These are last month’s fifteen most popular artists at Christianrocklyrics.com:

1. As I Lay Dying
2. Underoath
3. Relient K
4. Switchfoot
5. Anberlin
6. Thousand Foot Krutch
7. Haste the Day
8. mewithoutYou
9. Casting Crowns
10. Superchick
11. Showbread
12. Emery
13. Jars of Clay
14. Demon Hunter
15. Project 86

Only in Christian music would bands like Jars of Clay or Casting Crowns be on the same list as bands like As I Lay Dying or Showbread.

Our good friends in My Epic have their EP “This Is Rescue” reviewed in the latest issue of HM Magazine so be sure to check it out.

Please, please check out our forums. Like Eric said, it’s the same great fun place but right now it seems so lonely. Please come by and talk to us.

While you’re surfing the Myspace be sure to check out other up and coming bands Of Sound and Fury and O,Brother. http://www.myspace.com/osaf www.myspace.com/obrothermusic

As a reminder, we still have forums here at Indie Vision Music, even if our entire site isn’t run by them anymore. Just look to the top right of your screen and you should see the spot to click to enter the forums. We seem to not be getting as much posting in there since the switch to the new site, but don’t be decieved… they’re still the best place to be in all of the internet. Except a place that would pay you to visit their site. I think I’d keep that window open twenty-four seven. And open it like a million times. That would be sweet.

Any opinions on the new track found here? I personally am not a fan of this group at all, but I’m in the minority with that opinion probably.

Faster We Fall has decided to allow us to download two of the songs from their myspace. This is the ONLY metal band that has ever sent me a friend request that I actually liked and kept.

Look for my review of Spacepilot up sometime soon, and hopefully not long after I’ll have the Lakes EP reviewed too. After that… it’s Action Reaction.

You must check these guys out. The name: Afterimage. The music: real metal.

Inhabited have posted a new song for you to listen to.

The Blackstones have posted new music.

Dae Lee is offering his whole 15 song mixtape for free here.

Since October put up a new song called “Part Of Me”. I’m still confused as to why some label has not picked them up yet.

The Valley will be releasing a new Ep soon called “Burning At The Mistake”. If you’ve never heard them, do yourself a favor and check them out. Did I mention they’re from Australia?

Pillar is launching a new website on the first of September. It will include all their headlining dates with The Showdown and Dead Poetic.

Of Sound And Fury have a newer song as well.

To Contend Against Rome have posted a bunch of new songs.

Check out a brand new track from Dead Poetic on MySpace. Their new album “Vices” comes out in stores nationwide on October 31st. What do you think of the new stuff?

We will have a bunch of Avery Pkwy cds available in the store very soon. The album is expected to be finished and pressed in mid September. You can order stuff from us right here. I recommend you pick up the new My Epic cd because it’s great and it has been receiving wide acclaim all across the web. Look for a nationwide tour from My Epic next year.

By the way, some of you may have seen a tiny blurb about our Summer Slam compilation in the latest issue of HM Magazine but there is a tiny problem, they posted the wrong link. I’ll say this again, indievision.com is NOT our site nor are we affiliated with them in any way. Their’s is a web/print design site. Ours is a music site. The correct web address for Indie Vision Music is www.indievisionmusic.com or www.ivmzine.com only.

Lastly, Jeff Jacquay is interested in doing an Unashamed reunion for fun. If any former members are reading this site or you know them somehow, or have contact with someone who knows them, please contact Jeff through his myspace page HERE. Would this be an insane show or what? Throw on NIV, Bloodshed and Strongarm and you have the show of the year!!

The Bros. Martin, featuring Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric, and Jason Martin of Starflyer 59, finally have two songs on their myspace page.

Band: Someday
Title: “To Failure, Dear Brother”
Label: -none-
Review By: Josh IndieVision

Tracklisting:

01. Every Thought Captive
02. Light Makes Shadows Of Us All
03. This Moment Could Change Everything
04. So Very Far From Pure
05. Remember Sammy Jankis

Members/Duties:

JP Schreiner: Vocals
Chris Rose: Guitar, Vocals
Duncan Allard: Guitar
Chase Allard: Bass
Ricky Price: Drums

Someday is a band out of Albuquerque, New Mexico who I happened to run across on myspace one day. I checked them out, liked what I heard, and contacted the band. They were nice enough to send over a copy of their EP for review and here we are. I’m assuming most of you have never heard of them, set aside news posts on our site, but you need to familiarize yourselves with them. They’re an amazing group who have the talent and heart to really do well in the business.

“Every Thought Captive” jumps right into to a heavy, melodic track which initially pummels it’s way into your ears. JP’s vocals are harsh and that’s how I like them. Someday, thankfully, avoids the mistakes of a lot of bands… not being able to match music and vocal sounds. A short time after a minute-thirty into the track, things quiet down and Chris quietly sings for a time, a brief lapse before yet again unleashing their ferocity.

The band uses the vocal switch, scream/sing, like many other bands. However, one thing that stuck out to me was that the clean vocals were not overly poppy. They bring a similar emotion as the screaming, and have a bit of a raw feel which is a nice switch from the usually overproduced “emo-core” groups. The guitar tones are thick and heavy, but not overly distorted. They have kept the melodic feel while staying heavy. There are some decent guitar riffs placed sporatically throughout, which help to keep things catchy and interesting.

“This Moment Could Change Everything” is the most upbeat song and the delivery is flawless. By far the catchiest song and most accessible, it truly shows off the band’s ability to mold multiple styles together.

Standout Tracks: “This Moment Could Change Everything”, “Every Thought Captive”

Overall Rating: I have been completely blown away by these guys! One of the best, if not the best, independent release I’ve checked out while working for IVM. They draw from many influences and mix them into a beautiful and agressive mix. Thankfully the band doesn’t overdo anything on it. No excessive breakdowns or too much singing (for the metal kids). The music writing ability is mature and well thought out. A must have for anyone that reads this! (9/10)

Individual Ratings:

Album Art/Design: Obviously packaging for independent groups is not a major deal and so wasting money on it makes no sense. Honestly I’m not really sure what the design art on the paperboard is actually.(2.5/5)

Lyrics: The lyrics weren’t included but I found them on their myspace. I very much enjoyed reading through their lyrics. I like that their faith plays an important role in the lyrical approach, and it’s clearly seen through reading. (4/5)

Marketability: These guys need to be signed! When I ran across these guys and contacted I definitely heard potential on the myspace tracks. After hearing the full EP my opinion was only solidified. Someone needs to take notice! (5/5)Production: I was suprised at the quality of production. They really did a great job with it! Nothing I could think to complain about. (4/5)

Vocals: The vocals are a great mix with JP’s harsh, throaty screams to Chris’clean singing. Sure it’s been done before, but these guys have varied it up enough to continue to be entertaining. (4/5)

Similar To: Chasing Victory, Underoath, Beloved

Website
Myspace
Purevolume

Buy: Smartpunk

There is a new Norma Jean track up here. Comment with your thoughts. [buzzgrinder.com]

Underoath have resolved their issues and will be hitting the road starting in September. More info, click here.[absolutepunk.net]

Sender, the acoustic project of Laine from Pennylane, has a new song up on myspace, click here. I think a David Tamaoka / Sender split cd would be killer. Any labels up for the task? Or how about one of you labels out there just drop the dough and sign PENNYLANE. They are a hot seller and people are really into them. They NEED to be signed like now.

