San Francisco’s tricky topography makes building options finite, which in turn makes its denizens especially good at working with limited space. The Bay area residents that comprise Or, The Whale have taken that skill outside of their apartments and into to their music, finding a way to gracefully incorporate seven instruments and four vocalists into one seamless act. Of course, the general rule of thumb for playing barn-burning country rock is the more, the merrier. But Or, The Whale is just as adept at swooning and spare balladry— bleary-eyed tales of love gone wrong that feel intimate even if delivered by seven strangers. And therein lies the rub.
The band—lead by the reedy warble of singer-guitarist Alex Robins—met through a Craigslist ad back in 2005, bringing together a motley collection of backgrounds: folk and funk, country and punk, and a little chamber music thrown in for good measure. The result is a country-fried mix of treacle and grit that incorporates anything from guitars and banjos to timpani, glockenspiels and harmoniums. Though Robins may profess, “My favorite songs are all slow / Quick ones are over too soon,” he’ll inevitably call his own bluff with a killer country rock stomper. But the real gems here are Or, the Whale’s sleepy, old-time waltzes, steeped in sadness and sung in Carter Family-style harmony. Whether they’re making your heart race, or bringing it down to an achy throb, this is one band who’ll get your blood pumping with time to spare.
Bands fought tooth and nail all month month long in the hardDrive Live Channel for the chance to open for All That Remains, Lacuna Coil and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster on October 18th at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. Out of 34 entries, Simoom was the one band chosen by All That Remains for their absolutely raucous sound that’s sure to rock some faces off. Having opened for a Crüefest date in July, the band was very excited for the opportunity to open for another large headliner. We caught up with their guitarist, Alain, to find out his thoughts on the win. Listen to what he had to say:
To reward fans for participating in judging the contest, one lucky fan was chosen at random to receive free tickets to the show, as well as a meet and greet with the bands on the bill. Congrats to Chris Murphy from Nice, CA for being the sweepstakes winner!
This summer fans judged eight different regional competitions on OurStage to help MTV select the nominees for local VMAs for Best Breakout Artist! The contest gave several talented emerging artists the chance to open for big name acts such as All Time Low and White Tie Affair while being judged by influential industry leaders. The New York City competitors battled it out in front of top MTV VMA talent at a Time Warner Cable MTV VMA weekend pre-party. During the live VMAs the winners were broadcasted in their regional markets and announced as the official VMA Best Breakout winners of their city! Congratulations to all the 2009 local VMA Best Breakout winners from OurStage and thanks to all the fans who voted in one of our most successful contests to date!
In addition to hosting a contest on OurStage to find 4 opening bands for the 2009 festival, Noise Pop also invited OurStage artists to submit their EPK for consideration through Marketplace. They received and reviewed over 450 entries; these artists had some stiff competition and the Noise Pop programmers had a tough job of picking their favorites! They selected 11 artists from all of those amazing submissions. Now, in total, 15 lucky and deserving OurStage bands will be in the spotlight later this month in San Francisco!
We’ve created a special page with a complete list of all the Noise Pop Picks from OurStage; check back often for scheduling updates if you’re planning to be at the fest. For now, listen some of the latest additions to the festival line-up right here!
Congratulations to Scissors for Lefty, the first band chosen to play Noise Pop 2009.
OurStage and Noise Pop have teamed up to give OurStage artists a chance to play at the 2009 Noise
Pop Festival. After quickly rising to the top of the Noise Pop channel, Scissors for Lefty were the first official act chosen by the Noise Pop programmers to play this years festival.
Scissors For Lefty
The San Francisco based quintet began in its earliest form in 2000 when brothers, Peter and James Krimmel joined up with Bryan Garza while attending college in San Luis Obispo, CA. In 2002 the band made the move from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco and added Bryan’s uncle Robby Garza into the mix. It wasn’t until 2006, when the band continued their family affair by adding Bryan’s brother Stevie on Bass, that the band reached it’s current form.
Their unique brand of Indie pop sounds something like if The Replacements got into Hot Fuss by The Killers. Not to sell them short, with influences ranging from Ace Freely to David Bowie, and from The
Beatles to Bjork there really is not telling where they’re drawing their inspiration from. Though one thing is for sure, whatever they are doing is working. Since cementing their line-up in 2006 the band
has taken off, playing shows with huge acts, including Panic at the Disco and The Arctic Monkeys, and as the first act announced to play Noise Pop 2009 the band shows no signs of slowing down.
