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Getting Past the Industry to Love Music Again

Late Night Thoughts: Apologies to the Queen Mary (Tyler Moore)

05/29/11 at 09:20 PM by Adam Pfleider

Well, I've been thinking of how to respond to this. Now, before we all jump on ParkwayTom's back, I give the user credit for at least going out and finding legitimate claims. (P.S. I prefer to talk to people who have something more to say to me than five whole words of nothing.) I've been thinking about these claims for the whole weekend since posting the interview and receiving the response that it has gotten. While I first believed the user was attacking the band whose interview the thread ran with, he was instead referring to the majority of claims coming from the general nuance of bands that a lot of (myself included) people are talking about being part of a "revival" of sorts, or others will argue: "The thing that was always there, just more kids like it now. n00b" or "Well, music always circles round every ten years." or "Please shut up, I like my screams violent and my mascara heavy. Deal with it."

No matter your preference on the matter, sides will be taken. As ParkwayTom expressed, he is a fan of the bands and musicians whose attitudes he is referring to. The first thing the user has to understand is that most of the interviews he's pulled quotes from are from South by Southwest this year. A common thread that was being discussed during the week was in fact the common thread of community and "taking out the bad guys - grobble grobble grobble" that in hindsight, ran through all of my interviews. The subject was on my mind; I don't do interviews with questions in front of me; I have conversations.

Now, my opinion on the matter is skewed for the most part on this one because I've befriended a lot of these bands on love of the same music and ethics. So to me, just having casual conversations with the people being called out for having egos and attitudes is baffling in itself on a personal level. Now, I cannot speak on behalf of the artists we are responding to - and clearly do not intend to, but if this is what I'm comparing myself to and this is what I feel myself better than, then, by all means, as a fan (meaning point of interest in the lowest common denominator of where I'm speaking from) YES, I have no problem that these guys and girls feel they are part of something bigger - and especially something brighter.

I'll never say 311 isn't one of the best live bands I've seen, but I'll always remember seeing Pygmy Lush play a house show with Chris Taylor screaming in front of me. Seeing Brand New three times in two years doesn't compare to seeing The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower on their last tour ever with 25 people in a small room or even seeing Engine Down with 10 people in a small club my first week of college. The intimacy is what makes it for us as music fans. It's why older people want to see Willie Nelson play a small bar as opposed to an arena, and it's why you would give your left ball to see Blink 182 in a local dive bar and just walk up to them after the show. You feel like you're part of something. Once you're in that community, you make friends, hold to memories and really search out something new and true.

I think Brian Shultz (Punknews.org/Alternative Press) makes a point here. The "genuine" feature of "community" really isn't defined than by the people part of it. Time, retrospect and the price of "OOP" vinyl will be the ultimate history lesson for years to come. As of right now, I think there is general idea of what "community" and what is "real" with these bands and what they are referring to though, so for the sake of argument, let's just go with that - though the point is very much noted and agreed upon in the long run.

In some ways, yes, yes you do feel like you're better than other people and other trends. Not speaking, again, on the behalf of the bands and "community" in argument here. Sometimes I fucking do feel like I'm a part of something worthwhile, and why I won't attend Warped Tour for some time after last year, it's why I will save and try to make my way to Fest. It's why I'm quite bummed to have missed Krazy Fest and Bled Fest this year. it's the way I'll kick myself for missing the first Take Action Tour with Thursday, Poison the Well and Cursive and why I'll always regret missing the Blood Brothers/These Arms Are Snakes house show in Baton Rouge so many years back.

I think the bigger picture both positive and negative reactions are missing from my interviews taken during SXSW this year is the response in that there is community. It's not just the music - we all know there's more than that just rolling in by the quantity and quality as of late - but it's the experiences that come along with it. None of the staff members are taking hours of their life telling you how stoked they are on music because they just "listen to it for a living." There's a greater cerebral response and back story to it. I'm sure most of the users of the site are the same way.

This is the best quote I read all week - and in some time: "There are relationships you have with songs or albums or bands that no words strung together can articulate. There is so much about music that is indefinable, even beyond description, like a passage of a book that you keep coming back to because the words create something much more than the words themselves." - Henry Rollins

Do you think Henry Rollins knew he was doing something right and/or revolutionary back then? Do you think people would know who The Screamers were (there are no studio recordings) without the tales handed down throughout the last three decades? Does the story of Jeff Mangum exceed the music he was and is still a part of?

