The “Find Your Love” video is the more masculine out of the two videos, complete with violence and scantily clad women. Set in the slums in Jamaica, the video, is about Drake falling in love with the girlfriend (well not really, more like something between a personal slave and a prostitute)  of a Jamaican gang leader (played by reggae artist, Mavado) which as a result, the gang leader sets out to kill Drake. What really stood out to me was the contrasting relationships with Drake and the girl and the girl and the gang leader. Its seems the relationship between the gang leader and the girl is purely sexual, like the scene in the club, the girl is all over him while he just sits there (not like she wants to) , no romance, he just treats her like an object. The relationship between Drake and the girl is more romantic, for example when Drake approached her in the club, he kisses her on her hand first. Unlike the gang leader he treats her like a person, not a sex object (points for Drake for being a gentleman). In the end, the gang leader catches Drake and the girl comes out. The gang leader gives the girl a gun to kill Drake and the video blacks out a with a gunshot, leaving  viewers wondering. Who did she shoot? Personally, I think she shot the gang leader because Drake treated her like a lady while the gang leader treated her like dirt.   

I really like this video and the song. I got her CD, “The Element of Freedom”, in December and “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)” was a standout song for me. So I was already sold on this song, so when I was on YouTube and saw the ad for the “Un-thinkable” video,  I had to see it. I was shocked that Alicia picked former teen heart-throb, Chad Michael Murray because he was much different from the guys she usually picks for her videos. But when I found out the concept of the video, I understood the choice. Alicia took a more socially conscious route for this video. The video is about an interracial relationship between Keys and Murray characters across the decades to present day. The two make a cute couple in a way that I can’t explain. My favorite scene in this video is the grocery store scene, where Alicia is shopping while Murray is looking over from the adjacent aisle. I think Murray channeled that bad good guy vibe very well, especially when they get to the end of the aisle when he’s defiantly checking Alicia out. Another standout was the fight scene, and Murray shouted to Alicia’s brother, “What! I’m not good enough!?”. It like one of those lines that are worth 10,000 words, it really brought out the feeling in the video. I like how it transitions through the decades with the standout stuff like the Godzilla cellphones from the 80′s. In the end Murray drives to Alicia’s house and Alicia standing at the door, which leaves us wondering did she follow her heart, and date the white guy or do what her family wants her to? I commend Alicia for taking such a bold route with this video.

Overall, these were very well made, creative,  statement-making videos, that are good in different ways. I’d recommend these videos to people with an eye for art or just good music videos.

2. Stay True to yourself: In the movie, Annie secretly takes the nanny job against her mother’s wishes to find out if she should go into finance (like her mother wants her) or go into anthropology (what she wants to do).Over the course of the movie she goes through a journey that makes her a stronger and self-assured person. In the movie she talks about “going native”, a term that describes someone completely putting oneself in a culture that it affects their personal behavior. With the X’s she ”goes natives” and by doing this she finds out what she doesn’t want to be. In the end, he is bold enough to stand up to the X’s and tell her mother that she wants to be anthropologist.

3. Good Friends Are Forever: I like the friendship between Annie and her friend Lynette. Number one they are completely different, Annie is uptight and Lynette is laid back. But they have each others backs. When Annie’s mom was in town, and she needed a cover, Lynette let her use her apartment, so make it look she was living there. Lynette gave her real advice when Annie was going extremely native. She did push Annie against her will at the bar to talk to Harvard Hottie and his boys, but because of it he came by to apologize to her and they end up going out. Good friends have your back and tell you the things you NEED to hear.

4. Somewhere on your journey you can meet your “Harvard Hottie”:  In the movie Annie’s love interest, “Harvard Hottie” is an interesting character, he is blue blooded, but he’s not snobby like Mr. and Mrs. X. He explores many parts of NYC, even the parts where the rich people wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Over the course of the movie, they meet over several awkward meetings. But he liked her even though every time he saw her it was a disaster. Ladies hold out for your “Havard Hottie”, who still likes you even when you look your worst.

