Monthly Archives: April 2019

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NEW: Angels and Airwaves

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September 2nd, 2012. Angels and Airwaves (Airwaves) closed with The War, just before a set list created by All Time Low. Though after that song, Airwaves went quiet with their musical decisions, releasing a couple of albums (The Dream Walker and …of Nightmares) as well as Tom DeLonge going off to work on his Sekret Machines project, along with his UFO finding career moving full speed ahead. Fans assumed that maybe Airwaves just wouldn’t tour again, or might be just done after three years of waiting. Until today.

Released April 30th 2019, Rebel Girl is the newest song off of their fourth studio album. (Which as far as I’m personally aware is still unnamed. Though do correct me if I’m wrong.) The new song gives us a fresh taste of Airwaves and what can be expected from the upper atmosphere, pop punk (now) four piece. Recently spoken by DeLonge in a press release about the new music, he explained that “’Rebel Girl’ is a space-age love song that combines my enduring obsession for New Wave, pop punk and anthemic rock and roll music.” He also made a joke about his current To The Stars Academy, his journey in the Arts and Sciences..  “As some of you might’ve heard, I recently took a brief minute to start up an aerospace company,  so you never know — I may play this song from a satellite deep in space, beamed toward everyone’s house viciously on repeat.”

In honesty, the new Airwaves is a synthetic take on the pop punk genre in itself. Not too many are seemingly breaking the mold, so a large power group such as Airwaves creating a new pop punk sound is a nice surprise. Adding on, the last year gave us Ilan Rubin, David Kennedy and Matt Wachter which are all joining DeLonge on his newest musical journey. Personally, I do feel as though this album is going to feel like blink 182’s Neighborhoods in its final form. Though listen to the song, choose for yourself.

opinion

OPINION: The ‘One Good Song’ Paradox

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Recently, I’ve been exploring my musical horizons. But not in the sense of listening to different genres, I’ve been looking down at the guys with the debut albums and their first ever European tour just right around the corner. For sake of musician respect, I will not be listing any bands in particular. But maybe a week ago, I saw my friend’s post on Facebook “What is the deal with these bands and their hate for vowels?” And I chuckled to myself, thinking nothing of it. Though that day it hit me, SWMRS (Swimmers), PVMNTS (Pavements?), WSTR (Waster, Alexa told me). Truth be told it was mildly frightening, nobody wanted to admit he was justified in his question. But the true shock occurred when I thought about the music in my ever changing playlist. It was good. Strangely, good.

I decided on my favorite from the playlist, and opened it’s album. The shock was the first song that played. It sucked. Genuinely, it was something I was not expecting from the band who released such a good single. I sat back on this thought and attempted to find other artists, but the single song always stuck out on it’s own. Four out of five times, the results came back the same with the single. It’s incredibly popular, it’s incredibly good,  but it’s the only song everyone cares about. I don’t understand why but it happens and it’s still happening. I’ve come to know and love a group based on a song, or a prior album and whatever else they have just doesn’t click.

One may think, “Are you even listening to it all?”. Truth be told, yes. I listen to it all, the whole album and a few times to be certain of my thoughts. It’s a massive bummer when you enjoy everything about the song, it’s got the bassline that catches your low side, the solid drum work which keeps your head at a constant bounce, or the skills of the guitarist call to your personal air guitar, and quite possibly even the lyrics are the catch for you. But something in that experience causes you to attach, so it’s always strange when you explore an artists, only to find that you just can’t get yourself to like them. Needless to say, the stuff I like is on my playlists, and the stuff I don’t, stays off.

Theron Puckett
Local Coffee and Pop Punk Enthusiast
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DISGUISE: Motionless in White

Chris Motionless - Warped 2018 by Sara Scott Chris Motionless – Warped 2018 by Sara Scott

Announcing their new album ‘Disguise’ which is set to drop in June, Motionless in White has released two songs, ‘Brand New Numb’ and title track ‘Disguise’. It has been two years since Graveyard Shift was released and the time has finally come for something a little new. Sticking true to their original sound and adding a little more, it appears that Motionless in White has taken a slightly more mainstream approach to Industrial Rock, and I’m not at all disappointed.

While both songs are catchy, and by all means impressive, Brand New Numb has got to be my favorite of the two. The slight change in sound that it brings really pumps me up, and it has definitely been added to my gym playlist. Disguise comes at the listener with a little heavier and in your face beat which stays closer to the sound MIW is known for. Both songs are available on all streaming services at this time and I cannot wait to hear the rest of this album once June rolls around.

If you’re able to get out there and support Motionless in White. They’re only two days into their tour with Atreyu. Check out the remaining dates listed below.

