The Mess, Seasons Album Released

    In 2008, Mike Gross was in between bands and things weren't looking so great. He was writing music and completed about nine songs before guitarist Brandon Lowe suggested playing the songs together. They quickly put a band together and Mike named the band, The Mess. "I felt like everything was a mess. No, I was 'The Mess'. Kind of stuck from there. Just thought it fit my life. I think most people can relate at one time or another." Recalls Mike.
    With their electronic focus, meaningful lyrics and poppy melodies, the band hailing from San Jose, CA has released a few albums and has even shared the stage with bands like Scary Kids Scaring Kids and The Sleeping. The band's diverse music taste has their sound influenced by bands like Jimmy Eat World, Saves The Day, and even Skrillex. Another huge influence on the band is dubstep and dance music. "We are heading into the electronic/digital age. We embrace it." Says Mike.

    On December 9th, 2011, the band released their album, Seasons. Seasons was their best received album online and received several positive responses. The album's content revolves around the many events the band has gone through over the last two years. "Extreme loss, extreme heartbreak, extreme joy and all shades in between. It starts with April Showers and ends with May Flowers." Says Mike. "[The Album] is a bit darker than our last two releases. Life happens. You wake up changed. You see through new eyes. I just try to keep the songs about meaningful things."
    The album's sound is made up of heavy drums and melodic, catchy vocals. The band had hoped it would create a great electronic blend that was both big in sound and fully developed. "The songs on Seasons sound more grown and have a depth and maturity our previous albums did not." Says Mike. "I feel like we have created our own sound. Something completely our own. We really could not be happier and we have a lot of amazing fans that support us."

    So what's next for the band? The band hopes to release a music video for the first track on the album, "April Showers." They are going to continue pushing the album, which you can buy at a show or online. The band will focus on pushing the album and expanding their fan base(and of course, taking over the world). Be sure to check the band out on Facebook for sweet updates!
    And now a word from the band! "Stay hopeful. Think for yourself. We hope to meet all of you some day in the future. Thanks to everyone that gives us a listen. I know its cliche but we would be nowhere without our fans. Thank you all."

A Piece Of The Action

    In the overwhelming music scene found in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area, you'll find a band at every corner. A Piece Of The Action is one of those bands. The metal band officailly formed in late 2009 after about a year's worth of jam sessions with different hopefuls.
    The oversaturated music scene in Los Angeles is where the band spends a lot of their time playing shows and practicing. When the band isn't fine-tuning their own skills, they're out supporting their favorite local bands. "We also do our best to help the scene grow into the monster it deserves to be by sharing events, cross promoting, and helping with member searches."

(Photo: Johnny Hirth)

    Since the band's first line-up in December 2009, the band has made several member changes due to members quitting for different reasons. It wasn't until Alfred Jasso (drums) joined the band in September 2011 that the latest line-up was complete. The current line-up consists of founding members, Adam Morales (vocals), Steve Castellanos (guitar), and the addition of Andy Olson (guitar) in September 2010, Dale Rosales (bass) in June 2011, and Alfred.
    In order to create the band's sound, which has been described as party metal/heavy metal, takes influence from bands like Lamb Of God, Deftones, Killswitch Engage, Between the Buried and Me, and Everytime I Die. Apart from the musical influences, the band takes from life experiences. "If there was a way to describe our sound it would be kinda like describing a feeling. When you hear our music its like energy rushing through your body. One song might make you want to kick someone in the throat, while another will help you get through a rough time in your life. If you could name a theme for our music it would be OUR LIFE translated into notes and rhythms."

(Photo: Johnny Hirth)

    The Skinny Magazine's Top 100 festival is a three day event that consists of several bands playing 9 stages located in one massive venue. "The first day was at The Queen Mary in Long Beach CA. Three floors of pure musical mayhem. We played the main stage and it was awesome. The crowd went crazy for us." The band was able to play the main stage on 2 of the 3 days, missing the 3rd day due to their tour schedule.
    The band's self-titled EP was officially released March 2010 and was made available worldwide in September. "It was a great experience to write it and an even greater experience to play for people. The sound of it could be described as symphonic metal." Now, the band is working on their follow-up EP, the currently untitled EP is pushing for an early January 2012 release date. "Our upcoming EP can be described as powerful, moving, angry, and life changing. Picture what the soundtack would be to the greatest battle in history and you'll have our new ep. What separates it from the last ep is its ability to show our growth as a band as well as our overall sound. Even though its heavier and more melodic then the last cd, you can still tell that its APOTA."

