It is this song, “The Kill” by 30 Seconds to Mars that created a love for rock music in me. It was the first song by 30STM that I listened to, and it instilled not only a new love for rock music and the band in me, but also led to the thought of starting a new band of my own.
Yes, the idea of starting a band dawned on me then! And that was how Change The Formula was started by us, thanks to my band mate and my dear friend Sanjana, who was the first one to tell me about this song: it all started with her. “The Kill” still remains one of my favourite songs and one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. I dedicate this short piece of writing to Sanjana and of course, Jared Leto, the lead singer of this mind-blowing rock band. Thank you all!
A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through my subscriptions list on YouTube, searching for any good new videos from my subscriptions. This was when I found that a new video has been posted by Ten Second Songs, a channel run by Anthony Vincent, a musician who is known for doing covers of songs in different styles. He is most popular for his “Ten Second Songs 20 Style Covers”. This time however, he had a collaboration with Ken Tamplin, a famous vocal coach known for his vocal range, and Gabriela Gunčíková, a Czech singer who represented her country in this year’s Eurovision. The 5:20 minute-long “65 songs – A Journey Through Rock And Roll” video has 65 songs from the 1950s to the present decade showing how much rock and roll has evolved since its beginning.
The video starts off from the 1950s, the “beginning” rock and roll, featuring songs by artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presely and a few others who contributed to the rock and roll scene of the 50s. The 50s part is funky and seems more enjoyable than the original songs. The rock songs of the 1960s is vibrant, progressing from softer and more poppy tunes of the Beatles and the Beach Boys to heavier songs like Whole Lotta Love. I particularly liked Janis Joplin’s Piece of My Heart by Gabriela Gunčíková, as her raspy voice makes it just as good as Janis’ (maybe even better) and the “Whole Lotta Love” part by Ken Tamplin is incredibly good. The 1970s part is perhaps the longest decade of music in this video. This is the part where a lot of legendary classic rock songs keep coming; like Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Another Brick In The Wall by Pink Floyd, Boston’s More Than A Feeling, and Queen’s We Will Rock You. Each one of these songs is done in perfect harmony and is full of energy.
The 80s part is remarkable as well. There are many songs that stood out to me in this decade. The Ace of Spades part by Anthony Vincent was very impressive, as he sounds just like Lemmy. Gabriela Gunčíková’s Run to the Hills harmonies along with Anthony Vincent’s vocals and instrumentals were so powerful that it would be wonderful to hear an entire cover of the song by them. Faith No More’s Epic sung by Gabriela Gunčíková sounds way better than the original, and so does Paradise City sung by Anthony Vincent. The next part is my personal favourite, the 90s. It begins with Ken Tamplin singing Metallica’s Enter Sandman, which again sounds just like the original; and then the grunge part comes in. It starts with Nirvana’s Smells like Teen Spirit and ends with Pearl Jam’s Even Flow.The most unbelievable part of the video is when Gabriela Gunčíková sings Alice in Chains’ Man in the Box perfectly, which I thought only Layne Staley could do. I really enjoyed the rest of the grunge part especially Soundgarden’s Outshined, sung remarkably well by Anthony Vincent and Ken Tamplin.
The 2000s part was simply mind-blowing. Tool’s Schism by Ken Tamplin was unbelievable as it sounds just like the original. Another thing that really stood out was how incredibly good the juxtaposition of Linkin Park’s Numb with Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes sounded. Foo Fighter’s Pretender and Muse’s Uprising was full of energy. The last part of the video, the present deacde, 2010s, begins with Gabriela Gunčíková giving us a powerful scream from Avenged Sevenfold’s Nightmare, before Anthony Vincent and Ken Tamplin join it to sing Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive and the video ends with a bang with Muse’s Psycho.
If you dig deeper into the modern rock scene, away from the mainstream, you will find manifold proficient rock bands keeping the true spirit of rock and roll alive, as first-rate rock and roll hasn’t been in vogue for past two decades. Here are 15 indie/alternative/punk/hard rock/blues bands from recent times that fit the above description.
