Driven Far Off

The latest on the indie, alternative, and rock music scene including news, music, contest, interviews, and more. Best described as your favorite place to find new bands.

My Favorite Highway Interview – April 22, 2009

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I recently had the oppurtunity to conduct an interview with David Cook of one of Virgin records latest signee’s My Favorite Highway. We discuss signing to a major label, flavour of the week scene bands, and Demi Lovato. Special thanks goes out to David and Frank at Empire Media Management for allowing this to happen

Please Introduce yourself and what you do in My Favorite Highway.
My name is David Cook and I sing lead vocals and play guitar and piano in MFH.
How does it feel being with Virgin records? was it an intimidating experience diving into the world of major labels after trying for so long to get signed?
It feels great! No, it was very intimidating at all actually, we’ve been dipping our toes in and out of that world for over three years now so we’re pretty comfortable with the entire industry and the way it operates. 
Signing to a major label has always carried a stigma to it, in relation to “selling out” (in the past more, but now not as much) How do you feel your fans have felt about your signing? 
I think that our fans are very supportive of us signing to a major label and everything that we do. It’s no secret that since day one of MFH one of our first major goals and priorities was to sign to a major label, we worked very hard to get to where we are now and we’re prepared to work even harder to achieve the rest of our goals. 
Why was “Say So” chosen as the first single? And what was it like filming the live video in New York?
I think “Say So” was chosen because it’s a very catchy song, it’s a great break out song and I think it gives a great first impression of the band for new listeners. To be honest… I wasn’t even aware we were filming that video, haha, that video is actually just a little something to get you by for now, we’re making the real video out in LA in June, which will be a lot of fun.
How important do you believe it is for bands to stay true to themselves and make songs they love, then songs that a label would want to hear and suggest a band create? Do fans feel when a song is true to the artist then one that isn’t?
I think that’s very important, before signing to Virgin we tried for a very long time to write songs that would appeal to record labels, but we ended up not liking those songs or even tossing them, when we wrote How To Call A Bluff the approach was that we wanted to write songs that we loved and that we knew our fans would love, and I think that’s the best way to stay true to yourself. 
You’re going to be on tour with Danger Radio and Stereo Skyline starting May 5th, how do you feel about the bands you are going to be touring with?
That tour is going to be a lot of fun, I think both bands are very talented and they seem like really stand up guys.
What was the influence behind your cover of “Don’t Forget” by Demi Lovato? If you could choose one of your songs for her to cover, which do you think it would be?
To be completely honest I just really liked the song and couldn’t get it out of my head one day, so I said to myself, “I bet I can play that.” So I did and made a video of it, and I think it’s gotten a lot more attention than I intended, haha. I would ask her to cover “Steel City”, I think that song would be great for her voice and I think she’d enjoy singing it.
If you could be responsible for the creation of any one-hit wonder in history, which would it be? 
Oh my, there are a lot, but probably “Closing Time” by Semisonic. 
Three of your songs have been featured on MTV programs (The Hills and The City) How do you feel MTV and other networks that play music during their programs help bands and artists? Did you find that it generated a lot of buzz for you guys?
Actually five songs, but who’s counting! I think getting placements in popular TV shows like that can be a great opportunity, and in my experience the people working at the networks who are responsible for placing the songs are all about helping the artists succeed. When people hear your song for the first time and it’s associated with an emotion they felt while watching a particular scene in a TV show or movie it will always resonate with them. Having our songs on those shows didn’t necessarily generate a ton of buzz for us, but it definitely increased the amount of songs we sold on iTunes during those weeks!

 On your blog, you’ve been quoted as saying “Scene kids and hip-hop beats were never meant to breed, I can’t wait until the “party emo” trend is dead”. Do you feel at all cheated at seeing bands like these get signed and become accomplished so soon after only playing a couple shows and posting some “fun” songs on myspace, seeing how much you’ve had to go through to get to the level you’re at?

No, I don’t feel cheated, because I know that they’ll all be changing my oil at Jiffy Lube in a few years. Sorry, that was harsh, I just mean to say that those bands aren’t career bands, they’re the flavor of the week and will be hear today and gone tomorrow, there’s no real talent or effort involved. It’s not real music and I’m pretty sure that 95% of music listeners hate it and the other 5% don’t know any better.

How do you feel about sites like Myspace or Purevolume, like how they can allow for a directory of all different kinds of bands to put there songs out there and be discovered, while at the same time allowing bands like Brokencyde and Millionaires to exist and become successful in the same environment? is it just as much of a blessing as it is a curse?

