Unplugged Magazine issue 4

march 2013

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10 tDheruirmnmewerLAndrew Mundy talk

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P and play

Check out the newest segment!

Alisha and Steven debate on the newest Fall Out Boy songs

inside: - Anthm’s new EP gets reviewed.

- Vinyl as Kickstarter rewards!

- Opinions comparing Nicki Minaj to Thom Yorke?

Letter from the editor:

It’s april?! Whoa.

This is heavy.

W

ell, it’s April. Fact: I actually have no recollection of the past three months.

Not really, but it seems like it. But in the best possible way, let me tell you.

Every day has been productive for me; if it’s not at school then it’s at home with Unplugged, and if it’s neither then it’s with my friends and loved ones. These past three months have brought me so much joy, despite my griping about being tired, frustrated, or hungry.

What’s next, Steven? See how I read your mind there and put it straight onto the page? Yeah, I’m boss.

Well, let’s see. Next month’s issue will be awesome for so many reasons. For starters, there’s going to be a lot of new content, A LOT, so that means it’s expansion time!

Maybe even a website if everything work out this month (wink). With that expansion I also plan on doing a design over-haul; let’s face it, simplistic ribbons and three fonts isn’t going to cut it for all the awesome new stuff we are putting in here. After all the changes are said and done, I’m also excited for some of the stories we have planned out for you guys.

And now, I’m going to take half of this letter to thank the everyone who comes back monthly to read up. The gratitude that I have for everyone who helps me and everyone who talks about Unplugged is completely unmeasurable. I also carry a heavy debt to those whom I have been neglecting to spend time with, or have had a short fuse with. Thank you everyone.

I hope that you guys enjoy this issue and the new segment we added. Also I’d like to give a small shout out to Allen Dubnikov from Allen Daniel Photography for taking our front cover picture and feature page photos!

Thank You, Steven Condemarin Designer/Manager/Founder

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ISSUE 4 unplugged

Top 5 Songs On Repeat “Dress On”

One Justin Timberlake

The 20/20 Experience

Pavlove Folie A Deux Fall Out Boy

two

All We Know

three Paramore

All We Know Is Falling

G.R.I.N.D. G.R.I.N.D. Asher Roth

Four Lions In Cages Suego Faults Wolf Gang

Five

Alisha and Steven hash it out about Fall Out Boy in Listen A** Hole New writer Daniel reviews Anthm’s new EP “Handful of Dust” Scottish John talks about frontmen/ women and how they affect us

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Alisha speaks with Andrew from The Three Way

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Vinyl review of two limited edition Kickstarter records

Editor in chief

Steven Condemarin

editor/Writer alisha kirby

Writers daniel Romandia Ian La Tondre (columnist)

Copy editor Megan Houchin

Contributors Allen dubnikov (Photos)

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Email us at sac.unplugged@gmail.com for info on how you can...

mag

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unplugged ISSUE 4

03

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Tickets Available @ Dimple records, The Beat, Armadillo (Davis) Online: AceOfSpadesSac.com

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4/6 SOUL ASYLUM

4/22 QUEENSRYCHE 4/24 ALEX CLARE

KURT TRAVIS, HAIL THE SUN, THE SEEKING, JAMES CAVERN & VISITING DAYS

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4/11 THE ROCKET SUMMER THE CLASSIC CRIME & JOE BROOKS

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ROACH GIGZ, MUMBLS, BLACK C , PLAYAH K & K-OTTIC

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WEST , TEAM BACK PACK, JULIAN WRITE, POSESSION, JAY BROWN THE SINGER & THA NEIGHBORZ

4/27 NEWSTED & HYSTERIA

I

’m a sucker for a good Kickstarter campaign. Some of my favorite bands have used the crowd funding site and I’ve been more than happy to pledge a pretty (dingy) penny for some worthy rewards. These are two of my favorite Kickstarter-funded records:

vinyl review You, Me & Everyone We Know

“Some Things Don’t Wash Out” Red/Orange with Blue splatter/100 “It’s sad ‘cause your love is like a bus/ I may miss you but I know more will come.” This line from “The Next 20 Minutes” is the one that finally cemented Ben Liebsch as one of my favorite lyricists. This album is full of wit and brash tones all backed by lush instrumentation. I was more than pleased with the pressing, which proved that my original concerns of buying from a brand new label were silly.

