Tag: rockstar

#Review: Yonaka – Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow

Matt Wright - Muzik SpeaksLeave a comment

facebook_logos_PNG19751.png    ios_homescreen_icon.png   app-icon2.png

Yonaka are one of the hottest bands to come out of Brighton in recent years. The rock quartet, comprised of Theresa Jarvis (vocals), George Edwards (guitar), Alex Crosby (bass guitar) and Robert Mason (drums) formed in our home town, some four years ago. The band have been busy touring and recording, making big waves in the industry, even signing to Asylum Records (part of Warner Music Group). Now, 2019 sees the release of their debut album, Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow. Here’s what we have to say about it…

Yonaka - Don't Wait 'Til Tomorrow.jpg

Having already received a lot of favourable press and released the successful EP, Creature, in 2018, the pressure was on for Yonaka to produce a hard-hitting debut album. Luckily though, the band have delivered a piece of work that really packs a punch, demonstrating just how much potential they have and what a great career they have ahead of them.

From opening track, ‘Bad Company’, with Theresa’s wonderful falsetto vocals and the captivating, accompanying instrumental, the album never fails to impress!

For a fledgling band, it’s so easy for their songwriting to be immature and instrumentation to be lacking in diversity, but that’s where Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow truly stands out. ‘Awake’ is a truly grungy, lyrically cutting track, whilst ‘Guilty (For Your Love)’ displays anthemic rock song qualities, sure to have crowds singing it back to them.

Some other songs to really take note of: ‘Lose Our Heads’ is a rather commercial offering and could easily find its way to mainstream radio, ‘Creature’ has a rock-out feeling that is sure to get audiences moving and ‘Punch Bag’ is a high-energy, no holds barred, knockout track that shows Theresa is just not someone you mess with!

Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow is ambitious and undoubtedly a strong debut, delivered with conviction and tenacity…

Title track, ‘Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow’, very much feels like a modern-day incarnation of Blondie and ‘Fired Up’ could easily be a new direction taken by No Doubt; all of which just goes to show how this could easily be the album a band with a lengthy career already behind them…not their debut!

‘Wake Up’ is a surprising track with its dreamy, almost ethereal feel and is a song to get completely lost in – it could happily sit on repeat and never get boring.

However, probably the best track on the record has to be ‘Rockstar’; the song wonderfully encapsulates Yonaka right now and manages to be chaotic and exhilarating, whilst also be cool and composed. It’s a song that could suit so many moods and sees Theresa forcefully singing, “I just wanna be a rock star, baby,” something the band can rest assured that this debut is sure to help them achieve.

The album draws to a synth-driven close with ‘The Cure’ – a track which leaves the listening hanging and certain to come back for another listen.

Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow is ambitious and undoubtedly a strong debut, delivered with conviction and tenacity and certain to pave the way for one of Britain’s newest and most exciting rock bands! Bring on the tours and roll on album number 2!

Rating
4-5

‘Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow’ is out now and can be downloaded from iTunes – https://music.apple.com/gb/album/dont-wait-til-tomorrow/1451808477

Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow on Spotify

Lose Our Heads (Official Live Video)

Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow (Official Live Video)

We hope you’ve enjoyed our review! What do you think of this band’s debut album, Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow? Are you as much of a fan as us? What would you rate it out of 5? Please leave your thoughts in a comment or via our social media.

Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other reviews here:

Muzik Speaks Album Reviews

Matt – Muzik Speaks
www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks
www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

Advertisement

#MellowMonday: Post Malone – ‘Psycho’ featuring Ty Dolla $ign

Matt Wright - Muzik SpeaksLeave a comment

   

facebook-like   Instagram

Post Malone burst onto the UK music scene back in 2017, with his massive, Number 1 hit single, ‘rockstar’. Now, 2018 has seen the release of his second album, beerbongs & bentleys, the third single from which is this, ‘Psycho’, featuring guest vocals from Ty Dolla $ign.

Whilst this song hasn’t quite replicated the success of the album’s lead single, ‘Psycho’ is a fantastic track, which peaked at Number 4 in the UK charts.

Lyrically, the song refers to Malone‘s lifestyle and addresses the theme of trust issues that can arise out of fame; it’s a very personal track. This sits on top of a laidback trap beat with a simplistic, yet seriously catchy melody. It’s a subtle yet powerful song.

The music video is pretty cool too – flames, snow, tanks, deserts…it’s a big-budget, rather epic affair.

What are your thoughts of this hip hop artist? What’s your favourite song of his? Do you have a #MellowMonday track to recommend us? Please leave your thoughts or song suggestions in a comment or via social media.