I don't know if my excitement and review scores will mean anything ten years from now? 20? How about five minutes after reading this fucking stupid blog? I don't know. I can only learn from the people I talk to and hold conversation with. I can only further my opinions on an album by track by mp3 on a daily basis.

Seriously, for a while there, I had given up. I traveled back with Mister Peabody and discovered all this stuff I was too young to get at the time because I thought something else "that doesn't matter now and I can't remember" was revolutionary. Then one day I woke up and realized the music I was getting from back then was happening in the now. It's exciting, and I'll go with it as long as I last.

To ParkwayTom and Mr. Shultz, let's meet for drinks in 2021 and we'll talk about the last ten years and how it went?

First round's on me.

- love and respect

Tags: Late Night Thoughts, Music, Interviews

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(Not) Late Night Thoughts: Challenge

08/16/10 at 02:42 PM by Adam Pfleider

Sometimes the simplest questions produce the best answers. This is one case.

Quote From ArticleDefining music as challenging is a subjective process to me. One person might so easily find a specific record challenging while another person may not. With that in mind, it seems futile to attempt to specifically make something challenging. Because who are you attempting to challenge? I feel like that kind of thought or creative process would build boundaries and then I'd get stuck and probably make a record no one wants to hear. I do what I can to leave all possibilities open. - Avey Tare

Tags: Afternoon Thoughts, Interview, Animal Collective, Avey Tate

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AP.net (LOST) Interview: The Dear Hunter

06/10/10 at 12:14 PM by Adam Pfleider

Last year I sat down with The Dear Hunter before their release of Act III: Life and Death. Funny story behind this. Somehow part of the interview I did with Casey didn't save to my recorder so we had to do a separate e-mail still after. Just goes to show you, no matter how professional you try to be...shit still happens.

/shinfo

The Dear Hunter (Lost) ArticleThe Dear Hunter’s story has just become more violent and chaotic for the project’s next installment, Act III: Life and Death. The story that started with an orphaned “boy” – or the Dear Hunter – continued into Act II: The Meaning Of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading, where the main character learns of, and loses his first love. After the act that consisted of prostitutes and churches, where could the story turn from there?

“Anyone who has something happen romantically [and ends badly,] that scars them or changes them,” Casey Crescenzo, author, main songwriter and idealist for The Dear Hunter’s storyline says this is where Act II ends and Act III begins. “[The main character] just has a big knee jerk reaction to it.”

That knee jerk reaction is signing up for the military, and then getting launched into the middle of battle. This is where the next installment takes off right away.

Opening with a Gregorian vocal harmony, “Writing on a Wall,” the album then launches into a symphonic-salsa number (“In Cauda Venenum”), where war is raining down around the listener, intense in composition, something Crescenzo and the rest of the band are more than adamant in building.

This time around, like the previous two releases, The Dear Hunter is made up of a new batch of recruits, including guitar, keyboard and back-up vocalist Andy Wildrick, who also helped engineer the new album with Crescenzo.

The rest of the band was filled out by guitarist Erick Serna, bassist (and Crescenzo’s former bandmate in The Receiving End of Sirens) Nate Patterson and Crescenzo’s brother Nick on drums — who also fulfilled the same duties on Act I: The Lake South, The River North.

Except for what Crescenzo calls “minor details,” the book has already been written on The Dear Hunter saga. According to Wildrick, the music must follow that written path.

“Before anyone played a note,” Wildrick says. “It was said, ‘this is the part of the story we’re at, it needs to sound like this. It needs to sound either chaotic or abrasive, or really soft and mellow.’”

When approaching each song, Wildrick says it was all about figuring out the chords that would make the proper feeling come across. For Act III, there’s a definite feeling of maturity with the project, and Crescenzo’s approach to putting it together.

“Hopefully everyone matures with everything they do,” he says. “There wasn’t a lot of time between Act I and Act II to mature. Obviously Act II has a lot more behind it, and lot more time put into it then Act I.” He comments that Act I was put together on his laptop in his spare time while still playing with The Receiving End of Sirens.

