Review: Drive-Thru Records DVD Vol. 1

After seeing this in the stores quite a bit, and debating on buying it, I went for it. I purchased the Drive Thru Records DVD, and I must say, I’m glad that I did. For starters, it contains over 3 hours of footage, and for $14.99, that’s not bad at all. It contains music videos, live footage, interviews, and home videos from most of the Drive Thru Records bands.

My favorite thing on this DVD would have to be an acoustic version of Letters to You by Finch. I really enjoy the song, and I really enjoy acoustic songs, so this was quite a treat for me. Something else on here that’s pretty cool, is the video for the original version of Hit or Miss by New Found Glory. This is the version off of the Nothing Gold Can Stay album, and in my opinion the better version. The video is made out to look like the tv show Cops, only it’s called NFG. It’s got Corey Feldman dressed as a Police Officer, and he’s driving around busting the NFG guys for various offenses. Only, instead of arresting them, he kicks their ass with his nightstick. It ends with a greasy wifebeater wearing Jordan, getting beatdown for a spousal abuse. A live performanace of Ender by Finch is on here, and it’s pretty damn rockin. These guys seem like they put on a kick ass show. I hope I get the chance to see them someday. There’s also live footage and videos from The Starting Line, Allister, Homegrown, Something Corporate, and many other Drive-Thru bands.

There’s a hilarious hotel room interview with Allister. The guys are totally trashed and acting really stupid. It made for a very funny “interview.” The funiest thing on the DVD is the home videos located in the Bonus section of the DVD. It’s really nothing more than 45 minutes of footage showing the Drive-Thru bands acting like jackass’s.

My only complaint about the DVD is a minor one. There isn’t much New Found Glory stuff on it. I’m sure that’s because NFG have already released their own DVD, so no need to overload this one with them. Overall, I give this DVD a 3 star rating. If you’re a fan of any of the Drive-Thru Records bands, you should definately get this.

Interview: Milea

On February 6th 2003 Guest Reporter Cathy Lewis sat down with Chris, the lead singer of Milea, an up in coming hardcore/emocore band from the New York City area:

BP: I don’t know how to start this.
Chris: Umm… What exactly are you asking me about, my band right?
BP: Okay, what is your favorite ice cream?
BP: (yes)
Chris: (laughs) Vanilla with sprinkles.
BP: Alright, now for the real questions. What is the name of your band and what type of music do you guys play?
Chris: We’re called “MILEA.” Um, we’re not sure about our “category” but I’d like to think were on the lines of emocore or screamo. What ever it is it’s your basic scream sing relationship, but we have an original enough sound to differ.
BP: who plays what?
Chris: Dave Paleaz plays bass, Sean George plays guitar, Raphael Morant plays drums, and I’m the lead singer.
BP: How long have you guys been together?
Chris: Not for long, about maybe 10 months. But we’ve accomplished quite a bit for our short time together.
BP: How did you guys get together?
Chris: My band mates were already in the band together and they were looking for a lead singer. I went to one of their rehearsals, I didn’t think they were all that and I was piss drunk so I decided to sing. Surprisingly they enjoyed it. It was fun. And from then on we’ve adapted to each others different tastes in music and styles and molded it into what we make.
BP: Very cool, who are your musical influences? Is there anyone who you would want to be like?
Chris: Well, I have a lot of musical influences. Ranging from Glass Jaw, Mudvayve and The Deftones. And even soul music, old school stuff. My band mates range from death metal to classical music. Very diverse music range, there are a lot of bands that I look up to. And sometimes I find my self mimicking them, but I try not to… I want to have an original “image” or whatever that is. But my favorite band is The Deftones they’re awesome.
BP: I love The Deftones also. Wait, I forgot to ask where are you guys all from?
Chris: (laughs) Manhattan, NY mostly. Dave is from queens Sean from Manhattan I’m from the Bronx but will soon live in freki Yonkers. And Raphael is from uptown Manhattan but he also lives in Jersey
BP: So what’s store for milea in 2003?
Chris: Nervous breakdowns! We’re waiting for the “word” from Epic Records. Matt Pinfield, that dude from MTV, took our demo to Dave McPherson, the head Sony Records. He enjoyed it and now we’re just waiting. Only problem is… We’ve been waiting for about three weeks. But this shit doesn’t happen over night, so ya know.
BP: Do you know when you will get the “word”?
Chris: Well, it depends on when they hold the meeting and get official contracts printed. And then it has to go through lawyers; it’s a bunch of bullshit. We’re just like fish waiting to be caught, but they’re teasing us with a worm and no hook… it blows. In this case we are suicidal fish!
BP: I wish you guys the best of luck! Hey, if people reading this would want to hear some of your music where could they do that?
Chris: Well, I hope they don’t want to hear it yet… but they could go to the website. It has it there. www.milea.xrs.net… we need to put our new demos up though.
BP: Good deal, do you have any up coming shows?
Chris: Not right now unfortunately, we’re working on all new material. We don’t wanna play the same songs. We want to hit CBGCs or Elbow Room or any venue in New York with new songs.
BP: Well, good luck to you Chris and thank you for taking time to chat it up with me. Is there anything you want to say, any random comments?
Chris: Yes. Masturbation is kinda like drugs, It’s all good until you notice your fucking your self. A message to all those drug addicts,
BP: Ok well, Chris…
Chris: Cool.
BP: Thank you and good luck.

