In 2009, Futures formed from scattered pieces of the former band ‘Tonight Is Goodbye’. The three core members of ‘Tonight Is Goodbye’ saw the break-up as an inspiration to reinvent themselves. Ant West (vox/guitar), Casey Roarty (guitar), George Lindsay (drums) and Christian Ward (bass) make up Futures. This four piece band from London have set out to become one of the breakthrough rock acts of 2010. Their debut single “Boy Who Cried Wolf” underlines their sound, and has landed them on the map overseas; through the most powerful form of marketing – word of mouth. Futures have toured with Boys Like Girls, Cobra Starship and recently embarked on a UK tour to support their debut release. The band put a lot of time and effort in their debut release “re-writing and constantly changing parts around” (West) until they reached perfection, and that effort does not go unnoticed. Futures brings together a balanced mix of alternative rock with pop influences. It’s hard to deny that Futures will be stuck in your head for days with their contagious choruses and adrenaline driven guitar riffs.

Like what you hear? The good news is the band has teamed up with Rocksound magazine to give you their album. ‘The Holiday’; a seven song mini-album futures “The Boy Who Cried wolf” and “Sal Paradise”, will be bundled with the coming issue out March 3rd with ‘You Me At Six’ on the cover.

About 2 years ago Mike Caswell started a musical journey in his bedroom closet.  The experience started as a solo project in Sacramento, CA but came to life in 2009 when Sean Stack (guitar), David Christensen (piano), Jordan Mccoy (bass), & Dustin Combs (drums) were added to the bands line up.  After spending sometime on the road the band found themselves in Seattle, WA working on recording some new material.  The band’s upcoming EP was produced by Thomas Dutton of Forgive Durden and mixed by Casey Bates (Portugal. The Man, Gatsbys American Dream). Caswell claims that the new material is “a lot darker then our previous EP”.The EP will also feature orchestral elements to complete the sound that is K Sera.

K Sera is sure to keep listeners entertained. You can download Me Before Women and Children at the bands purevolume site (for free).  I recommend downloading this song right now and keeping an eye on this band because I have a feeling they aren’t going to be stopping anytime soon. Click more for tour dates…

Brothers At Sea is made up of five friends from Los Angeles, CA; Carson Leith (vox & guitar), Landon Maslyn (guitar), Jason Leith (keys), Logan Post (bass) and Hayden Coplen (drums). The band firmly stands by the belief that “music is a celebration, an inspiration, a release, an art”. The band release their EP ‘This Is A Redemption Melody’ on February 1st of this year. It can be downloaded for FREE at http://brothersatsea.bandcamp.com/. There is a underlining passion to the Ep that is captivating and will bring you in, I suggest check it out. I discovered their EP the other day while poking around on purevolume and I will admit I cannot get enough of it. Though I currently cannot locate a biography of the band I am still featuring them today because I feel that you should check them out. Let me know what you think.

This weekend I ended up at the ROXY in Hollywood to see the After Midnight Project (previously recommended) and opening up for them was a band called ‘Disco Curtis’ I hadn’t heard them before and to be honest I liked what I heard which brings us here, doesn’t it?

Disco Curtis formed in August 2008 in Dallas, Texas when singer/songwriter Tanner Howe began writing the singles “Breaking Hearts” and “Surpise Me”. Tanner was soon accompanied by long-time friends AJ Novak (drums) and Garrett Perales (guitar); and the trio headed into the studio to get down to business. The chemistry of the band wasn’t hard to find, expecially since the three boys had known each other since the fourth grade. Brendan Barone (bass) soon joined the band to complete the line-up. The band focuses on the notion that “music brings people together” and they stand firmly by that outlook.

In the later part of 2009 the band released their first EP titled ‘Play with Fire, Get Burned’. Each song bringing forth a catchy story of heartbroken love.

The name Disco Curtis actually a homage to a fellow disco legend and drummer named Curtis. Curtis played with various disco bands throughout the 1970s wearing a paper bag over his head but has recently become a mentor and friend to Disco Curtis residing in Dallas himself.

You can catch the band on this summer’s Vans Warped Tour, click read more for dates.

Nathan Woody (vocals/guitar) had been dabbling with several songs for three years time but the time for those songs to shine came after his former band called it quits. It was that act alone that caused a movement towards a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, seriously. The disbanding of Woody’s former band in December 2007 led him to craiglist in search for a rhythm section that would let the songs he had been so involved with finally come to life. Woody found Marlon Rhine (drummer) on craiglist and the two connected. Soon it was off to Joel Mullis’ Fatback Studios where they records three songs. After that the journey for a bass player began and soon Philip Mallory (bass) was added to the mix. And thus, ‘Silent and Listen’ was born in Atlanta, GA.

Soon  the band created their first full length album titled ‘Secret Hiding Places Never Are”. The album has powerful, fast-paced riffs with catchy lyrics to match. The CD will have you hooked at first listen and will make perfect for driving. I suggest checking it out.

