Christopher Kalanderopoulos

Search for “lights”

The Year in Photos

In Ramblings on December 31, 2009 at 8:30 pm

We are officially on day 365. Tomorrow, we begin at 001 again. What better way to celebrate than by taking a look back at the year in photos. Click the photos to see the original articles! And because you deserve a treat, I will divulge that there will be a big Eggplante redesign in the new year. Larger photos, new features, more frequent coverage…. tons of new stuff for you to look forward to! See you in 2010!

Eggplante’s first ever picture. This is Justin Furstenfeld from the band Blue October. Unedited. Very purple. Very emotional. Not quite setting the stage for things to come, but a photo I love, nonetheless.

This is Eggplante’s pretty exhaustive E3 coverage from Los Angeles in June. This Summer was filled with some pretty big events: E3, the MMVAs, Wakestock, Warped Tour, and the list goes on.

Speaking of the MMVAs, here is one of the most infamous events of 2009. Actually, I think we can all agree that Lady GaGa is an infamous event in and of herself.


Warped Tour was a huge success and Eggplante had plenty of coverage; show coverage, lots of photos, and an interview with my girl LIGHTS!

Same deal with Wakestock 2009, but with more interviews, and an even larger gallery of photos!

I also did the occasional movie review…

… and the only slightly more frequent Video Game Review.

There was plenty of Much On Demand coverage, including LIGHTS, Stereos, Leona Lewis, Justin Bieber, OneRepublic, and more!

We had some cool event coverage like the War Child’s Busking for Change series which featured artists all around the streets of Toronto!

.
And last, but certainly not least, Eggplante has some incredible fortune to have such amazing concert coverage with some pretty stunning photos, if I may say so myself. I actually had a lot of fun making this one, too:
.
.
You know that you can follow Eggplante on Twitter (@eggplante) for all the latest coverage, and of course Fan the Eggplante page on Facebook. On there is “The Greatest of Eggplante”, a Facebook exclusive set of our favourite photos! Be sure to check it out!

The Artist Life Interview & Show Review!

In Concert Reviews, Interviews on December 25, 2009 at 4:11 am

The Artist Life wasn’t the big appeal for the big show over the weekend. But damn did they impress me. The show was high energy, rocked out, and despite a guitar problem, you would never know that anything was wrong. They were on queue, the band knew how to control a crowd, and everybody went absolutely nuts for The Artist Life.

If you haven’t heard their music, their EP is a great way to sample them. Sharing a name with their latest single, Let’s Start a Riot is like a big bang of music crammed onto a CD. But with titles like “Beach Towns and Foolish Clowns”, you know that this isn’t your typical rock. You can check out the band at www.TheArtistLife.com or go to buy their album right now (iTunes Link)! They’re another Underground Operations band, but they offer a different sound than the usual UO funky-pop.

I was lucky enough to sit with Dean and Ian of The Artist Life to chat about Stereos, music, life, and of course, nutella. I must say that these two guys are some of the most genuinely great people I’ve ever met. They are so appreciative of every person, every fan, every show. And I must say it is blatantly apparent that they love what they do. This kind of honesty and love for the job is rare but these guys are definitely some of the most deserving people to be in the industry. I can’t say enough nice things about them.

Alright, enough with the mushy mushy – check out the interview below, the audio, and then head past it for some fantastic photos of the night!

Eggplante: So let’s not beat around the bush; where did you guys come from? You’re not the biggest band in the world, but you’re not a small time band either. You guys have some pretty big sounds, you’ve kind of started a riot, you’re connected to Stereos and Midway State, so what’s next?

Ian: Well after we dropped the EP in October of 2008, we sort of toured, working hard, paying our dues, so what’s next is full-length.

Dean: And how everything worked with Stereos was that our management and record label is Underground Operations and obviously they manage Stereos as well so when they moved to Toronto and found a house and signed their deal, we started hanging out with them and it turned out that we all loved the same bands and we got along with each other really well. We all talked about the first time they go across Canada, we’d do it. The best thing about being in a band is being able to tour with your friends, so we became really good buddies and they were like ‘yeah, we’re gonna take you guys on tour!’

E: That’s how it starts, right? So you guys are pretty chill guys, but your music is pretty heavy. In comparison, you’ve got The Midway State which is kind of like the love bug guys, Stereos which are more of the pop stuff, you guys have more of the punk and the hard edged rock stuff. But you’re kind of goofy guys; how do you jump from one to the other?

D: Uhh, I don’t know, we’ve always just wanted to be that really light hearted fun punk band, even if our lyrics might deal with some pretty heavy subject matter sometimes.

