Brand New have announced a European tour in spring 2014 and may continue playing discography sets at these shows, though they haven’t made an official decision yet. Check out the dates and a statement from the band below.

April 11, 2014 – Southampton, UK – O2 Guildhall
April 12, 2014 – London, UK – Troxy
April 14, 2014 – Leeds, UK – O2 Academy
April 15, 2014 – Glasgow, Scotland – Barrowland
April 16, 2014 – Newcastle, UK – O2 Academy
April 18, 2014 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Academy
April 22, 2014 – Zwolle, Netherlands – Hedon
April 27, 2014 – Milan, Italy – Live Forum
May 3, 2014 – Meerhout, Belgium – Groezrock

Tickets links for all shows will be rolled out over the coming weeks, and we will also be announcing opening acts and more specific dates in the near future.

In regards to the two album set lists we’ve played recently, we haven’t decided or committed to playing these sets in Europe, or for any other future tour, but it’s not impossible that it will happen. We’re not being cryptic, just letting you know in case you were wondering.

If you are one of the 3 people in France that still listen to us, we’re sorry, but the rest of your country didn’t want us there. Next time. We swear! Also, If you live in Ireland, we aren’t ignoring you, we just have something different planned for your little island in the near, or extremely distant future.

Lastly, we will be traveling in a Time and Relative Dimension in Space shaped tour bus for the first 8 shows to really get into the feel of things. Should be easy to spot. Talk soon.

2013 was the year of innovative album release campaigns, with artists such as Kanye West, Daft Punk, Jay Z, and Arcade Fire all undertaking unusual release campaigns that defied fans’ expectations, and creating records that made a cultural impact this year. In an industry often chastized for sticking to tried and true methods – such as the traditional major label release campaign, which is preceded by months of promotion intended to culminate with strong first week sales on a release date which is itself carefully curated to hit at a time when executives anticipate maximal sales – Beyoncé has stunned everyone with the sudden release of her new album. With the fourth quarter being the strongest time for superstar releases, due to the commercial opportunities provided by Thanksgiving and Christmas, traditional industry wisdom would have called for a late summer lead-single rollout and an extended radio campaign, complete with high profile TV appearances and brand partnership events and culminating in a pre-Thanksgiving release date, as done by Lady Gaga this year and Taylor Swift and Rihanna last year. In fact, the only superstar post-Thanksgiving release of this year, Britney Spears’ Britney Jean, posted a pathetic first-week sales sum of 107k, her worst opening week despite a traditional album release campaign manned by RCA Records with two supporting singles.

It is quite incredible, therefore, that Beyoncé, supported by industry powerhouse Columbia Records, has released her self-titled album Beyoncé (which I will refer to as The Visual Album from here to avoid confusion) without any prior warning and has broken records in doing so. No high-profile announcement months before, no first single, no radio activity, no TV appearances (albeit in the midst of the second US leg of The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour), and released exclusively via iTunes on a Thursday night – not on a Tuesday as most albums are, and thus more than halfway through the Nielsen Soundscan sales tracking week – with no physical product available in store and without a multitude of brand partners (remember Taylor Swift’s Papa John’s promotion?). The results are incredible and the numbers speak for themselves: 617k in US album sales in just three days, and 828k worldwide. That’s 191 units sold a minute, and has earned Beyoncé a fabulous trio of accolades: the fastest selling album on iTunes, the largest ever iTunes sales in a single week (in just three days), and the gratifying bragging rights to having broken iTunes, as Apple’s services were heavily strained and suffered technical difficulties in the hours following the album release. That’s when you know you’re really in the business of selling records – when you break iTunes. Expect Jay Z to brag about his wifey doing that on his next record.

Incredibly, The Visual Album has sold double the first week sales of Beyoncé’s last effort, 2011′s 4, which came accompanied with a reasonably safe, traditional release campaign and an admittedly underplayed lead single and sold 310k in its first week. Equally incredibly, her previous record – 2009′s I Am…Sasha Fierce, which was preceded by two multi-platinum monster singles “All The Single Ladies” and “If I Were A Boy” – only sold 482k in its first week. In fact, The Visual Album has outsold each of Beyoncé’s previous first-weeks, all of which had traditional release campaigns. And she has done it in today’s market, where recorded music sales are at an all-time low with digital album sales expected to see a 7-9% decrease on last year’s figure, and where comparable female superstars like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears are struggling. The more you analyze Beyonce’s numbers for just 72 hours, the more incredible the numbers become…but how can they be possible?

Art Over Industry

“I miss that immersive experience. Now, people only listen to a few seconds of a song on their iPods. They don’t really invest in a whole album. It’s all about the single and the hype. There’s so much that gets between the artist and the music and the fans.” – Beyoncé

Looking back at the past decade in popular music, it is easy to criticize the industry for underestimating the intelligence and tastes of its fans, viewing them as sheep who will flock towards a formula which is lifelessly recreated over and over again. The top of the charts have generally been a story of different artists/branding, same song/story, and often the same producer. With The Visual Album, a self-described “body of work,” Beyoncé has enabled her art to speak entirely for itself and has in turn created a direct-to-fan experience that is simple, unique, and ingenious. As Queen B herself describes, “Everyone thought I was crazy,” and I can imagine initial moments of horror and hesitation in the Columbia Records boardroom when Beyoncé and her team shared their vision and pitched a release strategy that had never been done before and that goes against every piece of accepted wisdom the music industry abides by in 2013.

The vision was perfect, and where most of today’s superstars would fail, there is perhaps no artist better positioned to successfully release an album in this way than Beyoncé. Her stature as both one of the best-loved artists and biggest cultural brands in the world, combined with her enormous social media reach (she was mentioned 1.2m times in 12 hours on Twitter), meant that Beyoncé sent an album around the world in seconds, creating a magical blizzard of hype – or to use Beyoncé’s own words in a different context, an immersive experience – that made people buy at the point of inspiration, in the moment, rather than building a less-concentrated hype for months. The promotional video released to announce the album’s arrival instantly placed the focus on artistic vision, and her trusting fans voted with their pockets in what will surely become a staple case-study for word-of-mouth marketing. Ironically, the shocking release strategy also captivated the media more than a traditional campaign would have, and the music itself earned overwhelmingly positive reviews from both mainstream and music media.

The Importance of Distribution

Distribution undoubtedly played a pivotal role in The Visual Album’s strong sales, and once, again, it was untraditional. Not only was the album only available at one retailer – iTunes – but it was also bundled. Unbundling is a practice that Apple effectively invented with the iTunes store; it describes to the ability to buy a single song rather than an entire album. A Harvard Business School study in 2010 observed the effect of unbundling on music sales and found that unbundling music led to a 1% increase in music downloading but a 6% decrease in album sales. This is significant for the industry as historically, labels and artists were able to get away with only a couple of good songs on an album – the singles – and a lot of filler, and were able to charge as they pleased for the album as fans would be forced to buy the entire album for just a couple of songs. When Apple launched iTunes in 2003, they negotiated the ability to sell any individual song for $0.99. Of course, CD singles existed before then (remember those?), but if you wanted an “album track,” you had to buy the entire record. It was one of the biggest issues of contention in the licensing negotiations between Steve Jobs and the five (at the time) major labels. Jobs argued that piracy already unbundled the album and insisted on it, and after lengthy deliberations, finally persuaded the major labels to agree. It is a decision that set the precedent for digital download services and changed the entire industry. It created a culture where fans would no longer buy 15 songs to get 3 songs, and so fans would spend $3 rather than $15 to get the songs they wanted. This destroyed the “immersive experience” that Beyonce expresses nostalgia for.

