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Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness by Jenna Million

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Photos: Upside Down Flowers Tour with Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness and flor

Indie Artists, Photos, Uncategorized

January 29, 2019

The Upside Down Flower Tour, featuring Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, flor, and Grizfolk, stopped in Austin, Texas, on January 26 at Stubb’s. While the evening was filled with scattered rain showers, fans brought out the rain ponchos and showed up strong to support McMahon.

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

flor

 

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Echosmith by Jenna Million

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Photos: Echosmith with The Score and Jena Rose

Photos, Pop Artists

May 8, 2018

Echosmith stopped in Austin, Texas, for a show at Emo’s on April 6 with The Score and Jena Rose. Check out photos from the show below.

Jena Rose

The Score

Echosmith

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DSCF4896-8

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Conversations with Lostboycrow: Believe in the Vision

Conversations with Lostboycrow, Indie Artists, Interviews, Photos, Uncategorized

April 23, 2018

This story is part of a series of Conversations with Lostboycrow, dedicated to following his path since I first spoke to him in August 2015 and into the future. Read all of the Conversations with Lostboycrow here.

As the first time interviewing Lostboycrow in person, we had the opportunity to work together on a photo shoot throughout downtown Houston. See more from the shoot at the end of the story. 


Images and words by Jenna Million.

In Houston, Texas, a few days into part two of his headlining tour Spin the Globe, I sat down with Lostboycrow for another conversation in our series to reflect on how his goals, and his intentions to reach those, have evolved.

The self-released, multi-million streamed artist has come a long way since moving to Los Angeles on his own in 2014. It wasn’t until he met Dylan William, producer and bassist in flor, and started recording that his pent-up creativity started to flow and Lostboycrow was born.

“Suddenly I could put out a song and people on the other side of the world wanted to write about it, even if it was just a few people,” he says. The step between a local artist and an internationally-streamed artist is “such a fine line but such a monumental gap.” Once he had jumped that gap, it was a matter of figuring out what comes next.

At the time, the early days were partly driven by figuring out his art and partly wanting to stay relevant with online publications. “That wasn’t something I was consciously thinking about, but subconsciously and sonically that came through.”

Now Lostboycrow says his work is focused on the question of “How can I dive deeper into me?”

To answer to this question, Lostboycrow set out to Santa Fe in early 2018 with a hand-selected team to work on the next record, with one rule. “I said at the very beginning… The whole point of this trip, even if we don’t finish one song, is just – what planet is Lostboycrow going to live on for this next cycle?”

All of the songs are very intentional, driven by the voice and lyrics rather than trendy production of the music industry. “If your goal is to be intentional in the way that you make art that will come across, despite demands for the consistency with the streaming world,” he says. To Lostboycrow, genuine intention and creativity comes through in songs “that wanted to be written,” rather than force-produced in a studio session.

While the smaller goals have changed from having songs written about, to being intentional with songwriting, the vision – the big end goal – is what drives all of the hard work. Lostboycrow says that those visions are very personal to him.

“I think we all have visions, especially when we open ourselves up to possibilities and to change,” he says. “I wasn’t a very great musician or singer, but I knew enough that I loved this more than anything. I knew I was going to do it, so that when I went through those time of not even [releasing] music… I still knew, because I’d seen it.”

Through our conversation, it’s obvious how important this is to Lostboycrow in the pursuit of his artistry. You have to believe it before you see it. That’s where people get it wrong, but not Lostboycrow.

“I think a lot of times people dismiss their visions as dreams or day dreams, or whatever label society wants to give them. It becomes very dismissive like it’s this fantastical thing that can’t happen. I never got that. I never got why people did that.”

Too often people tell themselves no, or place limitations on themselves, because they don’t believe some crazy visions could be their own reality.

“When you’re [telling yourself no,] you’re automatically comparing yourself. You’re thinking all these societal constraints… [like] ‘I’ve never seen a popstar break at 30 or 40 or 50 or 60,’ but guess what wouldn’t it be fucking cool if you were the first one?”

Lostboycrow says the “obstacles in your mind” present an opportunity to be a pioneer – to be the first popstar to break at 30 or 40 or 50 or 60.

“My word of encouragement to myself and maybe others is – everything negative thing you want to tell yourself about why you can’t do this is, is one reason why you could be the greatest at doing it. Do it despite those things.”

