MARCH 2015 AUSTIN TEXAS
IN THIS ISSUE! BLEACHERS JOHNNY STIMSON PROJECT ROMEO COLONY HOUSE ALICE PHOEBE LOU AND MORE!!!
THE SPECIAL EDITION SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST ISSUE
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ECHOSMITH
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TIMMY ABERCROMBIE
Have you ever been to a concert and wondered who is responsible for the production of the show that is put on? Who controls the lighting and the sound? Timmy Abercrombie is the man behind the magic of the hip-hop and pop duo Kalin and Myles. I was lucky to enough to see what he does for a show at the Houston date (February 27) of The Dedication Tour.
A: I started out as a guitar tech and a keyboard player for a band signed to Universal Records.
Q: Introduce yourself and your role on The Dedication Tour with Kalin and Myles.
Q: You were on tour with Bayside several months ago as their tour manager, how is being the production manager for Kalin and Myles different from that?
Q: When did you go on your first tour? How many tours have you been on since then? A: I went on my first tour in 2008 and since then I’ve been on about 53 tours.
A: My name is Timmy Abercrombie and I am currently the production manager for front of house; I run all of the audio and lights during the show. Q: How did you get your start in the music industry?
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A: With tour management you have to settle money and with production management all you’re doing is worrying about all of the production. I don’t touch any money and I don’t have to babysit the act.
Q: Did you think it was a big adjustment going from tour management to production management?
A: Mostly, selling out L.A. A lot of other tours can’t do that and these boys can. And they’re also picking up on the radio.
A: No, not at all. It has it pros and cons when it comes to the difficulty level.
Q: What have been some major highlights of your career?
Q: How did you get into the management role?
A: Tour managing Kidz Bop, selling 1.3 million records under that and being with the top 40 artists right now that’s currently charting so that’s a lot of fun.
A: I just got tired of watching other tour managers mess up. They would get fired and I learned from their mistakes.
Q: What do you like to do on your off days or when you’re not touring?
Q: What do you normally do before, during, and after a show?
A: Sleep.
A: Before, I’m doing set up and getting ready to do sound check and after sound check I help host the meet and greets with our VIP coordinator. During, I’m just making sure that everyone is on and off stage at the right times. And after, we load up the trailer and get ready to go home or to the next stop. Q: How has this tour been different from previous ones that you’ve been on?
Q: Do you have any advice for someone trying to make in the music industry as a manger or on the business side of music?
A: Find someone good to shadow or pick a different career.
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You can follow Timmy on Instagram @timmyabercrombie to keep up with what goes on in the life of a manager.
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NORTHERN NATIONAL
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QUIET COMPANY 7
How Quiet Company form? - Well I (Taylor Muse) made the first by myself then another buddy recorded it for me and played drums… Then it got picked up by this small label. I kind of thought i wasn’t going to play more shows. the label thought i should, and i didn’t want to be in the band with friends anymore because it hadn’t really worked out so i started looking for strangers to play music with. I went to craigslist and found just about everyone in the band that way except our drummer drew.
worried, because we don’t want to make the same record twice. How was the recording process? -We used a producer this time, which we’d never done. We recorded the record in 14 days; we did a song a day and played it live. How long were you guys writing? - I’m always writing, at least two years worth of building up these songs. Everything came together really fast. it was really different because we put so much thought into it we weren’t in the studio saying “what should we do here” it was more of a lets nail the part that we already knew we were gonna do. We committed to everything really early.
How did you come up with the name Quiet Company? - It was something i stole from insurance commercial. You guys released a new album in February how did the fans respond to the album? - So far its going really well! We’re really happy to see the reviews that come in. people seem to be getting it, all the things we set out to do people are like “hey they did this” our last record had a message and this record we were a little
What’s your favorite song off the record? - A year in decline!
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PIERCE THE VEIL 9
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Pierce The Veil had no trouble selling out the Bayou Music Center on February 28, 2015 with Sleeping With Sirens, Mallory Knox, and PVRIS. I have been a huge fan of Pierce The Veil for many years and I was lucky enough to photograph for them in Houston. This was by far one of the best concerts that I have been to a very long.
