Author: "EmilyCassel"

Do you ever miss the days when boy bands reigned supreme? When *NSYNC dominated the charts and when having a crush on Nick Lachey was totally acceptable? At the risk of losing all of our indie cred, we’ll admit that we still rock out to “It’s Gonna Be Me” from time to time. And we must not be the only ones who miss the choreography, matching outfits and frosted tips, because last week VH1 announced that they’re giving ex-*NSYNC member Lance Bass his own boy band-themed reality show.

Looking good, bro.

The series, which is still unnamed, will feature Bass and fellow *NSYNC-er Joey Fatone, as well as former boy band juggernauts A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys, Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block and maybe even New Edition‘s Bobby Brown. From what we’ve heard so far, it’s sounding kind of like an all-male version of NBC’s The Voice— the former stars will each coach a group of young men, who will then compete to determine who will be the next made-by-TV band to crash and burn shortly after the series ends. (R.I.P. O-Town.)

If this sounds like it’s just a group of washed-up ex-celebs making a desperate last ditch grab at their former “glory”, well, that’s probably because it is. But hey, in a world where the Rolling Stones can tour into their seventies, why shouldn’t these guys stretch out their careers as long as possible? As long as this show includes at least one Backstreet Boys cover in every episode, we’re willing to overlook the crows feet and slightly less nimble dance moves.

The original cast of "Reservoir Dogs"?

Besides, Bass isn’t the first boy band star to get a career facelift over the last few years. New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys are in the middle of an expansive summer tour to support their latest effort NKOTBSB—a thirteen-track collaboration that peaked at Number 7 on the Billboard Top 200. And sure, if this was 1999 that would have been a Number 1 album, no question. But seven ain’t nothing to sneeze at, and their ability to sell out arenas on this tour may be proof that they’ve still got it. As we pointed out a few months back, fans of these bands may have been broke teens during their heyday, but now these same fans have enough cash to drop upwards of $50.00 on a ticket. If they choose to tune in every week, the same demographic that’s keeping the NKOTBSB tour alive could be enough to prevent Bass’ show from flopping.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that this show is another ill-fated venture in the vein of VH1′s Mission: Man Band. (Remember that series? Exactly. No one does. It was awful.) But after seeing the success of NKOTBSB and other more current boy bands like the Jonas Brothers, maybe we’re all just nostalgic enough for Lance Bass and co. to stand a chance in the music scene of 2011. Either way, we’re going to start relearning the dance moves to “Bye Bye Bye.” Just in case.

• Drake! No! The world doesn’t need any more emo kids!
• Bieber fans are like, kind of terrifying.
• Stephen Colbert and Jack White are a match made in heaven. And yes, we have seen your cat.
• Weezy’s got the right idea.
• Oh, awkward pictures of celebs, you’re so wonderful.
• We’re with Ellie Goulding on this one… wtf is a vajazzle?
• You definitely can’t go wrong with a Nas/Odd Future collaboration.
• Way better than being surprised with a birthday party.
• This is definitely a sign of the apocalypse, right?

• Okay Gags, but most people can’t just drop everything and head for Japan.
• It’s like Chris Brown wants everyone to hate him or something.
• Someone buy us a pair of these feathery shoulder pads!
• Yup. This is exactly what we’d expect from a Limp Bizkit video.
• Holocaust jokes, James Blunt? Very, very tactful.
• Mark your calendars for August 9th!
• Didn’t Buju learn anything from Willie Nelson? Sing in court, and you only have to pay a fine.
• Wands at the ready, kids.

Ever notice how every month seems to stand for, like, twenty arbitrary holidays? For example, September is Mold Awareness Month, and March is National Frozen Food month. Well, for those who don’t know, June just so happens to be Adopt A Cat month. (It’s also Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome Awareness month and Country Cooking Month, in case you feel like getting festive but aren’t into the whole feline thing.) We love our cats, and we’re pretty sure you OurStagers do too, so this week on Get Lyrical we’re taking a look at the track “Black Cat” from Angela Perley and the Howlin’ Moons.