That’s a really good question, and I have mixed feelings. Without websites like MySpace we would have never had a foundation to build our fan base or an outlet to sell our music and market our tours. The problem definitely is that now your friend Tommy across the hall can record himself farting, get someone to design him an awesome MySpace and sell 100,000 downloads of “Tommy’s Farts” on iTunes and make $70,000 doing so. The beauty of it is that anyone with an entrepreneurial mindset can turn their “music” into a semi-successful business rather quickly. The problem is that there are SO many bands out there that music in general is very over saturated right now, but the bottom line is that the real artists that have great songs will rise to the top and the ones who don’t will get to have some fun making their music. 

Your band has been through a lot before you achieved the recognition you deserved by being signed to Virgin records, what kind of wisdom can you impart on bands that are trying to get signed while facing the same trials and tribulations you have?
The best advice I can give anyone is to write as many songs as you can until you write that one undeniably great song. Write a great song and you will always win. The songs are all that matter, everything else is just details.
What would be one thing that you would want listeners to take away from How To Call A Bluff?
I hope that when people listen to HTCAB they gain and sense of hope and are inspired. I think that the songs we write are very uplifting and I really hope that they encourage people and when they’re driving down the highway listening to our songs that it makes them feel genuinely happy. 
Thank you very much for taking time out for this interview, any last words for everyone at Driven Far Off?
Thank you so much for some great questions! May 5th, How To Call A Bluff, make sure you get a copy and come check us out on tour this summer!

Sick Puppies – Dressed Up As Life

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Sick Puppies

Artist: Sick Puppies
Album: Dressed Up As Life
Label: Virgin Records
Purchase: Amazon
Release Date: April 3, 2007

Overall: 7.0
Music: 7.0
Lyrics: 6.0
Production: 8.0

Trying to review an album for a band called Sick Puppies is a lot harder than one would think. It took me a while just to get over the band’s ridiculous name to try and enjoy their album. As much as I tried to head into this session of music listening of being open minded, my mind quickly closed as the cd played. Although being from Austrailia, the band resembles many of our famous North American rock bands Creed and Nickelback mixed with the trashiness of Puddle of Mudd. Throughout most of the album, very few songs really caught my attention. I found myself even hating a few of the songs. In all fairness, even with the bands cheesy grunge rock style there are some good rockin’ guitar parts.Like most of the bands they resemble, the lyrics are definitely quite cheesy and trashy. Don’t get me wrong there are some good songs on this album, like “World” and “Pitiful”. Other than those two songs I didn’t seem to find many songs catchy or worth spending my time listening to. For all of you who do like the slower songs, there are a few slower ballads “What Are You Looking For” and “Too Many Words”. Then there are some songs like “Asshole Father”, which I found so awful I wanted to break the cd. This band definitely has the talent, it’s just not talent I feel like wasting my time listening too. If would recommend this album to fans of Creed, Nickelback, Puddle Of Mudd, or any other cheesy band of that genre. But don’t get me completely wrong, I love all kinds of music, it’s just that I believe that this album could have had some better songs on it. An album needs more than just two or three catchy songs to be considered more than decent, and decent is exactly how to describe Sick Puppies.

The Only Standout Tracks
“World”, “Pitiful”, and “What Are You Looking For?”

Tracklisting
1. My World
2. Pitiful
3. Cancer
4. What Are You Looking For?
5. Deliverance
6. All The Same
7. Too Many Words
8. Howard’s Tale
9. Asshole Father
10. Issues
11. Anywhere But Here
12. The Bottom

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – Don’t You Fake It

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The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Artist: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Album: Don’t You Fake It
Label: Virgin Records
Purchase: Smart Punk
Release Date: July 18, 2006

Overall: 8.2
Music: 7.5
Lyrics: 8.0
Production: 9.0

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is a young new band that has pretty much came out of nowhere. Without spending a lot of time working on their band name, which by the way means absolutely nothing, you can tell that they have concentrated hard on their music. They are definitely a band that is worthy of a major label contract, and so far they are proving to be very sucessful in mainstream music scene, thus selling over 90,000 copies in the first month of the cd release. The entire album is full of solid tracks come together just right to make the perfect debut album for the band. Although I consider this album to very good, it is not a very original as in the style of music. The songs resemble styles of bands such as Senses Fail, Underoath, Hawthorne Heights, Halifax, Finch, and even Fall Out Boy.

The cd opens up with the hard hitting song “In Fate’s Hands”,which is a strong track which is driven by the fast drums and heavy guitar. In the chorus the singer does a nasty scream similar to the Senses Fail screams on their cd. The next track “Waiting”, is a good song but just all around reminds me of Hawthorne Heights, which is a bad thing, but at the same time I would never come this band to Hawthorne Heights because they are actually good and have well written songs. The next song “False Pretenses” is one of the better songs on the album with a very catchy prechorus and chorus. The best song on the album is by far “Face Down”. The band could not have chosen a better single than this. The song is filled with meaningful lyrics, catchy melodies, and great lead guitar parts. The next track “Misery” is more of a slowed down rock song, it is a good song, but probably one of my least favorite. There are also some other slower songs like “Cat and Mouse” with stands out because of the piano, and then “Guardian Angel” starts out the first half of the song with soft voice and smooth acoustic guitar. Also the band tends to pull out some pop punk songs such as, “Damn Regret” and “Seventeen”. You can hear Fall Out Boy influences in “Damn Regret” where the intro of the song sounds similar to Fall Out Boy’s “Grand Theft Autumn”. The other songs on the album tend to have a more hardcore sound such as “Atrophy” and “Justify”, in these songs you will hear a lot more screaming and heavy guitars.