I: I think the thing about us is that we’re not ironic comedy, no offense to some bands. I mean, some bands are like ‘let’s work at this really hard to make this funny’ and we’re not like that.

D: When we do something comedic and fun like shooting Let’s Start a Riot [which Eggplante is in by the way], running out of a tree bush and I’m only in my underwear, that is honestly spur of the moment, we were like ‘oh, who wants to get down in their underwear?’ It’s not like this pre-planned notion of comedic activities. We take our stage so serious, and we also have fun with it too, that we have to.

E: So let’s talk about your tattoos. What’s the big one; what’s your favourite?

D: Well, this one is pretty cool; everyone in the band has this one. Tattoo depicts and anchor overlayed with the text “We’re Not Alone”

I: I’d agree; Even though it is aesthetically my least favourite tattoo, I like it the most!

E: Alright, so that’s enough with the bullshit inspirational questions, so let’s get down to it. Nutella or Peanut Butter?

D: Uhh, peanut butter. Sweet stuff gives me a stomach ache.

I: I like them both to be honest with you.

E: But you’ve gotta pick one. Like, Lights told me Kraft dinner when I asked her, and I’m like ‘how did we get to Kraft Dinner?’ You have to pick one!

I: Nutella.

D: (pointing to Ian) This is also the guy that, when we get to a restaurant, asks for peanut butter packets and opens them up and eats them before the breakfast gets there.

E: Only because they don’t make nutella packets, though, right?

I: They do make nutella packets.

E: Don’t toy with me. Hahaha, would it be the ultimate form of flattery to see The Artist Life in Rock Band or Guitar Hero?

I: Oh, dude! I would love to have some songs on there! That’s the new medium, right? Kids playing fake guitar on a video game. What am I gonna do, sit here and go ‘oh, that’s so stupid!’, no, I’m going to embrace it!

E: And it’s a way to reach like twenty million more people! If you could be a superhero, what power would you have?

D: I would like to have the power not to die. I’m like super scared of death, to get like deep here, I am, so I’d like be able to not die.

I: I’d like to be Spiderman and shoot webs from my arms.

Ian says this with the straightest face, no planning, no jokes; he actually wants to be Spiderman. Alright, I can dig it.

E: You just want to be Spiderman, eh? It’s not even about the powers, you just want to be Spiderman!

I: Well, call it the Power of the Spider then. Climbing up walls and stuff.

E: Awesome; what’s the next video?

D: We’re not sure yet. It’s going to be when the full length record comes out. We’re going to be in the studio all Winter.

E: When can we expect that?

D: I’d say realistically, end of Spring/early Summer? Hopefully we’ll have a single and a video and release to coincide with the album!

E: So you guys are all on Twitter; @theartistlife. Thanks so much guys!

As usual, check out the audio from the interview at the link below and of course, the pictures as well! Please follow Eggplante on Twitter (@eggplante) and the Eggplante Facebook Page so you can get all the latest updates!

EggplanteInterviewsTheArtistLife1209.mp3 (6.9MB, MP3 Audio)

This is Eggplante wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! I will definitely be posting about The Midway State before the new year, and hopefully another post about this wonderful city that I’ve been putting together for a while. Happy Holidays!

PS. Some sweet GIFness right here:

Stereos Interview & Show Review!

In Concert Reviews, Interviews on December 23, 2009 at 5:47 am

As you’ve probably heard (if you didn’t, just look to your right), Stereos were in town over the weekend, and I thought I would shed some light on their performance.

Wow.

Let me preface this by saying that lead singer Pat was struggling with an extremely sore throat, to the point where he couldn’t even talk to his fans at the meet and greet. It must have helped, as Pat was able to pull off a great vocal performance while on stage. When I checked them out at Wakestock and even as Katy Perry’s openers, they were rocking dingy sports jerseys and stale kicks. I can safely give them an Armani-worthy passing grade with their all-black attire, ranging from fitted shirts to leather jackets; their new style is sleek, clean, and is no more obvious than their latest video, Turn It Up (iTunes link).

I got the opportunity to chat with Aaron of the super-pop group about their insanely rapid rise to success, what they’ve done so far, and how they could possibly make it any bigger for themselves. Oh, and this all happened in a tiny closet backstage while we stood about three feet from a toilet. You know, in case that matters.

Eggplante: Last time we chatted was Wakestock! That was a pretty long time ago! You guys were pre-album, pre-Throw Ya Hands Up, just barely post-disBand. I mean, what the hell happened?

Aaron: Yeah, Stereos fever! I don’t know man, it’s like H1N1 and SARS gave birth to Stereos!

