The progressive work of Ben Sharp titled Cloudkicker has recorded a live album with Intronaut. The album simply titled, Live With Intronaut is set for a November 24th release. They are premiering their video for Push It Way Up which features footage from their recent tour together. Check out the video here:
The album which features 9 tracks will be available in CD as well as limited colored edition vinyl.
1. Subsume Part 1
2. Subsume Part 2
3. We are going to invert…/Here, wait a minute, damn it!
4. We’re goin’ in, we’re going down.
5. Seriosity
6. You and yours
7. Dysphoria
8. Subsume Part 8
9. Push it way up!
The album will be in stores on November 24th. The CD version is available as a digipack and the vinyl comes in 4 colors and is limited to 1500 copies worldwide, the colors and quantities are as follows:
Periphery have announced the Juggernaut Tour with Nothing More, Wovenwar and Thank you Scientist. Periphery‘s upcoming new album, Juggernaut will be released in January on Sumerian Records Distort Century Media Records Triple Vision and Roadrunner Records. The JUGGERNAUT TOUR is brought to you by Guitar World REVOLVER Magazine Bass Player Magazine DRUM Magazine PRS Guitars D’Addario Strings and Planet Waves Toontrack PreSonus Audio ElectronicsBandsintown idobi Howl All In Merchandise and BANDHAPPY! Check out the tour dates below:
TOUR DATES
January 10 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
January 11 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore
January 12 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
January 13 Tampa, FL Orpheum
January 14 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution Live
January 16 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
January 17 Houston, TX House of Blues
January 18 Dallas, TX House of Blues
January 20 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theatre
January 21 Phoenix, AZ Club Red
January 22 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues
January 23 Anaheim, CA Yost Theater
January 26 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
January 27 Portland, OR Hawthorne
January 28 Seattle, WA El Corazon
January 30 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
January 31 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall
February 2 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
February 3 Chicago, IL House of Blues
February 4 Detroit, MI St. Andrew’s Hall
February 6 Toronto, ON Opera House
February 7 Montreal, QC Corona Theatre
February 8 Albany, NY Upstate Concert Hall
February 9 Rochester, NY WaterStreet Music Hall
February 11 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
February 12 New York, NY Irving Plaza
February 13 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore
February 14 Philadelphia, PA District N9ne
You can pick up your tickets now at periphery.soundrink.com. Make sure to visit their social media sites and stay up to date on their latest news.
Ghost Season from Athens, Greece definitely caught my attention with their new EP, Ghosts Like Her. The five song EP delivers a true taste of the talents of this band. They can be described as a blend of metal, progressive and hard rock.
Their EP starts right off with the fierce track, Alive and that is exactly how you feel when you are smacked in the face with those heavy guitars and a beat that just has you headbanging throughout. Those drums! I love the intensity and the dueling guitars just kick ass and we can’t forget to mention that epic guitar solo. The melodic vocals have a great 80’s rock vibe without overdoing it. They at times remind me of a lovechild of Stone Temple Pilots, Queensryche and Bullet For My Valentine yet in no way imitate. These guys have created their own unique sound that will soon have everyone taking notice of them and come to love Ghost Season.
Ghosts Like Her once again delivers those guitars that just grab you. This is a bit heavier of a track and with the addition of the dueling vocals take on a heavier stand at times quite like the modern metalcore of today but yet maintaining a melodic tone instead of unintelligible screams. I really like it and the precision drumming grabs your attention. The guitars are just sweet in this track and leave you swirling as the powerful vocals draw you right back in.
The Bleed may start off as aslower song but has a tremendous amount of depth to it. It is like a metal ballad since it carries so much more weight than the traditional slow rock ballad. The vocals carry such emotion and you can feel the passion as the guitars once again take you away. It has emotionally driven lyrics and is a solid stand out track on this EP.
