The British Are Coming...

Friday: Blanks at Knitting Factory (Intern Dave also saw some other stuff)
Saturday: Bloc Party, Mew)
Sunday: (Lady Sovereign)
All weekend: (Sound Team and Cold War Kids)
(__) = not seen

Let's start with Friday. Blanks. Awesome. If you like the Rapture or any good dance-rock band, then you will like these guys. They are all really talented and rocked to the Old Office crowd at Knitting Factory including one of the guy's moms really rocking out. (I wish I could insert a video or picture here but neither Intern Dave nor I brought a camera.) Because I am not ready to give a fully upwards thumb, I'll give them a 3/4 up thumb. Good times.

Saturday: I really wanted to see Mew and pushed my brother to go early (6:00 set time) to see them. He argued that if the Secret Machines were boring (which is absolutely possible) that he would not enjoy Bloc Party as much. Valid argument but I won and we arrived in time to see Mew. As we pull up to the entrance, I realize I don't have the tickets. I did not even think once throughout the day about bringing the tickets. So back home we went to get the tickets and then arrived only in time for the last two Secret Machines songs. And they were good. I was pretty bummed we didn't get to see Mew or Secret Machines as even my brother thought those two songs were entertaining. He kept turning to me and asking if they were British because I guess their Seattle (or something like that) accents came across as British-like.

When we arrived, I ran into Bloc Party's sound guy and asked if they were going to go on ontime and he told me they would. Then I ran into one of my friends who works for Warner Bros. (Secret Machines' people) and we had a good little discussion about if on time meant 8:30 (what I had on my/Bloc Party's label schedule) or 8:40 (like the Secret Machines/WB schedule). They started exactly at 8:35. The set was pretty short (an hour and change with the long encore) but worked.

The sound was much much better than their last appearances in New York and great compared to other outdoor shows. It helped the music come across much better.

So it seems that Kele is becoming a rock star. He had a lot more banter ("It says 'no diving' ...Fuck it."), etc. I didn't mind it but it was just funny to watch. He definitely works the crowd much better now.

In general, the band gets better every time I see them. So it was a really fun concert and the venue was great. (3/4 thumbs up)

Sunday: Lady Sov
I have no review because I wasn't able to go but would love to hear from someone who did.

I also was not able to catch any of the many Sound Team/Cold War Kids gigs and don't know if I'll be able to make it tonight in Brooklyn.

I am still working on the review of the mix. Paul, I promise you will get your shoutout soon.

That's all for now.
-Intern Dan

The (soon-to-be In)Famous "Indie Rock Dance Party Mix" and other things...

So Nora was kind and generous enough to work extremely hard on a mix of my request. She slaved over it for hours upon hours upon weeks upon weeks and had to deal with me bothering her non-stop. As she mentioned, I told her I only like half of the mix. This is true. (However, Tiny's is more to my liking.) (A detailed review of the mix is currently in progress.) (Paul, I know I said I gave you a shoutout but it is going to have to wait until the next entry)

Speaking of annoying Nora daily, this is a call to anyone who can help: I WANT A PEOPLE IN PLANES album (the EP would be cool too). Not only will you be helping me but you will also be saving Nora from my constant nagging and saving Intern David from overhearing my nagging and then sitting through Nora's rambling on about how I keep nagging her.


Now for a concert review: Wax On Radio - cool band with a cool sound and good musicians. I think they have room for improvement but basically, I thought they rocked. I honestly didn't care that the singer was out of tune quite a bit. The band's coolness and overall sound allowed for such style (yes, I'll call it style, not lack of ability - again, they could all play their instruments). So, I highly recommend checking them out. I believe they are going to have a new CD coming out soon which I am guessing you should check out. (three-quarters up thumb - you will see a picture of a thumb in this position when Intern David gets around to changing my ratings into picture format).

I didn't see Mew or go to the Mew afterparty because well, let's see, someone forgot to mention that it was open bar. Oh well.

So to make this entry extra long, I am going to tell a quick story. Intern David and I met an actual person who we don't know who reads our blog (and by "reads" I mean read once in the very beginning). So, if you do read our blog, please pass it onto friends and let us know if you enjoy it. Intern David really likes feedback.

There was some cool Gnarls stuff going around the office today. Check this out - Gnarls Biggie.

That's all for now. (I will post the mix review later.)
-Intern Dan

Intern Dan's Bands (to listen to)...

