Lindsey Buckingham Palace is a DC based hard rock band that started in 2010 and got their solid current line-up in late 2012. The quartet is now complete with Mike Hill, Mark Minicucci, Marc Rothschild, and Names Thompsn who produce a sound that caught the ears of plenty of fans who made them our Band of the Month in March. We got a hold of them to find out a little more. Here Mike tells us about the relation to Fleetwood Mac, the Velvet Lounge, and rehearsing in bedrooms. Now onto the interview...
Catch LBP live at IOTA Nightclub in Arlington VA on 4/26.
Mike Hill: The band originally started in 2010 with a different lead singer, and that lineup disbanded in October 2011. The current lineup includes the original bassist (Marc Rothschild) and drummer (Names Thompson), and as of October 2012, myself as the new lead singer/rhythm guitarist and our lead guitarist (Mark Minicucci.)
What's the story behind the band name?
The original lead singer/songwriter Mark Giaimo is a spitting image of Lindsey Buckingham. The name originally started as a joke, but over time stuck. That is our only relation to Fleetwood Mac.
What are your biggest musical influences?
Our musical influences are literally all over the place. From early punk, to classic rock, to 90's alt rock and of course, straight up blues rock. You can even throw in some old school country and hip hop.
What artists (local, national and/or international) are you currently listening to?
For me personally, I'm currently rocking out to Dave Grohl's Sound City, Lindi Ortega, Tomahawk, the new ZZ Top and Tyler the Creator
What's the first concert that you ever attended and first album that you ever bought?
The first concert I ever attended as kid was Pink Floyd at RFK stadium when I was 15. The first album I bought was RUN DMC's Raising Hell.
What do you love about DC's music scene?
The DC Music scene is like a big family. Everyone supports each other and helps promotes each other. There is a lot of untapped talent in this city.
What would you like to see change in the local music scene?
I would like to see more love from local venues for the amazing bands they have right under their noses. I would also like some of the bars that traditionally feature cover bands to start featuring some original DC Rock.
What are your plans for the upcoming year?
We are working on booking more shows through June. We are also securing some studio time this summer and anticipate releasing a 3 song EP shortly thereafter.
What was your most memorable live show?
In February, we sold out the Velvet Lounge on U Street and it was just a kick ass evening. We felt like rock stars.
Is there someone who has helped your band grow through support?
Our friends and family. Without them, we're really just a garage band, or in our case, a bedroom band. We rehearse in our drummers bedroom.
Is there a piece of equipment you couldn't live without and why?
For me, my electric Snark tuner. When you're live on stage, the last thing you want to be is out of tune.
Baltimore based bands, The Water (music below), Jonathan Badger, and Drone Theory (pictured above) are coming together to play an eclectic experimental rock show at Club K in Charles Village, Baltimore on Friday 4/12. These intensely talented avant bands are guaranteed to create an inspiring atmosphere.
The Water is an experimental rock duo made up of two uber talented multi instrumentalists who will blow your mind with their intensely emotive songs. Jonathan Badger is a strongly creative and brilliant singer/songwriter, and Drone Theory is Baltimore’s newest shoegaze avant band, who will be performing live for the first time! The show is curated by New York based International music collective The Process Records.
You’re not going to want to miss this awesome local line up! – Jordannahe
Connect the Dots presents D.C.420 at Ghion (across from the 9:30 Club) this coming 4/20. With a line-up of 12 bands (headlined by Barren Girls) and tons of DJs, this all day event will be one awesome soundtrack to celebrate the ganja holiday. Or just dig on some uber awesome indie acts, such as Richmond's The Absent Center, DC's electropop Black Hills (check out their track below,) DC alt. rockers The Velvet Ants, Richmond indie noise rock Those Manic Seas (pictured above,) DC indie pop Cake and Calculus, Richmond's indie folk punk Red States, and DC's indie rock These Future Saints.
For a full list of all acts and to check out more of their sound, check out this soundcloud page created by Connect the Dots.
