TSI TICKET GIVEWAY: CLICK HERE

Attention all folk, rock, bluegrass and blues fans!  Tomorrow night 2 TSI Fav’s will be be performing  at World Cafe Live at The Queen in Wilmington, DE. MiZ, TSI Music Award Winner for Best Acoustic Artist, and area bluegrass sensation Cabinet are set to take the stage for a night full of good old back country fun! If you aren’t familiar with either artist then check out a few songs below. The show starts at 8 pm. and is located in the upstairs venue. MORE INFO & TICKETS HERE

Cabinet

MiZ

Among the bands performing at this years festival is HelloRadio an indie/pop band from Hoboken. The band consists of Michael Domanic, Alphonse Rispoli, Chris Lammer, and Joey Doviak. Together the four members have toured relentlessly over their home state as well as some shows across the Hudson. The band released their first EP 300 Mile Concourse Winner last year and are currently working on a followup. Check out a preview for their new EP below as well as a short interview with the group.

CLICK HERE to enter to hang out with HelloRadio in the TSI Band Lounge (Prestented by PBR) this Saturday on the roof top of the Aztec Bar on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ! FREE BEER, FOOD, & GIVEAWAYS!!

TSI: How has Hoboken shaped the band’s own identity?

HR: Two of the band members live in town, and we rehearse regularly at Pigeon Club Studio nearby; it’s our home away from home really. We also recorded our first EP there, with Wayne Dorell, so Hoboken has really defined our start as a band. We also love seeing the stickers everywhere; it’s nice to know people are interested in our music. 

TSI: With an EP already under your belt to you guys have any plans for a full length?

HR: Well, we are currently finishing another EP at Retromedia Studios in Red Bank, NJ, with an expected release date sometime in late June.  As far as a full length goes, we have additional material in the works, and plan on writing throughout the summer, so naturally, the next step would be a full-length.

TSI: You celebrated your EP’s release party at Maxwell’s can you explain the impact that the legendary venue has had on the band?

HR: We have seen some of our favorite bands grace the stage at Maxwells, and to share in its rich history was a great feeling.  We hope to play there again soon.

TSI: Since you are performing at the Seaside Music Festival do you approach the festival environment in a different way then you would a regular HelloRadio show?

HR: Not really. Perhaps the only difference for us is playing in front of people who haven’t heard of us is an opportunity to gain a broader fan base.  Hopefully, people will like what they see and hear.  One of the songs will actually involve a push-up contest between Mike and a challenger from the crowd.  Mike wins every time. 

Words by: Doug Hynes

This Saturday (May 19), former member of Fleet Foxes, J. Tillman,  takes his new project Father John Misty to Brooklyn’s Knitting Factory.  This band’s been making many waves in the music world, and TSI’s proud to be able to cover the show.  Former drummer of Sub Pop’s indie darlings Fleet Foxes have been touring on the East Coast all of May, and have shows in DC, Atlanta, New Orleans, and will be making it out to Texas in Houston, Austin, and Dallas by the end of the month.  Tillman and co. will be playing with electro-rockers Har Mar Superstar and folk-popsters Jenny O.  The show’s already sold out, but the info’s here.  Check out the videos for “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” and “Nancy From Now Own” below.  If you can get your hands on some tickets, come check out the show with me!

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings

Nancy From Now On

I’ll admit that when I was asks to do this interview I hadn’t heard of Guitar Shop TV. After checking out the site I became hooked. The website really succeeds because of its devotion to satisfying guitar enthusiast. The site not only interviews guitar pros but also many people in the industry. We caught up with founder Brian Lippey, check it out:

TSI: What was the impetus for starting Guitar Shop TV?

Brian: I have a pretty electric background that combines music with business and over the years I’ve built a number of successful businesses. I became excited by the major shift that going on in media viewership from traditional broadcast television to web delivered streaming video and online television shows.

I decided it would be really cool to create a unique online community for passionate guitarists and guitar music lovers by harnessing the power of digital media, particularly online TV. There are over 100 million guitarists around the world and many multiples of guitar music fans, so while this is a niche audience, it is a large, passionate, and global niche that is largely underserved by traditional media. So it seemed like a great opportunity to build something really special.

From a personal standpoint, I have been playing guitar since I was a kid, have played professionally with a rock band, and have managed bands over the years, and I know how hard it is for Artists to promote their music and grow their fanbase. Among other things, I wanted Guitar Shop TV to become the leading online showcase for the most exciting up and coming Indie bands from all over the world, as well as for established celebrities. We’re also positioned as a place where fans can learn and chat about the coolest guitar gear, watch interviews and performances by top guitarists and bands, and have backstage access to the most exciting venues around the world. Above all, I want Guitar Shop TV to be a unique community and resource for anyone who shares our common passion: great guitar music.<

How has Guitar Shop TV grown since its inception?