1. Royal Blood
Royal Blood is an English rock duo formed in Sussex in 2013. Their music has its roots in hard rock, modern blues, psychedelic rock and everything in between. They have released only one studio album so far—a self-titled album and an EP, both in 2014.They have gained much popularity in the past two years and have peaked rock charts. Royal Blood, as described by the Rolling Stone magazine, is reigniting British hard rock and is the most defiant emerging UK band since the Arctic Monkeys.
2. Catfish and the Bottlemen
Catfish and the Bottlemen is a Welsh indie rock band formed in 2007. Their two studio albums The Balcony (2014) and The Ride (2016) are immensely popular, especially among teenagers and young adults who can easily connect with their music and lyrics. They make feel-good music that’s incredibly catchy, and don’t have a single bad song to date.
3. Wolf Alice
Wolf Alice is a four-piece alternative rock band formed in London. They have released four EPs and are known for their powerful live shows. Their music has a lot of influences, especially from the alternative rock and grunge scene from the 90s. With the combination of dreamy vocals from Ellie Rowsell and powerful riffs in a very alt rock way, Wolf Aliceis very unique and is likely to be one of the biggest rock acts in modern times.
4. The Blue Dawns
The Blue Dawns is a roaring mighty garage blues band from York, London. They are quite an underrated band and deserve much more recognition. They have strong bass lines in every song of theirs and captivating songs that will make you crave more. The Blue Dawns’ music bears a striking resemblance to the style of music The Black Keys used to play, only so much better.
5. The Big Moon
The Big Moon is the Veruca Salt of the modern times, except The Big Moon are a group of four. They are channelling the indie and alternative rock scene with their energy-packed vocals and tight harmonies.
6. Highly Suspect
Highly Suspect is a rock trio from Brooklyn and initially started off in the music industry by covering Jimi Hendrix, Sublime and Pink Floyd. Their music is mostly psychedelic and hard rock. This song, Lydia was nominated for this year’s Grammys.
7. Graveyard
Graveyard is a 70s-leaning Swedish band of psychedelic blues rock that makes calming to head-banging music.
8. Dinosaur Pile-Up
Dinosaur Pile-Up is an English alternative rock band formed in 2007. Their music ranges from power pop to post-grunge.
9. Violent Soho
Violent Soho is an Australian alternative rock band formed in 2004 in Brisbane. It explores a great deal of the alternative rock spectrum, particularly grunge.
10. Valentiine
Valentiine is a three-piece post-grunge band from Melbourne, reviving the good ol’ grunge spirit of the 1990s.
11. Against Me!
Against Me! is an emerging American pop punk rock band formed in 1997 making waves in the modern rock industry.
12. Pretty Vicious
Pretty Vicious is a Welsh four-piece rock group from Merthyr Tydfil formed in the March of 2014. This high-energy group plays some sick tunes!
13. Slaves
Slaves are an English punk duo formed in 2012. They are bringing the real punk rock music back from the ashes with their banging tunes.
14. Warpaint
Warpaint is an American indie rock band formed in 2010. Their music has a free-floating sound and they are quite stylishly presented for an indie band.
15. Dead Sara
Dead Sara is an American post-hardcore band active since 2002. The frontwoman Emily Armstrong’s voice particularly stands out among many other singers out there right now. Her vocals and Siouxie Medley’s riffs blend together in the most wonderful way. Dead Sara is energetic, bluesy, heavy and yet mellow in their latest self-titled album (2015).
Music videos matter as much as the music itself, and they come in all shapes and colours. Amongst the world’s many animated music videos, here are some with exceptional art direction.
1. People on the Sand, by Nicolas Tracanelli
“People on the Sand” is a combination of live action and animation, with glowing effects in neon pink and yellow. The song and its visuals are reminiscent of summer vacations at the beach, but besides this, it tells of how travelling is more about making money than anything else, with crowded beaches and holiday packages. The animator Sauvane Petaut has done similar work in other striking music videos, but Nicolas Tracanelli, or “Traca”, is a small-time musician at the moment.
