Alternative Sound Bytes

Dishwalla is an alternative rock band from California.The band’s name comes from an Indian term for a person providing cable television to a neighborhood. On another note, in a Vox interview, Rodney claimed the band took the name out of a Wired magazine article.

In 1996, the single “Counting Blue Cars” from the album Pet Your Friends climbed the charts and was much-played on the airwaves, bringing the band a short round of mainstream-scale success. The track earned them a Billboard Award for “Best Rock Song” for 1996 as well as two ASCAP Awards for “Rock Track Of The Year” in both 1996 and 1997. Their 1998 follow-up album, And You Think You Know What Life’s About, failed to sustain the level of popularity achieved by “Counting Blue Cars”. (Partially responsible for the situation was Universal’s 1998 purchase and dissolution of A&M/Polygram, the label that produced the two albums.) The group is remembered by most as a one-hit wonder.

Dishwalla have since made a handful of other ventures into the limelight. In 1998 landed the song “Truth Serum” in The Avengers, in 1999, the song “Stay Awake” was featured in the movie Stir of Echoes, in 2002 the song “Home” was in the movie “The Banger Sisters”, and the The WB series Charmed spotlighted Dishwalla as Musical Guests in one episode. Other TV shows that have used their songs include Smallville, The OC and Cold Case. The band, who sustains a loyal fan following, has gone on to release two more studio albums, Opaline and the self-titled Dishwalla, as well as a live album, Live… Greetings From The Flow State.

Members

• J.R. Richards – vocals
• Rodney Browning Cravens – guitar
• Scot Alexander – bass (1993-2005)
• Jim Wood – keyboards (1996-present)
• Pete Maloney – drums
• George Pendergast – drums (1993-1998)

Their song Collide is almost always used as music for fan-made videos (check Youtube and type in keywords dishwalla, collide), mostly for the Smallville series featuring Clark and Lana as a couple. This is because in one of the scenes during the show’s 5th season, the song was used when the two have reunited after a supposed missile attack.

[Wikipedia]

VVSmith band members include Van Vechten Smith (vocals and guitar), Debbie Swanger (vocals and keyboards), Corbin Hill (guitars), Jeff Zakany (vocals and bass guitar) and Marty Brasington (drums). Van Vechten Smith at the age of three already has a guitar. He already have two recording contracts and ha toured in different countries like Germany, Switzerland, USA and others. Debbie Swanger on the other hand has very versatile vocals. Corbin Hill is well trained in blues rock technique while Jeff Zakany already played bass with many other bands. His skill in playing the bass has given him the driving force. And last but not the least is Marty Brasington who is a must see drummer.

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As far as lining up the songs you will perform at a certain gig, it remains you have to practice the piece in order to make sure nothing goes wrong. There is not much room for impromptu rendering as clubs and organizers who get bands would expect nothing but the best from bands today.

Some would take their gigs for granted, believing that they are too good to practice. That attitude will get you into trouble as you would never know when any instrument used would be off key. Bands have all the time in the world to practice. It is just a matter of discipline.

The Last Waltz by Killdozer was originally released in 1997 by the defunct Man’s Ruin Records. Until now, it remained to be the pioneer of the historic Madison slo-core and still the one and only certified live recording. Since year 2000, it has been totally out of print but fortunately Wisconsin label Crustacean records was able to make a totally remixed, remastered and repackaged CD version. The momentous documentary of the band’s final tour is entitled The Fuck You We Quit Tour. It is believe that there could be a possibility of a mini revival of the live recording of their 1996 final show.

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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

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

Rumours is a spectacular re-invention of one of the very popular and longest running band in the history of rock music. If you have been hearing Rumours lately, it’s like hearing Fleetwood Mac comes to life. Rumours is considered as one of the most bona fide tribute acts on the west cost. In fact most of the time, it is being mistaken as the real one. It features six all-star players lineup and has created again every stage of the remarkable development of Fleetwood Mac. Way back as they started as a “British Invasion” quartet in 1967 until their latest reunion dance album titled “The Dance” including their 1997 national tour.

Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez of Deep Forest are sound reporters. A voiceless musical duo, they draw on voices from every corner of the world. Under their patronage, infinitely distant utterances have become familiar to us. Hymns of joy and cries of anger, prayers and aubades, songs of hope and despair have all been brought to shake our certainties, seize our senses and stir our emotions.From Africa or Eastern Europe, from pygmies to nomads,the human visions brought to us by Deep Forest have helped greatly in narrowing the musical gap between the hemispheres. In the North of France, Deep Forest’s homeland, sheltered from sight and far from worldly concerns, a true communion has sprung up between ethnic songs and instruments on the one hand, and accordion, piano, synthesisers and high technology on the other.

Deep Forest’s music – in the manner of so many non-Western civilisations – refuses to draw lines between joy and suffering, elation and sadness, just as, from the very beginning, it has banished all barriers of style from its personal grammar. After three albums and thanks to the diversity of encounters, mixes and alliances that the group has undertaken, Deep Forest have not only invented a sound different from any other, they have also created a language. From the heart of the Amazon forest to the North of France, from Havana to Prague, from Madagascar to New York, it remains our best-shared secret.

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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

1. Nirvana

The Number One grunge band of all time is Nirvana. Its single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from the album “Nevermind” was astonishingly conquering the alternative scene and it can be said that Nirvana had the power to have single-handedly brought grunge music its commercial success. The album “Nevermind” sold more than ten million copies in the U.S. and sold more than twenty-five million copies around the world. As Michael Azerrad of the Rolling Stones said, Nirvana was the “flagship band of Generation X”.

Nirvana was a band so passionate with its craft in music that it took a number of drummers before the band actually settled with Dave Grohl. Some songs in the album, such as “All Apologies” and “Heart-Shaped Box” has to be revised as it did not come out perfect-sounding.

After Kurt Cobain’s sudden death on April 8, 1994, Nirvana also died. It was a very tragic decline for the band which independently amplified the sound of grunge to a vast extent. Still, Nirvana fans proved to be loyal to the legacy that Cobain left.