How does The Visual Album differ from every other major release this year? It was not unbundled. There was no single, no focus track, no opportunity to just buy a couple of songs – it was all or nothing for fans. Where some may have purchased the singles, tracks with the highest popularity or guest spots alone, they have been forced to buy the entire album. This strategy would likely have backfired with most of today’s superstars as it would have deterred more casual fans who deemed $15.99 too pricey or failed to understand the intent behind the sort of “immersive experience” Beyoncé has created, but with The Visual Album it has been an overwhelming success. The album will be unbundled after the iTunes Store’s window of exclusivity expires on December 20th and Columbia will promote a single to radio, both moves intended to widen the appeal of the album as much as possible with Christmas sales and post-Christmas gift-card redemption sales looming.

Another factor that likely affected the incredible sales figure is the lack of a leak. It is accepted nowadays that all mainstream albums leak, typically between 3-7 days before release. With only a tiny circle of Sony record executives, Beyonce management, and iTunes employees even knowing about the project until the launch, a leak was highly unlikely. However, news of the album’s impending release eluding the media is nothing short of miraculous, particularly considering the scale of the project and the crew that would’ve been involved in the production of the 17 videos that accompanied the album. If one person had misspoken, the entire campaign would have been ruined, as it was dependant on the surprise element. Keeping the album under wraps until release meant that fans were able to purchase it instantly, avoiding the frustrating scenario of being faced with either missing out on a social zeitgeist or illegally downloading a record that is not yet available for purchase. It is worth noting that another iTunes exclusive and record-breaker, Jay Z’s 2011 collaboration album with Kanye West Watch The Throne, famously avoided a leak before selling 436k first week.

A controversial but possible third factor which aided The Visual Album’s album‘s sales is the album’s absence from streaming services such as Spotify and Rdio. There are few issues more divisive in the music industry than the shift from download services to streaming services that is slowly but surely occurring. Streaming services face frequent criticism for paying minuscule royalties, and many suspect that they cannibalize album sales. As a result, many high-profile artists such as The Beatles and AC/DC continue to hold out, refusing to license their music, while Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has attacked Spotify publicly and artists such as Taylor Swift and Coldplay have employed “windowing” tactics, where they resist streaming services for a certain period of time until the key sales period for their albums had passed. Seeing as Beyoncé’s album is currently exclusively available on iTunes, it is conceivable that many fans who would ordinarily stream an album have been enticed into buying the album, particularly due to the bonus video content. Streaming services would argue that their services are young and growing and provide invaluable exposure for artists, but Beyoncé’s position as a global superstar means that anyone who resides outside a cave or a prison cell would be aware of this release, particularly as many of current users of streaming services are considered early adopters, and thus are already dedicated music fans. It will be interesting to see whether The Visual Album is on streaming services come December 21st, the physical release date.

What Can The Music Industry Learn From Beyoncé?

With a certain industry critic quipping recently that the album format is dead and using slow initial sales of 286k for Katy Perry’s new album as an example (her previous album sold 192k in its first week but then went on to equal Michael Jackson’s record with five number one singles and has sold 2.8m copies to date…but making rash judgments is so much more fun than constructing a considered opinion), the success of The Visual Album goes to show that the album format is only as alive as the artistic creativity and expression that it possesses from front-to-back, and that that such creativity and talent is still rewarded in the music industry. Beyoncé is truly a role model, and has set a standard that all artists should aspire to if they wish to have any semblance of career longevity. In a year where so many artists have had incredible release campaigns, creatively speaking, Beyoncé has topped them all and created the most complete creative experience any mainstream artist has accomplished in the digital era. Financially speaking, and only looking at income from recorded music sales, husband Jay Z’s $5m deal with Samsung (which left many fans frustrated due to Samsung’s three-day exclusivity period and privacy concerns with the app) coupled with first week sales of 528k and an eventual platinum-certification may well prove to have been more lucrative, but Beyonce has done more for her brand with this release. With so many unusual album campaigns this year, it seems inevitable that we’ll see more artists experiment with non-traditional release strategies in 2014. Although extremely few artists possess the social reach and relevancy of Beyoncé, and an identical campaign would fail humiliatingly for most smaller artists, similarly innovative and honest ways of reaching people will continue to be rewarded in the future of the music industry.

Paradise Fears have announced an acoustic, “in the round” tour for this upcoming spring. The tour promises to be an intimate one, with the band playing in the center of the audience on risers in a “round” style. Every ticket is guaranteed a meet and greet after the show, and the band has plans for having audience interaction during the set. This will be a tour to check out at least for the experience! Tickets go on sale tonight at 9pm EST.

• February 4 // Old Rock House // St Louis, MO
• February 5 // Bottom Lounge // Chicago, IL
• February 6 // The Basement // Columbus, OH
• February 7 // Altar Bar // Pittsburgh, PA
• February 8 // Vernors Room @ The Crofoot // Pontiac, MI
• February 10 // Hard Luck Bar // Toronto, ON
• February 11 // The Waiting Room // Buffalo, NY
• February 13 // The Barbary // Philadelphia, PA
• February 14 // Cafe 939 at Berklee // Boston, MA
• February 15 // Marlin Room @ Webster Hall // New York City, NY
• February 16 // Jammin’ Java // Vienna, VA
• February 17 // Purgatory @ The Masquerade // Atlanta, GA
• February 18 // Wills Pub // Orlando, FL
• February 20 // House of Blues Bronze Peacock // Houston, TX
• February 21 // Elm Street Bar // Dallas, TX
• February 23 // Nile Underground // Mesa, AZ
• February 25 // Chain Reaction // Anaheim, CA
• February 26 // Assembly // Sacramento, CA
• February 27 // Kilby Court // Salt Lake City, UT
• February 28 // Marquis Theatre // Denver, CO
• March 7 // Encore // Sioux Falls, SD
• March 8 // The Garage // Burnsville, MN

The Downtown Fiction have released their new song “Some Place On Earth” and an accompanying music video. The song will be on the band’s upcoming 2014 album. Watch the video below!

For the first time in a decade, the classic lineup of The Ataris will reunite next year to perform their album, So Long, Astoria, in its entirety from start to finish. Support for the tour will come from Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World and Gasoline Heart. Tickets go on sale December 20th and you can see the routing below.

