BIO

Raditude’s swift appearance on the heels of 2008’s The Red Album is hardly the only surprise Weezer has in store on its seventh record. Raditude upends any expectations audiences may have of Weezer, amplifying their trademarks to a dizzying degree – the pop hooks dig deeper, the rock hits so hard it bruises – but the group subverts these signatures with a sly hand while pushing boldly into new territory.

Links

• Band homepage: www.weezer.com 
• MySpace: www.myspace.com/weezer
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/weezer  
• Twitter: twitter.com/weezer

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“(If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To”

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Perhaps the collaborative nature of Raditude – arguably its calling card – is in the collective spirit of the band’s experience on their last tour. “It feels like an extension of all the fun we were having last year with the Hootenannies,” explains Rivers Cuomo, referring to Weezer’s innovative supporting tour for The Red Album. Inspired by the old folk sing-a-longs of the ‘60s, Weezer invited fans onstage- hundreds, at times- to play the band’s songs, teaching them the chords while Rivers, Brian and Scott sang.

The wild, wooly settings borne of the Hootenannies couldn’t help but push the band in new directions, turning Rivers into a demonstrative performer. “For 15 years I went onstage and looked at my feet as I strummed my guitar,” recalls Rivers. “That wouldn’t work at the Hootenannies! We had to come out of our shell. We feel like the experience of doing it was boot camp for being frontmen. If we’re comfortable walking into a room of a few hundred kids with random instruments, guiding them through the process of playing some Weezer tunes, we can feel comfortable in an arena, knowing that we can interact with a more traditional crowd.”

With its rollicking communal spirit, Weezer’s latest offering can be viewed as a natural progression from those resulting impromptu jam sessions. Raditude sees the band partying with Lil’ Wayne, hitting the clubs with Jermaine Dupri and bringing in a host of Indian musicians to push the band into a psychedelic, spiritual dimension. Within these 10 songs lie boundless possibilities and ceaseless excitement, proof that Weezer remains a band that defies easy summations and can never be taken for granted, a band who has grown as they’ve opened their horizons.

Part of Raditude’s charm comes from its thrilling unpredictability. No song offers an indication of what’s next: Weezer inverts Jermaine Dupri’s hedonism on his Cuomo collaboration “Can’t Stop Partying,” spinning it into a minor key that gives it an underlying ironic tension; the band pounds out a classic arena-rocker with the gleefully lascivious “The Girl Got Hot;” they ride a sleek electro groove on “I’m Your Daddy,” while “Love is the Answer” builds slowly, surely to its swaying anthemic close and “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” kicks it all off with its clanking acoustic guitars and Motown beat, setting the tone for an album that’s filled with thrilling surprises, infectious melodies, marrying Weezer’s hookiest pop with their heaviest rock. As Cuomo says, “It sounds like a roomful of people having a great time” but more than that, Raditude is Weezer’s wildest, weirdest, best record yet, easily supporting Cuomo’s assertion that “Raditude feels like the greatest realization of my musical goals.”

Raditude caps off a remarkable decade that saw Weezer reassert its position as one of the biggest, best rock bands in the world while also seeing their influence echo through a generation who absorbed the sound and feel of the group’s two classic ‘90s albums: their self-titled 1994 debut, dubbed The Blue Album featuring such era-defining hits as “Undone—The Sweater Song” and “Buddy Holly” and their cult classic 1996 sophomore set Pinkerton. Weezer refused to ride on those past glories when they returned in 2001 with The Green Album, sounding vigorous on the hits “Hash Pipe” and “Island in the Sun.” The hard, heavy Maladroit, featuring “Dope Nose” and “Keep Fishin’,” followed in 2002. Three years later, Weezer released Make Believe in 2005, an album highlighted by “Beverly Hills,” their first single to climb into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The Red Album arrived in 2008 along with the single “Pork and Beans” whose YouTube-satirizing video won Weezer their first Grammy.

BIO

Los Angeles, CA – February 25, 2010 – Founding members of Sublime, drummer Bud Gaugh and bass player Eric Wilson have announced after 14-years they will officially take to the stage once again; with new frontman, singer/guitarist Rome. Dubbed Sublime with Rome, the group will reintroduce themselves and Sublime’s music to fans across the country with an exclusive six-date intimate theater tour beginning 4/20/10 in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Palladium. Ticket presales for all shows begin March 2nd, please visit www.SublimeWithRome.com for details.

