Young Man

Young Man is an alternative rock musician by the name of Colin Caulfield from Chicago. 

“I’ve always listened to and analyzed music, so once I picked up piano and guitar, it wasn’t too difficult to pick it up,” Caulfield said. “I play guitar, piano, drums, and sing. Rather than any one instrument being a favorite, I seem to vibe most with the combination of voice and piano. I write a song nearly every time I sit down at a piano.”

Caulfield started his band when he was in college.

“Young Man is a concept project I started working on when I was a sophomore in college,” Caulfield said. “At that point (as well as right now) things were constantly hanging - my life was dominated by a transition from young to old. I briefly considered using my own name, but that made everything too specific - there’s an intentional universality within each Young Man song, whether or not it’s about a specific experience of mine.”

Being a solo artist has been an enjoyable experience for Caulfield, but he hopes to do more things with a band.

“’Boy’ and ‘Ideas of Distance’ are definitely solo records, but the next two LPs will be considerably more of a group effort,” Caulfield said. “I liked being the dominant creative force for a while because it made me progress quickly, but I don’t know if I’m cut out to do that forever. I enjoy being in a band and seeing how ideas can grow with the help of other people.”

The debut album, “Ideas of Distance” is based on a long distance relationship Caulfield has been in.

“When I wrote the record, that relationship was being tested not only by distance, but by my looming graduation from college, which signified a significantly new phase of my life,” Caulfield said. “I was attempting to juggle career plans and being in love constantly caught in thinking about the future. Having said that, the album functions on two levels…On one hand, it’s my argument for why being in a long distance is terrible. On the other hand, it’s a more general discussion of love that everyone feels. The recording process was more or less concurrent with the writing process. I did all of it in my room, except for additional production done by my good friend, Phil Tortoroli, who lives in New York City.”

Young Man has toured throughout Europe, the East Coast and Midwest and it looking forward to the West Coast and opening for Cold War Kids on Nov. 1.

In the future, Caulfield hopes to release more albums and be part of a band again.

“I’m really anxious and impatient when it comes to my creative future,” Caulfield said. “There are two Young Man albums in addition to ‘Ideas of Distance’ in the next year, which will conclude the project, but I’m already writing more and thinking about what I’d like to focus on afterward. It’d be great to play drums in a band again, but I have an open mind.”

Joey Ryan & The Inks

Joey Ryan & The Inks is a five-piece alternative rock band hailing from St. Paul, Minn. 

“I played with our bass player, Matt Mitchell, for a long time in a band called ‘The Exchange’ growing up,” lead singer Joey Ryan said. “Once that band ended, he helped me demo a small catalog of songs I had been working on and playing as a solo act that would soon turn into a good chunk of what was on our first record, ‘Well, Here We Are Then.’ From there, Matt’s brother, Chris, started playing some guitar with us and we asked Ryan Mach who we knew from playing drums with other bands around town. Tim Dickson is the newest member of the group and has been playing with us for a while, too.”

The band has always wanted to play upbeat tunes and has been influenced by artists such as The Beatles, The Hollies, The Beach Boys, ELO and Bob Dylan.

“I’ve always enjoyed music in this vein, but it’s taken different forms over the years - that’s where all of those different influences come in,” Ryan said. 

Inspiration comes from many things for the band, but most of all is the people around them.

“First, we just have a good time making music and as long as that continues, I see no reason to stop,” Ryan said. “But also, I think we’ve got some good momentum going as a band – we’re playing in new places to new audiences and getting a pretty good response to it, and I think the new record has added to that.”

Its newest album, “Dennis Lane,” was self-produced and released in July of this year.

“We have (a) studio in my basement, which is where we came up with a lot of these songs and recorded almost everything…and it happens to be located on Dennis Lane,” Ryan said. “Being able to record at home at our own pace certainly shaped the recording process – it takes some of the pressure off and gave us some freedom to experiment, and sometimes you find a new idea in those experiments that really adds to the song.”

In the future, the band hopes to create more music and keep traveling.

“We’ll keep writing songs and making records,” Ryan said. “We haven’t really charted out a specific course, but hopefully we’ll keep broadening our horizons and bringing our music to new places with some touring.”

Kaleidophone

Kaleidophone is a four-piece alternative rock band from Maidstone, England, which formed in 2007. Instead of playing music right away like most bands, the band decided to do something more unique.

