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| SUPER bob from let to right: Drew Recny, Matt Santoro, Adam Smith, Chris Faircloth |
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| Us with Matt Santoro and Adam Smith. Amazingly genuine and humble people. [Spencer McCoy Photography 2013] |
Showing posts with label sum 41. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sum 41. Show all posts
Friday, July 5, 2013
Live Review for TRAPT's opening band SUPER bob
July 3, 2012 was quite an interesting night. Me and my friends Stephen and Brandon, along with my brother Devan, all headed to Charlotte for a Trapt concert in Amos' Southend Bar. We were excited; it was Devan's first concert and the rest of us had been itching to go to another show. I was excited for Trapt, but I had heard that the opening bands were nothing to ignore either. However, I remembered being pleasantly surprised when I saw Carl Dylan and IAMDYNAMITE open for heavy rockers Sum 41 after hearing very little about them, so I decided not to research these opening bands very much for the same reason. I decided to listen to two songs from each band and I didn't research any more or less than that. The first band I will be reviewing are the rap-rock hellions SUPER bob.
Immediately upon their entry to the stage, I recognized the devious quartet. With their crazy hair styles and numerous amounts of tattoos, they were very distinguishable. Considering that they are a rock band, this is a very good thing. Frontman Matt Santoro, sporting his black-and-red dreadlocks, (which I think by the end of the show, everyone came to love) approached the audience with varying questions, such as the typical pump-you-up type of questions like "Are you ready to make some noise tonight?" and other unexpected, humorous and sarcastic questions like "Who here likes Taylor Swift?". He had a great stage presence; I told Stephen before they even started playing that he reminded me of the famous punk vocalist Iggy Pop. When they started playing their first song, the entire audience was captivated. I will try to paint the picture that is SUPER bob the best I can, but you must see them in action to truly experience it. Imagine the most energetic band you could ever see, and then try to picture something better than that. Bassist Drew Recny laid down thumping rhythms flawlessly while spinning around like a top for almost the entire song. Guitarist Adam Smith, with his beautiful PRS guitars, played catchy industrial-chug metal riffs remiscent of Wisconsin Death Trip-era Static-X and industrial metalheads Powerman 5000. Holding the entire band together was drummer Chris Faircloth, who played super-tight disco beats that made the entire crowd move. These guys looked liked the real deal on stage; a true rock band. Adam Smith is a viking and towers over the crowd; not to mention he makes the best facial expressions in rock history. Matt spit unapologetic, machine-gun fire pace lines that set the audience on fire, with a voice similar to Sonny Sullivan of nu metallers P.O.D. Standouts in their performance were songs "Super Fly", "Freak", "Cali", "Hollywood", and their rendition of LMFAO's "Sexy And I Know It", which they absolutely tore up and made their own. Honestly their cover was better than the original, by far. They explained very often during their show that they were thankful for the packed audience, and that they "had the best job in the world"; it was obvious to many that they really were passionate about what they were doing. I would not be afraid to say that SUPER bob is unlike any other live act you will ever see, and they are likely to be one of the best, if not THE best live act you will ever see. I have never heard a band before that was able to channel the spontaneity of bands such as System of a Down and the rap-rock angry style of Rage Against the Machine with such fierce velocity and professionalism. They're everything Limp Bizkit wishes they could be and much more. Go out, see them live, and buy their eponymous 2011 release today!
Friday, June 28, 2013
Revisiting an old friend...
...Figuratively, of course. Or is it really? Music is something that affects people in different ways. There are certain songs out there, certain artists that you feel extra attached to. You have different memories, feelings, and the like attached to certain songs and artists. I can't help but think the first decent song an artist ever created leaves a certain strong feeling of nostalgia and wonder.
This is sort of how I'm feeling about this song. When I first started learning guitar my freshman year of high school, I didn't really expect it to become a heavy part of my future. I didn't really think about that at all when I was learning the infamous riff of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water". I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I learned my first full song; as I finished playing Sum 41's "Makes No Difference" I remember that feeling that was unlike anything else. Even then, I didn't really think music, and my guitar, would become a friend. When I was upset, I turned to it. Breakups, family issues, stress; they all could be, at least in the moment, forgotten by playing guitar. I really first started writing lyrics towards the end of 2010.
I didn't know anything about making songs of my own. I started with the lyrics first; I kept writing and writing and writing and I eventually had about 45 pages of lyrics, with no music devoted to any of it. Some of the would-be songs I had melodies in my head developed for, but most of them are just really bad poetry really. One day while I was sitting in the basement of my old house, I remember coming up with this super-simple acoustic thing. I liked it a lot though, and eventually I developed some lead rhythms over it as well as chords that marked a transition in the song. For once, I realized I was starting to write something that maybe wasn't completely terrible.
