HM Magazine Intern Diary: 5.29.09

I got through about 40 independent/unsigned artist CDs today and I’m still looking for one I’m really excited about. There were a couple really solid bands, but I’ve got a huge stack to get through yet.

As for established artists, there are several upcoming or new releases I’m excited about. David Bazan‘s new solo album, Curse Your Branches, doesn’t come out till September 1 but we got to listen to it this week and it’s a really good listen. It’s similar to his Pedro the Lion stuff – heart-rending, questioning narratives, this time told more in the first person. He’s playing at Cornerstone July 2, and I’m intrigued to see how Christians there receive him. I’ve always been able to relate to how he feels, and I appreciate his honesty. Check out this interview with him from 2004.

Until June‘s new EP, Sound of Defeat, is out now, and I’ve only listened to it once but I liked it a lot. It’s crazy that The Devil Wears Prada debuted at number 11 on Billboard, props to them. Their new album is pretty solid.

Couple questions for the weekend: What new releases are you waiting for? Also, do you listen to any hip-hop or rap, and if so, who do you listen to?

What do you make of the Bazan-approved quote below?

Glad our cat Marvin came back,
Corey Erb

“At the very least Christians have a divided allegiance. For surely one of the great betrayals of Christians in America to America is confusing America with the Kingdom of God. Christians have done so because we assume that America is a democracy and democracies are less coercive than other forms of political organization.” – Stanley Hauerwas

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 5.28.09

I feel like an impostor. What do you do when you just don’t feel like worshiping? This question was brought to my mind again last night at life group when the kids came in for dinner as we were finishing singing worship songs and there was one little girl who was singing as loud as she could and was just really into it. I felt part of me getting annoyed and then I thought, “Why am I getting mad about a child pouring her heart out and connecting with her Creator?”

The thought sickens me. I’ve been wrestling with the concept of worship ever since I became a Christian almost four years ago. I have honestly felt like worshiping before, but those times are becoming sparse and are usually at a really good concert or conference or something unrelated to a Sunday church service. I’ve prayed about it and dismissed it as something I trust God will bring me through on His time, but I feel like now’s as good a time as any to really consider my position on worship. How am I going to be an intern at a Christian music magazine like HM that covers all these bands that are so passionate about worshiping God through music when I don’t even like singing along to worship songs?

I mean, it could come from growing up as a Midwesterner who was never really encouraged to sing, but even if so, I want to be that child on the floor singing my lungs out in awe of my God, just overflowing with joy, not worrying about whether I’m singing in tune or anything else. Most times, I feel quite the opposite. There’s this bitterness inside me that says, “Why should I sing? I don’t know this song, I don’t like cheesy worship music, I don’t like that worship leader’s voice… Besides, I bet there are some starving children down the street who aren’t going to be fed by me singing some stupid songs.” Why do I feel this way? Doug made an offhand comment last night about reasons we don’t feel like worshiping, but it really resonated with me. I’ll paraphrase and post it as the quote below. Suffice it to say, though, the concept of worship is enigmatic to me.

Doug and I talked about it today and decided we’re going to start a Bible study looking at the biblical idea of worship, particularly in the Psalms. I’m looking forward to hearing Doug’s perspective and I’m praying that God would give me a better understanding and change my heart if He’s ready to do so.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts, too. Do you have any verses about worship that you’d like to share? Have you ever found yourself in a similar funk? If so, what did you do about it? What do you think of Doug’s quote below?

A confused “adult” wishing he was a child again,
Corey Erb

“There are two things that keep us from worshiping: A bad attitude and sin in our lives.” – Doug Van Pelt

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 5.27.09

Finally finished with the new issue, can’t wait for it to come out in a week or so. To celebrate, thought I’d finally post some pictures of the HM Ranch so you can see what I’m dealing with here (send sympathy checks to P.O. Box 2938… ah nevermind):

Here’s where I live and work. Isn’t it nice?!

Nah, just kidding about that last one, here it is.

That isn’t a Dallas Cowboys flag out front, it’s just your imagination. Good thing this internship will be done by football season, lest I misguidedly leap cheering from my seat when Santana Moss burns Terence Newman for another Redskins touchdown and get myself fired.

My backyard.

I’m not sure whether the barbed wire fence is to keep the animals in/out or just to make the place look that much more hardcore.

Let’s go inside. The living room.

The kitchen. The alarming number of coffee-related implements should have been an immediate red flag.

Humble dinner table, featuring Website Magazine, which told me at lunch today how to make money off all you suckers visiting my blog! Just kidding, I like you all too much.

The fridge, complete with “My favorite boss is: God” sticker. Nice, Doug. Way to fit the part.

The previously mentioned vegetable drawer full of Monsters.

