Issue #1 - January 2015: Knuckle Puck

January 2015

& Sylar | PVRIS | Crown the Empire | Chiodos| Slaves Modern Baseball | Attila | Underdog Press始 2014 Picks

staff Carol Simpson editor-in-chief/writer Jake Lahah art director/photographer

get connected underdogpress.net facebook.com/underdogpress twitter: @Underdog_Press instagram: @underdogpress youtube.com/user/underdogpress

contact us underdogpress2012@gmail.com

Knuckle Puck, Sylar, Sarah Facciolo, Kerri Brusca, Razor & Tie, Alyssa Dempsey, Dayna Ghiraldi, Shelby Grajeda, PVRIS, Austin Griswald, Secret Service PR, Amy Sciarretto, Steve Karas, Atom Splitter PR, Attila, Talia Miller, The Brixton Agency, Niveo Records, Christian Olivelli

a letter from the editor When Underdog started in 2012 it was just something fun my best friend, Karina, and I were doing. It was a small hobby that has grown into so much more. A couple years and several staff members later, it has grown into something awesome. I can't wait to see how much more Underdog grows in the next few years.

Special thanks to Katie and Sarah, amazing photographers, who have helped Underdog so much. Of course, thanks to Karina for starting this back in 2012 and Jacob for helping put this together.

WHAT始S INSIDE? 6

2014, A Year In Reviw

10

Interview: Sylar

22

Concert Review: Monster Energy Outbreak Tour

26

Interview: Niveo Record始s Owner Christian Olivelli

28

Underdogs on the Rise: Knuckle Puck

Note: No copyright infringement intended. All rights of the album artwork use go to their respectful owners All concert photography used is our own.

underdogpress | 4

2014 was a huge year for and even covers of Top 40 A YEAR IN REVIEW put this list together, but of the best of the year.

2 0 1 4

#10: Of Mice & Men - Restoring Forces

# 9: The Big Time - Imaginary Heart

#8: Have Mercy - A Place Of Our Own

#7: Crown the Empire- The Resistance: Rise of the Runaways

#6: Breathe Carolna - Savages

#5: PVRIS - White Noise

alternative music. Some amazing tours, albums, 0 songs shined bright this year. It wasn’t easy to here’s what the Underdog staff selected as some

#4: Taking Back Sunday - Happiness Is

#3: Issues - Self Titled

#2: Real Friends - Maybe This Place Is The Same and Weʼre Just Changing

#1: The Ready Set - The Bad & The Better Fans have been waiting for The Ready Set to release his second album for several years and it was well worth the wait. The album is dynamic and unique. Each track has that special The Ready Set touch that Jordan Witzigreuter puts in all his music.

BEST MUSIC VIDEOS:

BEST TOURS:

#10: Breathe Carolina - Sellouts feat. Danny Warsnop

#10: The Greatest Generation Tour The Wonder Years

#9: Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties - Our Apartment

#9: The Monster Energy Outbreak Tour - Attia w/ Crown the Empire, Like Moths to Flames, & Sworn In

#8: Bring Me The Horizon Drown #7: Issues - Mad At Myself #6: The Amity Affliction - Death始s Hands #5: The Ready Set - Higher #4: Lights - Up We Go #3: PVRIS - St. Patrick #2: Real Friends - I Don始t Love You Anymore

#8: The Honeymoon Tour Mayday Parade w/ Tonight Alive, Major League, & PVRIS #7: The Pure Noise Tour - State Champs and Hanguns

BEST COVERS: #5: Slaves - Sweater Weather (Originally by The Neighbourhood) #4: Palisades - Happy (Originally

by Pharrell) #3: Our Last Night - Habits (Originally by Tove Lo) #2: Against the Current feat. The Ready Set - I Wamma Get Better (Originally by Bleachers)

#6: The Come Alive Tour - Set It Off and Our Last Night w/ Heartist, & Stages and Stereos #5: The Reunion Tour - We Are The In Crowd w/ Set It Off, William Bekcett, State Champs, & Candy Hearts #4: The Crowd Surf America Tour Blessthefall and Chiodos #3: The Outsiders Tour - The Ready Set w/ Metro Station, The Downtown Fiction, & Against the Current #2: Real Friends Fall Tour w/ Neck Deep, Cruel Hands, & Have Mercy

#1: WE ARE THE IN CROWD MANNERS

underdogpress | 8

#1: THE AMERICAN DREAM TOUR BRING ME THE HORIZON W/ OF MICE & MEN, ISSUES, LETLIVE., & NORTHLANE

# 1: TYLER CARTER & LUKE HOLLAND AIN始T IT FUN (ORIGINALLY BY PARAMORE)

Star with your name and what role you have in the band.

