OC Music Awards Showcase Series Best…

Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicked off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists competed for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim.

The five live band finalists for the OC Music Awards–We Are The Arsenal, Slime Kings, Midnight Hour, Robert Jon & The Wreck, & Railroad to Alaska–performed at the finals at the Samueli Theater at the Segerstrom Center For Performing Arts in Costa Mesa.

Scored on musicianship, originality, song composition, stage presence and audience participation, all the artists were amazing, but only one could come out the winner.

Find out who won here!

First, check out some videos from all the showcases hosted by the pretty Piper!

Night One:

Night Two:

Night Three:

Night Four:

Night Five:

Night Six:

Night Seven:

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

Railroad to Alaska, with their provocative, thought-provoking art metal, took home the Best Live Band honors.

As the winner, Railroad to Alaska will receive a four-day recording session at Red Bull Studios, an Ernie Ball Full Endorsement, a performance slot on four Southern Califonia Vans Warped Tour stops, and the category title and performance slot at the 11th annual OC Music Awards on Saturday, March 3 at The City National Grove of Anaheim.

Learn more about the other great performers here:

We Are the Arsenal
Midnight Hour
Slime Kings
Robert Jon & the Wreck
Railroad to Alaska

LEARN MORE AT: OCMUSICAWARDS.COM

Photos from the Best Live Band Finals of the OC Music Awards Showcase Series at Segerstrom Performing Arts Center Samueli Theater in Costa Mesa featuring We Are The Arsenal, Robert Jon & The Wreck, Railroad To Alaska, Slime Kings, & Midnight Hour.

All photos by Nadia Noir.

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicked off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists competed for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim.

Last night, the five acoustic finalist for the OC Music Awards–Kacie Yoshida, Tully James Wilkinson, Parker Macy Blues, Allensworth, and Moonsville Collective–performed at the finals at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

Scored on musicianship, originality, song composition, stage presence and audience participation, all the artists were amazing, but only one could come out the winner.

Find out who won here!

First, check out some videos from all the showcases hosted by the beautiful Piper! She gets more and more gorgeous with every showcase.

Night One:

Night Two:

Night Three:

Night Four:

Night Five:

Night Six:

Night Seven:

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

Allensworth, with the funky, positive acoustic soul, took home the Best Live Acoustic honors. As the winner, Allensworth will receive a four-day recording session at Red Bull Studios, an Ernie Ball Full Endorsement, the category title and performance slot at the 11th annual OC Music Awards on Saturday, March 3 at The City National Grove of Anaheim.

Learn more about the other great performers here:

Kacie Yoshida

Tully Wilkinson
Parker Macy Blues
Allensworth
Moonsville Collective

And don’t forget to come check out the Best Live Band finals. They should be rockin’. Seriously.

BEST LIVE BAND FINALS
Friday, 2/24, 7:30pm – Samueli Theater

All Ages, FREE

FAN VOTE WINNER: We Are the Arsenal (8pm)
Midnight Hour (8:45pm)
Slime Kings (9:30pm)
Robert Jon & the Wreck (10:15pm)
Railroad to Alaska (11:00pm)
RSVP and Details: FACEBOOK

2012 Best Live Band winner will receive a performance slot on the four Southern Califonia Vans Warped Tour stops!

LEARN MORE AT: OCMUSICAWARDS.COM

The OC Music Awards Showcase Series Acoustic Finals included performances by finalists Kacie Yoshida, Tully James Wilkinson, Parker Macy Blues, Allensworth, and Moonsville Collective at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

All photos by Nadia Noir.

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicked off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists competed for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim.

Out of hundreds of artists that submitted online, thirty-five amazing artists were picked (trust me, all the shows were great, get thee down to the OC for shows!) to play the Showcase Series.

Seven weeks later, five acoustic artists and five not-so-acoustic bands were selected to go on to the finals.

Artists were scored on musicianship, originality, song composition, stage presence and audience participation.

Find out here who the finalists are, listen to their music, and learn more about their life stories in exclusive interviews.

First, check out some videos from all the showcases hosted by the beautiful Piper!

Night One:

Night Two:

Night Three:

Night Four:

Night Five:

Night Six:

Night Seven:

At each showcase, the winner will be announced at the end. All showcase finalists will receive an Ernie Ball Tour Pack filled with strings and accessories.

