Category: Wait…WHAT? Exclusive

Almost Honest & Distant Dice Perform at Left Coast Live 365

This past Thursday, Left Coast Live 365 kicked off at the Theatre on San Pedro Square in Downtown San Jose with bands Almost Honest and Distant Dice.

Distant Dice kicked off the night, and they were just fantastic. I had checked out some of their music prior to the show that night and was only further intrigued to catch their performance at LCL 365.

Check out their performance of “Firewater” below!

Almost Honest closed the show that night, and I was super stoked to finally get the chance to hear what their vibe was like with a full band. It was great to hear songs off the band’s upcoming EP, and it sounds like people will be in for some awesome music when it’s released!

Check out their performance of “Because of You” below!

For those who were unable to come out, you missed a great show from both Almost Honest and Distant Dice. I strongly encourage y’all to check out the bands at their upcoming shows!

Get more info on Almost Honest and Distant Dice:

Almost Honest: Website/Like Them/Follow Them

Distant Dice: Website/Like Them/Follow Them

And if you haven’t already, check out my exclusive interview with Almost Honest’s Drew Orepeza here.

The Voice: Team Adam Takeover

Honestly, I’ve been sitting here trying to come up with a title for this blog post, and yeah, I think this one is fitting, because Team Adam basically stole the show on The Voice last night.

Before I talk about last night’s performances, let’s talk about the Top 8 results. America saved Beverly McClellan (Team Xtina)and Dia Frampton (Team Blake). Christina Aguilera saved Frenchie Davis, and Blake Shelton chose to save Xenia.

Maybe it’s just me, but I do not understand how people are “shocked” over Blake choosing Xenia over Jared Blake and Patrick Thomas.

Jared Blake’s voice is just average, at best. There are a handful of lead singers that sound just like him on the radio. Nothing about his voice stood out to me, personally. With Patrick Thomas, I don’t think he should have gone past the battle round. Tyler Robinson completely outsang him. Plus, his performance last week was just okay.

From the begining, it’s been fairly obvious that Blake has a soft soft for Xenia’s voice. Their rehearsal footage is always charming and endearing. I figured he would pick her if America didn’t save her. I think as soon as Xenia gets over her stage fright, she will just soar.

Moving on to last night’s show. It was Team Adam (Casey Weston, Devon Barley, Jeff Jenkins, and Javier Colon) and Team Cee Lo’s (Thompson Sisters, Nakia, Curtis Grimes, and Vicci Martinez) turn to get their singin’ on.

Continue reading The Voice: Team Adam Takeover

Gavin DeGraw Live in San Francisco – Alice 97.3 Acoustic Lounge

I had the opportunity to see Gavin DeGraw perform a private acoustic show early yesterday evening at Harlot in San Francisco. He performed a short set including, “Follow Through,” a medley of The Commodores’ “Easy” and Sam Cooke’s “Cupid,” “Chariot,” his new single, “Not Over You,” and “I Don’t Want To Be.”

Before he performed, he did a quick Q&A with one of the Alice DJs.  Check it out below!

Follow the cut for two performances from the show! Continue reading Gavin DeGraw Live in San Francisco – Alice 97.3 Acoustic Lounge

Q & A with Almost Honest’s Drew Orepeza

San Jose native Drew Orepeza, lead singer of Almost Honest, didn’t always know that music would be his chosen path.

“I always liked to sing. I sang in high school (Pioneer). I didn’t do anything formal, but I would sing at parties,” he said. “I sang at a rally once for fun.”

Even though both of his parents are musically inclined, it wasn’t until after Orepeza graduated from San Jose State University, where he received a degree in Business, that he felt like music was perhaps the right direction for him.

“I was at one of those points in my life where I wanted to do something different. I was a personal trainer, and I wasn’t really happy with what I was doing,” he explained. “So, I decided to drop everything and move to LA when I was 20. So, I started music when I was 20-21. I was a late bloomer, a late starter.”

It was also around this time that Orepeza was introduced to his Almost Honest band-mate, Justin Florence.

“[Justin’s] brother was a radio DJ, and I had cut a demo. I gave it to [him] to listen to; I wanted his critique. It wasn’t very good at that point. He thought there was promise, and he said, ‘My brother is a guitarist. He just got out of a project and he’s looking for something different.’ So he introduced us, and we met at his house one night, and we just jammed. It just kind of clicked.”

Flash-forward to the present, Almost Honest is currently gearing up to release their debut record this early this summer.

This past April, in between flying back and forth to LA to put the finishing touches on Almost Honest’s record, Orepeza and I had an opportunity to sit down one night in Downtown San Jose to talk music, the band, and what to expect from their first record, which Orepeza said, “sounds nothing like what you’ve heard that we’ve done before.”

What artists had an influence on your music?

Growing up, I listened to a lot of 70’s rock. James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, and a lot of classic rock. I think for me, what kind of got me into music was more of the indie scene stuff. An artist named Ernie Halter, Tony Lucca, and some LA guys. I started listening to them around the time I started writing. They kind of inspired me to pick up a guitar and start writing. So, it was more of the indie-folk kind of rock stuff that really got me to where I am with my writing.

How long had you and Justin been playing together before you started playing shows?

After about two months of just trying to throw some songs together, we had a song or two, and we played covers. We had a 6-song set. We played a coffee shop probably like two months after we had met. It was like 12 people. It was like a little coffee shop, but it was fun. I’ll never forget it.