“Lovers are inside each of us, fighting and crooning. Reflections are outside of us, reversed versions of the self. . . I feel like these are the themes that haunt my music. Plus it's just pretty.” –Regan Rebecca
At first blush, Lovers and Reflections first album Swords conjures nostalgia for the adventurous 80’s new wave and pop. One can’t help but hear Kate Bush and Elizabeth Frazier in Regan Rebecca’s vocals, or the sounds of bands like Soft Cell and the Switchblade Sisters in Chris Moore’s production. In most of the promotional material, and in other write-ups, names like Depeche Mode and Madonna are dropped. When I first listened to it I was struck by the apparent breadth of influences, seemingly pulling from every corner of 80’s synth-pop, and combining those sounds with a vocal style that, these days, is usually reserved for more reverb and delay-heavy guitar music. Though the 80’s feel of Swords is undeniable, while interviewing the band I realize that there is more to their artistic ambition than simply returning to and recombining the sounds, vocal and synth, of that decade. Continue reading...
“Lovers are inside each of us, fighting and crooning. Reflections are outside of us, reversed versions of the self. . . I feel like these are the themes that haunt my music. Plus it's just pretty.” –Regan Rebecca
At first blush, Lovers and Reflections first album Swords conjures nostalgia for the adventurous 80’s new wave and pop. One can’t help but hear Kate Bush and Elizabeth Frazier in Regan Rebecca’s vocals, or the sounds of bands like Soft Cell and the Switchblade Sisters in Chris Moore’s production. In most of the promotional material, and in other write-ups, names like Depeche Mode and Madonna are dropped. When I first listened to it I was struck by the apparent breadth of influences, seemingly pulling from every corner of 80’s synth-pop, and combining those sounds with a vocal style that, these days, is usually reserved for more reverb and delay-heavy guitar music. Though the 80’s feel of Swords is undeniable, while interviewing the band I realize that there is more to their artistic ambition than simply returning to and recombining the sounds, vocal and synth, of that decade.
The choice to go with synths is a result of opportunity: limited funds and new technology. “I started out playing guitar and in a noisy guitar ban” recalls Regan. “Actually a lot of the songs on Swords are my guitar songs that we sort of converted over to the synth realm of things. Now, of course our style is a lot more honed in, and writing on the instruments we have is a big part of the song and its sound.” Chris continues, “I am a keyboardist and I own a few synths and an old sampler, so that's what we ended up writing with, especially since we had no budget to go into a studio and record pianos or other acoustic instruments. Also, I think synthesizers have a very wide range of sounds-you can always create a unique sound that no one has used before, and that can make it more exciting than traditional instruments that have 100+ years of associations tied to them.”
If anything, Lovers and Reflections look to the past to influence their songwriting methodology and ambitions. “We never set out to be ‘retro,’” explains Chris, “except in the sense that we wanted to have both good songs and good sounds, and I feel like more bands from the 60s-90s had this combo than bands today do. Some of the songs were written on guitar and could have been done in more of a rock or even country-rock style, if we had a drummer.” Regan misses “when people used to make real albums that you could listen to all the way through. Maybe I was overambitious but that's what I was trying to do, to tell a story.” To that end Regan turned to the Tarot for inspiration. The song titles refer to cards, and guide the listener through the themes in the songs. For Regan “the tarot was merely a way to organize and validate the songs we had written,” and the romantic and mystical messages of the Tarot compliment the themes of the songs and qualities of the music.
As for what lies in the cards for Lovers and Reflections, a new album is already in the written and in the process of being recorded. “The next record is more organic and less "80s" sounding” says Chris. “The songs are still pop and still have synths but it's less of a specific ‘synth pop’ sound. We travel through time and genre a little freer and faster on this one.” And when I ask about the lack of “funk” in the otherwise broad range of synth-pop sounds in Swords, Regan exclaims “Just wait for the new record!” What can we expect? “We love funk. We love it. We love synth pop too. I like it when the two converge in the late seventies and early eighties, like Funkadelic type stuff, and also I just love where disco and synth pop merge like Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder.”
The future is promising, but for now we can quench our desire for more with a Lovers’ live show.They’re playing a record release show on Monday (April 8th) at the church across from Druid Hill Park at 3647 Falls Rd. in Baltimore, with more hopefully to come.
