Issue #50

issue 50

HIGHLIGHT

MAGAZINE

THE ROCKET SUMMER – TONIGHT ALIVE – SAOSIN – COHEED AND CAMBRIA & MORE

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THANK 2 - HIGHLIGHTMAGAZINE.NET

YOU!!

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april

08 clothing highlight 10 highlighted artists 12 venue highlight 13 film highlight 14 industry highlight 16 non-profit highlight 18 staff favorites 22 a will away 26 lany 30 the virginmarys 36 the rocket summer 40 tonight alive 48 saosin 52 coheed and cambria 56 the summer set 66 tour round up troye sivan twenty one pilots vance joy paramore the ready set set it off alunageorge me without you tiger army dropkick murphys underoath 84 reviews

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editor-in-chief jenn stookey

IGHLIGH

co-founder – art director cara bahniuk co-founder – photo editor ashley osborn managing editor jessica klinner online editor nick yacovazzi digital marketing manager olivia adams co-founder – legal – finance mckenzie hughes contributing photographers pablo aguilar, omar al-zidjali, cara bahniuk, demi cambridge, courtney coles, jordan fischels, lori gutman, rachel kober, casey lee, charlie martel, natalie montaner, savana ogburn, ashley osborn, heather phillips, sam polonsky, taylor rambo, sam roenfeldt, kara smarsh and clark terrell contributing writers (online & publication) haley black, jennifer boylen, geoff burns, colleen casey, rebecca del castillo, ally fisher, trevor figge, annette hansen, jessica klinner, zoe marquedant, bridjet mendyuk, theresa pham, alyssa schmidt, catie suliga, nick yacovazzi and bailey zeigler digital marketing team geoff burns news posters laura arthurs, samia mirza, sarah akomanyi and megan young _________________________ website twitter highlightmagazine.net @highlightzine

facebook instagram facebook.com/highlightmagazine @highlightzine _________________________ thank you thank you the summer set, fearless records, courtney coles, golightly media, reybee, press here publicity, emily tantuccio, epitaph records, brixton agency, big hassle media, high road publicity, the catalyst publicity group, ricky reed, ashton-magnuson media, atlantic records, sixthman, speakeasy pr, and all of our wonderful staff and readers for sticking around for 4 years! _________________________ 06 the summer set courtney coles

07 saosin sam polonsky

tonight alive lori gutman

the rocket summer rachel kober

a will away heather phillips

lany lori gutman

coheed and cambria sam polonsky

the virginmarys courtney coles

THE SUMMER SET 56

TONIGHT ALIVE 40

A WILL AWAY 22

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COHEED AND CAMBRIA 52

48 SAOSIN

36 THE ROCKET SUMMER

26 LANY

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30 THE VIRGINMARYS

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TEAM MEMBERS Olivia Mew – Founder & Creative Director

LOCATION Montreal, Canada

WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND STAY HOME CLUB? Stay Home Club began in 2012. Although originally intended as a homeware line, our customers repeatedly asked us to put our logo on t-shirts. My personality and disenchantment with the archetypal 20-something lifestyle (party!!!!) was at the core of our first designs – “Just Stay Home,” “Recluse,” & “Boring is Best.” It was amazing to see these sentiments take off with like-minded people across the Internet.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOUR BRAND REPRESENTS? These days, brands that espouse the attitude we began Stay Home Club with are a dime a dozen. I feel like we’ve really gotten to know our customers over the past 4 years, and our designs now come from some understanding of what they like– and really, it’s what I like too. It’s less message-based and more about the illustrations themselves and evolving with the people who have supported us through the years.

WHAT ARE YOUR THREE PERSONAL FAVORITE DESIGNS AND WHY?

Satoshi Kurosaki’s “Happy Alone”

I did a design for “Happy Alone” that we still sell on t-shirts, but when I saw this illustration by Satoshi, I knew it was a perfect match. I asked him to lay out the text on the image and they went so perfectly together.

The Disaster Life’s “Set Fire”

Given the defeatist, apathetic nature of most of our older designs, it was a bit of a gamble putting this image on tees, but it worked out brilliantly. Turns out revenge and standing up for yourself fit in perfectly with what Stay Home Club customers are all about. The Disaster Life’s drawings have this simple, scrawly quality to them that speaks to my heart.

“Alive” patch

I was approached by musician Allison Weiss to create some patches inspired by her lyrics that she could use as tour merch and that we could sell through Stay Home Club too. This message of getting through the rough times [stood] out to me, and it was a great excuse to start using flowers (something I draw incessantly outside of Stay Home Club). Customers took to it immediately, and it inspired a whole bunch of flora related designs for 2016.

t @stayhomeclub | i @stayhomeclubofficial | f /StayHomeClub | stayhomeclub.com PHOTOS: Anika Ahuja, Kat Von D Insta and Stay Home Club

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HIGHLIGHTED ARTISTS BLOODBOY L O C AT I O N Los Angeles, California C U R R E N T S I N G L E “Human Female”

Twisted and elegant, California’s Bloodboy is putting a new spin on electro-pop. Dropping huge beats over dynamic vocals. Bloodboy is spacey, intimate and looking to make a splash.

KATY CARMICHAEL L O C AT I O N Nashville, Tennessee C U R R E N T S I N G L E “Seam”

Haunting and beautiful, the voice of Katy Carmichael will echo through your subconscious.

Teetering between the poppy optimism of Sarah Bareilles and the darkness of Brandi Carlisle, this Nashville songwriter is a must have on your radar.

THEM GUNS L O C AT I O N Los Angeles, California C U R R E N T S I N G L E “Somebody Called The Cops”

Dark electro-pop group THEM GUNS keep shimmying their way up the ladder. The four-piece based out of California keep things real with their own line of synth performances and embracing the eerie electronic aura. Recently, we sat down with the group to talk career, aspirations, and their relationship with one another.

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WORDS: Nick Yacovazzi

SELF TITLED EP - AVAILABLE APRIL 22 /NIGHTARGENT

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VENUE HIGHLIGHT D A R C O N S T I T U T I O N H A L L - WA S H I N G T O N , D C HISTORY Built in 1929, the DAR (or Daughters of the Revolution) Constitution Hall is not simply a concert hall used for events such as performances and ceremonies, but also a reigning National Historic Landmark located in Washington D.C. Adjacent to the DAR Memorial Continental Hall, the Constitution Hall was constructed as the central event hub for Washington’s elite and has since opened its doors and transformed into an iconic concert venue. Veined with history, the DAR Constitution Hall is the only building in the country dedicated to the United States Constitution as well as being prominently known to house events, which have been attended by presidents since Calvin Coolidge.

WHY PLAY HERE? Located right on 17th and D street, in the center of the nation’s capital, the DAR Constitution Hall offers a historical and nationalistic treat to its attendees and performers. The hall, which is situated between the American Red Cross headquarters and the Organization of American States as well as across the street from the White House, is an iconic spot for any artist to play. The hall also features a laundry list of notable and eccentric performances from pop legend Whitney Houston to alternative rockers Two Door Cinema Club as well as hosting comedy shows from Martin Lawrence and Robin Williams. The DAR Constitution Hall, like all of Washington D.C., is a piece of history ready for you to make your mark on it.

@todaysDAR

/DARConstitutionHall

WWW

dar.org/constitution-hall

APRIL 9-13

APRIL 23

M AY 3

Jeopardy! Live Taping

Tori Kelly

ABC’s Nashville in Concert

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REVIEW: Ally Fisher

H I G H L I G H T E D

F I L M S

SOUTH BY SEE THIS This year at SXSW some of the world’s best minds, makers and speakers (including the president of the United States) gathered to share their work and their knowledge with attendees. The Texas festival started in the late 80s with aspirations of becoming the southern equivalent to the New York City music festival New Music Seminar and has since grown into one of THE events, in not only music but also art, entertainment, tech and film.

Here’s our favorites from this year’s screenings:

A S ong Fo r Yo u: Th e A usti n C i t y L i mi t s S t o r y Section: 24 Beats Per Second Director: Keith Maitland

Willie Nelson, Dave Grohl, Beck, Jack White, Phoenix, Radiohead, Alabama Shakes, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ray Charles, Jenny Lewis and countless others contributed to the creation of this film that celebrates 40 years of the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Featuring both live performances and interviews from both the performers as well as the producers, the documentary taps into what makes ACL a truly unique music experience that will hopefully be around for decades to come.

E v e r y bo dy Wan ts So m e Section: Headliners Director: Richard Linklater

This comedy is a Dazed and Confused sequel set in the ‘80s. It doesn’t star Pink, Wooderson, Simone, Slater or Mike, but it does follow a similarly lovable cast as they navigate the transition from high school heroes to college zeroes. Watch as three freshmen (Blake Jenner, Will Brittain and Ryan Guzman) bounce between baseball practice and frat parties in this retro throwback.

The Amer ica n Ep i c Sessi o n s Section: 24 Beats Per Second Director: Bernard MacMahon

Before auto-tune and the endless post-production process, there was simply a circle of wax, a series of clockwork and weights, and one shot to get your music down.

After rebuilding such a by-gone machine, the closest version of the first electrical recording device perhaps in existence, filmmakers invited modern artists like Nas, Elton John, Alabama Shakes, Steve Martin Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard to test their skill against the ancient process.

Tower

Section: Documentary Feature Competition Director: Keith Maitland Part animation and part live action, this documentary retells the events of the 1966 University of Texas clock tower shooting. By using the rotoscoping technique to animate archival footage, it captures the 90 or so minutes during which ex-Marine Charles Whitman terrorized the university from the 28th-floor observation deck of the main building. Through this unconventional lens, the film shows that moment in American history during which “the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.”

REVIEWS: Zoe Marquedant

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N A M E Ricky Reed L O C AT I O N Echo Park, California J O B Producer/Engineer/Vocalist of Wallpaper

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL STORY/WHY DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE INDUSTRY? I was producing and engineering punk bands in the Bay Area and had some bands of my own. At some point, I started producing club and rap music in college to try and meet girls and play house parties. I reached out to Casey Robison (then at BMI) and told him I wanted to produce songs for rap and pop singers, and he helped me out.