“To go back out on the road and play this music again is a gift. We want to celebrate the music and share the experience for not only our fans, but also for ourselves. It’s been 14-years and is long overdue,” said Gaugh.

Stated Wilson, “Many of our songs have never been performed live, most notably our self-titled release. Songs such as ‘April 26, 1992,’ ‘Under My Voodoo,’ ‘Burritos’ and even ‘What I Got’ will all get their proper stage  debuts.”

Links

• Band homepage: http://www.sublimewithrome.com/
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sublimewithrome

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“This tour will be full of surprises,” said Gaugh. “Sublime has never used a set list. We will be performing songs off every album and will mix it up from show to show, never delivering the same set twice. We’ve also been working on some new material and have put together a couple of songs with Rome. We’re excited to introduce them, and Rome, to all our fans.”

Rome, a 21-year-old northern California native, was introduced to Gaugh and Wilson in 2008. Last year, a handful of jam sessions led to an impromptu show at a small club in Nevada flooring a packed-house crowd. The trio later performed a one-off at the Smokeout Festival last fall and was a surprise special guest at the infamous KROQ Acoustic Christmas show, before officially announcing themselves as Sublime with Rome. Currently, the new hit single “Lay Me Down” by the Dirty Heads (co-written by and featuring Rome) is racing up the radio charts across the U.S.

Portions of the proceeds from the shows will go to benefit an addiction recovery program currently being developed to financially assist underprivileged teens and adolescents, in honor of Sublime’s fallen singer/songwriter Bradley Nowell, who succumbed to his own addiction when he passed away in May 1996.

“Sublime has so many fans and attracts new fans every year who were never able to see Sublime perform live after Bradley passed away,” said Troy Nowell-Holmes. “One of the inspirations for forming ‘Sublime with Rome’ was to bring Brad’s spirit in his music back to the fans and to give the new fans a glimpse of what it was like to see Sublime live.”

One of the most notable and successful ska-punk bands of all time, Sublime has sold over 17 million albums worldwide with the group’s music remaining in constant radio rotation across the country. Influential Los Angeles rock radio station KROQ has listed Sublime as the #3 act in their annual “biggest bands” list for the last six years in a row with the single “Date Rape” ranking as the all-time most requested song at the station. To this day, the group’s multi-platinum landmark debut album “40oz. to Freedom,” lo-fi follow up “Robbin’ the Hood,” and multi-platinum self-titled major label debut (a virtual greatest hits set in itself) are all widely regarded as music collection staples. Formed in Long Beach in 1988, Sublime’s final performance was in the spring of 1996.

BIO

Primus¹ unusual approach to music and the diversity of their sound has made them difficult to define.  The band has been called everything from thrash funk, to progressive metal, to  alternative rock.  Bass player and lead singer Les Claypool has called his band psychedelic polka.  Original members Les Claypool and Larry ³Ler² LaLonde have been producing records and performing live together since the late eighties.  This year, Primus welcomes back to the stage one of their original drummers Jay Lane, who has not played with the band since 1989.  Their irreverent approach to music and their willingness to play music outside of the norm has garnered them a large, eclectic fan base.  Primus plays music with an edge that is unique and like nothing else.  The Vibes welcomes Les Claypool back for a special performance and we are excited to see him grace the stage for the first time with Primus.

LINKS

• Band homepage: Official site
• MySpace: Myspace
• Facebook: Facebook

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BIO

“Thirty years ago, people said that we were cynical, that we had a bad attitude,” says Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. “But now, when you ask people if de-evolution is real, they understand that there was something to what we were saying. It’s not the kind of thing you want to see proven right, but it does make it easier to talk about.”

“The world is in sync with Devo,” says his band-mate and co-writer Gerald Casale. “We’re not the guys who freak people out and scare them—we’re like the house band on the Titanic, entertaining everybody as we go down.”

Links

• Band homepage: www.clubdevo.com
• MySpace: www.myspace.com/devo
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ClubDEVO
• Twitter: twitter.com/devo

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And so, now is the time. More than three decades after the release of its visionary debut, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo, and a full 20 years since its last studio album, Devo is back with the aptly titled Something for Everybody. The long rumored, wildly anticipated album (which was launched with a memorable performance in Vancouver at the Winter Olympics) features the band’s classic line-up—Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, Gerald and Bob Casale—joined by drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Guns n’ Roses). Produced by Greg Kurstin (The Bird & The Bee), the album also includes contributions from John Hill and Santi White (better known as rising hip-hop star Santigold), John King of the Dust Brothers, and the Teddybears.

