Motion City Soundtrack (April 19th, 2010)

The Dino Initiative Tour! Fantastic night all around, and it was starting to get awesome before we were even out of the parking lot- Cause see, we were playing a song by Motion City Soundtrack pretty loudly (I think it was Capital H), and this guy came over and told us that not only had he been listening to the same song, but our stereo picked up right where his left off! What are the chances of that? He was a pretty cool dude, made standing in line a lot more interesting than usual. The coolest part of the wait, though, was when Matt Taylor walked by and said hi; that was awesome for sure. I had my camera bag with me and when Lyle did my X's he asked what kind of camera it was; thanks to my friend Devan I knew exactly what he was looking for (removable lenses) and as I suspected, it wasn't allowed at the show. It wasn't too much a bummer though, cause he was really cool about it. Even with having to take that out to the car (that is, walking all the way to the other end of the block) I was still able to get pretty close to the stage when I came back in. I felt a little out of place a couple times, cause I was recognizing songs playing over the loudspeaker when no one else was - like Taste Of Ink by The Used and Feathers by Coheed and Cambria. What really surprised me was when I didn't see anyone else singing along to Sweetness to Jimmy Eat World. It was strange. The guy in front of me glanced back for a minute and he was singing along too, so that made for a kind of funny moment. It was cool too, though.
Sing It Loud played first; I wasn't too familiar with their music, but I was definitely won over by the end. They had so much enthusiasm- it was a really great thing to see, and pretty infectious too. The fangirls were pretty annoying, but it wasn't too bad... But for the record, kids, you're not supposed to scream DURING the song. Just sayin'.
A Rocket To The Moon played next, they were alright. No one seemed all that sure who fun. were, but they quickly learned of their awesomeness. A Rocket To The Moon was kind of a lull in enthusiasm for me, but fun. amped it up again. Oddly enough, the singer kind of reminded me of the singer from Cage The Elephant at times. I think it was the sunglasses.
While the crew was setting up for Motion City Soundtrack, the guy standing behind me actually hit on me. That's never happened to me before, haha. Cause he tapped on my shoulder, and when I turned and looked at him, he was like, "...'Sup?" and did that weird nodding thing at guys like that do... Where they kind of lift their chin? Haha I don't know. I had no idea how to actually respond, so I just smiled at him and went back to watching them set up. Hahaha, I fail so hard at social skills. But seriously, what was I supposed to say? What I was thinking was, "I'm at a Motion City Soundtrack concert. What do you THINK is up?" but that seemed, um, rude. But anyway... Motion City Soundtrack were, of course, absolutely spectacular. I love those guys so much. They are definitely one of my favorite bands of all time. I was fiercely proud to know every word to every song- it might seem kind of trivial and maybe even a little elitist to some people, but it's important to me. At one point, the guy who hit on me decided it would be a great idea to mosh and almost knocked me over. I got kinda pissed and shoved him, but later on he made a peace offering in the form of a fist-bump. For real. I harbored no ill will towards him though, and I did feel kinda bad about pushing him, so I accepted his peace offering. It was incredibly cheesy (he wasn't even being ironic) but it was kind of nice too. After the show (and the encore) I went to buy a shirt, but I got distracted by Tony. Hehe, I met Tony Thaxton! I love him, he's so sweet and cool and awesome. I have a lot of enthusiasm for Tony. There's not even any substantial logic behind it; I just adore him in a "We should be best friends foreverrrrr" sort of way. I got him to sign my Commit This To Memory booklet, and I got a hug as well! I wasn't able to get a picture at first cause I didn't have my camera, and though my brother Daniel has a camera phone, he was buying merch. (A button pack, a vinyl, and a kazoo.) I was able to catch up to Tony later though. Actually, he kind of caught up to us, cause I went to buy the t-shirt I wanted and he was standing right next to me talking