Alternative Sound Bytes

THE FLYS
The Flys were an American post-grunge group, formed in 1994 and now on indefinite hiatus since 2002. They had success with a minor radio hit in 1998, “Got You (Where I Want You)”, the video for which featured Katie Holmes from the hit TV show Dawson’s Creek. “Got You (Where I Want You)” was also featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 MGM film Disturbing Behavior, which starred Katie Holmes.

The cover of their album, Holiday Man, featuring a picture of drummer Nick Lucero (flying head down over Perris, California), was shot by Fritz Pfnur, a professional skydiver/freeflyer who at the time was a team member of the Fly Boyz.

The Flys was also the name of another band from the late-1970′s punk rock era, hailing from Coventry, UK.

The beginnings of Hollywood-based rockers The Flys lay in informal jam sessions between eventual members James Book (bass), Peter Perdischizzi (guitar), Adam Paskowitz (vocals), and Nicky Lucero (drums). Eventually another singer/rapper, Joshua Paskowitz joined, and the band found themselves signed to Trauma Records. By merging alterna-rock with retro sounds, The Flys take a far more original approach than the majority of other late-90′s alternative bands. Prior to their debut to the August ’98 release of their debut, Holiday Man, the band had already appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Disturbing Behavior, and played at the Bethel/Woodstock site for the A Day at the Garden show. The Flys’ sophomore album Outta My Way followed in the spring of 2000.
~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

- http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/flys/bio.jhtml
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flys

The Used is a rock band from Orem, Utah. Their sound mixes many different genres and has been described as anything from post-hardcore to emo to alternative rock.

The Used formed in Orem, Utah. Drummer Branden Steineckert was the person who got everyone together to make music. The area is known for its large Mormon population, not for its incredible punk rock scene, so The Used had a lot of trouble finding venues that would let them play. The Used’s luck changed when they were signed to Reprise Records. The Used’s hit songs include A Box Full of Sharp Objects, The Taste of Ink.

The members of the Used had to overcome poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse, not to mention the straight-laced attitudes of their hometown of Orem, UT, to bring their screamo-tinged brand of post-hardcore to life. But they persevered and earned a contract with Reprise Records, releasing their self-titled debut album in June 2002.

- www.kidzworld.com/article/3079-band-the-used-biography
- http://music.yahoo.com/ar-292804-bio–The-Used

Gin Blossoms is an alternative rock band formed in 1987, in Tempe, Arizona. They took their name from a photo of W.C. Fields which bore the caption “W.C. Fields with gin blossoms,” referring to the actor’s gin-ravaged nose. The band, who were musically weaned on The Byrds and Tom Petty, released three albums and had several hits in the mid 1990s, before breaking up in 1997. Five years later in 2002, the band reunited, released a DVD, resumed touring, and promised a fourth album. Major Lodge Victory, the Gin Blossoms’ first album in ten years, was released on August 8, 2006 on the Hybrid Recordings label.

The Blossoms are featured on two tribute albums to date—they contributed a cover of Kiss’ “Christine Sixteen” to the Kiss My Ass album, and they backed Tommy Keene for his version of “Carrie Anne” on the Sing The Hollies In Reverse album. They’ve also contributed songs to several soundtracks: “Idiot Summer” for Wayne’s World 2, “Soul Deep” (a Box Tops cover) for Speed, and “Til I Hear It From You” for Empire Records. The Blossoms’ hit “Hey Jealousy” also appears on MTV’s Buzz Bin Volume 1 compilation.

Their song, Follow You Down according to Robin Wilson is the “kind of a general, vague sort of a thing about just kind of being addicted to somebody who you know is bad for you.” And Found About You, is about an ex-girflriend of Doug Hopkins, who did some serious Tae Kwon Do moves on him that landed him on a hospital for a week and a half with a shattered cheekbone and an even shattered occipital lobe.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_Blossoms
- http://www.ginblossoms.info

The rise of alternative rock in the USA. From its early underground days where bands like Black Flag drew inspiration from the DIY ethos of punk, Left Of The Dial traces the history of the network of fans, clubs and fanzines that sustained the scene and launched the careers of bands like R.E.M., The Pixies and Husker Du. The film takes a fresh look at the explosion of the Seattle scene, culminating in the success of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ and the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain, an artist whose triumph and tragedy continues to cast an inescapable shadow.Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/sevenages/programmes/left-of-the-dial/

An alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979.

The band comprised guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars for most of their career.

The Band began as a punk rock group, but began to incorporate other subgenres of rock music and became instrumental in the development of early alternative rock.The Replacements is one of the influences of these bands such as The Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Pavement and many more.

Following the critically acclaimed Let It Be (1984), the band signed to Sire Records, becoming one of the first American underground rock bands to sign to a major record label.

