Driven Far Off

The latest on the indie, alternative, and rock music scene including news, music, contest, interviews, and more. Best described as your favorite place to find new bands.

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Videos
  • Articles
  • About
  • Contact

Archives for 2007

Sound The Alarm Release Date Postponed; Add More Tour Dates

April 23, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Pennsylvania’s Sound the Alarm have postponed the release date of their debut full length, Stay Inside (Geffen Records), until July 17, 2007. In preparation for the release, the band have announced a series of tour dates which include a brief stint with Sherwood.

4/23- Lansing, MI @ MAC’s Bar
4/28- Middletown, NJ @ Room 2858
4/29- Clinton, NY @ Melodic Revolution
4/30- Amityville, NY @ Village Pub South
5/04- Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater (w/New Found Glory)
5/09- Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall
5/10- Buffalo, NY @ Buffalo Icon
5/11- Roseville, MI @ Myspace Internet Café
5/12- Cromwell, IN @ The Cromwell
5/17- Madison, WI @ The Loft
5/18- La Crosse, WI @ The Warehouse
5/19- Minneapolis, MN @ The Toybox

Opening for Sherwood

6/14- Orangevale, CA @ The Boardwalk
6/15- San Jose, CA @ Saratoga Community Center
6/18- Las Vegas, NV @ University Theatre
6/21- Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep
6/22- Amarillo, TX @ Refuge
6/23- Dallas, TX @ The Door/Plano Center
6/27- Kansas City, MO @ Mean Street Café
6/28- St. Louis, MO @ Creepy Crawl
6/30- Bushnell, IL @ Cornerstone Festival

More dates to be announced as they are confirmed.

“Suffocating”, the first single from Stay Inside is available to stream via the band’s MySpace page.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Sherwood, Sound-The-Alarm

Cartel To Record New Album In A Bubble

April 23, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Cartel are set to record their sophomore album in a “giant transparent bubble on Pier 54 in New York City” according to USA Today.

On May 24, the Atlanta pop-rock quintet will enter the fiberglass dome, equipped with a state-of-the-art studio and living quarters, and won’t emerge until it busts out June 12 to perform the newly recorded songs live.

In between, fans can monitor progress on Band in a Bubble Presented by Dr Pepper, a four-episode reality show starting May 24 on MTV, and at drpepperbubble.com, which will offer around-the-clock surveillance via 23 webcams. Fans earn deeper access with codes under Dr Pepper bottle caps.

“A sophomore release is always a highly pressured thing,” singer/guitarist Will Pugh says. Noting that 2005 debut Chroma was wrapped up in 21 days, he adds, “This is just a bigger microscope — a crazy whirlwind in a fishbowl. We’re preparing ourselves mentally for the worst, but I don’t think we’ll have time to freak out. Our goal is to create a good record.”

More can be read on the USA Today post.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Cartel

Article #18 – Writing Reviews

April 23, 2007 By Tyler Hayes Leave a Comment

It can be a daunting task to take an album, that a band most likely poured a lot of themselves into and tell people it’s no good and not to buy it. In the same way not everyone is cut out to be in a band, not everyone or anyone is able to be the one to judge music for the masses, Simple as that.

So what’s the point of this article? Is it just a way to give myself or reviewers an excuse when our reviews are terrible? It could be, but mostly it’s just a look at what goes in to writing an album review.
A good reviewer can take an album, describe the music and the style and subtly let the reader know what they thought of it without pushing their opinions as fact.

Word Choice: Sometimes I feel like I run into the problem of which words to use, and maybe people who also review music can relate. When writing about the same genre all the time certain words tend to get “tired”. For example there are only so many times you can say “Driving guitar” and “Soaring vocals” to mention a few. Writing good reviews takes someone skilled in the descriptive department.

Comparing bands to other bands: This is a common thing that is done in reviews, and just in life. It’s not the worst thing ever, but pretty close, because instead of having to describe how the music sounds you can just say, “oh you know “Band X” yeah, they sound similar to them”. It’s the easy way out from the writers prospective. As the reader I feel like I’m being mislead, because I know no band is going to sound exactly the same but I still get let down slightly when they aren’t a “Taking Back Sunday” clone. A side note on that, I know every band does not sound like them so stop telling me this new hit band does.

Things not to do: There are a few things which are just things which should not be done when writing reviews (most of which can be found in my album reviews). When you spend more time talking about why you should go buy an album than the music on the record, it becomes more of a sell sheet than a “review”. The next thing which I actually do quite a lot but don’t like is when the reviewer writes as if everyone is very familiar with the band and doesn’t write for a first time audience as well as the hardcore fan base. The golden rule or what should be the golden rule is when writing a review never do it with the goal of pleasing someone, whether it the publicist, band, or publication which it’s for.

Ultimately a good review comes down to whether or not it makes you interested in the band/record but some reviewers are definitely better at that than others. As always I like reader feedback, and so I want to know what we could do to improve reviews and/or which reviews you’ve enjoyed?

Filed Under: Articles

Madina Lake Off of Warped Tour

April 23, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Madina Lake has pulled out of this summers Warped Tour. The band is suppose to be announcing new tour dates in the future. A message from the band can be read below.

