Results tagged “sparks the rescue” from J-14 Magazine

J-14 is scouting out the hottest bands around... and this week's pick is The Audition!

Here are five things you need to know about The Audition, whose new album, Great Danger, drops March 16!

1. Drummer Ryan O'Connor was a founding member of Chicago-based The Audition back in 2003. After a few changes, the band is now made up of Ryan, lead singer Danny Stevens (who originally joined the band to play guitar!), guitarist Seth Johnson, and bassist Tim Klepek. Ryan says their name comes from playing live shows. "It's basically an audition for people to enjoy our music or fall in love with the band," he explains. "It kind of fit what we're doing."

2. The Audition is currently on the road with The Dangerous Summer, Sparks The Rescue, and The Right Coast as part of The Revolutions and Resolutions tour. The shows run through February 19.

3. "You Ruined This" is the first single off Great Danger. "It's the story of a girl not being fully honest and hiding things," Ryan tells J-14. "It destroyed the relationship in the end because she was too scared to tell the truth."

4. Think The Audition only listens to fellow rockers? Sure, Ryan tweeted that he was listening to Motion City Soundtrack, but he's also got Ke$ha's debut album on repeat and the band hung out with rapper DMX in North Carolina!

5. The guys are majorly crushing right now! Ryan loves Natalie Portman, Danny's into Taylor Swift, Seth's gossiping about Michelle Trachtenberg, and Tim's waiting for Valentine's Day so he can see his crush, Jessica Alba.

Check out The Audition here and on tour!

Let us know what you think of The Audition!

Photo: Courtesy of Victory Records

Hey J-14ers,

If you've been keeping up with J-14's blogs, it's probably not a huge secret that I'm a pop-punk fan (well, a music fan in general, obvi!). I've been into this group lately called Sparks The Rescue, and meeting them on the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards red carpet only made me like them more!

Not only are they a cool group of guys, the music video for their new single, "We Love Like Vampires," features lead singer Alex Roy as, well, a vampire! But don't worry -- it's not a New Moon spoof! "We decided to go against the Twilight thing and be more campy, more like comical and old school vampire as opposed to these sexy vampires," Alex tells J-14.

The video premiered on their MySpace page today, but we've got it for you here too!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

<3,
Emily, J-14 editor

Photo: Courtesy of Fearless Records

Hey J-14ers,

I was lucky enough to not just watch the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards being taped last night at NYC's Roseland Ballroom, but I got to head out on to the red carpet too! I talked to all the celebs about who they were excited to see at the awards show and, of course, talk about New Moon!

Sparks the Rescue's single is called "We Love Like Vampires," so I had to ask if they were Team Edward or Jacob. "Team Bella!" guitarist Toby McAllister told J-14. But Zooey Deschanel -- her hubby happens to be Death Cab For Cutie's lead singer Ben Gibbard -- told me she hasn't seen the movies! "I just haven't gotten to it, but I'm open to it," Zooey told J-14. "I love the soundtrack!"

Never Shout Never's Christopher Drew -- one of the night's big winners who told me, "I wish I was a vampire!" -- was psyched to see Death Cab perform, while singer Kenna loves Alicia Keys. In fact, he wanted her to win the Good Woodie award for charity work -- over himself! But would he pull a Kanye West if Alicia didn't win? "Yes," he told me. "I'll take the award from whoever - like if I win it, I'll take it from myself. Is [Taylor Swift] here? I want to give her a hug."

He wasn't the only one -- the Kanye incident was mentioned by rapper Asher Roth when he presented an award. But the biggest surprises of the night? Matt & Kim's back-up dancers stripping down during the band's opening number (they still had some clothes on -- don't worry!), 3OH!3 dressed up in two of Lady Gaga's craziest outfits, and Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester presented with the legendary Cydni Lauper!

My fave parts of the night overall were just watching Death Cab perform their hit off the Twilight soundtrack, "Meet Me On The Equinox," and one of my all-time fave songs of theirs, "The Sound of Settling." P.O.S. rapping through the crowd was pretty cool too, as was mega rock band The Dead Weather performing three songs to close out the night -- after all, they're an awesome group who hardly ever take the stage!

You can check out all the madness when the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards when it premieres on Friday, December 4 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

There were tons of up-and-coming bands and indie groups there that I think you guys would love. So tell me -- what new bands are you interested in hearing about? Do you guys like finding out about new music?

<3,
Emily, J-14 editor