Tour Dates:

• Feb 28 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock (w/Versus The World)
• March 1 – Las Vegas, NV – Backstage Bar (w/Versus The World)
• March 2 – Fresno, CA – Strummer’s (w/Versus The World)
• March 3 – San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Brewing Company (w/Versus The World)
• March 5 – Los Angeles, CA – House of Blues (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 6 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 7 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 8 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 11 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 12 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox at the Market (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 13 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 14 – Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue (Club Sound) (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 15 – Denver, CO – The Summit Music Hall (w/Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 16 – Kansas City, MO – Riot Room (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 18 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Versus The World)
• March 20 – Minneapolis, MN – Mill City Nights (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 21 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 22 – Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 23 – Detroit, MI – The Shelter (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 24 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballroom (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 25 – Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 27 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 28 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 29 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)
• March 30 – New York, NY – The Gramercy Theatre (w/Authority Zero, Drag The River, Gasoline Heart)

Joie de Vivre and Prawn have announced plans to release a new split which will be co-released by Count Your Lucky Stars and Topshelf Records. It will be released on February 11th and feature 3 new songs from Joie de Vivre and 2 new songs from Prawn. Pre-orders will go up within the next few weeks. Prawn will also head out on a short tour with You Blew It! in February, dates for which can be seen below.
Prawn Tour Dates:

• 02/04/2014 – Annadale On Hudson, NY @ Bard College
• 02/05/2014 – Purchase, NY @ SUNY Purchase
• 02/06/2014 – New Britain, CT @ Pulaski Club Downstairs
• 02/07/2014 – Cambridge, MA @ Cambridge Elks Lodge
• 02/08/2014 – Brooklyn, NY @ Silent Barn
• 02/09/2014 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fire

Lydia just announced a spring 2014 tour, featuring the band playing their record Illuminate in full. The band posted the following on the band’s Facebook account:

We are very excited to announce that we will be performing our record, Illuminate, from start to finish this spring. We will be taking this tour across North America in 2014. More information and announcements will be made in January.

Thank you all for an amazing 2013! We can’t wait to see you all in 2014!

Leighton, Matt, and Justin

Today’s Mixtape Festival is back for it’s 3rd year and with a killer lineup at that. The Festival will take place on Long Island, as well as hold it’s first year on the West Coast in Oakland, California. Bands on the Long Island festival include Stick To Your Guns, Terror, Such Gold and A Loss For Words. The first day of the festival in Oakland will host the Pure Noise Records 5 year anniversary show featuring The Story So Far, Rotting Out, The American Scene, and more. Bands playing the other days include The Wonder Years, Defeater, Comeback Kid, and a newly reunited Troubled Coast. More bands will be announced for both festivals in the next 2 weeks. Tickets are available here now and you can see the announced lineups for each festival below.

Chicago’s Real Friends are closing out their biggest year to date as a band with one last huge announcement: they’ve signed with Fearless Records for their upcoming full-length, due out summer 2014. The band will be hitting the road with The Wonder Years next spring, dates for which can be seen here. Check out a statement from the band and a video announcement about the signing below!

“We are beyond stoked to be signing with Fearless Records. We were hesitant with signing to a record label in general, but with Fearless it was different. They made it feel more like a family. We have always held family close to our hearts. We are proud to say we are now part of the Fearless Records family.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4RYeF675yo

Neck Deep has released a new song “Growing Pains” with an accompanying music video. The song is from their Hopeless Records debut album Wishful Thinking, out JANUARY 14, 2014. Watch the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbOEGnDksKQ

Echosmith has recorded a cover of “Reflektor” by Arcade Fire for Rdio’s 2013 Cover Series.

Listen to the track on Rdio here!

Michigan’s La Dispute have announced their third full length record Rooms of the House, out March 14. The record will be released through the band’s newly established label Better Living, in partnership with Staple Records. Accompanying the album is the 48-page companion book Yesterday’s Home that describes the writing and recording process for Rooms of the House.

La Dispute will support the album with a full North American tour, starting March 14 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Pianos Become The Teeth and Mansions will support the tour. View the album art and tour dates below!

• 3/14 – Greensboro, NC @ Green Street Club
• 3/15 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
• 3/16 – Jacksonville, FL @ Roc Bar
• 3/18 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
• 3/19 – Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
• 3/21 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
• 3/22 – Dallas, TX @ The Door
• 3/23 – Austin, TX @ Red 7
• 3/25 – Mesa, AZ @ The Nile
• 3/26 – Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse Concert Hall
• 3/27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Exchoplex
• 3/28 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst Atrium
• 3/29 – San Francisco, CA @ Slims
• 3/31 – Portland, OR @ Branx
• 4/01 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
• 4/04 – Burnsville, MN @ The Garage
• 4/05 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
• 4/06 – Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot Ballroom
• 4/07 – Toronto, CAN @ Opera House
• 4/08 – Montreal, CAN @ Sala Rosa
• 4/09 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
• 4/10 – New York, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
• 4/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
• 4/12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar
• 4/13 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid
• 4/14 – Cleveland, OH @ The Grog Shop

Want to know how we chose these albums? Check back next Monday for our staff lists!

10. Arctic Monkeys – AM

9. Balance & Composure – The Things We Think We’re Missing

8. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City

7. The Front Bottoms – Talon of the Hawk

6. twenty | one | pilots – Vessel

5. Fall Out Boy – Save Rock And Roll

4. The Dangerous Summer – Golden Record

3. Bastille – Bad Blood

2. The 1975 – The 1975

1. The Wonder Years – The Greatest Generation

Could you start off with giving us some of your own musical background?

Bob: I’ve been playing, writing music, and touring for now over 20 years in a bunch of different bands, starting with a band called Friction, then with the band Braid and Hey Mercedes. Braid’s doing a record right now, so this is something that’s not only near and dear to our hearts, but something we’ve been really putting into practice and living for a long, long time.

Mark: Music was always something I’ve been doing in middle school and high school, starting bands and whatnot. I went to Columbia College here in Chicago for music composition and at the end of my second year, Spitalfield got a deal and started touring. So I dropped everything else and for the last 10 years I’ve just been doing music full-time. Now I’m focusing on the singer/songwriter stuff under my own name, but that’s been my life for a while now.

How did you guys first come up with the idea for Downwrite?

Mark: It first started with Bob and I hanging out together, having some adult beverages, and talking about how we wished there was a way that we could let people know that we are available to write music. The next morning, that turned into why don’t we make this more of a community of sorts where we could get a bunch of writers involved and eventually any and all writers could be on board writing songs.

I saw a news post recently about a couple more people joining the site. What are some of your newest artists to come on board?

Mark: In the last month, we’ve brought on William Beckett from The Academy Is…, who’s now doing his solo stuff and just released a solo record, Bob Morris of The Hush Sound, Carmen Cirignano of Young Statues, JT Woodruff from Hawthorne Heights. Yeah, there’s been so many actually, recently. There’s been quite a few.

Right now your website says all its songwriters are “hand-picked.” What do you guys look for in choosing songwriters?

Mark: What we first wanted to do is, once we decided we wanted to try to build out a site for other artists to get on, was to pick up the phone and call some friends. Like any new company or new business, we wanted the people we were working with to be people we had a good relationship with so that we could get feedback and go through some of the bumps and bruises early on with people that we felt comfortable with. So naturally we went to writers and artists that we’ve toured with and that we’ve been friends with. As of right now, we just want to keep it as varied as possible, genre-wise, and get as many people on there that are comfortable using the site to get in there and use it and provide us with feedback. Eventually, once all of the kinks and everything are worked out, we’ll be able to open it for anyone to come in, and it won’t be hand-picked, you can just go in and set up your profile.

That’ll be pretty huge compared to what it is now.

