alt-J played an official late night show at Austin Music Hall on Saturday in addition to their set at Austin City Limits Fest both weekends. See all photos from the show here.
Rock Artists
Category
alt-J ACL Late Night Concert Photos
The Maine bring American Candy to Austin
I was The Maine for the 10th time on Sept. 24, and it was one of my favorites. They performed American Candy front-to-back with a few oldies at the end before the finale of “Another Night on Mars.” Lyrically this album has a lot of great songs with the comfort of The Maine’s classic sound. While there were new fans in the crowd, many veteran fans were singing along to American Candy just like they did when Can’t Stop Won’t Stop was their favorite album back in the day.
The show landed in between dates of The Maine’s Free For All Tour, in which they play malls and other odd venues entirely free for fans. It’s all because of the fans that the band can continue to make music and tour. The tour is a way for The Maine to thank the fans for all they’ve given them over the years. To supplement the free tour, they sold tickets to special shows where they performed their most recent album American Candy in its entirety.
See all photos from the show here.
Catfish and the Bottlemen brings explosive sound to America
It’s not often that you come across bands with only a debut album that can construct a such a full and commanding live sound. Ask Catfish and the Bottlemen and they’ll tell you they’ve been playing shows all over the United Kingdom since their early teenage years, even living out of a van. Now 23-years-old, frontman Van McCann is taking the bands to new heights. Filling 5,000 capacity venues and playing to 10,000s of patrons at festivals in the U.K., Catfish and the Bottlemen have come to make their mark in America. The band played at Emo’s in Austin, Texas on Sept. 22. See more photos from the show here.
Catfish and the Bottlemen exists to perform. Their songs are built for the live setting. Heavy guitar licks and massive drums resonate through the room. McCann yells lyrics like it’s his life, blood and sweat. And it is.
What the band lacks in time, they make up for in quality. The 11 song set spanned just over an hour. A notable sidetrack from the album, McCann took a solo at the end of “Homesick” – stripped back, McCann growled the first chorus of “Homesick” with only accompaniment from his guitar. Trading up for an acoustic guitar, McCann also sang “Hourglass” solo, surrendering to a beautiful crowd sing-a-long.
The full band wrapped up the set with their radio single “Cocoon,” closing with “Tyrants.” The latter serves as the perfect finale with a built-in instrumental break to close. Cymbals, guitar riffs, chorus vocals build up to the last note, leaving fans wanting more when it’s over.
All band members are invested in playing the music, but McCann is overcome with it. It’s as if the music washes over him and turns him into another being, utterly consumed by the notes flying off of his guitar. There’s no doubt he knows how to perform, but his stage presence doesn’t overwhelm the way his playing does. Throughout the set he thanks the crowd repeatedly 
for coming to the show in Austin. He is a man who knows the music. That’s what he does, and will continue to do for fans as long as they listen.
Catfish and the Bottlemen aren’t innovating like The Beatles or Bob Dylan, but they’re doing what they do really well: rock ‘n’ roll, big guitars and frank lyrics. It’s been awhile since a band has kept it simple while going out in a big way, and McCann recognizes that. They may not be the next radio-hit wonder-band but their cult following with continue to grow and sell out bigger venues, pushing them into the big leagues. At this rate, they could be headlining festivals in a few years.
Tunes for Ears: September Playlist
September is my favorite month and we have some great tunes for this month’s playlist. Listen to the newest form Foals, Metric and CHVRCHES as well as some indie songs from Ofelia K, Tropical Zombie and fleurie.
Behind the Scenes With Marc Scibilia
I caught up with Marc Scibilia and his band on Sunday at Emo’s in Austin, Texas. He’s currently touring the United States in support of ZZ Ward and recently released his Out of Style EP. A talented singer, songwriter and guitarist, Marc Scibilia will soon be a name you’ll know. The band brought their energy to the stage, producing a massive full band sound throughout the set and impressing the crowd with his closing song “How Bad We Need Each Other.” I want to give a huge thanks to Marc and the band for inviting me out and welcoming me into their pre-show routine. See more photos from the show on flickr.
Follow Marc Scibilia on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
From left to right: drummer Matt Scibilia, guitarist Mike Squillante, guitarist and singer Marc Scibilia, and bassist Eric Montgomery
Mike shows off his setlist for the show.
Matt drums on a rail to warm up.
Eric dresses for the show.
Mike, Marc, Matt and Eric pose before the show.
Matt drums while Eric, Marc and Mike sing vocal exercises.
Marc sings his songs in the van before the show.
Eric gets ready backstage.
Marc plays guitar and sings while Matt drums.
Eric plays bass.
Fans watch Marc’s performance.
Mike plays guitar and sings backup vocals.
Marc takes a photo with a fan after his set.
Tunes for Ears: August Playlist
I decided to step back from the electronic vibes to bring you an August playlist of alternative rock. I always work hard to find what’s fresh and upcoming in music. If you’ve been following me, there are some familiar artists mixed with several new ones. And if you have any recommendations or really like one of these songs, tweet me!