A FEW YEARS AGO, YOU WERE ON WARPED WITH WALLPAPER AND NOW YOU’RE WORKING WITH ARTISTS LIKE JASON DERULO, MEGHAN TRAINOR AND TWENTY ONE PILOTS. WHAT MADE YOU TAKE THE LEAP FROM WRITING YOUR OWN MUSIC TO WRITING AND PRODUCING FOR OTHER ARTISTS? I have been producing for other artists since I was young in the Bay Area. I sort of fell into [it], but my whole life I’ve been a people person. I enjoy meeting new people and learning about their experience. I realized that co-writing and record producing is a unique vessel for meeting and getting to know other people.

YOU HAVE YOUR OWN LABEL NOW (NICE LIFE RECORDING CO UNDER ATLANTIC RECORDS). WHAT SETS YOUR LABEL APART FROM OTHERS? We care about the melody as much as the message behind it.

YOU’VE BEEN BEHIND SOME OF THE HOTTEST TRACKS IN POP MUSIC OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS (MEGHAN TRAINOR’S “NO,” JASON DERULO’S “TALK DIRTY,” TWENTY ONE PILOTS’ “RIDE”). WHAT’S IT LIKE TO SEE SONGS YOU HELPED CREATE BECOME SUCH HUGE HITS? I don’t take as much time to appreciate it as I should. Luckily, I have my mom to help with that.

DO YOU THINK YOU’LL EVER GO BACK TO WALLPAPER AND MAKING YOUR OWN MUSIC? OR DO YOU SEE YOURSELF CONTINUING BEHIND THE BOARDS? I never left, new music coming this fall.

WHAT ARE THREE OF YOUR MOST MEMORABLE CAREER MOMENTS? IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH? 1. The first time that I had lunch with Tyler Joseph from Twenty One Pilots 2. The day I wrote “No” with Meghan [Trainor] 3. The first phone call I ever had with E-40. I was talked into getting my first pedicure.

I was on the shaky massage chair, and he called me. I was mortified and hesitantly admitted that that I was getting a pedicure. To which he responded something to the effect of “play on.”

t @w allpaper PHOTO: Hunter Garrett INTERVIEW: Jessica Klinner

PHOTO: Isaac Sterling INTERVIEW: Jessica Klinner

i @ w allpaper

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NOTEWORTHY NON-PROFIT

F O U N D E R Michael McCarron

L O C AT I O N Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City, Detroit and Buffalo

WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO START PUNK OUT? I started Punk Out in 2014 because I wanted, and still want, to improve the lives of queer teenagers. I saw myself in these kids. I was a high school teacher in the suburbs of Philly, and I would stand in the hallways chatting with students between classes and would come to learn about how courageous and resilient my LGBT+ students were. I also saw how some of the same terrors I experienced as a closeted gay teen a decade prior were still terrorizing queer teens today: bullying, lack of a support network, ignorance, etc. I started Punk Out to address those terrors but needed a way to get the message out. That’s where music came in. I decided to use music as a bridge to these kids.

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WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR MUSICIANS TO BE OPEN ABOUT THEIR SEXUALITY? AND WHAT RESPONSE HAVE YOU SEEN (POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE) ON HOW COMING OUT HAS AFFECTED LGBTQ+ FANS OF THOSE MUSICIANS? Being true to, and confident in, one’s self is essential for living a full and happy life. I’m no life coach, but I do believe that queer people live fuller, happier lives when they are out and proud for being whom they are. From a movement’s standpoint, the more queer folks who are out leads to greater social acceptance, empathy, and understanding. Musicians are role models. When a young closeted person sees their favorite musician on stage being true to themselves, that young

person will feel empowered to be true to who they are. I’ve heard from countless transgender people about the enormous positive impact Laura Jane Grace [of Against Me!] has had on their lives. The same can be said with Buddy Nielsen, Tegan and Sara Quin, Norman Brannon…the list goes on and on. When I was younger and struggling through what many closeted queer youth struggle through, I yearned for someone to look up to. Music was (and still is) my crutch, my outlet. If one of my favorite artists were out, I can only imagine the positive impact that would have had on my life. I want to make that as available as possible for today’s generation of queer youth.

YOU HAVE AN EVENT COMING UP ON APRIL 16TH WITH CITIZEN, TURNOVER, SORORITY NOISE, AND MILK TEETH CALLED THE PUNK OUT FOOD DRIVE IN PHILADELPHIA, PA. YOU HELD A SIMILAR EVENT LAST MONTH WITH CARLY RAE JEPSEN. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THESE MONTHLY EVENTS? DO THE PROCEEDS DIRECTLY GO TO PUNK OUT OR DO YOU PARTNER WITH A LOCAL ORGANIZATION EACH TIME? Our Punk Out Food Drives serve as an opportunity to bring much needed resources to local LGBT+ youth centers. 100% of what we collect goes to the center we’re serving. We believe in giving back to our communities and so do the artists, labels, and venues we partner with. We were lucky enough to work with Carly Rae Jepsen and Mr. Small Theatre in Pittsburgh to collect canned goods for the GLCC of Pittsburgh. It was a great success. We find that artists, labels, venues, and fans really respond to our calls to action, and we could not be any more grateful for their efforts! This month’s drive with Citizen and Sorority Noise will benefit the Attic Youth Center in Philly. It’s a center near and dear to our hearts here at Punk Out. They serve LGBT+ homeless youth. We’re so stoked to be working with them again!

WHAT DO YOU THINK MUSICIANS AND BANDS CAN DO TO HELP PROGRESS THE CONVERSATION ABOUT INCLUSIVENESS IN THE MUSIC SCENE? To be honest, we need musicians and bands to stop sitting on their hands or turning a blind eye to what is happening. We need musicians and bands to be more accountable for their fans’ actions and the environment at their shows. It’s so damn easy to put on food drives at shows. It’s super simple to run a fundraiser at a show. Pick an organization or a cause (doesn’t have to be Punk Out, although we’d love if you chose us!) and support the hell out of that cause. Music has so much power in our society. But it takes guts to stand up and leverage that power for good. We challenge musicians and bands to find the guts to stand up for those who need the most help.

t @ p un koutlgbt

i @ pun kou t lgbt

THIS DOESN’T SPECIFICALLY RELATE TO PUNK OUT, BUT IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK DISNEY HAS THREATENED TO STOP FILMING IN GEORGIA IF THE STATE PASSES AN ANTI-LGBT BILL. WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT THAT HUGE CORPORATIONS LIKE DISNEY TAKE A STAND ON THESE MATTERS? M-O-N-E-Y. When you have money, or you are the catalyst for money, you wield immense power and influence. With that power and influence comes social responsibility. I applaud Disney for taking a stand against discrimination.

HOW HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR WORK AS AN ORGANIZATION IMPACT THE MUSIC SCENE THUS FAR? It’s not my place to gauge how we’ve influenced the music scene. All I can do is look at what we’ve accomplished so far. We’ve collected tons of goods for local LGBT+ youth centers through our resource drives. We’ve forwarded the conversations surrounding inclusion and identity. We’ve worked tirelessly to support queer musicians and to provide them a platform. We’ve provided LGBT+ organizations access to various music communities. I focus on the small victories; the messages my team receives from a closeted lesbian in Kansas who asked her friends to donate money to us on her birthday instead of getting her presents. The bisexual pop-punk singer from Tennessee who hits us up and thanks us for existing.

That’s the sort of thing that I care about. That’s the impact I gauge.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF RUNNING PUNK OUT?

Without a doubt, it has been the privilege of working with such an amazingly caring and talented team. We are an allvolunteer organization. The work that my team does on a daily basis never ceases to put me in my place. Couldn’t do it without them. They are the continual highlight of my work running Punk Out.

HOW CAN PEOPLE GET INVOLVED WITH PUNK OUT? Head to our website and check out our “Get Involved” page.

It’s home to our open positions along with our volunteer form.

We’re always looking to add additional voices to our blog and Artist Corner. We’re all about providing a platform for diverse ideas and for moving the LGBT+ conversation forward. And if you’re in a band or part of a label or management company and you want to partner with us, we have an extensive partnership menu to choose from. Just shoot us an email at info@punkout.org and we’ll get the ball rolling.

INTERVIEW: Jenn Stookey and Jessica Klinner

f /pun k o ut lgbt

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A L O O K B A C K AT

HIGHLIGHT JESSICA KLINNER

Favorite Issue: #22 - Mayday Parade I’ve been a part of the Highlight team since the very first issue. In that time, I’ve interviewed countless bands, written many pieces, grown as a writer and made some incredible friends. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to put into words what Highlight truly means to me. Because of this publication, I realized what I want to do with my life, and for that, I am forever grateful. Though it’s sad to be closing the chapter on our monthly issues, it’s exciting to know that Highlight is not dead, that it can continue on and expose great artists within the music scene. There’s been a lot of work put into creating this monthly publication every month for the past four years, and it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come.

To Jenn: It’s been absolutely amazing getting to know you and working along side you on the editorial staff over the last year. Your hard work is inspiring, and I hope to be half the editor-in-chief that you have been for Highlight. Also, don’t think just because you’re leaving that you’re rid of Highlight! I will still be calling you up for advice and music recommendations ;) The future is looking bright, and I can’t wait to see where it leads you.

CARA BAHNIUK

Favorite Issue: #13 - Walk The Moon It is incredibly hard to pick a favorite issue over the past 50! I still remember where I was when Ashley texted me asking if I wanted to make this magazine with her. Many, many dates at Chili’s with chips and salsa followed suit when we put together all our ideas and made the first issue!

One issue that stands out to me personally is Issue 13 featuring Walk The Moon.

This issue will always be important to me because it was the first cover I shot!

Walk The Moon had been one of my favorite bands and it was so awesome to be able to work with them. (I also tore two ligaments in my shoulder leaving the shoot, so I will always remember it.) I really loved the issues we had that featured the widest array of bands. Highlight began as a place to feature all types of music, so every time we featured pop, indie, rock and everything in between, it really drove me back to why Highlight exists.

So much hard work has been put into creating this publication every month over the past four years – sometimes painful, but most times incredibly fun. I have watched my design grow over the years and I am so excited for the future and hope y’all stay put and follow us on the web!