E: But people like this infection! So I mean, what’s next?

A: Well, hopefully people stay infected. The next is the world. We just found out that Summer Girl is going to Australia. Which is funny enough because, for us, Winter is Summer for them. In January, they’re like Summer Girl is just in time for Summer in Australia, and we’re like ‘that’s six and a half months from now!’.  So that’s pretty cool and hopefully we’ll get to go out there. We’re going to go Stateside in January which is gonna be a lot of fun- we haven’t announced anything in terms of dates and such but February and March hopefully we’ll be there, but then of course the Hedley tour picks up in March and we’re going to be there and that brings us to festival season again. Hopefully we’ll do the festivals again with a better spot; a couple more people know who we are, so then we’ll just go from there.

E: I want to make a prediction; are you guys heading out to the Indie Awards this year?

A: Yes.

E: Well, I don’t want to Jinx it, but my prediction is that you sweep the Indies. Like even for Best New Female Vocalist.

A: Well, we’ve got Pat, right? We’re a shoo-in for that, if anything, right?

E: What are you plans for that?

A: I don’t know; at this point, we haven’t solidified everything. We have so much up in the air for the next six to nine [months] so it’s really hard to make concrete plans with the exception of the Hedley. You know, the Hedley plans were the only ones we signed on for sure, because that was kind of a no-brainer. So with everything else, its a crap shoot, and it’s like ’should we be working on something else a little bit more?’

E: What are the inspirations no for you? I mean, forgetting people like Frank Sinatra, but rather current bands. Like Owl City or Lights or other Underground Operations bands.

A: Ooooh, Owl City. Uhh, Postal Service? Owl City I wish had just stuck to listening to Postal Service instead of making Postal Service, but that’s neither here nor there.

E: Not a fan, eh?

A: Not really, to be honest. But right now, I’m listening to… [pulls out iPhone to look up his latest downloads] … I just got the new Snoop Dogg single, and it’s quite good. The new Ludacris single as well is awesome, always listening to Taylor Swift…

E: Congratulations on the new video by the way. You know, just to throw that in the middle of everything!

A: Yeah! Thanks, that was pretty col!

E: You know, that wasn’t a faked crowd; that was a pretty massive crowd!

A: Oh no, right at the very very end, they do the crane shot all the way to the back and it was at Circa and it was just packed. It was shocking; we were really, really, really excited. A lot of fun; nice to kind of dress a little bit nicer, everyone kind of had a thing.

E: So that brings me to something; I kinda figured out when you got your first paycheck, because I noticed you guys went from jerseys to leather jackets! Today, I saw you guys all lined up in leather jackets and professionally-distressed hoodies, as opposed to having them from 1997 or something.

A: I’m not gonna say that we haven’t bought a couple of clothes. We like duds. We like the finer things in life. So definitely bought a couple new pairs of shoes and a jacket or two. Like nine jackets, maybe. We like that kind of 50s greaser style.

E: It works for you guys; I could see you all as the T-Birds from Grease.

A: Dude. T-Birds, that’s perfect. You said the right thing there!

E: Who’s Zuko, though? I’d want to say Dan.

A: I’d want to say Dan, but I would actually say Robb. Robb would be Zuko. And Pat’s Rizzo. Or Sandy. See, Robb was a Pink Lady, but he dyed his hair black, so he jumped to the T-Birds.

E: So with this big jump into stardom, do you ever feel like, ‘okay, hold on, I just need to like, take a break, go to the bathroom, just relax a bit.’?

A: For about eight seconds of every day, you’re just like ‘it would be nice to have a shower’ or ’someone give a brother a moist towelette’, but dude, we signed up for this. We’ve all worked forever and ever and ever to get here so you can’t complain. Ever. And if you ever catch yourself in those eight seconds of sombre mood, you really snap out of it fast because at the end of it, I’m not working at Steve’s music anymore which I couldn’t be happier about, so there you go.

E: Okay, so let’s go to the crazy questions that Eggplante always asks; what is the definitive answer on peanut butter or nutella?

A: Oh, nutella.

E: Oh wow, just like that. Not even peanut butter and then nutella on top of it?

A: You know, like chunky peanut butter, maybe, but then you got that whole chocolate-peanut butter conflict and Reese’s are the only ones that actually do that well and people butchered it a million times. It’s a battle of the nuts, really.

E: Why do we always end up talking about nuts?

A: You know, just inevitable. Inevitability.

E: Listen, thanks a lot man! It’s always great chatting with you guys.

A: Thanks!

The interview was a blast and there is actually a lot more (really funny) stuff in the audio that you haven’t read above! So check it out below and enjoy the photos from the show!

