Interviews Archives - Page 5 of 7

May 10, 2019

UCR Interview- Picture This

By: Kevin Rolfe

Picture This has been the biggest selling Irish act in both 2017 and 2018, and the nation’s hottest musical export in decades, Picture This arrived as a phenomenon with their self-titled 2017 full-length debut, Picture This. Certified triple-platinum in Ireland, it held the #1 spot Overall in the country for four weeks, while topping the Streaming Chart for seven weeks. Moreover, it remained in the Top 5 since release. Just over two years since their formation, they’ve impressively sold over 400K tickets, concluding 2017 with a sold-out UK and Ireland tour highlighted by gigs at O2 Shepherd’s Bush London, SSE Arena Belfast, and a two-night stand at 3Arena in Dublin. This summer marked their first stadium tour in Ireland, which capped off with a 35,000-person stadium show selling out over 3 months prior. During late 2018, they teamed up with super producer Jayson Dezuzio to record the 2019 follow-up, MDRN LV. Picture This will be taking part in Kilby Court’s 20th Anniversary Block Party on Saturday, May 11. They will be performing in the Kilby Court Stage at 7:15. I had the opportunity to interview lead vocalist, Ryan Hennessy, and drummer, Jimmy Rainsford. Here’s our conversation. Enjoy!

Utah Concert Review: I know you’ve played some shows here in the United States, but is this your first full tour throughout the states?

May 5, 2019

UCR Interview/ Review Carlie Hanson

May 4, 2019 The Depot

By: Kevin Rolfe

Carlie Hanson is a singer-songwriter from La Crosse Wisconson. She is getting ready to release her first EP Junk on June 7th. Her current single “Back in my Arms” was just released in April and is getting a ton of play. I had the opportunity to speak with Carlie the day before her show at The Depot. I really enjoyed chatting with her. Enjoy!

Utah Concert Review: Hi Carlie how are you? Where are you currently?

Carlie Hanson: Hii, Kevin! I’m good, very good. I’m in Denver right now where we’re doing a show tonight.

UCR: Well, we’re excited to have you here in Utah.

CH: We played Salt Lake City one other time and it was one of my most memorable/ favorite concerts ever. Like the crowd was just unreal. Everyone was so hype. We played in like this little garage. I think it was called Kilby Court.

April 16, 2019

UCR Interview- Stephen Beerkens of The Faim

Interview By: Kevin Rolfe

The Faim is an emerging pop-rock group from Australia who got their start with renowned producer John Feldmann (blink-182, Good Charlotte), who was so impressed with their early demos that he invited them out to LA to record with him. There they enlisted the help of several notable co-writers. Since their launch last February, The Faim have been on the rise, to say the least. They released their critically acclaimed debut EP, toured exhaustively worldwide, supporting PVRIS, Against The Current, and Sleeping With Sirens, and played festival staples including Reading & Leeds, Slam Dunk, and more. The guys also recently collaborated with Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low and wrapped their first ever headline tour of Australia and Europe, with the majority of shows completely selling out.

The Faim will be supporting Andy Black of Black Veil Brides on Tuesday, April 16 at The Depot. I had the opportunity to speak with Stephen Beerkens, Bassist and Keyboardist for the band. I really enjoyed our conversation. Enjoy!

Utah Concert Review: Hi Stephen. We’re excited to have you come play Utah. Have you toured the States before?

Stephen Beerkens: We have. We were lucky enough to tour with another Aussie band called Hands Like Houses in November and December of last year which was epic. It was our very first US tour so, yeah, it was awesome touring with a great group. Not only a great band but a great group of people as well.

March 21, 2019

UCR Interview- Noah Kahan

Interview by: Kevin Rolfe

Noah Kahan, a very talented singer-songwriter on the rise, is making his return to Utah this weekend when he supports James Bay on March 23 at The Union. This show comes on the heels of a sold-out show at The State Room. With a new album on the way and a successful lead single just released, Noah is an artist to keep an eye on. I enjoyed talking with Noah about the new album, choosing songs for that album, and what it’s like to headline versus open for someone. He was as interesting and insightful as always. Enjoy!

Noah Kahan: Hey Kevin, good to hear from you again.

February 27, 2019

UCR Interview- Little Moon

By: Kevin Rolfe

Little Moon will be the headliner at the closing night (February 26) of Les Femmes De Velour, and festival celebrating it’s eighth year of showcasing amazingly talented local female musicians held at Velour Live Music Lounge in Provo. I caught up with Little Moon leading up to this show. I had a great time chatting with her. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Utah Concert Review: So how did you get into music as far as performing and writing? Where does that all stem from?

February 22, 2019

UCR Interview- Roadie

Roadie will be performing on night 2 (February 22) at this year’s Les Femmes De Velour. We caught up with lead singer and guitarist Aubree Liz leading up to the show. Enjoy!

Utah Concert Review: What is your story with music? How did you get started? What made you decide you wanted to perform and write music?