2. Papercut, by Zedd
This black-and-white video comprises different styles of animation, with images of a deviant American teenage life. It fits the remix’s beat, and it’s got the hand-drawn feel the animators were going for.
3. It’s OK, by Tom Rosenthal
This music video is another of the hand-drawn kind, with simple sketches in bright crayon colours. The drawings are intentionally childish; the crayon marks do not stay within the lines.
4. Moving On, by James
This music video’s about a world of string people, and was directed by the award-winning Ainslie Henderson. In this world, everybody has an umbilical cord-like piece of string attached to their bodies. When somebody dies, their string begins to unravel, and elsewhere, the string winds itself to make another string person.
5. If You Dare, by Toybloïd
The music video for “If You Dare” is nicely animated, and tells the story of an adolescent group of skateboarders who raid a store, ripping up packets of crisps and frightening other customers. The storekeeper gives them a bottle of a fizzing green liquid, which transforms them into a band of rockstars.
6. TMZ, by Weird Al Yankovic
This is one of Weird Al’s many animated music videos, with coloured pencil drawings. Some of his other animated videos are just as good, but I like this one in particular because I thought it was funny.
7. Do I Wanna Know?, by Arctic Monkeys
Everybody knows about this one anyway, but it’s here in case you didn’t. For the first minute and a half, white sound waves on a black background are the only things you see; the first time Sanjana showed it to me, I thought that was all the music video was going to have. The lines transition into more complex drawings in mindbogglingly creative ways. It goes with the music perfectly.
alexrainbirdMusic is probably one of the earliest independent music channels, started in 2008. They post very frequently, at least every weekday. alexrainbirdMusic provides a platform for young, underrated bands to be recognized and for their subscribers to find new music. Rock, pop, folk and electronic music are the usual genres of music found in this channel. Occasionally, this channel posts a relaxing indie/pop/folk compilation, perfect for the summer!
Still Finest is a channel for all kinds of house music. It has new music everyday—energetic club music that is unlike any generic EDM you are likely to hear on the radio. Like many house music channels on YouTube, Still Finest has some great mixes from deep house to chill step. Like the name suggests, this channel is the finest for deep house music on YouTube and will keep you entertained eternally.
IndieAir posts calming and relaxing indie pop and alternative music for the soul. They don’t always post music but when they do, it is really, really beautiful. The background picture for each music video almost always captures the essence of the music.
Trap Nation is extremely popular on YouTube with over six million subscribers. They call themselves the number one channel for trap music and it’s true. It is a wonderful platform for both new, unknown artists, and also for well-known, established musicians. There is a variety of trap music in this channel to jam out to!
Elemental Music has a much bigger variety of house music. They post only mixes which are almost an hour long so this channel is best for the summer or any other long vacations.
Majestic Casual posts electronic music, deep house, experimental, hip-hop, indie, pop and everything in between. It has amazing visuals and high quality music. It was one of the first audio-visual YouTube channels.
Epic Music VN makes scores that go well while playing video games or reading a book. These scores are of many “genres” like action, fantasy, dramatic, and so on, similar to movie soundtracks.
mau5trap is a record label founded by deadmau5 . The channel features similar deadmau5-like progressive house music and even the occasional mau5 track. Being a record label that’s a brain child of deadmau5, music from mau5trap is bound to be epic. unlike Spinnin Records :p
The HVYE has new indie and alternative music from both famous and unknown artists alike. The combination of visuals and music in this channel makes it aesthetically pleasing.
On a Thursday night, I listened to Greg Holden’s ‘Boys In The Street’. The version I listened to was a cover by a YouTuber, who’d replaced the acoustic guitar bits with the piano instead. I sat silently, listening to the melancholy song, fixated on the words and the soft piano.When I first heard ‘Boys In The Streets’, I was so shocked, so awed by the simple beauty of the words that my eyes burned with tears. Holden is not gay, but he understands that some families look upon homosexuals as something ‘quite nasty’. It’s not fair to ostracise homosexuals simply for the reason that they ARE homosexuals. It’s not fair to alienate them because they don’t share the same gender interests. Honestly, it’s the twenty-first century. Is it that impossible to accept change?
