Category Archives: Audio File

POMONA: Sick Puppies talk about new record, will play Glass House

Sick Puppies will perform at The Glass House on Saturday, July 20. The band’s new album, “Connect,” will be released Tuesday, July 16. (Myriam Santos/Contributed Image)

Sick Puppies return with new album “Connect” on Tuesday, July 16 and the hard rock band is celebrating with an X103.9 FM-sponsored show at The Glass House in Pomona on Saturday, July 20.

The band, which formed in Australia but is now based in Los Angeles, has played a number of shows put on by X103.9, including repeat trips to the Merry Meltdown. The group shot to Internet stardom when the video for song “All the Same” went viral six years ago. Now at nearly 75 million views on YouTube, the video features Juan Mann offering free hugs in a shopping area in Sydney.

While the ballad is the lighter side of Sick Puppies, the band can rock with the best of them, with the single “You’re Going Down,” off the band’s 2009 album “Tri-Polar” going gold. The rocking “Tri-Polar” spawned the “Polar Opposite EP,” which helped inspire “Connect.”

Sick Puppies frontman Shim Moore took the time to talk about the band’s new album, in an email interview.

Q: Shim, you’ve described “Connect” as “more musical” than your previous albums. How is it more musical?
A: A lot of the songs took an older song writing approach in the chord progressions and melodies. More Beatles and beach boy progressions. But played by a punk rock band.

Q: The “Polar Opposite” EP gave a different life to some of your songs. Did that project influence the new album at all?
A: We definitely incorporated as many elements from that as we could.

Sick Puppies performs during the Merry Meltdown concert at Citizens Business Bank Arena Sunday in Ontario, CA. December 16, 2012. (2012/File Photo)

Q: You wrote more than 100 songs in the last year. Were the songs on “Connect” among those or are any of the songs older and finally found a home? Did the writing process change at all for this album?
A: The one song that had an old element was the title track “Connect” . That is one of my oldest riffs.

Q: Did any themes start to emerge when you were writing/recording the new songs?
A: A little more about trying to elevate the music and take risks.

Q:What songs do you think fans will connect to most with “Connect”? Which songs do you connect with the most?
A: I think once people hear the whole record they will find their own songs to love.

Q: What was it like to work with Desmond Child?
A: It was a privilege and an eye opener. I learned how much there is left to learn.

Q: You’ve played a number of shows in the Inland Empire with San Bernardino radio station X103.9, including their annual holiday show. What keeps you coming back to the Inland Empire?
A: I know it sounds cliche but the fans. We have the most fun with them.

Also of note: Reverend Crow, which features Nate Barcalow from Temecula’s Finch, will open the show, as will Sederra.

7 p.m. Saturday, July 20, The Glasshouse, 200 W. Second St. Pomona, $15, all ages. Visit www.sickpuppies.com for more on the band and www.theglasshouse.us for more on the show and tickets.

Here’s the video for the acoustic version of “You’re Going Down.” If you want to hear the band’s new track, “There’s No Going Back,” you can check it out on YouTube (Warning: There is explicit language in the lyrics).

POMONA: D.I.Y. Music and Fashion Festival celebrates third year

What Hands Are For will perform at the DIY Music and Fashion Fest in Pomona on Aug. 31. (Contributed Image)

The D.I.Y. Music and Fashion Festival started three years ago as a new outlet for Inland rapper Noa James and Lesa J., who have helped promote and build the Inland hip-hop scene with events throughout the area, including the long-running Sunday “It’s the Common Ground” night at The Vibe in Riverside.

The event brings independent music and fashion together from local artists at the Glass House in Pomona on Aug. 31.

The lineup boasts a huge slate of well-known Inland performers, including Speak, Noa James, What Hands Are For, Stevie Crooks, Curtiss King, Pheo, Awukii, Ill Camille, First Dirt, Waju, Slay Squad, D’zyl, Cam Gnarly & DCXDCXDC, Hawdwerk, Yung Miss, Da Flatlynerz and Gypsy Mamba.

The event is all ages. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

Visit www.Bricktoyaface.com and pick up tickets at Ticketfly.com.

5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, The Glasshouse, 200 W. Second St. Pomona.

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: 5 things to pack for the festival

Fans dance in the crowd at the Lightning in a Bottle festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

Saturday, July 13 was my first experience at Lightning in a Bottle. I’ve braved the heat and hipsters of Coachella, the hip-hop heads at Rock the Bells and the metal onslaught of Mayhem, but this year is my first time at LiB, which is celebrating its first year in Riverside County at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester this weekend.

