Bayside

Bayside fans don’t call their relationship with the band a “Cult” for nothing. After a string of much-adored releases, Bayside has one of the most dedicated fan bases in rock, and the group steadfastly rewards those devotees with the musical salvation they seek. Six albums and more than a decade later, Bayside has never lost touch with that mission and, in fact, they’ve only grown bigger. While veteran bands take breaks and regroup, Bayside haven’t taken that route and instead, soldiered on, building up and growing more and more into themselves… to the point in which they are the most “Bayside” that they have ever been. The fact that their audience has grown is testament to that.

Now continuing that legacy is the band’s latest creation, an explosive 11-track collection that captures Bayside in prime form, combining classic elements from throughout their career. Guaranteed to rock the faithful, the new release is appropriately entitled Cult.

“When we were done with the record we were like, ‘This is every Bayside record,’” explains singer/guitarist Anthony Raneri. “It has the honesty and rawness that we’ve had since Sirens And Condolences, and those risks: those weird key and time signature changes, and the different styles of music we explore. The Bayside ‘Cult’ is something our fans have been talking about for a long time, and it seemed like a good name for a greatest hits album, which is kind of what this is: a Bayside discography. On the cover, there are even little symbols to signify each album.”

That’s a lot of history for an album cover. The band—which also includes lead guitarist Jack O’Shea, bassist Nick Ghanbarian and drummer Chris Guglielmo—formed in the winter of 2000 in Queens, NY, undergoing numerous lineup changes in the early years. At first through Raneri’s sheer persistence and dedication Bayside progressed, eventually cutting two embryonic EPs with Dying Wish Records. Those efforts bore fruit, leading to a contract with Victory Records in 2003, resulting in the band’s 2004 full-length debut, Sirens & Condolences. But it was just the beginning, and the group released three more quintessential LPs with Victory, cementing their place as one of the most important bands in the modern underground music scene—Self-Titled (2005), The Walking Wounded (2007) and Shudder (2008)—then briefly moved on to Wind-Up Records in 2010 for Killing Time (2011), their most widely visible album to date. After that record cycle Bayside opened another exciting new chapter in their career, signing with punk powerhouse Hopeless Records in 2013. Cult marks the band’s first Hopeless release.

For latest effort Cult, Bayside spent roughly two years writing new material, then returned to producer Shep Goodman (who’d previously helmed two of Bayside’s most beloved releases, Self-Titled and Walking Wounded), as well as Goodman’s production partner, Aaron Accetta. Raneri says Goodman was a catalyst for the band’s obvious progression from debut Sirens to sophomore album Self-Titled, and this latest collaboration sought to rekindle that spark.

“Shep was very instrumental in teaching me about songwriting. He taught me a lot about drawing a listener in and getting inside the mind of the listener, and not just sitting down with a guitar and playing whatever comes to mind,” says Raneri. “He’s sort of my mentor as far as songwriting goes. I loved working with Gil Norton on the last record [Killing Time]—he’s a legend, and it was an amazing process—but with this record, I really wanted to get back and hone in, try to get better at my songwriting again. I knew that working with Shep has always done that for me.”

Sonically, Cult is perhaps the band’s most confident and resonant work to date, featuring turbocharged rhythms and the consistently blistering guitar work of six-string whiz O’Shea. But as much as the album is a return to the band’s musical sweet spot, on the other hand Cult’s lyrical content breaks new thematic ground, showcasing Raneri’s ongoing personal growth as both the man and the songwriter. Instead of dwelling on past romantic failings, this time the lyricist points his pen at the hard matters of life and death, having recently lost his grandfather, stepfather and stepbrother.

“[Cult] is pretty different because it’s not about broken relationships as much as other records; on a personal level, my relationship has been great, my marriage is good and I’ve started a family. Instead a lot of this record deals with mortality, without it being morbid,” says Raneri. “I lost a lot of people who were close to me, and it really just started making me think a lot about what my legacy was going to be. What am I going to leave behind and what is my entire generation going to leave behind? What are they going to be saying at funerals 40 years from now? It’s wondering if life is about leaving a legacy. Is that what we’re all here for: living a life worth remembering?”

Raneri channels these universal existential questions into personal inspiration on tracks like first single “Time Has Come,” which finds the singer challenging himself to rise to the occasion over intricately interwoven guitar lines. “It’s meant to be more of an uplifting thing,” says Raneri. “If I want to make something of myself, build a legacy, accomplish something, then I’ve got to just go do it. The time is now to do something if you ever plan on it.”

