Skull Candy Customizes Slightly Stoopid

Music accessory company, Skull Candy, designed a pair of customized headphones for band Slightly Stoopid.

Independent Music is having a contest to win a pair of the headphones, along with a copy of the band's new album, Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid.

To enter send an e-mail to contest.indiependentmusic@gmail.com with your full name and mailing address, under the subject line "SLIGHTLY STOOPID CONTEST." The contest closes September 14.

Photo Credit: 100xr.com

Avenged Sevefold Live, September 16

Hard-rock band, Avenged Sevenfold will release its first live DVD and CD, "Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough," on September 16. You can watch the trailer for the DVD here:

You can catch Avenged Sevenfold headlining on tour next month on the following dates:
9/06 Huntington, WV WAMX Festival

9/09 Quebec City, QC Pavilon de la Jeunesse

9/10 Montreal, QC Metropolis

9/11 Toronto, ON Sound Academy

9/13 Chicago, IL Q101 Block Party

Full-Length Album Preview

SmartPunk.com is streaming Dance Gavin Dance's new full-length album on its website from today until August 20th.  Click here to listen to the self-titled album now.  It will be available in stores starting August 19th.

Rise Against Itunes Exclusive

Photo Credit: aversion.com

As of today, Rise Against's upcoming album "Appeal to Reason" is available for pre-order on Itunes. Buyers who pre-order their album will also receive a live version of the song "Prayer of the Refugee."  The album will become available everywhere on October 7.

Guilty Pleasure

Miley Cyrus's "Seven Things"

Favorite line: "you love me/ you like her"

Simple, but it says it all.  Plus, it's catchy!

What's your favorite musical guilty pleasure?  Vote for it in our poll.

You Should Know: Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground

Consisting of two ex-members of Gatsby's American Dream- Kirk Huffman and Kyle O'Quin, along with Phil Peterson- Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground is a breath of fresh air in music today. An eclectic mix of modern and 60’s rock, Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground provide a sound that’s all their own and sure to please.  Their discography includes a 3 song sampler cassette tape released in 2006 (Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground), a live CD/DVD combo recording (Live at the Pretty Parlor), and their 2008 self titled studio album which is only available on vinyl and ITunes.

For more on Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground and to hear what they have to offer, take a listen over at their myspace page.

Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground

Photo by Lucien Knuteson

Favorite Female Bassist

According to Rock Insatiable readers, the most popular female bassist is D'arcy Wretzky from the Smashing Pumpkins with 42% of the vote.

Runners-Up:

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth- 28%

Charlotte Cooper of The Subways- 28%

Thanks to everyone who voted! A new poll will be posted soon!

Photo Credit: farm1.static.flickr.com

Lack of Updates

Rock Insatiable would like to apologize for the lack of updates in the past week. We have been having some technical problems that are not entirely cleared up yet. Thanks for your understanding. We are by no means shutting down operation.

The Enemy in Los Angeles

Photo montage of The Enemy performing at the Troubadour in Los Angeles yesterday.



Amazing performance!

The People Have Spoken...

The poll results are in. According to Rock Insatiable readers, the summer festival with the best line-up this year is Lollapalooza, with 50% of the vote.

Runners Up:
San Francisco Outside Lands- 25%
Warped Tour- 25%

Disagree? Then make sure you vote in our next poll! The current question is "Who is your favorite female bassist?"

"Medicated" Music

Check out National Product's new music video for the song "Medicated!"



National Product will be co-headlining The Endless Summer Tour with 1997, which kicks off August 14 in Bakersfield, California.

The Subways Tunneling Out

It seems that British trio The Subways will not be underground for long, as their second album on Sire Records was produced by Butch Vig; known for his work with Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins.

Butch Vig “was the nicest guy I’ve ever met, and that’s no exaggeration. Anyone could get along with him, and if anyone doesn’t like him, there’s something wrong with them,” drummer Josh Morgan said. “We’re just so proud” to have worked with him.

The Subways’ new album, All or Nothing, which is set to for release in the US on September 9, may have some surprises in store for fans.

The extended 14-track UK version has a song that contains a rap.

It is “called ‘This is the Club for People Who Hate People’ and it’s pretty crazy,” Morgan said. “It’s very quirky, but it’s nothing we’ve ever done before.”

And Butch Vig is not the only thing that The Subways have in common with Sonic Youth and the Smashing Pumpkins. Charlotte Cooper has joined the ranks of Kim Gordon and D’arcy Wretzky as a female, rock bassist.