“Black Cat” was inspired by Perley’s first pet, a black cat (duh) named Pewter. The human and feline pair grew up together, and she remembers chasing him around and attempting to pick him up when he was almost bigger than she was. But unfortunately, the Ohio-based singer-songwriter didn’t pen “Black Cat” after a day filled with running and playing; instead, it was written the night after Pewter died. “The lyrics came to me all in a stream of tears and were a way of remembering not only Pewter but a magical, carefree time in my life,” she says.

The song opens in melancholy fashion, with Perley crooning,“Black cat, lost friend… How you been?” It’s heartbreaking when she calls Pewter a “human in disguise,” because it so often can feel like our pets really understand us. But while it’s clear that Perley misses her pet, lines like “We used to play in the dark/lie in the grass underneath the stars” make the song more about her fond memories of Pewter than his passing. And she has plenty of fond memories of him: “Growing up as an only child I would always incorporate Pewter into my games and plays and make him characters in my fantasy world,” she says. “This sometimes involved trying to dress him up and make garden flower headbands for him.”

Things get a little nostalgic on the song’s wistful chorus— “Oh, to go back in time/childhood friend of mine”—and that’s probably because Perley is fascinated by generations past, especially the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. “I think that many of the songs I write seem to be written in the past or about the past,” she says. “I don’t intentionally do it, but I do notice after songs come to me that they often reflect bygone days and memories.” But despite her yearnings for the past, the song is more a celebration of Pewter’s life than a lament of his passing. And while the death of a furry companion is never easy, at least Perley has another feline friend keeping her company—her cat Olive is 24 years old!

Check out the sepia-toned, old-timey video for “Black Cat” below, because we all need songs like this to let us know that we’re not the only ones who really love our pets.

It can be hard enough for start-up bands to make it these days; between plummeting album sales, soaring touring costs and fickle fans there are plenty of landmines set to derail your efforts. And it’s harder still when your frontman is diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia months before your debut album is released. But Andrew McMahon and Jack’s Mannequin have persevered through the tough times, and plan to release their third studio album later this year. As the Orange County four-piece gets set to hit the road with Guster and Augustana, we caught up with McMahon to talk about the upcoming album People and Things, explore the deep connection he feels with his fans and clear up all the confusion about what’s going on with Something Corporate.

OS: This new album has been pushed back a few times…

AM: [Laughs] What else is new?

OS: True, not the first time we’ve had to wait a bit for a Jack’s Mannequin album. [Laughs] So why the delay—have there been problems with the recording process, or are you just trying to get everything exactly right?

AM: There are no problems, only solutions, right? No truthfully, I guess you could file it into the “perfectionist” category. And just timing—there’s sort of a lot of moving parts over here. I think a huge part of what I like to do—especially when finishing a record, which I can see how it can be frustrating to fans—is that I tend to like to sit back and listen a little bit and make sure it ages well. So yeah, that was part of it. We definitely finished most of the record in like, December or January, I want to say. Then we mixed it and got to the place where we knew we were happy with the recordings but we weren’t quite there with the mixes, so I went in and did another couple weeks. Just sort of did some touching up, and actually did a little work with Rob Cavalla, who now runs Warner Brothers and produces a lot of great records. He came in and we did one song with Rob at the end of the record and just finished mixing. So it is mastered and done now, I can officially say. It sounds awesome and I’m stoked, and hopefully we’ll have a release date for you guys in the next couple weeks. I’m definitely crossing my fingers.

OS: The two songs we’ve heard from the new record so far—“My Racing Thoughts” and “Hey Hey Hey We’re All Gonna Die”— both sound like they have a very classic rock, Springsteen/Billy Joel vibe. What kind of music were you listening to as you as you wrote People and Things?

AM: You kind of nailed some of it on the head there. I think for me—I don’t know if I’d say the biggest influence on the record—but certainly a turning point in the record for me was watching Paul Simon play the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert last year. Or it could have been a couple years ago now, for all I know. But I made an early version of this record that was truthfully almost too modern, and too pop. These are both things that I love a lot, but I just sort of felt like I was in this moment where I’d been playing and touring for so many years, and I had gotten to a point where I play with a band who are excellent musicians, and we’re capable of doing so much more than what ends up coming across sometimes as kind of cheesy, overproduced pop. So for this record it was like, “Let’s strip it down further than we have before, and let’s make this super honest.” And I really did rely more heavily on my earlier influences, the stuff I was listening to when I was growing up… guys like Paul Simon, and Billy Joel, and Bruce Hornsby and Springsteen. I think that a lot of those earlier influences, for me, came bare in this record. Guys like Tom Petty and even guys like The Counting Crows. I think this record as a whole speaks more to where I came from and what I grew up listening to, maybe more so than what I listen to now I suppose.