Father Time delivers a superb groovy bass line at the intro and here is where the progressive metal/rock take over. It is intense, from the drums, the guitars, the bass, to the vocals. All around a ferocious song with melodic vocals. This song brings out an alternative edge to it that displays the versatile songwriting of this band. This is no cookie cutter band, they can deliver songs that shine on their individual merit.
The EP ends with my favorite track, Need and it not only has emotionally driven lyrics but dramatic vocals that carry such conviction with each lyric. It brings out a clean hard rock sound that can find itself catching the attention of a variety of genres. Truly great work and I look forward to what is next for them. Check out the song here:
You can pick up Ghosts Like Her on iTunes here. Make sure to visit their social media sites and stay up to date on their latest news.
It was just last month when we brought you our interview with the incredible prog-rock/alternative band Megafauna from Austin. I am excited to announce they are getting ready to set out on their West Coast Tour dates next week! Check out the cool West Coast Tour Poster which was created by Tristan Lewellyn, John Musci and Austin Haines.
If you don’t already have it, make sure to pick up their latest release, Maximalist which is quite deserving of your attention. I am not going to do them the injustice of trying to place them into a music genre category because their fresh new bold style of music fuses a variety of musical influences and have successfully created their own unique sound. You can pick up great tones of progressive rock, alternative grunge style, power pop and garage rock.
We are excited to be seeing a stop in San Francisco at the Bottom of the Hill on October 23rd. We will try and bring you full coverage of the event. In case you missed it, we are pleased to repost our interview with Megafauna singer/guitarist, Dani Neff.
* * * * * *
Music Junkie Press: Thank you very much for taking the time out to talk with us here at Music Junkie Press. We have to tell you that we love the new video for Haunted Factory, looks like a lot of fun recording that. We understand you also choreographed the video?
Dani:Yes, I choreographed that along with my friend Stephanie Chavez. She has a company called Woven Feet here in town and they do a bunch of dance stuff, but ya we worked together on it.
Music Junkie Press: It looked like a lot and there was a lot of great creativeness in that.
Dani:Ya, it was very, very fun. It was tiring. Oh My Gosh, it was. I was in shape for a very hot minute there.
Music Junkie Press: We are excited because with Maximalistcame out earlier this year and has been getting a lot of great response, well deserved attention, can you tell us a little bit about the title and the inspiration behind it?
Dani: Yes, so Maximalistis this idea that we live in a world with sensory overload and there is basically, so much of everything happening at all times and with the internet, you can access all kinds of information at any moment, and a lot of people are paralyzed by this excess of information and this plethora of choices. And a Maximalist is someone who can navigate this world overflowing with choices and excel in it and find a path throughout the madness.
Music Junkie Press: That is really so true, especially for the youth of today. It is completely overwhelming to be a youth in that environment.
Dani:Ya, I don’t envy the younger generation.
Music Junkie Press: If we look back at growing up and what things from today we might have wanted to have, there isn’t much. For me, it might have been the cell phone, but for safety sake. Now, back to your music, are you going to be working on any more videos?
Dani:Well, we will soon. As of now, basically what we have in the pipeline is an animated video for Monster Sleeping which is almost done and then another fiction video for Time To Go and it is this really fun, surreal video about this beverage called Magafauna that people drink and then their world totally changes and everything gets really colorful and surreal and all these little stories that happen to people who drink Megafauna. So we have those two things coming out hopefully very soon, we have been working on them for like a year or so.
Music Junkie Press:Time To Go is one of my favorite songs, I am excited for that video. That is a great track. Also, you have this great style that you have created your own sound, this fusion of elements of rock, progressive, alternative and more. Growing up, what musicians most inspired you for that?
Dani: Gosh, I am a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix, I listen to a lot of blues, Albert King, Junior Kimbrough, Albert Collins and also grunge, like early 90’s grunge, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots and then also Fiona Apple, Natalie Merchant and also Nick Drake, the acoustic player, and Elliott Smith which you don’t hear that as much in our music, and Radiohead was a huge influence, I love, I am enamored with them.
