UnderOATH is Set to Take on the World.

In an age where the most popular radio hits are those that follow the trends and give in to what they know is safe, those artists are rarely remembered when the trends evolve. Thankfully there are still some bands that stay true to their beliefs and make an album condensed with raw emotion that unless used in a creative context would never be uttered as words and blend together a perfect mess of transcending creative mayhem. That is just what UnderOATH has done with their latest full-length success, Lost in the Sound of Separation, they achieved and went above and beyond.

This album is a collaboration of naked emotion that reveals both triumph and defeat and the pursuit of devastatingly furious instrumentals to accompany the audacious and guttural screams of vocalist Spencer Chamberlain. The sound on this album is bombastic and hard-rocking yet it’s crisp and refined. This album will crawl under your skin and entice your senses.

Without a doubt Lost in the Sound of Separation is one of the top 3 albums of 2008.

After selling out shows in 8 different countries around the world, UnderOATH is back on American soil to do similar. The ‘American Siege Tour’ (covering 34 dates nationwide) is being supported by two of the biggest alternative/hardcore bands out there right now, Saosin (who just released a new full length on Capital Records) and The Devil Wears Prada (whom this week had the major re-release of their sophomore success, Plagues). Only about two weeks into the tour many of the dates thus far have been selling out.

Terminal 5 in New York City, which has a capacity of 3,000, hosted one of the stops on the tour. Even though the show was on a Sunday night and school was being anticipated the next day, kids came out and brought illuminating energy.

Spencer’s vocals throughout the entire set were memorizing. His intense screams boosted by his melodic singing parts gave their live performance such depth. Every aspect of the instrumentals are tight enough to make the sounds cohesive yet loose enough to make the music full. UnderOATH’s performance is well rounded and jaw dropping but it’s the gall they put behind the delivery that makes the walls around you shake.

At one point in their set Spencer’s mic cut out and what were we left with? Those lucky enough to be standing up against the barrier and close to the stage were able to hear his voice in the raw, never once did he let up or draw attention to the fact that there was some equipment failure. Some of those kids that got to experience it passed by me as they were walking out. I could see them grabbing the sides of their heads and blinking heavily as if they had seen a ghost, they described Spencer in those few moments as “God-like” and “one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

UnderOath give’s kids a hardcore/rock concert they will not soon forget.

POS, a ‘hip-hopper’ out of Minnesota, was such a cool way kick off a night of hardcore rock. He is a one-man show, do not underestimate him just because he doesn’t travel with a posse (but now he has the support and friendship of the rockers on this tour), he brings it to the stage and draws the crowd in with his REAL lyrics and catchy beats. If you have not had a chance to check him out, or he is not going to be playing at the UnderOATH tour date you are attending, check our his MySpace and give him a listen.
www.myspace.com/pos

“Planet Verge’s Warped Tour Band of the Year,” The Devil Wears Prada is also an opener on this tour. They have been drawing out a solid crowd every night of the tour and have been selling mountains of merchandise, which you will be seeing on the streets any minute now. The Devil Wears Prada’s live performance is full of life and has matured and grown since their summer on Warped Tour. In between Warped Tour and now they took some time to write and refine themselves as musicians, it shows instrumentally, vocally, and is evident through the performance of a brand new song. They are one of the strongest bands in the genre today. There impact is immeasurable and their music is fast becoming an IPod essential. Spring 2009 has been slated for the release of their next studio album. Keep your eyes and your ears open.
www.myspace.com/thedevilwearsprada

For the past two years Saosin has been riding the train of success generated by their self-entitled album, they came to this tour with a newly released LP and a rejuvenated and awe-inspiring performance. Lead singer, Cover Reber, has such a versatile vocal range. He is able to achieve deep guttural screams and then sing with a crisp and unique tone capable of giving anyone goose bumps. While there old songs were the obvious crowd favorite, their new ones were greeted with open arms and given positive feed back.
www.myspace.com/saosin



This tour, without a doubt, is one of the most talent packed we will see over the next year. Each band is linked together by their alternative roots yet each band has their own interpretation and creative take on the music making art form. The entire concert was like reading a book, each band a chapter and each song kept you wanting to read more.