OS: You’re a very autobiographical writer, and your struggle with leukemia was a pretty prevalent theme of The Glass Passenger. Did that affect this record as well?

AM: I think to say that it didn’t would be a lie. I think it affected me differently, and I think I certainly—where Passenger I think played out in a very toxic way in my life—I think this record was a lot more healing. And I think my overall demeanor and my head space when making this record was a lot more positive. Even the harder spots, it was really focused on “Okay, this is how we’re gonna do this in the healthiest way possible.” With Passenger, I was just in such a sort of fucked up head space as it related back to so many other things that had nothing to do with my music, that it affected everything. It affected the way I perceived what we were doing in the studio and in turn, the way that things came out. There were just land mines everywhere, you know? [Laughs] I think with this record, certainly I had a lot more space from the troubles of the past, and I think in that sense I was able to talk about things that were a little more relevant to me currently than the ideas of what I had gone through when I was sick. This was the first time that I really was able to talk about how some of what had gone on during Passenger ended up affecting my personal life and my relationship and my relationships with friends and people at home. I think in a lot of senses that’s what People and Things ends up being about. It’s kind of, “Okay, you got through this. That’s over. Now you’ve got to figure out who you are and where you are without all that stuff, without framing it against all those other dramas that are now done.” I think that’s where this record comes from.

OS: Because you chose to document your struggle with the disease on film and release a deeply personal record in The Glass Passenger, your fans seem to really feel a really intense, close connection with you. How does that affect your work with Jack’s Mannequin?

AM: I think it really gives me reason for pause when I’m making things, and especially when I’m finishing them. I certainly feel like I have a sense of obligation to these people who have made it possible to live my dream on a daily basis. It’s sort of a dangerous relationship, because I do feel intensely bonded to these people. I really do. It can be a scary thing, because as an artist the number one thing you have to operate with is abandon, to some extent. You have to be willing to throw everything out to do what’s right for that moment. Sometimes these thoughts of having to please people and keep people interested in what you’re doing and staying relevant—especially as you get older as an artist—they do creep in. So I try to strike a pretty delicate balance. I really try to focus all my attention with the fans when I’m at the shows and try to maintain that closeness when I’m at the gig, and then I do tend to come home and hole up, [Laughs] and not show my hand too early, just so I don’t let it affect what I create, I guess. That’s a big part of it.

OS: Jack’s Mannequin will be on tour with Guster later this summer… how do you feel about going on tour after recording so long? Do you prefer one over the other?

AM: Truthfully, that’s a question where on a different day I’d give you a different answer every time. I love both so much. Granted, being at home and being in the studio is easier in that you’re not traveling, you’re not away from the people you care about and all that. But being on the road… it’s invigorating. I do this because I have a nomad spirit and I like to be constantly moving. I think the highlight—or one of the things I always look forward to—is just that sense of constant motion. Every day is a new day. You wake up in a different city and you have an opportunity to do that day differently than the one before. So you didn’t have the best show the night before? You can erase that with the show that night. It’s a pretty good way to keep yourself focused on the moment at hand—to wake up in a different place every morning.

OS: And speaking of tours—you had the reunion tour with Something Corporate last year, and now there’s a lot of conflicting info out there regarding your plans to play together again or record some new material. What’s going on there?