The Forecast

Story & Photos by Alisha Kirby

“Everybody Left” “Bud Red”/ 130 I’ve been a fan of this band since I stumbled upon their EP “Proof of Impact” in 2004 in the used bin at Tower Records. It took four EPs and three LPs but these guys finally perfected their dual-vocals and passionate brand of rock.

This pressing does real justice for vocalists Shannon Burns and Dustin Addis’ voices.

In fact, it’s gotten annoying to listen to this band on my iPod without wishing I was at home with my turntable.

Story & Photos by Alisha Kirby

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unplugged ISSUE 4

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LISTEN

A**

Steven: Well maybe they’re starting back up again. They were confused and they were put into awkward situations and now they’re comin’ back to make their comeback and these last two songs just happen to be flops.

Alisha: (Laughs) But then, your first two singles are supposed to be like the, “Hey come back, come back, we’re great,” but I don’t know about “writers keep writing what they write/somewhere another pretty vein just died.” Where are my “I’m coming apart at the seams/pitching myself as leads in other peoples dreams?”

D

ebates about music we love and songs we hate are common place within our group of friends.

Sometimes they’re lighthearted and amusing, other times arms will flail in frustration and the volume of everyone’s voices will rise.

Just before the publishing of the issue you’re reading right now (literally the day before), we realized we fell on opposite sides of the fence regarding the first Fall Out Boy singles that were released this past month.

Vote for who you think won.

Steven: I will agree with that in the sense that the first song they released, “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark,” was not the best of songs. It was basically just a giant tease of, “We’re Fall Out Boy and we’re doing something, look us up.” But the last song wasn’t bad, it was. . . It wasn’t to par but it wasn’t that bad.

Alisha: OK, but again, my thing, “I’m gonna change you like a remix then raise you like a phoenix,” I was bored within 30 seconds. Now the music is good, the rhythm is good, I’m never going to say that Patrick Stump’s voice isn’t great, but I mean how many songs reference “Dance to the beat of your own heart?” Like, I knew people in middle school that could write like that. It’s great background music. OK, so they’ve never had co-writers, right? So where is my “Chicago Is So Two Years Ago?” Where’s my “Sophomore Slump,” my “Hum Hallelujah,” where is anything like that?

“Sugar We’re Going Down?” Any song off Folie À Deux kicks so much ass compared to these!

HOLE Check out FOB’s new songs here!

Alisha: Personally I am not impressed by either of the songs. I’m not holding out much hope for the album. The first time I heard that they were getting back together, I thought immediately, “I’m gonna by tickets to every tour, I’m going to pre-order the biggest package that they have, I don’t care, I love Fall Out Boy.” But this has given me great pause.

Steven: Ahh, I knew you were going to toss that in my face (laughs).

Alisha: Or, or, “breaking hearts never looked so cool/as when you wrap your car around the tree/your make-up looks so great next to his teeth,” where are those lyrics? They’ve had years to write lyrics.

Steven: Maybe these are purposely two sub-par songs and then they come out with the album and boom.

Alisha: So in context it will work? I will hope and pray that in context it all works and that these are the flops but I don’t know. I don’t know though, because “This Ain’t A Scene,” that grew on me after a while. But I’ve tried, I’ve listened to “The Phoenix” on repeat and it’s not doing it.

Steven: Well, the album itself is going to probably be great as a whole.

Alisha: I think you’re in denial.

Steven: Maybe.

Alisha: What I will say is this, in “My Songs Know What You Did. . . ” do you know how many times the word “up” is said? About 72. It’s nine times per chorus and then I think the chorus repeats about six times. Pete Wentz is more creative than, “Up up up up up up.” I feel like he could do better.

Steven: Maybe all they need is this one album to say, “We tried the co-writing thing and it didn’t work out that well.” Then back to Wentz’s amazing lyricism.

Alisha: I’m hoping because even if this album blows, I will still check them out because they are Fall Out Boy. It’s not like this album is going to blow, and then everyone is going to drop Fall Out Boy. It’s gonna blow, I’m pretty sure, but because they are Fall Out Boy, people will continue, at least for a couple albums, to check them out and if they step their game up for this next one, I think they’ll be okay. But this one is hurting me already.