Matt – Muzik Speaks
www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks
www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

‘Psycho’ can be downloaded off iTunes now – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/psycho-feat-ty-dolla-%24ign/1373516902?i=1373517312

#MuzikSpeaks: An Interview with Everywhere

Matt Wright - Muzik SpeaksLeave a comment

   

facebook-like   Instagram

Everywhere released their most recent single, ‘Moments’, back in 2017 and their fantastic EP, Fiction Act back in 2016, but have been busy doing a whole range of things, from writing to gigging and much more, since then. We were lucky enough to get some time to catch up with them and chat about a few things. Here’s what they had to say…

Hey, how’s it going?
Hey man! Awesome, how about you??

Very well thank you. Obviously you recently released your awesome new single, ‘Moments’, and the reception seems to have been great. Is this a sign of a new EP or album in the pipeline?
Thank you so much! Yes, ‘Moments’ was a sort of in the middle kind of track to keep the juice flowing. We’re currently penning another bunch of tunes that should end up on another EP, hopefully around this fall!

What other future plans have you guys got?
We’re looking at getting out on another tour to promote some new music, also doing loads of writing for film and TV in Hollywood. We’ve become kind of a factory 🙂

That sounds incredible! Where do you take inspirations from when writing your music?
We recently discovered a pretty neat trick, think it was Taylor Swift who said it. Basically, we write down fun and cool titles as they come to mind and during our daily writing sessions, we work these titles around tracks that we make. It’s an easy was to stay creative and never let the process stall.

What’s your usual process for writing/recording?
Our frontman Max has his daily sessions, when he sits down and builds tracks in Logic, he then takes those tracks into writing sessions with London writers and producers and builds demos. He then takes those demos to the rest of the band who expands on those arrangements. When we have a good amount of songs, or sketches we then head into a bigger studio such as Abbey Road, or if we happen to be over in LA we go to East West where we create the final master.

Wow! Abbey Road…pretty cool. So, if you could do a collaboration with anyone, who would it be and why?
It would be a pure pleasure to work with Max Martin. Just for the pure fact that he’s had so many Billboard hits and is a fellow Swede.

What music have you been listening to most recently?
Mostly our own, as we’re currently doing loads of writing. Other than that it’s the usual suspects, a good mix of classic rock and top 40 hits. Recently rediscovered Echo & the Bunnymen, The Cure and loads of other nice little nuggets from the past.

If you had to cover a recent chart song, which song would it be and why?
It would probably be ‘Rockstar’ by Post Malone, such a masterpiece.

What makes a great show for you?
One where people turn up and go nuts. A sold-out show is always a great one.

Do you have any pre-show or post-show rituals?
The singer, Max, always stays sober but drinks a Red Bull while the rest of the band get hammered.

Haha! Has anything scary ever happened to you on tour?
This would be a perfect place to deliver a well crafted lie, but unfortunately, besides a few heavily overweight old women going for a good grab from behind, that large disaster is yet to arrive *knock on wood*

Do you have any other passions outside of music?
Politics, painting and reading.

What really grinds your gears?
Death Metal, not the greatest thing since bread. Wouldn’t categorically call it bad but generally it’s not up our street.

What’s the best film you’ve seen lately?
I must say The Disaster Artist was amazing, just had me nailed from beginning to end and would warmly recommend it to anyone.

If, in say 20 years time, a film was made about your life, who would you want to play you?
Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Edward Norton and Mark Wallberg, directed by Michael Bay.

Haha! That’d be one EPIC movie! If you could be any chocolate bar, which one would you be?
Snickers.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Focus on your craft and the rest will follow. People tend to overestimate their skills and always wonder why the success never happens.

Everywhere‘s releases are all available:

Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other interviews here:

Muzik Speaks Interviews

#MuzikSpeaks: An Interview with Bars & Melody

Matt Wright - Muzik Speaks2 Comments

   

facebook-like

Instagram

With the recent release of their second album, Generation Z (check out our review), and currently touring around Europe, we were lucky enough to catch up with Bars & Melody about their recent release, how their writing process has developed, who they’d most like to collaborate with and what Charlie’s most disgusting habit is. It’s all here…

Hey guys, how’s it going?
Hey, we’re great!!!

So you released Generation Z in September and the reception seems to have been incredible, how exciting has that been for you?
Generation Z is an milestone in our career. It’s our second album, we’ve grown so much since our first album, and it’s amazing to see the reception, as it is so great.

Where did the idea for the album title come from and what’s the meaning behind it?
So we were out in Florida writing a song called ‘Scream’. The song was about all the problems of the world, and how unfair it was that our generation (Generation Z) have to live with all the mistakes that the people before us had made. One of the lines for that song is “Generation Z more like Generation Dead” and we found that lyric very powerful, so we decided to name the album Generation Z in honour of that.

