Friday Flashbacks: Dashboard Confessional

I know this is not posted on Friday but the post is meant all the same.

Recently I was looking up songs to listen to online. I sometimes have what my roommate Chanel and I call "song A.D.D" where one does not know what song to play and changes it partway through each song. With other six thousand songs on my computer I get this frequently. If this is not happening I am getting stuck on one song or band and listening to them repeatedly. I wanted to change this.

I had come upon Dashboard Confessional in my search and had fond memories of listening to their music in my early teen years. They are a band fronted by singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba from Boca Raton, Florida. They started in 1999 and have released six albums since. They have had one live album and five EP's.

The song I had found by them was "Stolen." In my search Internet users said it was a good love song. Interestingly enough I was going through some love song mix tapes a friend had made recently. I had not heard this song from them as I my listening to them declined after high school. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. What songs I knew fondly were "Hands Down", "Rapid Hope Loss", and "Vindicated"; the last one mostly known from it's inclusion in the Spider-Man 2 Soundtrack.

The chorus to the song "Stolen" goes, "You have stolen my heart." I can see what Internet users deemed this a love song. Chanel agreed. "Some of their songs could be love songs. A lot of songs in their genre of music is about love," she said.

They are an emo, acoustic, and alternative rock band. A lot of bands that formed around the time of Dashboard Confessional had songs in the same vein. The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, and Midtown, are just a few of them.

Watching the video for "Stolen" I did not understand it the first time through. It took one more watching of the video to get it and that was fine with me as I enjoy listening to the song. The video definitely represents the song well. Below you can see the video to hear the song and see the imagery the band put alongside it.

(c) 2006 Dashboard Confessional/Vagrant Records

I do not know what is next for this band. Their first album The Swiss Army Romance was re-released last November as a deluxe edition and Chris Carrabba planned to go on a solo tour playing the album in its entirety in support of it.

Now that I have regained interest in this band maybe their music will come into rotation more on my iTunes. Maybe they will be the thing to save me from "song A.D.D" or they will just become one of those repeated artists for a short period of time. "Stolen" already is becoming that. For now I may just listen to more of their discography and search other bands I have forgotten about since my high school days.

Musicfest NW

Many cities across the United States have annual music festivals. Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot, South By Southwest (SXSW), Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Cornerstone Festival, and Bamboozle, just to name a few. Well those are a lot of the main ones.

Another festival that happens in the United States is Musicfest NW (MFNW). It happens every year in September in Portland, Ore. As Portland's largest and most successful festival, it happens at eighteen different venues in Portland including downtown at Pioneer Courthouse Square, occurring over four days. It has become the third largest indoor music festival in the United States attracting over 150 bands each year. It was rated one of the "50 Authentic American Experiences of 2009" by Time Magazine.

“The Northwest has always been on the cutting edge when it comes to music, and here’s your chance to find out why.”—Time.com

The festival is put on by the Willamette Week, Portland's alt-weekly newspaper. It started in 1995 as a joint venture between Willamette Week and Mark Zusman and Richard Meekek, who both own Willamette Week. Up until 2001 it was called North by Northwest but was renamed MFNW when Willamette Week took it over.

In it's tenth year as MusicFest NW, Pioneer Courthouse Square became the festival's first outdoor venue. In 2010 the two main acts to play at Pioneer Courthouse Square were The Decemberists and The National. In 2009, one of the acts I saw was The Get Up Kids who played with Portugal The Man at Roseland Theater.

Currently MFNW is accepting applications at their website for musicians and bands to play at this year's festival.

Here are the eighteen venues of MFNW.


View Musicfest NW Concert Venues in a larger map

Update: Satryicon LLC closed down in October of 2010.

UP's Battle of the Bands 2011

Last Friday, April 1, was University of Portland's Battle of the Bands at The Anchor. It was put on by the Haggerty and Tyson RA's benefiting The Holy Cross Mission Center. Voting was done by students donating money into boxes labeled with each artist's name. The artists with the most donated money in their box won Battle of the Bands and a hundred dollar Best Buy gift card. I attended the event and even did some voting of my own. In the end, a familiar face to this blog, Sam Wemgan, won the "battle."

