The Rocket Summer And Switchfoot Visit The Georgia Theatre, The Rocket Summer To Release New Album On June 5th

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Ryan Kantor

Touring together, The Rocket Summer and Switchfoot made a stop off the beaten path, coming to Athens, Georgia, as part of their pre-summer tour. In the historic Georgia Theatre, pictured below, a full crowd was treated to about eight songs by The Rocket Summer who was the opening band for the show.

For those of you who are not familiar with The Rocket Summer, Bryce Avary is the song writer, producer, and lead singer… He’s on the keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums too. He’s a multi-talented musician who pays every piece of the band. Of course, this isn’t possible when performing live so I was unsure how good they would be in concert, but his touring bandmates filled in admirably, and there wasn’t a discernible difference from his recording sessions, when he plays every piece.

Avary’s showmanship was a big plus for the show. He took a picture of the crowd and posted it to social media for everyone to tag themselves. He also gave out free MP3 files of “Run And Don’t Stop.” You can click here to have one of the free MP3 files for yourself. It’s the lead track on his new, yet to be released, album which will be available on June 5th. I plan to listen to it in-depth a write a full review blog post, time permitting. (UPDATE: Life Will Write the Words Album Review)

Avary chose to play a lot of his newer songs such as “Of Men And Angels,” “Walls,” “I Need A Break…But I’d Rather Have A Breakthrough,” and track off his upcoming album, “Run And Don’t Stop.”

“Walls,” probably his slowest song of the night, was one of the best. My favorite song of his performance was “Do You Feel.” It was the only one that most of the crowd knew well enough to sing along, and frankly it was the best song on his set list. I was very disappointed that he chose not to play “So Much Love” or “Colors,” but there’s not time for everything when you’re only the opening act rather than the headliner. Speaking of which, The Rocket Summer will be going on tour again this summer after finishing the tour with Switchfoot, and they will be the headline act then, however they won’t be playing in the Carolinas. (UPDATE: Although the Rocket Summer skipped the Carolinas in their summer tour, I attended their stop in Charlotte on 3/22/13)

Though I went to see The Rocket Summer, most were there for Switchfoot. The song they are best known for, “Meant To Live,” was their second to last song and it was even better than expected. It was really brought to life in concert.

Aside from that though, a lot of the songs I didn’t know and were just decent. One song did stand out though. “The War Inside,” a track of their newest album that I hadn’t heard before was great live. I recommend checking it out. The lyrics are pretty well done on it. “This Is Your Life” was another really strong song that the crowd got very into. They played it early and closed with “Dare You To Move.” Overall, Switchfoot was solid. I was never a big fan of theirs, but I gained some respect for them after seeing them in person.

One last note, Bryce Avary said he had played in Athens once before. It was eight years ago at 40 Watt when he opened for Something Corporate. That would be a show I’d pay to see. Unfortunately, Something Corporate is now defunct, though seeing The Rocket Summer open for Jack’s Mannequin (Something Corporate’s successor in a sense) seems viable and nearly as fun.

Anyway, look out for my review of Life Will Write The Words by The Rocket Summer coming in June.

Life Will Write The Words: Track Listing

Run and Don’t Stop (3:23)

Revival (3:33)

Prove It (3:44)

Old Love (3:48)

200,000 (4:07)

Just For A Moment Forget Who You Are (4:00)

Circa ’46 (3:41)

Underrated (3:48)

Soldiers (3:26)

The Rescuing Type (4:00)

Scrapbook (4:09)

Ashes Made of Spades (4:40)

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Emotionally Packed Songs – List & Discussion

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Ryan Kantor

It’s time to revisit our list of emotionally packed songs. If you haven’t read this post already, give it a read and listen to some of our music picks. If you’ve already read it, we need some new suggestions. What songs do you listen to that really hit you emotionally (please don’t say Lady Gaga or I’ll really think something is wrong with you).