    Of course, the band will be working on new music and their upcoming EP, but what else does this over-the-top metal band have in store for us? "There are some shows that we will be playing before Christmas. We have a bunch of things in the works such as the upcoming cd, music video, new photos, and some new endorsements. We are also working on some tour dates for 2012 where we will be hitting states we havent been to yet. And if everything works out financially, we will be heading to Finland to do a 20 date tour with our good friends Neglected Fear.  While all these things are in the works/going on, we are hoping to reach a new level in the music world that no other band has."

Black End Coda

(Photo: K Jones Photo Project)

    The world is a never ending cycle of darkness and death. At least, that's what Downey, CA metalcore band, Black End Coda believes. This is represented in not only the band's name, but in the band's music as well. In Downey, there isn't much of a metal scene, so the band has taken to playing surrounding areas, such as Southgate, Huntington Park, and Compton.
    In October 2010, Brian De La Torre (guitar/vocals) was attending Whittier College and wanted to participate in an open mic night held on the campus. Brian asked his friend Devin Keogh to play bass for the performance and Devin agreed, also inviting Brian to play with his band some weekend. After playing together, they decided to make it a permanent set-up.

(Photo: Dbrandphoto)

    The band showcases a rough, gritty form of metalcore, drawing influence from metal and hardcore bands alike. Among their influences are bands like Lamb of God, As I Lay Dying, Motionless in White and Miss May I. The band describes their sound as dark and heavy. Their performances are visual and like most bands, they like to give it their all.
    "We have done many types of shows, e.g. bars, lounges, night clubs, venues, multiple genre, etc. but we always try to put on the best show possible. We like to be as visual as we are musical, so we put a lot of movements and energy into our performances."

(Photo: Dbrandphoto)

    The band recently started work on their debut EP, Dead Walk. The EP will consist of 5-6 tracks and is still in it's early stages. The first track is nearly complete and the band is working on the guitar tracks for the next song. They hope to release the EP early in the New Year and say the EP will be released by the end of January at the very latest.
    Their main focus is currently on getting the EP done, but the band will continue to play shows around Hollywood and will also be working on album art as well as art for merchandise, such as t-shirts. Be sure to keep an eye out for Dead Walk and keep up-to-date with band news through their Facebook.

Curses

    After several false starts and blunders, post-hardcore band, Curses were fed up and decided their musical ventures were cursed, hence the name. The band feels the name is also fitting because they believe that everyone has a curse. "Everyone has their cross to carry, their struggles, and things holding them back but, like us, you've gotta overcome it." Says the band. "We want to help people believe in themselves. These kinds of attitudes are what turn heads around, attract attention and get everyone speaking."
    This Coachella Valley band has been dormant for about two years. The band has not played a show since 2009 due to their lack of a vocalist. Their vocalist, Rocky Thunders, lives in San Diego and both David Ceballos(bass) and Emmanuel Beltran(guitar) live in Coachella Valley. The band is slowly, but surely working on their new EP. Once it's complete they will focus on playing shows to try and get their name out there.

    Coachella Valley's music scene is fairly active, with many bands of many genres including indie, psychobilly/rockabilly, punk, and alternative, but according to the band, metal is lacking. "With Curses we are thinking big. We really believe in our songs and in the impact that we could have. As far as being involved in the scene of the valley, we are. Since is not a big scene, we know most people involved in music. We help planning shows and sometimes we even let borrow our gear. I am really interested in recording and producing, so after our EP is done I would like to help other upcoming bands from the valley record their music." Says Ceballos.
    Emmanuel and David met through David's cousin and quickly hit it off because they shared music taste. "We liked Glam/Hair/Sleazy metal like Motley Crue, Faster Pussycat, La Guns, etc. but Mani and I were also into the new wave
metalcore/post-hardcore music so we started jamming." Says Ceballos. The band searched for a vocalist for a long time and finally met Rocky at a party. "I noticed he had a motley crue shirt and cowboy boots on so I asked what he played; after he said he was a vocalist we agreed to practice. The funny thing is that in that party everybody hated Mani because he was wearing sunglasses at night. Rocky was one of those people, and he showed up to practice not knowing he was the guitarist." Recalls Ceballos.

    The band describes their sound as dark and raw, with glam and 80's influences. "Powerful lyrics that are about real and relate-able themes. We don’t have a specific recurring theme as a band, but we have a personal experience or a personal feeling embedded in each song. We like to keep lyrics as close to us
as possible because as an audience, you could feel when the lyrics were
written with some passion or feeling behind them"
    With the band's upcoming EP, The Beginning of Something, the band hopes to better polish up their sound, aiming for a better dynamic with a wide variety of sound. "In this EP we have everything from
straight forward songs and structures, to complex songs with tempo and
key changes; from super heavy songs to a new age power ballad; from feel-good kind of songs, to fast tempo head-banging songs, and even with all this variety you can still tell is Curses material." Says the band. After the release of the EP, the band hopes to play more shows to promote the release.