Other tracks like “Stuttering” and “Bear With Me” put the music business under the microscope, as well as Bayside’s place within it. “[“Bear”] has a lot to do with my career and my legacy as a musician. You look at bands like mine, and it’s hard to ignore that a lot of pop-punk or mid-2000s emo bands just sort of disappeared,” says Raneri, who’s instead had the good fortune of seeing Bayside’s popularity continually grow. “Fortunately for us our band has been able to make it through a lot of that. There are definitely days when I feel like I’m a novelty, but like the line in the song, I think I’m twice the man I used to be.”

Even when Raneri does return to issues of the heart, he does so with a newfound perspective. A prime example is the song “Transitive Property,” which Raneri wrote during Warped Tour 2012 for his girlfriend—now his wife—as a heartfelt apology, as the couple was on the verge of a breakup. Although never intended for public ears, when bandmates heard the song they insisted it be included on the new album.

“That’s the most personal song I’ve ever written. It’s like sharing a letter to the world; sharing my actual diary that I didn’t think anybody would see,” Raneri says. “I always write a song with the intention of sharing it, but that lyrically was the first song I wrote that was so personal because I thought nobody would ever hear it. I think it’s a great song; one of the best songs I ever wrote.”

Bayside has already toured the world many times over, sharing stages with a virtual “who’s who” of like-minded artists and enjoying regular main-stage spots at major festivals like Warped Tour, but the band’s plans for the coming year are no less ambitious. After Cult drops in February, Bayside will head out on a U.S. headlining tour, then travel to Europe with Alkaline Trio in the spring. From there Bayside will likely play still more high-profile North American dates during the summer of 2014.

“I’m excited about the tour, because it’s sort of a combination of underplayed and big shows,” says Raneri. “We’re in certain cities playing bigger venues than we’ve ever played, and in some cities we’re playing in smaller venues.”

Now six full-lengths into their career, making the setlist each night gets tougher than ever. Raneri says the band is cautious of including too much new material live, for risking of disappointing fans awaiting the classics, but once listeners have Cult in their hands it’ll be easier to gauge which new tracks to perform. Inevitably though, Cult will stand up well next to past material. If there’s one thing immediately clear, it’s that Cult is as classic Bayside as it comes.

“We don’t play anything we don’t want, but at the same time, we listen to our fans, and we know what makes Bayside, Bayside. We try to grab all those things that we all love about Bayside and try to do more of them,” says Raneri. “People’s lives change. You go from high school to college to adulthood to parenthood, and everything in your life changes, except there’s always going to be a new Bayside record, and you can always go home.”

K. Michelle with Ro James and PJ

Anyone whose had the pleasure of knowing singer, business woman, songwriter pianist, reality television star and Memphis native, K. Michelle since her childhood is aware that she was destined to be the woman she is today. Gymnastic, swimming and piano courses kept her inquisitive spirit busy until age nine, when the time arrived for her to begin vocal lessons with renowned children’s vocal coach Bob Westbrook (Justin Timberlake, Brittany Spears etc). A lifelong affinity for country music (The Judds are a personal favorite), lead to Michelle earning a scholarship to Florida A&M for yodeling.

With Michelle’s second and final season of L&HHA’s beginning this spring, it couldn’t be a more fitting time for the release of her debut album, Rebellious Soul. For the millions of fans who have watched the no-nonsense cutie fight for what she feels is right on television every week, her album title is most apropos. “I’m a rebel, a firecracker,” she tells. “I do what I want to do. My music is like that as well. I rebel against anything that society tries to use to keep us boxed in––racism, judgment, anything that makes you feel inferior as a woman.” The result is what she describes as an “old-school” but “aggressive and urgent” music feel. Expect the guest list of vocalists to include Elle Varner and Michelle’s mentor R. Kelly, who will also embrace some maestro duties.

After years of professional and personal lows but mostly highs, it’s time for the once diamond in the rough to be recognized for the true gem that she is. The stars are aligning for Tennessee’s daughter, and she couldn’t be more pleased. “I’m really at a point in my life where I wanna work on myself and just be happy,” she says. “I don’t want any drama. I just want to create that music that makes you feel so so good.”

Mad Decent Block Party

This event it 16+

FAQ

GENERAL MDBP 2016 GUIDELINES. RULES MAY VARY SLIGHTLY AT LOCAL VENUES.