EggplanteInterviewsStereos1209.mp3 [8.7MB, MP3 Audio]

Also, make sure to follow the band on Twitter (@wearestereos), and of course follow Eggplante (@eggplante) for the latest updates. Up next: Interviews with The Artist Life and The Midway State. Stay tuned!

Did you expect there not to be a crowd? For Stereos?

LIGHTS @ Kool Haus

In Concert Reviews, Music on November 28, 2009 at 7:16 pm

Search for LIGHTS on Eggplante.com and you’ll find no less than seven articles about the heroine songstress. And with good reason too; she puts on an incredible live show, puts a whimsical touch on interviews, and has a glow about her that can only be captured when she talks about something she really loves (like beef jerky).

Let me start out by saying that I’m biased. I’ve been a fan of LIGHTS for a while, and I would probably love any show she put on, but this one was especially sweet because she has finally come home. “I’m home. I’m calling this my home from now on”, she spoke to the crowd mid-way through her show at the Kool Haus Thursday. The place was absolutely packed, with what appeared to be an infinite merch line.

Rather than coming out, playing a dozen songs, and leaving, LIGHTS made use of her other talents and implemented her online comic Captain Lights into the show by playing segments in between some songs. The crowd went wild for this as it meant she left the stage just long enough to keep them wanting more, and delivering with her running back on stage immediately to satiate the need for techno-synth pop. The stage was remarkably barren, a fitting scenario, considering the music is made up mostly of electric sounds rather than dedicated guitars, a bass, or other instruments. However, LIGHTS’s background duo Adam and Maurie were on hand to deliver live tunes and drumming to the crowd, respectively. Incredible energy was coming from those guys and they deserve great respect for that.

This is the first show in Toronto the songwriter has played since her album The Listening was released September 22nd. The crowd went wild for some of her biggest hits but even more so for the new tracks, clamouring for Lions!, River, and Second Go, among others.

I managed to get some great pictures of the show. These sets are unique. Some happened to turn out very emotional and mellow, hence the black and white tones. Others are more upbeat and fiery. Leave your feedback in the comments below!

You better check out this chick soon before she gets incredibly huge! She is incredibly popular now, and the crowds are only getting larger. She tours Europe with Owl City in January 2010, exposing her to even larger masses of crowds. Don’t be surprised if her next Toronto venue is the Rogers Centre!

You can follow LIGHTS on twitter (@lights) and get her album from iTunes now! She has also recently released The Ice Pack, a collection of remixes of her massively popular single “Ice”, for which a new video was recently released.




LIGHTS Interview

In Interviews, Music on November 17, 2009 at 5:11 pm

Eggplante interviewed LIGHTS during the Summer while she came through Toronto for Warped Tour, and I got back in contact with her now that she has her debut studio release The Listening out, and is heading back to Toronto for a concert next week. Here’s all that transpired:

Eggplante: Hi there! How are you?

LIGHTS: Hey! I’m good. I kinda just rolled out of the cavernous bunk area in the back of the bus.

E: The cavernous bunk area! I like that!

L: Yeah, it’s really dark; it’s like a bat cave and you wouldn’t know if it’s three in the afternoon or four in the morning.

E: Well that’s not a bad thing if you want to get some sleep at three in the afternoon, you can get some sleep, right?

L: Totally! And then the rumbling of the bus gets really comfortable after a while!

E: Well there you go, so it kinda rocks you to sleep automatically, right?

L: Exactly!

E: So I’ve got a question for you, right off the bat, I don’t know if you remember HMV in September, you did the signing right after your album came out. Do you remember Plush Russell?

L: Uhh, pardon, what’s that? [realization sets in] Oh my goodness, that’s you?!

[For those that don't know, in September at her album signing, Eggplante gave LIGHTS a "Plush Russell", a miniature stuffed version of her famous keytar that she plays on stage.]

E: That’s me!

L: Oh my goodness, nice to talk to you again! Okay, I’ll tell you a little story about that: my parents recently visited me and they saw this little Plush Russell and they were absolutely blown away by the details and I was very very proud of it, so thank you!

E: Awesome! So you’ve been working on your album for a while and you had the EP out to quell the fans and such, but why did it take so long to get a full length out there?

L: Umm, I wanted to wait until it was right. I didn’t make any plans to release a record until I had a record done. I didn’t say “I want to make a record and put it out September 22nd, that’s my deadline.” I just waited until I had everything made and then I did the plans for the record. It’s just a collection of songs I’ve written over the past couple of years including the year leading up to the EP release, so it’s really organic and natural. A little piece of me is invested in every song and I didn’t wanna rush that, you know?