with some other fans the whole time, so I was able to get a picture after Daniel got his vinyl signed. After that we met Josh, and then we could've met Justin, but I was really nervous and so I detoured and talked to Matt first. After that, Jesse was no where in sight, so Justin was next. He had a crowd around him, so we just kind of merged with that, waiting patiently for him to get to us... Meanwhile, I was slowly becoming terrified of screwing up. When he turned and saw us, I panicked a tiny bit, but I was also half in love with him just watching him communicating with his own special brand of sign language. (He had to save his voice. He loses it a lot.) Not actually in love with him, just a sort of chest-constricting affection. I don't know why but I find just about everything he does endearing. Fortunately, I didn't freak out or say anything stupid; I did momentarily forget how to form proper sentences, but I recovered while he was signing my booklet. I got a hug and a picture as well, cause he's awesome and, as I learned the first time I met him, he's also an absolute sweetheart. I feel as though I've said that about someone else, but Justin is seriously so kind and nice. I think I may have actually told him that I was nervous. I'm pretty sure I did. I wonder if he saw that my hands were shaking? I seriously don't know why he has that effect on me. I am legitimately in awe of the short little Midwesterner with glasses and crazy hair. I don't understand it at all. I've met, like, Fred Mascherino, previously of Taking Back Sunday, and I wasn't awestruck. I was nervous, but nothing like with Justin Pierre. It's a little strange. I really do love him though, and I'm happy that he's doing well these days.
I also met Joe, the photographer who was shooting Motion City Soundtrack's set. He was also taking pictures of the crowd, and I know I'm in a few of those shots! Haha. He was a cool guy, and it's always good to meet my elders and betters in my hopeful future profession, right?
While waiting for Jesse to appear, I got a couple of the guys from fun. to sign my ticket. I'm not 100% sure of their names, but they were keyboardist and the drummer, and both of them were really rad. When Jesse finally put in an appearance, almost everyone was gone; it was kinda funny, cause there were probably more than two hundred people there originally, but there was about half a dozen of us still left waiting for him. We're the diehards, you see ;)
When he showed up, everyone still waiting turned and immediately gravitated towards him. This one girl was kinda laughing about how we were all practically running up to him, but being really self-conscious about it too and sort of mock-casual. I didn't tell him about how he really got me interested in playing keyboard, cause it seemed pretty pointless when you consider that I still don't even own a keyboard. It was awesome meeting him though. After that, Daniel and I finally left the venue (you don't want to get in the way when they're mopping) and put our purchases in the car; I retrieved my camera and we headed back to hang out at the Sing It Loud tent. I talked to their adorable bass player, Nate, and told him how much I enjoyed his performance. He's crazy onstage, haha. I also got him to sign my ticket, and even though he misspelled my name I don't really mind, cause what he wrote was, "Amy, you're awesome". Hey, Tony Thaxton basically has his own alphabet (have you seen his signature?), so I really don't care too much if someone happens to misspell my name once in awhile, especially when they write something nice. Hehe. (Though admittedly, I was rather charmed that one time when I met the folks from Headlights and Tristan made sure he spelled it correctly... But I digress.) There was still no sign of Nate and Emily from fun., so we assumed that they'd wound up at a bar like the keyboardist had said they might. Everyone was packing up, so we decided to leave, and as we were heading to the car they walked right past us. Daniel and I looked at each other, thought about it for a minute, and turned to follow them. Fortunately for us, some other people recognized them, so we felt a lot less stalkerish after those people stopped to talk with them. Hoorah for non-stalkerishness! After I got them to sign my ticket and Daniel got them to sign his CD booklet, we finally headed for the car. Definitely an awesome night.