Steven: I think this one has serious potential due to the fact that is has some big names attached to it . . .

Alisha: I’ll give you Elton John.

Steven: Yeah, Elton John is on a song, I mean come on . . . It’s Elton John.

Alisha: Fine, fine. I won’t agree with you that this album is going to be great, I won’t pre-order it, I will wait and see. Fingers are crossed. In context I hope it fits but I’m not holding out much hope for this one.

fb.com/sacunplugged

Alisha: Sucker.

Steven: I’m still very very hopeful . . .

Steven: Get outta here, I’m a Fall Out Boy fan and hopefully this will be a very good album and I kinda already pre-ordered it ‘cause it was cheap.

Album reviews

RIYL : BLU NAS LIVING

LEGEND

S

TR ACKS YOU SHOULD CHECK

2. NINA 5. IMAGINE NATION

OUT:

6. DEBBIE

When an emcee appreciates art, it shows through every aspect of their work. However, this can make albums or EPs sound like an art school portfolio. The best work is at the beginning and the end with simple filler in the middle. That is exactly how Anthm’s “Handful of Dust” sounds.

For a few years now, Anthm has been coasting along on a friendship with the revered Blu and a pretty decent flow. Yet again, Blu is a part of Anthm’s most recent effort, “Handful of Dust,” as the producer. That’s where this EP falters. The beats sound like they are B-sides from “Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them,” which would forever be unreleased. It is all great jazz and soul influenced samples with messy drums and sounds that just tend to drown each other out.

It’s a real shame that the beats are sub-par, aside from the few exceptions of “Freefall” and “Debbie” (notice they are at the beginning and the end of the EP), because Anthm shows that his rhymes are more than acceptable for most producers. His lyrics are stories of watching loved ones grow up and his frustrations with the causes of low self-esteem in the youth. Not only does he touch on serious topics, but he knows how to make it an easy listen. Anthm seems to glide through his lyrics with few faults.

There are two things that can be taken away from this EP; Anthm continues to grow as an emcee and doesn’t show signs of stopping, and Blu should stay away from producing. An EP that does so well with lyrics and vocal flow shouldn’t have such weak production behind it. It doesn’t do Anthm justice.

By: Daniel Romandia

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unplugged ISSUE 4

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And The Record Rolls On “It’s not some

great work of beauty and love to be a rock-androll singer.”

- Robert Plant.

I

love this quote.

This to me defines a rockand-roll singer, a front-man.

The music world considers Plant to be such an incredibly artistic and beautiful singer, with this amazing

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ISSUE 4 unplugged

timeless rock-and-roll band, Led Zeppelin. Regardless of that perception, he comes off all modest like “nah, what I do ain’t nothin’.” Then you see his live videos or listen to what he does on Led Zeppelin IV and he blows your brain to smithereens. That’s what makes him cool. Now, I’ll let you in a little on my whole point of bringing this up. This piece isn’t about Zeppelin, it’s not about Robert Plant, or great rock bands of the 70’s. This is about the front man; the iconic figure at the face of every huge musical artistic project. That beautiful piece of man candy (or woman candy) that entices your heart to throb and jump vigorously out of your chest. Whether it’s the fronts

for bands like Thom York of Radiohead, Adam Levine of Maroon 5; or solo artists (much more common in pop music) Lil’ Wayne, Alicia Keys, Justin Bieber; the list is near endless.

The point I’m making here is there’s a certain dynamic in these people that makes them superstars.

That makes them so loved, so longed for and idolized.

Not just their music, but who they are, and what they portray emotionally through their image, live performances, interviews, meet and greets, paparazzi photos, you name it. I think Nicki Minaj is a ridiculously perfect example. I know so many really talented musicians who seriously

dislike this chick, but let’s ask Scottish John how he feels about Nicki. Honestly?

I think this girl is fucking sick. Does she sing like Mariah Carey? Does she play piano like Beethoven?

Not in the slightest. But there is no denying that girl is an extremely weird, out there, original-style artist.

Plus, she’s a great example of having this ridiculously outof-this-world superstardom sort of confident aura.