Incentive to make my bed every morning: Keep the seven spiders I’ve had to brutally murder in the house since Monday from bringing friends to haunt my dreams.

10 days in and I still haven’t even fully unpacked. Meh, maybe this weekend.

The hallway where all the magic happens. Doug’s office, my office, the other bedroom, the unused office and of course, the bathroom where Doug comes up with all his myriad ideas. (Too much information?)

My desk. Not too comfortable for napping, but lucky for me I don’t sleep.

Spot, one of my three friends this summer. I really want to let them in the house but I’m afraid they’d start World War 72. One already mauled Doug’s finger trying to get at the oddball of the group. They’re sweet individually though. Not to mention they’ll be my only semblance of company when Doug’s not here.

(I think I’m all tough, but it’s hard when you’re wearing a polo shirt your girlfriend bought you…)

See you later! The closest memorable landmark is a cemetery. Good to know if I’m ever feeling lonely, I can just go hang with some dead dudes!

Sanity is so passé,
Corey Erb

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” – Plato

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 5.26.09

I got my first real taste of Austin today. I watched Manchester Orchestra play an in-store acoustic set at Waterloo Records. Manchester Orchestra, if you’re not familiar with them, is an indie rock band that’s been around awhile but is garnering a good amount of buzz about their latest full-length, Mean Everything to Nothing, through appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Late Show with David Letterman, as well as by having songs featured on Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. They played a few songs this afternoon, including their new single, “I’ve Got Friends.”

Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas

Manchester Orchestra in-store performance

They sounded at home as an acoustic outfit.

Andy Hull has got pipes. He hit every note with a heartfelt urgency, just as on their studio recordings. His voice is very unique – almost reminds me of Lovedrug‘s Michael Shepard in how he emphasizes certain syllables with shrieks.

The band doesn’t exactly fit the typical HM mold, for several reasons, but they play some pretty good music and played an enjoyable acoustic live set. Give them a listen at their MySpace – they’ve got Mean Everything to Nothing in its entirety streaming for free.

After the show, the Van Pelts took me to Hut’s Hamburgers, this little sit-down burger restaurant that looks like it’s been there forever and has a nostalgic atmosphere. Greasy, but ridiculously good. I got the Keller’s Classic, a burger with lettuce, tomato, grated cheese and 1000 Island dressing. We shared some fried okra and onion rings, and as an initiation of sorts, Doug’s wife Charlotta made me eat the biggest ring, which looked like it was just a whole onion they dropped in the batter by mistake. Anyway, it was a much appreciated meal before the drive home. I’ll have to come back to Austin soon (and not get lost next time ha).

Can’t spell slaughter without laughter,
Corey Erb

“I am the only one that thinks I’m going crazy, and I don’t know what to do.” – from “The Only One” by Manchester Orchestra

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 5.25.09

In honor of Memorial Day, I didn’t want to send out much to read but I realized I haven’t really given much of an indication of who I am, so I thought a list of my favorite bands, and why I like them, might be a good start. Here are a few of my favorite bands, in no order:

– Further Seems Forever – I’m one of the few who likes all three of the band’s lead singers, though each for different reasons. I liked Chris Carrabba because I got into the band during his tenure and I love the atypical song structures on The Moon Is Down. Jason Gleason’s voice is by far my favorite, how he varies his emotion with the lines he’s singing. Jon Bunch was the black sheep of the three but I liked Sense Field and I thought bringing more of his faith into the lyrics turned out pretty well, even if he butchered a few of the band’s songs live.

– The Beautiful Mistake – TBM was a band that meant a lot to me during a transitional time in my life during my junior year of high school. The ironic thing is, I’m not even sure they were a Christian band. But either way, lyrics like “It’s funny how clear, your eyes get from crying / It’s funny how clean, your life gets from dying” definitely encouraged me to continue to embrace the hardships I was facing and find some hope through it – which, after a long process, ended up being Christ. Their C.S. Lewis fascination sort of alerted me to the theologian and reading Mere Christianity definitely helped change my incredibly immature view of the faith. Also, their album, Light A Match, For I Deserve To Burn was one of my first forays into harder music.

– Inhale Exhale – Part of my transition into actually enjoying metal. With their new album, I Swear, they moved lyrically and sonically from being a copycat outfit to having a distinctive package of their own – and one that should influence the metalcore pack instead of simply blending in.

Those are mostly studio bands I guess, so I’ll probably follow up with a list of the best bands I’ve seen live. What are your favorite bands? Why do you like them?

