Planted in a small West Virginia town, Rob and Nat Rufus of Blacklist Royals are conjoined twins, not physically, but they’re brothers of the same artistic DNA, roommates on the open road, and lifelong punk rock compadres.
All Photos: Mitch Wojcik “It’s very much everybody’s company… everyone who’s bought a shirt or gone to an All Time Low show, or that’s a part of this in any way… this is as much your company as it is mine because I don’t exist without you guys ya know?” There’s a cheerful “hello” breaking into the ringing of the phone as the ever positive Mark Capicotto, better known as Marky, answers. He’s in the middle of a busy day in New York City when I call. Right away, he’s upbeat, and not exactly what you’d expect given his online… Read more »
Check out my interview with Noodles; I was very fortunate and honored to speak with him.
Brand New Cannot Do Anything Wrong. Ever. So, they opened their show with a new song and I’m pretty sure I cried over it. Okay, I definitely cried over it. Brand New is making their comeback loud and clear. They’ve posted a new promo picture, wiped everything off their Instagram, presented new music, and played “Soco Amaretto Lime” at their show in Denver. Basically, they said “Hey, look, we’re really back now and we’re going to do all of this and make you cry.” Did I mention I’m seeing them for the first time ever this week? Well, I am.… Read more »
Thursday, March 19th I flew into South by Southwest this afternoon. Tonight, I strode 6th Street. amid the scene here in Austin. I felt a tension between, and within, the musicians, attendees, and the city. The dichotomy is an inclination toward indie values, opposed by the gravitation of commercialism. I realize this as I happen on IFC’s Fairgrounds, which features a music stage, interactive attractions such as a Velcro wall, and food trucks and a beer stand. It’s like a festival within a festival and it is a microcosm of SXSW. It’s an insular fantasy realm manifested by marketers and… Read more »
2014 was a wonderful year for music, but it was also a wonderful year for forgetting that it was 2014. With so many of this year’s releases wearing their nostalgia for musical eras past on their sleeves, it seemed easier than ever to pick up a record that immediately whisked you back to the decade of your choosing despite being less than twelve months old.
idobi managing editor Eleanor Grace caught up with Kenny Vasoli in Toronto to talk about everything happening in the world of Vacationer, his songwriting approach on their most recent record Relief, navigating heartbreak and anxiety, his history with The Starting Line, and more.
Even if you’re convinced that a band changing their sound is the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, it’s perfectly natural for someone’s music to develop and shift from album to album. But every once in a while, those shifts are so dramatic that the early work ends up sounding like it was released by an entirely different band than the more recent material.
The days may be long gone of rushing to the local record store, money in hand, to grab the latest radio hit’s 45rpm single, but the excitement of flipping that record over and discovering the non-album track that lay on the other side will never wear off. In this week’s Tuesday Ten, we’re exploring some of our writers’ favorite b-sides.
It’s a struggle most of us have experienced with our families, at least to some degree — the parents think the kids’ music is unlistenable garbage, and the kids think their parents’ music was recorded by the first dinosaurs to ever hold guitars. But when you find those rare few bands that occupy the middle ground between everyone’s tastes, it’s a special moment that brings the family together way better than getting a pet fish ever could.