AM: [Laughs] It’s funny, because I feel like I’m always really direct about where it is that I stand with Something Corporate. But because I like to leave the possibility open that we would do shows again at some point, I don’t say we’re broken up. And we never say we’re broken up because we’re all still really good friends, you know what I mean? I would feel weird saying we’re broken up and then get together and do a reunion tour and be like, “Now we’re back together.” I don’t think we’ll do records. I can say pretty confidently that I don’t think I’ll make another Something Corporate record…anytime soon, for sure, and who knows if ever. Something Corporate was a period of time in my life, and it was an amazing period of time, but it was still another period of time that’s not now. But I love those songs, and I love the fans that love those songs. I like to leave open the possibility that maybe in a few years we all do get a month off and we can go jump on the road together and do some shows. I love playing with those guys.

OS: You mentioned that Something Corporate was a certain period of time in your life, so what has it felt like to return to those songs from your past now that you’re in a different place?

AM: I mean, it’s certainly a different experience. You certainly have a different experience with the songs. But to that extent, the first Jack’s Mannequin record I wrote six-and-a-half years ago, you know? And I still play those songs. I think my goal every time I write a song is that it’s a song that when I’m done with it, in twenty years it’ll still mean something. I think that’s kind of the challenge of my every day—to write these songs that I’m gonna like enough in ten years when I’m playing on the road. Because I plan on being there. But actually when we went out I loved it. I had so much fun playing the old songs, and sort of feeling—in a weird way—that they still seemed relevant to me.

OS: With all the touring you’ve done between these bands, you must have some crazy tales from the road.

AM: Oh, God, yeah. [Laughs] Every day there’s another story. I could go into detail for hours, but you probably wouldn’t want the recorder going. There’s all sorts of stuff, for me to just pull one out even seems impossible. We’ve had days where we’ve almost been arrested, we’ve had to sneak out of snowstorms when we’re the only vehicle on the road, driving for sixteen hours at ten miles an hour…We’ve done all sorts of crazy shit. But that would take a lifetime, to tell you all that.

OS: One last thing: if you weren’t making a career out of your music, what do you think you’d be doing? Do you have some other hidden abilities that your fans don’t know about?

AM: You know, not really. I sort of found this thing I liked when I was about eight or nine years old, and I never stopped. It sort of didn’t help me develop other areas of interest that much. If I were a betting man, I truthfully could see myself in some sort of element of design or aesthetic, like architecture or some other sort of design in a larger scale. I love buildings and shapes and the way things get put together. I could see that being something I could really find interest in.

OS: Awesome. Well, it doesn’t look like you’ll have to go with plan B.

AM: Hopefully not! But you know whatever, maybe one of these days I’ll get old and go to school to become an architect. I doubt it, but we’ll see.

Check out Jack’s Mannequin on tour with Guster this summer, and don’t miss People and Things (when it finally does get released)!

Canadian country band Cowboy Junkies changed their moniker last week—but don’t worry, the name change will only be effective in China. In order to get clearance to perform in a Beijing music festival organized by famous Chinese DJ Youdai, the Toronto-based four-piece was asked to change their name to Cowboy Fan.

Junkies guitarist Michael Timmins has since downplayed the name change, telling Spinner, “A person in China who knew us would refer to us as Cowboy Junkies, but the censors, or whatever you want to call them, need to know what the name means. That’s a hard name to interpret, so they interpret it as ‘Cowboy Fan.’ They know what ‘cowboy’ is because they have a translation for that. But for ‘junkies,’ well, what does that mean? So the thing they came up with is ‘junkies’ — that’s somebody who is obsessed with something. So they said, ‘Okay, we’ll call it ‘Cowboy Fan.’” But while the band may not feel that the censorship was too harsh, they did have to eliminate certain songs from their setlist due to lyrical content, including “I Cannot Sit Sadly by Your Side” and “Third Crusade.”

Here in the US, we’re used to a certain degree of censorship in our music—songs must have clean lyrics to be played on the radio or on television, for example, and bands who want to sell their CDs at Wal-Mart are forced to put out an edited version. But we’re lucky; generally censorship means YouTube temporarily pulling down M.I.A.‘s violent “Born Free” video or radio stations changing the lyrics of Tom Petty‘s “You Don’t Know How It Feels” from “let’s roll another joint” to “let’s hit another joint.” (And by the way, how is that any different?)

In some countries the government will do far worse things than edit your song if they don’t approve of your subject matter. Kurdish musician Newroz faced imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Iraqi government when he refused to stop singing in Kurdish or censor his overtly political songs. He was eventually exiled from Iraq.