Music Junkie Press: The nice thing is you all have pulled this sound together and it is unique and inviting. It brings out a lot of emotion, makes you feel alive. Do you have a particular songwriting process?
Dani: It totally depends on the song so. Let me think, a lot of songs will start with me just messing around with a riff and I will come up with a riff that I like and then over the top of that, a melody will just come out and then sometimes I will take words, I will come up with nonsense words at first and sometimes some of those are actually really poignant to me and that is why I am coming up with them. If that makes any sense to you?
Music Junkie Press: Yes, exactly, it is exactly that whatever flows easiest seems to be the most important for you.
Dani:Ya, and then other times I did this process where I took a bunch of my writings over the years, and cut up different lines and then arranged them into song lyrics and poems.
Music Junkie Press: That is so awesome and quite creative.
Dani:Ya, it was a lot of fun. So some songs take me a year to write, literally a year or two and other some songs just come out fully formed. They just flow out and they are just there.
Music Junkie Press: Now, how old were you when you first started playing guitar? And what was the first song you learned in its entirety?
Dani: I was 10. Ya, it was Smokestack Lighting by Howlin Wolf.
Music Junkie Press: How about with summer coming to a close soon, what was some of your highlights for you this year so far?
Dani: Burning Man, Burning Man was a blast. It was so intense and I don’t know, the media was just saying that it is dead and there were a lot of wealthy people out there now and this and that. But Man, when I was out there, it was extremely intense, I got stuck in a whiteout, a sand blizzard, it was crazy. It really is crazy. What else, let’s see, we went out on a very long tour this summer, a two month tour, I also made it out to Europe to visit a friend of mine. I did my running around during the summer a lot because the Austin heat in Summer is too much for me.
Photo Credit: Anna Webber
Music Junkie Press: You have had quite a busy summer! How about if we could peak into your Ipod, what artist or song might be most surprising for us to find in there?
Dani: Surprising? Blonde Redheads. Fleet Foxes. Helplessness Blues is a great album, new Medeski, Martin & Wood, Keller Williams.
Music Junkie Press: Well, it is great to see how your music tastes are so varied, you can feel it in your music. You are so multi talented, a dancer, an artist, musician, your music preferences are so varied, what advice could you give to get other people out there today to listen to a variety of music?
Dani: To maintain that diversity in music?
Music Junkie Press: Well, in everything, I know that a lot of times the youth of today are given choices to do and they sometimes might be persuaded to stick with just that and not try new things. They pick up the guitar and the parents check the box now for guitar, and push them into that. You instead have done a wide range of things, succeeded at them as well. I believe even in law for you?
Dani: Yes, I am a lawyer too.
Music Junkie Press: That is amazing and great, what advice could you give to the youth?
Dani: Probably to face your fears, to not be afraid, to not be afraid to fail, be open to doing something because you want to even if you are not that great at it, keep trying.
Music Junkie Press: Everyone has their kids trying to place them in their checkboxes of what they are good at. Same thing with the music genres. That is what I love about your music, you don’t try to fit it into a checkbox for a genre or sub-genre. It is its own unique style.
Dani:Thank you, I am glad to hear that.
Music Junkie Press: What are you guys currently working on?
Dani: Well we are touring again in October, We just don’t stop. We are going out West, going to hit California, Seattle, and Portland and all that, and the Rockies. But we are also working on a new album so I have been writing a bunch of songs for that and we have been collaborating on songs. I am actually meeting with a studio engineer next week to talk about timing for that. And then I am also going to record an acoustic EP. I think it will just be Dani Neff, because it is so different from Megafauna, I think, or maybe, I don’t know. So ya, we would like to record another really epic music video, another dance one but even more psychedelic, like body paint, really crazy lighting. So that stuff and we have a bunch of shows in Austin in September so we are busy.
Music Junkie Press:We are looking forward to you coming out here. We are in Northern California, so we really look forward to it.