“The first thing we did as a band was building our own recording studio,” the band said. “After a few months doing this we began making music and working towards creating the sound that we have today.”

The band is influenced by artists such as The Wombats, Friendly Fires and Vampire Weekend.

“We wanted to create fun and good music that was melodic and uplifting,” the band said. “We think we have a great debut album and that the songs on the album say quite a bit about Kaleidophone. A career in music is a journey and we are loving every step.”

The debut album, “What’s Your Tonic?” was released in May 2011 and received some positive feedback according to the band.

“What’s Your Tonic?” is related to the eclectic nature of the record – people are all different, and every track on our record has its own identity,” the band said. “It’s really a celebration of diversity.

“Having the studio which we built was invaluable as we didn’t have the usual time constraints that many bands have to work with when hiring some studio time,” the band said. “We were able to utilize the amazing talent within the band and self-produce our record and the label gave us the freedom to do that.”

The band likes the songs on its latest album.

“From a production point of view, we’re proud of ‘Wrecking Ball’ and also as the lead track for the album it has received a lot of radio play,” the band said. “From a musical, lyrical and sentimental point of view, ‘Hometown’ holds a special place in our hearts."

In the future, the band hopes to tour the U.K. as well as the U.S. and start working on its second album.

“To us, music is a two-way street and we want to join in and make a true connection with those who like what we’re about,” the band said.

Wrecking Ball - Kaleidophone from Rob Sampson on Vimeo.

The band members include:

Mark Wells - Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar

Al Holland - Lead Vocals and Lead Guitar

James Holland - Bass

Mark Thompson - Drums

Sam Beeton Update

Check out Sam Beeton's new video on the link below. If you like it, feel free to comment.

Violet Bones

Violet Bones is a rock band from Cambridge, England, who got into music at an early age.

 “I was brought up on the ’60s music my parents listened to, and the other guys were pretty much the same,” Si Dartford, lead singer and guitarist, said.

 The band got its start much like any other high school punk band, teaching itself along the way.

 “We started when we were teenagers, kicking out punk covers of bands we looked up to,” Dartford said. “We were lucky enough to be given gigs at pubs despite not being old enough to even be in there in the first place.

 “We have always played punk rock as a basis of our music,” Dartford said. “It’s what influenced us when we were starting out. Although we aren’t necessarily a punk band, we thrive when we are playing upbeat music. It’s thrilling to play live and can stir and provoke the crowd in a way other music can’t.”

 Originally called 9FoldPunch, the band decided to change its name to Violet Bones.

“We changed our name because we had grown up a lot since we started out as 9fold,” Dartford said. “Our sound had matured and our style was changing, so it was agreed that we found a name that reflected that. We got the name Violet Bones from when I went to visit my grandma in (the) hospital. There was an old lady in a bed opposite called ‘Violet Bone.’ It was around the time we were looking for a new name and I told the guys this story and we agreed that name had a good vibe. It felt right to us.”

Violet Bones’ music comes from what happens in its daily life.

 “Songs we write all come from different places. For instance, how we feel about the world, having love, not having love, the night before, the morning after,” Dartford said. “We want songs that are relevant, that mean something.”

The band’s recent single, “Villains,” is based off of their home town and how to handle diversity.

“The story behind Villains is about the town we live in. It can be quite small minded. If you look a bit different and have your own thing going on, people will always try and put you down because they can’t handle diversity. It’s about standing up to those people. It’s good to see at gigs people that get into it and understand and feel the same, for whatever reason,” Dartford said. “Every time that happens, we consider that a success.”

In the future, the band plans to finish recording and release its debut album later this year.

“We are currently recording our debut album, which is very exciting times for us. We have a good vibe about it,” Dartford said. “We’re starting to book up shows up and down the UK. So things are definitely getting a lot busier, with tours being planned in the not too distant future, too. There’s a lot (of) hard work to be done, and we don’t mind this…rolling our sleeves up and getting on with it…that’s what we are all about.”

“We are four best mates that have been through a lot together,” Dartford said. “We are a gang that have played all over the UK to lots of people and sometimes not so many. We have formed a close band with one another. We know we are better together playing music than doing anything else.”



http://blog.violetbones.com/

Folk of Flight

Folk of Flight is an alternative folk band from St. Louis made up of Paul Ranheim and Karen Choi, who met after graduate school.

“We met while both performing solo acts at a coffee house,” the band said in an interview. “We also were both graduate students in St. Louis.”

The band started playing in January of this year and has been happy with its success so far.

