With her first, deep inhale at the top of the title track – which just so happens to be the first on Byland’s new release, Alie Byland signals a deep sigh of relief for us all. “Heavy For A While” is the vulnerable, soft intro to this 10-track masterpiece release, which is officially out now.
Byland – officially a duo comprised of Alie and her husband Jake, surname Byland – has chosen to create an album so beautifully relatable, especially post-pandemic. Says Alie, “It’s more so my own unfettered journey of finding a sense of home and comfortability with myself, wherever I am.”
With songs like “Postcard” and “Settle My Mind,” Byland addresses isolation in an expansive and thought-provoking way. The dissonance toward the end of “Settle My Mind” feels almost like the chaos that has been occurring inside of every human over the past 4 years, as we all grapple with our emotions and identities in the wake of so many mind-blowing global issues.
Alie and Jake, in particular, zoom in on emotions and thoughts from the darker COVID days, and a time when they were contemplating a cross-country move. They both worked separately, then married some of their ideas together and refined their work as a team to really work through the aforementioned isolation organically. And you can feel it in the songs – the composition and the lyrics. Melodies and lines serve as organic puzzle pieces building toward the whole picture – a true masterpiece of an album. To extract us from the humbling events of today, Alie’s voice carries us to another plane.
“Two Circles” addresses space and time itself, and was one of the first tracks I connected with upon first listening to Heavy For A While. Explains Alie: “[The track] feels like it changes meaning each time I get to sing it. I see myself in this song. I see others. I see love, pain, anger, frustration, joy, shame, angst, everything and nothing.” Its simplistic lyrics are open for interpretation, though each version feels like it addresses a relationship — with yourself, another, an emotion, an event in your life.
The pace of “Temporary Everything” wakes you up out of the gorgeous melody in “Two Circles,” giving sonic momentum to this section of the album. It grapples with the acceptance that everything in life is temporary. Alie gets a bit cheeky with the line “The end of the fucking world,” but she’s only saying what we are all thinking.
“Darts” comes back in slowly, almost like a lullaby when juxtaposed against the tracks that come before and after it. Then “Monstera” comes in wielding a whole different energy, a song Alie wrote about her childhood best friend – the first person she had musical dreams with – and how she grappled with the change of a big move – and a lifelong dream together. This track has a sense of urgency about it, a bit more grit, and also a sense of beautiful acknowledgment of those people who helped to set you on your trajectory. Alie took such a liking to the track that last fall’s tour (2023) was titled the “Monstera Tour.”
Sonically, “Like Flies” feels like a Tim Burton movie, especially when compared to its predecessors. There is almost an eery tone to the melody, cinematic and beautiful in its own right. Last track “End Scene” comes in like a brisk walk a the end of a daunting journey. The piano is the centerpiece of the track, the simplicity establishing a sense of peace – a firm ending to this whirlwind of emotions (and talent).
Upcoming Shows 3/29 – Seattle, WA – Easy Street Records (Album Release Celebration) 5/2 – Tacoma, WA – New Frontier Lounge 5/3 – Portland, OR – Alberta Street Pub 5/7 – Reno, NV – Cypress 5/8 – Eugene, OR – Sam Bond’s Garage 5/9 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile (w/ Noah Gundersen & His Band) 5/11 – Santa Fe, NM – The Mystic (Alie solo) 5/16 – Everett, WA – Fisherman’s Village Music Fest 2024
Alongside its artful visual comes the new track “Dreamspeak” from genre-bending artist Nisa. The song itself comes across as hyper-aware, but of whom, you can only guess. Explains Nisa: “‘Dreamspeak’ is about the push-and-pull of wanting to fit in while growing tired of the artifice.”Most people can certainly identify with that idea. This song is easily relatable through Nisa’s lyrics.
Nisa sings as though comforting someone — is it her past or present self? Is it someone else? Either way, her vocal delivery makes this song feel both severely hopeless and carefully hopeful at the same time. (You have to hear it to understand it — or it’s maybe also just me. That’s fine.)
The video feels a touch 90s in its presentation, delivered with shots reminiscent of Paula Cole’s “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” and other videos featured on TRL at the time. The cool tones to the video create the coldness associated with the exhaustion the song is undoubtedly dealing with.
