Name: Adam Bernard Home: Fairfield, Connecticut, United States About Me: Entertainment journalist with 15+ years of experience. Supporter of indie music. Lover of day baseball, fringe movies, & chicken shawarma. Part time ninja. Nerdy, but awesome. See my complete profile
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from one Spice Girl’s concept of family, to Lady Gaga going to the lab, to Nicki Minaj getting involved in human rights overseas, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
* In an interview with Vogue Germany, Victoria Beckham discussed her decision to not participate in the Spice Girls reunion tour, saying, “It took me a lot of courage not to go on tour with the Spice Girls again, but to be the one who says, ‘You know, I’m not doing it because things feel different now than they used to.’” She added, “I’d rather concentrate on my family and my company.” Some of us thought the Spice Girls WERE your family, Posh. I mean, you all share the last name Spice, don’t you?
* Lady Gaga introduced her new beauty brand, Haus Laboratories. Yeah, cuz that totally doesn’t sound like the name of a lab in a horror movie that accidentally produces a killer virus that spreads all over the world, wiping out the vast majority of civilization until only a select few are left, living in underground bunkers.
* The inaugural On The Water festival will take place October 12th and 13th at Huntington State Beach in Southern California, and feature headlining sets from Slightly Stoopid, Dirty Heads, and 311. With those headliners a more appropriate title might be the On The Water Pipe festival.
* Diddy made the claim on social media that MTV called him to talk about bringing back the reality show Making The Band. If you remember the show at all, you’ll recall it should’ve been called Making a Long Walk For Cheesecake.
* Panic! at the Disco’s “High Hopes” had its 34 week reign atop the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart come to an end when it was overtaken by the band’s latest single, “Hey Look Ma, I Made It,” which now ranks as the most appropriately titled follow up song in history.
* According to Forbes, Kanye West’s Yeezy apparel brand is expected to top $1.5 billion in sales by year’s end. Of course, with the price point for some of his sneakers, that could just mean he sold a couple pairs of shoes.
* Nicki Minaj canceled her headlining set at a music festival in Saudi Arabia, saying, “After better educating myself on the issues, I believe it is important for me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community, and freedom of expression.” I really need Nicki Minaj to end up being the catalyst for change in Saudi Arabia, just so they put her image on their money.
* Coinciding with his latest single, “Goodbyes,” Post Malone is selling a $75 “Goodbyes” coffin pool float, which comes with a download of his upcoming album. I want to make fun of this, but in 2019 artists need to find every creative way possible to make money off their work, and this is kinda genius.
* Chris Brown found himself atop the Billboard 200 chart, as his new album, Indigo, racked up a total of 108,000 equivalent album units earned, 28,000 of which were album sales. I think most of us could easily be convinced the album was named after Brown’s favorite color of bruise to leave on a woman … because he’s an unrepentant woman abuser.
* Finally, as a palette cleanser, this is the Lil Nas X / Staind / Lynyrd Skynyrd / Nirvana mashup you didn’t know you needed.
And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.
For nearly two decades The Dollyrots have been rocking audiences around the globe, and the duo of Kelly Ogden and Luis Cabezas are showing no signs of slowing down with a new album, Daydream Explosion, being released today, and an extensive national tour in support of that album having kicked off yesterday.
An even more impressive feat – they’re doing all of this while raising two young children.
With their new album fresh in everyone’s ears, and their tour in full swing (see all the tour dates at dollyrots.com), I caught up with Kelly to find out more about their Daydream Explosion, get some stories from the road – one of which involves Kelly running from hotel security, and learn how they balance punk rock and parenthood.
The new album is Daydream Explosion. Tell me, do you daydream, and if so, what do you daydream about?
Ugh, I am the worst daydreamer … or the best, however you want to look at it. {laughs}
My mind is just a wandering mind. I’m constantly thinking of ten things at once, and also I’m easily distracted. That’s probably why I’m not a great driver.
Usually the things I’m most distracted by are cute creatures, or weird birds. Nature, usually nature is the main thing, or cool cars.
I read that you consider this album the album of your dreams. How does this translate emotionally, and energy-wise, when you perform these songs?
They feel really powerful.
My life has changed a lot in the past 6 years. The two records before this one I was pregnant while writing them, so of course now I’m mother to two small children, and my husband, and partner, and everything, is my bandmate, so everything that we do comes with a lot behind it.
