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Help KING DORK put a jewel in his crown!

Posted on August 30, 2006 at 12:38 PM

You remember when we went to Brooklyn with the VW Untitled Rock Mobile to interview author Frank Portman (a.k.a. The Mr. T Experience front man Dr. Frank) about his new book KING DORK? Well we've found out that Frank has been nominated for a literary Quill Award for Best Young Adult Novel as well as Book of the Year!

Even though the nominations come from the nation's booksellers and librarians, the ultimate winner is determined by a public vote, so we hope you'll take a second to vote for the best punk rock coming of age book EVER!

Here are the Young Adult Novel and Book of the Year voting links, so head on over and show some love to Dr. Frank! -ProBRUCEr

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How I Love You

Posted on August 29, 2006 at 11:16 AM

Couple things people.
One, I was away on vacation for the past week so forgive my tardiness in blogging.
Blogging is now a verb.  Crazy.
The couch episode aired and it was totally awesome.  I'm so proud of the SURS team.
A lot goes into this show and producer Bruce and associate producer Rachel (proBrucer and girlattherockshow) seriously rock the house.  If I'm the voice of the show then Bruce and Rachel are it's brains and backbone. Love ya!

Second thing.
I know you're pissed about Pants Off Dance Off.  Believe me, I'm on your team. 
I hate the damn show with every fibre of my being and I work here.
But I don't like every show on the Cartoon Network and I still watch Adult Swim. 
Nor do I Iike everything on Comedy Central but I never miss the Daily Show or Colbert.
What I'm saying is our show will never screw you.
We are and always will be about the music.  We love videos, we love bands, we love fans. 
That's what we're about.  If other aspects of this channel bum you out remember that.
We're here for you.
And I love you. 

Fans first. 

your friend,
Steven

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Couch Go Bye Bye

Posted on August 20, 2006 at 09:07 PM

Welp my good friends, our interviewing couch Big Red has been delivered to it's new rightful owner Kendall who promptly gave it to her best friend Emily who really really wanted it which is really really cool.

Circa Survive, one of the coolest bands ever, flew styrofoam airplanes and played on Kendall's lawn as her friends hung out and her Dad roamed the perimeter.  Her sixteen year old dog happy barked a bit but for the most part remained, well, happy. 

It was long humid day but at a gorgeous home far far away from the bustle of the big city.  We enjoyed it immensely and I hope Emily gets as much joy out of that couch as we did.  Lotta butts on those cushions.  Lotta butts. 

Watch for the episode.

And watch your butt.

your butt,
Steven

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It's Friday

Posted on August 11, 2006 at 10:49 PM

The weekend's just begun! And M&M's chocolate candies are part of the fun!  Well, not for me.  Not right now.  It's late and I don't want nightmares. 

Somebody asked about the Paramore show this past Tuesday.  Well, they were excellent.  Had some technical problems when they hit the acoustic portion of the set but handled it nicely and rocked out.  Stars in the making, all of them.

Not for nothing, but sometimes there are great perks to having a gig such as mine.  The best is getting to hear records before they come out.  Such as the new Strike Anywhere album Dead FM Fat Wreck Chords.  It's so damn good and the video for the first single Instinct is D to the O to the PE.   That spells Steven.

Have the best of weekends people. 

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Hawthorne Heights split from Victory Records

Posted on August 8, 2006 at 12:29 PM

In this circumstance, saying goodbye does NOT make them feel like saying sorry! Below is the band's full statement about severing their relationship with Victory Records. Chalk up one more group of Victory alumni who didn't feel very victorious about their situation there. - ProBRUCEr

The REAL Manifesto

Due to recent events we have decided to leave Victory Records. Our departure is anything but amicable. We have decided to leave Victory, in part due to the actions of the man who sits at the head of the label, Tony Brummel. Tony Brummel is a man that cares more about his ego and bank account than the bands themselves.

Many of you are familiar with the greed driven letters sent out by Mr. Brummel: his manifesto calling rock supporters to arms and virtual declaration of war on hip-hop and Ne-Yo done under the guise of a band message; as well as the "street-team" letter which instructed people to re-arrange our CDs, putting them in higher visibility areas in stores. Unfortunately, the head of street-team, Abby Valentine, who understandably resigned following the incident, took the fall for this.

At the time of the letters we were branded as racists by some, all over a letter we did NOT write, targeting a genre which we have NOTHING against whatsoever. Because of these letters, our second album debuted at #3 on the charts, an incredible feat, which would normally be cause for joy, but now is tainted much like Barry Bonds' statistics.