The Best Live Acoustic category winner will receive a four-day recording session at Red Bull Studios, an Ernie Ball Full Endorsement, the category title and performance slot at the 11th annual OC Music Awards on Saturday, March 3 at The City National Grove of Anaheim.

The winner of Best Live Band will receive the same plus 4 Southern California 2012 Vans Warped Tour Dates.

BEST LIVE ACOUSTIC FINALS
Wednesday, 2/22, 7:30pm – The Coach House

All Ages, FREE

FAN VOTE WINNER: Kacie Yoshida (8pm)
Tully Wilkinson (8:45pm)
Parker Macy Blues (9:30pm)
Allensworth (10:15pm)
Moonsville Collective (11pm)
RSVP and Details: FACEBOOK

BEST LIVE BAND FINALS
Friday, 2/24, 7:30pm – Samueli Theater

All Ages, FREE

FAN VOTE WINNER: We Are the Arsenal (8pm)
Midnight Hour (8:45pm)
Slime Kings (9:30pm)
Robert Jon & the Wreck (10:15pm)
Railroad to Alaska (11:00pm)
RSVP and Details: FACEBOOK

2012 Best Live Band winner will receive a performance slot on the four Southern Califonia Vans Warped Tour stops!

LEARN MORE AT: OCMUSICAWARDS.COM

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ As long as it's truthful. I think that's what's most important. And there's something that's more praised and celebrated about depression than there is about joy. But joy is just as truthful.
” Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

Despite their mischievous moniker, The Devious Means are a fun-loving five piece indie-pop band from Orange County who list their influences on Facebook as “singing, dancing, clapping, shouting, and high fiving” and their genre as “fun.”

And yes, they’re still a bit mischievous but in that pure-hearted way that has made them the band most positively mentioned by other bands in the OC Music Awards.

While their eclectic, dance-friendly sound possesses layered meaning and can delve into “darker tones” like on their new single “Witmer,” The Devious Means, in both their music and their personal energies, immediately bring a feeling of gaiety and sport to the stiffest of situations–interview included.

“As long as it’s truthful,” said Christopher Faris, vocalist and guitar player. “I think that’s what’s most important. And there’s something that’s more praised and celebrated about depression than there is about joy. But joy is just as truthful.”

“We’re just not really that depressed,” joked his brother, Andrew Faris, who is also a guitar player for the band. “So, we can’t really make any good music.”

“ From the first song to the last, every song represents something different about our interest musically. Let's just write good songs and who cares what genre it fits in. As long as we think it's a good song, that's what matters.
” Joined by Megan Polendo on bass, Jason Mize on drums, and Rachel Anderson on keys and vocals, The Devious Means are smart enough to know how to brand themselves to the outside world–even if labels can’t necessarily sum up the diversity of their sound.

“We definitely feel like we have a genre because it’s pretentious to say you don’t,” observed Chris. “We’re influenced by a lot of bands. We sound like a lot of bands. And, we’re probably not as original as we think we are, but we’re still original enough.”

“From the first song to the last, every song represents something different about our interest musically,” the singer continued. “Let’s just write good songs and who cares what genre it fits in. As long as we think it’s a good song, that’s what matters.”

“ I think our strength as a band is writing melodies that you can sing to. They're memorable, singable melodies. Stuff that's easy to invite participation live and stuff like that.
” “We’re an indie rock band. And the beauty of indie rock and the beauty of music right now is that people pay for songs and not albums anymore,” Chris concluded definitively. “So there’s something that’s kind of limiting and also freeing about that where we can write songs from a lot of different spectrums and still really enjoy that.”

One person that has helped the band maintain their varied sound is Dallas Kruse, a producer whom Chris calls a “virtuoso.”

Kruse, who runs Zion Studios, helped the band construct a new EP which the Devious Means dub a “direct contrast to the old one” because of its organic, natural sound and not a polished finish.

The Devious Means, in their effort for “truthfulness” within their music, even had the mixing engineer rework all the beautiful “blemishes” of sound back in.

“I don’t think we’re trying to be cooler than anybody or anything like that and I like that about us. I think that’s why we can move between genres and write any song that we think is good,” said Andrew when asked to describe their new sound.