E: So one of my favourite songs on the album is Lions! and it has the line in it “You don’t have to feel safe to feel unafraid” and that is my favourite line on the album. What does it mean to you?

L: That’s my favourite line on the record. The truth is, this is something that I’ve learned over the course of doing things that put you out of your comfort zone like moving away from home when you’re young and you don’t know anyone. You know, little things (or big things) like that that may feel like they’re compromising your safety, but that doesn’t mean you’re not safe. So it’s my idea that, just because something is a little bit scary doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do. It’s good to put yourself out of that zone because otherwise you won’t take any risks and you won’t find yourself challenging yourself.

E: Well I’ll admit that I almost cried when I heard that one because, well, I don’t really know what to say about that song, but it’s a good one, so I’ll give you that!

L: Thank you. You know, that song has a lot of meaning for me in a lot of ways and I wanted it to come across with this sort of epic vibe, so I channeled my World of Warcraft characters for references as far as making it feel like there was a battle, so there are a lot of World of Warcraft references in there.

E: Well, speaking of a battle, your new Ice video launched last week, so where did the idea for Shadow Lights come from? I’m calling her Shadow Lights as an homage to the irony that a light could be shadowed.

L: I wanted a fight scene. I have this incredible ability when it comes to my music where I can close my eyes and listen to the song and know exactly what should be happening with the video, and that happened with Drive My Soul and February Air. Ice was always a fight scene; there was an old version I made a while ago that was really cheesy and homemade and I cut out all these figures for it, but at the core of it, it’s a little fight scene. I can never get away from that; this is just a glorified fight scene taken to the next level with Mortal Kombat-esque fighting. And I just basically got to have the power in my music video that I have been denied in real life!

E: Hey, that makes a lot of sense to me! So I know you’re a video game fanatic-slash-nerd-slash-whatever, so I’m not going to go there, but Rock Band is launching something called the Rock Band Network where artists can actually create their own music and upload them for other people to buy, so the record label won’t be too upset about this one.

L: I didn’t know that; that’s crazy!

E: Are we going to see LIGHTS on Rock Band? Would that be the ultimate form of flattery?

L: I would love that! Just in general, I would love to have my music involved in video games and video game scores and I would love to even go just beyond Rock Band. That would be the kind of obvious thing, right. I’d love to take it further and score an actual game. That would be a dream come true!

E: Audio Quest the Game? A movie deal, perhaps? Console, portable games? iPhone games!

L: Totally! But you know what’s next in line? A Captain LIGHTS calendar.

Click on through to read the rest of the article and leave your comments below! Read the rest of this entry »

Colbie Caillat @ Kool Haus

In Concert Reviews, Music on October 14, 2009 at 4:22 am

DSC_0371

I’ve been dreading writing this article. Not because the show wasn’t good or because I’m bored of writing (which I certainly am not), but because I am afraid that I’ll gush. A lot.

Colbie Caillat is one of those artists that has the ability to become classic and timeless. Her mellow, happy songs make people feel good in the best and worst of times, and she has true talent. I attended her concert at Kool Haus last week expecting to hear a decent show and get some decent pictures, but I got much more than I bargained for!

This wasn’t just the expected acoustic set you might think Colbie would put on. The performance of over 15 songs had body and imparted wisdom into the crowd. Not metaphorically, either: “Everyone loves, cries, hurts, everyone gets their heart broken”, she spoke before performing Fearless, the first single from her latest album. And what an incredible message to be delivered by one of the most true to life examples of why being fearless pays off. Colbie started out with a fear of performing in front of audiences, and has become one of the biggest hits to come out of the town called MySpace. She is an artist who truly appreciates everyone who makes her who she is, which makes sense given her humble beginnings. Even though she is so young and it would be easy for her rapid rise to fame to go straight to her head, she has remained grounded and logical, and it is so apparent in everything that she does. Half way through the performance, she invited her guitarist to dance a funny little dance, while a back stage producer came out and sang a short reggae song with her!

Her set had some of the expected mellowness, but even the mildest songs had some unique rocked out portions to them. Realize had a kick ass half minute instrumental solo that got the crowd riled up for the next song: Don’t Cha. Yep, the Pussycat Dolls. It was incredible, melodic, and absolutely perfect. Colbie has some of the most sensual vibes I’ve ever felt and it never feels over used or trashy, but appropriate and fun.

The crowd of course went crazy when Colbie introduced her debut hit with a seductive question: “So, Toronto, I have one question for you: Will you count me in?” The lights went up and she played her acoustic version of Bubbly with the band backing her up. And what a way to finish an incredible show.