Feeling like you have to fit in is associated with feelings of comparison and high standards for your own life. It paralyzes people every day, and singing about it can and does help people destigmatize these thoughts a little bit further.
Get your first look at the song and its accompanying video below!
Catch Nisa LIVE On Tour This Spring! Tour + tickets here 5/7: Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 5/8: Washington, DC @ Pie Shop 5/11: Boston, MA @ Lilypad 5/12: Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy
I’m not sure I could think of a better pairing than the indelible Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton. Luckily, not only did they partner on a phenomenal album titled Death Wish Blues, but they are currently touring together with their incredibly unique styles of alternative blues. A more electric stage – and a more excited crowd – I had yet to see in 2024.
That all changed on Thursday, February 22nd. The Truman opened its doors to a full house, welcoming Samantha Fish back for a truly delightful hometown show. The band came out to near ear-piercing screams, and excited cheers of recognition with the first notes of the very first song. Smoke filled the crevices of the stage as Fish and Dayton’s mindblowing musicianship took over the warehouse space.
On Friday, genre-bending duo They Travel at Night – comprised of Chuck Howard and Lou Scanlon – released their debut EP, a 5-track feat named Entropy. Veterans of the industry in their respective rights, Howard and Scanlon’s influence is wide-ranging, a fact that is evidenced by this release, if you weren’t already familiar.
Beginning with the first track “Go On,” you can identify the quirky and endearing ways they enhance their tracks. It begins synth-heavy – like, 80s realm synth-heavy – and blossoms into something that, toned down, just as easily belongs in a 90’s movie. Cymbal-led “Fare Thee Well” changes pace for a while for dramatic effect, and lands more in the “I may belong on one of The O.C. soundtracks” category.
“Moment” begins with a guitar riff worthy of an oughts indie/emo band. The electronic breakdowns at 1:42 and 2:42 are really fun, I’m not sure how anyone could get through this song without a smile on their face. “Into It” builds dramatically, a ballad-like track that could, in my humble opinion, easily find its way to a Broadway musical. Entropy lands on “Colors,” an instrumental track that feels celebratory and squared to welcome success. I feel privileged to welcome false spring with this release in my back pocket.
Check out They Travel at Night’s Entropy below, and let us know what you think over on Instagram and Facebook!
Run Time: 1hr 25 mins Streaming: HULU Genre: Comedy, Action/Adventure, Thriller, Silly Adventure, Buddy Comedy, Mystery Suggested for: People and pets of all ages. Those who love Squid Games, Hunger Games, hunting, etc. Adoring fans of The Pepperwood Chronicles or other deep cut references from New Girl.
To tell you I know I will watch this movie a dozen times or more over the next 6 months is probably an understatement. Written, directed, produced, and starred in by none other than Jake Johnson (fka such gems as “Shady David Krumholtz” and “a deeply troubled, degenerate Oscar Isaac”), Self Reliance is a comedy thriller that pushes the needle on self-awareness. A heavily nuanced piece, it presents as a little more whacky, with adrenaline-inducing chase scenes and the inclusion of several familiar faces. My twin sister is in town, and it was the perfect way to spend the early hours of our Friday morning with Schmidt (the cat) in tow.
IMDb Description: Given the opportunity to participate in a life or death reality game show, one man discovers there’s a lot to live for.
Tommy (Jake Johnson) is a man not quite taking advantage of the prime of his life. He lives with his mom after a debilitating breakup and sticks to a daily routine that seems rigid and unfulfilling. He wakes up with a picture of his ex next to the alarm clock, rides the exercise bike watching the iPad with no sense of urgency, walks the same route to work, pushes paper at his desk all day, walks to the bar for a drink, and heads home. Everything seems gray, and very purposefully so.
One day, Andy Samberg – another producer on the project is The Lonely Island – pulls up alongside Tommy in a limo. He tells Tommy he doesn’t know why he has picked him up, but that people are waiting for him and the driver takes them to a warehouse where they drop Tommy off and urgently leave. Samberg’s quintessential over-the-top facial expressions and visible discomfort during the scene help to foreshadow a rough go for Tommy.
