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.

Bands: Sell Your Music On Your Website

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BlastMyMusic.com have developed a new tool to assist artists and fans who use multiple sites on the web.

The “MusicBlaster Lite” now functions as a link from other artist-centered sites, such as Purevolume and Virb. Once the consumer clicks on the “MusicBlaster Lite” application, they are taken directly from the alternative site to their chosen artists’ store at BlastMyMusic.com. Instantly, fans and fellow rockers will be able to purchase music easier than any other similar location on the web. BlastMyMusic now allows for direct credit card payment in addition to Paypal, which was the only previously offered transaction mode.

Sullivan Post New Song

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Sullivan has posted a new song titled “Tell Me I’m Wrong” from their upcoming album, Cover Your Eyes which hits stores on June 5th. The song can be found on the Tooth & Nail tour page over at PureVolume. The track listing for Cover Your Eyes can be seen below.

Track Listing

01. F-Stop
02. Soaking Wet
03. Tell Me I’m Wrong
04. Great For My Collection
05. The Process
06. Dig Me Up
07. Florida Queen
08. The Olive Branch
09. On A Ship
10. Fire Away

My American Heart Release Date; Tour

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My American Heart has set June 26th as the release date for their upcoming album, Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather. The band will be thundering through the Midwest and West Coast prior to the album’s release with The Audition and then whipping through the whole nation on the Vans Warped Tour 2007 (tour dates below).

Dates with THE AUDITION

May 10 The Door Dallas, TX
May 11 Eagle’s Lodge Wichita, KS
May 12 The Rock Papillion,NE
May 13 Varsity Theater Minneapolis, MN
May 14 Mirimar Theater Milwaukee, WI
May 15 House of Bricks Des Moines, IA
May 16 Granada Theatre Lawrence, KS
May 17 Creepy Crawl St. Louis, MO
May 18 Marquis Theater Denver, CO
May 19 Avalon Theater Salt Lake City, UT May 20 The Venue Boise, ID
May 22 El Corazon Seattle, WA
May 23 Hawthorne Theater Portland, OR
May 24 The Boardwalk Orangevale, CA
May 25 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CA
May 26 The Roxy Hollywood, CA
May 27 Chain Reaction Anaheim, CA
May 28 SOMA San Diego, CA
May 29 The Clubhouse Tempe, AZ
May 31 Launchpad Albuquerque, NM

WARPED TOUR DATES

Jun 29 Pomona Fairgrounds Pomona, CA
Jun 30 Seaside Park Ventura, CA
Jul 1 Shoreline Amphitheatre San Francisco, CA
Jul 3 Thunderbird Stadium Vancouver, BC
Jul 5 Race City Speedway Calgary, ALB
Jul 7 Utah State Fairgrounds Salt Lake City, UT
Jul 8 Invesco Field/Pepsi Center Denver, CO
Jul 11 Cricket Pavillion Phoenix, AZ
Jul 12 N.M.S.U. Practice Field Las Cruces, NM
Jul 13 Amphitheatre Lot San Antonio, TX
Jul 14 Smirnoff Music Center Lot Dallas, TX
Jul 15 Reliant Arena Houston, TX
Jul 18 Hi Fi Amphitheatre Atlanta, GA
Jul 19 Metropolitan Park Jacksonville, FL
Jul 20 Vinoy Park Tampa, FL
Jul 21 Bayfront Park Amphitheatre Miami, FL
Jul 22 Tinker Field Orlando, FL
Jul 23 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte, NC
Jul 24 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Virginia Beach, VA
Jul 25 Merriweather Post Pavillion Washington, DC
Jul 26 Montage Mountain Performing Arts Scranton, PA
Jul 27 Co America Park and Street Detroit, MI
Jul 28 First Midwest Bank Pavillion Chicago, IL
Jul 29 Metrodome Minneapolis, MN
Jul 31 Marcus Amphitheatre Milwaukee, WI
Aug 1 Riverbend Music Center Cincinati, OH
Aug 2 Tower City Amphitheatre Cleveland, OH
Aug 3 Tweeter Waterfront Center Camden, NJ
Aug 4 Nassau Coliseum New York, NY
Aug 5 Raceway Park Englishtown, NJ
Aug 7 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Indianapolis, IN
Aug 8 Post Gazette Pavillion Pittsburgh, PA
Aug 9 Tweeter Center Boston, MA
Aug 10 Darien Lakes Buffalo, NY
Aug 11 Park Place Toronto, ONT
Aug 12 Park Jean Drapeau Montreal, QUE
Aug 14 UMB Bank Pavillion St. Louis, MO
Aug 15 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Kansas City, KS
Aug 17 Idaho Center Amp Boise, ID
Aug 18 Gorge Amphitheatre Seattle, WA
Aug 19 Columbia Meadows Portland, OR
Aug 22 Selland Arena Fresno, CA
Aug 23 Sleep Train Amphitheatre Sacramento, CA
Aug 24 Coors Amphitheatre San Diego, CA
Aug 25 Home Depot Center Los Angeles, CA

Sound The Alarm Release Date Postponed; Add More Tour Dates

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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.

Cartel To Record New Album In A Bubble

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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.

Article #18 – Writing Reviews

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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?