Magic Man Headlines The El Rey Theatre In L.A. On March 25

February 17, 2015 by
Magic Man Headlines the El Ray Theatre on March 25. Photo Credit: Gavin Thomas.

Magic Man Headlines the El Ray Theatre on March 25. Photo Credit: Gavin Thomas.

Concert Guide Live sat down with Alex Caplow and Sam Lee, founding members of the five-piece synth rock band Magic Man, ahead of their performance at the El Rey Theatre in L.A. on Wed., March 25. The New England-based band released their major-label debut album, Before the Waves, in July, 2014 on Columbia Records. Members are Alex and Sam, along with Justine Bowe, Gabe Goodman and Joey Sulkowski.

This is the first headlining tour for Magic Man, though they’ve spent much time on the road playing everywhere from small clubs to large arenas. They’ve toured in support of bands like Panic! At the Disco and Walk the Moon, and will now bring their high-energy performance to fans across the country as the main act.

Check out our interview with the band below, and grab your tickets to see them live this Wednesday, 3/25 in L.A.

CGL: Have you guys played at the El Rey Theatre before, or in L.A.?

Magic Man: We haven’t played the El Rey, but we’ve played the Fonda Theater. Coming from the East Coast, playing L.A. is always a lot of fun for us. We get to see our people from the label and others that support us, so it’s always good to see them. We always have a good time playing for our fans out there.

CGL: What can people expect to experience while attending a Magic Man show?

MM: We’re all completely nude! There’s no other way to do it [laughs]. But seriously, one thing that we really try to bring to shows is as much energy as possible, and we try to connect with the crowd as much as possible.
We also keep the show completely live and don’t use any backing tracks, even though we have so many layers to our sound. We love creating that raw live energy with a five piece band. We’re also bringing out a light show on this tour that we’re using for the first time, and we’re really excited about that as well.

CGL: Are there any new songs you’ll be playing, or mostly songs from prior records?

MM: We’re going to play a lot of songs off of our last record, but we also have some new songs that we’re looking forward to trying out on the road. Our set will be a little over an hour long.

CGL: What are you most looking forward to with this tour?

MM: We love playing and being out on the road – it’s a really great rhythm to get into. Playing a show every night is a lot of fun, and it’s great to see new fans and new places.

CGL: How long have you guys been touring? Is this your first major tour?

MM: We spent pretty much all of 2014 and the end of 2013 on the road, so it’s definitely not our first major tour, though it is our first headlining tour. We’ve done everything from small club shows to big arenas with bands like Panic! At the Disco. Sometimes the small intimate shows are really great, but of course it’s also fun to play for thousands of people at the bigger venues.

CGL: What were some of the bigger or more memorable shows that you’ve played?

MM: Sam: One particularly memorable show was playing at the Boston Calling festival in Boston. It’s a great local festival. The fans at that festival are just great and they stick around all day, so the crowd was huge. We did a rendition of “Sweet Caroline” and everyone sang along, it was a great experience.
Alex: Another memorable show was in Toronto. There was a technical difficulty and a fuse or something broke during our first song, and all the lights in the entire venue went out. But the sound was still going, so we ended up playing our entire set in the dark. At one point, all the fans started turning on their cell phone lights to illuminate us, and it looked like all these floating orbs in the crowd. It was one of the most magical things.

CGL: Do you guys do anything differently with any of your songs when you play live, versus the recorded versions?

MM: We don’t play to any tracks, so it’s impossible to recreate every nuance of our recorded songs. We strip it down a little when we play live, and stick to the five musicians on stage. We also like to expand with some different arrangements and different intros or endings to songs. We try to capture the essence of all of our songs, but also bring a lot of raw energy to the performance.

CGL: Do you have any special setups that help to create your live sound?

MM: We use some very elaborate pedal boards for guitar and bass. We’ve also got an elaborate keyboard setup with multiple keyboards being controlled at the same time, which helps us mimic our recorded sound that has tons of keyboard layers. Sam is the mad scientist of live gear.

CGL: How have you guys progressed from your first tours to where you are now?

MM: In a lot of ways we’re doing what we’ve always been doing since we started playing music together. On the other hand, this is now our full time jobs, which is something we didn’t really imagine.
We get to travel the country and the world even, playing our music for people. There are more and more people at our shows now, which is a great feeling. We have definitely come a long way, but it’s important to remember where we started and to still get excited about every show and about every song we write. Keeping the excitement and energy is what keeps it interesting.
Every tour feels like a big shift from the last one, even if it’s just a small change. Our first tour was in our mini-van, then we got to upgrade to a 15 person van which made us feel like a real band! Then we upgraded to a mini tour bus that we could actually sleep on, and now we’re doing this headlining tour, so each time there is something new.