Another acoustic project under the name Our Life Aquarius, has a new song on Myspace.

I see the new trends being bands with female singers and acoustic projects. What do you think?

I just posted the Next in Line “One in a Million” ep that was available online for FREE download through our previous site. This is for those of you that didnt get a chance to download it before. Here is the link if you can’t find it.

Members of the band UPON HIS COMING (as featured on our Summer Slam comp.) have now formed the band, Stand the Gaff. Look for new music to be posted soon.

Much the Same came out today on Nitro Records. Does anyone have it? I bought it and the Over It cd off of Interpunk (the best online store on the planet) but I am still waiting for them to arrive.

Destroy The Runner have put up their third, and I’m guessing the last, new track off “Saints” releasing September 12th. I’m really enjoying these songs alot. They should do really well for the label as well.

Don’t forget the rest of the Tooth & Nail/Solid State preview week schedule.

Go check out Mike Kelly, featuringe ex-members of Mourning September.

Check out the ad for the upcoming “Last Chance To Breathe Tour”. The tour is obviously headlined by Spoken and support is Sullivan, Oceans Firing, and The New Ending.

Go listen to a new Flood Memoirs track and download it as well!

From These Remains posted new tracks.

Watch (quicktime):
Kids In The Way - Fiction

Fireflight - You Decide

Nevertheless - The Real

Mxpx will be releasing a “B-sides/rarities” album on October 24th titled “Let’s Rock” which will be released on Side One Dummy Records. The Tooth and Nail re-release of “Let it Happen” with the three new songs recorded with Aaron Sprinkle also comes out in October. Yeah it’s confusing. Basically, you get two Mxpx B-sides albums in one month!! Look for the band’s new release in 2007.

Artwork for the Mxpx re-release of Let it Happen:

Dogwood have a short tour planned (four shows booked) with xLooking Forwardx and Midnight Hour , from California to Vegas. One show is at Chain Reaction in Anaheim. This should be tons of fun. Click here for a full list of dates and more.

Story of the Year are going on a headlining tour in October with Anberlin.

There is a new E-card for the This Providence album that comes out soon on Fueled by Ramen.

This is fun. Click here for the myspace page of the String Quartet tribute to Underoath.[musicrefuge.com]

The new Anchor and Braille site is up, click here. This is the solo project of Stephen Christian from Anberlin.

Artist: Various Artists
Album: Friends with Microphones
Label: One Truth Clothing
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Disc One
1. Paul Wright – From Sunrise to Sunset
2. Delirious? – Not Forgotten
3. Charlie Wall – Micah 6:8
4. Watashi Wa – 2:57
5. East and Waiting – Head on Home
6. Blindside – This Time
7. Anberlin – Paperthin Hymn
8. Dizmas – Saturday
9. mewithoutYou – Torches Together
10. Death Is Not Welcome Here – Beauty and the Beast
11. Seventh Day Slumber – I Know
12. Dogwood – Clemency
13. Public Domain – My Cross

Disc Two
1. Spoken – Bitter Taste
2. Haste the Day – When Everything Falls
3. No Innocent Victim – Your Freedom
4. Inhale Exhale – Touch of Deception
5. Life in Your Way – Threads of Sincerity
6. Enciende – Consciencia Capital
7. Looking Forward – Over and Over
8. Alove for Enemies – Tread on My Dreams
9. LA Symphony – Dance Like
10. Manafest – Let It Go
11. Manofwar – New Dawn
12. John Reuben – Follow Your Leader
13. Dirt – Depth
14. Redeemed Thought – More than Music
15. Shai Linne – My Portion

The people at One Truth Clothing have decided to put together what I have found to be one of the most worthwhile compilations in a while. Friends with Microphones features two CDs and twenty eight songs covering a wide variety of music, brought together for one reason: life. For the price of an average CD, you get all this, and the proceeds go entirely to Life Water International. This is a nonprofit organization that goes to third world countries and gives them something they don’t have, but need to survive… clean water. We take it for granted a million times a day, and these people don’t have it. So what better way to share the Gospel then by living it out? Jesus commanded us to feed the hungry and heal the sick. It is an amazing thing to feed people physically and spiritually, so with the purchase of this compilation, you will not only have a collection of great songs, you’ll also be keeping people alive. Literally.

As for the music itself, it goes in three sections. The first disc is all the basic rock and alternative. The second one starts out with hardcore and halfway through switches over to hip hop. The first few tracks have more of a CCM feel to them, but in this context I can actually get into them as they talk clearly of God’s love and our need for it. I must confess, by the time the Watashi Wa song ends, I’m ready to take out this CD and replace it with Eager Seas. All of the songs are really solid though, other standouts including Blindside, our own Indie Vision Music favorite Death Is Not Welcome Here (who also happens to have a shirt available through One Truth Clothing), a new song from Dogwood, and an acoustic version of the old hymn “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.” It really is a beautiful song, and almost makes the whole thing worth it in itself. I have a feeling I’ll eventually be skipping that Seventh Day Slumber song, but other than that, I can keep this disc on repeat all day.

I’m sure most of you will be happy to know the hardcore part has a nice selection, mostly from Solid State and Facedown, and the songs from Inhale Exhale and Life in Your Way are both impressive. Other highlights include Spoken, Looking Forward, and Enciende. I’m not sure who all will be interested in the hip hop part, but it does feature some good songs. Some of these remind me of why I stopped listening to rap, but John Reuben, LA Symphony, and Manafest, among others, all present something worth listening to each time.