When questioned about the letters Tony was more upset that we had told the press that he actually wrote the letters (not us) because he was more worried about "rumors" surrounding Taking Back Sunday and Thursday's exoduses being justified than the credibility and reputation of his current biggest band.

Couple these letters with him threatening the head program director at Q101 in Chicago for putting the new Taking Back Sunday song into rotation to the point in which the program director pulls "Saying Sorry" from rotation and you can see why we would more than question whether or not the head of our label cares about us or his own ego more.

Tony is a man whose greed knows no bounds. After selling more than 1.2 million copies of The Silence In Black and White and If Only You Were Lonely, we have never seen a single dollar in artist royalties from Victory Records. Tony will claim that we have not "recouped," a term used by those in the music business which means the label has spent more money in advertising than has been made by CD sales. In fact questionable accounting practices are the culprit and we are in fact owed substantial amounts of money much like audits from Taking Back Sunday, Thursday and Atreyu have uncovered.

You may be wondering, why now? Why did they wait three years before saying something? Why did they sound happy in that interview??? Like being in an abusive relationship, we let certain things slide as we were afraid, as many of the bands on Victory are, to stick our neck out for fear of being "beaten," in this case represented by the threat of not being promoted as has been the case with certain bands on the roster. We're done being abused. The reasons stated above represent the final straw in a huge pile of hay that broke our backs.

Undoubtedly Tony will proclaim that we are ungrateful and our success was due solely to "his" promotional efforts. In reality, promotion is only a portion of the equation in a bands success. Even then, in our case especially, promotional efforts can be attributed the hard work of the band and staff at Victory, many of whom recently resigned or were fired due to differences with Tony. Non-stop touring, dedicated fans and songs (we challenge Tony to sell over 1 million blank CDs) account for the rest of the equation.

We've accomplished more in three years than most bands do in a lifetime and for that we are extremely grateful and consider ourselves very fortunate. Our situation with Tony Brummel is indicative of issues that all bands on Victory Records encounter on some level or another.

We have decided to remove ourselves from the negative situation so that we can continue to do what we love best and focus on writing and playing music to people that care about what we have created.

Hawthorne Heights

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CHI-Town Yo

Posted on August 8, 2006 at 11:20 AM

Zup everyone.  Esteban represent!
I just got back from doing some non-SURS work in Chicago.
No, I didn't go to Lollapalooza.  Well, I went briefly and saw a dude named Manu Chao.
He's one of those international rockers who is huge everywhere in the world except the US.
Used to be in a group called Mano Negra.  Who were also pretty badass.  That's who I saw there.

Now I did see one of my favorite bands Kill Hannah at their CD release party in sweet ol'Chicago (where I was hugged by none other than De'Mar of Plain White T's).  They were amazing and their new record is out now.  I love it.
I just read proBruce's blog post about Warped.  How cool is all that?  Due to work I have successfully missed any performance on the Warped Tour. Oh, and Lollapalooza as well.  Awesome.  Not like I work for a music channel or anything.  See how we do to bring you the rock and/or roll.  We sacrifice our own fun for it.  Dammit

I wanted to take a moment and answer some questions we received NOT from our favorite untitled blog but from our myspace page which Mr. proBrucer operates.  He's a badass.  Here they be:

So how many Warped Tours has Steven been at? Also will he be doing interviews at Indianapolis? If so does he ever talk to viewers. I know he wouldn't in interviews but I mean in person. I have always wanted to meet Steven. I think that would be sweet.
- Aaron.
By the way. The show is terrific.

Thank you Aaron.  We think you're terrific for watching our show.  I've been to about 7 Warped Tours but as I said I haven't seen any bands play due to our schedule.  I love talking to viewers.  Fans of our show are friends and it's always sweet to meet them. 

Its pretty obvious that you have some deep roots in punk rock (either that, or your writers do). And I just wanted to say thank you for using at least (the final minutes) of your show to pay respect to bands that paved the way for many of these bands to have the opportunities they have today. I don't know how much you can influence the content of your show (due [ironically] to sponsors), but do you think you could dedicate a little more time to bands that that uphold what's left of the DIY ethic?
Hope to hear from you...
Thanks,
Dusty

Hi Dusty.  Thank you for your incredibly flattering post.  proBruce, who is the writer of the show, and I both came up in the punk rock scene.  We share a deep love for the punk DIY ethic and do everything we can to dedicate time to those bands.  We've gotten interviews with Social D, NOFX, Pennywise, Bad Religion, Dinosaur Jr, Bauhaus and the Bouncing Souls.  I have an open invitation to Blake Schwarzenbach (Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil) to come on the show whenever he likes.  We take our rock serioulsy and believe in educating up and coming fans as well as rocking.  I really appreciate your coments Dusty and am proud to have you as a fan of the show.  I hope you check out our blog to see I actually answered your question. 