Dani: Yes, we are supposed to play San Francisco October 24th, haven’t locked down a venue yet, but we will be there.
Music Junkie Press:We will definitely lock down the date and look forward to seeing your show. Lastly, what would you like to share with our audience and your fans?
Dani:A lot of what I am learning recently about myself is to just.. Well okay, to just face your fears. Instead of trying to hide from your fears or distract yourself from them, to just face them head on and find out why you are afraid of what you are afraid of and learn from that. Also, when you have certain feelings that can be hard, probably this is too out there, Mari: (No, please go ahead), Okay, like sadness, anger, frustration, instead of running from those feelings, to just be with them, sit with them and just welcome them and learn from them.
Music Junkie Press:That is great advice, they always talk about people coming in to your life at the right time for a reason and I think you prove that. You just touched on something very personal for me that I was struggling with just yesterday. It was the anniversary of my father’s passing and I had all these hard feelings and there are three things I could have done, run from the feelings, distract from them or be with them. In the past, I did the other two and this year, I was just that, with them. Just felt them all the way through. So it is amazing that you talked about that and it is such great advice. You caught me off guard with that.
Dani:Wow, Oh my gosh, it is great you did, it is so hard, I mean in a way it is hard being with it, but in a way it is kind of easier than just running away from it. And then, when we have these feelings, a friend was telling me this, that they are there for a reason and you have to let them out and have the feeling.
Music Junkie Press: That is true, the interesting part is that they are going to be there until you let them out. If not today, then tomorrow, or whenever, they will be there until you experience it. That is the fact that I learned yesterday, 3 years later and these feelings are still there to release because I didn’t deal with them back at that time. Until you go through them, just know they will be there waiting for you. I ran from them before and this year, faced them and I feel much better for it. That was great advice Dani to share with everybody.
Dani: Thank you. I was inspired by this poem, a Rumi poem called The Guest House, I recommend it. It is just about how being human is just like a guest house and the guests are the different feelings and you just have to welcome each guest, even if its terrible.
Music Junkie Press: That is a great way to look at it.
Dani: I read it from the Burning Man info guide and it is a poem by Rumi.
“A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.“
Music Junkie Press: Thank you so much for your time and we look forward to seeing you in San Francisco on October 23th. Thank you for your great gift of music, your wonderful words and great advice.
Dani:Thank you so much, and it is what I do, my mission.
* * * * * *
Be sure you head over to http://megafaunamusic.bandcamp.com/ and pick up Maximalist. We look forward to their upcoming tour and make sure to visit their social media sites and stay up to date on their latest news.
Progressive rockers, White Arms of Athena are set to release their new self-titled album on December 2nd. Recorded and mixed with Kurt Ballou (Every Time I Die, High on Fire, Kvelertak) alongsided engineer/co-producer Travis Kammeyer (Storm of Light, Generation of Vipers) while being mastered by Alan Douches (Baroness, The Dillinger Escape Plan), the album consists of eight tracks showcasing the group’s “polished chops” and “compostional sensibility” (Decibel Magazine). They have released their new song Heavy Sleep which appears on the album and you can check it out here:
“Heavy Sleep” is also available for instant download as a single or when you pre-order a digital copy of the album from eitheriTunes, Amazon MP3orBandcamp! Physical pre-orders are also available offering the release on CD or LP (including a digital download card) along with special bundles featuring an 11×17 poster of the intriguingly chromatic cover artwork designed by Luis Garcia directly from Prosthetic’s webshop (http://store.prostheticrecords.com/bands/white-arms-of-athena). Check out the album’s track listing:
1. Truth, The Greatest Lie Ever Told (2:29)
2. Heavy Sleep (5:03)
3. On The Edge (4:40)
4. Time Is Nothing (Or Maybe Just One Thing) (1:47)
5. This Transition (11:00)
6. Manifest; Withdrawal (4:01)
7. Participating In and Awakening To The Cycle (3:28)
8. The “I” (6:29)
Make sure to visit the social media sites and stay up to date on the latest news.
