LMN Band Exam

LMN Band Exam: Sam Grow

Posted on by Amanda

Southern Maryland native Sam Grow has been touring all over the U.S. and has stopped in San Diego to play at Lestats tomorrow! We asked this multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter a few questions about touring and his life in general. Check out the answers to our little exam below and go see him play tomorrow 9/12 at Lestats at 9pm.

LMN Band Exam Questions- Sam Grow

Multiple Choice: choose
one of the following three options. Feel free to ad lib or create your own
choices.

Form of caffeine: Coffee, tea, energy drinks – Coffee. 

Best place to play a random show: beach, forest, shopping mall – Shopping Mall, though we do love playing on
the beach!

Fight boredom on the road: Cards, Reading, Music, DVDs – Facebook, Instagram Twitter.  I live on them.

Fill in the Blank:

Favorite thing to eat when I get home:  Crabs

Favorite store:  American Eagle

Last thing I bought:  A new Chevy truck!

An interesting item you might find in Sam Grow’s tour van: Push Up Bar.  Tour Bus exercising!

Essay Questions:

If you weren’t rockin’ out as a musician, what would be your ideal
job?:  I would want to own a label so I could help out other artists.

What is the first instrument you learned how to play?:  Piano.

If you could sum up Sam Grow in five words, what would they be? Blessed, Family, Musician, Songwriter,
Dreamer

 

LMN Band Exam: The Nervous Wreckords

Posted on by Amanda

The Nervous Wreckords are set to release their sophomore album Let Them All Talk this week and we here at Local Music Nation couldn’t help asking frontman Brian Karscig to answer a band exam. You can also check out my favorite single off Let Them All Talk here

LMN Band Exam Questions: The Nervous Wreckords

Multiple Choice: choose one of the following three options. Feel free to ad lib or create your own choices.

What would be The Nervous Wreckords’s breakfast of choice: coffee, breakfast burrito, fruit platter, whiskey, never up early enough to eat breakfast
~Definitely Coffee

Best place to play a random show: beach, forest, shopping mall, desert
~I think I’ve done all of these, and forest is the best.

Fight boredom on the road: Cards, Reading, Music, DVDs
~a little of each plus a little “alphabet game” with band names.

Fill in the Blank:

Favorite thing to eat when I get home
~mac and cheese in the blue box or a burrito from Asada’s

An interesting item you might find in The Nervous Wreckords’s tour van
~Arrested Development Seasons 1-3 on DVD

Weird skill/talent no one would expect from me
~I make a really good paper airplane

Essay Questions:

What is the first thing you do when you come home from a tour?
~Take a shower and lay in my bed!

If you weren’t rockin’ out as a musician, what would be your ideal job?
~ I think I’d be a chef or a horticulturalist. I like cooking and my garden of roses. Both are therapeutic to me the way music is, but you also have to put a lot of time, care and creativity into them so the finished meal, garden, or song turn out to be something you enjoy and are proud of.

The Silent Comedy on Dead Feather Moon

Posted on by Amanda

It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t ask The Silent Comedy about their thoughts on Dead Feather Moon. This comes just in time for their show (also featuring The Howls) at the Belly Up this Thursday 3/8. Tickets are still available and you should get one. Now.

Also, you know it’s going to be big when The Silent Comedy brings the horns and strings

LMN: Band on Band- The Silent Comedy on Dead Feather Moon

Multiple Choice:

What would be Dead Feather Moon’s breakfast of choice: coffee, breakfast burrito, fruit platter, whiskey, never up early enough to eat breakfast

Definitely whiskey! Whiskey in a plastic bottle to be precise. They introduced us to it.

Which band has the nicest hair: The Silent Comedy, The Howls, Dead Feather Moon

It has to be DFM. They have more variety. They’ve got long hair, short, and even the sexy bald look… I wish it was us, but I have to be honest.

Show Drink: Whiskey, PBR, Fruity Girly Drink, Aged Scotch, Water

Whiskey and PBR definitely. Fruity Girly Drink will never be found on a DFM stage.

Fill in the Blank:
Suppose Dead Feather Moon landed in the world of The Wizard of Oz. Who would be who? (You can have multiples of the same character)

I totally don’t know those guys well enough to answer that…

• Dorothy:

• Scarecrow:

• Tin Man:

• Cowardly Lion:

• Wicked Witch:

• Glenda the Good Witch:

• Wizard of Oz:

• Toto:

The tv show or cartoon that Dead Feather Moon should make a cameo in would be.

Scooby Doo

Something we would like to steal from Dead Feather Moon is:

Badass Rock n Roll songs

Essay: (Pick 1 to answer)

What are you most looking forward to about Dead Feather Moon’s set at The Belly Up?