Motionless In White // Atreyu // Wilson tour dates:

4/15 – Pensacola, FL @ Vinyl Music Hall

4/16 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues

4/18 – Corpus Christi, TX @ Brewsters

4/19 – Odessa, TX @ Dos Amigos

4/20 – Lubbock, TX @ Lonestar Pavilion (KFMX Radio Show)

4/22 – Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre

4/24 – Green Bay, WI @ Green Bay Distillery

4/25 – Fargo, ND @ The Sanctuary

4/26 – Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre

4/27 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee

4/29 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s

4/30 – Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion

5/2 – Springfield, MO @ The Complex*

5/3 – Peoria, IL @ Monarch Music Hall*

5/5 – Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection

5/6 – London, ON @ London Music Hall

5/8 – Lynchburg, VA @ Phase 2

5/9 – Knoxville, TN @ The Mill & The Mine

* No Wilson

Review

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?: Billie Eilish

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‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ Apparently the top of the charts.

Or at least, that’s where our 17 year old Billie Eilish is going with her most recent album. Released only a handful of weeks ago on March 29th 2019, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” has already claimed the number one spot as of writing, with an entire week in the position already. Achieving a difficult task in the process, debuting at number one not only with her album, but her first album nonetheless. Passing artists such as Ariana Grande, Post Malone, recently passed Nipsey Hussle, and the man of emotion himself, Drake. Eilish’s album has given us two singles out of it already, “You Should See Me In A Crown” and “When the Party’s Over” which were released prior to the album. Which no doubt assisted the teen’s new album sales.

Throughout the 42 minutes it’ll take to hear the album in full, one can notice a soft, melodic tone laced in it. Starting from the interlude “!!!!!!!” (Seven exclamation points), we can easily feel the fun and how easily this came to the young star. “I have taken out my Invisalign and this is the album” Shows us through the background laughter, how simply this heartfelt album came to Eilish. Following as the second song, we have the ear candy song “Bad Guy” which does differentiate the album a bit, with a bassy, sub-woofer exercising song that does insinuate the possibility that Eilish is in a physically abusive relationship, though listening to the song in itself, we can hear that the “guy” in the relationship is not as in charge as he believes, and Eilish is the one in control of it all, listing off how she can pull psychological strings, rather than physical ones instead.

Nextly, the hugely popular and first single from the album, “you should see me in a crown” which oddly enough, was inspired by a show that Eilish and her sibling where watching, where the main antagonist spoke these words. Implying they would cause chaos if given power over others. During an interview with BBC Radio 1, Eilish stated that  while watching the TV series Sherlock, Professor Moriarty uttered the phrase “You should see me in a crown” which resonated deeply to Eilish and her sibling. (Fun Authors note, the spiders on Eilish’s face during the video are real spiders. Yikes. She was inspired by a spider wrangler she had met prior to shooting the video.)

Following in the outpour of popularity from “you should see me in a crown” the fourth song in the albums lineup, the sixth is a track titled “wish you were gay” which was actually recounted by Eilish herself during an Instagram live video. Where she explained the song is about how it felt for her to be rejected by a boy she liked, at the time, Eilish believed he didn’t like her due to the fact that she was a “shityy person”. She stated that she needed an excuse for him not liking her, such as him possibly being gay. Ironically, after the song was written and a demo was created, Eilish learned he was indeed homosexual after all.

The second single from the album, labeled “when the party’s over” was described by Eilish herself as not a sad or depressing song about putting distance between herself and her at the time lover, it’s a song with a more angry and aggressive tone than how it sounds. Though with this newfound background information, I must personally admit that the line; “Don’t you know I’m no good for you? I’ve learned to lose you, can’t afford to” has a much different meaning when listened to with an aggressive tone, compared to the sad, almost emotional tone I originally heard. Though personally, I choose to believe the angrier tone fits the song a bit more.

At the roughly 16 minute mark, the second single, arguably the most popular song on the album “bury a friend”  is playing. Which happen to debut itself at number fourteen on the Hot 100 chart for the week of February, ending on the sixteenth. Some speculated that this song was in fact about an ‘entity’ that exists near Eilish and her relationship with it. Though on a UMUSIC article, Eilish put it all out onto the table; “When we made ‘bury a friend,’ the whole album clicked in my head. I immediately knew what it was going to be about, what the visuals were going to be, and everything in terms of how I wanted it to be perceived. It inspired what the album is about. “bury a friend” is literally from the perspective of the monster under my bed. If you put yourself in that mindset, what is this creature doing or feeling? I also confess that I’m this monster, because I’m my own worst enemy. I might be the monster under your bed, too.” Which from a personal perspective, is fairly creepy due to the fact I have little room underneath my bed. Nor is it all that comfortable with the storage totes hogging up the space.