5. Money doesn’t equal happiness: Its corny and obvious, but its true. take the X’s for example. They are very wealthy, but Mr. X is a cheating jerk, which makes Mrs. X a bitter controlling not-so-much of a housewife, which affects the child, Grayer, negatively. Over the course of the movie, Grayer is closer to Annie than he is to his own parents, mainly because when they are there, she shoos him away when he comes to lovingly greet them. They passively make up for it by giving him fancy things he doesn’t need, like the French clowns. Annie took Grayer to the oh- so- simple Museum of Natural History, and Grayer liked it. Think about it.

The first annoyance, his music. If you look him up on Wikipedia, the article describes him as an “Canadian pop/R&B singer”. I listen to his music and I don’t think R &B, instead I think bathroom singing FAIL. His songs have no cool,  when I listen to his songs I don’t fall in love with him, I can’t take him seriously enough to fall in love with him. Bottom line all R&B is supposed to be cool, and there is nother cool about Justin Bieber’s music.

I don’t understand the hype about him. The media propped him up to be this “major hottie” when in real life he’s average (he’s not like Taylor Lautner or anything). It seems like any average looking guy becomes famous he suddenly turns hott. And whats up with him saying “shawty” everywhere he goes. It’s not like he’s gangsta and I don’t want to sound racist, but Justin Bieber is a middle class WHITE CANADIAN, he shouldn’t be saying shawty until he gains at least a shred of street cred. Artists like Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke actually had to WORK for the R&B crediblity they have. Justin Bieber can’t roll up and act all gangsta because he suddenly got famous– sorry the hood pass system doesn’t work like that (same goes for Asher Roth). And why does he have a “swagger coach”? If he truely has all the swagger he thinks he has then he won’t need someone to coach them into being a swag master, that stuff comes natural. He just seems like a huge pile of fake.

And the hissy fits…really?! He’s been famous for a year and he’s starting to turn into a diva…or is he supposed to be a divo because he’s a guy, um never mind lets call him a diva. During an appearance in Australia, one of the TV workers tried to move him some where and he said to him “don’t  f*****n touch me ever again”. That is rude and it proves that he’s is a serious prima donna. No one should say that to a person, especially a working person. This is sad especially coming from him, who grew up in a single parent home where his mom did temp work to support the two of them. He should have more humility.

I hate Justin Bieber. I hoe he gets some therapy for his identity crisis.

This was the question I was acheing to know  when I heard the new “We Are the World”, redone for the Haitian relief. When I heard about this, I was happy until  they announced Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber and other C-listers were doing the song, my hopes automatically sank. Which made me think if they are the world then i should probably move to Mars. Seriously, if I was one of the Haitians affected by the quake and I heard that song I would think my people deserve a better song than that. One of the problems off the bat is that there was a lack of talent and starpower, I’m not saying that everyone on the song was aweful. There were people who deserve to be on the song like Wyclef, Kayne, Mary J. Blige, and people with talent. But they should’ve had artists like Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Rihanna, Jay-Z and other neglected heavyweights. Maybe the reason such artists wern’t picked because Jay-Z was openly against the remake and advised his wife (Beyonce) and acts that he discovered (Rihanna, Kayne) not to participate. The next problem I have with this song is the singing wasnt as good, mainly caused by the mediocre choice of artists, which causes the 10 artists with talent to carry the whole song (which failed, but good effort). Which comes to the conclusion that the original was better, eventhough we may have superior recording equipment, it doesn’t beat pure talent (which this song obviously lacks).  And will people stop complaining about Wyclef’s part, it is the way they sing in Haiti and it brings a deeper cultural perspective to the country the song is supposed to help. So people who are complaining about Wyclef’s part, BRODEN YOUR CULTURAL HORIZONS AND STOP BEING UGLY AMERICANS FOR CRISSAKES! I could rant about that more ,but I wouldve gone horribly off-topic. I’ll save that for another post. Furthermore the new “We Are the World” was a COMPLETE AND ABSOLUTE FAIL! Quincy Jones needs to a) take Jay-Z’s advise and make another song b) use the same song but pick a different combination of artists. For the time being I, like other people are going to listen to the original and not waste y money on this musical crap, I’ll find other ways to show Haiti my support.