I'll get to more of the blog questions tomorrow.
Don't want to take up too much space with my ramblings.
Going to see Paramore and Cute Is What We Aim For Tonight at Bowery Ballroom in NYC.
If you're there, say hi.  But, as always, not while a band is playing.  :)

hugs galore
your friend,
Steven

PS
My next column for AP is due this Friday.
I throw it out there to you, what do you think I should write about?
double hugs
S

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Cleveland DOES rock!

Posted on August 4, 2006 at 01:31 PM

Fridays rule! And so did my recent trip to Cleveland!

My old roommate, former colleague (when I was a ProBRUCEr at another "music" channel), and good friend Shannon got married last Saturday, so I boarded one of the smallest planes in the American Airlines fleet and headed to Cleveland for a long weekend.

As I always do when I have to travel somewhere, I checked out Pollstar.com to see what shows might be playing in town while I was there, and ended up extending my stay by a day so I could catch Nightmare of You, Dillinger Escape Plan, and AFI at the Agora Theatre!

I had been looking forward to hanging out with my buddies from Cleveland-based Alternative Press magazine, but got doubly lucky (triple-y lucky if you count the great triple bill at Agora) when a bunch of bands spent their day off from Vans Warped Tour in town as well!

Here's a picture I snapped after lunch on Monday...

From L - R, that is my lunch companions Aaron Wilson (Alternative Press), Jonah Bayer (Alternative Press, The Lovekill), Lycia (Alternative Press Warped tent), Tim (Alternative Press Warped tent), Jenna (Alternative Press), wiL (Aiden), and Nicole (Warped Production Office).

We ate at Johnny Mango's. It was delicious. wiL shared his tofu and sucked down more smoothies than any human his size should.

After lunch, I punched a new address into the incredibly convenient GPS system I rented for my travels in Ohio and zipped over to the hotel at which my friends in Saves The Day and Senses Fail were staying so we could catch up and grab some eats and drinks before the concert. Then, another address for the GPS, and we were off to the venue!

As soon as I walked into the back gates, I ran into Ben Weinman from Dillinger Escape Plan and Davey Havok from AFI, who were mutually fawning over this AMAZING poster somebody printed up for their show. I hope the three bands autograph one and send it to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice!

We didn't have much time before Nightmare of You came on, so my dear old friend Heath Saraceno (you know and love him from Midtown, and now Senses Fail) and I ran into the venue to check them out. There was no air conditioning, but Heath and I still managed to sing along through the entire NOY set, and I got a few snaps with my digi cam, even though it takes pretty lackluster shots at shows.

Afterwards, we headed to the much more temperate bar area in the back to hang with the guys after they loaded out and toweled off.

There's Heath, Nicole (remember her from the lunch photo above - or our AP Presents Inside Warped segment in which she appeared?), and Brandon Reilly from Nightmare of You.

It's pretty cool that I brought Heath along with me, 'cause he and Brandon hadn't actually seen each other in years, and spent a good chunk of the evening reminiscing about their tour adventures together in Midtown and The Movielife. It's also really cool, 'cause I met both of these cats years ago when they played a benefit show I produced with some friends at Irving Plaza to raise funds for our cancer-stricken buddy Sean McGrath (a founding member of Saves The Day...R.I.P., Sean). All things come full circle!

That's Jonah (again, you recall him from lunch) and Sammy Siegler from Nightmare of You.

And here's a relaxed moment when I caught Ryan Heil and Brandon Reilly of NOY at the bar. Well, at least Ryan was relaxed...

Here's Heath, our friend John Harris, a guy I met that night called Billy Joe, and Joe McCaffrey from Nightmare of You.

I didn't get any pictures during the as-always blistering set from Dillinger Escape Plan, but I did get a couple of AFI, both with and without their entire lighting rig ablaze.

Along with a few other friends, Heath and I ended the night at a place called The Garage, where we all fell in love with a sweet little redhead named Zelda, pictured below with Heath.

All in all it was a very long, very hot, and very fun day!

Also, a note to all you AFI fans - check out their takeover episode of Steven's Untitled Rock Show airing tonight, August 4 at 7:00pm Eastern, 4:00pm Pacific. The band hosts the show from their tour bus, tells a few great stories, and plays videos they hand-picked by their favorite artists! If you're reading this after the fact, you can always check for any scheduled repeats by scanning the on-air calendar on our MySpace profile at www.myspace.com/surs!