Colbie Caillat is a beautiful woman. Incredibly sensual and tremendously talented, she is mellow and sensual and sexy and melty. All the good stuff. Colbie Caillat is truly a beautiful soul.

DSC_0171

DSC_0224

DSC_0188

DSC_0280

DSC_0335

DSC_0484




‘The Listening’

In Album Reviews, Music on September 26, 2009 at 4:57 am

Untitled

When I buy a new album, I go immediately to the tracks I know because they provide a sort of level of guaranteed enjoyment. For whatever reason, I felt compelled to do exactly the opposite with “The Listening”, and it paid off big time; these new tracks instantly hooked me. Read on to find out why.

There are albums that you listen to because you like their sound, fewer because you like the artist, and even fewer because of both. Fortunately for LIGHTS, “The Listening” falls into the latter category.

Her debut full-length album hit Canadian shelves September 22nd and will do so in the USA on Oct0ber 6th.

The record is what you might expect if you’ve ever heard the songstress’ propensity for synthesizers and charming lyrics, but this one goes beyond the usual and offers something truly profound. Lyrics are deeper than the taste we got from her self-titled EP, and the sounds are much more mature. No dark themes here, just relatable, mature, yet happy-go-lucky music. It is evident through her lyrics that Lights was going through any bevy of circumstances, and her music serves its purpose well: to be an outlet for her emotions and thoughts.

In an interview a while back, Lights said that the last line of any chorus should provide the overall meaning to the song or define an answer or solution to the problem. I challenge you to find a song on this album that does not follow this rule. Now, you ask ‘Is it too predictable to have the last line mean something so concrete every single time?’. Let me know if you think these are just one liners or something more profound. I haven’t heard lyrics like these before in my life. They are truly philosophical statements unto themselves.

“I need a saviour.” (Saviour)

“Take me over, to some other unknown. Put me in the undertow.” (River)

“We’ll love, we’ll bend, let’s play pretend.” (Pretend)

And my personal favourite: “You don’t have to feel safe to feel unafraid.” (Lions!)

There is an obvious theme to the album: positivity. Sure, it can be said about lots of albums that its entirety is devoted to hope and love. And while I may be (am) biased towards all things LIGHTS, the album resonates with good vibes. Even songs like Saviour and Second Go which seem to be about relinquishing control to others, have a light of hope to them that bring out the best in the singer.

I’m usually pretty satirical about albums and concerts, and while I don’t feel the need to hold back when I truly love something, I have in fact held back here. I could write for hours and hours about the meaning of each song to me and how it relates to my life. But the beauty in an album so instantly relatable is having it mean something unique to you.

The Listening is in stores (in Canada) now, and you owe it to yourself to hear the music and make it your own.

LIGHTS at Much on Demand!

In MOD, Much Music on September 24, 2009 at 10:46 pm

DSC_0248

It’s no secret around here that we’re big fans of LIGHTS; she’s a Canadian born, completely original, synth-pop goddess. She writes comics, does video blogs (and not just ’cause the record company thinks it’s all the rage), and even makes her own music videos. In her apartment. With pencil crayons!

In any case, the songstress stopped by Much on Demand on Tuesday for an interview and performance (three songs: Saviour, Drive My Soul, and River), where I just happened to be passing through and snapped some pictures.

Her debut album, The Listening, also dropped Tuesday, so go check it out; I’ll have a full review of it tomorrow! (Hint: it’s insanely good). Enjoy the pictures from her MOD appearance. See you tomorrow!

(As always, you can click through to see larger versions of the pictures. Or, click HERE.)

DSC_0291

DSC_0337

DSC_0044

DSC_0223

DSC_0136

Warped Tour 2009

In Vans Warped Tour on July 12, 2009 at 5:30 am

DSC_0145

The smell of cheap marijuana was in the air, hamburgers and hot dogs were grossly overpriced, and crowd surfing was visible from nearly anywhere at the venue. No, it’s not Canada’s Wonderland; this is Warped Tour!

Read the rest of this entry »

LIGHTS @ Warped Tour (Updated with Audio)

In Interviews, Vans Warped Tour on July 11, 2009 at 8:35 pm

lightstitle

…

Warped Tour Toronto (er, Mississauga) was a resounding success for any number of reasons one could gather, but one that stands out in my mind is the variety of artists.  In amongst the expectation of heavy rockers Alexisonfire and Anti-Flag were some venerable newcomers and refreshing sounds. While not exactly a newcomer to the music scene (her single Drive My Soul hit the airwaves over a year ago), LIGHTS was one of these refreshing faces. I got the chance to chat with LIGHTS about all things music, life, art, and beef jerky next to a rather large orange tractor. Hop over the break for the interview.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vans Warped Tour

In Music, Vans Warped Tour on June 30, 2009 at 3:38 am

lights_02.21.09_002

Just a heads up: Eggplante is heading to Vans Warped Tour in Toronto!

