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A woman who knows what she wants < Back Lauren “Madame Onça” O’Leary: A Mind for Art, Business, and Entertainment Tim W. Jackson May 23, 2023 Share A woman who knows what she wants Her website is HardestWorkingWomanInShowBusiness.com , and that’s an apt description for Lauren “Madame Onça” O’Leary. She’s an artist, entertainer, and businesswoman—and under each category is an entire sublist. Originally from Gloucester, Massachusetts, the town from the hit 2000 movie The Perfect Storm , Onça’s life has been somewhat of a perfect storm of activities and interests while striving for some sort of work-life balance. She’s spent much of her adult life further south, namely in Asheville, North Carolina, and now in Richmond, Virginia, and has frequently worked in Europe. But while in Gloucester, she says the region was richly supplied with famous artists. “Walker Hancock, who made the giant angel that is in the Philadelphia train station, was one of the monument men,” Onça says. ”My mom grew up with his kid. I used to model in their studio. Leon Kroll was a famous painter. Weirdly, there was this very powerful arts community there in the older generation. So, I grew up just thinking it was normal to go in and out of people's art studios to see old people hard at work on art that was gonna end up in museums. There is a really good literary tradition there, too.” Onça went to a liberal arts school that deepened her interest in the arts and normalized that world for her. “As a rising eighth grader, there was a girl with short hair carrying a cello across the campus. It was normal. They weren't gonna get beat up, you know?” Her parents also played a major role in her development but from two very different perspectives. Her father was a musician. Her mother was a master sign painter and an outstanding self-trained artist. “I grew up with a lot of art in a very art-rich area,” Onça says. “Even though I had a working-class upbringing, there was a lot of art in the environment. So, it was natural to me to always express through art.” credit: Boo It was the very different work ethics of her parents, though, that Madame Onça still tried to reconcile. “My dad ended his life living in a car because he was like, ‘I don't wanna work hard,’” Onca says. “My life has been a continuous course correction between these two very artistic people—one of whom worked herself to death, basically, and the other one who just slipped away because he didn't want to engage in the rat race. And because of that, his voice was largely unheard. So, for me, it's always been a matter of trying to figure out how to embody the best of my mom's work ethic without becoming a servant to it.” When you have as many talents and interests as Onça does, keeping a work-life balance is a constant challenge. She has staged more than 40 weekend-long festivals over the course of her career. One of the most famous, the Asheville Burlesque and Sideshow Festival , also known as ABSFest, makes its return this Memorial Day weekend after a brief pandemic-related hiatus. She and husband Paolo Garbanzo (also a festival producer and one who will perform at ABSFest) have run a number of events in Europe, too, and have more on the schedule. credit: Parrish Photography Her foray into this eclectic career began in Asheville. “I never saw myself being a performer,” Onça says, “although I always had a big energy.” She started taking Capoeira (a Brazilian sport that combines dance as well as fighting elements) classes in Asheville. “Brazilian foot fighting is actually the thing that gave me my start,” she says with a laugh. “That's where my name comes from, Onça; it's actually Brazilian. And then in order to play Capoeira, in order to do Capoeira, you have to sing and train and fight and build your own musical instruments. It's so immersive that I feel like the time I spent doing Capoeira prepared me for everything else. And then I ran a folk-art studio in Asheville for many years, the Future Traditions Center for Folkloric Arts.” About the Center, Onça explains that it had different cultural artists and fine artists all under one roof. “It really gave me the opportunity to bloom in all directions,” she says. “I grew up in a musical and artsy household, but it never occurred to me that I could do it for a living. Just walking into the right class at the right time opened all the doors for me. I started taking belly dancing classes in Asheville above the co-op, and it changed my life. I needed something to do, and it set me on a path.” Onça works in other art forms, too. “I paint and sculpt and do print art,” she says. Years ago under her real name, Lauren O’Leary, she co-authored The World Spirit Tarot and illustrated it entirely with 79 original color block-prints. credit: Isaac Harrell “I mostly have written tarot-related articles and texts,” she explains, “and I was a touring belly dancer, so I've written lots of articles in that industry. I've always pretty much just written in my fields, but abundantly.” Onça, also a lover of witchy things and most everything non-mainstream, certainly stays busy but she has learned some key tips for survival over the years. “If I was trying to do all of the things every day, there wouldn't be enough time in a day to practice singing, practice piano, practice ukulele, organize an event, teach a tarot class, make a piece of art, organize a tour,” she says. “I couldn't put all of that in a day and still take care of my family.” She likens her work schedule to the agricultural year. “It’s a seasonal thing,” she says. “I've moved out of the winter season when you're in more of an introspective space anyway. That's when I get to turn inward: make music, practice instruments, do more visual art. Now we're coming to the season where I'm gonna be out and about doing events with people, travel, all that stuff. There's a rhythm to the agricultural year. You can't say, ‘Today I want to harvest because there's nothing to harvest in January. And that's how it is for me, with the creative process, you just have to understand there are times when you're creating, there are times when you're workshopping things and it's messy. There are times when you're polishing things so that other people can enjoy them. There are times when, frankly, 50% of being a professional creative is office work.” Her system obviously has been successful. She has an ability to create a magical atmosphere on stage and connect with her audience in a powerful and mesmerizing way but she's also a teacher and mentor to many young performers, helping them hone their skills and develop their own unique style. She's known for her generosity and kindness, always willing to lend an ear or offer advice to those in need. “I think one of the big challenges, particularly for women, is that if you don't grow up in the business background, then the challenge is you come into the arts filled with love and passion for art but no idea how to keep art alive, honest, and collaborative,” Onça explains. “I see women coming into business, self-made women, struggle a lot with ‘This was fun, so why does it now feel competitive? Why is there drama?’ I feel like a lot of that drama comes up because you come to something with love and passion and then are surprised if you don't have an infrastructure of how budgets work and how spreadsheets work and how contracts work. If I had a piece of advice for somebody, I would say if you're artistically inclined, study business so that you can make a living as an artist.” Another key to success, she says, is finding your tribe and getting the proper support. “I'm very lucky,” she adds. “I feel very well supported. They may not even be artistic in the same way that you are, but just finding other people in your life who understand what it is to be a maker or a doer or whatever your thing is. Are you a person who just really wants to have goats or you're a person who really just wants to hike? Are you a person who wants to go to music festivals? Whatever your thing is, finding other people who can understand the merit of making some space in your life for your passion, I feel like, is a huge part of mental health.” As part of that nod toward mental health, Onça warns about the cult of busyness that glorifies the hustle. “The hustle is not the point,” Onça says. “Being busy isn't the point. Making the art, relationships, or life that you want is the point. I had a therapist once say, ‘You have permission to not always do the hardest thing.’ Treat yourself as kindly as you would anyone else who came to you for advice.” Onça's impact on the burlesque world can't be overstated. Her impact in so many areas and on so many people cannot be measured. Through it all, she's remained true to her vision and her art, and her influence can be seen in the work of countless performers around the world. credit: Isaac Harrell Madame Onça is a true artist who has dedicated her life to her many talents and to sharing those talents with others. Long into the future, she’ll be known as a trailblazer, a mentor, and a friend to many. For more on Madame Onça, visit https://HardestWorkingWomanInShowbusiness.com . Questions or comments? Are you an artist looking for some feature love? Hit us up at the_keeleybrooks@mixedaltmag.com . Tim Jackson is a seasoned journalist and author with a penchant for all things dark, macabre, and somewhat sinister. He lives in Tuscumbia, Ala., with his artist wife and their remote-chewing dog, Maple. www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Elle's impressive discography, with its lyrics of love, self-discovery, and resilience, is a testament to her growth in sound and lyrical depth. < Back Elle H: Louisiana’s Own Songstress Making Waves in the Music Scene Nicole Brice Oct 23, 2024 Share Elle's impressive discography, with its lyrics of love, self-discovery, and resilience, is a testament to her growth in sound and lyrical depth. When I was first introduced to Elle Hudson , better known as Elle H. , I was instantly drawn to her magnetic personality and beauty. Elle is the type of woman that oozes confidence and sensuality while also being tough enough to kick your ass. Well-loved and respected in the Lafayette, Louisiana, music scene for her artistic contributions and overall vibe, Elle H. is an electric force of female rage mixed with the sympathies and heart of art and life. A powerful voice for women with deep and personal lyrics, she wrote her first song at 6 years old and had the talent and drive even at an early age. After watching Kelly Clarkson perform on the first season of American Idol , she instantly knew she wanted to be on stage performing from that moment on, and she is currently on a path to make a name for herself in the ever-evolving music world. Credit: Gary Governale Elle's impressive discography, with its lyrics of love, self-discovery, and resilience, is a testament to her growth in sound and lyrical depth. Her music tugs at your heartstrings. It makes you feel emotion; to me, that is the ideal formula for a musician to leave a lasting impression. Each energetic and captivating live performance of Elle’s is a chapter in her journey, entertaining her audience with her expressive vocals and authentic persona in a truthful, poetic, and angelic way. Her presence alone is so captivating that one is instantly drawn to the energy surrounding her, feeling a part of her journey. At 13, she had a profound spiritual moment at a concert. This unbelievable feeling of life and energy overtook her, putting her in a trance for three days. Upon emerging from her trance, she started to have a more significant appreciation for life. Now, at 23, Elle has been writing and making music for over ten years without slowing down. By channeling her trauma into her art, she continues to craft poetic songs that exude female sexuality. We had the opportunity to sit down with this empowering female recently to chat about her music and more. Check out our conversation below, and then go down that rabbit hole and check out everything she has put out. I assure you that you will be a fan soon after. MaM : Thank you for the honor of speaking with you today. What would you say is your driving force to make music? Elle : I know how powerful music can be, how powerful honesty and transparency can be, and how lifesaving they are. I want to help people through my music. That’s why I do what I do. MaM : When you saw Kelly Clarkson perform on American Idol , it made you realize your destiny. What other musical artists have influenced you? Elle : Nina Simone , Gwen Stefani , Lzzy Hale , Nicki Minaj , Etta James … I like a little of everything, but I am drawn to powerful women. That’s the main thing. Credit: Gary Governale MaM : Which genre of music would you say is your favorite? … or are you all over the board with music tastes, like me? Elle : I love everything and plan to do a little of everything in my career, but I would have to say R&B is probably what I listen to the most. R&B is such a broad genre so that many topics can be discussed under that umbrella. I was actually part of a hip-hop collective for about four years. MaM : I’m a huge fan of hip-hop, too. That’s awesome. I had no idea. Elle : It’s a significant influence on who I am, and I also have hours' worth of original R&B and rap songs that I just haven’t gotten around to recording yet. I’m just going with the flow for now, though. Credit: Gary Governale MaM : How would you describe your music for someone discovering it for the first time? Elle : Well, it changes depending on the project. My slogan for the recent album has been Heartbreak Queens or Heartbreak Hot Girls. I am trying to redefine what it means to be a sexy, hot girl. I want people to know that radical authenticity is sexy, and that vulnerability is alluring. In a day and age where shallowness is sold to us through the media, I want to show that there is more underneath it all. MaM : I really dig that. Your insight is refreshing. Elle : I had to realize that once I got my woman body in the twenties, people would interact with me differently depending on how I was dressed. I realized that I could use my sex appeal to make you listen to me. Credit: Gary Governale MaM : I know you dabble in burlesque , too. Tell us a little more about that. Elle : I do. The burlesque was never anything I imagined myself doing, but it was an opportunity that I had happened upon, and it has inspired me. The dancers I have met along the way, too, have helped me to refine my craft. My burlesque side is more of an homage to the more secure and timid version of me because, honestly, there is a version of me out there that would have judged the hell out of me for doing this 100%. She was very conservative and scared of everything. So, on the one hand, it’s an homage to self, but it’s also a way for me to take control of this again … this fantasy that people have projected onto me. If you think I’m sexy when I feel I’m awkward, I’m gonna use that to my advantage. Credit: Gary Governale MaM : Take us through a little of your musical history. You released the Introduction EP in 2017, correct? Was that the first recorded music you put out, or did you have something before that? Elle : I have a few covers I recorded in the studio, too, but I’ve never released them. They were really more for me. That was my first project, though. I was about 15 years old when we started and 16 when it was released. I was actually given the studio time by my mom as a birthday gift. MaM : So, after the Introduction EP , you released a series of singles and then came out with Symmetry . Elle : ' Symmetry ' is a whole other bag of rats. (laughter) Credit: Gary Governale Elle : So, my mom actually passed in June 2018, and this project initially had over six songs that were finished. After she passed, my life abruptly changed, so ' Symmetry ' is really about my grieving process. I look at it as a dissolution of self. I questioned my spirituality. I questioned my identity. I even questioned my sexuality. I pushed a lot of people away because I was feeling so much. I tend to isolate until I feel better. MaM : I do the same thing, so I can relate. Elle : Right? I need to be able to break shit in my own comfort. I need to be able to scream if I want to scream and get it out of my body. You know what I mean? I need that space to feel, which is what ' Symmetry ' was. The songs are an ode to my mom and our complicated relationship. Credit: Gary Governale MaM : I think that it’s incredible you were able to channel those feelings into something spectacular. So, I noticed that you collaborate with some of the members of First Street Hooligans . I love that band so much. Tell us a little more about that. Elle : So, Matthew Richard , lead singer and guitarist for the Hooligans , is my band's guitarist. I had just broken away from my hip-hop collective and felt drawn to the rock scene. I would jam with this band called Slightly Sour , which was a metal band. I was good friends with the drummer, Sebastian Elias . He then introduced me to some other people, and then I met Matt , and I showed him all the music I wanted to do. Matthew is very talented. I haven’t met many guitarists with the ear he has. I played him the beats that I had, and it kind of went from there. We decided to go under Elle H. or Elle H. and The Untitled . In the process of that, I met the rest of his band, and we all clicked really well. It was just a fun and laid-back collaboration that seamlessly came together. Credit: Gary Governale MaM : That’s awesome. So, this next question, I always like to ask this question because I get some interesting answers, but tell us about your best and worst shows so far. Elle : So, this one show, I had this heckler. Elle H. and The Untitled were supposed to play, but then bad weather happened, and it ended up just being me and my guitarist. This show was out of town, and the venue was dead, but we were just trying to fulfill the night. The same people had been in there all night without anyone new really coming in. There was this one group of rowdy, drunk married couples. They were older, and the men kept hooting and hollering because before the rainstorm happened, it was supposed to be a swimsuit party. So, I was wearing booty shorts and heels in my swimsuit amongst a sea of Cajun men. (laughter) So, we’re in the middle of playing ‘ Too Much ,’ and as I’m hitting some high notes, this guy in the back starts mimicking me, and I didn’t want to make the venue mad, so I just let it go, but it was pissing me off. Later, as I’m getting into the songs I’m singing, this man starts saying, ‘Take it off! Take it off!’ and crap like that. Finally, the bartender told him to shut up and get out, so he finally left. After he left, it was great! (laughter) Credit: Gary Governale MaM : Ok, so best show? Elle : Ok, so I have to put a lot of thought into this because I will say we have put on some really great events. I will honestly give myself credit for that. My favorite one has got to be the house party we put on as a band. It was to announce ourselves as a band because we all have different projects. The audience was a diverse group from various parts of the city. We had everything from 19-year-old frat boys to 32-year-old guitar heads. We made a big batch of punch and had a great night. It was in Matt’s garage, actually. It was fun to open up and show people who we were. However, after this year’s Fete du Void , that will probably be my favorite gig. Credit: Gary Governale MaM : Is there a key message you want people to take away from your music and performances? Elle : I just want to help people awaken their hearts. I want my shows to be a safe place for them to just be themselves. MaM : Hell yeah! So, in the next five years, where do you see yourself? Anybody you’d like to collaborate with? Elle : I would love to collaborate with Miley Cyrus . Her song ‘ Midnight Sky ’ came out as I was leaving a toxic relationship, and it was exactly what I needed at that point. I would love to be a household name eventually and be known for my authenticity. Credit: Gary Governale MaM : What’s on the agenda for the rest of 2024 and beyond? Are you doing any writing? Elle : Honestly, I write every day because it’s hard for me not to write, but I actually plan to take a trip with Matthew , and we plan to record in the mountains using the sounds of nature to create an amazing project. I definitely don’t want to stop doing shows, but I’m hoping to manifest a tour soon where we can move more towards Texas and New Mexico. Credit: Gary Governale As Elle continues to forge ahead artistically, she will no doubt continue to carve her path through the modern music scene due to her unwavering drive and will to succeed. She is not just a rare talent, but a beacon of authenticity, a quality that resonates with us all. I look forward to witnessing the future unfold for Elle H. To learn more about Elle and to experience her music, just hit one of the links below. Facebook: Elle H. https://www.facebook.com/selftitledelle Facebook: Elle H. and The Untitled https://www.facebook.com/ellehandtheuntitled Instagram: Elle H. and The Untitled Elle H & The Untitled (@ellehlive) • Instagram photos and videos Instagram: Elle H. Elle H (@selftitledelle) • Instagram photos and videos Spotify and Apple Music: TOO MUCH - Elle H *All photos by Gary Governale www.governalephotovideo.com Zenfolio | Home I have been working as a video professional since 1993, with a wide range of experience writing, producing, directing, shooting and editing. A strong interest in videography, specifically lighting and composition, led me to photography in 1998. Rapidly changing technology has blurred the line between video and photography, allowing me to work in both mediums.. Baton Rouge, LA, United States www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90's flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Reach out to us at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Anna Byars is an inspiration for future generations of female musicians < Back Anna Byars: A True Musical Luminary Nicole Brice Aug 25, 2023 Share Anna Byars is an inspiration for future generations of female musicians You may have seen her around town since she has been a fixture on the local music scene in Baton Rouge for many years starting in the early 2000s, and you may know her as the guitarist and background vocalist for Polly Pry, but who is Anna Byars, truly? Credit: Gary Governale Byars is kind and genuine in addition to being extremely witty, funny, and charming; she is bursting with personality. Anna holds her own as an extraordinarily gifted musician and guitarist captivating audiences with her soulful melodies and masterful skills, but she does not limit herself to just one instrument: She also played drums in a band called The Rakers. “I like to say I’m a drummer as a second language because the guitar is my first language,” Byars says. With a unique blend of talent, passion, and authenticity, she has carved her path through the bustling music scene in South Louisiana, leaving a lasting impression and continuing to forge ahead. In this article, we delve into the journey and artistry of Anna Byars, unraveling the foundational magic behind her captivating talent. Credit: Gary Governale Early Years and Musical Awakening Anna Byars was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in a musically inclined family and started honing her craft at a very young age. Both of her parents are professional musicians and play piano. Gravitating towards the guitar, she picked up a random one under her mom’s piano one day and that was all it took. At 10 years old, Anna officially started strumming and loved it because of the emotional depth and versatility it offers. After proving to her mother that she indeed had plans to stick with it, she began to take professional classical guitar lessons at age 12. With a knack for sight-reading music, Anna built the foundation for her guitar knowledge. Growing up in a house where her mother taught piano lessons, Byars started writing songs and singing and says of the time, “It was the 90s, you know, and we were all dreaming of making it big. I kept playing and performing wherever I could, and then in college I knew I wanted to get a band together.” During her teenage years, her passion for music fully ignited, and after meeting her bass player for her first band just after she turned 19, Byars met her drummer, too, and all the pieces fell into place. This ultimately led to the formation of The Anna Byars Band. Drawing inspiration early on from the music that inspired her as a child, such as the Indigo Girls and Green Day, and consisting of all original music, the band flourished for a few years before calling it quits. After college in 2005 is when Anna met Kristen Foster, and they instantly hit it off. “We fell in love as friends, just super hard,” says Byars, and with Foster’s ukulele in hand, the two embarked on a career together. “She played me one of the songs she had written called ‘The Atlantic Ocean’ and it was just so damn good that I forced her to start a band with me.” The rest is history. Credit: Gary Governale Developing a Signature Style Calling themselves The Casuals at first, Byars and Foster put out a couple of EPs together after recording