Hot Chelle Rae announce themselves as a force to be reckoned with on their debut album Lovesick Electric. How can you argue with bold, swaggering vocals, monster sing-along choruses, crunching rock guitar, and a propulsive rhythm section that just won’t quit?

“We wanted the music to sound larger than life,” says guitarist Nash Overstreet of the group’s epic dance-rock sound. “We wanted it to sound explosive and new and fun and be better than anything out there,” adds frontman Ryan Keith Follese. Indeed, stomping, blistering jams like “I Like to Dance,” “Never Have I Ever,” “Say (Half Past Nine),” and “Bushes,” will sound equally fierce whether they’re blasting from a car stereo or emanating from an arena stage.

As one reviewer has already raved about the Nashville newcomers: “Hot Chelle Rae are honest to goodness rock and roll at its finest — ripe and arrogant, sweating with tangible promise that hangs in the air at their live shows. Posh arrangements featuring refreshingly tasteful guitar, sly lyrics, and a 22-year-old lead singer dripping with charisma, leave you knowing that these guys will end up somewhere—everywhere.”

High praise, but not surprising considering that all four band members were raised with music in their DNA. Ryan, his brother/drummer Jamie, and Overstreet are the sons of A- list Nashville songwriters with multiple number one hits between them, while bassist Ian Keaggy's dad is a world renowned Grammy-nominated guitarist.

“Growing up around music didn’t hurt, but I was never pushed to do it,” Overstreet says. “I just can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to play or write music.” Follese says his father actually encouraged him not to go into the music business. “But I don’t know what else I can do,” he says. “Music is the only thing I truly have a passion for.”

And so the guys claimed their destiny by forming Hot Chelle Rae, which they named after one of the group’s most devoted female fans. The band began to take shape in early 2005 when a mutual friend recommended that Overstreet and Follese meet. Follese was doing what he calls “the singer-songwriter thing” and was looking for a guitar player. But their first meeting didn’t go too smoothly. “We definitely didn’t like each other,” Follese says. “We dressed differently. I was clean-cut and Nash wasn’t. We looked like polar opposites, and it was just, like, no.” But the two managed to overcome their initial impressions and form their first band, which they called Miracle Drug. When their first show in August 2006 went well, they decided to try writing songs together and “we just clicked right away,” Follese says.

They brought in Nash’s childhood friend Ian Keaggy — a guitarist who didn’t even play bass until he joined the band. “Ian came to one of our shows where we had a hired gun on bass and he said, ‘If that guy can play bass, I can play bass,’” Follese recalls. “And that was that. He makes up the most creative stuff. We’ve written so many songs that have started with his bass riffs.” Ryan’s brother Jamie joined up soon after. “At first we weren’t sure because he was young, but we had a couple rehearsals with him and he knew every song because he’d been playing them for ages,” Follese says. “Anything Nash and I wrote, even if we hadn’t recorded it, he knew it. He’s a human metronome. He just stepped in and sat down and was like, ‘I know these songs.’”

At this point, Hot Chelle Rae had already been taken under the wing of entertainment exec John Hamlin, who signed them up for management. Hamlin then teamed up with music industry vet Don Ienner who guided them toward a deal with Jive Records. After signing with the label in October 2008, the guys began to gear up to make their first album, sorting through dozens of songs they had already written. “My dad told me early on that writing hit songs is just like your batting average,” Follese says. “He reminded me that Barry Bonds hits 70 homeruns a year, but he doesn’t hit a homerun every time — it’s maybe one out of ten. So if you want to write hit songs, you’re going to have to write 50 songs for your first record,’ which is what we did. We threw out loads of songs.”