CGL: Is there anything about this tour that you would like to share with your fans, old and new?

MM: For people that haven’t been to a Magic Man show before, we love to feed off the energy of the crowd and see them jumping up and down and singing along! Our music is loud and raucous and we love for the crowd to be that way too.

Catch Magic Man at the El Rey Theatre, located at 5515 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, this Wed., March 25. http://www.theelrey.com/

Find out more about Magic Man by visiting http://magicmanmusic.com/

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Wake The Sun Plays Two Southern California Shows On National Tour

January 31, 2015 by
Wake the Sun plays The Mint L.A. on 2/26 and Copper Door O.C. on 2/27

Wake the Sun plays The Mint L.A. on 2/26 and Copper Door O.C. on 2/27

Concert Guide Live sat down for an interview with up and coming New York rock band Wake the Sun, ahead of two southern California shows on their national tour. The band is playing The Mint in L.A. on Feb. 26 and The Copper Door in Santa Ana on Feb. 27.

The band is made up of Dillon Mealey (lead vocals), Jeff Alvarado (bass), John Creighton (keyboards), Jon Brick (drums) and Tommy Perrotta (lead guitar). The following interview is with the vocalist, Dillon Mealey.

Concert Guide Live: Have you guys played southern California before?

Wake the Sun: We were actually out there last May, 2014 for a showcase called Sunset Sessions. We were out there for about a week and we had the opportunity to play with Scott Weiland, The Dirty Heads and a couple other really awesome bands.

CGL: How long have you guys been a band now?

WTS: We’re relatively new – I think it’s about eight months now that we’ve been together as a collective group. A couple of the members have played together in other previous projects. But we’re fairly new as Wake the Sun.

CGL: How did you guys come together? What was the inspiration?

WTS: The bassist and I used to be in a band together in college, but it disbanded after we graduated. Jeff [the bassist] asked me to move down to Long Island to see if we could form something there, so that’s what I did. We actually found our drummer on YouTube. It was a guy that lived a couple towns over and was doing crazy covers of bands that we love, so it was a no-brainer. John Creighton, the keyboard player, was recommended by a mutual party, and when we jammed together he fit in immediately. The lead guitarist Tom came on later in an audition where he just killed it.

CGL: Have you guys been on tour before, or is this the first one?

WTS: This is our first national tour. We’ve done several different regional things, but nothing to this extent, so this is our first go at it.

CGL: Have you guys been playing many live shows locally in New York?

WTS: Absolutely, yes – we just played a place called the Bowery Electric. We’ve played the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. We’ve played the Delancey and the Rockwood Music Hall, just to name a few.

CGL: How have your local shows been going? What has been the reception to your band so far?

WTS: It’s been incredible! We’ve been packing these rooms out and already having people singing along to songs that aren’t even out yet. It’s an incredible feeling – the shows have been going really, really great.

CGL: When did the band come out with its EP?

WTS: Our EP was released at the beginning of January. We just released the single, Wicked Souls, on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon.com. We released it to all of the major digital distribution channels. If you want the actual EP, we are only selling it at our shows, so you have to come and see us live in order to grab the EP!

CGL: How would you describe the sound of your single, Wicked Souls?

WTS: It’s kind of a bluesy rock sort of vibe. It sounds kind of like early Black Crowes. It’s awesome, it’s really high energy and raw and guttural.

CGL: Are you guys headlining this tour? Who are the other bands on the tour?

WTS: Yes we’re the headliner. It’s a club tour, so we get a majority of our support from local acts at each venue. We don’t have any other bands traveling with us. It’s awesome – we’ve met so many great bands and incredible people so far.

CGL: How are you guys traveling for this tour? Do you have an old van?

WTS: Yeah, Rosa is what we call her! It’s an Eco-line Chevy 16-passenger van with a big old trailer on the back, so we’re just roughin’ it. I actually do a majority of the driving because everyone else doesn’t really like to drive. I don’t mind it.

CGL: What are you most looking forward to with your first national tour?

WTS: We’re looking forward to just spreading our music as much as we can and getting the word out. So far we’ve found that every place we play, we get such a great reception with people shouting and going crazy – and they don’t even know who we are. So I think just getting ourselves out there and having people see us live is going to really help to generate a buzz for us. I want everyone to hear our music. The main focus is getting people to come out and support live music and to hear us play.