One of my favorite bands, Black Gold, was asked the question “how does a person [aspiring musician] get to that next level?” Black Gold’s drummer, Than Luu, said this, “…Write from the heart. You know, if you’re writing songs or you’re performing do it from the heart. You know, because people can tell, I certainly can, when you’re on stage or you’ve recorded something that’s truly kinda BS. It’s not really…you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.”

I’ve asked Tommy, and I’m asking anyone reading this to please send your song suggestions either via comment at the bottom of the article or via twitter (@Ryan_Kantor). I’ll try to add as many good suggestions as I can to the article (I will be updating it as people give songs). So here are some songs that were written from the heart, a they’re linked to YouTube videos so you can hear them for yourself.

“Blackbird” by Alter Bridge: I don’t even feel like I’m exaggerating when I say this is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. It is truly is flawless, both musically and lyrically. It is about a friend of singer Myles Kennedy who was ill and eventually passed away, and about how it was Kennedy’s hope that his friend would find peace.

With the haunting opening guitar pattern, the soaring and incredibly emotional vocals of Kennedy (evident throughout, but when you hear the chorus, you can’t help but appreciate the emotion and drama), and the interlude that evolves into a two-phase guitar solo (the first part is done by Kennedy, the second by Mark Tremonti) that is powerful and dramatic enough to send chills down your spine, this song is an absolute masterpiece.
–Tommy Dianora

“Shine” by Black Gold: The dramatic soft intro, the vocal interlude (2:41), the delivery, it all comes together in a great sounding, dynamic, emotional tune. You absolutely must watch the video to understand what the song is about and have a true appreciation for it. Please share you’re interpretation in the comments!
–Ryan Kantor

“Never Again” by Disturbed: If you’re going to sing about the Holocaust you better do it justice and create a musical masterpiece. Jewish-American singer David Draiman pours his soul out in “Never Again,” aptly named after the Jewish post-Holocaust rallying cry.

This emotional song takes you from sadness to anger to pride and then does it all over again. It even takes a subtle shot at Iranian President and Holocaust denier (AKA idiot), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ”Never Again” is one of Disturbed’s deepest tracks and hits an emotional chord with any listener, especially those that feel a connection to the Jewish community (me).
–Ryan Kantor

“A Man Needs a Maid” by Neil Young: A soft yet extremely powerful song. It has a somber tone throughout, and Young’s emotional vocal delivery, as well as his elegant piano work and the epic orchestration, make it a truly great song. The meaning is somewhat open for interpretation; clearly it has something to do with Young’s personal life–perhaps about him falling out of love but still being dependent on a woman.
–Tommy Dianora

“Venice Queen” by Red Hot Chili Peppers: Even though the Chili Peppers have had numerous huge hits, two of their best and most emotional songs didn’t get the attention they deserved. One would be “Wet Sand” from their Stadium Arcadium album, which I’ve heard on the radio, but was overlooked in favor of Dani California. The other is “Venice Queen” from their By The Way album.

Venice Queen is a tribute to the drug counselor (named Gloria) that helped lead singer Anthony Keidis overcome his addictions. The lyrics:
“I know you said you don’t believe
In god do you still disagree
Now that it’s time for you to leave
G.L.O.R.I.A
Is love my friend”
are some of the best written.
–Ryan Kantor

“45″ by Shinedown: This incredibly emotional song has an apparently blatant meaning about suicide, but vocalist Brent Smith says that it is more symbolic than it seems. He describes the 45 as a metaphor for “what [the world] hands you every day of your life.” The main theme of the song, according to Smith, is about moving on and becoming comfortable in your own skin. Regardless, it is one of the most emotional hard rock songs I have ever heard, and it is this powerful delivery that helped it become one of the songs that launched Shinedown’s career.
–Tommy Dianora

“Konstantine” by Something Corporate: Epically long and packed with symbolism, Konstantine certainly fits the bill as a song written from the heart.

It’s about the singer’s ex-girlfriend who he loved, but due to his constant touring and dreams of a successful music career they were unable to make their relationship work. Open to interpretation, this ballad may be especially emotional for high school sweethearts going to different colleges or college aged couples trying to figure out what they’ll do when they graduate.

