Thank You!

Backstage Press was started back in February of 2009 as a weekly assignment for my Interactive News class. For some time beforehand I had been wanting to start a blog where I could talk about my biggest passion in life - punk rock music. Of course I had no idea what I was doing or even how to properly "blog."

But this all changed when I met my professor, Mark Leccese, a new media guru with more knowledge about this emerging online world than anyone I've ever known. It wasn't long before he whipped me into shape for online writing and blogging.

Soon enough the class was over and I was left with a handful of decent posts

and this weird desire to keep working on my assignment long after grades had already been posted. Sixteen months later and what do you have? What you're reading now.

As many of you know, I just finished up my graduate studies last month at Emerson College in Boston. That meant I received an expensive piece of paper that said I was a Master in Journalism. Oh, Mr. Fancy Pants! A lot of my talented classmates started asking me if I would keep Backstage Press up and running post-grad. And that got me thinking...

In a little over a year I've made so much headway with writing. Plus, I've had more opportunities and more fun with this little web page than I could have ever imagined.

I've been to more shows than I can remember since February '09. I've been privileged enough to interview members of Rise Against, The Used, Envy On The Coast, Motion City Soundtrack and Anberlin. Some of these dudes have become my friends through the process, and we have some pretty awesome hang sessions when their bands roll through town.

I've been approached by various media companies and record labels through email, and receive weekly press releases on stuff happening in the scene. I was even offered to do some guest interviewing for Blast Magazine this spring which brought me backstage at the House of Blues in Boston.

As cheesy as it sounds, it's been a dream come true. And I owe much of it to you, my readers. Whether I know you or not, whether we were friends back in the day or even if you're just stalking me, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for giving me a reason to write. Thank you to anyone who has ever voted in a poll, left a comment, emailed me or caught me on some social networking site to tell me your thoughts about the blog. It means the world to me.

So, while my career at Emerson is over, rest assured that I'm here to stay at Backstage Press. I'm still going to do my best to interview our favorite bands, write reviews and keep you posted on all the news I can.

It's been a wild ride, but I couldn't have done it without you! Thank you so much...

Summer 2010 Music Tours

With summer right around the corner it's time to gear up for this year's slew of shows in the sunshine. If you're not up to date on who's playing when, just take a look below for some of the best shows/festivals that summer 2010 has to offer.

Anberlin

May 28th - Higher Ground, South Burlington, VT

May 29th - Northshore Mall, Peabody, MA (FREE SHOW!)

June 1st - Toad's Place, New Haven, CT

Even though Florida-based rockers Anberlin are busy working on their new album, they've decided to do a small tour to welcome in the summer months. They'll start off their New England run in Vermont before heading to Mass. as part of the Journey's Backyard BBQ Tour, a five city skate/BMX tour featuring both athletes and bands from across the country. Anberlin will be sharing the stage (at the Northshore Mall of all places) with Mayday Parade for the free show. Three days later the quintet will be in Connecticut alongside Story Of The Year and Terrible Things. These are some shows you don't want to miss!

Taking Back Sunday

June 25th - House of Blues, Boston, MA

As part of one of the shortest tours ever, only six shows nationwide, TBS are setting out for their first round of shows with original members John Nolan and Shaun Cooper back in the lineup. Lucky for New England, they're hitting Boston's House of Blues. No word on openers just yet. Tickets are still available, though the special VIP packages are all sold out. This will be a must see for any TBS fan.

Paramore

July 27th - Oakdale Theater, Wallingford, CT

July 28th - Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA

Aug 3rd - Meadowbrook US Cellular Pavilion, Gilford, NH

The Honda Civic Tour has built itself on solid pop-punk lineups year after year, and 2010 is no different. Paramore are headlining this summer's tour alongside scene staples New Found Glory and Tegan and Sara for what's set to be one of the best shows all season. With three chances to see this tour in New England, you've got no excuses for missing it.

Green Day

Aug 12th - Comcast Theater, Hartford, CT

Aug 16th - Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA

Still busy touring to support their latest release, 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day are bringing out fellow punk rock lifers AFI for a late summer romp through the US. With both bands developing massive followings that carried over from the 90s, these shows will definitely draw out an eclectic crowd that will be as fun to watch as the bands.