from l to r: Anna, Ian, Carlton, Tyler, Emily Sones., Emily Seilber, Adam

 It’s back, after a long year, MTV’s “Taking the Stage” is back! With new students and the only people from last season are Tyler and Mia. The new cast members are dancers: Anna, Carlton, and Emily; and musicians: Ian, Adam, and Emily S.  

The season starts off with an audition special. You get to see a glimpse of the new students and know their stories. It gives a chance  for viewers pick their favorites and hope for them to get in (well it obvious that they will all get in).  

First there is Anna a dancer who suffers from sclerosis and has had surgery that leaves titanium rods stuck in her spine. Her doctor said that she shouldn’t take dance as a career, but being a fighter pursues dance anyway. Because of this she is one of my favorites so far and I hope she lives her dream.  

Then there Ian, who probably one of the hottest guys on the show, is an ultra talented rapper. He has participated in rap battles all over Cincinnati and has released his own CD. So far he seems pretty focused, not in any drama, unfortunately that why he barely get any air time.  

Then there is the triple threat, Carlton,  who is singer/dancer/actor, who is becomes Tyler’s new competition. He was like Tyler last season, the hot new dancer who threatens the best dancer in school.    

There is Emily the musician, who suffered from anorexia and put her frustrations into music. She is one of my favorites because so far she seems real and wholesome.     

There is Emily the dancer, who decides to pursue her dream to be professional dancer even though she doesn’t have the right body type for it. In her romance with Tyler, I think she is a match for him because I think she’s breezy with with and doesn’t put her all into him. She seems very headstrong and she knows what she wants and goes after it.    

Then there is Adam, another hottie, a musician who moves from a small town to Cincinnati to go to SCPA and pursue his music career. He’s been home school and is adjusting to going to a regular school. He seems like you nice, boy next door with values.  

Then there is ol’ Tyler back with his womanizing antics. His current catch of the moment is Emily the dancer, who ,so far, seems pretty chill, not bitchy like his ex, Jasmine. I just hope Tyler doesn’t play her because she seems like a nice girl. But this year he not only going to be a dancer, he is going to do music and acting     

This season Mia is sticking around, ”teaching” at SCPA while she chases her dream with her band. Her and Tyler have seemed to have maintained their friendship and she seems like she’s swooping down trying to save him from relationship horrors.     

On the 1st episode, the cast is preparing for the talent show. Mia and Aaron fight over the future of  their band, Mia Carruthers and the Retros. This isn’t the first time there has been conflict between Aaron and Mia. Mia debates with herself whether she should keep Aaron in the band or kicks him out, risking their friendship. In the end Aaron gets kicked out of the band.  Adam and Emily decide to do their act for the talent show, during their rehearsal Emily takes a liking to Adam. For his act Tyler rounds up Ian and a bunch of dancer girls. While Carlton does and MJ style dance to dethrone Tyler as the #1 dancer in school. On the day of the performance Emily the dancer complains that her hip hurts and she might not perform. Fortunalty she performs and totally rocks it! Emily and Adam did a vocal/guitar duet.  Mia closes up the show with her band. The first show is was nice and kept me interested for more, especially the budding relationships and the new performances.  