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I arrived at the venue about 45 minutes before doors opened and the line from the door was wrapped around the building and into the streets; the nerves hit and I realized that his was probably the biggest concert that I have ever photographed at. PVRIS, a female-fronted rock band from Massachusetts, was the first band to go on stage. They’re fairly new in the music scene but immediately stole the crowd’s attention with their performance. Mallory Knox, a five-piece alternative rock band from the UK, took the stage next and did an incredible job and it was their first time in Texas. Sleeping With Sirens put on an amazing performance with their sound and incredible light show. When Sleeping With Sirens finished their set, it was time for Pierce The Veil. The production of this show was unbelievable. As the members took the stage, a single light was flashed on them so we could see them through a screen of the album cover for Collide With The Sky. The crowd went wild as Pierce The Veil opened with “Hell
Above”. As I was watching and photographing for them from the pit, I could feel the emotion and energy that they put into their show. I could see the smiles on their faces and how happy they were to be playing yet another sold out show. Vic Fuentes, vocals and guitar, played an acoustic version of “I’m Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket”; this solo was so raw and showed how talented Vic is. After a few more songs, Pierce The Veil performed “Bulletproof Love”; during this song, Vic picked a girl out of the crowd and brought her on stage to sing to her. Pierce The Veil is one of my all time favorite bands to listen to and watch live because they never disappoint, they put in 110%, and despite their popularity and fame they still find ways to connect with their fans. The World Tour was a huge success and I cannot wait to see what Pierce The Veil has in store for us next.
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DEAF RHINO
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Introduce yourself and your role in the band. Hey! I'm Adam, I sing and play rhythm guitar.
Your new album "Dirt, Rust, Chaos" was recently announced and will he released on May 5th. What was your inspiration for this album? We wanted to write a great rock and roll record, something that was tight musically and had substance content wise. I do a bulk of the lyric writing and the songs definitely tip the cap to where I was personally and where we were as a band.
Deaf Rhino is an interesting band name, who came up with it? Is there a story behind it? We gigged as "Easy Company" for three years prior to animorphing into "Deaf Rhino." Naming a band is no easy task and after months of deliberation within the band we all felt comfortable with "Deaf Rhino" as a representation for us and what it is we do.
What was the writing/recording process for the album like? We really hunkered down for three months of pre-production with our producer to fine tune the songs and rehearse them. We recorded the record in 5 straight 15-16 hour days at The Barbershop Studio's in Hopatcong, NJ.
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What was your favorite song to write/ record? To write? Not sure to be honest, we put work into these songs so there are moments and parts of each song that came together within 1-2 takes. Some of the parts went through a few variations prior to being realized in its recorded form. Watching our key player Sarah improv the outro of the record on piano at 3 in the morning with all the lights off (and everyone else a little twisted) was something really special.
Can we expect songs to be released before the album? Yeah! We did a compilation video of a recent show we had at Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ. That should be out soon. What is your favorite part about being in a band? The chicks and the money, it’s like they are giving it away! Describe your favorite fan experience. We’re a new band in a lot of ways when it comes to playing out. When we get to play shows outside of our local fan base and people get crazy, that always feels good. When can we expect to see Deaf Rhino on tour? Possibly in Texas? Playing national and regional festivals throughout the summer and plan on doing some touring in the fall and then again in the winter 2015-2016. We live outside NYC and have a lot of opportunities to play all different size rooms with other local and national acts
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EVAN BRUSSEL
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Name Evan Brussel aka “Sprout” Occupation Tour Manager / Artist Manager How did you get started in band management? Recently I have gotten into managing artists. I got into managing bands because I’d been on the road a little over a year and I have so many talented friends from Dallas that I just want to help out. I’ve made some connections and I felt like I was in the spot to help them. Give us some background on why you chose band management as a carrier? I got into managing bands really by accident. I knew I wanted to do something in the music industry but I didn’t know what so when one of my good friends Jr Denson started to manage a band called TEAM* from Dallas I asked if I could intern for them and we got them a tour with third eye blind and they needed a tour manager and I got thrown into a big tour with team and third eye blind. I loved tour managing and it found me rather than me finding it What was your first tour? I was with TEAM* and Third Eye Blind, I was tour managing and doing merch and driving and teching. How was it? It was absolutely the best experience of my life. I was getting paid no money, had to drop out of college and quit my job. It was only a month long and it was a great opportunity and I was giving up so much. I just felt like this was something I had to do, as big of a risk as it was I knew that if I didn’t take that risk I would have looked back and wondered what if I had taken that opportunity. You have to take the risks and sacrifices or there will be other people that will. So you have to do everything you can to stand out.