I founded the business two years ago. From the outset, Guitar Shop TV decided to pursue a content-led strategy, where the brand will be known for the highest quality, made-for-web, guitar music TV programming. To date, GSTV has filmed over 350 hours of original, unique video content and has developed a library of multiple thousands of curated videos, with an additional 40 episodes in its post-production pipeline. We’ve also attracted video submissions from over 6,000 Indie bands from around the world that have entered our Artist Showcase competition. These Artists are interested in working with us to promote their music and connect with our fast-growing worldwide audience. The show’s season premiere took place in 2011, and so far has attracted large numbers of dedicated viewers from all around the world. We’re pretty excited by our growth prospects, and we will continue to focus on producing great content for our viewers.

To date, Guitar Shop TV has interviewed dozens of great guests in the guitar and music industry, including guitar and music gods such as Steven Tyler, Ted Nugent, Keith Urban, Peter Frampton, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Larry Carlton, Robert Cray, Robben Ford, Robert Randolph, Stanley Jordan, and lead guitarists and sidemen for artists such as Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Keith Richards, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Rod Stewart, and The Black Crowes, to name just a few.

We’ve also interviewed leaders of top institutions such as NAMM, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Centre, The Grammy Museum, The Grand Ole Opry, and other cool venues around the country, leading gear manufacturers such as Fender Musical Instruments, Gibson Guitars, Marshall Amplification, Martin Guitars, Vox Amplification, PRS Guitars, and many more leading Dealers, Collectors, and technicians; and talented behind-the-scenes stars at legendary recording studios such as The Record Plant-LA, Blackbird Studio-Nashville, The Village Recorder-LA, Sun Studio-Memphis, and dozens of others…Pretty exciting stuff!

Why did you decide to partner with Reverbnation for this competition?

As mentioned, we are very focused on up and coming artists – we wanted to come up with a way for them to promote their music and be discovered by a larger worldwide audience by harnessing the power of digital media. We designed our Artist Showcase competition for indie bands and solo artists, as a way to do just that. We discussed the idea with Reverbnation, given their great reputation and the amazing work that they’ve done with Indie bands, and we agreed to partner on this and other initiatives. They’ve been a great partner and we share a common approach: We are both very artist-focused, and share a strong commitment to quality production and attention to detail. We also respect the great way they’ve used technology to promote the indie artist. Given our online TV and digital video capabilities, it seemed like a great way to offer Reverbnation artists access to this fast-growing medium.

What are some of the factors that you consider when choosing a winning band?

In selecting Artist Showcase Finalists, we consider at number of factors including originality, composition, creativity, musicianship, and above all, passion. Artists cannot be signed to a recording label and their submissions must be original musical works. We’ve receive some amazing videos from Artists across genres including Rock, Blues, Jazz, Folk, Country, Metal, Fusion, Urban, Funk/R&B, Alternative, World Music, Christian, and even Classical! There are so many talented artists out there, and we’re really excited to be working with many of them!

Check out the interview GSTV did with the Nuge below:

WHO: Colebrook Road, Darry Miller & The Veil, Mark DeRose & The Way Home, MiZ, They Were Only Satellites, and Toy Soldiers

WHEN: Sat May 12th 2012

After hearing so many “fun time” stories from past Brewfest attendees, TSI made it a MUST to cover this years Brewfest, and HAWT DAMN are we glad we did!  This 4th Annual fest is spread all throughout the PA Renaissance Fairgrounds and is packed full with over 35 breweries and live music across 3 outdoor stages.  The weather was perfect, the music was top notch and the extensive list of free brews and food to pick from made this fest the only place to be last Saturday for any beer n music fans!

Upon entering all attendees received a collector glass to be re-filled by as many brews as they wanted throughout the day. (Unless of course they came as a designated driver which Brewfest allowed them to enter at a lower entry cost.)  It was a great way for beer lovers of all sorts to get a taste of there favorite brews, plus wet their whistles from an extensive list of breweries that they may have never tried before.  Some die hard beer fans that we ran into even said that they were creating there own “beer tour” by following their map and making stops at EVERY brewery tent throughout the day!

To go along with the delicious drink, Brewfest definitely did there part by offering a great lineup of live entertainment for the day, 4 of which were TSI Music Award Winners from this past year! While enjoying the bands on each stage, spread out throughout the grounds, we noticed people stopping dead in there tracks and taking time away from their “beer tours” to take a break and enjoy the music!  On 2 separate occasions I personally had someone stop and ask me who the band was and if they had CD’s for sale.  Overall this lineup featuring Colebrook Road, Darry Miller & The Veil, Mark DeRose & The Way Home, MiZ, They Were Only Satellites, and Toy Soldiers was a great compliment to the day full of brew!

