HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.26.09

I promise, there is nothing Photoshopped about this other than the three blurred letters in the four-letter word. I asked Doug if stealing a girlfriend from somebody in All Time Low in a previous lifetime prompted this or what, and he said no. So I guess it’s just hilarious marketing for their new album, Nothing Personal. Nothing personal, but no way we’re covering them in HM. It made us laugh though so I guess they get props.

I didn’t feel like I got much done today, so I’m going to just share more pictures instead of trying to remember what I actually accomplished.

A free shirt an advertiser sent us, plus proof that I may be in Texas, but Texas will never be in me. Go ‘Skins baby!

Apparently there is a Rich Husband out there who subscribes to HM. I want one of those. Haha just kidding. I’m breaking all sorts of confidentiality rules but hey, you know what All Time Low would say to that… “You’re just jealous of my mad censorship skills,” that’s what they’d say. What did you think I meant?

Our efforts to scare Kelly off are yet unsuccessful. So we thought we’d extend an olive branch and give her a friend to wave goodbye to her every day.

Further proof that the cats love to sit on top of my car.

But when they’re this cute, who am I to stop ’em?

Oh Marvin. You’ve always been my favorite. Don’t tell the others. We’ll run away at midnight. Meet me at the border with a shaved head and a briefcase containing 37 bean burritos. Don’t tell a soul.

Oh well. Doug’s leaving for Cornerstone this Sunday so I’ll finally be able to walk around this place nak… um… what was that? I hear Biscuit calling in the other room.

Kthxbye,
Corey Erb

“You’ll be a wolf devoured by a lion ’cause you look like a lamb but baptized in fire” – from The Deep by Further Seems Forever

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.25.09

I finished my review of Falling Up‘s Fangs! finally, which is ironic since by the time this issue comes out it will be a five-month-old album. Guess we missed it back in March when it came out. These things happen.

One of the Tooth & Nail publicists sent me The Glorious Unseen‘s album that drops August 25 unsolicited today, so I’ll have to check it out tomorrow. I’m not sure Doug’s opinion on them, so I don’t know if they’ll make it in the mag but I really like dude’s voice and they write captivating worship songs and cover some of the better songs from the past few years by several David Crowder worship-with-artistic-integrity types.

Bear with me while I be a fanboy once again – I was listening to The Receiving End of Sirens‘ The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi and following along with the lyrics and I learned the song “Disappear (Oubliette)” is based on The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis – one of my favorite books. I always heard some spiritual undertones on TREOS’ songs (they mention sin elsewhere, though I wrote it off since non-believers can use the word too) but just thought I was a crazy Christian wanting to project my beliefs into music intended to be secular. I didn’t think they had any connection to Christianity whatsoever. Holy crap, my instinct was right for once… and I told it to shut up and just enjoy the music for what it was, not realizing that my gut was right and it was actually based on spiritual stuff. I love it when I find out cool stuff about a band I love, which in this case means very little to anyone since they broke up, but it gives me another layer to appreciate on an album that was already one of my top albums based on lyrical depth and intricacies of sound. No idea if they’re Christians or just fans of Lewis’ writing, but that matters little to me. I already would have had to try hard to think of another album from the last couple years that tops it. Please give it a listen if you haven’t heard it – I’m not objective at all but I think it’s ridiculously artistic, yet still accessible.

Oh man tomorrow’s gonna be fun,
Corey Erb

“I watched you steal away / A man’s best years / With the drumming of his fingers / With the kicking of his heels /…/ Because anything or not a thing will do / (A dead fire in a cold room)” – from “Disappear (Oubliette)” by The Receiving End of Sirens (Last mention for a month, promise. Well, maybe…)

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.24.09

Thanks to everyone who voted in the survey about bands swearing, here are the results so far:

If you haven’t voted, I’d still like to hear your opinion!

Ironically, I interviewed Josh “Dies” Porter from Showbread today and we talked for a long while about secular music and its influence on Christian artists. It should be a deep article – we talked about the new album, The Fear of God, a lot too.

Our internet was being soooo slow today so I went into Taylor to find WiFi. Tornado suggested the library so I spent a little time there before it closed, and her friend mentioned Pizza Hut randomly has free internet so I sat and ate my P’Zone and posted stuff on the HM website at the Taylor Pizza Hut. Check out this Cornerstone guide I put together featuring a bunch of bands and showtimes, plus links to listen to their music if you’re not familiar with them.

