Hey everyone we will soon be starting to record new music . So we will be keeping you post through the process of it as we go . We have a show comming up July 12th in Portland Oregon then we will be recording some new stuff . We are looking to put some street teams together around difrent states and towns if you are interested in joining that email us here at myspace . The street teams will be helping promote shows and giving music to radio stations . Well I hope Everyone is enjoying the summer ,we sure are . Give us some feed back on your fav ep songs .

Do any of you have plans for today or this weekend? If so, do share. I think I might catch a couple of movies this weekend.

Here it is everyone. Commit it to memory because you’ll be looking for this if you like our music and buy it from stores. =)

We’ve already released two tracks, “No Turning Back,” and “Learning To Fall,” and are planning more as we get closer to the date. Included will be one very large announcement, but we’ll hold that for another time…

If you’re into “Learning To Fall,” and want to pickup a ringtone for it… You know what to do. (the link to their ringtones didn’t work)

Also… thought we’d let you know the tracklisting of “Perceptions.”

1. Pain
2. Surrender Saved My Life
3. Learning To Fall
4. Beautifully Broken
5. Not Turning Back.
6. My God
7. For the Life of Me
8. Last Second Chance
9. Stay With You Tonight
10. Change the World
11. A Point Between Extremes
12. The Ones
13. Say Goodnight

Have we mentioned that we’re excited for you all to hear this? We’re confident that you’ll love it.

Also, for those of you on the West side of the country… we’re coming to see you in August. Details to come…

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“At some point, we as people think we’re more than what we are, and that can get us into a lot of trouble,” Morell says. “We need to realize that we are only human and that we need help.”

Artist: Jon Foreman
Album: Summer EP
Label: Credential Recordings
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Tracklist:
1. A Mirror Is Harder to Hold
2. Resurrect Me
3. Deep in Your Eyes (There Is a River)
4. Instead of a Show
5. House of God, Forever
6. Again

As the four seasons come to a close, Jon Foreman delivers what I believe to be his best EP yet. Maybe it’s just because it’s summer right now so I’m more in the mood for a record of corresponding theme, but these songs have become instant sing-alongs in my car in a way that none of the previous EPs did. Jon keeps it original and a little experimental with horns on the mellow “A Mirror Is Harder to Hold” and a strange Eastern string instrument (I think it’s a sitar, but I could be wrong) on the upbeat, almost rocking, “Resurrect Me.” But personally, I find the most connection with this record when the lyrics are straight out of the Bible (and is that any surprise?).HHold “Instead of a Show” comes from a passage in Amos when God tells the people, “I hate, I despise your festivals and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fattened animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:21-24, NRSV). Foreman takes these words, updates them a little, and turns it into a challenging and inspiring song. Similarly, “House of God, Forever” is his paraphrase of the famous Psalm 23, with a relaxing melody so sweet I’m sure King David himself would be proud. Now as the weather starts to cool again, I’ll probably be back in the mood for Fall, but for the next two or three months, Summer is sure to stay in frequent rotation.

9/10

Official Site
MySpace
PureVolume

Note: I actually bought the combined CD release of Spring and Summer, but I only reviewed this EP instead of the whole package because we already had one for Spring. But, I definitely recommend buying both sets of discs, because Fall and Winter’s packaging connects with that of Spring and Summer, which ends up looking really freaking cool.

First things first… who are we talking to? Name and instrument(s).

Ryan Cooney (drums)- talking in these questions

Brendan Cooney (guitar and vocals)

Dave Mozdzanowski (Bass and BGV’s)

Shea Brennan (Lead Guitar)

Give us the story of The Gallery. How did you guys get together, and how did you decide on your current musical direction?