Words & Photos by: Rich McKie

Darry Miller & The Veil

Mark DeRose & The Way Home

Toy Soldiers

MiZ

FULL FUN & MUSIC GALLERY

Mighty High Mountain Festival hosts a range of different types of musicians from blue grass to new orleans funk. The headliners this year include Dark Star Orchestra, a Grateful Dead tribute band, as well as Railroad Earth, a newgrass band. Each handpicked artist brings a different dimension to the weekend.

The festival hosts a crowd from around 3000 to 5000 people, giving the festival a more intimate feel. Dunsky explains that the crowd is geared to a family atmosphere, and works to keeps the price of the festival affordable and approachable. He finds importance having a fun event for everyone that you don’t have to break the bank to enjoy.

One of the interesting aspects of Mighty High Mountain Festival is that the creators hand pick the artists together, booking bands that they feel bring great energy and vibe to the celebration. Everyone involved has a personal connection to some of the artists on the line-up. The festival experience is exciting for the people attending and the people who worked hard to put everything together.

Like many festivals, camping is a large part of the fun and experience of the entire weekend. With mid-May’s comfortable weather, everyone can enjoy hanging out at the campgrounds, getting to know each other after the music festivities end for the day. Dunsky says that camping brings an entirely new dynamic and approach to a festival, and also lends to the factor of safety. People can enjoy themselves without worrying about getting home after a few drinks, relaxing with good friends and good music.

While putting a festival can be stressful and tedious, Dunsky agrees that the end result and seeing everyone enjoying the weekend makes the process all worth it. He says the best feeling is having people come out and enjoy everything that everyone worked so hard to bring to the fans.

Mighty High Music Festival hits the stage next Friday, May 18th. For more information on the festival, feel free to visit createavibe.com for the full lineup and ticket information. Hope to see you all there!

Words by Hadar Spector

“I had no song in my repertoire for commercial radio anyway.”- Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Volume 1

The 12th annual Non-COMMvention, an AAA (Adult Album Alternative) Music Industry Convention, is back in Philadelphia at the World Cafe Live and Penn Park. It starts with two free concerts/live webcasts on Wednesday, May 16th—The Key Studio Sessions Live With Graham Alexander/Find Vienna and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals—then opens up to already sold out shows on Thursday, May 17th and Friday, May 18th, and ends with a Free At Noon lineup on Saturday, May 19th.

Dan Reed, Founder/Producer of Non-COMM

It’s the feast of radio fests with live music from Citizen Cope, Beth Orton, The War on Drugs, Willie Nelson, Brandi Carlile, Norah Jones, Diego Garcia, Rufus Wainwright, and many more. Check out the full schedule here.

In the midst of the snap-crackle-pop of a day in the life of one of the busiest men in radio, Dan Reed, the founder of Non-COMM, as well as Operations Manager and Music Director for WXPN, took some time to chat with me on the phone.

TSI: How would you describe Non-COMM to someone who has no idea about Non-COMM? Is there a distinguishing factor between the meaning of “Non-COMM” and “Indie”?

Reed: Non-COMM is a convention for people in radio and music with a rock-based format. The distinguishing factor for non-comm in radio is the status as a station—there are no commercials.

TSI: What’s your least favorite thing about planning and producing Non-COMM?

Reed: The planning and producing.

TSI: Is there a huge divide between commercial and non-commercial radio? Is the divide getting bigger?

Reed: Well, there are alternative stations, sports, classical, jazz—on both commercial and non-commercial radio. There are non-commercial news stations like NPR. Yea, there’s a big divide. There’s so much competition from handhelds and Spotify and all the other “fy’s” out there. It’s important to build a local audience. If you’re a cookie-cutter station with no variety, your days are numbered.

TSI: Would playing more live music and streaming live shows attract more interest?

Reed: That depends on who’s playing live and if the fans want to hear live versions—it’s a fan-based expectation.

TSI: What advice would you give to new people in music and radio?

Reed: You better be a plumber or be able to fix things. The industry is much different than when I first started. There aren’t that many gaps in radio—very few opportunities and not many radio jobs—you have to be committed to it and be willing to spend all your time and energy on it. I’m glad there are still college radio stations and that people can still have fun with it. Even in these tough economic times, XPN can survive the storm because we have a great brand and great listeners and supporters.

TSI: What are the biggest changes you’ve seen since you started in radio?

