Andrew McMahon at The Viper Room

Show: Andrew McMahon

Venue: The Viper Room- Los Angeles, CA

Date: 1/9/13

Show #2

Last night I saw Andrew McMahon at The Viper Room in his first solo show post Jack's Mannequin. I was surprised to even hear about a show from him so soon after the Jack's Mannequin farewell show at the El Rey just this past November, but mostly just excited to see him again. He explained that his friends from Fun asked him to join their upcoming tour and he needed to get a band together much quicker than anticipated. Prior to this show, he said they had only rehearsed 7 or 8 times. So props to the band for getting everything together so quickly! They nailed it.

I'll briefly touch on his opening act since I plan on doing a full write up on them when I see them at Hotel Cafe this month, but I feel the need to mention them now I was so impressed with them. Their name is Pebaluna and they're an indie, acoustic duo (although they're usually a full band with 4 members, last night there were only 2) from Long Beach. The woman's voice was to die for, and when you put both of their voices together, it was something else. I recorded 2 songs, but I suggest you go get their album or check them out at their residency every Friday this month at Hotel Cafe here in LA.

Going into the show I had expected to hear an hour and 15 minutes of Andrew trying out new material he had been working on, throwing in 1 or 2 Jack's songs to keep the crowd happy, however that was not the case. He ended up doing only 1 new song, and the rest of the evening was filled with a mix of Jack's Mannequin and Something Corporate songs, although I'm not complaining! He did quite a few Something Corporate songs actually. Most notably "Konstantine", "Punk Rock Princess", "The Astronaut" and "21 and Invincible" (which he prefaced by saying he's too old to be singing anymore). I also couldn't help but laugh when the curtains opened up and I saw Jack's bassist Mikey up there with Andrew. No matter how much he says Jack's Mannequin is over, Jack's will always come alive every time he's on stage.

The new song he did was called "Learn to Dance". He let the crowd how nervous he was to try out the new song in front of an audience for the first time, but everyone loved it, including myself. I recorded the whole thing (below) so you can judge for yourself:

All in all, he was incredible as always. He said to keep an eye out for tour dates in the Spring time, so if he's not coming near you on this tour, there's still hope!

Hanson Music Video Shoot

L-R: Zac, Director Adam Neustadter?, Alex Beh, Nikki Reed, Drew Seeley, Amy Paffrath who faints in video, Taylor, Kat Dennings, Paul McDonald, Isaac

Today was so amazing, I don't even know where to begin!

Short version: Hanson put out a casting call for Los Angeles area fans to be in their new music video, I submitted, didn't get picked, but my friend did, so I knew when and where to show up, which I did, and ended up getting in anyway! The song is great (Sounds like it could be on Shout It Out), and Taylor told me that it should be released in "Uhhh...A couple months".

Long version:

On Friday, Hanson posted on Facebook that they were looking for fans in the LA area to be in their new music video, which was scheduled to shoot on Sunday. Thankfully a friend pointed it out to me and we both immediately applied, as it was a casted event. Saturday night rolled around and still no confirmation email saying I got picked. I was so anxious waiting for that email that I sat in front of my computer refreshing my inbox every few minutes. It made me feel better though that no one else on Facebook or Twitter was saying they received anything, so there was still hope.

I ended up falling asleep, but woke up that morning to a text from my friend saying she was selected. Yet, still nothing in my inbox. I couldn't bear the thought knowing Hanson was filming 10 minutes from me and not being there, so I decided to go and try my luck, hoping to get in due to no shows. And that's exactly what happened! There were only about 5 or 6 girls who showed up not having been invited, and we all got in!

Me getting my number assigned and picture taken

The shoot was at The Satellite, a small music venue in Silverlake. Call time was 11am, but my group ended up not going inside until around 2:45. There was a small group of people who were asked to get there at 8am for other shots. Then the 11am group got split up into 6 groups. I was in group 5. Once we got inside, the guys were already on the stage, messing around on their various instruments. They were all in black and white suits, and just looked amazing. I mean, I've never seen them look anything but amazing, but they looked exceptional today.

Credit: @stacepowe

The next 3 and a half hours was basically just getting filmed enjoying watching the guys, so you know, a hard days work. I was so excited to see Kat Dennings when I got inside, then found out she was in the video. Also in the video was Nikki Reed, Drew Seeley and Drake Bell. Also there, although not in the video (at least I didn't see her filmed at all), Meiko! If you saw them on their last tour, she opened for them. I became a big fan of hers after that and have seen her a few times since then. I ran into her outside and told her I was a big fan, which she seemed to enjoy, and thanked me.

Nikki played a bartender, who ends up leaving with Drew at the end of the night. Kat was with an unknown actor (former boyfriend of Jennifer Love Hewitt) named  Alex Beh. I unfortunately didn't see Drake, I believe he left before I got inside, so i'm not sure what his part in all of it was.

