Run Toto Run EXCLUSIVE interview

As mentioned in the Run Toto Run review, we were treated to a magical night out when the Manchester based electro band played in Oxford on their recent tour.

Run Toto Run
After talking with the band that night, I wanted to know more about them! Read the exclusive interview.

As mentioned in the Run Toto Run review, we were treated to a magical night out when the Manchester based electro band played in Oxford on their recent tour.

Run Toto Run

After talking with the band that night, I wanted to know more about them.

Run Toto Run band members: Rachael (vocals, drum pads), Mike (synths, backing vocals) and Matt (electronics, occasional violin).

Read the exclusive Run Toto Run interview with Jenny May on BandWeblogs.com:

Jenny May: We enjoyed your show at The Port Mahon in Oxford last Friday night. I’m sure we’re not alone in wanting to know when your debut album will be released? Are the demos going to be on the album?

Rachael: We’re looking for an early July finish date for the album, the demos will be on there, they’ll be tidied up, refined and mastered and they’ll be another 6 or so tracks. It might be a little longer before it makes it out into the public domain though.

Can you give us an idea of what the album might sound like?

Matt: That’s a very good question! It’s pretty hard to take a step back from what you’re doing and give an objective idea as to what it will sound like… demos ‘squared’ I guess – more and better! No doubt a few surprises too, we’re constantly growing exponentially as a creative unit – it’s around this time, in the final straight leading up to the completion of the album, that I think we will pull some tracks, mixing and production ideas, out of the bag that will surprise even us…. Oooo, mystery.

Where are you recording the album and what equipment are you using to record? Is there a producer involved?

Matt: In this respect we are uber DIY, we are the embodiment of musical Homebase… a kind of sonic Wickes. In this day and age; with some good knowledge, a few favours, and a laissez-faire attitude to rent payments, it is very possible for a mainly electronic band to make very professional sounding recordings at home. We run Logic pro 8, Reason and some other random bits and bobs… On a production front, we have experimented with external inputs – but we end up doing it ourselves. It’s another situation that is peculiar to electronic music I think, you have potentially limitless possibilities when it comes to deciding what actual sound you want from a line, your production choices end up being made in the writing stage… and if it aint broke!

Run Toto Run

You’ve just self-released your latest single “Hater”. Is there someone in the band that organises your tour schedule, release dates etc.?

Rachael: That would be me at the moment, it’s been fun, I think it’s meant we’ve done some very interesting gigs. I’m quite happy to let the reins go though and an indie are taking care of our next single which will be a nice break for me!

Mike: Rachael does work very hard though her curiosity has led us to some strange venues we’d never previously thought about playing. Still, it’s always an adventure.

Rachael: Like Scunthorpe, that was interesting.

Are you looking to be signed by a label?

Rachael: Yes, because they have the mechanisms to ensure people actually hear what we’re doing. It would be nice to have a little support, a bigger team around us and it would mean we only have to worry about making music.

Matt: I’m just in it for the lulz… If someone wants to give me some cash though I won’t say no.

Who are your influences?

Rachael: People like Hotchip, Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Metronomy, The Knife, Bombay Bicycle Club etc.

Matt: Burial, Radiohead, PJ and Duncan, the XX, Micachu, Bowie, a lot of our unsigned peers… I think it’s safe to say our influences result in a sound that is more than the sum of its parts (see: PJ and Duncan).

Mike: Modeselektor/Moderat, Thom Yorke.

Run Toto Run

How did you become Run Toto Run? How long have you been together?

Rachael: We’ve been Run Toto Run for a while, over a year and we’ve sounded like this for probably about 6 months. We were all playing in various groups around Manchester and recognised qualities in each other that we admired.

Matt: Like a love of 90s Dance!… Oh wait, that’s just me.

What is your songwriting process?

Matt: Just playing silly little ideas straight into a Logic session and seeing what sticks, often the line that sparks the flow of ideas ends up being completely masked in the mix or discarded altogether… so it’s actually an interestingly organic process – but very much a studio writing environment.

How did you go from playing folk music to electro?

Matt: Couple the aforementioned laissez-faire rent paying attitude, with a guilt over stacks of relatively unused electronic equipment and you have all the impetus an electro band needs!

Mike: It snuck in as we started doing live sampling on stage with the acoustic instruments, then added keyboard parts. The impact of that sort of instrumentation made for sets with more of a lively vibe which we decided to expand on.

Did you play folk covers?

Rachael: We never started playing covers, I’d hate people to think we’d been a covers band when writing music is so important to us.