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To Jenn: I have really enjoyed working with you over the past few years, especially since you took over as Editor in Chief. We have grown extremely close and work so well together. I know you will go on to great things and hope that we can still fan girl over 1D together whenever they get back together.

JENN STOOKEY

Favorite Issue: #34 - Echosmith My favorite issue is Issue #34, Artist of the Year 2014 featuring Echosmith. The photos our photographer Jordan Fischels took make the band look like they’re on the cover of Vogue. I was absolutely stunned when I first got the photos from her and I couldn’t have been more happy with how everything turned out. Plus, reading the story from a band who absolutely killed the game over the past year is always intriguing. I always love our December issues the most because we feature all sorts of cool features like a massive gift guide and our staff’s accumulated Top 10 Albums of the Year. It’s always fun creating an issue that has something extra.

N I C K YA C O VA Z Z I Favorite Issue: #38 - Cartel

It’s been a crazy journey working with Highlight. April will mark two years since joining the team as our Online Editor (now Managing Editor) and I couldn’t be more thankful to work with such a talented and hard-working staff. I would probably say my favorite issue we’ve done was #38 featuring Cartel. It was my first cover story for Highlight and I also had a chance to interview Kevin Lyman for the Industry Highlight after hearing him speak at Belmont University.

Both these interviews were from industry veterans from a musician and business perspective, and it was great to hear all the war stories and advice from such revered people.

To Jenn: Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to work with the team.

I’ve been honored to work as a part of our editorial group and I’m excited to see what you accomplish next. Also, I’m glad our friendship didn’t end over $20 of Marzipan ;)

BRIDJET MENDYUK

Favorite Issue: #31 - American Authors I had been looking to freelance for a while and after knowing some friends who wrote for Highlight (e.g. Geoff Burns, hey buddy!), I decided to give it a shot after contacting Ashley Osborn. To my surprise, Ashley, Courtney and Jenn were so incredibly welcoming. Oh Honey was my first piece and so much has changed since then; not in just the magazine, but myself as well. Jenn, Jess, Nick and the whole staff have made Highlight such an awesome place to express ourselves on paper. My love for music has only grown since that first interview and if it wasn’t for seeing it finished, I might’ve given up on my music journalism dreams. I owe a lot to Highlight and the people there, I hope to cross paths with them all again soon.

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A L LY F I S H E R

Favorite Issue: #41 - Catfish and the Bottlemen Not only was this my birthday month issue, I also got to write a feature on Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins! Talking to Stephan was probably the most surreal moment of my writing career thus far. He was so genuine, laid-back and just an overall really fun guy to talk to. This issue also introduced me to one of my now favorite bands, Catfish and the Bottlemen! Their sound is so great and Van McCann has such an incredible voice. Overall, the July 2015 issue of Highlight was a great issue. However, my favorite PIECE I’ve ever written for Highlight was the January 2016 (Issue #47) cover story for State Champs. I had been in love with State Champs since the summer and I was so ecstatic to get to review their new album Around the World and Back; then I found out I was able to write the cover story on them and amidst finals and endless projects, I interviewed lead singer Derek DiScanio and wrote up the story. It was probably the craziest, most stressful time of my life but I would not change any of it for the world. I cannot thank Highlight enough for all the opportunities they have given me and all the friends I’ve made through them (and will continue to take and make!)

JENNIFER BOYLEN

Favorite Issue: #40 - Young Rising Sons I’ve been writing for Highlight for years at this point. Since the launch of the magazine I made it my mission to be able to write for the publication at least once. Now, I can’t even count the number of stories and reviews I’ve had the privilege of putting my name on while working with such a talented group of people. Even while going through all of the issues to try and choose a favorite I was reminded of artists I had completely forgotten we’d featured so it was quite the trip down memory lane. Highlight has had so many amazing issues, but I would have to say my favorite it Issue #40 ft Young Rising Sons. I hadn’t written a cover piece in ages and I’m a huge fan of the band so being able to write that story was a great moment for me. My writing had also seriously improved since the last time I had the cover so that’s a bonus too. Not only did I enjoy writing about Young Rising Sons and one of my favorite music venues, Schubas Tavern, the entire issue is fantastic. It has an awesome assortment of artists, the photos are fantastic, and I’m totally obsessed with Jessica’s OP-ED “No Calm Walk to the Stage”-I’ve read it so many times. We’ve had a great run, Highlight-I can’t wait to see where we go now.

THERESA PHAM

Favorite Issue: #10 - The Maine Though I was not a Highlight writer at the time, this is by far my favorite issue because it was the first time that I met Ashley Osborn and got a firsthand look at how incredibly hardworking everyone was. I had previously heard about Highlight from writer Jen Boylen in passing, but it was not until after this interaction that I was determined to get involved. I had just started writing and photographing and my gut told me that there is something special about the team. Much has changed since then, but looking back, it is just crazy to think how one small interaction can change so much.

A NOTE FROM ASHLEY OSBORN - CO-FOUNDER OF HIGHLIGHT In 2011, I was a lost 19-year-old kid in her second year of college with the world’s biggest dreams and some unholy level of motivation to make them happen. Chicago had been good to me but I wanted to tour the world as a photographer and follow in the footsteps of everyone I looked up to at the time (Adam Elmakias, Tom Falcone, Megan Thompson, Jered Scott, to name a few). I had been photographing shows pretty much non-stop since the spring of 2010 and at this time the music photography market was nowhere near as saturated as it is now.

I wanted to create my own press outlet. One that I could use to build my career and build the career of others around me who had similar dreams to my own. I wanted to have a way to work one on one with artists and make more connections.

I wasn’t sure how to do it or where to start but I knew if we created an online based magazine for the scene we would be the only one of it’s kind around besides (NKD Mag).

So sometime that fall, I met with my friend McKenzie at our favorite downtown spot… Chili’s. We decided to make it happen and we began the early plotting stages. As we were walking down Michigan Avenue that night we decided to call it HIGHLIGHT because the base behind the magazine was going to be focusing on positivity and how artists overcame their struggles. We wanted to inspire young artists of all sorts with this magazine – that was our endgame. To show fans that the artists they look up to are simply human beings and that we all deal with struggles within our art.

The next step was building a staff. We sent out tweets, Facebook posts and reblogged for a week until we had enough submissions for an amazing staff. McKenzie and I brought on my friend, Cara, to do graphic design and to create the magazine because she had interned at Alternative Press before in their art department.

We began creating the website and reaching out to artists for the website launch. I had never felt so overwhelmed and had no idea where to begin. I became editor-in-chief of an online magazine with absolutely no clue what I was doing at the time besides having some social media experience and knowing how to send a press request. It was a true nervous, ‘Fake It Til You Make It,’ moment.

In January 2012, Cara and I went to House of Blues in Chicago for our first cover shoot with Silverstein I felt all kinds of pressure. The shoot was quick and easy, as was the interview but in the back of my mind I was terrified because it all seemed real at the time that we were doing this. I didn’t want it to fail. I felt like it was my only chance to make this work.

The issue came out February 22, 2012. It featured Silverstein, You Me At Six, Anarbor, Cassadee Pope, Dave Melilo and Dante. Our main album review was fun.’s ‘SOME NIGHTS’ and we featured Samii Ryan as well.

In 2013, I had to drop out of Columbia because it was too expensive. I spent the entire year working full time at Starbucks, shooting every show I possibly could and putting every second of my energy into Highlight. It was all that I had. My only hope. Highlight was my passion through the toughest time in my entire life. It was my rock and it gave me something to put all of my passion into. I don’t know where I would have ended up without it guiding me. The rest is history.

Along the way, I met this cool blonde chick outside of a William Beckett show at Schubas in Chicago. Her name was Jenn Stookey and after one conversation with her I saw myself. That unspeakable level of passion and motivation.

That willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve her dream. She had the kindest heart and the biggest bright eyes. She was so ready to step further into this world and that night I brought her onto the team. She would later become Highlight’s Editor-In-Chief and takeover for me.

Here I am four and a half years after this all began more thankful than ever because Highlight is the reason I am here.

I accomplished my wildest dreams and all I did was set out to achieve something. It was never easy but WE did it.

Nineteen year old Ashley Osborn would never in her wildest dreams thought that she would tour. She never thought she would mean anything to anyone. She thought her appearance would hold her back. She never knew that in 2013 she would get to spend a few days on Warped with Chiodos because she met Craig Owens through the magazine in 2012. Right after that she definitely didn’t think that she would complete her first full US tour with a small band from Lowell, Massachusets called… PVRIS. She never knew that in 2014 she would only spend 33 days at home in Chicago because she was touring the entire year.

She would probably laugh if you told her in 2015 she would be on tour with PVRIS for two weeks, get asked to finish the tour with Pierce The Veil, spend an entire summer working for Vans Warped Tour and finish up her year touring two continents alongside Bring Me The Horizon in the fall.

I don’t want to feel preachy but I can not stress how important it is to just set a goal for yourself. Dream up something wild. Preferably dream up something that you think is absolutely impossible and try and prove yourself wrong. Nothing in life is unobtainable. You owe it to yourself to chase your dreams and make the most out of this one life that you are given. I would never be where I am if I didn’t just take a chance and try something that I knew would make me happy (also stressed out).

Thank you to everyone who has followed my journey over the last five years. Who has read even a page of highlight. Who has worked on our staff. Who has sent us kind words. I am so thankful for all of you, this staff and everything Highlight has taught me along the way.

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H O M E Naugatuck, Connecticut N O W J A M M I N G Bliss C U R R E N T LY Gearing up for a couple of shows after just recently finishing their tour with Have Mercy

IT’S THE SECOND AND FINAL DAY at the So What?! Music Festival in Texas, and the guys in the indie-alternative band, A Will Away, are on their way to getting some food.

“Hey, man, can I call you back? We’re at Taco Bell, I’ll call you back in, like, two minutes,” says guitarist/vocalist Matt Carlson over the phone in mid-March.

His band was among the many acts included in the festival’s first day lineup, and the guys were enjoying the second day on their own. At the time of Highlight’s interview, A Will Away was also reaching the end of their two-week tour with Have Mercy, and, ironically enough, the day of the interview marked one year to the day since the release of Bliss, a fivesong EP that was initially released in March 2015 then rereleased through Triple Crown Records later that fall.