Though the 12 songs on Something for Everybody are built on Devo’s signature mechanized swing, the recording and presentation of the album saw the band experimenting with an entirely new approach. Greg Scholl was brought in to serve as COO for Devo, Inc., and—working with the advertising agency Mother LA—conducted a series of studies through the www.clubdevo.com site to help the band with its creative decisions, from color selection to song mixes.

“We decided to actively seek comment and criticism from outside people and use that as a tool, rather than shunning or ignoring it,” says Gerald Casale. “Our experiences participating in secondary creativity—things like corporate consensus building, focus groups—make you appreciate the connection that an artist has to society.”

“In the past, Devo was very insular,” says Mark Mothersbaugh. “This time, I became intrigued with the idea of having people who understood Devo actually work on the songs, and to do to our songs what we did to ‘Satisfaction’ on our first record. Don’t put any boundaries on their production style, let them bring what they needed to make Devo be what it should be after waking up from suspended animation for 20 years.”

His revelation came when the Teddybears did a remix of the song “Watch Us Work It,” an idea initiated by the Mother agency. “They took Josh Freese’s drums off and put on a sample from something we did back in, like, 1982. And I thought, ‘That actually is better!’ That was when I first really saw that Devo had something to absorb, as well as something to impart.”

Certainly Devo has had plenty to convey since Gerald Casale founded the group in Akron, Ohio, in 1973. The band was an extension of a multi-media exploration of the concept that mankind’s progress had ceased, and the process of de-evolution had begun. Devo’s early work caught the attention of such icons as Neil Young and David Bowie, and, with such hits as “Whip It” and “Girl U Want,” and the accompanying, revolutionary music videos, the group became one of the defining acts of the 1980s.

Devo’s sound, style, and philosophy have been an influence on artists from Rage Against the Machine to Lady Gaga. Kurt Cobain once said, “Of all the bands who came from the underground and actually made it in the mainstream, Devo is the most challenging and subversive of all.”

In 1990, Devo morphed from a recording and concert act to putting more focus on individual pursuits and various creative enterprises. Mark Mothersbaugh, along with brother Bob, and Bob Casale, began making music for films and television, working on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and Rugrats and the movies of Wes Anderson. Gerald Casale directed scores of commercials and music videos for the likes of Miller Lite Beer and Mrs. Butterworth’s to Rush, The Foo Fighters, and Soundgarden respectively. (“Everything we’ve done outside of Devo is basically a permutation on the theme we started with,” says Mark Mothersbaugh.) Meanwhile, Devo’s music remained a staple in movies, commercials, and videogames.

After appearing sporadically in concert and working on 2006’s Devo 2.0 project—with kids providing the vocals to Devo songs—the band began the stop-and-start project of making new music. “It was now or never,” says Gerald Casale. “We’re all still alive, and we can all play and sing—probably better than we ever did in the past. These new songs, like ‘Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)’ or ‘What We Do,’ are as Devo as anything Devo has ever done.”

Especially notable on Something for Everybody is the focus its songs bring to the vapid absurdity of so much contemporary speech (don’t miss the closing wail of “Don’t tase me, bro!” on “Don’t Shoot”). Mark Mothersbaugh points out that, for all the attention usually given to Devo’s funky robot sound, this has always been a central aspect of its work.

“We grew up in a time when we saw hippies become hip capitalists, when the real punks truly destroyed themselves, and we came to the conclusion that rebellion was obsolete,” he says. “We saw subversion as the most successful form of change, so we always had an attraction to loaded phrases that you can reshape and subvert to fit your own needs.”

Gerald Casale adds that Devo really was looking at today’s world when writing the new songs. “The tautology of a line like ‘What we do is what we do’ is taken straight from hip-hop,” he says. “And words like ‘bro’ and ‘dude’—we’re surrounded by it all the time, 20-year-olds don’t even see any irony in it anymore.”

A Devo for our times. A band that evolves, even as the world around them confirms the decay they have long suspected. With Something for Everybody, Devo has gained from experience, honed its attack, and stands ready to sound the alarm for another generation.

“As angry young men who have been validated, we have the possibility to do something that resonates like it did back in the early days,” says Mark Mothersbaugh. “It’s the same car, just now with air bags, power brakes, and steering.”