As you flip through the insert, you see pictures of the places and people that Life Water helps, along with lots of quotes about how important what they’re doing really is. Even if the money didn’t go to such a good cause, this purchase would be worthwhile, but the fact that it does really gives you no excuse to not buy this thing. But let’s not stop there… let’s consider going out ourselves and giving Life to those who aren’t guaranteed it.

9/10

Friends with Microphones

Life Water

One Truth

I just posted some questions and answers with The Apathy Eulogy.

I also just sent questions Brandon who will then send them to ActionReaction, so you can all look forward to reading that interview as soon as they respond. And later tonight I’m going to be sending questions to Movies with Heroes, but don’t bother waiting till then, check out this band NOW.

I just did a search on MySpace Music to see which bands have the most friends. Guess who’s currently at number 6, with over half a million friends?

After seeing this fine acoustic band twice, and reviewing their CD, I sent them some questions and they were cool enough to answer all of them for us. And while somehow I missed that they had actually answered them, I finally found it today, so enjoy and more importantly go to their myspace and enjoy their music.

Who are you, and what do you do in the band?

Rob Kelly. Self proclaimed “breaker-of-strings”. I also play guitar and sing.

Who else is in your band, and what do they do?

Ben Brown, guitar and vocals, and Brian Curlee, Box.

Who writes the music and who writes the lyrics?

With the exception of a phrase or two, I write all the lyrics. I also write the music for the songs. Then it all comes to the table and we work out the bugs.

There are four members listed on your myspace, but the picture only shows three. Who is Nigel?

He’s our sweet mannequin (t-shirt model) brah! He get’s all the ladies.

How did you guys meet and what made you decide to start making music together?

Brian and I were friends, and we instantly gelled because of how well the box compliments an acoustic guitar. We played a few shows together….. about forty, until we met Ben who was churning out smash hits with his old band ‘Skylark Grafitti”. We flat out stole him.

Have any of you ever been in other bands?

Recently I left my side project, ‘Avelyn’. Brian and I first played together in a band called ‘Hamilton’. Before that I was in ‘Emmaus’ and ‘the Modern Epic’. Ben played in ‘Skylark G’ for several years.

Who are some of your major influences?

We listen to everything from ‘Fear Before the March of Flames’ to ‘Damien Rice’. As long as it’s good… I suppose everything is an influence, but our vocals are said to be remeniscent of ‘Taking Back Sunday’ or ‘Dashboard Confessional’. We definately use a lot of alternate tunings and similar chords as Chris Carrabba.

What would your dream tour be?

I would love tour with Chris….. or ‘Bayside’ acoustic!

What’s been your most memorable show experience so far?

We’ve had so many crucial moments. Haha, it can get intense. Best memory: CD release in March. Everyone was diggin’ it.

What role does your faith play in your music?

Our CD is called ‘Things hoped for, Things unseen” which is the essence of faith as defined in the book of Hebrews. Although we write about all types of relationships and situations, a lot of our themes center around biblical truth.

Is The Apathy Eulogy looking to get signed? If so, what type of labels
would you be interested in?

We’re definately hunting for label support. We’ve spoken to a few labels, but haven’t received any tempting offers yet. We want to make sure we get good distrubution, strong support, and a label with connections. We want to tour 24-7.

The cover art for your album “Things Hoped For, Things Unseen” is
pretty sweet. Who designed it?

Ben. He and Brian are both quite the artists. He spent hours meticulously mapping it out.

Do you secretly play air guitar to Metallica in your bedroom?

Who doesn’t!??!

Looking at your band picture, I’m sure all of the ladies (and some of the dudes) who read this will want to know, are any of you remotely
available?

Actually, all of us are currently in relationships. (love you sweetie!)

After the show Friday night you mentioned that the three of you share an appartment. Does that put a lot of stress on the band, or does it make you better?

Yes and Yes. We spend so much time together we can grate on each other’s nerves. It forces us to work stuff out and practice a little selflessness every once in a while.

When can fans look for the next release from The Apathy Eulogy?

We hit the studio in September, so look for it hopefully by December or early January. We’re planning on making this next release quality material.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us. Anything you’d like to say in closing?

Peace and love…

The new version of Inhale Exhale’s song “Redemption” has been posted, this time it’s with Ryland the new vocalist.

Superchic[k] will be performing and being interviewed on the Cartoon Network on Friday, Sept. 8th. You can watch it right before Adult Swim.

Jonezetta have posted a new track to their MySpace page.

Brightwood will be featured on an upcoming Ernie Ball Compilation featuring “The thirteen best unsigned bands in North America”, to be released soon. [drivenfaroff.com] Check them out here.

The only band I can recommend for my Sunday Hot List would have to be EVERY NEW DAY. Listen to them or disappear forever……

I just posted a new Canefield Hero (David Tamaoka) song to our HOT DOWNLOADS section that you see on the lower right hand side of this site. Click on it and download away. It’s a great acoustic piece and I think you’ll like it.

I am going to add 4 ClassicTrax to our music player everytime I switch out the songs. What I would like to ask our readers is for recommendations. Let’s do a reader recommended list of songs. You guys and gals pick the songs, the classic ones, and I’ll upload them to our music player. Remember, I own a lot of stuff but not everything. So please post your recommendations for classics in the comments section and I will go over them. The top requested songs, will get loaded. Right now we have these classic trax in our player: Brandtson, Strongarm, Five Iron Frenzy, Bloodshed, and Value Pac. Let’s do this!

Canefield Hero has posted another new song to MySpace. This is the acoustic project of David Tamaoka who is also in Pennylane. Did I also mention that David is a youth pastor in Kauai? Pretty cool.

Sophia has a brand new live video up on myspace.

Coming Soon to the Store: Azariah’s Prayer, Of Military and Mathmatics, The Hotshot Freight Train (Split cd), Sophia, and Means. We have a ton of Spacepilot and My Epic cds available and I encourage everyone of you readers to pick one up, you wont be sorry you did. Here is a link to the store: Indie Vision Store

The following track is from Canefield Hero, the project featuring David Tamaoka of Pennylane. www.myspace.com/canefieldhero

Click here to download:

1. Canefield Hero “Jet Planes Disappear”
(Right Click “Save Target As”, save to computer)

Check out the new interview with Brad of Mono Vs. Stereo Records. It’s the first in a series of interviews I’ll be doing to let you guys get to know those that are bringing us music today. While you’re reading interviews, check out Joel’s interview with the Tapes as well!
Since Brandon posted some old movie previews up recently I thought maybe you guys would be interested in check this out. It’s a site that has tons of previews, some that date back before 1950. It’s fun to browse around if you’re bored.