So a bunch of people who don't consider themselves "hipsters" have been asking me what I (and Intern David) have been listening to. Considering we listen to music all day (although I don't have speakers today) and go to check bands out around the city, I figure maybe we can give some decent suggestions. This is not going to be an uber-hip list of bands nobody in the world knows but hopefully will be a good mix of bands so that everyone can find something they like (some a lot more well-known than others but I still suggest them).
So, here it is...
Intern Dan's Bands - and other music - (to listen to - not necessarily in a particular order):
Nightmare of You
People In Planes
Young Love (some songs)
The Levy
Spank Rock
Hard-Fi (check them out again if you already know them)
Panic! at the Disco (the reason I am including this on the list is because most people shun this band because of their rapidly growing popularity and I think that is a stupid reason to not check this band out.)

I know this is a small (and not the greatest) list but I'll add more bands when I have more time to think about it.

On a completely different note, I saw A Scanner Darkly (Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey Jr., etc.) the other night and thought it sucked. My apologies to any one of the major druggies out there who kill 102% of their brain but I guess shit happens. Maybe they could understand the movie better but neither my friend nor I enjoyed it.

Off to Pianos now for Wax on Radio.
-Intern Dan

Army of....

What about including Army of Freshmen in this little event?

Bands and stuff

Tuesday night's Annex event solidified People In Planes in my mind as a good band (3/4 up thumb). With their performance, Army Of Me solidified my perception of them as not being bad. I actually thought their set was quite good (halfway up thumb). No comment on the first band (thumb down). So overall, good night.

Speaking of Army of Me, has anyone heard Army Of Anyone with the DeLeo brothers from Stone Temple Pilots and the singer from Filter? Someone should probably host some type of fight/competition/olympics/academic decathalon to see who could own the rights to "Army Of...." Who would win? You decide. Vote (i.e. via a comment or telling us. Extra points for coming up with a clever form of competition.)














...Me
vs.
...Anyone














I was surprised when I saw People In Planes tuning up acoustic guitars after hearing their album but they pulled it off. It was a lot more bluesy than I expected and it had a sort of Nirvanna Unplugged vibe. A new intern, Rachel, joined the group for the show and really liked the guy's voice. She took pictures and if she remembers to send them to me I will post them.

Supposedly MTV was filming them all night at the Bowery (didn't get to go because apparently real press has more influence than interns) and the Annex (although I didn't see the camera people during PIP's set. Although I don't want to guarantee it, I think they should be big. Make sure to check out their awesome music video directed by Juaquin Phoenix on their website.
Speaking of which: buy this album:











I know this may sound creepy that I care but I did get to meet Karen (plus one). I had asked Nora to introduce us because at my first real party with DJ's who have really good taste last summer at the Engineers/Bloc Party afterparty at Hiro, I enjoyed the Tarts of Pleasure. I then worked for these managers who were talking about the Tarts of Pleasure DJing some other party and so I found out who those two DJ's were. So, there you have it.

Some pictures from Annex (Nora's pictures as usual):
Vaness'as back (I think) and Intern David:














Intern Dan and Abby (is it just me or does it look like she has a hairy shoulder? Nice shirt Abby. This is what you get for hiding/stealing my umbrella.)














Right after I posted about getting into the Nightmare of You album, I saw their video on Fuse on Steven's Untitled Rock Show. (Yes, I was watching Steven's Untitled Rock Show but it was mostly because Head Automatica were the guests.)

That's it.
-Intern Dan

The Lack of Sirens...

I can't speak for anyone else but I could not convince myself to stand in a crowd of people at Coney Island in 90+ degree weather to listen to an outdoor sound system. I'm sure I missed some great sets (Stars) but at least I got to go to the Yankee game (and I won't write any more on this because I got shit earlier for posting one sentence about going to a bar with friends that had nothing to do with music, etc.)

We didn't update much last week so here is a basic rundown of the shows:
Alice Smith at Mercury Lounge: She has a great voice. Shy but great voice. And by the looks of the cars outside, I'm guessing she got a deal out of it too. (I give her a sideways thumb)

The Levy at Cakeshop: Not the best sound but I didn't care. I thought their music sounded great. (I give them a 3/4s up thumb.)

Besides that, it was just some showcases. Intern Dave will have more shows to review for you at his earliest convenience.

This week, we have Poeple in Planes at the Bowery and then at the Annex with Army of Me. Definitely come check it out. Cool guys, good music.

On a more review-like note, I have finally gotten really into the Nightmare of You Record. I know that I'm behind in this but it has taken some time for me to be able to really sit down and listen to it and have it grow on me. Also, this is not new to my liking but it's in my stereo: Little Brother's The Minstrel Show. It is such a great album and if you don't have it you should definitely check it out.

That's all for now.
-Intern Dan

Rock Street Cred...

So this new rock intern has some serious street cred. Intern Erica actually knows her ROCK. You would never believe it, but she actually pulled this off...