Devin Townsend is gearing up for the release of his new long awaited double album. The album titled Z² is set for release on October 28th in the US and October 27th in Europe. The Z² project also will have him performing a landmark show at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall on April 13, 2015. Tickets are available for this enormous show from www.kililive.com. Devin has recently released an intergalactic lyric video for his song, Deathray. Check it out here:
Here is what Devin had to say about his new album,
“Hey all!
So it’s been years I’ve been trying to get the energies in line to do another Ziltoid record, and it’s finally happened! Z2 is my new record, and it’s a multimedia event that has taken a ton of people a ton of effort to bring to you! It’s a double album, (one side DTP, and one side Ziltoid) and the concept expands on Ziltoid the alien, and his sci-fi adventures in a way that kind of throws back to 50’s radio plays… but obviously with complicated, heavy music as its soundtrack. It has taken a great deal of energy to put this all together, and the music is just one of the aspects of it. It’s a dream come true in a lot of ways, and I’m excited and honoured to be able to finalize the project with a live version of the entire record at the famous Royal Albert Hall in London on April 13th of next year! (!!) Basically what we did with The Retinal Circus a few years back will be taken to the next level with Z2 live.
At the end of this process, we reached for the stars, and hopefully got to the moon, and after this album cycle, I will be taking some time to recharge my batteries and see what the next chapter holds. I hope you enjoy this record and all its offshoots, as one of my goals is to hopefully inspire folks to reach for unconventional ways to express themselves as well. We couldn’t have done it without you! See you at the show?”
-Devin
Devin will also be out on tour starting in November as co-headliners with Animals as Leaders and support by Monuments. Check out the tour dates to see if they will be coming to a venue near you:
11/17 Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven 11/18 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom 11/19 Kelowna, BC @ Level Nightclub 11/21 Edmonton, AB @ Union Hall 11/22 Calgary, AB @ The Gateway 11/23 Saskatoon, SK @ O’Brians Event Centre 11/24 Winnipeg, MB @ The Garrick Centre 11/25 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue 11/26 Chicago, IL @ Metro (Toontrack sponsored with show recording) 11/28 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall 11/29 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues 11/30 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre 12/1 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda 12/3 Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live 12/4 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero 12/5 Worcester, MA @ The Palladium 12/6 New York, NY @ Webster Hall 12/8 Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage 12/10 San Antonio, TX @ Backstage Live 12/11 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Bar N Grill 12/13 Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre 12/14 Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater 12/15 Mesa, AZ @ The Nile Theatre 12/16 Los Angeles, CA @ The Mayan 12/17 San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
We are excited to see a San Francisco date, which looks like will be the final date on the tour. We will make sure to bring you complete coverage and possible an interview to discuss the tour and the album. Make sure to visit the social media sites so you can stay up to date on the latest news.
Prog rockers Enchant are back and definitely making a great statement with their comeback album, The Great Divide which was recently released on their longtime label partner, InsideOut Music. This is their 8th studio album and their first new recording in almost ten years which you wouldn’t have known when you take a listen. They sound as tight as ever and deliver the signature Enchant sound. Here is the title track from their album:
Check out an interview with Enchant as they discuss the new album:
Enchant is:
Ted Leonard – Lead vocals (Spock’s Beard / Thought Chamber)
Douglas A. Ott – Guitars and backing vocals
Ed Platt – Bass guitar and bass pedals
Bill Jenkins – Keyboards (Sound Of Contact / Thought Chamber)
Earlier this year we brought you an interview with the amazingly talented Brev Sullivan (Rock of Ages). In case you missed it, make sure to check it out here. Interview with Brev Sullivan. Brev has been quite busy, with the release of his contemporary jazz guitar CD, Brand New Day (available on iTunes here) and performing with his bands. His band, Snakebite are about to set sail next month for the 4th KISS KRUISE which will sail to the Great Stirrup Cay on October 31st to November 4, 2014. The headliners of the cruise feature Kiss, Cheap Trick, Robin Zander’s, and Pat Travers. Snakebite will be performing on the Soundcheck Stage and will deliver some old school Original Heavy Vinyl Rock definitely proving that Rock n Roll is alive and thriving!