With Blood Comes Cleansing added two more songs off their new album, “Golgotha” released this past tuesday. Look for a review coming soon!

Everyday At Sinai decided to record 3 new songs before saying farewell. They should be up in about a week.

The Ya’ll Got Weapons Tour has an e-card for you to check out. The tour features Sullivan with supporting acts Flee The Seen and Chasing Victory. Sullivan will also be releasing information on their “Last Chance To Breathe Tour” soon.

SharpSkills has new stuff up that you should check out!

Does anyone have the Gospel Music Channel? Well apparently there’s a show called “Hype & Glory” which just recorded some shows with live performances from Pettidee, Soul P., Mr. Del, 3 The God Way, and Corey Red. The first episode will start showing in October.

Tooth & Nail & Solid State will be offering new and unreleased songs from upcoming albums each day this next week. Here’s the list

8/27 Jonezetta 8/28 Destroy The Runner 8/29 Norma Jean 8/30 Dead Poetic 8/31 mewithoutYou 9/1 He Is Legend 9/2 Twelve Gauge Valentine 9/3 Anberlin (exclusive free download)

Go here to find out how to win a signed Fender Strat from As I Lay Dying.

Silver Cities have new music up and you can get their album from Velvet Blue Music now.

The following is a short questionaire done with Brad, who runs the ever impressive Mono Vs. Stereo label, where most of your favorite bands call home. It’s the beginning of a series of interviews that I will be conducting, where it allows people to get to know a little bit about those who help bring us the music we love so much.

JoshIVM: How exactly did Mono Vs. Stereo come to be?

Brad: I was working at Gotee Records as an A&R coordinator when I realized that if I was gonna continue working in the music industry I had to work with music I was extremely passionate about and that shared the same vision as myself. So I started making plans to leave Gotee and do the new label on my own. But then I decided it was worth pitching the idea to the owners of Gotee to see what they thought because if I could work with them I would learn a lot. Surprisingly they were in, I thought they wouldn’t be since past “other labels” that they supported besides Gotee hadn’t worked.

JoshIVM: Did you have any other record label or music industry experience before starting up MVS?

Brad: While I was in college I ran one of the college rock radio stations and was heavily involved in the local scene in PA. I worked with a few local bands, one of which was the precursor to The Evan Anthem called Devoted Molded. I then relocated to Nashville the fall after graduating college and interned at Gotee for 1 1/2 month. I then got hired to do internet marketing and did that for a year. Next I moved on as an A&R coordinator/Product Manager at Gotee and did that for a year. After that came Mono Vs Stereo. It’s a pretty quick intern to label president story.

JoshIVM: Where does the label call home?

Brad: Franklin, TN.

JoshIVM: Is there any particular meaning or story behind the label’s name?

Brad: I just wanted it to sound cool and different. I had always dreamed about starting, and naming, my own record label. I had a book full of ideas, and for a while we were running with “Records On Repeat”. But then one day I was IM-ing with my brother and I was thinking of audio references like “Mono”, “Stereo”, “Analog”, and “Digital”. Next thing I know the name and sequence of those words popped in. I also used those other references to name our publishing company which is Analog Versus Digital.

JoshIVM: Does MVS have a motto/vision statement?

Brad: The revolution will begin in the blink of an eye.

JoshIVM: How many people are currently on staff?

Brad: Myself, interns, and then I utilize 3 people that also work for Gotee Records.

JoshIVM: What’s your personal favorite release of MVS so far?

Brad: Of course I’m gonna say “all of them” but it’s true. If I don’t love it, I’m not gonna put it out. Each release has a personal story with it making each one a favorite and something to remember.

JoshIVM: What is the best selling release on the label so far?

Brad: The Showdown’s debut album “A Chorus Of Obliteration” and the self-titled debut from Maylene and the Sons of Disaster are my highest as of now.

JoshIVM: In your opinion, what is the biggest accomplishment MVS has reached in their short time of existence?

Brad: Just being able to sign killer bands that we love. It’s hard to believe that these bands want to work with us and I truly appreciate that. Also helping to resurrect rock and metal that has southern influences like The Showdown, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, and even Gasoline Heart. As well as all the killer press that was given to The Showdown’s and Maylene’s debut albums.

JoshIVM: Obviously there are tons of labels out there and no one gets every band they want. What band out there, no matter the genre or label, would you have loved to have on MVS?

Brad: Bands that are no longer around like Bleach, The Prayer Chain, Seven Day Jesus, and Plankeye.

JoshIVM: What are some non-MVS bands that have been dominating your stereo as of late?

Brad: Johnny Cash - American V, Pearl Jam - s/t, Buckcherry - 15, Under the Influence of Giants, Saves the Day - Sound the Alarm, Shooter Jennings - Electric Rodeo, Goo Goo Dolls - Let Love In, AFI - DecemberUnderground, Fair - The Best Worst Case Scenario, The Bronx - II.

JoshIVM: How about underground, unsigned bands? Any you’d recommend for us to check out?

Brad: That’s a secret because I may be signing some of those but I would definately say
Mike Dunn and the Kings of New England.

JoshIVM: What is the current goal that MVS is trying to attain?

Brad: World domination one day at a time.

JoshIVM: What are some of your personal interests besides music?

Brad: My wife, my dogs, and movies.

JoshIVM: If you weren’t running MVS, what would you be doing?
Brad: Not sure…this has always been my dream.

JoshIVM: How does your faith play into your work at MVS?
Brad: It keeps me grounded and brings my focus back where it needs to be when I lose focus. It also fuels my passion for music.

JoshIVM: Where does MVS stand in regards to faith and the bands you represent?

Brad: I’d like for most of my bands or most of their members to be grounded in faith, but I’ve never said I’m a Christian label, some albums I don’t even put out in the Christian market. But I love working with Christian artists because I feel like they can make the best art.

JoshIVM: Has God taught you any lessons through running this label?
Brad: This is a business and there is law aspect to it, and that has 2 sides. There is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Sometimes you might be right in the letter of the law, but in the spirit of the law is how you will be remembered. Like if technically on the business side you had every right to sue or fight for what you thought was yours, but the spirit of the law would say to let it go and maintain your integrity. I have chosen to run MVS based on the spirit of the law, and that’s tough at times but in the end it will matter.

JoshIVM: Anything you’d like to share/promote to our readers?

Brad: Go buy Gasoline Heart - You Know Who You Are. An album you won’t regret checking out, I promise. And stop stealing music, kids don’t realize that it’s killing the very thing that supports the bands they love.

