Author: ButalaAshley

Last night, I was fortunate enough to go back to The Pike Room in Pontiac, MI to see all local Michigan bands perform with some of my friends. We missed Boys of Fall, but were able to see all of the others perform. Now usually I would go into the set lists and stuff, but being as I can’t find them anywhere this concert review is just going to be from memory which isn’t much. Narco Debut went on stage before Brightwell, and Sycamour was last. That was my first time seeing Narco Debut and I liked what I heard. They had that soft sound like Boys of Fall does which is what attracted me to like them. Each band had a 5 track set except for Sycamour which came out and did an encore at the end. Brightwell did their hit single “Scripts” and their entire EP which consists of 5 tracks called “Alpha.”  Sycamour did a lot of their hits which I can’t recall names, but it was still pretty dope. Last night was my first time seeing most bands except Sycamour. My first time seeing them was at Chill On The Hill in 2014. All in all I thought all bands did pretty good, except I had my favorites as we all do so I was mainly their for Boys of Fall, Brightwell, and Sycamour. The Pike Room is a really small venue and that was my second time being their. The last time I was their I saw Paradise Fears with Action Item and I was in the back so I didn’t have a great view of the stage as I did last night I was literally right in the front row.  I’d recommend checking out all of the bands I mentioned. Sorry this isn’t the best, but I really didn’t have much to work with this time so I did my best.

Sycamour: http://TheHeartwood.com

Brightwell: http://youtu.be/Iybm4OxNA48

Boys of Fall: http://weareboysoffall.com/

Narco Debut: narcodebut.bandcamp.com

French Canadian rockers Simple Plan from Montreal, Quebec formed in 1999. Comprised of five members Pierre Bouvier  (vocals), Chuck Comeau  (drums), David Desrosiers (bass), Sebastien Lefebvre  (guitar), Jeff Stinco  (lead guitar), the boys have released five studio albums. In 2002, the debut album “No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls” was released. “Still Not Getting Any” was released in 2004 which was their second album. Up next was the self titled album “Simple Plan” in 2008. 2011, the fourth album “Get Your Heart On” was released. The fifth studio album which was released this year (2016) “Take One For The Team” has been the best album yet.

“Take One For The Team” that just dropped last week has been by far the best album the band has done thus far. I thought all of their other albums were decent, but this one I knew was going to be epic because last year I got to hear “Boom” and just knew oh this is going to be different then previous albums.  My top two favorite songs are “Opinion Overload”, and “Boom” 🙂 Check this album out if you haven’t yet.

Let’s talk Warped Tour now. 🙂 From 2001-2005, 2011, 2013, and 2015 are all the years the band has played, and they also played at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Last Summer, my girl and I had the chance to attend our very first Vans Warped Tour at The Palace in Auburn Hills. Let me tell you was it a day devoted to meeting Simple Plan lol. I mean don’t get me wrong we went around and saw some pretty good bands, but before we hit the two main stages we waited in line to meet the guys. Now for me when meeting artists/bands I’m not a crazy fan like most people I’m myself, and so I was nervous that HC was going to act like a 5 year old and melt into a puddle of Heather and then I’d have a hard time explaining that to her BF lol, but luckily that didn’t happen and we were both surprised. This band we both grew up listening to, and so when we met them and got autographs and saw that they were really chill and awesome I was like holy crap this was so worth it. After the meet and greet we headed up to the two main stages and when Simple Plan came out and performed “Boom” and some of their old songs I knew that regardless of whether I was obsessed with them or not that that day was more than worth it and if I could go ser them again I would. That was one of the best days I had had in a long time and I was glad I got to share it with one of my best friends for life! ❤

Links:

Website: http://www.simpleplan.com

Itunes: smarturl.it/TeamSP

Amazon: smarturl.it/TeamSPAmazon

Google Play: smarturl.it/TeamSPGP

Spotify: smarturl.it/TeamSPStream

Where are all my local Michigan music fans at??? Fear not. Let’s just dive right into it. Here We Harbour is a local band from Michigan. This Alternative/Hard Rock band came out with their first EP “Arrivals” last year. This six track EP has a “We Came As Romans”, “Hands Like Houses” feel to it considering these two bands were influences. Some songs off the EP are: “Face Value”, “Forgive, Don’t Forget”, and “Find Me” just to name a few. I first heard of this band last night (Sunday) on “The Homeboy Show on 89x” which is a show that plays local Detroit and Canadian artists every week from 9-10 P. M. “Forgive, Don’t Forget” was the song that was playing on last night’s show. I found myself wanting to check out the entire EP so I did and thought all it took was one song for me to get hooked. 🙂 If I had to recommend a band for humans to check out it’d be this one. Michigan has some pretty amazing talented bands/artists. So go Like, Share, and Listen! 🙂

Website: http://www.hereweharbour.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hereweharbour

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrICQMATOOc8_z8Z4PTczAw

Last week we all watched as CT and Faith (Diem’s younger sister) paid tribute to the MTV challenge star who lost her battle with Ovarian cancer on November, 14, 2014. CT and Faith walked out and this seasons rendition of the Challenge “Bloodlines” cast all clapped and as we all were doing at home bawling. I know I lost it. The way the two paid tribute was by demoing “Too Clingy” which for those who watched “Duel 1” then you know the challenge where Diem took her wig off for the very first time on national television and absolutely dominated the competition by winning “Ring Toss” was one hell of a monumental moment in challenge history that will forever be remembered as one of the best moments.  The phrase “Do it for D” was born, and so in last night’s episode of the Challenge CT and Zack both showed up in yet another twisty curve ball that’s been just one of many this season. Both dominated against Jamie, and Mike sending Mike and Abram home. Making Cara Maria and Jamie the champs of last nights elimination round in the pit. Seeing CT compete again was just like old times and amazing as usual because as we all know CT is known as “a challenge legend.” He still has what it takes, and I hope this isn’t the last time we see him, but I do understand if he never wants to do another challenge again. I think Diem would want CT to compete though and do it for her because she will forever live on in the challenge family, and all of us fans as being one of the strongest competitors who never gave up or quit and she was loved by many. ❤

Canadian Pop/Rock band Marianas Trench was formed in 2001 from Vancouver, British Columbia. This 4 member band consists of lead vocalist-Josh Ramsay, lead guitarist=Matt Webb, bass guitarist-Mike Ayley, and drummer-Ian Casselman. Currently the band is signed with 604 Cherrytree record label. Let’s talk albums now. First up was the band’s 2002 EP release of “Marianas Trench.” Then came the band’s first debut album entitled “Fix Me” that was released on October, 3, 2006. On Feb, 24, 2009, “Masterpiece Theatre” was released which was the second studio album. November, 11, 2011 was the release of the third studio album “Ever After.”

Some of the popular singles coming from all three of these albums include “Shake Tramp”, ” “Ever After”, “By Now”, “Say Anything”, “Fallout”, and so much more. In 2009, the song “Cross My Heart” was nominated for four MMVA’s. “Ever After went gold within its first week in 2011. Last year the band released their fourth full-length album.

On October, 23, 2015 “Astoria” was released. This 17 track album consists of songs such as “One Love”, “Who Do You Love?”, ” “Wildfire”, “Forget Me Not”,and the self titled track “Astoria” just to name a few. “Astoria’s” dynamic compositions make it different from previous albums because every song brings something different which makes this album unique and one of the reasons I found it way more appealing than the first two albums. The third album was better, but this one takes the cake for sure. I mean I don’t think there’s one song on “Astoria” that you can’t dance too because I’ve been doing it since I started writing this lol. 🙂 In September of 2015 the band announced their “Hey You Guys” U. S. tour which started in November, 2015.

Links for Marianas Trench below:

www.marianastrench.net

www.myspace.com/marianastrench

http://www.facebook.com/MarianasTrench

Twitter @mtrench