Snakebite are also set to release their new CD, Feel the Bite in early October. Just in time for you to be singing along with them on the Kiss Kruise! Make sure to visit their social media sites and stay up to date on their latest news. Make sure to also pick up Brev’s CD, Brand New Dayon Itunes or CDBaby.
Get ready for their new CD Feel the Bite and if you are in the Ft. Lauderdale area, don’t miss their show this Saturday on September 27th at Cheers, Food and Spirits. Visit their Facebook page for more details: https://www.facebook.com/Snakebiterockband.
Austin has been keeping quite a secret and it is time everyone gets to know about it. I am talking about the incredible prog-rock/alternative band Megafauna. I am not going to try and place them into a music genre category because their fresh new bold style of music fuses a variety of musical influences and have successfully created their own unique sound. You can pick up great tones of progressive rock, alternative grunge style, power pop and garage rock. They most recently released their album, Maximalist which is quite deserving of your attention.
In addition they toured this past summer in support of their album and will continue to set out on another tour shortly. We had the opportunity to talk with Megafauna singer/guitarist, Dani Neff and she is such a wonderfully talented artist. We are pleased to bring you the interview here:
* * * * * *
Music Junkie Press: Thank you very much for taking the time out to talk with us here at Music Junkie Press. We have to tell you that we love the new video for Haunted Factory, looks like a lot of fun recording that. We understand you also choreographed the video?
Dani:Yes, I choreographed that along with my friend Stephanie Chavez. She has a company called Woven Feet here in town and they do a bunch of dance stuff, but ya we worked together on it.
Music Junkie Press: It looked like a lot and there was a lot of great creativeness in that.
Dani:Ya, it was very, very fun. It was tiring. Oh My Gosh, it was. I was in shape for a very hot minute there.
Music Junkie Press: We are excited because with Maximalistcame out earlier this year and has been getting a lot of great response, well deserved attention, can you tell us a little bit about the title and the inspiration behind it?
Dani: Yes, so Maximalistis this idea that we live in a world with sensory overload and there is basically, so much of everything happening at all times and with the internet, you can access all kinds of information at any moment, and a lot of people are paralyzed by this excess of information and this plethora of choices. And a Maximalist is someone who can navigate this world overflowing with choices and excel in it and find a path throughout the madness.
Music Junkie Press: That is really so true, especially for the youth of today. It is completely overwhelming to be a youth in that environment.
Dani:Ya, I don’t envy the younger generation.
Music Junkie Press: If we look back at growing up and what things from today we might have wanted to have, there isn’t much. For me, it might have been the cell phone, but for safety sake. Now, back to your music, are you going to be working on any more videos?
Dani:Well, we will soon. As of now, basically what we have in the pipeline is an animated video for Monster Sleeping which is almost done and then another fiction video for Time To Go and it is this really fun, surreal video about this beverage called Magafauna that people drink and then their world totally changes and everything gets really colorful and surreal and all these little stories that happen to people who drink Megafauna. So we have those two things coming out hopefully very soon, we have been working on them for like a year or so.
Music Junkie Press:Time To Go is one of my favorite songs, I am excited for that video. That is a great track. Also, you have this great style that you have created your own sound, this fusion of elements of rock, progressive, alternative and more. Growing up, what musicians most inspired you for that?
Dani: Gosh, I am a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix, I listen to a lot of blues, Albert King, Junior Kimbrough, Albert Collins and also grunge, like early 90’s grunge, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots and then also Fiona Apple, Natalie Merchant and also Nick Drake, the acoustic player, and Elliott Smith which you don’t hear that as much in our music, and Radiohead was a huge influence, I love, I am enamored with them.