Personally, as someone who comes from a growing up background of Slayer, Iron Maiden and Testament, with a recent knowledge in the current pop punk scene, it was interesting to sit down and listen to Eilish’s album. Considering I knew personally nothing about the artist, the music, the intention or anything. All I went in knowing was that Seattleite Dave Grohl himself gave Eilish the thumbs up, so I guess she has to be a little decent? After hearing the album on what feels like a nonstop repeat for an entire weekend, I learned a lot about the 17 year old, explicitly about the relationships and the tough times that she’s been through. Choice wise it wouldn’t be the go to album for my day (that honor goes to just about any Modern Baseball album. I’m emo, I know. Get over it.), though if my playlist does add her into it as a filler song I won’t skip any of them. If giving a rating is apart of my job, I’d have to easily give this a four and a half out of five. Good job on the fresh album Billie and I hope to hear more from you soon!

Theron Puckett

Resident coffee addicted Evergreen student.

Interview

TESTING TRINITY: An Interview with Mike Lewin

I won’t lie, doing this interview was mildly terrifying and downright scary. As someone who has never given an interview or anything along the lines, a request was sent out, “I’m trying something new. I’m working with a little blog called Scene Stories NW, it focuses on musicians in the Seattle and nearby areas. I’m technically doing my first “interview” and I was wondering if you’d be interested?” And with that, I had thrown myself down the rabbit hole. Not ten minutes later, a response slip into my inbox. “I would be honored!” was all it said. Okay, step one complete, let’s move on. Eventually apologizing for my lack of experience within the field of interviewing, Mike Lewin of “Testing Trinity”, (which sound’s very ominous to say the least) was understanding and welcomed the idea of opening up. Some might have heard this Seattle based group before, or even the man himself, at locations such as Louie G’s and Studio Seven (Club Sur).

“Heavy, dynamic music with great melodies that you can head bang to!” Okay, straight to the point, solid. One might ask what this group has to offer, which currently is limited to a 9 song, self titled EP, that was released October of 2017. The first display of what this group could achieve was stunning, from the calming and serious vocal lines, to the deep, grooving drum tone, songs such as Priviation, Privileged Lies, and a personal favorite of not only my own, Empty Houses.

Typing with mild uncertainty and fear, the first of my questions were sent to the void for answering, and did they get answered.  

SSNW: What would you say started you down the path to becoming the musician you are today?

Mike Lewin [ML]: My first love of music began during the 90’s grunge era, when I latched onto the melodies and raw energy of groups such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Rancid. When I was 13 my best friend and I thought that “Hey, we could totally do that too!” so he bought a bass, I bought a guitar and we started our first band. It was around this time that I first heard Megadeth and was blown away – I had no idea that music could be that heavy, technical, and melodic all at the same time! I spent a summer in my room learning how to play most of Megadeth and Metallica’s discographies, and was never the same

SSNW: What do you feel is the best song you’ve released with your current project?

ML: There is a song that we released on our first album called “Empty Houses” that I think is the best representation of Testing Trinity: heavy, groovy, melodic, and dynamic. It was the first song that let everyone’s individual strengths shine while still being a cohesive band effort. To this day, I think it is one of Mel’s (vocalist) most catchy melodic efforts and Oof’s (bassist) most flavorful achievement. Seriously, listen to the bassline during the chorus!

SSNW: Speaking of current projects, you’re working with Testing Trinity. Where did the naming stem from?

ML: The name comes from the Trinity Test which was the first nuclear bomb detonation that was conducted by the United States Army in 1945 before the end of WW2.

SSNW: Can we possibly expect a full length album from Testing Trinity in 2019?

ML: While there are no immediate plans for a full length album, we are currently working on a 3-4 song EP. The bass and drums are already done, so we’re working hard on getting the guitars and vocals finalized for a summer 2019 release.

SSNW: If you could play any genre (and be entirely successful at) what would you play?

ML: I would be bored with any genre other than heavy metal, specifically, the stuff that I do with TT. I am extremely fortunate to play the music that I love with a group of people that I love and admire. To be able to be successful would just be the icing on the cake.

SSNW: Do you have any pre/post show traditions that you follow?

ML: Pre-show tradition: beer. Post-show tradition: beer. Haha

SSNW: Again, with shows, is there any upcoming ones that you’re particularly excited for?