Mark: Yeah, and I think part of the reason why we want to go that route is because there are so many songwriters out there that could benefit from a service like this. We want to be there for everybody and represent all different genres, different ages, different demographics, etc. I think even when we open it up, we could still feature certain artists that we have a connection to or different types of artists for different reasons, but ultimately it could just be a powerful tool for songwriters across the board.

What has the reaction to the site been like so far?

Mark: It’s been fantastic. The coolest thing is that both sides, the artist and the people requesting songs, have been giving great feedback so far. It’s coming across as powerful and special, which is our goal going into it. So, so far so good. I mean, we expect there to be bumps in the road as we expand and more things happen, but we’re ready for it and actually looking forward to it.

Bob: Yeah, and being that Mark and I are both songwriters, we want this to be a site that helps songwriters and so Downwrite takes a very small cut. The majority of the money goes to songwriters. That’s how we’re able to pay so much out to each of the songwriters, which is something I think that even the sites and services that are even remotely like ours can’t say. There’s a reason why we’re growing so slowly: it’s because we’re paying the money to the artists. They’re the ones doing the work.

Yeah, I really like how it’s artists helping other artists.

Mark: Yeah, and the more people who know about it, the more artists that get involved, the bigger the community is. I think that in itself is pretty cool because it organically grows and starts to snowball on its own the more people hear about it and want to know how they can get on as a writer or look through the artists to see who they want to connect with to get something written for themselves.

What exactly are the steps for someone to get a song written? Like what kind of information do you guys request?

Mark: Each writer is a little bit different. We have it set up right now that everyone has their own personalized questionnaire. When you request a song, you fill it out so you’re giving them the direction and the tools to make something for you. As a writer on a board, not just someone behind the scenes, that part of it is really cool because when you get that notification and start reading as a songwriter, you instantly start working on something that you otherwise wouldn’t have written. As far as the pricing tiers go, we let everyone customize the different levels of production they’re offering and how much they want to charge for it. Right now we have one rule across the board that every artist on the site has to have at least one option that is $100 because we like to keep it affordable, but at the same time, there’s a lot of higher level production or studio production that can be a higher price.

Since you guys are both songwriters for the site, could you describe your recording process for these songs and how it differs from your regular professional work?

Bob: It’s very similar. I ask a few questions for the requester to tell me what they would like it to be about, who it’s for, and maybe give me some background on the person or the story, etc. I’ll also ask if they want a slow song or fast song, happy song or sad song. And then I’ll look at that email and take some notes. Then I’ll put the email away and sit down and start writing the music in the direction that I’m given. I’ll start with the music and I’ll write a verse or a chorus, some extra parts, and then I’ll start humming vocal melodies and then I’ll start putting lyrics in where those vocal melodies were. In terms of the writing process, that’s sort of how I work in general with any of the projects I’ve worked in. Basically, you sit down with your guitar and you think about what it is you want to write about, whether it’s something that I want to write about or something that someone suggested I write about, and then I just play what comes naturally and do the vocal melody, work on that a little bit, and then start plugging in lyrics.

Mark: For me, the process is similar to when I’m writing for my own releases, but the difference is I don’t write too many songs from other people’s perspectives when I’m writing my own material. I have tackled it once in a while, but it’s usually something that I’m personally connected to that I’m drawing from those emotions and those experiences and channeling it, whereas when I’m working on somebody else’s request it’s kinda fun to channel their experiences and write from somebody else’s perspective for a change. And again, like I mentioned earlier, you’re writing a song you would not have written. I can’t speak for all artists involved, but some of the artists that I’m pretty close with that I talk to, it’s like as a songwriter you have an endless supply of unfinished ideas and hooks and demos and chord changes and things that you’ve never really gotten around to using and it’s cool to unearth some of that stuff and to immediately put it into play with somebody else’s idea. Some of the songs that I’ve been writing are going to be transformed into stuff that I do end up releasing and we’ve had examples of that with Matt Pryor from the Get Up Kids. On his new solo record, there’s a song he wrote on there that was directly inspired by a Downwrite song that he wrote, so that stuff’s pretty cool.

That is really cool. And you guys have a podcast too right?

Bob: Well, it’s the Get Downwrite podcast. We try to do it weekly or as often as we can and the idea was if you’re not a songwriter, if you’re not looking to buy a song, but you’re just interested in the site, we wanted to put out content every week, so we decided to do a podcast. It’s not just talking about the website – it’s also diving into a little bit of the songwriting process that Mark and I go through, like some of the fun inspirational type stuff that we’ve been through, shows that we’ve played, the first album that made you want to pick up a guitar or whatever. At its core, it’s a podcast by two songwriters about songwriting, about music, about inspiration and stuff. And we’re goofy, it’s not super serious or highfalutin. But it’s under the Downwrite umbrella so as a songwriter you would hopefully listen to the podcast to get a little insight into that process.

Mark: And we try to bring in some of the artists that are on the site, if they’re in town or if they’re available for like a quick phone call or something and talk about what they’ve been up to, what their thoughts on the site are, and their experiences on the site too. It’s new water for all of us that we’re treading in here, so we know that there’s going to be some writers and artists that are concerned and have questions X, Y, and Z. As we go, we’re finding out new things that are working or that aren’t working and like Bob said, we’re talking about all sorts of stuff, not just songwriting but the things that have influenced us as writers. Like Steve Soboslai from Punchline is a writer on board, and it’s fun talking to him about the first concert he ever went to because that’s not really a commonly asked question in interviews and I feel like fans of Steve or friends of Steve would be interested to know that. The answer is the Crash Test Dummies [laughs]. So we like having some fun.

What do you guys consider some of Downwrite’s biggest accomplishments this year?

Bob: Well, the fact that we’ve had this idea for at least two and a half years, getting this up and running is probably the biggest accomplishment. Getting it running and seeing the response to it and that it’s working and it’s making people happy and it’s making songwriters happy is a huge accomplishment. We could talk numbers and say we delivered over 200 songs and these are songs that would not have existed if it wasn’t for Downwrite, which is a really cool stat to think about. It’s weird talking about greatest accomplishments, like let’s talk about the next accomplishment.

Mark: I would add that when we came up with the idea, it started with just trying to find a way to let people know that artists are available to write songs in their down time. Like what we were really trying to accomplish was when writers and songwriters are not touring or not recording their own music, based on the way the current industry is going, a lot of them have to find other lines of work when they’re home, whether that’s bartending or a normal day job, and how we really wanted to tell writers like, “Hey you know what, do something you enjoy doing and that you’re good at, which is writing music,” and seeing that come to life has been cool. In February, when we launched with just Bob and myself, if you said like, “Hey, by the end of this calendar year, you’ll have over 30 artists and well over 200 songs completed and delivered,” I would have said you were crazy, but it was really cool to see that happen.

Well Bob, you said you wanted to talk about the next accomplishment – what do you guys hope to achieve next year?

Bob: Here, what’s today’s date? We’re going to talk to you on this same date next year and we’ll make a list.

Alright. December 4th, 2014, we’ll do another interview.

