Take the Black is a rock band from Yonkers, NY. They have a song called “Molly” off of their EP Smoke up, Johnny that talks about, well, smoking. A very catchy song that will get stuck inside your head.
Author: administrator
Welcome back to Super Saturdays! Today's pick for the weekend are Take the Black, Eli, and Glass Tides. Hold on tight because these bands will blow you away.
Take the Black is a rock band from Yonkers, NY. They have a song called "Molly" off of their EP Smoke up, Johnny that talks about, well, smoking. A very catchy song that will get stuck inside your head.
Eli is a one man band from Adelaide, South Australia. Sharing today, is a song called "Harder Than It Needs To Be". This song is absolutely amazing and I love everything about it! The vocal melodies are beautiful and will have you play the song on repeat.
Glass Tides is an alternative rock band from Adelaide, Australia as well! They would like to share a single called "Forever", which is about dealing with a loss of someone you love.
That's all for today! See you on the next Super Saturdays!
After not seeing the band since 2014, I got the chance to check out New Politics on the Lost in Translation tour with support from Dreamers and The Wrecks at their stop in San Diego at the House of Blues. Though the band has become much more musically refined in the last few years (I remember seeing a breakdancing, rapping, pop-punk act opening for Dirty Heads back in 2011), they still maintain their high energy roots. They have also become a much better live band, with solid production and a tight live show.
Indie-rock band The Wrecks opened the night, playing a 30 minute selection of their songs, including "James Dean", "Favorite Liar", and "I Don't Like You". The band has a variety of influences, but one that was clear from the start, especially on "I Don't Like You" is Cage the Elephant. Seemingly out of coincidence, the first song after their energy-filled set was Cage the Elephant's "Come a Little Closer".
Dreamers is the direct support on the tour, one of the notable songs they played was a cover of The Cranberries' song "Zombie". The band released a recording of the cover online on February 9th, just three weeks after the death of Cranberries' lead singer Dolores O'Riordan. Other songs the band touched upon included "Sweet Disaster", "Wolves (You Got Me)", and "Painkiller".
As the main act of the night, New Politics started with an upbeat song off of their newest effort, Lost in Translation. "Istanbul" got the crowd going, and singer David Boyd was crowdwalking before the song was over. After a track off of Vikings, the band jumped things back to their 2010 self-titled release with "Love Is a Drug". Even though many of the fans in the audience seemed to be newer converts, there was still an intense energy during the cut. During "Lifeboat" the band showed that they can still write a pounding, anthemic track to get the crowd going.
After dedicating "Color Green" to all their friends and family, the band played a few more songs from their first release; "Dignity" and "Die For You". After the latter, the band was amazed that a mosh pit had formed. Throughout the rest of the set, the band blended songs from each of their albums and ended the main set with hit single "Harlem". Several of the songs during the night also featured additional performances on keys and bass by stage techs, which was new to me but a nice touch. Some songs just seem to call for live bass, rather than the band's standard backtracked synths.
Once the main set was over, the band came back for a three song encore, of "Lifted", "Pretend We're In a Movie", and finally closing the night with their first hit, "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah".
Check out their tour dates to see if they're coming to a city near you!
Press photo by Brendan Walter.
It's been quite some time since one of our Super Saturdays features has run, but we're back! Check out Naga Siren, The Young Alaskas, Blue Helix, and Noiseheads with us.
A hardcore punk band from Norway, Naga Siren provides lots of energy. Mixing melodic vocals with in your face screaming, I can only imagine that their live shows are insane.
The Young Alaskas really are young. A pair of twins from New Jersey wrote and recorded "Last Year was My Worst Year" before they turned 18.
Looking for some high-testosterone rock that would fit perfectly in the mid 90s? Look no further than Blue Helix and their song, "Anti-Social Butterfly". Solid vocals lead the band through the song, with a tight band to drive the beat forward.
Noiseheads are a 90s-inspired rock band hailing from Florida. You can check out the video for "Ballad of Me, Myself, and I" below.
That's it for now, until next time on another Super Saturdays folks!
Noiseheads are a 90s-inspired rock band hailing from Florida. You can check out the video for “Ballad of Me, Myself, and I” below.
Looking for some high-testosterone rock that would fit perfectly in the mid 90s? Look no further than Blue Helix and their song, “Anti-Social Butterfly”. Solid vocals lead the band through the song, with a tight band to drive the beat forward.
The Young Alaskas really are young. A pair of twins from New Jersey wrote and recorded “Last Year was My Worst Year” before they turned 18.