What’s your usual process for writing/recording an album?
Our creative process when making an album usually consists of us playing around with a guitar, or listening into some ideas our producers have came up with. We take a lot of time writing lyrics and thinking of meanings for every song.

How did this compare to the experience of recording your debut album?
Generation Z‘s recording process was completely different to our debut album. During our debut album, we were very young and didn’t put as much thought into the writing as we did on Gen Z. Although we love our first album 143, Generation Z is our favourite.

Where do you take inspirations from when writing/recording your music?
When we write our music we take a lot of inspiration from the thought process of teenagers. All of the obstacles you encounter going through the teen phase. We also take inspiration from heartbreak, love and the beauty of the world.

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be and why?
I think if ‘Bars and Melody‘ were to collab with anyone, we would love it to be Justin Bieber, we love his music!

What music have you been listening to most recently?
We love to listen to all different types of music, from Pop to Rock, Rap, Electronic, LoFi and Jazz. We love Music!

If you had to cover a recent chart song (not on your ‘Covers’ album), which song would it be and why?
If we were to cover in the charts right now it would be ‘rockstar’ by Post Malone, We love that song.

You’re heading out on tour at the moment, where are some of your favourite cities/countries to perform at?
We love Asia! Japan is a personal favourite of ours. But we love performing everywhere!

You’ve done shows across the globe but what makes a show particularly amazing for you?
There was one show in Japan where we supported Big Bang, an amazing KPOP group. We performed to over 80,000 people.

Has anything really scary ever happened to you on tour? If so, what?
Nothing really scary has happened to us on tour, luckily.

What are some of the best things that have come out of BAM?
I would say the best thing to come out of BAM is our lifelong friendship. Even after BAM ends, we’ll always have each other.

Have either of you got any disgusting habits?
Leo: Charlie likes to burp a lot and then blow it in my face.

Do you have any other passions outside of music?
Leo: I love to play video games and skateboard!

What really grinds your gears?
I really hate mess!

What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you, in life?
The most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me was when I did a school play when I was 5 years old…I wet myself on stage! Oops!

What’s the best film you’ve seen lately?
The best film I have seen lately is a movie called Nerve, I watched it with all my friends! It was amazing.

If, in say 20 years time, a film was made about your lives, who would you want to play each of you?
If a movie was made about us, I would like the cast from Stranger Things to play us.

If you were a chocolate bar, which one would you be and why?
Leo: If I was a chocolate bar, I would be a Lion bar because I’m an animal!

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Leo: The best advice I’ve ever been given is to always listen to your mum!

Thanks very much for taking the time to chat, good luck with the tour and next time you’re doing a show down near Brighton I’ll have to come and review it.
THANK YOU GUYS!

Bars & Melody‘s releases are all available:

Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other interviews here:

Muzik Speaks Interviews

#FeelGoodFriday: Dappy – ‘Kiss’

Matt Wright - Muzik Speaks1 Comment

Like our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks)

   

Instagram

If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know we’re a big supporter of Dappy and this song is no exception.

‘Kiss’ is the latest single to be released by the ex-N-Dubz and ‘Rockstar’ rapper and it most certainly has all the #FeelGoodFriday vibes going for it! It’s got the uplifting pop hooks in all the right places, current sounds to back it up and of course Dappy‘s incredibly distinctive vocals.

Although the video won’t win any originality awards, it suits the vibe of the song and sure as hell looks like he had fun filming it!

What do you think of Dappy‘s latest single? Would you like to hear more from him? Is this a sign of a follow-up album to 2012’s ‘Bad Intentions’? Please leave your thoughts, comments or own #FeelGoodFriday choice in a comment below or via our social media.

Matt – Muzik Speaks
www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks
www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

‘Kiss’ can be downloaded off iTunes now – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/kiss/id1145816890?i=1145817098

#FeelGoodFriday: Andy Grammer – ‘Honey, I’m Good.’

Matt Wright - Muzik Speaks1 Comment

Andy Grammer Banner

Andy Grammer could just take over the world with this song…it’s catchy as hell and my word does it have the feel-good vibe going on! It’s sort of summery, happy and fun all rolled into one awesome (just over) 3 minute package!

The premise for the song is that he’s turning someone down because he’s got someone at home, so he’s staying faithful. The video is quite sweet too; it’s just lots of couples celebrating how long they’ve been together and messing around. It’s got all the makings of a viral video…I’m thinking Nickelback’s ‘Rockstar’!

Andy Grammer is also signed to S-Curve Records who have worked with the likes of Tom Jones, Joss Stone and We The Kings.

Is this song as feel-good as you’d like for this Friday? Have you got any similar songs you could share with us? Please comment below.

Matt – Muzik Speaks
www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks
www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

You can download ‘Honey, I’m Good’ from iTunes now – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/honey-im-good/id1014516901?i=1014516965