Call me emo, I welcome it,
Corey Erb

“But pasted wings and foil rings, do not an angel make.” – from “The Bradley” by Further Seems Forever

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 5.22.09

Last day on the July/August issue. I finished up editing five articles, one of which, the album reviews section, took over an hour because it’s so text-heavy. One single 300-word review had 11 errors! Ugh, sometimes I wonder if readers actually care about spelling and grammar anymore, or if I’m just wasting my time looking for every missing hyphen. Does it matter to you all if there are spelling and grammatical errors in something you read?

Tornado, the nice lady from down the road, stopped by today to give us some brain food. I had heard so much about from Doug and from reading former interns’ diaries, but she was absolutely nothing like I had expected. I was thinking older, and black for some reason? I don’t mean that in a racist way, I guess I just read too many Toni Morrison novels in high school so I envision any little old lady I hear about to be black. She’s really sweet, though, and a Miami native so we bonded on that.

I also finished up counting the obscenities in Notorious – final f-bomb count was 163! I enjoyed the movie, but I don’t think if I wasn’t already a fan of the Big Poppa I would have liked it as much. Just felt too rushed, like it never really established any of the characters. If you’ve seen it, what did you think?

I’m probably gonna try and get out of the Ranch for the weekend, so as I don’t go crazy from being out here all by myself. (See?! I’m already getting that Texas drawl! Get me around northerners!) I’ll let you know how that goes.

Today’s quote is from Shiny Toy Guns, a band that is playing Cornerstone this year…? I’d definitely be intrigued to see that. It’s from HM Podcast Episode 13 if you want to listen to the whole interview. What do you think?

Don’t sweat the technique,
Corey Erb

“As far as Christ goes, it’s really hard to have that as something to think about all the time when you’re touring and you’re in a band. It really creates a wedge in a direct relationship or a regular prayer life or fellowship with others that believe the same.” – Jeremy Dawson of Shiny Toy Guns

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 5.21.09

Wow. This is gonna be a short one, folks. Crazy day at the HM Ranch. I’ve been going at it for 21 hours straight – from 8 a.m. Thursday till now, 5:20 a.m. Friday morning. Now, hold on a second before you call the Department of Labor on poor old Doug. a) We’re on deadline for the July/August issue so it’s either get it in by tomorrow or leave a page in the magazine blank, and b) Did I neglect to mention my personal motto: “I can sleep when I’m dead?” Besides, Evergreen Terrace is squeezing the last bit of adrenaline into my bloodstream so I’m awake for a few minutes longer at least. (Ironic ET has an album called “Losing All Hope Is Freedom” after we talked about hope yesterday.) Well, here’s a recap of the day’s happenings:

– Wrote an entire 450-word article on MAE from scratch. Doug asked me this morning to write it (first I’d heard of it) since he was behind on getting ads in and finishing up a few articles so I did all the background research and called Zach Gehring, MAE’s guitarist, not expecting him to pick up. No more than two hours after the band’s show started in Chicago, he called back and we talked for a while. I’m glad I got to speak with him, I think his quotes will make for a really insightful read. Hopefully you all will hear stuff in this article you won’t get elsewhere.

– Wrote the entire Pick of the Litter section – 12 quick blurbs about indie or unsigned bands, and one 200-word description of featured band for the top. Harder than it sounds, since I had to listen to all their CDs and check their websites to even have an idea of what to write. I hope it doesn’t end up sounding like my same sarcastic praise copy and pasted 13 times.

– Picked the best of the letters to the editor and compiled them.

– Constant fact-checking and cross-referencing old issues.

All these, of course, were complicated by the world’s slowest satellite internet, which doesn’t do so well when Doug’s trying to stream an advance copy of an album to review it and I’m trying to research all these obscure bands to be able to speak intelligently about them. So, it’s a miracle I’ll be in bed before I have to get up tomorrow, when I have to finish proofing articles and laying a couple out in InDesign. Oh well, “when I’m dead” is turning into “this weekend.” I’m okay with that though. I’m just glad I’m here to help so Doug doesn’t go completely crazy. Monday we’ll start on the next issue.

OH! And you’re not getting away that easily – you have a quote to comment on.

Never been more glad my bed is in the office,
Corey Erb

“You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality.” – Woodrow Wilson

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 5.20.09

Doug was off today so I replaced the usual blaring metal that makes it way down the hall from his office to mine by throwing Notorious in my laptop at full volume while I Photoshopped some cover art for the DVD Reviews.

I loved Biggie back in the day, so watching Notorious was a welcome assignment. I again was counting for obscenities/sex/gore, but since the movie is so full of swears I decided for kicks to start a special “f-bomb” column in my notebook. I’m only halfway through and I’m already at 52 f-words (and 47 s-words, and surprisingly, only 37 n-words).