“Act II was made in my apartment,” he continues. “It was a little bit of a step up in my conditions. I felt like I’d grown a little bit musically, even though it was just a few months. There’s a two-year gap between Act II and Act III. There was a good period of time when I tried to write [Act III] and it just felt wrong.”

Once the wheels of creativity started to roll for Crescenzo, he was able to sit back and reflect on previous records, and figure out where he wanted to improve. “In reflection to Act II, it felt very jumbled,” he says of the more cohesive flow of the new album. “It felt like every idea I ever wanted to do ended up on that record without really being shaped the right way. I think, for me, the biggest thing about Act II, was that I really felt an urgency musically.”

Wildrick comments that Crescenzo always likes to change things up with each of his projects, but has an idea previous to any of his creations. “He likes to have a set vision or concept, and he likes it to be original from a previous idea he has had.”

A new crew of musicians helped to move along those new ideas. “I felt like having new members around was already easy for [Casey] to create something different or more unique,” Wildrick says. “I think knowing the foundation was going to set a unique course for the record, we were able to expand on it.

“I feel like having everybody on board now who has had so much experience in the past really helps everyone to be comfortable playing,” he continues, “and it’s a very relaxed environment. Everyone is proficient at what they do. It’s easy to get musical ideas across when you can communicate quickly through your instruments.”

The orchestration and arrangement of The Dear Hunter’s new chapter is one that may not push quick copies to a mass marketable success. The band, however, are content not only with their product’s quality, they’re also content with their close-knit fan base.

“We aren’t really attempting to write for the masses, so to have a group of loyal fans and friends is really inspiring,” Crescenzo says. “I really just love a wide array of tone and timbre, and don’t feel the need to limit the instrumentation of our records to traditional rock tones.”

Wildrick agrees, and says he thinks a lot of bands are wising up to creativity, because the market is getting smarter as well. “I think in this day in age, bands are starting to realize that they have to offer a lot more than a couple songs and an album full of filler.

“It’s hard to get record deals, and harder to make money in this industry right now” he says. “If you’re going to do it, and really going to put your heart into it, then the product needs to be 100% flawless. It can’t be a partial product. It has to be the whole package.”

With the Dear Hunter saga halfway complete, the band’s future is quite ambitious, but Crescenzo and Wildrick believe that being an artist means consistently working on new material. “You never really know, if Casey gets in the groove and starts moving along, he could have a new E.P. out right away,” Wildrick says. “[He] is always pushing everyone in the band to keep writing music and pursue different styles of writing.

“It’s hard to say that you can only put out twelve songs every two years and that’s what people are supposed to judge you by when you want to write albums much more often then that. That shouldn’t be questionable behavior,” he says.

Sometime around September 2007, Crescenzo announced via a message board of an idea of nine albums based on the different colors of the visible spectrum. Crescenzo thinks in no way that this is overly ambitious, but in fact what he lives for in the end.

“I don’t know what else to do in my life,” he says. “You ask if releasing a total of fifteen recordings is overly ambitious, but I am a songwriter and we are a band. This is what we do for a living, for fun, and out of nature. I think that if you are a band and you only release three records in your career, you’re lazy. That isn’t to say we need quantity over quality, just dedication to a craft.”

Tags: the dear hunter, interview

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AP.net (LOST) Interview: August Burns Red

06/08/10 at 11:16 AM by Adam Pfleider

Last year I talked with August Burns Red over Skype while they were over in Europe. Only interview I've ever done over Skype. It was pretty interesting. Anyway, this is what's up with Constellations....

August Burns Red (LOST) ArticleSetting yourself apart in a genre that is growing by the numbers, August Burns Red pulled through with what some might call a “sleeper hit” with the release of their 2007 album Messengers.

Two years later, the band is back with a monster follow-up, Constellations, another powerhouse that seems denser, yet more dynamic than the band’s previous releases.

“As always, the attempt was to write the best songs we could,” JB Brubaker says, one half the band’s guitar chops, and principle songwriter. “After touring on Messengers for two years, and listening and getting into a lot of different music, we wanted to try to do things a little differently, especially with the dynamic aspect. A lot of our favorite music is more on the chill side, and we love stuff like that so it only made sense to throw that into the mix.”

Brubaker took on the approach with his love of bands such as Cult of Luna and Isis – and it shows. The deeper one dives into Constellations, the more constructively built it becomes, without shedding any of the band’s “sleeper success” sound.