I shot videos of the performances and compiled them into a recap video. From the artists you hear, who do you think should have won?

For more videos of the event see From The Ground Down's YouTube channel.

Profile: Daytrotter.com

Website name: Daytrotter
Origin: Rock Island, Illinois
Founded: 2006

Daytrotter describes itself as: "The source for new music discovery and free MP3 downloads from the best emerging bands."

Daytrotter is a website where bands and musicians will come into their studio, The Horseshack, in Rock Island, Ill. and record live versions of their songs. They record four songs by a band everyday, releasing twenty-eight songs each week, most of them for free download. Some of their recordings are not located at The Horseshack but at music festivals South by Southwest, in Austin, Texas and Pop Montreal in Montreal, QC, Canada.

These recordings are live in-studio. The recording process is analog and there no editing or overdubbing on the songs. Each song is performed with the instruments a band has at the time and how they are on the particular day they come in for a session. It is an honest representation of the artist during the session.

The website was started by Sean Moeller, from Davenport, Ill., who writes the accompanying writings to each Daytrotter Session. The other people who make up Daytrotter are Mike Gentry, from Moline, Ill., Johnnie Cluney, from the quad cities, the Daytrotter Illustrator, and Phil Pracht, from Davenport, Ill.

Part of Daytrotter's "about" section is what inspired the description of this blog. It says, "We are not giving you songs from someone you love’s record album, thereby stealing from someone you love. We’re giving you exclusive, re-worked, alternate versions of old songs and unreleased tracks by some of your favorite bands and by a lot of your next favorite bands."

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Not many people have heard of Daytrotter but it is a wonderful website. But Daytrotter is not the only site promoting new music or a new way to showcase music. I sent out a message through my Facebook to my friends looking for new music sites they enjoy.

Emily Linstrand: http://stereogum.com/
"I like the content it has. I can find interesting info about a lot of the bands I like. Plus, the Listomania section is fun."

Shayla Behling: "There are two! I love Stereomood because it's like pandora, only organized for what I need it for. The Music Maze is awesome as well and especially good for finding new artists."

Sam Wegman [Video]

This is something a little closer to home. At my university, the University of Portland, we have a lot of on campus musicians. One of the more prominent musicians is Sam Wegman, a junior business major, from Seattle, Wash. Recently I was able to visit his house, interview him and listen to him play a one of his songs acoustically. See below to watch the interview and a clip of his new song "A Riddle".

More from this session:
Full Interview
"A Riddle" by Sam Wegman

Frank DeFeliccia [Interview]

Knowing how much some close friends of mine love music I decided to interview one of them. My friend Frank DeFelicca, who I mentioned introduced me to the band Faded Paper Figures, let me interview him. In this interview I ask him about his love for music, some of his favorite music, and what new music he recommends.

FROM THE GROUND DOWN: Why do you love music?
FRANK DEFELICCIA: Music is a release. It seems to be a way for people to express emotions in a way that they can never do in everyday life.

FTGD: What type of emotions do you mean?
FD: Any kind of emotion that somebody has because a lot of times people have emotions bottled up inside of them. They all have a way of getting it out. Some people choose music.

FTGD: Who is your favorite band or musician? Why?
FD: Well, Sum 41, just because they’re music is extremely relatable. You can listen to their songs and listen to the lyrics and understand where their lead singer [Deryck Whibley] is coming form. You can feel all the emotions in their music.

FTGD: Has any of their music related to your life? If so, what song(s) in particular?
FD: Asking to pick one song is impossible.

FTGD: Why is it impossible?
FD: It just seems that all of their recent work, like Screaming Bloody Murder, Underclass Hero and Chuck, the songs just remind me of different aspects of my life. It’s kind of nice when I am feeling certain way and I am not sure how to put words to it and I can find a song that can describe exactly how I feel.