There is a show coming up in June, that I’m not at liberty to discuss just yet, that we are extremely excited for. The venue, lineup, and details of the show are all important to the scene and we are honored to be a part of it. As soon as the specifics are ironed out, we will be heavily promoting it.

SSNW: What group of band would you want to play a show with the most?

ML: I would love to play a show with some of the bands that I have been heavily influenced by: Faith no More, Megadeth, or Opeth. There are also some great local bands that we haven’t played with yet that are on my wish list to share the stage with – After the Fallout are a highly talented group that does headbanging heavy metal in the vein of Unearth and Trivium. Great riffs, solos, and an awesome group of people. Slam Shifter is another group that I would love to play with. They are possibly the best local band in their vein of heavy music – extremely dynamic, tight and groovy – they are a hidden gem in the local scene, check them out! Lastly, Arisen from Nothing is a amazing group with a similar style to Testing Trinity, but heavier, that I would love to share the stage with.

SSNW: What would you say to up and coming musicians in the Seattle scene?

ML: Every group works differently and has varying interpersonal dynamics, but what has worked best for me and Testing Trinity is to make sure that we are passionate about what we do. Each members’ voice and opinion is important so we are all willing to compromise to ensure that the end result is something that we all enjoy.

SSNW: Following the line of the Seattle scene, how long have you been a part of it, and what was your favorite memory?

ML: I first joined the scene around 2002 with a prog band called Lyranthe, then moved onto a thrash band called Solace in Black before joining Testing Trinity. There are so many great memories with Solace in Black that I couldn’t narrow them down to one specific moment, but some of the best that come to mind are “Dick Darts”, “Bubba Chang’s white trash/Asian fusion eatery”, and “Cocaine Island”. The people that know us already know the details of the hilarity that ensued, and those that don’t are missing out on some of the greatest drunken times that fives guys can get have together.

SSNW: Is there anything you’d like to showcase or say to those that are fans-to-be?

ML: We love making and meeting new fans and hope that you might give us a listen and share the love. Testing Trinity is primarily a heavy metal band, but our unique mixture of influences keeps the music interesting and diverse: Mel’s vocals are very catchy and melodic due to the grunge era and 70’s-80’s pop influence, Dan and my guitars are thrash and prog based, Oof’s basslines are smooth and cohesive in the vein of funk and reggae, and Shannon’s drums are heavily punk influenced. We are active on all social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and if you would like to hear what we have to offer, our album is available on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, and Google Music. You can also stream our music for free on our website www.testingtrinity.net along with bios, photos, and details on upcoming shows.

-Theron Puckett

Review

ALL IN TIME: Osatia

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We are only four months into 2019, and Osatia has been making some pretty big moves. Signing to We Are Triumphant, announcing a West Coast Tour, two features for Alex Pasibe with Saving Vice and Designer Disguise, both of which are remarkable, but what really brings it full circle is Osatia’s release of ‘All in Time’ which dropped on April 5th.

After a few years away and member shifts, Osatia brought us all ‘We Care’ which is a stellar and great way to break back into Seattle’s local scene after a small hiatus. The song began to slowly pick up the pace until it was rolling full speed the second Ghost Killer Entertainment [GKE] dropped a bombshell on starving youth. There have been many positive movements that owe their birth to the re-emergence of Osatia.

These five individuals, along with the support of their label, have created a group called ‘Osatians’ giving fans a place to really be themselves. Sharing in grief, sadness, the ups and downs of life, celebrating wins, but also giving a voice to those who would be silenced by the stark reality of society. These are just a few of the accomplishments Osatia has made over the last few months.

‘All In Time’ focuses the listener into the patience and desire it takes to create a life worth living. Facing the hardships and difficulties with the obstacles, people, or our own minds getting in the way of achieving what it is that is sought after in life. The cohesiveness of ‘All In Time’ really hits all of the high notes when it comes to a well put together and produced song. In the end, the moral of the story is to be patient and determined with achieving your dreams. Use the hate from the naysayers as fuel for the fire to continue on.

Kendall Johns brings ‘All In Time’ to the light, with his expert videography and lighting. The one thing that caught my attention were the cables from the back lights. They stand out and look a little misplaced, while everything else is polished and on point. Other than the one con, the cinematics feature confluent color correction and sharp synchronization with the song. While choppy, the video overall has great flow sticking true to the Artwork of Kendall Johns.

The new single, ‘All in Time’ is featured on Spotify’s ‘Crash Course’ and ‘New Punk Tracks’ playlists, be sure to follow Osatia through all social media platforms and streaming services.

Coming in May Osatia kicks off the ‘All In Time Tour’ with Devil in the Details and Anever in Boise, Idaho.

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ALL IN TIME