“We’re inspired by reality,” says Gerald Casale, “because the world is so ridiculous and stupid. DE-EVOLUTION IS REAL.”

BIO

On the new Blue October album, Approaching Normal, Justin Furstenfeld, moves his band forward into confident new territory as a songwriter and as a storyteller. Steve Lillywhite, the producer synonymous with U2 and five-time Grammy Award winner guided the way and the result is an album that breaks the mold of whatever anyone may think Blue October is.

Lillywhite’s first attraction to Blue October was the voice. “For me, it’s always the voice that gets me first because my opinion on a voice never changes. There are singers and there are expressionists and Justin is both,” says Steve, who quickly adds that just as important is the artistry, “Their music really touches people in a way that the music of great artists do. There is bond of passion and trust between artist and audience.”

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Track: Calling You

Track: Hate Me

Track: Into the Ocean

Track: Dirt Room

Track: Say It

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“Working with Steve has always been my dream and I learned so much from him…like less is more.” Justin comments, “I was like a painter that did not know how to paint. It’s quite a new step trusting someone with your vision…but hey it’s Steve Lillywhite and I trusted him completely.”
Approaching Normal is the follow-up to the band’s platinum selling breakthrough album, Foiled. Released in 2006, the first single, “Hate Me,” a song that offers a stepping stone from  regret to hope, became the surprise modern rock anthem of the year spending 16 weeks in the Top 10 with five weeks at #2. The crossover success of the follow-up single, “Into the Ocean,” propelled the album sales well into the million plus territory in North America alone.
Having a platinum selling album creates pressure and as a songwriter, Justin felt it. Lillywhite helped him along the way by encouraging him to work more deliberately at his craft “He pushed me as a writer. I would have a song written and Steve would say, ‘that part is boring.’ No one has ever said that to me  before. Steve would tell me to sit down and work on it and I never did that before.  I re-wrote melodies and lyrics that didn’t make sense and now they are gorgeous. He pushed me to be better and that inspired me and I accomplished more than I would of on my own.” Approaching Normal is a journey; a song cycle that begins with “Weight of the World,” a song that made its first appearance as a spoken word poem on the band’s brilliant live CD and DVD “Argue with a Tree.” The new version, fully orchestrated by the band, finds Justin, as himself, at the peak of his youthful destruction. I blackout in the room again, a busted lip and broken skin. I wake up in the bathroom and dare not bother asking why the mirror’s cracked and all I see are shards of glass inside of me. There’s voices there to dare me, my father’s here to scare me.”
“Foiled was about all of this crap that I had to get off of my chest,” states Justin, “I’m sick of being the victim. I want to be a strong, confident individual,” and that is exactly what Track 2, “Say It,” a song about empowerment and gaining confidence is all about. The same confidence can be heard again and again throughout the album on songs like, “Blue Skies” and “Should Be Loved.” but not before the album turns angry and vindictive with the powerful first single, “Dirt Room.” The song is an all out aggro-rocker with a lyrical metaphor about not
allowing yourself to be taken advantage of, protecting your family and standing up for what is yours.
“Dirt Room” also marks the point on the album, when the listener is slapped into noticing just how fierce Blue October is as a band. On this song, Jeremy
Furstenfeld (drums) and Matt Noveskey (bass) lay down a metallic rhythm that doesn’t quit while C.B. Hudson III adds the guitars that drive the band into altmetal-
garage-punk terrain while Justin scream-sings the vivid and graphic storyline. The surprise comes when multi-instrumentalist, Ryan Delahoussaye,
kicks it all up with a violin solo that turns the hot up a few degrees more. Throughout the album the musicianship of the band never falters and always
amazes…whatever pallet is required…delicate, ethereal, fiery, rollicking, dramatic, you name it and the band always delivers. The centerpiece of the album is “Kangaroo Cry/Picking Up the Pieces.” The two songs cross-faded to tell the story of a soldier’s heart-wrenching goodbye to his girl on the eve of being deployed into active duty and then the how-and-why of