FTGD: Are you able to pick your favorite song form the band? If so, which is it and why?
FD: “Pieces”, a hundred percent completely hands down. The song talks about somebody who tries to be a different person to everybody around them to gain acceptance. They never take the time to try and consider who they are from their own point of view. They never try to be happy for themselves. They only make the effort to please other people.

FTGD: Can you relate to this?
FD: For me personally, I spent a majority of my life trying to do things for other people, doing things to make other people happy, rather than to try and do things to make myself happy.

FTGD: Switching gears from your favorite band, is there any new music you have been listening to lately?
FD: Let me think. I’d have to say that I’ve been listening to a wide variety of music that just jumps from genre to genre

FTGD: Any bands you are particularly interested in of that new music.
FD: Mumford and Sons, Panic! At The Disco, The Starting Line, Starfucker. It’s just completely random.

FTGD: With your love of music, do you happen to make your own?
FD: I’ve only experimented before with writing songs, but only recently have I decided to seriously pursue writing music. I’m in the process of writing my first album.

FTGD: What genre your first album be? What do you hope it to sound like?
FD: It definitely has to have some punk in it. Maybe if it goes a little dark that will be fine as long as it still stays true to punk.

FTGD: Do you intend to record this album for others to hear?
FD: If I have the opportunity I would love to.

FTGD: Some musicians do not put their music out under their own name and use a band name instead. Would you be doing the same?
FD: Not a band name per se, but I would definitely have to use a stage name. With how difficult and how often mispronounced my last name is, I think I have no choice but to take a stage name.

FTGD: Lastly, what band or musician do you wish more people knew about? And what is one thing you wish more people knew about music?
FD: The Superjesus. They’re a former Australian rock band who never really got notoriety outside of Australia. [I wish more people knew] That music is something that is undefined, even though it has notes, people can play it, the thing is that it can take on any form that people choose. It is not limited to just one thing.

FTGD: Thanks for letting me interview you.
FD: No problem.

An Introduction To A Record Label

What is a record label? This a question that I have heard from many people before. In my record label profile on Sub Pop Records, my friend Steven commented, "Great to finally put a name to the label behind Nirvana's early work and The Postal Service!" Reading this I thought, not many people know what a record label actually is.

Not many people know who is behind all of the albums they love. There are certain times when a band or an artists self-releases an album of theirs but that is usually early on in their careers. As they grow to notoriety the are able to release their albums on a record label.

A record label, as Wikipedia states, is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Urban Dictionary says a record label specializes in manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and video recordings, on various formats. Dictionary.com states a record label is a company that produces and sells records, CDs, and recordings.

Which of these are right? Well all of them. A record label producers, manufactures, and distributes music. But not all record labels are the same. There are two categories of record labels: major and independent.

A major record label is a large corporation managed by a parent company. There currently are four big major labels: Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Group, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group. These labels are parent companies. Warner Music Group for example is the umbrella company for the Atlantic Records Group which is then the parent company for Fueled By Ramen Records.

A independent record label is one that does not have the financial and corporate backing of a major label. An example of an independent record label is the label Steven commended, Sub Pop Records, Saddle Creek Records, and Equal Vision Records.

These labels are the "men behind the music". They do not take part in making a band's music but are able to give it direction. This is the case with some major record labels. These overarching companies for bands are what give them funding for their albums, tours, merchandise, and other promotional tools.

I wish more people knew what a record label actually was. In my dorm room there are three different people in here, excluding me, and only one of them knew exactly what a record label was. My roommate Chanel was part of this group and knew what a record label was from a structural standpoint and exactly what they did in the music industry. I asked the people in my dorm if they knew what the two types of record labels and they did not.

The idea of a record label is vague to those who are not in the middle of the music industry. Knowing what a record label is can help in knowing where some of the money that is spent on band's merchandise and ticket sales are going. As Steven said it is "Great to finally put a name to the label..." If only more people were seeking this information or already knew what it was.