Jayden: Yo! Whatʼs going on? My name is Jayden and I do vocals.

Miguel: Whatʼs up man? My name is Miguel and I do guitar and vocals.

Howʼs the tour going so far?

J: Itʼs already the end of the tour, but itʼs awesome.

The shows have been awesome. Meeting so many people has been awesome since we were added on last minute because Stray From The Path couldnʼt make it. But, the band in general has been great. We hit some rough patches. We got robbed in Canada.

Our van broke down in the West Coast. We didnʼt have a vehicle for a while, but ever then we didnʼt miss a single show. But dude, itʼs awesome, nothing but good things.

M: Yeah I love it. Itʼs like a dream come true tour for me. Iʼve liked these bands since Iʼve been 16 years old. To be touring with them itʼs pretty awesome. But Iʼm stoked to go home.

How have people that havenʼt heard you guys before seem to react to your show on this tour so far?

J: Iʼm going to be completely honest with you. Just like there are a lot of kids that give us a great reaction and like our music, there is also the kids out there that donʼt like our music. There are kids out there that just donʼt like any clean singing; they just want to hear screams or growls (whatever you want to call it). You know, our music has lots of different elements that people donʼt like. I think if you watch our live show kids have been pretty impressed with that, but itʼs mostly good but not just that. Itʼs mixed and not everyone is going to love your music all the time. On this tour itʼs been pretty good though.

M: Yeah, like he said, this is a different type of tour for us. Itʼs like the tougher kids come out. Theyʼre only trying to come out and see Emmure and The Acacia Strain. I think back on how I went to go see Emmure and The Acacia Strain and if I saw Sylar I wouldnʼt have been stoked. So itʼs tough but good at the same time. We like to win them over.

What band would you consider your biggest influence?

J: Linkin Park, Deftones, is it just one? Or two? Can I say a bunch?

You can say a bunch.

J: Personally, but mostly generally because we talk about this all the time, itʼs like Linkin Park, Deftones,

Slipknot, even rappers. We listen to Drake, The Weekend, Party Next Door. I donʼt know man, itʼs especially those strong bands that were out and at their prime when we were growing up. Mostly the new metal era that really just inspires this band to write our music.

M: Our metal side is more from the 2000. Our hip-hop is us into even new age hip-hop. You can even hear it in our music and it mixes with the new and the old. For me itʼs mainly Deftones.

Compared to the Allstars Tour or the Beartooth headliner you guys were on, how would you compare the Eternal Enemies tour to it?

J: Dude, theyʼre all so good. Besides the crowds obviously, the only difference between comparing the tours is that itʼs cool after doing those two tours coming out and seeing more kids knowing your band and singing. Honestly, we are lucky people to be doing these tours. The grind has been non-stop. Just to be apart of these tours itʼs been amazing. They are all like good in their own way.

Itʼs not like back in the day when we first started in 2012 that itʼs like we show up to a show and hope that there are some pits to it. Now you know that there are kids coming out. Itʼs official and itʼs awesome. I love it.

M: Yeah, I love it. Itʼs just two different kinds of tours. So the fans are going to be different. The reaction on the Beartooth tour was a lot better. We were on the whole tour so we werenʼt just added on. For me personally, both tours are so different I couldnʼt say which oneʼs my favorite.

Would you consider this tour a breakthrough tour for the band?

J: I donʼt think this is a breakthrough tour. The last tours we did the demographics were different. It was a lot of younger kids. And on this one we see a lot of older people. So, itʼs been cool to see the fan base wavelength. I donʼt know, itʼs like we got so many younger kids into the band and now we are seeing older people at this tour. I feel like that leading onto the next tour will make us close to a breakthrough tour. Again we were added on last minute, so I donʼt think this tour is that tour.

M: Itʼs tough. For me personally, I donʼt think itʼs a breakthrough tour.

So sort of like a step forward?

M: It really opened everyoneʼs eyes showing that weʼre not a joke. We are coming to tour. Thatʼs how I see it. All the people that though nothing was

going to happen, youʼre wrong! Ya know, weʼre coming!

J: Weʼre coming in strong. Itʼs sick. We have fans.

Having such a strong support in what you do makes you that band. Itʼs crazy. Being on a tour this scale, youʼre constantly doing things. It really is a step forward to a potential breakthrough for the band.