  • Allowed Items
    • Small bags, purses, and fanny packs
    • Factory sealed water bottle
    • Non-professional cameras
    • Cell phones
    • Lighters
    • Sealed: cigarette packages, tampons, packs of gum, and chapstick/lip gloss
    • Sunglasses and hats
    • Liquid sunscreen and cosmetic products (max 3oz/90ml)
    • Prescription and OTC medications subject to specific conditions (please see special section below)
    • Guide dogs for people with disabilities and other service animals with current rabies certification
  • Prohibited Items
      • Outside food or drink including CamelBak water systems
      • Glass in any form
      • Unsealed: cigarette packages, tampons, packs of gum, chapstick/lip gloss
      • Masks of any kind
      • Eyedrops
      • Focus light beam devices, including laser pointers (please see special section below)
      • LED gloves, LED microlights, etc.
      • Balloons, balls, Frisbees, and/or any other projectile.
      • Pacifiers
      • Kandi bracelets and/or necklaces
      • Large bags or purses
      • Stuffed animals or dolls
      • Electronic or vapor cigarettes
      • Large bags or backpacks
      • Totems and/or flagpoles
      • Marker pens and spray paint
      • Flyers, stickers, and posters
      • Flammable products or materials and sprays
      • Illegal substances of any kind (including medical marijuana)
      • Drug paraphernalia
      • Vitamins
      • Water guns, water balloons, and/or any other kind of water projectile
      • Tripods, monopods, or selfie sticks.
      • Any item that can be used as a weapon, including wallet chains
      • Any item that can be used as a means to disturb the peace, endanger the safety of the crowd, and/or
      • Inflict damage to people and goods
      • Fireworks, pyrotechnics, or any other kind of explosive
      • Single-lens reflex cameras, including digital single-lens reflex cameras (SLR/DSLR)
      • Pets (except service animals with a current rabies certification)
      • Large umbrellas

    Special Note About Prescription and OTC Medications

    • Prescription medication are allowed only in the original prescription bottle, any persons attempting to bring in prescription medication must have a government-issued photo identification card that matches the name printed on the prescription, and the pills in the bottle must match the description printed on the prescription. Further, if a person has mixed multiple pills in a single prescription container or if a person is attempting to enter with prescription pills in a non-prescription container, medical representatives should be involved to make the final determination about whether or not such pills are to be allowed in the venue.
    • Over-the-counter medications are allowed in provided that they are new and the original, factory- sealed container.

    Special Note About Focus Light Beam Devices

    • Focus light beam devices of any kind or type, including laser pointers, are not allowed into MDBP events.
    • The MDBP Tour requires that security inside the venue be diligent in addressing focus light beam devices that may make it through the searches.
    • As allowed by local laws, it is requested that security remove or render useless the any focus light beam devices that make it into the venue; should local law prevent the confiscation of batteries and/or the devices themselves, it shall be at the sole discretion of security personnel, in accordance with typical venue policies, as to how focus light beam devices are addressed.

    REVOLUTION LIVE ID POLICY

    MAD DECENT BLOCK PARTY 

    FT. LAUDERDALE, FL 2016

    Regarding ID’s:
    Our policy is to request ID from any customer who appears to be under the age of 30 years old. We have the right to, and will, refuse entry to any customer who cannot produce a valid form of identification.

    Acceptable ID’s • Valid current drivers license or learners permit issued by the State of Florida or any other state • Valid photo identification card issued by the State of Florida or any other state • Armed Forces Identification • Valid U.S. Passport or travel visa/passport issued by a foreign country containing the holder’s photograph.

    Unacceptable Forms of Identification for Entry

    • NO School ID cards
    • NO Consular ID
    • NO Birth certificates
    • NO Photocopies of any ID
    • NO Expired ID Card
    • NO License/ID card from countries other than U.S/Canada
    • NO Social Security Card
    • NO Voter Registration Card

    Anyone who fails to present an Accepted ID upon entry will not be allowed into the Festival. No refunds will be processed for anyone who is denied entry because they did not bring Accepted ID.

Miami Rocks Presents: A Party in Progress!