Hailing all of the way from Naugatuck, Connecticut, which according to the vocalist is only about an hour-long drive from New York City, there wasn’t much of music scene growing up.

“Over time, we’ve realized that we got older and got better at our instruments and got better as songwriters,” Carlson says.

“It was a natural progression toward writing more genuine, heart-felt centric music and that’s where we’ve gone.”

While there are a lot of hints of this change-in-sound mentality on their 2013 EP, Cold Weather, it came time to write for their follow-up EP, Bliss, which was produced by Gary Cioffi (Transit, Four Year Strong).

An entire full-length album was ready to be recorded until about three weeks before heading into the studio with Cioffi when the band decided to scrap the entire album.

“It just wasn’t there, man,” Carlson says. “None of us had a good gut feeling about (the songs) so we scrapped them.”

The five songs that were finalized for Bliss were written during that three-week period with the help of Cioffi, which Carlson says sort of were pulled out of thin air.

“…it became really apparent that without a little bit of hustle we weren’t going to be able to get anything done.”

“Believe it or not, it’s certainly nonexistent the music community where we’re from, well, I don’t want to say totally non-existent,” Carlson says, adding tat hometown and local shows consisted of performing in V.F.W halls and DIY spots until problems with the hardcore and post-hardcore bands caused those places to stop booking shows during the early 2000s. “For a long time we had a very hard time finding places to play and finding things to do because it was unavailable. We started the band as a group of guys who wanted to play and it became really apparent that without a little bit of hustle we weren’t going to be able to get anything done.”

The hustle mentality allowed the band to make connections with friends in the music industry and ultimately start playing shows outside of Connecticut, which Carlson says “you have to leave the state if you want to gain traction because there’s nothing in Connecticut that is going to help you get there.”

If you’ve ever listened to Bliss, a collection of indie-alternative structures and melodies, you would have never guessed these guys originally started as a pop punk band.

In their somewhat existent local scene, their pop punk element actually caused the band to gain some traction starting out, but with time and age, everyone’s music tastes evolved and it was time to start creating music that made sense to them.

“It happened almost on its own and almost materialized on its own organically,” Carlson adds.

He mentions that the trick to creating those songs was knowing what worked and what didn’t. The guys had practiced writing bad songs so many times during the making of Bliss that after scrapping the initial set of songs there was a clear path that opened to create better material.

“We finally sat down and felt like we had a good idea of what not to do,” Carlson says. “I think that’s more than half the battle is figuring out what not to do with a song.

I think it took a bit to figure that out when we sat down to write Bliss.”

Also at the time of Carlson speaking over the phone, A Will Away had just finished wrapping up a full-length album—the release date of which has not been announced. The guys decided to work with Cioffi again for the album because of how much they enjoyed working with the producer for Bliss.

Carlson starts explaining the concept behind the upcoming album, and it’s more than clear a lot of time was spent in the studio from the four piece trying to make it the best that it can be. He said the album is a natural progression from what Bliss consisted of— the EP is the beginning of a story about the realization of finding comfort in the pointlessness of life and the new record centers around attempting to keep search for that Bliss.

“We jumped into the new record like, ‘Okay, let’s keep searching, what’s the next step? What are some things in our lives that we want to talk about that have sort of naturally evolved out of this lyrical concept that we’ve been living with for the past year?’,” Carlson says, adding that Bliss had a major impact on the guys, and they wanted to do something more with the upcoming album because five songs just couldn’t entirely fulfill that concept.

As the phone conversation comes to an end, Carlson refers back to the upcoming album as something he wants people to listen to and be able to feel more emotions than just the stale feeling that originates from a love song.

“I think it’s sad that most music only targets one or two parts of the human experience and we decided to tackle the other sides of the human experience,” Carlson says. “I want people to take away from the whole experience of listening to the record that what they’re living through and find relatable isn’t strange or isn’t scary and it’s not anything that other people aren’t dealing with, as well.”

PHOTOS: Heather Phillips INTERVIEW & STORY: Geoff Burns

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AS FAR AS NEW AND EXCITING

bands go, LANY is the one to watch. They are to thank for the hit song “ILYSB,” which has had its share of plays all over, not only on music platforms but also in certain clothing shops, Hollister in particular. This last year has been a whirlwind for the band with their success growing practically overnight. They met through being neighbours in Nashville and were all working on their own music projects, until one day they joined forces for fun and found that it worked incredibly. Lead vocalist Paul Klein had moved across the country to L.A. to work as a solo artist, but then flew back to Nashville to stay with the other members, Les Priest and Jake Goss, to see what they could create together. They first released their music on SoundCloud with no followers and no expectations. It was a massive surprise when the songs they released, “Hot Lights” and “Walk Away,” received such great feedback when they were put out last April and now have over 10,000 plays between them on SoundCloud. At first, the band members hadn’t publicised their identities simply because they couldn’t anticipate the reaction and saw it unnecessary.

“We had no idea. We didn’t have any expectations that anyone would ever listen,” Klein said. “We uploaded our songs to zero people on SoundCloud, so it wasn’t deliberate to remain anonymous, just there was no reason not to be.

We just put songs out and that changed pretty quick.”

They went on to release two EP’s in 2015, I Loved You followed by Make Out, which has became very popular.

Fans of the band have had especially positive reactions to the latter, with the song “ILYSB” now reaching over 8 million plays on Spotify. Although the releases have been successful and widely loved, the band themselves still feel relatively unknown.

“It’s amazing that you can have 8 million plays but still so many people not know who you are,” Klein said. “We’re really just a blip on the map at this point.”

The whole writing and recording process is entirely done

by LANY themselves. They have a studio in their bedroom and mix and master everything themselves, which has to be commended.

“The benefit is being able to get it exactly how you want it,” Klein said. “We produce everything ourselves and we mix everything ourselves. All the creative control is in our hands, that’s super important.”

There are plans for a full-length album from the band, but they intend to keep the same process of recording and not outsourcing to studios or other producers.

“We’ll continue to do it ourselves, we’d like to do it ourselves for as long as we can,” Klein commented. As they say, why fix something that isn’t broken?

This year they have scored some impressive gigs supporting Troye Sivan across North America and have currently just finished a U.K. arena tour with Ellie Goulding. It must be incredible to play in such large venues only a year after releasing music, whilst still feeling unknown.

“It’s been interesting,” Klein said. “We’re the first band of three acts so we have played to pretty much empty arenas.

So it’s okay, we have 25 minutes, and we get about a 5 minute soundcheck. It’s awesome to be out here and have this experience and get in front of more people than usual but it’s definitely not the greatest thing in the whole world.”

The band will be embarking on their first headline tour in May across North America and it won’t be one to miss.

“We’re really excited about it. It’s something we’ve never done before,” Klein mentioned. “It’ll be cool to be in a room with people who know who we are and are there to hear us, that’ll be an incredible feeling. We’re trying to add some production right now, some lighting and some backdrops to try to make it a richer experience. And we’ll play more songs than we would when we’re supporting someone.”

LANY have an incredible amount of drive behind them.

Although they may seem to have been lucky in becoming popular, it is completely down to hard work and they’re not going to stop.

“We want to be playing for as many people as possible, on this arena tour. It’s not that fun as it would be if we were playing arenas that were full, to people who knew who we were,” Klein said. “That would be the goal one day, to travel around the world and play to as many people as possible.

We’re a pop band and we’re not interested in trying to be indie for indie’s sake or try to be too cool, just to be too cool.

We’re not ashamed and we’re not scared to admit that we want to make music for as many people as possible, play for as many people as possible, but also stay true and honest to our artistic convictions and make cool music that we really believe in. “ Even in their short time as a band they have not been exempt from dealing with the struggles that every artist is faced with.

They are admittedly struggling with the writing of the fulllength album, which is to be expected, as it’s an entirely new experience for them.

“We’re working on our debut record and trying some different things and trying to sound a little bit different.

It’s been extremely frustrating. Every band or artist will go through times of experimenting and wondering if they need to try something new,” Klein stated. “LANY just needs to be LANY. When you write a song as big as “ILYSB” and that’s your third song, it’s kind of daunting to release a debut record and live up to something like that. The pressure is getting to us, but we’re continuing to write music the way we’ve always made it. We just need to know our lane, stay in our lane and be LANY.”

H O M E Los Angeles, California N O W J A M M I N G “WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS” C U R R E N T LY Prepping for a summer full of shows and festival appearances PHOTOS: Lori Gutman INTERVIEW & STORY: Megan Young HIGHLIGHTMAGAZINE.NET - 29

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H O M E Macclesfield, England N O W J A M M I N G “Motherless Land” C U R R E N T LY Gearing up for the release of their sophomore album, Divides

OUT MAY 6, DIVIDES, THE HIGHLY

anticipated upcoming album from the Virginmarys, shows a new side and sound of the rock band from Macclesfield, England. Members Ally Dickaty (vocals, guitar), Danny Dolan (drums) and Matt Rose (bass, vocals) took some time out of their busy tour schedule to talk about the album’s inspiration and influences and why they believe Divides is their best release yet.

GOING INTO THIS NEW ALBUM, DID YOU HAVE A VISION OF THE OVERALL SOUND YOU WANTED TO ACHIEVE OR DID THAT ALL COME ALONG AS YOU BEGAN WRITING THE NEW MATERIAL? Danny Dolan: I think there were definite distinctions that were made consciously between our first record and this one, a huge one being the lyrical content and subject matter on this album. There’s a lot more of a punk ethos prevalence, and it’s more gritty than King of Conflict.

Purely from a drum perspective, I think I was trying to keep my mind set on post-punk band grooves and back beats, like Joy Division and Television, rather than using more [traditional] rock 4/4 rhythms on a lot of the tracks.

Matt Rose: I think we knew we wanted it to be more than just a King of Conflict part 2. We certainly had an idea of it still being the three of us playing, but to have a few more layers added to it gave the tunes a bit more depth and texture. It sounds like quite a pretentious answer, but that’s the truth!

Ally Dickaty: We wanted it to cut through everything else that’s out there and have the same energy and intensity of the live show, as well as being able to hear the musicianship clearly. I really love Matt’s bass lines and Danny’s drumming is unique and incredible. It was really important to me that his fills and general style came out.