“Of course we still wanted it to be a metal-August Burns Red record,” Brubaker says via Skype. (The band was currently touring Europe at the time of interview.) “I think there’s a lot of ‘staple’ August Burns Red stuff going on. Cult of Luna is one of my favorite ‘heavy’ bands, and they do a ton of ambient quiet stuff.”

Tack bands like Explosions in the Sky, Arcade Fire and Interpol to Brubaker’s influences, and he’ll defend that he hasn’t been a short-term fan of the aforementioned “indie” bands. With Constellations, he has now found the time to let them show through.

“I guess the whole indie/post rock thing has struck a chord with many of us,” he says. “But that didn’t just happen in the past two years. We’ve always been a fan of that kind of music, [we] just haven’t really been able to work it into our music as much.”

The tracking of Constellations was also a conscious effort played into dynamics. “We wanted songs that ended in the same key to continue into the next song that started in that key,” Brubaker says, citing “The Escape Artist” into “Indonesia.”

Ask Brubaker about his favorite song off the record, and his answer is “Meridian,” a six-minute build that was less a jam, and more of a direct effort to push the band to a new level. It’s what Brubaker says is “closer to what I love in heavy music.”

According to Brubaker, the band’s bassist, and roommate, Dustin Davidson was skeptical when he heard him writing some of the song's parts. “’This sounds too doom for us,’ I believe was his reaction,” Brubaker says.

In the end though, the band were stoked on doing something different, and Brubaker likes how the track breaks up the final three tracks, which he feels "all hit pretty hard."

Constellations isn’t a concept lyrically, but more about Matt Greiner’s visual idea for the album. Griener, the band’s drummer and partial lyricist, says the concept art came to him one night when he was laying in bed.

“I had this picture in my head of a person playing tug-of-war with a star in the sky,” he says. “The person wanted more than anything to bring the star down to his level, to see and feel the star, up close and very personal.

“I also imagined these people flying kites in the same sky as the person pulling on the star. These people were very normal people enjoying the everyday breeze and the leisure of flying their kites. The thing that set these people apart from the person 'flying' the star was their direction, their purpose, if you will. The 'kite runners’ were facing all sorts of directions, and following their kites whichever way the breeze that day was blowing. The person 'following' the star was always focused on the star, nothing else.”

The idea came together, and can be seen from the cover to the inside linear notes. Griener says his lyrics “offer hope and a future. A 'way out' for people that feel like all is lost. Some lyrics are merely a call to action, while others tell actual stories of life and death, of complete surrender.” He cites “Indonesia” as the later example.

But his lyrics aren’t about the main idea he had for the album’s artwork. “We have the option of following our own abilities and allowing them to lead us through life,” he explains of the artwork. “But these abilities come in phases, and with these phases, we'll find ourselves lost and running every which way. However, when we focus our attention towards God, abilities come to light. They come into fruition and find their place in life. We are at that moment guided by the creator of the gifts and talents versus the talents themselves."

Second guitar onslaught and partial lyricist, Brent Rambler, penned many of his words in the moment. “Something would hit me, and I would write down as much as I could before I lost inspiration,” he says. “I would then go back over each of them numerous times until I felt good about them.

“A lot of what I write about deals with stuff that directly affects me,” he continues, “whether it is about ignorant festival promoters, or the passing of a loved one. I try to pick topics that aren't terribly typical, but people can still relate to them. I think a lot of my lyrics may come out sounding angry because they are so in the moment, and I think that helps capture the emotion behind them."

Filled out by vocalist Jake Luhrs, August Burns Red anticipate greater success with their new album. Brubaker says the band has “high expectations” and hopes Constellations “takes [them] up a notch career wise.”

“I genuinely believe that people are going to love the album and embrace the new elements we've incorporated into this record,” Brubaker says. “With that being said, perhaps it will take more than one listen to just ‘get’ everything. I've always thought of this genre as being one where you can hear it for the first time and go ‘Yo, that was freaking sweet.’”

And if it takes time for some listens to “get” the direction the band has moved towards, Brubaker says it’s all part of the genre they’re playing in. “I don’t think metal is unique in that regard,” he says of his previous statement. “There's not as much of a ‘grow on you’ factor as other genres, but at the same time, that’s why I think metal isn't as timeless as other genres. For that reason, I hope that there are parts that listeners need to hear a few times before they completely ‘get’ it. I think that will ultimately help the longevity of the album.”