The “A Party In Progress!” event promises a night of great entertainment. Leading the bill is the unique legendary sound of Humbert. Considered one of the leading original bands of South Florida’s golden age of rock music, Humbert has reformed bringing a vibrant new strength that lifts them even higher. Also joining them on the bill will be some of the freshest young bands on today’s scene including Holy Osa; Ricky Valido and the Hiealeah Hillbillies; Bluejay; Blue Sky Drive + @The Fortune Tellers, Jim Wurster + more.
“A Party In Progress” in support of Tim Canova’s candidacy for the District 23 seat in the United States House of Representatives will take place Saturday, July 23rd / door 7:00pm at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale. Admission is free for everyone who lives in District 23 and just $5.00 for all others who wish to enjoy the show.
PS – Pokemon lures will be going on all night!
Please RSVP here: https://canova.bsd.net/page/event/detail/voterregistration/wx2

Aesop Rock

Ian Matthias Bavitz (born June 5, 1976), better known by his stage name Aesop Rock, is an American hip hop recording artist and producer residing in Portland, Oregon. He was at the forefront of the new wave of underground and alternative hip hop acts that emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was signed to El-P‘s Definitive Jux label until it went on hiatus in 2010. betterPropaganda ranked him at number 19 at the Top 100 Artists of the Decade.

He is a member of the groups The WeathermenHail Mary Mallon (with Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz), The Uncluded (with Kimya Dawson) and Two of Every Animal (with Cage).  Regarding his name, he said: “I acquired the name Aesop from a movie I had acted in with some friends. It was my character’s name and it sort of stuck. The rock part came later just from throwing it in rhymes.”

Boys of Summer 2016 Tour

The BOYS ARE BACK! BOYS OF SUMMER 2016 with the biggest social media stars is coming!! Get tickets now at and get ready to see them for ONE SHOW ONLY in Fort Lauderdale July 5th.

2 PM – GOLD CIRCLE SOUND CHECK SERENADE

3-5 PM – VIP MEET N GREET

5-9 PM – SHOW and CONCERT

Modern Baseball

Modern Baseball formed at Drexel University, Philadelphia in 2012 where songwriters Brendan Lukens and Jake Ewald began writing catchy pop-punk-influenced indie rock, with nods to the likes of Say Anything and Motion City Soundtrack alongside the lyrical nous of Dashboard Confessional and the wit of the Front Bottoms. The high-school friends started out as an acoustic act, but after meeting Sean Huber (drums) and Ian Farmer (bass), they became a four-piece. Their debut record, Sports, gained local traction and eventually, in 2013, online buzz started to pick up for their lo-fi songs that captured the awkwardness of teenagers surrounded by social media. The quartet remained at university while taking time out when they could to tour, but that changed when they were offered a support slot with fellow Philly-based outfit the Wonder Years. They soon penned a deal with Run for Cover Records and returned to the studio to record their follow-up, You’re Gonna Miss It All, which appeared in 2014. An EP, MOBO Presents: The Perfect Cast EP featuring Modern Baseball, arrived in 2015 via Lame-O Records, with Holy Ghost, the band’s third studio long player, following in early 2016.

Gogol Bordello

“I’ve come full circle and I’m comfortable being a total outsider,” says Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz, explaining the philosophy behind the band’s new album, Pura Vida Conspiracy. Like everything they’ve ever done, this outing is an uncategorizable blend of international influences, anchored by the gypsy rhythms Hutz grew up with in Ukraine. “Most people are looking for a box to put stuff in,” he says. “I try to avoid it. The message of this record is the quest for self-knowledge beyond borders and nationalities. Every culture is a useful mask, but it is just a mask. To get to know your actual human self, you have to get behind all the masks. With all the time I’ve spent in Latin America, living and loving, I realized I’ll never be Argentinean or Brazilian, just like I’ll never be Ukrainian. If you have true human spirit, you can’t fit into any genre, nationality or culture. To be a true citizen of the world, you can only be an ultimate outsider.”

Hutz chose Pura Vida Conspiracy as the title because it represents everything the band has been moving toward since they first formed over a decade ago. “We’re not a whimsical band with a whimsical message and some languages offer things that others don’t. As I made my way through Spanish, the phrase ‘pura vida’ – pure life – struck me. In Spanish, ‘pura vida’ has the gusto that true life should have, as opposed to words in English, French or Russian. It sums up my need of joining fragmented parts and pieces to create a worldwide consciousness. It’s what we’ve had in mind since the first song on the first Gogol Bordello album.”

The band did pre-production on 30 songs at studios in Mexico, Paraguay and Burlington, VT narrowing it down to the most compelling tunes for the album. The arrangements were done on the fly, with the musicians contributing ideas from their own areas of expertise. “Our sound comes from being a group of polyamorous musicians. The style comes from musicians born and raised in various elements, like (bass player) Thomas Gobena’s Ethiopian meters and (Russian violinist) Sergey Ryabtsev and (folkloric Russian accordion player) Yuri Lemeshev’s palette of colors. Everyone does their own thing to keep the train moving.”