Gil Norton’s always been able to get songs to really rock hard through the speaker, but also have that clarity too. He seems to be the master of layering things perfectly, and it was amazing working with him.

WAS A LOT OF THE WRITING FOR THIS ALBUM DONE ON THE ROAD OR WAS THERE TIME SET ASIDE IN YOUR SCHEDULE THAT ALLOWED YOU to actually sit down and write?

DD: Whenever we finish touring and go home to Macclesfield, we normally have about a week away from each other, and we literally just won’t speak or see each

other at all. The following week, however, we get straight back in the studio and start jamming over any new ideas that Ally brings to the table.

For this record, over the space of around 18 months, we’d amassed 30 plus new song ideas, and from there, we whittled them down to the 12 that have made this record.

MR: Well, it’s Ally that writes the songs and then comes to Danny and I in the studio where we develop them further so I did my part of the writing in the studio.

AD: It’s a bit of both really. I’ll always write lines down on my phone, and whenever I pick up a guitar anywhere, I tend to start writing. We had a load of songs to choose from this time around and worked with Gil to pick the best album out of the lot.

HAS TOURING AND HAVING A REALLY BUSY SCHEDULE INFLUENCED YOUR MUSIC AT ALL? DD: For me, being on the road and discovering new music you get to see always has and always will have an influence on where my head is at that particular time. Sometimes, there’s nothing better then when you’ve not heard anything interesting for ages and then, all of a sudden, you’re watching a band you’ve never heard of and they blow you away - there’s always something to be taken away from shows like that.

MR: I guess, in some ways, it does as you’re seeing all these different places and hearing and seeing different things. It might not be a direct influence, but I think there’s certainly parts that come through.

AD: It must have, it certainly affects your state of mind and that tends to be where lyrical content and the overall vibe will come from. I think what you’re experiencing is always going to influence your music.

AS THIS IS A FOLLOW UP FROM KING OF CONFLICT, WERE THERE ANY GOALS YOU WANTED TO ACCOMPLISH WITH DIVIDES THAT YOU NECESSARILY DIDN’T WITH YOUR LAST ALBUM? DD: With King of Conflict, we made a series of three EPs over three years, which essentially made up the bones of that record so we kind of knew what songs were going to be on it. With Divides, we had so many different types of songs to choose from that it made for more variety on the album. We could’ve chosen twelve of the most similar “rock” songs we had, but in the end, we wanted it to feel more like a roller coaster in terms of not knowing where the next song would take you.

MR: I think, for me, I wanted to see a progression in the band and our music for this album, and I certainly think we’ve achieved that. I think you can hear it in Ally’s lyrics, too.

AD: We wanted to take more time with this one and mix it up a bit. We wanted to use more harmonies and layers on this, and as much as we love the debut, we wanted to record something different this time.

HOW LONG WERE YOU GUYS IN THE STUDIO FOR BEFORE THE ALBUM WAS COMPLETED?

DD: We started pre-production at the beginning of March and then from there, we went straight to Rockfields Studios in Wales and were there for about two months recording the backing tracks. Following that, we went to Eve Studios in Manchester for the majority of the vocals and overdubs.

All in all, I’d say it was around 3 months.

WERE THERE ANY PARTICULAR SONGS ON THIS ALBUM THAT YOU FOUND EASY TO WRITE AND RECORD AND WERE THERE ANY THAT YOU FOUND PARTICULARLY CHALLENGING?

DD: For me, there were four tracks that I wasn’t particularly looking forward to in terms of the speed and all the different back-beat arrangement within them. Of course, as luck would have it, they were the first four we recorded in a row, so it was a bit of a baptism of fire right from the off for me. I think, apart from two tracks, all the other master drum tracks were recorded after midnight which is a bit like how Ringo did his, I guess? [Laughs.]

MR: There were two song that I remember spending a particular amount of time on. The first was “Walk in My Shoes.” It’s not that it’s a complicated bass line, but more the fact that for the tune, we decided to use one of Gil’s bass guitars (I think it was a Fender Precision) because we felt that the tone of it suited the song. It was an amazing bass to play, but for some reason, it just wouldn’t stay in tune! Because of this, I ended up having to play the intro, then stop, tune up, then play the first chorus, stop, tune up, then play the first verse…..you get the idea, hey?

The second track was the last tune on the album, “Living in My Peace.” After the final chorus, we go into a long outro where there’s quite a lot of bass runs and drum fills. I think we only did two or three takes before we got it, but every time we did it, the runs I did changed. It was decided that the best thing to do would be to go back over the outro, pick out the best bass runs and overdub them, which is easier said than done. I think we started at about 9 p.m. and eventually finished at about 2 a.m.! Again, they’re not complicated runs, but it was all about trying to get the feel and vibe of when they were originally played that definitely got tougher as it got later.

AD: I think they all had a similar amount of time to write.

Recording them was fairly quick and painless, apart from the last song “Living In My Peace,” which took a long time, but it’s the epic of the album. I remember tearing my hair out because I couldn’t master this slide part, must have done it over 25 times because I kept messing it up. Also, I don’t think it ever got used either! I’ve never mentioned that to Gil, almost like we’d never speak about it again after that night.

IF YOU HAD TO PICK ONE SONG THAT ENCOMPASSES THE OVERALL SOUND AND MESSAGE OF THE ALBUM, WHICH ONE WOULD IT BE AND WHY? DD: If I’m being honest, it’s difficult to choose one that would show off the overall sound. For instance, the first track we released to the fans was “Into Dust” followed by “Motherless Land,” and I think after you hear “Into Dust,” the last thing you’d be expecting next would be “Motherless Land.” I love that about the album, but if I had to choose one that sums up the message on the album, it would have to be “Moths To A Flame.” I am really happy that one made it onto the record.

MR: For me, I love “Falling Down,” so much so that I actually dreamt about it last night! I think the energy, aggression and intensity in the song and the lyrics really encompass what the Virginmarys are all about. However, I don’t think I could pick one particular song that covers the whole album.

AD: That’s a difficult question as the album is a bit of a crazy ride. I would say “For You My Love” and “Free To Do Whatever They Say” are tracks I’d play for someone off the album.

The message is generally staying true, thinking for yourself and speaking out for the beaten down that society treats the worst. It’s a calling for unity.

YOU ARE A VERY ACTIVE BAND ACROSS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ESPECIALLY WITH DANNY’S DIARY ON FACEBOOK. HOW HAVE SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES IMPACTED YOUR BAND (POSITIVELY OR NEGATIVELY) AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE A STRONG PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA? DD: To be honest, I think the arrival of social media for artists has had both a positive and negative impact. On one hand, it’s fantastic that you, as an artist, can connect so directly to your audiences and your fans know that it’s coming directly from you. On the downside, it has taken away some of the mystery of musicians, and it’s kind of become a given that all bands must be active all the time on social media. I do think some bands can get lost in all the social media side though and actually forget the most important bit which is making great music. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened to us.

MR: Personally, I’m not! However, social media has been great in helping to spread the word about the band and has also helped to create a ‘fan community’ which is incredible. We’re fortunate enough to have a VM’s Street Team, who are constantly plugging us, supporting us online and spreading the word. It’s really amazing and we’re so grateful. It’s kind of like flyer-posting but online. Less paper waste!

AD: I think the industry has changed so much that it’s difficult to succeed without being on the social networks and spreading the word, as that seems to be where most people pick stuff up from. It’s amazing for keeping fans up to date and spreading your message to a large audience.

It’s also cool to keep in touch with fans. There are ups and downs with anything though and a lot of the mystery isn’t there anymore. Everything is so accessible and at hand, I think a lot of the excitement and romance has been taken away.

PHOTOS: Courtney Coles INTERVIEW & STORY: Rachael Dowd

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H O M E Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas N O W J A M M I N G “ Same Air” C U R R E N T LY On tour across the United States

“I LOVE HIGH-ENERGY ROCK MUSIC, SO I WAS TRYING TO [LAUGHS]—I’M CRACKING MYSELF UP, I’M REALLY, REALLY SORRY. I’M NOT EVEN FINISHING SENTENCES. IT’S SO WEIRD.” A groggy Bryce Avary of the Rocket Summer was up until 4 a.m. the night before our interview playing a packed house with hundreds of fans on his first tour in over two years. His newest record, Zoetic via Aviate Records, has received nothing but praise since its February release. With a humble laugh, he says he is going to drink some coffee and is “so sorry” for his apparent sleepiness. He thanks me more than once during the interview; he is gracious. For a solo act, he only speaks of great things about everyone else and his fans are at the top of the list.

“I can’t even put into words how good it felt to reunite and reconnect with our fans who mean everything to me,” Avary said. “It felt so good to hear [fans] singing the new songs just as loud as the old stuff. This community we have for The Rocket Summer, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

The community we have, the friendships; there’s just a lot of love. Something about [the show] felt like we were playing the biggest show of our lives. Every person in the room had a real connection.”

Avary says this about all of the shows on this tour, he even mentions that this tour is the highlight of his career. Raw and in-the-moment, Avary emits a bouncing quality with Zoetic, a record experimenting with 90s hip-hop samples and electronic beats not previously found in the Rocket Summer’s catalog. It’s hyper, it’s catchy and it’s booming.

Avary really pushed himself with this record, which he’s been sitting on for almost two years. After writing more than 100 songs since 2014, he went into the studio to do something different— he grew. The songs that made the cut represent Avary’s present clarity and uplifting personality more than anything he’s ever done.

“I tried new things,” Avary explained. “Instead of just drums, bass, guitar and piano, I got into sampling more things and crazy effects. I tried to make really bizarre and beautiful music that way. It kind of means the beginning of more freedom and artistic expression.”

The single, “Same Air,” was written in a “moment of clarity” when Avary “saw the world for what it is and how we’re all connected.” The songs off the record hold their weight in sheer playback impulse; each song is a track you could rewind over and over again. “Cold War,” “UNI” and “Help Me Out” are all thunderous yet delicate intro tracks that showcase Avary’s soul to the world. Raw guitar, electric tones and touches of eccentric notes from various instruments, Avary turns the tables with Zoetic. Recalling writing the record, Avary said he revisited his favorite

bands (The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead) to capture the moments he remembers as the first time he fell in love with punk rock.