After following red arrows through a maze of warehouse corridors, Tommy finds himself facing a table of foreign men who tell him he has been invited to play a game where he is being hunted. It is all being broadcast to the dark web. Hunters could find him, but they might not. The only way he can avoid being killed is to stay in close proximity to another person for 30 days. If he survives that time frame, he gets $1 million. Sounds easy, so he accepts.
THIS PARAGRAPH HAS MILD SPOILERS. SKIP THIS SECTION IF YOU’D LIKE. Until his family hears his story about Andy Samberg picking him up in a limo and offering him a spot in a game where people hunt others for sport. Because he is stuck in a post-breakup depression haze, Tommy’s family – expertly played by Mary Holland, Emily Hampshire, and Nancy Lenehan – thinks his mental health has tanked and he just doesn’t want to be alone. When he furthers their theory about his sanity by physically moving his brother-in-law from the toilet mid-shit to prove to an assassin that he isn’t alone through a bathroom window in the middle of the night, they back out entirely. He recruits a houseless man to live and work with him so he is never alone, consequently loses his job, and is thrown into a hailstorm of a month. *******************
Joining Johnson in his debut effort is an insanely stacked cast. Aside from the aforementioned, Natalie Morales appears as Tommy’s ex. Anna Kendrick plays his love interest, a woman named Maddy who reaches out when Tommy posts a cryptic Craigslist ad to learn more about other players of this game. Christopher Lloyd makes an appearance, as well as Wayne Brady, Biff Wiff, Boban Marjanović, GaTa – whose work bringing mental health-focused projects to the table has held a healthy balance amidst his music and acting endeavors – and Eduardo Franco, who is pretty much everyone’s favorite human to be around.
My sister, Erin P.S. Zimmerman (a producer, filmmaker, and film critic) had a pointed takeaway from this fun watch. The man who wrote this movie has most likely experienced loneliness and pain, and come to his own existential conclusions. Humor and growth have been found in the process. Through Self Reliance, Jake Johnson has pinpointed the importance of community in the human experience. Though I’m sure the plotline was born from many inside jokes and comedic life experiences – and a flurry of incredible pop culture references – the core of the film is, truly, togetherness.
It is also, in my opinion, a sound testament to trusting your own gut and instincts through life. As terrifying as some of the situations were that the characters found themselves in, they had to work their their own intuition and ideas with the information they had to move forward. Watching these characters pause for thought, and then approach situations with unwarranted confidence is almost empowering. Because, truly, nothing different is happening to the people in Self Reliance than is happening to all of us at any point in our lives. Anything can happen to you at any moment. And you have to work with what you have in that moment to thrive — or even just to survive. Curveballs – like the cryptic messages from GaTa and the P.A. Ninjas – can be thrown your way at any time. You have to be aware and ready to create your own destiny. (You know, instead of meandering about as we all do from time to time for an extended period. Because meandering is cool.)
Another great piece to this film is that Tommy recognizes the people who are helping him pretty quickly. His character even goes so far as to acknowledge them along the way, and it is because he is waking up and beginning to notice the things around him a lot more — see the world more clearly. (You would too if assassins were hidden around your world, trying to take you out as soon as you’re not paying attention.)
A more detailed perspective from Erin:
As someone that works in the production industry, watching how the P.A. Ninjas were presented was lighthearted and hilarious, but also true. Knowing that Jake Johnson has touched many facets of the filmmaking workflow – writer, director, producer, and actor in this movie alone – he went into this project as a filmmaker who has a more well-rounded perspective of the process.
Though the P.A. Ninjas seem like a characature, they are very true to life in that they bend over backwards for everyone, they take care of the people who take care of them, they’re ninjas that seem to do everything and take care of everything. But they are necessary and he brought light to the fact that they are ninjas. It was a nice little nod to workforces in the industry that aren’t often acknowledged by the executives and top-billed cast, or anyone who has never been in their position before.
Coming out of the strikes of 2023, the details in this film seem all the more important as the creative community bands together again to go through a season of productivity.
Self Reliance is a little more fast paced, and it will require a bit of attention to catch all of the quips and references. Johnson’s genius mind will have you second-guessing your predictions, assumptions, and real-time assessments until the very end. Be ready to spot Ellen DeGeneres, Mario, a sumo wrestler, samurais, and more – and question everything you know – on this adventure.
