Show Recap: As I Lay Dying @ the Fillmore

Tahoe and I took in the As I Lay Dying show at the Fillmore in Denver this past Tuesday. The tour was billed as the No Fear Energy Tour with Lamb of God headlining and AILD playing in support. Unfortunately AILD was the only band on the bill that we wanted to see, so we showed up about 2 hours after the doors opened, missing God Forbid and Municipal Waste. Children of Bodom was about halfway through their set with AILD on next. it was good timing!

We've seen As I Lay Dying a few times before, and they're always great in concert. they're very tight and very energetic, with a lot of hair flying everywhere. Tim Lembesis is a great frontman, and with the portable stages they take on tour he really gets around the stage. Unfortunately the band hasn't really changed up their setlist over the years despite releasing 3 major records. They played all the basics, Through Struggle, Within Destruction, Meaning in Tradegy, An Ocean Between Us, Confined, 94 Hours, Separation, Forever and the Sound of Truth.

It was a great time, Tim had the crowd in a frenzy and participating in the largest circle-it i've seen in quite awhile. The pits at metal shows are much more violent than i like, plus i'm getting old, so Tahoe and I just stood back and played it safe. The crowd was typical metalheads/jocks/butt-rockers with their ridiculous hair, offending b.o., smoking weed in the crowd, and removing their shirts as if i want to stand next to a topless smelly dude for 40 minutes.

This was probably the best show i've seen at the Fillmore. Usually the sound isn't great, or loud enough, for bands like underOATH or AFI but this show was plenty loud. We stuck around for 2 songs of Lamb of God but i wasn't super-impressed (and i was in the minority with that). Here are some pics and video of the show:













Here are some video. The first one is the best, the Intro and Separation plus a few glimpses of the big circle pit. The 2nd video is of 94 Hours:








The funniest part of the night was Children of Bodom (according to my research/google Bodom is a lake in Finland that is famous due to some murders). They were typical metal but with a keyboard. The keyboardist basically an organ sound, creepy sounding like a horror movie, but pretty lame if you ask me. i took some video to share with everyone:

Shows in Colorado

Well the concert season is almost upon us and there are some great shows coming through the Denver area that you should check out:

As I Lay Dying @ the Fillmore, Tuesday April 28th
Dave Barnes @ the Soiled Dove Underground, Saturday May 2nd
Oh Sleeper @ Marquis Theater, Friday May 22nd
Anberlin @ Boulder Theater, Tuesday May 26th
Death By Stereo / Strung Out @ Ogden Theater, Wednesday June 10th

let me know if you're going, i have tickets already for all of these shows so we should hang out.

Paste Magazine - pay what you want

I love this magazine, i've found a ton of new great music, as well as other stuff like great books and movies. Not only is feel of a more "non-mainstream" style, they send a sampler cd of music, 20-30 songs, of new and buzzworthy artists. you can't go wrong with that, and best of all - you can name your own subscription price. I paid $5 for a year's worth, but you can go as low as $1 (regular subscriptions are like $20 for a year).

please do this, even if you don't like or know the bands in the magazine, you can't go wrong at that price. i'd never heard of most of the bands when i did this 2 years ago (thanks Scott) but now i listen to quite a few of them on a regular basis like Iron & Wine, She & Him, Rooney, Bon Iver, and much more

https://www.pastemagazine.com/action/recordstore_offer

do it now.

Free - Katie Herzig, Andrew Jew and Glorious Unseen

Check out NoiseTrade.com for free music

Free Album Stream - theAudition

i have really liked these guys since the debuted back in the day, even though they're on Victory Records they have a really accessible sound, sort of like Fall Out Boy but more serious (and better!).

They have a new album being released on April 28th, and Victory has posted an entire album stream for free here: http://www.punknews.org/article/33142


Check it out and let me know what you think.

theAudition

How To Find More Music

Over the years some people have asked me how i find so much "new" music, or where do i find out about these bands. I think there are some sure-fire ways to find new music that is similar to the music that you're already listening to. If you like Top 40, mainstream, radio music, then all you need to do is keep listening to the radio and have the DJ's decided what music you like, you're obviously not into music enough to at least put a cd in or listen to your ipod, but thats a whole 'nother post.

Anyway, here are a few ways i find more music than i can listen to:

Who Tours With Who?
The best way to find a new band is to listen to the bands that you're favorite band is listening to. Most bands (except big time ones) tour with other bands that come from the same genre. For example last year i went to see Gabe Dixon Band, but i didn't recognize the other two bands that were playing, Jay Nash and Justin Nozuka. So i checked them out and well, they're pretty cool. If you like heavy music its the same thing, who is Haste the Day playing with, or who is Comeback Kid playing with. that should give you a few different bands to check out.

What Label Are They On?
When you get away from the major labels like Atlantic or whatever, you find that labels stick to a few genres. For example i have grown up with labels like Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph, they're punk labels, and if a band i like is on that label, maybe i'll check out the other bands on that label. Its the same with Victory Records (Comeback Kid / Silverstein / No Innocent Victim) or Facedown, or Tooth & Nail, Solid State or whatever. Usually labels will put out samplers with music from a large chunk of their artists, and usually the samplers are free. find out what label your favorite artist is on and then listen to other bands on that label.

What Magazines/Blogs Are They In?
Search magazines or blogs/reviews that talk about your favorite artist, and see what other bands show up there. for example i like to read HM Magazine and Paste Magazine. HM is geared toward heavy music/christian like As I Lay Dying or Means. They have a review section that i skim, looking for what albums got good reviews and then i check out those albums. Paste is more like indie/americana/rock like Iron & Wine or Rooney. they also have reviews, and they send out a sampler every issue that you can listen to.

Also you can look at the end of the year "Best Of..." lists in those blogs/magazines. you already trust the opinion of that source, like punknews.org , so if one of the writers takes the time to put a band on their Best Of ... list, then its probably a good band/album. i find a lot of new music this way.

Mixtapes
The last, but most fun, way to find new music is to ask your friends for a mixtape. have them burn you a cd of their top 10 tracks right now. its fun to put together 30-40 songs for someone but usually that is more music than people have attention for, even though i just did this for Jordan. new music is easier in 5 to 10 tracks, enough for a car ride or whatever. trust your friends to bring their favorite music, if they love it there must be something worthy in it (unless they love U2...just kidding Aaron/Matt...)

What Not To Do:
There are also ways to NOT find new/good music. the first is listening to big time productions like the Grammys or other award shows. Yes some of the music is good, but a lot of it is based on buzz/rep/name/politics. trust me on this, if you really like music and want to find hard working honest bands, the Grammys are not a place to find that.

Also don't take the opinion of MTV/radio/paid advertisers. These places are all about buzz, if a band has buzz they'll promote, but they're not actually listening to the music. If the band has money they'll be promoted, that doesn't guarantee that they're good. trust music fans, not people trying to make money off music.

lastly, listen to whatever i tell you to listen to, because if you're already here reading this blog then why not listen to what i say is good!

When i say "check out" these bands, you can do that by finding them on myspace, purevolume, last.fm, pandora, itunes...All of these places are free to listen, you can hear the band for free and find out if it something that you want to invest in (or download...).