To help them narrow it down, the band took advice from two of their producers, Eric Valentine and Butch Walker, both of whom know a little something about serving up hit albums. Valentine, who produced five tracks including “Say” and “I Like to Dance,” has worked with All-American Rejects and Good Charlotte, while artist/producer Butch Walker, who produced two tracks, “The Distance” and “Bushes,” has worked with Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, and Pink. “I don’t know if there’s a guy on earth more driven to make something sound the best that it can sound than Eric,” Follese says. “He is obsessive and only produces songs that he truly connects with, which is really cool.” “And Butch Walker is someone we’ve always really looked up to and have wanted to work with for a long time,” adds Overstreet. “When we were trying to decide who should produce the record, we figured why not shoot high? There’s so much passion and power in everything he puts to tape, he really helped us get that across.”

Lovesick Electric brims with the confidence and youthful energy that only a group of musicians with serious chops can deliver. “I think the album really reflects who we are and how we want the world to feel,” Overstreet says. “We can have a lot of fun and goof off, or we can be very serious and work really hard, and the album shows it all. We’ve got songs for people to listen to if they’re going through a break-up, like ‘The Distance’ or ‘Last One Standing,’ or if they want to just forget about work, like ‘I Like to Dance,’ or they want to dream about the future, like ‘Say.’ We’ve tried hard to make it completely accessible and something people can really relate to no matter what’s going on in their lives.”

If you were to take the ingredients – fun, fearless, talented, prolific, savvy – throw them in a bowl and mix it all together, there’s a very good chance you’d come up with power punk band The Summer Set, from Scottsdale, AZ.

The Summer Set began with the Gomez brothers, bassist Stephen and guitarist John, who spent a great deal of their growing up time playing music together. Feeling that this was to become much more than a hobby, at the age of 14 they made the mature decision to put together a band. Turning to longtime gal pal Jess Bowen, who was playing drums in the school band, they began setting the roots for The Summer Set. As soon as they met vocalist Brian Dales and guitarist Josh Montgomery in 2007, they knew the quintet was complete. Not only did they share a passion for rocking out to fun, pop-punk tunes, inspired by local Arizona bands Jimmy Eat World and The Format, but more importantly, they shared a goal of going big-time. This wasn’t some “after-school” project to pass the time, the 5 friends believed they had the goods to go all the way and have fun while doing it. “We sat down the very first day we started our band and realized that there was a lot of negativity in the music scene, which was depressing,” Bowen says. “We just want to bring a positive vibe.” Plus they easily agreed on a band name by opening up an Atlas and (luckily) putting the pointer on Somerset, New Jersey.

It’s that can-do attitude that has driven the quintet to sell 7,000 copies of their first EP Love The Love You Have, and an additional 11,000 copies of the EP …In Color. The Summer Set is all about tactical planning, and they took theirs seriously. Like Generals going into battle, the band strategically planned each move, including a MySpace campaign that integrated becoming “friends” with bands they admired – which intuitively led to support from said bands’ followers, giving The Summer Set a leg up. The not-yet-known band started to build steadily, with 8.5 million plays on MySpace and over 2.2 million profile views. Using the Internet to continually connect with fans, the band started to see results.

Not leaving a stone un-turned, the group also began booking their own gigs and playing locally, gathering a tried and true following. Playing with bands like The Cab, Sing It Loud, We Shot the Moon, Everybody Else, and Mercy Mercedes, The Summer Set held their own, cultivating their own audience that only seemed to get bigger at each show.

With all this momentum, The Summer Set is gearing up to release their first full-length album, Love Like This, on October 13, 2009, on Razor & Tie. Produced by Matt Grabe (The Maine, A Rocket to the Moon, Greeley Estates), the new album features lead off single, “Chelsea,” written for actress Chelsea Staub. When lead singer Dales was first introduced to the Disney Channel JONAS actress last year by guitarist Josh Montgomery, it was practically love at first sight. So he wrote a song about his crush and played the catchy pop-punk anthem, “Chelsea,” at the Troubadour in Los Angeles last October during a gig with The Pink Spiders and Sherwood. He immediately won over the fans… and Chelsea herself. Soon after, the two were officially dating. “I think the song definitely helped me,” Dales admits. “So my advice to anybody is: When in doubt, write a song.”