In the ’80s the Replacements’ blend of punk guitar and pop melodies garnered critical acclaim but little commercial success. Hailing from the Minneapolis home base of acts as diverse as Hüsker Dü and Prince, the quartet was seen by its fans as generational spokesmen; Paul Westerberg’s angst-ridden confessional songs cast him as a postpunk Bob Dylan and would influence such ’90s stars as the Goo Goo Dolls.

via [Rolling Stone]

Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an acclaimed American singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Known for his ethereal singing voice, Buckley was considered to be one of the most promising artists of his generation after the release of his critically acclaimed 1994 debut album Grace. At the height of his popularity, Buckley drowned during an evening swim in 1997. His work and style continue to be highly regarded by critics and fellow musicians.

via [Wikipedia]

One of my Favorite Song that’s written and sung by Jeff Buckley’s Last Goodbye and as another post from the blog site And She Writes entitled it as the Best BreakUp Song Ever.. Well, it depends on how you listen it, you may get different meaning and interpretation to it. Anyways I love this song, this song rules.

There are still some good songs that Jeff Buckley wrote and performed but this song really topped the charts for me.

So is there any song in particular that Jeff Buckley wrote that you like?

Review: Dashboard Confessional’s The Shade of Poison Trees

Dashboard Confessional fans found Dusk and Summer a wee bit disappointing and since then, there is much talk and anticipation about the band’s next album. It has been going around that Chris Carrabba was to gear back to their earlier style, which is more intimate. Indeed, The Shade of Poison Trees does seem to satisfy the standards. However, affectation is still met when the whole collection has been listened to. Nevertheless, producer Don Gilmore gave full trust to Carrabba and the rest of the band and allowed each of their hidden selves to shine through in this album.

“Fever Dreams” and “Where There’s Gold…” is perfect for the fans of the older Dashboard style and shall fulfill their listening pleasure once more as the two songs carry their signature acoustic instrumentation and sing along choruses that resemble those around the campfire. Indeed, Dashboard Confessional has come back home to cheer their loyal listeners yet again.

Click here to go to The Shade of Poison Trees tracklist

For More Info Visit the Dashboard Confessional Site..

We’ve seen the future of Rock & Roll and its name is no longer Bruce Springsteen. The band on stage at New York‘s Ritz sounds like an ailing vacuum cleaner riding roughshod over a madrigal choir. Nonchalantly the musicians step out of the stage-divers’ way as waves of high-intensity drone and retina-piercing white lights wash over the crowd. On the one hand, there exists a fossilizing corpse called classic rock-a four-decade-old mummy grown stale and tired, a once vibrant part of mainstream culture now reduced to background music for car commercials and Olympic events. Imagine a major motion picture in which characters sport faded Mudhoney T-shirts, pull Replacements albums from their record collections, and go hear Alice in Chains, and you’ve scripted Singles, Cameron Crowe’s look at love among the ruins in Seattle (due Sept. 18). Then there’s the Lollapalooza ’92 tour, a seven-band alternative- rock circus stuffed with the Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam.

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Source:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,311492,00.html

By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was abuzz about alternative rock’s commercial possibilities and actively courted alternative bands including Dinosaur Jr, Firehouse, and Nirvana.

Nirvana’s surprise success with Nevermind heralded a “new openness to alternative rock” among commercial radio stations, opening doors for heavier alternative bands in particular. Many pop punk bands such as Green Day and The Offspring were also labeled “alternative”. The New York Times declared in 1993, “Alternative rock doesn’t seem so alternative anymore.

Source:

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. “American Alternative Rock/Post-Punk“. All Music Guide.

Azerrad, Michael. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994. p. 160 ISBN 0-385-47199-8

Rosen, Craig. “Some See ‘New Openness’ Following Nirvana Success.” Billboard.

For all your alternative music listening pleasure.

• The Feelies, Crazy Rhythms
  
  
• Violent Femmes, Violent Femmes
  
  
• R.E.M, Murmur
  
  
• Replacements, Let It Be
  
  
• Husker Du, New Day Rising
  
  
• Big Black, The Rich Man’s Eight-Track
  
  
• Throwing Muses, Throwing Muses
  
  
• Dinosaur Jr., You’re Living All Over Me
  
  
• R.E.M., Document
  
  
• 10,000 Maniacs, In My Tribe
  
  
• Ministry, The Land of Rape and Honey
  
  
• Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
  
  
• Michelle Shocked, Short Sharp Shocked
  
  
• Jane’s Addiction, Nothing’s Shocking
  
  
• Soundgarden, Louder than Love
  
  
• Mudhoney, Superfuzz Bigmuff
  
  
• Pixies, Doolittle
  
  
• Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine
  
  
• Nirvana, Nevermind
  
  
• Pearl Jam, Ten
  
  
• Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
  
  
• Pavement, Slanted & Enchanted
  
  
• Beastie Boys, Check Your Head
  
  
• Beck, Mellow Gold

Source:

http://wm03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=19:T578