“I think our strength as a band is writing melodies that you can sing to,” he continued. “They’re memorable, singable melodies. Stuff that’s easy to invite participation live and stuff like that.”

“It feels kind of silly to me. I mean, we’re all from Orange County,” Andrew noted. “How seriously can we take ourselves? Our life hasn’t been that hard.”

In a sort of sarcastic “first world problems” revelry, I joked about The Real Devious Means of Orange County wherein Chris replied that he’s going to get boobs but would have his image consultant pick the size.

“ My husband and I joke that I play in a psych-rock band because there's several songs that come out of your therapy sessions.
” A plethora of jokes about breasts ensue with someone noting that the member missing from the interview, Mize, would have an elegant, perfect answer for everything.

I replied jokingly, “He’d answer perfectly like he’d been trained by a publicist for a thousand years?”

To which Chris responded, “Signs off on everything he says.”

However, all joking aside, every member of the Devious Means is eloquent in their own right. Chris, who is a practicing therapist as his “day job,” especially so.

“My husband and I joke that I play in a psych-rock band because there’s several songs that come out of your therapy sessions,” said Polendo to Chris.

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ That's what makes our music interesting because we do come from different musical backgrounds.
” Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“We wanna find Kat and give her a big hug,” said Italian Japanese as they walked into the doors of KROQ for an interview.

Forming in 2009, the Laguna Beach-based band has been played on KROQ’s Locals Only for the past year, recently debuting their new song, “Two Islands,” one of a series of singles that the band plans to release this year.

With a sound laden with lush ’60s-style melodies, dark expanses of opaque vocals, and tinges of brooding layered within a danceable sound, the self-described “rock” band said that their influences are so varied that when writing songs, they all bring something different to the table.

“That’s what makes our music interesting because we do come from different musical backgrounds,” said JG, the drummer. “Being a drummer, I listen to a lot of rap. I love beats. I love pop music. I grew up on Michael Jackson, Madonna. All that sh*t…I bring some of that with my drumming style.”

“ It's very rare that someone comes in with a song complete...It's usually just an idea and we develop it together.
” Frontman Allen, who is the actual Italian Japanese of the group (he showed me a picture of his parents), lists his influences as Joy Division, Jesus and Mary Chain, Pink Floyd, and in complete contrast, country music.

“I’m just realizing this now, but I have a love for country music, like old country,” elaborated Allen. “I’m figuring it out now because my Dad used to play country music all the time.”

“And I’d just sit in the back of the car and I’d hate it. But over the past couple of years, I’ve been kind of researching old country and getting into that.“

“What did Joaquin [the bassist] say?” asked Allen to JG, “‘All the bands we like are dead now.’”

Allen, JG, and Joaquin are joined by guitarist and keyboard players, Chris and Sean, and the band are very much what JG dubs as a “collective.”

“It’s very rare that someone comes in with a song complete,” said Italian Japanese. ‘It’s usually just an idea and we develop it together.”

“It’s weird, because when we come in and there’s an idea sometimes the ideas spawn from a band,” said Allen, explaining their songwriting process. “Someone will come in and go, ‘Hey. I’ve been listening to this Ronettes song all day and I was thinking this would be a good idea for a song.’”

“And then it will start off with maybe a ’60s influences and by the time it goes through the Italian/Japanese machine it sounds totally different.”

“ We definitely have a certain way of writing music that's unique and pinpointing our style...I guess we are just a rock band.
” “There’s a song called ‘Capo’ that I like a lot,” the singer elaborates. “I like it a lot mainly because of the guitar work. Our two guitar players are totally opposite style-wise. The way they play on that song really meshes together in a unique way, so I like the energy and the vibe when we play that song.”

“We definitely have a certain way of writing music that’s unique and pinpointing our style,” concluded Allen. “I guess we are just a rock band.”

This is the third year in a row that Italian Japanese is heading to SXSW and now they are riding high on the popularity of their song “Two Islands,” which has not only been played on KROQ but on radio stations in San Diego and Orange County. 

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ As far as living in Seattle, for me to able to go out six nights a week--I needed one day of rest--and be able to go see great shows every single night was just a total hoot.
” Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“When a lot of people think electronic, they think techno or dance music which, in all honesty, I can’t stand,” quickly admitted Geoff Harrington, vocalist and keyboardist for Orange County based “electronic power-trio” Mphase.