Tags: august burns red, interview

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AP.net (LOST) Interview: Dredg

06/07/10 at 09:34 AM by Adam Pfleider

Before I started work here, I was freelancing at some other publications, and a few articles I did never surfaced. About a year ago I was able to sit down with Dredg to discuss The Paraia, The Parrot, The Delusion. Here's what I put together.

Dredg (LOST) ArticleComfort zones are woven into many of our lives. It’s what keeps us from adventure, but keeps us safe in our minds. In music, both instrumentally and ideological, comfort zones can unfortunately hold back an artist’s progression.

For the California quartet Dredg, their zone is constantly being broken, and on their fourth proper full length, they’re not playing it safe again and are trying to continue their journey past what they are already safe with doing.

“We felt like we could have taken Catch [Without Arms] and made it a little more unique, a little more dark,” says guitarist Mark Engles. “We got exactly what we wanted.”

What Dredg delivered is a traveler’s log made across three separate studios. The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion contains what some fans and critics say is their most “pop” music to date, but there’s something darker and brooding across the hour-long album. Engles, vocalist Gavin Hayes, bassist Drew Roulette and drummer Dino Campanella have pieced together something that Engles says was instrumentally mapped out since the beginning stages of demoing.

“I know having talks with some of the guys before we started writing, I knew I wanted it to be bit more darker for sure,” he says.
Dark isn’t the only way to describe the album’s mood. Hayes calls it “assertive,” and contains “positive undertones” and a “sense of hope.” Hayes says the description he hears best is “brightly dark music.”

While “Ireland” is specifically about leaving one’s comfort zone, the album’s content is lyrically based off an essay by Salman Rushdie called “A Letter to the Six Billionth Citizen.” The essay was in a book that Hayes borrowed from Roulette called The Portable Atheist, around Hayes’ early stages of writing for the album.

“It was such a short essay, but from beginning to end, it was encompassing everything I was already writing,” Hayes says. “I was seeing if we could mold a loose model around it…I just think human progress shouldn’t be doctrined by certain beliefs or certain religions. There are so many scientific and medial advancements that we could be further along with.”

Engles agrees. “How much of the world is just indoctrination? How many of those things [you know] are not true? How many people based their lives on non-truths?”

If the lyrical content of Pariah is thick with a marketplace of ideas, the music is equally matched. The band recorded in three different studios, each one a new inspiration of creativity.

First, The Plant Studios, a famous place for artists in the '70s. After some touring, the band set up shop at John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone, where Hayes says contained a lot of vintage gear that made you unable to do anything “regular.” After one more tour, the band ended their sessions at Barefoot Recording, a home studio, more relaxed for finishing the project.

While the band had material going into recording, Engles says the album took its color and shape in the studio sessions. Those sessions and ideas formed the “Stamp of Origin” tracks of the record as well. Hayes said the concept came out best on vinyl, as each track ends each side of the record.

“The ‘stamps’ are their own ideas that basically unfolded in the studio,” Hayes says. “For example, the song ‘Ocean Meets Bay,’ that was a whole other song, and the part that you hear is just the chorus. They were parts that we wanted to have on the record. We wanted to have this common thread throughout the record that kept reoccurring.”

For Engles, the “stamps” are “great accents.” Once the band did one, he says, they were up for doing more. “All of a sudden you realize, having accents on [the album creates] a record that doesn’t just have rock songs, it has some other glue on there, which makes it more interesting.”

That glue was missing from the last record, Hayes says, but it was done on purpose, and is just something the band realizes about how their audience attaches themselves to the band’s previous catalog, and the reaction they get from each new album.

“We didn’t want to regurgitate El Cielo [with our last album],” Hayes says. “It was kind of like rebelling against our own material, and that’s what we did on [Pariah]. We wanted to bring in elements of all our records.”

As for the “pop” criticism by some, Engles says it doesn’t affect him. “Gavin writes really catchy melodies, and people can consider that pop, but when you’re writing in a rock band and someone comes up with a melody, and it’s in your head for weeks at a time, what are you going to do, not use it because it’s too poppy?