Bob: Perfect. But seriously, I would love for us to have reached the point where the site is open for anyone to get on there and to set up their own profile and manage their own queue and start their own projects. Like use the site in ways that we haven’t even thought of right now, like for collaborations, or for straight up sourcing of material for an album. I think there are a lot of ways that artists can use the site that we just haven’t thought of yet. I want this to be like a community or network where everyone’s chipping in ideas and it’s for the good of everybody. So that’s really my goal for the site. It would be great if by this time next year, that was the case – anyone could go on and we had a nice, great, healthy community, network system that just ran and hummed along.

Mark: Yeah, I’ll add into that. When Bob and I start talking with either each other or with other artists or just friends or whatever, and start talking about the different things we could do down the line, the conversations just start spiraling into crazy places because there are so many creative things that could be done, inspired by fans and sponsored and paid for by fans. To just toss out one idea, one thing we had talked about was a build-your-own EP where say you’re a requester and you pick four or five writers from the site and you give them all the same request and then they each write you a different song because that’s what would happen and then you package it together as like an EP just for you or for whoever you’re giving it to. It could be crazy because each artist would do something totally different with the same materials they’re given.

Bob: And here’s another crazy thing. There’s a person who has gotten songs from a bunch of different people on the site who is basically making a mixtape for his girlfriend. He’s gonna propose to her so he’s having different artists from the site – and I hope I didn’t ruin the surprise…if you’re reading this, it’s not you! He basically assigned each artist a different aspect of their relationship – their hometown, and like, her pets. So one person’s writing about this particular thing and another person’s writing about this particular thing to make this one whole well-rounded love letter, basically.

Wow, that’s insane.

Bob: Yeah, and like for instance, me, I’m getting married next year and what I’m doing is having artists cover some of my and my fiancée’s favorite songs, some of our songs, to play during not the ceremony but cocktail hour. She’s not gonna read this…oh actually she might read it. Ah whatever, it doesn’t matter.

Mark: If you’re reading this, it’s not you!

Bob: [laughs] Anyway, I guess the point is, I’m siked to see what people come up with, the people that are requesting, and the artists.

Well I’m sure there are gonna be a ton of aspiring songwriters that are going to want to get in on this. Can you let us know how everyone can keep track of everything that’s going on?

Mark: Yeah, absolutely. The easiest way is on Downwrite.com, there is a link to sign up for the email list and when you do that, you can select if you’re an artist and then you won’t get our normal weekly update – you get updates more about the songwriters and what we’re doing with songwriters and when things are going to start opening up and when we’re taking submissions, etc. So I would recommend signing up for the artist email list or the fan email list, and then we also have a Contact section. You can fill that out and get a message over to us, specifically if you want to introduce yourself and give us a few links because we’ll definitely be looking through those to contact everybody once we have something for them. And last, but not least, info@downwrite.com is our general email box, which we look through all the time.

Follow Michelle on Twitter: @GaltsGirl

Drones, Bacon, NSA, NDAA, CIA, Drug War, Drug Jobs, War on Journalism, Bitcoin, Paul Walker, Twitter,  Music, Mike’s Stage Injury, Twitter, New Media, Social Media…

Thanks for listening! -@mikeherreraTD

 The Mike Herrera Hour – every Friday 8pm EST/ 5pm PST here on Idobi.com.

Full Podcast | MERCH | MUSIC | Press | Monkey Trench Studios | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook

The Vans Warped Tour has announced the next 5 bands playing the tour in 2014. Bands will be revealed every Thursday during Fuse’s TV show, Warped Roadies. You can see the full list of tour dates here.

Lineup Additions:

• Mayday Parade
• Attila
• The Protomen
• Tear Out The Heart
• Plague Vendor

Previously announced:

• For Today
• Stray From The Path
• Mixtapes
• Teenage Bottlerocket
• Air Dubai

Track Listing: 

01. Allison Weiss – Sounds Like Snow
02. Daisyhead – O Holy Night
03. Grey Gordon – Colors of Youth
04. Maps for Travelers – War is Over
05. Sean Nelson (of Harvey Danger) – Work on Christmas
06. State Faults – Mookie’s Last Christmas
07. What’s Eating Gilbert – My Favorite Time

On your Facebook, you call your genre “G-Punk.” How would you describe that to someone who’s never heard your band before?

Burnie: Well, we call it G-Punk, beach funk, ghost rock. But I guess that’s just a mixture of all the good music that we grew up listening to. We grew up with like punk rock and the early 90’s and stuff like that and then moving into gangsta rap at the same time, which would be the G-Funk. The punk part is obvious, so we kinda combo’d the words and made G-Punk and that’s how it came about, but we have a rich amount of musical influences so we just labeled it that.

Yeah, you guys have a pretty unique sound but you’ve been aligning yourself with the alternative scene like playing Warped Tour and Riot Fest. How’d you guys end up playing with all those bands?

Burnie: The Warped Tour thing was really our first tour and at the stage we’re at. It’s not so much a selection for us, but we go where the wind blows us.

Button: I would probably say our music is much broader than that scene and we’re looking forward to growing outside of it. It’s just a matter of the right opportunities and time when that’s going to happen.

And I know you guys signed with Red Bull Records earlier this year?

Burnie: Yeah, we were getting played locally at this little station called KROQ. Kat Corbett is a DJ out here and she was a fan of us and started spinning “Scare Me” on the Locals Only Show, probably like the beginning of this year. Then some fancy people from labels and stuff started hitting us up because they heard it on the radio and one person we particularly liked was a man named Chip Dragon. I shouldn’t say a man. He’s more of a beast.

Snapz: A wizard. He’s a wizard.

Burnie: He goes by Chip Dragon and we liked his vibe and we had a connection musically.

Snapz: He came from a similar musical background and we hit it off immediately.

Button: It wasn’t so much we chose him or he chose us – it was the universe aligned both of us together.

Burnie: It was destiny!

Snapz: Some call it fate, some call it a cup of coffee. What was that place called?

Burnie: We had some really strong coffee, which we were wired from for like three days, at this place. It was in Eagle Rock or something.

Snapz: The coffee was really strong though so we liked it.

Button: We obviously blacked out. We don’t remember anything.

Burnie: Yeah it was so black…coffee, that we blacked out.

Snapz: I do remember that he was sitting directly in the sunlight and was like in a button-up shirt, sweating profusely while he was talking to us.

Burnie: So to round this story out, turns out this mythical being, Chip Dragon, actually works for Red Bull Records. He was an A&R dude who just came on the team and he brought us into Red Bull so we haven’t looked back since.

Button: We were his first and only signing while he’s been at Red Bull Records.

Wow, is that a lot of pressure?

Burnie: Oh, not at all. We just do what we do and that’s about it.

Button: Yeah, there’s no pressure. It’s just a lot of fun.

I was talking to another band the other day, and they said when bands are serious they tend to move to LA, so what was it like already being in LA when starting your band?

Burnie: Well, it’s interesting because LA is actually an extremely tough place to make it. But we grew up around here so we know a lot of people and we know the spots. We’ve been playing Hollywood and stuff since we were learning how to play instruments.

Snapz: I would say the difference between other places and LA within music is like LA has music, but I think it’s more keen to music business. It’s a very business-oriented vibe when you’re coming into its play, like people are always thinking in terms of not only talent but dollar signs, like the one on our album cover.