Andrew Scheps, who was the recording engineer on 2010’s Trans-Continental Hustle, the band’s last album, stepped into the producer’s chair and helped them capture the feel of their vibrant live performances. “Andrew is a saint,” Hutz says. “From the first time we met, I felt like he was part of our family. He was keenly aware of our musical evolution and encouraged us to encapsulate the passion and experimental energy we’ve accumulated in the last few years of intense world travel.”

“The Way You Name Your Ship,” suggests a rocking boat, with a subtle funk backbeat and a swaying off center rhythm. Ryabtsev’s violin, the fuzz heavy guitar accents of new guitarist Michael Ward and the band’s rousing vocals add to the feel of a pirate vessel on a rampage. “The song is about the power of the word and its intent,” Hutz explains. “Naming your ship determines where you go and how you get there.” Gogol adds primal rock guitar to the bold stomping rhythm of “We Rise Again,” one of the album’s most anthemic tracks. Percussionist Pedro Erazo-Segovia drops a Spanish rap into the maelstrom of Ryabtsev’s violin, Ward’s power chords and Hutz’s furious vocal. “This is the album’s definitive song. The Russian poet Yevtushenko first said that political borders are scars on the face of the planet. Like us, he thought of himself as a citizen of the world.”Italian flavored mandolin, a reggae pulse and scorching Russian violin drive “Dig Deep Enough,” a song that veers between blistering punk and a laid back one drop rhythm. Hutz sets its inspirational message to a classical melody. “Powerful melodies in classical music are often taken from folklore,” Hutz says. “We’re borrowing it back, with an added bit of Ennio Morricone.” Gogol brings a taste of country music to the Latinized Ukrainian rhythm of “Lost Innocent World,” with the vigorous drumming of Oliver Charles.

Gogol shows its omnivorous mastery of music on “I Just Realized,” a contemplative love song that suggests a Russian samba and features Elizabeth Sun’s sultry backing vocals; “John The Conqueror” a blend of spaghetti western twang and punk; and “Malandrino,” a Neapolitan style tune that dips into Tex Mex, mariachi and reggae. The band’s long time goal of creating a global style of music is fully realized with the heartfelt tunes on Pura Vida Conspiracy.

“What makes Pura Vida Conspiracy so strong is that, unlike other records we’ve done that are also musically polyamorous, this one combines our adventurous spirit with a stronger rock anchor,” Hutz says. “People ask how I had the confidence to attempt this task and I tell them it was not confidence. I had a feeling I needed to do it, but no idea if it would work out. When we scream on stage it’s to acknowledge all cultures are beautiful masks, but they only take you so far – to a nice carnival or masquerade. True human spirit is beyond culture, that’s why my main interest is in human potential. Music is a way to explore that and you can see how it links up with the idea of pura vida. ‘Pura vida’ is pure life, ‘conspiracy’ is word play on the fact that most of the people in the world are so focused on everything going wrong that they fail to see the 50% that’s going right.

“Gogol Bordello’s music gives me confidence to say that. It’s music that goes into the depth of now and opens the consciousness to another dimension that’s usually hidden from people. This accumulation of playing for thousands of hours in Gogol Bordello has connected me to the energetic self, the true human spirit. When you preserve this feeling and transfer it into real life, it becomes a huge part of you.”

Hutz founded Gogol Bordello in New York City in 1999, after leaving Ukraine in the aftermath of Chernobyl. In keeping with his vision of creating an international groove, he recruited musicians of all ages, races and cultures, including bassist Thomas Gobena, from Ethiopia, Russian violinist Sergey Ryabtsev from Moscow and percussionist Pedro Erazo-Segovia from Ecuador.

The band’s endless touring and critically acclaimed shows have made them international headliners. These days Hutz divides his time between New York and Rio de Janeiro, but a recent stay in Ukraine also influenced the songs he wrote for Pura Vida Conspiracy. “When I stayed in Kiev for months, people thought it was my victory lap back home. When I told them I was leaving, they were disappointed that I didn’t want to be the rock guy on Ukraine TV. Spending time in a Zen monastery and that trip back home made me certain of my mission as an ultimate outsider.”