Overall these is an amazing album. I myself have grown to like it more than I thought I would. The quality of the album is phenomenal, and it is mainstream and will be enjoyed by almost any fan of this style of music. I think the lyrics are good and the guitars are also amazing. My only problem with the album is its lack of originality, although I seem to overlook that due to how well the band has pulled off this style of music. A lot of the bands I have listed above they do sound like them or resemble them slightly, but The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus pulls the sound of their music off even better. Anyone who is a fan of this style of music definitely needs to check out this band.

Tracklisting

1. In Fate’s Hands
2. Waiting
3. False Pretense
4. Face Down
5. Misery Loves Its Company
6. Cat and Mouse
7. Damn Regret
8. Atrophy
9. Seventeen Ain’t So Sweet
10. Justify
11. Your Guardian Angel

Standout Tracks

  • “Face Down”
  • “False Pretenses”
  • “Atrophy”
  • “Damn Regret”

Over It – Step Outside Yourself

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Over It

Artist: Over It
Album: Step Outside Yourself
Label: Virgin Records
Purchase: Smart Punk
Release Date: August 29, 2006

Overall: 9.1
Music: 8.5
Lyrics: 9.0
Production: 9.5

Over It is a band that many people have either heard about or listened to in the past few years. Now with their first major label release just about everyone will hear about them. Over Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s musical style has progressed every album starting from the fast paced â┚¬Ã…”Timing Is Everythingâ┚¬? to the last album â┚¬Ã…”Silverstrandâ┚¬?, which is more of a pop punk genre of music. Now the band has taken a whole new approach of their style on this album. They have taken their sound up to the next level. I will honestly say that this album is very main stream in every way possible. The songs are catchy with melodies that will get you hooked. The best part of the album is its production, with the soaring vocals, hard hitting drums, and loud bass.

â┚¬Ã…”Step Outside Yourselfâ┚¬? opens up with a very rock styled song called â┚¬Ã…”Think Against the Grainâ┚¬?. This song is probably my favorite song on the album, and reminds me of a mix between Donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t Look Down and Over It. The band also re-recorded the single from their last album â┚¬Ã…”Siren On the 101â┚¬?, which sounds much better now than the original. The vocal ranges are much better and the production as whole just makes the song even more enjoyable than before. Then there are the songs on the album that have guest vocals, â┚¬Ã…”Dishonor and Disorderâ┚¬? featuring Mike Herrera of MXPX and â┚¬Ã…”The Energyâ┚¬? featuring Sean Mackin of Yellowcard. â┚¬Ã…”Dishonor and Disorderâ┚¬? sounds more like a pop punk song and â┚¬Ã…”The Energyâ┚¬? sounds more like a ballad song. The album has the perfect mix of songs. There are the more rocklike songs like â┚¬Ã…”Think Against the Grainâ┚¬?, â┚¬Ã…”Your Songâ┚¬?, and â┚¬Ã…”Come Out with Your Hands Upâ┚¬?. Then there are some tracks that give Over It a whole new sound like â┚¬Ã…”Too Much Informationâ┚¬?, â┚¬Ã…”The Energyâ┚¬?, â┚¬Ã…”Mister Seriousâ┚¬?, and â┚¬Ã…”Feels Like Affectionâ┚¬?. The album also has the perfect closing track â┚¬Ã…”Like Satellitesâ┚¬?, it is a catchy closing track with some acoustic guitar in it and it definitely has a different sound for the band. Overall this album is amazing. With one listen you like this instantly, but with a few more listens you love it. It has really grown on me, and I think it will do the same to everyone else who comes across it. Over It has really stepped it up for their first major label debut with an amazingly produced album and well written lyrics for everyone to enjoy.

Track Listing:
1. Think Against the Grain
2. Gunslinger (Running Out of Time)
3. Siren on the 101
4. Too Much Information
5. Dishonor, Disorder (featuring Mike Herrera of MXPX)
6. Your Song
7. The Energy (featuring Sean Mackin of Yellowcard)
8. Lost
9. Where the Sky Begins
10. Mister Serious
11. Feels Like Affection (Turn It Up)
12. Come Out with Your Hands Up
13. Like Satellites

Stand out Tracks

  • “Think Against the Grain”
  • “Siren on the 101”
  • “Come Out with Your Hands Up”
  • “Your Song”