I picked up on a few things I should bring with me for next year.

1. Hula hoop
This is a must-have accessory for enjoying the music at LiB. Everyone seems to hoop and some of them are super elaborate.

2. Yoga mat
There’s yoga going on all weekend long in the Temple of Consciousness. Bring your own mat.

3. Bubbles
Unlike at other festivals, you can bring in liquid bubbles. Bubbles are awesome.

4. Parasol
A brightly colored parasol not only blocks the sun, but is a way for people to find you.

5. Something that lights up.
I should have brought my LED glowing Michael Jackson sparkly glove. Everyone had some kind of glowing dance accessory.

What are your must-have accessories for LiB?

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: Sustainability is key to festival

Festivalgoers walk past an art installation created from scrap lumber at the Lightning in a Bottle festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

For a festival so focused on being fun and free, one thing that is taken very seriously at Lightning in a Bottle, which made its Riverside County debut at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester this weekend, is sustainability.

Even before you get to the festival grounds, on the long, winding road through the Lake Skinner recreation area, The DoLaB posted repeated signs about packing up camp and taking trash with you.

On the festival grounds, there are clearly labeled bins for recycling, landfill and compost.

There are stations for water set up throughout the festival, denoted by blue drops rising into the sky. You’re encouraged to refill.

A number of the stage markings and shaded areas have been recycled. A number of them have been part of The Do LaB area at past years of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Inside the festival program there is even a little bit about Lake Skinner with a note to the festivalgoers.
“Let’s show Riverside County how respectful we are and leave it better than we found it.”

Leaving it better than you found it is the ethos of the festival in general.

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: Festival is full of color

People jump rope over a light up string at the Lightning in a Bottle festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

Everywhere you look at Lightning in a Bottle is a kaleidoscope of color.

Large swirling art installations mark stages and shade areas in bright hues of blue and purple, yellow and red. Rainbow hula hoops circle the waists of people of all races. And around the Lake Skinner Reccreation Area, artists work on portraits, sculptures and more.

The colors only intensify as the sun goes down and festival becomes “like a ball,” a man selling lemonade told me. The costumes get amped up, the face makeup gets reapplied and shimmery fairy wings and glowing dance accessories become more common.

Spread out among the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester, this weekend marks the first time the fest has been to Riverside County.

Ryan Kurlish, of Chino, attended Lightning in a Bottle for the first time this year. He attended because it was close by and he was interested in some of the artists.

“At night, it’s amazing,” he said. “There’s a lot of eye candy at night.”

He was impressed by Lucent Dossier Experience’s Friday performance. The troupe is a longtime Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival favorite.

“They just blew me away,” he said.

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: Festivalgoers create art

Yukiko Chavez creates an art piece at the Lightning in a Bottle festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

Yukiko Chavez crouched under a canopy, adding pieces to a foam core tree she sculpted as part of her interactive art experience that will become a piece she is calling the “Lightning in a Bottle Tree” at the Lightning in the Bottle Festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13.

The San Diego artist attended the event twice before this year, just as a festivalgoer. A conversation with a presenter at last year’s fest inspired her to create art again.

“I’ve never done any live sculpting, ever,” she said.

Chavez said she followed Lightning in a Bottle artist Shrine on Facebook and saw he was doing a workshop in Los Angeles. She attended, and helped paint his piece that was shown at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and made a reprise at the Temple of Consciousness at Lightning in a Bottle.

For her creation, the idea fell into place and on her hour long commute each day, when she took advantage of the time to brainstorm. She had the idea that everyone would collaborate and mosaic pieces onto the found art.

“Everybody is going to mosaic those pieces,” she said.

People passed by and added items throughout the weekend. The highest point on a tree is a peanut added by a woman who was carrying a bag of them.

A child took some pieces Chavez had lying around the space to the creation station and glues them and hung them atop the highest branches.

As her seeds of creativity sprouted at Lightning in a Bottle, her interactive sculpture allows others to create, too.

“I’m paying it forward,” Chavez said.

The tree has a hole in the middle, ready for Chavez to put her last piece at the end of the festival, a lightning bolt in a bottle she wore around her neck, made from an empty nail polish bottle and a lightning bolt cut out of the metal that came from a tealight.

