Day of Freedom = Free Music
Be merry, overeat, get into fights with your best friends, and get our EP, The Elephant in the Room, for free. Just make sure you’re recovered for Mixtape Festival.
Handguns @ The Vibe Lounge 4/24/12
sometimes I do guest vocals for Handguns. This seriously was so much fun.
PropertyOfZack Exclusive : : Bellwether Interview
Long Island’s Bellwether have opened for bands like Man Overboard, The Story So Far, A Loss For Words, With The Punches, and many more. PropertyOfZack is happy to be posting an interview conducted with the band. Check it out below!
Where are you from?
We are from various parts of Long Island, NY and Brooklyn.
Who are your major influences?
As individuals, each member of the band has an array of different influences, from Rancid to Kevin Devine to August Burns Red to Jawbreaker; the differences often lead to derisive remarks and personal insults over long van rides. More to the point, and to avoid being yet another “pop-punk band thats afraid of the pop-punk label”, our influence as a whole and in terms of the sound we go for is rooted strongly in late 90s/early 2000s pop-punk like Blink, NFG, The Movielife, The Starting Line, early Brand New, and early TBS.
What local bands influenced you when you first started in local music?
A band that influenced my interest in and desire in being a part of the local scene was Show Me Action. A friend brought me to see Show Me Action in 2007, just after they had gotten back from being nominated for an MTVU woodie. The way this band I had never heard of before (at that time, I found out about bands via Fuse and absolutepunk) was able to overpack a 200ish capacity place was remarkable. Furthermore, it was eye-opening to the types of experiences you can have with bands/shows that you don’t see hyped on the internet as much as others.
What are your future tour plans?
We’re going to be heading out on an 11 day spring break tour in April. Info on it can be found on our Facebook page or BellwetherLI.com. We’ve been and will continue to be doing weekend tours throughout the spring, and are about to put together an extensive summer tour with our friends in American Verse (if you don’t think we should mention them by name then make some allusion). In the fall we’re at the very least gonna be doing frequent weekends, as we plan on putting out lots of new music in the near future, as well as a music video for “In Memoriam.”
What are the topics your EP hit?
The Elephant in the Room covers lots of situations/thoughts I had over the course of my college experience. “With All Due Disrespect” is about my disgust with the “image-first/music-who gives a shit” ethics of so many bands, local and national, in the scene. “Wishbone” is about being overwhelmed and distanced from the people closest to you in post-high school life; the fishbowl life cracks into an ocean and you’re not really sure where you or other people stand. “Chance” is about the “what is this? What are we?” anxieties when you contrast a freshly started promising relationship with the way all the bad ones went. “In Memoriam” is the most serious song I’ve ever written; it was written the day after my friend died in a car accident on the way to his job (volunteering at Anchor, a special needs summer camp). Floral Park (my hometown) has had numerous young deaths, pretty much annually for the past decade, and this song is about growing up with that painful reality. “Yup, You’re a Shitty Person” and “Debt Consolidation” are about, obviously, what was a tumultuous long distance relationship gone badly; they cover the triumphant “better off” and the frustrated “this was a lie and a waste” feelings that come after, respectively.
Check out this interview I did for Bellwether on POZ. All sorts of stuff regarding tour plans, new music, song meanings, and so much more. PLEASE REBLOG.
Bellwether has been added to this stacked show. Make sure to come early because we’re opening it! New England, spend your St. Patrick’s Day with us! Please reblog!
thank you to Handguns for spreading the word! they killed it on Friday and the crowd was wild. help spread the word about Bellwether’s The Elephant in the Room being up for name your own price download till Christmas. Thank you Meadowbrook Records for this. Go check out the rest of their collection (featuring No Good News, State Lines, Shot Not, and Broadcaster) which is also up for sale. Reblog this!