In other nations, censorship means your music is banned entirely. Guns And Roses‘ Chinese Democracy is banned in China, and the country has also banned Western religious music. Oasis was banned from playing in the country after it was discovered that Noel Gallagher appeared at a Free Tibet concert in 1997. And, in order to tour China in 2003, the Rolling Stones had to agree not to play “Brown Sugar,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Beast of Burden” and “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” It isn’t just China—Lady Gaga has felt the sting of censorship from other countries. “Born This Way” was censored in Malaysia due to its references to homosexuality, and her controversial single “Judas” led Lebanese officials to impound shipments of the CD on the grounds that it was offensive to Christians. However, the government later released a statement that “The CD has received approval for entry and distribution in Lebanon.”

So, the next time you sit down with a copy of Sticky Fingers or Born This Way, make sure you really soak in Mick Jagger’s lewd lyrics and all the things that make Gaga’s “gay anthem” so enjoyable. Not everyone has that luxury.

• NOOOOOO!
• The most important news story this week: Coco thinks that Nicki Minaj’s behind is fake.
• Fiddy makes his own rules.
• “The ‘Edge of Glory’ video looks like something Phoebe from Friends would have made in 1995″ – these reaction tweets are amazing.
• Britney’s still got it.
• We’re confused by/excited for/nervous about this Metallica/Lou Reed collaboration.
• Is Mastodon kidding us with these song titles?
• Sooo… no more “Stacy’s Mom,” then?
• If anyone can do it, Oprah can.

• Dave Grohl, you are our hero.
• Matt and Kim videos are the BEST THING.
• So that version of “Mama’s Boy” wasn’t real? We’re disappointed too, Kanye.
• Everything you ever wanted to know (and a few things you didn’t) about Weird Al.
• Here’s some advice for anyone looking to test out their songs: “On the toilet is the best listening time.”
• First, Happy Birthday Tupac. RIP.
• Second, is this guy who claims he shot Tupac for real?
• Mama knows best.
• Seriously people? Take a joke.

• Why would anyone want to kill Joss Stone?!
• Don’t miss OurStager Lelia Broussard on Fallon tonight!
• Woah woah woah. They’re making a Fraggle Rock movie.
• Where have they been keeping the meat dress all this time? Does Gaga have a combination freezer/closet somewhere?
• Devo may have a point on this one.
• Amy Winehouse tour: so far, so good.
• 100 fans taken to the hospital for alcohol-related reasons. Take That knows how to party.

Whether it’s moving into a new apartment, reaching something on a high shelf or passing a difficult class, we all need a little help sometimes. Writing lyrics is no different. Sometimes having a pro with years of experience provide wisdom Mr. Miyagi style can give you the boost you need to write that epic song—or defeat the Cobras on a sprained ankle during the karate championships. (Sorry, I’m not sure why we’re stuck on Karate Kid references.) In order to provide you with a little valuable advice, we caught up with Robin Frederick, author of Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting and Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film and TV, to get her take on some of the things that can give your songs a lift.

OS: First, could you give us a little background info on yourself? How did you get into songwriting?

RF: I think most songwriters start out because they’re drawn to the idea of expressing emotions and ideas with lyrics and music. That was it for me. I just wrote on instinct and picked up song craft by accident in the beginning. Then I got a job writing three to four songs per week for the Disney Channel, and I had to learn a lot of song craft very quickly in order to keep up. I’ve also been a signed recording artist which is a whole different type of songwriting. Eventually, I worked as Director of A&R for Rhino Records so I got to see things from “the other side of the desk.” I learned what the music business needs and how important it is to be able to write good songs—songs you believe in—that also work for the music industry. Currently, I work with TAXI, a music company that helps songwriters and artists move forward with their craft and their careers. It’s been a wonderful experience. There’s so much talent out there. I’ve been lucky enough to make a living at what I love doing—songwriting—and I love being a part of helping others do the same.

OS: What do you think are some of the most challenging things about writing lyrics?