The stories aren’t always about us, but the experiences are, whether it’s an experience that a friend has had, or a family member, or something from our past, we write everything with truth, and emotion.
This album was particularly, I would say emotional, and not in a bad sense.
My dad passed away December 21st, and at that point I think we had maybe a quarter of the album written. (His passing) wasn’t unexpected, he’d been sick for a long time, but he was having a good spurt, so I guess it was a blessing that he passed on when things were kinda good, but I was not prepared to finish writing a record right then, but we had no choice. We had booked Pachyderm Studios outside of Minneapolis for January 22nd, and there was no way we weren’t gonna get there.
Luis, fortunately, supported me in every way that he could. He wrote some amazing instrumentals, and I would come in and we would write melodies and lyrics together after we put the kids to bed at night until the wee hours in the morning.
I think that something special was happening in that time because it was such an emotional time, and we were able to reflect on life in a way that I had never experienced before.
My mom, fortunately, is still here, but losing a parent is a really profound experience, and I think it opened my mind to emotions and feelings that now as a parent, especially, I hadn’t really tapped into before.
The songs can still be listened to as light, poppy, fun Dollyrots songs, but as always our songs do have depth if you care to look into them, and this one in particular is emotional.
It’s very jubilant and happy …
I was gonna say, musically it’s not a bummer.
No. The thing is I was so happy. I was looking back on all these pictures with my dad, and my amazing childhood, and early life.
It was written with such appreciation, and gratitude, and just jubilance. It wasn’t a sad time at all. It ended up really propelling us forward in a positive way, so I think it was a gift, and I don’t know if we’ll ever write a record this good again.
This is your first release in a post-Warped Tour world – I’m not counting the one-off dates. Where does pop punk and punk rock go, and what do they need to do, in this weird new world?
It’s kind of strange, but our band has never really been part of “the scene” the scene, like the greater scene. We’ve been parts of a lot of smaller scenes, but I think our brand of pop punk is definitely a nod to the older pop punk, in a way. Buzzcocks took us out on tour. We love rock n roll of the Joan Jett variety. We’ve toured with The Breeders. We’ve toured with a lot of bands that we grew up looking up to that also play a … it’s not classic rock in a sense like Zeppelin, or gonna go play “Freebird” at the end of the show, but in a classic rock n roll way, and I think that’s more the music that we play.
Leading into how we’re releasing this record, we’re releasing it with Wicked Cool, and that is a record label that supports rock n roll in the truest definition of rock n roll. It’s a good home for us because it’s not necessarily old fashioned in any way, but it’s also not something that’s gonna be dated in 10 years.
I feel like our first records are still as easy to listen to as a rock n roll record as they were when we wrote them.
You are going on tour in support of Daydream Explosion, so let’s get some tour stories. Pretty much every band that goes on the road ends up with the occasional run in with the law. What’s the closest you’ve come to getting arrested without actually getting arrested?
Let me think … you know, I always get out of it, so I have never been arrested, thank goodness.
I have been placed in a couple police cruisers.
What led to that?
This isn’t a tour story, but it is a band related story.
There was a Grammy party at The Roosevelt, which is on Hollywood Boulevard, right across from the Chinese Theatre. If you’ve ever been to Hollywood and walked on the Walk of Fame, it’s right there, right in the middle of the touristy Hollywood.
So we went to this Grammy party at The Roosevelt. We had been drinking all day, doing interviews, and doing the schmooze thing, and the sun went down and I was getting a little feisty. It was in my whiskey days. I realized that nobody was in the pool. I was like, this party is so boring. They were playing music that I thought was lame, I don’t remember what it was, and I was like, I’m going in the pool.
I took off my pants and shoes, and I went in the pool in my t-shirt and my underwear.
So you weren’t that drunk if you took off your pants and shoes first.
No no. I wasn’t wasted, I was just a little feisty.
So I got in the pool, then I took off my shirt, and then about 30 seconds later these jumbo sized security guards decided that I had to get out of the pool. I was like, “Why? We’re at a hotel. There’s this beautiful huge pool right here,” and they’re like, “No. The hotel pool’s closed.” I was like, “Alright, whatever, man,” and they got kind of aggro on me – and this is pretty much my M.O., it’s happened one other time at this intersection – I got out of the pool in my bra and underwear and bolted.
I ran out of the hotel, through a lobby full of people that were there for a Grammy party.