MVS Website

MVS Myspace 

Avery Pkwy has a new song up on their (His) myspace page. The debut cd “You Have the Roadmap” comes out this September.

Go read Joel’s interview with The Tapes right here. By the way, welcome Joel, to our news team! He has posted a few interviews up in the past but this is his first time doing news. You’ll be seeing alot more of him in the future with contributions in reviews, and interviews. So say hi.

My first official Purple Door interview is up, check’it out in the interviews section with some new friends The Tapes. They’ve worked with the fellows in Pseudobook who are also wonderful friends of mine. Check it out!

Also for all you rap fans out there check out the Listener’s new tracks, freshly home from his international Tour of Homes, on his myspace. The new tracks are going more spoken word style, he’s calling it Loud Talking and should have a site up for that soon. The tracks on his myspace are more remixes with his new band, but check out the business man poem, part 2 of his Ozark Empire album out last year.

For the techno indie fan in all of us, Paper Route has just released info on the official release of thier EP hitting stores August 29th. Check out thier latest blog on thier myspace for all the info and to catch some excellent tunes.

You’ll be seeing more of me… later!

Ahh The Tapes. Hailing from music’s new found indie capitol, Bowling Green, OH, comes the world’s newest, hippest trend setters, The Tapes, are ready with some straight up rock. Picked for both of this summer’s biggest Christian festival’s new band showcases, and friends of mutual friends, I decided to catch one of them for an interview. Sadly I missed their set at Purple Door due to traffic and general lateness on my trip down from Canada, after many run-ins I was able to run around back stage with The Tapes’ lead vocalist, here’s what he had to say:

Joel IVM: Tell us who you are.

Greg: I’m Greg Jenkins from The Tapes.

Joel IVM: How long have you guys been together?

Greg: One year, about exactly thirteen months.

Joel IVM: You guys did an EP, how long ago was that?

Greg: We recorded it in December of ‘05 and we ‘released’ it on New Year’s Day. We recorded it at a friend’s house. At that point we were just doing it grassroots, like burning it and doing artwork ourselves, with cardboard and some cool stuff. Then we just got it pressed this summer.

Joel IVM: How’s the reaction been to the EP?

Greg: We’ve been selling it for five bucks, because we just want to get it out, we’ve been able to get rid of quite a lot of them this summer and people really like it. We’re just excited to start getting some new stuff going. Even in our year of doing it, we’ve kinda grown out of a few of the songs and only a couple of the songs on the EP really reflect where we’re going now. So we’re excited to show people more of what we’ve been doing recently and we have quite a lot of material to do that with. So we’re going to work on recording again soon, we don’t really know of the timeline.

Joel IVM: Any label interests at all?

Greg: We’ve been approached by a couple of different labels, but right now… it’s funny, I was just chatting with one of the guys from Anathallo, and they’re one of the greatest examples of doing it on your own and relaxing when it comes to all the pressures of the industry, all the numbers, markets and demographics. They’re just doing their art and I really respect that kind of band, and as I meet more of them that’s just the way to do it when you look at your music as an art, if you look at it as a product or anything else than a label is the way to go. Not to say that we don’t want to be on a label, but right now it’s hard to see how that would help us, but I’m sure eventually, I would hope to be in a place where it could.

Joel IVM: You guys were picked for new band showcase for Purple Door, as well as Cornerstone, how did that come about?

Greg: It’s funny… we’ve only been a band for, like I said, a year but we’ve been best friends… since we were born pretty much, which is the greatest thing about our band if nothing else. It’s just we love making music but it’s the people, I could spend every day on the road with these guys because they’re my best friends. That’s an awesome thing. We’ve attended cornerstone in the past, just listening to our favorite bands and then to actually get to play there was like our dream come true. Like if we stop now, we’d be fine. Our friend was like ‘Apply! Apply!’… And we we’re like ‘…yeah.’ and he just said we had to do it. So it came down to the semi-final round and we ended up getting voted in, through the internet voting. That opened up a lot of doors including this …Purple one. It’s been really cool, since then things have kind of snowballed and just this summer has been cool [as far as] us playing shows.

Joel IVM: So are a lot of people really reacting to what they’re hearing?

Greg: Yeah, we talked to a lot of people at cornerstone, we met so many people. We got more MySpace hits then we had had in the last year combined in that following week. We think people really like what we’re doing and it’s exciting. Our job now is just to get people to hear it in whatever capacity we can. We actually did a show with Audio Adrenaline last week, not that that’s our demographic really, but we’re thinking… ‘There’s going to be eleven hundred people in one place, let’s go and play there.’ It’s just we want to play for anyone we can. It’s funny… on weekends, at home, I actually play piano and sing out on the street corner. It’s fun. I’ve been doing it since I was a teenager. I have fun, but everyone that walks by, one out of ten is going to ask me a question and I’ll get to tell them about the band.

Joel IVM: You talked a bit, about Anathallo and music as an art, do you see your music as being more of an art or… not so much a business, but sometimes you talk to bands and they seem very straight forward, ‘we make music that’s our job’, and other people who are more, ‘this is how we express ourselves’.

Greg: Well the thing with us is, it’s definitely not the way we make our living. First, we’re really young, I mean I’m 20 and I’m the oldest member, the others are like 17-18. We all have jobs; actually we spent this summer like digging sewers and doing the nastiest stuff. So usually we lose money when we go out, because we sell our CDs and stuff for so cheap, we just want people to get it. In no way do I think about it… I get a cringe when I hear the word business because it just feels so dirty; you see it so much today. The more and more friendship grows in the band and we feel like we’re coming into our own in the writing style, we feel like this is just the music that God put in our hearts to sing to people, and He is going to do what he wants with it and we want to give him the glory and also just give him the control over what we’re doing. More and more it’s a way for us to get out in the world and meet new people and try to love them. It just happens to be through the vehicle of [say], a music tour. But really that’s all that matters in whatever you’re doing just loving people.

Joel IVM: You were talking about touring this summer, obviously the main thing would have been Cornerstone and Purple Door, did you manage to get some touring in between?

Greg: Yeah we kinda played a little in between, around Ohio, where we’re from. We have mainly been doing a lot of writing and preparing for these big shows. We’ve booked mostly weekends this summer. This fall will be really big for us because in our hometown, Bowling Green, we’re doing a lot of things on campus trying to reach the college kids there with what we’re doing. So it’s going to be a cool fall, and a lot more writing this winter, then the plan is to try to go full time next summer with a big tour and hopefully we’ll play the country, maybe even put a record out next year, maybe some new demos.

