Texas In July 

I can only imagine that a visit to Texas in the month of July would be rather hot. Coincidentally, the same could be said about the career of five teenagers from Ephrata, Pennsylvania. It’s every band’s dream: get some friends together while in high school, make some awesome music, land a record deal within two years, begin touring, and have a downright awesome time. Practically speaking, this doesn’t normally happen according to plan. But what if it wasn’t in the plan? “Basically we just did it for fun,” shares Logan Maurer, guitar player. “We’re blessed to have come as far as we have.” Logan, along with band mates Ben Witkowski on bass, Alex Good delivering sharp, brutal vocals, Adam Gray drumming away, and Christian Royer also on guitar, teamed up to form the one of the youngest hardcore bands on the Christian music scene today.

Rachael takes on Creation East main stageThe Washington Projects may be new to some, but siblings Jekob Washington and Rachael Washington are not new to the music scene.  In fact, they are two of the three original members of The Souljahz.  "The Washington Projects is all about spreading love, hope, peace, joy, happiness through music, hip-hop, R&B, a blend of folk, soul, bluegrass, and everything else”, explained Jekob when we sat down with them during GMA week in Nashville this past April.  Commanders of the Resistance was released by the duo in October, 2007.

We found some interesting quotes from the band at various places online and decided to ask them to discuss them further.  The following lists the quotes and responses in this exclusive interview

A high-profile single is often a two-edged sword. On the positive side, it can offer a struggling artist the exposure they need to bring their music to a much wider audience. On the other hand, it can often paint the performer in question into a stylistic corner as they churn out a series of like-sounding copies in an attempt (usually, an unsuccessful one) to replicate its success.

mewithoutYouNever before have I seen such a peculiar band. Not in a bad way; rather, in an innovative and just plain different kind of way. With brilliantly-formed lyrics, experimental music, and singing/shouting vocals, they definitely set themselves apart. The first time I saw mewithoutYou perform was when they headlined Purple Door Festival in 2007. They brought a feeling of uneasiness, yet extreme confidence to the crowd of a few thousand. During our recent interview, Mike Weiss, mewithoutYou's guitarist, shared that their sound is "Just a little weird. I don't know; it's very hard to handle sometimes, but you get it after a while." For some reason, I believe that band members would depict the music and their ambitions quite differently. The only way you can really describe this band is to listen to their record or attend a show yourself.

The world of music boasts no shortage of artists who cut their teeth within the friendly confines of the duo or full-band setting before venturing out to try their hand in the solo arena (think Justin Timberlake, Eric Clapton and Dolly Parton). Conversely, any number of performers have chosen the opposite route and traded in their lives as solo stars for a taste of the group-based life (think Michael English’s tenure with the Gaither Vocal Band or David Bowie’s stint in the relatively short-lived Tin Machine).

Just read Kim's blog about SF's confession... 4 albums instead of just one... and here is some follow up info:

Album #1 is entitled "Hello Hurricane" and is due out in September of this year.  My guess is that those who go to RevGen (Sept 4-5) and Rock the Universe (Sept 11-12) will be the first ones to see the 'foot's new show containing songs from perhaps both of these discs.  That new set list may come sooner in the summer, and you'd better believe that I'll keep a sharp eye out for concert recaps in the event Switchfoot trots out its new songs early.

Album, #2 is entitled "Vice Verses" and is due out some time in 2010. You can get a preview of the title track by visiting Landofbrokenhearts.org and clicking on the media link.  

Day Five...staying alive!

The mid-week Wednesday hump is always a tough day to maneuver through.  Its the last of the GMA events outside of the Dove awards, they last full day of contact with peers pre-press room.  The day started off early with an artist symposium discussing Christian artists in a secular market.  The discussion was  interesting and enlightening on many levels.  It was good to get the "heart of the artist" perspective on touring secular markets and maneuvering through secular interviews.  It was a highlight of my week to see all the artists together.

GMA

Day four didn't have much in store for this weary GMA traveler.  The majority of the day was spent standing and staring, mixed with a little sitting and staring.  There weren't a plethora of showcases this year, and over all attendance was down by 25% (according to the official reports.)  The evening found me meandering over to Rocketown to catch another performance by The Listening.  I had not heard/seen many of the bands that were performing that evening, mainly because the rap genre is not one of my favorites and it is where a lot of these bands fall in the industry.  However, while there I did manage to win, via drawing, an MP3 player that, as promised on twitter, I plan on giving away right here on inReview.net!

Over the last several months, Switchfoot fans, myself included, have been seen watching live stream of the studio, reading posts on the boards, and most recently following the California dudes on Twitter.  The reason?  To try to find anything and everything about the next album.  When is it going to be released?  Has anyone heard any new songs?   When will they tour to support the album?

More recently, many must be thinking, "Why is it taking so long?"

Well, the most recent post on Twitter provides an answer!  

First they posted this:

So we haven't been entirely honest when we said we've been recording a new record. The truth is, we actually recorded 4 albums, 80+ songs.