I’m going to be busy tomorrow and Friday since I still have to post album reviews from the last two issues online, transcribe my Thousand Foot Krutch and Showbread interviews, write those two features and the Memphis May Fire featurette and a bunch of other pressing items I’m sure I’m forgetting before Doug leaves for Cornerstone this weekend.

But it’ll all get done. Assuming I go to sleep ever – Doug and I were working till 4 a.m. yesterday night/this morning haha.

The need to be constantly productive is a blessing and a curse,
Corey Erb

“Oh, these soft-legged girls / And hard-faced boys / They know no god / They have no voice / We are the sound” from “We Are The Sound” by Alexisonfire

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.23.09

Question – What do you think about swearing in music? If you have an opinion and two seconds, please take this survey I threw together. I’d really appreciate your feedback.

Let me give you at least some of the thought process behind this impromptu survey. I’m reviewing an album by a band with Christian members that, like many in the current scene, doesn’t really associate itself with Christian music but self-identifies as “Christians in a band.” This album includes some veiled spiritual themes but also one song in which the band says the f-word twice, pretty clearly (and I double-checked with the band to make sure I’m not hard of hearing). Other than this one song, the rest of the album is kid-friendly save for a few “damned”s used in the context of an individual’s spiritual condition (though would you consider that swearing too?).

So what would you make of such a band? They’re far from the only band in this situation. I won’t poison the well with any of my opinions on the subject just yet.
We made another trip to Louie Mueller BBQ today for Kelly’s intern lunch, which was fun except for my car’s A/C refusing to blow anything but hot air the whole 20 minutes each way.

She hadn’t heard 3OH!3 yet, and in keeping with our misogynistic hazing of course I dug their CD out of the reject closet and had her listen. She has a good sense of humor apparently because that didn’t send her running. But I didn’t hear the whole album from down the hall, so maybe she’s just too nice to say she hated it.

Doug and I listened to the whole album tonight and it’s fun, if incredibly offensive to everyone from women to white people to… pretty much everyone in earshot. I’m sure they’ll be a hot band at Warped Tour for the dates they’re not on the AP Tour with Family Force 5. 3OH!3 did a remix on Family Force 5’s new remix album, which is worth a listen. They’d be one to avoid if your answer to the survey was “I won’t listen to a band who swears…” though to say the least. The term “swear” doesn’t really do their brand of shock rock/rap/electronica justice. If you don’t mind the occasional Helen Keller joke though it’s pretty fun.

Tonight’s another long night but listening to a comedian making fun of Christians (this one’s called Brother Russell, Google him) is a good way to fend off insanity. Pretty funny too.

Back to it,
Corey Erb

“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” – Margaret Thatcher

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.22.09

Music Monday lived up to its name once again. Here’s a short list of either new albums or new bands I listened to today: Showbread – The Fear of God, We Came As Romans – Dreams EP, Alexisonfire – Old Crows / Young Cardinals, The Color Morale, Alesana – Where Myth Fades to Legend, Mr. Del – Thrilla, Shadows Fall – Retribution and Darkest Hour – The Eternal Return. What do you think about a Darkest Hour “So and So Says” article by the way? Apparently one member was born to a former Catholic nun who left the convent to give birth to him and he loves talking faith.

I guess I have a ton of new material for the next time I’m driving in Miami and want to blare some aggressive music with my windows down. (That happens a lot by the way – have you met Miami drivers?!) Personal favorite album for that is Go West Young Man, Let The Evil Go East by Greeley Estates. They’re writing their new record right now, I cannot wait for it. I liked their old stuff but I love the heavier sound and more complex song structures they introduced with Go West. It would make my year if they made a guest appearance at Warped Tour next week. C’mon, Texas is right next to Arizona, right?

Speaking of Warped, Tornado stopped by with some of her famous baked goods and she’s hopefully coming along to Warped in San Antonio July 2. If Kelly’s able to come, that’ll be fun the three of us going. If you’re in Texas, you should meet up with us there!

I checked out the lineup tonight so we could make interview requests and there are a lot of bands I’ve never seen but am excited to check out live. My list of requests includes: A Skylit Drive, Alexisonfire, Dear and the Headlights, Saosin, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, The Devil Wears Prada, There For Tomorrow, Thrice and Underoath. I’m hoping to get maybe three of those haha. But at least hopefully I can get a photo credential for most of them.