Watch video – “Sleepy Head” (Passion Pit cover):

You do a great cover of Passion Pit’s “Sleepy Head”…where did you get the masks that are in the video and how did you decide who wears which?

Rachael: Now this is what prompted the previous question, this cover was done as a promise to Dave Haslam that we’d do something different for our set at Manchester International Festival last year. We made a silly video for it and it went crazy online. I found the masks online and I think the boys suited the animals to their personalities 😉

Watch Catch My Breath video:

How long did it take to shoot the video for your single “Catch My Breath”? Did you have much input in creating it? Did you have fun? Where was it filmed?

Rachael: 24 hours solid. It was supposed to take 10 hours but over ran. I spent about 14 hours being dragged on my back. We worked with a very talented director Nick Bentley, when we work with creatives, it’s important to hook up with someone whose work we admire and to let them have their input, we trusted him with it.

Matt: Mike and I spent 24 hours with, essentially, a shell suit painted on each of our faces. 5am was CLOSE-UP TIME!

Mike: I have never wanted to scratch my nose so bad. Driving back through London at stupid am in the morning was very surreal too.

What movie, released in the last year or so, would you recommend?

Rachael: I loved Kick Ass, Alice in Wonderland and The Fantastic Mr Fox. I love Tim Burton and Wes Anderson films in general. Our song Margot and Richie’s the story of his protagonists in The Royal Tennenbaums and other than that I love zombie films, so anything with zombies in and I’m happy, Zombieland was great and I’m really looking forward to the next [Rec] film, the first one was great and has made me think there’s a zombie bricked up in our basement.

Matt: The Human Centipede.

Rachael: I don’t think Matt’s even seen the Human Centipede, I’ve not seen it and just his description of it nearly made me sick.

If you could have anyone remix one of your tracks, who would it be?

Rachael: Noel Edmonds.

Matt: Anyone except Noel Edmonds.

What’s the conversation like amongst band members in the car after a show?

Rachael: More often than not it’s a buzz about the show and about hanging out with old friends and making new ones.

Matt: It’s like a post-mortem – but with more booze and partying and fun… and less dead people.

If you could go anywhere to hang out for the day, where would it be?

Rachael: I’d pop off to Thailand, my friend just got back from there and it sounds amazing.

Matt: I’d hang with my slightly less evolved name-sake, Farthing, in Chester Zoo… She is awesome.

Mike: Japan! Too much cool stuff to buy out there.

Watch “Little Wonder” video – a David Bowie cover by Run Toto Run (commissioned by David Bowie’s publishers):

Comments – “We were asked to do a Bowie Cover, we took it one step further and tried to out-do the Passion Pit costumes. Thanks to Anna Kiely for the filming!”

Buy CDs, MP3s, more:

Run Toto Run on Amazon.co.uk

Photo credit – 1, 3: Ted Park

Photo credit – 2: Karen Mcbride

For the latest tour dates, music and more, go to:

Run Toto Run Official Website
Run Toto Run MySpace
Run Toto Run YouTube
Run Toto Run on Twitter

Bands, musicians, artists – promote your music – leave a comment

A few years ago before the internet was as BIG as it is now, I remember thinking about all the bands that were out there playing music that I had never heard of. Bands that I would never hear. I felt out of control.

DIY Band Promotion

A few years ago before the internet was as BIG as it is now, I remember thinking about all the bands that were out there playing music that I had never heard of. Bands that I would never hear. I felt out of control.

Sure, there were bands that I loved listening to on mainstream radio and seeing play live in my area, but I was fully aware of the fact that there was no way that I was even getting a fraction of what was really going on musically around the country – or the world for that matter.

Fast forward to the present, and luckily the internet has been a key to helping solve my quandary. I can now easily access bands’ music online, however, the amount of music seems infinite and overwhelming at times, which can also hinder the process of discovering new bands.

I started BandWeblogs.com because I wanted a place online where I could help myself and others discover new music and to spread the GOOD word about bands, musicians and artists – established and new. Signed and unsigned. All genres. Everywhere. I love receiving emails from bands and artists wanting to share their music. I also enjoy publishing their information on BandWeblogs.com.

There has been a large volume of news, music and review requests coming into my inbox as of late, and it frustrates me that I can’t publish all of it, as there’s only one me here, and only so many hours in the day.

At this point, my solution to this problem is to ask unsigned, signed and/or indie bands, musicians and artists to please leave a comment (not too long) with information about your music along with a couple links, so that readers can learn about you, listen to you – and hopefully buy your music.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Discover new music

Get the latest band and artist updates and comments:
Updates via Twitter: Band Weblogs on Twitter

(All comments subject to review. Not all comments will be published.)