Joel IVM: Yeah, how do you feel about that, talking about outgrowing a lot of your songs, your, sort of, business card is a year old, does that bug you a bit?

Greg: It does, I always have to add a disclaimer, ‘Here’s our CD, but we don’t really like this song and this song…’ And we have to be careful because you don’t want to give someone a CD and then tell them that you don’t like it. And it’s not that, it’s just we wish that [our new songs] were on it. We have a lot more to show, I think that’s going to be a challenge for us to go, because we really like to write, and the way the music biz goes, it’s like you have to push this one song and I’m really not into, like ‘the singles’. We write… we try to be putting new stuff together all the time. I’m excited to put together a full length and right now I’m working on writing a story which might turn into a full novel. It’s kinda like a fantasy thing but we’re going to work on writing an album around that. So look for that, it’ll be sometime in the future. I’m not a fast writer but I have a lot of ideas in my head for different allegories for the story and I’m really excited about that.

Joel IVM: Seems you do a lot of writing and creative things, are you the main lyric writer?

Greg: The way writing really works with us is, we do a lot of instrumental stuff in practice. We usually don’t start off with the instrument we conventionally play on stage. We all play each others instruments, decently well. Marky, the drummer, is really great at piano and we all trade around, Dan plays drums and I’ll play guitar or whatever. So we sit down and work on something and then realize we could take that further, take it onto our real instruments and we teach each other what we just did. [As far as] lyrics, I’ll take that and then go write lyrics on my own outside of practice, sit down with an acoustic guitar and bang out some lyrics. Lyric writing is actually a new thing for me, which I really enjoy, I’ve kinda blossomed into this ambition to write this story that’s kinda peculating. But the music side of the writing is definitely four-dimensional. Someone will bring something to the table and we’ll work off that, in no way is it one person.

Joel IVM: Is there any thing, personally, that you would say is a mission for your band as you are presenting yourself to the world? Is there any kind of thing you’re trying to get people to pick up on, any message you’re trying to convey?

Greg: There’s so much scripture about the crooked and depraved generation and that was two thousand years ago that they were talking about, but I think that today you can see that everywhere too. And our main thing, whether or not people hear it in our lyrics, we’d rather them see it in the way that we live, is just loving people. That’s the greatest commandment, and if you seek the kingdom of God, like it says, all things will be added unto you. So if we can encourage people to do that and help them in their walk than that’s the greatest gift we could ever give. I’m so happy to have the privilege, and maybe responsibility, to reach some people. So far, it’s been really awesome, for lack of a better word.

Joel IVM: Well to get personal, you don’t have to share this if you don’t want to, but can you give me a bit of your testimony, I mean, how you got saved and all that..?

Greg: Sure, well actually all four of us, we don’t have any stories of cocaine addiction and redemption from all that, we’ve all been saved since we were really young, we grew up in Christian homes, but it’s cool because in the same way that a person whose had a drug addiction just lived on their own side for a long time and then comes to know Christ can witness to a person that’s in that struggle, I think there’s a huge struggle in our generation with Christians who’ve grown up in a Christian home who don’t know how to identify and make that their own. I think that there’s this huge challenge for people that were raised in a Christian home to stick with that and avoid the routine that can happen when you’re used to doing this everyday, going to church every week. That’s something that God’s really been speaking to me about recently, because …I don’t know, I always thought that, well there’s some music that preaches to the choir, and that has it’s place for edifying the body, and then there’s some music that is an outreach. And I realized that there’s some that is an outreach to the choir because not all members of the choir are necessarily singing the right tune. ..I don’t know what I’m saying, but, there’s a kind of numbness that comes from being a Christian for your whole life and not experiencing it truly for yourself, kinda being on the fringes, just being in that culture. I think that’s really dangerous and if we can do anything to relieve our generation of that, it would be one of our biggest goals. But my testimony, back to your question, is just, when I was in high school I realized that even though I had been a Christian for this long, it just wasn’t something that I thought about, I wasn’t immersing myself in, and even, the story continues like every day, I think it’s like that for all of us, trying to put Christ before anything we’re doing. So, it’s great, and those guys, I wouldn’t pick any other three people to do it with, to try and grow in Christ with. We have a bible study that we attend at home with a bunch of other friends. If we’re on the road next summer, we only have each other to hold accountable and lift [one another] up, it’s just not something you see. It’s so easy to be sarcastic and cynical, it’s just the path of least resistance it seems like, it’s so easy to get into that. But my prayer for me and the other guys in the band is just to get away from that kind of cynicism and be uplifting to everyone, it’s contagious. To those who are reading this interview, try it, it’s addicting.

Joel IVM: So the Bonus Question! You’ve had time to think, so, is there a question that you wish someone had asked you and hasn’t yet, in all the interviews that you’ve done in your history as a human being?

Greg: All two. …

[...]

Joel IVM: You can have fun with this one, you can whip something out. I usually stray away from lame questions, some people like lame questions so this is your opportunity, is there some weird hobby you want to share or something like that… Any word of wisdom, a proverb?

Greg: Hmmm. Well, here’s a word of wisdom that I heard, though I don’t know how this would fit into a question, but… ask me for a word of wisdom.

Joel IVM: Give us a word of wisdom.

Greg: It’s something I heard in, kinda like a sermon thing I heard a couple weeks ago, and it really changed the way I thought about the world and at the same time myself. The quote was, ‘Don’t change nothing, because you can’t change everything.’ It was pertaining to the poverty in Africa and the AIDs epidemic and when you see that it breaks your heart, but you can’t fix it all. In America we’re used to just being able to hit the delete key or just fix it, read the ‘poverty for dummies’ book and just figure it out. But that’s not going to happen, it’s probably not going to happen in our lifetime, but if you help some thing, it will. And it will never happen if we don’t do anything. And I looked at that and I saw in myself, there’s sin and there’s despicable thoughts and things I do, and oh, the pride. I think, I’ll never be perfect, but that’s no reason to not try to change what you can and let God dig out those weeds in your heart. It’s just been a huge thought that’s really been on my mind sticking there. Since we can’t fix it all we’re so tempted to not even try to fix anything, but it’s the fixing of the things we can that our faith is built around. Just that constant fixing, we’ll never get there but that’s what our walk with Christ is and it’s beautiful.

Joel IVM: Any last shout-outs, prayer requests, anything like that?

[...]