Hope you enjoyed my long-winded post (or at least the pics!), and hope you dig the AFI takeover! Keep on watching, and keep on rocking!

Cheers,
ProBRUCEr

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A WARPED DAY IN THE LIFE Part 2

Posted on August 2, 2006 at 06:25 PM

This week's edition of A WARPED DAY IN THE LIFE PHOTOBLOG our friends in the The Bled!  So far this blog chain has been a bit of a family affair, as last week's post featured The Bled's labelmates and Warped Tour busmates, From Autumn To Ashes.  (If you missed that one, you can check it out in our "Recent Posts" section.) 

Alright, let's get to the photos! Here is a day in the life of James, Jeremy, Ross, Darren and Pedicone!

 

Contrary to popular belief, there isn't that much time to hang out with friends on Warped, but they guys find some time to say hi to two of the guys in Valient Thorr. (PS, VT are awesome and you should check them out on the Volcom Stage if at all possible!)

 

Pedicone finds time to use his mini-bike. (Check out some of our web programming at fuse.tv/warped to see a segment or two about bikes on the road, featuring not only Pedicone, but other Warped artists like Gym Class Heroes and Underoath.)

 

Of course there's press so we can bring you tons of Warped footage!

 

And finally, it's show time!  On many of the days the tour hits amphitheaters, the Vagrant and Volcom stages get set up on the main stages.  Salt Lake city was one of these venues.  It's a little hard to mosh though with all the chairs.  :(

 

 

 

Be sure to check back next Wednesday for another edition of A WARPED DAY IN THE LIFE.  We'll be shooting new bands this weekend at Warped in New York and New Jersey, so if there are any bands you really want to see up here, let us know in the comments section!

See you next week!

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Bringin the Pain

Posted on August 2, 2006 at 05:54 PM

AWESOME.
I ask and you guys respond. 
I'll get to your questions in a sec but first I have to tell you about the Forecast. 
We just taped their episode in which they delighted us with not one, but TWO amazing performances.
This is their latest record and you should go get it.  They are the awesomest.  Ask Tony the drummer about the heat and his underwear.  He will regale you with a tale.  Of his tail.  Maybe.
In all humorousness they couldn't be nicer and their sound couldn't be better.  We at the rock show love them and we only pimp what we love.  We love you too.

Now to your questions:

Madeline asks-
Do you have an iPod and if so, then what kind of music do you have on it? Like, what genres and artists do you have on there?
I do have an iPod.  The genre's and artists on there run the gamut of Desi Arnaz to Motorhead to Bela Bartok.  I have country, punk, rock, R&B, hardcore, orchestral to Irish, folk, rockabilly and bubblegum. 
It's pretty ecclectic but then I'm an eccletic guy. 

Nick Beller asks-
what is your opinion on "The Brave Little Toaster"?
Believe it or not I just ordered TBLT on DVD.  It's brilliant but I don't subscribe to the two sequels.  It's the first and nothing more.  I also just purchased on dee-vid, The Adventures of Mark Twain, an old claymation tale I highly recommend to anyone and everyone. 

Andrea asks- 
How would I go about getting a spot as a member as anything on Fuse?
If you want to work (first, go to a therapist) I recommend going to college and checking out internship programs.  We have one.  Lots of places have them.  An intern sits in front of me and I harass her daily.  Dylan used to sit there and I would throw scissors at him.  He loved it. 

As I do all of you. 
Thanks for the Q's.
To quote the great Busta Rhymes
GIMME SOME MO

rock out
your friend,
Steven

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Fun Fun Silly Willy

Posted on August 1, 2006 at 10:39 PM

Ah!
Got a coupla things to answer.
This is good.
Taiwan asked when I was gonna start my own site.
I've thought about it.  Actually, done some investigating. 
Maybe before the end of the year.  Hi Taiwan.
Fuzzy asked if I was gay.  Hello Fuzzy. 
This is a very personal question and Fuzzy asked in a totally non-threatening way so I'm going to answer. 
This question was in fact answered a long time ago on our little untitled blog by none-other than our badass untitled rock producer Bruce (aka proBrucer.)
I am not gay and am very comfortable in my heterosexuality. 
My good friend and producer Bruce is gay and completely at home in his homosexuality.  We both support same-sex marriage. 
Good topics crew.
Bring'em on. 
By the by, love how so many of you love cartoons.
Have you ever seen the Iron Giant?  One of the best cartoon films ever made.
Rock on everybody!
your friend,
Steven

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