Wrote two blurbs about Pick of the Litter indie bands I had given high marks yesterday, though you’ll have to wait till the issue comes out to see which ones. I will say, though, I think Doug gives every intern this one really weird CD just to see how they rate it to determine if he can trust their musical judgment. CD called “Everyone Prays There Is No God” by Terminal Generation. Check them out. Freaky industrial-sounding noise (to say “music” would require me to stretch the term farther than I wish to do in my first week in the business). Gives me chills. Probably shouldn’t be listening to them this late while I’m in the middle of the country by myself, stuff’s making me paranoid. But I see through your tricks, Doug! I know you just went out to the shed and turned on all the weird power tools you could find and hit record, just to mess with all your poor, innocent interns! I gave it a 3.0 (on our scale, neutral), so go ahead and try and judge me based on that!

Ha anyway. Today was my first “Life Group” at the Van Pelt residence, where we talked about 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 as it relates to hope. We had a good discussion about whether we should look longingly at the afterlife or be content living life for Jesus here. Also, we kicked around whether we can actually please God, or if he simply loves us the same regardless of our actions. What do you think?

Bob Dylan’s keeping me company right now, that Terminal Generation stuff is messing with my head. If it’s before 9 p.m. when you’re reading this, you have to check them out and let me know what you think. Best description gets a cookie. Just don’t listen to that stuff late at night when you’re alone in the house.

Also, check out and comment on today’s quote. Something a little more spiritual this time. I’m demanding, I know.

Make love, not creepy industrial music,
Corey Erb

“The greatest enemy to my passion for Christ is comfort.” – Bryan Loritts

HM Magazine intern diary: 5.19.09

Today consisted of listening to and reviewing indie CDs for the Pick of the Litter section, watching Valkyrie to count obscenities/sex/gore for the DVD Reviews section and filing subscription cards while watching, helping Doug tweak the front page design (another special double flip cover, this time like you haven’t seen) and proofing the “What He Is Legend Says” feature.

Doug was streaming It Hates You, He Is Legend’s new album, down the hall so I got a brief teaser of the new songs before the thing drops next month. With just that overheard bit, I’m pretty amped about the new stuff, though that may be the Monster I had earlier talking. Speaking of, Monster Energy sponsors the magazine so they send monthly cases of the stuff to the office, which means cans fill both the vegetable and fruit drawers in the fridge, the bottom of the door and some prime real estate behind the milk. And still, full cases curiously show up everywhere:



Somehow I wasn’t feeling wired enough after dinner, so Doug threw down for some late-night espresso milkshakes, which evidently he is famous for. This week is going to be heavily caffeine-influenced since we’re racing to finish the July/August issue by Friday. I’m using new HM staple Corpus Christi‘s solid debut disc, The Darker Shades of White, to prop me up for a bit longer right now.

That said, I’ll leave you with today’s quote. Less of a deep thinker than last time, but I think this quotable figure has Ms. Spears beat when it comes to sex appeal. Agree?

Sleep when you’re dead,
Corey Erb

“Don’t underestimate how fine you are.” – Dr. Laura Schlessinger

P.S. – I’m looking for a Bible verse to put on the masthead for the July/August issue. Any suggestions?

First HM Magazine intern diary: 5.18.09

The long trip from Miami to Texas is finally over and day one here at HM Magazine is too. Almost hit a buzzard tearing at a carcass on a country road on the way here this morning. Good to know that after 1,300 miles and six long days of road and friends’ couches, my life almost ended 20 minutes from arrival.

Anyway, since I made it here alive, my name is Corey Erb and I’ll be interning here from May 18-July 24ish, or whenever the September/October issue is finished. I’m going to be a senior at the University of Miami – the one in Florida, not the fake one in Ohio. I’m originally from Bloomington, Ill., about two hours from where Cornerstone is held.

Doug threw me right in today after showing me around, giving me the He Is Legend “So & So says” interview to transcribe. They’re a constant on my iPod so it’s cool to hear about their new album coming out June 23, It Hates You, as well as Schuylar Croom’s often misunderstood faith.

Here’s a fun fact about me, mostly for Mr. Van Pelt’s benefit (and to see if he actually reads this):

– I’m probably the most cynical person you’ll ever meet. I’m working on a list of things I like. I’ll get back to you when I find any.



But seriously, I’d like for this to be an interactive thing, otherwise I’m going to be very lonely out here in the middle of Texas. So one thing I’m going to try to do is end each post with a quote, sometimes related to Christianity, sometimes related to music, sometimes related to nothing. I’d like to hear what you think about it, whether you agree or disagree, or just if you think I’ve been in Texas too long.

Whatever it is, leave a comment. You know you want to. And follow me on Twitter. Shorter ramblings. Always a good thing.

I’ll start the quoting off with an old favorite, courtesy of an old friend of mine.

Bye,
Corey Erb

“I think you should never put boundaries on yourself. You should always want to grow.” – Britney Jean Spears