“I respect [Charlotte] as a musician,” Morgan said. “She’s the best bassist I’ve ever heard in my life….She’s more rock and roll than me and” Billy Lunn (guitar/vocals).

The Subways just finished a US tour, which provided a series of non-musical trials for the band.

“The whole tour has been a crazy, bizarre process,” Morgan said before detailing how both the band’s tour manager and guitar tech were unable to attend almost all of the tour due to issues with their visas. Other issues along the way include cancelled flights, a detour to Dallas on the way to Seattle from New York and broken and lost equipment.

“We just laughed,” Morgan said. “The last two or three shows have been quite smooth; apart from we all get on each other’s nerves a bit.”

A few arguments here and there can be expected, though, especially considering the band, which contains two brothers, has endured a romantic breakup between Cooper and Lunn, and Lunn’s very serious vocal chord surgery.

The rest of the tour will be taking place in Japan and Europe. Morgan said he does not have a favorite place to perform.

“Generally I love playing everywhere. I believe music is based on touring.”

The crowds differ everywhere, according to Morgan who said that Europeans, tend to ask the strangest questions.

And although he has never accepted one he said, “The marriage proposals are quite cute, though, I like them.”

Photo Credit: aversion.com

Mansions Wants the Emphasis on Music; Not Personality

Mansions performed at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on Sunday, as The Honorary Title's opening act.

One-man-band, Christopher Browder, who goes by the name 'Mansions', says he thinks he has found the right band members to continue with him on his musical journey.

Mansions, that is currently touring in support of The Honorary Title, performed at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California on Sunday as foursome.

Browder said he originally thought that going by a band name, rather than just his own, would help people be able to concentrate on the music. He said that with independent musicians the emphasis can sometimes become more on the person than the art.

The current line-up consists of four members; with Browder being the only one who recorded on the recent, self-titled EP.

The EP was released digitally on June 17. Browder said that not very many people will go out and purchase a physical EP, so the decision was made to only release a digital version.
The Mansions set consisted of some songs from the EP, but also included a few others, such as "All Eyes on You" and "Gotta Be Alone."

Although he graduated college with an economics degree, 23-year-old Browder says he would rather have a career in music than anything else.

Calexico Pre-Order

Calexico's new album, Carried to Dust, will be out on Touch & Go/Quarterstick Records September 9, 2008. You can pre-order the album here.

album cover credit to Touch & Go Records

Not "Heart-Stopping", But New EP is "Energetic and Fun"

It is not groundbreaking and it will not stop your heart, but Never Shout Never’s just-released The Yippee EP is a solid contribution to the ever-growing, popular genre of modern pop-punk.

It has the clever lyrics, like the line from Heregoesnothin “steady breathing/ is all I can advise/ to a girl with a sweet tooth for revenge,” that are reminiscent of Fall Out Boy and Cute Is What We Aim For, without the phony undertone of just wanting to be famous.

The four songs on the EP do not scream variation, but they are energetic and fun.

The song Bigcitydreams touches on the theme of wanting to leave a claustrophobic, Midwest town, which is common among budding pop-punkers, and thus relatable for fans. The young, one-man-band, Christofer Drew, calls Joplin, Missouri his hometown.

The only real grievance raised by the EP is that all the songs are written in lower-case and as one word. You do not have to be a grammarian to be turned off by this unnecessary gimmick (or maybe you do).

The Yippee EP is now available from all digital retailers.

All Time Low Tour and Pre-Sale

All Time Low is releasing pre-sale tickets for its upcoming fall headlining tour to fans who register at this link. The band will be supported by Mayday Parade, The Maine and Every Avenue on the following tour dates:

Oct. 9- Norfolk, VA

Oct. 10- Pittsbutgh, PA

Oct. 11- Allentown, PA

Oct. 12- New York, NY

Oct. 15- Charlotte, NC

Oct. 16- Jacksonville, FL

Oct. 17- Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Oct. 18- Orlando, FL

Oct. 19- St. Petersburg, FL

Oct. 20- Atlanta, GA

Oct. 22- Houston, TX

Oct. 23- Dallas, TX

Oct. 24- McAllen, TX

Oct. 25- Austin, TX

Oct. 27- Albuquerque, NM

Oct. 28- Tempe, AZ

Oct. 29- Las Vegas, NV

Nov. 21- Detroit, MI

Nov. 22- Cleaveland, OH

Nov. 23- Toronto, ON

Nov. 25- Buffalo, NY

Nov. 29- Philadelphia, PA

Photo Credit: volumecds.com