Holden’s song has only four verses, but he manages to bring in the life of a gay son with a disapproving father. He shows how the boy is tormented by thoughts of worthlessness, wormed in his brain by his father. His self confidence is riddled with doubt and self-reproach when his father tells him he’s never going to make it far in life. When the father hears his son’s been kissing boys in the street, he tries to hush it up and change his son’s repulsive ways by undermining his confidence and self-esteem. But as the father’s life ticks away by the years, he accepts his son for whom he is and tells him to ‘keep kissing boys in the street when he’s gone.’
There are so many gays, lesbians, transgenders and bisexuals in the world who face criticism and alienation. Conventionally-minded people avert their eyes and hurriedly dismiss them as ‘not part of this society’. How many tears of quiet resignation have been shed simply because people don’t take you for who you are? They are still humans, they are still part of the world. Just because they don’t have interests in the same sexes that you do doesn’t make them repugnant. Why, then, do people still turn their noses up at homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders? What is so wrong in a guy liking a guy, or a girl wanting to be a guy?
Those who do not outright eliminate the LGBTQ community as part of humanity view them with a sort of stupefied fascination. ‘He’s gay’, they whisper. ‘Let’s stand up for him. We’ll seem cool.’ Again, honestly?!
But there are some who accept homosexuals, who have no problems with bisexuals, and find no fault with transgenders. They do not need to stand up and fight for LGBTQ rights. The members of the community are not weak; they are perfectly capable of fighting for their own needs. We support. We understand. We accept. We try to change the minds of the conventional and narrow-minded. We ignore the restrictive would who still blindly lash out against them, because they are, as I like to put it, ‘a dying breed.’
If those who do not accept people for who they are, regardless of their gender, or their likes or interests, can find it in themselves to settle into understanding, that is enough. Nothing will change. Nothing is different. You only have to realise. Because the fault is not in your stars, it’s in your minds.
While searching for new kinds of music to listen to on SoundCloud, I stumbled upon an unexpected old cover of Louis Armstrong’s popular jazz ballad—”What a Wonderful World” by the Ramones.
The Ramones were one of those bands known for leading the punk rock music scene in the 70s and 80s. They always made uplifting, fast paced music with peppy sounds and rebellious lyrics like any other punk rock band, but this cover was something unique.
The Ramones made a slow tempo ballad into a truly energetic and enjoyable punk song and were still able to capture the message of the song—how wonderful our world is; and Joey Ramone’s vocals made the cover just as good as the original, maybe even better.
After all these years, this cover still continues to rock hard!
CTF members despised One Direction from the very dawn of it, but not me! One of my friends insisted on me listening to “What Makes You Beautiful” by 1D, and once I listened to it, I was immensely drawn to One Direction. My fellow band members were aghast when they heard word about my recent band obsession. They were concerned; they believed a poisoned seed was amongst them. Sitara came to my aid, saying, “Each one is entitled to their own views,” and so the squabble ended. Whilst my friends talked about 30 Seconds to Mars and Pink Floyd, I secretly grew my liking for 1D.
On one fortunate and eventful day, my fellow band members came to my place. We did a few interesting things like collecting waste paper as a part of our recycling campaign, watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and the highlight—watching One Direction videos on YouTube!
They were reluctant initially, but when I showed them “History”, the recent one from 1D, I must say they were rather surprised. It is just that they never expected it to be that good. That is the fate of so many other bands and singers! Their infamous reputations are too much that it deters other people from listening to their work. As the song played on, my friends were tapping their feet along with it and enjoyed it well.
We stumbled upon a live performance of 1D (the one on New Year’s Eve) and the amount of fans standing there excited waving their hands back and forth staggered us; there were millions of them! We were amazed, there were fans crying happy tears! Ah, it was an incredible sight.
And so ended our venture, and quite a good one I’d say. 😉
Endalaus 