CGL: What can concert goers expect to experience at one of your shows?

WTS: Our show is polished, yet loud and brash and in-your-face. The show has some extreme dynamics and is a rollercoaster ride. It’s a lot different in the fact that everything is super catchy, with a lot of raw tendencies as well. If you come out to one of our shows, you’re going to get blown away. It’s a really fun show!

CGL: What is your favorite part about playing a live show?

WTS: I love the energy and the reaction on people’s faces. It’s really cool to walk into a venue where no one knows us or cares who we are, and then we play the show and all of a sudden everyone is coming up to us and talking to us. It’s great to see people really react to the performance.

CGL: Are you guys currently signed? What plans do you have for the future?

WTS: We are under management with Wayne Martin. We are also working with a really great Publicist Nancy Sayle. Other than that we’ve been doing everything ourselves right now. We are still trying to figure out if we want to be signed or do it ourselves. It’s up in the air right now.

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Nothing More Juggernaut Tour Comes To Yost Theater Jan. 23

January 16, 2015 by
Nothing More

Nothing More plays the Yost Theater Jan 23. with the Juggernaut Tour.

The San Antonio, Texas based hard-rockers, Nothing More, make their southern California tour stops this week at the House of Blues L.A. on Jan. 22, and the Yost Theater in Orange County on Jan. 23. Along with Nothing More, the Juggernaut Tour brings to the stage rock bands Periphery, Wovenwar and Thank You Scientist.

According to lead singer of Nothing More Jonny Hawkins, “We’re looking forward to getting back out there. Every time we’re there [L.A. and O.C.] it feels like a trip because the weather is so nice. It’s ungodly how nice it is! It’s unfair for us people from Texas.”

Beyond the weather and getting back to SoCal., Hawkins and his bandmates – bassist Daniel Oliver, guitarist Mark Vollelunga and drummer Paul Obrien – are looking forward to playing with Periphery on this tour. “It’s exciting because they’re a band we have looked up to for a long time,” points out Hawkins, “The other bands on the tour are also all excellent musicians, so we’re looking forward to stepping it up every night.”

Nothing More brings something more to their live performance, creating an adrenaline-filled experience for concert goers. So what can fans expect to see from the band’s 45 minute set?

According to Hawkins, “Our live show is definitely different. There are certain songs – one called ‘Salem’ for example, where we throw this huge drum solo instrumental into the middle of the song. We do stuff like that with a few of the songs where they are a little different than what you hear on the record.” Hawkins continues, “But at the same time, we still make sure we’re trying to present as much of the [latest] record as possible that people want to hear. We try to find a balance between the two, where we bring some new elements to the live performance, but stay true to our sound.”

Although the band has been touring and recording for many years, the Juggernaut Tour is a different kind of tour for the guys from Nothing More. It’s their first time on the road as a band signed to a large record label, in support of their self-titled debut label release. Although the band had recorded and produced their latest record independently, “it was about six months after that we got a record deal and re-released it to the world,” says Hawkins.

Hawkins continues, “This tour is going to be a little different for us, the reason being is that it’s our first tour in a legitimate full-sized bus. Up until now, we’ve been in a vehicle that was pretty much homemade […] It was a little trickier on those tours. But now we have a bus with a driver so we can just sleep and wake up in the next city, which is awesome compared to how it was before.”

The leap to a tour bus signifies a big step forward for Nothing More, as they continue to gain fans and make a name for themselves across the country and beyond. Hawkins points out that, “We’ve tried to withhold from a bus for as long as we could and just suck it up. But now that we’re in one, it’s about time. We’ve been doing years of touring in all kinds of shitty vehicles and just killing ourselves, and now we’re ready to have some good sleep every night.”

As for the choice to finally sign with a larger label, Hawkins asserts that: “We did it D.I.Y. for a long time for a reason. We didn’t want to get with a label unless it was really going to mean something significant, outside of just the illusion of being cool being on a label. We wanted it to really be impactful and find the right people. We found that with Eleven Seven Music, so we decided to sign with them.”

It turns out that there are still perks for a hard rock band signing a record deal in 2014. It’s refreshing to see a hardworking and talented group of guys put in their time with years of effort, and have that effort get rewarded.

Check out Nothing More at HOB L.A. on Jan. 22. or the Yost Theater on Jan 23. to see the high-energy performance for yourself. “Be ready, we’re all ferociously excited to get back out and play again,” says Hawkins.

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