I guess putting a Bud Light girls cardboard cutout in Kelly’s office didn’t scare her away, so we’ll have to try harder this week to convince her we’re chauvinist pig dogs. I’ll update you on our progress.

Hazing is just another way of saying “good, clean, all-American fun for everyone involved,”
Corey Erb

“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?” – The Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz (my aunt sent me a card with that quote on it – kinda too close to describing me for my liking…)

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.19.09

Crazy day. Doug and I started the day by showing Kelly the new intern around a bit. She’s nice. She’s from Ohio so she and I talked about Ohio stuff for a while since my dad’s side of the family is mostly there and I have a good amount of connections there.

Trevor McNevan from Thousand Foot Krutch called right at 10 as arranged and we had a good conversation about everything from NHL video games to Aerosmith to Taco Bell to the song “Blue Monday” by… well… a band whose name made him a little uncomfortable to mention in an interview, though we laughed about it and he suggested I listen to it when I related that I hadn’t heard it in probably 10 years. Good memories. Let me just tease you with the tidbit that there’s a song on TFK’s new record, Welcome to the Masquerade that’s a nod to that song’s industrial flair. It was a really insightful interview and I can’t wait for you all to read it. Check out their first single off the new album, “Bring Me To Life.”

I also talked to Matt Mullins, Memphis May Fire‘s new singer. I felt like I got a lot of good info from him as well, and I think their Trustkill debut, Sleepwalking, is going to sell. They’ve got such a diverse sound, which is something we discussed at length, and I love Mullins’ style when he screams, how he changes up his diction tempo within words.

One band that was supposed to be on Memphis May Fire’s upcoming tour, Oceana, whose album we reviewed in the last issue, broke up yesterday, just as I was starting to get excited about the band. These things happen though. You should still give them a listen. They’ve got a unique post-hardcore, experimental sound, sort of like a The Receiving End of Sirens with more screaming. (Hmm, that’s my second TREOS reference this week; I think I’ve reached my quota.)

Speaking of obscure broken-up band references, my comment about Justifide the other day made me curious to see if I still had any pictures of me in my old Justifide t-shirt. Sure enough, here you go – proof that I’m not all talk (just mostly):

Now, before any of you freak out, that’s not my girlfriend – it’s an old friend of mine – and it’s the only picture I had of me wearing that Justifide shirt. We went to grade school together and she actually played a role in my becoming a Christian since she invited and drove me to the church that I was eventually baptized at a couple years after her initial invitation.

Haha enough nostalgia for one post. It’s probably a good thing I’m staying here during Cornerstone Festival. I love the Cornerstone experience and I always feel conflicted when I can’t make it but I’ve got a ton of work to do with our mid-July final deadline creeping slowly up – and at least I get to go to Warped Tour in San Antonio, which is while Doug will be away at C-stone. I’ve never been to Warped and I’ll be able to take photos and maybe interview some bands that I’ve never seen live like Thrice.

Don’t be that guy,
Corey Erb

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” – African proverb

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.18.09

You may have heard me mention the mewithoutYou show in my last post or by reading one of my 341 Tweets from the venue, but in case you wanted more about that show, you’re in luck!

First off, let me say that Aaron Weiss’ live personality is as billed. He runs the gamut between spastic and serene, frenzied and stoic, and exuberant and somber. And apparently he inspires large adjectives. But that’s just further testament to the fact that he is as thought-provoking a frontman as there is in the muddled rock scene today.

The rest of the band did their jobs – they played their respective instruments skillfully and deferred to their engaging friend holding the mic. That’s not to say they were forgettable, though. Each member took his turn in the spotlight at least once, particularly drummer Richard Mazzotta on the final few songs of the set.

The crowd made it a much more enjoyable show. The band sounded a bit shaky on some of their new songs off “it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright” and the audience was hesitant to get too involved, but as soon as the first note of favorites like “Paper Hanger” sounded, the sweaty crowd was more than eager to shout along with the gravelly vocals and move around in the packed room. “January 1979” was a highlight as the audience got the most rowdy. But then again, uninvited stage dancers and crowd surfers tend to make any song more enjoyable from a bystander’s point of view.

Aaron breaking out the acoustic guitar and switching to a singing-not-yelling vocal tone made “In a Sweater Poorly Knit” a welcome change-up.

Also, whenever he strapped on the accordion there was fun to be had, whether it was by watching him sway back and forth holding a big old-fashioned instrument with a towel on his head or by listening to the way he fit the accordion’s unique pitch into the rest of the rich instrumental sounds.