Music Junkie Press: The nice thing is you all have pulled this sound together and it is unique and inviting. It brings out a lot of emotion, makes you feel alive. Do you have a particular songwriting process?
Dani: It totally depends on the song so. Let me think, a lot of songs will start with me just messing around with a riff and I will come up with a riff that I like and then over the top of that, a melody will just come out and then sometimes I will take words, I will come up with nonsense words at first and sometimes some of those are actually really poignant to me and that is why I am coming up with them. If that makes any sense to you?
Music Junkie Press: Yes, exactly, it is exactly that whatever flows easiest seems to be the most important for you.
Dani:Ya, and then other times I did this process where I took a bunch of my writings over the years, and cut up different lines and then arranged them into song lyrics and poems.
Music Junkie Press: That is so awesome and quite creative.
Dani:Ya, it was a lot of fun. So some songs take me a year to write, literally a year or two and other some songs just come out fully formed. They just flow out and they are just there.
Music Junkie Press: Now, how old were you when you first started playing guitar? And what was the first song you learned in its entirety?
Dani: I was 10. Ya, it was Smokestack Lighting by Howlin Wolf.
Music Junkie Press: How about with summer coming to a close soon, what was some of your highlights for you this year so far?
Dani: Burning Man, Burning Man was a blast. It was so intense and I don’t know, the media was just saying that it is dead and there were a lot of wealthy people out there now and this and that. But Man, when I was out there, it was extremely intense, I got stuck in a whiteout, a sand blizzard, it was crazy. It really is crazy. What else, let’s see, we went out on a very long tour this summer, a two month tour, I also made it out to Europe to visit a friend of mine. I did my running around during the summer a lot because the Austin heat in Summer is too much for me.
Photo Credit: Anna Webber
Music Junkie Press: You have had quite a busy summer! How about if we could peak into your Ipod, what artist or song might be most surprising for us to find in there?
Dani: Surprising? Blonde Redheads. Fleet Foxes. Helplessness Blues is a great album, new Medeski, Martin & Wood, Keller Williams.
Music Junkie Press: Well, it is great to see how your music tastes are so varied, you can feel it in your music. You are so multi talented, a dancer, an artist, musician, your music preferences are so varied, what advice could you give to get other people out there today to listen to a variety of music?
Dani: To maintain that diversity in music?
Music Junkie Press: Well, in everything, I know that a lot of times the youth of today are given choices to do and they sometimes might be persuaded to stick with just that and not try new things. They pick up the guitar and the parents check the box now for guitar, and push them into that. You instead have done a wide range of things, succeeded at them as well. I believe even in law for you?
Dani: Yes, I am a lawyer too.
Music Junkie Press: That is amazing and great, what advice could you give to the youth?
Dani: Probably to face your fears, to not be afraid, to not be afraid to fail, be open to doing something because you want to even if you are not that great at it, keep trying.
Music Junkie Press: Everyone has their kids trying to place them in their checkboxes of what they are good at. Same thing with the music genres. That is what I love about your music, you don’t try to fit it into a checkbox for a genre or sub-genre. It is its own unique style.
Dani:Thank you, I am glad to hear that.
Music Junkie Press: What are you guys currently working on?
Dani: Well we are touring again in October, We just don’t stop. We are going out West, going to hit California, Seattle, and Portland and all that, and the Rockies. But we are also working on a new album so I have been writing a bunch of songs for that and we have been collaborating on songs. I am actually meeting with a studio engineer next week to talk about timing for that. And then I am also going to record an acoustic EP. I think it will just be Dani Neff, because it is so different from Megafauna, I think, or maybe, I don’t know. So ya, we would like to record another really epic music video, another dance one but even more psychedelic, like body paint, really crazy lighting. So that stuff and we have a bunch of shows in Austin in September so we are busy.
Music Junkie Press:We are looking forward to you coming out here. We are in Northern California, so we really look forward to it.