I really started to feel it....It was unexplainable how the process works, but I just sort of listened to what I was playing, and let my heart open up and create the words. It all happened really quickly. I was excited to see that most songwriters sort of do this; I recall watching Elliott Smith and Sum 41 videos where Elliott and Deryck (jn individual videos, obviously) mentioned how it worked for them in similar ways.
I came up with this concept of low self-esteem. I was battling with self-esteem at the time so it just seemed to come natural to me to write about it. I don't want to go much deeper than that into the meaning because I'd rather people take what they want from the song once it's recorded, but I ended up with the hook:
"But I'll tell you your light
Is radiating so bright
And I'll warn you, I'd lie
If it would make you see that I don't want to be invisible"
This marks the time that I become a chorus writer. Ever since this first half-way decent songwriting session, I have almost always written the chorus to the song before any other written words. Verses are so much more challenging. I finished the song rather quickly, in a couple of days. I didn't know much about music at all and my musical ear was still developing, but I felt that what I had was good enough to put out there and show people. I'm glad, looking back now, that this Audacity-and-RockBand-microphone-recorded product was labelled "Invisible Man (The Mask) [[DEMO]]" because I realized that despite the four or five downloads and about 120 or so plays, it was a pretty horrible song in its entirety.
I didn't realize at the time but a lot of my guitar parts were out of key and the lyrics gradually became of less and less quality through the song. After its release and initial small hype, I sort of ignored the song until I listened to it again yesterday (June 27, 2013) for the first time in about two years. After deleting the song from my online music-hosting sites, I re-taught myself how to play the guitar parts and went to working on it again.
Now with a fixed first verse and a new verse and alternate chorus, I think I'm actually happy with this song. I'm ready to re-record and put it out there again. If any of you guys remember listening to this song, first off let me say I'm sorry because it was awful but this finished product will be much much better. I'm excited to see how the recording process unfolds.
My page that the song will be posted onto is located here:
https://soundcloud.com/two-eyes-open
This is sort of how I'm feeling about this song. When I first started learning guitar my freshman year of high school, I didn't really expect it to become a heavy part of my future. I didn't really think about that at all when I was learning the infamous riff of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water". I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I learned my first full song; as I finished playing Sum 41's "Makes No Difference" I remember that feeling that was unlike anything else. Even then, I didn't really think music, and my guitar, would become a friend. When I was upset, I turned to it. Breakups, family issues, stress; they all could be, at least in the moment, forgotten by playing guitar. I really first started writing lyrics towards the end of 2010.
I didn't know anything about making songs of my own. I started with the lyrics first; I kept writing and writing and writing and I eventually had about 45 pages of lyrics, with no music devoted to any of it. Some of the would-be songs I had melodies in my head developed for, but most of them are just really bad poetry really. One day while I was sitting in the basement of my old house, I remember coming up with this super-simple acoustic thing. I liked it a lot though, and eventually I developed some lead rhythms over it as well as chords that marked a transition in the song. For once, I realized I was starting to write something that maybe wasn't completely terrible.
I really started to feel it....It was unexplainable how the process works, but I just sort of listened to what I was playing, and let my heart open up and create the words. It all happened really quickly. I was excited to see that most songwriters sort of do this; I recall watching Elliott Smith and Sum 41 videos where Elliott and Deryck (jn individual videos, obviously) mentioned how it worked for them in similar ways.
I came up with this concept of low self-esteem. I was battling with self-esteem at the time so it just seemed to come natural to me to write about it. I don't want to go much deeper than that into the meaning because I'd rather people take what they want from the song once it's recorded, but I ended up with the hook:
"But I'll tell you your light
Is radiating so bright
And I'll warn you, I'd lie
If it would make you see that I don't want to be invisible"
This marks the time that I become a chorus writer. Ever since this first half-way decent songwriting session, I have almost always written the chorus to the song before any other written words. Verses are so much more challenging. I finished the song rather quickly, in a couple of days. I didn't know much about music at all and my musical ear was still developing, but I felt that what I had was good enough to put out there and show people. I'm glad, looking back now, that this Audacity-and-RockBand-microphone-recorded product was labelled "Invisible Man (The Mask) [[DEMO]]" because I realized that despite the four or five downloads and about 120 or so plays, it was a pretty horrible song in its entirety.
I didn't realize at the time but a lot of my guitar parts were out of key and the lyrics gradually became of less and less quality through the song. After its release and initial small hype, I sort of ignored the song until I listened to it again yesterday (June 27, 2013) for the first time in about two years. After deleting the song from my online music-hosting sites, I re-taught myself how to play the guitar parts and went to working on it again.
Now with a fixed first verse and a new verse and alternate chorus, I think I'm actually happy with this song. I'm ready to re-record and put it out there again. If any of you guys remember listening to this song, first off let me say I'm sorry because it was awful but this finished product will be much much better. I'm excited to see how the recording process unfolds.
My page that the song will be posted onto is located here:
https://soundcloud.com/two-eyes-open
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