In the second episode the relationship between Tyler and Emily Seilber heat up when he offers to take her to the upcoming singer/songwriter show. Emily, who plans to tell Adam her feelings for him at the singer/songwriter show. But trouble comes when overzealous slut , Holly, attempts to scoop him up. Holly succeeds in this endeavor, even though Adam was torn between Holly and Emily Sones. Honestly I don’t know why Holly and Adam are together. Holly is a fat FUGLY wannabe party girl, I hope she jumps into a hat and disappears. On the night of the singer/songwriter show Tyler picks up Emily Seilber. And a heartbroken Emily Sones comes out and sings Adam’s song for the performance.I think that Emily deserves to be with Adam  because they seem to be at the same pace and Emily will treat him right. I think Adam is just another boy-toy to Holly. Then there is Adam’s performance a song he wrote called, “She’s the Brave One”, which is about his grandma who is a cancer survivor. She was the crowd crying tears of joy. I thought his song was so sweet.   

Overall, Season 2 of  Taking the Stage is worth watching. I’m excited for what is to come during this new season.      

Another notable performance is Green Day and American Idiot cast performance. It makes me want to go see the American Idiot musical. What I liked is the rock against broad way pop voices. I also like afro-girl’s outfit.

P!nk’s perfromance was cool, but it sorta played out because she did the acrobatics that at the VMA’s. What is up with her wearing basically wearing ribbons?  The song was nice though.

This is one of the things about the night that grinded my gears. It starts with a STONED Ke$ha and a chipmunky Justin Bieber. It’s a fail waiting to happen. They were supposed to remind viewer to vote for the song that Bon Jovi is going to play. Instead of saying Bon Jovi, the little tool says Beyoncé instead and he attempts to play it off saying “Beyoncé’s always on my mind, sorry Jay.” Like Beyoncé would give this guy the  time of day! In all of this Ke$ha is trying to keep from falling off the stage. MILA.

This was the best part of the show was the “Earth Song” performance by Usher, Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson, and Carrie Underwood. This was the part where the 3D glasses come in handy. unfortunately, I didn’t run over to Target and get them so it didn’t see images popping out of my TV. The 3D part was  the “Earth Song” from This Is It with the cute little kid. The performance itself was excellent.

The greatest FAIL of the night was when the gave “Album of the Year” to Taylor Swift. Everyone knows that was a pity win because of the Kanye West incident. unfortunately when we actually needed Kanye to interrupt something, he is not there (the Grammy people banned him from the event). It’s not I have anything against Taylor, but some of the other nominees deserved it more simply because they had stronger albums than Fearless. KANYE OFFICALLY RUINED THE GRAMMYS!

Fashion and music icons have recently have been exploring their dark and eclectic sides. For example, Rihanna, who used to be the long-haired, bright, radio-friendly ”Umbrella girl” released her first explicit album, Rated R (how fitting). On the cover of the album a short-haired Rihanna is pictured in black and white with dark, heavy make-up– like dominatrix chic.  About a month before Rihanna garnered much controversy upon the release of her lead single, “Russian Roulette”, surprisingly most of it was directed at the cover of the single instead of the actual song. On the cover Rihanna was pictured wearing eyepatch and  topless with barbed wire covering her boobs, which was obviously too dark for the public. Rated R has more of a rock feel to it, she even features Guns and Roses’ guitarist Slash on “Rockstar 101″. A snippit of the lyrics:

Rocking this skirt
Rocking this club
Got my middle finger up
I don’t really give a f***

Rocking these diamonds
I’m rocking this chain
Make sure you get a picture
I’m rocking my fame

To be with you is
You gotta be what you are
The only thing I’m missing
Is a black guitar

In this album, Rihanna shows her rocker-gansta side with more edgier music and a darker look.

Then there is Lady Gaga, the electic blonde who automatically embraced as a true artist as soon of her debut single, “Just Dance” was dropped. Gaga who brought her avant-garde wardrobe and captivating new perspective gave music an anti-pop electronica vibe. Her image is mixed, its is partly couture girl gone bad partly sci-fi glam. Her videos are dramatic and theatrical and were unexplainably different, like Paparazzi. In her videos Lady Gaga also portrayed sex in a more different, artistic, eclectic light in videos such as Bad Romance and Love Game. Gaga never censored herself in her videos showing everything form girl on girl action and other things that seemed just plain odd. Overall Lady Gaga’s main achievement was that she was able to be taken seriously as an artist within a year’s time.

