Everyone has a story, an experience, an encounter that they carry with them, be it joyous or burdening. Contending takes these marks from the past to shape the foundation of their music; their story. A faith-based metalcore band out of Culpeper, Virginia, Contending lashes out with energy, passion, and musical complexity. Contending carries a mission – to bring awareness to the painful reality of PTSD, depression, and suicide, of which many of the band members have struggled with. Contending wishes to take these painful experiences and put them to music, not just as a means of expression, but also to help those who have similar challenges by being a voice in the silence. We don’t know your pain, but we know pain; You’re not alone.
“Awake. For a moment, time is unexpectedly frozen, like the grass during an early fall daybreak; the fog of my memory holds of the darkness of reality. Is this real or is this fake? The beauty of fog is solitude – its gentle embrace is carelessly there for my own sake.”
Contending – Silence of it All
LINKS:
http://www.contendingband.com
https://www.facebook.com/contendingband
https://www.instagram.com/contendingband
https://twitter.com/contendingband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/455zLYJBwQ39r85DiIzH5I
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Katalina Kicks – We Don’t Care
Katalina Kicks is a quintessentially West London band, first fashioned in the clatter and fume of Shepherds Bush. Even if they’ve changed postcodes since, their sound – urgent, questioning, loud and fierce – has never lost the urban beat of W12. Singer and guitarist Ian George is the last man standing from Katalina Kicks Mk I, once a punkish quartet who released an album named after their cat, stray moggy “Montague Rotter”, and found themselves accidentally sound-tracking a straight-to-DVD horror Z-Movie directed by the son of James Bond. “I’ve never watched it!” grimaces Ian of Jason Connery’s 51. “When we started we had an American publishing deal and that was one of the weird things that came of it. We got all of £3.50 for having a song in a crap film. So it’s taken a long time, and a lot of changing line-ups to get to where Katalina Kicks are today. I’ve always believed in the band. It’s just been a waiting game to find the right people.”
One such right person finally surfaced in the beard and flexing tattoos of Jase Wilkinson. Not so much born as smelted in Manchester, as a kid he’d wait for his stepdad to leave the house so he could sneak a listen to his Led Zeppelin vinyl. “And getting a whopping for it when he came home and found out.” Between John Bonham and hip hop, he fell in love with the drums, later moving to London, instinctively settling westwards off Ladbroke Grove, first blurring his limbs behind the kit of a ska band until a chance audition with Katalina Kicks. Which he failed. “Because he wore these dodgy heavy metal black leather fingerless gloves,” laughs Ian. “My first thought was, no way am I having THOSE in the band. But then a few weeks later I called him back. Before Jase our drummers had mostly been arseholes, mentally ill, drug addicts and glory-grabbers. He was none of those. He had the passion and the power I’d always needed… so long as he kept those bloody gloves off!”
In the meantime, bassists continued to fall by the wayside until a long-time friend of the band Conor Cotterill came on board after jamming with Jase and Ian through some new material. ‘It just clicked straight away’, says Jase. ‘Con was the missing link and brought a massive low-end rumble, swagger, bounce and musicality to the table, a bass that is both forceful and fluid, twisting in the lull between my rhythmic thunder!’
Katalina Kicks have been a formidable core trio ever since. Together they play simple and direct heavy garage rock’n’roll: power chords and pummelling rhythms, fuzzy guitar and throbbing bass, big riffs and shouted choruses, pin-balling between grunge, punk, and heavy blues. In Ian, they’ve also a songwriter who can’t help but use his band as a platform to air his anxieties about the world around him. “I would never pigeonhole us as a ‘political band’,” he explains. “I just write about things I see and hear that upset me. We’re not preaching at anyone or trying to change the world. We’re just saying these are the things that affect and worry us. They’re too important not to talk about, whether in conversation or in rock’n’roll. That’s all we try to do.”