Tuesday night made it clear that if every mewithoutYou album was streamed straight into the brain with an accompanying video of the band playing all the songs, there would be no doubt who the kings of experimental rock are. I’ll admit straight-up that I’ve never been a huge fan of the band. It’s always been more of a “Oh yeah, they write really deep songs. Cool.” thing than a “Man, I know every word to every song” thing. But I guess in experiencing the band’s collective persona live and seeing the guy in front of me with mwY lyrics tattooed on both his forearms, I started to realize that the hype about this band is legit.

We got there late (what else is new for me) so I only got to hear parts of two songs by The Dear Hunter, but from what I heard they’re pretty talented live musicians as I expected, and Casey Crescenzo’s voice was hair-on-the-back-of-my-neck-raising even in that abbreviated listen. That’s not an exaggeration for illustrative purposes, either – it happened.

While mewithoutYou was setting up we caught a few songs’ worth of Dear and the Headlights on the indoor stage. I’m familiar with their lead singer, Ian Metzger, from his days in the old Christcore band Justifide, but I haven’t followed him in Dear and the Headlights that much since he left Justifide almost a decade ago. I like their sound, it has kind of a dirtier indie rock vibe. Maybe I’ll try to catch their full set at Warped Tour in San Antonio in a couple weeks.

After the show, Doug and I spoke with Brandon from The Rocketboys and the guitarist from Hundred Year Storm. Both bands are featured in the new issue of HM – a review of HYS’s album and The Rocketboys in the Declaration of Independents section. They’re both really nice guys. You should check them out and read what we had to say about their bands in the new issue or as a digital copy.

I’ll give an update of all today’s happenings tomorrow, I think I’ve given you enough to chew on for tonight.

It ain’t that kind of party,
Corey Erb

“I stopped believing, you start to move / (She was like wine turned to water then turned back to wine) / I stopped my leaving and the better man bloomed / (And you can pour us out and we won’t mind)” – from “Paper Hanger” by mewithoutYou

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.16.09

So I guess I scared off the other intern with my verbal bullying yesterday so she decided her car was gonna break down so she can’t come in till Friday. Ha! I see right through that, you’re not fooling anyone!

Naw, I hope it gets fixed (and for free, I hate car maintenance costs) and she makes it here safely. (Ha I guess I really am mean, aren’t I?)

Anyway! I got interviews with Thousand Foot Krutch and Showbread set up and will be listening to both forthcoming albums soon to further prepare. I proofread several articles, columns and reviews that have been coming in lately as well.

This afternoon, I got a ridiculously random idea for a book I think I’m going to write (no, Doug, I’m not going to steal your unpublished novel). I made some notes as thoughts came to mind but I think I’ll sit on it for a while till I can make sure it wasn’t just that I got some bad granola this morning or something…

Doug and I are going to see mewithoutYou play at Emo’s in downtown Austin with The Dear Hunter and Bear Colony in a bit. I’ll admit I’ve never been the biggest mwY fan but I enjoy deep lyrics so I’ll keep an open mind especially for their live show. I can say I’m looking forward to seeing The Dear Hunter, though. It’s ex-The Receiving End Of Sirens guitarist/co-vocalist Casey Crescenzo‘s experimental rock band, and I’ll be interested to hear them live since the only two albums they’ve released are acts I and II of a six-act story about the birth (to a prostitute), life and death of a boy known as “The Dear Hunter.” I wonder if they’ll play songs more or less in order of the story, or if they’ll just play random stuff. Their new album comes out next week so I suppose they’ll probably play a good amount of new material and that may take precedence over concerns of chronology. We’ll see if they break out any of the various horns or strings live that they feature on studio material. I hear Crescenzo has a really good live voice too. I guess he produced and even co-wrote some of the music on Falling Up‘s latest album Fangs!, which is a concept album as well. I’ll let you know what I think of all of them, and post some pictures if you’re lucky – and assuming I can get there on time and without getting lost ha.

Sleep now in the fire,
Corey Erb

“Crimson hands, brandish words which masquerade / If you flee from grace your souls can not be saved” – from “The Oracles on the Delphi Express” by The Dear Hunter

HM Magazine Intern Diary: 6.15.09

Another Monday come and gone. I converted some of the new music I’ve been listening to and swishing around in my head into album reviews today, since I’m still trying to set up interviews for most, if not all of my features. I’m still feeling like I don’t have much done four days from deadline, but pieces are starting to come together and I’m doing what I can so I guess I need to be patient.