Vans Warped Tour

July 11th - Comcast Theater, Hartford, CT

July 13th - Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA

Who could forget about the best tour of every summer? Warped is back for its 16th year, and has two stops in New England. With a lineup to suit anyone's tastes, tickets should go fast. Where else can you see The All-American Rejects, Motion City Soundtrack, Four Year Strong, Bring Me The Horizon and The Rocket Summer in the same day?

East To Providence

A few blocks down Richmond Street in Providence, Rhode Island is Jerky's - a dimly lit dive bar with cheap beer, cheaper food and one of the smallest stages you'll find in New England. I had the pleasure of spending last Friday night there for "The Real Eve of Skatefest," aka the pre-show for Skatefest the next day in Worcester.

The lineup was dope. Boston band Lions Lions were first, followed by All The Day Holiday (who are awesome, check them out!) and then my personal favorites, Envy On The Coast. And as a surprise, if the acronym for the show didn't set you off, The Receiving End Of Sirens (TREOS) rounded off the night with a reunion performance.

The sets were all really good, though Envy ran into a bit of a snag during soundcheck. There was a whole lot of nothing going on, but the guys busted out an impromptu tune with just guitar and some wicked hard hitting drums.

Once things finally got going, they killed it. Most of their set was comprised of songs off their latest release, Lowcountry. They did throw in a few crowd favorites off Lucy Gray, too. The pit of maybe 15 people got pretty wild. Trust me. Envy's lead singer, Ryan Hunter, even crowd surfed at one point.

I had yet to see Envy perform much of anything off Lowcountry, so this show was great. Hearing all new material is definitely a plus. It's easy to see their growth as musicians now. Compare anything off their EP to what they're doing now, and you'll be blown away. Good job, boys.

Other than the music, we hung around a drank plenty of cheap Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat on tap. Ryan even came to have a brew with us. It was great. We chilled, watched the Bruins/Flyers game and talked hockey for a while. Nothing like meeting up with friends from city to city.

Check out an interview I did with Hunter about Lowcountry:

*All video/photography courtesy of Backstage Press

Live shots from Jerky's - May 7th, 2010

New Music? The Best of Internet Radio

We've all spent plenty of time perusing the web for music. Between whatever band's MySpace, PureVolume or site player you've clicked on, there's no shortage of tunes to hear. But what about when you just want some new music? Maybe something that sounds like you're favorite group, but isn't. You could spend an eternity clicking through, and giving a listen to, that band's "friends," or you could hit some internet radio tailored to your tastes. Below are a list of some sites to help you find just what you're looking for.

Pandora - Everyone's favorite. Pandora is free and super easy to use. Just create an account, put together a station based on the bands that you love and get listening. You can pause songs, skip ahead if you wish and design a

multitude of stations depending on your listening tastes.

Pandora's site is uncluttered and easy on the eyes - a godsend in the online music world. The songs play back to back with no ridiculous popup ads stopping the flow. Occasionally they throw in an audio ad between songs, but hey, everybody's got to make a buck.

For the most part, we like Pandora. They've put together a fluent site that really does play music geared toward your tastes, given the artists you've selected. I can't tell you how many awesome bands I've found from Pandora. It's a great tool to broaden your horizons without leaving your scene.

Grooveshark - Welcome to internet radio based on the idea of creating your own playlist. Grooveshark strays from

Pandora in that it allows you to not only choose your artist, but your song. You put together your own playlist. This works nicely if you're only interested in a few songs by various artists, or are looking to preview an album that you're thinking of buying.

A plus for Grooveshark has got to be the "no contract" policy. You don't need to create an account to get started listening. Simply type in what you want, and away you go. Best part is, the site saves what you listened to last time you were there, and always asks if you'd like your playlist restored when you return.

Of course, you can create your own library, too. You can mark off your favorite songs, search for just about anybody, and pause and start without hesitation. Oh, and major kudos for no audio advertisements.

