La La La La La!

I’m back, finally!

Things around here died out thoroughly and quickly, but I can’t say I was surprised. I needed to plan ahead and actually do my research: in short, I didn’t put in the kind of work that I should have. Which I can promise will happen once school starts, but today I’m writing for an entirely different reason.

Last month I celebrated the birthday of two people that have been in my life for quite some time. However, today is the birthday of someone important to me who hasn’t been around for so long. A friend who has been on both the giving and receiving end of numerous pep talks, compliments, late night talks, and music suggestions. I don’t know when we even started talking, it was like suddenly we were good friends and had always supported each other. This was the guy who was always capturing my attention by playing his guitar and singing in percussion class, when we both had other things to do.

This guy is Devin, or Screamingpsychos: the alias he took on in the first few weeks we had talked. I remember the strangeness of him asking me how I started my music blog, because I never thought it was something people paid attention to, let alone would come to me for advice with. I wasn’t sure what to tell him except the little that I did, but I think my support for him is what cultivated our friendship.

When I choose to support someone, I support them fully. I know some talented people, and I have a tendency to just completely express my adoration for and belief in them. It’s an all-in thing for me, I really give them all the help and encouragement I can. And I literally can not count the amount of people that really don’t ever notice and appreciate that. Devin did, and he never stops reminding me that I’m ‘important’.

This guy astounds me in so many different ways. He is one of the best guitarists, vocalists, lyricists, and flat-out one of the best writers I personally know. I have dozens- entirely too many- of photos of his lyrics on my phone, and hear me out. The way this guy writes his articles are awesome; fluency, a great vocabulary, and always a very personal yet unique take on whatever he is listening to. But his lyrics are even better. He always writes from a personal perspective, but unlike some artists, he is able to make it someone else’s perspective if he wants, make us believe he’s been places and done things he really hasn’t. They’re always emotional and the way they’re structured is so different from the cookie-cutter template that most “song-writers” are used to. It’s fresh and it’s like stepping into another person’s shoes…like real storytelling that we don’t hear in music anymore. And those are just his words. Give him a mic or a guitar, or even both and the result is amazing. He listens to a wide range of music, and he can play with just as much variety and talent. His composition skills are great, especially for someone that never took lessons from someone else in playing or writing.

Not to mention this guy can talk to you about virtually any kind of music for hours on end. He talks circles around me with his music knowledge, it’s honestly kind of hard to keep up sometimes. He just really, truly loves music with all his heart. He’s always doing research, whether it’s a new band or learning more about a band he enjoys. He pays attention to their members, their influences, he breaks down their music into emotions, but he also stresses the importance of the more technical parts of music, which is awesome.

I think something even more interesting about Devin is his strength of character. He always sticks with what he believes in, even in difficult situations. He’s the kind of guy you’d imagine would make it big in music because he actually just wants to play music and make a change in people. He really wants to make a difference, and he’s always working to improve himself, both in life and his music. He’s always there when I need to talk, and he accepts that sometimes I’m in a real crap mood and I don’t really know why.

So, there’s not much else to be told. In a few years he’ll be out there touring, whether it’s with a band or by himself, making music and appreciating his fans. I think everyone should keep an eye out for him, and be expecting to hear more on here from me when he starts recording music more often! I hope this is one of those musicians that get the recognition they deserve, and one of the friends I get to keep for a lifetime.

Happy birthday Devin 🙂

Just half a dozen songs on my YouTube playlist that are courtesy of Devin 😀

Oh, and then there’s this one.

Xoxo,

Radium Rollercoaster

Band of the week: Pentatonix!

There’s almost a mind-blowing number of musicians that get decently famous from doing cover songs, but no one does covers quite like the five piece acapella group Pentatonix! They take every day songs and break them down into melodies and harmonies and without any instrumental they reinvent the tune to something extraordinary. As of now they have twenty four videos on YouTube to choose from, and are on tour!

This group, made up of Scott Hoying, Kirstie Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, Avi Kaplan and Kevin Olusola, all have unique voices- or talents, as it would seem- that contribute to covering these songs. Now, if you listen to any given song of this without watching the video, it will be hard for you to remember that the bass you’re hearing is Avi and the percussion is actually Kevin. Mitch hits these crazy high notes, Kirstie brings a little feminity, and Scott always gives us some personality. None of them outweigh the others and that’s what makes it so cool!

At any given song, Avi and Kevin are doing their determined pieces, Scott is getting the middle octaves, Mitch hits the high notes and Kirstie gets half the verses and harmonies with Mitch. Their system works, which can’t be easy, but is fantastic.

I seriously think that anyone who likes music in general can appreciate this, and support these guys because this is extreme talent right here.

Xoxo,

Radium Rollercoaster

Happy Birthday Lindsey!

I may never be a ‘popular’ website, but the number of things I’ve achieved would have never been possible without my influences; my friends and family that have helped me through tough spots and done more for me than I could have ever possibly asked. Today is the birthday of one of these people: my best friend Lindsey. The only time I’ve ever mentioned her on this site was when I took her to the Set It Off show and she played camera girl. But her help and influence has been part of my musical interest since we were in 6th grade.

When we met, we had very similar taste. (Her favorite band was Slipknot, and they intimidated me, but I got over that eventually). We both liked rock music and had parents that accepted all the things we listened to. Hell, our parents showed us all this music that other parents usually ban from their houses. I don’t have some extravagant story about her showing me a band that changed my life or me being an influence on her (although I did find Call Me Anything!), but she took me to my one and only Avenged Sevenfold- with Bullet For My Valentine and Three Days Grace- show and that is still one of my fondest memories.

So, in token to her, I’m making a playlist of some songs for you guys to enjoy. She’s very diverse but I think she’s got good taste ;D

Happy birthday ❤

Xoxo,

Radium Rollercoaster

 

 

P.S LETS GET THIS WEBSITE ALIVE AGAIN.