[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ It's a feel-good music in a weird sense. It's not like we're trying to promote happiness or that we're trying to promote sadness...The idea is more to make people aware that there's pain and depression and that it's a very normal thing and it's something that you should accept.
” 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 was thinking about this today when I was going to work because I was wondering what I would say, wondering who I was today,” thoughtfully said Justin Suitor, vocalist and guitarist of grunge alt-metal band Railroad to Alaska.

“I thought, I don’t know if I can speak for them on this,” continued Suitor, “But for me, when I write music and stuff,  it’s a direct reaction from all of the experiences that I’ve had. Basically, I have this terrible feeling inside me all the time that I subdue. For me, I write dark sh*t. I’ve been waiting for this. I’ve been this dark all along and now we’re finally all feeling that.”

Suitor points to his bandmates, Jeff Lyman (guitar), Justin Morales (vocals/bass), Derek Eglit (drums), and Ryan Williams (lyricist/artist), emphasizing that they are all, whether they hide it well or not, are on the same wavelength when it comes to expressing the “darkness” within them as a band.

Williams, the not-so-silent fifth member, replied that there is something cathartic about Railroad to Alaska’s “dark” music that makes people who listen to all different types of musical genres feel comfortable in sharing the shadowy sides of their souls.

“It’s a feel-good music in a weird sense. It’s not like we’re trying to promote happiness or that we’re trying to promote sadness,” elaborated Williams. “The idea is more to make people aware that there’s pain and depression and that it’s a very normal thing and it’s something that you should accept.”

“People show up and they know that they can do whatever they want or say whatever they want because it’s happening onstage to some extent.”

Learn more about Railroad to Alaska!

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ It's all about community and energy. And wanting another drink and being broke.
” Eric from Slime Kings 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 didn’t want to just be a punk band. We’ve all been punk bands or rock bands or something like that. Now everyone loves everything; everyone wants to dabble in a little of everything,” said eclectically-influenced Orange County band, Slime Kings.

With influences like the “Clash, old soul, punk, jazz” and tinges of reggae scattered throughout their music, Slime Kings is definitely not a straight-ahead punk rock band. And according to guitarist and vocalist Adam, they’re also “not your typical ska band.”

Sucking down the last remnants of his Jack and Coke (and hinting a few times for another one), lead singer Eric admits to not “liking” a ska song they were playing in the car and said he “didn’t listen to any punk or any ska before these guys.”

“But I was their friend,” Eric continued. “I was in another band that was progressive rock and we would play shows together at this house that we lived at…Eventually, things happened and I was a huge fan of theirs. As I joined the band, they started teaching me more of their influences and I just grew to love them. It’s all about community and energy. And wanting another drink and being broke.”

Learn more about Slime Kings!

Photo by Michelle Kelley

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ We swore to a witch doctor to never disclose where our name comes from...Our last two percussionists, Blind Whitey and Slimey Blime, suffered a 3rd degree moon burn curse administered by the witch doctor for telling people about our name.
” Death Hymn Number Nine 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!

Haitian tenets of voodoo. Time-tested folkloric beliefs. Brain-killing pharmaceuticals. The blind following of social or political doctrine. Whatever apparently creates a zombie can be debated, but what creates a killer (this time literally?) rock band cannot: hyper-specific branding, wild stage antics, crazed guitars, and skull-bashing personas that shun kitsch for some horror fanatic’s rock ‘n roll erotic dream.

Thrash-psychobilly “zombie” band, Death Hymn Number Nine from Orange County, don’t care if you are dead or undead. As long as your brain is ripe for the licking or you’re a “street-walking girl.” And they’ll never tell you where they got their name from.

“We swore to a witch doctor to never disclose where our name comes from,” said Death Hymn Number Nine. “Our last two percussionists, Blind Whitey and Slimey Blime, suffered a 3rd degree moon burn curse administered by the witch doctor for telling people about our name.”

Sticking to their “characters,” the band answered a few interview questions over e-mail, which was a shocking revelation: We didn’t know zombies had internet access. It must be hard for them to not get their post-mortem body fluids all over the keyboard, but that certainly explains half of the “people” on Twitter. 

Learn more about Death Hymn Number Nine!

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ I feel like the singer is really telling me something, is trying to reach me, is not trying to mince words. I feel like they're right there, in the room and telling me something. I need to listen and I do. I listen.
” Jeff Lyons from Red9 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!

