HM Magazine Intern Diary: 7.30.09

Here it is… the last post before I head back to Illinois (before I head to Baltimore… before I head to Miami) so I’ll keep it short.

We went to see blessthefall and August Burns Red last night at Emo’s in Austin, and I can’t think of a better way to end my time here. Blessthefall was insane, the lead singer singing from hanging upside down from the rafters above the pit and 1-4 stage divers onstage at a time. August Burns Red was good too, especially since it was about 150 degrees in the pit and all the band members were fighting to keep from passing out.

I said goodbye to Kelly last night – and Kelly, if you’re reading, make sure this issue actually comes out, k? Ha I had fun this summer, hope you did too. (Follow her Intern Diary too, it’s better/less pointless rambl-y than mine.)

Thanks again to Tornado for the food for the road. If it wasn’t for you, Melissa and my mom sending me food I’d have gotten skinnier this summer haha.

I finished my Scream The Prayer Tour review Monday late so check it out if you haven’t and let me know what you think.

Here are the results to the survey so far:

You can still vote and I’ll post the results on my personal blog.

Which brings me to goodbye, follow my personal blog and Twitter if you like, and don’t be a stranger.

Peace,
Corey Erb

“Names is for tombstones.” – some dude.

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: 6.18.09

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: 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

Leaving Miami, heading for Texas and HM Magazine

Well, time to say goodbye to MillenniumBeat and I’m hitting the road for Texas in a few hours (literally) for my HM Magazine internship this summer.

I’ll continue to update here as well as my intern blog for HM, which I’ll keep you posted about. This project will look a little different but hopefully you all will enjoy it.