X Ambassadors

For X Ambassadors, an unshakable sense of brotherhood has long shaped the sound and spirit of the band. Growing up in small-town upstate New York, frontman Sam Harris, his brother Casey, and childhood friend Noah Feldshuh bonded over an obsessive love for punk, rock & roll, soul, and hip-hop that defied the conventions of their peer group. Forming their first band in middle school, the three channeled their infatuation with artists as eclectic as The Stooges and The Staple Singers into a string of musical projects that sharply clashed with their local scene’s favoring of folk and country. After graduating high school and decamping to New York City in search of a greater music community, the Harris brothers and Noah joined up with L.A.-raised drummer Adam Levin—a move that helped X Ambassadors solidify their sound into a groove-fueled take on alt-pop, and ultimately land a deal with KIDinaKORNER/Interscope Records.

Produced in collaboration with KIDinaKORNER founder Alex Da Kid, Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds and friend Dan Stringer, X Ambassadors released their major label debut EP Love Songs Drug Songs in May 2013.  The set finds the Brooklyn-based foursome building off their singular chemistry to create a collection of songs both stylish and soulful. “They’re bringing together alternative and R&B in a way I’ve never heard before, and at the core of that are these great songs with so much authenticity,” says Alex, a Grammy-winning producer hailed for his work with heavyweights like Dr. Dre and Nicki Minaj. “The music comes from a very real place,” he continues, “and it’s made even more powerful by the deep connection that they have as a band.”

Throughout Love Songs Drug Songs, X Ambassadors weave elegant melodies and sweetly smooth vocals into taut arrangements powered by percussion. From the Afro-pop-inspired beats of “Unconsolable” to the fuzzed-out stomp of the title track to the slinky groove of “Stranger,” the heady rhythms at the heart of the EP endlessly mesmerize but never overshadow X Ambassadors’ graceful musicianship. Still, even on the EP’s breezier tracks—such as the shimmering, harmony-kissed “Down With Me”—X Ambassadors flaunt their finely honed pop sensibilities while radiating a raw intensity and darkly moody emotionalism.

X Ambassadors toured in support of Love Songs Drug Songs with a string of dates opening for Imagine Dragons at arenas across the country as well as an opening slot on the Jimmy Eat World tour last summer and a fall tour with the Mowgli’s.  Life on the road proved productive for chief songwriter Sam Harris and the band released their second EP, The Reason, in January 2014, right before they embarked on a sold out tour with Panic! At The Disco and another run of dates with Imagine Dragons.

A recurring theme of the working class struggle that often inhibits the American dream makes up The Reason EP.  Most people will tell you that if you work hard enough at something, you can make any dream come true.  But what happens when putting in your hours just isn’t enough? On the opening track “Free & Lonely,” Harris sings against a stomping rhythm “Get a job, get married, have kids… I left my life behind, but I ain’t got time to look back on when I was free.”   “The Business,” is a rock anthem that has Harris singing “So long, so long, going back to nine to five…so much for keeping the dream alive…I’m going to give up the business.”  “The Reason is our attempt to tell the story of someone who gave up chasing a dream and who had the courage to start over,” says Harris.  “Sometimes things just don’t work out.  We’re all afraid of failure, but there’s bravery in knowing when it’s time to move on. You never know what’s next.”

For X Ambassadors, the passionately charged pop heard all over both Love Songs Drug Song and The Reason EP is the product of a lifetime of sonic exploration. Born into a highly musical family (Mom was a jazz and cabaret singer, Dad once aspired to be a country songwriter), Sam and Casey each began playing instruments before the age of ten. While Casey discovered his love for piano at seven, Sam (who “started singing as soon as I could speak”) moved from drums to guitar to piano to bass to saxophone throughout his childhood. In junior high, Sam prompted Noah (his best friend since the first day of kindergarten) to learn guitar so that the two could start a group. “Casey eventually started playing with us too, and ever since then I’ve only been in bands with the two of them,” Sam notes.

In 2006, the three moved from Ithaca to New York City so that Sam and Noah could attend the New School while Casey worked as a piano tuner. Within the first month of college Sam and Noah met Adam in the freshman dorms, learned he was a drummer, and slipped a demo under his door in a successful attempt to lure him into the band. With the lineup complete (Sam on vocals and guitar, Noah on lead guitar, Casey on keyboards, Adam on drums), X Ambassadors began playing local gigs and writing material for their debut album. Then, just before the band was scheduled to begin recording, a lifelong medical condition left Casey in urgent need of a kidney transplant. With both his brother and mother (who volunteered one of her kidneys) recuperating from the transplant, Sam began working on a new batch of songs, including a fierce yet tender ballad that would emerge as the title track on X Ambassadors’ debut.