Reed: Compared to last year and previous years (’08, ’09, ’10), Non-COMM attendance is way up—this year we’re seeing the most people we’ve had in Philly. Last year was iffy—though not enough that we wouldn’t have it anymore. The biggest change is not just radio, it’s the record business—2001 was a lot different than it is today—with all the iPods, iPhones, and online streaming.

TSI: Anything you’d like to add?

Reed: We’ve got some old faves and some new bands. You can listen to it live on XPN and we’ve got some great Non-COMMversations with people like Bob Lefsetz.

Jennifer Herrema, formerly of Royal Trux and RTX, makes her way to Chameleon Club in Lancaster this Thursday, May 17, with her new band, Black Bananas.

Now touring with Kurt Vile in support of “Rad Times Express IV,” their new record on the Drag City label, Herrema has been making killer rock and roll since 1987  when she partnered with Neil Haggery to form Royal Trux. The Royal Trux toured and recorded ’till their break-up in 2001. Then came RTX which became Black Bananas in 2011.

Featuring the same line-up of Herrema, Jaimo Welch, Brian McKinley, Kurt Midness, and Nadav Eisenman,Black Bananas has been described as a slightly more electronic version of RTX. Songs like “TV Trouble” and “Rad Times” have plenty of Electro-throb but still retain Southern Rock party drive and plenty of trippy Lo-Fi rawness and density. I love the fact that despite whatever souped up sounds are on these tracks at their heart they are road-beat-to-shit Stones-y blues-rock.

Jennifer Herrema who has made her bones for years as a musician, producer, designer, and model is still the real deal. She is an authentic Rock and Roll fucking artist who has dedicated her life to her craft. From her beginnings with Royal Trux she has long been considered a pioneer and keeper of the flame and has been an inspiration to more than one Indie rock band.Her recent collaboration with Kurt Vile seems a natural one. He was present at most of the sessions for “Rad Times ” and they have recorded a great, raucous version of the Stones’ “Before They Make Me Run”.

Jennifer has also collaborated with MGMT who she met while opening up for them. She sang on two tracks on their last record. Besides fronting Black Bananas, Jennifer Herrema also designs a jean line for Volcom. The show at Chameleon will definitely be epic with Kurt Vile headlining, True Widow opening and Black Bananas as a perfect filler for this all out Rock and Roll sandwich.

The show starts at 8pm so get there early and grab a brew

Tickets: $13.00 – $15.00

Ages 18 & Over

Tickets available on the Chameleon Club web-site.

Its summer time and that means time to grab your surfboard and sunscreen and head to the SeaSide Music Fest this coming weekend (May 17-19).  This FREE three-day festival takes place in the bars, restaurants, and on the beach of Sea Side Heights, NJ.

The festival, now in its 5^th year, features a diverse line up of local and regional acts, which are sure to appeal to all. Over the weekend I had the chance to chat with not only one hell of a nice guy, but also the festival director Michael Schwartz.

While talking about the history of the festival and how the festival has changed over the years Michael had this to say:

“Since our first year we have grown in leaps and bounds. We constantly tweak a few things from year to year but the model has stayed consistent. We like to describe ourselves as the premier emerging artist festival that is free to the public and gives these artists a chance to display their talent in front of a large, diverse audience with the Jersey Shore as a backdrop.”

You can check out the line up for the festival here. When I questioned Mike about what type of acts attendees would experience he replied:

“We have a very diverse group of artists that play the festival however we don’t have any metal or rap groups. Most of the artists that play would be considered top 40, alternative or pop. We do have a number of singer/songwriter acoustic acts that play. The variation in types of music is great enough to attract a wide and different audience. Our crowd can always find something that they fall in love with over the 3 days.”

With so many festivals popping up all over the place each seems to have something that makes it stand out from one another. When Mike was asked about what separates this festival from others he responded:

“I think Seaside is a unique primarily because of our location, we are an hour south of NYC, and hour north of Atlantic City and an hour east of Philadelphia and we are located right on the beach.”

In addition to great live entertainment the Festival also features an array of other activities for attendees. Some of these include: a new and improved car show, a Zumba party on the beach to benefit SADD, as well as a morning and afternoon surf clinics.

In addition to these awesome happenings, on Saturday May 19^th TriState Indie will be teaming up with Pabst Blue Ribbon to bring you the TSI Band Lounge, which features free PBR, food, and giveaways!! CLICK HERE to sign up to win a pair of passes to this Invite only VIP Band Lounge to “kick it” with the bands!

If you can’t make it out to the festival this weekend, SHAME ON YOU! However, keep checking back in to see continued coverage of the different acts, as well as interviews with some of the performers. Hit us up with any questions or comments you may have.

INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL SCHWARTZ  AT LAST YEARS SEASIDE MUSIC FEST