“The way [“Same Air”] comes out has a high-energy, explosive rock sound instead of solo,” Avary said. “I think when I was younger, the stuff I was into, like the Smashing Pumpkins, I fell back in love with those songs for this record.

I recaptured the emotion I felt when I first picked up that guitar. I wanted to make a record that had more edge to it.

It wasn’t super intentional, it just happened naturally.”

Avary is caring in ways music is therapeutic; he comes from a safe place of love. The Zoetic tour isn’t just about his record, it’s about what the Rocket Summer represents.

Playing more songs off Calendar Days and Hello, Good Friend to Life Will Write The Words, it’s all a part of the bigger picture for Avary. He mentions looking forward to “every single night [of this tour], just trying to soak it all in.”

“I’ve always written from my heart,” Avary explained. “You want to have success, but I never got too into just doing whatever I need to do to have a hit. That push and pull has been difficult. I demanded to stay true to the art. If you’re creating from a raw place, people will relate to that. I feel like that’s just always been my motto.”

Joking about his sleepiness again, Avary recalls playing Orlando, Florida, a few days earlier. He said it was “one of the most special shows” he’s ever played; it was one of those “we were there” moments, where “everything was happening.” From playing acoustic and piano-clad songs 10-13 years ago to sampling hip-hop beats, the Rocket Summer has worn many hats in the scene. Standing in the moment of Zoetic, Avary said hearing fans sing songs off his newest record just as loud as “the old stuff” is something he takes with him every day. Before he signs off, he says “thank you so much” again.

“Every night of this tour feels like the first time you can look up and [feel like] you’ve made it,” Avary said. “Not because you’re a big star, but the spirit in the room is a tangible thing that I wish I could bottle up. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about this tour that feels like you can look back on how much has gone into this over the years.”

PHOTOS: Rachel Kober INTERVIEW & STORY: Bridjet Mendyuk HIGHLIGHTMAGAZINE.NET - 39

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Coming from humble beginnings, playing music as teenagers in their parents garages in Sydney, Australia, Tonight Alive has evolved into one of the most exciting and inspired bands in music.

The band has undoubtedly paid their dues to get to where they are today. Initially, they were touring extensively in a van with no back seats across Australia. After a year of solid touring in the most basic conditions, it was no surprise that their energy and health declined. However, there was little time to recover as the release of their first album, What Are You So Scared Of?, was on the horizon. This album led to tours across Europe, Asia and North America— during which they were writing for their second album, The Other Side. This release allowed the band to feel rejuvenated, and they went all over the world and continued to provide some of the most energetic and raw stage shows with their musical abilities corresponding exactly live as on record.

In March 2016, Tonight Alive released their brand new album, Limitless, which completely redesigned their style of music and is some of their most powerful work to date.

As a band, Tonight Alive is completely reshaping our perceptions of pop rock music. With Jenna McDougall’s powerhouse vocals making their music stand out, Tonight Alive is definitely a force to be reckoned with. The release of Limitless has proved that they are not limited to simply being a generic example of the pop rock genre, but they have the capacity to evolve successfully. The album has been a long time coming— it was initially supposed to be released by the end of 2015, but the band saw no need to rush the process and potentially sacrifice the quality of the record.

“I do think that this album represents us more than anything we’ve done in the past really accurately and is most genuine to this moment that we’re in at this point in time,” McDougall said. “Our last record we really wanted to sound nostalgic of our high school taste, but when we started writing for Limitless, we were repeating what we’d done before so we had to make a conscious decision to create something that was fresh for us and exciting [and] that we’re happy to play for the next two years or 10 years or however long our career will go.”

Every band will evolve at some point in their career and begin to provide something fresh and different. This was the case for Limitless. After listening to a different kind of music that was stripped back, such as Coldplay’s album Ghost Stories, Tonight Alive consciously made a decision to change the way they had previously written music.

“Every instrument has its own voice, nothing is competing with each other, nothing is overly layered and it was our formula in the past to overlap our guitars are create a wall of sound,” McDougall explained. “The first time we created this sound for ourselves was with ‘Human Interaction.’”

Limitless was produced by David Bendeth, one of the most influential and appreciated producers in the industry.

Bendeth has previously produced albums by Bring Me The Horizon, Killswitch Engage and Paramore. Whilst saying they were not intimidated by Bendeth’s past work, Tonight Alive admitted it was his presence that made him intimidating.

“He didn’t waste any time jumping into mind games and really testing us and that was before we’d even picked up any instruments,” bassist Cam Adler said. “I think we spent a whole day just listening to the songs that we had in the room. Before we touched instruments, he already had us questioning ourselves and really put us in defence from the go. We went through a lot of turmoil with him, but now that its finished we can look back on it and we have a love for him and we understand that the moments that weren’t our favourites in the recording process are some of the most pivotal and important moments that shaped the record.”

Although they already had songs written for this new sound that was brought to life on Limitless before being guided by Bendeth, they weren’t sure how to execute it.

“He made pulling off the new sound achievable and comfortable for us,” McDougall said. “It was really painful at the start ‘cause we only know one way of playing music, and we’ve been in this band since we were 16/17 years old so we’ve not experimented with our abilities before.

With writing the record, there were a lot of times when we were afraid of the sounds coming out. But that was another conscious decision to stop putting a lid on our possibilities and he encouraged that.”

McDougall has previously said that Limitless changed her life and is the most personal album to her. As far of choosing a favourite lyric, she chose the first verse of , “Power Of One,” which she says sums up herself and the record. The lyric says, “Exercising free will and choice, not living in fear.” This is evident of the band’s positive messages they

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send into the world. McDougall is known for making some of the most inspiring speeches during live performances, encouraging people to show respect to others and themselves, to be yourself, to not live in fear of judgement.

These morals and messages are clear throughout Limitless, making it an extremely powerful album.

Prior to the release of Limitless, four singles were released— “Human Interaction,” “To Be Free,” “Drive” and “How Does It Feel.” Each of the singles released represents different sides to the album. They were perfect examples of the extreme diversity of each song to others on the album and to the band’s past work. Although the reaction was somewhat slow to the new songs, it was never negative. The fans are extremely dedicated and supportive of this new direction that has been taken.

“I feel the only way you can get a holistic perception of anything is to see it, feel it and hear it at the same time,” McDougall commented. “Being at our shows is a whole body experience, you want to tap into emotion, physical, mental, everything at once. So the songs have really translated well live, and I want to keep incorporating more songs into the set, but we’ve got a long cycle ahead of us so we’ll save some stuff for later.”

Currently, Tonight Alive are on a world tour in suppot of Limitless. They have already toured through Australia, Europe and the U.K. They have just finished the Fight For Something Tour in North America, which they co-headlined with Set It Off. “We’ve never co-headlined a tour before so even the concept of the Fight For Something Tour was really cool,” McDougall said. “We’re both bands that preach a positive message on stage and in our lyrics.”

Jenna loved the theme for the tour as she believed it was relevant to what resonates within herself.

“I’m always fighting for freedom, and freedom of expression is always the biggest part of my life,” she said. “That’s where my confidence and my happiness and my internal power comes from is by being expressive and feeling free to do that. I think you have to create your own freedom sometimes because you’re not always handed it. Even your home life might be depriving you of some types of freedom and even yourself, your mind, sometimes your own judgement of yourself gets in the way. I’m always fighting for personal, emotional freedom.”

Every band faces struggles in their careers, especially if they’ve been together for eight years like Tonight Alive.

They have faced many health issues along the way, which are increased due to the non-stop nature of their touring

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and recording schedules. Along with health though, the other main struggle that they have faced is trust.

“Our trust has been betrayed a few times from people that we’ve worked with, lucky for us we have each other,” Adler said. “We’ve never had an internal trouble in the band, never been any fighting between the five of us. It’s always been an external thing.”

Tonight Alive has accomplished so much in their time as a band. They were part of the last ever Soundwave festival in their home country, and they managed to play The Other Side in its entirety in London. However as great as some of their accomplishments are, they still appreciate the simple things in life.

“Every step forward is a highlight,” McDougall said. “Even shows on this tour and last month in the U.K., I feel like there are times I will never forget and I hope I’ll never forget. I think in general you’re just a more happy and grounded person if you can be thankful for small things along the way and not wait for these massive moments in life because you

“ Being at our shows is body experience, you into emotion, physical, everything at once.” can have moments every single day if you choose to see it like that. We’re really grateful for every day. I believe since being on tour and putting out the new songs [I am] so much happier and more whole. I have so much intention and purpose behind what I’m doing, not that I didn’t before. I feel like I have more of a reason, and I have more to give through the new music.”

Tonight Alive is only going to become more successful in the years to come. They have so much to offer both to music and the world. With the positive vibes they promote, they are a great inspiration. Tonight Alive will be returning to North America soon to embark upon Warped Tour over the summer, so make sure to be there and catch an explosive show.

PHOTOS: Lori Gutman INTERVIEW & STORY: Megan Young

a whole want to tap mental,

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accurately and is most genuine to this moment that we’re in at this point in time.”

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ANTHONY GREEN AND SAOSIN

sit outside Cannery Ballroom soaking up the sunlight. Decked out in tight jeans and designer sunglasses, you would think that he’d be your average Nashvillian hipster, and not one of the musicians who helped define the modern era of posthardcore. With a musical career spanning a decade and two trendsetting bands intertwined with a highly revered solo project, Anthony Green’s reunion with Saosin is a return to his roots. Like LeBron James, he’s coming home.

Saosin formed in the early 2000s and featured Green, the group’s current members, Alex Rodriguez and Beau Burchell and former members Justin Shekoski and Zach Kennedy.

Initially, the group was poised for success. They released their debut EP, Translating The Name, (no doubt a jab at the Myspace messages received asking what the hell the name Saosin meant), and earned a slot on a full U.S. tour while murmurs began to surface of Saosin becoming “the next big thing.” That is of course, until the arrival of Circa Survive.