What else could I be... all apologies

I've got three other posts in process right now, about various subjects, but this is something I really wanted to contribute my two cents on: Robert Pattison to play Kurt Cobain
Not that MY opinion matters, but I do not approve of this. At all.
I don't know who could play Kurt, really... But I am dying to point out the fact that Ronnie Vannucci was practically BORN to play Krist Novoselic. FOR REAL. He's, like, a CLONE. I am dying from his perfectness for the role. Compare photos of those two. Ronnie is absolutely perfect. (Even if he is Italian.)

But really. Robert Pattison? That sucks. I hope it fails miserably. Except it won't. And all the Twilight fans will be like, "Oh, well, Nirvana is SOOOOO awesome!!!!" and they won't even be sincere. This is seriously frustrating the life out of me, and I feel like such an elitist for it. YES! I am a raging elitist, okay?! I just really hate when people take something of value and turn it into profits.
Nirvana is by no means my favorite band, but I remember listening to Nevermind and so many times I'd think, "I'd love to learn to play that." "Oh, that sounds cool." "Dude, I have to learn guitar." It wasn't until then that I really got attached to the idea of actually being a musician. At that point, it was guitar. That fall, I saw Motion City Soundtrack + I Was Totally Destroying It, and I started leaning more towards keyboard, but it was with Nirvana that I first wanted to not only listen to music, but to play it as well. They're important to me, and something about the idea of 'Edward Cullen' portraying one of my heroes makes me slightly sick. Then again, maybe I'm just making a big deal about nothing...

I leave that to you to decide.

There's nothing I hate more then regrets.

In fact, I hate them so much that I couldn't even come up with a song lyric that applies. Shocking. I hate that feeling that I should've said or done something differently or not at all. I hate that I can't let it go, no matter how small and unimportant it is. I hate thinking that maybe I won't have a second chance. And I absolutely, positively hate the fact that no matter what I do, I always look back and feel as though I've made a mistake. This time around, there are so many things I wish I'd told Ben - That he made a depressing evening into a spectacular one. That it was so much fun to watch him join in on the drums. I really, REALLY wish I'd told him about the drum circles. Cause, see, I'm delusional, and I've decided that telling him that would tempt him to come back. Ridiculous, right? I got to talk to Ben Grubin, and all I can think about is what I really should've said. Stupid little things I wish I'd said. But what if I don't get a second chance? It's not just Ben. It's never just one thing...
Aaron Marsh. He was right there. I literally walked right past him and I didn't know what to say... So I didn't say anything. And now I don't get a second chance. And even when I do, sometimes I still don't take it...
Jon Foreman, for instance. I've met him TWICE now and I still haven't told him that he's one of my favorite people in the world, that Switchfoot has changed my outlook, that when I hear "Dare You To Move" I remember I'm alive, really alive.
Stephen Christian. I really did intend to tell him how much he's helped me through the problems I've had in the past, but when I met him I couldn't quite do it. I just didn't know how. I don't really know how to tell anyone about that time in my life, not the full extent of it... But if I could figure it out, he'd be the one I'd tell. The one I'd trust to understand and to care and to really grasp how much he'd helped me out.

...still trying to figure out that song lyric.

They say, "That kid, he's got soul..."

Yeah, I know that's a line from a Cobra Starship song. But it fits. This is a new song that Hockey played Friday night. This video is from their show in Brussels, but it's the same song.




There's no way to explain what I'm trying to explain without it sounding strange, but no one is going to read this anyway... So here goes. Alright. The song. The slow parts, where he would sway and bow his head... I could feel his voice, the sound vibrations... But it was more than that. I could feel his passion, and I got chills. Funny, right? Of all the shows I've gone to, of all the bands I've seen, it's Hockey setting me all a-shiver. Well, we all know I'm a little odd, and this is just further proof of that. But there's something about him, you know?

Tomorrow's just a song away...