Naga Siren, a hardcore punk band from Norway, provides lots of energy. Mixing melodic vocals with in your face screaming, I can only imagine that their live shows are insane.
The night of February 16th at the Fillmore in San Francisco, CA was definitely one to remember. Theory of a Deadman played with Spirit Animal opening for the amazing Friday night in the bay. There were many ‘firsts’ that happened for the bands and myself alike as I had never shot at this venue.
Spirit Animal opened the night with a surprisingly funk/pop/alternative sound and it happened to be the first time they played the Fillmore. It wasn’t what I expected but it was something that I liked. I was only able to catch a few of the song titles but I did check out their Facebook and Youtube after the show to dig deeper into their music. Some of the songs that stood out to me were “Regular World”, “Painkiller”, and “Karma”. The songs are a balanced mix between spunky and catchy, and live on stage the band sounds very polished. They had such a great stage presence and had a good response from the crowd with their stage theatrics. I will say that the guitarist is very skilled and I was drawn to his fretwork.
As Theory of a Deadman came on stage it was no surprise that the crowd pushed closer to the barrier and they also admitted that they had never played the Fillmore either. They tended to fool the crowd with misleading guitar riffs before starting a song like they did when opening with “Lowlife”. They played songs off their new album ‘Wake Up Call’ but Tyler had said he isn’t a fan of having a band play a new album front to back with few of their other songs in between. Because of that we got to hear some of their best songs like “Santa Monica”, “Hurricane”, and “Not Meant to Be” with a drum solo right in the middle. Tyler was avid about taking phones and giving fans some quality video filmed from the stage as well as touching hands with everyone in the front row. It was a show that you could feel the rumble of fans jumping in unison through your feet while the bass rumbled in your chest. Before the finale of “Bad Girlfriend”, the crowd sang along to the first few lines of “Paradise City”. At the end of the night I was able to snag a drumstick to take home, and I even bought tickets to see them as a fan and not shooting for their Sacramento, CA date. Overall, a show that is definitely worth seeing.
This past Friday, I travelled through a blizzard to the Majestic Theatre in Detroit, MI to catch Neck Deep, Seaway, and Creeper. Doors opened at 6:00, and everybody who hadn’t purchased the VIP tickets were allowed inside.
Creeper
I already had some level of familiarity with Creeper, as some of my best friends are completely in love with their music. I had never taken the time to check out their music, but I immediately regretted that as the band took the stage. Washed in purple lights, the band started to play, and the crowd began to dance. Despite having a relatively small stage area for the group of six, Creeper’s stage presence were incredible. Using the risers at the front of the stage to their full potential, several spins and jumps from the band members, and plenty of crowd engagement, Creeper know exactly what they’re doing onstage, and it shows. As their set continued, I heard several people around me asking, “Who are these guys!?” and I was ridiculously proud to be able to tell them, “That’s Creeper.” As an opening act, Creeper’s set only lasted roughly half an hour, which was way too short. I am beyond excited to have them return to the area as headliners, which they absolutely will. These six musicians from the UK are destined for huge things in the very near future.
Seaway
Oh, boy. As Seaway took to the stage, I felt an excitement I haven’t felt in years. The five piece from Toronto are quite possibly going to go down in history as one of the best pop punk acts of all time. Playing songs both old and new, there were several points throughout the set where the crowd were louder than the band. Blasting through songs such as “Something Wonderful”, “London”, and “Lula on The Beach”, the crowd was jumping in the air more often than not. While the vocals were occasionally too quiet, it really wasn’t an issue as the crowd were too busy screaming every word to notice. You could tell that the excitement was building more and more as the night progressed. As Seaway closed their set and thanked Neck Deep for bringing them out on tour, I’m sure you could have heard the crowd’s cheers all the way in Chicago. If you haven’t gotten behind this band yet, make sure to do it.
Neck Deep
Rolling out a little bit before 10pm, the room became significantly larger as Neck Deep took to the stage, as everyone rushed toward the front to be as close as possible to the pop punk legends from the UK. Watching from the back of the room, I took great joy in seeing everyone jumping around, having fun, and singing every word to every song. The band clearly enjoyed what they were doing, as all of them had huge smiles on their faces as they played through each song. Having to leave early to head to work, I was super disappointed to have to head out. It was truly a great time watching these guys do their thing. I’ll be downloading all of their albums in order to prepare for the next time I go to see Neck Deep, because I definitely won’t miss them next time they’re around. If you’re debating on going to see them, do it. You won’t regret it.