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Manchester Orchestra

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Photos: Manchester Orchestra with Foxing

Photos, Rock Artists, Uncategorized

October 2, 2017

Manchester Orchestra performed at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas, on September 9 after the release of their latest album A Black Mile to the Surface in July. St. Louis, Missouri, based Foxing supported Manchester Orchestra at in Austin.

Manchester Orchestra

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Foxing

Foxing Foxing Foxing Foxing Foxing

 

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Dashboard Confessional

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Photos: Dashboard Confessional

Photos, Pop Punk Artists

February 12, 2017

Dashboard Confessional stopped at Emo’s in Austin, Texas, on February 10 with support from Vinyl Theatre and This Wild Life. See all photos from the show here.

Dashboard Confessional

Dashboard Confessional

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Dashboard Confessional

Vinyl Theatre

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lostboycrow

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Conversations with Lostboycrow: Feels Like Home Tour

Concert Reviews, Conversations with Lostboycrow, Indie Artists, Interviews, Photos, Tours, Uncategorized

February 1, 2017

This is the first part of a series of conversations with Lostboycrow. I first spoke to him in 2015 (read here). This series is dedicated to following his path since then and into the future.

Words and photos by Jenna Million.

A cold night in early December, a small line forms outside of a dimly lit hole-in-the-wall venue in the heart of San Francisco. Inside is a surprisingly drafty bar with a small stage, home to many up-and-coming touring artists. The Feels Like Home tour featuring Lostboycrow and flor claimed that stage on December 6.

A shy but welcoming crowd watched at a safe distance when flor, Los Angeles-based alternative band and friends of Lostboycrow, took the stage for the first half of the co-headlining show. Flor serenaded the audience with soft energetic melodies and sugary synthesizer, brought to life by guitar solos and underlaid with sweet bass and percussion.

In the middle of the set, Lostboycrow joined flor on stage to perform “Still Standing Still,” a collaboration between the two artists that lends itself to the creativity behind both flor and Lostboycrow, becoming something entirely different than each artist’s sound. Lostboycrow says this tour was a long time coming for both artists.

“Lostboycrow was birthed so much around flor – them getting started and us bouncing ideas off of each other,” he says. “We’ve always kind of been side by side, even with the blogs and the hype and now with the next step as well.”

 

lostboycrow with flor

Lostboycrow performing “Still Standing Still” with flor in at Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.

Based in Los Angeles, Lostboycrow says he’s been able to build a special, welcoming audience at his L.A. shows over the past few years, but has reached new audiences after touring for the first time with VÉRITÉ in May 2016.

Closing the night, Lostboycrow gave a heartfelt performance that showcased his talent and versatility as a singer. I was impressed to hear Lostboycrow had every deep, sultry croon and falsetto melody in the pocket. His electronic-heavy songs were well fitted to the live setting with a back up band adding support on guitar, keys and drums. Zach Grace, front man of flor, also joined Lostboycrow on stage for a unique acoustic rendition of Lostboycrow’s “The Lost Boy” and Coldplay’s “Warning Sign.”

Lostboycrow details the special experience of the Feels Like Home Tour:

Touring with your best friends is just exactly that. It was fun, incredibly productive, helpful, and so meaningful for me to be able to bring Zach up on stage every night, and for me to be able to walk up on that stage with them every night and sing and look back at my best friend in the world, [Kyle Hill] playing drums. We grew up in the suburbs of Portland, [Oregon] together and were in awful metal bands together. It was pretty surreal. To play to a packed out crowd in Portland and see people from way back in the day, it meant a lot… I feel very lucky to have done that and I hope it makes sense to do it again some day.

Lostboycrow says playing his music live has been as much of a journey as recording in the studio. He says, “It’s really cool to be surrounded by such incredible musicians… and take these songs that I love and pour myself into and be like ‘Okay how can we reimagine these and make these something to really behold live?’”

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Two Door Cinema Club

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ACL Fest Late Night: Two Door Cinema Club

Concert Reviews, Festivals, Indie Artists, Photos, Rock Artists, Uncategorized

October 14, 2016

Photos and words by Jenna Million.

Ahead of their ACL weekend two performance, Two Door Cinema Club played a late night show at Stubb’s on October 7 with support from Jack Garratt. See all photos from the show here.

Two Door Cinema Club

It’s been a long time coming for Two Door, and a long time for many fans. In 2014, the band was set to headline a UK festival but was forced to stop due to physical and mental health issues, as the band told DIY Mag. Now back on the scene with a few tours and festivals completed, Two Door Cinema Club are releasing Gameshow on October 14, their first album since Beacon in 2012.