-Intern Dave

New Experiences, New Intern...

So apparently, Dave thinks he's the only one with any Photoshop skills. I have only one thing to say to that: wait.

Now that I am hanging out with the uber-hipster-like Nora, I go to places like the Annex. Nora and Intern Dave dragged me out and we went to the Skinny and the Annex and took some wonderful pictures.

be serious:

try again:

and again:






We got to hear some good music (i.e. the new Young Love song) . We also found out about this great new website: youlookterrible.com If you enjoy laughing at the expense of others, this is a site for you.
You can see girls like this:


Finally, there is a new face being added to The Rock Interns. Meet Intern Erica (photoshopped photo to be posted soon by Intern Dave). Erica will be joining us for the summer going to concerts and such. After tonight, she will be able to join in the The Rock Interns band rating system. Her rating will be designated by a pink hand. More opinions, more hands, you get better ratings. The first three-thumb rating system. Siskel & Ebert's original ratings got nothing on the The Rock Interns system.
-Intern Dan

p.s. If you ever see these guys at a bar, make sure to challenge them to a game of pool... they wear matching shirts.


However, don't challenege this guy...he will win.


-Intern Dan

Introductions...

Hey Everyone...Intern Dave here for the first time. Intern Dan and I work in the same office and we were inspired to write a blog by our boss, Nora "Special K" Walker, who spends literally hours in the office each day maintaining her very hip blog. And yet, she makes it look as if she spends absolutely no time on it at all...she truly is amazing.

I am not really into the whole sharing my life story or venting my emotions in my blog thing, so I'll leave that up to Intern Dan. He and I go to shows every night, so every weekday this blog will be updated with reviews of each show that we attend. We will use our (semi-confusing) custom grading system we like to call the "Up-Side-Down" method. Red shall represent Intern Dan, while Blue represents myself. You can think of it as a five star system ranging from Very Poor to Excellent.

Thumb Down - Very Poor
Thumb Side - Poor
Thumb Up - Okay
One Up/One Side - Good
Both Thumbs Up - Excellent

For example, this would be a rating for a show that Intern Dan thinks is okay, but I think is good:








Got it?

I feel like Intern Dan has skipped a step in this whole blogging process. He has jumped into reviewing shows and talking about his personal life before he has even introduced himself. So for my first post, I would like to share a little bit about Intern Dan. And since they say a picture is worth 1,000 words...this may be all you need to know:




(Photo courtesy of Abby's Private Collection)

-Intern Dave

Sparks and Some Fireworks...

So, as I would imagine, most of you know, the fourth of July weekend just finished. Tally Hall, Motherfucker, fireworks, etc.














Friday: The much publicized Tally Hall gig at Sin-e and Cut Chemist.

One suggestion: See Tally Hall and THEN listen to their CD (it's better than the other way around). They really pulled it off live and the crowd for them was the biggest of the night. It was really packed and Dave went all the way to the front. I must say, despite my supervisor/boss' warnings, the cheese level was surprisingly low.

However, as much as I love an extremely crowded Sin-e and Sparks (more on this later), we left to go to the Cut Chemist release party at some loft downtown. I finally got to meet Phil so now I feel I can beg him for tickets. (Phil, if you're reading this, please put us down for some Muse tickets.) However, it seemed as if we could not get away from the Sparks and extreme heat. So, we left after about 20 minutes.
(Photos courtesy of Nora)

We think we saw comedian Dave Attell at Sin-e...but it could have been the Sparks messing with our heads.

Another suggestion: Stay away from Sparks. I drank one of the big cans and got an instant headache. So then I thought it would be a good idea to try one at the loft party. Again, bad idea.

Monday: Motherfucker.
This was my first Motherfucker experience. I brought my brother along to make it a nice family affair. Thank you Nora for the Futureheads tip and for watching after me the rest of the night. The Futureheads are always fun to see live but it was certainly a less energetic show than normal for them. While I'm thanking people, thank you to the person who gave me a bracelet.
Afterwards, we left and hung out with People In Planes. Good guys who actually have a clue about the music industry. You ashould go see them at the Bowery and the Annex on the 18th.

Tuesday: Dinner, Fireworks, and Delayed Planes
So I got to see fireworks from the restaurant in Astoria where we ate dinner but didn't get to go to the city because Geoff's plane was delayed over two hours. Good times.

Wednesday: Drinks
It was Geoff's first night and Hayley's last so we drank at Prey. Good open bar. Highly recommended.

So in conclusion, Intern Dave went back to New Orleans but had no power. I'll let him write about that. Back to work.
-Intern Dan