Tunes for Ears – July Playlist
Here is your July playlist packed with new songs, summer jams and featuring several foreign artists!
Warped Tour 2015 Photo Round Up
Here are my favorite photos of bands I caught at Warped Tour in Dallas, TX on June 27. Click on the photo to see more of each band. See all photos on flickr.
Senses Fail
Mod Sun
Night Riots
Knuckle Puck
Candy Hearts
Born Cages
Neon Trees Concert Photos
Neon Trees stopped in Austin, TX at Emo’s on June 17 with Alex Winston and Yes You Are. Check out photos below or see all of the here!
Q&A: machineheart on L.A. life, festivals and dream collabs
Photo courtesy of Harper Smith.
Riding high from “Circles'” success with 1.6 million plays on Spotify, machineheart’s vocalist Stevie Scott says it is just the tip of the iceberg for them. The band looks forward to touring and sharing an album later this year. On the way to start their summer tour, I chatted with Scott from Tucson, AZ.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How did you get started in music?
We’ve all been doing music since we were kids pretty much. Carman and Trevor have been playing since they were teenagers, and then we met a couple years ago. I was doing another project and the boys were doing other various projects. When we met, we kind of clicked. I had never been in a band before.
Being from various backgrounds and working with different sounds, how did you collaborate to end up with machineheart’s sound?
That’s the beauty in a band, I think. People come together with different backgrounds and experience in music. I think that’s what really give machineheart its sound. I come from British-loving Anglophile kind of thing. I love very ethereal stuff. The boys come from Seattle and have that more rock ‘n’ roll front like Nirvana and Radiohead. Together it feels good and right and special. Someone actually recently referred to us as an intergalactic take on Fleetwood Mac, but I love that.
You guys are from L.A. That’s a place that has always been a culture capital for musicians. How do you like it?
Everyone there is creating. Everyone is doing something in the entertainment industry. I think it really inspires you and challenges you to really do your best, because there’s so many talented people – not in a competitive way to beat someone out to take their place. We always just try to compete with ourselves – try to have a better song, a better show than our last one.
With so many indie and alternative bands coming up right now. How do you differentiate yourselves?
We didn’t start with the idea that we wanted to sound a certain way, like “we have to be this alternative band.” I think that’s where we find a lot of freedom for ourselves. We didn’t have any requirements of what we were going to be. We just tried it out and it worked. We really liked that. Obviously with everyone having put in years of hard work, when we came together it was so easy.
Are there any artists you would ever like to collaborate or tour with?
Oh my gosh, yeah. I think everyone definitely has a dream list of who they would like to collaborate with. There’s the iconic ones, for me, like Stevie Nicks or Kate Bush or the musical artists that everyone looks up to. The boys love Dave Grohl. I mean the list goes on and on. That’s a good question. I’ll have to think about that.
You were just in Austin, TX for South By Southwest. How was it?
That was our first show in Texas. We had such a blast. We were talking about L.A. being a creative mecca. I think Austin is creative. There are so many talented people trying to get their music out there. We are grateful to be doing what we’re doing. There are hundreds of people just as talented as us or as passionate as us that are wanting to be doing what we’re doing. We are very thankful.
Machineheart just played Bunbury and you have Summerfest and Fashion Meets Music Fest coming up. Festivals are a different environment than touring. Do you prefer one or the other?
Festival are so fun and laid back because you play once in the day and then you’re done. You get to hang out with other friends or bands or bands you’re fans of. We get to listen to great music. I love the festival environment. There’s also fashion and all of the people there are so hungry to be inspired or to inspire. We definitely love festivals.
Is live performance an important aspect for you as a musician?
That’s probably what we consider our strong suit – more because of the energy we experience on stage and that exchange between the audience and us. It’s so special. It’s not how it used to be where everyone would go to shows constantly, but it’s a little more rare. So when fans come out to shows we want to give them an experience they won’t forget. It’s really magical. It’s not just a one way conversation but we really do feed off the energy. Fans singing those songs back to us is just as important. It’s more of a dialogue [than a monologue].
Do you have an albums in the works right now?
We do have an album in the works. It’s actually done. We just got out of the studio. It should be released sometime later this year. We’re very excited about that actually because we’ve only released “Circles” up to this point. We love playing and connecting with our fans but people are really going to be able to dig in so much more with the album and get a better taste for who we are. “Circles” is just the tip of the iceberg for us.
I personally can’t stop listening to “Circles.” It was at the top of the Hype Machine charts and it was on Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 playlist. Did you expect that kind of reaction?
No. It’s just so exciting when something connects with people. Obviously that’s what we hope for as a band. That’s why we do this. It’s really cool to see it happen. It’s kind of fun too to watch the little number count go up online. To see numbers and actually be able to equate that to people now when we play shows and people are singing along with us, that’s when for us it really hits home.
Catch machineheart on tour this summer with Vinyl Theatre.