Dan Levy wrote, directed, and starred in his latest creative endeavor, an incredible feature-length drama (But comedy? And adventure? And love story? And platonic love story?) titled Good Grief. Upon first hearing the idiom used as the title of the film, you can identify the double entendre and understand immediately that this film will envelop you in detail. Written in the aftermath of the losses of both his grandmother and beloved dog, Levy’s investment in the film allows you to witness a perspective both so specific and yet incredibly relatable.
Good Grief brings us Marc (Levy) and Oliver (Luke Evans), a beautiful couple residing in London, together for 15 years and living a life of luxury and cohesion. Within the first few minutes of the film, so much attention is paid to Marc’s perfect life. As he hosts a holiday party in their home, his friends keep commenting on how perfect his life is, how attractive and amazing his husband is, and every other shining detail of his life.
The concept of the film is available in every trailer and description, so I go into this without fear of spoiling this detail. As Marc’s husband Oliver leaves the party for a work trip, his cab is in an accident — within sight of their shared home. The film is about how Marc approaches everything in the wake of Oliver’s death. Dealing with the harsh realities of loss, and struggling with the way grief can possess a person’s mind, body, and soul.
While I headed into my early-morning viewing of this impossibly emotional film with the complete understanding that I would weep, I was surprised to find that I did not – in fact – shed a tear. Perhaps this is because of the impossibly difficult pill to swallow that Levy’s character – Marc – is exposed to a year into his grieving process. As one would, he experiences a bevy of new emotions around his realization.
My brain almost felt like it couldn’t keep up with the conflicting pieces of the plotline. Everyone loves Oliver. You want to love Oliver. But Oliver wasn’t perfect, because no one is perfect. How do you rectify his actions, emotions, and thoughts before he passed, when conversations were not had, apologies were never made, and closure was not experienced?
Some of us haven’t had to deal with reconciling our memories of someone we can no longer have closure with. Some of us have. Either way, this film raises so many questions about how personal coping mechanisms can heal us, and how others can be a crutch at times.
Good Grief explores how other people related to the deceased handled the loss in the year that followed. Thomas (Himesh Patel), for example, is Marc’s ex who still carries a torch for him. His supportive behavior leans adoring throughout the film, and you know there will be conflict around it at some point. (How it resolves, and the feelings you go through while witnessing it, is so much more REAL than I had expected, to be honest.)
Sophie (Ruth Negga) is a very close, old friend of Marc’s – the one who initially set him and Thomas up back in the day – who seems to struggle with identity in the year following Oliver’s death. Though the characters refer to her troubled, “messy” ways multiple times throughout the film, it seems to be reaching its peak in that timeframe.
Scene stealer Imelda (Celia Imrie) pops in and out with lessons of her own as Marc’s financial advisor. Her brash attitude makes her all the more fun to peel back the layers on as the story unfolds. And those of us more familiar with David Bradley as Filch in the Harry Potter series will adore him as Duncan, Oliver’s father, who also makes some incredibly notable remarks in the wake of his passing.
Overall, this is a wildly enjoyable watch. It’s so real. Even without tears, I was a pile of emotions and confusion and thoughts. Good Grief is definitely a conversation starter and a story of redemption — for everyone.
Emo children of the aughts rejoice, because one of our favorite live bands is making the rounds again, and they’re bigger than ever before. Pop-punk bad boys Yellowcard delivered a kiss of surf pop, a hint of nostalgia, and a whole lot of energy every time they took the stage. So when I had the opportunity to interview Ryan Key, Yellowcard’s lead singer, Star Wars aficionado, podcast host, and content creator extraordinaire – I snapped it up.
One of the first things I say, after promising myself not to bring it up? “I spoke to you in 2006 and it was to ask you to sign a t-shirt for my friend and I was too nervous to say anything else.” Cool. Word vomit.
“Oh, I was such a little shit in 2006 too,” Key immediately admitted, laughing. “So, it should be a way better encounter this time, I promise.”
Key’s self-awareness eased us into a conversation that ran the gamut. From our shared love of Star Wars (Though I haven’t quite expanded into podcast territory yet), being driven by bitterness through some tough times, how it feels coming off the biggest tour Yellowcard has ever experienced, and reflecting on 20 years of Ocean Avenue.