In my opinion when you start looking at artists at this level, you have to look at two different main points: the artist(s) as a musician, and the artist(s) as an artist(s). Now didn’t that sound redundant? I’ll explain, an average person

“

I just believe there can be other elements of the music we listen to that goes past the art of musical theory.”

Nicki Minaj on The Tonight Show

will say they like a pop song (or for the most part any song) because of the way that it makes them feel. Now part of that is what’s being produced musically, the melodies the rhythms, the things that make someone want to sing a long; but there’s a front-man aspect too (or front-woman, whatever). An aspect that really projects that front-man feeling into the depths of the listener.

In theory they could have someone do the exact same melodies and vocal lines as someone like Nicki Minaj. I bet so many of you are hating that I’m using her for an example but trust me, she’s a fantastic example.

They wouldn’t have that Nicki element though. They don’t have that element of why so many freaking girls love this chick.

Back in high school I dated multiple girls who loved this woman to death, and at the time I was like, “Whatever yeah she’s cool let’s go bang.” Now I understand it though. Is she my bread and butter? Not really.

Not exactly my cup of tea. Hell I’m listening to a Bon Iver record right now. Very, very far from a Nicki Minaj record. But I can’t dis her as an artist.

The beezy is talented.

Now even still, some of my friends (and some of you, I’m sure) will disagree with me on this. That’s all good, no worries man/woman. I just believe there can be other elements of the music we listen to that goes past the art of musical theory. Don’t get

Robert Plant at the 2008 Grammys

me wrong; when I’m in the mood I’ll throw down with some Canon in D, Rhapsody in Blue, or anything by my man Wolfgang Amadeus (Mozart).

But like I said, we’re talking about a different form and element of musical artists.

We can admire the hell out of and love Mozart all we want, but he just can’t rile a crowd like Justin Bieber.

That’s right, those two are in the same sentence. Is Justin a better musician?

Sorry J-Biebs, no chance. You’re not looking at Bieber for symphonies though. You’re looking at him from a different perspective. A perspective of “let’s make this kid one of the biggest pop teen idols of all time” perspective.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just different.

Okay, so some of the reasons so many people love Minaj and Bieber are in fact the same reasons people love Thom Yorke or Janis Joplin. Agreed?

Yes. Is it completely different music?

Yes. I think on a music theory level you can say Yorke does more intricate things. However, you love Yorke or Radiohead for what he puts in; for what makes him so graspable to the listener.

It’s just a different market of people.

Now I wanted to make a funny point. Who the hell is the front-man for Blink-182? Don’t get me wrong, there are multiple bands where it’s hard to tell who really is the front man, but usually it’s because no one knows anyone in the band. Where this is a band

- Scottish John where I’d probably say the drummer is the biggest name. (say whaaaatttt?)

Most people know who Travis Barker is, and from a die-hard fan perspective I really couldn’t say who fronts the band more, Tom DeLonge with his guitar and nasally nostalgic filled voice, Mark Hoppus with his tattoo free skin and in and out of style Mohawk that he’ll most likely be rocking when his grandkids come to visit, or that skinny little funk man Travis who’s in the back pounding drums and hanging out with Lil’ Wayne. It’s like that is truly a band where it’d be really hard to pin point that front-man character. They still all have that confidence and super-star sort of aura about themselves when they play shows. That’s what counts.

So guys, keep it real. Music is an art that can reach out of the laws of musical boundaries, and the artists themselves have put more of their personalities then just the musical inflections written. Always put yourself into the depths of whatever you write.

If you write anything at all that is.

Always a pleasure, Scottish John P.S. Feel free to email me with questions, comments, or simply just to say, “You look nice today, I like your hair.”

Scottishjohn.unplugged@gmail.com

tthhreee

way

Drummer Andrew Mundy talks about recording their new LP, jamming, and the highs and lows from this past year

by Alisha Kirby

In the same way that a baby’s first year is marked by rapid development, so is fledgling rock trio The Three Way’s.

The band has gained a substantial amount of buzz in the year since they started, and they haven’t shown signs of lagging. They’ve played nearly every venue in Sacramento, they’ve released a four-track EP stacked with solid tunes, and they’ve already began recording their debut LP.

really fit in. It was their first show, and I really liked their sound so I started talking with them. I went to their next show two days later and shortly after, got a call about auditioning.