“We find there’s a lag time for the appreciation of Dredg records, because when we were done touring for El Cielo, there was no hype. We were just some band that opened up for some other bands. Some people though we were interesting, but it wasn’t like a huge, ‘Oh my god, this is an amazing record!’ Then we made Catch Without Arms, and we put that out, and it’s more successful, but there’s all these people saying, ‘Oh, well, it’s not El Cielo.’”

For whatever the band’s new album is to their audience, they look at it as the next step in their progression as artists. They’re going to continue to keep the discussion of ideas alive and a creative, un-comfort-able career ahead.

Stay tuned every day this week for a new article/interview from the archives.

Tags: Interviews, AP.net, Dredg

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Sunday Thoughts: Lost and Blind

06/06/10 at 04:05 PM by Adam Pfleider

It's been an eventful weekend. By eventful, a trip home turned into somehow lacerating my eye and ending up laying in bed listening to Comedy Central stand-up and VH1 docs all weekend. Needless to say, I'm slowly regaining my sight.

Being half blind for about 48 hours has been interesting. First off, most technology (that stuff we take for granted every day of our existence) is off limits due to its bright lights. No computer, phone or television. Only blindly answering phone calls and listening to your thoughts, social commentary off ESPN or sleep (maybe something I desperately needed to catch up on anyway).

Hey, at least I had my hearing. Headphones intact, or iTunes running while I dozed off, there was still that central part of my life. In conclusion, I'd rather go blind than lose my hearing any day of the week. So kids, if you're up front for shows, start remembering to bring your earplugs.

I also want to take this time to say I'll be launching a feature tomorrow throughout the week entitled AP.net (LOST) Interviews. There are a few interviews that took a back seat to others and got lost in the mix. They were still really good articles and interviews that I think for the sake of the artists who took the time out to do them, should surface, even if it's a year or less later.

Be sure to check the front page and this blog for some archived/shelved talks. I won't reveal who, but I can say you'll be very pleased.

Kind of makes you think about the power of the Internet over print...

- love and respect.

Tags: Life, Interviews

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Late Night Thoughts: Wow!

04/30/10 at 02:28 AM by Adam Pfleider

Daryl: “The people who are only thinking about the record, they’re the same people who get mad when you play an hour and 15 minutes and then go to bed rather than playing an hour, walking off, coming back and playing 10 minutes. They are the same children who say, ‘You didn’t walk off and THEN play the last two!’” - Rock Sound

Sometimes it takes the actual band to say something many of us were thinking.

I love this band.

I cannot wait to see what surfaces.

When I get the chance to interview them, I think my first question is going to be "Is your mother a whore?" in an Andrew Dice Clay voice.

Then again, maybe they didn't watch ESPN like I did all day.

Tags: Late Night Thoughts, Glassjaw, Interview

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Late Night Thoughts: Progression Despite Aggression

04/05/10 at 01:09 AM by Adam Pfleider

So, I've only shot out three of the eleven interviews I did during the week of SXSW in the past two weeks. It's pathetic, and I'm not happy with myself. So here's the deal, below are the interviews I have queued in my recorder to sit down and transcribe. I can't tell you what will come first in being posted, but it's a way to look into the future. Unlike some interviews that ended up a hot mess, I can guarantee that all these will surface by the end of this month. I apologize to the readers of AP.net, the bands and my networks.

Interviews:
Fang Island
Builders and the Butchers
Kenny Vasoli (Person L)
RX Bandits
Look Mexico
Eisley
Rocky Votolato
Minus the Bear
Zechs Marquise
Ace Enders (ICMAMLNB)
Set Your Goals

Want to hear something more pathetic? I was going through my dictaphone to save space and realized I never sat down and transcribed my interview with Evan from Young Widows at last year's Fun Fun Fun Fest.

I put too much on my plate. I promise I'll have it all dished out soon. Only one review left on my queue for the month, so it's this and Five and Alive and that's it.

sorry about the wait.

- love and respect

Tags: Late Night Thoughts, Interviews

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Five and Alive: Wait, Wat?

01/08/10 at 12:15 PM by Adam Pfleider

I've had the privilege to interview some pretty interesting people this past year. One of the reasons I prefer interviews over reviews or any other writing is getting a perspective from the artists about their work. We all perceive music differently, sometimes I'll have an interview, and someone will say something that really makes me think for the next week, or even couple of months.