HOCKEYYYY. Fantastic show. The bands that they've been touring with were playing at SXSW today, so the opening act was a guy that the bass player knew, a local musician by the name of Ryan Sheffield. He was cool. I couldn't help but wonder if he's going to be the next Bob Dylan. I don't know what I'm talking about though, so don't mind me. Hockey were AWESOME, I've never come so close to full-out dancing in public, haha. It was a particularly amazing achievement tonight, because I was so depressed and lonely when I first got there. It seemed like everyone was part of a group except for me. That Ryan, though... Not only was he a great performer, but it was also a LOT of fun watching him and his girlfriend dancing during Hockey's set! Haha, such an adorable couple. Definitely helped me loosen up a bit, plus totally cheered me up as well. They looked like they were having such a good time, I couldn't help but smile. It actually worked out for me, not being part of a big group, cause after the show my brother and I got to hang out with Ben. He was seriously so, so sweet- even though he was sick, he still stayed and talked with us for a little while. He's a cool guy for sure. I hope the sunshine today and the hug last night made him feel better. You never would've guessed he was feeling under the weather from his performance; he did really well. I thought it was kinda cute that he had to stand on his tiptoes to make the harmonica reach the microphone. Hehe. But anyway... They all did really great, I'm just mainly talking about him cause he was right in front of me during their set, and he was the one I spent the most time with afterwards. They're all very cool guys, very friendly and awesome. There was an interesting moment with the keyboardist in which he was just inches away when I looked him in the eye and thanked him. See, I was on the floor and he was leaning off the stage, where he'd been packing up his gear. I didn't realize he was quite that close when I looked up from my ticket... Hopefully he didn't feel I was invading his personal space. It wasn't intentional, anyway.

The evening started with feeling lonely and ended hanging out with Ben Grubin...
I think that's a fair trade-off.

Headlights + David Bazan (March 18th, 2010)

Absolutely terrific bands, and in a fantastic venue as well! I'd been to The Grey Eagle once before and liked it immediately; I appreciated it even more this time around. It's chill environment makes it a great place not only to see bands, but also to hang out before and after the show. Plus, the french fries are delicious. But anyway. Both bands were amazing; I'd first heard of Headlights because Mason posted a video of theirs on the a'tris blog; I investigated them further afterwards (including their Daytrotter Sessions) and then just kinda lucked out in the fact that they were stopping in Asheville. I wasn't at all familiar with Dave's work before the show; I had heard of Pedro The Lion before, but never really checked them out. Bit of failure on my part, but it worked out anyway. Something about the vibe made me way more outgoing than usual; I spoke up during Dave's Q&A, which is something I'd never do ordinarily. It definitely led to a bad case of the giggles later though, haha... You see, I was a tad bit mischievous with my question. Ordinarily I never would've done this, mind you; but see, I'd been.. er... admiring his drummer, Alex, all evening, so when Dave asked if anyone had any questions, I just had to ask... "Does Alex have a girlfriend?" (For the record, he does. Hahaha.)
When he walked past me later on, I looked innocently at the ceiling. I couldn't be sure that he'd recognize me as the one who inquired, but the blushing probably would've given me away. ;)
I got 75% of Headlights to sign my ticket; I missed Brett, I wasn't quite fast enough I guess. They're all really cool folks though. Now, if I could just figure out who Tristan reminds me of... Erin was so nice too, and she had awesome boots! They said they'd be coming back, I'm looking forward to it.

The Used (February 22nd, 2010)

Absolutely awesome show, definitely a lot of fun - after Drive A's set, anyway. No offense intended, they just weren't my thing. Plus that crazy frontman of theirs got a ton of people crowdsurfing. NOT COOL. I'm 5'5. I get kicked in the head a lot. So yeah. Atreyu were pretty rad though. My brother likes them more than I do, but I've always liked Brandon's vocals, so it was cool seeing them. They all seem like awesome guys, so I'm glad that the crowd responded well to them. (Unlike poor Silverstein last November... I'm SO SORRY, you guys...) The big event for me was obviously The Used, though, and they were seriously amazing. Definitely worth the $25 tickets. Quinn Allman was standing in front of me. Cause I was in the second row. Cause I have mad crowd-navigating skills. QUINN ALLMAN.


HIM. Only with a beard. And a bear shirt. Rawwwr bear shirt rawwwwr.
Haha I'm sorry. I've loved him forever so this is kind of a huge deal for me.
...QUINN ALLMAN.

