’s been my dream for a long time. Since I’ve been doing this more and more, I try to think past that and set higher goals, but it’s cool that I’m finally meeting a goal I’ve had forever. I’m so excited just to be there and be in that world,” he says, thinking about the opportunity on the tour.
Much of this year has been a growing process for Barrie, as he spent time touring with Metro Station across North America, promoting his album Between The Roses, as well as reaching fans on his various social media pages through a variety of YouTube videos and fans discovering his recordings on Bandcamp. This was all done by himself and without the assistance of a record label or distribution companies.
He talked about some of his favorite artists who helped shape his sound. “My first album I ever bought was by Relient K, which is kind of a Christian band. I grew up listening to a lot of Christian music, kind of like rock stuff. I think the first album that caused me to start writing was Awake by Second Hand Serenade, which was the first acoustic artist I got into.”
“After I found him I started listening to a lot of indie acoustic artists that literally play with their acoustic and sing. So that was just seeing that other people had done it and was possible to have a good song with just your voice and a guitar.”
“For some reason acoustic guitar has been my favorite sound. I feel so free when I play it. Just seeing other people do it inspired me to start writing it and realized it was possible.”
Actually this is his second time on the Warped Tour, following his brief stint appearing on one date in Toronto, ON on a prior year. “I’ve had a small, small taste. The first year I did the Acoustic Basement Tent and the second year I did the Ernie Ball Stage, which was a little bigger. It will be cool doing the tent the whole entire summer.”
So what was it that attracted him towards doing the Warped Tour? ”It was amazing because a lot of my fans end up going. A lot of times they can’t go to my shows on school nights but I know they always go to Warped Tour. I get to meet most of them.”
“I got to see most of the excitement. When the doors open, it’s a stampede of kids. It’s crazy how much passion is in the air. It’s really, really cool.”
Unlike many of his fellow tour mates, Barrie originates from a small town in the Ontario province in Canada. He talked about where he is from and how that affected his work ethics towards getting his music heard.
“I grew up in a place called Lindsay, Ontario. I didn’t realize how out in the middle of nowhere it was until I drove there from Pennsylvania. It was a 13 hour car drive and seeing how much distance it actually takes to get there. I think there’s like 25,000 people there. It’s actually really a nice little town. They have everything that you need. It always looks really nice. At first it was really hard to think past it and realize there’s more to the world. That was what drove me. I just wanted to get out of here. Everyone around me has this small town mindset and they’re going to stay there their whole lives. That didn’t feel ok to me.”
“I’m thankful to have grown up in such a small place. Everything I’ve experienced outside of that is amazing.”
Unlike many acoustic acts that perform on the live circuit, Barrie has mostly performed solo and without a backing band. He has devised a strategy on how to craft his music without the assistance of a backing band and has won over fans on each stop of a tour.
“I’ve jammed with my friends for fun, but Saywecanfly has always been me. When I record albums, I’ll have people come in and play. I had a guy come in and play cello and electric guitars. The live shows have always been me.”
The idea of a backing band has crossed his mind at times, as this scenario has been presented before. But he has reiterated that it may be a possibility at a later time, once he feels ready to do so.
“I’ve thought about the whole band thing but I want to get as good as I can on my own before I do that and before I take that step. I have a long way to go with that still. I feel like I want to get as amazing at playing solo so I feel super comfortable. It’s a process. I used to be super shy. I had a hard time playing for ten people. Every show I learn to be a little more comfortable, so I want to get way better at that.”
While his sound leans upon the singer-songwriter side, being around the Warped Tour has attracted him to some heavier sounds as well. But finding him in the mosh pit may not happen right away. “I love hardcore music. Underoath is my favorite band. No I wasn’t scared of mosh pits. I tried it once and got injured so bad. So I always stuck to the acoustic side. “
“When I started playing guitar, I started on electric guitar and I learned a lot of blues. I was listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King and stuff like that. So that was before I started singing. So I had those roots too.”
Lastly, he shared some of the artists on the Warped Tour he is excited to see while on the tour. “Definitely Pierce The Veil. I love Pierce The Veil. I love them because they incorporate so many different instruments in their songs. Their songs are so complex. This band called This Wild Life – these two dudes who play acoustic music. I’ve been listening to them a lot lately. A band called Pvris. They just put out an album. They’re kind of like Paramore and Lights. The girl who sings for them is super talented. Never Shout Never is one of my influences way back in the day. It will be cool to hang with him too. I’m excited to hang with everyone. I don’t listen to a whole lot of music, which is weird, so I don’t know a whole lot of the bands playing. But it will be cool to discover a lot of the bands playing and make friends.”