The story of The Gallery…well, Brendan and I are brothers, so we’ve known each other for about 20 years now. When we moved to Wilbraham, MA when we were 8 or so, we met Shea and have been buddies for a while now. The three of us met Dave at a church youth group in town about five years ago, and we found out that he played bass. Things clicked real well, and we’ve been playing with each other since then. About two years ago, we started playing music in my basement all the time and decided it’d be fun to write some songs of our own. So, we recorded some songs, liked them, and thought that it’d be cool to do a 5 song EP. We released that on our own and, of course, like most bands, weren’t satisfied and wanted to make something new and better immediately after. Thankfully, Blue Duck Records thought that our EP was good enough to sign us, and we got the opportunity to record a fully funded album. It also happened to work out where we could all move down to Florida, where Dave and I were attending college. Despite the busy schedule of four college guys, we were able to practice and write every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to finish this album. With a whole year to focus on writing, we had a lot of time to decide what direction we wanted to take with the new songs. We had all been listening to a lot of not so modern music (Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Oasis, etc) and really learned a lot about songwriting. We focused a lot on melody, and creating some songs that would stand out among a pop/rock scene today, where a lot of bands seem to be doing the same thing.

How did you get hooked up with Blue Duck Records? What made you and the label choose each other?

We sent Blue Duck our EP in a press kit as soon as we got it pressed. We hoped that it would catch the attention of a smaller label that would be willing to work with us, knowing that we were in school and couldn’t be touring year round. I spoke with Jay, the CEO, on the phone and I got a really good vibe. Jay seemed to be very honest and definitely seemed to be on the right track with the label. Thankfully, he liked the EP enough to take a chance with us, having never seen us live or anything. Blue Duck is awesome in that they can give you the attention that a larger label cannot, and that the guys at the label have a vision that helps us stay on track with what we are doing. I think that the label liked us because they saw that we were hard working on our own and would continue that hard work, on another level, when we had the backing of a label. I’m guessing that Jay and John at the label were pretty nervous to see how the new songs would come out, but I think they like them, haha.

Your new record, If You Know What I Mean, is set to release August 12. What should music fans everywhere expect from this album?

Yea, the album is going to be released August 12^th. We are really excited about the new songs. Another thing that worked out awesome with getting this album finished was working with our producer Andrew Wade. He has worked with There For Tomorrow (Hopeless), and A Day to Remember (Victory), as well as many other great bands. We couldn’t be happier with the sound quality of the record, and with the abundance of input he had in the final product. From the people who have heard the album already, we have been hearing that it is a refreshing sound, something that is different from bands that we could be grouped with, genre wise. The choruses are big, and I’m hoping that these will be the type of songs that will get stuck in a listener’s head.

What were some of your influences for it, not only musically, but also thematically/lyrically/personally?

We all have a lot of influences musically. Brendan, who sings, and plays guitar listens to a lot of folk and blues and has guitar training in both of those genres. We all started to listen to some older rock, which I mentioned earlier. That helped teach us a lot about song writing, which we didn’t focus on as much with the previous EP. One band that we are all influenced a lot by is Saves The Day. We call their singer, Chris Conley, the king of melodies. In terms of lyrics, the words on this album are very transparent and personal. The lyrics are influenced a lot by the world and what we make of the world. I think that listeners will feel like they know us better by the time the album is over.

I heard a rumor that this CD is expected to be so huge that bigger labels are considering picking it up. Is that true? What else can you tell us about it?

I don’t know how “huge” the album will be. I can’t say that I think the album will be huge, because I had a role in writing it. I think that some people will like it, and hope that tons of people will like it. We can only hope that enough people will like the album where we can continue to make records, which is all we want to do. I know that our label has been sending the album to some connections that they have at larger labels, so we’ll have to keep you updated with that.

What are your plans as a band once you get the record out? Hitting any of the summer festivals?

Once the record is out we plan on playing out as much as we can. This summer we are hitting a few festivals including a pretty big one called Inside Out Soul Fest in New Hampshire, where we’ve played the last two summers. We plan on keeping in touch with all of the people that like the tunes on Myspace, etc. We will be putting up new videos, pictures, and that kind of stuff all the time so people can sort of be along for the ride with us.

Speaking of summer, which movie blockbuster will be the best?

If I said anything besides Batman- The Dark Knight I think Dave would be mad at me.

What’s the craziest thing (on tour or otherwise) that’s ever happened to The Gallery?

I think that pretty much everything that has happened to us so far is pretty crazy, including the fact that we have a full-length cd, but let me think. This was pretty nuts: When we were driving down to Florida one time, Shea and I were in one car, and Brendan and Dave were in another. Dave and Brendan were about a mile ahead of us, when the timing belt of my legendary mini-van broke, sending a plume of black smoke out behind the car, landing us stranded on the side of the highway in Virginia at about midnight. I was forced to glide through three lanes of traffic wondering where I would stop. We got towed, and it took another full day and about $700 to get the van fixed. Needless to say, that was a bummer, and I hope it’s crazy enough to make the interview.