By: Jenny May

Robbie Williams “You Know Me” single review – watch video

“You Know Me” is Robbie Williams second release from his new album Reality Killed the Video Star and to be perfectly honest, I actually like it.

Robbie Williams - You Know Me

It isn’t easy to crack a good tune out these days, as most of the contemporaries will tell you.

“You Know Me” is Robbie Williams second release from his new album Reality Killed the Video Star and to be perfectly honest, I actually like it.

Robbie Williams - You Know Me

It isn’t easy to crack a good tune out these days, as most of the contemporaries will tell you. The song is a piano led ballad, old school sixties style with sweeping vocals and strings and dare I say that it is a bit like Take That? It’s influenced by a song by Francoise Hardy called Voila.

Buy Music:

Robbie WilliamsRobbie Williams on amazon.co.uk

Robbie WilliamsRobbie Williams on amazon.com

Watch You Know Me video:

In the video for “You Know Me”, Robbie is dancing around in the woods dressed up as the White Rabbit from Alice In Wonderland. Definitely going for the Christmas market with this one then, and to be fair, why not?

You Know Me – from Children in Need Live 2009:

Robbie Williams has gifted us with some quality stand the test of time songs throughout his career and I believe that this will sit alongside such classics as “Angels” very comfortably. I hope to see the song do well in the jostling jumble sale style fight for Christmas number one this year and if I am right, then Robbie Williams will be a very happy bunny (ouch!).

“You Know Me” is set for UK release on 7 December 2009.

Robbie Williams on Twitter
Robbie Williams Official Website

Cisco Adler (Shwayze) EXCLUSIVE interview

Shwayze is set to release the highly anticipated album ‘Let It Beat’. This will be the sophomore release for the hip-hop duo and Malibu partiers Shwayze and Cisco Adler.

Shwayze and Cisco Adler

The album features hit single “Get U Home”, also featured in the movie Sorority Row starring Audrina Patridge and Rumer Willis.

Cisco Adler, Shwayze

Many fans in the US will already be familiar with Cisco Adler from his recent stint on MTV reality show “Buzzin'” …

Shwayze is set to release the highly anticipated album ‘Let It Beat’. This will be the sophomore release for the hip-hop duo and Malibu partiers Shwayze and Cisco Adler.

Shwayze and Cisco Adler

The album features hit single “Get U Home”, also featured in the movie Sorority Row starring Audrina Patridge and Rumer Willis.

Cisco Adler, Shwayze

Many fans in the US will already be familiar with Cisco Adler from his recent stint on MTV reality show “Buzzin'” – about the misadventures of Shwayze and Cisco, with cameras following the unlikely pair – Shwayze, the self-described “only black kid in Malibu” and singer/producer and sometimes tabloid “bad boy” Cisco, on their path to stardom.

Although known for his partying ways and celebrity girlfriends, Cisco is also a hardworker and talented musician, and it shows in his music. I’ve been listening to their single, “Get U Home” – it’s a great track, worthy of being cranked up to the max!

Cisco Adler

Exclusive interview with Cisco Adler:

Jenny May: What kind of things would have to be happening at a party that would make you drop everything to be there?

Cisco Adler: The Rolling Stones playing live and a slew of naked models…other than that, a party is just a party.

When recording, do you always mix your own tracks or do you work with an engineer? Which do you prefer and why?

I work the board when we record. As far as mixing goes, it depends what the song calls for. On this record I mixed half and my buddy Dave Pensado mixed the rest…the song determines all of this. I like mixing but for some tunes I want to have someone with a different ear and background mixing.

What was the last movie that you watched?

Lars and the Real Girl.

Did you like it?

It was Amazing!

If given the opportunity to write a movie script, what would be your ideal genre?

Comedy…and best believe I have a few already written.

Where is one of your favorite places to go to just chill out?

I’m not so good at that. I hate being away from my studio. So I guess I’d say my studio…

Who would be a dream guest to feature on one of your tracks (still alive, that you haven’t had yet)?

Anthony Kiedis, Andre 3000, Rivers Cuomo.

If you have friends over with mixed musical tastes, what would be the first album that you would grab to play for your guests (other than yours)?

F*** em…they are at my house and I’m the DJ. I’d play what I want and hopefully they can dig. Bob Dylan is always good with whatever ur drinkin’…

What is your daily routine when on tour – from morning to night?

Wake up, take a shot, get on stage, take a few more shots, go to sleep…

Watch Behind the scenes video of the ‘Let It Beat’ photo shoot:

Can you break down the writing and production process of “Get U Home”?