Here’s a live version that captures the epicness (is that a word?) of the song. This is my personal #1.
–Ryan Kantor

“The Runaway” by Something Corporate: While maybe not as emotional as “Konstantine” this song is another one written from the heart.

This song is about a girl (“the runaway”) who Andrew McMahon is in love with but unfortunately the love isn’t mutual. In fact the love may not be healthy, which I take from the lyrics “I find myself in you” and even more so from the lines “I know what you really need, what you need, or I need, but either way this is where you should be, here with me.”

The inflection in McMahon’s voice and the accompanying guitars, drums, etc make this tune stand out.
–Ryan Kantor

Missing the Cut:

“Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Suite” by Dream Theater: “This is the band’s longest song to date, at an insane 41:58. Broken up into movements (classical music buffs know what I mean here), the song focuses on six different mental illnesses, and six different characters, each afflicted with one of the aforementioned illnesses.”
Submitted via comment by Chris Dianora

“I Would Be Sad” by The Avett Brothers: Submitted via Twitter by @TrobTiger: While the song was probably written with some genuine emotion, it doesn’t make the cut because it isn’t delivered with emotion and simply doesn’t sound good…at all.

“Keepsake” by State Radio: Submitted via Twitter by @uublog: This song doesn’t make the cut because the music behind the lyrics is weak and unappealing.

Album Review: Rooney - “Eureka”

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Ryan Kantor

Crazy intense hard rock band, Disturbed, is not the typical type of band I’d like, but man they are talented. Their guitar work is impressive. I am looking forward to listening to the rest of their new album, Asylum. So far I’ve listened to the title track, “Asylum” (with the instrumental intro they call “Remnants”) which was very cool and the single from the album, “Another Way to Die” which wasn’t so cool. ”Another Way to Die” is about the global warming, pretty lame.

In this new era of digital music, it’s rare that I (or anyone) actually buys a physical CD, but this summer I bought three. Two of them were old Something Corporate CDs (Leaving Through the Window and North) and were very good. The other was Rooney’s new Album, Eureka, which came out on June 8th and was supported with a summer tour. They played with Black Gold (awesome live performance) and The Young Veins (markedly weak live performance), and I was lucky enough to see them in Atlanta.

I’ll keep this brief, share a little about Rooney’s new album, and hopefully I can just get one person to stop listening to rap or even worse…whatever Justin Bieber‘s noise is!

Eureka opens with “Holdin’ On,” which is far and away my favorite song on the album. It has the classic Rooney sing along feel with great guitar work and of course Rob Schwartzman’s great voice.

An aspect of the song I really like, is how they reference a personally tough experience the band members went through, as they felt trapped and bullied by their former record company (Eureka is self-produced). At least that’s how I interpret these lyrics:

And my mother said, “You’re theirs to your dead,
To them, it’s just another meal.”
Now I’m fat with regret, I’m placing my bet on me.

Track #2 is the album single, “Can’t Get Enough.” It’s extremely catchy, which I assume is why it is the single, but it is awfully poppy. It’s a very good sounding song, but it lacks emotion and doesn’t have rock elements that make “Holdin’ On” so great.

Stars and Stripes, Track #8, represents a different sound for Rooney, but the more I listen to it the more I like it. It is a keyboard based song, and keyboarder Louie Stephens truly shines. When they played it live in Atlanta, they extended the song giving everyone a long solo, and it was amazing. It definitely has some political commentary too. My favorite line is this reference to the national debt:

What have we gained at the end of the day?
Just a bill that we can’t pay.

As beachy and happy as Rooney sounds, a lot of their lyrics are rather dark or mean (e.g., I wake up in so much spit and sweat, it is not normal from “I’m Shakin’”). That said, Track #10, “You’re What I’m Looking For,” is a nice love song with positive lyrics and an enjoyable sound.

Track #11, “Not in My House,” has a great classic rock feel, but I’ll leave it at that. I’ll let you make your own judgements on the rest of the tracks. I’ve listed each song below and linked them to a YouTube video with the song.

Enjoy!

Eureka

Holdin’ On