Uh oh, I just found out the other intern is coming in tomorrow! I better clean up my act! (And my office, and the kitchen, and my room, and my vocabula… well maybe not that last one.) Nah, should be fun having another crazy person around here to keep Doug and me in check. If she happens to be sane, well, I think we can do away with that in quick fashion. (If she reads this I’m in trouble, huh? Oh well.)

Speaking of things I need to clean up, my car is in serious need of a bath from being in the country for far too long:

Seeing as I’m poor, I resigned myself to at least start by replacing the windshield washer fluid, which had been empty. I figure when it’s difficult to see around all the smashed bugs on your windshield, it’s probably time to man up and go get a bottle of the stuff. Here’s what I was looking through:

(The streaks on the left side are from our cat Spot trying to climb up and sit on the sunroof, for some reason. Guess it took him a couple tries, eh?)

Though I failed anyway and bought a brand of washer fluid that needs to be mixed with regular washer fluid so I’ll have to make another trip to the store soon. Oh well, maybe I’ll grab a bucket and sponge while I’m there to help my poor friend out:

As long as I remember to move it into the driveway before I mess with it – when I was standing in the grass opening the hood, I got bit by a fire ant on my foot and the bottom of my toe! Who bites a toe? That should be illegal even in bug kingdom! Never mind the fact I may have been planning on using that foot to end his short life…

Well, I’ve got tidying to do!
Corey Erb

“Make me new again / So I can be clear and conscious of what I’m doing wrong / I want to be whole / I want to know more than I should.” – from “Clear and Conscious” by Name Taken

Is it important for Christians to consider the words they use? (Out of left field)

I’m not saying I necessarily agree with everything about this organization, but this commercial made me think:

Should Christians be careful with their words too?

In general, if someone said, “That’s so ‘jock who can complete a pass but not a sentence'” (the website‘s example), isn’t that just as mean as saying “That’s so gay”? Let me put it differently. If someone said “That’s so autistic,” for example, would that make you uncomfortable? If so, why would equating autism with displeasure be more offensive than equating a specific lifestyle with displeasure? This is not the arena to discuss views on homosexuality; my point is simply this: Do our words have the potential to be unloving?

I’m kinda frustrated that we Christians are still dealing with this issue. This ad campaign is aimed at school children, yet we still hear these derogatory terms while hanging out with Christian friends – I’m 21 and in college, and hear it in people my age and even sometimes Christians much older than I, including a pastor once – and worse, in our churches. Not that I think churches are somehow holy ground, but if there’s one place we should be thinking, “How would my Savior want me to act?” it’s in the place where we come together to worship Him. Even if you disagree with the lifestyle, is there anything loving about bringing harm to someone who adheres to said lifestyle with your flippant words? Yes, I’ve heard gay friends say people using homosexual slang as insults doesn’t bother them. But consider, if someone were to call me a communist right now, I would laugh and say “thank you.” In 1950s America, however, them woulda been fightin’ words. Similarly, I’ve also heard other people of similar orientation say it does bother them. One friend said that he hadn’t thought much about it, but in considering it he discovered that it made him feel looked down upon, though he had never really noticed it because these slang words are so prevalent.

What does Scripture say about subtly condemning another person, even for something you believe to be wrong? Doesn’t God’s Word instruct us to be agents of love rather than condemnation, even (if not especially) toward others who hold different beliefs? Jesus says in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” His disciple John very plainly expounds upon how we’re to show love in 1 John 4:8-12: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

I’m not trying to tell anyone what to do, as that’s the Holy Spirit’s role – to deal with your heart individually, and work through you to bring you in line with how God would have you act and think and speak. I’m just bringing the issue up so you can think about it. That’s my job – providing wacky rants out of left field to bring issues into your consciousness.

Please don’t take this as a passive-aggressive attempt to call any specific person out; it’s simply a reflection on a trend I have noticed among even believers in the almost four years since I became one, brought on by seeing this commercial and realizing that I’ve noticed it a good amount in Christians’ conversations in the past few months. Trust me, I’ve used many a potentially hurtful term to mean “bad” or “unpleasant,” and it’s still sometimes difficult to restrain myself from using the r-word when I mean I don’t like something. But I think the first step in correcting what may be an issue in our own lives is noticing it when it happens, and then God can choose to help us change our actions from there if He so desires.

What are your thoughts?