They did their song “Everything I Haven’t Said” acoustically for our Homestead Sessions recently, and I am really looking forward to seeing the full band version. (edit: you can watch that video here)

Dead Feather Moon on The Howls

Posted on by Amanda

As mentioned in a previous post, The Silent Comedy, Dead Feather Moon, and The Howls are gearing up to blow the roof off The Belly Up Tavern. I’m super stoked to see Dead Feather Moon in the lineup. They get better and better every time I see them. I’m not sure if it’s the slide guitar or the overall tone of the band that I enjoy so much. Either way, Dead Feather Moon is one enchanting band to watch. We asked their thoughts on The Howls. Below are the answers!

LMN: Band on Band- Dead Feather Moon on The Howls

Multiple Choice:

What would be The Howls breakfast of choice: coffee, breakfast burrito, fruit platter, whiskey, never up early enough to eat breakfast?

They never get up early enough to eat breakfast. All the dudes are really laid back, down-to-earth cats. I see them sleeping in, possibly recovering from the night before and starting the day with lunch.

Which band has the nicest hair: The Silent Comedy, The Howls, Dead Feather Moon?

I have to go with The Silent Comedy on this one. I feel like if I went with either of the other bands, I would have to deal with ten pounds of angry hair and one huge pissed-off moustache. That’s just frightening…

Show Drink: Whiskey, PBR, Fruity Girly Drink, Aged Scotch, Water

I feel like I’ve seen John drinking a PBR. Either that or I just had so many PBR’s myself that I imagined him holding one.

Fill in the Blank:

Suppose The Howls landed in the world of The Wizard of Oz. Who would be who? (You can have multiples of the same character)

Dude, I haven’t seen this movie since I was a child. And I don’t really feel comfortable referring to another dude as a witch or a coward. 

The tv show or cartoon that The Howls should make a cameo in would be ____________________.

Jersey Shore. Why? Because sometimes I watch Jersey Shore and I want to see The Howls GTL for a day.

Something we would like to steal from The Howls is: ___________________________.

Their keyboard with the cool boombox speakers on it.

Essay: (Pick 1 to answer)

Best prank to pull on The Howls?

I can’t give that away. They’ll have to wait and find out!

LMN: Band on Band: The Howls on The Silent Comedy

Posted on by Amanda

Not loo long ago, this ‘little’ San Diego band called The Howls just sold out The Casbah for their cd release show. Also prone to selling out The Casbah is a ‘not so little anymore’ band called The Silent Comedy. On March 8th, these two amazing bands will be joining forces along with Dead Feather Moon at… The Belly Up! Get your tickets here!

We are super pumped for this show! And knowing how close all the bands are, thought it would be a fun idea to have the bands answer some questions about each other before the show gets underway. We decided to have The Howls answer some questions about The Silent Comedy. Below is their answers.

LMN: Band on Band- The Howls on The Silent Comedy

Multiple Choice:

What would be The Silent Comedy’s breakfast of choice: coffee, breakfast burrito, fruit platter, whiskey, never up early enough to eat breakfast

Ne’er up early

Which band has the nicest hair: The Silent Comedy, The Howls, Dead Feather Moon

I’m gonna have to go with us (no offense none taken). Myself excluded, our guys have their act together up top. I’m jealous of them all. Honorable mention goes to Justen of dead feather, he’s been looking real classy as of late.

Show Drink: Whiskey, PBR, Fruity Girly Drink, Aged Scotch, Water

We’re all whisky and PBR men.

 

Fill in the Blank:

Suppose The Silent Comedy landed in the world of The Wizard of Oz. Who would be who? (You can have multiples of the same character)

Dorothy:

Wizard

Scarecrow:

Of

Tin Man:

Oz

Cowardly Lion:

Scared

Wicked Witch:

Me

Glenda the Good Witch:

As

Wizard of Oz:

A

Toto:

Child

The tv show or cartoon that The Silent Comedy should make a cameo in would be?

Scooby Doo

Something we would like to steal from The Silent Comedy is:

Endless energy

 

Essay: (Pick 1 to answer)

What are you most looking forward to about The Silent Comedy’s set at The Belly Up?

The part where we unplug everything mid set and watch them make magic regardless.

Best prank to pull on The Silent Comedy?

See answer above

 

LMN Band Exam: Vanaprasta

Posted on by Amanda

If you have yet to see LA indie rockers, Vanaprasta, dominate the stage at The Satellite during their November residency, you have two more opportunities (tonight/11.21 and next Monday/11.28). Don’t miss out!  Over the last year or so, I’ve watched this band really come into their own and with the recent release of their album, Healthy Geometry, they have become one of the most buzzed about bands on the local scene.  What amazes me about this band is the depth and energy of their tunes and the visceral impact they can have on an entire audience (we can call it the Vanaprasta effect). Witness for yourself. Monday nights in November. 11pm.