How does it make you feel that you guys are creating this buzz in the metal scene ever since the release of To Whom It May Concern?

J: Unreal. We were all fans of this music. I used to go to shows three or four hours before doors and wait in the cold in a t-shirt just because I didnʼt want to hold my jacket. I wanted to mosh and go crazy. You fast forward four years later and people are doing it for you. You are going around the nation and these kids are waiting for your band. They are buying your merch. These kids know you by your personal name.

Dude itʼs unreal!

M: Thatʼs the best way I could put it. I mean itʼs literally unreal! Itʼs cool that the album is catching on.

We are just grinding hoping itʼll catch on. We didnʼt come out with the album thinking this is definitely going to put us out, blow us up, or cause this buzz.

We just wrote what we wanted to write. And people like it. If people donʼt like our next stuff then oh well because we write our own stuff. We like for fans to follow and keep up with us.

Anything else youʼd like to say to youʼre fans?

J: Thank you! That is legit as brief as I can make it, but just to add onto that, if youʼve shared stuff on the Internet, if youʼve bought merch, or if you just listen to our music or anything, thank you. Thatʼs really why we are here. Every band says that but if you donʼt have any fans, then you are absolutely nothing. Thank you for sticking with us. We are going to turn Sylar into a better Sylar as time transpires. Weʼre stoked for the future because this is our first record.

M: Weʼre going to be better. Thank you to the fans. I canʼt really express how thankful I really am. Without our fans we wouldnʼt be here. photo/interview by Jake Lahah GET CONNECTED /SylarNY @SYLARNY

SLAVES photo by Jake Lahah

CHIO

ODOS photo by Jake Lahah

CONCERT REVIEW:

THE MONSTER ENERGY OUTBREAK TOUR

I figured the Baltimore Soundstage would be sold out tonight. There was a good reason that it was sold out.

Monster Energy has been known to put on some amazing tours, but nothing as crazy as this years Outbreak Tour. This extremely unique lineup comprised of some of the top and under the gun metal-core bands in todays music scene. Trust me when I saw this tour announced, I had a feeling in my gut that the Baltimore Soundstage date of the tour was going to sell out. So for those of you that didnʼt get a chance to attend this tour, which most of the dates sold out, hereʼs what went down.

First on the bill was Sworn In. Iʼve seen Sworn In a couple times, and was never really a fan of their music and their live performance. This show proved me wrong. Theyʼve really cleaned up their act putting on this phenomenal show. Iʼve never seen a crowd go this wild over an opening band. Their live performance was a lot cleaner and really showed how hard this band worked to earn a spot on one of the most insane tours in the metal scene.

Next up was Like Moths to Flames. Within the first thirty seconds of their set crowd surfers started piling over the barricade as security was catching them. This set was INSANITY. Fans were screaming their lyrics at the top of their lungs. The drums and guitars of their set were so strong and well played that you could feel the energy in the venue. At one point, they had a circle pit that stretched from side to side of the venue. This was the zaniest show I have yet seen at the Baltimore Soundstage, but the show wasnʼt over yet.

The direct support for this show, Crown the Empire, was the band I was looking forward to most of tonightʼs show. These guys get way less credit than what they deserve. The production for their set was absolutely gorgeous. Their stage display included two light-up structures of their symbolic image of the crown inside the gear. The gears light highlighted over their performance giving them a theatric quality to their performance. Their music was so beautifully played with their strong melodies and heavy screams that came out perfectly clear. Fans at this show participated and sang along to every song of the set making it a show to remember.

Lastly, but certainly not least, was the headliner, Attila.

As the lights dimmed at the beginning of the set, fans were chanting their controversial slogan, “Suck My Fuck.” Despite their ridiculous lyrics, these guys know

how to throw a party. The lead singer Chris Fronzak really knew what he was doing. The crowd listened to his every command whether it was jumping, crowd surfing, or moshing. Attila is known for their fast paced screams that are rapped in their songs. These parts were played perfectly and really impressed the audience. Attila put on an astonishing show that everyone will remember for the night.