In between one of the takes, I was standing next to Nikki and a fan asked how she got involved with the shoot. She explained that a few years ago, the guys found out she was a fan (from a blog post of hers), and invited her out to a show. They had been friends ever since, and later found out that her very good friend Kat Dennings was also friends with the guys. The guys proceeded to ask both girls to be in the video, and both being huge Hanson fans, they were instantly on board. Just watching her talk about the guys, you could tell she was a true, genuine fan and was excited to be there. Finding out she was such a huge Hanson fan made me hate her a little less, only because I'm jealous of who she's married to (Paul McDonald... *Sigh*).

Kat was clearly very excited to be in it as well:

The song is called 'Get the Girl Back', so the story revolves around the guys in video trying to get their girls back. One of which (Alex Beh), spills a drink on his girl (Kat Dennings) and she takes off. The video even has a dance battle scene with Josh (JMac) Hanson! The song is super catchy and fun. It's along the same style as Shout It Out. They had a horn section on stage with them who call themselves the Brass Knuckles. They posted a video talking to Zac here:

 Taylor was very, very involved, and vocal throughout the shoot. He was calling out continuity issues and working on things with the director to get everything just right. Zac and Isaac didn't say much, and just left it to Taylor. Taylor took a special interest in the crowd and directed us multiple times to just go as crazy as possible, but as he said "We want you to go crazy! Well maybe not foaming at the mouth crazy, but crazy!". He was also big on making sure we had all the hand claps and rhythms down perfectly.

The highlight of the night for me was when I got selected to actually have a part! There was a scene where a fan in the crowd was to faint, and I got picked to be the girl that catches her, so I definitely will be getting some face time from that! Yay! The other highlight was when the guys came up to the front rows and shook everyone's hands, which was being filmed, and I'm hoping my shake with Taylor makes the cut! After the final shot inside, they said goodbye to all of us, and shook all our hands again. I even managed to form a sentence (which is a rare occurrence with me and Hanson), and asked Taylor when the song would be released and he responded with "Uhhh...a couple months", and kind of laughed. So basically, TBD.

Once we were done inside, we all had to lineup outside the venue for one more quick shot of all of us, as if we were going into the show. We also saw Kat, Nikki, Alex and Drew walking hand in hand as if they were leaving the venue. Taylor, Zac and Isaac even came outside to watch the final shot, even though they weren't in it. Once that was over, they invited us all to huddle around them and they graciously thanked us and said the new album would be out "soon". They gave hugs, shook hands and said goodbye to everyone. I didn't see anyone get a picture with them, since it looked like they took off pretty quickly, so I left too.

All in all, it was an amazing day! I'm so excited for the new album and of course for this video to premiere!

P.S. To all the other fans who were there, I just wanted to say, you were all so sweet as usual. I've never had a bad experience with Hanson fans, so thanks for keeping that streak going!

Royal Teeth at the Roxy

Show: Royal Teeth

Venue: The Roxy- Los Angeles, CA

Date: 1/3/13

Show #1

I'm back! Things got a little crazy last year, and by crazy I mean I was going to so many shows that I forgot all about posting! Well that's going to change this year. I ended up going to 82 shows last year. Yeah I can't quite believe it myself. Not gonna lie, pretty proud of that. Going to so many shows made it hard to keep up with this blog, but I'm going to try and change that this year. Already off on the right foot posting pictures the day after a show! Go me!

Last night I went to see the band Royal Teeth. Who the hell are they you ask? A band you should be listening to, that's who! I saw them last year at the Satellite opening for.... someone I can't remember. But they stole the show that night. Let's be real, everyone dreads opening acts. You see them take the stage and just think "please don't suck", and your expectations are low. From the first few seconds into their set, I was SOLD. So naturally, I've been waiting for them to come back to Los Angeles.

When I got to the Roxy, I found the crowd surrounding the stage during the first opening band... all about 10 feet from the stage. I hate it when people do that. Just go up to the front, it's awkward for everyone, the band feels weird, and you look dumb, so move up.

The band on after these guys, were called Lakes (@lakesband), and I actually really enjoyed them! The lead singer has all the makings of the perfect indie leading guy, the scruffy beard, the great hair that is just perfectly out of place, plaid shirt, dreamy eyes... oh and he has a great voice too.

After them was the Active Set. Check out their song "Famous for Dying", it'll get you moving! Watch the video here

Next was who I came to see, Royal Teeth. These guys are a band you need to see live to really appreciate. Don't get me wrong, I love their music, but lead singer Gary's stage presence just takes it to a new level. He puts so much emotion, energy (seriously though, he's like a jumping bean on stage) and passion into each song, it instantly draws in the audience. It's one big dance party. Oh, and the best part, there are so, many, drums! I'm such a sucker for a stand up drum, and wow do they beat those drums. The broken drum sticks scattered around the stage is a testament to that. Other lead singer Nora is also amazing. Her voice is so pure and beautiful, you can't get it out of your head.

When I saw them at The Satellite last year, Gary jumped off the stage with his drum into the crowd, which I was hoping he'd do this time too, and he did! Oh, and he did all of this sick! They actually had to cancel their show scheduled for tonight because it worsened.

Check out some of their music on their website here: www.royalteethmusic.com or on iTunes now!