We wanted to get to know the band a bit better, so we had them take our Band Exam. Here are the responses we got from Steven (Vocals/Keys), Collin (Guitar/Vocals/Keys), Taylor (Bass/Vocals/Keys), Cam (Guitar) and Smiley (Drums)

 

Multiple Choice:

Favorite superhero: superman, batman, spiderman

Smiley: Batman for sure.

Favorite subject in school: math, science, history, recess

Steven: SCIENCE

Vacation destination: beach, mountains, moon

Steven: MOON

No-shave November: I’m in!, nooo way, what?

Cam: I’m in!

 

Fill in the Blank:

If I were a character from The Wizard of Oz, I would be__Toto (Taylor)___.

My karaoke song is       The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil” (Collin)  .

One weird talent/skill no one would expect from me is    I’m a helluva driver (Steven)   .

Two words to describe Vanaprasta’s November residency at The Satellite   Chick Central (Cam)   . 

 

Essay/Short Answer:

If you weren’t rockin’ out as a musician, what would be your ideal job?

Smiley: I guess if I wasn’t the multi-millionaire mega rock star that I am…I’d want to be Walker Texas Ranger. He’s s real American hero in my book. Not a fan of Chuck Norris but Walker Texas Ranger, now that’s a guy with his priorities straight. I guess I would want to be a (walker) Texas ranger.

What does Vanaprasta mean to you?

Taylor: To me, it means “a moderately sized moat surrounding a cottage or shack.”

Tell us a story about one of the songs off Healthy Geometry

Collin: G- is a special song for me personally because it was a song I wrote on acoustic guitar about 2 or 3 years before VANAPRASTA even existed. When I first got a chance to hang with the guys and we were just kind of jamming songs that we had written I started playing G-.  Cam and I had done very little guitar playing together at the time but as soon as he started jamming to it I was like “shit, that’s it!”.  I must have played that song with a million different people and lots of people had cool takes on the song but for some reason Cam’s parts struck a chord in the song I didn’t really ever see.  This song also helped Steven’s voice develop into more of a rock singer.  Overall I think the song taught us something about our sound and what we were capable of which I try to never forget.

 

 

~ Kristen

LMN Band Exam: Maniac

Posted on by Kristen

Who is Maniac? You could check out their webpage. That will tell you something. You could attend their show tomorrow night (Thursday 10/13) at The Bootleg Theater. That will certainly give you a taste. You could even look at the definition of the term, maniac. I’m pretty sure that gives you some solid intel as well.

If there is only one thing to say about LMN band love Maniac, it might be that they are doing their own thing and loving it! From their on-stage antics and quirky tunes to the way they interact with their fans, partners in crime Jake Grigg and Shawn Harris always manage to dish up the unexpected and make sure everyone is having a good time.

I love Maniac for their exciting live performances. I also love their unique perspective on being a professional musician. The band captures the essence of DIY, pushing the boundaries on both music-making and marketing. They are currently recording in their home studio and plan to  release new music three songs at a time in limited edition screen printed cases. The songs will be available in their online store starting this month! In the meantime, be sure to pick up their Extended Play EP and first full lenght album, Mania.

For more info on their travels, specialty-crafted limited edition merch items, random thoughts, and how to become a member of their exclusive East Nowhere Social Club, I’d head on over to their facebook  page.

Is that still not enough information for you? Well, LMN also wanted to learn more about Jake and Shawn (AKA Maniac) so we gave the fellas our band exam full of random questions. Here’s how they did:

 

Multiple Choice:

Favorite Super hero: Superman, Spiderman, Batman

Shawn: Batman doesn’t have any powers, just heaps of monies

Jake: Spiderman hooked up with Kirsten Dunst in the movies so i’m jealous and want him dead.

Best place to play a random show: beach, forest, shopping mall 

Shawn: Depends on the weather

Jake: Your house

Best mode of transportation: bicycle, train, horse

Jake & Shawn: Definitely a horse.

The ultimate music question: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones

Shawn & Jake: hahahahahahahahahahaha

Shawn: I can’t believe thats even a fucking thing

Jake: hahahaha

Fill in the Blank:

My favorite guilty pleasure music is __The Rolling Stones___.

The last book I read was ___Keith Richards Life___.

One weird skill/talent no one would expect from me is ____oral sex___.

Describe what it’s like to be on the road in two words: ___oral­­­­_ _  _ _sex___

 

Essay/Short Answer:

 If you could live in another Era, what would it be and why?

Jake: 1960’s would be fun. Free love, acid and the radio was playing songs that we actually like.

Shawn: And everyone rode horses

Jake: Bare back!

Tell us a story about one of the songs off Mania.

Shawn: I totally asked Jake “who do you know” and he was “all I know is I don’t like people like me.” Which prompted me to ask “who do you trust?” Turned out, he trusted the mail and the rain. We wrote a little song about that.

Jake: Hahaha

 

Listen and Love!