Was it everything you imagined a tour would be? It was so much more than I’d ever imagine, I learned more on that tour that I could have ever learned in college going for music. Even one of my professors in one of my music classes when I told him about it told me I’d have to be an idiot not to drop out and go out on tour. The on hand experience of bing there taught me so much more than being in a classroom for two years could have.
How was touring with New Politics? I was the assistant tour manager! That was the first tour where I had been on a bus there were a few things I missed about being in a van. Like seeing the country and all that but it was the most amazing tour to date I’ve done. They’ve become some of my best friends and the shows are amazing. One of the most amazing things is I was a fan before I got the job and met them and I met them randomly. We had an off day in Milwaukee and they asked me to come out with them and it was the most amazing tour EVER! I learned a lot and new politics did a lot of radio promo so part of my job was to wake up and wake the band up and take a car to a radio station and they would do an acoustic performance and a meet and greet with some fans then I had to make sure they were back at the venue by sound check and that was something that was new to me because I’d never had to interact with radio before. We were on the everywhere I go tour and had to push their new single Everywhere I go so there was a lot of radio promo. Not to mention they were the headlining band not only was I in charge on New Politics I was also in charge of the opening bands sound check and got to stage on time because if they cut into our set time we would have to cut 21 songs because every venue has a curfew.
@SPROUTTX What happens frequently on tour that people don't normally expect? With new politics since they are a larger band they had a large amount of fans than any other band I’d worked with! The most difficult thing while on tour is if you go out after a show and you know to have to get to the next city on time you have to leave my like two am you have to be that guy to be the party pooper and be like hey guys we have to go and normally no one wants to leave because were all having a good time but you have to be that person who stays in control and doesn’t drink and remains in control that looks over the situations. One story that I always like to tell is on my first tour ever with third eye blind we were in Idaho it was the last show of tour we were all having a good time but we had a show in Dallas the singer of third eye blind came up to me and asked why I wasn’t drinking and I explained that I had an obligation to drive the band home to get them home safely to do my job learn as much as I could and he asked how old I was and I said 21. He said they had had kids on the road with them who were that young or a little older and he said he had never seen anyone take their job so seriously and that really impressed him and that always stuck with me and it always will. If you have the self-control to not drink or something like that it goes a long way be22
cause people will respect that because you are the one looking for the band. What do you do while off tour? While I’m off tour, this is one of the reasons I decided to start managing artists because I wasn’t really doing anything while off and after my first tour I didn’t really know if I was gonna get another offer to go out ever again. Once I got the ball rolling again I really decided to start managing artists as well, when I’m home I work on helping out my friends and getting them publicity. Favorite live show you have ever seen? Katy Perry on the Teenage Dreams Tour, her production is amazing! What advice do you give to anyone looking to get into the industry? It would probably be, never write anyone off. Be friends with as many people as you can. You never know who knows who and never know what they are going to go off to do. Never write anyone off so help each other out if you can. Take the risks because if you don’t someone else will take those risks.
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ELLIS MUSIC MAGAZINE EDITORS TAKE OVER SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST 2015
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SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST MUSIC MARCH 17MARCH 22
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ALICE PHOBE LOU 28
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AlicePhoebeLou.com 30
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MUSICAL SUNSHINE JOHNNY STIMSON 32
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BLEACHERS
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BleachersMusic.Com
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We were walking through downtown Austin on our second day at SXSW when I decided that I wanted to get a tattoo. While we were in the shop, Adrian (Project Romeo) had the same idea and we ended up getting a tattoo at the same time. After I realized who he was, I tweeted at him and asked if we could do an interview and a photoshoot. We met up on 6th street the next day and had a great time talking to him about his music and his SXSW experience.
PROJECT ROMEO
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Q: Name and where are you from?
Q: Who has been your biggest influence in music/ the industry?