Dani: Yes, we are supposed to play San Francisco October 24th, haven’t locked down a venue yet, but we will be there.
Music Junkie Press:We will definitely lock down the date and look forward to seeing your show. Lastly, what would you like to share with our audience and your fans?
Dani:A lot of what I am learning recently about myself is to just.. Well okay, to just face your fears. Instead of trying to hide from your fears or distract yourself from them, to just face them head on and find out why you are afraid of what you are afraid of and learn from that. Also, when you have certain feelings that can be hard, probably this is too out there, Mari: (No, please go ahead), Okay, like sadness, anger, frustration, instead of running from those feelings, to just be with them, sit with them and just welcome them and learn from them.
Music Junkie Press:That is great advice, they always talk about people coming in to your life at the right time for a reason and I think you prove that. You just touched on something very personal for me that I was struggling with just yesterday. It was the anniversary of my father’s passing and I had all these hard feelings and there are three things I could have done, run from the feelings, distract from them or be with them. In the past, I did the other two and this year, I was just that, with them. Just felt them all the way through. So it is amazing that you talked about that and it is such great advice. You caught me off guard with that.
Dani:Wow, Oh my gosh, it is great you did, it is so hard, I mean in a way it is hard being with it, but in a way it is kind of easier than just running away from it. And then, when we have these feelings, a friend was telling me this, that they are there for a reason and you have to let them out and have the feeling.
Music Junkie Press: That is true, the interesting part is that they are going to be there until you let them out. If not today, then tomorrow, or whenever, they will be there until you experience it. That is the fact that I learned yesterday, 3 years later and these feelings are still there to release because I didn’t deal with them back at that time. Until you go through them, just know they will be there waiting for you. I ran from them before and this year, faced them and I feel much better for it. That was great advice Dani to share with everybody.
Dani: Thank you. I was inspired by this poem, a Rumi poem called The Guest House, I recommend it. It is just about how being human is just like a guest house and the guests are the different feelings and you just have to welcome each guest, even if its terrible.
Music Junkie Press: That is a great way to look at it.
Dani: I read it from the Burning Man info guide and it is a poem by Rumi.
“A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.“
Music Junkie Press: Thank you so much for your time and we look forward to seeing you in San Francisco on October 24th. Thank you for your great gift of music, your wonderful words and great advice.
Dani:Thank you so much, and it is what I do, my mission.
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Be sure you head over to http://megafaunamusic.bandcamp.com/ and pick up Maximalist. We look forward to their upcoming tour and make sure to visit their social media sites and stay up to date on their latest news.
In August 2010, Prog Sphere released its first ever Progstravaganza compilation. After four years, twenty compilations, over 460 bands showcased, and more than 65,000 downloads, Prog Sphere Promotions is ready to release its first physical compilation CD. Progstravaganza: Beyond Frontiers, is ready for pre-order Progify store, and will be released on October 14th, 2014. This new compilation includes twelve progressive rock and metal bands from all around the world who are itching to show their talent to global audience.
From the very beginning, Prog Sphere Promotions has sought to bring the very best upcoming progressive rock and metal bands to its audience, while also offering a presentation that the discerning prog lover has come to expect from his or her collection. To this end they have enlisted the talent of Frank Gingeleit of Living Tunes Mastering to master the newest compilation. For those with an eye for beautiful album covers, Prog Sphere Promotions have retained the services of the talented Chris van der Linden of LindenArtwork for the artwork and six-page digipak.
You can listen to a track off the new CD, I’m All Alone by Seconds Before Landing. It takes progressive rock through an ambient haze and what you are treated to is an ethereal fused track that balances between atmospheric and mood altering. It is a great track to check out.
The track list for Progstravaganza: Beyond Frontiers, is as follows:
01. Seconds Before Landing – I’m All Alone (USA)
02. Fughu – Quirk of Fate (feat. Damian Wilson) (Argentina)
03. Traffic Experiment – The Weight of the World (UK)
Music Junkie Press 