Joel IVM: Anyone you want to promote, any random things like that? Or if there is a prayer request, share away! We’re willing to take them.

Greg: Ohh! There’s a really cool band of dudes that we really like to play with, from the Dayton area, called The Secondary, you can check them out.

Joel IVM: Sweet, what’s their MySpace/Purevolume?

Greg: I think it’s… myspace.com/thesecondary777 … these kids are incredible, they’re… I think one of them can drive, but they’ll blow you away if you can get the chance to see them.

The Tapes

Get into it!
MySpace
Purevolume

Starting September 4th, Joel Piper of Avery Pkwy (and ex-dismissed) will be playing drums for Olivia (the band). This is a big move for him so make sure you say hi when Olivia is in town. Speaking of Joel, his solo project Avery Pkwy will be dropping it’s debut full length “You Have the Roadmap” in mid September. We’ll have it in the store once it’s out.

Here is a slightly dated interview with the band Pennylane. Check it out.

Sophia updated their blog recently.

Sorry the site was down yesterday, we were having host/server issues. It’s all cleared up now and we are back to working order. So did you miss us? I was having serious posting withdrawals yesterday. man.

Quick and the Dead are playing a show with The Fold on Sunday night in Southern California. Here are the details:
August, 27 2006 at The Alley
139 W. Amerige Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92831
Cost: $8 in advance $10 at door

Canefield Hero featuring David Tamaoka of Pennylane, has just posted up his brand new track titled “Jet Planes Disappear” on MySpace, check it out here. David just recently won the BMI songwriting competition that was held in Hawaii. He will get to travel to Los Angeles and perform at the BMI showcase. He hopes to release a new cd soon. Maybe even a split with fellow band mate Laine, who also has an acoustic project–SENDER.

After their current tour, The Wedding will be heading into the studio in October to record their new full length with Mark Townsend (Relient K) at the helm.

Lakes have a new website [absolutepunk] 

Dead Letter Diaries have just posted two brand new tracks to their MySpace page. Check these guys out.

You Tube mania…
If you still haven’t seen the preview for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CGI Film, click here. You can also find The Transformers preview here.

These movies II and III,  need another sequel, am I right?

Here is another movie that needs a sequel.

I thought this was funny.

We have just added a “Contests” page to the right side. I am currently looking for any band or label that would like to hold a contest with us. Please contact contests@indievisionmusic.com if you’re interested.

Gotee Records is offering a bunch of ringtones through now. They hope to have over 50 available by the end of September inlcuding those from groups on Mono Vs. Stereo!

Speaking of Mono Vs. Stereo, I will be posting my interview with Brad, who runs things, tonight. So be sure to check that out.

A statement from Underoath’s myspace clears up some of the questions about their future. “Don’t believe the rumors, Underoath did not break up, no one has been kicked out or quit or in rehab or any other silly places people are talking about. The dudes are getting ready to do their Canadian tour and then Taste Of Chaos international and then will do a headline tour in the US after that”. Good news for fans indeed!
[source]

War Of Ages have posted another new track (”Aftermath”) off the upcoming ‘Pride Of The Wicked’. I was blessed with an opportunity to check the whole album out today and honestly the two songs released so far, which are excellent, are still my least favorite. The rest of the album is just that good!

I also got to check out all of Bloodlined Calligraphy’s new disc as well. Look for more thrash metal influence and brutality. They definitely stepped it up and are unrelenting. Ally’s vocals even sound deeper and more menancing. There is a bunch of pre-order options for “Ypsilanti” which you can check out here.

If you’re interested you can watch Facedown’s new commercial highlighting the above releases. Both releases should do amazingly well and I hope the best for both of them.

Freddie Bruno just signed to Illect Recordings. In case you’re unfamiliar he released a solo album on Uprok Records and is also a part of Deepspace 5.

Go check out an e-card for JustMe’s new album “One Man’s Trash” here.

New Joy Electric interview here.

A new Norma Jean track “Amnesty Please” can be heard here.

For those of you that missed Purple Door, Monsterpod put up some clips for you to check out.

Well I’m assuming, let me say again assuming, that things have been worked out with Underoath. They sent out a bulletin verifying that their Canada tour starting Sept. 14th is indeed happening. Anyone catch them today on FUSE’s Steven’s Untitled Rock Show? If so do share in the comments.

Mike Herrera of MxPx fame, has started a country sideproject. Don’t believe me? See for yourself.

Check out Potmos Hetoimos.

Credential Recordings is offering their Stereocilia Vol. 1 sampler on iTunes for 99 cents. (10 songs)

Sealed By Blood added another new track at the link.

I just posted my first interview ever. So go read my conversation with Vienna.

Then check out my festival review and what I had to say about Purple Door 2006.

I promise both will be worth your time.

I recently had the great opportunity to see Vienna live at a local coffee shop and afterwords messaged them on MySpace about doing an interview for us, and guitar player/singer John Cotter agreed to talk with me for a while about music, faith, and Britney Spears.

IVM Eric: Okay… well first off, thanks for doing this with us. How long have you and Matt been together as Vienna?

John: About 3 years, maybe 4.

IVM Eric: What made you decide you wanted to be in a band together?

John: Each of us thought the other had a similar style, thought the other
was a good guitar player. I realized that a solo thing is more difficult to pull off.

IVM Eric: haha… that’s cool. So are you guys like, from Vienna? or where did the name come from?

John: We didn’t have a name for about 2 or 3 years because we just never came across a good one, so one night at our friend’s apartment we picked up a textbook and picked a random word… Actually the church I went to growing up moved to Vienna, VA, and I liked that name, so that was a part in it.

IVM Eric: Do you and Matt each do an equal part in writing the music, or does one do a lot more than the other?

John: Matt probably writes five times more songs than I do, but we try to keep the number of songs even for what goes on the album.

IVM Eric: Do you write some songs together then, like one guy does the lyrics and one does the music?

John: Whoever writes the lyrics and melody writes the core of the song, and then the other guy throws his guitar part and harmony in - with direction from the writer of the core. Sometimes the writer of the core of the song will have ideas for what he wants the other guy to play and sing.

IVM Eric: Alright… so both musically and lyrically, what are some things that motivate you?

John: Deep question. Well I speak for myself on this one. Musically, whatever I am mostly listening to at the time usually inspires a song. Lyrically, whatever I am thinking about at the time. Those are pretty vague answers, but yeah, the state my life is in is what comes out in my writing.

IVM Eric: What role does your faith play in your band?