Sasha Fierce (A.K.A: Beyoncé) has also gotten edgier. At first Beyoncé hit us with street smart pop-R&B in her two previous albums “Dangerously in Love” and “B-Day”, but with her third and most recent album, “I Am…Sasha Fierce” takes a different turn. On this album Beyoncé splits her self into two people the shy Beyoncé and the outgoing Sasha Fierce.  Sasha Fierce shows some of Beyonce’ s avant-garde side as opposed to the booty poppin’ Beyonce the world comes to know and love. The difference shows in her look, she trades in the tight jeans for more detailed metallic armor-chic clothing. She wears darker eye make up and rocking a bigger weave. In the ”Diva” video she rocks a pair of drape glasses and in the “Single Ladies” video she wore a metal glove where on her ring hand. Her videos changed also from full color to black and white, in some of her videos she uses some color splash. Even though her “Video Phone” music video with Lady Gaga  was in full color, her look resembles more of Lady Gaga’s outrageous look, but she maintains her identity by giving it some novelty like aspect as well of the style of the music video.

This music trend has affected fashion too. Models are being done in heavier and more dramatic looking make-up. Designers are playing with rock inspired elements like leather and metallic add-ons like studs. Clothing that imitate metallic elements are also are becoming more popular, like metallic colored leggings. What is also becoming popular on the music/fashion circuit are military jackets.  Fashion icons like Rihanna brought back the trend, but the death of MJ (the greatest military jacket wearer to inhabit the earth) escladed  the trend’s popularity. Other trends that have spawned from this musical revolution is vintage. Detailing like ruffles, lace, and button to the top shirts have made appearances. Fashion icons in music have greatly affected the trends currently on runways.          

This change in beat in the industry is good  because it is fostering more creativity and there are less cookie-cutter songs and artists that look and sound the same. This chance enables artists to establish more of a brand for themselves. What can come out of this? More innovation and the unpredictability of what is to come.

Bad Romance (Official Music Video) 

Run This Town (Official Music Video)

Diva (Official Music Video)

Video Phone (feat. Lady Gaga)

Wait Your Turn (The Wait is Ova)

from left: Jim Ivins, Jack Ivins, Bobby Gary, Drew Martin

For the people who really enjoyed Parachute or you are into Boys Like Girls’ heartfelt alternative- rock sound, you will really like this up and coming band. The Jim Ivins Band formed in 2007 in Richmond, VA.  The band is made up of Jim Ivins (of course) as the lead singer, Drew Martin (guitar/backing vocals), Bobby Gary (bass/backing vocals), and Jack Ivins (drums). They are an acoustic driven pop rock band who put their hearts out there in their beautifully crafted lyrics. Unlike most pop-rock/alternative bands they make a statement with upbeat pop-rock songs with an acoustic dominated sound, but it sounds finished– not like an iTunes live session (no hate directed there, but it usually sounds pretty raw). They have played with Parachute (for all the people who discovered Parachute through my previous article), Carolina Liar, and many others.  I was lucky to have the opportunity to talk to the guys from the Jim Ivins Band for the first interview in All In My Head’s short history.

How did you guys all meet and decide to from a band?

Jim: Bobby and I had played in a band (Busted Wire) together for 4-5 years so we were all ready best friends and had a good musical relationship with one another. Ironically enough, Bobby quit the band and Drew was his replacement. A few years ago, once that band started to fizzle out and do less and less stuff, I made a solo record called “99¢ Dreams”. This was a big deal for me because it was different from anything I’d ever done because my old band played pop punk in the vein of bands like Unwritten Law, Race The Sun, and Sugarcult, and this album was all acoustic/singer-songwriter based, much like Dashboard Confessional’s album “Swiss Army Romance”. Also it was the first release I’d ever done where I wear all the hats – music and lyric writer, guitar, bass, and drums. I put the album out and then wanted to start playing shows so Bobby and Drew were obvious choices for bass and guitar, respectively. Jack was not a difficult choice at all, being that not only is he my brother, but he’s one the absolute best drummers I’ve ever seen. This was my dream team lineup and I’m very happy to have these guys playing with me.