2015 has been a relatively productive year for UK alternative rockers Mallory Knox, after spending the first half of the year venturing into new territories after making noise within their home country since their inception in 2009.
At the time of this interview, the band just completed the first date of the Vans Warped Tour across North America, and over a 55 day span, they will be on one of the longest treks under a variety of climates across the country.
Frontman Mikey Chapman shared his thoughts on touring across the United States. “It’s interesting because obviously America is the most looked upon country in the world. You get your own ideas about what America will be like and predispositions about how things are here. The most exciting thing for me is destroying those ideas. I thoroughly love the people of America. They’re some of the sweetest, most inquisitive lovely people we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. It’s fantastic. We love it here.”
They also just released their latest album Asymmetry, their second album over and first for the North American audience.
“We actually dropped it a few days ago,” explains Chapman. “We released it in the UK a little while ago. We’re really excited to get out over here. There’s some great fans already in the US and we want to expand on that. It’s something we can keep working on and eventually come over and do our own headline tour. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get music out here. I think the American people will like it. I really do. It’s just getting them to hear it. That’s the trick.”
Prior to this run, they kept busy with touring across the pond, as well as making their debut on US soil. “Before South By Southwest, we did the world tour with Pierce the Veil and Sleeping With Sirens. Then we came back for a few days for South By Southwest. That was our last time over year so it’s nice to be back,” he explained. “We went home for a little while. It got to the point where I went a bit stir crazy at home because we did so much at the start of the year and kind of getting back to normality in our quiet little village in the middle of nowhere. It was a bit of culture shock.”
Mallory Knox. Photo Credit: Sammy Roenfeldt (via MK Facebook page)
Much like many bands on their maiden Warped Tour voyage, word has spread about the experiences being tough, especially due to long travel days and working under extreme heat on many of the tour’s stops. Plus being from the UK, they learned quickly how to adapt and were up for the challenges.
Bassist Sam Douglas had a quite interesting perspective, especially being this was the first date of the Vans Warped Tour. “It’s been stressful for us so far. We can talk about the heat and us being pale British men. It’s going to be a shock and very warm. We’ve had a few things happen with our merchandise and first day problems, but I’m sure we’ll get to the swing of things pretty soon. It’s unique and it’s something I’ve always wanted to…even when I was 15 the dream was always Warped. To be here, it’s a weird thing. You wake up and you don’t know what time you’re going to play. So that’s a completely unique experience. It keeps you on your feet and makes you not want to drink so much at night. You never know what time you’re going to play.”
They explain the differences between tackling the challenges of performing on UK fests such as Download Festival or Reading and Leeds, versus the Vans Warped Tour. Not that either is an easy task but each one comes with its own set that is approached a bit differently.
“I think the fact that it’s a touring festival is something we don’t have. We don’t have a big enough country to do something like that on that scale. The fact that there’s 800 people on this tour and that itself is an insane amount of people to be traveling across the country together,” said Douglas.
“The fact that there’s so many stages and…70 bands is it? It’s crazy! To tour something like that for 50 days is…it’s an iconic festival. In the UK, I don’t think we could do it because there’s not enough places to go. That’s probably the difference.”
Chapman added, “The crowds are bigger. They are back home too. You’re looking at 16,000 people here, as back home you’re looking at 100,000 people at Reading and Leeds or at Download. In terms of scale, it’s slated but the ethos still rings true. It’s about having a good time.”
While being on this tour, the two of them have their lists of bands they would love to catch. Each one had their respective wish lists of who they will be seeing and spending their time bonding with. “I’ve been a huge fan of Transit for a few years. I’ve never been able to see them live,” said Douglas. “At some point I’d like to go check them out. I’d like to check out our friends in Moose Blood, who we took out in the UK a few months back. It was their first time ever out there and their record’s done pretty well.”
“Pvris obviously and Pierce the Veil – two bands we’ve toured with recently. We’re really close with those guys. It will be nice to spend a whole lot more time with them and see how much they’ve come along the past few months. It’s such a great opportunity to hang out with so many bands. We’re looking forward to just as much making new friends as seeing old ones,” added Chapman.
Chapman shared his secrets on being British and enjoying the sun. “The vast majority of British people have resigned to not getting tans. We appreciate it. It’s great for other people but maybe not so much for us. I think us particularly we’re not ones for tanning. I don’t know…I might go a little bit for darker…” “I’m definitely not geared up [for it]. I’m one shade away from see through.”