“Lovers are inside each of us, fighting and crooning. Reflections are outside of us, reversed versions of the self. . . I feel like these are the themes that haunt my music. Plus it's just pretty.” –Regan Rebecca
At first blush, Lovers and Reflections first album Swords conjures nostalgia for the adventurous 80’s new wave and pop. One can’t help but hear Kate Bush and Elizabeth Frazier in Regan Rebecca’s vocals, or the sounds of bands like Soft Cell and the Switchblade Sisters in Chris Moore’s production. In most of the promotional material, and in other write-ups, names like Depeche Mode and Madonna are dropped. When I first listened to it I was struck by the apparent breadth of influences, seemingly pulling from every corner of 80’s synth-pop, and combining those sounds with a vocal style that, these days, is usually reserved for more reverb and delay-heavy guitar music. Though the 80’s feel of Swords is undeniable, while interviewing the band I realize that there is more to their artistic ambition than simply returning to and recombining the sounds, vocal and synth, of that decade.
The choice to go with synths is a result of opportunity: limited funds and new technology. “I started out playing guitar and in a noisy guitar ban” recalls Regan. “Actually a lot of the songs on Swords are my guitar songs that we sort of converted over to the synth realm of things. Now, of course our style is a lot more honed in, and writing on the instruments we have is a big part of the song and its sound.” Chris continues, “I am a keyboardist and I own a few synths and an old sampler, so that's what we ended up writing with, especially since we had no budget to go into a studio and record pianos or other acoustic instruments. Also, I think synthesizers have a very wide range of sounds-you can always create a unique sound that no one has used before, and that can make it more exciting than traditional instruments that have 100+ years of associations tied to them.”
If anything, Lovers and Reflections look to the past to influence their songwriting methodology and ambitions. “We never set out to be ‘retro,’” explains Chris, “except in the sense that we wanted to have both good songs and good sounds, and I feel like more bands from the 60s-90s had this combo than bands today do. Some of the songs were written on guitar and could have been done in more of a rock or even country-rock style, if we had a drummer.” Regan misses “when people used to make real albums that you could listen to all the way through. Maybe I was overambitious but that's what I was trying to do, to tell a story.”
To that end Regan turned to the Tarot for inspiration. The song titles refer to cards, and guide the listener through the themes in the songs. For Regan “the tarot was merely a way to organize and validate the songs we had written,” and the romantic and mystical messages of the Tarot compliment the themes of the songs and qualities of the music.
As for what lies in the cards for Lovers and Reflections, a new album is already in the written and in the process of being recorded. “The next record is more organic and less "80s" sounding” says Chris. “The songs are still pop and still have synths but it's less of a specific ‘synth pop’ sound. We travel through time and genre a little freer and faster on this one.” And when I ask about the lack of “funk” in the otherwise broad range of synth-pop sounds in Swords, Regan exclaims “Just wait for the new record!” What can we expect? “We love funk. We love it. We love synth pop too. I like it when the two converge in the late seventies and early eighties, like Funkadelic type stuff, and also I just love where disco and synth pop merge like Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder.”
The future is promising, but for now we can quench our desire for more with a Lovers’ live show.They’re playing a record release show on Monday (April 8th) at the church across from Druid Hill Park at 3647 Falls Rd. in Baltimore, with more hopefully to come.
Baltimore based Harmonic Blue is a quartet that draws from a range of genres like blues, rock, and folk, blended into a sound that can be heard on their growing discography including their 2011 S/T EP, and late 2012 release Villa Borghese (check it out below.) Their sound has garnered them a fanbase that just pushed them to be our Band of the Month, so we got a hold of Zach Field, Gabe Bustos, Anthony Ajluni, and Sam Balcom to find out more. Here they tell us about their upcoming fest with Wiz Khalifa, inspiration in REM bubbles, and their upcoming summer tour. Onto the full interview...
You've got several opportunities to catch them live this month! April 17 at Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, April 19 at Tigerfest in Towson MD, and April 27 at Diamondbacks in Ellicott City MD.
Harmonic Blue: Technically, this project first started when Gabe and Zach met at the dorms their freshman year at UMD and started writing music together. However, there were earlier musical forecastings, as Anthony and Sam were childhood friends and had their own band together in high school. Gabe and Anthony were also high school friends who began exploring records and instruments together, but it wasn’t’ until 3 years later that we would all unite to form Harmonic Blue.
What's the story behind the band name?
It came to Zach in a dream when we were recording our first demo. Sounds cheesy but it’s the truth. We then retroactively applied meaning to it, but it would be untruthful to say it came from anywhere other than Zach’s REM bubble.
What are your biggest musical influences?