The Monster Energy Outbreak tour was a huge success at the Baltimore Soundstage date. I believe the best part about this tour is not just how great the bands are or how they performed. Itʼs the quality that is put into the show that made this tour great. Besides the amazing performances, Monster Energy had free signings from some of the bands for the fans. Monster did a great job of treating every band well by giving them enough time to play sets that were lengthier than your normal tour. You can tell that this tour treated both the bands and fans right in order to give them the best experience possible. interview/photo

by Jake Lahah

SOMOS photo by Jake Lahah

21 year old Christian Olivelli is a recent college graduate paving his own way through the music industry. While balancing a full time job in ESPN始s music department, Olivelli started his own independent record label in 2014 and has since signed 6 acts to his label, including Civil Pilots, Ian Biggs, Wolf Harbor, and more. We caught up with Christian to learn more about Niveo Records and his bold decision that has propelled him from college graduate to entrepreneur.

OUT NOW ON NIVEO RECORDS! Civil Pilots - Tunnels

Cephalopods And TheirTheir Aliens Allies - New EP Cephalopods And Roger始s PlacePlace New -EP - Roger始s

How did you come up with the name Niveo Records?

Tell us a little bit about Niveo Records.

Olivelli: I milled over a long list of names but really wanted something new and truly original. I started playing around with Google Translate and it told me the Latin word for snow was “Niveo.” I liked it, and it stuck.

You recently graduated from the University of New Haven; what made you want to jump in headfirst and just start your own record label? Why a record label and not something else?

Iʼve wanted to run my own label for some time now and I really didnʼt want to wait much longer after graduation. I started working in the ESPN Music Department full time during the day but wanted to remain involved in the scene on a smaller level, on a project-by-project basis. Starting up an indie label was the best way to do that. I chose a record label because Iʼm happiest doing the day-to-day work that comes along with running one.

Niveo Records is a small independent record label based out of Bristol, CT. It is not specific to any genre.

I honestly just court acts I like and find unique. I try to avoid cookie cutter artists for the most part; even if they might sell a little bit better. If I can be part of producing something new and unique then Iʼm happy.

What has been the hardest part about building something from nothing?

Everything is on you from the start. Every part of the process is set in motion by something a decision you make. After a while, itʼs easy to get mentally and creatively fatigued. I tend to find new things that jumpstart me however.

What has been your biggest struggle since graduating and entering the “real world”?

The closest Chipotle is over 20 minutes away. Just kidding (not really). If Iʼm being honest Iʼd have to say I am very blessed that I havenʼt had too many struggles hitting the real world as I worked incredibly hard in school so as not be in that position upon graduation. I think the biggest struggle is not settling for “just ok” on the tough days.

How do you see Niveo Records “fitting in” among the cluster of record labels that exist today?

Iʼve never really been one to care too much about fitting in, especially after high school haha. If I do, great; If I donʼt, great. There are some awesome indie labels doing cool things out there right now and I respect any one of them that is able to put the music first.

Are you actively searching for new bands/artists to add to your roster? How do you select which bands you sign?

Yes, Iʼve always got my eyes open, but I actively search depending where I am with a release. If Iʼm in a place where I feel like I have enough time to dedicate to a new act then Iʼll go for it. There are a lot of little factors that all culminate to a final decision. Sound, uniqueness and ability to sell are all big and obvious answers. Honestly, I sit down and talk with the acts so we can feel each other out and make sure we vibe well. Some people just donʼt work well together so itʼs important to get a feel for that before weʼre locked into one another.

What is something special you offer your artist?

I offer incredibly fair deals to my acts and great splits. I make sure theyʼre never in a position where they are too indebted to me in any way when trying to recoup any advancements I gave them. . Thatʼs something that makes me feel very uncomfortable.

Beyond that, Iʼm very open to an acts artistic vision and will always make suggestions, but at the end of the day, itʼs the artists choice and they know that.

Where do you see Niveo Records going within the next 5-10 years?

Hopefully with a nice full roster and a wonderful list of releases spanning many different genres.

Do you have any advice for any reader who may want to take on a new project, but isnʼt quite sure how to begin?

1. Save up twice as much money as you think youʼll need to start up.

2. Donʼt pay anyone for services unless you are absolutely, positively sure you canʼt do it yourself.

How did you first get involved in the music industry?

Was there any particular moment where you decided this is where you want to build your career?

I was a total guitar freak in high school (still am) but I never really enjoyed performing. I decided I wanted to get into the industry side of things so I went to college for it and I guess the rest is history? I donʼt [think] that thereʼs one defining moment, but I know that I wouldnʼt be happy doing anything else.

Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers or anything you want them to know?

Hit me up to chat at niveorecords@gmail.com.

Whether youʼre an artist or just someone whoʼd like interview by Carol Simpson

WE CAME AS ROMANS photo by Jake Lahah

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DERN BALL

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YOUTH IN REVOLT photo by Jake Lahah

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