So you are multi-talented when it comes to music?

Jim: I am indeed. I play guitar, bass, and drums. As I said earlier, I played all the instruments on “99¢ Dreams” except on “Run” where Jack played drums and Drew actually sang backup so the seeds for the band were planted before I even knew it. I also played drums on “2 O’Clock Wake Up Call” off of our “Back To Reality” EP. I really want to conquer keys, though. I can’t play hardly anything on keyboard. Both Bobby and Drew can but I can’t. Bastards. 

Why acoustic pop rock?

Jim: After playing in Busted Wire for so long and I began to grow up (we started Busted Wire when we were 14), I started to branch out musically and was actually finding it increasingly more difficult to write Busted Wire songs. Completely coincidentally, I surround myself with musical people. I began looking at my friends Drew Martin (www.myspace.com/drewmartinband) and Zach Birnbaum (www.myspace.com/zachbirnbaum) and started really connecting with their music and connecting a lot with John Mayer’s music. I got to the point where I was like “I want to do that” and just started writing as much as I could. In Busted Wire, Bobby wrote most of the lyrics. I had written some here and there but for the most part that was him. I had never really taken on that role before. It was very exciting for me and it was acoustic pop music that was speaking to me the most and was able to effectively get the words out of me. It’s also just really fun to play. I love playing these songs and I try and write songs that are gonna be fun for people.

So does Drew play in two  bands or is this another Drew Martin?

Jim: Drew does indeed. He’s a fantastic songwriter himself and that’s pretty much how we became friends. He’s in a band called The Drew Martin Band that I actually play in as well. We’ve never been good with coming up with band names haha.

Back to the acoustic pop subject, I feel like it has some effect where words just come out naturally. What do you think? 

I absolutely agree. I’ve found that if you try and force the words for these songs, the listener will be able to tell. Whenever I break down and try and force something it’s never as good as a time where I am just patient let the words just come out naturally. If I get excited enough about the music then the words will just flow

When I was on your My Space music page. I viewed the lyrics. When I read them I really could relate, how do you go through the writing process?

Jim: Oh thank you very much I’m so glad you could relate to what I say. That’s really my number one goal when I write songs, I want to be able to write songs where our listeners can go “wow this is exactly how I’m feeling” and “I know what that’s like”. It’s those kinds of songs that resonate with me a lot and made me want to pursue this project the way that I did. The writing process for The Jim Ivins Band is kind of weird. I write musical ideas on my guitar and record them all the time and I also write lines of lyrics all the time however, for some reason, I’ve found that my favorite songs of mine, for the most part, are ones where I just take an idea that I’m excited about and don’t walk away from it until all the music and lyrics are written. I know some people sit on songs for ages doing touch-ups and re-writes and struggle with lyrics forever (which I do from time to time) but for me it’s like if I can’t do it all then it’s not usually an idea worth pursuing. Once I do this I write the rest of the parts and give them to the guys. They then take their parts and add flourishes and change them around to fit their own personal styles. There are also other times where I just bring them the acoustic guitar and vocals and I’ll just say “write your own parts to this”.

Do you have any tips for aspiring songwriters?

Jim: Write as much as you can and never ever throw anything away. Sometimes things aren’t as bad as you thought and sometimes you’ll just wanna see how far you’ve come. Don’t get discouraged, either. The first stuff you write will not be good. It’s just a fact. It’s different for everybody but it took me years to write a song that I consider to be really good. It just takes practice. Also write from the heart and don’t try and write about things you don’t know and don’t feel. 