Aubree Liz: I was actually a really late bloomer when it came to becoming a musician and songwriter. I’d been very heavily interested in music my whole life, but it wasn’t until I saw one of my first live shows just after graduating high school that it really sucked me in. I’ve been hooked on creating and performing music ever since. There is something incredibly powerful about being a musician that allows you the opportunity to connect with a whole room of people individually at once. And as soon as you get a taste of that, it’s hard to go back. It’s definitely hard work, takes a crazy amount of dedication, and just sheer blind faith that what you’re doing will ever lead to anything or connect to anyone, but that’s all art. And it’s worth it.

UCR: How did you get connected with Les Femmes De Velour?

February 21, 2019

UCR Interview- Belle Jewel

By: Kevin Rolfe

Belle Jewel will be playing at Les Femmes De Velour on Thursday evening February 21 at Velour Live Music Gallery in Provo. I was able to catch up with Belle leading up to the show. She has an incredible voice, and it will be really exciting to see her at this event. Here’s our conversation. Enjoy!

UCR: First of all thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. I just really love this event and I really enjoy your music. You have a beautiful voice so I’m happy to be speaking with you.

Belle Jewel: Thank You. I Really appreciate it. I really love Les Femmes too! It’s so fun man.

UCR: So how did you get connected with Les Femmes?

January 16, 2019

UCR Interview- Party Nails

Interview By: Kevin Rolfe

Los Angeles based artist Party Nails’ debut album, Past Lives and Paychecks was released in 2018. Her most recent single entitled ‘I Go To You’ is a stunning and intimate love song, featuring relatable honest lyricism, raw acoustic guitar and layered soft vocals which ride gently atop the organic instrumentation. Her previous single ‘So Broke’ features the singer’s distinct sound of glittery synth-pop and went viral on Spotify.

We caught up with Party Nails when she was here in Utah supporting Eve 6 on their 20th anniversary tour. She had some wonderful insight on someone who is getting their opportunity to do what they love. Enjoy!

Utah Concert Review: So are you originally from Los Angeles?

Party Nails: I’m from New York. Like 40 minutes south of Albany. So not too far north but definitely really rural and small.

Utah Concert Review: Did music bring you to L.A.?

Party Nails: Yeah. I lived in New York City for like four years before I moved to L.A. I just had this thought that I should probably move to L.A. so I did. But that’s the short version of the story.

Utah Concert Review: So what happened where you started to feel like things were happening for you with music?

December 6, 2018

UCR Interview- David Archuleta

Interview by: Kevin Rolfe

David Archuleta brings his Christmas Tour to the UCCU Center in Orem, Utah on Monday, December 10. We recently caught up with David and discussed his new Christmas album, what pressures might come from performing in Utah so often, and what are some of his favorite venues here in Utah. Enjoy!

Utah Concert Review: You recently released your new Christmas album Winter in the Air and your single “Christmas Every Day” is getting a lot of airplay here in Utah, so congratulations on that. How did you decide to release a new Christmas album?

David Archuleta: From the moment I released my first Christmas Album I’ve wanted to release another one. When we were finishing up Christmas From the Heart about ten years ago and I was like, “I’m going to have to do another one.”. You can’t fit all the great Christmas songs on one album. I love Christmas, it’s my favorite. They’re my favorite tours to do, so I just knew that I had to do another Christmas album. It was just a matter of when. But then I saw that Pentatonix released three in a row so I thought, “You know I guess I can release another one almost nine years later.”. Continue reading “UCR Interview- David Archuleta”

November 26, 2018

UCR mini-Interview: Midge Ure on “Do They Know it’s Christmas”

By: Kevin Rolfe

Thirty-four years ago today, the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band Aid was released. Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof saw a report on the BBC about the famine in Africa and desperately wanted to help. He recruited Ultravox frontman, Midge Ure, to write a song with him in the hopes of raising $100,000 for famine relief. They wrote the song in a few days, and then they took to their individual assignments in getting this project off the ground.

Midge locked himself in the studio, recording, arranging, and producing the track so that it would be ready when the time came to add vocals. That was Geldof’s job. Bob Geldof went on a mission to form a one-off supergroup by recruiting some of the biggest voices in British music of the day. He didn’t go through managers or publicists. He went straight to the artists themselves. He recruited the likes of Bono of U2, Boy George of Culture Club, Simon Lebon of Duran Duran, Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet, and George Michael of Wham. These vocalists along with many others agreed to show up and record this song over a 24 hour period. The song was recorded and released the very next day. It was the fastest selling single in UK chart history selling 1 million copies in the first week and has sold almost 4 million copies in the UK to date and about 13 million worldwide. The song did not raise $100,000 dollars. However, within a year of its release, the song had raised $8 million. The success of the song drove Geldof and Ure to put together one of the greatest concert festivals of all time, Live Aid. Continue reading “UCR mini-Interview: Midge Ure on “Do They Know it’s Christmas””