2. Justin (guitar)(right) sometimes goes as long as a week without showering or changing clothes, but still smells oddly ok.

3. I recorded our EP “FourPlay” with a broken collar bone.

live. We have JR Halliday (ZuhG.) doing the bulk of our engineering for the album. Joe Johnson is in the studio also working with JR. We’re also experimenting with a 24 track tape deck.

Go ahead and introduce yourself and what you do in the band.

You’ve been in the studio working on your debut LP; how’s that process coming along?

Well we can definitely jam. We’ve played 5 hour shows a handful of times. When it comes to writing, there’s no real process. Joel (bass) (right) and Justin already had a lot of songs they had written before the band was started. And often Joel or Justin will come in with ideas and/ or a complete song and we’ll all collaborate and finish it up together.

Sometimes we’ll start a jam for fun and songs create themselves. So to answer the question, I guess no. That’s not typically how it happens, but it does sometimes.

My name is Andrew (center), I play drums.

What’s a fun fact about The Three Way that we wouldn’t find in your bio?

Heres a few.

1. I met the band at a punk show some friends of mine were playing, and I remember thinking they didn’t

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It’s coming along well so far. It’s our second time in the studio. The first time was to record “FourPlay,” which was done with Ira Skinner at Ally Avenue Recording downtown. We’re trying some different techniques to see what works best for us. We’ve put in about 20 hours of studio time for it so far. We typically play the tracks live together, sometimes adding overdubs for backing vocals and extra guitars or noises, but the bulk of it is completely

It’s no secret you have some jam band tendencies, is that typically how new songs get started? Or does someone come up with a skeleton of sorts?

You’re recording at Pus Cavern right?

What pushed you guys to choose that studio?

We were invited. We’ve done a lot of collaboration with JR. He actually helped produce our EP and played some guitar on it. He started doing a little engineering there and invited us to give it a try. We had heard good things, so we decided to give it a shot.

So far so good.

How would you say the newer songs stack up with “FourPlay?”

In the beginning we were writing pretty straight forward rock and roll songs. The styles of our songs weren’t necessarily predetermined, but as time passed we found ourselves writing slower songs, weirder songs, louder

songs, punkier songs and bluesier songs. The interesting thing is that there are going to be a lot of old songs on the LP, but also a lot of new songs.

So it will have a mix of different styles we were writing at whatever time. We think the LP will be a much broader representation of our sound. The EP was just, well...foreplay.

You’ve played at nearly every venue in town, is there one you’d call your favorite yet?

The ones that pay us the most haha.

Nah, it’s hard to say, really. There’s pros and cons about every venue, and while there’s probably some that we prefer playing over others, we still support them all and appreciate them giving us the opportunity to reach even a few new fans.

In this past year as a band, what have been some of the more memorable highlights and low-points?

Our trip to Portland is so far a big highlight. It was our first out of town experience together as The Three Way. Just meeting new people, making new friends, seeing Hopeless Jack and The Handsome devil (our Portland friends that we’ve played with a couple times here in Sac) play live and playing for a whole new wave of people who dug our music. The whole experience got us excited for the future.

Low points...well, we have played a few difficult shows. We played a festival where all the power blew out in the middle of our first song.

Lights and everything. It was night time and outdoor, so it was kind of a buzzkill. But we got it all fixed and played a killer set after that. So i guess that could be a high point too, being able to work through the difficult times. However, we do have a history of blowing monitor fuses and blowing the power during the chaos we like to call our music. Probably because of our high energy rock and roll.

So I guess in a nutshell, we’ve only been a band for about a year, so we still have many opportunities for some high and low-points. I wouldn’t say there have been many low-points (besides letting Justin know when he smells funny), we’ve just been working hard and we’re all pretty laid back and easy to work with.

SCAN OR CLICK TO CHECK OUT THE THREE WAY’S FACEBOOK PAGE

Photos by Allen Dubnikov

Check out more pics from The three way’s photo shoot on the back page!

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Live show photos courtesy of The Three Way

unplugged ISSUE 4

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Feature Photios By Allen Dubnikov of Allen Daniel Photography Click the link below ro check out his work!

Thank you for reading!

If you have any questions or comments, email us at sac.unplugged@gmail.com. ask us how to be featured in our next issue or how to advertise in our next issue!

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