Music to Check Out

Life Down Here on Earth is the third studio album by Kevin Welch. This album marks his debut on the artist-owned-and-operated Dead Reckoning Records, which he co-founded in 1994 with fellow musicians Kieran Kane, Mike Henderson, Tammy Rogers, and Harry Stinson.

Fit for Rivals is an American rock band that originated in Jacksonville, Florida. The band's core members are songwriter/vocalist Renée Phoenix and songwriter/guitarist Thomas Amason. The band released their debut album Steady Damage on July 9, 2009, and the follow-up, Freak Machine was released on September 2, 2016.

With hundreds of millions of streams, a top ten radio hit with "Novocain" and worldwide touring, Fit for Rivals has developed a dedicated fan-base through grassroots marketing and viral videos. Renée and Thomas continue to write music together and are planning on releasing new music through Phoenix’s label, Freak Machine Records in 2022.

Fit for Rivals formed in 2009 when Renée Phoenix met Thomas Amason while looking for a new guitarist for her band The Explicits.

Butserfest is a festival created by East Hampshire District Council. This music festival is targeted at young people aged 14-20 and is an alcohol/drug-free event. It has become an annual event due to its success in 2007. It is held on Butser Hill opposite Queen Elizabeth's Country Park near Petersfield. Bob Coleman East Hampshire District Council Community and Youth Democracy was one of the key organisers of Butserfest: "The festival ... is aimed mainly at teenagers, those in bands who want a chance to play, and those who love music and find it difficult to travel to other events." The festival supports new upcoming bands but also has some big names.

Previous notable acts that played Butserfest and then went on to make it big include You Me At Six, Bury Tomorrow, Deaf Havana, Lower Than Atlantis, Young Guns, Funeral For A Friend, Mallory Knox, Don Broco, Feed The Rhino, Marmozets, Hacktivist, Astroid Boys, Heck, Boston Manor, Create To Inspire, The One Hundred, Crossfaith, Zoax, Our Hollow Our Home, Shields, Wars and Creeper

Anavae are an English-rock duo from London, England. The group consists of Rebecca Need-Menear and Jamie Finch. Following their self-released EP Into the Aether, the band signed with English indie label LAB Records in 2013, releasing a second EP entitled Dimensions soon after.

Blameshift is a four-piece rock band from Long Island, New York that started in 2005. The band consists of Jenny Mann, Tim Barbour, Mike LaRoache and Jeff Mauer. The band is recognized for their work ethic, extensive touring history and high energy live show. In 2006 they recorded a self-released album, “Drop Down”. The release was followed by over 150 tour dates including three dates on the Warped Tour. In 2007 Blameshift recorded their second album. “The Test” with Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner. The album was nationally released through Smart Punk, F.Y.E, Hot Topic, and iTunes. Alternative Press named Blameshift as “Unsigned Band Of The Month” in August 2008. Blameshift won a contest through Taco Bell called “Feed The Beat” in 2008. Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner also produced the single, The Sirens Are Set in 2008. Blameshift toured through all of 2008 in the U.S. and Canada with And Then There Was You, and The Material on the Everlasting Sound Tour. At the start of 2009 producer Mike Watts demoed the bands’ Self Titled EP. With touring in between with Sky Tells All and The Material, the release of the EP was put on hold until February 2010. In May 2010 the band raised $5500 through Kickstarter to record with producer / engineer Erik Ron in Hollywood, California. In June 2010 the band signed with Restless Management out of Venice Beach, California.

Bryan Odell, better known by his online alias BryanStars, is an American former music interviewer, YouTube personality, musician, and artist manager. He is best known for his BryanStars Interviews series, where he interviews with popular artists in the alternative scene, including Black Veil Brides, Asking Alexandria, and Falling in Reverse.

The Golden Age is the fourth studio album by British hardcore punk band Your Demise, Produced and Engineered by Matt O'Grady at his home studios in Woking Surrey. It was released on 26 March 2012 via Visible Noise in Europe and Distort Entertainment in Canada. The first single from the album, Forget About Me, was released on 3 January 2012; it is available for download from iTunes and the band's website.

The album features a number of guest vocalists, including Jason Butler of Letlive, Josh Franceschi of You Me at Six, Louis Gauthier of Breaking Point and Brutality Will Prevail, Ajay Jones formerly of Brutality Will Prevail, Theo Kindynis of Last Witness, Dannika Webber of Evarose and David Wood of Down to Nothing and Terror.