I ran through the lobby out onto Hollywood Boulevard. We were at Hollywood and Orange. If you look at a map it’s kind of hilarious. I ran up Orange, so I crossed Hollywood Boulevard at a crosswalk, in a bra and underwear, soaking wet, drunk.
But you were obeying the law, you crossed at the crosswalk.
Oh yeah, always at the crosswalk. I think it was a weekend night, so it was packed.
I ended up breaking into an apartment building and hiding in a closet for a while until I kinda dried off, and I don’t even remember how, but somehow I found Luis, and Luis had my pants, but not the shirt. But yeah, we didn’t really go back to The Roosevelt after that.
The parking garage there was also the scene of a similar thing where security guards were chasing me because I broke … you know those arms that go down to stop you in-between cars? I decided to run through one once, and I broke it.
The security guards were like frothing at the mouth chasing me, so I went running, and then they called the cops, then I (ended up) in the cop car after hiding in a tree behind an apartment building called The Nirvana.
I thought the coast was clear, I got out, and the cops were standing there waiting for me, so they put me in the cruiser. They were talking to Luis and our bandmate at the time, Chris, who were being held on the ground at that intersection in front of a bunch of people we knew leaving a party, one of which is our attorney now.
The end of the story is I was just sitting in the police cruiser thinking oh God, I’m so gonna get arrested for this, aren’t I? The cop opened up the door and asked, “Are those two your friends?” I was like, “They’re my bandmates.” He said,” Alright, you guys better get home safe, OK?” and he laughed at me and let me go.
That’s kinda been the way it always goes for me.
Did you break through the parking garage arm with a car, or …
No no, my body. I put my arms up. It was during the Olympics, so I was feeling inspired to break through the finish line. {laughs}
And you did.
I did.
Little did you know there was a whole other race you’d have to run afterward.
Yeah, and that thing is still braced. They bolted it back together, so if you’re ever parking under Hollywood and Highland, and you see the broken arm thing in-between cars, that was from me.
Someone should slap a Dollyrots sticker on there.
I should! I should do that next time I’m there. {laughs}
How do you balance punk rock – which is anti-authority – and parenthood, where you’re 100% the authority? That can’t be easy.
It’s true, but I treat my children like small individuals that are their own beings, and need to make their own decisions. That said, I am the ruler supreme, but I don’t say, “Well, because I’m your parent.” If I’m making them do something I give the reasons why, and dude, trust me, it is exhausting, but I don’t bark out orders without explanation, and I don’t ask them to do things that they don’t need to do. I give them enough freedom as I can, within reason.
They play outside by themselves in the backyard, digging dirt, eating plants, I don’t know what they’re doing some of the time.
What we all did as kids.
Yeah, it’s up to them to find their way in different places within the confines of my little safety border I put around them that they don’t know exists. {laughs}
It’s gotta be funny, though, because if they draw on the wall it’s a terrible thing, but at the same time it’s like, “Don’t do that thing I did two nights ago in a venue’s bathroom.”
Oh yeah. It’s like, “Well don’t do it at home, but you could do it here.” {laughs}
They’ve been on tour, too. They’ve both been touring their entire lives. Our 5 year old, his first tour was a Southern California Black Flag date. I think he was 8 weeks old. He’s seen some shit, but it’s funny in a way because I think he definitely understands it. He doesn’t curse, or anything, even though he’s around our tour family, which, I mean, every other word is fuck, and asshole, and shit, and he never ever uses those words. One time he did, and I was like, “That is not a word for you to use. That’s a grown up word. When you’re a grown up, if you choose to you can use it,” and he was like, “Oh, OK, I get it.”
This week’s NYC Scene Report features Missyou feeling “closetoyou,” WIVES defining “The 20 Teens,” Safer just wanting to be left alone, and “1001” reasons to check out Glitterer.
* NYC-based alt-pop-rock band Missyou have been making a name for themselves with their debut EP, YourBody, and they’re keeping the buzz going with the final single off the project, “closetoyou.”
Missyou frontman Blaise Beyhan explained the inspiration for the song in a statement, saying, “A girl who I grew up with, who used to babysit me, and was part of the commune I grew up in, she was like a big sister to me, passed away a couple of months ago. I did not know what to say and the thing that kept coming to mind is to say we should not take each other for granted, that we need to keep our loved ones close, and that none of us are getting out alive.”
Beyhan added, “The video is an expression of loss of innocence, and an exercise of grief.”
It’s a heck of a clip, and a great song, so click play, and don’t miss out on Missyou.
