Universal Buzz Interview with Red

1. How does being from Nashville, Tennessee affect your music and following?

Only one of us is actually from Nashville(Hayden) but as far as the band being based out of Nashville, we met here. It is a melting pot of undiscovered talent. We played the local scene for a year before we started touring professionally.

2. Your music is very diverse. Songs like "Breathe into Me" and "Let Go" are hard rockers that are structured around distorted blues guitar riffs. But on songs like, "Already Over," the listener gets to see the softer side of your music, with a powerful but dark string arrangement
along with a compelling but simple piano part. Where does the inspiration come from to write such diverse songs?

Life in general is diverse. We wrote about things that have happened to us along the way and how we came out of those situations. The inspiration comes from within those times that we all have been through and know people are going through also.

3.What, if any, is the significance of the name of your band, Red? What emotions do you want your listeners to feel when they hear 'Red?'

For us, RED is the color of life and what alot of our music embodies. Passion,pain,anger,etc. are all emotions that are incompassed in the record. We hope that our fans will face those emotions on a very personal level when they hear our music.

4. Who are your main musical influences?

We all come from very diverse musical backgrounds so we have a broad range of influences. We wanted to write songs that were different and combined different types of music more so than bands that have influenced us individually or collectively. If I had to name a few I would add bands such as: Muse, Chevelle, and many Classical composers.

5. It seems just about everyone is collaborating with everyone these days.
Do you have any aspirations to collaborate with anyone?

At this point in our career, it is important that we establish who RED is, but collaborating with
different bands at some point would be really cool. When the time comes, we would definitely be interested in doing something musically that hasn't been done before. As far as who that is, it just depends on where the music has evolved to and what makes sense.

6. The texture in your music is very unique, specifically in "Break Me Down." The sound of loud distorted guitars is heard along with a powerful but melodic vocal line, while string arrangements are layered on top. How else do you keep your music unique?

"Break Me Down" is one of our more "cinematic" songs. When you hear other band's music, alot of the time you can tell what band it is before the singer begins to sing. We want to
establish that "sound" that everyone will recognize immediately because it is unique. We are also story tellers in this business, so we want to do that as melodically and powerfully as possible. We don't feel that we have redefined music in any way, we have just tried to take it where others haven't gone before. So being different is what we aim for as a band.

7. How rewarding is it to be nominated with a Grammy on your first album?

It is something you always hope for but never imagine happening. To be nominated the first time around is both a humbling and amazing feeling, but it also puts some pressure on the sophomore album, to live up to the expectations that have been created by the success of the debut.

8. When do you plan on getting back in the studio?

As soon as possible. We are going to be touring pretty heavily this year so to find time off to record will be a challenge but we are writing and getting prepared for when the time comes.

RANDY ARMSTRONG BASS GUITAR/BGV

www.redmusiconline.com
www.myspace.com/dropofred

Universal Buzz Interview with Albert Hammond Jr.

1. When did you begin working on your solo work with turned into your debut album "Yours To Keep"?

JANUARY 2005

2. The album was produced by Greg Lattimer. What was it that drew you to working with him?

WHEN I SPOKE TO HIM ON THE PHONE I JUST FELT LIKE WE HAD A CONNECTION. WE BOTH UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER.

3. This is the first time you jumped in front of the microphone for lead vocal duties. Was that difficult for you to do?

AT TIMES I FELT VERY INSECURE ABOUT IT BUT I LOVE WRITING SONGS SO I HAD TO IGNORE THOSE FEELINGS.

4. When it comes to writing this material, did you work out these songs with the musicians you play with on the record or did you handle all this by yourself?

FOR THE MOST PART I DID IT ALONE BUT THERE WERE A LOT OF TIMES WHEN EITHER MATT, JOSH OR GREG WOULD HAVE GREAT IDEAS.

5. Its been reported that you work with a number guest musicians on this record, including Sean Lennon and Ben Kweller. How did that come about? What was it like working with them in the studio?

SEAN IS A CLOSE FRIEND. I JUST CALLED HIM TO COME HELP OUT WHEN I FELT LIKE WE NEEDED IT.

6. When you were writing and recording the album, what other bands and albums were you listening too? Did it influence what you did?

I LISTENED TO LOU REEDS "STREET HASSLE" A LOT.

7. Are you going to be putting out any music videos for songs off "Your To Keep"?

I MADE ONE WITH PATRICK DAUGHTERS. I HOPE TO MAKE ANOTHER ONE.

8. After you tour throughout the first half of 2006 in support of your debut album, what are some of your long term plans?

JUST TO MAKE ANOTHER RECORD. AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

10. Lets say you were allowed to curate a festival in which you were allowed to pick one artist from the 1950's, one from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and this decade (dead or alive). Who would those 6 artists be?

BUDDY HOLLY
THE BEATLES
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
THE CARS
GUIDED BY VOICES
THE LIBERTINES

Universal Buzz Exclusive Interview with One AM Radio frontman Hrishikesh Hirway

1.Lets start off with your name. How did you come up with the name One AM Radio?

When I was growing up, my mom worked the closing shift at Sears at the mall near our house. She’d finish at 9:30pm and I would go with my dad to pick her up. We’d sit in the parking lot, me half-asleep in the back seat, listening to my dad listen to the radio. Sometimes the Celtics game, sometimes these old radio serials they’d re-broadcast. Something about the sound of AM Radio stayed with me as a soundtrack for late hours. Fifteen years later, one of the first recordings I made was a 4-track cassette for my sister and a few friends. It was instrumental, these guitar duets. They were supposed to be lullabies, listened to at night, going to sleep. (I’ve always listened to music while falling asleep.) I over-dubbed these fragments of radio programs, floating in and out of the songs. I really liked the intersection of the two meanings of “AM” and I labeled the tapes, when I gave them out, as The One AM Radio. As I started doing my solo stuff with a little more focus, I decided to keep that as the name for it.