“For me, there’s an honest energy to it…There’s emotion. When I listen to the vocals and how it’s presented, I feel like the singer is really telling me something, is trying to reach me, is not trying to mince words. I feel like their right there, in the room and telling me something. I need to listen and I do. And I listen,” said Jeff Lyons, bassist and lead vocalist of Orange County hard alternative rock trio, Red9.

I asked him probably one of the most difficult questions to ask a rock musician: how do you define rock ‘n roll?

These days, the definition of rock vacillates greatly. Indie rock is so vastly different from progressive rock; hard-edged guitar-driven alt-rock is so different from “Americana.” But when most people think of rock music, Red9 could be dubbed as a quintessential “rock” band.

Learn more about Red9!

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

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 stars were aligned; the moon was in the right quadrant; the universe was in a deliriously mellow mood. Whatever energy was being thrown down at Night Four of the OC Music Awards Showcase Series at Malone’s in Santa Ana was pretty special.

Or maybe no cosmic intervention was needed.

It could be that acts like Kacie Yoshida, Button Willow Locomotive, I Hate You Just Kidding, Skee, & Honeypie have tons of friends in the OC music scene who came out to support.

Or it could be that each one of these artists creates sublime moments of sound and mood, vacillating serenely between moments of melancholic sentiment and sun-drenched types of ditties.

Whatever it was, last night was a good example of how, given the right tools and talent, acoustic artists are some of the world’s most powerful storytellers.

OC Music Awards-Night Four!

“ The voice is still relationship loss which I think is a common Honeypie theme in a song, so that's kind of the reoccuring theme.
” Ryan Radcliff from Honeypie 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 voice is still relationship loss, which I think is a common Honeypie theme in a song, so that’s kind of the reoccuring theme,” said Ryan Radcliff, one-half of the charming Orange County duo who are named after the Beatles song of the same name, Honeypie.

“We’re not talking about politics or anything,” Radcliff continued. “None of us got married or had kids or anything–so it’s not like we’re singing songs about mortality or something like that.”

Joined by the always sweet-natured redhead lead singer, Trisha Smith, we are sitting on a post-rain, sun-drenched patio in Silverlake at a “juice and tea” spot, almost exactly a year after Honeypie’s interview for the OC Music Awards last year.

A lot has changed in the last year. The pair are working on a new album of their specific brand of sparkling country-fused acoustic rock with “awesome” Young The Giant producer Jonathan O’Brien (which comes out sometime in the spring), Smith has gone through a tragic loss, Radcliff has moved around a bit, and the duo are planning to take their first-ever trek to the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

Randomly, the “juice and tea” spot is run by two members of  local band, Vanaprasta. Radcliff takes a couple moments to talk to lead singer, Steven Wilkin, about possibly playing a Los Angeles/Orange County showcase at SXSW.

Learn more about Pwest!

“ There's a battle going on between good and evil. The force and the dark side.
” Skee 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!

“Now I’m just calling it folk ‘n roll,” said the ever-funky, blues-driven singer-songwriter, Skee. I’ve caught him on his “Sunday Funday,” which is apparently a day full of football, champagne (which might make an appearance at tonight’s show), “deep voices,” and “all sorts of other things I’m not allowed to speak of.”

There is also the elusive “rock ‘ n roll clown,” Mr. Pickles, whom Skee said is “as real as probably Hunter S. Thompson’s attorney.”

To put it in Skee’s words, the singer-songwriter likes to “go down the rabbit hole sometimes,” which is less odd than it is a heartwarming expression of his creativity.

The “folklore” of Mr. Pickle and Skeedaddle aside, this is Skee’s third year competing in the OC Music Awards and the musician said “even though he felt lucky and blessed before,” he feels even luckier that they “let Skeedaddle in again.”

Learn more about Skee!

“ There's something about the sound of an acoustic guitar or a mandolin that pulls at you in a familiar, melancholic way; it's soul stirring.
” Button Willow Locomotive 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 feeling of wanting to see my family in Oregon,” said darked-haired folk chantuese, Amanda Carson from Irvine’s Button Willow Locomotive, when describing how external ephemera inspires her music. “The feeling of painting and cooking, New York City, maybe the open and honest storytelling style of Augusten Burroughs, and people…I’m highly and most often influenced by the people in my life.”

“Oh and this Joanna Newsom lyric from En Gallop: ‘Never get so attached to a poem you forget truth that lacks lyricism,’” finished Carson.