Released in early 2012, Litost soon caught the ear of the program director for Norfolk, Virginia-based radio station 96x. After hearing “Litost” on a friend’s Spotify playlist, the PD threw the song into heavy rotation and quickly drew a rabid response from listeners. Beating out heavy-hitters like Fun. and Of Monsters and Men, “Litost” ended up emerging as 96x’s number-one song of 2012. In the meantime, X Ambassadors began opening for the likes of the Lumineers and Imagine Dragons, as well as scoring slots on the lineups of such festivals as Lollapalooza.

X Ambassadors’ commitment reflects an unfailing belief in the unifying power of music. Noting that the band’s small-town beginnings infinitely inform their output, Sam points out that “all those middle-school dances where they played Ginuwine and Ol’ Dirty Bastard and all different kids would just come together and dance” have proved to be one of his most formative musical experiences. “It’s always been my goal to make music that’s unique and personal and completely true to who we are, but in a way that’s got a very communal feeling to it, that can be shared with everyone,” he says. “If a song’s melodies can feel perfectly formed but also natural, where you’re feeling it so much that everyone else can’t help but feel it too, then that’s just beautiful.”

Refused

Swedish rock band Refused wasn’t just ruminating about the lasting impact of popular culture when it began its 1998 album The Shape Of Punk To Come with a lyric about classics never going out of style — it was also taking stock of its own turbulent existence, which met an ignominious end later that year in front of 50 kids at a basement show in a Virginia college town. Indeed, Refused came and went before the true power of its music could be understood, even by its own members. And in the ensuing years, the band cast a giant shadow over the world of underground rock, with the boundary-exploding Shape rising to all-time legendary status as it influenced a new generation of musical revolutionaries.

After Refused, frontman Dennis Lyxzen, drummer David Sandstrom, guitarist Kristofer Steen and bassist Magnus Flagge started anew in a host of different bands — sometimes in various combinations of playing together, sometimes making music they didn’t intend anyone else to hear. All the while, “Refused was this weird albatross,” says Lyxzen. “I could play a great show and walk out into the crowd afterward, and someone would come up and say, ‘I love Refused.’ For a long time, playing together again wasn’t even on the table.”

An offer to reunite for the 2012 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in the California desert spurred the band back into action, and the triumphant tour that followed found Refused playing to heretofore inconceivably massive crowds around the world. Initially reluctant, Lyxzen says “I thought it’d be Coachella and nine more shows. That’d be it. Then we started practicing, and we wound up doing 82 shows. Now we’re back with a new record, so it must have felt right.”

Freedom explodes out of the speakers with opening track “Elektra,” as Lyxzen’s throat-shredding declaration that “nothing has changed” catapults Refused into the 21st century. The group started contemplating new Refused music within the first four months of the reunion tour, a process greatly aided by the fact that Sandstrom, Steen and Flagge had already been writing together informally for several years under the auspices of a new, vocal-less band.

Steen recalls, “I said to David, ‘Why are we pursuing this experimental project that has a lot of overlap with Refused? Why don’t we turn these into Refused songs instead?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah! That’s what I think too!’” Adds Sandstrom, “When Dennis wasn’t involved, the music was a lot more dense and dynamic, with a lot of stuff going on. When we started thinking we were writing for Dennis, we made decisions that suited him and created room for him.”

“Elektra,” “366” and “Destroy The Man” existed in primordial form before the reunion, and constituted the first batch of material the non-singing members presented to Lyxzen. The earliest full-band new song was “Thought Is Blood,” which Steen and Sandstrom demoed during a soundcheck in Toronto. “That came together pretty quickly, because we weren’t writing strange instrumental music. We were actually writing it for the band,” Sandstrom says. “When you choose to walk away from something that is good or that people like, you can worry that maybe it was just a lucky strike. People were approaching us saying, ‘You’re not making new music, are you?’ Like it wasn’t our prerogative if that’s what we felt like doing. Nobody wanted us to fuck with the image of the band who makes a great album and splits up. Nobody wanted us to dilute it. That actually provoked us.”

If Shape blasted apart the constraints of the punk and hardcore worlds with which Refused had long been associated, Freedom goes a step further by incorporating the wide-ranging influences that have shaped band members’ personal tastes. Production was overseen by Nick Launay (Gang Of Four, Public Image Ltd., Nick Cave, Arcade Fire), of whom Sandstrom says, “He was like the weird genius older brother that you finally got some alone time with.” In addition, “Elektra” and “366” were produced and co-written by fellow Swede and longtime Refused fan Shellback, who has scored eight No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with artists such as Taylor Swift and Pink.