A Friday night gig on the weekend of ACL is the place to be – even members of Catfish and the Bottlemen and Cage the Elephant, fellow festival artists, were in attendance. Two Door teased the crowd, playing “Sandstorm” and testing strobes before taking the stage. Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday and Kevin Baird, accompanied by two more live members, sound as if they haven’t spent a day off of tour. Racing guitar melodies and syncopated synth and percussion are so precise, it’s captivating how effortless it sounds and looks.

Having seen this band on four occasions in previous years, I felt that all of the talent was there but a spark was missing. The crowd was undoubtedly elated to have them back, but there was a lack in sincerity from the band wanting to be back. Even the new material felt tired. Playing new and unreleased music is hard for a band of any size, but the audience wasn’t connected. New singles from the album were greeted with less enthusiasm than any song from Tourist History or Beacon. The dissonance between the band and fans is only a side effect of time spent away, and the release of the album will resolve it.

Gameshow is representative of the new era for the band. They will continue to build where they left off, hopefully with a fresh breath of air, to earn their well-deserved spot in the history of indie rock. Die-hard fans will ultimately follow Two Door anywhere.

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Jack Garratt

The solo artist is quickly turning heads after the release of his debut album early this year. Many of Garratt’s songs build on gentle vocals and simplistic piano or electronic melodies, adding guitar and percussion, to create power soul-pop. | Listen | Follow |

Jack Garratt Jack Garratt Jack Garratt

 

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Saint Motel

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ACL Fest Late Night: Saint Motel

Festivals, Indie Artists, Photos, Uncategorized

October 13, 2016

Saint Motel performed at Emo’s on October 6 with JR JR and Weathers as part of Austin City Limits Festival’s Late Night series. See all photos from the show here.

Weathers

Alt-rock quartet from Los Angeles, Calif., on the rise. | Listen | Follow |

Weathers Weathers Weathers Weathers

JR JR

Happy-go-lucky electronic pop duo dressed as The Golden Girls. | Listen | Follow |

JR JR JR JR JR JR

Saint Motel

Alternative rock with a funk flare. | Listen | Follow |

Saint Motel Saint Motel Saint Motel Saint Motel

 

 

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Tourist

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ACL Fest Late Night: Tourist

Electronic Artists, Festivals, Photos

October 1, 2016

Photos and words by Jenna Million.

Tourist performed at The Parish on Sept. 30 as part of the Austin City Limits Official Late Night Shows with support from local instrumental duo Chippr Jones. This was Tourist’s first headlining show in Austin, Texas. While the show wasn’t sold out, many ACL festival attendees found their way to the venue to dance till 1 a.m.

The vibrant, ambient electronic music is the product of London-based artist William Phillips. After a series of EPs, remixes, and even winning a Grammy for co-writing Sam Smiths’ “Stay With Me,” Tourist released his debut LP, entitled U, in May.

See all photos from the show here, and listen to music from Tourist and Chippr Jones below.

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Fitz and the Tantrums

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Fitz and the Tantrums Light Up Austin

Concert Reviews, Photos, Pop Artists

August 2, 2016

Photos by Jenna Million. Words by guest writer Tiffannie Shively.

Fitz and the Tantrums returned to Austin for a sold-out show July 24 at Stubb’s. Opening with “Get Right Back,” pop band Fitz and the Tantrums gave Austin a night full of energy and power, despite the Texas summer heat.

The band started with hits from their debut and sophomore albums. With each song, the audience came alive, cheering, waving and dancing. Early 2010 and 2013 classics “Break the Walls” and “Breakin’ the Chains of Love” were greeted with excitement and enthusiasm from eager attendees.

Michael Fitzpatrick, lead vocals, worked the crowd like a seasoned veteran. Not a single person in the audience was not moving to the beat of the drums. When songs from their most recent self-titled album, released June 10, were performed the crowd went wild. “Roll Up” lit a fire throughout the audience, with everyone jumping and screaming along.

All attendees, from the die-hard fans to the casual radio listeners, were enthralled. With the show’s heightened energy, saxophonist James King delivered an extended solo before the encore that was greeted with only more cheers from the crowd.

Fitz and the Tantrums closed the encore with “HandClap,” “6AM” and “The Walker,” leaving fans ready for the next time this explosive band graces Austin.

All photos can be seen here.

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