A Feature To Remember

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Alternative Press doesn’t post their magazine features online so I’m not sure if this will even count, but Brendan Manley wrote a pretty good feature about A Day To Remember in the December 2010 issue.

His methods of research were pretty simple: Just got hang out with the band a couple times. He met up with them in Florida while they were recording their newest album. He interviewed current as well as a former member who still writes some of the music. Manley also went on a few message boards to get the latest rumors straight.

A question I would have asked would be, “What is it like to have a former member still involved in the writing process?” or “Why is he still involved?” The story goes into what the former guitarist writes, but not why the current guitarist isn’t doing it instead. Other than that, I feel like Manley did a good job of asking questions that fit the direction of his story.

The story starts out by setting the scene and letting everyone know that the singer has a bone to pick. People on the message boards are making fun of the bands drummer because of a recent tattoo he got (a Chick-Fil-A number 1 meal). The next few paragraphs involve the singer sticking up for his band mate, saying he can get whatever he wants as a tattoo and it’s no one elses business.

After that, the focus shifts to how the singer’s feisty attitude shows up on the new album. A lot of the songs are about people that have recently pissed him off or hurt him in some way. The bands straight forward, honest attitude is a big part of their music.

The next few paragraphs talk about the reason the singer’s life has been so troublesome recently. The band has had a grueling touring schedule over the last 18 months and many of his relationships have suffered from it, whether it be with family members, friends or a girlfriend. Manley uses a couple of quotes from the singer to really emphasize troubles with a long time girlfriend that caused the relationship to end.

After that, Manley talks about how the difficulties influenced the songs on the new album. A quote from the singer that “there’s not one positive A Day To Remember song” shows the bands attitude.

The piece transitions with a list of contributors to the album, including a few different producers and reitterating the fact the the former guitarist still helps to write. It finished by telling how the new album sounds followed by a quote from the singer along the lines of i don’t care if people hate our band, I love it and other people do too. That is all that matters to me




Alternative Press Website Response

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Bring Me The Horizon on AP

AltPress.com, the website for the underground music magazine “Alternative Press,” is a great place for news about different types of music, including metal. They have everything from simple tweets and updates toalbum reviews to in-depth features on bands from many genres.

Their top stories list features short news clips, sometimes user submitted, about upcoming album releases, tour dates, band breakups and new streaming songs. This is especially convenient for someone who is in a bit of a hurry but wants to stay in the know about what is going on in the music scene.

The features tab leads to different articles including track-by-track album reviews with band members, standard band features and other interesting pieces including a fantasy band draft. The reviews tab lists the most current albums the website has reviews, gives a one to five star rating and links to the full review on another page.

A strength of this website is the ability is has to focus on underground music specifically. People can go other places to read about music, but bands that most people have never heard of before would be difficult to keep up on if this magazine didn’t exist.

At the same time, this is a weakness as far as the heavy music genre is concerned. Some big guy with a sleeveless t-shirt and black hair down to the middle of his back doesn’t want to hear about bands like Hellogoodbye or The Gay Blades. Because they cover a wide range of underground music, people that specifically like certain genres have to sort through everything to find what they think is important.

One idea to pitch to this website would be to interview different bands and find out what their dream tour would be. Basically, if you could tour with any other two or three bands, who would they be? This would be a great way to getting around asking them boring questions like “who are your biggest influences?” and it would spark the imagination of bands and readers alike.

Another idea could be for back to school time. Something along the lines of (band) + (band) = (band). We could do either whole bands or single members and come up with stuff like New Found Glory + The Devil Wears Prada = A Day To Remember. This would be a good way for readers to find bands they like through others they already know as well as getting kids to love simple math!

One last idea could be following the upcoming AP tour around with a video camera and doing a video blog with weekly updates. Fans love the behind the scenes side of things whenever they can get it, plus it would promote the magazines tour.




Alt Press Critic Phil Freeman

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Admittedly, I could not think of a well known metal critic off the top of my head. Whenever I read an album review, I usually go to Alternative Press. So after looking through their album reviews over the last few months, it looks like Phil Freeman does a lot of the heavier records.

In his profile, he calls himself an “aging headbanger” who covered metal for AP before they wanted to cover metal. He definately has the I-dont-care-about-what-other-people-think-because-I’m-a-metalhead attitude (“You might even see me at a show; I’ll be the old guy leaning against the back wall, making fun of your haircut and checking out your girlfriend’s ass”).

Freeman’s first review I came across was on “Monument,” a record by Miss May I.

"Monument" from Miss May I

He praised the band’s talent, style and originality but made fun of their awful name, saying the band “dished out metal in a style that could have gotten them slots opening for Arch Enemy or In Flames—if only their name wasn’t so terrible.”

Another review I liked was of “Collisions & Castaways” by 36 Crazyfists (mostly because I feel the same way about this overrated band). In true metalhead fashion, he does not shy away from how he really feels about the album. “Indeed, there’s almost nothing to help you tell 36 Crazyfists’ songs apart from those of their peers,” he says. “One or two headbang-worthy riffs (“Trenches” has one; so does the Deserter”) can’t rescue the band’s fifth album from faceless ordinariness.”

Next time, Mr. Freeman, tell us what you really think.




Alt Press Tour Gets Heavy

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Bring Me The Horizon

Bring Me The Horizon

British metal up-and-comers Bring Me The Horizon will hit the road this fall with August Burns Red as the co-headliners on this years Alternative Press Tour. Also along for the ride are Emarosa, Polar Bear Club and This Is Hell. For tickets, visit here.