John: Very deep question. Well God definitely influences everything about our lives. Since we write about what we’ve experienced or observed, that gets put into our lyrics.Whatever God seems to be teaching us at the time, is what we will write about.

IVM Eric: yeah… that makes sense.

John: It also influences us to love people, be real and approachable.

IVM Eric: …like hanging out with the entire crowd at a diner after a small show last Friday.

John: Exactly. We try to take an honest interest in people’s lives, and view them through unconditional lenses.

IVM Eric: well I can say I definitely had a great time.

John: So did I! You guys are cool.

IVM Eric: So what’s been your most memorable show experience so far?

John: fun question! Let’s seeeeeeee… we just recently played Recher. That was really great. We had a bunch of people there, and they started calling out names of our songs, and some of them singing along. We’ve also had many memorable bad experiences. Like no one showing up, sound problems, and Matt’s voice cracking.

IVM Eric: haha… yeah, I guess having a crowd would be a pretty important factor to a good concert.

John: I think one of my favorite shows we ever played was at The Cup coffeehouse in Bel Air. The place was packed and we were right on the floor in front of people. They were pretty much crowded around us. It was the first show we ever played standing up!

IVM Eric: Yeah… as for Vienna, do you plan to remain a small project, or would you be interested in a record deal sometime?

John: We’ll take whatever we can get. I don’t think we are going to pursue a big deal, but if one is offered we would consider. We are having fun with the way things are now.

IVM Eric: Sounds good. Is there any CD you would be embarrassed to admit you own?

John: haha. let me go look at my collection

IVM Eric: haha

John: I think the only one would be Creed “My Own Prison”. I got that in like 10th grade or something.

IVM Eric: haha, Hey, that’s cool.

John: I had some other stuff but chucked it. I think I tried to sell the Creed CD to record and tape traders and even they didn’t want it.

IVM Eric: hahaha… that’s hilarious. In keeping with the fun questions, did you ever have a crush on Britney Spears?

John: Yes. The first time I saw her hit me baby video. I have a thing for skirts.

IVM Eric: haha… sorry, not to embarrass you with this interview or anything.

John: No, it’s cool. I dig skirts and I’m proud of it.

IVM Eric: How about kilts?

John: hmm is a chick wearing it?

IVM Eric: hmm… I don’t think it’s a kilt then. How about you are wearing it.

John: haha I would never.

IVM Eric: haha… who is the number one band that our readers should check out, besides Vienna?

John: Q and not U

IVM Eric: are they another band from the Baltimore area?

John: DC

John: They are on Dischord Records.

IVM Eric: alright, cool. I’ll be sure to look into them.

John: you should stop this interview now and check them out immediately

IVM Eric: okay… ::pauses conversation to search myspace::

John: haha

IVM Eric: ::continues conversations as myspace loads the song::

IVM Eric: ::forever::

John: Listen to “We Heart Our Hive.” Holy crap there is a song on there I’ve never heard before and it’s for download. ::pees pants::

IVM Eric: haha

John: It’s a Neil Young cover. ::gets paper towels::

IVM Eric: If I was in Baltimore, where would be the best place to see a show?

John: Ottobar. I LOVE that place.

IVM Eric: have you guys ever played there?

John: No - but we are working on it.

IVM Eric: alright… well that’s about all I can think of. Anything you’d like to add?

John: hmmm no sounds good to me man!

IVM Eric: alright. thanks. and be sure to tell all your fans to check out your interview on ivmzine.com (or indievisionmusic.com, whichever they prefer)

John: alrighty

Purple Door 2006
Festival Review

10:41, Sunday night. This is the first I have been home since Friday morning. The reason? I was at a music fest in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania known at Purple Door. Well, today I just went straight to church and then some other stuff, but still… I have been to Purple Door. I have seen new bands, I have seen stages torn down, and I have met Joel and Cory. And while I have told a number of you that this review would be short and to the point, as I sit here now to write, I realize that that was a horrible idea, and less people may read this for it’s being so long, but those who do read it will enjoy it more as I give you more details.
To begin my adventures, my group was one of the first 1,000 people to go through to gate, so we all received a copy of the Gotee Records and Mono Vs. Stereo 2006 Sampler (which I’m listening to now, and after hearing just the first two songs I’m about ready to remove the CD from my computer, melt it, and then drink it to put me out of my misery, but I will hold on to the hope I find in The Showdown. It’s a rough mix of a new song called “Temptation Come My Way.” I’ll interrupt the review when I get to that point on the CD to let you know how the song is.)
So being one of the first ones in, more than an hour before the first band hit main stage, we went and claimed our spot front row, center. It was amazing. Finally, after an hour of looking at merch and/or guarding our coveted position, Color Revolt began. I had never heard of this band before, but they were quite good. They played a semi-unique blend of indie rock that traveled from harmonies to shouts and back again. After a speaker and some brief potential worship, it was Lovedrug. This is one band I’ve always seemed to overlook, but this time I took notice, and I liked what I saw a lot. Then we were told that due to an illness, Paramore had to cancel their spot for Saturday afternoon, and after a little sound check, the moment we had been awaiting and stood in one spot for the past three hours for finally arrived. Copeland played a mesmerizing set combining songs off their past two records and displaying a few new ones from their coming October 31^st release, Eat, Sleep, Repeat. Headlining the night was Emery, who immediately snapped the crowd out of their dreamy-eyed gazes and oh my goodness is this sampler terrible. I mean, I know it’s Gotee Records, but come on. Sorry, anyway, Emery woke everyone from their lovesick slumber and injected their veins with something better than caffeine: hard-hitting rock and roll. Playing mostly songs from The Question, this band had an energy that I will be missing the next time I try listening to their CD. The keyboardist obviously does very little actual playing live, so he mostly ran all over the stage dancing around. And the lead vocalist’s screams were incredibly better than the screams on the studio versions of these songs. This high-pitched eagle sound made the other stuff sound more like a duck. Ending with “Walls,” and a band member jumping into both sides of the crowd, Emery certainly owned the night from a rock standpoint. Another amazing point to their set was when the singer stepped forward before singing “Listening to Freddy Mercury” and asked the crowd “How many of you are Christians?” (everyone cheers) “How many of you love the Lord Jesus?” (everyone cheers) “How many of you are liars?” (some cheer) “How many are cheaters?” (few cheer) “How many are having sex outside of marriage?” (crowd is silent) “See, when it comes to hypocrites, I’m the biggest one…” and he went on the share that we should be living for God each day and win over others to His love by our actions and not by