Results tagged “a rocket to the moon” from J-14 Magazine

Hey J-14ers,

I'm a big fan of compliation CDs -- I have all those punk goes pop albums and will scour YouTube for a good cover, so I was psyched to check out Take Action Volume 9. The whole CD was put together just for charity as part of the 2010 Take Action Tour. We The Kings, Mayday Parade, A Rocket To The Moon, and There for Tomorrow are a part of the tour and the two-disc CD includes 35 songs, and bands like 3OH!3, Cobra Starship, Taking Back Sunday, and All Time Low join them on the album.

There are two things I really like about this CD. One is that 5% of the retail price will be donated to Driving For Donors, a group started by 14-year-old Patrick Pedraja and his family. When Patrick was 10, he was diganosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and at 11, he started the group to get people to sign up for the National Marrow Registry. The other cool thing is that the album isn't filled with hit songs you've already heard on other albums. Eighteen of the 35 tracks are exclusive or previously unreleased, including We The Kings' riveting acoustic cover of Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle."

The acoustic tracks make the mix for me. I love when musicians can strip down their tunes and get to the real essence of the lyrics and melodies. You can really hear the pain in Mayday Parade's "The Silence," and if a song on the mix gets you a bit more down than you'd expect, a tune like Hit The Lights' "Liars And Cheats (Acoustic)" comes along and makes you want to clap your hands -- in the most rockstar way, of course. I was most surprised by There For Tomorrow's "Backbone (Acoustic)" -- it was truly stripped-down and let singer Maika Maile's voice shine through.

3OH!3 and Cobra Starship's start off disc two with remixes of "Don't Trust Me" and "Hot Mess," and they're the kind of versions you want to hear when getting ready to go out on a Friday night. Much of the second disc was hit with the dance stick with tracks like Let's Get It's "Maps" to Lights' "Saviour," which I thought was a Britney Spears song the first time I listened to it. Disc two very quickly moves into the hardcore world with August Burns Red's "Indonesia" but then gets right back to pop punk with All Time Low's "Poision" and The Downtown Fiction's "I Just Wanna Run" - both got me totally pumped up.

Take Action Volume 9 runs the gamut from punk to pop to dance thanks to the acoustic versions and remixes. While I lean towards pop punk over anything else, the compilation has a good mix for everyone -- think the type of CD you could put on when you have friends over and never need to change.

So tell me - what do you think of charity compilation albums?

<3,
Emily, J-14 editor

Take Action Volume 9 drops tomorrow, February 9. More information on the tour and the charity can be found at TakeActionTour.com and Sub City.

J-14 has five copies to giveaway - enter the contest here!

Photo: Courtesy of Fueled By Ramen

Mayday Parade stopped by the J-14 offices today, and they were super fun guys to talk to! They filled us in on the Hot Topic Presents 2010 Sub City Take Action Tour that they're currently on along with We The Kings, There For Tomorrow, A Rocket to the Moon, Stereo Skyline, and Call The Cops. This year's tour spotlights a charity called Driving For Donors. It was started by Patrick Pedraja, a 14-year-old who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was just 10 years old.

Lead singer Derek Sanders says the tour has been awesome so far. "Touring is so much fun as it is, and it's already just a great time," he explains. "To have that extra bonus factor that it's for a really good cause just makes it even more rewarding." Even cooler? In the ten years since the tour idea was started, The Sub City concept has raised nearly two million dollars for over 50 non-profit organizations.

Check out tour dates after the jump and their shoutout vid just to J-14 below!

Hey J-14ers,

Last night I saw by far my favorite concert of the year -- OP presents Boys Like Girls with Cobra Starship, The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon, and VersaEmerge. I've never seen so much energy in one show!

My fave song by The Maine last night was actually the last one they performed (okay, it's one of my faves by them in general anyway!), "Girls Do What They Want." Lead singer John O'Callaghan was so into it felt like he got lost in the song! Plus after their set, I ran into a fan who was so excited to catch one of drummer Pat Kirch's drumsticks -- she said she had to practically fight the crowd to keep it! Now those are real fans!

I've never seen Cobra Starship live, but I have met lead singer Gabe Saporta, guitarist Ryland Blackinton, and bassist Alex Suarez before, so I was psyched to finally see them perform a full set. And they sure did perform for their hometown crowd! "It's good to be home, man," Gabe told the crowd at the beginning of the show. Cobra opened with "The City Is At War," got the crowd in a frenzy when they announced the song "Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We're Famous," danced like madman to the latin-infused punk song "Smile For The Paparazzi," and rocked out to their newest single, "Hot Mess." But the highlight of the night was definitely their last song, when Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester came out to perform Cobra's hit single "Good Girls Go Bad." It was the first time Leighton ever performed with Cobra live, and she brought two back-up dancers on stage with her! I've never seen a crowd go as nuts as they did for this song.