Are you going to have an album out soon?

Jim : I don’t know the answer to that. We have a bunch of songs that need to be recorded or re-recorded but we have no current plans to do that. We are about to put out a physical release compiled of remixes and re-recordings of songs from the “Back To Reality” EP and “Free-P”. We’ve never had those songs to sell at shows (and in the case of the “Free-P” songs, to sell at all) so we’re excited about that because its frustrating to have people come up to us after shows trying to get certain songs that they enjoyed during the set and we don’t have for them at that time. We’re also in the process of giving away a lot of free music. If you go to our myspace (www.myspace.com/thejimivinsband) and sign up for our mailing list, you not only get our monthly E-Magazine “Jim Ivins Band Monthly”, but for the next few months we’re giving away a free song every week. These could be live soundboard bootlegs, acoustic and alternate versions of songs, new demos, etc. You get a studio recording for free when you sign up as well. We’re just really in to rewarding people who support us in any way because we appreciate it so much, it means the world to us.

You guys are an independent band does that mean you have your own label or are you guys waiting to get snatched up by a record company?

Jim: There is nothing I would like more than to get signed and tour the world. I just want to get our music out to as many people as possible. We’re grinding it out as much as possible right now trying to make it all happen so fingers crossed.

How was touring? Where have you toured?

Jim: Touring has been cool. In addition to doing a lot of regional shows in the Virginia, D.C., and North Carolina areas, we’ve done touring through places such as Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and more. We’ve also been very fortunate to share the stage with such national artists as Parachute, Carolina Liar, Mae, The Ataris, and Pat McGee Band. Our first official tour was interesting in that we were a very new band and we didn’t have a van or trailer so we packed four dudes and all of our gear into a Ford Expedition. We had never been closer haha.

That must have been interesting. How was driving for 8 hours all cramped (I’m guessing with all the stuff you guys must have been cramped)?

Jim: It redefined family haha. It was very interesting indeed, I had never heard of anyone doing that before. And we did 8 hour drives a few days in a row so cramped is an understatement. Even so, we still had a total blast on that tour. Just going out and seeing the country together for the first time was a really great experience.

How was playing in the Northeast? Was it different form playing in Virginia? Would you guys drive back up?

Jim: We will drive anywhere to play shows north, south, east or west (though being in Virginia we can’t really go any farther east). I would only say it was different playing up there because we were playing to people who had no idea who we were.

What was your best and worst touring experience?

Jim: Funny story – we were trying to get our car into a parking deck in New York City and got stuck so we had to take the top compartment off of the car then take a lot of the contents of the car, put it in the top compartment, and put the top compartment inside the car. The guy in charge of the parking deck was yelling at us so we weren’t too fond of him. Another funny story was when we found out that New Jersey can sometimes lose its creativity in relation to street names. On our day off we saw John Mayer play and on our way back from the concert we got lost and saw two interesting signs – one was an exit for “Street Road” and the other was a sign for “New Road Road”. Our GPS told us to turn on New Road Road and we thought there was a glitch. Sure enough, there it was. There wasn’t really a bad experience per sé. We had a great time and can’t wait to get out on the road again.    

If I decided to put your iPod on random what music would I see?

Jim: You would see literally everything haha. I know I myself have 14,000 songs on my iTunes but it goes for the other guys as well, none of us are confined to one style of music. For instance, my top five all time favorite artists are Oasis, Radiohead, Coldplay, blink-182, and John Mayer. All of us also love hip hop. From Mos Def to Jay-Z to The Roots to Atmosphere. Me and Jack’s cousin Bill Leverty is in a band called Firehouse who found great international success in the 1990′s and were the last big “hair band”. Bobby, Jack, and I all love Killswitch Engage and a lot of other bands in the metal scene. I know Bobby and Drew just got the new Pearl Jam album and love it and Drew likes artists such as The Black Keys, As Tall As Lions, Deer and the Headlights, and Pilot Speed. We all love different things and we like a lot of the same things and it’s always interesting to me to see how people in certain types of bands don’t have to only listen to the kind of music that they play. Here’s what Bobby and Jack themselves had to say about it:

Bobby: “Lots of different styles. From alternative to rock to jazz and even a little classical (I’m a music major in school).”