Spotlight: Oblique – Indiana Metal Band

Nick Whetsel, Ryan Lee, Chad Leathers, Ross Locke, and Tanner McCracken. What do these 5 guys have in common? They’re each a member of what is probably the best metal band that Muncie, Indiana has to offer. They’ve described themselves as “being on the forefront of a third wave of Alternative Metal.” Their influences include Tool, Perfect Circle, Deftones, Theropy?, and Helmet. They’ve gained a decent local following, playing shows in and around the Indianapolis area. They finished second in this years Battle of the Bands, losing by a mere 8 votes. They recently played the Dead Leaf Festival here in Muncie, which I had the pleasure of seeing them for the first time. Unfortunately, they were given an early time slot on an all day event, and not many people were there to see them. They’ve also released two demos.

The first demo included the songs Believe, Shaping, and Chromosone. I’ve only heard one song from the demo, as it is no longer available. The song I was able to hear before it was recently removed from MP3.com was Believe. It’s a good song, but nothing like their new style.

Their second demo, which I purchased after seeing them play at the Dead Leaf Festival, is really good. They seem to have gone a different direction with their sound, as opposed to their first demo. This one includes the songs Color of Voices, Brutal Truth, Capture the Flag, Destination After Death, Pathway, and Our Flood. My personal favorites from the demo would have to be Color of Voices and Capture the Flag.

Ever since I first heard them play, I’ve tried to think of who they sound like, or who they could be compared to. I can’t think of anyone. My brother sent a couple songs to a girl over the Internet, and she said they reminded her of Tantric. I’ve heard Tantric, and Oblique doesn’t sound like Tantric. I highly recommend heading over to their web site and listening to some of their songs. The link is below.

Source: Oblique

Tales From The Bishop

Sorry, that was stupid. What’s up, yo? This is Bishop, back and fashionably late as usual. I say usual, but this is my second column, and, you know, it’s hard to say ‘as usual’ when the last one was supposedly ontime because….

Bear: SHADDUP! *smack*

Ow.

Sorry about that.

Anyway, I was thinking of a lot of stuff to write a column about. First off, I’m going to rip on Eminem, in vain hopes of getiing made fun of by him at some point.

‘Hey! Hey white boy! Stop wearing glasses to try and look smart! It just makes you look like a bigger nerd! Hey! Hey! Call out a black guy for once, you coward! Or at least a white guy who can fight! Yeah! And stop rapping about yourself being controversial! Nobody thinks that anymore! All the old people love you… and that makes you lamer than lame! LAME! Move out of the way! Let’s play some AMG… now THAT is controversial! Go move to frickin’ Pennsylvania and open a dairy farm!’

…that’s not going to work.

Allright, I made promises about saying some stuff in my last column, but I’m not going to fufill them. Why not? Because I hate you. Instead, I’m going to examine, closely, the…um…

Why are there no bands around that don’t piss at least one person off? Remember Elvis? Nobody woke up in the morning and said ‘Ugh… Elvis’ the way I do whenever Avril Levine (spelling, anyone) is screaming in my ear about her Skeighter Boi’s or Justin Timberlake is breathing funny and trying to be sexy. In the old days, the only band that really, really pissed people off was the Four Seasons. ‘Sherry BAYYAYBEE’. Of course, this does not hold a candle to ‘That don’t impress me much’ by the formerly attractive, now easily hateable Shania Twain or ‘It’s gonna be May’ by N’sync. Those songs I could truly do without. It’s like they made a special point to irritate me when they were putting the album together.

‘Justin?’

*gasp* Yes?*weeze* …just justin….

‘Justin, we think you should annoy Bryan Bishop by doing that creepy breath-whisper thing that makes us want to hit you.’

*weeze*

Oh, let’s not forget rap, the old septic tank of artistic integrity.

‘The fish to fry in the kitchaaaaaaaaaan, the beans don’t burn on the greeeeeeeeeell, it took a whole lot of tryyyyyyyEEEEEEEEEEn, just to ket up that HEEEEEEEEll.’

Good lord. The first time I heard this I contemplated walking out of my dorm room(121 Arkansas Hall, for the ladies) and taking out the rage welling inside me on the nearest person. Nelly really irritates me. Really. I just want to take his bandage off of his face… and stick it to the warm jelly of his eyeball.

Fun with animal cruelty: Put a sock on a cat’s head, then sit back and enjoy.

Wussy songs you should check out:

‘Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears’ by Three Irish Tenors

‘Snow on the Sahara’ by Anggun

‘The Hands that Built America’ by U2

‘Little Green Bag’ by George Baker Selection

‘Grey Street’ by Dave Matthews Band

There, a little more space filled up. YES! Almost done. Bear won’t even notice I’m late. Hee hee. He’s so easy to trick.

Okay… let’s make it… three more paragraphs? Is that good? No, you want me to end it now?

Okay. See ya next week!