“I grew up in the ’80s, so I’m more into New Wave and things like that,” explained Harrington, listing some of his influences as Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Art Of Noise,  Human League, and “anything Trevor Horn was involved with during that time.”

Harrington, who has played in “various incarnations of rock bands” whether it be onstage or in the studio, including Rocket From The Crypt and Motorhead (he was recruited to play a Hammond Organ for a Motorhead song, which he said he thought was a “total kick”) and lived in Seattle during the height of grunge music.

A piano player since about the age of 8-years-old who started his love of music playing “surf covers” at his “8th grade ice cream social,” Harrington said that he didn’t play in a band in Seattle because “none of those bands really wanted keyboard players in their bands,” but that didn’t matter when he got to see such great live music all the time.

“As far as living in Seattle, for me to able to go out six nights a week–I needed one day of rest–and be able to go see great shows every single night was just a total hoot,” elaborated Harrington. “The fact that in those four years, I didn’t really play with too many bands didn’t matter. I had so much fun…It was pretty cheap living still up there. You didn’t need much to get by. It was really great.”

“ The true meaning of it is that it's the chemical reaction in cell division that takes place, the point of division where the single cell is about to divide into two cells...It has no meaning to me as far as anything. In choosing a band name, I always try to choose something that no one else is going to use.
” Joined by James Fletcher (another OC Music Awards nominee this year) on drums and Fletcher’s brother Matt on keyboards, Harrington is now playing a style of music that he likes, writing his own “original music,” which he said is where he gets his “ya-ya’s out.”

Harrington is all about being original, one of the reasons behind his picking the band name, Mphase.

“The true meaning of it is that it’s the chemical reaction in cell division that takes place, the point of division where the single cell is about to divide into two cells,” elucidated Harrington. “It has no meaning to me as far as anything. In choosing a band name, I always try to choose something that no one else is going to use.”

Although Harrington has known the Fletcher brothers for almost two decades, it wasn’t until Harrington was asked to score “an ’80s style soundtrack” for a movie about Quicksilver and “the Newport Beach surf scene,” called Echo Beach, that Mphase really came into inception.

“Quicksilver threw an art show and party at the Standard Hotel in Downtown LA and they ask that I play at the event since I did all the background music for it,” explained Harrington. “For me to get up there and just play by myself, I thought, well, I better throw an actual band together so it doesn’t look so karaoke.”

“ They're easy to get along with. They don't have any hang-ups...None of your typical musician-type issues. They don't have those sort of hang-ups. They're super easy to work with so it was a no-brainer for me to involve them in the project.
” “James, the drummer, I’ve known and played with for 18 years. We’ve played in three or four bands together,” continued Harrington. “He  was available and he’s always up for doing anything new and exciting. Then to balance it out, I wanted to have another keyboard player…his brother Matt plays keyboards.”

“They’re easy to get along with. They don’t have any hang-ups,” elucidated Harrington. “None of your typical musician-type issues. They don’t have those sort of hang-ups. They’re super easy to work with so it was a no-brainer for me to involve them in the project.”

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ Ruby has sort of the same standpoint in music as I do...I listen to how she plays and then my singing influences her style sometimes and vice versa...We feed off each other really well. Finding a good writing partner is actually hard to do.
” Mandie from Mandie & Ruby Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“I met Mandie in high school, we were in this little punk rock/sort-of ska band. She was the singer and we wrote music all through high school,” said Ruby, one-half of Orange County acoustic-duo, Mandie & Ruby.

The pair, who have played together officially since October 2010, but have known each other for about nine years, were entered in the OC Music Awards based on the merit of their live performances at places like coffee shops, private events, and the Downtown Fullerton Art Walk and are thrilled by the crowd response.

Although the two have been in and out of other bands throughout their lifetime, the two hold down artistic day jobs (Ruby is a chef at Disneyland’s exclusive Club 33 and Mandie is a designer for her retro-styled clothing business Heartbreaker Fashion) and admit to having not connected so readily on the musical front with other people as much as with each other.

Mandie elaborated: “With Ruby, it’s really easy. She comes over. We drink a bottle of wine. It’s like, ‘Alright. Let’s write this. Let’s do this.’”