Burnie: It sucks to say but yeah, money. That’s what the music industry ultimately is. And when you’re in a small town just playing music for the love of it, that’s great, but there’s like a whole other knowledge of what goes into being a successful band. Talent is obviously number one, but there’s also all the other bullshit that an artist has to go through. People don’t necessarily understand when they’re just playing music in a garage. We didn’t understand it at one point either. But I’d say that’s the one part about LA that catches people off guard, is that it’s turning talent into business.

Button: I would say us, despite being from LA, it’s not so much where you are, it’s just maybe we’ve figured out sooner than later or whatever the timing is. I think bands out of town are just a little naive to certain things and they don’t quite understand and then they come to LA and they have to have the cycle of learning. Us being from here, we just went through that cycle and now we’re kinda past it.

Burnie: Yeah, we’re used to it so like it’s easy to come here and probably get swallowed up or be manipulated and changed because some random person, who you might think is a big deal, is actually stealing your money and telling you to be something else. There’s a lot of weird shit out here.

Snapz: Hollywood’s a matrix. It can swallow you up whole without you even realizing it. But if you know what it is, and you see it for what it is, and you keep your head on straight and just stick to what you want, then you can use it to your advantage.

Both your music and your image in general tend to be a bit out there. Do you ever find yourself attracting any haters?

Snapz: Oh absolutely. We welcome them warmly though because to us, it just doesn’t make sense to put negative energy out into the universe and when people do so willingly and they actually go through the process of finding us on the Internet just to express hatred, to us it’s kinda funny. We usually just respond with an emoji, with like the unhappy face with an arrow to a happy face, you know, turn that frown upside down. People are so focused on putting negative energy into the world that it just seems stupid to us.

Burnie: Yeah, it’s a compliment because when we started this band, we wanted people to either love us or hate us and not lie in the middle of being mediocre. So if they hate us, that means we’re doing our job right. If they love us, then we’re also doing our job right.

Snapz: And we don’t expect everyone to like our music. As long as we’re getting some sort of reaction out of people, that’s the purpose of what we’re doing so if it’s a negative one, that’s fine. I’d rather offend somebody than them not care. Like even the way we type on shit, it’s so stupid, like we takeover the Warped Tour Instagram or AltPress Instagram and all these kids are like talking about grammar and shit like, “They never fuckin’ went to school.” First of all, it’s not even grammar that you’re talking about. These kids, they just find anything to nitpick and fucking hate. So if it wasn’t the way that we type, it’d be like the color of my shoelaces that day or like the way my armpits look in a photo. It’s dumb.

Button: You know what, it’s an honor to be the ones that distract them from their lives because obviously if they have to spend that much time on the Internet critiquing something so minuscule then it’s really an honor for us to be that person.

Also your music, especially the single “Scare Me,” tends to get somewhat political at times. Is there a certain message you guys try to get across to your listeners?

Burnie: It’s funny because people see it as like a catchy little pop jingle and they can bop around to it and I don’t know if everybody hears the lyrics entirely. But it was just some things and some questions that were being brought up in our minds and what things that were bugging us at the moment and frustrations. I mean, I wasn’t saying anything in particular about singling anyone personally out, except for Lady Gaga [laughs], but it was trying to raise a question, which I think is good and I don’t think people heard that yet but maybe in our future music.

Snapz: I’m glad that you did though.

Button: Either way, if someone can take something away or it can evoke some sort of thought that’s probably the goal. I mean, it’s not necessarily our opinions, but maybe what people can gather themselves from what they’re hearing.

You guys also have a song called “Beware of Phony Disco,” so what do you consider real disco?

Burnie: Well, again that was sorta poking fun at the state of music, things we didn’t particularly like about it and I don’t wanna say what real disco is. Disco is just the term that I used to describe music, or something fake. I think the past 3 years have been a very disco resurgence with the whole Dr. Luke and Katy Perry kind of dance music. And we were just making fun of it really.

Snapz: Yeah, in LA it’s like…

Burnie: Everybody’s a DJ.

Snapz: Where the club scene in LA is not only that kind of music, but it’s all the people that it attracts. And you know, songs that are about good times, and then we go out in LA and it’s just people doing a bunch of drugs at stupid clubs and like trying to mask the fact that they’re really just trying to fuck each other in strange scenarios, so it’s also poking fun at that. And everybody just wants to be a fucking DJ now. We play instruments! So we’re like fuck, what happened to real instrumentation? Like everyone just wants to fuckin’ get a Serato rig and mash two songs together like they’re a fuckin’ musician, but they’re not. You’re not an aspiring DJ, are you? Sorry if you are. Those are just my personal feelings.

Don’t worry, I’m not.

Snapz: Ok that’s good.

You guys also just wrapped up a tour opening for 3OH!3. How was that tour?

Burnie: It was good, really good. We made friends with those bands on Warped Tour and so this tour was like an extension of all the people we really liked and getting to know them better. We got to get in front of their fans and grow our fanbase and make new friends. We got to see the whole country, like you can’t complain about that.

Button: Yeah, it was good vibes, good people. We played a lot of great shows and made a lot of great connections with bands and fans and there’s not much more you could want out of that, you know.

Yeah, it seemed like a pretty wild tour package. What’s the craziest story from this tour that you can share with us?

Burnie: Um, well there’s probably too many to get into. Probably our favorite night was New Orleans where we ended up just like -

Button: We should probably leave that one out. It’s a little rated R.

Burnie: I like rated R.

Snapz: Are we rated like X, R, PG-13 or G?

Button: Ok, your birthday in Boston. That was a good night, like all bands got together, hammered drunk bowling. That was a good one.

Burnie: I’m still gonna say my favorite night was New Orleans though. And I’ll keep the rated R out, but we got to explore New Orleans, a city that I’ve always wanted to visit, and we got to rage with all the bands and we danced at reggae clubs and got haircuts at 3 am.

Snapz: Yeah, one of our homies got a haircut and a shot of whiskey at 2 am in a bar.

Burnie: And met some fine ladies and saw a beautiful town for the first time so it was good.

Snapz: And you can drink in public there so we were just walking down our merry way.

Button: Like pirates.

Snapz: We were pirates for the day.

Button: But honestly, there’s so many nights that it’s hard to sum it all up. New Orleans was a standout.

Burnie: New York was cool. We went to a Fader event. I got a bucket of water dumped on me out of an apartment window.

Button: Boston was great. That was early on so that was when we first like hung with everyone.

Burnie: And then back in LA was just a shitshow. An absolute shitshow.

With everything you’ve done this year like Warped, Riot Fest, opening for blink-182, what’s been your favorite part of 2013?

Burnie: The whole bit. I’ve been saying the whole bit. I love all of it, like it’s all been a progression from being signed to going on Warped Tour to doing blink to doing 3OH!3, so let’s just hope that things keep on this path. I think they will. Playing music live is awesome, so we got to do that a lot.

Button: Yeah, I mean traveling was fuckin’ sweet.

Burnie: And we got to eat a lot of pizza from pretty much every city in America. And there’s a lot of great pizza out there.

That’s very true. So what do you guys have planned for next year?

Burnie: We’re going into the studio.