Jack: “ABBA, Creed or anything I can punch myself in the balls to ease the pain of what I’m hearing.”

Haha some humor there. You guys have a variety of music you listen too, like I always hear people say  that certain groups of people do not listen to certain genres (for example: I always hear something like rap guys dont listen to rock and vise versa), which I think is absurd because I like everything. What do you think about such generalizations when in comes to music?

Jim: I think it just goes back to not judging a book by its cover. I know a lot of people that like a lot of things that, on the surface, you wouldn’t think they would like. I’ve found that you just never know what you’re gonna find in someone’s record collection, or I guess now its more appropriate to say in their iTunes.

So are all you guys in school?

Jim: I am not but the other three are. Jack graduates in May so we’ll see what happens then.

Who were your greatest influences?

Jim: When I was a kid, seeing Bill become so famous with Firehouse made me want to do what we do for the rest of my life. I know that goes for Jack as well. Other than him, I would say my greatest influence are Oasis, blink-182, and John Mayer. blink-182 seems random but I, like many fifth graders of the time, had my life changed when they came out with “Enema of the State”. Critics will always bring up their immaturity but they are brilliant at writing great melodies and harmonies and specifically if you listened to the “untitled” blink album, they are fantastic songwriters all around. I know Drew has definitely been influenced the most by artists like John Mayer, Ryan Adams, Steve Moakler and Mae.

Bobby: “Taking Back Sunday, Dave Matthews Band, and local bands like Race the Sun who show that you can be from anywhere and make it big and share your music with the world.”

Jack: “Bruce Willis’ first album, The Mamas and the Papas, anything involving ‘Wah-Wah Watson’, and the soundtrack to ‘Mighty Joe Young’ “

Jim: Yep, that’s my brother Jack for you.

I like blink too, but I wonder what ever happened to their comeback?

Jim: Their comeback is in full swing from what I understand. I saw them twice on their reunion tour (which I heard was the biggest tour of the summer) and they were incredible. They’re supposed to have a new single and a new album real soon and I can not wait for that.

I know this is random, but are you going to go to the theatres and watch Michael Jackson’s This is It Movie?

Jim: I saw it at midnight last night and it was phenomenal. MJ was dancing and singing like he was 20 years old and its such a shame because that show was gonna be amazing.

I know someone who saw This Is It two times and is thinking about going again. Is it really that good?

Jim: Absolutely

Everyone pick a color.

Jim: Are you asking what our favorite colors are? If so, mine is blue.

Jack: Green

Bobby: Green

Drew: The color of Love

Its Halloween

Fall Flat

Parachute also released a Christmas EP called Winterlove, on it they have its self titled single which is  starts slow  then it grows into sweet flowy mid-tempo ballad that has the sprit of Christmas (which is a change because Losing Sleep is mostly a summer album). On this song Parachute does what they do best- making hearts melt like snowflakes on your hand. There are parts of the song the melody sound identical to a Christmas carol. On this EP Parachute also covers “What Child is This”, the song itself sounds similar to the original folk song, but Parachute gives it a modern rock noir sound with a jazzy feel.  Their last song of the Winterlove EP  is a track off of Losing Sleep, “The New Year”, which the title explains the whole concept of the song. And for you Parachute fanatics that visit All In Head, they made two new music videos “Under Control” and “The Mess I Made”. “Under Control” is hilariously bittersweet and is a must see. After seeing the new things that Parachute have done it makes me fall in love with this band more and more.

Under Control (Official Music Video)

Winterlove

The Mess I Made (Official Music Video)