Bright Nights, Dark Days

If you've listened to Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack, then you're surely acquainted with Cavo's contribution "Let It Go." It's one of those semi-rock ballad songs in the flick. The band released their latest effort, "Bright Days, Dark Nights," last August featuring 11 songs:

1. Champagne
2. Crash
3. Let It Go
4. Cry Wolf
5. Ghost
6. Blame
7. My Little Secret
8. Beautiful
9. We All Fall Down
10. Over Again
11. Useless

"Champagne," with gritty lyrics and edgier guitars, opens the album and makes you think twice - is this the same guys that made "Let It Go?" Followed by "Crash," another hard rockin' tune (currently burning the alternative charts), you'll realize that this is not your typical mainstream pop-rock band . But when you get to songs like "My Little Secret" and "Let It Go" you get that Nickelbacky "Far Away" or Daughtry-ish vibe. They probably decided to try the typical rock album formula - play all the original noise you like, but throw in a rock ballad or two for commercial sales. It works favorably in this case, as those songs mentioned are not that bad. Lyrically engaging is "Ghost," an anti-love song of sorts for the disillusioned ... or recently broken-up. The sounds of "Beautiful" reminded me of the band, July for Kings. Actually, Casey Walker's voice is in between the Rob Thomas and Joe Hedges range. Examples are "Over Again" and "Blame." My favorites (and I consider as the best songs) are "Cry Wolf" - I love the guitars, and "Useless." The only song I didn't like is "We All Fall Down." The intro sounds like something like Linkin Park's Joseph Hahn would concoct, though unsuccessful in this case.

Overall, I love this album. It's not so edgy that you have to be in a certain mood to listen to it, and yet it's not too pop that it will turn you off. It's within the the balanced alternative rock boundaries. And though I have name-dropped several artists in describing their music, it doesn't mean their sound is not original. It is (I just don't have that imagination to search for adjectives). The whole work is a combination of rock tunes that won't bore you with same-sounding melodies. Just like the album title, it can go on to either extremes but not miss the grays in between.

I daresay it's one of the best albums I've heard this year and hopefully, it doesn't get overlooked.

A Fire Inside - Decemberunderground

Last Christmas, I gifted a friend an AFI CD entitled "Decemberunderground." I had no idea who these guys were then. All I know is that he's absolutely raving about them. So while travelling with my friends one day, I asked him to load the CD (since I think I already etched a crater on my Nickelback CD due to overplay) and find out myself what exactly is the fuss about.

The album started with the song "Prelude 12/21." It reminded me of Depeche Mode, probably because the delivery of the song sounds hauntingly like Dave Gahan. I was impressed. Actually, I was blown away. My senses were tingling ... I absolutely loved what I was hearing. After that, the songs just kept on coming and I have to say that THESE GUYS ARE GOOD. I really don't know what genre to place them because they're not totally punk rock, or even EMO, or even gothic (their faces in the album sleeve though reveals some gothic packaging). It would be too uncomfortable to place them in line with My Chemical Romance (also a great group) or even Evanescence. They're not too wavish like The Killers. I'd say it's a mixture of all with a twist and kick.

Other songs to look out for in this album: "Miss Murder," "Summer Shudder," "Love Like Winter" and "The Missing Frame" --> the most overplayed song in my Ipod.

There is this bad review from Rolling Stones magazine which I totally disagree. The reviewer was complaining of the band's divergence from it's punk rock roots like it's a crime. In their defense, experimentation of sound in this album is not totally novel but it definitely makes a great case. It made them DIFFERENT. It's hard enough to compete and make a statement at the same time with the other bands out there. To prevent oneself from being stereotyped into a punk formula or worse, cloneship, is a daunting task already for any conscious artist. With this album, I laud the creative efforts to bring life to the old blood of rock n' roll with a shot of limey refreshment. This is an album you'd like to listen to when you're tired of the same old thing or if you'd like to get rid of that irritating LSS.

Highly recommended for open-minded rock listeners.

Rocking My Socks Off

The other day I was chatting with a pal that I shall call as Troutmaster.

We were talking about this VH1 episode that he caught on MTv several nights ago.

For those who don't know, VH1 is a show on MTv that features documentaries of artists and moments in music history.

I like watching that show as it gives the low down on the roots of rock stars I like and basically because they feature the "old stuff" --> read: 80's.