the picking up the pieces of their broken life upon his return.  “My Never,” is, perhaps, the most anticipated song on the album since it’s introduction last summer during the Stephenie Meyer/Justin Furstenfeld Breaking Dawn Concert tour. Meyer, a Blue October fan and bestselling author of the Twilight saga, surprised Justin when she invited him to join her theater tour and help her introduce the release of the fourth and final book of her uber-popular series.
On the Breaking Dawn stage, Justin sang acoustic versions of his songs and Stephenie would talk about how they roused her writing, “As a writer, I’m always looking for music that can bring out the emotions that I need for the story. While there are many musicians that can recall to me times in the past where I might have felt sadness or rage or infatuation, it’s very rare to find a song that can actually put me in that emotion, rather than just reminding me of it. There is empathetic power in Blue October’s music–the listener doesn’t just sympathize
with the feeling of the song, the listener has no choice but to feel the song as if the emotion was his/her own.”
Says Justin of the experience, “I was taken back by her invitation and I am equally motivated by her writing and her fans. It showed me that you don’t have to be broken to be a Blue October fan.”
Along the Normal journey there are songs that break the Blue October mold. The philosophically happy, “Jumprope” and the lullaby, “Blue Does,” were both written for a new life, Justin’s baby girl. “I don’t want to write sad songs anymore. I am a little older and I have a child and that allows me to see the beauty and the mystery of life. I want to show my fans that it is OK to be happy.”
And then, just as everything seems settled into a comfortable suburban life, the Approaching Normal song cycle wraps with a shocker, “The End.” This tale of an unstable man self-tortured by jealously is as frightening as any song ever recorded. You won’t find it on the “clean” edit version of the album…it is that scary. “It’s the dark and quiet unexpected stories on this album, the explicit, the raw and, yes, it is the crazy that deserve a home also…I’ve just always been fascinated with what people think they can get away with…what in their brain is making them say ‘that’s OK.’”
“What is normal?” concludes Justin, “everyone’s sense of normal is at risk over something, happiness or sadness or, god forbid, madness. Blue October is a mood. Whether you listen to the words or not, the music sets a tone and as for  the lyrics, well, you either love it or hate it.”
“I think that we have made an album that is an artistic statement,” adds Lillywhite, “it’s a journey, but it also checks the boxes of commercial potential. I really love the record.”

BIO

Rooted in the Orange County community of Huntington Beach, the Dirty Heads emerged onto the Southern California music scene with their unique signature blend of acoustic infused hip-hop and classic reggae, creating the perfect soundtrack to an upbeat, sun-soaked California.

Founding band members Jared Watson and guitarist/vocalist Dustin Bushnell met in 1996 while in high school, embarking on a friendship based on music, as well as their shared passion for surfing, skating and the endless party of the laid-back SoCal lifestyle.

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Track: Believe

 Track: Lay Me Down

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Early on, they spent many late nights jamming in Bushnell’s soundproof garage with a four-track recorder, writing unique acoustic hip-hop songs that featured reggae inflections. Inspired by the rock and reggae sounds of Bob Marley, Sublime, 311 and The Beastie Boys, the band’s music evolved into their distinct Dirty Heads style.

To complete the Dirty Heads’ sound, the duo added percussionist Jon Olazabal, drummer Matt Ochoa and David Foral on bass. With a set of solid material, the Dirty Heads were further motivated to take their craft to the next level, and they began building a loyal fan base throughout the west coast, while performing acoustically at local bars and small music venues.

Executive produced by the Grammy Award-winning Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Kid Rock, Paramore), the band connected with sought-after producers Steve Fox and Stan Frazier (Sugar Ray) working long hours to polish their material and further develop their style. The Dirty Heads also recruited mixing engineer Mario Caldato Jr., best known for his work with the Beastie Boys, to add the finishing touches and create just the right blend.

The band’s highly-anticipated expanded album titled, Any Port in a Storm – Special Edition (Executive Music Group (EMG)/Fontana, a division of Universal Music Group Distribution) features 22 tracks and a bonus video that are reminiscent of the upbeat, sun-soaked Southern California party energy. The first smash hit single is “Lay Me Down” featuring Rome, of Sublime with Rome.

Any Port in a Storm also features one of the final recordings of the late music industry icon Billy Preston. Frequently referred to as “The Fifth Beatle,” Preston played on three tracks, including “Stand Tall,” “Chelsea,” and “Driftin.’ ” Additional special guests on the album are drummer Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, Sting, The Vandals), and veteran session percussionist Alex Acuna, whose A-list musician resume includes Peter Gabriel, Johnny Clegg, and Jackson Browne, to name only a few.