In 2004, after much deliberation, Green decided to part with Saosin to fully focus on Circa Survive— a tumultuous decision that ultimately left the group hanging in the balance of ambiguity and the unknown, the band wasn’t quite sure of its identity. It wasn’t until the arrival of now former vocalist Cove Reber that Saosin’s essence was revealed. The band’s 2006 self-titled LP skyrocketed the group to relevance. In an era dominated by post-hardcore and punk heavyweights such as Senses Fail, 30 Seconds To Mars, My Chemical Romance and of course Circa Survive, Saosin earned a reputation for its raw, emotional talent. The group went on to perform across the U.S. and internationally on the 2006 Taste of Chaos Tour, their first shows outside of the country.

In the years following the self-titled release, Saosin turned its attention to touring and live performances. Heading out on tour with groups such as Poison The Well, Alexisonfire and even earning a spot on Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution Tour, the band had a three-year gap between original content releases, providing only a live EP, Come Close, to satisfy the Saosin withdrawals.

In 2009, the group released their second full-length album, In Search Of Solid Ground. Receiving unprecedented success, the album tore through the charts and through listeners’ ears. The album ultimately peaked on Billboard’s Top 200 at #19 and climbed its way to the top of Billboard’s alternative charts before nesting at a comfortable #4. With two EPs and two full-lengths under their belt at that moment in time mixed with countless national and international tours, it would seem that Saosin’s search for solid ground had finally come to an end. Unfortunately, the next five years would dictate otherwise.

In 2010, Reber departed from the group, leaving the band in ambiguity once again. The band entered an indefinite hiatus, intermittently working on new material but never

going past demos. The band’s future became even more uncertain, and the expectation of new music began to dwindle.

Enter Anthony Green.

Saosin flirted with the return of Green by bringing him on for a string of dates at the end of 2014 and into early 2015. Playing shows across the U.S., the band performed two new songs, which were written during the five-year hiatus. While the writing was on the wall, the band never truly admitted that Green was back in the mix until later in 2015. Once the lineup was solidified, the group kicked it into high gear, releasing their single and video for “The Silver String” and announcing that their new album, Along The Shadow, would be slated for a late spring release.

When asked about his return to Saosin and his departure from the band over a decade ago, Green cited his hunger for new music and the bands insatiable desire to keep creating and performing as the perfect combination for a reunion.

“I had definitely wanted to make heavier music for awhile now and the guys kept wanting to play music in a more casual manner, and it was as if obsession and opportunity met at the perfect moment for all of us,” Green said.

Green also conceded that the new music, as well as a possible reunion between the two parties had been in the works since Reber’s departure in 2010.

“We started talking about it a long time ago around the time when Cove and them split. We decided that if this reunion was something that was meant to be that it would be worth taking it’s time,” Green said. “We sort of picked up right where we left off. We played some shows to get the hang of our old songs and went back to our old process.

The guys would send music out, I would add vocals to it and take it from there,” Green added. “Everyone was inspired by each other’s momentum.”

While Green’s return to the group is a semblance of coming home, he insists that the new direction of Saosin is not a return to the past. “ I don’t believe anything grows backwards. Everything is always moving forward, so there wouldn’t be any point in capturing something that happened a long time ago or trying to revamp anything,” Green said. “If there’s anything similar to what it was a decade ago, it’s that we love making music and we never quit that. Trees grow from the ground up and people don’t grow back in time, we’re always moving forward and I think [we] got lucky finding each other at the right time and that the passion was still there.”

PHOTOS: Sam Polonsky INTERVIEW & STORY: Nick Yacovazzi

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H O M E New York, New York N O W J A M M I N G “Island” from The Color Before The Sun C U R R E N T LY Just wrapped up The Color Before The Sun Tour

FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS, Coheed and Cambria have created music that is melodic, complex and full of stories. Seven of the band’s studio albums have not only displayed their pop-tinged progressive rock, but the band’s ability to interweave an ongoing tale through that music. With a long string of concept albums and even companion comic series, Coheed and Cambria’s very identity is closely tied to these stories.

In 2015, though, after inspiring personal life experiences, singer and guitarist Claudio Sanchez felt compelled to create an album that broke free of the concept—that album was The Color Before The Sun. Sanchez presented his fellow bandmates— guitarist Travis Stever, bassist Zach Cooper and drummer Josh Eppard— with a few more personal songs, and the band was settled on moving forward in the new direction. For their eighth studio album, Coheed and Cambria created their first non-concept record.

“I think that [Sanchez] had so much going on in his life that he felt like it would speak more coming from outside the concept. He felt more comfortable being a little bit more exposed with this record,” Stever says of Sanchez’s writing process.

While the band never shied away from personal subject matters on previous albums, for the first time in their career, the band would release material that was honest and stripped down without an overarching story tied in. The Color Before The Sun would be Coheed and Cambria’s most personal record yet.

“All the songs on prior albums are from a real place, they mirrored life experiences, but with this record, it felt like it just made more sense to remove any of the conceptual bubble,” Stever expresses.

Beyond just its lyrical content, The Color Before The Sun sets itself apart in its recording process. To put the album together, the band gathered in a room, playing tracks together in their entirety, completely live.

“Most of those straight through performances are what ended up being the record,” Stever explains. “It’s not something that people do that often now and it definitely brings a new vibe to our music.”

Taking this new approach, the band did have to conquer a few mental hurdles. Despite a bit of initial uncertainty, the band found that this was a method that clicked for them and for this album in particular.

“I think that the recording it live, not that it was a struggle or not that it was like a huge challenge in the end, but it was more about being comfortable with trying it,” Stever says.

“Once we tried it and we were a couple of songs in, we were just like ‘Wow, this is really working’.”

With such a lyrical and conceptual change of pace, it would be easy to think that fan support would be on the line. For Coheed and Cambria, though, they knew that they need to try this new direction and had faith that their fans and supporters would stay along for the ride despite the changes.

According to Stever, going into the album “was more just like ‘We’re going to do this, we’re going to do it different and people will accept it’… I think that’s one of the things that we’re always super excited about with our band, and what makes us feel really lucky, is that our fans accept the different approaches we take with every record and how we take those chances.”

That dedication from fans is not something the band takes lightly. In fact, the band owes their own livelihood to the continual support of their fans.

“The fact is that we’re not able to make this art unless [the fans are] there. Therefore, they can take just as much pride in what we create as we do,” Stever says.

And as Coheed and Cambria embarked on their national The Color Before The Sun Tour in support of the new album, this fan encouragement was more than clear.

“All the songs are personal, specifically lyrically for Claudio, but musically each of us put our heart and soul into every note. [The set is] a mixed bag of songs that we love to go out and play, and our new songs fit perfectly with it,” Stever expresses. “All in all, every night has been such an incredible response. It’s been really rewarding to be part of this tour.”

Over the years, the band has grown into their sound and who they are as individuals. While the future is wide open for Coheed and Cambria, The Color Before The Sun has become very representative of where they are at in their career and in their lives right now.

“We’re all kind of growing and getting more comfortable in our skin… It’s kind of like the point in your life where you accept ‘this is who I am’,” Stever explains. “The honesty is there with ourselves. I think this record, being so honest and being so exposed, live and straight from the heart, it represents the band in a lot of ways.”

PHOTOS: Sam Polonsky INTERVIEW & STORY: Annette Hansen

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H O M E Scottsdale, Arizona N O W J A M M I N G Stories For Monday C U R R E N T LY Preparing for a US headlining tour in support of their new album

“ T h i s i s i t , t h i s i s u s . Here we are, take it or leave it.”

That’s how Brian Dales, lead singer of the Summer Set, describes the mentality behind his band’s latest album, Stories for Monday. It’s been three years of soul searching and difficult decisions that led them to where they are today— releasing their first album in three years and headlining a tour across the U.S. But the road to the album release wasn’t paved with gold, or silver, or bronze. In fact, it was filled with bumps and sharp turns, unexpected hurdles and bad directions. Before we begin though, let’s take it back to the basics.

“I’m a bit too pop for the punk kids, but I’m too punk for the pop kids. I don’t know just where I fit in.”

Though it’s hard to believe now, Dales didn’t always want to be a singer. As an accomplished high school athlete with a promising future in sports, he never even considered music as a possible career path; it was just something he did for fun.

In fact, he found his love of performing after enlisting himself to play the acoustic stage at his high school’s Battle of the Bands. He cites this as the moment he realized that music had the potential to play a pivotal role in his future plans.

“Singing was never necessarily the intention,” Dales says.

“Also music as a career was really something just in my conscience. I had a lot of promise athletically, and I played a lot of sports growing up. I come from a family of athletes.

Music was always more in the back of my mind even though it’s subconsciously what I always really wanted.”

It wasn’t until his senior year of high school that Dales connected with Jess Bowen and John and Stephen Gomez to form the Summer Set. After Josh Montgomery joined on in 2008, the band was complete. The rest is history.

“‘Cause when I open my mouth I know nobody’s listenin’ to the words of a profit who still can’t turn a profit.”

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In 2009, the band released their first full-length album, Love Like This, which put them in place to run the pop rock music scene with the hit single “Chelsea.” They played on several tours with the likes of All Time Low, Yellowcard and Hey Monday, and started to really build a strong fan base. In 2011, Everything’s Fine came along. While not as fun and upbeat as their debut, Everything’s Fine served as a good learning album— it wouldn’t do as well as their later releases (or their previous), but it was essential for growth.

In 2013, the band released their third studio album, Legendary. The perfect predecessor for Stories For Monday, the album consisted of a handful of well-crafted pop songs. For the Legendary writing process, the band rented a house and lived together for the summer. The songs on the album reflect the camaraderie and reckless fun that can ensue when five people live under one roof and throw parties all summer long. Though the album had a lot of great songs, it still fell short of the Summer Set’s true potential. The tracks felt inauthentic and forced like they were trying too hard to create a perfect pop album.

However, Legendary led to a ton of great opportunities for the Summer Set including winning the Macy’s iHeartRadio Rising Star competition, which gave them the chance to perform at the iHeartRadio Music Festival with the likes of Sheryl Crow and the Backstreet Boys and perform at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“Cause I don’t fit in with the in crowd, but I’m too Hollywood to go back to my hometown.”

Things were looking incredibly bright for the Summer Set and they had every intention of keeping the fire burning. But instead they ended up burning out.