A Change Of Scene & Piece Of My Mind

When you heart truly belongs to something, you cannot deny it. Nor will you let anything stand in your way of it. Life is full of forks in the road but when you know something is meant to be and you put your heart and soul into it, nothing will stand in your way. And that is exactly how Every You feels out about music and they are willing to give it everything they got.

After a few failed attempts and wrong turned Matt Burns (singer/guitarist) remained determined and focused on his heart; making music. After moving away for college he soon teamed up with Mike Shaffer (bass) and Alex Hernandex (guitar). What came from this was the making of Every You and a 6-song EP. The EP “A Change of Scene” is a20 minute journey of love, loss, struggle and the fight in never letting someone hold you back.

The moral of this story is; if you want something bad enough you will find a way to make it happen and no one can tell you no. Every You isn’t going to quit anytime soon, if fact you will probably be hearing more about them in the future.

(For TOUR DATE click “read more”. Photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/joeperriphotography/)

Leaving behind all you’ve ever known, can be a scary experience but it can also turn into something beautiful. One could say that that was the case when Trevor Tillery decided to pack his bags and leave his hometown Phoenix, AZ behind for Seattle, WA in the summer of 2006. This experience lead to the realization that there was so much Trevor had wanted to say but had never before put into song. According to Trevor, “I felt like I had these songs in me for years and they all burst out of me at once because I had been holding them in for so long. I had always been just a closet singer until the songs called me to sing them. I feel like the songs found me. I did not find them”. This realization would lead to the birth of Raining And Ok.

Trevor spent a semester at college in Seattle before moving back to Phoenix to team up with good friends Nick DuPlessis, Stephen Spears and Austin Tingle to begin Raining And OK.  Their first show took place in 2007 opening for This Providence. In September of the same year the band put out their first release titled ‘The Devil On Your Shoulder’ which caused quiet a buzz. After touring with ‘Barcelona’ the band began working with Matt Grabe and Dan Young (This Providence) to write and record their follow-up EP entitled ‘Always Will Be’ that came out in March of 2009.

Raining And Ok’s music is true, fresh, honest and sophisticated. Their catchy melodies will be on your mind for days. What I like most about both their EPs is that they are beautifully crafted from start to finish. This band will make a lasting impression on you. And I hope they continue to continue their musical journey because  what they have going for them is truly fantastic and inspiring. Be sure to check them out. Keep up the good work boys! (PS. Thanks to Amanda for bringing this band to my attention, I’m hooked).

SIDENOTE — to answer a question I recived via email; YES, I do take recommendations myself and I am willing to listen to anything so if you have someone you think I should check out and talk about here you can always email me at farewellnight@gmail.com. Don’t be shy xoxo. ALSO, if you have emailed me do not worry I am getting to listening to everything so if I haven’t discussed it yet don’t worry.

I must say I am totally shocked we haven’t discussed this band before, but better late than never right? Anarbor comes to us from Phoenix, AZ. Though the band was formed in 2004, many changes have been made over the years.Mike Kitlas (guitar) and Slade Echeverria (vox) have been friends since Kindergarten and decided it would be fun to form a band with fellow junior high school classmate Greg Garrity (drums), Adam Juwig soon adding on as guitarist. Now originally Jess Myers served as the bass player for the band but she left in 2008. The band was originally referred to as “Troop 101″ but later that name was later changed to “Anarbor”. In 2008, despite the fact that the boys were still attending high school in AZ the band was signed to Hopeless Records after their self-released EP ‘Hearing Colours, Seeing Sounds’. Their self-release went on to reach #62 on the Amazon.com Top Album chart and their Hopeless Records debut ‘The Natural Way’ found its way to the Billboard Top Singles Chart at #6. And in March of last year, their release ‘Free Your Mind’ experienced having several songs being recognized on the Top 20 Billboard top list weekly.

The band is working on new material and hopefully releasing an album in the near future.  Anarbor will also be on the entire Van Warped Tour this summer so be sure to go out and support.

Fun Fact (thanks to patty): Mike’s dad is from Michigan and his sister was born in Ann Arbor, since she is the one that got him into music the bands name is a tribute.

Also: Vans Warped Tour Summer 2010

Michele’s Top 13 Albums of 2009 (in order)

• Paper Route – Absence
• The Dangerous Summer  - Reach for the Sun
• A Rocket to the Moon – On Your Side
• Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing
• Mayday Parade – Anywhere but Here
• Parachute – Losing Sleep
• Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
• After Midnight Project – Let’s Build Something to Break
• Owl City  - Ocean Eyes
• This Providence – Who Are You Now?
• Paramore – Brand New Eyes
• Fun. – Aim and Ignite
• Meg & Dia – Here, Here and Here

These are my favorite CDs of 2009, what are yours?

Favorite song of 2009: Michele – A Rocket to the Moon (I mean it was written for me, so it should be my favorite. right?) Run-ups: Bang – Empires & Damn Rough Night – Artist vs. Poet

HAVE A FUN AND SAFE NEW YEARS EVE!