“Our goal was simply to explore the local music scene together,” the band said. “We wanted to give shape to what we were doing collectively, so we formed Folk of Flight. At that point, we had no plans to record the EP and no idea how long we would play together.”

Being from two different backgrounds, both Ranheim and Choi find a great sound.

“Somehow, it is a really natural fit,” Choi said. “Although, Paul is always trying to make our songs less country and I’m always trying to put a southern country beat on our tunes. But, somewhere in that tug of war, we find our sound.”

The band released its EP in July after a short time.

“We found ourselves sitting in a studio with a local sound engineer we met through a mutual friend,” the band said. “He told us to pick a weekend to record and that he would do the project for free. After we caught our breath, we got something on the calendar, invited some talented friends to play on the project and before we knew it, we were making plans to release an EP.”

After the release of the band’s first EP, it was posted on Noisetrade to help promote its music.

“Noisetrade is a great resource for artists,” the band said. “It allows us to extend our music to many, beyond our immediate local scope. Fans download our tunes for free in exchange for sharing our music with their friends on facebook or twitter.”

In the future, the band hopes to record its first full-length album and to continue seeing where its music goes.

“We were joking the other day that our future is a perpetual ellipsis,” the band said. “Sometimes we feel like we’re just along for the ride. We want to keep honing our sound as a duo and lean into our natural collaborative relationship.”

http://www.folkofflight.com/

LA VIE

LA VIE is a rock band from Venice, Calif., with the hopes of making its music known to the world.

“I came to meet Bill and Adam through a mutual friend,” Trevor Conner, guitarist of the band said. “Jeff Azoff told me about a great singer songwriter who was looking to do more of a band thing. The next day we got together at a rehearsal spot and from the first song we started playing, we all felt like we had found something great together.”

The band has been influenced by many artists such as Kris Kristofferson and Buffalo Springfield. On its first EP, the band had the opportunity to work with Andrew Dixon, producer of bands such as Augustana and Colbie Caillat.

“Working with Andrew has been great,” Conner said. “We came into the studio well rehearsed and with a plan. Being a baby band in LA, money is short and studio time is expensive. We had one night to record 90% of the EP and everyone was ready to get it done.”

“To have him excited about our music and to get his creative stamp on our debut record was the perfect fit,” Bill Delia, drummer of the band said. “We are going to go back into the studio with him to record a new batch of songs this fall, and can’t wait to get started.”

The band strives to make its music the best it can be.

“Songwriting for us all starts with the initial inspiration,” Ryan Williams, bassist of the band said. “A good writing session usually consists of at least three of us at a house or small studio trying out new ideas. We always have been big in demos, and revisiting them until it sounds right to all of us.”

“We write the songs that come natural and feel good to ourselves, never forced or mirroring some other artist,” Adam Roth, lead singer of the band said.

“For being so young, we all have an incredible amount of professional experience in music,” Conner said. “I have always believed that it’s not every day that creativity overflows, but through practice and discipline, we define art.”

The band’s second EP, “Redemption Day,” was released this year, by Fredrik Eriksson, which is combined with their first EP as a "Dual-EP" on their website to help the Rubicon Team with disaster relief in Los Angeles.

“After the release of our first EP, we continued to write nonstop,” Delia said.

“Over the winter we decided to have our touring keyboard/guitarist, Fredrik Eriksson produce some new tunes. Fred is from Sweden, so that was sort of the ‘home-base’ for the record. Adam went to Sweden to cut guitars and vocals. I stayed in LA and tracked drums at Threshold Sound in Santa Monica and sent files to Fred and Adam. We all met in London to play a few shows and perform on the Dermot O’Leary show, which is where Trevor cut guitars and Ryan cut bass.”

LA VIE has been able to perform in Hollywood, Calif., and in the U.K.

“Playing in the U.K. gave us a great international taste and we all have expressed our intention in going back there,” Williams said. “It’s always a treat to see new people and a new place all at once.”

The band hopes to make its music known to the world and appreciates its fans support.

“We write songs really well together and it doesn’t matter if we are writing a song that’s more country or something more pop, it still sounds like LA VIE and that is something important to hold onto,” Conner said. “We write songs because we want to share them with the world, because there is something within all of us that seeks out music and the connection therein.”

“Music for me, and for all of us, is about that ability to connect on a human level,” Delia said. “Being able to provide that for anyone else, is just awesome. Thank you.”