SOURCE: Official Bio
Katalina Kicks are:
Ian George (vocals/guitar)
Conor Cotterill (bass/backing vox)
Jase Wilkinson (drums/backing vox)LINKS:
http://katalinakicks.com
http://facebook.com/katalinakicks
http://instagram.com/katalinakicks
http://twitter.com/katalinakicks
http://soundcloud.com/katalinakicks
http://youtube.com/katalinakicks -
Inner Circle Avenue – Goin’ Nowhere Fast
Toledo, OH-based alternative rock band Inner Circle Avenue has released the Official Music Video for their single, ‘Goin’ Nowhere Fast’, off of their 2016 released, debut EP, Greetings from the Inner Circle. Says the foursome about the track:
“The song, ‘Goin’ Nowhere Fast’, illustrates young souls looking for a sense of belonging in a confusing and tumultuous world. The fruits of your labor combined with life’s passions far too often fall short of expectations. Clouded by a sense of pure determination, one could become misguided. However, youthful ambitions triumph over a repressed society. Through the song, ‘Goin’ Nowhere Fast’, we have acknowledged our inner struggles and overcome them through an overwhelming sense of family and friendship.”
Inner Circle Avenue is a 4-piece, high-energy rock band comprised of three siblings (two brothers and one sister), hailing from the small town of Blissfield, Michigan. With an additional friend brought in to complete the band, the overall sense of family, camaraderie, and passion for rock and roll is truly unleashed through Inner Circle Avenue. From rock ballads to fast, heavy-hitting anthems and everything in-between, the band aims to bring music that listeners can truly connect with. Both through their music and electric, onstage presence, the band always brings a crowd together for a one-of-a-kind experience during every live performance. Inner Circle Avenue has released one 6-song EP and is currently finishing demos for a full-length album.
Inner Circle Avenue has always pursued opportunities to give back to the community through charity shows. These shows have raised money for benefits such as CS Mott Children’s Hospital, battling childhood cancer, Assistant Dogs for Achieving Independence, Andover Apartment Fire Benefit and The Beach House, which provides monetary funding and housing for battered women and children.
Inner Circle Avenue has been featured multiple times in two separate local papers called The Blissfield Advance and the Adrian Telegram. These articles discussed the overall development of the band. The band is also working with a local television network through Buckeye Cable in Toledo, Ohio to film a two-episode documentary on the band for a featured show titled Rise Up. The documentary will reflect the creative/recording process of the band’s new album. Owens Community College Radio has also interviewed Inner Circle Avenue to discuss the band’s musical influences and formation. This radio station features the band’s music on the regular rotation. Inner Circle Avenue has also been interviewed and featured on other local radio stations in the Toledo area as well as WTOL Channel 11 News.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/InnerCircleAvenue
https://twitter.com/innercircleave
https://www.instagram.com/inner_circle_avenue
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ux42n517ZDCUt8rufhso4 -
Romancer – Nausicaa
Romancer is a four-piece Ambient Punk-Rock band that comes from Kitchener Ontario, Canada. Combined with members with incredible musical talents, Romancer has one goal; to bring the fans a sound that toes the line between soft intimacy and explosive aggressiveness.
Currently, this bunch of humble guys is ramping up to the release of their new project “honeybee” – their second and latest release as Romancer. “Honeybee is our most lyrically honest, and experimental release to date. I am so proud of us this time around, and I can say with confidence that we’ve all reached into the depths of our musicality and creativity to bring out the best in each other and this record” says Romancer lead vocalist/guitarist Adam Horrocks. The band released their debut EP “As We Both Close in on the Water” last year on June 10, 2016.
Shortly after the band released the record, it quickly gained the likes of fans in numerous markets across Canada, USA, Europe, Mexico, and Japan. Their track “Fireworks” had been featured on a compilation CD that was released via LA punk label Wiretap Records shortly after the release of their debut LP. FFO: Jimmy Eat World, Alexisonfire, Brand New & Moneen, this is surely one well-written and engaging record, and will stimulate from beginning to end.
Frequently touring, the band’s fanbase keeps growing in current and new markets. 2017 is set for the release of “honeybee,” a new music video and two tours, one being through eastern Canada.
Romancer is Nathan Cumber, Ben Abu Halaga-Dilgert, Adam Horrocks and Riley O’Donnell.
LINKS:
https://www.romancerband.com
https://www.facebook.com/RomancerBand
https://twitter.com/romancerband
https://www.instagram.com/romancerband