Yellowcard’s rapid-fire return fueled a “Celebrating 20 Years of Ocean Avenue” tour that took on bigger venues than they’ve ever played. The band’s welcome back was far from polite, with screaming fans more dedicated to the art form, acceptance of the music, and enjoyment during shows to fuel the energy.
From theatrical beginnings…
Admittedly, Ryan didn’t do much with music growing up. He took piano lessons for a couple of months, hated it, and quit. He wasn’t much for musicals, either. He was much more attached to the idea of the theater. An idea – it seems – that may have stemmed from his first role as Tiny Tim in none other than A Christmas Carol.
“It’s two lines,” Key admits, laughing. “But being on stage at 6 years old in front of enough people, I can only imagine shaped me, changed me forever. Having that moment happen on your impressionable little 1st-grade mind. It’s like, yeah I want more of this. You get that dopamine hit of being on stage and the adrenaline of that, you want more of that. And you don’t know why but I think as a kid, after that, I was just dead set on being on stage however I could.”
In 10th grade, Key was accepted to Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville and his pursuit of acting and theater got really serious. He was super involved at school in the shows and the deep, specific education. “We were studying Stanslovsky and real heavy stuff for high school kids,” Key says.
…to stress-reducing hobbies.
To help blow off steam in his -very limited – free time? “I had a band on the weekends,” he explains. “I got my first guitar when I was 11 or 12 years old and I played it and I wrote really crappy songs and had some friends that I played with but that was never gonna be something that I did professionally. I never even had it in my mind. I didn’t really enjoy singing, to be honest, very much. It’s still not my favorite part of my job. I was the lead singer of the band but I think that comes from that sense of wanting to be an entertainer, wanting to be a performer.”
This fact can be hard to believe, as Key’s vocal range is impressive and wide-ranging in its pop-punk glory. And his life performance tactics? Energetic to this day, at a level most people aren’t entirely capable of even at their peak. “It was never in my mind as something I wanted to pursue as a career,” he shrugs. “I just didn’t get into college where I wanted to go.”
When one door closes…
Ryan never let his rejection to the Theater Program at Boston University – twice, unfortunately – go. “I got into school in Boston but I didn’t get into their BFA program. My parents were like, ‘We’re not going to spend all that money for you to go to a private school in Boston if you’re not in the program that you want to be in.'”
While reasonable, it can be difficult to recover from something like that so early on in one’s career. From that bitterness was born a focus. Admittedly – and fairly – Ryan was spiteful about what had happened and chose not to complete the BFA program he started in Florida. He dropped out of school, leaned hard into music, and eventually began singing in Yellowcard.
To hear an artist admit to leaning into something in that anger is very refreshing. You often hear about heartache and heartbreak in everyone’s work, but it can be difficult to address the times of anger and instances when you feel things didn’t go the way they perhaps should have. Having a creative outlet to pour himself into was clearly the way to go, and is something so many of us should embrace as a healing mechanism in times of trouble.
Celebrating 20 Years of Ocean Avenue
Ryan says the band really appreciates the fact that the fans have weathered the storms alongside them. He credits this grand musical journey to the fact that fans have been patient and forgiving.
I have, personally, been a fan of Yellowcard’s since I was an adolescent, so getting a peek into their tour dynamic was ideal. When asked about the “Celebrating 20 Years of Ocean Avenue” tour, Key was almost gushing. “I feel like my favorite part of the tour was the energy between the band itself. I don’t think we’ve ever gone on a tour that was so lacking in negativity as this one. This tour was so full of happiness and positivity that it felt like an alien world, almost, compared to the Yellowcard that I’ve known for the past 20+ years.”
What Key refers to – this feeling of a more in-sync crew and better touring environment and experience – has been echoed by artists the world over since the pandemic triggered larger conversations around mental health and balance in the music industry. Tours are being approached in a more holistic manner, and it’s been a reinvigorating time in the music industry. He went on:
I think we all felt that way. Which compounded each other aspect of the tour. The shows and interaction with fans, on-stage and off, and the support I think that we had from our crew every day felt stronger and better. I think that’s because there was a sense of peace and calm on the road.