Well I wanted to do an uptempo tune with a big pop rock chorus. It started with a sample, but after I threw on all the guitar and drums and synths I took out the sample and liked it better. I spent a few days perfecting the chorus lyric melody and after that Shwayze came in and we hammered out the verses. It’s one of those catchy melodies that sticks in ur brain. It’s sort of an anti-pop song and it’s dirty and clever but still has a huge melody and a pop progression.

Shwayze - Get U Home

Who wrote the lyrics, music, mixed, musicians involved etc.

I wrote the music and the chorus lyrics and made the track. It took a few days to get the chorus vocals right. It’s a catchy pop melody and sometimes those are the hardest to get perfect, but when u do they are magical. I dropped a couple guitar tracks and then had a friend of mine named Beardo (check out his music!) come in and do some more to really fill the chorus up. Then Shwayze and I wrote the verse lyrics together and he got in the booth and layed em down.

Was there anyone in particular that inspired the story behind “Get U Home”?

A gentleman never tells…But it’s a play on words. It’s not that I can’t wait til we get home. It’s actually I cannot wait and we need to go into the bathroom and make love now!

Buy Music:

Shwayze on amazon.com

For the latest music, news and information, go to:

Shwayze Official Website
Shwayze on Twitter
Cisco Adler MySpace
Cisco Adler on Twitter

The Temper Trap – ‘Conditions’ album review

I like the name The Temper Trap. Some people say that it doesn’t matter what you call your band, they say if you are good it will shine through. If that’s the case, whatever happened to Reality Ambulance?

The Temper Trap

I like the name The Temper Trap. Some people say that it doesn’t matter what you call your band, they say if you are good it will shine through. If that’s the case, whatever happened to Reality Ambulance?

The Temper Trap

No, The Temper Trap are good. Their debut album ‘Conditions’ is a good get up and shine collection of songs. “Love Lost” opens the procedures and goes very well with my first cup of coffee of the day, and I really like the second song “Rest”. Vocalist Dougy Mandagi’s voice reminds me of someone but I can’t quite put my finger on it, so that must be a good thing – you know, familiar but not.

They hail from Melbourne, Australia and caught the ears of the world when they played live at Musexposo in London in October 2008. I Reckon they would make a brilliant support act for U2 or visa versa because I like this band more.

I think one of the best things to do this summer would be to get hold of the ‘Conditions’ album, crank it up loud and impress your friends and family with your good taste in music.

The Temper Trap are one of those bands that you want to follow and collect all their tunes. So hurry up boys, we’re now waiting for your second album!

‘Conditions’ is set for UK release August 10, 2009.

Buy Music:

The Temper Trap on amazon.com

The Temper Trap on amazon.co.uk

MySpace
The Temper Trap on Twitter
The Temper Trap Official Website

By: Dave Tommo

Gidgets Ga Ga – ‘The Big Bong Fiasco’ + FREE download

Gidgets Ga Ga

Chicago’s very own Gidgets Ga Ga has released ‘The Big Bong Fiasco’. The band is offering a FREE download of their rocking song, “Good Enough” …

Gidgets Ga Ga

Chicago’s very own Gidgets Ga Ga has released ‘The Big Bong Fiasco’.

The band is offering a FREE download of their rocking song, “Good Enough”!

FREE download: “Good Enough” MP3

When we first heard Gidgets Ga Ga, we featured one of their tracks on Band Weblogs Podcast Show because we liked their high energy rock and old school sound. Be sure to check out this power-pop / rock band with an edge!

For the latest music, news and information, go to:

MySpace
Gidgets Ga Ga Official Website
Gidgets Ga Ga on Twitter

Inchworm interview – ‘We Believe: Chicago and its Cubs’ movie, Twitter, recording

Inchworm

Chicago band Inchworm’s latest release ‘Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing’ has been in my iTunes player for awhile now, and the tracks continue to shine with each listen. Inchworm is a band that I feel quite passionately about, as I really like their music, with endearing vocals, top notch songs, quality musicianship – and they seem like a cool group of people …

Inchworm

Chicago band Inchworm‘s latest release ‘Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing’ has been in my iTunes player for a while now, and the tracks continue to shine with each listen.

Inchworm is a band that I feel quite passionately about, as I really like their music, with endearing vocals, top notch songs, quality musicianship – and they seem like a cool group of people!

Someday I’d like to see them play live, but in the meantime, it was a treat to have the opportunity to interview them.

Continue reading “Inchworm interview – ‘We Believe: Chicago and its Cubs’ movie, Twitter, recording”