A: My name is Adrian and my stage name is Project Romeo. I’m from Dallas, Texas. And right now we are down in Austin for SXSW and it is way hotter than I expected.
A: As of lately I really like Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, and just a mix of those. I do like a lot of R&B vocally so that’s where I get a lot of influence for that. Electronic wise I listen a lot of Tiesto and kaskade.
Q: Your bio on your website talks about how you started out in music in a pop rock band. Why did you make the transition to becoming a solo artist?
Q: What is your favorite song that you've written or recorded?
A: When I was younger I spent a lot of time in nightclubs and that kind of stuff so I get a lot of influence from that and just having trouble finding members that were reliable. The initial switch, I went to the Billboard Music Awards in 2011 and was really inspired by all of those acts and was like “You know what, this is where I got to go with it to get more mainstream.”
A: It’s actually one that I haven’t released yet, it’s called “Get Wild”. It should be coming sometime this year. It’s very commercial, very fun, poppy, but very club heavy at the same time. It’s definitely not PG though. Q: Where do you see yourself in a year?
Q: What was the Billboard Music Awards like?
A: In a year, hopefully I can just be touring all year round.
A: It was awesome. Rhiana performed, Lil Wayne performed, Brittany Spears, anyone you could think of really. It was really cool but it was a while back before Justin Bieber was a D Bag.
Q: Favorite artist that you've worked with or met? A: Right now I’m doing a lot of work with Ryan Cabrera, he’s guiding and helping me. Other than that I try not to do a lot of collabs right now just because I need to get myself out there.
Q: Was it a difficult transition or did you think it was easy? A: No it wasn’t hard. In a way it was easy, since I went from one form of pop with rock to another form of pop with electric it was the same basic concept of writing structure but a little different, there’s a lot more build ups and beat drops. A lot of newer material is going to lead towards pop rock and go back to electric.
Q: Weirdest fan experience? A: Oh my gosh, this one time I got a tattoo at SXSW… Most of the time like fans’ moms will come up and that’s pretty weird to me and like use their daughter to get to me and want a picture.
Q: How did you come up with name Project Romeo?
Q: What is your favorite tattoo? Meaning behind it? A: Probably my Zeus. I got it done at Lone Star in Dallas. The entire upper part of my arm is king theme so I have Zeus, a lion, an Indian chief, king of hearts, Caesar’s crown, it’s everything that’s just top notch.
A: I went through a bunch of names and didn’t really like any of them so I thought of what was marketable, you know. I was thinking a lot of people, I figure like guys, they’re like the bad guys and girls want to try to like make them good so “Project Romeo” like the project to become Romeo. 41
Q: While on the road, what's something that you always have to take with you? A: Water. And I always have to have gum. Q: What has it been like at SXSW for you? A: It’s a little different this year. I didn’t come last year but last time I came I was with another artist named Boy Epic who’s also from Dallas. His old manager got us a bunch of passes and we met up with our friend Chris, Never Shout Never, who was performing. But now it’s a lot more hip hop acts like GEazy and I don’t know how it’s going to keep evolving. Q: What is your favorite band/artist of all time? A: I’d probably have to go with Michael Jackson. My favorite song by him is “The Way You Make Me Feel”. Q: Fun fact about yourself? A: I’m actually really shy, not when I’m on stage or working but if I’m just out and about I keep to myself. Q: Where can readers find your music? A: You can go to my website, soundcloud and I’m doing a lot more videos. We’re filming a music video right now for a cover. Q: If you could pick your tour line up, who would you tour with? A: Jake Miller, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, and Flo Rida because his instrumentals are similar to mine.
Follow Project Romeo on social media: http://www.projectromeomusic.com https://www.facebook.com/projectromeo https://twitter.com/PR0JECTR0ME0 https://instagram.com/projectromeo https://soundcloud.com/projectromeo
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EMM EDITORS WITH PROJECT ROMEO
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DRY THE RIVER 46
COLONY HOUSE
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JUKEBOX THE GHOST
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JUKEBOX THE GHOST
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SXSW SQUAD
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MAX
@SUPERDUPERMAXX LOS ANGLES, CALIFORNIA
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WESLEY @WESLEH LOS ANGLES, CALIFORNIA
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