in a makeshift studio and practice space located behind the now-defunct legendary music venue in Baton Rouge known as The Caterie. After seeing modest success with their initial run of EPs, the women decided to team up with Foster’s father, renowned music producer Fred Foster , who is best known for producing classic recordings for Roy Orbison and for helping found Orbison’s label, Monument Records. He also helped launch the careers of Dolly Parton, Tony Joe White, and Kris Kristofferson in addition to co-writing the classic song made famous by Janis Joplin, “Me and Bobby McGee”. “Yeah, every time I tell people [that], I’m like, ‘It’s okay if you don’t believe me because I barely do,” says Anna. “We threw ourselves into it until he liked what he heard and invited us up.” Anna and Kristen then went up to Nashville to record and in 2012, the album “Two Warm Minutes” was released. Released August 17, 2012 After its initial release, Anna and Kristen saw modest success with the record, but they felt it did not truly capture their essence, so they took to the road to play live shows and build their following. At 29 years old, Anna embarked on her first tour with Polly Pry, which saw them adding a double bass player to make their duo a trio. “And after that, I just really knew in my soul that I just did not want to do the singer/songwriter thing, even if it was as a duo,” so Anna switched gears and stopped playing acoustic guitar and switched over to electric. “When you play acoustic guitar, and you’re female, you get pigeonholed.” By meticulously studying the techniques of her idols and incorporating her own artistic sensibilities, Byars managed to create a sound that is entirely her own—a sound that resonates with listeners on a profound level. The year 2016 brought about Polly Pry contributing to a compilation of Aerosmith cover songs called “Deuces are Wild: A Tribute to Aerosmith”, which is currently available for listening to on Apple Music. Since then, the ladies have continued to play shows here and there while working on their follow-up album, “Hola Perfecto”. The release date for their sophomore effort is to be determined, so stay tuned. The Future of Anna Byars When Anna is not devoting her time to Polly Pry, she plays guitar in her other project, Sunrise People, which, according to Byars, “sounds like a band that would play CBGBs in the 70s.” On her involvement with Sunrise People, Anna goes on to say, “I really love playing guitar in that band because I get to take all my years of everything and just fly, you know? It’s just right.” Byars possesses an uncanny ability to create a profound connection with her audience through her music. Listeners feel the raw emotions she channels through her guitar playing, carrying them on a hypnotic journey. Her ability to convey a range of emotions that encompasses joy, sorrow, nostalgia, and everything in between creates an intimate bond that transcends typical boundaries. Credit: Gary Governale Beyond being gifted with extraordinary talent, Anna is constantly seeking growth and evolution. She embraces any opportunity to experiment with new sounds, techniques, and genres and has been steadily writing songs. “My body and brain just started writing songs about six months ago and I’m in an infant stage of trying to get 12 solid songs. I want to be a little bit of Juliana Hatfield mixed with a little Radiohead,” she says. “I want to do another band. I’m playing with names, but I am really excited about the stuff that I have been writing.” With a promising future ahead of her and so many projects in the works, Anna comments on her work ethic: “I have always dug my heels right in whether it’s right or wrong,” and continuing to dig her heels in is just what she has been doing. In addition to music, she stays busy by making comedic shorts on TikTok as well. “I have sort of a hobby in comedy. I like to put on wigs and make up funny characters and put out snappy videos.” When asked whether she has considered stand-up comedy as a possible career move, Byars elaborates, “You know, I did stand-up one time and I’ve lived my life on stage, or so it seems, but doing stand-up was one of the most terrifying experiences and I’m not scared of performing. I really want to press myself to do that, but doing stand-up does require rigor and focus. Everything must flow and work. Kristen has been inspiring my world with her stand-up career, so you never know!” Ladies’ Pinball Club at BR.cade When Byars isn’t focused on music, she prefers to play pinball and has even created her own Ladies’ Pinball Club at local hangout BR.cade , which is located on Government Street in Baton Rouge. Credit: Gary Governale “I like to say it’s a ladies’ pinball club but that guys are welcome, too. My motto is ‘no pressure, we’ll always be there.’ I just started playing pinball one day and noticed that it’s all dudes [and] no girls. They would stand to the side, and I think that’s because pinball doesn’t look like it’s as much fun as it really is. You gotta put your hands on the machine. It’s a physical thing. It’s an arcade game, but it’s not a video game.” To get her club started, Anna says she would purposely leave extra credits and games on the machines so she could approach people to play games with her. This proved to be successful, and an official Pinball Club was formed in late 2022/early 2023. “It’s my one-year anniversary of playing, but the club has been around for about 4-6 months,” she says. Anna modestly acknowledges her mad pinball skills, but I got to witness them firsthand and she’s pretty damn good. “Yeah, I’ve gone to a couple of tournaments, and for a little while, I was the number seven female player in Mississippi. In Louisiana, I’ve placed last, and I believe they call it The Plunger Award when you place last.” On whether she has plans to continue playing in the future, she says, “It’s such a new thing, though, and I love it and am just trying to get better at it.” Credit: Gary Governale So, in conclusion, who is Anna Byars, really? She’s a true musical luminary and her boundless creativity and commitment to her art ensure that her journey as a musician will remain one that captivates and inspires for years to come. Through her unique style and collaborative spirit, she has successfully set herself apart on the local scene. As she continues to evolve and explore new frontiers, she will undoubtedly leave an indelible mark on the music world, inspiring future generations of female musicians to follow in her footsteps. To check out Anna’s projects and music, hit one of the links below and be sure to catch her in action with Sunrise People on September 1, 2023 at Midcity Ballroom in Baton Rouge with William Edward Thompson and The Rakers. Polly Pry Apple Music : ‎Polly Pry on Apple Music Polly Pry Facebook : Facebook Sunrise People : Facebook *Cover photo: Gary Governale www.governalephotovideo.com www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

The Bellas are pure 80’s glam metal, capturing the essence of rebellion and discontent with a raw sound amplifying the voices of the unheard. < Back The Bellas: Re-envisioning the Power of Female Punk Rock Nicole Brice Nov 29, 2023 Share The Bellas are pure 80’s glam metal, capturing the essence of rebellion and discontent with a raw sound amplifying the voices of the unheard. In a genre often associated with male masculinity, what comes to mind when you think of females in the punk-rock scene? Energy, rebellion, and unfiltered expression? If you said yes to any of the above terms, then you are on the right track. Having recently discovered The Bellas, the newest all-female punk band from the underground scene in New Jersey, I began thinking about how the music scene desperately needs bands like this to redefine the state of the industry overall. The Bellas are unapologetically taking on traditional feminine characteristics by challenging stereotypes and celebrating the strength and power of femininity with their music, strong style, and charismatic live shows. So, who are they? The Bellas consist of teen drummer Giul, guitarist Izzy, lead singer Abby, and bassist Charlotte. Giul and Izzy are sisters to each other and cousins to Abby. Their previous bassist, Lindsay, was also their cousin, so upon formation, they were a band of cousins. When Lindsay left for the military, The Bellas eventually found Charlotte and the rest is history. Credit: Jeff Crespi The girls burst onto the scene in 2019 and have been chugging along ever since. With a couple of singles under their belt, “Teenage Dropout” and “Cherry Lips”, The Bellas are drawing inspiration from bands such as The Runaways and The Donnas. Their infectious sound blends ferocity with teenage angst and melodic hooks. Abby’s vocals are so on point that you’ll be singing and bopping along in no time. The Bellas’ music captures the essence of rebellion and discontent with a raw sound that amplifies the voices of the unheard by challenging the status quo and I know we’ll be hearing more from them in the future. I recently reached out to the band to see if I could learn a little more, and I was able to chat with their drummer, Giul, who is an absolute doll. Take a moment to read a little more about The Bellas below, then go check out their tunes. Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : Guil, thanks so much for talking with us today! Tell us, what year did The Bellas come together? Giul : Our band officially formed and played our first show together in 2019 at my high school’s Battle of the Bands, but it’s something we’ve wanted to do since we were little. As kids, there was rarely a time at a family gathering when you wouldn’t see the four of us [cousins, prior to Charlotte,] planning out our lives as rock stars or imagining we were in a band together, long before any of us even began playing our instruments. Years later, as a freshman, I saw flyers in my school’s halls for a battle of the bands coming up and instantly thought of the girls. I sent them a picture of one and jokingly suggested that we “get the band back together”—to which they all actually agreed. By this point, though Izzy and I were already taking lessons and had experience playing our instruments, the four of us never formally played together. Against all odds, we got a few songs together and played just a couple of weeks later. Though it originally began as a fun one-time thing, we knew we had to continue together after the energy we felt when we performed. The rest is history! Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : Who are your biggest influences musically and stylistically? Giul : Many of the artists that we’re influenced by have impacted us both musically and stylistically. Our influences include—but are by no means limited to—RATT, KISS, Mötley Crüe, Kix, and Poison, just to name a few. Their approaches to music and attitude when performing are part of what drew us to them in the first place and [are what] continue to inspire us. Not only do these bands have great music, but they also put on amazing, larger-than-life live shows—something we strive towards for our own band. We absolutely love the cement pirate style, the tall boots, the over-the-top showmanship, and all that good stuff. When the band first started out, we were also influenced by artists like the Ramones, The Donnas, and Joan Jett, which inspired our name and logo. MaM : Is there one show you have played thus far that was notable? If so, where, and why? Giul : The show that immediately comes to mind is our most recent gig at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ. We played our fair share of both small and large venues, but this was easily our biggest one thus far. With so many iconic acts that have performed there through the years, this one easily stood out to us! Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : If you could share the stage with any musician or band in the future, who would it be and why? Giul : The classic lineups of KISS and RATT. They’re absolute legends in rock and metal. MaM : How do you feel about the current landscape of indie music, and how do The Bellas stand out? Giul : I’d say [the landscape is cluttered], especially with the vastness of music available on the Internet nowadays. Because of this, we make sure to stand out by putting on a good live show in a way that emphasizes entertainment and fun instead of a broader message. We prioritize style and stage presence just as much as musicianship; we want our show to be exciting in every sense of the word, and we plan to deliver in every way possible. If we can provide an escape for someone in the crowd and help them forget about whatever might be weighing them down and just have a good time, we’ve done our job. Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : I see you’ve released two singles so far. Any plans to record an EP in the future? What are you guys currently working on and how do you approach the creative process? Giul : Yes, we are looking to release an EP soon! We currently have a few things in the works. In general, we’ve been starting to move towards playing original music almost entirely. I think that’s ultimately where we wanted to go with the band, so we’ve been trying to write and release more of our own content. We’ve most recently been recording a brand-new song and are in the process of adding the finishing touches! As for the creative process, we usually start with the music and then the lyrics come after. Since we are somewhat new to the songwriting process, we’re still trying to see what works. Most of the time Izzy or I have an idea and develop it independently before coming together, but we also want to try working more collaboratively in the early stages as well. Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM: How would you describe your sound? Giul : Our sound is pure glam metal straight from the 1980s Sunset Strip and beyond—no filler, just loud, unapologetic rock n’ roll. MaM : Do you find it’s more difficult to get your music heard these days or do you feel technology has made it easier for you to showcase your product? Giul : It’s both easier and more difficult in different ways. Things like social media and publishing sites have made it incredibly simple to release our music and promote ourselves; if people want to hear our recorded music, it’s available right at their fingertips. On the other hand, there is so much music out there on the internet that it’s easy to get lost in the sea of other artists and songs. At the end of the day, nothing beats playing live shows for us. Not only have we met some amazing people this way, but we also put on an energetic show that you can’t fully experience by just looking at a screen. Our performance is integral to who we are as a band. The way we dress, and our stage presence is very important, just like the music is (and of course, we enjoy it!). It’s always a good time for us and we want to bring that energy to the people who come to see us as well. Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : What are your ultimate goals and aspirations for the future? Giul : Keeping the ‘80s glam metal experience alive—the sound, look, and attitude. We want to go as far as we can with the band and see where it takes us. We are super passionate about performing and have a lot of fun doing it, so regardless of whether it leads to bigger opportunities or not we don’t plan on giving it up anytime soon! As the Bellas continue to refine their sound and produce new music for the masses, they are sure to emerge as a powerful force in the punk rock scene, serving as a reminder that with an unyielding spirit and a refusal to conform, anything is possible. Instagram : The Bellas (@thebellasband) | Instagram profile YouTube : The Bellas - YouTube Facebook : Facebook Spotify : The Bellas | Spotify Apple Music : ‎The Bellas - Apple Music *cover photo courtesy of Jeff Crespi www.jeffcrespirocks.com JEFFCRESPIROCKS See through a different lens! www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Nicole Brice loves music and will fight anyone who doesn’t like The Bellas. Got something you think she’d like to hear? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

A little bit Riot Grrrl mixed with female sensitivity < Back Candace Schur: Rock’s Next Big Female Powerhouse Nicole Brice Aug 7, 2023 Share A little bit Riot Grrrl mixed with female sensitivity Growing up as a teen in the 90s, I idolized musicians such as Kay Hanley from Letters to Cleo , Gwen Stefani , Lisa Loeb , and Monique Powell from Save Ferris . Their vocals were powerful, their lyrics were poignant, and their style was unmatched. One could even say they encompassed the softer side of the Riot Grrrl aesthetic by showing vulnerability and femininity. In a nod to revisiting that period, new generations of female musicians are taking the reins and paving the way for this latest wave of 90s nostalgia currently hitting us, and one female lead has such a strong presence that I feel she will be the one to reignite the female powerhouse movement in rock music. Her name is Candace Schur . Credit: Jeff Crespi With beauty that rivals Debbie Harry from Blondie, Candace is a hair stylist by day and a kick-ass frontwoman by night. She is gorgeous, fierce, and strong. Her beauty is not just surface level, though. No, her beauty lies also in her lyrics and delivery of her songs. Her energy is so intense that you can feel it radiating as she sings. Her songs are ones I could envision myself as a teenager singing along to in my room when feeling despondent and alone. Credit: Jeff Crespi With intricately constructed tunes showcasing themes of angst and redemption, Schur is the lead singer of the indie grunge/alt band Candy Cavity out of New Jersey . I was fortunate to learn of her music recently from a friend and one listen was all it took; I was instantly hooked. With songs such as ' Not Over It ', which talks about not being able to move forward after a break-up just yet, Schur writes from a relatable perspective about love and loss. We’ve all been there … break-ups. They are terrible and they gut you, but from the teenage girl's perspective, they are traumatizing. ' Not Over It ' is truly the perfect song to be the soundtrack for a love lost in the wildly formative years of adolescence. Credit: Jeff Crespi On another favorite track of mine, ' What You’re Missin ’, the sexy and fierce lyrics make you want to say, “Ya know, I could kick your ass if I wanted to.” The song is upbeat and fuzzy and in-your-face rock. I wanted to learn more about the woman behind the music, so I reached out to Candace . She and I had the most enjoyable conversation and I instantly connected to her free spirit and vibe. Check out a little bit of our conversation below. MaM : Thank you so much for talking with me today. Your voice is incredible, and I love your look. It all just goes together so well. What year did the band form and how did it initially come together? CS : My first band I was in was called Girl , which I formed with a boyfriend at the time. When the band broke up, he took the drummer and I took the bass player, who was also a drummer, too. After that, I had to change the name of the band, but I was the core holding it together. I decided to call the band Candy Cavity . The name of the band had been stored in my memory from math class my sophomore year in high school when I’d be sitting in class just doodling pictures of me fronting an all-girl rock band. It just popped into my mind when I needed a new band name. Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : So, what year did Candy Cavity actually form? CS : 2018 – I can’t remember if our first show was in 2019, though, but it was definitely 2018 when the band formed. MaM : As far as your vocal styling goes, I love your singing voice. It reminds me of Brody Dalle from The Distillers meets Debbie Harry meets Kay Hanley from Letters to Cleo, but who do you cite as your ultimate inspiration for what you do? CS : Growing up, my parents were not big on rock music. My dad listened to mellow 70’s rock—more so like Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young —but he also liked Tina Turner and Alanis Morissette . My mom was more into dance and pop music, but she was all over the place, too. I wasn’t into rock until my teens, just because I hadn’t really been introduced to it, so this was in the early 2000’s and punk and emo was big then … bands like Newfound Glory and The Starting Line and Taking Back Sunday . Green Day was huge. Pop punk was big for me and is what I got into first, but then I started playing acoustic music and I played it for a long time, but I wanted to switch to an electric sound. The songs that I started writing weren’t very good, but I started writing songs when I was 13 and I hid out with all of that, but I don’t think many knew I played guitar. I sang in chorus in high school and any opportunity I was given to sing extra, I took it. I joined this church choir, too, just so I could do more singing. I also took vocal lessons, but I knew I always wanted to take my singing to another level. I didn’t want to be seen as a folk artist, though. When I first started, the songs did end up taking on more of a folk vibe, but there was a point where Riot Grrrl bands were a huge influence for me—bands like Bikini Kill and Letters to Cleo . Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : I love, and I mean, LOVE Bikini Kill and Letters to Cleo. Kathleen Hanna is an icon. Kay Hanley is amazing. CS : Yeah, I actually saw them not too long ago. I went to the city to go see them. They’re great! Veruca Salt inspires me, too. Good Charlotte , too, believe it or not. I got into them when I was really young. I was always drawn to the band’s energy, and I wanted to put on a show with music that people could dance to and really get into. MaM : What do you say inspires your lyrical content? CS : Life experiences, but I have written some songs that are fabricated. It will start with one idea and then I just build on it. I have this one song called ' Happy New Year’s .' I wrote the song kidding around because I have this cousin who is in and out of jail, but I wrote the song from the perspective of his wife. A good amount of my songs draw from real experiences, though. MaM : If you could share the stage with anybody or any band, who would it be? CS : Number one would be Blondie . Number two would be Garbage . MaM : I love Shirley Manson with every fiber of my being. (laughs) Ever since 9th grade of high school, Garbage has been one of my favorite bands. CS : You know who else? L7 ! MaM : Yes! I love L7 so much! CS : I love angst bands so much. But then I also like ones with the glam aspect, too. You know what I mean? Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : Oh, definitely! We are so in sync! Where do you see yourself headed in the future with the band? CS : I want to play shows with bigger crowds, and I want my songs to be relatable and honest for other people and you do what you do, and you put it all out there and you go, that’s all good, and great, but how do I get to the next level? That’s kind of where I’m at right now. To experience the music of Candy Cavity for yourself, hit one of the links below! You’ll be locking yourself in your bedroom singing along at the top of your lungs while having teenage daydreams of hot guys. Facebook : www.facebook.com/CandyCavity Instagram : Candy Cavity (@candycavity) • Instagram photos and videos Spotify : Candy Cavity | Spotify Apple Music : ‎Candy Cavity on Apple Music *cover photo by Jeff Crespi www.jeffcrespirocks.com JEFFCRESPIROCKS See through a different lens! www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90's flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Nicole Brice wishes she could decorate her bedroom with female musician posters, but she’s pretty sure her husband would get mad. She is always on the lookout for the next great female musician to discover, so if you have something you think she should check out, e-mail her at the_nicolebrice@mixedaltmag.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