Okay. So anyway.
I love them all equally. Except I love him more.
AND JEPHA. JEPHA IS AN ANGEL.
Okay. Sorry. Back to the show. They played all my favorite songs, awesomely enough - Taste Of Ink, All That I've Got, and Blue And Yellow (!!!)
AND. For the encore they played On My Own and Box Of Sharp Objects. So, yeah, basically an EPIC show. AND ALSO. GUESS WHAT. I got one of Quinn's guitar picks. For real. Cause first it almost fell down the front of my shirt and I tried to catch it but it fell on the floor, but I was able to retrieve it later on by sort of, you know, standing on it. Sneaky but effective. And it's scratched up in places from Quinn using it, which just makes it so much more awesome. Haha. I'm sorry, I must seem like such a fangirl right now. Everyone else was awesome too, of course! Dan currently has really long hair and a beard so he looked like Jesus while he was drumming. That was odd, especially when you consider some of the things Bert was saying. I think the fact that it was Bert is explanation enough as to why I won't repeat most of what he said here. He did say that this wouldn't the last time that Asheville saw his face, so yeah- we impressed Bert McCracken. Score.
After the show I almost met Brandon from Atreyu but he seemed pretty preoccupied with his phone, so I opted to leave him in peace and to go ahead and get in line to meet the guys from The Used. They were super nice, especially Jepha! He was really friendly and tried to assure me that there was nothing to be nervous about (I was shaking like a leaf). He's a sweetheart for sure. Bert was really nice too, which to be honest kind of surprised me. It's weird when someone who behaves the way he does onstage turns out to be a (mostly) normal person. Definitely a cool guy though. When I met Quinn I was practically too nervous to talk... I could barely even look him in the eye. I really hope he didn't think I didn't like him or something. Then again it's quite possible that I was grinning like an idiot the whole time. I think I probably was. But anyway... The guys liked my drawing too. Bert asked if they could keep it, to which I replied "Of course!!" And Jepha thought it was cool how I worked the logo in with the roots. Such awesome people, and definitely an amazing night. :)

How do you get from Aaron Carter to a'tris?
Wellllll.... Blame Patrick Stump. (Thanks Patrick!)

Five years, right here. This, my friends, is the story of my musical evolution. And it's going to be incredibly long, so don't read this if you're bored easily... Don't say I didn't warn you.

Alright, so basically, I was raised on classic rock. The Eagles, for example. (Everytime I hear Hotel California, man... It just all comes back to me!!) I didn't listen to much in the way of music at all when left to my own devices. What was I interested in before music? I can't even remember. Barbie dolls, I think. Haha. Okay, sooo, fast forward to the summer of '04. (That puts me at ten years old, ladies and gentlemen. Ten years old. So cut me some slack.) I spent the month of June at my grandparents' house in Arkansas. It was definitely a lot of fun - that was the summer I caught my first and only fish (though the little bugger STABBED me with his fins), my cousin Shane and I invented a game where we were half-ninja, half-vampire warriors (We were vampires waaaaay before it was trendy) and I was exposed to modern music. Which actually wasn't that great, but it served its purpose... See, my cousin Tisha, who's two years older than me, was really super into Aaron Carter at the time, so by association I got into Aaron Carter as well. Shameful, I know. Haha. After that I got into a whole bunch of pop music - Jesse McCartney (Dear god.... I absolutely LOVED him), Hilary Duff, stuff like that. I was just your average obnoxious eleven year old who thinks they have good taste in music. I just feel bad for the people who had to live with me at the time. Haha.
Well, that wore on for about a year. And then one evening I was listening to the radio (it was this really tiny, lame boombox type thing) and I heard a song that I thought was really, really cool. It was called...


*dramatic pause*


Sugar, We're Goin' Down.