Recently, named one of the “Best New Bands of 2010” by Rolling Stone, the Dirty Heads’ music has been attracting attention throughout the world of entertainment. They have been a featured artist on Fuel TV and their songs have been featured in the movie and soundtrack for Surf’s Up (Sony); and the television drama, Shark staring James Woods (CBS). Actor Matthew McConaughey selected the band’s music to be in his film, Surfer Dude. In addition, the Dirty Heads can be heard in Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam video game (Activision), and several other music compilations and surf/skate videos. On the marketing side, the Dirty Heads have also been included in campaigns for Etnies Jeans, Vestal Watches, Hurley, Skullcandy and more.

Dirty Heads vocalist Jared Watson sums up their fun, uncomplicated style, “We want to be positive and entertain,” he says. “We just want to make you feel good.”

BIO

With a blend of old-school punk, world beat and modern pop influences, Chicago-based AM Taxi combines experience with exuberance on their Virgin Records debut, We Don’t Stand A Chance. The band was formed almost two years ago-with the encouragement of Sublime producer Miguel Happoldt-by longtime Windy City bandmates and pals, singer/songwriter Adam Krier, drummer Chris Smith and bassist Jason Schultejann. The trio began writing and recording and produced their first EP, Runaway Songs. Shortly after, they were joined by brothers John and Luke Schmitt on guitar and keyboards. AM Taxi began establishing a rep as a dynamic live outfit with headlining performances at local clubs like the Metro and soon after recorded their second EP, The Good, The Bad and The Fed Up.

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Entering an Austin studio with producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Patty Griffin, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), AM Taxi proceeded to record a major-label debut that reflects the group’s diverse influences. From the Springsteen-by-way-of-The Hold Steady, “Fed Up,” and the heart-on-the-sleeve Replacements-like confessional, “The Mistake” to the Police-inspired world beat of “Dead Street” and the Clash-esque reggae pulse of “Charissa,” the group has one foot firmly planted in the classics and one right here, right now in the present.

“We wanted someone who could capture the way we sounded live,” says Krier about the choice of McCarthy. “What made Mike stand out was how he still records bands that way. He still uses reel-to-reel and we recorded majority of the album live in studio. We weren’t so interested in making a record that sounded current, as we were something that could be classic.”

Pointing to personal favorites like Pacific Northwest Nuggets-style garage bands like the Wailers, the Sonics and Paul Revere and the Raiders, the British Invasion bands, soul greats Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, Two-Tone bands The Specials and the Selecter or Alt-Country acts Wilco and Ryan Adams, AM Taxi were not afraid to experiment with their sound.

“Our motto in the studio was, ‘If it ain’t broke, break it.’ We’d try things from every possible angle,” says Krier. “We’re not re-inventing the wheel here. It’s just classic rock songwriting with present-day arrangements. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been attracted to the honesty of bands like the Replacements and the Clash, who are completely opposite, actually. One would go out of their way to shoot themselves in the foot and the other wanted to take over the world. But both told the truth.”

That ability to tell it like it is comes through in Krier’s writing and in AM Taxi’s musicality. Taking their inspiration from his touring around the U.S. with several of his previous bands, songs like “Dead Street” and “Shake, Rattle and Stall” explore the restlessness he encountered along the way or, as Krier puts it, “Wherever I went, people were trying to get out of where they were.”

There are also songs about things everyone can identify with, like a couple in which no matter how much he messes up, she takes him back (“Charissa”) or New Year’s
resolutions gone bad (“Champagne Toast”).

“I try to write songs about things people can relate to,” nods Adam. “For me, the best music, at the end of the day, is therapeutic. That’s always in the back of my mind a little when I’m sitting down to write.”

And now, AM Taxi-short for American Taxi, so-called because they’re all about moving across the U.S. towards their destination-gets ready to hit the road…hard. They’ve already been out on the road with the likes of Sum 41 and The Ataris, while opening for The Offspring at Summerfest in Milwaukee, so they’re more than up for the task.

“Our goal is to take that 45 or 60 minutes and let people get away for a little bit,” says Adam. “And maybe even convert some of ‘em to AM Taxi fans. And, if they dig what we’re doing, maybe they’ll check out some of the stuff that influenced us.”

Take one listen to AM Taxi’s debut, We Don’t Stand A Chance and you can hear that same reverence for the past and hope for the future, a band that can cut across any number of age or genre demographics. Take the ride… they promise not to leave the meter running.