Alright, that’s about it for the questions. Anything else you’d like to add?

I think that’s about it. Thanks a lot for doing this for us, and hopefully we can do something like it again soon. For everyone reading this, just know that we love to hear from you and we love responding so don’t be afraid to get in touch with us.

Thanks to Ryan for taking the time to answer these. For the record, I am one of the people he mentioned above as having had the chance to hear the new album, and I love it. Go buy a copy as soon as it comes out. You won’t be disappointed. See my review here.

01. Falling On Everlasting
02. Heaven Knocking, Hell Rising
03. To The Service
04. Velvet Thunder
05. The Parting
06. Some Glad Morning

Artist: The Gallery
Album: If You Know What I Mean
Label: Blue Duck Records
Release Date: August 12, 2008
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Tracklist:
1. Drift
2. Consider This
3. Where We Began
4. Kingdoms
5. The Introduction
6. Surroundings
7. My Rhythm
8. Circus Song
9. The Lonely Disease
10. If You Know What I Mean

I’m a sucker for a pounding beat and a catchy melody. The two are not often found together, hence the wide range musical styles found within my collection. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty much impossible to find a pop band that you can headbang to. But somehow The Gallery pulls it off. Now, it’s not headbanging in the August Burns Red sense of the word, but when the thick bass and solid drums begin thundering together on the verses of “Drift,” I can’t help but move my head front and back like I do when I’m sitting in my living room watching an Underoath music video. And for all this mention of heavy bands, The Gallery really has nothing in common with them. If I had to give a better list of comparisons off the top of my head, it would be This Providence, The Academy Is, and The Early November. And I hate to use such a strong but cliché phrase, but I really do think that this is where music is going. The Gallery successfully take the best elements of the emo/ indie-rock genre and expand upon them, building clever verses and catchy choruses while balancing out their driving energy with their fantastic melodies. You won’t know whether to dance or to close your eyes and sing along.

9/10

Official Site
MySpace
PureVolume

Sixpence None The Richer has put the finishing touches on its first Christmas album “The Dawn of Grace”. Set to be released on October 14, the album includes eight traditional Christmas songs and two originals, “The Last Christmas” and “Christmas for Two.” Download “Angels We Have Heard On High” for free now from our MySpace music player

Why do a Christmas album? Leigh Nash says “Sixpence fans have been asking for a Christmas album for as long as I can remember. It was something we always wanted to do, but somehow time got away from us. Now that we are back together, we thought a Christmas album would be a nice gift for our long time supporters. We love it and hope they will too!”

“The Dawn of Grace”

“Angels We Have Heard on High”
“The Last Christmas”
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
“Silent Night” (featuring Dan Haseltine of Jars Of Clay)
“Riu, Riu, Riu”
“Carol of the Bells”
“Christmas Island”
“River”
“Christmas for Two”
“Some Children See Him”

Sixpence will be going back to the studio in the coming weeks to work on a new album for 2009.

We have found our permanent drummer in Mike Emmons (formerly of Holiday Parade). You know how sometimes you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone? Well, this time the inverse is true, we didn’t know what we were missing.

This guy fills in all the blanks, and we’re excited to make the most creative, rocking and overall heartfelt record we’ve ever made. In fact we’ve been writing a ton, and it looks like we’ll be in the studio by Fall.

We have been breaking him in on the festival circuit this summer, along with a breif west coast tour in late July. Make sure you make him feel welcome if you seeing him wandering around a club in your town!