Well, that was it for me. I got the album and I absolutely loved it, and I never really felt the same about Jesse McCartney after that. He just seemed so.... lame. Fall Out Boy were so cool and talented and interesting. This was 2005, in September I believe, and it opened up a whole new world. Taking Back Sunday, The Used, The Academy Is..., The Killers, My Chemical Romance, and the following summer, Hawthorne Heights and Panic! At The Disco. Haha, oh, how I worshipped that band... Fall Out Boy were still #1, but P!ATD were like nothing I'd heard before. Things started shifting that winter, though. After I got My Chemical Romance's album The Black Parade, they were basically my new favorite band. It just all sort of continued from there for awhile - I started getting more into Victory Records bands like Aiden and I rekindled my interest for Hawthorne Heights, so it was quite a shock when their guitarist, Casey Calvert, died in November of 2007. That winter wasn't really a good time for me. I just kind of... self-destructed. It got pretty bad. I think the only thing that really got me through was Aiden's album Nightmare Anatomy, which honestly is not a very positive record at all, but it helped me feel like maybe I wasn't all alone in this. That winter wasn't all bad- that was also when I became friends via MySpace with a singer-songwriter from Baltimore, Jason Gudenius. (Check him out - http://www.myspace.com/jguden) Somehow he put up with the stupid kid that I was back then, which is quite admirable, and though his music wasn't like anything I was listening to at that point, I liked it anyway- He has a really great voice, and even then I could appreciate that.
Alright, so I did get through that winter (obviously) and as the weather warmed up I improved, picked up the pieces, so to speak. That summer I went to my first concert, which wasn't exactly the most amazing line-up, haha... It was Metro Station, Good Charlotte, and Boys Like Girls. I know, that's not cool at all - though I stubbornly maintain that Boys Like Girls are pretty good. The second show was a lot better- September 10th, 2008: Motion City Soundtrack with Dear And The Headlights, Margot And The Nuclear So-And-So's, and I Was Totally Destroying It. That show is when I really began to appreciate the merits of the keyboard as an instrument, and it was also my first real exposure to indie music and local-ish artists (I Was Totally Destroying It are from Chapel Hill, NC). I didn't think too much about the local scene after that until May of last year, which is when things got... interesting. I found out that my cousin, Michael Burgin, was in a band (http://www.myspace.com/michaelburgin) and in checking out others on the local scene, I found out about a really awesome one by the name of Einstein's Dream. Funny story about that- Okay, soooo, there is this health food store in Asheville called Earth Fare, which I went to pretty regularly that summer, and it was really kind of funny cause literally the week before I found out about Einstein's Dream, I first noticed one cashier in particular- Jared Hooker. And then the following week I found out about the band he sings and plays guitar in. Haha it was so weird when I figured that out- I don't think it ever would've clicked (cause I still haven't seen them play) if they hadn't had a video up on their page. It took me a minute to figure out where I'd seen him before, but when I did, it was definitely an "OH MY GOD" moment. When I saw him again I struck up a conversation about the band, and that just kind of set off everything. I've learned quite a bit about local bands since then - like what Brien Worsham (of Secret Lives! Of The Freemasons) is up to these days. I also learned about another not-so-local band, but we'll get to that in a minute. Alright, so that summer I got into the local scene, but I still wasn't really into indie-type music... But that changed one awesome day in Knoxville.
See, Stephen Christian of Anberlin has a side project called Anchor & Braille. Last summer he went on tour, and I somehow lucked out and was able to attend the show in Knoxville, Tennessee. That was such an amazing day, which I won't go into here, but the tour consisted of four incredible bands: Barcelona, Sherwood, Anchor & Braille, and Copeland. That was when I really fell in love with indie music- before it had never really interested me.
Alright, so with that brief explanation, the not-so-local band that I learned about through Jared. See, I was listening to the songs that Jared has up on his solo music page (which seems to be totally forgotten now) and on that page, he mentions a band he toured with during his time in Boston - a'tris. I thought they sounded interesting, so I checked them out, and, well... What can I say? They're incredible. The first song I heard was Automatic Doors (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oph-mJqzPPI), and I was blown away. They're so awesome, they really are. These days I rarely like a band instantly, let alone love them, but every once in awhile something special comes along, and I'm really glad I was around for this one.

So, there you have it! From Aaron Carter to a'tris. Weird, isn't it?!