**By Amanda, who is listening to Interpol.

Love Arcade and The Academy Is at Irving Plaza

Note: Planet Verge also did a filmed interview with both bands; check back here and at PlanetVerge.com in the next few weeks for the exclusive footage!

Last week I was lucky enough to catch The Academy Is at a “one night only” US show before heading off to the UK for a string of performances. Adding to my good fortune, I also had the pleasure of seeing fellow-Atlantic Recording artists, Love Arcade, open the show for their one and only tour date with The Academy Is.

Snowhite, the virtuoso behind Love Arcade truly is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only did he write all of the pop songs for Love Arcade’s self-titled debut, but he engineered, produced, played, sang and even did the graphic design for the album! A hard-worker off the concert stage, when Snowhite performs on stage, you can expect no less!

Snowhite and his band played about a 25-minute set. Memorable songs included “Passenger,” a sexy-pop ballad that surely sent all of the fifteen-year old girls in the audience into daydream-mode and “Keep it Comin,’” an anthem-atic song with a punk-edge, especially live.



Describing Love Arcade is a bit complex as, at the live show, they seem especially edgy and tough, but the pop-hooks and bubble-gum lyrics give them a dollop of Backstreet Boys. Snowhite sings, “keep it crackin’ like a bubble pop pop pop.” Regardless, it’s an interesting mix and a fun show to check out if Love Arcade is in your hood.

And as for the name Snowhite, it’s a high school nickname that stuck (and that Snowhite brings to his stage performance, typically performing in all white). Apparently, Snowhite wasn’t a morning person in high school and his classmates joked that he looked as sickly and pale as a cokehead each morning.



The Academy Is, the headliners of the night, blew the crowd away with extreme energy that couldn’t be matched by a dozen cases of Red Bull. The crowd fed off of the band’s vibes, averaging about four crowd-surfers per song and only a few dropped bodies. The band tells me that they do notice and appreciate their crowd-surfers. Adam, the band’s bass player, shared his one and only crowd-surfing experience with Planet Verge. A few years back, Adam took the plunge at a Midtown show. Unfortunately, Adam found himself passing over the crowd during a song where fans traditionally give two punches in the air as Midtown sings “hey, hey!” I’ll let you guess where on his body Adam took those two “hey, hey” punches..!

I think a huge part of The Academy Is’s success, besides the obvious catchy singles, is how they connect with their fans, on stage and off. On stage, lead singer, William, dedicated a song to a fan he met in line for tickets to their Irving Plaza show. The fan was the first in line and had waited for hours in the rain! There were also several points during the show when William would jump off the stage and reach out to fans or slap a high-five to a passing crowd-surfer.



The band connects online, too. The guys tell me that they personally check their MySpace page and respond to as many fans as possible. It’s no wonder that fans feel such a connection to this band and sell out their shows in record-breaking time!

Now, to single out one or two songs from the band’s Irving Plaza show wouldn’t be doing their performance justice at all. Every song they performed was amazingly vibrant, powerful and full of life (really, the show was nothing short of a fabulous time!). I can, however, highlight a few special and unique moments:

-We’ve Got A Big Mess On Our Hands – the first single off the forthcoming (April 3rd) album titled Santi. Intense drum beat and the crowd already knows the words! Speaking of knowing all the words:

-Attention – the band sang this for the first time in months, but they only sang about half of it, the crowd sang the other half, word for word.

-Seed – Another song off Santi. A real treat and first listen for concert-goers. Big time power ballad.

-New guitarist. Recognize that cute Aussie? Michael Guy Chislett from Butch Walker and the Let’s Go Out Tonites has joined forces with The Academy Is! Michael describes the move as natural since The Academy Is spent so much time at Butch Walker’s house and since Butch produced Santi for the guys.



-Small club tour. For those of you who can’t afford to see The Academy Is supporting Fall Out Boy on their arena tour, The Academy Is is planning a smaller club tour in late summer.

That said, if you can afford the $40 ticket for Fall Out Boy & The Academy Is, do it! Think of it as an investment in your physical fitness – you’ll spend an average of two hours on your feet, jumping, dancing, swinging and singing and you won’t even realize you’re tired til your head hits your pillow at night.







*by Jordana