The album also includes tracks with additional production by Matt Squire (3OH!3, Panic At the Disco, The Used) and a song co-written with writers/producers Sam Hollander and Dave Katz (Metro Station, Boys Like Girls, Katy Perry, Gym Class Heroes). In addition to “Chelsea,” Love Like This features the rock-driven “Young,” and the mellow ballad “Where Are You Now?” featuring Dia Frampton from Meg and Dia. Wisely knowing their young audience, but also aware of maturing with them, Dales comments,  “We really wanted to make an album where every song sounds a bit different than the previous one — something that our teen fan base can listen to and something my parents can listen to.”

To prepare for their fall release, The Summer Set took their high-energy set on the road this summer with The Cab, The Secret Handshake, A Rocket to the Moon, Anarbor, My Favorite Highway, and Eye Alaska. While the young band (they’re all between 18 and 20 years old) rocks out like ol’ pros on stage, once they step off stage, it’s all about face time with the fans. They’ve been known to hang out at venues for hours on end to meet every one they can. “Stick around and don’t be scared to talk to us — we’re here to talk to the kids because they’re the ones supporting us and helping us do what we love to do. We want to meet them all,” Bowen says.

Staying in touch with fans is super important to the band, even when they’re not on tour: All five members are active on their own Twitter page and on the band’s MySpace and Facebook pages, communicating with supporters on a daily basis.

“We’re just five normal kids, who live normal lives making music that we love,” Dales says. “You can hear the fun on our record, but hopefully when people come to our shows, you can feel all the fun and love that we’re putting out there and take part of that home with you.”

With songs that any one who ever went through the processes of growing up, loving some one, and wondering if you will end up together, can identify with, and power pop that is best defined as delicious ear candy, The Summer Set’s first full length CD will have you on your feet, singing along, and for the heck of it, shining that cell phone.  Yea, it’s that good.

 

www.myspace.com/thesummerset
www.facebook.com/thesummerset
www.youtube.com/thesummerset

The Summer Set Media Assets Page

DIR EN GREY has conquered the Japanese rock scene with lyrics that convey sorrow, darkness and anger in modern society. The band has received international critical acclaim for their masterful translation of the lyrics to their dramatic and at times shocking stage show, which includes self-mutilation with bloodshed.

DIR EN GREY - vocalist KYO, guitarists KAORU and DIE, bassist TOSHIYA and drummer SHINYA - became extremely popular almost immediately upon forming ten years ago, when they caught the attention of the CEO of East West Japan. Their debut was marked by the simultaneous release of three singles, all of which reached the Top Ten. Five albums later, DIR EN GREY added to their international success by solidifying their presence in the U.S. with the 2007 release of THE MARROW OF A BONE.

THE MARROW OF A BONE continued to build on the sentiments that had become the band’s trademark over the past ten years and exemplified the band’s technical precision. The CD includes 13 aggressive tracks, where “the production is as crisp as new currency, and the thrash power-riffing throbs like a carotid artery awaiting puncture” (Detroit Metro Times, 2/7/07). Tracks included “Agitated Screams of Maggots,” the title track of the band’s EP which was released earlier this year as well as “CONCEIVED SORROW,” “THE FATAL BELIEVER,” “RYOUJOKU NO AME,” “DISABLED COMPLEXES,” “THE DEEPER VILENESS” and “CLEVER SLEAZOID.”
While singing mostly in Japanese, KYO, via his expressive voice, is able to transition effortlessly from a deep growl to theatrical vocals that transcend language barriers. The Los Angeles Times wrote that “Kyo is a staggering vocalist” and “has stockpiled an extreme range of vocal inflections, from a guttural mutter to a tonsil-ripping scream—no electronic effects needed”.

Currently the band is touring worldwide in promotion of their most diverse album to date, UROBOROS. It was simultaneously released in late November 2008 on The End Records in North America, Firewall in Japan, and through Gan-Shin in Europe and the UK.