Well, okay, anyone who knows Toronto knows that Arrow Hall, the venue for VWT is actually in Mississauga, and that is hardly Toronto, but no one knows Mississauga unless you’re from Toronto.  And if you’re from Toronto, you hate that I called Mississauga Toronto.

Anyways, I’m grabbing an interview with Alexisonfire, Lights, and Silverstein if I should be so lucky as to secure spots with each of them. I’ll have an assistant photographer with me at the time to make sure that everything is captured with photos and perhaps even on video. Stay tuned!

The awesome photo is by Jess Baumung. Seriously, check out his stuff; it’s incredible photography!

Gearing up for the MMVAs!

In MMVA 2009, Music on June 16, 2009 at 6:00 am

ed

I’m officially starting the 5 day countdown to the 2009 Much Music Video Awards! We’re almost there, and I’ve got the scoop on everyone that’ll be there, and I’ll be chatting with some celebrities, getting red carpet photos, and be hanging out backstage at the press booth for some all-too-candid moments with the biggest celebrities. Jump the break to see my favourites!

Read the rest of this entry »

E3 Day Two

In E3 2009 on June 4, 2009 at 7:14 am

Alison Haislip and I
There isn’t much more to report about E3 that I haven’t already, except for the games that I managed to check out that I didn’t really take a deep look into yesterday.

I am even more stoked about Splinter Cell: Conviction than I was yesterday.  It may be the way they’ve been demoing the game (with a phenomenal presenter while the programmer plays off on the side) but every time I see it, I can’t help but want to reach into the game.  Phenomenal.

I haven’t yet gone to the Halo 3: ODST Co-Op sessions, but I will be standing in line first thing tomorrow to try my hand at controlling an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper!

I must say that I’m really impressed by the graphics of God of War III, and although I am not really a fan of the series, the visuals are killer.  The flame effects and maneuvers are stunning and really just make me want to lick the screen.  But they looked at me funny when I did it at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, so I refrained this time around.

Speaking of Call of Duty, they aren’t demoing the game any more than with the trailer that we’ve seen.  There are some behind-closed-doors developer chats going on but, for the most part, we’ll have to wait to see what COD:MW2 has to offer over the next few months.  They don’t have much time to continue building hype; Modern Warfare 2 drops this holiday season.

Unfortunately, Steve Wiebe didn’t beat the World Record Donkey Kong score, although he did manage the first ever triple barrel kill in the game ever recorded on television.  Congrats, Steve; that’s got to be worth something!

I ran into Chris Gore of G4TV’s DVDuesday and Ben Silverman from Yahoo! Games.  Perhaps the highlight of the celebrities (with boobs) was Alison Haislip.  She’s gorgeous, and in person, even better than you could imagine.  Pristine.

At the end of the day, I met the Reviews on the Run gang while they shot one of their E3 roundtable discussions of the highlights. They’re all really nice guys and damn, they know their stuff.  It’s really surreal seeing them film the show knowing I’ll be able to watch it later on, and their format is nice and free flowing and cool to watch.  Victor is awesome, Foobs is, well, Foobs, and Scott… well, he was dressed in a chicken suit (is anyone surprised?).  Peter Russo and Ben Silverman were also there, as well as Marc Saltzman.  Tommy Tallarico also hijacked the shoot at one point….. classic Tommy.

I managed to triple the amount of swag I got today over yesterday.  I also bought some more stuff from the Merch Store, and can’t wait for tomorrow to really dive into some more games.  Swag isn’t the priority tomorrow, the games are.  But who knows, I’ll probably still be trying to play the grab-hands as much as I can.

Tomorrow also holds Video Games Live in store, and I can confirm that there are about 12 guests, all unannounced and surprises. There will be a Guitar Hero competition beforehand and a meet and greet with the guests (and presumably Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall) afterwards.  See you on Friday for the blog about it…. I’m not putting up a post after a three hour show they’re going to be putting on.  Yeah, three hours.  Schveet.

See you soon!

Day One of E3 2009

In E3 2009 on June 3, 2009 at 7:00 am

ubi

Perhaps I spoke a little hastily. Microsoft had some great pieces at their Press Conference. I still think Sony was the clear winner (although their motion sensing peripheral brought them down a few points), but Microsoft did really pull out a lot of great stuff here.