We’ve never had that. Yellowcard has historically been a bit of a chaotic and tumultuous bag of personalities that have not created the best environment to work in. So this was, you know, jarring in the best possible way, to get out there and get a couple weeks in and realize, Oh, everything is just OK. And we can just let that be.
Pausing to reflect
It was almost spiritual, the way that he described it. Key’s acute awareness of the dynamic of the band made me wonder, aloud, how long it took in his career to come to this acceptance of who he is and his identity in the band.
I think it started, for me personally, during the final chapter of it all, at the end. You know, in 2016, 2017. Realizing that I was going to lose it forever because, at the time, it truly felt like that was going to be the case. It started with, I think, just a simple idea of really wanting to enjoy that tour in 2016 and 2017 and the international stuff we did.
That whole experience, as much as I tried, was sort of tinged with the reasons we were stepping away from it. The metrics that you use to quantify success, right, started to say “This is on the way down. We’re on the backslide.” Let’s end this before it goes too far so we can end it on our own terms and make it something special for fans and for ourselves.
It went a lot deeper than that because it did go into the personalities and the inner workings of the band and things that we keep pretty close to the chest. So, as much as I tried to really enjoy it all, there was still an air of sadness and kind of negativity that had carried into that from all of the reasons we decided to step away in the first place.
It wasn’t until I got home and started to have to figure out how to make my own way [that the self-awareness set in.] And the pandemic, really, was huge. A good friend of mine from high school was stopping through to stay with me. I had moved back to Los Angeles – which didn’t work out because the pandemic hit and we couldn’t tour or work so I was only there for about 6 or 8 months and then I left to come back east – but I had gone out there to kind of re-establish myself there and start working on film and tv music and things I want to do, too, as I get older.
My friend stopped through and it was only going to be for a week but it was the week that the lockdown happened in California. So he ended up staying with me for an entire month. During that time, he sort of opened my mind to meditating and starting to truly figure out what was going on with myself and work on the reasons why I had ended up where I was. I had never taken a minute to look that far inward, I don’t think. So it really wasn’t until 2020 that I started to kind of forge the path that has led me back here, now, where I am.
As if to echo this spiritual, self-reflective sentiment, he notably wrapped the tour wielding a lightsaber, a symbol that the force is strong. While he claims that he brought the saber to make his nephew happy, we know there were probably additional motives here. (Because, really, who doesn’t want to have a lightsaber on tour with them?) For those of you wondering, yes, he does have a lightsaber lying around. In fact, he has multiple.
Embracing creative outlets
Besides his lifetime love of the franchise, Key has had the opportunity to connect with the franchise on a different level since the pandemic. “I’ve been really lucky the last 3 or 4 years to intensify my connection with Star Wars through hosting the Thank The Maker podcast with my friends,” he almost gushes. “I think Star Wars reminds you, at 43 years old, if you just give in and let yourself love it the way that I do, it reminds you how to play. That’s something that adults just don’t do.”
At this point, Key doesn’t realize he has hit a home run and we dive into a conversation about what being a “Disney adult” means in certain circles and some of the symbolism involved in Star Wars. We agreed that a certain level of play is encouraged to truly live a full life, especially as we age. “I’m a big fan of my wife for allowing me to just embrace that side, that childhood side of me, and letting me dress up in costumes with my friends and swing lightsabers around, you know?” he says, almost in amazement. “It’s really been a beneficial thing.”
Embracing change
As for if anything has changed for the band over the years – aside from the deep, self-realizations and occasional weaponry – Ryan says writing with everyone has become much more simplified. Explaining that the technology just wasn’t there to support quick changes to tracks and production fixes when they recorded their first albums, Key said the process now is just so much more accessible. “We can get right into ProTools, create the demo, program the drums so that we can change those around – we can try all the different options.”
The great part about having home studios is being able to control the sound as you build it. This way, you have more of an actualized recording that more than likely will sound much more similar to the final product. “It’s way more inspiring to have a good-sounding, ripping demo to steer the direction of the melody and the lyric that I’m going to put over the music.”
