Mobile Recording Studio Contest Winner: Tyrannosaurus Grace!

It’s hard to believe that high energy pop-rock band Tyrannosaurus Grace began with a hand-me-down guitar and a cheap practice amp.  Their keyboardist and sound engineer, Justin Foss, is telling me about how he first got interested in playing music.

As grand prize winners of the recent Mobile Recording Studio Contest for the song “Chemistry,” their innovative sound and thought-provoking lyrics made them completely stand out from all other submissions.

Justin chats about what meaning music has to the band. “I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say it gives us an outlet.  I think we’re all naturally anxious people in this band and the ability to channel that tension into something productive is a real gift.”

Justin tells me about the roots of their unique name. “It came from a poem that one of Tim’s friends wrote about being hung over and entering a room like a ‘Tyrannosaurus Grace’” The amusing anecdote fits the exciting, fun, and humorous spirit of the band, which began when founding members Tim Held and Justin Foss began writing music together in 2009. The rest of the band, Lakyn Bury, David Hoffman, and Jeff Gerrer, came together a year later.

“By next year we hope to be continuing to build our fan base throughout Washington state, getting bigger and better bookings and larger pockets of fans in some of the areas that we rarely get a chance to play.  Within the next 5 years we are hoping to have a large enough following to where we can do west coast tours and actually come back with some money and possibly tour nationally and only lose a little bit of money,” Justin tells us. “We are currently working on finishing our second full length album and it will hopefully be out around February-March of 2012.”

In terms of advice for other bands, Justin strongly believes in perseverance. “Always be working on something.  The only way you get better at anything is do it a lot.  If you want your songwriting to get better, write more songs.  If you want your band to sound tighter, practice more.  If you want your live show to be stronger, play out more.  You have to get the bad stuff out before you can get to the good…and you can always get better,” says Justin.

For industry advice, he tells us “Learn all you can and stay in the loop.  These days we as musicians are very much empowered to take our careers into our own hands with the ubiquity of the Internet.  We can distribute our own music, do a lot of our own promotion, handle our own booking, etc. But because we are all so empowered we need to be very keen on how to utilize all of the tools available to us so we can cut through all of the noise of the innumerable bands out there and gain some attention.

We love that uPlaya is a service that is dedicated to helping artists and helps to further empower us to take our musical careers into our own hands.  uPlaya has helped us specifically with their online press kits which we have used a number of times to help us secure bookings at venues who were unfamiliar with us.”

Thanks so much, Justin! A BIG congratulations to you and the rest of Tyrannosaurus Grace! You should feel very proud of yourselves, and of this exciting accomplishment!

Visit Tyrannosaurus Grace's website or UPK to learn more and check out their music. And don't forget to keep an eye out for their second full-length album in 2012!

 

The Upbeat Sounds of The Ryan Calder Band

The Ryan Calder band made their debut at Splashy Fen, a prominent music festival in South Africa, in April of 2007.  The band's uniquely positive lyrics are inspiring and are meant to be appreciated by all cultures and age groups.

Ryan's realization of his musical ambitions formed one day in March of 2005. "I had performed in and around my hometown and saved all the money to fly across the country and perform in a different city. I remember walking down the street having just gotten off the plane thinking 'I got here by doing what I love to do.' It was an amazing feeling of freedom," Ryan said.

The band won accolades in the recent WeLoveYourSongs Competition by topping the charts in the categories “Best New Song” and “Best New Unsigned Artist.”

Collaboratively, they all use their theatre background to keep the audience interested.  “Our shows and our music relies heavily on contrast to keep people’s attention. We also like to point out that our keyboardist isn’t hitched yet,” Ryan joked.

For their upcoming live shows they will be using animation and graphics, as an artistic new twist. They also have a new album in the works and a new clothing line, so lots of new excitement is on the way. "We're just getting started," Ryan said.

“And we're just beginning to work with uPlaya, but it looks like a great innovative community with good ideas, “ Ryan said. Thank you Ryan and a big congratulations to you and everyone in the Ryan Calder Band!

For more information about the Ryan Calder Band, please visit their website, Facebook, or Twitter pages.

 

The Future of Electronica: Balanov Music

We’d like to introduce you to Mahmoud Balanov, a creative new musician who is releasing his first professional mix album, “Bazooka.”

his two mini-albums, “Kick Off” and “Golden California,” his music is maturing and moving in a new direction. This album, while still embracing the House, Tech-House, Trance and Tribal influences of his last two albums, is a product of months of hard work and devotion.

According to Balanov Music, this 24-track album represents “the future of digital music in Egypt” and it aspires to “carry you away with the power of sound's energy."

His music recently came in second place for “Best Unsigned Artist” and “Best New Song” on WeLoveYourSongs (and has since moved the the top of both categories!). Check out this awesome interview he did with our friends over there!

We strongly suggest you check out his full-length album that will be publicly released on the Balanov Music facebook page very soon! We’ll keep you up-to-date as new details emerge!