The power of authentic expression < Back Women Who Rock: Wanda Wesolowski Tim W. Jackson Aug 7, 2023 Share The power of authentic expression Wanda Wesolowski doesn’t particularly sound like a rock star name. The bespectacled, coveralls-wearing, unadorned young woman, still in her 20s, doesn’t necessarily look like a rock star, either. But the North Alabama southern pop rock singer/songwriter/musician is becoming well-known as a talented force in the area’s rich music scene, leading Wanda Band to release its second full-length album, “Only Feeling” , on August 11. As that album prepares to drop, Wanda shared a bit about her success, her sobriety, and her sexuality in a beautifully unassuming and authentic way. Wanda grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, with supportive and musically gifted parents. She explains that her father, Chuck, plays guitar and bass while her stepmother, Jill, is a classical pianist. “We had a music room when I was a kid,” she says. “Guitars on the walls and a drum set and a grand piano. So, I just kind of grew up around that.” She started playing drums and took drum lessons at age 10. “I played snare in marching band and vibraphone, xylophone—all the phones,” she says. Wanda started playing the ukulele and then playing guitar and singing. By the time she was 14, she was gigging every week. Credit: Malachi Byrd “My dad would take me to my gigs, and he would stay the whole time and walk around and listen and kind of let me know what people were saying and give me tips and pointers.” She says that while her parents have always been very invested in what she does, it’s somewhat of a blessing and a curse, “because on the one hand, they're like, ‘Hey, what are you doing today for your music career to happen?’ I'm like, sometimes I'm doing nothing and that's okay,” she says with a laugh. Early on, Wanda was performing covers and even jingles because they were quicker to learn. Eventually she started going to an open mic night in Huntsville that required acts to play originals because the venue didn’t pay its PRO (performing rights organizations) fees. “That was really how I became a songwriter,” she says, “because I wanted to play and I was like, ‘I guess I have to write my own songs if I want to play at this open mic night.’” That was The Foyer, which, as Wanda remembers, “was kind of a golden age in Huntsville that a lot of people still talk about, ‘Remember The Foyer days?’ It was a coffee shop open until two in the morning and was a great hangout for musicians and college students.” In fact, it was at an open mic event in Huntsville where she first met its host, Andrew Sharpe. Wanda explains, “He said, ‘Hey, you're really good. You need a band. I wanna be in your band.’ And then I went in the next week, and he was like, ‘Hey, I got a band together for you. We rehearse on Monday.’ So, I was like, ‘All right, cool.’” And that’s how the Wanda Band was born. A few folks came and went but ultimately the band became a trio with Wanda on guitar and vocals, Andrew on bass, and Nick Recio (Black Jacket Symphony, the Artisnals, and Great Peacock) on drums. Credit: Andrea Belk “We have a lot of laughs and make fun music and it's good,” she says. After its initial album, “ One-Hit” , which was released in late 2020, Wanda Band signed this year with Single Lock Records out of Florence, Alabama, and has released a series of singles leading up to its release of the new album “Only Feeling.” Image Provided by Artist, Album Artwork by Gaby Wolodarski One of those singles, “Reggae Song”, was released in June as part of Pride Month. I want a woman to touch my thighs Who loves to sing and only smokes to get high I want a woman to scream my name She could be anybody, she just has to be gay In this song, Wanda is more explicit about her sexuality, although she says, “I guess a lot of my songs are about queer heartache and that experience and some of my frustrations with living down in the South and being a queer person. I think it's important for me as a woman, a queer artist, to be out and to show that there can be queer joy, there can be queer heartache, and just kind of giving a voice to those who feel the same way and maybe have experienced the same things.” She goes on to say with a laugh, “I definitely think that whether anybody wants it to be or not, all Wanda Band shows are a pride event .” Wanda says she’s been pleased with the reception of “Reggae Song” and the three other singles that have been released ahead of the full album. “I like the idea of giving everybody a little taste pretty relentlessly, like once a month, of our music,” she says. “And then we'll just give them all 12 (songs) for the full release and that will be fun. I'm really excited for everyone to hear the whole thing as a cohesive album.” As for the album, it was recorded with producer and musician Jay Burgess (The Pollies) at his studio in Greenhill, Alabama, which also happens to be the hometown of Jason Isbell . “Once it was done,” Wanda says, “Jay showed it to Ben (Tanner of Single Lock Records in nearby Florence) and Jay asked if Ben could put some stuff on it. So once Ben put all his keys on it, he was like, ‘I really want to pitch this to Single Lock and see if they want to put it out.’ So, they came to us and that was really special to me because it meant that they actually wanted to be involved with it. Using their resources has been extremely helpful and we're really thankful for their support in that way.” It probably doesn’t hurt that Wanda was a student of John Paul White ’s in the music department at the University of North Alabama. White, a noted singer/songwriter in his own right, is a co-owner along with Tanner and others of Single Lock Records. Wanda’s Shoals-area connections paid off in landing her a spot in the 2022 version of ShoalsFest, a musical weekend event brought to the area by Jason Isbell and his team. That was a dream come true,” Wanda says. “When I first moved to Florence, I worked ShoalsFest. I tore down the stage. I stood up on that stage and looked out and I was just like, ‘Now imagine yourself being here next year.’ So just being connected in the Shoals really has helped our career skyrocket in a way that it wouldn't have been able to just sitting in Huntsville.” In addition to the album release, another important date is looming for Wanda. She’s closing in on five years of sobriety. “I just was like ‘I guess if I'm an artist, I need to be troubled,’” she says about her early days of drinking. “As soon as I got out of high school, I just started drinking and smoking and doing a bunch of things I shouldn't be doing because I thought, ‘Oh, this is what it means to be young. This is what it means to be a brooding artist.’ And I took it a little too far and realized after about four years of regular heavy drinking that it wasn't helping me. It was kind of making me hate myself for not pursuing my dreams in the real meaningful way that I wanted to because I was so concerned with drinking and partying and being an artist in that way—and not really focusing on my art.” Credit: Tim W. Jackson She realized, “Some people can casually have a drink or two. I was not one of those people. It was like, as soon as I have a drink I'm blacking out. It was not good and not healthy. So, I finally made that decision (to choose sobriety) and started The Wanda Band like six months later and just really poured myself into my art and my music. In a way, maybe I traded one addiction for another— just being addicted to working on the band. But it was a healthy outlet for me, and it helped me pass the time and gave me a creative outlet that I didn't have when I was drinking all the time.” The focus on music has definitely paid off. The band has gotten more notoriety, and not just because of what has become their trademark coveralls. “I just got a pair of coveralls one day and thought, ‘Hey, I look pretty good.’ And then the boys were like, ‘I wanna wear some coveralls.’ So, our first album release show we got matching coveralls for the event, and we never looked back. We were just like, ‘I guess we're a coveralls band.’ “It's so funny,” she continues. “With the coveralls, I don't have to think about (what to wear). I'm just like, what color do I want to wear today? Sometimes I forget to tell the boys what color to wear and they'll show up to the gig with all of their coveralls in the back of their truck. I like that they're into it. They both work in construction, so it kind of just goes with their aesthetic.” Catch the “coveralls band” in a handful of album release shows in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, and give the album a listen on your streaming service of choice. And keep your eye on this rising star who stands as a testament to the profound impact of music when it emerges from the heart and soul of a genuine artist and storyteller. Wanda’s dedication to her craft and ability to connect with audiences will ensure her indelible mark on the world of music, reminding us all of the power of authentic expression. For more on Wanda Wesolowski and Wanda Band, visit her below at any of the following links: www.TheWandaBand.com Instagram @TheWandaBand Facebook @TheWandaBand YouTube @WandaBand Spotify @TheWandaBand *Cover photo by Andrea Belk Tim Jackson is a seasoned journalist and author with a penchant for all things dark, macabre, and somewhat sinister. He lives in Tuscumbia, Alabama, with his artist wife and their remote-chewing dog, Maple. www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

More Than a Petty Betty < Back Team Gwen: Erica is the Next Voice You Need to Win! Nicole Brice Oct 29, 2022 Share More Than a Petty Betty Erica Calle possesses a timeless beauty. One which invokes memories and feelings for years gone by. With her big tulle skirts, pageboy hairstyle, and Riot grrrl personality, Erica channels all the old Hollywood glamour into a complete package for 2022’s local music scene. Credit: Gary Governale Known locally as the frontwoman of Petty Betty , a popular novelty band in South Louisiana , Erica is known to bring “ it ” when belting out tunes such as 'Johnny B. Goode' and 'Zombie' by the Cranberries . With a booming and boisterous voice combined with a larger-than-life persona, Erica truly exemplifies what it means to be a star. Surrounded by some of the most talented musicians on the scene, Erica credits the men behind her as the ones to inspire and push her to the limits vocally. Credit: Gary Governale The band, Petty Betty , is comprised of Tony Busby (guitar), T-Mike Galliano (bass & vocals), and Chris Lyons (drums), as well as the gorgeous Erica Calle (lead vocals). Petty Betty is a music group native to Baton Rouge with over 50+ combined years of experience in music & entertainment. With upbeat lyrics and catchy music, they bring the party when they perform. Erica started singing when she was very young, but says, “Starting out, I wasn’t any good and I sounded like a drowning cat.” Credit: Gary Governale Well, folks, those days of sounding like a drowning feline are sure over because this leading lady has some of the best pipes in and around Baton Rouge , AND she even auditioned to be on the national TV show The Voice at 22 years of age. At the audition, she made it through the first round of the pre-auditions and ended up getting a nasty cold but managed to push through, which afterwards damaged her vocal cords. She was unable to sing for a while after that, but by doing karaoke, she was able to retrain her voice to do what she wanted. Once the pieces fell into place, Petty Betty was formed. Inspired by Blues and Swing music, Erica credits her look and vocal stylings to the music that she adored as a child, such as Cab Calloway , Buddy Guy , Etta James , and Ella Fitzgerald , and she has said, “I was born at the wrong time.” Credit: Gary Governale When we asked Erica who she is digging these days musically she replied with, “ Kaleo ! I just LOVE their music!” When asked about her personal style, Erica said, “Thankfully the group of guys that I work with each bring their own unique style and ideas that makes for an amazing blend. Personally, I love Rockabilly but sometimes will add a Stevie Nicks look to my wardrobe so I can change it up a bit.” Credit: Gary Governale “Bettie Page definitely influences my stage look, but I try to look towards the strong female lead singers such as Jinjer , The Pretty Reckless , Bishop Briggs , and Halestorm as far as their energy/persona. I like to blend vintage and current rock vibes for my look.” Credit: Gary Governale Petty Betty has quite a following, and you can rest assured that if they are playing a show, it will be packed. The energy from every member of the band radiates throughout all performances with none being stale or boring. Their on-stage energy is so infectious that you’ll end up wanting to be on stage just to experience the party with them. When asked if Petty Betty has plans to record any original material in the future, Erica has said, “We would love to pursue some originals! I wake up in the middle of the night to write down lyrics that just pop into my head, and we’ve played around with a few song ideas, BUT we would really need to slow down to focus on it properly.” Catch Petty Betty LIVE in and around Baton Rouge and be sure to visit their social media accounts to show some love. October 30 - 52nd Annual Parish Fall Fest in Denham Springs 2-4pm November 4 - TrickShots Sports Bar in Denham Springs 9pm November 5 - Boudreaux & Thibodeaux's in Baton Rouge 10pm November 12 - Mike Bruno's Harley Davidson in Baton Rouge 1-4pm November 12 - Big Mike's Sports Bar & Grill in Denham Springs 9pm Erica Calle - YouTube Petty Betty LIVE | Facebook Petty Betty fan club | Facebook Petty Betty (@pettybettylive) • Instagram photos and videos *All photos by Gary Governale * www.governalephotovideo.com Zenfolio | Home I have been working as a video professional since 1993, with a wide range of experience writing, producing, directing, shooting and editing. A strong interest in videography, specifically lighting and composition, led me to photography in 1998. Rapidly changing technology has blurred the line between video and photography, allowing me to work in both mediums.. Baton Rouge, LA, United States www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90's flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Reach out to mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Mi’Kael Chalyce is a soulful vibe of reflection and relatability whose voice eloquently captures the emotional evolution of the human condition. < Back Mi’Kael Chalyce: A Soulful Vibe of Reflection and Relatability Erica Machen Mar 12, 2024 Share Mi’Kael Chalyce is a soulful vibe of reflection and relatability whose voice eloquently captures the emotional evolution of the human condition. Emerging from the musically acclaimed Nashville, Tennessee, Mi’Kael Chalyce, better known as Kael to her family and friends, has burst onto the scene with a soulful vibe of healing reflection and relatability . Passionate, bold, daring, and authentic, Chalyce is an empowered artist whose voice eloquently captures the emotional evolution of the human condition and translates the collective anguish, progress, struggle, and joy we experience on a daily basis. Inspired by vocal legends like Whitney Houston and Mary J. Blige, Chalyce’s sound is a very cool blend of old school R&B mixed with the likes of Destiny’s Child and Outkast . And when combined with her strong gospel roots, her sound evokes that kind old school southern soul that’s wrapped in ambiance, truth, and pain. Mi’Kael left Nashville with a desire for authentic music after seeing business connections prevail over genuine human connections. She found sanctuary in the rhythms of Atlanta, Georgia, where her connections budded into relationships that allowed her music and stories to blossom. As a mother, educator, musician, and multi-faceted storyteller, Mi’Kael has both a history and a future worth sharing. Her authenticity and talent have shaped her into a powerful vessel spreading encouragement, energy, and self-expression. She is a triple threat in the most non-threatening ways, and she brings a sense of relatability and comfort in her music that warrants a desire to share and celebrate what she is doing. Photo from artist website We had the chance to rap with Mi'Kael recently and in that learned what a luminous talent she is. Check out our conversation below! MaM : I see that you've been inspired by legends such as Whitney Houston and Mary J. Blige, as well as your gospel roots. How do you mix all those influences into your music and what do they mean to you personally? MK : Wow, that's a good one to kick off! I think it's incorporated into my music organically with the way I phrase my words, or I end the note, or end the line. You can just hear some of those influences. Those were the songs I listened to over and over growing up, so that's what naturally flows through me when I'm writing or performing. It's definitely one of those situations where it's not about where you're going [but] where you came from. Everything I pour into what I'm doing now is from back home and [I am] just taking it to the next level. MaM : Speaking of your roots and your identity as an artist, you have a cool blend of old school R&B with vibes of Destiny's Child and Outkast. How do you keep that mix while still staying true to your style? MK : I still listen to what’s on the radio now, but I try not to emulate too much of what other people are doing. I keep it fresh with my cadences. Destiny’s Child brought in that rap/sing era, and you still see that happening. I do that, but I blend that with a little of the old school southern soul sound. MaM : Your music dives into some deep topics like mental health and growth. How do you approach writing about such personal subjects, and what do you want your fans to take away from your music? MK : The way that I approach it is starting with the music. Photo from artist's website I listen and try to see what style of music puts me in the vibe of where I am in that point in time. I’m really careful about not writing in the air, as I call it. That’s writing random things just because they sound good. That's not how you create a sound that is going to translate. As I'm listening to the music, I make it fit with what I'm feeling. Whatever story I want to tell is what comes out. I don't necessarily say I want to talk about mental health. I just get it all out, and it turns into a song that’s encouraging people to tap into their mental health and self-care. It happens organically. MaM : Your move from Nashville to Atlanta must have been a big change. How does the switchup influence your music and connection with your fans? MK : In Nashville, I didn't feel as connected with the community as I do here. I felt like the musicians were work-for-hire, and we didn't get to build a true relationship or repertoire together. In Atlanta, people have been more excited to work with me, and you get people really wanting to build with you. It's just like a family, no matter who I'm singing with. MaM : “Passion and Chemistry” really hit home with your fans. Can you give us a peek behind the scenes? What inspired the tracks? MK : ‘Passion and Chemistry’ was the birth child of my divorce. I got married super young, at 19, and had a child. I was married eight years. I was out of the marriage [and] thought I was free and could have these great relationships. The first situation I got into, I was dealing with a guy who was also ending a marriage. It was a very complicated situation. I told that story through ‘Passion and Chemistry’. That song started as a country song. I have the country version from a producer in Nashville. A producer here in Atlanta gave it the feel we were looking for with more of a soul/hip-hop style. MaM : You mentioned your music is all about being real and speaking to the soul. How do you make sure that authenticity shines through in your music and performances? MK : I stay true to who I am [whether] I'm singing cover songs or … am with my own band singing my originals. I’m going to do it my way, in a way that speaks to my soul. I get contracted to sing jazz songs, swing, and all different types of things, but I always put what I call my Kael sauce on it to remain true to myself. Sometimes it’s difficult, but I am very creative in the way I communicate. It's just about your attitude and how you talk to people that makes all the difference. MaM : Everyone is going to be eager to know what is next for you. Can you give us a sneak peek into any upcoming projects or plans on the horizon? MK : I am releasing a new single very soon [called] ‘Don't Settle’. Following that, I have a whole album in the works. By the end of the summer, you will have another full project. I am knee-deep [in] it! For more on Mi’Kael Chalyce, her music, and any upcoming shows, visit her official website at www.MikaelChalyce.com . www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Thrice Sovereign < Back Ripe with Nostalgic Talent Keeley Brooks Jan 30, 2023 Share Thrice Sovereign The Muscle Shoals area of Alabama is ripe with all kinds of indie talent just waiting to showcase themselves. Recently while online perusing artists in the area to write about, someone first suggested a local duo called Thrice Sovereign. So, I cruised on over to their website for some exploration and found some lyrically expressive tunes full of emotion with some creative, catchy compositions. Thrice Sovereign is an up-and-coming pop-rock duo out of Florence and is the brainchild of self-taught multi-instrumentalist Kristen Borden Talcott and singer/songwriter Amanda Lee Borden Talcott. Well, I say duo, but I stand corrected: Technically there are four members, according to Kristen and Amanda, but I’ll get to that a little later. “Kristen and I met through a mutual friend as an intent for friendship. Love had a different plan. We started dating seven years ago and have been married for five years,” Amanda gushed. Initially the Talcott’s were focused on having a taco truck, but that soon changed when they uncovered their deepest creative desires and hidden talents neither really knew existed on the level they did. “Kristen gave me a safe place to share my painful writings,” says Amanda. “I heard in her so much music wanting to come out, so we wrote a few songs, then a few more, and shared them with friends and family, who all wanted more. We decided [to] record [those songs] a bit nicer and make them easy for people to find. Through a string of necessity, creativity, and hope, Thrice Sovereign was born.” For Kristen—born and raised in Florence—music has always been a backdrop for her life, ever since her Pepaw taught her to play the guitar as a child. After years of playing softball and a bout in the MMA world, she had a lot of damage to her hand. When an injury left it broken, Kristen put music aside for a while … until, as Amanda puts it, “we started to goof off together, [with] her strumming random things and trying to re-teach herself [to play] Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ [As she did that], I’d hum, sing, and make random sounds and parodies about what was going on right then. [Now], she plays anything put in front of her.” Kristen plays by ear and, other than small moments on that tiny guitar from Pepaw, is completely self-taught. And this brings me to the third member of Thrice Sovereign: Blue. Blue is Kristen’s baby and first love … her first acoustic guitar. Image provided by Thrice Sovereign “I got Blue, if I remember correctly, for Christmas when I was 11. I specifically asked for a blue guitar, and she’s been with me ever since. She’s got some chunks missing and some bangs here and there, but Blue plays a sound like no other. I’ve had several people want to buy her from me, but I could never imagine her in someone else’s hands,” says Kristen. “Blue is fully an extension of my wife,” adds Amanda. The first moment Kristen took her off the wall and played her for me, I could see a new part of the woman I loved shining though. Blue resonates a special sound behind her string vibrations that harmonies beautifully with Kristen’s and my voice in a way that seems like a third human singing.” Amanda was born in the land of grunge and coffee, Washington state. After spending most of her life traveling around the U.S., she now calls Florence home. She’s always loved to write and soon discovered she was spinning raw emotions into lyrics full of pain, lessons, and growth. She is also self-taught and is continuously writing lyrics and music in addition to creating graphics. “I have always loved to mimic sounds and feel what it’s like to make them. In my youth, music was an escape—a safe place where I felt seen. I didn’t think I could be a part of that world, so I’d sing in the crowds to myself or those I trusted. For both of us, our talents have grown immensely in the past three years. I am grateful to have talents I can use to help others feel seen, just like music did for me.” Thrice Sovereign recently released their title single from their debut album “Waiting to Thunder,” which is a groovy song composed in a popular style that draws on heavy guitar riffs and the fat distorted sounds of hard rock, while the lyrics and theme of the song are relatable to many because they’re about things we all experience as human beings, as artists, and as experiencers in this realm. It is written by Amanda Lee Borden Talcott, composed by Kristen Borden Talcott, then the instruments were digitally recreated for release due to COVID needs. It is also their first music video, which brings me to “the fourth band member,” as they put it: techmaster Josh Brown. “After asking local businesses if we could shoot a music video [at their venue], Arx Mortis said, ‘Yes!’ With the help of our then-new friend Josh, the music video was born,” they say. “We see it as a musical/visual interpretation of the desire to do something that one is passionate about, believing there are reasons to wait, and knowing (eventually) that now is the time to do what you love.” credit: Amanda Chapman As for how the name Thrice Sovereign wove itself into the mix, Amanda best explains it. “The name … happened while I was doodling random words that I felt were relevant to both of us. The number three has always been a massive … sign in my life? Tip of the iceberg [is] I am one of three daughters, my mother is one of three daughters, I have given birth to three daughters, and my birthday is [in the third month of the year]—a fact I didn’t know until my 33rd birthday. During that year, our littles were ages five, nine, and 13, and they were born in 2005, 2009, and 2013. [Also at the that time, it would be] five, nine, and 13 years before our littles would be adults. The many plays on the two words that represent the art we make are endless. Sovereign’s many meanings give hope in my heart that all can see we are each ‘supreme leaders’ of our own worlds. Each can be monarchs in their own rite and live in all capacities of that word as well.” In addition to their musicianship, the Talcotts are also the founders of TechTonic Crucible Records LLC, as well as the benefit music festival MighTyekiM, which raises money for those in need. Last year was the first for the festival, which is named in honor of Mighty Mike, who passed away from Ewing’s Sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in early 2022. “MighTyekiM is the benefit music festival we … started as a way for musicians and artists of all levels and all kinds to come share their art with anyone who wants to listen,” said Amanda. “[It’s] a place where people can come experience free music, art, pizza donated by Dominos, beverages donated by Buffalo Rock, and so much more.” Thrice Sovereign accepted donations to raise funds … to help Mike’s family purchase a headstone for him. They note their initial intent was to raise the donated money for Mighty Mike before he passed so he could do something he found blissful but, unfortunately, they didn’t make it in time for that to happen. “We did, [however,] host a beautiful and memorable event in his honor. We had over 21 artists performing over two days at Wilson Park in downtown Florence [last June]. With a silent auction table and a kids’ fun area, it was a family-fun time, and we have secret plans in the works for the next one! We were so blessed to have so many local and corporate businesses and individuals donate their time and talents to help us make [that] amazing weekend happen.” This year’s MighTyekiM Festival will benefit a little girl, who also has Ewing’s Sarcoma. Currently there’s no word yet on where the festival will happen, but rest assured, we’ll keep you updated. TechTonic Crucible Records LLC is the newest addition to Sovereign’s distractions from what they call “the inevitable end.” The label developed out of the realization that most record labels are not what people believe they are. “We decided to find a way to help artists, and others, to have someone who taught themselves to do the things that are key from recording, distribution, website creation, and persona development to graphic design, songwriting, backing musicians, etc. So that and more is what we are offering—a place to learn how to maintain the world we help them create.” credit: Amanda Chapman Thrice Sovereign’s first album, “Waiting to Thunder,” will be out by summer 2023. Amanda notes it’s a concept album with some comforting songs that can work their way into becoming ear worms. Others, she says, are filled with lyrics of emotive imagery dramatically laid amongst the captivating instrumentals driven by the soul of Kristen. “Our first album is a nod to nostalgia in ways too many have forgotten they loved, with modern depth and truths weaved through descriptive metaphors and stories based in emotion and experience.” For more information on Thrice Sovereign and their music and shows, the MighTyekiM Festival, and TechTonic Crucible Records, hop on over to http://ThriceSovereign.com and check ‘em out. They’re music and personalities are totally worth it! www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Amanda Chapman, Photographer & Special Effects Artist < Back The Most Creative Eye in North Alabama Keeley Brooks Nov 14, 2022 Share Amanda Chapman, Photographer & Special Effects Artist Here at Mixed Alternative, we think all artists are pretty awesome, especially the self-taught ones. Kind of like this creative gem of a photographer and special effects make-up artist in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Amanda Chapman is completely self-taught in her craft, and her work is utterly breathtaking. Her photography has been featured on Shutterbug, and her special effects make-up has been featured on Yahoo! , Buzzfeed, marie claire, POPSUGAR, and Alabama.com . Yes, she’s THAT good. And she has a kind, creative, super-fun personality to match. Amanda’s love for photography developed in 2006 after her husband gave her her first camera for Christmas. After reading the manual and teaching herself about the art of photography, she started taking pictures of her daughter and soon learned she loved portrait photography. By March 2007, Chapman opened her photography business and hasn’t looked back. Later that year, she started shooting weddings and expanded her repertoire. What makes her photos so unique is that she doesn’t just shoot an image; she creates a work of art in and around her subjects that leaves people so happy, they often can’t find the words to express it. That was the case with a local author, who wished to remain anonymous, who hired Amanda to shoot the cover of her book. “I get really nervous taking pictures,” the author said. “Amanda’s personality put me at complete ease, and she was so creative in her vision that it was the best photo shoot I’ve ever had, and I left elated. When I got the pictures back, they were gorgeous. My publisher and I loved them and had a hard time choosing 'the one'.” By 2012, Amanda’s journey expanded to include special effects makeup and photography. “I grew up in a haunted house, and I honestly don’t remember a time where I didn’t love Halloween and all the spooky things. I always love watching scary movies and dressing up, even when it wasn’t Halloween,” says Chapman. Inspired by well-known YouTube make-up artist Kandee Johnson after she saw Johnson do an Edward Scissorhands makeup, Amanda picked up some tips from her and decided to give her hand a try at her own Edward Scissorhands makeup. “I felt such a deep connection to this character that I wanted to walk a day in his shoes, so to speak. I’ve always loved that movie.” (And I can say to all you Scissorhands fans to stay tuned for a very special Edward transformation coming very soon!) The application process takes many hours, she says, and if she’s making prosthetics, that usually takes two to three days, depending on what she’s making. Creating these types of characters led her to embark on learning to make prosthetics and test other materials for the effects process. When she creates prosthetics, she first does a clay sculpt on a face cast. Next, she creates a plaster mold and pours latex into the mold. After it sets, she removes the latex prosthetic and paints it, then applies it. In addition to Edward, Amanda has recreated other popular characters like Beetlejuice, Michael Meyers, E.T., The Maitlands ( Beetlejuice ), Pennywise, Jigsaw, Mrs. Bates, Vecna (from Stranger Things ), Large Marge (from PeeWee’s Big Adventure ), and Jason Voorhees, to name a few. “My favorite characters to recreate are, of course, Edward Scissorhands, the Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Creature from the Black Lagoon, just for a few,” says Chapman. “I’m a huge [Johnny] Depp / [Tim] Burton fan, so many of their collaborations are favorites of mine to recreate.” She also enjoys doing zombie makeups and even went to The Walking Dead conventions in Nashville and Atlanta in 2016. Her makeup was so good that it caught the attention of other fx artists in Atlanta, and she even got to meet Dead stars Andrew Lincoln, Glenn Rhee, and Norman Reedus--something Amanda says she'll never forget. Her favorite part of the transformation process, she says, is the moment when she first sees the character coming together, which often reminds her to trust the process … and herself. As she creates her characters, Amanda then designs an entire set in which to photograph them. “I love creating sets and choosing lighting to complement each character. It helps being my own photographer to capture each portrait in a certain artistic light,” she says. Ever since 2017, Amanda has done a “31 Days of Halloween” project where she creates characters and sets and posts photos of a different character over the entire month of October. This year she featured Billy Butcherson from Hocus Pocus , Large Marge, and Jason Voorhees, among many others. Amanda says she enjoys the whimsical makeups, especially if they’re Tim-Burton inspired. “It all starts with being inspired by a new character to create. Then my brain is consumed with every single detail to make it happen. If it's a recreation of a character, then I obsess over getting everything as close to the original as possible. I consider the backdrop and lighting to help highlight the makeup as well.” Recently, Chapman entered the 2022 Faces of Horror contest—the first of its kind. She received a ton of votes and is so talented, she made it all the way to the semi-finals and came in 2nd. “I believe this was the first year for this contest to be held, and I was fortunate enough to advance as far as I did,” Amanda says. And she’ll tell you it was, “100% because of all the amazing votes from family, friends, and online followers,” for whom she says she is very, very grateful, but it was also because of her talent and ability to creatively capture each character and their emotion in the way she envisioned and intended. Chapman says for many past characters she’s created prosthetics and masks that she would love to introduce on TikTok and YouTube, and she even has “many more characters” up her sleeve for 2023. When asked what’s next for her, Amanda responded, “I have plans to start a series of original characters, and I have always flirted with the idea of doing fx-themed horror photo shoots for my clients who are brave enough, haha.” She’s got one person right here who’s not only brave enough but also happily willing and ready any time she wants! Whether you’re looking for portraits, wedding photos, couple pics, a bitchin band photo for your album or book cover, a fun themed shoot—it doesn’t matter. You’re gonna want to call Amanda. She is, hands down, one of the best photographers we’ve ever come across. We know you’ll love her as much as we do. To view Amanda’s work and book her for any of her mad skills, you can find her online at www.AmandaChapman.net and on Facebook @AmandaDChapman. *photos provided by Amanda Chapman www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

90’s alt rock with dark and dreamy layered vocals < Back Mindy Scurto and Captive Frame: Reigniting Shoegaze Nicole Brice Jul 31, 2023 Share 90’s alt rock with dark and dreamy layered vocals I recently came across the music of an indie band called Captive Frame. With numerous releases on their Bandcamp page, I was drawn to their sound because it reminds me so much of one of my favorite shoegaze bands, Scarling . When most think of shoegaze, they instantly think of bands such as My Bloody Valentine , Cocteau Twins , or The Jesus and Mary Chain : distorted guitars, feedback, and dreamy layered vocals encasing you in soothing waves of sound. With an insanely creative cover of Nirvana’s “ Something in the Way ,” Captive Frame has found a way to showcase the perfect mix of distortion and feedback making the well-known tune feel reinvented. Other tunes such as “Walking Away” and “Seven Mondays” take the listener through an atmospheric journey of texture and sound. With so many songs to experience on their Bandcamp page, you truly need to experience their music for yourself to understand the beauty of Mindy Scurto’s voice. It’s soft, it’s haunting, it’s seductive. Captive Frame is the brainchild of multi-talented female vocalist, Mindy Scurto, who is currently based out of Florida, and her husband, Joe, who plays lead guitar. Originally from Maine, Mindy is a graphic designer by day and a talented musician by night. Coming from a metal scene in New England, Scurto founded her own graphic design company called MK Studios, where she has taken on numerous projects for her band as well as others to give them the identity they all visually need. In addition to graphic design, Mindy also paints and loves to engross herself in fine art. With a history of over ten years in the business, Scurto formerly managed a music shop in her home state where she worked exclusively with Autistic children teaching them music and integration. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Mindy at length about her music, her life, and her passion to create as well as the current state of her band. Take a moment to learn a little more about this creative woman who knows how to captivate with not only her voice but also with her outgoing personality. MaM : Tell us a little more about the band beginnings. MS : Captive Frame started a long time ago back when I was living in New Hampshire. We had a band before that was called Zounderkite and then another one called Cactus Hag. We toured all over with Cactus Hag and had a lot of fun, but my health got really bad and we ended up moving around New England a good bit. After I was misdiagnosed with diabetes, they essentially told me I was going to die, and at that point I decided we needed to get the hell out of New England because I had developed neuropathy. I couldn’t play anything, and I couldn’t do my art. In the middle of the pandemic, we decided to move to Florida in the southwestern part of the state, and that is where we currently are now. Photo provided by band MaM : So, what year was it that you could say that Captive Frame really got started working on material? Was it 2012? MS : No, it was more like 2014. I remember I was still working at the music store, and I found DKFM, which is a shoegaze radio station, and I was just blown away. That kind of gave me the idea for the band and then Joe, my husband, who is a huge Siouxsie and the Banshees fan, heard this line in the song “Unrest” where she says something about a captive frame, and that really resonated with him. It symbolizes being stuck and the line really stayed with us. When we moved to Florida, we got with a producer and we had this plan and then ended up knocking out an album in a year. It just poured right out of us. MaM : What is going on currently with the band? Any new material coming? MS : We have the live line-up finally and we’ve only practiced twice, but the guys we have are really serious about the music, which is great. We’re not used to people taking the music seriously because we’ve been in some bad situations with band tyrants, and it just really messes up everyone’s time. The chemistry of this group is so right, and we are a super tight family. Currently practicing and working on songs. Cover art for Captive Frame's upcoming self-titled release MaM : Who makes up the current line-up of Captive Frame? MS : I sing and then my husband, Joe, is the lead guitarist. Eric is the rhythm guitar player and then we have Richard on bass and Ghimel on drums. Photo provided by band MaM : I truly love your sound and it reminds me of the band Scarling. Have you ever heard of them? It was a side project of Jessicka from Jack Off Jill. MS : Oh, no shit! That’s so funny. My old roommate from college was a Jack Off Jill maniac. That’s a great compliment. Thank you. MaM : What would you say the future holds for Captive Frame? MS : It would be really cool if we could get signed and we would love to travel, so we will see. To hear Captive Frame’s music, hit one of the links below and be sure to follow them on social media, too. They are working on so many things, so stay tuned! Bandcamp: Music | Captive Frame (bandcamp.com) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/captiveframe/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captive_frame/?hl=en www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

An insider’s perspective on the Louisiana film industry < Back Behind the Screens with Kelly Mills C.G. Smith Jul 5, 2023 Share An insider’s perspective on the Louisiana film industry For quite some time now, Louisiana has been dubbed Hollywood South due to the many film and television productions happening in and around the state, mostly down in New Orleans but also in the capital city of Baton Rouge. According to the Louisiana Film & Entertainment Association , there have been over 2,5000 films and tv series shot in the state thus far. However, of all the cities used as settings, New Orleans is surely the city that has seen the most, with an explosion in numbers of productions being filmed pre- and post-Covid. More productions mean a greater need not just for actors but also for all the important people running around behind the scenes making everything work and flow. These are the people responsible for ensuring filming goes smoothly and according to plan, for creating the costumes and building and operating props, sets, and cameras … all the choreographers and coaches and stand-ins, the sound engineers and crews and special fx teams, the assistants and screenwriters and editors—all the people who make up the industry’s foundation but don’t often get the attention and credit they deserve. Kelly Mills is one of those people. courtesy of Kelly Mills Having been involved in the Louisiana film industry for over a decade now, Mills has had experiences working as a production assistant, as part of the camera department, as part of the art department in set decoration, and most recently as a grip. “It just depends what I get hired for,” Mills says. “It’s a gig-based industry, so it changes.” From working on popular tv shows like Strangers Things , Salem , and Your Honor to known films like Where the Crawdads Sing , Mills has been an instrumental part of making sure what’s supposed to run smoothly (and be historically accurate) does just that. She’s a hunter, a gatherer, a creator, a set designer, a prop master, an art director, a fixer, and a most dedicated, loyal worker. She’s also a complete ball of fun to be around. I was able to sit down with Kelly in January of 2023 to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all from an insider’s perspective. Grab yourselves a tasty beverage and kick back as you read about what it’s like working in the Louisiana film industry today. MaM : So, you’ve been working in the Louisiana film industry for ten years, right? KM : The first gig I ever had was in 2009. That was up in Shreveport, and I’ve been working in the film industry since then—full time since 2010. MaM : How’d you get started, what did you start out doing, and what do you do these days? KM : This takes a little bit of exposition. So, I graduated with a degree in theater in East Texas, which had absolutely no jobs whatsoever, so I moved to Shreveport and started tending bar. These two guys started coming into my bar with carpet samples. I asked, ‘Why are you sitting at my bar, taking up space with these damn carpet samples?’ They said, ‘[We’re] from California and we are art directors in the film industry.’ One day they asked me what I thought about their carpet samples. I told them they were all ugly and they needed new samples. Then they asked [if I wanted a job] and I said yes. I had no idea what this job would entail, but yes. The next day they called and said, ‘[We are] working on this movie and we need an art department intern.’ I asked, ‘When does it start?’ and they said, ‘Now, but we can’t pay you anything.’ So, I did it. Sometimes it’s kind of obvious when things are being thrown in your face, like this is what you need to do. So, I worked during the day on set for this movie and at night I still did my full bartending shifts. I did the whole movie that way. MaM : What movie was it? KM : It was called Playing for Keeps with Gerard Butler and a bunch of other people. It was ye old general romance, ‘Oh no, what do I do? There’s a kid. I’m in love with her, I’m in love with him – divorce – ahh!’ You know, that kind of thing. That’s where I first started. MaM : So, you weren’t just picking carpet samples. What did you start out doing and what are you doing now? KM : I started out as an art department intern, which legitimately meant I went and got coffee, I rode around with the art director, I helped him take notes, [and] I did a lot of basic sign designs and things of that nature. Then I figured out that I was going to next move to working on set as a production assistant. Because at that time there were some movies in Shreveport, but not a lot, and you needed to get paid for what you were doing, so I started working on set as just a general production assistant – getting actors coffee, shushing people, telling people to be quiet, where you can’t walk – that kind of thing. I was a production assistant for a very long time, probably three-and-a-half years. To move from a production assistant to work in the director’s guild, you need about that amount of time to get your days and submit all the information to try to join. I quickly figured out that it was a miserable job, and I didn’t want to do that anymore, so, I got lucky when a TV show called Salem came and I got to move back into the art department and set decoration world. I started working with them as their coordinator and working with their set decoration buyers. So, essentially, for a good while I was nothing but a professional shopper, which is a wonderful and incredibly stressful job all at the same time. Then I moved from set decoration to working the property department, which is very, very similar. I moved in the art department world for a good while. This was in the days before then-Governor Bobby Jindal put the cap on the tax incentives, but it was after Katrina hit New Orleans and a bunch of the productions had moved up to Shreveport. So, it was kinda like this weird wild, wild west where you just took whatever job you could take at the time—it didn’t really matter what department it was in. You just did what you had to do to get the job because that was the only job in town. Then, in 2015, I believe in June, Bobby Jindal put the cap on the tax incentives. I moved to New Orleans because [he did that]. Literally within a week of him announcing that he was capping everything, I knew that Shreveport was never going to see – at least for a good stretch of time – they weren’t going to see a union job, and I had just gotten into the union. The only place in all of Louisiana – if you were going to be filming in 2015 and after, you were either going to be working in New Orleans or living in New Orleans and working in Baton Rouge, that’s it. Maybe there [were] a couple of little low budget ‘I heart Jesus movies’ or Hallmark or whatever, but not anything that was union or paying. MaM : I heard you say that cap on the tax incentives actually led you to get married. KM : It did! It did! My poor husband, bless his heart. So, my husband Joe also works in the film industry. He’s a grip. He had come up a couple of times, working in Shreveport, and we did this LOW budget ‘I Heart Jesus’ movie called Dancer and the Dame . We met and hit it off, became friends, and we did a couple more low-budget things together in Shreveport. Then, in June 2015, the TV show I had been working on, Salem, had just wrapped and not a week after, Governor Jindal announced that the tax incentives were being repealed. I was like, ‘Crap, what am I gonna’ do?’ I called Joe and was like, ‘Hey dude, so I gotta’ move away from Shreveport and I’m moving in with you.” He was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool. Well, I totally would love to have you, but I don’t have an extra bedroom.’ I was like, ‘No, that’s fine, I’m literally moving into your bed – I’m your girlfriend now.’ He was like, ‘Oh, well, yeah, I think that’ll work. You’re gonna’ do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, man, I literally just sold everything that I own, I bought a new car so I could get myself down to New Orleans, and I’m coming tomorrow.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, well, I guess that’s what we’re gonna do!’ We decided to get married six months later. MaM : What a great story. (laughs) So what are you doing now? KM : I move back and forth between the camera department. courtesy of Kelly Mills I got really lucky—I worked in the art department for years and years; it’s one of my favorite jobs. I love doing it, but it kinda got stale for a little while, so I was talking to a couple of my friends that work in the camera department and they were like, ‘You could do this.’ I was like, ‘Yeah! I could do that! Show me what to do!’ At the time, in the summer of 2021, we had so much work it was just crazy, because we were still trying to come back from the demand from the gaping hole of Covid-19. We were creating content like nobody’s business, and that requires union labor. So, they hired me, and I’ve been really enjoying working in the camera department now. It’s been interesting because I’m learning a whole bunch that I never even thought that I’d be capable of – I’ve always been the art girl. I’m the ‘I’ll bring the glitter, I’ll bring the fake drink, do you need orgies? We’ll do the orgies.’ That was my gig for years and years and years. Then, all of a sudden, they were like, ‘Here’s this camera that’s worth, like, a house; why don’t you pick it up and mess with it?’ I was like, ‘Oh, God!” MaM : That’s a lot more technical than the arts department. KM : In the art department, I have eight different ways that I can make vomit, depending on what the scene calls for. I have lovely vomit recipes. I know how to move a couch by myself … that kind of work. This [camera] is completely different work, and I’m really having a great time learning how to do it and stretching myself as a union employee to be able to do this work. MaM : Tell us about an average day on a set. Are there major differences between film and TV? KM : There aren’t really a lot of major differences between film and TV, except for with TV, you pretty much shoot a little film every week, which is rough. You have a shorter prep time, but you’re still expected to produce a film-like quality production. On an average day, our call time will be between 6 and 7:30 a.m. You show up and they provide what they call a non-deductible breakfast, which is a courtesy breakfast. You go, you eat breakfast, and then you show up to your prospective truck – whichever department you happen to be working in. courtesy of Kelly Mills So, let’s say I’m working in the prop department. I get my tool belt and look at the call sheet so I know exactly what to anticipate for the day. Say we’ve got [an] ‘explody bomb’ [on the list]. I already know how the bomb works, [and] this is what I need to give to the special effects guys who are actually going to make it all ‘splody.’ I know how to explain to the people that this is safe, it’s not going to ‘splode all over them, things of that nature. So then at call time, that’s when we start unloading our trucks and pushing our carts. Everything is in bins and carts. We usually send someone ahead that works with the actors on set for any hand props they need for the day. We set up and then you find out two important things: Where’s the bathroom and where is craft services. Do they have sandwiches? You make sure that you anticipate any unexpected needs, you wind up coming up with a lot of creative solutions for really, really, weird requests, whatever it may be. Whatever you can possibly think of, we have come up with weird solutions on the fly. Then there’s lunch, which is a good six hours after you start, Then you go back to work for another six to eight more hours. Our minimum is usually twelve [hours]. It’s not guaranteed that we’ll be in the same place all day. You’ve got to move your carts, you gotta take props away, you gotta give props back to them—a lot of minute details. Then you wrap and go to Avenue Pub (when it was open for 24 hours) and have a drink, then you go home and wonder why you made the decisions in life that led you to work fourteen-hour days. MaM : What are the most locations you’ve been to in one day? KM : In one day I had five different truck moves, which means you unload the truck completely, you do your thing, then you load the truck back up and you go to the next location. That’s just the shooting crew. When you’re on the pre-production [team,] you move around all day. MaM : As with any job, it depends on the people you work with. Is it one big happy family on set, or are there ever issues? KM : I am extremely proud to work with the brothers and sisters of 478. courtesy of Kelly Mills Generally speaking, we are kind, courteous, and professional to each other. Of course, when you spend twelve to fourteen hours together, you’re gonna’ wind up butting heads, but I have never met anyone in the 478 that I can say I dislike working with. There are definitely a number of directors I’ve wanted to murder—learn how to read a plan! MaM : Can you tell us about your worst and best days on a set? KM : Oh God, it’s probably all the same day! (laughter) No, so my worst day was in Arkansas [on] a movie called Greater . This was in my last couple shows where I was still a [production assistant] but I was moving over to the art department. It was low budget, low rates, miserable non-union, and the last day we had to shoot for 24 hours straight. At that point, it doesn’t matter if everything has gone well, you still have been physically at work for 24 hours. It was just the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life. I was in North Arkansas, of all places. It was cold. I was in the Arkansas University stadium; it was just miserable. MaM : Now what about your best day? KM : My best day was probably the first day that I really, really understood what I was doing in the camera department. The first day that I was able to go into the camera truck—this was on a movie called Fast Charlie with Pierce Brosnan (who is a lovely man, sweet man)—and pull out and prep everything that I knew I needed. It was just a good day! Nothing went wrong; nothing f**ked up on the camera; our cables didn’t fail; I didn’t have to haul heavy shit anywhere; and we were just in three different areas in the same place. I didn’t have to push the cart and it was just, it was lovely. I was just really proud of myself for being able to do it—something that I would have never thought that I could possibly do. courtesy of Kelly Mills MaM : … coming from bartending. KM : Yeah, coming from bartending and telling two guys their carpet samples were ugly. (laughter) MaM : Why do you think Louisiana gets so many film industry jobs? Is it just the allure of the city, the way it’s stepping back in time, or … ? KM : It’s a combo of things. Some of it is, of course, is the French Quarter, and then some of it is being able to … so many stories are southern. New Orleans, in particular, is equitable to other southern states. New Orleans can play Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia. You wanna do it, you can do it in New Orleans. You want mountains? Can’t do it in New Orleans. We also have the Central Business District, and we have an infrastructure, thankfully, based around the film industry. We have rental houses, Panavision—the camera rental house—prop houses, and stages where you can shoot all of this stuff. So, [I’d say it’s] between the allure of the French Quarter and the allure of telling southern stories in a southern city. Also having the infrastructure to do so, and then, I think, the icing on the cake are the crews of New Orleans. The grip brothers and sisters and kin, the prop people—all of the people that routinely work in the film industry that are dedicated to the job that we do. Simply put, I don’t think that I’m bragging here when I say that New Orleans and Louisiana crew works hard and are generous and kind people to spend a really long time around. Producers come back for that. Who wants to work with crews that are bickering and are mean to each other, which of course make delays that cost money? We have a strong and compassionate union behind us. I really think … all of that … is a 1-2-3 punch—a knockout. MaM : What are some of the most memorable productions you’ve worked on? KM : Obviously, Stranger Things . I was very lucky to work on Seasons 2 and 3 of that. That was rewarding. I worked the set dec department as a buyer. My job on Season 3 was to carve. It was set during Halloween, [so I had to] carve hundreds of pumpkins. Just hundreds of pumpkins. That was my job. That and they just pretty much gave me a van and cash and said, ‘Go to estate sales.’ They were very conscious of being period correct in literally everything that is on that set. I was literally taking apart appliances and looking for the serial number to see if it was made in 1983 or 1984. Some crazy person on the internet is going to find your name on IMDB, figure out that you worked in the set dec department and then message you. That happened to me. They’re crazy. That was one of my favorite ones. I worked on a TV show called Salem for three years. It was set in Salem during the witch trials and that really taught me how to work in time periods and period-correct shows. I really honed my skills on doing the research that was necessary. MaM : Was there ever a piece or something that you couldn’t find? KM: Thankfully not on Stranger Things . On Salem, we pretty much just had to roll with what we could get. I had a lot of things manufactured. The hardest thing for me was bicycles for Where the Crawdads Sing . We had kids on kids on kids riding period-correct bicycles. They had to be working and functioning, and period correct. So finally, I drove up to Texas, because thank God my dad randomly collects vintage bicycles. I went and raided the man’s barn. I took every one of them to the Freret Street Bike Shop (shout out to Aaron!) and was like, ‘Fix these for me!’ Working on period pieces is my favorite. That’s what I like to do. MaM : So, Stranger Things , Salem , and Where the Crawdads Sing— anything else that stands out? KM : Let me look at my IMDB, I’ve done so many things. Ok, I was the prop master on a movie called The Card Counter . [It was] the first movie I did coming back from Covid, and it’s been nominated for a couple awards, I believe, which I’m really excited about. It was directed by the same guy who did Taxi Driver . I did the entire first season of Your Honor as well. I was really, really proud of that. The thing that I am least proud of: So, I did a movie called The Case for Christ . It was the first movie I ever did in Atlanta. It was miserable, and it was with Pure Flix, which is the worst. They didn’t pay their bills. I had to fight them for every paycheck. They should call Jesus to ask them how to run their business. It was rough. MaM : You’ve worked in the art department. Anything you’ve made that you’re really proud of? Like the pumpkins on Stranger Things ? KM : Yes! Pumpkins on Stranger Things ! One of the things I am most proud of is that in my career I have helped create three different orgy rooms. MaM : Each one’s different! KM : Each one is completely and utterly different! My favorite one that I helped to create was on the TV show Claws . I was lucky enough to be the assistant art director on the third season and we just had so much fun. There was this big orgy room. The research I did, I can’t even begin to tell you how many lists I’m on now because of that. (laughs) MaM : Because of your web searches? KM : Because of my web searches! Like, every kink that you could possibly think of we crammed into one giant warehouse orgy and I’m just so proud of it! That’s one of three orgies I have helped create—NOT been a part of, but that I just helped create. I would like to point out that at one of them I did have a buffet a la It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The industry has been almost my entire adult life. I’m proud of the work that I’ve done. I’m proud of the union labor that we are able to do in the Deep South, despite such strong anti-union sentiment that is just built into the way that we’re raised. I’m grateful for our union leadership and the work that they do. If any of our crew members are reading this, right now we’re in such a very strong economic downturn, but I want to encourage you that we have been through this before, we will go through it, and we will not just survive, but we will come back, be strong, and make movies. Because that’s what we do. We love stories. We will continue to do it. For more on Kelly Mills, visit her IMDB page and take a peek at all the cool shit she’s done and been an integral part of helping create. And to Kelly and those like her, we as viewers have to recognize how much we appreciate all of your effort and hard work in creating something of quality that entertains the masses. As viewers, we often do not know what it’s like for any workers in the industry unless we personally know of someone, so next time you meet a Kelly Mills, be sure to thank him/her/them for all the hard work. Without them, we’d have to say to Russell Crowe in Gladiator , “No, Maximus, we are not entertained.” Fortunately, we’re all in a different position so we don’t have to say that. Let’s hope the entertainment continues to flourish, and as it does, Mixed Alternative Magazine will be there as a landing spot for all the independent artists working so hard to make it happen. For more on the Louisiana Film Industry, visit them online at www.LouisianaEntertainment.gov . www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Hit us up at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Grey Areas: A Louisiana Metal Band Looking to Inspire Hope in a World Filled with Chaos Click to read more Boiler Room’s Revival: A Resurgent Force in Metal Click to read more Reviews on the Real: ‘Despair’ by Hawthorne Oachs Click to read more ART WITH HEART OFF THE CHARTS WAY BACK WHEN Check this out! All Categories Play Video Play Video 03:43 BOILER ROOM - No Patience (Official Video) "No Patience" is a high-energy track that explores frustration and the human desire to break free from stagnation. Its raw, unapologetic lyrics explore impatience, rage, and self-empowerment themes. The driving beat, and anthemic chorus makes it perfect for listeners seeking a cathartic release. Video by: Shottie of Shotwell Productions Members of the band Boiler Room: Chris Lino- Vocals Pete Rizzi - Bass Nick Seditious - Guitar Tommy Spano - Drums Music: Written by Chris Lino & Rob Caggiano Lyrics: Chris Lino Artwork: Mike Rizzi (IG: mikerizzidesign) Studio Musicians on 'No Patience': Drums: Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall, Category 7, Overkill) Rhythm guitar: Mike Orlando (Category 7, Adrenaline Mob) Song produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Mike Orlando (Category 7, Adrenaline Mob) at Sonic Stomp Studios, NY, NY Listen: https://found.ee/BoilerRoomNoPatience Contact the band: boilerroombandnyc@gmail.com Public Relations: Freeman Promotions https://www.freemanpromotions.com/ Lyrics: Open my eyes to reality, it ain't hard to see now I look around and tell you what I saw Tried to take my mind away. question my insanity Can it wait, can you make it wait I don't wanna wait, I don't wanna wait I don't wanna no more They will deceive you They will deceive you every time Patience, waiting I can't handle it No more saving This rage that's within You can't fake your own insanity, listen what I say now You can defy all the powers that be Faith in yourself now, is the only way how Can it wait, can you make it wait I don't wanna wait, I don't wanna wait I don't wanna no more They will deceive you They will deceive you every time Patience, waiting I can't handle it No more saving This rage that's within I can feel it deep within Now it won't be long now Then where do we go Who even cares 'Cause now you're there They will deceive you They will deceive you every time Patience, waiting I can't handle it No more saving This rage that's within Patience is complacency Now it means nothing to me Patience is complacency Now it means nothing to me Play Video Play Video 03:25 BOILER ROOM - CHANGES (Official Video) Lyrics Burn my eyes out cause I can't see I can't another day Life has thrown me so many curves now It's so hard to just stay sane Chorus Redefine me and burn the pages 'Cause I can't take all the changes Patience left with my saneness Cause I take all these changes I can't believe they try to make me Aspirations can't die in life Every time that I get somewhere they just take it away from me I can't take it take it no more What have I become what will I become what have I become Chorus Redefine me and burn the pages 'Cause I can't take all the changes Patience left with my saneness Cause I take all these changes Video by: Shottie of Shotwell Productions Filmed live at Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ Members of the band Boiler Room: Chris Lino- Vocals Pete Rizzi - Bass Nick Seditious - Guitar Tommy Spano - Drums Music: Written by Chris Lino & Mike Orlando Lyrics: Chris Lino Cover Art: Mike Rizzi (IG: mikerizzidesign) Studio Musicians on 'Changes': Drums: Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall, Category 7, Overkill) Rhythm guitar: Mike Orlando (Category 7, Adrenaline Mob) Song produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Mike Orlando (Category 7, Adrenaline Mob) at Sonic Stomp Studios, NY, NY Listen: https://found.ee/BoilerRoomChanges Contact the band: boilerroombandnyc@gmail.com Public Relations: Freeman Promotions https://www.freemanpromotions.com/ Play Video Play Video 03:51 NITE - Price For Heaven Darkwave - Dark Synth - Post-Punk - Industrial - Synthpop - Alternative For fans of Mareux, Boy Harsher, Twin Tribes, Cold Cave, and Drab Majesty Price For Heaven is lyrically inspired by, Ozymandias, a poem that explores the worldly fate of history and the ravages of time: even the greatest men and the empires they forge are impermanent, their legacies fated to decay into oblivion. For the making of this video, we were initially invited to "perform" a song by, It's Weekend Video to help them put together a reel to showcase their incredible talents at filming adverts; however, we ended up with a full music video. NITE are twin brother producers, Kyle and Myles Mendes and drummer Phil Helms from Dallas Texas. If you've seen us live or on the web, tell us how you found us! We'd love to hear from you. Play Video Play Video 03:51 Daemon Grimm - DLYH (Don't Lose Your Head) {Official Music Video} Produced, Mixed & Mastered by Jonathan Dolese at Konkrete Studios Directed & Edited by Jake Walker of Glass Eye Visuals Lyrics: Just a corpse Without a head Lost it to Lucy But still fuck with Sid Here we go down the same rabbit hole again To weird to live To rare to die There is no grand narrative to life Kill your pride before you lose your head Ego is the enemy This is the end of me Ego is the enemy This is the end of me Lost sense of self entirely Surrender control Don't lose your head The final leap of faith The guardian of the gate It keeps yelling D L Y H At the edge holding hands with oblivion Fear won't let me in D L Y H Just a corpse Without a head Lost it to Lucy But still fuck with Sid Here we go down the same rabbit hole again To weird to live To rare to die There is no grand narrative to life Kill your pride before you lose your head Ego is the enemy This is the end of me Ego is the enemy This is the end Lost sense of self entirely Don't lose your head Surrender control Don't lose your head The final leap of faith The guardian of the gate It keeps telling D L Y H At the edge holding hands with oblivion Fear won't let me in Don't lose your fucking Head There is no grand narrative to life It's just a struggle to get out of the bed What's my worth What's it weigh in the end Murphy Law in full effect Separate and manifest Toying with the consciousness I except and welcome Death Don't lose your head over this shit Ouu The final leap of faith The guardian of the gate It keeps telling D L Y H At the edge holding hands with oblivion Fear won't let me in D L Y H Kill your pride D L Y H Kill your pride I accept and welcome Death Play Video Play Video 17:19 Alfred Banks: Standing By Himself (Documentary) Connect w/ Alfred Banks: https://linktr.ee/underdogcentral Amongst the larger-than-life talent in the New Orleans rap scene is the understated, driven, and self-reliant Alfred Banks. Together, we explore the highs and lows of independent hip-hop, friendship, and family. Play Video Play Video 03:36 Mighty Oaks, ONE Mighty Oaks from Stone Deep's ONE Animated music video by Khylil Headen / Lilfromdahill_999, 2025 Play Video Play Video 03:23 SaxKixAve - Cheeks OUR FIRST MUSIC VIDEO EVER!!!! "Cheeks" from our debut project "I Don't Wear Suits", listen here: http://hyperurl.co/IDWS Directed by Albert Allenback Shot wonderfully by Cally Skye Nielsen "Old Phone" played by Alfred Banks "New Phone" played by Albert Allenback "Girlfriend" played by Michelle Newsham "Stan" played by Dave Shirley Our places online: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saxkixave/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Saxkixave/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saxkixave Bandcamp: https://saxkixave.bandcamp.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2MPLNf6a6M5wARlnZyVwTn?si=7qzn7PQISeyVnpJDQxIlYg #SaxKixAve #Cheeks #Music Play Video Play Video 03:16 Saxkixave - Tryna Get Down (Lyric Video) https://ffm.to/terrell-charbonneau-saxkixave-1

Boiler Room are on a mission to make a significant impact in the world of metal. < Back Boiler Room’s Revival: A Resurgent Force in Metal Nicole Brice Mar 28, 2025 Share Boiler Room are on a mission to make a significant impact in the world of metal. I was a teenager in the late 90s / early 2000s , a time when nu metal , a subgenre of alternative metal , dominated the airwaves. Bands like Korn , Limp Bizkit , Slipknot , and Deftones were everywhere, and because of the mediums we had back then to bring us new music, only certain bands were filtered my way. Here I am in 2025, and I was recently introduced to Chris Lino , vocalist for the New York City-based nu metal band Boiler Room , thanks to my good friend and photographer , Jeff Crespi . Unbeknownst to me, Boiler Room had a very successful career for a while from 1996-2001 , sharing the stage with Type O Negative , King’s X , Clutch , Orgy , Life of Agony , and Static-X . Still, after changes at their label, they walked away from forging their legacy, so why are they back now, and what has been going on all these years? Credit: Jeff Crespi Gritty, raw guitar riffs and an aggressive yet melodic style, Boiler Room , were part of the broader DIY movement until they were discovered and signed. Chris Lino ’s vocals are thick, raspy, and full of soul. With a unique combination of sounds and clean screams, he can go from sweet to sour in only a few seconds. Truly, this man's voice is amazing. It’s remarkable how music machines work. Oodles and oodles of bands come out yearly, but it’s up to the geniuses who market these bands to make them stand out, so how and why did Boiler Room get lost amongst the shuffle? Credit: Jeff Crespi With their recent resurgence, Boiler Room is on a mission to make a significant impact in the music world. Their blend of rock and metalcore is a force to be reckoned with, and they're not holding back. They released the single, ‘ No Patience ,’ in 2024 , followed by ‘ Changes ’ in 2025 . The band's focus on live shows in the days ahead is a testament to their determination to share their music with audiences everywhere. Boiler Room’s past labels include Roadrunner and Tommy Boy Records , two significant players in the music industry. After years out of the spotlight, they are currently looking for a new home, a move that could potentially reshape their musical journey. Boiler Room’s current line-up is Chris Lino (vocals), Nick Seditious (guitar), Tommy Spano (drums), and Peter Rizzi (bass). A humble, charismatic, and talented human, I truly enjoyed my recent conversation with Chris Lino . We delved into the band's past, current journey, and future plans. Please take a moment to dive into our conversation below and then listen to their latest ‘ Changes ’, which is out now on all streaming platforms. MaM : Thank you for joining me today. I had to go down the Wikipedia rabbit hole to learn more about you guys, but you started as a thrash metal band in 1996, correct? Chris : Actually, we started in 1992 , and we were called Bible Black . In 1993 , we were selected to play the Foundations Forum alongside Accept , Kiss , I Mother Earth , Quicksand , and Rob Halford , who was working with his new band Fight at the time. We had a demo with the song ‘ Judgment Day ’ that passed the board with Concrete Marketing , so they voted us in, and we were selected for the show. I don’t know if they still host the Foundations Forum , but it used to feature signed bands, established bands with new material, bands that had just been signed , and then there was us – we were an unsigned band looking for a deal. We ended up playing, and it was awesome. Life of Agony was there, too. We knew them from Brooklyn . Rob Halford was actually at the side of the stage, and when we completed our set, his manager said, “Mr. Halford would like to meet you guys.” MaM : Wow, that’s awesome. Hell yeah. Chris : He was the nicest guy, and he gave us some simple yet great advice. “Just keep writing”, he says in his British accent to us, and he was thinking about managing us at that time. He was looking to start a label and had a management company. We ended up touring with Type O Negative and Life of Agony . We had Ken Kriete , their manager, who was helping to manage us at the time. That relationship fizzled out, and our original guitar player ended up leaving, so we put an ad out in The Village Voice – back in the day, that’s how it was done. MaM : Man, back in the day, that was the only way you could advertise for anything—no social media. Remember paper flyers for shows, too? Chris : Oh yeah. So, we ended up putting the ad out there, and we had to go through approximately 128 demo tapes . We were very popular in the tri-state area and on the verge of something significant. At the time, we were also in talks with some labels. We eventually went through all the demos until we came upon Rob Caggiano ’s demo, and it was different because he wasn’t just shredding on it and playing. He remade a Misfits ’ song, sang on it, and created a versatile demo that stood out. He could sing backing, but he never did in the band. Man, so he pulls up and right away, he just had this swag and this attitude out of the gate. (laughter) He showed up, though, and had all the right equipment