After spending his entire life in Arizona, Dales decided to pack up and move to Los Angeles. Not too long after, the rest of the band followed suit.

In an attempt to change locations and embrace all the resources L.A. had to offer, the members of the Summer Set had every intention to hit the ground running on their next album after wrapping up a successful cycle with Legendary. But things didn’t quite pan out the way they expected. After a radio silence, the band came to a breaking point and decided to record one last album for the fans and call it quits.

“We toured off of Legendary for 15 straight months, and when we finally came to a close on the Legendary chapter, the idea was to get right back at it and go make a new album,” Dales recalls. “I just wasn’t there mentally. I just wanted to take some time to find some inspiration and figure out how to take the next step and grow as a band. We’ve been a band for nine years, and I have no interest in leveling out and staying the same. It was a long process of trying to find myself, help the band grow and reinvent the wheel for ourselves. That took a long time and nothing was really getting anywhere.”

So the band sat down in September of last year to talk and realized they were all on the same page—it was time to move on. But just days before they were set to announce their farewell album, the Summer Set had a change of heart.

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“I remember it was a few days after Thanksgiving where we sat down with the finished album and realized, ‘Oh my god!

This is a lot better than we expected it to be. We’re really proud of this. It would be a shame to limit any unforeseen opportunity and it would be a shame to let people down by not giving this album a real chance.’ We decided in the final hour a couple days before we were going to announce that this was our last album that perhaps there was a little more fight left in us after all.”

There’s always been a bit of a question mark about where the Summer Set fits in within the music world. Are they a pop band? Are they a punk band? Are they a mixture of both? Starting out in the neon pop era of the scene with bands like the Maine and Cute Is What We Aim For, they were among likeminded bands. But those bands grew out of their pop phase while the Summer Set still tried to perfect it. Trapped between staying true to the scene who built them while also trying to branch out and appeal to the mainstream media, TSS have struggled with staying true to the scene that built them while also trying to branch out and appeal to the mainstream audience.

“I always remember when we played the Warped Tour and we’d be a pop band on the Warped Tour and then we’d go to play these radio shows with pop acts and we’d be the punk band,” Dales says. “At first, I think that freaked me out, but I look back now and realize that I totally love that.

I love that we’re just the Summer Set. I think this is the first album where we literally can describe it as such: We Are The Summer Set. This is it, this is us. Here we are, take it or leave it.”

“I believe there’s more to life than all my problems. Maybe there’s still hope for me to start again.”

Yes, there were problems. Yes, they had intentions of letting go of the band they built for nine years. But ultimately, it was the band—not any outside forces or influences—that decided to push forward. ““In theory, [breaking up] was probably the best thing that happened to us in the entire album cycle because I think it let us let our guard down, stop putting too much pressure on making a bigger and better album and just allowed us to make an album,” Dales says.”…It’s the first record we ever made that just really, truly sounds like the Summer Set because we were the only people really involved.”

The party that started carries on throughout Legendary has ended, but the stories that live through that album are concluded and reflected on in Stories For Monday.

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“[Stories For Monday contains] a lot of songs about this metaphorical party being over,” Dales explains. “It went hand in hand with the idea that we thought maybe this chapter of our lives was over when we realized more so that this is just the beginning of something new for us.”

Mostly created in a bedroom and produced by the Gomez brothers, Stories For Monday is the best, most honest representation of the Summer Set. From deeply personal lyrics in “Figure Me Out” to the ‘80s-inspired sound of “Jean Jacket,” it takes small pieces of each member and presents them to the listener.

“We’ve gone into every album cycle like, “Yeah, this sounds most like The Summer Set” but we were totally wrong,” Dales expresses. “This album sounds the most like the Summer Set because it is the most the Summer Set.” The one song on Stories For Monday that explains the last few years and reveals Dales’ innermost thoughts while preparing for the band to break up is “Figure Me Out.” “That song is very specifically about an absolute breaking point I was at when making this album,” Dales admits.

“Ironically, it was the last song written for the album, but the first song on the record. It was the song that made all the other songs make sense to me. ‘Figure Me Out’ is definitely the most honest piece of work I’ve ever done. I just laid it all on the line. I had nothing else to lose.”

“I think it’s time for me to figure me out.”

After years of struggling with their identity as a band, trying to keep punk influences in their music while laying it on top of electronic tracks, the Summer Set have created a pop masterpiece in Stories For Monday. All of the built up frustration and anxiety about the future comes to a resting point, and every note signals a growing maturity (both musically and emotionally) within the band. After years of failed attempts at a well-crated pop album, they’ve finally figured it out.

PHOTOS: Courtney Coles INTERVIEW & STORY: Jessica Klinner

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TOUR ROUND UP

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PHOTO: Lori Gutman

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PHOTO: Clark Terrell

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ALBUM

REVIEWS ARTIST

The Summer Set ALBUM

Stories For Monday

SOUNDS LIKE All Time Low This Century Against the Current RECOMMENDED TRACKS “All My Friends” “Wonder Years” “All In”

TRACKS 1

Figure Me Out

2

The Night Is Young

3

Missin’ You

4

Jean Jacket

5

All My Friends

6

Change Your Mind

7

All Downhill From Here

8

All In

9

Wonder Years

10

When The Party Ends (Can’t Hardly Wait)

11

Wasted

BUY IT ON April 1st, 2016

WEBSITE thesummersetband.com

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Three years and a semi-hiatus have separated fans of the Summer Set from the band’s new album, Stories For Monday. The album, which succeeds the band’s third studio album, Legendary, showcases notable similarities such as frequent gang vocals, atmospheric background synths and a sound that is quintessential for the warm summer months. However, despite the major similarities, it is clear to see the amount of maturity that has taken place within the band over the past three years.

On opening track “Figure Me Out,” vocalist Brian Dales lays out all the problems he’s faced within the past three years on the table singing, “I’m a bit too pop for the punk kids, but I’m too punk for the pop kids” as well as coming to terms with them preaching, “But I believe there’s more to life than all my problems maybe there’s still hope for me to start again/Get my feet back on the ground/Pull my head out of the clouds/I think it’s time for me to figure me out.” The album features continuous themes of growth and maturation, especially on “Jean Jacket.” As the most diverse song, it exhibits Dales’ extensive vocal range, smooth guitar riffs and a saxophone solo nostalgic of the late 1980s. Notorious for a Summer Set album, Stories For Monday also attributes songs full of energy and life like “All My Friends,” “Change Your Mind,” and “All In.” Stories For Monday is an all-encompassing album for the Summer Set, showcasing an impressive evolution in the band’s discography. Fans will be more than satisfied with the album’s sound and themes of living life without fear, moving forward and embracing individual faults. The Summer Set’s three-year hiatus can only be defined as beneficial, noting the band’s growth and progression from Legendary to Stories For Monday.

REVIEW: Ally Fisher

A r t i s t The Lumineers

A l b u m Cleopatra The Lumineers have come back strong with a poetic and polished sophomore album. The trio has remained constant with their folk roots in Cleopatra. While the first four tracks are bold and a little more upbeat, the peacefulness of the remainder of the album is an absolute dream.

The opening track, “Sleep On The Floor,” lives up to the beloved tracks from their debut such as “Flowers In Your Hair” and “Ho Hey” with raspy vocals, a playful beat and a rolling chorus.

A simple, repetitive melody carries “In The Light.” To put it simply, it is peaceful, pleasant and provides for easy listening. “Sick In The Head,” although a serious song, sounds like a sweet lullaby. The vocals are diluted to an almost dream-like state for a perfect moment of relaxation.

“My Eyes” is a beautiful, fluid track chalk-full of alluring crescendos and decrescendos. It transitions smoothly into the eleventh and final track, “Patience,” which is an elegant outro, gracefully wrapping up the album with ribbon. Cleopatra is best enjoyed while watching the snow fall— the perfect backtrack for serenity and practicing mindfulness. r e c o m m e n d e d t r a c k s “Sleep On The Floor” & “My Eyes” r e v i e w Haley Black

A r t i s t Me Like Bees A l b u m There Will Be Time Joplin, Missouri rockers Me Like Bees have done it again with EP, There Will Be Time. The band brings even groovier guitar tones and creative lyrics that is the perfect balance of eccentric pop and a quieter indie/folk rock. The EP opens with “Changes,” a poppy guitar and heavy drum song about life and loss in a lighter tone. “Tundraland” is a catchy earworm and instant favorite. The echo-y lyrics and anthemic eruption are both empowering and uplifting. But it is not until title track “There Will Be Time” that the true spectrum of Me Like Bees’ talent is showcased. The vulnerability in lead singer Luke Sheafer’s vocals, paired with the simple guitar line, provides the perfect backdrop for inner reflection. There is a shimmering, dreamy quality to the song that melts all of reality’s worries away. The EP ends with “Hymns and Blues,” which is similar to the first two tracks and solidifies the band’s ability to bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Overall, There Will Be Time leaves the listener wanting more, and that is by far the most frustrating part of listening to the EP. There Will Be Time is pure joy and embodies the ideal blissful happiness that only comes with summer vacation and carefree nights spent with friends. r e c o m m e n d e d t r a c k s “There Will Be Time,” “Changes” & “Tundraland” r e v i e w Theresa Pham

A r t i s t Sorority Noise A l b u m It Kindly Stopped For Me When I think Sorority Noise, I think grungy, moody and, at times, angry punk rock. As the last song of It Kindly Stopped For Me played through, I was pleasantly surprised that this EP as a whole was much more emotional and melancholy than expected. The production of their music raises the bar with each release, and this is no exception. Instead of fuzzy, distorted guitars and heavy rhythms, we get acoustic guitars and piano melodies with whispery, desolate vocals laid over top. If Sorority Noise was known for their honest music before, It Kindly Stopped For Me definitely takes the cake in that department. From the clear emotion to the raw sounds—especially on “Fource,” which sounds more like a field recording of a walk and conversation than a song—this EP is a vulnerable, stripped down set of songs and a new side to Sorority Noise that they pull off just as well as the rest of their rowdy, emo repertoire. r e c o m m e n d e d t r a c k s “Fource” r e v i e w Jennifer Boylen

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