For more information about Balanov Music, visit his Facebook, Twitter, or check out his uPlaya Press Kit.

Don't forget to listen to his songs Take it Hard, and Don’t Stop Now.

 

Inside the uPlaya Music Universe®: Anthem of Silence Interview Part 2

Remember Anthem of Silence, our Benedetto Contest Winners? Today we are bringing you the conclusion of our highly entertaining interview with them. Learn about what they find inspiring, their favorite gigs, some words of wisdom for their fans, and upcoming projects to keep an eye out for!

uPlaya.com: Tell us about the last song you wrote.

Cameron: “Well, for me, the music always comes first, and I find the sounds themselves are a closer representation of my feelings than words can capture. However, I get a great deal of excitement from discovering phrases that change over time, finding meanings in lyrics I wrote, just thinking ‘Oh, I'll just use it now and change it later’ and finding out later, when it's time to change it, that they're actually good!  Or someone else comes to me and says what they mean to them, and it's way deeper than what I had in mind when I wrote them!  Adam is a huge help often taking the lead and writing unfinished lyrics, helping carve ideas into the music that he hears.”

Dolce: “We're always writing multiple songs at once, but ‘Fallen Sun’ was a particularly interesting song to write together as a band.  It kind of took a life of its own in the recording studio, starting off in a somber, hypnotic voice and then ending in a cacophany of sound.  It was a good excuse to just start banging on whatever was lying around.”

uPlaya.com: Describe one of your most recent performances. Where and what did you play? What was theexperience like? Any interesting stories?

Dolce: “We've had a lot of cool shows recently like House of Blues, Viper Room, and El Cid in Los Angeles… but one of the most memorable ones this year was playing at the Indie Music Festival in Las Vegas.  It was our first road trip together as a band - it was incredibly hot that day with sweat dripping into our eyes - but we had a ton of fun together, the event was awesome, and we met a lot of people, and of course hit up the lazy river at MGM afterwards.

For me, it was also the first time I experimented playing an electric cello, standing up with a strap so that I could move around.  Right before we started playing, a big tatted rock dude came up with his 6-year-old son who asked, ‘Dad, what's that?’ ‘Well that there, son, is a rock cello!"  It was great!’

Cameron: “We just played El Cid in Silverlake (LA) and we all agreed it was our best performance and the reason it was so good was a feeling of natural performance, fearlessness.  The more work we put into ourselves as artists and friends, the more of an all over "experience" emerges as opposed to just playing songs.  I think one of the most interesting things that has been happening is showing up at shows, and seeing lots of people there; people we've never seen before, and they're there to see us!  We're like…’Do you know them? No?  WTF?’ (laughs) It's great, we love our fans, a lot of them feel really open to talking to us about the way we structure our songs, and write melodies, which makes me feel great because our shows are comfortable. The audience is really LISTENING. I like that.”

uPlaya.com: What words of wisdom do you have for other musicians who are getting started?

Cameron: “As far as sharing creative space with anyone, the most important thing is finding people you can communicate with, who are interested in learning and growing in a similar way.  My dad once said ‘a know-it-all attitude is cyanide to the creative process"’and I’ve lived by that vigorously.  Remember IT'S ABOUT THE MUSIC, and it really can be the source of inspiration that helps the best in people blossom.”

Dolce: “Work hard, dream big, have fun, listen to others, and chew your food.”

Serge: “Do not give up!!!!”

uPlaya.com: What new project(s) are you working on? What can we expect in the future?

Cameron: “Be looking for three new videos, we've been expanding with some outstanding artists into the visual field and intend to add that to our live shows.”

Dolce: “We are working on a full-length album to finish by the end of 2011. Get ready for the album release party!  Oh, and one day we hope to play in Antarctica!”

uPlaya.com: What else would you like to share with fans?

Dolce: “We all have full-time jobs on top of being musicians and do what we can to keep the music alive!  We of course love talking to fans old and new.  Email us and we'll write back!”

uPlaya.com: What is the best contact email address for you / your band?

Cameron: "aos@anthemofsilence.com"

uPlaya.com: What is it about uPlaya that you love? How has uPlaya helped you?

Cameron: “uPlaya has been truly outstanding in the areas of personal contact with the bands they work with, a truly music and musician centered group of professionals, something sadly rare in this biz and in this day in age.  Love you guys.”

Dolce: “uPlaya Rocks!  They provide a lot of opportunities, connections, and resources.  It's a great way of getting our music out there, especially as an indie band.”

Serge: “uPlaya really cares about the artist...on a personal level. That is so difficult to find these days. We are so blessed to have uPlaya in our corner.”

uPlaya: Thanks so much Guys!! We’re so glad we can help!

For more information about Anthem of Silence visit their website at: www.anthemofsilence.com or Press Kit at: http://uplaya.com/artists/aos/info

For upcoming shows and band news visit their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/anthemofsilence