2. How long have you been writing music? Performing Live as One AM Radio?

The first time I wrote a song was my senior year of high school, when I was 17. I started playing as The One AM Radio a couple years after that.

3. What is the craziest thing that has ever happened to you while touring?

People have asked me this before. I don’t think I have anything that lives up to the description “crazy,” not insofar as I imagine it: being invited to party in secret, darkened, smoky dens of iniquity, or getting arrested and thrown in a squad car, only to discover it was all an innocent case of simply mistaken identity. (It was a different Hrishikesh Hirway they were after all along!)

4. This is your third album. When recording this album, did you do anything different on it that you have not done in the past?

I think I tried very hard to think of it as an album from the beginning. Before, the songs came along, and only when I had enough to finish a record did I start to consider how they’d fit together as a whole. This time, I really wanted to make something cohesive, and I considered the pace and structure of the entire thing very early on.
5. Were you listening to any artists (new or old) while recording this album that influenced the music on your new album?

I think I end up being influenced in some way by all the records I hear. The new ones I was listening to a lot at that time were by 13 & God, A.C. Newman, Broadcast, M83, My Morning Jacket, and Sigur Ros. The old ones were by Bach, Gorecki, and Asha Bhosle.

6. Being on the road alot, what are some of the clubs you enjoy playing the most while on tour?

My favorite venues definitely tend to not be clubs, but ones that stray a bit from the conventional venue format. The Coolidge Corner movie theater in Boston and Dwight Chapel, an old church on the Yale University campus, are perennial favorites.

7. Are there any musicians or producers you would enjoy working with if you had the opportunity?

There are a lot of producers I really admire, whose work I try and learn as much as possible from. It’s a long, long list, but the first names that come to mind are Nigel Godrich, Questlove, Dave Fridmann, Jim O’Rourke, Timbaland, Mark Bell, and Jon Brion.

8. When you are not writing, recording, or performing, what do you enjoy to do the most in your offtime?
I play a mean game of Boggle.

9, Alot of people worry that because of the internet and digital music, the traditional idea of the album is going to die. Your thoughts.

I think it’s already died. Its ghost is kicking around and will continue to for a while, but most new music listeners could care less about music in any physical sense. For me, the artwork and packaging are a very significant part of my overall understanding of and experience with a record – but I’ll be in the vast minority in a someday that rapidly approaches.
10. If you were asked to curate a music festival where you asked to get one artist/band from the 1950s, one from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980's, 1990's and this decade (dead or alive, together or broken-up) who would those six artists be?

50s: Miles Davis circa 1958, when Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly were in his band
60s: the young Asha Bhosle
70s: Nick Drake
80s: Minor Threat
90s: Neutral Milk Hotel
00s: The Books (who put on the best show I’ve ever seen when they played in LA in 2005)

Illinois, the band.

Ace Fu brought us Annuals.. and now Illinois. The bands EP, What The Hell Do I Know? just came out the first week of March. These Pennsylvanians are currenty on tour with The Kooks.

I'll tell ya what they DO know.. fun music. Check 'em out:

"Alone Again" MP3

CONCERT REVIEW : The Rapture - Live at the Rex Theatre - Pittsburgh, PA 2/3/2007

Back in 2004, the dance punk music scene was in full swing. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing a band that took ferocious guitar licks combined with a disco back-beat that was able to get rave kids, indie college young adults, and aging hipsters on the same dance-floor getting down to their funky sound.

Fast forward a couple of years. The music scene has shifted up, down, and all around. But like any change in music, the pretenders fade away and the truly talented ones stand the test of time. And while a number of the once upbeat rockers like the Liars and Bloc Party have made shifts in the way the sound, The Rapture have continued on their path of creating their brand of raw, electronic, post-punk that keeps the dance floor bumping. And their show at Pittsburgh's Rex Theatre on February 3rd was a perfect example of just that

On that freezing winter night, the club was packed with a diverse group of music lovers ready to dance their freezing chills away. As the band took the stage, bassist/vocalist Mattie Safer took the stage and proclaimed "...we're ready to get down with you guys tonight". From their, the band kicked off with their first ever single, "Out of the Races on Onto the Tracks" and as singer/guitarist Luke Jenner repeatedly screams the word "shake", the audience did just that for the next 90 minutes.

The set-list covered the majority of their last two releases (2003's Echoes and 2006's Pieces of the People We Love respectively), both of which went over quite well to the pleasure of the crowd. From Jenner's vocal wailing on "Echoes" to Mattie's sing-a-long on "W.A.Y.U.H.", Gabriel Andruzzi's saxophone boogie on "Killing" and Vito Roccoforte's disco drumroll on "Sister Savior", the Rapture was able combine the sum of their parts to create a sound that was impossible to resist.

After the band took a quick encore break, the boys came out to perform "Do Gon Do It" and "First Gear", two standout tracks from their latest album. After that, they put down their instruments and pick on their keyboards, drum machines and kicked out "Olio". The Kraftwerk inspired tune was a wonderful to bring the energy level down while still keeping with the killer groove the band had built throughout the evening.

The Rapture have really done something quite wonderful here. They have found a way to move forward with their music, while staying true their roots and giving their audience exactly what they want; an all out dance party for everyone to enjoy.

The Photo Atlas

The band The Photo Atlas will be releasing an album on March 6th out of Stolen Transmission/Morning After Records. The album No, Not Me, Never was named one of the 25 albums to look out for in '07 by the Denver Post. The music is described as Indie/Punk/Disco House on MySpace

Check 'em out at SXSW or listen to a stream of the single "Handshake Heart Attack" here.