The past six months of interviews were pretty awesome, and I've definitely taken some advice from them. The lovely Deborah Remus has also given one of her choices to the pile this week. These are our favorite quotes from our 2009 interviews.

What quotes have you heard from an interview that really intrigued an internal discussion or you thought added to the marketplace of ideas? Doesn't even have to be an interview we did here on Absolutepunk or a direct quote if you can't remember it. How did it shape your opinion of music or the industry in the end?

=====

1) Frank Turner - 10.1.09 - “I think that it’s [punk rock] that sort of invades your life. When you get into it when you’re younger and grow up with it, it’s kind of there no matter what you’re doing or where you go.”

I’ve been told that I’m going to grow out of it completely, but to be honest all I’ve done is discover more bands and get more involved. I hate using myself as an example because I’m only 19, but I’ve had the opportunity to meet some people in their 40’s who are in bands or own record labels. Some of these guys have gone to university and worked towards degrees in law and zoology, but at the end of the day they’re working with punk bands and they love Broadway Calls just as much as I do. These are the people that make this quote from Frank Turner a reality and it’s comforting to know this really isn't a trend. It “invades your life” more than I think anyone ever imagined it would. (Deborah Remus)

2) Jacob Bannon (Converge - 12.3.09) - "...just leave your own mark in this world. That's it. Let it be a positive one. It's really, truly as simple as that. If you stick to that, and you stay focused on that as an individual and the positive aspects of life and positive music...just positive anything. There's so much negativity in this world, I just don't want us to help spread that."

I've never been a person about money. It seems that we live in a society based on our wallet as opposed to our merit. Sure, I'd love to live comfortably, but both in financial terms and peace of mind. Anytime I go into doing work, whether for this site, serving part time or writing in general, I put my best into it. I want people to walk away from it ready to discuss what they read with their community. Whether they agree or disagree with statements made, a progressive discussion is all I hope to leave behind. For Bannon to say this about his band leaving behind that sort of legacy really hit me hard, and was the one thing I took the most away from in my interviews last year, and will carry in my career from this point forward.

3) Cathy Pellow (Sargent Houes - 09.5.09) - "We believe very much so in fostering “community,” and have such a great respect and appreciation for the fans of our bands."

There's not enough praise I can give for how Sargent House is run, and the roster it contains. It reminds me of older labels like Dischord, BYO and Touch and Go, where there were heavy hitters and smaller gems that were worth discovering in the roster. Pellow has been a network of mine since the beginning of my writing career, and she has always been very welcoming to my coverage whether I was writing for a smaller site or this one. As for the "community" thing, it's something that far extends that of a label, but the "community" of family, friends and even users who further discuss their ideas on this site. Journalistic integrity aside, consider me the Jonathan Lally of Sargent House.

4) Kevin Devine - 10.29.09 - "I think there's a lot of good music out and plenty of people looking to enrich their lives listening to it and seeing it live. I don't think anyone will sell 10 million copies of anything musically ever again, but I do think people have never had more access to music, more ways to find out about bands, and I think people will keep seeking out things to enhance or mirror their experience, or to provide a social context, a way to meet like-minded people, a night out. So I think, I hope, if you keep making things of a certain quality that you like and believe in, people will find you."

I'll never get sick of talking to Devine. Whether it's the numerous interviews, or just off the cuff conversations we've had, he's constantly got something thought provoking to say. Even though I'll be the first to admit that the music scene is quite flooded, and no one really has time to grasp a new band for more than a couple of seconds, let alone be able to afford the numerous shows and tours as of late, Devine makes a point that music is okay, and there is plenty of us seeking out the good and sifting out the bad. He also denotes that the good will strive forward with hard work and quality art. The next decade is safe. No one panic! (at the disco...)

5) Jade Puget - 11.23.09 - "We have long since begun not to worry about people wanting us to stay the same, because they should know by now we are not going to. This is who we are, and we're not going to make the same record again. If those people like a certain record, or a certain sound, then they can just listen to that record."

I had a friend who hated the new AFI album. He's been a fan ever since I can remember. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was one of my friends that got me into them. Well, he sort of denounced the band after Crash Love, until he read my interview and what Puget had to say about his attitude and many others. It changed his thought process, and gave him a new found respect for the band. It's not so much the quote, which I think says a lot about fans of bands like Say Anything, Thursday, Thrice, etc., but the fact that the quote retreated back to a positive influence in someone's thought process (see #2 choice quote).