So let me tell you what I mean.  Or rather, who I mean: Sam Fisher. That’s right folks, Splinter Cell: Conviction is my number one pick for the entire show. I was blown away by the game and think that it has been well worth the three-year wait.  The demo looks incredible, and it will only get better between now and release (rumoured to be around the holidays, likely next year given Ubi’s track record for predicting release dates accurately).

The show floor is very impressive.  I must really impress upon you to check out the Flickr set for my Day 1 photos.  I managed to go through everything, although not thoroughly.  Tomorrow, I’m going to be hitting mostly the lines to try out all the games first hand.  Yes, even the insanely long wait for the Halo 3: ODST multiplayer arena.  But who are we kidding?  It’s Halo-3-FREAKIN’-ODST.

One of my highlights of the day was the 3D head scanning booth.  The scanning is unbelievably accurate and painlessly quick, and the results are just plain weird (check it out in the Flickr set).  Another major one was being a part of the audience for G4’s live E3 coverage.  I was seeing stars, quite literally…. Olivia Munn, Kristin Adams, Kevin Pereira, Adam Sessler, and Steve Wiebe. Sadly, Morgan had laryngitis and wasn’t at today’s shooting.  Hopefully she’ll be around tomorrow or Thursday for some great insight into the gaming world with that sexy little smile of hers.

Square Enix has a MASSIVE screen, probably the largest of the entire show floor, projecting trailers and other content.  Their latest and greatest is about Final Fantasy XIII and XIV.  Odd that game developers are now starting to announce sequel or franchise titles even before their next iteration (I’m looking at you Bungie); I’m liking the trend so far!  EA of course has a massive space, although it seems pretty sparse, with about a third of it dedicated to standing room in front of a podium for speakers and such.

Nintendo’s booth is pretty barren.  If I may be so bold, it looks like they rented the entire space to show off Super Mario Bros. Wii which, in all honesty, kinda sucked.  No, but really.

And then there’s my love affair with Sony.  The PSP Go didn’t disappoint, but it wasn’t impressive either.  I like the onboard memory and the slim design, but the buttons are far too cramped, and it felt almost too light for my tastes.  The rest of Sony’s booth was packed full of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Tekken 6, and, of course, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.  Plenty of sequels, we see.  Oh, and Ratchet and Clank Future was on demo and it looked, well, like any other Ratchet and Clank game: fun but repetitive and overdone.

So that’s my wrap up on Day One.  The swag is plentiful: t-shirts, giveaways, contests (I won an 8GB Zune!), but it seemed like there’d be more than there actually was.  Probably just me.  I’m greedy like that.

See you all on Day Two and Three, and then Video Games Live on Thursday!

Speaking of VGL, I should mention that I saw Tommy Tallarico, Jose Sanchez, and Geoff Keighley on my way out of the expo, and we had a good talk for about a half hour; really nice guys, all of ‘em.

Press Conferences @ E3

In Uncategorized on June 2, 2009 at 7:14 pm

psp
Now that we’ve got the big three Press Conferences out of the way, I want to just run over the highlights.

Microsoft
Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach – ODST looks fantastic, and just what will Halo: Reach bring?
Project Natal: sweet new motion sensing.  I am totally on board  I just need to buy a soft rug.
Uhhh, that’s really all that I got excited about.

Nintendo (I’m kinda glad I didn’t bother wasting my time watching this one)
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Metroid: a new game, this time in collaboration with Team Ninja, looks to go back to the origins of Samus

Sony
PSP Go: UMD-less, 16GB internal storage, M2 expandable storage
Gran Turismo PSP: finally. I don’t even like racers, but this is one I could get behind
Dev Costs: Sony is said to be reducing their entry points for development tools by 80% so smaller devs can get into the PSP.
Little Big Planet PSP: This is one that I’ve been seriously waiting for. Sackboy always seemed to be a portable character anyways.
Rockstar’s Agent: a new PS3-exclusive from the famous GTA developer, about 1970s assassins.  Whew.
Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines (PSP) Connect it to the PS3 for more content, the best feature in my mind.
Oh, and something called Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.  Whatever that is. Pssht.

I love the Microsoft offerings, and while I think Natal could be huge, I’m hesitant in believing that it will be as realistic as shown in their promo video. I’m declaring Sony the clear and obvious winner of the Press Conferences this year; you can’t really beat a company who sold more previous-generation consoles than next-gen ones… and in its ninth year. Maybe that ten year product life cycle isn’t too far off! Perhaps I’ll have a different opinion about the companies themselves after I check out the booths?  I’ll keep you posted!