Snapz: We were actually supposed to move into a new studio the other day but it got pushed back a few days so we’re probably going to be moving in some time at the end of this week. We’ve got a bunch of new songs written at various stages of recording so we’re gonna be locked up in the studio for the next couple months, just trying to finish up some new stuff and then hopefully hitting the road like at the end of February or early March.

Button: Pretty much more of what we’re doing, with new and amazing stuff.

Burnie: But it’s gonna blow your mind so you should be on the lookout.

After 15 years of having the same lineup, New Found Glory have parted ways with guitarist and main songwriter Steve Klein. The decision came seemingly out of nowhere for fans, and you can read a statement from the band below. The band will still be performing on the Parahoy Cruise in March and plan to begin working on a new album soon after.

To All Our Fans,

It is with heavy hearts that we must let you know that Steve Klein is no longer a part of New Found Glory. We’ve had our differences with Steve over the years that have led us to this decision. We love Steve however personal differences have guided this decision and we no longer feel we can work with him. Rest assured that New Found Glory will still go on! After the Parahoy Cruise we are planning to write a new record and start this new chapter for our band. We have not decided on who will fill Steve’s position however we will let you know our plans as soon as we figure that out. We love you, our fans, so much and appreciate your dedication and loyalty to our band. We hope you stick by us during this difficult time.

We love you,

Chad, Jordan, Cyrus, and Ian

• 1/10 – Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot Ballroom #
• 1/11 – Chicago, IL @ The Beat Kitchen
• 1/12 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hoosier Dome
• 1/14 – St Louis, MO @ The Mad Magician
• 1/15 – Dayton, OH @ TBD
• 1/16 – Kent, OH @ The Outpost
• 1/17 – Erie, PA @ Basement Transitions
• 1/18 – Toronto, ON @ Hard Luck
• 1/19 – Hamilton, ON @ Bay City Music Hall

# – Fusion Shows 6th Birthday Bash headlined by Kevin Devine and The Front Bottoms

Diamond Youth have launched a pre-order for their upcoming Shake EP out February 4th via Topshelf Records. The EP was recorded with Brian McTernan(Senses Fail, The Movielife) at Salad Days studio in Maryland. The band have also posted a video for the track “Can’t Shake The Feeling”, which can be viewed below. In support of the EP the band will head out on tour with Turnstile, Turnover, Angel Du$t, and Blind Justice in February.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot99sFasW20

The SpacePimps have released a music video for “Party Foul” of their recently released album Eternal Boy. The video features the band in a college fraternity setting with some classic blow-up doll shenanigans and an overall good time. Check it out below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY8hKw2SuAk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uk9m_51mHs

The Maine are streaming their new EP Imaginary Numbers through Spotify, so give it a listen below. They’ll be heading out on a short run of acoustic dates to support the tour, and you can find a full list of those shows here. idobi photographer Gaelle Pitrel recently attended a show of theirs in Paris and got some phenomenal photos, so have a look at those here if you’d like.

12/27 – Atlanta, GA
12/28 – Birmingham, AL
12/29 – Louisiana
12/30 – Ft. Worth, TX
12/31 – Austin, TX
1/1 – Houston, TX
1/2 – Jackson, MS

Comeback Kid will release their 5th album, Die Knowing, early next year through Victory Records. Before that drops the band will go on a headlining tour of the United States. Support for the tour comes from Backtrack, Xibalba, Downpresser, and To The Wind. Check out the dates below!

• 2/19 – Burnsville, MN @ The Garage
• 2/20 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
• 2/21 – Grand Rapids, MI @ The Pyramid Scheme
• 2/22 – Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
• 2/23 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theater
• 2/25 – Boston, MA @ Middle East
• 2/26 – New York, NY @ Santos Party Haus
• 2/27 – West Springfield, VA @ Empire
• 2/28 – Reading, PA @ Reverb
• 3/01 – Charlotte, NC @ The Casbah
• 3/02 – Nashville, TN @ Rockettown
• 3/04 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
• 3/05 – Tampa, FL @ Epic Problem
• 3/06 – Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
• 3/07 – Lake Worth, FL @ Speakeasy
• 3/08 – Jacksonville, FL @ Atticus Bar
• 3/09 – Birmingham, AL @ The Forge
• 3/10 – Tupelo, MS @ Goodtime Charlie
• 3/12 – McAllen, TX @ Never Say Never Festival
• 3/14 – Austin, TX @ SXSW (TBA)
• 3/15 – Houston, TX @ Walters
• 3/16 – Dallas, TX @ South By So What
• 3/19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Pub Rock
• 3/20 – Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
• 3/21 – Lancaster, CA @ Industry Theater
• 3/22 – Oakland, CA @ The Metro (Today’s Mixtape Festival)
• 3/23 – Ventura, CA @ Rock City Studios

On Wednesday’s episode of The Gunz Show, Gunz will be speaking with Beau Bokan of Blessthefall, John O’Callaghan of The Maine, and the brilliant Mike Ferri of We Are The In Crowd.

Tune in December 12th at 9pm ET at idobi.com, only on idobi Radio.

A Loss For Words have released a music video for “The Kids Can’t Lose” off their recently released album Before It Caves. The band will hit the road with Our Last Night in January and head to the UK/Europe with The Wonder Years in April. Check out the video below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmBIGqokK5E

Turnstile will head out on an east coast tour with Diamond Youth(record release shows), Turnover, Angel Du$t, and Blind Justice. Check out the dates below!

Saturday April 5:

A Loss For Words, Better Off, Citizen, Defeater, Modern Baseball, Mongoloid, Modern Life Is War, Real Friends, Reign Supreme, The Story So Far, The Wonder Years, Turnstile, We Still Dream, and You Blew It!

Sunday April 6:

Adaliah, Alpha/Omega, Barrier, Bent Life, Bishop, Counterparts, Death Before Dishonor, Discourse, Evergreen Terrace, Expire, Frameworks, Hundredth, Malfunction, Naysayer, Raindance, Relentless, Remembering Never, Ringworm, Stick To Your Guns, Terror, Thick As Blood, and Will To Die.

The Wonder Years are playing the UK and Europe next year in April and May right after their US run. A Loss For Words and State Champs will support the tour. Check out the dates below!

• Apr 30- Loudfest at Komplex – Zurich, Switzerland *
• May 2 – Groezrock – Meerhout, Belgium *
• May 4 – Kulturladen – Konstanz, Germany * w/ Bayside
• May 6 – Solus 2 – Cardiff, Wales
• May 7 – Institute – Birmingham, UK
• May 8 – Scala – London, UK
• May 9 – Corporation – Sheffield, UK
• May 10 – QMU – Glasgow, Scotland
• May 11 – Fibber Magees – Dublin, Ireland
• May 13 – Academy – Liverpool, UK
• May 14 – Rescue Rooms – Nottingham, UK
• May 15 – The Haunt – Brighton, UK
• May 16 – De Helling – Utrecht, Netherlands
• May 17 – Dynamo – Eindhoven, Netherlands

* No AL4W & State Champs

Modern Baseball will release their sophomore LP You’re Gonna Miss It All on February 11 through Run For Cover Records. The record was produced by band members Ian Farmer and Jake Ewald and mastered by Will Yip. Check out all the album details and listen to the brand new song “Your Graduation” below. Be sure to catch Modern Baseball on tour supporting The Wonder Years next spring as well!