Tags: Five and Alive, Interview

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Feature Reminder and End of the Year

12/07/09 at 12:04 PM by Adam Pfleider

Hey guys. Just a reminder, I have two things running this week. This ends Wednesday. I will announce the winner in the forum late Wednesday night.

Also, don't forget about our AP.net Photog 2009 feature. One thing about this though. I'm not sure why I'm getting so many photos for Madina Lake, but I'll probably only feature two, three at most. Other than that, the submissions look great. I'll be dong a blog this week with photos I've done this year, and leave the feature to you guys.

I have about 6 more interviews coming at you, and Drew's big New Found Glory interview coming before the end of the year. The ideas and line-up of interviews for next year are already being stacked - so get excited!

Happy Holidays my friends. I love you all!

Tags: interview, AP.net, feature, contest

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Special Weekend Edition of Weekly Industry Blog

12/01/09 at 09:11 PM by Adam Pfleider

Here's my interview with Cursive guitarist Ted Stevens. After my initial questions, I let the recorder keep going and Ted and I talked a bit about the future of this industry. Maybe it's relevant, or maybe we were just having a simple conversation.

Anyway, I have my interview with Tim Kasher tomorrow coming at you, and my interview with Jacob Bannon of Converge for you on Thursday. That said, join me this weekend for some snidbits of the post-interview conversation with Mr. Stevens.

That's all.

love and respect.

got to get this damn end of the year list done!

Tags: interview, cursive, weekly blog, music industry

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Late Night Thougts: Interviews

11/19/09 at 01:33 AM by Adam Pfleider

I am so fucking stoked for the interviews we have before the year's end! The next few weeks are going to be some big hitters. Promise!

Thanks for reading. Thanks for listening to good music. Thanks for just being excited about music in general!

We have so much coming at you, it'll make your screens crashhdsfjlaskjdflkjslkdjfksjdfksjd f..sdi20rwefkdfms

love and respect!

Tags: Late Night Thoughts, Interviews

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Big Update!

11/02/09 at 10:32 AM by Adam Pfleider

Are your stomachs aching from all that candy? It's okay. Like everything, that too shall pass.

This week, expect my 40 minute interview with These Arms Are Snakes tomorrow. Oh, and I'm reviewing some big album for the site that will go up late tonight when I get off work. It's some huge band I've never heard of, it's no Beach Boys, but it's okay - I guess.

My interview with John Nolan will be up on Thursday, and a special guest Five and Alive will go up Friday, because there's still so much more good music to discover!

This weekend I will be attending Austin's fourth annual Fun Fun Fun Fest. I will be conducting interviews with just Young Widows and Coalesce because there are so many bands I want to see to show you guys, that I felt that was more important.

I'll be interviewing Converge next week, and hopefully that band I'm reviewing in the week to come.

Now, for some me time: In the following months, I will be completing 90% of the interviews I've been waiting for so I can finish my book. In January, I'll be taking a leave from the site (popping up here and there) to completely focus on finishing the majority of the book, probably sans two chapters. I will be looking to tentatively release some self published copies at a showcase for South by Southwest this year. We'll see. Who knows what the future brings.

Other than that, thanks for reading! Life is good, and music is greater. Being alive is the best!

love and respect

Tags: Update, Book, Interviews

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Fun Fun Fun Fest Coverage/Interviews

10/21/09 at 12:28 PM by Adam Pfleider

I will be covering this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest for the site.

I will be setting up interviews with HEALTH, Dead Confederate, Young Widows, and hopefully Coalesce (will be interviewing them for my book, but waiting to hear back from Sean if we'll have time for a proper for the site).

I'd like to hear your input though. Is there anyone on the line-up you guys really want to hear from? I'll be setting up interviews this week, so speak now, or forever not hear from....

Tags: Fun Fun Fun Fest, User Input, Interview

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Halloween Treat

10/21/09 at 10:31 AM by Adam Pfleider

I have both my interview and the user interview back from Kevin Devine.

This is no trick...they will be your Halloween treat next week.

Keep reading.

More to come.

love and respect.

Tags: Fun, Kevin Devine, Interview

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