The Fold

Artist: Redfoot
Album: Winnowing Fork
Label: Bad Apple Records
Release Date: November 30, 3007
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Tracklist:
1. Red Horizon
2. Ballad of Thomas Lynch
3. Country Mile
4. Literally
5. From Dirt, with Praise
6. Hardin Springs
7. Digital Jesus
8. Of Icarus and Petroleum
9. Love in Kodak Quality Prints
10. The Truth
11. For John Charles Carter
12. Run, Longest

Some reviews are really hard to write. This is not one of them. Brandon, I want to thank you personally for sending me this CD. Over the past year or so, I’ve gotten really into the folk/Americana feel, and this band from western Kentucky pulls it off splendidly. The guy’s voice is good but nothing fancy, which is what you want for this style of music (although at times he does sound oddly reminiscent of REM). The music itself (comprised mostly of acoustic guitars, a bass, and drums, with the occasional harmonica, etc) is exactly fit for a backyard barbeque or a long drive along some country roads. But while folk music is just plain good music, it is typically also seen as more of a medium for a message than as a piece of entertainment. Folk exists to tell a story and make a point, which Redfoot seems to understand through songs like “Digital Jesus,” which warns of those who would use Jesus name in vein (to make money) or water Him down and sell Him out to the culture, or the powerful “From Dirt, with Praise,” which humbly sings to God about being less pure than the rest of Creation. An electric guitar is laced into “Literally” for an edgier feel on this track about judgementalism and the dangers of harsh, strict doctrine (seemingly a common theme among bands on this webzine). Other tracks speak out against other evils, while still others share tales of personal reflection and confession. For those starting to wonder about the similarities, no, it does not compare to Derek Webb’s Mockingbird, but I don’t think it’s supposed to. He’s more singer/songwriter, while this is definitely a whole band effort. Redfoot have their own style and do their own thing, and I must say they do it wonderfully.

7/10

Official Site
MySpace

My favorite line of the review:
“and they play a mixture of post-hardcore, pop punk, and melodic rock with a Christian tone in the lyrics that may remind you of Jars of Clay.“

It’s been forever since we’ve updated anything on our myspace, or in general. So here’s what’s going on: even though it’s taken FOREVER, our new (S/T) cd is now available on all major online music retailers.(Itunes, Emusic, Amazon, and ect…). Have a listen on myspace, and if you like it, download it.

We made a decision in January to continue doing Man Alive with out a record label, which means that we’re back to being DIY. This is both a pain in my ass, and a pleasure all together. Record labels seem irrelevant nowadays, and to be honest, after releasing 4 full lengths, I think that as a band we collectively lost interest in the industry as a whole. We love music. We love doing Man Alive, so we’re going to keep doing it on our own terms. Most people don’t realize that we’ve been doing this band for nearly a decade. We will keep playing shows in Israel, and make the occasional trip overseas for some touring, but most importantly we will keep writing and recording music together. We hope that anyone who enjoyed our live shows in the past will make an effort to come out and see us if we’re nearby, and hopefully you enjoy our new music. Cheers!

[absolutepunk.net]

Sadly I have one more piece of news to offer. I spoke with Cornerstone Festival Director a few weeks ago about Cornerstone California and unfortunately they will NOT be doing the California festival this year. Bummer.

Artist: Run Kid Run
Album: Love at the Core
Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Tracklist:
1. Rescue Me
2. Captives Come Home
3. Fall into This Light
4. One in a Million
5. Love at the Core
6. Sure Shot
7. My Sweet Escape
8. The Emergency
9. Set the Dial
10. Freedom

As soon as I popped this disc into my car, I was ready to go pick up my youth group friends and make the annual trip to Purple Door. Now I’m past the youth group stage and I will unfortunately not be able to make it out to the music festival this year, but my point is that from the opening verse, this music screams of being perfect for that two hour ride. It’s something that everyone can at least moderately enjoy (opposed to, say, Family Force Five or The Showdown, each of which would only have one or two fans in my five-seater sedan), the energy is high enough to get us pumped for the upcoming performances (unlike Denison Witmer or Derek Webb), and the demand for close attention to detail is low enough that we can still have a conversation overtop the music (contrasted to mewithoutYou or As Cities Burn). And this is exactly what I expect from Run Kid Run: a record that is designed for youth group roadtrips and a safe bet for everyone but the snobby hardcore kid to find something he or she can like. The guitars are driving, the vocals are on-the-spot, the drums avoid too much repetition from song to song, the lyrics aren’t cliché or obnoxious, and the melodies are catchy enough for a good sing-a-long. Also, not all the songs are the same, which is an appreciated treat in this genre, as the band goes for a slower feel here and there and pulls it off well. It’s probably not going to be the most lasting record of the year, but it’s still a good release and an enjoyable set of songs.

8/10

Official Site
MySpace
PureVolume

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