“Ruby gave me the opportunity to sing a different style,” Mandie continued, referencing her past singing career in “indie rock” group 1518. “I’m finding it’s much better suited to my style of voice. My style of singing. Ruby has sort of the same standpoint in music as I do…I listens to how she plays and then my singing influences her style sometimes and vice versa…We feed off each other really well. Finding a good writing partner is actually hard to do.”

“ I find myself very drawn to soulful music like the blues and jazz...I like reggae a lot too. Especially music that came out in the 1960s. I like vintage reggae as I like to call it.
” Although they are relatively new to the Orange Country music scene as a duo, both Mandie and Ruby have a lot of experience in music. Mandie has been taking private voice lessons since she was 11-years-old, went to an arts high school in Los Angeles, and majored in voice at Cal State Fullerton.

Ruby, who according to Mandie hails from Texas, said that both her and Mandie are jazz-trained and she has played music, in one form or another, since she was about 8-years-old. They both have similar musical tastes as well.

“I find myself very drawn to soulful music like the blues and jazz,” Mandie said. “I like reggae a lot too. Especially music that came out in the 1960s. I like vintage reggae as I like to call it.”

“I identify myself with a lot of old school reggae and jazz bands,” Ruby agreed, elaborating. “Just seeing videos from when I was younger of old jazz guitarists like Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery. That kind of inspired me to pick up that sort of style and I definitely like playing jazz and stuff like that.”

Mandie and Ruby’s live show consist of both covers and original songs. Mandie said that she treats covers as a way to introduce her friends and listeners to a song that they wouldn’t otherwise have heard.

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ The fruits of my labor are worth endeavoring upon because I put it back in the band. It's worth investing in.
” Daniel Morones of Foxxhound Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“The fruits of my labor are worth endeavoring upon because I put it back in the band. It’s worth investing in,” said Daniel Morones, the older half of odd-couple acoustic duo, Foxxhound.

Morones, in his early 30s, after poetically likening his career to an agricultural triumph, does his best to sip on another agricultural triumph: a giant beer in a thick glass goblet, so medieval that the singer and multi-intrumentalist jokes that he needs a “horse and a sword” to accompany it.

His other half, the pretty, fashion-forward college freshman and cellist, Lizzi Murtough, laughs at him mischievously in that kind of way one does when you know someone really well. When you’ve gotten to that point where you can enjoy (and embrace) their quirks on a deeper level.

“I make mistakes and she gives me those accusatory eyes,” jested Morones when we start talking about his dating life. Murtough replied lovingly, “And then I judge them.”

“Would you expect to see us together a year later?,” joked Morones, taking a jab at the duo’s age difference.

Murtough just started college and is majoring in cello performance. Morones, who said he doesn’t go out a lot, has spent 2011 focusing on working, the band, and his kid.

“ We're the best that we've ever been. I'm very brazen sometimes, but only because I feel that way.
” “It’s not a very glamorous life per se,” admitted Mornoes. “But we’ve landed a couple nice gigs. We’re going to go up to the Bay Area and play up there…I’ve been in bands that went nowhere and this isn’t it. This isn’t one of those situations.”

“It’s the first time I’ve had someone who built up my confidence and it was a safe trusting environment. It just kind of made both of us really good,” continued Morones. “Lizzi’s singing lead vocals on songs right now and writing lyrics. We’re the best that we’ve ever been. I’m very brazen sometimes, but only because I feel that way.“

“ The more comfortable you are with a person...And the more that person knows about what's going on in your personal life, they'll get it a lot more and they can relate to it better. If you can relate to something better, you can perform it better.
” Murtough agreed, explaining further:  “We’re writing songs more together now than we ever did before…Now we’re writing new songs so everything is more of our sound rather than just an older sound.”

Both of them confessed that, personally, 2011 wasn’t a fabulous year for them, but that they considered their music with Foxxhound to be a “refuge.”

“It was the one thing that I could just put my energy into without thinking about all the other sh*t that was going on, ” said Murtough sincerely.

“The more comfortable you are with a person,” the young cellist continued, “And the more that person knows about what’s going on in your personal life, they’ll get it a lot more and they can relate to it better. If you can relate to something better, you can perform it better.”