PE LIVE: Big Papa and the TCB perform ‘A Thin Line Between Love and Hate’

The Big Papa 3, of Big Papa and the TCB, stopped by PE Live. (Contributed Image)

I am so excited that we were finally able to get Big Papa and the TCB into our studio for PE Live, even if it was technically the Big Papa 3.

The band has shared the stage with some huge acts, thrown their own blues festival and created some fantastic blues music.

Here’s another favorite from the band’s PE Live session– “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.” Watch and enjoy. If you let the video play you will see everything from the PE Live session. You can see all of the PE Live sessions at http://x.pe.com/PE_Live. Support local music: watch PE Live and tell a friend!

REDLANDS: will.i.am talks Esri, maps at conference

In addition to my work as the music reporter here at The Press-Enterprise, I also spend time working on the digital side of things for the newsroom, including making digital maps.

For the past year I’ve been working with Esri in Redlands to use their online mapping programs to help illustrate and tell stories. (On the music side, you might have seen this with our Coachella 2013 artist map or the Inland Empire summer concert guide).

Earlier this week, I attended and presented at the Esri User Conference in San Diego, where one of the keynote speakers was will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.

My music and digital worlds were colliding and it was pretty cool.

The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am. speaks at the Esri User Conference in San Diego on Monday, July 8. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am. speaks at the Esri User Conference in San Diego on Monday, July 8. The auditorium was very full so I sat on the far side where I could type on a table. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

He came to Esri’s Redlands campus last year for the WWW conference created by TED founder Richard Saul Wurman.

While there, he learned about what Esri was doing and was intrigued by the work members of the Esri team.

“I never thought Redlands would be the future of Southern California,” will.i.am said during the keynote.

He ultimately teamed up with the company to aid his i.am.angel Foundation that is transforming his hometown of Boyle Heights.

A group of students from Boyle Heights worked with i.am.angel and Esri and also presented their findings at the conference. One of the things that surprised me is that they found that one graveyard in Boyle Heights is bigger than all of the park space combined.

The foundation also hosted a hackathon to encourage kids to get into coding. Will.i.am is headed to MIT this fall to study computer science, too.

He urged those in attendance at the Esri User Conference to mentor kids and turn them into GIS coders.

One of his goals is to turn Boyle Heights into a tech empire and also take it to other cities, including Detroit.

“These maps are important because business has different competitors…the gangs are a business, too,” he said.

The most poignant thing he said was “Turf is no different than intellectual property.”

Also, we just might see will.i.am. in the Inland Empire a little more frequently, too.

“The 10 freeway is long but I’ll drive,” he told the crowd.

CLAREMONT: Hip Kitty hosts Inland singer-songwriters

Jaxx Sessions will appear at the Hip Kitty on Wednesday, July 17. (Contributed Image)

Rancho Cucamonga-based Live on Analog Records has been hosting a monthly night of local music.

Every third Wednesday the open jam will happens at the Hip Kitty in Claremont.

The next one will be on Wednesday, July 17.

Among the artists performing are Jaxx Sessions (pictured) and Sean Amato. Get there early for a chance to get involved in the open jam.

8 p.m.-midnight, Wednesday, July 17, Hip Kitty Jazz and Fondue, 502 W. First St., Claremont, 21 and older only.

Visit www.liveonanalog.com for more information.

RIVERSIDE: Big Papa and the TCB plays Vino Veritas July 11

Big Papa and the TCB perform at The Press-Enterprise for PE Live. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

We just posted the brand new episode of PE Live featuring Big Papa and the TCB, a jump blues band that has been making people dance since 2006, and you can even see them live tonight (Thursday, July 11) in Riverside.

The band is playing Vino Veritas at 8 p.m. It’s free and open to those 21 and older. Vino Veritas is at 285 E. Alessandro Blvd. in the Mission Grove neighborhood of Riverside.

Big Papa and the TCB make fantastic music and their latest “Six Pack of Cool,” which was funded by fans, is their strongest yet in a string of really great albums.

Check out some of the songs from the album in the PE Live session and hear the guys talk about how the band and album came together.

With Big Papa and the TCB we’re up to nearly 60 videos of performances and interviews from Inland Empire musicians. You can watch all of the artists we’ve had so far at the PE Live homepage at http://x.pe.com/PE_Live.

Here’s “Drink Drank Drunk” from our PE Live session. Keep it rolling to see the interviews and the other performances from the band.