We were really green, but people were like if you guys stick with it, you guys have something special.

Continue reading Q & A with Almost Honest’s Drew Orepeza

Kris Allen Promises Fans They’ll Be The First To Know About New Music

Earlier today Tampa, FL based radio station 93.3 FLZ tweeted, “In NYC for music mtngs. With Jive now listening to @KrisAllen’s next single ‘Vision of Love,'” which left us fans wanting to know more information about this new song.

Toby Knapp of Hot 99.5 supplied Kris fans with a little more info on “Vision of Love” tweeting, “its poprock upbeat and fun…. sounds like a Kris Allen hit!”

So, is “Vision of Love” the first single of Kris’s highly anticipated sophomore album? For the time being, probably not. At least that’s what I’m thinking based off the couple tweets Kris just sent out.

“I know some of you have heard grumblings of a new single today. Well…I can honestly tell you that I haven’t picked a 1st single.”

He followed up with, “When the 1st single is chosen I will be the first to tell you. You will not hear it first from anyone else. I promise.”

Sounds good to me! It was fun to get excited over new music, and it can only mean good things if Jive is highlighting Kris to radio stations, right? I think so, plus it’s awesome that the DJs are liking the snippet that they played him!

For more Kris Allen news, check out his official website. Also, do yourself a favor and follow this dude on Twitter.

Live-Blog: American Idol Final Two! Scotty McCreery v. Lauren Alaina!

Live-blogging the Final Two!

Refresh for updates throughout the show!

Round 1: Contestant’s Choice

Round 2: Scotty’s song picked by George Strait; Lauren’s song picked by Carrie Underwood

Round 3: Contestant’s first single

Scotty won the coin toss; he let Lauren go second.

Continue reading Live-Blog: American Idol Final Two! Scotty McCreery v. Lauren Alaina!

David Cook Live in San Francisco – Alice 97.3 Acoustic Lounge

Day two of “David Cook Takes the Bay Area” happened yesterday in San Francisco!

The show took place at Harlot, which is a small, more intimate venue than the room at the Hotel De Anza. I liked the venue a lot. It had this really interesting ambiance to it.

The show started promptly at 6 p.m. David and Neal came out and jumped right into playing “Heroes.”

In between songs, Marcus D (Alice DJ) would chat it up with David. In the video below they talk about who David thinks will win American Idol this season and what David didn’t expect to happen after becoming a “rock star.”

The set list played out just like the San Jose show. The rest of the songs played were “Come Back To Me,” “Light On,” and “The Last Goodbye.”

Like yesterday, I recorded “The Last Goodbye.” Check out the video after the cut!

Continue reading David Cook Live in San Francisco – Alice 97.3 Acoustic Lounge

David Cook Live in San Jose, CA – Mix 106.5 Mixxer

Tonight I got to attend the private acoustic Mix 106.5 David Cook Mixxer at the Hotel De Anza.

This was such a treat to attend! I’ve been a longtime fan of David’s since seasoncredit: KirstenCoachman.com seven of American Idol, and I’ve gotten to see him play a handful of times, but I have always wanted to see him play an acoustic set.

David and his guitarist, Neal Tiemann did a short 4-song set for the audience, which included, “Heroes,” “Come Back To Me,” “Light On,” and “The Last Goodbye.”

Check out my video of “The Last Goodbye” after the cut!

Continue reading David Cook Live in San Jose, CA – Mix 106.5 Mixxer

Ear Candy: Gavin DeGraw – “Not Over You”

Happy New Music Tuesday!

I was so stoked when I logged on this morning to see that AOL  Music debuted the brand new single from Gavin DeGraw called, “Not Over You.” The song is the lead off single of DeGraw’s upcoming album, Sweeter, due out September 20 on RCA Records.

DeGraw told AOL Music, “‘Not Over You’ is about trying to get past someone emotionally. You create this scenario — you see them in your dreams and if you bumped into them, you would let them know that you’re doing fine and you’re past the breakup — but you’d be lying.”

Co-written by OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, the song does have that slight “Tedder Was Here” feeling to it, especially when it hits the chorus. However, DeGraw’s soulful and impassioned vocals combined with his  honest songwriting makes for one of his best songs to date.

Take a listen to “Not Over You” below!

What do y’all think?

Dulling The Magic of “Rolling in the Deep” One Cover at a Time

Late this past Thursday night, the tracks for next week’s Glee episode “Prom Queen” leaked onto the interwebz. Included in next week’s batch of tracks is Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” which is sung by Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff as a duet.

This Glee cover is the latest in a string of “Rolling in the Deep” covers that have hit the web, since the song was released last fall.  One of the issues I have with all the covers of this song is that most of them pale in comparison to the original.

As someone that loves music, I feel like “Rolling in the Deep” could possibly be on it’s way to being played out. The fact that Glee is has now covered it says a lot. And I’m not gonna front, I was excited at first to hear that Glee was taking on the song. I love Lea and Jonathan’s voices together, and I thought the result was going to be this intensely passionate, angsty vocal performance from the two of them. The Glee version actually sounds like a take of the John Legend cover of the song. To be honest, I was expecting more of a rock vibe from them, instead of a gospel vibe.

Continue reading Dulling The Magic of “Rolling in the Deep” One Cover at a Time