RF: I think the hardest part of lyric writing is getting emotions into your lyrics. Basically, songwriters must try to capture in words something that’s indescribable! What is love? Yet, most songs are about love. This is the great task of songwriting. If emotions could easily be put into words, we wouldn’t need songs.

Too often I see writers using cliches to express emotion: Lines like “you’re always there for me” or “love is blind.”  Cliches are actually true statements that have lost their emotional impact through overuse. Even though they’re true, listeners simply don’t hear them. Therefore, it’s important to find fresh ways to express emotion, offer new insights to listeners, if lyrics are to be compelling and effective.

To avoid cliches and increase the impact of your lyrics, try using images to create a mental picture of a situation or emotion and personalize it. Instead of “love is blind,” try “I’m stumbling in the dark when I’m with you.”  Translate a feeling into a physical sensation: “Your words are jagged nails.” (Check out the lyrics of Bruno Mars’s “Grenade” for a great example of this technique.) Kick up your action words a notch or two; instead of “I look at you,” try “I stare at you.” The word “stare” has more emotional intensity than “look.” A simple change like that can increase the emotional effect of your song on listeners.

OS: What are some of the mistakes that budding songwriters often make, and should be conscious of?

RF: First, I’d like to point out one of the things that we all do right—beginning songwriters and pros—we all put our feelings into our songs. That’s the whole idea of a song. Now… an effective, successful song is one that expresses the songwriter’s emotion in a way that reaches out to listeners and makes them feel it too.  When I hear a song by someone who’s just starting out, the problem is usually that the emotion the writer put into the song didn’t reach the listener. I can usually figure out what the songwriter was trying to express but the song doesn’t make me feel it.

This is where song craft really comes in handy! Because song craft exists solely to help you, the songwriter, reach your listener. There’s no other reason. Song craft wasn’t invented just to torture us songwriters. It’s not an arbitrary set of rules. Songwriters have been testing these ideas on listeners ever since the troubadours. We know it works. So… if you use lyric images and details, keep the focus tight, develop your theme, use the kind of structure that helps listeners follow what you’re saying, if you reinforce those lines that express the heart of your message in the chorus—in other words, if you use lyric craft to express your feelings—you’re more likely to hit a home run with the listener!

The biggest mistake I see aspiring songwriters make (and I made it too, at first) is to think that song craft is your enemy, that it will make you write formulaic songs that sound like everyone else’s. That’s a misconception that can really hold you back. Song craft is a challenge to greater creativity and, when you use it right, it provides a pathway straight to the listener’s heart.

OS: Do you have any tips for beating writer’s block?

RF: I honestly don’t think there is any such thing as “writer’s block” in the way people usually think of it: a lack of creativity, inability to keep a piece of work moving forward. Writer’s block is not about a lack of creativity; it’s about identifying and solving a problem so you can get on with things. The thing that stops you from writing is just a problem you don’t know how to solve. So, what you need are ideas for solving it, things to try. If your problem is getting a song started, then find three ways to start a song and try them to see which one works for you. If your problem is fear of failure or fear of not writing a song that’s “good enough,” then try using a hit song you think is great as a guide, or fool your “inner critic” by treating your songwriting as a game. Those are just a couple of suggestions.  Always give yourself plenty of solutions to try. Then, when a problem arises, you can plow right on through it.

OS: Are there any weird tips that you’ve found help write lyrics— things that people wouldn’t expect to be helpful?

RF: You can find song titles and lyric lines in the most unexpected places. Eavesdrop on conversations. Use headlines from newspapers. Here’s a good one: Check out some of the over-the-top talk shows where people get really emotional; I once got a whole verse from the Jerry Springer Show.

OS: If you could give just one tip to aspiring songwriters, what would you say? What’s the most important thing to keep in mind?

RF: Always write your emotional truth and keep your listener by your side while you write. What questions will the listener need to have answered? Maybe that ultra-poetic line needs to be followed by a more direct, transparent statement so your listener stays with you. Never “dumb down” your lyric for listeners but don’t treat them like the enemy, either. They want to get inside your world. They want to feel they’re on the inside, listening to honest, revealing, emotional thoughts. It’s all part of being human. Use it! Be human.

Check out Robin’s books on Amazon, and head over to her Facebook page for free writing tips!