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Hard Rock Rising, Niagara Falls USA: Week 3 Summary

Are you ready? It’s the final night for the Hard Rock Café’s Hard Rock Rising Battle of the Bands. The last three weeks of battles have been fierce with three overall bands from Western New York selected for tonight’s finale.

                Last week featured the most eclectic selection of four groups within recent memory. Fiona Corinne, a singer/songwriter dazzled those in attendance to a bevy of songs focused on love and loss. Her strong vocal abilities soared over her hands as they tickled the electronic ivories.  Following Fiona, Out Chasing Lions, a R&B/Rock fusion featuring a percussionist who also played guitar and sang backed up a hot up and coming R&B singer throwing out rhymes like machine gun fire. Out Chasing Lions showed considerable talent both in their live performance and their studio tracks which added depth by playing underneath the performers on stage.

                If you’ve missed the indie/scream bands of the early 2000’s you also missed the genre’s comeback by Red Letter Statement. Taking the stage in the battle’s third quarter, Red Letter Statement gave an epic performance harking back to the golden days of Taking Back Sunday, Atreyu and The Used. While their stage presence clearly showed they have been playing together for some time, it was surprising to see the stage hold all their talent, dancing and overall debauchery. As a final note, if you have them for dinner, they will eat steak. Last to take the stage, Dark Eyes 55 from Lockport, NY gave their all. With their modern rock fused with funk style, their stage persona illuminated their creativity and fueled audience participation. Almost a modernized Richard Simmons video, there was no lack of stage antics, dancing, and costuming.

                In the end, raw talent reigned supreme and Fiona Corinne was selected to continue on tonight’s stage for the Battle Royale. Be sure to stop in the Hard Rock Face, Niagara Falls USA tonight at 7 to see if the punky So Far So Good, 70’s inspired jam band Dollar Diplomacy or the very talented torch song maestro Fiona Corinne make it out of Western New York to the Hard Rock’s Finale in Barcelona!

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Hard Rock Battle of the Bands Week 3: Dark Eyes 55 #darkeyes55 #1033theedge #saiditrocks #hrcniagarausa

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Hard Rock Battle of the Bands Week 3: Dark Eyes 55 #ascloseasicouldget #hrcniagarausa #1033theedge #saiditrocks

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Hard Rock Battle of the Bands Week 3: Red Letter Statement #redletterstatement #hrcniagarausa #1033theedge #saiditrocks

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Emo Is Alive and Well

With the latest in music news focusing on the bands, drama and album anniversaries of the late 90’s and early aughts, it’s refreshing to hear newer bands throwing back to the same sounds and styles. We’re all influenced by the music featured in the decades of our youth. It’s clear that the following two bands are no exception.   pile - You’re Better Than This Release Date:  03 March 2015                 While pile is featured on Bandcamp.com as “new & notable,” one can’t help but notice their style is reminiscent to earlier sounds of Taking Back Sunday on “Tell All Your Friends” with the prosaic lyrical styles of The Weakerthans. Clearly recorded live off the floor, the acoustics vary widely across all 10 tracks. The lack of heavy production works in pile’s favor and pushes listeners to imagine a live performance where the vocals and percussion would not be resigned to the backseat. The album features little by way of capitalization of song titles, which clearly relates back to the lowercase spelling of the band’s name.  In addition to the throwback scream/emo sounds of pile, the band also chose to release their album across a number of formats including digital download, vinyl and cassette tape which begs the question, do that may people still have cassette players? The acoustic guitar on “Fuck the police” is a refreshing break from their established heavier trend. To get the best feel for the album, check out “waking up in the morning” and try not to rock out at your desk. Find out more about pile and sample the album here: http://pile.bandcamp.com/ #pile #bandcamp  #saiditrocks   **** Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) – You Will Eventually Be Forgotten Release Date:  19 August 2014                 This two piece band from Fenton, Michigan founded in 2006, by husband-wife duo Keith and Cathy Latinen released their most recent album You Will Eventually Be Forgotten this past August. Following the emo/indie tradition of using subtitles and sentences as band and song names, Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) has been releasing music along the same lines since 2009. This latest effort illustrates the band’s story-based lyric style, clear rounded guitar and light handed percussion. Fans of Jimmy Eat World and Bright Eyes will really dig You Will Eventually Be Forgotten.  Be sure to crank your car stereo and drive with the windows down like its 2003 again. Now is also the perfect time to pick up a copy of their album. Their van was recently involved in an incident with an impaired driver and all proceeds from their music will be used to replace their van and get the group back on tour. More information can be found at www.wmpireempireband.com #EmpireEmpireBand #Bandcamp #saiditrocks