Last.fm - Again, another easy to use music site. You can listen, regardless of whether or not you have an account. Just type in the name of an artist you want to hear, and let Last.fm do the rest. You'll hear the band you typed in first, then they'll take you through a slew of other artists that usually fit your tastes.

If you do choose to log in, you can comment on any of the songs and connect with other listeners on the site. Plus you can save stations, making it super easy to cater your listening tastes at any time.

The best part? If you're a multimedia lover like myself, you'll dig the fact that every song also comes along with a little slideshow of pictures of the band you're listening to. Oh, fancy...

Your local record store - Let's face it people, sometimes you've just got to step away from the computer. If you dare, and you're still feeling that urge for new music, check out your local indie record store. They're no doubt going to have some sort of free sampler CD with your name on it.

I've managed to find a few real gems through the old sampler CD method. I'd say I probably average about two awesome bands for every 10 I hear that way. Not too bad considering no one is secretly linking to my Facebook account to find out my favorite bands. Yeah, I'm talking about you creepy internet radio. But hey, I still love you.

An Indie Christmas - Part II

Hi again. I know I've been distant lately, but that's because I've been working on a tattoo project for a local Boston website. It's been a wild ride, and I lost track of time pretty quick.

But I was able to take a break from all that last weekend to join the festivities for this year's Record Store Day. If you remember back to last year, I spent the day running around north of Boston with a friend of mine - we'll call him Joseph, hitting a few independent record stores for deals and free swag. Well since then, April 17, 2010 has been on our radar.

And this year didn't disappoint. The same deals were in place - 30 percent off used CDs and 20 percent off vinyl.

Joseph and I were up bright and early. In fact, we were at Newbury Comics in Burlington (a great starting point, might I add) a few minutes before it opened. We found ourselves 18th and 19th in line. As soon as doors opened we made a dash toward the table of free swag, while the rest of the crowds hit the newly released vinyl bays.

We ended up making out with a whole bunch of nice garb from the first stop including the Terrible Things 7-inch release (Fred Mascherino's new band), a signed CD booklet from The Almost and a few pint glass decorated with sugar skulls. Dia de los Muertos, what?!

From Burlington we headed to Boston. Being Record Store Day, it would have been a sin not to hit the original Newbury Comics on, you guessed it, Newbury Street. So much free swag there. We both scored some sick Anberlin posters as well as a ton of free sampler CDs. I even splurged and bought myself a used copy of Saosin's self-titled album. What a treat.

Next was a quick stop at the NC near Faneuil Hall where we loaded up on more free swag. Some more pint glasses, a few guitar picks and a poster or two and we were out the door.

It was lunch time so we decided to hit Spike's Junkyard Dogs and try our hand at their eating challenge. Let's just say a half hour of straight eating salty hot dogs wrapped in sub rolls was enough to make us immobile for a while. But we beat the challenge, got our pictures on the wall and earned our free t-shirts. Score!

By this time it was late afternoon and we had one mission left. Hightail it to NC in Norwood for the free Circa Survive performance at 4. We made it there in record time. After scoring some free swag, vinyl hunting and using the bathroom once or twice, we were ready for Circa.

As we were waiting by the side of the stage, Joseph noticed some guy touching his shoulders and apologizing for "crop dusting" us. It was none other than Anthony Green, Circa's dapper lead singer. Joseph was in shock, as was I.

Seriously, who gets farted on by Anthony Green? Only us.

A few minutes later and Anthony... er, Tony was back to apologize again. He hung with us for a few minutes and we had quite the deep conversation. We talked about everything from the hot dogs we just murdered to treating people fairly. Oh, and we posed for a few pics with the rock god himself. It was wild.

Circa killed it acoustic, of course. And after that was over, well, we couldn't top that. Our holiday was finished and we retreated to the comforts of my apartment complex to organize our swag, make fun of each other and watch Panic(!) Room. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

I can't say I'll be living up here in Boston this time next year, but I can promise that no matter what I'll be making the trip back for Record Store Day 2011. Only 360 days left!

Oh, and if you're interested in getting your hands on some of that swag I grabbed, keep checking back to Backstage Press. I'll be giving some of it away in the coming weeks!