and everything. We had asked him to learn four of our songs from our recently released indie album, and he nailed two of them. However, he didn’t put in the work for the other two. The drummer and bass player were kind of “eh” at first, but then I told him to show us a couple of his riffs and stuff he was working on. He busted out some riffs that just blew me away, and I was inspired immediately. I was like, “Do that again!” (laughter) That was one of our singles, too, ‘ Do It Again ’, no pun intended, but once he busted out this riff, I immediately started adding vocals to it, and that was it. He and I hit it off immediately, and we wrote all of what turned out to be the first Boiler Room record. We wrote about 80% of it. We had a creative connection. It was around this time that our music also began to be played on KROQ . MaM : KROQ was the place to be heard back in the day. Chris : Yeah, they had a metal show on Sunday , and we were one of the first unsigned metal bands to be played on it, and we had a couple of shows in the area. One was at Irving Plaza where we opened up for Machine Head , and then another time it was Orgy, and when we opened up for Orgy , it was insane. We have a video of it on our Facebook page . We just blew it up that night, and we had another manager give us his card while saying, “I’ve never had a local band blow my signed band away.” (laughter) After that, the phone calls started coming in, and we initially signed with Roadrunner . We went out to L.A. and recorded the whole album out there. ‘ Do It Again ’ ended up being released on MTV’s “ The Return of the Rock ” CD Volume 1, alongside many other heavy hitters. It was Kid Rock , Korn , P.O.D. , Papa Roach , Sevendust , us, and a plethora of other great bands . We were off to a good start, but we ultimately hit a brick wall with some of the politics in the music industry. It had nothing to do with us, but there was a change in leadership, and the original CEO who had signed us ended up leaving the label, and the new person showed no interest in us. They kept pushing our release date back, so we knew we needed to get off the label. We ended up getting off the label eventually and signed with Tommy Boy/Warner Bros . They were trying to get into the nu metal scene at the time because you had bands like Limp Bizkit blowing up. We were off to the races after that. Photo provided by band We went on tour with Disturbed and Kittie . Kittie was the headliner back then. So, Disturbed started taking off with their first album and ultimately left the tour. We decided we needed to get back on a tour with them, and we ended up touring the tri-state area with them. It was great. Then, we toured with Mudvayne to promote the release of their first album, and from there, we embarked on a club tour in Europe , which also went very well. Came back from Europe , and the label dropped us because we weren’t selling enough records in the States . They owed us for another album, though, so we settled that and then decided we needed to regroup. Rob , though, had already agreed to join Anthrax , so we knew that conversation was coming. Everyone just ended up going their separate ways until I hooked up with Mike Orlando from Adrenaline Mob . He suggested that we redo the Boiler Room record because he’s a producer and engineer and has a studio in Staten Island , and he thought we had a sort of legacy going with Boiler Room . I decided to select the choice songs that Rob Caggiano and I wrote, which I felt did not receive their fair share of recognition. So, we re-recorded them with new production, and we pumped them up. We did four songs from the Boiler Room record, and everything else is new material. One song, ‘Rectify,’ on which Ron Thal played an insane, ripping solo, but we had to edit it for radio, so we have two versions of that song. On tour with Disturbed - photo provided by band MaM : Who all did you bring into the mix for recording this go-round? Chris : So, Mike Orlando hooked me up with Peter , and we found Nick , the guitarist, and Tommy Spano on drums. That got the line-up back together, but I started recording the album before I met Pete . We had Jason Bittner from Shadows Fall and Overkill play the drums, and then Pete came in to record the bass. Mike Orlando did the guitars. Nick did a bunch of leads on it, but the album had already been recorded when we hooked up with them. We then released the single ‘ No Patience ’, which was initially titled ‘Patience’, as the song has nothing to do with actual patience. Additionally, Guns N' Roses already had a song called ‘ Patience ’, so we reworked it and released it as a single. We have a video on YouTube that is performing well, with over 400,000 views. MaM : Then you have ‘Changes’, so tell us a little more about that one. Chris : That I wrote with Mike Orlando . I didn’t get into that story, so after Boiler Room broke up, he tracked me down before he blew up. We hooked up and started writing, and did something called Out of Body , so ‘ Changes ’ was an Out of Body song. A lot of the songs, his songs, ended up on Adrenaline Mob's first album , which they changed the melodies and the lyrics, but ‘ Changes ’ was the song we wrote together, and he never used, so I was like, “Let’s re-record that one and put it on the new Boiler Room album.” Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : Hell yeah, man, so you just decided to dive right back in to start releasing music. Was it because you missed it, or because you felt there was something there that you just needed to express? Chris : Both. Orlando is like, “Dude, when you gonna get back in the saddle again?”, and I’m like “Eh…” I told him I was thinking about doing something different, but he was like, “Nah, redo some of that older material. Redo the whole album.” I was like, yeah, I’ll redo some of the songs, but I’m not redoing the entire album. Like some of the songs that fell by the wayside, like ‘ No Patience ’, which we used to do at soundcheck when we were touring with Mudvayne , and they would stop in their tracks to listen. Imagine you’re touring with Mudvayne , and they stop to listen as you’re doing soundcheck, asking what the name of the song is and why the song isn’t in your set. That was the one song that I always wanted to redo because it never got a fair shot. Chris Lino of Boiler Room - photo provided by band MaM : So, tell us about the new album and when it will be released? Chris : It’s going to be nine songs with the edit of ‘Rectify’. We're looking at June for the release date. Pete and I also wrote a new song for the album called, 'Haunted'. We can't wait for everyone to hear it. MaM : Who were some influences that shaped your sound when you were first starting out? Did the idea for the band come about in high school, or how old were you when you first decided to start a band? Chris : I was in college when the band started. We had all the influences prevalent at the time, including Pantera , Black Sabbath , and Metallica . Then, Limp Bizkit and Korn were gaining immense popularity, which also influenced us. I don’t think there is any musician out there who a Black Sabbath riff hasn't influenced. MaM : In fact, down here in Louisiana, most bands are always influenced by Black Sabbath and Pantera. Pantera is a southern thing, though. You can’t live in the south and not like Pantera. Chris : We actually got to meet them when we were touring with Type O Negative because Phil is a fan of Carnivore and Peter Steele . After Type O Negative started taking off, Pantera jumped on a tour with them. We got to see them in Albany, New York , I think. Ken , Type O’s manager, was still managing us, and he invited us backstage to meet the guys. Phil was nowhere to be found, but Dime and Vinnie were awesome. They told me, though, that if I wanted to hang out with them, I needed to start drinking. (laughter) MaM : Oh yeah, gotta hang with them Pantera boys. Chis : You'd better start banging some shots out now. They were really cool. Rex was somewhat standoffish and asked us who we were, but overall, it was a great experience. I met Vinnie a second time years later because, after the lead singer of Drowning Pool passed away, I tried out to be their new singer. Credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : Wow! Did you? I had no idea. Chris : Yeah, they called me up after a year of mourning. Boiler Room was done. I was demoing with Mike Orlando , and I was shopping again. My old A&R guy, who had my demos, knew I was trying to secure another deal. However, he informed me that he had sent my demos to Paul Bassman , Drowning Pool’ s manager at the time, and that they were interested in meeting with me. They reviewed over 300 demos from around the world and narrowed it down to me and another guy. They sent me the album with no vocals so I could practice on it, and then they also sent two new songs . They asked me to write melodies and lyrics for the two new songs. I was in New York and did this, and it took me a couple of weeks. They ended up flying me down to Dallas, Texas , and the drummer was cool. Here I'm playing the entire Drowning Pool record, singing it, and it was surreal. It felt like Drowning Pool karaoke, but I had the actual band. (laughter) MaM: So, what ended up happening? Did you not take the gig because you would have to move? Chris : That was some of it, but they had another guy they were looking at, too. It just didn’t work out, but I was honored. They were very nice guys. So, after we did our jam and everything, they took me to the strip joint in Texas that Vinnie and Dime owned. They said they wanted to “send me off”, but they hadn’t let me know yet what their decision was. I walked in, though, and met Vinnie Paul again, and he goes, “You gonna be the next singer of Drowning Pool?”, and I go, “I hope so, we’re gonna see what happens.” The rest of the night, I was hanging out with Vinnie Paul , the guys from Damageplan , and the guys from Drowning Pool , and man, they were drinking like fish, man. I fell right into it, too. They go, “We hear you don’t really drink", and I go, “Ah, man…” (laughter) They end up passing me a bottle of Jack , and go, “Give me a five count.” MaM: Oh no … (laughter) They got me bombed, and the next thing I know, their manager goes, “You’ve got about four hours. We’re gonna drive you to the airport and drop you off.” They then let me know that they hadn’t made their decision yet, but they ended up going with the other guy. Paul Bassman tried to help me and Mike Orlando with Out of Body by getting us signed to Drowning Pool’s label , but that fell through, too. That was it for a bit, and I gave it a break until Mike Orlando tracked me down again. He kept pushing me to do something, and at the time, I was doing an acoustic thing that later evolved into a plugged-in thing. Still, the whole time, Mike is trying to push me to redo the first Boiler Room record, which led to the decision of doing the songs Rob and I wrote, but not the entire album. MaM : That’s actually a smart way to approach it. Chris : Yeah, so I had some new music I wanted to do as well, so I kind of just leaned on my strengths with what I do. I put the rapping thing away. My three most significant influences at the time were Chino from Deftones , Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots , and Phil from Pantera . I was becoming a hybrid of those influences. What I realized, though, is I needed to just “come with it” – that ballsy, raspy voice and forget about the rapping and the ominous whisper thing that Chino does. I veered away from that by just doing what I do best. Then, one night, I was watching a show with Steve Vai , and they asked him what he attributed his success to. He told them that you have to lean on your strengths. If you do something well, lean on it. …and here we are. MaM : Do you feel technology has helped or hurt the music industry? What’s your take on all the technological advancements in music? Chris : I’d have to say both. When we were growing up, you’d buy the whole album and listen to the entire CD . You’d open it up, look at the artwork, read the credits, and examine the pictures— it was a whole experience. You became a true fan. Some songs you liked. Some you didn’t, but at least you knew the entire album. Now, it’s like they’re promoting Attention Deficit Disorder . You download one or two songs. There’s no actual record sales anymore. It’s all based on streams , and that’s misleading because you don’t have real fans anymore. At that time, securing a record deal was highly challenging. You had to do it from the ground up – garage band style. Now, anyone can put up anything. It’s great because you can access the music more straightforwardly, but in a way, it’s not. MaM : What are the plans for the rest of 2025 and beyond for Boiler Room? Chris : Well, we’re gonna release the new album in June . My focus is this … I know everyone wants to focus on social media these days, but I’m grassroots, and the social media only goes so far … I’m all about getting people to shows . We’re looking to partner with a larger national act to secure a spot on some of these tours. I want to flood out the entire tri-state area, hit the East Coast or the South , such as Louisiana . If we could secure a good show with a national act, that would work. We’re in a rebuilding process right now, though. We’re trying to rebuild the foundation of our fanbase and replant the flag. Shows … quality shows. We’ll see where it goes. As Chris Lino and Boiler Room move forward in the modern music scene, they stand poised to bring their powerful music to a new generation. They stand out as a band that embodies grit and substance. Their music isn’t just something you hear; it’s something you feel. I look forward to watching their journey unfold. Boiler Room is a name to remember. They’re not just playing metal—they're living it. To learn more about Boiler Room: Facebook: Facebook Discogs: Boiler Room Discography: Vinyl, CDs, & More | Discogs Wikipedia: Boiler Room (band) - Wikipedia All Music: Boiler Room Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More... | AllMusic YouTube: BOILER ROOM - YouTube Instagram: (@boilerroom_band) • Instagram photos and videos *Some photos by Gessner Photography Eric (@ gessner.photography ) • Instagram photos and videos *Other photos by Jeff Crespi www.jeffcrespirocks.com JEFFCRESPIROCKS See through a different lens! www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Reach out to us at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Still kicking ass and taking names < Back Sick of It All: Pioneers of the Hardcore Punk Scene Nicole Brice May 15, 2023 Share Still kicking ass and taking names For our first band to be featured in our G.O.A.T. section (greatest of all time), I don’t even know where to begin. This band has influenced me so much, I don’t even know what to say. Pioneers of the hardcore punk scene, the men of Sick of It All paved the way for many bands that came after them, and through the years when I’ve needed some inspiration to be tough and get myself into a certain headspace, their music has been my soundtrack. I was in the Louisiana Army National Guard from 2001-2009, and each summer we would travel to various locations around my state and beyond for our annual training—AT, as we called it. I still remember being on a bus or in the back of an LMTV with all my fellow troops as we embarked on the journey to our summer destinations—my earphones firmly in place and my turquoise iPod mini blaring the sweet tunage of Sick of It All . Their music has always inspired me with potent lyrics, thundering bass, crunching guitar, and crisp vocals. If there is one thing I can say about this band, it’s that even though they started out with a likeness reminiscent of other hardcore bands of the day, they have managed to evolve and refine their sound, making it one all their own. Anytime I hear a song by them, I instantly know it is them because of the distinct bass and the remarkable vocal stylings of the man himself, Mr. Lou Koller . Throw in an iconic logo of a dragon that was even used by another well-known music group and you have the unparalleled styling that can only be known as Sick of It All . Credit: Ken Salerno - The band in the early years For those not familiar with the band, allow me. Sick of It All was formed in 1986 with brothers Lou and Pete Koller . The Koller brothers grew up in Queens , N.Y., in a middle-class family where they would often hop on subway trains to the various indie record shops nearby and indulge themselves in all the iconic metal, punk, and hardcore albums they could devour. Their love of music turned into forming the band, with the Koller brothers being the solidifying force to bring it all together. After a couple of line-up changes through the years, the band has remained true to its roots and is currently comprised of Lou Koller on vocals, Pete Koller on guitar, Craig Setari on bass, and Armand Majidi on the kit. credit: Jeff Crespi - Armand Majidi Known for their high-energy shows, the band has never allowed themselves to be pigeonholed into one specific genre and has often played shows and toured with bands outside of the hardcore scene. When one thinks of a hardcore punk band, they think of the tough guys … the guys you don’t want to mess with— the real OGs . While the guys in Sick of it All are no strangers to kicking someone’s ass, they truly are just a nice bunch of guys who enjoy making music they love. credit: Jeff Crespi - Pete Koller With 11 albums to their credit and a book released in 2020 called “ The Blood and the Sweat: The Story of Sick of It All’s Koller Brothers ”, these guys show no sign of slowing down and are currently all over with Lou and Pete even recently being tour guides at the newly opened Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas . With such an iconic sound, the music of Sick of it All proves that time is no test for such an influential band, and they continue to bring their music to new crowds of fans all over the world. Publisher: Post Hill Press (August 4, 2020) Currently taking a break from their highly successful 2023 tour with Life of Agony, which is set to resume in the U.S. in August, I was able to speak with the vox of this incomparable band, Lou Koller , to discuss everything from what the future holds to what they think of the crowds at their shows in the current day. MaM : Thank you so much for talking with me today. You have no idea what this means to me. I was so nervous about calling you that I told my friend I was about to throw up. (laughs) LK : No problem. No problem at all. MaM : Love your music and I feel like I’ve been listening to you forever. My favorite albums are Death to Tyrants , Call to Arms , and Yours Truly , but I have so many favorite songs of yours that if I were to list them, we would be here forever. (laughs) So, your last album was released in 2018 and I know you guys have been playing shows like crazy, but are there any plans for new music coming out? LK : Well, during the pandemic, we were writing mostly—well, my brother, Pete , he ended up writing over 27 songs , but we’ve been trying to convince the other members of the band we should get together and work on them and record, but we just never could get it together. It all happened when unemployment ran out and we all got jobs and that was a factor that delayed it. Also, too, our drummer Armand seems to be on vacation every other week. (laughs) Once the pandemic ended, we all felt it was time to get back on the road, but we still have these songs, so it’s on the way. After we get back from Europe and the other leg of the Life of Agony tour , we will have the fall to get together and we plan to meet two weeks every month to write, so we’ll see how that goes. We’re working on it. It’s on its way. credit: Jeff Crespi - Lou Koller MaM : So, as far as the writing and recording process, do you feel technology has changed how you approach that? LK : It does because of necessity. Again, with the pandemic, we didn’t really get together to write. … Pete would write, but he lives in Florida , so he wrote down there. Armand lives in upstate New York, Craig bounces from Queens to upstate New York , and I live in New Jersey now. It used to be we had our own rehearsal studio in Brooklyn , and we would all just meet there three times a week and jam and have fun, but you know when Pete moved to Florida, it all became corresponding through emails and stuff like that. I think the technology helps in a way, but it’s also kind of a pain in the ass for me. I like getting together at the studio, not just for the writing but for the camaraderie. MaM : Right, the vibe. LK : Yeah, exactly. It works, but there’s some aspects of it that we need to learn just to keep up with the times, and some of it makes it convenient or easier in some ways, but I think because of the way we all grew up, you feel like something is missing. I still have a hard time discovering new music through a digital platform. Some of the suggestions through Spotify I don’t get. I could sit there and listen to old metal and hardcore and punk, and suddenly, they’ll say, ‘Suggested for you is the new Justin Bieber album.’ Why? Why would you suggest that for me? I have nothing to do with that. Nothing I listen to is remotely close to that. (laughs) credit: Jeff Crespi - Lou Koller MaM : I agree. I use digital platforms, too, but I miss the old ways of discovering new music. I used to just go to the music store and wander around looking for any cover art that spoke to me. Often, I would purchase albums based solely on cover art, and then I would go home to listen to see whether I dug the music or not. So, who would you say has influenced you the most when it comes to your vocal styling? LK : It’s a combination. When I first started, I really didn’t know how to do anything, but I wanted to sound as hard and as rough as the singer, John Brandon , from Negative Approach and also Chris , the singer of Crumbsuckers because he also sounded like John Brandon . But now, for the last 10 years or so, I still try to emulate that, but I try to have a bit more range. One of my favorites is Lemmy from Motorhead because he had such a rough voice, but he had this melody, too. He could hit the notes but was just a great vocalist. I know a lot of people think that’s crazy, but I just love that he had such a rough sound. Chuck from Hot Water Music , too, has such a rough voice, but it’s also so melodic. He just does it great. He’s another one I would like to sing like. credit: Jeff Crespi - Lou Koller MaM : But your voice is so amazing! How do you keep it in shape for singing the type of music you guys play? LK : I’ve been to some professional coaches; Melissa Cross is probably the most famous one. When I went to her, she told me, ‘Sing how you sing,’ but [then she said], ‘I could give you a couple of pointers, but you do what you do very well.’ The way I sing, it’s more using the muscles around my vocal cords and all that, so like any muscle, when we’re not on tour, I really should be going to the studio twice a week to keep it in shape, but it’s not fun going to the studio by yourself screaming to your phone going through the PA. So, I got lazy, and usually before a tour, I’m like, ‘Ah man, I’ve gotta go in,’ and my voice usually sounds like garbage for a week and then it kicks in. credit: Jeff Crespi - Lou and Pete Koller MaM : So, let me ask, you guys are definitely the voice of a generation and I credit you with being very instrumental in launching that second wave of punk rock and hardcore. I consider the first wave to be late 70s/early 80s and then we had a reemergence of it in the late 90s/early 2000s, so with the crowds, especially since you just came off tour, have you noticed any differences or changes in the scene or just any differences in how people treat each other at shows in general? LK : It’s weird … Our tours in the 90s, we would take the upcoming hardcore bands like Strife and Snapcase and we would take the upcoming West Coast bands (what they called hardcore but we would call punk, like AFI and Good Riddance ) and … combine those bands into tours and we loved it. Now, it’s so separated; you can’t take a more melodic punk band out with a newer heavier hardcore band because a Terror crowd would not appreciate a Good Riddance and a Good Riddance crowd might not appreciate when a band like Incendiary plays. They would be like, ‘That’s way too heavy,’ but I think 1999 was the peak for that. We did a tour, and it’s one of our favorite tours we ever did, but it was us, AFI , Hot Water Music , and Indecision , and it was so good that almost every night every band had such a great reaction, and I think one of the proudest moments for us was on that tour in L.A. seeing kids with Blink 182 shirts going absolutely wild to Indecision , who were the forerunners of what bands like Knocked Loose are doing now, and to see kids going absolutely crazy to something that’s totally opposite to what they usually listen to and then do the same thing for Hot Water Music and AFI and then with us, that was great. Nowadays, like I said, when you try to mix it up, it doesn’t work as well. credit: Jeff Crespi MaM : I grew up in the late 90s/early 2000s and so I remember when there was no separation. It was all together. If you liked hardcore, you liked punk. If you liked punk, you liked pop-punk and so on. I feel like back then there was more cohesiveness and now, like you said, it’s more divided. LK : I think on a smaller scale, it might be coming back. Luckily, I have a friend who used to work for us. He’s about 10 years younger than me, and he’s always sending me texts with, ‘Hey, check this band out,’ and he’ll send me music like Drain or Incendiary . … Not really new, but to me they’re new … like super heavy, and then he’ll be like, ‘Check out this band from England , The Chisel .’ And they became one of my new favorites. They’re a good combination of old skool, just English hardcore punk … leading towards Oi music , but I would love to see them with any hardcore band because it’s such a good mix. On the smaller scale with smaller tours, you can still see that good mix. MaM : Did you notice any regional differences on this latest tour with how the crowds received your music? LK : The Life of Agony tour was good for us because they took us to parts where we have never played. They took us to Michigan and usually we only play in Detroit when we go there, but this time they took us to Flint, Mich. , and we played in front of, which seemed to us, like a totally new crowd. There were guys there that were 50 years old going, ‘I’ve never heard of you guys. I’ve never seen you.’ That’s insane! … But they loved it, and they bought merch and records, so it was great. It surprised the hell out of us. (laughs) It’s also that Life of Agony has that bigger metal following and they were embraced by the whole world for decades, and those people don’t see a mixed tour very often. Life of Agony could have taken a younger, more prominent act as their opener, but they wanted to thank us for influencing them when they were younger. And when they went to Europe , they took Prong and Madball with them, which I think is a great thing. They wanted to repay bands like us and to mix the bill, which I thought was good. credit: Jeff Crespi - Lou Koller MaM : So, as far as the current crowds, do you feel the younger generations are embracing your music more or do you find that it’s the older crowd, like me, who are loving your shows these days? LK : It’s weird for us because being around so long, we used to get a good mix … we had our fans from the beginning, and we had younger kids coming. Now, it’s like the 16-to-25-year-olds who have their own stuff. We’ve had experiences where we’ve taken a younger band out that was heavily influenced by us and they’re the hot hardcore band. And they’ll be on stage, and they’ll say, ‘You know, we wouldn’t be a band if it wasn’t for Sick of it All ,’ and when they finish their set, their fans will just leave. They don’t care. They don’t stick around. It’s strange. Now, what I’ve seen, like in Europe , … it has been constant … where you have the older fans and generations still coming. But in the U.S., if we play an all-ages show, it’s usually our older fans who bring their kids and make them watch us, so sometimes it works. (laughs) credit: Jeff Crespi - Pete Koller MaM : Let me ask you as far as continuing to make music, how long do you plan on continuing? Do you just want to do it until you can’t anymore? LK : Yeah, that’s why I’m itching to make a new record. I’m very nervous when we do it, and I love the songs in demo mode, but I’m always worried no one is going to like it and then once the finished product comes out, I go, ‘Oh, I was scared for no reason.’ We always say we’re going to do it until it’s not fun anymore, but we’re always having fun, which is good. What’s good for us is that we all love playing live. It’s just a fact that we’ve always presented a very high-energy live show. If I ever physically can’t do it, I don’t want to just be standing around. (laughs) Zack from Rage Against the Machine tore his Achilles tendon and he had to do the tour sitting down. You could see in his face that he hated it. Same thing with Barney from Napalm Death . We did a run with Municipal Waste and Napalm Death and Barney had hurt his ankle. We all said he should go to a doctor, and he didn’t want to go. It turned out his ankle was broken. He didn’t know it and kept standing on it and destroyed [it]. He’s still having problems to this day. He had to finish that tour with us in a chair. Then, last year, he was doing a U.S. run and, sure enough, same ankle, completely destroyed. He had to finish the tour sitting in a chair and now, who knows if he’s gonna ever be able to stand on that damn ankle again. I don’t know if I could just sit there in a chair for the fans. It’s not Sick of it All if I’m sitting in a freakin chair, you know. credit: Jeff Crespi - Craig Setari MaM : Yeah, no kidding. It ruins the whole live experience. So, do you have any crazy stories from over the years with being on the road that you could share? LK : I mean, there’s so many. You know with the book they did about me and my brother, ‘ The Blood and the Sweat: The Story of Sick of it All’s Koller Brothers ,’ there’s a story in there that everyone asks us if it’s true. The story about when we were playing in Pennsylvania at a club called The Sonic Temple and after the show, we were packing up the van when these kids came up to us and said, ‘Yo, there’s a guy over there and he’s got a gun and he says he has a head in a bag,’ and, sure enough, he had something stuck in his waist, and we could see it wasn’t a gun, and he comes over and he’s talking all crazy saying he's going to kill everybody and we’re all, ‘Yeah yeah yeah,’ and he opens up the bag and there was a head. … It could have been a mannequin head, I don’t know, and we all hop in the van and as we’re driving away from the parking lot, all of a sudden there’s, like, 15 cop cars and we’re just like, ‘What just happened?’ MaM : (laughs) Wow. I wonder if he decapitated someone. (laughs) LK : Well, we don’t know. (laughs) We’ve always tried to look it up online and we can’t find anything, but it was awesome. MaM : So, one question that I am dying to know the answer to involves your logo. It is iconic and is immediately associated with you guys, but how did the Sick of it All dragon come about? LK : The very first idea for it was when we saw it on a flash sheet by the famous tattoo artist Greg Irons . He had a similar version of it. It was when one of our friends was joining the Marines , and he was, like, 17 or 18, and we all decided to get a tattoo together because we had this crew who always hung out together. I think it was Pete who redesigned the dragon for us, and it just happened to be in the photo of our first seven inch. It was a photo of my tattoo of it and then it just got associated with us from then on, then it became very iconic. The iconic Sick of It All dragon It’s funny, too, because decades later, we had a good friend who worked in the record industry and she was working in the hip-hop world and she’s walking through the office one day and she sees a co-worker with a big poster behind his desk and it had a picture of the earth burning with the Sick of it All dragon and she goes, ‘Is that a new Sick of it All record?’ And he goes, ‘Sick of it All? No, this is the new Mobb Deep album cover,’ and she goes, ‘You better check where that logo is from.’ It was very funny. MaM : Wow. LK : They said they got it from a tattoo parlor, which maybe they could have because they’re from Queens and we’re from Queens, but most likely… they would go hang out with this Queens group called The Beatnuts , who were hip-hop DJ guys … and on their apartment door was a bunch of stickers and one of the stickers right in the center was a Sick of it All sticker with the dragon. So, you know they saw that dragon with our name on it and used it. We made a deal with them, though: They were not allowed to use it on their album covers because it was associated with Sick of it All. We actually have a fan who owns two or three pizza places in Berlin, Germany , and on his pizza boxes, he has the Sick of it All dragon, but he asked us if it was ok to do it and we said sure. Now, though, on his pizza box, he still has the dragon, but he puts our Instagram handle with it, too. MaM : Approaching a tour these days vs approaching a tour then—is there anything you do differently when preparing for a tour? LK : For me, personally, I must get my voice in shape. It’s not like it used to be where we would jump in the van and hang out and yell and scream all day, then get on stage and play. I have to rest my voice and I have to work into it. As far as the whole band, it’s kind of gone back to the beginning where, especially in the U.S., where touring in vans again, Armand will plot the tour out with our booking agent and the rest of us will do other aspects for the tour, like I do all the social media for the tour, and then we all have to deal with the merchandise again. MaM : So, you guys have your hands in everything when preparing for a tour. LK : Well, we have to. Personally, I am the lazy one in the band. I liked it in the mid-90s to the late-2000s when we had people doing everything for us. It was great. Back then, we could call up our manager and be like, ‘I have this idea,’ and he would be like, ‘Alright, give me two days,’ and then he would either get it done or he would say it can’t be done. MaM : As a veteran musician, what is one piece of advice you could give the up-and-coming musicians who want to be seen and heard so they can establish a legacy like you? LK : The best advice I could give is play what you love. I mean, it’s fine to emulate your heroes, but eventually you’re gonna find your own sound, but make sure you love it. Also, too, and I know this is going to sound weird, but what stops a lot of other bands is a lot of infighting about money and we, Sick of It All from day one, have always divided everything equally. Everybody inputs as much as you can, but for the first two albums, it was 90% me and Pete writing everything and Armand contributed, too, but at the time Armand was in two other bands, but by ‘ Scratch the Surface ,’ when Craig had joined the band, it was all four of us working together and Armand writing and he and I splitting the lyrical writing; then, the music was split between Armand, Pete, and Craig. Now, it’s good, because I think that everybody contributes to everything. Especially like with the last album, Pete would come in with songs and have 90% of the lyrics written for each song. Craig and I would then sit down and change some of the lines or redo them or Armand would re-write with me or Craig , and it’s so much more of a unit. Love what you do and, I know it sucks, but I didn’t join a band to fill out paperwork. Learn the business so you don’t get f**ked over. MaM : Last question: What’s on the agenda for Sick of it All for the remainder of 2023? LK : We’re trying to keep busy. We’re writing and we have the Life of Agony tour coming back up in August again. We’re going back to Europe in June and July , and I’m going to be a tour guide at The Punk Rock Museum , which Pete just did it, too, but we have quite a bit coming up. Stay tuned. Be sure to catch Sick of it All live before their tour wraps up on August 27, 2023, in their hometown of Queens, N.Y. To learn more about Sick of It All: Sick Of It All – NYHC Sick Of It All | Facebook Sick Of It All (@SOIANYC) / Twitter Sick Of It All - YouTube SICK OF IT ALL (@sickofitallnyc) on Instagram Sick Of It All | Spotify Sick of It All Tickets, 2023 Concert Tour Dates | Ticketmaster *Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Crespi www.jeffcrespirocks.com JEFFCRESPIROCKS See through a different lens! www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Nicole Brice is a lifelong lover of punk and hardcore. She may look like a wuss, but we assure you she has military training, is a sharpshooter with an M-16A2 rifle, and her music collection is stocked with all the heavy hitters you can handle. Reach her at the_nicolebrice@mixedaltmag.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Kyle Pfeiffer is a visionary creating a culture of acceptance for future generations of fans. < Back Blacklite District: Building a Digital Era Legacy Nicole Brice Sep 2, 2024 Share Kyle Pfeiffer is a visionary creating a culture of acceptance for future generations of fans. From the depths of personal tragedy to the triumphs of renewal, Blacklite District , aka Kyle Pfeiffer, is on a path to becoming the Trent Reznor of his generation with his one-man approach to making music. Since the early 2010s, Kyle has crafted a well-known brand with a loyal fanbase on social media and YouTube because of his impactful music videos referencing gaming culture, mainly Minecraft . Most known for the songs ‘ Cold as Ice ,’ ‘ Living in a Nightmare ,’ and ‘ Goodbye ,’ Blacklite District has had four Billboard Top 40 hits and is currently averaging over 242k monthly listeners on Spotify and over 65 million views on YouTube and has been granted a Grammy nomination in 2025 for Best Alternative Performance . For those who have never listened to Blacklite District’s music, it is a bit of hip-hop mixed with alt-rock and a little pop at times. It has a little something for every taste but remains dark and heavy at its core, just as Kyle Pfeiffer always intended. A visionary creating a culture of acceptance for future generations of fans , Kyle hopes his music will continue to be the soundtrack for kids who need uplifting positivity to feel like they matter and belong. Devoted to making his shows accessible for all, Pfeiffer has become known for offering earlier start times, and because of this, entire families sometimes travel many hours to catch a live performance. Set to embark on a new tour this fall, dubbed The Red Carpet Tour , in support of his latest album titled ‘ You Can Do Better ,’ we were able to catch up with Kyle Pfeiffer of Blacklite District recently as he gets ready to hit the road. Read on to learn more about this musical creative and the legacy he is creating. Kyle Pfeiffer of Blacklite District MaM : You have an impressive career, and I want to discuss your legacy so far. I read that you started in 2002. Is that correct? KP : 2011-12 was when I started getting attention, but 2002 or so was when I started jamming in my garage with friends. I was only 12 years old. I even started a band in 5th grade, too. All these years later, and here we are. MaM : So, what was the official year Blacklite District formed as a “band”? Take us through a bit of band history. KP : There’s been so much stuff over the years. It’s just been my project since the first day. It’s my brainchild. MaM : Like Trent Reznor with Nine Inch Nails ? KP : Exactly. I’ve had different members over the years, but then there have been shows where it has just been me on stage. My guitarist is Justin Sundlin . He’s been with me for almost three years now. My bass player is a guy named Clinton Cunanan . He’s also on my management team. Been working with him for a long time. We’re having fun. MaM : That’s awesome. So, do you have a drummer right now? KP : In an official sense, we don’t have a permanent member who is the drummer, but Chance Jones from No Resolve comes out and plays often for us. Blacklite District MaM : The new album was just released on May 3rd. How’s that going so far? KP : I love it. I’m happy with it. If the fan base likes it, then I’m good. The response we have been getting has been incredible. We’re about to release the second animated video, which we do these Minecraft videos , and it should be in the next couple of weeks. The momentum is just considerable, and streaming has doubled this week alone since the announcement of the new video. I think something has occurred with me as an artist, though I’m 34 now – I’ve been doing this consistently for the past decade or so, but something about this last project makes me feel so complete that I’m in a different headspace. It’s cool, though. The thing I love about music is that the journey can take you through many places, emotionally and even physically. It’s cool to see the growth and to feel that evolution through all of this. MaM : Yeah, just the creative journey. I’ve had a similar journey, so I get it. I’ve read that you’ve shifted genres a bit here and there. Have you noticed any differences in how your music was perceived when doing that? KP : You know, not really. It’s hard to say. I never came out and said I was changing my style to pop. When COVID happened, and the year before that, there was a slight switch in styles, but it was that it just didn’t have as heavy of guitars and was more beat-driven, but the melodies and vibes of the songs have always been dark. Even if there isn’t a guitar in the music, I still find heaviness. In 2021, I went to rehab and got into this new era of life where I wanted to return to my rock roots by having a full live band. Having some minor success with rock radio and then seeing these younger kids start blowing up with hip-hop and stuff made me have, I guess, like an identity crisis, and then all this hardcore stuff started happening to me personally, so coming out the other end was almost like I didn’t care anymore about being the next big thing. I decided I just wanted to make music that I’ve always loved, which has been rock music. That’s kind of where I’m at now. MaM : I’ve read that Ozzy Osbourne has been one of your biggest musical influences. I’m a huge Black Sabbath and Ozzy fan, but tell us more about that. KP : I actually have the tattoo right here, and the song ‘ No More Tears ’ just did it for me. MaM : Yes! I love that song! Even today, the beginning of ‘ No More Tears ’ gets me so pumped. I crank it up in the car. Do you think that song was the key factor in pursuing the type of music you play, or were there other things? KP : I always go back to the period when my mom passed away because it wasn’t just the music in the song but the message of no more tears and trying to move on. It was what I needed as a ten-year-old kid to feel strong. The second I heard it, I was hooked and asked my uncle to play the song again after it finished. That song made me know that any music I played had to be rock and roll because of how the music made me feel strong as a small kid going through so much. That’s the beauty of music. MaM : What do you think it is about music that makes you feel so passionate? KP : I always try to think about this, and it’s hard, but as a young kid who was afraid and shy growing up, it was a way I could say the things I wanted about people without actually saying it directly to them. If I wasn’t around and people wanted to know things about me, it’s all in the music. MaM : How are you approaching writing new songs these days? KP : It can be many ways. Sometimes, I’ll hum a tune and put it in my voice notes to save it. The title of this new album, ‘ You Can Do Better ,’ is a simple melody that popped into my head. My guitar player came up with some chords, and then eight months later, we started working on it after stumbling upon the voice notes. The ones that stick with me months later are the ones we tend to work on. That’s a good sign to me that something is there. Or, sometimes, we’ll write a song in ten minutes, and it’ll be great. It just all depends. MaM : Tell us a little about The Red Carpet Tour you have this fall. I heard that you’re doing some unique things for the fans. KP : We are! My audience includes many young YouTube kids who come out as families to see our shows, for which I am so grateful. These kids are so passionate about my music. It’s crazy that they are also discovering my music in different ways, like YouTube, but we’re doing these shows differently for this tour. We’re starting the shows at 6 p.m. to get the families out there. We’re making it more intimate for the fans. We’re also booking smaller venues, so it’s perfect. The Red Carpet Tour kicks off September 6, 2024 in Des Moines, IA. MaM : That’s incredible! That’s your audience, and you’re embracing it. I love it. Do you have a favorite song to perform these days? KP : Well, I have so many, and the cliché saying is they’re like my kids, and I love all of them, but ‘ Cold as Ice ’ is one of my most famous songs, and we’re looking to have it certified platinum because it has well over the number of streams. I look at that song as one that has changed my career. Another song of mine, ‘ The Struggle ,’ is my second most popular song and resonates well with fans. They’re also fun to play. MaM : You know how to connect with your audience, which is excellent. Tell us about your best and worst performance so far. (laughter) KP : I love that. Well, there have been some bad ones over the years. I'm not going to lie about that, but one time … this was back when I was in my early 20s; we would play in this town called Deadwood . On the night of the show, it looked like it wouldn’t be a good show because we didn’t sell that many tickets, but about twenty minutes before we were set to go on, my bass player and I decided it was a good idea to start chugging beers and smoking a little. We got messed up in a short amount of time. So, we went to go back in, and the venue ended up being packed, and we did not have the experience to play drunk, and it just turned into a shitshow. (laughter) In terms of the best, it’s been these smaller shows I’ve been doing because of the audience's passion. I spent so many years playing where I was the opener, and no one would come to see us, so now, when I see a line of kids out the door to see us play, it’s remarkable. It’s like a dream come true. That vibe is what I’m so grateful for. MaM : Over the years, have you ever received a good piece of advice from a fellow musician that you’ve carried with you? KP : You know, that’s a great question, and over the years, I’ve tried to sponge up anything I could. On my first tour, I opened for Saving Abel , and I remember being in awe of being on tour with bands I had heard on the radio. I remember the singer of Art of Dying telling me they could be opening for me a year from now, and I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. They ingrained in me that you never know whom you will encounter on the way up and how the roles may be changed or reversed quickly. MaM : Any plans or aspirations for collaborations in the future? KP : I always wanted to collaborate with Ozzy , but he’s not doing his best. I also want to collaborate with Jelly Roll , but it hasn’t happened yet. I would love to do something with Post Malone , too. I love how Post Malone is doing this sort of country thing, and even Jelly Roll has shifted to that, too. It’s almost as if hip-hop culture is shifting to more of a country culture right now. MaM : Outlaw country in a way. KP : This shift could lead to more guitar-driven stuff. It could be great for the rock stuff in the future. MaM : I agree. Last question for you. Where do you see yourself in the next five years? KP : That’s a great question. I have a decade’s worth of music now and several hits that the fans love online, so I am just focused on growing with these tours and doubling and tripling the ticket sales. I would like to see in the next five years that I can keep the momentum going, continue expanding on the fanbase, and build that real core audience that connects with me and the music, just as I’ve always done. I hope you and I can talk five years from now and be on different levels, just doing our thing, because I genuinely believe that the vibe and work you put out there is how you get there. Insightful, charismatic, and driven with many years of success and many more to come, Blacklite District hits the road on September 6 in Des Moines, IA, and wraps its tour on November 2 in Atlanta, GA. Be sure to catch a date if it comes near you. In the meantime, check out the latest, ' You Can Do Better ,' on all streaming platforms. To learn more about Blacklite District: www.blacklitedistrict.net Blacklite District Home page of Blacklite District, a rock artist from Black Hills, SD. Official Blacklite District website! The story of Kyle Pfeiffer, new music, photos, bio, and more. www.mixedaltmag.com Music | Mixed Alternative Magazine Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com Questions or comments? Reach out to mixedalternativemag@gmail.com . Previous Next Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

The Greatest of All Time - The GOAT - vets of the biz still rockin' it! The G.O.A.T. Mar 28, 2025 Boiler Room’s Revival: A Resurgent Force in Metal Boiler Room are on a mission to make a significant impact in the world of metal. Read More Sep 2, 2024 Blacklite District: Building a Digital Era Legacy Kyle Pfeiffer is a visionary creating a culture of acceptance for future generations of fans. Read More May 15, 2023 Sick of It All: Pioneers of the Hardcore Punk Scene Still kicking ass and taking names Read More