* You never know how randomly hearing a song by A Flock Of Seagulls will affect you. For Jay Beach, singer/guitarist of the Queens-based indie rock band WIVES, it made him want to make a definitive song, a song, like A Flock Of Seagulls’ “I Ran,” that encapsulates an era.
This idea turned into the band’s recently released single, “The 20 Teens.”
Attempting to make a song that defines a decade is lofty goal for sure, but “The 20 Teens” is an indie rock song that sounds like it has to be from this decade, so for WIVES it’s mission accomplished.
“The 20 Teens” is off WIVES’ upcoming full length debut, So Removed, which is currently scheduled to be released in October, and you can check out the song right here.
* Safer (the latest project of Brooklyn-based artist Mattie Safer, who you may know from The Rapture, and Poolside) has one simple request – “Leave Me Alone.”
Expanding on the topic of his latest single, Safer explains, “‘Leave Me Alone’ was one of the first songs that I made for this band where I ‘figured out’ the production. I was on my first run of shows with Poolside and working off my laptop and headphones in-between shows and soundchecks. Up until that point the music was very ‘band in a room,’ and Jeffrey (Paradise, from Poolside) suggested bringing in some more synths and production to give it a little twist of modernity. Lyrically, it’s pretty simple – doesn't everyone want to be left alone sometimes? Drama and fatalism are my middle names, but I try to at least be funny about it.”
Get wrapped up in Safer’s drama, as “Leave Me Alone” is a wonderfully addictive song you’ll end up humming while walking down the street. Actually, it’s wildly appropriate to hum this while walking down the street.
* Glitterer is the newest musical project of Title Fight bassist/vocalist Ned Russin. It was born in the carpeted basement of his family’s home in Kingston, PA, but he’s brought it to his current home of NYC. If the song “1001” is any indicator, the city – and entire country – is about to get a whole lot more glittery.
“1001” is the lead single off Glitterer’s upcoming full length album, Looking Through The Shades, which is due out this Friday, July 12th, via ANTI-. Russin is currently in the midst of a 20-date tour in support of the album, which began June 8th and will run through September 1st.
For what you’ll hear when he hits the stage, click play on “1001.” You won’t be disappointed.
For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.
Shoegaze and hard rock may seem like odd bedfellows, but after hearing The Darling Fire you’ll immediately recognize that in the right hands – and vocals – the combination not only works, it works really well.
Hailing from South Florida, The Darling Fire recently released their debut album, Dark Celebration, on Spartan Records, and while it’s the first release for the band, the Jolie Lindholm fronted group is made up of veterans from the scene.
During their recent tour, the band tore it down on back-to-back nights at Arlene’s Grocery in NYC. The shows acted as a statement that The Darling Fire are no side-project – they’re a full time band, and they’re the real deal.
Here are eight things you should know about The Darling Fire.
They’re an indie rock Voltron
You’re probably already familiar with the members of The Darling Fire, as they’re essentially an all-star team of artists.
Consisting of Jolie Lindholm (vocals, guitar), Jeronimo Gomez (guitar), Gregg Moore (bass), Steven Kleisath (drums), and Matthew Short (guitar), the five-some have a collective resume that includes The Rocking Horse Winner, Dashboard Confessional, Shai Hulud, Further Seems Forever, and As Friends Rust.
The band started when Jolie and husband Jeronimo started writing together, and learning how to record. After penning their second song, “Omaha,” Jolie remembers, “We decided we were looking for heavier drumming, and we knew Steve was the perfect candidate for that.”
From there they reconnected with Matthew Short, and Steve asked his old friend Gregg Moore if he’d like to join the band, as well.
Just like that, their roster was set, and they were ready to go.
Their sound is a result of great minds not thinking alike
The Darling Fire have a shoegaze meets hard rock sound, and Jolie explains how it was created, saying, “Jeronimo and I wanted to do something heavy, with sick guitars, but it’s weird, because he would give me a song, and I would put my vocals over it, and he’d be like, ‘That’s not what I heard at all.’ It changed it completely in his head … in a good way, though … It just kind of turned into this thing.”
This thing being an entirely brand new sound.
Their live show rocks hard
“I think when people hear us, or they come to the show, they don’t expect the intensity,” Jolie says of the band’s music, “they don’t expect it to be like that because Rocking Horse was a lot softer.”