We all have our own individual influences, which we think contributes to the diversity in the sound, but collectively the band draws influence from Steely Dan, Van Morrison, Jeff Buckley, CSNY, John Coltrane, Paul Simon, the classics man!
What artists (local, national and/or international) are you currently listening to?
Paul Simon, Fela Kuti, Joni Mitchell, Bill Evans Trio, and Sam Cooke.
What's the first concert that you ever attended and first album that you ever bought?
Gabe: Oasis/Jet, Sisqo – Unleash the Dragon
Anthony: Dave Matthews Band, Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory
Sam: Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park (that asshole!), Ace of Base – The Sign
Zach: Yo Yo Ma, Sum 41 – Fat Lip
What do you love about DC's music scene?
That it is in blossom. There are many different blogs and publications covering up and coming bands, so it gives younger bands like us a lot more visibility. We’ve also just started meeting a lot more like minded musicians, which makes booking and playing local shows a lot easier and more fun.
What are your plans for the upcoming year?
We are doing an East Coast/Midwest tour through 14 cities in June. Then we’ll be getting a house together and begin recording for our first full-length record in the fall.
What was your most memorable live show?
In May of 2011 we opened for B.o.B. at UMD’s football stadium for the spring concert Art Attack. However, in two weeks, playing Towson’s Tigerfest with Wiz Khalifa may top that.
Is there someone who has helped your band grow through support?
All of our parents have been very supportive of our endeavors, but especially Anthony’s parents Tom and Lore Ajluni have been instrumental for letting us use their basement for over a year as a practice and recording space. Steve Milner has also acted as somewhat of a mentor to the group, regarding recording, production, and live sound.
Is there a piece of equipment you couldn't live without and why?
Zach couldn’t live without his beard. Sam couldn’t live without his book of Bukowski poems. Gabe couldn’t live without his one-hitter, and Anthony couldn’t live without his Orange Rockerverb 50.
Harmonic Blue: Technically, this project first started when Gabe and Zach met at the dorms their freshman year at UMD and started writing music together. However, there were earlier musical forecastings, as Anthony and Sam were childhood friends and had their own band together in high school. Gabe and Anthony were also high school friends who began exploring records and instruments together, but it wasn’t’ until 3 years later that we would all unite to form Harmonic Blue.
What's the story behind the band name?
It came to Zach in a dream when we were recording our first demo. Sounds cheesy but it’s the truth. We then retroactively applied meaning to it, but it would be untruthful to say it came from anywhere other than Zach’s REM bubble.
What are your biggest musical influences?
We all have our own individual influences, which we think contributes to the diversity in the sound, but collectively the band draws influence from Steely Dan, Van Morrison, Jeff Buckley, CSNY, John Coltrane, Paul Simon, the classics man!
What artists (local, national and/or international) are you currently listening to?
Paul Simon, Fela Kuti, Joni Mitchell, Bill Evans Trio, and Sam Cooke.
What's the first concert that you ever attended and first album that you ever bought?
Gabe: Oasis/Jet, Sisqo – Unleash the Dragon
Anthony: Dave Matthews Band, Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory
Sam: Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park (that asshole!), Ace of Base – The Sign
Zach: Yo Yo Ma, Sum 41 – Fat Lip
What do you love about DC's music scene?
That it is in blossom. There are many different blogs and publications covering up and coming bands, so it gives younger bands like us a lot more visibility. We’ve also just started meeting a lot more like minded musicians, which makes booking and playing local shows a lot easier and more fun.
What are your plans for the upcoming year?
We are doing an East Coast/Midwest tour through 14 cities in June. Then we’ll be getting a house together and begin recording for our first full-length record in the fall.
What was your most memorable live show?
In May of 2011 we opened for B.o.B. at UMD’s football stadium for the spring concert Art Attack. However, in two weeks, playing Towson’s Tigerfest with Wiz Khalifa may top that.
Is there someone who has helped your band grow through support?
All of our parents have been very supportive of our endeavors, but especially Anthony’s parents Tom and Lore Ajluni have been instrumental for letting us use their basement for over a year as a practice and recording space. Steve Milner has also acted as somewhat of a mentor to the group, regarding recording, production, and live sound.
Is there a piece of equipment you couldn't live without and why?
Zach couldn’t live without his beard. Sam couldn’t live without his book of Bukowski poems. Gabe couldn’t live without his one-hitter, and Anthony couldn’t live without his Orange Rockerverb 50.