With its four-to-the-floor drumbeat and vibrant horn section, the groovy “War On The Palaces” evokes forebears like the Rolling Stones and the MC5 while also sounding nothing like the Refused of old. Says Sandstrom, “We talked about how horns can be violent and cool and heavy, and then suddenly we had this riff and we thought, ‘We should put horns on this.’” Elsewhere, a pitch-modulated spoken-word intro, acoustic guitar warfare, drum machine beats and vintage keyboard accents bring Kanye West to mind on “Old Friends / New War,” while “Servants Of Death” tips a cap to ‘80s-era Prince and Michael Jackson’s “Off The Wall” with its blend of heavy riffs and funky propulsion.

“On some of the songs we thought, ‘Can we really do this? Is it too much funk? Too much rock’n’roll?’ It’s enjoyable to balance on that thin edge,” says Flagge. “We’re after that element of danger. We could have played it safe and made songs based on hardcore tradition, but none of us were interested in doing that.” Adds Lyxzen, “In all honesty, if we’d have had the financial means and the know-how, we would have tried even dumber shit 20 years ago. We went into this record with a very, very open mind and the notion that anything was possible. There was no blueprint for how we wanted it to sound.”

That approach also held true when it came to writing lyrics. “Our earlier records were full-on anarchist jargon,” Lyxzen says. This time, he and Sandstrom — still two “self-taught punks with crazy ideas” — holed themselves up in a Stockholm hotel room for three days “talking about politics, existential issues and what we wanted to present as a band in 2015. We talked about the political situation in Europe, capitalism and how it affects people. These discussions turned into songs.”

On the punishing “Dawkins’ Christ,” Refused tackles provocative subjects rarely addressed in current music, like the secularization of modern society and the conundrum of science versus faith as advanced by the titular biologist. “Modern secular society is bankrupt when it comes to the spirit,” says Sandstrom. “If you don’t subscribe to any of the established religions and you still feel the need for community or direction, you’re sort of fucked, to put it bluntly.”

Album closer “Useless Europeans” marries an unsettling instrumental backdrop to “images and glimpses we got of an empire that has fallen,” says Sandstrom. “It grew out of this idea that any era will have a period before it officially ends, when people don’t know it has actually ended. You’re just living in it and not being a productive member of a forward-moving culture.”

For the members of Refused, the impending release of Freedom and its accompanying tour have returned them firmly to the present tense. Says Steen, “I could not have imagined this would have happened. I’d have said it was impossible, and never in a million years would I do it. It was just something about the fact that Refused grew so much while we didn’t exist.” “It’s not a reunion anymore,” Lyxzen insists. “This is one of the most radical things we’ve ever done, both musically and lyrically.”

Emblem3

3:30-4:00 VIP Check-In (For All Crew Pass, Meet and Greet, and Early Entry Package holders)

“What is Music”

This was the question written in black marker on the whiteboard brothers Keaton and Wesley Stromberg kept in their Huntington Beach crash pad. This whiteboard had served as an artistic nerve center for the trio, on which they had plotted out songs, set goals and wrote mantras of inspiration. They were brainstorming for a new band name, and the word “Emblem” immediately struck the trio as something classic and symbolic, eternal. They had cycled through almost dozens of names in their time together; as Emblem3, they knew they had something definitive.Barely into their teens music took precedent over everything else and the brothers, Wesley and Keaton, left home for California in pursuit of their dreams.They were playing to intense and adoring crowds all over the Sunset Strip, and had won the top prize in Rock N’ Road’s Orange County Battle of the Bands. But the ambitious group, looked at a blank white board and their dwindling bank accounts, knowing they needed a bigger break. They were given one with an audition for “X Factor,” where they wowed Simon Cowell with their original performance of “Sunset Blvd.” — no easy feat.But as Emblem3 progressed through the show’s process, they once again sensed that they were being misunderstood and molded — as young men who could easily be seen in teen magazines, Emblem3 could easily feel the push for them to be seen as a “boy band.” Their unwillingness to compromise may have cost them in the short term; they failed to make the finals of “X Factor.” But having amassed 20 million YouTube views and an international fanbase, they were clearly the show’s breakout band. Winners of the 2014 Teen Choice Awards “Breakout Group” alongside a Top 20 single and over 400,000 concert tickets sold worldwide, Wesley and Keaton are just getting started.It’s fitting: nothing’s ever been planned for Emblem3, and things always seem to take an unusual curve. But it always ends up in the right place.