But the way Yellowcard writes? Pretty much the same. And super focused on the instrumentals. “It’ll start with usually a guitar riff. Shawn also has brought plenty of ideas on the violin or ideas for the structure of a whole song. He’ll have like a motif or a chord progression he will bring in that we will then build riffs and things around that.”
But you have to remember, Ryan is one with The Force. “I get middle-of-the-night ideas sometimes. I’ll wake up or I’ll not be able to sleep, one or the other. And it’ll just happen and I’ll take out my notes app on my phone and start plugging stuff in.
The title track from their latest release, “Childhood Eyes,” actually came to be that way. “I woke up with that chorus melody in my head and I started to put words to it. I could hear it happening in my head. And when I got to Austin for pre-production, I had an idea for the verse and the chorus in my notepad but I had never picked up a guitar to put music to it. So I just said, ‘Hey I have these lyrics and I have sort of a cadence and a rhythm for them.’ And we wrote the whole song in 15 minutes.”
Looking forward…
In the coming weeks, Key will be working from his new home studio. When asked about his plans for the space, he perks up immediately. “I’m doing the whole room black,” he says. “Ceiling, walls, floor. A lot of wood grain and a lot of green pops in the room. The vibe is super Scandinavian, and I love that. I’m a big fan of Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. I love that part of the world so much. So we have a lot of this [look] in our house.”
Even more than the initial planning and execution of the project, this room will hold so much more meaning for Ryan as an artist, as he explores new podcast-related projects, and films content, pursues long-term goals (like music supervision and composition), and writes new Yellowcard songs for us to enjoy. It will also hold space for Ryan as a new father, viewing movies and creating art in this space with his family.
You mentioned we met in 2006. I wouldn’t want to meet me in 2006, you know? It’s just not even comparable, the headspace I’m in now and the tools that I have now to kind of prove my reactivity and try to stay positive. Things I was just incapable of doing for the better part of my career in Yellowcard until now. So, in the end, stepping away from the band and having that time was probably the best possible thing that could happen to me, personally. Because the perspective that I’ve come back to the band with is just so wildly different than it’s ever been before.
Yellowcard has, once again, taken a front seat in Ryan’s life. Check out an upcoming performance near you throughout 2024.
Between global pandemics, burnout culture, and the rise of AI, the future seems more bleak than ever. The alt-rock artist Moon Walker expresses his frustrations with the present-day in the track “Give The People What They Want”, tackling the defects of American society via an arresting punk rock song. The music video from Tiltshift Visual sets the song in a nondescript American office—aka, the source of many societal frustrations—and features a zombification of its workers.
Opening with an arresting dialogue between the guitar and bass lines, the music primes the video for its imminent belligerent energy. Amid the beats of drums and panning synths, zombies type away at keyboards and make trips to the fax machine, ambling their way through dimly-lit, whitewashed corridors. Anyone who’s ever worked a corporate job can easily relate to this shuffling, fatigued movement. All the while, Moon Walker’s electrifying voice echoes the sentiments of discontented people across the globe: “We want children we can’t care for, houses we can’t pay for, jobs we can’t stay awake for”.
The two zombies in the video are ghostly pale and dingy, covered in wounds as raw as Walker’s lyrics. Moon Walker’s guitar shredding accompanies the human coworkers running away from their zombie counterparts, terrified of the decomposed future they will inevitably embody. There is nothing subtle about Walker’s message: we’ve all become slaves and zombies to our jobs and the political climate surrounding us. The end of the video features a ticking clock, reminding us that time does not stop for anyone, and our zombification could be imminent if nothing changes.
In a world where solutions are few and far between, belting rock songs with catchy melodic hooks is a good form of escapism. “Give The People What They Want” previews the alt-rock artist’s third LP, the aptly named Apocalypticism, due out on October 20th. Walker will expose the most troubling aspects of society with this release, challenging the status quo and pushing for change. Additionally, get tickets now for Moon Walker’s debut U.S. tour in October 2023.
Tuesday night was one for the ages at Starlight Theater in Kansas City, MO. In an unexpectedly beautiful way, 3 Doors Down helped us celebrate the end of summer with a full rendition of their 2003 debut album The Better Life, as well as other favorites. 20 years of pure joy filled the outdoor venue, coupled with stunning light design and a refreshing breeze that made everything feel like an actual dream.