Well, that was until Boys Like Girls came on! Sure it helps that I know every song, but they had me hooked from the moment the second they hit the stage covering Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling," which led right into their single, "Love Drunk." I was psyched to hear them play two of my fave tracks off their Boys Like Girls album, "Five Minutes To Midnight" and "Hero/Heroine," and it was awesome to hear VersaEmerge's lead singer Sierra Kusterbeck take on Taylor Swift's part in BLG's newest single, "Two Is Better Than One." But the absolutely best part of the night was when they took on their sick anthem, "The Great Escape" -- not only was it amazing to hear live, lead singer Martin Johnson invited everyone up on stage to sing with them!

It was a crazy way to end an awesome night of music!

Tell me J-14ers -- what's the best concert you've been to this year?

<3,
Emily, J-14 editor

Photos: J-14; Courtesy of Shotmonster.com; J-14

A Rocket To The Moon just dropped their debut album, On Your Side! We were excited to hear the new record, so the ARTTM boys -- lead singer and guitarist Nick Santino, guitarist Justin Richards, bassist Eric Halvorsen, and drummer Andrew Cook -- stopped by J-14's offices to talk to us about their fave songs, crazy fans, and their love for Taylor Swift!

J-14: Where did the name "A Rocket To The Moon" come from?
Nick Santino: I started it as a solo thing a couple of years ago, and when I thought of a name, I wasn't really thinking of anything crazy behind it. [The name] sort of popped in my head. I don't know if I read something and it jumped out at me -- tt was just something that I put down and it stuck.

J-14: What's your favorite track off your new album, On Your Side?
Nick: Mine would be "Like We Used To." It has a slower melody and is kind of a break up song, but it has a happy ending. I think it's a cute song.
Andrew Cook: My favorite is "On A Lonely Night." I love the vibe of the song. Every time I hear it, it's like listening to it for the first time. I really like how Caitlin's vocals kind of blend in to the song too, and it has a cool touch to it -- a sort of poppy country-ness to it. It makes me happy.

J-14: How did the "Annabelle" vs. "Dakota" storyline come about?
Nick: Annabelle is like a pain kind of girlfriend that's really annoying, and Dakota is like the cute love. So I guess it seems like the love songs can be written about this character Dakota and all the hate, mean songs can be about Annabelle.
Eric Halvorsen: Kind of like our song "Mr. Right" -- we've all gone through the good and the bad relationships.

J-14: Have you had any crazy fan encounters on the road?
Eric: There's some crazy fans for sure. One time we were in Florida on our friend's bus, just playing video games, and someone upfront yelled to us about some crazy girls outside. We're like, 'Okay, whatever.' Five minutes later we hear a thud. We look out the window, and there's this girl hanging off the bus -- she's hanging onto the window trying to look in. It was crazy. So we closed all the blinds!

J-14: What was it like touring with Hey Monday and 3OH!3?
Nick: [Hey Monday's] Cassadee is a crazy, crazy little girl. She's a sweetheart but she's insane. She's just like one of the guys on tour. You don't even expect that she's a girl!
Justin Richards: 3OH!3 are some of the coolest, most down-to-earth dudes. You'd never think that they had the number one single.
Eric: They hung out with us every single day on their bus. We would eat their food.
Andrew: Real good food.

J-14: Do you guys have any celeb crushes right now?
Eric: Nick's celeb crush is Taylor Swift.
Justin: I'm pretty into Taylor too. I really like Kristen Stewart. And Rob Pattinson - he's a dreamboat.

A Rocket To The Moon is currently on tour with The Summer Set, Vita, and Ian Walsh. Their OP Presents: Boys Like Girls, Cobra Starship, A Rocket To The Moon, and VersaEmerge Tour starts November 1. Check out the dates after the jump!

A Rocket To The Moon -- aka lead singer/guitarist Nick Santino, guiartist Justin Richards, bassist Eric Halvorsen, and drummer Andrew Cook -- stopped by the J-14 Magazine offices to tell us all about their new album, On Your Side! It drops tomorrow, October 13, and Nick says their pop/rock sound was infused with "a country feel." The boys described themselves as "All-American Rejects with Third Eye Blind and a male Taylor Swift."

And with catchy songs like "Annabelle" and "Dakota," we had to dig into the boy mind and ask them lots of girl questions -- namely who their celeb crushes are! Andrew likes Megan Fox and Nick said, who else, Taylor Swift!

Check out their exclusive shoutout to J-14 readers below, and look for their q&a soon!