Marianas Trench are a Canadian pop rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, formed in 1999 by Josh Ramsay and lead guitarist Steve Marshall with Ramsay's sister Sara on keyboards and vocals, Erik Scott on drums and Trev Spilchen on bass. Originally called Ramsay Fiction, Marshall suggested a name change when Ramsay's high school friend Matt Webb, drummer Ian Casselman and Morgan Hempstead on bass, replaced Spilchen and Sara Ramsay. Mike Ayley, a long time friend of Casselman took up bass responsibilities when Hempstead and Marshall left the band in 2004, taking the 5 piece down to 4. The band's current line up has released five full-length studio albums: Fix Me (2006), Masterpiece Theatre (2009), Ever After (2011), Astoria (2015), and Phantoms (2019).

Courage My Love was a Canadian rock band from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Formed in 2009 the band consisted of twin sisters Mercedes Arn-Horn and Phoenix Arn-Horn in addition to bassist Brandon Lockwood.

"Blow Me Away" is a song by American rock band Breaking Benjamin. The song is a non-album single because it was written in 2004 specifically for the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack. It was later released in 2010 as a digital single. In 2011, a remixed version of the song was released on Shallow Bay: The Best of Breaking Benjamin, featuring vocals of Sydnee Duran from Valora. Written by vocalist and guitarist Benjamin Burnley and then-drummer Jeremy Hummel, the song is described as featuring "hard rock roots, ... a vocal-centric aesthetic, heavy electric rhythm guitars", and "an aggressive male vocalist".

Rocksmith 2014 is a music video game produced by Ubisoft. It is a followup to the 2011 game Rocksmith, but has been described as a replacement to the original game rather than a sequel. Like its predecessor, the game allows players to plug in virtually any electric guitar or bass guitar and play along via the use of a USB adapter – removing the need for any proprietary controller like other music games such as Guitar Hero. The game comes with 66 songs on disk, with over a thousand more available to download as paid DLC. It was announced at Ubisoft's 2013 E3 presentation and was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC/Mac in October 2013, with versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releasing in November 2014.

The Nearly Deads are an American alternative rock band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed in 2010. The band consists of Theresa Jeane, Steven Tobi, Kevin Koelsch, Javier Garza Jr, Josh Perrone. Their self-titled debut EP, The Nearly Deads was released in 2011. They signed with Standby Records in June 2013 to release their second EP, Survival Guide, released on August 20 the same year. Their first full-length album, Invisible Tonight, was released on June 24, 2014.

Working with producer Jon King, the band released their first EP, The Nearly Deads, in 2011 and the song Never Look Back in particular proved popular, with the song's official music video receiving over 6 million views since its release. The band gained further prominence, winning the Converse Battle of the Bands at the Journey's Backyard BBQ in Nashville, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard Next Big Sound Chart, and performing on the Kevin Says Stage at Warped Tour in July 2012.

Melissa Menago is an American singer and songwriter who sings lead vocals for the band June Divided.

The band started with a college graduation and an economic recession. To keep sane during a slow post-graduation job hunt, Melissa Menago (vocals/guitar) and Chris Kissel (guitar) picked up on where they left off with a college music project. On a whim (and somewhat of a joke), they turned to Craigslist for a drummer, not expecting to find Keith Gill, who had been searching the Philadelphia area for a band, and who lived near them. They released their first EP, The Other Side of You in February 2011.

Their college peer, Lenny Sasso, stepped in as manager and also became their bass player. They released their first album, Backbone, in 2012. The release of Backbone played a significant part in the band's successful tour. Whether it be on Warped Tour, independent national tours, or local shows, the album's sales have enabled the band to function independently.

New Years Day is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California, in 2005. After building a reputation strictly through promotion on the social networking website MySpace, the band released its debut self-titled EP in 2006 and their first full-length album My Dear in 2007. Six years after their initial debut, Victim to Villain was finally released, followed by Malevolence in 2015. Malevolence peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard 200, the band's highest charting thus far.

Rebecca Emily Hollcraft(born May 9, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, known professionally asBecca,Becca-chan, andBec Hollcraft. From 2012 to 2015, she was the lead singer in the rock band Stars in Stereo.

Hollcraft was born in Portland, Oregon. She began singing and writing songs at a young age and started playing guitar when she was 10 years old. When she was 13, a family friend recorded her at a choir event in school. The tape found its way to Meredith Brooks, who had been looking for a new artist to develop. "Bec has a powerhouse voice, and when I realized she could write songs, too… I was sold," said Meredith.

With the support of her parents, Hollcraft spent her summer vacation that year in Los Angeles with Meredith working on demos. In early 2008, Hollcraft signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment Japan and released her first single "Perfect Me" on April 9, 2008 in Japan. The song was a featured theme song for the TV show,Damages,in its Japanese release (from April 2, 2008 to June 1, 2008). BECCA's debut five-song EP,Perfect Me, was released in Japan on June 4, 2008 with a second five-song EP, "Turn to Stone," released August 6, 2008. BECCA also contributed a cover of "I Drove All Night" to a Cyndi Lauper tribute-album that was released July 23, 2008.