Do you want to know who brings you all the content? We do! Staff Nicole Brice Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Digital Content Editor, Head Writer, Marketing Director, Brand Manager, Producer/Host "Reviews on the Reel", Producer/Host "Unscripted Verbiage" the_nicolebrice@mixedaltmag.com www.Amazon.com/author/nicole_dewey_brice Nicole Brice is a Veteran, former college radio DJ, published author, owner of MAM and she’s a total music snob. She has been since age 7, when she became obsessed with music upon first hearing Depeche Mode. Located in Baton Rouge, La., she likes the obscure things that people haven’t heard, as well as the things that rock. She likes to go against the grain and against the norm and challenge mainstream ideals and beliefs. With a background of over 15+ years in Marketing & Advertising, she hopes to bring her vision of a free artistic space to life with MAM. Never being one to follow, she likes to research things on her own. With an extreme love for the aesthetic of music & art merged, she is obsessed with fashion – but not just any fashion; it must reflect her punk rock / grunge style and be different from the norm. Bright colors, bright patterns, and a mixture of many textures is what draws her in. Nicole’s also a hardcore wrestling fan and a former Diva’s Champion. Don’t believe it? She has the belt to prove it and the smacketh is often laid down on those who make her angry with no mercy. She wants to draw attention to and put focus on those who create in hopes of banding together to spread a message of love and unity in a world so divided by hate. bud gambrell Lead Photographer - North Alabama Region / Music Writer "Off the Charts" the_budgambrell@mixedaltmag.com www.bgambrellphotography.com Bud Gambrell is a published author and music photographer located in Hazel Green, Alabama, and we are beyond excited to have him on our team. Bud first discovered his love for live music in 1976 when he was captivated by the atmosphere at a KISS concert. Since then, he has attended many other shows featuring both local and national acts and has been producing content for concert reviews via Sound Check Entertainment, UnRated Magazine, Sonic Perspectives, and AL.com. Bud’s passion for photography began at a young age when he started out as an amateur shutterbug. Known for his stunning crispy images in and around North Alabama, Bud continues to photograph many notable acts and recently published his first book about the much-loved Side Tracks Music Hall, which was located in Huntsville, Alabama. The book is currently available on Amazon.com. tim jackson Entertainment Writer www.clippings.me/timwjackson Tim is a seasoned journalist and author with a penchant for all things dark, macabre, and somewhat sinister. But we promise he doesn't bite. He's a freelance communicator who likes to tell all kinds of stories with words, photos, and video, and he has extensive experience working in traditional media (newspapers, magazines, and book publishing). With an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College and a B.A in Communication from the University of Alabama, he loves storytelling by any method. A native of Russellville, Alabama, Tim currently lives in Tuscumbia with his wife, Taryn, who has an affinity for tarot cards, and their dog, Maple, who has an affinity for chewing remote controls. Don't let his clean looks fool you, though; he fits right in with our cool-kid shenanigans. jeff crespi Lead Photographer - New Jersey Region www.jeffcrespirocks.com Jeff Crespi is … well … he’s a riot; can you not tell? No way we were gonna pass on having him come play in our sandbox. Jeff is an award-winning professional concert photographer out of New Jersey covering hundreds of shows each year. He’s the house photographer for the legendary Stone Pony and Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, NJ, and he is one of the house photographers at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville. He’s also the winner of the Asbury Music Award Top Music Photographer five years running. Expect some badassery from this one. gary governale Lead Photographer, Videographer BR & NOLA Regions / Music Writer www.GovernalePhotoVideo.com Gary has been working as a video professional since grunge kicked the door down on rock radio, then he picked up his Nikon just a few years later. A lifelong music enthusiast, Gary enjoys band photography and album art just as much as the music itself. He’s a big fan of any-and-all rock ‘n roll, including classic rock, punk, alternative, and hard rock, but he certainly enjoys some jazz and classical vibes when it’s time to relax. He has been serving as band photographer for Christian Rock group, Empowered, including directing, shooting, and editing one of their music videos. When not following the band around or toiling away at his regular video job, Gary spends his time lamenting the loss of the local record store-shopping experience. He is located in Baton Rouge, LA. ezekiel "zeke" kincaid Entertainment Writer https://www.amazon.com/Ezekiel-Kincaid/ He looks scary, but we promise he’s not. He does write scary stuff though, and we can vouch for his filthy, incredible talent. Zeke is known by his fans as “The Paranormal Pastor” or “The Pastor of Horror” because, well, he’s a fantastic horror author with over 20 years in ministry. He’s also a paranormal investigator with some pretty incredible experiences, and because of all of that, he brings a unique and original touch to the dark fiction genre. His writings run the gamut of human existence, and he likes to write in various styles and voices to allow his tales the narration and visceral characters needed to make the words jump off the page. And jump, they do. Right in your face. The only other language he’s fluent in is sarcasm, which explains why he’s such a perfect fit with us. With three theological degrees, a romantic side, and an affinity for martial arts, he’ll fight anyone who says they don’t like Bruce Campbell. seth thomas Co-host "Unscripted Verbiage" http://therageonline.com/ https://www.listentotheplanet.com/loud-hour Seth Thomas is the host of the Louisiana LOUD Hour on Planet Radio 106.7, a popular Rock station based in Lafayette, Louisiana. Known for his deep passion for local music and energetic on-air presence, Seth curates a high-octane mix of Rock, Metal, Punk, and Independent, and Alternative music, delivering a raw and authentic listening experience. He has become a prominent voice in the local rock scene, engaging with fans through interactive segments and supporting local bands by giving them airplay and exposure. Seth’s dedication to the genre and his connection with the community have made the Louisiana LOUD Hour a must-listen for rock enthusiasts in the area. In addition to the LOUD Hour, Seth recently launched his own indie station called The Rage. The Rage is available in the Apple App store as well as on Google Play, so go download your new rock animal today! kimberly bryant Music, Comedy, and Entertainment Writer http://www.youtube.com/@popculturegreenroom Kimberly is an experienced entertainment writer and media personality, known for her insightful take on pop culture and the entertainment industry. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Broadcast and Journalism from Southeastern Louisiana University, where she began her career as a sports reporter for The Southeastern Channel. After relocating to San Diego, CA, for 12 years, Kimberly delved deeper into the entertainment world, following in her family's footsteps in film, television, and theater. As the co-host of The Pop Culture Green Room podcast and YouTube channel, she covers the latest in celebrity news, reality TV, and current events. Her sharp commentary and engaging style have also landed her appearances on TMZ , where she shares her expertise with a national audience. When she's not hosting or writing, Kimberly enjoys exploring new facets of the entertainment industry, connecting with her audience through various media platforms, diving into new trends, working out, staying healthy, and spending time with her dog Lucy. corey nichols Creative & Promotions Designer Corey Nichols is a multi-talented artist and business owner based in a small Louisiana town. His journey began with simply a pencil and a love for art and drawing. In 2016, Corey began his career in the tattoo industry, using his experience in drawing and illustration to develop a natural talent for tattooing. Learning from the popular tattoo artist, Micro, Corey honed his skills and acquired the iconic Burning Lotus tattoo shop. Known across Louisiana, Burning Lotus has earned the prestigious Best of 225 award for "Best Tattoo Shop" four years running, solidifying its reputation in the tattoo game. Motivated by a desire to expand his creative horizons, Corey recently embarked on a new journey—Painterly Portraits. What began as a few commissioned pieces for charity auctions quickly evolved into a potential business. Through Painterly Portraits, Corey channels his immense love for art, creating each portrait with deep passion and precision. His goal is to inspire others by sharing his work with the world and bringing his vision to life. View More

Want to know who all helps us put this together? These peeps do! contributors c.g. smith Contributing Entertainment Writer www.inthecornerofadream.com C.G. Smith is a guy living in New Orleans, LA, with a lot of opinions and a deep love for music and film. He’s also a musician who's been in love with Rock ‘N Roll since he was very young, often standing on his tip-toes to put Rolling Stones records on his dad’s big JC Penney stereo, or playing tennis racquet guitar in the bay window to John Cougar’s Learn How to Play Guitar, which he eventually did do many years later. Then he wrote all the songs floating around in his head and recorded them. He's our man on the music & entertainment scene, and we have no doubt he'll keep you just as entertained as he does us. Brent taylor aka "Shaggy chan" Contributing Music Writer / Music Reviews Shaggy’s musical journey started when he was just 16, and let’s be honest, who isn’t starting a band at 16? It’s like a rite of passage, right next to getting your driver’s license and attending prom. His band, “If Nothing Else” began touring the southern states shortly after he graduated from high school. His on-stage charisma didn’t go unnoticed, and soon he was spinning tracks instead of guitar riffs as an on-air DJ for Alexandria’s highest rated radio station. This gig turned into a decade-long broadcasting odyssey, where he would climb the ranks and eventually become the Program Director for not one, but several organizations, including the media giant iHeartMedia. Nowadays, Shaggy’s swapped his tour bus for a home studio, where he’s cooking up new tunes and helping local artists find their groove. With his golden touch and silver tongue, Shaggy’s not just enhancing tunes; he’s amplifying dreams and doling out happiness like it’s going out of style. chris pryor Contributing Music Writer www.maineventrocks.com Meet Chris, everybody. He’s quite the rockstar and hails from a small town in Louisiana called Sarepta, which is way up in the northern part of the state. In addition to his mad trumpeting skills as a child, he’s also quite the singer and over the years has had the opportunities to share the stage with country music legends Doug Stone, Earl Thomas Conley, and John Michael Montgomery. He even auditioned for American Idol back in 2009 but it wasn’t meant to be. That didn’t deter him, though. He went on to become lead singer of the Lil Whiskey Band and in May 2022 formed his high-energy classic rock/country band Chris Pryor & the Main Event. His unique blend of rock and country music, coupled with his powerful vocals, has earned him a dedicated fan base. It has also earned him a spot in our sandbox as one of our music writers. david trahan Contributing Music Writer www.neworleansmusicians.com Podcast: https://Neworleansmusicians.Podbean.com YouTube: https://youtube.com/@neworleansmusicians Blog: https://Neworleansmusicians.com/blog chad besse Contributing Photographer cmdbphotography.myportfolio.com Chad is no stranger to creative outlets. After kicking around the local music scene in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for the better part of a decade, he decided it was time to switch gears and try something new, so he started making some pretty sweet props for cosplayers, which he also sold at anime and comic conventions and still does today. After joining the 501st Legion and hangin’ around the convention scene for a few years, he decided to pick up photography as a way to help cosplayers document their creations, because he’s a big ole sweetheart. Photography also gave him another outlet to express his creativity, and his specialty morphed into travel and architecture photography. Now, he’s returning to the music scene to document all the action and to take his skill set to the next level with this new medium. He tells us he’s happy to be documenting the journey of so many other creative people as a part of Mixed Alt Mag, and we believe him! rian nickels Contributing Writer / Photographer / Show Coverage rianmusicjpeg.myportfolio.com Everyone say “hi” to Rian! Rian has been capturing moments as a photographer since 2012, but has known since 2008 that photography was her destiny, and we are so freakin excited to have her on the team because she is a multi-talented badass and mom. In 2018, Rian began doing photography for the local Hammond, Louisiana punk scene and realized she loved what she was doing, but soon discovered her true passion was in the editing of her photos. Not only is Rian a skilled photographer of music, skateboarding, and portraits, but she also does graphic design work, too. Rian aspires to design clothes and home décor in the future and own a storefront to go with it. With a love for all things creative, her hobbies include producing digital art, cozy gaming, crafting stickers, skateboarding, and planning live music events with her musician fiancé. Rian loves music and there is no limit to what she will listen to, but her favorites are pop punk, folk punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, indie, rap, house, and EDM. Rian’s favorite movies are Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, SLC Punk, and Girl Interrupted, but even better, her favorite TV show is Stranger Things. Rian’s dream bands that she would like to photograph include Neck Deep, Pierce the Veil, Mayday Parade, Twenty One Pilots, Mom Jeans, Roe Kapara, and Hot Mulligan. In the future, she hopes to shoot photos at alternative festivals, continue doing skateboard photography, and wants to take portraits of musicians for as many magazines as possible. jason beard Contributing Videographer www.six-to-6.com Jason is no stranger to being behind the lens and this beast of a Renaissance Man hails from Lafayette, LA where he is an established cinematographer, producer, photographer, sound designer, videographer and audio engineer. What does this man not do? As the owner of Sixto6 Productions, he is obsessed with ALL music...well...except for country and techno. Jason brings a wealth of knowledge and talent to the Mixed Alt Mag team and we are happy to have him. melissa "mo" thornton Contributing Writer Born in Redondo Beach, California, Mo Thornton aka “Melissa Ford Thornton” is Communications Director for the Princess Theatre Performing Arts Center in Decatur, AL. A budding ukulele player and off-key singer who uses a spoon rest as a microphone, Melissa is also a professional storyteller, writer, poet, and music lyricist. She is a Moth Story Slam winner, and her writing has been published by Silver Birch Press, Good Grit Magazine, Alabama the Beautiful Magazine and frequently airs on WLRH Public Radio. In addition to the Moth, Melissa has told true stories on big stages including Southern Fried Film Festival and Rocket City Reading Festival (Orion Amphitheater), Arc Stories (Birmingham, AL), Athens Storytelling Festival, Stories Under the Stars, Tin Can Stories, and Tenx9 Storytelling (Nashville,TN). In 2019, Melissa published her first collection of poetry and prose: “An Elegant Dispute of the Accidental.” She is a member of Alabama Writers Cooperative and Co-founder and Storyteller at Bramble Stories. When not writing, you can find her kayaking, paddleboarding, skydiving, or chilling out with her rescue cats (who enjoy an eclectic playlist almost as much as Melissa does). Nick Cline Contributing Writer / Music Reviews Meet Nick Cline. He is a man from 1200 miles away trying to contribute and make a name for himself. Born in West Virginia and a resident of Louisiana for 12 years, Nick has found his place in a scene that gives birth to a plethora of brilliant talent. He started playing music at a young age, and ever since, he has had dreams of becoming "something." A love of writing and music has led him to become a member of the Lafayette music scene through his band, Phantum Sun . Phantum Sun started in June of 2023 and has quickly evolved to a sound unique to themselves. His involvement has allowed him to contribute to other bands, festival planning, and everything in between in a very short amount of time. On top of this, he is working on his last year at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. He will be graduating with a Mass Communications degree with a Journalism concentration and Criminal Justice minor. Only the future will tell what is next for Nick and his endeavors in music and writing. jeff holmes Contributing Entertainment Writer www.HolmMovies.blog Ever since Jeff can remember, he's had a passion for movies. Growing up with a love for cartoon, family, and superhero films, his tastes changed and matured the older he got where he developed an affinity for films of all genres, years, and countries. Jeff began doing reviews as a way to share his passion with others, and to showcase the films he believes are worth revisiting. Many movies are released every year, and as a result, quite a few hidden gems are quickly missed or forgotten, but Jeff hopes to help many of these movies get rediscovered, gaining them a new life. Get your popcorn ready and enjoy the show with this one! Justin Hammer Contributing Music Writer & Photographer the_justinhammer@mixedaltmag.com www.justinhammerphotography.com Justin has been a part of the NOLA metal music scene for 15 years now as a photographer, and has met some great people and equally talented musicians along the way. Initially, he began shooting live shows through friends of his that were in bands, since he was never able to get the hang of playing music himself. Knowing that he wanted to contribute to the scene he loved so much led to him discovering he had a natural talent for photography. That snowballed into a new love for music and capturing the energy of live shows. Justin's main focus has always been helping to expose exceptional talent in the local scene and giving back to the bands via quality images they can use to promote themselves. After recently relocating to Lafayette, Louisiana, Justin wants to continue to foster the talent in this state and beyond via his stunning images, and we are beyond excited to have him on our team so that he can continue to do so. ryne HANCOCK Contributing Writer Coming SOON! margo leblanc Contributing Writer Margaret Taissa LeBlanc is a woman of many talents, some may say. Born & bred in South Louisiana, Margaret was always taught that she must earn things that she would like to have by working as hard as she can as much as possible. She owes all her accomplishments to her single mother & grandparents, who are responsible for helping her be the best she can be. Her love for music, photography, movies, and writing is palpable, and she aspires to become a passionate photographer and writer. She also has a gifted eye ( & ear ) for loud music. She adores horror movies, especially ones that feature dark comedy. Her favorites are Jennifer’s Body, The Crow, The Craft, & Carrie (1976), which she can watch over and over again. In music, her favorite genres & bands are Soul/Blues ( Otis Redding, Amy Winehouse, & Janis Joplin ), Alternative ( Alice in Chains, L7, The Smiths ), Indie ( The Black Keys, Cage The Elephant, Dexter and The Moonrocks ). Margaret dreams of one day interviewing more prominent bands & artists such as The Struts, Johnny Marr, & Jerry Cantrell. With her love for her craft and hard work, she is on the path to a successful future in the media industry. shaun corley Contributing Entertainment Writer We have some entertainment writing royalty here, ladies, gents, and non-binaries! We call this pop culture enthusiast and comic book nerd Shaun Corley. He comes to us from the East Coast and is a big, important Screen Rant writer with thousands of articles to his credit. He also has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany. A first-generation college graduate, Shaun holds so many literary degrees, we’ve lost count, but he is adorned in accolades, and we love him. Some of his favorite writers are Haruki Murakami, Jonathan Lethem, NK Jemisin, and Stephen Graham Jones, and his favorite directors are David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Richard Linklater, and the Coen Bros. He’s also a fan of sweet tea and he loves chocolate. We don’t feed him after midnight, though. Ever. TBD TBD TBD elise hanks Contributing Photographer and Writer Elise Marie Hanks is an Acadia Parish native born and raised in Crowley, Louisiana, but now resides in Lafayette. Her interest in music and photography began at a very young age, inspired mainly by her late father and his collection of vintage cameras, which she often enjoyed tinkering with. Elise also cherished attending concerts with him during her childhood. She continues that tradition today by supporting local artists and connecting through live performances—often accompanied by her daughter, much like her father did with her. Elise's passion for writing took root while working on her high school newspaper, yearbook, and her college's online publication. Whether at work, with her family, or in creative and musical spaces, Elise is dedicated to growth, fostering connections, and making meaningful contributions to Mixed Alternative Magazine . Home

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Authentic reactions. Real interactions. We review your music in real time. Reviews on the Reel Authentic reactions. Real interactions. Episode 1: Reviews on the Reel - Branded For Exile Nicole Brice with Mixed Alternative Magazine sits down with Shannon Guillot and Cody DeRouen of Branded for Exile to discuss their new album, “Born in the Flames”, which was released in October 2023. Available NOW! “Born in the Flames” is available on all streaming services. 📸: Chad Besse https://www.cmdbphotography.myportfol... 📹: Jason Beard with Sixto6 Productions https://www.six-to-6.com Episode 2: rEVIEWS ON THE REEL - STELLA VIR Nicole Brice with Mixed Alternative Magazine sits down with Josh Ferguson, Shane Landry, and Justin Theriot of Stella Vir to discuss their new single, “Alone”, which was released on May 3, 2024. We also review the song “Save Me” by the New Jersey band, Hollow Heroes. Available NOW! 📹: Jason Beard with Sixto6 Productions https://www.six-to-6.com Unscripted Verbiage w/ Nicole Brice - Episode 4 - Stone Deep Join us in a completely unscripted conversation with the OGs of Rap & Rock fusion – Stone Deep. Stone Deep is an American rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. The group formed in 1992 and reunited in 2022. The band plays rap rock, rap metal, and hard rock—each an amalgam of Southern rap and guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll with a lyrical focus on social issues. After a 23-year hiatus, Stone Deep is back and more vital than ever. The current lineup, led by founding members Ronzo 'The Beast' Cartwright, Glen Cummings, and DJ KUTT/Terry Hayes, along with the longest-serving rhythm section, bassist Tim Books and drummer David Howard, is a force to be reckoned with. To learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Deep

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Our mission statement at Mixed Alt Mag and what we do. A BIT ABOUT US THE source for independent music, arts, and entertainment *NO ADS ... JUST PERSONALITY & ENTERTAINMENT* Mixed Alternative Magazine is a proud, veteran-owned business created to provide you, the reader, with a wide range of local and national quality-balanced articles and stories covering many genres of music and different facets of art and entertainment. Our focus is on providing a non-discriminatory platform for independent talent of all kinds to introduce themselves and showcase their mad skills to the world and not get lost in corporate advertising. Our sights are on content, not sales. We pride ourselves on our humor, knowledge, experience in, and love (ok, obsession ) for all things entertainment, while adding our special editorial touch and commitment to keeping it real. And we do just that by ditching the rules and regulations . We simply love what we do and we figured you guys might too. So, here we are. And here at Mixed Alternative , we like to think of ourselves as the signal standing out from the noise of the rest of the media landscape. With such an influx of mass-produced content out there, we want to be the ones standing apart from the crap. By using a different approach and outlook, we will always strive to bring you the most entertaining, highest-quality content we can, and we proudly do so by rejecting the mainstream and forging our own way. No hard news. No religion. No politics. No rules. No red tape. No censorship. Just sheer entertainment, passion, and personality.

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