Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte is an American Rock band from Maryland, and they were formed in 1996. The story behind me discovering this band for myself is again....through my friends. Back at my middle school, most people were in to rock, so it was easy to exchange bands and songs. My friend Charlotte (I found that to be hilarious), recommended that I listen to the band Good Charlotte. At this point, I wasn't really into Rock that much, I just liked the music that I heard on the radio. Now I'm proud to say that listening to this band has changed my perspective of music. Before I used to think that the songs on the radio were amazing. They were catchy, fun, and talked about relevant things that we're going on in my life. You can say that I felt some sort of connection while listening to radio music. But after listening to Good Charlotte I began to think that there was music out in the world that didn't only talk about the good things in life. I felt that rock music gave a more realistic view on what the song was about. I also felt that rock music was able to express ones feelings better, and sing something that has meaning.

The band consists of:

Joel Madden (Lead Vocals)

Benji Madden (Lead Guitar, Vocals)

Paul Thomas (Bass)

Billy Martin (Rhythm guitar, Keyboard)

Dean Butterworth (Drums)

I also remembered, in 2008 how Good Charlotte appeared in the iCarly movie. I thought that was really cool, because many people love that show so it was a good way to broadcast there music. 

Here's the link to the song that changed my perspective in the world of music:

Keep Your Hands Off My Girl

Mae

Mae, also known as Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience, is an American alternative/Indie band. This name was created by a course that the band's drummer had taken at college. 

The band consists of:

Dave Elkins (Vocals, Guitar)
Zach Gehring (Guitar)
Jacob Marshall (Drums, Piano)
Mark Padgett (Bass)
Rob Sweitzer (Keyboards) 

The band has released 3 albums which include:

Destination: Beautiful
The Everglow
Singularity

Some of their songs include: 

Waiting: * This is my favorite song that this band made. What caught my attention at first was the musicality of the song. It sounds very 80's in a way, with the techno piano. But on the other hand it has the rocky edge to it, which comes together as a very good song. 

Reflections: *This is another great song. What I like about this particular song is the drums in the background. It kind of reminds me of a traditional drum line. The drums during the beginning of the song up until the chorus is doing a series of different drum roles. 

Home: *This song is very similar to the song "Waiting". I say they are similar because the both have this techno(ish) feeling to it. But then it goes into rock, just around the peek of the chorus. What I also enjoy about this song is the beat and the singing. The voices are making different harmonies which really makes this song great. 

All Time Low

All Time Low is an American Pop Punk Band from Towson, Maryland. They formed this band in the year 2003. The band members consist of Alex Gaskarth (vocalist, lead guitarist), Jack Barakat (lead guitarist, backing vocalist), Zack Merrick (bassist, backing vocalist), and Rian Dawson (drummer). The band originally got its name from a song called "Head on Collision" by New Found Glory.

So far the band has released five albums. The albums are: The Party Scene (2005), So Wrong, It's right (2007), Nothing Personal (2009), Dirty Work (2011), and Don't Panic (2012). Some of the songs that I like from the following albums are:

Somewhere in Neverland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFVmlp60oJ0

To Live and Let Go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5yFg6BYTKo

Outlines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y2DkwtIc1M


One of the things that I enjoy about the band is not only the music but the fact that this band started out as a high school band. I, being in high school am greatly inspired by this because it shows the imense amount of work that these individuals put in to make themselves known. Especially being in high school, I can imagine the amount of skill it takes to sit down and write a song. For me, it's hard to write an original poem for English class. But for these gentleman to be able to write their own lyrics and come up with their own musicality to it, is something that I as a musician really value.

Switchfoot

Switchfoot is an American alternative rock band from San Diego, California. What makes this rock band different from the rest that I've written about is that this band is a Christian Band. At first, I didn't know that this band was christian, but I have heard about this band before. Personally one of the songs that I like most from this band is "Dare You To Move". I like this song not only because of the musicality and technicality that it probably took to create the song, but the lyrics are also very touching and reflecting. Usually, it's rock bands like this that have lyrics that make you reflect on your "life". Yes, that may sound extremely cheesy, but it's very true.

This clip is the song "Dare You To Move", which I previously stated was my favorite song. I also previously said that the lyrics have meaning and a story behind it. Here are the first two verses of the song:

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next
What happens next
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before

The band members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, background vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboard, background vocals), and Drew Shirley (guitar, background vocals). 

Atomic Tom

Atomic Tom is a rock band from Brooklyn, New York. The Band consists of Luke White (lead vocals), Eric Espiritu (guitar, background vocals), Philip Galitzine (bass, background vocals), and Tobias Smith (drums, background vocals). This band is not necessarily an "underground band" but they are not as famous as most.

This band stood out to me because they did something that I wouldn't think a band would actually do, and this in turn gained the band popularity. In October of 2010, the bands instruments were stolen, and at the time they didn't know what to do. But then they came up with an idea that is still used today. They performed one of their original songs, "Take Me Out" on their iPhones. Story goes that they originally performed this song in the New York Subway B train. This is what ultimately gained their band popularity.

Some of the songs that they released that are personal favorites are:

"You Always Get What You Want" (released in 2007)

"Take Me Out" (released in 2010)

"Don't You Want Me" (released in 2011)

"Red Light Warning Sign" (released in 2011)