In essence, their album 8 Tracks is also about “truth in communication.” Button Willow Locomotive said the album “tackles a certain element of longing and struggles in communication with other people.”

The young singer-songwriter is part of a indie-folk musical collective called Button Willow Locomotive which includes co-founding member and co-vocalist, Alex Heflin whom she met at the University of California, Irvine.

Last year, the pair was joined by Kyle Gustafson and Albert Law on bass and drums to bring their lo-fi confectionery folk (with a bit of a Decemberists-style narrative lyricism and bluegrass twang) to those very people in Carson’s life whom influence her.

Learn more about Button Willow Locomotive!

“ You don't have to have super expensive equipment; you don't have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to have a nice sounding EP. You gotta have a good vibe and feel it.
” Kacie Yoshida 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!

“Terrifying. It was scary,” Orange County-based Kacie Yoshida said, describing her first experiences playing an open mic (and singing, for that matter) in front of a crowd in 2009.

Despite her initial bout of stage fright and the sweetly vulnerable motifs of her music, the 23-year-old acoustic artist doesn’t seem shy. In fact, Yoshida in an interview is smart and rather sassy, a shell harder to break through than one would guess from her music. But totally worth the effort.

Although the singer-songwriter quipped that she does “everything in moderation,” Yoshida is currently working with her “awesome” boss, Bill Bennett, at Sweet Relief after graduating from college and planning on going back to school soon. Yoshida seemingly balances her life well between her work life, her school life, and the pursuit she struck up when she was 12 just to “make noise”–playing guitar.

Learn more about Kacie Yoshida!

Photo by Donna Moyer

“ Here are some things that seem to motivate us to create: Love. Fear. Traveling. Animals. Dreams. Daydreams. Boredom. Food. Alcohol. Being annoyed. The weather. Carl Sagan.
” I Hate You Just Kidding 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!

In the middle of an emotional crisis or an introspective reverie, the Days Grow Longer. Orange County-based I Hate You Just Kidding‘s album released last July and of the same name speaks to those sorts of long days–and to the evolution of the duo as a whole.

Comprised of sweethearts Jessi Fulghum and Jeremy Brock, I Hate You Just Kidding woo’d the OC Music Awards last year with cinematic, but sweetly-tinged acoustic folk.

This year, the pair has summoned forth those “longer days” with a new “summery” sound–fuzzy, dreamy shoegaze surf-pop lyrically contrasted with what I Hate You Just Kidding describes as “friendship, frustration, despair, impatience,” and “time.” 

Learn more about I Hate You Just Kidding!

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

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!

If you didn’t walk away with your eardrums buzzing (or a solid buzz from the awesome cocktails) you were totally doing Night Three of the OC Music Awards Showcase Series at the Slidebar in Fullerton all wrong.

The place was packed with beautiful people and an eclectic turn-out of fans for bands like We Are/She Is, Midnight Hour, Ceasefire, We Are The Arsenal, and PWEST.

OC Music Awards-Night Two!

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

Photos from night 3 of the OC Music Awards Showcase Series at the Slidebar in Fullerton, featuring We Are/She Is, Midnight Hour, Ceasefire, We Are The Arsenal, & PWEST

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 think that's our generation now...When I grew up, my dad listened to Grateful Dead and all that stuff...A lot of my friends go to...all the Furthur shows. And then the next night they go to a dubstep show.
” Warren Murrel of PWest Mulling over the Coachella 2012 line-up makes it overwhelmingly evident that the current young generation of music connoisseurs aren’t content to label themselves with one musical genre. These hip, equal-opportunity youths easily buy tickets to (and equally appreciate) a rock show, a dubstep DJ, or some down-tempo reggae.

With their eclectic tastes in music, frontman Peter West and drummer Warren Murrel of Orange County’s PWest (pronounced puh-west) are seemingly musicals leaders of their generation, standing on the precipice of something great with cool rhymes and live drums deftly fused with indie-rock samples and gritty, raw production.

“I think that’s our generation now,” Murrel (or WarrenZ) expounded. “When I grew up, my dad listened to Grateful Dead and all that stuff…A lot of my friends go to…all the Furthur shows. And then the next night,  they go to a dubstep show.”

“It’s totally polar opposite, but one night it’s a bunch of barefoot hippies dancing in some grass fields and the next night,” continued Murrel, “you’re in front of a bass speaker.”

Learn more about Pwest!