The Darling Fire recently completed a tour, and for their second NYC date they had three bands from the state of NY – LTrain, Marquee Grand, and Previous Love – all of which are known to rock hard. This, Jolie says, was no accident.
“We did that intentionally. We wanted to have the show be like that, and the other bands were all amazing. I think the whole thing was like a barrage of sound.”
The initial fan support surprised them
“Rocking Horse hasn’t been together for a very long time,” Jolie notes, “so I didn’t think that people would really even remember who we were, to be honest. The fact that there were still people listening to our music was pretty cool to find out. I had no idea.”
Their debut album, Dark Celebration, is truly a celebration
What is a dark celebration, you ask? Jolie explains the title of the band’s debut album, saying, “We all went through some shit over a few year period prior to getting together, so basically this album is celebrating coming out of that shit that we went through. It’s not a bad thing. It’s actually a good thing – taking those things that happened and making them into something creative.”
The video for “Saints in Masquerade” was filmed over the course of just one weekend
Sometimes everything lines up perfectly, and that was the case for the creation of The Darling Fire’s video for “Saints in Masquerade,” which was filmed over the course of just one weekend.
Jolie remembers, “It was a very intense, fun experience, and everything just aligned. We were able to get access to the bowling alley, which had the arcade. That was through my husband. They let us go there very early in the morning before they opened, and we thought we weren’t going to have enough time, but we actually only spent two hours. For that two hours we were able to pull off all those shots.”
Their good fortune continued throughout the weekend, as she adds, “The lighting was lent to us by somebody here in the scene who is an old school punk rocker, and he just loves supporting local bands … The projector shots, when that was happening it was magical that night. It was just insane how that worked out.”
The “Saints in Masquerade” video is also a family affair
The kids in the video, and their parents, are actually members of Jolie’s family – the kids are the children of Jolie’s sister and brother-in-law, who are also in the video playing the roles of the parents.
This bit of casting provided the band with another added bonus.
“I asked them if they wanted to be in the video,” Jolie remembers, “and then they offered their home, which you see in some of the shots. They own a business where they sell vintage furniture, so they have all of those things in their home already, so it just worked out perfectly for the shot.”
They’re finding the promo game has changed significantly since the days of their previous bands
When The Rocking Horse Winner was in its prime, the concept of how a brand promoted itself, and kept in touch with fans, was vastly different.
“For Rocking Horse we has a little bit of a street team through snail mail,” Jolie recalls, “I think we had maybe MySpace, possibly, at that time … maybe not even. So there wasn’t as much of an online presence.”
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” intent, to the parodies Weird Al is cutting from his set list, to what Alice Cooper won’t be doing with his wife, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
* Fiona Apple has pledged to donate all the earnings from her song “Criminal” for the years 2019 and 2020 to WhileTheyWait, which operates a fund managed by the immigration law firms RAICES Texas, and Brooklyn Defender. We’re still waiting to see if Kevin Federline will do this with “PopoZao.”
* When Scott Borchetta sold Big Machine Label Group to Scooter Braun it started a war with former Big Machine Label Group artist Taylor Swift. Swift took to social media to call Braun a bully, and say that him having control of her old masters is a “nightmare.” Borchetta wrote back in a post of his own that Swift was told in advance that the sale was going to happen, and that she had even been given the opportunity to buy back her masters. Swift has, whether knowingly or not, inspired her fans to attack Braun on social media, but Braun has found defenders in Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, and Sia. What all of this really shows is more artists need to marry Russell Wilson.
* Weird Al Yankovic has dropped two of his Michael Jackson parodies – "Eat It” and “Fat” – from his set list for his current tour. He explained his decision, saying, “We just felt that with what’s happened recently with the HBO documentaries, we didn’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable. I felt I had enough fan favorites in the show that I could get away with it. I haven’t gotten a lot of pushback; There have been some people who have expressed disappointment, but we decided to err on the side of not offending people.” So basically, while Michael Jackson once sang “Annie, are you OK?” Weird Al actually gives a damn if Annie is OK.
* Madonna has launched her own SiriusXM channel – Madame X Radio. The channel showcases music from Madonna's career, and features the stories behind her songs, including those from her latest album, Madame X. It’s all-Madonna all the time. In other words, it’s the Terrell Owens theory of radio programming.
* Alice Cooper had to shoot down a rumor that he has a “death pact” with his wife. This, however, has inspired my new bucket list goal, which is to be so cool that people think I may have a death pact with whoever I end up marrying. Speaking of which, hey Vanessa Hudgens, does this sound good to you?
* Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, spent a 13th week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard is calling it the longest reign ever for a hip-hop song, but the ubiquitous hit only became a hip-hop song after Billboard refused to call it a country song. Regardless of the genre, “Old Town Road” is this generation’s “Mambo No. 5.”
* A musical telling the life story of Neil Diamond is headed for Broadway. Being that Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is a song used by the Boston Red Sox, there’s a pretty good chance this will be a Broadway musical that will get booed in New York City.
* Closing things out with some fantastic news – I have new BABYMETAL for you! Their latest single is titled “PA PA YA!!” (featuring F.HERO), and if you thought the combination of heavy metal and J-pop was insane, just wait until you hear it with a rap verse thrown in!
And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.
My First Time is a feature exclusive to Adam’s World where artists discuss some of the major artistic firsts from their life.
SIBERIA would like to reintroduce herself.
A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with alt-pop and R&B influences, SIBERIA first hit listeners’ ears in 2017 with her debut EP, Send, and she’s been sending herself wherever inspiration may hit ever since.
Originally from Florida, SIBERIA says she found her artistic identity and musical voice while in Burbank, CA, but is a bit of a nomad, noting she “continues to move throughout the seasons, calling wherever the emotions come to as home.”
Known for wearing her heart on her sleeve, her latest single is “Talk,” which she describes, saying, “This song was created as a conversation between two people, one of which acting as a blackhole in human form.” She adds that the song is “an apology in the form of acknowledging faults to the other. Kind of like the realization of fault, and apology, I never got, and will never get, from those that inspired this song.”
Calling the song “cathartic,” SIBERIA says “Talk” has given her, “A sense of freedom in feeling aware that what happened was not deserved.”
With SIBERIA having just released this standout song, and currently finishing up writing a poetry/art book, she sat down with me to talk about some of the major artistic firsts from her life.
My first time performing on stage
I think it had to have been in middle school. I did the school-wide talent show. I had someone else play the guitar for me at the time because I hadn’t learned it yet and I wanted so badly to perform “The Only Exception” by Paramore.
So much angst and love at 12 years old.
Oh, and sadly, my ballad did not let me win.
My first time buying an album
I believe it had to have been Lights – Siberia.
I chose to spend my money on it because music has always been an atmosphere for me to live in. I grew up as an only child, so I found all of the world I needed to see through music – listening at home, or school, or even grocery stores when I was feeling particularly angsty to ignore the masses of people.
All the music I listened to inspired melodies, song names, or just ways to go about being an authentic artist.
My first time attending a concert
I was 15 years old at a hometown show for A Day to Remember!
It was right before Thanksgiving. Such a chaotic time. I went with my closest friends and crush at the time, and what an intimate experience it was to be in a mosh pit as a string bean, screaming lyrics, throwing elbows, and still finding the energy to flirt with someone. Power moves, in my opinion.
They gave out free sombreros if you brought food to donate, so I brought some and received said sombrero, but I think it’s for the best I lost this gigantic sombrero!
My first time writing an original song
I was 17 years old, I think. It was called “Call Them Out.” It was the first song I had ever written in the pull and push of emotion in one sitting. It meant so much to me I had gotten a tattoo within a month or so of what it meant to me.
(The song) was about my depression, and awareness of the situations I witnessed and was right in the middle of. I was trying to acknowledge my darkest thoughts, but not let them take me over.
I had to have played it for a few friends, and possibly even on Periscope once! What a throwback. I might have to play it again sometime soon.
The seamless skin, of the body I’m in
Contains a heart and mind, no longer keeping time
Living in the cool, the flashing light
The lie of the surroundings,
The sleepless nights.
Do not disturb, those hungry words.
Those wolves, they call them out.
My first time at an open mic night
This is tricky. I don’t know exactly when or where, but I probably did a Lights song. More than likely “Cactus in the Valley,” or “Banner.”
I used to just go downtown and walk around and just sit and play in a Starbucks, whether or not they let me. I just wanted to play, and possibly be heard.
Oh! I did an open mic night at a Mojo’s Grill once! Didn’t fit the vibe there at all, just wanted a microphone to sing into and a guitar solo to play. I felt so incredibly nervous that it almost paralyzed me into not letting words come out of my mouth when I got to the mic. I felt pretty good after the fact. The rush of adrenaline always lingered.