Tracklisting:

1. Fine, Great
2. Broken Cash Machine
3. Rock Bottom
4. Apartment
5. The Old Gospel Choir
6. Notes
7. Charlie Black
8. Timmy Bowers
9. Going To Bed Now
10. Your Graduation
11. Two Good Things
12. Pothole

South By So What!? is back in 2014 for its biggest and best year yet. The festival will take place at Quiktrip Park in Grand Prairie, TX on March 14-16th.  The festival features a wide variety of alternative, pop-punk, metal, and hardcore bands including Taking Back Sunday, The Used, Bring Me The Horizon, Of Mice & Men, The Devil Wears Prada, The Story So Far and Comeback Kid. VIP and regular 3-day passes are available here now with single day tickets go on sale January 1st. idobi Radio is proud to be sponsoring the festival and you can see the announced line-up below.

Lineup(in alphabetical order):

FRIDAY MARCH 14TH

• Asking Alexandria
• Atlas Moth
• August Burns Red
• Avion Roe
• Bleach Blonde
• Bryce Gilbertson
• Chiodos
• Dear You
• Emmure
• Fever Dreamer
• Gideon
• HRVRD
• Ice Nine Kills
• I See Stars
• Mike Mains & The Branches
• Scale The Summit
• Silver Snakes
• Sworn In
• Taking Back Sunday
• The Bunny The Bear
• The Ocean
• The Used
• Volumes
• We Came As Romans

SATURDAY MARCH 15TH

• Adestria
• Alesana
• Attila
• Bring Me The Horizon
• Close To Home
• Crown The Empire
• Erra
• Even The Dead Love A Parade
• Famous Last Words
• Fit For A King
• For Today
• Hearts & Hands
• Hed Pe
• InDirections
• I The Mighty
• Issues
• LetLive
• Like Moths To Flames
• Lions Lions
• Megosh
• Mindless Self Indulgence
• Motionless In White
• Oceano
• Of Mice & Men
• Psychostick
• Throw The Fight
• We Butter The Bread With Butter
• Within The Ruins
• Wolves At The Gate

SUNDAY MARCH 16TH

• After The Burial
• Alpha & Omega
• Animals As Leaders
• Backtrack
• Barrier
• Being As An Ocean
• Betrayal
• Between The Buried & Me
• Born Of Osiris
• Chon
• Comeback Kid
• Counterparts
• Cruel Hand
• Danger Kids
• Downpresser
• Expire
• Handguns
• Hundredth
• I Killed The Prom Queen
• Idlehands
• Knuckle Puck
• Kublai Khan
• Light Years
• My Iron Lung
• MyChildren MyBride
• Neck Deep
• Periphery
• Polyphia
• Reflections
• Rescuer
• Sleeping Giant
• The Devil Wears Prada
• The Ghost Inside
• The Story So Far
• This Wild Life
• To The Wind
• Veil Of Maya
• Xibalba
• Years Since The Storm

Touché Amoré and mewithoutYou wil go out on a co-headline tour starting in February. Support will come from Seahaven as well as Drug Church and Caravels on certain dates. You can see the full tour routing below!

Tour Dates:

• FEB 06 Denver, CO – Marquis Theater*
• FEB 07 Salt Lake City, UT – Club Sound*
• FEB 08 Boise, ID – The Crux*
• FEB 09 Seattle, WA – Neumos*
• FEB 10 Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater*
• FEB 12 San Francisco, CA – Slims*
• FEB 13 San Diego, CA – Epicentre*
• FEB 14 Los Angeles, CA – Ukrainian Culture Center*
• FEB 15 Phoenix, AZ – Nile Theater*
• FEB 17 Austin, TX – Mohawk*
• FEB 18 Houston, TX – Fitzgeralds*
• FEB 19 Dallas, TX – Prophet Bar*
• FEB 21 Nashville, TN – Exit/In**
• FEB 22 Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge (early doors)**
• FEB 23 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick**
• FEB 24 Toronto, ON – Mod Club**
• FEB 26 New York, NY – (Le) Poisson Rouge**
• FEB 27 Boston, MA – The Sinclair**
• MAR 01 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer**
• MAR 02 Washington, DC – Black Cat**
• MAR 04 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle**
• MAR 05 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade**
• MAR 06 Orlando, FL – The Social**

* w Drug Church
** w Caravels

The Wonder Years will embark on a headlining tour in Spring of next year with support from Defeater, Citizen, Real Friends and Modern Baseball. The tour will go across North America and consist of some of the biggest venues the band has ever headlined. VIP tickets which include an acoustic session and Q&A with the band are available here now. General tickets go on sale Friday. Check out the dates below!

Tour Dates:

• 3/5/14 – Upstate Concert Hall – Clifton Park, NY *
• 3/6/14 – Chameleon Club – Lancaster, PA *
• 3/8/14 – Agora Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
• 3/9/14 – The Crofoot Ballroom – Pontiac, MI
• 3/11/14 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
• 3/12/14 – The Garage – Burnsville, MN
• 3/14/14 – Gio’s – Moorhead, MN
• 3/16/14 – The Den – Calgary, AB
• 3/17/14 – The Starlite Room – Edmonton, AB
• 3/19/14 – El Corazon – Seattle, WA
• 3/20/14 – Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
• 3/22/14 – Oakland Metro – Oakland, CA (Today’s Mixtape Festival)
• 3/23/14 – House of Blues – West Hollywood, CA
• 3/24/14 – House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
• 3/25/14 – Soma – San Diego, CA
• 3/26/14 – Nile Theater – Mesa, AZ
• 3/28/14 – Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
• 3/29/14 – Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
• 3/30/14 – The Door – Dallas, TX
• 3/31/14 – White Rabbit – San Antonio, TX
• 4/1/14 – Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
• 4/2/14 – House of Blues – New Orleans, LA
• 4/4/14 – The Orpheum – Tampa, FL
• 4/5/14 – Roc Bar – Jacksonville, FL
• 4/6/14 – Culture Room – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• 4/7/14 – The Beacham – Orlando, FL
• 4/9/14 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
• 4/10/14 – Greene Street Club- Greensboro, NC
• 4/11/14 – The Norva – Norfolk, VA
• 4/12/14 – Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA
• 4/13/14 – Sound Stage – Baltimore, MD
• 4/15/14 – The Palladium – Worcester, MA
• 4/16/14 – Phoenix Concert Theatre – Toronto, ON
• 4/17/14 – Best Buy Theater – New York, NY

* No Real Friends

We Are The In Crowd posted the music video for their new song “The Best Thing (That Never Happened).” The song is from the band’s upcoming release Weird Kids. Check out the high energy video below and catch the band on tour this spring!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFqtasnu7y8

The third annual Today’s Mixtape Festival will take place March 29th and 30th at 89 North in  Patchogue, NY. Put on by East Coast Collective, the festival will also be expanding to the West Coast this year with the help of Bake Shows. It will take place at the Oakland Metro in Oakland, CA kicking off with the Pure Noise Records  5th Anniversary on March 21st and continuing the festival the 22nd and 23rd. The lineups will be announced on December 17th and weekend passes will also go on sale that day. Stay tuned for more info and keep up with the festival here.