Anyway, Troutmaster was talking about this feature on VH1 about the history of heavy metal.

That time, I was quite sleepy and was trying my best to stay awake by downloading all the cover versions I know of "Time After Time" for the heck of it (... okay, I love that song, hehehe ..... notable covers: Rob Thomas and Matchbox 20, Eva Cassidy and Everything but the Girl).

Like a magic word, upon the mention of "heavy metal" all the sleepiness evaporated and ended up chatting with the dude way beyond my sleeping time.

Anyhow, as VH1 tells it, metal originated with 2 important bands in the 70's. These are Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Ozzy et. al spawned the shock rock and gothic movement while Led Zep led the crazy bad hair, spandex, and make up Glam and Hard Rock genre. We talked about AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Guns n' Roses, Nirvana to Dave Grohl. I had to say it was one of the most engaging conversations I had in years. Too bad though, Troutmaster haven't caught the Part Two of that feature (apparently it's not yet aired, so I'm waiting for it myself).

Anyway, I remembered it while I was out with the office peeps in one of those "it" dance bars. While the rest of the crowd (which were filled with almost all the great looking people in the world making me wonder what the hell was I doing there) were bumping and grinding, I was near the bar listening to the hiphop sound blaring from the speakers, watching at the "sights" (hehehe) and drinking my Baileys (alright I was grooving a little bit). Suddenly, I heard a riff of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" that jolted my nerves.

Being a rock addict, it felt a little bit blaphemous for me to be there. It was weird. So I excused myself and called this fellow rocker wondering if he's still an insomniac like me. Fortunately he was awake (of course it was just 3 AM) and I ended up crashing his place.

As usual, this friend I call Jose (from his inebriated Tequila days) was up listening to his vinyl collection of Beatles, Elvis Presley, Everly Brothers, and was quite wondering what on earth came over me.

I told him "Dude, I wanna rock."

He was laughing hysterically, asking me if I'm stoned or drunk. I told him I just had 2 shots of Amaretto and a shot of Baileys (technically speaking, I was still sober), spent 4 hours in a hiphop bar, and need absolution. And I presented the offering of Absolut vodka and Baileys (that were stashed in my car - remnants of my birthday party a week before).

Jose called a couple of freaks like me. I tell you, nothing draws my friends out from their caves at 3 AM when there's alcohol involved. Jose even pulled out his stash of J&B and beers. Some brought the finger foods. Thank God Jose lives in the mountain with most of his neighbors gone out of town. Because 4 am we were singing "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake on the top of our lungs and were having animated discussions about Tawny Kitaen's car dance (which was spoofed by Bowling for Soup) and other crazy hair band videos ( Twisted Sister's ,Dave Lee Roth's spandex years, Aerosmith's Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler series, Poison's stage antics, Slash's guitar solo on top of a piano, Axl Rose's dance moves, Motley Crue and Tommy Lee - with the Pam Anderson video on the side), and Rockstar:Inxs/Supernova.

Nothing is more comforting when you are in the company of people who prefers black clothes, ripped jeans, and boots, yowls terribly like you do, and finds philosophy in Nickelback's "Rock Star."


.... I'm through with standing in line
to clubs we'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth
and I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out
quite the way I want it to be

(Tell me what you want)

I want a brand new house
on an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough
for ten plus me

(Tell me what you need)

I'll need a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club
At thirty-seven thousand feet

(Been there done that)

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between Cher and
James Dean is fine for me

(So how ya gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name

[CHORUS]
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blond hair

Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes
Sign a couple autographs
So I can eat my meals for free

(I'll have a quesadilla on the house)

I'm gonna dress my ass
with the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion
Gonna date a centerfold that loves to
blow my money for me

(So how ya gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life
For fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair
And change my name

'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary and
today's who's who
They'll get you anything
with that evil smile
Everybody's got a
drug dealer on speed dial
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

I'm gonna sing those songs
that offend the censors
Gonna pop my pills
from a pez dispenser
Get washed-up singers writing all my songs
Lip sync em every night so I don't get 'em wrong

Well we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary and
today's who's who
They'll get you anything
with that evil smile
Everybody's got a
drug dealer on speed dial
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

This was one night we actually felt like one. I still hear someone singing "Talk Dirty to ME" in the living room. Hahaha. And the party goes on ....