Im afraid we have some bad news about Warped.. in short we’re not on it anymore. its kind of complicated but here goes…

We wanted to do the entire tour but there were only 3 weeks available to us. so naturally we started looking for other tours around those warped dates to jump on so we could continue to tour the entire country. turns out warped, like most tours, has certain policies about bands playing the same markets within a certain amount of time of the actual warped dates and unfortunately this is what forced us to drop off. we will be announcing a huge tour in 14 days that will allow us to hit the entire country in july, august and september with some of our favorite bands in the world. we sincerely regret not being able to play this years warped and apologize to anyone who was looking forward to seeing us on it but trust me this was out of our hands.

For now were preparing for GIAN Fest. is london and birmingham, BAMBOOZLED in nj, SUPERSONIC in japan and a headlining run in may/june with EMANUEL, FIGHTSTAR, and FIRESCAPE. this tour will rule and the tickets will be cheap! we love you forever and hope you accept our apologies about warped tour.
xoxo

madina lake

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Madina Lake

Sum 41 Post New Song

April 22, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Sum 41‘s new song “March of The Dogs” can now be heard on their MySpace page. You can pick up the song on iTunes and other digital retailers now.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Sum 41

Update: Featured Bands

April 22, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Three new featured bands now grace the front page of the site. I Am The Pilot, Vanna, and Playradioplay! all have new albums coming out this week. Give them a listen and pick up their albums this Tuesday.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: I-Am-The-Pilot, Playradioplay!, Vanna

No Way Jose- Rice, Beans & Rock ‘N Roll

April 22, 2007 By A. Renteria 2 Comments

No Way Jose

Artist: No Way Jose
Album: Rice, Beans & Rock ‘N Roll
Label: Pee Shy Records
Purchase: Smart Punk
Release Date: 2007

Overall:7.5
Music: 8.0
Lyrics: 7.0
Production: 8.5

It took a while for No Way Jose to get this album in the mail, but all things set aside this album is actually good. No Way Jose, hailing from Southern California is comprised of three members who create a sound of “Spanglish Punk”. They have created a 7-song disc entirely new and different to me, but yet their sound is still familiar to some of the bands I listen to.

A little while ago, I had wanted to start listening to some “Spanglish Punk” bands but just never got around to it until now and I’m glad that they are the one to introduce me to this style of music. One of my favorite songs from “Rice, Beans and Rock ‘N Roll” is Motherfucker. Yeah I know, the title may seem a little bit harsh, but don’t judge a song by its title. The song just has the “yeah, ok, whatever, leave me alone” type of vibe, not only that but you can hear their Spanish influence in it. I can see people hearing this song and singing along to it proudly in the privacy of their own space. In their album, you can also tell these seven songs represent them and the pride they get in creating their style of music with making no compromises and following no one voices but their own. With songs like “Stripper”, which has a Spanglish version, “Wanna Be” and “Martha” you get to hear their own mix of Southern California punk and Tex-Mex. While listening to this CD in my Ipod I often create a playlist so I can listen to their CD with one of Catch 22 CDs, just to give you a perspective on how they sound. Oh, and they were selected to play on last years Hot Topic Kevin Says stage at Vans Warped Tour so you know they have to be good.

Tracklisting
1. Wanna Be
2. Don’t Worry
3. Marta
4. Te Extrano
5. Stripper
6. Stripper (Spanglish)
7. Motherfucker

Filed Under: Album, Reviews Tagged With: No-Way-Jose

On The Rise: Your Face, The International Drive, Yearling

April 22, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

In the need to listen to something new, something good? Check out the new bands added to the On The Rise section.

Your Face – (Omaha, NE – Rock, Indie)
The International Drive – (Raleigh, NC – Rock, Emo, Alternative)
Yearling – (Raleigh, NC – Rock, Indie, Pop)

Filed Under: News Tagged With: On The Rise, The-International-Drive, Yearling, Your-Face

Chiodos Post New Song

April 21, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Chiodos have been hard at work, demoing up their new album titled Bone Palace Ballet, tentatively slated for release in Late Summer / Early Fall 2007. The guys plan on hitting the studio in May with Casey Bates (Fear Before the March of Flames, Gatsbys American Dream) in the producer’s chair. As a ‘thank you’ to the the fans who have helped sell 150,000 copies of their latest album All’s Well that Ends Well, the band has decided to give them a taste of what’s to come by streaming an as-yet-untitled demo from the new album on their MySpace page.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Chiodos

Video: R.I.P. The Early November

April 21, 2007 By Bryce Jacobson Leave a Comment

Drive-Thru Records has posted a video dedicated to The Early November. The band will play their last show at The Bamboozle on May 6th.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Drive Thru Records, The Early November

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 154
  • 155
  • 156
  • 157
  • 158
  • …
  • 231
  • Next Page »

Recent Posts

Motion City Soundtrack To Release Video Documentary

Secrets Stream “Maybe Next May” Video

Emery to Launch Crowdfunding Campaign for New Album

I Am The Avalanche Stream New Album “Wolverines”

The Weeks @ The Ryman Auditorium

Copyright © 2025, Driven Far Off. All Rights Reserved.